Category: MLB

It’s been a tough weekend for the Yankees. We were firsthand witnesses to just how overpowering Jacob Misiorowski can be on Friday, and yesterday was one of those annoying extra innings games on the road that the club just hasn’t been able to handle since the Manfred Man rule change. They’ve got one chance to salvage a game in this series before heading to Baltimore, and they’ll turn to Carlos Rodón to help make it happen.

The lefthander has completed his rehab assignment, and will make his season debut on the road in Wisconsin. Rodón made more starts than anyone in baseball last year, not exactly something he had a reputation for doing, but a month into the year is now expected to deliver high-impact results more than pure workhorse behavior. In his final rehab start with Triple-A Scranton on Tuesday, he delivered 83 pitches and 6.1 innings, and the Yankees would likely be thrilled with a repeat performance. Don’t expect him to get above 90 tosses, but if he can balance that with some length, that would go a long way to the club’s confidence in him going forward.

The Brewers counter with Logan Henderson, who may end up a tough nut to crack despite a 4.50 ERA. The righty has yet to allow a home run, and a wicked 33.3 percent K-BB rate indicates the Yankees can’t expect an easier opposing starter than anything they’ve seen all weekend. If Carlos looks like his 2026 self, we very well may see a dynamite pitcher’s duel to close this series.

As expected, J.C. Escarra gets the start behind the plate spelling Austin Wells. Facing the righthanded Henderson, Ryan McMahon also takes over for Amed Rosario at the hot corner. The top four in the lineup remain unchanged from yesterday’s loss.

How to Watch:

Location: American Family Field — Milwaukee, WI

First Pitch: 2:10 pm EDT

TV broadcast: YES (NYY) | Brewers.TV (MIL)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | WTMJ 620 (MIL)

Online stream: Gotham Sports App, MLB Network (out-of-market)

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Happy Mother’s Day! 16 years ago yesterday, former Athletics pitcher and current television broadcaster Dallas Braden threw his historic perfect game on Mother’s Day. Today, the Athletics look to have more success on this annual occasion by finishing the road trip with a victory and completing a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.

Right-hander Luis Severino will start the A’s 40th game of the season. He enters his ninth start with a 2-3 record, a 4.15 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 43.1 innings pitched. Severino was tagged with the loss in his last start against the Philadelphia Phillies, despite surrendering only one run in five innings of work. The A’s bullpen later imploded, turning a tight game into a dominant Phillies victory. The 32-year-old aims to continue his strong run of form this morning. Severino is surely happy to get another start on the road as he has performed much better away from Sacramento during his tenure with this team.

The A’s lineup today shakes out like this:

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay is sticking with the same starting nine that has helped his club win three in a row. Shea Langeliers is catching for the third straight game, a decision likely tied to the A’s having a day off tomorrow. Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom and shortstop Jacob Wilson need bounce-back performances after each went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts yesterday. In Wilson’s case, it was the notoriously difficult-to-strikeout hitter’s first three-strikeout game in the majors. However, he has been chasing more pitches outside the strike zone this season, so a game like that could be what he needs to start showing more patience and discipline at the plate.

This lineup could soon be joined by minor-league prospect Henry Bolte, who is absolutely raking at Triple-A Las Vegas. After going a remarkable 12-for-12 with two home runs in each of his last two games, the young outfielder has firmly entered the conversation for his first MLB call-up. The problem is that the A’s have an outfield logjam at the moment. Outfielder Lawrence Butler is struggling offensively, but it is unlikely the A’s would send a player they recently extended to Triple-A. With Zack Gelof proving capable of handling third base, the team could instead option fellow third baseman Brett Harris to the minors to make room for Bolte.

Today’s lineup will be seeing an opener. Left-hander Keegan Akin will pitch the first inning or two for Baltimore. Then, scheduled starter Chris Bassitt will pitch the next several innings. The veteran right-hander, who spent six seasons with the A’s from 2015 to 2021, signed a one-year deal with the Orioles this past offseason.

Bassitt has not gotten off to a strong start with his new team. Through seven starts, he is 2-2 with a 5.91 ERA and a 1.91 WHIP. In his last outing against the Miami Marlins, he allowed four runs on six hits over four innings. Today, the Orioles will count on Bassitt to pitch better against his former team as they try to avoid a home sweep. Hopefully, the A’s can take advantage of a pitcher who has a well-documented history of success, yet is off to a tough start this season.

And Baltimore’s lineup:

The A’s pitching staff has mostly limited Baltimore’s offense through the first two games of this series. Now it is up to Severino to finish the job.

A road sweep would mean a happy flight home. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:

Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, A’s Cast

Chicago Cubs @ Texas Rangers

Sunday, May 10, 2026, 1:35 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

The Shed

RHP Jameson Taillon vs. RHP Jacob deGrom

Go Rangers!

The Orioles season is once again in danger of spiraling out of control, sinking close to a point beyond which one cannot reasonably hope that they will revive their fortunes even if they improved their play. Last year’s Orioles did manage that revival, of sorts, since they ended up being just about .500 under interim manager Tony Mansolino. The 2026 Orioles have won two games more than the 2025 team did through the same number of games. That’s probably not enough to make good things happen this year.

All that we can do as fans is wonder what in the world is going on. The problems are apparent almost on a daily basis. Solutions are not so easily found. If it was simple, they surely would have figured it out already. Nothing is simple in baseball! The best teams just make it look that way sometimes.

The result of all of this is that the Orioles enter this Mother’s Day game looking to avoid being swept by the Athletics. The Athletics! They’re one of the many teams muddling along around .500 this year. For a little while, the Orioles were one of those teams. Over the last week and a half or so, they’ve fallen out. It sucks.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms of Birdland.

Orioles lineup

1. Gunnar Henderson – SS
2. Taylor Ward – LF
3. Adley Rutschman – DH
4. Pete Alonso – 1B
5. Samuel Basallo – C
6. Leody Taveras – CF
7. Dylan Beavers – RF
8. Weston Wilson – 3B
9. Blaze Alexander – 2B

The Orioles changed things up on the morning of this game by deciding to employ Keegan Akin as an opener ahead of Chris Bassitt in a bulk innings role. Neither one of these pitchers has been good in their outings so far this season.

Athletics lineup

1. Nick Kurtz – 1B
2. Shea Langeliers – C
3. Brent Rooker – DH
4. Tyler Soderstrom – LF
5. Jacob Wilson – SS
6. Carlos Cortes – RF
7. Lawrence Butler – CF
8. Nick Gelof – 3B
9. Jeff McNeil – 2B

Sacramento’s starter is Luis Severino. At least he’s not left-handed.

Passing the quarter post on the racetrack of the season.

And Addison Barger, is out of the lineup with a ‘sore elbow’. That was an amazing throw, but maybe not the best move in his first day back.

Addison was to lead off today, but now it is Ernie Clement. I’m a fan of lead off men who will take walk when offered. But maybe he’ll get on four times and score each time.

And Tyler Heineman has apparently, been let out of the doghouse. Brandon Valenzuela homered yesterday. I guess it is a day game after an afternoon game?

GO JAYS GO!

First Chuck: 12:40 PM CDT (new anthem each week!)

The Tube: Twins.TV

The Dial: Treasure Island Baseball Network

Spies ‘R Us: Covering The Corner

If everything has gone to plan, I will have arrived back in Minneapolis last night from my Washington, D.C. jaunt. I’m sure I’ll have some pics/stories in a later post, but for today: a book club recommendation.

Unhittable by Rob Friedman.

Any baseball fan plugged into the National Pastime in the current age gets a sense that the pitchers are way ahead of the hitters. Batting average is down, contact is down, and strikeouts are up. In Unhittable, Friedman (of PitchingNinja fame) provides some great context for why/how this came to be and what exactly pitchers are doing to refine their movements and arsenals so perfectly.

There are basically two trains of thought that run through Unhittable:

First is Friedman’s in-depth explanation of the various technological and analytical tools that pitchers currently use to maximize velocity, perfect their delivery, sequence their pitches, and all the while try to keep their golden appendages healthy. Friedman cites programs like Driveline and technology like Edgertronic cameras, Rhapsodo, Trackman, & Trajekt (among many others) that are being used to dig into the fine details of why the ball moves like it does and how to repeat that over and over again. Though perhaps slightly over the head of even a dedicated baseball fan like me from a technical perspective, all these concepts are fascinating. Friedman even goes so far as to delve into physics concepts like seam-shifted wake and pitch tunneling. He makes a compelling case that pitchers in the modern era are as much scientists as artists.

A second thread running through Unhittable is the historical context. Friedman essentially starts by explaining how pitching used to be coached/taught on “feel” and abstract concepts. Building the body or strengthening the arm via weight training was even discouraged. But then hurlers like Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan (using the then-unorthodox methods of pitching guru Tom House) broke the mold by showing how conditioning & deep analysis could extend both velocities and careers. The advent of full-capture stadium cameras in the 2010s spurred this on even further, with pitchers like Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes representing a new wave who are actively studying all aspects of their craft in ways previously unimaginable. The really strong writing here is a welcome break from the more technical aspects of the narrative.

Yes, there is a significant chapter devoted almost solely to Trevor Bauer. This will immediately turn some readers off, but I hope it doesn’t. For all of Bauer’s personality and off-field foibles, his story absolutely deserves (needs, really) to be recounted here. He truly was on the cutting edge of pitching analytics and in some senses paid a price for being first through the gate (a lot of criticism and scorn). Not that anyone is really feeling sorry for Bauer the individual at this point, but I’m glad he wasn’t excluded entirely from this story.

Overall, I found Unhittable to be a fascinating explanation of why pitchers continue to dominate batters in Major League Baseball. In one of the only major sports where the defense controls the ball, pitchers have the ability to always be a step ahead of their offensive counterparts–and that is exactly what is happening at the moment.

The Cleveland Guardians have established a pitching pipeline nearly second to none in MLB over the last decade or so. But let’s hope the Minnesota Twins can scratch out a few safeties and maybe dent the big Progressive Field wall a few times this early-afternoon.

Click here for Lineups!

TODAY’S GAME: The Houston Astros (16-24) and Cincinnati Reds (21-19) play the final game of a three-game series this afternoon at Great American Ball Park with first pitch scheduled for 12:40 p.m. CT.

RHP Kai-Wei Teng (1-2, 2.35 ERA) will be on the mound for the Astros, opposite LHP Andrew Abbott (1-2, 5.13 ERA) and the Reds.

ABOUT TENG: RHP Kai-Wei Teng makes his second start of the season today after spending a majority of the season in the Astros bullpen.

In his 13 relief appearances, he’s gone 1-1 with 1.80 ERA (4ER/20IP).

Tough To Hit: Teng has posted a .183 opponent batting average, allowing 15 hits in his 23.0 IP.

Last App: Allowed one hit and struck out two in two scoreless innings on May 4 vs. LAD.

Last Start: Allowed two runs on five hits with two strikeouts in three innings on April 28 at BAL.

Fun Facts: With his first Major League win on Aug. 8, 2025 vs. WAS, Teng became the 8th Taiwanese-born pitcher in MLB history to earn a victory. Teng is also the second Taiwanese-born player to play for the Astros, joining RHP Chien Jen-Lo (2013).

VS. THE REDS: The Astros have faced the Reds 859 times in their history, their most games played against any other Major League franchise, going 404-454-1 in the all-time series.

The Astros went 2-1 against the Reds in 2025 at Daikin Park. On Friday night, the Astros secured the first win at Great American Ball Park since Sept. 9, 2012.

NO. 600: IF Isaac Paredes played in his 600th career game on Friday night at CIN. He became the 14th Mexican-born player to reach this milestone, joining players like IF Vinny Castilla, IF Hector Torres and C Alex Treviño.

THE ORDER: The Astros have used 40 different batting orders in their 40 games so far this season. Only LF Yordan Alvarez has started every game in the same spot in the lineup (second).

YESTERDAY’S WAIVER CLAIM: The Astros claimed OF Rhylan Thomas off waivers from the Seattle Mariners and optioned him to Triple A Sugar Land. To make room for Thomas on the 40-man roster, the Astros transferred RHP Hunter Brown to the 60-day IL.

ON THE MEND: LHP Josh Hader allowed one hit and struck out two in one scoreless inning last night in a rehab appearance with Triple A Sugar Land. He has tossed two scoreless innings in his two rehab appearances this season.

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 1992 – Jeff Bagwell homers in the pinch in the top of the 8th to tie the Astros with the Pirates, 4-4. Two innings later, Bagwell hits the game-winner, a two-run shot in the top of the 11th. This marked the first time in club history for a player to homer twice in a game after entering as a pinch-hitter.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Sunday, May 10, 12:40 p.m. CT

Location: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, OH

TV: Space City Home Network

Streaming: SCHN+

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

The Cincinnati Reds, believe it or not, have a chance to win a series on Sunday in Great American Ball Park. After stumbling their way through one of the more painful losing streaks in recent memory, they finally found their way back into the win column on Saturday, and on Sundy they’ll send a 2025 All Star to the mound to help them wrap things.

Of course, it’s been a far different 2026 for lefty Andrew Abbott than 2025. Still, he’s potentially begun to maybe perhaps round back into form, and he’ll take his talents up against a Houston club that has posted a collective 111 wRC+ against southpaws so far this season. Gulp!

The Reds, meanwhile, are finally shuffling up their lineup a bit. Will Benson has posted a 1.042 OPS over his last 9 games and will slot in atop the order today, with Spencer Steer – who owns an .843 OPS over his last 125 PA dating back to April 3rd – is moving up to the #2 spot in the order.

First pitch is set for 1:40 PM ET. Lineups for both clubs are listed below.

Yankees right-hander Luis Gil was placed on the injured list Saturday with shoulder inflammation and isn’t expected to throw for three weeks.

Gil had been with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after he was optioned by New York following four major league starts this season where he struggled and pitched to a 6.05 ERA.

After his demotion in late April, Gil did not appear in a game for the RailRiders. He did make one start for them at the beginning of the season after not making the Opening Day roster and allowed three runs in 4.2 innings, while walking four and striking out six.

The AL Rookie of the Year in 2024, Gil hasn’t been able to sustain the success he had a few years ago and has been injured a few times. The 27-year-old began last season on the 60-day IL with a right lat strain before returning in August.

You know……

Baseball isn’t always a good thing. It didn’t even twig on me that Addison Barger’s 100+ mph throw from right field may not have been the smartest move from a fellow just off the IL. And it should have. There should have been a big flashing warning sign. There should have been an alert on my phone, with that scary noise that Rogers uses when they are ‘testing the system’.

We were in South Korea for a day on our holiday and the warning alert went off a few times. Our guide said ‘oh that happens all the time, they use the alert for anything’. Meanwhile, I was thinking that North Korea had decided to attack at that moment. There is nothing like sitting on a bus in a faraway land and hearing everyone’s cell phone start screeching.

Sending Yohendrick Piñango is starting to look like a dumber idea.

Anyway, the revised lineup has Ernie Clement leading off (because what you want from a lead off man is an allergy to taking a base on balls).

The Colorado Rockies had a rough week last week. Heck, it’s been a rough month of May so far. The Rockies have won just two games. However, now is a good a time as any to turn things around, right?

After an extra-innings brawl on Friday, the Rockies dropped game two against the Philadelphia Phillies last night in a game that ended up not being particularly close. However, they still have the chance to walk away with a series win and potentially some momentum before heading across Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh.

Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之 will make the start for the Rockies as he looks to continue a string of solid starts. Sugano has an ERA of 3.41 through his first seven starts in a Rockies uniform. He has allowed more than one earned run just three times, and more than two just twice.

His line against the New York Mets his last time out is deceptive. Sugano allowed four earned runs, but all four of those came in his sixth inning of work—and after he left the game. Sugano had actually been pitching a no-hitter after the first five innings and his only baserunner came via a walk in the top of the third.

Dominant lefty Cristopher Sánchez will toe the rubber for the Phillies. Sánchez has an ERA of just 2.42 coming into today’s contest and is off to a solid start following a truly excellent 2025 campaign. Last season he finished second in Cy Young voting with a 2.50 ERA and 212 strikeouts in 32 starts.

Sánchez’s last time out against the Sacramento Athletics was his best start of the season so far. He pitched eight shutout innings with ten strikeouts and had just five combined baserunners.

In five career starts against the Rockies over 27 innings, Sánchez has a 3.00 ERA with 31 strikeouts. This season he is using a three-pitch mix consisting of a mid-90s sinker, a slider, and his excellent changeup.

To top it all off, today is Mother’s Day, and here is a message to the moms from your Colorado Rockies:

First Pitch: 11:35 AM MDT

TV: Rockies TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

Phillies SB Nation site:The Good Phight

Lineups:

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

Sunday notes…

• STACKING WINS: The Cubs have won eight and lost four of their previous series. They are 3-3 in rubber games of three-game series, including 2-2 on the road.
• HOLIDAY WINS: The Cubs are 54-72-2 on Mother’s Day since it became an official holiday in 1914. Their .430 winning percentage in those games is exactly one percentage point above their .429 (24-32) on Easter, which is their lowest on any holiday or special day since 1876 or when a holiday became official: .564: Fourth of July (126-97-3). .540: Opening Day (80-69-2). .520: Closing Day (77-71-2). .511: Memorial Day (113-108). .505: Friday the 13th (52-51). .462: Father’s Day (61-71-1). .445: Labor Day (95-119-4). .430: Mother’s Day (54-72-2). .429: Easter (24-32). On all of those days combined, their percentage is .508 (712-690-14). The 1,416 games are 6.3 percent of games the Cubs have played since 1876, about one of every 16. In all other games since 1876, their percentage is .514.
• STREAKING: Despite Saturday’s loss, the Cubs are 20-4 since April 14. That’s still the best record in MLB since that date (Braves and Rays, 17-6, are next).
• TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: Hector Cruz hit a two-out, game-tying home run in the ninth inning in Atlanta. The teams played five more innings before rain came and ended play after the 14th with the score tied 5-5. The tie was supposed to be made up as part of a doubleheader July 21, but because of the players’ strike that year, the makeup game was cancelled. The Cubs/Braves tie game happened 45 years ago today, Sunday, May 10, 1981.

Cubs lineup:

Rangers lineup:

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Jacob deGrom, RHP

Jameson Taillon’s numbers are decent enough, not too far out of line from his career norms — 4.24 ERA, 1.192 WHIP.

The problem is home runs — 11 of them in 40.1 innings. Believe it or not, that’s not leading the league. Zack Littell of the Nationals has allowed 13 homers in 32.1 innings this year, yikes.

So, basically, if Jamo can keep the ball in the yard, he should do well enough. Last year against the Rangers, April 8, 2025 at Wrigley Field, he allowed three runs in six innings, with only one HR. That would work.

At age 38, Jacob deGrom is still pitching well, striking out lots of hitters and not issuing walks. He’s not the dominant force he was several years ago with the Mets, but still a perfectly good MLB starter.

deGrom has not faced the Cubs since 2022 and thus most current Cubs have not seen him much. One who has is Dansby Swanson (7-for-34, but with three doubles and two home runs). Ian Happ has also homered off deGrom.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Rangers site Lone Star Ball. If you do go there to interact with Rangers fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! The Brewers, of course, have some history on this holiday, and they’ll look to keep that rolling today.

By winning on Friday and Saturday, the Brewers have already clinched a big series victory against the New York Yankees. But they might as well get greedy, right? This afternoon, Milwaukee will go for the sweep, and to do so they’ll send Logan Henderson to the mound to face New York’s Carlos Rodón.

Milwaukee pitchers have been able to keep the mighty Yankee bats quiet so far during this series, quite a feat given that the Yankees lead the American League in runs scored. But behind a stellar outing from Jacob Misiorowski on Friday and effective (if not perfect) outings from Kyle Harrison, Chad Patrick, DL Hall, and Aaron Ashby on Saturday, the Brewers have outscored the Yankees 10-3 in two games.

Henderson will look to keep that going with his third big-league start of the season, and second since being recalled from Triple-A Nashville last week. Henderson was fantastic against the Nationals last Sunday: in six innings, he allowed only three hits, didn’t walk anyone, and struck out eight. Washington, though, managed two runs against Henderson, and the Brewers offense couldn’t muster much, and Henderson took a hard-luck loss in a 3-2 Nationals victory.

Rodón, who was an All-Star in 2025 and finished sixth in American League Cy Young voting, will be making his season debut after surgery in October to remove a bone spur from his pitching elbow. Rodón, who is 33, has been recovering deliberately; he made three rehab starts in the Yankees’ system, culminating with 6 1/3 innings on 85 pitches for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. Last year, Rodón set career highs with 33 starts and 195 1/3 innings, and allowed just 6.1 hits per nine, which led the American League. He pitched to a 3.09 ERA and earned 4.6 bWAR, which was by far his best season since joining the Yankees in 2023. Rodón’s All-Star selection last year was the third of his career, after he made the game in back-to-back years in 2021 (with the White Sox) and 2022 (with the Giants). The Brewers, who of course struggle with lefties, will hope he’s still got some rust to shake off.

To counter the left-handed Rodón, the Brewers will start Gary Sánchez (at catcher, with William Contreras as the DH), and they’ve also got Blake Perkins starting in right field, giving Sal Frelick (and not Garrett Mitchell) the afternoon off. I know lefties have been a problem for the Brewers this season, but boy does it sure look nice to see Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn back in there.

No “getaway day” lineup as far as the Yankees are concerned: their big hitters are all in the lineup, with just a couple of positional shuffles (Aaron Judge will serve as the designated hitter, Ben Rice is back at first base), the re-insertion of Ryan McMahon into the starting lineup, and a start for backup catcher J.C. Escarra.

First pitch this afternoon is at 1:10 p.m. on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.

The Phillies will attempt to celebrate Mother’s Day by earning a series victory over the Colorado Rockies.

On the mound will be Cristopher Sanchez, coming off a spectacular start where he delivered eight shutout innings.

He’ll be opposed by righthander Tomoyuki Sugano. The Japanese import has a 3.41 ERA in his second MLB season.

Game time is 1:35 PM and will be televised locally on NBCSP.

And to all the mothers and other parental figures reading, please have a happy Mother’s Day!

Sometimes the universe — and especially the baseball universe — just lines things up in beautiful, unexpected ways. Today, Payton Tolle is starting on Mother’s Day because the most powerful mother of all — Mother Nature — decided the Red Sox and Rays weren’t going to play their game yesterday when Tolle was originally schedule to pitch.

Now, instead of pitching on the two year anniversary of his mother’s death, he’ll throw on the best day possible to celebrate her life. Tolle’s mother was an enormous inspiration to his baseball career, as Alex Speier detailed in his column today, and now in the first Mother’s Day since his big league debut, he’ll be the main character of the show.

As far as the baseball goes, this is a chance to back up his seven shutout innings last time out against the Tigers on Monday. If he does something spectacular again, it will also be on top of Connelly Early’s seven shutout innings on Friday, and given the Red Sox still haven’t seen the Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez part of the rotation click together yet, we actually may be on the verge of unlocking an incredibly special rotation over the summer months if those guys get healthy and Early and Tolle keep growing into rotation regulars.

On the flip side of the “is it real?” starting pitching questions, the Rays are sending 35-year-old Nick Martinez to the mound. For most of his career, Martinez has been the very definition of mediocrity, bouncing back and forth between bullpen and starting rolls as well as MLB roles and time in the Japanese League. However, even since putting on a Rays uniform this year he’s been borderline unhittable, allowing two runs or fewer in all seven of his starts this season. He now leads the team with the best record in the American League in WAR.

Lineup wise, it’s mostly what we’ve been seeing since Roman Anthony went on the IL, but with one key change. Mickey Gasper, the guy who replaced Anthony on the roster gets the start at catcher.

I actually really like using Gasper here. With the rainout yesterday and the off day tomorrow, it’s the rare opportunity to give both Narvaez and Wong three straight days off by sitting them for just one game. (And it can really be four days off if you start Wong on Tuesday since Narvaez started on Friday.) That stuff matters in the marathon.

⚾️ First Pitch: 1:35pm — Fenway Park, Boston MA

📺 TV: NESN

📻 Radio: WEEI