Category: MLB

The balance that has been lacking from this Mets lineup for most of the season has surfaced over the past three days.

Whether it’s been Juan Soto or Mark Vientos providing a jolt, timely Jared Young contributions or a Carson Benge hit barrage, the Mets’ chief weakness, an underwhelming lineup, has appeared respectable.

Sustainability is the question.

On Saturday, they received contributions from just about all comers in a 6-1 victory over the Marlins at Citi Field, culminating a day in which Bobby Valentine and Lee Mazzilli were inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.

The Mets won their third straight.

In getting swept three games last weekend in Miami, the Mets managed only 11 hits.

On this day they totaled 10 and built from a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning.

“You continue to trust your players that at some point they are going to come through,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s good to see guys like Vientos having good back-to-back games and when he’s on, he can carry us. It’s just good to see some of the guys here playing with some confidence, playing loose, having fun and picking each other up.”

Christian Scott earned his first major league win by limiting the Marlins to one earned run on five hits and two walks with eight strikeouts over five innings.

The right-hander pitched 5 ²/₃ scoreless innings in his start in Miami last Sunday.

Scott began the day 0-3 in his career with 12 no-decisions.

“It took longer than I would have expected and wanted,” said Scott, who has pitched to a 2.97 ERA in his seven starts this season. “I thought the defense played great today and [Hayden] Senger called a hell of a game. The offense stepped up with a couple of big swings.”

Scott’s strikeout total matched a career high and he’s the only pitcher in franchise history to allow four earned runs or fewer in each of his first 16 career starts.

Scott missed last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

“He’s important,” Mendoza said. “Especially with some of the injuries we’re dealing with, but we saw signs of that in 2024, I am not surprised by it, but if we can get that version and I am pretty confident that we will, that’s another factor for us to turn this thing around, right there. He’s too talented. He’s got electric stuff and he’s going to continue to help us.”

Vientos’ two-run double in the fourth gave the Mets a 2-0 lead.

It was a second straight game with a loud hit from Vientos, who mashed a 445-foot homer on Friday — the second-longest blast of his major league career.

Marcus Semien delivered a two-out RBI single that widened the Marlins’ deficit to 3-0.

The Mets started the rally in the inning with a walk to Juan Soto before Young’s single.

Vientos followed with his shot off the left-field fence.

Scott walked Christopher Morel leading off the fifth and paid for it: Liam Hicks stroked an RBI single with two outs that pulled the Marlins to within 3-1.

Scott escaped the inning with help from A.J. Ewing, who raced into the right-center gap to rob Otto Lopez of an extra-base hit.

Cionel Pérez, in his Mets debut, worked a perfect sixth inning.

The lefty was selected to the roster after the Mets, needing an additional fresh arm, optioned Tobias Myers to Triple-A Syracuse.

Young homered leading off the bottom of the sixth, extending the Mets’ lead to 4-1.

It was the first blast of season for Young, who returned from knee surgery rehab Tuesday.

Senger’s first major league homer, a blast in the seventh, widened the Mets’ lead to 5-1 before Soto’s single brought in another.

“I felt like it was [gone],” Senger said when asked if he knew it was a homer off the bat. “But then I remembered the wind and started running and begging for it to go. I was begging when I was rounding first.”

On a day the organization inducted two beloved former Mets into the Mets Hall of Fame, the team followed the cermony with a complete 6-1 victory over the Marlins to win their third in a row.

Before the game, Lee Mazzilli and former manger Bobby Valentine were inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame with a lovely on-field ceremony. Perhaps it is fitting they inducted Valentine in this particular season. If we jump into the Wayback Machine to 1999, Valentine’s job was on the line after GM Steve Phillips spent big in the offseason and the team got off to a sluggish start. The team aqcuired a future Hall of Famer in the season prior, but they missed the playoffs by just one game. In the following offseason the general manager spent big, notably acquiring a third baseman, so they could compete with the Braves in the division and get themselves into the playoffs. Sound familiar?

One day after Valentine’s coaches got fired, the team went on a 40-15 tear to get themselves back into the playoff race and the rest is history. Will that happen with this team? Probably not, but with wins in short supply every step forward is crucial for this team to get back on track.

The main standout was Christian Scott who got the start and his first major league win. He gave up one run and struck out eight in five innings of work. He did walk two but he looked to be in complete control during his outing. He’s certainly come a long way from his shaky first start of the year, and with the question marks surrounding the rotation right now, he has brought some measure of stability.

After the Mets scored three runs in the fourth on a Mark Vientos RBI double and a Marcus Semien RBI single, the team added on with solo home runs from two unlikely sources- Jared Young and Hayden Senger, the first of his major league career. They tacked on another run when Juan Soto drove in Carson Benge and so the team comfotably held a five-run lead. But given how many times Miami came back in the series opener, to the point where the Mets had to win it in extras, the bullpen had to find a way to keep the pesky Marlins off the board.

This time the bullpen was up to the challenge. Cionel Pérez, Huascar Brazobán, Austin Warren, and Devin Williams were perfect and didn’t allow any runs between them.

Taking the series against Miami is a good start but they need to go for the sweep if this team wants to climb out of the cellar and, some how, some way, capture some magic from teams past. Ya Gotta Believe right?

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

Big Mets winner: Christian Scott, +18% WPA
Big Mets loser: Bo Bichette, -12% WPA
Mets pitchers: +30% WPA
Mets hitters: +20% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos RBI double in fourth, +16.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Liam Hicks RBI single in fifth, -6.9% WPA

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Kansas City Royals scored six runs.

The Rangers finally found one of those bad teams we’ve heard so much about!

After going up 3-0 through most of the game, the Rangers allowed four runs in the top of the seventh to erase a quality start from Kumar Rocker and even survived Chris Martin allowing a two-run home run to put KC up 6-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

After scoring a run in that frame to pull a tad closer before a baffling two-out bunt attempt with the tying runs in scoring position, the Rangers went Joc Pederson solo home run, two infield singles, and then a game-tying single from Jake Burger followed a game-winning soft shot single to right field from Ezequiel Duran.

Lucas Erceg got zero outs in the ninth and the Rangers came away with their first two-game winning streak at home since the first homestand of the month.

I can’t imagine there have been many games where both teams at the bottom of their league in scoring each have had a rally in which they got five consecutive hits in an inning but here we are. At least Texas’ came last as a final counter punch to take the game.

Player of the Game: Josh Jung had one of those infield hits that ignited the winning rally in the ninth. He also tied Burger for the team lead with three hits on the day, including a solo home run in the top of the first to help Texas pass the dreaded First Inning Test.

Up Next: The Rangers will try to close out the month of May with their first three-game winning streak since early April with RHP Jack Leiter expected to pitch for Texas against RHP Michael Wacha for Kansas City.

The Sunday afternoon first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Blue Jays 5 Orioles 6

All that really mattered happened in the bottom of the ninth:

Jeff Hoffman got the ninth, in what was a non-save spot. Hoffman got a strikeout, hit a batter, gave up a triple and single, scoring a run and putting the tying run to the plate. A double put the tying run on second. A walk loaded the bases. Another walk scored another run.

Connor Seabold, coming into a very bad spot, tying run on third, winner on second with just one out. The first pitch went through Heineman but not far enough to score the run. Then Seabold went 3-0, got back to 3-2 but walked in the tying run. Gotta make him swing. Next batter gets to 2-1 before he singles and that’s the game.

Just kill me.

Before that:

Trey Yesavage had all sorts of problems with the strike zone and yet only allowed one run in five innings. Giving up just one run, while walking seven is either amazing or very lucky. And there was some from aisle one and some from aisle two. Seven walks, but just two hits with four strikeouts. The Jays turned three double plays behind him (in the second, third and fourth innings). One of them was something I’ve never seen before, a ground ball down the third base line, that Okamoto picked up while touching third and threw to first to get the 5-3 double play.

Until Hoffman the bullpen was great:

• Yariel Rodríguez Gave up a walk and a single but had a clean inning, with a strikeout.
• Tyler Rogers went fly out, ground out, ground out.
• Louis Varland, pitching in the eighth, went fly out, strike out, ground out.

On offense, the Jays had troubles with Brandon Young, until the fourth inning. Vladimir Guerrero started the inning with a single. Two outs later, Jesús Sánchez doubled him home and Ernie Clements singled Sánchez home, giving us the lead.

Two more scored in the eighth: Nathan Lukes and Vlad singled to start it. And, after a Daulton Varsho strikeout, Kazuma Okamoto doubled them home.

And one in the ninth. With two outs, Lukes walked and Vlad doubled him home (with the help of some crappy fielding in the outfield, Orioles outfielders are terrible).

We had 11 hits. Vlad had 4, Clement 2. Andrés Giménez and Tyler Heineman had 0 fors.

Jays of the Day: Yesavage (0.16 WPA), Clement (0.14), Sánchez (0.11), Vlad (0.10), Rogers (0.11), and Rodriguez (0.09)

Other Award: Hoffman (-0.51), Seabold (-0.47), Varsho (-0.14), Springer (-0.13) and Gimenez (-0.9).

Tomorrow, the month of May ends, and we have an earlier start (12:15 Eastern). Kyle Bradish (2-6, 3.86). On the Jays side, Spencer Miles will be the bulk guy.

The Cincinnati Reds look to level the series in Great American Ball Park against the visiting Atlanta Braves, a veritable juggernaut who claimed the opening game of the series 8-3 last night.

Brady Singer starts, and hopefully will not give up 3 homers for the third consecutive start.

Lineups for both clubs listed below. Go Reds!

Jared Young and Hayden Senger homered for the Mets on Saturday and Christian Scott threw five solid innings in a 6-1 victory over the Marlins in front of 38,552 at Citi Field. 

The Mets have won three straight games and can complete a sweep of the Marlins Sunday afternoon. The victory upped the Mets record to 25-33, including a 15-12 mark in May.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Scott matched his season-high with eight strikeouts and walked two, throwing 96 pitches (60 for strikes). Scott got 11 swings-and-misses, according to Statcast. Scott paid for one of the walks – he started the Marlins fifth by walking No. 8 hitter Christopher Morel, who entered the game with a .169 average. Morel later scored on a two-out RBI single by Liam Hicks. Over his last two starts, both against Miami, Scott has given up one run in 10.2 innings, a 0.87 ERA.

-- The fifth inning could’ve gone worse for the Mets, but A.J. Ewing came to the rescue. After Hicks’ run-scoring single, Otto Lopez followed with a deep drive to center that looked like potential damage. But Ewing sprinted back and toward right-center to snare the ball, a fine running catch for the final out of the inning. It was the second nice grab in the outfield by a Met – in the fourth inning, Carson Benge took away a potential extra-base hit from Kyle Stowers with a snare on the warning track. 

-- The Mets, who had run into two outs on the bases in the second inning, scored three times in the fourth to take an early lead. Mark Vientos doubled in two runs after Juan Soto walked andYoungsingled with one out. One out later, Marcus Semien hit an RBI single and the Mets were ahead, 3-0. Soto’s walk extended his streak of reaching base to 14 games, dating back to May 14. Vientos has 19 RBI over his last 27 games.

-- Young, batting cleanup for the second time this season, smashed his first homer leading off the sixth inning against Miami reliever Lake Bachar. It was a long drive to right field. 

-- Senger smacked his first career big-league homer with one out in the seventh inning, a shot to left field off Bachar. It was the 39th game of Senger’s MLB career and the homer came in his 93rd career plate appearance.

-- After allowing three runs across 5.1 innings on Friday night, the Met bullpen rebounded Saturday. Cionel Perez threw a scoreless sixth, Huascar Brazoban struck out the side in the seventh inning and Austin Warren threw a scoreless eighth to set the stage for closer Devin Williams in the ninth. Williams threw a 1-2-3 frame for his second consecutive scoreless outing.

Game MVP: Christian Scott

Scott delivered his second consecutive strong start against the Marlins, allowing one run and five hits across five innings and earned his first major league win after 16 starts.

Highlights

A pair of strikeouts in the opening inning for Christian Scott 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ruAafxvR9l

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

"He's out!" - Bobby Valentine pic.twitter.com/pBRp8oTttf

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Another pulchritudinous catch by Carson Benge!

Lee Mazzilli: "I love Ewing, I love Benge" pic.twitter.com/zhbRyTIvqb

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Christian Scott has eight strikeouts in the first four innings, tying a career-high 💪 pic.twitter.com/9HzsEzFStU

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Mark Vientos brings home two with a double! pic.twitter.com/sHhgOs5ocG

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Marcus Semien drives in Mark Vientos for the third Mets run of the inning! pic.twitter.com/yf4GOpHdg6

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

A.J. Ewing makes the running catch in the gap to get Christian Scott through the 5th! pic.twitter.com/bKi3sQA0IG

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

A 1-2-3 inning for Cionel Pérez in his Mets debut 💪 pic.twitter.com/JPND0Q1k01

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Jared Young's first home run of the year! pic.twitter.com/VexkYji4GT

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Huascar Brazobán strikes out the side in the 7th 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RmzU39jeok

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

HAYDEN SENGER'S FIRST BIG LEAGUE HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/X1PJwasTDN

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Marlins close out their series with a Sunday matinee starting at 1:40 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Nolan McLean (2-4, 4.40 ERA) looks to rebound from two consecutive bad outings while Miami will counter with RHP Janson Junk (3-5, 4.80 ERA).

After a thrilling Friday night victory full of St. Louis Cardinals home runs, 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.

Tony Vitello wants Giants to have more ‘pride' as team drops fifth straight originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants came into Saturday’s game against the Colorado Rockies licking their wounds from a gut-wrenching series-opening loss the night before.

San Francisco went into Friday’s ninth inning with a 6-3 lead, but ultimately lost 8-6 thanks to a couple of massive home runs by Colorado. It didn’t take long for the Rockies’ bats to get hot on Saturday, as they went up 2-0 in the first before tacking on a couple more in the fourth.

The Giants lost 8-3, extending their losing streak to five games and leaving first-year manager Tony Vitello wanting to see more pride in the team’s response to adversity.

“We need to take a little more pride, I think, in how we…It’s ideal to not have last night occur, but bounce back,” Vitello told the media. “I got the vibe like we were in a position to do that. The first six outs we had at the plate would say that, but getting in a hole makes it a little tougher after that.”

The Giants did get some late-game offense from Drew Gilbert, who cranked a two-run shot in the eighth, but it simply wasn’t enough.

The Rockies were peppering whoever was on the mound for the Giants in this one, as they racked up 14 hits as a team, with both Jake McCarthy and Kyle Karros going deep.

The Giants got just 3 2/3 innings out of starter Adrian Houser, as Vitello ended up using three bullpen arms to get through the night.

With yet another series loss taking place for San Francisco, they will have a chance to really show their “pride” on Sunday in the series finale. Veteran Robbie Ray will take the bump, looking to end his own two-game losing streak. As for the Rockies, they are expected to be handing the ball to Tanner Gordon.

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Will Brennan’s most recent stint with AAA Sacramento didn’t last long. A day after the San Francisco Giants optioned the veteran outfielder to make space for the returning Jung Hoo Lee, they called him back up to replace Harrison Bader, who returns to the 10-Day Injured List for a second stint this year. The Giants announced the news on Saturday, stating that Bader’s injury is left plantar fasciitis.

The news isn’t particularly surprising, as Bader exited in the ninth inning of Friday’s walk-off loss against the Colorado Rockies. He appeared to be walking gingerly, and was replaced in center field by Drew Gilbert, who is starting there for tonight’s game. Bader has struggled in his debut season with the Giants, as he’s hit .170/.198/.358 for a 52 wRC+ and -0.3 fWAR. His defense has been decent though, and he’s provided a few highlights, including a pair of grand slams last week. He’s also been hitting a bit better since returning from his first stint on the IL: in 15 games, he hit .222/.250/.519.

As for the left-handed hitting Brennan, this is his third time being called up this year. He’s played sporadically and not well, hitting 2-23 while seeing actions in 11 games, and amassing -0.5 fWAR. With Lee having returned, Casey Schmitt playing almost every day in left field, and Gilbert manning center — and with Victor Bericoto and Jesús Rodríguez on the bench — it seems unlikely that Brennan will see much playing time.

One was the first manager to guide the Mets to consecutive playoff berths and a heartfelt leader of the club’s efforts to help New York heal in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The other was a 1970s heartthrob, the burgeoning star who was the best thing – the only thing, maybe – about a Mets club that endured the self-inflicted “Midnight Massacre,” the painful nickname for the short-sighted 1977 day that saw the incomparable Tom Seaver, as well as slugger Dave Kingman, traded. 

Bobby Valentine and Lee Mazzilli, who roomed together early in their Mets’ tenures, were inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame together in ceremonies Saturday afternoon that neatly covered separate eras in club history, a nifty day. 

It also served as a reminder of how fascinating Met history is, even if it only dates back to 1962. It’s vital that the club continues its recent efforts to recognize it. Stories like Valentine’s and Mazzilli’s are franchise fabric and they’re worth celebrating like this. 

It was fun to relive both of their careers on Saturday, whether it was Valentine’s fake-mustache-and-sunglasses disguise or Mazzilli’s “audacity to do basket catches four years after Willie Mays” had been a Met, as Valentine recalled. It’s OK – Mays was Maz’s hero. 

There were, of course, moments that were poignant. Or hilarious. Mazzilli doted over his granddaughter, Sophia, nearly two years old, who walked onto the infield grass as he delivered his speech. He said he can’t wait to show her his plaque in the rotunda at Citi Field and hear her say, “That’s you, Grandpa.”

“Me, a grandpa,” Mazzilli said in a pre-ceremony press conference. 

“Greatest gift in the world.” 

Both men chuckled over an ad they once did, in full uniform, with Ed Kranepool and Joe Torre for Gillette Foamy. It greeted fans in the subway. “It was really cool,” Valentine said. 

Both also were happy to go in together. It’s clear they share a deep bond and get a kick out of each other. When Mets manager Carlos Mendoza began his press conference – Valentine and Mazzilli were both in the room – by extolling the virtues of both, Valentine marched up to the table where Mendoza sat. 

Once Mendoza was finished, Valentine said to the assembled crowd, “Wow, huh? No teleprompter.” 

Then Valentine seemed to realize he probably shouldn’t be where he was. He asked aloud, “Am I supposed to be here?”

“No, you’re not,” Mazzilli hollered from the back, to laughs. “He did this when we roomed together,” Mazzilli added.

They have been friends since their roomie days in the 1970s when they “never sat in the room at nighttime,” Valentine revealed.

It would be hard to imagine Mazzilli, now 71, as a homebody, considering his outsize impact on the Mets of the late 70s and early 80s. He was a handsome first-round pick from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, who had played in the Gil Hodges Little League and chose baseball over speed skating, another sport in which he was a world-class talent.

Mazzilli was offered $30,000 to sign and ultimately got $50,000 after two months of haggling and began working his way through the Mets system. He debuted at 21 in September of 1976.

After Seaver and Kingman were dealt, “he was going to be the only thing people would come to the stadium for,” Valentine said. “The majority of fans were female, who just came to watch him run around the bases. The fans weren’t receptive to anyone but Lee because the others were replacements for Seaver and Kingman.”

For his part, Mazzilli noted that he learned some secrets of hitting by listening to Seaver and Jerry Koosman detail how they’d set up hitters. Mazzilli went on to become an All-Star in 1979, the year he batted .303 with 15 homers, 79 RBI and 34 steals.

In the MLB All-Star Game at the Kingdome in Seattle, Mazzilli became the first Mets player to hit a home run in the Midsummer Classic. His pinch-hit shot off Jim Kern in the eighth inning tied the score. In the ninth, Mazzilli drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk against Ron Guidry to force in the eventual winning run in the National League’s 7-6 victory.

Did he have a claim on the MVP Award? Perhaps. But it went to Dave Parker, who threw out two runners from right field.

Those weren’t Mazzilli’s only highlights, either. During his second tenure with the Mets, starting in the magical season of 1986, he had several memorable hits. After a pinch-hit, he scored the tying run in the famous comeback in Game 6 of the World Series. In Game 7, he delivered a pinch-hit single that started the winning rally.

Mazzilli even helped that ‘86 team when he was traded away before the 1982 season. The Mets sent him to the Texas Rangers for two pitchers. Ron Darling was one of them and the other, Walt Terrell, was later traded for Howard Johnson.

Valentine, now 76, is a Connecticut native who played part of two seasons for the Mets in 1976-77. But he made his real mark as their manager. He ranks third in team history with 536 wins stemming from his time at the helm from 1996-2002. His teams made the MLB postseason in 1999 and again in 2000. The 2000 team won the NL pennant, the Mets’ first since ‘86, and lost a hotly-contested Subway Series to the Yankees.

Valentine even worked in the minors for the Mets when some of their 1980s stars were learning the game and moving through the system. Valentine, who left to manage the Rangers in 1985, felt “connected” to that ‘86 Met team, even as he ached for his former roommate at USC, a Red Sox first baseman named Bill Buckner.

After 9/11, Valentine was a tireless helper when Shea Stadium turned into a staging area for supplies earmarked for Ground Zero. His nearby restaurant fed First Responders and he and his players tried to offer solace where they could. He’s done plenty since, too.

Saturday, Valentine tried to deflect some of the credit he got for those efforts, asserting both during the press conference and his on-field speech that not nearly as much would have gotten done without the coordinating work done by Jay Horwitz, now the Mets’ director of alumni relations and then their media relations head.

Valentine, like Mazzilli, wanted to be sure folks in his life got recognized for what they had meant to him. Family members of both ringed the podium where they delivered speeches.

Valentine’s shoutouts also included Lou Lamoriello, the Hall-of-Fame hockey executive, who coached him on a high-level team on Cape Cod, which got Valentine looks from big-time scouts. Lamoriello was on hand for the ceremonies, too, as well as former Mets such as Torre, Johnson, Edgardo Alfonzo, Mookie Wilson, John Franco, Al Leiter and Mike Piazza.

Mazzilli said he wouldn’t quite know how the day felt until he had taken it all in. While it was happening, though, it was clear that both men were enjoying it.

“It’s like coming back home,” said Mazzilli, the Brooklyn kid.

You can check out more on the pitching matchup in the game preview here and the lineups here. Join us and discuss the game in the comments below!

Game Info

Game Time: Saturday, May 30th, 7:15 pm EDT

Location: Great American Ball Park, , Cincinnati, OH

Watch: FOX

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

Fernando Tatis Jr. has broken through.

The zero next to his name in the home run column has mired the Dominican superstar's first two months of the season. Despite the fact that his .272 average through 237 plate appearances is on par with his six other MLB seasons, and that the underlying metrics — his 51.6% hard-hit percentage and 75.2 mph bat speed are both in baseball's top seven percent — suggest the power is still there, Tatis just hadn't been able to hit one over the fence.

Until Saturday, May 30.

Tatis got a fastball over the heart of the plate from Washington Nationals starter Foster Griffin in the top of the fourth inning and demolished it. As soon as he made contact, Tatis raised his arms and flicked his bat in the air as the ball towered 451 feet into left field for his first home run of 2026.

Nando is on the board!

Fernando Tatis Jr. CRUSHES one 451 feet 💥 pic.twitter.com/aEcYZ3ODlO

— MLB (@MLB) May 30, 2026

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fernando Tatis Jr. hits his first home run of 2026

Still reeling from losing Graham Ashcraft to the 60-day IL with a UCL strain in his right elbow, the Cincinnati Reds lost another veteran arm from their bullpen on Saturday afternoon.

Pierce Johnson was placed on the 15-day IL with inflammation in his right elbow, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed, and the ripple effect necessitated deeper roster shuffling to help backfill for his absence. Lyon Richardson – who had been designated for assignment by the Reds during the offseason – had his contract selected and was promoted, and to free up a spot on the 40-man roster fellow reliever Kyle Nicolas was DFA’d himself.

It’s yet another disaster scenario for a unit that was already down closer Emilio Pagan. No relief corps in the game today has walked more batters per 9 innings than Cincinnati’s, and that was with their top arms available; now they’re leaning on a unit that up until a few weeks ago was effectively the back-end of their AAA Louisville unit.

There’s no immediate indication of the severity of Johnson’s elbow problem, but it’s certainly not a great sign when the club placed him on the IL with the problem given how little experience there is down there without him.

The good news, if there is any, is that in Richardson the Reds are at least getting a guy who, for spurts, has held his own as a big league reliever. His overall body of work is rather ugly, but that’s not 100% indicative of his effectiveness on many instances. His AAA numbers so far this year aren’t brilliant – he’s sporting a 4.75 ERA – but he has fanned 34 against 14 walks in 30.1 IP and does have skewed numbers after being shelled for 6 ER in just 1.1 IP in his second to last outing. He’s also been throwing multiple innings for the Bats more often than not, of late, and some of his worst outings came in that role – it’s hard to imagine him being asked to go more than a single IP at the big league level, however.

It’s just about time for the Reds to go find some relief help, since they’re burning through their current stash in a hurry.

The White Sox lacked the inured Munetaka Murakami, but they didn’t lack the long ball late, piling it on to turn close game into rout, 7-1.

They say sinker ball pitchers can struggle in the first inning, and Framber Valdez certainly proved them right, chasing a Chase Meidroth leadoff double with two walks, a wild pitch and an Edgar Quero sac fly to put the Sox up, 2-0. Valdez settled down after that, but ran out of gas in the seventh despite having a relatively low pitch count (74 through six) to keep things close despite the toothless Tiger offense.

Anthony Kay sent Detroit down in order in the first and second despite being hit quite hard, but gave up a leadoff homer to .169 hitter Wenceel Perez to start the third to close the gap to 2-1. Against a good team, Kay probably would have had a short day, but the much-injured and generally awful Tigers went 0-for-6 with RISP, so the southpaw made it through five innings on six hits, one run, one walk, three K’s and 84 pitches.

The Sox bullpen was lights-out, with Grant Taylor coming in with two on and none out in the sixth and proceeding to retire six in a row, four by strikeout. Seranthony Domínguez tossed a clean eighth, but with a little help from Sam Antonacci — feel free to ignore all the drunken shirtless idiots in the first few seconds of the video.

Even Trevor Richards managed to get through the ninth on just one hit.

Meanwhile, the Sox offense decided 2-1 was too close for comfort. Quero led off the the seventh with a high fly struck at only 97.7 mph but landing in the seats, and later Andrew Benintendi doubled and scored when Rikuu Nishida picked up his second career RBI with a single.

That made it 4-1 Sox, more than enough of an edge against the Tigers declawed offense, but Chicago piled it up via long balls in the eighth. The first was an 106.8 mph Colson Montgomery solo shot. After a Quero single, Benintendi blasted a two-run shot.

Heck, Benintendi doesn’t hit the highlight reel often, so let’s give him a break here:

Voila! Up 7-1, which is how it would finish.

That’s five wins in a row, taking the White Sox record to a lofty 31-27. The series and the month wrap up tomorrow afternoon, with Sean Burke throwing for Chicago and Keider Montero for Detroit.

Saturday notes…

• SATURDAY IN THE PARK: The Cubs are 0-3 on Saturday on the road this season. They are 0-4 on the road on Monday and 1-4 on Sunday, for a combined 1-11. On Tuesday-Friday, they are 12-5. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE: They are 9-9 in second games of series, including 4-5 on the road, but are 4-2 in second games on the road after losing first games. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• NO ONE LIKES THIS SORT OF LONG BALL: The Cubs have not hit more home runs than their opponent in their last 14 games, since they homered once in a 2-0 win at Atlanta on May 14. They hit the same number of homers in seven games and were outhomered in another seven, by a total of 15 homers. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• HAPP-ENINGS: Ian Happ has homered in his last three games and over those three is batting .467/.467/1.133 (7-for-15) with a double in addition to the three homers, and 10 RBI.

The Cubs lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Cubs lineup.

Cardinals lineup:

Ben Brown, RHP vs. Kyle Leahy, RHP

Ben Brown has done well all year, and his starts have been very good. Especially good have been his numbers away from Wrigley Field — he has a 1.52 ERA and 0.761 WHIP in eight games (three starts) on the road this year, covering 23.2 innings, with no home runs allowed.

You don’t want to hear about his one career appearance (a start) vs. the Cardinals. Here’s the game. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Kyle Leahy was going along pretty well in May, until the Reds hit him pretty hard in his last start, May 23 in Cincinnati (seven hits, five runs, two home runs in five innings).

Leahy has made nine career appearances against the Cubs, eight of which were in relief. And the start was kind of a throwaway gig, three innings in the last game of the 2025 season. No current Cub has more than seven career at-bats vs. Leahy.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Busch Stadium.

Today’s game is on Fox-TV (regional — coverage map, scroll to the bottom of that link). A reminder that if you subscribe to MLB.TV or MLB Extra Innings, you can watch this game via those services even if it’s not on the Fox affiliate in your market. Fox announcers: Eric Collins, John Smoltz and Ken Rosenthal.

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

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discuss amongst yourselves.