Category: MLB

Francisco Alvarez is set to start his rehab assignment this week, Carlos Mendoza said Sunday after the Mets' 10-1 win over the Miami Marlins.

"As of right now, the plan is for him to play Tuesday in Syracuse," Mendoza said, referencing New York's Triple-A affiliate.

Syracuse is set to host the Yankees' Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.

The Mets placed Alvarez on the 10-day injured list with a right meniscus tear May 13. He last played May 12 in New York's 10-2 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Alvarez has been catching bullpens, blocking, running and throwing.

"Just two weeks removed from surgery, it's pretty amazing to see," Mendoza said before Friday's game.

Alvarez underwent surgery May 14.

"Alvarez, I mean, this guy is unbelievable," Mendoza said last Monday. "He's already hitting, he's already doing catching. We were talking about eight weeks. I'm not sure about that now. This guy is built different. ... There's a lot of positive from him, too."

Through 37 games this season, Alvarez is slashing .241/.317/.393 with four home runs and 10 RBI.

May is in its final hours, and the Colorado Rockies ended on a high note after scuffling hard for most of the month. After going 14-18 to start the season, they went 8-20 in May, but did finish by winning the series against the San Francisco Giants. Unfortunately, the series (and month) ended with a thud as they were outscored 19-6.

That said, it wasn’t all bad.

• TJ Rumfield hit four home runs and continues to be an NL Rookie of the Year candidate
• Jake McCarthy hit three homers of his own — including back-to-back games against the New York Mets — and is now hitting .301/.330/.494
• Ezequiel Tovar has started to get out of his slump, including a two-homer performance on Friday night (that included the Rockies’ first walk-off win of 2026)
• Brett Sullivan had as many hits (3) as pitching appearances (3) in May. While the hitting struggled, the three pitching appearances he made were scoreless and saved the bullpen against Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also became the first non-Ohtani pitcher to homer this year, and nearly became the first pitcher in the history of MLB to homer twice in the same inning.
• Antonio Senzatela continues to shine and is making a case to be a valuable trade candidate and/or an All-Star
• Tomoyuki Sugano remains the Rockies’ most consistent starter, especially among a rotation that’s been decimated by injuries
• Jaden Hill has been one of the Rockies’ most under-the-radar relievers, often falling behind only Senzatela in a number of statistical categories

So here’s the question for tonight: Who are your Rockies player(s) for the month of May? Let us know!

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

The Yankees ended May on a high note with Sunday's 13-8 win at the Athletics. New York (36-23) is a game and a half behind the 36-20 Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, winning six of its past seven game as it gets Monday off and returns to Yankee Stadium for this week's six-game homestand.

"Anytime you win five out of six on the road, it's a really good trip," Aaron Boone said, referencing the combination of the Yankees' three-game sweep at the Kansas City Royals earlier this week and New York's 2-1 series in West Sacramento, Calif, against the A's (28-31). "So, you take that. I feel like, for the most part, we played well. Today was one of those crazy games that I don't know what it was, but it was a win. So, obviously, a good way to go back cross country into an off day."

The Yankees' 13-run third inning created a 13-3 lead before the A's hung around with a four-run seventh and one-run eighth. New York ultimately enters this week's three-game series with the Cleveland Guardians, which starts with Cam Schlitter set to start Tuesday's 7:05 p.m. opener, on the upswing after a 16-12 month.

"Lot of positives," said Aaron Judge, whose 1-for-4 afternoon featured the RBI single in the third inning that gave the Yankees their first lead of the game as they piled on the 13-run frame. "You can take a lot of positives from the first two months here. ... It kind of starts with our pitching staff, especially the starting rotation, getting a lot of key guys back. It kind of is the main part of our team."

Judge enters June slashing .248/.375/.533 with 17 home runs and 38 RBI through 59 games, but those around him in the Yankees' order have made a difference.

"A lot of people kind of banged on us about bringing the same guys back," Judge said. "But you bring back Cody Bellinger -- he's been so efficient for us, just probably one of the best players in the game right now. And then Ben Rice, the emergence of him -- I know he had a great year last year, but he just continues to make strides."

Rice, who brought in four runs Sunday, is tied with Judge for the team lead in homers while slashing .306/.397/.658 with 44 RBI through 54 games. Bellinger, meanwhile, is slashing .271/.378/.476 with eight long balls and 38 RBI through 58 games of his second season in pinstripes.

"There's a couple things you need to clean up -- maybe a couple things defensively or couple times where, like I said, our offense isn't clicking the way it should be," Judge said. "But I like where we're at. I love this team. A lot of guys are ready to go out there and compete, and all the guys competing for a job -- so, when you do that, good things happen."

I can finally say something that I’ve rarely been able to say this season. A Cardinals pitcher got past the 5th inning without dealing with a train wreck. The truth is Matthew Liberatore was as sharp as he’s been all year. That fact combined with the St. Louis Cardinals bats waking up resulted in a series-winning victory Sunday night at Busch Stadium with the ultimate “mang” Albert Pujols in the TV broadcast booth.

The Cardinals welcomed Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jordan Wicks to Busch Stadium by cracking 3 consecutive hits in the top of the 1st inning by JJ Wetherholt, Iván Herrera and Jordan Walker. Walker’s single drove in Wetherholt giving the Cardinals a quick 1-0 lead. After Nelson Velázquez grounded into a fielder’s choice, Alec Burleson hit a infield popup that landed just behind the pitcher’s mound, Herrera scored from third giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

For once, the St. Louis offense would not go on pause as they rallied for 3 more in the bottom of the third inning. JJ Wetherholt and Iván Herrera singled to start the inning. After Jordan Walker struck out and Nelson Velázquez lined out, Alec Burleson hit a clutch single to left scoring JJ. Then, Masyn Winn singled right up the middle giving the Cardinals 2 more runs making it 5-0 St. Louis.

Matthew Liberatore gave the Cardinals exactly the type of start they needed. He was taken out after he got Pete Crow-Armstrong out to start the 6th inning by manager Oli Marmol. His stat line for the night was 5 1/3 innings giving up no runs and allowing only 3 hits while striking out 4 and walking only 1. New callup Hunter Dobbins was brought in to keep the Cubs faces in the dirt. Unfortunately, the first batter he faced, Alex Bregman, hit a home run into the left field bullpen getting Chicago on the board making it 5-1 Cardinals. He settled down after that and struck out Suzuki and got Ian Happ to ground out to close out the 6th.

Both the Cubs and Cardinals would threaten to score in the 7th inning, but neither team could get it done. In the top of the 7th, Michael Busch hit a one-out single before Michael Conforto doubled to left, but Busch was only able to take third on the play. Hunter Dobbins would get out of the jam by coming back from a 3-0 count to strike out the mega-struggling Dansby Swanson and then getting Nico Hoerner to ground out to end the Cubs 7th. St. Louis would be equally unable to turn a rally into runs after JJ Wetherholt walked (OBP for the win) and then stole 2nd base and advanced to 3rd base on a wild pitch. Ivan Herrera would also walk, but Jordan Walker sadly hit a ball to Alex Bregman at third who quickly turned that into a double play ending the Cardinals hopes of adding to their lead.

Hunter Dobbins did a good job keeping the Cubs under tabs not just through the 8th inning, but the 9th also. His only wart was the Alex Bregman home run, but he struck out 4 and didn’t walk anybody. Solo home runs every now and then are much easier to tolerate than an abundance of walks especially in a game you’re leading, so well done, Mr. Dobbins. Congratulations getting your first career save, too.

The St. Louis Cardinals return to Busch Stadium Monday night as the Texas Rangers come to town. Let’s make sure they see all of our 2011 pennants as their bus arrives. Is David Freese available for valet service I wonder? Michael McGreevy will start for the Cardinals while Jacob deGrom will give it a go for the Rangers. It’ll be nice to see Skip Schumaker again, if nothing else. First pitch is set for 6:45pm central time with the broadcast available on Cardinals.tv.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs lost to Indianapolis (Pirates), 8-1.

Matthew Boyd started this game on a rehab assignment and it went well. Much better than his final line would indicate. Boyd pitched 4+ innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits. Two of those runs came after he allowed two singles to start the fifth inning, after which Boyd exited after reaching his 60 pitch limit. Both of those runs came around to score. Boyd struck out two and walked one.

Here’s the Statcast breakdown of Boyd’s afternoon.

Iowa only managed four hits. Right fielder Brett Bateman doubled home shortstop Ben Cowles in the eighth inning for the only Iowa run. Bateman was 1 for 3 with a walk and Cowles was 1 for 4.

Bateman came just short of a home run.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies clouded the vision of the Chattanooga Lookouts (Reds), 4-2. The win moved the Smokies to within a half game of first-place Chattanooga in the Southern League North Division.

Brooks Caple turned in another good start, going five innings and allowing just one run on four hits. Most impressively, Caple struck out seven and walked just one.

The win went to Jace Beck, who pitched the next two innings and did not allow a run or a hit. Beck did walk one while striking out three.

Vince Reilly gave up a leadoff home run in the eighth to the first batter he faced, but threw the final two innings and got the save. The final line on Reilly was one run on one hit and three walks over two innings. Reilly also struck out three.

Knoxville didn’t even have a hit in this game until the sixth inning, but they scored one run in the sixth and three more in the eighth to get the win. Third baseman Jefferson Rojas had an RBI single in the sixth and another one in the eighth. He was 2 for 4 and also scored once.

Left fielder Carter Trice and first baseman Edgar Alvarez had back-to-back RBI singles in the eighth. They were both 1 for 4.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs cracked the Ft. Wayne TinCaps (Padres), 7-5. The win moves South Bend’s record on the year to 30-17 with a 4.5 game lead over second-place Wisconsin.

Will Sanders started this game on a rehab assignment as he tries to work his way back to Iowa. Sanders pitched 4.2 innings and allowed three runs, all in the first inning, but only one of the three runs was earned. Sanders gave up four hits. He walked one and struck out two.

Nazier Mulé threw three middle innings, didn’t allow a run and got the win. Mulé gave up one hit. He walked two and hit one while striking out five.

Ethan Bell came on to pitch the ninth in a non-save situation with South Bend leading 7-3. But he couldn’t find the plate—giving up a single and four walks—and exited the game after giving up two runs and leaving with the bases loaded and two outs. So Kenton Egbert relieved Bell and got a one-pitch save by inducing a fielder’s choice on a grounder to short.

Right fielder Miguel Useche hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for South Bend’s first run. Useche was a triple shy of the cycle, going 3 for 4 with a double and the home run. He drove in three runs and scored twice.

Catcher Justin Stransky was 2 for 3 with a walk and a run batted in.

Shortstop Ty Southisene was 2 for 4 with a walk and one run scored.

Useche’s fourth home run on the year.

RBI single for Useche.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans got their wings clipped by the Wilson Warbirds (Brewers), 10-1.

Pierce Coppola started and took the loss, although he pitched better than the guys who came after him. Coppola allowed one run on one hit over three innings, but he did have control issues as he walked five and had a wild pitch. Coppola struck out four.

The Pelicans managed just four hits. Right fielder Eli Lovich was 1 for 4 with a double. Second baseman Alexis Hernandez went 0 for 2 with two walks and he scored the one run.

The one run scored after Lovich’s double sent Hernandez to third and he scored on a groundout.

ACL Cubs

Off day.

Unfortunately you can’t spread runs around.

Goal differential or aggregate scoring doesn’t decide a series in baseball. If it did, the Giants 19-6 pile on against the Colorado Rockies would’ve secured them a sweep with some runs to spare.

Alas, what’s done is done. This ain’t religion: the sins of Friday and Saturday can’t be erased with the mea culpas and genuflects of Sunday — no matter how many Hail Mary doubles a team hits. 

The Giants did hit a lot of those. Nine in fact by six different hitters. Rafael Devers collected three, Bryce Eldridge peppered two off the wall in center and left, and recent call-up, Jonah Cox, bagged a two-bagger for his first Major League hit in his first Major League at-bat — off a position player, but who cares?  

San Francisco’s 19 runs and 25 hits on the day were the most single game total for any MLB team so far this season. 13 of those knocks went for extra base hits, eclipsing the year’s previous high of 10 (hit by the Yankees earlier this week). Every Giants player who logged an at-bat earned a hit in this game, and 10 of the 11 knocked in a run. As a team, they went 10-for-22 with runners in scoring position. Five hitters collected three or more hits. Bryce Eldridge finished a triple shy of the cycle, his four hits shot his average up from .192 to .241. Jung Hoo Lee claimed his first five-hit night of his career (including two in one inning), giving him 13 total hits over his first three games back from the IL. He’s now batting .304 with a .774 OPS.  

Good for him and for him and for him and for him and for him… but after the week this team just put us through, you’re allowed to feel jaded about this one. This team has made us grouches and curmudgeons and skeptics of us all, and the timing of this Coorsy slugfest just feels a little bit in poor taste. At times it felt like watching a self-indulgent experimental art film with a three-and-a-half hour runtime. It begged the question: Who is this for really? Nothing like a blow-out to pad the individual stats, skew the season averages, and store away some hits for a rainy day.  

This team has had a lot of these types of games: Sunday steamers that are all hoo-rah and exclamation points that make us forget the cruel chill of the coming Monday. Offensive surges that are all sound and fury, but signify nothing. 19 runs at Coors Field — yeah, got to be another blip, right?

Right. The only thing that might refute that is time,  if we can look back on this outlier as the game the team re-discovered their legs and took their first step up the basement stairs and out of the cellar.

If we were being our most optimistic selves, what would those signs of life be? Perhaps this game will serve as a major boost for Bryce Eldridge in his early career. He had been putting together some great at-bats, making solid contact, but his slash line didn’t have much to show for it. That changed today. Results started to come. He led off the 2nd with a double on the eighth pitch of the AB from starter Tanner Gordon. He twice laid off 2-strikes change-ups below the zone, and twice fought off fastballs, before drilling another offspeed pitch to the wall in deep center. He’d work the count full again in the 4th and backspin a sinker to the opposite field corner. The only time he chased out of the zone was after a 3-1 sinker above the belt that swatted 453 feet to dead center.   

As a whole, the order responded well to a rather embarrassing two-error, two-run flub by starter Robbie Ray in the 4th that whittled San Francisco’s lead to just one run at the time. A one run lead in Denver essentially means you’re behind, and Ray had taken all of San Francisco’s momentum and airmailed it over first base into right field. It was the kind of mistake that had ruined San Francisco — and much better teams — before. Instead, four pitches into their next-ups, a pair of doubles from Lee and Matt Chapman had taken back one of those runs. Six consecutive Giants reached base with two outs later in the 5th, scoring six more runs thanks to Willy Adames’s grand slam. They didn’t stop there either, but continued to add on in each of the remaining frames because there’s no such thing as “overkill” in the Mile-High city.

Encouraging things happened that might lead to other encouraging things as the Giants make their way down the mountain and back to the land of reality…but don’t hold your breath. This offense likes to get hot and then go real cold real fast. Maybe it becomes more consistent and dynamic with more reliable contributions from Eldridge and Lee. Sure! And also, the offense isn’t really what worries me. It’s the pitching, and Robby Ray, that worries me.

I know it’s never fair to judge the arms in a rout, especially in Colorado — but Ray did not look sharp from the get-go. He needed 96 pitches to record 12 outs. Rockies bats just wrung him out like a dish towel just as they did to Adrian Houser yesterday. They put him in the stretch and had him stressed about runners in scoring position in every frame. They stole three bases behind him, and easily too. He did well to manage the threat, allowing one earned run on a sac fly while striking out 6, but 10 three ball count and 8 full counts, including two 10+ pitch plate-appearances, took their toll. Willi Castro’s 11-pitch battle with two on and two outs in the 4th nearly killed him. 

An inside sinker shattered Castro’s bat and produced a comebacker, but by that point, Ray was so gassed that he couldn’t bend down far enough to field the ball. He eventually recovered the baseball after it glanced off his glove, but in his haste to make the play, the throw sailed over Devers’ head. Two runs scored. Ray did hold the Rockies hitless in  8 at-bats with RISP, yet they still scored 3 runs thanks to a wild pitch set up a sacrifice fly and that disastrous throwing error. 

Even after the 7-run cushion provided by the offense, Ray couldn’t come out to pitch the 5th and put himself in line for a win. His four innings of work was the shortest outing of the year so far, and his fourth consecutive start in which came up short of five complete.

His recent inability to go deep into games tasks an inexperienced and weak relief corps with covering a lot of innings that no one feels comfortable with them covering. Tristan Beck took the hill in the 6th and with an 11-3 lead struggled to attack the zone. He needed 26 pitches to get through the inning, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk. The lack of sharpness in the middle-late innings wasn’t consequential today, but we’ve certainly seen it become a problem in the not-so-distant past.

Colorado isn’t real. 19-run games aren’t real. Problems with the rotation and bullpen are real. Milwaukee is real, and that’s where the Giants are going next.

After a quick three-game road trip to visit the Houston Astros, the Milwaukee Brewers are back home to host the San Francisco Giants for four games beginning Monday night. The Brewers had a strong month of May, going 19-7 with just one series loss (a 1-2 series against the Dodgers over Memorial Day weekend). At 35-21 on the year, they’ll have at least a four-game lead in the NL Central heading into June (depending on tonight’s result between St. Louis and Chicago).

The Giants, on the other hand, went 10-18 in May, losing five straight and nine of 11 before picking up a big 19-6 win over the Rockies on the final day of the month. They sit at 23-36 on the season and in fourth place in the NL West.

Brandon Woodruff is the closest Brewer to returning from injury, with speculation he may start one of the final two games of this series as Milwaukee has TBD listed for both games as of now. Other injured pitchers include Angel Zerpa (out for the season), Logan Henderson (mid-June return), Jared Koenig (early June), and Quinn Priester (TBD). Outfielder Brandon Lockridge is the only injured position player, as he’s out until mid- to late June with a knee injury that’s kept him out for most of May.

The Giants are without pitchers Rowan Wick (out for season), Randy Rodríguez (late 2026 or 2027), Hayden Birdsong (out for season), José Buttó (late 2026 or 2027), Tyler Mahle (June), Reiver Sanmartin (June), and Jason Foley (June). Outfielders Harrison Bader, Jared Oliva, and Heliot Ramos are also out, with all three slated for June returns.

Jake Bauers leads the Brewer offense with nine homers, 10 doubles, 33 RBIs, and 30 runs scored across 49 games this season. Brice Turang is in the midst of a cold spell, though he’s still hitting .263/.391/.438 with seven homers this season. William Contreras, Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, and Andrew Vaughn are the other key contributors offensively, with Gary Sánchez, Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell, Joey Ortiz, David Hamilton, Blake Perkins, and Luis Rengifo providing supporting roles. As a team, the Brewers are hitting .242/.328/.359 (.687 OPS ranks 25th), with 40 homers (last), 268 runs (11th), and 60 steals (second).

Casey Schmitt leads San Francisco’s offense with 12 homers and 12 doubles, slashing .294/.332/.548 across 51 games. Former Brewer Willy Adames has eight homers, while Rafael Devers has seven. With Bader and Ramos out, the next best players for the Giants are Jung Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman (who hasn’t been all that good this year), and Luis Arraez (who continues to hit a reliable .300+, at .321 this season). Fellow former Brewer Eric Haase and Daniel Susac split catching duties, with Bryce Eldridge, Drew Gilbert, Victor Bericoto, Jonah Cox, and super utilityman Jesus Rodriguez rounding out the squad. As a team, the Giants are hitting .254/.301/.404 (.705 OPS ranks 14th), with 53 homers (tied for 23rd), 232 runs (25th), and 15 steals (last).

The Milwaukee bullpen is led by league wins leader Aaron Ashby (a perfect 9-0), Abner Uribe, and Trevor Megill. Grant Anderson and DL Hall have also played key roles, with Shane Drohan (who will start the first game of this series), Chad Patrick (who has worked as both a starter and reliever), Rob Zastryzny, and Jake Woodford rounding things out. As a staff, the Brewers have a 3.17 team ERA (third), including a 3.11 starter ERA (fourth) and a 3.25 bullpen ERA (seventh). They’ve struck out 542 batters (fifth) over 499 1/3 innings.

Matt Gage leads the San Francisco bullpen with 28 appearances and a 1.96 ERA this season, while Keaton Winn (2.45 ERA) and JT Brubaker (2.70 ERA) have also played key roles. Ryan Borucki, Erik Miller, Caleb Kilian, Tristan Beck, Joel Peguero, and Sam Hentges round things out for the Giants. Of note: they don’t really have a defined closer, as five players have at least one save this season, and no players have more than three. As a staff, the Giants have a 4.33 team ERA (20th), including a 4.77 starter ERA (28th) and a 3.69 bullpen ERA (12th). They’ve struck out 468 batters (25th) over 521 2/3 innings.

Probable Pitchers

Monday, June 1 @ 6:40 p.m.: LHP Shane Drohan (2-1, 2.63 ERA, 2.37 FIP) vs. RHP Landen Roupp (5-5, 3.30 ERA, 2.65 FIP)

Drohan, 27, has gradually turned into a key piece of Milwaukee’s bullpen this season. After making the start in his MLB debut back in April, each of his last 10 appearances have come in relief, picking up a pair of wins and a save. For the season, he has a 2.63 ERA, 2.37 FIP, and 28 strikeouts over 27 1/3 innings. Expect Drohan to go somewhere between three and five-ish innings in this one (he’s maxed out at 71 pitches this season, though he has no more than 42 pitches since the start of May). This is Drohan’s first career appearance against San Francisco.

Roupp, 27, is in his third major league season, all with San Francisco. A former 12th-round pick, Roupp got out to a great start this year, pitching to a 2.55 ERA over his first six starts. In May, however, Roupp went 0-4 with 14 runs allowed (12 earned) across 24 2/3 innings (4.38 ERA) as the Giants lost all five games. Those bring his season stats to an average-looking 3.30 ERA, 2.65 FIP, and 68 strikeouts over 60 innings. In four career appearances (two starts) against Milwaukee, Roupp is 0-1 with a 3.65 ERA and 10 strikeouts across 12 1/3 innings.

Tuesday, June 2 @ 6:40 p.m.: LHP Kyle Harrison (6-1, 1.57 ERA, 2.44 FIP) vs. RHP Trevor McDonald (2-2, 4.34 ERA, 3.24 FIP)

Harrison, 24, has quickly turned into one of the best pitchers in baseball with Milwaukee. A former third-round pick by these Giants back in 2020, he spent the first 2.5 years of his career in San Francisco, totaling 39 appearances (35 starts) with a 4.48 ERA, 4.56 FIP, and 178 strikeouts over 182 2/3 innings. Since being acquired by Milwaukee this offseason, he’s made 10 starts with a sterling 1.57 ERA, 2.44 FIP, and 61 strikeouts over 51 2/3 innings. He’s earned the win in each of his last three outings, allowing no runs since May 9. He went six scoreless against the Cardinals last week, allowing four hits and no walks with a pair of strikeouts. This marks Harrison’s first career appearance against his former team.

McDonald, 25, is a former 11th-round pick who has spent parts of three seasons with the Giants. He’s made five starts this season, with a 4.34 ERA, 3.24 FIP, and 27 strikeouts across 29 innings. He’s lost each of his last two outings, totaling 10 innings against the White Sox and Diamondbacks, allowing 10 runs (nine earned) on nine hits, three walks, three hit batters, and a pair of wild pitches. This marks McDonald’s first career appearance against Milwaukee.

Wednesday, June 3 @ 6:40 p.m.: TBD vs. RHP Logan Webb (2-4, 4.82 ERA, 3.52 FIP)

The Brewers haven’t yet announced a starter for either of these last two games, but I’ll venture a guess that they feature some combination of a returning Brandon Woodruff and a trio of young pitchers in Chad Patrick, Brandon Sproat, and Coleman Crow, especially given that Crow got this slot in the last go-round and Sproat’s turn through the rotation would be Thursday’s game. With that in mind, I’ll just quickly list out their season stats and career stats against the Giants.

Woodruff: 2-1, 3.60 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 25 Ks over 30 IP in 2026; 1-0, 2.00 ERA, 21 Ks over 18 IP against SF

Patrick: 2-2, 2.60 ERA, 3.38 FIP, 33 Ks over 45 IP in 2026; 0-0, 3.38 ERA, 7 Ks over 5 1/3 IP against SF

Sproat: 1-4, 6.24 ERA, 5.55 FIP, 52 Ks over 49 IP in 2026; no career appearances against SF

Crow: 0-0, 3.14 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 8 Ks over 14 1/3 IP in 2026; no career appearances against SF

Webb, who has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for the last four seasons (he’s finished 11th, second, sixth, and fourth in Cy Young voting in that time period), has struggled to begin 2026. Still just 29, he’s now in his eighth MLB season. He has a 4.82 ERA, 3.52 FIP, and 47 strikeouts over 52 1/3 innings. San Francisco has lost each of his last four games, though he’s only been truly “bad” in one of those games. During that period, he’s totaled 22 1/3 innings, allowing 11 runs on 24 hits, seven walks, and three hit batters while striking out 20 against the Dodgers, Phillies, Padres, and Rockies. Webb has dominated the Brewers across seven career starts, with a 4-0 record, 2.08 ERA, and 50 strikeouts across 43 1/3 innings, including a pair of wins last year.

Thursday, June 4 @ 1:10 p.m.: TBD vs. RHP Adrian Houser (2-5, 5.59 ERA, 5.18 FIP)

See above for the Brewers’ potential starter in this one.

Houser, 33, is in his 10th MLB season and first with San Francisco after agreeing to a two-year, $22 million contract in the offseason. The former longtime Brewer (he played parts of seven seasons with Milwaukee between 2015 and 2023) hasn’t had much success in San Francisco this year, with a 5.59 ERA, 5.18 FIP, and 35 strikeouts across 56 1/3 innings in 11 starts. He got hit hard in his last outing against Colorado, allowing four runs on eight hits, two walks, and a hit batter while striking out four across 3 2/3 innings on 92 pitches. Houser has never faced the Brewers entering this series.

How to Watch & Listen

Monday, June 1: Brewers TV & nationally on FS1; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Tuesday, June 2: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Wednesday, June 3: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Thursday, June 4: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Prediction

The Brewers had a great month of May, and I think they’ll keep things rolling to start the month of June. Give me Milwaukee to win three of four.

Once again, the White Sox proved persistent, resilient and … just plain … good, knocking off Detroit, 2-1, sweeping the series and creeping to within a game of first place in the AL Central.

We’re all old enough to remember that most national writers tabbed the White Sox for last place once again in the division, generously allowing that the club would avoid a fourth straight 100-loss season. Meanwhile, Detroit was a near-consensus pick to run away with the division. Some prognosticators, certainly not someone as bright as your current recapper, saw the Tigers as the top team in the American League and a possible pennant-winner.

That is a distant memory now, all of two months ago, as Detroit’s loss today buries them further in the cellar of both the ALC and the American League at large; the Bengals in fact are tied with the Colorado Rockies for worst in the majors.

The White Sox, meanwhile, keep chugging along, five games better than .500 for the first time since 2022. With a White Sox win at Minny tomorrow, idle Cleveland can merely nibble its nails as the Good Guys creep to within a half-game of the top spot. (For those who care of such things Crosstown, the Cubs are getting mauled early in St. Louis, and a loss drops them below the White Sox in the standings. Who woulda thunk that one all of [checks calendar, rubs eyes, checks the year on the calendar] TWO WEEKS ago, when the ivy bumblers were the swellest thing since pee troughs and the White Sox were just a wannabe 70-win team?)

As for today’s contest, well this is a late and last-minute filler recap, so pardon the lack of deets. Detroit sprung ahead before fannies got settled in seats, a single-double combo with one out in the first putting Sean Burke again behind early.

Burke, natch, shook it off as all Sox starters have been doing for much of the season, turning in a tidy 5 1/3 innings with just one more hit allowed in his outing. And while we are fond of (or addicted to) dogging our bullpen, sorry folks but the reliever corps has been nothing but splendid. Missing Mike Vasil, losing Jordan Leasure’s solid 2025 finish, getting a non-closer performance so far from Seranthony Domínguez, this group has been nails. Grant Taylor, Bryan Hudson and Sean Newcomb have been murderously good cogs in the machine, and at best we would have pegged Taylor as such.

Today, it was Chris Murphy (subbing up for Tyler Gilbert on emergency family leave), Brandon Eisert, Hudson and Tyler Davis (first career save) covering the final 14 outs of the game, and doing it with aplomb.

Offensively it wasn’t Chicago’s most buff effort, but when the pitching suffocates the opponent to one run, you don’t gotta do much. And the White Sox didn’t gotta do much today, with a short burst in the seventh that covered the one-run deficit.

First, Colson Montgomery homered again, tying the score at one and creating an uh-oh moment for the feeble Tigs and their hapless coward manager:

Providing the eventual winning margin was how-the-hell-is-he-on-pace-for-5-WAR Tristan Peters, doinking a grounder to the left side that plated Chase Meidroth:

(In-between the four straight singles that provided the winner came Jacob Gonzalez’s first career hit, as part of a 1-for-3 day and flawless play at first base:

That’s it! Just a simple, humdrum win for the White Sox. It is bizarre, after the setback .500 season of 2022 and then the sewer play that proceeded over the next three seasons, that the White Sox are a team now to be reckoned with. But reckoned with they must be. And if precious Cleveland isn’t careful, the South Siders are gonna sneak up and pop them in the jaw like most of the majors has experienced from them so far in 2026.

The Mariners devised their piggyback plan, alternating Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo as starters, so the division would be “equitable,” rotating between which pitchers made the scheduled five-inning start. Today they got a perfectly even split as each pitcher tossed exactly five innings, with exactly 71 pitches for each, as it took the Mariners offense ten innings to polish off a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2.

Bryce Miller looked strong, cunningly mixing his pitches against an Arizona team that likes to hunt the fastball. Miller out-Mized Brewers wunderkind Jacob Misiorowski today, with 17 swinging strikes.

“It’s cool seeing the whiff and the results and the swing and miss on non-fastballs,” Miller said postgame. “I’ve always been the guy with the good fastball and after that, not great. So far this year I think the slider’s performed really well, cutter has been good, splitter has been good, sweeper and curveball, when I’ve thrown them, have been good as well. Seeing the breaking balls and the off-speeds come along has been fun.”

Miller got himself into and out of some trouble in the second. It started, as it so often does, with a one-out five-pitch walk to Ryan Waldschmidt where Miller stubbornly trying to go to the bottom of the zone with a fastball and Waldschmidt kept laying off. Miller pulled out some off-speed to try to retire pesky Ildemaro Vargas, who fouled three straight balls to the pull side before finally pulling a fastball fair into right field for Arizona’s first hit of the day. Miller got some help from Luke Raley, who made a strong throw home on a would-be sac fly to keep a run from scoring, and then struck out Aramis Garcia to end what would be his only real threat of the day. From there, Miller cruised through his five assigned innings, never giving Arizona room to breathe.

Offensively, the Mariners got on the board first in the second thanks to Cole Young. It’s been a tough May for Young, who’s been putting in a lot of work with hitting coordinator Edgar Martínez to relax his grip at the plate and get back to simplifying things. Young got a 91.7 mph fastball right in his lefty loop zone and kept things simple to the tune of 105.4 mph:

The Mariners could have done more in that inning, loading the bases with one out with a pair of singles and a walk, but Julio Rodríguez flew out to shallow center and then a questionable send/base running decision at home saw Jhonny Pereda cut down. Boooooo. On the bright side, they did have Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly at 42 pitches through two innings, which is a plus against the weak contact merchant Kelly. Kelly didn’t have his best command today – he hit Luke Raley in the third, which, understandable, and walked Dom Canzone in the fourth – but was able to navigate around trouble both times and get those weak-contact outs to keep his pitch count in check, with the Mariners again squandering a scoring opportunity in the fourth despite a J.P. Crawford two-out single that sent Colt Emerson from first to third (oh the specific, forgotten joy of having a runner who can go first to third on a shallow line drive to right field), as Julio grounded out softly on a swinging bunt on the first pitch he saw.

Those missed scoring opportunities came back to bite the Mariners when it was time for the piggyback to change over. Luis Castillo, facing the top of the order, walked Ketel Marte and gave up a fluky ground-ball double to Corbin Carroll to put runners on at second and third with one out. It looked like Castillo might escape the inning cleanly despite some shaky command after a play at home, nicely executed by Crawford and Pereda, but a wild pitch from Castillo brought the run in anyway, tying up the game and costing Bryce Miller a win. It wasn’t really Castillo’s fault, instead victimized by some shaky defense – and, in an echo of the last piggyback loss, if the Mariners had scored more during their many chances, it wouldn’t have mattered – but it was still a bummer of a follow-up after Miller had been so brilliant.

Thankfully, Dominic Canzone came through in the sixth with another solo homer to pull the Mariners ahead, getting a hold of a pitch from Kelly that was very similar to the one Young hit out:

But once again the Mariners left a chance to stack runs on the DBacks on the table; after Jhonny Pereda singled and Kelly exited the game, Kevin Ginkel was able to strike out Crawford and Rodríguez to end the threat, giving Castillo again just the one whisper-thin run to work with. Castillo made it until the eighth, but once again fluky luck caught up with him. Pinch-hitter Gabriel Moreno led off the inning with a parachute-job single, and nine-hole hitter Tim Tawa laid down a bunt that was poorly fielded by Pereda (and maybe misdirected by Naylor pointing at second trying to get the lead runner), who overthrew into center to allow the runners to second and third with no outs. Moreno then scored the tying run on a sac fly from Marte. But Castillo was able to get out of it thanks to a groundout and yet another leaping play from Cole Young, quietly the MVP of today’s game.

The Diamondbacks brought in hard-throwing reliever Juan Morillo for the eighth, who had to work around a Dominic Canzone single and a walk to Colt Emerson but was able to strike out Crawford swinging. After Castillo put the middle of the lineup down in the ninth, the DBaks stuck with Morillo, who blew through the top of the lineup, all seemingly swinging for the home run ball.

So once again, the game went to extras, and the Mariners stuck with Castillo, pitching in a Manfred Man situation for the first time. Castillo navigated around some sticky trouble in the top of the tenth, letting Arizona’s ghost runner get to third and walking the pesky Moreno but no more than that, keeping the game tied.

“That’s an inning where if you don’t have experience with it, it does make you a little nervous,” said Castillo postgame. “But the important thing was we were able to keep attacking every hitter. The pitching coach told me, this is your game, finish it, let’s go, and those words motivated me to go out there and do that.”

Arizona countered with former Yankee Jonathan Loáisiga, who immediately intentionally walked Luke Raley (great bunter) to get to Cole Young (acceptable bunter). Young, who has been solid in clutch situations, was able to put down the sacrifice cleanly, bringing up Victor Robles, who had pinch-run for Canzone back in the eighth. Robles put a swing on the first strike he saw, booping a little lawn dart towards the drawn-in shortstop, who muffed the ball, delivering the Mariners a win and a sweep.

Despite the sturm und drang around the piggyback situation, the Mariners are now 2-1 in those games, and the one loss is pinned more squarely on the offense. It’s quite a different situation now – the Mariners tallied 33 hits in the series sweep against Arizona, and 36 in the series against Oakland, versus a paltry 17 in the series against Kansas City (with 12 of those coming in one game). Today Ryan wrote about how the piggyback experiment has been working, and why it’s been working; it’s true that wins cure all ills, but that’s something that can only happen when the offense pulls its weight, too. Today they did just enough to do that, keeping the good vibes rolling (do piggybacks roll? Jostle? Hitch?) as the Mets come into town to finish off the homestand before a long road trip.

So how we feeling?

James Attwood: Well, my allergies have been flaring up like nobody’s business as the season change and high winds blow through. But other than that – oh, you mean about the team, don’t you? In that case, I tend to be content with where they are at right now. They had a grueling start to the season. Now, they just finished the nice, soft, cushy part of the schedule. They remain over .500 as the calendar flips to June. There is a lot of baseball left to be played, but this team is starting to look like they are at least going to make a show of being competitive until the break. That should make this season’s trade deadline “interesting”.

Makakilo: Friday’s 1-run loss to the Mariners left me conflicted. FELT GOOD. Six runs scored. Perdomo’s homer showed resurgence of his power. The bullpen allowed 1 earned run in 4 innings (before extra innings). FELT BAD. Batters were 3 for 17 with RISP, with 13 runners LOB. Gallen allowed 5 runs in 5 innings.

1AZFan1: Pretty good. We’ve closed the gap with the Padres and are in the middle of the Wild Card race at the end of May. Can’t complain there. I’m answering before the Saturday and Sunday games so I’m hoping that the D-backs don’t fall flat in the next 2 days, but Friday was a good close game in which we played a hot team in a raucous environment right down to the wire.

Spencer: Fine. Games one and half of two against Seattle have tempered my excitement. A great reminder that we beat up on the second worst run team in MLB and probably the third worst as well.

ISH95: I’m with James on the allergies, but other than that I’m alright. This has been a great, very fun, and satisfying couple of weeks, but I can’t shake the knowledge that it’s been against the Rockies and Giants. Nor have the first two games against the Mariners done much to convince me those concerns were invalid. But winning is winning, and every win you get against sub-.500 teams counts the same as the ones against the Dodgers come October, so I can’t be mad about it.

Obviously, the team’s hot streak has been helped by facing lower caliber opponents, but given that, what has been the biggest cause for optimism during the streak?

James Attwood: The trio of Marte, Carroll, and Perdomo being big contributors to the success. My first instinct was to point at the pitching being so dominant during that spell. But I am discounting those successes a bit because of the opponents. But this team needs the trio at the top of the order to keep doing special things if the team is going to remain in contention for October baseball. Those three finally coming around can only spell good things for Arizona. Marte’s streak may have come to an end last night, but Perdomo had three knocks, including a home run. The key is for those three to keep the production up.

Makakilo: Starting 12 May, there were two simultaneous streaks.

BATTING. Diamondbacks scored at least 2 runs per game. 16 game streak is ongoing.

ROTATION. 11 of 16 games were quality starts.

1AZFan1: Ketel going white hot and the continued excellence from the starting rotation has been great. Those two are obvious but perhaps the less obvious piece I’m excited about is the reemergence of Kevin Ginkel as a weapon out of the bullpen.

Spencer: Ketel Marte. He wasn’t hitting before this easy schedule, and confidence can do a lot when you’re talking about a top tier MLB hitter. That feels sustainable (at a lower level) in a way that nothing else about the streak does.

ISH95: Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Ketel Marte. It started with that walk-off home run and just snowballed from there. It’s been a long time coming this season, and thankfully, Marte has finally shown up.

And what red flags are you seeing that might suggest it won’t be sustainable when they resume playing playoff-caliber teams?

James Attwood: Zac Gallen struggled again last night, this time against the Mariners. The offense, despite the comeback and despite scoring six, missed out on some opportunities to tally another win. Zac Gallen is not the only Arizona pitcher who started looking better against weak opponents. The pitching staff is going to need to continue to grind and the offense is going to need to be deeper than the top-three hitters. That’s an awful lot to ask of a team with precious little in the way of depth and some close injury scares of late.

Makakilo: The Diamondbacks defense is often among the top teams. Currently it has 11 DRS, which ranks only 11th. Great defense will be needed against playoff caliber teams.

1AZFan1: Ketel won’t be white hot forever. I’m sure Ketel will still be productive after this streak ends, but we’ll need a couple guys clicking beside Marte and Corbin.

Spencer: No true red flags for me, but the rotation is no where close to being as good as they’ve looked against the Rockies and Giants.

I will take this time to discuss the defensive miscues or Jose Fernandez though. Rookies will rookie, but he needs time in Reno and a “main” defensive spot. His decisions to not step on first before throwing to second cost Ryne Nelson a shot at a complete game…. It’s normal and fine when the team is doing well, but it’s a sign showing his lack of high end minor league experience.

ISH95: The starting pitching has been fine during this run, but there have been more chinks in the armor with them than the offense or the bullpen. Gallen especially.

The initial salvos of the CBA battle have been sent out. What are your initial reactions?

James Attwood: I still think that both sides kicked the can down the road a few too many times and that a lockout seems inevitable. The MLBPA proposal does little to help the sport get any healthier while the ownership side of things isn’t even listening to what the players are saying. Oh, and Rob Manfred is still completely out of touch with anything resembling reality.

Makakilo: Although the two proposals are very far apart, one aspect is not so different. The initial proposals seem to agree on a new requirement for teams to spend a minimum of $150 Million on player salaries. Links follow for MLBTR articles about the two initial proposals (form may delete them): [Ed. note] form did not delete them! https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/mlb-submits-initial-counterproposal-to-mlbpa.html https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/05/mlbpa-releases-details-of-collective-bargaining-proposal.html

1AZFan1:This is my favorite non-Diamondbacks baseball story to follow this year. The owners officially threw down the salary cap proposal, but most everything they laid out was very hypothetical with no real details or mechanisms about how we would get to our current system to this new salary cap era. The owners proposal throws out a salary cap number that is $100m+ less than what the Dodgers are scheduled to spend next year; how do we get them there?

The Players’ proposal is good for what it is; asking for younger players to make money earlier and revamping the QO are good items for them, but it’s essentially more of the same system. The owners didn’t put anything about that in their proposal because they genuinely don’t care how the Players want to divvy up the pie as long as the owners can establish that there is only one size of pie. The Players do propose a salary floor, but it’s lower than what the owners suggested so that’s kind of a bad look if you ask me.

I’m very hopeful that some sort meaningful change can come through this CBA. Major League Baseball is an entertainment product, so at the end of the day, the fans should be happy with the outcome. Every poll I’ve seen has shown the majority of fans want some sort of cap. Talking heads will say a cap only helps the owners, but it’s not like the Players are some sort of righteous martyrs playing for scraps. They’re in it for themselves, too. So yeah, give us what we want! Sorry for the long response.

Spencer: That neither side deserves my sympathy. They make more money in 6 months than I will in half my career (if not far, far more). Argue and complain all you want, but I am embarrassed watching it play out.

ISH95: The last lock out was a long time ago, but I remember being far more supportive of the ideas and proposals put out by the MLBPA than this first round. The MLBPA comes off as not really being serious about the issues facing the sport and while the basic plan the Owners put forward seems a bit too simplistic to actually fix the problem as well, it seems closer to the right track. A cap is the way to go at this point. Taxes and penalties clearly don’t work, and the sport is suffering for it.

A random thought/aside that’s been bouncing around in my head related to this is that a lot of people point to say, the Mets, as an example that money doesn’t win by default. But the flip side of that is that now we’ve got a bunch of high value players that are off the market, can’t be used by anyone and are still losing. It’s better for the sport of those top tier free agents get spread out more.

If you became God Emperor of MLB, what would your salary cap/competitive balance tax solution look like?

James Attwood: For starters, all television revenue is split evenly among the 30 (preferably an expanded 32) teams. That will require taking a few years to implement, as the various RSN deals and other smaller deals expire on staggered schedules. I do like the notion of a competitive integrity floor, probably one tied to penalties to the MLB revenue sharing, so that teams not spending enough forfeit money for doing so. Essentially, they spend the same either way, so might as well spend on players instead of funding an “exceptional rookies fund” (or whatever purposes the forfeiture goes toward). Maybe even make the penalty hit harder (by a small number) than having spent enough to begin with. Then, deferrals, even under this revised escrow-based funding model, need to be eliminated to avoid gaming AAV and to keep teams from reaping interest payments on unpaid salaries, giving them more money to sign premium talent. There are plenty of other, smaller tweaks I would like to see made as well. But for me, as long as there is massive disparity in media revenue and no disincentive to extreme frugality, there really is nothing else to discuss.

Makakilo: I keep the current system, which results in high revenue teams sharing with low revenue teams, like the Diamondbacks. An alternative could be that all 30 teams equally share all broadcast revenues, but the complexities and contractual restrictions could make that alternative unworkable.

1AZFan1: If I were God Emperor, the teams in New York and LA would get half the cap space of every other team. Just because.

Spencer: I’m in a mood, so imma tear it all down. They want to be a State-sponsored illegal monopoly, they deserve true equality. Pool all money made by all teams and divide equally into 31 pools (each team and the big business), then divide that into 2 50% buckets. One pays the players equally regardless, and the other is used to pay the rest of the franchise employees/owners.

The big business section will be divided in half an additional time. Half is put into savings for future needs or miscellaneous expenses and the other half pays league employees.

Since they want special treatment to be a “legal” monopoly, they also don’t deserve hidden books. All financials for the league and each team should be fully public so fans/taxpayers know exactly how the money is being used.

None of this is realistic in the corrupt world we live in, but it’d be fair to all involved parties. I know, I know, imagine talking about “fairness” in the 2026 iteration of the USA

ISH95: There has to be a cap. There has to be a floor. The cap needs to be a hard number. I’m less sure how the floor could be a hard number. What happens if a team doesn’t meet that floor, but Paul Sewald is the only FA left? Does he get a 1 year, $20, $30 million contract to make it up? Given that, I think the soft floor that the MLBPA suggested is probably more feasible. Beyond that, equal sharing of media. Other sports do it, MLB can figure it out, and probably easier since they’re moving towards all of them being produced by MLB Advanced Media/ESPN anyway.

The Athletics and New York Yankees closed out their weekend series on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Sutter Health Park. The Yankees capitalized on another horrible start from A’s pitcher Jacob Lopez, scoring 13 runs in one inning and then holding off the A’s late comeback attempt to prevail 13-8, winning the series and moving the A’s into a tie for second place with the Texas Rangers.

A’s Strike First

Athletics’ right fielder Carlos Cortes led off the bottom of the opening frame with a booming double to left against Yankees starting pitcher Will Warren. With two on and two outs, A’s catcher Jonah Heim reached on Yankees’ center fielder Trent Grisham’s fielding error, both runners scoring on the outfielder’s mishap. Heim proceeded to score on A’s center fielder Lawrence Butler’s RBI single to left field. Butler finally came through with a big hit, giving the hosts a 3-0 lead at the end of the first inning.

A’s starting pitcher Jacob Lopez began the game with two straight scoreless innings, getting two contested strikeouts thanks to the new ABS system.

A’s Pitching Rears its Ugly Head

The Yankees developed their first rally in the top of the third. The visitors led off the inning with a single and two walks to load the bases. Lopez’s command issues reared its head once again. Yankees’ first baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit an RBI infield single and then designated hitter Ben Rice tied the game with a two-run double down the first-base line. One batter later, New York took the lead on Judge’s single that fell in front of Butler in center.

Lopez did not record an out in the third inning. A’s manager Mark Kotsay took him out after his starter allowed four runs on five hits along with a couple of walks to blow his team’s 3-0 advantage.

Newly recalled reliever Michael Kelly replaced Lopez with the bases loaded, zero outs, and the A’s down 4-3. He walked his first batter on four pitches and then gave up Grisham’s two-run single.

The Yankees kept the parade going as former A’s player Max Schuemann lined a double off Kelly to bring home his team’s ninth and tenth runs of the inning. The A’s set the high-water mark in MLB history for the most runs scored without getting an out. A few batters later, Rice crushed a two-run triple to make it a twelve-run inning, the most runs the A’s have allowed in an inning since 1983.

Kelly only got two outs, allowing six more runs as the Yankees batted around twice in one inning. The A’s pitching staff made all kinds of wrong history, but they were not helped by their outfield defense as Cortes and Butler missed a couple of catchable balls.

Fellow right-handed reliever Jack Perkins replaced Kelly, retiring the first batter he faced to end arguably the worst-pitched inning in Athletics franchise history. The inning lasted so long (48 minutes) that Warren went to the bullpen to warm up and stay fresh.

Yankees Cruising Along to Victory

Facing a ten-run deficit, the A’s offense sought to chip away. First baseman Nick Kurtz and Soderstrom hit back-to-back singles, but Warren escaped the jam unscathed by getting Heim and Butler out. The Yankees’ catcher tagged Butler at home plate as Butler just stood there thinking that the ball was foul.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Athletics stranded two more runners. Designated hitter Brent Rooker’s one-out bloop double will hopefully get his bat going as the A’s need more from their struggling slugger. Through five innings, the hosts had plenty of chances to score, yet went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

A’s Offense Fights Back

Meanwhile, Warren shut down the A’s offense, allowing only three unearned runs on six hits over six innings. Yankees’ left-handed reliever Tim Hill replaced him in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Rooker launched his eighth home run of the season, a solo blast to left-center, giving the A’s their first run since the first inning.

The A’s were not done against Hill. After Kurtz walked and pinch-hitter Henry Bolte was hit by a pitch, Heim swatted his second home run of the season, a three-run shot to right-center. His first long ball in an A’s uniform cut his team’s deficit to six.

A’s shortstop Darell Hernaiz began the eighth with a double off New York reliever Fernando Cruz, setting the table for the top of the lineup. With two outs, Kurtz delivered a booming double that scored Hernaiz, bringing home the A’s eighth run of the high-scoring game.

While the Athletics offense fought its way back into this matchup, the team’s bullpen held the Yankees hitless the rest of the game. After struggling last night, Perkins bounced back with 2 1/3 scoreless innings, though the circumstances were much different. A few innings later, A’s reliever Luis Medina continued his impressive relief work, recording four strikeouts over two dominant scoreless innings.

Down five runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Athletics put two runners aboard against Yankees closer David Bednar, but he slammed the door on their comeback bid.

In the wake of a 1-5 homestand, the A’s return to the road to kick off a new month. The team gets a day off in Chicago tomorrow. On Tuesday, the Athletics will start a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs. Left-hander Gage Jump will make his second MLB start. He will be opposed by Cubs’ right-hander Jameson Taillon, who is 2-4 with a 5.37 ERA in 11 starts this season.

In general, it feels fair to say that parity is a good thing in the game of baseball. The more teams that are involved in the chase for playoff contention, the better, and 2026 has certainly been a year of such parity to this point. For better or worse, much of the Junior Circuit is within only a few games of each other, which could lead to a season full of intrigue for plenty of fanbases.

Only three AL teams have “separated” themselves to this point, and we’re getting a little loose with that term as it is. The Yankees, Rays, and Guardians were the only American League clubs to have won 30 or more games headed into this weekend. With a solid series behind them, the White Sox (!) and Mariners have now also reached that mark. What makes the level of parity more interesting, is that almost everyone else is floating around in no-man’s land.

With New York and Tampa Bay (and to a lesser extent Cleveland) at the top of the food chain, that leaves nine other teams with between 25 and 32 wins in 2026. To perhaps put the situation into better context, all but three American League teams — the Royals, Angels, and Tigers, are within just three games of a spot in the postseason. This also doesn’t consider that fact that one of the basement-dwelling teams, the Tigers, made the postseason just last year. They’ve had a truly awful time trying to compete without two-time defending Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal since April 29th, and a 6-22 month of May might have single-handedly nerfed their 2026 hopes and dreams.

There is a lot to take in on the standings page, and at this point in the season, it’s hard to make anything resembling a conclusion. The White Sox and Athletics are both in second place in their respective divisions, playing respectable ball for the first time in years, while the Mariners are in first place with a team that just crept over .500 this weekend. It’s a mess, and despite the benefits a situation like this can bring for the “good” teams, the Yankees aren’t quite able to enjoy them.

Despite the overall good baseball the Yankees have been playing, they still find themselves in second place in the East, in a League they have already somewhat separated themselves from. The Rays, who have that first-place spot by a slim margin, are the only team that has played better than the Yankees in the AL. So, while much of the American League is mired in mediocrity, the Rays and Bombers have to duel it out atop the East. Depending on how things play out, the Yankees could benefit from middling teams occupying much of the schedule, but the priority in their mind is certainly moving past Tampa Bay.

Cleveland is also in close proximity, just a couple of games back of the Yankees, but they certainly have plenty to prove. The American League Central has long been a largely unimpressive (and thus competitive) division, and the Guards once again look to be in the running for the crown.

For the Yankees, the good thing is that at this juncture, no opponent, or potential postseason matchup would be particularly troubling, as the American League remains a bit jumbled. The downside is that their strongest competition at the moment is right in their backyard, and if the Rays come out on top, any advantage New York had becomes far less significant with a longer road in October — as they endured in 2025 with Toronto.

Considering all of this, the Yankees will certainly take a head start on much of the AL, no matter what form it takes. But, however comforting that backdrop may be, a potential Wild Card berth rather than a division win changes things rather significantly. If they can take care of business, the door could be as wide open as it was in 2024, when they fended off Baltimore for the division crown and then pushed past two AL Central clubs for the pennant. The Yankees just need to find the optimal way forward for this year’s field.

The Dodgers had a couple debatable roster decisions to make this week.

Based on Sunday’s results, they might have been right on both.

In a 9-1 rubber-match win over the Phillies, the Dodgers were led offensively by their two recent Triple-A call-ups, getting fourth-inning home runs from Alex Freeland and Ryan Ward that helped them take two of three games in this National League Division Series rematch.

“We had spent the whole morning hitting together, talking through our routine together, talking about our plan versus the Philly guys that we felt we’re gonna be facing,” Ward said. “And to have us both homer in the same inning, this is a really cool moment for us.”

Freeland went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs from the No. 9 spot Sunday, opening the scoring with a double off the wall in center in the second before extending the lead with a solo home run in the fourth. 

Ward also left the yard in the bottom of the fourth, giving him his first career home run in his first career game at Dodger Stadium.

Once they were both back in the dugout, the two wrapped each other in a hug.

“I’m just uber excited for Ryan,” Freeland said. “I don’t think there’s anybody that deserves it more than him. So to share that moment with him is special.”

At the start of this week, neither player was on the Dodgers’ big-league roster. Only after injuries to Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández did the need for reinforcements from the minors arise.

Even then, Freeland and Ward were not guaranteed to be recalled. For each of their spots, there were other options the team could’ve considered.

Freeland effectively got the nod over the since-demoted Hyeseong Kim, who was optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma City after a recent slump cost him his platoon job at second base. Ward, likewise, was called up over breakout outfield prospect James Tibbs III, receiving only his second career opportunity in the majors after a brief two-game cameo earlier this year.

Both decisions were questioned by some corners of the fan base.

Both were then validated in Sunday’s blowout.

“Everybody in this locker room is a superstar,” Freeland said. “A lot of us get overlooked, just because we have guys like Shohei [Ohtani] and Freddie [Freeman]. But everybody in this clubhouse can ball.”

What it means

After a late-game slip-up from Tanner Scott on Saturday night, the Dodgers bounced right back with their 14th win out of the last 17 overall.

Of all the victories in that span, Sunday’s was among the most impressive.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto navigated traffic in a scoreless 5 ⅓-inning start, working around four hits, two walks and one hit batter while setting a season high with 10 strikeouts.

The Dodgers’ offense, in a refreshing change of pace, also provided him with plenty of run support, tagging Phillies rookie starter Andrew Painter with four runs in 3 ⅓ innings before pouring it on late.

In addition to Freeland and Ward, the Dodgers also got two hits each from Ohtani (extending his on-base streak to 16 games), Kyle Tucker (snapping a 1-for-16 slump previously on this homestand) and Max Muncy (including his team-leading 14th home run); and two RBIs apiece from Alex Call (on a pinch-hit single in the fifth) and Freeman (on a pair of sacrifice flies).

The team has now won five straight series and has a season-high 5 ½-game lead in the National League West.

“On the heels of last night, to be able to bounce back like we did, that was a good thing and a good sign for our club,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Who’s hot

Ward hasn’t gotten many at-bats during his limited time in the majors this season.

But when he’s been at the plate, he has made the most of them

During his MLB debut on April 19 in Colorado, the longtime minor-league prospect had a pair of singles and an RBI. And after going 1-for-2 with his home run Sunday — he was lifted early for Call’s pinch-hit at-bat in the fifth — he is now hitting .375 in his first three career big-league games.

“Even talking to Freeland today on the bench, he made a note that Ryan was probably the most positive guy down there in Triple A,” Roberts said of Ward, who had to wait seven years in the Dodgers’ farm system before finally reaching the majors this season.

“That speaks to his character. If there’s anyone that has the right to be salty and frustrated, it’s him. But he was professional about it, and he was an easy one to recall and get him here. And I’m going to try to give him some opportunities, so he can make the most of them.”

Who’s not

Home plate umpire Sean Barber, who had a whopping eight calls overturned via the new ABS challenge system.

The first two came in the first inning, when backup catcher Dalton Rushing — who was previously just 3-for-8 on ABS challenges from behind the plate this year — got Yamamoto a pair of strikeouts by successfully getting a couple called balls converted to third strikes.

Freeman found himself on the other end of the equation in the bottom half of the inning, when he had what was initially ruled a walk in a full count overturned to a strikeout after already jogging down to first base.

Not every ABS review went against Barber. The Dodgers and Phillies lost one challenge each.

Still, the eight overturned calls were just one shy of the most in a game this season. 

Up next

The Dodgers head to Arizona on Monday for a four-game series against the Diamondbacks. The opener will feature Emmet Sheehan (3-1, 4.70 ERA) against left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (5-1, 2.31 ERA).