Category: MLB

Ben Rice and Aaron Judge. 

“That’s a pretty good combo there,” Aaron Boone said. 

That combo has been in the middle of everything early on for the Yankees’ offense, and that was again the case during Monday night’s win over the Rangers. 

After Jack Leiter breezed his way through the first two innings, Rice was able to break through, crushing a first pitch fastball the other way to deep left-center. 

The blast left the bat at a whopping 106.9 mph and traveled 404 feet to the deepest part of the park. 

“Man, that ball was pummeled,” Boone said. 

“I didn’t think it was going to go out so I was running hard, but it was cool to see one go out that way,” Rice added. 

The 27-year-old lefty continued his spectacular start to the season, pushing him into a tie with Judge for second in the league and the team-lead for homer, though it was short-lived. 

Judge regained the advantage over his slugging teammate just five pitches later, as he laced a 3-2 curveball 113 mph over the right-field fence for his 11th homer and the Yanks first back-to-back jacks of the season.

It was Judge’s eighth blasts over his last 15 games. 

“I couldn’t let him catch me,” the captain joked. “I had to make sure I got one after that.”

“Just trying to keep him honest, keep him motivated,” a smiling Rice added. 

Friendly competition aside, the two entered some prestigious company, joining Yogi Berra and Mikey Mantle as the only pair of teammates in franchise history with 10+ homers in the first 29 games of the season.

They are also just the third duo in MLB history to reach that mark during the month of April.   

We already know what Judge is capable of, but having the scorching-hot Rice hitting around him only makes this Yankees lineup even scarier moving forward. 

“Hitting right behind him now, it makes my job easier,” Judge admitted.

“I enjoy hitting in the order with him,” Rice added. “Whether I’m in front of him or behind him, I think there’s different scenarios where either way works, but anytime I could be near him in the lineup is a good one.”

ARLINGTON, Texas — After getting 72 hours to see if his calf could make enough improvement, Giancarlo Stanton still could not avoid the injured list.

The Yankees DH is headed for the 10-day IL after an MRI on Monday revealed a “low-grade” right calf strain, manager Aaron Boone said after a 4-2 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

“Doesn’t look too serious, but enough to not want to wait a couple more days,” Boone said. “So we’ll see what we have as the week unfolds.”

The 36-year-old Stanton, who has been plagued by soft-tissue leg injuries in recent years, sustained the strain Friday night in Houston while jogging from first to second base and eventually exited the game after reaching third.

The Yankees are hoping that he came out before the calf injury turned into something more severe, but it will still knock Stanton out at least until next Tuesday.

The Yankees called up Jasson Domínguez earlier on Monday and started him at DH against Rangers righty Jack Leiter.

With Anthony Volpe potentially returning from the IL as soon as Friday, it remains to be seen whether Domínguez will get a longer stretch to fill the DH role while Stanton is sidelined.

Boone said it “could be” just a minimum 10-day stint, but he did not want to put a timetable on it.

Stanton was batting .256 with a .724 OPS, three home runs and 14 RBIs through 24 games.

“It’s [a] huge [loss],” Aaron Judge said. “He’s a big force in the middle of our lineup. Big RBI production. But I’m hoping it’s a small stint. He was able to catch it early hopefully and he’ll be back out there.”

For the second time this year, Aaron Boone had to have a tough conversation with Luis Gil.

Both conversations centered on his demotion to Triple-A.

Another rough outing against the Astros exposed areas where the former AL Rookie of the Year needs work, which he will address in the minors.

“I would say he took it well. I think he was clear-eyed,” Boone said Monday at Globe Life Field. “I feel good about what his focus is going to be going down there. As we’ve tried to get him back to that form that we’ve seen him at, he’s done a lot of the things that have moved the needle in a lot of ways, with his winter program. Physically, he’s in some of the best physical conditioning and strength of his life. He’s a young man still.

“I think the best thing for him right now is to go down there and hopefully continue to work and hopefully string together some starts in a less-pressurized situation that gets him on track to being the guy he can be.”

Left unsaid is that the clock may be running out on Gil’s chances of impacting the rotation this season.

Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole are on the way back from the injured list, both expected to return at some point in May, while the Yankees also have top pitching prospects knocking at the door in Triple-A, including Elmer Rodríguez and Carlos Lagrange.

For now, the Yankees will use someone other than Gil by the time they next need a fifth starter (by May 5 at the latest).

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It could be Rodríguez, or perhaps a bullpen game started by one of their long men, Ryan Yarbrough or Paul Blackburn.

But it will not be Rodón, who still needs at least two more rehab starts, the next one coming Thursday at Double-A Somerset (with Cole making his third start there Wednesday).

Gil, meanwhile, is headed back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after starting the season there.

He is still trying to rediscover the consistent life on his four-seam fastball, which is not generating close to the whiff rate it once did when he was at his best (9.5 percent this season, 28.5 percent in 2024).

“We’ve seen improvements in some of his work, but it’s about getting the fastball/slider/changeup now all a tick better,” Boone said. “Because once they all get a tick better, then they all help each other. It’s just been a little short there and a little inconsistent.”

Anthony Volpe will play rehab games Tuesday and Wednesday at Double-A Somerset, after which the Yankees will reevaluate his status — with the potential of him rejoining them by Friday’s series opener against the Orioles in The Bronx.

Paul DeJong informed the Yankees that he is planning to opt out of his minor league deal by the end of the month if he is not promoted to the big leagues, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported Monday.

The veteran infielder has hit .213 with a .900 OPS and six home runs in 22 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

But barring an injury at the big league level — especially with Volpe on the verge of returning from the injured list — the Yankees are unlikely to call DeJong up.

Hey, 13-15… that’s… not so bad, right? The past decade or so of Giants Baseball has — except for that one time — basically conditioned us to expect and embrace mediocrity and here we are, paired again with a familiar friend. That’s actually preferrable to the vibes — nay, the objective reality — that followed the first week of the season, when it looked like everyone in the organization was in over his head. The Giants are basically playing a lot closer to expectations now and, well, even if you don’t agree with what those were heading into the season, perhaps you’d admit that it’s a far better place to be than where some other teams are right now.

In the offseason, the New York Mets drastically retooled their roster and the results have been disastrous: 9-19 with a 12-game losing streak. The Phillies basically stood pat and the results have been disastrous: 9-19 with a 10-game losing streak. The Royals tried to build off their nice 2025 with some tinkering at the margins and the results have been disastrous: 11-17 with an 8-game losing streak. The AL pennant winner Blue Jays are 12-15 and the Boston Red Sox, primed to be a top team this season, are just 11-17 and on Sunday they liquidated their entire coaching staff. Finally, the Houston Astros have far too many pitching injuries to list to go with an 11-18 record.

On the other side of surprise ledger, there are the Reds at 18-10 and the Pirates 16-12 while the Padres are not just holding strong in second place but pushing the Dodgers for the top of the NL West with their 18-9 record.

That’s 9 teams that are not where people expected them to be before the season. The Giants, though, are pretty much rolling along according to plan. For the purposes of the postseason race, would you take the Giants against this field going forward?

There are plenty of compelling reasons to answer YES:

• Willy Adames, the notorious slow starter, is off to merely a slow-ish start.
• Rafael Devers will almost certainly hit better than this going forward, even if that might be closer to the 10-20% better than league average range.
• Logan Webb will almost certainly get rolling and solidify that top of the Giants rotation.
• If I list out the bullpen, it suddenly doesn’t sound all that bad: Erik Miller, Keaton Winn, Caleb Kilian, Ryan Walker, Blade Tidwell, Matt Gage. If you want to list R**n B*r*ck* here along with that group, go right ahead, but I will not participate in such perversion.
• Luis Arraez is hitting and fielding like an All-Star second baseman.
• Casey Schmitt is either real, real hot, or excellent trade bait.
• Jung Hoo Lee and Landen Roupp look like the sort of load-bearing players every good team needs. Think the 2026 versions of 2010’s Andres Torres and Jonathan Sanchez.
• Bryce Eldridge hasn’t even been called up yet.
• And, for that matter, neither have any of the starring prospects the Giants have going for them right now.
• The Giants’ pitching staff is much closer to being a top 15 pitching staff than a bottom third, according to the advanced metrics. They’ve got 65 more home games to really goose those numbers and create better luck for stronger W-L results.
• Speaking of W-L records, I had tormented you all with a couple of posts about the history of Giants teams that have started 3-7 or 8-12, and I’m here to deliver slightly better news in that regard: 13-15 teams have usually wound up okay. The 2024 squad was 80-82, sure, but the 2011 team went 86-76 and before that the 1988 team was 83-89. The worst results were in 1979 (71-91) and 1956 (67-87).

But if you remain skeptical of the Giants this season — or, really, just believe that a lot of these surprisingly bad teams will be able to turn things around just as the Giants did already in April — there are perfectly valid data points to support the position.

• They have the fourth-most difficult schedule remaining. The only soft month (on paper, anyway) is in September.
• The top 10 most difficult remaining schedules belong to National League teams, so, it’s going to be a tough summer no matter how you slice it. Even the Rockies might prove a challenge going forward.
• The Giants are essentially one injury away from having a bad bullpen, a bad rotation, or a bad lineup, which puts a lot of pressure on the aforementioned prospect depth to perform at or better than the level of player they’re replacing. Sure, maybe Carson Seymour could be better than Adrian Houser, but how much better? He seems better suited as a reliever. Bryce Eldridge would almost certainly be an upgrade over Rafael Devers today, but over the rest of the season? Not sure about that. Will Bednar or Wilkin Ramos or Sam Hentges or Gregory Santos might be solid Blade Tidwell fill-ins if he gets bumped to the rotation at some point, but it’s iffy.
• Besides, it’s highly unlikely that the field remains in their present state. Obviously, the focus here is on the Giants and who they’re competing with for a postseason spot, but just taking the notion on its face, is it likely that all of the Royals, Blue Jays, Astros or Red Sox will remain big stinking losers over the next five months? Doubtful. At least a couple of those teams will turn things around (Boston is already 2-0 with their new coaching staff). It seems unlikely that the Mets and Phillies turn around their seasons, but you know, stranger things have happened. Although, seriously, 9-19s in the first 28 games has happened 118 times in MLB history and only 7 times has one of those teams had a winning season:
  • 1925 Detroit Tigers: 81-73-2
  • 2001 Chicago White Sox: 83-79
  • 1996 Boston Red Sox: 85-77
  • 2024 Houston Astros: 88-73 (Division Champ)
  • 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates: 88-74 (Division Champ)
  • 1965 Pittsburgh Pirates: 90-72
  • 1914 Boston Braves: 94-59-5 (Won World Series)
• Then there are the teams right there in the middle with the Giants: will the Marlins be spoilers all year long? How about the Rockies? Is the NL Central for real? All five teams have winning records. That includes the perennial losers the Pittsburgh Pirates along with the rebuilding St. Louis Cardinals.

It’s not that the field is wide open so much that there’s a lot more uncertainty in the system than we might’ve expected even at this point in the season. Last year on this exact date, the Mets were 19-9 and the Giants were leading the NL West at 19-10. Only 2 of the 5 NL Central teams had winning records. And, by the way, the Brewers, who racked up the most wins last season, were just 14-15 (they’re 14-13 today)

So, it’s still early, but the Giants have shown a bit more gumption and perseverance than some other teams with even greater expectations. The Giants have played their way back into a decent spot for competing over the next five months. They still don’t have the most talented bunch when compared to a lot of teams out there, though, so, given that, if you had to make a final decision today, would you rather be in a position of one of the other teams (who aren’t the Dodgers, Yankees, or Cubs) or roll the dice and see if the Giants really have righted the ship?

While the Yankees’ Monday night game in Texas was never a blowout, much of it felt like it was trending towards a fairly comfortable Bombers win. Ben Rice and Aaron Judge continued to be stalwarts in the Yankees’ lineup, each going deep to help build up a lead. Meanwhile on the mound, starter Max Fried was pretty stellar. He ended up going six innings, keeping the Rangers off the board, having allowed four hits and two walks. One of the runners he allowed even ended up the victim of one of his trademark pickoffs.

However, after Fried departed, the bullpen let things get way too close for comfort, as is they tend to do. In both the eighth and ninth innings, Texas brought the tying run to the plate. In the ninth, they even had the winning run up.

Eventually though, the bullpen got the required outs, as the Yankees picked up yet another victory on their road trip, downing the Rangers 4-2.

After getting kept off the board in the first two innings, it seemed like the Yankees had missed a chance in the third when José Caballero got caught trying to steal second for the second out of the inning. However, Trent Grisham kept the inning alive with a single that deflected off pitcher Jack Leiter and to safety. Rice and Judge then went back to back, drawing first blood on the game.

Rice’s blast tied Judge for the team lead with 10, and amusingly, the dead heat lasted only a couple moments because Judge followed with his own clout.

The following inning Jazz Chisholm Jr. got in on the action and continued his recent run with another homer.

Fried exited after six innings, as the Yankees went to the bullpen to start the seventh. That was also where the shutout ended. Camilo Doval came in and allowed a one-out solo home run to Joc Pederson for Texas’ first run of the game.

Tim Hill came in for the eighth and ran into some trouble. He issued walks to Ezequiel Duran and Josh Jung, allowing the Rangers to bring the tying run to the plate. Said tying run came up in the form of Corey Seager, who Hill got to ground out, but it was a bit of a hot shot.

With David Bednar on the hill, the ninth then got off to another scary start. Jake Burger reached on what was ruled a single to start the inning, after Chisholm got to a grounder but didn’t have much of a play on and threw wide. Pederson then seemingly also reached in not unsimilar circumstances, but Chisholm successfully threw to first on that play and on review, it turned out that the throw beat Pederson to the bag.

Bednar than came back and struck out Kyle Higashioka, but things got even closer after that.

After Josh Smith hit yet another grounder to Chisholm, the second baseman committed an error after booting it. Alejandro Osuna came up next and dinked a single into center. That scored one run and brought the potential winning run to the plate. Bednar finally managed to finish things off there, inducing a grounder to short that José Caballero safely fielded and threw to second for the final out.

With that, the Yankees bounced back from their Sunday loss and have now won nine of their last ten. They’ll try to keep that going tomorrow, when the Yankees and Rangers will continue their series tomorrow night at 8:05 pm ET. Cam Schlittler and Jacob deGrom are expected to be the starters for that one.

Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Judge is no stranger to showing up next to the all-time greats in the Yankees record book.

Now he is bringing Ben Rice with him.

Rice and Judge crushed back-to-back homers in the third inning Monday night, joining select Yankee company and providing the jet fuel for a 4-2 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

With Rice’s 10th home run of the year and Judge’s 11th, they became only the second pair of Yankees teammates to each hit 10-plus home runs in the team’s first 29 games of a season, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.

The other was Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle in 1956.

“I’m glad I don’t have to face them, let’s just put it that way,” said Max Fried, who delivered six more shutout innings. “Those are two of the best hitters in the game.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr. also homered, continuing to heat up, as the Yankees (19-10) won for the ninth time in their past 10 games.

Judge has had a few different wingmen over the years, including Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto, but now Rice looks like the latest as the two sluggers have been on a tear to start the season — their combined 21 home runs more than the Giants, Brewers, Mets and Red Sox each have as a team.

Judge’s long ball was just part of his big night, as he added a pair of doubles and was hit by a pitch, raising his OPS to 1.010 — which still trails Rice’s 1.191, both in the top four of the majors.

“Tremendous,” manager Aaron Boone said of the duo. “Obviously Benny’s off to an amazing start. Judgey’s a ho-hum 11 homers already. Maybe his best game of at-bats tonight, where he’s on all four times, stings two doubles, smokes the homer. It’s a pretty good combo there.”

At least for a few minutes, Rice tied Judge for the team lead in homers when he crushed a two-run shot off Jack Leiter in the third inning.

The first baseman went the other way for a 404-foot blast, showing impressive opposite-field power for his sixth home run in his past 11 games.

Judge then one-upped Rice and clobbered a 414-footer at 113 mph off the bat, landing right around where his record-setting 62nd home run did in left field here in 2022.

“Man, [Rice’s] ball was pummeled,” Boone said. “This is a ballpark, they’ll tell you, it doesn’t yield a lot of home runs. To hit a line drive into the bullpen the other way, impressive. The only thing more impressive was the [113] breaking ball that Judgey rifled into the seats right after him.

“That was a little bit of a, ‘Hold [my] beer’ moment.”

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Rice said that after Judge got back to the dugout, the three-time AL MVP joked, “I’m not going to let Benny catch me.”

“So just trying to keep him honest, keep him motivated,” Rice said with a grin. “He’s getting a little complacent, so.”

Judge said he has been most impressed by the consistency of Rice’s at-bats.

“It’s must-watch TV at this point,” Judge said. “Benny Rice has been our sparkplug all year and he’s going to continue to do that.”

An inning later, Chisholm joined the home run parade, swatting his third in the past five games — after going 23 games without one to start the year — to put the Yankees ahead 4-0, marking the third time in the last four games that the Yankees hit at least three home runs.

That was plenty of support for Fried, who did not allow a run for the fourth time in seven starts this season.

Coming off eight shutout innings against the Red Sox, Fried turned in six scoreless frames against the Rangers (14-15) in which he scattered four singles and two walks while striking out five.

He also became the fourth straight Yankees starter to record a pickoff, which has only been done one other time in franchise history.

“We worked really hard on it in spring training and we’ve been executing well so far,” Fried said. “Really proud of them and I know they’ve been taking it very seriously.”

Rays sideline reporter Ryan Bass is being praised for stepping in to brighten a young Guardians fan’s night after she had a home run ball wrestled away from her by a grown man in an embarrassing display during Monday’s game against Cleveland.

The man eventually gave the ball back to the young girl several innings later, Nikki DeVoe, the girl’s mother, revealed in a Facebook post late Monday night.

The moment was captured by the Rays broadcast during the bottom of the fifth inning after the Guardians’ Daniel Schneemann hit a two-run home run to right field at Progressive Field.

The adult fan bobbled the catch of the home run, and it landed right near a young girl, who was coming down the steps to try and get the souvenir — leading the man to wrestle the ball away from her while it was on the ground. 

After a grown man wrestles a HR ball away from a little girl, @Ry_Bass is there to make the situation right.

to my guy. pic.twitter.com/jan6BDmWfG

— Evan Closky (@ECloskyWTSP) April 27, 2026

The scene left Rays broadcasters Andrew Freed and Brian Anderson stunned. 

One of the broadcasters, while on air, implored, “Give that ball back.”

That’s when Bass sprang into action to make the sad situation a bit better, later appearing in the outfield stands with a baseball for the girl — bringing a smile to her face before she began to cry after Bass walked away. 

“Just exercising all of that bonus girl dad energy,” Bass posted on X while re-sharing a clip of the exchange. 

He appeared to have also gone back and taken a photo with the young Guardians fan, her mom and her brother, as the two siblings smiled and each held up baseballs. 

“Baseball is the best! What a sweet little family,” he wrote on social media.

The Rays broadcast reported seeing the girl’s brother attempt to go up to the man and ask for the ball back for his sister, and DeVore later confirmed in the social media post that it indeed took place.

“You know my son went to ask him for the ball, which was so brave,” she wrote in the post.

DeVore used the post to express her profound gratitude for the kindness that she and her family received during the ordeal.

In particular, she thanked Bass.

“I just have to say thank you to Tampa for broadcasting it, when Cleveland broadcast cut to puppies rather than show the man stealing the ball from a child,” she wrote. “child. I cannot thank Ryan and Tampa enough for making things right. Thank you all for looking out for ALL young baseball fans. It is top notch sportsmanship. My daughter and I cried happy tears. I am so proud of my kids for how they handled tonight, and so proud of Tampa and its fans for standing up for my child.

“The pressure resulted in the man giving her the home run ball back 4-5 innings later towards the end of the game. It wasn’t the same but we appreciated him doing the right thing. But we appreciate all of you even more.”

The incident on Monday over the ball is the first viral moment of such magnitude this baseball season.

Last season, an unidentified woman went viral after she berated a father for a Harrison Bader home run ball that he was giving to his son during a Phillies-Marlins game in Miami on Sept. 5. 

The Rays went on to win the game 3-2.

The Yankees will officially be without Giancarlo Stanton for the next few games. 

The slugger is hitting the IL with a low-grade calf strain, Aaron Boone announced following Monday's win. 

Boone had said pregame that the team wasn't sure if Stanton would have to be forced to the sidelines, as they were still awaiting results from an MRI on that right calf. 

Those tests appear to have confirmed the prognosis, and he'll now be down at least 10 days. 

Boone wasn't ready to put an exact timeline on a potential return to the lineup just yet, but he did share that the team is optimistic Stanton shouldn't miss too much time.  

"Doesn't look too serious, but enough to to not want to wait a couple more days," he said. "We'll see what we have as the week unfolds -- hopefully not too long, but we'll see."

For now, recently recalled youngster Jasson Dominguez figures to have a massive opportunity to show he deserves to stick back up with the big-league club. 

Dominguez has been on-fire to start the season down in Triple-A, and he carried over that success on Monday, picking up a knock in four at-bats in his first game back in the majors. 

He's set to start the next two games in Texas with righties on the mound, then Boone will take it from there. 

While Dominguez served as the DH on Monday, the skipper expects to get him some outfield reps during the week.

"You call up a guy like Dominguez who can DH, play some outfield for us, it's gonna be huge," Aaron Judge said. "He's been raking in Triple-A. He's a guy who upset not making the team out of camp, and I think he's gonna show up here ready to prove some people wrong and kind of send a message, so I'm excited about it."

The Texas Rangers scored two runs but the New York Yankees scored four runs.

In the span of four hitters between the third and fourth innings, the Yankees hit three home runs off an otherwise cruising Jack Leiter, two of them with two outs in the third and one to lead off the fourth.

Suddenly and without warning it was a 4-0 game and it seemed quite unlikely that they’d score more than that against Max Fried (and they didn’t) so here we are with the Rangers below .500.

I don’t want to research how many runs the Rangers have allowed with two outs because I’m not donating more time to them tonight but it surely feels like it’s been like 90%.

Anyway, Leiter adjusted and eventually had an otherwise decent outing to give Texas six innings of work, but you know, turning the game into the Home Run Derby for a spell probably won’t get you many wins and certainly not when you need the Rangers to score you more than a couple of runs in Arlington.

Player of the Game: Joc Pederson hit a baseball with the barrel of his bat for the first time this season which produced a home run for Texas’ only extra base hit on the night.

Also, hat tip to Peyton Gray who came in and absorbed two more scoreless innings as his big league ERA remains all zeroes.

Up Next: The Rangers and Yankees will be back at it tomorrow night with RHP Jacob deGrom set to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Cam Schlittler for New York.

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

The Yankees opened the series with a 4-2 win over the Rangers on Monday night at Globe Life Field.

Here are some takeaways...

- Jack Leiter started his night retiring five of the first six batters he faced, but the Yankees jumped all over him the second time through the order. After Trent Grisham legged out a two-out infield single, Ben Rice crushed his 10th homer of the season to the deepest part of the ballpark, then Aaron Judge immediately followed that with a solo shot. 

- Rice's homer was his 10th of the season, and it put the Yankees' new dynamic duo up there with some pretty prestigious company, as they joined Yogi Berra and Mikey Mantle as the only pair of teammates in franchise history with 10+ homers over the first 29 games of the season.

They were also just the third pair of teammates in MLB history to reach that mark in April.  

- New York would add on against Leiter just a few batters later, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. led off the top of the fourth with a towering solo homer of his own. The blast, which left the bat at a whopping 106.7 mph, traveled 406 feet deep into the seats in right and is Chisholm's third over his last seven games. 

The lefty slugger has been scorching, hitting .370 with a 1.118 OPS over that span. 

- Max Fried pitched well against a Rangers lineup that's struggled against lefties all season. He worked around hits in the first and second, before putting together his first clean inning after being handed the lead in the third. Fried gave up a leadoff hit in the fourth, but immediately erased him with his 38th career pickoff, the most in baseball since 2018. 

The southpaw needed just six pitches to breeze his way through an seamless fifth. He gave up a leadoff single in the sixth, but Brandon Nimmo smoked a double-play ball right at Jose Caballero to help Fried end his night on a hight note. He gave up just four hits and walked two while striking out five over six scoreless innings. 

Fried has now completed six innings in all but one of his seven outings on the season. 

- Texas was able to get on the board against Camilo Doval in the bottom of the seventh, as Joc Pederson came off the bench and smashed a solo shot the other way to deep left-center. Doval's ERA is up to 6.97 and he's allowed homers in three of his last four outings. 

- Tim Hill was a bit shaky, issuing a pair of walks in the eighth, but he was able to get Corey Seager to sharply groundout to second representing the tying run at the plate. 

- David Bednar struggled in the ninth as well, as Texas brought in their second run of the game after a Chisholm error prolonged the inning. Ezequiel Duran came to the plate at the winning-run, but the Yankee closer got him to groundout and locked down his eighth save of the season. 

- Judge reached safely in all four of his plate appearances on the night. He was hit by a pitch in the first, lifted the homer behind Rice in the third, then doubled his next two turns up. The captain is now hitting .294 with eight home runs, 12 RBI, and a 1.298 OPS over his last 15 games.

- Jasson Dominguez struck out then grounded out in his first two at-bats back in the big leagues, but he worked a full count before lacing a one out single the other way in the top of the sixth. With righties on the mound, the youngster is expected to start all three games this series. 

- Ryan McMahon pushed his hitting streak to four games with a two out single against Leiter in the fourth. 

Game MVP: Aaron Judge

The captain was right in the middle of things for New York, reaching four times in the victory.

Highlights

A 2-run homer to left-center for Ben Rice!

404 feet! pic.twitter.com/4Rz1fOhSWO

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 28, 2026

Aaron Judge goes back-to-back with Ben Rice! 💪💪 pic.twitter.com/OBnYH13VNu

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 28, 2026

Jazz Chisholm Jr. blasts the Yankees’ third homer of the night! pic.twitter.com/j5ZQ9LGLb8

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 28, 2026

What's next

Two of the American League's top arms to start the season face-off, as Cam Schlittler (3-1, 1.77 ERA) takes the ball against Jacob deGrom (2-0, 2.13 ERA) on Tuesday at 8:05 p.m.

The old saying in baseball is you win 50, lose 50, and it’s what you do with the rest that counts, but what the adage doesn’t take into account is the number of games that are Cursèd. For the Seattle Mariners, those Cursèd Games seem to usually happen in spring in the Midwest, or in Angel Stadium. Tonight’s game might have started on time, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t start Cursèd.

Luis Castillo did not do anything to beat the warm-weather-pitching allegations, surrendering seven runs, although not all of them were entirely his fault; the Twins got their first run on a wacky send of slow-footed Josh Bell from first after Rob Refsnyder couldn’t get a clean handle on the soggy ball, which had rolled itself under the padding in right field. A good relay from Cole Young almost had Bell out at the plate, but Mitch Garver couldn’t get the tag down cleanly, putting the Twins ahead 1-0.

The damage could have been much worse, as Castillo ran into trouble after that; he gave up back-to-back free passes to load the bases, once that wasn’t his fault (Matt Wallner leaning his pantleg into a slider) and once that was (walking the nine-hole hitter Tristan Gray), but got Byron Buxton to pop out to strand the bases loaded. But that aforementioned worse damage came in the third inning. Julio Rodríguez misplayed a ball hit deep to center, allowing a one-out triple to Trevor Larnach, and then Castillo walked Bell despite having him in a 1-2 count. Ryan Jeffers singled to bring home Larnach, and then Kody Clemens, my least favorite Twin and that includes both Winklevosses, turnt-and-burnt on an inside fastball for a three-run home run.

The beatings would continue but morale would not improve with a two-run homer from Byron Buxton in the fourth. Castillo managed to scrape through one more scoreless inning to at least give the bullpen a slightly smaller elephant to eat, but the hole was well and thoroughly dug.

Meanwhile, the offense struggled against Twins rookie Connor Prielipp and his dastardly slider; he took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, when his command finally flagged and the Mariners were able to small-ball a couple of runs off him with the bottom of the order once again producing. Shoutout to Mitch Garver, who quietly had a very good game on both sides of the ball, once again winning a clutch ABS challenge that turned into a strikeout and maybe bought Castillo an extra inning of work. The Twins bullpen, which is Not Good, took over from there, but the Mariners hitters were punchless against Andrew Morris in the sixth and seventh.

Cole Wilcox, still putting in his time in the former Eduard Bazardo role, drew the first assignment out of the ‘pen for multi-inning mop-up duty, and just in case you had forgotten this game was Cursèd, what should have been an inning-ending groundout instead bounced off the bag at second base for an RBI infield single instead, making it 8-2. As Angie pointed out on the broadcast, J.P.’s face was all of our faces after that.

Wilcox came back out for the seventh but issued a leadoff walk (bad Cole!) and a one-out infield single (not his fault on this rice paddy of an infield), and for some reason Dan Wilson decided that this was the moment to deploy Alex Hoppe for his big-league debut, and once again: you must hand it to Dan. In a rare feel-good moment for this game, Hoppe came out and demolished the first two big-league hitters he faced; Matt Wallner was so flummoxed by Hoppe’s vicious stuff he blew the Twins’ last challenge challenging Alex Hoppe’s first thrown MLB pitch, only to go on to strike out, which is the appropriate punishment for such tacky behavior. Hoppe then struck out Tristan Gray to end the inning.

The vibes threatened to turn positive after that, as the Mariners hitters finally got to Morris: Rob Refsnyder singled (yay Rob!) and Cal Raleigh checked in with his seventh homer of the season, a towering blast to right field:

But that’s all the fun this game had to offer. Hoppe wasn’t as sharp in his second inning of work despite becoming the first Mariners reliever in team history to open his Mariners career with three straight strikeouts and gave up a couple more runs; Hoppe’s command remains a work in progress, but hey, he’s not learning anything on the bench, so at least this game offered an opportunity for his debut. Unfortunately, this might be another case of bad sequencing for the Mariners, as the Twins send their ace Joe Ryan to the mound tomorrow, matching up against Logan Gilbert. Just keep the field dry and maybe pass a little black tourmaline over the mound pregame.

It was a dark and stormy night when a dark plague descended upon downtown Minneapolis. A plague of losses, a plague of runs, never leading at any point in a game in nearly a week. But our hero Kody Clemens emerged from one blogger’s hate-filled game preview with a single goal: score.

Thanks, Kody. I’ll trade being wrong for a Twins win any day. Now back to your regularly scheduled posting.

For the first time in way too long, the Twins struck first. Josh Bell hit a lead off single and was stuck there for the next two batters. Then, struggling Luke Keaschall came to the plate and delivered a line drive to right field. It took a Neo-esque slide from Bell to avoid being tagged out at home, but after a replay review the Twins led 1-0. 

The Twins added plenty more runs from there, thanks in large part to home runs from Byron Buxton and, of course, Kody Clemens. Clemens’ three-run dong gave him his first three of five total RBIs on the evening. Rain be damned, these boys were here to hit the ball.

Connor Prielipp, meanwhile, was dealing through the first four frames. He threw 4 scoreless, hitless frames with the only baserunner coming on a walk. He ran into trouble in the 5th after walking the first two batters of the inning. An RBI single from Twins legend Mitch Garver and Cole Young sac fly netted the M’s their first two runs, but Prielipp buckled down and struck out the final two batters he faced to get out of the jam with a healthy 7-2 lead. 

It’s only two starts, but the Twins have to be very encouraged from the early returns of their top pitching prospect. He got himself into trouble with the walks, but only allowed a single hit and has plenty of stuff to pitch himself out of those jams. He’s still limited to 80-85 pitches after two elbow surgeries in the past four years, but he’s doing everything he can to ensure he stays up when Mick Abel returns in a few weeks.

Andrew Morris came in to piggyback off of Prielipp’s stellar start and did what he typically does. That is, pitch two excellent innings and then struggle in the third. A two-run blast allowed to Cal Raleigh brought Seattle within striking distance, closing the lead to 8-4.

Luckily, the Twins had a few more runs in them. After rookie Alex Hoppe struck out the first three batters of his career (between two separate innings), he walked the next two to put a couple of runners on base for the middle of the lineup. Josh Bell SMOKED a line drive to right field at 108 MPH, but it landed right in Rob Refsnyder’s glove. Luckily, Ryan Jeffers delivered his second RBI single of the night, stole a base, and then let the titular hero Kody Clemens deliver the kill shot. 

STUDS

• Kody Clemens (sigh): 2-5, 1 HR, 5 RBI
• Speed demon Trevor Larnach: 2-4, 1 3B, 1 SB
• Jeffers, Keaschall, Gray: Two hits apiece! 
• Connor Prielipp: 5 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K

DUDS

• NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!!

Twins 11, Mariners 4

Sasha Hoppe: Mitch Garver, .08 WPA

Challenging the first pitch of a player’s career/stealing up 5 runs in a blowout/walking up to the Rocky theme/other assorted acts of Midwest tackiness: Luis Castillo, -.29 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

Turns out, the loose bodies that Edwin Díaz had surgically removed from his elbow this week had been there a while.

As in, since the very start of his professional career.

Speaking to the media Monday for the first time since having an elbow procedure last week that will sideline him until the second half of the season, Díaz said that he’s had loose bodies in his elbow “since I think I signed as a professional player back in 2012.”

For most of his 10-year MLB career, however, the issue hadn’t bothered the three-time All-Star.

It was only this season that the problem finally reared its ugly head.

During the opening weeks of the campaign –– Díaz’s first with the Dodgers after signing a three-year, $69 million contract –– the closer’s fastball velocity had been below average, even for a veteran who has dealt with slow starts in recent years.

At first, he said, he believed the problem was with his knee, which he also had surgically repaired in 2023 when he suffered a torn patellar tendon celebrating a win in that year’s World Baseball Classic.

Thus, after suffering a three-run blown save against the Rangers on April 10, the Dodgers stayed away from him for the next eight days while he worked through that issue in side sessions and bullpens.

By the time he returned to action on April 19 against the Rockies in Denver, Díaz insisted he was once again “feeling great” and expecting an uptick in his stuff.

Instead, he suffered a disastrous outing, failing to retire any of the four batters he faced while bottoming out with a fastball velocity of 92.8 mph (one of the 10 slowest heaters of his career).

It was during that appearance, he said Monday, that he felt discomfort in his throwing arm for the first time.

“I didn’t know it was the loose bodies,” he explained. “I just felt tired, tight.”

Up to that point in his career, the right-handed said he had never been advised that the loose bodies would eventually have to be removed. He had also never previously experienced such a sensation in his elbow.

“That’s something a lot of pitchers have,” he said. “Every pitcher has something in his arm.”

But, he added, “this is my first time in my career I’ve felt my arm was sore or whatever.”

The good news, Díaz noted, is that his arm is already feeling better just days after getting his procedure done last week. Even though he won’t return until after the All-Star break, he described the prognosis and operation as “the best-case scenario.”

“I can move my arm really good right now,” Díaz said. “I’m really surprised, because surgery was on Wednesday, and today is Monday.”

Even at this early stage of his recovery, the 32-year-old explained that such range of motion was highly encouraging –– after feeling it “was a little bit shorter than normal” during his early-season struggles.

“Now, after surgery, I’m getting close to what I was, what I am when I was good,” he said, professing confidence he will regain his typically dominant form when he returns. 

“I think that maybe that’s why the velo was a little bit inconsistent (before),” he added.

While he’s out recovering, Diaz said he not only wants to strengthen his arm, but also his legs after the issues he experienced there earlier this month. He hopes to begin throwing again in a couple weeks, though any more specific timeline remains unclear. 

Missing so much of the season still “sucks,” he acknowledged, especially after joining a new team on a big contract this winter. 

“But that’s something I can’t control,” Díaz said. “Everyone here is supporting me. All of my teammates, they’re supporting me. They’re happy that I’m doing way better than before. They just can’t wait to see me on the mound in the second half. 

“They say take your time, we need you in October,” he added. “But I want to come back as soon as possible and help this team to win games.”

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On Sunday, in the second game of a doubleheader — and when the bullpen had to cover 3.2 innings in Game 1 — Chase Dollander threw seven shutout innings to help the Rockies shut out the Mets 3-0. The result was Colorado’s first shutout of 2026.

In 2025, the Rockies only held opponents scoreless three times. The first was on July 23 with a 6-0 win over St. Louis at Coors Field. The second came in St. Louis on Aug. 12 when the Rockies won 3-0. The last came on Sept. 5 when Colorado blanked the Padres 3-0 in Denver.

On the other side, the Rockies were shut out by opponents 18 times last year. I suppose that’s to be expected with a -424 run differential. Colorado put up goose eggs in three games in 2025 by April 13 alone.

This year, it’s been a totally different story. The Rockies have only been held scoreless once this season, and that came on April 21 in a very un-Coors Field-like 1-0 loss to San Diego.

Having the Rockies first shutout almost three months earlier than last season and being held scoreless only once so far is another indicator of why baseball is more fun in 2026.

It also raises an interesting question: would you rather see the Rockies pitchers hurl more shutouts or the Colorado offense get shut out fewer times? As a fan, what is more satisfying?

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The Dodgers and the Marlins meet for the first time in 2026.

Monday’s game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Marlins
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
• Start time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)