Category: Baseball

The Colorado Rockies came out hot.

The Atlanta Braves stirred in the fourth, pushed again in the seventh, and fully woke up in the eighth and ninth.

A 6-0 Colorado lead became an 8-6 loss at Coors Field. The Braves improved to 23-10, while the Rockies fell to 14-19.

For a while, it looked like enough. Colorado built its lead behind a five-run first inning, Mickey Moniak’s ninth home run of the season, and six superb innings from José Quintana. Atlanta answered late, turning Colorado’s best version of the night into a loss.

The Rockies made Atlanta uncomfortable early

The night started with a little weirdness, which felt appropriate.

Atlanta put traffic on the bases in the top of the first before the Rockies escaped with one of the stranger double plays they will turn this season. Ezequiel Tovar and Edouard Julien appeared to miscommunicate around second base, but Colorado still managed to get the force before completing the play at first. Atlanta challenged the call, and the replay was close enough to feel like a coin flip.

Tie stays the same.

The call stood, the Rockies escaped, and then they made Atlanta pay.

Colorado’s five-run first was built on pressure. Hunter Goodman supplied the first real crack, ripping a ground-rule double to left-center to score Julien and move Moniak to third. The Braves helped the inning along from there, but the Rockies had already started it with the thing that mattered most: hard contact.

Then Moniak made sure the early lead did not feel like a first-inning accident.

His ninth home run of the season was not cheap, not Coors-aided, and not subtle: 105.5 mph off the bat, 439 feet, and into the right-center seats to make it 6-0 in the second inning.

At that point, the Rockies had made Grant Holmes work, made Atlanta play from behind, and made the best team in baseball look uncomfortable.

Quintana kept the night under control

For a while, Quintana made it stand.

Quintana did not overpower Atlanta, because that was never the assignment. He did something more important for this version of the Rockies: he kept the night under control.

The veteran lefty worked six innings, his longest start of the season, allowing one run on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. He did it with the full veteran-lefty toolbox, mixing 31 four-seamers, 18 curveballs, 15 changeups, 12 slurves, and nine sinkers over 85 pitches.

The only real damage was Matt Olson’s solo homer in the fourth. Olson is having the kind of season where pretending he will stay quiet for nine innings feels like bad writing, and he got Quintana for one. Fine. Against this lineup, the Rockies could live with one swing.

Quintana made sure it did not become an inning.

It was more than Colorado could have reasonably expected entering the night. Quintana limited damage, avoided free passes, and continued a run of excellent starts from Rockies pitchers.

Holmes’ final line was not pretty — five innings, seven hits, six runs, five earned, three walks, four strikeouts, and one home run — but after Colorado’s early burst, he still absorbed five innings for Atlanta.

That mattered later.

The lead stopped growing

The Rockies’ offense quieted after Moniak’s homer.

Former Rockie Anthony Molina, cut loose by Colorado this offseason, threw clean sixth and seventh innings for Atlanta, helping the Braves keep the game close enough for their lineup to matter late.

The Rockies did enough early. Every starting position player reached base at least once except Willi Castro, who still drove in a run with a first-inning groundout. Contributions were not hard to find. But the game never became a full Coors Field avalanche.

And against Atlanta, that left the door open.

Then the monster woke up

Zach Agnos made the seventh interesting, but not dangerous. Atlanta scratched across a manufactured run after an Austin Riley single and a Jake McCarthy error, but Agnos kept the damage there. He got Jorge Mateo to roll over softly for the final out, then bounced off the mound with a little extra juice as the Rockies carried a 6-2 lead into the eighth. For seven innings, the Rockies had subdued the monster

In the eighth, it came looking for a fight.

Agnos returned for a second inning of work and ran into traffic, putting two on with one out and Olson coming to the plate. The Rockies went to Jaden Hill, asking him to face the hitter who had already provided Atlanta’s only real damage. Hill walked him.

Then came the swing Colorado had spent the night avoiding: an opposite-field triple that cleared the bases and cut the lead to 6-5.

One batter later, a sacrifice fly brought home the tying run. 6-6 Just like that, the comfortable version of the game was gone.

Hill struck out the final batter to keep the inning from getting worse, but the damage had already changed the night.

Colorado had a chance to answer right away against Didier Fuentes in the bottom of the eighth when Tyler Freeman was hit by a pitch to open the inning, but the response never came. Troy Johnston hit the ball hard, only to ground into a double play, and Castro popped out to send the game to the ninth still tied.

The Rockies had absorbed the punch. They had not answered it yet.

The ninth broke it

Juan Mejía started the inning with a leadoff walk, and from there Atlanta’s contact got loud in a hurry. Michael Harris II followed with the swing that made it feel fatal, launching a two-run homer to give the Braves an 8-6 lead.

After seven innings of clean, controlled baseball, the Rockies gave the Braves the one thing they had mostly avoided all night.

Free traffic. Atlanta turned it into the lead and didn’t give it back.

Fuentes picked up the win, improving to 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA. Mejía took the loss, falling to 0-3 with a 5.87 ERA. Robert Suarez handled the ninth for Atlanta, working around a Brenton Doyle single to finish the comeback.

Seven innings were not enough

That is the hard part.

There was plenty worth liking. Quintana was excellent. The first inning was the kind of pressure inning this team has struggled to create in recent years. Moniak’s homer was loud enough to make the night feel real.

For seven innings, the Rockies had the Braves where they wanted them.

Then Atlanta woke up.

Up next

The Rockies continue their three-game series with the Braves on Saturday night at Coors Field. Atlanta will send Chris Sale to the mound, while Colorado’s starter has not yet been officially announced. It should be Chase Dollander.

If that holds, it will be a fascinating test.

Sale enters 5-1 with a 2.31 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 38 strikeouts in six starts. Dollander has been excellent in his own right, entering 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 39 strikeouts over 32 innings across seven games. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. MT.

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The Mets won Friday's series opener at the Los Angeles Angels, scoring four runs across the sixth and seventh innings as they started their nine-game road trip on a high note.

Takeaways

1. In Christian Scott's first start since he "couldn't throw the ball over the plate" -- last Thursday's 10-8 win against the Minnesota Twins -- he rebounded with his best MLB start since July 8, 2024, when he went 5.2 IP and allowed one hit in the Mets' 8-2 loss at the Pittsburgh Pirates. Scott tied his career high with eight strikeouts, a feat that he set May 11, 2024, when he threw six frames in the Mets' 4-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves. His return from Tommy John surgery has been a winding one, but Scott showed promise Friday. He allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits and, most importantly, walked none.
2. Francisco Alvarez and Marcus Semien delivered in the Mets' three-run sixth inning, capitalizing on the Angels' weak bullpen. Alvarez's one-out single put the Mets on the board before Semien, who left the bases loaded via an inning-ending flyout in the fourth, redeemed himself with a two-out single that scored Juan Soto and Alvarez to tie the game at 3-3.
3. Ronny Mauricio snapped his 0-for-12 draught with the go-ahead home run on a one-out solo shot to right-center field, showing why the Mets cannot give up on him. He launched his first homer of the season in a clutch moment, rebounding from an inning-ending double play that killed the Mets' third and a fifth-inning flyout to center field when it looked like New York would get shut out.
4. Soto returned to the outfield for the first time since last Wednesday's reactivation from the injured list, and he looked at home after eight games as the Mets' designated hitter. Soto's 1-for-3 night featured a second-inning walk and the aforementioned single in the sixth inning that sparked the Mets' three-run wakeup. In a struggling Mets offense, the lineup needs Soto healthy and humming. He took a subtle but big step by playing a clean game in the field and coming through at the plate.
5. Carlos Mendoza's bullpen combination of Huascar Brazobán, Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams was lights out. The four relievers each went an inning after Scott's exit, retiring 12 straight to end the game. Weaver (hold) and Williams (save) each struck out two.

Who's the MVP?

Walbert Urena, who stifled the Mets with one hit through five innings until Bo Bichette's comebacker knocked the 22-year-old RHP out of the game on the sixth's first at-bat. Urena, in his fifth MLB outing (third start), allowed one run on two hits while striking out four and walking three over five-plus frames. He threw 41 strikes on 68 pitches before exiting. When he did, the Angels unraveled.

Highlights

Christian Scott is up to 7 strikeouts tonight through 4 innings pic.twitter.com/aRTPBgpdj7

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 2, 2026

Christian Scott matches his career-high with his 8th strikeout tonight pic.twitter.com/EaxO7QgWGd

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 2, 2026

Walbert Urena is coming out of tonight's game after a Bo Bichette line drive single hits him in the knee pic.twitter.com/9vS884yMPe

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 2, 2026

Francisco Alvarez with a base hit to bring home Bo Bichette to get the Mets on the board pic.twitter.com/gje5lhoIaA

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 2, 2026

A two-out, two-run single for Marcus Semien to tie the game! pic.twitter.com/D77uks4qp7

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 2, 2026

RONNY MAURICIO!

The Mets take the lead in the 7th! pic.twitter.com/9xKgUbxZOp

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 2, 2026

Austin Slater's first hit as a Met pic.twitter.com/8opug9CbvX

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 2, 2026

Two strikeouts in a perfect 8th inning for Luke Weaver!

Mets pitching have retired the last 18 Angels hitters they've faced pic.twitter.com/NAJCn5uMY5

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 2, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Angels continue their three-game set with Saturday's 9:38 p.m. game on SNY.

Nolan McLean (1-2, 2.55 ERA) and Reid Detmers (1-2, 4.28 ERA) are set to start.

Ben Rice took another step Friday in proving his value in the big leagues. 

At the start of the season, the Yankees were hesitant to use him against left-handed pitchers, often leaving the catcher-turned-first baseman out of the lineup. 

However, he continued to make his case to the Yankees that he can be matched up against anyone when he ripped a fifth home run of the season off a lefty in the Bombers’ 7-2 win over the Orioles. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Rice hit a three-run blast off Cade Povich to give the Yankees an early 5-1 lead. 

The 27-year-old does not feel he has established himself against left-handed pitchers just yet. 

“I feel like I’ve taken some good at-bats against them. I don’t know if established would be the right word,” Rice said after the game. “I’m always confident in myself regardless of who is on the mound. Fortunately, today [I] was able to put a good swing on one but still got a long way to go.” 

This season, the left-handed hitter has more reps against righties. Before facing the Orioles, he went 22-for-71 (.310) with six home runs and a 1.116 OPS against righties.

He was 10-for-27 (.370) with four homers and a 1.266 OPS against lefties. 

A year ago, Rice faced southpaws in 106 at-bats versus 361 against righties. 

After the home run dagger, Rice went 1-for-2 against Povich before finishing the game 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Following the victory, he ranked second in OPS against lefties (1.308) in MLB. 

“We are continuing to see the evolution of one of the game’s really outstanding hitters, as simple as that,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s really disciplined. He’s got a really good plan night in and night out for who he is facing and what he wants to look for, and then he does a really good job controlling the zone. So, this is kinda that trajectory he’s been on since he first debuted.

“He’s just gotten better and better to the point of now he’s kinda been a wrecking ball.”

It's no secret that the Yankees are on the verge of a roster crunch when it comes to their starting pitching.

Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole are both expected to rejoin the team before the end of June, and that means two spots in the rotation are needed to facilitate their returns. Rodon will likely take the spot of rookie Elmer Rodriguez, who was just called up this week, but whose spot will Cole take?

Will Warren is an option, but if he continues to pitch the way he did in Friday's 7-2 win over the Orioles, the Yankees may have to look elsewhere.

Warren struck out nine batters, allowing two runs (one earned) across 6.1 innings on just three hits and one walk. He's now 4-0 with a 2.39 ERA and 46 strikeouts in seven starts this season. Warren has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his seven starts, the most in the majors.

"We say he’s the guy we haven’t talked about, and it’s just been the body of the work, starting from spring training, has been excellent over and over again," Aaron Boone said. "Stuff’s been excellent, the strike-throwing is there, he was just in command. ... Just another really strong performance."

Warren had few words when talking about his recent success, almost bashfully when speaking about it, but boiled it down to confidence.  

"Feel good," Warren said. "Confident taking the mound every five days."

But it's a bit more than that. Boone pinpoints the experience Warren has gained after pitching most of the 2025 season. Warren made 33 starts and pitched to a 9-8 record and a 4.44 ERA, and while it wasn't great, the trial-by-fire the young right-hander had to endure is seemingly paying off in the early going this season.

Two examples of that learned experience appeared in Friday's game. 

Pregame, Warren and Austin Wells figured out that the changeup against lefties will work. Warren threw that pitch 12 times on Friday, 11 to left-handers, and got three whiffs. Of the three hits allowed, only one came off a left-handed bat. 

The second was adjusting mid-game. Warren recognized early that he wasn't executing with his four-seamer and so he went more to the offspeed stuff and it worked. Warren throws his fastball 43 percent of the time, which went down to 32 percent on Friday.

"The ability to execute what I wanted to do wasn't there tonight, so we kind of shifted," Warren said. "More offspeed than I’m used to. Just being able to shift and still have confidence throwing out there and getting the results was nice, too." 

That perception and confidence is serving Warren well

"We're just talking about a young, talented guy that's shown really good aptitude over the years, and I think a love for the craft and an expectation to be really good," Boone said of Warren's improvement. "He's not satisfied. For all the good he did last year, he’s not satisfied.

"He’s continued to lean into his strengths while also attacking some of his weaknesses…really understanding more this year and doesn’t have to nibble as much. He trusts his stuff in the zone. He knows he can beat you in a lot of different ways."

"Another year under my belt. You learn a lot out there," Warren said of his improvements. "Talk about it in here all you want, but it’s about getting your feet wet and learning as the game goes long. Have a solid staff to ask questions and learn from. It’s a mix of that."

Yankees starters have posted a major league-best 2.70 ERA and 184 strikeouts in 32 starts this season, and Warren has contributed greatly to that. He's pitched at least 6.0 innings in his last three starts, and the Yankees are 6-1 in Warren's starts this year.

So, what will happen when reinforcements do come?

Warren said there's "friendly competition" among the Yankees' starters. While they all want each other to succeed and feed off each other, they have fun trying to outdo the last starter. But Warren knows it's out of his control and all he can do is keep doing what he's doing.

"We’re going to have the best staff in all of baseball when [Rodón/Cole] come back," Warren said. "Best pitchers are going to pitch the majority of innings. I gotta make sure I keep going out there and doing my job."

This Braves road trip couldn’t have started much worse, with the team facing a 5-0 deficit in the first inning.

It ended, though, like so many games have this season. With Atlanta celebrating a victory.

The Braves rallied from a 6-0 second-inning deficit for an 8-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a nine-game road trip Friday night in Denver, securing their 12th comeback victory of the season.

The Braves (23-10) got a run back on Matt Olson’s 10th homer in the fourth inning and another on Jonah Heim’s RBI groundout in the seventh.

The real damage, though, was done in the eighth, when Atlanta loaded the bases with one out before Mauricio Dubon promptly unloaded them with a three-run triple down the right-field line. Austin Riley — who had a two-hit night — tied the game in the next at-bat with a sacrifice fly down the right-field line.

After a scoreless eighth from Didier Fuentes, a leadoff walk in the Braves ninth put a runner on for pinch hitter Michael Harris II, who is still producing despite being limited with a sore quad, lofting a go-ahead two-run homer to right with an assist from the thin Denver air.

Robert Suarez worked a scoreless ninth for his first save, preserving Fuentes’ bad night.

Ronald Acuña Jr. and Dubon each had two hits as well for the Braves.

It’s tied for the franchise’s largest-ever comeback at Colorado. And given how it started, it’s that much more impressive.

Atlanta was in a 3-0 hole before Grant Holmes recorded an out in the bottom of the first. On the play where the Braves finally recorded an out, the Rockies tacked on two more runs thanks to a Matt Olson throwing error.

When the dust had finally settled after a first inning which saw the Rockies bring 10 batters to the plate, the Braves were in a 5-0 hole.

Colorado made that 6-0 when Mickey Moniak led off the second with a moonshot to right.

But for as bad as Holmes was early, he saved his outing, relatively speaking, over his final four innings. After a 38-pitch first inning, he needed just 49 pitches to get through the second through fifth.

After the Moniak homer, Holmes allowed just one more hit, one more walk and no strikeouts over his last four innings. At the time, it seemed that was just going to be a good thing for the preservation of the bullpen on the fourth day of a stretch which will see the Braves play on nine straight days.

But as the offense woke up, it wound up being critical that Holmes settled in to keep Atlanta’s dangerous offense in striking distance.

Anthony Molina, called up the major league roster on Friday, followed with two no-hit innings where he allowed just one walk.

After the Rockies had five hits and six runs in the opening one-plus inning, they managed just three hits the rest of the way.

Mind you, it wasn’t a particularly great game for the Braves offense either, which started slow and finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

But this team has shown time and time early again this season that it doesn’t need to play its best game to win.

That was certainly the case Friday night at Coors Field.

The Dodgers (20-12) failed to get their bats going in a 7-2 loss to the Cardinals (19-13) Friday night at Busch stadium in St. Louis. The L.A. bats didn’t muster much against the Marlins this week, including in Wednesday’s series finale. They got their first day off in two weeks, and a break was what we thought they needed.

Unfortunately the slumping offense continued for the Dodgers to sour the start of the road trip. The offense has only scored four runs the last three games. Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-5 with a strikeout, and his batting average has now dipped to .261 on the season. Overall, they went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

Small Mistakes add up in 3-Run First

Sheehan made 30 pitches and surrendered four base hits including a home run in a disastrous chain of events in the first inning. A throwing error by Smith and scoring balk called on Sheehan minutes after the fact added fuel to the fire before Gorman dealt the big blow.

With Nolan Gorman batting, Iván Herrera scored on a balk. The umpires convened for a seemingly long time, and they came back to call the balk to bring in the first run of the inning for St. Louis.

Miguel Rojas missed the tag on a pickoff attempt of  Iván Herrera on second base. Will Smith’s throw sailed by Rojas into center field and allowed the runners to move to second and third with two outs for third baseman Nolan Gorman.

Then the big blow came. Nolan Gorman crushed a Sheehan four-seamer for a two-run home run to make it 3-0.

After Pages singled, Max Muncy doubled deep off the center field wall on an 0-2 Liberatore pitch to get the Dodgers on the board. Muncy now has 11 hits in his last 10 games.

Sheehan had a nice bounce back inning in the second and retired the side in order, but Alec Burleson took another two-strike pitch deep in the third for a solo home run to make it 4-1.

Smith and Teoscar Hernández opened the fourth inning with back-to-back singles, but the promising start quickly faded and ended in Pages who grounded into a double play.

Jordan Walker went 3-for-3 against Sheehan, doubling with two out in the bottom of the fifth to chase Sheehan from the game. Jake Dreyer came in and did his job to retire the dangerous Gorman and send the game to the sixth.

Smith’s ABS Success Expands with Challenge at the Plate

Smith has been effectively using ASB challenges behind the plate to nab strikes back this season, but he also won a challenge as a batter at the plate to give the Dodgers another opportunity with a runner in scoring position with the first walk of the night for the Dodgers.

A nine-pitch plate appearance by Hernandez brought up Tucker with the bases loaded and one out. The Dodgers doubled their score on a Tucker sac fly. It was also the final batter for Liberatore. Pages lined out to center against St. Louis reliever George Soriano to strand another two runners.

Walker picked up his fourth run of the game, a double off Alex Vesia in the bottom of the seventh. A throwing error on Hernandez allowed Walker to reach third. The Red Birds scored their third run of the inning against Edgardo Henriquez after a spicy Masyn Winn hit-by-pitch and scoring groundout.

Hyeseong Kim doubled with two outs in the top of the ninth to give Ohtani one more opportunity. The slumping slugger flied out to center field to end the game and seal the third consecutive loss for the Dodgers.

Friday particulars

Home runs: Nolan Gorman (5), Alec Burleson (5)

WP — Matthew Liberatore (1-1): 5 2/3 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts (96 pitches)

LP — Emmet Sheehan (2-1): 4 2/3 IP, 8 hits, 4 runs, no walks, 8 strikeouts (97 pitches)

Up next

Roki Sasaki (1-2, 6.35 ERA, 1.81 WHIP) starts the second game of the series, coming off one of his best MLB starts so far (4:15 p.m.; FOX). Michael McGreevy (1-2, 2.97 ERA, 0.90 WHIP), the California native, starts for the Cardinals.

ST. LOUIS –– Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he had a “good feeling” about his slumping offense at the start of a six-game road trip Friday afternoon.

“The road, ironically, has been better for us,” he insisted. 

By the end of the night, however, that theory couldn’t have felt less true.

En route to losing three straight games for the first time this year, the Dodgers star-studded lineup remained ice cold in a 7-2 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals, managing just seven hits against a Cardinals pitching staff with the fifth-worst team ERA in the majors.

For a fourth-straight game, the Dodgers (20-12) failed to hit a home run, the longest homer drought for the club since June 2023. And the few times they did get runners aboard, they couldn’t capitalize, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position while leaving eight men stranded on base.

“I don’t have an answer for tonight,” Roberts said. “Obviously, they got big hits. There were some line drives that were right at guys. But in total, they swung the bat better than we did. We didn’t play well enough.”

It didn’t help that, early on Friday, the Cardinals (19-13) jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead against Emmet Sheehan. 

Still, for a Dodgers team that has invested more than $1 billion into its batting order in recent years, this recent slump is starting to grow maddening.

They initially got on the board Friday via a Max Muncy RBI double in the second. But after that, they scored just one more time, failed to record another extra-base hit until Hyeseong Kim’s double with two outs in the ninth, and slipped to 5-8 in their last 13 games –– having scored four runs or fewer eight times in that stretch.

“It’s been hard,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “Obviously, we don’t want to start the season the way we have started. But we have done a lot of work. Everybody knows this is not easy, hitting, being consistent. We just have to go up there trying to have good at-bats. Create situations. Put the ball in play. Get on base.”

Lately, they’ve failed to do all of the above, enduring another night in which there were few good feelings.

What it means

As part of his optimistic pregame message, Roberts said he wanted his hitters to be “really locking in on our zones, having a plan, and then going and executing.”

Instead, another listless night followed.

The most glaring problem of late has been the club’s lack of power. In the season’s first 22 games, they belted 42 home runs with a .507 team slugging percentage (both best in the majors up to that point). Since then, however, they have only three long balls and a .306 slugging percentage in their last 10 games (worst in the majors over that span).

“I think that there’s some pitches that we’re getting that we’re missing,” Roberts said. “I think the intent is still to hit the ball hard, take good at-bats.”

Roberts noted that there still needs “to be a balance of slug (with) base hits and all that stuff.”

Still, for a lineup built on star power, an inability to hit for power has come as a surprise.

“I think right now, certain guys, a lot of guys, are trying to find their swing,” Roberts said. “They’re just not too comfortable.

Who’s hot

Anyone who gets to pitch against the Dodgers right now, including even Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore.

Entering Friday, he had a 4.75 ERA and was coming off a five-run clunker to the light-hitting Seattle Mariners offense. But against the Dodgers, he cruised right along, navigating traffic en route to a 5 ⅔-inning, two-run start.

After Muncy’s double in the second, the Dodgers came up empty in a two-on, no-out opportunity in the third, when Kyle Tucker lined out and Andy Pages hit into an inning-ending double-play. In the sixth, the bases were loaded with one out, but a sacrifice fly from Tucker was all the Dodgers could produce.

By the end of the night, Shohei Ohtani was 0-for-5, Freddie Freeman was the team’s only batter with multiple hits, and the club had been held to five total runs during this three-game losing skid. 

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Who’s not

A couple starts ago, Emmet Sheehan thought his fastball velocity troubles were behind him. Since then, the problem has only gotten worse.

On Friday, the right-hander averaged a season-low 93.4 mph with his four-seamer –– including a 92.9 mph heater in the first inning that Nolan Gorman hit for a two-run homer, and another at 89.7 mph in the fourth that marked the slowest fastball of his MLB career.

It didn’t prevent him from still striking out eight batters in his 4 ⅔-inning, four-run start. But it wasn’t his only issue either, not on a night he balked in a run (when he made a mental mistake by forgetting to signal to the umpires he was pitching out of the stretch) and gave up another solo home on a low slider to Alex Burleson in the third.

With the Dodgers facing a key rotation decision as Blake Snell nears his return, Sheehan’s lack of velocity (he averaged 95.6 mph with his fastball last year) will nonetheless remain a concern, especially with his overall ERA still up at 5.23.

“There’s nothing I can point to to say, this is the reason,” said Sheehan, who reiterated that he’s 100% healthy and instead working through mechanical flaws. “We’re working really hard on it. We’re going to continue to work really hard on it. That’s all we can do.”

Up next

Like Sheehan, fellow right-hander Roki Sasaki is fighting to keep his rotation spot at the moment. He’ll take the mound Saturday, trying to improve his 1-2 record and 6.35 ERA. Michael McGreevy (1-2, 2.97 ERA) goes for St. Louis.

From landing late in New York on Thursday night to first pitch in The Bronx on Friday, Pete Alonso had already taken several trips down memory lane on his initial return to his former home of over seven years. 

He stumbled over a few words when expressing what it means to him to be back in the city after leaving the Mets for a five-year, $155 million deal with the Orioles. 

Alonso immediately thought of his first taste of professional baseball with the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2016. He remembered playoff moments from 2022 and ’24 — the “most special baseball” he played. 

He also reflected on his last time in New York. The Mets finished off an 11-inning game against the Nationals in their final homestand of the 2025 season and the next day, he and wife Haley went to Mount Sinai Hospital to welcome their first child together, a boy. 

“There’s a lot of things you think about after being here for so long,” Alonso said before the Orioles’ 7-2 loss to the Yankees. “Being in Manhattan, in the city, just looking back and thinking about that is really special.” 

Alonso continued to leave his mark on the city, hitting a home run off Will Warren in his first at-bat Friday. He went 1-for-2 with two walks and scored both of the Orioles’ runs. 

Walking around Friday, the five-time All-Star felt he was “just back in the old neighborhood.” 

He spent time pondering some of his favorite restaurants in the city, citing his favorite Italian spot, Ci Siamo, as a must-visit. “Shoutout chef Hillary,” he said. 

The 31-year-old didn’t assume anything about the game that preceded his son’s birth, whether it would be his last game at Citi Field. 

“I wasn’t thinking about it,” he said. “I was just more thinking about, ‘I can’t believe the season is over,’ because there was hopes for more, but obviously we didn’t do the job at the time. I was more shifted to family and how it was time to be dad, be husband. Let the dust settle and enjoy being parents for the first time. 

“That was where my mind was at initially. I didn’t really start thinking about free agency until the World Series was over.” 

Since arriving in Baltimore, Alonso hasn’t yet brought his best to the plate. Entering Friday, he was hitting .198 with four home runs and a .668 OPS through 31 games. 

Daniel Palencia was throwing hard in St. Paul.

Mason McGwire might just be a prospect.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs declared the St. Paul Saints (Twins) to be heretics, 6-5.

Connor Noland put the I-Cubs in an early hole after he got battered around for five runs on six hits over four innings. He walked three and struck out one.

Daniel Palencia relieved Noland in the fifth inning. He struck out the first batter looking, then he gave up a single and then got a lineout to center field. Palencia was throwing 100 to 102 miles per hour to the first two batters and more like 98-101 to the third batter, Orlando Arcia. The St. Paul broadcasters said that the single that Kyler Fedko got off of a 101.6 mph fastball by Palencia was the fastest pitch that any Saint has gotten a hit off of in franchise history. Palencia threw 19 pitches before he was pulled, 14 of them were strikes.

Zac Leigh relieved Palencia in the fifth and got a ground out to second to get out of that inning. Then Leigh struck out the side in the sixth. Leigh got the win.

Gabe Klobosits came on in the ninth and allowed two baserunners on an error and a walk. But he retired the other three batters he faced, two by strikeout, to collect the save.

Center fielder Kevin Alcántara hit his International League-leading tenth home run to dead center field in the fifth inning with a man on. Alcántara added a two-run double in the seventh to give Iowa the lead. He was 2 for 4 with a walk and the four runs batted in.

First baseman Jonathon Long had a pair of doubles in a 3 for 5 night. Long scored once and drove one home.

Third baseman Pedro Ramírez was 2 for 5 and scored twice.

Shortstop Owen Miller was 2 for 4.

The Jaguar strikes.

Alcántara just missed going deep twice, but settled for a two-run double.

Long’s RBI double went to the right-center field gap.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies disposed of the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Padres), 6-1.

Starter Jake Knapp allowed just one unearned run on one hit over 4.1 innings. Knapp walked three, hit one batter and struck out four.

Tyler Ras relieved Knapp in the fifth and while he did allow an inherited runner to score and tie the game, he ended up getting the win after the Smokies scored two runs in the top of the sixth and re-took the lead. Ras’s final line was no runs on three hits over 1.2 innings. Ras struck out one and walked no one.

Right fielder Carter Trice opened the scoring with a solo home run in the third inning,. Trice was 1 for 5.

Left fielder Andy Garriola hit a solo home run in the sixth to break the 1-1 tie in the sixth inning. It was his fifth home run of the year. Garriola went 1 for 4.

DH Owen Ayers broke the game open with a three-run home run in the seventh inning. It was his second home run for the Smokies and eighth overall. Ayers was 1 for 5.

Center fielder Jordan Nwogu was 1 for 4 with a double and a walk. He scored once.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were smelted by the Ft. Wayne TinCaps (Padres), 6-2.

Brooks Caple started and gave up no runs over the first three innings. Caple allowed three hits and three walks while striking out two.

Alfredo Romero relieved Caple and allowed just one run over his first three innings of work. But he came out to pitch the seventh and after retiring the first two batters, he walked the next two and then left for Jackson Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick let in both of those runners, so Romero got tagged with the loss.

The final line on Romero was three runs on just one hit over 3.2 innings. He did walk five batters and struck out just one.

Kirkpatrick officially allowed one run on one hit over 1.1 innings. He walked one, hit one batter and struck out three.

Center fielder Kane Kepley went 1 for 2 with two walks and an RBI.

Catcher Justin Stransky was 1 for 2 with a walk and a run batted in.

Here’s a nice defensive play by Kepley.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans won their fourth-straight by walking off the Columbia Fireflies (Royals), 8-7.

Mason McGwire continued his big start to the season by allowing just one run on one hit over four innings. McGwire struck out four and walked two.

After Riely Hunsaker got rocked for six runs, five earned, over the three middle innings, the Pelicans came back. Elis Jerzembeck threw the final two innings without allowing a run and got the win. Jerzembeck surrendered two hits and issued one walk. He struck out three.

Catcher Logan Poteet was the hero tonight. Not only did he hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning, he hit an RBI infield single in the bottom of the ninth to end the game. It was Poteet’s third home run this year. Poteet went 2 for 4 with a walk and the home run. He had two runs scored to go with the three RBI.

Center fielder Alexey Lumpuy was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI single.

Third baseman Derniche Valdez went 2 for 4 and scored once.

Here is a three-run double for second baseman Alexis Hernandez (1 for 4) and an RBI single for Lumpuy.

An game-tying RBI triple for left fielder Jose Escobar.

Here’s Poteet’s walk-off single.

Thanks to a strong start by Matthew Liberatore and offensive thunder from Nolan Gorman, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson, the St. Louis Cardinals welcomed the Los Angeles Dodgers to town by beating them 7-2.

After a 1-2-3 top of the first from Matthew Liberatore, the St. Louis Cardinals did not hesitate to get on the board with an assist from Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan. Ivan Herrera drew a one-out walk after JJ Wetherholt struck out. Alec Burleson then fouled out, but Jordan Walker laced a single to left field. Both Walker and Herrera moved up a base after a throwing error by Will Smith. The Cardinals were gifted their first run when Sheehan failed to notify the umpires that he was going to throw from a windup instead of the stretch. That resulted in a balk and a 1-0 Cardinals lead as Herrera scored. Walker would also score after Nolan Gorman lit up a 3-2 pitch from Sheehan and deposited it into the right field stands making it 3-0 Cardinals.

The Dodgers drew closer in the top of the 2nd inning after Andy Pages singled to right and Max Muncy drilled a ball over Victor Scott II’s head in left-center field making it 3-1 St. Louis.

The Cardinals would add to their lead in the 3rd inning when Alec Burleson turn on a low-inside pitch driving it over the right field wall giving St. Louis a 4-1 lead.

Matthew Liberatore would last through 5 2/3 innings as he got into trouble in the top of the 6th inning giving up a single to Freddie Freeman followed by a walks to Smith and Hernandez. Kyle Tucker hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to make the score 4-2 Cardinals. Manager Oli Marmol took Liberatore out of the game and brought in George Soriano who was able to limit the damage by getting Andy Pages on a flyout to short center field.

In the top of the 7th inning, Masyn Winn showed why he is a Gold Glove shortstop as he covered 122 feet in chasing down a ball in foul territory making an incredible catch while barely avoiding a collision with a sliding Nathan Church who was charging in from left field. George Soriano would do his part by striking out Shohei Ohtani looking to end the inning.

The Cardinals would threaten in the bottom of the 7th inning when Ivan Herrera singled to right and Alec Burleson drew a walk. Jordan Walker then hung in on a two-strike breaking ball and ripped it down the left field line for a double scoring both Herrera and Burleson giving St. Louis a 6-2 lead.

Masyn Winn was hit by a high-inside pitch by Henriquez who had come into the game in relief which Winn took issue with as he was hot heading to first base. Jordan Walker, who had advanced to third on his double when the ball was misplayed in left field, scored on a high chopper by Nathan Church that the Dodgers were unable to turn into a double play by forcing Winn at second. That extended Cardinals lead to 7-2 heading into the 8th inning.

Gordon Graceffo was brought in to handle the Dodgers in the top of the 8th. He was greeted by Freddie Freeman’s line-drive single to left to start the inning. After Smith lined out and Hernandez flied out, Kyle Tucker walked, but Graceffo stranded them both when he struck out Pages confirmed by an ABS challenge. Both Graceffo and Soriano would provide an inning each of scoreless relief.

Matt Svanson was brought in to close out a 5-run lead in the 9th inning and he did it with no drama. He retired Max Muncy on a flyout to center. Alec Burleson made an excellent play on a ball down the first base line from Rojas. Svanson also did a fine job covering the bag for the second out. Kim then singled to left bringing up Shohei Ohtani, but Svanson was able to get him to fly out to center to end the game.

The Cardinals will send Michael McGreevy to the mound for Saturday night’s game against the Dodgers. It’s a 6:15pm central time first pitch at Busch Stadium for a game that will be a national TV broadcast on Fox.

First-year MLBer Kazuma Okamoto put some hurtin’ on Simeon Woods-Richardson, the Twins threw too many outs and chances away. Inning-by-inning notes:

1: George Springer with the leadoff single, and a good cheer comes through on the radio. So, as usual, there’s a lotta Jays fans at TF. Who in my experience are basically the nicest people you could hope for. (Royals fans are nice too, if a little drunker. My experience with these fans at like 10 games over the years is of course indicative of all trends in human behavior.) A 6-3 DP eliminates the runner.

Six-game hitting streak for DH Ryan Jeffers; he makes it seven with a two-out single. Nothing comes of it.

2: Some one-out danger, courtesy of Daulton Varsho and Lenyn Sosa (Sosa is not related to bat-corking Sammy, musical Lennon or socialist Lenin). A WP advances both runners and the defense plays in. This only works if you field properly, and 1B Josh Bell does not.

A soft single to Bell; he comes home with it, and he’s WAY off. Varsho scores and the ball goes out of play, so Sosa is awarded home plate, too. I’m reasonably confident that this is a throw I could have made better. However if I were to do it 100 times and Bell 100 times, he would screw up once or twice and I’d probably screw up 25 times.

Twins hitters; eight pitches, two strikeouts, one popup. It’s not IDEAL. Blue Jays 2-0

3: Six pitches and three outs for Simeon Woods-Richardson. None are strikeouts, so there’s some luck in play, but we’ll take it. Or I will. You can choose not to take it, if you so desire. Or if you are Twisted Sister.

A Brooks Lee single, James Outman doing what his name indicates, and Buxton does his Lord Byron thing. We’re tied 2-2

4: And now we are untied. Kazuma Okamoto, an 11-year veteran of Japanese baseball, is hitting .125 on the season (his first in MLB) but leads the Jays in homers with five; now make it six. Then a Sosa double and Yohendrick Pinango single (you bet I CTRL-C, CTRL-Ved that name); Bux apologizes to Toronto for his homer by airmailing the throw to the infield, and Pinango reaches second. Then a flyout and a HBP. Geez, SWR… a grounder to short ends the damage.

Luke Keaschall uses the theme from Rocky as his walkup music. That movie is about a boxer in Philadelphia. Keaschall is a baseball player from California playing in Minnesota. Anyways, Kris Atteberry on radio says it’s the only walkup song he knows. Keaschall walks and the next guy flies out to end the inning, but I’m curious; what ARE all the Twins’ walkup songs?

Here’s the list. Now, I don’t know a lot of the newer music, either. But, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC (Kody Funderburk)? Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” (Taylor Rogers), Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” (Bailey Ober), “It’s Only Rock and Roll” by the Stones (Joe Ryan)? How can someone not know at least one of those songs? OK, maybe Atteberry just means BATTER walk-up songs… but nope, that’s a fail too, Buxton uses Bob Marley’s “Jammin’.” How can you go to college and not learn “Jammin’?” Somebody get Atteberry to a dealer immediately and hook him up with some Marley! I mean a MUSIC dealer. Jays 4-2

5: Okamoto does it again, off a splitter just on the corner, and with Vlad (The Inhaler) Guerrero Jr. on base, so this is now a Difficult Lead For The Twins To Catch Up To. A Sosa single and Pinango infield single and SWR is cooked. Rogers finishes the inning; I did not hear any Fleetwood Mac on the radio.

Hit Machine James Outman with the one-out single. Buxton hits one a long way, but rookie Pinango takes a nice quick route to catch it. The Twins waste the Mighty Slugging of the Outman, Toronto 6-2

6: Catcher Tyler Heineman, whose name sounds like he should be shilling skunky Dutch beer, leads off with a bloop single. He advances on a one-out FC and as Vlad, Son of Vlad, enters, so does Mr. Rogers leave the neighborhood. Eric Orze records the out.

Bell has a one-out hit and Caratini advances him via HBP; this bounces Patrick Corbin, with Braydon Fisher coming in. Fisher sinks the Twins.

7: Eric Orze still pitching; here is his official picture:

Okamoto takes a walk, and on a grounder to short, Brooks Lee doesn’t see how quickly Luke Keaschall got to the bag, so he throws it to first instead. Atteberry says “let’s hope that doesn’t come back to haunt the Twins.” It does on a two-out Pinango single; the two “rookies” are killin’ us.

Incidentally, Dan Gladden on radio talking about how Japanese hitters see a lot of a “shuuto” pitch, a kind of pitch that breaks down and in to right-handers. I didn’t know Gladden played in Japan! He did, just like Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball! One season for the Yomiuri Giants of Tokyo. (Same team Okamoto played for, BTW.)

With Jeff Hoffman (no relation to Trevor) pitching, the Twins get two infield singles from Lee and Buxton. An Austin Martin single brings Jeffers to the plate with the bases full. He sac flies to left-center. And Bell grounds out to end the Little Rally That Couldn’t, Not The Expos 7-3

8: Pasta Power is still in there and saving some of the other bullpen arms. This would be great if the other bullpen arms were good.

It’s THEIR Rogers, Tyler, in to pitch. He handles the Twins just fine. I dunno if he uses Fleetwood Mac walkup music or not. He could go with “Gold Dust Woman,” cause he makes you cry, makes you break down. Or “Tusk” just to make opponents’ ears bleed from those terrible horns.

9: Now pitching for the Twins is Luis García; WHO? A 39-year-old righty with a career ERA of 4.13, although last year he was not very good. The Mets cut him in April and the Twins signed him a week later, since last year they traded away all their good relievers. He does fine.

One of those good relievers was Louis Varland from St. Paul, MN. Atteberry tells a story about being on the Twins caravan with Varland and Varland critiquing the drywall in a restaurant, since that’s his family’s line of business. This game feels like drywall. Two outs brings us a Buxton walk and a Austin Martin infield single. Jeffers strikes out. Varland throws 27 pitches but the Twins lose

Studs: Okamoto, Pinango, Bux for bomba. Duds: Bell for bad throw, SWR for bad pitching, Royce Lewis for sadly being a shell of his former self right now.

COTG go to sandwiches with “I feel like switching out bullpen pitchers is like switching out which cactus I am forced to sit on when I’m interrogated by the government for appreciating certain aspects of life.” And norff with a little poem:

Born too late to explore the earth
Born too early to explore the cosmos
Born just in time to watch Byron Buxton play baseball

Nice! Also, I have been using blogging software for 13 years and I finally figured out how to do single instead of double spacing in WordPress. Oh well I had to learn something eventually. Thanks to everyone who participated in the thread.

Tomorrow’s game is at 1:10 Central, and features Toronto starter Dylan Cease against rookie Connor Prelipp. Catch ya next time!

The Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals are back at it on Saturday for the middle game of the weekend series at Busch Stadium, with Roki Sasaki looking to build off his first win of the season.

Sasaki remains a mixed bag in the rotation, and rode his harder splitter to more control last Saturday against the Chicago Cubs, with only one walk in five-plus innings, his fewest walks in any MLB start to date. But he also allowed four runs, including three solo home runs.

Michael McGreevy starts for St. Louis. In his three home starts this season, McGreevy has allowed three runs in 17 innings, with 13 strikeouts and three walks.

Saturday is the Dodgers’ second game this season exclusively televised by Fox. Just like last weekend against the Cubs at Dodger Stadium, the middle game in St. Louis will be called by Joe Davis.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Cardinals
• Ballpark: Busch Stadium
• Time: 4:15 p.m. PT
• TV: Fox
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

What started as a pitchers’ duel and later opened up to look like a comfortable win became a nailbiter as the Philadelphia Phillies (13-19) defeated the Miami Marlins (15-17) by a score of 6-5 to secure their fourth straight victory.

In his second start of the season, Zack Wheeler notched his first win, striking out eight and allowing just one run in six innings of work. After throwing 84 pitches in his first outing, he ramped it to 94 and appears to be unrestricted going forward.

The Marlins’ lone run against Wheeler came in the bottom of the first on the strength of back to back doubles by Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards.

The offense strung together four hits and a walk against Eury Perez in the top of the fourth inning to take the lead on singles by Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm, a walk by Bryson Stott and a double by Justin Crawford.

They would pad the lead in the top of the seventh off Marlins’ lefty reliever, Cade Gibson, scoring four in the frame to take a 6-1 lead. Bryce Harper doubled, Marsh was hit on the elbow, Edmundo Sosa singled home Harper and Stott cleared the bases with a three-run home run, his first of the year.

Orion Kerkering threw a scoreless bottom of the seventh before the bullpen began to unravel in the eighth and ninth innings.

The Fish got three runs back against Jonathan Bowlan and Jose Alvarado in the eighth before Alvarado got a crucial punchout of Christopher Morel to end the inning, stranding runners on second and third.

Brad Keller came on to close and was wild out of the gate, 10 of his first 17 pitches landing outside the strike zone. Somehow he managed just a leadoff walk to Javier Sanoja and two strikeouts with that effort, but Sanoja stole second and scored on Lopez’s third hit and second RBI single of the game to cut the lead to one. With a full count and the winning run at the plate, Keller got Edwards to fly out to center where Crawford secured the easy catch to end it.

After his historic day at the plate yesterday, Kyle Schwarber wore the platinum sombrero with five strikeouts.

The Phils will try to set a season-long winning streak tomorrow as they kick off the Philly Sportspocalypse at 4:10pm tomorrow as Andrew Painter faces off against Max Meyer.

Jays 7 Twins 3

Kazuma Okamoto had a slow start to the season, but he’s picked things up lately. Today he had 2 home runs, a walk, 3 runs and 3 RBI. 31 games into his MLB career he has 7 home runs, and 18 RBI.

And, unlike yesterday, the pitching was good and the defense was good.

• Patrick Corbin went 5.1, allowed 6 hits, 2 earned, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts. He gave up a home run to Byron Buxton in the third inning, which accounted for his 2 earned runs. Corbin wasn’t great but he got the outs when he needed them.
• Braydon Fisher got the last two outs of the sixth.
• Jeff Hoffman gave up a run in the seventh. He had a very soft single, in front of Okamoto. Then a strikeout. Next Buxton hit one right at Andrés Giménez. I thought Giménez should have moved up to get the ball, but he waited back and then made a bad throw to first. It was called a hit, but I thought it was a clear error. A well hit single loaded the bases. Then Ryan Jeffers ripped one to deep left, but Daulton Varsho caught it on the edge of the track. It scored a run. Then another easy grounder to short, but that one was the third out. 16 pitchers. It could have been 3-up, 3-down, since the first two singles were 3 and 5 feet (in the air), with expect batting averages of .050 and .200.
• Tyler Rogers got the eight. It went ground out, strikeout, strikeout.
• Louis Varland pitched the ninth. He’s had a couple of days off, so he was likely to pitch today, not matter what. He gave up a two-out infield single.

On offense, we had 11 hits. Lenyn Sosa and Yohendrick Pinango (who I’m calling Lips, as it is easier to spell than Yohendrick. And Okamoto had the two homers (he came within 4 feet of getting a third homer). 0 for went to Andrés Giménez, Vlad (with a walk) and Jesus Sanchez.

We scored:

• Two in the second: Varsho and Sosa had one out singles, and moved to third on a Simeon Woods Richardson wild pitch. Lips hit a ground ball to first, and Josh Bell threw home. Varsho should have been out by 10 feet, but Bell threw sidearm and missed his catcher. Both runners scored.
• Two in the fourth: Okamoto led off with a homer. An out later, Sosa doubled and Lips singled him home.
• Two in the fifth: Vlad walked and Okamoto homered.
• One in the seventh: Okamoto walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Pinango single.

Jays of the Day: Pinango (.26 WPA), and Okomoto (.24).

Other Award: Sanchez had the number at -.11.

Tomorrow is a 2:00 start time. Dylan Cease (1-1, 2.87) vs. Connor Prielipp (1-0, 4.00)

The Orioles will be without one of their top bullpen arms for the near future.

Ahead of their 7-2 loss to the Yankees on Friday, the Orioles placed right-hander Ryan Helsley on the 15-Day injured list due to inflammation in his right elbow.

The extent of Helsley’s injury remains unclear, with Baltimore selecting righty Albert Suárez’s contract from Triple-A Norfolk to fill the roster void.

Helsley, 31, has experienced a solid start for the Orioles this season, boasting a 2.53 ERA with 15 strikeouts across 10⅔ innings.

Sliding into Baltimore’s closer role in place of the injured Felix Bautista, Helsley has already racked up seven saves in 12 appearances.

Helsley signed a two-year, $28 million deal with the Orioles this offseason following a disappointing stint with the Mets last year.

Helsley opened up to The Post this week about his struggles with the Mets and how he still does not really know the origin of what went wrong in Queens.

“Just for whatever reason, it just didn’t work out,” Helsley told The Post on Thursday. “I felt pretty good while I was there, and I felt like we had an insanely talented team, and for whatever reason we couldn’t win games. It was a weird, weird feeling.

“I’m sure for the guys who are there again this year, I’m sure it feels a little similar. It’s not a fun spot to be in.”

During his time in Queens, the two-time All-Star held an abysmal 7.20 ERA over 22 appearances along with blowing some key games in the season’s final stretch after they acquired him from the Cardinals at the trade deadline.

Helsley’s faults were primarily caused by a pitch-tipping issue, in which hitters could tell what pitch he was throwing based on his hand placement when he became set on the mound.

“Felt like I’d be good one outing, and then the next outing it would kind of creep back in,” Helsley added. “So I wasn’t really able to nip it out all the way completely.

“And then the last month there, I think I switched right as the calendar turned to September, and it felt weird the first few outings.”