Category: Baseball

Good evening, y’all. So, we’ve got a bit of a series going on in The Feed where we’re asking everybody to map out an All-Time Braves lineup using a grid. If you haven’t already checked it out yet, mosey on over and cast your vote in the first entry so we can get that going.

The floor is now yours and here’s a random clip for y’all:

The Milwaukee Brewers looked well on their way to picking up their first Cactus League win this afternoon when a late bullpen collapse by players you’ve probably never heard of meant another day with a zero in the win column for the Brewers.

Of course, winners and losers in the Cactus League don’t really matter at all, so who did what?

Milwaukee jumped out to an early lead in this one when, following a Joey Ortiz single (the hardest-hit ball of the game, according to Statcast, at 109.1 mph), Andrew Vaughn hit a one-out bomb to put the Brewers up 2-0.

The Brewers kept the pressure on San Diego starter JP Sears after that. Gary Sánchez was hit by a pitch and Brandon Lockridge singled to put two more on base with still just the one out. A David Hamilton fielder’s choice led to the second out, but with two outs one of the new faces on the Brewers, Jett Williams, showed off one of his gifts—speed—with a two-run triple:

Easton McGee and Abner Uribe both had nice early-inning appearances for the Brewers; Uribe gave up a bloop single to Ty France but otherwise neither pitcher allowed anything and they both struck out two batters. Craig Yoho pitched a scoreless third, though he didn’t strike anybody out.

The first two Brewers of the fourth inning were retired on calls that went to ABS challenges: the Padres successfully challenged a 3-2 pitch on Williams that was initially called a ball, and the next batter, Luis Lara, unsuccessfully challenged a called third strike.

The Padres got on the board in the fourth when Miguel Andujar hit a two-out solo homer off of Drew Rom, and the Brewers added one in the seventh when Lockridge—Brandon Lockridge!—hit his second homer of the spring.

That made it 5-1, and it looked like the game might end there, but bottom of the eighth, things went sideways. Pitcher Bjorn Johnson entered the game walked the first batter, got a pop-out, gave up a single, walked another guy, gave up a bases-loaded double, and walked another guy before getting pulled. Joshua Quezada replaced Johnson, gave up a single, balked, and gave up another single, and the Padres had six runs in with only one out. Thankfully, a double play ended the inning after that, but San Diego was up 7-5 heading into the ninth. Johnson’s line was a little scary: two hits, three walks, and five earned runs in 1/3 of an inning, which equates to an ERA of 135, if you’re curious.

Milwaukee got a couple of two-out baserunners in the ninth when Dylan O’Rae singled and Jesús Made walked; they both stole their way into scoring position, but a strikeout of Jordyn Adams ended things there, which I’m sure the players didn’t mind.

Ortiz was a notable bright spot. In addition to the single he stung in the first inning, he hit a strong double in the fifth (at 107.2 mph, it was the third-hardest-hit ball of the day), and in the third he made this nifty play:

For those who spent large parts of last season concerned about Jackson Chourio’s plate discipline, he took two more walks today. We’ve already covered all the extra-base hits, but among the interesting prospects, Lara and Brock Wilken also hit singles. In addition to McGee, Uribe, and Yoho, the Brewers also got scoreless innings from Jacob Waguespack, Ethan Dorchies, and Wande Torres, though only Waguespack managed a three-up, three-down inning.

The 0-4 Brewers will take another shot at picking up their first win tomorrow afternoon at 2:05 p.m. central time when they take on the Athletics in OaklandSacramentoKansas CityPhiladelphia Mesa.

Today, the Colorado Rockies walked off the Chicago White Sox in a 5-4 win after Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) hit a crushing 468 feet walk-off homer. For more details, go here.

Let’s start with Veen’s homer:

Here’s manager Warren Schaefer on today’s game:

And Ryan Feltner reviews today’s outing:

And here are Michael Lorenzen’s postgame comments:

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The internet can be a cruel place, but it can also be hilarious.

On Monday afternoon, when the New York Post’s Jon Heyman broke the news that former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto had signed a one-year minor-league deal with the Chicago Cubs, well, let’s just say the Boys in Blue’s X turned into a late-night comedy club. 

Conforto arrived in Los Angeles last offseason on a one-year, $17 million prove-it contract. He was the Dodgers’ everyday left fielder and was expected to be the missing piece of a lineup that already featured former MVPs Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts. 

Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman’s thinking was simple: put a career 120 OPS+ bat inside Dodger Stadium and let the ballpark do the rest. Instead, the ballpark watched him unravel.

Conforto hit a career-low .199 with just 12 home runs and 36 RBI. He had a .333 slugging percentage that felt like a typo every time it flashed on the scoreboard. By October, he wasn’t just struggling — he was invisible. Benched. Left off the postseason roster. Replaced in left field by Kiké Hernández, who did what Kiké Hernández does in October and helped power the Dodgers to a second straight World Series title.

So when the Cubs offered Conforto a lifeline on Monday, Dodgers fans offered punchlines.

Heartbroken. Dodgers legend. Will be missed. https://t.co/u2PIxNeT1p

— Jacob Brownson (@brownsonjacob2) February 23, 2026

“The Dodgers traded Michael Conforto for Kyle Tucker,” one fan cracked, pointing out the obvious that Tucker was with the Cubs last year and Conforto with the Dodgers. 

“How on earth will we ever move on?” asked one Dodgers fan.

“This legendary Dodger will be missed dearly,” another posted, sarcasm dripping like pine tar in July.

As a Dodger fan, it’s like watching a toxic ex-girlfriend date someone new. God bless both of you.

— AF (@AndrewFonseca19) February 23, 2026

“As a Dodgers fan, this is like watching your toxic ex date someone new. God bless them both,” wrote another.

“Dodgers legend.” “The Dodgers GOAT.”

The hits just kept on coming.

dodgers legend

— SleeperDodgers (@SleeperDodgers) February 23, 2026

It was brutal. It was creative. It was so Dodgers fans.

For the Cubs, this is a low-risk, high-reward: Counsell, Conforto’s .251/.348/.456 career line, his consistency from 2017-24, the 20-homer season in San Francisco just two years ago. The Cubs believe there’s still a professional hitter buried under the wreckage of 2025.

At 33, Conforto isn’t chasing superstardom; he’s just trying to remain relevant and resurrect his career. 

In Los Angeles, he’ll be remembered mostly as a punchline attached to a championship season he didn’t participate in when it mattered most. In Chicago, he gets a clean slate.

Baseball is funny that way. One city roasts you. Another hands you a bat.

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Observations from Mets’ spring training on Monday:

Nice ABS

Carlos Mendoza said the team would be aggressive this spring when it came to using the new automated ball-strike challenge system.

They were aggressive again Monday, as Clay Holmes’ outing ended when Hayden Senger challenged a ball call with Toronto’s Addison Barger at the plate.

The pitch proved to be a strike, which resulted in a strikeout for Holmes.

Spiked

Vidal Bruján was forced from the game when he was spiked on his left thumb as he dove headfirst into second on a stolen-base attempt in the top of the sixth inning.

Caught my eye

Jared Young is among those getting time at first base this spring, and he made a nice backhanded play on an Andrés Giménez grounder.

Mark Vientos, who started at first Sunday and could split time with Brett Baty as Jorge Polanco’s backup, was the DH.

Tuesday’s schedule

The Mets will start right-hander Jack Wenninger when they host the Astros at 1:10 p.m. at Clover Park.

Wenninger was the team’s 11th-ranked prospect last year, according to MLB Pipeline.

Well, that was more spring baseball.

The Mariners fourth Spring Training game on Monday was more of the same: weak at bats, sloppy play, and a bunch of names so unremarkable they didn’t even bother printing them on the jerseys. I still enjoyed it, though. These games might be meaningless, but they are still baseball, still something to pass the time, still a chance to see your favorite players, however briefly. Only four more weeks until the real thing. We’re getting there.

The Mariners lost to the Dodgers 3-0. They collected just four hits and one walk. Here’s what I thought was notable.

Cole Young and Colt Emerson

Mariners’ brass got another chance to see Cole Young and Colt Emerson in direct competition for an infield spot. Young hit seventh in the lineup and played second base; Emerson hit eighth and played shortstop. Neither’s day at the plate was all that notable. Young struck out in both his plate appearances, both times against a lefty. Emerson drew a nice walk against a righty in his first at bat, then popped out against a lefty in his second. 

Both made nice plays in the field. With a runner on first, Emerson got a line drive right to him at short. He dropped it intentionally and tried to turn the double play. The umpires didn’t buy it and called it a catch, but it was a nice display of awareness regardless. The game doesn’t look too big for him so far. 

Young was especially impressive. In the third, he backed up first base on a ball that squirted out of Patrick Wisdom’s glove, adjusted his momentum to get to the ball, and made a nice short throw to first. Later in the inning he made a strong throw across the infield while turning a double play. In the fifth, he ranged to his right and snagged a grounder with a dive, then popped up and fired to first. These are the specific plays that really sunk Young’s value last year in the field—going to his right and making quick, unconventional throws—and its encouraging to see some improvement right out of the gate. This is the type of thing I can get excited about in Spring Training.

Logan Gilbert

Logan Gilbert made his first start of Spring Training. Like all Mariners starting pitchers, I’m interested in whether we might spy any arsenal tweaks, like new pitch types or shapes. FanGraphs’ Michael Rosen noted Gilbert was throwing what looked like a redesigned cutter. The rest of his stuff looked pretty sharp, too. His velocity was up from last year at 96+ mph, and he picked up a few strikeouts.

Gilbert’s 2025 is tough to summarize. He took a notable step forward in “stuff,” generating whiffs and strikeouts at an elite level. But it seemed to come at the expense of efficiency, as he struggled to work deeper into games. We don’t know much about how he might resolve that issue in 2026 after Monday’s outing, but we’ll see what adjustments he makes as he stretches out.

Jose Ferrer

Jose Ferrer’s time with the Mariners started out great. He got a three pitch strikeout on Andy Pages and celebrated with a little spin. It was nasty a pitch—an 85 mph changeup below the zone off back-to-back heaters up. Pages looked fooled.

Ferrer then gave up three consecutive hits and a walk and was removed from the game before recording another out. The contact he allowed wasn’t especially good and one of the hits really should have been caught by Victor Robles in right field. But Ferrer will take solace in that his performance with the Mariners can only improve from here.

Andrew Knizner 

Andrew Knizner made three challenges. The first two he called correctly from behind the plate, stealing strikes for his pitchers and even ending a fourth inning jam with a challenge K. He also challenged a high strike as a batter and lost. It’s interesting to see the Mariners’ catchers testing out the new system early on.

The Dodgers are on a roll to begin the spring as they notched their third consecutive victory with a 3-0 shutout win over the Seattle Mariners on Monday.

Landon Knack was given the start for Monday’s contest, making quick work of the Mariners by facing the minimum in the first inning while tossing just nine pitches.

Jack Dreyer made his first appearance of the spring, giving up a two-out single to Andrew Knizner but managing to escape the second inning unscathed. Ben Casparius, Kyle Hurt and Alex Vesia all made their first appearances of the spring, each notching a scoreless inning in relief.

Andy Pages added another two hits with a pair of singles in his second game of the spring, giving him four hits and a .667 batting average.

Scoring was hard to come by on Monday, even more than Sunday, but the Dodgers took advantage with runners in scoring position as Alex Freeland roped an opposite field double off of Jose A. Ferrer to plate Dalton Rushing and Santiago Espinal to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. Zach Ehrhard reached on a fielding error from Rhylan Thomas to plate a run and make it a three run Dodger lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Nick Robertson made his first appearance as a Dodger since the 2023 regular season, notching the save with a scoreless ninth inning to give the Dodgers a 3-0 start to the spring.

The Dodgers are now averaging 7.7 runs per game this spring, but they have yet to hit a home run as a team so far.

Up next

The Dodgers are back at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday as they host the Cleveland Guardians (12:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Gavin Stone makes his spring debut against right-hander Gavin Williams.

This is going to be an old-school recap, because I do not have any video of the Cubs’ 3-2 win over the Royals to show you.

So you’ll have to deal with descriptions, and a few MLB Gameday graphics.

Ben Brown threw the first two innings for the Cubs. It was a good outing. He allowed two hits, no runs and struck out three.

Here is one of the strikeouts, of Salvador Perez. Brown stuck with his fastball and curve, and check out some of the velocity:

Hopefully, Brown will begin to mix in some of the other pitches he says he’s been working on. He threw 30 pitches (20 strikes).

Javier Assad threw 1.1 innings and didn’t allow a run, throwing 20 strikes among his 29 pitches, a good first outing of the spring.

In the fourth, Jefferson Rojas gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead with his first home run of the spring. This is an excellent location for a pitch to hit and Rojas did not miss:

The Cubs scored two more runs in the fifth off former Cubs No. 1 draft pick (2017) Alex Lange, thanks in part to an error from the usually sure-handed Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. James Triantos singled in both runs. Triantos and Scott Kingery also stole bases in that inning.

There were a number of ABS challenges in this game and here’s one made by Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel. The call on the field was strike three and it was confirmed. As you can see, it was close, but a strike:

For the Cubs, Ariel Armas and Justin Dean both challenged and the calls were confirmed, so by the sixth inning the Cubs had no challenges left. That’s fine for a spring game where guys are testing out the system, but in a regular season game you probably won’t see two challenges like that, that early.

Porter Hodge had a much better outing this time than his first time out, striking out a pair in a scoreless inning, with just one walk. I’d think Hodge still has a chance at the Opening Day roster, if he can put together more innings like this.

Ryan Rolison and Collin Snider, both of whom could wind up on the Iowa Shuttle this year, threw scoreless innings against mostly Royals minor leaguers. Josh Rojas homered off Cubs minor leaguer Tyler Ras for KC’s only run.

That’s about all I’ve got from this one, without any video to show you.

The Cubs will return to Sloan Park Tuesday afternoon to face the Padres. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Marco Gonzales will go for San Diego. Game time Tuesday is again 2:05 p.m. CT. No TV again Tuesday, and there will be a radio broadcast online via SD Audio.

Yankees baseball is back, and even though it’s only been a handful of games it feels like a turning point in the year to see the boys put on pinstripes and take the field at last. We’ve got a loaded schedule this year for spring with the World Baseball Classic right around the corner, and several Yankees participating in the competition means they’ve got to be in game shape quite quickly. To his credit, Aaron Judge certainly appears so after he made his spring debut memorable with a pair of homers already on his soon-to-be-wiped stat line.

With all this going on, there’s plenty to react to and look forward to as spring begins to unfold. Will we see a dark horse emerge from the spring hopefuls to make the roster? Will any of the regular starters stand out with a particularly hot spring, and does it matter if they do? Who has the deepest roster heading into the WBC? If you have questions like these, or anything else on your mind, send ‘em in for a chance to be featured in our Yankees mailbag.

Answers will run on Friday afternoon. All questions received by the night of February 19th will be considered. You can leave your submissions in the comment section below or by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

While New York was dealing with close to 2 feet of snow, Mets pitchers Clay Holmes and Tobias Myers had to deal with the challenges of cool temperatures on the west coast of Florida during their outings on Monday in Dunedin against the Blue Jays.

“It was one of those days where it was a little chilly, it was dry, windy. Typically, these are the days [weather-wise] that are tough for sinkerballers,” Holmes said after dealing 3.2 innings in the Mets' win. “It was just good to get that experience and that challenge and to be back into the game action and figure out how to make pitches and see swings and feel the game speed.” 

And that is what the early spring outings come down to: coming out feeling physically strong and tinkering with the adjustments to new and existing pitches they have been working on this offseason.

“This is the time to kinda still play around with some of the things, get reactions, kinda go to this pitch, that pitch,” Holmes said of experimenting with the pitch arsenal. “You’re always finding ways to get better and what you can tinker here and there before things really start to matter.”  

Holmes said he entered the spring feeling strong after pitching 165.2 innings as a starter last year (after pitching 189.2 innings over the previous three seasons combined as a reliever), and is looking to avoid some of the issues he had in the second half of last season when his ERA went from 2.99 to 4.23.

“There were some stretches there, I feel like I could have been better. And I think being able to look back and learn from those moments will be big for this year,” he said, adding that it “wasn’t just one thing” during those spells when maybe the added innings caught up to him. 

“Maybe the delivery wasn’t quite the same,” he said. “I think it boils down to: I gotta find a way to stay in the zone and attack hitters, especially the lefties. That’s what kinda hurt me at times.”

Holmes said that he’s been focusing on that aspect, and during Monday’s outing, when the conditions are tough for getting a good grip and his bread-and-butter sinker, the cutter “got me back into some good counts. Last year, I felt like it got me into worse counts.”

“To me, that was a big positive for today,” he continued. “And that goes to some of the stretches of the command’s not totally there, finding a way to stay in good counts.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza said it was “overall a good day of work for Holmes” and that the cutter stood out.

“The cutter was a pitch that is the one he’s working on the most this spring training, and I felt like he got back in counts with that pitch, especially against lefties,” the skipper said. “I thought the sweeper was good, and the fact that he got up to the fourth up at 60 pitches and was like, ‘Physically. ‘I can keep going.’ That’s a really good sign.”

Holmes said he changed the grip on his cutter, but the success of the pitch will come down to his comfort with it. “I think just having that pitch in the zone will help the other pitches,” he said.  

Of course, not everything worked out so well. Holmes threw four curveballs, a pitch he last threw in a game in 2021. And while he did get one whiff on three swings, Kazuma Okamoto launched a 1-2 curve 431 feet to center for a two-run homer.

“It’s probably not something I’ll throw a ton to right-handed batters,” he said of the curveball. “Threw one today and got hurt on it, so it was a good learning experience.”

For Myers, coming off making 31 starts and 18 relief appearances over the past two years with Milwaukee, he said that while his destination of rotation or bullpen isn’t set, his build-up is the same.

“There’s some new pitches in there,” he said after pitching 2.1 scoreless innings against Toronto. “We’re definitely working on them. The slider I threw a lot today, you probably think it’s a curveball, pretty big. We’re trying to get that velo up on that a little bit. And the split, been throwing the split for half a season now, trying to fine-tune that pitch.”  

Myers, who threw six splitters according to Statcast's tracking, said it is more of a split-change that he feels he can "execute a lot better” than the previous changeup he was throwing.

“If I can go out there and use it consistently, throw it whenever I want any count, righty, lefty, I think that opens up a lot of doors for me instead of just going up there and trying to rely on the fastball,” he said.

He credited Mets pitching coach Justin Willard for coming up with the “little baby spike” slider less than two weeks ago in the hopes of getting more swing-and-miss.

“If I can throw that pitch north of 82 mph, with the right metrics and everything,” he said, “I think that can definitely open up some doors for some swing-and-miss.”

What pitch do you want to come along first? “You hope it’s the fastball,” Myers said. “You hope the fastball kinda comes first and then you can just kinda work on things from there. 

“For me, that’s always my main goal, especially in the offseason, the first couple bullpens: lotta fastballs, kinda get that location right."

Mendoza said the fastball has “got life.”

“Even though it was like 92 [mph] today, we know he can get to the mid-90’s. It’s just the life on the fastball, the change is always gonna be good, and we saw it today,” the skipper said before speaking complimentarily of the rest of the right-hander’s pitches. “And I like that cutter/slider that he’s got going for him now. It’s a pitch that he’s going to need, and he’s working on that one, and I thought he threw some good ones today.” 

Myers, who was glad to get in three ups after going for two in his past two live outings this spring, says coming out feeling good is still the most important part of this time of year.

“Body feels good, body’s healthy, I think that’s the only thing looking for this time, just check that box off and keep building up,” he said.

Myers said that while he doesn’t know his role, how he deploys his pitches won’t change either. 

“The usage might change a little bit, but I think that’s gonna come from the staff and the catchers and reading hitters, reading swings,” he said. “Visually, watching the game, I think hitters come out a little bit more aggressive when they get a bullpen arm in there. So that might change [it] a little bit. But as far as pitches, no, everything will kinda be the same.”

Team USA’s one-two punch of Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal will be short-lived.

Skubal, the reigning back-to-back American League Cy Young winner, announced Monday that he plans to make just one start in the 2026 World Baseball Classic before returning to Tigers camp, according to The Athletic.

The 29-year-old’s lone appearance is expected to be an abbreviated start during pool play on March 7 against Great Britain.

“I’m trying to do both things, trying to pitch for Team USA but I understand the need to be here with these guys and get ready for the season,” Skubal said. “I think it’s kind of the best of both worlds in that aspect, and I’m grateful they took me in that capacity.”

Skubal added that he will push to rejoin the squad as a spectator should the team reach the tournament finals.

“If they go to the finals, I think I’m going to try and lobby to just go watch and be with the guys,” he added.

Skubal’s one-and-done plan dampens what was expected to be a dominant rotation fronted by him and Skenes, a fellow 2025 Cy Young winner.

Skubal told 97.1 The Ticket in February that he “bought in” on joining the roster after extended talks with agent Scott Boras, Tigers manager AJ Hinch and Skenes.

“It was pretty easy to convince me because I was already kind of bought-in on it, and he confirmed everything that I thought,” Skubal said. “I think it’s great for the game of baseball, too. Just from a fan perspective, when you get to watch something with that kind of atmosphere and electricity in March, I think it’s going to bring a lot of eyes onto our sport in April and May. I think the game of baseball’s in a really good spot, and I think this really helps elevate it.

“For me, I take a ton of pride in being able to wear the USA across the chest,” Skubal added. “It’s something I’ve never had the opportunity to do, and I take a ton of pride in the United States of America. It’s the best country in the world.”

The decision comes just weeks after Skubal secured a record-breaking $32 million salary for 2026 in arbitration with the Tigers.

Detroit countered at $19 million, intensifying speculation that Skubal — slated for free agency after the season — could be dealt.

In November, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported a staggering $250 million gap in extension talks between Skubal and the Tigers.

Over the past two seasons, Skubal has cemented himself as arguably the game’s best pitcher, going 31-10 with a 2.30 ERA and 469 strikeouts in 387 ⅓ innings across 62 outings.

Despite losing the arbitration case to Skubal, Detroit responded by opening the checkbook to bolster the starting rotation.

The Tigers signed star left-hander Framber Valdez and reunited with franchise icon Justin Verlander.

With the Tigers expected to compete for the postseason and Skubal’s looming free agency, Team USA will get a brief cameo instead of a full commitment.

The thing about spring training is that, in the first couple weeks, most of the action involves players that you will not see in the regular season. The first few innings might be something fun, but after that it’s only for those who really crave baseball or are overtly interested in the team’s prospects.

Today, the Yankees got most of their damage done early and by the regulars, as four second-inning walks chased Bubba Chandler and both Ben Rice and Jasson Domínguez delivered clutch run-scoring hits that set the tone for a 6-2 win down in Bradenton. Despite traffic on the bases all day, the Yanks mostly kept the Pirates’ offense at bay, with former first-round pick Ben Hess turning the most heads with a strong outing late in the game.

Chandler got things started with a quick 1-2-3 first, which saw Domínguez strike out, sandwiched by both Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon popping out in foul territory.

Ryan Yarbrough gave up a leadoff single to Oneil Cruz, struck out Nick Gonzales, and jumped ahead of Bryan Reynolds 0-2 before walking him. That would prove to be costly, as after a flyout moved Cruz to third, Marcell Ozuna punched one through the right side for a go-ahead RBI single in the first for the Pirates.

Paul DeJong and Spencer Jones led off the second with walks off the usually frugal Chandler, who battled back to get the next two outs before walking both Zack Short and Payton Henry to force in a run, ending his day. After walking just four batters in 31.1 innings last year, he had four in 1.2 innings today.

Former Yankee farmhand Tyrone Yulie came in to face Rice, who smoked a 100.4 mph, two-run single through the right side. Domínguez joined the party a few pitches later, lofting an RBI double into right field to finish off a four-run second.

Yarbrough settled in after a challenging first, giving up a two-out double to Alika Williams between a pair of strikeouts. The second strikeout of the inning was ABS-assisted, as home plate umpire Macon Hammond originally called ball four to put Cruz on first, but the Yankees challenged, and it was overturned to strike three. Overall, not a bad day for Yarbrough, who struck out four in two innings.

Another former Yankee, Dennis Santana, tossed a scoreless third around an infield single by Max Schuemann and a walk by Short. Paul Blackburn took over for Yarbrough in the third and got into immediate trouble with an infield single and a walk. After threatening to walk the bases loaded with nobody out, Blackburn induced a 3-2 forceout before a clear 5-4-3 double play ended the third.

Gregory Soto pitched a 1-2-3 fourth for the Pirates. Blackburn got into more trouble with back-to-back singles in the bottom half. Fortunately, he pulled out another Houdini act, retiring three straight batters, capping it off with a filthy 2-2 curveball to Cruz to end the inning.

Kyle Nicolas retired the middle of the Yankees’ order quickly, including a strikeout of Spencer Jones, in the fifth. Dylan Coleman continued his bullpen audition in the bottom half and got into trouble, but the Pirates stranded two for the third straight inning.

The Yankees threatened to break the game open in the sixth off of Hunter Barco with two walks and a hit by pitch to load the bases, but Domínguez (batting from the right side) struck out, and McMahon slapped a liner the other way that was snagged by new third baseman Jhonny Severino.

Hess made his first appearance of the spring in the sixth as the regulars were removed from the game, and he was impressive, striking out Nick Cimillo and Omar Alfonzo in a quick, nine-pitch inning. Hess got up to 95 mph on his fastball and got three whiffs, including one on a looping curveball to retire Alfonzo.

The Yankees got an extra run in the seventh. Yanquiel Fernandez walked and stole second, Marco Luciano walked against pitcher Kyle Larsen (no, not the NASCAR driver), and Ali Sanchez reached on a throwing error by Severino that allowed Fernandez to score, making it 5-1 into the seventh inning stretch. Hess went back to work and flirted with trouble with a walk and a single allowed, but he struck out the side around it in the seventh.

Miguel Palma, a soft-hitting depth catcher signed away from the Astros this offseason, smacked a leadoff homer off of former Tigers reliever Beau Burrows in the eighth. George Lombard Jr. got his first at-bat of the game later that inning and walked, but was stranded.

After two strong innings, Hess faltered to start the bottom of the eighth, plunking Severino, allowing an RBI double to Cimillo to cut it to 6-2, and walking Alfonzo. He settled down with a 6-4-3 double play and got out of the inning by retiring former Yankee farmhand Brian Sanchez. That wrapped up a three-inning outing from Hess, who impressive on the whole.

Luciano’s leadoff walk in the ninth was stranded by Brandan Bidois, while Geoff Gilbert came on for the Yanks and got the final three outs, improving the spring record to 2-2.

The Yankees are back in action tomorrow, taking on the Blue Jays in Dunedin at 1:07. Will Warren is scheduled to make his first spring start, while Toronto’s starter is to be determined. The game will be available on the Gotham Sports App and MLB Network (out-of-market only).

Box Score

The birds are singing, the snow is melting, and pitchers are getting hurt. Spring is here. The Jays have already lost Bowden Francis for the season. Shane Bieber is delayed, and now it sounds like Yimi Garcia will be as well. The Jays wisely invested in depth this winter. Cody Ponce was an interesting signing to shore up the back of the rotation, and Jose Berrios is still here after a winter of trade speculation. Eric Lauer is here too, and wants a starting job. He’s not in the top 5 right now, but he has a case and he’d crack most rotations in the league. The depth in AAA looks thin if you don’t think Ricky Tiedemann is a starter in 2026 (we’ll see about long term), but Jake Bloss should be working his way back by June. All of which is to say that the Jays have some shuffling to do but right now look set to field a very good five man rotation with some depth.

Enter Max Scherzer. The last time the future first ballot hall of famer walked off a mound, he’d held the fearsome Dodgers offence to one run over four and a third to start game 7 of the World Series, leaving with a lead and having out-dueled Shohei Ohtani. If the Jays had held on, it would be the crowning moment of one of the best pitching careers of his generation. But they didn’t, and so Scherzer wants to give the storybook ending one more try. It seems like if he pitches in 2026 it will be for the Blue Jays, and repots are that the talks are heating up.

For all his past greatness, he had a 5.19 ERA in the regular season last year and while the stats suggest he deserved a little better he’s firmly a #5 in 2026. As it is, he probably doesn’t crack the starting five even before Shane Bieber’s slow ramp up is completed. It’s hard to imagine him accepting a bullpen role. On the other hand, you never have enough pitching, and he brings a ton of leadership and (arguably psychotic) intensity to the clubhouse. My questions are: will the Blue Jays end up signing Scherzer, and should they?

The Atlanta Braves didn’t send a particularly imposing group of players to Sarasota to face off against the Baltimore Orioles but that didn’t matter too much in the end. The first two hurlers for the Braves helped make sure that the Orioles were unable to set off too many fireworks at their own spring training ballpark as they kept a strong Baltimore lineup quiet over four innings of clean work.

Despite the fact that the Orioles were putting to a pretty strong lineup for this one, both Garrett Baumann and José Suarez combined to make sure that Baltimore’s group of regulars largely remained quiet in this one. Baumann pitched two innings and struck out a batter while retiring the O’s six-up-and-six-down. Drake Baldwin was already pretty impressed with Baumann before the game had even started, per this post from Atlanta Journal-Constitution Braves beat writer Chad Bishop.

Rotation hopeful José Suarez then entered the game in the third inning and while he wasn’t perfect during his two innings of work, he still did enough to make sure that the Orioles didn’t make any additions to the run column while he was out there. Suarez did walk two batters but he also struck out three Orioles hitters and came away from his two innings of work without giving up any runs, either. One of those strikeouts came at the expense of Pete Alonso, which is no small feat considering that Alonso already has two homers to his name here in the early goings of spring training.

Fortunes did change a bit for the pitching staff once those two left the game. Hunter Stratton had a rough one as he got tagged for two hits and three runs — two of those runs came off of an RBI double from Luis Vázquez and the third run was walked in by Elison Joseph after Stratton exited the game. This certainly qualified for a rough outing for Stratton.

Late-game rough outings aside, the first two pitchers for the Braves were in pretty solid form this afternoon and it was especially encouraging to see Baumann and Suarez accomplish what they did against a lineup that is very close to what could feasibly be Baltimore’s Opening Day lineup.

Meanwhile at the plate, a mix of both new and old faces did a lot of the damage for the Braves in this one. Both Eli White and Dominic Smith delivered RBI knocks in the third inning in order to put Atlanta ahead and that was part of what was a very good day at the plate for Smith. Smith ended up racking up two hits and three appearances on-base in this one and he came around to score once as well. He was also pretty reliable with the glove as well, so this was a solid day from an all-around standpoint for a guy who’s trying to make the Opening Day roster any way he can. Eli White also delivered a pair of hits as he’s looking to fortify his hold on a bench spot for the Braves.

Once the Orioles subbed out most of their starters in the sixth inning, that was when the dam broke offensively for the Braves. Atlanta ended up scoring eight runs in this frame — it started with Nacho Alvarez Jr. delivering a go-ahead double off of Enoli Paredes and it finished with former Orioles infielder Jorge Mateo crushing a grand slam in order to break the game wide open. The only real blemish during this frame was that Chadwick Tromp got hit by a pitch and exited the game as a precaution. Injuries are always the absolute last thing you want to see at any given point but especially during spring training and even more especially when we’re dealing with a hit to the helmet.

The Orioles found themselves in a bases-loaded, one-out situation but Jim Jarvis made a great play to pick up the second out and then a strikeout ended the threat right there. As a non-roster invitee, Jarvis figures to be a long shot to break camp on the Opening Day roster but defense like that could turn the right heads.

The Braves ended up closing out the Grapefruit League win after all — even if this was supposed to be Spencer Strider’s turn to start. There doesn’t appear to be anything wrong but the radio crew did mention that he got most of his work done on the back fields today, so hopefully that was a productive session for him. He’s currently scheduled to start on Saturday (that’s coming from the radio crew as well), so there’s that.

Meanwhile, all eyes will be on Reynaldo López tomorrow at CoolToday Park in North Port as the Braves will take on the Tigers with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET. Here’s hoping for a performance that looks more like what we saw from Garrett Baumann and José Suarez today rather than the concerningly-diminished results that the Braves were getting from López during last season’s spring training.

The Yankees defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of 6-2 in spring training action on Monday afternoon.

Here are the takeaways... 

-- Ben Rice served as the DH and led off. After popping out in his first at-bat, Rice came up with the bases loaded and two outs his second time up, and ripped a two-run single up the middle to give Yanks a 3-1 lead in the second inning. He added another hit with a single in the fourth, and walked in his final plate appearance, reaching base three times in total. Rice and Paul Goldschmidt figure to split time at first base this season in the Bronx.

-- Jasson Dominguez got the start in left field, hitting second in the order, and he followed Rice by lining a two-out RBI double to extend the Yankees' lead to 4-1 in the second. He ended his day 1-for-4 with three strikeouts. Dominguez could be the odd man out in the outfield, but he's already put together a couple of hits this spring.

-- Spencer Jones, playing center and batting fifth, walked on four pitches in his first at-bat, coming around to score as part of that four-run second inning. But he ended up going 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts, something that has plagued him throughout his minor league career.

-- The Yankees' lone home run of the day came off the bat of minor league catcher Miguel Palma, who hit a solo shot in the eighth inning. Palma was signed in December. 

-- Lefty Ryan Yarbrough allowed one run on pair of singles in the first inning, but he settled in and had a decent outing overall. The southpaw went 2.0 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits while striking out four and walking one.

Paul Blackburn followed Yarbrough on the bump, and he pitched around three hits to give the Yankees two scoreless innings.

-- Bubba Chandler, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 11 prospect in all of baseball, was the starter on the mound for the Pirates, but the young right-hander struggled mightily with his command. He recorded just five outs while walking four, including walking Payton Henry to force in a run. 

Highlights

Ben Rice knocks in a pair! pic.twitter.com/QsdfCcExgn

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) February 23, 2026

An RBI double for Jasson Dominguez! pic.twitter.com/mqruegmca5

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) February 23, 2026

Up Next

The Yankees stay on the road and face the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday at 1:07 p.m.