He wins his first Grand Tour stage after sweltering effort
Jonas Vingegaard holds four-minute lead over Felix Gall
Denmark’s Michael Valgren chose his moment perfectly to power towards victory on the 17th stage of the Giro d’Italia, leaving himself enough room before the line to be able to pull a lucky Pokémon chip out of his pocket and show it off to the cameras. Further back, his compatriot Jonas Vingegaard continued his march to a first overall win on the Grand Tour.
Valgren took the honours in Andalo after attacking from a small group with a kilometre remaining of the undulating 202km ride from Cassano d’Adda with riders suffering from the punishing heat and also sudden downpours.
LOS ANGELES — Kiké Hernández likely is headed to the injured list with a strained left oblique just two days into his season debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The 34-year-old utility man homered in his first at-bat, then doubled in his second before leaving a 15-6 win over the Colorado Rockies after his at-bat in the fourth inning.
“It’s not a season-ending thing, so that’s something to be hopeful with,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “But yeah, it’s just a bummer.”
Hernández was off to a hot start after missing the first 53 games of the season while rehabbing from left elbow surgery during the offseason. He went 4 for 4 with two doubles and the homer in his first two games.
A chastened Hernández admitted he tweaked his oblique during batting practice, shortly before telling the media that he was pain-free.
“I was embarrassed because it didn’t even happen in the game,” he said. “I thought it was just weird tightness. Never done an oblique before, so I didn’t really know what I was feeling. Compared to some of the things I’ve played through in the past, it was nothing.”
He received treatment and believed he could start and bat ninth in the lineup.
“The homer swing felt awful. The next at-bat I went out there, I swung and missed on the first pitch and didn’t feel great,” Hernández said. “After that I went into survival mode.”
Roberts talked to him in the dugout during the game, urging him to keep his head up.
“Honestly, at that point I was kind of not there, so I’m not necessarily sure everything that he said to me,” Hernández said. “I feel pretty defeated right now. Hopefully, we get somewhat good news tomorrow.”
Initially, he said he only felt pain when he was swinging.
“That’s kind of why I thought I could play,” Hernández said. “When I hit the double, it didn’t just hurt to swing, it also hurt to run, so I knew that it was time to stop.”
Teammate Mookie Betts sustained a right oblique strain in early April while running the bases. The 33-year-old shortstop missed 36 days before being activated on May 11.
“It sucks,” Betts said. “We saw as soon as he came he brought life to us, but we’ll just see how the rehab and whatnot goes. He’ll be back.”
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MAY 25: econd baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. #13 of the New York Yankees reacts after hitting a double during the 9th inning of the game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on May 25, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Coming into the 2026 season, it felt like this was the year that Jazz Chisholm Jr. would leap into superstardom. After a tantalizing 2024 that saw him post 2.3 WAR with the Yankees in just 46 games, he posted a 30-30 season to go with a 126 wRC+ in 2025, solidifying his status as one of the best second basemen in the game. With better health and a bit more consistency, it really felt like Chisholm would challenge Ketel Marte for the title of the best 2B in MLB.
So far, that hasn’t happened. Through Monday’s action, Jazz’s seasonal batting line sits at .247/.324/.389, good for a 104 wRC+. That’s far from disastrous – see Wells, Austin and McMahon, Ryan if you want a really bad time – but it’s a clear step down from last year. The defensive metrics like him enough to prop his WAR up to 1.3, but it feels like he’s had more than his fair share of foibles in the field too. I mean, who could forget this game-costing play from April against the Rays?
Given the high expectations and underwhelming results to date, it’s hard not to feel frustrated with Chisholm. However, I would advise fans to not lose sight of the bigger picture with him. Even the current version of Jazz is a solid player and a worthy regular. He doesn’t need to be a superstar to be a perfectly useful piece for the Yankees.
First, about Chisholm’s performance to date. There’s no denying that his bat has been underwhelming so far, but it’s important to keep in mind that despite his struggles he’s managed to maintain a league-average line. The lack of power and hard contact is concerning, yes, but Chisholm draws just enough walks to keep his bat from completely cratering even when the homers aren’t coming.
Will the homers ever come, though? Given that Chisholm hit 55 homers over his past two seasons, it seems easy to say yes, but his lackluster contact quality metrics for this year – a paltry .276 xwOBA and (excluding 2020) a career-low 28.5% hard hit rate – do give me pause. But Statcast tells us he still has above average bat speed, and his swing path has actually followed the ideal attack angle more often than in previous years. All of this suggests to me that Chisholm’s power shortage has more to do with timing and swing decision issues rather than erosion of his core skills. While the latter is irreversible, the former issues are definitely fixable through coaching, although it might take time. I fully expect that Chisholm will be able to regain his power eventually.
On the other side of the ball, Chisholm’s defense is certainly a polarizing topic, with proponents pointing to his stellar metrics, and detractors pointing to his mistakes and misplays. This is to be expected; there’s less certainty with defensive metrics as with offensive stats, leading to the eye test occupying an outsized role in conversations. And while the eye test, especially when the scouting is done by an experienced professional, can be invaluable, it is also easily sullied by cognitive biases, chief among them our tendency to latch on to negative experiences rather than positive ones. This complicates things, especially when evaluating a player like Chisholm, who is capable of both sparkling web gems and boneheaded miscues.
I’m not here to definitively declare whether Jazz is defensively Good or Bad. What I will try to do is provide some perspective. If you’re of the opinion that Chisholm is a liability in the field, maybe you’re only remembering the bad stuff. But for every lowlight, there is a highlight.
Here’s an example of Chisholm’s nice lateral range:
Again, my point isn’t that Chisholm is good just because of these three plays. It’s that Chisholm has demonstrated the capacity to be great defensively as shown by these plays, and that these should factor into the discussion just as much as his mistakes. You have to take the good with the bad, and in my humble opinion, Jazz provides enough in the first category to live with the times when he delivers something in the second one.
All things considered, even the current, underwhelming version of Jazz provides league average offense with a high defensive ceiling. That’s a valuable player to have on your ballclub! And when you zoom out further, he becomes even more attractive – since joining the Yankees in July 27, 2024, only Nico Hoerner and Ketel Marte have posted more WAR as a 2B. If he can just get his bat back to where it was last year, the title of best second baseman in MLB is still well within Jazz’s reach.
BALTIMORE — Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Griffin Jax is day to day with a bruised lower back after leaving his start in a 6-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles a few batters after being hit by a 107.2 mph line drive in the second inning.
After the game, Jax told reporters he was “100% confident” he would feel good enough to make his next start.
“Arm feels great. Body feels great,” Jax said. “Just going through some basic movements, don’t feel too limited. It’s all in all scary, but I think it was a safe place to be hit.”
With a runner on first base after a fielding error by Jax and the Rays leading 1-0, Leody Taveras hit a liner that struck the pitcher in his back. Jax immediately went down near the mound while the ball bounced to third baseman Junior Caminero, who couldn’t make a diving play. Second baseman Richie Palacios recovered it, but Taveras was safe with a hit.
Meanwhile, Jax grabbed at the right side of his back while on the ground as head athletic trainer Joe Benge and manager Kevin Cash rushed to check on him. After a few moments, Jax was helped back to his feet, he threw a warmup pitch and stayed in the game.
After giving up a single to Jeremiah Jackson to load the bases, Jax struck out Colton Cowser for the first out. Blaze Alexander reached on a fielder’s choice grounder that Palacios bobbled after it took a bad hop off the second base bag, tying it at 1. Jackson Holliday followed with an RBI single and Taylor Ward’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1 before Jax got Gunnar Henderson on a flyout for the final out.
Garrett Cleavinger replaced Jax, who said his back was tightening with every pitch, to start the third inning. Jax (1-3) took the loss after allowing three runs — none earned — and three hits with three strikeouts on 26 pitches in his two innings.
SAN FRANCISCO — Arizona third baseman Nolan Arenado left the Diamondbacks’ 7-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the seventh inning because of groin tightness.
Arenado was replaced at third base by Jose Fernandez to start the bottom of the seventh after going 1 for 2 with a walk and a run scored. The Diamondbacks announced Arenado was removed with tightness in his right groin.
“I told (Arenado) let’s be smart about this,” manager Torey Lovullo said after the win. “He’s day to day, so we’ll see how he feels tonight and tomorrow morning. We feel like he’s going to be OK, feel like he’s in a good spot.”
In the locker room, Arenado said he felt his groin tighten in the second inning while running from first to home. He then felt it worsen in the sixth after beating out a grounder to reach first base.
“Obviously, a little tight right now, but I didn’t feel a pull or anything,” Arenado said. “It was more precautionary than anything.”
Arenado will not undergo imaging on his right groin.
The 10-time Gold Glove winner and eight-time All-Star is hitting .271 overall with seven home runs and 27 RBIs in his first season with Arizona. Arenado was acquired from St. Louis along with $31 million in January for right-hander Jack Martinez.
RHP Jhony Brito continues his rehab assignment with Double-A San Antonio after getting started with the ACL team. He is working as a starter and threw 3.1 innings on May 23, throwing 68 pitches, giving up three runs and six hits in his second start.
RHP Ryan Och, catcher Brendan Durfee, catcher Blake Hunt, LHP Adler Cecil, and lefty reliever Zack Qin are all on rehab assignments with the ACL Padres to start their return to the season. Och, Durfee and Hunt should end up with El Paso. Qin and Adler will probably go to Single-A Lake Elsinore.
Veteran infielder José Miranda, who had an opt-out in his contract in June, was released by the Padres on May 18. Playing with El Paso since the end of Spring Training, Miranda, 27, was hitting .268/.308/.482 with five home runs and 26 RBI. Two younger players, Samad Taylor and Jase Bowen, have been more productive and there didn’t appear to be a future for Miranda with the Padres.
El Paso Chihuahuas (23-28 record, 3rd in Pacific Coast League East)
Infielder Mason McCoy has found power in the 2026 season and leads the Triple-A Chihuahuas with 34 RBI. He has seven doubles, a triple, and six home runs with a .458 slug. Outfielder Jase Bowen continues to lead with 12 homers and has 33 RBI and a .600 slug. IF/OF Samad Taylor leads with a .329 average, and infielder Pablo Reyes has a .422 OBP and .966 OPS.
Bowen and Taylor would be the front-runners to come to the Padres in the event of an injury, although only McCoy and infielder Will Wagner are the ones who remain on the 40-man roster.
Righty starter Evan Fitterer has surprised this season, showing outstanding command with his 93-95 mph fastball and plus-curve to earn a 2.09 ERA in 38.2 innings pitched and nine starts. No other pitcher on the staff has an ERA less than 3.30, even the relievers.
Righty David Morgan is still struggling with his command, despite having quality stuff, and has a 7.56 ERA in 8.1 innings with El Paso.
Righty Garrett Hawkins, on the 40-man roster and the Padres No. 12 prospect, has lost some velocity and command this season. He is carrying a 5.49 ERA in 19.2 relief innings with 15 strikeouts and 19 walks.
San Antonio Missions (17-28 record, last in Texas League South)
Righty starter Miguel Mendez, on the 40-man roster, has struggled since returning from the neck sprain that took him out soon after the start of the season. He has a 5.40 ERA in 19.2 innings with 24 strikeouts and 10 walks. His command/control has not returned to their previous levels, although his stuff remains good.
LHP Omar Cruz has been working out of the bullpen and has a 5.14 ERA in 14 innings with 21 strikeouts to six walks. In his last two appearances, he has piggybacked with Mendez and gone long relief in both his starts.
Righty starter Ian Koenig has an overall ERA of 4.31 in 39.2 innings over eight starts. The 25-year-old has been better over his last two starts with 11.1 innings pitched and a 3.86 ERA.
RHP Francis Peña has 13 relief appearances for 18.1 innings with a 1.47 ERA. His walks are still high with 20 to his 27 strikeouts, but his struggles of last season seem to be behind him.
Righty starter Victor Lizarraga had a difficult start to the season and carries a 5.55 ERA in his 35.2 innings but has been better in May. Over his past two starts, he has a 1.50 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched.
Leandro Cedeño, the 27-year-old free agent sign from the offseason, continues to lead in all hitting averages for San Antonio. Catcher Ethan Salas, who turns 20 on June 1, has the lead in homers with six and RBI with 24. He has cooled slightly from his torrid April but is still hitting .289 in May with an .810 OPS. He also has nine stolen bases in 10 attempts.
Outfielder Kai Roberts has 14 stolen bases without being caught and boasts plus-speed and plus-defense. His hitting has not caught up for the 25-year-old.
First baseman Romeo Sanabria, who impressed during major league spring camp, started slow with the Missions but is heating up in May. He is currently sitting with four home runs, 20 RBI, and a .368 OBP.
Infielder Carson Tucker has also slowed a bit in May but is still hitting .309/.361/.409 with nine doubles, a triple, and 10 RBI.
Fort Wayne TinCaps (22-23 record, 4th in Midwest League East)
Left-handed starter Kash Mayfield started 2025 strong, then had a shoulder injury. When he returned, the organization limited his innings, and he was inconsistent. Starting 2026, Mayfield has been dominant and is easily the best pitcher on the TinCaps. He has a 1.30 ERA in 34.2 innings pitched across eight games. He has 43 strikeouts to 14 walks, which gives him a 34.7% K rate. Hitters are batting .099 against him.
Mayfield had a significant drop in velocity to his fastball last season, even before his shoulder injury. Getting that velocity back this season has been an ongoing goal.
This season, he has topped out at 95.7 mph while hitting 95 mph in his most recent start. The 21-year-old should still have more to come and should be back to the 92-97 mph range he had as an amateur. In a recent interview with Clark Fahrenthold of MadFriars.com, Mayfield speaks to working on his delivery to increase velocity and is seeing the results.
“In my motion, I’m putting in a little more effort instead of just cruising through the motion – kind of going max effort at the finish and driving with my back leg – and since doing that, the velo has slowly started to tick up again.”
His throwing motion features deception, and he hides the ball well. He features his fastball, a killer change-up, and a slider that he is still working on.
Reliever Clay Edmondson, drafted in the 14th round of the 2025 draft, is a sidewinder who doesn’t throw hard but has a 51.4% ground ball rate and a 0.47 ERA in 19 innings over 16 games. He has become the closer for the team and recently earned his 10th save for the season.
Right-handed starter Carson Montgomery, in his first full season after returning from Tommy John surgery, has a 1.41 ERA in 32 innings pitched over seven starts. Currently ranked the No. 30 prospect on MLB Pipeline, Montgomery features a mid-90’s fastball with a slider/sweeper and a change-up. He has excellent command so far this year, with 29 strikeouts to 13 walks.
Outfielder Alex McCoy continues to show that he has made an adjustment with his swing, giving him better contact than he has shown previously. McCoy leads the team in average (.303), slug (.599), and OPS (.967). His nine home runs and 28 RBI are also tops with the TinCaps. He leads the team in doubles with 16 and has eight stolen bases in 11 attempts.
Outfielder Kasen Wells leads the team in OBP with a .394 average and has 26 walks. He also leads in stolen bases with 11 in 17 tries. Outfielder Jake Cunningham is pushing McCoy with his .303/.379/.560 batting line. He has seven home runs and 20 RBI.
After starting his rehab in Arizona, righty reliever Ty Adcock has joined Fort Wayne.
Lake Elsinore Storm (25-20 record, tied for 1st in California League South)
Catcher Ty Harvey is back with the Storm after his injury rehab. He and catcher Truitt Madonna split time between C/DH/1B and are showing why they are both in the top prospect list. Harvey has played in less games due to his injury but is hitting .340 with a .912 OPS. Madonna started slower but has an .844 OPS in May. He has 11 stolen bases in 15 tries, Harvey has five stolen bases in six tries.
Infielder Kerrington Cross, drafted in the seventh round of the 2025 draft, is not in the top 30 of the prospect list but is pushing for a promotion before mid-summer. The corner infielder is hitting .307/.496/.568 with seven doubles, two triples, four home runs and 20 RBI. He has also stolen six bases in seven tries over his 35 games and 88 at-bats.
Outfielder Ryan Wideman has cooled off a bit in May but is still hitting .295 with an .840 OPS. He has 12 doubles, five triples, three home runs, and 30 RBI with 33 stolen bases in 40 attempts. The centerfielder also plays excellent defense to go with an average arm. His biggest weakness at draft time was his chase tendencies and his strikeout rate. He currently has 37 strikeouts in his 176 at-bats and a 21% K rate.
ACL Padres (8-9 record, 3rd in ACL West)
Infielder Dawson Willis is an undrafted free agent signed in 2025. At 6-feet-4 and 22-years-old, Willis is a defense-first 3B/SS who has just begun his professional career with the Padres. In four games and 14 at-bats he has two doubles, a triple and is hitting .429/.500/.714.
C/1B Jholan Downer and SS Yimy Tovar lead the team with averages of .348 and .345, respectively. Tovar is repeating in the ACL and could be pushing for a promotion to Lake Elsinore soon.
Taiwanese righty Lan-Hong Su has started two games and has four innings pitched. He has eight strikeouts in those four innings pitched and four walks, allowing no runs.
MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said antics on the mound by Brewers reliever Abner Uribe after an inning-ending strikeout in a 6-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals were unacceptable.
Uribe got Alec Burleson on a called third strike with two outs and runners on first and second in the eighth, the only inning he pitched. Uribe then made three WWE-style crotch chops while facing the Cardinals dugout.
The Cardinals challenged the call, which was close, but narrowly confirmed to be at the bottom of the strike zone.
“I don’t know what got over him. I mean, he’s been an emotional guy, but that kind of things, that’s just not how we do things,” Murphy said. “I was embarrassed by it. Why are we doing it? It’s a 6-0 game. What are we doing there?”
“I love the kid. Believe me, I love the kid,” Murphy continued. “There’s so much good in this kid. He’s been so great for us in so many ways, but that’s unacceptable. So, whatever’s going on, you can’t tolerate that. For his teammates, and for everything, it’s not going to be tolerated, that’s all there is to it.”
Murphy said he already talked with Uribe. Murphy also realized how close the pitch was to being overturned and the possible ramifications.
“The thing that I think about is if that challenge got overturned, you’ve got to reset and go back out there and pitch,” Murphy said. “This is Major League Baseball. Guys can reset, boom, base hit, dumper, homer, and all of a sudden it’s 6-5.”
Uribe apologized through an interpreter, but also directed some of the blame toward the Cardinals.
“Everyone here knows me and knows who I am, and knows I have a bit of a history of being emotional out there,” Uribe said. “I think first I owe an apology to the Brewers. I owe an apology to my teammates, to my manager, all the bosses of the team. I understand that’s unacceptable, to go out there and react in a way like that.”
“But at the same time, I don’t think it’s unprofessional for their manager to be making signs towards our dugout saying that he’s going to be hitting guys,” Uribe said. “There was an event that occurred during the practice today, too, and I don’t think that was right. So, I have my teammates’ back always.”
Uribe declined to elaborate on the event, and said St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol was making signs during the previous game that led Uribe to believe it was to hit Brewers batters.
Marmol did not comment afterward on Uribe’s antics on the mound.
“It looked like their team and Murph was handling it on their side,” Marmol said. “That’s their player. We’ll handle ours.”
At the time, however, Marmol was not aware of Uribe’s accusation.
Uribe was suspended for six games and fined following a benches-clearing brawl against the Tampa Bay Rays in April 2024.
CLEVELAND, OHIO - MAY 26: Andrés Chaparro #87 and Curtis Mead #45 of the Washington Nationals celebrate after defeating the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on May 26, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Nationals defeated the Guardians 6-3. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After another highly impressive performance, the Nats are now two games over .500. They will finish off their road trip this afternoon in Cleveland, and finally get an off day afterwards. While the Nats have been outstanding this season, they only have one sweep. The boys will look to change that today.
With a righty back on the mound for the Guardians, the Nats are making a few changes. Luis Garcia Jr. will be back in the lineup at first base. Curtis Mead looks to be a full time player now, getting another start at third. Jorbit Vivas will start at second over Nasim Nunez. Jose Tena will be back at DH, which slides Daylen Lile to left and James Wood to right. Dylan Crews will get the day off today. Drew Millas will be doing the catching in this one. PJ Poulin will open again, and Miles Mikolas will follow. It should be all hands on deck with a fresh bullpen and an off day.
The Guardians are changing some things up too. Jose Ramirez will be at DH. That will move Daniel Schneemann from center field to third base. Steven Kwan will go back to center field. Back up catcher Austin Hedges will get his first start of the series. Gavin Williams has been outstanding for the Guardians this year and will hope to give Cleveland length after their first two starters got lit up.
Guardians 5/27
T. Bazzana 2B J. Ramírez DH C. DeLauter RF K. Manzardo 1B A. Martínez LF D. Schneemann 3B S. Kwan CF A. Hedges C B. Rocchio SS
This road trip against two first place teams has already been outstanding. Getting the sweep today would be the cherry on top. The bullpen should be involved heavily today given their lack of usage lately and the off day tomorrow. Blake Butera should go all in for the sweep. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani was hit on the right hand by a pitch and left the Los Angeles Dodgers’ game against the Colorado Rockies.
The two-way superstar was struck by Rockies starter Kyle Freeland in the fourth. Ohtani left after grounding out in the fifth. He was 0 for 2 with a run scored in the team’s 16-5 win.
Manager Dave Roberts said the ball mostly hit the pad on Ohtani’s hand before clipping his pinkie finger.
“We’re in a good spot,” he said, adding that given the Dodgers’ big lead he wanted Ohtani to rest ahead of his scheduled mound start in the series finale.
“I haven’t decided yet if he’s going to hit,” Roberts said. “I just want to kind of make sure how he comes in and physically how he feels because I want to make sure he feels really good on the pitching side of things.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yankees manager Aaron Boone watched the hits begin to pile up on the massive, crown-shaped scoreboard beyond the centerfield wall at Kauffman Stadium, and he knew that his team was doing something impressive against the Kansas City Royals.
He didn’t know until afterward that it was something historic.
Yes, there were six home runs, including two from Amed Rosario. And the Yankees put up 24 hits in the 15-1 romp, their most since a game against Baltimore in July 2011. But what set the performance apart from all others — including all those games played by Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle — was this simple fact: For the first time in their storied history, the Yankees got at least two hits from every single player in their starting lineup.
“I did see all the hits on the board,” Boone said afterward, “and I was like, ‘Man, you don’t see that very often.’”
The Yankees had the benefit of facing the Royals on a designated bullpen day. Struggling reliever Bailey Falter was first on the mound, and he allowed as many hits (seven) as he record outs. Luinder Avila wasn’t a whole lot better when he replaced him.
The last of the hits came against outfielder Tyler Tolbert, who threw a steady diet of 44 mph pitches to get through the ninth inning.
Yet that doesn’t take away from one of the impressive hitting performances in Yankees history. Their hit total tied for their eighth-most ever, and the 24 hits were their most in a road game since Aug. 31, 1974, in a game against the White Sox.
The six homers were the most by a team in the majors this season.
“The performance they put up today,” Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler said, “that was awesome to watch.”
The barrage began with Cody Bellinger’s second homer in as many days, a two-out shot in the first. But it really gained steam after Paul Goldschmidt’s double, when Ben Rice hit a sinking liner to right field that Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone lazily grabbed at grass level. Boone challenged the out call, and a review confirmed that the ball had touched the ground for an RBI single.
Rosario came to the plate next and belted a two-run homer an estimated 420 feet to left field.
Anthony Volpe added his first homer of the season in the second inning, and the Yankees piled on four more runs on a steady stream of singles in the third. Aaron Judge provided an RBI double in the fifth, Trent Grisham went deep in the seventh, Jazz Chisholm Jr. — the last of the starters to get two hits — homered in the eighth and Rosario hit his second of the game in the ninth.
He sheepishly admitted that he was just trying not to strike out against Tolbert’s languid lobs to the plate.
“It feels good to be part of history,” Rosario said through a translator. “It’s a team effort and being part of it is great.”
The Yankees now have hit 82 home runs this season, by far the most in the majors. The Royals, by comparison, have hit 51, including the solo homer that Bobby Witt Jr. hit in the third inning for their only run of the entire game.
Meanwhile, the 24 hits that the Royals allowed were the fourth-most in a game in franchise history. Rosario finished with four hits while Grisham, Rice, Volpe and Austin Wells had three apiece. The rest of the starters each had two.
“Look,” Boone said with a smile, “as hard as hitting is — as hard as it is now, night-in and night-out — to have a day where everyone, you know, can fatten up a little bit, it’s good.”
May 26, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Esmerlyn Valdez (55) gestures as he circles the bases on a two run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates offense caught fire Tuesday night after a 12-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. One of the bigger storylines from that game is rookie Esmerlyn Valdez hitting his second home run of the season in just his fourth game played.
Valdez hit his first home run of his Major League career against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday night. The 22-year-old has now hit home runs in back to back games played since he did not play on Monday. He also has 5 RBIs so far on the season.
Valdez has 12 at bats so far in his Major League career with two hits, both of those hits are home runs. The rookie has found his power which is a great sign for the Bucs especially with the injury of Ryan O’’hearn.
The power has been great for Valdez but he has struggled with strike outs so far. In four games played he has struck out seven times including twice in Tuesday night’s games. There is also a concern about having no hits outside of those home runs. Consistency is important and although the power is great you want to see him get on base some more and get some more hits.
This is a very promising start for Valdez and for the players on the Buccos. With Konnor Griffin playing well too the future is very bright in Pittsburgh. Although he played really well in the Minors, Valdez was only called up because of the Ryan O’hearn injury but if he continues to play and hit well then there might be a spot on this team.
The Pirates have now won three games in a row including winning the first two games of a four-game series against the Cubs. That is massive news because the Bucs were just 3-10 vs Chicago last year, and they already have four wins this year. Pittsburgh has two more games in this series against the Cubs with Bubba Chandler and Paul Skenes set to pitch.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Cubs baseball. Those two 10-game winning streaks feel like they were a long time ago as the Cubs dropped their 10th game in a row Tuesday night, falling 12-1 against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. It’s honestly an impressive amount of variance in their streakiness. The Cubs are in uncharted territory:
The Cubs are now the first team in MLB history to post two winning streaks of 10 or more games and a losing streak of 10 or more games by May 26. History.
There’s a lot of offensive blame to go around, but today I wanted to focus on the hitting fortunes of one player in particular: Moisés Ballesteros. Ballesteros started off the season red hot with a .338/.392/.620 slashline, including five home runs en route to a 183 wRC+ through his first 79 plate appearances in March and April. That’s cooled off considerably with the rookie hitting just .100/.200/.160 with just one home run and a wRC+ of 18 through 59 May plate appearances. Today, let’s take a closer look at Ballesteros’ struggles at the plate, because the real hitter is probably somewhere between these two extremes.
The good news is this snapshot of Ballesteros’ skills and expected results is pretty positive for the young hitter. It would be nice if the Chase % and Whiff % were a little lower (more on that in a second) but the underlying metrics, including a 90th percentile Hard Hit %, an 11.7% Barrel %, an above league average K% of 18.7% and a similarly above average BB% of 11.2% are all pieces to build and hope on for Cubs fans, so what changed in May?
The below charts make a pretty compelling case that at least in the last 15 games or so, it’s just bad BABIP luck, first up Ballesteros’ 15-game rolling wOBA, BABIP and Hard Hit %:
This is far and away the closest correlation of three stats, but the Hard Hit rate has recovered in the last 15 games or so and nothing tracks closer to Ballesteros’ actual wOBA than his BABIP. That’s going to be a running trend in these charts. As a reminder, wOBA is a fancy on-base percentage that gives you more credit for extra base hits and BABIP measures your batting average on balls in play, literally, was it a hit or not. BABIPs tend to coalesce around a mean, but that mean is different for different players. Ballesteros currently has a pretty limited sample for his MLB BABIP, last season he ran a hot .349 through 66 plate appearances. He’s currently sitting at a .256 through 138 plate appearances. For reference, during his last two full seasons in MiLB he ran BABIPs of .323 and .315 through full season samples.
So that .256 is quite unlucky relative to Ballesteros’ previous results and it’s not being driven by hard hit rate, at least not recently. What about ground ball rate?
Adding ground ball rate to the equation helps us understand a bit of the problem, it’s inversely correlated to Ballesteros’ recent results, although it’s a little all over the place early in the season. A number worth keeping an eye on for sure, although maybe not as closely tied to Ballesteros’ overall results as his hard hit rate is.
Last, but certainly not least,
Last, but certainly not least, we can look at that wOBA and BABIP result correlated with Ballesteros’ strikeout rate. Again, like with his ground ball rate, we can see that when Ballesteros is striking out more, he’s getting worse results.
In the last month, Ballesteros’ BABIP luck has been pretty bad. That appears to be correlated with both an increased strikeout rate and an increased ground ball rate. So I wanted to see if there were possible explanations for either, and as you can see below Ballesteros is seeing a few more breaking pitches as the season progresses. It looks like an adjustment the league is making to him, he’ll need to adjust back:
The silver lining is that we may already be seeing Ballesteros adjust, just without the results yet. Check out his last 10-games of work (minus yesterday, which did have some weak contact and two strikeouts):
That’s a lot of hard contact along with more walks that strikeouts. Critically, it’s also a lot of hard contact in the air (admittedly sometimes too high in the air, but in the air).
It’s going to be a season of adjustments for Ballesteros, but I’m cautiously optimistic the young hitter is in the process of figuring out this most recent adjustment. His BABIP in May has been .114, that screams positive regression on the horizon.
Aug 4, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Bailey Falter (36) on the mound against the Boston Red Sox in the third inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images
After a blowout on Tuesday, the Royals announced that starting pitcher Bailey Falter has been designated for assignment. Falter gave up seven runs to the Yankees, recording just seven outs. Mason Black was recalled from Triple-A Omaha. Falter appeared in five games this year, giving up 15 runs in 9.2 innings for a 13.97 ERA.
The Royals acquired Falter last summer from the Pirates for first baseman Callan Moss and pitcher Evan Sisk. Falter had been a useful pitcher for Pittsburgh in 2025, with a 3.73 ERA in 22 starts, but a low strikeout rate and a 4.91 FIP suggested perhaps he had been a bit lucky. He gave up 15 runs in 12 innings with the Royals before they shut him down in August with a bicep contusion.
The Royals decided to bring Falter back on a one-year, $3.6 million deal, hoping he could help provide some rotation depth. He gave up five runs in 3.1 innings over his first two starts before the team put him on the Injured List with elbow inflammation. He returned in mid-May, and was used for a spot start last week against Boston as the Royals suffered injuries to their starting rotation. He was called on to start again for the Royals on Tuesday, but immediately ran into trouble, giving up three home runs.
“I’ve been in the bullpen the past few days, been trying to do my bullpen routine,” Falter said. “Trying to stay ready, just in case I do get in the game. And then just another last-minute start. Kind of just throws a whole wrench in the plan.”
Falter ends his Royals career with the third-highest ERA in club history for anyone with at least ten innings. His contract is guaranteed, meaning the Royals are on the hook for the rest of his salary, unless he is claimed off waivers (minus the league minimum if he clears waivers and pitches for another MLB team).
Worst ERA, Royals club history (min. 10 IP) Justin Grimm 13.50 (12.2 IP) Albie Lopez 12.71 (22.2) Bailey Falter 12.46 (21.2) Blaine Boyer 12.05 (21.2) Allen McDill 11.70 (10)
Black was up earlier this year for the Royals and pitched 4.2 shutout innings over four games. The 26-year-old right-hander had a 6.53 ERA in 13 relief outings for Triple-A Omaha with 14 striekouts and 10 walks in 20.2 innings.
PITTSBURGH — Chicago Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd is scheduled to make the first of what is expected to be two rehab starts for Triple-A Iowa, the team said.
Boyd has been on the injured list since May 4 with a torn meniscus in his left knee that required surgery. He was injured when he sat down on the floor to play with his children.
Boyd is 2-1 with a 6.00 ERA in five starts this season. He was selected to the All-Star Game for the first time in his 12-year career last season.
Boyd threw a 52-pitch simulated game prior to a 12-1 loss the Pirates.
May 22, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Chad Patrick (39) and catcher William Contreras (24) celebrate a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images | Michael McLoone-Imagn Images
After dropping two of three to the Dodgers, the Brewers enter today’s finale against the Cardinals with a chance to complete a sweep and end their six-game homestand on a high note. Chad Patrick will go for Milwaukee opposite Dustin May.
This is Patrick’s first start since May 4, although it’s probably more of a multiple-inning opener situation than a true start for the right-hander, who hasn’t thrown more than four innings since April. Here’s what Brewers’ manager Pat Murphy said about his role a couple weeks ago:
“We know he’s a multiple-inning guy, but this role that he’s in right now could be used at the front end for four innings, or in the middle of the game for three or four innings, or in that one-inning role,” Murphy said.
Patrick has been excellent since moving to the bullpen, allowing just three total hits over 9 2/3 shutout innings while striking out nine.
Dustin May is the opposite of Patrick in that he’s made it through six innings in six of his last eight appearances. May’s season-long numbers (5.00 ERA, 1.426 WHIP) don’t look great, but that’s largely because he got shelled in his first two outings of the season. Since then, he’s been remarkably consistent, limiting opponents to three runs or fewer in seven of his last eight starts.
Christian Yelich is back in the leadoff spot after going 3-for-5 last night. In fact, today’s lineup is… exactly the same as yesterday’s, which is kind of funny for a team that started the season with 47 straight unique lineups. Joey Ortiz and Andrew Vaughn will both come off the bench for the second straight game.
Today’s first pitch is set for 12:40 p.m. As usual, you can catch the game on Brewers.TV, WTMJ 620, and the Brewers Radio Network.
