Category: Baseball

The San Diego Padres played their first extra-innings game of the 2026 season and the first under new manager Craig Stammen. It took 12 innings for the Padres to top the Colorado Rockies in their series opener at Petco Park on Thursday night, giving them and Stammen the win.

The game was settled in the bottom of the 12th inning when Xander Bogaerts blasted a grand slam home run deep into the left field bleachers for a walk-off 7-3 win. The San Diego shortstop made Colorado pay for issuing intentional walks to Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado with Jake Cronenworth on third base after a Fernando Tatis Jr. sacrifice bunt to load the bases. Bogaerts delivered the game winning drive on a 1-0 pitch on the inside part of the plate that sent the Friar Faithful home happy.  

The game-winning heroics by Bogaerts required Cronenworth to make a game-saving throw to the plate on a two-hopper on the infield to give San Diego a chance to win the game in extras. With one out in the top of the 12^th inning, Cronenworth fielded a ground ball off the bat of Brenton Doyle and threw quickly to Luis Campusano at home plate who applied a tag to Willi Castro to keep the game tied, 3-3. Reliever David Morgan got the Padres out of the inning two batters later when Kyle Karros grounded out to Bogaerts at shortstop, sending Tatis Jr., Merrill and Machado to the plate with a chance to win the game.

The end of the game got the headlines and overshadowed another fabulous start from Randy Vasquez, who pitched 5.2 innings, allowing just one run on seven hits with eight strikeouts and no walks allowed. Vasquez worked in and out of trouble throughout the game but the one blemish on his start was a solo home run allowed to Doyle in the top of the third inning.

The San Diego offense matched the one run scored by Colorado in the bottom half of the inning when Freddy Fermin and Cronenworth hit back-to-back one out singles to put runners at the corners for Tatis Jr. The Padres right fielder lifted an 0-1 pitch into left field that allowed Fermin to tag up and score from third base.

Neither offense could do much against the opposing pitchers and the game remained tied into the 10^th inning. Both teams scored runs in the 10^th and 11^th innings and the game was decided in the 12^th.

San Diego and Colorado play Friday at 6:40 p.m. and the Padres will wear their City Connect 2.0 uniforms, which were officially unveiled on Thursday.

The Colorado Rockies fought and fought, pushing the San Diego Padres into extras. Unfortunately, they came out on the losing end of a crooked loss, but they showed some absolute heart. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak, and also marked the longest game (by innings) in 2026.

Jimmy Herget opened with a clear inning

Herget played the role of “opener” today. He said on the broadcast that last year he made an appearance in every inning except the first, so today he got his chance. Herget set the tone with an excellent first inning, going 1-2-3 to Jake Cronenworth, Fernando Tatís Jr., and Jackson Merrill. None of the outs were strikeouts, but outs are outs and Herget only threw 10 pitches (six for strikes).

Go Do(llander)

As expected, Chase Dollander took over in the second and ended up going 4.1 innings. He allowed just one earned run with one walk and three strikeouts. He started laboring in the sixth, but was able to get a huge strikeout of Tatís Jr.

Extra (extra) bases

Ezequiel Tovar reached twice again tonight, knocking two doubles.

Brenton Doyle also got to don the purple coat, which did make the trip. The center fielder hit his first home run of the year in the third inning to put the Rockies up 1-0.

Stop hitting Hunter!

In the sixth inning, Hunter Goodman got hit on the right hand for the second day in a row. Randy Vásquez threw a pitch up and in, and it caught Goodman’s hand wrapped around the bat. He walked to first and was met by Warren Schaeffer and Andy Stover. They immediately wrapped his middle finger and it looked like he would attempt to carry on, but he then started bleeding under the bandage. He went into the dugout to get it wrapped and more deeply examined, but then tore off his helmet and threw it down in frustration — Brett Sullivan would then enter the game in his place.

Luckily, it appears that x-rays were negative and Goodman just suffered a right finger laceration. Schaeffer said after the game that Goodman is “day to day.”

Defensive unraveling

The Rockies have had impeccable defense for most of the season, but when it rains, it pours sometimes…

In the bottom of the sixth, the Rox had plenty of opportunities to make outs but couldn’t hold onto the ball. First, Manny Machado reached on a throwing error by Edouard Julien, who tossed the ball into the dirt and Troy Johnston couldn’t smother it. Then, Dollander had Machado picked off but Johnston couldn’t keep it in his glove to record the out. And then, Xander Bogaerts hit a tailor-made double play ball, but Tovar bungled the transfer and rather than record three easy outs, the Rockies then had first and second with one out.

Bullpen wizardry

Luckily, Jaden Hill came in and quickly struck out Gavin Sheets, but then a double steal put men on second and third. Sullivan attempted to pick off Machado at third, but Willi Castro wasn’t quite at the bag. But Hill struck out Nick Castellanos and the Rockies escaped what could’ve been a very bad inning.

Hill stayed in for the seventh inning and got Ty France, Freddy Fermin, and Cronenworth 1-2-3.

Juan Mejia came in for the eighth and was outstanding. He battled against Tatís Jr., who did end up walking. They nearly got him at second after Merrill flied out to center, but Castro was once again slightly behind the bag. However, he was picked off on this excellent play:

Machado singled again, but Mejia struck out Bogaerts to end the inning.

Extra, extra, extra innings!

The 10th inning started with Castro on second as the ghost runner. Jake McCarthy hit a (weird) sacrifice bunt to move him over, and then Doyle walked.

Tyler Freeman hit another clutch single like he did in Toronto to put the Rockies up 2-1 in extras. Unfortunately, he slid early and was nearly leveled by Bogaerts — and that ended up being called interference to end the inning.

In the Padres’ half, Tovar kept Luis Campusano close at second, but then when Cronenworth hit a sacrifice bunt, Victor Vodnik was able to field and pick him off at third base. Unfortunately, Tatís singled and then Merrill walked to load the bases. Machado then hit a sac fly to score Cronenworth.

In the 11th, Sullivan led off with a double down the right field line to score Kyle Karros and put the Rockies up 3-2.

Johnston then walked, but then TJ Rumfield struck out swinging. Tovar grounded into a force out to get Johnston at second, and then Castro gathered a platinum sombrero with an inning-ending fifth strikeout.

Brennan Bernardino came in to pitch the bottom half of the 11th and gave up a single to Sheets. He got Castellanos to line out on a spectacular glove save by Karros followed by a strikeout of Ramón Laureano. But then Campusano doubled to score Sheets and then Cronenworth popped out to Karros to send things to the bottom half.

In the bottom half, Valente Bellozo came on to try to hold the the Padres’ best hitters off the board. Tatís Jr. laid down a bunt to move over Cronenworth. Then, Schaffer elected to intentionally walk Merrill and Machado. Unfortunately, Bogaerts belted one over the left field wall for a walk-off grand slam, and the Rockies lost 7-3 after battling back all through extras.

Up Next

Luckily, tomorrow is another night game.

Tomoyuki Sugano will take on Walker Buehler at 6:40pm MT.

See you then!

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The Mets' bullpen has been extra sharp to start the season, and Luke Weaver has been a big part of that.

Entering Thursday's game against the Diamondbacks, Weaver had allowed just one hit and no walks across five scoreless innings. That would change at an inopportune time for the Mets.

After young right-hander Nolan McLean exited the game with a 1-0 lead and two runners on with one out, Weaver was called on to get out of the jam. Arizona catcher Gabriel Moreno stepped into the box as a pinch-hitter and got ahead 2-1 on Weaver. On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Weaver threw a changeup that was down and away from the right-handed backstop, but Moreno went down and got the barrel of the bat on the ball. 

The ball carried to right field, where Brett Baty was. However, Baty could not come up with the ball and a run scored to tie the game. A run-scoring fielder's choice, a sac fly and a triple later, and the Diamondbacks put up a four-spot in the seventh en route to a 7-1 loss for the Mets. 

Weaver would get the two outs needed to end the seventh, but the damage was done. Four runs scored -- two counted against Weaver -- on two hits.

After the game, Weaver was asked about the inning and gave credit to the team for executing against him.

"They’re a good team. Good lineup, put the ball in play," Weaver said. "At the end of the day, there’s only one way to look at it, and it’s if you do your job or you don't. Today was not one of those outcomes. They earned it, but I don’t want to be discouraged. I want to continue doing what I’m doing. Feel like I’m in a good spot. Just got to wrap it up to that."

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Weaver got in trouble after getting behind 2-0 to Moreno, but gave the Arizona catcher all the credit for putting the barrel to the ball on an executed changeup.

Interestingly enough, Weaver disagreed on whether he executed the pitch.

"There was some indecision on what I wanted to do there," Weaver explained. "Pitch clock got involved there. It was a backed-up moment and just didn’t get to the right end of what I needed to do. [Moreno] did a good job of staying on the pitch. Just on the wrong side of it."

Thursday was Weaver's first blown save of the season and it came at the expense of McLean's gem. Again, Weaver was upbeat about the situation -- all thing's considered -- and is confident he'll get the job done for McLean in the future.

"Adds more of a sting for sure," Weaver said of blowing the save for McLean. "He deserves to walk out of that with his head high. Rely on us to get the job done in crunchtime. He deserved the win there. I hated to be that guy for him, but I’ll pick him up at some point and he’ll continue to do a great job for us."

About that Baty play in the OF

The Moreno at-bat was the catalyst for the Diamondbacks' win on Thursday, but could the game-tying double have been avoided?

Including Thursday, Baty has made just five starts in right field -- facilitated by Juan Soto's IL stint -- and is an infielder by trade. Moreno's double had an exit velocity of 99.3 mph and had a hit probability of 45 percent, according to Statcast. But Baty didn't seem to have a bead on it or know where he was in relation to the right field wall. The ball wound up sailing out of the reach of Baty and bounced off the wall.

Mendoza was asked if he felt Baty could have made the play.

"I don’t think so. He was a little shallow there," Mendoza said. "Moreno got a good piece on that one. I don’t think Baty had a chance on that one there."

When asked if the play was catchable, the Mets skipper spoke confidently that Baty wouldn't have made the play.

"We’ll have to go back and look. But especially with Moreno, he uses the whole field, have to give him credit," Mendoza said. "Where [Baty] was positioned, which is the right positioning, I don’t think he’ll make that play."

Flipped it. pic.twitter.com/CUk4POps8N

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 10, 2026

One batter later, Alek Thomas hit a sharp grounder to Mark Vientos at first base. Vientos grabbed it and squared his body, but bounced the throw wide of the plate, allowing the Diamondbacks to take the lead on the fielder's choice.

Mendoza said the ball was to his left and it's a tough play for any infielder to make. He also gave credit to Jose Fernandez, the runner on third, for his execution of getting down the line quickly. 

With Soto out and Jorge Polanco potentially joining him on the IL, Baty and Vientos are asked to play positions they haven't done much of in their careers. Despite that, Mendoza has liked what he's seen from both despite them learning on the fly.

“I think they’ve been playing the positions very well,” Mendoza said. “Even today, that ball in right field, that’s a tough play. And the one at the plate with Vientos, when you execute the way they did it -- hell of a job from the runner on third base going on contact. Anytime an infielder’s got to go to his right, to his left, you’re going to have to make a really good play to get the guy at home plate. But they've been good.”

The early numbers are, once again, not pretty for Francisco Lindor.

He snapped a skid of 11 hitless at-bats with a seventh inning single in his fourth trip to the plate in the Mets’ 7-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on Thursday night at Citi Field.

He now has just eight hits all season, and just three of those have been for extra bases.

Lindor knows he’s off to another rough first few weeks to a season, but he insists it’s not because of the surgery to remove the hamate bone in his left hand in February.

He can point to the pair of hits, including a double, he had Tuesday against Arizona, with three balls over 100 mph.

Lindor noted the ball he hit off Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller on March 28, a shot that went to deep center at 106 mph, as proof that the procedure, which can rob hitters of power, is not to blame for any slow start.

“They said the power was gonna be down, and I’m hitting the ball just as hard as I have before,” Lindor said before Thursday’s game against the Diamondbacks at Citi Field. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Despite his confidence that he will hit like he typically does, Lindor acknowledged he still feels the effects of the injury “here and there, but I’m good.”

“Of course you worry about not being the same,” Lindor said of his mindset early in the season. “You do grips and strength tests, and you don’t know if it’s strong enough or what it once was. But then you feel you’re hitting the ball like normal and you think you’re fine. That’s where I am.”

The results so far haven’t followed. That’s nothing new for Lindor, no stranger to shaky Aprils, which is what Carlos Mendoza called this one.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

“The injury has nothing to do with it,” the manager said of the fact Lindor, who is now Thursday just 8-for-51 (.157) with three extra-base hits and no runs batted in. “He’s fine. Throughout his career, only last year were his numbers in April good. He’s hit a lot of balls hard that have gone right at people.”

But with Juan Soto sidelined with a calf injury and Jorge Polanco dealing with Achilles tendinitis, Lindor’s lack of production — along with Bo Bichette’s — is especially ill-timed.

“I’d like to contribute more to the team in this spot, but my struggles are not because of my hand,” Lindor said. “I have to put more quality at-bats together every day and the results will come.”

Asked if the absence of Soto has added more pressure, Lindor said, “No. Juan is irreplaceable. The stuff he does on the field and in the batter’s box, I can’t make up. None of us can.”

But Lindor can certainly do more than he has in the early going.

“You understand these starts are gonna happen sometimes,” Lindor said. “And at the beginning of a season, it looks worse because you don’t have numbers to make it better. It’s part of it. But you have to have a sense of urgency, which I do, to get going. You can’t just say, ‘I’ll get there.’ ”

And to Mendoza’s point, Lindor didn’t have a multi-hit game last year until the ninth game of the season, and in 2024 he was a mess at the plate well into April and slumped all the way to the middle of June.

“He’s an aggressive hitter,” Mendoza said. “He’s going to swing. He’ll get out of it and be fine.”

They call this a deGrom in Queens.

Unrewarded brilliance.

Nolan McLean was terrific as the Mets offense hibernated. He threw up zeroes for six innings. Then, the bullpen blew it and the lineup did nothing to get him off the hook.

The Mets suffered a series-losing, 7-1 setback to the Diamondbacks, and McLean took the loss despite a strong outing at frigid Citi Field.

“That’s part of baseball, at the end of the day. I’m sure I’ll leave guys out there and our bullpen is going to strand them for me plenty of times this year,” McLean said. “It’s already been done a couple of times. It’s part of the game. It’s a long season. I know those guys have my back.”

McLean departed with two runners on, one out in the seventh and a 1-0 lead. Luke Weaver entered, and two batters later the Mets were behind. Converted right fielder Brett Baty couldn’t get to a Gabriel Morena drive that hit the right field fence. Mark Vientos then threw wide to the plate on an Alek Thomas grounder. Arizona led and continued to add on, scoring seven times in the seventh and eighth.

“He deserves to work out of that with his head held high and rely on us to get the job done in crunch time,” Weaver said. “He deserves the win there. I hate to be that guy for him, but I’ll pick him up at some point, and he’ll continue to do a great job for us.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

Despite the ugly ending, it was another quality outing from McLean.

The right-hander struck out eight, walked two and allowed three hits over 6 ¹/₃ innings. He threw 100 pitches, 64 for strikes, and his ERA on the young season now stands at 2.70.

He allowed just one hit over the first five innings. But McLean walked Geraldo Perdomo leading off the seventh, and with one out Jose Fernando singled softly to center. That was all for McLean.

McLean has made 11 career big league starts and has allowed more than two earned runs just once. The only Mets pitcher to accomplish that feat was Jim McAndrew.

“He had everything working, especially the sinker,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “The sinker has been a pitch that’s been kind of off the first couple of outings. But today, the movement, the way he was just commanding that pitch, and he had pretty much everything else working. He was pretty solid.”

It is reminiscent of Jacob deGrom’s start to his career with the Mets. So was Thursday’s outing: no support from his lineup or bullpen.

Memphis Redbirds 4, Charlotte Knights 1
Memphis wasted no time, tagging starter Douglas Nikhazy for three early runs. The 26-year-old, a spring waiver flier from the Cleveland Guardians, has been little more than a roster filler. Tonight, he went 3 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits. The Redbirds tacked on one more tally for good measure off Tyler Gilbert in the sixth.

Charlotte (5-6) finally scratched out a run in the third, courtesy of LaMonte Wade Jr. He ripped the Knights’ lone highlight, an RBI double in the third, to plate Mario Camilletti. Despite smacking seven hits and working three walks, the club couldn’t get anything else going. The good news is Sam Antonacci stretched his hitting streak to 10 games, leading off the ninth with a single. His spring slash line: .342/.500/.526 with a 1.026 OPS.

Chattanooga Lookouts 6, Birmingham Barons 2
Regions Field was quiet early as both teams were held hitless through four innings. The Barons (2-4) struggled early and failed to build any momentum, exchanging quick outs with Chattanooga. It all happened fast for the Lookouts in the fifth inning, beginning with back-to-back solo shots off starter Lucas Gordon. Chattanooga took a 2-0 lead and they wouldn’t look back.

Chattanooga took advantage in the eighth inning and piled on with a series of extra-base hits, extending their lead to 6-2. Birmingham plated two runs in the bottom half of the inning on a sacrifice fly and a force out, but the damage was done. The Barons had plenty of baserunners (nine), but couldn’t piece together enough hits to complete their comeback, falling in a game where timely hitting made all the difference.

Winston-Salem Dash 8, Frederick Keys 3
The Dash (4-2) came out swinging, slapping three doubles in the first inning— by Caleb Bonemer, George Wolkow, and Jacob Burke. Just like that, they put four runs on the board. The Keys tried to make things interesting, clawing back to 4-3, but W-S slammed the door in the seventh. Bonemer uncorked a three-run blast, DePino chipped in with a solo shot, and that was all she wrote.

Grant Umberger did his job: five innings, two hits, one earned, five punchouts, and three walks. Jake Peppers tried to keep the train rolling in the sixth but promptly derailed, allowing a run on three hits and two free passes. Dash skipper Guillermo Quiroz summoned Luke Bell to put out the fire, and he did just that. Bell and Drew Conover finished things up, holding the Keys scoreless for the rest of the game.

Hickory Crawdads 3, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0
The game was scoreless through four, thanks to Max Banks, who’s now two starts deep and still hasn’t surrendered a run. In four innings, he gave up one hit, one walk, and had seven punchouts. The White Sox selected him in the 14th round last year (No. 406), and the 22-year-old is making pro ball look easy so far.

Jeremy González took the ball for the fifth, and that’s when it unraveled. He served up two runs in the fifth, another in the sixth, and just like that, Hickory had all they’d need. The Ballers (2-4)? Four hits, three guys in scoring position, and not a hint of a rally.

The Atlanta Braves return to Truist Park and kick off the weekend with a three-game set against the Cleveland Guardians. The Braves enter play with an 8-5 record and are coming off a series win in Anaheim, where the run column was high, and emotions even higher. The Guardians come to town with the same record after a recent series win over the Kansas City Royals. 

The series gets underway tonight at 7:15 ET, with Bryce Elder getting the nod against fellow right-hander Slade Cecconi. Game two is set for the same time Saturday night, as Martín Pérez faces Parker Messick. The series will conclude Sunday night with Chris Sale starting things off at 7:20 ET. 

The Braves haven’t dropped a series yet this season, and they’ll aim to keep that perfect streak intact this weekend.

More Braves News:

The City Connect uniforms have officially been unveiled, and here’s everything you need to know. 

BravesVision analyst Peter Moylan spoke with us earlier this week to talk about all things coaching, ABS, the big brawl, and more. 

Didier Fuentes threw a shutout and recorded eight strikeouts during Wednesday’s start. More in the minor league recap.

There are several high school prospects the Braves may explore this year, so take a look at potential selections. 

MLB News:

The Washington Nationals have yet to make an extension offer to outfielder Daylen Lile. The Nats currently have just one player on a guaranteed contract past 2026. 

From the Feed:

This week’s brawl has been the biggest Braves headline all week, and now it’s time to hear from you. Which Braves brawl do you think is most memorable?

There’s been plenty of reflection of the past this week after the City Connects were unveiled. So, let’s hear your favorite player as a kid. 

Jorge Polanco was out of the lineup Thursday against Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez with lingering left Achilles soreness, and manager Carlos Mendoza said the first baseman could end up on the IL.

“It is a possibility that we get to a point where we need to give him a break,’’ Mendoza said before a 7-1 loss at Citi Field. “It’s fluid. We’ll see what we’ve got.”

Right now, they’ve got a major part of their offseason transformation unable to play first base since the second game of the season, when Polanco first began to feel discomfort in the area.

He’s been limited to DH duties since then and even that hasn’t helped resolve the issue.

Mendoza said Polanco felt it again Wednesday, which led to Thursday’s decision.

“We’re saying it’s day to day and there are good days and days when he feels it more,” Mendoza said. “[Wednesday] was one of those days [he felt it].”

And there’s no telling how long Polanco will be dealing with the discomfort.

“It’s hard to tell,’’ the manager said. “We’re watching it closely.”

With Polanco sidelined versus the lefty, Mark Vientos was at first base and Francisco Alvarez was the DH.

The 32-year-old Polanco played 138 games with Seattle last season, but had IL stints due to leg injuries each of the three seasons prior — sidelined by hamstring strains in both legs, as well as left knee inflammation.

The lineup is already without Juan Soto, on the IL with a strained right calf and he hasn’t resumed running yet.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

“We’re being cautious,’’ Soto told The Post of the IL decision following a 7-1 loss to Arizona. “I want to be in the right spot when I come back. We have a plan and we’ll follow it.”

Soto, expected to be out 2-3 weeks after suffering the injury in San Francisco, is doing some baseball activities while he’s out, playing catch and hitting in the cages and said he feels “pretty good.”

There’s no timeline, though, for Soto to begin running, which will be the real test for when he might be able to return.

A.J. Minter, expected to be a major piece of the bullpen last year before being lost after a torn lat required season-ending surgery, returned to action Thursday with Low-A St. Lucie. The lefty tossed a scoreless inning to begin his rehab process. He’ll have to be activated by May 9.

“It was good to see him ready to go,’’ Mendoza said. “The fact he was in real competition was a good sign.”

Another veteran reliever, Craig Kimbrel, also tossed a shutout inning for St. Lucie after he had a rough spring.

While David Peterson continues to struggle and Sean Manaea can’t get his velocity back, Christian Scott had an encouraging outing Thursday for Triple-A Syracuse. The right-hander, out since 2024 Tommy John surgery, threw five scoreless innings against Buffalo.

He sat in the mid-90s and allowed just a pair of hits, a walk and whiffed seven.

Tobias Myers entered Thursday having not pitched since Saturday and hadn’t thrown more than 30 pitches since his season debut on March 26. Mendoza said Myers was still built up for “40-45” pitches, but “if we need to use him for one inning in high-leverage, we will.”

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Mets had the highest Opening Day payroll at $352.2 million.

“There’s always pressure here in New York,’’ Mendoza said. “There are high expectations, regardless of payroll. We’ve got to go and not only get to October, but deep into October.”

MLB Trade Rumors | Anthony Franco: Luis Gil, who started the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre since the Yankees did not need a fifth starter, was recalled after yesterday’s game. To make room on the 40-man, the team will designate Cade Winquest for assignment. New York took Winquest in the Rule 5 Draft over the offseason, but the right-hander didn’t manage to make it into a game in his two weeks with the club. After allowing three runs on four hits and four walks while striking out six in 4.2 innings for Scranton on Sunday, Gil is scheduled to make his season debut tonight against the Rays.

The Yankees made the move official on Friday afternoon;

The Winquest decision will likely spark debate over the Yankees’ decision to roster him but never use him across 12 games. For one perspective, check out the PSA account on BlueSky.

SNY | Alex Smith: The New York Yankees were blanked on Thursday afternoon by Jeffrey Springs and co., losing 1-0 and logging a single hit, a Ben Rice single in the seventh. They lost the series at the hands of the Athletics and haven’t scored a single run in their last 17 innings. As Matt noted in his recap for us, when the top of the order has a bad day, it just exposes the completely-punchless lower half. Ryan McMahon (2-for-29) and José Caballero (5-for-37) have horrid wRC+’s of 17 and 10, respectively, the catchers haven’t hit, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. has yet to homer. In fact, Chisholm, McMahon, Caballero, Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton, Trent Grisham, and Austin Wells have combined for as many homers (2 in 304 PA) as bench bat Amed Rosario had on Tuesday alone.

Even manager Aaron Boone, known for always finding a silver lining in every tough situation, didn’t find any positives in Thursday’s game. “Look, we got shut down today,” Boone said. “The previous games where we’re struggling scoring, I feel like we’re getting the traffic and we’re having quality at-bats. Today was a day where we got beat. We just didn’t generate much, we didn’t hit a lot of balls on the screws at all, and didn’t create much traffic.”

NY Post | Dan Martin and Mark W. Sánchez: Yankees closer David Bednar, who has given up runs in three of his last four outings, has been averaging 95.6 mph with his fastball. After checking in at 97.1 mph in 2025 and 97.2 mph the year before, it’s clear his velo has been down a bit. The pitcher, however, is not concerned. “It’s early in the season and the weather [is cold],” Bednar told reporters. “It’s nothing to panic about.”

It’s also important to point out that the reliever has been throwing a lot these days due to the Yankees’ shallow bullpen, but the situation is worth monitoring even though it’s very early, and the cold does play a role. The pitching staff has at least generally done its part so far; it’s more the offense that needs to catch up.

CBS | RotoWire Staff: Yankees veteran ace Gerrit Cole keeps advancing in his recovery from Tommy John surgery. After throwing on Monday without issues, the next step is facing hitters with High-A Hudson Valley, according to Boone. The session will take place on Sunday and, if it goes well, a rehab assignment could be next.

Introduction

I struggle with failure. It’s one of many, many, many reasons I was never going to be a professional athlete – particularly a baseball player given the sport’s inherent propensity for failure. No matter how many times someone told me, “Even the best ballplayers fail seven out of ten times” I was always too scared of failing to be successful. But professional baseball players, especially playing at the highest levels, are so accustomed to failure that cold stretches mean very little to them. Which is why I’m sure Geraldo Perdomo isn’t sweating (if he even could through this current cold snap) a pretty rough start to this season. Through the first two weeks of the season, Perdomo is the owner of a pitiful .179/.277/.308 slash line – a far cry from the .293/.347/.415 slash line he had at this point last year. Perdomo has still found ways to contribute, especially on the field, but his offensive contributions are a key to the team’s success this season. I don’t want to overstate anything. I’m not even at the “concerned” stage yet and we’re not yet even 10% of the way through the season. But I am slightly puzzled and if you’ll forgive a baseball writer looking for subjects to write about, I’d like to dig in to see if there are any patterns leading to his scuffling start.

Bat Speed

Unsurprisingly, there is a direct, linear relationship between bat speed (how fast the bat is moving through the strike zone) and exit velocity (the speed of the ball when it leaves the bat). In turn, there’s a strong relationship between exit velocity and the expected outcome of a particular batted ball not being converted into an out. Perdomo’s lack of power was one of the consistent criticisms levelled against him by evaluators and was likely at least partially based on his relatively poor bat speed. To this point in his career, Perdomo has only topped out at an average of 68 miles per hour last year, which clocked in at the seventh percentile in the league that season. So far this year, it’s gone down a few ticks to 65 MPH, which likely in turn has led to decreases in his expected batting average and slugging from .278 and .424 last season to .237 and .342 respectively. There are a myriad of explanations for the dip from cool weather to mechanical issues, but he’ll need to regain that speed if he wants to return to the form he had last year.

Overly Aggressive

I’ve always loved watching Perdomo’s at bats even before his breakout last year. He has an excellent approach at the plate and has earned a reputation for being a pesky at bat – on display during tonight’s game in New York when he worked two walks after falling behind in the count. That approach hasn’t dramatically changed so far this year as his swing percentage hasn’t changed year over year, he’s in the 94th percentile for chase percentage and 99th percentile for whiff rate. Cumulatively, that all screams to me an excellent approach to his plate appearances. What has changed is his swing decision on first pitches, spiking from ~15% last year to ~21% this season. That kind of percentage limits the number of pitches he’ll get to see when he’s at the plate and indeed he’s only seeing around four pitches per plate appearance, which is close to league average so far. When he does swing at those first pitches, he’s struggled to turn them into hits with substantially different results from last year in the same situations.

Missing Meatballs

Related to his (slightly) more aggressive approach at the plate, Perdomo has looked a little weaker against meatballs – so-called because of the relative ease for hitting them. He hasn’t seen as many of them so far, falling from 9% to 7.4% in the early going of the season and failing to swing at them when he does see them, dropping from 70% to 64% in his meatball swing percentage year-over-year. Some of that might be due to the relative quality of pitching the team has seen so far as only the Tigers have a below-average pitching staff by ERA so far this year. Those numbers might stabilize as the team faces off against weaker opponents in the league, but it could also indicate a changed approach by the league. It’s possible pitchers are pitching more carefully to him as a result of his performance last season than they might have previously.

Again, I’m neither worried nor even concerned at this point. It’s far too early to try and extrapolate or make any kinds of conclusions about where Perdomo is. There are plenty of superstars who have seriously struggled out of the gate – including Perdomo’s opposite number this series in Francisco Lindor who owns a .157/.306/.255 slash line and has yet to drive in a run on the young season. But the sooner both his and Ketel Marte’s bats wake up, the better I’ll sleep at night.

Nolan McLean let out a roar as he bounded off the mound after freezing Arizona Diamondbacks’ first baseman Ildemaro Vargas on a knee-high sinker on the inside corner to close the top of the sixth inning on Thursday night at Citi Field.

The Mets' young right-hander’s emotional explosion came after his seventh strikeout of the night, stranding a leadoff base runner as he protected a 1-0 lead and looked to outduel Eduardo Rodriguez, his foe from the WBC final 23 days prior.

Entering the seventh with the score unchanged, McLean said he “felt good” coming in at 85 pitches and facing the heart of the D-backs' order, having allowed just two hits and two walks to that point.

“Felt like I had a lot left in the tank,” he said after the game. 

But after a leadoff walk and a strikeout, McLean's final pitch of the night, the 100th he threw, was muscled into center off the end of Jose Fernandez's bat. The next four batters all managed to knock in a run off reliever Luke Weaver, and McLean's dominant start felt like a memory in what would become a 7-1 defeat.

“It’s part of baseball at the end of the day,” McLean said of being the hard-luck pitcher of record. “I’m sure I’ll leave guys out there, and our bullpen’s gonna strand them for me plenty of times this year – and it’s already been done, actually, this year a couple times. It’s part of the game, it’s a long season, I know those guys got my back out there.”

McLean’s final line of his third start of the year: 6.1 innings, two runs on three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts on 100 pitches (64 strikes). But the numbers are deceptive, as he was better.

“He was really good today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He had everything working, especially the sinker. [Which] has been a pitch that’s been kinda off the first couple of outings, but today the movement, the way he was just commanding that pitch.”

McLean leaned heavily on that sinker, including throwing 10 in a 12-pitch, 1-2-3 first inning. He threw 44 of them on the night and got 15 called strikes with it, including four times for strike three.

“That’s been a pitch that hasn’t felt great for me so far this year. But it felt really good today,” McLean said, adding that the difference with the sinker on this night was “just getting more reps with it.”

“It’s a little bit different feel throwing it in cold weather versus back in Florida,” he said. “So it’s just finding the grip that works, and also some mechanical stuff getting cleaned up.”

Mendoza said there was no consideration to leave McLean in beyond the 100-pitch mark, and was “banking on how good that sinker was there” for the 24-year-old to get one more groundball to end his night on a high note.

And, unlike his previous start in which he said he had only one pitch working, the sinker was buttressed with a good sweeper and curveball, complementing his four-seam fastball nicely.

“Curveball’s been feeling good, definitely felt good tonight,” McLean added. “Landing it for strikes more than just a chase pitch for me, so I was excited to see that.”

“He had pretty much everything else working,” Mendoza said. “He was pretty solid.”

Overall, the righty got 26 called strikes, including getting four on 16 sweepers, four on 14 fastballs, and two on seven cutters. He got just six whiffs on 36 swings, with the sweeper (2-for-4) and curve (2-for-6) working best.

McLean didn’t think the high number of called strikes said much about his stuff, but more about Arizona batters’ plan going into the game.

“I haven’t shown a great ability to throw strikes in the first couple of games,” he said. “So I think part of their plan was to force me to get into the zone. And luckily, I was able to do that early.”

Through three starts of the season covering 16.2 innings, McLean has allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits, six walks, and one hit batter with 20 strikeouts.

But all of this is just a silver lining.

“It happens,” Mendoza said. “Gotta move on. Had some opportunities to score, we didn’t cash in. But you take the positive, and that was Nolan today.”

The Yankees will welcome Luis Gil back to the rotation Friday.

But which version? The 2024 Rookie of the Year who so often could not be touched? Or the 2025 starter who spent much of the season on the injured list and then returned without the same velocity and stuff?

Gil will begin to answer that question when he takes the mound in St. Petersburg to open a series in which the Yankees will need a fifth starter for the first time this year.

The 27-year-old did not look his best through much of spring training, which meant he slotted in behind Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers and began his campaign with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

But his velocity ticked up in a dominant start against the Orioles to end his time in the Grapefruit League. On Sunday, he made his lone start with SWB during a chilly afternoon in Rochester, where his velocity was down but the environment may have played a role.

Gil allowed three runs on four hits and four walks, including walking the first two batters he faced, while striking out six in 4 ²/₃ innings.

“You could tell it was a really cold, windy day in Rochester,” said manager Aaron Boone, who watched Gil pitch on a monitor during a rain delay in The Bronx. “That first inning, he gave up a couple runs. I think he struck out the side in the first inning.

“… Managed contact pretty well. A little struggle in that first inning with his command, but overall threw the ball alright.”

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The stuff during a frigid matinee at a minor league park was less interesting than the pitch mix. Of Gil’s 85 pitches, 30 were sinkers — a pitch he did not have in his arsenal in his first two major league seasons.

“Hopefully it’s just something that’s a little bit of a different look to help the four-seam play up a little bit and also help out with his secondary,” Boone said of Gil, who previously threw just a four-seamer, slider and changeup.

The Yankees are three games in to a stretch of 13 games in 13 days, which suggests that they likely will roll with the five-man rotation for a short while and enable Gil to make two starts.

Whether he sticks in the majors beyond that will hinge upon injury and upon which Gil takes the mound this year.

In a lineup filled with righties against southpaw Jeffrey Springs, Paul Goldschmidt sat and Ben Rice started at first base in what became a 1-0 loss in The Bronx on Thursday.

Goldschmidt is fine, Boone said, and likely will play Friday against another lefty in Steven Matz, but the Yankees want to expose Rice — who went 1-for-4 and collected the lone Yankees hit — to lefties.

Yankees starting pitchers have allowed 16 runs, which is the fewest through 12 games in franchise history.

Carlos Rodón threw around 40 pitches while approximating two innings in a bullpen session Wednesday, Boone said. The next step — whether more side work or a rehab assignment — is unclear.

Gerrit Cole is set to throw a simulated game Sunday morning in Hudson Valley.

The Yankees designated reliever Cade Winquest for assignment before he pitched a game, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported.

Winquest, a Rule 5 pick this winter, will go to waivers, where he will be available to any team. If he is not claimed, he will be removed from the Yankees’ 40-man roster and offered back to the Cardinals, his original team. If it gets to that point and St. Louis declines to bring him back, the Yankees could then send Winquest back to the minor leagues.

On a cold blustery evening, the Arizona Diamondbacks were able to take the series against the Mets today after the bats broke out late against the Mets bullpen. The victory today is a key win for this team in the early going as the W/L record against a team like the Mets could prove to be very important down the line.

The beginning of the game was a solid pitchers duel for as it was a rematch of the World Baseball Classic championship game of Eduardo Rodriguez vs Nolan Mclean. Despite a first inning home run given up by Erod, the 2 pitchers went toe to toe inning for inning. Eduardo Rodgriguez managed to go 6 Innings of just the 1 run allowed while being the first Dbacks pitcher of the season to reach the 100 pitch mark. Although still early, he has really seemed to turn a corner in his career adapting his pitch arsenal. A historically fastball heavy pitcher, Erod continued the recent trend of throwing his changeup 32% of the time tonight while cutting his fastball usage almost in half. The early season results have been astonishing as he has pitched to a microscopic 0.50 ERA. Has to be one of the highlights of the early season so far.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Dbacks failed to score going into the 7^th inning and I think every fan was thinking, “Oh great here we go again! Another wasted Erod masterpiece” Things turned around in the 7^th however as Geraldo Perdomo led off the inning with a walk, Jose Fernandez notched his 2^nd hit of the night moving Perdomo into scoring position, and Gabi Moreno pinch hit for James McCann and  promptly rips a double over the head of the right fielder Brett Baty tieing the game. Alek Thomas was up next and knocked in the go ahead run Jose Fernandez on a fielder’s choice and a masterful slide by the young Fernandez. His elite sprint speed was definitely a factor on that play and caused a rushed throw by the first basemen. It is really nice having that athleticism on the field! From there, the Dbacks would open this game up on a sac fly by Tim Tawa and a triple by Jorge Barrosa bringing the score to 4-1 and some much needed breathing room.

The bullpen was nails tonight as Taylor Clarke did a tremendous job of holding the score there in a quick and efficient bottom of the 7^th inning. A very underrated thing for a reliver to do by maintaining all that momentum and getting the team back in the dugout quickly. Taylor Rashi came in after Clarke and had perhaps the most dominant relief outing we have seen from a Dbacks pitcher in the early going as he pitched 2 flat out filthy innings striking out 3 Mets batters. Like he was in complete control tonight and he was even smiling on the mound as he was toying with the Mets batters with his high arm slot 4 seamer, splitter, and slider combination. He even threw a slurve tonight. Is Taylor Rashi a leverage reliever all of a sudden? Would be a huge break for this team if so.

Gabi Moreno was able to notch 2 doubles in a game that he didn’t even start in and the Dbacks were able to have a nice little 7 run outburst tonight on the offense bringing the final score to 7-1. The offense though it was late to show up tonight was a welcome sight for the Dbacks and their fans given some of the early season struggles they have had in that department. All in all, the Dbacks won tonight with excellent starting pitching, and athleticism on the offensive side. A welcome sight in my opinion and certainly playing the likes of Jose Fernandez, Ildemaro Vargas, and Jose Barrosa were paramount. Hopefully we see more of this brand of Dbacks baseball. This is the type of offense that is sustainable especially considering the Dbacks once again scored all 7 runs without the benefit of the longball. Refreshing!

The Dbacks will get on the bus tonight a game over .500 and head to Philadelphia to begin the weekend series against the Phillies. Lets see if the young guns get rewarded with more playing time, and this team can keep the momentum going into Philly!

To make room for Luis Gil on the roster, the Yankees are reportedly designating right-hander Cade Winquest for assignment.

NY Post's Jon Heyman reported that the Rule 5 draft pick will be off the Yankees' roster when the transaction becomes official on Friday.

Back in Dec. 2025, the Yankees selected the 25-year-old in the Rule 5 Draft. Winquest earned the distinction of being the first player selected by the Yankees in this particular draft since 2011. 

As a Rule 5 pick, Winquest had to make and stay on the Yankees' roster for the entirety of the 2026 season, or he would be offered back to the Cardinals. The right-hander made the team out of camp after seven spring games. In that span, Winquest allowed eight runs on 13 hits, four walks and eight strikeouts across 10 innings pitched. 

Although Winquest was with the team, he did not make an appearance in the team's first 12 games. 

Winquest was originally drafted by the Cardinals in the eighth round of the 2022 MLB Draft and did not make the big league club. In 58 minor league games (38 starts) in the Cardinals system, Winquest pitched to a 4.19 ERA with 219 strikeouts in 212.2 innings.

Winquest finished the 2025 season at the Double-A level, appearing in eight games for Springfield with a 3.19 ERA in 42.1 innings. 

Gil is set to make the start for the Yankees in Friday's series opener against the Rays and the Winquest move will be made official sometime before first pitch.

Pitching ruled the night, and the bats did just enough to drag the White Sox across the finish line, 2-0. Raise a glass: the South Siders finally snap that 14-game Kansas City curse.

This evening’s contest was influenced a little by the ABS, with a few calls overturned on both sides. It added a bit of rhythm disruption to an otherwise crisp, low-scoring, slow-moving game. A key moment was Edgar Quero winning a challenge strike three call in the bottom of the first after a very lengthy at-bat from Vinnie Pasquantino.

Chicago finally broke the stalemate in the fourth after a quiet start by both sides. Munetaka Murakami coaxed one of two walks on the night and then hustled home on a 106.6 mph rocket RBI double from Colson Montgomery, putting the Sox ahead 1-0.

The Good Guys tacked on another tally in the seventh, capitalizing on a little chaos. Who doesn’t love a little on-field turmoil? Two free passes, a throwing error by Vinnie Pasquantino, and a sacrifice fly from Luisangel Acuña made it 2-0. It felt delightful to take advantage of the other team’s mistakes for once.

On the mound, the South Side staff was good enough, but did have to work around quite a bit of traffic. Veteran Anthony Kay set the tone with a strong start, getting key swings and misses for 5 2/3 scoreless frames. The bullpen didn’t light itself on fire and kept the Royals off the board. Grant Taylor tossed 1 1/3, and Jordan Leasure managed a drama-free inning with just one walk in the eighth. Seranthony Domínguez came out and slammed the door in the ninth.

KC had more than a few chances with baserunners everywhere. Bobby Witt Jr. provided most of the spark and did his best to play spoiler with a double, steal, and single, but thankfully for the White Sox, the Royals just weren’t able to cash it in. With the victory, Chicago snaps their three-game losing streak and improves their record to 5-8. The club will be back at it tomorrow at 6:40 p.m. CST with Davis Martin on the bump.