Category: MLB

SAN DIEGO –– Shohei Ohtani raked at the start of the night. He roared when his outing as a pitcher was over. Then, he and the Dodgers rolled to a series win in San Diego.

Nearly a month removed from his last two-way start, the two-way star was at the center of it all Wednesday at Petco Park, lifting the Dodgers to a 4-0 rubber-match win over the Padres with a leadoff home run and five scoreless innings pitched.

“He wants to win that Cy Young, he wants to help us win games, and he wants to be a really productive offensive player,” manager Dave Roberts said. “At this point in time, he’s doing all the above.”

It had been a minute since the Dodgers could last say that about Ohtani. During his uneven start to the year, he had battled both fatigue and an extended slump at the plate.

That’s why, in his previous three pitching appearances, the four-time MVP had been held out of the Dodgers’ lineup as a hitter. The three times he did play both ways earlier this season, he went just 1-for-10 at the plate with no home runs.

Wednesday, however, was closer to the version the Dodgers (31-19) witnessed last October, in Ohtani’s historic three-homer, 10-strikeout tour de force in the National League Championship Series.

The stakes weren’t as high Wednesday. But his performance was cut from the same cloth.

He went deep on the first pitch of the game, jumping on an elevated fastball from Padres starter Randy Vásquez for a towering drive to straightaway center. Then, he produced his fifth start this season without an earned run, retiring the first nine batters he faced (albeit with an elevated pitch count) before working out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings.

Neither Ohtani nor Roberts believed the 31-year-old right-hander had his best stuff against the Padres, after he struck out just four batters and failed to reach the sixth inning for the first time this year.

Ohtani even noted that, entering the night, he felt “a lot of uncertainty” about the feel for his pitches.

“The results were good, as you saw, but the process wasn’t that great,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I have a pretty high standard as far as performance. It didn’t really match.”

Still, both times danger knocked, Ohtani didn’t let the Padres (29-20) break down the door.

In the fourth, he wiggled out of a two-on, one-out jam. Then in the fifth, he escaped a bases-loaded threat by getting Fernando Tatis Jr. to roll into a double-play.

He flexed his arms and let out a long roar as he skipped off the mound after the latter sequence. At 88 pitches, his pitching outing would go no further.

“Getting that double play right there was big,” Roberts said. “It was good to see him show some emotion.”

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By that point, the Dodgers were already cruising to a win. Max Muncy doubled to lead off the second, then scored on a sacrifice fly from Teoscar Hernández. Ohtani walked to begin the fifth, then scored on an RBI single from Kyle Tucker.

There would be no further dramatics down the stretch, either, with the Dodgers bullpen combining for four scoreless innings and Hernández adding an insurance solo blast in the ninth.

“I really measure myself (on how I perform) when I don’t really feel that great pitching in crucial games,” Ohtani said. “This was one of those games.”

And once again, he delivered.

What it means

Just like when they arrived at Petco Park at the start of this week, the Dodgers leave sitting in first place in the National League West division.

That wasn’t the case after Monday’s series-opener, when the Padres moved a half-game in front by shutting the Dodgers out in a 1-0 win. But after a come-from-behind victory on Tuesday, the Dodgers returned the favor in Wednesday’s sold-out finale, moving 1 ½ games clear of their Southern California rivals with their NL-leading sixth shutout this season.

Who’s hot

Ohtani, obviously. And no longer just as a pitcher.

While his 0.73 ERA remains best in the majors among pitchers with at least 40 innings (his 49 total frames are one shy of the qualification threshold at the 50-game mark), his hitting has also finally started to return to league-leading form.

By going 1-for-4 with a walk on Wednesday, Ohtani has now reached safely multiple times in seven-straight games as a hitter. In that stretch, he is hitting .481, has gotten aboard in 20 of 34 plate appearances, has seven extra-base hits, and has driven in 10 runs.

With that, his season batting average is up to .272 and his OPS to .885, the highest they have been since the end of April.

And while his Cy Young case will generate season-long intrigue, he is already well on his way to a fifth MVP honor, already the first player in the National League to eclipse 3.0 combined wins above replacement this year.

“For him to homer that first at bat,” Roberts said, “I think he was like, ‘OK, I contributed on the offensive side.'”

Who’s not

Anyone who felt Ohtani would be better served forgoing his full-time two-way role amid his early-season scuffles.

The toll of his tasks still presents risks, no doubt. It was only last week that Roberts gave him back-to-back days off as a hitter after sensing the slugger was struggling with fatigue.

Wednesday, however, was a reminder of the unprecedented impact Ohtani can make when he’s excelling in both phases; how, even at less than his absolute best, he can completely transform the complexion of a game.

That doesn’t mean the Dodgers won’t still be careful with his usage. If anything, his grind of a start was “just another case in point that it’s good for us to be mindful of the workload and just not take that for granted,” Roberts said.

“But again,” the manager added, “he’s still pretty special and got through it.”

And as for the external speculation about the difficulty of his two-way task?

“I think that, at times, he uses that as motivation to prove people wrong,” Roberts said.

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Thursday, before going to Milwaukee for the final leg of this three-city road trip. Justin Wrobleski (6-1, 2.49 ERA) will face Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson (1-1, 3.50) in Friday’s series-opener.

The Dodgers had a lead on the very first pitch of the game, while the Padres couldn’t scratch across a single run as the Dodgers took the series by shutting out San Diego 4-0 on Wednesday.

Shohei Ohtani smacked his second leadoff home run of the season, as he attacked the first pitch of the game from Randy Vásquez just over the leaping Jackson Merrill to give the Dodgers an immediate 1-0 lead. His 21st leadoff home run as a Dodger is now tied with Joc Pederson for the third most in franchise history. Ohtani is now the first starting pitcher to hit a leadoff home run one the first pitch of the game in both the regular season and playoffs.

The Dodgers made sure that Ohtani didn’t have to everything all at once, as a sacrifice fly from Teoscar Hernández in the top of the second made it a two-run lead. The Dodgers went down quietly the second time through the lineup, but after chasing Vásquez out of the game in the fifth, Kyle Tucker greeted reliever Wandy Peralta with an RBI single to right to make it a three-run lead.

It always helps when a team can get immediate run support from their pitcher in the leadoff spot, as Ohtani continued to dazzle on the mound, throwing three perfect innings to begin his night with three strikeouts. The perfect game and no-hit bid came to a crash in the fourth inning by allowing a walk and a single, but Ohtani got a pair of flyouts from Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts to keep the Padres off the board.

Ohtani nearly let the lead— and shutout— slip away as a walk to Freddy Fermin helped load the bases for San Diego with only one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. All Ohtani needed was a ground ball on his first pitch to Fernando Tatis Jr. to induce a 6-4-3 double play to close his outing on the rubber.

Although it was the first time all season that Ohtani didn’t have a quality start, he has now tossed 12 scoreless innings over his last two starts while lowering his season ERA to 0.73. His four strikeouts on Wednesday were the lowest in any start this year since he struck out two against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 8.

Edgardo Henriquez and Blake Treinen both tossed scoreless innings in relief of Ohtani, but the Padres began to mount another rally in the bottom of the eighth against Kyle Hurt. Ramon Laureano lined a single to right before Tatis sprinkled a weak ground ball to the left side of the infield. Muncy double clutched the throw to first, but in doing so lost his grip on the ball that was thrown into shallow right field, allowing Laureano to go to third on the play. Against Miguel Andujar— the only Padre with multiple home runs in the series— with one out, Hurt induced an inning-ending double play to keep San Diego scoreless.

Teoscar Hernández provided some insurance in the top of the ninth against Ron Marinaccio with a monster solo home run to left that landed in the second deck, giving the Dodgers a four-run lead. After going a full calendar months between home runs hit, Hernández now has two home runs over the six games on this current road trip.

Will Klein was tasked with closing duties for a second straight game, and he recorded a perfect bottom of the ninth to complete the second Dodgers shutout victory on the road trip. The Dodgers have now held the Padres scoreless over their last 15 innings on the mound since the home run from Andujar against Emmet Sheehan on Tuesday.

After going hitless in his last 16 at-bats entering Tuesday, Freddie Freeman now has four extra-base hits his last two games, as he smacked a pair of doubles against Vásquez. The latter was the 560th of his career, which puts him tied with Hall of Famers Jeff Kent and Eddie Murray for 29th on the all-time doubles list.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (8), Teoscar Hernández (6)
• WP— Shohei Ohtani (4-2): 5 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts
• LP— Randy Vásquez (5-2): 4 1/3 IP, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers have an off-day on Thursday as they fly out to the Midwest for a three-game rematch of the 2025 NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers beginning Friday (4:40 p.m. PT). Justin Wrobleski starts against Logan Henderson.

Controversial former Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer was involved in a car crash in Arizona on Wednesday. 

Bauer, who now pitches for the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, was not injured in the crash and was not at fault, TMZ reported. 

Images posted by the news outlet showed debris scattered about the road, along with damage to both Bauer’s car and the other vehicle involved in the accident. 

The other car was said to have crashed into the side of Bauer’s vehicle. 

No one was taken to the hospital.

Bauer, 35, is “doing well” following the accident, according to TMZ. 

Ducks president Michael Pfaff confirmed in a social media post that Bauer “avoided serious injury.”

The Ducks hurler is in Arizona to get treatment for the back spasms that landed him on the injured list. According to Newsday, there is no timetable for Bauer’s return from the injury. 

“Trevor is on the injured list and was receiving treatment for back spasms in Arizona (where he lives and his facility is) when he got into the accident today,” the Ducks said in a statement. “We spoke a little while ago and thankfully he is OK.”

Trevor luckily avoided serious injury here. His car, not so much. https://t.co/akgqr0GsXv

— Michael Pfaff (@LIDucksPrez) May 20, 2026

This season, Bauer has had a 4-1 record, a seven-inning no-hitter and a 2.43 ERA for the Long Island independent league baseball team. 

Bauer has been attempting to make a Major League Baseball comeback since he last played in 2021, when he faced sexual assault allegations and was later suspended 194 games — reduced from 324 — for violating MLB’s domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.

The pitcher was never charged criminally, and he has denied the allegations, but he has not found his way back onto a major league roster.

He spent the past three years pitching in Japan and Mexico. The Ducks are the first U.S. baseball club to pick up Bauer. 

Bauer has not been shy about voicing his displeasure about the circumstances. 

“I could put up a 0.00 ERA and strike out more people than Mason Miller and it wouldn’t change anything,” Bauer told reporters after his first start with the Ducks in April. “I’ve known what this is the entire time. I’m blackballed. I’m not allowed to play Major League Baseball … I’ve literally offered to pay my entire salary back and play for zero dollars.

“When I say there’s nothing I can do, that everything is completely out of my control, I have offered everything. It just doesn’t matter.”

Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham left Wednesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays with an apparent leg injury.

The team later announced that Grisham was dealing with left knee discomfort and will undergo imaging.

Grisham legged out a double to left field with two outs in the second inning and looked to be in discomfort after reaching second base, grabbing at his left leg.

"I don’t want to speculate too much. For him to come out of the game definitely raises your eyebrow," manager Aaron Boone said after the 2-1 loss. "We’ll see what we have and go from there."

The Yankees skipper said that he initially thought it was a calf issue, but when Grisham popped up from his slide into second base on the double, the veteran outfielder felt something on the side of his knee. 

“Just felt weird in my knee for a little bit," Grisham said after the game. "It didn’t feel like something I should mess with. Got out of the game and we’ll see tomorrow.”

Grisham stayed in the game through the third and fourth innings, but was replaced by Spencer Jones on defense in the top of the fifth inning.

"Before his at-bat, we wanted to see how he was and we felt we needed to get him out of there at that point," Boone said.

Grisham said he went back out to the field because he thought it would get better over time, but it didn't.  He felt it was better not to risk it and get imaging done, but was optimistic about the health of his knee.

After smashing a career-high 34 home runs in 2025, Grisham has been having a down year at the plate, hitting just .174 with six homers through 49 games.

Here's a closer look at Trent Grisham's injury that he initially tried to play through https://t.co/SEFe4hVP7Cpic.twitter.com/GMZx8Qqej8

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 21, 2026

Trent Grisham said it "felt weird in my knee for a little bit" and "it didn't feel like something I should mess with" when he slid into second base

Grisham is "optimistic" it's not a serious injury pic.twitter.com/4MS0odq0Zm

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 21, 2026

With Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Domínguez already on the shelf after injuries suffered within the past month in two separate series against the Texas Rangers, the organization’s outfield depth is being stretched thin. Unfortunately, the hits kept on coming during Wednesday night’s game against the Blue Jays, following a two-hour rain delay.

Center fielder Trent Grisham was removed after four innings due to an left leg injury—later revealed to be left knee discomfort—that he seemed to suffer in the process of legging out a hustle double that blooped between the left fielder and third baseman in the second inning.

The 29-year-old remained in the game for two innings after appearing uncomfortable on second base, but was not in the on-deck circle in the bottom of the fourth when his turn in the order was due up, signaling something was wrong. As one might expect after that, it was Spencer Jones who would jog out to center field to replace him in the field the next inning.

Grisham battled through a left hamstring injury throughout last summer, considerably hampering his mobility in center field and leading to the worst defensive season of his career. He was never placed on the injured list due to how great he looked at the plate, and his mobility has looked considerably better in the early going this year.

With the previous injuries already causing the Yankees to recall both of their top outfield prospects to the major leagues, there’s no telling what the course of action would be if Grisham were to miss time. It would likely mean everyday reps for Jones in center field between Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge, and likely more playing time for Paul Goldschmidt with more DH reps opened up, but the person to fill the roster spot would be unclear. Would this allow Anthony Volpe to stay in the big leagues when José Caballero returns? That’s something that you’d hope they wouldn’t have needed to think about.

Update

The Yankees announced that Grisham left with left knee discomfort. We won’t have any further updates until his imaging is done tomorrow.

Michael McGreevy’s command was not sharp Wednesday night against Pittsburgh, but he toughed his way through 5 innings before turning the game over to the bullpen which is where the game eventually fell apart. That combined with the St. Louis Cardinals offense finding it difficult to get runs across the plate made for an uphill challenge against a Pittsburgh Pirates team that hammered single after single and a multi-hit game from JJ Wetherholt was not enough to overcome the Bucs as they got a very solid start from Carmen Mlodzinski.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were the first to score Wednesday night as Spencer Horwitz ripped a 365 foot line drive home run down the right field line giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Pittsburgh would also generate a two-out rally in the top of the 4th inning when Konnor Griffin reached on an infield single followed by a walk to Rodriguez and then a single by Garcia that would score Griffin doubling the Pirates lead to 2-0.

Michael McGreevy’s lack of his typically good command would lead to his exit in the 6th inning. He gave up a trio of singles to start the 6th inning to Griffin, Rodriguez and Garcia to load the bases. Manager Oli Marmol brought in Justin Bruihl to try and get out of the bases loaded no outs jam and he did limit the damage to just one additional run giving up a sacrifice fly to Gonzalez, but nothing more holding the Pirates to just a 3-0 lead. Michael McGreevy’s final stat line for the night would be 5 innings allowing 10 hits giving up 3 earned runs with 1 strikeout and 1 walk.

The comeback Cardinals would threaten in the 6th inning when Alec Burleson smacked a one-out single to right. Jordan Walker was then hit on the right hand by a pitch and then Nolan Gorman had a great at-bat resulting in a walk to load the bases. (Walker would later leave the game, but unclear if the hit-by-pitch played a role in that) That brought up Masyn Winn who just returned to the lineup after being out for knee discomfort. Yohan Ramirez who had come into the game in the bottom of the 6th in relief unfortunately came back from a 3-0 count to strike out Winn for the 2nd out. That brought up Cesar Prieto who was assigned third base responsibilities Wednesday night. He turned on a 2-1 pitch and drove it to the right field wall where Mangum (who was busy Wednesday night) made a great sliding catch to rob Prieto of potentially a game-tying double or triple. So close.

It’s not that the Cardinals weren’t making hard contact, but what hits St. Louis did manage to tally were not timely resulting in run production. JJ Wetherholt had 2 hits. Alec Burleson and Nathan Church hat a hit apiece and Victor Scott II drove a ball into the gap for a double. The problem is that none of these hits happened with runners in scoring position.

Justin Bruihl did a great job in relief. Not only did he get the Cardinals out of a no outs bases loaded jam allowing only 1 run, but he also pitched a scoreless top of the 7th inning. Matt Svanson would take over in the 8th inning which is where the game would fall apart for the Cardinals starting with a dribbling infield hit by Konnor Griffin. He would be followed by a single from Rodriguez. Two batters later, Mangum singled to score Griffin. Gonzalez then singled scoring Rodriguez giving Pittsburgh a commanding 5-0 lead. Bryan Reynolds added to the misery by slapping a double down the left field line putting the Pirates up 7-0. Matt Pushard was given an opportunity to burn the rest of the innings for St. Louis on the mound and did a fine job allowing no more runs in the disastrous 8th inning and occupying the top of the 9th inning so no one else had to.

To add injury to insult, Alec Burleson was hit in the shin by a pitch in the bottom of the 8th inning, but he would stay in the game. Combined with Jordan Walker being hit on the hand by a pitch earlier in the game, tonight’s game was the perfect example of lots of pain, but no gain.

The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their homestand with a day game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday afternoon as they’ll try to win the series before heading to Cincinnati. Dustin May gets the start for the Cardinals while the Pirates will send Braxton Ashcraft to the mound. First pitch at Busch Stadium is set for 12:15pm central time.

WASHINGTON — Jonah Tong has entered the conversation as the next minor league starting pitcher who might get an opportunity with the Mets.

The right-hander was scratched from his start for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday, after which manager Carlos Mendoza indicated that Tong may start for the Mets this weekend in Miami to provide an extra day of rest for the starting pitchers.

The Mets are in a stretch of 16 straight days with a game scheduled.

Already this season the Mets have promoted pitchers Christian Scott and Zach Thornton from Syracuse to start for the team.

The lefty Thornton made his major league debut Wednesday and suffered the loss in the Mets’ 8-4 defeat to the Nationals.

But Mendoza said it’s not certain that the extra starter will be added.

“It’s where we are with the bullpen and see how much length we get from our starters, so there is a lot that is on the table,” Mendoza said before the Mets’ loss on Wednesday night. “Ideally we would like to give [the starters] an extra day, but they are ready for whatever the team needs.”

Tong has pitched to a 5.68 ERA in nine starts this season. In his most recent appearance, he surrendered six earned runs over 1 ²/₃ innings against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“He’s been inconsistent, but we also like how he bounces back,” Mendoza said. “We saw it last year when he was here with us, he had a couple of tough outings and he was able to recover for the next one. We’re high on him and we have been saying it: He’s going to help us. So here he is waiting for this opportunity and I am pretty sure it’s going to come here soon.”

Tong, 22, started five games for the Mets last season and pitched to a 7.71 ERA.

A.J. Minter pitched back-to-back days for Syracuse on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The lefty reliever is expected to pitch an additional game for Syracuse over the weekend before he’s potentially added to the Mets roster.

Minter, who underwent surgery for a torn lat last year, was close to rejoining the Mets two weeks ago before hip discomfort restarted his rehab clock.

Each of the past six Mets are come-from-behind victories. Overall, the Mets have 13 comeback wins, which was the fourth-highest total in the major leagues entering the night.

Add Trent Grisham to the list of Yankees injury concerns.

Grisham left Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays with left knee discomfort, the Yankees announced, and the center fielder will undergo imaging Thursday.

Grisham suffered the injury on a double in the bottom of the second, when his pop-up down the left field line dropped in.

He remained in the game through the top of the fourth.

“I felt something weird in my knee,’’ Grisham said. “It didn’t feel like something I should mess with, so I got out of the game.

Though Aaron Boone said the fact Grisham had to come out was worrisome, Grisham said he was “very optimistic” the injury isn’t serious.

Grisham was replaced by Spencer Jones in center in the top of the fifth before Cody Bellinger moved there when Amed Rosario hit for Jones in the seventh, with Rosario in left.

The lefty-swinging Jones, who went 0-for-1, entered Wednesday just 3-for-20 with three walks, 11 strikeouts and no extra-base hits since being recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace Jasson Domínguez, who’s on the injured list with a sprained left shoulder.

Domínguez suffered that injury crashing into the left field fence at Yankee Stadium on May 7.

He started swinging off a tee Wednesday and there’s no timeline for his return.

Here's a closer look at Trent Grisham's injury that he initially tried to play through https://t.co/SEFe4hVP7Cpic.twitter.com/GMZx8Qqej8

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 21, 2026

Domínguez said before Wednesday’s game the sprained AC joint is “still a little uncomfortable.”

He’s played in nine games with the Yankees this season after opening the year with SWB.

Grisham, coming off a breakout season in which he hit 34 homers a year ago, has mostly struggled at the plate this season, with a .639 OPS.

With José Caballero expected to return from the IL when he’s eligible on Friday after being out with a fractured middle finger, Anthony Volpe’s future at the position remains murky.

After a rough start upon his call-up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre — which included an error on a routine grounder and a pair of strikeouts in four hitless plate appearances — Volpe entered Wednesday having reached base 12 of his previous 20 plate appearances (five hits and seven walks) with just two strikeouts.

He went hitless Wednesday.

And Volpe played a steady shortstop, something he didn’t do last year, playing much of the season with a labrum injury in his left shoulder.

“I think he’s looked outstanding,’’ Boone said before Wednesday’s loss.

The manager praised Volpe’s at-bat quality, hard contact, defense and called his baserunning “excellent.”

“It’s a credit to him and just his physical and mental toughness that he dealt with a tough little situation to start the year,’’ Boone said. “[He’s] kind of showing you who he is and what he’s made of.”

But Boone declined to say that Volpe — or Caballero — would be the Yankees’ starting shortstop when Caballero returns.

“We’ll see,’’ Boone said of the position when asked about it more than once.

Yovanny Cruz made his MLB debut and tossed two scoreless innings against the Blue Jays.

The hard-throwing right-hander never pitched above Double-A before this season, but impressed the Yankees with his triple-digit stuff during spring training and it was on display Wednesday.

Cruz retired all six batters he faced and 13 of his pitches were strikes.

His command and ability to keep runners from stealing bases were among the issues Cruz had in the minors and he got off to a promising start in The Bronx.

Matt Blake knows what the numbers say about David Bednar, but the pitching coach isn’t down on the closer.

“Typically he’s cleaner than what he’s been, but the numbers are better than his [5.14] ERA indicate,’’ Blake said.

Bednar has had issues with his fastball command, but he’s also allowed two homers on his curveball — including the three-run shot to Tyrone Taylor that turned the tide of the Subway Series.

As Blake noted, that has been an effective pitch for Bednar. The pair of homers against Bednar’s curve are as many as he would allowed since 2022.

But there’s also the issue of Bednar allowing a ton of hits so far this season, even if some have been on soft contact.

And in his 21 appearances, Bednar has allowed the leadoff hitter to reach 10 times.

“There’s been more runs and traffic than we’d like,’’ Blake said. “But I fully believe he’ll work his way through it.”

Salvador Perez got the Royals an early lead against Connelly Early by pulling the ball straight down the left field line and into the seats. Exiting the first, Kansas City was up 1 to 0.

That lead did not last long. The top of the second was a long one for Michael Wacha. A leadoff triple led to an error by Nick Loftin who was looking to see if Willson Contreras was going home rather than scooping up out one. Willson was not headed home though, so it was first and third with no outs. Nick Sogard was up next and hit a single to right to score the first run of the inning and that was followed by a Marcelo Mayer walk. The bases loaded, one run already in, and no outs yet recorded. This could have been a very bad inning, but the next play was hit to Maikel Garcia who stepped on third and threw to first for a double play, though he did have to concede the second run of the inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined out to end the jam with Boston now in front 2-1.

The game then settled in as both teams would get a runner here and there, but no one could break through. Wacha ended up with a really nice outing, finishing with a line of 6IP, 6H, 2BB, 2R, 1ER, and 8Ks. It was his highest strikeout total so far in 2026. He even left in line for the lead thanks to Elias Diaz who decided to swing at the first pitch he saw in his 5th inning plate appearance.

That ball left in a hurry and scored Starling Marte who had led off the inning with a walk.

Stephen Cruz took over in the top of the 7th and gave up a single to start the inning. Boston pinch hit with Mickey Gasper who struck out, and then Jarren Duran went yard for the second night in a row. The Royals had led by one twice and now Boston had their second one-run lead. Daniel Lynch ended up coming in and finishing off the inning and then shared the 8th with Alex Lange who also took care of the 9th.

Bottom of the ninth in a save situation meant Aroldis Chapman was coming in to finish the game for Boston. It started with a weak pop-up by Starling Marte, but it was just far enough up the first base line that Contreras could not get to it. Carter Jensen, who had pinch run for Diaz earlier and stayed in the game, then struck out on a check swing where the ball got passed the catcher and moved Marte to second. Royals had the tying run 180 feet away. And that was a close as they would get. Lane Thomas pops up and Garcia grounds out to end it.

Seattle will be in town tomorrow and they will try again, but the struggles are really starting to make it feel like the time is running out.

The Red Sox earned just their third win of the season when trailing after six innings. The rare clutch comeback helped Boston sweep the Kansas City Royals with a 4-3 victory. A quality start from Connelly Early and a late swing from a hot bat delivered the clincher. 

Here’s three takeaways from Wednesday’s series finale.

EARLY BETTER THAN GAME SHOWS

Early made only two real mistakes in this start. The Royals made them hurt. 

Salvador Perez hooked a solo home run in the first inning before Elias Díaz lifted a two-run home run off the lefty in the fifth inning to give the Royals the lead.

Otherwise, Early looked solid in this one across six strong innings with five strikeouts against Kansas City. 

DURAN STRIKES AGAIN

The Red Sox could take a step forward if Jarren Duran finds a way to sustain even half of what he produced on the field at Kauffman Stadium this week. 

Duran went 2-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs in the first two games of the series. On Wednesday night, he took over with a leaping catch at the wall in foul territory before his two-run home run in the seventh inning vaulted the Red Sox into the lead. He added another extra-base hit on the night with his first triple of 2026. 

He did run into an out to end the ninth inning when he tried to score on a ball in the dirt from third. Despite the failed attempt to push the envelope, Duran scratched to secure the sweep for the Red Sox. 

RISING ON THE ROAD

The Red Sox moved over the .500 mark in road games this season with a 14-13 mark. Boston also posted a 4-2 record on the road trip, the team’s first winning a record of a trip with multiple series this season.

While it wasn't a storybook debut, Mets LHP Zach Thornton was able to settle in after a tough first inning and get through 4.1 innings on Wednesday night against the Washington Nationals.

The 24-year-old let up a three-run home run to CJ Abrams in the first and another run in the second inning, but found a way to retire nine out of the final 10 batters he faced, including eight straight. After the 8-4 loss, Thornton was asked how he was able to lock back in after that first inning for the remainder of the outing and expressed confidence in his ability.

"I just know that I need to get in zone," Thornton said. "I feel as though I belong here. My stuff's going to play. So if I can just get in zone I'll be alright."

Overall, Thornton allowed four runs on four hits over 4.1 innings with three strikeouts and two walks. He said nerves weren't really a factor, because he's "nervous before every game," while focusing on the basics and adapting to the "little bit better" MLB hitters helped him throughout the night. 

"Just getting back to what I do best, getting to two strikes before I get to one ball," Thornton said.

He added: "Learning how to get certain pitches by people."

Despite some of the results, manager Carlos Mendoza was happy with Thornton's resilience.

"Obviously Abrams gets him there on that cutter for the three-run homer out of the gate, but I thought he competed," Mendoza said. "They have some good takes on some pitches that were strike-to-ball. But they ran his pitch count up. The one thing I liked, even after he got punched there in the first inning, he didn't back down. He kept going after it. Pitch count went up, but he competed though."

Mendoza also complimented Thornton's tempo, saying there were "some positives there."

More importantly than the box score, Thornton called his debut "everything you kind of dream about" and was thankful that his father, Paul, could be in attendance. Paul Thornton underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his spine seven weeks ago and the procedure resulted in temporary lower-body paralysis, preventing him from walking since.

"Super special," Thornton said on his dad being in attendance. "Just seeing him sitting there in his little wheelchair."

While Thornton's immediate future and next start in the big leagues is yet to be determined, the left-hander will enjoy the moment with his family forever.

"It means everything to me. He's got his own battle that he has to put aside now. We're gonna get with him for the next 30 days and hopefully he can bounce back from his rehab."

Box Score

The first series of the year between the Brewers and their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, did not go the way that the Wrigley Field faithful wanted it to go. For the second straight night, Chicago was unable to score a run off a dominant Milwaukee starter. This time it was Kyle Harrison, who struck out 11 in seven shutout innings for one of the best starts of his young career. Injury was added to insult when Chicago starter Edward Cabrera had to leave the game with an injury concern, and the Brewers’ offense capitalized on some Chicago miscues to cruise to a 5-0 victory and a surprisingly comfortable three-game sweep.

The Brewers got a couple of hits in the first inning when Brice Turang and William Contreras hit back-to-back one-out singles. But Cabrera got Christian Yelich to fly out and Garrett Mitchell to ground out, and Turang didn’t make it past second base.

Nico Hoerner led off the Cubs’ half of the first inning with a double down the left-field line. But Hoerner tried to tag and advance on a fly ball to Mitchell in center, and Mitchell — who has one of the stronger outfield arms in the league — got him at third base (after an initial safe call was overturned on replay). A strikeout of Ian Happ ended the inning.

Things got weird in the top of the second. After a Jake Bauers groundout, Sal Frelick reached on catcher’s interference, a call that Milwaukee needed to challenge in order to get it right. Frelick stole second, then Joey Ortiz walked to put runners on first and second with one out. David Hamilton got ahead 2-0, which prompted a mid-at-bat mound visit from the Cubs’ dugout. On the next pitch, Hamilton hit what should’ve been a solid RBI single to center field… but for the second straight night, Pete Crow-Armstrong made an inexplicably bad play in center, and let the ball go under his glove. With the speedy Hamilton running, there was no question what would happen: it was a three-run little league home run.

Cabrera got out of the second inning with the score still 3-0, despite a 104-mph fly ball to center from Chourio. Harrison walked Seiya Suzuki to start the second, but came back with strikeouts of Carson Kelly and Michael Busch, and Dansby Swanson flew out harmlessly.

The Brewers also got a leadoff walk in the top of the third when Cabrera issued a free pass to Contreras. Cabrera struck out Yelich, and the Cubs could’ve had a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play with Contreras running on the 3-2 pitch, but Kelly’s throw to second went into center field, and Contreras got up and made it all the way to third with one out. Mitchell had an ill-timed strikeout, but Bauers came through with a two-out RBI single through the right side that made it 4-0.

Miguel Amaya flew out to start the bottom of the third. PCA then watched four straight fastballs go by, three of which were in the zone, and Hoerner flew out to center to end the inning.

Cabrera threw one pitch in the top of the fourth, and something was clearly wrong as Kelly and Craig Counsell came to the mound. It wasn’t exactly clear what happened to Cabrera, but the pitch was a fastball that was about four miles per hour below what he’d been throwing earlier, and he seemed to be favoring his pitching arm. He went straight from the mound to the clubhouse, and there was a delay as Trent Thornton was given as much time as he needed to warm up on the mound.

Thornton settled things down for the Cubs and got the Brewers in order, though Chourio hit one to the back of the warning track in right field, his second flyout of the night that clocked in with an exit velocity over 100 mph. In the bottom of the inning, Bregman flew out to left, and Happ and Suzuki struck out, Harrison’s fifth and sixth strikeout victims.

Turang struck out looking to start the fifth on a pitch that needed to be overturned by a Kelly challenge. Thornton struck out Contreras, too, and Counsell went to Old Friend Hoby Milner to face Yelich, who flew out to shallow center.

Harrison had another 1-2-3 innings and two more strikeouts in the fifth, getting him to eight for the game. He’d also thrown just 65 pitches through five after needing 99 to get through five scoreless innings in his last outing. Milner continued in the top of the sixth and retired Blake Perkins, who’d entered defensively in the fifth (nothing wrong with Mitchell, it was just to counter the Milner move), Bauers, and Frelick in order.

UPDATE: After the game, it was reported that Mitchell’s back tightened up on him. Something to monitor, but hopefully it isn’t anything super serious to worry about.

Another 1-2-3 inning for Harrison in the sixth meant he’d retired 15 straight. He also struck out two more batters, bringing his total to 10.

Phil Maton was the new Chicago pitcher in the seventh. Ortiz hit a hard line drive into right field, but Suzuki had him positioned well and made the catch. Hamilton was next, and he hit a towering fly ball into the right-field corner that Suzuki reached but seemed to lose at the last moment — it hit Suzuki (it would’ve been a very nice play had he caught it), and Hamilton ended up at third base with a triple. Maton’s first pitch to Chourio was wide and got past Kelly, and Hamilton scored easily from third on the wild pitch.

Milwaukee tried to keep the rally going in the seventh — Chourio drew a one-out walk, and Contreras singled with two outs. Counsell went back to his bullpen to bring in lefty Ryan Rolison to face Yelich. Yelich nearly came through with a two-out RBI single on a slow grounder up the middle, but Hoerner made a nice play to end the inning.

Harrison, at just 80 pitches, was back out to start the seventh. Bregman hit the first pitch of the inning into center field for a hit, and he became the first Cub batter to reach since Suzuki’s leadoff walk in the second inning. But Harrison wasn’t rattled: he struck out Happ, and got Suzuki and Kelly on pop-ups.

That ended a gem of an outing for Harrison. He pitched seven innings on 94 pitches and allowed only two hits, Hoerner’s leadoff double in the first and Bregman’s single in the seventh, and walked just one batter. He struck out 11, one less than the career-high 12 he recorded against Pittsburgh on April 26, and recorded 19 whiffs, which at publication time was tied with Minnesota’s Joe Ryan for the most of the day. Harrison finished the day with a 1.77 ERA — lower even than his superstar teammate, Jacob Misiorowski.

Rolison got a clean inning against the Brewers in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the inning, the Brewers turned to DL Hall, making his 20th appearance of the season. Hall, who has gotten fantastic results that belie his issue with walks this season, gave a free pass to Busch to start the inning. But he recovered quickly: Swanson struck out, and Amaya hit a ground ball to second with which Turang started a 4-6-3 double play, possible only with the lead-footed Chicago catcher running.

Chicago kept rolling with Rolison in the ninth. Ortiz poked one further than it looked into the right-center gap, but Crow-Armstrong ran it down for the first out. After Ortiz was retired, Chicago turned to its closer, Daniel Palencia, with one out. Hamilton greeted him by picking up his third hit of the night, a single to left. Chourio flew out, Turang drew a walk, and Contreras hit a ball up the middle, which Hoerner made a diving play on — he couldn’t get any outs, but he did save a run, and that mattered, because Palencia struck out Yelich with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Pat Murphy let Hall continue in the ninth with a five-run lead. Contreras showed some annoyance that Hall fell behind PCA 3-1, but Hall came back to get him to ground out to Bauers at first. Hoerner also grounded out to Bauers, and Bregman struck out looking on a 3-2, backdoor curveball to end the game.

Harrison and Hall dominated Chicago on the evening. After Hoerner’s leadoff double, the Cubs didn’t get another runner into scoring position for the rest of the game. Hamilton was the offensive star: he had two singles and a triple and scored twice, but of course, one of those singles turned into his little league homer. (The triple was close to a homer, too, but Hamilton is still searching for his first actual home run of the season.) Contreras was the other offensive standout, as he was 3-for-4 with three singles, a run scored, and a stolen base.

Tomorrow is a well-deserved off day for the Brewers before they start a big series back at home with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday in a rematch of last year’s National League Championship Series. See you then.

Rangers 5, Rockies 4

• ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH, COLORADO!
• ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH, COLORADO!
• ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!
• The Rangers won.
• They shot the bb gun.
• This is now two straight Wednesdays where the Rangers won due to a ninth inning comeback.
• And this game didn’t even involved blowing a lead in the ninth inning first.
• It did involve things going south for Jack Leiter relatively quickly in the middle innings.
• But let’s focus on the positive aspect of things. The good things. Like Leiter’s first three innings, where he did give up a run in the first on a single, a stolen base and another single, but retired the other nine batters he faced, and struck out the side in the second.
• Let’s not talk about the fourth inning, where, having just been given a 3-1 lead, he walked two consecutive batters with two outs, the second of which coming on a 3-2 pitch which was initially called a strike and then was overturned on an ABS challenge.
• It seemed like there was a fair amount of ABS activity in the game. I could be wrong. It also felt like the strike zone wasn’t super well called. I could be wrong there, too, though.
• Sometimes we are wrong about things. And that is, okay.
• Two more runs scored in the fifth, but it could have been worse, as a 3-2 pitch to Mickey Moniak with no outs and a runner on third was initially called a ball, but was overturned on an ABS challenge and was called a strike. Basically the reverse of the bases loaded walk in the previous inning, except the bases weren’t loaded and there weren’t two outs.
• But let’s move on.
• Jakob Junis, Tyler Alexander and Jacob Latz each pitched a scoreless inning to get things to the ninth with the Rangers still down one.
• It was a vexing down one because the Rangers had lots of opportunities, but were unable to convert.
• Like in the fifth. The Rangers got back to back singles with two outs — the second by Brandon Nimmo, who was then lifted for pinch runner Alejandro Osuna due to a hamstring issue. As it has been all series, it was chilly and rainy, and not ideal weather for one with a muscle tweak.
• A Josh Jung walk loaded the bases, but the bases were left stranded when Ezequiel Duran grounded out to end the inning.
• No complaints about Duran, though, as he had a two run homer in that three run third inning to give the Rangers the lead. It was followed up by a Jake Burger homer. Burger, you might have noticed, is hitting kinda good lately.
• (Spoiler alert — be sure to check him out in the exit velocity data towards the end of the post.)
• In the sixth, the seventh and the eighth, the Rangers had a single in each inning, but nothing more.
• Ninth inning rolls around, the Rockies have a lefty reliever on the mound, Danny Jansen pinch hits for Evan Carter and strikes out. The Rangers are now out of position players, and Joc Pederson is going to have to go from DH to the outfield to replace Carter if the Rangers tie the game or take the lead, which is looking unlikely at this point.
• Pederson gets the rally started with a catcher’s interference, and really, isn’t that the best kind of way to get a rally started?
• Justin Foscue had a hard hit single the other way, putting runners at first and second. Alejandro Osuna then reached on a not terribly hard hit chopper the other way that Ezequiel Tovar fielded but had to stick in his pocket, loading the bases.
• Joc Pederson, who reached on catcher’s interference, then scored on a passed ball. Not a great inning for Rockies catcher Brett Sullivan.
• Josh Jung then hit a grounder that snuck past the pulled in infield to give the Rangers the lead.
• Osuna’s infield single had an xBA of .140. Jung’s go-ahead single had an xBA of .220. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
• On the other hand, the Rangers had an xBA for the game of .313, while the Rockies had a .200 xBA, so the Rangers were actually good, and lucky, or maybe not that lucky. I’m not sure.
• I think I confused myself.
• This puts the Rangers at .500 on the road trip, and while they played two bad teams, its hard to say that going 3-3 on the road is not okay. Two of the wins were blowouts where the Rangers shut out the opposition, and one was this come-from-behind one run win. Two of the losses were close games where the offense took a powder, and one loss was a one run loss where weird bad things happened.
• Texas is back to one game below .500. That’s still the wrong side of .500, but its better than being several games below .500. They will either be tied for the lead in the American League West or a game back, depending on what happens in the A’s/Angels game on the West Coast.
• I would like to see this team get on a hot streak and rattle off a bunch of wins. The two weeks after this road trip, featuring four at home against Houston, three at home against Kansas City, three in St. Louis, then three back home against Cleveland would be a great time to do so.
• But as of right now, they are hanging in there despite a very tough early schedule. They are currently, in fact, occupying the WC3 spot.
• Things are trending the right direction.
• Jack Leiter reached 97.4 mph on his fastball, averaging 95.4 mph. Jakob Junis hit 91.9 mph on his fastball. Tyler Alexander’s fastball touched 91.4 mph. Jacob Latz’s fastball maxed out at 96.6 mph.
• Jake Burger had a 110.9 mph single, a 110.4 mph ground out, a 108.4 mph home run, and a 106.1 mph GIDP. Evan Carter had a 106.5 mph ground out. Ezequiel Duran had a 106.2 mph home run. Josh Jung had a 102.8 mph ground out. Justin Foscue had a 100.7 mph single.
• Let’s luxuriate in a win in a day game before an off day.

David Peterson is going to start a game for the first time in nearly a month.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed after the team's 8-4 loss to the Nationals on Wednesday that the southpaw will begin the series finale in Washington D.C. on Thursday afternoon.

Peterson, who has been ineffective as a starter this season, pitched himself out of the rotation. In five starts this season, Peterson is 0-4 with an 8.10 ERA across 18.0 innings pitched. He made four consecutive starts to begin the season before he pitched out of the bullpen in his next two appearances. He made a start on April 29, against the Nationals, before being relegated to pitching behind an opener in his last three outings.

To Peterson's credit, the southpaw has been much more effective as a reliever. He's pitched to a 2.25 ERA and allowed only four earned runs over his last three appearances (13.0 IP). 

In his last start, Peterson had his worst outing of the season when he was roughed up by the Nationals at Citi Field. Washington pushed across seven runs on five hits and three walks across 3.2 innings. 

With the Mets heading to Miami for three this weekend, Freddy Peralta and Christian Scott are slated to make starts, but New York is leaving the option of calling up prospect Jonah Tong to make a spot start. 

The loss of Clay Holmes to injury has put the Mets rotation in flux. If Peterson can succeed as a starter, it would go a long way toward stabilizing the pitching staff.