Category: Baseball

Jasson Domínguez is going through some growing pains in right field, as he overran a liner there Friday in The Bronx — although he made the catch.

On Saturday, he made a fine catch on JJ Bleday’s liner to right, but an errant throw to second prevented a potential inning-ending double play.

Domínguez said he rushed the throw and despite the issues, he added right field “feels more natural” than left after he came up as a center fielder in the minors.

Domínguez started one game in right with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2024 and then just three times this season at SWB.

Aaron Boone said Domínguez has been “pretty good” in right, where he got the start again in the Yankees’ 10-2 loss to Cincinnati on Saturday. “You see his speed come into play. Overall, he’s played pretty well. It’s early. He’s still a work in progress there.”

Despite his inexperience at the position, Domínguez is embracing the opportunity.

“I want to be able to play as much as I can and I can give them more places to use me,’’ Domínguez said. “I’m still learning, but I know you have to be able to do different things in the majors to get an opportunity, especially on this team. I just want to help.’’

The team’s outfield instructor, Luis Rojas, has been encouraged.

“I’m very confident in him feeling very comfortable quickly,’’ Rojas said. “I think he already is. Obviously, you want more experience for him there. Our right field [at the Stadium] plays a lot different than a lot of other places in the big leagues, but with his tools, his arm and ability to get to balls, I think it’s gonna work well for him.”

The Yankees are banking on it, with Aaron Judge sidelined with a fractured right rib and Trent Grisham out with a right hamstring strain.

And he knows there are added challenges to learning the position at this level compared to the minors.

“There’s less room for error here,’’ Domínguez said. “It’s very important to make all the plays. But I think I can do it here.”

Jake Bird was optioned to SWB after Saturday’s game. While the move was made to make room for Sunday’s starter Elmer Rodríguez, the right-hander won’t be able to come back to the major league roster for 15 days unless there’s an injury to a pitcher that requires a stint on the injured list.

The Yankees have Carlos Lagrange transitioning to the bullpen at SWB and he’s expected to join the major league bullpen as soon as next month.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

For all their strengths — and the fact the pen has pitched fairly well — it’s expected to look significantly different by the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Bird, acquired from Colorado prior to last year’s deadline, has not been good with the Yankees.

José Caballero was picked off second base to end the bottom of the second.

“That one should not happen,’’ Boone said. … Boone caught the ceremonial first pitch from USC running back Waymond Jordan.

Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen was placed on the 15-day injured list on Saturday with right elbow inflammation, and right-hander Chayce McDermott was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City ahead of the middle game of a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles at Dodger Stadium.

Treinen struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning in Friday night’s series opener, and was awarded the win after the Dodgers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth for their fourth consecutive one-run win.

The 38-year-old Treinen has a 3.52 ERA and 5.11 xERA with 25 strikeouts and eight unintentional walks in 23 innings this season. He’s tied for third on the staff with 29 appearances, and has the fourth-highest average leverage index among bullpen regulars.

This is the second stint in the majors this season for McDermott, who was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles on April 16. The right-hander pitched a scoreless inning on May 17 in his lone game with the Dodgers. McDermott had a 5.40 ERA in 17 appearances for Oklahoma City, with 30 strikeouts and 13 walks in 16 2/3 innings in Triple-A.

He last pitched on Wednesday, throwing 33 pitches in 1 2/3 innings for the Comets, allowing one solo home run with three strikeouts and two walks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto faces Trevor Rogers as the Dodgers look to stretch their win streak to five against the Baltimore Orioles.

SATURDAY GAME INFO

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Orioles
• Stadium: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

Spencer Arrighetti’s (L, 7-3) May dominance has been followed by significant June struggles, and tonight was no exception.

Arrighetti’s first pitch of the game was drilled out to right center for a solo homer by Travis Bazzana to give the Guardians a 1-0 lead.

Houston tied the game in the bottom of the second. Back-to-back singles by Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve to open the frame gave the Astros runners on 1st & 2nd with no outs. Yainer Diaz followed with an RBI single scoring Paredes, with Altuve advancing to third. Houston could do no more damage that inning, however, as Cam Smith flew to shallow left and both Jake Meyers and Brice Matthews struck out to end the inning.

Missing out on that kind of opportunity to have a big inning would immediately come back to haunt the Astros.

In the top of the 3rd, Kyle Manzardo hit a 2-run homer of a 91.6 MPH four-seam fastball from Arrighetti to give the Guardians a 3-1 lead.

In the top of the 5th, Bazzana would get Arrighetti again. This time, Bazzana hit a 3-run homer to right center to give Cleveland a 6-1 lead.

Arrighetti would pitch a 1-2-3 6th inning, and his final line would be 6 IP, 6 ER, 6H, 0BB, 8K, 3HR.

In the 7th, the Guardians would add 2 more runs on 4 straight singles off Astros reliever Nate Pearson.

Meanwhile, Guardians starter Joey Cantillo (W, 6-3), would retire 20 of the next 22 Astros batters following Diaz’ RBI single in the 2nd. He tossed 8 innings of 1 run ball while allowing 4 hits, one walk and striking out 9.

With the loss, the Astros fall to 36-42, and the Guardians improve to 41-36

Astros SP Kai-Wei Teng (3-6, 4.32 ERA) will oppose the Guardians’ Slade Cecconi (3-5, 4.60 ERA) in the rubber match tomorrow afternoon at 1:10PM CT.

The Dodgers on Sunday close out their homestand and play their final home game of the month of June in hosting the Baltimore Orioles at Dodger Stadium.

Emmet Sheehan starts for Los Angeles, with right-hander Brandon Young starting for Baltimore. Sheehan at age 26 is actually the young one in this pitching matchup, 15 months younger than the Orioles starter.

Sunday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Orioles
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 1:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Night owls (and West Coast Red Sox fans), assemble. It’s the second game of a West Coast swing for the Red Sox, who are looking to build on a strong performance on Friday night. I, admittedly, was asleep for most of it, but will be trying to stay awake until my recapping duties are fulfilled tonight. With a win, the Red Sox would get back to 12 games under 0.500, and as the saying goes, “a team that is 12 games under in June is a real threat to get hot” or something. I don’t know, it’s a West Coast trip, let’s get weird.

Connelly Early vs. Emerson Hancock. 10:10 PM EST first pitch on NESN and WEEI.

Lineups

Last night was nearly a marquee win for the Orioles team. Instead, it was just another disappointing loss. The team has no choice but to flush the defeat and try to get back on the right track tonight. It won’t be an easy matchup.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has thrown 16.1 innings over his last two starts and allowed two earned runs, three hits, no walks, and 11 strikeouts. He was an out away from no hitting the Orioles last September before they stormed back for an improbable win.

Trevor Rogers may finally be finding his footing. He’s got a 3.12 ERA this month, and has not allowed more than three runs in each of his last three starts. The Orioles need him to rediscover his 2025 form with a quickness.

Adley Rutschman was placed on the seven-day concussion IL just before the game. Michael Siani, a 26-year-old outfielder that has spent parts of the last four seasons in the majors, was called up in his place. Siani stole 20 bases on 23 attempts for the Cardinals in 2024. The catching role will be filled by Samuel Basallo and Sam Huff for the next week or so.

Get a cup of coffee or your favorite caffeinated beverage, East Coasters. Another evening of late-night baseball awaits us!

Orioles lineup

1. Taylor Ward, LF
2. Gunnar Henderson, DH
3. Pete Alonso, 1B
4. Samuel Basallo, C
5. Leody Tavares, RF
6. Colton Cowser, CF
7. Coby Mayo, 3B
8. Jackson Holliday, 2B
9. Blaze Alexander, SS

LHP Trevor Rogers (3-7, 5.86 ERA)

Dodgers lineup

1. Shohei Ohtani, DH
2. Andy Pages, CF
3. Freddie Freeman, 1B
4. Mookie Betts, SS
5. Miguel Rojas, 2B
6. Tommy Edman, 3B
7. Kyle Tucker, RF
8. Alex Call, LF
9. Dalton Rushing, C

RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-4, 2.52 ERA)

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.

• Recalled from Triple-A Reno: LHP Philip Abner + INF/OF Tim Tawa
• Placed on the 10-day injured list: INF/OF Jordan Lawlar (strained right hamstring)
• Placed on the 15-day injured list: RHP Michael Soroka (strained left glute)

Yeah, as feared, last night’s game proved to be another one of those dreaded “Pyrrhic victories,” costing the team both Lawlar and Soroka. However, the fact we can use the latter’s spot for a starting pitcher for the next few days is probably not a bad thing, given the team went through seven relievers last night. Effectively, they have a ten-man bullpen right now. Out of there this evening, the team should have rested versions of Juan Morillo, Abner, and Yilber Diaz, who was called up yesterday but didn’t appear so is not yet on the chart above. So, our relievers aren’t in too bad shape, providing Zac Gallen is able to get through a reasonable number of innings.

He hasn’t been terrible in that department, at least. While his last six appearances have resulted in an Gallen ERA of 5.79, they have all seen Zac go between five and six innings. He has been badly bitten by the long-ball bug of late. Over his first seven outings, he allowed only two home-runs over a total of 32.1 innings of work. Since then though, the eight starts have led to eleven home-runs in 43.1 innings. Over that time-frame, starting on May 7th only the Cubs Shota Imanaga (14) has given up more bombs in the majors, coming into play today. The Twins have hit an above-average number of HR, so keeping them in the park tonight will be key for Zac.

Finally, looks like the team has decided on a starter for tomorrow, and in a surprising move, it looks like is not going to Brandon Pfaadt. Instead, the team will be turning to a rookie, Jose Cabrera, who has only three appearances over the Double-A level. Maybe there will be some Jose Fernandez like lighting in that bottle, but we’ll talk more about him tomorrow, I would imagine.

The Dodgers put right-handed reliever Blake Treinen on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation before Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles.

Treinen was the winning pitcher in the Dodgers’ 6-5 walk-off victory Friday, after retiring the side in order in the top of the ninth. It was not immediately clear, when the Dodgers announced the move a little over an hour before the game, when or how Treinen sustained the injury.

Treinen has a 3.52 ERA after bouncing back from a rocky 2025.

Read more:Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani announces birth of second child

In a corresponding move, the Dodgers recalled right-hander Chayce McDermott. The 27-year-old has only thrown one major-league inning this season, when he limited the Angels to one hit in a scoreless frame.

The Dodgers acquired McDermott from the Orioles in mid-April, after Baltimore designated him for assignment. He’s been a frequent short-term call-up and taxi squad member since.

The Dodgers have more bullpen help coming. They hope to reinstate right-hander Brock Stewart (left foot bone spur) from the injured list Monday, manager Dave Roberts said. And right-hander Evan Phillips (Tommy John surgery) is expected to return in early July.

Read more:Dodgers' walk-off stuns Orioles as Dalton Rushing helps cap wild comeback

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

After taking until the seventh inning to record their first hit last night, the Mariners will look to bounce back today. They’ll pin their hopes on Emerson Hancock, who’s looking to bounce back himself. His last start was his roughest of the year so far, surrendering nine hits and six runs to just three whiffs over four innings in Washington. That continues a downward trend since the gem he spun on the night the Mariners retired Randy Johnson’s number. Since that 14-strikeout performance, Hancock has struck out 29 and walked 11 over seven outings.

He’ll have the luxury of facing off against a Red Sox team tonight that’s cobbled together just an 89 wRC+. If he can’t get right tonight, the team’s going to have some real thinking to do about how he can adjust back to the adjustments the league has clearly made to him. One adjustment he’s made so far is to take a little more control of the game by putting a pitchcom controller on his glove. Manager Dan Wilson said Hancock will probably have it again tonight, though he cautioned that when guys get it, “sometimes it’s a little more than they bargained for.”

On the other side, the Red Sox will bring out another lefty, which has been Mariner kryptonite so far this season. Fortunately, tonight’s flavor is Connelly Early, whose 4.53 xERA compares pretty unfavorably to last night’s starter, Ranger Suarez’s, 3.35. The Mariners can expect to see a lot of fastballs and the lefties in particular will see a lot of sinkers, which has not gone great for them this season.

If the Mariners can get into the bullpen, Luke Raley might be available off the bench after what Dan called “a major step forward” from Raley’s battle with a cold.

Lineups

It’s unclear whether this weekend’s Ref-erendum is real or just fan wishcasting. But he gets another chance tonight after going 0-4 with a strikeout last night. He, Mitch Garver, and Connor Joe will be the righty platoon bats tonight and Víctor Robles will sit, at least to start.

What even is a normal Red Sox lineup these days? Something approximating this, I guess.

Game Info

First pitch: 7:10 PDT
TV: Mariners TV, with Goldy and Angie in the booth and Hyphen on the sidelines, presumably getting a little less of a hard time about his Aussies than he did last night
Radio: Old reliable

The A’s can make it two in a row tonight. Will they?

It’s J.T. Ginn on the mound tonight.

Here’s how the club lines up this evening:

And the Angels:

Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast

The Houston Astros announced today that they reached an agreement to trade P Jayden Murray to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for minor league 1B Cameron Sisneros.

Murray, 29, posted a 7.43 ERA (11ER/13.1IP) in eight appearances with the Astros this season, along with a 1.17 ERA (2ER/15.1IP) in 14 games with Triple A Sugar Land. He made his Major League debut with the Astros in 2025 and has pitched in 17 games (one start) for the club over the last two seasons, posting a 4.68 ERA (13ER/25IP) in his Major League career. The Astros selected Murray in the 23rd round of the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft from Utah Tech University. He was designated for assignment on June 16.

Sisneros, 25, has split the 2026 season with Double A Knoxville and High A South Bend, batting a combined .265 (44×166) with eight doubles, six home runs, 37 RBI and an .840 OPS (.419 OBP/.422 SLG). He has appeared in 145 games through parts of three seasons in the Cubs system (2024-26), batting .266 (130×489) with 23 doubles, 16 home runs, 95 RBI and an .816 OPS (.401 OBP/.415 SLG). Defensively at the minor league level, Cisneros has made 103 appearances at first base, while also making seven appearances in left field. The Cubs selected Sisneros in the 14th round of the 2024 MLB First-Year Player Draft from East Tennessee State University.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Colorado Rockies, June 20, 2026, 9:10 p.m. ET

The Pittsburgh Pirates are in Denver for the second game of a weekend series against the Colorado Rockies.

The Pirates hope to stop a skid of six straight games in which the team has lost when Paul Skenes takes the mound. Skenes has not won a game since March 12, when the Rockies visited PNC Park in Pittsburgh last month. Skenes pitched eight innings of shutout ball, giving up just two hits and striking out 10 batters. Since then, Skenes has not been able to match that level of magic, dropping his next three and four of his next six starts.

There was some promise in his most recent appearance against the Miami Marlins on June 14, when he pitched six innings, giving up just two runs and striking out 10 batters. The Marlins chased him for two runs in the second inning, and Pittsburgh’s offense wasn’t enough to get anything back.

The Pirates will face off against Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, who is having one of the better seasons amongst Colorado starting pitchers. Sugano is 7-4 in 14 starts this season. The 36-year-old pitched five innings and gave up six earned runs against the Athletics on June 14, but the Rockies offense came to play. Colorado’s 23 runs mark the most a team has scored in a game this season.

There’s a good chance the Rockies won’t have that kind of run support with Skenes on the mound tonight.

Location: Coors Field, Denver, CO

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh

Pitching Matchup: Paul Skenes (6-6, 2.85 ERA) vs. Tomoyuki Sugano (7-4, 4.79 ERA)

BD community, chime off in the comments section below.

It’s roster move time, and ahead of Sunday’s series finale against the Reds, the Yankees have announced a couple of important ones with more on the way. We already covered here the movements on the pitching staff with Jake Bird going down to make room for Elmer Rodríguez, but there will be a change behind the plate as well — a timely one with recent rumors to corroborate the established expectation that the Yankees will look to the trade market to improve their catching situation.

J.C. Escarra heads back to Triple-A to make room for the impending return of Austin Wells. The Yankees’ primary backstopper, Wells was placed on the IL at the beginning of the month with what the team described as cervical headaches. While that diagnosis didn’t leave much room for speculation as to the date of his return, evidently, it didn’t turn out to be a significant issue, with him coming back to the fold in only a couple of weeks.

The decision to keep Ali Sánchez over Escarra is a rather simple one due to handedness, retaining one righty catcher instead of two left-handed hitters. On paper, Escarra might have more potential regardless of which side of the plate he hits from, but when there’s not much of a difference in terms of the quality defense that he and Sánchez provide, Escarra’s 37 OPS+ in 31 games proved to be decidedly subpar. And remember, just before Wells went on the IL, the team oh-so-briefly demoted Escarra in favor of Sánchez; Escarra only remained due to Wells’ injury.

Wells should theoretically return to get the bulk of playing time, but given his struggles this year and the fact that Sánchez has recorded at least one hit in each of his last three games, he has enough of a spark to perhaps gain some extra opportunities. It’s not as if Wells was doing much to cement his place as this team’s primary option, but the hope is that this time off allows him to regain at least some of the form that allowed him to be a stable if unspectacular option across the last two seasons. The .533 OPS Wells was running (50 OPS+) is an unsustainable figure even for the most aggressive of glove-first backstoppers.

The St. Louis Cardinals felt like a team with nothing to lose when the 2026 season began, but an unexpectedly strong start has now vaulted them into a time where there suddenly seems to be greater expectations of what they can achieve. How they deal with this will tell us a lot about what kind of team we really have this year.

As I write this, the St. Louis Cardinals are enjoying an off-day in Kansas City (thanks, World Cup) with a record of 40 wins and 34 losses sitting in 2nd place 5 1/2 games behind the NL Central Division-leading Milwaukee Brewers. Keep in mind they have this record even though they are currently on a 3-game losing streak. Someone in the community mentioned yesterday that the St. Louis Cardinals now are only 1 game better than the St. Louis Cardinals of last season which is true, but I think most of us agree that this year’s team is on a much better trajectory than last year.

The St. Louis Cardinals are beginning to feel like a team that has a real chance to compete for a wild card spot instead of a rebuilding club whose focus would be on player development. Instead of Chaim Bloom trading only for prospects as we get closer to the trade deadline, many (including yours truly) are hoping he’ll aggressively try to add pitching (both starters and relievers) to the roster to give the 2026 Cardinals a legitimate chance at the post-season. I have to ask if our “greater expectations” are real and I think the answer is complicated.

As of right now, the St. Louis Cardinals sit in the top Wild Card spot in the National League. Admittedly, the top 5 teams in the Wild Card race are only separated by 1 game as of today, but still that’s quite an achievement for an overachieving team. An article from The Sporting News shared by Yahoo Sports says that the upcoming trade deadline “is especially tough for Chaim Bloom”. Does he buy or sell? This is where I think that many of us whose expectations are now greater need a bit of a reality check. Will the St. Louis Cardinals go for a frontline starter? I cannot see any scenario where that happens. Teams that trade the most prolific starters will want the best prospects and there’s no way that Chaim Bloom makes that happen unless he’s trading from a position with a glut of talent such as the numerous talented Cardinals catchers. I do believe that Chaim Bloom will try to bolster the Cardinals pitching depth, but I don’t think any of us should expect to be buying Tarik Skubal jerseys.

The expectation growth for the St. Louis Cardinals is also happening at the player level. While most of us would have been thrilled at simply a solid season for Jordan Walker has become the question of whether he’ll be an all-star game starter. JJ Wetherholt has gone from establishing himself on the Major League roster to a frontrunner for rookie of the year currently projecting between a stunning 6 or 7 WAR. Rest of season models show Alec Burleson exceeding his career-best 21 home runs total.

The new questions for the St. Louis Cardinals will be how does this roster respond when there are now expectations of winning instead of just competing during a rebuild. What does President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom do at the trade deadline to make the current team better without mortgaging the future by giving up top prospects? I think if you took a poll, a majority of the Cardinals fanbase would have been thrilled to have these be the issues that St. Louis would be dealing with more than 70 games into the season.

Here are my updated expectations for this 2026 St. Louis Cardinals club chronologically for the rest of this season. I believe you will see Chaim Bloom add pitchers to the St. Louis Cardinals, but not top-of-the-rotation level arms. I think the pitchers that will help the St. Louis Cardinals the remainder of this season will come from Memphis. I fully expect that we’ll see Chaim trade Dustin May, Lars Nootbaar, JoJo Romero and one of the catchers in our farm system. I think that we’ll see Joshua Báez make his Major League debut after those trades happen especially if he continues to reduce his strikeouts and bad ball chase rate. I will also predict that this St. Louis Cardinals club will grab a wild card spot and make the post-season. Many things need to go right and the Cardinals need to avoid major injuries, but I now believe this is a club that can compete even as the ongoing rebuild happens. Before the season, I was one of the few that predicted a winning season for St. Louis. I’ll admit that I’ll be a little disappointed now if that doesn’t get them into the playoffs and that’s certainly a different expectation than I had 4 months ago.