Category: Baseball

The life of a backup position player isn’t a fun one. Sure, you get paid a lot to spend most of the game on the bench and have relatively little blame go your way any time your team loses, but any person who’s ever played sports tells you that it’s not fun to sit on the bench.

It was for that reason that Amed Rosario decided to take less money ahead of the 2024 season to sign with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees reportedly offered him a $4 million contract in their pursuit of bench depth, but Rosario took a $1.5 million deal to get more playing time with the Rays. A year and a half later, fate brought him to the Yankees at the Trade Deadline as a right-handed platoon bat off the bench, where he got some big at-bats but ultimately sat in the backup role he once shrugged off.

After hitting free agency this offseason, he elected to accept that bench role and returned to the Yankees on a small deal to fill the same role. It would be rare that he would face a right-handed pitcher, but in the wake of Ryan McMahon’s deep slump to start the year, Aaron Boone decided to give Rosario a start against a pitcher with semi-reverse splits.

That decision may go down as one of Boone’s best-ever moves, at least on an individual game basis. Rosario blasted two home runs Tuesday night. Both against righties, both gave the Yankees the lead, and both induced emphatic celebration. His pair of long homers lifted the Yanks back up off the mat, helping them come back from a 3-1 deficit to knock off the (Sacramento) Athletics, 5-3, to open a three-game set.

Cam Schlittler started his outing on the right note, retiring the first six batters he faced with a trio of strikeouts, including one over the American League’s Luis Arraez, Jacob Wilson. Against Aaron Civale, the Yankees drew a couple of walks in the first two innings and had Aaron Judge reach on catcher’s interference, but the only real damage would come on a long home run to left field by Rosario to open the scoring. Amusingly enough, it was his first regular season homer at Yankee Stadium since he walked it off for the Mets in the most 2020 game of all time.

Schlittler unraveled in the third. Max Muncy nubbed an infield single, Jeff McNeil lined a hit to right field, and Schlittler was able to jump ahead of the light-hitting Denzel Clarke, 0-2. Despite having two strikes, Clarke laid down a successful bunt, which set up slumbering slugger Nick Kurtz to break out of his rut with a two-run double. Two batters later, Tyler Soderstrom ripped a double down the right-field line to make it 3-1, A’s.

Civale went back out and worked around a two-out walk to Ben Rice to get through the third and had a 1-2-3 fourth, while Schlittler settled back in after a rough third inning. The Yankees finally got something going off Civale in the fifth with a José Caballero double and a Judge walk, but the veteran righty was able to strand the tying run in scoring position.

Schlittler wrapped up his outing with two straight clean innings, ultimately finishing with seven strikeouts and three runs allowed in five innings. While it was his worst start of the year, and his velo was down because of the blistering cold, he continued an impressive walkless streak. Once considered his biggest weakness, the 25-year-old is now up to 22 strikeouts and zero walks in 16.2 innings on the season.

Jake Bird got the sixth for the Yankees, trying to bounce back from an awful outing on Sunday. It was a mixed bag, as he gave up a smoked single to Soderstrom, but bounced back to strike out Brent Rooker and retire Wilson. Boone elected to play to a matchup with Lawrence Butler due up with Brent Headrick, but the lefty walked him, and after a throwing error by Austin Wells on a stolen base, there were runners on the corners. Fortunately, Headrick rebounded to strike out Muncy to end the frame.

Justin Sterner was first out of the bullpen for the Athletics, and he got through the sixth cleanly, striking out Giancarlo Stanton and erasing a Jazz Chisholm Jr. single with an immediate 6-4-3 double play by Rosario. Boone elected to be aggressive with the matchups again in the seventh, taking out Headrick with two outs so Fernando Cruz could get Shea Langeliers. An update on Headrick’s odd reverse splits: righties are 0-for-12 with two walks and eight strikeouts against him, while lefties are 5-for-11 with two doubles, two walks, and two strikeouts.

Wells drilled a leadoff double at 111 mph into the gap to start the bottom of the seventh, but was stranded after Caballero, Grisham, and Judge all grounded out off Sterner. Cruz walked a pair of A’s in the eighth, but tip-toed his way out of a jam with a strikeout of Muncy.

I had a very soft spot for Mark Leiter Jr. last year, almost to a fault. The Yankees played unfathomably poor defense behind him, and he ran an impossibly high BABIP all season long. I believed in his stuff, which was still very strong (along with his peripherals) until a midseason injury. He was non-tendered in the offseason and picked up by the Athletics, where he’s one of their better relievers.

Leiter was tasked with holding the lead in the eighth, which he did not do. Bellinger and Rice hit two jamshot singles to start the frame before an absolutely baffling knuckleball single by Stanton that somehow evaded Wilson at shortstop brought in a run.

Whatever curse was put on Leiter at Yankee Stadium was clearly in full effect.

After the righty narrowly avoided a fourth consecutive bloop single on a diving play by Clarke in center, he faced Rosario, and this was his night. The veteran journeyman absolutely cranked a splitter that stayed up into the second deck, prompting one of the most emphatic home run celebrations I’ve seen from a Yankee in April, to make it 5-3. It’s just his third career multi-homer game and first in nearly five years.

After Caballero’s single and stolen base were stranded to end the inning, it was time for Renegade. David Bednar got the call to face 8-9-1. He fell behind McNeil, but rebounded to strike him out in a lengthy at-bat in what would be the only time he’d have to sweat. A pinch-hitting Carlos Cortes flew out, and Kurtz did the same to end it, with Bednar picking up his fifth save of the season.

The Yankees will look to win their fourth consecutive series to start the season in the middle game of this three-game set, as Will Warren faces former Yankee Luis Severino tomorrow at 7:05pm ET on YES.

Box Score

The life of a backup position player isn’t a fun one. Sure, you get paid a lot to spend most of the game on the bench and have relatively little blame go your way any time your team loses, but any person who’s ever played sports tells you that it’s not fun to sit on the bench.

It was for that reason that Amed Rosario decided to take less money ahead of the 2024 season to sign with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees reportedly offered him a $4 million contract in their pursuit of bench depth, but Rosario took a $1.5 million deal to get more playing time with the Rays. A year and a half later, fate brought him to the Yankees at the Trade Deadline as a right-handed platoon bat off the bench, where he got some big at-bats but ultimately sat in the backup role he once shrugged off.

After hitting free agency this offseason, he elected to accept that bench role and returned to the Yankees on a small deal to fill the same role. It would be rare that he would face a right-handed pitcher, but in the wake of Ryan McMahon’s deep slump to start the year, Aaron Boone decided to give Rosario a start against a pitcher with semi-reverse splits.

That decision may go down as one of Boone’s best-ever moves, at least on an individual game basis. Rosario blasted two home runs Tuesday night. Both against righties, both gave the Yankees the lead, and both induced emphatic celebration. His pair of long homers lifted the Yanks back up off the mat, helping them come back from a 3-1 deficit to knock off the (Sacramento) Athletics, 5-3, to open a three-game set.

Cam Schlittler started his outing on the right note, retiring the first six batters he faced with a trio of strikeouts, including one over the American League’s Luis Arraez, Jacob Wilson. Against Aaron Civale, the Yankees drew a couple of walks in the first two innings and had Aaron Judge reach on catcher’s interference, but the only real damage would come on a long home run to left field by Rosario to open the scoring. Amusingly enough, it was his first regular season homer at Yankee Stadium since he walked it off for the Mets in the most 2020 game of all time.

Schlittler unraveled in the third. Max Muncy nubbed an infield single, Jeff McNeil lined a hit to right field, and Schlittler was able to jump ahead of the light-hitting Denzel Clarke, 0-2. Despite having two strikes, Clarke laid down a successful bunt, which set up slumbering slugger Nick Kurtz to break out of his rut with a two-run double. Two batters later, Tyler Soderstrom ripped a double down the right-field line to make it 3-1, A’s.

Civale went back out and worked around a two-out walk to Ben Rice to get through the third and had a 1-2-3 fourth, while Schlittler settled back in after a rough third inning. The Yankees finally got something going off Civale in the fifth with a José Caballero double and a Judge walk, but the veteran righty was able to strand the tying run in scoring position.

Schlittler wrapped up his outing with two straight clean innings, ultimately finishing with seven strikeouts and three runs allowed in five innings. While it was his worst start of the year, and his velo was down because of the blistering cold, he continued an impressive walkless streak. Once considered his biggest weakness, the 25-year-old is now up to 22 strikeouts and zero walks in 16.2 innings on the season.

Jake Bird got the sixth for the Yankees, trying to bounce back from an awful outing on Sunday. It was a mixed bag, as he gave up a smoked single to Soderstrom, but bounced back to strike out Brent Rooker and retire Wilson. Boone elected to play to a matchup with Lawrence Butler due up with Brent Headrick, but the lefty walked him, and after a throwing error by Austin Wells on a stolen base, there were runners on the corners. Fortunately, Headrick rebounded to strike out Muncy to end the frame.

Justin Sterner was first out of the bullpen for the Athletics, and he got through the sixth cleanly, striking out Giancarlo Stanton and erasing a Jazz Chisholm Jr. single with an immediate 6-4-3 double play by Rosario. Boone elected to be aggressive with the matchups again in the seventh, taking out Headrick with two outs so Fernando Cruz could get Shea Langeliers. An update on Headrick’s odd reverse splits: righties are 0-for-12 with two walks and eight strikeouts against him, while lefties are 5-for-11 with two doubles, two walks, and two strikeouts.

Wells drilled a leadoff double at 111 mph into the gap to start the bottom of the seventh, but was stranded after Caballero, Grisham, and Judge all grounded out off Sterner. Cruz walked a pair of A’s in the eighth, but tip-toed his way out of a jam with a strikeout of Muncy.

I had a very soft spot for Mark Leiter Jr. last year, almost to a fault. The Yankees played unfathomably poor defense behind him, and he ran an impossibly high BABIP all season long. I believed in his stuff, which was still very strong (along with his peripherals) until a midseason injury. He was non-tendered in the offseason and picked up by the Athletics, where he’s one of their better relievers.

Leiter was tasked with holding the lead in the eighth, which he did not do. Bellinger and Rice hit two jamshot singles to start the frame before an absolutely baffling knuckleball single by Stanton that somehow evaded Wilson at shortstop brought in a run.

Whatever curse was put on Leiter at Yankee Stadium was clearly in full effect.

After the righty narrowly avoided a fourth consecutive bloop single on a diving play by Clarke in center, he faced Rosario, and this was his night. The veteran journeyman absolutely cranked a splitter that stayed up into the second deck, prompting one of the most emphatic home run celebrations I’ve seen from a Yankee in April, to make it 5-3. It’s just his third career multi-homer game and first in nearly five years.

After Caballero’s single and stolen base were stranded to end the inning, it was time for Renegade. David Bednar got the call to face 8-9-1. He fell behind McNeil, but rebounded to strike him out in a lengthy at-bat in what would be the only time he’d have to sweat. A pinch-hitting Carlos Cortes flew out, and Kurtz did the same to end it, with Bednar picking up his fifth save of the season.

The Yankees will look to win their fourth consecutive series to start the season in the middle game of this three-game set, as Will Warren faces former Yankee Luis Severino tomorrow at 7:05pm ET on YES.

Box Score

The life of a backup position player isn’t a fun one. Sure, you get paid a lot to spend most of the game on the bench and have relatively little blame go your way any time your team loses, but any person who’s ever played sports tells you that it’s not fun to sit on the bench.

It was for that reason that Amed Rosario decided to take less money ahead of the 2024 season to sign with the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees reportedly offered him a $4 million contract in their pursuit of bench depth, but Rosario took a $1.5 million deal to get more playing time with the Rays. A year and a half later, fate brought him to the Yankees at the Trade Deadline as a right-handed platoon bat off the bench, where he got some big at-bats but ultimately sat in the backup role he once shrugged off.

After hitting free agency this offseason, he elected to accept that bench role and returned to the Yankees on a small deal to fill the same role. It would be rare that he would face a right-handed pitcher, but in the wake of Ryan McMahon’s deep slump to start the year, Aaron Boone decided to give Rosario a start against a pitcher with semi-reverse splits.

That decision may go down as one of Boone’s best-ever moves, at least on an individual game basis. Rosario blasted two home runs Tuesday night. Both against righties, both gave the Yankees the lead, and both induced emphatic celebration. His pair of long homers lifted the Yanks back up off the mat, helping them come back from a 3-1 deficit to knock off the (Sacramento) Athletics, 5-3, to open a three-game set.

Cam Schlittler started his outing on the right note, retiring the first six batters he faced with a trio of strikeouts, including one over the American League’s Luis Arraez, Jacob Wilson. Against Aaron Civale, the Yankees drew a couple of walks in the first two innings and had Aaron Judge reach on catcher’s interference, but the only real damage would come on a long home run to left field by Rosario to open the scoring. Amusingly enough, it was his first regular season homer at Yankee Stadium since he walked it off for the Mets in the most 2020 game of all time.

Schlittler unraveled in the third. Max Muncy nubbed an infield single, Jeff McNeil lined a hit to right field, and Schlittler was able to jump ahead of the light-hitting Denzel Clarke, 0-2. Despite having two strikes, Clarke laid down a successful bunt, which set up slumbering slugger Nick Kurtz to break out of his rut with a two-run double. Two batters later, Tyler Soderstrom ripped a double down the right-field line to make it 3-1, A’s.

Civale went back out and worked around a two-out walk to Ben Rice to get through the third and had a 1-2-3 fourth, while Schlittler settled back in after a rough third inning. The Yankees finally got something going off Civale in the fifth with a José Caballero double and a Judge walk, but the veteran righty was able to strand the tying run in scoring position.

Schlittler wrapped up his outing with two straight clean innings, ultimately finishing with seven strikeouts and three runs allowed in five innings. While it was his worst start of the year, and his velo was down because of the blistering cold, he continued an impressive walkless streak. Once considered his biggest weakness, the 25-year-old is now up to 22 strikeouts and zero walks in 16.2 innings on the season.

Jake Bird got the sixth for the Yankees, trying to bounce back from an awful outing on Sunday. It was a mixed bag, as he gave up a smoked single to Soderstrom, but bounced back to strike out Brent Rooker and retire Wilson. Boone elected to play to a matchup with Lawrence Butler due up with Brent Headrick, but the lefty walked him, and after a throwing error by Austin Wells on a stolen base, there were runners on the corners. Fortunately, Headrick rebounded to strike out Muncy to end the frame.

Justin Sterner was first out of the bullpen for the Athletics, and he got through the sixth cleanly, striking out Giancarlo Stanton and erasing a Jazz Chisholm Jr. single with an immediate 6-4-3 double play by Rosario. Boone elected to be aggressive with the matchups again in the seventh, taking out Headrick with two outs so Fernando Cruz could get Shea Langeliers. An update on Headrick’s odd reverse splits: righties are 0-for-12 with two walks and eight strikeouts against him, while lefties are 5-for-11 with two doubles, two walks, and two strikeouts.

Wells drilled a leadoff double at 111 mph into the gap to start the bottom of the seventh, but was stranded after Caballero, Grisham, and Judge all grounded out off Sterner. Cruz walked a pair of A’s in the eighth, but tip-toed his way out of a jam with a strikeout of Muncy.

I had a very soft spot for Mark Leiter Jr. last year, almost to a fault. The Yankees played unfathomably poor defense behind him, and he ran an impossibly high BABIP all season long. I believed in his stuff, which was still very strong (along with his peripherals) until a midseason injury. He was non-tendered in the offseason and picked up by the Athletics, where he’s one of their better relievers.

Leiter was tasked with holding the lead in the eighth, which he did not do. Bellinger and Rice hit two jamshot singles to start the frame before an absolutely baffling knuckleball single by Stanton that somehow evaded Wilson at shortstop brought in a run.

Whatever curse was put on Leiter at Yankee Stadium was clearly in full effect.

After the righty narrowly avoided a fourth consecutive bloop single on a diving play by Clarke in center, he faced Rosario, and this was his night. The veteran journeyman absolutely cranked a splitter that stayed up into the second deck, prompting one of the most emphatic home run celebrations I’ve seen from a Yankee in April, to make it 5-3. It’s just his third career multi-homer game and first in nearly five years.

After Caballero’s single and stolen base were stranded to end the inning, it was time for Renegade. David Bednar got the call to face 8-9-1. He fell behind McNeil, but rebounded to strike him out in a lengthy at-bat in what would be the only time he’d have to sweat. A pinch-hitting Carlos Cortes flew out, and Kurtz did the same to end it, with Bednar picking up his fifth save of the season.

The Yankees will look to win their fourth consecutive series to start the season in the middle game of this three-game set, as Will Warren faces former Yankee Luis Severino tomorrow at 7:05pm ET on YES.

Box Score

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Giants:

Let’s talk about it.

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Giants:

Let’s talk about it.

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Giants:

Let’s talk about it.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Seattle Mariners scored two runs.

I have this impression that George Kirby is one of the greatest pitchers to ever live because I’ve mostly only ever seen him pitch against the Rangers and when Kirby pitches against the Rangers, he’s one of the greatest pitchers to ever live.

Coming into tonight’s game, Kirby was 8-0 with an ERA of 1.04 in his career spanning ten starts and 60 2/3 innings against Texas. Simply put, Kirby has been one of the all-time Rangers slayers on the mound.

So imagine my not-surprise when the offensively-challenged-at-home Rangers were getting shut down by Kirby on like 30 something pitches through four scoreless frames. I was certain the Rangers were going to get shutout on a turbo Maddux on like 65 pitches by Kirby and it would have been like maybe one of his second or third best outings against them.

But a weird little thing happened . In the top of the fifth, after Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi had shrugged off a first pitch home run by Brendan Donovan to give the Mariners an immediate 1-0 lead, Eovaldi got into a spot of trouble with three consecutive two-out baserunners that scored Seattle’s second run.

Eovaldi needed a ton of pitches to get out of the inning without further damage but for as brisk as Kirby was working, it offered a moment where he had to sit and wait. This effectively worked to ice Kirby as in the bottom of the inning the Rangers ambushed the righty for three runs and a lead.

Joc Pederson singled on a ball to third base that Donovan threw away. With Pederson at second base, Evan Carter drove in his first run on the season with an RBI single and then Kyle Higashioka had the big hit with a two-run dong that gave the Rangers their lead and the game its eventual final score.

Just like that, Kirby had proved to be mortal and the Rangers have their first win against Seattle’s Rangers killer despite the fact that Kirby went on to finish an eight inning complete game.

Player of the Game: Eovaldi (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K) bouncing back from not only two poor starts to begin the year, but also the lead off home run, was critical but there was no bigger moment than his battery mate Higashioka giving Texas the lead on the eventual game-winning two-run homer that turned what looked like another dominant Kirby start against the Rangers into a win.

Thanks to Eovaldi and Higgy, the victory guarantees Texas no worse than a series victory over Seattle in their first battle of the year and it also moved the Rangers back above .500.

Also, hat tip to the two Jac(k)obs Latz and Junis for three innings of scoreless ball with two frames from Jacob and a one-run save for a second consecutive night for Jakob.

Junis’ 9th inning was scary with the first two hitters reaching but after two flyouts, the game ended on a check swing grounder in the front of the plate off the bat of Donovan that Higgy pounced on for the out and a bit of poetry.

Up Next: The Rangers will close out this series eyeing their first sweep of the season with LHP MacKenzie Gore set to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Bryan Woo for Seattle in the latest stellar pitching matchup between these two AL West rivals.

The Wednesday afternoon finale from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Seattle Mariners scored two runs.

I have this impression that George Kirby is one of the greatest pitchers to ever live because I’ve mostly only ever seen him pitch against the Rangers and when Kirby pitches against the Rangers, he’s one of the greatest pitchers to ever live.

Coming into tonight’s game, Kirby was 8-0 with an ERA of 1.04 in his career spanning ten starts and 60 2/3 innings against Texas. Simply put, Kirby has been one of the all-time Rangers slayers on the mound.

So imagine my not-surprise when the offensively-challenged-at-home Rangers were getting shut down by Kirby on like 30 something pitches through four scoreless frames. I was certain the Rangers were going to get shutout on a turbo Maddux on like 65 pitches by Kirby and it would have been like maybe one of his second or third best outings against them.

But a weird little thing happened . In the top of the fifth, after Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi had shrugged off a first pitch home run by Brendan Donovan to give the Mariners an immediate 1-0 lead, Eovaldi got into a spot of trouble with three consecutive two-out baserunners that scored Seattle’s second run.

Eovaldi needed a ton of pitches to get out of the inning without further damage but for as brisk as Kirby was working, it offered a moment where he had to sit and wait. This effectively worked to ice Kirby as in the bottom of the inning the Rangers ambushed the righty for three runs and a lead.

Joc Pederson singled on a ball to third base that Donovan threw away. With Pederson at second base, Evan Carter drove in his first run on the season with an RBI single and then Kyle Higashioka had the big hit with a two-run dong that gave the Rangers their lead and the game its eventual final score.

Just like that, Kirby had proved to be mortal and the Rangers have their first win against Seattle’s Rangers killer despite the fact that Kirby went on to finish an eight inning complete game.

Player of the Game: Eovaldi (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K) bouncing back from not only two poor starts to begin the year, but also the lead off home run, was critical but there was no bigger moment than his battery mate Higashioka giving Texas the lead on the eventual game-winning two-run homer that turned what looked like another dominant Kirby start against the Rangers into a win.

Thanks to Eovaldi and Higgy, the victory guarantees Texas no worse than a series victory over Seattle in their first battle of the year and it also moved the Rangers back above .500.

Also, hat tip to the two Jac(k)obs Latz and Junis for three innings of scoreless ball with two frames from Jacob and a one-run save for a second consecutive night for Jakob.

Junis’ 9th inning was scary with the first two hitters reaching but after two flyouts, the game ended on a check swing grounder in the front of the plate off the bat of Donovan that Higgy pounced on for the out and a bit of poetry.

Up Next: The Rangers will close out this series eyeing their first sweep of the season with LHP MacKenzie Gore set to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Bryan Woo for Seattle in the latest stellar pitching matchup between these two AL West rivals.

The Wednesday afternoon finale from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Seattle Mariners scored two runs.

I have this impression that George Kirby is one of the greatest pitchers to ever live because I’ve mostly only ever seen him pitch against the Rangers and when Kirby pitches against the Rangers, he’s one of the greatest pitchers to ever live.

Coming into tonight’s game, Kirby was 8-0 with an ERA of 1.04 in his career spanning ten starts and 60 2/3 innings against Texas. Simply put, Kirby has been one of the all-time Rangers slayers on the mound.

So imagine my not-surprise when the offensively-challenged-at-home Rangers were getting shut down by Kirby on like 30 something pitches through four scoreless frames. I was certain the Rangers were going to get shutout on a turbo Maddux on like 65 pitches by Kirby and it would have been like maybe one of his second or third best outings against them.

But a weird little thing happened . In the top of the fifth, after Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi had shrugged off a first pitch home run by Brendan Donovan to give the Mariners an immediate 1-0 lead, Eovaldi got into a spot of trouble with three consecutive two-out baserunners that scored Seattle’s second run.

Eovaldi needed a ton of pitches to get out of the inning without further damage but for as brisk as Kirby was working, it offered a moment where he had to sit and wait. This effectively worked to ice Kirby as in the bottom of the inning the Rangers ambushed the righty for three runs and a lead.

Joc Pederson singled on a ball to third base that Donovan threw away. With Pederson at second base, Evan Carter drove in his first run on the season with an RBI single and then Kyle Higashioka had the big hit with a two-run dong that gave the Rangers their lead and the game its eventual final score.

Just like that, Kirby had proved to be mortal and the Rangers have their first win against Seattle’s Rangers killer despite the fact that Kirby went on to finish an eight inning complete game.

Player of the Game: Eovaldi (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K) bouncing back from not only two poor starts to begin the year, but also the lead off home run, was critical but there was no bigger moment than his battery mate Higashioka giving Texas the lead on the eventual game-winning two-run homer that turned what looked like another dominant Kirby start against the Rangers into a win.

Thanks to Eovaldi and Higgy, the victory guarantees Texas no worse than a series victory over Seattle in their first battle of the year and it also moved the Rangers back above .500.

Also, hat tip to the two Jac(k)obs Latz and Junis for three innings of scoreless ball with two frames from Jacob and a one-run save for a second consecutive night for Jakob.

Junis’ 9th inning was scary with the first two hitters reaching but after two flyouts, the game ended on a check swing grounder in the front of the plate off the bat of Donovan that Higgy pounced on for the out and a bit of poetry.

Up Next: The Rangers will close out this series eyeing their first sweep of the season with LHP MacKenzie Gore set to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Bryan Woo for Seattle in the latest stellar pitching matchup between these two AL West rivals.

The Wednesday afternoon finale from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

It’s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us. We’ll waive the cover charge. The hostess will seat you now. There’s a two-drink minimum, but it’s bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night, I asked you what was worrying you most about the Cubs. Certainly we got more to be worried about today. Obviously the bad news about Cade Horton today plays into this, but 39 percent of you said it was injuries to starting pitching that worried you the most. Thirty-one percent of you said that the hitters struggles bothered you the most.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t normally do any movie stuff. But I always have time for jazz, so let’s get to that now. You’re free to skip ahead.

International Jazz Day is coming up on April 30, and here we have Herbie Hancock performing his song “Footprints” for International Jazz Day in 2023. International Jazz Day was Hancock’s idea when he was a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The United Nations agreed to celebrate the day in 2011 and every year since.

Hancock is on piano, Ambrose Akinmusire plays trumpet, Walter Smith III in on tenor sax, Ben Williams plays bass and Mark Merella is the percussionist.

So you all know by now that Cade Horton is out for the year with elbow surgery. We don’t know whether or not it will be full Tommy John or a brace until they actually perform the operation. Horton previously had a full Tommy John operation in college at Oklahoma.

So there’s no good way to spin that except the say that there’s a solid chance that Horton will come back and be as good as ever some time in 2027. There’s always the risk that he isn’t, but the odds are in our favor.

So the Cubs need another starting pitcher. It doesn’t sound like the Matthew Boyd injury is serious, but as always, injuries to pitchers can sound minor until they aren’t. It’s another thing to worry about.

The Cubs planned for injuries to starting pitching this year with Colin Rea in the bullpen and Javier Assad down in Iowa. Neither one is as good as Boyd or Horton, but they are better-than-replacement-level pitchers who can get the Cubs into the sixth inning (or so) most times out.

The problem, however, is that the Cubs are less than two weeks into the season and they’ve already blown through their starting pitching reinforcements. Their top pitching prospect, Jaxon Wiggins, hasn’t established himself as major-league ready yet. Justin Steele should be back in six-to-eight weeks after missing almost all of last season with his elbow surgery, but “should” doesn’t mean “will.” There’s also no guarantee that Steele will return to what he was, although again, the odds are good that he will return to his former level, at least eventually.

There is one option that has been mentioned. Right-hander Lucas Giolito was a free agent this past winter who ended up not signing with anyone. Giolito had elbow surgery himself and missed all of 2024 in his first year of a two-year deal with Boston. He bounced back last year, going 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA over 26 starts. That performance turned a mutual option into a player option for one-year and $19 million for 2026. Giolito declined that option. The Cubs could certainly use that kind of performance this year.

Perhaps Giolito shouldn’t have declined the option because no one offered him a deal this winter that he thought was worth accepting. Giolito is still on the market. It seems odd that all 30 teams wouldn’t jump at a pitcher who put up such an impressive line the year before, but here’s where the advance metrics come in. Giolito succeeded last year despite not missing many bats. His swing-and-miss rates were at a career-low for him last year and his strikeout rate was down to 19.7 percent, which is way down from the 25.7 percent he had in 2023. The exit velocity on balls in play was up and the hard-hit rate was a below-average 40.9 percent. All of this says that while Giolito’s actual ERA was a good 3.41, his expected ERA, based on those metrics, was a poor 5.01.

Probably because of those concerns, no one offered Giolito a deal that he felt was worth accepting. After all, he had just turned down a $19 million player option. That was almost certainly a mistake, but one he’d like to correct.

It should be noted, however, that this was Giolito’s first season back from elbow surgery. It was a brace procedure and not full Tommy John, but pitchers do sometimes struggle in their first year back from surgery and are back to being as good as ever two years out. Giolito is also only 31 years old, so it’s not like he should be into his age-related decline quite yet.

There is one other problem. Giolito hasn’t gone through Spring Training. The Cubs can’t just sign him and plunk him into the rotation tomorrow. But I would assume that he’s staying in pitching shape as he markets himself to teams and that he wouldn’t need a full six weeks to be major league ready. I would think he would probably be ready after 2 or 3 minor league starts.

Maybe Giolito isn’t the solid mid-rotation starter that he was back in his glory days with the White Sox, but there’s a good chance that he’s still a good back-of-the-rotation pitcher. You might argue that he’s not much better than what Assad or Rea would give in the absence of Horton, but there are no guarantees that Horton is the last starting pitcher that goes down and they’ve already blown through their reserves until Justin Steele comes back. If the Cubs lose another starting pitcher, they’re looking at the possibility of Vince Velazquez being in the rotation. Velazquez hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023 and Giolito is likely to be a lot better than Velazquez.

I have no idea what kind of deal Giolito would accept. Obviously he is trying to make up for turning down the $19 million from the Red Sox. I don’t think he gets that unless its a two-year deal. But the Cubs payroll isn’t really your concern. They’re going to be over the first luxury tax limit and under the limit where they start getting draft pick penalties. Signing Giolito won’t affect that either way.

The Cubs aren’t the only team suffering pitching injuries in the young season, however. The Braves and the Blue Jays are two other teams who are expected to contend and are in bad shape with injuries to starting pitching. So there is likely to be at least some sort of bidding war for Giolito, even if it (probably) won’t get too crazy.

So should the Cubs sign Giolito? Does he still have something left to contribute? Or are you willing to risk Boyd staying healthy, Steele coming back and Rea and Assad contributing, at least until we get closer to the trade deadline and the Cubs could conceivably pick someone up in the trade market.

Thank you for stopping by tonight. We were glad to see you. Please get home safely. Let us know if you need us to call a ride. Don’t forget any personal belongings. Tip your waistaff. And join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.

It’s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us. We’ll waive the cover charge. The hostess will seat you now. There’s a two-drink minimum, but it’s bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night, I asked you what was worrying you most about the Cubs. Certainly we got more to be worried about today. Obviously the bad news about Cade Horton today plays into this, but 39 percent of you said it was injuries to starting pitching that worried you the most. Thirty-one percent of you said that the hitters struggles bothered you the most.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t normally do any movie stuff. But I always have time for jazz, so let’s get to that now. You’re free to skip ahead.

International Jazz Day is coming up on April 30, and here we have Herbie Hancock performing his song “Footprints” for International Jazz Day in 2023. International Jazz Day was Hancock’s idea when he was a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The United Nations agreed to celebrate the day in 2011 and every year since.

Hancock is on piano, Ambrose Akinmusire plays trumpet, Walter Smith III in on tenor sax, Ben Williams plays bass and Mark Merella is the percussionist.

So you all know by now that Cade Horton is out for the year with elbow surgery. We don’t know whether or not it will be full Tommy John or a brace until they actually perform the operation. Horton previously had a full Tommy John operation in college at Oklahoma.

So there’s no good way to spin that except the say that there’s a solid chance that Horton will come back and be as good as ever some time in 2027. There’s always the risk that he isn’t, but the odds are in our favor.

So the Cubs need another starting pitcher. It doesn’t sound like the Matthew Boyd injury is serious, but as always, injuries to pitchers can sound minor until they aren’t. It’s another thing to worry about.

The Cubs planned for injuries to starting pitching this year with Colin Rea in the bullpen and Javier Assad down in Iowa. Neither one is as good as Boyd or Horton, but they are better-than-replacement-level pitchers who can get the Cubs into the sixth inning (or so) most times out.

The problem, however, is that the Cubs are less than two weeks into the season and they’ve already blown through their starting pitching reinforcements. Their top pitching prospect, Jaxon Wiggins, hasn’t established himself as major-league ready yet. Justin Steele should be back in six-to-eight weeks after missing almost all of last season with his elbow surgery, but “should” doesn’t mean “will.” There’s also no guarantee that Steele will return to what he was, although again, the odds are good that he will return to his former level, at least eventually.

There is one option that has been mentioned. Right-hander Lucas Giolito was a free agent this past winter who ended up not signing with anyone. Giolito had elbow surgery himself and missed all of 2024 in his first year of a two-year deal with Boston. He bounced back last year, going 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA over 26 starts. That performance turned a mutual option into a player option for one-year and $19 million for 2026. Giolito declined that option. The Cubs could certainly use that kind of performance this year.

Perhaps Giolito shouldn’t have declined the option because no one offered him a deal this winter that he thought was worth accepting. Giolito is still on the market. It seems odd that all 30 teams wouldn’t jump at a pitcher who put up such an impressive line the year before, but here’s where the advance metrics come in. Giolito succeeded last year despite not missing many bats. His swing-and-miss rates were at a career-low for him last year and his strikeout rate was down to 19.7 percent, which is way down from the 25.7 percent he had in 2023. The exit velocity on balls in play was up and the hard-hit rate was a below-average 40.9 percent. All of this says that while Giolito’s actual ERA was a good 3.41, his expected ERA, based on those metrics, was a poor 5.01.

Probably because of those concerns, no one offered Giolito a deal that he felt was worth accepting. After all, he had just turned down a $19 million player option. That was almost certainly a mistake, but one he’d like to correct.

It should be noted, however, that this was Giolito’s first season back from elbow surgery. It was a brace procedure and not full Tommy John, but pitchers do sometimes struggle in their first year back from surgery and are back to being as good as ever two years out. Giolito is also only 31 years old, so it’s not like he should be into his age-related decline quite yet.

There is one other problem. Giolito hasn’t gone through Spring Training. The Cubs can’t just sign him and plunk him into the rotation tomorrow. But I would assume that he’s staying in pitching shape as he markets himself to teams and that he wouldn’t need a full six weeks to be major league ready. I would think he would probably be ready after 2 or 3 minor league starts.

Maybe Giolito isn’t the solid mid-rotation starter that he was back in his glory days with the White Sox, but there’s a good chance that he’s still a good back-of-the-rotation pitcher. You might argue that he’s not much better than what Assad or Rea would give in the absence of Horton, but there are no guarantees that Horton is the last starting pitcher that goes down and they’ve already blown through their reserves until Justin Steele comes back. If the Cubs lose another starting pitcher, they’re looking at the possibility of Vince Velazquez being in the rotation. Velazquez hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023 and Giolito is likely to be a lot better than Velazquez.

I have no idea what kind of deal Giolito would accept. Obviously he is trying to make up for turning down the $19 million from the Red Sox. I don’t think he gets that unless its a two-year deal. But the Cubs payroll isn’t really your concern. They’re going to be over the first luxury tax limit and under the limit where they start getting draft pick penalties. Signing Giolito won’t affect that either way.

The Cubs aren’t the only team suffering pitching injuries in the young season, however. The Braves and the Blue Jays are two other teams who are expected to contend and are in bad shape with injuries to starting pitching. So there is likely to be at least some sort of bidding war for Giolito, even if it (probably) won’t get too crazy.

So should the Cubs sign Giolito? Does he still have something left to contribute? Or are you willing to risk Boyd staying healthy, Steele coming back and Rea and Assad contributing, at least until we get closer to the trade deadline and the Cubs could conceivably pick someone up in the trade market.

Thank you for stopping by tonight. We were glad to see you. Please get home safely. Let us know if you need us to call a ride. Don’t forget any personal belongings. Tip your waistaff. And join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.

It’s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us. We’ll waive the cover charge. The hostess will seat you now. There’s a two-drink minimum, but it’s bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night, I asked you what was worrying you most about the Cubs. Certainly we got more to be worried about today. Obviously the bad news about Cade Horton today plays into this, but 39 percent of you said it was injuries to starting pitching that worried you the most. Thirty-one percent of you said that the hitters struggles bothered you the most.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t normally do any movie stuff. But I always have time for jazz, so let’s get to that now. You’re free to skip ahead.

International Jazz Day is coming up on April 30, and here we have Herbie Hancock performing his song “Footprints” for International Jazz Day in 2023. International Jazz Day was Hancock’s idea when he was a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The United Nations agreed to celebrate the day in 2011 and every year since.

Hancock is on piano, Ambrose Akinmusire plays trumpet, Walter Smith III in on tenor sax, Ben Williams plays bass and Mark Merella is the percussionist.

So you all know by now that Cade Horton is out for the year with elbow surgery. We don’t know whether or not it will be full Tommy John or a brace until they actually perform the operation. Horton previously had a full Tommy John operation in college at Oklahoma.

So there’s no good way to spin that except the say that there’s a solid chance that Horton will come back and be as good as ever some time in 2027. There’s always the risk that he isn’t, but the odds are in our favor.

So the Cubs need another starting pitcher. It doesn’t sound like the Matthew Boyd injury is serious, but as always, injuries to pitchers can sound minor until they aren’t. It’s another thing to worry about.

The Cubs planned for injuries to starting pitching this year with Colin Rea in the bullpen and Javier Assad down in Iowa. Neither one is as good as Boyd or Horton, but they are better-than-replacement-level pitchers who can get the Cubs into the sixth inning (or so) most times out.

The problem, however, is that the Cubs are less than two weeks into the season and they’ve already blown through their starting pitching reinforcements. Their top pitching prospect, Jaxon Wiggins, hasn’t established himself as major-league ready yet. Justin Steele should be back in six-to-eight weeks after missing almost all of last season with his elbow surgery, but “should” doesn’t mean “will.” There’s also no guarantee that Steele will return to what he was, although again, the odds are good that he will return to his former level, at least eventually.

There is one option that has been mentioned. Right-hander Lucas Giolito was a free agent this past winter who ended up not signing with anyone. Giolito had elbow surgery himself and missed all of 2024 in his first year of a two-year deal with Boston. He bounced back last year, going 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA over 26 starts. That performance turned a mutual option into a player option for one-year and $19 million for 2026. Giolito declined that option. The Cubs could certainly use that kind of performance this year.

Perhaps Giolito shouldn’t have declined the option because no one offered him a deal this winter that he thought was worth accepting. Giolito is still on the market. It seems odd that all 30 teams wouldn’t jump at a pitcher who put up such an impressive line the year before, but here’s where the advance metrics come in. Giolito succeeded last year despite not missing many bats. His swing-and-miss rates were at a career-low for him last year and his strikeout rate was down to 19.7 percent, which is way down from the 25.7 percent he had in 2023. The exit velocity on balls in play was up and the hard-hit rate was a below-average 40.9 percent. All of this says that while Giolito’s actual ERA was a good 3.41, his expected ERA, based on those metrics, was a poor 5.01.

Probably because of those concerns, no one offered Giolito a deal that he felt was worth accepting. After all, he had just turned down a $19 million player option. That was almost certainly a mistake, but one he’d like to correct.

It should be noted, however, that this was Giolito’s first season back from elbow surgery. It was a brace procedure and not full Tommy John, but pitchers do sometimes struggle in their first year back from surgery and are back to being as good as ever two years out. Giolito is also only 31 years old, so it’s not like he should be into his age-related decline quite yet.

There is one other problem. Giolito hasn’t gone through Spring Training. The Cubs can’t just sign him and plunk him into the rotation tomorrow. But I would assume that he’s staying in pitching shape as he markets himself to teams and that he wouldn’t need a full six weeks to be major league ready. I would think he would probably be ready after 2 or 3 minor league starts.

Maybe Giolito isn’t the solid mid-rotation starter that he was back in his glory days with the White Sox, but there’s a good chance that he’s still a good back-of-the-rotation pitcher. You might argue that he’s not much better than what Assad or Rea would give in the absence of Horton, but there are no guarantees that Horton is the last starting pitcher that goes down and they’ve already blown through their reserves until Justin Steele comes back. If the Cubs lose another starting pitcher, they’re looking at the possibility of Vince Velazquez being in the rotation. Velazquez hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023 and Giolito is likely to be a lot better than Velazquez.

I have no idea what kind of deal Giolito would accept. Obviously he is trying to make up for turning down the $19 million from the Red Sox. I don’t think he gets that unless its a two-year deal. But the Cubs payroll isn’t really your concern. They’re going to be over the first luxury tax limit and under the limit where they start getting draft pick penalties. Signing Giolito won’t affect that either way.

The Cubs aren’t the only team suffering pitching injuries in the young season, however. The Braves and the Blue Jays are two other teams who are expected to contend and are in bad shape with injuries to starting pitching. So there is likely to be at least some sort of bidding war for Giolito, even if it (probably) won’t get too crazy.

So should the Cubs sign Giolito? Does he still have something left to contribute? Or are you willing to risk Boyd staying healthy, Steele coming back and Rea and Assad contributing, at least until we get closer to the trade deadline and the Cubs could conceivably pick someone up in the trade market.

Thank you for stopping by tonight. We were glad to see you. Please get home safely. Let us know if you need us to call a ride. Don’t forget any personal belongings. Tip your waistaff. And join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.

Amed Rosario is the ultimate hype man, always the first Yankee out of the dugout when a teammate delivers a big hit.

Except on the biggest swing of the night Tuesday, his teammates had to take his place, because Rosario was the one in the batter’s box.

The reserve infielder came through in the clutch on a frigid night in The Bronx, crushing a three-run shot in the bottom of the eighth — his second home run of the game — to lift the Yankees past the Athletics 5-3.

“Lot of emotions there,” Rosario said through an interpreter. “Just looking for a pitch that I could do some damage [on], and I got it.”

The Yankees (8-2) brought Rosario back this season to be a lefty killer off the bench, but Tuesday he was starting at third base against righty Aaron Civale for the struggling Ryan McMahon and made the most of it.

He homered on the first pitch he saw against Civale in the bottom of the second and then had an even bigger swing against former Yankee Mark Leiter Jr. in the bottom of the eighth to cap a four-run rally against the A’s (3-7).

“He’s the energy in the dugout, so we were excited for him to come through in those big moments,” José Caballero said. “It’s great to have someone like him on the team. He never has a bad day. He’s always high-energy. It’s good for the clubhouse, good for him and good for everyone.”

The Yankees saw enough innings like the eighth out of Leiter during his season and a half in The Bronx, but they were finally able to enjoy it Tuesday.

They had mustered just four hits entering the bottom of the eighth and were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position before stringing together three straight hits to start the frame.

Cody Bellinger drilled a single up the middle, Ben Rice blooped a broken-bat single to right field and Giancarlo Stanton sliced a single with some crazy spin past shortstop Jacob Wilson to pull the Yankees within 3-2.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

“G hit a weird G ball,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I don’t know what that was. Feels like the 24-degree ball — something, somehow landed out there.”

One out later, Rosario — starting just his third game of the season — clobbered a 414-foot blast, immediately dropping the bat, pounding his chest and yelling to pump up the dugout as the ball sailed into the night.

“We brought Rosie back because not only is he a really good player, but he’s a tremendous teammate and sets an amazing example for everyone,” Boone said. “He’s become beloved in that room in short order. I think they all get thrilled by his successes, too.”

David Bednar then closed out the win in the top of the ninth, throwing the last of four scoreless innings by the bullpen in relief of Cam Schlittler, who gave up his first runs of the season — three runs over five solid innings while striking out seven.

Schlittler came into the night having thrown 11 ²/₃ scoreless innings to start the year, allowing just three hits and no walks in his first two starts, against the Giants and Mariners.

But the Athletics surpassed that hit total in the third inning alone to jump out to a 3-1 lead.

Still, the right-hander felt that if he could just keep the Yankees within striking distance, good things would happen by the end of the night.

“I was pretty confident we were going to come back and win that game,” Schlittler said. “We have great hitters in the lineup, so not too worried about the early results, but I think we look great and hopefully things keep rolling after this.”

TORONTO –– Last time he was in Toronto, Yoshinobu Yamamoto almost single-handedly neutralized the Blue Jays.

In his return Tuesday night, he needed a little help.

Through five innings in the Dodgers’ 4-1 win, the reigning World Series MVP was mimicking his Fall Classic brilliance. He’d struck out six batters, including three in a row to begin the game. He’d allowed only one hit, on a second-inning fly ball that got over Kyle Tucker’s head in right.

The outing might have lacked the stakes of his previous visit to Rogers Centre, when Yamamoto logged back-to-back victories in Games 6 and 7 of an epic World Series battle. 

But up to that point, he’d been almost as dominant.

“He commanded everything,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He threw the baseball really well.”

Then, out of nowhere, he almost squandered the Dodgers’ 3-0 lead.

The Blue Jays finally broke through in the sixth, when Andrés Giménez hit a leadoff single and George Springer brought him home with an RBI double. In the seventh, Yamamoto left behind an even bigger jam, exiting the game with the tying runners aboard after Kazuma Okamoto doubled (staying alive via an ABS challenge that negated a called third strike earlier in his at-bat) and Ernie Clement bunted for a hit.

Just like that, reliever Alex Vesia was inheriting a high-leverage mess. And after he walked his first batter, the Blue Jays had the bases loaded with no outs.

“You gotta walk the first guy,” Vesia deadpanned, “and then make it really hard for yourself.”

Alas, as became their habit last October, the Dodgers found a way to escape and prevail.

Vesia prevented any runs from scoring, skipping off the bump three outs later with a pump of his fist. Blake Treinen and Edwin Díaz took care of the next two innings, sewing up the team’s fifth-consecutive win to clinch this week’s highly-anticipated rematch series.

And this time, it was Yamamoto cheering the biggest moments from the dugout, getting a lift from his teammates in a victorious six-plus-inning, one-run performance.

“I was saved by Vesia,” he said.

What it means

The Dodgers had already clinched a winning road trip with their victory in Monday’s series opener. Now, they’ve secured two series wins and have the chance Wednesday to go 6-0 on this East Coast swing.

It’s a sign that everything is clicking for the team right now –– from the offense (which now has 49 runs on the trip) to the starting pitching (led by Yamamoto and his 2.50 ERA through three outings) and even a bullpen that is off to a resurgent start to the season (lowering its ERA to 2.70 after Wednesday’s three scoreless innings).

At 9-2 overall, the Dodgers are also on the verge of reaching the 10-win mark faster than they have since 2021.

Who’s hot

How about the two names at the bottom of the order Tuesday, who helped spark all three scoring rallies for the Dodgers on the night.

No. 8 hitter Hyeseong Kim (who was a late addition to the lineup after Miguel Rojas was scratched because of a family matter) hit a leadoff double in the third inning, spurring a two-run frame that also included a 105 mph RBI single from Shohei Ohtani off the wall in right. In the fifth, he drew a leadoff walk before advancing to second on a Kevin Gausman balk.

No. 9 hitter Alex Freeland, who was in a 1-for-21 slump entering Tuesday, scored Kim in the fifth with an RBI single. Later, he added a double in the seventh, then a two-out infield single in the ninth. The latter knock was also accompanied by a throwing error from Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela, allowing Freeland to go to second. He eventually scored on an RBI single from Tucker, giving Díaz a little extra insurance for his fourth save.

Who’s not

Just like Monday night, it remains the Blue Jays.

And to be more specific, their manager John Schneider.

After Gausman’s balk in the fifth inning, Schneider came out of the dugout with only one intention. With his team in an early-season rut, it seemed like he was begging to get ejected from the game.

Following an extended argument, home plate umpire Dan Merzel finally obliged –– prompting a red-faced Schenider to dramatically spike his cap to the ground before berating Merzel inches away from his face.

If the outburst was intended to wake up his team, it failed. Instead, the banged-up Blue Jays dropped their sixth-straight game, and fell to 4-7 on the season. 

Up next

The Dodgers will go for the series sweep Wednesday, when Shohei Ohtani will take the mound for the second time this season. He’ll face off against Toronto’s marquee offseason signing, Dylan Cease, for a 12:07 p.m. Pacific first pitch.

The St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday night game against the Washington Nationals was a parade of missed opportunities and sloppy play, but the St. Louis Cardinals found more late game magic as Jordan Walker, Nathan Church and JJ Wetherholt played the role of the heroes.

The Cardinals got off to a fast start Tuesday night as JJ Wetherholt drew a walk to lead off the game and then stole 2nd. Alec Burleson singled to right, but Wetherholt was unable to score as he had to make sure Burleson’s ball was not caught. Thanks to an error by JJ Abrams, Wetherholt scored on a ground ball from Jordan Walker. Nolan Gorman then singled to score Alec Burleson making the score 2-0 Cardinals, but he was thrown out trying to take 2nd base.

Matthew Liberatore was not able to take advantage of his early lead as Washington answered in the bottom of the 1st as Wood singled to center. After Mead struck out looking, House singled to center moving Wood up to 2nd. Lile singled Mead in making the score 2-1 Cardinals.

Washington would draw even in the bottom of the 3rd inning when James Wood hit an opposite field bomb. Mead would give the Nationals a 3-2 lead when he hit a 398 foot home run in the bottom of the 5th inning making it 3-2 Nationals. Lile would also score in the bottom of the 5th inning on a single from Abrams giving Washington a 4-2 lead. The Nationals would get another RBI single from Mead in the bottom of the 6th inning scoring Wood making it 5-2 Washington. Matthew Liberatore was not sharp as he completed 5 innings giving up 9 hits, 2 walks and 4 earned runs.

The Cardinals missed an opportunity in the top of the 4th inning when Thomas Saggese grounded into a double play after a Gorman single and a walk by Winn. Similar situation in the top of the 6thn when Saggese would strike out with Gorman and Winn on base again, but he would more than make up for it later.

The score would stay 5-2 Nationals until the top of the 7th inning when Jordan Walker would slam an opposite field home run getting the Cardinals one run closer making it 5-3.

In the 8th inning, Masyn Winn walked after nearly being hit by another pitch. That brought up Nathan Church who would turn on a 1-2 pitch from Varland and tie the game with a 2-run bomb.

George Soriano entered the game in the bottom of the 8th inning and quickly set the Nationals down 1-2-3 including 2 strikeouts. He would also shut down Washington in the bottom of the 9th inning to send the game to extras after the Cardinals failed to score in the top of the 9th.

In the top of the 10th inning, Thomas Saggese would redeem himself with a hustle double to left-center scoring Masyn Winn making it 6-5 Cardinals.

Yohel Pozo successfully moved Saggese to third base grounding out to the right side of the infield. Nathan Church was unable to bring him in, but JJ Wetherholt picked him up as he ripped a double down the right field line giving St. Louis a 7-5 lead.

Riley O’Brien was brought in to shut down the Washington Nationals in the bottom of the 10th inning. He would bring drama as he hit Vivas after getting two strikes, but he then struck out JJ Abrams. Nolan Gorman channeled his inner Nolan Arenado making an incredible barehanded throw to first base to get Young which Alec Burleson also made a great play on. Lile would score on a wild pitch to make the game 7-6, but O’Brien struck out Nasim Nuñez to end the game.

The Cardinals are now 6-5 through the first two weeks of the season and will face former teammate Miles Mikolas Wednesday afternoon. Game time is scheduled to be 3:05pm central time.