Category: MLB

On the night where Christian Yelich returned to the lineup, one of the biggest punching bags of the offense had the big performance.

Joey Ortiz has taken a lot of heat this year from fans for his slow start at the plate. Understandably so, Ortiz entered Tuesday’s game with a .181 average, a .443 OPS, and a 27 OPS+. He had just one extra-base hit on the season.

That changed on Tuesday night at American Family Field as Ortiz secured the first Brewers hit of the night and their first run in one swing, lifting a 395 foot home run to left. That’s his first home run since July 19th, 2025.

“In the cages before the game, I was watching William (Contreras) and I was like ‘I wanna be like William today’ and it worked out so maybe I’ll do that tomorrow, too.” Ortiz said. “I went in there, fooled around with William a little bit and it actually (made me) lock in, so it’s funny how it happens.”

“The whole team was so excited for him. That was one of the neat things of today, was to see how the team reacted to him hitting one. I mean, it was like a walk off” Pat Murphy said

The Padres answered with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on a 2 RBI single up the middle by Nick Castellanos.

The Brewers then punched right back in the fourth inning, sending 10 men to the plate. It all started on a William Contreras one out double off the top of the wall in right field. Then Jake Bauers walked and Garrett Mitchell lined a single to center to load the bases for Sal Frelick.

Frelick then hit a 60.6 MPH dribbling ground ball through the left side of the infield, with the shortstop Xander Bogaerts playing up the middle, he wasn’t even close enough to get to that baseball, allowing two runs to score on a ball that barely made it 10 feet into the outfield grass.

David Hamilton then followed with a bunt single and was able to reach because Matt Waldron looked to third base right away with no one there and couldn’t make the throw to first in time to get the speedy Hamilton. That meant Joey Ortiz was up again, this time with the bases loaded.

Ortiz lifted the first pitch he saw high and deep into centerfield, the crowd erupted, thinking Ortiz had just homered again, but it fell short at the warning track and Ortiz had to settle for a sac fly.

Brice Turang kept the inning going with a 2 RBI double to make it a 6-2 ballgame and Jackson Chourio supplied an infield single that chased Waldron from the game.

The Brewers continued to just hold on after that with the offense falling fairly silent against the Padres bullpen. San Diego got a home run from Miguel Andujar in the 6th, and an RBI double from Andujar again in the 8th.

Brandon Sproat was very good tonight, striking out four Padres in the first two innings and ending up with six strikeouts on the night, tying his season-high. He was pulled after 5.1 IP with 3 earned runs as he seemed to be running out of gas in that sixth inning.

“We were hoping, like hey look we got a nice lead here. Go out there, you can get it done. But then he hung a breaking ball, and then made another pitch down the middle. His stuff was going down, you could see the difference in the stuff. We want to try to work through that and still make pitches. It doesn’t mean just because your fastball is 97 to 95 to 94, it doesn’t mean you can’t be effective. We were hoping he could” Pat Murphy said.

Sproat gets his first MLB win in his 12th career game (10th start), which led to his first career beer shower from the team.

“It got my eyes a little burned, but my hair kind of felt soft after, so I might start using that as shampoo.” Sproat joked after the game.

Shane Drohan got him out of the 6th inning, Bullpen Chad Patrick made an appearance, butting together a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Pat Murphy said pre-game that they have some decisions to make with Patrick and his role in the starting rotation, but that he likes how Patrick has pitched out of the bullpen. After that, it was the back-end of the bullpen 1-2 punch of Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe to slam the door and secure the Brewers fifth straight win.

Joey Ortiz finished the night 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, one of his best games in a while. The offense certainly looked more potent with Yelich in the lineup, especially in that 4th inning, even though Yelich finished the night 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

Tuesday wasn’t Freddy Peralta’s sharpest outing of the season, but the right-hander still found a way to give the Mets six quality innings in a win over the Tigers.  

The first two were where Peralta struggled the most. 

Detroit forced him to throw 21 pitches in a scoreless top of the first, then 27 more in the second as they put two runs on the board on a solo homer and a sacrifice fly. 

Peralta gave up a well-struck double to right leading off the top of the third, but then was able to find himself a nice little groove from there.

“I just had some conversations with [Francisco Alvarez], he was great,” he said. “We just got together, changed up the plan a little bit between innings, and we were able to get outs.”

The righty retired the next eight hitters he faced in order. 

Colt Keith ended that stretch with a two-out single in the fifth, but Peralta threw him out at the plate trying to score on an overthrow after a Riley Greene hit. 

“That was huge,” he said. “I was there, it was a hard sprint for me and I was able to make a good throw home, and Alvy made good tag to get him.”

That out enabled Peralta to come back for the sixth with 89 pitches, and he was able to end his night on a high note, cruising through the inning with help from a pair of strikeouts. 

He allowed just the two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out seven.

“I have confidence in myself and all my pitches,” he said. “We just changed the way we were using the pitches -- the curveball for the slider, the location of the fastball -- we made adjustments and were able to finish the sixth.”

This marked the second time in three outings that Peralta has completed six innings.

The Kansas City Royals built a 2-0 lead and came back to tie the game at 5-5, showing some fight. But in Major League Baseball, “almost” doesn’t cut it, and the Chicago White Sox where the victors in tonight’s contest.

The Royals struck first. Bobby Baseball smacked a solo home run to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.

The Royals also struck second, in the same inning! Salvador Perez knocked his own solo home run.

At this point, let’s go to a few sentences I said in the pregame:

Welp, Salvador Perez is hitting cleanup, dragging his .233 OBP along with him. Perez wasn’t in the lineup on Sunday, so there was maybe some hope that he’d be further down the lineup when he reappeared. The answer is: no. I’m sure that won’t negatively impact the game at all tonight, but we’ll quote these sentences and see if that’s correct truly or ironically.

The good news is that the sentence was correct (truly), at least here! And Salvy did get another hit later, so he was legitimately productive there in his return to the game. Maybe some more off days are in order, TBH.

On the pitching side of things, the Royals sent Stephen Kolek to the mound in place of the injured Cole Ragans. Kolek, somewhat famously, had started his Royals career with six consecutive quality starts. For four innings, Kolek sure seemed like it would be another quality start. But he ran into trouble in the fifth inning. With one out Drew Romo (seems like a fake name, tbh) hit a home run. Sam Antonacci (also seems fake, who are these people) hit a double. And with Munetaka Murakami up, the looming threat of a Murakami bomb to truly push the game over the edge was a problem.

But it wasn’t Murakami who hit the bomb. That would be Chase Meidroth (seems like a name from a Final Fantasy game, but I digress) two batters later. That gave the White Sox a 5-2 lead.

The Royals bats weren’t done, though. In the sixth inning, Carter Jensen walked and Jac Caglianone hit a rocket line drive out to center field. Were the Royals finally going to do some damage? Yes, as it turns out. Isaac Collins doubled to put runners on second and third. And for the second time in a week, Nick Loftin hit a key RBI double. Later, Maikel Garcia singled him home to tie the game. It was exciting.

The excitement wound end rather unceremoniously. Matt Strahm replaced Daniel Lynch IV, and though he pitched a mostly clean eighth inning, his one mistake was a home run meatball swatted by Derek Hill. That gave the White Sox a 6-5 lead, a lead they would not relinquish as Witt, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Salvy went 1-2-3 in the ninth inning.

Just like that, the Royals are back in last place in the AL Central—well, tied for it at least. They are a dreadful 6-13 away from Kauffman Stadium. Hopefully, they can win some games on the road soon. If they don’t, the season will continue to slip away.

Mariners 10, Astros 2

Funshine Bear: Randy Arozarena, +0.27 WPA

Grumpy Bear: Julio Rodríguez, -0.10 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

Rays 7 Jays 6 (10 innings)

The nice part about that game was the come back. The Jays were down 5-0. We were continuously told they would never score again. And then they got five runs in the seven to tie things up.

It was a fun game to watch.

In the seventh:

• Andrés Giménez, pinch hitting, flied out.
• Ernie Clement singled to left.
• Daulton Varsho struck out.
• Jesús Sánchez doubled off the left field wall, scoring one.
• Brandon Valenzuela walked on a full count.
• George Springer single in one.
• Yohendrick Piñango doubled bringing in two more.
• Vladimir Guerrero reached on an error by third baseman Junior Caminero, bringing in the tying run. He had a couple of well hit foul balls earlier in the at bat. Then Vlad stole second.
• But Kazuma Okamoto struck out to end the fun.

Patrick Corbin wasn’t good. He gave up 9 hits, and a walk, but just 3 earned. Fairly lucky to have just given up 3.

Tommy Nance game up another run in 1.2 innings, with 3 strikeouts..

Jeff Hoffman gave up a solo home in his inning, with 2 strikeouts.

Ty Rogers pitched a scoreless inning, in a very non-Rogers way. Walk, line out to right, caught stealing (great throw Valenzuela) and a strikeout.

Louis Varland fought his way through a scoreless ninth.

Braydon Fisher had a tough time in the 10th. with the runner on second, he gave up a deep fly to left that Piñango took a strange route on, but he made the catch. Runner to third. Taylor Walls singled one home. Yandy Díaz walked. A wild pitch moved them to second and third. A sac fly to the wall in center (an amazing catch by Varsho, running into the wall) scored a second run. A ground out (that Clement bobbled) ended the inning.

We got one back in the bottom of the inning. Piñango ground out moving Springer to third. Vlad (after two hard hit foul balls, I’m hoping that is a good sign) hit a sac fly. Okamoto walked, but Giménez ground out on the first pitch, against a lefty.

Our defense has been suspect this year and today in particular. Varsho misread a fly ball. Clement misplayed a couple of grounders. Okamoto had a misplay.

We had just six hits, two doubles. Springer and Clement had two each. Piñango and Sánchez had the others.

Jays of the Day: Piñango (0.21 WPA), Varland (0.14), Rogers (0.11) and Vlad (0.12).

Other Award: Fisher (-0.41), Corbin (-0.17), Giménez (-0.15), and Valenzuela (-0.12).

Tomorrow we have our last game with the Rays (for awhile). Dylan Cease (3-1, 2.58) vs. Griffin Jax (1-2, 5.00). It would be nice to win one.

Zac Gallen getting lit up, the Dbacks offense allowing an opposing pitcher to cruise through 8 innings needing only 95 pitches. I feel like I have typed this exact game recap multiple times already this season. So I will make this quick as there is not much that came from this game that is going to surprise anyone.

This was a worse game then the final score will show as if it wasn’t for the Rangers reliver losing all control for the strike zone in the 9^th inning and walking the bases loaded, this would’ve been a 7-1 loss. I put the late game runs on the Rangers reliever more so than I do on the Dbacks offense.

After the starting rotation had been rolling, leave it to Zac Gallen to break the streak of 6+ inning games and solid run prevention performance. Gallen allowed 7 runs in just 4.2 innings tonight while just being entirely to hittable. Gallen gave his team no chance tonight as he gave up a HR to the leadoff hitter old friend Joc Pederson on a center cut fastball at 93 mph. Once again, it was the fastball that bit Gallen as the pitch was down in velocity a full tick from his season average and he was able to generate just 1 whiff on the pitch. His once trademark knuckle-curveball was also ineffective today as that pitch also generated just 1 whiff as it was not fooling anyone.

It is sad for me to see Gallen fall so far when he is still just 30 years old and he was really betting on himself this year to get that big contract. However, the big payday just doesn’t appear to be in the cards anymore for the once top of the rotation star as his season ERA is now up to 5.65 after turning in another clunker. I feel as though he is not just one small tweak away from being competitive again either. Looks more like a reinvention is in store. Here is another thing to think about, if Corbin Burnes was ready to come back tomorrow, it would likely Gallen’s rotation spot that would be lost if decisions were made on performance.

The offense once again was unable to make an adjustment to their ultra-aggressive approach that has plagued them most of the season. They were only able to walk 1 time through the first 8 innings against a starting pitcher that has really struggled with the free pass all season.  The number of pitches outside of the zone that the Dbacks hitters are swinging at is staggering. Of people that look particularly lost is Gabi Moreno who popped out on a pitch a foot below the zone, and then struck out in the 8^th on a ball that literally bounced. No plate discipline whatsoever. Jose Fernandez also had some pretty bad at bats as it looks like the inconsistent playing time he’s been having as of late may be getting to him a little bit. Although the book on him is clearly out, spin away and Fernandez will chase.

I also want to note that there was a pivotal play in the 5th inning where with 2 outs Geraldo Perdomo stumbled trying to field a ground ball allowing the inning to go on and allowing what would be the decisive 5th run of the game to score. The Rangers would go on to score 2 more runs in the inning. Just another example of how critical defense can be as rather than Gallen getting through 5 innings of 4 run ball, he got pulled and didnt make it through the 5th inning and got charged with the additional 3 runs. Not saying it would’ve been an easy play for Perdomo and I’m certainly not making excuses for Gallen, however we have seen noticeably more booted balls from our SS this season as it looks like he may be trying to rush.

One of the few positives from this game from an offensive perspective was Ryan Waldschmidt continuing his advanced hitting approach taking a pitch low and away 101 mph to the right centerfield gap. To me, this swing really shows me something. Not just because his bat speed has been consistently registering in the 80 mph range producing 100+ mph rockets, but also because he didn’t get pull happy like so many of the Dbacks hitters and he took the ball where it was pitched from the other way using the big part of the field. He has really impressed me thus far. He also made another super catch in CF. I haven’t noticed any drop off at all not having Alek Thomas in CF.

Another positive that should be noted was a great game by Ildemaro Vargas as he hit a HR and had a big 9^th inning RBI. It cant be understated how big he has been for this team.

The Dbacks will look to win their second straight series tomorrow in an uncharacteristic get-away evening game. This team will need Ryne Nelson to keep his momentum going and for the love of Pete, this offense needs to make an adjustment. See more pitches and take some walks and get some base traffic. Not every batter needs to be the hero. Pass the batton to the next guy.

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Arizona Diamondbacks scored four runs.

The roof was open allowing for a breath of fresh air at The Shed tonight. One night after going nine innings without a run, the Rangers scored one batter into tonight’s game when surprise leadoff hitter Joc Pederson took Zac Gallen deep for his third dong of the year.

After the Diamondbacks tied the game in the top of the second, the Rangers immediately retook the lead in the bottom of the inning via a Jake Burger RBI single. Two innings after that, they scored another run on an Ezequiel Duran solo home run. In the fifth, the Rangers finally produced a crooked number with four more runs crossing the plate and before you knew it, it was 7-1 and the Rangers were on their way to evening this series.

With a rare banquet of runs as a buffer, tonight’s starter MacKenzie Gore was able to work effectively and efficiently after a handful of less-than-stellar outings over the last month or so. Tonight, with the bullpen taxed from having to pitch the whole game last evening, Gore went eight innings for his longest outing with Texas as the lefty allowed just one run on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts in his 95 pitches.

The only negatives on the night were Brandon Nimmo getting replaced in the top of the seventh a half inning after twisting his ankle beating out an infield single and Gavin Collyer finally earning himself a big league ERA by walking the bases loaded in the ninth to force Jacob Latz to come in and clean up.

Otherwise, the Rangers cruised to their 20th win of the season with the wind blowing in their hair.

Player of the Game: The Rangers had Burger sit for a few games over the weekend after a rough season thus far and though he didn’t do much in his return to the lineup last night, tonight Burger went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs batting in the No. 8 spot.

Up Next: The Rangers and Diamondbacks close out this series with a rubber match featuring RHP Kumar Rocker for Texas opposite RHP Ryne Nelson for Arizona.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

A.J. Ewing was summoned from Triple-A to provide a much-needed spark to a moribund Mets team in Queens. 

If his debut in a 10-2 win over the Tigers at Citi Field was any indication, the speedy outfielder may be up to the task. 

The 21-year-old did a little bit of everything, as he reached base four times, drew three walks, scored twice, drove in a pair of runs, picked up his first hit — a triple — and stole a base. 

His lone out of the night came on a 102 mph laser to the warning track in center. 

“I think that’s part of my identity as a hitter: I’m patient and make pitchers work hard,’’ Ewing said of his ability to work counts consistently. 

The Mets will take all of it. 

“There’s gonna be playing time for him,’’ Carlos Mendoza said before the game of Ewing, who spent just 12 games with Triple-A Syracuse before his promotion. 

By the end of the night, the small crowd remaining was chanting his name. 

“I’m confident in my ability to play,’’ Ewing said beforehand. “I’ll play the same game I’ve been playing.” 

His arrival was a boost for a team running out of time to show it’s capable of turning around the season. 

As Mendoza noted, “It’s not early anymore. We’ve got to go out there and do it.” 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

After dropping three of the last four games on their recent road trip, the Mets got some life from what’s been a dead lineup, as well as a fourth straight solid start from Freddy Peralta. 

The right-hander allowed just a pair of runs in six innings against Detroit, which has lost six of seven. 

It was just the second time in the past 12 games they scored more than five runs. 

After Peralta and the Mets fell behind in the second, they came back and went ahead in the fourth and took advantage of plenty of mistakes by the Tigers to improve to 16-25. 

Even in victory, though, the Mets found trouble, as Francisco Alvarez left the game with a right knee injury. 

It was Alvarez who started the go-ahead rally with a one-out double to left-center in the fourth. He came in when Benge followed with a hit to left to make it 3-2. 

The Mets had fallen behind in the top of the second, as Dillon Dingler took Peralta deep to open the inning. Wenceel Pérez followed with a single and moved to third on a double by Gage Workman before Spencer Torkelson’s sacrifice fly. 

But Jack Flaherty, who’d allowed 16 earned runs in just 14 innings over his previous four starts, couldn’t hold the lead for Detroit. 

In the bottom of the inning, after Ewing walked to load the bases in his first plate appearance in the majors, Alvarez just beat out a throw to first to avoid an inning-ending double play, which allowed Melendez to score. 

They tied the score in the bottom of the third with three straight singles by Bo Bichette, Juan Soto and Mark Vientos. 

The Mets stayed ahead in bizarre fashion in the fifth. 

After Colt Keith singled with two outs, Riley Greene followed with a base hit to right. 

Benge’s throw got by Brett Baty at third and ricocheted off the railing in front of the Tigers dugout, where Peralta picked it up and fired home. 

Keith, after sliding safely into third, got up and immediately ran into third base umpire Rob Drake. 

He continued home and was tagged out by Alvarez. 

The Mets got some insurance in the sixth, courtesy of more shoddy play by the Tigers around third base, as Workman’s throwing error led to a pair of runs, and the Mets put the game away late. 

With the Mets looking to put the first 40 games of the season behind them, perhaps Ewing can help revive the season. 

“He was pretty much perfect at the plate,’’ Mendoza said. 

And the manager added: “We’re gonna need him and everyone in that room.”

I don’t even know what to say about this game. We just witnessed Bailey Ober, 88 MPH fastball and all, toss an 89 pitch complete game shutout. He did it using mostly changeups and fastballs, picking up 4 strikeouts and a 43% whiff percentage with the changeup. The only blemishes on his day were singles to Jakob Marsee in the 2nd, and Kyle Stowers in the 4th. Ober retired the final 16 batters of the game after the Stowers single. In conclusion, he spun the ball real good and got a Maddux (a complete game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches). The last Twin to throw a Maddux was Ervin Santana in 2017. The last time a Twin threw a Maddux with fewer than 90 pitches was Bill Krueger in 1992.

On the other side, Eury Perez for the Marlins was in the middle of a no-hitter through 5 and 2/3 innings. Then, after walking Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach singled and Buxton moved to 3rd. With Ryan Jeffers batting, Larnach broke for 2nd, the catcher tried to throw him out, but that allowed Buxton to steal home and Larnach to steal 2nd. It was a cool play, but the Marlins probably shouldn’t have thrown to 2nd. Ryan Jeffers followed that up by launching a homer to the 2nd deck in left field to make it a 3-0 game. That seems like an easier way to score runs.

With that, the Twins have now won 3 in a row for the first time since the Boston series back on April 14th, and move to 19-23 on the season. Tomorrow we will see Simeon Woods Richardson take on Minnesota native and former Golden Gopher Max Meyer.

Studs:

Bailey Ober: 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 7 K, 0 BB

Ryan Jeffers: 1-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI

Trevor Larnach: 1-2, 2 BB, SB

Byron Buxton: 0-3, BB, Stealing home is cool.

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!

The Mets returned home after their west coast road trip to face the Tigers. Freddy Peralta was taking the mound for the Mets, looking to try and get back on the right foot after losing the final two games (and the series) against the Diamondbacks. Jack Flaherty was starting for the Tigers, struggling so far in 2026 with an ERA north of 5.50 and just 34 innings pitched across eight starts. And it was a very special day for Mets top prospect A.J. Ewing, who was getting his first start as a major leaguer, playing in center field and batting eighth.

The first inning was quiet for both sides, with each team having one base runner and both teams stranding that runner. Dillon Dingler hit a solo home run to lead off the second inning for the Tigers, putting the first run of the game on the board. A single and a double put runners on second and third with no outs, and Spencer Torkelson hit a sacrifice to score the Tigers’ second run of the game. Peralta was able to work his way out of the jam to stop the scoring there. In the bottom of the inning the Mets immediately threatened to come back, loading the bases with only one out. Francisco Alvarez drove in the Mets first run on a force out, but that was all the Mets could do in the inning.

In the bottom of the third Mark Vientos hit an RBI single to drive in Bo Bichette and tie the game, and in the bottom of the fourth Carson Benge hit an RBI single to drive in Alvarez and take the lead. The Mets were able to drive Flaherty from the game with two outs in the fourth after he gave up three runs on six hits and three walks. 

In the bottom of the sixth, facing Burch Smith, the Mets loaded the bases with one out. In the midst of it, Alvarez hurt himself while at bat and had to be removed from the game, with Luis Torrens coming in to replace him. Bo Bichette came up and hit what should’ve been an inning ending double play. But when Gage Workman threw the ball into right field instead of to second base, two runs scored to give the Mets a three run lead with still just one out. Smith was then pulled in favor of Emmanuel De Jesus. Juan Soto hit a dribbler back to Torkelson at first whose only play was to get the out at first allowing Benge to score as the Mets third and final run of the inning before De Jesus finally got out of it.

Brooks Raley came in to relieve Freddy Peralta, who recorded a quality start giving up just two runs in six innings, with seven strikeouts and just one walk. Raley dealt with a little trouble, ending up with runners on second and third with just one out. But he got through it without allowing a run to score and keeping the Mets lead intact. In the bottom of the seventh, De Jesus was still in the game, and he had given up a single to Brett Baty bookended by outs to put him one out away from a clean inning. But A.J. Ewing, who had already walked twice and gotten his first stolen base earlier in the game, got his first major league hit (and RBI) and made it count, hitting a triple that drove in Baty. Ricky Vanasco came in to try and get the Tigers out of it without any further damage. Luis Torrens hit an RBI single to drive in Ewing as the Mets’ eighth run of the game, but that was the end of the Mets seventh inning outburst.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Mets continued to pile on. Two singles led to runners on the corners with just one out. Austin Slater (who was brought in to pinch hit for MJ Melendez earlier in the game) hit a dribbler up the first base line, and Vanasco fielded the ball but lost it on the transfer to his hand, allowing Slater to reach safely and Soto to score. An infield single for Semien loaded the bases, and Ewing walked to drive in yet another run for the Mets, his third walk and second RBI of the game. That drove Vanasco from the game in favor of Jake Rogers, a position player taking the mound. He was able to get the final out of the inning and get the Tigers up for their last chance, with eight runs distancing them from just coming even with the Mets.

Austin Warren pitched both the eighth and ninth innings, and he went scoreless in both, delivering the Mets the first win of the homestand and helping to keep the rest of the bullpen rested. They started the homestand off on the right foot and saw a burgeoning young star potentially emerge in A.J. Ewing’s first major league game. Next, they have to face Framber Valdez behind Christian Scott, who’s looking to build on his last performance and put his shaky first start behind him.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Bo Bichette, +15% WPA
Big Mets loser: Marcus Semien, -14% WPA
Mets pitchers: +16% WPA
Mets hitters: +34% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s third inning single, +11.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Dillon Dingler’s second inning home run, -11% WPA

Mets prospect A.J. Ewing showed off his blazing speed when he belted an RBI triple in the seventh inning of his major league debut on Tuesday night in Citi Field.

But it was the reaction of his joyous family that stole the show. His dad, Joe, and his other family members were pumping fists, high-fiving and going crazy after Ewing’s big hit in a Mets 10-2 win.

In the second inning, Joe talked to SNY’s Steve Gelbs after the rookie worked the first of his three walks, saying he was built for this moment.

A.J. Ewing's dad reacts to his first major league hit pic.twitter.com/IMiHSofeMJ

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 13, 2026

But Joe admitted he was a “nervous wreck watching him.”

Joe, who said he was a high school pitcher who couldn’t hit, did say he was the one who started his son on the path to becoming a left-handed hitter at 3 years old.

Joe, who had six messages on his phone before finding out, was surprised his 21-year-old son was called up so soon.

“He’s definitely grown as a player,” Joe said. “I think when he first realized, ‘Hey, I have a shot to be a major league player,’ he went after that dream really, really hard.”

Joe said others saw more of his son’s potential than he originally did.

“I knew he was good baseball player, but I knew how hard it was to get to this level,” Joe said. “I think being his Dad, I … didn’t think he was as good as he really was, maybe.

“The first time I was having a conversation with an agent talking to me about my son, I remember I looked at him and said, ‘You think my kid is going to get drafted?’

“He stopped and he paused as calm as can be and said, ‘I know you’re kid is going to get drafted.’

“I said, ‘What!’ Then it kind of hit me, ‘Alright, here we go.’ ”

Ewing filled up a lot of the stat box in the win.

A.J. Ewing pic.twitter.com/QXp7UJvLRt

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 13, 2026

Besides becoming the first Met to hit a triple for his first big league hit, he also walked three times, stole a base and had two RBIs.

It’s Tuesday here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. There are still a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night I asked you how big a role did you think Ryan Rolison would play on the 2026 Cubs. You’re mostly optimistic as 58 percent of you think he’ll be in the Cubs bullpen all (or almost all) season. Another 39 percent think he’ll be shuttling back and forth between Iowa and Chicago.

On Tuesdays I don’t do any movie stuff, but I’m sure I can find the time for some music for us.

Bless the great Ron Carter. The legendary bassist has a new album coming out next month at the age of 89. It’s called Duets, a collaboration with guitarist Yotam Silberstein.

This is a cut from the upcoming album entitled “Blues for Brother Malone,” a tribute to jazz guitarist Russell Malone who died in 2024 at the too-young age of 60. Malone was a friend to both Carter and Silberstein.

Welcome back to those of you who skip the music.

It’s no secret to anyone that the Cubs are searching for starting pitching after the injuries to Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd as well as the setbacks in the recovery of Justin Steele. I suspect that it will be a major topic of conversation around here until the end of July.

The one name that has been closely connected to the Cubs is Freddy Peralta, and we’ve already covered him here. Peralta played for manager Craig Counsell for six seasons in Milwaukee, so there is familiarity there. Peralta has made noise about wanting to stay in New York, but the Mets terrible start to the season and his upcoming free agency means that decision is likely out of his hands.

Still, there are other starting pitching options on the trade market for the Cubs to pursue. Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma list ten of them in The Athletic (sub. req) and I want to examine two in particular that I want to consider tonight. The first is Peralta’s Mets teammate Clay Holmes and the other one is San Francisco Giants pitcher Robbie Ray.

Both Holmes and Ray are free agents at the end of 2026, so both of them would be pure rentals. Ray, according to Mooney and Sharma, is someone the Cubs have wanted for years and it’s not hard to understand why. The left-handers’ biggest weapon is his hard slider, which is his primary out-pitch. But his 93-94 mile per hour fastball also has good movement and in recent years he’s added a changeup, which is a real weapon against right-handed hitters.

Ray won the American League Cy Young in 2021 and while he’s suffered through injuries since then, he’s been healthy this year and last. Ray was an All-Star last season and he’s been just as good this year. With the Giants, he’s posted a 2.76 ERA and has struck out 47 batters in 42.1 innings. He is a bit of a flyball pitcher and he has benefitted from how hard it is to hit a home run at Oracle Park the past few seasons. But we should note that Wrigley Field has played as a pitchers park the past few seasons, even if most of us are conditioned to think of it as a home-run hitters paradise.

Holmes is a different type of pitcher without the same kind of track record as Ray (although he is a two-time All-Star from his time with the Yankees), but he’s arguably been the better pitcher this year. Holmes had made eight starts so far this year and has a 1.86 ERA over 48.1 innings. The right-handed Holmes almost never throws a traditional four-seam fastball, instead relying on a sinker/slider/change repertoire that induces a ton of ground balls. Holmes strikes out a lot fewer batters than Ray with a 19.3 percent strikeout rate as compared to Ray’s 26.3. But he also walks fewer (8.3 percent to 10) and boy, does he get the ground balls. His groundball rate is 57.2 percent, which is actually down from his career averages. Holmes seems like the kind of pitcher that you want in front of the Cubs stellar infield defense.

Now there’s no guarantee that either pitcher will be available in trade. The Mets have said they’re going to wait until June to see if they can snap out of their disappointing season before they decide whether or not they want to sell. The Giants are already making moves, sending catcher Patrick Bailey to the Guardians, but that was likely more a way of getting the black hole of Bailey’s bat out of the Giants offensively-challenged lineup than it was the start of a fire sale.

Still, I strongly suspect that both the Giants and the Mets will be selling by the time trade season comes along. I have no idea how much either one will cost in terms of prospects, but I suspect that it will be roughly even. So whom the Cubs get might be dependent on whether the Giants or the Mets like the Cubs farm system more. And of course, there will be other pitchers available as well.

But if the Cubs were offered either Ray or Holmes for the same package, which one would you take? Which player would be the better “get” for the rest of the season? Which one would make you happier?

Thank you so very much for stopping by. We hope we made your night a little better. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.

After a couple tough losses in Miami, the Nats responded in a big way tonight. They overpowered the Reds in a 10-2 win where they homered 6 times. Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile both had multi-homer games in the blow out. The bullpen also did great work tonight, eating 5.2 innings in this one.

The Nats still made plenty of defensive mistakes, including 2 errors and a catcher’s interference. However, the offense was too good for that to matter. After not scoring in the first two innings, the Nats put a world of hurt on the Reds pitching staff.

James Wood started the scoring in the third with a homer. It was a classic James Wood home run, sailing majestically to the opposite field. Luis Garcia Jr. made it back to back jacks with a pull side bomb of his own. Garcia is red hot right now, and he is starting to hit for power. He only had one home run on the season entering this game, but he hit two tonight.

In the top of the 4th, Daylen Lile homered to make it a 3-0 game. However, Miles Mikolas would get into a sketchy situation in the 4th. He was on the ropes after allowing two singles and a walk to start the inning. With the bases loaded, Mikolas traded a run for an out on a ground ball. However, after walking another batter, his night was over after just 3.1 innings.

Brad Lord would come in to replace him, and the long reliever performed very well. His evening got off to a rough start, but it was not his fault. Lord got a much needed ground ball, but Brady House booted it. House has had a really rough season defensively at the hot corner. Heading into the year, his defense was seen as a strength, but it has been anything but that to start 2026. However, Lord would rebound quickly and get a double play ball to end the inning.

After that mess, the Nats knew they needed more runs. Luis Garcia Jr. would start the inning with his second homer of the night. A couple more batters would reach, and then Daylen Lile would come to the plate with 2 on and 1 out. Lile is from Louisville, which is right nearby, so his family was in attendance.

The Lile family saw their boy have his first career multi-homer game. Lile absolutely torched a 98 MPH sinker out of Great American Ball Park. It was a no doubt shot and his family went absolutely crazy in the stands. This was an amazing moment for the Lile family, and it also made the lead 7-2.

With the lead in a comfortable spot, Brad Lord went into cruise control. The right-hander gave the Nats 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball. Lord is such a valuable piece to this bullpen, and sometimes I think he may even be under-utilized. 

The Nats were not done with their home run parade though. In the late innings, Brady House made up for his error and put a cherry on top of a blow out win. While he has a tough time hitting fastballs, House does not miss hanging breaking balls. Tony Santillan hung a breaking ball and House banged it out of the ball park.

This was one of the Nats bigger wins of the season. The offense, which is second in baseball in runs, flexed their muscles tonight. While Wood and Abrams both had good games, it was contributors from down the lineup that provided the biggest blows. Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile are starting to really heat up, and that makes the Nats lineup very dangerous.

If the Nats can get big time production from Lile and Garcia, this could be a truly deep lineup. It has been crazy to see what this offense has been able to do this year. We are deep enough into the season to say that this offense is no fluke. They are a fun and frisky unit. The pitching and defense needs work, but the Nats are really starting to build a foundation here.

After limping out of Kansas City bruised and full of more question-marks than The Riddler, the Tigers went to New York City to face the Mets, who have been terrible so far. Well, the questions kept coming as fast as the Mets scored runs in this one, with the New Yorkers besting the Detroiters by a 10-2 score.

Opening the series on the mound for the visitors was Jack Flaherty, who had a better start in his last outing, against the Red Sox: he gave up four runs, sure, and he slipped a bit in an inning that was threatening to get completely out of control, but when he was on, he was absolutely locked-in. He struck out the first five and the last four batters he faced, which has got to be some sort of first. In a rotation full of chaos, the Tigers absolutely need Flaherty to give them solid innings. Sadly, tonight, he didn’t give too many.

Freddy Peralta faced Flaherty in Flushing; the righty is in his ninth year in the major leagues, and his first with the Mets after spending eight years in Milwaukee. He’s dependable: he’ll keep extra-base hits down (especially home runs), he’ll give you six solid innings, and while his strikeout rate is down a bit this season, it’s still about one per inning. His final three years with the Brewers were a really nice run: a 3.40 ERA, WHIP of 1.136, and 10.7 K/9 innings, making thirty or more starts each of those years.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the second with a Dillon Dingler dinger.

The Tigers kept the party going: Wenceel Pérez singled, Gage Workman doubled, and Spencer Torkelson hit a fly ball deep enough to plate Pérez for a 2-0 lead. With two outs Kevin McGonigle walked to put two runners back on base, but Matt Vierling flew out to end the inning and this party was about to have someone put something awful in the punch bowl.

The bottom of the second saw Flaherty get into trouble… and this is the kind of situation that has had the potential to spin out of control for him: a leadoff walk and a single, and some big misses of the strike zone against Marcus Semien. Semien harmlessly lined-out, but A.J. Ewing walked in his first-ever major-league plate appearance to load the bases with one out. A sharp grounder to shortstop saw the Tigers try to turn a double play, and despite a fantastic turn at second base by Zach McKinstry, the throw to first wasn’t in time and a run came in to score. A harmless fly ball to shallow centre limited the damage, but it was clear that Flaherty was nowhere near as dialed-in as he was in his previous start.

The trouble followed Flaherty and his shaky fastball into the third, with a pair of singles to put runners on the corners. Another single plated the tying run, and after a pair of hard-hit outfield outs, a wild pitch pushed Juan Soto up a base to put runners on the corners. But a Semien grounder to shortstop saw McGonigle make a nice play and throw for the third out.

Again, in the bottom of the fourth, traffic on the basepaths produced a run: a one-out double-single combination pushed the Mets ahead 3-2. He stuck around to strike out Bo Bichette, and departed in favour of Tyler Holton to face the lefty Soto. Holton did the job, getting Soto to not-quite check his swing at a low-and-away sweeper for strike three. Thus, Flaherty’s final line: 3 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 2 K. That’s… not great.

You know what else wasn’t great? Colt Keith on the basepaths in the top of the fifth. He singled with two out, and he went first-to-third on a Riley Greene single to right-fielder Carson Benge. Benge’s throw skipped a bit past the third baseman; Keith took off for home, forgetting that Peralta was (quite correctly) backing-up third base, but he also managed to run into the third base umpire inexplicably standing on the base path, which also didn’t help. Keith had to show the ump out of the way just to get up to speed and probably should’ve shut it down at that point. He was easily cut down trying to score.

Shoot, it looks like Keith also took a pretty good forearm to the left side of his jaw, too.

Holton carried on and had a 1-2-3 fifth; Burch Smith took over in the sixth and struck out Semien, but walked the next two batters and an infield single loaded the bases. A ground ball found Workman at third; he threw to second to start what probably would’ve been an inning-ending double play, but he rushed it with the baserunner right in his throwing lane and sailed the throw 20 feet wide of second base and into right field, two runs scored, and Smith departed a 5-2 game. That was really the play that put the game ultimately out of reach for the Tigers. Enmanuel De Jesus took over, a grounder to first got another out but allowed another run to score; a sharp liner to Vierling in centre ended the inning with the Tigers in a 6-2 hole.

They started the seventh against a new pitcher, Brooks Raley, and suddenly showed signs of life: with one out Hao-Yu Lee singled, and McGonigle followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position. Alas, a popup to second base and a strikeout ended the inning with those two runners staying right where they were.

In the bottom of the seventh the Mets tacked-on: with two out and a runner on first, Ewing — who’d already walked twice in his debut — tripled to the right-field corner as Wenceel Pérez fumbled the ball against the wall to make it 7-2 and chase De Jesus. Ricky Vanasco was brought in to stop any further damage, which he did not, as he surrendered a single, scoring Ewing for an 8-2 tally.

They scored even more runs in the eighth in ways I’d rather not describe, with an error from Vanasco contributing to the disastrous defensive work on the night. At least Jake Rogers got to pitch in this one, getting the final out in the bottom of the eighth. He touched a cool 80 mph on his fastball, but sadly we didn’t get to see his sterling knuckleball.

Final score: Mets 10, Tigers 2

M*A*S*H Update

Oodles of Minutiae

• In case you missed it, Gary Jones and his toothpick were named as the new manager of the Toledo Mud Hens.
• In the second inning, Kevin McGonigle walked. That was his 24th walk in the year, against 21 strikeouts. That is an impressive stat, and doubly so for a rookie. I can’t wait to see what he’s capable of in the years to come.
• Colt Keith came into tonight’s game with a .304 batting average. If you’re not into some more advanced stats, though, here’s how they can be useful: his Batting Average on Balls in Play (BAbip) is .386. A normal value of that these days is around .285, which means he’s getting lucky. He’s also not getting too many extra-base hits, which isn’t great, but his hard-hit percentage is 46.0% (average is 40.0%), which is good.
• Towards the end of this miserable contest, on the radio broadcast Dan Dickerson read off the standard “without written consent” blurb, which I have always found puzzling. (Isn’t this an “account or description” of such a game?) Anyway, Dickerson mused that, if you wanted to get written consent from MLB to do whatever it is people do that need this legal disclaimer, you’d be better off picking a game other than this one.
• Happy birthday to probably the weirdest of the Kids in the Hall, Bruce McCulloch. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to battle Satan in a guitar showdown, learn about the Daves he knows, or get advice on your 13th birthday from your drunk dad, Bruce has got you covered.
• It’s also Lou Whitaker’s birthday, and every single day that guy isn’t in the Hall of Fame is a pretty lousy day.

The Atlanta Braves were riding high after a road trip out west that saw them win a series with the Dodgers. They were faced with a new test when the Chicago Cubs came to town. It just so happens that MLB ranked the Cubs as number one in the power rankings over the Braves even though the Braves just beat the Dodgers.

Power rankings don’t mean anything, but it was a fun coincidence.

The biggest question mark was if Grant Holmes was going to be able to bounce back after his five earned runs appearance his last start. Holmes did just that. He did not pitch a perfect game, but we saw a huge improvement. Holmes sat down the first five hitters he faced before finally giving up a walk to Michael Busch, but then quickly ended the second inning. Holmes then sat down five in a row again, but then Bregman, who was only one of two Cubs to face him before took him deep. That is when things got shaky. Holmes has struggled with walks all year and tonight was no different. He walked three hitters in a row to load the bases. He was able to induce a groundout, but a run score to give the Cubs a two to one lead and then he struck out old friend Dansby Swanson.

Walt Weiss made the wise decision to replace Holmes in the fifth with Didier Fuentes. Holmes finished the night going 4.0 innings with only the HR to Bregman as his lone hit, but gave up four walks which was enough to end his night. The rest of the night was all bullpen. Fuentes, Lee, and Iglesias combined for 5.0 innings of no hit ball allowing zero walks and accumulating four strikeouts. Fuentes was the MVP for the pitching side of things tonight with three of those innings.

On the offensive side of things, Mike Yastremski finally came through. With Dominic Smith on second in the third inning, Yastrzemski knocked him in to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. After the Cubs took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, Austin Riley continued his much needed surge with a solo shot to tie the game in the fifth.

Not to be outdone, Yastrzemski decided he wanted to get hot too, and once again knocked in Smith, but this time it was a two run show to give the Braves a 4-2 lead. The scoring did not stop in the fifth inning. Matt Olson had a bit of fortune when a ball he hit was deflected by Busch, albeit hit very hard to put the Braves up 5-2, which would be the final score.

All in all the Braves won in demanding fashion. Not only did the pitching only allow five baserunners, but the Braves had eleven hits of their own to go along with two walks.

Yastrzemski was the star with three RBI tonight, in a time when we were wondering if he would ever hit again. However, the unsung hero was Dominic Smith. In a game that he may not have gotten the start if Murphy had not been injured, Smith went 4-4 and showed he very much is worth staying in the DH rotation.

Ha-Seong Kim made his return, but he will have to wait for his first hit of the season, although he did have a walk.

The Braves proved yet again tonight that they are for real. They have now won a series against the Dodgers and took game one against a Cubs team that has two separate ten game win streaks all within a week.

The Braves look to win this series tomorrow night at the same time and same place.