Category: Baseball

The 2026 Rockies appear poised to win more games than they did the past couple seasons, but realistically, they are only fighting to avoid 100 losses. That’s improvement, but the season is clearly a transitional one attempting to set the stage for a more exciting future.

Given that, let’s imagine a world where we could magically have any player don a Rockies uniform for the rest of the season.

If you could add any one player to the 2026 Rockies roster, with the sole purpose of making them more fun to watch despite knowing that they aren’t playoff bound, who would it be?

Some rules for this:

• This player could not be kept beyond this season. They’d be returned to their actual team next year.
• The Rockies couldn’t trade this player in order to try and get long-term value from them.
• This should be an active player. No picking Babe Ruth just to see if he could adjust to 100+ mph velocity.

With all that being said, who would you most enjoy seeing in a Rockies uniform the rest of the season?

Is it an MVP candidate able to make more games close and tense? Maybe you have a sentimental favorite that you’d just like to see in the purple pinstripes again? Perhaps you are just curious about what effect playing home games at Coors would have on someone in particular?

Whatever your pick or reasoning, share it in the comments!

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

Roki Sasaki has begun to turn things around at the right time for the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation.

Sasaki was credited with the win after the Dodgers’ 10-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday after producing a career-high eight strikeouts while allowing just four hits and one earned run in seven innings pitched.

The Japanese pitcher's success comes at a good time for L.A.'s pitching staff. The Dodgers will be without Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell, who were both placed on the injury list earlier this month.

“(Sasaki) had command of the fastball, command of the split, forkball and mixed in the slider when needed,” Dave Roberts told reporters after the game.

Sakaki deferred some of the credit for his dominant outing to catcher Dalton Rushing.

“I think Rushing did a great job calling a game with the pitch selection,” Sasaki said to reporters through a translator.

Entering the weekend, Sakaki had a 5.88 ERA with 31 strikeouts across 33.2 innings pitched in his first seven starts of the season.

The right-hander came into his own and played a key role for the Dodgers during the 2025 postseason after spending some time in the bullpen last season.

Watch Roki Sasaki throw eight strikeouts vs. Angels

A look at all 8 of Roki Sasaki's strikeouts

Best he's looked in a Dodgers uniform 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hSYtKpNpt8

— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) May 17, 2026

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki produces career outing vs. Angels

For a few hours between late Friday night and Saturday afternoon, the pulse of the New York Mets’ 2026 season was faint.

Their best starter, Clay Holmes, was suddenly joining a variety of other key teammates on a growing injured list. Their crosstown rivals, having the exact opposite season to the Mets in every way, looked indisputably superior. Their manager, normally chipper, admitted that after taking jab after jab after jab this spring, his team was finally staggering backward from the blows.

Then came Saturday’s win, which included a gritty showing from the lineup and a gutsy showing from the bullpen. Then came Sunday’s stunner, which featured the Mets’ first ninth-inning comeback since Jose Iglesias wore their jersey. Sometimes wins like those change everything for teams sputtering early in the season. Sometimes, they don’t.

If the Mets are to make this one count, they will have to do exactly what they did this weekend: Make the best of what they have and hang in there.

For example: As they fly to Dulles Airport Sunday night, the Mets’ pitching staff remains in relative disarray. The team has not yet announced a rotation replacement for Holmes, who would normally have pitched Wednesday against the Nationals.

One would-be candidate, red-hot 24-year-old Jack Wenninger, threw 60 pitches for Triple-A Syracuse Sunday, which would almost certainly rule him out for Wednesday. Jonah Tong recorded just five outs in his most recent start.

The likeliest fill-in might be lefty Zach Thornton, a former fifth-round pick who owns a 3.16 ERA  in 37 innings this season and owns a 2.25 ERA in two starts since being promoted to Triple-A. Thornton, 24, also pitched Friday, meaning he is perfectly lined up with Holmes’s turn.

In the meantime, the Mets still face a decision about Sean Manaea, who struggled early in his four innings of relief against the New York Yankees Sunday, but settled in enough that Carlos Mendoza said later he was encouraged by the way Manaea was able to get soft contact from the Yankees lineup in his last two innings.

As a former starter relegated to occasional mop-up duty, Manaea also represents an obvious choice to replace Holmes for purely logistical reasons. But the 57 pitches he threw today likely rule out a Wednesday start – though perhaps not a Wednesday opening.

Thus far, the Mets have avoided any firmer decision on Manaea, who has $43 million remaining on his contract but has struggled enough that Mendoza has had to work around him in the bullpen at times – a concession they have hardly been able to afford amid their early season struggles.

That he settled in and kept the Mets close through four innings Sunday preserved every reliever but Devin Williams, meaning they do not necessarily need to find a fresh arm by the time they play the Nationals Monday. Still, if the bullpen finds itself needing reinforcements before Manaea can safely pitch again, the Mets could find themselves choosing between keeping him on the roster and giving themselves enough arms at a time when they cannot afford to give away any late leads.

Getting him right – and the fact that Manaea’s sinker sat around 92 miles per hour is promising – would increase the Mets’ chances of revival. But the Mets do not have time to waste.

As a result, they seem to be showing increased urgency with first baseman Jorge Polanco, who has been out since mid-April with Achilles bursitis. Last week, Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said the team was waiting for Polanco to be asymptomatic before ramping him up for everyday duty. But in the days since, Polanco has hit during batting practice more than once, done defensive work, and gone through agility drills.

Mendoza said Sunday that Polanco will travel with the team to Washington this week so he can continue baseball activities and suggested for the first time that Polanco will either have to play through some discomfort or concede a long injured list stint.

“It’s getting to a point where, he’s gonna feel it, right? But just keeping it to a point where like, I can tolerate this,” Mendoza said. “Because if not, he’s going to be shut down for long period of time. So I think we just continue to go through baseball activities, continue to push it running-wise, and see how he reacts to that.”

Polanco would add depth to the Mets lineup – though in his absence, the Mets have had no choice but to allow for the emergence of A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge. Similarly, they will have to rely on Christian Scott to evolve into a reliable MLB starter and David Peterson to reestablish himself as one. Peterson expressed frustration with the Mets’ continued reliance on an opener before he pitches, but the results are indisputable: In 20 innings of bulk relief this year, his ERA is 2.25. In 23 1/3 innings as a starter, it is 8.10.

So the Mets must keep using an opener and crossing their fingers and doing whatever it takes to put whoever they have in the best position to succeed. They will have to make up ground with a tattered lineup while they wait for injuries to heal and sew them back together. Sunday, they proved it is possible. Monday, they must do it again.

In one agonizing play to end Sunday’s crushing finale against the Mets, the Yankees offered a snapshot to encapsulate a brutal road trip.

With runners on the corners and one out in a tie game, Tim Hill on the mound and the Yankees using a five-man infield, Carson Benge hit a chopper over the mound between Anthony Volpe and Max Schuemann.

The two collided, both going for the ball, costing them any chance of throwing out the runner at home as the Mets walked off with a 7-6 win at Citi Field.

It is impossible to know whether Schuemann or Volpe would have gotten the runner at the plate had either of them fielded it cleanly and without obstacles, but they never got to find out, ending a 2-7 trip against the Brewers, Orioles and Mets.

“Maybe, but we’re both just treating it do or die,” Volpe said. “That was the game.”

“I was just going to be aggressive. We have to be quick,” Schuemann said. “Tough play at the plate either way. I talked to Volpe about it, it’s just one of those things that we’re both going to be aggressive to that baseball no matter what. We both want to make a play.”

CARSON BENGE WALKS IT OFF FOR THE METS! pic.twitter.com/nbPm7EdECY

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2026

“It’s in no-man’s-land,” said manager Aaron Boone, who did not think the Yankees would have gotten Marcus Semien out at home even if the chopper had been fielded cleanly.

The Yankees had won nine of 12 series this season and tied in another before this road trip, when they dropped three straight series.

Four of their seven losses came by one run, giving them 10 on the season.

And two of those included walk-offs in games where David Bednar gave up a first-pitch home run on a curveball — last Sunday in Milwaukee, when Brice Turang walked him off, and this Sunday when Tyrone Taylor crushed a game-tying three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth when the Yankees were one out away from the win.

Now they finally return home for four games against the Blue Jays — the Yankees’ nemesis last season that crushed them in the ALDS — and three against the Rays, who swept the Yankees last month and lead the AL East.

“Couple [of] close games, but it’s just about finishing the job,” Aaron Judge said. “A couple games here where we got to close it out or some games in extras where we got to get a couple runs across and just don’t get the job done. The boys are playing hard though, that’s the biggest thing. Guys are playing tough and making the plays they need to, but just coming up a little bit short. We got to have a short memory and move on and get ready for the [homestand] because we got a big division opponent coming in.”

A day after leaving 11 men on base, the Yankees stranded 10 more while going 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

They had still looked to be in good position to take the series by getting out to leads of 5-1 in the top of the sixth and 6-3 in the top of the seventh.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

But it all came crashing down late, first in the bottom of the ninth, when Bednar capped off a rough trip for the bullpen.

He allowed back-to-back singles to lead off the frame, then got two outs before leaving a curveball over the plate to Taylor.

“Just not putting guys away early,” Bednar said. “Overall, that’s unacceptable, but especially in that spot, it’s just very frustrating.”

Then came the excruciating end.

After the Yankees pulled Schuemann in from left field with a runner on third, Hill hit Luis Torrens to bring up Benge.

Schuemann hovered as a third infielder on the right side, shaded just to the right of second base, and Benge chopped it between him and Volpe.

Schuemann picked it with his backhand but Volpe ran into him while also trying to make the play, preventing a throw, providing a fitting end for a forgettable trip.

“It’s very frustrating,” Schuemann said. “We’re a really good team. I think it’ll turn.”

The Cubs claimed right-hander Christian Roa off of waivers from the Orioles and assigned him to Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs are Roa’s fourth team this year already.

Iowa blew a two-one lead in the ninth. Knoxville rallied after trailing by two in the ninth.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs lost their seventh-straight game, 4-3 to the Nashville Sounds (Brewers).

It was the best start to his Cubs’ career for Paul Campbell, who gave the I-Cubs five scoreless innings on just two hits. Campbell walked two and struck out four.

Corbin Martin gave up a game-tying solo home run in the sixth, but then Luis Peralta threw the seventh and eighth innings and retired all six batters he faced. Peralta struck out one.

But with the I-Cubs holding a 3-1 lead going to the bottom of the ninth, Gabe Klobosits came on for the save and he blew it, giving up three runs on two hits and three walks over two-thirds of an inning. He struck out one.

James Triantos was 3 for 4 with three steals today. He scored the first two Iowa runs and he singled home an insurance run in the eighth.

Shortstop Scott Kingery drove home Triantos once with a sacrifice fly and he doubled him home to break a 1-1 tie in the seventh. Kingery was 1 for 3.

Kingery’s double.

Triantos’ RBI single.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies canned the Columbus Clingstones (Braves), 4-3.

It was a bullpen game for the Smokies who started Frankie Scalzo Jr. Scalzo gave the Smokies two innings of no runs and one hit. He struck out three and walked one.

Jackson Kirkpatrick tossed the bottom of the ninth and Columbus tacked on an insurance run on a solo home run. Kirkpatrick would get the win when the Smokies rallied in the ninth. His final line was one run on one hit and one walk over one inning. Naturally enough, he struck out one.

Marino Santy pitched the ninth and while it was shaky, he nailed down his first ever professional save. Santy pitched one inning and allowed a hit and a walk. He struck out two.

First baseman Edgar Alvarez hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the ninth, his fourth on the season. Alvarez went 1 for 3 with a walk.

Right fielder Alex Ramírez had an infield RBI single in the third inning for the first run of the game. Ramírez went 2 for 4.

Here’s Alvarez’s home run.

South Bend Cubs

After South Bend scored 74 runs in the first five games in Appleton against the Timber Rattlers, Sunday’s game was “rained out” and will not be made up. Honestly, I don’t know whether it was raining or not, but it was awfully convenient for a pitching staff that had been battered from pillar to post.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans had an allergic reaction to the Augusta Green Jackets (Braves), 7-4.

David Bracho started this game and allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits over four innings. Bracho walked two and struck out two.

It was a tandem start with Hayden Frank, who didn’t pitch as well and got the loss. Frank went the rest of the way, all five innings, and allowed five runs on six hits. However on the positive side, Frank struck out nine and walked only one.

Second baseman Alexis Hernandez tied the game up 2-2 in the third inning with a two-run home run. Hernandez went 1 for 3 with a walk.

First baseman Edward Vargas was 2 for 3. He scored on Hernandez’s home run and drove in one run with a single in the fifth.

That’s all three hits the Pelicans had this evening.

Here’s Hernandez’s first home run of the year.

ACL Cubs

Off day.

The Yankees were one out away on Sunday from taking round one of the Subway Series against the Mets at Citi Field and salvaging a rough road trip with at least some crosstown rivalry bragging rights.

Instead, David Bednar allowed a game-tying, three-run home run to Tyrone Taylor in the ninth inning before Tim Hill took the loss after a slowly hit fielder’s choice by Carson Benge drove in the game-winning run in the 10th.

“That’s a tough one to swallow, but we gotta get right back out there tomorrow,” Bednar said.

The home run allowed by Bednar was the second the closer has allowed on this road trip after he gave up a game-winning solo shot to Brice Turang and the Milwaukee Brewers in the ninth inning on May 10.

In fact, both home runs came on first pitch curveballs in the zone. After the game, Bednar blamed his “execution” of the pitch, not the pitch selection.

“I’ve had a lot of success with that pitch and I trust my stuff implicitly,” Bednar said about his curveball. “It’s more the position I put myself in.”

The inning began with Benge, in the middle of things once again, singling on a 2-2 fastball up in the zone and Bo Bichette grounding one up the middle on a first pitch fastball down in the zone. 

Bednar then did the heavy lifting by getting Juan Soto to ground out and Mark Vientos to strike out before facing Taylor who had been struggling all season and entered the at-bat with a .177 batting average.

“Just not putting guys away early,” Bednar said about what went wrong in the ninth. “Getting to two strikes on the first guy and not being able to put him away… Overall it’s unacceptable, especially in that spot, it’s just very frustrating.”

Manager Aaron Boone was asked about not only his closer, but the state of the rest of his bullpen as well as the 2-7 road trip that has the Yankees 28-19 and 3.0 GB of the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East lead.

“I think they’re all capable of getting big outs,” Boone said. “And they have throughout this year. We just had a terrible road trip where we certainly had some tough ones. That’s part of it, we gotta get after it tomorrow.”

The Yankees will try and regroup quickly as they return to the Bronx for the first time in nearly two weeks to host the Toronto Blue Jays for a three-game series starting on Monday night at 7:05 p.m.

Rangers 8, Astros 0

• Okay, I guess, for one day, we can calm down a little about the offense.
• And about Nathan Eovaldi’s achy side.
• Eovaldi had it going on today. Seven innings, 8 Ks, 64 strikes on 94 pitches. Five hits, a pair of walks, and a hit batter.
• Honestly, it felt like he was pitching even better than those numbers indicate.
• Eovaldi went heavy with this splitter and had it working, throwing it 44 times and generating 13 whiffs out of 27 swings on it.
• Eovaldi threw his curveball 18 times and only once was it put into play. That one was kind of a big deal, though, as Yordan Alvarez skied a 1-2 curve to start the bottom of the fourth way, way up in the air, on an arc that looked like it would land in the right field seats.
• Brandon Nimmo wasn’t having any of that, though:

• Nimmo made a spectacular leaping catch to steal a home run from Alvarez. In fairness to Eovaldi, though, that’s a warning track fly ball in most parks. While the Crawford Boxes get all the attention, the right field seats at the onetime Enron Field are closer in than most. Statcast has that as a homer in just two parks — Philly and, of course, Yankee Stadium.
• Eovaldi had little in the way of issues the rest of the way.
• Three weeks ago, Eovaldi’s ERA was 5.79 on the season. Since then, he has allowed one run in 22 innings, has struck out 23, and has walked just three, lowering his ERA to 3.62.
• Gavin Collyer came in to handle the final two innings. The last time Collyer was asked to close out a game with a big lead, he ended up walking three batters, giving up a hit, and being pulled without retiring a batter.
• This time went much better, Six up and six down for Collyer, with a pair of Ks.
• It looked quite unlikely that a Ranger pitcher would be doing positive mop-up duty in the early part of the game, though. Through four innings, the Rangers were once again being no-hit, with a Joc Pederson walk giving the Rangers their only baserunner.
• Alejandro Osuna beat out an infield single to break up the no-hitter with one out in the fifth. And he did it on a ball he had no business swinging at, a changeup he was way out in front of and that was barely above the ground when he made contact with it. Osuna chopped it past the pitcher’s mound, just hard enough to get past Astros pitcher Peter Lambert, just soft enough that Nick Allen wasn’t able to get the ball to first in time.
• We had barely finished celebrating the exciting news that the Rangers wouldn’t be no hit when Jake Burger took a fastball the other way, tucking it into the seats in the right field corner for a homer, making it 2-0.
• It was the second time in four days Burger gave the Rangers a lead with a home run right down the line in right field.
• That doesn’t have any particular meaning, but I figured I’d point it out.
• The flood gates ended up opening in the seventh, with Jake Burger once again doing damage. A Joc Pederson walk, an Ezequiel Duran double, and an Osuna HBP loaded the bases and led to the Astros making a pitching change. Burger let a pair of cutters go by for balls, watched a sinker and a cutter get called for strikes, then crushed a sweeper that stayed out over the plate right over third baseman Braden Shewmake’s head for a two run double.
• I thought Shewmake was going to catch it, because that’s how things have been going. It was probably going too fast for him to see it, though.
• Kyle Higashioka singled home Osuna and Burger, Nimmo doubled home Higashioka, and it was 7-0 and we were feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.
• Higashioka finished things off with a 9th inning homer, his second of the season, giving the Rangers a snowman on the scoreboard.
• In the first game of the series, the Rangers barely got anyone on base. In the second game of the series, the Rangers had a ton of traffic, but only scored one run and stranded, I don’t know, I think 13 runners? Something like that?
• Sunday, they got things figured out. They did the very fun thing where they scored more runs (8) than they had hits (7). Five of the seven hits were of the extra base variety. Of their 10 baserunners, only two were left on.
• Efficient, it was.
• The 8 run margin of victory is the largest for the Rangers since they beat the Angels 20-3 on August 27, 2025.
• In addition, the A’s have lost, and so the Rangers are back to being just a game out of first place.
• Let’s be happy, everyone!
• Nathan Eovaldi’s fastball topped out at 95.7 mph, averaging 94.9 mph. Gavin Collyer reached 97.5 mph with his fastball.
• Jake Burger had a 109.6 mph double and a 102.4 mph home run. Brandon Nimmo had a 101.6 mph fly out. Alejandro Osuna had a 100.7 mph ground out. Evan Carter had a 100.2 mph ground out.
• Now to Colorado.

This afternoon’s rubber match against the Arizona Diamondbacks started after a rain delay that lasted almost two hours. By the time first pitch finally came around one could hardly tell it had been pouring not too long ago. However, spirits were certainly damp as the Colorado Rockies went down early and failed to mount a comeback.

Another difficult Coors start for Michael Lorenzen

For the first two innings this afternoon, it looked like Michael Lorenzen might have himself a solid start at a soggy Coors Field. He pitched two shutout innings with only two baserunners: a single in the first inning—that arguably should have been taken care of by Edouard Julien at second base—and a walk in the second inning.

Things fell off the rails in the third inning. With two outs, Lorenzen walked two batters and gave up back-to-back singles to put the Diamondbacks on the board with two runs. He then finished the inning. In the fourth inning he gave up a leadoff single before getting two outs… only to then give up a single and a home run by Corbin Carroll to give the Diamondbacks another three runs. The fifth inning featured a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. home run, then another run scored via a pair of singles—again with two outs. He was then pulled for newcomer Blas Castañ0, who was called up this morning from Triple-A Albuquerque.

Six of the seven runs allowed by Lorenzen came with two outs.

“I have to get the third out. For them to put up that many runs with two outs is frustrating,” he said.

The veteran, signed as a free agent this off-season, has struggled immensely at Coors Field. In four starts at a mile high he now has a 9.64 ERA with eight walks and opposing batters hitting .416 against him.

Lorenzen was brutally honest about his performance after the loss.

“I don’t care if it’s Mars,” Lorenzen said after the game. “I need to figure it out.”

He shouldered the responsibility for his poor pitching so far this season.

“It comes down to me. I’ve got to get better. Physically I feel great, but the results are just horrendous. I need to figure it out, because it’s just unacceptable to be this deep in the season and have these kinds of results on a consistent basis.”

Bullpen stops the bleeding

For what it may be worth, the bullpen did exactly what they needed to in relief of Michael Lorenzen. They held the Diamondbacks to just one run for the rest of the game. That run came via newcomer Blas Castaño, who overall had a solid outing. He allowed just the one earned run—a solo home run off the bat of Corbin Carroll—on two hits and a walk while striking out three batters over 2.1 inning.

Seth Halvorsen and Victor Vodnik combined for two scoreless innings of their own. Halvorsen did give up a hit but also tallied two strikeouts. His velocity appears to have fully recovered from his elbow injury last season as he easily hit 101 MPH multiple times. Vodnik pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout as well.

Late offensive surge comes up short

The Rockies offense was again stagnant for most of the game. Michael Soroka kept the Rockies hitless until there were two outs in the fourth inning with their only baserunner coming in the first inning via a Hunter Goodman walk.

With those two outs in the fourth, the offense finally showed some life. Three straight doubles from birthday boy TJ Rumfield, Troy Johnston, and Willi Castro plated two runs. The Rockies had baserunners in both the fifth and six innings but failed to score, and went down in order in the seventh.

The Rockies attempted to begin a comeback in the eighth inning, which started with three straight batters reaching and loading up the bases. A Willi Castro sacrifice fly drove in one run, and back-to-back singles by Jake McCarthy and Kyle Karros drove in two more before a Brett Sullivan sacrifice fly plated yet another and had the Rockies suddenly within two runs.

Unfortunately, the Rockies’ eighth inning ended with an Edouard Julien pop-up. Julien was one of just two batters in the Rockies lineup to go hitless, and the only one to fail to reach safely. The Canadian second baseman has gone stone cold in the month of May, hitting just .075/.159/.075 without an extra base hit, four walks, and 16 strikeouts over 40 at-bats.

“When Eddie is going good, he’s taking his walks, and he hasn’t been doing that a lot lately,” said manager Warren Schaeffer after the game regarding Julien’s struggles.

The Rockies sadly went down relatively quietly in the ninth. Mickey Moniak—who also failed to record a hit today—and Hunter Goodman combined for two quick outs. TJ Rumfield walked after a lengthy at-bat (and thanks to an ABS challenge) but Troy Johnston flew out and ended both the Rockies’ comeback bid and the game.

Coming Up Next

The Rockies will start a series against the visiting Texas Rangers tomorrow evening with two lefties on the mound. José Quintana will face off against MacKenzie Gore with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 PM MDT.

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

The San Francisco Giants closed out their three-game series with the Don’t-Call-Us-Sacramento A’s on Sunday and winning the series was a breeze. A stiff wind blew in from left field at Sutter Health Park, but that didn’t stop Luis Arraez and Harrison Bader from hitting home runs out to right, the last one for a grand slam, in a 10-1 Giants win.

Adrian Houser (2-4) had his third straight strong outing, going six innings and only giving up a run when a wind-blown popup in shallow left field turned into a two-run double. He walked five, but induced three pop-ups and eight ground balls and two double plays in his six innings, and his only extra-base hit was the RBI “double” from Carlos Cortes.

The game was tight for seven innings but the Giants broke through with a six-run 8th inning that took advantage of some bad defense from the A’s and a brutal outing for reliever Luis Medina. Zach Gelof committed his second error of the game to start the inning, then a walk to Arraez and a Casey Schmidt single loaded the bases for Rafael Devers, who brought home Bader with a single to center. Lawrence Butler dropped the ball taking it out of his glove and Arraez, who was stopping at third, came home to make it 4-1.

Willy Adames singled to re-load the bases, with Schmidt holding at third even as Tyler Soderstrom kicked the ball in left — he did wisely boot the ball forward. The 1-for-5 day lowered Adames’ batting average to .234, but he’s still up 25 points on this road trip and up 37 points since May 9.

The Adames single mercifully ended Medina’s afternoon (0 IP, 3H 5 R, 2 ER). Daniel Susac grounded to second on a drawn-in infield, and it was Jeff McNeil’s turn to bobble the ball, turning a potential double play into an RBI groundout. After an intentional walk to Matt Chapman, Jung Hoo Lee’s grounder to McNeil, a tougher play, went off his glove for an infield hit and a 6-1 lead.

Then Bader took Suarez deep for a grand slam over the comically-low right field fence at Sutter Health, though it will always be Raley Field to me. If this was the Olympics, Bader’s shot wouldn’t qualify for a record since it was wind-aided, but it was worth four big runs in major league baseball.

It was a stunning change in the nature of the ballgame. Keaton Winn was warming up to protect a 3-1 lead, and then an inning later, the A’s were bringing in their right fielder to pitch the 9th — Cortes pitched a scoreless inning, yielding a walk and a Chapman double and never exceeding 85 MPH on the radar gun.

Bader has raised his average 38 points on the road trip and his slugging percentage by 155 points thanks to going deep three times in his last four games. He’s tied for third on the team with four homers despite having only 75 plate appearances.

Arraez started the scoring with his second home run of the weekend, and also his second of the season. Maybe playing in a Triple-A ballpark unlocked his power potential? He went 3-for-4 with a walk and a double, scoring two runs and raising his slash line to .328/.370/.437.

Our own esteemed Bryan Murphy asked whether Arraez would homer this season and Arraez gave it a resounding yes. The next question is, can he hit one out in a normal-sized park not in a windstorm? The Giants will probably be happy with his ultra-contact approach and a few doubles, but if he can slug like Eric Haase, they might really have something!

The Giants tacked on their second run thanks to more sloppy play from a squad who is poised to be Las Vegas’ fifth-favorite team. Gelof’s first error let Adames reach first and starter Jeffrey Springs balked him to second on an illegal pickoff throw. Then Matt Chapman defied the gods of wind with a double into the left-field gap, his second RBI of the road trip and the first from actually hitting the ball (Chappie had a bases-loaded walk against the Dodgers).

Springs (3-4) probably deserved better on a day when he gave up five hits and two runs in six innings, only one of them earned. He only struck out three Giants, however, and the combination of unpredictable wind and awful A’s defense made this a tough day for pitching to contact.

The Giants will have to succeed without a boost from Mother Nature when they finish the road trip in Arizona Monday-Wednesday. Robbie Ray takes on former teammate Zac Gallen Monday at Chase Field, likely with the roof shut. It’s a long 10-day road trip with no off days, but the Giants can’t feel too bad with a 4-3 record and their slumping veterans starting to hit again.

The key is to keep hitting, continue turning lots of double plays, and give offerings to Apollo and Helios, god of the Sun, rather than Aeolus, keeper of the winds. We hear Apollo likes wine and honey.

The Athletics and Giants battled in the rubber-game of their three-game set on a windy Sunday afternoon in Sacramento. While the wind helped both teams score runs, the weather did not play that much of a factor in this game’s result. Rather it was the A’s bullpen and defensive collapse in the eighth inning, when the Giants scored eight runs to break the game open and go on to a 10-1 series-deciding victory.

Giants Threaten Right Away

A’s starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs encountered some early traffic before inducing two fly outs to escape that first inning jam.

Kurtz Keeps Streak Going

A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz led off the bottom of the first with a walk against Giants’ pitcher Adrian Houser, extending his on-base streak to an incredible 40 consecutive games. Houser settled down after that, matching Springs with a scoreless first.

Springs continued his strong start in the second, inducing an inning-ending double-play grounder to erase Giants’ catcher Daniel Susac’s leadoff single. In the latter half of that inning, A’s third baseman Zack Gelof crushed a ball that got knocked down by the wind and wound up in the Giants center fielder’s glove.

Giants Strike First

The Giants took the lead against Springs. With one out in the third, Arraez hit his second home run of the season, a wind-aided solo shot down the right field line. A’s catcher Jonah Heim led off the last of the third with a single, his first hit with the team and the A’s first hit of the game.

Giants Add Another Run

The Giants extended their lead the next inning. Their shortstop, Willy Adames reached on Gelof’s throwing error, advanced to second on a balk and then scored on Matt Chapman’s double to center. Springs limited the damage by getting Giants’ right fielder Drew Gilbert to fly out with Chapman on second and two outs.

A’s Attempt a Comeback

Houser worked his fourth straight scoreless inning. The Giants middle-infield duo of Adamesand Arraez made nice defensive plays to assist their pitcher.

In the bottom of the fifth, the A’s got on the board thanks to a two-out rally. Shortstop Darell Hernaiz singled and then Kurtz walked for the third time in three at-bats. That brought up right fielder Carlos Cortes, whose pop-up was somehow not caught by a Giants infielder. His double that never left the infield brought home Hernaiz to cut his team’s deficit in half. Houser escaped the jam by getting designated hitter Brent Rooker to line out as the A’s stranded the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

Springs responded with a shutdown sixth inning, not letting the Giants grab back any momentum. He allowed two runs, one earned on five hits over six innings. He struck out just three while inducing seven groundouts and seven flyouts.

In the bottom of the sixth, Gelof singled and then stole second with two outs. Unfortunately, center fielder Lawrence Butler popped out to end the inning. For the second straight inning, the hosts wasted an opportunity to at least tie the game. Butler continues to struggle, his batting average now a woeful .172.

Like Springs, Houser completed six solid innings for the Giants, only allowing one run on four hits. Aside from the five walks, Houser pitched well and in all likelihood should have ended his outing with zero runs allowed given how the A’s scored their lone run against him.

A’s Bullpen and Defense Falters: Giants Score Eight in the Eighth

In the seventh, both teams turned things over to their bullpen. A’s right-hander Justin Sterner and Giants’ left-hander Sam Hentges each pitched scoreless innings.

The Giants extended their lead in the eighth inning against Athletics’ reliever Luis Medina thanks to several A’s mistakes. The rally started when Gelof made his second fielding error of the game. Following a walk and a single, San Francisco had runners on every base with zero outs. First baseman Rafael Devers singled to center scoring two runs, the second run coming home because Butler failed to cleanly field the ball.

Medina failed to record an out, and was not helped by the defense behind him. Left-hander José Suárez replaced him with the bases loaded, but by the time he finally escaped the inning, the game had gotten out of hand. Giants center fielder Harrison Bader punctuated the rally with a grand slam down the right-field line, capping what was likely San Francisco’s best offensive inning and the A’s worst defensive inning of the season.

Position-player Pitching Alert

Down by nine, A’s manager Mark Kotsay turned to position-player Carlos Cortes to pitch the top of the ninth inning. In his first MLB pitching appearance, the outfielder allowed a walk and a double but did not give up a run.

The Athletics went down meekly in the bottom of the ninth, suffering a 10-1 defeat that marked their second straight home series loss to a National League opponent and dropped them back to .500. The A’s are now just 10-12 at home this season, a mark that must improve if they hope to contend for a playoff spot. They also need to tighten their defense after committing nine errors over the past six games.

Next Game Preview

The A’s, however, have been better on the road, where they are 13-11 entering tomorrow’s matchup at the scuffling Los Angeles Angels. Coming off back-to-back scoreless outings, right-hander J.T. Ginn will start for the A’s as they try to snap their two-game losing streak. The Angels will counter with 22-year-old right-hander Walbert Ureña, who brings a 1-4 record and a 3.29 ERA into his eighth appearance and sixth start of the season. Ureña has pitched well recently, setting up an intriguing first meeting of the year between the division rivals.

For the second time in five days, Mets rookie Carson Benge came through in the clutch with a walk-off.

New York trailed the Yankees by three runs in the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon, but Tyrone Taylor stepped up with a game-tying three-run homer to send the game to extra innings. It was then Benge's turn in the 10th inning to be the hero again, putting the ball in play against a five-man infield that allowed Marcus Semien to score from third base.

After the 7-6 win, Benge reiterated manager Carlos Mendoza's praise of the team showing fight when trailing by continuing to have competitive at-bats.

"You know it's always good when you show some fight back," Benge said. "I feel like our offense did a great job of that today. You know never out of the game, always putting up competitive at-bats. And then Tyrone with the huge swing in the ninth, I blacked out for him."

With the Yankees opting for that five-man infield with a runner on third base, there was no one playing in right field with Benge up to bat against LHP Tim Hill. A bloop over the first or second baseman's head would have been enough, but Benge said he wasn't forcing anything and just focused on overcoming the challenge.

"No, nothing. I was just putting the ball in play, trying to hit the ball hard," Benge said. "That's a tough matchup, but I knew I could overcome it."

It's clear the 23-year-old is feeling more and more confident at the plate every game he plays, and credited that self confidence for his success. He's hitting .287 over his last 30 games and has been on fire as of late, hitting .387 with a .406 OBP over his last seven games. 

"Definitely," Benge said. "You always got to go up there knowing you're better than the other guy, he can't get you out. I feel like going up there with that mindset has definitely helped me out a ton."

After winning two straight series, Benge believes the Mets are finally "trending in the right direction" after a disappointing start to the season. 

A big factor in the recent success has been fellow rookie A.J. Ewing, who has shown impressive plate discipline for a 21-year-old and has drawn seven walks in six games. Ewing told reporters his first week in the majors has been everything he's dreamt of and is looking forward to continuing the momentum.

"It's been a lot of fun, it's been a dream come true, and I'm just excited to keep competing," Ewing said.

Ewing's sacrifice bunt in the 10th inning moved Semien to third base and helped New York pull out the victory. He added that he's been working on bunting all season and the result was better than it had been in the minors. 

Like Benge, Ewing also expressed his confidence at the dish as his routine is certainly working in his favor -- slashing .294/.500/.588 through six games.

"I feel comfortable in the box, I think the batter's box is kind of like my happy place," Ewing said. "I feel comfortable, I feel like myself, and I'm just gonna keep being me."

Both Ewing and Benge's quality of at-bats have been a driving factor during the team's recent stretch and have impressed the manager early in their careers. If the Mets are going to get back to .500 and make a run, the young duo will be a main reason for that success.

"They're staying in the fight. They're not trying to do too much, they're taking pitches, they're putting together some good swings, they're putting the ball in play," Mendoza said. "That matchup there with Hill, we know he's a ground ball machine and he's a tough left-on-left, but the game is calling for putting the ball in play and that's what Carson did there.

"With A.J. getting the bunt down on a tough left-on-left, credit to player development in here that's preparing these guys to come up here and execute when the game is on the line on a tough matchup. Overall, their at-bats have been amazing. Left-on-left, taking what the game is giving them, going the other way, driving the baseball. It's pretty impressive from those guys."

Sunday’s start against the Yankees wasn’t Freddy Peralta’s best outing for the Mets and he’ll be the first one to say that.

In fact, after the game, in which New York (NL) beat New York (AL) in the 10th inning after Tyrone Taylor’s three-run homer in the ninth sent it to extras, Peralta plainly said as much.

“Not good at all,” Peralta said about his start. “But I was trying to navigate there even knowing that I didn’t have my command of the fastball today.”

The right-hander ended up going 5.0+ innings and although he allowed just two hits, he walked a career-high six and gave up three earned runs. 

All things considered, it wasn’t Peralta’s worst outing as he battled with traffic on the basepaths for much of the day and still managed to limit the Yankees to three runs. Still, the walks are a bit of a concern as he’s now walked 25 batters in 54.1 innings this season.

“I think when I realized that I was in that situation [of not commanding well] I was trying to limit the damage and just give the team the opportunity to keep the game close,” Peralta said.

To Peralta’s credit, a lot of his misses on Sunday were very close with home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak not giving him much. Peralta, pitching to Hayden Senger for the first time in his career, also seemed like he wanted his catcher to challenge a few of the balls called on him throughout the game.

In fact, at one point Peralta took matters into his own hands and challenged a pitch called a ball from the mound. It was a ball.

And although Peralta walked his final two batters of the game to start the sixth (as well as throw a wild pitch), in the previous two innings he had retired the side in order.

“Just trying to relax and try to make pitches,” he said about trying to get through an outing without his best command. “Listening to the pitching coach is always nice when you know you have somebody there supporting you and trying to give you the best information that you can get to get through that.”

But even not at his best, Peralta's start kept the Mets close enough for their suddenly red-hot offense to erase a four-run deficit with Carson Benge playing the role of hero in the 10th inning.

Peralta’s next start will likely come on Friday, May 22 against the Miami Marlins where he’ll have a chance to get back on track and continue his very good year in his first season in Queens.

The Mariners may have to patch together thier bullpen for a bit longer. While Gabe Speier looked good in a bullpen today, Matt Brash struggled through two-thirds of an inning in Tacoma.

Matt Brash threw his second game with the Rainiers this afternoon. He’s been on the IL since April 29 when he had to leave a game with lat inflammation after just two pitches. In his first outing on Thursday, he threw 15 pitches, striking out all three batters he faced (all lefties) and touching 96 mph on his fastball. Brash might have rejoined the big league club as early as today, but the Mariners are taking it slow, giving him another game of live action on a warmer day. Today, Brash struck out his first batter, but walked two while consistently missing glove side.

More concerning was the series of grimaces after receiving the ball back from the catcher. And upon fielding a play, the former shortstop did not display his characteristic atheleticism, instead stabbing at the ball and shovel-passing it to first base. Still, he left after hitting 23 pitches rather than with the training staff, and the Mariners have not reported on how he felt afterwards yet. He may have just been frustrated with his command.

30 miles north, Gabe Speier threw 20+ pitches in a pre-game bullpen session. Like Brash, Speier has been on the IL since April 29, after he threw 30 pitches in relief of Brash. He’s been battling shoulder inflammation, and while shoulders are always scary, they’re especially so for Speier after he missed time (and struggled when available) with a rotator cuff strain and partial tear of his subscapularis in 2024. But Speier “has turned a corner” in the words of General Manager Justin Hollander, and this is “the best he’s felt.” Speier echoed the sentiment before heading to the bullpen early this afternoon.

With Logan Gilbert providing “pew pew” sound effects on his phone after each pitch, Speier was going max effort. He threw all of his pitches and was hitting his spots, with the last sinker and four-seamer looking particularly sharp. The team hasn’t yet announced the next step in his rehab, but will monitor how he bounces back over the next couple days.

Until they arrive, Domingo Gonzalez, Alex Hoppe, and Nick Davila will continue to battle it out for who’ll get the last spot in the pen upon Brash and Speier’s return. Neither Gonzalez nor Davila have allowed a run yet and Hoppe has struck out more than a quarter of the batters he’s faced.