Category: MLB

No one expected a high scoring game when the San Diego Padres hosted the Seattle Mariners for the first game of a three-game series at Petco Park on Thursday. Michael King was on the mound for the Padres and Bryan Woo was pitching for the Mariners so both offenses knew opportunities to score would be limited. In the end, it was the San Diego lineup that made the most of the success it had against Woo, which resulted in a 4-1 win over Seattle.

King and Woo battled back-and-forth through the sixth inning, but it was the Mariners who would allow their starter to pitch into the seventh inning. The Padres had a 3-1 lead after six innings and the bullpen was set and ready to follow the winning blueprint with Adrian Morejon handling the seventh inning, Jason Adam taking the eighth inning and Mason Miller closing in the ninth to take earn their sixth win in as many games.

You know what? Heck yeah. pic.twitter.com/7eqRacrVsU

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 15, 2026

The San Diego offense got to Woo in the bottom of the third inning after King allowed a run in the top of the second. With Seattle leading 1-0, Ramon Laureano hit a one-out triple off the base of the wall in right field. He scored one batter later when Fernando Tatis Jr. singled up the middle to ties the game, 1-1. Jackson Merrill followed with another single to move Tatis Jr. to third. The Padres had runners on the corners with two outs after Manny Machado popped out for the second out of the inning.

Merrill stole second base to put runners at second and third for Xander Bogaerts, who came through once again with a big hit. Bogaerts singled to center field which allowed Tatis Jr. and Merrill to score to give San Diego a 3-1 lead. Gavin Sheets followed with a flyout to shortstop to end the inning, but the Padres had a lead they would not relinquish.

Slight work for Xander. pic.twitter.com/r7L1Ff4Hk1

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 15, 2026

San Diego tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning after Merrill doubled to start the inning off Seattle reliever Casey Legumina. Machado hit a deep flyball out to left field, which allowed Merrill to move to third base. Bogaerts came through once again with his third RBI of the game which came on a single to right field to give the Padres a 4-1 lead. Miller trotted into the game from the bullpen in the top of the ninth and recorded outs against all three Mariners he faced.

King finished his day on the mound after allowing one run on four hits through six innings. He also recorded five strikeouts and allowed just two walks. Woo was taken out of the game after completing seven innings. He allowed three runs on eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

Merrill and Bogaerts led the offense for the Padres with three hits each. Merrill scored two runs and Bogaerts recorded three RBI.

San Diego plays the second game of the series against Seattle on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m.

Yesterday the Mariners made the most of their mopportunity against the Astros; the same unfortunately cannot be said for today’s series opener against the Padres. The Mariners put up some good at-bats but were again unable to come through with a big hit, dropping the first game of the Vedder Cup against the Padres by a score of 4-1.

Bryan Woo made it three straight Mariners starters in a row working through the seventh inning, giving up three runs across his seven innings of work but also needing to navigate around eight hits. It feels wildly unfair to Woo to call a quality start not his best work, but scratching below the surface of Woo’s outing, there were some uncharacteristic mistakes, largely concentrated in the third inning.

Woo lost his iron-fist command of the zone somewhat in the third, failing to throw a first-pitch strike to the first five of the seven hitters he faced in the inning – an overall issue in this game, as Woo only threw 15 of 29 first-pitch strikes. He fell behind Ramón Laureano 2-0 before sending a fastball into the middle-lower part of the zone that Laureano punished for a triple (thanks to some semi-adventurous fielding from Luke Raley); Laureano would come home on a single from Fernando Tatís on a 1-0 slider, tying up the game at 1-1 after the Mariners had scored an early run.

If Woo had been able to cap the damage there, this game might have had a different outcome, but things continued to be a struggle for Woo in the inning. He went to a full count with Jackson Merrill, who eventually singled on the seventh pitch of the at-bat and then stole second. Woo was still close to escaping trouble, getting Manny Machado to pop out for the second out of the inning and getting ahead of Xander Bogaerts 0-2, but he “threw two really bad sliders” – his words – to Bogaerts, again going to a full count before leaving a sweeper too much on the plate for a two-RBI hit.

To his credit, Woo made adjustments and was able to finish strong, but unfortunately those three runs would be all the Padres would need, although they did add another in the eighth against Casey Legumina. But the offense, maybe struggling with some form of shock after four days of facing the Astros’ limping pitching staff, could only manage one run against the Padres pitching staff, despite Michael King showing some inefficiency and allowing a handful of baserunners between hits and free passes. It looked like the Mariners might be able to break things open against King in the second inning, loading the bases with one out, but all they could manage was a sacrifice fly from Dominic Canzone as Cole Young was punched out looking at King’s wicked sinker to end the inning.

The Mariners were able to get King out of the game after the sixth, but lefty Adrian Morejon put down Cole Young and Brendan Donovan (and pinch-hitter Patrick Wisdom) with ease, and in the eighth Jason Adam also hung a zero thanks to Josh Naylor hitting into a double play. The Padres were then able to activate their human cheat code in Mason Miller, who dispatched his trio of hitters on 15 pitches and we’ll consider it a win because he only struck out one of them (Luke Raley). A’s pitcher Mason Miller was terrifying; the Padres version is an utter nightmare. See you when you’re closing the All-Star Game for the National League in July, MM, and hopefully not before then.

For a loss, there were some positives to take away from this game. The Mariners did create traffic on the bases, showing some of the lessons they learned from the Astros series wouldn’t be left behind in Seattle. They only struck out six times (and once against Mason Miller, which does not count), and worked three walks – two of which were taken by Julio Rodríguez, which is very encouraging. If the early Julio turnaround is coming, it’s going to need to be driven by him forcing pitchers to get into the zone against him by proving he won’t expand. The problems that plagued this lineup in those early season losses are still there – once again, only Randy Arozarena showed any kind of consistency in the top half of the lineup, providing two of the Mariners’ four hits and putting up a good battle against MechaMiller – but feeling more muted than during their double digit strikeout-paloozas despite the Padres possessing a pitching staff on par with some of the early staffs they’ve faced like Cleveland or New York. It’s totally fair not to trust this offense yet, but there are cathedrals roadside chapels here for those with eyes to see.

For the third time on this road trip, the Red Sox entered a game with a seemingly large pitching advantage and lost. They got shut down by Dustin May last Friday, watched Garrett Crochet get bombarded while matched up against Bailey Ober yesterday, and saw Sonny Gray get thoroughly outpitched by Mick Abel tonight.

On an evening where the Sox needed both length and effectiveness from their starter, they got neither. Gray lasted just four innings and allowed five earned runs. Oh, and as bad as he was, it easily could have been worse as he narrowly wiggled out of a bases loaded jam in the third.

Meanwhile, the bats were going up against a guy with a 6.19 ERA in 52.1 career innings entering tonight. They scored zero runs and struck out ten times.

If this is what things look like when matchups are favorable on paper, what type of horror show are we in for when this butter knife offense starts running into the teeth of real rotations? Although I guess in some ways it can’t get any worse. You can’t score less than zero runs, and you can’t have less than zero wins, which is how many the Red Sox have against American League opponents 17 games into this season.

If you dive deeper into the details, it somehow only gets uglier. Willson Contreras left the game with lower back tightness, which unfortunately feels like the most natural injury ever when you’re talking about a guy who will be 34 next month, has never played more than 138 games in a season, and started all 17 games this year. I don’t have time to look it up, but I bet there’s a decent chance this is the first time he’s ever started 17 straight games in his career. It also feels like another byproduct of a completely unbalanced roster that includes way too many outfield / DH guys, and not enough quality infielders.

Speaking of subpar play by an infielder, did you see the strike Andruw Monasterio (who came into the game for Contreras) challenged tonight? This puppy wasn’t even close!

not a great decision to challenge by Andruw Monasterio pic.twitter.com/UWsbfdyR2M

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 15, 2026

And it should be noted, this stands juxtaposed to Roman Anthony’s more disciplined decision to not challenge a ball in the third pitch of the game tonight. If you saw this live, you could see he really, really wanted to tap his head on this one (pitch 3 below), but ultimately decided to be a good teammate and not risk burning a challenge in the very first at bat of the night.

But you know what, as we continue to iron out the best way to handle these challenges, maybe they should let Roman use them early in the game if he’s confident. He seems to have a much better handle on the strike zone than most guys on this team. Perhaps the player challenging matters almost as much as the spot? (Within reason of course)

Oh, and we also have to mention that Jarren Duran flipped off a fan in this game, but that didn’t manage to get me nearly as angry as the hideous and downright shameful play of the team on the field, so this was a real masterclass of a fiasco tonight!

Three Studs

Jack Anderson: Even somebody as cynical as me is a sucker for a major league debut, and Jack Anderson had a good one tonight. He came into a horrible situation needing to clean up the mess made by both of the top two men in the Red Sox rotation over the last 36 hours, and he delivered big time. The rookie gobbled up three innings of grunt work and struck out the side in his first frame ever pitched on a major league mound. His family was also in attendance, so for them it’s a wonderful evening they’ll never forget. (At least something good came out of this dumpster fire.)

Roman Anthony: Anthony’s slowly starting to heat up at the plate. After getting on base four times yesterday, he went 2-4 tonight, including the only extra base hit of the game for the Sox. (In case you’re wondering, his arm didn’t get challenged in this game.)

Masataka Yoshida: He took advantage of his time back in he lineup at DH and recorded a pair of hits. My guess is he’ll get another chance tomorrow too as Duran will likely be in time out.

Three Duds (You gotta clear a high bar to get on this list)

Sonny Gray: Not even close to what the Sox needed from this guy after Crochet got bombed yesterday. Five runs over four innings including two gopher balls is a dreadful outing on any night, but it stings even worse given the current state of this team. They needed somebody to step up, and instead he dug the hole deeper.

Jarren Duran: 0-4 on the night. Batting Average down to .182 on the year.

Carlos Narvaez: Should we start getting concerned about this guy? 0-4 with four strikeouts tonight, and with that golden sombrero he’s now batting .195 with a .409 OPS on the season.

Highlight of the game:

It’s Jack Anderson’s first career strike out. He’s the only person in that clubhouse who should have a smile on their face tonight.

Looking Ahead: Tomorrow’s game is Early, both in time (a 1:40pm start) and in matchup. Connelly Early will take the mound tasked with trying to prevent a Twins sweep and to salvage a .500 road trip for the Sox.

The pitchers’ duel that was advertised delivered and then some, with both the Mets and Dodgers getting stellar starts, in a nail biter of a game that, unfortuantely, didn’t break the Mets’ way. A 2-1 loss is never easy to take, but especially not when your ace pitches the game of his young career in the process.

Francisco Lindor decided that enough was enough with the 20-inning scoreless streak, leading the game off with a no-doubter solo home run off of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It was the type of veteran leadership move that gets pointed to at times as ‘turnaround’ points in a season.

If only any of the other Mets’ batters would step up.

Thankfully, Nolan McLean was up the task tonight in Los Angeles. McLean walked Kyle Tucker with one out in the first, and that would come back to bite him after Will Smith doubled down the left-field line. putting men on second and third with one out. A weak Freddie Freeman ground out scored Tucker and tied the game at one.

Despite the early run, McLean would settle in and dazzle. After retiring 14 Dodgers in a row, a fifth inning walk to Hyeseong Kim and an errant throw by McLean put a running in scoring position for the first time since the first. However, McLean buckled down and got a Alex Freeland ground out to end the threat. A Max Muncy single in the seventh didn’t go anywhere, either.

McLean’s final line was seven innings pitched, one earned run on two hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts, including three ring ups of Teoscar Hernández and two for Freeman. It was an impressive performance.

After Lindor, Yamamoto would retire the next 20 Mets in a row, until Bo Bichette ripped a double with two outs in the seventh. Francisco Alvarez then walked, and the Mets had their first real threat of the game. However, Yamamoto would strike out Brett Baty to end the seventh and keep the game knotted up at one.

In the top of the eighth, Carson Benge lined a two-out single to left, which was followed by a weak Lindor grounder between first and second, which advanced Benge to third. That would do it for Yamamoto, who would be pulled in favor of Blake Treinen. After allowing Lindor to steal second, Treinen struck out Luis Robert Jr. looking to end the Mets’ threat.

Brooks Raley relieved McLean in the bottom of the eighth, and he walked Miguel Rojas to start the frame. A sacrifice bunt by Santiago Espinal moved Rojas to second, and an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani put two one with one out. Tucker would loft a ball over third base, scoring Rojas and breaking the tie. Raley struck out Will Smith and induced a line out to right off the bat of Freeman to end the inning.

Alex Vesia, not old friend Edwin Díaz, would pitch the ninth for the Dodgers, and easily fanned Jorge Polanco on three pitches. Bichette would follow suit, leaving Alvarez as the Mets’ final hope. Alvarez would be punched on a check swing to end the game.

The Mets have now lost seven straight games and have shown only marginal offense over most of that run. Tomorrow night, the Mets play in the Jackie Robinson Day game on ESPN with Shohei Ohtani pitching for the Dodgers and Clay Holmes starting for the Mets.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Nolan McLean, +34.0% WPA

Big Mets loser: Brooks Raley, -23.0% WPA

Mets pitchers WPA: 11.0% WPA

Mets batters WPA: -6.1% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Lindor’s lead-off dinger, +9.8% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Kyle Tucker’s eighth inning RBI single, -21.8% WPA

The Texas Rangers scored one run but the Arden Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Area Athletics scored two runs.

The Rangers should have saved a few of those eight runs from last night for tonight’s contest. In a strange contest, Texas took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st with another RBI from Jake Burger in this series and then the strike zone became a mystery for Rangers pitchers.

Through a couple of innings, Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore seemed more or less like the guy we’d seen over the first few starts during his tenure with Texas until he allowed a two-out double to A’s No. 9 hitter Denzel Clarke in the bottom of the 3rd.

At that point, Gore just kind of fell apart for many minutes as he walked the next two batters and then allowed a two-out, two-run RBI single to Jacob Wilson. Frustratingly, Wilson had already impacted the game with a couple of nice plays at shortstop with runners on base for the Rangers.

After the Wilson hit gave the A’s a 2-1 lead, Gore got out of the inning without any further damage but then walked the next two hitters he faced in the bottom of the 4th. Gore wiggled out of that inning too to keep the score a one-run game thanks in part to the A’s deciding to give up an out with a sac bunt. However, after a hit and another walk in the 5th, Gore’s night was finished.

Overall, Gore walked six A’s batters but he also only allowed three hits and struck out five. It was a bad command night for the left-hander but it was also a close game throughout. With Gore struggling and with Springs settling in after the 1st inning run, the game had a mystifying vibe that the Rangers were getting soundly defeated even though it was a 2-1 score from the 3rd inning on.

Despite some early chances, and a few at-bats late with runners in scoring position, the bats just couldn’t break through against former Ranger Jeffrey Springs and then collected just one hit off the Athletics’ bullpen.

Player of the Game: Though the Rangers walked a total of eight batters tonight with six from Gore and two more from the bullpen, and though Robert Garcia was one of those relievers who issued a walk, the recently demoted from high-leverage lefty gave Texas 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts after Gore got the early hook in the 5th.

Garcia’s stock has fallen a bit in the season’s first few weeks but, in a one-run game, he helped keep the Rangers in this one by bridging the game from Gore to the late innings.

Up Next: The Rangers and A’s are back at it tomorrow with RHP Kumar Rocker expected to make the start for Texas opposite RHP J.T. Ginn for formerly Oakland.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from Sutter Health Park is scheduled for 8:40 pm CDT once again and will be telecast via the Rangers Sports Network.

LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Nolan McLean engaged in a wonderful pitching duel on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, pitchers with different styles but equally vast repertoires, and both exceedingly difficult to score against. Offenses were kept mostly at bay until the eighth inning, when both teams threatened but only the Dodgers were able to push across the game-winner, beating the Mets 2-1.

Pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas walked to open the eighth, and was sacrificed to second by pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal. With first base opened, Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked (extending his on-base streak to 48 games, by the way), setting up a struggling Kyle Tucker to dunk one just behind third base for the Dodgers’ first lead of the night.

Kyle in the clutch! pic.twitter.com/t7zmleECQ6

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 15, 2026

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Both starting pitchers gave up single runs in the first inning, and nothing else. Francisco Lindor hitting a leadoff home run off Yamamoto, and Will Smith doubling off McLean to set up two runner in scoring position, only one of whom scored, on a groundout.

Yamamoto struck out seven in his 7 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and a walk in a tidy 104 pitches. McLean struck out eight in his seven innings, giving up two hits and two walks on 95 pitches. By all accounts, an incredible duel.

Yamamoto not only kept the Mets in the ballpark after the Lindor home run, he mostly confined them to the infield. He induced 10 groundouts, five of which were to Freddie Freeman at first base, who dutifully fed a covering Yamamoto four times.

Yamamoto retired 20 batters in a row after the Lindor home run, until Bo Bichette snapped the string with a double over third base with two outs in the seventh inning. Yamamoto then issued his first walk of the night, to Francisco Alvarez on five pitches, in his first real jam of the night. But he struck out Baty to end the seventh, keeping the game knotted at one apiece.

With Thursday’s off day pending and a six-man rotation, Yamamoto’s next start will likely be next Tuesday, on six days rest, which made the decision to keep him — at 94 pitches — in for the eighth inning much easier to make. Yamamoto got the first two outs, but a pair of singles put runners at the corners and ended his night.

Blake Treinen rode the tightrope, allowing Lindor to steal second base to put two runners in scoring position, but then struck out Luis Robert Jr. on seven pitches to keep the game tied.

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With closer Edwin Díaz still day-to-day, the Dodgers turned to Alex Vesia for the ninth inning with a one-run lead, and he struck out all three batters he faced on only 10 pitches.

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After Monday’s win took two hours, 13 minutes for the shortest Dodgers game of the season, Tuesday night needed only two hours, three minutes to complete.

Tuesday particulars

Home run: Francisco Lindor (1)

WP — Blake Treinen (1-0): 1 batter, 1 strikeout

LP — Brooks Raley (0-1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 2 walks, 1 strikeout

Sv — Alex Vesia (2): 1 IP, 3 strikeouts

Up next

One more game remains on the homestand, with Shohei Ohtani starting on the mound Wednesday night (7:10 p.m., ESPN), and Clay Holmes pitching for the Mets.

The matchup between Nolan McLean and Yoshinobu Yamamoto lived up to the hype, but the Mets could not push across enough runs in their 2-1 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday night.

Both McLean and Yamamoto allowed just one run each and struck out a combined 15 batters across 14.2 innings.

Including Tuesday night, they have scored 10 runs in their last seven games, and have now lost seven games in a row.

Here are the takeaways...

-Francisco Lindor had gone the first 17 games of the season with an RBI -- the longest of his career -- but got off the schneid in a hurry, taking a 95 mph fastball from Yamamoto deep to lead off the game with a home run. The blast went 402 feet and snapped the Mets' 20-inning scoreless streak. 

But Yamamoto would settle in quickly, retiring the next 20 batters before Bo Bichette hit a two-out double in the seventh inning. Francisco Alvarez followed with a walk, setting up Brett Baty. The left-hander struck out swinging to leave two runners on and get Yamamoto through seven innings. 

Yamamoto wound up starting the eighth, and after getting the first two outs -- Marcus Semien narrowly missing a solo shot (101.9 mph off the bat) that died at the warning track -- Carson Benge hit an opposite-field single. Lindor followed up with a single that put runners at the corners. The back-to-back singles knocked Yamamoto out of the game for Blake Treinen to face Luis Robert Jr. Lindor stole second on the first pitch and Robert worked the count full but was frozen on a strike-three pitch that ended the threat.

Yamamoto tossed 104 pitches (65 strikes), allowing one run on four hits and one walk while striking out seven. 

-McLean matched Yamamoto and then some. The young right-hander was given a 1-0 lead, but would be a tough-luck pitcher in the first. He allowed a one-out walk to Kyle Tucker and Will Smith hit a blooper to left field that Benge dove for, but couldn't come up with it. The ball kicked away a bit, allowing Tucker to reach third and Smith to get to second. Freddie Freeman hit a dribbler down the first base line, which Mark Vientos picked up and stepped on first for the second out, but Tucker scored. 

McLean would also settle in after that first inning. McLean would retire 13 straight batters before navigating through a tough Dodgers lineup. 

McLean allowed just one run on two hits and two walks through seven innings (95 pitches/68 strikes) and struck out eight batters. He lowered his ERA to 2.08.

-Brooks Raley was the first reliever out of the pen and his command wasn't there to start. He walked the leadoff man and a bunt moved Miguel Rojas to second base for Shohei Ohtani. Raley intentionally walked Ohtani to pitch to Tucker. The left-hander dumped an RBI single to left field to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

-In the top of the ninth against Alex Vesia -- not Edwin Diaz, who has been dealing with velocity issues of late -- the Mets went down in order. Jorge Polanco, Bichette and Alvarez struck out to end the game. The Mets outhit the Dodgers 4-3, but could not get the hit that mattered.

Game MVP: Kyle Tucker

With the pitcher's duel, someone needed to push across the winning run and Tucker did just that.

Highlights

A leadoff home run for Francisco Lindor off Yoshinobu Yamamoto!

His first homer & RBI of the season! pic.twitter.com/C4nGtLX1oT

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 15, 2026

Nolan McLean gets his first strikeout of the night pic.twitter.com/UiopvcEqia

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 15, 2026

Bo Bichette snaps Yoshinobu Yamamoto's 20 batters in a row retired streak with a double pic.twitter.com/d0xxHEMdho

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 15, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Dodgers wrap up their three-game set on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 10:10 p.m.

Clay Holmes (2-1, 1.50 ERA) will take the mound against Shohei Ohtani (1-0, 0.00 ERA).

The Atlanta Braves began the day with a roster move that recalled southpaw Hayden Harris to Atlanta and simultaneously optioned right-hander Rolddy Muñoz to Triple-A Gwinnett. The move is a classic bullpen shuffle, and an underwhelming one at that. 

The #Braves today recalled LHP Hayden Harris to Atlanta after optioning RHP Rolddy Muñoz to Triple-A Gwinnett following last night’s game. Additionally, C Sean Murphy tonight begins a rehabilitation assignment with High-A Rome.

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 14, 2026

Muñoz made his first appearance of the season on Monday night, and in two innings, he surrendered three runs on five hits. He walked one and recorded three strikeouts. Given this performance, it wasn’t overly shocking to see he was demoted Tuesday morning, which brings up none other than Hayden Harris.

Harris has yet to make his 2026 debut, and he’s gotten off to a rough start in Triple-A. He’s appeared in five games, where he gave up three runs. He’s recorded six walks and seven strikeouts. The Braves will be hoping he can settle in and provide some stability out of the bullpen.

More Braves News:

Dominic Smith delivered in the eighth during Tuesday’s 6-5 win over the Miami Marlins. 

Spencer Strider will be joining Sean Murphy in Rome for a rehab start on Thursday evening. He is expected to throw 40-45 pitches.

After being designated for assignment earlier this week, Martín Pérez has cleared waivers and elected free agency. 

In the latest minor league recap, we continue the game of who’s hot, who’s not. 

MLB News:

The San Diego Padres placed right-hander Nick Pivetta on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation. He exited Sunday’s start after three innings due to elbow stiffness.

The Philadelphia Phillies traded right-hander Griff McGarry to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for international pool money. 

The Milwaukee Brewers placed OF Christian Yelich on the 10-day injured list due to a left groin strain. He is expected to be out until mid to late May.

From the Feed:

Austin Riley is off to a slow start this year but is beginning to show some encouraging signs. Let’s hear your thoughts here:

Tuesday’s game marked Matt Olson’s 800th consecutive game, giving him the 11th longest streak in MLB history.

Padres 4, Mariners 1

Bryan Woo when he throws first pitch strikes: Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley, .03 WPA

Bryan Woo when he does not throw first pitch strikes: Bryan Woo, -.11 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

Good evening. Welcome back to another night of BCB After Dark: the grooviest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re so glad you decided to stop in. You’re always welcome here. The dress code is casual. The hostess can seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

The Cubs beat the Phillies tonight, 10-4. Riley Martin got his first career start and even though it was only for one inning, he retired the side in order on six pitches. He struck out Kyle Schwarber on three pitches. I mention this because I asked you last night if you thought that Martin would be a key part of the bullpen this year. You are bullish on Martin because 68 percent of you said “yes.”

I don’t normally do a movie essay on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, but I always have time for jazz. That time is now.

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Tonight we’re featuring some bebop as saxophonist Sonny Stitt and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie perform in Belgium in 1958. Joining those two greats are Lou Levy on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Gus Johnson on drums.

This is “Blues Walk.”

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Welcome back those of you who left us for a while.

I don’t have to tell you that Cubs first baseman Michael Busch is off to a terrible start to the season. He was one of the best hitters in the National League last year, but so far this year, he’s been one of the worst. After getting two doubles in the season opener, his bat has fallen silent. He had an 0 for 30 streak before an bloop pinch-hit RBI single on Sunday against the Pirates. He didn’t play in Monday’s loss to the Phillies, but he was back out there tonight and had two singles. However, neither hit inspires all that much confidence. One of them was a pretty standard ground ball single that found a hole between the first and second basemen. The other was just a little infield dribbler towards third base.

The problem seems to be that Busch simply isn’t hitting the ball hard or in the air. He’s not swinging at more pitches that he did last year. He is seeing a few more pitches outside the zone than he did last year, but not enough to make that big of a difference. He’s making contact at roughly the same rate.

The problem is that he isn’t making good contact. Everywhere you look on the Statcast data, the quality of contact made by Busch is down. He isn’t hitting the ball as hard as he did last year and when he does, it’s on the ground. Busch isn’t hitting the ball in the sweet spot and much and his exit velocity is down. Ground balls are way up. His bat speed was always below average, but it’s down even more this year.

I can’t tell you why Busch is having trouble making quality contact. I suspect that if Busch knew what was going wrong, he wouldn’t do it anymore.

So how worried are you about this development? Are you concerned that Busch has lost his mojo? Or do you think he’ll snap out of this anyday and be one of the best first basemen in the league again?

Thank you for stopping by this evening. It’s always good to have so many friends around. Please get home safely—we don’t want to lose one of those friends. Tell your friends about us. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.

It might not have been the perfect performance he hoped for, but Noah Schultz pushed through a rough first frame of his major league debut to finish his 4 1/3-inning outing strongly, despite the White Sox (6 -11) dropping the first game of the series to the Rays (9-7), 8-5.

Schultz needed 33 pitches to get through the first, which could have led to a quick exit. The lanky southpaw was able to work around Yandy Díaz with no problem to start the game, but walked the next two batters for quick trouble. The first MLB hit surrendered by Schultz was a double to left field by Ryan Vilade to drive in the first run for Tampa Bay. A safety squeeze bunt from Ben Williamson caused a whole bunch of chaos, as Noah rushed his throw home rather than getting the second out at first and letting the run score, and the Rays added a third run to the board due to Schultz’s error.

First-game jitters were clearly coming into play, but Schultz was able to settle himself down and strike out Jonny DeLuca to get out of the inning. The rest of his night went more smoothly, though he allowed one more run in the top of the third; Williamson struck again, drilling an RBI double out to left for Tampa’s fourth run of the game. Schultz did facilitate a 1-2-3 inning in the second, and worked through the fourth just fine before striking out the last batter he faced.

Noah tallied four strikeouts alongside four walks, and he averaged a 32% called strike plus whiff rate (CSW%). His fastball (37% CSW%) was most effective, averaging 96 mph with three strikeouts and batters whiffing five of nine times. The throwing error on the bunt was definitely a learning experience, but overall Schultz’s fastball velocity and pitch movement along with the way he was able to power through his nerves after the first inning was definitely encouraging.

It took a few stanzas for the bats to wake up, but the White Sox offense did cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the third. Miguel Vargas was robbed on a diving play from Chandler Simpson to start the inning, but Munetaka Murakami walked for his second time of the night, and Chase Meidroth ended up on first after catcher’s interference (his back foot essentially stepped on the catcher Nick Fortes’ foot in the batter’s box).

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, baseball is the gift that keeps on giving:

Just a few minutes after I got through complaining about the fact that manager Will Venable decided to bat Everson Pereira in the cleanup spot, Pereira came up with two runners on and ripped a three-run homer out to left to make it 4-3, Tampa Bay. I believe the exact phrase I used was “automatic out,” and I will happily eat my words for a home run any day of the week:

Spoiler alert: The White Sox did not come remotely close to scoring again until they were down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth, but they once again fell short in their rally. In fact, they only mustered five hits all night and went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position while leaving nine runners on base. Does it really matter that your offense stinks while your bullpen isn’t doing anything to help itself, either? I mean, yes, it does, but with the White Sox you can’t really have your cake and eat it too; precisely why their pitching has been phenomenal lately while their offense is incapable of scoring runs.

Lucas Sims was first out of the pen for the Good Guys (1 1/3 innings), and he was unable to prevent additional runs from scoring as two more were tacked on, thanks to three hits with one walk and one strikeout. Lefthander Brandon Eisert was next in line, and his stat line was unfortunately a carbon copy of Sims’, so the Rays expanded their lead to five, 8-3.

Finally the pitching calmed down a bit with Jordan Hicks in the eighth — something I probably never thought I’d write — and he was able to get out of the inning without anyone scoring despite giving up two hits, the first of the South Side pitching staff accomplish the feat. Bryan Hudson, the power forward (6´8´´) to Schultz’s center (6´10´´) was solid for the top of the ninth (one hit and one strikeout), also preventing any further runs from scoring.

Things did briefly get a little interesting for the South Siders in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs. Vargas had walked with one out, and Mune was the last hope for the Sox after Meidroth popped out. Murakami blasted his fifth homer of the season to cut the Tampa lead to three, 8-5.

Attempting to re-ignite a rally, Tanner Murray singled to extend the inning at least one more batter. Working to a full count, it was starting to feel like Edgar might get on so that Colson Montgomery would come up to bat as the tying run, but that fleeting hope and excitement was extinguished when Quero flew out to center to end the game.

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The Milwaukee Brewers were in dire need of a win on Tuesday night to end a five game losing streak. The reincarnated Home Run Race of 1998 has hit the Brewers with Jake Bauers and Gary Sanchez continuing to go tit-for-tat in their bid to be the Crew’s home run leader.

It started with Jake Bauers in the 4th inning. After a single from Brice Turang and a walk from Sanchez, Jake Bauers crushed his 5th home run of the season into the Brewers bullpen, 418 feet away from home plate. That gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead.

The Blue Jays then answered in the 5th with a solo home run from Andres Gimenez and then again in the 6th with a solo shot from Marshfield, WI native Daulton Varsho.

The Brewers had two on and nobody out in the 5th and 6th innings but failed to capitalize in either end.

Then Gary Sanchez happened. He crushed a hanging curveball 409 feet out to left field to provide the Brewers a huge insurance run. That run became all the more important when Abner Uribe allowed a run in the 8th on an RBI groundout by Vlad Guerrero Jr. That left a 4-3 ballgame for closer Trevor Megill.

Megill, coming off a horrendous outing last time out on Friday, had to face the 5-6-7 hitters in the Blue Jays lineup. He allowed a leadoff walk (never a good thing), then a ground rule double, then a single and quickly the Blue Jays tied the game. A soft groundout by Andres Gimenez brought in another run, then a single from Ernie Clement brought home the insurance to make it a 6-4 Blue Jays lead.

Then the Brewers miraculously come back in the bottom of the 9th. Sal Frelick walked, stole second, then Brice Turang brought him home with a single. Turang then stole second, Jake Bauers was intentionally walked, then Brandon Lockridge delivered a game tying double. A walk to Garrett Mitchell loaded the bases for Joey Ortiz, because of course it did. Ortiz promptly struck out on three pitches.

Then in the 10th, Vlad Guerrero Jr doubled, Eloy Jimenez added insurance and the Jays put up another three run inning and the Brewers couldn’t fully come back again in the bottom half.

Jacob Misiorowski threw the ball well, despite feeling sick.

“I felt like I was gonna throw up the whole game” Misiorowski said.

That’s exactly how most of the 25,143 in attendance felt watching the 9th inning as well. Pat Murphy told reporters postgame that he is considering a change in the 9th inning role but wouldn’t commit to that change in the moment.

The Brewers will be back at it on Wednesday with Chad Patrick on the mound.

Kenley Jansen needed little introduction when the Detroit Tigers signed the 38-year-old closer to a free agent deal back in December. He’s one of the truly great relievers in the game’s long history. The one year, $9 million deal was a pretty reasonably price for an all-time great even on the downside of his career. The Tigers also have a $12 million option on Jansen for 2027 to exercise should they choose. As a result, the Tigers’ faithful in Comerica Park on Tuesday night got to see a little history as Jansen closed out the Royals for his 479th save, seizing third place on the all-time saves list behind Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman.

Jansen’s career is a pretty incredible story. The Curacao native was originally signed as a catcher. He didn’t hit enough as a minor leaguer to make it as a position player, but he was gifted with a strong throwing arm. At a certain point, a Dodgers coach suggested he try pitching, and Jansen discovered that the over-the-top motion favored by catchers to deliver a straight ball to the bases on stolen base attempts had given him a gift. Much like Mariano Rivera, who discovered his magic cutter by accident, Jansen too was quickly throwing a true unicorn of a cutter. There are plenty of high velocity cutters around the game, but none of them combine the late cutting action of Jansen’s pitch with extremely good riding action. It’s a true cut fastball, the likes of which have rarely been seen in the game, and Jansen has ridden that pitch to a Hall of Fame caliber career.

I wrote about the cut fastball during the offseason, so we won’t go on about it again, but you can read that article here.

Of course, this is all well and good, but after two postseason appearances, and with the expectation of losing Tarik Skubal in free agency, the fanbase wants present results, not individual player history. The Tigers fanbase has a rough relationship with the idea of signing a great closer in the later years of their career. We don’t even speak of Joe Nathan in my household. Jose Valverde got the job done for a while, and even Francisco Rodriguez had a pretty good season in Detroit before things finally fell apart for him. But the Tigers haven’t had an elite closer in their prime arguably since Joel Zumaya.

There were understandably some fears about Jansen, in particular the notion of making him the dedicated closer rather than mixing and matching between him, Will Vest, and Kyle Finnegan the way AJ Hinch has had to use his fairly makeshift bullpens over the past few years. Jansen still has the outrageous cut fastball, but it’s not the same quality of pitch at 92.8 mph, his 2025 average, as it was when he was sitting 95+ for all those years with the Dodgers. On the other hand, Jansen still has a lot of extra tools to get hitters out, from his size, distinct high arm slot, ability to hide the ball until late in his delivery, and his ability to post up on his right leg and wait different beats before delivering the ball, and still doing all that with good command. He’s also developed a sinker into an occasional change of pace weapon to jam right-handers, and a pretty good slider with a lot of depth to play off the eyeline of the cut fastball.

Still, with his strikeout rate in decline over the last two years, it’s reasonable to expect that Jansen is just a good reliever these days, and certainly no one special. The fact that he averaged about 92 mph in his first few outings for the Tigers wasn’t real encouraging. However, there was a very good sign on Tuesday night, as Jansen dialed the cut fastball up to 96 mph and topped out at 96.8 mph. He only threw 10 pitches 96 mph or better last season. On Monday night, he topped 96 five different times and that 96.8 mph cutter in the ninth was his fastest recorded pitch since 2024. Jansen doesn’t need to throw that hard to be really good, but he’s a much more imposing pitcher when he’s 94 mph or better.

Way back on July 25, 2010, Kenley Jansen collected the very first save of his career, closing out a victory for the Dodgers over the New York Mets. He took over after an eight inning scoreless performance by young Dodgers’ ace, Clayton Kershaw. His catcher that day was Russell Martin. Almost 16 years later, he racked up save number 479 throwing to Dillon Dingler. That save lifted him above Lee Smith (478) to rank third all-time.

It’s been a truly remarkable career, and Jansen’s work ethic and drive have sustained him far longer than anyone could have imagined. Detroit Tigers’ fans will hope he’s got plenty more in the tank, not to reach the 500 saves plateau, or somehow catch Trevor Hoffman at 601, but to help the Tigers put together a special season.

The Colorado Rockies rolled into Daikin Park hoping to end a four-game losing streak by winning their fourth consecutive game against the Houston Astros in two weeks.

While they chipped away at an Astros lead amassed in the third inning, the Rockies could never quite get there, losing the series opener 7-6.

Innings 1-3: The Rockies start climbing — and then fall back

The Rockies offense got off to a quick start with a Hunter Goodman home run in the first inning off the lefty starter Colton Gordon.

The Astros got on the board in the second inning, however, with a home run from — who else? — Christian Walker (his fourth of the season).

Things took a turn for the worse in the bottom of the third, which started with a Christian Vázquez double followed by a Willi Castro error that put Jose Altuve on base. After that, Michael Lorenzen was called for a balk, and then Yordan Álvarez entered the chat with a two-run double, tying the game at three.

There were no outs.

Things only went downhill from there. With two outs in the third, after a seemingly endless series of Astros hits and Rockies defensive adventures (Castro had another error), the score was 7-3. At that point, Lorenzen was knocked out of the game with Antonio Senzatela entering in relief.

When the inning (finally) ended, the score was 7-3 with the Astros sending 11 batters to the plate.

Lorenzen’s final line was 2.2 IP on 71 pitches with seven runs, two earned, on six hits. He walked one and struck out three. His ERA is 9.18.

It seemed like yet another game in which the Rockies were too far behind to catch up.

“It just seemed like we were unable to stop the bleeding,” manager Warren Schaeffer said.

Innings 4-7: A slow (but steady) climb

As it turns out, the Rockies were not done yet.

Jordan Beck went yard in the top of the fourth making the score 7-4.

Kyle Karros and Jake McCarthy followed that with their own singles before Tyler Freeman was HBP. (It looked painful.) That knocked Gordon out of the game.

Mickey Moniak came in to hit for Brenton Doyle but popped out to short, leaving the bases loaded.

As for Gordon, he finished the evening with 3.2 IP on 68 pitches. He allowed four runs (all earned) on eight hits while also striking out five.

Goodman led off the fifth inning with another home run, and the score was 7-5.

Innings 8-9: The mountain was too steep

The Rockies mounted another comeback in the eighth as Ezequiel Tovar and Karros managed walks. Troy Johnston came in for McCarthy and promptly hit an RBI single, making the score 7-6 Astros.

There were two on and two out when Moniak came up, but he popped out, ending the inning.

The Rockies kept pushing in the ninth. After two quick outs, T.J. Rumfield hit a single followed by a Tovar single. Brett Sullivan came in to pinch run for Rumfield and stopped at third, leaving questions as to whether he should have continued home.

Beck stepped to the plate after going 2-for-4 with a home run and a single. However, he struck out looking, ending the game, giving the Rockies yet another one-run loss.

The Rockies finished the evening with 6 runs on 12 hits. They went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base with four walks and 12 Ks.

The Astros never scored again after the third inning, but the Rockies couldn’t overcome the deficit.

“These guys are getting better every day,” Schaeffer said. “We just need to turn these one-run losses into some wins.”

Then he added, “We’re going to turn the page.”

Antonio Senzatela and the bullpen finished strong

The reinvented Antonio Senzatela entered the game in the third to get the elusive final out, which he did, striking out Altuve and then settling in to pitch a gorgeous 3.1 innings. He gave two only two hits on 43 pitches and is now scoreless in his last five appearances.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Senzatela changed the tenor of the game. He stopped what seemed to be an endless Astros rally and gave the Rockies an opportunity to get back into the game.

Schaeffer described Senzatela as “incredibly important” to the Rockies. “You know he’s going to keep you right in the game.”

Juan Mejia pitched the seventh and gave up two hits before getting three outs.

The eighth went to Zach Agnos who made quick work of the Astros, striking out two and getting a ground out to end the inning.

Up Next

Join us tomorrow night for Game 2 at 6:10 pm. Neither team has announced their starting pitcher.

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Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 3, Charlotte Knights 0
’Twas the series opener against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, not a run was scored — hardly any hits! Charlotte’s lackadaisical stat line tells the whole story. Three hits, three RBIs, and a whopping 13 strikeouts sprinkled throughout the lineup. Somehow, Jarred Kelenic, who’s barely hanging onto his professional career, was the only batter to avoid striking out. Yeesh. 

At least starter Doug Nikhazy, who was claimed off Cleveland’s waivers recently, had a strong outing. He tossed four scoreless innings, giving up three hits and two walks while striking out four. As the guy who is presumably Noah Schultz’s backfill in the Knights rotation, Nikhazy provided a reminder that hitting consistency remains a major issue in the White Sox’s talent pool.

Doug Nikhazy through 4 in Jacksonville. #Knights still in a scoreless tie. pic.twitter.com/onAp0NW6F9

— FutureSox (@FutureSox) April 14, 2026

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Birmingham Barons 5, Chattanooga Lookouts 4
In what has been a slow start to the season, the Barons snapped their four-game losing streak with a walk-off win over the Lookouts. 

The top of the order kicked things off with a three-run surge in the first and another run in the second to give the Barons an early advantage. RBI machine Ryan Galanie scored and drove in two of Bham’s first four runs, ending the night as a key contributor. Sadly, the runs paused shortly after. 

Bham was cruising behind Shane Murphy’s six-inning shutout start until Nick Altermatt relieved him. The righty reliever gave up three runs between the seventh and eighth on pitches and calls that didn’t go his way, and Jairo Iriarte allowed Chattanooga to tie it up. Luckily, the top of the order delivered timely hits. Galanie led off the ninth with a single, Jeral Pérez followed suit, moving what turned into pinch-runner Andy Weber to third. Leave it to Samuel Zavala to take the Barons home!

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Winston-Salem Dash 16, Asheville Tourists 6
It was raining runs in Winston-Salem! The lineup cycled through nearly four times to shower Asheville with an onslaught of runs in the first half of the game. Starting with a three-spot in the first, Ely Brown got the game going with a walk and a stolen base, then a rare triple from Colby Shelton, and a wild pitch from Tourists starter Luis Rodriguez. Everything went downhill for Asheville from then on, and to make matters worse, the Dash added five runs just for fun in the eighth to tire out the Tourists’ pen further. Thanks, Caleb Bonemer, for another brilliant performance! Winston-Salem did a number on Asheville, deriving seven of 16 runs from home runs and getting a free trot to first nine times.

The lineup’s excessive runs compensated for an unimpressive bullpen. Without Gabe Davis’ three-inning scoreless start, the Dash would’ve been hanging onto its lead tighter. Jake Curtis provided another strong relief outing, not allowing a run in almost three innings while striking out three to drop his ERA to 1.30 and WHIP to 0.67.

A @CalebBonemer HOME RUN! @AtriumHealthWFBpic.twitter.com/Hgo1P6ld7F

— Winston-Salem Dash (@WSDashBaseball) April 14, 2026

BACK TO BACK! @ColbyShelton9 sends one out of here!@AtriumHealthWFBpic.twitter.com/b0kgmRYKlW

— Winston-Salem Dash (@WSDashBaseball) April 14, 2026

BACK TO BACK TO BACK 🤯@ant_depino with ANOTHER Home Run! @AtriumHealthWFBpic.twitter.com/b7bCcZGD2w

— Winston-Salem Dash (@WSDashBaseball) April 14, 2026

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Myrtle Beach Pelicans 4, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0
Like Charlotte, Kanny put up no effort against Myrtle Beach. The CBs were hopeless against Pelicans pitchers, who got plenty of calls in their favor and served plenty of hittable pitches on a silver platter. But the bats were dead for another night.

Riley Eikhoff put in a full day’s work for the Ballers, taking full responsibility for three of the Pelicans’ four runs. Eikhoff pitched soundly, giving up a home run off a precisely placed strike that Cole Mathis somehow got a huge piece of to pull the ball left-center out of the park. You really can’t blame Eikhoff for that one. Chicago’s ninth round pick in the 2025 draft is having a turbulent start to his minor league career after giving up four runs in his first start and none in his second. It’s too early to say if this is rookie jitters or if this spells trouble for his big league career.

MATHIS MASH !!! pic.twitter.com/ok4rLVyfeL

— Myrtle Beach Pelicans (@Pelicanbaseball) April 15, 2026