DETROIT — Detroit Tigers pitcher Framber Valdez was suspended for five games and fined on Wednesday, one day after he was ejected for hitting Boston's Trevor Story with a pitch during a 10-2 loss in which he allowed a career-high 10 runs.
Valdez was at first banned for six games by MLB, which cited him for intentionally throwing a pitch at Story, but the penalty was reduced in an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players' association. He started serving the penalty during Wednesday night's series finale and barring rainouts will be eligible to pitch Wednesday at the New York Mets.
Detroit already is missing injured starting pitchers Tarik Skubal (elbow), Casey Mize (hamstring) and Justin Verlander (hip).
"Generally when you have an event like last night where there’s a disruption of play and there’s a guy kicked out of the game for what is deemed throwing at somebody, that doesn’t come for free,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said.
Hinch was suspended for one game for what MLB said was Valdez's intentional actions and was to serve the penalty Wednesday.
Valdez already allowed eight runs in the first three innings when Willson Contreras hit a 449-foot homer on the first pitch of the fourth. Contreras watched the flight of the ball from home plate before flipping his bat.
Two pitches later, Wilyer Abreu boosted the score to 10-2 when he homered into the right-field seats, a 109.1 mph drive. His next pitch was a 94.4 mph offering that hit Story between the numbers on his back. Valdez had not thrown a four-seam fastball since last Aug. 3 when he hit Boston's Ceddanne Rafaela under the left arm with a 95.5 pitch with a 3-1 count leading off the sixth inning. The Astros trailed the Red Sox 6-1.
When home plate umpire Adam Beck and Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler got between Story and the mound Tuesday, the Red Sox dugout emptied, followed by Detroit's bench and both bullpens. There was no physical contact and few harsh words.
Valdez denied hitting Story on purpose, saying the unfamiliar four-seam fastball got away from him.
Last season while pitching for Houston, Valdez denied intentionally hitting his catcher César Salazar in the chest with a pitch almost immediately after he gave up a grand slam in a loss to the New York Yankees. Two pitches after Trent Grisham’s slam in the Yankees’ 7-1 victory on Sept. 2, Valdez crossed up catcher César Salazar by throwing a 92.8 mph sinker to Anthony Volpe. Valdez and Salazar both said after the game the pitch that hit the catcher wasn’t on purpose.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 26: A general overall aerial view of the downtown Phoenix skyline on December 26, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Today’s Lineups
PIRATES
DIAMONDBACKS
Oneil Cruz – CF
Geraldo Perdomo – SS
Brandon Lowe – 2B
Ketel Marte – 2B
Bryan Reynolds – LF
Corbin Carroll – RF
Ryan O’Hearn – RF
Adrian Del Castillo – DH
Nick Gonzales – 3B
Ildemaro Vargas – 1B
Marcell Ozuna – DH
Lourdes Gurriel – LF
Spencer Horwitz – 1B
Nolan Arenado – 3B
Konnor Griffin – SS
Gabriel Moreno – C
Henry Davis – C
Alek Thomas – CF
Paul Skenes – RHP
Michael Soroka – RHP
Just a quick intro today, work continuing to kick my ass. But it’s probably a good thing the D-backs were able to start out the series with a win, because things only get tougher tonight. After Paul Skenes’s Opening Day outing ended with a 2026 ERA of 67.50 (!), normal service has been resumed. In April, he made six starts, with an ERA of 1.62 and 38 strikeouts over 33.1 innings, while walking just five. Even including that initial disaster, opponents are still batting only .174 against Skenes. So it’s not going to be easy for the D-backs’ hitters tonight, and I’m basically going into this one not expecting much. I hope to be pleasantly surprised!
May 6, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo (22) reacts in the sixth inning against the Atlanta Braves at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images
Bryan Woo sat in the Mariners media room a week ago, adrift. Normally thoughtful, eloquent, and precise in postgame interviews, Woo’s responses were disjointed, starting sentences and trailing off, as he searched for answers to questions posed by the media about his back-to-back rough starts – answers he didn’t have. The last thing he said, transcribed verbatim, was:
“But…I don’t know. It’s…I got…not a ton of answers.”
Somewhere in the past week he found those answers. It was a much different Bryan Woo who sat before the media today, fresh off a series win against the Braves, handing Atlanta their first series loss of the season. Woo pitched six innings, matching his season-high in strikeouts (nine) against Atlanta, the team that strikes out the least in the National League. He credits his performance to thinking…less.
“It’s like I was good and I wanted to be great. You try to do more, you try to be perfect, and you lose sight of what makes yourself so good. And for me, that’s simplifying and just competing…It felt like the last two starts, just trying to do too much, think too much, dive into scouting reports too much, just thinking too much, honestly. My best brand of baseball is, do my homework before and talk to catchers and whatnot, but when it’s time to go on the mound, just go be. And I feel like I kind of got away from that the last two starts.”
Woo said what got him on track was actually staying on track – creating a plan beforehand, but trusting himself on the mound no matter what. It wasn’t easy for Woo from the start; he had a 24-pitch first inning, battling Matt Olson for nine pitches before eventually walking him. But Woo stuck to his plan, being aggressive in the zone, and he was able to use his slider and sweeper effectively today – he opened the game by striking out reigning NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin on the slider, and then got Michael Harris to fly out harmlessly on the sweeper to end the inning. Shaking off his last two rough starts, Woo was aggressive in the zone as always, throwing 17 of 21 first-pitch strikes, which the Braves offered at 10 times. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a boatload of weak-contact outs; he allowed just one exit velocity over 100 mph, a first pitch fastball that Mauricio Dubón, who has built an entire career out of ambushing those exact pitches, tagged into right field for a single. As the game wore on and Atlanta batters got choosier with swinging at the first pitch, Woo dialed it in even more; six of his nine strikeouts came in the second half of his outing, finishing off his day with a called strike three to Mariners’ sleep paralysis demon Matt Olson.
Bryan Woo dots a slider on the lower black for a huge ꓘ to Matt Olson to clear the 6th inning, scoreless.
The Braves' big slugger thought about using an ABS challenge but ultimately held off. pic.twitter.com/96K1Rr8psy
Having wandered in self-doubt for the past two weeks, Woo was able to find himself again, all while facing the best offense in baseball.
“St. Louis – obviously, I got whacked, but I felt like I was still pitching like myself. And then with Kansas City I think I just tried to do too much and think too much and try too hard. And it also didn’t work. So it’s just being honest with yourself about when are you at your best, and what does that look like, and what does that feel like to you? And then getting back to that as soon as you can.”
In addition to sticking to himself and not overthinking, Woo said he got a lot out of talking to his teammates—pitchers and hitters—about what it’s like to be in the weeds.
“I don’t know what it is about baseball, but it’s like when you’re not committed in yourself, you don’t trust yourself, for some reason the same pitches – whether they’re really, really good, same velocity, same movement – they just don’t work. I don’t know what it is. Baseball is a weird sport like that. You try too hard, you try to be too perfect, and 98 at the top of the zone gets whacked. 93 with conviction and commitment and trust just works. I don’t know what it is. It’ll never show up on a stat sheet but you just have to have a little bit of like, I don’t really give a shit. Excuse my language.”
Unfortunately, as Woo retired Atlanta on a lot of weak contact, and as George Kirby retired Atlanta on a ton of weak-contact groundballs last night, today it was the Mariners’ turn to suffer at the hands of former Texas Ranger and known Lefty Martin Pérez, making a start in place of scheduled starter Grant Holmes, playing the handedness-matchup-game.
The Mariners loaded the bases in the third thanks to some production from the bottom of the lineup. Jhonny Pereda led off with a line-drive single and then Leo Rivas got some of that BABIP devil magic Mateo had last night with a double down the left field line of his own, pushing runners into scoring position with no outs. J.P. Crawford walked to load the bases but Cal Raleigh reached after a changeup on the outer part of the plate for an easy double play, which scored the run but also burned away future scoring opportunities, as Julio Rodríguez chased after that same changeup for an easy inning-ending groundball out. So, a run, but a deflating one.
Still, Woo made that run hold up, turning away Atlanta’s hitters again and again. After Woo’s strong finish, Julio decided to give him a little extra breathing room in the bottom of the sixth, to the tune of 110.4 mph:
The Mariners had a chance to add more after Pérez exited for Tyler Kinley: Randy Arozarena singled through the five-six hole and Cole Young doubled into the right-field corner – but might have actually hit the ball too hard, at 107.3 mph, so Randy couldn’t quite scoot home. Connor Joe couldn’t push across the extra insurance with two outs.
Woo gave way to Cooper Criswell in the seventh, who hung a zero in a tidy 1-2-3 inning. It seemed like he might be back out to face the bottom of the lineup in the eighth, but Dan Wilson went to the higher-leverage Eduard Bazardo. Given the tight score and the off-day tomorrow, the move made sense in theory, but Bazardo was shaky, going to a full count before surrendering back-to-back singles to his first two hitters to put runners on the corners with no outs. Pinch-hitter Dominic Smith brought in the Braves’ first run of the day with a sacrifice fly, turning the lineup over for Drake Baldwin. The Mariners caught a break, as Bazardo picked off pinch-runner Jorge Mateo at first. Postgame, Dan Wilson offered credit on what could have been a game-changing challenge to Mariners replay coordinator Jake Kuruc, and also Josh Naylor, who applied the tag.
“I got to give Naylz some credit. I think the temptation a lot of times is to go get that ball and then go back to tag. He let that ball travel really well and got right to his hip, and that’s what made the difference.”
That pickoff turned out to be significant as Baldwin laced the first pitch he saw—a sinker three apples below the zone—for a single. Bazardo then got Ozzie Albies swinging after the same sinker Baldwin chased for an inning-ending strikeout, saving the Mariners’ bacon.
The Mariners were able to get that run back in the bottom of the inning against Didier Fuentes, working for his second inning. Josh Naylor singled with one out and then stole second because he is Perfect, and then Cole Young followed with his second double of the day, again wearing out that right field corner. This was an especially nice at-bat by Cole, who had a three-hit day. Fuentes worked him away that whole at-bat with a variety of pitches, and, in a full count, when Cole got a slider in the exact same location he’d just seen a 98 mph fastball, he was ready to hit it.
With that little bit of extra breathing room, José A. Ferrer made his third straight appearance of the series, filling in for Andrés Muñoz, who had pitched in back-to-back nights. Ferrer was anxious to get the ball and said he wanted the opportunity to try to get a save, saying the pitching coach initially told him before the game he was down to which he replied, essentially, no I’m not!
“I felt super good when I woke up this morning,” he said through translator Freddy Llanos. “I was ready to go. My arm felt great. So when they told me I was in, I was excited.”
Ferrer gave up some hard contact on a first-pitch sinker to Matt Olson, but the park held it; he then got Michael A. Harris to ground out on a sinker. Mauricio Dubón worked the count full but was called out on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, a 99.5 mph sinker right on the inner edge. Dubón immediately challenged, and the call was upheld.
Was Ferrer sure it was a strike?
“I had faith that it was,” he smiled.
It was a great series win for the Mariners, but also a great win for Bryan Woo, who had been struggling for the past two weeks.
“Sometimes you’re good, and you want to be great, and you just kind of do too much. But I’m human. It sucks when you suck. It sucks to sit on it for two weeks. Those thoughts still creep into my head just as much as anybody else, after a bad game, after two really bad games, it’s not easy to do. But to get back to my brand of pitching, my brand of baseball, was the first thing that I looked at, and that’s what I felt I did today.”
PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 30: Paul Skenes #30 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on April 30, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Pitching Matchup: Paul Skenes (4-2, 3.18 ERA) vs. Michael Soroka (4-1, 4.70 ERA)
The Pirates continue their road trip, traveling out west to face the Diamondbacks in a three-game series at Chase Field in Phoenix.
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CINCINNATI, OHIO - APRIL 30: Michael Lorenzen #24 of the Colorado Rockies throws during a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 30, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s not May baseball in Colorado without the annual snowstorm that pops up. Denver woke up to a winter wonderland and one of the biggest May snowstorms in a long while. As a result of the ongoing weather today, the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets resume their series with the second game but at a much later start time than originally planned.
Luckily for the Rockies, the groundscrew is always up to the challenge of clearing the field.
Michael Lorenzen (2-3, 6.09 ERA) takes the hill for Colorado, looking to find a groove. Lorenzen has faced some inconsistency at the start of the season, making it hard to gauge what he’s doing to do each start. His last outing against Cincinnati was progressing well until he gave up a two-run home run in the fifth inning to surrender a 2-1 lead. His best outing of the season did come against the Mets, however, as he fired seven innings, allowing just one run on seven hits. Walks and a lot of contact have proven to be the main issue for Lorenzen, especially if he isn’t getting ground balls at home. However, he has managed to deliver two solid starts at Coors Field after his disastrous outing against Philadelphia in the home opener
Freddy Peralta (1-3, 3.52 ERA) makes his eighth start of the year for New York. Among the many things that have gone wrong for the Mets, Peralta has been as solid as ever in the rotation. In his last outing, he faced off against Washington, allowing three runs on four hits over six innings of work. Before that, he allowed two runs on seven hits over 5.2 innings against the Rockies in New York. Peralta’s ability to rack up strikeouts is his greatest tool, but he is prone to walk at least three batters in a game. In four career appearances at Coors Field, Peralta has been quite comfortable with a 1.59 ERA in 17 innings of work with 30 strikeouts against eight walks.
First Pitch: 7:20 p.m. MDT
TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM KOA Rockies Radio Network; KNRV 1150 AM (Spanish)
Juan Soto – LF Bo Bichette – SS MJ Melendez – RF Mark Vientos – 1B Brett Baty – 3B Marcus Semien – 2B Carson Benge – CF Francisco Alvarez – DH Luis Torrens – C
The Mets pulled left-handed reliever A.J. Minter off his rehab assignment on Wednesday after he reported experiencing left hip discomfort before Triple-A Syracuse’s game against the Rochester Red Wings.
Minter, recovering from lat surgery, was scheduled to pitch for Syracuse in Wednesday’s game as part of the first leg of a back-to-back that would’ve been the final step in his rehab process before re-joining the Mets. Now, that process has been put on pause.
“We’re not too concerned, but probably giving him a couple, few days there and then he’ll continue to throw,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But as of right now, we pulled him off.”
Neither Minter nor New York is too worried about the severity of the setback despite the hip discomfort being on the same side that he got surgery on in August 2024 to repair a torn labrum.
Still, it does set the lefty back a bit with the clock on his rehab restarting.
With a downtick in velocity in a few of Minter’s appearances this year, Mendoza was asked if he thinks the hip discomfort had any role to play in that.
“I don’t know because there were days where we saw the velo at 92, 93, couple of 94,” the skipper said. “But there were some ones where it was like 91. But I don’t know, I would have to talk to him personally. I will have to talk to the trainers, but I didn’t get that [sense] when I was talking to the trainers when they gave me the report today.”
Minter hasn’t pitched for the Mets since April 2025, when he suffered a lat strain that required season-ending surgery. He's pitched to a 1.17 ERA across three minor league levels during his rehab assignment.
ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 1995: Owner Ted Turner of the Atlanta Braves holds the World Series trophy after the Braves win the World Series against the Cleveland Indians on October 28, 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Media mogul, philanthropist and former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner passed away earlier today at the age of 87.
The bombastic businessman and cultural icon reshaped the media landscape in the latter half of the 20th century after taking over his father’s company, Turner Outdoor Advertising, in 1963.
A rebellious and ambitious entrepreneur, Turner began acquiring radio and television stations, including Atlanta’s WJRJ (channel 17), in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He renamed WJRJ to WTCG (for Turner Communications Group), and by the late 1970s began leveraging the emerging technologies of satellite and cable television to expand his media reach nationwide.
Driven by a need for content and profitability for his stations, Turner purchased the Atlanta Braves in 1976 – and the Atlanta Hawks the following year. Both franchises became central to the success of what became known as the Superstation WTBS, helping drive ratings and advertising revenue as Turner broadcast his teams’ games across the country.
Turner bought the Braves during a transitional period for the franchise. The team had moved to Atlanta only a decade earlier, and Braves legend and inner-circle Hall of Famer Henry Aaron had been traded to Milwaukee two years before Turner’s purchase. With future franchise cornerstone Dale Murphy still a young catcher trying to establish himself in the majors, the first four years of Turner’s ownership saw the Braves lose 90-or-more games including a 101-loss season in 1977.
While the team’s on-the-field performance was at a nadir, the team’s 162-game schedule provided a copious amount of content and that combined with Turner’s larger-than-life personality quickly became part of TBS’s identity. Turner famously branded the Braves as “America’s Team” as his station’s baseball broadcasts introduced the club to fans nationwide, making a superstar of Murphy as his back-to-back National League Most Valuable Player seasons came as cable and satellite service exploded across the country.
Turner’s hands-on approach with his MLB team occasionally crossed into controversy. In May 1977, during a 16-game losing streak, Turner briefly named himself interim manager, replacing Dave Bristol for one game before National League president Chub Feeney forced him to relinquish role. Turner appealed the decision, but commissioner Bowie Kuhn upheld the decision. The Braves lost their 17th consecutive game in Turner’s only turn as the team’s skipper.
In another instance, Turner had free agent signee pitcher Andy Messersmith, who wore the number 17 on his jersey, wear “Channel” as his nameplate until the league made Messersmith remove “Channel” from his jersey because of the blatant – albeit humorously ingenious – bit of advertising.
In 1978, Turner hired Bobby Cox as manager, beginning one of the most important relationships in franchise history. Cox managed the Braves until being fired after the 1981 season. In a press conference announcing the managerial change, when asked who he would ideally replace Cox with, Turner famously answered, “Bobby Cox”.
Turner hired former Braves All-Star Joe Torre as the team’s next manager. Torre led the Braves to the playoffs in 1982 before being fired after the 1984 season after two middling but disappointing seasons based on the expectations created during their 1982 success.
Cox, who had become manager of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1982 and led the team to the ALCS in 1985, returned to Atlanta when Turner brought Cox back into the organization as general manager following the conclusion of the 1985 season.
After rebuilding the organization’s farm system, Cox returned to the dugout during the 1990 season as the team’s manager. With John Schuerholtz brought in the from the Kansas City Royals as new general manager, the Braves “Worst-to-First” 1991 season launched an unprecedented era of success that permanently transformed expectations for baseball in Atlanta.
Turner, who was at his peak of celebrity, and then-partner Jane Fonda became regular fixtures in the stands during the Braves’ postseason run in 1991 and throughout the1990s, culminating in the franchise’s 1995 World Series championship.
While Turner labeled is own tenure running the operations of the club a “disaster” his support of his organization’s leadership and financial backing took the Braves from a cellar-dwelling laughingstock in the late 1980’s to a National League juggernaut in five seasons.
Outside of his sports ownership, Turner built one of the most influential media empires in history. His portfolio included Atlanta-based CNN, TBS, TNT, and Turner Classic Movies. CNN, which launched in 1980, revolutionized television journalism as the first 24-hour-a-day news network.
At the zenith of his success in media, Turner’s eponymous Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner in 1996. Half-a-decade later, Timer Warner merged with America Online (AOL) in 2001, creating AOL Time Warner. Although Turner initially retained high-level leadership roles with Time Warner, his influence diminished significantly following the AOL merger despite remaining the company’s largest shareholder.
Turner’s accomplishments extended far beyond media and sports. Through Turner Enterprises, he became the second-largest private landowner in the United States. He founded the United Nations Foundation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, among other philanthropic organizations. He also created the Goodwill Games as an alternative to the Olympics.
Among the honors Turner received are two lifetime achievement Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award in 1997, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 1990, and Time magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1991. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The wry-smiling and mustachioed Turner also left a lasting mark on professional wrestling. In 1988, he purchased Jim Crockett Promotions and rebranded it as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), using it as programming for his networks. His enthusiasm for wrestling helped fuel the “Monday Night Wars” of the 1990s, as WCW battled WWF/WWE for television ratings dominance bringing the entertainment product to a higher national profile.
Turner, who began competitive sailing while at Brown University, won the 1977 America’s Cup as the ship’s skipper and was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
Turner’s impact on Atlanta sports extended beyond baseball. His ownership of the Hawks helped establish the franchise in the South, beginning with the hiring of coaches Hubie Brown and later Mike Fratello. The team would then acquire the draft rights to Dominique Wilkins in 1982, giving the team their biggest star since relocating to Atlanta. Although the Hawks did not win an NBA title under Turner, they remained consistently competitive for much of his ownership before the franchise was sold in 2004 to Atlanta Spirit, LLC.
Born in Cincinnati, OH, Turner moved to Savannah, GA, as a child and attended school in Chattanooga, TN. He studied at Brown and served in the Coast Guard Reserves. After his father’s suicide in 1963, Turner assumed control of his father’s advertising business, laying the foundation for the media empire.
For Braves fans, Turner’s impact remains immeasurable. His vision of using the Braves as nationally distributed programming created generations of fans across the country and gave the franchise the financial wherewithal to maintain one of the sport’s highest payrolls throughout most of his ownership.
Although his formal ties of ownership to the Braves ended Time Warner sold the franchise to Liberty Media in 2007, his association with the team was a contestant reminder through his namesake Turner Field, the team’s home until relocating to what is now-known as Truist Park in 2017.
Whatever missteps and controversy Turner made during his early years as owner has largely faded with time. Fifty years after purchasing the franchise, his legacy in Atlanta sports and media is undeniable.
Without Ted Turner, the Braves may never have fully established their roots in the Southeast and wouldn’t have become the brand they are today.
Turner was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame in 2000.
CLEVELAND, OHIO - APRIL 28: Angel Martínez #1 of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates after reaching second on a fly ball to right field in the ninth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field on April 28, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Russell Lee Verlinger/Cleveland Guardians/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Let’s get to the action. The Rays’ six game win streak, and streak of 13 straight games of allowing three runs or less to opponents, has by and large been the byproduct of the Flappy Boys’ use of leather.
Taylor Walls made a stellar play from shortstop to end the first inning and keep Kazuma Okomoto’s first inning double from scoring.
Things remained quiet through the third inning, with Patrick Corbin getting two double plays and finishing three frames with more balls than strikes.
Shane McClanahan would go on to match and supplant his fellow southpaw’s goose eggs, going 5 2/3 innings of two hit, one walk, and four strikeout ball, all while earning the win.
Over his last three starts, ‘Sugar Shane’ is sporting a 16 2/3 scoreless inning streak.
Jonny DeLuca drove in Jonathan Aranda from first base with an RBI double in the fourth.
Chandler Simpson would pick up his eighth RBI of the season, driving in DeLuca with a two out single in the same frame. 2-0 Tampa Bay.
Two would be all the Rays would need, as the bullpen shut the door on Canada’s Team with Kevin Kelly, Garrett Cleavinger, and Brian Baker each earning saves, and Ian Seymour earning his first career save.
Undefeated against the AL East (6-0) the Rays are Shipping up to Boston to take on the Red Sox in a four game set from Fenway Park starting on Thursday.
Chase Meidroth and the Sox couldn’t recover after a chaotic second inning, but he did eventually put on sunglasses. | (Meg McLaughlin/Getty Images)
For a minute there in the top of the second when the Good Guys got on the board first, it felt like they might actually take the series. Then the bottom of the second inning happened, and poof, the vibes from the past couple of weeks packed up and left the building.
Chicago dropped the rubber match in a game that unraveled early and never really gave the Sox a chance to get back into it. For a team that has started to look watchable, this one felt like a throwback to the bad old days. By the end of the second frame, it had that all-too-familiar “this is over already” energy.
Rookie Noah Schultz simply didn’t have it. The southpaw hurled his ugliest outing of the season, lasting just 3 2/3 innings while allowing seven runs on seven hits, four walks, and three strikeouts. The command issues highlighted in the Game Thread were immediately evident, and the Angels made him pay.
After working around a leadoff walk in the first — with Drew Romo cutting down Zach Neto trying to steal — things fell apart in the second. A potential inning-ending double play fizzled when Colson Montgomery bobbled the ball before the turn, and then the wheels fell off. Travis d’Arnaud crushed a three-run bomb, Bryce Teodosio doubled, Neto tripled him home, and even a routine pop-up to Chase Meidroth turned into a run when he lost it in the sky. Five runs later, the game had that unmistakable 2024 White Sox feel.
It didn’t get much better from there. Osvaldo Bido came on in the fourth with the bases loaded and immediately plunked back-to-back batters to plate a pair. No sign of the Mike Vasil magic wand here.
Offensively, there just wasn’t enough. The Sox mustered only four hits, went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and struck out ten times. They did scratch across that run in the second, which was sparked by a Montgomery double and a bloop single from Meidroth, then driven in on a sac fly by Andrew Benintendi. However, even that inning ended with the bases loaded and nothing more to show for it.
They tried to make a little noise in the seventh. Meidroth singled, Benintendi walked, and after a couple of quick outs, Romo drew a walk to load them up. Sam Antonacci wore a pitch to force in a run, but that was it. Munetaka Murakami watched strike three, and the last gasp went with him.
The rest was mostly procedural. Chase Silseth struck out the side in the eighth, and the Angels tacked on another run in the bottom half against Grant Taylor.
So, no series win. Just a gentle reminder that while things have looked better lately, there’s still plenty of work to be done. Especially when it comes to avoiding those innings that spiral out of control.
The Sox head back to Chicago now with an off-day before welcoming the Seattle Mariners in for a three-game set.
Zach Neto broke out of an extended cold spell with a go-ahead solo home run in the fifth inning of the Los Angeles Angels' 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox in Anaheim on Tuesday night. As he walked back to the dugout, Mike Trout gave Neto a hug and said to him, "Hey, I told you that case had homers."
According to MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger, Trout had sent Neto a text earlier that day inviting the 25-year-old shortstop to help open a large box of Pokémon cards pregame. Neto, looking to get his mind off of his 0-for-23 slump, obliged — and ended up pulling a rare Charizard card.
"He said, ‘This case, when we rip it, it's going to have homers in it,’" Neto told reporters.
Those words would end up foreshadowing a big day for both Angels stars as Trout connected on a sweeper at the knees from White Sox starter Erick Fedde and drove it just over the top of the short wall in left field to get the Halos on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Jorge Soler would also homer later in the frame, and Neto singled in the third to snap his hitless streak that dated back to April 28 ... but was promptly picked off at first base.
He made up for it two innings later when he got a sweeper up and on the outer part of the plate from Fedde and crushed it 410 feet into the bullpen for his first long ball since April 10. That solo shot broke a 2-2 tie and eventually proved to be the difference in the game.
"It felt amazing,” Neto told reporters. “I was in my biggest slump ever in my career and just the sound of the bat again, it reminded me of a lot of good things. It’s just one of those things where it just takes one swing to get back into the mix of things."
Neto finished the game 2-for-4 with an RBI, his first multi-hit game since April 26. His momentum carried into Wednesday's series finale, where he went 2-for-2 with a triple, two RBIs and two walks in the Halos' 8-2 win to secure their first series win since they took two of three games against the Cincinnati Reds from April 10-12.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 06: Rafael Devers #16 of the San Francisco Giants hits a home run against the San Diego Padres in the fifth inning at Oracle Park on May 06, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Wednesday was Career Day at Oracle Park, a day where students could “learn about careers in sports and media with an exclusive Q&A with San Francisco Giants Front Office executives.” They got to see the Giants lose their second straight to the San Diego Padres, 5-1, a game where the team and the organization were left with far more Q’s than A’s.
Some of those questions included:
“Have you guys considered getting more than three hits in a game?
“How long is that Willy Adames contract again?”
“What’s Tony Vitello’s favorite show coming to the Curran Theatre this year?”
“Why are you obsessed with playing catchers in the outfield?”
“I am a sports psychologist. Can you give Ryan Walker my business card?
The Giants got two hits from rookie Jesus Rodriguez and a 5th-inning home run from Rafael Devers, but that was the entirety of their offense Wednesday. Perhaps they were confused by opener Bradgley Rodriguez, specifically by the arrangement of consonants in his first name, and his befuddgling sinkerball dgelivery that let him retire the Giants on seven pitches.
Matt Waldron (1-1) took over in the second inning, sporting a 9.88 ERA. Five innings, seven strikeouts and one Devers bomb later, he exited with a 2-1 lead and a 7.71 ERA. Yes, facing the Giants offense is like prescribing Ozempic for your ERA.
It was the first time Devers had gone deep since April 18 and it tied up the game at 1-1. He hit the dinger to lead off the the 5th inning, but the Giants only managed a single baserunner the rest of the way off a Padres bullpen that’s quite good — but not that good.
Adrian Houser (0-4) was the hard-luck loser for the Giants, giving up three hits and two runs in 6+ innings. Gavin Sheets began the scoring by blasting a ball into McCovey Cove the 4th inning and is now slugging .538 against the Giants for his career.
Houser got tagged with an extra run and the loss through very little fault of his own and a great deal of fault to the Giants defense. He faced one batter in the 7th, Fernando Tatis, Jr., who reached on a Matt Chapman error. Keaton Winn issued a walk and retired two hitters, then Vitello went to lefty Matt Gage when Ty France pinch-hit for Sung-Mun Song. France lined a ball to right field that went off Rodriguez’s glove for a two-run triple.
Vitello acknowledged that Rodriguez hadn’t played much right field, with most of his outfield experience coming in left, but thought the catcher had done well for the most part and “showed no fear…just didn’t catch that ball, which would have been an outstanding play.”
It’s a tough right field and it would have been a tough play for most players, but it’s reasonable to ask if a non-catcher would have had an easier time. However, Rodriguez was also the only Giant to get a hit after the Padres took the lead, and with two outs, France would have driven in both runs with a single anyway.
In the top of the 8th, the Padres put the game out of reach against Walker, who walked Manny Machado, threw a wild pitch, and then gave up a two-run shot to Xander Bogaerts, who went deep for the second straight game.
Padres manager Craig Stammen really pushed the right buttons Wednesday. Not only did he get a big pinch-hit from France, but he brought in Bogaerts for Sheets after France stayed in to play first base.
It didn’t end up mattering, as Adrian Morejon struck out four in two innings of relief work before Mason Miller struck out two more in the 9th. Miller now has 34 strikeouts in 17.1 innings this season, an even better K rate than Henry Rowengartner.
So the Giants dropped the series, but never fear! There was a College Fair after the game, where aspirants for a career in sports business can look for jobs and, we assume, try out for entry-level jobs as corner outfielders and middle relievers. As for the 2026 Giants, their playoff résumé is looking worse by the day.
May 6, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Atlanta Braves infielder Matt Olson (28) is short on the tag at first during the second inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images
All good things must come to an end.
This finally applies to the Braves’ series winning streak to start the 2026 season, which came to an end Wednesday in Seattle.
After blowing a lead in Monday’s loss and winning Tuesday on Matt Olson’s ninth-inning homer, Atlanta’s bats fell flat in a 3-1 loss in the series finale vs. the Mariners. After winning 10 of their first 11 series and splitting a four-game set in the other, the streak finally ended in the middle series of the longest road trip of the Braves’ season.
It would appear the Braves (26-12) just missed the ideal time to face Seattle (18-20) right-hander Bryan Woo. After he had allowed 13 runs on 16 hits — including six home runs — in his last two starts, Woo (2-2) allowed just three baserunners (one hit, two walks) through six innings against the Braves’ potent lineup on Wednesday, striking out nine.
The Braves’ only hit off Woo was Mauricio Dubon’s two-out single in the fourth inning. That prevented them from being held hitless through four innings for the first time this season, but they were largely stifled by the Seattle starter.
The only saving grace was the Braves fouled off enough pitches that they drove Woo’s pitch count and chased him after six innings.
Martín Pérez (2-2) did well to keep the game tight and give the offense a chance to wake up throughout his start. His day ended on a somewhat sour note when he hung a 3-1 changeup which Julio Rodriguez smashed out of the park to center field. But it wasn’t a bad day by any means for Pérez, who allowed two runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking one.
The Braves finally broke onto the scoreboard into the eighth against Eduard Bazardo, putting runners on the corners with no outs on back-to-back singles and plating their first run on a Dominic Smith sacrifice fly.
A brutal pickoff from pinch runner Jorge Mateo, who represented the tying run, derailed the rally attempt. A bad mistake was made that much worse when Drake Baldwin followed with a single which would have put Mateo in scoring position with one out and the strong part of the Atlanta lineup coming up.
Seattle tacked on an insurance run in the ninth off Didier Fuentes, who struck out four and allowed one run on two hits over two relief innings. That wound up being unnecessary when the heart of the Braves order was retired in order in the ninth.
The Braves finished with just four hits and two walks while striking out 12 times. That included two strikeouts each by Baldwin, Olson, Dubon and Austin Riley. Jim Jarvis, called up Wednesday morning for his major league debut, was 0-for-2 with a strikeout before Smith pinch hit for him in the eighth.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MAY 06: Julio Rodríguez #44 of the Seattle Mariners celebrates his home run during the sixth inning against the Atlanta Braves at T-Mobile Park on May 06, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Mariners 3 Braves 1
Seeing José Ferrer once every three business days: Bryan Woo, .35 WPA
