ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 02: MLB Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Bobby Cox stand on the field after the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Detroit Tigers at Turner Field on October 2, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On a sad day overall for Braves Country, due to the passing of the legendary Bobby Cox, Spencer Strider gave Atlanta fans something to be happy and hopeful about with a stellar outing, shutting down the Dodgers potent offense for 6.0 innings with 8 strikeouts and 15 whiffs. He looked as good as he has in a long time. His fastball averaged 96.4 MPH, with 17 inches of induced vertical break and he had four pitches working nicely together. Even if Strider doesn’t quite return to his Jacob deGrom levels of dominance, having him as a true #1 or #2 quality starter would make a huge difference for this Braves team to pair with Chris Sale. Bryce Elder has been great this season, but shouldn’t be the second best starter in the rotation of a World Series contender. If Strider can keep something like Saturday night’s version of himself moving forward, that’s a huge development for him and this team.
Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell delivers during the first inning of a loss to the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night. (Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)
It was Blake Snell bobblehead night Saturday at Dodger Stadium but the Atlanta Braves spoiled the left-hander’s season debut with a 7-2 win.
Making his first appearance since the eighth inning of Game 7 of the World Series, Snell showed rust early, giving up a leadoff single to Mauricio Dubón and walking Drake Baldwin. Ozzie Albies’ bunt single loaded the bases and after Matt Olson struck out, Dubon scored from third on Austin Riley’s fielder’s choice to shortstop. Snell struck out Michael Harris II to end the inning on his 25th pitch.
Atlanta loaded the bases again in the second and Albies poked a two-run single to left. Two more runs scored on Olson’s single to right and after an inning and a half the Dodgers trailed 5-0. In the bottom of the inning, Eli White made a sprinting catch on the warning track in right field to rob Max Muncy of extra bases.
Snell started the season on the injured list with left shoulder fatigue and was brought back from his rehab assignment early to replace Tyler Glasnow, who was placed on the injured list Friday with back spasms. Snell gave up four earned runs on six hits, with two walks and five strikeouts over three innings and 77 pitches.
While Snell struggled, Atlanta's Spencer Strider was locked in from the start, giving up one hit and striking out eight batters in six innings before being relieved by Dylan Lee.
National League East front-runner Atlanta (27-13) widened its gap to eight games over Washington while the Dodgers dropped to 24-15 and saw their National League West lead narrowed to one game over San Diego, which beat St. Louis 4-2 earlier in the day.
Jack Dreyer, who relieved Snell, gave up one hit in 1⅓ innings before being relieved by Edgardo Henriquez, who walked Riley and gave up an RBI double to Harris — the fifth hit in two days for the 2022 NL rookie of the year. Henriquez went 1⅔ innings before Paul Gervase yielded an RBI single to Baldwin.
One night after dealing Braves ace Chris Sale his second loss of the season, the Dodgers’ offense did not wake up until the ninth inning.
Shohei Ohtani went one for four with a single and two strikeouts. Freddie Freeman had two fly outs and a groundout before Dalton Rushing took his place at first in the seventh.
The Dodgers avoided their second shutout loss of the season and finally gave the crowd of 50,209 reason to cheer in the ninth when Andy Pages belted a two-run home run — his ninth of the season — off reliever Reynaldo Lopez.
Players on both teams played with heavy hearts following the death of former Braves manager Bobby Cox at the age of 84 on Saturday.
Freeman, in his fifth season of a six-year, $162-million deal with the Dodgers, talked about Cox before the game.
“I woke up to the news this morning,” he said. “It’s a sad day in Braves country and all of baseball. My favorite memory of Bobby is seeing joy on his face when he saw my 6-year-old. He had our backs. He wanted to win as much as you do. What stands out is the genuine care he had for every person in that clubhouse.
"My first day of spring training I walk in and he joked ‘Why did it take you so long to get to the big leagues?’ He cared about the 19-year-old and 40-year-old the same way. I have an autographed Bobby Cox jersey at home.”
Cox's death came just four days after the death of Ted Turner, who owned the Braves from 1976 to 2007.
May 9, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider (99) throws to the plate during the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
Behind a stellar performance from Spencer Strider and an opportunistic offensive attack early, the Braves shook off their Dodger Stadium demons for at least one night to even up the series with a 7-2 win.
Strider became the story on Saturday night, working six nearly perfect shutout innings. His slider was virtually un-hittable with a 64% whiff rate. The fastball was humming throughout the night and had Shohei Ohtani in a blender. A week after a shaky debut in Coors Field, this was as impressive as Strider has looked in more than two years. He finished the night allowing just one hit and two walks with eight strikeouts.
It goes without saying, but if this is any sign of what the future holds for Strider, the Braves’ ceiling is immensely higher. We’ll see if he’s able to carry it over in his next start, presumably against the Red Sox next weekend at Truist Park.
The Braves didn’t exactly light up Blake Snell in the early innings, but they hit ‘em where they ain’t and scratched across five runs in the first two frames.
Atlanta loaded the bases with no outs in the first but somehow only scored one run — a theme that continued from Friday night’s debacle — but thankfully broke through in a big way in the second inning with a two-run single by way of Ozzie Albies and two-run single from Matt Olson to make it 5-0.
As the score held, the Braves tacked on another run in the fifth with a Michael Harris double that plated a scootin’ Austin Riley. And in the eighth, Drake Baldwin added a little insurance with a two-out single to make it 7-0.
Dylan Lee worked a scoreless seventh inning and gave way to Reynaldo Lopez, who allowed a harmless two-run homer in the 9th to finally get the Dodgers on the board.
The Braves are 27-13.
The series concludes on Sunday afternoon with Bryce Elder set to face lefty Justin Wrobleski, who owns a 5-0 record and 1.25 ERA that is screaming for some regression. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m. ET.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 09: Blake Snell #7 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium on May 09, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Dodgers got the best of Chris Sale on Friday, but against the flamethrower Spencer Strider and crew, they were nearly left silent as the Braves defeated the Dodgers by a final of 7-2.
Blake Snell made his 2026 season debut after missing the first month of the regular season, marking his first appearance since coming out of the bullpen for Game 7 of the World Series last year. Atlanta immediately loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the first inning as Mauricio Dubón and Ozzie Albies singled while Snell walked Drake Baldwin. Snell managed to strike out Matt Olson, but a fielder’s choice from Austin Riley gave the Braves an early 1-0 lead. Snell struck out Michael Harris II to complete his first inning of work having tossed 25 pitches.
Snell had a better start to the second inning, striking out Sean Murphy on three pitches, but the Braves rattled off a pair of singles from Eli White and Jorge Mateo, with Baldwin later walking for a second time to load the bases with two outs. Albies somehow made contact on a pitch just off the dirt and poked it into left field for a two-run single, with Olson following with another two-run single to make it a 5-0 Braves lead. Snell would face one batter over the minimum in the top of the third inning, but he ended his night having tossed 78 pitches over three innings. The Braves would tack on another run with an RBI double from Harris against Edgardo Henriquez to make it a 6-0 lead.
While Snell struggled over just three innings, the same could not be said about Braves right-hander Spencer Strider as he kept the Dodgers in check over six shutout innings, striking out eight while allowing just one hit— a single by Will Smith in the first inning— and walking just two on 90 pitches. Strider had a first pitch strike rate at 71.4 percent (15 first pitch strikes over 21 hitters) against the Dodgers, and even though he generated a 20 percent whiff rate on his fastball, his three complementary pitches totaled a combined 62.5 percent whiff rate.
After Jack Dreyer and Henriquez combined for one run allowed over three innings, Paul Gervase made his season debut and just his second appearance as a Dodger. Gervase completed three innings of work allowing four hits and a walk with five strikeouts, although he helped Atlanta get another run as Jorge Mateo singled in the top of the eighth to make it a 7-0 lead.
Freddie Freeman’s seven-game hitting streak came to a close as he went 0-3 before being pulled in the top of the seventh inning for Dalton Rushing.
The Dodgers were once again a handful of outs away from getting shut out, but Alex Call gave the Dodgers their first extra-base hit of the night with a double in the bottom of the ninth, with Andy Pages launching a home run to put the Dodgers on the board. Pages now has nine home runs on the season— four this week— tied with Max Muncy for the team lead. Teoscar Hernández kept the game alive with a single up the middle before Hyeseong Kim was called safe on a ground ball to first. The initial call was overturned, giving the Dodgers’ their second loss that was verified by replay review on the final play over their last three home games.
The Dodgers wrap things up against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday (1:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA) before welcoming the San Francisco Giants for a four-game set beginning on Monday. Justin Wrobleski starts the finale against Bryce Elder.
May 9, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians catcher Austin Hedges (27) and pitcher Tanner Bibee (28) collide while looking for an infield popup in the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images
The Twins had two hits in eleven innings and won a baseball game at Progressive Field.
Sure, man.
Good team or no good team, the Buck Truck keeps rolling, as evidenced by Byron’s leadoff blast to left field in a rain-delayed Saturday night game against the Cleveland Guardians. Buxton’s bomb, his 13th of the year, set the tone for a Twins offense that promptly stopped scoring — or hitting at all — leaving Joe Ryan and Derek’s Magical Arm Barn the monumental task of holding it down in a tight game.
As expected, the first Cleveland run was largely thanks to Jose Ramirez. The future Hall of Famer reached in the fourth on a one-out single, stole second (15) and scored on a game-tying single from Kyle Manzardo.
From there, Joe attempted to take some heat off the bullpen by blowing the game his own damn self. The Guardians’ next two batters reached, with Ryan walking Daniel Schneemann, then plunking newcomer Travis Bazzana. With only one out and the bases loaded, Ryan was able to elicit a called strike three against Angel Martinez, then induce an inning-ending whiff from Austin Hedges.
I wasn’t kidding about the offense shutting down, by the way. After the leadoff homer, the Twins would not record a hit for another ten full innings, as starter Tanner Bibee notched nine strikeouts and walked only two in a six-inning start. Hunter Gaddis and Colin Holderman picked up where Bibee left off, putting well over 100 pitches between the Minnesota lineup and its last base hit.
To his credit, Ryan all but matched Bibee despite the lengthy fourth. The Guardians’ two fourth-inning singles were their only hits off Joe, a stretch that extended through Andrew Morris’ two-out appearance and Taylor Rogers’ getting-of-the-final out in the seventh. (Masterful prose.) Rogers would snag two more outs in the eighth, before handing the ball over to Yoendrys Gomez for his second appearance as a Twin. Gomez retired pinch-hitter Rhys Hoskins to take the ballgame into the ninth, all knotted up at 1-1.
I guess I owe a small apology to Shelton’s Magical Arm Barn for my expectations of their performance tonight. Their reputation preceded them, after all.
Erik Sabrowski struck out two in a quick top of the ninth, leaving the Twins one-hit through regulation, and setting up what should have been one of the most predictable Cleveland walk-offs of all time. The broadcast set up the disproportionate CLE/MIN one-run, walk-off dominance this decade, and almost on cue, Kody Funderburk walked the leadoff hitter to put the winning run aboard, then walked the next guy to move him over just for fun. Then, in the world’s most obvious bunt situation, Funderburk fielded a comeback sacrifice, spent eighteen years thinking about the sure out, then finally recorded the out at first base on a play so close that it had to be overturned by a Shelton challenge.
Funderburk was removed in favor of Eric Orze, who walked pinch-hitter David Fry, and engaged in direct combat with Bryan Rocchio with the bases loaded and one out. Orze forced a 4-2 fielder’s choice, with Luke Keaschall cutting down the winning run at the plate, then induced a sharp groundout from Steven Kwan to send the game into extra innings.
Despite a leadoff walk to Keaschall — you remember him? From the last sentence? — Minnesota couldn’t advance a runner in a 10th inning that ended with Matt Wallner caught looking at curveball, and the lineup caught looking at a box score that still registered one solitary hit.
Orze returned for the home tenth, intentionally walking Jose Ramirez with one out to set up a battle with Hoskins. The battle was underwhelming; he walked Hoskins on four pitches, loading the bases and forcing Shelton to activate the five-man infield for a second consecutive inning. But the defense, so often the downfall of the 2026 Twins, showed up in a major way — first, it was Brooks Lee showing off catlike reflexes to make a full-extension, game-saving grab on a liner for the second out. Then, it was Austin Martin, cradling a sharp flyout while still wearing his infielder’s glove out in left.
So, the Twins were extended another chance to take home the ballgame, and they were finally able to execute. With one out in the 11th, Byron Buxton narrowly missed a second homer on another long fly to left that banged off the high wall; responsible for the only two Twins hits in the ballgame, Byron also ended the night responsible for both runs batted in.
Luis Garcia was given the save opportunity. He got Martinez to fly out on the first pitch, but ghost runner Bazanna stole his way to third and gave Cleveland two chances to bring him home. But David Fry popped weakly to shallow left, and Rocchio grounded out on a web gem that required a slide and spin from Brooks Lee straight up the middle, and a backhand pick by Kody Clemens to seal the deal at first base.
Nice to have one like that in Cleveland.
It’s worth noting that Minnesota was able to hold the Guardians to just two hits themselves, although Cleveland was able to manufacture opportunities on a more consistent basis throughout the night. It was an incredible high-wire performance from all arms tonight.
The Twins will go for the series win tomorrow afternoon. See you then!
STUDS:
CF Byron Buxton (2-for-5, R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR)
SS Brooks Lee (Two game-saving plays)
SP Joe Ryan (6 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K)
Shelton’s Magical Arm Barn (5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 2 K) ((lol))
So today was Merrill Kelly’s fifth start of the season, after having his spring training cut short and then a lengthy rehab period to start the year. He entered the game carrying an unsightly 9.95 ERA, and while our broadcasters kept going on and on last Sunday about how he was “finally turning the corner,” he wound up surrendering 6 earned runs in while failing to complete five innings against the Cubs, which really didn’t support their oft-repeated thesis. Today, he was pitching at home, for a national audience because the game was being broadcast on Fox, and was facing off against Clay Holmes, who came into the game with seven starts under his belt and an NL-leading ERA of 1.69 (nice). So I for one certainly wasn’t feeling terribly optimistic, and I certainly didn’t expect a pitcher’s duel to break out.
But oddly enough, that was indeed what happened.
Merrill started things off with two quick outs, and then walked MJ Melendez, the Mets’ DH, on six pitches, which seemed to be a harbinger for control problems to come. No worries, though, at least not in the first frame, as Kelly picked Melendez off with a perfect throw to Ildemaro Vargas to end his inning with the minimum faced and only 11 pitches thrown. Because pickoffs don’t count as pitches. Sadly, however, Holmes retired our top three in order in the bottom of the first without breaking a sweat, and only 11 pitches thrown. It was eerie, almost.
We weren’t heading into the uncanny valley, though….Kelly recorded another two quick outs to start the second, then surrendered a single to Marcus Simien followed by a first-pitch meatball he left in the exact middle of the strike zone that Brett Baty sent out to deep center field for an RBI double. 1-0 Queens
We got some runners on base in the bottom of the second, thanks to a leadoff single by DH Adrian Del Castillo, and then a one-out walk by Nolan Arenado. The bottom of our lineup, though, were not going to cover themselves in glory today, though—collectively they went 0 for 11 with six strikeouts between them—as Holmes made short work of Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. and Gabriel Moreno.
Kelly pitched around a one-out walk in the top of the third to put up another zero, and despite being down a run, he was showing a lot more efficiency than in previous outings, pitching to contact and letting his defenders make plays behind him, and was go through the third with only 41 pitches thrown, and no nibbling at the edges of the strike zone in sight.
And finally, in the bottom of the third, our offense rewarded him with some actual run support. Not a lot of run support, to be fair, but when you’re very hungry even a half an apple and some crusts of bread are welcome. Ryan Waldschmidt, getting the start in center today and batting ninth, struck out to start things off, and four pitches later Ketel Marte grounded out to the pitcher for the second time in three innings, but then something nice happened! First Corbin Carroll grounded a single into shallow right. Then Geraldo Perdomo chopped a single over Bo Bichette and into left field, where Juan Soto made a very nice play to get the ball back into the infield that kept Perdomo from having a double and kept Carroll from scoring from first. That was okay, though, because ADC drew a six pitch walk, and then Ildemaro extended his new hit streak to three games with a single to left that scored both Carroll and Perdomo:
Nolan Arenado then flied out to end the inning, but Ildemaro had given us the lead! Also, we hung 31 more pitches on Holmes in that inning alone, so he was up to 60 pitches after three. 2-0 DBACKS
And that, in terms of offense, was that. For both teams. Seriously. It hadn’t felt exactly like a pitchers’ duel up to that point, but that’s exactly what it wound up being. Both teams sat down in order in the fourth, Kelly pitched around a two-out double and an intentional walk to Juan Soto in the fifth, before retiring the Mets in order in the sixth and seventh innings to finish with his longest and best start of the season so far. His final pitching line was 7 innings pitched, three hits and three walks given up, one earned run allowed, and six strikeouts with 97 pitches thrown. Not too shabby, Merrill. Not too shabby. It’s almost like you turned that corner today that Steve and Bob were jabbering about during last Sunday’s broadcast. And damn, it was really good to see.
Meanwhile, Clay Holmes didn’t go quite as deep, retiring the top of our order in order again in the bottom of the fifth and then getting the first two outs in the sixth before surrendering a single to Arenado that got him the hook. Well, that and the fact that he was at 103 pitches after Arenado’s at bat, so his day was done.
So it was up to the bullpens, and both bullpens buckled down and did their jobs. Some dude named Austin Warren recorded four outs despite a two-out Ketel Marte doulbe in the bottom of the seventh, and somewhat hilariously Craig Kimbrel came out for the bottom of the eighth, and got three quick outs after walking the first two batters he faced, largely thanks to two egregiously bad one-pitch ABs by Vargas and Arenado that were duly pillories in the Gameday Thread.
For us, Taylor Clarke pitched a perfectly clean eighth, and Paul Sewald pitched a perfectly clean ninth to record his eighth save in eight save opportunities. Say what you will about Sewald being back on the roster, but the dude isn’t costing us very much while we await the return of Puk and JMart, and as long as we don’t let him pitch in any situation other than a save situation, he’s doing the business. Credit where credit is due.
Winner, Winner: Merrill Kelly (pitching line above, +35% WPA) Chicken Dinner: Paul Sewald (1 IP, 0 ER, 2 K, +17% WPA), Taylor Clarke ( 1 IP, 0 ER, +12% WPA) Gizzards and Entrails: The offense as a whole (30 AB, 6 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 8 K, -14% WPA)
Those Win Probability numbers pretty much say it all. Our pitching won this game for us. The offense did just enough. Seriously, though, and I mentioned this in a comment elsewhere earlier today, but Torey needs to take the whole damn offense and cram them into his office and have a “one-way” conversation with them like he did with the starters after the sweep by the Cubs last weekend. We’re damn lucky Merrill was so good today, and that the back end of our bullpen is proving right now to be capable of holding a one-run lead when we manage to give them a one-run lead to hold. But come on. We need to do better.
Anyway. It wound up being a pretty good Gameday Thread today, with 220 comments at time of writing. By popular acclaim and because I very much agree, today’s Comment of the Game goes to WebbGemz, for this appreciation of our often-reviled closer:
Stop by tomorrow as we try to secure our first series win in awhile. Everyone’s favorite hologram is going for us, while Huascar Brazoban is currently listed as the starter for the Mets, which I guess indicates that they’re going to be giving us a bullpen game. That might be fun. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm AZ time, TheRealRamona will be filing her guest recap for the month of May, and she lived in Queens for awhile back in the day, so I’m sure she will have thoughts to share. Hope you can join us!
As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!
May 9, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy (49) smiles while he waits for a reliever to take the mound against the New York Yankees in the eighth inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images | Michael McLoone-Imagn Images
It was a matchup of two young pitchers who have been dominating to start 2026: Cam Schlittler and Kyle Harrison. Offense would be at a premium; that was certain.
The Brewers nearly were able to knock Schlittler out of the game in the first inning, after William Contreras ripped a 108.5-mph comebacker off of Schlittler’s calf for an infield single. He hobbled around gingerly, and his first test pitch sailed to the backstop. He pushed through to remain in the game, but was slow walking off the field after the inning.
He continued on and showed no ill effects from that hit and completed six innings, allowing just two hits while striking out six.
Kyle Harrison, meanwhile, lost the shutout on the first batter of the game, allowing a no-doubt home run to 38-year-old leadoff hitter and notorious Brewers killer Paul Goldschmidt. Then in the second inning, Harrison walked Amed Rosario and Jazz Chisholm with nobody out. He got out of it with no runs allowed, though. In the fourth, the Yankees went double, single, and walk to load the bases with nobody out. Harrison nearly got out of that one, until a Goldschmidt hot shot to third was unable to be fielded cleanly by Luis Rengifo, resulting in an infield single and a run scoring to make it 2-0 Yankees.
Pat Murphy turned to Chad Patrick out of the bullpen to begin the fifth inning. With days off on Tuesday and Thursday this past week and another one coming on Monday, the Brewers won’t need a fifth starter for a while, so this helps keep Patrick on some sort of normal schedule. Patrick was able to settle things down and kept the Yankees off the board in his three innings of work.
The Yankees turned to their bullpen in the seventh inning, and Jake Bauers was very happy to see it, taking the first pitch he saw, a middle-middle fastball from Brent Headrick, into the second deck in right to cut the deficit in half. The Brewers then added on in the eighth with some classic small ball, starting with a Brice Turang single. Turang followed by stealing second, and Contreras delivered an RBI single to left to tie the game up at 2-2.
With both teams unable to score in the ninth, we went to extra innings. Aaron Ashby was so close to getting through a scoreless 10th and had Ryan McMahon down 0-2, but a single through the middle gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead before Aaron Judge was caught heading to third.
In the bottom of the 10th, Garrett Mitchell was the Manfred Man on second base. A wild pitch put him on third base before Luis Rengifo walked. Gary Sánchez pinch-hit for David Hamilton and lifted a fly ball to shallow right field. Mitchell thought about tagging, but pulled up as the throw from Judge was on line (though a bit high). Then Jackson Chourio was able to deliver an infield single to bring Mitchell in and tie the game up at 3-3.
With runners on first and second and one out, Brice Turang hits a tapper to the pitcher Tim Hill. Hill, inexplicably, decided to throw the ball to third base to try to get Rengifo, and ended up hitting Rengifo in the hand, leaving the bases loaded for Contreras.
Contreras lofted a fly ball deep enough to right field to score Rengifo, and the Brewers walked off the Yankees 4-3.
Aaron Ashby ends up with his league-leading seventh win of the season, the Brewers win the series, and have a chance to sweep on Mother’s Day. Tomorrow’s game features Logan Henderson opposite Carlos Rodón, who is making his season debut for New York. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — William Contreras singled home the tying run in the eighth inning and hit a game-ending sacrifice fly in the 10th as the Milwaukee Brewers rallied past the New York Yankees 4-3 on Saturday.
The Yankees wasted a brilliant performance from Cam Schlittler and have lost back-to-back games for the first time since they dropped five in a row from April 8-12. On Friday, they got just three hits against Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski and Shane Drohan in a 6-0 defeat.
Paul Goldschmidt hit a leadoff homer and drove in two runs for the Yankees. Jake Bauers went deep for Milwaukee.
Schlittler got struck in the leg by a 108.5 mph liner off the bat of Contreras in the first but stayed in the game and allowed two hits in six scoreless innings, lowing his major league-leading ERA to 1.35.
After Ryan McMahon’s two-out RBI single on an 0-2 pitch from Aaron Ashby (7-0) put New York ahead 3-2 in the top of the 10th, Milwaukee scored twice in the bottom half to give Ashby the major league lead in wins.
Jackson Chourio’s one-out infield single off Fernando Cruz (3-1) tied it and put runners at first and second.
Tim Hill entered and got a comebacker from Brice Turang. The lefty reliever tried to throw out the lead runner at third, but his throw hit Luis Rengifo in the hand, loading the bases.
Contreras followed with a fly ball to right that easily brought home Rengifo.
Bauers got Milwaukee on the board in the seventh with a 420-foot shot to right-center off Brent Headrick. Turang hit a two-out single off Camilo Doval in the eighth, stole second and slid home on Contreras’ single to left.
Yankees right-handerLuis Gil was placed on the injured list Saturday at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with shoulder inflammation. The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year isn’t expected to throw for three weeks.
Up next
Seven months after undergoing elbow surgery, Carlos Rodón makes his season debut for the Yankees on Sunday. Logan Henderson (0-1, 4.50 ERA) starts for the Brewers.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - MAY 09: Brice Turang #2 of the Milwaukee Brewers slides safely into home plate past the tag of Austin Wells #28 of the New York Yankees to tie the game in the eighth inning against the New York Yankees at American Family Field on May 09, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On Friday night in Milwaukee, the Yankees were shut down by Brewers’ phenom pitcher Jacob Misiorowski to spectacular effect. On Saturday, it was the Yankees’ turn to throw their young star, and he was quite good himself. Cam Schlittler ended up going six innings, for the Yankees, allowing no runs on just two hits. He even came back from taking a line drive off the leg to put in another excellent outing.
It’s just that the rest of the team didn’t pull their collective weight. The Yankees managed just three runs on Saturday, despite seven hits and seven walks. However, they twice held late leads, as they were ahead in both the eighth and tenth innings. The bullpen couldn’t close things out either though, as they dropped a frustrating one to the Brewers, 4-3 in 10 innings.
Before the frustration, the game started on a pretty decent note. It took just one batter for the Yankees to surpass their run total from Friday night. On the second pitch of the game, Paul Goldschmidt took Kyle Harrison deep to give the Yankees a good start.
In the bottom of the first, there was a scary moment as Cam Schlittler took a comeback liner off the calf, causing him to limp around for a bit. After the trainer came out to look at him and some practice pitches, he remained in and struck out Jake Bauers.
The Yankees picked up a second run in the fourth inning, although it was a missed chance at even more. Amed Rosario and Jazz Chisholm Jr. opened the inning with hits, giving the Yankees runners at the corner, with a José Caballero walk then loading the bases. However, Harrison got the next two outs, leaving the inning up to Goldschmidt. The first baseman picked up another RBI after Luis Rengifo couldn’t handle his liner at third, giving Goldschmidt an RBI single. The Yankees couldn’t tack on any more in the inning, though.
After Schlittler left the game, it didn’t take long for Milwaukee to get on the board. On the very first pitch reliever Brent Headrick threw in the seventh inning, Bauers crushed a homer into the second deck in right field, cutting into the Yankees’ lead. Headrick came back after that to get through the seventh and the first out of the eighth. Camilo Doval replaced Headrick and got the second out of the seventh before Brice Turang kept the inning alive with a single. Turang then stole second and you knew what was coming after that. William Contreras dropped a single into left field and Turang just beat Cody Bellinger’s throw home, tying the game up. With little room for error, David Bednar came out and threw a nice 1-2-3 inning on just 12 pitches, sending the game to extras.
It seemed like the Yankees would then go down pretty quickly in order in the 10th. Ben Rice and Bellinger couldn’t do anything with the auto-runner at second, with Aaron Judge getting intentionally walked, as is custom. However, McMahon, having come in earlier for Rosario as a defensive replacement, poked a single up the middle to give the Yankees the lead back. Judge would get caught in a rundown after the run scored and the throw home was cut off to end the inning though, and the Yankees would regret missing out on the chance to get insurance runs.
For the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees turned to Fernando Cruz. He got off to a rocky start, as a wild pitch moved the runner up, and he then issued a walk. While a fly out ended up keeping the runner in place in the next at-bat, a Jackson Chourio grounder left Caballero with no play, tying the game back up.
The Yankees then went to Tim Hill, who immediately got a ground ball. However for whatever reason, Hill tried to go to third to get the lead runner. His throw hit Rengifo, the runner, allowing everyone to be safe. Hill then finally did get the second out, but it was a Contreras fly out to right that was deep enough for Aaron Judge’s throw home to be a couple steps late. You can somewhat chalk up Friday’s loss as just running into a freak of nature. Harrison and the pitchers Milwaukee used on Saturday are all pretty good, but the Yankees wasted this one.
Tomorrow, the Yankees and Brewers will wrap up their series with one final game in Milwaukee. It’s also a notable one for the Yankees especially, as Carlos Rodón will make his return from the injured list, opposite Logan Henderson for the Brewers. First pitch in that one will be at 2:10 pm ET.
Miguel Vargas notched his eighth and ninth dingers of the season in tonight’s ballgame. | (Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images)
Ending their short-lived losing streak, the Chicago White Sox tied the series against the Seattle Mariners with a 6-1 win, and the longball got the job done.
Sam Antonacci led off the ballgame with an opposite-field single to left-center, and his heart-and-hustle nature paved way for a stolen base and an aggressive tag from second to third on a Munetaka Murakami fly to right. With two outs and two strikes, Colson Montgomery faced his Achilles heel of a pitch, but took that up-and-in fastball to the left field bleachers to make it 2-0, Sox. Montgomery entered the double-digit club with his 10th homer, is up to 28 RBIs, and extended his on-base streak to 21 games:
After wreaking havoc on the basepaths, Antonacci kept that same energy in the outfield. With two outs in the second inning, Superman Sam stole a base hit to end the frame:
I cannot overstate how impressive Sam has been in left field. Heading into today’s game, he’s played only 19 MLB games in left field (144 innings) and just 10 extra games in the minors (100 innings). This compares to more than 1,030 innings in the infield throughout his professional career, with the majority at second base. And yet, he’s making routine and not-so-routine plays in left look so easy at the highest level of play.
Mirroring the first inning and in the game of Sam, Antonacci wore a hit-by-pitch to make way for Miguel Vargas to mash the second two-run homer of the ballgame and his eighth of the year:
Although he still hasn’t pitched into the sixth inning since early April, Anthony Kay had the start that he and the Sox needed. Notching a full five innings, Kay gave up just one unearned run via the sacrifice fly after a Murakami error, allowed only three hits, walked two batters and struck out five.
The Good Guys drove Luis Castillo out of the ballgame after four innings. Although he allowed four earned runs and five hits, he did strike out six and walked zero batters. However, the two home run balls plagued what otherwise would have been a bounce-back start.
In the bottom of the fifth with Josh Simpson on the mound, Vargas worked an 11-pitch at-bat ending in his second blast of the ballgame at 112.9 mph and a 5-1 Sox lead!
Grant Taylor took over pitching responsibilities in the sixth and seventh innings. He sat down Seattle’s core —Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena — 1-2-3 while notching a couple of strikeouts and a ground out in his second inning of work.
Heading into the eighth, yesterday’s birthday boy Bryan Hudson handled some adversity when Naylor’s foul ball was overturned to fair, which put runners on the corners with two outs. However, Hudson hunkered down to strike out Arozarena at the plate to escape the inning and extend his own scoreless streak to 15 innings.
Looking for an insurance run in their half of the eighth, Chase Meidroth recorded his first hit of the night off the first pitch he saw, a double down the left field line. Jarred Kelenic followed with a walk, and Tristan Peters moved up both runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt.
Randal Grichuk, once my enemy for his anti-bat flips stance during Tim Anderson’s reign, was hit on his toe to load the bases. To my dismay, after some miscommunication in the outfield, Edgar Quero was looking at an RBI single, but Grichuk, taking only a modest step toward second — even with no one covering the first base bag in case a catch was made — was forced out. Fortunately, the run scored for a 6-1 ballgame, but via a fielder’s choice variety.
Locking down the win was Tyler Schweitzer, recently recalled to fill Jordan Leasure’s spot in the bullpen. The southpaw put up a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the Sox victory, tying the series at one!
The White Sox improve to 18-21 while the Mariners fall to 19-21. Tomorrow’s rubber match begins at 1:10 p.m. CT on CHSN and ESPN 1000 radio.
CHICAGO, IL - MAY 09: A general view of the video board as Rick Rizzs is honored during the game between the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on Saturday, May 9, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Kyle Sheridan/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
After a 12-run explosion yesterday, the Mariners couldn’t summon up a ton of offense, and their pitchers gave up three homers in a 6-1 loss against the White Sox.
Luis Castillo couldn’t wiggle out of some first-inning trouble after giving up a leadoff single to Sam Antonacci on a fastball that came in at 95 but right on the plate. Castillo was a pitch away from getting out of it when Colton Montgomery turned on a fastball in his lefty loop zone, squeaking it just 367 feet over the right field fence for a 2-0 lead the White Sox would never surrender.
Meanwhile, the Mariners couldn’t solve Anthony Kay’s changeup. He struck out three hitters on the pitch in the first two innings alone, while throwing a bunch of other soft stuff that the Mariners hitters just couldn’t make solid contact on. They got a little something going in the top of the third, getting two runners on without a hit, but couldn’t convert the gifts of free baserunners.
Castillo gave up his own gift in the bottom of the inning, grazing Sam Antonacci in a two-strike count and serving Miguel Vargas a first-pitch sinker right on the plate that he yanked into center field for another two-run homer. Castillo settled after that, limiting the damage to the two two-run homers, although with a little help from Cole Young:
The Mariners finally got a run back in the fifth, again without a hit: Mitch Garver led off with a walk, and Young reached on a fielding error by Munetaka Murakami. Leo Rivas sac bunted the two over into scoring position, which, sure, and Rob Refsnyder got the job done with a sac fly. That brought up Cal Raleigh who, to his credit, battled Kay for seven pitches but ultimately took a called strike three, fooled on a sinker that wound up right on the plate.
The White Sox then immediately took that run back, again with two outs, as Vargas – again – won an 11-pitch standoff with Josh Simpson, homering on yet another sinker that got too much plate. Sinkers are stinkers.
From there it was a bullpen battle for both teams. The Mariners threw the B-side of their bullpen: following Simpson was Nick Davila, who gave up a double but worked a scoreless bottom of the sixth, and José Suarez made his Mariners debut in the seventh, working around some trouble from a single and a walk but not able to get out of the eighth cleanly, striking out the side but also loading the bases on a hit and two walks and giving up the lone non-homer run for the White Sox. The White Sox bullpen fared much better, throwing four scoreless innings with an additional four strikeouts to add to Kay’s five. The Mariners will try it again tomorrow to secure a second series win in a row.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 09: Dustin May #3 of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches during the first inning of a game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on May 09, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Dustin May had a great start to the game not allowing a hit to the San Diego Padres until the bottom of the 5th inning, but that’s when the wheels came off the no-hit wagon. The Padres would eventually outslug the Cardinals 4-2 Saturday night.
The bats of both the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres were quiet until the top of the 4th inning when Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman hit back-to-back singles. After Masyn Winn hit into a double play, Nathan Church belted a gap double to left center to score Walker and give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Dustin May’s strong start did not end well. He didn’t allow a hit until the bottom of the 5th inning, but that first hit left the park as Ty France tied the game with his solo blast.
May then walked the next batter Song. Fermin singled moving Song up to second base. Two batters later, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a bloop single that scored both runners giving the Padres a 3-1 lead. Dustin May did give the Cardinals a quality start by definition as he completed 6 innings allowing only 3 hits, but only 2 earned runs as Fermin had advanced to second on a passed ball against Pedro Pagés. May also struck out 7 while only walking 2.
Stop me if you’ve heard me say this before, but the St. Louis Cardinals were not done. In the top of the 8th inning, JJ Wetherholt was barely grazed by a pitch, but it counted which resulted in him on base again. Ivan Herrera then jumped on an inside pitch from reliever Morejon drilling it down the third base line scoring Wetherholt all the way from first base cutting into the Padres lead 3-2.
The good news is the Cardinals were only down a run. The bad news is it triggered the entry of super-saver Mason Miller. He didn’t strike out Jordan Walker, but did get him to ground out weakly to short to end the Cardinals 8th inning threat.
Justin Bruihl pitched a decent inning of relief in the bottom of the 7th not allowing a run and Matt Svanson pitched a respectable 8th with one very long exception. He gave up a no-doubt home run to Manny Machado to extend the Padres lead to 4-2.
The Cardinals were able to make Mason Miller sweat in the top of the 9th inning. His control of his four-seam fastball was questionable and both Nolan Gorman and Nathan Church took advantage of it as they were both walked putting the tying run on base. But, both Masyn Winn and Thomas Saggese were completely overmatched as Miller struck them out. Yohel Pozo also struck out, but the ball got away from Fermin to load the bases for JJ Wetherholt. He unfortunately was frozen by a Miller fastball to end the game on a strikeout looking. There’s always tomorrow, but at least we made Miller throw 29 pitches.
The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their 4-game series versus the San Diego Padres Sunday at Petco Park. Kyle Leahy will start for St. Louis while Walker Buehler takes the mound for San Diego. First pitch is scheduled for 3:15pm central time.
Thus far in May, the Mets have done a much better job putting some wins on the board than they did in April. Despite that, it’s not as though all the problems we saw last month have magically gone away. Most notably, the offense continues to be a struggle on a fairly regular basis. In last night’s series opener against the Diamondbacks, the Mets struggled to score all evening (despite facing off against Ryne Nelson, a pitcher who had been previously been scuffling), but were able to finally get some clutch hits in extra innings to secure the win. Tonight, the offense was quiet once more, and this time those struggles doomed them to a 2-1 loss.
Like Nelson, Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly has struggled mightily in his four starts so far this season, as he entered tonight’s game with an unseemly 9.95 ERA. And the Mets did take a small early lead against him in the top of the second. After the first two batters of the frame were retired, Marcus Semien lined a single to left field, and he subsequently came home after Brett Baty smacked a double in the right field gap. Unfortunately, Francisco Alvarez grounded out to end the inning, and that proved to be the only offense the Mets would muster against Kelly all night. He hadn’t made it through six innings in any of his other 2026 starts, but he went seven tonight and did so tonight with relative ease, surrendering just the one run. The only other hit he surrendered aside from the two in the second was on a two-out double from Tyrone Taylor in the top of the fifth, and Kelly subsequently intentionally walked Juan Soto, giving the Mets two runners on for Bo Bichette. But he softly flew out on the first pitch he saw, and that was the extent of the danger that Kelly would face on the evening.
Meanwhile, Clay Holmes—who has arguably been the best pitcher on the Mets’ staff thus far in 2026—took the mound against Kelly tonight. After being given the lead in the second, he worked through a runners on first and second with one out threat in the bottom of the frame to preserve the 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, Holmes would not be quite as successful in the following inning. He retired the first two batters he faced in the third, but he then loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. Ildemaro Vargas—the current batting leader of the National League—then came up, and he grounded a 2-1 pitch through a hole on the left side of the infield to bring two runners home and give the Diamondbacks a 2-1 lead. Holmes did retire the next batter to end the threat, and those two runs would be the only blemishes against him tonight—though a two-walk in the sixth did end his night before he was able to secure a quality start. Still, his final line—5.2 innings, 5 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, and 2 runs—would have been good enough to secure a win if the offense had provided more support.
The bullpen subsequently did its job: Austin Warren got the final out of the sixth and then pitched a scoreless seventh as well. Craig Kimbrel overcame two leadoff walks in the eighth to also keep the deficit at just one run. But the Mets bats, as they have done so often this year, were completely and utterly silent in the latter half of the game. Kelly retired the final seven batters he faced on his night, and Taylor Clarke and Paul Sewald then came out of the bullpen to both toss 1-2-3 innings of their own—making it thirteen straight Mets batters retired to close out the night. It marks approximately the 500th time that the Mets went 10+ batters without getting on base this season (that number might be slightly exaggerated, but you know damn well that it feels correct).
The Mets still have a chance to secure their third straight series victory tomorrow, though they will have to do so facing off against Eduardo Rodríguez, who—unlike the other two starters the Mets have faced this weekend—has pitched quite well thus far in 2026. It’s naturally a bit hard to feel overly optimistic that they’ll be able to generate some offense tomorrow after seeing how the previous couple games have done. And even if they do manage to secure the win and get another series victory, the hopes of a miraculous season turnaround will be awfully hard to realize if we don’t see a dramatic improvement in the lineup production soon.
Big Mets winner: Austin Warren, +7% WPA Big Mets loser: Mark Vientos, -16% WPA Mets pitchers: +14% WPA Mets hitters: -64% WPA Teh aw3s0mest play: Brett Baty RBI double in the second, +11.6% WPA Teh sux0rest play: Ildemaro Vargas two-run single in the third, -19.7% WPA
CHICAGO, IL - MAY 09: Luis Castillo #58 of the Seattle Mariners pitches during the game between the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on Saturday, May 9, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Kyle Sheridan/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
White Sox 6, Mariners 1
Giving up two two-run homers: Luis Castillo, -.22 WPA
18 whiffs: no one deserves praise, none of you are without sin
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA - MARCH 21: Charlie Condon #24 of the Colorado Rockies runs out a ground ball during the fifth inning of a spring training Spring Breakout game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on March 21, 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
There’s a new approach to how the Colorado Rockies front office is managing the prospect pipeline. In past years, some prospects were stuck behind a logjam of veterans who didn’t seem to fit the organization’s path forward, while other prospects were yo-yoed between the majors and various levels of minor league ball. Frustration grew among fans of the club as there never seemed to be a clear path forward in development.
Colorado Rockies President of Baseball Operations, Paul DePodesta, recently spoke about the team’s philosophy this year, embracing patience with players at all levels. The front office is trying to avoid being reactionary, offering a longer leash to players who are struggling out of the gate in the MLB season, while also giving prospects time to blossom in Triple-A or below without rushing them up the ladder.
DePodesta notably said that the team’s plan is to “call players up when they are banging down the door where we have to make room for them because they’re just playing so well,” along with a foundation of skills to survive at the major league level. Production alone is not enough; prospects must sustain that production and showcase an approach that will translate.
Fans this year seem to be more on board with that approach, seeing how prospects in past years were hurt by being rushed up to the majors. But there’s still an appetite to call certain players up when they’re hitting well and gathering accolades at the minor league level.
With all that said, how is this front office philosophy sitting with you? What, to you, constitutes “banging down the door?”
If you were calling the shots, who is the first prospect you’re calling up? And when would you do it?
Do you embrace the “let them learn in the big leagues” philosophy? Is there anyone on the farm that you would have already called up for a spot on the Opening Day roster?
Or are you a more patient roster developer who would bring folks up after the All-Star Break or even deeper into the season?
