Category: Baseball

The heart of the Mariners showed up early, but the heart of the A’s order showed up late.

The Mariners lost 6-4 in Monday’s series opener against the Athletics. Emerson Hancock continued to look like the new-and-improved version of himself, but he also threw a few bad pitches and was eventually burned. Cal Raleigh and Dominic Canzone each homered, and Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor combined for five hits. But the Mariners ultimately could not overcome a 13-hit day for the Athletics.

Hancock entered the day as perhaps the story of the early season. Through four starts, he had a 2.75 FIP, 24.2% walk rate, and a top 20 WAR among qualified starting pitchers. It’s been a pleasant surprise for the Mariners, who have been desperate for some depth beyond their top-five starters. In fact, Hancock so far in 2026 has looked like much more than depth. He made a ton of changes over the offseason, as Michael Rosen pointed out for FanGraphs last week, including tweaking his repertoire and fundamentally changing how he throws the ball.

For the most part, Hancock looked like the new-and-improved version of himself on Monday. He continued to pound the zone with fastballs at 95 mph, issuing zero walks. And he continued to expand the zone with sweepers to righties and the changeups to lefties. He racked up 11 whiffs on 51 swings and three strikeouts. Again, for the most part, it worked. Hancock scattered a few singles, stranding a couple early, generating a double play in the fourth, and even picking off Lawrence Butler in the fifth. Again, with no walks, those were the only runners who reached base against him.

Unfortunately, three others reached base and just kept running. In the fourth, Hancock threw an up and in fastball to Carlos Cortes leading off the inning — the pitch didn’t even catch the zone — but Cortes was sitting on it and turned it into the right field seats.

In the sixth, Hancock threw a middle-middle fastball to slugger Nick Kurtz, who crushed it out to center. Hancock threw the same pitch to the next batter, slugger Shea Langeliers, who also crushed it to center. The back-to-back homers tied the game at 3-3 and ended Hancock’s day.

Here’s the locations of those homers:

In the end, the stat line for Hancock was five innings, seven hits, three strikeouts, no walks, and three homers. That’s not a good line. And it could have been worse. He also gave up a lot of hard contact in addition to the homers. Here’s an out he was fortunate to get: Kurtz hit a sharp liner to center to leadoff the game that seemed to knuckle and forced Julio to make an acrobatic play:

Still, this looked like the “good” version of Hancock we’ve seen so far from this year. The velocity was there. The movement was there. And the whiffs were there. Is it good to throw a pair of middle-middle fastballs to two of the best sluggers in the league? No. But this was a lot different from Hancock’s poor outings from the past three years.

Jose Ferrer was next in line in the sixth after the back-to-back homers. He immediately gave up a hard single against the shift to Cortes. He got the next two batters to fly out, but a broken bat single and a hit by pitch loaded the bases. Ferrer then got Lawrence Butler to hit a hard chopper right back to the mound. Ferrer reached up and snagged it over his head, and after a bit of scampering to find the ball for a moment, he realized it was in his glove, tossed it to first, and escaped the inning.

Matt Brash worked an uneventful seventh inning against the top of the order to keep the game tied at 3-3.

By the eighth, however, Dan Wilson seemed to be out of relievers. Andrés Muñoz and Gabe Speier had each pitched on back-to-back days, and Eduard Bazardo had thrown a lot of pitches recently as well. Wilson instead went with Casey Legumina, who wasn’t very good. He gave up a leadoff double, followed by a single and a walk to load the bases. For a moment, it looked like he might escape with minimal damage after a sac fly to make the game 4-3. But a single from Butler plated the remaining runners to give the A’s a 6-3 lead, and eventually, the win.

It was overall a good day for the Mariners offense. In the bottom of the first, Raleigh flipped a homer the other way to open the scoring. Julio followed with a rocket single up the middle, and Naylor doubled him home to make it 2-0.

Naylor continued to swing at just about every pitch he saw Monday and this time picked up three hits, including his first two doubles of the season. He’s now up to a 54 wRC+ in 2026, which isn’t good but still about five-times higher than his 15 wRC+ from before the Rangers series. It’d be nice to see him start working the count again, but the results are starting to come around. He also picked up his first stolen base of the season and was back to being a pitcher’s pest on the bases, flinging his arms around at second base and earning a scolding from A’s start JT Ginn on his way to dugout in the first inning; Naylor was undeterred and continued to gesture wildly the rest of the game.

Dominic Canzone also had a nice day. He plopped a homer to right in the second inning to make it 3-0, and later lasered a double off the right field wall at 111.8 mph. Both pitches were elevated on the inner part of the plate — the pitches he’s the very best in the world at hitting.

The Mariners made things interesting late. In the eighth, down 6-3, Julio and Naylor each hit one-out singles. But Randy Arozarena flew out, as did Rob Refsnyder, who was still in the game after pinch-hitting for Luke Raley in the sixth.

Now, I defended Wilson’s bullpen management in my last recap on Saturday, and I stand by that today (even with the unfortunate circumstances that lead to Legumina in a late-leverage spot). But pulling Raley with one out and nobody on in the sixth to get a handedness matchup for Refsnyder seemed to come back to bite Wilson in the eighth when Refsnyder had to face a righty.

“Both (Canzone and Raley) have swung the bat very well and it’s tough to take them out of any game. And the same is true when (Refsnyder) in there and he’s swinging the bat well, it’s tough to take him out,” Wilson said on the decision after the game. “These are hard decisions…but it just felt like tonight, that was the decision to go with.”

I’m generally not a fan of doing an “um actually” to quotes like this. And Wilson is notoriously reluctant to say anything bad about his players for the sake of answering questions — I might even say that’s a good quality in a manger overall. But Refsnyder entered the day with one hit on the season, and Raley entered the day with 21 hits on the season. They are not swinging the bat equally “well.”

Again, I’m not really taking Wilson’s quote at face value here. I’m sure he knows Raley is hot and Refsnyder is not. I think the rationale here is that this is simply the Mariners’ process, and they’re not going to abandon that process for a hot hand in a small sample. Raley is hitting well, but he doesn’t have even 100 plate appearances, and he’s not won the full-time job quite yet. It’s also hard to do counterfactuals like this. Perhaps the A’s would have used a different pitcher if Raley was still in the game, and certainly handedness is not the only consideration in pitcher-hitter matchups.

Still, I’m just not a fan of the platoon-and-pinch process in general. I said as much last season when the Mariners were pinch hitting at historic rates, and I’m sure I’ll write a similar story this year if the trend continues. Hitters are simply much worse off the bench, and when you go for the handedness advantage early, you’ll often give back that handedness advantage later. That was the case Monday, even if it’s a bit of a stretch to blame the loss on that directly — the Mariners still gave up six runs.

The Mariners nearly clawed back anyways. In the ninth, Cole Young picked up a one-out single, and scored on a double from Rivas to make it 6-4. But J.P. Crawford popped out, and Raleigh flew out, and the game was over.

A good all around win. Dylan Cease was effectively wild, as they say, the bullpen was terrific, and while the offence wasn’t explosive the did enough in key moments (very much out of character).

Toronto loaded the bases with two outs in the first, on singles by Vladimir Guerrero jr. and Eloy Jimenez and a Kazuma Okamoto grounder that might have ticked off Vlad’s toe, causing Angels shortstop Zach Neto to bobbke it, but Lenyn Sosa struck out to prevent them from capitalizing. In the second, Daulton Varsho was hit by a pitch (on his elbow guard, it looked like, and he didn’t appear to be in significant pain) but again they could not bring him home. They got on the board in the third. Davis Schneider lead off with a walk and one batter later Vlad clubbed a two run homer to straightaway centre, putting the Jays on top 2-1. The bats went quiet at that point, though, with Reid Detmers sitting down the next eight batters to get through the fifth. Vlad and Jimenez each singled again to open the sixth. Okamoto hit a ground ball into the hole that Neto made a beautiful play on to turn and throw Jimenez out at second, putting men on the corners with one out. Sosa hit a sac fly to left that pushed Vlad across to give them a 3-2 lead. Detmers returned for one batter in the seventh, walking Myles Straw. Tyler Heineman laid down a sact bunt against reliever Chase Silseth to advance Straw, and a Nathan Lukes, hitting for Schneider, singled to extend the lead to 4-2.

Dylan Cease looked good, but the Angels got a run off him on the first on a pair of ground balls. The first, by Nolan Schanuel, went for a double, and the second, by Jorge Soler just ticked off a diving Ernie Clement’s glove and into left to score the runner. He got through the second with just a line single, but more trouble loomed in the third. Neto walked and Mike Trout reached on an infield single, then the two executed a perfect double steal to put two in scoring position with none out. A Schanuel sac fly tied the game at two. Cease walked Yoan Moncada but got out of it without giving up a lead with a strikeout. He had his first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, picking up his eighth and ninth strikeouts on the way. Following a Neto single, his 10th, 11th, and 12th got him through the fifth. That would be the end, though. It took him 110 pitches to get there, allowing two runs on five hits and a pair of walks.

Braydon Fisher was the first guy out of the pen, getting a double play to erase a walk in a scoreless bottom of six. Louis Varland did him one better, retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts in the seventh.

Okamoto walked off Shaun Anderson in the eighth, but that was it. Varland returned to strike out Trout before giving way to Tyler Rogers. Andres Gimenez, who’d hit for Sosa in the top half of the inning, booted a routine grounder to allow Schanuel to reach, but Rogers recovered by getting the next two innings.

Straw singled to open the ninth. A passed ball allowed him to go to second, and Heineman sac bunted him over to third. That allowed him to come home on a Lukes grounder off Anderson’s leg, expanding the gap to three runs. Jeff Hoffman wasn’t his sharpest, but after a Jo Adell single he struck out the next three Angels to lock down the win.

Jays of the Day: Vlad (0.25), Lukes (0.12), Varland (0.13)

Less So: Heineman just qualifies, but he got hit by about a dozen foul balls today so I’ll give a reprieve and say nobody.

It’s another 9:38pm ET start tomorrow. Jack Kochanowicz (2-0, 3.47) takes the mound for the Angels, while Patrick Corbin (0-0, 4.66) will hopefully look more like his second Blue Jays start than his first.

The A’s came into Seattle on Monday evening and used some late-game offense to take the first of this three-game set. Back in the win column, and back atop the AL West with sole possession of the division lead.

Ginn struggles early, settles in

On the mound tonight starting for the A’s was right-hander J.T. Ginn. He came into tonight on a mini roll, having put up two quality outings since getting inserted into the starting rotation.

Facing the Mariners for the very first time, Seattle greeted Ginn with two runs in the first, a solo homer off the bat of Cal Raleigh and an RBI double from first baseman Josh Naylor. They’d get Ginn for one more run in the second as well off another homer, this one coming courtesy of Dominic Canzone.

Those early-game struggles weren’t great, but Ginn was sent out for the third and finally had a shutdown inning, collecting three strikeouts in the third. The 26-year-old would go on to pitch all the way into the sixth without allowing another run and leaving with one out in the inning. He ended his night on a high note as well, getting Randy Arozarena to strike out swinging for his sixth K of the night.

• J.T. Ginn: 5 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 2 HR, 92 pitches

Well it was a little dicey in the first two frames but Ginn did good to buckle himself down and provide his team with some extra innings. Mark Kotsay made a good call letting Ginn work his way back into this one, and his offense would pick him up later tonight.

Offense struggles early, comes on strong late

On the other side of the ball, the A’s lineup was facing M’s righty Emerson Hancock. For the first few innings the A’s did have much of an answer for the former top prospect, collecting just a pair of singles the first time through the order.

The second time through the order the A’s batters were able to start getting a better read on Hancock. Leading off the top of the fourth, tonight’s DH Carlos Cortes connected on a fastball high and in and drove it over the wall in right field to get the A’s on the board for the first time tonight:

That was #2 on the year for Cortes, who came through with a massive night while hitting in the #3 spot of the order. Mark Kotsay was right again tonight about batting him in such a big spot in the lineup.

The A’s were starting to make better contact but it took a couple more innings for the big ones to come. Now into the sixth and with the top of the lineup at the plate this was about as good an opportunity as the team could hope for. Well first baseman Nick Kurtz strode to the plate and connected on a fastball right down the middle for another solo shot to cut the lead to one:

The A’s didn’t have to wait long for that next run either. Shea Langeliers came up right behind Kurtz and blasted his own solo shot, swatting another hanging fastball down the pipe and depositing it over the wall in center:

Tie game. That was his 7th of the year. The A’s had Hancock’s number and the Mariners knew it. That third homer of the night chased Hancock from this contest. The Athletics kept up the pressure against the bullpen, loading the bases that very same frame but weren’t able to cash in and take the lead. And with Ginn soon departing as well, it was going to be down to the bullpens to determine who would win tonight.

Late-game heroics

Left-hander Hogan Harris relieved Ginn in the sixth and not only finished the frame but handled the seventh as well. It was a perfect outing for Harris; no hits, no walks, plus a pair of punchouts to boot. Tonight was his team-leading 13th appearance and he’s been everything the A’s could have hoped for in the early going.

Now into the eighth, the A’s finally broke through in a big way. A double, single, and walk loaded the bases with no outs and the team was cooking. Third baseman Max Muncy made sure to drive in at least one with a productive sac fly that gave the A’s their first lead of the night.

After that it was Lawrence Butler’s turn at the plate and he came through with the biggest hit of the game, a two-run single to push the A’s lead to three runs:

Now with a lead and some extra breathing room A’s fans could relax and enjoy the rest of the game. Or so we thought. The Mariners did not go down quietly in this one. Mark Leiter Jr. took over for the eighth and gave up a pair of hits with both reaching scoring position and just one out. He managed to pull a Houdini with a massive strikeout of Arozarena and a flyout to end the threat, but that was a close one.

Then it was Joel Kuhnel on for the ninth for his fourth save opportunity. The right-hander, who did not start the season with the big league club, got the first out but then a single and RBI double cut into the lead and woke us all back up. Now with the tying run at the plate Kuhnel needed to be nails. And he was, getting J.P. Crawford to pop out and Raleigh to fly out to end the game.

A’s win! A solid performance all around. The bats took some time to get going but they came through in a big way late. Three homers. Four players getting multiple hits. Carlos Cortes going 4-for-4. Then Ginn had some early struggles but did a good job of not letting it snowball and get out of hand. He really saved the bullpen by being able to pitch into the sixth. Speaking of the ‘pen, the three arms combined pitched nearly four innings, and while it got a little dicey at times they bent but didn’t break. Kuhnel is now 4-for-4 in save opportunities which leads the team. Do we finally have our closer? And who would have seen this coming?

We’re back in first place and we’ll have an opportunity to add to that lead tomorrow evening when these teams meet back up for the second game of the series. For the A’s they’ll send left-hander Jacob Lopez to the bump. It hasn’t been a smooth start to the season for the lefty and he’ll need to show more than he has up to this point if he wants to keep ahold of his spot in the rotation. Walks especially have been a major problem for him so far as he has 17 in 18 innings of work. Overall he’ll bring a 6.38 ERA into tomorrow’s contest.

As for Seattle, they’ll have veteran Luis Castillo getting the ball for them for the middle game. The 33-year-old right-hander has had a so-so start to his year. He had a disaster performance a couple starts ago, when he got shelled for seven runs. Before that he pitched six shutout innings in his first appearance, 3 2/3 with three runs allowed in his second, the blowup game, and most recently he tossed 5 1/3 with just one run allowed against the Padres. Hard to know which version of Castillo will show up tomorrow but the A’s will be ready. In his career against the Athletics he has a nice 3.02 ERA in nine starts, so we’ll be hoping to boost that number a bit tomorrow night.

Three fielding errors, a balk and a wild pitch by the Rockies — along with a shutdown performance from L.A.‘s reliever-turned-starter Justin Wrobleski — helped the Dodgers (16-6) defeat Colorado on Monday night and settle for a series split.

Max Muncy hit two homers, making it four in the series, and Colorado fans will not be sad to see him leave town. The Rockies (9-14) couldn’t come up with the rally or clutch hit they needed, going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine runners on base in the game.

Quintana’s Command Improves, But D struggles

On the bright side, José Quintana only walked one batter in five innings compared to the eight he’d walked in eight innings in his first two outings. The bad news is that Kyle Karros had a fielding error that gave way to a two-run third inning. Quintana also got in his own way, getting called for a run-scoring balk in the fourth. Instead of inducing an inning-ending double play, it scored a run and helped the Dodgers take a 5-1 lead.

In the first inning, Quinanta was also charged with an error when he couldn’t catch a lob from Troy Johnston to allow Shohei Ohtani to reach. Luckily, it didn’t turn out to hurt Quintana as Ohtani was stranded at third. What did hurt Quintana was giving up back-to-back solo homers to Muncy and Miguel Rojas in the second inning to give the Dodgers a lead (2-1) that they never lost.

On the night, Quintana (0-2, 6.53 ERA) gave up six runs, only four earned, on eight hits and one walk with one strikeout in five innings. Quintana started the sixth inning, but gave up singles to Muncy and Rojas to start the frame and got the hook from manager Warren Schaeffer. In the postgame press conference, Schaeffer called the game “a night to forget.”

Gordon Also Scores Own Goal

Tanner Gordon relieved Quintana and was also his own worst enemy. While he almost escaped damage despite inheriting two runners, he intentionally walked Ohtani after getting two outs, but then accidentally walked Alex Call to walk in a run and make it 6-1.

In the seventh inning, Gordon made a fielding error when he couldn’t scoop up a bunt by Rojas, which allowed Andy Pages to score and increase L.A.‘s lead to 7-1. In the eighth, Gordon threw a wild pitch, which allowed Ohtani to move from second to third and then come around to score on a Teoscar Hernández single.

While Gordon recorded six strikeouts, he didn’t have the same swing-and-miss magic he had in his season debut when he threw four scoreless innings on April 15 against Houston. Instead, the Dodgers teed off on Gordon with Dalton Rushing hitting two homers and Muncy adding his second of the day.

When all was said and done, Gordon (7.04 ERA) gave up six runs on seven hits with three walks.

Rockies Score First

It’s hard to believe, but the Rockies actually jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Jordan Beck led off with a double and Brenton Doyle followed with another double to bring him home and put the Rockies up 1-0.

Then Wrobleski took over and gave up zero runs in the next six innings. The Rockies only got six hits in innings two through seven, struck out three times and didn’t draw a walk. Wrobleski is now 3-0 on the season with a 1.88 ERA in 24 innings.

The offense did better as soon as Wrobleski left the game. In the eighth inning, TJ Rumfield earned a stroll through the dugout in the purple coat when he sent an Edgardo Henriquez slider 440 feet to the second deck in the right field stands. It was Rumfield’s third homer of the season.

Beck, taking advantage of a left-handed pitcher, went 3-for-4 with a sacrifice fly and a run scored from the leadoff spot. All three of his hits came against Wrobleski. Willi Castro and Brett Sullivan each added two hits for the Rockies.

Up Next

The Rockies will now host the San Diego (15-7) for a three-game series beginning Tuesday. The Padres swept the Rockies in a four-game series earlier in April. On Tuesday, RHP Randy Vásquez (1-0, 2.49) will get the start for San Diego. The Rockies have yet to announce their starter.

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That game was NOT how you overcome the bad vibes of a losing streak. The Royals were one strike away from a win, from ending this misery. They could not make it happen despite having all the opportunities in the world.

The Orioles did not reach third base until the ninth inning. They did not hold a lead until the 11th inning. The Royals left a bajillion guys on base. You wouldn’t guess that from just looking at the final score. The Orioles did NOTHING for the first eight innings. But luckily for them, it doesn’t matter, exactly, when you score, or how many baserunners you have, as long as you have more runs than the other team when the last guy finishes hitting. Only one team was capable of that tonight.

Despite their five-run offensive output, most of which came in extras, the Royals had tons of opportunities for more. They EASILY could have put this game away in regular time. They should have!

In the bottom of the first inning, the Royals loaded the bases with only one out, Carter Jensen up to bat. He hit into a double play to end the threat. In the second inning, they added two singles after Jac’s home run but got nothing else. In the third inning, they loaded the bases again, this time with no outs. Michael Massey hit a comebacker to the pitcher, who got the force at home. Two strikeouts ended that threat. In the sixth, they again loaded the bases and got nothing. Runners at first and second in the 7th, again nothing.

In the 10th inning, with the added advantage of starting with a guy on second base with no outs, the Royals still found a way to squander it. After a Nick Loftin walk, Cags hit a routine fly ball to center field. Lane Thomas was the extra inning runner, and he tagged up as normal. The throw got by the third baseman, and Thomas decided to take off for third. The Orioles defense recovered and tagged him out on the slide. Isaac Collins grounded out to end that nonsense.

The Royals plated their second run in the bottom of the 11th with their life on the line. Kyle Isbel finally put down the bunt he had been trying to put down all game to move the Manfred Man, Collins, from second to third. Down to the last strike, Bobby Witt Jr managed a single to bring him in and tie the game. It still seemed harder than it should have been.

It took until the 12th inning for the Royals to actually do something with the bases loaded. A single and a walk loaded the bases for Nick Loftin, who pulled a grounder past the diving third baseman for a double. All three runners scored. Too little, too late.

The Royals went 5-for-21 (!!!!) with runners in scoring position and left 16 (!!!!) on base. Orioles starter Kyle Bradish allowed 10 hits and 3 walks in 5 and 1/3 innings! And yet, somehow, the only run he gave up was Cags’ solo homer.

Speaking of Jac’s homer – hoo wee. This was one of the few positives of the game, so let me talk about it for a bit. Jac sent that ball into next week. Bradish had a clear plan to go after Cags – backdoor breaking pitches. Cags managed to lay off a bunch of them, but not completely, throughout the game. For whatever reason, Bradish abandoned that plan for one pitch and left a fastball up and over the plate. Cags put a murderous swing on that ball and hit it 437 feet beyond the center field wall. Beautiful. I hope to see many years of those things. Worth noting – Cags laid off the breaking junk in his third plate appearance against Bradish and walked.

But back to the rest of the game – it was pretty frustrating to watch that offensive performance, gotta be honest. They just kept stalling out over and over again. It wasn’t any one thing either, to me. They had bloops, blasts, help from the Orioles defense, and more. The Orioles did everything in their power to give up 10 runs in the first nine innings of the game, not 1. The Royals *have* to take advantage of these opportunities as the season goes on.

The Royals pitchers, up until the dang ninth inning, did their part. Seth Lugo absolutely carved up the Orioles hitters over seven complete innings. He walked four guys in those seven innings, but he gave up only one hit, which was after a pickoff in the first inning. Lugo finished with seven strikeouts in a kitchen-sink-type outing. He was great. Matt Strahm followed by striking out the side in the eighth. He got a borderline ball overturned in his favor when Jensen challenged – it was about as close as it gets to a ball while still being called a strike. Like I mentioned before, through 8 innings, the Orioles had never touched third base.

Too bad Erceg couldn’t throw strikes in the ninth and blew it. He walked Gunnar Henderson and managed to pick him off (like Lugo did earlier). Then he walked Taylor Ward. He got a forceout to put the situation at two outs and a man on first, with Pete Alonso up. Erceg induced a couple check swings from Alonso, but alas none was called a swing. I guess you can argue all you want about the check swing calls. I don’t know. Felt like the Royals should have won the game before that!

Alonso walked. Jensen called for an ABS challenge against Basallo, the next hitter, but failed. Erceg put a fastball down the pipe that Basallo smacked into the gap to bring in the first Orioles run of the game (and the first time any Oriole touched third), which felt like it ended the Royals hopes for a win because the rest of the bullpen could not keep it together. Daniel Lynch IV did his job but was pulled after 12 pitches. Schreiber and Lange unraveled from there, including the dang 12th inning grand slam.

Look, this was terrible. The morale will not improve tonight. The vibes will not improve tonight. The hole is deeper. The Orioles and Royals will play again tomorrow. Eat Arby’s.

The Orioles offense has done it again. Don’t ask me for the definition of “it” in this context because the answer to that remains unclear early in the 2026 season. What is certain for tonight is this: The Orioles could have lost another stupid, frustrating game full of futility and easily-avoidable mistakes. They were one strike away from that exact outcome. Long afterwards, even after taking a five-run extra-innings lead, they were one swing away from that outcome. Still, when the dust settled, the O’s beat the Kansas City Royals by a 7-5 score in 12 innings.

This was a game that, in a lot of ways, the Orioles deserved to lose. One reason that they deserved to lose is that Gunnar Henderson led off the game with a walk and got picked off. Henderson led off the ninth inning with a walk and got picked off. In between these two bungled appearances on the bases, the entire remaining Orioles lineup collected exactly one hit: A double by Taylor Ward immediately after Henderson’s first pickoff.

Another reason that the Orioles deserved to lose this one is that starting pitcher Kyle Bradish had another tough night. Unlike his last tough game, where he was battered in the earned runs column, it wasn’t so bad this time. The ugly number is the hits column, with Bradish allowing ten hits over 5.1 innings. Ten hits! And he walked three guys too. That’s a lot of baserunners. Through all of this, he allowed just one single run, a solo home run hit by Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone. It could have been worse. Against any other team, perhaps it would have been. On Monday night, it was enough to keep the Orioles in the game.

Even with that effort, it very nearly didn’t matter that Bradish kept the Orioles in the game. The Orioles offense did very nearly nothing, and they were down to their last out with the tying run only as far as first base. Pete Alonso kept the line moving, bringing up rookie catcher Samuel Basallo. We’ve seen Basallo have problems so far this season. He was down to his last strike but instead of striking out, he lined a fat pitch by Royals closer Lucas Erceg into left field, scoring Dylan Beavers and putting the Orioles back in the game.

The teams traded zeroes in the tenth and traded runs in the eleventh. The Orioles managed to score their zombie runner – or Manfred Man, or however you like to call it – as Beavers delivered an RBI hit with two outs in the top of the inning. It’s a good thing he did, too, because Anthony Nunez wasn’t able to put up a zero in the bottom half. After getting two outs, he had put two strikes on Bobby Witt Jr. but could not execute the put-away pitch, and Witt got a game-tying hit of his own. Nunez closed the door from t here.

It’s rare to see the twelfth inning these days. These two teams deserved it on Monday night. That is not complimentary. Basallo, the ninth inning hero, promptly came through as he led off the twelfth with an almost-identical line drive that scored pinch runner Coby Mayo. Jeremiah Jackson followed with a single, then Weston Wilson, after attempting to sacrifice bunt earlier in the plate appearance, drew a walk to load the bases.

This brought up Leody Taveras, hitless on the evening. Taveras has improbably been one of the better Orioles hitters so far. He came through once again on Monday night, walloping a pitch to the deepest part of center field in Kauffman Stadium. A grand slam! This despite the heroic leaping effort of Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel. The Orioles had a 7-2 lead just like that.

This ought to have been a comfortable lead, except for one thing: These are the 2026 Orioles. Their options for pitching the twelfth were few and they called upon rookie Cameron Foster. I don’t feel like doing the play-by-play of his inning because it’s late and I’m tired but you can see it in the final score: The Orioles had a 7-2 lead and they only won by two runs. Geez, dude. The game ended with the tying run at the plate for Kansas City. There’s no call for that. Even so, Foster’s performance wasn’t enough to revive the reeling Royals. He got three outs before giving up five runs. He only gave up three (and only two were earned). The game ended. The Orioles won. Sheesh.

These two teams will be back at it again on Tuesday night. That feels more like a threat than a neutral piece of information, but there we have it. Weather permitting, they will play again, and again after that on Wednesday. Shane Baz and Kris Bubic are the scheduled starting pitchers as the series continues at 7:40 Eastern time. Try scoring some runs before the ninth inning this time, Orioles. Try to keep scoring after you’ve scored once.

**

It is a longtime tradition on Camden Chat after a win to deem a player the Most Birdland Player of the game, for someone who has made the most fun contribution to the win. Sometimes that’s the same thing as the Most Valuable Player of the game, sometimes it’s not. This used to be decided by poll, but we have lost that capability due to technical changes out of our control. So, it’s up to you to nominate your picks in the comments. Who’s your MBP? Choose wisely or be lightly mocked!

The Dodgers escaped the House of Mile High Horrors, salvaging a split against the less-talented Colorado Rockies despite playing the coldest game in franchise history, reliever Blake Treinen getting hit in the head by a batted ball during batting practice.

And most significantly, reporting Monday that star closer Edwin Díaz will have surgery to remove “loose bodies” in his right elbow, likely sidelining him for three months.

But the fourth and final game at Coors Field was more normal, more like it. More like the Dodgers, who dominated, 12-3.

Read more:Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz to have surgery, expected out until after All-Star break

They piled up 15 hits, five of them home runs and scored in every inning but the first and fifth.

Among the Dodgers’ many highlights: Miguel Rojas pumping his fists running to first base after smacking his 1,000th hit through the hole to left field in the same ballpark where he got his first hit in 2014.

“Not many people could have thought that I was going to have an opportunity to play this long in the game,” said Rojas, who lost his father, Miguel “Micky” Rojas Sr., to a heart attack earlier this month.

“I never let anybody put a ceiling on top of my head,” added Rojas, who went three for three to push his career hits total to 1,001. “I kept going through those ceilings that they put above me. It was all about taking that label away from my head, that I was a defensive replacement guy, defensive-first guy. ‘He can’t hit, he’s just gonna play shortstop...' That's why 1,000 hits for me means a lot.”

A power surge also electrified the crowd of 27,261, another pro-Dodgers assembly.

The Dodgers (16-6) hit back-to-back home runs for the first time this season. Those came in the second inning, when Nos. 6 and 7 hitters Max Muncy and Rojas — who Roberts flipped in the lineup just before the game — hit solo shots to put their team in front, 2-1.

Muncy added another long ball in the ninth, yanking his eighth home run of the season 397 feet into the left field to make it 10-2 — and career multi-homer game No. 22, as well as No. 5 at Coors Field and No. 3 this season.

And then there was Dalton Rushing, who got in the lineup at first base instead of catching, playing solidly in the field in place of Freddie Freeman — and continuing to smolder at the plate, hitting his sixth and seventh home runs in just his 26th and 27th at-bats this season.

Rushing’s 385-foot blast to left field and Teoscar Hernández’s RBI single made it 9-1 in the eighth. And Rushing’s two-run, 421-foot bomb in the ninth made it 12-2 and gave him his second career multi-home run game.

Oh, and Shohei Ohtani. He extended his consecutive on-base streak to 52 with a single to right in the third, when the Dodgers pushed the lead to 4-1. That moved him within one game of Shawn Green’s mark, which is second all time among Dodgers. Ohtani also stole his first base of the season.

“It’s a tremendous streak,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s hard to get on base — certainly when everyone’s trying to target you. This streak is one of the great ones.”

The Rockies (9-14) even contributed to the Dodgers’ cause, with three errors and an ill-timed balk on starter José Quintana that not only erased a double play but brought home Muncy to make it 5-1 in the fourth.

On the mound, starter Justin Wrobleski shut down a Rockies team that just scored a combined 13 runs on their two wins against the Dodgers.

Working quickly, Wrobleski pitched seven innings, worked in a splitter for the first time this season and yielded eight hits but just one run. That came before he got his first out, when Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle opened with consecutive doubles.

After that, sharp defensive plays by Rushing and second baseman Santiago Espinal got the Dodgers out of the first inning. The Rockies didn’t threaten again against Wrobleski until the fifth, when they put runners on the corners with one out but couldn’t score.

The 25-year-old Wrobleski has given up just two runs in 20 innings through three starts — all wins — this season.

“I'm going out there trying to do the same thing every time, and that's fill the zone and create contact and see what happens,” a gracious Wrobleski said. “So, yeah, I think we've done a great job. Will's done a great job back there calling it. The defense has been really good. The analytics people, with the positioning of everybody, really good.”

The Rockies’ only other runs came on TJ Rumfield’s 440-foot home run in the eighth, and in the ninth, when they scored one run on Jake Eder, the reliever who made his Dodgers debut after being called up in place of Díaz.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

DENVER –– What’s the best way for the Dodgers to work around an elbow injury to closer Edwin Díaz?

How about by building leads so big, they don’t even have a save situation come the ninth inning.

That’s what happened Monday in a 12-3 blowout of the Colorado Rockies, helping the Dodgers salvage a four-game series split at Coors Field after suffering losses the previous two days.

Before the game, all the attention was on Díaz, who the team announced is undergoing elbow surgery this week to remove loose bodies that had caused his early-season velocity to dip.

In his absence, manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers (16-6) will go closer-by-committee when it comes to ninth-inning save situations. For one night, however, he didn’t have to make such a decision.

Instead, the lineup built an insurmountable lead, bludgeoning veteran left-hander José Quintana for six runs in his start en route to scoring in all but two innings overall.

“I think we needed to bounce back,” veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said, “especially after the last couple days.”

The onslaught began with back-to-back second-inning home runs from Max Muncy and Rojas, propelling that duo to a combined 7-for-7 performance from the Nos. 6-7 spots that was punctuated by another Muncy homer in the ninth.

Shohei Ohtani extended his on-base streak to 52 games, reaching base three times on a single and two walks.

Dalton Rushing also belted his sixth and seventh home runs of the season, putting him stunningly one off the National League lead (for which Muncy is tied with eight) despite having just 27 at-bats all year.

All of that meant, once the Dodgers finally turned things over to the bullpen, relievers Edgardo Henriquez and newly-recalled Jake Eder didn’t face anything close to stress.

By that point, the team had already long pulled away.

For one night, at least, Díaz was not missed.

What it means

Splitting a four-game set with the rebuilding Rockies (9-14) will go down as a disappointing result for the Dodgers.

Still, by winning on Monday, they avoided what would’ve been their first series defeat to Colorado since 2022 –– improving to 12-0-4 in their last 16 meetings against their NL West division foe.

“We had two games in the middle where we missed some opportunities,” Muncy said. “But overall I thought we played pretty good. I think the team’s in a great spot.”

This season, the Dodgers have dropped just one of their first seven series, remaining unbeaten since the Cleveland Guardians took two of three from them during the opening homestand.

Who’s hot

Rojas’ second-inning blast might have been his first home run of the season. But it was not his most meaningful swing of the night.

That came in the fourth, when he lined a single to left field for the 1,000th hit of his 13-year career.

The accomplishment was not lost on Rojas, who pumped his fists and looked to the skies as he trotted up the first-base line. The Dodgers made sure to get the ball returned to the visiting dugout, too, where Roberts playfully pretended to throw it in the stands.

“Not many people could have thought that I was going to have an opportunity to play this long in the game,” said Rojas, who at 37 years old is planning to retire after this year.

But, he added, “I never let anybody put a ceiling on top of my head. I kept going through those ceilings that they put above me. It was all about taking that label away from my head, that I was a defensive replacement guy, defensive-first guy. ‘He can’t hit. he’s just gonna play shortstop. He’s here because of his defense.’ That’s why 1,000 hits for me means a lot.”

By night’s end, Rojas had hit No. 1,001, as well, finishing 3-for-3 –– in addition to dropping down a run-scoring sacrifice bunt –– to continue what has been a strong start to his final season. In 13 games, he is now batting .382 with a .950 OPS.

Who’s not

The Rockies’ defense, which did not help the team’s cause on an embarrassingly ugly night.

The club committed three errors and two that directly led to runs, including a seemingly routine grounder to third baseman Kyle Karros in the third inning that spun away from him to aid a two-run rally.

There was also a costly balk in the fourth from Quintana –– who appeared to have escaped a bases-loaded jam on a lineout double-play from Ohtani, only for the third base umpire to rule he had twitched before the pitch, forcing in another score as the Dodgers pulled away.

Up next

The Dodgers were headed to the airport postgame to catch a flight to San Francisco, where they will begin their first series of the season against the rival Giants on Tuesday night. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-1, 2.10 ERA) will face Landon Roupp (3-1, 2.38 ERA) in the opener.

A dozen runs was more than enough with the way Justin Wrobleski pitched, but the Dodgers decided to err on the side of caution with one of their most complete offensive efforts of the year, running away with a 12-3 win in Colorado. It’s been an unusually productive early start to the season against left-handed pitchers for Max Muncy—that’s how the scoring got started for the Dodgers, with the veteran third baseman going deep for the third time this season against a southpaw, already only one short of his season total in 2025.

When Wrobleski pitched eight scoreless innings against the Mets last week, it felt unlikely that he would find those heights once again in his next start, and to a great extent, he was just as impressive against the Rockies. One run in the first on a Brenton Doyle RBI double would be all that Wrobleski would allow in seven innings with just three strikeouts and no walks. Colorado managed their fair share of hits against Wrobleski, but the southpaw elevated his game with runners in scoring position, allowing just 2 hits in nine opportunities.

The Rockies didn’t have a lot of time leading this one, as Muncy and Miguel Rojas went back-to-back in the second inning to help the Dodgers take a lead they’d maintain for the rest of this game.

Due to certain key absences, the Dodgers had a lineup that was as specifically designed to mash a left-hander as this team could put out, with Alex Call, Santiago Espinal, and Rojas all getting starts. It paid off as that trio combined for five of the Dodgers’ first ten hits. Rojas, in particular, stole the spotlight by reaching his 1,000th career hit with a single in the fourth.

Producing enough offense on their own to control this game, the Dodgers also experienced a helping hand from the Rockies multiple times. First, the Rockies misplayed a routine ground ball in the third, preventing them from completing a double play—instead, Will Smith reached on an error, a run scored, and quickly thereafter, one more came across on a Teoscar Hernández double play to make it a 4-1 game.

Only an inning later, it was the starter’s turn to screw up. Quintana found himself facing the humongous challenge of an at-bat against Shohei Ohtani with the bases loaded, and then he induced what appeared to be a double play ball, but not before a balk moved every runner over. Ohtani would eventually ground out again, and Alex Call didn’t capitalize on the opportunity, but they kept on coming.

In the sixth, after Quintana had left the game, it was a bases-loaded walk from Call to make it 6-1. It didn’t matter that Los Angeles stranded three runners in that frame because in the seventh, one more came across on a Miguel Rojas bunt that resulted in a pitching error. In the late innings, the ball began flying out once again, with Muncy going deep for the second time and Dalton Rushing hitting a couple of homers to take his season tally to seven.

It’s wild to consider that this could’ve been an even bigger slugfest for a Dodgers team that went 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position—one whose four of the five home runs were all solo shots, with hitters sixth through seventh going 11 for 17.

Game particulars

• Home runs—  2 Max Muncy (8), Miguel Rojas (1), 2 Dalton Rushing (7), T.J. Rumfield (3)
• WP— Justin Wrobleski (3-0): 7 IP, 8 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts
• LP— José Quintana (0-2): 5 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Up next

Continuing a road trip that marks first visits to familiar ballparks, the Dodgers will return to California to face the Giants at Oracle Park. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who’s hitting on all cylinders, will take on the youngster Landen Roupp, coming off a terrific start in Cincinnati. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. PT.

Have no fear! The rally bowl thread is here!

We’ve all had that moment when we’ve spotted an open parking space, only to loop around and realize someone else slid into it before you got there. Thursday night’s Tampa Bay Rays game against the Cincinnati Reds had a similar feeling. Every time the Rays looked like they had an opening, Cincinnati beat them to it with a timely swing, a key defensive play, or a mistake Tampa Bay could not get ahead of.

In the end, the Reds had handed the Rays a 6-1 loss, and the frustrating part was not that Tampa Bay never had a chance. It was that they had a few. A pretty good one in the first inning, especially. A couple more scattered later. But the baseball gods are not especially generous to teams that waste baserunners, and the Rays spent most of this game learning that lesson the hard way.

Jesse Scholtens got TJ Friedl to flyout to start the night, but then Matt McLain doubled and Elly De La Cruz moved him over to third with a groundout. That brought up Sal Stewart, who did exactly what hitters should do when you give them a pitch across the center of the plate. He sent a two-run homer out to center, and just like that the Rays were playing from behind before the bottom of the first even arrived.

To their credit, the Rays came out swinging in the bottom half. Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero singled. Jonathan Aranda walked and the bases were loaded, nobody out. These are the moments when fans turn to other fans and say something along the lines of, “Alright, here we go.”

And then the Rays scored just one run.

Yandy Díaz drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Simpson and cut the Reds lead to 2-1, which was helpful, sure, but also felt like leaving a buffet with one dinner roll and an appetite. Jake Fraley struck out. Cedric Mullins struck out. Nick Fortes grounded into a force play. Bases loaded, no outs, one run. That was the first big opening, and probably the biggest one, and the Rays let it pass right by.

The second inning was quieter, although Taylor Walls did provide one of the more exciting defensive highlights of the night with a diving stop on Tyler Stephenson’s grounder. Unfortunately, the Rays followed that nice moment with a quick bottom half, and the game settled into an uncomfortable rhythm. Tampa Bay would make a play, maybe get a man on, hint at something, and then Cincinnati would slam the door before anything could really develop.

The third inning was when De La Cruz started making his presence known for the Rays.

After Friedl doubled again, the Reds got another chance, and De La Cruz made sure it counted. His two-out RBI single to right scored Friedl and stretched the lead to 3-1. That alone stung, but the rest of the inning and the bottom half added a little extra irritation, because De La Cruz kept popping up in the middle of things. In the bottom of the third, Caminero hit a grounder that looked like it had some potential, only for De La Cruz to make a diving stop and throw him out. A few pitches later, Yandy Díaz grounded into a double play, and another inning disappeared.

That was really the shape of the middle innings. Jake Fraley doubled in the fourth and made it to third with one out, but the Rays could not bring him home. Chandler Simpson singled in the fifth, and again nothing came of it.

Then came the sixth, and that was where frustrating turned into self-inflicted.

Sal Stewart popped out to start the inning, but Eugenio Suárez singled and Spencer Steer was hit by a pitch. One out, two on, game still technically within reach. Then Tyler Stephenson hit a ground ball to Caminero at third. In that situation, with the lead runner there for the taking, the play is in front of you before the ball is even hit.

Instead, Caminero threw to first.

Yes, it got an out. No, it was not the right out. Suárez moved to third, Steer moved to second, and the Reds suddenly had two runners in scoring position with two outs instead of a much cleaner situation. Moments later, Rece Hinds lined a two-run double to left, and the score jumped to 5-1. That decision mattered, and the Reds cashed it in immediately.

That, at least, brought the one good moment of the night for Tampa Bay.

With the inning still going, the Rays turned to Trevor Martin for his major league debut. Not exactly the easiest welcome package. A real game, real trouble, and a chance to keep things from getting uglier.

Martin mostly did that. He got out of the sixth, then came back in the seventh and struck out McLain for his first major league punchout, which was an easy moment to enjoy in an otherwise frustrating game. He also delivered a wild pitch later in the inning that allowed a run to score, so it was not a spotless debut. Still, he gave the Rays a decent first look at a pitcher making his debut under less-than-ideal circumstances. It did not change the outcome, but it did give Tampa Bay at least one small positive to take out of the night.

The Rays went quietly in the eighth, apart from an Aranda walk. There was a small push in the ninth when Jake Fraley walked, Richie Palacios singled, and Walls drew a walk to load things up a bit with two outs, but Chandler Simpson lined out to first to end it with another opening, another closed window.

With the loss, the Rays drop to 4-9 against NL Central teams to start the season, compared to 8-1 against AL teams. They might be happy when the schedule shifts away from the division.

First, they still have two more games to finish this series, as they try again tomorrow, with LHP Steven Matz scheduled to start for the Rays, opposite RHP Chase Burns for the Reds, at 6:40 pm.

For one night, it wasn’t swinging bunts or soft jam shots that killed the Phillies pitching staff. Instead, it was hard contact from the Cubs lineup that plagued Nola’s night.

Aaron Nola walked back to the mound for his second inning of work in Wrigley, after the offense behind him stranded the bases loaded with two outs, and the Cubs bats pounced.

Ian Happ smacks a 111.5 mph rocket in front of Adolis Garcia. Moisés Ballesteros took the very next pitch right to Garcia again. After a Michael Conforto walk, Nola got one of the best case scenarios when Miguel Amaya got on top of a curveball for a routine double play.

The Cubs lineup does not stop after the first seven hitters. Their eight hole hitter, Pete Crow-Armstrong, recently signed a 115 million dollar extension and played for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He worked a walk.

Dansby Swanson as their nine hole hitter? The highly paid two-time all-star crushed a center-cut fastball to make it 4-0.

In the third, Michael Busch didn’t make hard contact but slapped an opposite field single in front of Brandon Marsh. Alex Bregman then smacked another center-cut fastball for a double. A few batters later, Michael Conforto got a ball in the air to get an extra run.

The Phillies’ offense looked lifeless again. Including tonight, they’ve scored ten runs during their six-game losing streak. They ranked 21st in slugging heading into the night and only generated one extra base hit, an RBI double from Justin Crawford, moving up to eighth in the lineup with Rafael Marchan catching.

Aaron Nola lagged through four and a third, allowing five runs on eight hits with a surprising four walks. He could not command the arm-side fastball and the curveball didn’t generate enough chase.

The other three and two-thirds of this game were covered by the Phillies bullpen depth, which has been pretty consistent with Jhoan Duran, Jonathan Bowlan, and Zach Pop on the injured list. Backhus worked out of the fifth against right handed hitters Seiya Suzuki and Matt Shaw.

For the second straight night, Chase Shugart got middle relief work with the Phillies trailing. He touched 96 mph again and worked a deep mix for two scoreless innings of work. Seth Johnson struggled for allowed two quick base runners but got the next three hitters out on his four-seam fastball.

Even with the their depth arms keeping Cubs hitters quiet, the Phillies offense couldn’t muster much from the few opportunities they got.

In the eighth inning, Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm worked walks against Holby Milner that put runners on first and second. With two outs, Bryson Stott stayed in to face the side arm left hander Gabe Kapler once said was “nasty brother”. After working a two-two count, Stott popped up a sweeper to end the inning.

In the ninth, Justin Crawford worked a nine-pitch walk from Corbin Martin. He later took second base on a botched pick-off attempt and got to third base on a wild pitch later.

The Phillies had three more chances with a runner in scoring position and were 0-for-their-last-20. Marchan stayed in to bat and hit a pop-up to Alex Bregman. Trea Turner got a pitch he wanted but Matt Shaw made a diving play. Kyle Schwarber smacked a pop-up in foul territory to end the game.

The Cubs defense made several plays tonight to turn hits into outs, the Phillies saw Crawford not get to two different balls to center field. Colin Rea pitched six and two-thirds of one-run ball while Nola couldn’t finish five innings.

If it’s June and the Phillies were sitting in first place, this game doesn’t feature mounting pressure. It isn’t coming the night after Ken Rosenthal speculates on Rob Thomson’s job security. There doesn’t have to be massive conclusions or reactions.

But at 8-14 to start the year, the Phillies have to take it on the chin.

Aaron Judge has gotten off to a nice start in the early going, which has been keyed by starting early.

Of the Yankees captain’s nine home runs, five have come in the first inning, including his past three long balls. In 22 games, he is 9-for-20 (.450) with a walk, double, eight RBIs and a ridiculous 1.726 OPS in the first inning. Early production often translates to wins; the Yankees 11-3 when scoring first.

Sunday in The Bronx, temporary leadoff hitter Ben Rice worked a walk before Judge clobbered the first pitch he saw from Kansas City’s Cole Ragans into Monument Park for an instant 2-0 lead.

The Yankees then sent six more men to the plate and scored another run in the inning, and Aaron Boone said Judge’s quick bat might be contagious.

“There’s probably something to that,” the manager said after sweeping the Royals. “I think when the captain gets it going like he can in the first — a lot, it feels like — it does seem to have a little bit of an effect on things.”

There is one more historic chase to watch involving Judge, whose 90 career first-inning homers trail just Babe Ruth (126) and Mickey Mantle (103) in Yankees history. Since 2024, 43 of his 120 homers have come in the initial inning. His career 1.051 OPS in the first inning is strong — but still less than his mark in the fourth (1.093 OPS) and seventh (1.118 OPS).

Judge himself shrugged at the quick strikes and said he hits at the top of the order (but doesn’t care where he falls).

“I just try to do my job,” Judge said.

Cody Bellinger will bring a season-high eight-game hitting streak into a series in Boston that starts Tuesday. Bellinger has gone 11-for-31 (.355) with a .444 on-base percentage, two homers, two doubles and six RBIs during the streak.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., who has yet to hit a home run or tally a multihit game, sat Sunday and is 4-for-31 with 11 strikeouts, six walks and a .464 OPS in his past 10 games.

Sal Stewart found himself down 0-2 in his first plate appearance of the game on Monday down in Tampa, the PA coming in the Top of the 1st inning after a rare Matt McLain double. Sal was willing to be patient, though, and he laid off several tempting pitches as he battled his way back to a 3-2 count against Rays starter Jesse Scholtens.

After putting the pressure on the opposing pitcher to have to throw a strike, Sal did not miss.

Cincinnati’s star rookie smashed a 2-run homer nearly 430 feet over the wall in centerfield at the Trop, and as it turns out that would be all the runs the Reds would need in their 6-1 series opening win over the Rays.

While Sal’s exploits were both immediate and loud, it was the much more gradual work from another highly touted Cincinnati rookie that ended up being just as impressive. Starter Rhett Lowder loaded the bases and eventually even walked in a run in the Bottom of the 1st as Tampa mounted an immediate response to Sal’s homer, and Lowder looked far from dialed in initially. At the end of the grind, though, he finished with an excellent 6.0 IP of 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 3 K ball on 93 pitches, keeping Tampa’s hitters off-balance just enough to the offense around him pour it on for the win.

He even got some serious help from the likes of Elly De La Cruz, who made this spectacular defensive play off the bat of Junior Caminero. This ball was hit over 112 mph off the bat!

In the end, though, it was definitely another Sal Stewart day, and he’ll take another Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game award home. He joins Yordan Alvarez as the only two players in baseball with at least 8 dingers and 20 ribbies so far this season (as of the time of writing this), and that’s pretty damn elite company.

Hat-tip to the Cincinnati bullpen ‘backups’ who locked this one down, too, as each of Brock Burke, Pierce Johnson, and Connor Phillips fired scoreless frames to seal the victory.

These two clubs will meet again tomorrow with Chase Burns on the mound opposite Steven Matz, with first pitch set for 6:40 PM ET.

The Cincinnati Reds are 15-8. 15-8!