Category: Baseball

Hello, friends.

It’s a two for the price of one kind of day for the Orioles today. When I was a younger person, these events were not to be missed. If your life leaves you free to get to Camden Yards today, I heartily recommend going. You can probably get a cheap ticket on the secondary market and you can hang out and watch five or six hours of Orioles baseball. Sure, they might suck. A certain horrendous blowout was the first game of a doubleheader. Anything might happen. That’s part of what makes it interesting.

Even on a day where they were rained out, the Orioles managed to introduce some chaos into the roster picture. On Wednesday night, the team announced that Trevor Rogers has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 26 – the day after his most recent start. Rogers’s injury was listed as “illness.” I will tell you as someone who’s been writing for this website a long time that “illness” doesn’t come along too often as an IL explanation, at least not that we’re several years beyond the peak pandemic time. Hopefully Rogers is back to good health soon.

As an immediate replacement for Rogers on the roster, the team has recalled reliever Cameron Foster. This sets up a likely second roster move to bring up a starting pitcher for tomorrow, the day that the Orioles would have had Rogers pitch otherwise. No one seems to fit for that on the roster right now. Cade Povich, who last pitched on Sunday, seems like a decent candidate there. He has been back down with Norfolk for long enough to be recalled without needing any “replace an injured player” finagling.

Today’s doubleheader probably means one more pitcher gets added to the roster for today only. A doubleheader day allows for a 27th man to be added to the roster. This can be a player who was recently optioned to the minors and otherwise within the 10 day limit. Jose Espada, you might be getting one more day of big league pay today.

A little farther down the road, one further side effect of today’s doubleheader is that the team will need a starting pitching solution for Sunday as well. With both Chris Bassitt and Brandon Young pitching today, neither one of them will be on regular rest when Monday rolls around. That’s a problem to be solved on Monday, assuming they can get through the weekend without anyone getting hurt. Perhaps recently DFA’d, released, and re-signed pitcher Albert Suárez will come back from his new minor league contract for a spot start. And then maybe even designated for assignment again.

The single admission doubleheader is set to get under way at 12:35 this afternoon, with the second game following roughly 30 minutes after the completion of the first game.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

The only thing consistent about the Orioles is their inconsistency. They’re not sure why. (The Baltimore Banner)
Going back to last year and continuing in a somewhat different way through the first part of this season, the Orioles just can’t put everything together for long stretches of good play even though it seems like a lot of the pieces should be there.

Orioles prove that sometimes baseball is a confidence game (Baltimore Baseball)
Peter Schmuck thinks the Orioles bounced back nicely from a disappointing weekend. But, added to the above, can they stay bounced back for another few games in a row?

For Pete Alonso, is the “want to” getting in the way? (Steve Melewski)
I’m really going to be glad when Alonso has raised his OPS by more than 100 points and we don’t have to get stories like this one any longer.

Pete Alonso, elite defender? This tiny glove explains why. (The Baltimore Sun)
It’s hardly the weirdest baseball practice technique I’ve ever heard. If it works for him, great.

Now dad of four sons (including newborn twins), Kittredge back to dealing out of Orioles pen (Orioles.com)
Kittredge had his injury rehab assignment interrupted for the paternity list. That combination doesn’t happen every day.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Through 29 games a year ago, the Orioles were 11-18. They lost the 29th game to the Yankees by a 15-3 score, falling to 11-18. Kyle Gibson was blasted for nine runs in 3.2 innings and they never had a chance. The Orioles won the next two games, though, so they’d have to sweep the doubleheader here today to remain the same distance ahead after 31 games.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2021-22 pitcher Zac Lowther, 2019 catcher Jesús Sucre, and 1997-99 infielder Jeff Reboulet. Today is Reboulet’s 62nd birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777), Challenger pilot Michael J. Smith (1945), actress Kirsten Dunst (1982), and actress Ana de Armas (1988).

On this day in history…

In 1492, Spain commissioned Christopher Columbus, naming him as admiral of the open sea, as well as viceroy and governor of any territory that he discovered on his exploration.

In 1789, George Washington took the oath of office to become the first president of the United States. As the capital was in New York City at the time, this oath was administered at Federal Hall on Wall Street.

In 1803, the United States completed the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France. Exactly nine years later, a part of that territory dubbed the Orleans Territory was admitted as a state called Louisiana, the 18th state of the union.

In 1975, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon was captured by North Vietnamese forces. The Vietnam War came to an end with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!

The Detroit Tigers fell under the .500 mark on Wednesday night after a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. It was the team’s second-straight defeat and fourth in the past five games.

After failing to capitalize on a Tarik Skubal start, the Motor City Kitties turn to left-hander Framber Valdez to prevent a road sweep that would end the interleague swing with a disappointing 3-6 mark. To be fair, the Braves are the best team in the big leagues right now, holding a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the overall standings heading into Thursday.

As for Valdez, the Tigers have won four of his six starts this season, though he has thrown just seven innings once. With the exception of one glaring outlier, he has done a great job keeping the opposition off the scoreboard, but unfortunately, that was not the case last time he faced Atlanta.

He previously pitched in Truist Park on behalf of the Houston Astros last year on Sept. 14 and gave up five runs on six hits (one home run) and four walks while striking out two over four frames for the loss.

Opposite Valdez is right-hander Bryce Elder, who is in his fifth major league season — all coming with the Braves — after being drafted in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB draft. He saw the Tigers in his penultimate appearance last season on Sept. 19, throwing seven innings of one-run ball on five hits (including a solo home run) and one walk while striking out seven in the win.

Hopefully, past performance does not predict future results. Here is how the two hurlers match up for Thursday’s early afternoon matchup starting at 12:15 p.m. ET.

Detroit Tigers (15-16) vs. Atlanta Braves (22-9)

Time (ET): 12:15 p.m.
Place: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
SB Nation Site:Battery Power
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 32: LHP Framber Valdez (2-1, 3.41 ERA) vs. RHP Bryce Elder (3-1, 1.95 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Valdez	6	34.1	16.2	9.5	53.2	3.80	0.6
Elder	6	37.0	21.2	6.8	47.1	3.13	0.8

VALDEZ

ELDER

The Atlanta Braves appear to be back in that mode that we were used to seeing from a lot of these players during their run to the World Series in 2021 and their extremely successful regular seasons in 2022 and 2023. This is a squad that’s going to be incredibly competitive for all 27 outs of any given game and indeed, the Tigers and their struggling bullpen (Kenley Jansen in particular) got another example of it after the Braves won in walk-off fashion to pick up the series win on Wednesday night.

The walk-off blow came from Matt Olson, who has been swinging the bat as well as anybody in baseball at the moment. Going into Wednesday night’s action, Olson was tied with Bobby Witt Jr., Ben Rice and Nico Hoerner for fourth place in fWAR among all qualified players and tied for first in that same department among first basemen with Rice. Olson was also sitting in the top five in wRC+ among qualified hitters with 169 so far and that number is now at 175 after he clubbed the walk-off dinger that propelled the Braves to a come-from-behind victory.

It was also Olson’s first walk-off home run as a member of the Braves — which is kind of wild to think about considering that he’s been here since 2022. This was the first time he’d done it since July 24, 2020 which means that this was actually his first time doing it in front of fans since all the way back in 2019, which is when he went deep off of then-Milwaukee Brewers closer Josh Hader in order to send all the Oakland A’s fans home that night. This time, Olson got to do it in front of his hometown crowd for his hometown team.

Simply put, the Braves are playing with a ton of confidence right now and it’s showing based on the overwhelming positive results that they’ve been getting so far. I asked Olson in the post-game press conference where his confidence level was at at the moment and it’s clear that the level was very high at the moment.

“Obviously success is going to breed confidence — personally and as a team,” responded Olson. “It’s nicer when you’re playing winning baseball and you don’t feel like you have to be the guy every single night. That takes stuff off your plate and it actually helps everybody in the lineup. If we keep winning ballgames, hopefully we can keep snowballing this confidence until the end of the year.”

Olson was also asked by the media about how it feels to be winning all of these games in every type of fashion — but especially the dramatic fashion like this as well. Olson’s response seemed to indicate that the confidence is coming from multiple angles at this point and it really feels like they’re on a serious roll at the moment.

“Yeah it starts to feel like [we can find a way to win any game], the more wins you put together that way,” stated Olson. “I said the other day that we’ve had innings where we’ve put up five, six and seven-spots. It makes you feel like you’re in every ballgame when you feel like you can do that.”

Kenley Jansen suffered his third blown save of the season already and his second blown save in a row after the Reds walked him off back on April 24. While there may have been a bit of familiarity there for Olson since he and Jansen were teammates back in 2022, he did tell the media that it was still pretty tough to deal with the cutter.

“His cutter is his best pitch. I saw Ozzie swing over the top of a couple of them so I was wondering if it wasn’t getting that carry today,” noted Olson. “Especially when [Ozzie] was on first, I was trying to keep the double play out of order and set my sights a little higher than I typically would. He kind of just left it over the middle.”

He left it over the middle and Olson got just enough of it to send it into the bullpen and send Truist Park into a state of delirium. Manager Walt Weiss was asked about how he felt about the whole situation and whether or not this version of Olson is the best he’d ever seen him. While Weiss was hesitant to go that far, he still had a ton of praise for his star first baseman.

“I want to be careful about saying that this is as good as I’ve seen him because ‘23 was ridiculous but he’s swinging the bat really well,” stated Weiss. “He’s hitting balls into the left-center gap, he’s hitting homers, he’s just a really good hitter and man, that was a big at-bat there against Kenley Jansen. I felt like a few of the swings he had in that at-bat earlier, I felt like he was timed-up with Kenley there. He’s one of the greatest closers of our generation and he put together a heck of an at-bat.”

“He’s got long levers and it’s got some big moves in his swing. I’m sure it takes some maitenance to keep the timing element right but he doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. He’s one of the better players in the game, really, when you start looking at the whole package. What he does on defense…Matt Olson’s a superstar.”

At the moment, Matt Olson sure is playing like a superstar. On a Braves team that isn’t lacking for star power, Olson’s certainly been delivering the power as a star player for this team. While the Braves are getting contributions from all caliber of players, it’s been important for guys like Olson, Drake Baldwin and Ozzie Albies (who homered off of Tarik Skubal to initially put the Braves ahead on Wednesday night) to get the job done. It’s even better when you consider how Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley are still struggling to really find their footing at the moment.

As long as Matt Olson and the rest of the core (and the whole squad, really) can pick up the slack and pull their fair share of the weight then there’s every reason to believe that the winning can continue on for a good long while. Matt Olson’s first walk-off homer for the Braves was a special one and hopefully it won’t be the last one, either!

I hope you’re in the mood for some Phillies baseball, as there will be two games played today thanks to the rainout last night. It will be a split doubleheader, with game one beginning at 12:35 and game two beginning at 5:35. If you were one of the lucky ones with tickets for last night’s game, they will still be valid for the second game today.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• The Phillies have dug themselves a big hole, but it’s nothing new to interim manager Don Mattingly who’s dug out of similar holes back when he was manager of the Dodgers. ($)
• The team should be better than they currently are, but it’s hard to believe that Dave Dombrowski doesn’t have any regrets. ($)
• Massive news for fans of both the Iron Pigs and cryptids, as the team will rebrand for one night in June as the Lehigh Valley Squonk in honor of Pennsylvania’s saddest mythical creature.

MLB news:

• Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet is heading to the injured list with left shoulder inflammation.
• Speaking of Boston, here’s a deeper look inside Craig Breslow’s decision to clean house in the dugout. ($)
• The Tigers have been bit by the injury bug as well, as both Casey Mize and Javier Baez are headed to the IL after they were both injured in a game on Tuesday.
• Randal Grichuk, right-handed platoon outfielder, was designated for assignment by the Yankees to make room for top pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez to make his major league debut.

It would have been extremely nice to finsh an 8-1 road trip with another sweep, but mean ol’ pal Nathan Eovaldi proved to be the force that stopped the Yankees in their tracks. The tenacious foe shut New York out through seven as Texas salvaged the final game of their series, outdueling the debuting Elmer Rodríguez.

The most concern from the affair, however, came from a fourth-inning plunking by Eovaldi on Jasson Domínguez. The pitch hit him on the elbow, and he was visibly in quite a bit of pain. After being examined, he stayed in to run the bases but was ultimately pulled before he could take the field on defense in the home half of the inning. An MRI in Texas was inconclusive, so Domínguez will get CT scans when the Yankees return to New York. Monitoring that situation will be the story of the Thursday offday.

So our question to you: What should the Yankees do if Domínguez needs to join the man he was effectively replacing in the lineup, Giancarlo Stanton, on the IL?

Unfortunate timing might have sapped the Yankees out of one of their options, as they had designated Randal Grichuk for assignment that very morning to make room for ERC on their roster; he and Domínguez had nearly-duplicative roles, so it made sense to cut ties even with Grichuk hitting at least a bit better than he began 2026. Perhaps they’re able to bring him back anyway despite the DFA, but if another team claims Grichuk, then they’re out of luck there.

There are other options at Triple-A Scranton, though. The most straightforward answer is bringing the versatile Oswaldo Cabrera back to the majors for the first time since his ugly injury ended his 2025 season quite abruptly. He’s already on the 40-man roster, he’s a known commodity, and the Yankees already have a full outfield of Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Aaron Judge anyway. So if they’re really only replacing Stanton’s DH time, then they could have a rotation of sorts there with at-bats from Ben Rice, Amed Rosario, Judge himself, or whoever. If they want more of a pure outfielder backing up, then they could add someone like the speedy Duke Ellis to the 40-man pretty easily, too. Former big leaguers Yanquiel Fernández and Seth Brown are non-40-man outfield options as well.

And of course there’s Spencer Jones. The Yankees’ top draft pick from 2022 is off to a .242/.364/.538 start with seven homers in Scranton across 26 games and 110 plate appearances. The strikeouts remain quite present, with only a slight dip in Jones’ K-rate, from 36.6-percent at Triple-A in 2025 to 33.6-percent thus far. There are zone-contact questions as well that would likely be exposed by MLB pitching. That being said, the talent remains tantalizing, and Jones is on the 40-man roster. The Yankees could take a flyer on Jones at least for a week or so, just to get a big-league read on him. But maybe the playing time isn’t quite there; it’s a bit of a different story than Domínguez, who they at least knew could help in The Show by mashing right-handed pitching. Jones is unquestionably a wild card.

So what’s your move? I’m skill a Spencer skeptic, and I do wonder if the risk of him getting exposed in any sort of time at the big-league level might only lower his possible trade value. So maybe the boring option of a Grichuk recovery or an Oswaldo return is more probable. That being said, I will be excited to see Jones if he does make his big-league debut, even if it’s under Jasson’s unfortunate circumstances. (And yet: sigh.)

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The Yankees are off but the blog doesn’t rest. Today on the site, Peter will break down his Sequence of the Week, Matt will lead the Rivalry Roundup, and Jonathan will celebrate the 119th birthday of the one and only Walter “Jumbo” Brown. Later, Sam will run through the Yankees’ top plays of March and April, and Peter will take the occasion of the offday to run his monthly GM poll on Brian Cashman to get the pulse on his first month of the 2026 season. At the end of the day, Jonathan will look ahead to Anthony Volpe’s 2026 debut, breaking down the variety of expectations.

Today’s Matchup

Offday

Who is the funniest player on the Dodgers?

The clubhouse consensus: Kiké Hernández. Also getting votes: Miguel Rojas.

“You know what the funny thing is?” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Funny, ha. Go on.

“Dalton [Rushing] is one of the funnier guys,” Roberts said, “but not trying to be funny.”

Read more:Kyle Tucker's former Cubs teammates still stunned by his Dodgers contract

Youthful exuberance on a veteran team is not such a bad thing. Keeps everyone loose.

That leads to a related question: If you had to pick one player to host a comedy show, who would it be?

“Kiké would be the one I would choose,” Freddie Freeman said. “Will Smith is the complete opposite of who I would think, but it kind of fits perfectly.”

On May 7, Smith hosts his third annual Dodgers Comedy Night, part of the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival. It’s a fundraiser for the Catching Hope foundation, launched by Smith and his wife to equip at-risk youth with skills in leadership and self-sufficiency.

It’s also a night that forces Smith, the Dodgers’ stoic All-Star catcher, to take the stage, thank everyone for coming, and smile and laugh before the professional comedians take the stage.

“I was definitely a little anxious because you have to get up there and give a little speech, which I enjoy now,” he said. “It kind of took me back to my high school days, where you have to give a speech in front of the whole school.

“It was a little worrisome, but it was fine. It was fun once I got up there.”

Said Rojas: “The first time, it was just a welcome. Last year, he told a couple jokes.”

Smith insists he writes his own jokes.

“I’m not saying too many jokes,” he said. “Maybe one.”

The Smith we all see is the one Buster Posey — the soon-to-be Hall of Famer and now the San Francisco Giants’ president of baseball operations — described to me last year: “He wasn’t looking to be your best friend when you came to the plate. I kind of appreciated that about him. He was always very business.”

The Dodgers’ social media team nudged Smith out of that public shell a bit this spring, in a spot promoting his bobblehead night, in which Smith nailed a deadpan delivery and a range of facial gestures.

Roberts said he had noticed that in the two previous comedy shows Smith has hosted.

“Jon Lovitz is a comedian, and he has that dry humor, so there you go,” Roberts said. “Will has that dry humor.”

When I asked Smith which players might be the funniest on the team, he also went with Hernández and Rojas.

“I’m not one of the jokesters,” Smith said. “With my closest friends away from baseball, yeah, we joke around. I like to keep it light, and very sarcastic.

“The funny guys are the louder ones, usually Miggy and Kiké. Everyone is funny in their own way.”

Rojas said he sees Smith less in terms of the annual joke or two on stage and more in terms of the game night he and his wife recently hosted for teammates and their families.

“I’m a little more vocal,” Rojas said. “If he has to say something, he will say it, but in a different way.

“He is a great leader that cares. He’s not the outgoing guy, but he’s always aware of, ‘OK, this is what I want to do to connect with my guys.’”

Read more:Shohei Ohtani homers, Justin Wrobleski shines as Dodgers shut out Cubs for series win

Freeman has seen Smith on stage. The comedy show casting works, somehow.

“It’s not his personality,” Freeman said, “which I think makes it that much better.”

Freeman suspected I might be skeptical.

“It’s fun,” he said. “You should go.”

For more details on Dodgers Comedy Night, including ticket information, click here.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have made several roster moves this week, particularly with their bullpen, which has been off to a not-so-perfect start. First, they DFA’d righty Ryan Harbin to make room for righty Chris Devenski. The Bucs had to make room for Devenski on the 26 and the 40-man, so it was Harbin who took the red ticket.

Harbin has been injured and wasn’t expected back until late May at the earliest, and that sadly meant bye-bye, and unfortunate reality of sports injuries for non-stars.

Cam Sanders was also brought up a few days ago, replacing Braxton Ashcraft who is out on family bereavement. Again, they exchanged a righty for a righty. But they also called up lefty Hunter Barco, while optioning righty Wilber Dotel this week.

They then sent down Barco when Devenski got called up. Barco allowed 5 runs in 4.2 innings versus the St. Louis Cardinals and now has an ERA of 7.71 in just five appearances. Devenski, who is a 10-year veteran, gave up two hits and a run in last night’s loss to the Cards. Not a good start for Devenski, as the Bucs look to tighten up a bullpen that currently has more blown saves than actual saves.

Don’t expect too much roster action at the top of the pen, where Dennis Santana, Gregory Soto, Isaac Mattson and Yohan Ramirez have gotten the bulk of the work, but the Bucs need some help in the long and middle relief category and on the edges of the bullpen, where we’re likely to see guys bouncing in and out as the Bucs look for a better combination to help solidify what has been, to this point, a team weakness on the season.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Jasson Domínguez took a pitch off his left elbow Wednesday afternoon and left the game shortly after. X-rays taken at the stadium were inconclusive so the Yankees are sending Jasson for a CT scan. For his part, he doesn’t sound too concerned, publicly at least. When asked, Domínguez commented, “As of right now, I don’t feel any concern.”

Aaron Boone meanwhile is hoping it’s just bruising but it’s too early to know much of anything, though it’s hard to not be a little worried about the vague results of the X-rays. Regardless, it’s safe to expect that The Martian will be out of the lineup for at least a couple days.

MLB.com | Jared Greenspan: Speaking of injury, ace Gerrit Cole is working his way back from Tommy John surgery. Wednesday, he made his third rehab start, pitching for Double-A Somerset. Cole went 5.2 innings on Wednesday, throwing 60 pitches. He has gone from 44 pitches to 52 to 60. At those increments, Cole could perhaps have four more rehab starts, building his pitch count into the low 90s. But that’s just speculation. The Yankees have long looked at a late-May/early-June debut for Cole and that seems to be where he is trending.

The Athletic | Rustin Dodd ($): As part of a series where they look at sports duos handle high pressure, The Athletic talked to former Yankees and current YES booth mates David Cone and Joe Girardi. The latter caught more of Coney’s starts than any other catcher, most famously Cone’s perfect game. And that’s what Dodd asks them about. How they handled the pressure that day. There’s a lot of fun stuff behind the paywall but two things in particular jumped out. First, the two were so synced that Cone did not shake off Giradi until the ninth inning and only did so once. Second, you get a real sense from Girardi that he really wanted Cone to get that perfect game to the finish line.

MLB.com | Jason Foster: Somehow, we’re already 20-percent of the way through the season. As the calendar is about to turn to May, MLB surveyed 39 people to get their thoughts on the Cy Young races in each league. In both leagues, they’ve gone chalk, with Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes favored to win their respective leagues. But the Yankees are very well represented. Cam Schlittler and Max Fried place third and fourth in the ballot, with Cam’s strikeout numbers and Fried’s innings total jumping out in the early going.

How Don Mattingly is beginning to put his stamp on Phillies originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Coming up with a ton of differences between former Phillies manager Rob Thomson and Don Mattingly might be a challenge.

They come from similar baseball roots. They combined for nearly a half-century in the Yankees’ organization. They crossed paths on Joe Torre’s staff in 2007. And like Torre, they are even-keeled guys, and neither is prone to theatrics.

But as Phillies interim manager, Mattingly has already hinted at a few tweaks. And if you looked on the field before Wednesday’s postponed game, you could see one of them.

Bunting.

It was another day the Phillies worked on bunting, and both of those sessions have come in the all-new Mattingly Era.

That does not mean the Phillies are suddenly going to bunt all over the place once the umpire says play ball. But it does show the type of fundamentals Mattingly, and the rest of the coaching staff, believes can help them climb out of a 10-19 start.

“Bunting really is going to be part of the process,” Mattingly said. “We’ve already done it — this is the second time this season. It’s making that a regular thing.”

That does not mean longer or harder pregame work every day.

“I don’t think we’re doing extreme amounts or anything,” Mattingly said. “If a guy’s beat up or tired, you don’t have to take ground balls. I’d rather have quality work than just work.”

Mattingly understands the value of routine. He is a former MVP, six-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glove winner and Manager of the Year. He’s qualified for just about any role in a major league organization.

That background gives Mattingly a unique voice in the Phillies’ clubhouse. Thomson had plenty of perspective after 42 years in baseball, but Mattingly brings a different style.

“I feel like I’m authentic in what I do,” Mattingly said. “Nothing really changes who I am and what I believe in. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to get better and evolve with the game. But I’ve got to be myself and do it.”

That shows up in how he thinks about the lineup.

There are a number of Phillies position players who do not exactly carry the “everyday” tag, including Brandon Marsh. The 28-year-old has been a bright spot, batting .298 with a .788 OPS in the heart of the order. More recently, he has also found more success against left-handed pitching, which has long been a challenge for him.

That has made him harder to sit.

“Brandon is having great at-bats, and he’s having them against everybody,” Mattingly said. “So basically he pushes you to play me, right?”

Matchups matter to Mattingly, but so does rhythm — similar to Thomson.

“We still want to use our guys, but we can’t just have guys sitting here all the time and never play and expect them to be OK when they do play,” he said. “That being said, I want to try to put our best lineup out there that gives us the best chance to win.”

Now managing his third team and coaching in his fifth organization, Mattingly has worked in different environments and seen how clubs use information to build lineups. He is not dismissive of that. He also wants a lineup that can stress the opposing dugout.

“What you really want is your best nine,” Mattingly said. “You can kind of put them in any order and it changes the run value so slightly over the course of the year.”

The larger point is avoiding a lineup that makes bullpen decisions too easy for the opponent.

“If you put all — let’s say our lefties are our best guys and we put five in a row up there — we’re just begging you to bring lefties in that spot,” Mattingly said. “So you try to set the lineup up in a way that puts a little pressure on the other manager.”

Through his managerial experience, Mattingly has also had time to reflect on what he would handle differently. One lesson came from his time in Miami.

“I should have included my staff more, made those guys more inclusive,” Mattingly said. “I didn’t do that as much as I should have. That’s not a mistake I want to make again.”

Mattingly played in a much different era, but he made clear that he does not ignore the numbers.

“If I’m going to sit here and go, ‘Oh hey, I don’t believe in the numbers, all that analytics stuff,’ that’s just crazy thinking,” Mattingly said. “That tells you that you’re not growing and you’re not evolving.

“That doesn’t mean that I go away from things that I believe in also about playing solid baseball. I hope I’m a blend of understanding how to use the information.”

With Thomson gone and Mattingly, who joined the organization in January, moving over from the bench coach role, he is still learning parts of the Phillies’ staff. The group also went through some shuffling Tuesday, with Dusty Wathan moving from third-base coach into the dugout and Anthony Contreras taking over at third.

The early dialogue has given Mattingly comfort.

“For me, from the standpoint of Dusty, we’ve had really good baseball conversations through spring, in the season,” Mattingly said. “I watch how he works, how he prepares. He’s managed a lot in the minor leagues, so I know he’s been there.”

Communication will be central, especially with the bullpen. When the Phillies originally hired Mattingly, part of the idea was to aid in-game decisions. Now he is making them, and that starts before first pitch.

“You meet before the game, you kind of go through your pockets,” he said. “You have some kind of semi-plan. You kind of know who you want to go to in certain pockets of their lineup.”

Mattingly also knows what it is like to be down and out. He pointed to the 2013 Dodgers, a club that was 9 1/2 games out in the NL West on June 22 and ended the season 11 games up in first place. That brought out a runner’s analogy he used to explain how he views any campaign.

“This is a long season,” Mattingly said. “It’s marathon-ish, from the standpoint of the length of it. But those marathoners aren’t running six-minute miles. They’re getting up to speed and they’re keeping their pace.”

The Phillies are not there yet. Mattingly is trying to keep them from chasing too much at once.

“I don’t want panic coming from the coaching staff or myself,” he said. “I want them to feel like we trust them. We know they’re going to get better.”

His approach remains narrow. Game by game.

“I think about winning every night,” Mattingly said. “Honestly, that’s my approach, because we can win every night. And there’s no reason we shouldn’t think in terms that we win every day.”

That does not mean he’s ignoring what has gone wrong this season. And Mattingly is not claiming one bunt drill, one lineup tweak or one staff meeting will solve everything. He is trying to push the Phillies back toward the version of themselves they still believe is in there.

“Hopefully, what’s visible is our baseball is better,” Mattingly said. “That’s really what we’re after.”

Columbus Clippers 1, Toledo Mud Hens 3

It was a slow day for the Clippers offensively, as they recorded just four hits. Kahlil Watson went 1-3 with an RBI single hit 107.4 off the bat. Nolan Jones and Dayan Frias both went 1-3 with a walk.

Ryan Webb allowed two runs in four innings while striking out three batters and walking two. Daniel Espino and Franco Aleman continue to look good. Espino had a scoreless inning of relief despite two walks. Aleman went two full innings tonight and struck out two without allowing a single hit. He has yet to give up a single run this season, he is more than ready to be called up, and we know this bullpen needs all the help they can get.

Akron RubberDucks 8, Harrisburg Senators 3

Angel Genao continues to have an awesome bounce back season. He went 1-1 today with three walks and an RBI. He is up to a .288 average and an .854 OPS on the season. Ralphy Velazquez went 1-4 with a walk. Jacob Cozart had a bases loaded double that knocked everyone in. Nick Mitchell hit a two run home and increased his OPS to .734 on the season.

Caden Favors had a bit off an odd start. He somehow limited the damage to just one run in 4.2 innings pitched despite walking 7 batters. His ERA is down to 2.45 on the season. Carter Rustad continues to have a good season as he struck out three batters in a scoreless 1.1 innings of relief. His ERA is downt o 1.59 on the season.

Hill City Howlers 4, Delmarva Shorebirds 0

This Hill City team might be the most fun of all the affiliates to watch right now. Dauri Fernandez, Robert Arias, Juneiker Caceres, Anthony Martinez, and Luis De La Cruz are all raking. Dauri Fernandez went 2-5 with an opposite field double tonight, Juneiker Caceres went 1-3 with an RBI single and a walk.

I mentioned above some of the young exciting hitters on the team, but this pitching staff has been awesome as well. Nelson Keljo continues to impress in his first season of pro ball. His ERA is down to 1.26 after tossing three more scoreless innings tonight with three strikeouts and just one walk. Jervis Alfaro and Luke Fernandez combined for 8 strikeouts in 5 scoreless innings of relief.

Elmer Rodriguez only issued seven free passes over his first four Triple-A outings this season, but the young righty was a bit erratic making his MLB debut on Wednesday. 

Rodriguez walked four batters and hit another as he worked his way through four up-and-down innings in the Yankees’ series finale loss to the Rangers. 

The 22-year-old was able to work around his shakiness at first, putting up a clean opening inning around two walks, then escaping a bases loaded jam in the second.

He retired the next six batters he faced, but Texas jumped on him in the fifth. 

Rodriguez hit the leadoff man with a pitch then issued a seven-pitch walk, before giving up back-to-back singles to allow the Rangers to take a 2-0 lead.

The youngster was pulled after that, handing things over to Brent Headrick, who limited the damage to close his line with just the two runs allowed on four hits and four walks in as many innings. 

While the youngster wasn’t as sharp as usual, Aaron Boone thought his stuff was good. 

“There was a lot of good,” the skipper said. “We saw his stuff play, I thought his mix and spinning it was good, just a little better on the strike-throwing part and it’s a better line, but he still kept us in the game and gave us a chance.”

Rodriguez agreed that he could’ve executed a bit better, and he’ll look to grow from his mistakes in this outing before taking the ball again his next time out. 

“It’s a good experience being here,” he said. “Obviously it’s my first time around, now I’m just trying to learn from all of the good and the bad and just go forward and continue to work.”

The first inning was a little wild in this one. First, the Royals scored a run on an unusual play. Bobby singled because he is really fast though not his most impressive work with the bat. Then Carter Jensen singled and Witt went first to third. Then this happened:

Salvador’s little flare was not caught by Jacob Wilson because he did not close his glove on purpose? It is hard to say definitively. He throws to second for the out at which point Bobby takes off for home. McNeil threw home rather than try to double off Perez at first, which was not a for sure out, but seemed the safer play. Then in the bottom of the first, Oakland had their hitting coach ejected. It was hard to tell exactly why, but whatever he said did not sit well with John Libka who was behind home plate tonight.

Unfortunately, the Royals could not get any more runs off of Luis Severino. He looked very good and the KC bats just could not get much going. Severino finished with 7IP, 4h, 2BB, and 8Ks by hitting his spots and staying on the edges of the strike zone. Meanwhile, the Oakland offense scored a run on back-to-back doubles from Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil to begin the bottom of the second to tie it up. Then in the 4th Wilson and McNeil started it again with a pair of singles, only this time Lawrence Butler brought them both in as part of a 3-run Home Run and take a 4-1 lead. A 5th run almost scored later that inning, but Lane Thomas gunned Kurtz down at home:

He was called safe initially, but the Royals challenged and won. Oakland had to wait until the 6th to get that fifth run in. Nick Kurtz was prevented from scoring it himself, but he hit a gapper to score Darrell Hernaiz against Luinder Avila who took over after Wacha racked up 105 pitches through his five frames. There was also a long rehashing of Hud calling the moon a planet there in the 6th, so at least the booth is in midseason form. Alex Lange and Mason Black put up clean innings in the 7th and 8th to hopefully keep it in reach.

The Royals would try to stage a comeback for the third game in a row. Joel Kuhnel had taken over for Severino to start the 8th and got through that inning unscathed. Then in the 9th it got a little more interesting. Bobby Witt Jr. singled to begin the inning and then then two batters later Slavador Perez had an infield single to short by hitting it slow enough and far enough away from Wilson to buy time for his sprint down the base path. Kuhnel then spiked a pitch to Michael Massey that moved them up to 2nd and 3rd base. Massey hit a deep fly to center to get Bobby home and Salby to third on the sacrifice. Mark Leiter Jr. came in to take over from the Athletic’s bullpen. He walked Isaac Collins and brough the potential tying run to the plate in the form of Jac Caglianone. Jac did not tie it up and struck out to end the game. The series will be decided tomorrow.

And so, Kansas City’s four game win streak is over as the team falls to 12-18 on the season. Thursday will see Noah Cameron on the mound for an afternoon game to wrap up the club’s time in Sacramento.

The Athletics and Royals were back at it tonight at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento after an extra-inning victory by the Royals last night. Luis Severino got the start for the Athletics against Michael Wacha for the Royals.

Bobby Witt Jr. got things started in the first with a base hit and moved to third on a Carter Jensen single. He scored on a funky line drive to Jacob Wilson that he mishandled, allowing Witt to score, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second, the A’s got on the board after back-to-back doubles by Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil.

In the bottom of the fourth, Wilson and McNeil went back-to-back again, this time singles. Lawrence Butler followed with his third homer to deep right-center field.

That’s what we call the Law-ng ball 🙂‍↕️ pic.twitter.com/Zi0594XgkQ

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 30, 2026

The A’s were not done though. Nick Kurtz walked and Shea Langeliers singled. Carlos Cortes singled, apparently scoring Kurtz, but the Royals challenged the call at the plate and the run was overturned, ending the inning. When the dust settled, the A’s held the lead 4-1.

Skipping ahead to the bottom of the sixth, Darell Hernaiz singled, and Nick Kurtz ripped a double to center field to score Hernaiz.

Nick knocks in another! pic.twitter.com/KMTphEZqlC

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 30, 2026

That increased the A’s lead to 5-1. Severino came out to pitch the seventh and was dominant, striking out two of the three batters he faced. That would be all for Seve tonight.

8K night for Sevy 👊 pic.twitter.com/bju8JWIgWO

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 30, 2026

Joel Kuhnel replaced Luis Severino with a final line of 7.0 innings, one earned run, four hits, with eight strikeouts. Kuhnel walked Lane Thomas. That was the first leadoff hitter to reach for the Royals tonight. One batter later a 4-6-3 DP sent the A’s back into the dugout.

Kuhnel returned for the ninth inning, to face the heart of the Royals order. Witt and Salvador Perez each singled. Kuhnel bounced one to the plate allowing both runners to advance still with one out. Michael Massey hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Bobby Witt Jr. That would be all for Kuhnel. Kotsay replaced him with Mark Leiter Jr. to get the final out of the game. Leiter walked Isaac Collins to bring the potential tying run to the plate in Jac Caglianone. Leiter punched him out to close out the game. The A’s win this one 5-2.

Francisco Alvarez was one of the Mets’ most productive hitters early-on this season, but the young backstop has cooled off tremendously of late. 

Alvarez’s struggles continued with another hitless showing in Wednesday's loss. 

He failed to deliver in some pretty big spots as well -- first striking out looking with two men on and just one out trailing by a pair in the bottom of the first. 

After going down looking for a second time two innings later, he came up with two on again in the fifth, and this time put the ball in play but rolled into a rally-killing double play. 

It was Alvarez’s sixth double play of the season, tying his total from all of last year. 

He completed the hat-trick of backwards K’s leading off the bottom of the eighth, working the count full before striking out looking with the game well out of reach. 

The 24-year-old is now 0-for-his-last-12, and he’s just 3-for-23 in his last seven games. 

“He’s a little bit in between here,” Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s going out of the zone but then taking good pitches to hit -- he started off good for us, and then the past week or so it’s been a battle for him.”

Alvarez is down to a .217 average with two doubles, four homers, 21 strikeouts, and .691 OPS on the season. 

Manaea going through it in relief

David Peterson was knocked around in his return to the rotation, lasting just 3.2 innings on Wednesday, and things really spiraled out of control when he left. 

The left-hander's night came to a close after forcing in a run with a bases loaded walk of James Wood with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.

Sean Manaea came on to try and limit the damage, but he ended up hitting the first batter he faced then gave up a grand slam to put this one away for good. 

Manaea ate the next two innings, stretching out to 73 pitches, but he continued to be knocked around from there. 

He was pulled after giving up a two-run double two Wood in the seventh. 

“He comes in, hit by pitch on a sweeper and then he’s trying to go with a fastball up in the zone and just leaves it right there for the grand slam,” Mendoza said. “Then he just got hit today.”

This continues what’s been a rough stretch for Manaea working out of the bullpen. 

His ERA is up to an ugly 6.55 for the year as he's allowed runs in all but one of his five April appearances. 

Positives from Edwards Jr. 

Though the game was long out of reach at that point, the Mets did see another encouraging outing from Carl Edwards Jr. behind Manaea.

The veteran provided length again and was very effective, striking out six batters across 2.2 innings of work. 

His lone run came on a homer in the top of the ninth. 

Edwards Jr. has now struck out 11, through his first two appearances as a Met.