Category: Baseball

The Cincinnati Reds entered play on Saturday with just 66 runs scored so far this season, the lowest such mark of any team in the game. They also entered play with just 19 doubles (fewest), one triple (five teams have zero), and 86 singles (second fewest), an indicator that they haven’t just struggled to cross the plate, they’ve struggled to hit the ball in the field of play altogether.

Despite their .197 team average (last), they have socked 21 homers – tied for a respectable 12th so far this season. In other words, they have been absolutely dependent upon hitting homers to score their runs in 2026, moreso than any other team out there. So, when they hit the road for Minneapolis this weekend and the temperatures and swirling winds suggested hitting anything over the wall would be near impossible, well, it was hard to muster much hope for this offense’s success given what we’ve seen so far.

It was with that in mind that their rally past the Twins on Saturday looked that much more special.

They trailed 2-0 early as starter Andrew Abbott struggled again with his command, and trailed 4-2 entering the Top of the 7th as Minnesota went to their bullpen. And though they rallied back for the win (thanks to the elite work of Brock Burke, Kyle Nicolas, and Tony Santillan at the back end of the ‘pen when other big names weren’t available), they did not do so with one big 3-run swing.

Instead, they got runners on, over, and in in each of the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, piecing together singles here, productive outs there, a key sac fly, and even a TJ Friedl sacrifice bunt to move the game’s winning run into scoring position.

It was a series of small-ball miracles, especially given the context of how this offense has operated (or not) through the season’s first 20 games. And, once again, the bullpen managed to slam the door at the end, something they’ve become brilliant with despite being banged up and overworked early on.

There’s a quiet swagger with this club, one perhaps highlighted perfectly at the end of the series with the San Francisco Giants when the Giants barking closer tried to start a ruckus after they won the finale of a series they’d already lost. The Reds, though, weren’t interested in fisticuffs and instead the barking turned into a standoff before a nothingburger. Cincinnati hit the showers, packed their bags, and moved on to the next thing on their docket: a series in Minnesota in poor weather than they knew they were more than capable of winning.

They’ve already won it, now. Next up is a chance for a series sweep on Sunday even though they still haven’t been playing their ‘best’ ball of the year.

Today, I think it’s time for Terry Francona’s first Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game. He’s got this club doing all the right things at the right times even though they still haven’t clicked just yet…and they’re still 13-8 on the season.

The Mile High City is abuzz on Saturday.

The Denver Nuggets kick off their first round playoff series against the Timberwolves at Ball Arena. Over at Mile High Stadium, 70,000+ tickets have been sold to welcome Lionel Messi to town, as the Colorado Rapids take on Inter Miami for a 30th anniversary celebration. Back at Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers for the nightcap on a busy Denver sports day.

Hopefully the Rockies can bring some fireworks with them.

The Rockies have scored three or fewer runs in six of their last eight games. That’s only worked out for them once, in a 3-2 win against the Houston Astros on Thursday. They’ll need to find some offensive consistency to have a shot against L.A.

Standing in the way of that is Emmet Sheehan (2-0, 6.60 ERA). In his last start, Sheehan made it through six innings on just 77 pitches, giving up four hits and two home runs along the way. He surrendered three runs, all at the hands of Brandon Nimmo (a solo home run in the first and a two-run homer in the top of the sixth).

Painting a more complete picture of Sheehan’s wins is a look at the scoring behind him. He’s gotten plenty of run support in the games he’s started, with L.A. averaging 8.64 runs across his starts. The Dodgers offense has been firing on all cylinders.

Ryan Feltner (1-1, 7.30 ERA) takes the mound for Colorado, looking to prevent Los Angeles from inflicting the damage they did yesterday in their 13-hit, seven-run win. They hopped on the Rockies early, scoring in each inning from the first through the fifth. In his last outing, Feltner started sharp but fizzled out, posting two scoreless innings before giving up three runs in the third and three more in the fourth.

Sheehan vs. Feltner is the highest-ERA pitching matchup on the docket around the league today. It will be a battle of who blinks first. Or, maybe more accurately, who blinks the least.

These two teams are on vastly different trajectories in the NL West at the moment. Over the last 10, the Dodgers are 8-2, while the Rockies are 3-7. The juggernaut Dodgers are always a tough test, but the Rockies will need to steal one this series to stop the skid.

Could a slugfest at Coors be the setting to do just that? Or is the Rockies offense too flaky right now to bet on against the powerful Dodgers bats?

First Pitch: 6:10 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

SBN Site:True Blue LA 

Lineups:

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Today was a matchup of two of the early 2020s biggest pitching stars, a former Cy Young Award winner versus a two-time All-Star and top-five Cy Young finisher. But it was the elder Brandon Woodruff who got the best of an uncharacteristically wild Sandy Alcantara today, and Brice Turang reached base four times, homered, and knocked in three runs to lead the Brewers to a comfortable 5-2 victory.

On Alcantara’s second pitch of the game, Sal Frelick hit a well-placed soft line drive to shortstop that was fielded on a bounce by Otto Lopez, who could not get it to first base in time to beat the speedy Frelick. But Frelick was followed by two Brewers who made solid contact, but weren’t as lucky with their placement: William Contreras hit a 101 mph fly ball to center, which was caught, and Brice Turang hit a hard ground ball up the middle, straight at Lopez, who was positioned to easily turn a double play.

The Marlins were aggressive against Woodruff in the bottom of the first, and made some decent contact, but had nothing to show for it: Woodruff needed just nine pitches to retire Jakob Marsee, Xavier Edwards, and Agustín Ramírez.

Alcantara struck out Gary Sánchez and got a groundout from Jake Bauers to start the second, but with two outs Luis Rengifo lined a double into the left-field corner—in a bizarre statistical quirk, that gave Rengifo six doubles out of only nine total hits on the season. Garrett Mitchell followed with a walk, but Brandon Lockridge grounded out to end the inning and the Brewers couldn’t quite come through on the two-out rally. They did, however, make the ultra-efficient Alcantara throw 22 pitches in the second inning.

Woodruff got ahead of Liam Hicks to start the bottom of the second, but couldn’t put him away, and Hicks ended up at first with an infield hit when Ortiz was able to dive and stop a ground ball but was unable to make a throw. Ortiz made a nice play on the next batter, when Lopez hit a chopper to short that Ortiz threw him out on (with the aid of a nice pick from Bauers). Connor Norby, though, came through with a clean ground-ball single up the middle, which scored Hicks from second. Neither of Miami’s hits was hit all that hard, but they were hit in the right spots. Woodruff got the last two outs with a couple of fly balls to keep the deficit at one.

Ortiz drew a leadoff walk in the third, and after a Frelick fly out, Alcantara walked Contreras and Turang, too—an unusual bout of wildness for Alcantara, who came in with just six walks in 30 1/3 innings. The three walks loaded the bases for Sánchez, but unfortunately this was a meeting of skillsets that did not work in the Brewers’ favor: Alcantara, who gets a lot of double plays, got a ground ball from Sánchez, who probably would’ve beaten the throw to first if he were anyone else on the Brewers. But he is Gary Sánchez, and beating double play relays is not his strong suit, and the Brewers were unable to answer the Marlins’ opening run.

Like Alcantara, Woodruff also walked the number-nine hitter to start the bottom of the inning, in this case Javier Sanoja. Marsee did Woodruff a favor by flying out on the first pitch he saw, and Edwards burned the Marlins’ second ABS challenge in the process of striking out. Ramírez worked back from 0-2 to 3-2 but grounded out to short to end the inning.

Bauers led off the fourth with a fly ball to the warning track in left, but it didn’t have quite enough juice to get out. Rengifo drew a one-out walk, Alcantara’s fifth of the game, and he advanced to second on a groundout from Mitchell. Lockridge fell behind 0-2, but fouled off three 0-2 pitches before lining an RBI single into center that tied the game. Lockridge continued his good inning with a steal of second with Ortiz at the plate, but Ortiz popped out to end the inning. Still, tie game.

Hicks picked up a single with a soft line drive to center on a 1-2 pitch to start the bottom of the fourth. Some defensive confusion followed: Lopez hit a ground ball to Bauers, who started a throw to second, but changed his mind. Bauers instead turned and tossed to Woodruff, who seemed to think that Bauers had thrown it to second, and he wasn’t looking, and the ball went by him. But the Marlins were confused, too, and Contreras, who backed up the play, was able to throw Hicks out at third. It was scored as an E3, with a fielder’s choice at third. Norby followed and hit a ball hard to deep center, but it held up for Mitchell, who caught it on the warning track. Lopez tagged and advanced to third, but he was stranded there when Owen Caissie struck out looking (on a 95.7 mph fastball, his hardest of the game).

The Brewers had the top of the order against Alcantara in the top of the fifth. Frelick popped out for the first out, and it looked like Contreras should’ve grounded out, but Edwards, the second baseman, just missed the ball, and it trickled into center field and the hustling Brewer catcher made it into second base. It would have been a sort of tough play for Edwards, who moved quite a ways to get there, but it certainly looked like a play that should’ve been made—the official scorer, though, generously gave Contreras a double. Whether Contreras reached on an error or not didn’t matter when, on the very next pitch, Turang blew up an Alcantara cutter right down the middle and hit it out over the wall in right-center. 3-1 Brewers.

Alcantara walked his sixth batter, Sánchez, after the homer; that tied his career high for a single game, and matched the total number he’d walked through his first four starts this season. Sánchez moved to second on a wild pitch, but Bauers popped out and Rengifo lined out to left (on a batted ball with a .770 xBA, credit to the Marlins’ defensive positioning) and the inning ended.

Woodruff retired Miami in order on three fly balls in the fifth. Alcantara’s afternoon was over when he was relieved by Anthony Bender, but Miami’s wildness was not. Mitchell drew his second walk to lead off the sixth and stole second to give the Brewers a prime chance to add on. Lockridge struck out, but with Ortiz at the plate Mitchell advanced to third on a wild pitch and then Ortiz drew his second walk, too. With runners on the corners, Miami brought its infield in, and Frelick hit a chopper to second. Lopez threw home, and Mitchell was called out at home, but Milwaukee challenged the call and it was overturned.

Frelick was credited with an RBI fielder’s choice, and the Brewers still had runners on first and second with just one out. Bender struck out Contreras for the second out, but Turang lined a single to center that scored Ortiz and made it 5-1. Sánchez was hit between the shoulder blades with a 97 mph sinker that got away from Bender, and that was his last pitch; with the bases loaded and Bauers up, Miami moved to Lake Bachar—surprisingly, not a lefty. Bauers made hard contact on a hanging curveball, but lined out to left field and the inning ended.

Woodruff was back out for the sixth and had only thrown 65 pitches. He worked quickly through the sixth, too, with a major assist from Lockridge, when a pop fly that looked like it was going to be a bloop hit ended up in the glove of the Brewer left fielder, who caught it on a full dive.

Bachar continued in the seventh and allowed a two-out walk to Lockridge but otherwise had no trouble. Woodruff was back out for the seventh with his pitch count at 75. He got Lopez to fly out to right, and then Lockridge almost made another spectacular play not unlike the great catch he made in foul territory in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Woody did get that batter, Norby, to pop out, and after a bit of a battle he struck out Caissie to put a cherry on top of a very good day.

Woodruff became the first Brewer pitcher to complete seven innings this season. He threw 92 pitches, and allowed only four baserunners, three hits and a walk. The only blemish was the run that resulted from two sub-95mph ground balls in the second inning, and he struck out four. He finished his outing stronger than he started it, by retiring 11 straight Marlins.

In his third inning of work, Bachar gave up a two-out walk to Turang but had no other trouble. Woodruff was replaced in the bottom of the inning by Jake Woodford (no relation). Woodford got two quick ground-ball outs, allowed back-to-back two-out singles to Marsee and Edwards, but got out of it with a ground ball from Ramírez that ended the inning.

Lefty John King was the new Marlins pitcher in the ninth, and he issued a two-out walk to Mitchell (his third and the team’s 11th today) but struck out Lockridge on three pitches to end it. With a four-run lead in place, Woodford was given a chance to finish the game in the bottom of the ninth. One-out singles from Lopez and Norby prompted a visit from Chris Hook while Abner Uribe warmed in the bullpen, and another hit, this one by Caissie, loaded the bases and ended Woodford’s afternoon.

Uribe entered with a four-run cushion and only two outs to get but with the tying run at the plate. On Uribe’s first pitch, Heriberto Hernández hit a grounder to third. Rengifo threw to second for the second out, but Turang held the ball instead of trying for the double play, and a run crossed for Miami. They were down to their last out, though, and Sanoja grounded out harmlessly to second and the game was over.

That’s four in a row for Milwaukee, and a second straight series victory after their slide of a week and a half ago. Woodruff was the big star today, but Turang carried the offense: he was 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBI, and two walks. Frelick and Lockridge also contributed RBI, while Mitchell walked three times and Ortiz did so twice.

The Brewers will go for a sweep tomorrow when these two teams will participate in another good pitching matchup: Jacob Misiorowski versus Eury Pérez. That game is at 12:40 p.m.

The Rays had high expectations for Griffin Jax when he was acquired at last year’s trade deadline. After some poor batted ball luck but mostly good results to finish the 2025 season, Jax has gotten off to an uneven start in 2026. While it is unfortunate that he has allowed runs to score in four of his nine appearances this season, I don’t think there’s any cause for concern yet. His stuff is still plus across the board and he has a strong track record as a reliable high-leverage reliever. Jax’s location consistency – particularly with his sweeper – appears to be the main driver behind his early struggles.

I’ve been tracking what I call “command deltas” across the league dating back to 2023. I’ll share a brief summary of what a command delta is, but you can read more here and here. A command delta measures how tightly a pitcher clusters a pitch around its intended location. It’s calculated by combining the variation in both horizontal and vertical pitch locations, then grading that number on the 20-80 scouting scale (lower = more consistent, higher = less consistent).

Like most pitch-level metrics, it takes time to stabilize – typically around 100-150 pitches depending on the pitch type. It’s not a standalone evaluation of command, but it can be useful when paired with metrics like strike rate, zone rate, and pitch-level heatmaps.

Below are Jax’s command delta grades from 2023 through the very small sample we have so far in 2026 (excluding pitches that he didn’t throw at least 100 times in a season):

While it’s too early to say definitively what Jax’s location consistency will look like at the end of this season, we can still look at the patterns:

• His four-seam fastball location consistency is slightly above average and largely in line with prior seasons, but might get a bit better across a larger sample
• His two-seam fastball locations are very consistent, and that will likely regress but still remain above average
• His offspeed location consistency is plus and will likely regress a bit too, but still remain above average
• His curveball is something he has flashed a little bit in the past and the locations are fairly consistent, but we’ll need to see more before we can draw any significant conclusions
• His sweeper locations have been significantly less consistent than what we have seen from him in the past and are currently below average

The command deltas point to the sweeper, and the visual data supports that.

And compare it to the heatmap for his sweeper so far in 2026:

The data suggests Jax is struggling to consistently locate his best pitch. As Nick Fortes noted after Friday’s game against the Pirates, it’s been an ongoing issue. More consistent sweeper execution would force hitters to respect the pitch and expand the zone more often. His chase rate on the pitch typically sits around 40%, but this season it’s just over 20% while the chase rates on his other pitches are roughly aligned with his career averages. Once he’s able to get hitters to respect his sweeper again, they’ll have more difficulty timing up his fastball shapes.

Finding better execution of his sweeper is easier said than done. If it was as simple as I’m making it sound, Jax would have fixed it already. The shape of the pitch will vary a bit year to year, but its pretty close to the shape he showed in 2024, so that makes a grip change less likely as the root cause. The catcher set-ups also appear consistent, suggesting it’s not a cueing issue.

If the team wanted to reduce pressure while he finds his feel for the pitch again, Jax could open some games. He is currently coming into high pressure situations late in a game where he has to execute. Obviously, your high-leverage relievers have to do this – it’s part of the job. However, allowing for a different mental approach where he can “grip it and rip it” with lower stakes could be beneficial in helping him reset his execution of the pitch. Although role changes are rarely this simple in practice, Jax could later be moved back into high-leverage after he’s had some time to regain his feel for the pitch.

Regardless of the role, there’s reason to believe that Jax and the staff will get his sweeper back to being a dominant pitch. Given that the sweeper drives a significant portion of his chase and put-away ability, even small inconsistencies can have outsized effects on his overall performance. In short, this looks less like a decline in stuff and more like a temporary loss of feel for a pitch that drives his entire profile.

After a frustrating 1-0 extra innings loss in game one of this series, the Detroit Tigers sent their ace to the mound looking to even things up. Tarik Skubal was very good, the Tigers beat up on Bryan Bello to build an early lead despite squandering some chances, and the bullpen was nails.

It was a cold, humid day in ol’ Beantown as the Tigers looked to even the four-game series with their ace on the mound. The conditions, including a breeze blowing in, didn’t auger well for a ton of power, but in Fenway Park you never know what you’re going to get. Of course, with Tarik Skubal you generally do know what you’re going to get, and he dominated the Red Sox without breaking much of a sweat.

After a quiet night offensively from both teams on Friday, the Tigers got going out of the gate on Saturday afternoon. Kevin McGonigle started the game off with a single, and after Bryan Bello froze Gleyber Torres with a cutter at the top of the zone, Colt Keith singled right through shortstop Andrew Monasterio. A newly patient and disciplined Riley Greene drew a walk to load the bases, and the Tigers were in business.

Bello found his command long enough to carve up Spencer Torkelson with more well located cutters down and away, continuing his bizarre career long futility with the bases loaded, but Kerry Carpenter drew a walk to force in a run. That was all the Tigers would get as Wenceel Pérez grounded out to end the top half of the first.

Tarik Skubal was on it from the start in this one, spinning a 1-2-3 bottom of the first. Jake Rogers and McGonigle hit the ball hard against a still scuffling Bello, but both went for outs. Skubal stormed back out to the mound and struck out the side swinging in the bottom of the second. His fastball command was sharp and the changeup was dancing. Good times.

The third inning was uneventful, but in the top of the fourth, after Torkelson took a called strike three on a dangerous 0-2 cutter right down the middle, Kerry Carpenter stepped in and launched a 1-1 changeup threw a fairly stiff breeze and into the visitor’s bullpen. 2-0 Tigers.

That homer rattled Bello. He walked Wenceel Pérez, and got a 97 mph first pitch sinker down and in and banged it off the Green Monster for a double. Pérez couldn’t score because left field is the size of an average midwestern backyard, but Jake Rogers lifted a fly ball out to Raffaela in center field, and Pérez made a really nice wrap around slide to score just ahead of the tag after a strong throw in. That made it 3-0, and Mr. McGonigle promptly did his thing, lining a sharp single to right to plate Báez for a 4-0 lead.

Skubal, uncertain with all this run support, walked Roman Anthony to start the bottom half, but then punched out Monasterio, Willson Contreras, and Trevor Story in a row to snuff any glimpses of hope for the Red Sox.

Jovani Morán took over for Boston in the fifth. Riley Greene challenged a 3-1 pitch that turned out to be 0.1 inch below the zone—we love an accurate measurement—and walked, but that went nowhere as Torkelson continues to be locked up and passive at the plate, getting called out on strikes yet again. Swing the bat, Spencer.

Skubal finally got himself into some trouble in the bottom half. Wilyer Abreu slapped a single up the middle and Rafaela doubled to center field. Chris Fetter came out for a chat as Skubal looked like he was feeling for his timing, but he promptly walked Caleb Durbin to load the bases. Fortunately, he escaped relatively unscatheed, as Connor Wong bounced to Torres near second base for a double play. Abreu scored, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa flew out to end the inning. 4-1 Tigers.

Jake Rogers doubled to center in the sixth with two outs, but McGonigle grounded out. Meanwhile, Skubal was still a little shaky at this point. His changeup was outstanding, but some of the fastballs weren’t crisp, and of course we’re not in midsummer Skubal territory where the velocity starts creeping up to 99-100 mph more often. Still, he was on the ball whenever he needed to be.

Anthony and Monasterio started the bottom of the sixth with solid singles, and once again Skubal had to lock in. He did so, freezing Contreras with a great changeup that was actually below the zone. Contreras was too disgusted by the filth to challenge and accepted his fate. A pair of whiffs at changeups sent Story to the same fate as Skubal’s 10th victim of the day, and Abreu grounded out to Torres to squander a good scoring opportunity. We like this. 4-1 Tigers.

Colt Keith went 1 for 3 with a single in this one as the DH, but with one out in the top of the seventh, Dillon Dingler pinch-hit for him against the lefty Morán. He flew out to center and Greene struck out to end the inning as Morán had really gentled the Tigers.

Skubal’s day was done with 6.0 IP, ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 10 K. Still a pretty spectacular outing, with a whopping 19 whiffs on 43 swings, but his velocity was still down a bit even by spring levels, averaging 95.9 with the fourseamer. Still, that was his first double digit strikeout game of the season, and his ERA stands at 2.08.

Tyler Holton took over in the bottom of the seventh. He racked up quick outs on meager contact from Rafaela and Wong, with a strikeout of Durbin sandwiched between them.

Right-hander Greg Weissert took over in the eighth for the BoSox, while I begged Spencer Torkelson to swing the frigging bat for crying out loud. He did so, tapping a little ground out off the end of the bat. Progress! Carpenter spanked an opposite field single, but grounders from Pérez and Báez ended the inning.

Holton cruised through the bottom of the eighth, punching out Anthony swinging over a sinker below the zone, and we were on to the top of the ninth.

Zack Kelly took over for Boston, getting Rogers on a ground out to start the frame. McGonigle smoked a line drive right to Monasterio for the second out. Torres dumped a little excuse me swing single into right field, but Dingler flew out to right field.

So, it was Kenley Jansen time. After watching him pump 95-97 mph quite a bit in Detroit, the Tigers’ closer was back down to 93 mph in this weather, but he was reasonably sharp anyway. Contreras reached for a cut fastball away off the plate and lined a single to left, but Story bounced a chopper to Báez who fired to Torres for the first out. The Tigers’ second baseman decided not to try and turn the double play, looking like he didn’t immediately get a perfect grip and choosing discretion over heroics. Abreu sliced a liner to Greene in left, and Jansen mixed in the slider to Rafaela, getting him to pop out to Torkelson on a cutter up to end this one and collect save number 481 in his storied career.

Solid win. Skubal handled business and owned the Red Sox most of the game without really extending himself. The Tigers swung the bats pretty well apart from Torkelson, who looks completely locked up mentally right now. He’ll probably play against Garrett Crochet on Sunday, but he really looks like he could use a couple of games off to try and hit the reset button. Hopefully Colt Keith is keeping up his extra work at first base.

Notes

90 plate appearances into his rookie campaign, Kevin McGonigle is hitting .312/.411/.481 with a 157 wRC+, just a hair outside of the top 20 hitters in the game so far.

It may surprise you to learn that the Tigers offense has the lowest chase rate of any team in baseball so far, with a 27.7 O-Swing rate coming into today’s game.

Of course, not chasing is great, but Spencer Torkelson’s O-swing is just 14.2 percent and it isn’t doing him any good because he’s taking called strikes at a 19.2 percent rate, roughly two percent higher than at any point in his career. Does someone have the ABS system on the brain? I don’t know, but swing the bat, Spencer.

Happy Birthday, Miguel.

I mean, what can you even say?

Ten straight losses in ten straight losses, which is bad, no good, terrible, pick whichever word or phrase from the thesaurus you would like. The bats have looked better the past two days, with the Mets netting 14 hits yesterday and seven today, but no one diehard enough to read an Amazin’ Avenue recap after the tenth straight loss will, or should, care about the smallest of moral victories here.

The game was close for most of it, with Freddy Peralta and Jameson Taillon both pitching well, in similar ways. Taillon struggled early on, allowing two base runners in the first, an enormous home run to Mark Vientos in the second, and a base runner in the third, before settling in nicely to finish the day with a strong quality start.

Peralta worked a perfect first inning, allowed a similarly enormous home run to Ian Happ in the bottom of the second, tying it at one apiece at the time, before working around trouble in the rest of the inning. Peralta, similar to Taillon, was strong in the middle innings, allowing just a single base runner in the third, fourth and fifth.

The bottom of the sixth was where it fell apart for Peralta; kind of, anyway. He got the first two outs of the frame and simply hit a wall, walking Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki to put two on with two outs. Clearly tiring, Carlos Mendoza opted to bring in Brooks Raley to face Moisés Ballesteros. Cubs manager Craig Counsell answered by pinch hitting Carson Kelly, who put the very first pitch Raley through into the seats to make it 4-1.

The Mets battled back a bit in the eighth against Ben Brown, as Bo Bichette and Francisco Lindor led off the inning with infield singles (though, for my money, the Lindor single gave off more of an error vibe but who’s complaining?). Luis Robert Jr. beat out a would-be double play ball, MJ Melendez struck out on a check swing, turning it from a potential rally to a “oh here we go again” scenario. Francisco Alvarez reached on a throwing error by Nico Hoerner, who was shifted up the middle, ranged to his right, rushed the throw, and brought Michael Busch off the first base bag. The Mets rejected the gift they were given quickly after that, as Mark Vientos grounded out quickly to end the rally.

The ninth inning was trivial, as Tommy Pham, Marcus Semien struck out, and Tyrone Taylor popped out, pushing the losing streak to a unbelievable ten games.

One note to leave you with on this fine Saturday:

Maybe the 2026 Mets can be the fifth?

SB Nation GameThreads

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Box scores

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: You, dear reader.
Big Mets loser: Brooks Raley, -33.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: -14.0% WPA
Mets hitters: -36.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos’s home run, +11.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Carson Kelly’s three-run home, -34.0% WPA

The Mariners will look to avoid dropping another series to the Rangers.

The second game of the second series between the Mariners and Rangers begins Saturday at 4:15 p.m. on FOX. The Mariners were swept in Arlington last week. Then they swept the Astros over four games in Seattle. Then they were swept by the Padres in San Diego. And last night, they dropped the first game of the new series to the Rangers. The Mariners are now 8-13, having struggled to get going at the plate against everyone but the Astros’ putrid pitching.

It gets no easier for the Mariners’ Saturday. The Rangers send Nathan Eovaldi to the mound, who struck out seven in their first matchup in a game the Mariners would lose 3-2. The Mariners are also without Brendan Donovan, who left last night’s game with a hip injury. Donovan is day-to-day, per Dan Wilson. Leo Rivas plays third and bats ninth.

George Kirby takes the mound for the Mariners. He pitched against Eovaldi last time, too, with a home run to Kyle Higashioka the difference in that game. Kirby has generally been quite good this year, going 6 innings or more in each start with lots of ground balls and weak contact.

In other Mariners news, Bryce Miller takes the mound tonight for Tacoma.

Lineups

Game Info

First pitch: 4:15 PDT
TV: FOX
Radio: Old Reliable

The St. Louis Cardinals will follow up a 9-run outburst Friday with a Saturday night game against the Houston Astros. Andre Pallante will start the game for the Cardinals while Lance McCullers Jr. will take the mound for the Astros. With Friday’s victory, St. Louis is now 11-8 on the season while the lowly Astros are 8-13.

Will Warren has shown the ability to rack up strikeouts, but sometimes that has come at the expense of efficiency.

On Saturday, he accomplished both.

Warren tied a career high with 11 strikeouts while completing seven strong innings in a 13-4 win over the Royals at Yankee Stadium.

The right-hander, who had only made it through five innings once in his first four starts of the season, went deep Saturday while mowing down the Royals and yielding no runs until the seventh.

“Our job as a starter is to go as long as possible and get as many outs,” said Warren, who did not make it out of the fourth inning in his last start against the Angels. “I hadn’t been doing that to the standard that I hold myself. So today was really nice to go out there and do that.”

It marked only the second time in Warren’s young career that he has pitched at least seven innings, while notching double-digit strikeouts for the third time.

He did so without walking a batter, getting ahead of the Royals all afternoon and using it to his advantage.

“What’s stood out to me is how much swing-and-miss he is getting with his fastball,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s got a unique delivery and slot that allows that to play. He’s a better pitcher now than he was last year and the end of last year and he keeps growing.”

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The Royals swung at Warren’s four-seamer 26 times Saturday and whiffed on seven of them.

He also caught them looking for five of his strikeouts, keeping them guessing with his sinker and changeup that both ran away from their left-handed hitters.

“When he’s in the zone, he’s lights out,” catcher J.C. Escarra said.

The Yankees are still at least a few weeks away from having to make any decisions on their rotation, assuming all five starters stay healthy before Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole potentially return from the injured list at some point in May.

But with outings like Saturday, which lowered his ERA to 2.49 through five starts, Warren continued to make a case that he should keep his spot in the rotation regardless.

“I think everything was moving good and then just execution overall was good,” said Warren, who also picked off Bobby Witt Jr. at first base to help ensure a shutdown inning in the fourth after being given a 5-0 lead.

“The sinker is going to generate a lot of ground balls. We look at our game plan and we have a team that’s going to be aggressive like [the Royals] and the Angels, typically you’re going to have more strikeouts. … If I can go out there and throw three pitches and get three ground balls, I’d love that.”

The Houston Astros (8-13) will play the second of a three-game series with their former division rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals (11-8), tonight at Daikin Park.

RHP Lance McCullers Jr (1-0, 5.87 ERA) will make his fourth regular season appearance for the Astros tonight opposite the Cardinals and starter RHP Andre Pallante (1-1, 4.80 ERA).

TONIGHT’S STARTER: RHP Lance McCullers is making his fourth start of the season as he tries to get back to the form we saw before he went down in 2022.

This season, McCullers opened the season with a brilliant seven inning outing, but has since struggled to get through the fifth inning. Those two outings came on the road and McCullers returns home where he had that brilliant outing.

HOME-COOKIN’: Tonight is the fifth game of a six-game homestand for the Astros, in which they’ll host a pair of NL opponents in the Rockies (2-1) and Cardinals (0-1). The Astros have been good at home in 2026, going 7-4, including a seven-game winning streak, before losing two games in a row.

VS. THE CARDS: This series is a matchup of former division rivals, who spent 19 seasons together in the NL Central from 1994-2012.

Overall, the two teams have played each other 722 times, with the Astros going 336-385.

These teams also have postseason history, with the Astros going 7-6 vs. the Cards in the playoffs. The two clubs faced off in back-to-back NLCS in 2004-05 with St. Louis taking the ‘04 NLCS in seven games and Houston winning the ‘05 NLCS in six games.

THIS WEEKEND’S GIVEAWAYS: Tonight 10,000 fans will receive an Astros Ice Cream Bucket Hat, presented by Texas Bay Credit Union.

TODAY’S ROSTER MOVE: The Astros have claimed OF Dustin Harris off waivers from Chicago (AL)…to make room for Harris on the 40-man roster, the Astros have designated RHP J.P. France for assignment.  

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, April 18, 6:05 p.m. CST

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: Space City Home Network

Streaming: SCHN+

Radio: KTRH 740 AM & 99.1 FM HD2; KTRH 740 AM; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Astros Lineup

2B Jose Altuve

LF Yordan Alvarez

3B Carlos Correa

1B Christian Walker

DH Isaac Paredes

CF Taylor Trammel

RF Cam Smith

C Christian Vazquez

SS Nick Allen

Cardinals Lineup

2B J.J. Wethercolt

C Ivan Herrera

1B Alex Burleson

RF Jordan Walker

DH Nolan Gorman

SS Masyn Winn

3B Ramon Urias

CF Nathan Church

LF Jose Fermin

The San Diego Padres saw their win streak finally come to an end against Los Angeles Angels’ ace José Soriano last night. It was an unfortunate end to the winning streak, but not entirely unexpected.

With the best pitcher in baseball so far this season on the mound for Los Angeles versus knuckleballer Matt Waldron, it wasn’t much of a pitching duel from the get-go. That became increasingly clear as the Friars were shutout for the first time this season.

It’s easy to be worried, but it’s not an indictment of the San Diego offense. It’s merely a showcase of the absolute ace that Soriano is becoming for the Halos. The real verdict will come if San Diego can’t put up enough runs tonight.

Taking the mound

Yusei Kikuchi (LAA) v. Germán Márquez (SD)

The reason for that verdict is due to Kikuchi being a downright awful pitcher. If he was on just about any other team, he’d be sent to the minors. But he’s on the Angels, and they need the pitching.

What Kikuchi lacks in stuff he makes up for in mostly – serviceable innings. He pitched a career-high 33 starts with Los Angeles last year and was their “ace” (though that’s not a word I would use to describe him).

If the Friars can’t get to Kikuchi, it’s a bad omen of a serious departure from the recent slugfest that has been San Diego. Their only problem will be scoring enough to make up for Márquez.

Here’s the thing, Márquez hasn’t been as bad as some worried. But he also hasn’t been good enough to justify a spot in the rotation if not for injuries on the Padres’ roster.

Márquez seemed to turn around his early slump with a scoreless five innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. But he shortly followed that up with a rough five innings against the Colorado Rockies in which he gave up four runs. He earned his first win with San Diego in that outing because their offense outpaced Colorado’s, but it’s still disheartening.

That being said, if Márquez can turn it around against anybody, it’s the Angels. Despite the fact that they’re top 10 in MLB in on-base (.338) and slugging percentage (.414), they’re 20th in batting average (.231). And the only reason that they’re high in OBP is because they’ve been issued an MLB-leading 98 walks.

Márquez has limited his free passes well this year, giving up only five across four starts. So long as he can limit hard contact, he should have a decent outing.

Batter up!

Leadoff man Ramón Laureano was out of the lineup yesterday as part of manager Craig Stammen’s constant rest philosophy. It’s boded well so far for San Diego, and Laureano’s presence in the lineup likely wouldn’t have changed much in the Friars’ 8-0 loss.

That being said, Laureano will be back in the top spot tonight. Not only is he the obvious option, he has a career batting average of .308 against Kikuchi (26 at-bats). In fact, the Padres have a combined .337 average against the left-hander.

That means the lineup will likely be business as usual. Except for a few things: Jackson Merrill has played a lot lately, and Miguel Andujar has been raking (and does so especially against lefties). The latter will probably slot into the lineup, while the former sits the bench for a rest day:

1. Ramón Laureano, LF
2. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Xander Bogaerts, SS
5. Gavin Sheets, 1B
6. Miguel Andujar, DH
7. Bryce Johnson, CF
8. Luis Campusano, C
9. Jake Cronenwroth, 2B

Cronenworth took the leadoff spot in last night’s game and has continued to disappoint. He lowered his batting average to an unfortunate .138 mark.

Campusano will likely continue his stretch as the lone backstop with Freddy Fermin still being dealt with cautiously after his concussion scare.

Relief corps

With Waldron only managing to pitch 3 2/3 innings, the ‘pen was relied on heavily. David Morgan gave up his first runs of the year on a two-run shot. Wandy Peralta, Bradgley Rodriguez and Kyle Hart pitched a clean 3 2/3 to finish out the game.

After some trouble lately, Rodriguez looked especially sharp, striking out all three batters faced. He lowered his ERA to 0.84 to start the year and has been on a tear lately. If not for a guy named Mason Miller, he might be viewed as the best reliever in this group.

Speaking of, the dominant closer will hopefully emerge from the bullpen for the bottom of the ninth tomorrow. He’ll be available after getting plenty of rest yesterday. Also available out of the ‘pen are Jason Adam, Ron Marinaccio and Adrian Morejon.

All four represent high-leverage options for Stammen to pick from, though he’ll likely tab Marinaccio if the Padres have a sizable lead when Márquez exits.

Saturday's loss to the Cubs had the same result as every other game the Mets have played over the last week and change, but the journey was different.

Yes, the Mets' 4-2 loss in Chicago had their losing streak reach 10 games, a feat the franchise hasn't seen in over 20 years, but it's the way they lost that has shades of the Twilight Zone.

The Mets have lost in a myriad of ways during this stretch. They've been shut out, they've lost slugfests, the bullpen has imploded, and defensive errors and miscues have cost them games. But Saturday showed something new. This time, a pinch-hitter took one swing and delivered the winning blow. 

"Just haven’t been able to play a complete game," manager Carlos Mendoza said after the loss. "It’s either the offense… starting pitching. Not making a pitch, not making a play. Not getting the big hit. Just having a hard time playing a complete game right now." 

The Mets have been outscored 60-18 during the 10-game losing streak. And while the offense is not the only reason for this stretch, it's the biggest. Mendoza and the players have said multiple times that there are always discussions among them and that no meeting or player needs to stand up in front of the team to get the ship righted, but the message among them continues to be to move on to the next day and get the win then.

"It’s frustrating to lose baseball games. Any time you lose, no matter how long the streak is, it compounds," Marcus Semien said after the game. "This is a big boy league. There’s no time to dwell on tonight; tomorrow is a new day."

Semien is part of a group of newcomers to the Mets acquired this offseason. He, along with Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco, was brought in to give the offense more consistency with their contact-first approach. So far, it hasn't worked, although the lineup has picked it up a bit over the last few games -- outhitting or tying in hits three of their last four games.

"Every game has been different. Obviously, we want to win as an offense. We’ve lost a lot of different ways. There’s no pointing the finger," he said. "Just coming out with a win. If it takes a 12-10 victory, a 1-0 victory, we have to do something to get the win to come."

And for Semien, who has played in the league for 13 seasons, he's been a part of a lot of streaks, both winning and losing. In his experience, the only cure for these trying times is to find that one win that can steer them in the right direction. 

The veteran infielder was asked question after question regarding the losing streak and how they can turn it around. He often chuckled, almost defiantly, when answering what the answer to breaking the streak is or how challenging it is for the team.

"It’s not. It’s not [challenging]. It’s as simple as showing up tomorrow with a good attitude," Semien said. "That’s how I’m going to approach it as a veteran on this team. Hopefully, other guys see the smile on my face when I show up. I understand the game does not owe you a thing. The game does not owe you any wins. We have to go out and get it.

Semien added, "Just winning the game. It's hard to win a big league game. It always has been. Right now, it hasn't gone our way. If we had a magical way to win every single game, we would definitely be doing it. I think that at the end of the day, everybody in here has enough talent to get a win tomorrow and that's how we're going to approach tomorrow."

"We haven't been playing good baseball. That's the bottom line," Mendoza said. "When you look at it, you've got five-and-a-half months ahead of you. You have an opportunity to write our own story. We're putting ourselves in a big hole right now, but there's only one way to do it - come back tomorrow ready to go."

The Mets will hope to salvage a win Sunday when they take on the Cubs before heading back home.

Texas Rangers @ Seattle Mariners

Saturday, April 18, 2026, 6:15 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / FOX)

T-Mobile Park

RHP Nathan Eovaldi vs. RHP George Kirby

Go Rangers!

We are treated to one of the better pitching matchups we will see all year between Chris Sale and Cristopher Sanchez tonight, as the Braves go for another series win, this time in Philadelphia.

Join us and discuss the game in the comments below!

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, April 18, 7:15 p.m. EDT

Location: Citizens Bank Ballpark, Philadelphia, PA

TV: FOX

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan