Baseball News
The Dodgers play the final game of the first homestand of the 2026 season with their ace on the mound, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The Dodgers’ first road game of the 2026 season comes in the nation’s capital, battling the Washington Nationals on Friday afternoon at Nationals Park. It’s the home opener for the Nats, with a daytime start to open the weekend series.
Emmet Sheehan starts the series opener on Friday, looking to rebound from his first start of the season, during which he allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings last Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Here is the Guardians’ lineup:
Here is the Dodgers’ lineup:
Let’s go, Guardians!
LOS ANGELES — Wednesday was a busy day for the Dodgers adding pitching depth to the 40-man roster. First came trading for left-hander Jake Eder, then in the afternoon the team claimed right-hander Grant Holman off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Holman pitched parts of the last two seasons in the majors with the Athletics, totaling a 4.66 ERA and 4.42 xERA in 40 games, with 33 strikeouts and 18 walks in 38 2/3 innings. He missed the final three and a half months of last season with rotator cuff tendinitis in his right shoulder.
The former sixth-round pick from 2021 in February was claimed off waivers from the A’s by the Diamondbacks in February. Arizona designated Holman for assignment last Wednesday in finalizing their opening day roster.
Holman, who turns 26 on May 31, has one year, 31 days of major league service time. He has two minor league option years remaining, having used an option year in 2025.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Holman, pitcher Gavin Stone was transferred to the 60-day injured list. It doesn’t change much regarding the timeline for Stone, who is pain-free in his right shoulder and just resumed throwing at Camelback Ranch in Arizona this week after getting shut down in spring training.
“I would say he’s pre-spring training, or right at the beginning,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Stone on Monday, meaning Stone still has to go through the usual spring progression and eventual building up of innings en route back to the majors, after missing all of 2025 after shoulder surgery.
Adding Stone to the 60-day injured list means he cannot return to the Dodgers before May 21.
Mental lapses during a game can happen in the early season, but it's rare when it happens to a veteran whose known for his sound play.
That's what happened to Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor on Wednesday. In an afternoon bereft of offense and timely hitting, Lindor's mental lapses stood out.
In the first, Lindor handled a groundball that was perfect to turn an inning-ending double play. However, Lindor calmly jogged to second base for the out and turned to the dugout. Lindor forgot how many outs there were, pushing starter Freddy Peralta to throw five more pitches.
"The groundball is the one that’s no excuses," manager Carlos Mendoza said of the mistake. "He’ll be the first one that tells you that."
And Lindor did, telling the media after the 2-1 extra-innings loss that he simply forgot how many outs there were.
"I made a mistake that probably cost Peralta to go an extra inning because he had to throw more pitches after that," Lindor said. "Inexcusable. He probably could have gone six, maybe seven. I just forgot the outs."
The mistake didn't cost the Mets any runs. Peralta finished the inning, striking out the next batter en route to throwing 92 pitches across 5.1 innings. The ace of the Mets staff allowed just one run, but it wasn't enough as the Mets offense pushed across just one run, but it potentially could have been more.
In the sixth, and the game scoreless, Lindor reached on an error with one out. With Juan Soto at the plate, Lindor was picked off without even a slide from the Mets shortstop.
Soto would homer three pitches later to give the Mets the lead. Unfortunately, it would not hold up as the Cardinals tied it in the bottom half of the inning and eventually won in the 11th.
"The pickoff, they got us there. [Lindor] was going to go, we thought we had a tip there and they got us with a quick, step-off move there," Mendoza said. "I wouldn’t consider that one as a mental mistake. He was trying to get some momentum there and be aggressive."
"I should have been better," Lindor said of the play. "That’s all I got."
If the Mets win on Wednesday, the mistakes are glossed over, but the loss puts a magnifying glass over a team that has struggled offensively. After scoring 11 runs in their Opening Day win against the Pirates, the Mets have pushed across just 12 runs over their next five games. On Wednesday, the Mets were 0-for-11 with RISP and left 11 runners on base.
Lindor is not too concerned with the offense's early-season struggles. The Mets (3-3) still have 156 games to go in the season.
"Our pitchers have done a tremendous job. We gotta score runs for them," Lindor said. "It’s one of those that you hope to put it together as many times as you can during the year. We have put it together, just not every day. Gotta go out there, continue to believe in each other, pass the baton. I trust the guy behind me more than I trust myself. It’s that type of mentality. We’re going to be on top more times than not."
The Mets will hope to turn their struggles around when they open a four-game series against the Giants in San Francisco starting Thursday.
HOUSTON, TX – Once upon a time, he was the de facto leader of Crush City. Today, Captain Crush was back.
Carlos Correa, who has been open about his excitement of being back in Houston for a whole season and the high expectations he has for this team, hit a 3-run homer in the fifth to put the Astros ahead for good as Houston completed a 3-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox today at Daikin Park.
Correa demolished a 1-2 slider from Red Sox All-Star starter Garrett Crochet (L, 1-1) 402 feet and into the Crawfish Boxes to give the Astros a 5-2 lead.
Correa’s shot left like a laser at 106.7 MPH. Correa is hitting .296 through 7 games with an .811 OPS. The HR gave the Astros a lead they would never relinquish on the way to a 6-4 victory.
Correa spoke with SCHN’s Julia Morales postgame:
Correa’s bomb made a winner of starter Mike Burrows, whose second start was notably better than his first. Burrows threw 5 innings of 2 run ball, allowing 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6. Burrows improved to 1-1 on the season.
The Astros also got run producing contributions from Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker, as well as a solo HR from catcher Christian Vazquez:
Relievers A.J. Blubaugh and Bryan King each pitched clean innings for the Astros in the 6th and 7th innings. Blubaugh registered a strikeout and King had a pair of Ks.
Bryan Abreu came on for the 9th in a save situation at 6-3. He surrendered a solo home run to the Red Sox’ leadoff man in the 9th, Roman Anthony, but then settled down and struck out the next 3 batters for his first save of the season.
More importantly, Abreu was back throwing his fastball in his more customary 96-97 MPH range.
With the victory, the Astros improved to 5-2 on the season, and lead the AL West by a half-game over the Texas Rangers.
They will have an off day Thursday and then open a 3-game series Friday in Sacramento against the Athletics. Cristian Javier will get the start Friday against Jeffrey Springs.
Last week, the WNBA established a historic seven-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that will run through 2032, paving the way for astronomical league growth. In what will be marked as one of the biggest breakthroughs in women’s professional sports, the WNBA has proven that league growth, competitive parity and expansion are not mutually exclusive.
MLB, on the other hand, is at a pivotal intersection of balancing competitive parity and league growth. The league is staring down an almost guaranteed lose-lose scenario with the current CBA expiring at the end of this year, and salary floors and potential ceilings are nowhere near agreed upon. If the league and team owners want to preserve as much of the 2027 season as possible, they may want to borrow one distinct element from the WNBA’s CBA: scaled player compensation.
In their recently-ratified CBA, the WNBA raised its salary floors and caps to acknowledge the league’s massive boom in the last five years.
Maximum player salaries may grow to up to $2.4 million, based on financial projections. WNBA players are also guaranteed at least 20% of the league’s gross revenue, replacing the previous revenue-sharing model that required league revenue to exceed a specific threshold before players saw any returns.
The increased player compensation corrects previous underpayments and sets a scalable economic system for future growth and league establishment, tying player salaries directly to league performance.
MLB’s economic structure differs greatly, as revenue doesn’t automatically scale with league engagement.
For starters, player salaries aren’t tied directly to revenue. Salaries increase through free market competition, with team revenue growth and superstars serving as the main drivers for market rates in free agency and arbitration. MLB players have traditionally made as much as teams wanted to pay them. Mechanisms for limiting salary during a player’s initial six years of team control also cut into potential player profits. Long story short, front offices have a heavy hand in balancing salaries with revenue.
In turn, revenue sharing isn’t guaranteed for MLB players. Profits from revenue sharing from local markets are distributed to teams, not players. Players are at the mercy of owners to reap what they sow. Adjustments to the revenue-sharing model would likely require players to concede to a salary cap.
The dramatic contrasts between a league intentionally designed to scale with anticipated growth and a league having to backtrack and update its structures to preserve its fan base result in severe economic disparity. Using ESPN’s table of WNBA salaries by CBA year and Spotrac’s minimum and highest AAV MLB salaries by CBA year, I recorded salary changes in each league from 2015 to 2026. The results were astonishing.
The lowest-paid WNBA players will make at least 20% of the salary earned by the highest-paid players, while the lowest-paid MLB players make less than 2% of the salary earned by the highest-paid ballplayers. The millions, that’s right, millions of dollars of pay gap is the crux of the problem. Since international market growth, historic media deals, shifts toward direct-to-consumer streaming, and increases in fan attendance have made MLB an $11.1 billion industry, grave salary disparities among MLB players are unjustifiable.
If MLB decides to directly tie salaries to league revenue in the next CBA, it could transform the game for the future. Tightening the pay gap between rookies and stars would incentivize winning and stellar performance. Rewarding players for their contributions on the field through direct revenue sharing or salary scaling would introduce invisible pay structures that preserve the traditional free market economic system without letting the rich get richer at the expense of the prospects and young talent that serve as the foundation for baseball’s development.
The story of the Yankees’ 2026 season so far has been all about the pitching. They opened the season with two shutouts, courtesy of Max Fried and Cam Schlittler. The second time through the rotation began on Tuesday night, and Fried continued his good work, once again not allowing a run.
That set the stage for Schlittler’s second start of the season. Much like Fried did, Schlittler followed a similar scrips to his first start of the season. In 6.1 innings, Schlittler allowed no runs on just two hits and no walks, while striking out seven. His rise since his callup last season remains remarkable.
On the offensive side of things, Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt led the way, each homering and driving home all five runs between them. As it turned out, the bullpen made it so that all the runs were needed, as Seattle threatened in the eighth and ninth innings. However, the efforts of Schlittler, Rice, and Goldschmidt proved to be enough as the Yankees took the series in Seattle with a 5-3 win over the Mariners.
The Yankees used a two-out rally to take an early lead in the first. While Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge went down in order, Cody Bellinger managed to keep the inning alive by working a walk. Then, he continued the Yankees’ aggressiveness on the basepaths early on this season, stealing second. That allowed him to score as Rice got one past Josh Naylor and into the right field corner for a RBI double.
George Kirby settled down for Seattle after that, but Schlittler was also dominating in the meantime. Him holding things down allowed the Yankees to eventually build on their lead, thanks to an unexpected source.
While Grisham led off the sixth inning with a walk, Kirby then got the next two outs. Once again though, the Yankees came through with two down. Rice kept the inning alive with a walk of his own, bringing Goldschmidt to the plate. Despite it being 2026 and Kirby being a right-handed pitcher, Goldschmidt managed to do the damage, hitting a three-run shot to increase the lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Schlittler retired Julio Rodríguez for a third time and was sitting on 79 pitches. At that point, Aaron Boone came out of the dugout and went to the bullpen, going with Fernando Cruz, who ended the inning without issue.
Camilo Doval entered for the eighth inning and got two outs, but also gave up a couple hits. He then walked Brendan Donovan on four pitches, which set up Cal Raleigh as the potential game-tying run. At that point, Boone decided to call on closer David Bednar. Bednar couldn’t fully escape the inning, as Raleigh got him for a two-run single, but he did strike out Rodríguez to keep the lead intact.
Right after that, the Yankees got some helpful insurance. Rice struck again, absolutely obliterating a home run to lead off the top of the ninth.
Bednar remained in for the bottom of the ninth, and did allow another run after giving up hits to Randy Arozarena and Dominic Canzone. Representing the game-tying run, Cole Young then made Bednar work, and eventually took an offering to deep right field. However, it stayed in play and eventually ended up in Judge’s glove for the final out of the game. The victory gave the Yankees a 5-1 record on their west coast swing and two series victories to start the new year.
With that, the Yankees have finally wrapped up their season-opening road trip. After getting tomorrow off, they’ll head to the Bronx for Friday’s home opener against the Marlins. Will Warren will get the start opposite Eury Pérez in that one.
Project Hail Mary and The Martian by Andy Weir: Brendan Donovan (+.07 WPA)
Artemis by Andy Weir: Julio Rodriguez (-.16 WPA)
The Mets went out and made some drastic changes to their roster over the offseason after a hugely disappointing season, which ended without a playoff berth. A lot of those changes were to their lineup, breaking up a core that had been together for some time in order to give the team a new look and a fresh start.
One of the most glaring issues for New York's offense last year was its inability to capitalize on chances with runners in scoring position. In fact, not only did the Mets overhaul their lineup, but they also retooled their hitting department by bringing in new hitting coaches in hopes that they could correct the RISP problem that plagued them so often last year.
But just six games into the season, that problem is rearing its ugly head.
One day after being shut out and held to three hits, New York went 0-for-11 with RISP and left 11 men on base in a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The worst of it came in the top of the 11th inning when the Mets loaded the bases with one out, a golden opportunity to push across at least one run, but came up empty.
Before that, New York was unable to drive in the free runner in the 10th inning and couldn't get pinch-runner Jared Young home in the ninth after Jorge Polanco's leadoff double.
Even in their series-opening win on Monday, the Mets finished 1-for-14 with RISP. In Sunday's loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, they went 2-for-10 with RISP and on Saturday, a win, 3-for-14. Aside from Opening Day's 11-run outburst, New York is averaging 2.4 runs per game.
"I feel like with runners in scoring position, there’s a few things there," said manager Carlos Mendoza. "Ultra aggressive at times, expanding [the strike zone] at times, as well, with some of the guys. We just gotta get back to what we do well, which is controlling the strike zone, getting good pitches to hit and doing damage. Good hitters that right now for a couple of games they’re not getting it done."
Following a season filled with this familiar phenomenon and the upheaval that took place to try and rectify it, seeing it happening again so soon (and after the offense teased its potential on Opening Day) is certainly disheartening.
Still, the season isn't even a week old yet and Mendoza believes things will change and doesn't see a through line between last year's offense and this year's offense, saying it's "completely different guys, different lineups."
"It’s two games," the skipper said. "Yes, we gotta make some adjustments, but they’re good hitters and right now for the last couple of games we haven’t gotten the job done."
While it's still early and a relatively small sample size, things need to change soon so that a fan base who went through it last season and might still hold some emotional scars doesn't completely come down on the team.
Cam Schlittler continued a string of dominance for Yankees starters and Paul Goldschmidt's homer provided enough offense as New York defeated the Mariners, 5-3, on Wednesday afternoon in Seattle to pick up the series win.
The Yankees (5-1) have now won both series to start the season. Yankees starters have also allowed just one run in the team's first six games.
-Yankees starters entered Wednesday's game allowing just one run through the first five games, but the Mariners lineup threatened Schlittler in the first. Brendan Donovan hit a leadoff double, but the young right-hander struck out Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez before getting Josh Naylor to fly out to end the threat.
After allowing a one-out hit in the second, Schlittler retired 11 straight batters and was through five innings, throwing just 55 pitches. He'd extend that streak to 14 batters through six innings. The only thing that could get to Schlittler was his pitch count, which was limited considering he is still being built up.
Schlittler tossed 6.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, no walks and striking out seven batters. He threw 79 pitches (58 strikes).
In his first two starts, Schlittler has thrown 11.2 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts, and has allowed only three baserunners (all hits).
-With a varied lineup, the Yankees got to George Kirby early. Cody Bellinger worked a two-out walk and stole second, and Ben Rice -- starting as the DH -- lined a double down the right field line to give the Yankees an early 1-0 lead.
Goldschmidt, starting at first base, broke the game open in the sixth with a two-out, three-run bomb off of Kirby.
-In relief of Schlittler, the Yankees bullpen did its job. Fernando Cruz got the two outs to finish the seventh for Schlittler before Camilo Doval -- who has dominated early on -- pitched into trouble. He allowed back-to-back one-out singles to put runners on the corners. Doval struck out Leo Rivas but walked Donovan to load the bases for Raleigh.
Manager Aaron Boone pulled Doval for David Bednar, but the Yankees closer couldn't get the MVP runner-up, as the Mariners backstop dumped a two-run single to cut their lead to 4-2. Bednar would get Rodriguez to strike out on a 2-2 splitter to preserve the lead. It was a seven-pitch AB for Rodriguez that Bednar won.
Bednar would allow a run in the ninth on two hits, but eventually locked down his third save of the season after tossing 40 pitches (27 strikes).
-Rice would get one of those runs back in the ninth with a leadoff solo shot, his first of the season.
It took a bit for the Yankees offense to get going, but Schlittler held down the Mariners long enough for that Goldschmidt bomb.
Ben Rice opens the scoring as Cody Bellinger scores! pic.twitter.com/W9qkalcB99
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026
A 3-run homer for Paul Goldschmidt! pic.twitter.com/b2k6KezRJc
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026
Cam Schlittler is DEALING pic.twitter.com/6tgDriRhWP
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026
The Yankees are off Thursday before heading back to the Bronx for their home opener. They'll take on the upstart Miami Marlins for a three-game series starting Friday at 1:35 p.m.
Will Warren will take the mound for his second start this season and will be up against Eury Perez.
After the day off following the home opening win, the Royals are hopefully not going to get rained out for their second game in the Twins series. A win tonight would mean that Kansas City would win their first in division series of 2026 with a potential sweep set up for tomorrow.
Standing in the way of a Royals victory tonight will be their nemesis, Joe Ryan. In 11 career starts against the Royals, Ryan has a 2.02 ERA, though the Royals did finally get to him last September putting up 5 runs in just 2 innings. Opposing Ryan will be Noah Cameron for the first start of his sophomore season. He was great as a rookie and will hopefully continue that success this year.
With the Royals sitting at 2-2, this is a chance for their first foray into winning record territory. The teams will do battle with these lineups:
Nothing unusual from the Royals lineup for tonight.
See you all at 6:40 for first pitch!
On an extremely cold and windy afternoon at Wrigley Field that really wasn’t suitable for baseball, Matthew Boyd looked like the Boyd of 2025 in getting to the sixth inning and striking out 10 Angels hitters.
That, some solid relief and timely hitting by the Cubs led to a 6-2 victory and a series win over the visitors from Anaheim.
The first hitter of the game, Zach Neto, singled off Boyd.
Then Boyd did something he did so well last year — picked him off [VIDEO].
Boyd then retired the next eight Angels in a row — until Neto walked leading off the fourth. Then Boyd set down six more Angels consecutively.
While all this was going on, the Cubs put together a nice rally in the fifth with only one extra-base hit. Miguel Amaya, serving as DH in this one, led off with a walk. That XBH, a double by Nico Hoerner, followed, with Amaya scoring on a close play [VIDEO].
Oddly, no review was asked for, and it appeared Angels manager Kurt Suzuki waited too long to ask for one, because he then had a rather animated discussion with the umpires. Anyway, Alex Bregman was next and singled in Nico [VIDEO].
Ian Happ hit into a force play, but Neto threw the ball into the dugout, so Happ took second. Carson Kelly followed with a walk and a single by Michael Busch loaded the bases.
Dansby Swanson’s sac fly made it 3-0 [VIDEO].
Matt Shaw followed that with this RBI single [VIDEO].
Another RBI single by Pete Crow-Armstrong made it 5-0 [VIDEO].
That’s a really good long-sequence offense, each hitter adding something down the line. No one was going to hit the ball out of Wrigley Field in this one, not with a 21 mile per hour wind blowing in. So the Cubs hitters adjusted their offense to fit the conditions. Well done.
Boyd allowed another single to Neto in the sixth — after he struck out the first two hitters — and when Mike Trout then walked, Boyd was removed to applause from the maybe 10,000 (of 25,125 paid) who showed up in the miserable conditions. Both runners scored, unfortunately. Hunter Harvey’s first pitch to Jo Adell was hit for a single up the middle and then a ball hit by Jorge Soler went under Bregman’s glove for an error, making one of the two runs unearned.
This was an outstanding outing from Boyd [VIDEO].
Here are Boyd’s 10 strikeouts [VIDEO].
More on Boyd’s 10-K outing from BCB’s JohnW53:
Matthew Boyd is the 24th different Cub to strike out at least seven batters in each of his first two starts of a season. The previous five had been Travis Wood, in 2014; Jon Lackey, Jon Lester and Jose Quintana, all in 2017; and Tyler Chatwood, in 2020.
All of their streaks ended in their third start. The last to go beyond two games was Rich Harden, who went four games in 2009. He had set the team record of five games in 2008. He, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood all did it in two seasons.
Only one Cub notched double-digit strikeouts last season: Colin Rea, who had 11 in 7.0 innings of a 1-0 loss at Cincinnati on Sept. 18. He was the first in more than a year, since Shota Imanaga had 11 in 6.0 at home vs. the Athletics on Sept. 16, 2024. That was the Cubs’ sixth such game of 2024: three by Imanaga and one each by Ben Brown, Justin Steele and Jameson Taillon.
Harvey continued in relief in the seventh, retiring the side in order. The Cubs scored a sixth run in the seventh. Kelly led off with a routine fly ball to center that was dropped by Trout. That was really odd; it didn’t look like Trout had trouble with the wind, he just dropped the ball. Kelly wound up on second. He went to third on a single by Busch, and one out later scored on this Shaw single [VIDEO].
Caleb Thielbar threw a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts and Daniel Palencia finished things up in the ninth in a non-save situation. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].
Cubs pitchers struck out 16 in this game. More on that from John:
That was the Cubs’ most strikeouts since they fanned 6 in a 14-1 rout of the Pirates at home on Sept. 19, 2023. They walked two. Their last game was at least 16 strikeouts and no more than two walks was 16 and two in a 3-2 win over the Rockies at home on July 29, 2015.
One more note before I wrap this up. The Angels challenged two calls of strike three and were wrong on both.
On Oswald Peraza in the seventh [VIDEO].
And on Neto in the eighth [VIDEO].
The K zone you see on broadcasts now is the exact ABS box, so as you can see on both of those, the pitch was within the zone. It wasn’t a bad strategic choice by the Angels, late in the game with the possibility of extending the at-bat, but they guessed wrong both times.
About the weather: It was as bad as you heard during the broadcast. The wind was strong and the temp at 39 didn’t really rise much, if at all, throughout the game. I am going to have more to say about this weather and scheduling tomorrow, presuming I thaw out by then. Per baseball-reference.com, for games on which they have reported game-time temperatures, this was just the 10th game ever at Wrigley Field with a game-time temperature of 39 or lower and a wind speed of 21 miles per hour or higher.
In the meantime, the Cubs won the series. A 3-3 homestand isn’t what we wanted, but as was pointed out to me before the game, this win means the Cubs are one win ahead of where they were after six games last year. Yes, the opponents last year were better teams but… this start to the season should be nothing to worry about, especially after seeing Boyd’s outing today (and Jameson Taillon’s Tuesday, and Edward Cabrera’s on Monday). This team will be just fine.
The Cubs will enjoy their off day Thursday and then head to Cleveland to begin a three-game series against the Guardians Friday. The Friday game is Cleveland’s home opener. Cade Horton will start for the Cubs. At this writing the Guardians do not have a starter listed, though if they stay on rotation it should be left-hander Joey Cantillo. Game time Friday is 3:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
After a one hour plus rain delay, the Mets and Cardinals matched up in a pitcher’s duel, with Liberatore carrying a no-no into the fifth inning. The taut pitcher’s duel was interrupted by a Juan Soto solo HR in the 6th, but matched up by a key two-out, two-strike RBI single by Nolan Gorman to knot the score up. The 1-1 tie carried into the 11th inning, when a bloop single by Masyn Winn brought home the extra runner (JJ Wetherholt) for a Cardinal walk-off victory.
Mathew Liberatore pitched six strong innings giving up 3 hits, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K. The Cardinals bullpen held serve for 5 more innings, pitching very sharp with the exception of Roycroft’s struggles in the tenth. Graceffo pulled a magic act escaping a bases-loaded, one-out situation and is rewarded with the walk-off win.
The Cardinals take the series, 2-1 and end the homestand 4-2. Well done by the home team. On to Detroit after an off-day tomorrow.
A view from the box score, for those who want a deeper sense of the game.
T1 – Libby starts out inducing weak contact. P6. 5-3. F9.
B1 – Wetherholt K’s. Can already see teams are peppering him high and away. The last two strikes were out of the zone, following a take on a borderline strike. Herrera singles. Burly GIDP, except Lindor forgot there was only one out and didn’t throw to first. Oops. Fielder’s indifference? Winn K’s to end the inning.
T2 – Another smooth inning for Libby. L4. 5-3. 5-3.
B2 – Gorman lines out. Sags K’s. Church with a deep fly. It must be a get-away day after a rain delay with the fast pace of the game <checks notes>.
T3 – 6-3. 1-3. 4-3. Nine up, nine down. 34 pitches first time threw the line-up. Very sharp.
B3 – Pages grounds out. Scott II K’s. Wetherholt gets a second look at Peralta. An ABS challenge goes his way (on an away pitch, of course). JJW K’s. Peralta is matching Libby with zeros and teaching an absolute master level class on how to live on the edge and then just off it with 2 strikes. He, too, is very, very sharp.
T4 – F7. K. L7.
B4 – Herrera grounds out. Burleson grounds out. Masyn Winn lines out. And the beat goes on.
T5 – L7. Sags has handled himself well today defensively. 6-3 on a nice play by Winn. Robert’s AB included a successful ABS challenge by Pages. Vientos breaks up Libby’s no-no with a 2-out double. Semien follows with a walk, following an unsuccessful ABS challenge by Pages. Libby pitching out of the stretch, just missing. Libby closes it out with a K. Still tied, 0-0.
B5 – Gorman walks. Saggese advances him with a single. Church grounds into force play after two unsuccessful bunt attempts. Church advances to 2nd on a weird wild pitch. Alvarez blocked a pitch, and then seemed to forget about Church, who then took second. Pages K’s. Scott II grounds out, stranding two.
T6 – P9. Followed by E-5, but then Lindor gets picked off while drifting off first base. Libby was paying attention, Lindor was not. Soto hits solo HR. Bichette singles. Polanco F9. Mets now up 1-0.
B6 – Wetherholt singles. Herrera walks. Burly K. Winn pops out. Gorman picks everyone up with key two-out RBI single. Brozoban in for Peralta, who pitched extremely well. Sags K’s. Now 1-1.
T7 – Stanek replaces Liberatore, who was really, really good. Lead-off single. F9. K. An E-2 (catcher’s interference) ended Stanek’s outing. Romero relieves and gets a key strikeout. Still 1-1.
B7 – Raley in for Brazoban. Walker backwards K. Pages K. Scott bunts out 1-3.
T8 – 6-3. F9. 6-3. Romero very sharp.
B8 – Weaver in for Raley. F9. K. L9.
T9 – O’Brien in for Romero. Double. K. 6-3. K. Dominance.
B9 – Williams replaced Weaver. Winn walks. Gorman lines out to right. Winn steals second to put winning run in scoring position, but F9 and another Walker K quelled the rally. Extra innings ahead, 1-1.
T10 – Bruihl in for O’Brien. Semien is the runner at second. A skipper back to Bruihl catches Semien off, but poor execution on the run down results in the batter getting to second. P6. Walk. P4 gets a big out on Soto. Nice job by Bruihl to keep the extra runner stranded. 1-1.
B10– Myers in for Williams. Pages K (his third). Scott 4-3. Wetherholt 3-1. Nothing doing here.
T11 – Roycroft in for Bruihl. Soto the extra runner. Bichette bangs one off Roycroft that became 6-3 with Soto to third. A pair of subsequent walks ended Roycroft’s outing. The wheels came off for him. The poise he was showing in spring has evaporated. Graceffo in. 4-2 force at home holds the tie. F9 allows Graceffo to wiggle out of the inning. Great job! Good moment for him. Still 1-1.
B11 – Wetherholt is the extra runner. Herrera IBB. Burleson GIDP takes the wind out of the sails, but a bloop by Winn that drops brings home some walk-off magic, 2-1 Cardinals.
West Coast game times, we won’t miss you! The initial two series of the Tigers season have been rough for anyone with a strict bedtime, and the results have been more mixed than fans would have liked, but the Tigers took to the field on Wednesday hoping to keep the Diamondbacks from completing the series sweep. They’d have Tarik Skubal on the mound, always a good place to start when you want to win a game. The DBacks, meanwhile, were counting on Zac Gallen, who was hoping to have a better game today than his first outing of the season.
Gallen collected two quick outs to start the first inning, but Gleyber Torres kept things alive for the Tigers with a sharply hit single to left. Unfortunately the Tigers weren’t able to keep the momentum up and a fly out ended the inning. Unfortunately, things started to go badly for the Tigers almost immediately in the bottom of the inning as Corbin Carroll hit a one-out solo home run. Skubal got the next two outs, but the DBacks were first on the board.
It was another quick 1-2-3 for the Tigers in the top of the second. Ildemaro Vargas kicked off the home half with a single, but he was soon eliminated in a double play off the bat of Nolan Arenado.
In the third, Colt Keith got a two-out double, but it wasn’t enough to get something going for the Tigers. In the home half, Tim Tawa started things off with a leadoff double, but Skubal was able to steer the ship back in the right direction, following up that gaffe with three consecutive outs.
The Tigers went down in order in the fourth, but the DBacks did much the same in the bottom of the inning, keeping things nice and even.
The game motored right along into the fifth, and with one out in the inning. Matt Vierling sucessfully challenged a strike call to stay alive, then used it to his advantage to work his way to a single. The Tigers didn’t manage to take advantage of the baserunner, and the score stayed at 0-1 heading into the bottom of the inning. Arenado got a leadoff single, but was eliminated by a double play off the bat of Jose Fernandez. Tim Tawa reached in a throwing error by Javier Baez, who overthrew a toss to first that pulled Colt Keith off the bag. Jordan Lawler singled, but the DBacks were also struggling to convert baserunners and Skubal got out of the jam.
In the top of the sixth Kevin McGonigle legged out his first career triple with one out in the inning. It’s too bad that Torres managed to groud into an ill-place double play. Corbin Carroll singled to start the home half. A double play and a groundout followed in quick succession, however, to end the inning and show that Skubal remains a force to be reckoned with.
Gallen’s day was done after six, making way for Taylor Clarke. Clarke gave up a one-out single to Dillon Dingler, but two outs followed to leave him stranded. Skubal plowed through the order in the bottom of the inning, getting the DBacks out 1-2-3. That was likely it for Skubal, whose line for the game was 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR on 87 pitches. Not his best outing to be sure and the strikeout numbers were low, but aside from the first inning slip-up with Carroll, it was a good outing from Skubal.
Juan Morillo was next out of the DBacks bullpen, and he got the Tigers out in order as the Detroit bats fell silent. Kyle Finnegan was the first out of the Tigers’ pen after Skubal’s start. A comebacker to start the inning had him checking his reflexes. With two outs, he walked Ketel Marte. He then walked Carroll, which is better than giving up a home run, but not by much. After Dingler came out to help set Finnegan right, they turned around to get the final out of the inning.
It was the Tigers’ last opportunity to try and make something happen. They’d be up against Jonathan Loaisiga. McGonigle wasn’t going to go down without a fight, squaring off against Loaisiga and getting a perfectly-placed single into center. Torres once again hit a ball to precisely the wrong place, hitting into another double play and likely ending the Tigers’ opportunity to come back. Riley Greene doubled into center, following the old adage to hit ‘em where they ain’t. The effort was there, but it didn’t pay off. A Dingler groundout ended the inning and the game. The Tigers suffered their first sweep of the season, and this time they were shut out as well.