Category: Baseball

A day after the Tigers secured the series victory — but lost Justin Verlander to the Injured List with a hip problem — they went for the series sweep on a chilly, breezy Sunday night. A costly throwing error by a Tigers pitcher against the Cardinals (déja-vu, anyone?) undid an early lead and sent Detroit to a 5-3 loss.

Verlander was originally slated to start, on somewhat-national television (I think it was streaming on the BlorgNet app or something); the Tigers even had a special ticket promotion going, including a t-shirt commemorating his true homecoming. Well, instead, they got everyone’s favourite sixth starter, Keider Montero, who’s in his third season… I hesitate to say “with the Tigers,” because he’s spent half of the past two seasons in Toledo. He made a dozen starts and eight relief appearances for the Tigers last year, and he was part of the WBC-winning Venezuela team earlier this spring.

Facing the Tigers tonight was Kyle Leahy, who spent the previous two years in the Cardinals’ bullpen, transitioning to a starting role this year. He had a decent 2025 in a relief role, with an ERA just above 3, a WHIP of 1.227, and while he doesn’t usually strike everybody out, he only gave up five home runs in 88 innings. He’d been a starter from the time he was drafted in 2018 through the 2022 season in the minors; he saw some action in AAA before the Cardinals made the decision to convert him to a reliever.

The game started off with both starting pitchers well in command, but the Tigers got a mini-threat going in the bottom of the second: Parker Meadows hit a sharp single and Spencer Torkelson walked, but Javier Báez hit a sharp grounder to third to end the inning. Meanwhile, Montero was only giving up soft contact, with a bloop single in the second being the sum total of the traffic on the basepaths for the Cardinals, and getting strikeouts on his sinker.

Kerry Carpenter opened the scoring with his second home run in two days; Colt Keith led off the bottom of the third with a single, went to second on a groundout, and with two outs Carpenter launched a mighty blast to straightaway centre for a 2-0 lead.

Montero, who was on a pitch count and so wouldn’t go too deep in this one, allowed a single and walked a guy to start the fifth; a groundout to second got the out at second. A single to left scored a run and ended Montero’s day, with Enmanuel De Jesus taking over. A comebacker bunt saw De Jesus fielding it and throwing it away, getting a run home to tie the game and putting runners on second and third. A single to right scored those two runs to put St. Louis up 4-2, and well, that was all pretty lousy.

But in the sixth Dillon Dingler — the master of the ABS system, apparently — walked to lead off, and he scooted over to third with a Parker Meadows single. Meadows then stole second to put a pair in scoring position, then Torkelson walked to load the bases. Báez hit a liner to left which was deep enough to score Dingler and narrow the lead to 4-3. Pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones hit a grounder to second which got Báez out at second, leaving runners on the corners with two outs. Kevin McGonigle drew a walk to re-load the bases, but Gleyber Torres grounded out to shortstop to end the inning. That felt like a squander to me, and was probably the thing that ultimately did the Tigers in tonight.

De Jesus righted the ship in the seventh with a 1-2-3 inning, and after giving up a leadoff single in the eighth, Connor Seabold took over. After a walk, a flyout and another walk, the Cardinals had the bases loaded with one out and Seabold was clearly having trouble finding the strike zone. A sacrifice fly pushed the Cardinals’ lead back to two runs, and after a strikeout the inning was mercifully over.

With one out in the eighth Torkelson walked again, but Báez flailed at an outside slider and Jones foul-tipped a high fastball into the catcher’s mitt. So much for that.

Riley O’Brien — tell me he shouldn’t have an auto-parts store named after him, I dare you — came on for the ninth and got three quick outs and everyone went home for hot cocoa.

Final score: Cardinals 5, Tigers 3

That got outta here in a hurry

Anything travelling that far oughtta have a darn stewardess on it.

114.2 MPH blast from Michigan native Zach MacDonald, who caps off a seven-run inning for the Flying Tigers. It is now 13-4. pic.twitter.com/RXGqvh5Ikt

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) April 5, 2026

(Catch the slightly-cleaned-up movie reference there?)

Notes and Observances

• Look, you can make all the age-related quips you want about Justin Verlander injuring his hip. Goodness knows I already have, amongst my BYB colleagues. Did this joke involve a reference to a Werther’s Original? I won’t tell.
• All joking aside, I’m older than Verlander, and I once had my back seize-up by getting out of my car in the parking lot at work. So for those of you younger than Verlander — a spry 43, merely a spring chicken — age is going to come for you, too, pal.
• Did you see that Jo Adell of the Angels, playing right field, went over the fence to rob the Mariners of three home runs? And that the game ended up a 1-0 Angels victory? Holy mackerel! Do yourself a favour and go find that video clip. Hold on, here it is, and you are very, very welcome.
• You really should be following the Artemis II mission around the Moon, and not just because one of the astronauts is from small-town southwestern Ontario like me.
• On this day in 1974, Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie, was published for the first time. I think he’s done pretty well for himself in the ensuing years.

The Colorado Rockies are now through 12 games of the 2026 season. While we are clearly still working with small sample sizes in terms of performance data, which offseason MLB acquisition do you think has been the most successful so far?

Consider some of the choices:

• Valente Bellozo
• Brenan Bernadino
• Willi Castro
• Michael Lorenzen
• Jake McCarthy
• Troy Johnston
• Edouard Julien
• José Quintana
• T.J. Rumfield
• Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之
• Brett Sullivan

This is probably a question we’ll return to as the season unfolds, but let us know in the comments what you think.

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Listen, I’m not saying it was destined, but you go up against a team called the Angels on Easter, and you’re probably gonna lose. A simple coincidence? Probably, but I think the much more likely scenario is that this game took place inside the halo for the Angels at the Big A. It’s no secret the Mariners have never been highly favored by those persnickety baseball gods, and this game was no exception. Every time the Mariners seemed to get an edge or get out in front, the Angels would manage to pull it back.

Coming into the game, the Mariners are coming off a rough shutout from last night that featured Jo Adell having the defensive game of his career. Unable to shake the bad vibes from yesterday, today’s game started and remained equally frustrating.

Zach “Mariner Killer” Neto immediately gets the trouble started with a lead-off double to add to his two extra-base hits from last night. So far this series, Neto’s bat appears to be blessed with a prodigious level of power this series, and today was obviously not going to be an exception; it is their day after all. After advancing to third on a groundball to first from Trout and scored on a single from Jorge Solar, putting the Angels up 1-0 in the first.

However, the Mariners have been showing some fight early in the year, and do not go away easily. Our M’s roared back in the second against George Klassen, making his MLB debut. Klassen is a highly touted prospect for the Angels, though if his command issues persist as they did today, it’s hard to see the Angels being able to rely on him for innings this season. The young pitcher certainly had some moments, including his first career strikeout against Julio Rodriguez, but also lasted just 2.2 innings, issuing five walks.

Klassen certainly looked the part of the anxious rookie on the hill today. He started the second inning with a walk to Randy Arozarena, and then with one out issued back-to-back walks to Cole Young and Mitch Garver, loading the bases. A nice little Leo Rivas bloop single drove in both Arozarena and Young, and the Mariners took the lead 2-1 going into the third inning.

Clearly, the Mariners’ hubris was offensive, though, because the Angels almost immediately tied it up again. Trout doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a Nolan Schanuel groundout to first base. Jorge Soler then singled into left field to bring Trout home and take away the Mariners’ first lead of the day.

Thankfully, before things can get much worse, the inning is brought to an end in part thanks to a nice play by Cole Young. The young second baseman certainly seems to be settling in well to Seattle, as you shall see a little further down.

Mariners’ Cole Young makes early bid for Most Improved Player

Up to this point, it was a good competitive game; seemingly, it could go either way, and then the fates stepped in. Unwilling to see the Mariners win this game, or at least win easily, they started causing trouble for the Mariners in the 4th inning. First, Luis Castillo, usually very solid, especially early in the year, logged an uncharacteristic HBP on Josh Lowe. Castillo followed that with a walk of Logan O’Hoppe (OH-Hop-e, appropriate for today). A sac bunt from former Mariner Adam Frazier put both runners in scoring position. Of course, this brought Neto to the plate, and he did what Zach Neto does, which is put the ball in play. A hard grounder to third and Leo Rivas couldn’t handle it: the ball ricocheted off his glove into foul territory and allowed both runners to advance, giving the Angels a 3-2 lead.

To make matters worse, on the next play, J.P. Crawford got a seemingly routine ground ball and overthrew Naylor at first, pulling him off the bag, allowing O’Hoppe to score from third, and putting the Angels up 4-2.

BUT, faithful reader, this version of the Mariners has something that other teams of the past have lacked: tenacity, stick-to-it-iveness, the ability to never really go away, and today it showed. Mariners’ young lion Cole Young stepped to the plate in the 5th inning with Arozarena on second after a HBP, and JP Crawford on first after drawing a walk. Feeling no fear or pressure, Young coolly stepped into the box, facing Brett Suter, who is roughly twice Young’s age. In a disgusting display of lefty on lefty violence, Young launched his second home run of the year to put the Mariners up 5-4. That Cole Young 25 home run season prediction isn’t looking so outlandish at this point.

However, playing the Angels on Easter is bound to end with their victory; it’s one of the few perks the team has! Certainly not a working HVAC system. (Note that this is not based on any empirical evidence, more just vibe science.) Jeimer Candelario reminded us he’s still playing in MLB in the bottom of the fifth with a lead-off double, and then Jo Adell immediately punished a mistake pitch from Jose Ferrer (sinker in the lefty loop zone) and followed it up with a single to tie the game again.

Adam Frazier continued to haunt the Mariners with a single of his own to drive in Adell and put the Angels up 6-5. Someone get that man out of the AL West.

For many teams, that would be the end, the back of the team being broken by former players and teammates dicing them up, and Jo Adell having a great defensive game and then continuing to assault the Mariners with his skills at the plate. But not these Mariners, embued with the spirit of the Easter Bunny, these Mariners keep bouncing back!

In the 9th, down to their last out, Cal Raleigh stepped to the plate. With the struggles he’s had so far this season, you could be forgiven for thinking game over, and yet it’s not. Raleigh muscled a dying seagull down the left field line and hustled for a double, bringing up the equally struggling Julio Rodríguez, again potentially as the last chance of the game. Not to be outdone, Julio lined a single into left center to bring Cal around to score and tie up the game. We’re going to extras, baby!

The Mariners stayed hot in the tenth, like a candy-fueled two-year-old after church, surging into the lead with the assistance of the Manfred runner. A single from Randy brought around Julio to score, and the Mariners lead 7-6 going into the bottom of the 10th.

The Angels, however, have the power of the heavens on their side on today of all days. Bryce Teodosio bunts over Jo Adell on second to third. A sac fly from O’Hoppe O’Hopped him home, and we are all tied up again! But the Mariners didn’t have enough left in the tank, as if experiencing a mighty sugar crash. Though they mustered baserunners in the top of the 11th, it’s not meant to be. With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 11th, Cal Raleigh couldn’t play hero again, striking out swinging to end the inning.

The Mariners attempted to stop the inevitable, an intentional walk to Neto to start the bottom of the 11th and set up the double play. Neto has been killing them, so I understand. But a sac bunt by Oswald Peraza put runners on second and third, so all it took was a simple sac fly from Nolan Schanuel and the game is over as Adam Frazier (of course) crosses the plate; Mariners lose 8 – 7.

A sad end to an otherwise good game, if you ignore all the runners the Mariners left stranded, and because it’s a holiday for many people we are going to. Though it didn’t work out the way I would have liked, both Julio and Cal had some big hits, so the hope is that this game can at least help get the Mariners back on track to start the season.

By the time this is published, three series will be in the books, and it’s been the best of times and the worst of times. Initial thoughts on the whip lash?

James: The team’s lack of overall depth is staring them straight in the face. Paul Sewald is still a head-scratching signing by the front office. Loaisiga is pretty much just who we all thought he would be when he signed the make-good minor league deal. He’s likely working his way into becoming the team’s primary closer the way Shelby Miller did last season. The team needs to find some consistency in the offense. Right now, Marte, Perdomo, and Carroll are largely carrying the team. Lawlar was just really starting to shape up before he got hurt. The currently rostered alternatives to Lawlar are not encouraging. Santana and Arenado need to find some sort of fountain of youth, at least for a few months. The current Eduardo Rodriguez is the one we all thought we were getting starting 1.5-2 years ago. Zac Gallen is starting to look like the “better” version of Gallen from last season, the post deadline version. Someone needs to get into the bullpen and work with Ryne Nelson on his pitch shape. His four-seam is not moving quite like it did last year and he is getting punished as a result.

Overall, the team is basically playing to the level expected, even if a closer examination has those results coming in a way other than expected. Mostly, the team cannot afford any further significant injuries. The roster is already being held together with bubble gum and bailing wire. One more injury to a starter or primary bullpen arm and this season could get ugly in a damn hurry.

Makakilo:  With a little bit of serendipity, the Diamondbacks could have won Friday’s game (tied after 8 innings), and they could have won two games against the Dodgers (each lost by 1 run).  Their record would have been 6-2!  So far, the Diamondbacks have not yet reached their potential to be a playoff team.  It could happen!

Spencer: I’m not sure what to make of it. Expecting a win against LA would be foolish. But expecting to sweep the Tigers would’ve been similarly foolish going in. And we pulled the worst of Atlanta’s pitching yet receive no offense….? Let’s talk at the end of May and see what’s up. 

1AZfan1: It’s been a rollercoaster, for sure, but I’m going to follow along with Mak’s comment and say that we’ve been blown out twice and in each other loss we’ve either lost by 1 or we were tied going into the 9th inning. Finishing about .500 in 1-run games is about what you should expect so sitting at 2-2 in those contests seems fair. The only disappointment with our current record is that we swept the Tigers instead of the Dodgers. It stinks losing to the Dodgers.

ISH95: Pretty crazy start to the season. There have definitely been positives. The offense got off to a great start, then switched to ice cold. E-rod has been great to see, Gallen’s been decent in total, but Nelson has been a concern. If this is how it’s going to be all season, we’re all going to have more grey hairs by the time it’s finished.

Which is more likely to continue: Rodriguez’ hot start of Nelson’s cold one?

James: I think Rodriguez’s hot start is the more likely for two reasons. First, this version of E-Rod is pretty much the pitcher the team was expecting to get all along. Over the previous two seasons he has shown flashes of this, but was constantly battling nagging injuries. A nick here, a knock there and he was rarely ever pitching at his best. Now, he’s in better shape after new conditioning and he was made ready earlier in the spring to pitch for Venezuela, which has helped him be in mid-season form in April. The second reason I pick E-Rod is that Ryne Nelson has had some ridiculously bad luck. The first four hits he surrendered this season all left the yard. Even Brandon Pfaadt bounced back from a similar stretch earlier in his career and he doesn’t have as high a ceiling. I’ve never been one convinced that Nelson had TOR stuff, but he does have the makings of a solid #2/3 pitcher if he can correct his current four-seam issue and continue to develop his secondaries.

Makakilo:  Two reasons that Nelson will bounce back before Rodriguez regresses.

• This season through Friday, Rodriguez’s FIP was 2.60 and Nelson’s FIP was 9.18. Nelson’s FIP is unbelievably different from his career FIP.  Rodriguez and Nelson have career FIPS that are not that much different (3.95 vs 4.25).  
• Nelson is 28.2 years old and Rodriguez is 33.0 years old.  Rodriguez has the experience needed to stay consistent. 

Spencer: Rodriguez’. Nelson is still young and the league has been adjusting to him. Plus he’s only been a full time starter for…what like months not even years at this point because of Yo-Yo Hazen? Rodriguez has a history of a great season every few years. 

1AZfan1: I’m expecting regression to the mean from both, but I don’t have faith in ERod to keep this going much longer. Maybe he really is the pitcher we had always hoped he was when we initially signed him, but it’s been a whole lot of disappointment over the last 2 years that have scarred me to the point that I’m just waiting on the other shoe to drop and he’s back to our old 5 ERA pal. I hope I’m wrong, of course.

ISH95: The constant hard contact that Nelson is giving up scares me. His last start saw 9 balls hit over 100 miles per hour while he was in the game and he was responsible for eight of them. That’s not a recipe for success, and if they don’t figure that out, he’s going to have a long season.

Bigger loss: Pavin Smith or Jordan Lawler?

James: Lawlar by a country mile. Pavin Smith is little more than a placeholder player in the 26-man roster anymore. He is entirely mediocre in the field, both at first and in right. Even without signing Santana, I wondered just how much time Smith would actually get as a starter. Yes, he puts together decent at-bats. But he doesn’t find the production of someone like Perdomo, despite his reputation for his discernment at the plate. On the other hand, this is basically Jordan Lawlar’s big make or break season. And right now, he is on the shelf with a significant break. Jordan Lawlar still looks to have a bright future in the desert, albeit in left instead of at short. This is likely Pavin Smith’s last season in Arizona

Makakilo:  Lawlar’s injury was the bigger loss because the outfield has significant uncertainty about which outfield players will exceed pre-season expectations.  After the injury, it looks like Carroll and Tawa have the best chances to exceed pre-season expectations.

Spencer: Lawlar because he needs healthy reps and was finally showing why judging a prospect with ~100 plate appearances is bad analysis. But don’t sleep on the effect of losing Smith. Santana’s leash just got a lot longer since we have basically no 1B depth. That’s going to have a big impact too. Positive behind the scenes (hopefully) and negative on the field. 

1AZfan1: Lawlar is the popular answer for all the reasons everyone mentioned above and I agree with it. Among players with at least 20 PA on the D-backs, he leads in OBP, wOBA and wRC+ and he’s second (to only Corbin) in SLG, xwOBA and fWAR. Pavin’s loss hurts because Santana is now our only first baseman, but I’m happy to see Fernandez getting reps there just to find him a spot in the lineup.

ISH95: At the start of the season, I’d have said Pavin Smith because Carlos Santana: Only First Base Option is the stuff of nightmares, but Fernandez has shown very strong early returns that might mitage that disaster a bit more. Plus I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot from Lawler in his first real season. But Fernandez and Lawler’s start has switched that around for me.

How has the first few games of ABS gone in your opinion? Has it changed anything about your game experience?

James: I don’t mind it. I think it is helping to drive home just who the worst of the worst umpires are. Mostly, I will be glad when ABS has been around long enough that I don’t get 5-10 minutes of explanation about the ABS system in every MLB game I watch. Overall, I think it is shaping up to be a net positive. That will only become more so once the early days negatives start to fade away.

Makakilo:  I like it!  Even a few corrected calls give the players more control over the game outcome, which is a great thing! 

Spencer: I’ve been singing its praises since I first saw it in AAA years ago. Full Robo Calling can’t come fast enough for me. Human action changes everything else about the game, why limit the one thing you can fully automate to create a level playing field? (We all know the actual answer: the ump union would be furious and mlb gets free marketing from bots and incels tweeting about wrong calls constantly…)

1AZfan1: I think on the whole it’s been a success, but I don’t think it’s made as much an impact on the game as the pitch clock did. I still feel there are too many missed opportunities by our hitters and catchers. To that point, our 4 ABS challenges by hitters is the least amount in the league, per FanGraphs (catchers are middle of the pack in total challenges). I hope our hitters get more comfortable challenging soon.

ISH95: Love it. And one thing I’ve been particularly happy to see is that my general reaction to a call being overturned against the Diamondbacks has been fairly neutral. I’m sure that will change as the season progresses and the stakes get higher.

What’s one topic that you could give a 15 minute Ted Talk on with no prep time?

James: I was a chef for 30 years before becoming a scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature, Tolkien, and fairy tales. So I have two knowledge bases that I can pretty readily draw from for anything from a 30 second explainer all the way up to a 90 minute lecture. None of those subjects are particularly Ted Talk type material though. I would probably have to settle for something like the value of art or something related.

Makakilo:  My journey from Diamondbacks fan to writer.  Along the way, I learned how to use statistics websites, improved my writing, and developed my own writing style. And I had a lot of fun!  I overcame several bumps in the road.  My writing moves between Microsoft Office Software, Google Docs, and the WordPress Editor.  The editor shows that I currently have 555 posted articles.

Spencer: Personal security in Big Brother America. More necessary than ever and yet rarely allowed. 

1AZfan1: My professional training is in maintenance management, but that’s not a very TED Talk friendly subject, so it would likely be on the value of utilizing history in organizational leadership. The Navy is huge on history and heritage and learning to leverage that has helped me tremendously as a leader. Maybe that doesn’t play too well outside the military, though.

ISH95: I’d always argue that history and heritage is important as a leader. What that history and heritage looks like, however, would differ from path to path. For me, I could probably give a pretty decent TED talk on how to improve the financials of a restaurant or how to train and develop younger people to get to where they want to be. That’s a huge part of my job as a fast casual/fast food restaurant manager, and, as much as I may complain about them kids sometimes, something I actually find very rewarding.

And on the third start did his ERA rise. Yes, Max Fried finally allowed a man to score, indeed early in Sunday’s rain-delayed series finale with the Marlins. The game started three and a half hours after the scheduled first pitch time, and maybe that delay took a little off Fried’s game. His control wasn’t sparkling, but the Yankee offense was able to pick up for that early snafu…but the bullpen couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. The Yankees have lost for the second time this year, 7-6 your final.

Naturally it was old friend Austin Slater — er, old acquaintance —, he of the sub-.100 OPS, that reached in the first and came around to score, the first such player to do so against Fried in 2026. Nobody is going to be on it every single day, but you could tell that for the second time in three starts Fried wasn’t quite what you’d expect him to be, especially with his fastball offerings:

There’s far more easy takes here than we’re used to seeing with Fried, and when he uses his fastball early in counts to set up the four other, more “junky” pitches he uses later in the count, throwing fastballs for balls gets him into 1-0 or 2-1 holes, rather than spotting himself an early strike. We then are left with hitters in hitters’ counts and throwing more pitches than we’d like to see.

The Marlins got to Fried twice more in his outing, and were on the verge of tying things up when home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez calling Marlin Connor Norby safe on a contact play at home. Fortunately we have the benefit of review:

If nothing else the Yankees can return their own firepower, and Ben Rice was able to do just that in the bottom half of the first:

Rice’s all-world contact quality also helped the Yankees push across what would be a very needed insurance run, this time in the third inning with two men on once again:

No RBI here for Rice, but if that ball’s not 98 off the bat, maybe Norby is able to handle it cleaner and get off a better throw. Hit ball hard, good things happen.

That wouldn’t be enough for a contact-heavy Marlins team to overcome though. The Fish walked twice before Griffin Conine was hit by a pitch in the eighth, and Jake Bird couldn’t bear down. Graham Pauley’s double gave Miami the lead, and Xavier Edwards welcomed Ryan Yarbrough to the game with a two-run single of his own.

Ryan McMahon actually had himself a decent day at the plate, with a hit and a walk to reach twice. That was welcome because the rest of the bottom half of the order was bowling shoe ugly.

It's still very early in the season, but the Yankees entered today's game with the worst 6-7-8-9 hitters in baseball.

Those spots had a combined 22 wRC+ before today's game. They are currently 0-for-6 with 3 Ks today.

— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) April 5, 2026

That same 6-9 entered the ninth with the score 7-4. Grisham, Judge, Rice and Giancarlo Stanton have all had strong starts to the year, but that’s still only half a lineup. The Yankees need more out of their depth bats, and while Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a better player than he’s shown, maybe this is why we don’t brag about going 50/50 in the offseason. Perhaps that pressure finally came to a head for Jazz, whose big two-run double down to the final strike of the game may be what shakes him out of this early-season slump:

That would be as good as it gets, as Austin Wells was intentionally walked and J.C. Escarra would be sat down on three pitches. Game over.

We haven’t had many of these games this year, and while it did come on a day the rest of the AL East was also slapped around, if the club goes 4-2 every week for the rest of the season we’ll end things just fine. If nothing else hopefully our upcoming series with the Athletics won’t involve multiple three-hour slogs, but will feature the same end result or better. Cam Schlittler gets the ball Tuesday night, with a 7:05pm Eastern start time.

Box Score

The Yankees couldn't secure a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins on Sunday, losing 7-6 and ending their four-game winning streak.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Despite the start of the game being delayed by three hours and 35 minutes due to inclement weather, scheduled starter Max Fried still took the mound for New York when the game began and delivered a gusty performance in less-than-ideal conditions to help out the bullpen which had a taxing night the previous game following Ryan Weathers' short start.

The left-hander was down early, allowing a run through the first four batters in the first inning after Otto Lopez singled home Austin Slater who led off the game with a single before stealing second base. Fried limited the damage to just one run and struck out two in the inning.

-- The Yankees' offense quickly up their starter in the bottom half of the frame, though. Trent Grisham started things off with a walk, followed by a single from Aaron Judge. With one out, Ben Rice turned on a 97 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and absolutely crushed it to the second deck in right field for a three-run homer and just like that, New York had the lead. 

-- Fried took it from there and didn't allow another run until the fourth inning when Xavier Edwards doubled in Connor Norby who worked a two-out walk. Fried put an end to the threat with a flyout and pitched a clean fifth inning before finding more trouble in the sixth. After a walk led off the inning, Lopez singled to put runners on the corners and then promptly stole second to put two in scoring position. 

Heriberto Hernandez followed and reached base on a throwing error by shortstop Jose Caballero which allowed a run to score and trimmed New York's lead to one. But Fried immediately picked up his shortstop by picking off Hernandez at first base for the first out of the inning. The runner was initially ruled safe, but the Yankees challenged the call and it was overturned.

With the tying run at third base, Norby hit a ground ball to the drawn in infield and Caballero wasted no time making a strong throw to home plate which beat the runner by a mile. Austin Wells applied the tag but the call on the field by home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez was safe, causing the Yankees to challenge another ruling in the inning and go 2-for-2. With help from the Marlins running themselves out of the inning, Fried got the third out to keep it a one-run game. 

-- At 94 pitches, Fried went back out for the seventh and recorded the first two outs before manager Aaron Boone pulled his ace who showed a lot of grit during his 6.2 innings in which he threw 103 pitches (64 strikes). 

-- Fernando Cruz was the first reliever out of the bullpen for New York and after closing out the seventh with a strikeout, he began the eighth inning with a strikeout before issuing a walk. Boone then turned to Jake Bird who had been perfect to start the season. But the right-hander didn't have it on Sunday, walking the first batter he faced and hitting the next one to load the bases with one out. 

Bird then lost Graham Pauley on a 1-2 pitch and allowed a two-run double that gave the Marlins their first lead since the first inning. Ryan Yarbrough came in to put out the flame but the left-hander allowed a two-run single to Edwards and Miami's lead grew to 7-4 thanks to the four-run eighth inning.

-- The Yankees got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning after back-to-back walks to Cody Bellinger and Rice brought up Giancarlo Stanton who was 2-for-4 in the game and off to a scorching start at the plate. Stanton struck out looking which brought Jazz Chisholm Jr. to bat. Chisholm, 0-for-4 on the night and struggling offensively, laced a two-run double to right-center field against his former team to cut New York's deficit to one. 

After the Marlins intentionally walked Wells, pinch-hitter J.C. Escarra entered for Caballero but struck out on three pitches to end the game and handing the Yankees their second loss of the season.

Game MVP: Max Fried

Even in a loss, Fried's outing saved New York's bullpen for down the road.

Highlights

BEN RICE HITS ONE TO THE SECOND DECK! pic.twitter.com/ZhTa4fJfDb

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 5, 2026

Jazz Chisholm Jr. brings the Yankees within one! pic.twitter.com/QZaTIKlJyY

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 6, 2026

What's next

The Yankees enjoy a day off on Monday before returning to action on Tuesday night to host the Athletics for a three-game series. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

RHP Aaron Civale (1-0, 3.60 ERA) takes the mound against RHP Cam Schlittler (2-0, 0.00 ERA).

Say it with me, now: “You always take a four-game series split on the road.” With that being said, it sure seemed like this could’ve been more than just a split for the Atlanta Braves as they made their annual trip out to the desert. It especially feels like a bit of a bummer when you consider how this series opened up in such dominant fashion for the Braves as they brought out the boomstick early on in this series.

Despite the disappointing ending to the series, there’s still a lot to leave you encouraged as the Braves shift venues from Arizona to Anaheim. Let’s break it down, shall we?

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Thursday, April 2

Braves 17, Diamondbacks 2

It took the Braves nine attempts in 2025 to win their first road game. This season, it took only one and not just that, the Braves picked up their first road win in emphatic fashion. This was actually a close one through the early goings — though the Braves still had the advantage thanks to a first-inning solo homer from Matt Olson and a third-inning solo dinger from Dominic Smith.

Then the fifth inning rolled around and the floodgates opened. After Ozzie Albies got on with a leadoff walk (that was aided by ABS), the following events occurred for the Braves: Lineout, Walk, Fielder’s Choice Error, Bases Loaded Walk, RBI Groundout, RBI Double, RBI Double, Walk, RBI Single, RBI Double, Groundout. That, folks, is an eight-run inning.

Thanks to five strong innings from Reynaldo López, a scoreless inning fo relief from Tyler Kinley and three innings of long relief work from Osvaldo Bido, the Braves ended up cruising to a 17-2 win. Atlanta tacked on five runs in the ninth when the Diamondbacks waved the white flag by putting in catcher James McCann to go out there and soft toss, which is how we ended up getting to the really gaudy scoreline. Needless to say, this was fun! Matt Olson definitely had a lovely time in this one.

Friday, April 3

Braves 2, Diamondbacks 0

Grant Holmes and Eduardo Rodriguez engaged in an intense pitchers’ duel in this one. While Rodriguez ended up outlasting Holmes with seven shutout innings, Holmes certainly kept pace with Rodriguez and tossed six shutout innings of his own. Holmes also struck out four batters along the way and even carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. This was certainly a strong start from Grant Holmes and it’s definitely encouraging to see the way he (and the rest of this pitching staff) has started off this campaign.

This eventually came down to which team’s bullpen would blink first. Fortunately for all of us Braves fans, Ozzie Albies continued to exert dominance over Paul Sewald. Albies had two homers against Sewald in the past and on this night, he made it three as he crushed one out to right field for a solo shot that broke the deadlock. Matt Olson then proceeded to make it back-to-back jacks after he sent the third pitch he saw from Sewald flying into the seats in left-center. Raisel Iglesias locked things down in the ninth inning and just like that, the Braves had at least assured themselves. of a split out in the desert.

Saturday, April 4

Diamondbacks 2, Braves 1

The Braves made history on Saturday! It’s not necessarily history that they’d want to make but they made history, nonetheless!

It’s been a long, long time since the Braves had such a feast-or-famine swing over the course of three games. I know there’s that old cliche of “Save some for tomorrow” but this was getting to be kinda wild. Either way, the only run of the game for the Braves came from an RBI single from Dominic Smith in the second inning. That was all the Braves could muster up and it wasn’t enough to overturn the two-run deficit that they entered the second inning with as the game eventually ended 2-1.

Arizona got those two runs in creatively frustrating fashion, as Jose Fernandez surprised the Braves went a bunt. Bryce Elder was certainly caught by surprise, as his error ended up proving costly. It’s a shame because Elder was once again in very good form on the mound — those two unearned runs would be the only blemish on his record for the day as he went seven innings and struck out eight batters. Elder certainly deserved better than what he got as the Braves were unable to really figure out old friend Michael Soroka and the rest of Arizona’s pitching staff on the day.

Sunday, April 5

Diamondbacks 6, Braves 5

This was a back-and-forth affair between the two squads, as the Braves looked desperate to come away with the series win while the Diamondbacks were trying to make sure that they didn’t suffer the indignity of losing three games out of a four-game home series. Indeed, this game had a real ‘punch-then-counter punch’ feel to it as the two squads were unable to get real separation from each other as the game progressed. Drake Baldwin continued his hot start to the season with another home run in the first inning but then Arizona responded with two runs via a triple from Ildemaro Vargas in the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead. The Braves responded immediately with two runs in the fifth to make it a 3-3 contest heading into the second half of the game.

Arizona got the edge once again as they plated one run in the sixth and seventh innings while Atlanta’s lone run from the first inning (from a RBI groundout from Baldwin) meant that the Braves had their backs against the wall going into the ninth inning. That was when Jorge Mateo got a rally going with a leadoff single. Ronald Acuña Jr. followed that up with a single of his own and then (who else but) Drake Baldwin brought in the game-tying run in order to make it a tie game in the ninth inning. Raisel Iglesias kept the D-Backs quiet in the ninth and we got our first ManfredBall experience of the 2026 season partly thanks to Drake Baldwin’s heroics.

Extra innings didn’t go Atlanta’s way at all — Ghost Runner Michael Harris II got to third base but the Braves were unable to cash him in. After watching that painful experience of seeing the Braves leave the runner stranded at third, it was even more painful to see Ketel Marte take the first pitch he saw from Joel Payamps and promptly dump it into the outfield for the game-winning RBI that ensured that the Diamondbacks were able to salvage a split.

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Again, this could’ve been an impressive series win for the Braves out in Arizona had just a few things gone Atlanta’s way. That’s baseball, though — opportunities come in a flash and if you can’t grab onto it, you usually get punished for it at the big league level. The power outage immediately following the 17-run game was particularly frustrating — it felt like one of those baseball clichés coming to life where the Braves did not, in fact, save some for the next game.

Still, the offense bookended this series with a pair of solid performances at the plate and the pitching was impressive for the most part. The fact that the Braves have three shutout wins already is impressive — they had a grand total of eight throughout the entire 2025 season, so they’re nearly halfway towards that mark and we’re still in the infancy of April. Reynaldo López and Bryce Elder were big question marks heading into this season and while it’s still very early, the fact that they’ve come out of the gates in such a strong manner is encouraging to see and could be crucial to this team’s level of success as we get deeper into the regular season.

There’s a lot to be happy about but it’s totally understandable to see this as a missed opportunity for the Braves to make a statement here in the early goings. Again, a split of a four-game series is always acceptable but it’s also acceptable to want more and it really feels like the Braves left more by the wayside here. Atlanta’s going to have a tricky series on their hands in Anaheim against the Angels and they’ll also be looking to exorcise some demons after the entire state of California bedeviled them to seemingly no end in 2025. The Braves played 13 games in the Golden State last season and won a grand total of one (1) game out there all last season. Here’s hoping that they can do better than that with a series win right out of the gates against the Angels so they can bounce back from dropping two straight in the desert. We’ll see what happens!

The Milwaukee Brewers, coming off their third consecutive series win to begin the season and now sitting at 7-2 on the year, are headed to Boston to take on the Red Sox this week. The Brewers and Red Sox are probably most tied together at this point thanks to a pair of trades in the last two seasons, as Milwaukee picked up Quinn Priester, Kyle Harrison, Shane Drohan, and David Hamilton from Boston in exchange for Yophery Rodriguez, a pair of draft picks, a player to be named later (John Holobetz), Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler. So far, it looks like Milwaukee has come out on top, as Priester and Harrison have both been solid for Milwaukee while the only major league pieces on the other side — Durbin and Monasterio — have struggled to begin the season.

Speaking of struggling, the Red Sox sit at the bottom of the AL East with a dismal 2-7 record through three series, as they lost two of three to the Reds, were swept by the Astros, and just lost two of three to the Padres this weekend.

Andrew Vaughn and Jackson Chourio are the key injuries for Milwaukee, with Vaughn expected to be out until mid-May and Chourio out until late April. The latest injury is Sal Frelick, who exited the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader with left side tightness — something to monitor in the coming days, though he’s expected to be fine. Quinn Priester is targeting a May return as he deals with thoracic outlet syndrome, while Craig Yoho could be ready in April but may start the year with Triple-A Nashville. Rob Zastryzny suffered a setback in his rehab, and his return is now TBD. Outfielder Akil Baddoo is also out until midseason with a quad strain.

Boston’s injury list includes new acquisition Johan Oviedo, who is out with an elbow strain. Fellow pitchers Patrick Sandoval, Kutter Crawford, and Tanner Houck are also out, with Sandoval and Crawford expected to return in the coming weeks but Houck expected to miss most, if not all, of 2026. First baseman Triston Casas and utilitymen Romy Gonzalez and Anthony Seigler are also shelved.

Milwaukee’s offense has done the little things well thus far, as the only multi-homer hitters are Gary Sánchez (three) and Jake Bauers (two). Garrett Mitchell has gotten off to a solid (see: healthy) start, William Contreras, Brice Turang, and Christian Yelich are all hitting well, and even some of the utility guys like Blake Lockridge, David Hamilton, and Luis Rengifo have held their own. Frelick, who as mentioned above is dealing with some side tightness, has gotten off to a slow start, but he still boasts a .344 OBP, and Joey Ortiz has also looked at least slightly better from his very rough 2025. As a team, Milwaukee is hitting .267/.369/.446 (.815 OPS ranks third), with 10 homers (tied for eighth), 60 runs scored (second), and 20 steals (first).

Wilyer Abreu is a key bright spot in Boston’s disappointing offense to this point, as he has 15 hits, including three homers, four doubles, and a triple, slashing .429/.444/.857. Roman Anthony has gotten off to a slow-ish start, as he’s hitting .235/.316/.382 with a homer. Ceddanne Rafaela, Carlos Narváez, and Connor Wong are the only other hitters hitting over .250 (and all three have seven or fewer hits). Speedy Jarren Duran has two of Boston’s three steals, but he’s hitting just .200/.314/.267. The aforementioned Durbin is hitting just .071/.133/.071 with a pair of singles and a pair of walks over 28 at-bats, while Monasterio is 1-for-7 with a double and an RBI. As a team, Boston is hitting .226/.297/.372 (.669 OPS ranks 18th), with eight homers (tied for 20th), 30 runs scored (tied for 27th), and three steals (tied for 25th).

Milwaukee’s bullpen remains one of the best in baseball even with some under-the-radar names. Grant Anderson and Aaron Ashby lead the squad with five appearances each, while DL Hall has held opponents scoreless over five innings, allowing three hits and four walks while striking out nine. Trevor Megill is 3-for-3 in save opportunities with one run allowed and five strikeouts over four innings, and Abner Uribe has also been solid with one run allowed over 3 2/3 innings (2.45 ERA). Ángel Zerpa, Jared Koenig, and Jake Woodford round out the Brewer bullpen. As a staff, the Brewers have a 3.38 team ERA (eighth), including a 3.98 starter ERA (15th) and a 2.75 reliever ERA (seventh). They’ve struck out 103 batters (fifth) over 80 innings.

Boston’s bullpen is anchored by closer Aroldis Chapman, who is 2-for-2 in save opportunities with one run allowed and three strikeouts over four frames. Garrett Whitlock (currently on the paternity list, dating back to April 3) hasn’t allowed a run over three innings, and Justin Slaten’s allowed only an unearned run over 3 1/3 innings. Greg Weissert’s five runs allowed over 4 2/3 innings are pushing the bullpen’s ERA up drastically. Danny Coulombe, Zack Kelly, Jovani Morán, Tyler Uberstine, and Ryan Watson round out Boston’s bullpen, though one of them will have to be demoted upon Whitlock’s return. As a staff, the Red Sox have a 4.71 team ERA (tied for 23rd), including a 5.19 starter ERA (27th) and a 4.11 reliever ERA (14th). They’ve struck out 76 batters (tied for 18th) over 78 1/3 innings.

Probable Pitchers

Monday, April 6 @ 5:45 p.m.: RHP Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 3.60 ERA, 5.98 FIP) vs. RHP Brayan Bello (0-1, 9.64 ERA, 7.04 FIP)

Woodruff is lined up to make his second start of the 2026 season to open the series. He went five innings against the Rays his last time out, allowing a pair of solo homers but nothing else while striking out six on 67 pitches. Expect him to stretch out to 75-80 pitches this time around. Woodruff’s only career start against the Red Sox came back in 2022, when he picked up the win, allowing one run on four hits and a pair of walks with nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.

Bello, 26, is in his fifth MLB season, all with the Red Sox. He’s made 101 career appearances (98 starts) with a 4.14 ERA and 4.18 FIP. His only start this season came against Houston on the last day of March, as he was roughed up to the tune of six runs (five earned) on eight hits and three walks, striking out just two over 4 2/3 innings. Bello has made three career appearances (two starts) against the Brewers, with a 3.95 ERA and nine strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings.

Tuesday, April 7 @ 5:45 p.m.: RHP Jacob Misiorowski (1-0, 2.45 ERA, 3.91 FIP) vs. LHP Garrett Crochet (1-1, 3.27 ERA, 2.73 FIP)

Misiorowski is lined up for his third start of the year on Tuesday. In his first two starts of the season, he’s allowed three runs on six hits and five walks over 11 innings, striking out an NL-best 18 batters. He took the no-decision in his last start against the Rays, allowing two runs and striking out seven over six frames. This marks his first career start against the Red Sox.

Crochet, 26, is Boston’s ace, as he finished second in AL Cy Young voting to Tarik Skubal last season. In two starts this year, he’s allowed five runs (four earned) over 11 innings with 15 strikeouts. His last outing came against the Astros on April 1, when he allowed all five of those runs and struck out seven over five frames. He’s made two career starts against Milwaukee, one while with the White Sox and one with the Red Sox. Across 12 2/3 innings, he struck out 19 batters and allowed three runs (2.13 ERA), though he has an 0-1 record to show for it.

Wednesday, April 8 @ 12:35 p.m.: RHP Chad Patrick (1-0, 0.96 ERA, 4.36 FIP) vs. RHP Sonny Gray (1-0, 4.50 ERA, 3.18 FIP)

Patrick hasn’t been the most efficient this season, but his results have been solid. In a pair of outings against the White Sox and Royals, he’s spanned 9 1/3 innings, allowing one run (a solo homer), nine hits, and four walks with seven strikeouts for a sterling 0.96 ERA but 4.36 FIP. He started the first game of Milwaukee’s doubleheader against the Royals, going five scoreless innings with three strikeouts to pick up the win. He made his lone start against the Red Sox last May, allowing no runs on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts across 4 2/3 innings.

Gray, now with his sixth MLB team in his 14th season, has made two starts with his new team in Boston. Over 10 innings against the Reds and Padres, he’s allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and a walk with eight strikeouts. He picked up the win in his last appearance against San Diego, allowing two runs over six frames. A familiar foe from his five combined seasons with the Reds and Cardinals, Gray has made 20 career starts against Milwaukee, with a 5-6 record, 3.52 ERA, and 139 strikeouts over 110 innings.

How to Watch & Listen

Monday, April 6: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Tuesday, April 7: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Wednesday, April 8: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Prediction

The Red Sox have limped out of the gate this season, especially on offense. Even so, this is a tough battle at Fenway, but I’ll take the Crew to win two of three.

The Astros had an early lead, they had a late lead. Neither held up, and Houston fell to the Athletics in Sacramento 12-10 in 10 innings.

Brent Rooker entered the game with no extra base hits on the season. He would hit two home runs on the day, including a walk-off 3-run homer off Bryan Abreu to end the game.

Abreu, who came into the game with 2 outs in the 9th in relief of Bryan King, didn’t seem to have command coming back out for the 10th. He opened the bottom of the tenth walking Tyler Soderstrom on 5 pitches, the last 4 of which were nowhere near the strike zone. He then threw a knee high fastball middle in to Rooker, who blasted it at 104,8 MPH on a line over the wall in left field to send everyone home.

ROOK CALLED GAME pic.twitter.com/O9N3CK471X

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 6, 2026

It wound up being a barn burner of a game, but it didn’t start that way. The score was 0-0 through the first four innings.

The Astros took an early lead in the top of the 5th on a Yordan Alvarez two-run homer. Yordan got an 89.4 MPH sinker from Jacob Lopez that he drilled 399 FT to right center field at 110.8 MPH off the bat.

You can't stop The Big Man!#ChaseTheFightpic.twitter.com/gdf2jzsV7h

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 5, 2026

Yordan’s homer made it 2-0. Later in the inning, after Carlos Correa walked and stole second, Cam Smith would single to left scoring Correa to make it 3-0.

That would seemingly be a solid lead for Lance McCullers Jr., who was the beneficiary of 2 double plays through 4 scoreless innings, but it was not to be. McCullers suffered a catastrophic loss of command in the 5th.

McCullers had thrown his cutter more than any other pitch through the first 4, and sporadically throwing his four-seam, sinker, and knuckle curve.

His first pitch of the fifth was an 89.9 MPH sinker. He would give up a single to Max Muncy later in that AB leading off the bottom of the fifth. He then walked Jeff McNeil on 5 pitches, 4 cutters and a change (three of the balls weren’t close), bringing up Carlos Cortes. Cortes would see 3 knuckle curves, and his the last one for an RBI double. That would end McCullers day after 79 pitches.

Steven Okert would come on in relief of McCullers and threw gasoline all over the place.

Okert’s first batter was Nick Kurtz, whom he walked on 5 pitches to load the bases. After getting Shea Langeliers to fly out, Okert allowed a bases-clearing triple to Tyler Soderstrom on a ball that CF Jake Meyers appeared to lose in the sun:

Sodey clears 'em! pic.twitter.com/kx79Pq84SS

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 5, 2026

That would give the A’s a 4-3 lead and end the day for Okert, who faced the minimum 3 batters and threw 9 pitches. A.J. Blubaugh was then brought in to try to get out of the inning. Blubaugh allowed a sac fly to make the game 5-3 before getting out of the inning.

In the 7th, the Astros would tie the game again. Carlos Correa worked a 1 out walk, and then Christian Walker took a slider from J.T Ginn 397 feet to left center for his 2nd HR of the season.

Smooth Walker. 😮‍💨#ChaseTheFightpic.twitter.com/3BxmxXNCM7

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 5, 2026

The tie wouldn’t last as the Astros bullpen fell apart again.

After walking Soderstrom to lead off the bottom of the 7th, Blubaugh surrendered a 2-run homer to Rooker. Rooker took a 95.7 MPH fastball belt high and deposited it just over the wall in left to give the A’s a 7-5 lead.

Rook takes the lead 😤 pic.twitter.com/U6RtNSP8Uy

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 5, 2026

Blubaugh then allowed a one-out double to Lawrence Butler and a single to Munch before giving way to Christian Roa.

Roa gave up a pop up single that Nick Allen couldn’t find to score a run, and then an RBI single to Cortes to make it 9-5 Athletics.

adding on! pic.twitter.com/0RDZyaYNcb

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 5, 2026

The Astros would answer back in the top of the 8th, starting with a leadoff homer from Jake Meyers.

Jake CRUSHES one! #ChaseTheFightpic.twitter.com/I7gHRIeBAb

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 5, 2026

Meyers hammered a sinker from Scott Barlow 393 feet to left for his first HR of the season. Jake smashed it at 106.5 MPH off the bat to make it 9-6.

Barlow then issues back to back walks to Joey Loperfido and Allen before Jose Altuve hammered an RBI double down the line in left to make it 9-7.

Tuve knocks in a run!#ChaseTheFightpic.twitter.com/pz5PQwKmcl

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 5, 2026

Mark Leiter Jr. then replaced Barlow, and promptly walked Yordan to load the bases. He then got Carlos Correa to line to right and Walker to pop to first, but Cam Smith delivered a 2-run single to tie the game again.

All tied up!#ChaseTheFightpic.twitter.com/7eOJqMp7Br

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 5, 2026

Bryan King would work a 1-2-3 eighth inning, and neither team would score in the 9th.

In the top of the 10th, the Astros would take the lead.

Correa delivered an RBI single, scoring Allen, and gave the Astros a 10-9 lead. Despite loading the bases with one out, the Astros would not push across any other runs.

In the bottom of the 10th, Abreu would come undone, and the Astros would drop 2 of 3 to an A’s team that dropped 5 of it’s first 6 games entering this series.

The Astros fall to 6-4 on the season, the A’s improve to 3-6.

Tomorrow the Astros open a 3-game series in Denver against the 3-6 Colorado Rockies.

Jerar Encarnacion reached first base on an error, until he didn't.

San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello took exception and earned the first ejection of his MLB career in the process.

In the bottom of the seventh inning in Sunday's 5-2 loss to the New York Mets at Oracle Park, Encarnacion chopped a sinker from Mets pitcher Huascar Brazobán into the infield and took off toward first base. Brazobán fielded the ball and fired it to first baseman Mark Vientos, who couldn't hang on as the ball plopped out of his glove and hit the ground.

But first base umpire Nestor Ceja called Encarnacion out anyways, declaring that he failed to stay inside the runner's lane. The call itself though, was controversial because umpires usually only make it when a runner interferes with the ball or the throw, which Encarnacion did neither of.

“Jerar was on the grass,” Vitello told reporters postgame. “You’re not going to be automatically out for being on the grass only if the (umpire) sees that the runner impedes the throw. The throw didn’t hit the runner.”

Tony Vitello’s first ejection happens because the umps say this is an out pic.twitter.com/6HBxAGcH42

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 5, 2026

Vitello immediately confronted Ceja on the field, the veins in his neck popping as he got in the ump's face and delivered an expletive-filled rant that's sure to get a lip reading from Jomboy in the next few days. Ceja entertained Vitello for a while, standing in front of him with his arms crossed as the two exchanged words before Ceja ultimately sent Vitello packing for the rest of the game.

“I said one last thing, just out of frustration or being all fired up. That was complete nonsense,” Vitello said. “I think it was misinterpreted a little bit. When you’re on the field that long, and you’re not a player, you’re probably out of place a little bit.”

As Vitello walked back through the dugout and into the clubhouse, he received pats on the backside in support from several of his players.

The last time Vitello had been ejected was just under a year ago on May 4, 2025 for arguing balls and strikes while he was coaching at the University of Tennessee.

Through the first 10 games of the season, the Giants are 3-7 under Vitello. The Mets, meanwhile, improved to 6-4 with Sunday's win.

The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Giants manager Tony Vitello ejected for first time in MLB career

By golly, they actually did it!

For the first time since 2004, the White Sox have swept their home opening series, by virtue of a 3-0 win over the Blue Jays. It what might have been Chicago’s cleanest game of the season so far—no errors, no baserunning mishaps, and most importantly, not a single blemish on any pitcher’s stat line.

What a difference three games makes, as the team’s calamitous 1-5 start somehow feels distant in the rear view mirror. For those thinking about it, it took until May 15 for the Sox to engineer their first three-game win streak of the 2025 campaign. Maybe things really are different this time.

It was a banner day for the Davis Martin Hype Train, of which I have considered myself the Engineer since late 2024. The righty delivered the Sox first true quality start of 2026 — Sean Burke’s outing Friday would have counted, had he actually started — and gave the team’s bullpen a much-needed breather as he moved to 2-0 on the season. Martin’s stuff was as crisp as we’ve seen it all year, sitting a solid 95 mph with his heater today after living in the 92-93 mph range his last couple times out. He made use of all six of his pitches against a dangerous Blue Jays lineup, and with the exception of a third inning that saw Martin escape a bases-loaded jam, Toronto just couldn’t quite time anything up, ultimately touching him for just four hits in his six innings of work.

This is essentially what the best of version of Martin looks like. The stuff isn’t overwhelming — it never has been — but there’s more than enough of it that, if he’s clustering his fastballs to the arm side and breakers to the glove side, he can give you a quality start and a win any day of the week. Having this many pitches clustered over the middle of the plate might seem less than ideal, but when those pitches are an even mix of four-seamers, sinkers and cutters, hitters are still going to have difficulty finding a barrel unless they know exactly what’s coming.

On the hitting end, this was the definition of a “chip away” effort. The Sox got on the board in the very first inning. Chase Meidroth’s embrasure of his role as a top-of-the-lineup spark plug got things going to a great effect, leading off the contest with a double before coming around to score on a Miguel Vargas single that turned into a triple thanks to a terrible read by Jays left fielder Nathan Lukes:

A few innings later, Lenyn Sosa rewarded Will Venable for finally having the guts to let the Sox leading home run hitter from *checks notes* eight months ago face a right-handed pitcher, as a double against Austin Voth doubled Chicago’s lead after Eric Lauer was chased from the game earlier in the inning:

The final offensive strike of the day came an inning later, in similarly non-explosive fashion, as Austin Hays continued a solid start to his Sox tenure with a single to drive in Luisangel Acuña (who had a nice day himself, reaching base twice and swiping his fourth bag).

In other notable action, welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Tanner Murray! The 26-year-old didn’t reach base in either of the first two plate appearances of his big league career. But Murray had his moment in the spotlight nonetheless, saving a run in the early going with a fantastic defensive stop — and equally impressive pick from Munetaka Murakami, whose play at first base has taken just the slightest amount of heat in recent days — that had Davis Martin appropriately hyped up, it seems:

Bryan Hudson gave us all a scare with a pair of hits allowed in the seventh inning. But in a refreshing change of pace from earlier in the weekend, Jordan Leasure managed to work around it, retiring all four of the hitters he faced. With Seranthony Domínguez having pitched on back-to-back days and apparent backup closer Jordan Hicks also unavailable, Chris Murphy got the ball to close things out. He did so with little difficulty, earning the second save of his big league career.

The Good Guys remain at home for their next series, a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles, who are off to another disappointing start and are probably the South Siders’ only competition for the most dramatic fall from grace in the post-COVID baseball era. In a fascinating twist, Grant Taylor has already been announced as the opener for Monday’s game, his third “start” in four games, while the Orioles have yet to announce a starter. No matter who it is, we’ll see you there!

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The Nats lost in a way that looked a lot like their final game of the Phillies series. It is also the kind of loss we have seen a lot in the last year. The Nationals bats were up for the fight, but they were let down by a bullpen that is not big league caliber.

This is a game the Nats really needed to win. It was a getaway day for the Dodgers, who had a lot of their starters sitting. The Nats also managed to take a 6-1 lead. That should be plenty of cushion, but not for this bullpen. Today proved that changes are necessary in the bullpen, and the Nats will need to churn through a lot of guys to find something resembling competence. 

Changes need to be made to this pitching staff after this game. Unfair to an offense that is constantly battling

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) April 5, 2026

The game felt like it would be a feel good game, even if there was a feeling of dread in the back of your mind. Offensively, the Nats continued to look good, and even James Wood got in on the fun. In this series, the Nats scored 17 runs against a great pitching staff, but came away with nothing to show for it.

Back to Wood though, I liked his at bats today. Obviously, the homer was great, and it was a classic Wood opposite field shot. However, the way he was attacking pitches and balancing patience and aggression was good for the most part. We will need to see more before he is officially back, but today was a step in the right direction.

James Wood crushes a three-run shot off Roki Sasaki! It's 6-1 Nationals over the Dodgers pic.twitter.com/KqqmyiB5Ab

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 5, 2026

A lot of these guys are locked in offensively, and it sucks that they are getting overshadowed by an atrocious pitching staff. CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr. and even Jorbit Vivas are excelling right now, but it is tough to talk about them.

The story right now is pitching. In the first two games, the starters were the main culprits, but the bullpen laid an egg today. Foster Griffin was actually very good for a second straight start. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer to Shohei Ohtani, which is something that can happen even to the best of pitchers.

His pitch count got high, so he was only able to give the Nats five innings. You could already sense trouble in the 6th inning, when PJ Poulin allowed a two-run homer to make the game 6-3. To Poulin’s credit, he stopped the bleeding and gave the Nats another inning in the 7th.

It was now a three run game, and Cionel Perez came in to try and preserve the lead. He totally imploded, failing to get an out and allowing four runs. Perez, who looked so sharp in Spring Training, looks much more like the guy who posted an ERA over 8 last year. 

Cionel Pérez looked really good this spring. He has not looked really good since the season began. Nats' lead is down to 6-5, still nobody out in the 8th and Pérez on an island out there.

— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) April 5, 2026

On the season, the lefty has now allowed 6 runs in 2.2 innings. He just did not have it today, and did not give the Nats a chance. You have to wonder how much longer he will get to turn things around, and if the Nats make bullpen moves before tomorrow’s game.

Even without considering the poor performance, the Nats could use a fresh arm. Butera was non-committal when I asked him if changes were coming to the bullpen. For the sake of Nats fans’ sanity, I would hope for some changes.

This series was a real reality check after the Nats promising start. They have now lost five in a row. The boys cannot allow this to spiral and need to bounce back against a more manageable opponent in the St. Louis Cardinals. This was a tough one, but hey it is just game 9 out of 162.

Record 5-5. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2025: 0.

The D-backs blew leads of 3-1, 4-3 and 5-4, but managed to prevail in the bottom of the tenth inning. Ketel Marte swatted the first pitch he saw over the head of the Atlanta right-fielder, driving in Manfred Man Jorge Barrosa from second for our first walk-off win of the year. That gave them a split of the four games against the Braves, despite being outscored 25-10 overall. It also returned the team to .500, and Arizona now gets a day off tomorrow, to rest before a tough upcoming road-trip to the East coast.

Brandon Pfaadt started this game, and it was another underwhelming experience. He seemed to be throwing an inordinate number of curveballs in the early going. But it didn’t help in the first, as new nemesis Drake Baldwin homered off a thigh-high sinker with one out in the top of the inning. However, the Answerbacks showed up, tying the game in their half. Ketel Marte led off with a double to left, and productive outs proved to be productive. Marte advanced on a groundout to second by Corbin Carroll, and Geraldo Perdomo was able to get the run in from third with a sacrifice fly to left, making it 1-1.

The bottom of the second saw Carlos Santana gets his second single of the year, therefore avoiding the dishonor of lowest batting average by a D-back through ten games. However, he tweaked his groin earlier in the at-bat – not even on a swing – and was clearly hobbling as he was going down the line to first. He was lifted from the game, replaced at first by Ildemaro Vargas. But if an IL stint is needed – and it didn’t look good – it’s going to be interesting. Because the Diamondbacks literally do not have any other healthy position players on the 40-man roster. Jordan Lawlar, Tyler Locklear, Pavin Smith and Lourdes Gurriel are all hurt.

Today, at least, this proved to a blessing in disguise. The next time that spot came up, in the bottom of the fourth, two men were on base: Carroll had singled and Nolan Arenado walked. Vargas then drove them both in with a two-run triple into right (above). I feel fairly confident in saying that Santana would not have done that. Not least because since the start of 2020, he has hit precisely one triple in 3,133 plate appearances. That gave the D-backs a 3-1 lead. However, Pfaadt was unable to hold it. Three hits, a walk and a wild pitch, while recording only one out, let the Braves tie things up, and one out later, Pfaadt’s day was over.

The final line for Brandon: six hits and two walks over 4.2 innings, with three runs (all earned allowed) and just two strikeouts. The last is perhaps the most immediate matter of concern. In 10.2 innings of work, Pfaadt has struck out just five batters: that 6.75 ERA seems earned. He will get one more start, with the news today that Merrill Kelly needs an additional rehab appearance. But when Kelly is pronounced fit to return, on the evidence of the first two spins around the rotation, it would probably be Pfaadt, and not Michael Soroka, who makes the transition to pitching long relief out of the bullpen.

Thereafter, it was a case of punch and counter-punch. In the sixth inning, Carroll singled, stole his first base of the year and eventually scored on Arenado’s first RBI of the year, making it 4-3. But Nolan then blotted his copy-book with an error in the seventh, while trying to look the runner on third back to the bag. That extended the inning, allowing that runner to score: 4-4. The Answerbacks answered back immediately again, on a Jorge Barrosa double, followed by a Carroll triple (above): 5-4. Kevin Ginkel pitched a scoreless eighth, but three straight hits off Jonathan Loaisiga, in to save the game (because Paul Sewald pitched Friday and Saturday) blew that lead.

Indeed, it could have been worse than just a tying, but Loaisiga then avoided further damage from a situation of two on, with nobody out. This took Arizona into extras, and all the was left in the bullpen for the D-backs was either Taylor Rashi or Andrew Hoffman. Torey Lovullo went with the former, and the key play came with one out, after the Manfred Man had been advanced to third. The Diamondbacks had their infield in, and it paid off as a hot smash (102 mph) off the bat of Mauricio Dubón, was smothered by Perdomo. He looked the runner back, threw to first for the second out, and Rashi finished off the inning, putting up an invaluable zero.

Ketel Marte: one pitch (above). Any questions? It was Marte’s first walkoff hit in almost seven years, and gave him two doubles on the day. Carroll had three hits – all coming off left-handed pitchers – while Arenado and Vargas each reached base twice, with a walk and a hit. Credit must also go to the bullpen. While they were credited with a pair of blown saves, they allowed one earned run over 5.1 innings of work. Taylor Clarke and Ryan Thompson worked in addition to those mentioned above. While their collective ERA is still 6.50, it’s worth noting that half of the 26 earned runs they have allowed belong to Joe Ross and James McCann.

Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
Eggs Benedict: Corbin Carroll, +33.5%
Eggs-ultation: Marte, +33.4%; Vargas, +22.6%; Rashi, +14.0%; Clarke, +13.4%; Ginkel, +12.2%
Rotten Egg: Jonathan Loaisiga, -19.5%
Walking on Eggshells: Tawa, -18.0%; Pfaadt, -12.7%; Thompson, -10.4%; Fernandez, -10.2%

An interesting decision about who should get the SnakePit W today. Unofficially (based off the Fangraphs figures, which are slightly different from Baseball Reference), this game goes to Carroll. The hitters picked up +53% in total, while the pitchers combined for -3%. But Carroll and Marte are so close at the top, that we will have to wait for the B-R results tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, in the Gameday Thread, we went past two hundred comments, with today’s winner being chwalter. While there were more-rec’d comments, this was the most relevant to the outcome!

All told, given how this series started, I’m more than happy to walk away with a split, and the team back at .500. Fingers crossed they will come back from this nine-game road-trip to the Mets, Phillies and Orioles no worse than one game below even. Things get under way at City Field on Tuesday, with Zac Gallen on the mound for the Diamondbacks, facing Freddy Peralta.

Angels 8, Mariners 7

Reese’s eggs: Cole Young, .37 WPA

Black jellybeans: José Ferrer, -.34 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

The Cubs had three home runs in this game, the second time they’ve gone deep three times in the early going in 2026. Matt Shaw, Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ homered for the Cubs.

Unfortunately, the result was the same as the other time they homered three times (a 6-3 loss to the Nationals). This time, it was a 6-5 loss to the Guardians, giving them a split of the Sunday doubleheader and a loss in the series.

The game began like the first game had been all along — scoreless, with the teams seemingly not able to hit anything.

Shaw’s home run in the third gave the Cubs the lead [VIDEO].

The Cubs extended their lead to 3-0 in the sixth. With one out, Carson Kelly singled. One out later, Swanson smacked his first home run of the season [VIDEO].

Meanwhile, Shōta Imanaga was mowing down Guardians hitters. He had allowed just two hits and a walk through five innings, then Steven Kwan doubled leading off the sixth. That was it for Shōta, who had a nice outing, throwing 92 pitches (62 strikes). Here’s more on Imanaga’s afternoon [VIDEO].

That was a good outing from Imanaga and he did not allow a home run. So, progress!

Ben Brown relieved Imanaga and, to be frank, was just awful. He couldn’t throw strikes — only 22 in 42 pitches — and allowed two walks, two hits and a sacrifice fly in the sixth, one of the runs charged to Imanaga, and Cleveland tied the game 3-3.

Brown was better in the seventh, retiring the side 1-2-3. I am still beginning to wonder what spot Brown actually has on this team. He’s clearly being used in a long relief role. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s very early in the season, but so far, the Cubs pen, a strength last year, has been shaky.

Happ, who was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, led off the eighth for the Cubs.

He had struck out the first six times he batted Sunday afternoon — all four times he batted in Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Guardians and the first two times in the nightcap. That was followed by a fly out in the sixth, making him 0-for-7 on the day.

Happ homered in his eighth PA of the day, his fourth long ball of the young season [VIDEO].

Facts about Happ’s six whiffs from BCB’s JohnW53:

Ian Happ struck out six times, something a Cub had done 165 times before in back-to-back games. A Cub has had  seven strikeouts 27 times and eight strikeouts eight times.
Twenty-seven of the 165 with six whiffs also hit a home run, including two who homered twice: Byron Browne, in 1966 and Sammy Sosa, in 2000.
But only five before Happ struck out six times in a doubleheader, and none of them hit a homer:
Hank Sauer, 1951 (9 PA, 1 for 9, double)
Dee Fondy, 1953 (8 PA, 2 for 8, single and double)
Bobby Morgan, 1957 (9 PA, 2 for 9, single and double)
Billy Cowan, 1964 (10 PA, 2 for 10, two singles)
Derrek Lee, 2024 (9 PA, 1 for 9, double)

Unfortunately, Jacob Webb could not hold the lead in the bottom of the eighth. CJ Kayfus hit a one-out homer off Webb to tie the game, and then a single, walk and another hit gave Cleveland a 5-4 lead. So far — and yes, I realize it’s early — the signing of Webb isn’t looking too good.

Ethan Roberts, up as the 27th man for the doubleheader, relieved Webb. The first hitter he faced, Austin Hedges, singled to drive in a run to make it 6-4. That run, unfortunately, turned out to be really important for the Guardians.

Cade Smith came on to throw the ninth for Cleveland. And the Cubs rallied off him with two out, scoring a run and getting the tying and lead runs to scoring position.

Smith got Pete Crow-Armstrong on a fly to short right and struck out Moisés Ballesteros. Then Nico Hoerner and Alex Bregman walked. Happ singled in Hoerner to make it 6-5 [VIDEO].

Scott Kingery ran for Happ and took second on defensive indifference.

But Carson Kelly struck out to end the game [VIDEO].

Give the Cubs credit, at least, for not folding with two out in the ninth and at least putting together a rally. But they are going to have to revisit some of the bullpen structure. So far, only a few of the relievers have been reliable.

Some doubleheader facts from John:

This is the first time since at least 2015 that the Cubs have alternated losses and wins through nine consecutive games.
….
The Cubs have not swept a doubleheader on the road since Sept. 11, 2015, when they won at Philadelphia, 5-1 and 7-3. They are 6-12 in games of nine subsequent twin bills on the road, including today. Today was just the third time they won Game 1. The two others both were at Cincinnati, on Aug. 29, 2020, and Sept. 1, 2023.

The Cubs move on to Tampa Bay, where they will open a three-game series against the Rays Monday afternoon. It’s the Rays’ home opener and first game back at Tropicana Field, which has been renovated after the roof was destroyed in Hurricane Milton in October 2024.

Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and Shane McClanahan will go for the Rays in the series opener. Game time Monday is 3:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.