Category: MLB

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 39.

• Selected from Triple-A Reno: C Aramis Garcia(No. 35)
• Placed on the 10-day injured list: C James McCann (strained right quad)

As expected, McCann has to hit the IL, having injured himself legging out a ground-ball late in last night’s blowout win. It really wasn’t necessary, but I can’t criticize a player very much for trying too hard. He’ll probably miss 4-6 weeks. It leads to the return of Aramis Garcia, who was DFA’d earlier this month. He made it through waivers, returned to Reno – and, hey, what do you know, he finds himself back on both the 40-man and the active roster again. We had two empty spots, so there’s no need for a move as yet. We’ll have to wait and see which of the players on the 60-day Injured List are ready to be activated first. Best guess? Might be Jordan Lawlar, might be A.J. Puk.

Arizona will look to build on last time’s offensive outburst: insert obvious comment about “perhaps they should have saved some of those runs for tonight.” After a couple of dismal outing, Ryne Nelson has bounced back, with a May ERA of 2.33 across three outings. That goes with a very solid K:BB of 19:3 across 19,1 innings. However, Ryne still has only one win in nine attempts this year, and has a six-game winless streak coming into tonight’s outing. The Giants, as we have already documented, have struggled on offense this year, so this could be a good chance for Nelson to end that run and get back into the W column.

Upodate on the Corbin Burnes front. Nick Piecoro reports that Burnes “said he has two more bullpen sessions before he faces hitters, likely in a live session next Friday. He thinks it could be a couple of weeks or so before he starts getting into games. Still targeting a mid-July-ish return.” That’s still a couple of months off, but it’s going to be interesting to see how the team handles it, in terms of roster spots and rotation places. Presuming none of the other starting pitchers need to hit the IL, there’s going to be seven starting pitchers for five spots. Could be a case of the audition starting tonight for Nelson…

James Wood gave Nick Morabito a rude “welcome to the big leagues” moment on Wednesday night in the nation’s capital.

The Nationals slugger crushed a deep fly ball to left that not only popped out of the Mets rookie’s glove but ended up turning into a rare inside-the-park grand slam.

Mets starter Nolan McLean easily got the first two outs of the bottom of the second inning before allowing a double and single with a hit by pitch sandwiched in between.

JAMES WOOD INSIDE-THE-PARK GRAND SLAM! pic.twitter.com/8P0K4jhApZ

— MLB (@MLB) May 20, 2026

Wood, who had 31 homers last year and 12 entering Wednesday’s ballgame, sent a high, arcing fly deep to left field that sent Morabito back to the fence.

At the top of his leap, Morabito, making his major league debut, saw the ball bounce off the heel of his glove and roll all the way to center field. Center fielder Tyrone Taylor didn’t appear to know where the ball was and stayed near Morabito, who was down on the warning track.

By the time Morabito got to his feet and went for the ball, Wood was inevitably going to score on a wild homer that went 379 feet but never left the confines of Nationals Park.

Wood’s unlikely grand slam changed the tenor of the game as the Mets blew a 5-0 lead en route to a 9-6 loss to the Nationals.

To add insult to injury, Morabito was plunked in his second plate appearance in the top of the third.

But Morabito got a measure of redemption in the bottom half when he made a leaping catch reaching into the stands down the left field line on a Jorbit Vivas fly ball that turned into a sacrifice fly.

The outfield prospect had a .754 OPS with four homers and 14 steals in 41 games with Triple-A Syracuse this year.

The Astros’ injury woes are only getting worse.

Houston right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. was scratched from his start on Tuesday and placed on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, adding to a long list of health issues for the club. 

Astros manager Joe Espada told The Athletic’s Chandler Rome that McCullers had been dealing with the shoulder injury “a while” despite the last-minute scratch. 

Injuries have been a major part of McCullers’ career over the last several years. 

After missing the 2023 and 2024 seasons with a flexor strain, McCullers struggled in his return last season, posting a 6.51 ERA across 16 outings. 

It didn’t get any better in 2026, having put up a 6.86 ERA in eight starts until hitting the IL. 

The McCullers loss is the latest for a ravaged Astros team that’s struggling to stay in the American League playoff race. 

Before McCullers went down, Houston was already without starters Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier, who are both on the IL with shoulder strains. 

Another trio of hurlers – Ronel Blanco, Brandon Walter and Hayden Wesneski – are still yet to return from Tommy John surgeries a year ago. 

On Monday, the Astros lost star second baseman Jose Altuve, who suffered a left oblique strain on Sunday and later went on the IL. 

Third baseman Carlos Correa, center fielder Jake Meyers, left fielder Joey Loperfido, and catcher Yainer Diaz and closer Josh Hader are all also sidelined with various injuries. 

The bad luck has the Astros, who have finished above .500 in each of the past 10 full seasons, struggling out of the gate. 

Heading into Tuesday’s play, they sit at 19-30, which is the second-worst record in the American League.

Los Angeles Dodgers (29-19) at San Diego Padres (29-18), May 19, 2026, 6:40 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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Gearing up for Game 2. pic.twitter.com/ocCWPq8FvA

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 19, 2026

Tonight’s #Dodgers lineup at Padres: pic.twitter.com/2UULcLoX5T

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 19, 2026

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After a heartbreaking loss last night in the J.T. Ginn near no-hitter the A’s will need to regroup for game two of the four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Despite being one game under .500, the A’s remain on top of the American League West by one game over both the Mariners and Rangers. The Angels remain in last place with a 17-31 record.

Jacob Lopez gets the start tonight. The 28-year-old lefty is 3-2 with a 5.80 ERA in eight starts this season. He’s amassed thirty strikeouts in 40 innings in 2026. Lopez will go up against 26-year-old left Reid Detmers for the Halos. He’s 1-4 in nine starts this season with a 4.20 ERA.

Detmers will face off against this lineup for Mark Kotsay’s Athletics tonight:

Lopez will match up with this batting order for the homestanding Angels:

Follow the Game:

Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

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

Now that everyone has had a day to settle, and the adrenaline from the wild swings of the Crosstown Cup’s first leg has mostly subsided, it’s time to get back to thinking about what our expectations should be for this South Side team moving forward. For the first time in however many years, I now enter each day of White Sox baseball with the expectation that they have a solid chance to win. I’m actually not sure if I like it, because it feels like I’m setting myself up for disappointment. It’s hard not to wait for the slide back to reality that takes them to 15 games below .500, but I suppose that’s just another rung up the long ladder from the bottom of the barrel, right?

It’s a little easier to resist the temptation of optimism when you look at the lineups they’re putting out there. Take tonight’s, for example.

The new trio of fan favorites in Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, and Colson Montgomery is going to be exciting for the rest of the way. However, I look at how many at-bats at the bottom of the order are still going to hitters performing several standard deviations below what’s acceptable. I think to myself that the string of wins we just saw was nothing short of magical. There will be a time in the near future when Jarred Kelenic is replaced in the lineup by Braden Montgomery, Kyle Teel will return, and Andrew Benintendi’s contract will be cut loose eventually. Until that happens, though, the Sox will continue to live and die with their top four hitters.

The downside to the roller coaster nature of the past few days is that Chicago’s bullpen is pretty shot, and Anthony Kay is going to have to eat some innings tonight. I’d wager the outcome of this ballgame will be disproportionately influenced by how sharp he can be multiple times through the Seattle batting order, because good or bad, he’s probably getting his five frames tonight no matter what.

Here’s the lineup that Seattle manager Dan Wilson will be sending out against Kay this evening.

Bryce Miller is making his second start of the season after missing all of it up to this point with a strained oblique. He gave up two earned runs over 5 1/3 innings in his debut last week, and more importantly, his fastball was humming at 97-98 mph, a huge spike from his 94.8 mph average last season. He’s just one year removed from posting a 2.94 ERA over 31 starts and 180 1/3 innings, which included a dominant seven-inning, two-hit showing against the Good Guys. If he holds that velocity while showing the control that was typical of him before his injury-plagued 2025, it could be a long night for the Sox offense.

First pitch is a late one, of course, scheduled for 8:40 p.m. CT from T-Mobile Park. If you want to join us, broadcasts are available on CHSN (TV) and WMVP AM 1000 (radio), like always!

After today’s victory against the Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss told reporters that catcher Drake Baldwin’s MRI results came back with a mild Grade 1 oblique strain.

Baldwin was placed on the 10-day IL earlier today as part of a bevy of moves. With Sean Murphy also on the injured list with a fractured finger, the Braves will now have veterans Sandy Leon and Chadwick Tromp as their primary backstops – barring a move to bring in a catcher from outside the organization – for at least the next week-and-a-half, although the length of Baldwin’s stay on the IL in unknown. Murphy isn’t expected back until next month, at the earliest.

This is some slightly good news for Atlanta and their star catcher. Baldwin, who has amassed 2.2 fWAR already this season behind 13 home runs and a 160 wRC+, seemed likely to be headed to his first All-Star game with a performance that has positioned him among the top catchers in the game.

In Game 1, the Colorado Rockies managed to come out with a win, despite some white-knuckle moments in the eight inning.

Tonight, they will look to take the series from theTexas Rangers.

Starting for the Rangers is Tyler Alexander.

The lefty has a 2.14 ERA in 23.0 IP. He’s struck out 16, walked six, and given up one home run. Alexander has a 1.38 WHIP. 

Presumably, Alexander will act as an opener for Kumar Rocker. In 37.1 IP, he has a 4.34 ERA.

Starting for the Rockies in what will be his first start in purple pinstripes is Sammy Peralta, a lefty reliever the Rockies claimed from the Milwaukee Brewers on April 4. His arsenal includes a five-pitch mix, none of which average more than 89 MPH: a slider, a sinker, a changeup, a four-seam fastball, topped off with an occasional sweeper.

In 2026, he has pitched for two Triple-A teams. With the Nashville Sounds, Peralta earned a 27.00 ERA in 1.0 IP. In Albuquerque, Peralta has 19.0 IP with a more-respectable 3.79 ERA.

Presumably, Peralta will be opening for RHP Tanner Gordon, who will pitch most of the game.

Currently, Gordon has an ERA of 5.19 in 21.0 IP primarily in long relief. He’s struck out 25 while giving up five walks and five home runs with a 1.33 WHIP.

And now to the details.

First Pitch: 6:40 pm MDT

TV: Rockies TV

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

SB Nation Rangers site:Lone Star Ball

Lineups:

For the visiting Rangers:

And the home Rockies:

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Texas Rangers @ Colorado Rockies

Tuesday, May 19, 2026, 7:40 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

Coors Field

LHP Tyler Alexander vs. LHP Sammy Peralta

Go Rangers!

The St. Louis Cardinals enjoyed a badly-needed day off Monday, but return to Busch Stadium Tuesday night for a NL Central battle with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Matthew Liberatore gets the start for the Cardinals while the Pirates will depend on Mitch Keller. First pitch scheduled for 6:45pm central time. Here’s the lineup for the Cardinals tonight. Note that Masyn Winn is out of the lineup as he’s dealing with knee discomfort.

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but eight runs are better than zero.

The Braves are back in the win column, winning their 33rd game of the season in Ronald Acuña Jr.’s return to the lineup.

The Braves took advantage of command issues from Marlins starter Braxton Garrett, who loaded the bases with no outs to start the game. They’d only cash in two runs on an Ozzie Albies sac fly and a Michael Harris II two-out single. 

However, Martín Pérez would give them those runs back plus one more in a rocky bottom of the first. Xavier Edwards tagged Pérez for a leadoff homer, Otto Lopez singled, Esteury Ruiz walked, and Kyle Stowers doubled to drive in two more and make it 3-2 Marlins.

Pérez walked the tightrope for the rest of his five innings of work. It was a mixed bag of an outing – he worked around traffic, made his pitches in big moments, and even racked up a career-high of ten strikeouts. But he would depart after the fifth inning with the Marlins leading 4-2. Not a quality start, but it could’ve been much worse / he did enough to keep the boys within striking distance.

Braxton Garrett settled down after a 30+ pitch first inning, but had a curiously short leash. He was relieved by Anthony Bender who worked a perfect fourth. 

Bender would give up a leadoff double to Acuña Jr. and get Mauricio Dubón to fly out before they made the call to bring in the lefty Andrew Nardi to face Matt Olson. They regretted that immediately when Matt doubled to drive in Ronald, chipping away at the lead to make it 4-3 Marlins.

A Money Mike home run to straightaway center tied the game 4-4 in the top of the sixth.

Didier Fuentes and Dylan Lee would combine to work a scoreless bottom of the sixth. Lee stayed in to pitch the seventh to face the top of the Marlins order. Consecutive singles from Lopez and Heriberto Hernández had Miami threatening, but Lee would strand both.

The tie would finally break in a very silly eighth inning. Marlins reliever Calvin Faucher came in and struck out Michael Harris II before issing a free pass to Mike Yastrzemski. Walt Weiss was hoping for a Big Dom Smith Moment, but he’d strike out in Sandy León spot to make it two outs. But the Braves weren’t dead yet. Faucher walked Ha-Seong Kim and Ronald to put a Brave on every base. This, as we know, is Mauricio Dubón’s favorite situation. He would reach on an infield single (featuring a very welcome lapse in Marlins defense), allowing Yaz to score and make it 5-4 Braves.

Matt followed up with a two-run single to make it 7-4. Ozzie’s hard-hit liner to his counterpart Edwards ended the top of the eighth. We’ll take a lucky inning any day.

Chadwick Tromp made his season debut, entering to catch and bat eighth after Dom Smith struck out for León. He’d work with Robert Suarez for a scoreless bottom of the eighth and record a single in his first at-bat in the top of the ninth. Welcome back, Trompy. Please stay healthy.

Ha-Seong Kim singled in Austin Riley for a little extra insurance to make it 8-4. And Raisel Iglesias did Iggy things to close the book on this one. Braves win and even up the series 1-1. Game 3 and 4 will start at 6:40 pm ET.

Shohei Ohtani is on the mound for the Dodgers at the end of their stretch of 13 game days in a row, starting the series finale against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night at Petco Park.

Ohtani was named the National League pitcher of the month for March/April, and has allowed six total runs (four earned) in his seven starts this season. He’s led the league in ERA after each of his starts and is currently at 0.82 with 50 strikeouts against 11 walks. With 44 innings thus far, he’ll need at least six innings on Wednesday to once again qualify for the leaderboard, as this will be the Dodgers’ 50th game.

Randy Vásquez starts for the Padres in the series finale, having allowed just one run over 11 innings in his last two starts. On the season the 27-year-old right-hander has a 2.68 ERA and 4.78 xERA through nine starts.

Wednesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Padres
• Ballpark: Petco Park, San Diego
• Time: 5:40 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Dodgers on Tuesday activated pitcher Eric Lauer, the left-hander they acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday for cash considerations. Right-hander Wyatt Mills was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

After a 3.18 ERA and 3.88 xERA in 2025 for the Blue Jays, Lauer this year had a 6.69 ERA and 5.86 xERA in eight games, including six starts, with 26 strikeouts, 16 walks, and an American League-high 11 home runs allowed. That led to Toronto designating Lauer for assignment on May 11, before trading him to Los Angeles on Sunday.

Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes spoke with reporters on Monday at Petco Park in San Diego and said that Lauer, who last pitched on May 10, will be inserted into the Dodgers rotation at some point in the next week, but might pitch in relief in the interim. From Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times:

“Part of the thinking is to not create this domino effect of chasing our tails,” Gomes said. “Trying to maintain a similar schedule as we’ve had, and when we can get guys extra days’ rest, do it. If we don’t need it, and we’re trying to line things up a different way, just maintain the flexibility to be able to do that.”

Just looking ahead, starting Lauer on Monday or Tuesday next week at Dodger Stadium against the Colorado Rockies would allow an extra day for the Dodgers to have Shohei Ohtani start for a second consecutive Wednesday directly before a team off day.

UPDATE: Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on Tuesday at Petco Park told reporters that Lauer is penciled in to start next Tuesday, May 26 against the Rockies, per the beatreporters on-sitein San Diego.

Mills pitched in four of the nine games for which he was active, all at the tail end of lopsided affairs. The 31-year-old right-hander allowed three runs in 3 1/3 innings and issued six unintentional walks among his 21 batters faced, with one strikeout. His appearance on May 10 at Dodger Stadium was the first for Mills in the majors since 2022 with the Kansas City Royals, with Tommy John surgery wiping out his 2023 and 2024 campaigns.

“A long road, it’s never a guarantee that you get fully healthy after that. So it was more like a deep breath, kind of peaceful. I felt calm,” Mills said on the homestand. “I put in a lot of work, and my confidence came from that.”

Lauer will wear uniform number 33 with the Dodgers.

The Royals are facing one of their biggest adversaries in tonight’s game: a left-hander. Gasp! The lefties are deadly. If you know one, keep an extra eye on them, because you never know when they’ll kick the teeth into a Royals lineup.

To be fair to the Royals, they are trying something different. Vinnie Pasquantino, who has struggled mightily against lefties over the last few years, moves all the way down to the seventh spot in the lineup. I asked Matt Quatraro before the game why that was and whether it portended anything about Vinnie in the long run. Q was noncomittal about the second part, but he said that Red Sox starting pitcher Ranger Suarez’s more neutral splits were a big part of it.

I don’t know if that makes sense; if Suarez has neutral splits, why isn’t Vinnie in his normal spot on the lineup? But whatever. We’re doing it.

Meanwhile, it’s a bullpen-ish game for the Royals today. Bailey Falter is starting. I expect to spy Luinder Avila down the road. We’ll see how this goes.

Red Sox 5/19 lineup

Royals 5/19 lineup

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Houston Astros (19-30) visit Target Field in Minneapolis for the second of a 3-game series vs. the Minnesota Twins (22-26).

RHP Jason Alexander (0-0, 14.21 ERA) takes on Twins RHP Zebby Matthews (1-0, 0.00 ERA). Alexander is making his first start of the season while Mathews is making his second start of the season.

ROADIES: Tonight is the 2nd game of a 10-game, 3-city road trip for the Astros. After this 3-game set at MIN, they will visit Chicago for a 3-game series at Wrigley Field (Fri.-Sun.) vs. the Cubs and then travel back to Texas for a 4-game series vs. the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

VS. THE TWINS: The Astros were 5-1 vs. MIN last season, going 3-0 at home and 2-1 here at Target Field. The Astros won 2 of 3 in their last visit to Target Field, April 3-6 of 2025 and then later swept MIN in a 3-game series at Daikin Park, June 13-15.

Since 2021, the Astros are 9-5 at Target Field and 18-13 vs. MIN overall.

ABOUT ALEXANDER: Alexander has been in Sugar Land for most of the season. He has pitched 6.1 innings this year in relief during a previous stint. He was a key contributor last season where he went 4-2 in 15 starts and a 4.77 ERA between the Astros and Athletics.

ABOUT MATTHEWS: Matthews has pitched parts of three seasons with the Twins. He has a career 7-10 record with a 5.59 ERA in 26 starts. He pitched seven scoreless innings in his last time out getting the win.

ROSTER MOVES: The Astros have placed RHP Lance McCullers Jr. on the 15-day IL (retro 5/16) due to right shoulder inflammation and optioned IF/OF Shay Whitcomb to Triple A Sugar Land…to take their places on the active roster, the Astros reinstated OF Jake Meyers and RHP Nate Pearson from the Injured List.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, May 19, 6:40 p.m. CT

Location: Target Field, Minneapolis, MN

TV: Space City Home Network

Streaming: SCHN+

Radio: KTRH 740 AM, KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Astros

SS Jeremy Pena

3B Isaac Paredes

DH Yordan Alvarez

1B Christian Walker

RF Zach Dezenzo

LF Zach Cole

CF Jake Meyers

2B Bredan Shewmake

C Christian Vazquez

Twins

DH Byron Buxton

LF Trevor Larnach

1B Josh Bell

2B Kody Clemens

RF Austin Martin

SS Brooks Lee

C Victor Caratini

3B Tristan Gray

CF James Outman