Category: Baseball

The Savannah Bananas brand has, arguably, become bigger than the Savannah Bananas themselves. What would seem to be a crucial component of the Bananas experience – the actual team – is increasingly absent from games featuring the showboating version of baseball that the Bananas themselves popularized. By all accounts, however, fans don’t care.

When the Guardian last examined the Bananas in 2023, the organization had only just abandoned its amateur roots in collegiate summer baseball to focus strictly on “bananaball”, a funhouse-mirror reflection of baseball that focuses on trick plays, player antics and crowd engagement. At the time, bananaball was restricted to two teams – the Bananas and their forever foes, the Party Animals – who seemed prepared to follow a well-trodden path to long-term, if moderate success.

Basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters, for example, have been running circles (often literally) around the same, scripted-to-lose opponent in exhibition games since the 1950s. The Bananas could have easily replicated this formula for decades. A bananaball game on a sunny May evening at Richmond’s CarMax Park, however, reveals the many ways that the Bananas organization is doing things its own way.

When asked, most fans outside the ballpark answered with versions of “I’m going to the Savannah Bananas game tonight.” But they were actually on their way to see the Firefighters take on the Indianapolis Clowns, two of the six full-time, professional bananaball teams touring the US. While the Firefighters and Clowns faced off in Richmond, the Party Animals were simultaneously playing the Loco Beach Coconuts in Las Vegas. Elsewhere, the Bananas drew more than 100,000 fans in College Station, Texas, against the Texas Tailgaters. What was once a pair of barnstorming exhibition teams has become a small but growing league. The Globetrotters never made this jump.

The eccentric team names are part of an effort to broaden banana ball’s appeal to a wider audience. The Texas Tailgaters lean into good ol’ cowboy imagery. The newest team, the Coconuts, appear to exist somewhere at the intersection of Jimmy Buffett and the South Pacific. The Firefighters are composed of square-jawed hunks. The team name most familiar to baseball ears, the Clowns, also appears to have the most organic origin story. The original Indianapolis Clowns were one of the best-known Negro League teams in the early to mid-20th century.

There is also a lot of merchandising. Stalls at games flog everything from caps to koozies. This is not a flaw in itself – even coffee shops double as merch stands nowadays – but it is indicative of a larger change within bananaball. When the Guardian last encountered the Bananas, there was an enjoyable “everybody’s here” element. Happy Rockwellian families were seated alongside raucous bachelorette parties who themselves sat by pairings of older baseball fans breaking down every pitch. Bananaball in 2026 feels less like a baseball game and more like a day at Disney World.

The target demographic is clearly children. Nearly everyone at the Richmond ballpark was either a child or accompanying one. Music sets the ambience, and gen Alpha poultry-themed anthems Chicken Banana and Steve’s Lava Chicken blare from the stadium’s speakers.

The Disney comparison is not necessarily a coincidence. Multiple players mention an overlap between Disney fandom (including Disney adults) and bananaball fandom, and Jesse Cole, founder of the Bananas, identifies Walt Disney as a key influence.

Not that bananaball crowds are solely families with young kids. Plenty of other groups are scattered throughout the stands in Richmond, including hardcore baseball fans. Heather Albrecht speaks from a place of deep baseball knowledge – she and her sister have attended games at 29 of the 30 major league ballparks – part of a bucket list trip with their late mother.

“Seeing the crowds and seeing the hype, I think bananaball could overtake MLB in popularity,” she says. “They’re selling out MLB parks that, when we went to them [for MLB games], were empty ghost towns.”

MLB need not worry just yet; the average major league crowd last season was 29,386, a figure that has held pretty steady for the last decade. But perhaps MLB could take some pointers from bananaball as it frets about attracting younger fans. If bananaball’s TikTok dances, pyrotechnics and heavy crowd work were stripped away, the on-field product may make for an interesting side competition within the world of professional baseball. Bananaball could, for example, be the T20 cricket to MLB’s test counterpart.

The preference for showmanship sits at the heart of bananaball. Whether intentional or not, Cole’s bananaball is maybe best understood through the lens of comedy – the game’s outcome is less important than the laughs per minute on the way there. And, if a competitive element emerges, all the better.

It is interesting to note that, despite the Bananas’ achievements in baseball, there have been no significant attempts to replicate their process in the worlds of American football, hockey, soccer or cricket, or even tennis, golf or boxing. This lack of banana-ization in other sports persists despite the fact that format-innovation continues to occur within baseball. Just outside Richmond, for example, another amateur collegiate summer team is pioneering “cosmic baseball“ (baseball played with UV-reactive gear under black lights). The team behind cosmic baseball, the Tri-City Chili Peppers, openly namecheck the Bananas as an inspiration (both the Bananas and the Chili Peppers have their roots in the Coastal Plain League). Cole welcomes the competition.

“I commend anybody that’s trying to do something different [and] unique to make their sport fun and bring joy to people. I think it’s good – we’ll see a lot more [competitors emerge].”

Cole is similarly thoughtful when responding to critics who denounce bananaball as a passing fad, something he says he thinks about every day.

“I see the comments,” he says. “‘This will be done in a year. It’ll be done in a few years.’ I see it and, if you look at history, that would be a strong bet to make. If you look at the And 1’s of basketball and the different leagues that have come and gone – that would be a strong bet to make ... There are only a few companies that have sustained creativity over a long time. You look at Disney, you look at Saturday Night Live ... They’re continually creating, trying new things, pushing the envelope on what can be done. And, they’re not afraid to fail. I think we share that.”

And, perhaps focusing on a young demographic is the right way to secure this lofty, decades-spanning goal.

Towards the end of the game in Richmond, two Little-League-aged fans (in bananaball gear) are playing catch beyond centerfield. Before each throw, they pass the ball between their legs or around their backs, copying the trick plays they’ve seen on the field. Both talk about the sport’s teams and players knowledgably. When asked if they want to be ballplayers when they grow up, they pipe up enthusiastically.

“I want to be a Firefighter,” one shouts. When asked which player he most wants to be like, he responds “No, a firefighter. I want to fight fires.” If his dreams come true, it’s pretty clear which team his future family will be rooting for.

For as much flak as Brian Cashman can catch for hugging prospects, the Yankees are perennially one of the most active buyers at the trade deadline. Last year was one the team’s most aggressive deadlines ever, shipping out almost 20 prospects and importing seven veteran players. In 2024, it was Jazz Chisohlm Jr. and Mark Leiter Jr. that were brought over the summer. 2023 was a bit of an aberration, the Yankees skipping out on deadline shopping and the playoffs, but in 2022 they traded for Frankie Montas, Harrison Bader, Lou Trivino, Scott Effross and Andrew Benintendi midseason, while 2021 saw the additions of Anthony Rizzo, Joey Gallo, and Andrew Heaney.

As has been typical of the Yankees during this era, they are towards the top of the standings early on, but with a few clear holes on the roster. The infield is littered with question marks, the team has gotten less than zero offensive production from their catchers, and the bullpen feels very shaky (even if it’s overall numbers on the season are fairly impressive thus far). The full expectation should be for New York to once again deploy prospect capital to shore up the roster come midsummer. The topic for today, though, is which position they’re most likely to try and upgrade (for argument’s sake, let’s leave side the bullpen for now, since essentially every contending team these days makes some sort of relief trade).

For a team that has had big holes in the early going, the answer is surprisingly complex. It’d be simple enough to look at, say, third base, where Ryan McMahon’s woeful work at the plate has left him exactly at replacement level per FanGraphs. But, the Yankees could reason that if McMahon’s struggles continue, they have answers in-house. José Caballero has performed well as the team’s primary shortstop and could shift over to third, allowing Anthony Volpe to return to his old position. Amed Rosario has also been well above average with the bat, albeit with weak defense at the hot corner.

The situation at catcher is also fraught. The team’s backstop have put up a pitiful .254 wOBA this year, third worst in the league. However, the gap between the Yankees’ catchers expected wOBA and their actual figure is easily the biggest in baseball, suggesting some poor fortune, and the defensive work of Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra is so exemplary that finding upgrades at the position isn’t as simple as it might seem given the pair’s futility at the plate so far.

And then, there’s the fact that there’s already been a tiny bit of rumbling about the possibility the Yankees will actually try to add to the strongest part of their roster, their rotation, by targeting injured Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. I’ll believe it when I see it, but we can’t disregard the idea; with Detroit floundering, Skubal may end up as the best player on the trade market, and adding him could give the Yankees a super rotation unlike any we’ve seen, while also allowing them to subsequently upgrade their bullpen by bumping overqualified starters into the relief corps.

What do you think? Are the Yankees most likely to target corner infield, catcher, starting pitcher? Something else entirely? Let us know in the comments below.

It’ll be another busy day ahead of tonight’s game, with Matt running through what you might have missed last night, and Jeff profiling coach Mark Connor for our Yankee Birthday series. Also, Josh writes on the wonder that is having so many starting pitchers on one team that fans can look forward to watching, and Kento reminds us to keep things in perspective with Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals

Time: 7:40 p.m. EST

Video: Amazon Prime Video, Royals.TV

Venue: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Gerrit Cole will make his second start of the season tonight in Kansas City, coming off a season debut on Friday that went about as smooth as we could expect. While he didn’t get to throw quite as much as he would have liked, all signals are green that there should be no real restrictions against the Royals, and we’re free to speculate on the impact Cole will have on the rotation going forward. I don’t think we are going to get 2019 Gerrit Cole, but if he’s the third-best pitcher behind talent like Cam Schlittler and Max Fried, that is a rotation that will be damn hard to beat.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: The Yankee bullpen has been the topic of much conversation this year, inarguably the weakest unit on the team. One of the questions around the group is how its constructed, currently carrying two guys that could feasibly be starters. Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough are at their best when they’re working multiple innings, but neither have been so spectacular that there aren’t alternatives within the Yankee system, especially given the current group’s lack of velocity and whiff.

The Athletic | Brandon Kuty ($): We’re past the one-third mark of the season, and the Memorial Day weekend always seems a natural time to take stock of a baseball team. The 2026 Yankees seem to be a top and bottom heavy squad overall, with more than their share of straight-A students in Cam Schlittler, Aaron Judge, Ben Rice and others, and far too many players that would receive failing grade…and then there’s Austin Wells, whose parents would likely be getting a phone call.

The Sporting News | TJ French: Ryan McMahon may be in trouble. In two straight games the third baseman was sat, Monday in favor of José Caballero and benched Tuesday to give Amed Rosario a start, while Anthony Volpe manned shortstop in both games. McMahon has failed to find any kind of stick with the Yankees, and while he is a talented defender, there’s only so much value there when you’re leaving runs on the table 3 times a game.

Left-handed hitters entered Tuesday batting .336 off of Nationals SP Cade Cavalli. The Guardians put 9 left-handed hitters in their lineup. The Guardians had 5 hits and 1 run off Cavalli in 6 innings.

The Guardians hitters can not do anything besides draw walks right now. So in back to back games the Nationals have just decided to throw strikes. Normally, you’d worry about those strikes getting hit, but… lol.

One Guardian who is not seeing strikes is Kyle Manzardo. Because why would you throw him a strike when he’s swinging at 3 pitches in the dirt every time he comes to the plate?

For the second straight game, the Nats only needed to use 2 pitchers. Sad.

On the bright side, Will Dion made his MLB debut after a number of years in the system. Dion was promoted earlier in the day, taking Logan T. Allen’s place on the 26-man.

Erik Sabrowski’s MRI “revealed no structural damage.”

Around the terrible AL

• The Angels and Tigers took turns blowing leads, but the Tigers blew more of them and lost 10-6.

• Here are a ton of Tiger injury updates.

• The A’s called up their top prospect “Gage Jump”

• The White Sox lost to the Twins, but I’m afraid this guy is likable.

Abner Uribe was feeling himself on Tuesday night.

His manager was none too pleased.

But the Brewers right-hander said he did it to defend his teammates.

Abner Uribe hits the D-Generation X crotch chop after an inning-ending strikeout against the Cardinals. pic.twitter.com/ZPnV6atxyD

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) May 27, 2026

The late-inning reliever whipped out a version of the “suck it” crotch chop — made famous in the 1990s by the D-Generation X faction in WWF — after striking out Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson to end the top of the eighth in a 6-0 Milwaukee win.

After the game, Uribe alleged that Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol signaled in the prior game to hit certain Brewers players.

Uribe got the first two outs of the inning before yielding a four-pitch walk to Iván Herrera and a single to Jordan Walker.

After the count went full to Burleson, Uribe got him looking with a low slider, which led to the three pumps chop celebration. Burleson challenged the call, and luckily for the Brewers reliever, the call was upheld.

Milwaukee skipper Pat Murphy didn’t mince words after the game — he didn’t like what he saw. At all.

“That’s unacceptable. Just unacceptable,” Murphy told reporters in his postgame press conference. “I don’t know what got over him, he’s been an emotional guy, but that kind of thing, that’s just not how we do things. I was embarrassed by it. Why are we doing it in a 6-0 game? What are we doing? There must be something deeper that I don’t know about.”

Murphy said that he does like Uribe but that he just won’t tolerate that type of celebration on the field. He said he talked to Uribe and speculated MLB could punish him in some shape or form.

Uribe said through an interpreter after the game that he owed an apology to his teammates and coaching staff after the game and that he understood the chop was “unacceptable.”

Nevertheless, he said Marmol apparently gestured on Monday that he wanted to hit Brewers players, so he wanted to have his Milwaukee teammates’ backs. He said there was an event before the game that also led to him expressing himself through the celebration, but he did not elaborate on what the event was.

“I don’t think it’s very professional for them to be making gestures like that,” Uribe said through the interpreter. “And I don’t think it’s right for any of my guys to be going out there with any sort of fear in their heads that we may be getting thrown at or they can’t play the game the way they want to be able to play.”

Herrera, who was on second during the celebration, called the chop “disrespectful” but hoped the Cardinals “take care of it and we move on,” according to the Belleville News-Democrat.

The teams play again on Wednesday afternoon, and this should add some extra intrigue.

It was Eric Lauer’s first game in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform — he’d only signed with them 17 days earlier — but he pitched like he’d been a part of the organization for years as the Dodgers made quick work of the Colorado Rockies in a 15-6 rout with a bizarre ninth inning.

Kyle Freeland has another a rough outing

It wasn’t the night Freeland had hoped for.

On one hand, he met a personal benchmark. He began the game 1.1 innings shy of reaching 1300 innings, which would make him the second pitcher in Rockies history (Aaron Cook is the other) to throw at least 1300 innings for the club. This goal, he achieved despite the loss. He is 13.2 innings short of Cook’s 1312.1 IP, the most in franchise history — a record he will surely break before the season ends.

On the other, Freeland struggled to keep the ball in the park and the Dodgers in the dugout.

He gave up a two-run home run to Mookie Betts (5) in the first.

In the third inning, he surrendered two more homers, one to Kiké Hernández (1) and another to Andy Pages (12). By the end of the third inning, the Dodgers had a 4-1 lead.

Things got worse in the fourth when Freeland allowed two hits before hitting Shohei Ohtani with a pitch and loading the bases. A wild pitch scored Miguel Rojas while a Pages double scored two more. Freeland managed to finish the fourth on 81 pitches, but the score was 8-1, and the Dodgers never looked back.

He finished the evening with a final line of 4.0 IP. Freeland allowed eight runs (all earned) on nine hits, three of them home runs. He did not issue any walks and struck out four.

His ERA is 8.08. He also managed to throw a “pitchergami.”

“Their right-handed hitters came ready to hit tonight,” said manager Warren Schaeffer.

“Tough for me to find location,” Freeland said, noting that the Dodgers had taken advantages of any mistakes he made.

The bullpen (mostly) fares no better

The Rockies utility pitcher Zach Agnos entered the game in the fifth inning, but he fared no better than Freeland had. By the end of the fifth inning, the score was 10-1 Dodgers and Ohtani had left the game to prepare for his Wednesday start.

Things did not improve in the sixth when Agnos gave up a three-run homer to Betts (6), and the score was 13-1 with no outs.

Smith followed with a two-run homer of his own (5), making the score 16-1, a season high for the Dodgers.

Agnos lasted only two innings. He allowed six runs and seven hits (all earned) with one run and one struck out on 42 pitches.

On a more positive note, Reliever Welinton Herrera scored his first career strikeout against Dalton Rushing, who promptly burned one of the Dodgers ABS challenges to learn that he had, definitively, struck out.

He also struck out Freddie Freeman. Herrera had a final line of 1.0 IP with two strikeouts, one hit, and no runs.

“The arm’s alive,” Schaeffer said, adding that the Rockies were pleased to have him on their roster.

The eighth inning went to catcher-RHP Brett Sullivan in what would be his third relief appearance of 2026. Sullivan allowed one hit but no runs in 1.0 IP.

The Rockies avoid a shutout

The Rockies fell behind after the first inning, but they quickly fought back.

However, they had a quick answer in the second when Hunter Goodman led off with a homer of his own, making the score 2-1 Dodgers. (Of the 12 home runs he has hit this season, nine have been on the road, FWIW.)

They occasionally got runners on base — Willi Castro had two hits — but failed to score.

By the sixth inning, Schaeffer followed the lead of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and began pulling his starters.

As for Eric Lauer, he went 6.0 IP, allowing one run (earned) on one hit. He walked one and struck out four on 96 pitches.

“We just didn’t have an answer for him tonight,” Schaeffer said.

The Rockies never touched the Dodgers bullpen until position player Miguel Rojas pitched the ninth when manager Dave Roberts (presumably) attempted to save his bullpen.

Then things got weird

Brett Sullivan hit his first home run of the year — as a pitcher no less.

The last Rockies pitcher to hit a home run? Germán Márquez on July 31, 2021. Sullivan was also the first pitcher, other than Shohei Ohtani, to hit a home run in 2026.

The Rockies promptly began a rally of sorts. Braxton Fulford and Jake McCarthy singled followed by a Kyle Karros home run, making the score 15-5. Troy Johnston followed that up with a double.

Suddenly, the Dodgers had their bullpen warming as Sterlin Thompson hit a single to score Johnston, and the Rockies loaded the bases and batted around the order.

With two outs, Sullivan came very close to hitting a grand slam, but the ball died at the warning track.

Game over, 15-6.

“We never want to be in that position when they’re throwing a position player at us,” Schaeffer said. “But every at-bat in the big leagues counts.”

The Rockies finished the evening with six runs on 12 hits. They walked twice and struck out seven times.

With the Colorado Avalanche being swept and ending their season, it was a grim night for Denver sports.

Get some sleep, everyone.

Up Next

Join us tomorrow for Game 3 at 8:10 pm when Tomoyuki Sugano will face Shohei Ohtani in a must-watch baseball game. (Seriously, there will be global interest in this one as a Japanese pitching legend takes on the greatest player on earth.)

See you then!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The Mets have played plenty of bad baseball this season, and Ron Darling sounded tired of watching it from the SNY booth.

The 1986 World Series champion pitcher ripped into left-hander David Peterson and what he believed to be a less-than-satisfactory reprimand to potentially come from the Mets coaching staff after the starting pitcher failed to back up a play at the plate in the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s 7-2 loss to the Reds at Citi Field.

The blunder, after Bo Bichette made a wild throw home as JJ Bleday scored, allowed Tyler Stephenson, who doubled on the play, to move to third on the throwing error.

“I don’t understand it,” Darling said on the broadcast. “It really tells me that coaches really don’t have as much influence as the players as they think they have because someone should rip someone at some point. But they don’t because they don’t want to upset anyone. You have to back up bases every single time.” 

The tough critique left an almost surprised play-by-play man, Gary Cohen, asking if Darling believed it would be addressed after the game “at all.”

Darling didn’t let up.

“It might be, but not addressed the way it should be addressed, because if it was addressed, Gary, it wouldn’t happen,” he said. “It happens every game. We just don’t point it out.”

Even the Mets booth thinks Carlos Mendoza should be out of a job.

Speaks volumes when one of the most ethical booths in sports speaks this poorly. pic.twitter.com/bYomdtybDP

— SleeperMets (@SleeperMets) May 27, 2026

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza did tell reporters after the game that he would address the mistake with Peterson, who could be moving to a bullpen role with Sean Manaea starting to pitch more effectively as of late. Manaea allowed one run on three hits and fanned six in three innings of work. 

“It can’t happen. Obviously, he knows that,” Mendoza said of Peterson’s mistake. “There’s no excuses for it. I haven’t talked to him about it, but obviously, there’s going to be a conversation. He knows he made a mistake.” 

Peterson has a 5.57 ERA after allowing six runs on 11 hits Tuesday night as the Mets dropped their fifth straight game to fall to 22-33, 15 games out of first place. 

The Dbacks were able to get their 9^th win in the past 10 games Tuesday evening in San Francisco as they were able to beat the Giants 7-5. An all around win for a surging Dbacks team as they were able to get pitching as well as timely offense as this team just keeps rolling.

Eduardo Rodriguez was crafty tonight giving the Dbacks 6 innings while striking out 6 Giants and allowing just 2 earned runs despite maybe not having his best stuff. ERod got off to a little bit of a bumpy start with a long first inning and a couple of runs by the 3^rd inning, but he settled in nicely getting some clutch outs as the game went on. This Dbacks starting rotation has continued to carry this team over the past several weeks as they seemingly give this team quality start after quality start and today was no exception.

The highlight of the night was Ketel Marte hitting an absolute moonshot on the day he was named the NL player of the week. The blast was simply incredible as it was a 2 run shot that traveled 452 feet. The fact that that blast happened at night at Oracle Park makes this swing the stuff of Dbacks lore. People will remember this hot streak that Ketel is on for a long time something is telling me.

It was not all highlights for the Dbacks tonight as unfortunately Nolan Arenado was lifted in the 8^th inning due to groin tightness. Lets all keep our fingers crossed that this is something that will resolve itself after some rest. Arenado has been such a fixture in this lineup this season as a steading force in the cleanup spot and at 3^rd base that any extended period of time without Arenado would be terrible. In the post game conference Torey said that Arenado is day-to-day, but he feels as though he is in a good spot and not getting any imaging. Arenado himself said that it was more precautionary than anything. Hopefully the Dbacks will dodge a bullet here.

I also wanted to note that Paul Sewald picked up his 13^th save of the season on his 36^th birthday tonight. Despite giving up a home run tonight, he definitely deserves some praise on his birthday as he has flat out gotten the job done as the closer in the early going saving 13 of 14 opportunities. He may not always be flawless, but he is a great closer and an even better human being who deserves the praise and a big happy birthday from Dbacks fans.

The Dbacks will send Mike Soroka to the mound tomorrow as they look for the 3 game sweep.

The Dodgers offense is down in May relative to April, and they’ve struggled especially at home dating back several weeks. But the floodgates opened on Tuesday night in a 15-6 rout of the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium, matching the team’s season high for runs scored.

The Dodgers in March and April hit a home run every 26.6 plate appearances, but in May it was down to just one home run every 38.2 plate appearances. They hit just 11 home runs in their previous 14 home games, but they broke out with five long balls on Tuesday, matching their season high. The other three games with five home runs this year came in April, and allon the road.

At first glance there’s something a little funny about moving a slumping hitter down in the lineup to batting cleanup, but for Mookie Betts it was notable. They did the same with Betts in Games 6and 7 of last year’s World Series, but in the regular season Tuesday was the first time Betts batted lower than third since September 29, 2017 while with the Boston Red Sox.

But after hitting just .165/.230/.342 through the first third of the season, including just eight hits in 51 at-bats since returning from the injured list, the Dodgers needed something from Betts on offense. In his first at-bat hitting cleanup, after a Freddie Freeman single, Betts took a fastball over the center field wall.

Two runs in the first inning were the most by the Dodgers in their last 12 home games, something they hadn’t done since tallying three in the opening frame on April 26 against the Chicago Cubs.

But they weren’t done there.

Kiké Hernández and Andy Pages each homered in the third inning, and Betts added his second two-run home run of the night in the sixth inning. It’s the first multi-homer game for Betts since May 19, 2025, one year and one week ago. Will Smith homered in the sixth inning, his first extra-base hit in eight games.

Pages had four hits on the night, and Betts had three, both season highs.

Hernández also doubled in the fourth, but was wincing on his way to second base. He later scored in the inning, but was removed before the top of the fifth inning with a left oblique strain. It doesn’t take a genius to see he’s going to be out for a while, after collecting four hits in four at-bats, with a home run and two doubles since returning on Monday.

Eric Lauer with all that support got a warm welcome in his Dodgers debut, and he obliged by throwing strikes for six innings. The left-hander allowed a solo home run but otherwise only three singles and a walk, with four strikeouts,

Shohei Ohtani was hit on his right (pitching) hand in the fourth inning. He remained in the game and scored in the inning. The 85.2-mph changeup appeared to hit the heavy padding Ohtani was wearing, and he waved any attempts from a visit from a Dodgers trainer. Ohtani was later pinch-hit for, but by then the score was 10-1.

Colorado scored only once in eight innings against real pitching, but homered twice off position player Miguel Rojas in a five-run ninth. Amid the maneuvering in the final frame, Max Muncy played third base, in his first game since getting hit on the wrist by a pitch on Friday. It’s possible Muncy might return to the lineup as early as Wednesday.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: Mookie Betts 2 (6), Kiké Hernández (1), Andy Pages (12), Will Smith (5); Hunter Goodman (12), Brett Sullivan (1), Kyle Karros (2)

WP — Eric Lauer (2-5): 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

LP — Kyle Freeland (1-6): 4 IP, 9 hits, 8 runs, 4 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers close out this series with Shohei Ohtani on the mound on Wednesday (7:10 p.m.; SportsNet LA, MLB Network).

Kiké Hernández might be headed back to the IL just two games into his 2026 season.

Hernández, who hit his first home run of the year earlier in the Los Angeles Dodgers' May 26 game against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium, looked to be laboring as he rounded first base on his fourth inning double. He later came around to score on an RBI double from Andy Pages, but would not return to the field as Hyeseong Kim came out to replace him in the field for the top of the fifth.

Spectrum SportsNet LA broadcast cameras showed manager Dave Roberts consoling a distraught Hernández in the dugout between innings.

Shortly after, the Dodgers announced that Hernández had been removed from the game with a left oblique strain.

Not a good sign here as Kiké Hernández is OUT of the game, and it seems like Dave Roberts is consoling him in the dugout.pic.twitter.com/8K97WmCVo6

— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) May 27, 2026

It's a tough break for Hernández, as he was 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and two RBIs since making his season debut on May 25. The fan favorite utilityman underwent surgery last winter to repair a significant left elbow injury that according to him, Dr. Neal ElAttrache said was the worst of its kind he had ever seen.

Hernández first suffered that injury while sliding home to score on a wild pitch on May 28, 2025 and spent two months on the IL with elbow inflammation. He later reaggravated it diving for a fly ball in Game 3 of the NLCS that October and told reporters he "would feel like I had a blowtorch on" every time he got into his batting stance.

Shohei Ohtani was also pulled from the game when Dalton Rushing pinch hit for him in the bottom of the fifth. Ohtani was hit by a pitch right after Hernández's double in the fourth, but appeared to be fine after. There's yet to be any official announcement on Ohtani's status, so it's possible he was pulled as a precaution ahead of his scheduled start on the mound against the Rockies on Wednesday, May 27.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kiké Hernández injury update: Dodger leaves game with oblique injury

It was a simple win.

The Mariners got a lot of hits and scored four runs. The A’s got fewer few hits and scored fewer runs. The Mariners beat the A’s 4-1 on Tuesday. It was that simple.

The Mariners wasted no time in jumping on Gage Jump, making first his first start as a big leaguer. Josh Naylor and Rob Refsnyder led off the second with a pair of singles. It seemed they’d both score after Mitch Garver doubled into the left field corner, but the ball lodged itself in the fence and the umpires sent Refsnyder back to third. No matter. Cole Young hit a sac fly to plate Refsnyder and make the game 2-0. Victor Robles came through with a single to make it 3-0.

Robles led off the fourth with a double (his second of three hits on the day) and Julio Rodríguz would later make it 4-0 with a rocket single to left. The Mainers wouldn’t score again, but it was an overall great night for the lineup, especially facing the lefty in Gage. They picked up 11 hits and a walk, and every starter either reached base or plate a run.

Emerson Hancock was perfect through four. He was efficient, needing just 37 pitches to get there. He wasn’t necessarily picking up lots of whiffs or punching out batters — save for a beautiful top-rail fastball that Nick Kurtz swung through in the first — but the A’s couldn’t square him up, or could only do so right at a Mariners fielder. Hancock got Darrell Hernaiz to hit the ball less than a foot in the third inning; he ticked it straight down to where Garver could simply pick it up and tag him out in the batter’s box. It was going that well. In the fourth, Hancock got the top of the order of Carlos Cortes, Kurtz, and Shea Langeliers to go down without much fight. For a moment, I wondered if this was it.

Hancock has been a revelation this year. It’s one of the most impressive career turnarounds I’ve witnessed first hand. I wouldn’t quite say he’s the Mariners absolute best pitcher right now, but that it’s close is borderline unbelievable. Even just the idea that Hancock might throw a perfect game would have seemed impossible this time last year. Of course, that he might strike out 14 would have seemed impossible, too.

I probably beat this drum too often. Every time I cover a Hancock start, I remind you that he was once bad and that now he’s good. One of these days, he’ll just be good.

Anyways, Hancock wasn’t perfect. I did not burry that lede. He got into a jam in the fifth, walking the lead off batter then giving up a single. But he set down the side in order from there to escape the inning unscathed. The command started to falter in the sixth with a walk and a hit by pitch. But he painted another perfect top rail fastball to strikeout Kurtz in between, and got Brent Rooker to groundout to again shimmy out unscathed. 

A fully rested bullpen, fresh off a complete game from last night’s starter, did its job from there. José Ferrer worked around a single in the seventh. Gabe Speier, in his first game back from the injured list, worked around a hit by pitch in the eighth. Speier also struck out Kurtz to snap his 48-game on base streak, leaving him forever (or maybe not forever) tied with Mark McGwire for the longest in A’s history. 

Andrés Muñoz pitched the ninth with a 4-0 lead. He gave up a homer to make it 4-1 but eventually got the job done.

The Mariners took the series from the first place A’s with the win. Everyone in the division is now under .500. The Mariners could be in first place alone Wednesday — still under .500 — if they finish off the sweep.

Late Nite with Nola is the hottest show on television. It’s got celebrity guests. It’s got a good opening monologue. It’s got fun interviews about Bryce Harper’s toothbrushing preferences. One thing it doesn’t have a lot of is runs for his opponent.

The night started with Kyle Schwarber getting most of a cutter, but not all of it. It ended up as a fly out. But Bryce Harper got all of his, and sent it over the fence in right field: good night, baseball, and good night to the many Phillies fans who nod off before these late West Coast starts. Brandon Marsh singled on the first pitch he saw, then got picked off at first for the last out of the frame. As he slid, the tag from Ty France caught his fingers. He regarded them gingerly, but returned to play. In the bottom of the inning, Aaron Nola sent the first three Padres he saw back to their dugout in rapid succession, operating at a pace that was a kindness to East Coast fans hoping both to watch the game and get some shuteye.

J.T. Realmuto, like Harper before him, saw a Randy Vásquez cutter he liked, and sent it on a tour of of the Western Metal Supply Co Building in left for the Phillies’ second homer of the night. Not to be outdone as a philanthropist, Trea Turner treated a sinker to the same tour one inning later, and the Phillies were up 3-0. After Harper walked and Marsh and Alec Bohm both singled, they were up 4-0. Meanwhile, Nola dealt with the minimum number of Dads through three. Edmundo Sosa almost joined the solo shot parade, but a leaping grab from Jackson Merrill stopped him.

Marsh left the game as the bottom of the fourth dawned. The tag on the pickoff turned out to have caused a sprained middle finger; Adolis García was his replacement. Nola breezed through the first two San Diegos, then found trouble: a sharp hit from Gavin Sheets up the middle bounced off Turner’s glove for the first Padre baserunner of the night, and Manny Machado sent a liner over the left field wall to narrow the score to 4-2.

The score remained there through the sixth, with Nola righting the ship following the homer and sending the next five Padres down in order. It would’ve been six, had San Diego not successfully challenged an out call at first. Unfazed, Nola struck out Sheets to end the sixth.

That ended his night on a successful note (3 hits, 2 ER, 5 K). Orion Kerkering was brought in to replace him and struck out three, continuing a solid night for Philadelphia pitching.

The Phillies put two runners on to start the eighth via Padres reliever Wandy Peralta granting free passes, but quickly saw that start become two outs via a Bohm pop out and Bryson Stott grounding into a force out. Realmuto was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but a groundout from Justin Crawford ended the frame.

Brad Keller was given the eighth and quickly allowed a solo shot to Ramón Laureano. Nick Castellanos was called in to pinch-hit. He struck out, Fernando Tatis Jr. singled, and Sheets walked. An infield dribbler from Machado threatened to load the bases, but Bohm charged in and deftly completed the play, sending the Phillies to the ninth with their narrow lead.

The Padres went with Adrian Morejon rather than Mason Miller for that final frame; he faced three Phillies and sent them all down, aided by a baserunning blunder from Schwarber that turned a lineout into a double play.

That cued up Jhoan Duran for the bottom ninth. This being a road game, he did not get his traditional entrance. It turns out, however, that he does not need flaming tarantulas to get himself in the zone. He induced a groundout from Miguel Andujar, made Merrill strike out on an awkward looking failed check swing, and bid bonne nuite to France, and the Padres, with a low splitter for strike three.

The Phillies thus sent their fans to bed happy, and provided a happy wake-up for the fans who didn’t stay up for the game. All’s well that ends well.

The Phillies are 28-27. They’ll finish the series in San Diego tomorrow at 4:10.

The offense came up short for the Good Guys, going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position in a frustrating 5-3 extra-inning loss to the Twins on the South Side tonight. This game had all the emotions: annoyance that the bats couldn’t ignite, excitement from a game-tying homer, shock after the go-ahead run was thrown out at home, and then back to sadness in the 11th. You can almost feel them just from the win probability chart.

This loss ended Minnesota’s seven-game losing streak against the White Sox, but there are still two more this week and another three next week against them to rebound and shut them down. It would have been nice, though, to pick up a game on the entire division as the Tigers, Royals, and Guardians all took an L Tuesday, but the South Siders remain 3 1/2 games back.

Sean Burke had a solid seven-inning, two-run start, but received absolutely zero run support from the offense. The righty was hot out of the gate, needing just eight pitches to get through the first and going hitless through three. The second inning got a bit dicey as Burke walked two batters, and though it took him 28 pitches — the most in an inning for his entire outing — he still worked out of the jam without any runs scoring.

Burke ended up with 100 pitches thrown with 65 strikes, with the two runs coming in the fourth after Trevor Larnach and Kody Clemons mashed a double and an RBI triple, respectively, for Minnesota’s first run of the game, 1-0. Austin Martin followed that up with an RBI single for Burke’s only other run allowed for the Twins to take a two-run lead, and even with the two tallies, Burke was otherwise efficient and got out of the inning with just 13 pitches.

Though he wouldn’t end up on the hook for the win, Burke gave up just three hits, walked two, and struck out eight. Recording 10 swing and misses, he averaged a 30% called strike plus whiff rate (CSW%), using his fastball the most at a 36% CSW — the highest of all of his pitches — peaking at 97.4 mph and producing the weakest average opponent exit velocity (85.9 mph). On the bright side, he brought his ERA back below 4.00 (3.90), so it was definitely progress and good to see him looking more like he did at the start of the season.

On the other end, righthander Joe Ryan was essentially mowing down White Sox hitters left and right and racked up nine Ks in his 7 2/3 frames. Through seven, Ryan was practically unhittable for the South Siders and had only given up three hits until the eighth. With 14 swing and misses, he posted a 37% CSW% with his knuckle-curve and sweeper getting the best of the Good Guys, accumulating 42% and 43% called strike plus whiff rates. In other words, the White Sox couldn’t touch the ball to save their lives for seven innings.

Until Munetaka Murakami saved the entire game for the South Siders, they had plenty of chances to score runs before the eighth. It doesn’t help when your DH (Andrew Benintendi) comes up with runners in a prime spot, and he just grounds out to second, which is exactly what happened in the fourth after Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth strung consecutive base hits together. Sure, he had two hard hits, but we must get better production from that spot.

Another foiled chance for the South Siders came in the seventh when Benny hit a two-out single, Tristan Peters was (maybe?) hit by a pitch, but Drew Romo struck out on three straight pitches to end the threat and the inning. I’m sure that the Twins regretted not ending Joe Ryan’s day after seven, but in their defense, he was cruising through his entire outing. Rikuu Nishida poked his second career hit out to left to start the bottom of the eighth, flipping it back to the core of the White Sox lineup. Sam Antonacci ended up striking out, but Murkami sent a game-tying tank over the right-field fence for his 19th of the season. It was beautiful.

Once Burke was replaced, the bullpen was a big reason that the Good Guys were able to hang in the game. Lefthander Sean Newcomb handled the eighth and ninth innings almost flawlessly, allowing just one hit while striking out two, including a clutch inning-ending K against Byron Buxton in the eighth after Buxton challenged the strike call. Newcomb, with ice in his veins, already knew he snagged the strikeout, and didn’t even wait for ABS to clock it.

Taking over in the 10th with the ghost runner on second, the pressure was no match for Bryan Hudson, who struck out the first two batters he faced. Hudson gave up a hit on the next at-bat, but Nishida was prepared out in right and came up firing home and threw the go-ahead run out with a few steps to go. Two games in a row, he’s thrown someone out at home — dare I say the outfield isn’t as scary as of late?

With the winning run standing on second in the bottom of the 10th, the South Siders completely folded and were unable to push the run across. Rikuu’s job was to get the bunt down to move the runner over, but he could not get it done. He even attempted on two strikes, but he let the bat drop and fouled out, completely wasting the at-bat. Antonacci manufactured an infield single to put runners on the corners. Still, the inning ended on a strange unassisted double play after Mune sharply grounded out to first, and Antonacci caught in the cross-hairs. With Luisangel Acuña and his speed on third, it made sense for the Sox to steal with Sam to put both runners in scoring position and take away a double-play opportunity, since the Twins might have just let him have it. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but it would be great if we could go back and try it to see how that play changes without Antonacci on first. So it goes.

On to the 11th we went. And things did not go as smoothly this time around. Righthander Tyler Davis was next out of the pen, and though he struck out one, a Luke Keaschall base hit, and a walk to Buxton loaded the bases up for Brooks Lee, who capitalized with a double to right to clear the bases, 5-2.

Murakami had started the bottom of the 11th on second with the three, four, and five hitters coming up. If the Sox were going to tie or win the game, it was now at this part of the order. Miguel Vargas flied out deep to center, which allowed Mune to move to third, and Montgomery lost an eight-pitch battle and struck out. Down to their last at-bat, Meidroth ripped a base hit out to left that scored Mune and brought up Randal Grichuk as our last hope, who smoked a 104.9 mph grounder to shortstop Ryan Kreidler, who was able to make the play at first to end the game, 5-3. He hit it hard, and it did have a .540 xBA on the play, but a second comeback wasn’t in the cards for the South Siders tonight.

The Atlanta Braves kept things interesting on Tuesday night but ultimately improved to 37-18 after a 7-6 win over the Boston Red Sox. Spencer Strider got the start, and the win; things started out shaky, but he settled in to give the offense a chance to even things up. His night ended after five innings, allowing three runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out five.

The Atlanta lineup tallied nine hits, and Michael Harris II accounted for four of those. He went 4-for-4, recorded three RBI, and scored two runs. It was a sight to see after he had a quiet series offensively against the Washington Nationals.

The series continues tonight at 6:45 ET, as the Braves go for the series win. 

More Braves News:

Today we remember Bob Horner, the Braves star who passed away at 68.

MLB News:

The New York Mets made several roster moves on Tuesday, including reinstating A.J. Minter from the injured list. 

The Milwaukee Brewers placed right-hander Logan Henderson on the 15-day injured list with a low back strain. The move is retroactive to May 23. 

The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to a major league deal with veteran Craig Kimbrel. He was designated for assignment by the New York Mets last week and elected free agency. 

From the Feed:

Cast your vote here for Player of the Game after the series-opening win at Fenway Park.

José Azócar has returned to the Braves on a minor league deal and appeared in Gwinnett’s lineup on Tuesday.