Category: MLB

Welp… that wasn’t fun.

The Philadelphia Phillies demolished the Colorado Rockies 10-1 in yesterday afternoon’s Coors Field opener. An intriguing pitching matchup lies ahead in game two of the homestand.

Following José Quintana’s injury and corresponding move to the 15-day injured list, the Rockies are forced to shuffle their starting rotation during just the second trip through it. Left-handed pitcher Brennan Bernardino gets the starting nod.

Bernardino has pitched a cumulative three innings in relief across four games so far this season, including being credited with the win in the 2-1 extra innings victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. He’s given up just two hits and no runs with one strikeout across those appearances. He (and all of the Colorado faithful) will hope to keep things clean early on.

While Bernardino will take the mound first, Chase Dollander will get a bulk of the innings. Much has been made of the Rockies’ decision to place Dollander in a bullpen role to start the season. The Rockies are committed to that decision and to letting him grow there, even in the face of early-season injuries causing some shifts.

The lineup will look a bit different than yesterday’s. Brett Sullivan will start behind the dish, with Hunter Goodman moving to the DH spot, and Troy Johnston hopping in at first base after yesterday’s DH appearance. Jordan Beck and Tyler Freeman will replace Jake McCarthy and Mickey Moniak in the outfield.

On the other side, the Phillies will also start a southpaw in Jesús Luzardo as they look to add to their three-game win streak. Luzardo took the loss in his first outing of 2026, giving up six runs across as many innings, with two home runs surrendered and seven strikeouts. The Phils will hope to keep the fireworks going after their three-homer and 13-hit game.

A lefty vs. lefty faceoff will dictate the flow of the series. Here are the details on the first night game of the season at Coors:

First Pitch: 6:10 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

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

SBN Site:The Good Phight

Lineups:

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SAN FRANCISCO — The Mets appear to have avoided a worst-case scenario with Juan Soto’s right calf, but his short-term availability remains in question.

Soto said Saturday that an MRI revealed a “minor” strain in his calf and he is evaluating the injury — which he sustained while running the bases during the team’s victory Friday — on a day-by-day basis. He remained on the active roster Saturday, giving him and team officials time to determine if an injured list stint will be necessary.

Soto’s plan was to undergo a strength test on the calf with the team’s training staff before Saturday’s 9-0 win against the Giants.

“I don’t think we’re going to run or anything like that, but we’re going to see how much strength I have and how much I can push off it coming out, compared to [Friday],” Soto said.

Soto, according to manager Carlos Mendoza, will be evaluated Tuesday before the Mets begin a new homestand. The Mets play their series finale against the Giants on Sunday and have a day off.

“We’ll give it 48-72 hours, see how it continues to progress,” Mendoza said. “I was surprised when I saw him today, the way he was moving around, but [calf injuries] are tricky, so we’ll wait and continue to call it ‘day by day’ until we have to make a decision.”

Mendoza noted the team could backdate an injured list stint for Soto to the day after he last appeared in a game.

“We’re going to have to be really careful with him,” Mendoza said. “The good news is how he’s feeling and the feedback that we’re getting from him.”

Soto opened the season with at least one hit in each of the team’s first eight games and owns a .928 OPS with one homer.

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Durability has hardly been an issue throughout his career — he has played at least 150 games in his seven full seasons, excluding pandemic-shortened 2020. Last year, he played 160 games for the Mets after signing a record $765 million contract with the club.

Mendoza said discussions have not started about options to replace Soto on the roster if he’s placed on the IL.

Tyrone Taylor is a defensive specialist with limited offensive upside. Mendoza could also move Carson Benge to left field and begin playing Brett Baty regularly in right, but that would require using Mark Vientos every day as either the first baseman or DH. The equation is muddled by Jorge Polanco’s left Achilles tendinitis, which placed him on the bench in two of the past four games before he returned as the DH on Saturday. The Mets recently signed Tommy Pham to a minor league deal, but the veteran outfielder is still ramping up in Port St. Lucie.

Nick Morabito is considered an intriguing young prospect, but would the Mets want two rookies — Benge being the other — in the same outfield? The same question holds true regarding Ryan Clifford, who would bring a potentially powerful left-handed bat to the lineup. The Mets are carrying Jared Young on the 26-man roster, but his value remains as a bench player — not an everyday option. Young started in left field Saturday. MJ Melendez, who is playing for Triple-A Syracuse, is another outfielder with major league experience.

“I think Juan is one of the key pieces to this lineup, but at the same time this is the type of team that if you look around has a lot of pieces that can go out there and step up,” Francisco Alvarez said Friday. “I think it’s unfortunate that he hurt his calf and it [would be] tough to play without him but if guys step up, I think we can be OK.”

Mets left fielder Juan Soto has a "minor strain" in his right calf, he said after getting an MRI before Saturday's game at the San Francisco Giants.

"Right now, it's just minor strain," Soto said. "Definitely, we're going to be going day by day and see how it feels. Definitely no decisions made yet. We're going to see how I wake up feeling the next couple days and go from there."

Tyrone Taylor replaced Soto in the first inning of Friday's 10-3 win over the Giants. Soto confirmed that he felt tightness in his calf while running from second to third base.

"When I stepped on the second base and I was like halfway to second and third, I felt some tightness in my calf, definitely," said Soto, who singled and subsequently went from first to third base on Bo Bichette's RBI knock that scored Francisco Lindor. "I stopped and tried to stretch a little bit, but it was just getting more tight."

Soto explained his next steps, adding that he is "positive" and feeling "really good" despite the MRI revealing a minor strain.

"Right now, we're just going to get treatment and make sure," Soto said. "We're going to test it, definitely, with the trainers in the training room. I don't think we're going to run or anything like that, but we're going to see how much strength I have and how much I can push off it."

The team is having a wait-and-see approach.

"He's got that mild strain,"Carlos Mendozasaid before Saturday's game. "But surprisingly, when I saw him earlier and the way he's moving, he's in a really good place. But that's a tricky area there. You have to be very careful with him. But the good news is how he's feeling and the feedback we're getting."

The Mets close their four-game series at the Giants with Sunday's 4:05 p.m. finale. New York returns to Citi Field for this week's three-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks, starting with Tuesday's 7:10 p.m. opener.

"We will see, we will see," Soto said of his availability. "Like I said, we're going day to day. Today, we're going to see how we end up before the game, if I'm available or not, and then we're going to see tomorrow."

Soto is not in Saturday's lineup and Mendoza said that they want to give Soto 48-72 hours to see how he progresses before deciding on next steps. 

He is off to an otherwise hot start at the plate, slashing .355/.412/.516 with one home run and five RBI in eight games.

"I mean, injuries aren't good at all," Soto said. "So, yeah, it's kind of frustrating because you try to be out there. You try to put yourself in the best spot possible to be helping the team out there. But things happen. You've just got to take it like a man and keep moving forward."

WASHINGTON –– The Dodgers’ offense kept on mashing Saturday in a 10-5 rout of the Washington Nationals.

But it came at the cost of the regular season’s first injury.

In the top of the first inning at Nationals Park, Freddie Freeman hit a two-run double that scored Kyle Tucker from second and Mookie Betts all the way from first. But when the Dodgers took the field in the bottom half of the inning, Betts was out of the game with lower right back pain –– an injury expected to keep him out for at least the next couple days, and potentially land him on the injured list.

For one day, at least, Betts’ absence didn’t slow down the club’s resurgence at the plate.

After shaking off an opening week slump with a 13-run outburst Friday, they jumped all over Washington’s shaky pitching staff again, scoring nine times in the first five innings en route to a second-straight 16-hit display.

Freeman led the way with a pair of two-run doubles, following his first-inning drive with another in the second. Andy Pages continued his blistering start to the season, going 3-for-5 with a three-run homer in the fifth (already his third of the season) to finish the day with a .500 batting average and 10 total RBIs.

Kyle Tucker also reached base four times, with a pair of singles and a pair of walks. Will Smith had three hits, while Shohei Ohtani and Alex Call added two each.

“Obviously it’s been a lot better the last couple games,” Freeman said of the team’s sudden scoring spree. “The depth of our lineup, our team was on display today.”

That all gave Tyler Glasnow plenty of run support, taking the stress off in his six-inning, two-run, nine-strikeout gem.

But as the Dodgers (6-2) waited to learn more about Betts’ status –– he was scheduled to get an MRI later Saturday night –– concern hung over an otherwise dominant day.

What it means

Betts’ injury aside, that the Dodgers’ offense continues to find its footing.

In a lackluster opening homestand, the team’s lineup scored 23 runs with a .237 batting average in six games.

In back-to-back wins over the Nationals (3-5) this weekend, they’ve already matched that 23-run total while hitting at a .386 clip, including 10-for-25 with runners in scoring position.

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If Betts is forced to miss time, of course, it will create complications. Though he had gotten off to a slow start, hitting just .179, he made timely contributions –– such as a go-ahead two-run homer Friday –– and was flashing more pop than in his career-worst offensive performance last season.

If the Dodgers have to replace him, it would likely mean Rojas and Alex Freeland filling in at shortstop. If he goes on the IL, Hyeseong Kim would likely be recalled from triple-A.

In the meantime, the Dodgers will need the rest of the superstars in their lineup to keep hitting.

The last two days have shown what happens when they can.

Who’s hot

Since it would be hard to pick just one with the way the Dodgers have swung the bats this weekend, let’s go off the beaten path.

On Saturday, the team was 3-for-4 on ABS challenges –– with a couple key early appeals helping them take control of the game.

During the first week of the season, the Dodgers had been fine, albeit selective, when using MLB’s newly introduced system. They ranked eighth in the majors with a 62% success rate, saving most of their 13 attempts for the later innings of games.

Against the Nationals, however, the team used ABS challenges early and often. In both the first and second innings, catcher Will Smith successfully challenged calls that led to strikeouts, getting a called third strike against James Wood and another that put Curtis Mead in an 0-2 hole.

It was the same story offensively, with Call getting a strikeout negated by appealing on a called third strike in the third inning. The overturned decision kept his at-bat alive, allowing him to hit a bloop RBI single two pitches later.

Who’s not

Unfortunately for Ben Casparius and Edgardo Henriquez, they were the only real options Saturday. Casparius gave up a two-run homer to CJ Abrams in an eighth-inning relief appearance, and Henriquez allowed another run in the ninth.

Outside of long man Justin Wrobleski, they are only two relievers this year to have allowed more than one run.

Still, the Dodgers’ bullpen as a whole has gotten off to a strong start. Entering the day, the team’s 2.77 bullpen ERA ranked ninth in the majors –– an early, and notable, improvement from the team’s 4.27 mark last year that ranked 21st.

Up next

The Dodgers will go for a three-game series sweep Sunday afternoon, when Roki Sasaki will take the mound looking to build off his four-plus-inning, one-run start last week. Left-hander Foster Griffin starts for the Nationals. Rain is in the forecast, so first pitch could be delayed. 

WASHINGTON –– It’s a pitch without a name.

A breakthrough development nobody quite knows how to label.

Since the start of spring training this year, Roki Sasaki has been working on a new third weapon to complement his fastball-splitter arsenal. It’s a crucial addition for the Dodgers’ second-year phenom, even if its identity is still being formed.

The pitch is part breaking ball, possessing right-to-left movement and late vertical drop.

But it’s also an off-speed offering, clocking in at the upper-80 mph range as an uncomfortable change of pace to his upper-90s heater.

When Sasaki debuted it in regular-season play for the first time last week, MLB’s Statcast system originally tagged it as a cutter.

But upon a check Saturday afternoon –– ahead of Sasaki’s next outing Sunday against the Nationals –– it’d been reclassified as a slider on the league’s official stats page.

“I think the name will change depending on how much it breaks,” Sasaki said in Japanese this spring. “Personally, I just want to be able to throw it comfortably without it affecting my current pitching motion.”

To that end, the Dodgers have given Sasaki mental cues, instructing him to think like he’s throwing a cutter even if the pitch has more slider-esque movement.

That doesn’t mean, however, people around the team have settled on exactly what to call it.

Sometimes it’s a slider. Sometimes it’s a cutter. And sometimes, it’s an unintentionally-NSFW mash-up of both. (Not a slurve, but…)

“I’m not sure,” manager Dave Roberts laughed when asked what the team’s official term for it is.

“We haven’t seen it enough to know how we’re gonna treat it,” echoed catcher Dalton Rushing.

“Honestly,” pitching coach Mark Prior added, “it depends on the day.”

Alas, Sasaki’s new pitch doesn’t need a specific name –– just as long as it serves a specific purpose.

The right-hander could’ve benefited from a more consistent third alternative last year, when his fastball velocity was down, his splitter command was wild, and he stumbled to a 4.72 ERA in eight rookie-season starts.

Some of that, of course, was due to a shoulder injury that eventually landed the 24-year-old on the injured list. When he returned for the playoffs in the bullpen, his primary two weapons were enough to navigate a relief role.

But now, Sasaki is back in the rotation despite a disastrous spring training, and again battling command issues in his continued transition to the majors.

Enter the new third pitch, which proved surprisingly effective in his first start of the campaign. 

“It was a big step forward,” said Rushing, who was behind the plate for the four-plus-inning, one-run performance against the Cleveland Guardians last Monday.

In that outing, Sasaki still lacked much control. His fastball was over the plate on less than half of 38 throws. Only one of his 18 splitters wouldn’t have been a called ball. And if not for an overly-aggressive Cleveland offense, he almost certainly would’ve finished with more than two walks.

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However, the cutter/slider/whatever helped give him balance. It clipped the zone 13 of the 22 times Sasaki used it. It also got four whiffs on 12 swings, only really getting squared up once when Steven Kwan hit a center-cut mistake for a double.

“He’s still gonna be meat-and-potatoes with four-seam and split,” Prior said. “But (the third pitch) has honestly been a pretty decent pitch for him, even in spring training  … He seems to have a good idea of where it’s going. He can throw it to get back into counts.”

That latter point is the most crucial one.

Whereas last year, Sasaki toyed around with a big-breaking sweeper that averaged almost a foot of horizontal break, his new pitch is more of a “gyro” or “bullet” slider, spiraling out of his hand almost like a quarterback throws a football.

It has less break, moving only a couple inches to his glove side. It has little spin, similar to his fork-ball splitter that practically knuckles to the plate. Yet, it appears to be easier to locate, giving him a more deceptive option with which to challenge hitters.

“The more he throws it in the zone,” Rushing said, “it makes his fastball much better.”

Last year, Sasaki and the Dodgers learned what happened when opposing hitters could sit on his fastball. Thanks in part to its flat shape, opponents slugged .500 against it.

The return of Sasaki’s velocity should help with that. Better command will also make his heater a more potent pitch.

But for now, the new third offering at least gives him something different –– even if it still lacks a designated name.

“We’ll see what the game ultimately tells us as we get more sample size, if there needs to be an adjustment in how we use it,” Prior said. “But right now, whether it’s (because it’s) limited on the opposing team’s radar, or actually comes out of the hand where it effectively gives him some separation and goes the other direction, it’s serving its purpose.”

It was another offensive explosion for the Dodgers (6-2) in Saturday’s 10-5 win over the Nationals (3-5). Freddie Freeman drove in four runs on two doubles in the first two innings of the game on Saturday afternoon in Washington D.C. Andy Pages continued to absolutely crush the ball with three hits including a three-run home run in the fifth inning.

The series win and offensive fireworks were a bit dulled by the early exit of Mookie Betts in the middle of the first inning with back pain.

In their eighth game of the season, the Dodgers scored in the first inning for the first time in 2026, punctuated by Freeman’s two-RBI double off the right-field wall.

The Dodgers offense provided significant early support today, putting Glasnow in a strong position to secure the victory. Glasnow started the bottom of the first with two runs of support, already double the amount of runs the Dodgers offense gave him in his last start, a no-decision. Glasnow pitched well, holding the Nats lineup to two runs on four hits in six innings with nine strikeouts for his first win of the season.

Miguel Rojas replaced Betts at shortstop in the bottom of the first. Betts walked and scored on the Freeman double in the top half of the inning.

Shohei Ohtani barely missed hitting his second home run of the season in the first, but he roped a one-out single against Irvin in the top of the second to five the Dodgers runners at first and third.

Betts left the game with right low back pain which opened the door for Rojas to make another impact. Alex Freeland scored on a Miggy sac fly to make it 3-0 Dodgers.

Freeman made it 5-0 Dodgers with his second two-RBI double in as many innings against Irvin.

After reversing a strikeout on a challenge, Alex Call drove in Pages to make it 6-0 Dodgers. A pre-game scare didn’t affect his first start of the season for the Dodgers.

Speaking of ABS challenges, Will Smith went 2 for 2 on challenges in today’s game. Smith is 8 for 10 this season.

The Nationals got on the board against Glasnow in the bottom of the third on a Luis García Jr. RBI triple. The Nats scored a second run in the fourth on a Curtis Mead double.

Pages, the best hitter in baseball right now, crushed a three-run homer off Washington reliever Brad Lord. Pages collected three hits, a single in the third, a three-run bomb in the fifth, and a blooper single in the ninth. Pages also stole his first base of 2026. Beyond the power display, Pages is currently on a five-game multi-hit streak. 

Pages currently leads baseball in batting average (.500) and hits (15).

Kyle Tucker went 2-for-2 with two walks, his Dodgers story starting off hot. He drove in the 10th run in the seventh with a RBI hit.

The Dodgers bullpen was not spectacular and gave up runs late in the game. CJ Abrams got a hold of a hanging Ben Casparius curveball in the bottom of the eighth to make it 10-4. Edgardo Henriquez allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth.

Saturday particulars

Home runs: Andy Pages (3), CJ Abrams (3)

WP — Tyler Glasnow (1-0): 6 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts (101 pitches)

LP — Jake Irvin (1-1): 4 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts (85 pitches)

Up next

The Dodgers and Nationals wrap up the series on Easter Sunday (10:35 a.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Roki Sasaki (0-1, 2.25 ERA, 1.50 WHIP) makes his second start for the Dodgers. Left-hander Foster Griffin (1-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) takes the ball for Washington.

When one of the worst teams in the majors plays one of the best, it’s fair to expect that the mistakes will be made by the team that lost 102 games last year — not the one that was in the World Series.

Scratch that expectation.

For the second day in a row, it was the Blue Jays making the big mistakes and the White Sox taking advantage. Friday, it was emergency substitute catcher Tyler Heineman blowing a routine throw to first that would have ended the game in Toronto’s favor, and today it was … well, er uh … that same Tyler Heineman making a crucial baserunning mistake that kept Vladimir Guerrero Jr. from coming to the plate with two on and the Sox up 4-3 in the seventh. Then Heineman blew the game open with another terrible throw, trying to get Miguel Vargas out in a rundown that would have ended the eighth but instead extended the lead to three.

Not that the White Sox didn’t do good things without Toronto’s help. Grant Taylor had his second straight, nine-pitch, clean inning as an opener, after which a Lenyn Sosa single, Vargas double and Munetaka Murakami sac fly off bullpen-game opener Mason Fluharty gave the Sox a 1-0 lead. That 1-0 would hold up until the fifth, as bulk pitcher Anthony Kay kept the Jays off the board through his first four innings. The Sox went hitless for four innings against second-man-up Lazaro Estrada, while in the top of the fifth Guerrero hit a 431-foot blast to give the Jays a 2-1 lead.

But the White Sox came right back, as in the bottom half Vargas his his second double of the day off Brendon Little (who came into the game with an ERA of more than 18 and left with one 24-plus), and then Little decided the middle of the plate was a good a place as any to pitch Murakami.

Murakami’s blast was six feet shorter than Guerrero’s, so he’ll have to work on his homer swing.

The middle of the plate created such drama with Murakami that Little decided to try the same pitch to Colson Montgomery. Unlike the two big bruisers, Montgomery was only able to hit it 92.9 mph and 348 feet, but it was enough to clear the wall in right and put the Sox up, 4-3.

The insurance runs came in the eighth after Vargas walked and Austin Hays singled. With two outs, Luisangel Acuña hit an infield single, with Vargas getting caught in a rundown between third and home. To balance things out with his throw into right field yesterday, Heinneman threw the ball into left field this time. Two runs scored, to make it 6-3.

The Jays got two on in the ninth but Seranthony Domínguez got Nathan Lukes to ground out on a pitch around his eyes, and that was that.

Five takeaways from Jesús Luzardo's dominant rebound in Colorado originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

DENVER — In his first start of the season last Sunday, Jesús Luzardo’s outing was hard to evaluate.

On the surface, it looked like he got hit around for six full innings. He allowed six earned runs over six innings. Dig a little deeper, though, and there were positives.

The first two frames were dominant. He gutted through six innings. He generated swings and misses. But when he took the mound Saturday against the Rockies, there was a lot more to like as the left-hander bounced back in the Phillies’ 2-1 win.

His final line? A dominant six and two-thirds innings, five hits, one earned run, no walks and 11 strikeouts under the lights at Coors Field.

Here’s what stood out.

LIMIT THE DAMAGE

Any time you pitch in Colorado, keeping the ball in the yard is easier said than done.

In his last outing, Luzardo got burned on two mistakes. He allowed a two-run homer to Brandon Nimmo and then a three-run shot to Andrew McCutchen. No matter how good parts of the outing looked, it’s hard to win when you give up the long ball.

Saturday, the Rockies rolled out an almost all-right-handed lineup. Luzardo didn’t flinch.

Keeping the ball in the yard was one of the biggest reasons he was so effective last year, when he allowed the fifth-fewest homers among left-handed starters with at least 30 starts.

After his last outing, in which he allowed six hard-hit balls out of 17 in play and an average exit velocity of 89.6 mph, Luzardo limited just about all loud contact. Of the 13 balls the Rockies put in play, only two were hard-hit (95-plus mph exit velocity), and both were outs.

Their average exit velocity against him was just 79.5 mph.

That was the biggest difference for Luzardo too.

“I felt good, just like last time,” he said. “I did a better job of limiting hard contact, keeping the ball in the field.”

LOTS OF SPIN?

That’s what made this outing even more interesting.

At Coors Field, with the altitude, pitch shape can flatten out in a hurry. Luzardo still found a way to make the ball move a great deal.

“They talk about how the stuff goes down here because of the altitude,” Thomson said. “It didn’t look like it to me. It’s as good as stuff as you’re gonna see.”

His sweeper averaged a whopping 2,389 rpm. That was up 126 spins from his last outing. The pitch also averaged 86.8 mph, more than a mile per hour harder than it came out in his first start. That jump helps explain why Rockies hitters looked off-balance all night.

His four-seam fastball saw a similar uptick, checking in at 2,282 rpm, also above where it sat in his last outing. Against the Rangers, Luzardo struggled to generate swing-and-miss with the fastball. On Saturday, he nearly doubled last season’s whiff rate on the pitch. It also played up to 98.2 mph.

The whole mix was sharper. More life and more chase. Colorado never looked comfortable against it.

EARLY AND OFTEN

When you’re missing bats the way Luzardo was on Saturday, getting ahead early can turn a good start into a dominant one.

That’s exactly what happened.

He started 64 percent of hitters with a first-pitch strike. On its own, that’s not a crazy number. His season average in 2025 was 67.4 percent. But compared to his first outing this year, it was a massive jump.

Last Sunday against Texas, that number sat at 44 percent.

That difference played a huge factor. It led directly into his 73 percent strike rate Saturday and helped him stay in control of at-bats all night. Luzardo was not pitching from behind nearly as often, and the Rockies never got many free looks at fastball counts.

Most importantly, Luzardo did not allow a single free pass.

He noticed the difference immediately.

“I got ahead a little bit better,” Luzardo said, “and put guys away later on.”

SLIDER NOT REINTRODUCED

Oddly enough, a number of Luzardo’s sweepers were read as sliders because of the lesser horizontal movement.

It’s not a pitch you saw at all from Luzardo last year, especially after he introduced the sweeper in his first season with the Phillies while working with pitching coach Caleb Cotham.

Of the nine sweepers that did appear as sliders, Rockies hitters offered at the pitch five times and whiffed on four of them. His overall whiff rate was already up in his first start, but Saturday’s outing pushed it to 40 percent. Last year, his overall whiff rate was 30.8 percent.

Luzardo made clear afterward that nothing new was actually added. It was still the sweeper.

“The sweeper, I know, picked up a lot of sliders, but it was all sweeper,” he said. “It is what it is.”

What stood out more to him was the changeup, which he felt had already started trending in the right direction in spring.

“The changeup, we knew, would be a weapon in spring,” Luzardo said. “Maybe not this much of a weapon, but it has been feeling really good. So I’m happy to have it in my back pocket as well.”

THE DEFENSE

To begin the season, the Phillies’ defense behind their pitchers has been shaky. They came into Saturday tied for the second-lowest mark in defensive runs saved at minus-7.

On this night, though, they flashed the leather.

In the first inning, it started with J.T. Realmuto’s arm. The veteran catcher threw out Ezequiel Tovar trying to steal second to end the frame.

In the bottom of the sixth, Trea Turner made a gorgeous sliding play behind second base, spun and threw out the speedy Tyler Freeman. It was one of those Turner plays that looks smoother than it should.

Luzardo also got help from Bryson Stott, Justin Crawford and Adolis García, who came charging in to record the final out of his dominant night.

There was certainly more to like on Saturday, and Luzardo looked much more like the version of him the Phillies expect.

The Braves try to make it (gasp!) four in a row, and three in a row against the Diamondbacks, as Bryce Elder and Michael Soroka square off in the desert.

A slightly unusual start time for a Saturday, rather than the typical 5:10 pm. That’s because today’s game is a Fox Sports national broadcast, so we must all bow to their commercial demands. More irritatingly, that means that, a mere eight games in, this will be the fourth different subscription-based service you need to have in order to watch the Diamondbacks. In addition to dbacks.tv, we have already had Netflix on Opening Day, and Apple TV last night. I know you’ll need to add Peacock to the list in June. I will not be engaging with this nonsense, and so will be following this game purely on Gameday, if at all.

After Eduardo Rodriguez proved his first start was no fluke, with an even better one last night, we turn to Michael Soroka to see if he can reproduce his sterling debut as a Diamondback. Right now, he has a FIP of -0.22. Yes: that’s a negative figure. It’s possible because FIP just goes off things like K-rate and BB-rate. Soroka fanned ten batters in only five innings last time on the mound, while walking one. The joys of small sample sizes. It’d be nice if he could keep anything in that solar-system up, though right now, I’m more concerned about the offense. The D-backs now have a collective OPS of a mere .648. Carroll is our only active player with 10+ PA and an OPS+ above a hundred.

To this end, things have been shaken up a bit this afternoon. Jose Fernandez replaces the woeful Carlos Santana at first, and Adrian Del Castillo makes his first start as the designated hitter. Santana’s .043 average is the lowest for any D-back through ten games (25 PA or more). The previous worst was Geraldo Perdomo’s 1-for-20 start in 2022, and he at least had the ability to draw seven walks. Santana’s much-praised plate discipline hasn’t really been seen, with just two walks and eight strikeouts. I know Torey doesn’t want to pull the plug hastily, but Santana has been such a black-hole on offense, he could be a literal black-hole on defense and he’d still be of questionable value.

As far as regular-season games go, this one is as big as it’s gotten so far for Ryan Weathers, personally. The newest member of the Yankee rotation will pitch for the first time in front of his new home crowd and will do so against none other than his former team, the Miami Marlins. This is not your traditional successful big leaguer who inevitably gets moved to a contender, as he doesn’t fit the timeline of his current team. Sure, the Marlins got younger by flipping Weathers to the Yankees, but they also had plenty of time to develop him into a more established starter and then trade him for a better package. He’ll face his former teammates with something to prove, looking to justify the trust the contending Yankees placed in him.

If all of that wasn’t enough, Weathers faces the pressure of maintaining this outstanding run of form that Yankee starters have showcased to begin the year. Through the first seven games of the year, Yankee starters have an ERA below 1.00—Cam Schlittler is validating all the exciting takes he generated after his first year, Max Fried is being his usual outstanding self, and Will Warren has delivered two productive starts. Out of these four, Weathers was the most unpredictable commodity, and if he can hold his own, this rotation will be in a terrific spot, only getting better as the season goes on and more veteran reinforcements arrive

A bit of interesting information about this game and one that ties into last night’s performance: Historically, Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t fared particularly well against his former team, in what’s obviously not that large of a sample size. Stanton has a .391 SLG in 79 PA against the Fish. Amidst the offensive outburst of an 8-2 win on Friday, Stanton was the only Yankee hitter not to reach base safely.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — New York, NY

First pitch: 7:10 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, Marlins.TV/CBS Miami

Radio broadcast: 560 WQAM, WAQI 710 (MIA), WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY)

Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only), Gotham Sports App

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Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Padres fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

They have only seen it twice this season, but according to this week’s Padres Reacts Survey on Gaslamp Ball, San Diego Padres fans would not be opposed to seeing Mason Miller and his new bullpen entrance more often.

The problem to this point in the year after the first six games over two series at Petco Park is that there have only been a couple of chances for Miller to job from the bullpen to the mound. Of course, there was at least one other opportunity where many Padres fans thought Miller should have been coming into the game, but San Diego manager Craig Stammen said he and pitching coach Ruben Niebla decided before the start of the game that Miller would not throw more than an inning in a save situation. Stammen cited the early time of year as the reason the right-handed flame thrower was unavailable.

With the team on the road, there is no chance Miller will be accompanied by his entrance music, “Blind” by Korn should he come into a game over the next two series. The Padres dropped the first game of their series against the Boston Red Sox but will look to get on a winning streak as San Diego completes the series in Boston and moves on to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates before returning home to face the Colorado Rockies, April 9.

Let’s play two! After the Brewers won what was ultimately a tense game in the first leg of today’s doubleheader, they’ll take on the Royals a second time after a couple hours off for, presumably, pancakes.

Tonight’s pitching matchup was originally scheduled as Milwaukee’s Brandon Sproat versus Kansas City’s Seth Lugo, a 2024 All-Star. But a surprise was announced before the second game of the doubleheader: tonight’s 27th man, Logan Henderson, will start the game, with Sproat following out of the bullpen.

Henderson will function more as an opener than a “bulk” guy today, as he’s still working his pitch count up after he was put slightly behind schedule during spring training by what was called “mild elbow discomfort.” While anything elbow-related is concerning, Henderson did start on Tuesday for Triple-A Nashville. In that game, he threw 45 pitches on his way to three sharp innings: no runs, one hit, one walk, five strikeouts. Henderson, of course, made five excellent starts for the Brewers in 2025 (a 1.78 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings) but spent most of last season in Nashville before a flexor strain prematurely ended his season. This will be Henderson’s sixth career appearance and start, but don’t expect him to throw more than 50-60 pitches.

Sproat was knocked around by the White Sox last Sunday in what was his fifth career start and first as a Brewer. He allowed seven runs on six hits, three of them homers, in just three innings, and Chicago looked almost like they knew what was coming. But if that rattled Sproat’s confidence in himself, his confidence in his teammates should be sky high: while Sproat left the game in a 7-2 hole, the Brewers’ offense scored seven runs late, six of them in the eighth inning, and came from behind for a 9-7 win.

Lugo has made one start this season, and it was quite a good one. Also last Sunday, Lugo blanked the Braves for 6 1/3 innings, in which he scattered five hits and didn’t walk anyone. Lugo isn’t a young man anymore at age 36, but he had his best season just two years ago when he had a 3.00 ERA in over 200 innings and finished second in Cy Young voting. Last season, Lugo was 8-7 with a 4.15 ERA — basically exactly league-average — but a concerning 5.09 FIP. He’s not a big strikeout pitcher, but generally does well keeping runners off base.

Lugo is right-handed, but the Brewers are rotating some players into the lineup for the night game. Gary Sánchez will be behind the plate, Blake Perkins takes over for Brandon Lockridge in left field, and Joey Ortiz is in at shortstop, with David Hamilton moving over to third and Luis Rengifo to the bench. Christian Yelich will remain the designated hitter for game two. Jonathan India and Carter Jensen are in the lineup for game two, with Salvador Perez moving from behind the plate to DH. Nick Loftin and Starling Marte (who is definitely on the Royals), who started this afternoon, are on the bench.

Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, and Trevor Megill all pitched in the early game, so if there’s a save situation in game two, somebody who isn’t necessarily used to saving games will be out there. Ángel Zerpa and Jared Koenig are both available as lefties, but if the Brewers like a right-handed matchup better in the ninth inning, that basically just leaves Grant Anderson. Jake Woodford and DL Hall are also presumably available out of the bullpen. Speaking of bullpens, the Royals’ 27th man tonight will be righty reliever Eli Morgan.

First pitch for the nightcap is at 6:10 p.m., and the game can be seen on Brewers TV.

Nathaniel Lowe posted a 122 OPS+ in nearly 2600 PA for the Texas Rangers across four full seasons after coming over from the Tampa Bay Rays. In that time he was valued at 11.5 bWAR, won a Gold Glove, a World Series, and a Silver Slugger Award – the latter coming during a remarkable 2022 season in which he hit 26 homers and .302/.358/.492 (139 OPS+) in 645 PA.

He’s still just 30 years old. While his stint with the Washington Nationals to begin a 2025 season after being dealt away from the Rangers was unlike him (88 OPS+), he rebounded to hit a much more Lowe-esque .280/.370/.420 in 119 PA with the Boston Red Sox to finish the year.

He’s a pretty damn good hitter still, I believe. And the Cincinnati Reds got him for a song in free agency over the winter, as he landed on a minor league deal with an invite to spring camp and a guarantee of just over $2 million bucks if he made the big league roster – which he did.

He’s going to have a place on this roster at some point that’s more obvious and a better fit than right now, I can guarantee it. He’s a proven left-handed bat with a long, long track record of hitting well against RHP, and that’s something the Reds simply do not have on the roster in spades. Elly De La Cruz is, we know, but beyond that we’re looking at a pretty clearly post-peak TJ Friedl and…Will Benson?

So while he’s been mostly relegated to bench-bat status to begin 2026 (thanks to Sal Stewart rightfully getting run at 1B and Eugenio Suarez deserving at bats somewhere, too), Lowe’s going to fit in somehow, some way before this 162-game grind comes to a close.

Perhaps that’s in a role like where he’ll start against his old club Texas on Saturday at DH. Suarez is displacing Ke’Bryan Hayes at 3B for another game, as Hayes still searches for some semblance of offense. Despite Cincinnati oddly betting big on Hayes’ defense being able to make up for the fact that he’s been the most punchless bat in baseball for years (and the long-term contract that is on their books for it), there’s a good argument to be made that getting Suarez time at 3B and Lowe in the lineup at DH makes the Reds a better overall team than Hayes at 3B, Geno at DH, and Lowe sitting on the bench.

At least, that’s what I pretty much think, and we’ll get another look at it against RHP Kumar Rocker and the Rangers Saturday evening.

The Hayes thing is something the Reds will obviously continue to work on seeing as he’s under contract for years beyond 2026. For now, though, it’s worth finding out if the former Rangers 1B who fell in their lap for dirt cheap can make them significantly better in the short term, and that’s what we’ll get a look at today.

Here’s how Cincinnati will line up for Rhett Lowder’s second start of 2026:

Cincinnati Reds @ Texas Rangers

Saturday, April 4, 2026, 6:05 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / RSN, Victory+)

The Shed

RHP Rhett Lowder vs. RHP Kumar Rocker

Go Rangers!