Category: Baseball

MILWAUKEE — With their most effective starter on the mound and the wind at their sails from a 19-run, 25-hit outburst at Coors Field, the Giants jumped out to an early lead.

And, poof, like most of San Francisco’s hopes this season, it was gone.

About as soon as Matt Chapman’s two-run homer cleared the wall and the outstretched glove of Jackson Chourio in the top of the second, Landen Roupp began to give the lead right back.

The Brewers pounced on Roupp for seven runs in the bottom half of the inning and only added on from there while running away with the first game of their series, 16-2.

“Guys put up two early, and I kind of just slapped them in the face,” Roupp said.

It was such a drubbing that it ended with a position player called up before the game, Buddy Kennedy, lobbing pitches while Daniel Susac, a catcher with no prior experience besides two minor-league games at first base, played third.

“I’m a coach of the players, the manager of the team ,but I’m a fan of the players, too,” Vitello said. “I just want to see them do well. We’ve added meetings before the game. We’re talking in the dugout. We’re trying to anything we can to put our guys in a position to succeed.”

Roupp only revealed after he had come out of the game in an 8-2 hole that he had been pitching with a back that tightened up on him, though he downplayed the issue after the game.

Roupp struck out Jake Bauers to bring a merciful end to the second inning, nine batters after the Brewers left fielder started with a leadoff walk. Sal Frelick and Chourio both jumped on first-pitch fastballs for explosive extra-base hits, Chapman wasn’t able to field a bunt from speedy No. 9 hitter David Hamilton, and Roupp issued another walk to Christian Yelich.

The biggest hit of the inning came off the bat of Bryce Turang and gave newly called up Jonah Cox his first opportunity to show off his defense that has been called the best in the organization. Cox gave chase but instead went crashing into the wall in left-center field as the ball careened away and Turang cruised into third for a bases-clearing triple.

Turang jogged home on a sacrifice fly from the next batter for the Brewers’ seventh run.

The Brewers added another run off Roupp the next inning and eight more against the Giants’ bullpen (plus Kennedy). But for all intents and purposes, they were already buried.

What it means

Whatever good feelings the Giants brought with them on the plane after their rout to end their series against the Rockies were gone by end of the second inning.

It has been hard enough for the Giants to pull ahead; staying in front has been just as much of a challenge.

The Giants have held a lead in only 48 of their 60 games, the fewest in the majors, and are one of only five teams to relinquish the advantage more often than not, falling to 23-25.

The culprit of late had been the bullpen, but in this one, there was nobody to blame but Roupp, who struggled to find the strike zone and was hit hard when he did.

Roupp exhausted 96 pitches to complete four innings, only half for strikes, and recorded season-highs in bases on balls (five) and earned runs (eight).

The outing raised his ERA almost a full run, to 4.22 from a rotation-leading 3.30.

Who’s hot

Jung Hoo Lee recorded the most hits by a Giant in a single series since 2017 by going 11-for-15 over their three games in Colorado and picked up right where he left off.

Lee’s second-inning single extended his hitting streak to nine games and set the table for Chapman’s two-run shot that gave the Giants the briefest of 2-0 leads.

Bryce Eldridge, getting a rare start in the field, made a nice play to start a 3-6 double play, going to the ground to snag a hard hopper from Frelick, tagging first and getting back to his feet to make an accurate throw to Willy Adames at second base.

Eldridge also laced a double — his sixth in four games on the road trip — that left the bat at 107.7 mph, the Giants’ hardest-hit ball of the game.

Who’s not

After posting a 5.21 ERA in May that ranked as the fourth-worst in the majors, the Giants’ starting rotation didn’t start the month of June on any better note.

As a staff, San Francisco has surrendered at least six runs in six of its past seven games and all four to begin the road trip, albeit with the caveat that the first three were played at Coors Field.

Up next

Salt in the wound: As the Giants try to get back on track, they will be opposed by their former top prospect, Kyle Harrison, who has blossomed into an NL Cy Young contender since being dealt to the Red Sox for Rafael Devers and again this offseason to Milwaukee.

The Giants will have another homegrown arm, Trevor McDonald, on the mound.

No pitchers, no problem. As long as you have Tristan Gray on your team, he’ll give you enough runs to make sure your suddenly shaky pitching staff can pound the strike zone with ease. It wasn’t all the Twins’ journeyman infielder, but he’s already had a few big swings when they needed it most this season.

The Twins only managed a single hit against David Sandlin when they faced him last week, but they were able to triple their previous hit total in the first inning alone. Brooks Lee and Kody Clemens singled to put two men on for Minnesota. Sandlin then struck out Josh Bell before Trevor Larnach came up clutch with a two-out single to give the Twins an early lead.

The Pirates evened the game in the third thanks to another Victor Caratini mistake. With a man on third base and two outs, Caratini dropped a foul tip that would have ended the at-bat and the inning. Given an extra strike and out, Andrew “bad against everyone except Joe Ryan” Benintendi singled two pitches later to knot the game at one apiece. The way the Twins have been swinging lately, that seemed like a mistake that could cost the game. Luckily, Tristan Gray had something to say about that.

After a hard hit Bell double to start the fourth inning and a couple of baffling baserunning mistakes, the Twins looked like they were going to squander a potential big inning. But famed grand slammer Tristan Gray came to the plate with the bases juiced and only needed to see two pitches to put a well-placed curveball into the right field bleachers. Big dong, big inning, big 5-1 lead.

The White Sox immediately answered back in the fifth with back-to-back homers from Miguel Vargas and, guess who, Benintendi to bring the game to 5-4. But the Twins were finally seeing the ball well and capitalized for the second straight inning. In the bottom of the fifth, five straight Minnesota batters reached base to start the inning and score a pair of runs, and sac flies from Luke Keaschall and Gray gave the Twins a couple extra runs to boot. With the exhausted state of Minnesota’s pitching staff and an entire week until their next day off, the insurance runs were much needed.

After Ryan’s solid six innings, Kody Funderburk and Yoendrys Gomez threw a scoreless inning each. With a five run lead, manager Derek Shelton turned to Travis Adams who gave up a single and second home run to Vargas to give the home fans a fright, but buckled down and got the next two White Sox batters to finish the game. Twins win!

STUDS

• Tristan Gray: 1-3, 5 RBI, GRAND SALAMI
• Trevor Larnach: 2-3, R, RBI, BB
• Josh Bell: 2-4, R, 2B

DUDS

• NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!!

We’ll see tomorrow night for a fun matchup between exciting rookie Connor Prielipp and breakout All-Star candidate Davis Martin. Don’t worry though, Tristan Gray is hitting 1.000 against Martin for his career.

Since Gerrit Cole’s return to their rotation, no team has gotten more innings per start than the Yankees.

And in those eight games with their ace back from Tommy John surgery, the Yankees have a 1.61 ERA from their starters, by far the best in the majors.

That’s also without the services of perhaps their second-best pitcher, Max Fried, still on the IL with a bone bruise in his left elbow.

The emergence of Tuesday’s starter against Cleveland, Cam Schlittler, has been as big a reason as any for the Yankees’ success in that area, but they are routinely getting six-plus innings from whomever is on the mound.

“I feel like the starting pitching has been mostly excellent,’’ Aaron Boone said in West Sacramento, Calif. “They just set a really good tone for us every day.”

And they figure to be even more consistent as Carlos Rodón gets back into form and Fried returns.

“We feel good about how all the guys are throwing and what they bring to the table,’’ Boone said. “We’re sending a guy out there capable of holding the other team down and giving us an opportunity to win.”

Schlittler and Will Warren — who started Sunday against the A’s — have done that as well as anyone, with the Yankees 9-3 in Schlittler’s 12 outings and 10-2 when Warren pitches.

The Yankees are a combined 6-8 when Fried and Rodón have taken the mound, but that seems destined to change.

Ryan McMahon finally hit a bit at the end of the road trip, homering in consecutive games at the Royals and A’s then picking up two more hits on Saturday in California, but the third baseman no doubt is happy to be back in The Bronx.

Even with his recent outburst, McMahon has the third-worst road OPS among qualified hitters (.472) and Austin Wells and Trent Grisham are also in the bottom 12 in the majors.

Not surprisingly, all three are lefty swingers, acquired by the Yankees in part because they hit from that side of the plate.

Their best left-handed hitter, Rice, has no problems hitting away from Yankee Stadium, with a 1.055 OPS.

And Cody Bellinger, another slugger imported to take advantage of the short porch in right, enters Tuesday with an MLB-best 1.209 OPS at home.

Another beneficiary of Anthony Volpe sticking with the Yankees as the shortstop on a regular basis — at least for now — is George Lombard Jr.

The Yankees top prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, has started at short every game at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre since Volpe got back to The Bronx.

Lombard, who turns 21 on Tuesday, had been playing second and third base with Volpe on the roster.

He’s also homered twice in his last five games after not going deep in his first 23 games with SWB following his promotion from Double-A Somerset, as the 2023 first-round pick has gotten off to a slow start at the new level.

The Texas Rangers scored two runs while the St. Louis Cardinals scored one run.

Tonight’s game was so low scoring you’d think it were played at The Shed pre-Chris Young turning off the run suppression machine last week.

The Rangers starters have been doing their part to keep runs down of late. In fact, after five scoreless from Jacob deGrom in tonight’s opener, Texas starters have gone 27 innings combined without allowing a run. That’s the second longest scoreless streak from members of the rotation in franchise history.

The last time a Rangers starter allowed a run was when Nathan Eovaldi coughed up a couple in the third inning against Houston last Thursday. Tonight deGrom had a relatively easy time keeping the spotless stretch alive. Aside from running his pitching count a little higher than he’d probably like, deGrom got better as the game went along.

The veteran deGrom allowed four hits with only one of them going for extra bases as he worked around a two-out second inning double from Victor Scott with Nolan Gorman matching his third base counterpart Josh Jung in footspeed on the bases to hold up at third base on the two-bagger.

That eventually erased threat followed a first inning where it seemed like Texas had left their gloves in Arlington as a couple of misplays in the infield forced deGrom to have to wiggle out of a first inning jam. The first inning has been deGrom’s kryptonite all year so it was nice to see him escape with a zero on the board, which paved the way for more to come.

Though he lasted just five innings on 91 pitches, deGrom also walked only one batter and struck out eight in his first win on the road since beating the Los Angeles Dodgers back in mid-April nine starts ago.

Meanwhile, while deGrom was dealing, the Rangers lineup were getting similar treatment from Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy. However, Texas was able to break through with a run in the top of the fourth via a two-out RBI double from Ezequiel Duran which scored Brandon Nimmo all the way from first base.

The Rangers tacked on another run an inning later when Joc Pederson worked his way back from an 0-2 count to line a single up the middle to score Danny Jansen who had walked and stolen his first base of the season.

The Rangers couldn’t add to the lead that inning despite a rally and it nearly cost them in such a close game as St. Louis scored their first and only run in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out solo home run by Masyn Winn off Peyton Gray in the first frame after deGrom had exited.

But after some shaky games from the bullpen over the last week or so, the high leverage relief arms were up to the task tonight as Tyler Alexander, Jakob Junis, and Jacob Latz each tossed a scoreless inning apiece to shepherd the Rangers to their first four-game winning streak since taking four in a row at the end of March.

Player of the Game: deGrom produced a solid start and Pederson deserves praise for his RBI hit that ultimately proved the difference, but Duran got the ball rolling with his two-out RBI double that got Texas on the board. Later, he utilized his speed to pressure St. Louis third baseman Gorman into a poor throw on an infield single where he reached second base to represent a potential insurance run in a one-run game in the ninth.

The Rangers flubbed the chance and Duran didn’t score which meant we had to sweat out the bottom of the ninth a little more than we should have but Duran has continued to come up with big hits for a Rangers lineup that often has a shortage of them.

Up Next: The Rangers and Cardinals are back at it tomorrow with RHP Nathan Eovaldi passed the starter scoreless streak baton for Texas opposite RHP Dustin May for St. Louis.

The Tuesday evening first pitch from Busch Stadium is once again scheduled for 6:45 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

Michael McGreevy gave the St. Louis Cardinals a quality start, but he was not quite up to the level that Jacob deGrom was as the Rangers managed to eek out a 2-1 win against the Cardinals Monday night at Busch Stadium.

Jacob deGrom looked like a pitcher who has won the Cy Young Award twice. He gave the Texas Rangers 5 full innings allowing just 4 hits with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. The Cardinals had some opportunities against him, but were unable to put any runs on the board during his 5 inning stint. Michael McGreevy also had an impressive night. He tossed 6 full innings allowing 5 hits and 2 earned runs with just 1 strikeout while giving Texas 2 walks.

Texas would get their runs in the 4th and 5th innings against McGreevy. In the top of the 4th inning, Brandon Nimmo delivered a one-out single. That was followed by a double by Ezequiel Duran which scored Nimmo from first giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead. In the top of the 5th, McGreevy walked Jansen which would come back to haunt him. Jansen stole second and then advanced to third when Lopez singled. Joc Pederson would come through with a single up the middle scoring Jansen doubling the Texas lead to 2-0.

With deGrom out of the game in the bottom of the 6th inning, the Cardinals bats would come alive (somewhat) when Masyn Winn turned on an 85 mph changeup and deposited it into the left field seats cutting the Rangers lead in half making it 2-1 Texas.

Justin Bruihl gave St. Louis 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief until he gave up a single to Lopez in the top of the 8th inning and then he advanced to second when Joc Pederson hit into a fielder’s choice. Ryne Stanek was brought in to keep the Rangers from adding to their lead. He got Josh Jung out on a good lateral play by Masyn Winn who covered a lot of ground to his left and then threw out Jung. Stanek then hit Nimmo giving Texas a first and third scoring opportunity bringing up Jake Burger. Ryne was fortunately able to get Burger to go fishing for a diving slider to end the Rangers 8th inning.

George Soriano was the Cardinals answer for the top of the 9th inning. Duran started the inning with an infield single that Nolan Gorman made worse with a throwing error that gave Duran second base. Osuna then followed with his own infield single making it first and third with no one out for the Rangers. Soriano came through with a clutch strikeout of Carter and a pop-out by Jansen. George struck out Lopez to keep Texas close at 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th inning.

The St. Louis offense had been quiet after Masyn Winn’s home run in the bottom of the 6th with no baserunners in either the bottom of the 7th or 8th innings. In the bottom of the 9th, the Rangers brought in Jacob Latz. Bryan Torres grounded out to start the Cardinals 9th. Masyn Winn whiffed on a ball nowhere near the strike zone. That brought up Nolan Gorman. He managed to work a full count against Latz before fouling off a couple pitches. Unfortunately, there would be no David Freese bottom of the 9th magic as Gorman struck out on the 8th pitch ending the Cardinals night with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Rangers.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers will tangle again Tuesday night as Dustin May will try to match his excellent last start for the Cardinals while Nathan Eovaldi will take the mound for the Rangers. First pitch is set for 6:45pm central time at Busch Stadium. Game broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv.

The Royals have been looking for answers, trying to find something, ANYTHING, to break the horrid stretch of baseball recently. They finally found something tonight. And they did not have to do a bunch of small ball for it.

The Reds were starting a little-used reliever with control problems as an opener. The Royals made them pay. Carter Jensen led off with a walk, Bobby Witt reached on a HBP, and Cags walked to load the bases for Isaac Collins, who struck out. With two outs, Lane Thomas came to bat. The pitcher threw a middle-middle fastball to Thomas, who blasted the ball at 106mph and 409 feet into the left field seats, drawing boos from the sparse crowd. First inning grand slam, spotting Luinder Avila four runs before he threw a pitch.

And that was just the start.

In the fifth inning, Witt just missed a homer on a pitch he golfed into the left-center field gap. It bounced off the top of the fence, and JJ Bleday, the left fielder, seemed very confused. Like his glove got stuck in the wall or something. Witt ended up on second with a double. After a Pasquantino out, up came Jac Caglianone. He got a slider that hung in the middle of the zone, and dang he did not miss it. An impressive 108mph, 419 foot bomb to deep left-center field, an oppo-taco. Those were the fifth and sixth runs of the night.

The Royals added another run in the sixth. Nick Loftin walked and advanced to second on maybe the worst pickoff attempt I have ever seen. The Reds pitcher, Brandon Leibrandt, was half-assing a bunch of throws to first base, apparently worried about Loftin stealing. Well, he eventually badly missed a throw that skipped to the tarp in foul territory. No matter – Leibrandt went down 3-0 to Witt, who was intentionally walked with first base open and two outs. Pasquantino finally knocked in a run by sneaking a line drive between the first and second basemen.

Michael Massey hit his fifth homer of the season in the seventh inning to add another insurance run. They got a lot of insurance! But they still wanted a bit more – they tacked on their ninth run of the game in the ninth inning with two singles and a sac fly.

I feel like that does not totally do justice to the offensive outburst. The second inning was the only one in which the Royals did not have a baserunner. They had 13 total hits – Kyle Isbel was the only player who did not reach base (Jensen did not get a hit but did get a walk). The top 5 exit velos in the game were all Royals, and 8 of the top 10 were Royals. They went 3-12 with runners in scoring position and left 9 guys on base and still scored 9 runs!

And, oh, by the way, Luinder Avila threw five innings of one-run ball. It wasn’t clean – he had four walks and gave up a homer to JJ Bleday on an extremely hittable fastball – but it was enough! Schreiber, Lange, Black, and Morgan (that’s a law firm, not a bullpen, you can’t fool me Royals) combined to finish off the game, though Morgan did give up a run on a single and a double. He made up for it I guess by getting all three outs by strikeout, limiting the damage. They struck out seven guys in their four innings of relief.

While it is just one win in the grand scheme of things, and the Royals still find themselves in a deep hole, this game was really nice to watch. Like finding an oasis in a desert.

The Royals are now 23-37. The Reds are 30-29. They play again tomorrow at 6:10pm US Central time.

Which is more painful, losing a blowout? Or climbing back into a blowout and then losing by just one run?

From the Rays standpoint, this game felt like one of those punishments imposed by the gods in Greek myth. Like Sisyphus, on several occasions the Rays seemed poised to roll that boulder back up the hill, chipping away at the early Detroit lead, only to have it roll back down (as each Rays reliever allowed the Tigers to score yet again).

How did the Rays find themselves in this situation? Well, the “make Griffin Jax a starter” project hit a bump. In the first inning, the converted reliever gave up three base hits, one a very well-struck double, and two runs, before retiring the Tigers in the first inning.

But it turns out that was just the warm up. Because in the third innings Jax’s outing went from “a little shaky” to “full blown stinker.” He walked the leadoff batter and then proceeded to give up not one, not two, but three home runs. And this to a Tigers team that was ranked 29th out of 30 teams in runs scored this season. Imagine if he had been facing a team with a strong offense!

Jax was pulled after four innings (and six runs). The next man up was Trevor Martin, and bless him for getting through three innings and saving other arms, but he got into the home run game as well, giving up two solo shots.

Cole Sulser was tapped to pitch the eighth inning. The good news? No home runs. The bad news? He still allowed two more runs via base hits. In case you’ve lost count, that brought the Tigers total to ten.

It’s not like the Rays didn’t have their moments, and even more chances to have more moments. For one thing, they drew eight walks. That creates a lot of opportunities.

They also got two monster home runs, each with runners on base, and each providing a glimmer of hope that the Rays could come back.

First, Junior hit a two run homer in the fourth inning. That made the score 6-2, with a lot of innings to go.

Later, Ryan Vilade hit a three run homer in the sixth inning, which made the score 8-5, still with plenty of time remaining.

And these homers weren’t baby dingers either. Junior’s was 110.4 mph and it traveled 422 feet.

Here’s Vilade’s, which was 110.1 mph and traveled 438 feet.

Our final glimmer came in the eight inning. The Tigers walked the bases loaded, and then Nick Fortes drove in two runs with a double — a chopper up the third base line that took a lucky (for the Rays) carom — making the score 10-7. And Ben Williamson then singled home two more, and we were at 10-9.

Oh, if only Rays pitches could have stopped the bleeding at, say, eight runs!

As if the loss were not discouraging enough, the Rays lost two players to injury tonight. Taylor Walls left the game with a tight hamstring, a problem that had kept him out of the line up from time to time. And Chandler Simpson left after sliding into second base; it seemed that his batting helmet flew off an hit him in the mouth. There was a lot of blood, but presumably this isn’t a serious injury.

To the Rays: next time your opponents try to hand you a win, with eight walks and some spotty fielding, I’d advise you to take it.

Tomorrow Steven Matz takes the mound, let’s hope he has that last rough start in the rear view mirror.

The Tigers collected a rare W tonight in their 10-9 win over the Rays.

It’s no secret that the Tigers have had a rough go of it over the past month. They just finished being swept by the White Sox, and the last thing anyone wanted to do after that was face the top team in the AL East. But the Tigers don’t get to make their own schedule, and there was no getting around it. They had Ty Madden on the mound to start the game, up against Griffin Jax for the Rays. The Rays have been inconsistent in the last few weeks, while they won against the Angels (who so recently swept the Tigers), they also got swept in a three-game series against the Orioles, so it’s anyone’s guess which version of the Rays Detroit would see to start the week.

Kevin McGonigle wasted no time getting things underway with a leadoff single, followed by a single from Dillon Dingler. A one-out double from Riley Greene brought both runners in to put the Tigers on the board early.

Yandy Diaz started the home half with a single, but three outs followed to keep the Tigers in the lead.

With two outs in the top of the second, Zach McKinstry singled, but the Tigers weren’t able to convert the baserunner because McKinstry got caught stealing second to end the inning. The Rays went 1-2-3 in the home half.

Things broke wide open for the Tigers in the third. McGonigle got a leadoff walk, then Dingler homered to bring him home. Kerry Carpenter followed that with a home run of his own. Then, for the first time since 2020, the Tigers went back-to-back-to-back as Riley Greene homered as well. At the end of the inning, the Tigers were up 6-0.

In the home half, the Rays lost shortstop Taylor Walls for undisclosed reasons, who was replaced by Oliver Dunn and also went 1-2-3.

The Tigers had their first three-up, three-down inning to start the fourth. Richie Palacios got a one-out walk in the home half, then one out later Junior Caminero hit a home run. Chandler Simpson followed that with a single, and Simpson is a serious steal risk. Simpson did indeed steal second on a wild pitch from Madden, but his helmet came off as he approached the bag and he was hit in the face when it bounced. He came up bleeding, and that was it for him in the game. One angle actually made it look like he lost a tooth. Ryan Vilade replaced him on the basepaths. Victor Mesa Jr walked, and that was it for Madden. Tyler Holton replaced Madden in a direct Ty-for-Ty swap. Holton got the final two outs of the inning.

To get the fifth going, Dingler got his second dinger of the night against new pitcher Trevor Martin. It’s the first time Dingler has ever had a multi-home run game.

With one out, Riley Greene singled, and then Spencer Torkelson got a free bag after getting nailed in the elbow with a pitch. Colt Keith grounded into a force out, eliminating Torkelson, and then Keith stole second, but the Tigers ultimately left two stranded. With one out in the home half, Diaz singled. The Tigers, however, turned a gorgeous double play to end the inning.

Hao-Yu Lee homered to start the sixth, and an overzealous Tigers fan in the stands might have nabbed it a wee bit early, but it was ruled a home run nevertheless. I want to suggest that the Tigers might want to hold onto a few of these home runs, but what the heck, let’s just go for it. Three outs followed the home run. Brenan Hanifee was the new pitcher for the home half, and he gave up a leadoff walk to Palacios. Caminero then made an ABS challenge to get himself a free walk as well. Ryan Vilade came in and homered, and suddenly the Tigers’ lead wasn’t looking as impressive anymore. Hanifee was done, replaced by Drew Sommers. He gave up a one-out walk to Cedric Mullins and collected the second out of the inning, but his command was all over the place and A.J. Hinch pulled him after facing the minimum three batters. With Kyle Finnegan on the mound, the Tigers did manage to get themselves out of the jam with limited damage and their lead intact.

Carpenter got a leadoff single to start the seventh. Greene walked to put two on. Three outs followed though, leaving the runners stranded. Yandy Diaz singled to start the bottom of the seventh. Palacios then grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Cole Sulser was the new Rays pitcher for the eighth. Lee singled, and then advanced to second on a sac bunt from McKinstry. With two outs, Dingler doubled, bringing Lee home and giving the Tigers another insurance run. Carpenter then doubled right down the third base line to score Dingler. A Greene strikeout ended the inning, but the Tigers had widened the gap. Beau Brieske came in for the home half of the inning and gave up a leadoff walk to Caminero. With one out, Mesa Jr. walked as well. Mullins walked to load the bases and that was it for Brieske. Will Vest came in and gave up a double to Nick Fortes, scoring two runs. A Ben Williamson singled scored two more runs, and suddenly that big lead was not looking nearly big enough as the Rays pulled within one. Diaz reached on a fielder’s choice that left both baserunners safe thanks to some ugly fielding from Lee, who was charged with an error for his bobble. A Jonathan Aranda groundout advanced the runners. By some miracle the Tigers made it out of the inning still clinging to the lead.

Garrett Cleavinger was on for the Rays in the ninth. With one out and an ABS challenge overturn for both teams, a pinch-hitting Jahmai Jones walked. The Tigers failed to add onto their lead in the ninth, so they would need their bullpen to keep the Rays from scoring any additional runs. Will Vest would stay in for the ninth and he managed to get the job done, getting the side out in order and holding onto the lead by the skin of their teeth.

Final: Tigers 10, Rays 9

The start of the 2026 season began with a Spring Training that resulted in San Diego Padres starter Joe Musgrove landing on the injured list with a surgically repaired elbow that wasn’t ready to pitch. Then, after four starts, Nick Pivetta was placed on the injured list with a flexor tendon strain of his right arm. Germán Márquez made six starts and was placed on the injured list with right forearm nerve discomfort. He had been inconsistent, at best, before that move.

Righty Matt Waldron, who had been spectacularly effective in Triple-A, was called up and was unable to put together any consistent success, often being hit hard. He was also placed on the IL. Reclamation project, Walker Buehler, started the season seemingly knowing that his command and control would be of utmost importance because of the diminished velocity after his two elbow surgeries.

Fortunately, Michael King and Randy Vásquez have remained healthy. They have both made all their scheduled starts but neither has been consistent and have had some outings that cause concern. Griffin Canning completed his rehab assignment and joined the rotation but has also had problems with consistency so far.

Considering the situation with the starters, it isn’t a surprise that the president of baseball operations, A.J. Preller signed free agent starter Lucas Giolito to a one-year, $2.8 million guaranteed contract on April 22. Giolito was still available after not signing during the offseason or during spring camp. He ended the 2025 season on the injured list with the Boston Red Sox and hadn’t pitched for them during the playoffs. He missed all of 2024 after undergoing UCL repair but bounced back with the Red Sox. His 10-4 record and 3.41 ERA as the No. 3 starter for Boston motivated him to bypass his $19 million option for 2026 and go on the free agent market.

The reason for his not having a contract before Spring Training isn’t known but it has been discussed that his asking price was too high, given that he ended the 2025 season on the IL with a sore elbow. Whatever the reason, Giolito was available in late April, and at a discount price.

What did the Padres get in Giolito?

In 2025, Giolito featured a 93 mph fastball that he threw 48% of the time. He threw his 86 mph slider 26% of the time, his 81.7 mph changeup 23% of the time and his 76.6 mph curveball 3% of his pitches. During his ramp-up in the minor leagues after signing in April (two games each with Single-A Lake Elsinore and Double-A San Antonio), Giolito totaled 17 innings pitched with a 4.76 ERA.

During the course of a normal spring camp, starters work up from pitching one or two innings to begin and progress up to 60-80 pitches and at least five innings before the end of their progression. With six weeks allowed, most starters are ready to pitch before spring camp is done and back off their pitch count in their last start.

The contract agreed to by the Padres and Giolito guaranteed that he be with the major league team by May 16. That only allowed time for the four starts in the minors. It became apparent in his first start with the Padres, on May 17 versus Seattle, that Giolito was not back to where he left off in 2025.

His fastball velocity is down 3 mph, as is his slider and changeup velocity. He has changed his pitch usage from a fastball-and-slider-dominant mix to a fastball-and-changeup-dominant mix. His curveball remains a show-me pitch at 3%.

Not surprisingly, his walk rate is up and his strikeout rate is down. The batting average against his fastball sits at .313 with a .555 slug. The groundball rate is sitting at 26.3% where he normally sits 35% and above.

Can Lucas Giolito recover his form?

The most optimistic answer is that the lack of a normal Spring Training, and only having four starts to prepare for his season, is responsible for his poor start to 2026. In his three games with the Padres, he has been unable to get past the fifth inning. His last start was 2.2 innings, allowing five hits and four walks for four runs. His command has not improved and seems to have slipped. There have been 11 walks in 12.2 innings with six strikeouts.

With less than a month to prepare and a contract that required his promotion, Giolito didn’t do himself or the Padres any favors. It could be argued that he might have been called up anyway, given the situation with the starting rotation.

The Padres have a significant lack of depth in the organization when it comes to starting pitchers. But with Canning and Giolito both working back from a not-normal spring preparation, the Padres are relying on King, Vásquez, and Buehler to carry the load. That’s a lot to ask considering King is working back after missing the majority of last season and Buehler is trying to reinvent himself as a starter.

The trade rumor mill is churning out leaks about Preller inquiring regarding more bullpen depth. It seems more likely that another starter or two would be a wiser choice if this team wants to try to stay in the running for a playoff spot this season.

Assuming the offense starts improving over the next month, it seems unlikely this group of starters will get the Padres to where they want to go. Hoping Pivetta and Musgrove are back this summer doesn’t seem like a good enough plan.

The Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks continue their long series on Tuesday night, the second of four games between the two teams this week at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Eric Lauer makes his second start for the Dodgers, after allowing one run in six innings last week at Dodger Stadium against the Colorado Rockies. The Diamondbacks punish left-handers, hitting .281/.341/.452 with a 120 wRC+ this season.

Right-hander Michael Soroka starts for Arizona, coming off a May that saw him allow only six total runs in his five starts and 30 1/3 innings, with 24 strikeouts and five walks.

Tuesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at D-backs
• Ballpark: Chase Field, Phoenix
• Time: 6:40 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Mariners open up a series against the Mets. This will be their last homestand before a lengthy road trip that will keep the team away until the middle of the month. It’s also Pride Night at the ballpark, in case you’re wondering about the rainbow graphics.

Lineups:

The Mariners anticipate Mets starter Austin Warren to be an opener for a lefty, hence the righty stack in tonight’s lineup.

2004-ass Tumblr post lineup graphic:

News:

Dan Wilson informed the media Cal Raleigh will remain with the team until the end of the homestand, at which point they’ll have a better idea of whether he’ll return to Arizona for more rehab or stick around, perhaps in preparation to make some rehab starts, but emphasizes all of that is very preliminary. Cal did catch a bullpen today, though.

Tonight’s Game information:

Game time: 6:40 PT

TV: Mariners dot TV with Aaron Goldsmith and Ryon Healy

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr.

The Dodgers head to the desert to face the Diamondbacks.

Monday’s game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Diamondbacks
• Ballpark: Chase Field, Phoenix
• Start time: 6:40 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.

• Reinstated from the 60-day injured list: INF Pavin Smith (left elbow inflammation)
• Optioned to Triple-A Reno following yesterday’s game: INF/OF Tim Tawa
• Transferred to the 60-day injured list: INF Carlos Santana (strained right adductor)

Smith’s season was barely under way – just two games played – before it went into the freezer, due to the elbow issue. The best part of two months later, after five games of rehab – one in the ACL, and then four with the Reno Aces at Triple-A. He went 7-for-17 there with a double, a walk and four strikeouts, but the main thing will be Pavin’s health. The team certainly needs him, whether it’s at 1B or, as tonight, as Arizona’s designated hitter. The D-backs currently rank 29th by OPS from first-base, at a mere .620 (MLB average is more than 150 points higher, at .777) and 27th at the DH (a woeful .580, compared to MLB average .725).

On that basis, the bar for Smith to be an improvement is pretty low. His career figure, now over 450 games, is .736. Which is about three hundred points higher than you’d think if you only looked at social media. Simply producing at that level would significantly boost either position, so let’s hope he can contribute immediately. We will need all the help we can find this series against the Dodgers, who have rebounded from a rough stretch, although they never dropped more than a half-game out of first place in the division. They have won seven of the last eight, to rebuild a 5.5 game lead in the NL West. They’re 14-3 since May 13, with a 2.09 ERA over that time. It won’t be easy.

While we’re here, some other health updates:

Those first two will be the next roster moves to start thinking about. Both are on the 60-day IL, so we will need to figure out how to open up a 40-man roster spot for each of them, in addition to deciding who they will replace on the active roster.

Mets lineup

Carson Benge – RF
Bo Bichette – SS
Juan Soto – LF
Jared Young – 1B
A.J. Ewing – CF
MJ Melendez – DH
Brett Baty – 3B
Marcus Semien – 2B
Luis Torrens – C

SP: Austin Warren – RHP

Mariners lineup

J.P. Crawford – SS
Julio Rodriguez – CF
Josh Naylor – 1B
Randy Arozarena – LF
Luke Raley – RF
Cole Young – 2B
Rob Refsnyder – DH
Mitch Garver – C
Colt Emerson – 3B

SP: Emerson Hancock – RHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 9:40 PM ET
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

In a battle of the worsts of the Wests, the Los Angeles Angels will host the Colorado Rockies in the first showdown of a three-game series tonight.

The Angels (23-37) are currently in last place in the AL West, eight games back of the AL West-leading Mariners. The Rockies (22-38) are in the NL West basement, 10 games back of the division-leading Dodgers.

Both teams have struggled on the mound this season with the Rockies ranked last in MLB with a 5.39 ERA and the Angels at No. 28 with a 4.72 ERA entering Monday’s action. Colorado has struggled the most with starting pitching as they remain at No. 30 in MLB with a 5.83 ERA, while the Angels are worse out of the bullpen with a 5.08 ERA, which ranks No. 28.

The Rockies have gone 3-7 in their last 10 games as part of a brutal May where they went 8-20. The Rockies lost their first eight series in the month before edging the Giants 2-1 to close out May at Coors Field. The Angels have won six of their last 10, winning three series in a row over the Rangers, Tigers and Rays.

Kyle Freeland (1-6, 8.08 ERA) will be making his 10th start of the season on Monday night at Angel Stadium. May was no kinder to Freeland than it was the rest of the Rockies as he went 0-4 with a 12.46 ERA in five starts. The worst of those was the most recent when the lefty got shelled for eight runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and no walks in four innings in a 15-6 loss to the Dodgers in L.A. on May 26.

There’s reason to believe this trip to L.A. will go better. Freeland is 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA in five career starts against the Angels.

José Soriano (6-4, 2.65 ERA) will get the start for L.A. and has been the team’s best starter this season. In 71 innings, the 27-year-old RHP has registered 78 strikeouts, walking 31 in 12 starts. Soriano has only faced the Rockies once in his four-year MLB career, holding the Rockies scoreless in two innings in a 4-3 Rockies win in 2023 at Coors Field.

The series marks a short road trip for the Rockies, who will return to Coors Field on June 5 for a six-game home stand against the Brewers and Cubs.

Earlier on Monday, the Rockies made a handful of roster moves, calling up RHP reliever TJ Shook from Triple-A Albuquerque while sending struggling reliever Zach Agnos down to the Isotopes. Read more about the roster updates here.

First Pitch: 7:38 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

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

Lineups:

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