Category: MLB

On Monday, I looked at how the pitchers in the upper minors were doing and honestly from a statistical standpoint, it wasn’t great. Mind you, it’s early in the season, and we know pitchers work on things at the expense of the best way they currently know how to get hitters out, and the run environments are pretty rough at both levels. Also, AAA has a different ball than the rest of the minor leagues. These are all reasons the stats are going look worse without being a problem. Lower minors however have good pitching environments, so I expect more pleasing-to-the-eye stats.

Peoria

Brandon Clarke, LHP – 23 (VEB’s #9 prospect)

Clarke was diagnosed with an aneurysm in his left arm and had surgery around the beginning of spring training and it has caused him to be out until at least June. I haven’t heard an update since.

Tanner Franklin, RHP – 22 (VEB’s #13 prospect)

Stats: 8 GS, 27.1 IP, 32 K%, 11.5 BB%, 39.7 GB%, .369 BABIP, 3.29 ERA/3.41 FIP/4.54 xFIP

Franklin is working on two things simultaneously. He is working on developing pitches to add to his fastball and slider while also working on a starting pitcher’s workload. He usually faces between 15 and 18 batters in a start, which even in today’s age, is short of how many outs a starter needs to get regularly. But he was facing between three and nine batters in college, and you don’t want to skip a step.

Yhoiker Fajardo, RHP – 19 (VEB’s #19 prospect)

Stats: 8 GS, 32.2 IP, 33.6 K%, 4.3 BB%, 36.6 GB%, .400 BABIP, 3.31 ERA/3.47 FIP/3.37 xFIP

I am feeling very good about placing Fajardo 9th on my list. He has been unbelievable this season. That is an absurd K/BB ratio. He has 47 strikeouts and 6 walks in 32.2 IP. Just purely scouting the stat line + age, I feel like Fajardo should be a much bigger prospect than he appears to be.

Leonel Sequera, RHP – 20

Stats: 8 GS, 34 IP, 25.9 K%, 9 BB%, 46.6 GB%, .396 BABIP, 10.06 ERA/6.72 FIP/4.28 xFIP

I don’t know what to do with this line. His strikeouts are way up from last year, his walks are about the same, and he’s still getting groundballs. But when hitters make contact, they appear to be going for hits most of the time. Tough to say if that’s unlucky or not in this kind of sample. He has allowed 10 homers already, and he’s only allowed 28 flyballs all year. If you’re wondering, a normal amount of luck and that’s three homers allowed. He’s probably pitching worse than someone who would allow three homers, but 10 certainly feels unlucky.

Nate Dohm, RHP – 23 (acquired in the Ryan Helsley trade)

Stats: 6 GS, 16.2 IP, 24.1 K%, 13.9 BB%, 40.4 GB%, .391 BABIP, 10.26 ERA/5.36 FIP/5.32 xFIP

Well Dohm is for sure pitching poorly, but wow another case of a wildly disproportionate ERA in comparison to advanced stats. Now this is a significantly smaller sample size and can happen when you get blown up in three of your six starts, which unfortunately appear to be his three most recent starts.

Blake Aita, RHP – 23 (acquired in the Willson Contreras trade – with Fajardo)

Stats: 8 GS, 32.1 IP, 26.9 K%, 12.4 BB%, 39.8 GB%, .338 BABIP, 3.90 ERA/5.78 FIP/4.88 xFIP

The return for Sonny Gray has resulted in a completely missing season and one where they haven’t debuted yet, but the early returns for the Contreras trade have been fantastic. Dobbins, the MLB ready piece, looks like an ideal sixth starter, Fajardo has probably catapulted himself into a top 10 team prospect, and Aita – well he’s been fine. Clearly they’re making an effort to get him more strikeouts, which has the side effect of more as well so far. The next step is keep the strikeouts, lower the walks.

Patrick Galle, RHP – 22

Stats (Low A): 5 G, 5.2 IP, 60.9 K%, 21.7 BB%, 33.3 GB%, .000 BABIP, 0.00 ERA/2.03 ERA/2.29 xFIP

High A: 7 G, 10 IP, 23.3 K%, 18.6 BB%, 41.7 GB%, .167 BABIP, 1.80 ERA/4.62 FIP/6.48 xFIP

Oh yeah there was a third part of the Gray trade, which is Galle. He was quite literally unhittable in Low A, throwing 5.2 hitless innings down there. Just three of the 23 hitters he faced even made contact. No wonder they promoted him to High A after just five appearances. But it’s clear Galle doesn’t have a lot of control and High A hitters – well they’re still barely getting hits despite much more contact.

Frank Ellisalt, RHP – 24 (acquired in the Ryan Helsley trade)

Ellisalt suffered some kind of hip injury in February, and I’m not exactly sure how long he’s expected to be out, but he was put on the minor league 60-day injured list, so he certainly won’t pitch the rest of this month at least.

Palm Beach

Ty Van Dyke, RHP – 22 (2025 10th round pick)

Stats: 7 GS, 28.2 K%, 6.5 BB%, 44.9 GB%, .218 BABIP, 1.64 ERA/3.28 FIP/3.78 xFIP

Van Dyke has already been promoted to Peoria and he had… a not very good first start there. He threw 3.2 IP, walked three, struck out two, and allowed three runs. Nevermind that though, it was his first start and we have a 10th rounder who the Cardinals promoted him to High A after just 12 starts at that level. I’d call that a success.

Cade Crossland, LHP – 22 (2025 4th round pick)

Stats: 8 GS, 32 IP, 31.4 K%, 18.2 BB%, 35.4 GB%, 4.78 ERA/4.54 FIP/4.93 xFIP

Well, I like the strikeouts. The walks and lack of groundballs aren’t great. A good example of his season is his last two starts. In his most recent start, Crossland threw 5 innings, struck out 7, walked two and allowed 2 ER. The start before, Crossland walked six, struck out six, allowed no hits and yet gave up a run. Every other start seems to involve a lot of walks. It has only really burned him in one start, when he gave up seven runs.

Jack Martinez, RHP – 23 (acquired in Nolan Arenado trade)

Stats: 8 GS, 27.1 IP, 29.8 K%, 12.9 BB%, 27.7 GB%, .297 BABIP, 3.95 ERA/4.71 FIP/4.95 xFIP

These stats kind of scream reliever to me. He misses plenty of basses but can’t find the zone a lot and almost nothing is on the ground. I don’t know, it’s a tough profile to make work. But these are his first 8 career pro starts, despite his age, because he was in college last season. Too early to make any declarations.

Jacob Odle, RHP – 22

Stats: 8 (6 GS), 33.6 K%, 10.9 BB%, 51.5 GB%, .324 BABIP, 1.80 ERA/3.29 FIP/3.11 xFIP

Oh hey a genuine breakout. Odle has been a strikeout machine and a groundball machine, which is a pitching coach’s dream. Very tough for an offense to get runs if the pitcher does both of those things. His walks are a little high, but really not that bad and especially not bad with that K rate.

Jake Shelagowski, RHP – 22 (2025 13th rounder)

Stats: 8 G, 26.1 IP, 25.2 K%, 8.4 BB%, 40.3 GB%, .270 BABIP, 4.10 ERA/4.06 FIP/4.68 xFIP

Despite just one game started, Shelagowski appears to currently be a starting pitching prospect, average over 3 innings per game. And he was a starter in his most recent game, so he may have officially moved into the rotation. While his walks haven’t been bad, he has somehow hit seven batters already this season.

Yadiel Batista, LHP – 22

Stats: 6 G, 11.2 IP, 27.1 K%, 2.1 BB%, 42.4 GB%, .303 BABIP, 3.09 ERA/2.93 FIP/3.21 xFIP

Well it’s obviously early in the season, but Batista may be seeing a promotion before the year is up, because 13 strikeouts to one walk is quite the K/BB ratio. He was kind of being treated like a starting pitching prospect a year ago, but his stats weren’t very good, so he seems to be in more of a relief role this year. And it has made a difference. Last year, his K% was just 16.4% and he walked 10.9%. The Cardinals made the right decision.

Ethan Young, RHP – 22

Stats: 8 GS, 27.1 IP, 26.3 K%, 11.3 BB%, 36.7 GB%, .405 BABIP, 7.24 ERA/4.41 FIP/4.55 xFIP

Young hasn’t quite pitched as bad as his ERA. It just so happens when you walk your fair share of batters and your BABIP is .400, you’re going to allow a lot of runs. It’s too early to judge if that BABIP is comically unlucky, or a sign that Young is pretty hittable. Striking out 26% of batters would seem to suggest the BABIP is probably, at least somewhat, unlucky.

Complex

Brian Holiday, RHP – 23

Stats: 3 G (2 GS), 6.2 IP, 30.4 K%, 4.3 BB%, 60 GB%, .357 BABIP, 2.70 ERA/4.45 FIP/3.43 xFIP

Holiday is in the beginning stages of his rehab from his Tommy John surgery last year, which caused him to miss the entire season. He was the 3rd round pick of the 2024 draft, and he didn’t get a chance to pitch in the pros, getting hurt before he ever threw a pitch. These are exactly the stats I’d expect of college righty rehabbing in rookie leagues.

Payton Graham, RHP – 22 (2025 7th rounder)

Stats: 3 GS, 9.2 IP, 38.9 K%, 8.3 BB%, 50 GB%, .263 BABIP, 1.86 ERA/2.18 FIP/2.83 xFIP

Graham is also pitching in the pros for the first time after having had Tommy John surgery last season. In Graham’s case though, he had it before he got drafted, and I was actually under the impression that Graham would debut much later. He’s carving up these teenagers like Michael Myers, so I actually expect to see him in Palm Beach pretty soon.

And that’s pretty much it. I wasn’t going to list any rookie league players, because the season just started, but both Holiday and Graham are arguably Low A pitchers at least who are simply pitching for the first time after Tommy John surgery. Graham was healthy and ready to pitch earlier than Holiday, because Graham faced 11 batters and threw 3 innings in his first outing, Holiday only pitched an inning. So just not the order I would have expected there.

1905
Frank Smith tossed a one-hitter, the first of his career and fifth in White Sox history.

The proceedings didn’t begin as a Smith masterpiece, as the righty actually trailed in the game after walking Senators leadoff man Charlie Jones, Jones sacrificed to second by Hunter Hill, then driven home on a Jake Stahl (with throngs … OK, 117 fans … from his hometown of Champaign, Ill. present) single. But that was the first and only Washington hit for the game, and later on Smith helped his own cause with a double (the only extra-base hit in the contest) in the fifth inning, sacrificed to third by Fielder Jones, and scoring on a bobbled ground ball at shortstop — the second and decisive Sox run of the game.

Smith would throw two more one-hitters in his White Sox career, and only Doc White, Ed Walsh and Billy Pierce have more all-time South Side one-hitters than him.

1915
Red Faber won his seventh straight game in a 17-inning win over the Red Sox at Comiskey Park, 3-2. Both Faber and Boston loser Carl Mays, rotation members, came on in relief and essentially pitched a second complete game on the day.

Faber went 10 scoreless innings on six hits, giving up one walk and whiffing eight to improve to 9-2. The White Sox as a team stood at 20-12, alone in first place in the American League.

The 17 innings were played in three hours, 25 minutes!

1943
The White Sox won the fastest nine-inning game they’ve ever played, 1-0 over the Senators at Comiskey Park. Johnny Humphries threw a three-hitter in a game that took just one hour, 29 minutes. Humphries in fact scored the game’s only run, doubling to lead off the fifth and getting singled home by Thurman Tucker.

1956
The White Sox made a six-player blockbuster trade with Baltimore, sending George Kell, Mike Fornieles, Connie Johnson and Bob Nieman to the Orioles for Dave Philley and Jim Wilson.

Philley, an outfielder and first baseman who’d spent his first seven season in the majors with the White Sox, part of seven seasons, had a poor finish to 1956 (-0.4 WAR, .701 OPS) and was swapped to Detroit in June 1957. Right-handed starter Wilson, presumably the headliner of the deal for the White Sox, was coming off of a stellar 1955 season with the Orioles but was mediocre in Chicago (0.8 WAR, 9-12, 4.06 ERA); he pitched for the ascendant White Sox in 1957 and 1958 as well, but saw his MLB career end after 1958.

Kell, a (very dubious) future Hall-of-Famer, was at the very end of his career yet still produced at a better-than-average clip for the remainder of 1956 and 1957. Fornieles was a swingman who could both start and close games, an average pitcher who nonetheless extended his career until 1963, mostly with Boston.

But the gems of this trade were Nieman and Johnson. Nieman was seeing no playing time in Chicago but broke out into stardom with the Orioles in 1956, putting up 4.0 WAR in just 114 games (.322/.442/.497); the left fielder would go on to a solid 17.4, WAR career over 12 seasons, 14.4 WAR coming with Baltimore. Johnson was a late bloomer who was very strong as a right-handed starter for the White Sox in 1955 and outright blooming in Baltimore, putting up 6.4 WAR and a 3.42 ERA in 87 games for the Orioles through 1958 to end his MLB career.

Although GM Frank Lane made his share of trade steals, but this one was a clear loss on his ledger, getting the two worst players of the trade for his trouble.

1980
Despite a 3-2 loss to Minnesota, the White Sox remained in first place in the AL West, at 22-16. Nearly 34,000 fans showed up at Comiskey Park on a 65° Wednesday night, excited over the prospect of fielding a competitive squad once again. Down 3-1 in the ninth, the White Sox put runners on the corners with one out but could only muster an RBI ground out and strikeout to end the game.

It was the start of a four-game losing streak that bounced the White Sox from first the next day. The White Sox would bid goodbye to a winning record a month later, but in a weak AL West stuck in and out of second place past the All-Star break, with a record as poor as 39-44.

The second half was a full free-fall, with a 32-49 record, as the White Sox finished the year in fifth place, at 70-90-2. Britt Burns, at 21, was brilliant for the club (15-13, 2.84 ERA, 11 complete games, and a 7.0 WAR that remains tied for 25th among all franchise seasons) and Chet Lemon had another solid year (4.2 WAR), but that was about it for a floundering franchise.

2009
The White Sox tied their team record for worst defeat when they were annihilated, 20-1, by the Twins at U.S. Cellular Field. The 19-run margin was first set on May 10, 2002 in Anaheim. 

Bartolo Colón, Lance Broadway and Jimmy Gobble gave up all the runs. Colón at least had something of an excuse — of the eight runs he allowed, seven were unearned!

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The Cleveland Guardians look to finish a four-game sweep and push their winning streak to six when they visit the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park this afternoon.

I’ll break down why I’m taking the visitors to break out the brooms in my Guardians vs. Tigers predictions and MLB picks for Thursday, May 21.

Who will win Guardians vs Tigers today: Guardians moneyline (+100)

The Cleveland Guardians come into the series finale as a slight underdog, but there’s plenty to like about the visitors in this matchup.

The Detroit Tigers are banged up, missing three starters in Gleyber Torres, Javier Baez, and Kerry Carpenter. Unsurprisingly, Detroit is 2-13 over its last 15 contests while mustering a mere 2.47 runs per game through that span.  

The Guardians, meanwhile, are 8-1 over their last nine, ranking second in runs scored (102) and third in on-base percentage (.347) among all teams this month.

COVERS INTEL: The Tigers are hitting .215 vs. left-handed pitching, the third-worst mark in the majors. Not ideal with Joey Cantillo on the bump for Cleveland.

Guardians vs Tigers Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 (-125)

Detroit has a dismal offense, but also a solid starter on the hill today in Casey Mize.

Mize, who has allowed one earned run or fewer in five of seven starts, carries a stingy 2.43 ERA and ranks in the 85th percentile in xBA (.211).

The Tigers can’t score, Mize won’t give up a ton, and both teams have bullpens with a sub-4.00 ERA. That all adds up to a third straight meeting with Under 7.5 runs.

Guardians vs Tigers odds

• Moneyline: Guardians +108 | Tigers -113
• Run line: Guardians -1.5 (+178) | Tigers +1.5 (-186)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (+117) | Under 7.5 (-122)

Guardians vs Tigers trend

Detroit has cashed the Under in five of its last six games. Find more MLB betting trends for Guardians vs. Tigers.

How to watch Guardians vs Tigers and game info

Guardians vs Tigers latest injuries

Guardians vs Tigers weather

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The Pittsburgh Pirates got a much-need 7-0 win last night over the St.Louis Cardinals. Carmen Mlodzinski pitched a stellar five innings, the bullpen got it done for a change, and Konnor Griffin went 4-for-5 at the plate with 3 runs scored on the evening. That stat line made Griffin the second-youngest player to have 4 hits an 3 runs in a game in the last 85 years. The only player younger to do it was Juan Soto. Pretty dang good company for Konnor.

In addition, Griffin raised his average on the year to .278, which is a far cry from the slow start he had, when some of us were questioning if he really should have been brought up from the Minors. I think he’s proving that is was the right decision.

In addition, Griffin has 3 homers on the year, 20 RBIs, and 10 stolen bases, as well as a .405 slugging percentage and a .738 OPS. Those aren’t earth-shattering numbers, but I think it’s pretty clear that not only does Konnor belong, he’s got every ounce of potential that we had hoped for.

Griffin wasn’t the only Buc blasting at the plate last night. Nick Gonzales went 2-for-4 to lift his average to .318 on the season. Spencer Horwitz hit his 4th homer of the year. And Endy Rodriguez went 2-for-3 at the plate and is now hitting .333 over limited action. Even Jhostynxon Garcia got in on the act, going 2-for-3 on the night. The Pirates showed off their improved batting order up and down the lineup, finishing with 15 team hits on the evening, but it was Griffin who stole the show, adding his name to the record books already as a 20-year-old rookie.

It’s been a long time since we’ve had optimism for the future like the Bucs do now, but with Paul Skenes and now Konnor Griffin leading the youth brigade for the Bucs, the future finally appears bright.

Toledo Mud Hens 3, Indianapolis Indians 2 (F/7)(box)(Gm1)

Sawyer Gipson-Long put together his best outing since coming off the injured list, and the bullpen did a nice job holding down Indy in Game 1 on Wednesday.

The right-hander tossed 3 2/3 innings of one-hit ball with two walks against six strikeouts. Still no sign of steady 94 mph velo though.

The Hens opened the scoring in the bottom of the fourth when Jace Jung and Max Anderson started the inning with singles. With one out, Tyler Gentry reached on an error and a sac fly from Cal Stevenson made it 1-0.

Nick Sandlin allowed Indianapolis to tie it up in the fifth, and then Beau Brieske allowed a solo shot in the sixth. In the bottom half, Corey Julks answered back with a solo shot to tie the game 2-2.

Brenan Hanifee and Woo-Suk Go locked down the Indians the rest of the way while we got a look at former Tigers’ pitcher and 2015 Beau Burrows in the seventh. Go kept the runner on second from scoring in the top of the eighth, and a Tyler Gentry single walked this one off.

Malgeri: 2-4, 2B, 2 K

Jung: 1-3, 2 R, BB, K

Gipson-Long: 3.2 IP, 0 R, H, 2 BB, 6 K

Indianapolis Indians 3, Toledo Mud Hens 2 (F/7)(box)(Gm2)

On a bullpen day for Game 2, Konnor Pilkington started things off but allowed three runs in the first two innings, and that’s all it took.

The Hens got on the board in the bottom of the third when Max Burt led off with a double. He was advanced to third and scored with two outs on a wild pitch from José Urquidy.

So it was a 3-1 deficit, and the Hens missed a few minor opportunities until the sixth when Max Clark singled up the middle and Julks singled him to third. A Jung groundout scored Clark, but the hit they needed never arrived.

Tyler Mattison struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh inning that saw Indians’ hitting coach Eric Munson ejected for yelling at home plate umpire Jacob Metz, but that was the last notable event. Burt and Andrew Navigato drew one-out walks in the bottom of the seventh, but Malgeri took a called strike three and Clark lifted a routine fly to right field to end it.

Julks: 2-3

Clark: 1-4, R, K

Pilkington (L, 1-3): 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start at Fifth Third Park on Thursday.

Erie SeaWolves 10, Altoona Curve 6 (box)

The SeaWolves flexed enough power to overcome a bullpen implosion on Wednesday.

Veteran lefty Joe Miller gave the SeaWolves four scoreless innings, and Dariel Fregio tossed a scoreless fifth.

A nice pick from John Peck at shortstop helped Miller’s cause in the third.

The offense wasn’t exactly clicking, but in top of the fourth they got loose. Peyton Graham, who has been a nice sparkplug all season long for Erie, drew a leadoff walk and then stole his 24th base. John Peck struck out, but Thayron Liranzo and Justice Bigbie drew walks to load the bases. Chris Meyers smoked a sharp single to right to score Graham and keep the bases juiced for Izaac Pacheco, who unleashed a massive blast to right center field for a grand slam. 5-0 Erie.

The two most interesting position players after Liranzo are Brett Callahan and John Peck, and they combined to add on in the fifth. Callahan led off with a double to center field, and after Graham grounded out, Peck blasted home run number 8 on the year to make it 7-0.

Lael Lockhart Jr. took over in the sixth, and he allowed an unearned run on a Graham error at second base. In the seventh, the lefty gave up three more runs and Tyler Owens took over.

Justice Bigbie led off the eighth with a double and scored on a double down the right field line from Pacheco to make it 9-4. An Andrew Jenkins single moved Pacheco to third where he scored on a Bennett Lee sacrifice fly. 10-4.

Owens allowed a solo shot in the eighth and Yosber Sanchez gave up one in the ninth but the game was well in hand.

Pacheco: 2-4, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2B, HR, K

Lirnazo: 2-3, R, 2 BB

Callahan: 1-4, 2 R, 2B, BB, 2 K, SB

Peck: 1-5, R, 2 RBI, HR, 3 K

Miller: 4.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:00 p.m. ET start with the series tied at a game apiece.

South Bend Cubs 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 1 (box)

The quest to win back-to-back games for the first time since mid-April failed on Wednesday.

Ben Jacobs continued his outstanding first pro season with four no-hit innings with four strikeouts to give his team a chance to build a lead. The best they could do was one run, as Andrew Sojka doubled, stole third, and scored on a Luke Shliger single in the fourth.

Duque Hebbert followed Jacobs with two scoreless frames, but Logan Berrier gave up two runs in the eighth to lose the lead, and the Cubs added one in the top of the ninth off of Luke Stofel.

Sojka: 2-4, R, 2B, K

Jacobs: 4.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Thursday with the series knotted 1-1.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 4, Bradenton Marauders 1 (box)

The Flying Tigers pitching staff was pretty dominant in this one, and they got a pair of home runs to help the cause as they made it two straight over the Marauders.

Cash Kuiper has been pretty up and down in his pro debut, but he was really good on Wednesday. The right-hander allowed a solo shot, but that was all as he struck out seven over his 3 1/3 innings of work. His slider and control did most of the lifting.

In the bottom of the third, down 1-0, Carson Rucker led off with a single and rode home on a two-run shot from Anibal Salas. Edian Espinal, who played infield in college before starting to convert to catching, a move the Tigers have solidified, launched a solo shot in the fourth to make it 3-1.

The Flying Tigers took advantage of quality bullpen work by tacking on a run in the sixth. Espinal walked with one out, took second on a back pick attempt gone wrong, and scored on a wild pitch.

In the seventh, Alistair Tanner allowed a double and then a walk. A single to left field followed, but last night’s walkoff hero, Jesus Pinto, fired a perfect strike home to cut down the lead runner, and Tanner worked out of the inning unscathed. The Marauders never threatened again as Eliseo Mota closed them out for his second save.

Salas: 1-3, R, 2 RBI, HR, K

Espinal: 1-3, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB

Yost: 2-3, BB

Kuiper: 3.1 IP, ER, 4 H, BB, 7 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers will try to make it three straight at home over Bradenton on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET.

It’s a tough time to be a Yankees outfielder, or in the case of Giancarlo Stanton, outfield-adjacent. The big guy has been out for almost a month now with a right calf strain that he’s (unsurprisingly) been slow to recover to from, and he hasn’t been cleared for the next step yet. Granted an opportunity to fill in, Jasson Domínguez looked good at the plate, but a nasty collision with the left-field scoreboard at Yankee Stadium has him on the shelf with a shoulder sprain. Rookie Spencer Jones has not hit much at all in the Martian’s absence, but he now might have to keep filling in because of what happened to Trent Grisham during last night’s loss.

Grisham grabbed at his leg as he reached second base while hustling on a pop-fly double that the Blue Jays couldn’t handle. He stayed in the game, but a couple innings later, Jones replaced him in center field. The Yankees announced an initial diagnosis of “left knee discomfort,” and he will undergoing imaging today to get a better read on the situation.

Grisham was hobbled by leg problems that affected his defense last year, and it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Yankees play it safe by keeping him out for at least a short IL stint (though the potential severity of the knee problem could absolutely make it a longer stay). The question then becomes what the Yankees’ offense will look like with Grisham out of the picture.

Although it’s possible that the Yankees could try some other roster move, the most likely outcome at the moment would seem to be having Grisham and José Caballero swap places on the IL tomorrow. That’s when Caballero is due to return from his finger fracture, and Anthony Volpe has seemingly earned a chance to stick around. The Yankees probably won’t make a roster move for Grisham going to the IL prior to today’s game because it would likely be a one-game substitution. Jones might need more seasoning, but if Grisham’s going on the IL, then there’s an additional need for his glove in center.

So how would you gameplan the Yankees’ lineup with Grisham out? Acknowledging that there might be platoons in some form or another—Ryan McMahona and Amed Rosario will still get time, as well J.C. Escarra with Austin Wells mired in a slump—and multiple iterations of the starting nine to grant playing time to more players, here is one that could be the most common one we see for the next little while. It’s not necesarily one that I would have 100-percent confidence in, but the one that I at least somewhat expect. (Keep in mind that I am doing this off the cuff and am a little sleep-deprived because my son hasn’t been sleeping well.)

DH Ben Rice
RF Aaron Judge
LF Cody Bellinger
2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.
3B José Caballero
1B Paul Goldschmidt
SS Anthony Volpe
C Austin Wells
CF Spencer Jones

What’s your preferred lineup right now?

Today on the site, Peter will break down his Sequence of the Week, Madison will tackle the Rivalry Roundup, and Jeff will salute a savvy Yankees signing from last decade on the occasion of his 41st birthday. John will also open the history books and discusses the time when—as he puts it—“a home run wasn’t a home run.” Andrés and Sam will close us out, as the former explores the resurgent Paul Goldschmidt’s hot start and the latter raises a warning flag on Ryan McMahon that has made his struggles at the plate even more pronounced.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Time: 7:05 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, Sportsnet One, MLB Network

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

MLB.com | Mike Petriello: Aaron Judge, the greatest right-handed hitter of all time, has a chance to make history once more this year. Though his production thus far in 2026 hasn’t quite matched his play from the last few seasons, he’s on pace for 54 home runs, which would make the first hitter ever to hit 50 or more homers in five different seasons (he accomplished the feat in 2017, 2022, 2024, and 2025). If we’re fortunate, a year from now we’ll be discussing Judge’s chances of becoming the first hitter to mash 50 homers six times.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: José Caballero is aiming to return from a finger injury on Friday. In what role will he return? That remains to be seen, as Aaron Boone is keeping his cards close to the vest, stating “He’ll be in there. Look, we still got a couple days to go between that even being an option, so we’ll see.” Caballero played well as the starter filling in for a rehabbing Anthony Volpe, but now, Volpe is the one playing well in place of Caballero. Could Volpe get sent back to Triple-A? Could Caballero go back to being a utilityman, perhaps cutting into Ryan McMahon’s playing time at third? All options appear to be on the table — though Boone did make it clear that he thinks Caballero should be an everyday player.

MLB.com | Max Ralph: You may have noticed that Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s pants have gotten baggier in the last week, and that’s because they’re not his. Chisholm started wearing teammate Giancarlo Stanton’s pants as a tactic to try and break out of a season-long slump, and so far, the returns are positive, the infielder posting a 1.302 OPS in his first five games since donning the roomy trousers. Stanton supported the decision, telling reporters “I think it’s great… they’ve got homers in them.”

The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: ($) The Yankees came into this series with the Blue Jays feeling they had something to prove, looking to redeem themselves after their division rivals had their number throughout last season. “We owe you something,” Jazz Chisholm said of Toronto, who went 11-6 against the Yankees last year in the regular season and postseason combined. Although they’ve been far from dominant, the Yankees have fared better against the Blue Jays this week, taking the first two games of the series in dramatic fashion before taking it on the chin last night.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Jasson Domínguez is making progress on his recovery from a scary injury a couple of weeks ago, but he’s still some time from taking the field. Domínguez recently received a cortisone injection and hit balls off a tee yesterday but has no timetable for return. The Yankees are feeling the squeeze a bit from an outfielder perspective, and Trent Grisham’s own unclear knee injury from yesterday is an extra complication. (He’s undergoing imaging today to see what the left knee discomfort is all about.)

Game 1

Purdue 3 Illinois 1

Starting Pitchers:

· Purdue — LHP Zach Erdman (4-1, 4.61 ERA)

· Illinois — LHP Aidan Flinn (1-2, 2.48 ERA)

The curse of the tarp is broken for Purdue baseball after an eighth inning comeback over Illinois to start off Day 2 of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament.  The Boilermakers had lost all five of their tournament games since 2022 when they scammed their way into the tourney by choosing not to tarp their field in the final series of the season.  Today, they pulled off a 3-1 win despite a gem of a pitching performance from Illini lefty Aidan Flinn.

It was all about the pitching on both sides of the matchup as Zach Erdman matched Flinn’s efforts through five scoreless innings.  He conceded the first run of the game as Illinois second baseman Michael Farina led off the top of the sixth with a single and then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jack Zebig.  Right after that, Illini freshman star A.J. Putty smoked a single that scored Farina and put Illinois on top 1-0.  

Flinn continued to pitch strong, holding on to that slim lead into the bottom of the 8^th.  Up to that point he had only given up one run to Purdue and faced more than three batters in an inning just twice.  He started the 8^th off with a strikeout of Jackson Bessette and seemed on his way to another quick inning.  But that was not to be the case as he plunked pinch-hitter Quincy Malbrough after being ahead in the count, and then turned around and hit Dylan Drake.

All of a sudden, Purdue had two on and one out, and were facing a pitcher that had suddenly lost control of his pitches and could not find the strike zone.  Next up was the nine-hole hitter Westin Boyle who trotted to first after a five-pitch walk.  Flinn had completely melted down and was replaced by another lefthander, Reed Gannon.

Eli Anderson, at the top of the order, stepped in to face Gannon with bases loaded and ripped a single right back at the pitcher.  The ball deflected just a bit off his leg but still got through the infield, scoring two and putting Purdue on top 2-1.  They scored another run right away as Brandon Rogers laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to score Boyle.

The Boilers went to their closer Jake Kramer in the top of the ninth and he shut down the Illini with a pair of strikeouts and a weak grounder to first base.  Curse broken and a Purdue 3-1 win allows them to play another day.

Illinois becomes the first team out of the tournament.  Aidan Flinn deserved better today, but his teammates were stymied by a strong effort from the Purdue pitching staff.  The Boilermakers will face the winner of Ohio State and Rutgers at 2:00 Thursday to see who gets to stick around and play against the big boys and who goes home.

Game 2

Ohio State 3 Rutgers 2

Starting Pitchers:

· Ohio State — RHP Pierce Herrenbruck (6-3, 3.45 ERA)

· Illinois — RHP Zack Konstantinovsky (1-3, 5.48 ERA)

The story of the second game of Day 2 between Ohio State and Rutgers was the 98-pitch complete game tossed by Buckeye junior righthander Pierce Herrenbruck.  Complete games are an unusual occurrence, but under the stress of a conference tournament and facing elimination, almost unheard of.  Credit head coach Justin Haire for showing the confidence in his starter to stick with him.

Herrenbruck’s counterpart in the first base dugout, Zack Konstantinovsky, was very good today as well.  Outside of a solo home run to Henry Kaczmar in the bottom of the fourth, he had done a very good job keeping the bases clear of Buckeyes.  He did show some fatigue in the bottom of the sixth after his team had taken a lead and gave up a game-tying run.

Rutgers took advantage of Ohio State’s sloppy defense and took the lead for the first time in the top of the sixth inning.  With one out, Chase Krewson tripled to right-centerfield.  Had he not stumbled around second base, he could have perhaps turned that into an inside-the-park home run.  The Buckeyes then intentionally walked the dangerous Peyton Bonds for the second time in the game.  Sensing the big moment, Coach Steve Owens put Matt Chatelle in to pinch-run for the big slugger.

Gabriel Rivera then took a four-pitch walk from Herrenbruck to load the bases with one out.  Up came Ryan Jaros and the fun began for the Scarlet Knights.  Jaros slapped a ground ball right at second base.  All Lee Ellis had to do was field it, step on second and fire to first for an easy double-play. However, Ellis fumbled and kicked it enough that everyone was safe and Rutgers put their first run across.  Right after that on another infield ground ball, Buckeye first baseman Dane Harvey committed an error and another run scored.  Lee Ellis, backing up the play did pick up the ball this time and fired to home to nail Rivera trying to score.  At that point, Rutgers was up 2-1.

As mentioned above the Buckeyes came back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game as Alex Bemis scored on a Noah Furcht single.  Furcht’s hit came off Joe Mazza, who had come in relief of Konstantinovsky.

With the game tied at two-all, one could sense the tension in the ball park.  Both teams were scoreless in the seventh inning and Rutgers went down in order in the top of the 8^th inning.  Bemis led off the bottom half with a double, his second hit of the game.  Mazza battled and got the next two batters out and kept Bemis at second.  That didn’t last with Buckeye Big Boy Dane Harvey lacing a double of his own the opposite way to left-center to score Bemis.  That ended up being the winning run as Herrenbrock worked around a couple of Rutgers singles in the ninth to end it.

Ohio State wins and advances and will play again Thursday in the 5:00 game against the winner of Washington and Michigan.  Rutgers returns to New Jersey with their season over.

Game 3

Michigan State 4 Iowa 3

Starting Pitchers:

· Iowa — RHP Joe Husak (1-1, 6.52 ERA)

· Michigan State — RHP Carter Monke (4-5, 4.90 ERA)

For the third game in a row, pitching ruled the day and runs were hard to come by.  Sparty starter Carter Monke was really good, as was Gannon Grundman who came in for him in the sixth.  Iowa’s starter Joe Husak did struggle a bit in the second inning and Coach Rick Heller made the decision to pull him early and replaced him with Justin Hackett, who struggled but worked around trouble into the fourth inning when Kyle Alivo was brought in.  Both coaches recognized the significance of this game and chose to act before the game got away from them.

Iowa took a quick lead in their usually aggressive way.  First time lead-off batter Ben Swails started the bottom of the first off with a single and then stole second.  He advanced to third when Gable Mitchell hit a ground ball to the second baseman and then scored on a fly ball to leftfield.  1-0 Iowa after one inning.  After that, Monke toughened up and kept them from scoring any more runs through the fifth.

In the meantime, Michigan State tied the game in the top of the second and then took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning when Hackett walked three Spartans before he was pulled, and then one of them scored when Nick Williams hit a ground ball to the shortstop whose only play was to first.  

Two innings later, Iowa went on top by a run when the top of their lineup came through.  With one out Swails doubled and scored on a Mitchell single.  Then Mitchell swiped second base to put himself in scoring position.  He scored when Jaixon Frost record the third hit of the inning to make it 3-2 Hawkeyes. 

Sparty came back quick and tied it in the top of the seventh when Parker Picot reached by being hit by Alivo and scored when catcher Matthew Delgado dropped the third strike, which would have been the third out, and sailed his throw well over the head of first baseman Caleb Wulf.  Picot raced home from second base making it 3-3.  Grundman retired six Hawkeyes in a row taking the tie to the ninth.

After Picot flew out to open the inning, Isaac Sturgess singled.  An obviously fatigued Kyle Alivo then hit both Randy Seymour and C.J. Deckinga to load the bases.  The Iowa staff opted to stick with their best reliever and then Ryan McKay poked a single through the left side to score Sturgess and put Michigan State up 4-3.

The one run lead was enough as Nolan Higgins came on in the bottom of the ninth and ended it for the Hawkeyes with a fly out and a couple of strikeouts.  

Michigan State has the day off tomorrow and has advanced to the quarter-finals.  Iowa will play again tomorrow in an elimination game.  

An interesting statistic is that Michigan State left 15 runners on base and Iowa left four.  Iowa pitching wasn’t great, but it, along with their defense kept things from getting out of hand.  On the flip side, Spartan pitchers simply kept Iowa off the bases where they can create so much chaos.

Game 4

Washington 7 Michigan 1

Starting Pitchers:

· Washington — RHP Jackson Thomas (2-4, 5.13 ERA)

· Michigan — RHP Kurt Barr (5-4, 4.40 ERA)

Finally we were promised a battle between two teams’ aces. Only one didn’t go so well. Kurt Barr came out firing in the first inning for Michigan, looking unhittable. But then in the 2nd, he completely lost his feel for the bottom of the zone. Barr walked a batter then got to a 3-1 count on Husky third baseman Blake Wilson, and had to try and take some off his fastball to get it over. Wilson destroyed it into the bleachers for a 2-run blast.

A leadoff in the 3rd was all the Michigan staff needed to see to replace him. Showing how urgent winning this game is, they brought their 2nd most effective starter, David Lally Jr in. Lally gave up a double off the left field wall that allowed a runner to score to make it 3-0 Huskies.

Washington’s Jackson Thomas was on point in his khaki pants. He hammered the bottom of the zone with his sinker. After walking Michigan’s leadoff batter, Thomas retired 11 straight Wolverines, 6 of the 11 by strikeout.

It took Michigan until the 6th inning to finally get to Thomas. Back to back singles put runners on the corners and a sac fly scored the first Wolverines run of the game. Two more singles appeared to score another run, but the Michigan runner tripped rounding 3rd, he was able to scamper back to the base, but he had another runner right behind him who was gunned down heading back to second. Thomas’s 9th strikeout on pitch number 106 stranded two baserunners.

Lally had stabilized the game on the mound for Michigan, but as he neared 90 pitches in the 7th, he began to give up a lot more hard hit balls. He hit a batter, then gave up a double, that could have been caught by the right fielder. (What is it with right fielders from the state of Michigan in this park??) Last nights hero for Washington Mic Paul struck again late into the night. A solid single brought in both runners and extended the lead to 5-1.

The Huskies best hitter, Jackson Hotchkiss added a 2 run home run, his 20th on the season, to straightaway center, a rare feat in this park. Something only guys like Pete Alonso, have done. That gave us the final score, a 7-1 Husky win. Washington moves on to take on Oregon on Friday, and we get to watch The Game: Baseball Version on Thursday evening for the right to advance to take on Nebraska.

WASHINGTON — Zach Thornton’s thrills Wednesday included sharing the night with his father, who is recovering from spinal surgery. 

Paul Thornton has been confined to a wheelchair, his legs paralyzed, after undergoing surgery April 2 that removed part of a tumor from his spine. He will undergo radiation this summer. 

But the elder Thornton managed to attend his son’s major league debut, traveling from Chicago (where he’s been undergoing rehab) to watch Zach Thornton pitch into the fifth inning of the Mets’ 8-4 loss to the Nationals. 

“[Zach] made one mistake to a major league hitter,” Paul Thornton said, referring to the three-run homer CJ Abrams hit for the Nationals in the first inning. “Those batters aren’t going to miss mistakes and he made one mistake that went a long way, and other than that he did great.” 

Zach Thornton, who was selected from Triple-A Syracuse to fill a rotation need with Clay Holmes sidelined by a fractured right fibula, allowed four earned runs on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 4 ¹/₃ innings. He retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced. 

“I thought he settled in really well,” Paul Thornton said. “I know him. He probably wanted to go through five or six innings, so he will be disappointed about that, but Zach never loses. He just runs out of time.” 

Paul Thornton’s journey to Nationals Park was his first time flying since he was confined to a wheelchair. 

“It was an experience for my wife and I and learning how to travel with a wheelchair and maneuver a stadium with a wheelchair and so we’re learning all these things on the fly,” he said. “That’s OK. That is part of life.” 

Zach Thornton was asked what it meant seeing his dad at the game. 

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“Super special just seeing him sitting there in his little wheelchair,” Zach Thornton said. 

Paul Thornton visited with his son after the game, and the message was simple. 

“I told him that I loved him,” Paul Thornton said. 

"The support that the Mets have provided Zach over the last couple months has been nothing short of awesome. It makes a lot more of a special thing."

Zach Thornton's father, Paul, talks with @SteveGelbs about what his son's promotion to the majors means after his recent health… pic.twitter.com/mPcSQlsGl9

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 20, 2026

He added that he is hopeful he will begin walking again before summer officially begins. 

“Right now, my whole focus and goal is to be able to walk,” he said. “I am probably two, three weeks away from walking.”

Blue Jays 2 Yankees 0

The game was delayed two hours because of rain in New York.

That was a nerve-racking game.

No one scored until the Jays got two in the top of the seventh. Smart work by the Jays to save the scoring til late to give less time for the Yankees to comeback.

In the eighth:

• Ernie Clement beat out an infield single. Great hustle down the line.
• Jesús Sánchez walked on five pitches.
• Brandon Valenzuela put down a very good bunt, and beat it out. A catcher beating out a bunt single (he wasn’t trying for a bunt single, that was a pure sac bunt, his second of the night). It loaded the bases.
• Andrés Giménez, in the best at bat I’ve seen this season, took a walk on 11 pitches. Just an excellent job. And it scored the first run of the game.
• Schlittler came out of the game and Jake Bird came in. George Springer ground into a 5-2 force. Bases still loaded.
• Vladimir Guerrero, who hadn’t put a ball in the air all game, flied out pretty deep to right center, scoring our second run. Thanks Vlad.
• Daulton Varsho struck out to end the inning.

Cam Schlittler wasn’t great, but got the outs when he needed them (until that seventh inning). He gave up 8 hits, with 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts, with the 2 earned.

Trey Yesavage was amazing. 6 innings, 2 hits, 0 walks with 8 strikeouts. Great pitching. His ERA is down to 1.07. He threw a season high 95 pitches, while picking up his second win of the season.

Mason Fluharty came in for the eighth. He got a fly out and then had two popups that landed between the infield and outfield. First one, 241 feet that Varsho couldn’t get to and Giménez made a try at a circus catch. Baseball Savant has it at a .200 expected batting average. I’m thinking the Jays outfield was playing a little deeper, with the lead late. Then a second popup that Jesús Sánchez almost got to (actually I think he did get there and just missed the ball). This one 216 feet, but a .400 expected batting average.

Sánchez left the game with some sort of injury in his dive at the ball. I hope he’s ok. John Schneider said he got the wind knocked out of him, but I don’t believe anything they say about injuries anymore.

Jeff Hoffman came into the game, making us all very confident of the win (I’m pretty sure that the betting sites saw a spike in bets on the Yankees as he walked to the mound).

Hoffman got Amed Rosario to flied out to Yohendrick Piñango. It wasn’t an easy catch, down the right field line (Lips just moved to right), by the stands. Excellent job by Yohendrick to make the catch, ignoring the fans right beside him. Next Hoffman got a swinging bunt from Ryan McMahon, that Valenzuela picked up quick, moved so he was inside the foul line and made a nice throw. Great work by the rookie catcher.

I was all for Hoffman started the eight, but John went with Tyler Rogers (with three lefties due up, right-handed submariners don’t fair as well against lefty batters). But he got a fly out, ground out, and strikeout. Great work.

Louis Varland came in for the save. He struck Aaron Judge out, but then gave up a double to Cody Bellinger. Jazz Chisholm bounced a soft one to the left of Varland, who ran for it, but it went off his glove for a single. Then Paul Goldschmidt ground one right to Varland, who started to throw to second throw to second, but Chisholm was running on the pitch, so he went to first for the second out.

Thankfully Amed Rosario struck out to end the game. Varland’s 6th save. And holds for all the relievers.

Jays of the Day: Yesavage (0.35 WPA, a great outing), Sánchez (0.16, for a 2 for 2, plus a walk), Giménez (0.11, mostly for that amazing at bat, but he also had a hit), Hoffman (0.15), Rogers (0.09) and Varland (0.09).

Other Award: Springer (-0.14, for his 1 for 4 with a k), Okamoto (-0.12, for a 0 for 4, 3 strikeouts) and Piñango (-0.10). I was going to let him off the hook, because of that big catch, but he also let one drop (one of the two hits against Trey), on a popup down the left field line. None of he, Okamoto and Giménez got there, but I thought he could have caught it, but was scared of running into the other fielders. He should have yelled ‘mine’ and taken charge.

And let’s give an honourable mention to Valenzuela for the two sac bunts (well one of them turned out to be a single), plus the great defensive play in the ninth. And, in our half of the ninth, he hit a fly ball 373 feet to right, roughly 10 feet from a home run (and 10 feet from never having to bunt again).

Tomorrow we have TBD (Spencer Miles will at least be the bulk man, but I don’t know if they will use an opener) vs. Carlos Rodón (0-1, 5.63, in two starts). It is a 7:00 start (barring rain).

The A’s were on the ropes tonight, down to their final three outs. A late home run tied this game up for the A’s and sent it to extras, where the Athletics managed to pull ahead and hang on for the win, putting them back over the .500 mark and remain alone atop the AL West.

Lots of early offense

It didn’t take long for the scoring bonanza to get going tonight. A HBP, a walk, and a single quickly loaded the bases for the A’s and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom cashed two of those runs in with an RBI base knock to center field, giving the squad an early 2-0 lead:

It’s been a tough season for the lefty slugger and we’re all waiting for him to heat up. Fingers crossed this was the thing that’ll spark his coming hot streak. That earlier walk also came from Nick Kurtz, which extended his on-base streak to 43 games. Closing in on McGuire.

Staked to a lead before even throwing a pitch, it was Aaron Civale’s turn to shut down the Angels’ bats and provide a shutdown inning. Instead, with two down Civale hung a curveball to Los Angeles DH Jorge Soler and he punished him for it with a game-tying two-run homer.

Looking to retake the lead the A’s kept it up in the second. Center fielder Henry Bolte worked a five-pitch walk and then promptly stole second base, his second already in seven games. I mean, look at this:

Speed on the base paths has been an element of the Athletics’ offense that has been ignored, lacking, and nonexistent. Bolte fixes that and puts a different kind of pressure on the opposing pitcher when he’s on base. He’s only got two but that’s good enough for fourth-most on the team and he’ll certainly lead everyone by season’s end. Gotta love diversifying the offense a bit!

A walk flipped the lineup and brought up leadoff man Carlos Cortes and he delivered his own RBI hit, a single to bring home Bolte and retake the lead for the A’s.

Given another chance to get a shutdown inning, Civale continued to look shaky. His first pitch of the second was deposited over the left field wall for a solo shot off the bat of Jo Adell, and that was soon followed by a two-run homer from Josh Lowe, the second two-run shot that Civale allowed in as many innings. After two innings of work tonight his season ERA rose from 2.70 entering tonight to a 3.51 mark.

Considering the early struggles one would have imagined that Civale wasn’t long for this game. But Jacob Lopez’s short start yesterday forced a lot of the ‘pen into action and the team needed more frames from the veteran right-hander tonight. Though he allowed leadoff doubles in each of the third and fourth, the righty bent but didn’t break the rest of the night, providing three more innings of scoreless pitching to keep the A’s in the game and give the bullpen some rest.

• Aaron Civale: 5 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB,. 2 K, 3 HR, 61 pitches

And frankly considering his low pitch count the team could have probably squeezed one more inning out of Civale before turning things over to the bullpen. It was a tough night for him though and Kotsay decided it was time. Tonight was not a great outing as he finished with a 3.31 season ERA after this one, over half a run more than what he entered the contest with. This was only the third outing this season he’s allowed more than three runs. He’ll hope to right the ship next time out at home against the Seattle Mariners.

A’s claw back

As for the A’s offense, they went dormant after the first two innings. From the third through the sixth they were retired in order, failing to work even a walk against Angels starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz. The right-hander had those early struggles but once staked to a lead he went into cruise control against the A’s offense and they couldn’t force him out of this game soon enough.

Finally in the seventh the Angels pulled their starter and turned things over to their bottom-ranked bullpen. The A’s immediately had a scoring opportunity once Kochanowicz was out of the game. They had some help with two hit batsmen but when you’re down two runs you’ll take what you can get. Nick Kurtz cashed one of those runs in with a huge two-out RBI single to cut the Los Angeles lead to one…

… but Cortes was caught getting greedy trying to get to third and was thrown out, ending the rally right there. What’s the old baseball saying? Never make the last out of the inning at third. Big owch.

Righty Luis Medina replaced Civale and provided two scoreless innings to get this game to the eighth. Mark Leiter Jr. was next and he pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to set the A’s up for a potential ninth-inning comeback.

It was the bottom of the order though and the Angels had Kirby Yates looking to shut the door on the A’s. Didn’t matter to Jeff McNeil, who golfed the fifth pitch of the at-bat over the short wall in the right field corner for a massive game-tying solo home run:

Huge, huge hit and one the A’s desperately needed. That was just his second homer of the season but it couldn’t have come at a better time. The A’s continued to rally but Kurtz grounded out with a runner at second to end the threat and send this one to the bottom of the ninth. Scott Barlow handled it and didn’t allow a baserunner. This game would have to be decided in extra innings.

Kurtz started the top of the 10th on second base and after a strikeout it was Soderstrom up to bat again. And for the second time tonight, Sodey had a massive hit, a one-out RBI single to give the A’s their first lead since the second inning:

He made it to third thanks to the ball getting by the outfielders but was ultimately stranded and with two chances it felt like the A’s left some meat on the bone there.

Still, either way you slice it the A’s had the lead. Lefty Hogan Harris was tasked with locking down the Angels and stranding the ghost runner at second. It got a little tense there at the end. He got the strikeout on a failed bunt attempt for the first out, a weak grounder to short for the second out, then an intentional walk to Mike Trout and another walk loaded the bases for Soler. With the game on the line Harris needed his best pitch of the night. He delivered it and got Soler to ground out to second base, securing the save for himself (#4) and the win for the team.

What a win! Always love to see the team never give up the fight. The A’s only managed six hits but that ended up being just enough. Civale wasn’t on his game tonight but he did well to battle through it and provide five full innings of work. That really helps the bullpen for the rest of this road trip, which still has four games left. Kurtz’s on-base streak lives, Soderstrom finally had a couple big hits, and the bullpen provided five shutout innings en route to the come from behind victory. The A’s are now 25-24 and remain in sole possession of first place in the AL West, and now they’ll have a chance for the series victory in the finale.

It all wraps up tomorrow evening, same time same place. It’ll be a battle of each team’s Opening Day starters as Luis Severino will take on Jose Soriano. Severino was on a roll recently but got roughed up in his most recent outing so he’ll be looking for a bounce back performance tomorrow evening. Soriano meanwhile is having a fantastic year overall but has also gotten hit hard in a couple of his most recent outings. Is the league figuring him out after one month of dominance? The A’s will hope that’s the case.

The Cam Schlittler-Trey Yesavage Show lived up to the billing, with both young right-handers dominant through six innings.

But once the Yankees got Yesavage out of the game after six shutout innings, their lineup still couldn’t get going in a 2-1 loss to Toronto in The Bronx.

While Schlittler and Yesavage went toe to toe, Schlittler faltered in the seventh and the Yankees — who were unable to even get a hit against Yesavage the last time they saw him in October — were again overmatched by the 22-year-old.

A pair of runs allowed by Schlittler in the seventh was enough.

Schlittler gave up a soft leadoff infield single to Ernie Clement to open the inning and walked Jesús Sánchez before Brandon Valenzuela reached on a bunt hit to load the bases with no one out.

Ex-Met Andrés Giménez then walked after an 11-pitch at-bat to force in the game’s first run and end Schlittler’s night.

Jake Bird got George Springer to hit a chopper to third, where Ryan McMahon made a great stop and strong throw home for the second out, but a sacrifice fly from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored Valenzuela to make it 2-0.

“I’m frustrated by the walks,” said Schlittler, calling them “unacceptable.”

“If I get out that inning, it’s probably a different outcome to that game,” Schlittler said.

The Yankees forced Yesavage to throw 95 pitches in his six scoreless innings but were unable to get much against Toronto’s bullpen.

In the bottom of the ninth, Cody Bellinger doubled off Louis Varland, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. then reached when Varland dropped a comebacker.

With runners on the corners, Paul Goldschmidt hit another one back to Varland to score Bellinger, make it a one-run game and move Chisholm to second.

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Amed Rosario whiffed to end it.

“He’s a good player,” Schlittler said of Yesavage. “It was a good battle. It slipped away from me at the end. I like the fight we had the last inning.”

The start of the game was delayed more than two hours by rain before both pitchers came out firing.

Schlittler entered the game with an MLB-best 1.35 ERA, while Yesavage had allowed just three earned runs in 19 ¹/₃ innings over his first four starts this season after dealing with a shoulder impingement that pushed back the start to his year.

The 22-year-old Yesavage pitched 5 ¹/₃ hitless innings in Game 2 of the ALDS last October in an 11-strikeout performance.

He wasn’t quite as fearsome Wednesday.

And nearly as soon as Yesavage left the game, the Yankees had a chance to score.

Facing left-hander Mason Fluharty, Chisholm and Goldschmidt reached on bloop singles with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

When the Yankees sent up Rosario to hit for Spencer Jones — who’d replaced the injured Trent Grisham in the fifth — the Blue Jays went to Jeff Hoffman.

Hoffman got Rosario to fly out to right, and McMahon grounded out in front of the plate to end the threat.

Toronto had the game’s first real threat when they had runners on the corners with two outs with singles by Jesus Sánchez and Gimenez.

Schlittler got to a full count against Springer — with Guerrero on deck — before Springer flied out to left to keep the game scoreless.

It wasn’t enough that Ketel Marte broke the hearts of the San Francisco Giants with a walkoff three-run homer Tuesday night. He just had to go 3-for-3 with a walk and cross home plate as many times as the Giants’ entire team did in a 6-3 Arizona Diamondbacks win.

Tyler Mahle fell to 1-6 after giving up eight hits and six runs in five innings. At least he didn’t walk anyone! Merrill Kelly improved to 4-3 and won his ninth career game against the Giants, who went hitless in the final four innings of the game. The team is 20-30, and they deserve to be.

The Giants got on the board first when Casey Schmitt launched his ninth home run of the season in the first inning.

Marte continued to torment the Giants right away, doubling in the first and scoring on a Gerardo Perdomo sac fly. In the third, he almost got a Desert Splash Hit by launching a two-run homer just to the left of Arizona’s outfield pool.

For a while, the Giants’ bats were matching the Marte-backs. In the second, Matt Chapman singled and Bryce Eldridge doubled him home, his second RBI and second extra-base hit of the season.

Before the game, Mike Krukow said he thought Eldridge should go down to Triple-A, to improve his hitting and get more playing time. Well he went 1-for-4 and didn’t strike out a single time, so in your face, Kruk!

Chapman scored the tying run on Drew Gilbert’s RBI single with two outs in the 4th, but that would be the Giants’ penultimate hit of the ballgame. Rafael Devers hit a two-out double in the 5th and was stranded on second, and that was it for the offense aside from a Jesus Rodriguez pinch-hit walk.

The Will Brennan experiment seems to have run its course, but the Giants don’t really have other outfield options with Heliot Ramos and Jung Hoo Lee both injured. Where have you gone, Luis Matos? (The Nashville Sounds)

Arizona broke the 3-3 tie in the 5th inning, when Marte decided to switch things up and leg out a bunt single to load the bases. After an RBI groundout, Perdomo cleared the bases with a double, his second and third RBIs of the game.

The sweep sends the Giants home with a 4-6 record on their 10-day road trip, a record that would feel better had they not been at 4-3 for the road trip three days ago. They’re getting a much-needed day off Thursday before hosting the surprisingly-competent Chicago White Sox (25-24) on the weekend.

There’s not much to say, beyond what so many college student have declared after Spring Break trips: Visiting Arizona sucked.

It was a good, ol’ fashioned pitchers’ duel in the Bronx on Wednesday night, one that we had to wait patiently for due to a lengthy rain delay. Two young, burgeoning aces who burst on the scene during last year’s postseason went toe-to-toe in a big midweek divisional matchup, and it lived up to the billing.

Toronto’s pitching was excellent from top-to-bottom for nine innings, only getting in trouble on some bloop hits in the seventh and ninth innings. The Yankees matched that for eight innings of their own, but the difference in this game proved to be the one inning all night where the pitching faltered.

Cam Schlittler’s terrific night fell apart thanks to bad command, great at-bats, and a little bit of bad luck in the seventh inning, allowing the Blue Jays to score both of their runs that would prove to be enough to win this one. The Yankees avoided a shutout with a late rally in the ninth, but were never able to get the big hit as they dropped this one, 2-1.

This ballgame finally kicked off after a two-hour, five-minute rain delay, and Schlittler came out firing. A leadoff single by George Springer was quickly erased on a nicely turned 4-6-3 double play before the Yankees’ young ace ripped a 99.6-mph fastball past Daulton Varsho for his first strikeout to put up a quick zero. Trey Yesavage, who tormented a very similar lineup in Game 1 of last year’s ALDS, responded with a 1-2-3 inning.

Schlittler needed just 11 pitches to get through a 1-2-3 second inning, while the Yankees finally got their first-ever hit off Yesavage in the bottom of the second on a bloop double by Trent Grisham in a play that probably won’t make Buck Martinez the happiest man in the world. Ryan McMahon struck out swinging to strand the team’s first baserunner.

Toronto tried some small ball in the third after a Jesús Sánchez leadoff single and a sac bunt by Brandon Valenzuela, but Schlittler struck out the next two batters he faced to get through the third. It was another 1-2-3 frame for Yesavage in the bottom half.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a hard ground-ball single to start the fourth, but he didn’t move an inch after Schlittler reared back and struck out the next three batters he faced. Jazz Chisholm Jr. got the Yankees’ second hit off Yesavage in the bottom half, but was stranded.

Grisham came up lame on the double he blooped down in the second inning, but remained in the game for the time being. At some point, though, someone made the decision to take him out of the game, and he was replaced by Spencer Jones in the fifth inning.

Toronto got two singles off Schlittler in the fifth and had second and third with two outs and Springer at the plate, but the 25-year-old induced an inning-ending flyout. There was some better contact in the bottom half off a rolling Yesavage, but he still retired the side in order.

Guess what? It was more of the same in the sixth for both pitchers, but their pitch counts slowly climbed as they dug into the third time through. It would be Yesavage who would be pulled first, as he reached a season-high in pitch count after six masterful shutout innings with eight strikeouts, including three of Aaron Judge.

Even though Schlittler pitched into the seventh, he would not record an out. A tomahawk swinging bunt single by Pest of the Year Ernie Clement, a walk to Sánchez, and a bunt single by Valenzuela loaded the bases with nobody out for Andrés Giménez, who worked a gritty, 11-pitch at-bat for a go-ahead RBI walk and chased Schlittler from the game. Despite how it ended, you’ll take his outing of six-plus innings and allowing just two runs; he just didn’t get any help from the offense against an equally tough cookie.

It could’ve gotten a lot worse with the bases still loaded and nobody out with Jake Bird taking over on the mound, but he induced a 5-2 fielder’s choice from Springer, a sac fly from Vladdy, and struck out Varsho to end the frame with Toronto leading, 2-0.

Mason Fluharty took over for the Jays after the seventh-inning stretch and was immediately repaid for the generous luck that Toronto received in the top half, allowing a pair of bloop singles to Chisholm and Paul Goldschmidt to put the tying run on base. On a diving attempt on Goldy’s blooper, Sanchez was injured in right field and left the game, but Fluharty followed him right to the dugout for a pitching change.

Jeff Hoffman, best known for blowing Game 7 of last year’s Fall Classic, came in to face a pinch-hitting Amed Rosario and McMahon, and he retired both to strand the best scoring opportunity for the Yankees all night.

Yovanny Cruz made his major league debut in the eighth, and it was a beauty. He got up to 100.6 mph on his fastball and picked up a pair of strikeouts against Kazuma Okamoto and Clement on a pair of filthy sliders, showing the stuff that tantalized the organization when they decided to sign the wild flamethrower after spending 2025 with Boston’s Double-A affiliate.

You got the full Toronto pitching experience today. After six innings of having to deal with the league leader in arm angle in Yesavage, the Yankees had to figure out how to crack Tyler Rogers and his submarine style in the bottom of the eighth. As you might’ve expected, he retired the bottom of the order with relative ease.

Cruz delivered another terrific inning in the ninth, finishing it off with a strikeout of Giménez to send it to the bottom of the ninth. Louie Varland would look to close things out against the heart of the Yankees’ order, and there would be some intrigue after a one-out double by Cody Bellinger and an infield single by Chisholm, but only one run would come across on a Goldschmidt RBI groundout as the tying run was stranded on second base.

The Yankees and Blue Jays wrap up this four-game series in the Bronx tomorrow night at 7:05 pm on YES. It’ll be Carlos Rodón in his first home start of the season against a likely bullpen game for the Blue Jays.

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