Category: Baseball

The Atlanta Braves announced a few moves prior to Friday evening’s game in Colorado, beginning with recalling right-hander Hunter Stratton to Atlanta. The club also selected the contract of fellow righty Anthony Molina. Things were not as fortunate for Joel Payamps and José Suarez, who were each designated for assignment.

Stratton has yet to make his 2026 debut at the major league level, but in Triple-A, he’s put together a 4.50 ERA in 11 games.

Molina made his season debut Friday night, where he threw two hitless innings. He recorded just one base on balls. 

Given that Payamps and Suarez have been DFA’d, this looks to be a step in the right direction for the Atlanta bullpen.

More Braves News:

Despite his quad issue, Michael Harris II continued to rake and delivered a clutch two-run homer to give the Braves the 8-6 edge over the Colorado Rockies.  

In the latest Braves Biweekly, we look at how the Braves are shaping up to be the best team in the league. 

MLB News:

The Baltimore Orioles have placed right-hander Ryan Helsley on the 15-day injured list due to right elbow inflammation. The move is retroactive to April 29.

Tampa Bay Rays righty Ryan Pepiot will miss the remainder of the season due to hip surgery. 

The Milwaukee Brewers placed righty Brandon Woodruff on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Fortunately, there are no structural concerns and his time on the IL should be minimal.

From the Feed:

After 19 wins in the month of April, it’s time to cast your vote on Braves Player of the Month.

SNY | John Flanigan: Ahead of Friday’s game, the Yankees got some good news, as the tests done on Jasson Domínguez’s elbow came back clean. There had been worry after he was hit on the elbow by a pitch in Wednesday’s game, leading to him exiting the game and undergoing X-rays and other tests. However, those appear to have not caused further worries, with Domínguez a possible option off the bench in Friday’s game.

MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams: The Yankees have lost a little bit of depth as veteran infielder Paul DeJong has opted out of his minor league deal with the team. The Yankees brought DeJong to spring training on a minor league deal with an opt out in May, and he’s decided to exercise that clause and see if he can catch on with another team.

Sportsnet: In other roster news, Randal Grichuk has elected free agency after having been DFAed by the Yankees earlier this week. The somewhat-infamous Yankee Killer leaves New York after a .194/.212/.323 showing in 16 games.

Kyodo News: Despite leaving the Yankees and MLB as a whole, Masahiro Tanaka has continued to pitch professionally back in his home country of Japan. On Friday, he hit a mark that ties him in the history books with another old friend. Yesterday as his Yomiuri Giants beat the Hanshin Tigers, Tanaka picked up his 203rd career win across NPB and MLB. That tied him with fellow former Yankee Hiroki Kuroda for combined wins, with the duo only trailing Yu Darvish in that record book.

What a weird game to be a part of, right? Your home debut of your interim manager, an MLB debut of a young southpaw, the plane flying Fire Breslow, Sell The Team above Fenway before the game, this had the makings of a mental disaster. Not tonight, apparently. It was left all off the field as the Red Sox snuck in a 3-1 victory over the Astros on Friday night.

Studs

Jake Bennett (5.0 IP, 2 BB, 3 K, 5 H, 1 ER)

What an impressive debut to make in a tough situation for this team. You could tell the moment looked a hairrrr bright at the start but he settled in smoothly the rest of the way aside from the Correa solo shot. Kudos to the kid here.

The Bullpen

No pitcher truly had a “clean” frame but all holds and a save is exactly what you want to see to back up a rookie making his debut. Kelly and Whitlock worked themselves into the most obvious trouble but well done to keep it off the board.

Duds

Wilyer Abreu (0-for-4)

Grounding into a double play not but TWICE is brutal. The first one stung more because the Sox had two on and were continuing to rally after Jarren Duran’s three run swat. Still, not an awesome night for Abreu by any stretch.

Play of the Game

This is the kind of swing the Red Sox need to see from Jarren Duran to justify his inclusion in the every day line up. Maybe Chad Tracy will give him some kind of confidence boost.

A week ago, Bryan Woo got touched up by the Cardinals to the tune of four home runs. He only made it through three innings, while striking out just one of the 18 batters he faced. Recapping the game, I wrote:

Was Woo bad or do we just shake it off? Let’s be real here, four home runs is a lot. And he was genuinely missing middle-middle pretty regularly—this wasn’t some Chicago wind storm or something. But on the other hand, you can’t get too worked up about an off day from a guy who’s had so much consistency that he literally holds the franchise record for most consecutive 6 inning games to open a season. All I know for sure is that, for today, pulling him after three innings was the correct move.

It’s a lot harder to shake off a second outing like this. Facing the other Missouri team tonight, Woo at least made it through six this time, but surrendered six runs on 11 hard-hit balls while striking out just two. 

The trouble was mostly contained to his first and last innings. The Royals ambushed him in the first with a pair of leadoff singles setting up a ball off Cole Young’s glove and a Salvador Perez line drive. Before you could blink, the score was 3-0 with a runner in scoring position and nobody out.

Woo took a beat and mostly settled down from there. That runner scored, but it was on a water balloon into shallow left that Leo Rivas couldn’t track down while Randy Arozarena wasn’t even in the camera shot. Woo then got through four clean innings in a row, but allowed more hard-hit balls than whiffs over that stretch. And in his last frame, he gave up two more runs on solo shots from KC’s Ferrari and Lamborghini, Vincent Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone. 

So what happened? Woo blew it off, saying of his first-inning struggles, “The only one that I’d probably like to have back is the sinker to Salvy. But I thought the rest of the pitches were not bad by any means.”

I respectfully disagree.

Two culprits jump out tonight. First, he had the same problem that got him into trouble on Saturday: leaking over the plate. I’m going to let a picture tell a thousand words here. That big empty circle in the strike-side of the shadow zone? That’s generally where one wants to throw the ball.

The other issue might be more serious: the sinker. It’s marginal, but this season he’s lost both run and rise on his two-seamer, and those marginal differences can compound, especially when he’s leaving it belt high rather than sending it to the bottom rail. It’s no surprise that guys are having a much easier time squaring it up and keeping it off the ground this year. The Mariners, or at least Cal Raleigh, seem to agree this is an issue. Woo threw seven in his first two innings, but just three over the entire rest of his outing. But I worry about this as a long-term solution. Arsenals are complementary. I’m just not sure his four-seamer will play as strongly without his most-used secondary.

So two bad outings in a row, but with no sign of injury or velo drop. Do we shake it off? I still vote yes, but the concern meter has risen from 0 to 2. And, despite his putting on a confident front through most of his post-game press conference, Woo signaled that he’s concerned too. “My process might have been alright, but I still got my ass kicked. There’s a balance to it, try to take the good and learn from the bad. But. You know. It sucks.”

Woo’s final words before leaving the podium were: “I don’t know. It’s —. I got not a ton of answers.”

If that makes you want to have his back after all he’s done for this team, you’re not alone. Julio Rodríguez said, “I feel like Woo has come through so many times for us and has pitched so many huge games for us.”

In his last outing, the Mariners offense was able to pick up Woo’s bad start by scoring 11 and eventually winning the game. And there were moments when it felt like that might happen again tonight, beginning with the first inning when they struck back after falling behind 4-0.

J.P. Crawford drew a leadoff walk and, the calendar having flipped from April to May, Julio went to the upper tank.

And the Mariners kept chipping away, with Connor Joe and Randy Arozarena hitting solo shots in the fifth and sixth. Julio even tied it up in the seventh inning and earned his first Sun Hat Award of the season, with his second home run of the game, this time going to the deep part of the park.

But, this being a Royals-Mariners game, the Royals struck back, scoring again in the seventh after Salvador Perez’s second double of the game. After that, the only hopeful note for Seattle was Alex Hoppe (the only hoppeful note?), who struck out the side against three batters who each have a career strikeout rate under 18%.

Tune in early tomorrow for Randy Johnson’s number retirement ceremony, which Mariners TV will air starting at 6:00.

Introduction

There’s a baseball maxim that says, “You can’t win the division in April, but you can lose it.” I couldn’t find who the quote is originally attributed to, but there are plenty of former players and managers that could have said something like that. It also has the added benefit of being both internally consistent and being backed by evidence. Of the 12 eventual playoff teams, a whopping nine were in such position at the end of April last year. The year before, it was the exact same ratio with nine of the eventual playoff field in playoff position at the end of the first month of play. Obviously, if you start out hot, it gives your team more room for error for the inevitable injuries and poor play that comes with a 162-game marathon. It also demonstrates that if you’re on the outside looking in a month in, it’s more likely that you’re going to miss out than you’ll be able to climb over the teams that are above you. There are certainly exceptions: the 2024 Astros had the second-worst record at the end of April that year, but finished the year going 78-54 to secure their division and the number one seed in the American League. But that’s likely the exception that proves the rule in my opinion. Regardless, we’re not talking about the playoffs (yet). Instead, that exercise had me wondering if the same is true for individual players whose statistics can obviously fluctuate even more wildly than a team’s over the course of the season. In other words, how much does a hot (or not so hot) start matter for an individual player and for the D-Backs who fall into those categories?

Since there are no direct comparisons for “playoffs” for individual players, I’ve decided to modify the criteria slightly to look at those players who had an above-average OPS in the first month and then compare to see how those players did by the end of the season. I’m going to leave the pitchers for another week as teasing out the statistical noise will be particularly difficult when dealing with relievers and starters. For the first month of last season, the league averaged a . 707 OPS, unsurprisingly the lowest OPS of any month in the season. There were a little over 100 players who had 90 or more plate appearances in March/April (and would therefore qualify for rate stats) and had an OPS greater than or equal to .707 out of the 177 who accumulated the necessary 3.1 PA per game during that stretch regardless of their OPS. Of those 101 players from the first part of the query, only 34 were able to hold their OPS steady from the end of that first month through the end of the season while the rest saw their OPS drop to varying degrees. In other words, the vast majority of the players who have a hot start to the season will watch that start evaporate over the course of the season. And if we further constrain the list to those players who also ended the season with an above-average OPS for the season of .719, we’re left with just 78 candidates. Sadly, the player with the biggest gap in that 78-person list? Our very own Pavin Smith who was limited by injury and couldn’t sustain his volcanic-hot start. That is a limitation of this query too: I can’t limit the number of PA the player has by the end of the season so a player could theoretically start hot, have a bad week, and then either get injured or demoted to the minors which would hide that noise. But even with that qualification, I think this process at least gives us a directional understanding of what a hot start means for a player.

So what does this all mean for the Diamondbacks other than a hot start is better than a cold one? Well, there’s at least one D-Back who couldn’t be having a better start to the season. Is there any player in the league hotter than Ildemaro Vargas right now? After this afternoon’s 4-for-4 today, and thus extending his franchise-record hitting streak in a big way, his batting average has climbed all the way to .404 and his OPS to 1.131 which currently slots him in at third in the majors above Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, and Kyle Schwarber. While he’s indisputably been the Diamondback with the most fun storyline to follow in the early going of the season, I sincerely doubt he’s suddenly become an Arizona incarnation of Ted Williams or an upper-tier MVP candidate. As always, the question will be, how steep is the reversion back to the mean? For the team’s sake, we have to hope it’s not too steep or painful.

Earlier in the day, Christian Scott said he was ready to leave his rough first start behind him. And that's exactly what the young Mets right-hander did on Friday.

Going up against the Angels, Scott wasn't his sharpest, but showed improvement, going five innings in the Mets' eventual 4-3 win. But it could have gone sideways fast, and it almost did, for Scott and the Mets in the first inning.

Scott allowed a one-out single to Mike Trout and two batters later, Jorge Soler took him deep. The Mets, losers of 17 of their last 20 games, were already down two runs. But Scott settled in.

Aside from the third inning when he hit Zach Neto with a pitch to lead off, and he eventually scored on two stolen bases and a throwing error by Francisco Alvarez,the Angels could not get anything going off of Scott. Scott would retire the last nine batters he faced.

"That first inning, coming back from that last outing and he kept going," manager Carlos Mendoza said of Scott's outing. "He didn’t put his head down and kept attacking and gave us five innings and a chance to win a baseball game."

"When you go down 2-0 pretty early, you can start to overthink things," Scott said. "I think I did a good job going pitch by pitch, attacking the strike zone, bearing down and competing when I had to."

Scott, whose first big league start in almost two years was spoiled by erratic control that forced him out of the game after just four outs, said Friday's start felt like any other, and that his mindset was on attacking the zone, getting ahead and staying ahead. Scott credited Alvarez for being on the same page as him and calling a good game, but also leaned on his confidence to get over his rough first start and Friday's tough first inning. 

"I’m confident in myself and my stuff," Scott said. "I know I belong here and my stuff plays at a high level when it’s in the strike zone. Just have to be consistent... Just do that consistently is my goal moving forward."

"That’s what makes him. Not just because of the stuff, but he has a good head," Mendoza said. "Doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low. Could have been easy for him to just put his head down after the last outing. First inning, he goes, ‘here we go again.’ And he didn’t show any sign. I’m not surprised by it. Goes to show you he’s a mature kid."

Once Scott was out after five innings and the score still 3-0, the comeback commenced. In the sixth, the Mets scored three runs on a pair of two-out singles. Ronny Mauricio then completed the comeback with a go-ahead solo homer. The bullpen continued what Scott started, retiring every Angels hitter they faced to finish the game.

"I’ve given up homers before, it’s not the end of the world," Scott said of overcoming the first-inning homer. "But I thought the offense did a really good job battling the whole day. Bullpen came in and not giving up a baserunner was nice to see them bearing down and competing at a high level. It’s early in the game, just have to give the team a chance to win and I thought I did that."

Scott not only gave the Mets a chance to win Friday's series opener, but Mendoza said the 26-year-old set the tone for the rest of the team.

"It started with Scotty. When he got punched, he punched back," Mendoza said. "He set the tone there."

Entering play Friday, the Mets held the worst record in baseball (10-21). Their offense was stagnant and questions regarding Mendoza's job security were rampant. But the team stuck together and prevailed, and it began with Scott's bounce-back start.

Ronny Mauricio picked a good time for his first home run of the season.

The Mets' ninth batter and starting shortstop in Friday's 4-3 win at the Los Angeles Angels took José Fermin's 94 mph pitch deep to right-center field on a 1-1 count with one out, giving New York (11-21) enough of a window to complete a four-run comeback in Anaheim, Calif.

"It feels great to be able to help the team in a situation like that," Mauricio said through an interpreter. "... We're coming out here, we're working, we're doing everything that we have to do to go out in front."

A day that started with president of baseball operations David Stearns' published comments about not intending to "make a change" at manager, followed by Carlos Mendoza's on-record remarks about the phone call, ended in a gutsy victory.

"It says a lot, especially after what we've been going through," Mendoza said. "You get down early in that first inning -- that two-run homer out of the gate -- but they fought back and they found a way. That's a good sign -- when you're able to come back and lock it down, good at-bats, continue to just create some traffic ... it was a solid team win."

With two more games at the Angels (12-21), led by Saturday's 9:38 p.m. start on SNY, the Mets have an opportunity to build as the initial series and overall nine-game road trip begins.

"Every win means a lot, especially when we've dug ourselves into a hole like this," said Marcus Semien, whose two-RBI single with two outs in the sixth inning capped the Mets' three-run rally to tie the game at 3-3. "Especially a comeback win on the road -- that's big. It's big for the group. 

From Christian Scott's career-high-tying eight strikeouts in a bounce-back start to the timely hits and the Mets' four-man bullpen consecutively retiring the final 12 batters, Mendoza saw his team dig deep.

"I think they're all different, but every time you get an opportunity to win a game like that -- we haven't been able to win games like that when you get down 3-0 and the feeling's like, 'All right,'" he said. "Today, it wasn't the case. It was something different -- the energy in the dugout, the guys playing loose, the guys playing their game and we saw that. And it started with Scotty -- when he got punched, he punched back. So, it kind of set the tone there."

"We always feel like we're in the game," Semien added. "It's nine innings of baseball. We're all major league players, so we're working hard to scratch and claw to get back into the game."

Remember the tv soap opera “As The World Turns”?

Maybe in the case of our 2026 Astros, it could be the daily viewing of “As The Losses Mount”.   

Seemingly with each passing day, it feels as if meaningful baseball in October will elude us once again. Consider just how long ago it actually was, since we Houstonians endured consecutive postseasons sitting idle.   

You’d have to go back to 2014.

In 2014, Dusty Baker wasn’t even managing, having been released by the Cincinnati Reds. Speaking of managers, for a portion of that 2014 season, Houston was led by Bo Porter. 

Carlos Correa was still in the minors.  

Rob Manfred wasn’t even “officially” MLB Commissioner.   

Neither Biggio nor Bagwell had been enshrined in Cooperstown.   

Center Field still featured Tal’s Hill. 

The A’s still played in Oakland.   

Okay, you get where I’m going with this. The injection of historical context, (even in early May) is only fitting because if the trend of dropping series continues, the Astros season will be history and they’ll be home in October for consecutive seasons.

That would be very 2014.   

May has officially begun, and the A’s begin the month with a series-opening loss to the Cleveland Guardians, falling to their AL Central foes in a high-scoring 8-5 contest. The starting pitching wasn’t great, the bullpen allowed three runners to cross home plate, and while the offense provided five runs they left 10 on base tonight and let this game slip away. The Mariners lost tonight but the Rangers won. The division lead is still ours and still at one game.

Teams trade early runs

Righty J.T. Ginn got the ball tonight looking to continue the solid streak he’s been on since joining the starting staff. He ran into some early trouble tonight though as the first three batters he faced all reached, loading the bases with nobody out before most people had found their seats. Not a good start.

This tough spot didn’t faze the young righty though. He buckled down and got two huge strikeouts before getting out of the early jam with a high flyout to right fielder Colby Thomas to end the threat:

That’s what we call a magic trick, folks.

Now it was the A’s turn to bat. Shea Langeliers got things going with a one-out single against Cleveland starting pitcher Joey Cantillo. After a flyout from Kurtz it was Brent Rooker up to the plate with two outs and he absolutely smacked the second pitch he saw over the wall in left field, giving the A’s the first lead of the game:

Pretty amazing considering how this game started. That was Rooker’s third of the season and he really needed that one. Snapped an 0-for-20 streak at the plate, longest of his career. He wasn’t done there tonight either.

While Ginn pulled some magic in the first, he couldn’t do it again in the second. A walk and single started the inning and Ginn got two outs right after that, but he got tagged for a two-run double that tied this game up at 2. Could have been worse.

The middle frames

From there Ginn actually settled in for a bit. He went three up, three down in the third and fourth innings, at one point retiring seven in a row.

On the other side, the A’s were getting contact against Cantillo and broke through again in the fourth. A pair of back-to-back walks to open the frame was followed by a sac bunt to put two runners in scoring position for Zack Gelof. Once considered a building block of the organization but beginning the year in Triple-A, Gelof came through with perhaps his biggest hit of the year to date, a two-run single to retake the lead for the Green & Gold:

Things have been rough for Gelof over the past couple of seasons but he’s already had a couple moments for this club so far. Gelof would actually be thrown out at home when Jacob Wilson grounded a ball to short to end the frame. Not a great call, going for home with only one out, but we like the aggressiveness. That’s a moment too.

Again, once the A’s took the lead Cleveland began to rally. Back-to-back walks to the top of the lineup to open the fifth was Ginn just asking for trouble. While he escaped the wrath of Jose Ramirez, another walk loaded the bases and veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins made Ginn pay with a two-run double after that that tied this game back up. And at 88 pitches, that was the final straw for Mark Kotsay to come get his starter and turn things over to the bullpen.

• J.T. Ginn: 4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 88 pitches

For someone whose control had been a major selling point, it was a bit disappointing to see Ginn’s command off essentially all night long. Cleveland made him pay for those free passes as three of them ended up crossing home plate. Considering his streak entering tonight he shouldn’t be in danger of being passed over for his next scheduled start, which lines up to be against the Phillies in Philadelphia next Friday.

Hogan Harris replaced Ginn and gave up a sacrifice fly that gave Cleveland their first lead of the game, which was charged to Ginn, though he did get Bazzana to strike out to end the threat. Still, the damage was done and the A’s offense had work to do.

Comeback attempt falls short

It took a couple innings but they got something going in the seventh. Starting with a Wilson single and a pair of walks, Rooker came to the plate with no outs and delivered a base knock that whittled the Cleveland lead down to three:

Of note, one of those walks was to Nick Kurtz, which was the 20th straight game he’d drawn a walk. That officially surpasses Barry Bonds in the modern era:

Next up, the all-time record by Roy Cullenbine in 1947, who walked in 22 straight games. Think Kurtz can do it?

Anyway, the bases were still loaded with no one out. The A’s were in business. But it was the Guardians’ turn for some magic. Now into the Cleveland bullpen Darell Hernaiz struck out, then Soderstrom, and finally a fly ball that looked on its way out of the yard was instead robbed by Guardians center fielder Steven Kwan. Owch:

Absolutely horrible luck. On the bright side the fire in the A’s wasn’t out quite yet. Still down three runs, the bats continued to work. A Jeff McNeil double and Jacob Wilson on base via error put runners on the corners in the bottom of the eighth with just one out. Tying run at the plate, and the heart of the order coming up. Instead Langeliers and Kurtz both struck out swinging, ending the threat. Another big owch.

The A’s went down in order in the ninth to seal this one. Their record now stands at 17-15 after the first game of May. Hopefully this isn’t another year where the season is sunk by a terrible May. Not off to a good start in that regard.

Tough pill to swallow, this one. The A’s offense came through tonight for five runs, but the pitching couldn’t hold down a Guardians offense that didn’t allow a hit to Jose Ramirez. Ginn was shaky tonight and clearly didn’t have his control in this one. Kurtz, though he drew that record-breaking walk, went 0-for-4 and came up short in some moments. Everyone of the other starters other than Hernaiz got at least one hit tonight (and Hernaiz drew a pair of walks). It doesn’t help when your bullpen doesn’t keep the deficit to a minimum but still. For someone who was a darkhorse candidate for AL MVP, Kurtz has been a bit absent in the early going.

It’s going to be a quick turnaround as the series continues tomorrow afternoon in the second game of the series. For the A’s it’ll be left-hander Jacob Lopez getting the ball for his sixth start (seventh appearance) of the season. Things have not gone all that smoothly for Lopez in his second full season with the A’s, and his spot in the rotation has to at least be feeling insecure. With other arms in the system ready to jump at their opportunity Lopez needs a big game tomorrow or else the voices calling for a change will get bolder and louder. He’ll be opposed by Guardians right-hander Slade Cecconi, who’s in line for his seventh start of the year. He saw the A’s twice last year, first going seven shutout innings against us in June before, strangely, giving up six runs in nearly nine innings of work in a Guardians win. Should be another good one at Sutter Health Park tomorrow!

It may have taken some time to get his sea legs back, but Shane McClanahan pitched with a level of conviction we haven’t seen since before the injuries. As a result, he turned in his best outing of the season and set the table for the Rays second shutout in their last three games. His six-shutout innings were the most he has thrown in nearly three years. It was the sharpest he has looked post injuries and sight for sore eyes, especially in the wake of the news that Ryan Pepiot would be out for the remainder of the season. Having Mac back on the mound in any capacity this season would have been a positive for the Rays. To see him return to form this quickly is as good as the Rays brass could have hoped for.

Opposite McClanahan was San Franciso Giants starter, Robby Ray, who also turned in a strong performance but left trailing and took home the loss. McClanahan and Ray battled it out over the first six innings and Mac came out on top as Ray made a few costly mistakes to the big boys, Yandy and Caminero.

The first mistake, if you can even call it that, came in the bottom of the second inning when Yandy Diaz flicked a outside fastball over the wall in right field to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. His fifth homer of the year and a perfect Yandy blast at that.

Two innings later Junior Caminero turned on a high and inside fastball and deposited it deep into the left field stands. It was his ninth homer of the year and it traveled 432 feet.

Then in the sixth inning, Walls doubled to lead off the inning, quickly stole third, and scored on a Chandler Simpson sacrifice fly. The Rays took a 3-0 lead and that score would hold.

That was essentially all the action in this one. McClahanan worked quickly striking out five and walking none while scattering five hits across his six innings. Ray only allowed four hits, but three of them went for extra bases. he also struck out five and walked none.

The Rays pen did their job again as Seymour, Sulser, and Baker held the Giants scoreless and to just one hit. Baker took home the save, his eighth of the year.

The Rays staff as a whole has been fantastic over the. Across their last eight games, they have allowed a total of just eleven runs. They have gone 7-1 over that stretch. The Rays are firing on all cylinders right now. They are hitting for power, limiting runs, and the defense has improved. They are playing winning baseball at a high level and will look to continue that tomorrow and secure a third straight series win.

Following the confirmation that he will be transitioning to the rotation and following in the footsteps of Rasmussen, Springs, and Littel, Griffin Jax will make his second consecutive open/start opposite Landen Roupp of the Giants.

Tonight’s match was about the closest you can get to playoff baseball on May 1. Bryan Woo and Cole Ragans are both considered aces on their staffs, though you might not know it from how they performed tonight, and each took home a no-decision. There were multiple lead changes, and the bullpens were tested to their limits. In the end, the Royals emerged victorious in their first contest of a new month.

Things got off to a fast start for KC. If you sat down a little late, you’d have found KC in front 3-0 before you even got logged into Apple TV. Maikel Garcia singled to right, Bobby Witt Jr. singled to shortstop, and Vinnie Pasquantino – freshly returned to the lineup after aggravating a back injury during the first contest in Sacramento – also singled to right to drive in the first run of the game. Connor Joe had a fielding error, and the Royals had a run in with runners at second and third with no outs for Salvador Perez.

Perez, of course, has been a lightning rod for criticism during the Royals’ slow start, but he whalloped a sinker that got a little too much of the plate down the left field line to drive in both runners. Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone both made outs, but Isaac Collins parachuted a pop-up down the left field line to bring home Salvy with two outs and give the Royals a 4-0 lead.

Cole Ragans, unfortunately, was not destined to look like the same guy who had absolutely dazzled the Angels. He walked J.P. Crawford, struck out Cal Raleigh, and then gave up a massive two-run home run to Julio Rodríguez. Rodríguez, of course, is known for turning things on once May starts, and he didn’t take any time with that tonight. Ragans settled down a bit until the fifth inning – though he still flashed some poor control at times. In the fifth, he allowed Connor Joe to bash his first MLB home run in more than two years. Fortunately, the bases were empty, and the Royals still led 4-3.

Over the same span, however, Bryan Woo hadn’t allowed a single baserunner since Collins’ single. But Vinnie put an end to that really quickly, leading off the sixth.

Two outs later, Jac joined his Italian-American brother.

Those dingers felt even more important as Cole gave up his third home run of the night in the bottom of the inning to Randy Arozerena. He was pulled for Nick Mears, who got the job done, recording the final two outs of the inning despite walking the first batter he faced.

Daniel Lynch IV, only recently installed as the Royals’ preferred seventh-inning pitcher, had to face the 9-1-2 hitters in the bottom of the inning. He got behind Leo Rivas 3-0 before striking him out looking, walked Crawford, struck out Raleigh, but gave up a game-tying home run to the magma-hot Rodriguez. Game tied. Lynch became the tenth Royals’ reliever with a Meltdown this year. The only players to pitch in relief for KC and not accrue one are Bailey Falter, Mitch Spence, Mason Black, and Tyler Tolbert. In other words, the only guys who haven’t been allowed to pitch in high leverage.

But hey, Sal was leading off the top of the eighth. What could go wrong? Nothing! He led off with a double into left center, advanced to third on a Carter Jensen groundout, and then Matt Quatraro made the controversial decision to pinch-hit Lane Thomas for Jac Caglianone. It worked, and Thomas drove in the go-ahead run by flipping an inside changeup over the second baseman’s head.

Matt Strahm pitched a scoreless eighth, striking out two and walking one. Then it was Lucas Erceg’s turn in the ninth inning. He needed to record a clean inning in order to prevent Julio Rodríguez from getting a chance to finish what he had started.

We diagnosed Erceg’s issues with his slider just yesterday, so Lucas led with his four-seam fastball and sinker against two lefties and the switch-hitting Raleigh. He threw no changeups; he threw only two sliders. For what it’s worth, he doesn’t often throw his slider against left-handed hitters; only about 22% of the time compared to 33% of the time against righties. Regardless, he got two pop-ups and struck out Crawford with a beautiful front hip goofy slider. It took Erceg only 12 pitches, 8 of which were strikes, to pitch a perfect ninth. It’s still a bit concerning to see his slider and changeup MIA, and he had trouble locating the four-seamer, but a win is a win!

The Royals have now scored 6+ runs in 6 of their last 9 games. Wouldn’t you know it, they’ve won 6 of their last 9! It’s probably not a coincidence that they did this while Vinnie was going 6-for-24, all but 1 for extra bases, plus walking 6 times and only striking out 3. Oh yeah, Salvy has gone 10-for-36 with 2 homers and 2 doubles in the same span. It’s almost like having the middle of the order show up in positive ways can make this offense look a lot better! Prior to the nine-game stretch, Salvy had a .536 OPS with Vinnie at .470. Checking in again after tonight’s game, they’re at .615 and .631, respectively. Sure, those still aren’t good, but they represent MASSIVE improvements in a very short span. That highlights how bad they were, how hot they’ve been, and how small the sample sizes still are in this young season.

The Royals will attempt to continue their perfect May tomorrow night, though it promises to be even more difficult than tonight. Seth Lugo (2.63 ERA) will go for the Royals, but Emerson Hancock (2.86 ERA) will go for the Mariners. It’s anyone’s guess if they can pull it off, but it sure would be sweet to go into Sunday afternoon with a chance to sweep their way to a winning road trip.

After a series loss to the Nationals, which had a blowout loss followed by a heartbreaking late-game loss, the Mets headed west again, starting in Anaheim to face the Angels. Christian Scott was getting his second start of the season, hoping to have a much better performance than his first, which would be difficult not to. All he had to do was get through more than 1.2 innings and/or give up less than five walks.

After an uneventful top of the first for the Mets, Christian Scott’s first inning of his second start seemed to get off to an inauspicious start. A one-out single from Mike Trout turned into a two-out, two-run home run to Jorge Soler to put the Mets in an early 2-0 hole after the first inning, which has proven to be an insurmountable problem for the Mets as of late.

(Author’s note: during the second inning, the broadcast kept dropping out, and I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t immediately think that it could be a blessing in disguise, not being forced to watch whatever disaster was awaiting me in the future innings. Alas, I was cursed with a return of service and the ability to forge ahead.)

It took until the bottom of the third for anything to happen again, with Zach Neto reaching first on a leadoff hit by pitch. He then stole second base, and stole third, and then scored when Alvarez’s attempt to throw him out ended up in left field. So the Mets were then down 3-0 in the third, which was as close to a death sentence as the Mets could get in the third inning.

The Mets weren’t able to get any luck until Bo Bichette, in the top of the sixth, hit a line drive directly into the leg of Walbert Ureña, driving him from the game in favor of Brent Suter. Suter then gave up a single to Soto, and Alvarez, which drove in the Mets’ first run of the game. Baty grounded out to set up runners on second and third with two outs, which has typically been the end of the inning for the Mets this season. The Angels brought in Chase Silseth to face Marcus Semien. And then, the most amazing thing happened.

Marcus Semien got a hit. With runners in scoring position. And two outs. And the game was tied.

Carson Benge grounded out to end the inning, but there was potential for a win for the Mets now, which they were in dire need of. Huascar Brazobán came in to relieve Scott, who had a much better start the second go around this season. Scott gave up three runs (only two earned) on three hits, and eight strikeouts which ties his career high. Brazobán had a clean inning, keeping the Mets in the game.

José Fermin came in to relieve Silseth in the top of the seventh, and he gave up a one-out solo home run to Ronny Mauricio, his first of the season, to put the Mets ahead by one run. Nine outs to go, the Mets had a lead. A slight lead, a scary single run lead, but a lead is a lead.

Raley, Weaver, and Williams each pitched a scoreless inning to keep the Mets ahead to the end and then, unbelievably, they won. The Mets won a game, a one-run game, and their pitching staff was able to retire 21 batters in a row to end the game. It was the 2026 Mets version of an episode of The Twilight Zone.

An optimist could hope that this is the start of something for the Mets, that they could build on this and win another game, maybe sweep, win a series or two or even three on the road against not very stiff competition. A realist would recognize that that idea has been brought up before in the past few weeks without materializing. A pessimist would expect a few losses to follow this win. But all anyone can know at this point is the facts: they play again tomorrow night at 9:38 against the Angels, with Nolan McLean facing Reid Detmers. Anything else would be a stab in the dark.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Devin Williams, +20% WPA
Big Mets loser: Christian Scott, -12% WPA
Mets pitchers: +41% WPA
Mets hitters: +9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Marcus Semien two-run single in the sixth inning, +22.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jorge Soler’s two-run home run in the first inning, -18.4% WPA

ANAHEIM, Calif. — In the week since becoming the Mets’ starting shortstop, Ronny Mauricio struck a familiar chord by striking out a lot.

In his first at-bat against the Angels on Friday, he adjusted the script by hitting into an inning-ending double play. But the Mets keep returning to Mauricio in part because of his raw power.

That tool was on display in the seventh inning when he hit a tie-breaking homer that helped the Mets snap a two-game skid with a 4-3 victory at Angel Stadium.

On a day president of baseball operations David Stearns revealed he plans to stick with manager Carlos Mendoza to guide this submerging ship, the Mets received a respectable Christian Scott outing before overcoming a three-run deficit in the sixth and going ahead on Mauricio’s blast in the seventh. 

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Mauricio said through an interpreter. “When we go out there, we have to have pride. We have to really feel it, to go out there and have success for each other.”

Mauricio crushed a 1-1 fastball from Jose Fermin, with a 111.3 mph exit velocity, for his first homer this season. Mauricio became the starting shortstop last week when Francisco Lindor went on the injured list with a left calf strain that could sideline him for months.

“This guy can hit the ball as far and as hard as anybody,” Mendoza said. “He needed that one.”

Mauricio began the day with a .192/.192/.192 slash line with 10 strikeouts in 26 at-bats.

The Mets bullpen handled the rest.

Brooks Raley worked a scoreless seventh and Luke Weaver gained some redemption for his blown save a day earlier with a perfect eighth. Devin Williams got the final three outs for the save, signaling the conclusion of a six-game road losing streak.

Overall, Mets pitchers — Huascar Brazoban also fired a scoreless inning in relief — retired 21 straight batters to conclude the game.

In an improved performance from his season debut last week, Scott allowed three runs (one unearned) on three hits with eight strikeouts over five innings.

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He was removed at 74 pitches, preventing the Angels from facing him a third time through the batting order. Scott struggled with control last week against the Twins and was removed after walking five batters over 1 ¹/₃ innings.

“I am just really confident in myself and my stuff, I know that I really belong here,” Scott said. “My stuff plays at a high level when it’s in the strike zone, so I have just got to be consistent and doing it on a consistent basis.”

Scott threw a high sweeper that Jorge Soler launched for a two-run homer in the first inning to place the Mets in an immediate hole.

Mike Trout singled in the inning before with two outs Soler hit a no-doubter over the left field fence.

Zach Neto got drilled by Scott leading off the third and stole second. When Neto later attempted to steal third, Francisco Alvarez unleashed a throw that sailed into left field, allowing the Angels to score their third run.

The Mets loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth against Walbert Urena, but Marcus Semien was retired on a fly to right after working a full count.

Bo Bichette singled leading off and Juan Soto and Brett Baty each walked. MJ Melendez and Alvarez each struck out with Bichette in scoring position.

Scott began rolling in the middle innings, retiring nine straight batters after he plunked Neto in the third. During that stretch he struck out five, getting the Mets to a spot where Mendoza wouldn’t have to stretch out the bullpen.

Urena was knocked out in the sixth on Bichette’s line drive that struck his right knee and caromed for a leadoff single.

Urena, who crumpled to the ground, attempted to remain in the game, but was physically unable.

Brent Suter entered and allowed singles to Juan Soto and Francisco Alvarez, the latter of which pulled the Mets within 3-1. Semien’s two-run single with two outs tied it.

“We went down early, but thought we were putting good at-bats together,” Semien said.

Royals 7, Mariners 6

Your Apple TV Winning Moment: Julio Rodríguez, +0.43 WPA
Setting your apple on fire: Bryan Woo, -.038 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

The White Sox have been worse than .500 all season long, so declaring them a must-watch team seems a bit hyperbolic.

But Friday’s 8-2 annihilation of a Padres team very strong out of the gate — 5 1/2 games better than Chicago entering play — touched on the three players most likely to make you stop whatever you’re doing and stare.

First off, and most substantially, it was a masterpiece start by Noah Schultz, in just his fourth career outing — although it didn’t begin as such. Schultz’s outing began miserably, a miserable first inning that found the wunderkind southpaw walking two Padres on, balking the runners to second and third, and then filling the bases with a third walk. However, the lefty attacked Ty France with three straight fastballs for strikes, generating a ground out to escape the jam.

And from there, that was all she wrote. After throwing just 15 of 29 pitches for strikes in the first, Schultz melted through the next three innings with 20-of-27 strikes, one single and zero walks.

Even better, Padres starter Germán Márquez, who’d already had a sloppy and inefficient first frame, was even worse in the second, issuing four walks. Three of those walks scored on a Sam Antonacci single, Andrew Benintendi sac fly and an Austin Hayes ground out. Then, with two on and two out with a full count, Munetaka Murakami took over the MLB lead in home runs and gave the White Sox a 6-0 lead with a no-doubter to right-center:

Our second must-watch player continues to place himself in rare air in MLB history. Per Sarah Langs, Murakami now ranks third all-time in home runs through 32 career games. Something tells me he is going to be No. 1 on the list by the time we get to Game 50 or so.

And finally, must-watch ABs come from Colson Montgomery as well. And Colson extended the White Sox rout with a first-pitch screamer out to right-center with two outs in the fifth:

That homer should have been a two-run shot, as right before Colson’s clout Miguel Vargas connected on a superb hustle double, turning a standard single to center into a two-bagger with an aggressive, hard cut at the first base bag. Vargas beat the throw but was ruled out on the field; the appeal at second was denied, backed by a claim that Vargas drifted off of the bag during his slide.

He did not:

Schultz ended up going a scoreless six innings and holding 88.9% of the Padres lineup hitless (Fernando Tatís Jr. was the only one to touch him, with a single in the third and triple in the sixth). The southpaw did not walk a single batter after the first inning, and struck out two.

Kudos to the offense as a whole tonight, for being smart enough to sense that Márquez was on the ropes struggling to get his knuckle-curve over the plate and working at-bats deep. Eight batters had worked counts at least five pitches deep through the first 3 1/3 innings of the game.

Three singles in the eighth rounded the White Sox run total up to eight.

The Padres did finally rally off of the eminently-hittable Osvaldo Bido in the eighth, stringing a walk and three singles together to puncture the scoreboard with two runs.