Category: Baseball

PHOENIX — One day, he’s waking up in Reno, Nevada, and is told he’s going to the big leagues.

The next, Jose Fernandez is celebrating the greatest day of his 22-year-old life, with his teammates dousing him with beer and everything else they could find for their overnight hero, who Tuesday night produced the finest major-league debut in Arizona Diamondbacks history.

Fernandez, ranked as only the 27^th-best prospect in the Diamondbacks organization, became the eighth player in major-league history to hit two home runs in his debut, with the last one a game-winning, three-run homer in the eighth inning off future Hall of Famer Kenley Jansen in the Diamondbacks’ dramatic comeback 7-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

“Grateful, grateful to God,’’ Fernandez said. “More than I could have expected. ... Just a dream come true.’’

This is a kid who was signed as an international player out of Venezuela at the age of 17, spent the past four years in the lower minor leagues, never advancing past Class AA until spending one day at Triple-A this year. He had a strong enough minor league season last year, slashing .272/.321/454 with 17 homers to be placed on the 40-man roster, and opened eyes this spring hitting .280 with an .840 OPS, and three doubles, a triple and three home runs in 25 at-bats.

“He was impressive this spring,’’ Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfadt said, “so we figured we’d see him at some point.’’

If you’re new to these parts — “these parts” being the generic internet space surrounding the San Francisco Giants — then you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the lingo. Namely, one phrase: a “Webbing.”

A Webbing is the tragic sequel to a Caining, wherein a star Giants pitcher — first Matt Cain, now Logan Webb — pitches excellently, suppresses runs, and loses thanks to an inept offense. Last year, for instance, Webb allowed two or fewer runs a staggering 21 times, yet the Giants managed to lose seven of those games … and he was even tagged with the losing decision on three occasions.

That did not happen on opening day. San Francisco’s anemic offense was spared the embarrassment of a Webbing due to Webb’s uncharacteristic struggles against the New York Yankees. So Webb’s second start of the year, on Tuesday against the San Diego Padres, offered an opportunity for redemption and equilibrium. It seemed we were destined for our first Webbing of the year.

Instead, we were treated to something much rarer, and so much more delightful: the Reverse Webbing.

A Reverse Webbing, if you couldn’t deduce it, is when Webb doesn’t pitch to his brilliant standards, but it doesn’t matter because the offense displays so much vim and vitality* that the Giants cruise to victory nonetheless.

*I just wanted to see if my CMS would allow me to follow “vim and” with a noun other than “vigor.” WordPress wouldn’t let me pick a non-V word, but once I got the V in there it let me pick a new noun to pair with vim. Just workshopping. Like and subscribe for more experimental word pairings. And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

San Francisco’s offense, which was non-existent in their first two games, lifeless in their third game, and just barely functional enough to survive in their fourth game, finally broke out properly. And they wasted positively no time doing so.

On just the second pitch of the game, Willy Adames — mired in another early-season slump — put the Giants on the board. Old friend — and I really do mean “friend,” given his bloated ERA when facing San Francisco — Germán Márquez dropped a meek curveball right into the zone where hitters salivate, and Adames made him pay, with the first home run of the year for the reigning 30-homer streak buster (working title).

But the Giants were not done. On Monday, they had their first multi-run inning of the year, and the taste was fresh in their mouth. Armed with the knowledge that such an activity was legal, the Giants set about rallying. With one out, Heliot Ramos drew a walk. With two outs, Matt Chapman hit a single.

And then came Jung Hoo Lee who, like Adames, has been stuck in a painful slump to start the year, and who, like Adames, broke out with a superstar game. It started with a dose of two-out magic, on a virtually identical pitch to the one Adames had punished. It wasn’t an identical result, as Lee’s fly ball to right field stopped a foot or seven shy of clearing the wall, but it did clear the bases, and left the lefty standing on second with a two-run double.

The Giants had scored three runs in a single inning, after entering the game with just four runs in as many games.

But it became clear in the bottom half of the inning that three runs — unlike on Monday — probably wouldn’t be enough. It was clear that Webb didn’t quite have full control of his pitches. He kept runs off the board in the first inning — no small thing, given that opening frames are his Achilles heel — but it wasn’t particularly pretty, as he worked around a Fernando Tatis Jr. double and a Jackson Merrill walk, while missing the strike zone on 10 of his 21 pitches.

To make matters worse, the Giants spent the next half-inning trying to convince you that their first-inning showing was merely a ruse. Casey Schmitt, Adames, and Rafael Devers strung together back-to-back-to-back one-out singles to load the bases, putting a runner 90 feet away from home with less than two outs. The Giants were staring at a glistening opportunity to prove to you that they were not back on their 2025 BS, and instead had metamorphosed into a team capable of basic situational hitting competency.

Instead, Ramos popped out and Luis Arráez flew out, and the Giants went home empty handed. Webb, meanwhile, returned to the mound for a fairly similar second inning: no runs, but 22 pitches thrown, 10 of which were balls (well, technically, all 22 thrown pitches were balls, but only 12 of those balls were strikes).

The third inning tore us in both directions. It started the way the first did: with a leadoff home run from a scuffling star. This time it was Chapman, who worked the count in his favor before Márquez crossed the plate with a fastball right in Chappy’s happy zone, and it was launched deep into the Southern California air.

With that, the Giants had matched their season’s run total in just the opening third of the game, and gifted their ace a 4-0 lead. But it was in that same inning that Webb’s lack of sharpness finally caught up to him.

After retiring Jake Cronenworth to open the inning, Webb issued back-to-back five-pitch walks to Tatis and Manny Machado, as life returned to Petco Park. Merrill, who possesses the type of ownage against Webb that makes you question everything you know about baseball, blistered a single into right field, scoring a run and getting San Diego on the board.

What followed was the rare baseball play where you can see, in real time, an exact moment where a manager helps his team in a quantifiable way. After Xander Bogaerts worked the count full, first-year manager Craig Stammen had Merrill take off for second. Bogaerts rolled the ball directly to his counterpart Adames, but with Merrill on the move, the only play was at first. Rather than an inning-ending double play, it was an RBI fielder’s choice, and one that kept the line moving so that Miguel Andujar could cap a three-run inning with an RBI single.

The Padres had pulled within a run, and it was another long, ball-filled inning for Webb, who missed the zone on 12 of his 25 pitches. He just didn’t quite have it, and it would be up to his offense to star.

His offense starred. They didn’t stop with those four runs, and instead added four more in the sixth inning. First they flirted with another frustrating inning, after Harrison Bader led off with a double and Patrick Bailey drew a walk, but Casey Schmitt failed to get down a bunt before ultimately striking out.

But Adames would not let it be. The shortstop was deep in his bag, as the basketball writers say (not that I know anything about them), and singled home a run as part of a 4-5 day that finished a triple short of the cycle.

The insurance run was in, but the Giants weren’t done. In a comical but mesmerizing scene, Devers absolutely tore down the first base line to leg out an infield single, which brought up a situation that can either be tragic or deeply satisfying: the revenge at-bat.

Yes, for the second time in the game, Ramos stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and just one out. There would be no soft pop-out this time. Instead, Ramos jumped on a Bradgley Rodriguez sinker that found the heart of the plate, skillfully taking it the other way and through the hole, plating a pair of runs with a single.

The route was on, but not over. Thanks to Devers making it to third on Ramos’ single, Arráez could — and would — knock in the fourth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly, and then start a final rally in the ninth inning, when he bopped a leadoff single, and was pinch-run for by Jared Oliva. Doing exactly what he’s on the roster to do, Oliva easily stole second base, prompting a throw into center field that allowed him to take third. With two outs, Lee missed his third double of the day by about two feet … then settled right back in and blooped an RBI single.

San Francisco’s offense had done what it set out to do, and it had taken all the pressure off of Webb, giving him nine runs — something they achieved in just three of his 34 starts a year ago. And yet, while the offense justifiably was the star of the show, Webb quietly went about reversing his own fortunes as well.

After those three stressful innings in which he gave up three runs, struggled to find the strike zone, and saw his bullpen get loose in the third inning, Webb settled back into the ace that we all know and love. He set down the side in order in the fourth inning, needing just 13 pitches. He showed off his newfound strikeout stuff (Est. 2025) with a thoroughly dominant fifth inning, in which he struck out Tatis on four pitches, struck out Machado on four pitches, and then struck out Merrill on three pitches, finishing just two balls shy of an immaculate inning.

And in the sixth — an inning it once seemed impossible that he’d make it to — he got back to his old tricks, forcing three ground balls and giddily watching as the left side of his infield casually and artfully ate them all up.

It was a remarkable display of turning things around, as Webb, despite giving up three hits and four walks, retired the final 10 batters he faced. Webb said after the game that he made mechanical tweaks late in the start, while Tony Vitello summed it up nicely, stating, “That’ll be one of my favorite outings of the year even though you could take a step back and say it was one of the uglier ones too.”

In the end, the 9-3 victory was the best-case scenario. The offense broke out, and showed Webb that they can carry him. He doesn’t need to do all the heavy lifting. And yet, along the way, he rediscovered his ability to do so.

Can’t ask for much more than that.

Cold weather? Rainy conditions? And a lineup that provided little run support until late?

For Shohei Ohtani, none of it was a problem Tuesday.

In his official return to full-time two-way duties, the four-time MVP didn’t disappoint.

Ever since his signing in Los Angeles, Ohtani and the Dodgers have been waiting for this moment –– when, now more than two years removed from a second-career Tommy John surgery, he will finally be available to pitch and hit over the course of a full season.

And in a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians, he kicked the campaign off in dominantly promising fashion, spinning six scoreless, one-hit innings on the mound while also reaching base three times as a hitter.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,” teammate Max Muncy said. “It’s pretty special. It’s really hard to put into words when you see it in person.”

Last year, the Dodgers (4-1) didn’t get to see this version of Ohtani, even after he returned to pitching midway through the season.

He was still building up slowly. His arsenal was often restricted to two or three pitches. And while he was superb in his 47 total innings, striking out 62 batters with a 2.87 ERA, he didn’t complete six frames in a game until his final outing of the regular season.

This year, he did it right out of the gate, striking out six batters in an 87-pitch gem.

Despite making only two pitching starts this spring while being away from camp for the World Baseball Classic, Ohtani came out firing, retiring his first seven in a row and allowing no hits until the fourth.

He kept the Guardians (3-3) guessing by mixing six different pitches, collecting two strikeouts each with his sweeper, splitter and curveball.

It didn’t matter that most of the game was played amid a continuous drizzle, or that he raced between a wet mound and damp batter’s box as the team’s leadoff hitter.

One start in, he was already stoking Cy Young expectations that had been building during spring training.

“I expect nothing short of almost a Cy Young out of him,” Muncy declared.

“He’s just unflappable,” manager Dave Roberts added. “Not a whole lot kind of affects his mind.”

What it means

That every time Ohtani takes the mound, the Dodgers will be tough to beat.

How often that happens remains somewhat unclear. While Ohtani will make regular turns through the starting rotation, the Dodgers will also look to bank him extra days off between some outings. Anything more than 25 starts or 140-150 innings is likely to be unrealistic.

The Dodgers could ride Ohtani’s arm harder, of course. They could maximize his Cy Young chances by giving him a more traditional starter’s workload.

However, they will be playing the long game with the 31-year-old this year, remaining mindful of his workload and prioritizing his late-season availability.

“First and foremost, he’s shown that he’s team-driven,” Roberts said pregame. “But also there’s some individual things that he certainly wants to achieve, which is a good thing.”

Who’s hot

Many of the Dodgers’ biggest bats have yet to get going. Muncy, however, has been an exception.

The veteran slugger is getting on base like usual, drawing what was already his fourth walk of the season in his first at-bat Tuesday. Then, he went deep for the first time this year with a key solo homer in the sixth, winning a lefty-lefty matchup against Guardians reliever Kolby Allard to double what was only a 1-0 lead.

“He was facing a lefty and just trying to put a good swing on it, and homered,” Roberts said. “So “That’s a good sign.”

Muncy was involved again in the eighth, lining a single as part of a two-run rally that put the game away.

With that, the third baseman is now batting .364 (4-for-11) and has reached safely in eight of his 15 trips to the plate.

“I feel really comfortable up there,” Muncy said. “Some of the stuff we worked on is sticking really well right now, and just got to keep progressing into the season.”

Who’s not

On Tuesday? Quite literally, the newly-named Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium, which was drenched by a steady drizzle of rain from the fourth inning on.

The showers were expected, with the ballpark’s grounds crew towing a rarely-used tarp out of storage in the afternoon in preparation for the rain fall.

And while the cover wasn’t ultimately needed, the playing surface clearly suffered. At the end of Ohtani’s outing in the sixth inning, Roberts walked out of the dugout following a four-pitch walk to request new dirt be applied to the bump.

In the ninth, closer Edwin Díaz also struggled with the conditions. He hit his first batter, walked the next and eventually gave up a run, before settling down to finish the game without further drama.

Up next

The Dodgers will get their first rubber-match contest of the season on Wednesday, trying to take two of three from the Guardians in what will be an early 5:10 p.m. start. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the start against right-hander Gavin Williams.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

The Yankees got exactly the response they needed Tuesday night, bouncing back from their first loss of the season with a 5-0 win over the Mariners in Seattle. After Monday’s frustrating walk-off defeat, New York handed the ball to Max Fried on normal rest thanks to Sunday’s rare offday, and the ace delivered exactly the kind of outing you hope for coming off a defeat.

The Yankees wasted no time jumping on M’s Opening Day starter Logan Gilbert. With two outs in the top of the first, Cody Bellinger singled up the middle and came all the way around from first when Ben Rice ripped a double down the right-field line and off the wall.

Giancarlo Stanton kept the rally alive by dropping a lazy fly ball into no man’s land around where Rice’s ball ended up, plating Rice from second (pun fully intended) and giving New York a quick 2-0 lead, already topping their Monday output. The early traffic immediately put Gilbert under pressure, forcing the Mariners’ right-hander to throw 28 pitches in the opening frame.

The Yankees put the leadoff man on in both the third and fourth innings and had chances to create separation, but Aaron Judge and Stanton each grounded into inning-killing double plays that allowed Seattle’s starter to keep the deficit manageable.

That changed in the sixth.

Trent Grisham sparked the inning by bouncing an automatic double over the wall in right. After Gilbert got Judge to chase for a strikeout, Cody Bellinger punched a single up the middle to put runners at the corners and keep the pressure on.

The Yankees then forced the issue. Bellinger broke for second, and a rare throwing error by Platinum Glove defender Cal Raleigh allowed Grisham to score, stretching the lead to 3-0.

A walk to Rice brought Stanton back to the plate, and the Yankees’ designated hitter ripped a double into left field, scoring Bellinger and moving Rice to third. The hit chased Gilbert from the game after 5.2 innings. Stanton has now registered multi-hit games in each of the Yankees’ first five contests of the year — a rarity in franchise history. Fittingly, he ended the night hitting .500 across 20 PA in the season’s first road trip.

The Seattle pitching change did little to slow the Yankees’ momentum.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. immediately greeted Cole Wilcox with a line drive single to right, bringing Rice home to make it 5-0. Jazz then swiped second, giving New York its second stolen base of the inning and putting even more pressure on Seattle before Wilcox finally escaped the jam.

While the offense gave him plenty of support, Fried did not need any more than what the offense gifted him to start the game. He was in complete control from the jump, carving through the Mariners lineup for seven shutout innings. Through six, Seattle managed just one hit while Fried piled up six strikeouts and consistently stayed ahead in counts, even calling for an ABS challenge himself to get a ball-one call overturned in the fourth.

Fried’s biggest challenge came in the seventh. Julio Rodríguez opened the inning with a single, but Fried immediately erased the threat by getting Josh Naylor to bounce into a crisp 6-3 double play. A hit batter and Brendan Donovan single suddenly gave Seattle its best chance of the night, putting two aboard with two outs.

Fried calmly reset, tapped the PitchCom on his belt, and worked Victor Robles into a routine fly ball to Aaron Judge in right to end the inning and slam the door on Seattle’s last real threat. His final line was everything the Yankees could have asked for: seven innings, three hits, no runs, one walk, six strikeouts, and 90 pitches, 60 for strikes.

Through Fried’s first 13.1 innings this season, he has now allowed just five hits, two walks, and zero runs while striking out 10, looking every bit like the ace southpaw the Yankee front office dreamt he would be when he signed.

And maybe the only pitcher capable of slowing down Aaron Judge right now is his own ace. Judge is now 0-for-9 with six strikeouts in Fried’s first two starts, a funny little side note to what has otherwise been total Yankees dominance. New York has now outscored opponents 12-0 in Fried’s two outings.

Brent Headrick followed Fried with a relatively clean eighth inning, allowing a single to Cole Young before blowing a fastball past the Monday night hero Raleigh for a strikeout to end the frame. Tim Hill then took care of the ninth, working a clean inning to officially lock down the Yankees’ 5-0 bounce-back win.

The Yankees now hand Wednesday’s getaway-day finale to Cam Schlittler, who will face George Kirby in another premium pitching matchup. Schlittler was electric to open the year, with eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Kirby impressed in his first start striking out six in six innings of one-run ball. Will the Yankees bats get to Kirby and let Cam take the series tomorrow? First pitch is at 4:10pm ET.

Box Score

Many in baseball knew the Yankees pitching staff was good, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who would have predicted the historic start to the 2026 season they are putting up.

Tuesday's 5-0 win over the Mariners capped off a five-game stretch where Yankees pitching was the most dominant in baseball. And it even made history.

Across the first five games of the season, Yankees pitching has allowed just three earned runs. According to Katie Sharp, that's tied with the 1943 Cardinals for the fewest in MLB history since 1900.

Digging a little deeper, Yankees starters have allowed just one run across those first five games, and the team as a whole has already thrown three shutouts. When asked if he anticipated his staff pitching this well, manager Aaron Boone admitted he didn't.

"We definitely like our pitching. I don't know if you draw up this many shutouts and all that early on, I don't care how good your pitching is. It doesn't usually work that seamlessly," he said. "It's a great start for those guys in there. They're pitching with a lot of confidence. They're executing. Austin [Wells] and JC [Escarra] are doing a great job back there with them. And then playing well behind them with our defense, and add it all up, and there's been a lot of zeros."

“We have a lot of really talented guys that are really motivated, and we've been waiting for this opportunity to have the season start and go and compete," Max Fried said. "We want to go in, and we're leaving everything out there, so we got a lot of, like I said, really good arms, and we’re throwing the ball really well right now. So we're just trying to keep it rolling.”

Fried is a big part of the early success. After grinding through 6.1 scoreless innings on Opening Day in San Francisco, the southpaw looked more like his dominant self from a season ago, tossing seven scoreless against the high-powered Mariners lineup.

The 32-year-old said his success on Tuesday was due to being able to throw his various pitches for strikes and working well with Escarra to keep changing speeds.

"There were times where I was just fighting to throw strikes [in my last start]," Fried explained. "I felt like I was actually able to locate today, which made things a lot easier. But you got to go out there and really execute against a team like that. That's a really good club up there."

"He was terrific tonight," Boone said. "He was on point from the start, just in total control of the game. Had everything kind of going for him, different ways to get you out. I thought he changed speeds really, really well, had good life to his fastball just back and forth. Used all his secondary. Until a couple guys got on there in that final inning in the seventh there, felt like he was cruising."

Fried has pitched at least six scoreless innings in both of his outings to start the season, which has earned the southpaw a spot in Yankees history. He's now tied with five others with two such starts. The record holder is three by Ray Caldwell in 1914. Fried will get his chance to match that franchise record next week.

As for the team as a whole, the Yankees have now started the season 4-1 heading into their rubber game against the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon. Cam Schlittler, who pitched 5.1 scoreless innings in his first start, will look to continue this string of dominance for Yankees pitching.

Here are the results and details of every Los Angeles Dodgers game for 2026, from the beginning of the regular season through however long they last in the postseason.

For additional details on each game, click on the game scores below. That will take you to a recap of that particular game. We also have a section on the site dedicated to Dodgers scores and standings where you can also find these stories.

Here are the scores and details of every game in 2026, in reverse chronological order.

• July 21: Dodgers 2, Phillies 1 (64-38)
• July 20: Phillies 10, Dodgers 7 (63-38)
• July 19: Yankees 2, Dodgers 1 (63-37)
• July 19: Dodgers 8, Yankees 2 (63-36)
• July 17: Dodgers 2, Yankees 1 (62-36)
• July 12: D-backs 5, Dodgers 3 (61-36)
• July 11: D-backs 9, Dodgers 2 (61-35)
• July 10: D-backs 9, Dodgers 3 (61-34)
• July 8: Dodgers 4, Rockies 3 (61-33)
• July 7: Rockies 4, Dodgers 3 (60-33)
• July 6: Dodgers 8, Rockies 7 [11 innings] (60-32)
• July 5: Padres 5, Dodgers 2 (59-32)
• July 4: Dodgers 3, Padres 0 (59-31)
• July 3: Dodgers 4, Padres 3 (58-31)
• July 2: Dodgers 12, Padres 7 (57-31)
• July 1: A’s 7, Dodgers 1 (56-31)
• June 30: Dodgers 9, A’s 3 (56-30)
• June 29: Dodgers 9, A’s 4 (55-30)
• June 28: Dodgers 4, Padres 2 (54-30)
• June 27: Dodgers 15, Padres 3 (53-30)
• June 26: Padres 7, Dodgers 1 (52-30)
• June 24: Dodgers 4, Twins 3 (52-29)
• June 23: Dodgers 12, Twins 3 (51-29)
• June 22: Dodgers 2, Twins 1 (50-29)
• June 21: Orioles 12, Dodgers 1 (49-29)
• June 20: Orioles 3, Dodgers 2 (49-28)
• June 19: Dodgers 6, Orioles 5 (49-27)
• June 17: Dodgers 5, Rays 4 (48-27)
• June 16: Dodgers 1, Rays 0 (47-27)
• June 15: Dodgers 4, Rays 3 (46-27)
• June 14: White Sox 6, Dodgers 4 (45-27)
• June 13: Dodgers 7, White Sox 1 (45-26)
• June 12: White Sox 8, Dodgers 2 (44-26)
• June 11: Dodgers 8, Pirates 6 (44-25)
• June 10: Pirates 9, Dodgers 8 (43-25)
• June 9: Dodgers 12, Pirates 3 (43-24)
• June 7: Angels 13, Dodgers 5 (42-24)
• June 6: Dodgers 9, Angels 2 (42-23)
• June 5: Dodgers 1, Angels 0 (41-23)
• June 4: D-backs 3, Dodgers 2 (40-23)
• June 3: Dodgers 7, D-backs 0 (40-22)
• June 2: Dodgers 6, D-backs 5 (39-22)
• June 1: D-backs 4, Dodgers 1 (38-22)
• May 31: Dodgers 9, Phillies 1 (38-21)
• May 30: Phillies 4, Dodgers 3 (37-21)
• May 29: Dodgers 4, Phillies 2 (37-20)
• May 27: Dodgers 4, Rockies 1 (36-20)
• May 26: Dodgers 15, Rockies 6 (35-20)
• May 25: Dodgers 5, Rockies 3 (34-20)
• May 24: Dodgers 5, Brewers 1 (33-20)
• May 23: Dodgers 11, Brewers 3 (32-20)
• May 22: Brewers 5, Dodgers 1 (31-20)
• May 20: Dodgers 4, Padres 0 (31-19)
• May 19: Dodgers 5, Padres 4 (30-19)
• May 18: Padres 1, Dodgers 0 (29-19)
• May 17: Dodgers 10, Angels 1 (29-18)
• May 16: Dodgers 15, Angels 2 (28-18)
• May 15: Dodgers 6, Angels 0 (27-18)
• May 14: Dodgers 5, Giants 2 (26-18)
• May 13: Dodgers 4, Giants 0 (25-18)
• May 12: Giants 6, Dodgers 2 (24-18)
• May 11: Giants 9, Dodgers 3 (24-17)
• May 10: Braves 7, Dodgers 2 (24-16)
• May 9: Braves 7, Dodgers 2 (24-15)
• May 8: Dodgers 3, Braves 1 (24-14)
• May 6: Dodgers 12, Astros 2 (23-14)
• May 5: Astros 2, Dodgers 1 (22-14)
• May 4: Dodgers 8, Astros 3 (22-13)
• May 3: Dodgers 4, Cardinals 1 (21-13)
• May 2: Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2 (20-13)
• May 1: Cardinals 7, Dodgers 2 (20-12)
• April 29: Marlins 3, Dodgers 2 (20-11)
• April 28: Marlins 2, Dodgers 1 (20-10)
• April 27: Dodgers 5, Marlins 4 (20-9)
• April 26: Dodgers 6, Cubs 0 (19-9)
• April 25: Dodgers 12, Cubs 4 (18-9)
• April 24: Cubs 6, Dodgers 4 (17-9)
• April 23: Dodgers 3, Giants 0 (17-8)
• April 22: Giants 3, Dodgers 0 (16-8)
• April 21: Giants 3, Dodgers 1 (16-7)
• April 20: Dodgers 12, Rockies 3 (16-6)
• April 19: Rockies 9, Dodgers 6 (15-6)
• April 18: Rockies 4, Dodgers 3 (15-5)
• April 17: Dodgers 7, Rockies 1 (15-4)
• April 15: Dodgers 8, Mets 2 (14-4)
• April 14: Dodgers 2, Mets 1 (13-4)
• April 13: Dodgers 4, Mets 0 (12-4)
• April 12: Rangers 5, Dodgers 2 (11-4)
• April 11: Dodgers 6, Rangers 3 (11-3)
• April 10: Dodgers 8, Rangers 7 (10-3)
• April 8: Blue Jays 4, Dodgers 3 (9-3)
• April 7: Dodgers 4, Blue Jays 1 (9-2)
• April 6: Dodgers 14, Blue Jays 2 (8-2)
• April 5: Dodgers 8, Nationals 6 (7-2)
• April 4: Dodgers 10, Nationals 5 (6-2)
• April 3: Dodgers 13, Nationals 6 (5-2)
• April 1: Guardians 4, Dodgers 1 (4-2)
• March 31: Dodgers 4, Guardians 1 (4-1)
• March 30: Guardians 4, Dodgers 2 (3-1)
• March 28: Dodgers 3, D-backs 2 (3-0)
• March 27: Dodgers 5, D-backs 4 (2-0)
• March 26: Dodgers 8, D-backs 2 (1-0)

Game 2 of the Dodgers v. Guardians series was another late night affair for those of us on the east coast.

Tanner Bibee, after leaving the season opener with right shoulder discomfort, was back and tasked with facing the Dodgers offense while the Guardians offense was tasked with facing Shohei Ohtani.

The top of the first was eventful, but not in a fun way. Kwan and José both had long flyouts, but Chase DeLauter fouled a ball off his back foot. He finished the at bat, resulting in a ground out, but immediately left the field and headed down the tunnel with the trainer. The team updated in the fourth inning that the x-ray was negative.

In the top of the third, Gabriel Arias drew a one-out walk. Angel Martínez broke his bat on what looked like a well placed single, but Mookie Betts made a great play to get the out. Rhys Hoskins recorded the first hit of the game for the Guards in the top of the fourth with a two-out double to left. In the top of the fifth, Angel Martínez was hit by pitch, on his back knee, and stayed down for a fair amount of time. Thankfully Angel was able to take his base and continue playing the game.

Through the third, Bibee kept the Dodgers to two hits and a walk, keeping things scoreless. But as a light rain started to fall in LA, the bottom of the fourth had the Dodgers strike first. A one-out single and two, two-out singles scored Will Smith. Bibee finished the night having only pitched 4.0 innings. He allowed 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, and struck out 4 batters on 74 pitches. It was likely that Bibee would be limited due to the aforementioned shoulder discomfort. Kolby Allard came on in relief in the fifth inning to face the top of the Dodgers’ line up.

Allard walked Ohtani, but handled the next three batters. In the bottom of the sixth, Max Muncy got to Allard with a solo homer to right.

The Dodgers brought out relief lefty Alex Vesia in the top of the seventh. Bo Naylor hit into another broken bat out, with Mookie Betts making the play again for the first out.

Allard stayed in for the start of the seventh, giving up a single to Ohtani and striking out two. Matt Festa replaced Allard for Mookie Betts. Festa struck out Betts to retire the side. Angel Martínez was the first up to bat for the Guardians, facing lefty Jack Dreyer. Angel hit a swinging bunt and was standing on first when the umpires decided that it was foul. No one signaled that it was foul, the ball was not foul, Angel grounded out instead. Steven Kwan drew a walk, but David Fry (pinch hitting for Kayfus) and José weren’t able to make anything happen.

Matt Festa remained in for the bottom of the 8th. Four singles burnt Festa, scoring two before the side was retired. The rain was coming down harder, making for tough playing conditions. The weather looked like it was playing into the Guardians favor. Edwin Díaz came in to close for LA. Kyle Manzardo was hit by pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Rhys Hoskins drew a walk. Bo’s flyout put runners on the corner for Brayan Rocchio. Rocchio hit a single to right, scoring Manzo and advancing Rhys. Díaz struck out Schneemann and Angel to end the game. The loss goes to Tanner Bibee.

Final: Guardians 1 – Dodgers 4

Box Score

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani hasn’t hit much yet this season, but Tuesday night was a reminder that the four-time MVP is also an excellent pitcher. The Dodgers needed his arm to beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-1 in the middle game of their interleague series at a damp Dodger Stadium that was much closer than the final score indicates.

On the eve of the eighth anniversary of his Major League Baseball pitching debut, Ohtani in his 101st career start allowed only one hit, a two-out double by Rhys Hoskins in the fourth inning that provided one of only two at-bats with runners in scoring position off the Dodgers right-hander. Ohtani worked around three walks and a hit batter to finish six scoreless innings, with six strikeouts.

Last season saw a gradual build-up on the mound for Ohtani, who was returning from September 2023 Tommy John surgery, the second of his career. He didn’t top three innings until August, then the reins were slowly loosened into September and October. Manager Dave Roberts noticed Ohtani’s improvements this spring compared to last season.

“The feel for the breaking ball is much better. I think last year he was trying to introduce a slider with maybe a little bit more depth, and just trying to get a handle on that,” Roberts said earlier Tuesday. “But now, the ability to strike it, shorten it, to make it get a little bit bigger, all the while still having 97-98 in the tank when he needs it.”

Ohtani finished off two of his strikeouts with the curveball, two with the splitter, and two with the sweeper on Tuesday.

He also completed six innings for the fifth consecutive time on regular rest, dating back to last September. The only caveat in between was his 2 1/3 innings in Game 7 of the World Series, which was on three days rest.

Ohtani wasn’t all pitching on Tuesday. He walked twice while still pitching and later added a single. He has just three singles in 14 at-bats so far this season (.214), but also has six walks and was hit by a pitch, for a tidy .476 on-base percentage.

Ohtani wants to be a full-time two-way player again, and a start like Tuesday is one of several reasons the Dodgers are willing to indulge the effort.

“I think he’s already proven that he’s the best player to ever play the game, the best baseball player in totality,” Roberts said. “But I think he sees himself as a baseball player yes, but when he’s pitching he sees himself solely as a pitcher, and he wants to be the best pitcher.”

Early offense has been a problem for the Dodgers in the infancy of the schedule, such that when Andy Pages singled home Will Smith with two outs in the fourth inning it marked the first time Los Angeles has scored first in a game this season.

It was also the only Dodgers run scored in the fourth inning so far this season, and through five games they’ve been held scoreless in all the first and second innings in 2026. Despite only the one run, they did make Tanner Bibee work to the tune of 74 pitches such that the Cleveland starter was done after four innings, possibly as a precaution after he left his opening day start with shoulder inflammation five days prior.

Max Muncy’s solo home run in the sixth inning provided insurance. His first of the season was the 210th home run with the Dodgers for Muncy, one shy of Steve Garvey of sixth in franchise history. Muncy had the middle of four singles in the eighth inning as the Dodgers added even more insurance to pull away. Pages drove in the final run in the eighth, giving him bookend RBI on the night.

The Dodgers this season have scored 11 total runs through the first six innings of games (30 total innings), and 11 runs in the final three innings (11 total innings).

Tuesday night’s 4-1 victory put the Dodgers record at 4-1. It’s the first time their game score matched their record after that game since April 6, 2023, when a 5-2 win in Arizona gave Los Angeles a 5-2 record.

Tuesday particulars

Home run: Max Muncy (1)

WP — Shohei Ohtani (1-0): 6 IP, 1 hit, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts

LP — Tanner Bibee (0-1): 4 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

Up next

One more game on the homestand for the Dodgers, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound Wednesday night (5:20 p.m.; SportsNet LA, MLB Network) against Gavin Williams and the Guardians.

This was the matchup in the series the Mariners had the lowest percentage of winning (even while still being favored, apparently no one told the oddsmakers at FanGraphs the Mariners are suffering a bit of a limp offensively), but it was still pretty rough to watch. Max Fried outdueled Logan Gilbert, holding the Mariners scoreless over seven innings, while Gilbert was fine—collecting 14 whiffs—but not particularly sharp: he missed a bunch of stuff armside, the splitter didn’t have its usual bite, he hung some sliders, and he over-relied on his cutter, throwing it about 15% of the time.

But the biggest problem for Gilbert, again, was inefficiency; it took him nearly 30 pitches to clear the first inning, and his pitch count would have been even more inflated if not for a few well-timed double plays. He got ahead of leadoff hitter Trent Grisham, only to need seen pitches before putting him away on a flyout on a four-seamer. Two hitters later, he again got ahead of Cody Bellinger 0-2 with two outs, but instead of putting Bellinger away, Gilbert tried a pair of splitters and a fastball, none of which he could land, missing armside each time and running the count full before throwing Bellinger a cutter on the plate which Bellinger bopped into right field for a single. Gilbert then fell behind Ben Rice 2-0, resulting in a pretty terrible hung slider that luckily was only a double down the right field line, fielded…not particularly well by Victor Robles, allowing Bellinger to score. Giancarlo Stanton then ambushed the first pitch he saw for a parachute single that dropped in front of Robles, scoring Rice, who was in motion with two outs and giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

Unfortunately, that would be all the Yankees needed, even if they went on to add more later, as the Mariners bats were quiet once again. Max Fried carved through the Mariners lineup, no-hitting them the first time through the order with four strikeouts, a lone walk to Julio Rodríguez the only thing between him and a perfect game until Josh Naylor collected his first hit of the season, a line-drive single into center.

Gilbert’s pitch mix tonight was…curious. He led with the fastball and splitter, getting three of his six strikeouts on the splitter, but threw his cutter the third-most of any of his pitches (15%), a pitch he said during spring training Scott Servais once told him was best at about an 8% usage. He got one strikeout on the pitch, getting Ryan McMahon chasing after one up to end the second.

“Cutter feels great. I really like where it’s at,” said Gilbert postgame.

He also dug out his changeup, a pitch he hasn’t thrown significantly since 2022. He got one strikeout on the pitch, a called strike the Yankees challenged and lost. Gilbert threw his changeup intermittently this spring, toying with working it back into his arsenal; apparently, this time both the cutter and the changeup survived the trip north.

“The good [changeups] were good. Bad ones were bad. It’s just kind of the nature of it,” said Gilbert postgame.

Gilbert did get some help defensively in the third, despite some shaky defensive play in the first: Leo Rivas turned a slick double play after a leadoff base hit to Grisham, making a quick turn to get Judge at first, and Cal Raleigh wiped away a two-out walk (no Logan! Bad Logan!) with an absolute seed to pick off Bellinger trying to steal:

There was also this really nifty play by Cole Young in the fifth:

Thanks to some defensive help and some make-it-work pitching, Gilbert was able to keep the Yankees quiet until the sixth, when Trent Grisham realized the cutter isn’t actually a good pitch and ambushed the first pitch he saw for a ground-rule double. Gilbert was able to strike out Judge on a splitter, but Bellinger tattooed a fastball at the top of the zone for a single; Grisham didn’t score then, but did score when Bellinger, who seemed committed to being a pest on the bases that night, stole second and Cal overthrew the base. Things unraveled after that for Gilbert, as he walked Rice, putting runners at the corners with one out for Stanton, who shot a double into the gap on a splitter that did not split to make it 4-0.

Cole Wilcox was charged with cleaning up the damage but couldn’t get Jazz Chisholm Jr. despite having him in a 1-2 count, leaving a slider too much on the plate for an RBI single; Chisholm then stole second, wiping out the double play opportunity. Wilcox did button things down after that, but the damage was done.

The only good part of this game is Wilcox got a second inning to try to make his case to stick around once Carlos Vargas is healthy, and he pitched a dominant seventh, striking out McMahon looking on a sweeper and striking out Grisham swinging after a slider, and then got by Aaron Judge with a little help from his friend, who conveniently is also named Cole:

This hot potato came off the bat at 107 directly at Cole W’s dome and, no. No, thank you. I would simply climb under the mound and pull it around myself like a weighted blanket and refuse to leave. But Cole Y was right there to help his buddy out. Hooray for teamwork.

Wilcox came back for the eighth and got his first out but then surrendered a single to Rice, who kind of stuck his bat out at a sweeper and sliced it oppo, so Casey Legumina got a chance to argue why he should get the final bullpen rose and retired his two hitters, and then worked a clean ninth inning. Ever since Casey told the story about his Opening Day suit I have been unfortunately very attached to him so this was a particularly nice little reward at the end of a tough game.

Fried finally came out of the game in the eighth, but by that point, the damage was done, and the Mariners hitters didn’t do anything against the low-leverage Yankees relievers who came in to replace him (although Cole Young did have a single, because again, even though this game was un-fun, the disappointment was offset by lots of little Kate Treats). The Mariners will try to win their first series tomorrow, with George Kirby on the mound against Cam Schlittler, whose name I have looked up three times and am still not sure I spelled correctly.

ST. LOUIS — Tobias Myers’ first two appearances with the Mets have offered a reminder that he was more than just a throw-in by the Brewers in the Freddy Peralta trade. 

The right-hander has been sharp in his first two outings, including his 1 ¹/₃-inning stint in relief Monday, when he struck out three against the Cardinals. 

Myers, who did not pitch in Tuesday night’s 3-0 loss to the Cardinals, pitched three innings on Opening Day against the Pirates and allowed one earned run on one hit. 

He began last season in the Brewers starting rotation, and after a demotion to Triple-A returned as a multi-inning reliever. 

“It’s very similar to what I was doing the last two months last year,” Myers said Tuesday of his long-relief role. “It’s a little bit more guided, I think, early on, but honestly it feels kind of similar.” 

Myers said he takes the mentality that he’s got to be ready at any moment. 

“That definitely helps me a little bit,” he said. “Down there, the role I am in, it could be the first inning, could be the ninth, could be the 14th inning. So I am kind of moving around pretty consistently down there and try to keep myself ready for any time that phone rings.” 

Myers built up to 60 pitches in spring training, positioning himself to join the starting rotation if there was a need. He threw 39 pitches in his Mets debut and 14 in his Monday appearance. 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

“I went [39] pitches last week, and if I go 50 next week, I don’t see that being a big issue, as long as I am kind of ready for it,” Myers said. “But just throw it until [manager Carlos Mendoza] tells me I am done.” 

Jorge Polanco was on the bench to rest a sore left Achilles on Tuesday, but Mendoza indicated he would likely return to the starting lineup for Wednesday’s series finale. It’s unclear if that will include playing first base. 

“We’re in the middle of a nine-game stretch and [Polanco] was going to get a day anyway,” Mendoza said. “He was going to either get today or [Wednesday] … He woke up today and he’s in a good spot.” 

Jared Young started a second straight game at first base Tuesday night and picked up one of the Mets’ three hits, and Mark Vientos, in his first start first this season went 0-for-2.

Another rough start for a starting pitcher resulted in another loss for the San Diego Padres. German Marquez started the second game of the series against the San Francisco Giants and struggled to get through three innings. Marquez allowed four runs on eight hits with one walk and one strikeout, as the Padres dropped their second game to the Giants by the score of 9-3 at Petco Park, Tuesday.

The outing for Marquez had an ominous start with San Francisco leadoff hitter Willy Adames starting the game with a home run down the left field line on the second pitch thrown by the right-hander that put San Diego in the hole 1-0. The Giants would go on to add two more runs in the inning and had a 3-0 lead before the Padres took their first at-bat.

San Francisco added the fourth run of the game in the top of the third inning and had a 4-0 lead when San Diego came to the plate in the bottom of the inning. The Padres showed some fight, scoring three runs in the inning, which was capped by a Miguel Andujar RBI-single to right field. That proved to be the final highlight of the game for San Diego.

Kyle Hart came in for Marquez in the top of the fourth inning and worked two scoreless innings, but in the top of the sixth he allowed a leadoff double, a walk to open the inning. Hart recorded the first out with a strikeout, but then Adames struck again with an RBI-single to put the Giants up, 5-3. Hart allowed another single to Rafael Devers before being replaced by Bradgley Rodriguez.

The first batter Rodriguez faced was Heliot Ramos and he hit a bases loaded single that scored two runs to give San Francisco a 7-3 lead. Luis Arraez then hit a sacrifice fly that allowed the eight Giants run of the game to score. Rodriguez followed the sac-fly with a forceout of Matt Chapman to end the four-run sixth for San Francisco.

The Padres went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, but started the bottom of the seventh with a leadoff double from Nick Castellanos. He was stranded there after back-to-back groundouts from Freddy Fermin and Jake Cronenworth and a flyout from Gavin Sheets. The eighth inning had similar results for San Diego. Manny Machado started with a single, but Jackson Merrill grounded into a double play. Xander Bogaerts followed with a strikeout.

David Morgan surrendered an unearned run in the top of the ninth inning to give San Francisco a 9-3 lead and San Diego fizzled out in the bottom of the ninth with a strikeout, a single, a forceout and another strikeout to drop to 1-4 on the season.

Much like the first series of the season against the Detroit Tigers, the Padres will try to salvage the series and avoid the sweep when they face the Giants, Wednesday at 1:10 p.m.

Jose Fernandez. That is it. That’s the recap. Give the guy his flowers.

From a pitching standpoint, Brandon Pfaadt had a very Brandon Pfaadt outing. He rolled through 5 innings, but was so bad in the 3^rd the announcers on the broadcast thought he was tipping his pitches. Pfaadt was atleast able to give the team 6 innings, but his innings were so stark. He is either dominating with elite efficiency or he is giving up loud contact at an unimaginable rate. Really a confusing situation that has seemed to plague Pfaadt his whole career and the team clearly hasn’t found an answer for it over the offseason. In the postgame show, Mark Grace was speculating that it may have had something to do when Pfaadt was pitching out of the stretch. Something to continue to monitor.

From an offensive standpoint, this is going to be known as the Jose Fernandez game for a long time. Fernandez was able to get his first career hit out of the way in the bottom of the second inning with a hustle single on a slow roller to the 3^rd baseman. It is worth noting that Fernandez’s sprint speed was clocked at 30.2 feet per second when he was busting up the line. That is elite speed! Fernadez came up next in the bottom of the 4^th and smashed a hanging slider 408 feet for his first career home run to put the Dbacks on the board. However, it was the bottom of the 8^th that really cemented the Jose Fernandez lore. Fernandez came to the plate with the Dbacks down 5-4 thanks to a couple of walks, a clutch double by Corbin Carroll, and some balls in play that moved the runners. The Tigers countered by bringing in their closer Kenley Jansen, and Fernandez took the 3^rd pitch 409 feet for a 3 run home run putting the Dbacks up 7-5. What a storybook ending to a rookie game.

It will be very interesting to see what Jose Fernandez’s role looks like moving forward especially considering he was playing for the veteran Nolan Arenado tonight, but you have to continue to give this guy regular playing time in my opinion. Torey Lovullo is notorious for sitting guys the day following big performances, but I would be shocked if Fernandez didn’t earn himself another start tomorrow. So often do we see these guys come up and only get to play sporadically which can make it so hard to get any momentum going.  What do you guys think? Did you see enough from Fernandez tonight for an extended look?

It was a tale of two games between Nebraska and Creighton. The two in-state rivals always seem to play games that have wild momentum swings in the late innings. Tuesday night in downtown Omaha was no different.

Nebraska put its offense to work in the 2nd inning. Dylan Carey led off and sent a pitch deep to right, forcing the Creighton right fielder to make the catch with his back against the fence. It was an out, but a harbinger of things to come for the Jays. Jett Buck reached on an error, with the first baseman dropping the ball. Then Max Buettenback was hit by the next pitch. Clearly rattled, the CU starting pitcher tossed a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing both runners to advance into scoring position.

Freshman Drew Grego, who has been as clutch as anyone in the past month, punched a ball just in front of the left fielder. The runners had to hesitate due to it being a close play, so only Buck could score on the play. After a strikeout, Josh Overbeek drew a full count walk, loading the bases for Mac Moyer. The left handed Moyer hit his patented ball right by the short stop, scoring Buettenback and Grego. Moyer ended the game batting .404, just barely hanging onto the team lead over Carey at .403. Nebraska took the early 3-0 lead.

Husker nation held their collective breaths in the 3rd. With 1 out, Dylan Carey was hit by pitch on his left wrist. He was seen by the trainer and was in noticeable pain. The call was reviewed to ensure he was hit and the ball didn’t hit the cap of the bat for a foul ball, giving him a bit more time to recover. In true Carey fashion and grit, he stole second base on the next pitch, sliding headfirst, wrist injury be damned…. Two pitches later, Jett Buck split the right center gap for a double, scoring Carey easy, and pushing the Husker lead to 4-0.

Freshman catcher Jeter Worthley showed off all of his offensive skills in the 4th. He rocketed a ball down the left field line for a standup double. He then advanced to third base on a fly ball by Case Sanderson. Carey then lifted a ball to shallow center. The Jays centerfielder caught it and as Worthley tagged and ran home, threw a strike to the catcher who couldn’t hang onto the ball, as Worthley slid by him and knocked the ball out of his glove. Worthley stopped his slide, stood up and stepped on home plate for the Huskers fifth run.

Gavin Blachowicz was making his first mid-week start of the season, and rolled through his 4 innings of work, allowing only 2 hits, and 1 walk while striking out 2. He was on a pitch count after getting the last week off, but looked like he was close to the pitcher we saw early on in the season.

Nebraska built their lead to 6-0 in the 6th, as Creighton’s left fielder misplayed a ball off the bat of Josh Overbeek. Beek motored all the way to third for his second triple in the past week. Moyer would bring him in with an RBI ground ball to the first baseman, his 3rd RBI of the game.

Caleb Clark had come in to relieve Blachowicz, and after a quick 5th, ran into a lot of trouble in the 6th. A walk, hit by pitch, and 4 pitch walk loaded the bases with no outs. He gave up a 2 RBI double, before being pulled for Pryce Bender. Bender seemed to right the ship with a strikeout and a hard hit ball to Overbeek at third, which he gunned down a runner attempting to run home. The next batter hit a 2-0 fastball for a 2 RBI double, and then an RBI single cut the Nebraska lead down to 6-5.

Nebraska looked to respond in the 7th, starting the inning with back to back singles. Three hard hit balls, all coming off the bat at over 90 mph, all found the gloves of Creighton fielders. Creighton was hanging on.

The bullpens held through the 8th, and into the 9th. Nebraska was able to get a pair of 1 out singles from Sanderson and Carey to put the pressure on. Creighton went and grabbed their closer, Matt Goldenbaum, and he slammed the door shut with back to back strikeouts of Buck and Buettenback.

Husker closer J’Shawn Unger had come in to work a spotless 8th, but an error by the usual sure handed Rhett Stokes at second allowed leadoff batter Rocco Gump to reach base. The speedy Gump stole second. Unger struck out the next batter. The next batter hit a fly ball to left, and as Buck hauled it in, Gump had wandered off second a little too far. Buck threw to second and beat Gump back, but was just far enough towards the third base side of the bag that it pulled Stokes off the bag just by a hair, allowing the inning to continue. Unger walked the next batter, bringing up Ben North, Creighton’s best hitter with the winning run on base. North hit a towering fly ball to left center, which Moyer called off Buck, but had overran the play a bit and drifted back towards center field, and as the fans held their collective breath, caught the ball for the final out of the 6-5 victory.

Nebraska has now won 18 of their last 19 games, and in a rare occurrence in that streak, the offense was unable to come up with a clutch hit in the late innings with runners on base. Making the response after the nightmare of a 6th inning even more important. Chase Olson and Unger combined to throw 3 innings of no-hit baseball in a crucial 1 run rivalry game. They are both pitching as well as anyone coming in relief in the scarlet and cream.

The 19th ranked Huskers are back in action Friday as an underachieving Penn State team comes to Lincoln to start a 3 game series. It’s an important series to pile up wins as the next two conference series are against ranked teams in Oregon and USC.