Category: Baseball

BALTIMORE — Sometimes, an incomplete grade is just that.

Red ink can fill the margins, pointing out the pupil’s many failings, yet it’s possible to understand that this is a rough draft and not, hopefully, the final product.

That concept has been increasingly harder to grasp across Major League Baseball in the past 72 hours.

Alex Cora is out in Boston, the Red Sox deeming a 10-17 start cracking open a window to fire their highly respected manager, who indeed needed less than 24 hours to find another job offer.

That came from Philadelphia, as club president Dave Dombrowski flirted with Cora even as his own manager, Rob Thomson, skippered the club Sunday in Atlanta. Nothing personal, Thomson said after he, too, was fired. Just an underachieving $283 million club needing a scapegoat.

That brings us to Houston, where a once-perennial playoff club has sputtered to an 11-19 start, with both a manager, Joe Espada, and a general manager, Dana Brown, working without contracts this season.

It is natural to wonder if the Astros will be the next to issue a pink slip to their manager. Yet as Brown noted to USA TODAY Sports: It is very early.

And there is an alternate reality the Astros imagine themselves experiencing this season.

“I know there’s a lot of talent in this room. There’s a hundred wins in this clubhouse right now,” says first baseman Christian Walker.

Crazy? Maybe.

Yet as the managerial death watch spreads from coast to coast, assigning culpability to the Astros’ last-place showing illustrates how complicated that can be.

Prior to Rangers' game against Motherwell on Sunday, Danny Rohl said he didn't want to focus on "negative" thoughts about the manner in which his side started the previous game against Falkirk.

A couple of hours later, he admitted they had paid the price for a similar first-half display against Motherwell and this time it proved hugely costly, dealing a massive blow to their title prospects.

Jens Berthel Askou's side were brilliant, particularly in that first period, but that should not have come as a surprise to Rohl and Rangers and does not excuse how flat they were and seemingly incapable of counteracting the visitors' slick, pacy play.

Now Rangers require favours from others and certainly cannot afford to lose again. They probably need to go to Tynecastle and win and then avoid defeat at Celtic Park, both of which will be extremely tough, but not impossible.

Celtic have to go to Easter Road before that and both Rangers and Hearts will hope Hibs can take something from that game, and Hearts and Celtic still have to go to Fir Park again, so all is not lost for Rangers.

But Rangers can't afford to start games the way they did against Falkirk and though they could ultimately have won against Motherwell as well, despite that dreadful first half, they can have no real complaints about the outcome having given themselves so much to do.

The half-time changes definitely made a difference, with Mohamed Diomande putting in his best performance since coming on at Celtic Park to turn that game in Rangers' favour.

But the key introduction was that of Mikey Moore, albeit he should have scored. That aside, he once again showed how important he is to the team.

He is clearly not 100% fit, as Rohl alluded to, but if Rangers can't get him ready to start the upcoming fixtures against Hearts and Celtic, their hopes of getting the results they need will be diminished.

Monday is massive for both sides. It's going to be another fascinating weekend in the title race.

The Yankees are riding high out in the Lone Star State, securing another series win with a dominant Cam Schlittler start and homers from Austin Wells and Aaron Judge. They’ll go for the sweep again after failing to secure it in Houston, but they’ve added an even more interesting detail to today’s finale: their No. 3 prospect in the organization, Elmer Rodríguez, will be starting making his MLB debut.

Rodríguez’s promotion comes on the heels of a red-hot start to his season down in the minor leagues, where he posted a 1.27 ERA in four starts pitching 21.1 innings and striking out 20 batters. There’s a leap of faith being made here, as Rodríguez has just a single game of experience at the Triple-A level before this season, but the 22-year-old turned heads as he charged through the organization. With reinforcements in the rotation on the horizon, this also likely isn’t a long-term promotion but rather a test to see how he’ll handle things in the majors. That’s a better usage of their fifth starter position than Luis Gil was giving them, and if Rodríguez manages to showcase his potential out of the gate then the front office will have some very interesting discussions about how to fit him into the fold on a more permanent basis sooner rather than later.

That’s not even the only significant promotion that the Yankees handed out on Tuesday. George Lombard Jr., the consensus No. 1 prospect in the org, has been tearing up Double-A Somerset — in 20 games played, he hit .312/.400/.571 with four homers, 10 RBI, and 18 runs scored. That’s almost the same sample size that they gave him in High-A Hudson Valley before bumping him up to Somerset, and now they’re repeating the reward for repeating the performance with a ticket to Scranton. That’s two of their top three prospects getting major elevations to their MLB ETA in the span of a day, with one of them literally arriving to The Show. This comes in the wake of Ben Rice and Schlittler turning into MLB stars after taking similarly short paths to the majors, but the pace ERC and Lombard are setting is even more break-neck than those.

The Yankee farm system might not get rave reviews as a whole, but this is a tremendous development for the organization after years of top prospects either languishing in the minors until they either fizzled out or got traded. Has the organization shifted its mentality with challenging their top prospects, or have they just identified that these specific prospects have the potential to be fast risers through the system? I’d lean towards the latter for now, especially with this second wave of prospects yet to be seasoned in the major leagues yet, but they’re allowing for the youth to help fuel their championship push en masse for the first time since the initial Baby Bombers made it. If we see the likes of Carlos Lagrange or Spencer Jones also make an impact on the 2026 team then there might be a bigger case, but the roster is pretty locked tight as it stands so that’ll be a tough sell.

Today on the site, we’ll lead off with Scott giving us a feature on Dylan Coleman and his path back to the pros after stepping away last year. Andrew will have our latest Rivalry Roundup update on how the rest of the field did keeping up with the Yanks, Jeff takes us through Sterling Hitchcock’s career as we wish him a happy birthday, and Andrés covers how Elmer Rodríguez can succeed in his first try-out as a Yankee. John has some fun looking into funky stats and highlights from the first month of play, and Nick delivers the Rotation Depth Inventory for April.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees at Texas Rangers

Time: 2:35 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, Rangers Sports Network

Venue: Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips: The Yankees are promoting 22-year-old right-hander Elmer Rodríguez to make his MLB debut on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers. It’s a well-deserved call-up, as he was sporting a brilliant 1.27 ERA in 21.1 Triple-A innings, with seven walks and 20 strikeouts.

Rodríguez, as described by Triple-A bullpen coach Peter Larson, has a deep repertoire. “He’s got the full mix,” he told Phillips. “He’s one of those throwback guys who has a bunch of pitches, and he can mix and match lefty-righty and use that whole mix to each side, which is pretty unique.”

NY Post | Greg Joyce: Rodríguez wasn’t the only Yankee prospect promoted on Tuesday. In a rather aggressive move (in a good way), the organization bumped George Lombard Jr. from Double-A to Triple-A. He was having a magnificent start of the year in Somerset, hitting .324 with a 163 wRC+, four home runs, and four stolen bases in 19 games. Now, his skills will be tested in Scranton, where he’ll play some third in addition to his more familiar shortstop. Is an MLB stint in his future this year?

RotoWire: The Yankees had to place designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton on the 10-day injured list with a right calf strain on Monday. Jasson Domínguez had already stepped into his lineup spot at DH with Luis Gil’s demotion, but to replace Stanton on the roster, they called up utility infielder Max Schuemann from Triple-A Scranton on Tuesday. A former A’s infielder, Schuemann was hitting .203/.362/.297 (90 wRC+) with a homer and six stolen bases in 23 games and 96 plate appearances in Triple-A. He can play multiple positions on the infield, though his stay in New York could be short with Anthony Volpe due back soon.

NJ Advance Media | Manny Gómez: The Yankees released DJ LeMahieu last year. He had played at an MVP level in 2019 and 2020, but started to decline in 2021 shortly after signing a new contract, battled injuries, and was borderline unplayable in 2024 and 2025. Still, he is a respected Yankee who had a few signature moments fans won’t ever forget. This week, he sent a farewell message via Instagram that included a video and recognition for his teammates and fans.

“I know it’s been a minute but just want to make sure I say thank you to the Yankees organization, all of the fans and my teammates for my time in New York,” LeMahieu wrote. “I may have been three years shy of being a true ‘New Yorker,’ but New York will forever feel like home. I’m thankful to have been a part of some incredible moments on the field. Hoping for continued success for the boys.”

With the Yankees sending Luis Gil down following another rough outing on Sunday, it created another opening in their starting rotation. 

Some had thought Carlos Rodon could be a possibility the next time through, but they decided to look elsewhere with the lefty still needing two more rehab outings.

Instead, it’ll be top prospect Elmer Rodriguez to make his big-league debut. 

“He’s a guy we view that’s gonna have a long career,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s coming off a phenomenal year at Double-A and a taste of Triple-A, and has gotten off to a great start there this year -- he’s earned the opportunity.

“We feel good about him taking the ball and he’s very, very capable.”

Rodriguez certainly has gotten off to a terrific start, building off of his two strong Grapefruit League appearances and lone scoreless outing with Puerto Rico at the WBC. 

The talented 22-year-old has pitched to a stellar 1.27 ERA and 0.89 WHIP with 20 strikeouts and just one homer allowed over his first four outings down in Scranton.

“It’s just the preparation,” he told YES Network’s Meredith Marakovitz. “Just having that mentality to go out and just compete, have fun, and trust my stuff -- I know I have good stuff, I just try to go out and bring the best I can.”

Though Rodriguez is known for being calm, cool, and collected on the mound he’s expecting some nerves when he toes that big-league rubber for the first time in Wednesday’s series finale. 

“I feel like they are obviously going to be there,” he said. “But I’m excited and happy be here -- hopefully I’ll be able to control them and just go out there and have some fun.”

Rodriguez is expected to take two turns through the rotation before Rodon is ready to return. 

The Mets’ offense put together a much-needed breakout against the Nationals on Tuesday night, and Carson Benge found himself right in the middle of things again. 

The rookie slugger enjoyed his second consecutive multi-hit outing. 

Benge first struck as part of the Mets’ seven-run bottom of the fourth, following up Marcus Semien’s gift run-scoring knock with an opposite-field two-run single of his own. 

He went first-to-third on a Ronny Mauricio hit, then scored on a sacrifice fly. 

The 23-year-old showed that same approach two innings later, again going the other way with an inside fastball and lacing it for one-out single that left the bat at 102.6 mph. 

Benge would finish the night 2-for-4, but it was another encouraging showing.

He's now hitting .368 with a double, a homer, three RBI, four runs scored, and a .947 OPS over his last games. 

The youngster has also racked up a .368 OBP and has struck out just once over that span. 

Carlos Mendoza has certainly been encouraged by what he’s seen of late. 

“He’s just been short, aggressive, getting the barrel to the ball,” the skipper said. “He’s not only pulling the ball but he’s going the other way, hitting line drives and not missing pitches -- it’s really good to see.” 

Benge has really struggled to find his footing in the majors thus far, but it would go a long way towards helping the Mets' offense turn things around if he could keep this stretch going.

It sure looked like the Dodgers could’ve used Shohei Ohtani’s bat in the lineup Tuesday night.

Without it, they couldn’t get the two-way star off the hook for a loss in a 2-1 defeat to the Miami Marlins.

Ohtani pitched just fine in his six-inning, two-run, nine-strikeout outing, finishing the night with a 0.60 ERA through five starts this year despite lacking his typically premium stuff.

But for the second time this season, the Dodgers elected to leave Ohtani out of the batting order in a game he pitched as part of their plan to manage his workload this season.

Long-term, they hope, it will keep Ohtani fresh.

But on Tuesday, it led to a dreadful night at the plate from the rest of the team.

After coming up empty in a bases-loaded, one-out opportunity created by shaky Marlins defense in the first, the Dodgers (20-10) did little at the plate the rest of the evening.

Miami starter Janson Junk kept them off-balance in a scoreless six-inning start, using a five-pitch to induce weak contact and collect quick outs. The Marlins bullpen avoided the kind of collapse that doomed them in Monday’s walk-off finish, giving up one run in the eighth but stranding runners on the corners to extinguish the threat.

That would be as close as the Dodgers came to a comeback. In the ninth, they got an infield single from Andy Pages, but nothing else.

“If you’re not going to put up crooked numbers and be clicking on all cylinders, you gotta be good situationally,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And we were not good at all tonight situationally. That’s what it comes down to.”

Roberts defended the decision to leave Ohtani out of the batting order, noting the move was made to “do right by Shohei” as the team tries to help him navigate what will be a grueling two-way campaign.

Plus, “even without him tonight in the lineup,” Roberts argued, “we should’ve won the game.”

Instead, the manager was left stewing over the team’s missed chances in the first and eighth innings.

“And in between all that,” he added, “there was nothing going on.”

Backup catcher Dalton Rushing replaced Ohtani as the team’s designated hitter –– and, so as not to disrupt the rest of the batting order, their leadoff man, as well –– but suffered an 0-for-4 performance that included a controversial strikeout in the fifth inning on a pitch-clock violation.

Rushing had requested a timeout in the batter’s box with two strikes, and initially believed it had been granted by home plate umpire Clint Vondrak (replays showed Vondrak raising his hand and subtly nodding his head).

However, when the clock wound down, Vondrak signaled for an automatic strike that left Rushing fuming.

By the end of the night, he wasn’t the only one, as the Dodgers managed just seven hits while leaving eight men stranded on base.

What it means

Tuesday was the kind of game that could give the Dodgers pause before keeping Ohtani out of the lineup on his start days again.

However, Roberts said that won’t “play in my math” regarding the two-way star’s future usage.

“I feel good about it,” he insisted. “I’d do the same thing again.”

Nonetheless, Ohtani’s absence loomed large. After slumping last week, he’d been one of the team’s few stars who seemed to be snapping out of an early-season funk in recent days, reeling off back-to-back three-hit games Sunday and Monday while reaching safely in 10 of his past 14 plate appearances overall.

Who’s hot

As a pitcher, Ohtani wasn’t his sharpest against the Marlins, battling somewhat shaky command while giving up five hits and three walks that drove up his pitch count to a season-high 104.

However, he managed to limit damage well and tap into his 100 mph fastball velocity when he needed it.

“For him to still find a way to navigate six innings and then give up two runs, we should win the game,” Roberts said.

The first run against Ohtani came as a result of his own defensive mistake, when he threw away a pickoff throw after hitting Agustín Ramírez with a pitch in the second inning. The Marlins scored again in the fifth on an RBI single from Kyle Stowers –– marking only the second earned run against Ohtani in 30 innings this year.

After that, though, he worked out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the score close, and puncuated his outing with three strikeouts in the sixth to strand a one-out single.

“I thought he pitched well,” said catcher Will Smith, who was the lone offensive bright spot by collecting three hits. “Thought he did a good job of slowing them down.”

Who’s not

Pages has officially come back to earth after his blistering start to the year.

Though he avoided an 0-fer by legging out his ninth-inning single (which was aided by a bad throw), the third-year slugger is now just 7-for-40 in his last 11 games –– during which time his batting average has fallen from an MLB-best .412 to .324.

It’s still been an excellent first month overall. It’s just not ending on the highest of notes.

Up next

The Dodgers and Marlins will conclude this series on Wednesday afternoon, when Tyler Glasnow (3-0, 2.45) will square off against former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara (3-2, 3.05 ERA) in a marquee pitching matchup. Ohtani is expected to return to the Dodgers’ lineup as designated hitter for the rubber match. Based on Tuesday’s performance, his bat will be needed.

The Athletics returned home after a successful 4-2 road trip to start a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals. Taking the mound for the A’s tonight was 30-year-old righty Aaron Civale who matched up against 28-year-old lefty Kris Bubic for the Royals.

The A’s got on the board first in the second inning when Zack Gelof singled and Jacob Wilson drove him home with a base hit to center.

In the top of the fifth Tyler Soderstrom dove for a ball it into the corner and landed hard, wincing as he got up to retrieve the ball. He did not come back out for the sixth inning.

Speaking of not coming out for the sixth, Aaron Civale’s night was done after five. He finished his day with 5.0 innings, zero earned runs, five hits, three strikeouts and one walk. He gave way to Hogan Harris who promptly gave up a solo homer to Salvador Perez to tie the game. Harris didn’t make it out of the sixth. After the Perez homer, Harris walked Lane Thomas and Isaac Collins. That sent him to the showers, replaced by Scott Barlow, who threw two pitches and then picked Thomas off trying to steal third to end the Royals half of the inning.

Mark Leiter Jr. replaced Barlow in the top of the eighth inning and thanks to a great grab by Jacob Wilson, he tossed a 1-2-3 inning. After hitting a monster foul ball, Rooker struck out to lead off the inning. Thomas singled and moved to third on Carlos Cortes base hit. Darell Hernaiz walked to load the bases, but Jeff McNeil lined out to end the inning. The score remained tied at 1-1 headed to the ninth inning.

Jack Perkins entered the game to shut down the Royals in the ninth. He slammed the door with a three-up, three-down inning giving the A’s a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning. They did not, and the teams moved into the tenth.

Justin Sterner entered the game to pitch the start of extras. With a ghost runner on second, Jason Isbel tried to move the runner over but instead beat out the throw to put runners on first and second. Then Bobby Witt Jr. hit a three-run homer to give the Royals a 4-1 lead and clear the bases. But the A’s were not done. Lucas Erceg, former A’s reliever, came in to pitch the tenth. Kurtz was the placed runner. Cortes walked and Gelof beat out swinging bunt to load the bases with two outs. That brought Darell Hernaiz up. Unfortunately, he lined out to the second baseman to end the rally and the game.

Red Sox 0 Blue Jays 3

That’s all the Jays need for a win, have their pitchers throw a shutout. .

Trey Yesavage continued on from where he finished off last year. He went 5.1, allowing just 4 hits, no walks, with 3 strikeouts.

John pulled him at 74 pitches. Trey seemed a bit bemused by the hook, but I think it was nice to take him out so he could enjoy the crowd cheering for him.

And the bullpen did the job:

• Mason Fluharty got the last two outs of the sixth, giving up a walk.
• Jeff Hoffman had a terrific seventh, getting 2 strikeouts.
• Tyler Rogers was also terrific, throwing a clean eighth with a strikeout.
• Louis Varland picked up his 4th save, striking out the side in the ninth.

Offensively? Well, we did enough. Not much more than enough, but enough. Only 6 six hits. We got:

• Two in the third: Andrés Giménez led thing off with a single. Two outs later, Vladimir Guerrero doubled. Kazuma Okamoto singled them home. He was thrown out at second. The Jays challenged, and I thought the replay showed Kazuma safe, but the folks in New York disagreed. Thankfully, Vlad scored before the tag at second.
• One in the fifth: With two out, Myles Straw and Ernie Clement walked (Ernie’s second walk this game. He only had one this season until today). And Vlad singled Straw home.

Vlad had two hits. Clement and Davis Schneider had two walks each. Straw had a single and a walk. Okamoto, Varsho, and Giménez each had a hit.

Jays of the Day: Yesavage (.29 WPA), Okomoto (.12), and Vlad (0.9).

No one had the number for the Other Award. Heineman and Straw had the low mark at -0.5.

Tomorrow Eric Lauer (6.75) gets the start after briefly being removed from the rotation. Brayan Bello (9.00) starts for the Red Sox.

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani stuck to pitching and did his part, delivering another six-inning start with minimal damage. But the Dodgers couldn’t find much offense to support him in their 2-1 loss to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Ohtani was pitching on five days rest with any sort of length for the first time since 2023, when 15 of his 23 starts that season with the Angels were on five days rest. Don’t expect that many such starts this year, however.

“I think it could happen, he’s certainly open to it. But in this particular situation, given what Tyler [Glasnow] did and kind of how it played out — but it could flip the next time,” manager Dave Roberts said before Tuesday’s game. “I’m not going to say it’s the last time [pitching on five days rest], but I don’t think it’s going to be commonplace.”

All told, it was an impressive start for Ohtani with nine strikeouts, though he also tied his season high with three walks in his six innings. He did allow all of two runs, one of which was earned, matching his totals from his first four starts combined. Ohtani’s 104 pitches were his most in a start with the Dodgers, four more than Game 4 of last year’s National League Championship Series.

Ohtani’s ERA ballooned, all the way to 0.60, which once again leads the National League, another one-day stop atop the leaderboard as he has exactly 30 innings through 30 team games through Tuesday night. Ohtani has lead the NL in ERA after all five of his starts.

Lowest Dodgers ERA through April

Fernando Valenzuela (1981) 0.20
Fernando Valenzuela (1984) 0.21
Shohei Ohtani (2026) 0.60
*in live-ball era (since 1920), minimum 5 starts, per Baseball Reference

Three errant throws produced the first Marlins run against Ohtani, in the second inning. He hit Augustín Ramírez with a pitch, then had Ramírez dead to rights on a stolen base attempt but threw the ball into center field, putting the Marlins catcher on third base with nobody out. After a strikeout, Ramírez tagged on a flyout to Andy Pages, whose throw was up the third base line and hit Ramírez as he scored.

That first run was unearned, but Ohtani allowed an earned run in the fifth, a frame in which he allowed two walks and two singles. It could have been worse, with the bases full of Marlins with two outs, but Ohtani struck out Ramírez to extinguish that threat.

Any signs of fatigue were allayed when Ohtani worked around a single with three more strikeouts in the sixth, giving him nine on the night.

On a normal night, the Dodgers probably win this kind of a start over two-thirds of the time (they are 12-5, with a .706 winning percentage when a pitcher goes at least six innings and allows no more than two runs this season). But on Tuesday, the offense failed to score in six innings against Janson Junk, who allowed only three singles and a walk.

Los Angeles did not score until three singles with one out in the eighth inning, with Will Smith driving in Dalton Rushing to pull within one.

Andy Pages reached on an infield single with one out in the ninth, but was stranded by Tyler Phillips, who surrendered the game-winning hit the night before.

The Dodgers are trying to find avenues, whenever possible, to give Ohtani extra rest, which is why he didn’t also serve as designated hitter against the Marlins. Picking their spots for such rest will depend on how Ohtani is feeling.

“I think his goal is to his goal is to make every [pitching] start. So with that, there has to be some compromise and some openness to read and react,” Roberts said. “I think so far we’re doing a nice job, and he’s open to that.”

Tuesday was the 12th of 13 consecutive game days for the Dodgers, and Ohtani was the only position player to start all of the previous 11 games.

“The 13 in a row, I think it’s been a grind on everyone. And also taking into consideration everything that Shohei goes through on a daily basis, to know that he’ll be back in the lineup tomorrow,” Roberts said. “I think this is an opportunity to hedge a little bit, play both sides, so have a guy who’s swinging a good bat in Dalton to replace him for a night, to give Shohei the best opportunity to pitch well and not take on both duties, then just hit tomorrow and have an off day. Hopefully this abbreviation will give him a reset, after the off day.”

Maybe Ohtani’s bat will help the Dodgers find some offense in the series finale.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: none

WP — Janson Junk (2-2): 6 IP, 3 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

LP — Shohei Ohtani (2-1): 6 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts

Sv — Tyler Phillips (2): 1 IP, 1 hit

Up next

One more day left on the homestand, with Tyler Glasnow going for the series win on Wednesday afternoon (12:10 p.m., SportsNet LA), against Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara.

Rays third baseman Junior Caminero took a baseball to the face after his own foul tip took a wild bounce and caught him on his right cheek on Tuesday night in Tampa Bay’s 1-0 win over the Guardians in Cleveland. 

Caminero, 22, was up in the top of the first inning when he fouled a pitch off home plate, and the ball came back up, striking him and sending him bent over in pain. 

The 2025 American League All-Star was checked up on by Rays trainer Joe Benge after he got back to his feet. Caminero eventually returned to the plate, and he grounded out to Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee on the next pitch.

Status alert: Junior Caminero (face) leaves game Tuesday.pic.twitter.com/HZ0aE9a1kU

— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) April 28, 2026

But Caminero then came out of the game and was replaced by Ben Williamson.

After the game, Guardians manager Kevin Cash said Caminero — who suffered what the team said was a bruised right jaw  — was doing well following the scary incident. 

“He’s OK,” Cash told reporters, according to MLB.com. “He’s in really good spirits and I would expect him to be in the lineup tomorrow. That ball really came off the plate hard and I’m just glad that he’s in a pretty good spot right now.”

First baseman Jonathan Aranda called it a “scary moment” when he saw what happened to Caminero. 

”We’re wishing him the best and hopefully he comes back and joins us soon,” he said. 

The Rays have said that Caminero is day-to-day. 

Tampa Bay won the game 1-0 with Aranda driving in the only run as the Rays picked up their sixth straight victory. 

Caminero holds a .257 batting average and .827 OPS with eight home runs and 15 RBIs this season. 

On a night where a freshman was the star of the show, two of the most grizzled veterans to wear scarlet and cream combined to complete the comeback and send the cold and wet fans home happy. Usually when these two teams get together, one team seems to blow the other out. Tonight was the rare back and forth affair between the old foes.

Nebraska wasted little time in getting things going. Kansas State went with their Friday night starter James Guyette, coming off his worst outing of the season, and tonight was more of the same. Back to back singles by Mac Moyer and Jeter Worthley started the night. Case Sanderson moved the runners over with a groundout to first.

Guyette then lost a fastball that went behind Dylan Carey, letting Moyer scamper home for the first run. Another fastball tailed too far inside, nearly hitting Carey again, and the Cather couldn’t come up with it, allowing Worthley to jog home. Carey walked and then the inning appeared to be over with a Jett Buck fly ball to right, but the outfielder dropped the ball on a rainy night. Always the hustler, Carey made it home easy to put Nebraska up 3-0 after 1 inning.

The second inning was fairly uneventful, with the exception of Husker starting pitcher, Tucker Timmerman making an incredible play covering first on a play hit to Sanderson. Sanderson bobbled the ball, picked it up, and threw it into the dirt behind Timmerman. “Tuck” happens to be maybe the best all around athlete on the team, and not only caught the ball, but upon replay drug his toe across the base just in front of the runner. You have to watch it to believe it.

The teams traded runs in the 3rd, Timmerman gave up a leadoff double, then back to back outs brought the runner home. On the Nebraska side, Worthley singled up the middle, part of the freshman backstop’s 5 for 5 night. A double from Sanderson down the left field line put runners on second and third for Carey. Carey drove a sac fly to deep right, and Worthley put the Huskers up 4-1 after 3.

Kansas State took the lead in the middle innings, by way of the long ball. A 2 run home run in the 4th off of Timmerman, and a 2 run home run off Husker reliever Kevin Mannell in the 5th gave the Wildcats a 5-4 lead, and put all the momentum in the visitor’s dugout. Jaylen Worthley gave up a leadoff double of home run in the 6th, on his first batter the Wildcats’ dugout went wild.

Nebraska loaded the bases in both the 4th and fifth innings, but couldn’t finish the job. Coach Will Bolt felt like the offense was putting together good swings, just happened to line out to some well placed infielders by Kansas State. “When you set up as many innings as we do, and you don’t knock ‘em down, you give the other team momentum,” stated Bolt post-game.

As this team has done countless times this season, the Huskers battled back. With 1 out in the 7th, Drew Grego wore the first pitch of his at bat on the shoulder. As seems to happen a lot this season after a hit-by-pitch, Grego stole second base. With 2 outs, Mac Moyer drove a ball up the middle, just past the diving second baseman, scoring Grego, and cutting the lead to 6-5.

That brought up Worthley, already sitting on a 4-4 stat line. He drove a low and inside fastball deep into center field. The center fielder wouldn’t have made the play, but slipped after taking a step in, then trying to turn and run to the wall. Moyer scored all the way from first, tying the game, and Worthley punctuated his big night with a stand up triple, urging the third base dugout to get pumped up, not that they needed any encouragement at that moment.

Following a shutout inning by Ty Horn in the 7th, J’Shawn Unger came out and with the help of a double play, sat the Wildcats down quickly in the 8th. Unger surrendered a 1 out walk in the 9th. The runner then stole second to get into scoring position. Inexplicably, the runner took off for 3rd, and was thrown out so easily that he didn’t even attempt to slide. Unger struck the batter out to end the inning, and take us to the bottom of the ninth.

Josh Overbeek led things off for Nebraska in the 9th. After quickly going down 0-2, he battled back and sent a 2-2 deep to the left field gap. The left fielder made a good play to cut the ball off from getting to the wall, theoretically holding “Beek” to a single. Only Overbeek had zero intention of stopping at first and barreled into second base will little regard for his or the second baseman’s life. He was going so fast and sliding headfirst so hard that he barely stopped in time to stick on the base.

Drew Grego has been a clutch player late in games, and hit a sharp ground ball right down the left field line, but the 3rd baseman was playing right on the line, and threw him out. That brought up Rhett Stokes, who was 0-4 on the night. Stokes pulled a hard grounder in almost the same place as Grego, only the third baseman was playing well off the line this time. Overbeek rounded third, held his hand up in the air, and scored a 4th straight walk-off win for the Huskers at home.

It’s RPI watch season as the calendar is soon turning to May. The Huskers move up in the RPI with the win to 11th in the country. If they win their final 3 weekend series of the season, they should be solidly in the 2nd seed in the Big Ten Tournament and in line to host in the NCAA.

The Huskers travel to Columbus this weekend to take on Ohio State, with first of the series scheduled for Friday at 5pm. Stay tuned to Corn Nation for our weekend preview coming up later in the week.

Josh Naylor, Julio Rodríguez and Cole Young each collected three hits in the Mariners 7-1 win over the Twins Tuesday. The Mariners’ lineup picked up 12 hits in total, including five for extra bases, in what wound up being a comfortable win.

But the game wasn’t so comfortable early. Joe Ryan started for the Twins and was good as always, pounding the zone, getting ahead, and keeping the Mariners off balance through the first five innings. He got 13 called strikes on his fastballs, and five whiffs against the splitter and curve. I wouldn’t even say it was a bad performance by the Mariners against a pitcher like Ryan, who finished the day top 10 in the majors by WAR, but they were often caught in between and guessing wrong. This is what the first five innings looked like:

Things changed when the middle of the order stepped to the plate for the third time. With two outs, Julio got a hanging curveball and laced a grounder down the left field line, hustling into second for a double. Naylor followed by, flicking a single the other way to make the game 1-1.

The Mariners couldn’t get any more runs in the sixth, but they made Ryan work. After a leadoff double from Randy Arozarena in the top of the seventh, Ryan’s day was done. The Twins were forced to turn to a far less intimidating bullpen, and Young eventually plopped a single the other way to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead. 

J.P. Crawford drew a leadoff walk in the eighth. Julio then hit a screaming double past the outstretched arm for Austin Martin in right field to put runners on second and third. That brought Naylor to the plate to face Cole Sands, who threw a top-rail cutter that bled back over the plate. Naylor turned on it and crushed it way out to right, taking a few steps back to admire the shot before proceeding around the bases.

The Mariners weren’t quite done. Young lead off the ninth with another single, Leo Rivas took a hit by pitch, and Julio doubled them both home with a sharp line drive to left, to finish off the score at 7-1.

It was another great day for the offense. The Mariners are up to a 105 wRC+ despite their early struggles and entered the day with a 126 wRC+ since April 10 (when they began the four-game rout of the Astros). It’s largely coming from the middle of the order, too, with Julio, Cal, Arozarena and Naylor each beginning Tuesday’s games with a wRC+ between 138 and 143 over that stretch. If they keep scoring five runs per game on average, the wins will eventually follow.

Logan Gilbert got the start for the Mariners, and it went the way it always does. He showed off a deep arsenal, got some whiffs and strikeouts, and ultimately struggled before exiting after five innings.

It was the fourth that got him, even if it wasn’t quite his fault. Josh Bell lead off the inning with a sharp grounder right down the line at first. The ball was so down the line, in fact, that it hit the bag, popped 15 (or 20? ) feet in the air over Josh Naylor’s head, and landed in right field for a single. Kody Clemens followed with what looked like a double play ball, but Cole Young forgot that he’s a good defender now, and dropped the ball on the transfer, putting runners on first and second. Gilbert later walked Luke Keaschall to load the bases. After battling to get two outs, Gilbert got Royce Lewis to hit a sharp grounder to Leo Rivas at third base, who raced to the bag and got the lead runner with a dive.

Gilbert got into more trouble in the fifth, this time on his own. Byron Buxton stepped to the plate to lead off the inning. Gilbert threw him a first-pitch fastball up — a pretty decent pitch — but Buxton seemed to be sitting on it and yanked it to left for a solo homer. It was somewhat amusing that ROOT was in the middle of presenting a graphic showing Buxton as the top home run hitting center fielder in the majors. “Did we do that?” Aaron Goldsmith asked, following a brief silence as the ball flew through the air.

The very next pitch, Gilbert hung a changeup middle-middle to Trevor Larnach, who launched it off the top of the high wall in right field for a double. Gilbert would eventually escape the inning with the game still 1-0, but by the time he did, the pitch count read 93 and his day was done.

Again, it was the standard five-and-dive outing that has been the standard for Gilbert throughout his career. (For a refresher, Zach Mason dug into this over the offseason). Outings like Tuesdays technically make him a top 25 starting pitcher in the majors, and they often help the Mariners win, but that in-game longevity continues to stand in the way of reaching the next level.

Still, Gilbert did his job, got the ball to the bullpen with just one run on the board, and the lineup eventually found some runs. The Mariners go for their first back-to-back series wins of 2026 on Wednesday at 10:40 a.m.

Box Score

The Brewers’ offense is still weathering the storm as they wait for some of their top batters to return from the injured list. On Tuesday night, they didn’t need their power hitters, as a barrage of singles and walks gave them a decisive 13-2 win over the Diamondbacks.

Chad Patrick started the game for the Brewers with a scoreless first inning, working around a leadoff work as he struck out two. Meanwhile, the Brewers put the pressure on Merrill Kelly right away. Garrett Mitchell led off for the Brewers with a leadoff walk. He tried to get the Brewers into scoring position right away, but was caught stealing second for the first out. That ended up being a big out after William Contreras drew a walk and Brice Turang singled. Tyler Black moved them both up with a groundout, then Kelly walked Jake Bauers. The strategy worked as Kelly struck out Brandon Lockridge to end the inning.

At the start of the second inning, there was a scary moment for Patrick. He was having trouble seeing and needed assistance on the field. He remained in the game and retired the side in order, partially thanks to a double play that erased a leadoff walk. After the game, Patrick talked about how he couldn’t see for 15-20 seconds and what he was feeling.

Back on offense, the Brewers gave Patrick some run support. The first run came from Sal Frelick, who hit a leadoff home run into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen for a 1-0 lead. It was the Brewers’ first home run since April 18th against Miami, and just their second home run in the last 14 days.

Both starters traded scoreless third innings, and Patrick added a scoreless fourth as well. As for the Brewers, they added on in the fourth. Back-to-back walks from Lockridge and Frelick gave the Brewers two baserunners, and David Hamilton moved them up on a groundout. Joey Ortiz brought them in with a single into shallow center field, scoring both. Ortiz would end up getting caught stealing second — catcher James McCann’s second caught stealing of the night —but the Brewers increased their lead to 3-0.

Patrick entered the fifth inning with a modest no-hit bid going, but he struggled hard in the inning. He walked the first three batters he saw that inning. The Diamondbacks were threatening as Alek Thomas hit a hard line drive between first and second, but Turang was positioned in the right spot and made a jump to rob Thomas of a hit.

It ended up only delaying the Diamondbacks by a batter, though. The next batter, McCann, hit a ground ball between second and third and into left field. That scored two runs and closed the gap to 3-2. A sacrifice bunt from Ildemaro Vargas moved runners up to second and third, but Patrick got a ground ball from Ketel Marte to escape the inning.

Patrick finished his night with five innings pitched and two runs allowed. He allowed just the one hit, but it was a two-run RBI single that momentarily got the Diamondbacks back in the game. While he did strike out five batters, he also walked five. Of his 98 pitches, he threw 60 for strikes.

That stumble in the fifth wouldn’t deter the Brewers offense. Contreras and Turang hit a single and double with one out to put runners in scoring position again. This time, they would not be stranded as Black singled to center, scoring them both and giving the Brewers their three-run lead back.

The Brewers were not done. In the sixth, the Diamondbacks went into their bullpen and brought in Andrew Hoffman. The Brewers pecked away at him. Here’s a rundown of what the Brewers did against Hoffman:

• Frelick single
• Hamilton single
• Ortiz single
• Mitchell RBI single (6-2)
• Contreras two-RBI single (8-2)
• Turang walk
• Black broken-bat bloop RBI single (9-2)
• Bauers two-RBI single (11-2)
• Lockridge pop out
• Frelick reaches on catcher’s interference (challenged and upheld)
• Hamilton ground-rule double (13-2)

Hoffman threw 38 pitches and only recorded one out in his appearance. After Hamilton’s ground-rule double — which likely clears the bases if it stays in play — the Diamondbacks brought in Ryan Thompson to finish the inning. He quieted the Brewers’ bats with a strikeout of Ortiz and pop out from Mitchell to end the inning.

From there, the Brewers brought in the reserves and filed this one away quietly. After a clean sixth for Shane Drohan, Jake Woodford recorded a three-inning save to finish out the game. Drohan had a strikeout, while Woodford allowed just two hits and struck out two.

The Brewers recorded 15 hits as a team, their second-most in the season. With their six walks, their 21 baserunners is also their second-most as a team this season. Black led the offense with a three-hit day. Contreras, Turang, Frelick, Hamilton, and Ortiz all had two-hit days. Lockridge was the only starter that did not record a hit, but still reached base once with a walk. As a team, the Brewers went 8-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Of their fifteen hits, just three went for extra bases: Frelick’s home run and doubles from Turang and Hamilton.

Following that burst of offense, game two of the series will take place tomorrow evening. Brandon Sproat gets the start against Eduardo Rodriguez of the Diamondbacks. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m.

Davis Martin and the White Sox (13-17) picked up a sound win over the Los Angeles (12-19), earning Martin his fourth win of the season and the team finally taking a series win at home. The bullpen was nearly spotless, the offense mashed two home runs off one of the game’s best pitchers, and Drew Romo had himself a night with his first two career homers — one from each side of the plate.

Prior to tonight’s game, righthander José Soriano had only given up one run in his six starts (37 2/3 innings), and the Chicago White Sox did what seemingly no other team could do: score more than one tally against him. In fact, the Good Guys scored three onsixhits, two of which were home runs — a solo shot from Colson Montgomery and a two-run bomb from Romo, this one from the left side.

Soriano came into Tuesday’s game, surrendering just one extra-base hit (a double), and left with two South Side deep balls to sour his start. He tossed a clean first inning, but Montgomery clearly didn’t care about the Cy Young hype, as Colson smoked one over the right field fence in the bottom of the second to give the White Sox a one-run lead, and hand Soriano his second earned run of the season.

For the White Sox, Martin was his usual self: consistent and efficient. Tonight, he was more effective than the best pitcher in baseball, allowing one run on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking one batter to maintain his low walk rate, and striking out seven. The one run that the Angels scored off of Martin came in the top of the fourth after Nolan Schanuel ripped a one-out double to put himself into scoring position, and was subsequently driven in on a single from Jo Adell to tie the game up at one.

Thankfully, Martin would be back on the hook for the win as the Good Guys stole the lead back in the bottom of the fourth when Romo smashed a two-run, line-drive bomb out to right for the first home run of his major league career, 3-1. Soriano left after the fifth inning and ultimately took the loss. His ERA is still sitting below 1.00, but it shot up to 0.84 after beginning the game at 0.24. Sure, the Sox might not be good this season, but they just might be that thorn in teams’ sides with their recent offensive trends.

This game was officially trademarked as the Drew Romo Game when the switch-hitting catcher launched his second homer of the night on his next at-bat, this time from the right side of the plate, making it 4-1. As Steve Stone and John Schriffen called out on the broadcast, he is the first catcher in White Sox history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game.

Davis came back out for the sixth and got through the first two outs before giving up a base hit and ending his day there at 98 pitches, leaving it in the South Side bullpen’s inconsistent hands. Thankfully, as a whole, they were solid, and outside of one run given up in the eighth, the Angels mustered just two hits against the White Sox arm barn, who combined for six strikeouts.

For 1 1/3 innings following Martin, lefthander Sean Newcomb earned the hold and racked up three Ks while allowing just two base runners: a base hit and a walk. Things got dicey for the eighth solely because Jordan Leasure came in to pitch, and if you’re like me and over the Leasure Experiment, you already anticipated the home run that he gave up tonight to Josh Lowe. The good news is that it was just a solo homer, so the South Siders still had a three-run lead.

The bad news is that in seven of 13 appearances this season, he has given up at least one run, and four of the last five of his outings have been full of chaos, with seven runs allowed in 3 1/3 innings. On top of that, he ranks sixth-worst in all of baseball with 3.00 home runs allowed per nine innings (HR/9), but Leasure was able to clean up his own mess this time after forcing a ground out and two strikeouts to get out of the inning before anything got out of hand.

Ranking just six slots below Leasure in HR/9 is righthander Seranthony Domínguez, who came out to close the ninth inning and earned the save while securing the win for Davis Martin. Recently, Domínguez’s outings have had a similar feel to Leasure’s, but much more spotty. At least tonight, we got the elite version of Seranthony for his seventh save of the season, forcing a double play to end the inning while confirming the series win for the Good Guys a day early.

Now 6-4 in their last 10, the White Sox have actually been hanging in games and have players that are exciting to watch and easy to root for. Despite a 1-for-5 night with four strikeouts, Munetaka Murakami has still been something special, while 24-year-old Colson Montgomery continues to flash his power with a homer in five of his last 10 games.

In a wild turn of events, as of the Sox game ending, every team in the AL Central has lost or is losing, with the Guardians, Twins, and Tigers all dropping their matches Tuesday, and the Royals losing to the Athletics in the fifth inning. Might the Good Guys pick up a game on the entire division? This can’t be the same team that The Athletic ranked as the worst in the entire league, can it?

Erick Fedde will take the mound in the series finale tomorrow, making his fourth start of the season. It’s a bit of an earlier start on Wednesday, with first pitch taking place at 12:10 p.m. CT before the Sox head back out to the West Coast.