Category: Baseball

SAN FRANCISCO — Before the automated ball-strike system came into play in real games that counted, the Yankees spent plenty of mornings this spring talking about it.

“We had too many meetings about it, in my opinion,” Aaron Judge said with a grin.

Judge was at least partly joking — “It’s all good stuff,” he later added — but the early returns have been strong.

In their season-opening sweep of the Giants, the Yankees went 5-for-6 in ABS challenges, including 3-for-3 on Saturday, with each of them coming in key moments in a 3-1 win at Oracle Park.

The first came in Trent Grisham’s at-bat with one out in the third inning, when Tyler Mahle threw a 2-2 pitch that home plate umpire Chad Whitson called strike three.

But Grisham challenged the pitch and it proved to be high, turning into ball three on the way to a walk, allowing him to later score on Ben Rice’s two-out, two-run double.

“That sets up a lot right there,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Austin Wells was responsible for the other two, helping out his relievers. In the seventh inning of a 3-1 game, Jake Bird threw an 0-1 pitch to Casey Schmitt that Whitson called a ball. But Wells challenged it, turning it into a strike and one pitch later, Schmitt struck out.

Tim Hill then entered to face Jung Hoo Lee and threw an 0-2 pitch that Whitson deemed a ball, only for Wells to challenge it and get a called third strike that ended the frame.

“I love what I’m seeing from Austin Wells back there, overturning a couple big calls to shift the momentum onto our side,” Aaron Judge said.

Carlos Rodón is expected to make his next outing back in Tampa on Sunday or Monday, another live batting practice (or extended spring game) as he continues his buildup from October surgery to shave down a bone spur and remove loose bodies.

The left-hander threw three innings and about 40 pitches on Tuesday, so he could build to about 50 pitches in his next outing.

It seems plausible that his next start after that would be on a rehab assignment, though Boone was not yet ready to make that official on Saturday.

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Gerrit Cole is also expected to throw live back in Tampa in the coming days, though he noted after his last start on Tuesday in Arizona that he expects to go through a deload period before starting his own rehab assignment.

The win marked Boone’s 700th as manager, making him the seventh Yankees manager to reach that milestone, joining Joe McCarthy, Joe Torre, Casey Stengel, Miller Huggins, Ralph Houk and Joe Girardi.

The Mariners picked up their first singles of the season but couldn’t get much action until too late.

The Mariners entered the ninth inning Saturday with six hits and six walks and just two runs to show for it. They trailed the Guardians 3-2 when Cole Young leadoff the inning by plopping a a soft liner down the left field line for a double. Ryan Bliss tried to bunt him over for some reason but couldn’t get it down and struck out. Cal Raleigh struck out behind him.

That brought Julio Rodríguez to the plate. He fell behind 1-2 against dominant Guardians’ closer Cade Smith. Then he got a fastball up and in and laced his first hit of the season back up the middle to tie the game.

The Mariners would go on to lose 6-5.

Dan Wilson turned to Andrés Muñoz in the 10th to preserve the new tie. Steven Kwan laid down a sacrifice bunt up the third base line; Brendan Donovan charged, scooped, and threw the ball into right field, scoring the Manfred Man from second and allowing Kwan to replace him there. Rookie Chase DeLauter stepped to the plate and crushed his fourth homer of the year the other way, giving the Guardians a 6-3 lead.

Luke Raley answered in the bottom of the inning. With the Manfred Man on and one out, he got a fastball up and away and pulled it into the right-center stands for his third home run of the year, cutting the lead to 6-5.

Leo Rivas and Young each struck out to end the game.

The Mariners lineup entered the day having yet to hit a single — the only team in MLB history without a single through their first two games. That changed Saturday, picking up six singles, two doubles, and the Raley homer to go with seven walks. It was a solid performance overall, but they couldn’t quite string their hits together to capitalize.

In the second, Randy Arozarena struck out looking with a full count. He immediately challenged and began taking off his gear as the T-Mobile Park video board flashed the ABS decision: Ball four. Donovan quickly replaced him at first with a fielder’s choice. Victor Robles, in his first plate appearance of the season, yanked a double down the left field line, scoring Donovan all the way from first. That was all they’d get in the inning.

It was a good sign from Donovan — both beating out the fielder’s choice and coming around to score — as he’d whacked his knees against the left field stands making a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch in the first inning. He appeared to be OK. 

The Mariners picked up their first single of 2026 in the third inning. Cal Raleigh, the three true outcome king himself, dunked a soft liner up the middle. He was 0-for-8 on the season with eight strikeouts (and a walk) entering the at bat, and he flashed a big grin after getting to first base. He immediately stole second, and Julio Rodríguez walked behind him, but the Mariners couldn’t cash in.

In the fourth, Arozarena lead off with a single on a dribbler down the third base line that catcher David Fry should have let roll foul but didn’t. Donovan followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Robles advanced Arozarena to third with a fly out to deep right. Leo Rivas worked a long at bat before watching ball four sail to the backstop, allowing Arozarena to trot home. But after chasing Guardians’ starting pitcher Joey Cantillo in the fourth inning at 91 pitches, they couldn’t push across any more.

In the sixth, Donovan and Robles each picked up one-out singles and then advanced on a double steal. But Rivas grounded out to short with the infield drawn in and Donovan was nailed at the plate. In the seventh, they got two on with a pair of walks but couldn’t tie the game. They got another walk in the eighth but again couldn’t tie the game again.

Despite the bizarre sequencing to start to the season, the Mariners have a 126 wRC+ in three games — sixth best in the majors.

The Mariners were in the game to the end because Bryan Woo picked up right where he left off in his first start of 2026. He gave up two runs and four hits over six innings while striking out nine. He pumped his signature four-seam fastball over and over and over and the Guardians struggled to make solid contact, whiffing 11 times on 37 swings against the fastball. He cruised through the first five innings, as the Mariners held a 2-0 lead.

But he struggled in the sixth. His fastball velocity was down a touch, and his command was just off.  He issued a leadoff walk, then after getting two quick outs, appeared to issue another walk to José Ramírez. The Mariners, however, challenged the call. When they were proven correct, Ramírez returned to the box and laced his 400th career double to score the Guardians’ first run. Kyle Manzardo followed with a single to the tie game at two.

Eduard Bazardo allowed the Guardians to break the tie in the seventh with a pair of two-out walks and an RBI single to Kwan to make the game 3-2. Gabe Speier came in to get the final out of the inning and preserve the narrow deficit. Wilson after the game defended his decision to stick with Bazardo against the lefty Kwan even after the two walks.

“Zardo is a guy we really trust, and Kwan was just able to flip that ball into left field and get the big hit. So you’re hoping you can get him through there, and then Gabe has got the next inning. But it was just one of those tough ones tonight.”

Woo was hard on himself after the game, in a way that, if you don’t mind a bit of editorializing, wasn’t quite fair given how well he pitched most of the night.

“I think…just…undisciplined, is the best way I can put it,” he said of his mini-blowup in the sixth. “I have to be better about coming out, especially as you get later into games. You’ve got to up your focus even more, and that just can’t happen.

“Even though a lot of things took place, I still feel like this game was on me. I feel like if I do my job and limit the damage, even if I just give up one in that inning, just to get out of it with a lead…when a team is, when you get them down like that, you’ve got to keep them down. You can’t give them anything, especially a scrappy team like that. You give them any breath of life, they’ll take it and run with it. So I’ve got to do a better job of keeping teams down when they’re down.”

The Guardians were aggressive against Woo, swinging at more than half his pitches. Woo was aggressive right back, pumping heaters in the zone all six innings. He said he doesn’t change his approach between or within games. It’s just a matter of committing to his game plan.

“Teams have come out with different strategies against me, whether it’s being patient and trying to work counts or coming out swinging, it doesn’t really change my plan of attack. I still want to get ahead, I still want to be aggressive. I’m still trying to attack the zone early and stick to my game plan. Worked out in my favor for the majority of the game, but didn’t change what I was doing.”

Woo entered the day with 392 career strikeouts. With his strikeout of DeLauter in the sixth, he picked up career K number 400.

“Hopefully I’ll find the ball somewhere, maybe put it on my wall,” he said, “and then on to 500.”

In the second game of the season, it became obvious that the Mets are starting a third baseman with virtually no experience at third base and a first baseman with virtually no experience at first base.

Bo Bichette committed an error and Jorge Polanco flirted with two (but was charged with none), the pair of projects looking raw in what became a 4-2 win in 11 innings over the Pirates at Citi Field on Saturday.

A shortstop with the Blue Jays who was generally viewed as a second baseman in free agency, Bichette signed as a third baseman with the Mets and is still mastering throwing across the diamond.

On Thursday, one of his throws pulled Polanco off the base, but Polanco adjusted and recorded the out anyway. On Saturday, another one of Bichette’s throws tailed up the line again, but this time it cost the Mets an out. Polanco came off the base, allowing Bryan Reynolds to reach safely in the fourth inning. David Peterson, who pitched into and out of trouble all day, navigated around the jam.

“We’ve just got to continue to work with him on those routine throws,” said manager Carlos Mendoza, who anticipates that further reps will help.

Polanco, an infielder who signed with the Mets with one pitch worth of big league experience at first base, did not look smooth on several ground balls.

In the seventh, Ryan O’Hearn grounded softly to Polanco, who fielded and tossed it behind Luke Weaver. The Mets only recorded the out because Weaver, displaying his athleticism, adjusted and slid to touch the base in time.

An inning prior, Nick Gonzales smashed a ground ball to Polanco, who was swallowed up by a bad hop after the ball hit the lip of the grass. Gonzales reached safely on what was ruled a hit, and Peterson and Huascar Brazobán combined to ensure that runner would not score.

“Just a hard ground ball that came up on him,” Mendoza said. “There’s only so much there that you can do.”

The Mets opened their season Thursday. It is likely that Mark Vientos will not start his first game until the following Wednesday.

Barring changes in the Pirates or Cardinals rotations, the Mets will open their season facing five straight righty starting pitchers.

They won’t see a lefty until the final game of their series in St. Louis, where Matthew Liberatore is set to pitch (and the Giants, the Mets’ following opponent, could open their series with lefty Robbie Ray).

That likely will mean Vientos — a righty bat who is expected to see most of his time against lefties — will have to wait his turn. As a pinch-hitter, Vientos’ turn arrived in Saturday’s 10th inning, when he pinch hit for Carson Benge and came through with a single.

Mendoza said he talked with Vientos and righty-hitting fourth outfielder Tyrone Taylor about the situation, and both understood.

In delivering the news to Vientos, Mendoza recalled the 2024 season — when Vientos became a late-camp cut because of the J.D. Martinez signing, was briefly called up to the majors and clubbed a walk-off home run, only to be optioned back to the minors shortly thereafter, before finally running with his chance in mid-May.

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The message, essentially: Vientos has to be ready for anything and can overcome frustrations.

“Look, man, two years ago you had your best year here,” Mendoza said he told Vientos. “He understands. He’ll be ready for whenever his name is called.”

Mendoza conceded that this year’s role is “completely different” for Vientos, who will play some first base and generally serve as the designated hitter against lefties. His role has been reduced after a subpar 2025 — both at third base and offensively, his OPS dropping from .837 to .702 — and the active offseason pushing Brett Baty to the team’s DH for the first two games, though the Mets plan to cycle through DHs beginning as soon as Sunday.

Mendoza said Baty — who will see time at first base this season, too, to push Polanco to DH — will see the field soon, in part because Saturday’s game began a run of nine games in nine days for the Mets.

In their season opener, the Mets used three automated ball-strike challenges: two successfully by Francisco Alvarez at catcher — including a helmet tap that turned an Oneil Cruz walk into a strikeout — and one unsuccessfully by Marcus Semien, who appealed a called third strike in the eighth inning.

Mendoza said everybody on the Mets is free to challenge.

“I would say that the situation of the game will dictate when they’re going to be able to challenge or not,” Mendoza said. “The emotions at times will take over. But that’s where you’re going to have to constantly remind those guys of the situation.”

THE GUARDIANS WIN!!! CHASE DELAUTER DID IT AGAIN!!! HOW FUN IS THIS GUYS???

The Guardians win 6-5 after a truly incredible game. Bryan Woo was shoving all game and it looked like we were never going to get to him, until we did. A key walk from Rocchio and then our GOAT José knocked him in with an RBI double. Then Manzardo came through with an RBI single right after that. The Guardians later took the lead after a Kwan RBI single in the 7th inning. The Mariners wound up getting to Cade Smith in the bottom of the 9th after a double down the left field line from Cole Young and a single from Julio Rodriguez.

Extra innings started with an absolutely beautiful bunt from Steven Kwan that led to Brendan Donovan throwing it away at 1B, which caused Rocchio to score and Kwan to advance to second. Then comes up Chase DeLauter, the man who had already done what no Cleveland player has ever done in hitting three HRs in their first two career games. He was having a rough game, Bryan Woo had his way with him as he does to most hitters. It wasn’t Woo this time, it was Andrés Muñoz, one of the best closers in the league. DeLauter then takes a 97 mph fastball up and outside the zone over the left field wall to take the lead 6-3. Absolute insanity.

What more can be said about this kid? DeLauter is by far the best hitter I have ever watched in the minor leagues, and even I could never have ever expected this. He is such a special hitter that I have learned to not put any ceiling on who he can be as a player. I’m trying not to overreact too much, but he truly is that special. This is some of the most fun I have ever had watching Baseball, and we are only three games into the season. Buckle up you guys, it is going to be a good one.

Well, that was disappointing. Not only did we lose another game to the Doyers at Uniqlo Park at Dodger Stadium at Chavez Latrine at the City of Smog and Angels, we also managed to be on the business end of our first sweep of the year. And we’re only three games in. So that sucks.

Honestly, though, it’s not all that much of a shock, at least to me. And, somewhat to my surprise, I’m not even all that upset. The Diamondbacks are a team that enters 2026 with a bit more than $133M of player contracts on the books. We’re going up against a team that, if you factor in all the deferred money and so forth that MLB has let them get away with, has more financial obligations than at least several small nation states. It was always going to be an uphill battle, especially for the first series of the regular season, when everyone’s still kind of shaking off the rust from the long off-season.

Eduardo Rodriguez, the pitching hero of the Venezuelan national team in the World Baseball Classic, took the mound for us, facing off against Tyler Glasnow, who has pitched more than 100 innings only three times in his major league career and who is earning $32.5M to pitch for Los Angeles this year. And while Glasnow did all right for the Doyers today, holding the Diamondbacks to two runs over six full innings of work, E-Rod pitched better, pitching five shutout innings, striking out five while allowing only three singles and two walks. He faced one batter to start the sixth—Kyle Tucker, who is earning $56M this year—and was pulled after Tucker reached on an infield squib shot to Carlos Santana that he bobbled a bit. E-Rod was maybe a bit late covering the bag at first, and Tucker reached, and he eventually came around to score, but the run was unearned as Santana was charged with an error.

Anyway. Let’s start from the beginning. Our Snakes got on the board in the top of the first, thanks to a one-out infield single by Corbin Carroll that was initially ruled a force-out at first, but which was overturned when video review showed that Corbin, who was busting it right out of the batter’s box, clearly beat the throw. Geraldo Perdomo then grounded to first, moving Carroll along, and then Pavin Smith singled to left to drive him in from second:

Nolan Arenado then continued his fruitless run with the bat, though at least he didn’t strike out. 1-0 D-BACKS

We did some more damage against Glasnow in the third, thanks to a leadoff Jorge Barrosa double down the left field line, followed by another productive groundout, this one by Ketel Marte, that allowed Barrosa to reach third with less than two outs. Corbin Carroll lifted a fly ball to center that turned out to be deep enough for Barrosa to tag and score. 2-0 D-BACKS

And that was your score until the Dodgers got one run back in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to the aforementioned Santana error (which is a scoring decision I’m not sure he deserved) and a subsequent Freddy Freeman double off reliever Jonathan Loaisiga that brought him home. 2-1 D-BACKS

But we still had the lead, and we held it through the bottom of the seventh, as new Diamondback and indicator of the state of our bullpen Joe Ross pitched a kind of ugly but ultimately successful 1-2-3 inning. Meanwhile, we were doing basically nothing further on offense, as Glasnow gave way to Alex Vesia, who in turn gave way to some dude named Will Klein.

Juan Morillo took the ball for us to start the bottom of the eighth, I guess because he’s the closest thing we have in terms of splits to a left-handed reliever, and sure enough he made short(ish) work of Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker to record the first two outs. Then he drilled the home plate umpire right in the middle of his forehead with a high fastball on his first pitch to Mookie Betts, after which there was a brief interruption of play that seemed to leave Juan rather discombobulated. He proceeded to walk Betts on four pitches, which brought 2025 World Series hero Will Smith (earning nearly $13M to catch for the Dodgers in 2026) to the plate. Smith hung a decent at bat on Morillo, and finally drilled the seventh pitch he saw out and over the fence just left of the batter’s eye in center field. Morillo was pulled for Paul Sewald, who recorded the last out, but it was too late. The damage was done. 3-2 Los Angeles

We still has a chance, I suppose, with Pavin Smith, Nolan Arenado, and Alek Thomas coming to the plate in the top of the ninth. Of course, they were going up against new FTD closer Edwin Diaz, who is earning $18.5M this year at the back end of the Los Angeles bullpen. Ten pitches and three flyouts later, this one was in the books.

Some Reasons for Optimism

This was a disappointing result, and a disappointing series, to be sure. That said, the Diamondbacks led each game, and in the latter two we carried that lead into the late innings. We all knew our bullpen was going to be a weakness this year, like it is just about every year, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are as complete a team from top to bottom as one can imagine. And we hung tough with them, and we made them work, and despite Ryne Nelson coughing up four in that unfortunate third inning last night, we were still in line to win the last two games. Kevin Ginkel was last night’s disappointment, and tonight that “honor” fell to Juan Morillo. But we played pretty well for the most part, all the way through. Facing a less stupidly funded team, we would likely have won at least two of these games, even with the flaws the Diamondbacks have. And, as someone pointed out early in tonight’s Gameday Thread, we won’t face the Dodgers again until the beginning of June, so we will by definition be facing less stupidly funded teams for the next two months. It’s rough to start the season getting swept and going down 0-3, but this certainly isn’t a sign that the sky is falling. It’s more a confirmation that, as we might have suspected, water is wet.

• All Doyers player salary information courtesy of Spotrac.

Loss Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

Robin Hood: Eduardo Rodriguez (5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 79 pitches, +23.0% WPA)
Little John: Joe Ross (1 IP 0 H, 0 ER, +10.8% WPA)
Hapless Country Bumpkin: Juan Morillo (2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 ER, -54.1% WPA)

The Gameday Thread saw some more inevitable falloff from the first two games, in part I suspect because the University of Arizona was punching their ticket to the NCAA March Madness Final Four (BEAR DOWN!), and also because, well, it’s really not a lot of fun to watch the Billionaire Boys Club play baseball on television if you’re not particularly a fan of billionaires. That said, we racked up 182 comments at time of writing. Comment of the game goes by popular acclaim to this one from gzimmerm, who saw the meatball that Snake_Bitten left in the middle of the plate, and didn’t miss it:

Anyway, because opening weekend is often weird in terms of scheduling, we have our only scheduled Sunday off day tomorrow, so I hope you can join us for the Diamondbacks home opener at Chase Field on Monday, when we take on the Detroit Tigers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm AZ time, with Justin Verlander going for the striped cats and Michael Soroka going for us. I don’t feel great about Soroka occupying a spot in our rotation, but despite that I think could be a winnable game. If nothing else, it’s always nice to see the entire team get introduced during the extended pregame festivities.

As always, thanks for reading. And as always, go Diamondbacks!

SAN FRANCISCO — So far, the bullpen help the Yankees were looking for at last year’s trade deadline has been significantly more effective this season than it was in 2025.

Not only has Camilo Doval been sharp in his first two appearances this year after a rough few months in The Bronx, but Jake Bird has also looked like a different pitcher.

The right-hander got five huge outs in Saturday’s 3-1 win to finish a sweep of the Giants at Oracle Park.

Before Saturday, Bird hadn’t pitched a scoreless inning in a victory since June 29.de

That was due in part to how bad the Rockies were when he was there, but also to how poorly he pitched over his final six weeks in Colorado and in his short time with the Yankees before he was sent down to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“It’s good to have a fresh start,’’ Bird said.

He needed one.

Aaron Boone said throughout the spring that if Bird had his command, he would be a weapon for the Yankees.

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Against the Giants, he entered in the bottom of the sixth with the Yankees up by a pair of runs.

Brent Headrick had just allowed a leadoff double to Rafael Devers.

Bird gave up a single to Heliot Ramos to send Devers to third.

But Bird recovered to strike out Willy Adames and then got Harrison Bader to ground into an inning-ending double play to preserve the lead.

The right-hander came back out to start the seventh, getting Patrick Bailey to pop out to shortstop and striking out Casey Schmitt before Boone turned to Tim Hill to finish the inning.

Boone called Bird’s escape job “awesome.”

“He finished spring training strong and both of his outings [in the regular season] have been really sharp,’’ the manager said.

With Doval unavailable, Boone said the pen had to “piece it together” after Will Warren pitched well, but was done after 4 ¹/₃ innings.

The potential emergence of Bird in the bullpen would be huge for a team that lost Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in free agency — and is relying on Bird and Doval, among others, to pitch to their potential.

Doval clearly struggled to adjust to a new role when the closer was asked to pitch in lower-leverage innings last year.

Bird was in the midst of a horrific stretch to end his time with the Rockies when the Yankees acquired him.

He allowed 18 earned runs in 9 ²/₃ innings in his final 12 appearances and gave up six runs over two innings in three outings with the Yankees before he was optioned.

The Yankees were intrigued by Bird’s ability to strike out batters — if they could get him to reduce his walks.

His first two outings of 2026 have been promising, with three strikeouts and no walks — and with Boone not afraid to use Bird in an important spot.

“To get him going through a whole season would be electric,’’ Aaron Judge said.

The Athletics’ rough season-opening series continued this afternoon as the team’s bullpen blew a late four-run lead to the Toronto Blue Jays, who ultimately prevailed 8-7 in 11 innings.

This game started out slowly as both A’s starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs and his Blue Jays counterpart Dylan Cease pitched well in the game’s early going. The only run the Blue Jays got off of Springs came in the third inning. Outfielder Myles Straw and shortstop Andrés Giménez led off that inning with singles and then veteran designated hitter George Springer doubled to left, scoring Straw to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Springs limited the damage, getting first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr and catcher Alejandro Kirk out to keep the A’s deficit at one.

Cease showed why Toronto shelled out over $200 million to sign him as he struck out 12 A’s batters over 5 1/3 innings, a record breaking performance for a pitcher making his Blue Jays debut. He was especially dominant in the fourth and fifth innings during which he struck out six straight hitters.

The A’s finally got to Cease in the sixth inning. First baseman Nick Kurtz walked to leadoff the inning, stole second and then scored the game-tying run on left fielder Tyler Soderstrom’s opposite-field double down the left field line.

The visitors had a chance to take the lead as shortstop Jacob Wilson came to the plate with runners on third base and first base and only one out. However, Wilson grounded sharply to Giménez, who made a nice stop and then turned the inning-ending double play.

The hosts promptly regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. In relief of Springs, who was pulled with his pitch count at 83 with one out in the sixth inning, A’s pitcher Mark Leiter Jr allowed Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho to hit an RBI single to put his team up 2-1. Their lead would only last a few minutes as the A’s immediatelyanswered back. Second baseman Jeff McNeil and third baseman Max Muncy led off the seventh inning with back-t0-back infield singles that bounced off Blue Jays reliever Mason Fluharty, Muncy’s hit forcing the left-hander to leave the game injured.

Fellow left-hander Brendon Little entered the game and the A’s took advantage. With one out, center fielder Denzel Clarke’s slow dribbler scored McNeil to tie the game. A few minutes later, catcher Shea Langeliers bashed a grand slam to center field, his third home run in two games.

Up 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, the A’s had a strong chance to win if they could hold the lead, something their makeshift bullpen failed to achieve. Several A’s relievers combined to allow six runs in the final five innings. Thanks to several walks and base hits, the Blue Jays scored at least once every inning from the sixth to the 11th frame. Meanwhile, their bullpen held the A’s to only one additional run, Brent Rooker’s go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the tenth inning.

Guerrero Jr singled in a run in the seventh. The next inning he came up with the bases loaded and his team down one following back-to-back RBI singles, the latter one of Giménez’s four hits in this game. That time, A’s reliever Michael Kelly got him to line out to second to keep his team up one after eight innings. Unfortunately for the A’s, Kirk rocketed Kelly’s hanging sweeper over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth for a game-tying home run.

Each team scored once in the tenth. After the A’s failed to score in the 11th inning, it seemed like only a matter of time until the Blue Jays would walk it off for the second straight day. Sure enough it did not take long. Making his first MLB appearance post Tommy John surgery, right hander Luis Medina was thrown into a tough situation. In the wake of striking out Kirk, A’s manager Mark Kotsay had Varsho intentionally walked to set up the double play. That proved meaningless as former Athletic Ernie Clement was today’s hero for Toronto, lining a walk-off single to left to finally end this game.

With better bullpen decisions like putting in someone new for the eighth inning rather than having Alvarado go back out there, the A’s might have prevailed. Another concern is the A’s hitters 19 strike outs today, which combined with their 16 strikeouts yesterday set a new franchise record. On the other hand, the A’s defense was better today, aside from Muncy missing a catchable pop-up in foul territory.

Through two games, the A’s have more than held their own against the defending American League champions and arguably could have two wins for their efforts. Entering the season, the team’s bullpen looked to be its biggest weakness and while it is still early, little has been done to qualm those concerns. It feels like the team should have done more to add an accomplished reliever or two to its roster, but at this stage there are few notable names available for the team to sign.

The A’s will try to avoid the sweep tomorrow. Luis Morales will make his first start of the season as he looks to translate potential into results and cement himself as one of the team’s longterm rotation pieces. The Blue Jays will counter with left-hander Eric Lauer, who went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 28 games, 15 starts last year.

It should be another good game. Hopefully the A’s can get out of Canada with at least one win before flying to Atlanta!

Guardians 6, Mariners 5

Good: Julio Rodríguez, +0.40 WPA
Bad: Andrés Muñoz, -0.47 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

LOS ANGELES — After catching the first two games of the opening series, Will Smith wasn’t even supposed to be in the lineup on Saturday, which was his 31st birthday and his bobblehead giveaway at Dodger Stadium.

“I didn’t have him in there tonight. He really wanted to be in there on his bobblehead night, and said he felt good,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It proved to be the right decision.”

“He’s always really good about letting us talk about stuff,” Smith said of Roberts. “I just kind of dropped the bobblehead card on him.”

Trailing by a run late, Smith fell behind 0-2 to Juan Morillo, but on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, the man born on 3/28 put the Dodgers up 3-2 in the 8th inning, in what proved to be the winning margin for the Dodgers, who are now 3-0 to open the season.

“We talked about a lot of our guys, but man, when you’re talking about big hits, clutch, Will is right at the top of the list as well,” Roberts said. “There’s just no panic in his at-bat.”

“I was sitting in here watching. Just came up clutch. His birthday and his bobblehead day” said starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow, who completed six innings Saturday. “What a magical night.”

“Everyone on our team I feel like could hit third in the lineup. It’s just All-Stars up and down,” said Freddie Freeman, who doubled home the Dodgers’ first run in the sixth inning, cutting the deficit to 2-1 at the time. “I think everybody wants that at-bat, and that’s the key to our lineup.”

“I don’t know [about being a clutch player], but I can definitely stay calm in those situations, not try to do too much, and stick to my approach that I’m looking for,” Smith said. “And whatever happens, happens.”

The bobblehead giveaway on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium commemorated Smith’s 11th-inning home run in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series, the first extra-inning home run in Game 7 of a Fall Classic that proved to be the game-winner.

Along with the bobblehead, Smith’s wife Cara and his two young daughters Charlotte and Layton were part of pregame festivities. His two daughters adorably delivered ceremonial first pitches to Dalton Rushing (since Smith was warming up starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow). Then Cara said “It’s time for Dodger baseball,” followed by Charlotte saying the same.

“I thought Char crushed ‘It’s Time For Dodger Baseball.’ A little late, but she did really well,” Smith quipped.

After Smith started all three games against the Diamondbacks, the plan is for him to sit in Monday’s series opener against the Cleveland Guardians. Coupled with Sunday’s schedule off day, that’s potentially two full days off in a row for Smith before catching the final two games against Cleveland. The Dodgers are off on Thursday as well, when they will travel to Washington D.C. to play the Nationals.

The Yankees pitching has been impressive through the first three games of the 2026 season, allowing just one run in their sweep of the San Francisco Giants.

In fact, New York started the year on a 20-inning scoreless streak, the longest in franchise history, per YES Network. 

The first and only run allowed this season came in the bottom of the third inning of Saturday's 3-1 win. Overall, it's the fewest amount of runs the Yanks have ever allowed through three games.

On Saturday, Will Warren allowed one run on five hits and walked two over 4.1 IP (83 pitches), and then four relievers held the Giants scoreless to lock up the victory. After the game, manager Aaron Boone was honest about what he saw from Warren, but said he was still pleased with the end result.

"Just not as sharp with his command, thought the stuff was really good," Boone said. "They pressured him, especially in some two-strike situations where he had a chance to put them away... Just not as sharp with his command. And as a result, they drove his count up pretty good.

"But overall, still, got big outs when he needed to. One run into the fifth inning, set us up for a victory."

Warren agreed with Boone that his command was "a little wonky," blaming it on over excitement, but said he was proud of being able to fight through it.

"There was a lot of chaos there. I think the fact that I had a slow heartbeat early there in the first and minimized the damage there in whatever inning they scored was good," Warren said. "A lot of fight, a lot of grit. Overall attacking and getting outs any way we can."

After Warren's day was done, RHP Jake Bird came up big for the bullpen by tossing 1.2 scoreless innings to get through the sixth inning and record the first two outs of the seventh. Boone said  he was impressed with the righty's two appearances in the series, especially coming in on Saturday after Rafael Devers led off the inning with a double. 

"It was awesome," Boone said. "Again, I thought he finished spring training strong. Both outings here he's been really sharp. And today was huge, to roll through that part of the lineup. Not having Camilo [Doval] today, so you know you got to piece it together a little more. To get five big outs for us there and get the ball to Timmy [Hill] and let him do his thing, that was big."

Boone added that he "has a lot of faith" in David Bednar, who closed things down after issuing a leadoff walk and letting up a single in the bottom of the ninth inning. The veteran was able to strike out Harrison Bader and then force a game-ending double play. Warren was also impressed with both Bird and Bednar, expressing the team's trust in their bullpen early in the season.

"Yeah, I mean Jake Bird, that was huge right there," Warren said. "First-and-third no outs, you get the strikeout and then the double play, that was monster. Then you got Bednar to go shut the door. They've done a great job. We have a lot of trust in handing them the ball."

When asked about how an opening series like this helps the bullpen, Bird said it's great for the group's confidence.

"It's great," Bird said. "Anytime you throw up zeroes as a bullpen it's awesome. Everybody did a great job. It was really fun to watch from a spectators perspective too."

New York will look to continue its early pitching success when they take on the Mariners in Seattle on Monday for the first game of a three-game series.

Well the Braves are 2-0, on a breezy complete victory on Opening Day and an epic walk-off grand-slam on Saturday. Before the walk-off, it was reassuring to see Reynaldo Lopez’ velocity back up in the mid-90s and his stuff generally looking good. I remain highly skeptical of his durability, but he looked the part of a solid starter on Saturday. On the offensive side, the bats were a little quieter on Saturday than on Friday, but they got some key contributions from new members of the team, such as Mike Yastrzemski and, of course, Dominic Smith, while also getting production from their incumbent contributors. This has been about everything you could ask for from two games for the Braves.

Braves News

A few Braves achieved some various historical feats on Opening Day, including Ozzie Albies, Chris Sale, and Austin Riley.

Sean Murphy is participating in all baseball activities and may start his rehap assignment soon, per Mark Bowman.

Dominic Smith walked things off in game #2 on Saturday with an epic grand-slam, completing a comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the ninth inning.

MLB News

The Brewers called up top catching prospect Jeferson Quero to make his MLB debut, sending Andrew Vaughn to the IL.

The White Sox and Nationals made a minor depth trade.

The Marlins are placing Christopher Morel on the IL and are expecting him to miss over a month with an oblique strain.

The Dodgers have shown one thing in their opening three games of the season.

They have no problem erasing early deficits.

For a third-straight night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers found themselves in a two-run hole at the start of the game.

But for a third-straight night, they managed to rally behind strong pitching and timely offense, riding Will Smith’s go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth to a 3-2, sweep-clinching win.

Smith’s big swing almost felt kismet, coming on a night he celebrated both his 31st birthday and a bobblehead giveaway commemorating his game-winning, Game 7 World Series home run last year.

For much of the night, though, it seemed doubtful such late-inning heroics were coming for the Dodgers –– whose star-studded lineup was once again held in check until the end.

Though Tyler Glasnow pitched well in his season debut –– allowing just two runs in six innings, while striking out six batters and retiring 10 of his final 11 –– Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez was better.

In five-plus strong frames, he limited the Dodgers to just a single unearned run; when Freddie Freeman doubled home Kyle Tucker in the sixth following an error to begin the inning.

After that, the Dodgers (3-0) struggled to crack the Dbacks bullpen, making six-straight outs before Mookie Betts drew a walk with two outs in the eighth.

That, however, cracked the door just enough, with Smith sending an elevated 98 mph heater from Juan Morillo sailing out to straightaway center field in the next at-bat.

“You’re going to hear this word a lot: Grinding,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Just really trying to grind at-bats and wait for these guys to make a mistake and not get yourself out. That’s what we did. That’s what we’ll do.”

Added Glasnow: “There is no opponent lead that is safe.”

What it means

The Dodgers aren’t hitting on all cylinders yet. But they’re doing just enough, with several little moments helping swing Saturday’s game.

There was Tucker robbing a home run in front of the short fence down the right-field corner in the sixth; then using his speed to set up Freeman’s RBI double in the sixth by beating out a play at first and stealing second to get into scoring position.

There was Betts’ walk that set the stage for Smith’s winning blast, a four-pitch free pass that erased the frustration of his 0-for-3 night up to then.

And in the end, there was closer Edwin Díaz, emerging for his second save in as many nights to the playing of a live trumpet performance. That completed three spotless innings of work from the bullpen on the night, and ran the group’s scoreless streak to 11 2/3 innings overall to start the season.

Who’s hot

Entering Saturday, Freeman didn’t have a hit yet –– despite nothing but hard-hit balls in his first two games (literally, each one had an exit velocity of at least 90 mph).

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That changed in a hurry, however, with the first baseman singling his first two times up before getting the Dodgers on the board with his sixth-inning RBI double.

That double, which came on a scorching ground ball just inside the third-base line, was the 548th of Freeman’s career, tying him with Alex Rodriguez for 33rd-most all-time.

Alas, the slugger ended the night 3-for-4 after watching another fly ball die at the warning track, already the fifth time that happened this season. Still, he finally has some results to go along with what looks to be an in-sync swing.

Who’s not

It’s only a matter of time before Shohei Ohtani gets going.

But one series in, the four-time MVP has yet to really shine.

Ohtani has been on base plenty, already collecting four walks (including two free passes Saturday) and a hit-by-pitch. However, he hasn’t had a hit since a leadoff single Thursday, and missed multiple chances to help start a rally earlier in Saturday’s game, falling to 0-for-his-last-7 with a double-play in the fifth inning and a groundout to first to lead off the eighth. 

“I think that they’re obviously pitching him very careful, and there’s some pitches that he’s swung at that he’s just missing,” Roberts said. “They were trying to crowd him a lot this series. But I honestly think Shohei’s fine. As long as he’s taking his walks, he’ll slug. He’ll get his slug.”

Up next

Thanks to the strange quirks of MLB’s staggered Opening Week schedule, the Dodgers will get a rare day off on Sunday, before hosting the Cleveland Guardians for a three-game series beginning Monday night. Roki Sasaki will start in that game, trying to reverse the fortunes of his disastrous spring training.

It’s not about how you start it; it’s about how you finish it. Following in the script of Friday’s win, this time with even more drama, the Dodgers waited to take command of the game for the first time in the bottom of the eighth inning. Diamondbacks reliever Juan Morillo came in on the highest possible leverage spot, trying to protect a 2-1 lead with the top of the order up. Morillo retired Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker and appeared in line to survive this gauntlet, but Mookie Betts and Will Smith had other plans. Betts walked on four pitches, and Morillo fed Smith one too many high fastballs until Smith caught the timing of one and knocked it out of the park for a go-ahead two-run bomb.

The birthday boy decided the game felt a tad too cliché, but you won’t hear anyone complaining in the home crowd. Smith, who hit 12 of his 17 home runs last season at Dodger Stadium, already has two in his home park in 2026.

Before the Dodgers could find a way to take the lead in this game, they had to survive for a rather lengthy period despite very little offense, and that went through Tyler Glasnow. For all the control a pitcher has on the mound, his performance and the perception of it can be subject to what those around him will and won’t accomplish. Glasnow delivered, by all accounts, a rather productive game. Through six innings, the Dodgers starter allowed only five baserunners, two of whom came around to score; he struck out eight and walked only one. Glasnow did his part, and still, he most likely left the game with a bitter taste that wasn’t erased until that eighth inning, having trailed from start to finish, only because his offense couldn’t do anything behind him.

Moving to the other half of this pitching match-up, it doesn’t really work that way, but if it did, one might be inclined to argue that Eduardo Rodríguez was due for a good performance at Dodger Stadium—the southpaw had previously known a great struggle when pitching at this ballpark. Rodríguez, who came into this game boasting a 1-3 record in four starts away against the Dodgers, allowing a total of 12 runs in 19 innings, had his best performance at Chavez Ravine.

Kyle Tucker is a terrific player, but Rodríguez sort of showed the blueprint, not that it is a particularly easy one, for left-handers facing this current version of the Dodger lineup. Step one, don’t let Shohei Ohtani beat you—Rodríguez walked him in two out of their three duels—and step two, find a way to take care of business against Tucker. Rodríguez got Tucker the two times he followed an Ohtani walk, and in his third at-bat, the Dodgers’ right fielder reached following an error, thus prompting an end to Rodríguez’s outing. It is the first week of the season, but even with that in mind, Torey Lovullo was quite conservative, removing Rodríguez on 79 pitches after an error allowed Tucker to reach base to lead off the sixth. Sure, the righty-righty matchup against Mookie Betts made sense with Jonathan Loáisiga up next, and Freddie Freeman had been responsible for half of the Dodgers’ four hits up to that point, but Rodríguez had more left in the tank. It turns out that Freeman’s success was about him being Freeman, much more than anything related to Rodríguez. Loáisiga did his job against Betts, but Tucker would eventually score on a Freeman double, his third hit of the game. That run to cut the deficit to 2-1 at the time meant that Smith’s two-run blast could decide the game and not just give the Dodgers new life.

Ultimately, that early hook to Rodríguez meant that the Diamondbacks needed 12 outs from their bullpen to close out this game, and those were a few too many despite all of the Dodgers’ struggles.

While we are on the subject of birthdays, let’s consider Smith’s Homer a special gift to Eric Stephen. True Blue LA’s longtime Managing Editor and fellow birthday boy.

Game particulars

• Home run— Will Smith (2)
• WP— Will Klein (1-0): 1 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout
• LP— Juan Morillo (0-1): 0.2 IP, 1 hit, 2 earned run, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts
• SV— Edwin Diaz (2): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Up next

It’s a rare off-day at home for the reigning champs, as they don’t return to action until Monday night, when the Cleveland Guardians roll into town. Roki Sasaki will face Parker Messick; start time at 7:10 p.m (PT).

The Detroit Tigers took the field on a lovely night in San Diego, looking to complete a road sweep of the Padres to open the season. It didn’t work out that way, though they continued to keep the Padres offense in check. The Tigers hitters were a little too jumpy against Padres’ pitching, with only a handful of hard hit balls, most of them from Colt Keith, to show for it as they fall to 2-1 on the year.

The Tigers were facing a young-ish starter in right-hander Randy Vasquez. Undistinguished in his short career to date, Vasquez earned a starting role via improved velocity and command in spring camp. He gave the Tigers trouble all night by keeping everything around the zone even when he missed, and the Tigers kept chasing a bit too much.

Kerry Carpenter chased a pair of breaking balls to open the game with a strikeout. Gleyber Torres drew a walk, and Colt Keith roped a double down the right field line. Unfortunately, being slow, Torres couldn’t score on the play, and so it was second and third with one out. Riley Greene grounded one to second and Jake Cronenworth fired home to cut down Torres. Spencer Torkelson put together a patient at-bat, but took a called third on a fastball away that was just off the plate. He failed to challenge despite the reasonably high leverage scenario, and that was that.

Jack Flaherty opened his season with a strong 1-2-3 frame. Cronenworth grounded out to McGonigle, playing shortstop in this one, and Flaherty dialed up 95-96 mph to freeze both Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado on called third strikes.

Kevin McGonigle opened the second inning by also taking a called strike three that was just out of the strike zone. He too decided not to challenge. USE THE CHALLENGES, GUYS! Anyway, Matt Vierling lifted a routine high fly to right, and Gavin Sheets made a nice diving stop to rob Zach McKinstry of a single to send it to the bottom half.

Flaherty popped up Jackson Merrill to open the bottom of the second. Xander Bogearts lined out to Torkelson at first, though there was a missed strike call there that Jake Rogers was probably kicking himself for not challenging. Flaherty showed off several 88-89 mph changeups, continuing a spring trend. He eventually got a soft tapper from Sheets back to him and recorded the out, sending us to the third.

The Tigers went quickly in order, with Jake Rogers and Gleyber Torres striking out swinging on either side of a Carpenter ground out.

Ramon Laureano greeted Flaherty with a drive to the wall in right field. McKinstry, getting a start in right field, went back and made a nice jumping catch on the warning track for the first out of the inning. Flaherty got ahead of Castellanos and got him to ground out to McGonigle for the second out of the third. Freddy Fermin came up with the Padres first hit, lining a single to left, and Cronenworth followed suit, spraying a two-strike fastball that got too much plate for a single to left as well. That brought Tatis Jr. back to the dish, and you don’t love that with two on. A 1-1 slider off the plate was called a strike and then Jack came back with a 1-2 heater that buzzed Tatis Jr.‘s tower to run the count full. Utimately, Tatis anticipated that after coming inside twice, they’d go away, and he got a slider away and lined an RBI single to right field for a 1-0 lead.

Chris Fetter came out for a chat, and Flaherty got ahead in the county, but Tatis broke for second and Gleyber Torres just whiffed on a pretty good throw from Rogers. The ball went into center field, Cronenworth scored, and then Flaherty walked Machado. Merrill lined out to right to end the inning, but it was 2-0 Padres and Flaherty had that bad vibe he gets when he has to pitch out of the stretch a few times and loses his rhythm. He was uncomfortable and his command showed it the rest of his outing.

Colt Keith set the Tigers back to work in the fourth with a leadoff walk. More of this patience, please. Riley Greene took a close strike three call at the top of the zone for the first out. Vasquez was sitting 95-96 mph with sinkers and fourseamers, mixing in his other stuff well. Torkelson got a good pitch to hit and roasted a fastball to the fence in left but not quite high enough. Laureano jumped and hauled it in, and Keith had to retreat to first. McGonigle got a 2-1 breaking ball that hung in the sweep spot down and in, but he jumped it and pulled it foul before grounding out to first on a changeup down to end the top half.

Flaherty’s 60th pitch was a strike to open the bottom of the fourth, and Bogearts grounded the next pitch to Keith at the third. Keith threw a one-hopper but Tork scooped it for the first out. Sheets lined one pretty deep to left, but Riley Greene did Riley Greene things, getting a great jump and laying out in slightly awkward fashion to send Sheets back to the dugout. Laureano got a 1-2 knuckle curve below the zone and flared a single off the bat, but Castellanos lifted a deep fly to left that died at the wall like Torkelson’s for the third out.

The Tigers went in order in the fifth, as Vierling and McKinstry both whiffed at high fastballs and each saw only one strike in the at-bat, and then Rogers flew out to left. Vasquez certainly looked upgraded from his previous seasons, but after some good at-bats early, the Tigers definitely helped him out by failing to take more pitches.

Flaherty by this point wasn’t doing any better a job controlling the zone than his teammates. He went 3-0 to his first two hitters, getting Fermin to pop out to McGonigle, but walking Cronenworth on four pitches. He was over 80 pitches and the hook was brewing as Tatis got to 3-0, and Flaherty yanked another one to walk him. Jake Rogers came out for a mound meeting, but A.J. Hinch didn’t go to the bullpen with Machado up and lefty Brant Hurter ready to enter the game. Machado worked into a 3-2 count and just missed a meatball of a slider right down the middle. Flaherty wasn’t close with another 3-2 slider, issuing his third straight walk, and that was it as Hurter entered for his first appearance of the season with the bases loaded and one out.

Hurter got a quick groundout from Merrill to second base, but it was well placed to avoid the double play and Torres hesitated as Machado hit the brakes right in from of him. He could’ve tagged Machado and maybe gotten the out at first two, but Merrill is quick, and so Torres thought better of it and tossed to second for the out as the run scored. 3-0 Padres. Bogearts smacked a one-hopper to Torres to end the inning. Nice work from Hurter there.

There are three types of Flaherty outing. The ones where he dominates. The ones where he gives up a couple of homers and gets knocked out early, and today’s model, where he’s mostly good but gets rattled out of sync and leaks oil as the lineup turns over the third time.

Vasquez got Carpenter on a deep flyout to center, and then Torres grounded out to open the sixth. Colt Keith lined a single for his second hit of the night, and that left it up to Riley Greene in the sixth. Vasquez looked like he was running out of gas, walking Greene on five pitches to bring up Torkelson with McGonigle looming in the on deck circle. Kid’s already looming, guys. The Padres had a little meet-up at the mound to try and settle their pitcher down for one more hitter. Tork got a good pitch and smoked a one-hopper, but he hit it to Manny Machado for the final out of the inning. Eight strikeouts from Vasquez vs. three walks and two Keith hits allowed, and they really helped him out with most of the punchouts by expanding out of the zone against him.

Hurter tied Sheets into knots with a sinker for a whiff to start the bottom half. Laureano jumped a first pitch sinker for a solid single to right field and Castellanos followed suit. With Fermin coming up Hinch had seen enough of Hurter facing a long stretch of right-handed hitters. Not sure why Drew Anderson or Seabold weren’t up a little earlier in this one anyway against a heavily right-handed hitting team, but it was Seabold entering in a tight spot to make his Tigers debut in the sixth.

Seabold dusted Fermin with a 96 mph heater on the outer edge to start his outing. He then got ahead of Cronenworth 0-2 before fishing a bit to even the count. Cronenworth spoiled a pair of good fastballs, and Seabold tried a cutter and then a changeup that were both fouled off. Seabold nailed the bottom rail with a beaut of a fastball for a called strike three…but Cronenworth wisely challenged and he was correct. So, everyone dug back in with a 3-2 count. Another high fourseamer was fouled off, and Cronenworth was putting together a really good AB. Laureano broke and stole third with Seabold not paying attention, but he managed not to step off for a pitch clock violation and fired a fastball that Cronenworth lined one to McGonigle to end the inning and turn away the threat. Not great, but not a bad first appearance for Mr. Seabold.

So it was 3-0 Padres heading into the seventh, and with Mason Miller lurking in the Padres pen, it was time to get cooking on a comeback.

Lefty Kyle Hart took over in the top of the seventh. McGonigle took a first pitch slider for a strike, but again it was actually just out of the zone. The Tigers know they can’t save up challenges to cash in for prizes later, yes? Either way, Kevin worked his way back into a 3-2 count but then took a slider up and away, just nicking the corner. Finally, the Tigers challenged, and so of course this time they were wrong.

Hart carved up Vierling with some nasty splitters, and so it was up to Jahmai Jones, pinch-hitting against the lefty for Zach McKinstry. He put together a solid AB, but lined out to a sliding Tatis Jr. in right to end the Tigers’ half of the inning.

Seabold punched out Tatis to open the bottom half, with a failed Tatis challenge ended the at-bat. Seabold got ahead of Machado and he grounded out to Torres for the second out. The broadcast discussed Seabold’s higher arm slot with the Blue Jays this spring. His velocity is up a tick, he has a quick arm with a bit of deception perhaps, and he is getting a little more carry on the fourseamer. His changeup is solid. The new slider better but erratic on this night. But, he threw strikes for the most part and the left-handed Merrill flew out to Greene in left to end the inning. We don’t Sea-gold just yet, but a solid effort from the Tigers’ newest reliever.

Hart was still in the game, and he quickly popped out Rogers. Hinch pinch-hit Dillon Dingler for Carpenter, which is interesting, but he flew out to Tatis. Torres waited out Hart into a 3-2 count but whiffed at a cutter, and the Tigers were down to their final three outs.

Seabold stayed out there with his pitch count over 30 pitches in the bottom of the eighth. Bogearts flew out to Vierling. Sheets took a slider up and away for a called strike three, and didn’t challenge it. He would’ve won. Seabold quickly worked ahead of Laureano as well with a pair of well located heaters, but the outfielder battled back and eventually lined a two-out single to right field. That was all for Seabold, but it was a good debut as he collected seven outs in a row with three punchouts before the single ended his night.

Hinch turned to Will Vest to shut this inning down and keep the game close enough for a ninth inning rally with the heart of the lineup due up. Bryce Johnson pinch-ran for Laureano. Castellanos dug into the box, saying hello to old friend Jake Rogers, and then grounded out to Keith, who again got a bad grip and bounced it over to first. Torkelson made another nice scoop, and we were on to the ninth.

It would be a tall task for the Tigers against the flamethrowing Mason Miller. Keith saw a steady diet of sliders and Miller dropped one just on the outer edge for strike three after a worthy challenge from Keith. Greene lifted a slider to left for the second out. Torkelson worked to 2-0, fouled off a high triple digit heater, and then took one away to get to 3-1. Tork fouled off two fastballs and then Miller missed up to walk him. That brought McGonigle to the dish. Miller dropped a pair of sliders in for strikes, and the rookie chased one down to end it.

The Tigers are 2-1 on the year, and they’ll begin their journey back east with a three-game stop in Phoenix to battle the Diamondbacks on Monday through Wednesday.

After the Mets came from behind twice to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night, manager Carlos Mendoza and starterDavid Petersondiscussed the win...

David Peterson's "good first one"

While New York's bats struggled until extra innings, the left-hander did all he could to give the team a chance by keeping the Pirates off the scoreboard.

Peterson tossed 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing just six hits while striking out three and walking two. After the game, he talked about how things went during his first outing of the 2026 season.

"Felt good,” Peterson said. “Felt like our plan was working and Alvy [catcher Francisco Alvarez] and I were on the same page. Things were running pretty smooth. Nice to be able to get ahead of hitters and have the count in our advantage most of the day. Some really good defense behind us. Good first one.”

In addition to battling the Pirates revamped lineup, Peterson and the Mets dealt with cold, windy weather at Citi Field. Luckily, the lefty didn't let the conditions get to him, simply focusing on each pitch throughout the game.

"It didn’t change anything for me," Peterson said. "We had our plan and I was just trying to execute every single pitch, and whatever happened happened. I didn’t take too much into account. Like I said, I was just trying to focus on executing one pitch at a time and going as deep as I could and giving our team a chance to win.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza noted that Peterson is "at his best" when he's forcing opponents to hit ground balls and not letting runners on base rattle him. Peterson forced nine groundouts in the win and, like Mendoza noted, forced a clutch pop-out against Marcell Ozuna with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning to keep the game tied at 0-0.

“I thought he was very good," Mendoza said. "When Peterson is getting ground balls, when he’s keeping the ball in the ground, that’s when he’s at his best. He did that today. He was pitch efficient. I thought he mixed well. He attacked, got strike one, got swing and misses. Kept hitters off-balance.

“And then when they created traffic, that’s what makes Petey who he is. When there’s runners on base, his ability to slow the game down, his ability to make pitches when he needs to. Bases loaded there with Ozuna with two outs. Like I said, he’s got that ability to continue to trust himself and continue to execute pitches, and he was able to do that today.”

Bullpen doing their job

After Peterson's day was done against the Pirates, Mendoza turned to six different relief pitchers in the 11-inning win.

Huascar Brazobán, Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley, and Devin Williams all kept the score 0-0 through the ninth inning to force extras. Luis García allowed one unearned run in the 10th and Richard Lovelady allowed another unearned run in the 11th inning, giving the Mets offense the chance they needed in the bottom of the inning, down 2-1.

“Can you name everyone that pitched today?” Peterson said with a laugh. “I mean we used everybody. The bullpen did an incredible job, every guy was ready for the task. Came in and did their job. Just an overall amazing performance on both sides of the ball.

"Really proud of those guys in the bullpen, just one after another coming in and getting their outs, keeping us in the game, and giving us a chance to win."

More defensive reps for Jorge Polanco, Bo Bichette

It's been talked about all winter and spring training that having two players with little-to-no experience at their position will be a risk for the Mets. Those defensive concerns were on display Saturday night, as both first baseman Jorge Polanco and third baseman Bo Bichette had some struggles at their new positions.

Bichette had a couple of throws run wide on Polanco at first, including one that was ruled an error in the top of the fourth inning. Polanco also dealt with a few tough fielding plays that luckily didn't cost New York.

“Just reps, they got to continue to work,” Mendoza said. “The Polanco ones, especially that error, I think they gave him an error, hard ground ball that came up on him, there’s so much there that you can do. With Bo, we just got to continue to work with him on those routines throws.”

Mendoza was also asked about a play in the top of the 11th inning, when Bryan Reynolds reached first safely on a dribbler down the third base line that somehow stayed fair and allowed the runner from third to score, and if Bichette or Lovelady should've fielded the ball.

“I couldn’t believe that it stayed fair. I don’t think anybody makes that play," Mendoza said. "Off the bat, I thought it was a foul ball. So no, none of them had a chance there."

While none of the miscues cost the Mets the game, they could have easily, and both players will need to continue to work on the little things throughout the year.