Category: MLB

Well that was dramatic. Two teams in deep skids early in what were supposed to be their years. Whoever lost was going to have serious questions about their season, while whoever won would have to wonder if this represented turning the corner. It was about as dramatic a game as it gets, too, with multiple lead changes late setting up a tense tenth inning. Great win, but let’s try to make it a little easier on ourselves tomorrow, K?

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It was a pitchers’ duel between Jacob Misiorowski and Kevin Gausman early on. William Contreras walked in the bottom of the first, Jesus Sanchez singled in the top of the second, and a Sal Frelick pop up dropped in front of a diving Nathan Lukes in the third. In the fourth, Sanchez notched his second single. That was it through three and a half innings.

Gausman blinked in the fourth. Brice Turang singled to lead off the inning, and Gary Sanchez followed with a walk. That set up a three run Jake Bauers homer to centre field. He gave up one more single but was able to limit the damage there.

The Jays got one back in the next half inning, as Andres Gimenez homered to left field to make it 3-1 Milwaukee. Gausman wobbled in the fifth, giving up a walk and a single to open the frame, but recovered with a K, a pop fly and a soft grounder to get out of it. The Jays kept reeling them in in the top of the sixth, with Daulton Varsho’s third home run of the season cutting the gap to one. A Vladimir Guerrero jr. line single knocked Misiorowski out of the game at just 76 pitches and 5.1 innings pitched. DL Hall came on and got the next two batters, so the Jays remained down one. Gausman faced one batter in the bottom of the sixth, giving up a long single off the centre field wall. Mason Fluharty took over and walked Garrett Mitchell to put two on. Joey Ortiz laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving the runners into scoring position with one out. Mason rebounded with back to back punch outs to escape the jam.

Angel Zerpa took over for Milwaukee in the seventh. Kazuma Okamoto beat out an infield single with one out, but a double play erased him. Braydon Fisher got the first two in the bottom of the inning but then Gary Sanchez tagged a hung curveball, extending the Brewers’ lead back to two.

Lenyn Sosa made his Blue Jays debut hitting for Brandon Valenzuela in the eighth, against Abner Uribe. He singled on a soft fly ball to centre field to turn the Jays lineup over. One batter later, Ernie Clement popped a broken bat fly into shallow centre field for a single. Sosa stretched for third. He was called safe on the field, the Brewers challenged, and after a long review the call stood. Clement did manage to take second on the throw, putting the tieing run in scoring position. Guerrero rolled over a slider, which allowed Sosa to come home to bring the Jays back within a run. Taking the extra base was not at all a good decision for Sosa, but it paid off. One run was all they’d get, though, as Sanchez grounded out to end the inning before Clement could come home. Tyler Rogers took the home half, giving up an infield single but getting out of it with the help of Guerrero, who made a superman dive to just tag out Joey Ortiz after fielding a bunt.

Eloy Jimenez worked a walk off closer Trevor Megill in the ninth. Myles Straw came on to pinch run, representing the tying run. Davis Schneider crushed a line double to left-centre that bounced off an angled section of the wall and just over the fence. His hitting it too hard cost him an RBI, as Straw would easily have scored had it been a regular ball in play, instead of moving to third on the ground rule double. Okamoto cleaned it up, though, with a ground ball through the hole that plated Straw and moved the go-ahead run to third with none out. Andres Gimenez hit a chopper that second baseman Turang had to dive to field, allowing Schneider to come home and give the Jays their first lead of the night, 5-4. After a Tyler Heineman fly out, Clement lined a single to left. Okamoto got the wave and beat the throw home, increasing the lead to two. Clement was thrown out trying to go to second, ending the inning there. That set up Jeff Hoffman for the two run save. He battled his command, walking Frelick leading off. He came back from down 2-0 to get Contreras to ground out, but Frelick was able to steal second and then move up to third. Turang grounded through the hole to score Frelick and then stole second, putting the tying run in scoring position. Hoffman got Sanchez to chase a high fastball for the second out. They decided to intentionally walk the lefty Jake Bauers, putting the go ahead run on but getting Hoffman a more favourable match-up with Tyler Lockridge. That proved to be too clever by half. Lockridge doubled on a ground ball to left, tying the game and forcing Hoffman to face lefty Garrett Mitchell with the winning run at third. He walked him, which forced John Schneider to call on Louis Varland to try to avert disaster. He K’d his man on three pitches, sending it to extras.

Grant Anderson faced the heart of the Jays order in the 10th. He got Varsho to pop out, but then Guerrero ripped a double off the right field wall to make it 7-6. Sanchez was intentionally walked to allow Anderson to face Straw. In keeping with the trend this evening, that was a serious mistake. Straw laced a double into the left field corner, scoring both runners to give the Jays a three run advantage. Straw got himself thrown out stealing third and then Schneider hit a check swing roller to first, so three runs would have to stand up. Varland fielded a come-backer for the first out, then got Frelick to hit a soft fly for the second. Contreras hit a soft grounder towards the hole. Gimenez would have likely had him, but Okamoto cut in front of him and deflected the ball, allowing him to reach and the runner to score. Another ground ball single put the tying run on base. Varland got Sanchez swinging, though, locking down the win.

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Jays of the Day: Schneider (0.29), Varsho (0.27), Vlad (0.25), Straw (0.10), Okamoto (0.21), Varland (0.20)

Less so: Gausman (-0.13), Hoffman (-0.57)

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Same time, same place tomorrow. Dylan Cease (0-0, 2.45) gets the ball for the Jays, while Chad Patrick (1-0, 0.73) goes for the Brewers.

The Cleveland Guardians and St. Louis Cardinals had a back and forth battle in game two of the three game series.

José Ramírez kicked off things for Cleveland with a solo homer to right field.

Iván Herrera responded with a solo homer of his own, but Daniel Schneemann has his own home run locked and loaded.

JJ Wetherholt answered back with his second home run of the season to tie it up, again.

It was looking like the only way to score would be home runs. Joey Cantillo had a great outing, pitching 6.0 innings and allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out four but not before the Guards defense turned a gem of a double play.

Things stayed even until the top of the eighth when the Guardians decided to play some Guards Ball. With one out, José hit a single liner to right field. Kyle Manzardo followed up with a single of his own, giving José the perfect hit to go from first to third. George Valera, who was just activated off of the injured list, doubled to left on a crazy hit that originally landed foul just outside of the batter’s box before bouncing fair.

Juan Brito came on to pinch run for Valera. With Brito on 2nd and Manzardo on 3rd, Angel Martínez knocked his own double, scoring two.

Shawn Armstrong pitched in the 7th, only allowing a hit and striking out a batter. Erik Sabrowski had an uncharacteristic outing, pitching the 8th. A walk and JJ Wetherholt’s 2nd home run of the night put a two run blemish on Sabrowski’s otherwise impressive season start. Cade Smith was tasked with closing out the game, getting two quick outs before a fielding error by Juan Brito allowed the game tying run on base. Cade gave up a double, sending the game to extras.

A wild pitch from St. Louis pitcher, Riley O’Brien got the ghost runner, Chase DeLauter, in scoring position. There wasn’t a follow up, leaving it to the Cardinals to lose. Tim Herrin’s wild pitch allowed their ghost runner to move to third and a long fly to right gave them the walk off.

The rubber match is tomorrow, first pitch at 1:15PM EDT.

The Rays took the first game of this series against the White Sox, with Shane McClanahan picking up his first win in well over a year while his teammates gathered twelve hits and six walks. Every player was on base at least once.

This game received national attention because of the White Sox starter: Noah Schultz, a 6’10” top pitching prospect. Although I can’t point to specific games, I do have the deep belief that the Rays have struggled: a. against lefties; b. against pitchers making their major leagues debuts; and c. especially against lefties making major league debuts.

On the other hand, sometimes a pitcher making his debut can have some nerves, get over amped, and generally fall apart, at least in the first inning.

Then on the other side, Shane McClanahan is still a work in progress. No shade on him. You can’t be gone from the game for a year and a half and return with your best stuff and command. So far this year, McClanahan clearly doesn’t have the fastball velocity he did pre-injury (in baseball, sitting at 98mph vs sitting at 94mph are two entirely different pitchers), his control is shaky, and while he shows flashes of great it’s been uneven.

So tonight we had something great — a game whose outcome seemed completely impossible to predict.

The first inning gave us some idea that this might go well for the Rays.

Schultz got Yandy Diaz to fly out, things went south for him quickly thereafter. He walked both Aranda and Caminero, and not as in “pitching around the best hitters” but as in “I have no idea where this pitches are going.” Ryan Vilade doubled home Aranda, and then Ben Williamson (on his own or with prompting from the dugout?) laid down a very smart bunt that died between the plate and the mound. Smart because Williamson did a great job placing it, but also because you are forcing a rattled newbie pitcher to field a ball. Schultz hurried a throw to the plate even though Junior was already at the plate, and he overthrew which then allowed Vilade to score as well. Rays up, 3-0.

Shane McClanahan looked a little shaky in the Chicago half of the first, also walking two batters. But after a visit from Kyle Snyder, he got a quick two outs to retire the side.

The Rays added a fourth run in the in third inning, as Ben Williamson doubled to drive in Ryan Vilade. But in the bottom of that inning, McClanahan unraveled. Meidroth reached on catcher’s interference, when someone on the Chicago bench noticed something about Fortes’ stance and complained. After a walk, Everson Periera homered to put the White Sox within a run, 4-3. McClanahan walked the next batter, who then stole second. All seemed to be well as Tanner Murray hit a sharp grounder right to Junior for what should have been a routine out, but Junior’s rushed throw pulled Aranda off first base, so the runner was safe. Fortunately Junior managed not to botch the next play, that also went right to him. At the end of three innings, McClanahan had thrown 60 pitches and given up four walks.

But you know what, McClanahan came back to pitch efficient fourth and fifth innings. He left on the winning side of the game, and had ten whiffs (albeit just four strikeouts along with his four walks). With the fastball not as fast (although he did hit 97 on a few pitches) he is relying more on secondary pitches with some success.

The Rays got the lead back to three in the sixth inning, playing the smallest of small ball.

Williamson walked, got to third on two ground ball outs. He was then able to score when Fortes did….this:

Two out singles by Walls and Diaz drove in Fortes to make the score 6-3.

The Rays piled on more in the seventh inning. Vilade and Williamson teamed up for a single and run-scoring double, followed by another run-scoring double from Johnny DeLuca.

Would it even be a Rays win without some ninth inning drama? Kevin Cash brought in Yoendrys Gomez to pitch the eighth, and he got through the inning without damage. In the ninth inning, though, he gave up a two run home run to make the score 8-5, and then gave up a single to the next batter. That forced Cash to do what he did not want to do: warm up and then bring in Bryan Baker to get the last out.

Despite the catcher interference call and Junior’s throwing error, the defense was sharp. Here’s a nice catch by DeLuca, playing centerfield tonight:

Some concluding thoughts:

• I heard a few folks wondering about hitting Ryan Vilade in the clean up spot. Well, he was 3 for 5 today.
• Ben freaking Williamson. Three RBI today, and some sharp fielding.
• I have been a Rays fan for 20 years, and this is the first year they have been a bunting team. It’s remarkable how they’ve gone from almost never bunting to laying down several bunts a game – plain old sac bunts, bunting for hits, bunting for runs. “Don’t flail away trying to hit dingers, bunt!”
• Shane McClanahan postgame interview. He’s nearly crying. I’m crying. He’s talking about struggling, about losing his dad, saying he loves his mom, but ultimately feeling satisfaction with getting through five innings and helping the team win.

Tuesday night’s game at Busch Stadium was a parade of solo home runs for both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cleveland Guardians. JJ Wetherholt homered twice and made some epic plays in the field as the Cardinals showed their come-from-behind heart yet again to walk off the Guardians in extra innings.

Michael McGreevy gave the Cardinals a solid start pitching 5 innings allowing just 4 hits and 2 runs over 5 innings to an entirely lefthanded Guardians lineup if you include the switch-hitters. He was touched by two home runs by the Guardians, but fortunately they were both solo shots. Jose Ramirez gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning while Daniel Schneemann would add another in the top of the 2nd inning.

The St. Louis Cardinals would add a couple of bombs, too, with Ivan Herrera hitting a 401 foot shot in the bottom of the 1st inning.

JJ Wetherholt hit his 2nd home run of the season when he launched a 396 foot shot in the bottom of the 3rd inning which would tie the game at the time 2-2.

Wetherholt would also make an amazing leaping grab on a line drive by Rocchio in the top of the 5th inning, but the problems would fall on the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen yet again. JoJo Romero started out wild and would give up a hit and a walk over his 1 and a third inning, but it was Ryan Stanek who would get touched for 3 late inning runs in the top of the 8th inning giving up a double to Velara which would score Ramirez making it 3-2 Guardians. Martinez would then rip a double down the left field line scoring Brito and Manzardo extending Cleveland’s lead to 5-2.

The St. Louis Cardinals weren’t done as JJ Wetherholt showed his power to all fields in the bottom of the 8th inning by lifting a 366 foot home run barely over the left field wall with José Fermín on base to bring the Cardinals within a run making it 5-4 Guardians.

In an effort to say something nice about the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen, Matt Svanson did a fine job keeping the Guardians quiet in the top of the 9th inning to give St. Louis a chance setting Cleveland down 1-2-3. Herrera deserves a nod for a good ABS appeal to get the final out in the 9th.

The Cardinals would show their fight in the bottom of the 9th inning as they were down to their last strike after Jordan Walker popped out and Nolan Gorman flied out. Masyn Winn reached on an error and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. He would then score on a clutch double by Yohel Pozo to tie the game 5-5. He would be stranded when Thomas Saggese struck out, but that sent the game to extras.

Riley O’Brien was sharp in the top of the 10th inning with the exception of a wild pitch that allowed the designated runner to advance to third, but he was stranded when O’Brien was able to get Brito on a ground out to first.

The Guardians basically handed the Cardinals the game in the bottom of the 10th inning when Herrin threw a wild pitch allowing Thomas Saggese to take third base. He scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Church. Really close play at the plate, but sucks that the Guardians catcher couldn’t hold onto that ball. Oh, wait. No, it doesn’t.

St. Louis will try to win the series against Cleveland Wednesday afternoon as Dustin May (1-2 with a 9.45 ERA) will get the start for the Cardinals and Slade Cecconi (0-2 with a 5.11 ERA) will be the starter for the Guardians. 12:15pm is the scheduled first pitch at Busch Stadium Wednesday.

Looking to get back in the win column and the fact that the rival Creighton Bluejays were coming to town provided all of the motivation Nebraska needed in the second game of their three-game season series at Haymarket Park.

Pryce Bender got the start against the boys from Omaha, but his night ended up being much shorter than anyone hoped.  He struggled to get the ball low in the zone and thus gave up four hits and three runs in the one inning he pitched.  Most significant was a two-run homer to Nate McHugh that gave the Jays a quick 2-0 lead.  The Jays tacked on another run to make it 3-0 after a half inning.

Tucker Timmerman came in for the second inning from Nebraska.  With one out, Bluejay Nick Venteicher smacked a no-doubter solo homer to put Creighton up 4-0.

The story of the game tonight was the bottom third of the lineup making its return.  After struggling over the weekend, Grego, Overbeek, and Stokes were the difference in the game tonight as they were responsible for all five of the Cornhusker runs.

In the bottom of the second, designated hitter Preston Freeman led off the inning with a walk and scored when Drew Grego hit an opposite way home run off starter Mac McClellan to cut the Bluejay lead in half, 4-2.

🔥 2-run HR
🔥 RBI Single
🔥 1 Run

Drew Grego's huge performance so far has @HuskerBaseball back on 🔝 of Creighton 😤 pic.twitter.com/7kxyj40c9O

— Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) April 15, 2026

Creighton brought in Evan Stratton to face Nebraska in the third inning.  He got a quick out on a come-backer from Case Sanderson but then walked both Dylan Carey and Jett Buck.  Preston Freeman then flew out to centerfield to make it two on with two outs.

It was at this point that the game turned, thanks to those bottom three batters in the lineup.  Grego singled to bring in Carey.  Overbeek singled to bring in Buck.  And then Stokes singled to bring in Grego.  Nebraska was up 5-4 after three innings.  Neither team would cross the plate again.

While you don’t see it in the stats, Dylan Carey made three outstanding defensive plays, covering ground and making outstanding off-balance throws to keep Creighton base runners from advancing and ending innings.  After the second inning, three Jay baserunners reached second base, but none advanced any further.

Nebraska pitching also looked very solid after the rough start.  Surprisingly Friday starter Ty Horn made an appearance in relief.  It is not uncommon for a Friday starter to pitch on Tuesdays as part of their bullpen session, but Nebraska has rarely done it.  Horn pitched three innings and threw 30 pitches.  He also got the chippiness ramped up by staring down the Creighton dugout a couple of times.

Caught 'em looking. 👀

M7 | Nebraska 5, Creighton 4 pic.twitter.com/Z50ytjOAXI

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) April 15, 2026

Nebraska did put multiple runners on base in the fourth and eighth innings but were unable to push any additional runs across the plate.  That included a well-executed hit-and-run by Jeter Worthley to move Mac Moyer with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning.  The freshman catcher has some very solid bat skills.

J’Shawn Unger came on in relief of Horn in the eighth inning and finished off the game without giving much hope to Creighton to get back in it.  This was Unger’s seventh save in seven opportunities this season.

The win tonight marks the first season series win over Creighton since 2017.  It also gets the bad taste out of the team’s mouth from this past weekend with some big games coming up this weekend.

Paint it red. 🔴 pic.twitter.com/ROumwNt549

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) April 15, 2026

Friday the top-five ranked USC Trojans come to town for three games.  This is a huge series with a lot riding on it in terms of post-season implications.  It’s time for Cornhusker fans to come out and be a factor.  Coach Will Bolt in his post-game comments said he’d like to see 10,000 loud and enthusiastic fans dressed in red in the stadium.

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Notes:

• Nebraska pitching only gave up one walk tonight, and that happened in the eighth inning.  They also had one hit batter.
• Grego, Overbeek, and Stokes had five of the team’s seven hits and all five of the runs batted in.
• After the win tonight, Nebraska is 16-1 at Haymarket Park this season.  
• There was a little over 6100 fans for tonight’s game in the best weather yet this season for a game in Lincoln.  They were treated to a relatively quick two-hour-and-47-minute game.  This is unique this season as most Nebraska games have gone well beyond the three-hour mark.

CU later. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/J2U3thIA3u

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) April 15, 2026

It was tenuous and I was convinced the Pirates were going to win until that Nick Yorke pop up landed in Curtis Mead’s glove, but the Nats got the job done. They just barely made their early 5-1 lead stick thanks to some solid work by the bullpen. Tonight, the bullpen and CJ Abrams were the stars of the show.

Speaking of Abrams, he has made quite the statement to start this season. He was in the middle of everything good tonight. The Nats shortstop was three for four with a homer and two RBI’s. His homer off of Mitch Keller tied him with Gunnar Henderson for most home runs by a shortstop with six. The Alien is on a roll right now, and he is leading the Nats to victories.

The only shortstops with 6 home runs this season:

Gunnar Henderson
CJ Abrams 👀

Abrams has gotten off to an ELECTRIC start this year!pic.twitter.com/1dTidhkfKQ

— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) April 14, 2026

Hot April’s are nothing new for Abrams. He has started the season strong in the two previous seasons, but tailed off in the second half. With this new coaching staff and an extra year of maturity, I am confident that Abrams will make his hot April stick this time. While he is unlikely to hit .356 with a 1.121 OPS the rest of the way, I think Abrams could be in for a career year.

However, Abrams was not the only offensive contributor tonight. The Nats lit up Mitch Keller early, getting three runs in before the Pirates right hander got an out. They could have created even more separation if not for a couple outs on the bases.

It did not end up costing the Nats the game, but it did make things much more stressful. By the bottom of the 5th, it was a 5-4 game after Miles Mikolas did some Miles Mikolas things. If you told me there would be no more runs in the game, I would have called you a mad man.

That is exactly what happened though. Mitchell Parker, Cionel Perez, Clayton Beeter and Gus Varland combined for 4.2 scoreless innings to end the game. Parker looked particularly sharp, showing off a new slider heavy mix that resulted in a lot of Pirates whiffs.

Final: Nats 5, Pirates 4. The bullpen quartet of Mitchell Parker, Cionel Perez, Clayton Beeter and Gus Varland combined to make a 1-run lead hold up over 4 2/3 innings.

— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) April 15, 2026

It was not smooth sailing for Nats relievers, but they ended up getting the job done. Cionel Perez worked out of a bases loaded jam by getting a double play ball on a 3-1 count. That really felt like the turning point of the game. Pirates manager Don Kelly pulled Brandon Lowe in favor of a right handed hitter, and that decision backfired.

While that may have been the turning point, the result was in doubt throughout. The Nats infield defense was pretty shaky tonight, but Daylen Lile made a stellar basket catch in the outfield that really helped Clayton Beeter get out of the 8th inning.

Daylen Lile makes a hell of a play wow pic.twitter.com/oR6keArMNb

— Kev (@klwoodjr) April 15, 2026

It was one of the best catches of Lile’s young career. While the hits are not falling the way they did at the end of last year, Lile looks much improved on the defensive side of the ball. I also think his swings are looking a lot better the past few days. He had a couple really unlucky outs tonight.

All of this set up a ninth inning for Gus Varland, who is just coming off his first career save. Now, he was going for save number two. He did not make it easy, allowing a double and a walk to the 8 and 9 hitter. However, Varland locked in with a strikeout of Oneil Cruz. Then he got Nick Yorke to hit a weak pop up to Curtis Mead.

It may have taken some years off my life, but the Nats ended up pulling it out with a 5-4 win. That was a very gritty win, which showed their offensive fire power as well as some positive signs on the mound. Hopefully that can carry over, and the boys can at least split this four game series in Pittsburgh.

The Twins struck first in this game with a Luke Keaschall single scoring Byron Buxton from 2nd. There was a tag play at the plate and he was initially called out but replay overturned it, putting the Twins up 1-0. In the 3rd, Buxton would make it 2-0 with a solo shot to left.

In the 4th, Brooks Lee blasted his 3rd homer of the year, a solo shot. Then, Trevor Larnach lined a ball down the right field line with 2 on, scoring both but getting thrown out at 2nd, making it a 5-0 game. The lineup was able to knock old friend Sonny Gray out of the game after 4 innings. In the bottom of the 6th, Buxton blasted another solo shot into the bullpen in left-center.

That was plenty of run support for the starter, Mick Abel, who looked great tonight. He never allowed more than one baserunner in any of his 7 innings, striking out 10. Taylor Rogers and Cole Sands both pitched scoreless innings to secure the Twins a series win, and their 11th win of the season.

Studs:

Byron Buxton: 4-5, 2 HR, 4 R

Trevor Larnach: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB

Luke Keaschall: 2-4, RBI

Brooks Lee: 1-4, HR

Mick Abel: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 10 K

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!

Monday night was a kind of heavyweight prize fight, with each team trading blow after blow after big home run. Tonight was much more like a heavyweight prize fighter fighting me, with the Angels playing the former role and battering the Yankees all over their home ballpark. LA took off almost immediately, hitting the same number of home runs in the top of the first as outs they made, and they really didn’t look back. New York was shellacked in this one, 7-1 your final.

I suppose that first inning was inevitable, as the one thing we know about Mike Trout is the man loves to study Weather(s):

It would get worse from there, with Jo Adell and Jorge Soler also taking Ryan’s fastballs into the bleachers, three straight solo shots that had the Angels up 3-0 before many Yankee fans had bought their chicken buckets. The Angels clearly came out hunting fastball, with Weathers far better with his slider/sweeper and changeup, and their homework paid off.

Indeed Trout was a particular thorn in Weathers’ side today, even though the home run was the only damage done. The three-time MVP saw 24 pitches in total across three ABs against the lefty, wearing out a pitcher that the Yankees have to at least be questioning the ideal role for. Weathers actually got Trout looking in those other two at-bats, but the pitches necessary ended up costing him, and Weathers was gone after throwing five innings plus a batter.

It was really a game for the FIP lovers, with Weathers boasting an excellent 10:1 strikeout to walk ratio, the kind of outing that might in other circumstances lead to the starter receiving the Player of the Game belt. Those circumstances though, the three home runs in the first and a final dinger from old friend Oswald Peraza, take the start more into the pure bizarre territory. When Weathers was locating with his secondary offerings, he was absolutely dominant, and then he left four of the fattest cookies you could imagine right to MLB caliber hitters. I had mentioned in the gamethread that Ryan might be best off to pitch “backwards”, but he didn’t seem to adopt that strategy tonight. Former #1 overall prospect Yoan Moncada added a trio of RBIs himself, one hit with the bases loaded and one porch job solo shot.

Angels starter Reid Detmers did Weathers one better, with nine strikeouts and no walks, allowing just two hits — one of them a ground ball that third baseman Moncada lost his footing on — through seven innings. The lefty retired 15 consecutive Yankees before Randal Grichuk led off the eighth with a double, his first hit in pinstripes. Grichuk would eventually plate thanks to pinch-hitter Ben Rice:

And uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that’s about it. Aaron Judge added a double of his own in the bottom of the ninth, but nothing came of it, and the Yankees dropped to 9-8 on the year.

From the Department of It Could Always Be Worse, let’s check in on the scene at Target Field:

Willson Contreras is out of the game with a back issue. Jarren Duran flipped off a fan. Vibes are horrendous.

— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) April 15, 2026

It hasn’t been a very fun week to be a Yankee fan. Last night felt like it might be the start of a hot streak, the kind of inconceivable win that everyone gets a little extra out of the next day. Instead, the Yankees looked just as flat as they did at the Trop, and some of that pitching regression is starting to set in. Luis Gil is set to make his second start of the season after a laborious effort against the Rays last weekend, and will need to set the tone as both the rotation and bullpen have had to work quite a bit in the first two games of this series.

The third game of this series comes at 7:05pm Eastern, the weekly Amazon Prime game. I hope the Yankees see the value in starting the guy who is right now the best hitter in baseball.

Box Score

The Atlanta Braves’ series win-streak isn’t over yet.

Applying offensive production was the key to this matchup, and that’s exactly what the team was able to pull off in a clutch performance to win the game 6-5 against the Miami Marlins.

The Marlins capitalized in the beginning, starting off the bat (no pun intended) after Reynaldo López went for five innings in his return, but didn’t showcase the strong start we’ve seen for his past three games. Though accomplishing six total strikeouts, he also gave up five hits, three earned runs, and three walks.

Two very strong starters struggling back-to-back is not what this team needed to set the tone and limit the runs of the bat-happy Marlins. It’s fair to observe that it wasn’t necessarily that the fish were that good, but they took advantage when given the opportunity. Drawing walks and collecting hits when they could paid off and made a difference when it was time to drive in runs to start hot.

Was it possible López’s suspension set him back a bit, or was today just an off-day?

Now for the offense, the Braves scored two in the third after an RBI single from Dominic Smith to drive Ozzie Albies in for the first run, and an RBI double from Drake Baldwin to bring in Mauricio Dubón for their second. Matt Olson would collect a double of his own soon after to drive in Baldwin, cutting the Marlins’ lead to a one-run game (5-4).

The eighth inning was where the real action happened. A single from Marlins’ Otto Lopez put the fish in the lead by two runs (5-3). But, it’s true what they say, especially in the game of baseball, “it’s not over ‘til it’s over.” And the Braves are becoming notorious for demonstrating a visual of that saying.

With two outs recorded in the bottom of the eighth, Mike Yastrzemski singled to place Baldwin on third, Ozzie Albies took his base after getting hit by a pitch, and this set the scene with bases loaded and newcomer Dominic Smith to take the plate and get a bases-clearing double to give the Braves the lead (6-5).

The Dodgers close out their homestand on Wednesday night against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium, on the 79th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut with Brooklyn in 1947. All uniformed personnel on Wednesday will wear number 42.

Shohei Ohtani, who has not allowed an earned run in 12 innings so far this season, starts on the mound on Wednesday night. Right-hander Clay Holmes starts for the Mets.

The series finale is an exclusive telecast on ESPN. Joe Buck will call play-by-play, alongside analysts Orel Hershiser and Ron Darling, plus reporter Buster Olney.

Wednesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Mets
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Mets are dealing with another potential IL situation on their roster.

Before Tuesday's game against the Dodgers, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was asked why he decided to go with Mark Vientos over Jared Young at first base, and the skipper revealed that Young is dealing with a knee injury. 

"Jared is dealing with some left knee discomfort. Happened Sunday after the game," Mendoza said. "Didn't get better yesterday, so we have to see what we're dealing with here.

When asked if an IL stint is possible, Mendoza said it was but that they have to wait and see the results from imaging they had done on Tuesday. 

"Yea we have to see what we're dealing with and see what we got," Mendoza said of a potential IL stint for Young. "Have to check in to see if he's available today. And then we'll go from there."

Young has appeared in 11 games so far this season, mostly off the bench, but has been effective in his handful of starts. This year, he's 7-for-20 with two doubles, two RBI with a .391 OBP. 

In Young's last game, Sunday against the Athletics, he went 1-for-2.

The Mets are dealing with a few injuries on their roster. Of course, Juan Soto is on the IL and they just placed reliever Joey Gerber on the IL with a blister. Jorge Polanco is dealing with Achilles tendinitis and has been in and out of the lineup -- and unable to play first base. 

The injuries are a part of the Mets' early-season struggles, along with their lack of offense. Mendoza has changed his lineup a bit in recent games to try and get a spark from his bats.

For Tuesday's game, Mendoza moved Vientos down in the lineup and explained that he just liked Francisco Alvarez's at-bats right now. 

"Just continue to move guys around and continue to get guys going," Mendoza said. 

One aspect of the lineup he won't change, for the time being, is moving Francisco Lindor out of the leadoff spot. 

"Not at this point," Mendoza said of the proposition. "He's too good of a hitter. I haven't considered that." 

After a hot stretch, Vientos is just 2-for-24 over his last seven games. Lindor's slump has been season long. The shortstop is slashing .176 with an OBP of .291 and has not recorded an RBI yet. 

Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe made his first rehab start on Tuesday night, playing for Double-A Somerset and it was a bit of a mixed bag.

Volpe finished the game going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, but he was going up against one of the best pitchers in the league, Zack Wheeler.

The Phillies ace was making a rehab start of his own, and the right-hander struck Volpe out swinging on three pitches. In Volpe's second at-bat, he put up more of a fight. Volpe worked the count full and fouled off a couple of pitches before Wheeler finally got the young infielder to strike out swinging on a nasty sweeper. 

In the field, Volpe made every play hit to him at shortstop. Rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery, Volpe is showing no effects of the injury that hampered his offensive and defensive performance in 2025. He was eventually pulled after five innings. 

Volpe had his worst statistical season last year, batting .212 with 19 home runs and a career-low .272 OBP. He also had a career-high 19 errors in the field.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that Volpe will play about three to five innings in his first couple of starts before building him up. The Yankees skipper said that Volpe has had more than 50 live at-bats in the Yankees complex in Tampa and has put in a lot of work at shortstop, so he considers Volpe ahead of where players are at when spring training begins. 

Anthony Volpe fields his first chance in his first rehab appearance for Somerset pic.twitter.com/mi70G9ozE7

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 14, 2026

Yankees top prospect George Lombard Jr. was also playing in Somerset on Tuesday and started at third base to pair with Volpe. Lombard was a victim of a Wheeler strikeout in the first inning, going down in six pitches. But the second at-bat, he launched a 3-1 pitch deep to right-center field, but the ball died at the wall and was caught for the first out of the fourth inning.

Lombard has had a hot start to his Double-A season. He entered Tuesday's game hitting .464 with five doubles, two home runs and four RBI in seven games.

The Astros (6-11) return home tonight to begin a 3-game series vs. the Colorado Rockies (6-10) as they seek to end an 8-game slide.

LHP Colton Gordon will make his first start of the season as he takes on Rockies RHP Michael Lorenzen.

TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: LHP Colton Gordon will make his first start of the season for the Astros tonight…Gordon began the 2026 season with Triple A Sugar Land, where he was 1-1 with a 1.76 ERA (3ER/15.1IP) in three starts while posting an 0.98 WHIP. His last start was on April 8 vs. Ta-
coma (5.1 IP, 0 ER).

Gordon, who was the Astros 8th pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, made his ML debut last season, appearing in 20 games (14 GS) for the Astros (6-4, 5.34 ERA)as a result of a rash of injuries, Gordon finished T-3rd on the Astros staff in both starts (14) and innings pitched (86.0).

He recorded his 1st ML win on June 6 at CLE (5 IP, 5H, 0 R, 5 SO). He was a member of Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

NEED A WIN: The Astros need a win to snap an 8-game losing streak, which is their longest since ending the 2013 season with a 15-game losing streak (Sept. 14-29).

VS. THE ROCKIES: The Astros were swept by the Rockies last week in a 3-game series at Coors Field (April 6-9). HOU was 4-2 vs. COL in 2025 and has a 110-90 record vs. the Rockies all-time.

ROCKING THE ROCKIES: Christian Walker has enjoyed facing the Rockies throughout his career, posting a .330 avg. (120×364) vs. them with 28 HR and 75 RBI with a 1.009 OPS. His career avg., RBI and OPS vs. COL are his best vs. any club (min. 10g) while his 28 HR are 2nd to his 29 HR vs. the Dodgers.

Walker was 5×13 (.385) with a HR in his three games at Coors Field last week.

HOME-COOKIN: Tonight is the first game of a 6-game homestand for the Astros. On the stand, HOU will host COL (Mon-Wed.) and STL (Fri.-Sun.), respectively. The Astros enter tonight’s game on a 5-game home winning streak. HOU is 5-2 overall at Daikin Park in 2026.

REMEMBERING PHIL: Prior to tonight’s game, the Astros will play a tribute video followed by a
moment of silence for former player/manager Phil Garner. Sadly, Garner passed away over the weekend after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.

As manager in 2005, Garner led the Astros to their first World Series appearance, famously rallying that club from a 15-30 start after 45 games.

ROSTER MOVE: The Astros have added RHP Spencer Arrighetti to the Taxi Squad.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, April 14, 7:10 p.m. CST

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: Space City Home Network

Streaming: SCHN+

Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Home. 🤘

⚾️: 7:10pm
🏟️: Closed
📺: @SpaceCityHN
🎙️: @SportsTalk790 & 740 AM | Spanish: 102.9 HD2#ChaseTheFight x @reliantenergypic.twitter.com/3NPQANk5bb

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 14, 2026

📍 H-Town pic.twitter.com/QILDhXG2tg

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 14, 2026

LOS ANGELES — If the nine Dodgers pitchers on the injured list, Brock Stewart is the closest one to returning to the majors. But up first for the veteran right-hander is a minor league rehab assignment, which starts Tuesday night for the Class-A Ontario Tower Buzzers, about 42 miles east of Dodger Stadium.

Stewart had right shoulder debridement surgery last September 25, after pitching only four games for Los Angeles since getting acquired from the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline on July 31. He began the season on the 15-day injured list.

Stewart resumed throwing late in spring training, and threw a simulated game at Dodger Stadium on March 27, during the first homestand of the season, before continuing to rehab at Camelback Ranch in Arizona. Pitchers are allowed up to 30 days on a minor league rehab assignment, and Stewart will probably need the majority of that time to build back up a number of games before getting activated.

“You’re sort of looking at a spring training, and how many outings a reliever takes,” manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday, “That’s probably what it’s going to take.”

A few veterans who got off to late starts in Cactus League play during spring training might have something close to the template Stewart might follow on his rehab assignment. Tanner Scott’s first game in camp was February 28, and he pitched 10 games in 24 days. Blake Treinen’s first game was February 26, and he pitched nine games in 25 days.

As for whom Stewart might replace in the Dodgers bullpen, there’s still plenty of time to work that out. Will Klein (1.17 ERA, 2.02 xERA in 7 2/3 innings) and Edgardo Henriquez (5.40 ERA, 3.71 xERA in five innings) have done pretty well but have also pitched in the lowest-leverage innings, on average, relative to the rest of the relief corps. Ben Casparius was pitching in nearly league-average leverage before getting placed on the injured list on Monday, with Kyle Hurt called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City.

“When he gets closer, certainly that will be a conversation. I hope we have that, it means everyone is healthy and then hopefully it’s a tough conversation,” Roberts said. “With [Stewart] being out, with other guys being out, it’s a good opportunity to see some guys. I’m happy Kyle Hurt is here, and obviously we get a longer look at Edgardo and guys like that.”

The St. Louis Cardinals will try again Tuesday as they will take their 8-8 .500 record up against the Cleveland Guardians at Busch Stadium. According to MLB.com, Michael McGreevy will take his 1-1, 2.16 ERA to the mound for the Cardinals while the Guardians will have Joey Cantillo make the start. He’s 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA so far this season.