Category: MLB

Since the start of spring training, Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell has faced nothing but questions about his lingering shoulder injury.

This even includes his Twitch video-game streams –– where one of his recent exchanges with a commenter went viral on social media this week.

When told by the user to “get off the injured list,” Snell answered by sarcastically tapping the body part that has sidelined him for the start of the season.

“Hey, shoulder,” Snell said. “Don’t have inflammation. Don’t pitch in the postseason, when your shoulder didn’t feel good. Don’t try to win a World Series. Oh, you can’t start the season because your shoulder still hurts from pitching?”

Do NOT question Blake Snell’s injury pic.twitter.com/jW0fj1Hqsi

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 11, 2026

“What the f— you want me to do?” he added.

If that was a moment of frustration for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, then Saturday afternoon brought a long-awaited reprieve.

For the first time this season, Snell faced hitters in a session of live batting practice. It was only 15 pitches over one simulated inning, but it served as an important milepost in his recovery nonetheless. 

“I was looking forward to it a lot,” Snell said afterward. “I was very excited coming to the field today. Like, I finally get to throw and pitch and see where I’m at. See if I’m good, bad. Kind of figure myself out.”

Snell has done much self-reflection this offseason, making changes to his training program (hello, Pilates) and his diet (goodbye, junk food) as he enters his 11th big-league season.

The one thing that required patience, however, was his fatigued left shoulder –– which gave him pain all winter following his 34-inning workload in the playoffs.

“He’s getting antsy,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But I think that he’s just excited because he feels strong, he feels healthy.”

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Indeed, Snell has felt his shoulder improving since early in camp. However, after the way his debut season with the Dodgers started last year –– when the $182 million free-agent signing tried pitching through early-season shoulder discomfort, only to spend four months on the IL –– he and the team opted for a more conservative approach.

The hope now is that Snell will start accelerating his ramp-up. On Saturday, the left-hander’s stuff looked sharp, helping him record outs in three straight at-bats against Tommy Edman (who is working through his own elongated rehab process) and Alex Call. 

Snell will likely toss several more live BP sessions to build up to three to four innings, then go out on a minor-league rehab assignment. 

If all goes well, he could be back in the majors before the end of May. After making only 11 regular-season starts last year, he could still potentially double that total this term.

“I’ve done a lot of different things than I did last year when I was in this position,” he said. “I’m just very excited about how I feel right now, where I’m at, getting back to some normalcy again.”

Snell was also light-heartedly pressed on his Twitch interaction Saturday, joking that “I should watch my language a little bit, but outside of that it was pretty true.”

Asked if his shoulder is a good listener, Snell laughed again –– hopeful that, before too long, all shoulder-related questions, both in-person and online, will finally cease.

“I think so,” he said. “I’ve been listening to it, so to finally be able to talk [with today’s outing] back was good.”

The Cincinnati Reds dropped the final two games of their most recent road trip as the Miami Marlins put it to them pretty heavily. Then, on Friday, the Los Angeles Angels came into Great American Ball Park and knocked around Chase Burns en route to a 10-2 win over the good guys.

The Reds offense was sputtering. Their pitching, already held together by a series of unproven arms as Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo sit on the injured list, was wilting. If ever there were a time for a team’s star to put the club on his back and show them how it’s done, it was Saturday, and fortunately for Cincinnati they’ve got Elly De La Cruz on whom to lean.

Elly went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and a walk, swiped a pair of bases, and scored to power the Reds offense, who pounced on Angels starter George Klassen for a 4-spot in the Bottom of the 1st en route to an eventual 7-3 victory.

Elly gets Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game treatment in this one, but it was actually Nathaniel Lowe who broke the game open initially. His bases-loaded double cleared the bags in that big 1st inning, as he rewarded manager Terry Francona for giving him a rare start in this one.

Other Notes

• Brandon Williamson got the start in this one and had a hard time finding the plate. He walked 6 batters and needed 93 pitches to get through just 4.0 IP, though he did limit the damage to just 3 ER while on the mound.
• Props to the bullpen, who combined to go the rest of the way with nothing but zeroes. Connor Phillips, Pierce Johnson, Graham Ashcraft, Tony Santillan, and Emilio Pagan got work in today – and that’s what the best of the bullpen theoretically lines up like when all are available.
• Spencer Steer smacked a homer off the LF foul pole in this one, his second dinger of the year.
• Sal Stewart got a rare start at 2B today with Lowe starting at 1B. Ol’ Sal walked twice and singled in a run in the 1st.
• Ke’Bryan Hayes went hitless once again. He’s hitting .079/.146/.079 on the season so far and I truly don’t know how the Reds keep playing him all game, most every game.

Texas Rangers @ Los Angeles Dodgers

Saturday, April 11, 2026, 8:10 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium

RHP Jack Leiter vs. RHP Emmet Sheehan

Go Rangers!

Kodai Senga had a throwback performance Saturday, but not in a positive sense.

In a reversion to the second half of last season, when the right-hander became easy work for opponents, Senga got jumped early by the A’s and couldn’t even last three innings.

Sloppy defense didn’t help and Luke Weaver imploded late, but this one was mostly on Senga in his team’s 11-6 loss at Citi Field amid plenty of boos that gave the Mets a four-game losing streak.

The Mets awoke offensively after three straight dormant games but never caught the A’s following Senga’s ugly abbreviated outing. Senga smacked his right leg in disgust with his glove as he walked toward the dugout after his removal in the third inning.

“The biggest thing was I wasn’t able to control very many pitches near the strike zone or over the plate,” Senga said through his interpreter.

Senga lasted only 2 ¹/₃ innings, surrendering seven earned runs on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts before being removed at 72 pitches. It was a reversal from what the Mets had seen from Senga in his first two starts this season, when he was effective against the Cardinals and Giants.

“He didn’t have much, especially fastball command,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He kept going to that sinker, just to see if he could get back in counts or get strikes, but he just didn’t have a feel for his pitches.”

Bo Bichette ended the Mets’ scoreless drought at 17 innings with an RBI single in the first against lefty Jacob Lopez, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

Senga walked Denzel Clarke with the bases loaded in the second to give the A’s their first run. Lawrence Butler’s RBI fielder’s choice extended the lead to 2-1.

Senga’s troubles started with consecutive singles by Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil to begin the inning before Carlos Cortes walked with one out to load the bases.

Francisco Lindor had a defensive lapse in the inning — he was caught out of position on a grounder to Marcus Semien, costing the Mets a shot at a double play on Butler’s grounder that could have ended the inning. Semien instead ran to the base after fielding the grounder.

“I went after the ball and Marcus was there and didn’t make it to second base and we didn’t turn the double play,” Lindor said.

It continued a rough stretch for Lindor in all facets of the game — he’s batting only .167 following a 1-for-5 performance. He’s also had lapses on the bases, most recently Friday when he got caught off third base on a grounder.

“I feel like I’m locked in,” Lindor said. “I feel like I’m in the game and it just happens. I have got to be better.”

Tyler Soderstrom smashed a two-run homer against Senga in the third, following Shea Langeliers’ leadoff double. The blast was the first Senga had allowed this season.

The A’s started a second rally in the inning. Wilson singled — a ball that Semien missed with a bare hand — and McNeil hit a grounder off Mark Vientos’ glove for a single.

Cortes delivered the knockout blow to Senga with a three-run homer that buried the Mets in a 7-1 hole.

“It’s tough having back-to-back innings with high pitch counts,” Senga said. “But not every outing is going to be smooth sailing. Some outings are going to be tough. In a long season stuff like this is going to happen, so I want to reflect on this over the time before I go back out there, to make sure it doesn’t happen again or it’s better next time.”

Bichette’s first Mets homer cut the deficit.

With Lindor aboard, Bichette hit a shot to right that just cleared the right-field fence. The two-run homer gave Bichette a team-leading nine RBIs.

Francisco Alvarez’s blast leading off the bottom of the sixth sliced the Mets’ deficit to 7-4. The homer was Alvarez’s team-leading fourth this season. Before the inning was complete, Carson Benge scored the Mets’ fifth run. Benge walked and scored on Brett Baty’s sacrifice fly following Semien’s single.

Jorge Polanco homered an inning later to pull the Mets within one run. The Mets put the tying and go-ahead runs on base before the inning was complete, but Benge and Semien were retired in succession to end the threat.

Weaver’s second straight rough performance sank the Mets in the eighth. Weaver surrendered a three-run blast to Soderstrom after Langeliers’ RBI single gave the A’s a two-run lead.

This game had three highlights:

1. Erick Fedde’s start.
2. Tanner Murray’s first major league hit.
3. It was over in an hour and 56 minutes.

Fedde pitched a fine game today. Michael Wacha pitched a better one.

Fedde made one mistake, starting the game after a short rain delay with a get-me-over first pitch to settle in, a pitch Maikel García deposited 412 feet away. Well, two mistakes, the other being a case of chronic White Sox pitcher inefficiency that made him leave the game after five innings and 85 pitches, 53 of them strikes.

Part of the inefficiency came in the second inning, when a walk, an infield single and a hit batter loaded the bases, but García grounded out to end the only time the Royals had a runner in scoring position against him. Otherwise, Fedde walked no one else and only gave up one more hit.

Small problem, though — if Fedde was lights barely visible, Wacha was lights fully out. In the first inning, he threw 11 pitches, all of them strikes, and then tossed six more strikes to start the second. He was as efficient as Fedde wasn’t, cruising through eight innings on just 88 pitches, 63 of them strikes.

Wacha did allow the Sox offense four hits, doubles to Andrew Benintendi (raising his average to .184) and Lenyn Sosa (raising his to .179) and singles to Reese McGuire (now hitting a hearty .125) and Murray, who got his first-ever big league hit on a grounder up the middle:

And the Sox only struck out eight times in the game, so that’s some form of progress.

Sean Newcomb did a nifty six-up, six-down in relief, but then the Royals added a run off Jordan Hicks in the eighth on a García double and two fly balls. That was totally unnecessary against the Sox, who now have scored eight runs in their last six games, with seven straight games of three runs or fewer and 11 such games of the 15 this year.

The White Sox are now 5-10 on the young year — a 54-win pace, in case you’re keeping track. The finale in KC is at 1:10 p.m. Central tomorrow, with the Sox going with the famous “undecided” (as opposed to the equally famous TBA or TBD), as it would be Shane Smith’s turn in the rotation and Smith is enjoying Charlotte.

Colorado Rockies (6-8) at San Diego Padres (8-6), April 11, 2026, 5:40 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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The Colorado Rockies will try to limit the damage after two straight walk-off losses to the San Diego Padres.

In good news, the starting pitching has been stellar and both games have been competitive throughout. Thursday, Jimmy Herget opened with a 1-2-3 inning, paving the way for Chase Dollander to take a bulk of the game, with that approach still working nicely for the youngster’s development. Yesterday, Tomoyuki Sugano worked through six innings and looked sharp outside of a couple solo homers surrendered in the fifth.

For the bad news, the fight fell short at the hands of an electric 12th-inning grand slam on Thursday and a three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth yesterday (seriously, Padres… a calm walk-off RBI single wouldn’t have been enough for you?).

The blueprint for a win is there as the Rockies have looked sharp out in Petco Park. A series split is still on the table, but that begins with a solid pitching battle today, as Ryan Feltner takes the mound for the Rox against old friend Germán Márquez.

The two pitchers have had an extremely similar start to their 2026 season. Márquez (1-1) and Feltner (1-0) have both notched one win across two starts, have pitched 8.0 and 8.1 innings respectively, and have each given up four runs and tossed five strikeouts. Feltner has been a tad more efficient, giving up just four hits to Márquez’s 14 and giving up just one home run to Márquez’s two.

It will surely feel surreal to see Márquez in his first action against his old club after a 10-year career in purple. Márquez made some waves when signing with San Diego, stating that he was “excited to play with a team that wants to win,” and lamenting that “when [he] was young, [he] had a team that liked to win,” taking a shot at the downward trajectory of the Rockies in his time with the team.

It may also be surreal, then, for Márquez to face off against this scrappy, new-look Colorado club. While it’s probably far too early for bulletin board material — and while there is much to be seen about where these teams ultimately end up this season — it could make for a nice statement if the Rockies can turn the tides of the series today against a franchise mainstay that has moved on.

First Pitch: 6:40 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

Radio: KOA Rockies Radio Network (850 AM / 94.1 FM)

SBN Site:Gaslamp Ball

Lineups:

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The Mets lost to the Athletics, 11-6, at Citi Field on Saturday afternoon and dropped their fourth straight.

Here are the takeaways...

-- It was not a good day at the office for Kodai Senga, who lasted just 2.1 innings after allowing seven earned runs on eight hits, including two home runs -- the second of which came on the last pitch he threw, which resulted in a three-run homer that gave the Athletics a 7-1 lead. In that same inning, Senga allowed a leadoff double, a two-run homer, and two singles before the second blast of the inning, all of which resulted in five runs.

It was the first time in Senga's career (55 starts) that the right-hander allowed a three-run home run (he has yet to allow a grand slam) and the first time he's allowed seven earned runs or more in a game.

-- Senga's command was also off. Not only did he walk two in his abbreviated outing, including one with the bases loaded to even up the score at 1-1, but he was also only able to throw a first-pitch strike to five of the 17 batters he faced. Of the 72 pitches he threw, 40 were strikes. 

Following the disastrous outing, Senga's ERA climbed to 7.07 in the early season.

-- New York got on the board first, scoring a run in the bottom half of the opening inning. Luis Robert Jr. singled, advanced to second on a groundout and crossed home plate on Bo Bichette's RBI single off Jacob Lopez to take a 1-0 lead. That lead vanished in the second inning, though, with the A's scoring twice with the second run scoring on a ground ball to second base that could've been an inning-ending double play had Francisco Lindor covered the bag instead of going for the ball.

-- The score was held to 7-1 thanks to Huascar Brazoban's 2.2 innings of scoreless relief that kept his 0.00 ERA intact. It also gave the Mets a chance to fight back, which they did in the fifth inning, scoring twice on Bichette's opposite-field, two-run shot -- his first home run as a Met. After a slow start, Bichette has kicked it into gear and is hitting .254 after his 2-for-3 day that included two walks.

-- After Brooks Raley kept the Athletics off the board in his inning of relief (also to keep his scoreless streak to start the season alive), New York was back at it offensively in the sixth. Francisco Alvarez led off the inning with a solo home run to straightaway center field that was initially ruled a double but overturned to a homer and got the Mets closer, 7-4. 

A walk and a single put runners at the corners with nobody out and Brett Baty came through with a sacrifice fly to get the Mets to within two. An inning later, they cut the deficit to one on Jorge Polanco's first home run as a Met that snuck over the wall in right field. It was New York's third home run in three straight innings.

-- What felt like a potential incredible Mets comeback brewing came crashing down in the eighth inning after Luke Weaver entered the game and allowed four runs, all with two outs. The big hit came on Tyler Soderstrom's three-run blast that went 420 feet to right-center field and gave the A's an 11-6 advantage. It was Soderstrom's second home run of the game after he took Senga deep for a two-run shot in the third.

New York went quietly in the eighth and ninth innings and dropped its fourth straight game, after a four-game winning streak, to go below .500 once again.

-- Following his promotion back to the major leagues earlier in the day, Craig Kimbrel made his debut for the Mets and pitched a clean seventh inning that included two strikeouts. The former All-Star closer needed just 10 pitches and threw nine strikes.

-- Still trying to find his footing in the big leagues, Carson Benge had an up-and-down game. The rookie went 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk, a run scored and a stolen base but added an error in left field on the first batter of the game.

-- Every starter in the lineup except Mark Vientos had at least one hit. After an exceptionally hot road trip, Vientos has cooled off and has gone hitless during this homestand (0-for-15).

Game MVP: Tyler Soderstrom

In a game in which the A's scored 11 runs on 15 hits, Soderstrom stood out the most with his 3-for-5 and two-homer performance out of the cleanup spot.

Highlights

Kodai Senga gets out of trouble in the first pic.twitter.com/nobjHeW8wq

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

Bo Bichette ends the Mets' 17-inning scoreless streak with an RBI single! pic.twitter.com/2Vps6kj5hi

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

Bo Bichette's first home run as a Met! pic.twitter.com/oDQpEVapUg

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

After review... HOME RUN FRANCISCO ALVAREZ! pic.twitter.com/aK7lsgGk7Q

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

A scoreless inning for Craig Kimbrel in his Mets debut! pic.twitter.com/Rd6ev1BgVb

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

IT'S A ONE-RUN GAME!

Jorge Polanco's first Mets home run! pic.twitter.com/L0WxBVMbgY

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

What's next

The Mets play the finale of their three-game series with the Athletics on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1:40 p.m.

RHP Freddy Peralta (1-0, 4.80 ERA) goes up against RHP Aaron Civale (1-0, 2.70 ERA).

Kade Anderson’s Double-A debut on April 3 went well enough: four innings, no runs, five hits, six strikeouts and a walk. The five hits he gave up were all singles, and two of those didn’t even leave the infield. But Anderson outdid himself in his second outing against Wichita Friday night. Anderson tossed five innings of no-hit ball while recording 11 strikeouts.

It wasn’t necessarily the cleanest start for Anderson, who opened his night striking out the first hitter he saw on three pitches but then walked the next hitter he saw on four straight. But Anderson dialed it in for his next hitter, breaking off a nasty curve for his second strikeout of the inning en route to what would be 11 on the night.

Anderson sat 93-96 with his heater, riding it up in the zone for swinging strikes, and locking up hitters on the curveball for called strikes after peppering the top of the zone with the four-seamer. He worked quickly and efficiently, pounding the zone with 69% strikes (nice), and dominated the Wichita lineup. The only black mark on Anderson’s ledger was the two walks, first the four-pitch walk in the first and another in the third inning where he missed just inside in a 3-2 count and reacted like he’d just given up a go-ahead homer in the World Series:

(Kade. Buddy. We simply cannot get this wrapped around the axle about a singular, isolated walk in the second start of the season. I know you are the ultimate competitor but you’ve gotta give yourself some room to make a mistake once in a while, Kade.)

He came back to strike out the next hitter looking at the curve, (strikeout six) and the hitter after that (number seven) on a fastball up at 95 after he’d just had him flailing over the changeup. Here’s a look at the change:

What really stood out about Anderson’s outing was his pinpoint command of the zone, walks aside – and when the rare unfavorable (2-0, 3-0) count happened, it felt like Anderson was able to pull himself back into the zone (perhaps explaining his frustration with the second walk). It was Anderson’s zone, and the Wichita hitters were just trying to survive in it; five of his eleven strikeouts were on called strike threes.

That’s not to say Anderson was without whiffs though; his 14 whiffs ranked fifth in all of Double-A yesterday, although by percentage he ranked third at the level, behind Gage Stanifer (TOR) and Miguel Mendez (SDP). He was especially fired up on this three-pitch strikeout where he got the hitter hacking after a nasty curve.

For only his second outing of the season, there’s a lot to like about this start from Anderson: the pitch mix and command were as advertised, the stuff looks primed to rack up whiffs and called strikes, and Anderson’s competitive mound presence was on display even in an early-season game. Next up for Anderson, aside from building volume and working deeper into games, is to continue refining his pitch mix – he didn’t mix in his slider very often, although with the other three pitches working, he didn’t really need it – and continue to dial in his command, not allowing those 3-0 or 4-0 lapses to happen. Progress in the minor leagues is never perfectly linear and there will be bumps in the road for even the hyper-polished LSU product, but Anderson starts are quickly becoming must-see-MiLB TV.

Christian Walker is not in the Astros starting lineup tonight. He appears to tweak something in last night’s game:

This was something listed in today’s Crawfish Boil as a situation to watch.

Walker did attempt to get ready to play tonight:

Through 14 games and 53 AB, Walker is batting .321 with a .390 OBP and .994 OPS. He leads the team with 17 hits and 6 doubles. He is tied for the team lead in RBI with 13.

Isaac Paredes is starting at 1B and batting 3rd.

I’m not sure what to think of the Cubs’ frustrating 4-3, 11-inning loss to the Pirates Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Should I be unhappy because they lost, and part of the reason was a player playing his first game at first base — ever?

Or should I take some solace in the fact that they came back from a 3-0 deficit with a stirring ninth-inning rally, and Cubs pitching held the Pirates down after the third inning? (Well, at least until that ugly 11th.)

It’s kinda both, but this one does leave a sour taste.

Let’s begin at the beginning. Edward Cabrera wasn’t as sharp as he had been over his first two starts, and issued three walks in addition to allowing eight hits. That gave the Pirates a 3-0 lead after three, and it could have been more, but they left several runners on base early and the Cubs turned a double play in the second.

Meanwhile, Braxton Ashcraft kept the Cubs completely off balance for the first four innings. They had three singles over that time, with none of the runners getting past first base.

The Cubs broke through in the fifth. Michael Conforto walked with one out and went to third on a single by Dansby Swanson, and Swanson took second on the throw in. This might have been a big inning, but the Cubs simply aren’t taking advantage of those situations. Conforto did score on a ground out by Nico Hoerner [VIDEO].

That made it 3-1.

Cabrera finished five innings, and his line isn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. More from BCB’s JohnW53:

Edward Cabrera became the 52nd different Cub to allow no more than total three runs in his first three starts of a season. Dick Ellsworth, Shota Imanaga, Jon Lester and Steve Stone each did it twice.

Cabrera is the 33rd season of three such runs, including ones by Ellsworth, Imanaga and Stone. There have been 19 seasons of two runs, two of them by Lester. Imanaga and Stone are among the five who gave up one. The three others were Rich Hill, Carl Lundgren and Mike Prendergast.

So there’s that, anyway. Here’s more on Cabrera’s afternoon [VIDEO].

Ben Brown came in and threw the sixth and seventh and did a nice job, despite allowing a couple of hits. He struck out three and induced a double-play ball. Brown seems to be taking to this long-relief role.

The Cubs made it 3-2 in the seventh. Miguel Amaya led off with a walk and took second on a single by Conforto. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Amaya scored on another ground out, this one by Swanson [VIDEO].

So, rallies are going on, but even with RISP the Cubs are only scoring on outs.

Jacob Webb threw a scoreless eighth, including a pair of strikeouts. That’s good after Webb has struggled in the early going. Hoby Milner then threw a 1-2-3 ninth that included an odd play, a ball that bounced off his foot that was picked up by Amaya, who threw Brandon Lowe out at first. You don’t see a 1-2-3 play very often:

Then, the bottom of the ninth, with the Cubs trailing 3-2. Swanson walked with one out. Then Swanson moved to second on a passed ball. One out later, Carson Kelly also walked, and Shaw replaced him as a pinch runner.

That brought Alex Bregman to the plate [VIDEO].

That was a real nice piece of hitting, going the opposite way on an 0-2 sinker. Shaw took third, representing the winning run, but Ian Happ flied to right and thus we were off to the Cubs’ first extra-inning game of 2025.

Daniel Palencia, who hadn’t thrown since Sunday, came in for the 10th. He got the first two outs on routine fly balls, issued a walk, then retired pinch-hitter Nick Gonzales on a ground ball to third, giving the Cubs a real chance to win it in the bottom of the 10th.

Happ was the placed runner. Seiya Suzuki struck out and Pete Crow-Armstrong was intentionally passed. Amaya struck out on a pitch that he challenged [VIDEO].

The pitch was pretty clearly in the zone, but that wasn’t a bad place to challenge. Worth using it at that point, I thought. Both runners then moved up on a wild pitch, putting the winning run on third with two out. Conforto walked to load the bases, but Swanson grounded out to end the inning.

In the 11th, Caleb Thielbar entered, coming off a bad outing Friday. But he struck out the first two batters he faced, before issuing an intentional pass to Oneil Cruz, who had a four-hit afternoon. I agree with that choice, too, setting up a possible force at second or third.

Then this happened:

Well, I dunno. You tell me. No, that wasn’t a good throw by Thielbar, who was charged with an error. But does a more experienced first baseman knock that down and keep the lead runner at third? Or throw him out at the plate?

I guess we’ll never know. The Cubs opted to pinch hit for Michael Busch with Kelly in the seventh. Busch has really been struggling with the bat, so I don’t necessarily argue with that move. But the thing is, the Cubs don’t have an experienced backup first baseman. Shaw had literally never played the position, except for Spring Training, before this game. Kelly, who replaced Busch, had never played first base before this year either. This was just his second appearance at the position.

You can see how important first base defense is with this one play.

Anyway, that run was all the Pirates got, and turned out that’s all they needed. Swanson was the placed runner in the 11th. Nico hit a comebacker that Yohan Ramirez threw away for an error, putting runners on second and third with nobody out.

Unfortunately, that was as close as the Cubs got to scoring in the 11th. Shaw hit a line drive to right that was too shallow to score the tying run. Bregman popped up to first. Happ was intentionally walked to set up a force at any base, but Suzuki also popped up to end things.

The Cubs went 1-for-15 with RISP and left 16 (!) runners on base. That’s pretty awful. The Pirates weren’t much better, going 2-for-19 with RISP and stranding 13. This was an ugly, ugly game in what’s now an ugly, ugly series.

Eventually the Cubs offense will get untracked. These hitters are too good to keep doing this for much longer. Maybe Sunday, when the weather is supposed to be better (sunny, in the 70s). Jameson Taillon will try to help the Cubs salvage one win in this series. Bubba Chandler goes for the Pirates. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Here’s the Braves’ lineup:

LET’S GO, GUARDIANS!

Michael Wacha saw Kris Bubic’s seven-shutout-inning performance and decided to try to one-up him. Wacha knew he couldn’t get the same strikeouts, but he could go even deeper into the game. In the end, Wacha was able to go eight shutout innings, striking out seven, walking only one, and allowing only four hits. The White Sox had only three at-bats with a runner in scoring position all day. No runner ever made it past second base.

As you can see in the above graphic, Michael Wacha did all of that on only 88 pitches. He threw 63 strikes – almost 3/4 of his pitches – in part because the White Sox were just swinging at every dang thing, and missing plenty often. Personally, I would have liked to see him pitch the second Maddux of the season (when someone pitches a 9+-inning, complete game shutout in under 100 pitches). But it’s reasonable that Matt Quatraro decided to go to the team’s closer, instead. Erceg had a clean ninth with a strikeout to earn his fifth save of the season.

The Royals’ offense struggled once again. At first, it seemed like they might get something going when Maikel Garcia reminded us he was related to Alcides Escobar in the first inning.

The Royals only got three more hits and a walk the rest of the day, but they added on in the bottom of the eighth. Garcia, leading off the inning again, smacked a double down the third base line and into the corner. Bobby Witt Jr. lofted a flyball deep enough to right to advance Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino went the other way to left field deep enough to easily bring the insurance run home.

You’d like to see the Royals’ offense wake up, especially because the White Sox’s pitching is not considered to be particularly good, but not panicking and manufacturing a run like that is a really good sign that the hitters are still in the mindset they need to be in. Coming into today, the Royals had the fifth-highest hard-hit rate in baseball. I’ll keep promising an imminent offensive explosion until it happens or those kinds of stats change.

The Royals have guaranteed a series split with the White Sox and have a chance to win the game with another afternoon contest, tomorrow. Noah Cameron (1.69 ERA, 3.69 SIERA) will pitch for the Royals. The White Sox have not yet announced their starter, and I can’t even find any guesses as to who it might be. The game will start at 1:10 KC time, be broadcast on Royals.TV, and will feature the new Royals City Connect uniforms for the third straight game. They’ve won every game they’ve played in them; let’s hope they don’t break that streak.

Your first place St. Louis Cardinals will try to win the series vs the Boston Red Sox Saturday night at Busch Stadium. Game time is 6:15pm with Kyle Leahy on the mound for St. Louis vs Ranger Suarez for the Boston Red Sox. Saturday night’s game is a nationwide broadcast on Fox.