Category: MLB

The Pittsburgh Pirates traded righty-reliever Justin Lawrence to the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. In return, the Pirates will receive cash considerations from the Twins.

The Pirates found a trade partner with Minnesota just four days after Lawrence was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh. Minnesota is adding a power pitcher to their bullpen that has struggled to find consistency behind the arms that they already have. Lawrence’s three-pitch mix consisting of two fastballs and a sweeper can elevate the Twins’ bullpen if he can regain his 2025 form.

Lawrence has shown flashes of dominance in past years, like in 2025 when he posted a 0.51 ERA, albeit in just 17 games. In 2025 the 31-year-old pitcher was sidelined for most of the season with complications stemming from elbow inflammation.

In 2026, Lawrence has not found his groove since his return to the Pirates’ bullpen. This season he has a 5.32 ERA in 23 games. He also has a 0-2 record, a 1.55 WHIP and has given up four homers.

Minnesota’s bullpen has featured 11 relievers who have recorded a save in 2026 and 18 total pitchers who made appearances in relief. Lawrence is slated to join the Twins’ bullpen, but a roster shuffle will have to take place before this a spot for him on the roster.

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty ($): The headline around Tuesday making shockwaves around the team was Aaron Judge’s health, as manager Aaron Boone left him out of the lineup and then told reporters that Judge was diagnosed with a bone bruise in his ribs. Judge initially felt the injury affecting his shoulder during his swing, but during the series against the Athletics it became worse and prompted further examination. Boone said that the team was hopeful that they caught it early enough to not be a long-term injury, but any time that the Captain is dealing with an injury everyone’s breath is going to be collectively held. At the very least, it does explain why Judge had been performing rather poorly at the plate of late, and if he does return soon hopefully he can rebound back to his April form.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Cam Schlittler just didn’t have it against the Guardians on Tuesday, coughing up five runs (four earned) in 4.1 innings. While the overall results weren’t too worrying with the prodigal ace on a tear of late, pitching to a 1.07 ERA in his previous eight starts, the one concerning note is that Schlittler wasn’t able to find his fastball, and it was down in velocity. A similar issue popped up in his previous start against Kansas City, and Schlittler believes that “the mechanics just kind of got away from me a little bit there,” in terms of adjusting on the fly against Cleveland, leading to uncompetitive at-bats and the hole that he dug himself into. Hopefully it’s just a blip on the radar and Schlittler is able to find the adjustments he needs to get the heater back on track, but it’s something to monitor for now.

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips: The bullpen is an area of obvious need for New York, and while there will certainly be improvements available via trade closer to the deadline they’re also lining up some internal improvements as well. One of their top pitching prospects, Carlos Lagrange, is being moved over to the bullpen with the aim of fast-tracking him into a role with the big league club this year. Long-term, the Yankees are still quite hopeful that Lagrange will play in their rotation for years to come, but with the current pitching staff lacking in relievers and the rotation loaded with capable arms this is the move they could make to best help themselves in the immediate future.

NJ.com | Bob Klapisch: The Yankees won’t have Max Fried back for a minute still, as the team’s top pitcher last year is just now starting to play catch following an IL stint for a bone bruise, but that hasn’t stopped speculation about what the Yankees will do with their rotation once they’re back to full strength. The conversation around Will Warren or Ryan Weathers moving down to the bullpen has been debated since Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón were approaching their returns, but with over half the rotation having been on the IL at some point as well as Cam Schlittler having dealt with a back issue during the start of camp, Klapisch proposes the use of a six-man rotation. It’d be the best bet for keeping everyone fresh for October, though with how untrustworthy the bullpen’s been this year having them short a man might not be the best decision.

SEATTLE — Sean Manaea views his success throwing his sweeper as a significant factor in his turnaround.

“Throwing it hard and selling it has really been key,” the Mets left-hander said before an 8-3 loss to the Mariners in which he did pitch. “If I try to place it and make it perfect, that is where I get into trouble.”

On Monday he had one of his strongest outings of the season, allowing one earned run over five innings in the Mets’ 3-2 loss to the Mariners in 10 innings. Manaea was utilized in a bulk relief role, behind an opener.

Manaea has pitched to a 2.55 ERA over his last five appearances, dating to May 10. Before his last outing he was moved into a higher-leverage role, switching spots with David Peterson.

“Even though we lost the game you have got to take the positive there,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It was his longest outing, you saw some 93-94 [mph]. He was pretty impressive. He was really good.”

As for his sweeper, Manaea utilized it 21 times in 63 pitches.

Jorge Polanco will be evaluated for a potential return to the Mets this weekend following his scheduled start Wednesday for Triple-A Syracuse (the second half of a back-to-back day appearances).

Though Polanco is expected to serve as the DH once he’s cleared for a Mets return, Mendoza indicated the ability to handle first base will be necessary. Polanco, who has been on the injured list since April 15, is returning from left Achilles bursitis after initially dealing with a right wrist contusion.

“It could be in play that he is active on Friday,” Mendoza said. “But if he needs more at-bats and it’s not so much how he is feeling physically … there is a combination of a lot of things.”

Kodai Senga is scheduled to throw 85 pitches for Syracuse on Wednesday in a potential final minor league rehab outing before rejoining the Mets.

The right-hander has been sidelined since April 26 with lumbar spine inflammation.

Mets pitchers began the day with 560 strikeouts this season, which ranked first in the National League and second in MLB.

The total was fourth-highest in franchise history through the team’s first 60 games. The 2021 Mets (580 strikeouts) are first.

When the San Francisco Giants cut bait on top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison last season in the Rafael Devers trade, they knew there was a chance that the then 23-year-old would come back to haunt them. Just under a year after the trade, that possibility became a reality.

Harrison tied a career high by striking out 12 Giants in 5.2 innings, moving to 7-1 on the season with a 1.57 ERA. The only damage came on a sixth-inning solo shot by Willy Adames to give the Giants their lone run off Harrison in what eventually ended up an 8-3 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Giants might have been extra regretful of the deal since their prize return from the trade was fitted for a Golden Sombrero after striking out four times in five at-bats. He did deliver a productive strikeout in the first inning, making Harrison throw 10 pitches before he was caught looking at a fastball — which now regularly hits 97 MPH. At least Zach Wheeler had the courtesy to wait a few seasons to become an All-Star after the Giants traded him.

Yes, seeing 10 pitches counted as a victory Tuesday against Harrison. It looked like the Giants might shorten his night when Casey Schmitt and Devers got his pitch count up to 16 with back-to-back strikeouts, Luis Arraez tripled, and Adames walked on five pitches. With Harrison sitting at 26 pitches, Matt Chapman swung at the first pitch he saw and popped out.

After that, it felt like Harrison wanted to send a message to his old teammates and Buster Posey. Daniel Susac singled in the second, and Harrison struck out five in a row. Adames singled to open the 4th and Harrison struck out the next three hitters. He was one strike away from exiting with six shutout innings before Adames went deep.

The Giants prepared for a tough left-handed pitcher by loading up on righties. Jonah Cox and Victor Bericoto started alongside Schmitt in the outfield, and new Giants Buddy Kennedy was the DH. The trio went 0-for-6 with four Ks off Harrison, and Kennedy also struck out against lefty reliever Aaron Ashby.

Cox delivered the game’s most frustrating at-bat in the 7th inning. After Susac and Bericoto singled to lead off the inning, the rookie center fielder squared to bunt and popped it up to the pitcher. Later in the inning, Devers grounded out with runners on second and third — but at least he didn’t end up with the Platinum Sombrero.

Trevor McDonald (2-3) probably deserved better, after bouncing back from a three-run first inning. He didn’t give up another run in the next four innings, keeping the Giants within striking range by getting lots of ground balls and a clutch 6-3 double play. McDonald also came within one strike of escaping a jam that started with back-to-back walks, than left a sinker over the plate that tuned into a three-run homer from Jake Bauers, who looks nothing like Kiefer Sutherland.

The game was full of baffling decisions, excellent Brewers base running, and some very poor Giants defense.

• Daniel Susac made an error on a pickoff throw to second base because his throw hit the batter in the helmet. Tony Vitello argued for interference, but Sal Frelick didn’t move and was probably extremely surprised.
• McDonald had Luis Rengfio picked off in the 2nd inning, but threw the ball away. Chapman had trouble dealing with some challenging grounders in the 8th, which were both ruled infield singles, but Prime Chapman would usually turn into outs. New center fielder Drew Gilbert also gave up a double to Jackson Chourio that hit his glove. It would have been a great defensive play, but it wasn’t, and the game went from 6-3 to 8-3 when Chourio scored on a Bryce Turang single two pitches later.
• Bryce Eldridge sat against a left-handed starter. But to sit in favor of designated hitter Buddy Kennedy, a man whose career slash line against lefties is .194/.286/.301 is baffling. Kennedy’s name also sounds like the video game alias for a player who didn’t sign the licensing agreement. When Eldridge finally got in the game, he delivered an RBI single.
• Maybe Jung Hoo Lee needed a rest day, but he also delivered an RBI pinch-hit in the 8th. He’s on a five-game hitting streak since coming off the Injured List and has gone 13-for-20. But platoons!
• Devers struck out twice in at-bats where an ABS Challenge went against him, once reversing a ball call to hand him a K and once when he appealed a borderline strike himself and lost, then became Harrison’s 12th strikeout.
• The Giants walked seven Brewers. Five of them came around to score.
• Tristan Beck gave up four runs in the 8th, all with two outs. 1-2-3 hitters Christian Yelich, Chourio, and Turang all knocked in runs, and have scored 11 runs and driven in 12 runs in the series.

There were positives. Susac went 3-for-4, though the Giants couldn’t get him home. Adames went 2-for-4 with a walk and turned two big 6-3 double plays. Erik Miller had a nice inning of relief. No one tore their hamstring on a routine ground ball. The crowd looked like they had a great time.

The Giants aren’t done facing 24-year-old pitchers in this series. Wednesday, the Brewers are calling up Tyson Hardin to make his major-league debut, after he had 61 strikeouts in 48 innings between AA and AAA this season. He is, however, right-handed, so we may not see another Bericoto-Cox Murdered Row in that game.

Then again, anything can happen with this team’s roster and lineup decisions. After all, we never dreamed 2026 would be the start of the Buddy Kennedy Era.

The Yankees entered Tuesday’s game 3-8 against teams over .500. They did nothing to show they were better than that at home against Cleveland.

With the help from some creative argumentative tactics, they came back twice vs Guards SP Joey Cantillo, but they ran out of tricks once he was out of the game.

CLE’s bullpen pitched 5 innings of scoreless ball, which bought time for their offense to blow the game open via a 3-run Travis Bazzana double.

The pentawhatever of Holderman-Herrin-Gaddis-Armstrong-Festa allowed just 2 hits and walked nobody. Yes, you read that right—Herrin walked nobody.

TheeeEE Yankees are now 3-9 against winning teams.

Around baseball

• The Giants promoted Tugboat Wilkinson to AAA.

• ESPN ranked prospects, including a Braylon Doughty ranking that made me happy.

• The Royals lost again. The Tigers beat TB 8-0.

• The Twins beat the Chi-Sox 6-4.

PHOENIX –– After his customary round of pregame picking drills on Tuesday afternoon, Freddie Freeman took the long way back to the clubhouse, going first to the bat rack on the far side of the dugout to rub his bats a few hours before first pitch.

“Gotta wake them up,” Freeman said jokingly.

In a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the ritual appeared to work.

Freeman opened the scoring in the Dodgers’ victory at Chase Field with a two-run home run in the top of the first. Shohei Ohtani doubled their lead with a two-run triple the following inning. Both superstars contributed to another two-run rally in the seventh.

And on a night the bullpen played with fire, every bit of it was needed as the Dodgers bounced back from Monday’s series-opening loss with a narrow defeat of an intradivision rival.

“Good team win,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It was good to see us come to life offensively.”

Despite leading 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers’ relievers almost made things messy.

Following a 4 ⅔-innings, two-run start from Eric Lauer, then scoreless appearances from Blake Treinen (who escaped a jam in the fifth with the help of a diving catch by Ryan Ward) and Edgardo Henriquez (whose fastball topped out at 103.6 mph, the second-hardest throw by any pitcher in the big leagues this year), right-hander Kyle Hurt suffered his worst outing of the season, getting charged with three runs in a three-walk dud in the seventh.

The first two runs scored on a double from Nolan Arenado (which was aided by a bobble from Ward in left). The next came after Will Klein inherited the mess and issued a bases-loaded walk.

Coincidentally or not, the rally started right after a section of Arizona fans went #TarpsOff in the upper deck of right field.

Alas, the Dodgers survived.

“Got a little hairy at the end,” Freeman quipped. “But luckily, [we] pulled it off.”

The seventh inning ended on a nice defensive play from Freeman, who ranged far to his right to spear a grounder on his backhand and throw to second for the third out.

Arizona put two more aboard against Klein in the eighth before Arenado grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The ninth inning provided another scare, with Tanner Scott letting a runner reach second before finally closing out the win.

But in the end, it was the Dodgers’ bats that made the difference.

Just as Freeman hoped, they woke up just enough.

What it means

The Dodgers are now 15-4 since May 13. And of the many impressive traits in that run, their ability to shake off rare defeats continues to stand out.

The team has not lost back-to-back contests since a four-game skid from May 9-12.

Such resiliency has helped the Dodgers (39-22) build a six-game lead in the National League West standings. They are now 6 ½ games clear of the recently resurgent Dbacks (32-28).

“In this clubhouse, it’s a lot of older guys,” Freeman said. “We know how to just move on from a loss.”

Who’s hot

Freeman and Ohtani, who have both looked more and more like their typical selves offensively over the last several weeks.

Ever since an early May slump that dropped his batting average to .233 and OPS to .767, Ohtani has been the best hitter in the Dodgers’ lineup, entering Tuesday with a .415 average and 1.229 OPS over his last 18 games.

That continued with a 2-for-4 performance that also included an intentional walk in the two-run seventh inning, extending Ohtani’s on-base streak to 18 games.

For Freeman, who was 3-for-5 on Tuesday, it’s been almost exactly the same story.

He endured a mid-May skid that lowered his average to .254 and OPS to .737, but has turned around and hit .348 over 13 games since May 19, a stretch that includes five home runs and 12 RBIs.

His only game not reaching base over that span: Monday night, leading to his pregame ritual Tuesday.

“It’s kind of how we built this team on the offensive side,” Roberts said of the recent contributions from Ohtani and Freeman. “Shohei’s been really good the last few weeks. Freddie’s been good the last month … Certainly it makes life a lot easier for everyone else. It seems like there’s always traffic creating a situational at-bat.”

Who’s not

Not to keep beating a dead horse, but still Kyle Tucker.

The $240 million outfielder went hitless in three at-bats Tuesday before drawing a seventh-inning walk, extending a recent 3-for-26 slump over his last seven games.

“I wouldn’t say disappointed,” manager Dave Roberts said pregame of Tucker’s underwhelming campaign thus far, which includes a .235 average and .715 OPS. “I would say I’m probably just hoping that there’s some traction for him and for our sake. He’s working hard. There’s a day where it looks like he’s back and feeling comfortable. Then a couple days where you look at him and it looks like he’s searching again. For me, you just hope he can find something that sticks.”

More than two months into the season, it hasn’t happened yet.

Up next

Ohtani (5-2, 0.82 EA) will return to two-way duties on Wednesday when he faces off against former All-Star right-hander Zac Gallen (3-4, 5.16 ERA).

Only a week or two ago, the early returns of the 2026 season didn’t inspire much confidence. Sure, the Mariners hadn’t dug themselves a hole in the standings like in years past—that’d be almost impossible with the state of the American League. Even so, watching the games felt akin to pulling teeth in some moments. The defense wasn’t clean, the offense seriously lacked consistency and the pitching was running into bumps in the road that they weren’t used to facing.

When Cal Raleigh went down with an oblique injury, it may not have set off the panic meter, but the Mariners’ margin for error certainly began to shrink. They were going to need to stay afloat for the time being without their biggest producer from the previous season.

The Mariners are more than staying afloat. They are sailing full steam ahead.

Production came from all over the roster Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park as the Mariners throttled the Mets 8-3 to win their eighth consecutive game and capture yet another series win.

In a moment that epitomizes the unlikely contributions throughout their hot streak, catcher Jhonny Pereda, making his 12th appearance of the season with Raleigh on the injured list, launched a three-run homer to break open the game and give the Mariners 7-2 lead in the fifth inning. The second homer of his career gave Mariners pitching the breathing room necessary to put the game to rest.

Over his 42 plate appearances with the big league club, Pereda is posting a 120 wRC+ while slashing .263/.333/.421. Small sample sizes be damned—there’s no guarantee Jhonny Pereda will remain on the 26-man roster when Raleigh returns, but consistent production from substitutes over even a short period can go a long way to filling even a Big-Dumper-sized void in the meantime.

“That’s what good teams do when they have guys who are injured, they find a way to step up and fill the moment,” manager Dan Wilson said postgame. “And I think they do that by not trying to do too much, you know. Jhonny just put up a good at-bat, finally got a pitch middle-in he could turn on, and he did.”

Speaking of substitutes, Patrick Wisdom was called upon to get the start at first base in the absence of Josh Naylor, who got the night off after leaving Monday night’s game with back spasms. It didn’t take long for Wisdom to make his mark on the game, giving the Mariners a 2-0 lead in the second with a two-run homer off the out-of-town scoreboard in left field.

For Logan Gilbert, it wasn’t a perfect night, but the cushion provided by the offense allowed him to pass the baton to the bullpen without much stress. Gilbert made it through 5.1 innings, allowing three runs.

All three of the Mets’ runs came via a multi-homer game by Carson Benge. To lead off the game, Benge struck out, but only after seeing 11 pitches and nearly all of Gilbert’s repertoire in the process. In his following two plate appearances, he was able to deposit both a cutter and a four-seam into the right-center field seats, the first of which tied up the game and erased the lead provided by Wisdom’s homer.

Despite the long ball playing a factor, Mets hitters not named Carson Benge had trouble seeing the ball out of Gilbert’s hand all night long. Gilbert generated a whopping 21 whiffs on the evening, with nine coming on his four-seam and seven on a slider that was clicking from the get-go.

“It felt good,” Gilbert said of his slider. “Good depth, action on it good. I trust it. I’m just trying to ‘put a fastball on it,’ I call it, like sell it, make it look like your body, your arm, your hand, everything, try to sell that it’s a fastball coming out.”

Gilbert was unable to finish the sixth with his pitch count nearing triple digits and a couple of Mets reaching base with one out following Benge’s second homer. Wilson called upon Eduard Bazardo, who swiftly induced an inning-ending double play with one pitch to extinguish the threat of a comeback.

Julio Rodríguez quietly had a productive night. He golfed a solo homer out to right to give the Mariners their eighth and final run of the night, and also drove in a run earlier in the game with a sacrifice fly. Dominic Canzone also continued to excel in his lefty DH role with a three-hit night that almost goes unnoticed with everything that was clicking.

“If I had the magic touch, we’d keep it forever,” Wilson said about the Mariners’ hot hitting. “Sometimes that’s just the game. We’ve talked a lot about how offense is contagious, and it just feels like the energy right now offensively has been outstanding.”

Last but not least, Colt Emerson continued a strong start at the big league level. He picked up two hits and also got dirty for a couple of sparkling plays in the field, including the game-ending sliding catch on a pop-up in foul territory.

The Mariners will close out their six-game homestand Wednesday afternoon as they look to sweep away the Mets and win their ninth consecutive game.

After allowing just one run across his two previous outings combined, Mets right-hander Jonah Tong had a tough night on Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners.

The 22-year-old entered in the second inning and allowed five runs (four earned) over 3.1 IP, with three coming on a home run in the fifth inning to Jhonny Pereda that blew the game open, 7-2. Following the loss, Tong acknowledged his fastball wasn't working against the Mariners' bats and struggled after a solid first inning on the mound, knowing he needs to be more consistent.

"I obviously didn't have my fastball command for most of the game, so moving forward that's the definitely be the thing I'll focus on the next few games, weeks," Tong said. "Just getting that dialed back in and I'm more than confident it'll rebound right out of it really nicely."

He added on his overall performance: "Strong first little inning and then felt like I found my delivery and my stuff towards the end. Obviously it just boils down to that second and third up. I just got to do a better job."

While acknowledging the defensive errors that occurred, manager Carlos Mendoza pointed to Tong's issues throwing strikes and getting ahead in counts as the main reasons for the poor outing. In total, Tong threw 83 pitches, but only 54 were for strikes. He used his fastball 35 times (42 percent of pitches), but only had three whiffs on 16 swings and four called strikes. 

"Having a hard time throwing strikes, that's where it starts," Mendoza said. "His ability to get strike one was below average today. And then deep counts, three-ball counts. Again, we don't make a couple of plays behind him and it cost him. But I think it's just like I said before the game, his ability to compete in the strike zone, and right now he's not doing it."

Like Mendoza mentioned, Tong did have to work around two errors in the third inning by Marcus Semien and Mark Vientos that forced him to throw 27 pitches in the frame. After a long time on the mound like that, Tong said he needs to "find a way" to push through when heading back out there again quickly like he did.

"You just got to calm yourself down after that," Tong said. "There's a lot of pitches thrown a couple times throughout that inning, just got to find a way to settle down after. Just got to find a way. Right, at the end of the day, that's out of my control in a lot of cases and that's the reality we're in so I got to find a way."

The home run pitch to Pereda came on cutter, which is something he's worked into his arsenal this year. He knows the pitch needs to improve, especially in big moments like Tuesday night.

"Part of it is just gonna be you're gonna have some really good ones and you're just gonna have one that gets away from you. And unfortunately had to be that one," Tong said. "But again, I have to do a better job with that pitch. That's plain and simple there."

Tong's future as the team's bulk pitcher after an opener next time through the rotation is still up in the air, as they'll need him to improve if he gets another chance. For now, New York will look to avoid a sweep on Wednesday afternoon against the Mariners.

The Dodgers evened the series on Tuesday night by narrowly beating the Dbacks 6-5. The Dbacks had plenty of runners on base, but were 1 big hit short Tuesday night.

Michael Soroka struggled early in this one allowing 2 runs in each of the first 2 innings. He allowed a 2 run HR to Freeman in the first and Ohtani tripled in 2 runs in the second. After the second inning however, Soroka locked it in and cruised through the next 4 innings. After giving up the 4 runs through 2 innings, it was huge for him to be able to get through 6 innings and keep his team in the game.

Offensively, Corbin Carroll homered in the 3^rd inning. Nolan Arenado also delivered a big 2 run double in the bottom of the 7^th that narrowly missed a home run as it was hit a little to flat but plenty hard at 104 mph. Pavin Smith had a big at bat in the bottom of the 7th with the bases loaded, drawing a big walk to bring the Dbacks within 1 run. Unfortunately though, the team would leave them loaded.

I also thought it was worth noting that Juan Morillo and Kevin Ginkel were really good yet again. Ginkel had a fantastic 1,2,3 inning to maintain the momentum and shut down the Dodger offense after bringing the game within 1 run. Juan Morillo came in in the 9^th and proceeded to strike out Ohtani and Freeman in dominant fashion. Just really impressive stuff from these guys once again and I think its worthy of a shout out.

The achilles heel of this Dbacks team tonight aside from the early runs surrendered by Soroka was the lack of timely hitting. The offense did a great job of getting traffic on the bases but this Dbacks offense once again struggled to have the big at bat and get the big hit. They were just 2-12 with RISP. It is tough to win games with at bats like that with RISP.  One such at bat that will certainly get discussed a lot is Geraldo Perdomo’s perplexing bunt in the bottom of the 9^th down 1. Ildemaro Vargas had just singled ahead of him putting the tying run on first base with one out, and Perdomo with a 3-1 count laid down a bunt and got thrown out at first. What makes this even more scratching is that lefty Pavin Smith was on deck due to face a lefty. Im sorry, but as the regular 3 hole hitter on this team, you have to be more situationally aware than that and have the confidence to swing the bat in that situation. Major red flag for me the lack of situational awareness as well as the lack of confidence.

Overall, this was yet another game the Dbacks could’ve won and there is something to be said about that when you are playing one of the top teams in the league. They will look to take the lead back in the series tomorrow night but will have the tall task of trying to do so against Shohei Ohtani. Tomorrow is a big night for Zac Gallen. This team really needs him to start stepping up and tomorrow would be a great time to start.

The Seattle Mariners proved once again why they’re the hottest team in baseball at the expense of the New York Mets.

The Mets gave up three home runs and committed two errors as the Mariners won their eighth straight game. Meanwhile, the Mets’ lineup outside of Carson Benge couldn’t get much going in Tuesday’s 8-3 loss. Benge hit two home runs and accounted for all three of New York’s runs.

Benge’s home runs came against Seattle’s starting pitcher Logan Gilbert, who finished with eight strikeouts across five and 1/3 innings. The Mariners’ bullpen took it from there, shutting New York down the rest of the way. Julio Rodriguez, Patrick Wisdom, and Jhonny Pereda added home runs for Seattle.

Huascar Brazobán played the role of opener for Jonah Tong and went once through the Seattle order with poor results. He walked the leadoff man, J.P. Crawford, before getting three groundball outs to escape. He wasn’t so lucky in the second inning. Dominic Canzone’s single was followed up by Wisdom’s home run to put Seattle up 2-0. Brazobán gave up a double to Colt Emerson before being pulled for Tong, who struck out Crawford on three pitches to end the inning.

The Mets’ rookie outfielders answered back in the top of the third. AJ Ewing hit his first big-league double, which was followed by Benge’s first home run of the night. Benge’s third-inning dinger was the hardest-hit ball of his career at 109.8 mph. Bo Bichette was then hit by a pitch, but Gilbert struck out Soto to end the inning. Soto entered the game 1 for 13 in his career against Gilbert. After he lined out and struck out, Soto got a single off Gilbert in the fifth inning before the right-hander was pulled.

The Mets’ infield defense let Tong down in his first clean inning. Randy Arozarena hit a line drive at Marcus Semien that Semien was able to knock down, but he airmailed the throw to first base, allowing Arozarena to advance to second. Next up was Luke Raley, who hit a line drive to first baseman Mark Vientos, who dropped it, easily sending Arozarena to home plate. The Vientos error put the Mariners up 3-2, a lead they never gave up.

Tong got into trouble all on his own in the fourth inning. He walked Wisdom, gave up a single to Pereda, then a walk to Crawford to load the bases. Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to score Wisdom and increase the lead to 4-2.

It kept getting worse for Tong in the fifth inning when he gave up a three-run home run to Pereda. Buried 7-2 and short on arms, manager Carlos Mendoza left Tong in for the rest of the fifth before going with Cionel Perez to start the sixth. Perez immediately gave up Rodriguez’s solo shot, but didn’t allow any more runs across two total innings. AJ Minter pitched for the second night in a row, stranding a pair in the eighth inning.

Benge’s second home run came in the sixth inning, but the Mets’ offense went quietly after the brief sign of life. A single from Brett Baty in the seventh and a walk from Benge in the eighth were all the Mets got going against Seattle relievers Eduard Bazardo and Cooper Criswell.

Semien, Vientos, Bichette, Jared Young, and Hayden Senger all went hitless for the Mets.

New York looks to avoid the sweep with Freddy Peralta on the mound for Wednesday’s series finale at 3:30 PM ET.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Carson Benge, +22% WPA
Big Mets loser: Jonah Tong, -28% WPA
Mets pitchers: -45% WPA
Mets hitters: -5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Carson Benge home run in the third, +20.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Patrick Wisdom home run in the second, +19.9% WPA

Tuesday night's game against the Mariners showed the inconsistency of Mets first baseman Mark Vientos this season.

In the first inning, Vientos made a couple of good plays at first, including a nifty play going to his left on a grounder by Luke Raley down the right field line. Vientos scooped up the grounder, turned and threw to Huascar Brazoban covering at first to get the third out of the opening frame. Just two innings later, with a runner on second and one out, Raley lined a pitch toward Vientos at first base, but the youngster could not come up with the liner as the ball trickled into the outfield, allowing the Mariners to take a 3-2 lead.

In the fifth, Vientos would have a chance at making a play for his pitcher when Cole Young hit a grounder in the hole between first and second, but Vientos deflected it, allowing Young to reach for a one-out single. The Mariners would use that opportunity to score three more runs to go up 7-2, and Seattle would eventually win 8-3.

"Just jumped up and missed it," Vientos said of the error after the game.

When asked about the play in the fifth, Vientos said, "That one took a bad hop. Put a good glove on it, but took a bad hop."

"He’s been on and off," manager Carlos Mendoza said of Vientos' defense. "There’s been stretches where you see him play well defensively and then a couple of plays tonight are routine plays. Some inconsistency there at times." 

Vientos made his fourth error in 50 games at first base on Tuesday. Last year, he had eight errors in 72 games at third base, but with Jorge Polanco on the IL, Vientos has been thrust into the starting role of late. So far this season, Vientos has a -4 OAA playing the field, according to Baseball Savant, which puts him in the eighth percentile in MLB.

But Vientos is in the lineup for his bat, but that inconsistency on the field has spread into his batting. The young slugger had a chance to do some damage and get the Mets back into the game.

After Carson Benge's second home run of the game cut the M's lead to 7-3, Vientos came up with runners on first and second, and one out. Jared Young's eight-pitch walk knocked starter Logan Gilbert out of the game, allowing Vientos to go up against Seattle's bullpen. However, Vientos swung at a first-pitch sinker running in on him from RHP Eduard Bazardo, and grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Vientos finished 0-for-4 and is 3-for-23 (.130) with one home run over his last seven games. 

"Inconsistent, especially against righties. Having a hard time against righties," Mendoza said of Vientos offensively this season. "When you look at the numbers, he’s been pretty good against lefties. But righties are giving him a hard time."

Against left-handers, Vientos is slashing .273/.294/.439 with an OPS of .733 to go along with two home runs and eight RBI. The power numbers are greater against right-handers so far this season -- five against righties -- but the overall hitting numbers are worse. Vientos is slashing .190/.233/.347 with an OPS of .580. 

The 26-year-old said he still has confidence at the plate, but acknowledged his inconsistencies.

"Last month, a lot of bad luck, but the inconsistency is not something that I want," Vientos said. "I’m pushing for better results, working with the coaches and trying to be the best version of myself. It’s not happening, but I’m working for it, for sure."

The Dodgers peppered their offense throughout Tuesday’s game, then rode the high wire as the bullpen recorded the final 13 outs of a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix.

After a night with minimal scoring chances, the Dodgers offense wasted no time on Tuesday, with Shohei Ohtani in the middle of everything in what has historically been the best month of his career.

He doubled down the right field line and scored on Freddie Freeman’s home run in the first inning. Then Ohtani drilled a ball into the right field corner in the second for a two-run triple. He was intentionally walked with a runner on third base in the seventh, and scored then too, part of the Dodgers’ third two-run inning of the evening.

Freeman was hitless on Monday, snapping a 14-game on-base streak, but had three hits on Tuesday. He’s been on an extra-base-hit tear, with five home runs and four doubles in his last 13 games, raising his seasonal OPS 98 points during that time.

Eric Lauer didn’t give up much in the first four innings, mostly just a solo home run by the red-hot Corbin Carroll off the top of the left field wall and into the bullpen with two outs in the third. That was to be expected, with Lauer now at 13 home runs allowed, tied for eighth-most in the majors. Carroll entered Tuesday with a 219 wRC+ against lefties this season, which Ryan Blake wrote about at FanGraphs. Arizona’s star southpaw has punished southpaws to the tune of .417/.527/.708.

Two singles to open the fifth inning set the Diamondbacks up nicely, with Ketel Marte delivering a sacrifice fly to plate a second run. Lauer was allowed to face Carroll a third time, and landed a fastball and curve at the top of the zone to strike out Carroll with a runner on second base. That ended Lauer’s night at 4 2/3 innings.

Tuesday was the first time a Dodgers starting pitcher didn’t complete five innings in 12 games, and the bullpen had a bumpy road to cross the finish line.

Blake Treinen walked a first batter, then gave up a low liner to left by Nolan Arenado that had designs on bring another run home, but Ryan Ward made a sliding catch to escape further damage in the fifth, keeping the lead at two runs.

Two Diamondbacks reached off Edgardo Henriquez in the sixth, but he kept them there. Kyle Hurt walked three batters batters and couldn’t finish the seventh, and Arenado brought two of them home with a double off the left field wall. This time a bobble from Ward helped the second run score, as Mookie Betts’ relay was just a hair late to get a sliding Gabriel Moreno at the plate.

Hurt had three unintentional walks in 66 batters faced this season through Monday, but walked three of his six batters faced on Tuesday.

Will Klein was also wild, falling behind Geraldo Perdomo before a pinch-hit single loaded the bases. Then Klein walked in a run. It took a wide-ranging grab by Freeman and an acrobatic stab at second base by Mookie Betts for the Dodgers to escape the seventh inning with a lead, this time down to a single run.

With a chance to reset, Klein allowed two singles in the eighth inning but got a double play to escape with the lead intact. He leads the Dodgers with eight appearances pitching in multiple innings this season, three more than the next-most on the team (Jack Dreyer).

Tanner Scott allowed a one-out single in the ninth. Geraldo Perdomo, who finished fourth in National League MVP voting last year but has struggled to the tune of a .679 OPS this year, laid down a bunt on a 3-1 pitch, which got the potential tying run in scoring position, but at the cost of a precious second out.

That left lefty Pavin Smith against the lefty Scott, and the resulting harmless groundout allowed the Dodgers to claim this one.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: Freddie Freeman (9); Corbin Carroll (8)

WP — Blake Treinen (2-1): 1/3 IP, 1 walk

LP — Michael Soroka (7-3): 6 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

Sv — Tanner Scott (6): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout

Up next

Shohei Ohtani makes his 10th pitching start of the season on Wednesday night (6:40 p.m., SportsNet LA), with opening day starter Zac Gallen on the mound for Arizona.

I am weird, you are weird. Everyone in the world is weird. One day two people come together in mutual weirdness and fall in love — Dr. Seuss

When two very bad baseball teams — say the Colorado Rockies and the Los Angeles Angels — play a series, the stage is set for weirdness. That first became clear in Game 1 (e.g., ten walks, four errors, and an MLB review to decide the game in the bottom of the ninth).

The trend continued in Game 2 as the Rockies soundly defeated the Angels, 8-2, scoring back-to-back series wins in the process. They last had back-to-back series wins in August 2025.

The offense: Oh, the places you’ll go!

Tonight, the Rockies offense was (mostly) cooking.

After a sleepy first inning, Hunter Goodman got things rolling in the second with a leadoff home run, his 15th of the season.

Troy Johnston followed that up with a double and error on Jo Adell that allowed him to move to third with no outs. An Ezequiel Tovar sacrifice fly scored Johnson, and the Rockies had a 2-0 lead with one out in the second inning.

Grayson Rodriguez walked the next two batters, Kyle Karros and Sterlin Thompson. Between the errors and the walks, Game 2 began to have terrifying echoes of Game 1. Edouard Julien singled to scored Karros, and the Rockies had a 3-0 lead when the second inning had concluded.

Nothing of note happened in the third, but the fourth inning saw the Rockies on the move again.

After Rodriquez recorded two quick outs, he issued three singles, which resulted in Jake McCarthy scoring Kyle Karros. A throwing error allowed by Wade Meckler put McCarthy on second. And then Willi Castro (3) got everyone taco’s with a three-run homer.

Because this is a Rockies-Angels game, it involved walks, errors, and general weirdness. That happened when TJ Rumfield stepped up to the plate following Castro and hit a very strange home run, his eighth of the season.

And that was it for Grayson Rodriguez. He finished with 3.2 IP, allowing eight runs (all earned) on eight hits. He walked three, struck out two, and allowed three home runs on 91 pitches. He currently has a 10.00 ERA.

The Angels got on the board in the fifth inning. Tomoyuki Sugano got two quick outs, but struggled for the third. After allowing a double and a walk, Meckler got the Halos on the board with a double, and the score was 8-2. Sugano allowed two more runners to get on base before getting the final out.

And with that, his evening was done.

Though there was a bit on on-base traffic, things settled down for the Rockies after the fourth inning. However, this 13-pitch at-bat from Sterlin Thompson in the seventh merits some “Hang it in the Denver Art Museum” treatment.

For those keeping score at home, that’s the longest at-bat by a Rockie this season.

The offense stirred in the ninth inning when, with one out, Goodman doubled, and Troy Johnston followed up with a walk. However, the Rockies were unable to capitalize.

In terms of the final numbers, it was a good night to be Hunter Goodman, who went 2-for-4 with two hits including a home run, a double, and a walk.

The Rockies finished the evening with eight runs on 12 hits. They had five walks and eight strikeouts and were 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Manager Warren Schaeffer commended Hunter Goodman’s performance.

The Rockies challenge going forward? “Playing day by day,” Schaeffer said, pointing to the length of the season.

Tomoyuki Sugano: Great day for up!

For Sugano, it was another solid outing, marred by a struggle to get the last out in the fifth inning, but still the kind of performance the Rockies have come to expect from him.

His final line was 5.0 IP and two runs (both earned) allowed on five hits. He walked two and struck out five on 96 pitches.

Sugano’s currrent ERA is 3.98.

“I thought his splinter was excellent today,” Schaeffer said, though he commented on a lack of efficiency. Still, “he did a nice job.”

The bullpen: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

In the sixth inning, it was time to bullpen.

Blas Castaño entered the game in relief of Sugano and pitched two perfect innings in which he allowed no hits, runs, or walks. He also finished his evening by striking out Mike Trout swinging.

His current ERA is 4.15. Carry on, Blas! Carry on.

On the less-weird-but-still-very-cool side, TJ Shook made his MLB debut. His first out was a fly ball to left field. Following that, Vaughn Grissom hit a double, and Shook followed that by throwing three straight balls to Jo Adell before earning a called strike.

Then Chad Stevens turned a gorgeous unassisted double play. (Unfortunately, MLB has not provided video.)

Juan Mejia handled the ninth. He allowed one hit, but no damage.

In total, Rockies pitching allowed two runs (both earned) on seven hits.

And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street!

Please enjoy this Ezequiel Tovar highlight.

That’s the kind of play expected from a Gold Glove shortstop.

Up next

Join us tomorrow night for Game 3 when the The Cat in the Hat comes back, and the Rockies go for the sweep!

Michael Lorenzen will face Walbert Ureña.

Game time is 7:40 pm.

See you then.

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SEATTLE — A challenging schedule awaited the Mets as they departed Queens late Sunday afternoon, and two games into that slate, all is hardly well.

Tuesday night a combination of underwhelming pitching, ugly defense and mediocre offensive output sank the Mets in an 8-3 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. The Mets lost their second straight game to begin the road trip.

Gone are the positive vibes that accompanied the Mets to the Pacific Northwest after a weekend sweep of the Marlins that extended their winning streak to four games.

The Mariners, who won their eighth straight, are a legitimate threat to win the AL West and the Mets will continue this West Coast swing in San Diego against a Padres team very much in the NL playoff mix.

“Baseball, especially right now, there’s so much talent from so many good teams — you can sweep a team and then you can get swept,” Mark Vientos said. “But our job is to prevent that as much as possible and just get on a streak and stay hot.”

Vientos had a rough night defensively, committing an error at first base that led to a run in the fourth before misplaying another ball that was ruled a single in the fifth, helping to extend the inning before Jhonny Pereda hit a three-run homer.

How would Vientos evaluate his season defensively?

“Pretty good,” he said. “I have done a pretty good job over there. I have been working.”

Jonah Tong had his first rough outing in three appearances since his recall from Triple-A Syracuse. The right-hander surrendered five runs, four earned, on five hits and two walks over 3 ¹/₃ innings in a bulk relief role.

Overall, the Mets surrendered three homers on a night the Mariners built a comfortable cushion by the fifth inning and rolled to the finish. The Mets will try to avoid a series sweep on Wednesday with Freddy Peralta on the mound.

“We have got to start playing better,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Until we start playing consistent baseball, that is the only way to get out of it.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

Among the few Mets’ positives was rookie Carson Benge, who blasted two home runs to continue his recent offensive outbreak. But the Mets were hardly dynamic offensively, a night after getting only two hits in a 3-2 loss in 10 innings.

Huascar Brazoban, who served as the opener, worked into the second inning. Dominic Canzone singled with one out before Brazoban got ahead 0-2 in the count to Patrick Wisdom and left a changeup over the plate. Wisdom crushed it for a two-run homer that gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead. Colt Emerson doubled to end Brazoban’s night before Tong recorded the inning’s final out.

Benge unloaded for a two-run homer in the third that tied it 2-2. A.J. Ewing doubled in the inning before Benge delivered with two outs against Logan Gilbert. Leading off the game, Benge took Gilbert to an 11th pitch before striking out.

Two fielding blunders by the Mets led to an unearned run for the Mariners in the third. After Marcus Semien misplayed Randy Arozarena’s line drive into a two-base error — his throw to first base was errant, allowing Arozarena to reach second — Vientos mishandled Luke Raley’s soft liner. Arozarena scored on Vientos’ error, giving the Mariners a 3-2 lead.

“There have been stretches where we have been playing well defensively,” Mendoza said. “And then there’s been stretches where we are making errors on routine plays.”

Tong walked J.P. Crawford to load the bases in the fourth before Julio Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly extended the Mets’ deficit to 4-2. Tong retired Arozarena to avoid further damage. Wisdom’s walk and Pereda’s single started the rally.

Pereda delivered a gut punch with a three-run homer in the fifth that gave the Mariners a 7-2 lead. The rally started with Cole Young’s grounder off Vientos’ glove — ruled a single — before Canzone singled. With two outs, Tong threw a cutter on his ninth pitch to Pereda that disappeared behind the fence in left-center.

Benge’s second homer of the night closed the gap to 7-3. The multi-homer game was the first of Benge’s career.

Cionel Perez surrendered a homer to Rodriguez leading off the bottom of the frame to give the Mariners an 8-3 lead.

A.J. Minter, in his first back-to-back outing since returning from his minor league rehab assignment, worked a scoreless eighth inning. A night earlier Minter surrendered the game-winning hit in the 10th inning.

The latest in a long line of disgraceful factoids surrounding the 2026 Red Sox remained in tact on Tuesday night: Since Chad Tracy took over as interim manager back on April 25th, the Red Sox have not won a single game at Fenway Park in which the opponent scored more than one run. They’re 4-12 overall in Tracy’s 16 home games at the helm, have lost every single series started east of the Appalachians during that time, and continue to stumble into inefficient oddities at the plate on a near daily basis not seen since one of the Roosevelt administrations.

Speaking of which, Tom Caron announced on the NESN postgame show that this is the Red Sox’ worst home record to start a season (9-20) in 94 years. In case you’re wondering, that 1932 Red Sox team lost a franchise worst 111 games, and also fired their manager (Shano Collins) just after he reached double digit wins.

Combine all the ingredients in this sobering stew of suck, and isn’t it rather appropriate that Chad Tracy’s pet project, Mickey Gasper, made the final out of this game? On the surface, Gasper is a feel good story making the most out of his callup, batting .333 and seizing the majority of the starts behind the plate in recent days. Breaking it into even more detail, he’s collected 18 hits in just 60 plate appearances since getting the nod. All of this sounds nice, until you realize exactly zero of those hits have come in his 12 highest leverage plate appearances on the season.

There’s a reason for this: Mickey Gasper can’t hit high leverage arms! He’s not good enough, and he shouldn’t be taking the final at bat of a game at Fenway Park for the Red Sox down by two in the ninth inning. This isn’t meant to be a knock on him, because to his credit, Gasper’s actually taken some of the better looking at bats on the team in recent weeks against low and medium leverage guys (that is meant to be a knock on everybody else). But if you’re a big market team and your roster is weak enough that Mickey Gasper is getting the lion’s share of the plate appearances when his bat comes up in high leverage moments, something went seriously wrong when constructing the roster.

He’s a 30-year-old who has nearly ten times as many minor league plate appearances (a shade under 2,000) as major league ones (less then 200). Despite this, he’s both clearly the hottest hitting catcher of the three underwhelming backstops on the roster, and the right guy to bat in that spot thanks to a hideously undermanned bench.

And you know what’s specifically frustrating about this roster construction tonight? This is exactly the type of game the “run prevention Red Sox” should be winning if the formula is going to work. Connelly Early didn’t have it on the mound, but he battled enough to keep the team in the game before the bullpen froze Baltimore’s run total at four. With just a little bit thump at the plate, this is the type of Fenway fray where if Red Sox string together even a couple of consecutive good at bats against a mediocre opponent, you get the crowd buzzing, and probably end up kicking the door down in an ugly but satisfying 5-4 win. No dice with this listless lineup.

Instead, we got to watch some of the thump that was on the free agent market last winter show up to Fenway in a road uniform and prove that yes, it’s still possible to hit home runs here from right handed batter’s box. Here’s Pete Alonso with some of that sweet, sweet right handed pop the Red Sox so sorely lack launching a ball Over The Monster:

Meanwhile, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, a right handed bat the Red Sox did sign over the winter, had this to say following the game when asked about the discrepancy between the home and road records for the club:

“I just feel like on the road we’re a very close-knit team. When we come home, there’s just a lot of people. It’s different. It’s just a different vibe at home. We’ve got to figure out a way to make it small like how it is on the road. I just feel like at home we see a lot of people we don’t know that are around this area.”

I’m sure there’s more layers coming from these comments in the coming days because that’s a statement that feels ripe with details waiting to be unearthed. If anything, we need more people in the clubhouse tomorrow, not less.

Three Studs

Ceddanne Rafaela: 2-4 at the plate, and the only man in the Sox lineup with multiple hits tonight. He continues to blossom by being more selective at the plate.

Greg Weissert: Faced five batters, got all of them out, and struck out three. Since he only seems to pitch well without men starting on base, maybe he should open for Brayan Bello?

Tyler Samaniego: Certainly not the sharpest he’s looked, and he got some serious help from the umpires on that call that went to New York and wasn’t overturned, but he sucked up two innings of work and didn’t allow a run. If the Red Sox offense didn’t suffer from narcolepsy when it’s time to rally, there’s a version of this game where he might have gotten the win.

Three Duds

Masataka Yoshida: 0-4 with three strikes outs and an OPS down to .683. And this is from a guy you pretty much have to use at DH because he’s a terrible fielder, can’t throw, and has below average speed on the bases. If he’s not going to start hitting, I’m not sure what he’s still doing here.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa: Came to the plate three times tonight and made four outs.

Lengthy Replay Reviews: Another bad night for replay as the process not only failed to get a call right that could have cost the Orioles the game, but it took several minutes just to incorrectly let us know that the following call stands.

As you might imagine, Orioles Twitter wasn’t pleased in real time:

Play of the game:

It’s Pete Alonso’s two run jack (as seen above). Not just because it shoved the right handed power the Red Sox don’t have in their face, but also because it gave the Orioles the lead and provided what turned out to be the winning run.