Category: MLB

Introduction

For the past couple of years, I have tried to compile lists of individual player milestones that might be reached during the season. Those lists have included Eugenio Suarez successfully reaching 300 career home runs and Torey Lovullo’s elusive attempts to return to a winning record as a manager. I find it fascinating to see how close (or far) players are to certain big, round-number milestones in their career. I love that baseball is one of the most team-focused sports we have, but I still think it’s worth focusing on the individual from time to time so we can remind ourselves of the kinds of individual goals that players may have. As always, these milestones are not comprehensive, are not listed in any particular order, and are primarily centered on milestones that would make for nice headlines. And since the team is only four games (and counting) into the campaign, I thought a check in at the beginning of the year would be an appropriate way to start the year’s column.

Ketel Marte slamming his 200th career home run

Arguably one of the best second basemen in the game and inarguably the team’s leader on and off the field, Marte has been an incredible offensive force over the last three years. In that span, he’s posted a .283/.368/.519 slash line and blasted 89 homers – seven more than he had in the previous eight seasons. That combination puts him at 172 career home runs, good enough for 53rd on the active list – and somewhere in the upper 400s on the all-time list. No matter, reaching 200 career homers would be a nice capstone for Marte as he enters the next phase of his career of his early 30s, and he’s already got one tater on the young season. And there’s more than a few other milestones that are possibly within sight – including Marte moving to the number two spot in the all-time list for the franchise. He’s currently sitting ~6.8 bWAR behind Paul Goldschmidt on that list so a repeat performance of his 2024 campaign would match that perfectly. As long as he isn’t traded, it’s likely more a question of when rather than if he’ll move up that list, but it’s another one I’ll be watching this season.

Nolan Arenado hitting his 2000th career hit

It’s not often that likely Hall of Famers are traded for relative peanuts, but Arenado is not most players. For one, there aren’t very many players who have complete MLB articles detailing their top-10 defensive highlights. And there haven’t been that many players who have managed to stay in the league for 14 plus years either. While Arenado wasn’t brought to the desert for his offensive prowess at this point in his career, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some offensive milestones the longtime veteran could read this season. In my opinion, the biggest one is hitting his 2,000th base hit which he’s very likely to get at some point this season. Even a particularly disappointing offensive performance similar to the one he put up last year when he had just 95 knocks all season would still net him this milestone. As of writing, Arenado’s 1.923 hits places him sixth on the active list for career hits and reaching 2,000 hits would put him in some elite company as just 298 players in all of baseball have ever reached that plateau.

Paul Sewald securing his 100th career save

It’s not a particularly bold statement to point out that the D-Backs have a bullpen problem. We’ve seen that in four out of the first five games as the relief corps nearly blew an eight-run lead last night and struggled to keep a powerful Dodgers lineup down. Amazingly, Sewald has been one of the few bright spots coming out of the pen as he has yet to allow a hit in either of his first two appearances on the young season. That obviously won’t hold for long, but he will still likely play an important part in the bullpen rotation until AJ Puk and Justin Martinez return from their respective injuries. You’d also be forgiven for not realizing that Sewald was so close to this particular milestone as he’s quietly accumulated saves over the last five years since moving to the back end of the bullpen with the Mariners back in 2021. But reaching 100 saves would similarly put Sewald into some relatively rare space: there are only 171 relievers who have hit that milestone since saves became an official statistic nearly 60 years ago. I’ll also go out on limb and assume that if Sewald reaches the milestone this season, the D-Backs will be in pretty good shape as it likely indicates quite a few converted save opportunities before Puk and Martinez make their way back to the team.

C.B. Bucknor is already catching more heat just days into the MLB season. 

The longtime umpire looked foolish yet again on Tuesday after he made a bad call during the Brewers’ 6-2 win over the Rays, when he said Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers missed first base, calling him out after Tampa Bay applied a tag.

The only problem? Bauers very clearly touched the bag, and Bucknor was spotted not even looking at first base when he made the call. 

The managers and players were laughing at CB Bucknor for missing the easiest call of all-time pic.twitter.com/z5aMCbQmrH

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 1, 2026

The call was quickly challenged and overturned, leading the players and managers from both teams to laugh at Bucknor and the broadcasters to mock him on air. 

It all started with Bauers’ at-bat with two outs in the bottom of the sixth when he hit a line drive that Rays second baseman Ben Williamson knocked down before he tried to get the out at first. 

But his throw went wide, allowing Bauers to seemingly reach first without any issue. That was until Bucknor oddly called that the Brewers first baseman didn’t touch the base. 

The play was challenged, and when the Brewers broadcast showed the replay, Bauers could be seen stepping on first while Bucknor was watching the ball, not the runner. 

The broadcast also showed both Brewers manager Pat Murphy and Rays skipper Kevin Cash cackling at how outrageous the initial call was. 

“I think that is a horrendous call. Where is C.B. Bucknor looking?… C.B. Bucknor wasn’t even looking at the play,” Brewers play-by-play broadcaster Jeff Levering said on air. 

Following the overturned call, Bauers stole second base, and Brandon Lockridge doubled to drive him in to give Milwaukee a 5-2 lead. 

Bucknor was left with egg on his face over the weekend when he had six calls overturned by the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) during the Reds-Red Sox game on Saturday. 

Two of those reversed calls came on back-to-back pitches in the same at-bat. 

Bucknor has been a major league umpire since 1996 and is the second-longest-tenured behind Phil Cuzzi.

A regular-season record crowd of 3,207 at Taylor Stadium saw a contest on an afternoon with little cloud cover. For all nine innings, Columbia had enough wind to launch a combined five home runs between the two rivals, four of which were Jayhawks homers over the wall in what was ultimately a Border War defeat for Mizzou. The defeat marked the fifth straight for Kerrick Jackson’s group, all coming on home turf. 

In terms of promotion, Mizzou brought all of the stops. The 2.99 beer and hot dogs, flashy throwback hats for all Missouri students living in residential dorms and the in person appearance of several MU athletes in major revenue sports.

One in particular, Tigers running back Jamal Roberts, who’s 63-yard game-sealing touchdown against the Jayhawks back in September, which fired up the Tiger contingent and the thousands of students who made the rowdy atmosphere.

The same energy wasn’t quite brought on the field. At least not enough for the first three innings for the Tigers, as the Jayhawks took a commanding 6-0 lead, getting to the Tigers’ pitching early. Then, the fourth inning rolled around, and a small spark set gasoline to the eight-run heater that Kerrick Jackson’s offense went on against three total pitchers from Kansas, including two pitching changes to the delight of the sellout crowd. 

THE EIGHT-RUN RALLY

After three innings of two total hits and no runners left in scoring position, a strikeout from the freshman Blaize Ward seemed just to continue the story that was being written. A walk from freshman outfielder Donovan Jordan brought up the freshman catcher Juliomar Campos, who was making his third start of the season. 

Whether it was three games or three months, he’d played, Campos rose to the occasion. A two-run shot over the wall in right-center field gave the Tigers fans something to cheer about for the first time all game long. Little did they know, it was just getting started. 

“We’ve talked about our freshmen, there’s a true freshman there that can step in,” Jackson said. “Mateo (Serna) was sick today, so he wasn’t here. Juliomar does a good job behind the plate. One thing we know about him, he’s gonna swing, and he does strike out a lot, so that’s the gift and the curse of it. He battled during that at-bat, and then you saw what he’s capable of doing, what he can do when he puts the barrel on the ball.”

The gift of the free pass and a pair of singles, in order from Keegan Knutson, Tyler Macon and Kam Durnin gave the Tigers the absolute best case scenario. Kayden Peer, bases juiced, momentum swinger. Peer gave the black and gold, exactly that with his two-run single. 

One batter later, designated hitter Jase Woita was hit by a pitch, and the second pitching change of the evening occurred, and in perfect sync, the Tigers’ PA system played Mr. Brightside, firing up the Mizzou faithful and the dugout in sync. 

That’s the best home crowd I’ve ever seen,” Woita said. “Huge shoutout to them. They showed up, showed out, and totally fired us up that inning. They put pressure on their pitchers to make some pitches and fired us up in the box…I’m getting chills thinking about it right now.”

Post rivalry anthem, the freshman, Blaize Ward, lit up Taylor Stadium as I’ve never seen before, with a bases-clearing, three-run triple. Another Freshman, Donovan Jordan, scored Ward on an RBI double right after, and the once quiet stadium had a highly ruckus atmosphere.

In the moment, Missouri taking an 8-7 lead, despite it being small, could’ve easily been a back-breaker for the Jayhawks. That wasn’t in their plans.

ROUGH START AND ENDING FOR THE TIGERS’ PITCHING 

PJ Green was on the bump for the Tigers to open. Both of his starts this season have come on a Tuesday, both against Missouri rivals Illinois and Kansas.

Kansas started getting to him right away as Cade Baldridge took a 3–1 pitch from PJ Green in the first and sent it out to center for a solo homer. Despite a mound meeting from Drew Dickinson after a walk from Green, another walk and a single from Tyson Owens made it 2–0 Jayhawks in the second. 

In the third, Augusto Mungarrieta got Green again with a 390‑foot shot to right‑center for his ninth homer of the season. Dylan Schlotterback added another run on a fielder’s choice as the inning kept moving, and a pitching change, Jackson Sobel came in after that, and it didn’t slow down the Jayhawks offense. Brady Ballinger opened the fourth by turning on a 3–2 pitch from Sobel and sending it to right‑center for a two‑run homer.

Sam Rosand came in following Sobel and gave the Tigers what they desperately needed. Innings with stability and zeros. Despite one run, not earned, on an RBI single, Rosand had few blemishes throughout his 2.2 innings of work, as did the pitcher who replaced him at the start of the seventh inning, Kadden Drew.

The heartbeat (for Rosand) never goes over, you know, then doesn’t rise, and he just gets out there and just works and works and works and gets things done for us.

The eighth inning very much brought the rocky pastures for Drew after a 1-2-3 seventh, a single, and a balk kickstarted the inning, followed up by an RBI single hit by Jordan Bach, tying the game up at 8, leaving runners on first and second, as Jackson replaced Drew.

One batter later, Kansas flipped any Missouri momentum on its head, on a three-run shot from Tyson Leblanc, that sucked the air out of the stadium. A rocky start and a finish, concluded by the fourth homer of the day, surrendered bye the Tigers staff.

“When you go back, and you look at some of the hits that they got early to start, you get some little slap hits to the middle on the change-up, and some little things here and there,” Jackson said. “Again, at least in that situation, we weren’t necessarily executing pitches where we wanted them to be executed, and they just did a good job of putting the ball in play and giving themselves a chance.”

THE ATMOSPHERE

The stadium felt bigger than a regular Tuesday night. A record crowd for a regular season game thoroughly packed Taylor Stadium to the brim for the second leg of the Border showdown and it left me with the feeling of wanting to see this not just for this game, but more home games in the future.

“Most of the time we don’t have a big crowd here, and so when we’re playing someplace else, we talk about taking the energy that you’re getting from the crowd,” Jackson said. “Whether or not what they’re saying or what they’re doing, you use that energy to fuel you. That helped with our guys today, and being able to get fueled by that energy.”

In the fourth inning, each foul ball, each pitch taken for a ball got a rise and Ward’s bases-clearing triple had the place rocking. Following the three-run inning by the Jayhawks, the bottom of the ninth saw the Tigers put runners on base, starting with a leadoff walk from Peer, who stole second and later, a free pass issued to Cameron Benson.

Donovan Jordan had the chance to be the hero who tied the game for Missouri, with the crowd fully behind him, and ultimately grounded out, giving Kansas the 11-8 victory. The air might have left the building in the eighth, but the ninth certainly didn’t see a deflation of the rivalry atmosphere.

NEXT UP

It’s back to SEC play for Missouri, as they’ll travel to Lexington to clash with the No. 24 Kentucky Wildcats in a 3-game set. As April begins, the Tigers’ chances to pick up conference victories like they were able to do in Knoxville will continue to be on the table.

“If we just play good baseball, I told our guys in our post-game, but out of the 13 games that we lost, there’s not one of those games that I walk away from that game saying, we played really well, and they were just better than us today,” Jackson said. “We have a lot of self-inflicted wounds, and so we have to be able to fix that.”

The first pitch Kodai Senga threw in his first start of the season was a 98 mph fastball. The second pitch from the Mets’ right-hander: Another 98 mph fastball.

In his six-inning outing on Tuesday in St. Louis, Senga's average velocity on the 36 four-seam fastballs he threw was 97.4 mph, which is up 2.7 mph from his average velocity last season. The added speed got him seven whiffs on 23 swings and could be a huge addition to his arsenal.

“Hitters gotta get ready for that type of velocity, and then on top of that, you got so much movement from some of the other pitches, whether it’s the fork ball, the cutter, the slider, he’s got so much that can keep hitters off-balance,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “The velo, that’s a plus there.” 

When’s the last time he had a fastball this good? Senga shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t remember,” he said, speaking through an interpreter, after the Mets’ 3-0 loss to the Cardinals in which the righty struck out nine.

"He was really good today,” Mendoza said of the 33-year-old’s outing.

“From the very first pitch, you saw the velo, and for him to be able to maintain the velocity throughout the outing. Up to 90 pitches and you [still] saw 97 [mph],” Mendoza said.

Senga, who said at spring training that he felt much more physically better entering the season, pointed to being more in control to getting the extra giddy-up on his heater. 

“Just controlling my body,” he said. “Manipulating what I need to manipulate. The mechanics need to work a certain way to get that velo, and I haven’t been able to do that. But this year, and today, I was able to do so.”

For the night, his average fastball velocity never went lower than 97 mph in each of his six innings, and the final pitch he threw was a 98 mph heater at the knees for a called strike three as he struck out the final three batters he faced.

“That first inning, I wasn’t able to manipulate everything as well as I thought, first time back out on a big league mound in a little bit. But other than that, felt pretty good,” Senga said, adding that it took a bit of time for him to get a feel for the “ghost” fork, but it eventually got “better and better” in the later innings. 

The forkball only got six swings on 15 offerings, and not one called strike, but Cardinals hitters whiffed four times, good for the put-away pitch on three strikeouts.

The cutter was his second-most used pitch of the night, and it also saw an uptick (0.9 mph) in average velocity, while getting him his highest called strike plus whiff rate at 38 percent.

“I thought that the cutter was really good,” Mendoza said. “He was pretty good. That’s exciting there.” 

Of course, three batters in the third inning cost him, as he left a few pitches up in the zone, allowing a double and a single on the fastball before Ivan Herrera got a bit of a hanging slider for a two-run double.

“Hindsight is 20/20,” Senga said. “It’s a mixture of pitch selection [and] location, but at the end of the day, giving up the first runs in the game isn’t always a good sign. So that’s something to work out.”

But that was his only blemish of the night as he didn’t allow a hit over his final 12 outs. And the positives far outweighed the negatives, especially when factoring in LuisRobert Jr.’s misplays in center, which accounted for the first hit of the third and allowed a runner to advance into scoring position on an errant throw after the second. 

And from where Senga ended last season – a 6.56 ERA as he allowed 29 runs (26 earned) over 35.2 innings over his final eight starts before being sent to the minors – his performance in the first start of the 2026 campaign represented a positive step. 

“The last time I was out on the mound and in the dugout, I had to be thinking about my body and making sure it’s gonna do what I need it to do, but on the flip side, today, I didn’t have to worry about any of that,” Senga said. “I can face the hitters, and it really felt like I’m a starting pitcher again.”

All of that tracked with what the Mets saw from him during the spring, and that is what the skipper is expecting.

“If he’s healthy, we’re gonna see that a lot,” Mendoza said. “I think a lot of guys saw [the] 2023 [version]. We just gotta make sure that he recovers well, and then that he continues to feel good. Because that was electric there.”

Senga called it a “great start to the year” that had him feeling much more like a pitcher.

“Being out there, and I can start to deduce, ‘What is this hitter thinking? What are they looking for? What’s something that they’re not looking for?’” he said. “Being out there and able to do that, it’s a good feeling. I’m excited.”

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rockies fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

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The 2026 Rockies season is underway and the minor league seasons are just around the corner. The Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes started their season on Friday alongside the Rockies, the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats start on Thursday, and the lower minors will start on Friday.

In a rebuilding season for the major league team, you can often see the health and future of an organization through its minor league system. So my question to you this evening is this: which affiliate are you most eager to watch in 2026?

If you need a refresher of which players are where, you can read Renee Dechert’s and Evan Lang’s write-up from yesterday.

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Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Last season, the Brewers were known for forcing errors and causing chaos in games. If Tuesday is any indication, that’s going to continue in 2026. A pair of strange challenges were the highlight moments in a 6-2 win over the Rays.

Brandon Woodruff got the start tonight, but the Brewers’ first inning troubles continued. It started with a long fly ball from Yandy Díaz that had enough distance, but just hooked foul. Woodruff struck him out, but Jonathan Aranda responded with a home run into the Brewers’ bullpen, and the Brewers started another game behind. Woodruff rebounded with a strikeout of Junior Caminero and fly out from Jake Fraley, but the Brewers were down 1-0.

As for the Rays, starter Shane McClanahan was locked in to begin his first MLB start since 2023. He retired the Brewers in order in the first, striking out William Contreras to punctuate the inning. He allowed his first baserunner in the second when he walked Gary Sánchez, but that was all. He continued to mow through the Brewers’ lineup for the next two innings, not allowing another baserunner.

Woodruff tried to match McClanahan as much as he could. He struck out two batters in a clean second inning. Chandler Simpson created a threat in the third with a leadoff single and steal of second, but Woodruff stranded him there. Caminero singled to give the Rays another leadoff runner in the fourth, but that was it in a scoreless inning.

The Rays added on in the fifth with their second home run of the day, a solo home run by Nick Fortes. That was all Woodruff allowed in the fifth, and it was also the end of his day. The overall line wasn’t too bad — he allowed two runs and four hits in five innings while striking out six. He threw 67 pitches, and his velocity started down but improved as the start went on.

McClanahan entered the fifth with a no-hit bid forming. He had just allowed one walk so far in the game. That would change quickly. Sánchez led off the inning with a walk, then Brandon Lockridge broke up the no-hit bid with a single to left. After Sal Frelick flew out, Joey Ortiz drew a walk to load the bases with two out.

Brice Turang came up to the plate with a chance to cause some damage. He did that with a single to shallow right field, easily scoring both Sánchez and Lockridge. Turang attempted to get to second and was easily caught between bases, but tried to keep a run down going so Ortiz could score. It didn’t appear to work as Turang was tagged out by Mullins covering second, and before Ortiz scored at home. However, the ball popped out of Mullins’ glove as he made the tag, but was ruled as in the process of changing hands. Pat Murphy challenged the call, and on replay it was clear that the ball was not caught cleanly. Turang was ruled safe and Ortiz’s run counted. The end result was a bases-clearing single and two RBI for Turang (the third scored due to the error). The Brewers now had a 3-2 lead.

Turang will save us!

Live on https://t.co/eycfmE2vgmpic.twitter.com/ZWE2rJP36X

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 1, 2026

That ended McClanahan’s day with Cole Sulser coming in to finish the inning. He needed just one pitch as Rengifo grounded to first. McClanahan finished his day with 4 2/3 innings pitched, three runs allowed (two earned), two hits, three walks, and four strikeouts.

Jared Koenig was first out of the bullpen for the sixth inning. He allowed a two-out double to Fraley, but nothing else in a scoreless inning. Meanwhile, Sulser remained in the game for the sixth inning. After outs from Contreras and Yelich to start the inning, the Brewers put together some two-out offense. It started with Sánchez’s second home run of the season, a solo shot that increased the lead to 4-2.

THE SANCHIZE pic.twitter.com/ACvMNmT5jK

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 1, 2026

Bauers was up next. He hit a 2-0 fastball at second baseman Ben Williamson, but he couldn’t cleanly catch the ball. He recovered and tried to throw Bauers out at first, but his throw was wide and Bauers was safe. However, in what can only be described as a ridiculous call, first base umpire CB Bucknor said Bauers did not touch first base and was tagged out. That was a quick challenge from Murphy, and on replay it not only showed Bauers’ foot on the center of first base, but Bucknor wasn’t even looking at first base at that time. The call was reversed and both managers were laughing at that call.

First base umpire CB Bucknor ruled Jake Bauers did not step on first base and was out.

Here are two stills of him stepping on the middle of the base. The call was promptly overturned. pic.twitter.com/WEv9O4UBds

— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) April 1, 2026

That kept the inning going with Lockridge at the plate. Bauers stole second to give Lockridge a runner in scoring position, and Lockridge made it count with an RBI double into the right-center field gap.

🔒 GOAT pic.twitter.com/gyFKQ1bSYJ

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 1, 2026

Frelick kept it going with a ground ball to Williamson that was bobbled, but Ortiz grounded out to short to end the inning.

Grant Anderson took the seventh. The Rays made him work, with Fortes taking 10 pitches before grounding out and then Simpson tripling to the right field corner. Anderson kept them off the board with a strikeout of Williams to end the inning. Meanwhile, Yoendrys Gómez came in for the bottom of the seventh. Turang drew a walk to start the inning and stole second. Gómez followed it up with a strikeout of Rengifo and line out of Contreras, then chose to walk Yelich intentionally. Murphy went to Garrett Mitchell to pinch hit, but Mitchell struck out looking to end the inning.

With a three-run lead, the Brewers went to their setup man as Abner Uribe entered the game. His inning started well enough with fly outs of Díaz and Aranda, but then walked Caminero. Fraley singled to left to bring the tying run to the plate, and pinch-hitter Richie Palacios hit a sharp fly ball down the right field line. Frelick was ready for it as he sprinted to the line and caught it running to end the inning.

The save situation would be rendered moot in the bottom of the inning. Bauers did more damage to the Rays’ pitching staff, hitting his second home run of the season just over the right field wall. That made it a four-run lead at 6-2.

Bauers makes it 6 unanswered runs for the Crew pic.twitter.com/9doysa1JIE

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 1, 2026

Angel Zerpa finished the game for the Brewers. He worked around a two-out walk for a scoreless ninth, securing the Brewers 6-2 win.

Bauers and Lockridge led the offense with two-hit days, each driving in a run as well. Turang’s one hit drove in two runs (and one unearned). Sánchez also brought in a run with his home run, and added two walks as well. Frelick had the other hit for the Brewers’ offense.

The Brewers will play their first rubber match of the season tomorrow afternoon as they go for the series win. The rotation will begin its second time through as Jacob Misiorowski gets the afternoon start. For the Rays, former Brewer Drew Rasmussen will get his second start of the season. First pitch is set for 12:40 p.m., and it will be on Brewers.TV and the Brewers Radio Network.

Classic White Sox defensive miscues across the field, throwing errors and inexperienced outfielders were essentially the difference in this game, as the Miami Marlins rebounded Tuesday to beat the South Siders, 9-2. A fourth-inning rally paired with a few gaffes in the outfield soured Erick Fedde’s season debut, although his final line in the box score doesn’t necessarily tell the full story.

The South Side offense felt in control early in the game, but seemingly stepped off a cliff after the third inning. Miguel Vargas attempted to get something going in the second with a one-out double out to left center, but neither Austin Hays nor Tristan Peters was able to get the job done. No harm, no foul, however, as the offense picked back up in the top of the third with Edgar Quero and Luisangel Acuña ripping consecutive singles up the middle. Chase Meidroth was caught looking on the next at-bat, but the Good Guys took a two-run lead with RBI singles from both Munetaka Murakami and Andrew Benintendi. Mune has now gotten a hit in each of his first five games as a major-leaguer. I think we’re going to like having him around, Sox fans.

Fedde cruised through the first three innings, with his lone baserunner being a walk to Owen Caissie in the bottom of the second. The South Side offense had given him that two-run cushion to work with in the third, but the defense was scattered at best and clueless at worst, easily amplifying any mistakes made.

Xavier Edwards reached on a base hit to start the bottom of the fourth, and the first mishap in the outfield came from a lack of communication from center fielder Luisangel Acuña and right fielder Tristan Peters, with the ball ultimately deflecting off of Peters’ glove to put runners on second and third. Both players were cutting across the field towards each other at full speed, and it seemed like Acuña was ready and able to make the play. That’s Acuña’s ball/call, but instead he allowed Peters to cut in front of him at the last second. It was a silly play from the both of them, and had someone just called the other off it likely would have been an out. The miscommunication led to a two-run double on the next at-bat from Liam Hicks, tying the game at two. So it goes.

Fedde managed to strike out Otto López for the first out of the inning, but back-to-back RBI singles followed, allowing the Marlins to take a two-run lead, 4-2. Both balls were hit out to center, and Acuña wasn’t able to make a throw on-line to the plate, and ended up being charged two errors, one on each throw. The first one unfortunately hit Hicks as he was crossing the plate, but Acuña was given the error as the bad throw allowed Caissie to reach second.

The second error, however, was a bit worse. By worse, I mean nowhere near the plate. The Marlins play-by-play announcer summed it up well enough: “Acuña is having all sorts of problems in center.”

In Acuña’s defense, he’s played all of two regular season games in the outfield before this year, so no, we shouldn’t expect him to be an All-Star overnight. But he certainly has some learning to do.

After that mess, Fedde was able to strike out the next batter and force a fly out to finally get out of the inning. He even returned for a 1-2-3 fifth inning, closing out his season opener on a high note. This was another situation that we probably should be thankful for instant replay. The inning could have gone a whole lot worse had there not been the tiniest amount of evidence that showed Meidroth’s tag barely tipping Edwards on the helmet after attempting to stretch a single into a two-bagger. Crisis averted … for now.

Fedde ended the day with four runs (three earned) given up on six hits across five innings, walking one while striking out four, though he was unfortunately handed the loss. The energy in this game was reminding me more of the 2024 season, where there was little-to-no run support, and a two-run lead felt insurmountable almost instantly. And of course, it was, because the White Sox failed to get a hit after their little rally in the third (their only two other base runners stemmed from walks from Quero and Peters in the fourth and seventh). Miami even struck out the side in the fifth and the ninth.

Not that there was any hitting to show for it, but the South Side bullpen wasn’t doing itself any favors, allowing five more runs (four earned) in the final three innings. Bryan Hudson came in to relieve Fedde, and was solid in the sixth inning, but things got dicey in the bottom of the seventh and Miami added two more runs. One of the runs came from a safety squeeze bunt that Hudson threw home, but Quero wasn’t able to handle it and make the tag. You could probably flip a coin on who to give the error to, but that’s the second time that the Sox reached to tag a player rather than getting more out front to make the tag, and sadly there wasn’t anything to review that time.

Hudson allowed one more on a sacrifice fly on the next batter, and forced Edwards to ground out before being replaced by Jedixson Páez, who was able to get Agustín Ramírez to fly out and end the inning. Páez didn’t fare well in the eighth, however, walking the leadoff batter and giving up a single to put two on almost immediately. One sac fly and a two-run bomb later, and all of a sudden the Marlins had a seven-run lead, 9-2.

It’s been just three outings for Páez, but he’s certainly struggled thus far, giving up his sixth run in three innings pitched. It’s still early in the year, but he’ll need to make some adjustments sooner rather than later to keep his place on the roster this season.

The White Sox have a day game tomorrow down in Florida, and first pitch will take place at 12:10 p.m. CT. Shane Smith will look to bounce back from his rough Opening Day outing, going against veteran righthander Sandy Alcantara, who is coming off an excellent seven-inning start to open the season.

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If you just look at the box score for this game, it won’t tell you much beyond the Cincinnati Reds getting handed a loss by 5 runs from their division rivals from upriver in Pittsburgh. However, there was a level of nuance to how this one shook out that wasn’t quite so objective, and that’s what I’ll try to spell out for you here.

Yes, Brandon Williamson’s first start since September of 2024 could have gone a whole lot better. He gave up back to back longballs at one point, one of the backbreaking 3-run variety in a 5-run Top of the 2nd by the Pirates. However rusty he was, though, is hidden a bit by the fact that he actually stuck around to throw 94 pitches and almost get through 5 IP (4.2) which helped buy manager Terry Francona a bit more time out of his bullpen after it’s been worked hard through the first few games of the year.

The Reds were also technically no-hit through the first four frames by top Pittsburgh prospect Bubba Chandler, who did look excellent for a lot of his outing. However, they had an initial hit by Ke’Bryan Hayes later (correctly) ruled an error, and Chandler did walk 6 (six!) batters in his 4.1 IP, which meant time and time again the Reds came to the plate with ample runners on base and simply couldn’t cash them in early.

Things remained squirrely late, too. After Chandler was chased, Cincinnati put some thunder in their bats for the Pittsburgh bullpen, and both Elly De La Cruz and the inimitable Sal Stewart even went yard back to back to get this game much, much more interesting in the Bottom of the 8th. Eugenio Suarez then singled in what was then a 6-3 game, Bucs manager Don Kelly got tossed for arguing Geno should’ve been called out on strikes on a check-swing, Dane Myers singled to bring the would-be tying run to the plate in Nate Lowe, and Lowe then hit a liner in between 1B and 2B that nearly cleared the infield…only for it to be caught on a dive and turned into an inning-ending double play.

Before I could get my surrender cobra off my head, Pierce Johnson had served up a 2-run homer to Oneil Cruz, and the game was suddenly 8-3. You’d think that’s where the drama had ended, but the Reds still managed to coax the bases loaded in the Bottom of the 9th with Geno at the plate…only for him to strike out to end a game that was seemingly one big swing away from being a whole lot more fun in retrospect.

The Reds will wrap this series on Wednesday with Opening Day starters Andrew Abbott and Paul Skenes on the mound, with first pitch set for 12:40 PM ET. Given how frustrating the first start of the year was for Skenes, methinks the Reds are going to seriously lament that they didn’t find the big hit tonight to clinch this series since that’s a hammer they simply cannot match.

Kodai Senga’s first start of the season went well, but the Mets’ lineup was lifeless as the team lost 3-0 to the lowly Cardinals tonight in St. Louis.

It’s hard to come out of seeing your team get shut out by an unimpressive cast of pitchers, but let’s start with the positive. Senga continued to hit the high-90s with his fastball, and he struck out nine and walked three in six innings of work. Officially, he gave up two earned runs, but even those were not entirely his fault.

Luis Robert Jr. came to the Mets as a sure-thing great defender in center field who’s struggled to stay healthy and was coming off back-to-back disappointing years at the plate. He’s been a hot hitter to start his Mets tenure, but the noteworthy defense in center was notably missing in the bottom of the third tonight. Victor Scott II led off the inning with a well-struck ball to center, but it was one that a good defender should’ve caught.

Instead, Robert Jr. misread it, and Scott wound up on second base with a double as a result. On an ensuing single to center by JJ Wetherholt, Robert Jr. missed the cutoff man as Scott stopped at third, allowing Wetherholt to advance to second unnecessarily. Iván Herrera then doubled to left field to plate both of those runners.

That was effectively when the game ended. Despite the fact that they were facing a starting pitcher who had a 5.31 ERA last year and a bullpen that included Ryne Stanek, the Mets mustered up just three hits in total. Their best chance at scoring came in the top of the sixth, as Juan Soto smoked a double to begin the inning and was followed by Bo Bichette drawing a walk.

But Robert Jr. flew out to center, and Jared Young lined out to shortstop. Bichette didn’t get the best read on that line drive, and he was doubled off first.

Carlos Mendoza opted to turn the game over to Richard Lovelady in the bottom of the seventh, and while you can feel for the person for having been designated for assignment by the same team so many times over the past year, you can’t help but wonder why the Mets have a payroll that far exceeds $300 million but continue to acquire and roster a pitcher like him.

Lovelady served up a solo home run to Ramón Urias to lead off his first frame. If there was a silver lining in this game, it was the fact that Lovelady didn’t give up any more runs and soaked up the eighth inning, too, to keep the rest of the Mets’ bullpen fresh.

And if you’re looking to end this recap on an upbeat note, well, the Mets have a chance to win the series in St. Louis tomorrow at 1:15 PM EDT with Freddy Peralta on the mound. Here’s hoping they can score for him.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue
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Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Juan Soto, +7.2% WPA
Big Mets loser: Jared Young, -17.6% WPA
Mets pitchers: -3.1% WPA
Mets hitters: -46.9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto doubles to start the sixth, +8.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jared Young lines into a double play in the sixth, -15.4% WPA

It’s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in out of the cold. We’ve got a fire going in here. There’s no cover charge. We can check your coat for you. Bring your own beverage.

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

Last night I asked you who will lead the Cubs in home runs this year and I stupidly forgot to include Seiya Suzuki as an option. In any case, 60 percent of you picked Michael Busch. Fourteen percent of you picked “other,” which I assume meant Suzuki.

Here’s the part where we listen to jazz. I don’t normally do movie stuff on Tuesday nights, so just enjoy the tunes.

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Tonight we’re featuring vibraphonist Sasha Berliner at SFJazz this past December. She’s joined by Tristan Cappel on tenor sax and flute, Javier Santiago on keyboards, Giulio Xavier Cetto on bass and the drummer is Myles Martin.

This is “Did You Get It?”

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Welcome back to everyone who skips the music.

The natural position for Matt Shaw is second base. Can he play other positions? Sure. But he’s going to be most valuable at second base.

This is a problem for Shaw and the Cubs now that they have signed Nico Hoerner for the next six years. Hoerner is not moving off of second base. Third base, where Shaw played last year, is occupied by Alex Bregman for the next six years. So unless you think Shaw can be a corner outfielder, the Cubs are looking at keeping Shaw as a utility player until he reaches free agency if they don’t trade him first.

At this time last year, Shaw was a Top 50 prospect in all of baseball. After one year in the majors, he still has some of that top prospect sheen. He was the Cubs starting third baseman last year and while his overall numbers weren’t great, they were much better in the second half after he got adjusted to the majors. His defense at third base was good. Baseball Reference and Fangraphs had very different evaluations of his overall WAR (3.1 on BR and 1.5 on Fangraphs) but even if you go by the lower value, a 23-year-old who was worth a win and a half usually has a promising future.

But it doesn’t look like Shaw has a promising future with the Cubs. They’re trying him out in right field and while there isn’t enough of a sample size to draw any conclusions from the stats, Shaw isn’t passing the eye test out there. Maybe he gets better. But is Shaw’s best value as a corner outfielder?

I would argue that it isn’t. Even if Shaw learns to play a decent outfield, I don’t think he’s going to hit like a corner outfielder hits. Shaw profiles as an above-average hitter as a second baseman. I think he’s a below-average hitter as a left or right fielder.

So the answer appears to be to trade Shaw. However, the Cubs had a major weakness last season: their bench. Shaw is a huge upgrade over Jon Berti, Vidal Bruján and everyone else whom the Cubs used as a backup infielder last season. Even Willi Castro, who turned into a pumpkin right after the trade deadline.

So it would seem that the Cubs could really use Shaw this year to shore up their bench. The problem with that is that the longer Shaw plays as a utility player, the less his value on the trade market gets. Sure, some top 50 prospects end up as utility infielders (Iowa Cub Scott Kingery is one), but if another team thinks that Shaw can be their starting second baseman for the next five years, maybe it’s better to trade him now, even if the Cubs have to accept 75 cents on the dollar for him.

So how urgent is the need to trade Matt Shaw? Should the Cubs try to get a deal done as soon as possible, or should they wait until the offseason? That way the Cubs would have Shaw ready to step in for any injuries during the season and there might be a bigger market in the winter. On the other hand, there might be teams looking to dump players who are approaching free agency whom the Cubs could get for Shaw now who would not be available in the winter. No, I don’t think the Tigers are trading Tarik Skubal unless they completely fall out of playoff contention, but there might be other quality players whom teams would deal for Shaw.

Or maybe you think the Cubs should keep Shaw for next season. Maybe you think he can hit and field well enough to be a quality corner outfielder. Maybe you just want to keep him around as a utility super-sub.

If you think the Cubs should trade Shaw as soon as possible, just vote “by the trade deadline.” Most teams aren’t willing to make deals before June, but you never know when a team might suffer an injury that Shaw be the answer for.

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We’ve enjoyed hosting you. Please get home safely. Tell your friends about us. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.

Last night, with the series opener, the Colorado Rockies soundly defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in a 14-5 onslaught. In Game 2, the Rockies hit some bad luck and (again) couldn’t seem to get the offense working (again). Add to that a seventh inning that put the Rockies on the back foot.

They ended up ceding the second game to the Blue Jays, 5-1.

More bad luck for Ryan Feltner

The game was fairly uneventful — a bit of a pitchers’ duel between Ryan Feltner and Max Scherzer — until the bottom of the third inning when Feltner was injured on a 106 mph comebacker from Andrés Giménez.

The injury was diagnosed as a “right glute contusion.”

After finishing the inning, he was removed from the game.

Before his exit, Felter looked excellent. He left the game with 3.0 IP, giving up one hit and striking out four on 47 pitches. Given Feltner’s history of injuries in 2025, any potential derailment of his season is reason for concern.

Although there was some traffic on the base paths, the game remained scoreless through four innings.

Manager Warren Schaeffer said of Feltner after the game, “I think we avoided something bad there” since Feltner’s hip tightened up after the contact and prevented him from re-entering the game.

According to Feltner, his hip “just stiffened up,” and he expects to make his next start.

The bullpen takes over

Juan Mejia entered in the fourth. He gave up hits to Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto before pulling off this nifty double play.

However, Mejia was not so fortunate in the fifth where he loaded the bases before handing the ball over to Jaden Hill, who promptly game up an RBI single to Jesús Sánchez, making the score 1-0 Blue Jays.

He then walked Guerrero Jr with the bases loaded, making the score 2-0 Blue Jays. Following that, Hill struck out Okamoto and Lukes with the bases loaded.

In addition, the Blue Jays had used both of their challenges by the end of the fifth inning.

Hunter Goodman enters the chat

The Rockies certainly had their chances early in this game, courtesy of singles from T.J. Rumfield and Brenton Doyle, but neither were able to score.

That all changed in the sixth when the Rockies got on the board after Hunter Goodman hit his first home run of the season, a gorgeous second-decker (435 ft, 110.9 mph).

Scherzer’s evening was done after tossing 6.0 innings. He allowed four hits and one run (earned), walking one and striking out four and the Blue Jays leading 2-1.

Rumfield led off the seventh with a single (sensing a theme here) and made it to second on a wild pitch before being picked off at second and ending the inning.

Blue Jays feather their nest in the seventh

Zach Agnos came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and gave up three singles that led to the Blue Jays taking a 3-1 lead on a Okamoto RBI. Nathan Lukes followed that with another RBI single, and the score was 4-1 Blue Jays. Ernie Clement followed that with a double, and it was 5-1.

Signs of life late, but it’s not enough

With two outs, Jake McCarthy hit a double in the eighth inning, but, again, the Rockies were unable to bring him home.

Old friend Jeff Hoffman entered to close the game, and surrendered a single to Ezequiel Tovar, but, once again, the Rockies were unable to capitalize.

Final score: Blue Jays 5, Rockies 1

Notable numbers

The Rockies finished the evening with one run on seven hits. They walked once and struck out six times (a notable improvement from last season). They were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base.

In addition, it was a long night for the bullpen:

• Mejia: 1.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs (earned), 1 BB, 0 K
• Hill: 0.2 IP, 1 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB, 2 K
• Bernadino: 1.0 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 BB, 1 K
• Agnos: 2.0 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 BB, 3 K

“I’m extremely proud of our ‘pen,” Schaeffer said. “We’ve asked a lot of them this season.”

Looking ahead

Join us tomorrow at 11:07 am when the Rockies will win their series against the Blue Jays. They will need length from starting pitcher Kyle Freeland given the usage of the bullpen tonight.

See you then.

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Andre Pallante pitched 5 strong innings and received offensive support from Ivan Herrera, JJ Wetherholt and Ramón Urías as the St. Louis Cardinals shutout the New York Mets 3-0 at Busch Stadium Tuesday night.

It’s hard to overstate how good Andre Pallante looked as his pitches were down with great movement as he only allowed 3 hits over 5 innings. Kodai Senga was impressive for the Mets, but the Cardinals got all the runs they needed in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Ivan Herrera found his swing and drove in JJ Wetherholt and Victor Scott II who both had 2 hits Tuesday night.

The Cardinals had a few defensive gems, too, with Masyn Winn helping Pallante get out of a 5th inning jam when the Mets had runners on 1st and 3rd with only one out when he was able to double up the Mets when he snagged a line drive and rifled the ball back to first.

The Cardinals added an insurance run in the bottom of the 7th when Ramón Urías crushed a 403 foot home run into the left field stands.

The St. Louis Cardinals bullpen was solid tonight as Andre Pallante was supported by Gordon Graceffo who was just called up from Memphis in place of Matt Pushard who was sent to the IL. Ryan Stanek and JoJo Romero kept the Mets off the scoreboard and Riley O’Brien closed out the game in the 9th. The Cardinals are now 3-2 on the season and will try to take the series against the Mets in a Wednesday afternoon game at Busch Stadium starting at 12:15pm . Matthew Liberatore is expected to get his second start of the season while Freddy Peralta is expected to take the mound for the Mets.

It has been a long time since we’ve seen a start from Shane McClanahan. Since August 2, 2023, in fact. But the former All-Star has dealt with bad hand after bad hand in terms of injury, and his path back to the majors hasn’t been an easy one. Tonight, all eyes were on the mound as McClanahan made his triumphant return to the bump, and everyone wanted to see if he still had the same goods he once did. Meanwhile, much has been made of the Brewers’ offseat efforts to bolster their rotation, potentially at the hindrance of other positions (Gary Sanchez taking reps at first? What is this, Moneyball?) It would be an interesting outing to test McClanahan’s mettle. The Brewers, meanwhile, had Brandon Woodruff, who was reliable and efficient in 12 games for the Brewers last year after also missing the enitre 2024 season due to injury.

The Rays wasted little time getting on the board, as Jonathan Aranda hit a one-out home run.

Aranda wastes NO time pic.twitter.com/aSIPaFAWIT

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) March 31, 2026

The ABS system then turned around and bit the Rays a little as catcher William Contreras challenged a call and it was overturned, ultimately resulting in Junior Caminero striking out. The Rays would need to settle for the one run as they turned things over to McClanahan and his big moment. Shane didn’t miss a beat, looking like he’d never left his role as an All-Star starter, someone the Rays believed in enough to let him debut in the postseason. He took the Brewers out in order in the home half.

Waited 972 days for this pic.twitter.com/aBZIJDin7N

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 1, 2026

In the top of the second the Rays went 1-2-3. Heading into the bottom of the inning, McClanahan had his first wobble, giving up a one-out walk to Gary Sanchez. He got right back in the swing of it, though, getting the next two outs to end the inning.

Heading into the top of the third, Chandler Simpson challenged a strike call and lost, but then singled to get on base anyway. With one out, Simpson stole second, but two outs followed to leave the baserunner stranded. Nice to see Simpson already in midseason form with the basepath hustle, though. Bottom of the third and the Brewers once again went three-up, three-down.

After nearly putting two Brewers players into the dugout chasing down a high pop-up in foul territory, Caminero hit a single to kick off the fourth. RIP Junior Caminero’s bat. Alas, three outs then followed, once again leaving a baserunner stranded. Thankfully, McClanahan continued to show excellent command in the bottom of the fourth, getting through the Brewers in order.

Nick Fortes decided to lend his starting pitcher a hand in the top of the fifth with a leadoff home run to put the Rays up 2-0. Three outs followed, but we love a man who recognizes the necessity of insurance runs.

That was LOUD and clear pic.twitter.com/kONZBiIG85

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 1, 2026

In the bottom of the fourth, Gary Sanchez took a leadoff walk, his second walk of the night. With one out, Brandon Lockridge singled, and from that point, McClanahan kind of lost his mojo. Joey Ortiz walked, and then Brice Turang singled. Gary Sanchez got home, but Turang had been caught in a rundown and there was some contention over whether or not Turang actually got tagged out at second. After a review, it was ruled that Turang was safe at second keeping the inning going and probably taking three years off Kevin Cash’s life. The Rays all had to return to the field because everyone had assumed it was an out. The safe call also meant that a run across home by Ortiz after the tagout was now a scoring run, putting the Brewers in the lead. McClanahan’s night was also done. His final line was 4 2/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER (Ortiz was counted as an error to Cedric Mullins), 3 BB, 4 K on 79 innings. Not how you’d like to see a really solid start from McClanahan end, but overall there was plenty to like from his return. Cole Sulser came out of the pen to get the final out of the inning.

Woodruff’s night was also done after five innings, as Jared Koenig came out of the Brewers’ pen. Jake Fraley got a two-out single, but the Rays couldn’t capitalize on the baserunner once again. Things just got worse in the bottom of the inning as Gary “Still Not a Good First Base Choice” Sanchez hit a solo home run to center to extend the Brewers’ lead to 4-2. Jake Bauers then singled, and stole second. Lockridge hit a long double to score Bauers. Sal Frelick singled to put runners on the corners. Sulser did finally manage to get out of the inning but the Brewers were up 5-2.

Grant Anderson was in next for the Brewers in the seventh. With two outs, Simpson legged out a strong triple, but it wasn’t enough to give the Rays the edge, as a strikeout then ended the inning. In the home half, Yoendrys Gómez came in and gave up a leadoff walk to Turang. Turang then stole second. Gomez got two outs then intentionally walked Christian Yelich. Despite an attempt from the Brewers to challenge a stike call, the call on the field was upheld to strike out a pinch-hitting Garrett Mitchell and end the inning. No additional damage done despite having two runners aboard.

Abner Uribe came in for the Brewers in the top of the eighth. He gave up a two-out walk to Caminero. Fraley then singled to put runners on the corners. The Rays brought in Richie Palacios to pinch-hit, and he pinch flied-out instead. Things didn’t get much better in the home half when Jake Bauers hit a leadoff home run. Three outs followed, but the damage was really done by that point.

Angel Zerpa was the next Brewers pitcher up in the ninth, hoping to finish things off. He got the first two outs, but a pinch-hitting Ryan Vilade got a walk. It wasn’t enough for the Rays to stage a comeback, though, and the final out came around to end the inning.

Final: Brewers 6, Rays 2

Kodai Senga struck out nine batters while throwing a hard fastball, but the Mets managed just three hits in a 3-0 loss to the Cardinals on Tuesday night in St. Louis.

New York (3-2) batters did manage four walks, but left six men on base and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. St. Louis (3-2) faired slightly better with six hits and four walks but was held to 2-for-11 with RISP and left seven on base.

Here are the takeaways...

- Senga burned in 98 mph fastballs with his first two pitches of the game, a big jump from last season when his average heater clocked in at 94.7 mph. Senga got into some trouble with a leadoff single and walk sandwiching a strikeout on the "ghost" fork, but avoided any damage as he deftly fielded his position on MasynWinn’s bunt attempt and made a funky-but-on-target throw to third.

There were more heaters in the second, as Senga blew 99 mph fastballs past Jordan Walker and Nathan Church and a 98 mph one past Ramon Urias to strikeout the side on 13 pitches.

A couple of mistakes from Luis Robert Jr. put Senga in a pickle in the third. The centerfielder misjudged a liner for a double over his head, and on JJ Wetherholt’s sharp single, threw all the way home, and two were in scoring position. The extra base proved costly as Iván Herrera smoked a hanging slider (107.4 mph) for a two-run double off the wall in left.

After an eight-pitch 1-2-3 fourth with another strikeout, Senga issued back-to-back two-out walks, the first involved Herrera winning two challenges on balls well out of the zone that umpire Hunter Wendelstedt called strikes. Pinching coach Justin Willard's visit worked as he notched a scoreless, 26-pitch frame.

Senga closed his account by striking out the side, two swinging and one looking. His final line: 6.0 innings, two runs on four hits and three walks with nine strikeouts on 92 pitches (56 strikes). He got 16 whiffs on 46 swings and posted a 28.3 called strike plus whiff rate. For the night, he averaged 97.4 mph on his 36 fastballs (up 2.7 mph from last season), and that velocity stayed consistent through the night, with his last pitch being a 98 mph heater.

- Juan Soto ripped a 3-2 pitch into center for a single with one down in the first (110.8 mph off the bat), and started the sixth by smashing a low fastball off the wall in right for a double (109.3 mph) against Cards’ starter Andre Pallante. He went down swinging in the eighth to finish 2-for-4.

- Robert Jr., looking to atone for his defensive miscues, hit the ball hard with runners on first and second and nobody out in the sixth against reliever GordonGraceffo, but it went for a 374-foot out to center. He finished 0-for-3 with a walk.

- Jared Young had an RBI chance in his first at-bat with runners on first and second and two outs in the first, but he struck out swinging on three pitches. After singling up the middle with one out in the fourth, he got another RBI chance with runners on the corners in the sixth, but his soft liner turned into an inning-ending double play as Bo Bichette was cut down at first on a strong throw from Winn. He finished 1-for-4.

- Francisco Lindor worked his sixth walk of the young season with one out in the third but finished 0-for-3 with three groundouts.

- Bichette, with a runner on second, grounded out to third on a 3-0 hack to end the third. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and has started the year 2-for-22.

- Marcus Semien went down swinging on a slider in the dirt in his first at-bat. He finished 0-for-2 with a walk, as he’s struggled at the plate to start the year (2-for-16).

- Carson Benge, who had two hits on Monday, grounded out to short in each of his first two times and struck out swinging to finish 0-for-3.

- Luis Torrens made his first impact behind the plate with an apt challenge leading to a strikeout to start the bottom of the second. He went down swinging his first at-bat and drove one to the gap in left center, but Church ran it down. Torrens finished 0-for-2 as Francisco Alvarez pinch-hit for him in the seventh and flied out to the warning track in right-center to end the inning. Alvarez is now 0-for-27 as a pinch-hitter in his career.

- Mark Vientos made his first start of the season as the DH after getting just one at-bat in the first four games and went 0-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter to start the seventh, with Brett Baty grounding out to first in his spot against ex-Met Ryne Stanek. Baty bounced out to end the game, going 0-for-2.

- Richard Lovelady allowed a home run to Ramon Urias on a sweeper to start the seventh. A single and one-out intentional walk put two more on, but he escaped without any further damage, thanks to Young making a great diving stop on a smashed ball down the first base line that would've gone for extra bases. Lovelady, pitching for the third time in four days, added a 1-2-3 eighth with a second strikeout of the night.

Highlights

Kodai Senga strikes out the side on 99, 99, and 98 MPH fastballs! ⛽ pic.twitter.com/Ox1N9d50OX

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026

A leadoff double for Juan Soto 💪 pic.twitter.com/IA82zuAqNB

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026

Kodai Senga strikes out the side in the 6th!

He has nine strikeouts on the night pic.twitter.com/6ntpXqpKq5

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026

Jared Young saves extra bases with a diving stop! pic.twitter.com/M7q647nmfz

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026

What's next

The Mets look to grab the series in Wednesday's matinee with Freddy Peralta making his second start against Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore in the 1:15 p.m. start on SNY.

The Cubs have released a ton of players over the weekend as they clear the rosters and we prepare for the start of the rest of the minor league season. I hope I’m getting all of them here.

RHP Tyler Beede

RHP Walker Powell

RHP Ben Heller

RHP Dominic Hambley

RHP Joel Sierra

RHP Ronny Lopez

RHP Sam Thoresen

RHP Nick Hull

RHP Edward Castillo

LHP Chase Watkins

OF Parker Chavers

SS Christopher Paciolla

SS Jaylen Palmer

3B Albert Gutierrez

There were also a few players released who never made it out of the Dominican Summer League, RHP Johansel Javier and LHP Darlin Ventura.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were hit over the head by the Louisville Bats (Reds), 8-7.

For only the third time in his career, Riley Martin got the start tonight. Martin pitched well, allowing just one run on three hits over three innings. He struck out three and walked two. The one run came on a solo home run by JJ Bleday, as the ball was flying out of Louisville Slugger Field. Somewhat appropriately.

Vince Velazquez threw the next three innings and he got knocked around for four runs, three earned, on two hits over three innings. Velazquez walked three, struck out two and gave up a solo home run.

Collin Snider came in to get the final out of the eighth inning and he did that, striking out Garrett Hampson. But after the Cubs took a 7-5 lead in the top of the ninth, Snider got rocked in the bottom of the ninth. He allowed a two-run home run to Edwin Arroyo and a walk-off solo home run to Rece Hinds.

The final line on Snider was three runs on three hits over two-thirds of an inning. He struck out two

Third baseman Hayden Cantrelle hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth to give Iowa a temporary lead. Cantrelle went 3 for 4 with a double, the home run and three total RBI. Cantrelle also stole two bases. He scored twice.

Left fielder Justin Dean led off the top of the first inning with a home run to put Iowa up early. Dean went 1 for 3 with two walks.

Later in the first inning, right fielder Kevin Alcántara hit a solo home run, his second on the young season. Alcántara went 2 for 4 with a double and the homer. He scored twice.

Center fielder Chas McCormick was 2 for 4 with a run batted in.

Catcher Christian Bethancourt went 2 for 4 with a double. He scored on Cantrelle’s home run in the top of the ninth.

Here’s Dean’s home run to lead off the game.

Justin Dean with our first leadoff homer of the season!🚀 pic.twitter.com/TDluN70ZmH

— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) March 31, 2026

The Jaguar’s solo shot.

Kevin Alcantara has his 2nd HR of the season. He hit it 103.3 mph, and raised his OPS to 1.185 on the season. pic.twitter.com/zogKldvlmh

— Carson Wolf (@TheWrigleyWire) March 31, 2026

RBI double for Cantrelle.

Cantrelle ties the game at 5-5 in the seventh! pic.twitter.com/3Fcndbw02H

— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 1, 2026

Cantrelle’s go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth.

HAYDEN CANTRELLE! We take a 7-5 lead in the 9th on a two-run, go-ahead homer from Hayden! pic.twitter.com/jyih2PPsss

— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 1, 2026