Category: Baseball

The early returns on A.J. Minter suggest the Mets may have added a significant piece to their bullpen puzzle. 

The left-hander, back this week after a 13-month absence while rehabbing from lat surgery, had two straight strong outings to boast as Saturday’s play began. 

He was utilized in a high-leverage spot Friday, summoned to get the final out of the fifth inning with a runner at second base before returning to record two additional outs in the sixth. Minter finished his one-inning stint with two strikeouts, giving him four over two innings since his return. 

“It’s good to just be out there, but I do feel like I could do better,” Minter said before the Mets beat the Marlins 6-1 at Citi Field in which he did not pitch. “I am missing some balls over the middle of the plate that I wish I could have back and so I feel like I am a little rusty, but I will take these zeroes on the board and I am just excited to be out there helping the team.” 

Minter, who arrived before last season on a two-year contract worth $22 million, owns a 1.38 ERA over 15 appearances with the Mets, with 18 strikeouts in 13 innings. 

His return has provided manager Carlos Mendoza with a second proven lefty reliever to pair with Brooks Raley. 

With Freddy Peralta struggling Friday to finish the fifth, Mendoza summoned Minter to face Jakob Marsee following Kyle Stowers’ RBI double that sliced the Mets’ lead to 6-4. Minter got ahead in the count 1-2 before throwing a cutter out of the strike zone that Marsee swung and missed. 

Minter returned to the mound for the sixth and got two outs, which included a behind-the-back grab by the pitcher on Owen Caissie’s grounder that became an out. 

“I was pleased with a wraparound inning — and it felt good for me to go back out there for that second time,” Minter said. “Definitely some positives in there, and I want to be in those big, high-leverage situations.” 

Mendoza cited Minter’s importance against a heavily lefty Marlins lineup on a night he didn’t want to use Raley. 

“For me to be able to be able to continue to play the matchups in those middle innings without having to worry about what is going to happen when the next at-bat comes in, those guys are in a good place,” Mendoza said. “And for us to have those guys every time they are available, every night, we are going to be pretty good back there.” 

Minter averaged 92.9 mph with his four-seam fastball, which is below his comfort level. 

“I topped to 94 and that was encouraging to see,” Minter said. “Every game I have kind of increased it slowly, gradually, and hopefully we will continue to see the same issue.” 

Minter suspects team brass will be cautious, at least early in his return, and abstain from using him on consecutive days. But Minter said he wants to be treated like the other relievers. 

“I told Mendy that I don’t want him to cater to me and babysit me,” Minter said. “I want to help this team. But I know them, they are going to try to help me and take care of me, but whenever they need me I will be ready to go.”

Is it just me, or did anyone else really need that?

Not gonna lie, the Denver Nuggets’ first-round exit is still weighing heavily. Then the collapse of the Colorado Avalanche made things feel a billion times worse. Then, after the Colorado Rockies posted a 13-14 record last month, they’ve gone downhill at 6-19 this month heading into last night. The Ethan Holliday injury news was the final disappointing straw that broke the camel’s back.

Things were feeling a little “wake me up when May ends.”

So some Mile High Magic in the ninth inning for an 8-6 walk-off win over the San Francisco Giants last night felt especially nice. With a five-game losing streak snapped, the Rox will look to get some momentum going in the other direction in a Saturday night showdown.

Ryan Feltner is back and scheduled to start for the Rockies after a stint on the 15-day injured list for ulnar nerve inflammation, followed by a rehab assignment in the minors. Feltner’s return is another bit of much-needed good news, as the Rockies are dealing with a slew of injuries across the lineup. His last MLB start came back on April 23rd, when he left the game with the injury after two innings, giving up two runs on two hits and a walk to the San Diego Padres. Over the course of the beginning of the season, Feltner was 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA across five starts.

In his final rehab start, Feltner pitched five innings for the Albuquerque Isotopes, giving up just one run on six hits with five strikeouts. He progressed nicely while rehabbing in the minors, building up to that efficient start and upping his pitch count along the way. He’ll look to handle his next big test in his return.

The San Francisco Giants are set to start Adrian Houser, who is 2-4 in 10 starts with a 5.30 ERA, 31 strikeouts, and 19 walks. Houser has cleaned up some of his early-season struggles. In four of his first five outings, he gave up four or more earned runs. Since then, he’s on a five-game stretch of surrendering three or fewer earned runs. His last start, this past Saturday against the Chicago White Sox, was the shakiest of that stretch, as he gave up three runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings pitched. His last start against the Rockies came when he was a member of the White Sox, going eight innings and giving up two runs on four hits in a 3-2 win at Coors last July.

The two squads are separated by just a game and a half at the bottom of the NL West. The Rockies look to carry their late-game fireworks into a strong outing tonight to close the gap.

First Pitch: 7:10 PM MDT

TV: Rockies TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM , KNRV 1150

Giants SB Nation site:McCovey Chronicles

Lineups:

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

You guys. YOU GUYS. Orioles Magic is very much still alive. And it. Is. Glorious.

The O’s pulled off their most incredible comeback of the year — maybe their most incredible in many years — by storming back from a four-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth for a chaotic 6-5 win over the Blue Jays. Noted Oriole antagonist Jeff Hoffman melted down for the Jays as the Birds sent nine batters to the plate in their thrilling final frame, capped off by Pete Alonso’s walkoff single.

This, my friends, was the definition of a miraculous win. The Orioles entered the bottom of the ninth as a team seemingly destined to a third straight loss, one that was shaping up to be one of their most excruciating of the year. They were dead and buried. No hopes of survival — until the impossible happened.

I tell you, folks. These 2026 Orioles are not for the faint of heart. The last game I recapped was the Orioles’ unbelievable 13-inning win over the Rays on Memorial Day, which I classified as “without question the gutsiest victory of the year.” But now I think we have a new holder of that title.

Let’s jump right in to the epic comeback. To set the stage, the Orioles were trailing, 5-1, after eight innings of total failure with runners in scoring position. The Blue Jays’ lead was big enough that it wasn’t even a save situation, so Toronto manager John Schneider brought in Jeff Hoffman, the team’s former closer who lost the job earlier this year. It was a stress-free, low-leverage situation for the struggling Hoffman to get three easy outs, right?

HAHAHA. Oh, Jeff. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.

He started the inning without issue, striking out Samuel Basallo, on which the O’s DH tweaked a pec muscle on his last swing. He returned to the dugout in pain, but said after the game that he thinks he avoided serious injury.

At that point, Hoffman’s outing went delightfully haywire. He drilled Coby Mayo on a fastball, giving the Orioles their first baserunner since the sixth inning. Leody Taveras followed with a triple into the right-field corner, plating Mayo to make it a 5-2 game. Things were starting to happen, but still the O’s would need to get three more runs before Hoffman retired two more batters. The odds were overwhelmingly stacked against them.

Not for long. Jackson Holliday ripped an RBI single to right, and suddenly it was a 5-3 game with the possible tying run coming to the plate. Hoffman, instead of buckling down, simply buckled. He hung a slider that Colton Cowser ripped into the right-field corner, putting the possible tying run at second. Wait…is this going to happen?

Hoffman’s meltdown continued as he became utterly unable to throw strikes. He walked Taylor Ward on four pitches. Gunnar Henderson stepped up with the bases loaded, and impressively, he stayed within himself and didn’t swing out of his heels trying to be a hero. Henderson patiently worked a five-pitch walk, forcing home Holliday to make it a 5-4 game.

Schneider had finally seen enough of Hoffman, about four batters too late, giving a Hail Mary call to the bullpen for journeyman Connor Seabold. The right-hander, who probably didn’t expect he’d have to be used in this game, seemed woefully unprepared. He, too, had trouble finding the strike zone, and Adley Rutschman gritted out an outstanding at-bat, taking a 3-2 pitch just off the outside for ball four.

WE. ARE. TIED. Cowser trotted home from third as the Camden Yards crowd of 32,645 went nuts. As the Orioles erupted in their dugout, the energy was drained out a shell-shocked Blue Jays team. The only thing left was for the Birds to go ahead and win it.

Pete Alonso delivered. After taking two balls and a strike, he jumped on a fastball and bounced it through the wide open hole on the right side. BASE HIT!! ORIOLES WIN!! I CAN’T STOP CAPITALIZING EVERYTHING!! The ecstatic O’s poured out of the dugout and ripped Alonso’s shirt off, possibly as some kind of ode to the Tarps Off movement but probably because they were just so excited they didn’t know what to do with themselves.

My goodness. The fans who didn’t leave early got to see one heck of an ending. Which is good, because the eight and a half innings of baseball they saw before that were hardly worth the price of admission.

I would have had a lot more to say about this if the Orioles had lost, but there was a truly tragicomic amount of failure from the O’s offense for most of the game. The Birds squandered one opportunity after another in the most painful ways possible, looking nothing like the offense that eventually exploded in the ninth.

Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage issued seven walks — seven! — yet somehow gave up only one run, which almost seems mathematically impossible. But every time the Orioles had a rally going, they did the worst possible thing at the worst possible time. Yesavage walked three batters in the third inning alone, and Gunnar Henderson’s RBI single provided the O’s an early 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, with the bases loaded and one out, Alonso hacked wildly at the first pitch — again, after Yesavage walked three of the previous five batters — and grounded into an inning-ending double play. At that point, my frustration with the Polar Bear’s recent play was at an all-time high. I’d say he redeemed himself later.

A nearly identical situation played out in the fourth. Again, the O’s loaded the bases with one out against a wild Yesavage. And you’ll never believe what happened! (That was sarcasm. You will easily believe what happened.) Jeremiah Jackson tapped a grounder to third. Kazuma Okamoto fielded, stepped on the bag, and fired to first. Yup. It’s another inning-ending double play, Jackson’s 10th of the year, tying for the dubious MLB lead. Yesavage ended up gutting out five innings and left the game in line for the win. In a game in which, again, he had seven walks.

The GIDPs didn’t stop when Yesavage left the game. In the sixth, the O’s greeted reliever Yariel Rodríguez with a walk and a single to start the inning, and again they came up empty. Coby Mayo hit the ball hard but directly to shortstop Andrés Giménez, who promptly turned the 6-4-3 twin killing. Goodness. A weak Taveras strikeout ended another utterly deflating inning. At that point the Orioles were 1-for-7 in the game with runners in scoring position, and 1-for-17 in the series. I started to think they’d never get another hit in a clutch spot. Boy, was I glad to be wrong about that.

Meanwhile, Brandon Young delivered a whale of an effort — a season-high 6.2 innings and just two runs — but a porous O’s defense betrayed him in the fourth. With two outs and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first, Jesús Sánchez lofted a fly ball to deep center. Taveras got a bad break, then got himself turned around as he raced backward, and the ball deflected off his glove as he attempted to make a lunging grab at the warning track. Guerrero raced around the bases to score the tying run. It was scored as a double, but a better center fielder would’ve made the catch with ease.

Taveras wasn’t done with the ugly defense. The next batter, Ernie Clement looped a single into center as Sánchez rounded third. Taveras might’ve had a play at the plate if he had fielded it cleanly. Instead, he dropped the ball on the transfer, allowing Sánchez to score without a throw. It’s been said before, but this O’s outfield defense is a real problem. The Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead.

It wasn’t just the Orioles’ offense and defense that struggled. So too did the bullpen. Anthony Nunez continued his recent swoon by giving up two runs in the eighth, with no help from an again-ineffective Keegan Akin, who let both inherited runners score. Albert Suárez, back with the Birds, gave up a run in the ninth to make it 5-1. And that’s how we got to that aforementioned bottom of the ninth with the Orioles in a deep hole. Without that remarkable comeback, there would’ve been a lot of blame to go around. I don’t know about you, though, but I’m suddenly feeling a lot more generous.

What a comeback. What a victory. These 2026 Orioles, man. Just when you think you’re out, they pull you back in.

Drew Rasmussen put in one of his worst performances of the year, getting through just four innings while giving up five runs.

Four of those runs came in the first, an uncharacteristically poor inning from the Rays righty. He gave up a single and then two walks — this is a guy who had, before today, given up eight walks all season. And then, probably eager to avoid a bases loaded walk, he threw a mediocre cutter to Wade Meckler, a mediocre hitter (with two career home runs), and Meckler hit it out for a grand slam.

In hindsight, the game ended there. But it’s not like the Rays had no chances.

They came up in the bottom of the first inning down 4-0, and Yandy Diaz led off with a home run. Aha, we all thought, the Rays are down but they are going to chip away at this lead!

That optimism seemed to be warranted. Jonathan Aranda singled and Junior Caminero walked. One out later, Chandler Simpson walked to load the bases.

But Ben Williamson struck out. Yeah, that happens. But he struck out looking…on a ball.

OK, Yandy had earlier had an unsuccessful challenge, maybe Williamson thought he’d get grief for wasting the second challenge in just the first inning? But all the strategic thinking around challenges is that you want to use them in a high leverage situation? Like….having bases loaded where a walk drives in a run and a strikeout greatly diminishes your chances of scoring that inning? And in fact, after this strikeout, Nick Fortes lined out and the inning ended.

When the Rays didn’t have bad judgement they had bad luck. They did score twice in the fifth inning, making the score 6-3 — not a blowout! So that optimism returned when they loaded the bases in the sixth. Jonathan Aranda did hit a nice liner into the outfield that could have brought home a few runs, but Joe Adell made a terrific catch for the final out of the inning.

After that, from the Rays perspective, it was garbage time. They went with a recent callup from Durham, Andrew Wantz, a 30 year old reliever, who played the role of putting the game completely out of reach. He gave up 5 earned runs, and he did all that with just two walks and two hits! Impressive! (he also hit two batters, and some of the runs scored when Cole Sulser, replacing him, gave up a home run).

Just hard to find any bright spots today, although the Yandy-Aranda—Junior part of the lineup contributed. Here’s what the rest of the lineup looked like:

It’s one thing when your 7-9 hitters don’t contribute, but when it’s your 4-9 hitters doing so little, well, you aren’t generating much offense.

I know this is a baseball cliche but I think it rings true here. The Rays winning nearly every day was not sustainable, but I don’t think this string of blow-out losses is the way they will be playing for the rest of the year either. Shane McClanahan will try to turn this ship around tomorrow, but he can’t do it alone.

Just when you thought the Royals had run out of ways to lose baseball games.

In case you’re too young to understand the reference in the headline, there was an old Newpaper comic strip called Peanuts by Charles Schulz. One of the running gags was that Charlie wanted to kick a football. Lucy would always promise to hold it for him, but when he ran up to kick it, she’d yank it away, and he’d go flying through the air when there was no ball to meet the resistance of his kick. Another common gag in Peanuts was for Charlie Brown to pitch in a baseball game and have a line drive hit so hard past him that it would send him tumbling and blow all his clothes off. Perhaps that would have been the better metaphor.

This one was 3-0 heading into the seventh inning despite the fact that Seth Lugo had pitched a real gem, allowing only a single earned run while striking out 6 in his third straight quality start. Josh Jung hit a one-out home run in the first. Later, the Royals’ vaunted left-side-of-the-infield each had an error in the bottom of the fourth to help Texas score two more.

In the top of the seventh, the Rangers went away from their middling starter, Kumar Rocker, in a shutout despite the fact that he had only thrown 85 pitches. The Royals immediately went to work against the Rangers bullpen. They scored four runs off of Tyler Alexander and old friend Jakob Junis.

Isaac Collins led off the inning with an opposite-field automatic double. Lane Thomas pinch-hit for Michael Massey but struck out looking on a pitch he probably should have challenged, even though it might have been confirmed. Nick Loftin pinch-hit for Kyle Isbel and yanked a single into left to put runners at first and third for today’s leadoff hitter, Carter Jensen. Carter managed a looping liner to left to score Collins. Bobby Witt Jr. pulled a line drive into left to send Loftin home and then Maikel Garcia, batting third for the second straight day, pulled a single of his own into left to tie the game and put Bobby at third. Up came Vinnie Pasquantino, who, infamously, had not hit for extra bases with runners on all year. He finally changed that with an RBI double to left center, giving the Royals the lead. But Garcia went hopping into third and was almost immediately pulled from the game with what was eventually declared a left hamstring strain. He is almost certainly destined for the IL. Salvador Perez and Jac Caglianone each struck out to end the inning.

Then, in the top of the eighth, you really began to think the Royals might be able to pull this off when Young Carter hit a flyball to left that just kept carrying until it left the field.

In the bottom of the eighth, recently anointed eighth-inning guy, Daniel “Danny Drips” Lynch IV was tasked with getting the game to the ninth with the Royals still in front. He’d been asked to get the final out of the seventh and succeeded but seemed to struggle in the eighth. He was pulled after allowing a run with only one out and two on for John Schreiber. Schreiber, miraculously, got a pop-up for the first out and then Carter Jensen made a fantastic play to catch the final out in foul territory.

The Royals went quietly in the ninth, and on came the artist formerly known as “Lights Out” Lucas Erceg to try to collect the save.

Leadoff home run for Joc Pederson to cut the lead to one. Josh Jung singles on a grounder to Bobby that probably should have been an out, but for Bobby’s second awful throw to first in the game. Brandon Nimmo chopped one to second, but Erceg attempted to intercept it, and instead of perhaps getting two outs, the Royals got none, and the go-ahead run was on. Jake Burger singled to right to tie the game and Ezequiel Duran, who has been tormenting KC this weekend, did the same to complete the comeback, walkoff victory.

Lucas Erceg has pitched three times this week; he has allowed 8 runs while recording only 6 outs. That’s right, he didn’t get a single out today. His ERA has ballooned from 3.26 all the way to 6.33. His SIERA has gone from 2.83 in 2024, to 3.78 last year, to something more than 4.47 this year after today’s game. Either he’s hurt, or he’s simply become very bad. Certainly, there has been an element of bad luck to his appearances, but you don’t pitch that poorly without both bad luck and poor performance.

It feels like the Royals simply can’t continue using him as the closer, but even though Matt Strahm is likely to return tomorrow, he hasn’t been significantly better. Carlos Estévez still hasn’t restarted his rehab assignment. Danny Drips has quietly given up 10 hits and 4 walks while striking out only 7 in 7.2 innings over his last 8 appearances. The next man up might be former Tigers closer Alex Lange, who has had several scoreless appearances recently, but also stopped striking guys out.

I’m not going to pretend like I know how the Royals can fix this. The bad news is, Royals General Manager J. J. Picollo isn’t going to either; he offered up this quote to Anne Rogers in her most recent Royals newsletter:

“The only thing we can do is keep competing, keep believing in ourselves, ask the right questions. Are there things that we can do to help us get back on track? Right now, we’re searching for it.”

Anyway, the Royals will show up at Globe Life Field again tomorrow. Michael Wacha will take the mound for the Royals’ final game in May 2026. Jack Leiter will pitch for the Rangers. The game will start at 1:35 Central. If you plan to watch it, you’ve got a stronger stomach than I do.

When you have an elite offense, you are truly never out of a game. Nationals fans, including myself, are learning that this season. Even when the offense has nothing to offer early in the game, they have the ability to turn it on at any moment. That is exactly what they did in a crazy 7th inning rally this afternoon.

For the first six innings, the offense and the atmosphere was lifeless. It was a nice Nationals Park crowd, but the Padres took the fans out of the game. Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. all homered off of Foster Griffin. The Tatis homer was his first of the season, and he celebrated like a major monkey was taken off his back.

Besides the solo homers, Foster Griffin was solid. He gave the Nats 5 clean innings to keep them in the game. However, getting a rally going against Michael King felt like a tall task. Besides a Drew Millas solo homer, the Nats had nothing to offer against the right hander. It looked a lot like last year, with a steady flow of ground outs. 

Through six innings, King was absolutely cruising, but everything changed in an instant. CJ Abrams started things off with an innocent seeming base hit. Then Jose Tena struck what appeared to be a double play ball. However, Tatis made a bad throw to second base and everyone was safe.

This really seemed to rattle King because he totally lost the zone. He walked the light hitting Jorbit Vivas and then hit Dylan Crews with a pitch to make it a one run game. There were still no outs, and King’s day was done. The craziness continued though. Drew Millas hit what appeared to be a force out to tie the game, but Xander Bogaerts missed the bag at second base and everyone was safe again.

It was very close and the Padres challenged it, but the call on the field was upheld. Former Nats pitcher and current Padres manager Craig Stammen was still not happy, and got himself tossed. It was his first career ejection as a player or manager.

The Nats kept pouring it on from there. Curtis Mead came in to pinch hit and calmly took a walk to get another run in. A couple batters later, Luis Garcia drove in two more with a base hit. However, my favorite run scoring play from the inning came when Daylen Lile beat out what seemed to be a tailormade double play.

Lile’s hustle says a lot about him as a player and the Nats culture. The Nats left fielder has been struggling lately and easily could have not gone 100% down the line. However, he immediately put his head down and went into a full on sprint. He just barely beat the throw and a run came in to score.

Having that extra run made me feel a little more comfortable when Gus Varland totally lost the strike zone in the next inning. Varland got two quick outs before totally melting down. He allowed a run on a double to Machado and then threw 8 straight balls to close out his outing. Clayton Beeter came in and saved the day, but that was a tense situation.

Curtis Mead made things a bit less tense when he blew the game wide open in the top of the 9th. Jacob Young had gotten a bad jump on a squeeze play and got thrown out at home for the second out. Mead picked up his teammate by drilling a double down the line to score two runs and make it 9-4.

As I wrote about today, Mead has been absolutely outstanding for this team. He did not even start this game, but still made a big impact. Mead got that RBI walk in his first at bat and then got a clutch double to ice the game.

Clayton Beeter pitched in front of a raucous Nationals Park crowd that included a large tarps off section. The crowd was chanting and cheering the whole inning. Beeter put up a zero and got the Curly W. The fans were loving every moment of it, and the Nats got over .500 again. 

I wanted to shout out Brad Lord as well, who was an unsung hero in this game. His two scoreless innings helped the Nats stay in the game. He is such a weapon out of the bullpen, and I think he deserves to be put in even higher leverage spots. I love how he goes after hitters.

This was a game where they could have easily rolled over. However, they did not do that and that shows something about the character of this group. Even when it looks grim, the Nats offense can strike at any moment. Now, the Nats have a chance to go for yet another series win to finish out May tomorrow. 

The balance that has been lacking from this Mets lineup for most of the season has surfaced over the past three days.

Whether it’s been Juan Soto or Mark Vientos providing a jolt, timely Jared Young contributions or a Carson Benge hit barrage, the Mets’ chief weakness, an underwhelming lineup, has appeared respectable.

Sustainability is the question.

On Saturday, they received contributions from just about all comers in a 6-1 victory over the Marlins at Citi Field, culminating a day in which Bobby Valentine and Lee Mazzilli were inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.

The Mets won their third straight.

In getting swept three games last weekend in Miami, the Mets managed only 11 hits.

On this day they totaled 10 and built from a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning.

“You continue to trust your players that at some point they are going to come through,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s good to see guys like Vientos having good back-to-back games and when he’s on, he can carry us. It’s just good to see some of the guys here playing with some confidence, playing loose, having fun and picking each other up.”

Christian Scott earned his first major league win by limiting the Marlins to one earned run on five hits and two walks with eight strikeouts over five innings.

The right-hander pitched 5 ²/₃ scoreless innings in his start in Miami last Sunday.

Scott began the day 0-3 in his career with 12 no-decisions.

“It took longer than I would have expected and wanted,” said Scott, who has pitched to a 2.97 ERA in his seven starts this season. “I thought the defense played great today and [Hayden] Senger called a hell of a game. The offense stepped up with a couple of big swings.”

Scott’s strikeout total matched a career high and he’s the only pitcher in franchise history to allow four earned runs or fewer in each of his first 16 career starts.

Scott missed last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

“He’s important,” Mendoza said. “Especially with some of the injuries we’re dealing with, but we saw signs of that in 2024, I am not surprised by it, but if we can get that version and I am pretty confident that we will, that’s another factor for us to turn this thing around, right there. He’s too talented. He’s got electric stuff and he’s going to continue to help us.”

Vientos’ two-run double in the fourth gave the Mets a 2-0 lead.

It was a second straight game with a loud hit from Vientos, who mashed a 445-foot homer on Friday — the second-longest blast of his major league career.

Marcus Semien delivered a two-out RBI single that widened the Marlins’ deficit to 3-0.

The Mets started the rally in the inning with a walk to Juan Soto before Young’s single.

Vientos followed with his shot off the left-field fence.

Scott walked Christopher Morel leading off the fifth and paid for it: Liam Hicks stroked an RBI single with two outs that pulled the Marlins to within 3-1.

Scott escaped the inning with help from A.J. Ewing, who raced into the right-center gap to rob Otto Lopez of an extra-base hit.

Cionel Pérez, in his Mets debut, worked a perfect sixth inning.

The lefty was selected to the roster after the Mets, needing an additional fresh arm, optioned Tobias Myers to Triple-A Syracuse.

Young homered leading off the bottom of the sixth, extending the Mets’ lead to 4-1.

It was the first blast of season for Young, who returned from knee surgery rehab Tuesday.

Senger’s first major league homer, a blast in the seventh, widened the Mets’ lead to 5-1 before Soto’s single brought in another.

“I felt like it was [gone],” Senger said when asked if he knew it was a homer off the bat. “But then I remembered the wind and started running and begging for it to go. I was begging when I was rounding first.”

On a day the organization inducted two beloved former Mets into the Mets Hall of Fame, the team followed the cermony with a complete 6-1 victory over the Marlins to win their third in a row.

Before the game, Lee Mazzilli and former manger Bobby Valentine were inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame with a lovely on-field ceremony. Perhaps it is fitting they inducted Valentine in this particular season. If we jump into the Wayback Machine to 1999, Valentine’s job was on the line after GM Steve Phillips spent big in the offseason and the team got off to a sluggish start. The team aqcuired a future Hall of Famer in the season prior, but they missed the playoffs by just one game. In the following offseason the general manager spent big, notably acquiring a third baseman, so they could compete with the Braves in the division and get themselves into the playoffs. Sound familiar?

One day after Valentine’s coaches got fired, the team went on a 40-15 tear to get themselves back into the playoff race and the rest is history. Will that happen with this team? Probably not, but with wins in short supply every step forward is crucial for this team to get back on track.

The main standout was Christian Scott who got the start and his first major league win. He gave up one run and struck out eight in five innings of work. He did walk two but he looked to be in complete control during his outing. He’s certainly come a long way from his shaky first start of the year, and with the question marks surrounding the rotation right now, he has brought some measure of stability.

After the Mets scored three runs in the fourth on a Mark Vientos RBI double and a Marcus Semien RBI single, the team added on with solo home runs from two unlikely sources- Jared Young and Hayden Senger, the first of his major league career. They tacked on another run when Juan Soto drove in Carson Benge and so the team comfotably held a five-run lead. But given how many times Miami came back in the series opener, to the point where the Mets had to win it in extras, the bullpen had to find a way to keep the pesky Marlins off the board.

This time the bullpen was up to the challenge. Cionel Pérez, Huascar Brazobán, Austin Warren, and Devin Williams were perfect and didn’t allow any runs between them.

Taking the series against Miami is a good start but they need to go for the sweep if this team wants to climb out of the cellar and, some how, some way, capture some magic from teams past. Ya Gotta Believe right?

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

Big Mets winner: Christian Scott, +18% WPA
Big Mets loser: Bo Bichette, -12% WPA
Mets pitchers: +30% WPA
Mets hitters: +20% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos RBI double in fourth, +16.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Liam Hicks RBI single in fifth, -6.9% WPA

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Kansas City Royals scored six runs.

The Rangers finally found one of those bad teams we’ve heard so much about!

After going up 3-0 through most of the game, the Rangers allowed four runs in the top of the seventh to erase a quality start from Kumar Rocker and even survived Chris Martin allowing a two-run home run to put KC up 6-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

After scoring a run in that frame to pull a tad closer before a baffling two-out bunt attempt with the tying runs in scoring position, the Rangers went Joc Pederson solo home run, two infield singles, and then a game-tying single from Jake Burger followed a game-winning soft shot single to right field from Ezequiel Duran.

Lucas Erceg got zero outs in the ninth and the Rangers came away with their first two-game winning streak at home since the first homestand of the month.

I can’t imagine there have been many games where both teams at the bottom of their league in scoring each have had a rally in which they got five consecutive hits in an inning but here we are. At least Texas’ came last as a final counter punch to take the game.

Player of the Game: Josh Jung had one of those infield hits that ignited the winning rally in the ninth. He also tied Burger for the team lead with three hits on the day, including a solo home run in the top of the first to help Texas pass the dreaded First Inning Test.

Up Next: The Rangers will try to close out the month of May with their first three-game winning streak since early April with RHP Jack Leiter expected to pitch for Texas against RHP Michael Wacha for Kansas City.

The Sunday afternoon first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Blue Jays 5 Orioles 6

All that really mattered happened in the bottom of the ninth:

Jeff Hoffman got the ninth, in what was a non-save spot. Hoffman got a strikeout, hit a batter, gave up a triple and single, scoring a run and putting the tying run to the plate. A double put the tying run on second. A walk loaded the bases. Another walk scored another run.

Connor Seabold, coming into a very bad spot, tying run on third, winner on second with just one out. The first pitch went through Heineman but not far enough to score the run. Then Seabold went 3-0, got back to 3-2 but walked in the tying run. Gotta make him swing. Next batter gets to 2-1 before he singles and that’s the game.

Just kill me.

Before that:

Trey Yesavage had all sorts of problems with the strike zone and yet only allowed one run in five innings. Giving up just one run, while walking seven is either amazing or very lucky. And there was some from aisle one and some from aisle two. Seven walks, but just two hits with four strikeouts. The Jays turned three double plays behind him (in the second, third and fourth innings). One of them was something I’ve never seen before, a ground ball down the third base line, that Okamoto picked up while touching third and threw to first to get the 5-3 double play.

Until Hoffman the bullpen was great:

• Yariel Rodríguez Gave up a walk and a single but had a clean inning, with a strikeout.
• Tyler Rogers went fly out, ground out, ground out.
• Louis Varland, pitching in the eighth, went fly out, strike out, ground out.

On offense, the Jays had troubles with Brandon Young, until the fourth inning. Vladimir Guerrero started the inning with a single. Two outs later, Jesús Sánchez doubled him home and Ernie Clements singled Sánchez home, giving us the lead.

Two more scored in the eighth: Nathan Lukes and Vlad singled to start it. And, after a Daulton Varsho strikeout, Kazuma Okamoto doubled them home.

And one in the ninth. With two outs, Lukes walked and Vlad doubled him home (with the help of some crappy fielding in the outfield, Orioles outfielders are terrible).

We had 11 hits. Vlad had 4, Clement 2. Andrés Giménez and Tyler Heineman had 0 fors.

Jays of the Day: Yesavage (0.16 WPA), Clement (0.14), Sánchez (0.11), Vlad (0.10), Rogers (0.11), and Rodriguez (0.09)

Other Award: Hoffman (-0.51), Seabold (-0.47), Varsho (-0.14), Springer (-0.13) and Gimenez (-0.9).

Tomorrow, the month of May ends, and we have an earlier start (12:15 Eastern). Kyle Bradish (2-6, 3.86). On the Jays side, Spencer Miles will be the bulk guy.

The Cincinnati Reds look to level the series in Great American Ball Park against the visiting Atlanta Braves, a veritable juggernaut who claimed the opening game of the series 8-3 last night.

Brady Singer starts, and hopefully will not give up 3 homers for the third consecutive start.

Lineups for both clubs listed below. Go Reds!

Jared Young and Hayden Senger homered for the Mets on Saturday and Christian Scott threw five solid innings in a 6-1 victory over the Marlins in front of 38,552 at Citi Field. 

The Mets have won three straight games and can complete a sweep of the Marlins Sunday afternoon. The victory upped the Mets record to 25-33, including a 15-12 mark in May.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Scott matched his season-high with eight strikeouts and walked two, throwing 96 pitches (60 for strikes). Scott got 11 swings-and-misses, according to Statcast. Scott paid for one of the walks – he started the Marlins fifth by walking No. 8 hitter Christopher Morel, who entered the game with a .169 average. Morel later scored on a two-out RBI single by Liam Hicks. Over his last two starts, both against Miami, Scott has given up one run in 10.2 innings, a 0.87 ERA.

-- The fifth inning could’ve gone worse for the Mets, but A.J. Ewing came to the rescue. After Hicks’ run-scoring single, Otto Lopez followed with a deep drive to center that looked like potential damage. But Ewing sprinted back and toward right-center to snare the ball, a fine running catch for the final out of the inning. It was the second nice grab in the outfield by a Met – in the fourth inning, Carson Benge took away a potential extra-base hit from Kyle Stowers with a snare on the warning track. 

-- The Mets, who had run into two outs on the bases in the second inning, scored three times in the fourth to take an early lead. Mark Vientos doubled in two runs after Juan Soto walked andYoungsingled with one out. One out later, Marcus Semien hit an RBI single and the Mets were ahead, 3-0. Soto’s walk extended his streak of reaching base to 14 games, dating back to May 14. Vientos has 19 RBI over his last 27 games.

-- Young, batting cleanup for the second time this season, smashed his first homer leading off the sixth inning against Miami reliever Lake Bachar. It was a long drive to right field. 

-- Senger smacked his first career big-league homer with one out in the seventh inning, a shot to left field off Bachar. It was the 39th game of Senger’s MLB career and the homer came in his 93rd career plate appearance.

-- After allowing three runs across 5.1 innings on Friday night, the Met bullpen rebounded Saturday. Cionel Perez threw a scoreless sixth, Huascar Brazoban struck out the side in the seventh inning and Austin Warren threw a scoreless eighth to set the stage for closer Devin Williams in the ninth. Williams threw a 1-2-3 frame for his second consecutive scoreless outing.

Game MVP: Christian Scott

Scott delivered his second consecutive strong start against the Marlins, allowing one run and five hits across five innings and earned his first major league win after 16 starts.

Highlights

A pair of strikeouts in the opening inning for Christian Scott 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ruAafxvR9l

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

"He's out!" - Bobby Valentine pic.twitter.com/pBRp8oTttf

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Another pulchritudinous catch by Carson Benge!

Lee Mazzilli: "I love Ewing, I love Benge" pic.twitter.com/zhbRyTIvqb

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Christian Scott has eight strikeouts in the first four innings, tying a career-high 💪 pic.twitter.com/9HzsEzFStU

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Mark Vientos brings home two with a double! pic.twitter.com/sHhgOs5ocG

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Marcus Semien drives in Mark Vientos for the third Mets run of the inning! pic.twitter.com/yf4GOpHdg6

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

A.J. Ewing makes the running catch in the gap to get Christian Scott through the 5th! pic.twitter.com/bKi3sQA0IG

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

A 1-2-3 inning for Cionel Pérez in his Mets debut 💪 pic.twitter.com/JPND0Q1k01

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Jared Young's first home run of the year! pic.twitter.com/VexkYji4GT

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Huascar Brazobán strikes out the side in the 7th 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RmzU39jeok

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

HAYDEN SENGER'S FIRST BIG LEAGUE HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/X1PJwasTDN

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Marlins close out their series with a Sunday matinee starting at 1:40 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Nolan McLean (2-4, 4.40 ERA) looks to rebound from two consecutive bad outings while Miami will counter with RHP Janson Junk (3-5, 4.80 ERA).

After a thrilling Friday night victory full of St. Louis Cardinals home runs, game 2 of the rivalry will happen Saturday night at Busch Stadium as Kyle Leahy will make the start for the St. Louis Cardinals while the Chicago Cubs will ask Ben Brown to take one for the team. Saturday night’s game will be a national broadcast on Fox with first pitch scheduled for 6:15pm.

Tony Vitello wants Giants to have more ‘pride' as team drops fifth straight originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants came into Saturday’s game against the Colorado Rockies licking their wounds from a gut-wrenching series-opening loss the night before.

San Francisco went into Friday’s ninth inning with a 6-3 lead, but ultimately lost 8-6 thanks to a couple of massive home runs by Colorado. It didn’t take long for the Rockies’ bats to get hot on Saturday, as they went up 2-0 in the first before tacking on a couple more in the fourth.

The Giants lost 8-3, extending their losing streak to five games and leaving first-year manager Tony Vitello wanting to see more pride in the team’s response to adversity.

“We need to take a little more pride, I think, in how we…It’s ideal to not have last night occur, but bounce back,” Vitello told the media. “I got the vibe like we were in a position to do that. The first six outs we had at the plate would say that, but getting in a hole makes it a little tougher after that.”

The Giants did get some late-game offense from Drew Gilbert, who cranked a two-run shot in the eighth, but it simply wasn’t enough.

The Rockies were peppering whoever was on the mound for the Giants in this one, as they racked up 14 hits as a team, with both Jake McCarthy and Kyle Karros going deep.

The Giants got just 3 2/3 innings out of starter Adrian Houser, as Vitello ended up using three bullpen arms to get through the night.

With yet another series loss taking place for San Francisco, they will have a chance to really show their “pride” on Sunday in the series finale. Veteran Robbie Ray will take the bump, looking to end his own two-game losing streak. As for the Rockies, they are expected to be handing the ball to Tanner Gordon.

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Will Brennan’s most recent stint with AAA Sacramento didn’t last long. A day after the San Francisco Giants optioned the veteran outfielder to make space for the returning Jung Hoo Lee, they called him back up to replace Harrison Bader, who returns to the 10-Day Injured List for a second stint this year. The Giants announced the news on Saturday, stating that Bader’s injury is left plantar fasciitis.

The news isn’t particularly surprising, as Bader exited in the ninth inning of Friday’s walk-off loss against the Colorado Rockies. He appeared to be walking gingerly, and was replaced in center field by Drew Gilbert, who is starting there for tonight’s game. Bader has struggled in his debut season with the Giants, as he’s hit .170/.198/.358 for a 52 wRC+ and -0.3 fWAR. His defense has been decent though, and he’s provided a few highlights, including a pair of grand slams last week. He’s also been hitting a bit better since returning from his first stint on the IL: in 15 games, he hit .222/.250/.519.

As for the left-handed hitting Brennan, this is his third time being called up this year. He’s played sporadically and not well, hitting 2-23 while seeing actions in 11 games, and amassing -0.5 fWAR. With Lee having returned, Casey Schmitt playing almost every day in left field, and Gilbert manning center — and with Victor Bericoto and Jesús Rodríguez on the bench — it seems unlikely that Brennan will see much playing time.