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Its Wednesday, April 2 and the Red Sox (1-4) take the field at Camden Yards against the Baltimore Orioles (3-2) in Game 2 of their three-game series.
Garrett Crochet (0-0, 3.60) and Zach Eflin (1-0, 3.00) are set to take the ball for Boston and Baltimore accordingly.
These teams opened the series on Monday with the Orioles winning, 8-5. Tyler O’Neill continued his torrid start collecting four hits and one RBI in four at bats to push his average to .571 and pace the O’s attack. Boston’s struggles are epitomized by their captain’s inability to make contact and put balls in play. Rafael Devers did walk twice but he struck out three times in three at bats. He has now struck out 12 times in 16 trips to the plate. Ouch!
Lets dive into today's matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Red Sox at Orioles
Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Time: 6:35PM EST
Site: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
City: Baltimore, MD
Network/Streaming: NESN, MASN
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Red Sox at the Orioles
The latest odds as of Wednesday:
Moneyline: Boston Red Sox (-114), Baltimore Orioles (-105)
Spread: Red Sox -1.5
Total: 8.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Red Sox at Orioles
Pitching matchup for April 2, 2025: Garrett Crochet vs. Zach Eflin
Red Sox: Garrett Crochet (0-0, 3.60 ERA) Last outing: 3/27 @ Texas - 5 IP, 2ER, 3.60 ERA, 5 Ks
Orioles: Zach Eflin (1-0, 3.00 ERA) Last outing: 3/27 @ Toronto - 6 IP, 2ER, 3.00 ERA, 2 Ks
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Red Sox at Orioles
Baltimore Game Totals have cashed to the OVER in 4 of their 5 games
Baltimore is 3-2 on the Run Line this season
Boston's lack of offense is a big part of why their Game Totals have cashed to the UNDER in 4 of their 5 games
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for tonight’s game between the Red Sox and the Orioles
Rotoworld Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Wednesday's game between the Red Sox and the Orioles:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Baltimore Orioles on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Baltimore Orioles +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.0.
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You can’t win the division in April, but you can lose it if you’re not careful.
The Phillies had high expectations for this season, especially considering how brief their stay was in last year’s playoffs. Similarly, their division rivals, the Atlanta Braves, expected big things in 2025, after a season frought with injuries to star players, and an early postseason exit of their own.
But while the Phillies have been pretty much as advertised thus far this season, the bottom has just about fallen out for the Bravos.
Atlanta is now 0-6 on the young season after a 3-1 loss late Tuesday night to the Dodgers. Unsurprisingly, they sit in last place in the NL East, already four games behind the front-running Phils.
Their offense, right about at league average last season, is easily the worst in the game to this point. They have scored a total of nine runs so far this season, and their average of 1.5 per game is worst in MLB. Also ranked 30th: team batting average (.137), on-base percentage (.238), and slugging percentage (.220).
Only three teams all-time have had a worse team batting average in their first six games to a season: the 2003 Tigers (.133), who finished 43-119, the 2021 Cubs (.124, 71-91), and the 2013 Pirates, who hit .119 as a team through six games, yet somehow turned things around to win 94 games and get to the NLDS.
I’ve heard a baseball adage that “You can’t win the division in April, but you can sure lose it.” I don’t know if that applies to April *second,* but consider this: in baseball history, only three teams lost their first six games and went on to play postseason baseball: the 2011 Tampa Bay Rays, the 1995 Reds, and the 1974 Pirates.
According to bet365.com, the Braves were +135 favorites to win the NL East just nine days ago. They are now third-favorites, behind the Phillies and Mets, at +270.
The Braves will not have left fielder Jurickson Profar – whom they signed this offseason to to 3-year, $42 million contract – for 80 games after Profar tested positive for PEDs. Profar also cannot play if the Braves make the postseason as a result of the suspension.
The 2023 NL MVP, Ronald Acuña, who missed most of 2024 with an ACL tear, is taking batting practice, but hasn’t done any outfield drills. He is not expected back until mid-to-late May. That’s two big boppers at the top of the lineup who aren’t coming through the clubhouse door anytime soon.
2025 began as a three-team race for the NL East crown. If the Braves can’t turn things around quickly, the Phillies will only have the Mets to contend with.
All-Star outfielder Jackson Merrill reportedly agreed to a nine-year, $135 million extension with the Friars that is guaranteed to run through the 2034 season.
“This is exactly where I want to be,” Merrill said during a press conference Wednesday morning.
That realization came during his first conversation with Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller before Merrill was even drafted in 2021.
“The Padres were the first team that ever reached out to me, ever scouted me. They believed in me from day one,” Merrill said. “They believed in me, they trusted me and they wanted me.”
The deal can max out at $204 million depending on incentives, plus it includes a $30 million club option for a 10th season (2035) that can be converted to a player option with a top-five finish in MVP voting.
His goals during the length of that contract are simple.
“Winning and just winning only,” Merrill said. “My goal is to win. It’s always been to win, it’s always been to dominate with my boys on the field and I’m just happy I get to do it for a long amount of time now.”
Merrill, still just 21 years old, is well on his way to already reaching that incentive after breakout out last season. He hit .292 with 24 home runs, 90 RBIs, 31 doubles and 16 stolen bases over 156 games, finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting and being named a Silver Slugger.
The Padres are off to a 6-0 start this season, with Merrill headlining their offense alongside Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado. Through six games, the center fielder is batting .400 with a home run and six RBIs.
“There’s always a positive energy here. I’ve never felt a negative energy, even when we lose games. It’s just like how can you be so upset about where you are right now? You’re playing in the big leagues, you’re playing in San Diego. There’s really not much to complain about.”
San Diego will look to wrap up a perfect homestand on Wednesday against the Cleveland Guardians, with first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. PT.
The Athletics parted ways with one of their talented youngsters on Wednesday.
The Green and Gold traded speedy outfielder Esteury Ruiz to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right-handed starting pitcher Carlos Duran, ESPN’s Alden González first reported before the team made the move official shortly after.
The A’s have acquired RHP Carlos Duran from the Dodgers in exchange for OF Esteury Ruiz.
Ruiz, 26, has been back and forth between Triple-A Las Vegas and the major leagues over the past season-plus after stealing an American League-most 67 stolen bases during the 2023 MLB season, which also broke Rickey Henderson’s Athletics rookie record.
In 178 games at the major-league level, Ruiz is batting .243/.297/.343 with seven home runs, 57 RBI and 73 stolen bases in 598 plate appearances.
Duran, whom the Athletics acquired for Ruiz, is a 23-year-old starting pitcher who signed with Los Angeles as a 16-year-old international prospect in 2018.
In 19 starts last season, Duran posted a 3.71 ERA in 53 1/3 innings pitched with 73 strikeouts and 32 walks for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate.
Major League Baseball updated its rulebook in 2023 to increase the pace of action on the field. But the changes put concessionaires on the clock, too.
Rishav Dash, senior director of analytics for Delaware North’s sports business, remembers the lead-up to that year’s Opening Day—months spent modeling the potential ramifications and discussing them with the company’s 10 MLB clients.
MLB games were 24 minutes shorter on average in 2023 than they were in 2022, and games were another four minutes faster last season, a roughly 15% deduction in all. But the condensed time ultimately “had only a marginal effect on consumer behavior,” a white paper published by Aramark Sports + Entertainment found.
Ballparks were prepared for the new status quo, it turned out, because they’d already undergone a revolution. Teams optimized operations for the same reason MLB added a pitch clock: Fans could no longer stand to wait. This year, baseball’s Ballpark app is testing new concession-buying functions—including using digital wallets—in search of even speedier delivery.
The hot dog cannon is no longer just a jumbo-sized novelty gag. It represents the apotheosis of MLB teams’ quest to serve food, fast.
Some clubs responded to shrinking game times by extending beer sales through the eighth inning. But most found game-goers buying about as often as they did before, most commonly just before the first pitch and often sometime again about a third of the way through a game.
If anything, the larger impact was likely the 10% jump in attendance baseball saw in 2023, in part thanks to the rule changes. An endless tally of concession analytics has also altered the game.
Aramark VP of Data Science Scott McDade said the company tracks the ratio of sales locations to fans, especially in the upper decks, to ensure quick food access. One hundred fans-per-register represents a rough baseline target. At Delaware North, purchase tracking data allows Dash’s team to narrow in on specific sections that aren’t selling to expectations. Changes range from menu updates to additional automation.
These days, there’s more than one way to get your peanuts and Cracker Jack. The Texas Rangers cited the pitch clock when rolling out mobile ordering to all visitors in 2023. Fenway Park brought in self-order kiosks to celebrate its 111th birthday. The Pittsburgh Pirates called up computer vision technology from Mashgin to facilitate speedier self-checkouts using cameras that capture what each fan is buying. Across 16 venues, Mashgin estimated it saved baseball fans 14 million minutes of line time in 2023—the equivalent of more than 86,000 extra baseball games viewed. Then, of course, there are still the roving vendors hawking options. Now they wield Square point-of-sale devices, naturally.
Some new concepts digitize the checkout altogether. MLB SVP for ballpark experience and ticketing product Karri Zaremba said the league is testing “a number of new purchase experiences” this season, starting in Cleveland and Philadelphia. There, fans can now order food and pay through the MLB Ballpark app.
The tests build on advancements in the stadium entry process. A hands-free, facial recognition-based experience lets fans better appreciate their moments walking up to historic venues, Zaremba said. It also proved to be 2.5 times as fast as digital ticketing methods. The league is still working with teams to figure out how they might use extra space once reserved for winding lines.
With fans walking in at a faster clip, it is on stadiums to be ready to serve them. More than 40% of in-stadium purchasers made their buys before first pitch, according to Aramark’s study. McDade said some teams have updated their giveaway promotions to encourage earlier arrivals and smooth out that pregame rush.
In Atlanta, the Braves opened a food court just around the corner from their most frequented entrance gate, increasing serving speed as fans enter.
The eight-stall hall also represents an evolution in ballpark design philosophy. Truist Park opened in 2017. But rather than wait 20 years for massive overhauls, the Braves have created a master planning committee that oversees updates on an ongoing basis. Back in 2019, the team tracked food acquisition time throughout the stadium. The venue opened with 100% traditional food counters but has added mobile ordering, self-checkout and Amazon’s Just Walk Out stores to its footprint since. Occupancy tracking sensors improved the flow through the team’s retail store as well.
Atlanta was rated No. 1 in overall guest experience and concessions in an MLB-wide survey last year.
Still, there are human cashiers ready to serve those who prefer the ol’ way—and many do.
“Our fans really equate a baseball game with the food and beverage experience,” Braves SVP for operations Hannah Basinger said. “And doing so in such an automated fashion—I don’t think it’s for everyone.”
The goal then, is not too dissimilar from what the architects of baseball’s modern rules had in mind: The same beloved ball game, just a little bit snappier.
Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers during the third inning of the team's 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Dustin May closed his eyes, took a breath and held his head suspended toward the heavens.
For a brief moment, shortly before he began warming up for the first inning on Tuesday night, the Dodgers' pitcher let himself absorb the significance of his milestone moment — reflecting one last time on the 685-day journey that brought him there.
“There was definitely a lot of emotions that got let out,” May said. “It was just super, super great to be back out there.”
Not since May 17, 2023, had May last stood atop the Dodger Stadium mound. That day, he suffered an elbow injury that led to a flexor tendon surgery and Tommy John revision, the second major arm procedure of his young MLB career.
During the 22 months that followed, the hard-throwing right-hander endured a rehab process of uniquely difficult circumstances, getting close to a return midway through last season before a freak accident at dinner last July forced him into emergency, and season-ending, surgery to repair a frightening esophagus tear.
As May finally worked his way back to full strength this spring, the experience gave the 27-year-old renewed perspective. He was no longer a promising young prospect. He was unable to contribute to the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series championship.
But after so much time away, and such a scary medical saga last summer, he was simply grateful to once again be back on the rubber — making his season debut, and first MLB start since in almost two years, in the Dodgers’ 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves.
“Even if it would have went bad, I still would have been having a good time,” May said afterward. “It literally meant the world to me just to be back out on the mound.”
Instead, May was clinical during a five-inning start on Tuesday, giving up just one unearned run to help the Dodgers — who also got a go-ahead two-run home run from Mookie Betts in the sixth inning off reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale — extend their perfect start to the season to a Los Angeles franchise record of 7-0.
In his outing, May gave up just one hit, struck out six batters and worked around three walks to escape a couple crucial jams.
Most notably, he also displayed a calming demeanor in his return; replacing his old fiery and self-critical disposition with increased poise and, in the view of Dodgers coaches, newfound maturity.
“Just knowing that everything that I've been through in the last two years, it was just a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and it was like I could just kind of relax,” May said. “Being able to stay a little bit more level-headed throughout life in general has been one of my biggest things in the last six months. Just trying to live in the moment. [Knowing] everything is going to be OK no matter what happens.”
May first began to change 10 months ago — when, just weeks away from a big-league return last July, he suffered his torn esophagus on a bite of a salad that got lodged in his throat.
That night, he went to the hospital and was rushed into surgery. Doctors told him that without medical intervention, “I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night.”
Dodgers pitcher Dustin May breathes in deeply after retiring Atlanta Braves leadoff hitter Michael Harris II Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
“I felt like I was really close. And then after the esophagus thing happened, it was just like a total reset,” May added. “Like there's nothing I can even do at the moment. … I was just trying to get healthy, get home and be able to see the next morning.”
The Dodgers were on a road trip to Philadelphia and Detroit when May went through his medical scare. And as word started spreading about what had happened, the team almost couldn’t believe the gravity of the situation.
“We have a message [chat] with medical updates, and got a thing saying, ‘Hey, he had a choking incident. He choked on some salad,’” pitching coach Mark Prior said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Huh? OK, that doesn’t sound great.’ But then we learned, ‘Oh no, it was an emergency surgery.’ We didn’t hear about that for a couple days.”
Echoed Betts: “We didn't understand what that really meant. It was hard to believe. Like one of those stories that you just make up, but it was actually true.”
When the Dodgers next saw May during a road series in Phoenix a couple months later, the pitcher was back on his feet but nowhere near playing shape.
An already lanky right-hander, he looked concerningly skinny after losing roughly 40 pounds from the liquid-only diet he was required to follow in the wake of his surgery. When coaches asked about the scar from his procedure, he lifted his shirt to show a long vertical incision running up the length of his chest.
“It almost looked like an open-heart-type surgery,” Prior said of the scar. “So to see where he’s at now, it’s pretty incredible.”
Despite not returning to full strength until around the turn of the New Year, May showed up to spring training displaying surprisingly impressive form. From the outset of camp, he emerged as a front-runner for the No. 5 spot in the team’s opening day rotation. And as he kept ramping up over the course of the preseason, the team noticed his altered approach to the game.
“To watch him mature and grow up in his own way, he’s just got a nice pro presence around him right now,” assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness said. “As scary as it was, I think it put some things in perspective for him.”
For example, rather than throwing at “full max effort all the time” to overpower hitters with upper-90s mph heat, McGuiness said, May found increased consistency by “pitching efficiently at a good effort level, without blowing it out every single throw.”
“He can tap into that bigger velo when he needs it,” McGuiness added. “But [without it], he can actually kind of move the ball around, command it a little better.”
May still walked three batters, and threw only 46 strikes in 81 pitches. But he was able to repeatedly execute in the most crucial situations, like when he stranded two aboard in the second inning after Betts’ throwing error at shortstop led to his lone unearned run, or when he got ahead of Nick Allen with two strikes in the top of the fifth to set up his sweeper for an inning-ending double-play
“It was good to see [myself] actually getting big-league hitters out,” May said. “That was the best I’ve felt mechanical-wise and stuff-wise [in a long time] tonight.”
The other big change on Tuesday was May’s in-game emotional state.
Instead of cursing and screaming every time his adrenaline surged, the now sixth-year big-leaguer kept a cooler head. After striking out the side in the first, he simply skipped his way back to the dugout. In moments of frustration, he did little more than crane his neck.
“He's out there, certainly, being grateful that he has an opportunity to pitch and be healthy,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He's not as hard on himself as I recall in years past. He just kind of gets to the next pitch a lot better.”
It was all reflective of the long road May had traveled to get back to this stage, and the adversity-hardened mindset he was forced to evolve along the way.
“I was looking for the positive side of things, even though there wasn’t really a very bright light at the end of the tunnel,” May said. “I had to scratch and claw my way out, and find my way back.”
The Yankees dropped their first game of the season Tuesday night, a 7-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game got away from the Yankees after the bullpen allowed five runs in the eighth inning.
Despite the loss, the Yankees (3-1) are happy with the performance of young right-hander Will Warren. The 25-year-old made his first 2025 start and was impressive. He worked five innings, allowing just two runs to a formidable Diamondbacks lineup.
“That’s an exciting first outing for him," manager Aaron Boone said after the game. "That’s a really good offense to go through and I thought he pitched really well. Even when he had a couple leadoff walks, didn’t come unraveled at all. I thought he did a very good job of changing speeds. His secondary tonight was excellent. But a very encouraging first outing against a good offense there."
Warren made six appearances (five starts) a season ago and struggled. In that time in the big leagues, Warren was 0-3 with a 10.32 ERA. In the past, walks would snowball innings for Warren but Boone was glad to see his young hurler stay composed and get through five, especially in that fifth inning.
After allowing a leadoff walk, Warren got Alek Thomas and Geraldo Perdomo before taking on Corbin Carroll. The former NL Rookie of the Year took Warren deep in the third inning, so this was a hug spot with the Yankees only up 4-2.
Warren fell behind Carroll in the count 2-0 but then got the left-handed hitter swinging on the next three pitches, finishing with a curveball in the dirt. Warren was visibly pumped up as he walked off the mound and into the dugout.
"I loved seeing the emotion out there," Ben Rice, who went 2-for-4 with a home run,said of Warren. "He's got electric stuff and he showed that he's a competitor. That's what we know he's capable of."
"That was nice. Definitely was emptying the tank there in the fifth," Warren said of his final inning. "That was big for me to try and get through five."
Boone said he believes Warren's time in the majors last year and his impressive spring are reasons for Warren's ability to overcome the walks -- which he had four of on Tuesday.
"I do think that next wave of experience for him, I thought he did a good job of controlling the environment around him," Boone said. "Was poised all night. Yea, his stuff was good. There was some adversity along the way but he handled it really well."
With injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, Warren will be asked to play a big role in the Yankees rotation this season.
Clarke Schmidt is starting the 2025 season on the IL with shoulder fatigue but the Yankees now know when they'll the right-hander back.
"He threw yesterday," Boone said after Tuesday's game. "We have him marked April 15/16. He’s got two more starts. He’ll start this weekend with Somerset up in Hartford and then he’ll have one more and the plan is for him to be with us."
Following Schmidt's two minor league starts, and if all goes well, the Yankees will have him back for their home series against the Kansas City Royals.
The 29-year-old was impressive with the Yanks last season, pitching to a 2.85 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 16 starts. Schmidt's return would bolster a rotation that is, as previously mentioned, without Cole for the entire season and Gil for the first few months.
Yankees bullpen implosion
The Yankees' eight-inning was their downfall. The bullpen allowed five runs including a massive grand slam to Eugenio Suarez.
Tim Hill started off and allowed a scorching double to Randal Grichuk before Geraldo Perdomo hit a single over the first base bag to score Grichuk and bring Arizona within a run.
Hill would rebound by getting Carroll to ground out, and although he struggled, the Yankees skipper felt his southpaw executed well.
"That team creates some challenges for you especially with the platoon advantages they try to create," Boone said. "Grichuk stings the ball up. We want Perdomo on the right side he blocked that chopper over there and then [Hill] gets Carroll and we want to keep Marte on the left side. Overall, I thought Timmy threw the ball fine. Grichuk really stung it on him but he executed well against Perdomo and Carroll there."
Boone relieved Hill to bring in Mark Leiter Jr. with one out. The right-hander walked the first two batters he faced before getting Josh Naylor to strike out. He then had Suarez on a 2-2 count but left a splitter over the middle of the plate, which the third baseman smashed to left field for the lead.
"Can’t walk two guys, that’s really it. That’s all I got for you," Leiter Jr. said. "Can’t really walk those two guys. Trying to keep Ketel [Marte] close and being a little too quick and falling behind. And not landing the offspeed pitches."
"Just not his sharpest outing," Boone said. "He’s been throwing the ball so well the last month or so especially his first couple of outings. I thought he got himself back on track with the Naylor punch and I thought he executed a couple of good pitches in the Suarez at-bat but it wasn’t a good split there, obviously, that he threw there.
"Just one of those nights where he was just a little bit off there."
One of those nights indeed. Entering Tuesday, Leiter Jr. was lights out, pitching two perfect innings with four strikeouts this season. And before that, Leiter Jr. didn't allow a run in 4.2 innings during spring training.
LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman is hearing it after he slipped and fell in the shower, injuring his surgically repaired right ankle and missing his second straight game for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Freak accident, you can’t really make it up, crazy,” Freeman said Tuesday.
The incident happened at home Sunday morning, an off day for the World Series champions.
“Halfway through my morning coffee I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just shower to get ready for the day' and next thing I know I’m down in the bathtub," he said. “It’s a great mental picture if you guys want to think about it. Big guy falling all over the place.”
Freeman's wife, Chelsea, relayed the news to the first baseman's father.
“He was like, ‘Are you serious?’” Freeman said. “Chelsea actually made the joke, ‘I thought I was going to deal with this when you’re 70, not when you’re 35.’”
Even his 4-year-old son, Brandon, piled on, saying, “Daddy, you got another boo-boo.”
Freeman sprained his right ankle on a play at first base in late September and struggled in the first two rounds of the postseason, but it was hardly evident during the World Series. He homered in the first four games and had 12 RBIs as the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in five games.
He had debridement surgery in December to remove loose bodies in the ankle.
His wife had to drive him to Dodger Stadium on Sunday for a three-hour treatment session. By the time it was over, he was able to drive himself home. An X-ray showed no serious damage.
“That was a big relief,” he said. "I just kind of irritated everything again. I was a little sore.”
Freeman felt fortunate, given that the combination shower-tub has a glass door.
“It could have been much worse,” he said. “I could have hit my head.”
The World Series MVP is 3 for 12 with two home runs and four RBIs to start the season. He was scratched from the Dodgers’ season-opening game in Tokyo because of left rib discomfort.
Freeman, a hitting purist, said when he returns he won't be jumping on the torpedo bat trend.
“I’ve swung the same bat for 16 years, I will not be changing,” he said. “I do not look down on anybody. If it’s legal you can do whatever you want. If it works for the guys, then go for it. I know some of our guys are getting them.”
Freeman is hopeful he can return for Wednesday's series finale against his old team, the Atlanta Braves.
Back at home, a plumber arrived Tuesday to repair a leaking handle in that shower.
“I’m not going to use that one again,” Freeman said. “I’m 0 for 1 on that shower.”
MIAMI — New York Mets left-hander Sean Manaea had a setback in his recovery from a right oblique strain and won’t throw for two weeks.
“He experienced some discomfort a couple of days ago when he was starting to ramp up,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday before a game against the Miami Marlins.
Manaea underwent imaging that showed inflammation and received a platelet-rich plasma injection on Monday.
“He’s going to go two weeks with no throwing, so we’re going to start building him back up,” Mendoza said.
Manaea didn’t pitch during spring training. He was shut down in late February and then placed on the 15-day injured list March 27. The original timeline for his return was late April, but Mendoza indicated that date no longer seems feasible.
The 33-year-old Manaea was New York's top starter in 2024, going 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 32 outings during his first season with the team. He helped the Mets reach the National League Championship Series before they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manaea became a free agent again in November and re-signed with the Mets in January for $75 million over three years.
“I felt like we played a clean game except two pitches on my two ground balls,” Lindor, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI single, said after the game. “I take a lot of pride in it, it doesn’t feel good.”
“Very rare to see him with two errors in a game,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It happens; he’s human.”
The first play was a tougher chance, and a more generous official scorer may have bailed him out when the speedy Dane Myers’ slow roller bounced off the heel of his glove as he came charging in toward the infield grass.
The second was a play Lindor makes in his sleep: He was in perfect position in no time to field Otto Lopez's 103.8 mph grounder to start the fourth inning but misplayed the hop off the heel of his glove.
“Usually, errors happen when you take your eyes off the baseball,” Lindor said. “And I saw both of them hit my glove. So my head, everything was on the baseball. Just missed it.”
He added: “It’s our job to finish the plays, and today was on me.”
And while the first error went unpunished, the second allowed the Marlins to plate two runs on Graham Pauley’s two-out double to break a 2-2 tie. And the two unearned runs ended up being the difference and spoiled five solid innings from Kodai Senga.
Lindor said that he spoke to the starter after the game, who told him not to worry about it, but “it still kinda hurts” because Senga is a “great professional” and “great teammate.”
“I wish had still done better for Senga,” the shortstop said. “Senga had a great game. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t finish the play for him; he executed today all night long. Definitely should be better.”
But the starter didn’t let Lindor take all the blame, either.
“Since the day I signed with this team, Lindor’s always been there,” Senga said through an interpreter. “He’s always supported me, always given me words of encouragement, he’s always been there for not just me but everybody on the team. So, when he makes a mistake, I need to be there to pick him up.
“Not only him but everybody else on the team. He’s always there for everybody, and it was my fault to make his error be highlighted because of my poor performance.”
The only thing left to do is “go out there tomorrow, work at them and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Lindor added.
Torpedoes jammed
After an explosion for 10 runs on Monday night, the Mets could muster just a pair in the early innings off Miami ace Sandy Alcántara through five innings.
The right-hander surrendered just three hits – a Brandon Nimmo home run, a Luisangel Acuña double, and Lindor single – while getting four strikeouts and needed just 70 pitches.
“The way he mixes pitches, not only the sinker against righties but the changeup, the slider against lefties,” Mendoza said. “He used all of his pitches, kept the ball down, got ground balls, and we didn’t do much off him.”
The four Marlins who came out of the bullpen were equally tough, with only Jesse Winker managing an infield hit before the ninth inning saw Juna Soto walk and Nimmo grab a single. In all, the home side’s bullpen needed just 55 pitches to get the final 12 outs.
“We didn’t have many good at-bats there,” the manager said. “We couldn’t create opportunities until that last inning. Didn’t get much going and didn’t hit many balls hard against their bullpen.”
No Kranick at the disco
Mendoza said Max Kranick could be a “really good” weapon for the Mets after his three perfect innings of relief.
“For him to come in like that and basically save the bullpen and kept the game and gave us a chance,” the manager said. “That was pretty impressive.”
“Attacked, threw stikes, used all of his pitches, was pitch efficient, and that’s gonna be huge for us moving forward having a guy like that that you know you can trust in helping you keeping games close or keeping a lead, giving you distance out of the bullpen,” Mendoza added. “That’s a pretty valuable piece.”
Kranick did allow some hard contact, but the results – much like Huascar Brazobán on Monday – were hard to argue against.
Kodai Senga’s first start of his 2025 season got off to a horrible start – allowing two runs on two hits in just four pitches – but the Mets' right-hander settled into deliver a commendable effort in a 4-2 loss at the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
“I think I lacked a little bit of calmness, just kind of giving them easy pitches to hit,” Senga said of the two extra-base hits to start the game. “I was just a little relieved to be back out there in a big-league game after the year that he had last year and that lead to bad results.”
The first inning has been the bugaboo his entire career, as he has a 4.65 ERA in that frame, the highest for any inning. But after that, the right-hander really went to work and toyed with the Marlins lineup.
Senga got the first two batters of the second inning swinging through forkballs before the forkball got all three batters swinging in the third inning.
Carlos Mendoza called the first two batters a “wake-up call” for the right-hander. “Other than the first two batters of the game,” he said. “He was really good.”
The starter concurred with the manager: “After that, I was able to sort out through my head what I need to do, all the data on how to approach the hitters, and that turned out to be effective.”
Overall, he threw 77 pitches through five innings, with 22 forkballs and 22 four-seam fastballs toping out his mix. But the forkball was most effective, getting nine whiffs on 15 swings.
But Senga is a harsher grader than most: “It was not bad, not great, but not bad,” he said of the forkball.
“First time throwing to [Luis] Torrens in a big league game, so I think there are some adjustments that are going to be continued to be made and I think he did a great job using it and that’s why I was able to perform decently," he said. “I think it’s gonna be better throughout the rest of the season.”
Despite the harsh self-critique, there were positives to take from his first outing of the season. Senga said he was able to “get his rhythm” and settled in very nicely to put the first four pitches behind him.
"I only threw about five innings in a big league game last year, and that's why a lot of the rythm part... was gone," he said. "How much to push and step on it earlier on in the game. And I think you could see my velo was a little bit higher toward the end of the game.
"I was able to grasp a little bit of that and able to get a lot out of this outing."
Senga closed on a high note, blowing a 97 mph fastball past Kyle Stowers for his eighth strikeout, making his final pitch the fastest he threw of the night by 1.2 mph.
Tuesday marked his first regular season start since July 26 last season and a pair of ill-fated outings at the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ALCS that October. Against that backdrop, Mendoza's assessment rings closer to reality: “The slider, sweeper, the split was really good. And then the way he was using the fastball."
But mistakes loomed large for the right-hander.
The second pitch of his debut was a 94.4 mph four-seam fastball that was right over the heart of the plate and smacked to right-center for a double off Xavier Edwards' bat. Two pitches later, he threw a 93.4 mph four-seam fastball that was middle-middle, and Stowers launched it 421 feet to center for a two-run home run.
“It all comes down to not winning,” Senga said. “I wasn’t able to put my team in the best position to win, gave up two runs quick against their ace. Our team got those two runs back, and then I let up the lead again.”
In the fourth, with two outs and a runner on first base after a Francisco Lindor error in a tied game. And here is perhaps where Senga's critique is harshest: Back-to-back forkballs failed to induce a swing from Jonah Bride, with the 3-2 offering not even close or tempting at all, came back to haunt the righty.
“They weren’t executed very well,” he said of the two forkballs. “They weren’t perfect pitches, mistake on my end, they could have been better.”
Senga then left another pitch right in the middle of the plate (this time a 90.4 mph cutter), and Graham Pauley cranked a two-RBI double to the opposite field in left-center to break the tie and proved to be the difference.
“We gave ‘em some extra outs, some extra bases, and they made him pay,” Mendoza said. “The two-out walk and then left pitch up. Just didn’t make a play there.”
The Yankees were on the verge of victory, but the bullpen's eighth-inning implosion led to New York's 7-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
With the Yanks nursing a 4-3 lead in the eighth, reigning NL Player of the Week Eugenio Suarez launched his MLB-leading fifth home run -- a grand slam -- off of Mark Leiter Jr. to give the D-backs a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Prior to that inning, Yankees pitching allowed just two runs on one hit.
Here are the takeaways...
-The fated eighth inning was the stuff of nightmares for the Yankees. With Devin Williams out on paternity leave, Luke Weaver was not available for the inning, so manager Aaron Boone went with Tim Hill to start. The southpaw allowed a double and single to start as Arizona cut the Yankees lead to 4-3. After Corbin Caroll ground out, Boone went with Leiter Jr. The right-hander walked Ketel Marte and Pavin Smith before striking out Josh Naylor. He was one pitch away from getting out of the inning before his splitter stayed out over the plate and Suarez launched his grand slam 376 feet over the left field wall.
Before that, the Yankees' bullpen was great. Fernando Cruz struck out four in two perfect innings and newly acquired RHP Adam Ottavino allowed just one walk over his 0.2 innings.
-Will Warren, making his season debut, started off strong, getting through the first two innings in order with three strikeouts. He wouldn't allow a baserunner until two outs in the third inning (a walk). Warren threw five straight balls before he grooved an 87 mph changeup over the plate to Carroll, who deposited it over the right field wall to put the D-backs ahead, 2-0.
Those location issues continued in the fourth as Warren walked his first two batters. A mound visit from pitching coach Matt Blake seemingly settled Warren down, who induced a 4-6-3 double play from Suarez and a ground out from Gabriel Moreno.
The young right-hander had to work to get the requisite five innings to qualify for the win. After giving up a lead-off walk, Warren got the next three batters out, including striking out Carroll swinging on a curveball in the dirt.
The 25-year-old had a 10.32 ERA across six games (five starts) a season ago and showed that his impressive spring was not a fluke. Warren threw five innings (85 pitches/46 strikes) while allowing two runs on one hit and four walks while striking out four.
-Cobrin Burnes entered Tuesday's start with a 0-2 record against the Yankees but a minuscule 1.42 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees. In his first game as a Diamondback, the former CY Young winner was cruising until the third inning when he allowed a leadoff homer to Jasson Dominguez that went 377 feet over the right-center field wall. Ben Rice followed with a double, and then Oswaldo Cabrera walked, but Burnes got Paul Goldschmidt to pop out, before striking out Cody Bellinger and getting Aaron Judge to ground out to end the threat.
The Yankees were close to squandering a golden opportunity in the fourth. With men on second and third and one out, Rice struck out before Cabrera hit a weak grounder to Naylor. The former Guardians first baseman -- who has plenty of history with the Yankees -- airmailed a toss that went over Burnes' glove, who was covering first. That allowed the two go-ahead runs to score.
-Dominguez was one of only a few Yankees to not go deep this season, but he got off the schneid with his blast. The young left fielder finished 2-for-3.
Anthony Volpe's fourth-inning blast went 418 feet and broke the MLB record for most home runs through a team's first four games, which was set by the 2006 Tigers. It would be the shortstop's only hit (1-4), but he struck out twice.
Rice would tack on his second home run of the season in the ninth to extend the Yankees' new record to 18.
-Judge, Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Jazz Chssiholm Jr. went a combined 0-for-15 with a walk and nine strikeouts. Chisholm struck out four times. The Yankees as a team struck out 14 times.
The Yankees and Diamondbacks continue their three-game set on Wednesday night in The Bronx.
RHP Zac Gallen (0-1, 9.00 ERA) will take the mound for Arizona, while the Yankees will see LHP Carlos Rodon (1-0, 1.69 ERA) on the bump for the second time this season.
Kodai Senga delivered eight strikeouts over five innings of work, but the Mets’ errors and stimied bats spelled a 4-2 loss to the Marlins on Tuesday night in Miami.
New York managed just one base runner after the third inning until Juan Soto started the ninth inning by working a walk against left-hander Anthony Veneziano. After a fielder’s choice, Brandon Nimmo's single brought the go-ahead run to the plate. But righty Anthony Bender came on for Miami and got Mark Vientos to fly out to right and Jesse Winker to ground out to first to end the game.
Here are the takeaways...
- Senga opened up his 2025 campaign by allowing a bullet of a double (99.5 mph off the bat) into the gap in right-center by Xavier Edwards before Kyle Stowers drilled (104.5 mph) for a 421-foot two-run shot to center. The two hits both came on four-seam fastballs (94.4 mph and 93.4 mph) that were up in the zone and right over the heart of the plate. After the awful first four pitches, Senga's next 12 got his first three outs, but his career ERA in the first inning went up to 4.65, the highest of any inning. (His ERA in all other innings: 2.60.)
And then Senga started getting everything working. The right-hander’s spooky forkball got back-to-back swinging strikeouts to start the second and then three straight in the third.
The righty worked around a leadoff error in the fourth, but a two-out walk put two on for Graham Pauley. And Senga left a 1-0 cutter right over the heart of the plate and was punished for a two-run double to the gap in left center.
Senga closed his day with a 12-pitch, 1-2-3 fifth inning, blowing a 97 mph fastball past Stowers for his eighth strikeout of the evening.
- Out of the bullpen, Max Kranick entered a lower-stress situation than his first outing of the season and needed just six pitches for a 1-2-3 sixth with a strikeout. The right-hander allowed a pair of hard-hit balls, but 10 pitches saw him through his second perfect inning of the evening. Manager Carlos Mendoza saw no issue with the reliever going back out there and neither did Kranick, who got his third straight perfect frame in the eighth, needing just five pitches.
- Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara looked every bit the real deal again, getting three groundouts against the Mets’ top trio on just nine pitches in the first. While changeups got the two lefties in the first, Nimmo cranked a 2-1 changeup 388 feet for a solo shot to right, 108.3 mph off the bat. Alcántara, working his way back from Tommy John in late 2023, went 5.0 innings with two runs on three hits and four strikeouts.
Nimmo, who added his second homer of the series, finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts looking.
- Luisangel Acuña, getting the start at second against a right-hander ahead of Brett Baty, slashed a ground-rule double to right, going with an Alcántara 98 mph fastball on the outside corner. Acuña proved he was a plus-plus defender, including making a nifty play fielding a hot shot in the seventh.
Baty would pinch-hit for Acuña to lead off the eighth and grounded out to second in his only at-bat.
- Francisco Lindor, in his return to the lineup after the birth of his first son, was charged with an error in the second but made up for it the next half inning with an RBI single up the middle to past a drawn-in infield to plate Acuña. The hit snapped a 0-for-12 start to the season for the shortstop. The shortstop committed a second error to lead off the fourth. He finished the day 1-for-4 with a strikeout and RBI.
- Soto hit a ball right on the screws his second time up (104.8 mph, 348 feet), but right at the center fielder. He finished 0-for-3, with a walk to start the ninth. The on-base king has now reached base in every game this year.
- Pete Alonso had a quiet day going 0-for-4.
- Luis Torrens showed he was no fool when he nailed the speedy Dane Myers at second base to close the second inning with a perfect throw to Acuña. The catcher looked like he tied the game in the seventh, but his deep drive to center (103.5 mph off the bat) traveled just 394 feet to the warning track.
- Vientos committed a big no-no his second time up when he slowed down about 15 feet from first base on a grounder. Had Vientos run as hard as he did the first 75 feet, he would have easily reached as the Marlins' third baseman bobbled the ball. Instead, he was out by a half step. He finished 0-for-4.
Game MVP(s): Senga and Kranick
With Senga still building himself back up to his full strength, he showed off a devastating forkball and a good arsenal of pitches to finish his season debut with a final line of 5.0 innings, four runs (two earned), three hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts on 77 pitches (49 strikes).
The two Mets pitchers combined to throw just 99 pitches (66 strikes) on the night. Hard to find too many faults there.
The Mets wrap up the three-game set in Miami with a late-afternoon first pitch of 4:40 p.m. in Miami before returning home for Opening Day at Citi Field on Friday.
Right-hander Clay Holmes will look to do better in his second start of the campaign. He'll face off against Marlins righty Connor Gillespie.
