Category: Baseball

CHICAGO — Devin Williams’ last two appearances for the Mets have sounded the alarms.

After an ugly performance Wednesday against the Dodgers in a non-save situation, the right-hander got hit with his first blown save this season in Sunday’s ninth inning. Michael Conforto’s game-tying RBI double against Williams helped sink the Mets in their 2-1 loss to the Cubs in 10 innings.

“I missed down the middle, and he put a good swing on it,” Williams said.

Williams allowed a leadoff single to Ian Happ before the pinch hitter Conforto, with one out, delivered to tie the game.

In his previous appearance Williams recorded only one out and allowed four earned runs on three hits and one walk. He owns a 7.11 ERA in seven appearances.

It probably hasn’t helped that his usage has been limited by the scarcity of save situations. Sunday’s appearance was only his third in 14 days.

“That’s what comes with the job,” Williams said. “My job is to be there and be prepared and finish games when they get me the ball and I didn’t do that today.”

The Mets will face the Twins, Rockies and Nationals during a nine-game homestand that begins Tuesday. At some point during that stretch, Juan Soto is expected back in the lineup. Soto has missed the last 14 games rehabbing a right calf strain.

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“He is so irreplaceable, and having him back is going to help us a lot,” Francisco Lindor said. “Hopefully he is back and he’s in the top three hitters in the league, probably the top two. He’s going to help us a ton and lengthen our lineup. But even when he comes we still have got to get it done. It would be unfair to throw everything on him as a team.”

Conforto’s ninth-inning double was the second game-tying hit of his career as a pinch hitter. His other was with the Mets on April 13, 2017 at Miami, a double in the eighth inning.

Brett Baty snapped an 0-for-22 skid with a single in his first plate appearance.

A different lineup — Giancarlo Stanton received a day off after starting six days in a row and Paul Goldschmidt started against a lefty as Ben Rice got a turn at DH — had a different leadoff hitter.

For the first time this season, Rice batted atop the lineup in front of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Goldschmidt.

Rice has been among the game’s best hitters this season, but manager Aaron Boone said the slot would not become typical. Rice more often hits in the heart of the order and was moved up as a result of several off days (Jazz Chisholm Jr., too) and a unique matchup against lefty Cole Ragans, who has been better against righties than lefties.

Sunday, Ragans was not effective against any Yankee, particularly Rice.

Rice, who homered and drew two walks in five plate appearances in the 7-0 rout in The Bronx, is simply hitting everyone.

“I just got to continue to get the reps [against southpaws] and continue to swing at good pitches, work good at-bats,” said Rice, who is killing both lefties (1.332 OPS) and righties (1.255 OPS). “That’s all I can do.”

Even when Rice has been out of the starting lineup against lefties, Boone has been aggressive in pinch hitting Rice early, but reasons to ever sit him are dwindling.

Against Ragans, one of the game’s premier lefties, Rice worked a walk in the first inning right ahead of a Judge home run and then smacked his eighth homer of the season (and fourth in four games) in the second inning.

“I thought he was going to be on base a lot, going to make my job easier to get him in scoring position and drive him in, like I did in the first,” Judge said of the afternoon’s leadoff hitter. “Definitely going to be some headaches for opposing pitching staffs. … He’s top of the league right now.”

Boone said he likes Rice “pretty much against everyone” and emphasized that more goes into the lineup decision than just whether a pitcher is righty or lefty.

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“Quality at-bat after quality at-bat,” Judge said of Rice. “Doesn’t matter who’s on the mound or the situation.”

In what was expected to be his final game with Double-A Somerset before moving up to SWB, Volpe went 2-for-4 while playing seven innings.

Volpe, who has gone 4-for-11 with two steals in four games, is expected to join SWB on Tuesday.

It was a big weekend for Philadelphia sports. The Sixers and Flyers began their first-round playoff series, while the Phillies hosted the first-place Braves for a three-game series. The Flyers came through with a hard fought 3-2 win on Saturday night. But the rest of the weekend did not go well for the city (that was one of the worst playoff performances I’ve ever seen by the Sixers), capped off by a 4-2 loss by the Phillies on Sunday night that looked similar to so many other losses this season.

The game actually started off well. Trea Turner led off with a single, and Kyle Schwarber hit a home run that reviews confirmed did clear the fence before hitting a fan.

When Bryce Harper followed with a walk, it looked like the Phillies might be in for one of those big offensive nights that they give us every so often. But that was not to be. The next three batters got out rather easily, setting the tone for the rest of the night.

Andrew Painter got the start for the Phillies and was generally okay. Unfortunately, with the way things are going for the Phillies, okay isn’t enough. He gave up a solo home run to Michael Harris in the third and then got out of a second-and-third, one out jam in the fourth.

But unless you’re facing the 2026 Phillies, if you keep putting baserunners on, eventually it’s going to cost you. Painter allowed consecutive singles to start the fifth, and manager Rob Thomson chose to pull him in favor of Tim Mayza.

The remainder of the inning was a great representation of how things have gone lately for the Phillies in that they were both bad and unlucky.

Mayza walked his first batter, and then Matt Olson hit a grounder to second that wasn’t hard enough for the Phillies to turn a double play. The Phillies got the out at second, but the Braves tied the game. Austin Riley followed with what was by my calculations, the 200th infield single against the Phillies in the last three weeks, to put the Braves in front 3-2.

Ozzie Albies then hit a ball to left field, and I’m still not sure what Brandon Marsh was trying to do out there, but he sure didn’t catch it. The result was a 4-2 Braves lead.

The Phillies had an opportunity to get back into the game in the bottom of the inning. With Turner on first base and two outs, Schwarber doubled into the corner (at least someone had a good game), but surprisingly, Turner had to hold up at third. Bryce Harper then followed up with a ball to third that he almost beat out, but beating out close plays isn’t what the Phillies do these days.

The Braves seemed like they wanted to let the Phillies back into the game. They couldn’t tack on against some of the lesser lights of the Phillies’ bullpen, and in the seventh, gave the Phillies two baserunners thanks to a walk and hit batter. But Bryson Stott meekly popped up and Rafael Marchan watched strike three to end the “threat.”

The Phillies dashed our hopes one last time in the ninth. A Stott double and Justin Crawford walk put the tying run on base for the top of the order. But as he so often does in clutch spots, Turner was overmatched by a fastball for a strike out, and then Schwarber hit a liner to right field that Ronald Acuna was somehow able to track down to end the game.

At least the Phillies won’t have long to stew in this ugliness. They’ll travel to Chicago to start a three-game series for the Cubs. Monday night’s game will be on at the same time as the Flyers, so the hope is that the hockey team can provide us with a little bit of distraction. I doubt a road trip will do much to improve their play, but it will at least provide a respite for all the fans who were subject to watching this ugliness this weekend.

After a dominant win in Game 1, the Atlanta Braves did just enough in Games 2 and 3 to extend their winning streak to five games. 

Oh, and sweep the Philadelphia Phillies for the first time at Citizens Bank Park since September 2016. 

In a battle of the best and worst run differentials in the league, the Braves outscored the Phillies 16-3 this series.

Tonight began with an inauspicious start for Grant Holmes. A Trea Turner single and then a Kyle Schwarber bomb made it 2-0 in a hurry, doubling the amount of Philly’s runs so far in the series. He’d work around a Harper walk but otherwise emerge unscathed.

The Braves tried to respond in the top of the second inning, where Austin Riley and Dom Smith reached via a HBP and a single, respectively. Ozzie Albies won an ABS challenge on a called strike miles above the zone, but struck out. Mike Yastrzemski laced a ball to right but into the glove of Adolis García, and Mauricio Dubón had a valiant 10-pitch at bat that ended with an ABS-assisted strikeout. 

Holmes settled down to set down the bottom of the Phillies order in the bottom of the second. 

The Braves would cut the lead in half via the paternal pop of Michael Harris II, hitting his fourth home run of the year 102 miles per hour to right field. The lineup card turned over, and nothing came from our big boppers.

Good news and bad news for Holmes in the bottom of the third – he finally did not walk Harper (yay), but he did allow a single (not yay). But that would be the only damage done. 

It looked like the Braves were cooking up something in the top of the fourth after Austin grounded out to start the inning. An Ozzie walk and Yaz double with Dom Smith up? You could feel CJ Nitkowski gearing up for a Moment. But it wasn’t to be – Dom’s pop out to short and Dubon’s flyout to center left them stranded.

Grant was groovin’ in the bottom half of the fourth, only needing eight pitches to set down Marsh, Bohm, and Stott.

Michael collected another knock to lead off the top of the fifth, prompting a mound visit and Tim Mayza loosening in the Phillies bullpen. Painter’s 84th pitch of the night would be smoked 104 mph for a single by Ronald Acuña Jr. Rob Thomson, not wanting to take any more chances this third time through, lifted his rookie in favor of the lefty Mayza. Drake Baldwin won a challenge as a batter (!) and reached on a walk, loading the bases for Matt Olson. 

What ensues is a kind of inning that only happens TO us, never in our favor. But there’s a first time for everything~

Matt tied things up 2-2, reaching on the forceout at second. Austin then drove in another on an infield single. Ozzie followed up with a double to make it 4-2. The rally would die there, with Yaz and Dom were both caught looking for strike three. 

Grant recorded two more outs before departing with Turner at first. His final line was 4.2 innings, four hits, one walk, and four strikeouts, all on 81 pitches. The one real piece of damage was the Schwarber 2-run homer in the first inning. But all things considered, it was encouraging to see Grant really settle down after the first for a solid outing.

Speaking of Schwarber, Aaron Bummer immediately harshed the vibes by allowing a double to Adolis García. But thankfully, he followed it up with quickly getting Harper 0-2 and inducing a groundout.

Michael’s very nice night continued with a single off of new reliever Chase Shugart, making him 3-3. After a Ronald walk, Mike advanced to third on a Drake flyout but neither would come home to score after Kyle Backhus struck out Matt.

Tyler Kinley had some trouble finding the zone to start the bottom of the sixth, walking García, and hitting Bohm. But he would lock back in to escape the jam. Backhaus, Kerkering, and Johnson threw up zeroes, but so did Dylan Lee and Robert Suarez. The only thing of note would be Michael working a walk (!).

Raisel Iglesias entered the bottom of the ninth in his most favorite of situations: one of the save variety. A two run lead facing the bottom of the order? Not dramatic enough, he felt. After a Stott double and Marchán flyout, he would walk nine-hole hitter Crawford to bring us back to the top of the order. Turner struck out to bring Kyle Schwarber to the plate representing the go-ahead run. He would connect with an Iggy changeup to send it rocketing 103 mph… into Ronald’s glove in a spectacular running grab. How sweep it is.

We’ll see the Phils again on Friday as we kick off our next homestand. But tonight, the Braves will have a happy flight to DC.

A no-hitter in South Bend. No, not the good kind.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs ran aground against the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), 12-8.

Starter Connor Noland got blitzed early today. He allowed five runs in the bottom of the first inning and two more in the third. Noland’s final line was seven runs on six hits over three innings. Three of those hits were home runs. He walked three and struck out three.

I guess it’s only fair to say the wind was howling out to left at 17 miles per hour. Seemed like more than that.

Right fielder Kevin Alcántara crushed one 442 feet in the third inning with a man on for his eighth home run on the season. Alcántara went 2 for 3 with two walks.

In the fourth inning, first baseman Jonathon Long hit a solo home run, his second on the season. Long went 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored three times.

Third baseman Pedro Ramirez was 2 for 4 with a walk. He also scored three runs.

Shortstop Ben Cowles was 3 for 4 with a walk and a stolen base. He drove in a run with a two-out single in the seventh.

The Jaguar roars.

Long’s home run went 403 feet.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were extinguished by the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Marlins), 7-6.

Starter Tyler Schlaffer got through the first inning fine, but he was hammered for six runs in the second inning. Schlaffer was charged with six runs, four earned, on six hits over 1.2 innings. Schlaffer walked one and struck out two.

Right fielder Alex Ramirez went 2 for 4 with a double and a walk. He scored one run.

Center fielder Carter Trice was 2 for 5 with a double and one run scored.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were no-hit by the Beloit Sky Carp (Marlins), 10-0.

Brooks Caple started and took the loss after giving up five runs in the second inning. His final line was five runs on four hits over three innings. He struck out five, walked two and hit one batter.

South Bend had three baserunners—Kane Kepley and Cameron Sisneros walked and Kade Snell was hit by a pitch

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans dropped the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox), 7-3.

Starter Mason McGwire was terrific, allowing just one hit and one hit batsman over four scoreless innings. McGwire struck out five and walked no one.

Luis A. Reyes relieved McGwire in the fifth and almost coughed up a six-run lead. He gave up three runs while retiring only one batter before Hayden Frank relieved him with the bases loaded and only one out in the inning. Frank kept any inherited runners from scoring and went on the got the win after 3.2 innings without allowing a run. Frank surrenderd two hits, issued two walks and struck out five.

First baseman Michael Carico hit a two-run home run in the second inning. Carico went 1 for 2 with three walks.

Center fielder Alexey Lumpuy was 2 for 5. He scored once and drove in two.

Second baseman Ty Southisene went 2 for 4 with a double and a stolen base. Southisene scored three runs.

Some Mason McGwire highlights.

Carico’s home run.

Have regrets? That roster you meant to construct carefully but finished the job while on far too many weed gummis? Did you fritter away a couple games you know you would have won if you had it to play again today? Are you waiting for young talent that is almost “almost here”?

Unless you’re the Houston Astros — and trust me you do not want to be the Houston Astros right now — the universe has given a big mulligan to the AL West. Everyone started out 0-0 with 162 to play and after 22 grueling games…pretty much the whole division is 11-11, give or take a dead rat.

The A’s came to their 11-11 record in a very roundabout, roller-coaster-y way losing the first 4, then soon after winning 5 straight on the road against New York teams expected to contend, only to drop 3 of their last 4 and losing a series to the recent laughingstocks of baseball, the Chicago White Sox.

Meanwhile, the Rangers end the week with a record of, you guessed it, 11-11, having sat atop the division much of the first 3 weeks but unable to distance themselves from the .500 mark.

The Angels have been a pleasant surprise, which has to be concerning to their fans since it has gotten them only a record of 11-12.

The Mariners aren’t quite back even, but their series win over Texas has allowed them to creep ever closer at 8-11.

Only the Astros are buried early, having lost 3 starting pitchers, a shortstop, and 15 games out of 23.

What does this all mean? Mostly that the Mariners, widely favored to win the AL West in pre-season predictions, have given their rivals a 1.0-1.5 game head start in a race that is now 140 games. All the drama of the first 3 weeks has resulted in practically nothing with regard to the standings or the .500 mark, unless you happen to live in Houston.

That might be good news for a team like the A’s, who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Gage Jump, and possibly later in the season Leo De Vries, to a team whose most glaring instabilities appear in the rotation and 3B.

It also means that while the A’s haven’t thrived overall, they have survived 1/8 of the season in which Luis Severino and Jacob Lopez on the pitching side, Jacob Wilson, Nick Kurtz, Tyler Soderstrom, and Lawrence Butler on the hitting side, have performed worse than they probably will in the last 7/8.

Of course their rival teams can make the same claims. Colt Emerson is a big time prospect for Seattle and no one thinks Josh Naylor is going to continue batting .146 or that Cal Raleigh will slug .262.

But the over arching point here, for all the teams, is that for whatever has gone wrong so far, whatever glaring holes were strangely not anticipated by Opening Day, whatever tough losses were endured, you got a mulligan and the chance to look forward to a 140 game season that begins tomorrow with everyone at .500 like they were on the morning of March 27th. Unless you’re the Astros, in which case you can go bang a trash can lid against your nuts and see who cries for you.

Heading into their weekend series with the Kansas City Royals, the Yankees had lost seven out of their last 10 games and needed to get back on track.

And that's exactly what they did, outscoring KC 24-6 with nine home runs to complete the three-game sweep.

Leading the charge was Ben Rice, who homered in all three wins, bringing his streak to four straight games with a home run. Rice is now up to eight homers on the season, trailing Aaron Judge by just one HR as the slugger also went deep in Sunday's win.

With 17 home runs combined on the year (the most in the majors among a duo), Rice was asked what it's like "teaming up on opposing pitchers" with Judge and said he's just happy to contribute to winning baseball.

"I don't know about teaming up. It feels good to hit some homers. He's always going to be hitting homers," Rice said. "To be able to hit some along with him is cool for me. You don't really think about it too much to be honest."

Rice led off on Sunday and battled through a six-pitch at-bat to walk in the first inning, providing a baserunner for Judge to drive in on his two-run homer. Manager Aaron Boone spoke highly of Rice's first AB, saying it set the tone for the game and complimented his ability to hit tough pitches.

"Yeah, he's hit a couple on that same pitch," Boone said. "Feel like he got one the other day where it was tight to him like that and he's able to get the barrel to it and keep it fair. Really set a good tone first at-bat of the game, really long, grind it out walk ahead of Aaron's homer. More good ABs from him."

Boone added: "Bottom line is, again, I think he's turning into, or even is one of the really outstanding hitters in the league. That's what he is right now."

The manager went on to say that Rice has been on a "steady ascent" since his debut in 2024 and is now beginning to show his full potential.

"I think he's finding some more holes right now," Boone said. "Last year it was pretty dynamic. What did he end up with, 530 plate appearances, well over .800 (OPS). I think everyone's kind of done the digging where the underlying stuff suggests that it was even better than that probably. So it's just been a steady ascent for him. 

"He did some really good things in '24 for us. Had some struggles in '24 that I think he grew from. Last year was really a breakout season for him and I think a prelude to what he can be, which is I think what we're seeing."

Judge agreed with Boone's assessment, calling Rice's performance so far this season as "top of the league." 

"I know he's going to be on base a lot so it's going to make my job easy to get him into scoring position or drive him in like we did in the first," Judge said. "It definitely will be some headaches for opposing pitching staff. What Benny has done so far this year and will continue to do is top of the league right now."

The duo will look to keep it going this week when the Yanks face the Boston Red Sox for the first time, starting a three-game series on Tuesday at Fenway Park.

After getting pounded 7-1 on Friday at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Colorado Rockies bounced back with back-to-back come-from-behind victories. On Saturday, they were down 2-0 after just two pitches but ended up coming back to win 4-3 by putting up two runs in the sixth. On Sunday, after some “fishy” accusations, the Rockies once again climbed out of a 2-0 hole and ended up squeaking out a 9-6 dramatic victory.

Considering the Dodgers hadn’t lost to an NL West team in 2026, nor had they lost back-to-back games, this is a pretty big deal. Additionally, the Rockies hadn’t won a series — home or away — against the Dodgers since 2022. 2022!

So my questions to you this evening are this:

1. What are your biggest takeaways from this series so far?
2. Do you think the Rockies will win Game 4 tomorrow night?

Let us know in the comments!

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

Austin Hedges’ Sunday wasn’t too shabby. 

First, his Guardians picked up an 8-4 win over the Orioles, and then the former World Series winner got engaged on the field at Progressive Field on Sunday.

Hedges asked his longtime girlfriend, Lexi Dickson, for her hand in marriage, with a message flashed across the stadium video board, and his teammates looked on. She said yes, of course, and those inside the ballpark cheered. 

Hedges, who has been dating Dickson since November 2024, told reporters that he had the ring since spring training and that he had figured out what his plan was going to be “only a couple weeks ago.” 

The Progressive Field’s jumbotron read, “Lexi will you marry me?” to kick off the celebratory moment. From there, Hedges got down on one knee.

The 33-year-old catcher was going to propose whether the Guardians won or lost, but he certainly sounded happy that his ball club got the victory. 

“I was really hoping we won the game,” he said, according to Cleveland.com. “I was going to do it regardless, but I really wanted to win that game to make it extra special.”

“There were a lot of nerves, a lot of nerves,” Hedges added. “I’m always nervous for baseball games … and just trying to stay present, knowing that there were some activities after. But it’s a special day. Special to be able to soak it all in.”

The couple wasn’t planning any sort of flashy celebration on Sunday night. 

Hedges said that they were going to “go to dinner and then just have a night to ourselves and enjoy it.”

The Guardians’ win on Sunday helped them take the four-game series against the Orioles. 

Cleveland currently sits atop the American League Central with a 13-10 record and a half game ahead of the Tigers. 

Hedges won’t have too much time to celebrate his engagement with the Guardians back on the field on Monday to host the Astros as they begin a three-game series at Progressive Field.

Ryan Weathers was dominant Sunday.

The inconsistent lefty the Yankees traded for from Miami this offseason has had a reliably unpredictable start to his tenure in The Bronx, but against a Royals team that’s lost seven in a row and giving the Mets a run for their money when it comes to ineptitude, Weathers was dominant.

In a 7-0 victory, he tossed 7 ¹/₃ shutout innings and gave up just five hits and a walk while striking out eight.

It’s starts like this one the Yankees envisioned when they added him to the rotation in the offseason, looking to harness his tantalizing repertoire.

The results weren’t great in his previous start, when the lefty allowed four homers to the Angels, but Weathers also gave up just one other hit in that outing, while walking none and striking out 10.

“There was a lot of good in the last outing,’’ Aaron Boone said before the game. “It was a case of a team [the Angels] swinging the bat well and not getting his fastball where he needed to. He had a hard time locating it.”

Overall, Boone said he felt Weathers had been “throwing the ball really well. His stuff has been excellent.”

Weathers said his location was much better Sunday, missing away on pitches near the corner, instead of in the middle of the plate.

“There was a lot of work between starts, focusing on location and just relaxing,” Weathers said.

Now they have to try to keep him there.

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It’s part of a pattern Weathers has shown so far with the Yankees, as he was solid in his debut in Seattle, struggled against his former team, the Marlins, in his second start, was outstanding versus the A’s and then shaky against the Angels before Sunday’s promising start with Kansas City in town.

It probably didn’t hurt that Weathers, who got a total of two runs of support in three of his first four outings, saw the Yankees offense erupt against overmatched Cole Ragans on Sunday at the Stadium.

Aaron Judge said of Weathers, “I was just happy we were able to get him some runs. He’s pitched his butt off. We haven’t really given him support.”

After giving up a one-out single to Bobby Witt Jr. in the first, Weathers had a three-run lead the next time he stepped on the mound, courtesy of a Judge two-run homer and a sacrifice fly by Austin Wells.

The Yankees tacked on a run in the second on a Ben Rice home run and three more in the fifth, when Trent Grisham went deep.

By then, Weathers was well into another terrific showing.

He retired 14 of 15 following Witt’s first-inning base hit and then got some help from the Royals in the sixth.

Elias Díaz singled with one out and Witt had a two-out double to center later in the inning. The slow-footed Díaz was unwisely sent home and a nice relay from Grisham to shortstop José Caballero to Wells at the plate was in plenty of time to keep Kansas City off the board.

Bryan Woo came to the ballpark seemingly on a mission today: to make the Rangers’ day miserable. So far this season, despite some solid performances, Woo has failed to notch a win, with three no-decisions and two losses. Today, he stepped on the hill, and, one inning aside, he looked as sharp as he has all season. While Woo certainly has the ability to flex his power, show off with a 97 mph fastball right at the numbers, today was all about keeping everyone off balance and dominating with soft contact, jam shots, and precision control. After the game, Dan Wilson commented on Woo’s mindset today:

“I think from pitch one you could see a little more determination on his face today, and wanting to really go out this afternoon and give us a good ballgame.”

Woo echoed much of the same sentiment:

“Being in the zone consistently, throughout the game, and not fishing for punchouts, just consistency in the zone and executing. And if they’re punchouts, if they’re quick outs, whatever they are, just take them as they come.”

The mindset showed as Woo used his fastballs to extreme effectiveness today, keeping the Rangers off balance and using his sinker to elicit weak contact and befuddled swings. Woo did an excellent job of keeping the ball in the infield as well, bringing about six ground balls and three infield fly balls to go against two hits from the Rangers today. Woo was near perfect in preventing free passes as well, issuing his only walk of the game to Corey Seager in the 7th inning (thanks partially to a savvy challenge from Mitch Garver in the first that flipped Seager’s first at-bat around from a 3-0 to a 2-1 count and eventual popout). Otherwise, Woo was playing in the zone all day, keeping hitters honest and tallying six strikeouts along the way.

The Rangers began to figure Woo out around the third time through the order, as a poorly timed walk to Seager to lead off the seventh, followed by a single Wyatt Langford and an HBP to Joc Pederson, loaded the bases. Josh Jung nearly got a hold of one but drove it out to the wall for a sacrifice fly as Seager ran in to score. A double from Evan Carter would bring home Langford and give the Rangers two runs off of Woo. Josh Smith would end the inning with a soft grounder to second, but the damage had been done, and Woo’s day came to a close at 7 innings pitched, 2 ER, 1 walk, and 6 Ks.

Despite the strong six innings, Woo struggled to hide his frustration with his difficulties in the 7th. But he remained calm, limited the damage, and finished the inning. Even so, Woo was very critical of the free pass and the HBP, expressing so after the game:

“The leadoff walk, number one. Hitting Joc, stupid. But it’s just the concept of keeping teams down when they’re down, not giving them any life, not letting them have any momentum, not letting them breathe in any way, just keeping our foot on the gas. You give up the two there and then it’s like, the at-bats for Gabe the next inning are just more stressful. And there’s no need for that if I just do my job. Yeah. I’m still beating myself up over it. It’s just little things like that. It’s like, if they were to hit their way through that inning it’s one thing, but for me to give them free passes, that’s another thing.”

Despite the negative self-talk, it seems to me that Woo is as locked in as he’s ever been, consistently focused on improving and not letting small mistakes eat at him too much:

“I give myself tonight to be pissed, and then once I wake up tomorrow, it’s a new day, and we get on it again…I try to take the positive and analyze the negative. So yeah. Six good and one bad. Try to weigh it in that way too, proportionally, like, don’t be too hard on yourself but take the good and learn from the bad, and it is what it is. Yeah, I hold high standards for myself but there’s a balance there too of not being too hard on yourself.”

The Mariners’ offense also put on a mighty display today to follow up on their strong performance from last night. Rob Refsnyder got the scoring started today with his first hit as a Mariner, a lead-off homerun off the first pitch of the day from MacKenzie Gore. Having just returned from paternity leave, it seems dad power is back on the menu!

Refsnyder spoke after the game on his struggles getting started here in Seattle:

“I feel thankful for my teammates, trying to help me through. I don’t think you ever want to slump, especially early in the year, new team, new city, so I’ve definitely been hard on myself, but I’ve had a lot of help. Our mental coach, Bern [Adam Bernero] has helped me a lot…And especially as a platoon guy, it kind of stinks because you have a couple of days to sit on it, too. But the most frustrating thing is that we feel like we’re playing decent baseball, just the results as a whole haven’t been exactly where we want it to be, but it’s a good group, and we honestly believe in each other. Hopefully this series we can kind of build on that.”

Refsnyder has had a difficult start to the season but remains committed to taking advantage of the opportunities and expressed thanks for the fan support he has received so far despite his cold start:

“I really appreciate, there’s been some fans out in early batting practice, even today in the outfield, who have been really supportive. That helps. Honestly, I’m human, so we hear a lot of things. So just to have the fan support, it meant a lot, it’s pretty cool. I’ve played in some places where you get booed at home and things like that, and it definitely wears on you…[The fans said] just supportive things like you got it, we believe in you, keep going, just nice stuff like that. And it means a lot when you’re going through it, wondering who knows if I’m ever going to get another hit. So just to have that support, honestly, it genuinely meant a lot. It was nice.”

Hopefully, today marks a turnaround moment for the journeyman outfielder and the spark for a successful run for him here in Seattle.

The Mariners wouldn’t end the scoring there, putting on a show of strength and power today in front of the hometown fans. In the second, a leadoff walk for Mitch Garver set up JP Crawford for a two-run home run of his own.

With the swing, Crawford became the first player to get a hit off of Gore’s curveball all year and the second lefty in the league with two career homeruns off of Gore (Michael Harris II being the other).

Randy Arozarena followed that up with a two-run homer of his own in the 5th. A Julio Rodriguez single put him on first and in a 0-2 count against the curveball Randy hit it off the left field foul pole to put the Mariners up 5-0.

The Mariners were relentless against Gore today in a way they have not been before. In the previous three games in which the Mariners faced Gore over 18 innings, they scored 1 run, struck out 25 times, and walked 3 times, a record that certainly suggests today’s game should have gone differently. Today, however, the Mariners sparked Gore for 5 runs on 7 hits over 5 innings today, a marked improvement from previous outings. On top of that, as I mentioned earlier, coming into this start, Gore had not given up a hit all year on his curveball. 4 of the Mariners’ 8 hits came on Gore’s curveball, and two of those were home runs. Whatever change was made in the clubhouse, the Mariners have finally managed to get to a guy who has seemingly had their number over the last year or so.

Muñoz came in and shut the door in typical fashion in the 9th to put the bow on one of the most complete Mariners games I’ve seen so far this season. The Mariners have struggled in various areas so far this season – the bullpen not showing up, the starter struggling through the first 5 innings, or the offense doing their best impression of a ghost – but today the Mariners really put it all together. All the ingredients were there: a dominant start from Woo, who went on a solid run, run support from the top of the order, and the bullpen came in and shut down the game without incident. Hopefully, this is a sign that the Mariners are turning it around and maintaining the strong performances we are used to seeing from last year. There is another division-winning team here; it remains to be seen if that team can show up consistently.

Austin Hedges had the best Sunday.

Hedges scored the first run in the Cleveland Guardians' 8-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles, then saved his best score for the postgame, when he proposed to his girlfriend, Lexi Dickinson, on the field.

With a few friends and teammates present, a "Lexi, will you marry me?" message was displayed on the scoreboard at Cleveland's Progressive Field.

"Really hoping to win that game," Hedges said. "I was going to do it regardless, but I really wanted to win that game to make it extra special."

Hedges, 33-year-old, 12-year major-league veteran catcher, admitted to being nervous the entire day.

"Lots of nerves, lots of nerves," Hedges said. "A lot of nerves about – I'm always nervous for baseball games. I mean, obviously that's a good team over there and we want to win the series. And just trying to stay present, knowing that there was some activities after. But special day, special day to be able to soak it all in."

Hedges said that he's had the engagement ring since spring training and was looking for the right moment to propose to Dickinson, who he has had been dating since November 2024. After the successful proposal, Hedges' teammates joined in an on-field celebration.

Hedges has played six of his 12 big-league seasons in Cleveland, and also spent time with the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers, with whom he was a member of the team's 2023 World Series winners.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Austin Hedges gets engaged after Guardians' win over Orioles

It had been a laborious weekend for the Giants bats. After two — count ‘em two — high intensity games in which they scored 17 total runs on 31 hits over 21 innings, the offense looked relatively exhausted in Sunday’s 3-0 loss to Washington. Spring’s bipolar nature abruptly swapped the tank-top heat of summer for an abrasive, chill-laced wind. Sunday was a day of indoor batting practice, of clubhouse breakfast buffets, of yawns in the dugout. They team had secured a series win and won three in a row. Didn’t they earn a day to just chill, to just zone out in the batter’s box and suck seeds on the bench with your cleats up? What does the good book advise? I say, unto thee: Pack all thou grinding and disciplined at-bats, thou situational contact, thou two-baggers and round -trippers and rallies and swipt bases into six days in order to rest on the seventh.

Obviously I don’t actually think the offense played with this level of lackadaisicalness, but it did, at time, look like they took these words to heart. Hitters truly did observe at the plate. Their swings were often hole-y as lefty opener PJ Poulin, struggling veteran Miles Mikolas, and recent Triple-A arrival Andrew Alvarez cruised through 9 shutout frames.

Mikolas, who lugged a 11.49 ERA (15.2 IP) into this game, scattered four singles across four scoreless innings while striking out 4. His four-seam fastball and its  -3.3 RV/100 earned three of his four strikeouts. Previous opponents had hit .316 and slugged .526 against the pitch… but not these opponents. Seemingly non-descript fastballs exposed out over the plate proved fatally feisty for Willy Adames and Heliot Ramos. Four of six swings elicited by the pitch came up empty. Only one of them was put into play. 

Frustratingly unproductive outs added up to an 0-for-11 day with runners in scoring position. And I joke that the offense took the day off, but the reality is some work was being done because the table was set multiple times. San Francisco out-hit Washington 8 to 7 and also got a boost from three defensive errors. 11 at-bats ain’t nothing to sneeze at. Those chances were more than enough rungs on a ladder to help the Giants climb out of their three-run hole. The difference proved to be a lack of decisiveness. A 2-run shot that echoed Ramos’s game-tying homer on Saturday, or his 3-run blast on Friday night, was glaringly absent.

Instead with a chance to bring home a run or two, the Giants batters piled up six strikeouts and also hit into a double play. They had a runner standing on second base with nobody out in the 6th, 8th, and 9th innings…and that runner managed to reach third just once. 

And to be clear, no tension or suspense was built in these at-bats with runners on. These were not gritty, 10-pitch showdowns, or spirit-filling shows of defiance and resistance. They were blink-and-you-missed-it outs. A candlelight in a windstorm. Mere whimpers. Twice Drew Gilbert and Patrick Bailey reached with two outs to set-up an RBI chance for Willy Adames, and twice Willy Adames flailed at strike three. The first time, in the 2nd, Adames was felled on three straight fastballs from Mikolas. In the 4th, he managed to see four. 

After Casey Schmitt led off the 6th with a double, southpaw Andrew Alvarez, who had been called up from the Rochester Red Wings earlier in the day, dispatched Jung Hoo Lee with a sinker, slider, curveball. Easy as A-B-C. The hot-hand Ramos fouled off three pitches in the middle of the zone before being called out on strikes. In the 8th with a runner on third, pinch hitter Jerar Encarnacion waved helplessly at an 0-2 curveball from Alvarez to end the innings. Easy as 1-2-3. 

Just another outing of little to no run support behind a solid Robbie Ray performance. After getting beat by a pair of solo shots in Cincinnati, Ray swallowed another bitter pill in D.C., logging his second quality start of the year as well as his third loss.

The veteran had been excellent for four innings, uncharacteristically pitching with efficiency and count leverage. The Nationals recorded three soft-contact singles in the first three innings, and Ray did well to manage the undeserved traffic.

Jacob Young led off the 2nd with a bloop single, but Ray softened the lead-off hit with back-to-back strikeouts. In the 3rd, Keibert Ruiz managed an infield single on a soft roller and advanced into scoring position after a James Wood walk. More troublesome soft contact off the bat off of Curtis Mead resulted in a heads-up defensive play by Willy Adames to expose some poor baserunning by the lead runner Ruiz. Brady House then flew out to deeeeep center field before Ray escaped the jam by inducing a routine flyout from Abrams. 

The relief of that escape lasted one more inning before Washington broke through the scoreless deadlock in the 5th.

A bunt single from Nasim Nunez was the inconspicuous start to the Nationals 3-run rally. Nunez promptly stole second and from scoring position scored on Keibert Ruiz’s double — a “double” really in name only. Off the bat, the ball looked to be destined to be caught. It boasted an xBA of .170. It lingered in the air. Perhaps the wind pushed it further away from Ramos than expected. He initially broke back towards the wall before course correcting to the right. The ball clipped the end of his glove before finding grass. An opportunity for out missed there. But Ramos got the ball quickly into Adames in shallow left. Nunez had a late break for home, and the relay to the plate beat him by plenty, but Bailey couldn’t corral the hop before prematurely bringing his glove over for the tag. The baseball rolled freely up the line as Nunez came to a complete stop, turned around, and cheekily leaned on the plate. 

Either end of that play could’ve produced an out. Instead the Nationals claimed the lead and then extended it. Two pitches later, Mead jumped on a first pitch change-up to plate the second and third runs of the day. 

The three earned runs allowed are so far a season high for Ray. He went on to bag two more strikeouts (7 K on the day) and complete the 6th before being relieved by scoreless appearances by Keaton Winn and JT Brubaker. All for naught though. The crooked number in the 5th proved to be a bridge too far for San Francisco’ listless lineup. Considering the looming midweek series against LA, and the arms they’ll be facing (Yamamoto, Ohtani, Glasnow), the offense might be kicking themselves for shrugging off the opportunities that presented themselves today. 

There should be no rest for a 9-13 team.  

WHAT A WEEKEND!!

Nebraska baseball sweeps USC and solidly plants itself in 2nd place in the Big Ten standings. This is the first sweep of a ranked opponent in Haymarket Park since that legendary 2015 Texas series. It also happened to be the highest attended series in the Big Ten era of Haymarket Park, and the 5th highest all time. Three straight walk-off wins, including 2 by way of the 10 run rule has the Huskers sitting at 15 in the RPI, putting them in the mix to reach their biggest goal every year, hosting a regional.

The Trojans were actually the first to score, getting to Husker starting pitcher Gavin Blachowicz right away in the top of the first. Kevin Takeuchi singled up the middle and advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw. He came home a couple batters later on a Jack Basseer RBI single.

Nebraska responded right away, with DH Jeter Worthley burning the Trojan center fielder and racing all the way to third for a triple. Case Sanderson drove a ball to the wall in straight away center that bounced off the glove of the center fielder and off the wall. He strode into second with an RBI double and remained there all of 1 pitch as Dylan Carey pulled a ball down the left field line for an RBI double of his own, and the first big roar from the 7600 in attendance as the Huskers took a 2-1 lead.

Things went completely sideways for Blachowicz in the 2nd. He was squeezed early by the home plate umpire and walked 3 batters on 3-2 counts, though he was able to pick off the first one. Backed into a corner, Blachowicz grooved one right down the middle that Takeuchi hammered into the Party Porch for a 3 run home run. USC’s best home run hitter, Augie Lopez, then sky-ed a ball that not one Husker defender even moved to attempt to give chase as it cleared the USC bullpen completely. The Trojans put up a 4 spot and take a 5-2 lead.

The Huskers turned to new reliever, Ty Horn to steady the ship, and he did just that. Horn was spectacular, pitching 5 innings, scattering 6 hits and giving up 1 run on a solo home run, again by Augie Lopez in the top of the 5th. Horn struck out 4 and more importantly, walked zero.

The Husker offense went on a tear starting in the 3rd. Carey on a big day, even for him obliterated a ball that despite the 42 degree launch angle, which generally results in a pop fly, still easily cleared the left field fence into the mass of humanity occupying the outfield berm. Carey would go 4 for 5 on the day, with the aforementioned double and home run, good for 2 RBIs.

Nebraska took the lead back for good in the 4th. Rhett Stokes hit a ball hard up the middle that the short stop bobbled for an error. A perfect hit and run call (one of many by the coaching staff on the weekend) had Trey Fikes hit a ball right to where the second baseman was, but vacated to go cover second base. That put 2 on for Mac Moyer against the clearly unraveling Trojan starting pitcher. Moyer did the rare thing for him and pulled the ball and as the right fielder kept drifting back and back, the crowd again went from a murmur to an all out roar as what happened so many times on the weekend happened again, a USC outfielder couldn’t make a play at the wall, and a 3 run home run landed in the first row of the party porch.

The Trojan started remained in there and issued back to back full count walks to Worthley and Sanderson before being pulled. Carey hit a ball to shallow center, his lone out of the day, but Worthley was able to tag up at second base and slide safely into third. That would prove to be very important, as USC uncorked a wild pitch, and Worthley scampered home to put NU up 7-5.

The wild pitch would rear its ugly head for the Trojans again in the 5th, Trey Fikes bunted Josh Overbeek and Rhett Stokes to 3rd and 2nd. Then with Jeter Worthley up with 2 out, the wild pitch hit the backstop. The catcher threw it back to the pitcher covering home, but over his head as Beek slid in. Stokes had rounded third hard and upon seeing the ball by the pitcher took off for home. The first baseman grabbed the ball and tried to toss it back to the pitcher, but his toss was high, and Bolt’s Boys took a soul crushing 9-6 lead.

The onslaught continued. Sanderson led off the 6th with another walk. Carey singled to center to put runners on the corners. Jett Buck took a 1-2 pitch right to the side of the helmet, knocking it clean off. He gathered it up and sprinted to first to load the bases for Drew Grego. Grego has been red hot all series, and this was his magnum opus. The pitcher, rattled from just hitting a guy in the head, put one right down Main Street, and Grego took it for a ride. A second 400+ foot home run in as many days, this one a grand slam. The crowd exploded.

The Huskers added two more in the 6th inning to go up 15-6, but couldn’t get the 10th run differential. That is until the bottom of the 8th. Mac Moyer was hit by a pitch, but not awarded first. Bolt challenged the call and won. A passed ball allowed Moyer to take second base. The Case Sanderson poked a single down the left field line and Moyer ran home and then immediately took off with the rest of his team to catch Sanderson who by this time had run into the middle of center field. Fear not, the team has gotten good at tracking down batters after walk offs, this was their 3rd walk off of the 3 game series against USC. Those Gatorade containers made the 350 foot trek to dead center and doused the Huskers’ first baseman.

Nebraska hits the road again, traveling down to Kansas to attempt to avenge the loss two weeks ago at the hands of the Jayhawks (still the only loss at Haymarket Park all season). They then go to Illinois for the weekend, to take on the Illini who occupy 8th place in the Big Ten currently. If they continue to take care of business the rest of the way, the attendance records set this weekend will be a thing of the past.