When Greg Swann was appointed executive general manager of football performance at the AFL, many saw him as the man to cure all the sport’s ills. He was one of those footy people known primarily by his nickname, a man who projected an air of knockabout affability, a man renowned for getting things done. He would apply “the pub test” to many of football’s most pressing issues: the draft, the rules, the umpiring, the AFL review centre (ARC). “Swanny”, we were assured, was the man who would make footy’s trains run on time.
One of the first things Swann’s predecessor, Laura Kane, did in the role was embark on an overseas study tour. Certain sports, she found, lent themselves to technological intervention. The geometry of tennis and baseball made it far easier to implement. She fast-tracked the trial of ball-tracking technology. But Australian football, she stressed, was an incredibly difficult sport to properly utilise technology. The shape of the grounds, the oval ball, the way goals often come down to the length of a player’s fingernail, all made it tough to land on a definitive decision.
Athletics starting pitcher Aaron Civale (45) threw five scoreless innings tonight against the Royals in West Sacramento. | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images
The Athletics returned home after a successful 4-2 road trip to start a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals. Taking the mound for the A’s tonight was 30-year-old righty Aaron Civale who matched up against 28-year-old lefty Kris Bubic for the Royals.
The A’s got on the board first in the second inning when Zack Gelof singled and Jacob Wilson drove him home with a base hit to center.
In the top of the fifth Tyler Soderstrom dove for a ball it into the corner and landed hard, wincing as he got up to retrieve the ball. He did not come back out for the sixth inning.
Speaking of not coming out for the sixth, Aaron Civale’s night was done after five. He finished his day with 5.0 innings, zero earned runs, five hits, three strikeouts and one walk. He gave way to Hogan Harris who promptly gave up a solo homer to Salvador Perez to tie the game. Harris didn’t make it out of the sixth. After the Perez homer, Harris walked Lane Thomas and Isaac Collins. That sent him to the showers, replaced by Scott Barlow, who threw two pitches and then picked Thomas off trying to steal third to end the Royals half of the inning.
Mark Leiter Jr. replaced Barlow in the top of the eighth inning and thanks to a great grab by Jacob Wilson, he tossed a 1-2-3 inning. After hitting a monster foul ball, Rooker struck out to lead off the inning. Thomas singled and moved to third on Carlos Cortes base hit. Darell Hernaiz walked to load the bases, but Jeff McNeil lined out to end the inning. The score remained tied at 1-1 headed to the ninth inning.
Jack Perkins entered the game to shut down the Royals in the ninth. He slammed the door with a three-up, three-down inning giving the A’s a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning. They did not, and the teams moved into the tenth.
Justin Sterner entered the game to pitch the start of extras. With a ghost runner on second, Jason Isbel tried to move the runner over but instead beat out the throw to put runners on first and second. Then Bobby Witt Jr. hit a three-run homer to give the Royals a 4-1 lead and clear the bases. But the A’s were not done. Lucas Erceg, former A’s reliever, came in to pitch the tenth. Kurtz was the placed runner. Cortes walked and Gelof beat out swinging bunt to load the bases with two outs. That brought Darell Hernaiz up. Unfortunately, he lined out to the second baseman to end the rally and the game.
There was no need for a comeback on Tuesday, the Spurs showed up ready to take care of business.
In Games 3 and 4 of this series, Portland was the more aggressive team early and took big leads (15 and 19), forcing Spurs comebacks that became the bigger story. Portland never had the lead on Tuesday.
It was the Spurs' defense from the start, holding the Trail Blazers to 35.1% shooting on the night and a 102 offensive rating.
Add in 21 points from De'Aaron Fox and a 17-point, 14-rebound double-double for Victor Wembanyama, and it was all too much.
San Antonio picked up a comfortable 114-95 win and with that takes the series, 4-1.
Next up for the Spurs is the winner of the Minnesota vs. Denver series, which the Timberwolves lead 3-2.
Next up for the Trail Blazers is an offseason with a lot of questions for new owner Tom Dundon to answer, starting with whether Tiago Splitter will get to keep his job as coach. However, Dundon's team also goes into the summer coming off an impressive playoff effort, pushing San Antonio (even in the fourth quarter on Tuesday.
At the start, it was all Spurs, who led by 12 after one quarter after holding the Trail Blazers to 11-of-31 shooting. In the second quarter, not much changed for Portland. Deni Avdija had 16 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting, but the rest of the Trail Blazers combined to shoot 29.5% in the first 24 minutes.
The Spurs led by 10 after one quarter and 20 at the half, and it felt like they were in total control through the third quarter. However, in the fourth a Portland team playing with the desperation of a team trying to avoid elimination went on an 11-0 run and at a couple of points cut the lead to single digits.
That's when Fox stepped up, scoring 13 of his points in the fourth.
For the game, Julian Champagnie had 19 points and six 3-pointers, while Dylan Harper added 17 points for the Spurs. Avdija finished with 22 points for the Trail Blazers, but was 1-of-6 from 3-point range.
Give the young Spurs credit for closing the door (earlier in the night, the Celtics could not do it). This team does not shy away from the moment.
Apr 28, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) celebrates the win with second baseman Ernie Clement (22) against the Boston Red Sox at the end of the ninth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images | Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Red Sox 0 Blue Jays 3
That’s all the Jays need for a win, have their pitchers throw a shutout. .
Trey Yesavage continued on from where he finished off last year. He went 5.1, allowing just 4 hits, no walks, with 3 strikeouts.
John pulled him at 74 pitches. Trey seemed a bit bemused by the hook, but I think it was nice to take him out so he could enjoy the crowd cheering for him.
And the bullpen did the job:
Mason Fluharty got the last two outs of the sixth, giving up a walk.
Jeff Hoffman had a terrific seventh, getting 2 strikeouts.
Tyler Rogers was also terrific, throwing a clean eighth with a strikeout.
Louis Varland picked up his 4th save, striking out the side in the ninth.
Offensively? Well, we did enough. Not much more than enough, but enough. Only 6 six hits. We got:
Two in the third: Andrés Giménez led thing off with a single. Two outs later, Vladimir Guerrero doubled. Kazuma Okamoto singled them home. He was thrown out at second. The Jays challenged, and I thought the replay showed Kazuma safe, but the folks in New York disagreed. Thankfully, Vlad scored before the tag at second.
One in the fifth: With two out, Myles Straw and Ernie Clement walked (Ernie’s second walk this game. He only had one this season until today). And Vlad singled Straw home.
Vlad had two hits. Clement and Davis Schneider had two walks each. Straw had a single and a walk. Okamoto, Varsho, and Giménez each had a hit.
Jays of the Day: Yesavage (.29 WPA), Okomoto (.12), and Vlad (0.9).
No one had the number for the Other Award. Heineman and Straw had the low mark at -0.5.
Tomorrow Eric Lauer (6.75) gets the start after briefly being removed from the rotation. Brayan Bello (9.00) starts for the Red Sox.
LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 28: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts to a ball being hit into the photowell during the MLB game between the Miami Marlins and the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 28, 2026 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani stuck to pitching and did his part, delivering another six-inning start with minimal damage. But the Dodgers couldn’t find much offense to support him in their 2-1 loss to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Ohtani was pitching on five days rest with any sort of length for the first time since 2023, when 15 of his 23 starts that season with the Angels were on five days rest. Don’t expect that many such starts this year, however.
“I think it could happen, he’s certainly open to it. But in this particular situation, given what Tyler [Glasnow] did and kind of how it played out — but it could flip the next time,” manager Dave Roberts said before Tuesday’s game. “I’m not going to say it’s the last time [pitching on five days rest], but I don’t think it’s going to be commonplace.”
All told, it was an impressive start for Ohtani with nine strikeouts, though he also tied his season high with three walks in his six innings. He did allow all of two runs, one of which was earned, matching his totals from his first four starts combined. Ohtani’s 104 pitches were his most in a start with the Dodgers, four more than Game 4 of last year’s National League Championship Series.
Ohtani’s ERA ballooned, all the way to 0.60, which once again leads the National League, another one-day stop atop the leaderboard as he has exactly 30 innings through 30 team games through Tuesday night. Ohtani has lead the NL in ERA after all five of his starts.
Lowest Dodgers ERA through April
Fernando Valenzuela (1981) 0.20 Fernando Valenzuela (1984) 0.21 Shohei Ohtani (2026) 0.60 *in live-ball era (since 1920), minimum 5 starts, per Baseball Reference
Three errant throws produced the first Marlins run against Ohtani, in the second inning. He hit Augustín Ramírez with a pitch, then had Ramírez dead to rights on a stolen base attempt but threw the ball into center field, putting the Marlins catcher on third base with nobody out. After a strikeout, Ramírez tagged on a flyout to Andy Pages, whose throw was up the third base line and hit Ramírez as he scored.
That first run was unearned, but Ohtani allowed an earned run in the fifth, a frame in which he allowed two walks and two singles. It could have been worse, with the bases full of Marlins with two outs, but Ohtani struck out Ramírez to extinguish that threat.
Any signs of fatigue were allayed when Ohtani worked around a single with three more strikeouts in the sixth, giving him nine on the night.
On a normal night, the Dodgers probably win this kind of a start over two-thirds of the time (they are 12-5, with a .706 winning percentage when a pitcher goes at least six innings and allows no more than two runs this season). But on Tuesday, the offense failed to score in six innings against Janson Junk, who allowed only three singles and a walk.
Los Angeles did not score until three singles with one out in the eighth inning, with Will Smith driving in Dalton Rushing to pull within one.
“I think his goal is to his goal is to make every [pitching] start. So with that, there has to be some compromise and some openness to read and react,” Roberts said. “I think so far we’re doing a nice job, and he’s open to that.”
Tuesday was the 12th of 13 consecutive game days for the Dodgers, and Ohtani was the only position player to start all of the previous 11 games.
“The 13 in a row, I think it’s been a grind on everyone. And also taking into consideration everything that Shohei goes through on a daily basis, to know that he’ll be back in the lineup tomorrow,” Roberts said. “I think this is an opportunity to hedge a little bit, play both sides, so have a guy who’s swinging a good bat in Dalton to replace him for a night, to give Shohei the best opportunity to pitch well and not take on both duties, then just hit tomorrow and have an off day. Hopefully this abbreviation will give him a reset, after the off day.”
Maybe Ohtani’s bat will help the Dodgers find some offense in the series finale.
One more day left on the homestand, with Tyler Glasnow going for the series win on Wednesday afternoon (12:10 p.m., SportsNet LA), against Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara.
BOSTON (AP) — Joel Embiid scored 33 points, Tyrese Maxey had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers avoided elimination, beating the Boston Celtics 113-97 in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.
Paul George had 16 points and nine rebounds for the seventh-seeded Sixers, who lost Games 3 and 4 at home to fall behind 3-1 in the series before returning to Boston to keep their season alive.
Game 6 is back in Philadelphia on Thursday night, when the Sixers will try to force the series to a decisive seventh game in Boston on Saturday.
In his second game back from an emergency appendectomy, Embiid helped rally Philly from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit. After scoring 13 points in the second quarter, he added 10 in the third and eight more in the fourth, when the Sixers went on a 12-0 run to turn a three-point lead into a 15-point runaway.
Jayson Tatum had 24 points and 16 rebounds for Boston and Jaylen Brown scored 22.
KNICKS 126, HAWK 97
NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored 39 points, nearly extending his own franchise record for 40-point playoff games, and New York routed Atlanta for a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.
With their second straight lopsided victory, the Knicks positioned themselves to win the series Thursday night in Atlanta. They would have another chance at home in Game 7 if they need it — and it’s getting harder to picture why they should.
The Hawks took a 2-1 lead in the series with one-point victories in Games 2 and 3, but a pretty sizable gap between the teams has appeared since. The Knicks led by 24 on their way to a 114-98 win in Game 4 in Atlanta and by 32 on Tuesday, when the lead was never below double digits in the second half.
OG Anunoby added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, while Karl-Anthony Towns had 16 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. The Knicks need one more victory to reach the second round for the fourth straight season, which would continue their longest streak since advancing nine straight times from 1991-92 through 1999-2000.
Jalen Johnson had 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Hawks. Dyson Daniels scored 17, but CJ McCollum, the catalyst of both Atlanta victories, had just six.
SPURS 114, TRAIL BLAZERS 95
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama had 17 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks and San Antonio never trailed in eliminating Portland in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series.
De’Aaron Fox had 21 points, Julian Champagnie added 19 points and Dylan Harper had 17 as the Spurs led by as many as 28 points in winning their third straight game to advance to the second round.
San Antonio advances to the Western Conference semifinals for the first time since 2017, when it beat the Houston Rockets before losing Kawhi Leonard to an ankle injury and then getting swept by Golden State in the conference finals.
The Spurs will face the winner of the series between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves lead that series 3-2, with Game 6 scheduled for Thursday.
There were plenty of factors that went into the Knicks completely outplaying the Hawks from beginning to end in their massive Game 5 win on Tuesday night at MSG.
One of the biggest was New York’s domination on the boards.
Atlanta was one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league all season, but the Knicks did a phenomenal job keeping them off the glass.
Leading that charge were Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby.
The dynamic duo combined to reel in 24 of the Knicks’ 48 rebounds on the night, which ended up as three more than the Hawks racked up as a team.
Of those 24, 14 came on the defensive end.
Atlanta was limited to just six second-chance and four fastbreak points.
“KAT and OG were monsters,” Mike Brown said. “The two of them, they were phenomenal -- it was huge for us to be able to keep them off the glass and out of transition.”
This continues what’s been a phenomenal series for both of them.
Towns took just seven shots on the night, but he was huge early, chipping in 16 more points and finishing just four assists shy of his second consecutive triple-double.
“I’m always just thinking about impacting winning,” the big man said.
Anunoby finished with just one more point than Towns (17), but his 10 rebounds helped him put together his second consecutive double-double.
The dynamic defender is now averaging 20 points and nine rebounds for the series.
“He’s one of the best two-way players in the NBA,” Towns said. “This series has been great for him to show the world that he’s something we’ve always thought he was -- when you have someone like that who is that good offensively and even better defensively, it’s special.”
With these two leading the charge and Jalen Brunson finally finding his footing, New York will look to close out their first-round matchup on the road on Thursday night.
The Knicks dominated the Hawks in Game 5 of their first-round series to put New York one win away from advancing.
And whileJalen Brunson's 39 points and OG Anunoby's ability to take over games on both sides of the ball will make the headlines, the Knicks bench needs its flowers after Tuesday's performance.
The combination of Miles McBride, Mitchell Robinson, Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado scored 29 points and were a +56 in their 64 minutes on the floor in the Knicks' 126-97 win at MSG.
In contrast, the Hawks bench (Jonathan Kuminga, Gabe Vincent, Tony Bradley and Corey Kispert) scored 19 points and were a -55 in their 68 minutes on the floor.
"I feel like everybody's locked in," McBride said of the team's defense. "Defense isn't one guy's job, it's the whole team, so when the whole team's locked in, when guys coming off the bench, we’re locked in and we're not missing a beat, it just feels good."
"We get stops and we get rolling. Once we get our defense rolling, the offense is going to take care of itself," Alvarado said. "We know we can score the ball at a very high level. We need to get stops. And that’s what we try to do."
McBride was 0-for-4 shooting on Tuesday and was held without a point, but the guard contributed on the boards, which he had three, and helped on the defensive end. Robinson did his thing, coming down with six rebounds, scoring seven points and coming up with a block in his 16 minutes and Clarkson posted nine points on 3-of-7 shots, while giving the team energy.
And you can't talk about energy without mentioning Alvarado, who scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting (2-for-3 from three) in his 12 minutes.
My teammates found me, I was open and I made the shots today," Alvarado said of his offensive spurt.
But the bench's emergence in this series is a long time coming. Clarkson, acquired in the offseason, took time to find his place in coach Mike Brown's system. He was out of the rotation for a bit before emerging as a reliable bench player. Same with Alvarado, who was acquired at the deadline. The New York native burst onto the scene when the Knicks traded for him, but saw his minutes dwindle as the regular season was coming to an end.
"[Being out of the rotation is]definitely challenging, but I’ve been in the league for 12 years. I know how it goes," Clarkson said. "Just continue to stay ready. There’s a locker room of young guys and other people, watching me and seeing how I react to those things. Set an example for that. Continue to stay locked in with my team and organization. Just waiting for my opportunity to go out there and play. Everybody setting that example and having everybody ready is big for the team."
"It’s part of the business. Stay ready and whatever the team needs," Alvarado said. "We’re a really good team. They communicated with how it was going to go. And I stayed ready. That’s what I did mentally."
Staying ready has paid off for Clarkson and Alvarado. They, along with the rest of the Knicks bench, have allowed the team to hold on to large leads in the last two games. When the starters are on getting a breather, the bench has sustained the intensity the Knicks need to keep the scrappy Hawks at bay.
They know they have to do the same on Thursday when the Knicks try to close out the series in Atlanta.
"We know how good the bench is and how good the team is," Alvarado said. "We go out there and be ourselves and try to boost the energy. Whatever the team needs, the bench tries to provide that."
"We’re all tough-minded. We love challenges. We continue to hold each other up," Clarkson said. "This team has been resilient all year. It’s not going to be smooth. Continue to lean on each and continue to fight one through 15."
On a night where a freshman was the star of the show, two of the most grizzled veterans to wear scarlet and cream combined to complete the comeback and send the cold and wet fans home happy. Usually when these two teams get together, one team seems to blow the other out. Tonight was the rare back and forth affair between the old foes.
Nebraska wasted little time in getting things going. Kansas State went with their Friday night starter James Guyette, coming off his worst outing of the season, and tonight was more of the same. Back to back singles by Mac Moyer and Jeter Worthley started the night. Case Sanderson moved the runners over with a groundout to first.
Guyette then lost a fastball that went behind Dylan Carey, letting Moyer scamper home for the first run. Another fastball tailed too far inside, nearly hitting Carey again, and the Cather couldn’t come up with it, allowing Worthley to jog home. Carey walked and then the inning appeared to be over with a Jett Buck fly ball to right, but the outfielder dropped the ball on a rainy night. Always the hustler, Carey made it home easy to put Nebraska up 3-0 after 1 inning.
The second inning was fairly uneventful, with the exception of Husker starting pitcher, Tucker Timmerman making an incredible play covering first on a play hit to Sanderson. Sanderson bobbled the ball, picked it up, and threw it into the dirt behind Timmerman. “Tuck” happens to be maybe the best all around athlete on the team, and not only caught the ball, but upon replay drug his toe across the base just in front of the runner. You have to watch it to believe it.
The teams traded runs in the 3rd, Timmerman gave up a leadoff double, then back to back outs brought the runner home. On the Nebraska side, Worthley singled up the middle, part of the freshman backstop’s 5 for 5 night. A double from Sanderson down the left field line put runners on second and third for Carey. Carey drove a sac fly to deep right, and Worthley put the Huskers up 4-1 after 3.
Kansas State took the lead in the middle innings, by way of the long ball. A 2 run home run in the 4th off of Timmerman, and a 2 run home run off Husker reliever Kevin Mannell in the 5th gave the Wildcats a 5-4 lead, and put all the momentum in the visitor’s dugout. Jaylen Worthley gave up a leadoff double of home run in the 6th, on his first batter the Wildcats’ dugout went wild.
Nebraska loaded the bases in both the 4th and fifth innings, but couldn’t finish the job. Coach Will Bolt felt like the offense was putting together good swings, just happened to line out to some well placed infielders by Kansas State. “When you set up as many innings as we do, and you don’t knock ‘em down, you give the other team momentum,” stated Bolt post-game.
As this team has done countless times this season, the Huskers battled back. With 1 out in the 7th, Drew Grego wore the first pitch of his at bat on the shoulder. As seems to happen a lot this season after a hit-by-pitch, Grego stole second base. With 2 outs, Mac Moyer drove a ball up the middle, just past the diving second baseman, scoring Grego, and cutting the lead to 6-5.
That brought up Worthley, already sitting on a 4-4 stat line. He drove a low and inside fastball deep into center field. The center fielder wouldn’t have made the play, but slipped after taking a step in, then trying to turn and run to the wall. Moyer scored all the way from first, tying the game, and Worthley punctuated his big night with a stand up triple, urging the third base dugout to get pumped up, not that they needed any encouragement at that moment.
Following a shutout inning by Ty Horn in the 7th, J’Shawn Unger came out and with the help of a double play, sat the Wildcats down quickly in the 8th. Unger surrendered a 1 out walk in the 9th. The runner then stole second to get into scoring position. Inexplicably, the runner took off for 3rd, and was thrown out so easily that he didn’t even attempt to slide. Unger struck the batter out to end the inning, and take us to the bottom of the ninth.
Josh Overbeek led things off for Nebraska in the 9th. After quickly going down 0-2, he battled back and sent a 2-2 deep to the left field gap. The left fielder made a good play to cut the ball off from getting to the wall, theoretically holding “Beek” to a single. Only Overbeek had zero intention of stopping at first and barreled into second base will little regard for his or the second baseman’s life. He was going so fast and sliding headfirst so hard that he barely stopped in time to stick on the base.
Drew Grego has been a clutch player late in games, and hit a sharp ground ball right down the left field line, but the 3rd baseman was playing right on the line, and threw him out. That brought up Rhett Stokes, who was 0-4 on the night. Stokes pulled a hard grounder in almost the same place as Grego, only the third baseman was playing well off the line this time. Overbeek rounded third, held his hand up in the air, and scored a 4th straight walk-off win for the Huskers at home.
It’s RPI watch season as the calendar is soon turning to May. The Huskers move up in the RPI with the win to 11th in the country. If they win their final 3 weekend series of the season, they should be solidly in the 2nd seed in the Big Ten Tournament and in line to host in the NCAA.
The Huskers travel to Columbus this weekend to take on Ohio State, with first of the series scheduled for Friday at 5pm. Stay tuned to Corn Nation for our weekend preview coming up later in the week.
The Spurs earned their first playoff series win since 2017, and will face the winner of the Denver Nuggets-Minnesota Timberwolves series in the Western Conference semifinals.
Wembanyama had a double-double in his second game back after missing Game 3 with a concussion. After his 27 points and 11 rebounds helped the Spurs prevail in Game 4, Wembanyama added 14 rebounds in Game 5. De'Aaron Fox led the Spurs in scoring with 21 points, with Julian Champagnie 19 and Dylan Harper adding 17 points, respectively.
Game 5 was never really in doubt for San Antonio, which stormed out to a 36-24 lead after one quarter of play and held a 65-50 lead at halftime.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 28: Josh Naylor #12 of the Seattle Mariners hits a three-run home run against the Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning at Target Field on April 28, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Josh Naylor, Julio Rodríguez and Cole Young each collected three hits in the Mariners 7-1 win over the Twins Tuesday. The Mariners’ lineup picked up 12 hits in total, including five for extra bases, in what wound up being a comfortable win.
But the game wasn’t so comfortable early. Joe Ryan started for the Twins and was good as always, pounding the zone, getting ahead, and keeping the Mariners off balance through the first five innings. He got 13 called strikes on his fastballs, and five whiffs against the splitter and curve. I wouldn’t even say it was a bad performance by the Mariners against a pitcher like Ryan, who finished the day top 10 in the majors by WAR, but they were often caught in between and guessing wrong. This is what the first five innings looked like:
Things changed when the middle of the order stepped to the plate for the third time. With two outs, Julio got a hanging curveball and laced a grounder down the left field line, hustling into second for a double. Naylor followed by, flicking a single the other way to make the game 1-1.
The Mariners couldn’t get any more runs in the sixth, but they made Ryan work. After a leadoff double from Randy Arozarena in the top of the seventh, Ryan’s day was done. The Twins were forced to turn to a far less intimidating bullpen, and Young eventually plopped a single the other way to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead.
J.P. Crawford drew a leadoff walk in the eighth. Julio then hit a screaming double past the outstretched arm for Austin Martin in right field to put runners on second and third. That brought Naylor to the plate to face Cole Sands, who threw a top-rail cutter that bled back over the plate. Naylor turned on it and crushed it way out to right, taking a few steps back to admire the shot before proceeding around the bases.
The Mariners weren’t quite done. Young lead off the ninth with another single, Leo Rivas took a hit by pitch, and Julio doubled them both home with a sharp line drive to left, to finish off the score at 7-1.
It was another great day for the offense. The Mariners are up to a 105 wRC+ despite their early struggles and entered the day with a 126 wRC+ since April 10 (when they began the four-game rout of the Astros). It’s largely coming from the middle of the order, too, with Julio, Cal, Arozarena and Naylor each beginning Tuesday’s games with a wRC+ between 138 and 143 over that stretch. If they keep scoring five runs per game on average, the wins will eventually follow.
Logan Gilbert got the start for the Mariners, and it went the way it always does. He showed off a deep arsenal, got some whiffs and strikeouts, and ultimately struggled before exiting after five innings.
It was the fourth that got him, even if it wasn’t quite his fault. Josh Bell lead off the inning with a sharp grounder right down the line at first. The ball was so down the line, in fact, that it hit the bag, popped 15 (or 20? ) feet in the air over Josh Naylor’s head, and landed in right field for a single. Kody Clemens followed with what looked like a double play ball, but Cole Young forgot that he’s a good defender now, and dropped the ball on the transfer, putting runners on first and second. Gilbert later walked Luke Keaschall to load the bases. After battling to get two outs, Gilbert got Royce Lewis to hit a sharp grounder to Leo Rivas at third base, who raced to the bag and got the lead runner with a dive.
Gilbert got into more trouble in the fifth, this time on his own. Byron Buxton stepped to the plate to lead off the inning. Gilbert threw him a first-pitch fastball up — a pretty decent pitch — but Buxton seemed to be sitting on it and yanked it to left for a solo homer. It was somewhat amusing that ROOT was in the middle of presenting a graphic showing Buxton as the top home run hitting center fielder in the majors. “Did we do that?” Aaron Goldsmith asked, following a brief silence as the ball flew through the air.
The very next pitch, Gilbert hung a changeup middle-middle to Trevor Larnach, who launched it off the top of the high wall in right field for a double. Gilbert would eventually escape the inning with the game still 1-0, but by the time he did, the pitch count read 93 and his day was done.
Again, it was the standard five-and-dive outing that has been the standard for Gilbert throughout his career. (For a refresher, Zach Mason dug into this over the offseason). Outings like Tuesdays technically make him a top 25 starting pitcher in the majors, and they often help the Mariners win, but that in-game longevity continues to stand in the way of reaching the next level.
Still, Gilbert did his job, got the ball to the bullpen with just one run on the board, and the lineup eventually found some runs. The Mariners go for their first back-to-back series wins of 2026 on Wednesday at 10:40 a.m.
Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick (10) rounds first base after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday, April 28, 2026 at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Brewers’ offense is still weathering the storm as they wait for some of their top batters to return from the injured list. On Tuesday night, they didn’t need their power hitters, as a barrage of singles and walks gave them a decisive 13-2 win over the Diamondbacks.
Chad Patrick started the game for the Brewers with a scoreless first inning, working around a leadoff work as he struck out two. Meanwhile, the Brewers put the pressure on Merrill Kelly right away. Garrett Mitchell led off for the Brewers with a leadoff walk. He tried to get the Brewers into scoring position right away, but was caught stealing second for the first out. That ended up being a big out after William Contreras drew a walk and Brice Turang singled. Tyler Black moved them both up with a groundout, then Kelly walked Jake Bauers. The strategy worked as Kelly struck out Brandon Lockridge to end the inning.
At the start of the second inning, there was a scary moment for Patrick. He was having trouble seeing and needed assistance on the field. He remained in the game and retired the side in order, partially thanks to a double play that erased a leadoff walk. After the game, Patrick talked about how he couldn’t see for 15-20 seconds and what he was feeling.
"It felt like my eyeballs were at the top of my head"
Back on offense, the Brewers gave Patrick some run support. The first run came from Sal Frelick, who hit a leadoff home run into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen for a 1-0 lead. It was the Brewers’ first home run since April 18th against Miami, and just their second home run in the last 14 days.
Both starters traded scoreless third innings, and Patrick added a scoreless fourth as well. As for the Brewers, they added on in the fourth. Back-to-back walks from Lockridge and Frelick gave the Brewers two baserunners, and David Hamilton moved them up on a groundout. Joey Ortiz brought them in with a single into shallow center field, scoring both. Ortiz would end up getting caught stealing second — catcher James McCann’s second caught stealing of the night —but the Brewers increased their lead to 3-0.
Patrick entered the fifth inning with a modest no-hit bid going, but he struggled hard in the inning. He walked the first three batters he saw that inning. The Diamondbacks were threatening as Alek Thomas hit a hard line drive between first and second, but Turang was positioned in the right spot and made a jump to rob Thomas of a hit.
It ended up only delaying the Diamondbacks by a batter, though. The next batter, McCann, hit a ground ball between second and third and into left field. That scored two runs and closed the gap to 3-2. A sacrifice bunt from Ildemaro Vargas moved runners up to second and third, but Patrick got a ground ball from Ketel Marte to escape the inning.
Patrick finished his night with five innings pitched and two runs allowed. He allowed just the one hit, but it was a two-run RBI single that momentarily got the Diamondbacks back in the game. While he did strike out five batters, he also walked five. Of his 98 pitches, he threw 60 for strikes.
That stumble in the fifth wouldn’t deter the Brewers offense. Contreras and Turang hit a single and double with one out to put runners in scoring position again. This time, they would not be stranded as Black singled to center, scoring them both and giving the Brewers their three-run lead back.
The Brewers were not done. In the sixth, the Diamondbacks went into their bullpen and brought in Andrew Hoffman. The Brewers pecked away at him. Here’s a rundown of what the Brewers did against Hoffman:
Frelick single
Hamilton single
Ortiz single
Mitchell RBI single (6-2)
Contreras two-RBI single (8-2)
Turang walk
Black broken-bat bloop RBI single (9-2)
Bauers two-RBI single (11-2)
Lockridge pop out
Frelick reaches on catcher’s interference (challenged and upheld)
Hoffman threw 38 pitches and only recorded one out in his appearance. After Hamilton’s ground-rule double — which likely clears the bases if it stays in play — the Diamondbacks brought in Ryan Thompson to finish the inning. He quieted the Brewers’ bats with a strikeout of Ortiz and pop out from Mitchell to end the inning.
From there, the Brewers brought in the reserves and filed this one away quietly. After a clean sixth for Shane Drohan, Jake Woodford recorded a three-inning save to finish out the game. Drohan had a strikeout, while Woodford allowed just two hits and struck out two.
The Brewers recorded 15 hits as a team, their second-most in the season. With their six walks, their 21 baserunners is also their second-most as a team this season. Black led the offense with a three-hit day. Contreras, Turang, Frelick, Hamilton, and Ortiz all had two-hit days. Lockridge was the only starter that did not record a hit, but still reached base once with a walk. As a team, the Brewers went 8-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Of their fifteen hits, just three went for extra bases: Frelick’s home run and doubles from Turang and Hamilton.
Following that burst of offense, game two of the series will take place tomorrow evening. Brandon Sproat gets the start against Eduardo Rodriguez of the Diamondbacks. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m.
Drew Romo launched his first two career homers in Chicago’s second straight win. | (Getty Images)
Davis Martin and the White Sox (13-17) picked up a sound win over the Los Angeles (12-19), earning Martin his fourth win of the season and the team finally taking a series win at home. The bullpen was nearly spotless, the offense mashed two home runs off one of the game’s best pitchers, and Drew Romo had himself a night with his first two career homers — one from each side of the plate.
Prior to tonight’s game, righthander José Soriano had only given up one run in his six starts (37 2/3 innings), and the Chicago White Sox did what seemingly no other team could do: score more than one tally against him. In fact, the Good Guys scored three onsixhits, two of which were home runs — a solo shot from Colson Montgomery and a two-run bomb from Romo, this one from the left side.
Soriano came into Tuesday’s game, surrendering just one extra-base hit (a double), and left with two South Side deep balls to sour his start. He tossed a clean first inning, but Montgomery clearly didn’t care about the Cy Young hype, as Colson smoked one over the right field fence in the bottom of the second to give the White Sox a one-run lead, and hand Soriano his second earned run of the season.
For the White Sox, Martin was his usual self: consistent and efficient. Tonight, he was more effective than the best pitcher in baseball, allowing one run on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking one batter to maintain his low walk rate, and striking out seven. The one run that the Angels scored off of Martin came in the top of the fourth after Nolan Schanuel ripped a one-out double to put himself into scoring position, and was subsequently driven in on a single from Jo Adell to tie the game up at one.
Thankfully, Martin would be back on the hook for the win as the Good Guys stole the lead back in the bottom of the fourth when Romo smashed a two-run, line-drive bomb out to right for the first home run of his major league career, 3-1. Soriano left after the fifth inning and ultimately took the loss. His ERA is still sitting below 1.00, but it shot up to 0.84 after beginning the game at 0.24. Sure, the Sox might not be good this season, but they just might be that thorn in teams’ sides with their recent offensive trends.
This game was officially trademarked as the Drew Romo Game when the switch-hitting catcher launched his second homer of the night on his next at-bat, this time from the right side of the plate, making it 4-1. As Steve Stone and John Schriffen called out on the broadcast, he is the first catcher in White Sox history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game.
Davis came back out for the sixth and got through the first two outs before giving up a base hit and ending his day there at 98 pitches, leaving it in the South Side bullpen’s inconsistent hands. Thankfully, as a whole, they were solid, and outside of one run given up in the eighth, the Angels mustered just two hits against the White Sox arm barn, who combined for six strikeouts.
For 1 1/3 innings following Martin, lefthander Sean Newcomb earned the hold and racked up three Ks while allowing just two base runners: a base hit and a walk. Things got dicey for the eighth solely because Jordan Leasure came in to pitch, and if you’re like me and over the Leasure Experiment, you already anticipated the home run that he gave up tonight to Josh Lowe. The good news is that it was just a solo homer, so the South Siders still had a three-run lead.
The bad news is that in seven of 13 appearances this season, he has given up at least one run, and four of the last five of his outings have been full of chaos, with seven runs allowed in 3 1/3 innings. On top of that, he ranks sixth-worst in all of baseball with 3.00 home runs allowed per nine innings (HR/9), but Leasure was able to clean up his own mess this time after forcing a ground out and two strikeouts to get out of the inning before anything got out of hand.
Ranking just six slots below Leasure in HR/9 is righthander Seranthony Domínguez, who came out to close the ninth inning and earned the save while securing the win for Davis Martin. Recently, Domínguez’s outings have had a similar feel to Leasure’s, but much more spotty. At least tonight, we got the elite version of Seranthony for his seventh save of the season, forcing a double play to end the inning while confirming the series win for the Good Guys a day early.
Now 6-4 in their last 10, the White Sox have actually been hanging in games and have players that are exciting to watch and easy to root for. Despite a 1-for-5 night with four strikeouts, Munetaka Murakami has still been something special, while 24-year-old Colson Montgomery continues to flash his power with a homer in five of his last 10 games.
In a wild turn of events, as of the Sox game ending, every team in the AL Central has lost or is losing, with the Guardians, Twins, and Tigers all dropping their matches Tuesday, and the Royals losing to the Athletics in the fifth inning. Might the Good Guys pick up a game on the entire division? This can’t be the same team that The Athletic ranked as the worst in the entire league, can it?
Erick Fedde will take the mound in the series finale tomorrow, making his fourth start of the season. It’s a bit of an earlier start on Wednesday, with first pitch taking place at 12:10 p.m. CT before the Sox head back out to the West Coast.
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The 15-15 Guardians hosted the Rays last evening, and they took things very easy on their guests.
Tanner Bibee was on the top of his game, but broke one of the Guardians Pitching Commandments when he allowed one (1) single run. Big mistake; that’ll drop you to 0-4, sir. Perfect game or bust.
On the offensive side, Travis Bazzana debuted and walked twice. There are no other nice things to say. We don’t have to watch Juan Brito for a little while. Does that count?
Around baseball
• The Tigers also lost and lead the vision at 15-15
• The Chicago White Sox are 2 games out of first place. Yes, you read that correctly. Yes, they are 13-17.
• Preston Mattingly is the GM of the Phillies; his father is now manager of the Phillies. Rob Thomson was fired yesterday, and the recently available Alex Cora obviously turned down the job since he is getting paid a fortune to not manage.
Jalen Brunson struggled over the first four games of the Knicks’ first round series with the Hawks.
The All-Star continued to get things done as a playmaker for New York’s offense, but he was missing some open looks he’s usually able to knock down with ease.
Heading into Thursday night’s crucial Game 5 matchup at the Garden, Brunson was shooting just 37 percent from the field since the first quarter of Game 1.
But the captain stepped up and delivered when the Knicks needed a win the most.
Brunson led all scorers with 39 points on an efficient 15-of-23 shooting from the field to help the Knicks regain control of the series with a massive Game 5 win.
It was the captain’s first 30-point showing this postseason and the 25th in his playoff career, which puts him in a tie with OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the league-high.
He also dished a game-high eight assists and turned the ball over just one time.
"Jalen was phenomenal," Mike Brown said. "Just a big-time game from a big-time player."
Of Brunson’s 39 points, 22 of them came in the second-half.
He made just two buckets coming out of halftime, then the rest of them came in the fourth quarter as he put any doubts about this one to rest for good.
Brunson knocked down all five shots he took in that final frame takeover, and he went on a stretch where he scored 12 consecutive Knicks points at one point.
"The ball went in, but I was just happy that we were able to keep the lead and play well with it," he said. "They are a team that is capable of going on runs, as we know from earlier in the series, so I like how we played to keep the lead."
Brunson finding his scoring touch while Karl-Anthony Towns continues dominating certainly bodes well for the Knicks as they look to close this series out in Game 6.
