Category: MLB

Add Trent Grisham to the list of Yankees injury concerns.

Grisham left Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays with left knee discomfort, the Yankees announced, and the center fielder will undergo imaging Thursday.

Grisham suffered the injury on a double in the bottom of the second, when his pop-up down the left field line dropped in.

He remained in the game through the top of the fourth.

“I felt something weird in my knee,’’ Grisham said. “It didn’t feel like something I should mess with, so I got out of the game.

Though Aaron Boone said the fact Grisham had to come out was worrisome, Grisham said he was “very optimistic” the injury isn’t serious.

Grisham was replaced by Spencer Jones in center in the top of the fifth before Cody Bellinger moved there when Amed Rosario hit for Jones in the seventh, with Rosario in left.

The lefty-swinging Jones, who went 0-for-1, entered Wednesday just 3-for-20 with three walks, 11 strikeouts and no extra-base hits since being recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to replace Jasson Domínguez, who’s on the injured list with a sprained left shoulder.

Domínguez suffered that injury crashing into the left field fence at Yankee Stadium on May 7.

He started swinging off a tee Wednesday and there’s no timeline for his return.

Here's a closer look at Trent Grisham's injury that he initially tried to play through https://t.co/SEFe4hVP7Cpic.twitter.com/GMZx8Qqej8

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 21, 2026

Domínguez said before Wednesday’s game the sprained AC joint is “still a little uncomfortable.”

He’s played in nine games with the Yankees this season after opening the year with SWB.

Grisham, coming off a breakout season in which he hit 34 homers a year ago, has mostly struggled at the plate this season, with a .639 OPS.

With José Caballero expected to return from the IL when he’s eligible on Friday after being out with a fractured middle finger, Anthony Volpe’s future at the position remains murky.

After a rough start upon his call-up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre — which included an error on a routine grounder and a pair of strikeouts in four hitless plate appearances — Volpe entered Wednesday having reached base 12 of his previous 20 plate appearances (five hits and seven walks) with just two strikeouts.

He went hitless Wednesday.

And Volpe played a steady shortstop, something he didn’t do last year, playing much of the season with a labrum injury in his left shoulder.

“I think he’s looked outstanding,’’ Boone said before Wednesday’s loss.

The manager praised Volpe’s at-bat quality, hard contact, defense and called his baserunning “excellent.”

“It’s a credit to him and just his physical and mental toughness that he dealt with a tough little situation to start the year,’’ Boone said. “[He’s] kind of showing you who he is and what he’s made of.”

But Boone declined to say that Volpe — or Caballero — would be the Yankees’ starting shortstop when Caballero returns.

“We’ll see,’’ Boone said of the position when asked about it more than once.

Yovanny Cruz made his MLB debut and tossed two scoreless innings against the Blue Jays.

The hard-throwing right-hander never pitched above Double-A before this season, but impressed the Yankees with his triple-digit stuff during spring training and it was on display Wednesday.

Cruz retired all six batters he faced and 13 of his pitches were strikes.

His command and ability to keep runners from stealing bases were among the issues Cruz had in the minors and he got off to a promising start in The Bronx.

Matt Blake knows what the numbers say about David Bednar, but the pitching coach isn’t down on the closer.

“Typically he’s cleaner than what he’s been, but the numbers are better than his [5.14] ERA indicate,’’ Blake said.

Bednar has had issues with his fastball command, but he’s also allowed two homers on his curveball — including the three-run shot to Tyrone Taylor that turned the tide of the Subway Series.

As Blake noted, that has been an effective pitch for Bednar. The pair of homers against Bednar’s curve are as many as he would allowed since 2022.

But there’s also the issue of Bednar allowing a ton of hits so far this season, even if some have been on soft contact.

And in his 21 appearances, Bednar has allowed the leadoff hitter to reach 10 times.

“There’s been more runs and traffic than we’d like,’’ Blake said. “But I fully believe he’ll work his way through it.”

Salvador Perez got the Royals an early lead against Connelly Early by pulling the ball straight down the left field line and into the seats. Exiting the first, Kansas City was up 1 to 0.

That lead did not last long. The top of the second was a long one for Michael Wacha. A leadoff triple led to an error by Nick Loftin who was looking to see if Willson Contreras was going home rather than scooping up out one. Willson was not headed home though, so it was first and third with no outs. Nick Sogard was up next and hit a single to right to score the first run of the inning and that was followed by a Marcelo Mayer walk. The bases loaded, one run already in, and no outs yet recorded. This could have been a very bad inning, but the next play was hit to Maikel Garcia who stepped on third and threw to first for a double play, though he did have to concede the second run of the inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined out to end the jam with Boston now in front 2-1.

The game then settled in as both teams would get a runner here and there, but no one could break through. Wacha ended up with a really nice outing, finishing with a line of 6IP, 6H, 2BB, 2R, 1ER, and 8Ks. It was his highest strikeout total so far in 2026. He even left in line for the lead thanks to Elias Diaz who decided to swing at the first pitch he saw in his 5th inning plate appearance.

That ball left in a hurry and scored Starling Marte who had led off the inning with a walk.

Stephen Cruz took over in the top of the 7th and gave up a single to start the inning. Boston pinch hit with Mickey Gasper who struck out, and then Jarren Duran went yard for the second night in a row. The Royals had led by one twice and now Boston had their second one-run lead. Daniel Lynch ended up coming in and finishing off the inning and then shared the 8th with Alex Lange who also took care of the 9th.

Bottom of the ninth in a save situation meant Aroldis Chapman was coming in to finish the game for Boston. It started with a weak pop-up by Starling Marte, but it was just far enough up the first base line that Contreras could not get to it. Carter Jensen, who had pinch run for Diaz earlier and stayed in the game, then struck out on a check swing where the ball got passed the catcher and moved Marte to second. Royals had the tying run 180 feet away. And that was a close as they would get. Lane Thomas pops up and Garcia grounds out to end it.

Seattle will be in town tomorrow and they will try again, but the struggles are really starting to make it feel like the time is running out.

The Red Sox earned just their third win of the season when trailing after six innings. The rare clutch comeback helped Boston sweep the Kansas City Royals with a 4-3 victory. A quality start from Connelly Early and a late swing from a hot bat delivered the clincher. 

Here’s three takeaways from Wednesday’s series finale.

EARLY BETTER THAN GAME SHOWS

Early made only two real mistakes in this start. The Royals made them hurt. 

Salvador Perez hooked a solo home run in the first inning before Elias Díaz lifted a two-run home run off the lefty in the fifth inning to give the Royals the lead.

Otherwise, Early looked solid in this one across six strong innings with five strikeouts against Kansas City. 

DURAN STRIKES AGAIN

The Red Sox could take a step forward if Jarren Duran finds a way to sustain even half of what he produced on the field at Kauffman Stadium this week. 

Duran went 2-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs in the first two games of the series. On Wednesday night, he took over with a leaping catch at the wall in foul territory before his two-run home run in the seventh inning vaulted the Red Sox into the lead. He added another extra-base hit on the night with his first triple of 2026. 

He did run into an out to end the ninth inning when he tried to score on a ball in the dirt from third. Despite the failed attempt to push the envelope, Duran scratched to secure the sweep for the Red Sox. 

RISING ON THE ROAD

The Red Sox moved over the .500 mark in road games this season with a 14-13 mark. Boston also posted a 4-2 record on the road trip, the team’s first winning a record of a trip with multiple series this season.

While it wasn't a storybook debut, Mets LHP Zach Thornton was able to settle in after a tough first inning and get through 4.1 innings on Wednesday night against the Washington Nationals.

The 24-year-old let up a three-run home run to CJ Abrams in the first and another run in the second inning, but found a way to retire nine out of the final 10 batters he faced, including eight straight. After the 8-4 loss, Thornton was asked how he was able to lock back in after that first inning for the remainder of the outing and expressed confidence in his ability.

"I just know that I need to get in zone," Thornton said. "I feel as though I belong here. My stuff's going to play. So if I can just get in zone I'll be alright."

Overall, Thornton allowed four runs on four hits over 4.1 innings with three strikeouts and two walks. He said nerves weren't really a factor, because he's "nervous before every game," while focusing on the basics and adapting to the "little bit better" MLB hitters helped him throughout the night. 

"Just getting back to what I do best, getting to two strikes before I get to one ball," Thornton said.

He added: "Learning how to get certain pitches by people."

Despite some of the results, manager Carlos Mendoza was happy with Thornton's resilience.

"Obviously Abrams gets him there on that cutter for the three-run homer out of the gate, but I thought he competed," Mendoza said. "They have some good takes on some pitches that were strike-to-ball. But they ran his pitch count up. The one thing I liked, even after he got punched there in the first inning, he didn't back down. He kept going after it. Pitch count went up, but he competed though."

Mendoza also complimented Thornton's tempo, saying there were "some positives there."

More importantly than the box score, Thornton called his debut "everything you kind of dream about" and was thankful that his father, Paul, could be in attendance. Paul Thornton underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his spine seven weeks ago and the procedure resulted in temporary lower-body paralysis, preventing him from walking since.

"Super special," Thornton said on his dad being in attendance. "Just seeing him sitting there in his little wheelchair."

While Thornton's immediate future and next start in the big leagues is yet to be determined, the left-hander will enjoy the moment with his family forever.

"It means everything to me. He's got his own battle that he has to put aside now. We're gonna get with him for the next 30 days and hopefully he can bounce back from his rehab."

Box Score

The first series of the year between the Brewers and their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, did not go the way that the Wrigley Field faithful wanted it to go. For the second straight night, Chicago was unable to score a run off a dominant Milwaukee starter. This time it was Kyle Harrison, who struck out 11 in seven shutout innings for one of the best starts of his young career. Injury was added to insult when Chicago starter Edward Cabrera had to leave the game with an injury concern, and the Brewers’ offense capitalized on some Chicago miscues to cruise to a 5-0 victory and a surprisingly comfortable three-game sweep.

The Brewers got a couple of hits in the first inning when Brice Turang and William Contreras hit back-to-back one-out singles. But Cabrera got Christian Yelich to fly out and Garrett Mitchell to ground out, and Turang didn’t make it past second base.

Nico Hoerner led off the Cubs’ half of the first inning with a double down the left-field line. But Hoerner tried to tag and advance on a fly ball to Mitchell in center, and Mitchell — who has one of the stronger outfield arms in the league — got him at third base (after an initial safe call was overturned on replay). A strikeout of Ian Happ ended the inning.

Things got weird in the top of the second. After a Jake Bauers groundout, Sal Frelick reached on catcher’s interference, a call that Milwaukee needed to challenge in order to get it right. Frelick stole second, then Joey Ortiz walked to put runners on first and second with one out. David Hamilton got ahead 2-0, which prompted a mid-at-bat mound visit from the Cubs’ dugout. On the next pitch, Hamilton hit what should’ve been a solid RBI single to center field… but for the second straight night, Pete Crow-Armstrong made an inexplicably bad play in center, and let the ball go under his glove. With the speedy Hamilton running, there was no question what would happen: it was a three-run little league home run.

Cabrera got out of the second inning with the score still 3-0, despite a 104-mph fly ball to center from Chourio. Harrison walked Seiya Suzuki to start the second, but came back with strikeouts of Carson Kelly and Michael Busch, and Dansby Swanson flew out harmlessly.

The Brewers also got a leadoff walk in the top of the third when Cabrera issued a free pass to Contreras. Cabrera struck out Yelich, and the Cubs could’ve had a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play with Contreras running on the 3-2 pitch, but Kelly’s throw to second went into center field, and Contreras got up and made it all the way to third with one out. Mitchell had an ill-timed strikeout, but Bauers came through with a two-out RBI single through the right side that made it 4-0.

Miguel Amaya flew out to start the bottom of the third. PCA then watched four straight fastballs go by, three of which were in the zone, and Hoerner flew out to center to end the inning.

Cabrera threw one pitch in the top of the fourth, and something was clearly wrong as Kelly and Craig Counsell came to the mound. It wasn’t exactly clear what happened to Cabrera, but the pitch was a fastball that was about four miles per hour below what he’d been throwing earlier, and he seemed to be favoring his pitching arm. He went straight from the mound to the clubhouse, and there was a delay as Trent Thornton was given as much time as he needed to warm up on the mound.

Thornton settled things down for the Cubs and got the Brewers in order, though Chourio hit one to the back of the warning track in right field, his second flyout of the night that clocked in with an exit velocity over 100 mph. In the bottom of the inning, Bregman flew out to left, and Happ and Suzuki struck out, Harrison’s fifth and sixth strikeout victims.

Turang struck out looking to start the fifth on a pitch that needed to be overturned by a Kelly challenge. Thornton struck out Contreras, too, and Counsell went to Old Friend Hoby Milner to face Yelich, who flew out to shallow center.

Harrison had another 1-2-3 innings and two more strikeouts in the fifth, getting him to eight for the game. He’d also thrown just 65 pitches through five after needing 99 to get through five scoreless innings in his last outing. Milner continued in the top of the sixth and retired Blake Perkins, who’d entered defensively in the fifth (nothing wrong with Mitchell, it was just to counter the Milner move), Bauers, and Frelick in order.

UPDATE: After the game, it was reported that Mitchell’s back tightened up on him. Something to monitor, but hopefully it isn’t anything super serious to worry about.

Another 1-2-3 inning for Harrison in the sixth meant he’d retired 15 straight. He also struck out two more batters, bringing his total to 10.

Phil Maton was the new Chicago pitcher in the seventh. Ortiz hit a hard line drive into right field, but Suzuki had him positioned well and made the catch. Hamilton was next, and he hit a towering fly ball into the right-field corner that Suzuki reached but seemed to lose at the last moment — it hit Suzuki (it would’ve been a very nice play had he caught it), and Hamilton ended up at third base with a triple. Maton’s first pitch to Chourio was wide and got past Kelly, and Hamilton scored easily from third on the wild pitch.

Milwaukee tried to keep the rally going in the seventh — Chourio drew a one-out walk, and Contreras singled with two outs. Counsell went back to his bullpen to bring in lefty Ryan Rolison to face Yelich. Yelich nearly came through with a two-out RBI single on a slow grounder up the middle, but Hoerner made a nice play to end the inning.

Harrison, at just 80 pitches, was back out to start the seventh. Bregman hit the first pitch of the inning into center field for a hit, and he became the first Cub batter to reach since Suzuki’s leadoff walk in the second inning. But Harrison wasn’t rattled: he struck out Happ, and got Suzuki and Kelly on pop-ups.

That ended a gem of an outing for Harrison. He pitched seven innings on 94 pitches and allowed only two hits, Hoerner’s leadoff double in the first and Bregman’s single in the seventh, and walked just one batter. He struck out 11, one less than the career-high 12 he recorded against Pittsburgh on April 26, and recorded 19 whiffs, which at publication time was tied with Minnesota’s Joe Ryan for the most of the day. Harrison finished the day with a 1.77 ERA — lower even than his superstar teammate, Jacob Misiorowski.

Rolison got a clean inning against the Brewers in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the inning, the Brewers turned to DL Hall, making his 20th appearance of the season. Hall, who has gotten fantastic results that belie his issue with walks this season, gave a free pass to Busch to start the inning. But he recovered quickly: Swanson struck out, and Amaya hit a ground ball to second with which Turang started a 4-6-3 double play, possible only with the lead-footed Chicago catcher running.

Chicago kept rolling with Rolison in the ninth. Ortiz poked one further than it looked into the right-center gap, but Crow-Armstrong ran it down for the first out. After Ortiz was retired, Chicago turned to its closer, Daniel Palencia, with one out. Hamilton greeted him by picking up his third hit of the night, a single to left. Chourio flew out, Turang drew a walk, and Contreras hit a ball up the middle, which Hoerner made a diving play on — he couldn’t get any outs, but he did save a run, and that mattered, because Palencia struck out Yelich with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Pat Murphy let Hall continue in the ninth with a five-run lead. Contreras showed some annoyance that Hall fell behind PCA 3-1, but Hall came back to get him to ground out to Bauers at first. Hoerner also grounded out to Bauers, and Bregman struck out looking on a 3-2, backdoor curveball to end the game.

Harrison and Hall dominated Chicago on the evening. After Hoerner’s leadoff double, the Cubs didn’t get another runner into scoring position for the rest of the game. Hamilton was the offensive star: he had two singles and a triple and scored twice, but of course, one of those singles turned into his little league homer. (The triple was close to a homer, too, but Hamilton is still searching for his first actual home run of the season.) Contreras was the other offensive standout, as he was 3-for-4 with three singles, a run scored, and a stolen base.

Tomorrow is a well-deserved off day for the Brewers before they start a big series back at home with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday in a rematch of last year’s National League Championship Series. See you then.

Rangers 5, Rockies 4

• ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH, COLORADO!
• ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH, COLORADO!
• ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!
• The Rangers won.
• They shot the bb gun.
• This is now two straight Wednesdays where the Rangers won due to a ninth inning comeback.
• And this game didn’t even involved blowing a lead in the ninth inning first.
• It did involve things going south for Jack Leiter relatively quickly in the middle innings.
• But let’s focus on the positive aspect of things. The good things. Like Leiter’s first three innings, where he did give up a run in the first on a single, a stolen base and another single, but retired the other nine batters he faced, and struck out the side in the second.
• Let’s not talk about the fourth inning, where, having just been given a 3-1 lead, he walked two consecutive batters with two outs, the second of which coming on a 3-2 pitch which was initially called a strike and then was overturned on an ABS challenge.
• It seemed like there was a fair amount of ABS activity in the game. I could be wrong. It also felt like the strike zone wasn’t super well called. I could be wrong there, too, though.
• Sometimes we are wrong about things. And that is, okay.
• Two more runs scored in the fifth, but it could have been worse, as a 3-2 pitch to Mickey Moniak with no outs and a runner on third was initially called a ball, but was overturned on an ABS challenge and was called a strike. Basically the reverse of the bases loaded walk in the previous inning, except the bases weren’t loaded and there weren’t two outs.
• But let’s move on.
• Jakob Junis, Tyler Alexander and Jacob Latz each pitched a scoreless inning to get things to the ninth with the Rangers still down one.
• It was a vexing down one because the Rangers had lots of opportunities, but were unable to convert.
• Like in the fifth. The Rangers got back to back singles with two outs — the second by Brandon Nimmo, who was then lifted for pinch runner Alejandro Osuna due to a hamstring issue. As it has been all series, it was chilly and rainy, and not ideal weather for one with a muscle tweak.
• A Josh Jung walk loaded the bases, but the bases were left stranded when Ezequiel Duran grounded out to end the inning.
• No complaints about Duran, though, as he had a two run homer in that three run third inning to give the Rangers the lead. It was followed up by a Jake Burger homer. Burger, you might have noticed, is hitting kinda good lately.
• (Spoiler alert — be sure to check him out in the exit velocity data towards the end of the post.)
• In the sixth, the seventh and the eighth, the Rangers had a single in each inning, but nothing more.
• Ninth inning rolls around, the Rockies have a lefty reliever on the mound, Danny Jansen pinch hits for Evan Carter and strikes out. The Rangers are now out of position players, and Joc Pederson is going to have to go from DH to the outfield to replace Carter if the Rangers tie the game or take the lead, which is looking unlikely at this point.
• Pederson gets the rally started with a catcher’s interference, and really, isn’t that the best kind of way to get a rally started?
• Justin Foscue had a hard hit single the other way, putting runners at first and second. Alejandro Osuna then reached on a not terribly hard hit chopper the other way that Ezequiel Tovar fielded but had to stick in his pocket, loading the bases.
• Joc Pederson, who reached on catcher’s interference, then scored on a passed ball. Not a great inning for Rockies catcher Brett Sullivan.
• Josh Jung then hit a grounder that snuck past the pulled in infield to give the Rangers the lead.
• Osuna’s infield single had an xBA of .140. Jung’s go-ahead single had an xBA of .220. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.
• On the other hand, the Rangers had an xBA for the game of .313, while the Rockies had a .200 xBA, so the Rangers were actually good, and lucky, or maybe not that lucky. I’m not sure.
• I think I confused myself.
• This puts the Rangers at .500 on the road trip, and while they played two bad teams, its hard to say that going 3-3 on the road is not okay. Two of the wins were blowouts where the Rangers shut out the opposition, and one was this come-from-behind one run win. Two of the losses were close games where the offense took a powder, and one loss was a one run loss where weird bad things happened.
• Texas is back to one game below .500. That’s still the wrong side of .500, but its better than being several games below .500. They will either be tied for the lead in the American League West or a game back, depending on what happens in the A’s/Angels game on the West Coast.
• I would like to see this team get on a hot streak and rattle off a bunch of wins. The two weeks after this road trip, featuring four at home against Houston, three at home against Kansas City, three in St. Louis, then three back home against Cleveland would be a great time to do so.
• But as of right now, they are hanging in there despite a very tough early schedule. They are currently, in fact, occupying the WC3 spot.
• Things are trending the right direction.
• Jack Leiter reached 97.4 mph on his fastball, averaging 95.4 mph. Jakob Junis hit 91.9 mph on his fastball. Tyler Alexander’s fastball touched 91.4 mph. Jacob Latz’s fastball maxed out at 96.6 mph.
• Jake Burger had a 110.9 mph single, a 110.4 mph ground out, a 108.4 mph home run, and a 106.1 mph GIDP. Evan Carter had a 106.5 mph ground out. Ezequiel Duran had a 106.2 mph home run. Josh Jung had a 102.8 mph ground out. Justin Foscue had a 100.7 mph single.
• Let’s luxuriate in a win in a day game before an off day.

David Peterson is going to start a game for the first time in nearly a month.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed after the team's 8-4 loss to the Nationals on Wednesday that the southpaw will begin the series finale in Washington D.C. on Thursday afternoon.

Peterson, who has been ineffective as a starter this season, pitched himself out of the rotation. In five starts this season, Peterson is 0-4 with an 8.10 ERA across 18.0 innings pitched. He made four consecutive starts to begin the season before he pitched out of the bullpen in his next two appearances. He made a start on April 29, against the Nationals, before being relegated to pitching behind an opener in his last three outings.

To Peterson's credit, the southpaw has been much more effective as a reliever. He's pitched to a 2.25 ERA and allowed only four earned runs over his last three appearances (13.0 IP). 

In his last start, Peterson had his worst outing of the season when he was roughed up by the Nationals at Citi Field. Washington pushed across seven runs on five hits and three walks across 3.2 innings. 

With the Mets heading to Miami for three this weekend, Freddy Peralta and Christian Scott are slated to make starts, but New York is leaving the option of calling up prospect Jonah Tong to make a spot start. 

The loss of Clay Holmes to injury has put the Mets rotation in flux. If Peterson can succeed as a starter, it would go a long way toward stabilizing the pitching staff.

WASHINGTON — The rookie pitcher debuting in the major leagues gave the Mets a chance Wednesday.

So too did the lineup that took hacks against the Nationals, but it hardly succeeded. This was a reversion to before the last homestand, when the Mets routinely underperformed offensively, regardless of the opposing pitcher.

On an overall uninspiring night, the Mets sputtered to a second straight loss, 8-4 at Nationals Park.

Juan Soto kept the Mets in the game by blasting two homers, including a two-run shot in the eighth that brought hope of a comeback victory that never materialized. Soto has five homers in his past seven games.

Zach Thornton, selected from Triple-A Syracuse to replace Clay Holmes (fractured right fibula) in the rotation, had a rough first inning, allowing a three-run homer, before getting on a roll following another run surrendered in the second. The left-hander retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced.

“I feel as though I belong here and my stuff is going to play,” Thornton said. “So, if I can just get in the zone, I will be all right.”

How nervous was the 24-year-old before the start?

“I am nervous before every game I pitch,” he said. “This was kind of nothing new.”

Thornton kept the Mets competitive by allowing four earned runs on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 4 ¹/₃ innings. He was removed at 80 pitches before he could face the Nationals a third time through the batting order.

“They ran his pitch count up, and the one thing that I liked, even after he got punched there in the first inning, he didn’t back down,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He kept going after them and his pitch count went up, but he competed though.”

It’s possible Thornton won’t stay long: The Mets may promote Jonah Tong to start this weekend in Miami, giving extra rest to the rotation, and Thornton could lose his roster spot in the transaction.

Thornton was welcomed to the major leagues by CJ Abrams’ three-run homer in the first inning. Curtis Mead singled and Andrés Chaparro walked before Abrams unloaded to right-center.

The Mets pulled to within 3-1 in the second on Brett Baty’s RBI single after Mark Vientos doubled leading off against Zack Littell. A.J. Ewing provided an additional single in the inning before Littell struck out Hayden Senger.

Nasim Nuñez walked in the second and stole second, reaching third when Senger’s throw sailed into the outfield. Keibert Ruiz’s ensuing RBI single extended the Nationals lead to 4-1. But Thornton was finished allowing runs for the night.

“It was just getting back to what I do best, which is getting two strikes before I get to one ball,” he said.

But the Mets reclaimed the run in the third on Soto’s massive blast off the mezzanine in right.

Carson Benge’s arm helped save the Mets a run in the fifth. Luis García Jr. stroked a two-out single to right field, on which Benge threw a strike to Senger, who tagged Ruiz sliding into the plate for the final out. Ruiz doubled for the final Nationals base runner against Thornton.

Austin Warren surrendered a run in the sixth that extended the Nationals lead to 5-2. Abrams and Dylan Crews both singled before Daylen Lile hit a sacrifice fly.

Nuñez’s sacrifice bunt brought in the sixth Nationals run after Jacob Young’s double. Craig Kimbrel got the final two outs in the sixth.

Young hit a two-run homer against Kimbrel in the eighth that completed the Nationals’ scoring after Soto had homered in the eighth.

Soto was asked to describe even the slight difference when he’s so locked in at the plate.

“I can do damage,” Soto said. “I can do a lot of damage that I can help the team be where it needs to be.”

Funny game today. Bibee pitched 8 sterling innings of 1-run ball. The offense scored 0 runs behind him. In the 9th, both Schneemann and Bazzana singled to start the inning. Kwan bunted (which was… questionable) to move them over. Then Bailey came up. Not entirely sure why Kwan feels the need to bunt (especially with Bailey behind him) but it worked. Bailey grounded out, but Schneemann was able to score. For some reason, the Tigers didn’t seem to have the infield in (or at least in enough to be able to throw Schneemann out at home).

Sabrowski pitched the bottom of the 9th, facing McGonigle, Dingler, and Greene. This was (in my opinion) the correct move by Vogt, considering the two LHB in that threesome. Unfortunately, Erik didn’t have his best command. He walked McGonigle and Dingler, and somehow got Greene to put up one of the most embarrassing (in context) at-bats I’ve ever watched. After barely being able to throw a strike to the first two batters, Greene chased strike two and then watched a fastball down the middle for strike three. Vogt then pulled Sabrowski for Holderman.

Holderman came on and struck out BOTH Tigers hitters (Perez and Vierling) he faced. Extremely impressive performance from Holderman, who has been fantastic since being recalled from Triple-A.

In extras, the Guardians worked some of their close & late game magic, jumping on Tyler Holton. Martinez tripled and Jose doubled.

Cade came on for the save in the bottom of the 10th, and did give up a run to the first batter, but got a strikeout on Lee and two pop-outs to Torkelson (pinch-hitting) and Keith.

The Guardians clinch the series in Detroit, and look to complete the 4-game sweep tomorrow afternoon.

It’ll be Cantillo vs. Mize. Goodnight.

SAN DIEGO — Playing both ways in the same game for the first time in almost a month, Shohei Ohtani needed just one pitch to notch his latest bit of MLB history.

After being held out of the Dodgers’ lineup in each of his past three pitching appearances, the two-way star was back in as the Dodgers’ designated and leadoff hitter Wednesday night at Petco Park.

That meant, toeing the rubber for the first time, he came up to the plate to begin the game.

On the first pitch he saw, he hit a home run of unprecedented proportions.

Shohei Ohtani hits the first pitch of the game out of the park pic.twitter.com/opPe7iogy4

— MLB (@MLB) May 21, 2026

In Game 4 of last year’s National League Championship Series, Ohtani became the first pitcher to hit a leadoff home run in an MLB game — marking the start of what became an iconic three-homer, 10-strikeout performance.

By doing so again Wednesday, Ohtani recorded the first leadoff homer by a pitcher in regular-season MLB history.

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Not that there has ever been much competition for such a distinction, of course. In MLB’s modern era, according to league researcher Sarah Langs, only three other pitchers have ever occupied the leadoff spot in a batting order.

Starting pitchers to bat leadoff since 1900:

Shohei Ohtani 27x reg, 4x post
9/22/68 Cesar Tovar (played all 9 positions)
9/27/53 Al Dark (moved to 3B after the 1st, only career game pitched)
9/30/1901 Jim Jones (1 of 2 career pitching app)

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 21, 2026

Ohtani, however, is different.

And lately, he has started looking like himself once again at the plate.

While Wednesday’s blast, which came on an elevated fastball from Padres right-hander Randy Vásquez, was only his eighth of the season (far off the 50-plus homer pace he has set the past two seasons), it marked his 13th hit and seventh extra-base knock in his last seven games offensively.

Before that stretch, Ohtani had been mired in a monthlong slump in which he batted only .200.

It was part of the reason the Dodgers had limited him to three consecutive pitching starts without hitting.

He made sure to make a statement in his return to two-way duties Wednesday.

Hey, we’re back, still playing the Guardians. Let’s just roll right into the recap. The Tigers had a bullpen day going because they have no healthy pitchers left to use, so the starter was Drew Anderson, while the Guardians were leaning on Tanner Bibee. While Bibee hasn’t had a bad season, he also hasn’t recorded a win, so perhaps that bodes well for the Tigers? Guess we’ll see.

With two outs in the first, rookie Chase DeLauter got a single, but the Guardians left him stranded. The Tigers didn’t put much into getting an early lead, however, as they went 1-2-3 in the home half.

Steven Kwan got a two-out single in the second, so he’s been on base every game of this series so far. A pop-out from the Guardians’ newly acquired catcher Patrick Bailey ended the inning, though. The Tigers had another three-up, three-down inning to leave the game scoreless after two.

Anderson continued into the third inning and finally got the Guardians out in order. The Tigers finally got a baserunner in the third with a two-out single from Jake Rogers, and while he didn’t score, at least they got someone going.

Drew Anderson was totally dialled in by the fourth, getting the side out 1-2-3 again, and actually looking very good while doing it. The Tigers unfortunately did the same in the bottom of the inning.

David Fry took a leadoff walk in the fifth. Then, with two outs, Brayan Rocchio walked as well, and that was it for Anderson, who had a really decent start, going 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K on 63 pitches. He was replaced by Kyle Finnegan who got the final out of the inning. In the home half, the Tigers went down in order. Not really the best approach if you want to win a single game ever.

With one out in the sixth, DeLauter singled for the second time in the game. He then stole second with ease, his first steal in the majors. Rhys Hoskins singled down the third base line, and while Gage Workman got the ball across the infield in good time, it was well wide of first, forcing Colt Keith off the bag and allowing Hoskins to reach safely. After the second out of the inning, Finnegan’s night was done and he was replaced by Brant Hurter, taking on a pinch-hitting Travis Bazzana. Hurter got the final out of the inning and the game was still scoreless. In the home half Hao-Yu Lee singled, but tried to leg out a double and got caught at second. Two outs ended the inning without any real potential for a run.

Kwan walked to start the seventh, but was eliminated in a double play off the bat of Bailey. Another out ended the inning without any major threat. Kevin McGonigle got a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning, then with one out, Riley Greene singled to put men on the corners. A sac fly from Matt Vierling did the impossible: finally scored a run in this game. They just got the one, but that feels impressive enough in this game.

Kenley Jansen was on for the Tigers in the eighth. With two outs, DeLauter walked. Kyle Manzardo then came in to pinch-hit. DeLauter stole second, but Jansen was tuned in and got the final out of the inning, keeping the Guardians scoreless. In the bottom of the eighth Zach McKinstry singled. Lee then reached on a fielder’s choice, which should have eliminated McKinstry, but thanks to an error by Bazzana, both runners found themselves safely on base. McKinstry ended up getting eliminated anyway as Jake Rogers showed bunt, McKinstry had a big lead off second, and then didn’t make it back in time when Bibee made the pickoff. Bibee got the next two outs as well, so the Tigers would need to defend their slim lead in the ninth.

Will Vest got the nod for the ninth. Daniel Schneeman and Travis Bazzana hit back-to-back singles to start the inning, which is an inauspicious start. A sac bunt by Kwan advanced the runners. A groundout by Bailey was placed just right to allow Schneeman to score, and just like that it was a tie game. While Vest did end up getting the final out of the inning, the Tigers were going to need to come up with a last-minute miracle to walk off the game as winners.

Bibee’s day was finally done and he was replaced by Erik Sabrowski. He gave up back-to-back walks to McGonigle and Dingler. Greene struck out, and that was it for Sabrowski who was replaced by Colin Holderman. The Tigers just couldn’t make it happen, even with two runners on, and the game was heading for extras.

Tyler Holton was the Tigers’ man for the moment in the tenth. The game didn’t stay tied for long. Angel Martinez tripled, scoring the ghost runner, then right on his heels, Jose Ramirez doubled to score Martinez. DeLauter then reached on a fielder’s choice that saw Ramirez tagged out at third. The Tigers did get the final two outs of the inning but the situation was pretty bad, let’s be honest. Cade Smith came out for the Guardians and he gave up a leadoff single to McKinstry, who scored the ghost runner, and suddenly it was a one-run game again. While the Tigers were able to make it close, it wasn’t enough, and they dropped the third game in the series. If you want any positives from this game, at least Tanner Bibee still has no wins.

Final: Guardians 3, Tigers 2 (F/10)

Thanks to another big night at the plate (including huge hits from Dominic Smith and Austin Riley) for Atlanta’s lineup and a dominant outing from Chris Sale, the Atlanta Braves were able to take firm control of the series against the Miami Marlins as they sauntered to a comfortable 9-1 victory.

In the preview for this one, I expressed a tiny bit of concern at the fact that the Braves had not given Chris Sale a ton of run support over his previous two starts. All of that concern was washed away like the waves on South Beach nearby as Atlanta absolutely tagged Janson Junk in this one. I did mention that there was a possibility that the Braves were catching Junk at a good time and as it turned out, Atlanta was indeed able to extend Junk’s misery.

The Marlins actually did go ahead first in this one with a sacrifice fly from Heriberto Hernández plating Xavier Edwards but that ended up being as good as it got for Miami as the Braves eventually responded at the first time of asking. Once the second inning rolled around, Austin Riley came up to the plate with two on and one out and he got a curveball that he liked from Junk that was right in the zone and begging to be crushed. Riley didn’t miss it and hit it onto the grassy batters’ eye in center field for a big three-run shot that put the Braves ahead by two.

The Marlins nearly responded in their half of the second inning after Leo Jiménez got a hold of a four-seamer and sent it flying. Had Jiménez hit it a bit harder, it may have gone for a dinger. Instead, Michael harris II was eventually able to get under it and make a spectacular jumping catch in order to prevent it from finding the grass — either in the outfield or past the fence.

From that point forward, Chris Sale got into the ol’ rocking chair and the Marlins couldn’t do much to him after that. Sale ended up going seven innings and to tell you how things ended up going for Sale in this one, he left the game having retired 10 straight batters. The line for Sale finished at seven innings pitched with one run allowed on four hits while striking out eight batters. This was vintage Chris Sale.

While Sale was cruising, the Braves delivered the finishing blow to both Junk and Miami’s chances of realistically making a comeback in this one. The sixth inning proved to be eventful as Atlanta came out swinging against Junk and didn’t let up until they had run him from the game. The first five batters of the sixth inning all reached base, which included Ronald Acuña Jr. going from first-to-third on a seeing eye single from Michael Harris II, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies both delivering back-to-back RBI singles and then Dominic Smith capping off the rally by winning a 12-pitch battle in emphatic fashion.

Once again, the curveball got Junk in trouble and Smith was able take it and drive it clear over the fence in right-center for a three-run dagger.

Although reliever Tyler Phillips retired the side in order following the rally, the damage had been done and the Braves were seven runs clear of the Miami at this point in the contest. From the big Dominic Smith moment onwards, it was only a matter of either adding on or simply making sure that the Marlins didn’t come any closer. They were able to add on in the eighth inning thanks to another big knock from Dominic Smith. This time, he didn’t have to hit it over the fence in order to take a round trip across the basepaths.

Smith got another hanging curveball (this time from Phillips) and drove it out towards right-center field. While trying to field the fly ball, Esteury Ruiz and Owen Caissie collided (with Caissie getting the worst of it after he took Ruiz’s elbow to the face). Dominic Smith made it into third base pretty easily but ended up getting to hustle all the way home after after Ruiz’s throw from right field went awry. Just like that, Dominic Smith had himself a little league homer and the laugher continued for the Braves.

After Victor Mederos pitched a scoreless inning for the Braves, Miami waved the white flag by sending third baseman Javier Sanoja out there to soft toss. Sanoja pitched a scoreless inning but that was the tiniest amount of solace for the Marlins in this one as Mederos closed it out for Atlanta and the Braves ended up winning in dominant fashion.

I mentioned in the series preview that the Braves should’ve been going into this series thinking about a split being the bare minimum. Even though it’s a bit of a cliché to say that the road team should always be satisfied with a spilt of a four-game series on the road, the Braves definitely should’ve had their sights set a bit higher. They’ll now have an opportunity to go for that series win tomorrow evening as we’ll have a big-name pitching matchup with Spencer Strider going pitch-for-pitch against Sandy Alcantara starting at 6:40 p.m. ET.

The Mets continued the youth movement tonight, giving another young player their major league debut. However, the highest scoring team in baseball continued to score a lot of runs and the Mets’ bullpen couldn’t keep the club in the game. The Nationals beat the Mets 8-4, and while there were some valiant attempts at comebacks—mostly from Juan Soto—the Mets looked flat for the second straight game.

Zach Thornton made his big league debut tonight, and the 24-year old was greeted rudely in his first inning of work. After retiring the first batter of the game, Curtis Mead singled to right-field. Andrés Chaparro drew a walk that featured at least one challenge-able call that the Mets didn’t pull the trigger on, which made sense with one out in the first inning. However, CJ Abrams turned on flat cutter and all of a sudden it was 3-0 Nationals.

The Mets began to claw back in the top of the second when Mark Vientos led off the inning with a double against Nats’ starter Zack Littell. Vientos would eventually score on a Brett Baty single, but the Washington lead returned to three when Keibert Ruiz singled in Nasim Nuñez who had walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a bad throw from Hayden Senger.

The Mets would add their second run of the day on a towering Juan Soto home run that hit off the facade in right field to make it 4-2. From there, Thornton settled in, having perfect third and fourth innings, but was pulled with one out in the fifth after Ruiz doubled to left field. Austin Warren was first out of the ‘pen and, assisted by Carson Benge’s fantastic arm, was able to get through to inning when Benge threw a one-hopper from right field to nail Ruiz at the plate.

Warren, who has been fantastic for the Mets, had a less than effective sixth inning, allowing back to back singles by Abrams and Dylan Crews, followed by a Daylen Lile sac fly, and the three-run lead was back. Jacob Young would double, pushing Crews to third, and that would do it for Warren. Craig Kimbrel was up next, and a successful sacrifice bunt scored Crews and it was 6-2 Washington.

Andrew Alvarez pitched multiple innings of relief for the Nats, and looked strong until the eighth, when Bo Bichette singled with two outs, and scored when Soto hit his second 400+ ft. home run to bring the Nats’ lead to just two. But after that home run, Alvarez settled down, looking impressive in his long relief role.

Kimbrel got the first seven batters he faced out, making his performance tonight officially the longest of his career. It came apart in the bottom of the eight when Kimbrel allowed a double to Lile and then a two-run shot to Young, putting Washington up 8-4.

The Mets sent up a trio of righties to attempt to get something going in the ninth, but Alvarez collected a four-inning save by striking out pinch hitters Nick Morabito, Tyrone Taylor, and inducing a line-out from starting second baseman Marcus Semien to end the game.

The Mets close out the series tomorrow in a matinee where David Peterson will pitch against Cade Cavalli and the team will attempt to split the series.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Juan Soto, +9.0% WPA
Big Mets loser: Zach Thorton, -23.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: -31.0% WPA
Mets hitters: -19.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s first home run of the game, 7.7$ WPA
Teh sux0rest play: CJ Abrams’s three-run dinger, -21.1% WPA

The Mets found themselves in an early hole and didn't have enough offense on Wednesday night, falling 8-4 to the Washington Nationals.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Zach Thornton had a rough start to his MLB debut, letting up a three-run home run to CJ Abrams on a cutter he left over the middle. The left-hander was able to settle down and get the next two outs, including his first career strikeout.

A walk by Thornton and a throwing error by Hayden Senger gave the Nats a runner on third with one away, as Keibert Ruiz took advantage with a single to push the lead to 4-1. Thornton got some help from Carson Benge on a catch against the wall to rob extra bases from James Wood and then recorded his second strikeout on his 58th pitch of the night. Luckily, the 24-year-old got in a groove and tossed two straight 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth, retiring eight straight.

Thornton's debut came to an end in the fifth inning after giving up a double to Ruiz and getting Wood to fly out. The lefty, who's Joe DeMayo's No. 13 overall prospect in the Mets’ system, allowed four runs on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk over 4.1 IP (80 pitches). 

-- Mark Vientos got the offense going in the second inning with a leadoff double that took a funny bounce down the left field line. He advanced to third on a flyout and then scored on Brett Baty's single to right field, cutting Washington's lead to 3-1. A.J. Ewing recorded the team's third hit of the inning to make it a first-and-third situation for Sengerwith two outs, but the backup catcher went down swinging against Zack Littell to end the scoring chance.

-- After coming close to a home run in the first inning, Juan Soto made sure he got enough of it in the top of the third inning. The solo homer, his second of the series and eighth of the year, smacked off the deck in right field and made it a 4-2 game.

Soto stayed hot and launched a two-run blast in the eighth inning to right field, cutting the Nationals' lead to 6-4. It's his 29th career multi-home run game.

-- Benge made another great defensive play in the bottom of the fifth, throwing out Ruiz at home to keep another run off of Thornton's line. The perfect throw was Benge's first career outfield assist.

-- Austin Warren replaced Thornton on the mound and got through the fifth, but allowed two runs in the sixth inning. Craig Kimbrel had to come in to get the final two outs of the sixth as the Mets trailed, 6-2. He stayed through the eighth inning, retiring seven straight before things unraveled with a two-run homer to Jacob Young, making it an 8-4 game. It was the longest outing of Kimbrel's career at 2.2 IP and 32 pitches.

Game MVP: CJ Abrams

Abrams' three-run HR set the tone for Washington and put him in a four-way tie for the NL lead in RBI with 42.

Highlights

Zach Thornton's first MLB strikeout pic.twitter.com/fd5vC8ix61

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2026

Brett Baty brings home Mark Vientos to get a run back for the Mets pic.twitter.com/Ut6kLTphPC

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2026

Carson Benge runs down the fly ball right before colliding with the right field scoreboard pic.twitter.com/TORSnMCDzP

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2026

Juan Soto with a LONG home run in Washington! pic.twitter.com/WNLxd3o6p0

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2026

Zach Thornton has retired eight in a row pic.twitter.com/DWqJdIS253

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2026

Carson Benge with a PERFECT throw home for the first outfield assist of his career! pic.twitter.com/YCGgSpyp4f

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 21, 2026

JUAN SOTO'S SECOND HOME RUN OF THE NIGHT! pic.twitter.com/CI1XBvvAQB

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 21, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Nationals wrap up their four-game series on Thursday evening with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. on SNY.

New York will send David Peterson to the mound to start, while Washington will go with RHP Cade Cavalli (2-2, 4.05 ERA).