Category: Baseball

It’s no longer just a crazy idea – Clay Holmes is a bona fide starting pitcher for the New York Mets.

After another stellar outing against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday in which he went 6.2 innings while allowing one run on four hits and three walks in the Mets’ 5-1 win, Holmes is now 4-2 with a 1.69 ERA (0.98 WHIP) in seven starts. 

That’s more than simply a good beginning to the season, Holmes is pitching himself into the Cy Young award conversation and it’s time people everywhere took notice.

“It’s unbelievable,” said manager Carlos Mendoza about his right-hander’s performance. “We saw it again today. That first inning was a battle after the first couple of guys get on and he’s up to like 30-something pitches, [but] before you know it he’s able to get to those middle innings.

“[He] kept making pitches and for him to go back out for the seventh, he’s just on another level right now physically, mentally.”

It’s true, Sunday’s outing didn’t start out the best for Holmes who walked the first two batters he faced as part of a 27-pitch first inning. But after giving up a run four batters into the game, Holmes turned it on and settled in nicely, not only holding the Angels scoreless the rest of the way, but keeping his pitch count low enough to go deep into the game.

After the game, Mendoza marveled at the former reliever’s ascension into ace starting pitcher.

“The way he’s making adjustments in games, the way he’s using his pitches, trusting the defense when he needs to… overall from Clay, solid,” the skipper said.

Over his last three starts, Holmes has allowed three earned runs over 19.2 innings and has gone at least six innings in all of them. Twice already this season Holmes has pitched seven innings after achieving that just once in 2025.

Holmes’ 1.69 ERA is the fourth-lowest in the majors and his 42.2 innings pitched this season is top-10, wildly impressive for a guy who made the switch from reliever to starter just last year.

Holmes credits his success with the “confidence and trust” of his sinker, the pitch that made him so effective as a late-inning reliever in his career and why David Stearns believed he could make the transition to the rotation in the first place.

While the sinker is his bread and butter and the pitch he throws 49 percent of the time, according to Baseball Savant, Holmes knew he would have to expand his arsenal to more than just one pitch, which he did.

Mixing in a sweeper, changeup, cutter, curveball and four-seamer, Holmes has options up there. However, instead of shying away from his sinker this season and abandoning what makes him so special just because his role has changed, the right-hander has embraced who he is and is using it to his advantage.

“I think for me there’s kind of a comfort thing and I feel like – you know the trust with the sinker was always there, but I feel like, especially now I just feel like there’s a lot of confidence and trust with the sinker,” he said. “That’s who I was as a reliever and I knew that was who I would be as a starter, but I felt like I kinda had the confidence and the trust of the sinker and when I have that I feel like I’m able to pitch off of it and really feel like myself and pitch with some confidence.”

Now in his second year as a full-time starter, Holmes knows the ropes a bit more and rather than learning how to be a starting pitcher and focusing on superfluous things, he can dial it in on what kind of starter he wants to be.

So who does Holmes want to be? Someone who unapologetically throws his greatest weapon, the sinker, nearly half of the time.

“I knew I would have to expand the arsenal, it wouldn’t be all sinkers, but with that, I’m not gonna say distracted but you know there has to be some kind of widening of the arsenal and so there’s focus there,” he said. “And I think more than anything this year is just the confidence with the sinker, like I can still pitch off this and it’s more of a mentality thing, just kind of attacking with the sinker.

“That’s kind of what I had as a reliever and it’s not so much, okay let me get ahead with the sinker or kind of use it to set up something else, it’s like here’s the sinker. So I think just getting back to that mentality with it has kind of just helped the life and the finish to it and I think it’s just been helpful so far this year.”

When Anthony Volpe began his minor league rehab assignment on April 14th, it felt like a foregone conclusion that he has headed to the big league roster once he completed it. Fast-forward to today, and the organization has made the decision to go the other direction, activating him from the IL just to option him down to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Following today’s game, the Yankees returned INF Anthony Volpe from his rehab assignment, reinstated him from the 10-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) May 3, 2026

The move comes after days of speculation, as manager Aaron Boone was notably noncommittal on Volpe’s immediate future with his rehab assignment nearing the end. What was seen as his likely activation target in the start of this most recent homestand with the Orioles came and went without a word on his status, pushing the final decision into the weekend. Eventually, time ran out and the Yankees showed their hand, sending down their everyday shortstop since his arrival to the majors in 2023 in favor of keeping José Caballero as the starter.

Caballero’s play has been the biggest factor in this development, seeing as general manager Brian Cashman deemed Volpe’s return a near-automatic assumption right before Volpe’s rehab began, saying “that’s always been the plan.” Caballero was hitting for a paltry .384 OPS at the time of those comments, but has since gone on a heater raising his OPS to .719. His last 12 games he’s been particularly hot, hitting for a .302/.348/.535 triple slash (.883 OPS). Coming off of a season where he played most of the year hurt and consequently looked terrible, Volpe needed his competition to look unimpressive if he hoped to be handed the starting gig back, but that just hasn’t happened.

During his rehab assignment, Volpe played four games with Scranton and eight with Double-A Somerset, earning a .683 OPS with one homer and six RBI when combining his games across the two teams. Had he hit the ground on fire during his rehab, perhaps he still could’ve won out and retained his position, but the team’s last-minute decision indicates that they were waiting to see something from the 25-year-old that didn’t manifest in time for them to feel comfortable inserting him back in their lineup. Volpe will now have to work on his game in Triple-A in order to earn his playing time back, in what may prove to be his first real run through the level of competition. Volpe played just 22 games with Scranton at the end of the 2022 season before winning the starting job with the Yankees in spring training ahead of 2023, and had been with the team through the good times and hard times since.

Volpe’s future will also be impacted by the development of George Lombard Jr., the team’s top prospect who was also recently promoted to Triple-A after raking to start the year in Somerset. Lombard’s trajectory through the organization could see him make his MLB debut as early as the end of this season, with a decent shot at earning a role with the 2027 team. Lombard shifted over to third base to allow Volpe to play his natural position during his rehab, and the fastest track to the majors might see Lombard move around the infield should the team want to play him over Ryan McMahon or Jazz Chisholm Jr., but he’s already an elite defender and finding his bat in the upper levels of the minors. That’s reminiscent of how a young Anthony Volpe looked when he was the team’s top prospect and rising through the organization, but now he finds his security in the team’s future threatened in the short and long-term if he cannot tap into that nascent talent again.

Tomorrow’s series opener between the Mets and Rockies at Coors Field has been moved up from 8:40pm EDT to 5:40pm EDT. Adjust your viewing plans accordingly.

The change was made due to the expected inclement weather, with temperatures expected to reach a high of 70 around midday before diving into the 30s in the evening. This, paired with forecasted freezing rain, has resulted in an earlier start time, much like what the Mets did earlier in the year for some home games.

The team will face some weather whiplash after leaving Anaheim, where they took two of three from the Angels this weekend. At their lowest, temperatures during the series never dipped below 60 degrees. To contrast, Denver is expecting snow later in the week, which could potentially affect the later games in the series. For now, no further changes have been announced. The high temperatures for Tuesday and Wednesday’s games are not expected to eclipse 40 degrees.

The Mets announced that they will use an opener on Monday, with David Peterson serving as the bulk man for New York following his most recent ineffective outing. The Mets have not revealed who the opener will be, but he will be opposed by Rockies’ right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano. Freddy Peralta and Christian Scott will pitch on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, weather permitting.

Carson Benge is looking more and more comfortable at the big-league level with each passing day, and on Sunday afternoon he put together easily his most complete showing to this point. 

The youngster helped the Mets on both sides of the ball as they defeated the Los Angeles Angels 5-1 to secure their first series win in nearly a month. 

Benge pieced together tremendous at-bats each of his first two times up, walking on six pitches in the top of the third and then eight pitches in the fourth.

The second one proved to be a big one, as the Mets took the lead just two pitches later when Mark Vientos crushed his first two-run homer of the day. 

Benge grounded out in the sixth but was able to do some damage of his own in the eighth, lining an RBI double down the right-field line to give New York an insurance run. 

Vientos followed that again with a two-run shot, putting this one away for good.

The 23-year-old wasn’t done there, though, as he made the best catch of his career to this point to rob Vaughn Grissom of extra-bases in the bottom of the ninth. 

Benge raced over to the right-field line before laying out full extension to somehow make the pulchritudinous play, as Gary Cohen described it on the SNY broadcast. 

"I was kind of surprised to tell you the least," Benge said. "If I see a ball that I think I can get to, I'm going to go after it -- I'm just glad that I was able to come down with that one there."

"If that ball falls that's a completely different inning," Carlos Mendoza added. 

This is just the latest of what’s been a string of strong performances from the former first-round pick as he continues finding his footing at the big-league level. 

He's now hitting .290 with three XBH’s, four RBI, and a .333 OBP over his last 10 games. 

“It just feels like a juiced baseball game now," Benge said. "It kind of took me a while to get my feet settled and different things like that, but now I feel like I’m finding my groove and getting comfortable out there."

"He can play," Mendoza added.

OH WOW, CARSON BENGE! pic.twitter.com/I57Gf0Rkjw

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 3, 2026

After today’s victory against the Colorado Rockies, Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss told reporters that closer Raisel Iglesias will be activated from the 15-day Injured List on Tuesday in Seattle where the Braves will be taking on the Seattle Mariners.

Walt Weiss says after the game that closer Raisel Iglesis should be activated Tuesday

— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) May 3, 2026

Iglesias’ return will help fortify the Braves bullpen has it has dealt with significant turnover in the past two weeks.

The Braves, who are 25-10 after sweeping the Rockies, should also get back catcher Sean Murphy in Seattle, but the exact day Murphy will be activated is not known. With outfielder Ronald Acuña, Jr. going on the 10-day IL due to a hamstring injury and fellow outfielder Michael Harris II nursing a quad injury, Atlanta could have an interesting decision to make with Murphy’s activation. It is possible Harris II could go on the IL.

Iglesias has yet to allow a run this season, striking out 11 in 8.2 inning across eight games. He has also saved five games, which still leads the team.

As long as baseball continues to be played at altitude in Coors Field, there will be the potential for a whole bushel of runs to be scored in any given game. With the Atlanta Braves running as hot as they have to start this season, there was plenty of potential for the Braves to put in some serious work at the plate.

Even with the Rockies sending some decent starting pitching to the mound for this series, it was clear that they’d have a pretty big task on their hands to keep this Braves team quiet. As it turned out, there wasn’t much that Colorado’s pitching staff could do to stop Atlanta during this series as the Braves did a bunch of hitting early and often. How much damage did they end up doing? Let’s go into detail!

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Friday, May 1

Braves 8, Rockies 6

This one got off to an extremely poor start for Grant Holmes and the Braves, as the Rockies lit him up for five runs in the first inning and then added on another one in the second via a solo homer from Mickey Moniak to make it a 6-0 lead. That’s how it stayed through three innings as the Braves were forced to dig themselves out of a hole from the middle innings onward. Fortunately, Holmes ended up staying out there for five innings and was able to successfully pass the baton to Anthony Molina, Didier Fuentes and eventually, Robert Suarez.

Now, how on Earth did Robert Suarez end up getting involved? That’s because Holmes calming down and the bullpen clamping down ended up being crucial as the Braves started to claw their way back. Matt Olson got the Braves on the board with a solo homer in the fourth and then it all came unraveled for Colorado once Jose Quintana exited the game following the sixth inning. A productive out from Jonah Heim cut the deficit to four runs in the seventh and then the eighth was when Atlanta delivered the haymaker.

The top of the order managed to load up the bases with one out, which set the stage for Mauricio Dubón to continue his surprisingly-good start to the season at the plate with a big hit here. He didn’t hit it out but he hit it to the wall and in an outfield as big and expansive as Coors Field, that’s massive trouble. Dubón’s triple cleared the bases to tie the game and then he scored on a sacrifice fly from Ozzie Albies to tie it up in Atlanta.

The ninth inning rolled around and Michael Harris II was called upon for pinch-hitting duty after Jonah Heim led off the frame with a walk. Sure enough, Money Mike was able to deliver another big hit off of the bench as he crushed one into the seats in right field to give the Braves-partisan crowd in Denver something to roar about. That’s how Robert Suarez ended up getting involved and making his fourth save of the season in order to complete a fantastic comeback win for the Braves.

Saturday, May 2

Braves 9, Rockies 1

This one was a bit more straight-forward for the Braves as they ended up rolling to a wire-to-wire beatdown of the Rockies in this one. Drake Baldwin crushed a dinger in the first inning and that was the first of three dingers for Atlanta in this one — and the first two RBI of four on the day for Baldwin. Austin Riley got some frustration out in the fifth inning with a two-run shot that made it 8-1 and then Matt Olson demolished a no-doubter in the ninth inning that brought us to our final score.

While this was all going on, Chris Sale put in another great evening of work on the mound. Sale went seven innings while only giving up one run on three hits and three walks. He also struck out11 batters in the process. Pitching in this series wasn’t easy for anybody so it was very impressive to see Sale go out there and continue to be dominant despite the extremely hitter-friendly environment tripping up other pitchers over the course of this series. Sale’s strong effort meant that the Braves only needed to turn to Dylan Lee and Hunter Stratton to close things out from the bullpen.

The only real blemish in this game for the Braves (outside of missing out on a rare Coors Field shutout win thanks to an RBI double from Jordan Beck) was that Ronald Acuña Jr. strained his left hamstring and ended up having to go on the 10-day IL as a result. The obvious hope is that it’ll be closer to 10 days on the shelf for Acuña rather than anything longer than that but it’s still a bummer to see that the injury bug has once again continued to pester the Braves.

Sunday, May 3

Braves 11, Rockies 6

The initial story heading into this game was Spencer Strider’s 2026 regular season debut. This was always going to be a tricky way to start the season for Strider and sure enough, that was the case. He only made it through 3.1 innings and while he did strike out six batters, he walked five and conceded four hits on his way to giving up three runs during his time out there. It also didn’t help matters that Aaron Bummer came in and got knocked around for two runs while he recorded an inning’s worth of outs.

Fortunately, it helped that the Rockies continued to provide little-to-no resistance to Atlanta’s lineup. In fact, this game was all about Jonah Heim, of all people. Heim went into this game with just three RBI to his name over the course of 11 games played. He now has eight, after he pushed five runs across the plate with his bat. Heim picked a great day to collect five RBI (his most in a single game since September 11, 2023 against the Blue Jays) since you can see what the score ended up being. Heim’s breakout ended up making a big difference as his efforts at the plate pushed the Braves to their second sweep so far this season — both on the road, no less!

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With the series win, the BravesVision broadcast pointed out that the Braves are now off to their best 35-game start since 1892. Yes, you read that correctly: THE YEAR OF OUR LORD EIGHTEEN-HUNDRED-AND-NINETY-TWO. That is wild and this stat from Sarah Langs of MLB.com with the added contest of the top five 35-game starts makes it even wilder.

Best 35-decision starts in Braves franchise history:

1884: 28-7
1892: 26-9
1889: 26-9
2026: 25-10
1878: 25-10 https://t.co/sWgao7GYGm

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 3, 2026

What do all of those other starts have in common? They’re all in the 1800s! This is the best start that any of us currently living have ever seen from the Braves over this many games. Getting this deep into the season with this many wins banked is absolutely vital. They could slow down eventually but even if there is a downturn in form, as long as there isn’t a major slump then the Braves are going to be right in the thick of it as far as Postseason contention for the whole season.

The performance at Coors Field was impressive as well. Now granted, the Rockies are the Rockies (which is to say they don’t figure to be great this season) but they also still have to be taken seriously in their home stadium. It’s a venue that can bring up any type of result at any given moment and one where offense is expected but also not a given. If you don’t believe me then take a look at last year’s series for the Braves in Colorado, which is one that they managed to win while scoring only 15 runs (including a game where they only scored one run) and hitting zero home runs. This time, they scored 28 runs and cracked seven dingers. The offense is clearly in a much better place right now than last season and that’s been the engine that has powered the Braves to their lofty spot in the standings so far.

The Braves will now look to continue taking care of business as they will continue their trip out West with a visit to Cascadia to face off with the Mariners. Seattle has gotten off to a mediocre start so far and Atlanta will have to rely on the bottom of the rotation to continue getting the job done. With that being said, we’ve gotten to the point now where the Braves have to like their chances whenever this current version of Bryce Elder takes the mound and JR Ritchie has been encouraging as well. Grant Holmes will need a turnaround performance and hopefully the pitcher-friendly environment of T-Mobile Park will provide that opportunity for Holmes. It’ll be tricky (there’s that word again) but with the way the Braves have been playing so far in 2026, it’s more-than-possible that they can keep this going in Seattle with another series win. We’ll see what happens!

Following two-straight losses to open the series, the Athletics sought to win the series finale and prevent the Cleveland Guardians from completing their first series sweep of the season. They did just that, defeating the Guardians 7-1 in front of a sold-out Sunday afternoon crowd to salvage the final game and remain in first place in the American League West.

Cleveland Wastes Early Scoring Chances

Making his seventh start of the season, A’s right-hander Aaron Civale got into some trouble in the first inning. He allowed two singles before striking out Cleveland’s third baseman Daniel Schneemann to escape that early jam unscathed. His counterpart, Guardians left-hander Parker Messick, also turned in a scoreless first inning of work.

Cleveland threatened again in the second inning. Second baseman Travis Bazzana, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, led off the inning with a single and then he stole second base. The Guardians left him at third, wasting another early scoring chance.

A’s Strike First

A’s right fielder Colby Thomas gave his team the early lead with his first home run of the season, a solo shot to left field off of Messick on his first pitch of the bottom of the second inning.

Colby JACK 💪 pic.twitter.com/L6bKDcR25w

— Athletics (@Athletics) May 3, 2026

In the third, the Guardians attempted to immediately respond. Jose Ramirez and Kyle Manzardo hit two-straight singles with two outs. Like in the first inning, Civale got Schneemann out to end the inning and keep his team in front. Through three innings, the Guardians had five hits, yet went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Chase DeLauter Continues to Haunt the A’s

With one out in the fifth inning, Guardians red-hot rookie outfielder Chase DeLauter tied the game with his sixth home run of the season. He finished this series 8-for-11, playing a major role in Cleveland’s success this weekend.

A’s Offense Answers Back

The Athletics instantly regained the lead. Center fielder Zack Gelof led off the bottom of the fifth inning with his second home run of the season, a solo blast that landed way beyond the left field fence.

Zack took off 🚀 pic.twitter.com/EgR3iHw5Df

— Athletics (@Athletics) May 3, 2026

Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom blasted his fourth home run of the season over the short right field fence, going back-to-back with Gelof.

BACK2BACK pic.twitter.com/th1OMqLN4W

— Athletics (@Athletics) May 3, 2026

The A’s were not done scoring runs that inning. With one out, third baseman Darell Hernáiz and second baseman Jeff McNeil singled. Shortstop Jacob Wilson grounded into a force out for the second out. That brought up designated hitter Brent Rooker, who hit an RBI infield single scoring Hernáiz for the A’s third run of the frame.

That'll do 😅 pic.twitter.com/gVfVYBMgFq

— Athletics on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) May 3, 2026

Civale Goes Six Strong

Pitching with the lead again, Civale recorded his second shutdown inning of his outing. He only allowed DeLauter’s home run over a season-high six innings, giving the A’s the quality start they desperately needed this afternoon.

A’s Increase Their Lead

In the bottom of the sixth, the Athletics extended their lead off Guardians reliever Peyton Pallette. The hosts loaded the bases with one out as Gelof and Wynns walked and Soderstrom singled. Hernáiz did not come through as he flew out too shallow to center field. However, McNeil made sure the scoring chance did not go to waste. His two-out bases-clearing double down the right field line extended the A’s lead to 7-1.

Uhhh we'll take one McDouble pls! pic.twitter.com/rOO58DoH1l

— Athletics (@Athletics) May 3, 2026

With a six-run cushion, the A’s turned things over to their bullpen. Right-handed relievers Justin Sterner, Mark Leiter Jr. and Joel Kuhnel finished off the game, each throwing a scoreless inning as the Athletics snapped their two-game losing streak.

More importantly, the win ensured the team finished the home stand with a .500 record. The A’s now get to enjoy a happy flight to Philadelphia. They have an off day tomorrow before beginning a three-game series against the Phillies on Tuesday. Luis Severino will open the road trip on the mound for the A’s, while the Phillies have yet to announce their starting pitcher for that matchup.

The New York Yankees stormed out to the best record in the American League without Anthony Volpe. And now that their shortstop is healthy enough to return, they've decided to carry on without him.

The Yankees returned Volpe from his minor league rehab assignment and assigned him to Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday, May 3, a moderately surprising move for a player that was once seemingly a part of the club's core.

Volpe, who turned 25 on April 28, underwent off-season surgery on his left shoulder and missed all of spring training, and a lengthy rehab assignment was always in the offing. Yet the club has received pleasantly surprising production from backup Jose Caballero, who has four home runs and a career-best .711 OPS.

MLB EARLY AWARDS: Best and worst of wacky opening month

For now, he will hold down the spot for the 23-11 Yankees, who can sweep a four-game series from division rival Baltimore on Monday. In the bigger picture, Volpe also faces significant competition from top prospect George Lombard Jr., who was recently promoted from Class AA to AAA and is batting .304 with a .913 OPS and four homers across the two levels.

That would mark a precipitous fall for Volpe, who was drafted 30th overall in 2019 and emerged from a crowded field of prospect shortstops to win the full-time job over Oswald Peraza. He hit 21 home runs and finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2023 but his lifetime .283 on-base percentage and defensive misadventures lowered his stock.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Anthony Volpe sent to minors by New York Yankees

The start of Monday's Mets-Rockies game has been bumped up due to potential inclement weather. 

First pitch is now scheduled for 5:40 p.m. ET. 

New York will be looking to keep the good times rolling after their series win over the Angels. 

Manager Carlos Mendoza announced following Sunday's victory that lefty David Peterson will pitch behind an opener.

There had been suggestions that would be Tobias Myers, but his availability is unknown after throwing 2.2 innings during Saturday night's loss. 

Whoever it is will be countered by right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, who has pitched to a strong 2.84 ERA and 1.17 WHIP over his first six starts this season. 

Colorado has lost four in a row, and are coming off a sweep at the hands of the red-hot Braves. 

It was bad. It was boring. It was a third straight loss.

The Mariners lineup snoozed through a 4-1 loss on Sunday as the Royals completed a sweep in Seattle. The short-side of the Mariners platoons, once again, frankly stunk, sending the minimum-plus-one to the plate over the final five innings.

Lefty Kris Bubic took the ball for the Royals. He was excellent last year, with a 2.89 FIP in 20 starts, so this wasn’t expected to be an easy task. The Mariners seemed to agree, allowing Bubic to work through seven innings with minimal effort. The Mariners began the day 22nd in baseball with an 86 wRC+ lefties, in what’s been perhaps the most discouraging sign from the early going. The lineup Sunday looked especially suspect, as Cal Raleigh sat out with soreness in his side region. 

To their immense credit, the Mariners scratched across the first run of the game in the third inning. Leo Rivas fell behind 1-2 but drew an eight-pitch walk. Julio Rodríguez later singled him over to third, and Josh Naylor plated a run on a fielder’s choice.

That was it. They picked up two singles and a walk the rest of the way.

Luis Castillo got the start, looking to bounce back after getting shelled in Minnesota last week. It’s been a tough go since he went six scoreless in his first outing of the season against the Yankees, with a couple middling starts sandwiched between blowouts. With Emerson Hancock pitching well and Bryce Miller progressing in a rehab stint, there’s been some question about Castillo’s spot on the depth chart.

He seemed to make a case for sticking around early. He struck out Bobby Witt Jr. in the first inning on three pitches, getting a chase on a slider out of the zone. Then he struck out Vinnie Pasquantino, getting three more swings out of the zone. In the second, he got Carter Jensen to punch out on three straight fastballs, elevating each more than the last until Jensen swung at his eyes.

Castillo gave up a single to leadoff the third, but quickly got Michael Massey to chase a fastball in for a fourth strikeout. On the next pitch, Jhonny Pereda — making his first start for the Mariners with Cal out — gunned down Isaac Collins trying to steal second.

Things immediately went down hill for Castillo on the second turn through the order. Witt and Pasquantino lead off with hard-hit singles. Castillo then hit Salvador Perez to load the bases with no outs. He walked the next batter to plate a run, got a ground out to plate another, and gave up a sac fly to make the game 3-1.

This has been the story for Castillo most of the season. He entered the day with a 2.59 FIP on the first trip through a lineup, and a 6.33 FIP on the second. 

Castillo settled down with minimum strife in the fifth, but a two-out walk and a sharp double off the wall in the sixth made the game 4-1. He struck out his final batter of the game — his first since the initial pass through the order —to finish six innings with five strikeouts, two walks, six hits, and 11 hard hit balls allowed.

The Mariners are now 16-19. They are still the favorites in the AL West, given nobody else wants to win the division, either. But we’ve seen the flaws of this roster create inconsistency, at the very least. The loss to the Royals is the third time the Mariners have been swept this year, and it’s come after they clawed their way back to .500 at the end of April with back-to-back series wins. It doesn’t get any easier with the 25-10 Braves in town next.

Detroit Tigers (17-17) vs. Texas Rangers (16-17)

Time/Place: 7:20 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site: Lone Star Ball
Media: NBC Sports Network/Peacock, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: LHP Tyler Holton (0-1, 5.54 ERA) vs. RHP Jack Leiter (1-2, 5.17 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Holton	13	13.0	14.5	12.9	45.5	5.83	-0.2
Leiter	6	31.0	23.9	8.7	41.1	4.86	0.2

The Yankees have officially reached a decision on Anthony Volpe. 

New York optioned the shortstop to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre upon his activation from the IL on Sunday.

Sunday, of course, marked the 20th and final day on Volpe's minor league rehab assignment which is what led to the club having to make the difficult decision. 

Aaron Boone said both pre- and postgame that they were still mulling it over.  

While Volpe put together a strong showing on his road back from offseason shoulder surgery, Jose Caballero has been tremendous in all aspects of the game for the Yanks in his absence.

Caballero's hitting .259 with four homers, five doubles, 12 RBI, 13 stolen bases, and a .711 OPS. 

“You also can't ignore that he's played so well defensively at shortstop, been a real spark for us offensively, especially after kind of getting off to a slow start probably the first 10 days, two weeks of the season,” Boone said. “He's really picked that up and been in the middle of us winning games.

“At the end of the day, we're going to try and do what's best for our team and then individual players that we care about too and know that are going to be important contributors to our team -- we weigh all that."

We all love the stock market, right?! Yeah, I figured that’s probably not true, but it is a good way to retire with a nice 401K plan. That mini-Econ lesson aside, we asked a series of Buy or Sell style questions to figure out our positions on certain players and circumstances in the Cardinals organization in our latest episode.

Kaden Joggerst, the human behind the viral @CardinalSTLMuse twitter account joined us to consider just how much of our stock portfolio we should be putting in JJ Wetherholt’s ceiling. We consider what type of sustained success it would take to get fans back to Busch in familiar numbers, ask whether Michael McGreevy can keep outpitching his batted ball metrics, and how to think about the Nathan Church – Victor Scott II situation.

As always, it was a fun conversation, and Kaden was a great guest. He was full of insight and maintained an interesting “buy or sell” portfolio over the course of the episode.

Also, from the whole Redbird Rundown team, the support for our show in the VEB community has been great. Thank you for listening! It would be fantastic if you could subscribe as you listen on your platform of choice!

Two weeks ago, the Royals had just lost their seventh straight game, it dropped them to 7-15 on the season. Now they just got done sweeping the Mariners in the Pacific Northwest with a 4-1 victory. The Royals wrapped up a 4-2 trip out west and are now winners in 7 of their last 9 contests. They are 15-19 on the season, and 2.5 games out of first place. They are 3-0 in the month of May.

After doing next to nothing through three innings, the Royals found themselves down 1-0. Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino hit back-to-back singles to start the 4th. Salvy got hit by a pitch, and the bases were loaded for Carter Jensen with nobody down. Jensen worked back from a 1-2 count to earn an RBI walk to tie it up. Jac Caglianone was up next, and he hit into a forceout, making it 2-1.

Isaac Collins next, skied a ball into medium deep right center, Julio Rodríguez got underneath it and threw a three hopper to the plate, Salvy was initially called out, but empathically told the dugout to challenge, they did and Salvy was safe on a fantastic slide to make it 3-1.

What a slide by Salvy! 👏 pic.twitter.com/CXi50qODKm

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 3, 2026

Collins doubled off the center field wall to score Cags with two outs in the 6th, to make it 4-1 as well. For a guy that didn’t have a hit on the road on as of Tuesday, Collins swung the bat very well on the trip, even a good amount of his outs were hit hard.

Isaac adds on! pic.twitter.com/3VXaYzLwhT

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 3, 2026

Kris Bubic had a tough third inning but was dominant on the afternoon. He went 7 innings, allowing 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, while striking out 7.

Kris in control. pic.twitter.com/j3Ve7yMN2j

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 3, 2026

John Schreiber started the 8th inning, he walked one but got a pair of groundouts as well. Daniel Lynch IV came in to face Josh Naylor with two outs, with a runner on first. He promptly struck him out on four pitches. Lynch stayed in for the 9th, striking out two more and getting a grounder to Vinnie to complete the sweep. It’s Lynch’s first save of the season, Bubic’s third win.

The Royals have a huge next 10 games, they open a seven game homestand against Cleveland tomorrow night, who they are 2.5 games back of at the top of the division, for four games. The Tigers are in town next weekend, and then it’s off to the southside to face the streaking White Sox for three games. A chance to gain ground and get some divisional wins awaits the Royals. The stretch starts tomorrow night at 6:40 p.m. CT, with Michael Wacha getting the start. The game can be streamed on Royals.TV.

For just the fourth time this season, the Mets won a series, as they beat the Angels by a 5-1 score in the rubber game of their series this afternoon in Anaheim. No matter what happened today, the Mets were destined to retain sole possession of the worst record in baseball come tomorrow morning, but a series win sure is a sight for sore eyes for a team that had won just three of its previous twenty games coming into the weekend.

Most of this game was close. The Angels opened the scoring on an RBI single by Jorge Soler in the bottom of the first, but that was the only run Clay Holmes gave up in six-and-two-thirds innings of work. He threw 99 pitches, struck out six, walked three, and gave up four hits, and he has a 1.69 ERA on the season.

The Mets took the lead in the top of the fourth when Mark Vientos hit a two-run home run. And while Vientos continues to struggle with routine plays at first base, his bat turned out to be the best one the Mets had on the afternoon.

After Carson Benge drove in an insurance run with a double in the top of the eighth, Vientos hit another two-run home run to extend the lead to four. And thanks to Luke Weaver throwing one-and-one-third scoreless innings in relief of Holmes before Luke Raley threw a scoreless ninth.

None of the Mets’ pitchers did it alone, as outfielder MJ Melendez and Carson Benge and shortstop Bo Bichette, who played just his second game this season at his old position, each made a great defensive play along the way.

When the game was closer in the early going, the Mets once again didn’t challenge a play that could’ve made a big difference in the game and looked like it would’ve easily gone in their favor. With a runner on first in the top of the third, Juan Soto hit a ground ball to first base that got stuck in the webbing of Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel’s glove as he went to make a throw to second base. He instead took off his glove and tossed it to Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz at first. He bobbled the glove as Soto crossed first base, but the first base umpire called him out.

Fortunately, that wound up being a moot point, and weather permitting, the Mets will attempt to win another series as they travel to Denver to play the Rockies in a three-game series that’s set to get underway tomorrow night.

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Box scores

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Win Probability Added

Big Mets winner: Clay Holmes, +32% WPA
Big Mets loser: Marcus Semien, -13% WPA
Mets pitchers: +42% WPA
Mets hitters: +8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos hits a two-run home run in the fourth, +22% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jorge Soler hits an RBI single in the first, -9% WPA