Category: MLB

Following a rough start against the Astros on Sunday afternoon in which he surrendered six runs on five hits and three walks in four innings including a pair of early two-run homers, Luis Gil has been demoted to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre. It is the second time this season he has been optioned to the RailRiders this season after getting sent down out of spring training when the Yankees’ schedule allowed for a four-man rotation for the first two weeks. He must remain there for a minimum of 15 days, meaning the earliest he can be called up is May 11th.

The move comes as no surprise given the impending returns of Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole from elbow surgery rehab and Gil’s poor form to start the campaign. Although he appeared to right the ship with 6.1 scoreless innings against the Red Sox at the start of the week, this latest stinker means he is 1-2 in four starts with a 6.05 ERA, 8.43 FIP, -0.4 fWAR, and more walks (11) than strikeouts (9).

Gil’s fastball velocity is still about two mph below his AL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2024. Even more than the velocity, he hasn’t show the ability to command any of his pitches. This means his walk rate is creeping toward a career worst while also giving up almost three home runs per nine innings. He would certainly be served by an extended period to work on his mechanics in a lower pressure environment. As David Cone mentioned on the latest broadcast, Gil is throwing from a lower arm slot and cross firing instead of striding toward home plate, and you wonder how much he is continuing to compensate for the serious lat injury that cost him more than half of 2025.

That being said, it was always inevitable that Gil’s name would be the first called for a potential demotion out of the starting rotation as Rodón and Cole near their returns. Rodón is the nearer of the two to his season debut after an offseason procedure to remove bone chips from his throwing elbow. He tossed 4.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts in his rehab start with the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades on Friday. He will likely require at least a couple more rehab appearances after throwing 65 pitches, but could theoretically be built up to join the major league team before Gil’s option window is up. Ryan Yarbrough could also make a spot-start if needed.

The Yankees are taking it more cautiously with the final stages of Cole’s Tommy John rehab. He has been up and down in his pair of rehab starts to date and will likely be a month behind Rodón’s timetable.

Going forward, it is hard to envision what Gil’s role could be on the major league roster. Will Warren and Ryan Weathers are clearly ahead of him in the rotation pecking order, and assuming health, one of that pair will have to be displaced once Cole returns. Gil’s issues with walks and the long ball make him a less than ideal candidate for the bullpen. And even then, it’s difficult to see him displacing Brent Headrick or Jake Bird at the moment while Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn do not have any minor league options remaining and would have to be DFA’d if Gil were to take their spot. For now, the focus for Gil should be to keep his head down and get his delivery right in the minors.

As the defending two-time champions, the Dodgers don’t exactly need litmus tests.

Still, this weekend gave them a chance to size up one of their biggest fellow National League contenders — and reaffirm their own status as MLB’s foremost World Series threat once again.

After dropping a Friday night series opener to the Cubs that ran Chicago’s win streak to 10 games, the Dodgers bounced back the way title-winning teams are supposed to, cruising to back-to-back victories at Dodger Stadium to rally and take the three-game set.

The series was decided Sunday, in a 6-0 Dodgers win keyed by another pitching gem from Justin Wrobleski and another resurgent day from the club’s relentless lineup.

Wrobleski spun six scoreless innings in his start, despite battling poor command, heavy traffic and a high pitch count early.

The Dodgers (19-9) gave him plenty of support by striking for three runs in the first (including two on a Miguel Rojas double), two more after Wrobleski left the mound in the sixth (which was keyed by a double from Andy Pages and RBI single from Dalton Rushing), then another in the seventh when Shohei Ohtani snapped his two-week home run drought with an insurance blast to the opposite field.

“I think it’s so important when you get good starting pitching, good defense,” Rojas said. “And the last couple games have been good for the offense. We’ve gotten an opportunity to work on the things we need to work on.”

Indeed, it remains early days of the season. Even the Dodgers (and some of their superstar hitters, in particular) are still working through some kinks.

But come October, it’s already looking likely that the Dodgers and Cubs could wind up crossing paths again. Earlier this week, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts predicted the Cubs to “be in the mix” as his team goes for a third straight championship.

“They can really defend,” he said. “And they can really hit.”

For now, however, the Dodgers’ supremacy remains undisputed. Even the hottest team in the majors couldn’t temporarily knock them from their perch.

“[We have a] really good way of manufacturing runs,” Ohtani told SportsNet LA after the game through interpreter Will Ireton. “And we have a really good pitching staff.”

Both were good enough this week for them to come back and take a series from the Cubs.

What it means

For starters, that there was once again a postgame toast in the Dodgers’ clubhouse to celebrate a series win — their first since sweeping the Mets during their previous homestand.

Before these last two games, the Dodgers had lost five of seven, failing to win either series during their recent road trip to Denver and San Francisco. For the first time, there were fears they might enter their first true skid of the season, especially in the wake of Edwin Díaz’s injury.

Two days later, so much for all that.

The Dodgers are now one win behind the Braves for most in the majors. They are also 11-4 on their home field, having won four of the five series they’ve played at Chavez Ravine this year.

Who’s hot

For the first time in a little while, Ohtani.

Entering Sunday, the two-way star was 1-for-his-last-15, had gone six games without an extra-base hit and was mired in a two-week home run drought –– his longest since joining the Dodgers three years ago.

Then, he turned in one of his best offensive games of the season, going 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, a stolen base and his solo home run in the seventh.

“I talked to him a couple days ago, and he said his setup was a little bit off,” Roberts said.

So, on Saturday, he made an adjustment with his batting stance and saw the results immediately reappear.

“The at-bat quality over the last couple days has been fantastic,” Roberts said. “He got his setup, his direction better.”

It will take more such performances for the four-time MVP to get back to his typically atmospheric standards, of course. Even after Sunday, he is batting .262 with an .876 OPS.

However, once Ohtani finds his swing, it usually doesn’t take long for him to heat up. The last couple weeks, the Dodgers have been waiting for it. Sunday, they will hope, is a sign that plenty more is soon to come.

Who’s not

Now that Ohtani has turned a corner, the Dodgers will count on their other superstar sluggers to do the same.

So far, it hasn’t happened for Freddie Freeman. 

Freeman went 0-for-4 Sunday and is now 4-for-23 in his last six games. The last four of those contests have been with Freeman batting second –– continuing the Dodgers’ season-long production problems from that spot in the lineup (which was previously occupied by Kyle Tucker, who has three doubles in four games since dropping down to the middle of the order).

Up next

The Dodgers open a three-game set against the Marlins on Monday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-2, 2.48 ERA) facing Chris Paddack (0-4, 6.38 ERA). Ohtani will also start as a pitcher in the series on Tuesday — notable, because the Dodgers decided against pushing his outing back to Wednesday so he could pitch ahead of Thursday’s off day.

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This series wasn’t going to be easy, we all knew that before it began.

And when Shōta Imanaga had a 32-pitch first inning in which he allowed a pair of walks and three runs, that made the Cubs’ task that much more difficult.

That, and the fact that the Cubs again had RISP issues, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 men on base, led to a 6-0 loss to the Dodgers, and the home-standing L.A. team took the series.

The first two Cubs got on base, Nico Hoerner on a single and Alex Bregman by walk, but they were stranded when Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki struck out and Carson Kelly grounded out.

Then the Dodgers worked those three runs off Imanaga in the bottom of the inning, the key hit a two-run double by Miguel Rojas.

The Cubs again had a chance in the second inning, when Michael Busch led off with a double. One out later, Matt Shaw walked. The runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch, an excellent scoring opportunity with just one out, and Pete Crow-Armstrong then walked to load the bases.

But Nico Hoerner then struck out, losing an ABS challenge in doing so. Nico thought he had walked, and look how close this pitch was for strike 2 [VIDEO].

The Cubs would have had a run if Nico had just laid off the next pitch, which would have been ball 4, but he swung and missed:

Sigh. Alex Bregman then grounded out to end the inning.

The Cubs did play some good defense in this game. Here’s PCA taking an extra-base hit away from Teoscar Hernández in the third [VIDEO].

Imanaga settled down through the fifth inning, keeping the score at 3-0. Suzuki gave Imanaga some defensive help [VIDEO].

Suzuki also made a nice sliding catch in the fifth [VIDEO].

The Dodgers extended the lead to 4-0 in the sixth on an RBI single by Dalton Rushing, and that was it for Imanaga, who threw 100 pitches, striking out six. He also walked three, which is unusual for him. More from BCB’s JohnW53:

This was only the fifth of Imanaga’s 60 career starts in which he walked at least three batters. The last was April 15 of last year. He walked four only once, on Opening Day of last season vs. the Dodgers in Tokyo. This was his 29th start since then.

Here’s more on Imanaga’s outing [VIDEO].

The Dodgers scored a fifth run in that sixth inning, charged to Imanaga, on a throwing error by Kelly. And they added a sixth run, in the seventh, on a solo homer by Shohei Ohtani.

Yacksel Rios, another of Jed Hoyer’s minor-league signings over the winter, threw two scoreless innings of relief, his first MLB appearance since he posted a 37.80 (!) ERA for the A’s in 2023. At this point the Cubs will take any sort of relief help they can get. Rios likely gets DFA when Phil Maton is ready to return, I’d think.

Here’s a second nice grab by Suzuki [VIDEO].

PCA also made a second good catch in this game, in the eighth [VIDEO].

So at least the Cubs outfield defense is still doing its job.

All told, the pitching wasn’t great, but the Cubs also missed several good scoring opportunities in leaving those 12 runners on base. Beyond that I don’t have much more to say about this one — just hoping the Cubs can start taking better advantage of the scoring opportunities that they have actually had. One last note on all those runners from John:

The Cubs had played only 17 previous games since 1901 in which they were shut out and left at least 12 runners on base in a nine-inning game.

The most recent of those had been Aug. 22, 2011, in a 3-0 loss to the Braves at home. The Cubs left 15, tying the record for their most in such a game, set in the first of its kind, at Boston on May 11, 1905.

The last on the road before Sunday had been vs. the Braves, too, by 2-0 at Atlanta on June 22, 2009. They had a dozen LOB that day.

Until Sunday, the Cubs never had been blanked by the Dodgers, home or road, while stranding at least 12.
Besides the two games with 15, there had been six with 13 and nine with 12.

The Reds also lost Sunday (as did the Cardinals and Pirates, the latter of whom lost to the Brewers), so the Cubs remain one game out of first place in the NL Central.

The Cubs head to San Diego to play a three-game series against the Padres beginning Monday evening. Matthew Boyd will start the series opener for the Cubs and Randy Vasquez will go for San Diego. Game time Monday is 8:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

There was a time on Sunday afternoon where the fates seemed to be doing just about everything they could to push the Cincinnati Reds to yet another improbable victory.

That wasn’t true of the Top of the 1st. Reds starter Rhett Lowder was tagged for three hits and a walk in a 30 pitch inning to begin his day, the big swing being a 2-run double off the bat of Kerry Carpenter that nearly cleared the bases. Cincinnati, despite coming into this one with a chance for a series sweep, was immediately in a hole.

Trailing, though, is something that just seems to be part of what this team has become in 2026. Falling behind early and working their way back in gradual fashion is now just part of their ethos. And, once again, Sunday saw them grind their way back with single runs in the Bottom of the 2nd, Bottom of the 4th, and Bottom of the 5th to eventually claim a 5-2 lead as Lowder settled in and once again looked like the budding rotation cog that we know he can be.

Problem was, though, that Lowder’s early grind meant he reached 94 pitches after clearing 5 IP, and that turned things over to the Cincinnati Reds bullpen. Despite their brilliant work to begin this season, Sunday simply was not their day.

Brock Burke managed to scatter a trio of Tigers on the bases without allowing a run in the 6th, though Sam Moll wasn’t quite so lucky when he was tagged for a homer by Hao-Yu Lee that flipped the scoreboard. It was Lee’s first career dinger, but wasn’t the final big blast of the day for the Tigers by any stretch of the imagination. Spencer Torkelson homered for the fifth straight game with a blast off Pierce Johnson in the 7th only for Gleyber Torres to put the game completely on ice wit his 2-run blast off Jose Franco in the Top of the 8th.

That put the Reds in an 8-3 hole that they would not climb out of on the day.

Other Notes

• Nick Lodolo breezed through 5 scoreless frames on his first rehab start with High-A Dayton on Sunday. He was originally slated to only through 4 IP, but was so pitch efficient that they rolled him back out there for another breeze of an inning. If his blistered finger can hold up for another five days, methinks he’ll potentially only need one more rehab start before returning to the Cincinnati rotation.
• Nate Lowe homered again, his fourth of the three-game series. He’s good, the Reds are better off when he’s in the lineup, and I suppose that’s a good problem to have.
• JJ Bleday made his Reds debut in this one with a start in LF. He homered and walked before being platooned with Dane Myers, but his efforts were good enough to take home today’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game. Welcome to Cincinnati, JJ!
• The Reds have a day-off at home in Cincinnati on Monday before opening a three-game series in GABP against the Colorado Rockies. Chase Burns will start the series opener, which is set for 6:40 PM ET.

Home plate umpire Ryan Blakney seemed to be in his feels after Brett Baty didn’t appear to like a call that ended the fourth inning.

The Mets’ third baseman was called out on strikes on a pitch that caught the bottom of the strike zone and tossed his bat in frustration as he walked out of the batter’s box. 

After he took off his batting gloves and helmet, Batty looked back in the direction of the plate and appeared to shake his head, prompting the umpire to shout at Baty. 

“Then challenge it,” Blakney said. 

"Don't look at me"

Brett Baty has a back-and-forth with the home plate umpire following a strikeout pic.twitter.com/naRGIg5Fyl

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) April 26, 2026

That comment prompted Baty to turn and tell Blakney that “I didn’t say anything to you,” which would appear to be supported by the mics that picked up the sequence of events. 

Blakney then shouted back to Baty, “you didn’t need to.” 

“Don’t look at me,” the testy ump barked back at Baty. 

Baty repeated that he didn’t say anything to the umpire and added that it was the umpire who instigated the situation, which Blakney denied despite the fact that the mics picked up him being the first person to say something after the strikeout call.

Eventually,  Mets third base coach Tim Leiper moved Baty away from the area and back into the field for the start of the fifth inning. 

It was certainly an odd moment for Blakney to instigate the argument, though he could have been frustrated after three of his calls were challenged in the first inning alone, including the first pitch of the bottom of the first. Two were overturned.

The introduction of the automated ball-strike system has largely been praised since MLB instituted it during this year’s regular season, but it has also led to some embarrassing moments for MLB umpires. 

C.B. Bucknor has found himself on the wrong end of a number of challenges, and on Saturday, he had six of eight calls that had been challenged by players overturned. 

In an article published last month by the Associated Press, former major league umpire Richie Garcia complained that it was “embarrassing to the umpires that are calling the game.”

“Nobody likes to be humiliated in front of 30,000, 40,000 people,” he said. “What Major League Baseball is saying is: I don’t trust the umpire’s strike zone, so I’m going to use something that’s going to be operated by some computer geek that knows nothing about baseball, and he’s the one that’s going to measure this and measure that because he’s got a Ph.D. in physics or whatever the hell he’s got a degree in.”

The Dodgers took the three-game series from the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, as Justin Wrobleski and the bullpen held the Cubs silent in a 6-0 shutout win.

For a second straight game, Nico Hoerner led off the game with a base hit, and the Cubs put two men on with only one out against Wrobleski. The left-hander got Seiya Suzuki to strike out swinging and induced a ground ball out from Carson Kelly to get out of the two-on, two-out jam.

The Dodgers had runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the first inning after Shota Imanaga walked both Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández, setting up an RBI opportunity for Andy Pages. A sacrifice fly gave him his 25th RBI of the season before Kyle Tucker and Miguel Rojas both connected for a pair of two-out doubles to plate a pair of runs and give the Dodgers a three-spot in the first.

Chicago responded with a leadoff double from Michael Busch in the top of the second inning, followed by a pair of walks to Matt Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong to load the bases with only one out and bring up the potential go-ahead run in the form of Hoerner. Wrobleski got him chasing at a high fastball on a full count for the second out and got Alex Bregman swinging to leave the bases loaded and keep the Cubs scoreless.

It was a laborious start for Wrobleski compared to his other starts in April, as he had a pitch count at 51 over his first two innings. He settled down over his next two innings, only allowing a two-out baserunner in each while tossing a combined 21 pitches. Wrobleski had just five strikeouts over his last two starts, yet managed to strike out five over his first seven outs on Sunday.

Wrobleski later put the leadoff man on in both the fifth and sixth innings, but managed to work around both baserunners to complete another six shutout innings. His four walks on the game are his most in a start since his first of the year against Toronto, but he registered a season-high six strikeouts on a career-high 109 pitches, the most by any Dodgers starter this season.

Craig Counsell decided that he wanted Imanaga back out for the bottom of the sixth inning after keeping the Dodgers silent since the three-run first inning. The decision backfired as Pages and Tucker reached on a double and a walk respectively, and Dalton Rushing picked up his second RBI single in as many games on pitch no. 100 from Imanaga to make it a four-run game and knock the Cubs southpaw out of the game.

Left-hander Hoby Milner took over for Imanaga, and his very first pitch got away from Carson Kelly. Kelly tried to get Tucker napping off of third base, but he sent the ball into the left field allowing him to score and make it a five-run game.

Shohei Ohtani added a sixth run for the Dodgers with an opposite field home run against Miller to begin the bottom of the seventh inning. It was his first extra-base hit in six games and his first home run since he took Jacob deGrom deep on April 12. After having recorded two hits over his last 19 at-bats dating back to Tuesday, Ohtani’s three-hit game marked his first multi-hit game since Monday as well.

Edgardo Henríquez and Jack Dreyer made their second appearances of the series, both working around a leadoff baserunner while keeping the Cubs off the scoreboard. Kyle Hurt came in for his second consecutive appearance, and he needed all of five pitches to send the Cubs to their 13th consecutive scoreless inning at the plate and give the Dodgers their second shut out win over their last four games.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (6)
• WP— Justin Wrobleski (4-0): 6 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
• LP— Shota Imanaga (2-2): 5 1/3 IP, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers welcome in the Miami Marlins as they begin a three-game series at home on Monday (7:10 p.m. PT). While the Dodgers have yet to announce their starter, Chris Paddack goes for Miami.

SAN FRANCISCO — Casey Schmitt did it again.

The day after giving the Giants the lead with a late blast to left field, Schmitt showed off his clutch gene to the Marlins’ bullpen for a second time in as many games.

Schmitt launched a three-run shot to left in the seventh inning that broke a tie and gave the Giants their first lead in an eventual 6-3 win to secure the three-game series.

The heroics ensured the longest start of Landen Roupp’s career didn’t go to waste.

Roupp took the mound to start the eighth inning for the first time in his career and was serenaded by a standing ovation as he walked back to the dugout with two outs.

The walk that ended his outing was only the fourth Marlins batter to reach base against him and snapped a streak of 18 retired in a row.

The only blip on Roupp’s pitching line came in a 29-pitch second inning, when he allowed the first two batters to reach. It looked like he was going to work out of the jam, but after getting Graham Pauley down 0-2 with two outs, the Marlins’ No. 8 hitter punished a curveball over the brick wall in right field that cashed in their only baserunners until the eighth inning.

It appeared the early 3-0 lead would hold up as the Giants stranded runners in scoring position twice in the first five innings. But Rafael Devers woke up with an RBI double to get them on the board in the sixth, and Schmitt did the rest the following inning.

What it means

The Giants earned their second come-from-behind win in as many games to finish the homestand 4-2 and win their third series in a row. San Francisco had been 2-13 when its opponent scored first before prevailing the past two games.

Who’s hot

Roupp put himself in position to win his fourth straight start — tied for the second-longest active streak in the majors — by breezing through all but two of his innings on 10 pitches or fewer.

The 27-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 2.55, the best mark in the Giants’ rotation and tied for 12th among National League starters.

Jung Hoo Lee moved into the leadoff spot for the first time since the opening series of the season and kept on raking with his fourth multi-hit effort of the six-game homestand.

The Giants weren’t able to capitalize on his triple off the brick wall in right field to begin the game, but Lee came around to score — the 100th run of his career — after an opposite-field single in the third inning. He led off the seventh with his fourth hit and watched Schmitt’s home run leave the yard as he rounded the bases.

Altogether, the Giants outfielders combined to bat .367 over the course of the homestand, with seven extra-base hits, including home runs from Lee, Heliot Ramos and Drew Gilbert.

Entering the homestand, San Francisco’s outfielders had been the third-worst group in the majors, measured by FanGraphs WAR.

Who’s not

Willy Adames got his first day off this season. Together with Monday’s day off in Philadelphia, manager Tony Vitello is hopeful the downtime can snap Adames out of an 0-for-21 funk.

San Francisco managed to take four of six games on the homestanddespite getting almost nothing from the three bats expected to anchor the middle of its lineup. Devers’ double that drove in Schmitt and made it 3-2 in the sixth was the first RBI of the entire homestand from himself, Adames or Matt Chapman, who combined to go 8-for-61 (.131) with 23 strikeouts.

Up next

The Giants are off Monday before beginning a six-game road trip against the Phillies and Rays. They took two of three from the Phils when they visited San Francisco earlier this month, kicking off a 10-game losing streak that Philadelphia just snapped out of this weekend.

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Following their 7-4 loss to the Houston Astros on Sunday, the Yankees optioned right-hander Luis Gil to the minors after he struggled on the mound once again.

Outfielder Jasson Dominguez is being called up from Triple-A, according to multiple reports. (Dominguez's call-up could be the corresponding move for Gil, or could be related to Giancarlo Stanton's injury status, as the Yanks said they would make a decision on whether the DH needed a stint on the IL ahead of Monday's game against the Rangers.)

Gil lasted just four innings in New York’s series finale in Houston and allowed six earned runs on five hits, including two home runs, three walks and a hit by pitch. 

“His velocity was there, his pitch movement was there, but, unfortunately, we missed locations and those guys in the other clubhouse didn’t miss,” said catcher J.C. Escarra. “Two big home runs there with men on base.”

Through four starts this season, the 27-year-old is 1-2 and owns a 6.05 ERA (1.34 WHIP) with nine strikeouts in 19.1 innings. Gil has also allowed the most home runs (six), walks (11) and earned runs (13) among Yankees starters despite pitching 12 fewer innings than anybody else on the staff. 

“Just been struggling to get consistency with his, I think, delivery and fastball profile,” said manager Aaron Boone. “Again, we’ve seen flashes of it. It feels like it’s getting better in some ways and then the secondary: some good, some miss.”

The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year began the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre despite having no injury designation but failing to impress the organization enough in spring training, where he had a 4.66 ERA in six starts and allowed 20 hits, including six home runs, in 19.1 innings. 

In one start for the RailRiders, Gil went 4.2 innings and allowed three earned runs on four hits and four walks. Still, the right-hander was called up on April 10 when he made his season debut against the Tampa Bay Rays and allowed three earned runs in four innings during that outing.

Since then, aside from a strong start against the Boston Red Sox, Gil has been the weak link of a very good starting rotation that ranks second in the majors with a 2.90 ERA and who has reinforcements on the way with aces Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon nearing returns from injuries.

“Just gotta pass the page on this one and concentrate on the next one,” Gil said through an interpreter after the game.

HOUSTON — Luis Gil was already on the clock, but the Yankees sped it up after his clunker Sunday afternoon.

Deep in the heart of Texas, Gil got deep-sixed against the Astros and then got sent packing for Triple-A after a 7-4 loss at Daikin Park, as the Yankees decided not to wait around until Carlos Rodón returns from the injured list early next month.

Gil, the weak link in what has been a strong rotation, gave up six runs in four-plus innings with plenty of loud contact, including a pair of two-run homers that put the Yankees (18-10) in an early hole and helped snap their eight-game winning streak.

Equally as troubling as the hard contact was the lack of swinging and missing. The Astros made contact on all 22 of Gil’s four-seam fastballs they swung at. He generated only three whiffs overall on the 34 swings they took.

“It’s tough when you’re falling behind and you’re not consistent with the secondary or that consistent velocity and profile of the fastball to get them off some of the secondary,” manager Aaron Boone said before Gil was optioned. “A combination of not quite good enough command, the stuff not being as good at is when Luis is at his very best. Add that up and you struggle to get that swing and miss.”

With an off-day coming Thursday, the Yankees do not need a fifth starter again until May 5. If they stick to their original plan with Rodón — who is expected to need at least two more rehab starts, the next one coming Wednesday or Thursday — that would likely mean needing a spot start from someone like Elmer Rodríguez. They could also turn to Paul Blackburn or Ryan Yarbrough, who have served as long men in the bullpen, and carry an extra reliever instead.

Gil, who started the year in the minors because the Yankees did not need a fifth starter out of the gates, posted a 6.05 ERA across four starts. His best one came against the lowly Red Sox on Tuesday, when he tossed 6 ¹/₃ scoreless innings, but even then his stuff was not very sharp.

On Sunday — the first start of Gil’s big league career in which he did not record a strikeout — his fastball velocity actually ticked up a bit but still lacked effectiveness. He described the lack of swing and miss, which was a central part of his standout season in 2024 as the AL Rookie of the Year, as “frustrating” and likened it to a “bad slump.”

“That’s what we’ve been working on, to be more consistent executing a good fastball with good velo,” Gil said through an interpreter. “We’ve been working on all that stuff together, to be better at that. When you have a little more velo, you can create more swing and miss. But little by little, I think I’m getting there. Just got to keep working.”

Now, the 27-year-old right-hander will be working on that back at Triple-A.

Gil’s rough start snapped a strong stretch of starting pitching that had fueled the winning streak. The six runs he allowed nearly matched the number of earned runs (seven) the Yankees had allowed in their past eight starts combined.

“Just been struggling to get consistency with his delivery and fastball profile,” Boone said.

Christian Walker crushed a two-run homer off Gil in the first inning — on a changeup down the middle — before Isaac Paredes clobbered a sinker for another two-run shot in the third. Gil gave up a walk and a double to the first two batters he faced in the fifth before Boone decided he had seen enough, with both of those runs eventually coming in to score against Blackburn.

The Yankees, meanwhile, mustered only three hits in seven innings against Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti — one being Aaron Judge’s 10th home run, a solo shot in the sixth inning on his birthday, to make it a 7-1 game.

They later mounted a two-out rally in the ninth to push across three runs, but it proved to be too little, too late.

Despite a terrific outing from Sean Burke, the White Sox couldn’t hit the ball this afternoon, collecting just four singles over 10 innings. Both teams carried zero runs into extra innings, and the White Sox fell to the Nationals, 2-1, in the 10th to collect the series loss.

Bryan Hudson, who opened for Burke, had a clean first frame for the second straight game. Chase Meidroth started with a leadoff single, advanced on a balk, and stole third on a wild pitch with two outs. Alas, it was all for nothing for one of the few White Sox hitters to make it to third base today, as Everson Pereira struck out.

The game moved on at a quick pace, with neither offense mounting any rallies, or landing anything for extra bases. As Burke continued to shut down Nationals batters, Foster Griffin was doing the same for Washington.

However, while Griffin worked at a solid starters’ efficiency (91 pitches over seven innings), Burke again shifted into super-efficient mode, pitching to contact and trusting his defene. Burke threw just four pitches in the top of the seventh, and pitching into the eighth got three outs with nine pitches. Overall, Burke went 7 1/3 innings using just 76 throws. That may have yielded just four strikeouts, but in stifling the Nats to just two singles and a double, who cares?

Nasim Nuñez started the top of the ninth with a single off Burke. Nuñez, who is known for his speed, stole second and advanced to third when Drew Millas flew out to center. Manager Will Venable collected his pitcher, but not before a standing ovation for an incredible outing.

Sean Newcomb came in to face the top of the order with a runner on third and just one out. Wood was intentionally walked, which worked out in favor of the Sox, as the last two Nationals both managed pop-outs to end the threat.

The White Sox ended up having just as frustrating a ninth inning. Everson Pereira singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Richard Lovelady, now pitching for the Nationals, tried to pick off Pereira but instead threw the ball away, allowing the runner to advance to second. After Tanner Murray walked, it came down to Derek Hill with two outs, but he struck out on three pitches and sent the game to extras, 0-0.

Seranthony Domínguez stepped in for the Good Guys, but faced a runner on third with just one out after a productive ground out by Jorbit Vivas to start the frame. CJ Abrams screamed a liner to left-center, which Murray made an incredible diving catch for the out — but a run scored to put Washington up, 1-0. (Murray left the game after a shoulder injury from the catch.) Coming in to pinch-hit, José Tena destroyed a center-cut fastball on 3-1 to put the Nationals up, 2-0.

That insurance run would prove valuable to Washington, as Tristian Peters had an RBI single to send ghost runner Hill home with one out, making it just a one-run game with one out. But Chase Meidroth and Miguel Vargas both went down on strikes, giving the White Sox 13 total by game’s end.

Offense was thin on the ground for the Mariners in their series finale against the Cardinals, but once again the bats were able to produce just enough for a 3-2 win, neatly bookending the 3-2 win from the series opener with a wild, potentially season-altering one sandwiched in between. As Victor Robles would say: sorry ‘bout it, that’s a sweep.

As was the case in the series opener, the starting pitching and bullpen teamed up to hold down the Cardinals offense, although it took Emerson Hancock an inning or so to lock in. After getting a first pitch flyout, Hancock labored through the rest of the first inning, falling behind hitters and giving up some hard contact on the ground and in the air, as well as walking Jordan Walker in a 3-1 count. But Hancock escaped without damage, able to bail himself out of trouble with an inning-ending strikeout on the changeup. Hancock used his changeup heavily today as well as his cutter, backing off the sweeper, which seemed difficult for him to harness. A shot on the broadcast of Hancock being tended to for the team trainer for a blister or torn fingernail might explain that.

Hancock’s stuff might have been too crafty for the Cardinals hitters, as they BABIP’d him to death with a bunch of little low exit-velocity hits. Behold this curséd image:

However, the only damage the Cardinals hitters were able to make out of that was off a solo home run from JJ Wetherholt, who tattooed a Hancock sinker at the top of the zone over the right field fence. Said fence now bears an outline of Luke Raley, who made a heroic yet unsuccessful attempt at the kind of home run robbery that has tortured the Mariners so far this season:

Ahhh you’ll get ‘em next time, Luke.

Meanwhile, the Mariners also struggled to get their hits to add up to anything off Cardinals starter Michael McGreevey, who completed six innings with a season-high six strikeouts. The only damage he allowed was a solo home run to Cal Raleigh, making the curious choice to serve Cal a changeup, a pitch he slugged .500 on last season. Thank you, I guess?

The Cardinals would go ahead in the sixth on a home run from the very annoying Nathan Church, who got ahold of a Hancock changeup he was able to drop the barrel on and smoke (110.1 mph EV) for a solo homer. But that was all the damage against Hancock today, who gave the Mariners and their tired bullpen a solid six innings. It’s especially impressive considering Hancock was working without one of his best weapons in the sweeper, and a testament to his ability to limit damage by limiting the free passes he hands out; last year, Hancock walked 8.1% of the batters he faced; this year, that number so far this season is 3.8%. As long as he can keep batters off the bases ahead of those solo homers and keep the weak-contact hits from stacking by not making things worse for himself, that’s a very different Emerson Hancock from previous years – and one who pushes the Mariners into interesting decision-making territory when Bryce Miller is able to return.

After McGreevey was finally out of the game the Mariners were able to tie it up against Matt Svanson in the seventh. Connor Joe brought some of that BABIP luck back the Mariners’ way, poking a little hustle double into left field, and Cole Young brought in the tying run with a nice piece of two-strike hitting.

This was especially nice for Young, who had been having a bit of a rough game offensively – he recorded the Mariners’ first hit of the day, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double, and then in his next at-bat, he struck out on three pitches in a largely noncompetitive at-bat, stranding a runner, and looking very frustrated with himself. Kudos to Young for shaking that off and coming up clutch, in addition to providing a steady hand at second base.

Also deserving kudos: the bullpen, which provided three scoreless innings between Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, and José Ferrer, allowing no hits and not letting the Cardinals have any breathing room. Special kudos to Ferrer, who earned his first save as a Mariner, stepping in for Andrés Muñoz and not making the moment look too big for him.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals bullpen couldn’t do the same for their starter, save for former Mariner Ryne Stanek, who magically found pinpoint command and struck out all three hitters he faced. But the tax the Mariners offense put on the Cardinals bullpen showed up in the ninth, as the Cardinals turned again to lefty JoJo Romero, who had a 12-pitch outing yesterday. Romero wasn’t sharp, but somehow got ahead of pinch-hitter Rob Refsnyder 0-2 thanks to a disastrous first-pitch strike call from home plate umpire John Bacon. Bacon went to punch out Refsnyder on a changeup that was even further outside than his first blown strike call and Refsnyder challenged immediately, turning a strikeout looking into a 1-2 count. Ref kept battling in the box, taking pitches that were well off the plate and fouling away the one that was close until he got a sweeper right in his happy zone that he crushed for a go-ahead homer.

I wish this clip had the full broadcast video because it’s endearing for so many reasons: Justin “Champ” Novak the bullpen catcher, who catches the ball; Cooper Criswell popping up over the bullpen fence like a wacky waving inflatable arm man to celebrate; Refsnyder forgetting he’s supposed to take the trident; and how happy the whole dugout looks for him. Refsnyder, with his positivity, high baseball IQ, and leadership, has been a quick favorite among his peers, and you can really see how much he’s valued by his teammates by the warmth of his reception. Postgame, Refsnyder gave credit to all his teammates and especially called out Cole Young for his game-tying single while also calling him the best defender in baseball; he also said yesterday’s game felt like a special win for the team. Could this be the lightning moment this season has needed? The Mariners head to cold, rainy Minnesota tomorrow to find out.

The Texas Rangers scored a run but the Orion Arm Athletics scored two runs.

No doubt about it, the Rangers made some mistakes today.

First of all, they played a baseball game while up only one game above .500. As we know, that’s a guaranteed loss. If you’re asking me, given the circumstances, they probably should have just skipped this one.

Secondly, they got a few runners in scoring position here and there, and even had some dreaded bases loaded opportunities. As we know, that only means those potential runs were guaranteed to not score as they did in all but one of nine attempts, with the one success coming on a bunt single that didn’t even score a run. When they loaded ‘em up with no outs in a one-score game, they went strikeout, strikeout, flyout.

Third of all, they had Josh Jung in the lineup which wasn’t great because when Josh Jung doubled twice Josh Jung couldn’t follow Josh Jung because Josh Jung was already on second base so without Josh Jung at the plate, as we know, the Rangers had no hope of doing damage.

Player of the Game: Ironically, the person who perhaps made the worst mistake of the game (outside of Chris Young for signing Danny Jansen) was also probably the team’s best performer today (outside of Jung but he’s been in this space pretty much exclusively over the last few weeks).

Kumar Rocker started the game with two quick outs on four pitches and then walked the next two batters on nine pitches to bring up Carlos “Barry Bonds” Cortes.

Despite me never having heard of this person just weeks ago, Cortes has torched right-handed pitching this season and has feasted on Texas pitching in the seven games they’ve played in the season’s first month so of course, after working the count full, Cortes hit a two-out, two-run triple laser over the head of Evan Carter to score Not-Oakland’s two runs.

From there, however, Rocker settled in nicely and gave the Rangers six innings of two-run ball for an otherwise quality start marred by a bit of wildness or pacificity allowing the wrong guy at the wrong time up to do damage in what would ultimately be the game’s fateful moment.

Up Next: The Rangers will next welcome the New York Yankees to town for the last leg of the current homestand. RHP Jack Leiter is expected to pitch for Texas in the opener opposite LHP Max Fried for New York.

The Monday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

HOUSTON – As good as the Yankees looked during their eight-game winning streak, they ended it on Sunday with an all-around stinker.

Deep in the heart of Texas, Luis Gil got deep-sixed while his previously red-hot offense did not come alive until the ninth inning, resulting in a 7-4 loss to the Astros at Daikin Park.

Gil, who only has a few more guaranteed starts in the big leagues before he is likely to be the odd man out when Carlos Rodón returns from the injured list, did not do much to help his case on Sunday.

The right-hander gave up six runs across four-plus innings with plenty of loud contact, including a pair of two-run homers that put the Yankees (18-10) in an early hole.

Equally as troubling as the hard contact was the lack of swing-and-miss. Gil did not record a single whiff on the 22 four-seam fastballs the Astros (11-18) swung at, and only generated three whiffs overall on the 34 swings they took. 

Gil’s clunker snapped a strong stretch of starting pitching that had fueled the Yankees’ winning streak. The six runs he allowed nearly matched the amount of earned runs (seven) the Yankees had allowed in their last eight starts combined.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Aaron Judge, meanwhile, provided the only offense in seven innings against Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti, who allowed just three hits. On his 34th birthday, Judge crushed a solo home run, his 10th of the year, to get the Yankees on the board in the sixth inning, cutting the deficit to 7-1.

The Yankees mounted a two-out rally in the top of the ninth, with RBI doubles from Paul Goldschmidt and J.C. Escarra and an RBI single from Ryan McMahon. But it proved to be too little, too late.

Gil’s day got off to an inauspicious start, when he walked leadoff hitter Carlos Correa on four pitchers. Two outs later, he threw a 3-2 changeup down the middle to Christian Walker, who clobbered it for a two-run shot that came off the bat at 109.8 mph.

In the third inning, Gil got two quick outs before Yordan Alvarez smoked a single and Isaac Paredes followed by crushing a 95 mph sinker off the left-field foul pole for another two-run homer that made it 4-0.

Then in the fifth, Gil gave up a walk and a double to the first two batters, at which point Aaron Boone decided he had seen enough and went to the bullpen.

Paul Blackburn entered and immediately fell behind 3-0 to Paredes, who got the green light and roped an RBI single.

Walker followed with a double to the gap that drove in two more runs for the 7-0 lead.

Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss announced after today’s 6-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies that rookie starting pitcher JR Ritchie will get his second major league start on Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers.

Weiss also confirm that former right-handed starter Reynaldo López is heading to the bullpen to work out some mechanical issues that are framed as the culprit of his last two sub-optimal starts.

Ritchie made his MLB debut on April 23, picking up the victory after tossing seven innings of two-run ball. The righty struck out seven against the Washington Nationals.

López, pitched in only one game in 2025 after a sterling first season in Atlanta in 2024. The 32-year-old has made five starts this year for the Braves, logging 21.2 innings. However, he allowed a combined seven earned runs in his past two starts – including four in a single inning of work on April 21.

Rehabbing starting pitcher Spencer Strider pitched five strong innings for Triple-A Gwinnett today and could be activated off the IL within the next week. The Braves have not yet announced if Strider will make an additional minor league start.

Ritchie will make his home debut, weather permitting, as the Braves take on a Tigers squad looking to win the American League Central Division.

After a promising 10-8 win over the Minnesota Twins last Thursday, the Mets’ offense appeared to regress back to the doldrums of their 12-game losing streak on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Colorado Rockies 3-1 in the first game of a doubleheader.

The numbers weren’t pretty. The Mets had just four hits off of Jose Quintana and the Rockies bullpen, they went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and they left six men on. 

In both the first and eighth innings, the Mets loaded the bases with one out. But both times, they came away with nothing.

“It’s frustrating, obviously,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “Not having good at-bats and then we had an opportunity with the bases loaded right away and couldn’t’ cash in. Every time you get an opportunity like that, we’ve got to be able to capitalize there, and we haven’t been able to do that. 

“We’ve got to get going.”

Mendoza was asked, point-blank, if the offense is fixable.

“Yes. We’ve got to do something,” he said. “That’s not a good showing. We’ve got to fix it.”

Nolan McLean, the Mets' rising star on the mound, was electric in the early going, facing the minimum through the first three innings. He ran into trouble in both the fifth and sixth innings, and ultimately was pulled with the bags full in the sixth. 

All in all, he allowed two runs (one earned run) on five hits, striking out seven and walking two. 

McLean took the tough-luck loss in Sunday’s first game, but said afterwards that he and the entire pitching staff believe in this Mets lineup.

"The way we see it in the clubhouse is, 'any minute now.' We look at the lineup going out there each day and we know how hard they're working,” McLean said. “It's just a matter of time. We know how good those players are who are in the lineup for us.”