Category: Baseball

MILWAUKEE –– Max Muncy didn’t dodge the literal bullet. But he’s hopeful he skirted a figurative one.

After getting hit in the right wrist by a 95.5 mph sinker from Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby in the eighth inning of Friday’s loss in Milwaukee, Muncy left the game early but got good news back in the Dodgers’ clubhouse, with initial X-rays on the injury coming back negative.

“It hurts (but) it’s not broken,” Muncy said. “It is a relief. We just gotta monitor the next couple days. Typically, especially in that area, the X-rays never come back positive immediately. It kind of forms a little bit. But I’m pretty sure it hit half my wrist pad and then half my wrist … I haven’t looked at (the replay) yet, but that’s kind of what I was feeling.”

Manager Dave Roberts echoed that sentiment, saying that while Muncy is unlikely to play the rest of this weekend’s series, the club’s initial expectation is that he avoided anything more serious.

“I think it got enough of that pad to protect him,” Roberts said. “So he’ll be down for the next couple days, just to make sure we get that swelling out. But I think right now we’re breathing a sigh of relief.”

Any extended absence of Muncy, 35, would represent a major blow to the Dodgers’ offense. 

The third baseman is batting .258 this season with a team-leading 12 home runs, as well as 19 RBIs and a .878 OPS. He has also said repeatedly that his swing is in as good a place as it has been in years, having finally gotten over elbow and oblique problems that have limited his playing time the last four seasons and disrupted the mechanics of his stroke at the plate.

Muncy has suffered a right wrist fracture before, missing two weeks late in the 2019 season after getting hit by a pitch in a similar area.

This time, however, he said the pain wasn’t quite so intense.

“The biggest thing I always took with me from that (2019 injury) was just the nauseous feeling that you get, and I didn’t quite have that tonight,” he said. “So that’s why I’m feeling pretty optimistic about it.”

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The Dodgers will have options to replace Muncy over the next several days, with Santiago Espinal set to handle third base on Saturday and Kiké Hernández scheduled to return from the injured list for his season debut on Monday back in Los Angeles.

If all goes well with Muncy, though, he could be back in action by Tuesday.

“It hurt really, really bad,” he said. “In that moment, you’re trying to figure out what you can feel. Trying to assess how bad you think it is. 

But, he added, “I think we skipped the worst.”

A bullet, the Dodgers hope, dodged indeed.

Chris Taylor is retiring from MLB after a 12-year career.

His retirement was revealed via the MiLB transactions page. Taylor had been playing for the Los Angeles Angels' Triple-A affiliate.

Taylor spent the majority of his career as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with whom he won two World Series titles.

He helped lead the Dodgers to their first World Series championship in over 30 years, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in a six-game series back in 2020.

He won the second title of his career with the Dodgers winning a five-game series against the New York Yankees in 2024.

Among his career accolades, which include an All-Star nod in 2021, Taylor was named the co-National League Championship Series MVP, along with teammate Justin Turner, in 2017 after Los Angeles beat the Chicago Cubs. Taylor had a 1.221 OPS, three runs batted in and two home runs during that series, which sent the Dodgers to the Fall Classic for the first time in 29 years.

Chris Taylor: 10 years with the Dodgers, 2017 NLCS MVP, 2021 All-Star, 2x World Champ — an impactful career. https://t.co/O57vUpHxE7

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) May 23, 2026

He started his career as a member of the Seattle Mariners after he was drafted in the fifth round of the 2012 draft out of the University of Virginia. 

After two-plus years in Seattle, he was traded to Los Angeles for Zach Lee in June 2016. He was released by the Dodgers during his 10th season with the club before signing with the Angels as a free agent in 2025. He was released by the Angels in March and returned to the organization nearly a week later. He finished out his career playing in their minor league system, with the Salt Lake Bees.

Chris Taylor's career

Taylor finished his career with 860 hits, 110 home runs, 516 runs and 443 RBI. He also had 91 stolen bases. 

He was named an All-Star for the only time in his career in 2021.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Taylor retires after 12 MLB seasons

MIAMI — Craig Kimbrel struggled with the Mets, making it hardly surprising — his career numbers aside — that he became a roster casualty on Friday, when he was designated for assignment.

Jonah Tong was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to give the Mets a fresh bullpen arm as they faced the Marlins.

Kimbrel, who turns 38 next week, owned a 6.00 ERA in 14 appearances for the Mets.

In his most recent outing Wednesday, he allowed two earned runs over 2 ²/₃ innings against the Nationals.

The right-hander has earned 440 career saves during a career that could potentially earn him a Hall of Fame plaque.

Manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns informed Kimbrel of the decision after Thursday’s game in Washington.

“[Kimbrel] is such a pro, and we appreciate him and have nothing but respect, and wishing him the best,” Mendoza said. “We’ll see what happens here as he goes through waivers.”

Mendoza said it was made clear to Kimbrel that he would be welcomed back if he’s unclaimed.

“That’s what we told him here; we like being selfish here and would like to keep him around,” Mendoza said. “But also understanding there might be some options for him out there, especially with he way he’s been throwing the ball as of late. What he was able to do the other day, he went three ups, that was something he’s never done before in his career and he bounced back well.”

The Brewers got right down to business tonight. They came after Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski early, and before anyone seemed to know what was happening, the Brewers had the lead. They added to that lead in the second inning, and while Wrobleski settled down and the Brewer offense turned quiet, the early lead proved more than enough for Milwaukee starter Logan Henderson and the relievers who closed this one out. When all was said and done, the Brewers had won their ninth consecutive regular-season game against the Dodgers (though most Brewers fans will only really care about the not-regular-season games sandwiched in between this win and the last one).

Henderson, a player who doesn’t typically walk many batters, looked a little tentative with the game’s first batter, Shohei Ohtani, at the plate, and walked him on five pitches. He went right after Mookie Betts, though, and struck him out on three pitches for the first out. Henderson struck out Freddie Freeman, too, perhaps with the aid of a favorable call on strike two. With Kyle Tucker batting, Ohtani appeared to steal second base, but a Brewers challenge overturned the call and Ohtani was out to end the inning.

Jackson Chourio got the Brewer offense started with a perfectly placed ground ball that made it through the middle of the infield. Brice Turang followed with a better-struck single to center, and the Brewers were in business early with runners on first and second and nobody out. On Wrobleski’s eighth pitch, the first to William Contreras, the Brewer catcher jumped on a slider over the lower-inside part of the plate and crushed it down the left-field line. It stayed inside the foul pole, and the Brewers had a 3-0 lead before they made an out.

Christian Yelich became the first Brewer out when he hit a little pop-up to shortstop, but Andrew Vaughn, the next batter, kept things going with a single to center. Jake Bauers singled, too. Luis Rengifo blooped a single just over Betts at shortstop, too, and six of the first seven Brewers had hits and they had the bases loaded with one out and three runs already in. Sal Frelick was next, and while he couldn’t keep the hit parade going, he did hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Vaughn. Joey Ortiz then walked, which brought Chourio to the plate for the second time in the inning, this time with the bases loaded. Wrobleski left a curveball hanging right over the middle on his first pitch to Chourio, but he was only able to foul it off; Chourio battled for 10 pitches after falling behind 0-2, but ultimately struck out swinging on a high 3-2 fastball that would’ve been ball four. Still: the Brewers punched first, and hard, in the bottom of the first, and handed Henderson a four-run lead.

Henderson got through the second with no trouble (and picked up a couple of strikeouts in the process). The Brewers struck again in the second: with one out, Contreras singled to right. After a Yelich popout, Vaughn hit his fourth double of the year to right-center, Contreras came around to score, and the Brewers extended their lead to 5-0.

Little did we know, the scoring would freeze there for quite a while. Henderson had another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third, and Wrobleski—who barely made it through the first inning and had trouble again in the second—settled in. He had a quick and easy bottom of the third, a 1-2-3 fourth, and erased a leadoff walk with a double play in another three-batter fifth.

Henderson, meanwhile, had a trying fourth inning but got through it without relinquishing the lead. A leadoff single by Ohtani and uncharacteristic walks to Freeman and Andy Pages loaded the bases with two outs, but Max Muncy popped out and the inning was over. Teoscar Hernández hit a leadoff single in the fifth, but Henderson got the next three.

That ended Henderson’s night: he pitched five innings (and threw 85 pitches), allowed just two hits, and didn’t allow any runs. He did walk three batters, which is unusual for Henderson, but he struck out seven and lowered his season ERA to 2.74. Henderson made a little history, too:

Shane Drohan was the first pitcher out of the Brewer bullpen, as he took over in the top of the sixth. Drohan also had some control issues tonight; he walked the leadoff hitter, Betts, and after a strikeout of Freeman, walked Tucker, too. But Pages struck out and Muncy flew out, and the shutout continued. Wrobleski was replaced by Paul Gervase in the bottom of the sixth, and except for a two-out walk to Ortiz, he had no trouble.

The Dodgers finally broke through in the top of the seventh. A fielding error by Rengifo put the leadoff batter, Hernández, on base, and a single by Dalton Rushing put runners on first and second. Pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas flew out to right, Hernández advanced to third, and with runners on the corners and one out, Pat Murphy opted to bring in Aaron Ashby to face Ohtani. Ohtani flew out harmlessly to left, which scored a run, but the Brewers were one out away from getting out of the inning. They got that out when Betts grounded out to third, a play which was challenged (Vaughn had to stretch quite a ways to catch Rengifo’s throw) but upheld on review. After six-and-a-half, the Brewers still led 5-1.

The Brewer half of the seventh went by with nothing except a one-out single for Contreras, his third hit of the game. The Dodgers got a leadoff baserunner in the eighth when Ashby walked Freeman, but Ashby got Tucker and Freeman was out at second on a Pages ground ball. Muncy was hit by a pitch, and with Hernández coming up, Murphy opted for the matchup and brought in the right-handed Chad Patrick. Patrick got Hernández to ground out to first, and the inning was over.

Milwaukee went quietly in the bottom of the eighth. Patrick stayed on for the ninth, and quickly got three harmless flyouts. Just under a week after his first career save, Patrick had his second.

Credit to Wrobleski for settling things down after Milwaukee’s early explosion, but with the way this team has been pitching lately, five runs was more than enough. Henderson didn’t look quite as sharp as he has in some of his other outings, but there’s no arguing with five scoreless innings. Since rejoining the rotation in early May, he’s allowed just five earned runs in 21 innings (a 2.14 ERA).

Offensively, Contreras was the big star. He was 3-for-4 with the big hit of the night, the first-inning three-run homer that ultimately provided the Brewers with everything they needed. Vaughn also had a nice night, as he went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a run scored.

The Brewers will go for another series victory and a fifth straight win (and ten straight regular-season games against the Dodgers) tomorrow evening. Roki Sasaki and Robert Gasser will face off in that one, with first pitch at 6:15 p.m.

Entering the eighth inning down by a run, the Tampa Bay Rays did what they have done all year. They found a way. This time, they turned a one run deficit into a three-run lead in a matter of six batters and flipped the script in the Bronx. Facing reliever Tim Hill, Simpson reached on an error by Jose Caballero to start the inning. Caminero singled up the middle and Simpson took the extra bag advancing to third. With runners on the corners, Aranda doubled to tie the game at 1-1. The Yankees then intentionally walked Diaz to load the bases with nobody out. Palacios promptly delivered with a ground ball single that deflected off of Hill’s glove and over a leaping Caballero. Two runs scored and the Rays took a 3-1 lead. Vilade then drove home a pinch running Willaims to extend the lead to 4-1.

Prior to the eventful top of the eighth, this game was basically all Yankees, despite the slim one run margin. Gerrit Cole, making his first start since the 2024 World Series, was dominant. Had he not been making what was essentially another rehab start at the major league level, he may have gone the distance tonight.

Opposite Cole was Nick Martinex who has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season. he too was great, but made one mistake more than Cole and left after six trailing. Nonetheless, he did his job and kept it close.

This game felt like it could get away from the Rays at any moment. The Yankees had traffic on the bases in each of the six innings Martinez worked. In the first, he worked around a leadoff double. In the second, he worked around a leadoff single. In the third, another leadoff double. In the fourth, a two out single.

In the fifth, Wells finally tagged Martinez and sent a solo blast over the wall in right-center to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. It was Well’s fourth homer of the year, and second off Martinez. Grisham then singled, and again Martinex worked around it.

In the third, the Yankees almost broke through, but Johnny DeLuca had other plans as he gunned down Grisham at the plate on what would have been a RBI-single by Ben Rice.

Martinez tossed six innings of one run baseball, allowing nine hits while striking out and walking one.

Cole settled in nicely after working around a first inning a pair of baserunners in the first. He retired ten in a row and didn’t allow the Rays their second hit of the game until the fifth inning. He finished with six shutout innings allowing just two hits, three walks. He punched out a pair.

Baker came on in the ninth to close the door with the Rays up 4-2 and did just that despite allowing a one out walk to Austin Wells, which allowed Judge a chance to tie it with one swing of the bat. Judge came close but remained mired in his slump, ending the game on a flyball to left center.

With the win the Rays moved to a MLB-best 34-15 and 5.5 games up on the Yankees (up 7 games in the loss column). Over their last 26 games, they are now 22-4.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were caught hibernating by the Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals), 8-4.

Javier Assad started and gave up five runs in the first inning. He settled down after that, but he still got the loss. The final line on Assad was five runs on six hits over 3.2 innings. He walked two and struck out one.

First baseman BJ Murray drove in all four Iowa runs with two-run double in the first inning and another two-run single in the second. Murray was 2 for 4.

Left fielder Chas McCormick was 2 for 4.

Murray’s double.

Murray’s RBI single.

Right fielder Justin Dean guns down a runner trying to score from second on a single.

Knoxville Smokies

The Smokies were leading 1-0 in the second inning when the game was suspended because of weather. They’ll finish the game on Saturday followed by a seven-inning regularly-scheduled game.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs surfed past the West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers), 5-4.

It wasn’t a great start for Cole Reynolds, who allowed four runs on nine hits over 4.1 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

Three Cubs relievers didn’t give up a hit or a run the rest of the way. Adam Stone did walk in a runner inherited from Reynolds, but he got the win after pitching 1.2 innings. Stone walked four and struck out no one.

JP Wheat turned in one of his best outings with two innings. Wheat struck out three and walked one.

Ethan Bell retired the side in order in the ninth for the save. He struck out two.

Catcher Justin Stransky hit an RBI double int he second inning. He finished the night 1 for 4.

Right fielder Leonel Espinoza gave the Cubs a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning with an RBI single. He went 2 for 4. He scored on Stransky’s double.

Shortstop Ty Southisene and DH Kane Kepley pulled off a double-steal of second and home respectively in the seventh. Southisene went 1 for 4 with a hit by pitch. He scored once. Kepley went 1 for 5 and scored twice.

The double by Stransky.

A great catch by Espinoza.

Here’s the double steal.

A great outfield assist by Espinoza. He had a great game.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were bowled over by the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox), 3-2.

It was a great Myrtle Beach debut for last year’s fourth-round pick Kaleb Wing. Wing pitched four scoreless innings and gave up just one hit. That runner was thrown out stealing so the hit batter he had in the fourth meant he only faced one over the minimum. Wing struck out six.

Victor Zarraga pitched the next two innings and took the loss after giving up all three runs on three hits and three walks. Zarraga struck out one.

Third baseman Yahil Melendez doubled home two in the fourth inning. He was 2 for 4.

Second baseman Jose Escobar went 2 for 4 and scored once.

Some Wing highlights.

The two-run double by Melendez.

ACL Cubs

Beating the Reds 7-4 in the seventh inning.

He entered Friday’s game maybe a little later than fans expected, but Mets right-hander Jonah Tong looked fantastic in his season debut against the Miami Marlins.

Tong, promoted on Friday morning with the expectation of pitching at some point during the weekend series in Miami, finished the series opener by going three scoreless innings and facing the minimum while striking out two.

In a game in which New York’s pitching shined with the offense letting the team down, Tong looked the most impressive on the mound in his first MLB outing since his cup of coffee with the Mets at the end of last season. 

“Great,” Tong said about being back with the big league club. “It was awesome to be out there with the boys again.”

There’s no doubt that Tong has the potential to be a special pitcher for the Mets, but after his promotion last year which followed his meteoric rise through the minor league system and ended with him making five starts for New York and pitching to a 7.71 ERA (1.77 WHIP), it’s good to see the 22-year-old return with a flourish.

In fact, not only did Tong struggle at times in his first taste at the big league level, he had a 5.68 ERA this season in nine starts at Triple-A.

“Very encouraging,” said manager Carlos Mendoza about Tong’s outing. “The velo, the fastball, the way that it was playing. The changeup was good, he attacked, the curveball. He gave us a chance.”

In the end, the Mets lost 2-1 after their offense, outside of Juan Soto, couldn’t muster much of anything. 

But Tong, who entered in the sixth inning with his team down a run, kept the Marlins hitless over three innings in his first appearance as a reliever since 2024, when he was pitching for Single-A St. Lucie.

Nevertheless, the youngster wasn’t going to let that stop him from returning with a vengeance.

“I’ve done it in the past, especially growing up,” Tong said about pitching in relief “… Treat it no different and I’m thankful for all the vets that are around here and it’s just allowed me to have someone to talk to.”

While Tong is certainly surrounded by experienced veterans on the team who he can lean on, there are also a bunch of other rookies with the club now that might make him feel at ease, too. 

Three of those rookies, Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Nick Morabito, actually flanked the outfield together for the first time this season.

“All rookie outfield today, which I thought was really special,” Tong said. “I was talking to [Morabito] on the bus today and I just said like it happens very rarely, especially for all these guys coming up around the same time, so it was awesome.”

As for his own growth and how he’s changed as a pitcher since looking a bit overwhelmed at times in the majors, Tong has definitely used that experience to help him improve, but also believes the road to reaching one’s full potential can be bumpy and he isn’t dismayed by the results he saw last year.

“Development is never a straight line and I just think that [I need to] stick with the process,” he said. “Our coaches down in Triple-A have always preached that and they have all the confidence in me, so why not have the confidence in myself?”

If Tong can continue to pitch like he did on Friday night, he will earn the confidence of more than just his Triple-A coaches.

Pirates 2 Blue Jays 6

That game had everything. Good pitching. Timely hits. Good defense. And stuff to argue about.

Let’s start with that.

In the eighth, Mason Fluharty started the inning with a walk and a single. In comes Louis Varland. He gets:

• A wild pitch and a Bryan Reynolds ground out, scoring one and moving the, then, tying run to third. Ten pitches.
• A much needed strikeout. Three pitches.
• And a Jhostynxon Garcia ground out to end the inning. No I didn’t just make up that name. Yes I copied and pasted it. One pitch.

Great job by Varland to get out of the inning with us still winning. And he used 14 pitches.

The Jays scored three in the bottom of the inning, With Yariel Rodriguez warming up.

• Double off the left field wall (right on the foul line) by Ernie Clement. There was a lot of discussion, on the field, about whether it was a homer or a double.
• Jesús Sánchez also doubled, to the wall in right.
• Brandon Valenzuela came up and tried to bunt, but, after a couple of attempts, Myles Straw (who was pinch running for Sanchez) noticed the Pirates third baseman was come down the third base line on the bunt attempt and stole third, being the 3B back to the bag. Valenzuela ended up walking.
• Andrés Giménez after I said ‘hitting great with RISP, wasn’t a skill set’, struck out.
• George Springer doubled down the right field line. The ball got stuck between the padding and a mesh ‘window’, giving us PTSD from last year’s playoffs. Both runners scored.
• Vladimir Guerrero ground out and Daulton Varsho struck out.

We were up 6-2 and I figured John would go with Rodriguez, to save Varland some bullets for the weekend. If Yariel can’t get us out of the inning with a four-run lead, he shouldn’t be on the team.

They left Varland in. And he got through the ninth without a runner getting on. Two strikeouts and a ground out, on 17 pitches. 31 pitches on the night. I’d guess he won’t be available tomorrow. Maybe Sunday.

Kevin Gausman was terrific. 6.2 innings, 6 hits, 1 earned, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. He was in control all the way. Or at least until he let the first two on in the seventh, but after getting two John came out to talk to him and apparently, Kevin didn’t make the case for staying in and Mason Fluhardy came in for the last out of the inning.

Mason had less luck in the eight, but we covered that above.

We got three in the third inning. Springer reached on catcher’s interference. He’s great at that. Vlad singled (George hustled to third). Varsho reached on a Spencer Horwitz error, scoring one. Kazuma Okamoto struck out, but Yohendrick Piñango doubled home two more. He crushed it, 114.8 mph. Clement struck out and Sanchez flied out (but they would help later).

And that was all our scoring until the eighth.

Bubba Chandler gave us some trouble early, but seemed to tire. I’m sure it is hard on a body to throw 100 mph.

We only managed five hits, but four of them were doubles. But took seven walks (and fifteen strikeouts). Okamoto and Gimenez were the only two in the lineup not to reach base (and they had seven strikeouts between them).

Jays of the Day: Gausman (0.19 WPA), Varland (0.19), Varsho (0.12) and Vlad (0.11).

Other Award: Okamoto (-0.12). He did have an amazing defensive play.

Tomorrow we have game two with the Pirates. A 3:00 Eastern start time. We get to see if the Jays can extend their win streak to four games against Paul Skenes (6-3, 2.62), perhaps the best pitcher in baseball. Patrick Corbin (1-1, 4.23) has the job of keeping the game close, so the Jays can beat up on the Pirate relievers.

And, just a heads up, Sunday’s game is an early start, 12:15 Eastern, so as not to interfere we the Leaf playoff game? No that’s not it. I don’t know why it is early.

The Royals had four hits tonight, all singles. Vinnie Pasquantino’s single in the first inning was the only hit they would have until the sixth. Bobby Witt Jr. struck out swinging in each of his first two at-bats. The Royals’ best chance to score came in the bottom of the eighth when Michael Massey led off with a single and Maikel Garcia added a one-out single to put runners at first and second for Bobby. Bobby and Vinnie each lined out to the outfield, and that was that.

The Royals were 1-for-7 on hard-hit balls. Jac Caglianone hit three of those, though one was a pop-up that went 190 feet nearly straight up. An impressive athletic feat, but meaningless on a baseball field. So there was an element of bad luck in this one, but when you’ve lost 10 out of 11 and averaged 2.3 runs over that span, no one wants to hear about it.

Anyway, that’s probably enough about the hitting. Let’s talk about tonight’s bright spot, Noah Cameron.

Cameron has struggled quite a bit this year. At this point, it’s well known that he dropped his arm angle by nearly 10 degrees. It’s caused him to struggle. But for the second straight start, Noah compensated for it by leaning heavily on his fastball, changeup, and curveball. The curveball, in particular, was deadly tonight.

As you can see in the TJ Stats graphic above, Noah got a ridiculous 71.4% whiff rate on his curveball tonight. They were nearly three times as likely to miss it entirely as make contact. You can also see that there is no xwOBACon in the final column for that pitch. That’s because they didn’t put a single one in play. Cameron tied a career high with 8 strikeouts, and 5 of those were with his curveball. The fastball and changeup didn’t work as well tonight as they did Sunday, but they did well enough I guess. The cutter started working again, so that helped. The slider is still kind of a disaster, he got chases on more than half of the ones out of the zone but couldn’t get a single swing and miss.

It was easily his best start of the year and could give Royals fans some hope for this year, if the bats ever wake up again, or next year if they don’t. Curse you, Hawaiian Bros!

The Royals will attempt again to get unstuck tomorrow afternoon at 3:10 PM Kauffman time. Stephen Kolek (4.24 ERA) will attempt to continue to do Stephen Kolek things and put that unfortunate White Sox start behind him. The Mariners will counter with George Kirby (3.45 ERA). So it could be another low-scoring affair. Maybe the Royals are the ones who will run into a dinger this time. The game will be nationally broadcast on FS1 but should also be available on Royals.TV.

The Dodgers (31-20) had plenty of scoring opportunities and base runners, but the offense failed to come up with a timely hit in the 5-1 loss to the Brewers (30-18) Friday night. Justin Wrobleski struggled in a four-run first, but the bigger issue was the offense’s inability to cash in base runners.

The team went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. They went 1-for-17 with runners on base. Leaving that many ducks on the pond made it incredibly difficult to mount a comeback and dig out of the early deficit.

The Brewers’ relentless offense was on full display in the first. Perhaps it was driven by a bit of revenge. The pesky Brewers offense looked loaded and ready for the rematch of last year’s National League Championship Series in the series opener between the two first-place teams.

The Brewers attacked Wrobleski in the bottom of the first inning and put up four runs on the board. Wrobleski struggled mightily and made 38 pitches. He allowed six hits and a walk including a huge three-run shot by William Contreras.

Wrobleski only allowed three home runs to the opposition all season before Contreras launched the three-run home run in the home half of the first. Contreras attacked the first pitch he saw from Wrobleski, a 89-mph slider.

It felt like the inning would never come to the close as the Milwaukee offense continued the lengthy onslaught.

A two-out RBI double to center field from Andrew Vaughn in the second inning gave the Brewers a commanding 5-0 lead.

Wrobleski finally put together a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the third. The Dodgers also finally started to figure out Henderson the second time through the order.

Ohtani continued to look better at the plate, and his leadoff single against Henderson in the top of the fourth was the first base hit of the night for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs for Muncy in the top of the fourth. They had the perfect opportunity to get back into the game. Muncy popped up a changeup to leave the bases loaded and keep the shutout intact for the Brewers.

The rookie Logan Henderson struck out five Dodgers in the first three innings. Henderson capped off five scoreless innings in his first career start against the Dodgers with a strikeout of Ohtani.

Surprisingly, Wrobleski made it through five despite facing 10 batters in that long first frame. Henderson was done for the night after five innings as well.

Muncy’s struggles with runners in scoring position continued. He came into the game hitting .167 with runners in scoring position, and he stranded another three runners on the night.

The Dodgers collected five walks through 5 1/3 innings, but the bats couldn’t get the big hit to cash in on any of the free passes. Muncy failed to come through with another two runners on base and two outs in the sixth, but he again stranded runners.

The Dodgers once again got the leadoff hitter on in the seventh. Teoscar Hernandez walked, and Dalton Rushing singled for the Dodgers first hit with men on. Rushing’s hit broke an 0-for-19 stretch for the catcher.

Pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas moves Hernandez to third on a flyout. Pat Murphy chose to go to Aaron Ashby to face Ohtani with two on and one out.

The Dodgers finally got on the board on an Ohtani sac fly. Betts nearly extended the inning, but Vaughn stretched and won the challenge at first by a toe nail.

Muncy had to leave the game after being hit by a pitch on his right arm by a 95-mph Ashby sinker to add to his frustrations.

Jonathan Hernández, the 29-year old the Dodgers signed on Monday, was in for his Dodger debut in the bottom of the eighth. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning, and the bullpen continued to roll on with their scoreless streak.

The Dodgers look to come back strong in the second game of the series after they stranded a small army of base runners in the series opener. Muncy’s inability to capitalize on the scoring opportunities is frustrating, but an injury to Muncy right now would be a huge blow.

Friday particulars

Home runs: William Contreras (4)

WP — Logan Henderson (2-1): 5 IP, no runs, 2 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts (85 pitches)

LP — Justin Wrobleski (6-2): 5 IP, 5 runs, 8 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts (100 pitches)

Up next

Roki Sasaki (2-3, 5.09 ERA, 1.45 WHIP) takes the hill for the second game of the series Saturday (4:15 p.m., FOX). Left-hander Robert Gasser (0-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.250 WHIP) starts for Milwaukee.

Studs

Peyton Tolle (6.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 Ks)

Look, did Tolle have a rough second inning? For sure. But this was a truly professional outing for Tolle that he hunkered down and put down Twin after Twin through the remaining four frames. For a young starter, this is the growth you want to see that makes it known they’re a professional ballplayer.

Wilyer Abreu (2-for-5, 1 RBI)

That first inning was so nice for the Sox, and Willy continues to be one of the most consistent hitters in this lineup.

Willson Contreras (1-for-4, 1 RBI)

Congrats to Bowser on his 1,000th RBI! I don’t know if anyone expected it to be on a triple but wow, did Byron Buxton show he can’t play the Monster.

Duds

Justin Slaten (0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, loss)

…what happened here? Slaten has been shut down since he came back off the IL and just, this was a dismantling. Ouch.

Overall defense (2 errors)

For how above average this team defense is (as written by Matt this week), tonight’s fielding was pretty subpar. I don’t exactly blame Tolle for his fielding error; Sogard’s opened up that frame to close this game out for the Twins. Marcelo charging in with Contreras and making him drop that foul ball also isn’t as fabulous look.

Tyler Samaniego (0.0 IP, 1 ER)

I don’t know if this is a case of bad luck or just a poor outing for Samaniego, but this was a weird one. A fielding error, a bunt single, a wild hit by pitch, then hooked. Tyron Guererro then walked in a run but he inherited such a bad deal from Samaniego.

Play of the Game

I’m giving this to Tolle, who continually impresses me this 2026 season.

MILWAUKEE –– For most of the year, Justin Wrobleski’s starts have almost all followed the same script.

Attack the zone. Pitch to contact. Limit damage. Breeze through quick innings.

On Friday night in Milwaukee, however, the Dodgers’ left-hander faced a contact-minded Brewers lineup uniquely adept at neutralizing his skill set.

And in a 5-1 loss at American Family Field, it led to the longest inning of Wrobleski’s breakout campaign.

In a nightmarish bottom of the first that dragged on for more than 15 minutes, Wrobleski gave up four runs on six hits and a walk, forcing him to face 10 batters and throw 38 pitches.

“They put the ball in play and they were hits,” Wrobleski said. “That’s just kind of how it goes.”

The Brewers got their game-opening –– and back-breaking –– rally started quickly.

Jackson Chourio snuck a ground ball through the infield for a leadoff single. Brice Turang followed with a line-drive knock to center. Then, William Contreras ambushed a first-pitch slider on the inside corner for a towering three-run homer deep to left field.

“Hindsight is 20-20,” Wrobleski said, “but probably not a great spot for it.”

Just like that, Wrobleski had already allowed his second-most runs in a start this season.

The grind would only continue from there, too.

With one out, Andrew Vaughn, Jake Bauers and Luis Rengifo struck together three more singles to load the bases. After a Sal Frelick sacrifice fly, Wrobleski walked No. 9 hitter Joey Ortiz to juice the bags again.

“(It’s a tough matchup when) you get a guy that’s typically been putting the ball in play against a team that does that,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But the thing I think with Justin is he’s still been able to manage the slug.”

The good news: The 25-year-old southpaw averted total disaster over the rest of his five-inning start, striking out Chourio to retire the side in the first before giving up just one run over his next four frames.

The bad news: He suffered the exact kind of struggles that more skeptical observers of his hot start had feared.

After all, Wrobleski entered the game with the lowest strikeout rate among all 78 qualified big-league pitchers. And while he’d been able to limit hard contact and be efficient in his outings previously –– he had a 2.12 ERA since moving into the rotation, and was averaging 6 ⅔ innings over seven starts in that span –– so-called “regression to mean” had been looming as a threat.

“I give him a lot of credit for bearing down and finding a way to get through five innings,” Roberts noted. “But yeah, I think early, he just made some mistakes, and they took advantage of him … The last three (outings, including an 8 2/3-inning, seven-run against the Braves earlier this month), he’s given up certainly some runs.”

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What it means

Wrobleski, it turns out, might not be invincible.

But neither was the Dodgers’ recently resurgent offense on Friday.

Instead, the club was shut down by rookie right-hander Logan Henderson, who didn’t give up a hit in his first three innings, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, and finished with seven strikeouts over five scoreless innings.

The Dodgers (31-20) didn’t get on the board until the seventh, when Shohei Ohtani hit a sacrifice fly, and finished with just three hits –– their fewest in almost two weeks.

As a result, the club has now lost nine straight regular-season games to the Brewers (30-18) dating back to 2024. Of course, they won the only four games that truly mattered when the teams crossed paths in last year’s National League Championship Series.

Who’s hot

Ohtani was the one productive member of the Dodgers lineup, reaching base twice in addition to his sac fly.

Even he wasn’t perfect, however. In the first, he drew a walk to begin the game but then was thrown out trying to steal second to retire the side. And while his leadoff single in the fourth helped generate the squandered bases-loaded opportunity, Ohtani struck out to end the fifth after Teoscar Hernández had led the inning off with a hit.

Who’s not

Both of the Dodgers’ catchers.

Before first pitch, manager Dave Roberts said the recently scuffling Will Smith –– who was dropped down to the No. 7 spot in the order in Wednesday’s series finale in San Diego –– would only start one out of three games in Milwaukee this weekend, in order to give him time to “reset” and “work on his swing” amid a .197 slump over the last month.

The only problem: Backup catcher Dalton Rushing has gone cold since his blistering start to the season, too, only snapping a recent 0-for-19 skid with a single in the seventh inning Friday.

Up next

The Dodgers will try to even this weekend series on Saturday, when Roki Sasaki (2-3, 5.09 ERA) takes the mound against left-hander Robert Gasser (0-0, 4.50 ERA).

The Atlanta Braves took on the Washington Nationals tonight in a matchup that featured the top two scoring offenses in MLB thus far.

Dating back to 2018 when the Braves’ rebuild ended they have won seven of their last eight season sets against the Nationals going 80-49 in that timeframe.

With these two high powered offenses, one would assume that it would be a relatively offensive driven game. This was not the case. Bryce Elder took the mound for the Braves so it could be guessed that the Nationals may be slowed down some, but the Nationals basically had an opener style game planned with a Richard Lovelady pitching only to be replaced early by Miles Mikolas and his 6.91 ERA. Fun fact about Lovelady. He pitched four games in Atlanta’s organization back in 2023 for Gwinnett.

Bryce Elder started off relatively strong in this game. He struck out rising star James Wood to lead off the game. He did give up a single in the first but that was the only baserunner. For the Braves half of the inning the Braves could not capitalize on a small spark. Ronald Acuña flied out, but then Mauricio Dubón doubled on the first pitch he saw. Matt Olson grounded out, but moved the runner over. Unfortunately, no run was scored when Ozzie Albies grounded out.

Elder continued to look good in the second. He picked up two groundouts and a strikeout of Jacob Young. Miles Mikolas came in to pitch in the second inning and it looked like the Braves may have been able to get another run. However, they had some poor luck on the base paths. Austin Riley singled but it appeared that a hit and run was in play on a Dominic Smith hard hit line out to RF that Dylan Crews was able to fire back to first for the double play to end the inning.

In the third inning it was more of the same for Elder. He allowed contact, but not much damage. He surrender a single to Nasim Nuñez who promptly stole second, but that was the only baserunner once again. The Braves were sat down in order by Mikolas in the third with a Kim strikeout, a hard hit fly ball by Sandy León, and a 103.6 MPH groundout from Acuña.

In another sign of deja vu, Bryce Elder had almost identical inning as before in the fourth. He gave up a single, followed by the hitter, Dylan Crews, stealing second. That was the only baserunner with Elder picking up a strikeout and inducing two groundouts. Mikolas continued to have the Braves’ number sitting down the heart of the order in order.

In the fifth inning, Elder finally changed things up a bit and allowed two base runners. Elder gave up a single, sat down the next hitters, then walked James Wood. Elder was able to take a deep breath, dig deep, and end the top of the fifth by inducing his sixth groundout of the game. The Braves came close to taking the lead the fifth. After a Harris groundout, Riley hit a single after the Nationals lost an ABS challenge. Smith struck out, but then Kim hit a shot to deep center, but Young made a jumping catch at the warning track to save the run and end the inning.

Elder finally showed weakness when Curtis Mead took him deep no doubter on a full count for the first run of the game. Elder settled down and sat down the next three hitters. It is moments like these where you can tell Elder is different. He does not seem to let mistakes get to him like he did in the past. In the bottom the sixth, red hot Mike Yastrzemski came in to pinch hit for Sandy León, but struck out. Acuña flied out, but Dubón picked up his second hit of the night. Olson hit into a flyout though that was about twenty feet short of a HR.

Didier Fuentes came in to pitch for Elder in the seventh. Elder finished his night giving up five hits, one walk, four strikeouts, and allowing one run on the solo shot. He lowered his season ERA to 1.97. Fuentes was a bit shaky. He got Young to fly out, but gave up a single to Millas. After another fly out James Wood hit a single after losing an ABS challenge. After a mound visit, Fuentes was able to gain his composure and strike out Luis García Jr. on three pitches.

The Braves were finally able to break through offensively in the seventh. After Mikolas was replaced with Mitchell Parker. Albies grounded out, but then Harris singled and Riley walked. Dominic Smith continued to cement himself as a fan favorite with another timely hit. This time it was a single that scored Michael Harris to tie the game at one. With runners on the corners and one out Ha-Seong Kim hit a perfectly placed bunt for a single to score Riley and take the lead.

The Braves could not score more this inning, but they took the lead with their elite bullpen ready to go. Robert Suarez came in to pitch the eighth inning, and he has been lights out this year. Well, that streak ended tonight. After inducing a ground out, Abrams took him deep to tie the game at two.

It looked like the Nationals may take the lead with Lile htting a single and stealing second, but fortunately Suarez was able to stop anymore damage before the top of the inning ended.

Clayton Beeter came in the game to pitch the eighth, and the Braves could not figure him out. Dubón and Olson both struck out and Albies grounded out. Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth and struck out Millas on four pitches, followed by a routine fly out by Nuñez and a groundout to Wood.

The Braves had some of the hottest hitters of the night due up in the bottom of the ninth in Harris, Riley, and Smith. Gus Varland came in to pitch for Nationals in the ninth. Harris struck out on five pitches, but Riley stayed hot and singled on the first pitch he saw on a hard hit ball. The Braves then replaced Riley with Mateo as a pinch-runner showing they had no interest in going to extras. Dominic Smith lined out on a pitch that was up and away to make it two outs. Mateo then stole second for his sixth steal of the season with Kim up to bat. Kim could not play the hero again and grounded out to send the game into extra innings.

Dylan Lee came in for the tenth, as expected. Lee has easily been one of the most underrated pitchers in all of MLB this season. Unfortunately, the Braves’ elite bullpen had an off night. With the ghost runner on second, Lee walked the first hitter he faced to put two runners on. CJ Abrams then doubled to right scoring two and moved to third on the throw. Lee was able to stop anymore scoring, but tonight was easily his roughest outing of the season.

Orlando Ribalta came in to pitch the tenth. With Kim on second, the Tromp came to bat. Tromp came through and hit a single on an 0-2 count to score Kim and cut the lead to one run. Acuña then walked on five pitches and then Dubón had his third hit of the night to tie the game on a single that just made it past Abrams’ glove. Olson hit a fly ball that moved Acuña to third and Dubón moved to second on defensive indifference with one out. Ozzie Albies then walked to load the bases, leaving room for Michael Harris to be the hero. He almost did it on a long fall ball to RF, but then popped out to third leaving the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the tenth for Eli White who replaced Mateo, who replaced Riley. The gamble to replace Riley with Mateo came back to bite the Braves as Eli White grounded out to to end the inning.

Tyler Kinley, who has been shaky lately, got the nod for the eleventh inning. He struck out the first batter he faced on four pitches.He then got Millas to fly out, which moved ghost the runner to third.

In the eleventh Paxton Schultz came in to pitch to Dominic Smith with Eli White on second. Smith flied out to center, but it was not enough to move the runner. Kim then struck out, leaving it to Tromp once again being in a big spot. On a 2-2 count Tromp singled to center and the speedy Eli White scored to win the game.

Tromp is the fourth string catcher for the Braves. He was never supposed to be put in this spot, yet tonight he is the hero. Baseball is awesome. Braves play the Nationals again tomorrow in hopes of continuing their historic run of series won.

Tonight’s matchup at Oriole Park was not exactly the platonic ideal of what a baseball game should be. The weather was absolutely miserable. The teams were two of the worst in baseball. Let’s just say it’s not the kind of game you’d write wistful histories about.

But the Baltimore Orioles versus the Detroit Tigers was on the schedule for May 22, darn it, and so a baseball game was indeed played at Camden Yards tonight. And the O’s emerged victorious, 7-4, to begin their 10-game homestand, thanks to a 14-hit attack by the offense, home runs from Pete Alonso and Jackson Holliday, and a quality effort from a slew of bullpen arms.

The first two innings of this game were a microcosm of everything that’s gone wrong for the Orioles in 2026. Did the O’s give up a home run on the very first pitch of the game? Yes, of course they did, with rookie prodigy Kevin McGonigle crushing opener Keegan Akin for a dinger to right. Did the Orioles struggle to score runs against a terrible pitcher, with a bunch of RISP failures thrown in? Yes, naturally, as former O’s dud Jack Flaherty (5.77 ERA entering the game) started with two scoreless innings while the Birds went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. By the time bulk reliever Chris Bassitt gave up a third-inning run to put the Orioles in a 2-0 hole, it looked like it was going to be another long night at the ol’ ballyard.

But here’s a key thing to remember: the Tigers, too, are a very bad team. And in the bottom of the third, they showed why. With one out and a runner at first, Gunnar Henderson smacked a grounder to short that could’ve been an inning-ending double play. But McGonigle booted it, getting nobody out. The Orioles took full advantage of the extra out when Pete Alonso went the opposite way on a Flaherty fastball and drove it onto the right-field flag court for an Earl Weaver Special. That’s what I’m talking about, Polar Bear! With one mighty swing, the O’s had taken a 3-2 lead.

No sooner had the Orioles taken the lead than they coughed it up again, with some bad defense hounding Bassitt in the fourth. A leadoff single and ground-rule double put two runners in scoring position with one out before Zach McKinstry bounced a chopper to Alonso at first. Pete made the wrong decision to try to cut down the lead runner at the plate, but his throw home was late. Had he just gotten the sure out at first, the run still would’ve scored, but the O’s would’ve had the second out of the inning. Instead, the Tigers remained alive even after Bassitt struck out Gage Workman, and Hao-Yu Lee’s infield single plated the go-ahead run from third.

Still, the Orioles wasted no time erasing their latest deficit. Back-to-back singles by Leody Taveras and Colton Cowser opened the bottom of the fourth before Flaherty balked. You can’t just be up there and just doin’ a balk like that! That tied the game at four, and two batters later, Jackson Holliday untied it. He lofted a fly ball to left field that just kept carrying…and carrying…and somehow snuck onto the base of the foul pole for a two-run homer.

At 337 feet, it was the shortest left field home run of the Statcast era. But it’s a towering blast in the box score! It was the first of the year for Holliday, who reached base three times tonight. Maybe he’ll be a useful addition to the lineup after all. That prompted an exit for Flaherty, who lasted just 3.1 innings and gave up six runs (three earned). Never change, Jack.

This time, the O’s didn’t let the lead slip away. Bassitt worked into the sixth inning, ultimately allowing three runs and six hits in 4.1 innings, before Craig Albernaz unleashed his high-leverage relievers. He aggressively turned to erstwhile closer Rico Garcia in the sixth inning, when the Tigers were threatening to rally with a runner at second and one out. Garcia did his job to perfection, retiring both batters he faced. I approve of using Garcia in any high-leverage situation, whether it’s the sixth inning or the ninth or anything in between.

Yennier Cano and Tyler Wells were similarly excellent, tossing a perfect seventh and eighth inning respectively, while the O’s added an insurance in the sixth on an Alonso sac fly. That plated Henderson, who had led off with a single, one of his three hits on the night. Don’t look now, but Gunnar has 11 hits in his last five games, and his OPS is back over .700. It’s a start.

Have I mentioned yet that the majority of this game was played in what appeared to be a torrential downpour? The rain didn’t let up the entire night, and at every inning break I was sure that the grounds crew was about to bring the tarp onto the field. But no delay ever occurred. Kudos to the small but intrepid crowd of O’s fans who stuck around for the entirety of this rain-soaked game between two sub-.500 clubs in May. You are made of stronger stuff than I.

Albernaz showed faith in rookie Anthony Nunez, last seen blowing an eighth-inning lead to the Rays on Wednesday, to lock down the save attempt in the ninth. Happily, this outing went much better for him than the previous one. Nunez followed the lead of the Orioles’ other relievers and retired all three batters he faced, racking up two strikeouts, to put this one to bed.

Nice job by the Orioles to notch a victory under miserable field conditions and handle their business against a badly struggling Tigers team. Who is your Most Birdland Player for tonight? The Polar Bear, for his three-run homer and sac fly? Holliday or Henderson, for reaching base thrice? How about the combined effort from the O’s bullpen? Let us know in the comments.

In the battle of Two Struggling Teams with Two Rookie Starters, it seemed like the Sox had the edge with Fenway mystique intimidating Connor Prielipp… until the Twins got to a Red Sox bullpen that had been pretty good so far this year. Inning-by-inning notes:

1: I mentioned that rookie Payton Tolle was a pretty highly-valued prospect. He strikes out two Twins here. His MLB career-high (in seven starts) is eight strikeouts. Chances of him surpassing that tonight? About 50%. Chances of him doubling it? At least 10%.

Walks will haunt. Leadoff one to Jarren Duran; he scores easily on a Wilyer Abreu double. Then Wilson Contreras triples off the Monster. I suspect the Battle of the Young Pitchers is not gonna go our way here. Andruw Monasterio singles. There’s a Sack Fli. Another one of these games that is testing my resolution to try drinking less. By the time the #8 guy flies out it’s Red Sox 4-0

2: Josh Bell single and “first ever MLB plate appearance” Gabriel Gonzalez walk. Ryan Kreidler knocks him in, and Kody Klobberin’ Klemens hit it to Tolle, who bobbles the ball, everyone safe. Bases loaded, no out NOBLETIGER time? At least one scores! Luke Keaschall singles! Buxton knocks one off the glove of 3B Caleb Durbin! A Lee strikeout and Martin popout kill the rally, but that’s still better than the Twins usually do with the bases loaded lately.

Tolle has four Ks but I think we can definitely say he won’t hit 16 tonight.

Durbin cracks the first pitch pretty hard but Keaschall makes a nice dive to grab it. Then the next two guys FINALLY stop hitting Prielipp like he’s throwing tennis balls underhand. Bawston 4-1

3: Ha — Gonzalez has a career OPS of 1.000 but no PAs yet; he takes another walk and is left there. These pitchers are confusing me. You’re supposed to do it like Brad Radke and suck in a designated inning every time, not be good/bad at random.

Abreu (nor relation to any other Abreus) with a leadoff single. Neither is Jarren Duran related to Jhoan Duran or Caleb Durbin related to J.D. “The Real Deal” Durbin. Wilson Contreras (who IS Brewer William Contreras’s brother) provides the GIDP. Monasterio takes a walk, tries to steal, and he’s gunned down by the Lou Gehrig to Ryan Jeffers’s Wally Pipp, Alex Jackson.

4: Three strikeouts for Tolle! Are you hoping for him to get a personal best with nine? I AM!

Another leadoff baserunner for Boston; Nick Sogard with a single. Given that the Twins have had pretty strict pitch limits on Prielipp so far in his career we’re gonna have a bunch of relief innings, be still my happy heart. A hit-and run single puts runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. Durbin tries to sac bunt himself, and Prielipp generously throws it to Harvard instead of first. Duran grounds to first and a run scores. This could have been worse but it’s still a disappointing Prielipp outing, Chow-dah 6-4

5: Well, Tolle has eight! Only one more, brother! Can a honky call another honky “brother”? OK, only one more, pal, buddy. Or, to say it the Boston way, only one more ya fuquin guy ya.

Travis Adams pitching, hopefully he can go a few. Of course not that it really matters; there aren’t any “good” arms in the pen to save. He does fine.

6: My main man with a career-high nine! I feel like this season has been fun, now.

7: Now that Tolle has accomplished a Career Goal, the BoSox bring in another pitcher who will keep the Twins from doing anything. Who is he? I don’t care. We’ll call him Pedro Martinez just for fun. Keaschall gets a single and the Sox fans are doing the Wave because even in classic stadiums fans act like stoopid ijits and do the Wave.

Oops I was wrong! This guy is NOT Pedro Martinez. Because this guy (he is named Justin Slaten) gave up a LONG DONG to Byron!

A Brooks Lee walk and Austin Martin homer! In nine outings this season Slaten hadn’t given up a run yet, and THIS is the team he has his first meltdown to? I’ll take it.

Gonzalez gets his first MLB hit! Kriedler gets another but the Twins can’t pad their lead. Time for the Best Bullpen in Baseball (if baseball only has one team and the Twins are it) to work their Tragic Magic.

The mighty arm of Yoendrys Gómez is in. Well, he gets three outs! We’ll call him Dennis Eckersley Jr. Twins 7-6

8: Greg Weissert got the last out last inning and is still in there. Luke Keaschall gets on the Homer Simpson way then gets off the “thrown out at second by ten feet trying to steal” way.

Eric Oozy Orze pitching for Us. It goes well until a two-out error by Keaschall, followed by a four-pitch walk to Carlos Narváez (of a .632 OPS).

The Bo Sox bring in former Twin Mickey “Steamboat Willie is public domain” Gasper, and the Twins counter with Anthony “Badda” Banda. A two-pitch popup! Mickey still loves us and can’t bring himself to hurt us.

9: Tyler Samaniego pitching. Brooks Lee gets on via error, Austin Martin via bunt for base hit, and then a plunked “defensive” replacement James Outman! Tyler Samaniego no longer pitching.

Tyron Guerrero now pitching; up until basically today, radio tells us, he was “Tayron,” but some typo in his official documents was discovered. I wish that would happen to me and I wouldn’t be named after a crappy President anymore.

Trevor Larnach in for PH for Gonzalez; he walks. Kreidler strikes out, Clemens pops out, Keaschall grounds out. You’d have really liked more there! Still, a two-run lead is better than I thought this game was gonna go.

Not an auspicious beginning for Banda’s save attempt. He strikes out Duran but the pitch is so wild Duran reaches first anyway.

Ceddanne Rafaela smacks one severely and Outman runs it down. Then…

Game over! Abreu cracks one 100+ MPH, but it’s in the perfect spot for a GIDP. Twims wim! (Yes we spell it wrong on purpose on this site sometimes.)

Studs: Buxton bomb, Martin bomb and nice catch, Gabriel Gonzalez for great OBP and first MLB hit, Ryan Kreidler for having a 1.061 OPS (it’s TOTALLY sustainable), and, I guess, grr, the bullpen.

Duds: AI

COTG go to Minnesota1952 for “insurance runs please,” Prester John for Mickey Gasper amazement, Zach andNagurski for bird-loving the same Oriole, gintzer andsandwiches for observations on Technology, and MM for “‘are you the type of person who sings “Isiah Kiner-Falefa” to the tune “For he’s a jolly good fellow” or to the tune “If you like piña coladas’”

Thanks to everyone who joined in! We need more chilly/drizzly nights to get more gamethreads like this!

Tomorrow’s game is at 3:10 Central, with TBD vs. TBD pitching, but there’s a chance it might be Taj Bradley. Catch y’all next time!