ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - MAY 1: Nolan Gorman #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates with Jordan Walker #18 of the St. Louis Cardinals after hitting a two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning at Busch Stadium on May 1, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Thanks to a strong start by Matthew Liberatore and offensive thunder from Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson, the St. Louis Cardinals welcomed the Los Angeles Dodgers to town by beating them 7-2.
After a 1-2-3 top of the first from Matthew Liberatore, the St. Louis Cardinals did not hesitate to get on the board with an assist from Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan. Ivan Herrera drew a one-out walk after JJ Wetherholt struck out. Alec Burleson then fouled out, but Jordan Walker laced a single to left field. Both Walker and Herrera moved up a base after a throwing error by Will Smith. The Cardinals were gifted their first run when Sheehan failed to notify the umpires that he was going to throw from a windup instead of the stretch. That resulted in a balk and a 1-0 Cardinals lead as Herrera scored. Walker would also score after Nolan Gorman lit up a 3-2 pitch from Sheehan and deposited it into the right field stands making it 3-0 Cardinals.
The Dodgers drew closer in the top of the 2nd inning after Andy Pages singled to right and Max Muncy drilled a ball over Victor Scott II’s head in left-center field making it 3-1 St. Louis.
The Cardinals would add to their lead in the 3rd inning when Alec Burleson turn on a low-inside pitch driving it over the right field wall giving St. Louis a 4-1 lead.
Matthew Liberatore would last through 5 2/3 innings as he got into trouble in the top of the 6th inning giving up a single to Freddie Freeman followed by a walks to Smith and Hernandez. Kyle Tucker hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to make the score 4-2 Cardinals. Manager Oli Marmol took Liberatore out of the game and brought in George Soriano who was able to limit the damage by getting Andy Pages on a flyout to short center field.
In the top of the 7th inning, Masyn Winn showed why he is a Gold Glove shortstop as he covered 122 feet in chasing down a ball in foul territory making an incredible catch while barely avoiding a collision with a sliding Nathan Church who was charging in from left field. George Soriano would do his part by striking out Shohei Ohtani looking to end the inning.
The Cardinals would threaten in the bottom of the 7th inning when Ivan Herrera singled to right and Alec Burleson drew a walk. Jordan Walker then hung in on a two-strike breaking ball and ripped it down the left field line for a double scoring both Herrera and Burleson giving St. Louis a 6-2 lead.
Masyn Winn was hit by a high-inside pitch by Henriquez who had come into the game in relief which Winn took issue with as he was hot heading to first base. Jordan Walker, who had advanced to third on his double when the ball was misplayed in left field, scored on a high chopper by Nathan Church that the Dodgers were unable to turn into a double play by forcing Winn at second. That extended Cardinals lead to 7-2 heading into the 8th inning.
Gordon Graceffo was brought in to handle the Dodgers in the top of the 8th. He was greeted by Freddie Freeman’s line-drive single to left to start the inning. After Smith lined out and Hernandez flied out, Kyle Tucker walked, but Graceffo stranded them both when he struck out Pages confirmed by an ABS challenge. Both Graceffo and Soriano would provide an inning each of scoreless relief.
Matt Svanson was brought in to close out a 5-run lead in the 9th inning and he did it with no drama. He retired Max Muncy on a flyout to center. Alec Burleson made an excellent play on a ball down the first base line from Rojas. Svanson also did a fine job covering the bag for the second out. Kim then singled to left bringing up Shohei Ohtani, but Svanson was able to get him to fly out to center to end the game.
The Cardinals will send Michael McGreevy to the mound for Saturday night’s game against the Dodgers. It’s a 6:15pm central time first pitch at Busch Stadium for a game that will be a national TV broadcast on Fox.
This guy kicked the Twins’ butts. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images | Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
First-year MLBer Kazuma Okamoto put some hurtin’ on Simeon Woods-Richardson, the Twins threw too many outs and chances away. Inning-by-inning notes:
1: George Springer with the leadoff single, and a good cheer comes through on the radio. So, as usual, there’s a lotta Jays fans at TF. Who in my experience are basically the nicest people you could hope for. (Royals fans are nice too, if a little drunker. My experience with these fans at like 10 games over the years is of course indicative of all trends in human behavior.) A 6-3 DP eliminates the runner.
Six-game hitting streak for DH Ryan Jeffers; he makes it seven with a two-out single. Nothing comes of it.
2: Some one-out danger, courtesy of Daulton Varsho and Lenyn Sosa (Sosa is not related to bat-corking Sammy, musical Lennon or socialist Lenin). A WP advances both runners and the defense plays in. This only works if you field properly, and 1B Josh Bell does not.
A soft single to Bell; he comes home with it, and he’s WAY off. Varsho scores and the ball goes out of play, so Sosa is awarded home plate, too. I’m reasonably confident that this is a throw I could have made better. However if I were to do it 100 times and Bell 100 times, he would screw up once or twice and I’d probably screw up 25 times.
Twins hitters; eight pitches, two strikeouts, one popup. It’s not IDEAL. Blue Jays 2-0
3: Six pitches and three outs for Simeon Woods-Richardson. None are strikeouts, so there’s some luck in play, but we’ll take it. Or I will. You can choose not to take it, if you so desire. Or if you are Twisted Sister.
A Brooks Lee single, James Outman doing what his name indicates, and Buxton does his Lord Byron thing. We’re tied 2-2
4: And now we are untied. Kazuma Okamoto, an 11-year veteran of Japanese baseball, is hitting .125 on the season (his first in MLB) but leads the Jays in homers with five; now make it six. Then a Sosa double and Yohendrick Pinango single (you bet I CTRL-C, CTRL-Ved that name); Bux apologizes to Toronto for his homer by airmailing the throw to the infield, and Pinango reaches second. Then a flyout and a HBP. Geez, SWR… a grounder to short ends the damage.
Luke Keaschall uses the theme from Rocky as his walkup music. That movie is about a boxer in Philadelphia. Keaschall is a baseball player from California playing in Minnesota. Anyways, Kris Atteberry on radio says it’s the only walkup song he knows. Keaschall walks and the next guy flies out to end the inning, but I’m curious; what ARE all the Twins’ walkup songs?
Here’s the list. Now, I don’t know a lot of the newer music, either. But, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC (Kody Funderburk)? Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” (Taylor Rogers), Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” (Bailey Ober), “It’s Only Rock and Roll” by the Stones (Joe Ryan)? How can someone not know at least one of those songs? OK, maybe Atteberry just means BATTER walk-up songs… but nope, that’s a fail too, Buxton uses Bob Marley’s “Jammin’.” How can you go to college and not learn “Jammin’?” Somebody get Atteberry to a dealer immediately and hook him up with some Marley! I mean a MUSIC dealer. Jays 4-2
5: Okamoto does it again, off a splitter just on the corner, and with Vlad (The Inhaler) Guerrero Jr. on base, so this is now a Difficult Lead For The Twins To Catch Up To. A Sosa single and Pinango infield single and SWR is cooked. Rogers finishes the inning; I did not hear any Fleetwood Mac on the radio.
Hit Machine James Outman with the one-out single. Buxton hits one a long way, but rookie Pinango takes a nice quick route to catch it. The Twins waste the Mighty Slugging of the Outman, Toronto 6-2
6: Catcher Tyler Heineman, whose name sounds like he should be shilling skunky Dutch beer, leads off with a bloop single. He advances on a one-out FC and as Vlad, Son of Vlad, enters, so does Mr. Rogers leave the neighborhood. Eric Orze records the out.
Bell has a one-out hit and Caratini advances him via HBP; this bounces Patrick Corbin, with Braydon Fisher coming in. Fisher sinks the Twins.
7: Eric Orze still pitching; here is his official picture:
Okamoto takes a walk, and on a grounder to short, Brooks Lee doesn’t see how quickly Luke Keaschall got to the bag, so he throws it to first instead. Atteberry says “let’s hope that doesn’t come back to haunt the Twins.” It does on a two-out Pinango single; the two “rookies” are killin’ us.
Incidentally, Dan Gladden on radio talking about how Japanese hitters see a lot of a “shuuto” pitch, a kind of pitch that breaks down and in to right-handers. I didn’t know Gladden played in Japan! He did, just like Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball! One season for the Yomiuri Giants of Tokyo. (Same team Okamoto played for, BTW.)
With Jeff Hoffman (no relation to Trevor) pitching, the Twins get two infield singles from Lee and Buxton. An Austin Martin single brings Jeffers to the plate with the bases full. He sac flies to left-center. And Bell grounds out to end the Little Rally That Couldn’t, Not The Expos 7-3
8: Pasta Power is still in there and saving some of the other bullpen arms. This would be great if the other bullpen arms were good.
It’s THEIR Rogers, Tyler, in to pitch. He handles the Twins just fine. I dunno if he uses Fleetwood Mac walkup music or not. He could go with “Gold Dust Woman,” cause he makes you cry, makes you break down. Or “Tusk” just to make opponents’ ears bleed from those terrible horns.
9: Now pitching for the Twins is Luis García; WHO? A 39-year-old righty with a career ERA of 4.13, although last year he was not very good. The Mets cut him in April and the Twins signed him a week later, since last year they traded away all their good relievers. He does fine.
One of those good relievers was Louis Varland from St. Paul, MN. Atteberry tells a story about being on the Twins caravan with Varland and Varland critiquing the drywall in a restaurant, since that’s his family’s line of business. This game feels like drywall. Two outs brings us a Buxton walk and a Austin Martin infield single. Jeffers strikes out. Varland throws 27 pitches but the Twins lose
Studs: Okamoto, Pinango, Bux for bomba. Duds: Bell for bad throw, SWR for bad pitching, Royce Lewis for sadly being a shell of his former self right now.
COTG go to sandwiches with “I feel like switching out bullpen pitchers is like switching out which cactus I am forced to sit on when I’m interrogated by the government for appreciating certain aspects of life.” And norff with a little poem:
Born too late to explore the earth Born too early to explore the cosmos Born just in time to watch Byron Buxton play baseball
Nice! Also, I have been using blogging software for 13 years and I finally figured out how to do single instead of double spacing in WordPress. Oh well I had to learn something eventually. Thanks to everyone who participated in the thread.
Tomorrow’s game is at 1:10 Central, and features Toronto starter Dylan Cease against rookie Connor Prelipp. Catch ya next time!
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - MAY 1: Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits an RBI double against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium on May 1, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals are back at it on Saturday for the middle game of the weekend series at Busch Stadium, with Roki Sasaki looking to build off his first win of the season.
Sasaki remains a mixed bag in the rotation, and rode his harder splitter to more control last Saturday against the Chicago Cubs, with only one walk in five-plus innings, his fewest walks in any MLB start to date. But he also allowed four runs, including three solo home runs.
Michael McGreevy starts for St. Louis. In his three home starts this season, McGreevy has allowed three runs in 17 innings, with 13 strikeouts and three walks.
Saturday is the Dodgers’ second game this season exclusively televised by Fox. Just like last weekend against the Cubs at Dodger Stadium, the middle game in St. Louis will be called by Joe Davis.
May 1, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; The Philadelphia Phillies celebrate their win against the Miami Marlins following the game at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images | Rhona Wise-Imagn Images
What started as a pitchers’ duel and later opened up to look like a comfortable win became a nailbiter as the Philadelphia Phillies (13-19) defeated the Miami Marlins (15-17) by a score of 6-5 to secure their fourth straight victory.
In his second start of the season, Zack Wheeler notched his first win, striking out eight and allowing just one run in six innings of work. After throwing 84 pitches in his first outing, he ramped it to 94 and appears to be unrestricted going forward.
The Marlins’ lone run against Wheeler came in the bottom of the first on the strength of back to back doubles by Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards.
The offense strung together four hits and a walk against Eury Perez in the top of the fourth inning to take the lead on singles by Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm, a walk by Bryson Stott and a double by Justin Crawford.
They would pad the lead in the top of the seventh off Marlins’ lefty reliever, Cade Gibson, scoring four in the frame to take a 6-1 lead. Bryce Harper doubled, Marsh was hit on the elbow, Edmundo Sosa singled home Harper and Stott cleared the bases with a three-run home run, his first of the year.
Orion Kerkering threw a scoreless bottom of the seventh before the bullpen began to unravel in the eighth and ninth innings.
The Fish got three runs back against Jonathan Bowlan and Jose Alvarado in the eighth before Alvarado got a crucial punchout of Christopher Morel to end the inning, stranding runners on second and third.
Brad Keller came on to close and was wild out of the gate, 10 of his first 17 pitches landing outside the strike zone. Somehow he managed just a leadoff walk to Javier Sanoja and two strikeouts with that effort, but Sanoja stole second and scored on Lopez’s third hit and second RBI single of the game to cut the lead to one. With a full count and the winning run at the plate, Keller got Edwards to fly out to center where Crawford secured the easy catch to end it.
After his historic day at the plate yesterday, Kyle Schwarber wore the platinum sombrero with five strikeouts.
The Phils will try to set a season-long winning streak tomorrow as they kick off the Philly Sportspocalypse at 4:10pm tomorrow as Andrew Painter faces off against Max Meyer.
May 1, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto (7) celebrates with teammates after hitting a home run against Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson (24) in the fifth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images | Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
Jays 7 Twins 3
Kazuma Okamoto had a slow start to the season, but he’s picked things up lately. Today he had 2 home runs, a walk, 3 runs and 3 RBI. 31 games into his MLB career he has 7 home runs, and 18 RBI.
And, unlike yesterday, the pitching was good and the defense was good.
Patrick Corbin went 5.1, allowed 6 hits, 2 earned, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts. He gave up a home run to Byron Buxton in the third inning, which accounted for his 2 earned runs. Corbin wasn’t great but he got the outs when he needed them.
Braydon Fisher got the last two outs of the sixth.
Jeff Hoffman gave up a run in the seventh. He had a very soft single, in front of Okamoto. Then a strikeout. Next Buxton hit one right at Andrés Giménez. I thought Giménez should have moved up to get the ball, but he waited back and then made a bad throw to first. It was called a hit, but I thought it was a clear error. A well hit single loaded the bases. Then Ryan Jeffers ripped one to deep left, but Daulton Varsho caught it on the edge of the track. It scored a run. Then another easy grounder to short, but that one was the third out. 16 pitchers. It could have been 3-up, 3-down, since the first two singles were 3 and 5 feet (in the air), with expect batting averages of .050 and .200.
Tyler Rogers got the eight. It went ground out, strikeout, strikeout.
Louis Varland pitched the ninth. He’s had a couple of days off, so he was likely to pitch today, not matter what. He gave up a two-out infield single.
On offense, we had 11 hits. Lenyn Sosa and Yohendrick Pinango (who I’m calling Lips, as it is easier to spell than Yohendrick. And Okamoto had the two homers (he came within 4 feet of getting a third homer). 0 for went to Andrés Giménez, Vlad (with a walk) and Jesus Sanchez.
We scored:
Two in the second: Varsho and Sosa had one out singles, and moved to third on a Simeon Woods Richardson wild pitch. Lips hit a ground ball to first, and Josh Bell threw home. Varsho should have been out by 10 feet, but Bell threw sidearm and missed his catcher. Both runners scored.
Two in the fourth: Okamoto led off with a homer. An out later, Sosa doubled and Lips singled him home.
Two in the fifth: Vlad walked and Okamoto homered.
One in the seventh: Okamoto walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Pinango single.
Jays of the Day: Pinango (.26 WPA), and Okomoto (.24).
Other Award: Sanchez had the number at -.11.
Tomorrow is a 2:00 start time. Dylan Cease (1-1, 2.87) vs. Connor Prielipp (1-0, 4.00)
May 1, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays infielder Yandy Diaz (2) celebrates a home run during the second inning against San Francisco Giants at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Pablo Robles-Imagn Images | Pablo Robles-Imagn Images
For a Major League leading seventh time, the San Francisco Giants have been shutout, 22% of the 32 games played in the 2026 season.
To put this dismal display in perspective, the 2019 Miami Marlins were shutout 22 times, the most in the Wild Card Era, which is roughly 14% of the 162 games in a regular season. The 1963 Mets, who lost 111 games, set the record in the Live Ball era at 30 shutouts, around 19% of their games. Currently, these 2026 Giants are on track to break that record by 6 shutouts.
A sobering thought that may have occurred to Willy Adames and Rafael Devers at the same time, in this exact moment captured below.
The Giants offense is leading the league in hitters slouched over the dugout railing at the end of ballgames. They’re pacing the league in squinting at some far-off thing in the third deck just beyond the left field foul pole as they remove their batting gloves, their helmet, at the end of another fruitless offensive frame.
The offense recorded 6 total hits against Rays pitching. Their only extra base hit of the game — a Luis Arraez double in the 4th — was erased from the bases when, with the urging of third base coach Hector Borg, he tried to stretch it into a Luis Arraez triple.
A third base coach can have too much attention, and Borg might want to lay low for awhile. He was too cautious Thursday night in the 10th, and here, just too aggressive. All of its connected, of course. Everyone is frustrated and playing tight and overthinking and trying to do too much. Behavior that stems from team-wide ills.
San Francisco’s only at-bat with a runner in scoring position came an inning later against southpaw starter Shane McClanahan with runners at the corners and one out. To be more precise, the Giants saw two pitches in the entire game with a runner in scoring position. A slider in the dirt, and a change-up that Jerar Encarnacion rolled weakly to Junior Caminero for a 5-4-3 double play.
Then in the 6th, still down by two — which, to be clear, is usually not an insurmountable run total to overcome — a lead-off single by Patrick Bailey was promptly undermined by a weak come-backer off the bat of Heliot Ramos that McClananahan fielded for a 1–4-3 double play.
An outfield assist. Two double plays. That was it. Trying to spark a rally for these Giants has been like trying to build a house of cards. They don’t walk, they don’t hit for extra bases, they don’t steal. There’s only so many singles you can string together before someone nudges the table, or sneezes, or breathes wrong, and sends the whole flimsy structure tumbling down. The Giants actually out-hit Tampa 6-to-5, they just didn’t out-slug them. If singles are Bicycle Playing Cards, extra base hits are Lincoln Logs. The Rays converted three hits and a sac fly into three runs off of Robbie Ray because two of them cleared the wall, and the other was manufactured off a double, a stolen base, and situational hitting.
Ray turned in another quality start, giving up 3 earned on 4 hits, 0 walks, and 5 strike outs over 6.1 innings, and was stuck with his fourth loss of the year for his efforts. Three of those losses, bizarrely enough, have come in 3-0 shutouts.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 01: Aaron Judge #99 and Ben Rice #22 of the New York Yankees celebrate after Ben Rice hit a three run home run in the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on May 01, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Two early Yankees home runs dug the Orioles a hole they couldn’t fly out of, as the O’s dropped their series opener in the Bronx 7-2.
As we’ve seen many times this season, a disastrous 2nd inning put the Orioles behind early and ruined the outing for Povich. With the game tied at 1-1, Povich began the inning strong, getting the former All-Star Jazz Chisolm Jr. to wave through a slider for the first out of the inning. From there, though, things went from bad to worse for the Orioles’ lefty. The very next pitch, José Caballero attacked a fastball up and in, hooking it around left field foul pole for a solo homer that gave New York a 2-1 lead.
Povich would come back to strike out catcher Austin Wells on another slider down and away. But the Caballero homer put a crack in Povich’s dam, a crack that Ben Rice would break wide open. With two outs, Trent Grisham attacked a 2-2 fastball, sending it into right field for a double. Paul Goldschmidt then worked a four-pitch walk to bring Rice to the plate. After Povich spiked a first-pitch slider in the dirt, he tried to go back to the breaking ball, only to leave it hanging and watch Rice pummel it into the right field bleachers for a 5-1 Yankees lead.
The Yankees almost chased Povich from the game, as Aaron Judge continued the two-out rally with a single to right, before Cody Bellinger ripped his second double of the night to move Judge to third. The Oriole starter was able to escape that jam, punching out Amed Rosario looking on a fastball down and in. However, after giving up four runs on 34 pitches in the 2nd, it was clear it wouldn’t be a banner night for Povich.
The signs of a potentially long night showed up from Povich’s very first inning. He again started the inning well, getting leadoff hitter Paul Goldschmidt to ground out to second before Taylor Ward robbed Rice of a hit with a sliding catch in left. Povich then got ahead of Judge 1-2, only to lose the 3x-MVP on a seven-pitch walk. Bellinger then lined a ball down the line in right, which got away from Dylan Beavers after a carom off the wall, allowing Judge to score from first and Bellinger to coast into second with a double.
In the top of the 2nd, Pete Alsono gave Birdland some hope that this would be a competitive game—if only briefly. With the O’s down 1-0, Yankee starter Will Warren left a sinker over the plate, and Alonso blasted it the other way into the right field second deck for his fifth home run as an Oriole.
However, the Alonso homer proved to be an anomaly, as the Orioles’ lineup struggled to find any answers against New York’s 26-year-old right-hander. Warren started his evening by punching out Gunnar Henderson swinging on a changeup low and away. Judge then gave his starter a defensive assist on a Taylor Ward fly ball, snagging a deep fly up against the right field fence. Warren then finished the inning with a strikeout of Adley Rutschman, freezing the Orioles’ hottest hitter with a fastball at the knees.
Strikeouts were a problem all night for the Baltimore bats, as they often seemed befuddled by the Yankees’ starter. Warren punched out another two Birds in the 2nd, getting Samuel Basallo to swing through a changeup before getting Dylan Beavers to chase another offspeed offering. Coby Mayo led off the 3rd with another strikeout by flailing at a sweeper that finished in the left-handed batter’s box. Warren then punctuated that frame with a punch out of Taylor Ward, getting the Orioles’ LF to swing through a low sinker.
After a Blaze Alexander single in the 3rd, Warren set down the next 12 Orioles he faced, with only two balls leaving the infield on a pair of F7’s in the 5th. Alonso finally broke that streak in the 7th, working a six-pitch walk to give the Orioles their first base runner in four innings. Basallo then followed that up with a single to center that took an awkward bounce past Grisham, allowing Alonso to move to third.
The Basallo bloop single set up the O’s only real scoring threat of the night, but the rest of the lineup couldn’t capitalize. Dylan Beavers tapped a grounder back to the mound that allowed Alonso to score to make it 5-2 with two outs. Leody Taveras then flew out to Judge to end the scoring threat—and any Orioles hopes of a comeback.
The Yankees would erase that consolation run in the 7th. Judge and Bellinger worked back-to-back two-out walks to give New York another runner in scoring position. Amed Rosario then singled up the middle to drive Judge home and restore the Yankees’ four-run advantage. The reigning AL MVP would then turn run provider in the 8th, singling up the middle on a sharp ground ball that drove home Rice from second and giving the Yankees their seventh run of the game.
The loss Friday night extends Baltimore’s losing streak against the Yankees to six games, with their last win against New York coming last September 19th in Baltimore. The O’s will try and snap that streak tomorrow when Kyle Bradish faces off against Ryan Weathers.
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 01: Will Warren #29 of the New York Yankees pitches during the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Friday, May 1, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Spearheaded by a fantastic effort from Will Warren, the Yankees took early command of their first regular-season matchup against the Orioles in 2026, ultimately winning it 7-2. Specifically on Warren, seeing the front-level starters dominating is all well and good, but the built-in expectations may work against the excitement of it in certain instances. Although early, seeing a pitcher like Warren coming together to truly maximize his skill set—as it appears we’re doing—is the kind of thing we love to witness over the course of a 162-game regular season.
Immediately after being handed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, Warren coughed it up in the type of manner that could shake his confidence. Not often in baseball do you get no-doubter opposite-field home runs, but that’s exactly what Pete Alonso delivered against the Yankees starter, evening things up in the second.
Fulfilling the phrase that you’re only as good as the team around you, Warren enjoyed a little support right after that moment. It would’ve been one thing had he spent a prolonged period pitching with a tie game, but the Yankees quickly took control of this one, pouncing on Orioles starter Cade Povich, who simply didn’t have it on Friday night. It was the home team’s turn to leave the yard in the third inning, firstly with a José Caballero solo shot and then a three-run bomb from Ben Rice.
It’s fitting that these are the two players who would come up big, as they represent the two types of hitters who will determine how dangerous the Yankees lineup is against left-handed pitching—Rice as the primary of a group of lefties who can take their game to the next level if they’re able to put up solid numbers against same-handed pitching and Caballero, who is one of the complementary pieces that need to maximize on platoon advantages.
As it turned out, that home run Alonso hit would end up representing a third of the Orioles’ hits against Warren, who took full advantage of a commanding lead from the third inning onwards and shut down Baltimore. Relying less heavily on the fastball than his season norm, and utilizing all three of his off-speed pitches, Warren earned nine strikeouts—the last of them on a terrific challenge from Wells, overturning a backdoor 2-2 sinker against Taylor Ward that had been originally called a ball in the sixth inning.
Warren was cruising in such a manner that Aaron Boone tried to give him the seventh inning, but a walk and a single were enough for the hook with 6.1 innings pitched. As he is known to do, Fernando Cruz came in with runners at second and third—both having advanced on a Trent Grisham error—and he kept the damage at one. Because of the error, this second Oriole run to make it a 5-2 game at that time was unearned for Warren, delivering a performance just as dominant as the one he had against the Royals a couple of outings ago.
Answering back that run, the Yankees made it a 7-2 game, scoring one in the seventh and one in the eighth thanks to RBI knocks from Amed Rosario and Aaron Judge. They could’ve made it a full-scale blowout but managed to strand five baserunners in those two innings, not that the pitching staff missed those runs, with Cruz, Camillo Doval, and Jake Bird combining to give up just a walk in 2.2 innings.
The Yankees will go for their 12th win in 14 games tomorrow afternoon, with southpaw Ryan Weathers facing righty Kyle Bradish. First pitch is at 1:35pm ET.
Carson Jasa had his best start in big win over Penn State | Nebraska Athletics
It was a cold Friday night in May in Columbus, Ohio. Nebraska which despite its great season, has been woeful on the mound in Friday nights in conference play. Enter new Friday night starter Carson Jasa. He was tasked with turning around the Husker’s fortunes against Ohio States number one pitcher since about halfway through his freshman season last year, Gavin Kunzniewski.
It was obvious the pitchers were dealing early. The lone blemish in the first few innings came in the 2nd. Mammoth Ohio State first baseman Dane Harvey led off the inning with a solid single into center field that center fielder Mac Moyer couldn’t quite get to as he was playing deep because of Harvey’s power. Maddix Simpson then hit a ball head high to Case Sanderson at first that hit his glove but was just able to trickle out because of the speed it came off the bat. A potential double play snuck out to right field and runners were on the corners.
Carson Jasa pitched the next batter to a full count, but ended up walking him to load the bases with no outs. A mound visit refocused Jasa and he recorded the first out on a 3 pitch strikeout. A quick second out came on a sac fly to right center field, scoring Harvey. Another strikeout ended the inning. A potential disaster was limited to just a single run, something the powerful Husker offense should have no trouble overcoming.
That onslaught never arrived though. Kunzniewski was living off his changeup, keeping Nebraska hitters completely off balance and allowing them to barely get any barrels on the ball.
It took until the 5th inning for Nebraska to really put any pressure on the Buckeye starter. Third baseman Josh Overbeek absorbed a 1 out hit-by-pitch, something this OSU staff gives out rather often. Freshman right fielder Drew Grego then sent the first pitch he saw to center field for a single, marking the first time Nebraska had 2 baserunners. Catcher Trey Fikes pulled a ball down the line to first base, moving the runner over on a productive out for Tuesday night’s hero, Rhett Stokes. Stokes went after the first ball he saw, something Nebraska hitters did all too often on the evening, and grounded out to short to end the inning. Still 1-0 Buckeyes after 5.
In the bottom of the 6th inning, Simpson led off for Ohio State and laced a double to the right center gap. A ground ball to first moved him over to third, and a sac fly to Moyer in center brought him in to widen the lead to 2-0 for the Buckeyes.
Nebraska threatened again in the 7th. A Jett Buck walk, and Grego getting hit by a pitch put 2 on with 2 out. Nebraska pinch hit the recovering Will Jesske who put the barrel to the ball for one of the rare times on the night, but flew out in front of the warning track in left field to end the threat.
Jasa exited the game after the 6th, giving the team its first quality start on a Friday since Ty Horn against Michigan State on March 6th. Jasa threw 103 pitches, gave up 2 runs on 4 hits, striking out only 3 batters, his lowest other than the 1 in 1 inning of work at Auburn.
The aforementioned Ty Horn took over for Jasa in the 7th and finished the game for Nebraska, keeping OSU off the board with 3 strikeouts in his 2 perfect innings.
Nebraska finally knocked Kunzniewski out of the game in the 9th, after he walked the first two Huskers in Dylan Carey and Jett Buck. Ohio State turned it over to their reliever Ryan Zamora, who has the best pitch in their bullpen, a hard downward breaking slurve. Overbeek hit a ball up the middle that the short stop was just able to keep from going into center field, and toss to the covering second baseman, leaving runners at the corners.
Drew Grego hit a ball right out in front of the pitcher that the catcher ran out and grabbed and threw to first, beating Grego by a step. Overbeek advanced to second on the play. Nebraska sent left handed batter Preston Freeman in to pinch hit for Jesske. Zamora threw a ball to the backstop, and Overbeek advanced to third. Freeman couldn’t bring him in striking out looking on Zamora’s big breaking ball on the inside corner. Ohio State claims game 1, 2-1.
It was about as even as you could get offensively. Both teams had 4 hits, and both had 3 walks. The Simpson double was the lone extra base hit of the game and proved to be the difference. Even when Nebraska fixes its pitching issues that has been plaguing it each Friday, it can’t seem to find the same success it does on Saturdays and Sundays.
The good thing? They are right back at it tomorrow, which just so happens to not be a Friday! The 2nd game of the series will be shown on BTN, so it will be a rare Saturday night baseball game for the teams. First pitch in Columbus will be at 6pm CDT.
DETROIT, MI - MAY 01: Jack Flaherty #9 of the Detroit Tigers looks on during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Friday, May 1, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Izzy Rincon/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
After a road trip full of late heartbreaks and near-misses, it was time for a little home-cookin’ with a three-game weekend series on tap with the Texas Rangers. Well, the near-misses and heartbreak didn’t stop tonight, as a comeback ended up all for naught with a 5-4 loss on Friday night.
Jack Flaherty, who has had more question-marks lately than a defective typewriter, started for the Tigers. In his previous start in Cincinnati he gave up six runs in two innings and didn’t come out for the third. But, for a pair of starts earlier in April, he was looking really good. Which Flaherty would we see tonight? And would it change from inning to inning?
Facing Flaherty and the Tigers tonight was MacKenzie Gore, in his first season with Texas after three fairly solid seasons in Washington. Curiously, he led the National League the previous two years in wild pitches, but not walks (despite logging quite a few innings). Coming into tonight he’d walked 15 batters in 31 innings, which is quite a few when you really think about it.
The Rangers got on the board in the first inning with a single, productive groundout, and a Josh “Not Jace” Jung single to left field to score Brandon Nimmo for a 1-0 Texas lead. Flaherty settled down nicely for a 1-2-3 second inning, including a pair of strikeouts… but then Danny Jansen crushed a long home run to lead off the third for a 2-0 Texas lead.
Q: Could Flaherty prevent the spin-out high-damage inning to which he’s fallen victim so often?
A: Nope.
After Jansen’s home run, the yips returned and he couldn’t find the strikezone, walking the bases loaded. He gave up another run on a single and another on a sacrifice fly (the first out of the inning) and the Rangers were up 4-0. An infield popup and a strikeout limited any further scoring, but still, sheesh. He’d carry on into the fourth and get the first two outs, but at that point his pitch count was 91 and some lefties were coming up, so that was that. Enmanuel De Jesus, who came up from Toledo when Casey Mize went on the Injured List, came on and struck out Evan Carter on three pitches. Flaherty’s final line: 3 2/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jahmai Jones led off with a double, and with one out Riley Greene hit a tricky popup behind third base on which Jung whiffed. Matt Vierling then struck out, but Spencer Torkelson walked to load the bases with two outs. Wenceel Pérez then stepped to the plate and stung a single into left, scoring Jones and Greene to narrow the lead to 4-2. Hao-Yu Lee dropped a perfect little flare of a single into right to score Torkelson for a 4-3 score.
That was the end of Gore’s day, and righty Cole Winn was brought in to face Gleyber Torres who struck out swinging to end the inning. But hey, the Tigers were back in this thing.
In the bottom of the fifth, Kerry Carpenter (pinch-hitting for Jones) walked, and took second on a wild pitch in the dirt. He moved up to third on a perfectly-placed bloop single on the ninth pitch of a Dillon Dingler at-bat, putting runners on the corners. Greene followed with a shattered-bat ground ball that was too slowly-hit for an inning-ending double play, scoring Carpenter and tying the game.
Brenan Hanifee took over for De Jesus to start the sixth; De Jesus nicely calmed things down for 1 1/3 innings, only allowing a walk. He allowed a leadoff single, and then after a bit of a bunting exhibition by Texas, the inning ended with no damage.
In the bottom of the inning Pérez advanced to third after getting aboard via a fielder’s choice, stolen base and a throwing error, but Torres flew out to centre to end the inning and Pérez was left stranded 90 feet (27 432 mm) from home.
Brant Hurter took over for Hanifee — B.H. for B.H., neato — and with the help of a nice play a third by Lee on a scorcher of a ground ball, a hit-by-pitch was stranded on the bases.
Old Friend™ Tyler Alexander made an appearance for Texas in the seventh, and he got some defensive help by Ezequiel Duran, diving to grab a Carpenter fly ball near the right-field corner.
Burch Smith didn’t have quite as much luck: Rangers hitters got aggressive against Smith and didn’t miss too often, making hard contact and hitting a pair of doubles to retake the lead 5-4.
Greene led off the bottom of the eighth with a single against Alexander, but didn’t advance as the next three batters were retired. And in the ninth against Jacob Latz, who has been mostly lights-out for Texas so far this year, the Tigers went 1-2-3 and that was the game.
Both starting pitchers tonight wore single-digit numbers. I don’t agree with this. It looks dumb.
Coming into tonight’s game, Jack Flaherty had 22 walks in 25 1/3 innings. So, three walks in 3 2/3 more innings? Unfortunately, that didn’t change the overall rate much, if at all. What am I, a mathematician?
Today is International Workers Day, otherwise known as May Day, and is celebrated as Labour Day in the vast majority of the world’s countries (but not in Canada, the United States, Jamaica, Japan, Australia and New Zealand). It’s meant to celebrate the achievements of the labour movement around the world, including the eight-hour work day, health and safety rights, and countless other gains for workers.
May 1, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski (32) pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Jacob Misiorowski had a historic night on the mound. He also put a gigantic scare into the Brewer faithful when he had to be removed from the game while cruising in the sixth inning, but the Brewers have hopefully avoided any major concern over Misiorowski’s health (early reports are that he was cramping), and even with that, Miz had his best start of the season. His offense backed him up tonight, too, led by William Contreras, who picked up four hits for the second straight game.
Garrett Mitchell got the Brewers off to a good start as he hit a double over the head of right fielder James Wood on the game’s first strike, a 109 mph missile. Brice Turang was next and moved Mitchell to third on a groundout to first, and Mitchell scored the game’s first run when a sweeper from Nats starter Jake Irvin snuck past catcher Drew Millas (a ball that was initially ruled a wild pitch but was later changed to a passed ball). Irvin recovered to get Contreras on a popup and Jake Bauers on a strikeout, but Milwaukee had an early 1-0 lead before Misiorowski touched the mound.
Mitchell starts things off with a leadoff double & scores the first run of the day
Miz started with back-to-back 102 mph fastballs to Wood, the second of which was lined to Luis Rengifo at third for the first out. Luis García Jr. struck out on a fastball that clocked in at 102.3 mph for the second out, and Miz kept the flames coming with a 103 mph fastball during his at-bat with Curtis Mead—according to Jeff Levering, that’s the fastest pitch a starting pitcher has thrown in the Statcast Era. Mead did draw a walk to extend the inning, and CJ Abrams did an admirable job of not striking out on a series of nasty 1-2 pitches and worked an 11-pitch at-bat, but ultimately grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
Rengifo worked a walk to start the second inning, but Irvin got the next three—Tyler Black, Sal Frelick, and Blake Perkins—via strikeout, weak groundout, and strikeout. Misiorowski walked another batter to lead off the second but struck out the next two and got the third out with an assist from Jake Bauers, who made a nice play on a line drive to first.
David Hamilton drew a leadoff walk in the third and, after Mitchell struck out, stole second. Irvin then walked Turang on four pitches to put two on for Contreras, who came through with a looping single to center on a pitch a couple inches off the outside of the plate. That scored Hamilton, and Milwaukee doubled its lead. Irvin got out of the inning without any more damage though, as Bauers struck out looking and Rengifo flew out to the edge of the warning track in center.
Miz got two quick groundball outs to start the bottom of the third, but García Jr. made him throw nine pitches (and worked from 0-2 to 3-2) before striking out to end the inning. Misiorowski was effective and hadn’t allowed a hit through three innings, but he was up to 56 pitches.
Black hit a solid ground-rule double down the left-field line to start the fourth, and Frelick followed with what was effectively a bunt when he swung at the first pitch and hit a dribbler down to third. That gave Perkins a shot with Black on third and one out, but Perkins hit a ball right back to Irvin. Black was caught in no-man’s land, and Irvin chased him down and tagged him out for the second out. Hamilton just missed his first home run as a Brewer when he followed with a fly ball to deep right-center, but Wood caught it on the warning track and an inning that started with real promise was over.
Miz retired Mead and Abrams on fly balls and Daylen Lile on a line drive to first for a pretty quick and easy fourth. Four no-hit innings in the books.
Turang hit a one-out single in the top of the fifth, and Contreras followed with another—his second looping single on a ball well outside of the zone, this one a little tennis backhand on a pitch a couple inches low. Bauers followed with a great at-bat in which he fouled off a couple of tough two-strike curveballs, and drew a walk to load the bases for Rengifo. He fell behind but ended up hitting a weak ground ball to the right side of the infield; Bauers was retired at second, but there was no chance for a double play or a play at home and Turang scored from third. BABIP King Tyler Black followed with another fly ball down the left field line—it wasn’t hit quite as hard as his first one, but it still landed and Black had another double. Contreras scored, and the Brewers still had runners at second and third with two outs. Frelick stung one, by far the hardest-hit ball of the inning at 107 mph, but Wood was able to reach up and snag it for the third out.
If Misiorowski was looking good already, he really locked in for the bottom of the fifth. Brady House, Jorbit Vivas, and Millas were all struck out in order, and Miz was still getting an easy 101 on his fastball. Through five, Misiorowski had seven strikeouts and hadn’t allowed a hit on 80 pitches.
Irvin was done after four, and was replaced by the left-handed Cionel Pérez for the bottom of the fifth. Perkins popped out, and Hamilton was given a rare opportunity face a lefty but flew out to shallow left. Mitchell grounded out, and Pérez had Washington’s first 1-2-3 inning of the game.
Misiorowski struck out Jacob Young looking to start the bottom of the sixth, but after his first pitch Wood he walked around the mound and the training and coaching staff came out of the dugout. It was not clear what happened to Misiorowski, but he was clearly uncomfortable; what we could gather based on irresponsible speculation, body language, and lip reading suggested that he’d perhaps had some sort of cramp in one of his legs. Brewers fans would need to anxiously await an update, but it didn’t look like anything was wrong with his arm and whatever it was didn’t seem serious on first blush. Later in the game, Sophia Minnaert confirmed that the issue was a cramp in Misiorowski’s right hamstring.
Aaron Ashby came quickly out of the bullpen and was, of course, given an extended period of time to warm up; he had no trouble finishing the inning, with a strikeout for Wood and a groundout from García Jr. Pérez continued in the seventh and got Turang to ground out, but Contreras—who is smoldering right now—picked up his third single of the game, his seventh hit in the last two days. Contreras was erased when Bauers grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Rengifo, flipped around to the right side of the plate, lined a hard single up the middle to keep the inning going. With two on and two out, Pat Murphy was going for the kill: he pulled Black back into the dugout and sent out the Kraken, Gary Sánchez. A wild pitch advanced both runners, but Sánchez grounded out to end the inning.
Ashby was back for the bottom of the seventh, and the Nationals still didn’t have a hit. Ashby struck out Mead to start the inning, but a walk of Abrams was followed by the Nats’ first hit of the night on a shallow fly ball to left. Perkins, presumably trying to preserve the no-hitter, dove and couldn’t quite come up with it; the ball got past him, allowing Abrams and Lile to move to second and third. House hit a ground ball to third that resulted in the second out but also the first run of the game for Washington, as Abrams crossed the plate to make it 4-1. Old friend Joey Wiemer, who is still rocking a 176 wRC+ after a torrid start to the season, was called upon to pinch hit, but Ashby struck him out to end the inning.
The new Nationals pitcher in the eighth was Andre Granillo, a righty. Frelick, who’d already flew out on a 107 mph fly ball to right in this game, sprayed three straight hard-hit foul balls down the right field line before putting some serious english on a chopper down the third base line that kept it fair and made for an easy infield hit. Perkins followed with a hard-hit grounder that Nasim Nuñez, who’d just entered as a defensive sub, couldn’t handle; everybody was safe and Nuñez was charged with an error. Hamilton followed with a perfect bunt down the third base line that loaded the bases with nobody out despite zero baseballs reaching the outfield grass in the inning.
Mitchell, who came in 5-for-5 with the bases loaded this season, was up next. But Granillo managed to strike him out with a backfoot slider, and there was suddenly a way out of the inning. With one out, Turang was no less of a challenge, but he popped out for the second out. But Contreras, seven for his last eight, is hotter than the sun at the moment, and he poked a two-out, two RBI single through the right side. Contreras’s fourth hit of the game made it 6-1; he became just the seventh Brewer to ever have back-to-back four-hit games, and in the last two days, his batting average has risen from .262 to .310.
A Bauers walk loaded the bases again, but Rengifo popped out to center—a pop out which clearly frustrated him, as he got a hanging slider about as right-down-the-middle as a hanging slider can be. Ashby, who’d recorded five outs but had needed only 26 pitches to do so, kept pitching in the eighth (and was joined on the diamond by Joey Ortiz, who came in at shortstop, with Hamilton moving over to third and Rengifo to the bench). Ashby walked the first batter, Millas, and Young singled on a soft liner. It felt like maybe it was time to get Ashby out of there, but he kept going: he fell behind Wood 3-0, but a fortunate call on a 3-0 pitch and a successful challenge from Contreras on 3-1 gave Ashby new life. He came back to strike out Wood, and García Jr. and Mead grounded out to end the inning.
Paxton Schultz entered and got two quick outs in the top of the ninth, but Milwaukee mustered a bit of a two-out rally. For the second time on the night, Perkins reached on an error, and Hamilton followed with a single to right. Perkins moved to third, and Hamilton stole second to put two runners in scoring position for the top of the order, but Mitchell struck out looking at a fastball at the top of the zone.
With a five-run lead, Easton McGee was the Brewer pitcher in the ninth. He struck out Abrams, then walked Lile, then induced a game-ending double play from pinch-hitter José Tena (which needed to be confirmed via replay after Washington challenged). A solid Brewers win, 6-1.
Misiorowski’s night ended suddenly and with some concern, but he was quite literally unhittable tonight. It even seemed sometimes like Miz didn’t have his best control, but he was throwing harder for longer than he has ever done before—at near historic levels. He came just shy of Hunter Greene’s Statcast-Era record for most pitches thrown at 100mph or higher in a single start (43 of them, compared with Greene’s record of 47), and he threw more pitches at 102 or higher, by far, than any other starting pitcher:
In total, Misiorowski threw 5 1/3 innings, walked two, didn’t allow a hit, and struck out eight. He was relieved tonight by Ashby, who threw 2 2/3 innings and allowed two hits and two walks while striking out four. McGee finished things up with his scoreless ninth. Overall, it was a great night for the Brewer pitching staff: they allowed just two hits and one run while striking out 13.
On the other side of the ball, the Brewers were led by Contreras and his four singles and three RBI. But Black also added two doubles and an RBI, while Hamilton also had a pair of singles. Mitchell’s leadoff double was the team’s only other extra-base hit, but they outhit the Nationals 12 to two on the night.
The Brewers will get two opportunities to pick up their second straight series victory, but you know they’ll be gunning for a sweep to erase the one that Washington took from them in Milwaukee. Game two tomorrow is a late-afternoon start, at 3:05 p.m. central, in which Kyle Harrison will face off with Foster Griffin.
Ben Rice homered and Will Warren had a strong outing, pitching into the seventh inning as the Yankees defeated the Orioles, 7-2, on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
With the win, Warren is 4-0 with a 2.39 ERA for the season. The Yankees are 9-2 this season in series openers, including 5-0 in series openers at home.
Here are the takeaways...
-Warren had a strong first inning, retiring the side in order with two strikeouts and Aaron Judge making an impressive catch, robbing Taylor Ward of extra bases.
Judge wouldn't be able to rob Pete Alonso in the second inning as the former Mets slugger launched an opposite-field shot to tie the score at 1-1. The homer went 367 feet into the second deck in right field but was launched at 107.6 mph. It's Alonso's fifth homer of the season. After that, Warren was dealing, pitching into the seventh with less than 90 pitches thrown, but a one-out walk to Alonso and a Samuel Basallo single -- coupled with a Trent Grisham fielding error allowing runners to get to second and third -- spelled the end of Warren's night.
Fernando Cruz came on to try to get out of the inning, and after allowing Alonso to score on a groundout, Cruz got out of the frame relatively unscathed and put a stamp on Warren's line.
The young right-hander allowed two runs on three hits and one walk across 6.1 innings (94 pitches/60 strikes) while striking out nine batters.
-The Yankees got on the board early. After a two-out walk by Judge, Cody Bellinger drove him home with a double down the right field line, aided by a bobble from Dylan Beavers in right field.
With Anthony Volpe's return looming, Jose Caballero is making his case to stay in the lineup with a first-pitch ambush of Cade Povich that went 397 feet just inside the left field foul pole. The homer went 108.5 mph off the bat. It wasn't the only homer on this night, as Rice launched a three-run shot. It was all part of a second inning that saw all nine Yankees batters come to the plate.
Rice's homer came off the lefty and now has five left-on-left longballs, which is tied with the Astros' Yordan Alvarez for the most in the majors.
-The Yankees added on in the seventh with Amed Rosario coming through with a two-out single to score Judge from second. Aaron Boone could have gone with a lefty off the bench to go up against Orioles right-hander Albert Suarez, but Rosario came through. Rosario, starting at third base, finished 1-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Judge added the Yankees' seventh run with a two-out single in the eighth to score Austin Wells from second. The Yankees captain went 2-for-3 with two walks.
-Bellinger entered Friday's game struggling. He was 2-for-18 over his last five games, but seemed to get back on track on Friday. He finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and a walk.
-Boone changed up the lineup a bit, having Paul Goldschmidt leading off (and starting at first) and dropping Grisham to ninth in the order. Goldschmidt went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run, while Grisham finished 1-for-4 with a run scored.
Game MVP: Ben Rice
While Warren was great, Rice's three-run shot gave Warren breathing room to fill up the zone.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN - MAY 01: Danny Jansen #9 of the Texas Rangers celebrates scoring a run in the third inning while playing the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on May 01, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Detroit Tigers scored four runs.
The Rangers escaped the dank, musty confines of The Shed and immediately started scoring some runs. That included a real first inning, lead-grabbing unicorn with Josh Jung plating the game’s first tally with a two-out RBI single to show that his torrid April was no fluke.
With the early lead, an even rarer unicorn arrived as Danny Jansen homered to kick off a three-run top of the third for the Rangers. Jansen had notably struggled in April but started out May with a solo shot for his second so far with Texas before Jung again singled in a run and Joc Pederson produced a run with a sac fly.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Tigers were pretty eager to score runs too with tonight’s starter MacKenzie Gore burning through a ton of pitches before exiting after just 3.2 fairly ineffective innings.
With Gore struggling to finish off hitters, the infield again had an issue catching a pop up that eventually came back to bite Texas with Detroit putting up a three spot of their own in the bottom of the fourth and then scoring the tying run one inning later.
With the game now tied and the Rangers in danger of wasting a 4-0 lead, Jake Burger and Alejandro Osuna hit back-to-back doubles to bring in the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run.
After Gore exited, the bullpen did a great job once again with Cole Winn, Jalen Beeks, Tyler Alexander, Jakob Junis, and Jacob Latz combining to allow just one run over 5.1 frames with Latz picking up the save.
With the win, the Rangers are back to .500 as the season’s second month gets underway.
Player of the Game: While Jung picked up where he left off in April with two hits and two RBI, plus it was nice to see some production from the bottom of the order with Burger collecting two hits, Osuna hitting the game-winning double, and Jansen homering.
Up Next: The Rangers and Tigers will play the second game of this series with Texas turning to RHP Kumar Rocker opposite RHP Keider Montero for Detroit.
The Saturday evening nationally televised showdown from Comerica Park is scheduled for 6:15 pm CDT and will be aired on FOX.
The indoor setting of Tropicana Field should have been a welcome sight for the Giants, whose arrival in Florida was delayed by a rain-induced doubleheader that could not have gone worse.
An air-conditioned and drama-free affair Friday against the Rays didn’t treat them any better.
There was no risk of being walked off for a third consecutive game as the Giants never held a lead or got on the scoreboard at all, in a 3-0 loss to begin the second leg of their road trip.
Giants pitcher Robbie Ray surrendered solo home runs to Yandy Diaz and Junior Caminero on Friday. Getty Images
Robbie Ray surrendered solo home runs to Yandy Diaz and Junior Caminero, while Shane McClanahan proved to be too much for the Giants’ meager lineup, which didn’t help its cause by erasing one of its six hits on the basepaths and two more via double plays.
The Rays went around the diamond to keep the Giants from scoring with runners at the corners in the fifth with an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play on a sharply hit grounder from Jerar Encarnacion, and Heliot Ramos bounced into another rally killer after Patrick Bailey singled to lead off the sixth.
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The shutout was the Giants’ seventh in their first 32 games, the most in the majors and only four off their total from all of last season. Their 3.25 runs per game are also the fewest in the majors.
What it means
After being walked off twice by the Phillies to seal a three-game sweep, the Giants fell to 0-4 on the road trip. Their fourth loss in a row matched a season-long streak that they had already reached twice before.
Facing one of the toughest southpaws in the sport, the Giants’ struggles against left-handed pitching persisted against McClanahan, who held them scoreless for six innings on only 73 pitches.
San Francisco fell to 2-7 against left-handed starters this season and 19-35 dating back to the start of last year, worse than any team besides the Rockies (9-38).
Who’s hot
Ray hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his seven starts. He limited the Rays to only four hits over 6 1/3 innings, but two of them went over the fence — his second time surrendering more than one home run this season. Aided by the Rays’ contact-happy approach, it was also his second start without issuing a walk and his second-deepest start of the season.
The Giants’ Luis Arraez had a rough day in the field and on the bases Friday. AP
Who’s not
Third base coach Hector Borg made another glaring mistake, giving Luis Arraez the green light to go for three on his ball into the right field corner in the fourth. Rather than a runner on second and one out, the Giants suddenly had nobody on and two away, and went down quietly.
Borg erred late in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader, holding the would-be go-ahead run at third in extra innings despite the ball deflecting off a defender’s glove and into no-man’s land.
Up next
The Giants have stopped each of their past season-long losing streaks from reaching five games. That task will fall on the shoulders of RHP Landen Roupp (5-1, 2.55 ERA), who has allowed only one earned run over his first three starts away from Oracle Park. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 24: Angel Martínez #1 of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates with Rhys Hoskins #8 at home plate after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning during the game between the Cleveland Guardians and the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Friday, April 24, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Colton Hall/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
