Category: Baseball

Aaron Judge is back — and the Yankees have to hope their offense is too.

After homering in his last at-bat against the Rays in Sunday’s loss, Judge went deep twice in an 11-10 win over the Angels in The Bronx on Monday.

And it was just enough, as the Yankees bullpen repeatedly blew leads.

The back-and-forth victory snapped a five-game losing streak, as the Yankees took advantage of five home runs and won it on a Jordan Romano wild pitch that scored José Caballero with Ryan McMahon at the plate — and Judge on deck.

In his first at-bat versus the Angels Yusei Kikuchi, Judge took a 2-0 changeup and blasted a two-run, 456-foot shot halfway up the bleachers in left-center for an early lead in the bottom of the first.

With the Yankees involved in a battle with the Angels — thanks to a bad night by just about every pitcher Aaron Boone went to, starting with Will Warren — the Yankees needed Judge again in the bottom of the sixth.

He gave them the lead again with a solo shot to left.

It was his sixth homer of the young season, but it also put Judge in the franchise record books.

The multihomer game was Judge’s 47th of his career, passing Mickey Mantle and leaving him behind only Babe Ruth, who had 68 with the Yankees, as well as the most in MLB history with 72.

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Still, the Yankees don’t want to completely rely on Judge, but a combination of poor performance from half the lineup for much of the season- and an ugly one from the bullpen on Monday, forced that to be the case again.

And that’s why the Yankees can’t seem to afford any drop-off from Judge and weren’t able to during the five-game losing streak entering Monday’s game.

The encouraging start to the season has been replaced by worries in the bullpen and all over the infield, where Jazz Chisholm Jr., McMahon and Caballero have all disappointed in multiple facets of the game.

And the pen has been inconsistent at best.

With Warren knocked out in the fourth inning — despite bringing a no-hitter into the frame — Boone had to turn to Fernando Cruz, who walked a pair of batters and forced in a run.

Lefty Tim Hill allowed three hits and a run in 1 ²/₃ innings, but the Yankees have generally been able to rely on both Cruz and Hill.

That has not been the case with Jake Bird, a disaster after coming over from the Rockies at last year’s trade deadline.

The right-hander gave up a three-run homer to Mike Trout, and two innings later, Doval allowed a two-run shot to Trout, who entered the game with just a pair of homers on the season.

But with the threat of Judge in the on-deck circle, Romano threw a 3-2 pitch in the dirt to give the Yankees the win.

The Texas Rangers scored eight runs while the Northern California Athletics scored one run.

Maybe the most surprising thing about tonight’s game, especially as it was unfolding early, was that A’s starter Luis Severino ended up pitching six innings. Or maybe it was that the A’s eventually scored at all.

In the game’s first frame, following an out, Severino walked the next two Texas hitters and then Jake Burger blasted a three-run bomb that looked destined to bounce off the team bus for a big early. Severino appeared to slip on the mound at one point and had the trainers check on him in the inning before allowing a couple more hits that the Rangers stranded.

In the top of the 3rd, Burger took Severino deep once again, a solo shot for his second of the game and fourth of the year. And that was all the scoring for a couple of hours until the Rangers broke through again for four more runs in the top of the 8th on RBI hits from the Joshes Smith and Jung.

As for the A’s? Well, they weren’t ever especially close to touching home for most of the game as they ran into vintage Nathan Eovaldi. The A’s lone run scored on a solo Lawrence Butler home run off Luis Curvelo an inning after Eovaldi had exited an 8-0 game.

Eovaldi, who had a couple of uncharacteristically poor outings to begin the year, looked solid in a win over Seattle in his last outing but he stepped it up to 2025 levels of good tonight against an A’s team that came into the evening sharing a lead with Texas in the American League West.

With Burger doing damage early, and the bats adding on late to combo with Eovaldi’s mastery, the Rangers are back alone atop the AL West as they evened their record on the current West Coast road trip.

Player of the Game: Joc Pederson had three hits so you know it was a good night. And while Burger deserves praise for providing the bulk of the scoring and carrying the bats when the game was still in question, the work put in by Eovaldi was sensational and I simply refuse to let an opportunity pass to appreciate Nasty Nate.

Overall, Eovaldi went seven shutout innings and allowed just three hits and a couple of walks while striking out seven on 84 pitches.

I imagine the Rangers might have tried to squeeze another inning out of Eovaldi but with a long top of the 8th, they decided to turn to a ’pen that was surely grateful that the veteran starter had gone deep in the game.

Up Next: The Rangers and Athletics will play the second game of this four game set with LHP MacKenzie Gore ready to go for Texas opposite former Rangers left-handed hurler Jeffrey Springs for the Sactown squad.

The Tuesday evening first pitch from Sutter Health Park is scheduled for 8:40 pm CDT once again and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Guardians had an excellent win to open their series against the Cardinals last night and look to follow it up with a second tonight.

Here’s your recap from yesterday. The Guardians swapped George Valera onto the roster for CJ Kayfus who was barely playing. I wonder how they will work Valera into the lineup with Angel Martinez absolutely balling out. I suspect he’ll get plenty of DH reps.

The Guardians also swapped Hunter Gaddis for Kolby Allard, whom they had to DFA to move off the roster. Gaddis averaged 95.1 mph with his fastball, so he looks back to his old self (94.7 mph average last year).

TJ Stats released an updated prospects’ ranking, with DeLauter now at #11.

AROUND MLB:

There were eight multi-homer performances yesterday, and everyone was scoring a ton. The Twins destroyed the hapless Red Sox, 13-6. Is Garrett Crochet suddenly bad??

The Yankees walked off the Angels 11-10. Really shows what kind of day it was.

Craig Albernaz was struck in the face by a foul ball while standing in the Orioles dugout during Baltimore’s 9-7 win over the Diamondbacks on Monday.

The scary moment occurred in the fifth inning when O’s second baseman Jeremiah Jackson sent a screaming foul ball into his team’s dugout and struck the Orioles’ manager on the side of the face with the ball as he was standing at the top of the tunnel to the clubhouse at Camden Yards. 

Albernaz was taken down into the clubhouse and evaluated by the medical staff. 

Bench coach Donnie Ecker took over as manager. 

Ecker told reporters after the game that Albernaz was doing “good.” 

Craig Albernaz took a scary shot from a foul boul into the dugout pic.twitter.com/5oPiN0DtYd

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 14, 2026

“Just as a precaution right now, he is going to get scanned, and we’ll have more information tomorrow,” Ecker said. 

“We sit there every game and we’re all kind of vulnerable to it,” he added. “When it happens, everyone feels for him.” 

Albernaz did eventually return to the dugout in the sixth inning, the MASN broadcast showed. 

A red mark was clearly visible on his face when he was shown on the broadcast and he eventually left the dugout again and did not return. 

“The fact he didn’t go to the ground shows how tough of an SOB he is. And the fact he wanted to come back to the dugout, he’s got a big set of balls on him,” Orioles pitcher Trevor Rogers said, per the Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka. 

The Orioles had been trailing 4-1 at the time that Albernaz was hit with the foul ball. 

Baltimore was down 7-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, when the Orioles battled back with five runs in the sixth. 

Jackson capped it off with a grand slam to cut the O’s deficit to just one, with the blast coming just in time for Albernaz to see when he briefly returned to the dugout. 

Pete Alonso’s two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh gave the Orioles an 8-7 lead and Jackson hit a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth to extend the advantage. 

The Yankees announced they have optioned right-handed reliever Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The move came after New York snapped its five-game losing streak with an 11-10 walk-off win over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday in The Bronx, but in a game that saw the Yankees use five arms out of the bullpen amid a stretch of 13 games in 13 days.

A corresponding move was not immediately announced, but the club has several relievers on the 40-man roster who still have options, including Kervin Castro, Yerry De los Santos,and Angel Chivilli.

Against the Angels, Bird entered with a runner on first base and two gone in the top of the sixth inning. But after allowing a bloop single to center, he left a 3-2 sweeper out and over the plate to Mike Trout, and the future Hall of Famer jumped all over it for a 421-foot, game-tying three-run home run.

Bird got out of the frame and started the seventh with a strikeout, but he allowed a hard-hit single and a hard-hit double, setting a game-tying sac fly to the final batter he faced, erasing the lead Aaron Judge briefly provided with his second home run of the night.

Bird has really struggled since coming over to the Yanks in a trade last season with the Colorado Rockies. He made just three appearances after the trade, surrendering seven runs (six earned) on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 2.0 innings before he was optioned to Triple-A.

Through eight appearances this season, he's allowed six runs on nine hits with one walk and nine strikeouts in 7.0 innings and has once again been sent to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The Red Sox lost to the Twins 11-6 on Monday, a Crochet Day. They were down 11-0 before the second inning was over and got some runs after that, but it was plenty over by then. It was bad. It was very bad. It was abysmal. The end.

All sorts of problems were on display for the Yankees: infield defense that has been under the microscope again underwhelmed; a couple of misplays extended an inning that would not end; Will Warren could not overcome the problems behind him and could not put batters away; a bullpen that had been spotty was far worse than that and coughed up lead after lead.

But these issues become minimized when the Yankees offense hums and Aaron Judge destroys baseballs.

In an entertaining Monday matchup that pitted the past two Team USA World Baseball Classic captains against each other, Judge and Mike Trout put on a show for eight innings before Judge’s co-stars stole the spotlight in the ninth.

Trent Grisham — who did not even start yet launched his first two home runs of the season — stepped into a two-run home run to tie the game in the ninth before the Yankees manufactured the game-winner, José Caballero doubling, stealing third and scoring on a walk-off wild pitch to claim an entertaining and back-and-forth 11-10 victory over the Angels in front of 35,789 in The Bronx.

“Maybe it was good to have a game like that where it was a little messy,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees (9-7) snapped a five-game skid. “The offense was able to really pick up what’s been excellent pitching for us so far.”

The Yankees outhit their other issues, their offense awakening in the New York heat and against Angels pitching. It took five innings for the Yankees to score seven runs — or more runs than they had scored in each of their previous seven games.

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Because of their other problems and because of Trout, they needed to keep adding on.

It was Trout — whose bid for a grand slam died a few feet short earlier in the game — who answered a three-run shot from Grisham in the fifth by smoking his own three-run home run to tie it 7-7 in the sixth.

A few minutes later, Judge crushed his second home run of the game to left, a bullet that might have dented the pole if angled a few feet to the left, giving the Yankees another lead that they would not hold.

They already had blown a 4-0 lead after three innings — because the Angels scored four unearned runs against Warren, done in by an inability to finish off hitters and an error from Caballero plus a play Paul Goldschmidt normally makes — and a 7-4 edge after five innings because of Trout’s first homer.

What was one more lead to blow, this one 8-7 after the sixth?

The Angels seized control in the seventh and eighth — in the former, two hits and a sacrifice fly off Jake Bird tied the game, before Trout victimized Camilo Doval by demolishing his second homer of the night, a two-run, 445-foot dagger that banked into the visiting bullpen — which made the Yankees reach for their remaining ammunition in the ninth.

“A bunch of big homers could really get you down as a team,” said Grisham, who sat against opposing lefty Yusei Kikuchi, entered in the fifth and authored his best game of the season. “Staying in there and fight and staying in it the whole time was good to see.”

What might have been the most backbreaking loss of the season became arguably the most inspired. Against closer Jordan Romano, who entered with a 0.00 ERA, Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled before Grisham — who entered the game hitting .133 but undeterred because of the strength of his at-bats — saw a 3-1 slider and punished it to right to flip the game.

“To go out there and get some results and put the ball in the seats in some big spots obviously was huge,” Boone said of Grisham, who then watched Caballero — the reigning American League steals leader — create havoc, aided by a nine-pitch at-bat from Ryan McMahon in which eight fastballs were followed by one slider, which slid all the way to the backstop and prompted a subdued Yankees celebration around the plate.

The defensive misplays, lack of length from Warren and, most notably, the 5 ¹/₃ innings of six-run ball from the Yankees bullpen could be forgotten for the time being.

So could that five-game losing streak.

“Every good team goes through at least two big losing streaks,” Judge said. “Hopefully we can get this one out of the way and hopefully try to avoid the other one. But it’s going to come, and you can’t ride the roller coaster.”

Mike Trout is a living legend of the game. His true prime ended before COVID-19 ravaged the world, due to a mountain of injuries costing not only him of accumulating the stats that would make him an inner-circle Hall of Famer, but robbing us fans of watching his greatness more.

It makes it all the more frustrating that he’s spent his career in the shadows of Anaheim, playing just three playoff games in his decade-and-a-half in the league. Even as it’s been seven years since his last truly great season, we see glimpses every so often of the player who once ruled the world.

Tonight, Trout hit two clutch home runs that first tied the game at seven and then gave the Angels the lead, the 407th and 408th bombs of his career (moving past Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer Duke Snider). He went shot-for-shot with the current gold standard, Aaron Judge, in a memorable back-and-forth that you only hear about in legend. He even made a great catch to rob Randal Grichuk of extra bases, showing he’s all the way back in center field. This was vintage Mike Trout.

And yet, as it happens over and over again, the Angels found a way to lose. As the ancient scrolls dictate, “Mike Trout hits two home runs and makes a run-saving catch, while Josh Lowe did something that hasn’t been done since Tungsten Arm O’Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Angels get walked off by the Yankees, 11-10.”

Will Warren got things started with a 1-2-3 first inning against the top of the Angels’ order, giving the offense the opportunity to strike first. Paul Goldschmidt did his usual lefty-killer things with a leadoff double against Yusei Kikuchi to bring up the slumbering captain. It’s impossible to know in the moment when a player starts to figure it out, but after homering in his last at-bat on Sunday, it was a good sign to see Judge identify a 2-0 changeup that went right down Broadway and obliterate it into the left-field bleachers to open the scoring.

That’s been the problem for Judge in the early going, not swinging enough at pitches that he’s historically done a lot of damage on, but he swung at that one, and it landed 456 feet away to quickly jump on Kikuchi, who’s had success in the past against the Yankees. Amusingly, it tied him for 82nd on the all-time home run list with … Goldschmidt, the man who scored ahead of him on dinger no. 373.

Warren gave the Yankees a shutdown inning in the second, pitching around a two-out hit-by-pitch of Jo Adell. In the bottom half of the inning, Grichuk worked a good at-bat to finally get on base of his own volition and set up José Caballero, who crushed a similarly hanging changeup down the pipe for a two-run homer of his own to make it 4-0.

Kikuchi was really laboring, and his defense wasn’t helping. After walking Austin Wells, he seemed to have gotten a routine 5-4-3 double play ball out of Judge, but Yoan Moncada booted it. A walk to Giancarlo Stanton loaded the bases for Amed Rosario, who put a charge into a 2-2 pitch with the bases loaded, but it resulted in a barreled fly out into Trout’s glove in center field.

It was more of the same in the third for Warren, as he tore up the bottom of the Angels’ order with his entire arsenal. Kikuchi finally put up a zero in the bottom half, but was still allowing hard contact. Grichuk was once again robbed of his first Yankee hit by Trout in center. It wasn’t quite going to be a home run, but it would’ve been in 22 ballparks.

The fourth is where things fell apart. Warren was cruising, but a routine groundball by Trout was booted by Caballero, and the wheels slowly fell off. Goldschmidt had a chance to turn a 1-6-3 double play a few pitches later, but muffed it and settled for a 3-unassisted. Jorge Soler and Adell put up good at-bats that ended in RBI hits to suddenly get the Angels on the board, but there were still two outs and Josh Lowe at the plate. Well, what if I told you that a guy with bad whiff and strikeout rates put together an 11-pitch at-bat and fouled off 3-4 excellent putaway pitches by Warren? Not great.

And then it got worse. Logan O’Hoppe put a good swing on a sinker below the zone for an RBI single to chase a laboring Warren, who exited with zero earned runs allowed. Fernando Cruz was tasked with putting out the fire and he certainly did not, walking back-to-back batters to tie the game before giving up a long flyout to center field to Trout. At least the Yanks got some luck back, right?

Suddenly, in a tie game, the Yankees only got a Goldschmidt walk in the fourth, but it did chase Kikuchi midway through. Tim Hill got the ball for the fifth and it looked like it was happening again, as the usual groundball specialist was getting groundballs, but they kept finding holes. Suddenly in a precarious spot, he induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play out of Adell.

Stanton led off the fifth with an absolute rope of a double that just missed being a home run to center field (110.5 mph and a homer in 17 ballparks!). We then saw Aaron Boone aggressively deploy his bench against Shaun Anderson, going to both Ben Rice and Trent Grisham in place of Rosario and Grichuk. Rice was able to work a walk, and after Jazz Chisholm Jr. made contact on a groundout that worked like a bunt, Grisham porched his first extra-base hit of the season for a big go-ahead home run to make it 7-4.

Of course, it can never be that easy. Hill got the first two outs of the inning, but gave up a sawed-off single to Adam Frazier that prompted Boone to go to Jake Bird.

It started well, as Bird jumped ahead of Zach Neto and got him to chase a 1-2 sweeper in the other batter’s box… the problem was that the young star shortstop managed to flick it into center field for a hit, which brought up a three-time MVP, who patiently waited for a pitch to hit until Bird served one up on 3-2 for a game-tying homer.

Anderson was still somehow pitching for the Angels in the bottom of the sixth and the managerial novice of Kurt Suzuki showed in a big way. After getting Ryan McMahon to roll one over for an out, he faced Judge once again, and the Yankees’ captain once again obliterated a changeup to deep left field for his second home run of the game, putting the Yankees back in front, 8-7 — and passing his pal Goldschmidt on the all-time leaderboard with no. 374.

Stanton finally chased Anderson with a single to left field, bringing on Mitch Farris. Rice singled to right field to put runners on the corners with two out, but the young lefty was able to strike out Chisholm to end the threat.

MLB games nowadays last about two hours and 40 minutes, and we reached this mark at the top of the seventh. Bird stayed on to start the inning and, after striking out the leadoff hitter, gave up a single, double, and game-tying sac fly to Lowe before Boone pulled the plug and asked Camilo Doval to strand the tying run at third, which he was able to do.

Farris stayed out there after the seventh-inning stretch and gave up a two-out single to Wells, but left him on. Doval started the eighth, as Boone desperately looked for someone to step up, and he did not. With one on and one out, Doval got stuck in a 3-2 count against Trout, and the future Hall of Famer obliterated his second homer of the game to give the Angels their first lead, 10-8.

The vibe was dejected, from the fans to the players to everyone involved. Drew Pomeranz pitched around a Bellinger single in the eighth and Paul Blackburn finally produced a 1-2-3 ninth, but the Yankees were down to their final three outs, facing an old foe, Jordan Romano.

Romano’s career has fallen on hard times since his run as Toronto’s closer. After a truly terrible stint with the Phillies, he’s now the closer for the Angels, and he’s been off to a good start this year. That said, he has bad, bad memories against the Yankees and especially in this ballpark. Those demons needed to be exorcised.

But not today. Chisholm led off with a single to give Grisham another at-bat, and the Big Sleep didn’t miss. The bad luck he’s hit into to start 2026 faded away as he smashed his second clutch home run of the night to improbably tie this game at 10.

Normally, you’d be content with that and be ready for David Bednar in extras, but the Yankees weren’t done. Caballero smoked a double down the left-field line, Wells worked a gritty walk, and up stepped the pariah of the early season: Ryan McMahon. As much as his numbers are still brutal, it does feel like his swings and at-bats are slowly improving, and this was his masterpiece.

Foul ball, ball, called strike that he cleverly overturned with ABS, called strike. With a 2-2 count, he fouled off back-to-back tough pitches, fought off a center-cut fastball, and took ball three low. With a full count and the winning run on third, the strikeout-prone McMahon stared down a slider in the dirt that trickled away from Logan O’Hoppe, allowing the winning run to score to complete the wildest game of the young season.

Somehow, these two teams will pick themselves up after this three-hour, 36-minute marathon and continue this four-game set tomorrow at 7:05 pm EST. It’s Ryan Weathers, hoping for some of this run support, up against left-hander Reid Detmers on YES. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to lie down.

Box Score

After losing by 12 runs last night, the Guardians destroyed a decent team tonight in beating the Cardinals 9-3.

We are still getting to know this team, but some exciting trends are emerging:

-Gavin Williams can have an off night without his good stuff and still only give up 2 runs in five innings.

-The bullpen looked solid. Hunter Gaddis,.in his return to the roster in place of Kolby Allard gave up a BABIP run. Erik Sabrowski was ridiculous again. Tim Herrin wanted to play with his food again, but emerged triumphant. And Cade Smith was Cade Smith.

-Is Angel Martinez the corner outfielder of our dreams to pair with Chase DeLauter, the corner outfielder beyond our wildest dreams? My column: …in any case, Martinez has started this season with a 162 wRC+. Most excitingly, he had a 234 wRC+ entering tonight off of RHP’s and we KNOW he can hit LHP, as he did tonight, hitting a homer in the first inning:

Martinez had a single as well, but his four batted balls today averaged over 102 mph. He’s an exciting young player, folks.

-But so is Brayan Rocchio:

-Juan Brito had a great at-bat in the 8th, Daniel Schneemann got a huge hit in the fourth, and David Fry finally put a good game together at the plate.

This is such a fun team. Fun enough where last night’s clunker didn’t bother me and I was excited to watch them play again tonight.tonight. Now to try to make it through to tomorrow night’s episode of Guardians 2026.

Oh, to top it all off- GEORGE VALERA IS BACK! (No offense, CJ Kayfus, see you soon). The Guardians are now 10-7.

Is this my most strained pun headline yet? Most likely. Also, please don’t crochet your socks. That’s just asking for blisters. 

After chasing Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez early last week, tonight they ambushed 2025 AL Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet for 11 runs in the first two innings. To say the lineup has come to life over the past week would be an understatement. The fact they’re doing it off of the best pitchers in baseball and, notably, left-handed ones, has this lineup looking more complete than they have in two years. 

Minnesota had a clear game plan against Crochet and executed it to perfection, swinging early and often against a pitcher that likes to pound the strike zone. They swung at 5 of the first 7 pitches of the game, leading to a Buxton pop out and back-to-back hustle doubles down the left field line by Austin Martin and Luke Keaschall to plate the first run. Ryan Jeffers followed with an RBI single to give the Twins a two run lead before Crochet had a chance to get settled. 

Crochet was able to retire Josh Bell, but issued a five-pitch walk to Victor Caratini and nailed Matt “cement bones” Wallner with a 95 MPH sinker to load them up for Brooks Lee. Lee didn’t hit it hard, but a perfectly placed infield singled plated two more. 4-0 Twins after the first.

The Twins weren’t done there. The first six Twins of the second inning reached, highlighted by a Caratini three-run dong dong to give Minnesota a 10-0 lead. Not to be outdone, known power hitter Ryan Kreidler delivered the kill shot, a 110 MPH laser over the left field fence and finally put Crochet out of his misery. 

On the pitching side, Bailey Ober still didn’t have very good velocity on his pitches, but was clearly fooling the Boston hitters, generating 13 whiffs and racking up 7 strikeouts in his 6 innings of work, all season-best figures. He allowed too many baserunners, but he was also likely attacking the zone more than usual with a generous 11 run lead to work with. Ober doesn’t look like he will recover the velocity he showed earlier in his career, but you can do a lot worse than this version of Ober as your fifth starter, especially given the emergence of Taj Bradley. 

The Twins weren’t done there though. Ryan Jeffers and Byron Buxton added homers of the own, the latter putting Buxton alone atop the all-time Target Field home run leaderboard, a well-deserved honor for unquestionably the most exciting Twin since leaving the Metrodome. 

Boston didn’t go quietly, tacking on a few more runs against Eric Orze in the 7th, but luckily the Twins had Garret Action Acton warmed and ready to silence the Boston bats over the final two frames. 

The win makes Minnesota the first AL team to reach 10 wins, while trailing only the Dodgers who have 11 pending the rest of tonight’s games. They’ve won 7 of their past 8 and have a chance to clinch their third straight series facing old friend Sonny Gray. I don’t know if the Twins can keep this up all season, but for now, let’s enjoy the ride and rack up some W’s. 

STUDS

• Ryan Jeffers: 3-4, 1 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB
• Victor(y) Caratini: 1-2, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB
• Byron Buxton: 2-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, Target Field Home Run KING
• Ryan Kreidler: 110 MPH EV home run off Crochet for a player with a career .376 OPS? You definitely get a shoutout, buddy

DUDS

• NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!!

Comment of the game goes to gintzer for their soothsaying talents and top notch preparedness. As any true Minnesotan knows, the best time to invest in winter gear is over the summer. 

It appears Edwin Díaz and the New York Mets will have a reunion this week after all.

Score-willing, of course.

Before Monday’s series-opener against the Mets, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that he expected L.A.’s new $69 million closer –– who is facing his former Mets team for the first time since leaving as a free agent this winter –– to pitch at some point this week, if the Dodgers have a save situation.

That represented news in the wake of a strange weekend for Díaz, who squandered a three-run lead in a blown save on Friday, was bypassed for a save situation on Saturday, and seemed to be potentially unavailable Sunday had another ninth-inning opportunity cropped up.

The reason for the conservative usage, Roberts said, was concern over Díaz’s diminished fastball velocity early on this season.

During the two days Díaz didn’t pitch, the team did manual tests –– but no medical imaging –– on the knee he blew out back in 2023.

Díaz noted this weekend that he’s had early-season velocity problems in the three seasons since that injury, though also emphasized that he has felt good physically since this campaign began.

“He’s wanting to pitch, says he’s available,” Roberts said. “I think now it’s just me kind of consulting with the training staff to figure out what’s the best case.”

Roberts struck a more optimistic tone with his Monday comments than he had over the weekend, voicing hope that this recent episode with Díaz –– who was 4-for-4 in save situations prior to Friday’s clunker –– was “behind us.”

“I talked to Edwin briefly, just a little bit ago, and he feels great, which is a good thing,” Roberts said. “I think now it goes to me having a conversation with the training staff … But now, just watching with my eyes and having him playing catch and talking to him, we feel very confident that he’s in a good spot.”

Though Díaz has dealt early-season velo dips before, his 95.8 mph average so far this season was almost a tick and a half below what he threw last year. On Friday, the three-time All-Star also struggled to keep a seemingly flat slider from hanging in the middle of the strike zone. 

Though Díaz told reporters on Saturday that he felt good physically, Roberts revealed on Monday that Díaz told the team following Friday’s outing that “he just didn’t feel right.”

Thus, at this early stage of the season, the club wanted to ensure he didn’t have any underlying health problems before sending him back to the bump.

“I would say a huge part of it is based on the calendar,” Roberts said. “Obviously his health is paramount. But I do think that us just being even more conservative right now certainly is that.”

Now, moving forward, Roberts said the Dodgers expect to see Diaz’s velocity start to tick back up.

“If he feels good,” Roberts said, “then the expectation is that the velocity will mirror that.”

Injury shuffle in the bullpen

The Dodgers did have another injury concern in their bullpen on Monday, placing right-hander Ben Casparius on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.

Kyle Hurt was called up to replace him.

A third-year big-leaguer, Casparius had struggled mightily early this season, posting a 9.64 ERA with four walks and four strikeouts in five appearances. 

With his injury, Hurt will get his first opportunity in the big leagues since undergoing a Tommy John procedure back in 2024. A USC product and former fifth-round draft pick, Hurt made only four career appearances before that surgery, but impressed with his performance in spring camp this year and pitched scoreless appearances in five of his six triple-A outings to begin this season.

Aaron Judge homered twice, and Mike Trout thought he got the last laugh, but Trent Grisham's second home run tied the game in the ninth before Angels closer Jordan Romano's wild pitch plated the winning run as the Yankees outlasted the Angels for an 11-10 win on Monday night in the Bronx.

The Yankees saw leads of 4-0, 7-4, and 8-7 all evaporate before Trout’s second home run with one down in the top of the eighth appeared to put the visitors from Los Angeles ahead for good.

But Romano imploded in the ninth, allowing all five batters he faced to reach in the three-run inning, with his final offering a 3-2 wild pitch to score the game-winning run from third, closing the 3:36 marathon game.

The battle of the three-time MVPs lived up to its billing as Judge finished the day 2-for-5 with three batted in on his two long home runs, the 373rd and 374th of his big league career. And Trout matched him with a 2-for-5 day with two homers and five RBI, representing his 407th and 408th of his career. He also came close to a grand slam in the fourth.

Even with the 11 runs, the Bronx Bombers - who only scored all but one run via the long ball – nearly let a win slip away at the plate, going 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base.

But the win snapped New York's five-game losing streak to improve to 9-7. The visitors fell to 8-9.

Here are the takeaways...

- Judge took a pair of curveballs outside the zone from Angels’ starter Yusei Kikuchi before drilling a hanging changeup for a towering two-run home run to left in the bottom of the first. The middle-middle pitch soared out of the yard 456 feet and 116.2 mph off the bat.

In the second, he reached on an error on what could have been a double-play on a ball he just smoked (103.9 mph) to third. He went down swinging against righty reliever Shaun Anderson with a runner on second in the fourth.

Judge got revenge on Anderson and put the Yanks ahead, turning on a changeup right over the plate for a 398-foot homer down the left field line. He just crushed the 1-2 pitch, 111.4 mph off the bat to make it an 8-7 game with one down in the sixth. He hit another ball hard, 107.1 mph, in the eighth, but it was a simple lineout to center.

- Grisham, pinch-hitting with two in scoring position for Randal Grichuk in the fifth, got a hanging 2-1 changeup down-and-in from Anderson and just stayed behind it enough and got under it enough to sneak it over the short porch in right. He hit it relatively hard (99 mph) and got it to travel 355 feet to right-center for a three-run shot in the only park it would have been a homer in, for his first round tripper of the year.

After lining out to center in the seventh, Grisham got a low slider from Romano and turned on it for a 391-foot shot to right to tie the game at 10. 

- José Caballero fouled the first pitch he saw off his left foot and needed a bit of time to shake off the pain. It worked as he lined the very next Kikuchi pitch (another hanging changeup) into the seats 370 feet down the left field line for a two-run home run to make it a 4-0 Yanks' lead in the bottom of the second. He went hitless in his next three times up, but doubled down the third base line before stealing third base without a throw and scoring the winning run. 

- Ryan McMahon, who entered at third for the top of the sixth in Paul Goldschmidt's spot with Ben Rice shifting to first, grounded out and lined out before he worked the 'walk-off' walk Romano that saw the winning run score.

- Giancarlo Stanton opened the fifth by drilling a double off the wall in center. The liner was just smashed, 110.5 mph off the bat, and beat Trout to the wall for a 412 feet two bagger. He added a second hit of the night with a two-out single to left. He finished 2-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts swinging.

- Will Warren’s only blemish through three innings was a two-out hit batter in the top of the second, as he collected five strikeouts through the first nine outs on 52 pitches. The righty allowed his first hits of the game in the fourth, and they proved costly. Of course, the downfall all began with Caballero letting a ball scoot right past him for an error as he tried to take the hard shot from Trout off his side. 

After a groundout put Trout in scoring position, Warren left a sweeper in the middle of the zone to Jorge Soler, who turned on it for an RBI double to left. After another strikeout on a good changeup, Warren left a fastball belt high to Jo Adell, who smacked it (109.7 mph) to right for an RBI single to left.

After a mound visit by pitching coach Matt Blake, Warren lost a battle to Josh Lowe for an 11-pitch walk and then surrendered a single past a diving Caballero to plate the third run of the inning and Aaron Boone had to come get the starter. 

Fernando Cruz entered, but walked Adam Frazier to load the bases and, after getting ahead of Zach Neto 1-2, walked in the tying run with a splitter in the dirt. After another Blake mound visit, Trout, who started the inning, got a down in the zone fastball and cranked it 393 feet to left-center, but there was enough room for CodyBellinger to end the inning. The fly ball, hit 106.8 mph, would have been a grand slam in four big league parks.

Warren’s final line: 3.2 innings, four runs (none earned) on three hits, a walk, and hit batter with six strikeouts on 89 pitches (60 strikes). 

- Tim Hill got the fifth and had two men on with one out after a couple of singles, but got Adell to bounce into a 6-4-3 twin-killing. 

Hill left after a two-out single in the sixth, giving way to Jake Bird, who surrendered a bloop single to center and a game-tying, three-run bomb by Trout. The future Hall of Famer crushed the up in the zone sweeper 421 feet, 108.7 mph off the bat to left-center.

Bird stayed on and got a strikeout to start the seventh, but a hard hit single and a smashed double down the third base line sent Blake back to the mound for a visit with two in scoring position. Bird got ahead 0-2, but couldn't get the strikeout as a sac fly to right tied the score.

Camilo Doval stranded the go-ahead run at third to end the seventh, but let the lead slip in the eighth after a leadoff single, strikeout, and two-run shot by Trout. Doval's sixth pitch of the at-bat was a 3-2 slider down that Trout launched 445 feet into the visitor's bullpen in left (109.2 mph off the bat).

Paul Blackburn had a 1-2-3 ninth with three flyouts to center and earned the win as the pitcher of record.

- Goldschmidt, in the lineup against the lefty starter, opened the bottom of the first by roping a double (106.2 mph) into the left-center gap before coming around on the Judge homer. The veteran, who just seems to wear out southpaws, naturally went down swinging in his next at-bat. He finished 1-for-2 with a walk against the lefty starter.

- Jazz Chisholm Jr., hitless in his first three at-bats with a strikeout swinging on a breaking pitch low and away, got a chance against lefty reliever Mitch Farris with runners on the corner and two down in the sixth. But waved at a changeup well below the zone. He added a single to start the ninth ahead of Grisham's game-tying homer.

- Bellinger went hitless in his first four times to the plate, the middle two times coming up with runners in scoring position. But he did smack a one-out single in the eighth.

- Austin Wells walked twice and grounded a single off a lefty in the seventh to finish 1-for-3.

- Amed Rosario, who singled the other way on a two-strike, 0-2 pitch in the first, had a chance with the bases loaded and two away in the second, and on a 2-2 delivery cranked a down in the zone fastball to center, but Trout managed to range back to haul in the 104.8 mph, 390-foot out. He would finish 1-for-2 before exiting for a pinch-hitter in the fifth.

- Grichuk, after walking his first time up, looked to have his first hit in pinstripes, but Trout made a leaping grab just short of the wall in the deepest part of the ballpark for a 413-foot out. The ball was tattooed (106.9 mph) and would have been a homer in 22 of 30 big league parks. He finished 0-for-1 before being lifted in the fifth.

- Rice walked as a pinch-hitter for Rosario in the fifth, singled off the lefty Farris in the sixth, but went down swinging to the lefty Drew Pomeranz.  

Highlights

Aaron Judge to the bleachers for his fifth homer of the season! pic.twitter.com/Cr5icfhBWZ

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 13, 2026

Jose Caballero with the Yankees’ second two-run homer of the game! pic.twitter.com/8kdesSP4Lv

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 13, 2026

A pinch-hit three-run home run for Trent Grisham and the Yankees take the lead back! pic.twitter.com/133x6y8YAN

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 14, 2026

Aaron Judge’s second of the night! pic.twitter.com/gLXhRK1vji

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 14, 2026

TRENT GRISHAM AGAIN AND IT’S A 10-10 TIE IN THE 9TH pic.twitter.com/UToTUYzkmd

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 14, 2026

A wild pitch and a walk-off win for the Yankees! pic.twitter.com/NA1XWHWvNi

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 14, 2026

What's next

The two teams continue the four-game set with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday.

Left-hander Ryan Weathers (2.81 ERA, 1.375 WHIP in 16.0 innings) looks to repeat his great outing last time out against fellow southpaw Reid Detmers (4.60 ERA, 1.277 WHIP in 15.2 innings).

Monday night’s game at Busch Stadium had its good points, but the end result was a somewhat sloppy night for the St. Louis Cardinals as the Cleveland Guardians ended their 5-game losing streak in the head-to-head against St. Louis by winning 9-3.

Cleveland got on the scoreboard quickly thanks to a 1st inning Angel Martinez home run in the 1st inning off of Matthew Liberatore making it 1-0 Guardians. St. Louis answered quickly with some nice small ball in the bottom of the first after JJ Wetherholt smoked a single into right field then advanced to third base on a nice hit-and-run single by Ivan Herrera and then scored on a golf stroke single by Alec Burleson tying the game 1-1.

The top of the 4th inning was a sloppy one for St. Louis. Ramirez walked and then stole second followed by a walk by Hoskins. Fry singled to left advancing Ramirez to third base and Fry to second. Schneemann singled to right field off of JJ Wetherholt’s glove in what could have been scored an error scoring Hoskins and Ramirez making it 3-1 Guardians. Hedges would then lift a sacrifice fly to left giving the Guardians a 4-1 lead. Matthew Liberatore would be lifted after 5 innings as he gave up 6 hits and 4 earned runs with 3 walks and just 2 strikeouts.

Cleveland would add 2 more runs to their lead in the top of the 6th inning on a 2-run shot by Brayan Rocchio. In the bottom of the 6th inning, Jordan Walker would provide one of the few bright spots as he slammed a laser shot over the left field wall. Yes, that’s 6 home runs in just 7 games for Walker. He is on fire. Jordan also now possesses a 9-game hitting streak.

Sloppiness would rear its ugly head again in the top of the 8th inning when Ryan Fernandez came in to relieve Gordon Graceffo after being recalled from Memphis today. After Fry had walked and Britto singled to center, Fernandez grabbed a dribbler infield single from Rocchio, but then overthrew third base when Fry overran the bag that allowed him to score and make it 7-2 Guardians. Kwan would follow that with another single giving the Guardians a 9-2 lead.

Since bright spots are hard to find in stretches like the Cardinals are currently in, Jordan Walker also legged out a hustle infield single in the bottom of the 8th inning. Nolan Gorman also muscled a single into right field from a ball in on his hands after Walker reached, too. Walker would eventually score on a sacrifice fly from Pedro Pagés to make it 9-3 Guardians which would be the final score despite a small Cardinals attempt at a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning.

The Cardinals will try again Tuesday night against the Guardians as Michael McGreevy will take his 1-1 record to the mound for a scheduled 6:45pm start time at Busch Stadium.

Garrett Crochet had a historic meltdown on Monday night against the Twins, with the Red Sox starter allowing 11 runs before he even pitched two full innings. 

He finished pitching a mere 1 ⅔ innings, giving up nine hits for 11 runs (10 of which were earned), three walks, one hit batter and without recording a single strikeout. 

The left-hander was pulled after throwing 55 pitches and was replaced by Jovani Moran, but the change didn’t do much to help the Red Sox, who ended up giving up two more runs in the fifth inning to put them down 13-0. 

Boston finally scored their first run of the night in the top of the sixth inning.

The outing has raised some concern, considering that the velocity on his four-seam fastball was averaging 94.9 mph on Monday, compared to the 96.1 mph it’s usually at.

He is the first Red Sox pitcher to ever allow 10 or more earned runs in less than two innings, according to the Associated Press’ Josh Dubow. 

Baseball Reference shows that there have only been 10 games in MLB history in which a starting pitcher has given up 11 or more runs without finishing the second inning, and that the last time it occurred was on May 7, 2024, the Boston Herald reported. 

On that occasion, Athletics starter Ross Stripling gave up 11 runs in 1 ⅔ innings of work against the Rangers. 

Ryan Kreidler smashes a 438-foot home run now

The @Twins can't stop scoring! pic.twitter.com/szi3xj7hq2

— MLB (@MLB) April 14, 2026

Crochet allowed back-to-back doubles in the first inning and a single to allow two runs to score. 

With the bases loaded, Brooks Lee was able to drive in some runs when Trevor Story was able to field a grounder, but ended up throwing it away in an attempt to start a double play. 

Things went from bad in the first to worse in the second inning when Crochet loaded the bases without recording an out and Ryan Jeffers hit an RBI single. 

Josh Bell hit a two-run double and Victor Caratini connected a three-run home run to give the Twins a 10-0 lead. 

Ryan Kreidler hit a solo home run before Red Sox skipper Alex Cora made the move to yank him from the game.

The Atlanta Braves took on the Miami Marlins in at Truist Park in a game that looked to be in the home team’s favor. Grant Holmes and his sterling ERA backed by an offense that leads the NL East in run differential by a large margin. The Marlins starter, Eury Pérez, has a career ERA of 12.19 against the Braves in his three starts against them.

The Braves went 5-2 against the Marlins last season at home. The Braves currently have an all-time record of 325-217 against the Fish since the franchise started in 1993.

Matt Olson made some history tonight playing in his 799th consecutive game, which places him in sole position of eleventh longest streak of consecutive games played in MLB history. It would have been nice to celebrate this milestone with a win,

Grant Holmes started the first inning well like he has been doing the past few years. He was able to retire the side on only ten pitches to include a strikeout. The second inning was almost as sharp. He was able to retire the side on twelve pitches while picking up his second strikeout of the night.

Holmes looked to just be getting started as he retired the side yet again in the third, and this time it was three ground outs that only took seven pitches. Things fell apart in the fourth inning for him though. Rising star Jakob Marsee led the inning with a single and Holmes control disappeared and he walked the next two hitter to load the bases. After a sac fly, Otto Lopez singled to make the score 0-2 with one out. Holmes got a fly out, but then Norby hit a single to make the score 0-3 before the top of the inning was over. Holmes was then taken out of the game. Holmes ended his worst outing of the year with three ER, two walks, three hits, and three strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched.

The Braves had a slow start offensively, but were able to respond to the three runs the Marlins put up, but not before some wasted base runners. In the third inning Dom Smith got things going with a double and then Michael Harris walked. That is not a typo, new dad Michael Harris walked. After a pop up, Ronald Acuña hit a long fly ball to left center that was caught close to the warning track. Smith tried to advance but was thrown out at third for the inning ending double play.

The fourth inning for the Braves looked a lot like the Marlins. Baldwin singled on a 109.1 MPH screamer that went almost three hundred feet, followed by Matt Olson also hitting a single. Austin Riley got in on the fun and singled, scoring Baldwin and moving Olson to third. Riley then stole second base.

The Braves were not done with singles. Yastrzemski hit the fourth single in a row in this inning, scoring Olson and then he also stole second after an Albies pop up. Smith hit a sac fly to tie the game 3-3 and then Harris reached on a single that deflected off the pitcher. Unfortunately, no more runs were scored that inning.

It did not take long for the Marlins to respond. Aaron Bummer came in to pitch the fifth and it is clear he is on his last leg with the Braves. He gave up two singles and then a three-run HR to Agustín Ramírez to make the score 3-6. He did eventually get out of the inning picking up two strikeouts along the way, but the damage was done.

It looked like the Braves may respond in their half of the fifth when Ronald Acuña singled, followed by a Baldwin walk, but they only mustered one run in the inning thanks to a passed ball that moved the runners and Riley having an RBI groundout. The score was manageable at 4-6, but that did not last long.

Newly recalled Rolddy Muñoz came in to pitch and the very first hitter he faced, Connor Norby, on the first pitch he saw. It was a 93.9 MPH sinker right down the middle. The runs did not stop there. Muñoz gave up three more singles and a walk this inning. Add in two steals and that is a recipe for the Marlins to go up 4-9. Rolddy Muñoz ended his 2026 debut with 2.0 innings with five hits, three ER, one walk, and three strikeouts.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Marlins practically begged the Braves to come back. Calvin Faucher walked three hitters to load the bases with two outs, but once John King came in to replace him, he was able to get Baldwin to groundout and no runs were scored. The Braves offense was silent in the seventh, but the Marlins were not in the top of the eighth.

The hits kept on coming for the Marlins as they picked up three more singles in the eighth scoring a run to make the score 4-10. The Braves did some work to try and stay alive in their half of the eighth inning. Harris singled with two outs, followed by a walk from Mauricio Dubón. Acuña worked a full count, but ended up striking out swinging to end the eighth.

In the bottom of the ninth, Olson mustered a single after a Baldwin strikeout, but like a perfect bookend to a terrible outcome of a game, Austin Riley hit into a double play to end the game with the Braves losing by six runs.

The story of the night is that the Braves’ pitching failed them the worst they have all season. For the most part, the Braves’ pitching has been some of the best in MLB. Not tonight. Holmes showed real signs of fatigue, and the lower echelon of the bullpen performed like non-high leverage relievers might. The bad news is that José Suarez came in to pitch and struggled. He gave up four hits and an earned run, raising his ERA to 8.64. The Braves gave up a ton of singles. The Marlins had sixteen hits, and fifteen of them were singles.

Another key to the game is that the Braves failed to get things done with RISP. They were 3-12 when the Marlins capitalized more going 6-14. The Braves left nine runners on base to the Marlins’ eight.

One positive is that Michael Harris came back refreshed. He had two hits and a walk, boosting his OPS to .687 on the year. The Braves’ offense was also patient, drawing six walks.

It was going to be hard for the Braves’ offense to bail out the pitching tonight, and it just did not happen. The Braves dropped the series opener, but will have a chance at redemption when Reynaldo López takes the mound tomorrow at the same time and same place.