Category: MLB

Interesting one tonight. The Red Sox used an opener for struggling righty Brayan Bello tonight. The Guardians scored 4 runs off of him. In one inning. Here’s the sequence from that inning: strikeout-single-single-single-single-single-single-sac fly-strikeout. Here it is in action.

You must be thinking the Guardians managed to pile on after to blow the Red Sox out, right? 4-0 in the first? Not quite. Bello came in for the 2nd inning and pitched 7 scoreless innings, allowing only 4 Cleveland baserunners. Those 7 innings are tied for the longest outing of Bello’s season, and represent the longest start in which he’s given up 0 runs all year. In fairness, Bello has been great since he started coming in after the 1st (with the exception of one game in which he started). He’s pitched 30.1 innings in his last 5 games and given up only 9 earned runs (7 of which came against the Braves, where he opened the game). But, the Guardians only made Bello throw *63* pitches in 7 innings.

Okay, I’m done with the negativity. Jose looked really good today. In his 4 plate appearances he struck out once, and had batted balls of 103.6mph, 100.9mph, and 106.4mph. Two of those were outs. Perhaps he’s finally about to catch fire.

Slade was, well, normal. He pitched extremely well for the first 4 innings, and then imploded in the 5th. He gave up 4 hits and 3 runs recording only 1 out in the 5th. (Much like what the Red Sox have done with Bello, I really think the Guardians should consider having Festa open for Cecconi)

The bullpen was good again! Colin Holderman was tasked with cleaning up Cecconi’s mess and did so beautifully. He came on with a runner on second and got two weak groundouts. He came on for the 6th and induced a strike out and a groundout. Gaddis found himself in some trouble in the 8th with runners at the corners and 2 outs, but got Mickey Gasper to groundout for the last out of the inning.

Let’s talk about Cade Smith. He got his league-leading 20th save tonight, striking out the side. His ERA is down to 2.60, and his FIP is down to 1.04. Since the Cubs series, he’s pitched 20.2 innings to the tune of a 1.31 ERA and 0.36 FIP (3 total ER). He’s struck out 31 (thirty-one!!) batters and walked only 2. He’s recorded 16 saves in 20 opportunities. Since then, he’s remembered how to locate his fastball, consistently gotten his splitter below the zone, and is throwing his sweeper down-and-away to righties a blistering 56.3% of the time.

That’s all for tonight. It’ll be Messick (yay) vs. Gray tomorrow night.

The Dodgers (36-20) face off with the red hot Philadelphia Phillies (29-27) on Friday night at Dodger Stadium in the opener of a three-game weekend series. 

Justin Wrobleski (6-2, 3.07 ERA, 1.11 WHIP) starts for the Dodgers.

Zack Wheeler (4-0, 1.67 ERA, 0.82 WHIP) takes the mound for Philly.

Lineups

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Phillies
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:15 p.m.
• TV: Apple TV
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

For six innings, everything appeared to be going Baltimore’s way. Trevor Rogers looked like the guy everyone hoped he would be this season. The Orioles already had three home runs under their belt and appeared destined for more against Toronto’s bullpen.

Then things quickly fell apart. Rogers allowed four runs in the blink of an eye, and Yennier Cano surrendered the lead one inning later. Baltimore’s bats went silent, and the Orioles dropped an extremely winnable game 6-5.

Rogers absolutely cruised through the first six innings. If he hadn’t been so efficient, he would have ended the day with six scoreless frames and a much needed confidence boost. Instead, he left the game with a bat taste in his mouth.

Rogers needed only 74 pitches to record 18 outs. He limited the Jays to two hits and a walk before running into trouble in the seventh. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got the rally started with a base hit on a 0-1 fastball. Rogers attempted to sneak a first-pitch fastball by Kazuma Okamoto, but Toronto’s home run leader ambushed the pitch. Okamoto turned the ball around at 108 MPH and trimmed Baltimore’s lead to three.

Daulton Varsho followed with a double down the left field line, and Adley Rutschman trotted out to the mound before rookie Charles McAdoo stepped to the plate. McAdoo took a pair of pitches before jumping on a similar high fastball. The rookie sent the ball into the first row of the right field bleachers for his first major league hit, and Rogers looked down at the ground in disbelief.

On a night filled with disappointments, it’s brutal that Rogers let a quality start slip away. Tonight could have marked a significant step in the right direction for the struggling starter. Instead, he’s stuck regretting a few late mistakes.

Craig Albernaz summoned Tyler Wells from the bullpen, and the former starter recorded three outs without relinquishing the lead. Baltimore went quietly in the bottom half of the seventh, and Toronto picked right back up where they left off in the top of the eighth.

Yennier Cano coughed up a pair of singles to George Springer and Ernie Clement to start the inning. Guerrero jumped on a first-pitch fastball and sent it to left field for a two-run double. Gunnar Henderson spiked the relay into the ground, and the go-ahead run scored without a play at the plate.

The Orioles jumped out to the five-run lead with some patience at the plate and three home runs. Jackson Holliday led off the third with a single, and Baltimore took three consecutive walks to score the first run of the game. The team could have struck for more, but Pete Alonso delivered an uncharacteristic and uncompetitive at bat with the bases loaded.

After three straight walks, Alonso swung at two pitches well outside of the strike zone before popping out for the first out. Samuel Basallo extended the strike zone a few times as well, but Basallo muscled a fly ball deep enough to plate the second run with a sacrifice fly.

Holliday extended the lead to three with a solo homer in the fourth, and Alonso returned to the plate with some patience in the fifth. Alonso took three pitches before launching an opposite field home run. The Polar Bear’s 11th homer of the season gave Baltimore a 4-0 lead and provided a template for Basallo.

Basallo stepped in and took three pitches before sending an opposite field homer of his own. The back-to-back jacks appeared to position Baltimore for a relatively easy path to victory. The Jays had other plans.

Baltimore had one last chance to extend the game in the ninth inning. Taylor Ward flied out to the warning track. Gunnar Henderson reached on a fielding error, but Adley Rutschman bounced out to end the game.

The game marked the latest chapter in a series of bad losses. The Orioles appeared to capture some momentum with a three-game sweep of the first-place Rays, but things changed in a hurry. The Blue Jays returned to .500 with the win, while Baltimore slipped to 26-32.

There’s nothing quite as heartwarming as letting your former team know what they gave up on. Nelson Velázquez greeted the Chicago Cubs by slamming the first pitch he saw into the visitor’s bullpen helping the St. Louis Cardinals win Friday night. He was joined in the home run parade by Ivan Herrera and Thomas Saggese, but more on that later.

Andre Pallante struggled and that’s putting it kindly. In the top of the first inning, Andre was able to get Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner out, but then allowed Chicago to do a lot of two out scoring. Michael Busch singled and Alex Bregman both singled before Cardinal killer Ian Happ greeted a Andre Pallante 4-seam meatball by sending it 407 feet into the stands giving Chicago an early 3-0 lead.

Fortunately, it did not take long for the Cardinals to respond. In the bottom of the 1st, Iván Herrera had a ball glance off of his toe and then Jordan Walker lived up to his name and walked which brought up Nelson Velázquez who played his first Major League game as a Chicago Cub in May of 2022 until he was traded to Kansas City the following year. Nelson celebrated his call-up from Memphis by destroying a Shota Imanaga 4-seam fastball giving it a 411 foot ride tying the game at 3-3. Yo Nelly indeed.

Andre Pallante looked uncomfortable in the top of the 2nd inning as he gave up a single to Dansby Swanson and then walked Nico Hoerner with two outs. Michael Busch punished him by singling in Swanson allowing Chicago to jump back in the lead 4-3.

The resilient Cardinals answered that challenge again in the bottom of the 4th inning when Thomas Saggese homered to left-center tying the game again 4-4.

Andre Pallante would only last 3 innings giving up 8 hits and 4 earned runs while striking out 3 and walking 1. Justin Bruihl would come in for relief in the 4th inning before handing the ball to Gordon Graceffo who entered the game in the top of the 5th inning, but only being allowed to throw 10 pitches. George Soriano pitched the top of the 6th inning. They were able to keep the Cubs off of the scoreboard in the middle of the game giving St. Louis a chance to grab the lead for the first time which they did thanks to Ivan Herrera slamming his 7th home run of the season. At that point, it was 5-4 Cardinals.

The late innings were handled by JoJo Romero who took over in the top of the 7th inning and had the honor of being the first Cardinals pitcher to get Michael Busch out Friday night as he was 3 for 3 before JoJo struck him out. He also struck out Ian Happ which proves it’s possible for a St. Louis pitcher to accomplish this. Ryne Stanek was tasked with the top of the 8th inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Seiya Suzuki, but struck out Michael Conforto with a nasty split finger third strike. After Carson Kelly grounded out in front of the mound, Stanek appeared to tweak his knee a bit, but he stayed in the game. Ryne was able to close out the Cubs in the top of the 8th by getting Dansby Swanson to fly out to Walker in right field.

The Cardinals would add some badly-needed insurance in the bottom of the 8th inning when Nelson Velázquez reached on an infield single. After Alec Burleson struck out, Masyn Winn (who had 2 hits on the night) went the other way with a pitch into right field giving St. Louis a scoring chance that was delivered on when José Fermín singled into left upping the Cardinals lead to 6-4.

Riley O’Brien was brought in to lock down the game for St. Louis in the top of the 9th inning. He was rudely greeted by Pete Crow-Armstrong who knocked the 2nd pitch he saw off of the right field wall for a double. Nico Hoerner then nailed Riley in the back of the leg with a ball back up the middle, but he was able to recover and get the first out at first. O’Brien got Michael Busch to ground out scoring Armstrong from third, but the Cardinals were still clinging to their 6-5 lead. Alex Bregman grounded out to Masyn Winn to end the game and give St. Louis a very important early season victory.

Game 2 of the rivalry will happen Saturday night at Busch Stadium as Kyle Leahy will make the start for the St. Louis Cardinals while the Chicago Cubs will ask Ben Brown to take one for the team. Saturday night’s game will be a national broadcast on Fox with first pitch scheduled for 6:15pm.

The Atlanta Braves have scored the second most runs MLB so far this season and had plans of continuing this trend while facing the Reds an their started Chris Paddack and his 6.86 ERA.

The first inning started off with a bang. Ronald Acuña Jr. hit the fourth pitch he saw for a solo shot in the first inning to set the tone with a solo shot to make the score 1-0. The interesting part is he saw three four-seam fastballs and then took a curveball deep. Notoriously this season he has struggled against four-seamers.

After a Harris fly out Olson hit a ball to the wall and tried for a sliding double but got thrown out in a bang-bang play. Albies then flied out to end the top of the first. Grant Holmes looked good in the first, outside of a walk to Mosley High School graduated JJ Bleday, he sat down every other batter to include a strikeout.

In the second inning the Braves started to blow the game open, Smith singled followed by a Riley walk and a Yastrzemki walk and the bases loaded. Jorge Mateo then hit a chopper to short in which he got out, but a run scored to make it 2-0. Tromp then came to the plate and did his job by hitting the ball deep to right to get a sac fly and make it 3-0. After a walk, Harris hit a single to score Mateo from second to make the score 4-0. Olson grounded out, but the damage had been done.

Holmes then did what he does best early in a game and sat the Reds down in order in the second inning picking up two groundouts and a strikeout. To not be outdone, the Braves were also sat down in order in the third. In the third fr Holmes his rival Freidl who already has two HRs against him singled, but then Holmes struck back with back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout from De La Cruz.

The only offense in the fourth for the Braves was a single by Yastrzemski. The fourth for the Red was very different. Bleday hit a shot to to RF to make the score 4-1. After a pop up and Stewart being caught try ing to steal third, Lowe hit a solo shot to make the score 4-2 Braves. Steer then singled, but after a mound visit Holmes got the last out.

In the fifth, Harris singled, but was caught stealing second. He was initially called safe, but after a challenge it was overturned. That was the only offense for the Braves in the inning. The Reds got to Holmes again. This time with two singles After the hits Didier Fuentes came in the game. Holmes finished the game going 4.2 innings with seven hits (two HRs), three earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts. Solid work.

Fuentes allowed a runner to score that he inherited, but then he got the strikeout to end the inning. After a single by Smith and a HBP from Riley, Yastrzemski hit a double to make the score 5-3.

Mateo then singled to keep the scoring going and make it 6-3. Harris came in clutch after an intentional walk and singled to make the score 8-3, which would end up being the final score.

The Braves started the series off with a statement. They are the best overall team in MLB. After Fuentes the Braves pitched Lee, then Suarez, and finally Kinley who combined for 3.0 innings and allowed two hits, zero walks, zero runs, zero walks, and five strikeouts.

The Braves showed out tonight and look to do it again when they face the Reds again tommorow. Harris and Smith had three hit nights and Ronald Acuña had a HR.

The Red Sox will likely have to wait a little longer for their young star’s return to the diamond.

Outfielder Roman Anthony suffered a setback during his rehab process on Thursday and is now reportedly shut down, according to Boston manager Chad Tracy.

Tracy told reporters on Friday that Anthony “felt discomfort hitting off a tee” and that the 22-year-old “has been shut down from swinging…at least for a few days,” according to MassLive.

Anthony is recovering from an injury he suffered in a game against the Tigers earlier this month, with this being the second time he’s been shut down during his rehab. The first time occurred last week.

He last played on May 4, when he hurt his wrist while swinging a bat, and the Red Sox placed him on the 10-day injured list three days later.

The affliction has since been reclassified as a finger injury, with Anthony calling it a partially torn right ring finger ligament. But there is still some confusion about what exactly he is suffering from.

“I know stuff came out yesterday about ‘tear vs. sprain vs. strain’ and all these things. I don’t know what else to say other than a strain/sprain, it is a tear,” Tracy said. “If you strain a hamstring, that’s a partial tear.

“Fibers let go a little bit and they’ve got to heal. I don’t think anything was portrayed differently or wrongly.”

Tracy added that although Anthony’s time away from the field hurts his club, the best thing they can do is just wait and see.

“The fact of the matter still remains that he’s got something in there and if there’s discomfort, we just have to wait,” he said. “Did we want it to go quicker? Yeah, but we can’t control the healing. If he’s got discomfort, we’ve got to wait.

“Is it going to go longer than we had originally hoped and thought? Yeah, but that’s just how it goes.”

Anthony was off to a slow start to his sophomore season before his injury, putting up a slash line of .229/.354/.321 with just one home run through 30 games.

He burst onto the scene during his rookie year, batting .292 with 18 doubles through 71 games in 2025, prompting the Red Sox to sign him to an eight-year, $130 million contract midway through his impressive campaign.

I hope we all enjoyed our two-week vacation, enjoying the lightest of thrills resulting from the D-backs going 11-2 against the Rockies and Giants. Things will likely be a bit tougher now, facing the division leading Mariners, who just came off a three-game sweep of the [THIS SPACE FOR RENT] Athletics. However, I’d be more impressed if the Mariners weren’t still actually below .500, despite being on top of the AL West. It is arguably the most competitive division in the game so far, with just 2.5 games covering the top four. The NL Central is the only other division where you need less than double digits for that, and even they are still at a five-game spread.

The D-backs come in, having used only eighteen pitchers to this point. No team in the majors has needed fewer arms. The rotation has been particularly stable, with just the late arrival of Merrill Kelly disrupting things, bumping Brandon Pfaadt to the bullpen. The Cleveland Guardians are the only more stable team than Arizona, having used the same five guys since Opening Day. At the other end, the Astros are already up to thirteen different starting pitchers. Out of the bullpen, the Diamondbacks have been very stable too: thirteen relievers used is just one man above the MLB low to date, in San Diego and St. Louis.

A good series here could see the D-backs’ ERA for the year drop below four – it’s currently at 4.02. Been a while: to find the last time Arizona had a sub-four ERA through 55 games, you need to got back to 2018, when it was 3.40 to this point in the season. We’d used twenty pitchers, and only one – Kris Medlen, in a single appearance – had an ERA of five or worse. Patrick Corbin anchored the rotation in the way E-Rod is doing this year, having made twelve starts with a sub-three ERA. Out of the bullpen, T.J. McFarland, Yoshihisa Hirano, Brad Boxberger and Andrew Chafin, had thrown 19-35.1 innings, all with sub-two ERAs. Those were the days…

The Mariners are in first place.

Dan Wilson said the team today is a bit “lighter in the step” following their sweep in Sacramento over the midweek slate. The team is now in first place (even if they’re still a game below .500) and looking to build some positive momentum against the Diamondbacks this weekend. The Diamondbacks enter with a strong 31-24 record. For more on them, Jake Mailhot has you covered. Justin Hollander provided some injury updates before the game. Brendan Donovan is running in zero-G, and Cal Raleigh is taking some swings. There’s no timeline for a return for either. Kate Preusser has further details.

Lineups

Game Information

First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. PDT (because * fireworks *)

TV:Mariners.TV

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — By the time he landed on the injured list last month, Giancarlo Stanton was not exactly lighting the world on fire.

In 24 games, the veteran DH had three home runs, a 102 OPS+ (100 being average) and 14 RBIs.

But the Yankees have sorely missed him beyond his production. His absence has been noticeable, with their left-handed heavy lineup losing an important righty bat in the middle of it, giving opponents a slightly easier task in how they attack the Yankees.

“That’s huge,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees opened a series against the vagabond Athletics on Friday at Sutter Health Park. “And that’s more on the nights where we’re facing a righty, where I got six or seven lefties in there. Having him in that middle, his presence is massive. Hopefully not too much longer. Obviously we want him back in there. But his presence is real.”

Stanton was finally cleared to start an outdoor running progression this week after yet another MRI exam showed enough improvement in his right calf for him to advance to the next step of his rehab.

The 36-year-old has been hitting all along, which should help expedite his return, but he will still have to check off more boxes, all the way up through running the bases, before he is able to return.

If the past is any indication, Stanton may not end up needing to go out on a rehab assignment because he is not playing the field, so taking live batting practice — which Boone indicated he might be able to do at some point next week — and at-bats off the Trajekt pitching machine may be enough.

Still, it figures to be another week or two, at least, before Stanton is ready to be activated.

In the time between Stanton’s injury and both Anthony Volpe and José Caballero being on the active roster together, the Yankees only had two right-handed bats guaranteed to be in the lineup when they were facing a right-handed starter — Aaron Judge and Caballero or Volpe.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

That was not a problem when facing the starter, but once that pitcher was out of the game, teams with multiple lefties in their bullpens could better line up for tough matchups for the Yankees.

In general, when he has three right-handed hitters in his lineup, Boone likes to slot them batting second, fifth and eighth, or third, sixth and ninth — guaranteeing that if a lefty comes in, he has to face at least one of those right-handed bats.

But without Stanton, if the Yankees only had two righty bats in the lineup — say, Judge batting third and Caballero batting seventh — the lanes were easier for teams to match up well with left-on-left at-bats, even with the right-handed hitting Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario looming on the Yankees bench.

That was mitigated some by the switch-hitting Jasson Domínguez being called up in Stanton’s absence, with the ability to flip around (especially as he was starting to hit lefties better), but that only lasted until Domínguez sprained the AC joint in his left shoulder May 7. He, like Stanton, could also begin facing live pitching next week as he has started to ramp up his baseball activities.

In the five games after the Yankees optioned the lefty-hitting Spencer Jones to Triple-A to make room for Caballero to come off the injured list, Goldschmidt had started all of them at first base, with Ben Rice moving to DH. Only two of those games came with a lefty on the mound, but the presence of Goldschmidt’s right-handed bat in the middle of the lineup has somewhat mimicked Stanton.

“Huge,” Boone said. “Just giving us that little bit of balance in the order, and obviously what he does with lefties, usually when I lead him off, he’s been so good in that role and in that spot. He’s playing really well and we need it right now.”

The Dodgers and Phillies are back at it on Saturday, with Roki Sasaki on the mound for the home team, for his final start of May. In his first four start of the month, the right-hander has a 3.52 ERA and 3.94 xERA with 21 strikeouts against five walks in 23 innings.

Left-hander Jesús Luzardo starts for the Phillies, so expect to see starts for Santiago Espinal — now back — at third base and Miguel Rojas at second base in the middle game of the series.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Phillies
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Playing in just his second rehab game with Double-A Binghamton, Jorge Polanco made his presence felt on Friday night.

The Mets veteran was in as the DH and had walked in his first two at-bats before coming up with in the fifth inning with runners on first and second base. 

Polanco made the most of the scoring opportunity, blasting a three-run home run over the right field wall against Portland Sea Dogs RHP Cade Feeney, giving the Rumble Ponies a 3-0 lead.

It's Polanco's first HR and second hit during his rehab assignment, having gone 1-for-2 with a single on Wednesday. He was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the seventh inning by TT Bowens, finishing the day 1-for-1 with three RBI and two walks.

The DH/1B will play again with Binghamton on Saturday and then get an off day on Sunday as nears a return to the majors, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said earlier Friday. The team will then take it day-by-day and he could be back for the next road trip, mostly playing DH.

Polanco has been out with Achilles bursitis and a wrist issue since April 14 and is hitting just .179 with one home run and two RBI through 14 games.

Jorge Polanco with a three-run blast for Double-A Binghamton! 💪 pic.twitter.com/NCtKiJuxGx

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 30, 2026

After an up-and-down homestand, the Yankees opened this week with a quite successful series in Kansas City against the Royals. Now, it’s time for them to go even further west as they take on the Athletics in West Sacramento.

The A’s come into this series just half a game back in the AL West standings, although with a 27-29 record, that says more about the division than anything. Even so, they did take two of three over the Yankees back in the Bronx in April. They have an interesting offense, as while they’re about league-average, they do have the third-most hits in the Junior Circuit. Shea Langeliers, Nick Kurtz, and the surprising Carlos Cortes are their best hitters thus far, all with an OPS+ over 145. Brent Rooker has disappointed so far, but he can’t be overlooked thanks to his 106 homers and two All-Star appearances since the start of 2023.

As the Yankees look to get the weekend off to a good start, Carlos Rodón will take the mound. While his time since coming back from the injured list has been iffy, Rodón is coming off his best appearance so far. The lefty went five innings with three hits, three walks, and one run allowed, striking out a third of the batters he faced (seven in total). His main issue has been walks; if he can get that under control he’d be set. Elsewhere in the lineup, there are no major surprises.

On the mound for the A’s will be our old friend Luis Severino. Sevy’s numbers on the whole this year are a bit above average, but it should be noted that his splits in road games are much better than at home, where he sports a 5.55 ERA. The man has made his distaste for this facility well-known.

Here’s everything you need to know to catch the action, and we hope you’ll come join us in the game thread!

How to watch:

Location: Sutter Health Park — West Sacramento, CA

First pitch: 9:40 pm EDT

TV Broadcast: YES Network (NYY) | NBCSCA (ATH)

Radio Broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast (ATH)

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández was placed on the 10-day injured list on Friday with a left hamstring strain, which he suffered during Wednesday night’s win over the Colorado Rockies. Ryan Ward got called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City to help fill in in left field with Hernández out. That was the expected move, but it wasn’t all.

Santiago Espinal also re-signed with the Dodgers, after getting designated for assignment on Monday and cleared waivers on Wednesday. Hyeseong Kim was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City, giving Alex Freeland more of a runway at second base, especially against right-handed pitchers.

Hernández suffered the injury in the third inning on Wednesday running out a groundout, and expressed frustration in the dugout before finally retreating to the clubhouse. There’s never a good time for an injury, but the timing was especially rough for Hernández, who found his hitting stroke of late after a three-week stretch with no extra-base hits. Hernández in his last 16 games hit .364/.419/.600, with three home runs, four doubles, and a 186 wRC+.

It’s a Grade 1 hamstring injury for Hernández, manager Dave Roberts said, the mildest severity, though there is not yet a timetable for his return.

With Hernández out, left field will likely be split between Alex Call, a right-handed hitter, and the lefty-batting Ward. After playing two games for the Dodgers in April while Freddie Freeman was on paternity leave, Ward in Triple-A struggled, hitting .211/.346/.312 with an 80 wRC+ and only six extra-base hits in his last 29 games. While Ward has played more first base this season in Oklahoma City — 27 starts, compared to nine in left field — he’s played plenty of corner outfield in Triple-A with 122 starts in left field and 92 starts in right field since the start of 2023.

Call this season has started 11 games in a fill-in capacity all over the outfield — six starts in left, four in right, and once in center field — hitting .294/.413/.373 with four doubles and a 132 wRC+ in 63 plate appearances.

“It’s not a complete platoon,” Roberts said. “I see Ryan Ward taking some at-bats versus right, I see Alex Call taking some at-bats versus left. But today, where Wheeler is just a really good pitcher, I want Alex to be in there, and feel that Alex can manage him and take some good at-bats.”

Ward will likely start on Sunday against right-hander Andrew Painter, Roberts said.

When Espinal was jettisoned on Monday, he left a Dodgers roster that had both Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández. But within three days they lost both players, depleting the right-handed depth. The other right-handed option already on the 40-man roster is Tyler Fitzgerald, who has played third base, shortstop, second base, left field, and right field in Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Dodgers opted instead for the familiarity of Espinal, who played sparingly in his previous stint on the roster, with only 44 plate appearances in his 53 games active, and had just four hits in 26 at-bats against left-handed pitchers, against whom he has a career 104 wRC+.

“With a star-studded team, you also have to have guys that know their roles. Espy is a guy that is good on the team, understands his value, is ready when called upon, and I trust him defensively,” Roberts said. “I like him versus left-handed pitching. I think having him back is pretty seamless too, because we only lost him for a few days.”

Look for Espinal to start on Saturday against left-hander Jesús Luzardo, likely at third base as the Dodgers ease Max Muncy back in after getting hit by a pitch on his wrist.

Kim was the odd man out, after just eight hits in 46 at-bats (.174/.250/.174) with 17 strikeouts over the last three weeks.

“I think his swing has changed, I think he’s losing his legs a little bit, and he’s coming around the ball a little. There’s a lot more swing and miss than there was early. I think he is just playing a little bit more tentative, to my eyes, and not as free and easy as he was in some parts of last year and early on,” Roberts said. “Getting him back to playing everyday [in Triple-A] in a little bit less of a hotbox, he’ll perform back to where he can and will. That’s kind of what we were hoping for.”

To make room on the 40-man roster for Espinal, Blake Snell was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Snell, who had arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies in his left elbow on May 19, isn’t eligible to return until July 11 — just two days before the All-Star break — at the earliest.

They showed up!  Nebraska fans turned out in mass to cheer on their Cornhusker baseball team on a day that flipped back and forth from light rain to beautiful sunshine.  Hosting a regional for the first time in 18 years, the seats were full in the stadium with an announced sell out and the berms were full.  Along the rails around the field people were standing three-deep trying to get a glimpse of the action on the field.  

Nebraska’s top starter Carson Jasa took the mound for Nebraska against the familiar opponent from north of the border.  Jasa brought a 9-2 record to his matchup against SDSU starter Sam Schlecht (4-4).  Both of them are tall right handers, but their collection of pitches could not be any different with Jasa the flamethrower and Schlecht being the master of the change up and off-speed stuff.

Nebraska threatened early but could not muster a run, leaving two runners on base in each of the first two innings, and another one in the third.  They struggled with Schlecht’s change-up and were not able to put the barrel of the bat on the ball.

The Jacks put runners on the corners in the top of the third thanks to a walk and a hit, but a very slick double-play turned by Dylan Carey and Rhett Stokes bailed Jasa out of the inning with no damage done.

Jett Buck led off the bottom of the fourth ripping a liner off the glove of third baseman Nolan Grawe and ended up on second base as well as sparking the Cornhusker crowd.  Joshua Overbeek followed with a single to left, putting runners on the corners.  Up came Trey Fikes who hit a line-drive that tipped off the glove of a leaping second baseman Matthew Werk.  Buck scored for the first run of the game.

The Big Red added one more off reliever Ty Madison as Stokes bunted the baserunners up 90-feet bringing up the top of the order.  Mac Moyer put the ball in play on the right side allowing Overbeek to come home with the Cornhusker’s second run.  After four innings, Nebraska was up 2-0.

In the top of the sixth inning, Jasa plunked lead-off man Carter Taylor in the ribs and Dayton Franke followed with a single down the rightfield line to move him to third.  Wanting to take advantage of some momentum, the Jacks called on Keagan Jirschele to lay down a bunt to squeeze home a run.  Maybe a good idea, but poor execution as he sent the ball right back to Jasa, who flipped it to Worthley for the easy tag at the plate.  Run averted.

The Jackrabbits weren’t done trying to get that first run on the board.  Werk laced a single to leftfield with runners on first and second.  Franke was sent home and Jett Buck came up throwing.  He threw a laser home to Fikes, who did a brilliant job grabbing the ball and putting the tag on the runner before he reached the plate.  Second run averted.

SDSU would finally get a run in the inning when reliever J’Shawn Unger gave up his second single of the inning to Owen Siegert, who drove in Jirschele to make it 2-1 Nebraska.  Unger walked the next batter to load the bases, raising the tension in the ballpark, but then gave the red-clad masses a chance to release it as he struck out Nate Wachter swinging.  

Dylan Carey gave the crowd what they were waiting for in the bottom of the eighth.  He blasted a towering home run on a 2-2 pitch from Madison that brought the crowd to their feet once again.  It looked like Nebraska may be able to blow this one open as Madison walked Sanderson and Drew Grego came to the plate.  However, Grego’s bunt attempt flew into the glove of Grawe at third, who then fired across the diamond to double-off Sanderson.

All was not lost on the inning though as Jett Buck showed that opposite field power we saw earlier in the season as he homered to the party porch in right-centerfield.  Going to the ninth, Nebraska extended their lead to 4-2.

With Ty Horn tossing lightly in the bullpen, Unger came back out for his third inning of work and faced the bottom of the Jackrabbit order. Franke grounded out to Overbeek and then Unger stepped up to win it in style by striking Jirschele and Werk.  Ball game!  Nebraska 4, South Dakota State 1.

Carson Jasa sat down at least three of his strikeouts looking at a sneaky off-speed pitch on the inside black.  Of his eight strikeouts, six were called third strikes.  He went 6.1 innings, giving up five hits, walking two and hitting one with 92 pitches for the win.  J’Shawn Unger got his 13^th save recording four strikeouts in 2.2 innings.

The ballpark was full so it is a little surprise that official attendance was 7828.  It appeared there would be more than that.

With rain in the forecast most of the day Saturday, it could be a mystery what time Nebraska will play.  They are scheduled for a 7:06 first pitch.

Notes:

• Jett Buck’s throw-out at the plate brought the loudest roar in the stadium for quite some time.  Plus, you rarely get to see that play in a game.  
• As always, there are a few upsets in the first round of the regional tournament.  One that matters to Nebraska is Milwaukee’s 13-7 win over 4^th seeded Auburn.  This took place in the regional that Nebraska’s is paired with.  Yes, there is a lot of baseball to play!  We can’t ignore St. Mary’s 3-2 win over top-seeded UCLA.  That one has stolen the headlines.
• While the Nebraska – South Dakota State matchup was not a really attractive one, it is interesting that it was relegated to streaming rather than carried on one of the many ESPN networks when they assigned their top college baseball broadcast team to the regional.  Karl Ravitch and Kyle Peterson are in the house for the weekend.  The Mothership apparently wanted to save some travel expenses as Peterson could just drive down from Elkhorn. 

If almost 8,000 people can climb more than 29,000 feet to the top of Mount Everest, what sounds so daunting about the Mets overcoming a 7 ¹/₂-game deficit in the National League playoff race?

Well, just about everything. But president of baseball operations David Stearns isn’t ready to pack up and head down the mountain in defeat.

“We have not had a good year so far,” Stearns said Friday in an understatement, hours before moving to 24-33 with a 9-7 win over the Marlins in 10 innings. “We’re not where we thought we would be. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. It’s not an insurmountable hole.”

Seventeen days, eight wins and eight losses after he acknowledged feeling a time crunch to improve, Stearns projected a there’s-still-time vibe Friday before opening a three-game series against the Marlins. Whether he convinced any outsiders to believe in the NL’s third-worst team is another story.

“We’re going to have to play a lot better baseball to do what we want to do this year,” Stearns said.

Ace Freddy Peralta started Friday against the backdrop that he could garner the best return — even in his walk year — if the Mets want to start trading off pieces.

“We’re not there yet,” Stearns said. “We’ve got time.”

Tick, tick, tick.

The MLB trade deadline is Aug. 3, but the Mets aren’t the only flailing big-expectations contender. What if the Red Sox, Tigers, Giants or Rangers want to get a jump on the seller’s market?

“I still think it’s early to have very robust trade discussions,” Stearns said. “If you look at the history of midseason acquisitions, we really are talking about the majority taking place in a very concentrated period after the All-Star break and close to the end of July. We’re still a long ways away from that. Is there a specific set of circumstances this year that maybe accelerates that? I think that’s possible, but we haven’t seen that yet.”

Stearns’ patience in the face of the fans’ impatience is good for …

The coaching staff: As mental mistakes mount every game — as SNY analyst Ron Darling recently vented after pitcher David Peterson failed to back up an errant throw — it reflects poorly on the coaching staff.

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Or does it?

“I think our coaching staff does a really good job,” Stearns said. “On the Petey one in particular, that’s a pretty heady player who is frustrated.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza received a vote of confidence from Stearns earlier this season but continues to twist in the wind with no contract security beyond this season.

“We’re not always going to be public about it, but we’ve had certain players at times get a little bit off the rails in their respective disciplines,” Stearns said. “And I think our staff has done a very nice job of course-correcting in certain instances. I also think that the motivation and energy from these players remains very high. I understand there is frustration everywhere, there is exasperation — we all get that — but our players are playing hard and they compete. That’s a reflection on them and our coaches.”

The young veterans: One of the failings of the Mets has been the development of former top prospects Brett Baty and Mark Vientos into core pieces who can complement Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor (when healthy). The same could be said for injured Francisco Alvarez.

“Any player who demonstrates a level of inconsistency over multiple years or over their careers, there are probably individual reasons,” Stearns said. “Candidly, I think … we know the reasons and are working. In certain cases, we don’t. That’s the reality of baseball and player evaluations.”

Still-developing minor leaguers: You could make a case center fielder A.J. Ewing (12 games at Triple-A) and Jonah Tong (5.68 ERA at Triple-A) were rushed to the majors because of injuries, but Stearns isn’t quite ready to keep dipping down for more reinforcements.

The time will come, though. Maybe for first baseman/outfielder Ryan Clifford or pitcher Jack Wenninger.

“We have to be confident those players are ready and can contribute,” Stearns said. “We’re certainly not going to preclude ourselves from adding more from our minor league system. We believe we have very good players down there — some of whom aren’t too far away. We have players in the minor leagues right now that we would anticipate contributing at the big leagues over the course of the season. It’s very difficult for me to put a time frame on it.”