Category: Baseball

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (23-21)

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE 5, SYRACUSE 3 (BOX)

Syracuse got on the board in the top of the first on a pair of extra base hits off the bats of Nick Morabito and Christian Arroyo, but Scranton recouped both runs in the bottom of the third. Syracuse took the lead once again in the top of the sixth, this time on a Yonny Hernandez RBI single, but the RailRiders took the lead permanently in the bottom of the inning, scoring three runs off of Alex Carillo and taking a 5-3 lead. The Mets had a couple of opportunities, getting the tying run up in the eighth and ninth, but weren’t able to cash in.

·  CF Nick Morabito: 1-4, R, 3B

·  DH Ji Hwan Bae: 2-3, 2 R, BB, K, SB (12)

·  1B Ryan Clifford: 0-4, K

·  2B Christian Arroyo: 1-4, 2B, RBI

·  3B Yonny Hernández: 2-4, 2 RBI

·  RF Cristian Pache: 1-4, K

·  C Ben Rortvedt: 1-4, K

·  SS Jackson Cluff: 0-4, K, E (7)

·  LF Matt Rudick: 0-4, 2 K

·  RHP Jack Wenninger: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 K

·  LHP Matt Turner: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Ryan Lambert: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

·  RHP Alex Carrillo: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, BLK, L (1-1), BS (2)

·  LHP Cionel Pérez: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

·  LHP Anderson Severino: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

ROSTER ALERT: Syracuse Mets activated RHP Ofreidy Gómez from the Development List.

ROSTER ALERT: Syracuse Mets released RHP Luke Jackson.

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (13-26)

BINGHAMTON 10, SOMERSET 7 (BOX)

Binghamton trailed early on, at one point as much as 6-1, but the bats came through. In the fourth, they plated three runs, in the fifth, they plated two, and in the sixth, they scored four more, taking the lead. Jacob Reimer had a big game, going 3-3 with two doubles and a homer, raising his batting line from .200/.328/.355 coming into this game to .221/.346/.416; the infielder has quietly been enjoying a solid May after a very poor April and is hitting .279/.373/.581 on the month.

·  LF Eli Serrano III: 0-4, RBI, BB, 2 K

·  DH Chris Suero: 0-4, R, 3 K, HBP, SB (10)

·  3B Jacob Reimer: 3-3, 2 R, 2 2B, HR (4), 4 RBI, BB, SB (6)

·  CF Jose Ramos: 1-4, R, HR (6), 2 RBI, BB, 2 K

·  2B Nick Lorusso: 1-5, R, 2B, K

·  C Vincent Perozo: 1-4, R, HR (1), 2 RBI, BB, 3 K

·  1B JT Schwartz: 1-4, R, BB, 3 K, E (1)

·  RF Jaylen Palmer: 1-4, R, K

·  SS Wyatt Young: 2-4, 2 R, 2B, RBI, K

·  RHP Brendan Girton: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, BLK

·  RHP Douglas Orellana: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (3-0)

·  RHP Dan Hammer: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, H (1)

·  RHP Saul Garcia: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, H (3)

·  RHP Ben Simon: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, S (2)

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (10-28)

ROME 3, BROOKLYN 1 (BOX)

The Emperors scored a pair of runs off of Brady Miller in the second and one more in the third; that would end up being all they needed to win, as the Cyclones managed just a single run on the afternoon, a Trace Willhoite RBI single in the seventh. With the loss, the Cyclones lost the series two games to four and have just four wins in the entire calendar month of May.

·  2B Yonatan Henriquez: 1-4, SB (2)

·  C Ronald Hernandez: 0-3, 2 K, HBP

·  LF John Bay: 1-4, R, 2B, K

·  DH Corey Collins: 0-4, 2 K

·  SS Colin Houck: 0-2, 2 BB, K

·  1B Trace Willhoite: 1-4, RBI

·  CF Sam Biller: 0-4, 2 K, CS (1)

·  3B Nick Roselli: 0-3, K

·  RF Yohairo Cuevas: 1-2, BB

·  RHP Brady Miller: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, HBP, E (1)

·  RHP Felix Cepeda: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Juan Arnaud: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Hunter Hodges: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (16-23)

ST. LUCIE 3, JUPITER 1 (BOX)

St. Lucie got on the board in the bottom of the first on an AJ Salgado RBI double and held onto the lead for the rest of the ballgame. Branny De Oleo plated two more in the bottom of the fourth to give the Mets a little breathing room, which came in handy when Nicolas Carreno allowed a run in the sixth. That run ended up being the only one that the Hammerheads would score on the afternoon, and all’s well that ends well.

·  DH JT Benson: 0-4, K

·  1B Jared Young: 0-2, BB

·  1B Chase Meggers: 0-0, HBP, E (3)

·  LF Randy Guzman: 1-3, 2 R, 2B, HBP

·  RF AJ Salgado: 2-4, R, 2 2B, RBI

·  3B Kevin Villavicencio: 0-4

·  CF Simon Juan: 0-3, 2 K

·  C Francisco Toledo: 0-2, K, HBP, E (3)

·  SS Branny De Oleo: 1-3, 2 RBI

·  2B Jamari Baylor: 0-2, 2 K, HBP

·  RHP Emilio Obispo: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

·  RHP Nicolas Carreno: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, HBP, W (1-0)

·  RHP Joe Scarborough: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, WP, S (1)

Rookie: FCL Mets (4-6)

NO GAME (SCHEDULE)

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Jacob Reimer

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

Alex Carillo

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a nice weekend. Things started off poorly for the Orioles with two losses to the Nationals, including an embarrassing 13-3 rout on Saturday. But they finished the series with a solid 7-3 victory to salvage one game.

The offense yesterday was powered by home runs from guys who had been struggling. Gunnar Henderson, Coby Mayo, and Colton Cowser all went deep yesterday, which felt pretty good. If those guys can rebound, it would work wonders for the offense.

No offense to Cower or Mayo, but Henderson is the one who matters most. And he had himself a fine weekend. On Friday, in the team’s 3-2 loss, Henderson singled and doubled in five trips to the plate. But he hit the ball hard four times up, with exit velocities of 97.5, 100.1, 106.1, and 111.9. He went hitless on Saturday, but did pick up a walk. And yesterday, Henderson had a four-hit game, including a double and a home run. His exit velocity in those four hits? 100.3, 100.3, 105.6, and 106.7.

It has only been one weekend’s worth of games, and I am not declaring Gunnar to be back. But I feel like I am ready to start asking the question. If he keeps hitting the ball hard, we’ll have our answer soon. He has been in the 57th percentile of exit velocity this year, averaging 89.1. In 2023-25, he was around the 90th percentile. A hard-hitting Gunnar is a good Gunnar.

He and the rest of the team will face a tough test over the next 10 days, where six of their nine games will be against the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays. They have won every series they’ve played this month and have only lost four all year. Weirdly, all of those series losses have come against the NL Central. They have not been swept. You can check back to this website at 10 a.m. to read Paul Folkemer’s series preview, which will tell you all the ways the Rays will beat the Orioles this week.

One last thing: former Oriole Grayson Rodriguez made his 2026 debut yesterday. It had been 655 days since his last start back on July 31, 2024. I wish I could say he had a triumphant return. Against the Dodgers, Rodriguez allowed seven runs on seven hits and four walks in just 3.2 innings. Here’s hoping he feels good physically after the start and that he can keep going.

Links

More bullpen banter, Albernaz on having Eflin around team and some mailbag questions – MASN Sports
Zach Eflin is providing veteran leadership even with his arm in a brace. Readers ask Roch Kubatko about Mike Elias’s job security, Jackson Holliday’s return, and more.

Orioles mash 3 homers en route to a 7-3 victory over the Nationals – The Baltimore Banner
Game story with quotes from Craig Albernaz and the players.

After slow starts to ’26, three young O’s heat up in a big way – MLB.com
I don’t know that I’m ready to say that Colton Cowser has heated up, but the home run was nice.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have four Orioles birthday buddies, including the legendary Brooks Robinson. Robinson spent his entire 23-season career with the Orioles. He won 16 Gold Gloves, was an 18-time All-Star, won two World Series, was named American League MVP, World Series MVP, All-Star Game MVP, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983. He was also the nicest human of all time. Brooks Robinson passed away in 2023 at the age of 86.

Believe it or not, Brooks Robinson isn’t the only former Oriole and Hall of Famer born on this day. Today is Reggie Jackson’s 80th birthday. Jackson spent one season, 1976, with the Orioles.

Also born on this day is 2026 Oriole, Trey Gibson. Gibson has pitched in two games with the Orioles this year, and is currently with Triple-A Norfolk. We’ll see him in Baltimore again this season, I’m sure. Happy 24th birthday, Trey!

Last (and also probably least, sorry), today is Luis Terrero’s 46th birthday. Terrero appeared in 27 games with the 2006 Orioles.

On this day in 1957, the Orioles and White Sox were playing in Baltimore with a 10:20 curfew put in place to ensure the White Sox could catch the last train out of town. At 10:19, Oriole Dick Williams hit a ninth-inning, game-tying home run. The game was called for curfew as he touched home plate. The two teams later replayed the game, and the Orioles won. Why didn’t the White Sox pitcher just stall for one minute? That’s what everyone else wondered too.

In 1983, the Orioles and White Sox were again playing, and White Sox pitcher Rich Dotson pitched a one-hitter against the Orioles. Unfortunately for him, the one hit was a home run by Dan Ford. Storm Davis and Tippy Martinez combined to pitch nine shutout innings for the O’s.

In 1990, the Orioles tied an American League record with eight straight singles in the first inning against the Rangers’ Bobby Witt (who wouldn’t become Bobby Witt, Sr. for 10 more years). The Orioles scored seven runs in that first inning and went on to win, 13-1.

And on this day last year, the Orioles lost to the Nationals, 10-4. Zach Eflin started for the Orioles and was torched for eight runs, including a six-run second. The Orioles had nine hits, including solo home runs by Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, and Cedric Mullins.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were swept by the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, with even staff ace Paul Skenes failing to secure a win for the Buccos. That was Pittsburgh’s third straight loss, as they sit tied in the basement of the NL Central with the St. Louis Cardinals, both with 24-23 records on the year. But they got some evern worse news on Sunday, when they were forced to place outfielder / first baseman Ryan O’Hearn on the 10-day DL with a strained right quad. Jake Mangum was called up to replace O’Hearn.

O’Hearn has been one of the Pirates’ key offseason acquisitions, batting .289 for the year with 7 homers and 29 RBIs for the season, becoming a key cog in Pittsburgh’s offensive resurgence this season. However, according to Bucs GM Ben Cherington, the quad strain is moderate and will sideline O’Hearn for about four weeks. So that’s a full month without their one of the top bats for the Buccos. It’s an unfortunate injury for Pittsburgh’s second best batting average.

His replacement Mangum was also an offseason acquisition for the Bucs, though he came over in trade, while O’Hearn signed as a free agent. Mangum can get it done in the field, but the Bucs will take a hit at the plate when Mangum plays over O’Hearn. Mangum is hitting .253 on the season with no homers and 3 RBIs in 75 at bats. He was 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout on Sunday.

Last season, with Tampa Bay, Mangum played in 118 games in did hit .296, but with 3 homers and 40 RBIs. He can get it done in the average department, but the Bucs are definitely going to take a power hit.

The Pirates are now off today after being swept, but they’ll return to action on Tuesday, when they will head to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals in what will be a battle for one of them to get out of the basement of the NL Central. The first game of the three-game set starts at 7:45pm Tuesday.

Omaha Storm Chasers 6, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (box)

Dylan File had a rough day on the mound, and the Hens offense just couldn’t string enough runs together as they dropped the series four games to two in Omaha on Sunday.

The Hens took an early lead when Ben Malgeri led off the game with a double. An Eduardo Valencia single and a Jace Jung sacrifice fly made it 1-0, but as it went most of the day, they couldn’t add on runs.

File quickly surrendered the lead as Omaha scored two in the bottom of the firs, but Tomás Nido cracked a solo shot in the second that made it 2-2. Omaha came right back with a three run bottom of the third punctuated by a Brett Squires two-run homer. Luke Ritter led off the fourth with a solo shot to make it 5-3, but that was as close as they’d get.

Pitching dominated the rest of the way. Ricky Vanasco spun a perfect inning with a strikeout in the fourth, and Tanner Rainey worked two innings, allowing a run that made it 6-3. Woo-Suk Go continues to pitch really well and handled the seventh and eighth in perfect fashion with three strikeouts, but no rally by the Hens’ offense was forthcoming.

Nido: 2-4, R, RBI, HR, K

Ritter: 2-4, R, RBI, HR, K

File (L, 1-4): 3.0 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: The 22-23 Hens come home to welcome in Indianapolis for six starting Tuesday night.

Erie SeaWolves 6, Richmond Flying Squirrels 5 (F/7)(Gm1)(box)

Carlos Peña was knocked around in a short start, but the duo of Brett Callahan and John Peck continue to be the run scoring engine for the SeaWolves and brought them back in the middle innings to win the first of two on Sunday.

Peña gave up a pair of solo shots in the first, and Peck answered back with a solo shot in the bottom of the first. Peña then pitched a scoreless second before giving up two more solo shots to start the third. The Squirrels seemed to have him dialed in and could read what was coming but Peña’s low powered stuff doesn’t play well over the middle of the plate. Uniquely so on this day.

Dariel Fregio took over after Peña allowed a double to follow the homers, and he was able to settle things down.

In the bottom of the third, Andrew Jenkins singled and rode home on Callahan’s seventh home run to make it 4-3, Richmond. Peck followed with a single and stole second base, and Thayron Liranzo walked, but Justice Bigbie flew out to end the inning.

The rest of the comeback didn’t take long. Chris Meyers and Izaac Pacheco doubled to open the fourth. That scored Meyers and tied the game 4-4. Pacheco took third on a balk, and Jenkins walked. Pacheco would eventually scored on a Seth Stephenson ground out and Callahan dropped a ball into left field on an error that brought home Jenkins. 6-4 Erie.

Luke Taggart handled the fifth and sixth, allowing a run that brought the Squirrels within one run. Moises Rodriguez got into a little trouble in the bottom of the seventh. A walk started things, and then a single moved the runner, Scott Bandura, to third base. Parks Harber bounced one back to Rodriguez, who made a nice play to fire home to Liranzo, who dropped the tag and prevented the tying run. Rodriguez shut it down from there to earn his first save of the year.

Peck: 2-3, R, RBI, HR, SB

Callahan: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, K

Jenkins: 2-2, 2 R, BB

Peña: 2.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, K

Richmond Flying Squirrels 2, Erie SeaWolves 0 (F/7)(Gm2)(box)

The offense was out of gas for Game 2. The SeaWolves managed just two hits and two walks over seven innings, and never really threatened to score.

Kenny Serwa held the Squirrels down for four scoreless innings in his start, but the offense couldn’t take advantage. Yosber Sanchez allowed a run in the fifth, and Tyler Owens one in the sixth. It wasn’t much of an offensive performance on either side, but the Squirrels came out ahead and split the series.

Serwa: 4.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves head out to Altoona this week with a 20-19 record, while the Flying Squirrels continue to rule the division at 28-10 for the first half.

Great Lakes Loons 4, West Michigan Whitecaps 0 (box)

The Whitecaps lost their 19th game out of their last 20 on Sunday as their brutal May continues.

Gabriel Reyes managed to hold the Loons to just one run over five innings, despite walking five hitters on the day. The Whitecaps didn’t get much of a threat going until Luke Shliger was hit by a pitch and stole second base, and then Cristian Santana and Caleb Shpur walked to load the bases. However, their were already two outs and Ricardo Hurtado struck out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, Reyes walked the first two hitters and they pulled off a double steal. Reyes struck out the next hitter, and then a grounder to Santana at third turned into an out at home plate as he fired home in time. Reyes then picked of Jose D. Hernandez off third base to escape.

That was about as interesting as it got in this one. The ‘Caps made a bunch of nice defensive plays, but the offense was lifeless. Sounds familiar. They were still right in it until Ethan Sloan allowed three runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Shpur: 1-3, BB, SB

Strong: 1-4, 3B

Reyes (L, 0-3): 5.0 IP, ER, H, 5 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: The 13-26 Whitecaps come home to lick their wounds this week as the South Bend Cubs come to town. Manager Rene Rivera needs to find a way to turn things around.

Clearwater Threshers 7, Lakeland Flying Tigers 6 (box)

The resurgence of young pitching in the Tigers’ system has seen Ben Jacobs and Malachi Witherspoon off to good starts this spring. Kelvis Salcedo is still stretching out after missing time early in this season, but he continues to show off the best stuff in the system. Owen Hall is finally pitching consistently and seems bound to join the Flying Tigers out of rookie ball shortly. We can probably add Charlie Christensen to the list.

The Tigers’ 15th rounder last summer out of the University of Central Arkansas, Christensen features a quick, snappy release from a low arm slot and a good slider-changeup combination. He’ll need to add velocity, as he’s currently 91-92 mph with his sinker, but at 6’4”, 190 pounds, he has the frame to build on. He profiles as a sinkerballer, but the low release also begs for him to develop a riding fourseamer.

The right-hander punched out seven in four scoreless innings of work on Sunday, walking one and allowing two hits. He struck out the side twice, and the slider in particular was just lethal.

The game was scoreless until the Flying Tigers broke through in the top of the fourth. Jude Warwick was hit by a pitch and Jesus Pinto walked to open the inning, and they went on to pull off the double steal of second and third. A Zach MacDonald sacrifice fly scored Warwick, and walks to Carson Rucker and Edian Espinal followed to load the bases. That got starter James Tallon yanked, but his relief immeditaely gave up a bases clearing double to Beau Ankeney. 4-0 Lakeland.

In the top of the fifth, Pinto singled with one out, and after MacDonald struck out, Rucker blasted his fifth home run of the season to make it 6-0 Lakeland.

That was, of course, the high water mark for the Flying Tigers. Preston Howey allowed a run in the sixth and Jan Carabello coughed out three more as the Threshers closed the game to two runs. Pedro Garcia allowed a run in the eighth, and then blew the save as the Threshers walked them off.

Ankeney: 2-4, 3 RBI, 2 2B, K

Pinto: 1-2, 2 R, BB, K, SB, CS

Salas: 2-4, 2B

Christensen: 4.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, BB, 7 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers head down to Palm Beach on Tuesday to open a series with the Cardinals.

Justin Turner did not wear the correct jersey one day, and now he would pay for his sin.

His teammates formed two lines, one facing the other. Turner snaked through the gauntlet, as his teammates playfully slapped and shoved him around.

Turner is 41, an All-Star and World Series champion, one of the most beloved players in Dodgers history. Yet there he was on a gloomy Saturday afternoon in a 50-year-old stadium in Tijuana, subjecting himself to a mashup of a kangaroo court and a hazing ritual, three hours before he would play in a uniform with six advertisements on the jersey and four more on the pants.

Read more:Shaikin: Hey, young athletes: Would you trust this former Dodgers pitcher to manage your money?

“Justin doesn’t have to be here,” said former major leaguer Roberto Kelly, the manager of the Tijuana Toros. “He doesn’t need this to continue his life.”

For the first time in 17 years, Turner is not playing in the major leagues. No team wanted him.

In Tijuana, whether he decides to end his career here or elsewhere, he has nurtured a special bond with his son and emerged as an improbable tourist attraction for Dodgers fans.

Life is what you make of it. When Turner signed with the Toros, he wanted to make a video introducing himself to their fans. He drove 45 minutes from Studio City to East Los Angeles, to the only store he could find in L.A. that stocked Toros caps, then stood in line to buy some.

“Are you buying these hats because Justin Turner just signed in Tijuana?” the clerk asked, without looking too closely at the customer.

“Yes,” Turner said, without letting on.

When Turner went job hunting last winter, the top line of “41-year-old with a .602 OPS” carried the day, even if he was primarily a platoon player last season, with a .759 OPS against left-handers.

He said he pursued a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training, then simply a minor league contract, where he could start the season at triple A and both he and the team could evaluate as the season went on. Even the Angels, whose annual lack of depth already is on stark display, said no.

“I wasn’t expecting to be handed anything or guaranteed anything,” Turner said. “But I was not expecting to not even get a chance to play at all.”

He looked into playing in Japan and South Korea, but the guaranteed roster spots there filled as he held out hope for a job in the United States. In Mexico, where the season does not start until mid-April, three teams offered him contracts.

He chose Tijuana, where he and his family could live in San Diego and commute to the games.

“It’s hit and miss, same as L.A.,” he said. “Depending on what time you go, it could be 20 minutes, or it could be an hour.”

Turner’s son, Bo, turns 2 in July. Dad could have stayed home with him all year but, in baseball as in life, diamonds are forever.

“I got a late start in parenthood,” Turner said. “I’ve been around a lot of guys who had the opportunity to have their kids grow up in a clubhouse, and I’ve always thought that was really cool.

“He wakes up in the morning, and the first thing he says is ‘baseball.’ He’s definitely not at the point where he’s going to retain any of this, I don’t think, but he’s already developing the love for baseball that I have.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Neither would the Toros. With Dodgers fans regularly making the trip from Los Angeles to see Turner, and with the Dodgers having the largest fan base of any team in Mexico, Toros president Omar Canizales said, ticket sales are up 30%. The Dodgers’ Pantone 294 fan club has bought a block of tickets for the Toros’ June 2 game.

The Toros never had sold jerseys with player names on the back until this year, a team official said, and 98% of the jerseys sold have Turner’s name on the back.

Canizales declined to say how much the Toros are paying Turner this season. He said top Mexican League players make in the $150,000 range and Turner would generate enough business by himself for the Toros to recoup the entire cost of Turner’s contract.

“We haven’t seen anything like this before,” Canizales said through an interpreter. “There’s nothing to compare it to the impact Justin has made in such little time.”

The influence Turner had in Los Angeles lives on among fans that have not forgotten that he is one of them.

Read more:Roki Sasaki, offense dominate as Dodgers rout Angels again

The kid who watched Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run in his grandmother's living room grew up to be the third baseman that helped the Dodgers win their next World Series, in 2020. Turner took a moment every night to sign a ball for the military veteran honored at each game at Dodger Stadium, and no Dodger did more in the community.

About 15 minutes before game time in Tijuana, a line forms next to the Toros’ dugout, and Turner signs for fans in Dodgers caps and lucha libre masks.

Fermin Padilla of Los Angeles got Turner’s autograph on a jacket, cap and jersey. “It would have been impossible to get that at home,” Padilla said.

David and Samantha Anderson of East Los Angeles got a selfie with Turner, who signed two baseball cards for the couple.

“If it wasn’t for Justin, I wouldn’t be here,” David Anderson said. “Now I’m going to come all the time.”

The tickets are cheaper than Dodger Stadium, of course, and the food is better. The kiss cams and sing-alongs and air horns and thunder sticks are all integrated into the game, not reserved for stoppages in play.

“It’s three hours of music, dancing, drinking and entertainment, with a sprinkle of baseball,” Turner said. “There’s not really any lines they won’t cross down here.”

In one skit between innings, a character wore a sign around its neck that said “ICE.” Another character pretended to rough up the first character until the sign opened to say “ICE CREAM,” and then everyone danced happily.

Kelly, the manager, played the last two years of his career in the Mexican League. It can be a long season if the bitterness of the major league rejection of the winter lingers into the spring and summer, but Kelly does not see that in Turner.

“He’s been a good addition, not because he was a big leaguer but because of what he brings to the club. He’s not just a name,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t let us know that he played in the big leagues or how good he was. To see somebody like that come down and just be one of the players is very good for our team.

“He enjoys it. You can see him around these guys and he’s having fun.”

Orel Hershiser, the officiant at Turner’s wedding, ended his career at 41.

“I had really lost my ability,” Hershiser said.

At the same age, Turner is betting he has not. Hershiser said he has not talked with Turner recently but wondered if a season in Japan could be in his future if a return to the major leagues is not.

Is Turner going to keep playing until he either gets back to the majors or knows he is not?

“No,” he said. “I’m playing until I want to be done playing.”

I told Turner that Julio Franco played in the Mexican League at 49. Turner laughed. That might be about all he rules out at this point.

Read more:How Shohei Ohtani scored a Little League home run during Dodgers' rout of Angels

“I love playing,” he said. “I love competing. As long as I feel I’m serviceable and not just here for entertainment purposes, I’m going to keep doing it.”

Turner should have the same ending as Hershiser, a Dodger standout that represents the organization in some capacity after retirement.

Hershiser said Turner could join him in the broadcast booth, or become a great manager, or an outstanding hitting coach.

“He’s almost a hitting savant,” Hershiser said. “He’s like a Manny Ramirez for me as far as how he understands swings and how he can put himself in other people’s bodies or make adjustments for them.

“He’ll be good at whatever he tries to do.”

The one thing he probably would not do: serve as a Dodgers community ambassador, shaking hands and posing for photographs at Dodger Stadium and various events around town.

“I don’t want to be paraded around and be a sideshow,” he said.

For now, he just wants to play baseball. On Tuesday, he can, in Zapopan, Mexico.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

What an awful road trip. The Yankees got swept in Milwaukee, lost two of three to an underwhelming-as-hell Orioles team, and then did the same against the Mets, who entered as one of the worst teams in baseball. The 2-7 trip ended when David Bednar couldn’t hold a three-run lead in the ninth, evaporating the edge on a three-run blast by Tyrone Taylor. They then stranded the zombie runner and lost in the bottom of the 10th. That’s some bad baseball, folks.

Now, they get to play the Blue Jays! It doesn’t matter that they’ve been kind of whatever thus far in 2026; it’s not as though the O’s or Mets were rolling when the Yankees faced them this past week. So… joy.

For our Question of the Day today, we want to know what you would do to try to get the Yankees out of this funk. I only have one request: Please do not say “Fire Aaron Boone,” “Fire Brian Cashman,” or “Hal Steinbrenner should sell the team.”

Even if you think these are valid solutions, we’re trying to remain in the realm of plausibility here. None of those guys are going anywhere at the moment (if indeed ever), so consider something that could actually happen right now, in mid-May 2026. Be more creative! It sounds like the Yankees might bring a fresh reliever aboard for this series, so something along those lines could be an idea if there’s a particular target or two.

Here’s my pitch: Bench Austin Wells for this full series. I suppose if the game situation calls for him to come in off the bench and catch a couple innings, that’s fine. But the point is to largely give him a mental reset.

This isn’t about any confidence in backup J.C. Escarra, as I really have none; he may hit as poorly (or worse) as Wells. They just need to try to get Wells right though; he looks completely lost at the plate. There’s no real cavalry coming because Ben Rice is essentially a pure first baseman now (probably for the best to preserve his bat anyway because 2025 Cal Raleigh seasons are just so damn rare) and the catching alternatives at Triple-A are late-20s former big leaguers Payton Henry and Ali Sánchez. So just turn the keys over to Escarra for a few days and let Wells attempt to work things out behind the scenes. It’s brutal out there and all-too-reminiscent of Chris Stewart.

Let us know your pitch!

It’s a light slate today on the site ahead of the opener of the four-game set against the Jays. Jeremy will have the preview of the pitching matchups for this series and I’ll have the Rivalry Roundup coverage of yesterday’s notable American League action. Later, Nick will offer an 80th birthday salute to the one and only “Mr. October,” Reggie Jackson, and Madison will ask for your mailbag questions.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Time: 7:05 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, Sportsnet One

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees limp home from what Aaron Boone called “a terrible road trip” — a 2-7 stretch that saw them fall from a half-game up on Tampa Bay to three games back of the surging Rays. The obvious takeaway was the alarming performance of the bullpen, capped off by closer David Bednar squandering a three-run lead with two outs in the ninth of the series finale against the Mets. Although paling in comparison to the disappointment of their recent run of form, there were several positives that can be taken away from the last nine games as well.

Anthony Volpe collected his first hit of the season and ended with a pair of knocks and three runs driven in, the recently recovered shortstop showing improved discipline at the plate with seven walks in 16 PAs. Ben Rice slugged his 15th home run of the year, he and Aaron Judge becoming the third pair of Yankees teammates to hit at least 15 home runs each in the first 47 games of a season, joining Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle in 1956 and Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961. Elmer Rodríguez pitched the best start of his young MLB career and looks to be improving his strike throwing at the highest level. It’s meager consolation for an otherwise wretched stretch.

MLB.com | Anthony DiComo: The Mets’ extra-inning walk-off over the Yankees on Sunday created some pretty jaw-dropping statistics. The Yankees still have yet to win a series at Citi Field since 2018, Aaron Boone’s first year as skipper. The Mets’ win probability stood at just five percent when Tyrone Taylor stepped to the plate with two outs in the ninth. Most damning, this is the first time since the 2024 NL Wild Card Series—the Pete Alonso vs. Devin Williams game—that the Mets have won a game in which they trailed after eight innings. They were 0-96 in previous such games including the playoffs.

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty (subscription required): The Yankees’ bullpen continues to be one of the biggest problem areas on the team, and now they might have yet another legitimate closer crisis. With Bednar surrendering the three-run homer on Sunday, his ERA bloats to 4.95. He’s already one blown save away from matching his total of three from last season after beefing two on this road trip alone. Unfortunately, the Yankees do not appear to have another in-house option to step into the role given that the likes of Camilo Doval and Fernando Cruz are similarly shaky, and will likely ride it out with Bednar and hope his fortunes improve.

NJ Advance Media | Randy Miller: We were provided with a raft of injury updates and speculation on which players could return soonest. José Caballero continues to rehab from a fractured finger and looks the closest to returning, possibly at the minimum return date of May 22nd. Gerrit Cole might be the next behind him. As Scott wrote up for us yesterday, he made his penultimate rehab start on Saturday. The ace could possibly make his long awaited return to the major league team in time for the series against the Royals in the final week of May, more than 14 months after suffering the injury that required Tommy John surgery.

Max Fried (elbow bone bruise) and Giancarlo Stanton (calf strain) are a little further behind, with a June return the most optimistic outcome. Finally, Clarke Schmidt (Tommy John rehab) and Angel Chivilli (chronic shoulder discomfort) are not expected back until September at the earliest.

For the sixth straight Sunday, the Braves were victorious. And even more enjoyable was the Braves got the job done early in the 8-1 win over the Red Sox. Atlanta just continues to roll along, as they are now 14-1-1 in individual series so far this season.

Another good developlment is the production of Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Riley, who both went deep on Sunday. With both Michael Harris and Ozzie Albies running into regression in May, Riley and Yaztrzemski coming alive has allowed the offense to do enough to continue its winnings ways.

Braves News

The Braves signed southpaw Austin Gomber to a minor league contract.

The Braves probables for the upcoming series versus the Marlins was released on Sunday. Another big week ahead for the Braves with four versus the Marlins and three versus the Nationals.

MLB News

The NL East as a whole has been better over the past few weeks, with each team .500 or better in over their last 10 games. That includes the Phillies, who are now over .500 with their win on Sunday.

Jose Altuve was placed on the IL with an oblique strain.

The Mariners are promoting prospect Colt Emerson as Brendan Donovan heads to the IL.

Jayson Stark had a lot of fun information on the Braves in one of his latest pieces.

The term “meteoric rise” is a bit of a misnomer, though most people already know that. Meteors fall (And yet if you point this out, you are a pedant? The world is cruel to those brave enough to obsess over wording tell the truth). However, it is quite the fitting turn of phrase for baseball, prospects in particular. 

There’s a lot of similarities between the job of scouting and identifying baseball talent and astronomers responsible for solar system object identification. Both disciplines ask the observer to work with an incredibly limited set of data points. Scouts watch children who are sometimes as young as 13 or 14 years old and based on how well they play against other kids in their general area, their physical development, their attitude, and how their coaches talk about them, they decide if this actual child might have potential to pursue a major league path in the future. 

Astronomers take tiny little pinpricks of light, and from a series of still images of these pricks of light, calculate if or how much they’ve moved, and therefore, what kind of object it is, how large is it, what is it composed of, and, crucially for the meteorite/asteroid detection game, mapping the orbit of these objects to see if they are on a course to impact Earth and therefore, does it require advance action to be taken to prevent the loss of human lives. 

In both cases, the answer for the vast majority of children and two-pixel lights is: No! But in some very rare cases, the answer is: Maybe! And at that point, the real digging-in commences. Is this kid playing against other talented kids, or just raking in his podunk local travel circuit? Is this asteroid going to get yoinked by another planet’s gravity well before it reaches us? Does the kid have more growth yet in him, or is that celestial body actually just a camera artifact?

And while these jobs are very much trying to read the future based on extremely imperfect information, they both are high-stakes, though on different scales. MLB teams will use this scouting information to pour vast amounts of resources into particular players. Avoiding an extinction-level event is also important.

Sometimes, though, it’s an easy Maybe. Colt Emerson has been one of the easier Maybe’s in recent history for the Mariners. Yet in a sense, Colt Emerson’s meteoric “rise” has just begun. He’s finally made it to the hard part. He’s successfully traversed the frictionless smooth of outer space/high school ball/the minor leagues, and now he begins the relentlessly, violently frictional approach into Earth’s atmosphere, just now transcending from meteoroid to become meteor, hoping to survive the approach and become meteorite. 

In fact, his rise from meteoroid to meteor was so fast that he didn’t have anyone for him there at the game – he only found out about two-and-a-half hours before game time that he had to drive up to Seattle, now, for the Major League Baseball game that he would be playing in.

His family and girlfriend will be flying in for the rest of the homestand, but today was just him, 25 teammates and about 45,000 of his new biggest fans. 

“I wanted to soak it all in as much as possible, that this is just the first of many days. Coming into the clubhouse, the guys were great to me, this is a really special group here, and I’m just happy to be a part of it,” Emerson said.

His first bit of friction was a subtly tricky pop-up in the top of the second inning. Running over his right shoulder into a spot where there could be competition for the play and there is definitely communication required, while running from the sun into the shade? Tough play for a shortstop playing third base. He took it as cool as you like.  

At this point in the game, the score was 1-0. 

Emerson’s next bit of friction was two at-bats against a very on Lucas Giolito. Emerson said he normally prides himself on keeping his cool and his heart rate down, but the first time around, in the bottom of the third, he was eager, unable to check his swing at the first pitch he saw, a fastball at the letters. 

“When I came in, I thought that was the fastest 90 mph fastball I’ve ever seen,” Emerson said.

Giolito threw another heater that Emerson swung at like he wanted to send it into the mesosphere. Finding himself down 0-2, Emerson then showed the plate discipline that got him this far, and worked the count even before making some solid contact right to Ramon Laureano in right field. 

Emerson said that the nerves he felt surprised him, but his first at-bat helped him stabilize. 

“I thought I was gonna go out there and maybe not even be able to swing a bat, but once I got that first fly ball out of the way, I was like, ‘Okay. This is just baseball. There’s an extra deck.’”

Giolito, like that one friend not letting go of a bit that’s outlived its humor (i’m friend), threw high fastballs to Emerson for the rest of the night, including three straight out of the zone to start his second at-bat. Colt, like a mutual friend with no grace for your first friend, spit on all of them before also ignoring a perfectly-placed changeup for ball 4, his first time getting on base in his young career. 

At this point in the game, the score was 7-0.

His walk was a bit of a premonition, as Giolito seemed to lose the handle there in the sixth. Emerson moved to second base on another well-worked walk courtesy of Leo Rivas, and then to third when Giolito walked Julio. 

Giolito, walking the bases loaded with no outs, would face some consequences for his actions. Colt Emerson concluded his first circumnavigation of the infield when Matsui walked Naylor, scoring his first career run. A couple of sacrifice flies and a Cole Young strikeout later, the Mariners had their most productive inning yet, without getting a single hit. 

At this point in the game, the score was 7-3. 

Emerson had his third at-bat in the bottom of the eighth, putting a great, compact swing on a golfy, down and in fastball. It also was, unfortunately, almost straight at Laureano, but he showed excellent bat speed on the swing, hitting 75.4 mph. 

In the top of the seventh inning, Emerson almost had his first defensive gem, but the throw was just a hair off and Naylor had to bail off the bag to make the catch. 

The game ended 8-3. 

***

If you haven’t had the opportunity yet to read one of my favorite Lookout Landing pieces yet, Lou Fish-Sadin’s “We Love a Debut,” I highly recommend it. It captures one of my favorite things about baseball, which is how encapsulatory it is. I don’t know if it’s the sheer volume of games, the relaxed pace that gives so much room for special moments to breathe or some mystical other thing, but baseball has a way of reflecting life’s most frustrating, rewarding, gut-wrenching, joyful experiences. It’s that joie de vivre and ennui that is hard to find anywhere else. Lou’s piece captures that specific magic of baseball and that feeling of simple goodness that baseball is capable of. 

Debuts are one of those moments, where you get to share and be a part of the incalculable joy of another human being achieving their life’s worth. Whether it’s a 25-year-old org guy who would only ever see 5 at-bats, or a young prodigy screaming his way into the gravity well of T-Mobile Park, these are moments to be cherished. 

“I know I talked about trying not to let the emotions get to me, but [when my family gets here], that’s going to be an emotional one. I can’t say enough nice things about my parents, the amount they sacrificed. My parents would split up – my brother played travel ball and I played travel ball, so my mom would go with my brother to Indiana, and my dad would drive me down eight hours to Georgia, like that was a normal thing. Without that, I’m not here,” Emerson said after the game. 

“It was surreal. You dream about stuff like that. You dream about telling your parents that you made it to the big leagues and it finally came. I’ll be remembering this forever.”

Heroes, zeros and the inside pitch from the Mets’ 7-6 win over the Yankees on Sunday afternoon in the Subway Series in Queens:

Hero

With the Mets down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth, Tyrone Taylor crushed a three-run shot off David Bednar to tie the game in dramatic fashion.

Zero

In what was a rough trip for the Yankees bullpen, Bednar was the culprit twice, giving up the homer to Taylor on a first-pitch curveball — the same situation in which Brice Turang hit a walk-off homer against the closer last Sunday in Milwaukee.

Unsung hero

Carson Benge hit a game-winning chopper to the perfect spot in the bottom of the 10th, just over the mound in a five-man infield, where Anthony Volpe and Max Schuemann collided, wiping out any chance of throwing out the winning run at home.

Stat of the day

91 Consecutive games the Mets had lost when trailing after eight innings, the majors’ longest streak that they finally broke Sunday.

Quote of the day

“Baseball’s hard to explain at times.”

— Carlos Mendoza on the Mets breaking that streak that dated to the 2024 playoffs

Austin Wells is not trying to sugarcoat his recent offensive performance at the plate.

“Not many words to describe how bad I’ve been,” he said. “I got to do better to pick the team up.”

In what was supposed to be a day off, as has been customary for him for day games after night games, the Yankees catcher entered Sunday’s series finale against the Mets as a defensive replacement in the sixth inning and made his slump even worse in the 7-6 walk-off loss at Citi Field.

Wells took two at-bats in key spots — one with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning and the other with runners on first and second and one out in the top of the 10th — both coming right after Anthony Volpe had drawn a 3-2 walk.

Both times, Wells swung at the first pitch and produced groundouts, the second a double play that killed a potential rally.

“Against [Sean] Manaea [in the seventh], I knew he was pretty heavy heater, especially to the lefties early,” Wells said. “So I was looking for a fastball, was a little late. And then next one, I was looking for something up in the zone to get a ball in the air. It was a little above the zone, which I don’t really know how I hit it on the ground. Was looking to move the runner and drive them in.”

Wells finished the day batting .173 with a .556 OPS in 36 games, but it has been especially rough of late, hitting just 3-for-31 (.103) with three walks and a .291 OPS over his past 10 games.

Still, when Aaron Boone was asked before the game whether he would consider sitting Wells multiple games in a row for an offensive reset, the manager was noncommittal.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

“We’ll see,” Boone said. “As good as [Wells] is behind the plate, I have a lot of faith and trust in J.C. Escarra behind the plate too, what he brings to the table. Obviously we got to get [Wells] going, want to get him going, because when he’s right, he’s a presence, especially down at the bottom of the order. We got to get him there.”

Elmer Rodríguez has yet to complete five innings, but in his third start as a big leaguer Sunday, he showed some improved command to give the Yankees a chance.

The rookie right-hander lasted 4 ¹/₃ innings while giving up one run on five hits and one walk with one strikeout.

“Felt like I was attacking more, getting more in the zone and having better results,” he said. “I know I got good stuff, so just got to go out there and compete.”

Rodríguez had walked four batters in each of his first two starts, neither of which made it out of the fifth inning, as a fill-in replacement between Luis Gil and Carlos Rodón.

Now with Max Fried on the IL, Rodríguez returned and is expected to make one more spot start before Gerrit Cole returns and takes his spot in the rotation.

“Couple strong innings to start the game,” Boone said. “Felt like they were starting to take some tough at-bats against him in the fourth and fifth, some of the lefties starting to have some better looks at him. But overall, I thought he did his job and gave us a real opportunity to win a game.”

The “plan right now” is for Cole to make one more rehab start, Boone said Sunday morning, though that description left some room for changing that plan as the right-hander comes back from Tommy John surgery.

“Just looks like he’s in a good place,” Boone said. “But right now, the plan is one more and then we’ll go from there.”

Ben Rice crushed his 15th home run of the season in the third inning off Freddy Peralta. … The Yankees drew nine walks for the sixth time this season, which leads the majors.

By the end of Sunday, the Yankees turned a potential feel-good game for Anthony Volpe into a brutal loss.

But they need Volpe’s big day to matter more in the long run than the 7-6 walk-off loss to the Mets at Citi Field.

In his fourth game of the season, after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery and then losing his starting shortstop job to José Caballero, Volpe went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, a double and two walks.

It looked like he was going to be the hero after his two-run single in the sixth inning broke a 1-1 tie, but the bullpen surrendered leads of 5-1 and 6-3 to overshadow any positives.

“Incredible: That’s the guy we know,” Aaron Judge said. “That’s why he’s been our shortstop for the last couple seasons, is when we need him in a big spot, he comes up big for us. Made some good plays, had some big swings for us, took his walks when he needed to in some tough situations. He keeps getting more at-bats, more at-bats — he’s coming off a big shoulder surgery, so the first couple games are going to be a little tough.

“But I was definitely encouraged by what I saw today.”

Volpe, who collided with Max Schuemann as both tried to make a play on Carson Benge’s walk-off chopper over the mound in the bottom of the 10th, reached base in nine of his 13 plate appearances in the Subway Series, going 2-for-6 with seven walks — one of which came with the bases loaded Sunday to drive in another run in the seventh inning.

“I’m just trying to stay within myself, stay within my approach and put good swings on good pitches,” Volpe said. “Obviously, it fluctuates, but I just want to stay locked into that. Every day, that’s what I can control.”

Volpe cannot control that Caballero expects to miss only the minimum 10 days on the injured list with a fracture in his right middle finger — he is eligible to return Friday — and that manager Aaron Boone has already said he expects Caballero will get his starting job back when he returns.

But the 25-year-old Volpe at least has the opportunity to give the Yankees something to think about if he can show enough on both sides of the ball while Caballero is out.

Volpe’s first hit of the season came on a 104.5 mph double to the gap off Freddy Peralta in the second inning before he struck out in his second at-bat.

He delivered a two-run single off lefty Sean Manaea with the bases loaded in the sixth to put the Yankees ahead 3-1.

After walking in a run in the seventh, Volpe drew another 3-2 walk against Devin Williams in the top of the 10th, only for Austin Wells to follow by grounding into an inning-ending double play.

“Just trying to do my job and contribute in any way I can,” Volpe said. “I got some good pitches to hit and put some good swings on them.”

The 2026 Rockies appear poised to win more games than they did the past couple seasons, but realistically, they are only fighting to avoid 100 losses. That’s improvement, but the season is clearly a transitional one attempting to set the stage for a more exciting future.

Given that, let’s imagine a world where we could magically have any player don a Rockies uniform for the rest of the season.

If you could add any one player to the 2026 Rockies roster, with the sole purpose of making them more fun to watch despite knowing that they aren’t playoff bound, who would it be?

Some rules for this:

• This player could not be kept beyond this season. They’d be returned to their actual team next year.
• The Rockies couldn’t trade this player in order to try and get long-term value from them.
• This should be an active player. No picking Babe Ruth just to see if he could adjust to 100+ mph velocity.

With all that being said, who would you most enjoy seeing in a Rockies uniform the rest of the season?

Is it an MVP candidate able to make more games close and tense? Maybe you have a sentimental favorite that you’d just like to see in the purple pinstripes again? Perhaps you are just curious about what effect playing home games at Coors would have on someone in particular?

Whatever your pick or reasoning, share it in the comments!

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

Roki Sasaki has begun to turn things around at the right time for the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation.

Sasaki was credited with the win after the Dodgers’ 10-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday after producing a career-high eight strikeouts while allowing just four hits and one earned run in seven innings pitched.

The Japanese pitcher's success comes at a good time for L.A.'s pitching staff. The Dodgers will be without Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell, who were both placed on the injury list earlier this month.

“(Sasaki) had command of the fastball, command of the split, forkball and mixed in the slider when needed,” Dave Roberts told reporters after the game.

Sakaki deferred some of the credit for his dominant outing to catcher Dalton Rushing.

“I think Rushing did a great job calling a game with the pitch selection,” Sasaki said to reporters through a translator.

Entering the weekend, Sakaki had a 5.88 ERA with 31 strikeouts across 33.2 innings pitched in his first seven starts of the season.

The right-hander came into his own and played a key role for the Dodgers during the 2025 postseason after spending some time in the bullpen last season.

Watch Roki Sasaki throw eight strikeouts vs. Angels

A look at all 8 of Roki Sasaki's strikeouts

Best he's looked in a Dodgers uniform 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hSYtKpNpt8

— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) May 17, 2026

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki produces career outing vs. Angels

For a few hours between late Friday night and Saturday afternoon, the pulse of the New York Mets’ 2026 season was faint.

Their best starter, Clay Holmes, was suddenly joining a variety of other key teammates on a growing injured list. Their crosstown rivals, having the exact opposite season to the Mets in every way, looked indisputably superior. Their manager, normally chipper, admitted that after taking jab after jab after jab this spring, his team was finally staggering backward from the blows.

Then came Saturday’s win, which included a gritty showing from the lineup and a gutsy showing from the bullpen. Then came Sunday’s stunner, which featured the Mets’ first ninth-inning comeback since Jose Iglesias wore their jersey. Sometimes wins like those change everything for teams sputtering early in the season. Sometimes, they don’t.

If the Mets are to make this one count, they will have to do exactly what they did this weekend: Make the best of what they have and hang in there.

For example: As they fly to Dulles Airport Sunday night, the Mets’ pitching staff remains in relative disarray. The team has not yet announced a rotation replacement for Holmes, who would normally have pitched Wednesday against the Nationals.

One would-be candidate, red-hot 24-year-old Jack Wenninger, threw 60 pitches for Triple-A Syracuse Sunday, which would almost certainly rule him out for Wednesday. Jonah Tong recorded just five outs in his most recent start.

The likeliest fill-in might be lefty Zach Thornton, a former fifth-round pick who owns a 3.16 ERA  in 37 innings this season and owns a 2.25 ERA in two starts since being promoted to Triple-A. Thornton, 24, also pitched Friday, meaning he is perfectly lined up with Holmes’s turn.

In the meantime, the Mets still face a decision about Sean Manaea, who struggled early in his four innings of relief against the New York Yankees Sunday, but settled in enough that Carlos Mendoza said later he was encouraged by the way Manaea was able to get soft contact from the Yankees lineup in his last two innings.

As a former starter relegated to occasional mop-up duty, Manaea also represents an obvious choice to replace Holmes for purely logistical reasons. But the 57 pitches he threw today likely rule out a Wednesday start – though perhaps not a Wednesday opening.

Thus far, the Mets have avoided any firmer decision on Manaea, who has $43 million remaining on his contract but has struggled enough that Mendoza has had to work around him in the bullpen at times – a concession they have hardly been able to afford amid their early season struggles.

That he settled in and kept the Mets close through four innings Sunday preserved every reliever but Devin Williams, meaning they do not necessarily need to find a fresh arm by the time they play the Nationals Monday. Still, if the bullpen finds itself needing reinforcements before Manaea can safely pitch again, the Mets could find themselves choosing between keeping him on the roster and giving themselves enough arms at a time when they cannot afford to give away any late leads.

Getting him right – and the fact that Manaea’s sinker sat around 92 miles per hour is promising – would increase the Mets’ chances of revival. But the Mets do not have time to waste.

As a result, they seem to be showing increased urgency with first baseman Jorge Polanco, who has been out since mid-April with Achilles bursitis. Last week, Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said the team was waiting for Polanco to be asymptomatic before ramping him up for everyday duty. But in the days since, Polanco has hit during batting practice more than once, done defensive work, and gone through agility drills.

Mendoza said Sunday that Polanco will travel with the team to Washington this week so he can continue baseball activities and suggested for the first time that Polanco will either have to play through some discomfort or concede a long injured list stint.

“It’s getting to a point where, he’s gonna feel it, right? But just keeping it to a point where like, I can tolerate this,” Mendoza said. “Because if not, he’s going to be shut down for long period of time. So I think we just continue to go through baseball activities, continue to push it running-wise, and see how he reacts to that.”

Polanco would add depth to the Mets lineup – though in his absence, the Mets have had no choice but to allow for the emergence of A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge. Similarly, they will have to rely on Christian Scott to evolve into a reliable MLB starter and David Peterson to reestablish himself as one. Peterson expressed frustration with the Mets’ continued reliance on an opener before he pitches, but the results are indisputable: In 20 innings of bulk relief this year, his ERA is 2.25. In 23 1/3 innings as a starter, it is 8.10.

So the Mets must keep using an opener and crossing their fingers and doing whatever it takes to put whoever they have in the best position to succeed. They will have to make up ground with a tattered lineup while they wait for injuries to heal and sew them back together. Sunday, they proved it is possible. Monday, they must do it again.