Category: Baseball

The long and winding road for Brusdar Graterol took an important turn on Saturday, as the Dodgers reliever joined Triple-A Oklahoma City on a rehab assignment. He pitched a perfect fourth inning against Round Rock, a Texas Rangers affiliate.

Graterol struck out one batter sandwiched between a pair of groundouts, which is to be expected for the right-hander with the career 61.2-percent groundball rate. He threw only eight pitches, and averaged 95.1 mph on his five four-seam fastballs.

It was Graterol’s first game action since pitching in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series at Yankee Stadium, 549 days ago. Since then he had surgery in November 2024 to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder that wiped out his entire 2025 season.

Graterol was slow-played this spring after not getting the results he or the team wanted early on in camp at Camelback Ranch.

“With Brusdar, he’s shown that we can count on him in the biggest of spots,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters in February. “We just gotta get him up to the velocity. It’s an intentionally slow build up.”

After starting the season on the injured list, Graterol has been throwing and working his way back at Camelback Ranch. But now he finally has a game under his belt for the first time in 19 months.

When healthy, Graterol has been one of the Dodgers’ best and most-trusted relievers since joining the team in 2020. Graterol has a career 2.78 ERA and 3.20 FIP in 188 games and 190 2/3 innings, with 148 strikeouts and 33 unintentional walks, plus a 1.85 ERA and 2.86 FIP in 25 postseason games and 24 1/3 innings. But he has been injured for nearly all of the last two-plus years

Graterol was also limited to only 10 games in the 2024 regular season and postseason combined, missing time with shoulder inflammation and a hamstring strain that year.

The Dodgers avoided salary arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $2.8 million deal in January with Graterol, who will be a free agent after this season.

This is essentially spring training for Graterol, so expect a methodical build up. Brock Stewart is about to complete his third week of minor league rehab games after having his own shoulder surgery last September, before likely returning to the Dodgers in the coming week. One would imagine Graterol will need at least that long to build back up.

The first step on that journey is now in the books.

Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. exited Saturday night's game against the Colorado Rockies in the second inning due to what the team called "left hamstring tightness."

Acuña hit a dribbler up the middle and didn't make it far down the first base line before he grabbed for his hamstring and hobbled towards first base. He was not putting much weight on his left leg.

The 2023 NL MVP walked off the field under his own power, accompanied by trainers and coaches.

Ronald Acuña Jr. left the game after he appeared to injure his left hamstring running out of the box pic.twitter.com/6Q5Nh7upD4

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 3, 2026

Acuña, who went 1-for-2 at the plate and scored a run in the first inning, was replaced in right field by Eli White.

The Braves had little trouble dispatching the Rockies without their star leadoff hitter, cruising to a 9-1 win. Chris Sale struck out 11 in the victory.

Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said postgame Acuña is set to have an MRI, according to reporters who cover the team.

This story has been updated with new information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ronald Acuna injury update as Braves star exits vs Rockies

With a left-hander on the mound for the Los Angeles Angels, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is going with a right-handed heavy lineup on Saturday, including a few hitters who were not even on the team a week ago, let alone on Opening Day.

Andy Ibañez, claimed off waivers from the Athletics a few days ago, will make his Mets debut in left field and is batting sixth, while Austin Slater, whom New York signed just under a week ago and is 1-for-4 so far with the Mets, is in right field and batting eighth.

Both players are in the lineup, which features just one lefty in Juan Soto as well as switch-hitting Ronny Mauricio, because New York is facing LHP Reid Detmers, who, like most lefties, has worse numbers against right-handed hitters than against left-handed hitters.

So, with injuries aplenty and other guys struggling at the plate, Mendoza is giving chances to the newcomers who were brought in for this very reason.

“They’ve done it throughout their career at this level,” the skipper said, referring to Ibañez and Slater hitting against lefties. “There’s a reason why they’re here and we will continue to give them chances.”

To their credit, both Ibañez and Slater do have good career numbers against southpaws – much better than when facing righties. Ibañez is slashing .275/.321/.442 versus left-handers with 17 of his 28 home runs coming against them, while Slater is slashing .263/.353/.421 in 914 at-bats against southpaws.

The problem? Neither hitter has gotten off to a good start this season and are not exactly guys that you’d expect to see in the starting lineup of a team with a $382 million payroll.

But that’s where the Mets are at this point as they try to climb out of a disastrous first month of the season. Regardless, Mendoza is “optimistic” in the players he’s got on the roster and will continue to use them in similar situations in the future.

“They will continue to get those opportunities even in games, as you guys have seen in the past few days with being aggressive with pinch-hitters and things like that,” he said.

Things can’t get much worse for New York, which still has the worst record in baseball, although a win on Saturday would transfer that ugly distinction to the Angels. Also, at 1-6 against LHP this season, anything would be better than what the Mets have done up until this point.

Meanwhile, sitting in the two right-handed hitters' place are lefty swingers Carson Benge, who has been better lately after a horrendous slump to start the season and his MLB career, and MJ Melendez, who, despite limited action, has been one of the team’s best hitters – albeit against right-handers. 

Brett Baty, mired in a season-long slump, is also on the bench alongside righty-swinging Luis Torrens. All of them will be options to pinch-hit later in the game against the Angels' struggling bullpen.

Having gone 2-2 in their first four games on the road, the Royals have a prime opportunity to take at least one of the next two and end their road trip 3-3. That record would be all anyone could have expected when the Royals headed west. However, if they win today, they’ll have guaranteed that record and given themselves a shot to actually gain some ground by completing a sweep of the Mariners tomorrow. Still, that all starts tonight.

Seth Lugo will take the mound tonight. Last time out, he had easily his worst start of the season; he allowed 6 runs in the first 2 innings. But he buckled down and got through 4.1 more innings and only allowed a lone additional run. That gave the Royals a chance to chip away at the Angels’ lead and eventually walk it off in the tenth. Today, he will probably need to pitch a bit better early on.

Lugo did face the Mariners last year and he put together one of his better performances of the season, striking out 7 and allowing 1 run on 8 baserunners over 6 innings to earn a victory and give the Royals a 4-game split in Seattle. A similar performance could be very meaningful for a Royals offense that appears to have found some of its mojo in the last couple of weeks.

That offense has a tall task ahead of it, facing Emerson Hancock. Hancock was a moderately well-regarded prospect before he debuted in 2023, but seems to have finally figured himself out in the early-going of this season at age 27 with a 2.86 ERA in 34.2 innings across 6 starts. You’ll not that averages out to fewer than 6 innings a start, however. And he has had trouble with the long ball this year; he’s already allowed 7 in this short season.

I was fascinated by this TJStats pitching summary. It seems that while he’s been very good at putting his four-seamer and sinker in the strike zone, all of his other pitches are often outside the zone, and only his four-seamer gets any whiffs – and even that is only high for its pitch type. The fastball isn’t even that fast by modern standards, averaging 95. So I went back to his FanGraphs summary, and I figured out what’s going on. He has stranded 95.4% of runners. The league average is usually in the mid-70s, and so far this year, it’s 71.9%. His 2.86 ERA is stellar, but his 4.61 FIP tells the story of a still-mediocre pitcher. The regression alarms could hardly be louder. That doesn’t mean he’ll implode on this start. But hey, we can hope!

Lineups

The Royals will use an identical batting order to last night’s for the first time since April 20 and 21 against the Orioles. They’re 1-0 using this one, so why not try it again? For those who are curious, the Royals have used 23 different lineups in their 33 games to start the year. Q really is trying to figure out the best way to deploy his 13 position players to their greatest effect.

The Mariners reorganize a bit with a righty on the mound. Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone will be in for Connor Joe and Mitch Garver. That means Lugo will only get two right-handers to do battle with, and it’s not like Julio Rodríguez or Randy Arozarena are exactly easy outs. Still, it’s his job to get the opponents out and he’ll need to if KC wants to win.

Logan Evans was the pitcher on the mound in the Ichiro number retirement game last year; this year it will be Emerson Hancock’s turn for the Randy Johnson number retirement game. For the Royals, their reigning organizational Pitcher of the Month, Seth Lugo, will take the mound. Unlike last night’s surprising slugfest, runs could be very thin on the ground today – a fitting tribute to the Big Unit.

Lineups:

5:22 PT: LINEUP CHANGE FOR THE MARINERS: Cal Raleigh is a late scratch. No reason has been given. Mitch Garver will instead do the catching, batting eighth. Cole Young moves up to bat fifth and Canzone moves up to sixth followed by Raley, Garver, and Rivas. If you comment in the game thread and say anything to the effect of “hey, since when does Cole Young bat fifth?” I am legally allowed to kick you in the shins.

“Another late-night game”? I fear I have been lied to about Midwestern Resiliency.

News:

Farewell, Josh Simpson, we hardly knew ye. No, really – apparently the Mariners only called up lefty Josh Simpson as a paper move to cover Matt Brash’s roster spot after moving him to the 15-day IL while they could get righty Nick Davila here from Arkansas. You can read more about Brash and Simpson here, and more about Nick Davila here, and more injury update news in general here.

Game information:

Randy Johnson number retirement ceremony begins: 6:30

Game time: 6:40

TV: Mariners TV, with Aaron Goldsmith and Dave Valle, with Angie Mentink as field reporter

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

There are very few hitters in the minor leagues more fearsome than Lazaro Montes right now.

The Mariners #6 ranked prospect, Montes posted one of the finest statlines of his young career in Saturday afternoon’s contest against the Wichita Wind Surge. Ending the game 3-5 with 3 homers and a walk, Montes batted home half of the 16 runs the Travs scored on the day and has been unconscious at the plate as of late.

His first homer of the game, a 118 mph laser over the right field wall, would be the second-hardest hit ball in the majors this season, trailing only Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz’s 119 mph mark he posted against the Nationals. It’s unreal power that you just can’t teach.

Montes capitalized on a mistake pitch for his second of the day, taking a cement mixer of a slider and rocketing it just inside the foul pole.

His third homer shows off just how silly his power is. A rather tame swing that looks like a surefire flyout continues to carry until it’s over the rightfield wall. Ridiculous pop.

Montes entered this week’s series with a season OPS of .686, a number reflective of his slow start to the season offensively. As of writing, he’s raised that number up over 200 points in just five games and now sits at a season mark of .900. He’s tallied five homers, a triple, and four walks on the week, epitomizing the “TTO” approach at the plate that’s served him so well in the past. He may not make a ton of contact, but his disciplined eye is enough to help offset his high K% and the power plays more than enough in-game. There’s just not many people that can punish a mistake like Lazaro Montes, and though there’s still plenty of development left ahead of him, to see him performing so well after his rocky start to the year is an amazing sign for what’s to come.

Less than an hour before the Mariners were set to take the field for Randy Johnson number retirement night, the Mariners dropped a significant lineup change, removing starting catcher Cal Raleigh and inserting backup catcher. At the same time, the Tacoma Rainiers announced a roster change, scratching their starting catcher for Saturday, Jhonny Pereda.

This of course led to a good old-fashioned freakout until the next roster move dropped: INF Will Wilson to the IL with a fractured thumb. Wilson’s injury designation is backdated to April 30, meaning he’s been dealing with this since Thursday’s off-day.

Wilson has been providing backup at third base while Brendan Donovan has been on the IL, but Donovan is set to begin a rehab assignment this Tuesday with the Arkansas Travelers in preparation to meet the team in Chicago at the beginning of their next roadtrip. This does leave the Mariners shorthanded on the utility infielder side until Donovan is back, however, meaning a steady dose of Leo Rivas at third base unless the Mariners make another move after the game. If they did want to fill the infielder hole, the options are slim: Ryan Bliss is on the 40-man but limited to second base, where Cole Young has staked a claim; Brock Rodden has positional flexibility, but would require a 40-man move. The other option is bringing up Colt Emerson, but unless the Mariners view the situation as truly dire, it feels unlikely that they’d summon him just for a brief fill-in.

No news from the Mariners yet as to what the issue is with Raleigh; this story will be updated.

The way things are going for the Yankees rotation, allowing one earned run in five-plus innings nearly qualifies as a disappointment.

Ryan Weathers was solid, if not spectacular, during a 9-4 win over the Orioles in The Bronx on Saturday at a moment when every start matters for a team that is expected to boil down its rotation in the coming weeks.

If the return of Carlos Rodón, who could be ready after his third rehab outing Tuesday, pushes Elmer Rodríguez back to the minors, then Weathers and Will Warren would be competing to hold on to their spots whenever Gerrit Cole is deemed ready in the coming weeks.

“That’s a lifetime away,” manager Aaron Boone said about the rotation jam after Warren was excellent Friday (two runs, just one earned, in 6 ¹/₃ innings) and Weathers was respectable Saturday (three runs, just one earned while pitching into the sixth).

Weathers, who lowered his ERA to 3.03, pulled a Max Fried and temporarily abandoned his windup.

He had walked the leadoff hitters in the first and second innings, base runners who did not score but escalated his pitch count, needing 40 pitches to record six outs.

So when he fell behind Baltimore’s Blaze Alexander 2-0 to begin the third, he adjusted in the same way Fried has recently by pitching out of the stretch.

“Sometimes windups can have more moving parts,” said Weathers, who later went back into the full windup. “The stretch is literally just pick your leg up and go. I think that simplified what I need to do.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

He did not walk another batter, allowed just three hits and struck out five, all while quibbling with his execution.

He was not thrilled with his fastball location, saying the Orioles were “not really biting” on his slider, and he wanted to bury his changeup more.

And yet on an apparently imperfect day, he did not allow a hit until Pete Alonso homered with one out in the fourth.

“Had a lot of different ways to get you out today,” Boone said of Weathers, who has allowed three runs or fewer in six of his seven starts. “I thought sweeper, changeup, fastball were all playing well.”

The danger arrived in the sixth, when Taylor Ward and Gunnar Henderson singled before Adley Rutschman grounded to Ben Rice, who hesitated to throw to second in a miscommunication and got no outs on the play, creating a bases-loaded, no-out jam that became Jake Bird’s problem.

Two came around to score unearned runs.

For a rotation that owns a majors-best 2.67 ERA, Weathers’ afternoon was strong, if unremarkable, and helped lead to another victory.

The crunch that is a “lifetime away” is getting closer.

“Any day you can get a big league win is a good day,” Weathers said.

It looked like a home run. Sounded like a home run. Heliot Ramos thought it was gone. So did the Giants’ broadcasters. Somehow, it landed in Cedric Mullins’ glove, leaving Ramos slack jawed and leading to two ejections from the visitors’ dugout.

Even home runs off the bat aren’t getting over the wall these days for the Giants, who haven’t hit one since they left San Francisco six days ago.

Ramos appeared to connect on their first dinger of their road trip in the second inning Saturday against Rays opener Griffin Jax. He squared up a 3-2 fastball to straightaway center field, sending Mullins back to the warning track.

The center fielder either deked everyone in the building or something else led to him making a late adjustment on his read of the fly ball, which left Ramos’ bat at 107.9 mph on a 33-degree trajectory.

Eight other fly balls with near-identical matches to Ramos’ have been hit inside Tropicana Field since Statcast began tracking batted-ball data in 2015. Every one was a home run.

I decided to see if there were any balls hit with an identical profile to Heliot Ramos' fly out (??).

Eight other balls have been hit between 107-108 mph with a launch angle between 33-34 degrees at Tropicana Field in the Statcast era (since 2015).

All eight were HRs. pic.twitter.com/xdRVcZnnEj

— Evan Webeck (@EvanWebeck) May 2, 2026

Not this swing. Mullins retreated, touched the wall and suddenly came in to make the catch.

Ramos, who had made it to second base, looked stunned. He appeared to remark, “There’s no way,” on his way back to the dugout. On the Giants’ television broadcast, play-by-play man Dave Flemming had broken into a home-run call and was left equally confused.

*Takes deep breath*
Heliot Ramos hits a long flyout, which he thought hit a catwalk at Tropicana Field and therefore should have been a home run, but after review, the call on the field stood, which led to pitcher Adrian Houser and assistant coach Frank Anderson being ejected. pic.twitter.com/9r3xGFZZ2o

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 2, 2026

The catwalks can come into play on high fly balls at Tropicana Field. According to the ground rules, if a ball in fair play comes into contact with one of the two lower rings, it is automatically ruled a home run. If it hits the two higher catwalks, it is considered a live ball.

However, when the Giants requested a video review, there were apparently no angles available showing the catwalks interfering with the flight of the ball. The call on the field of a catch stood.

That led to more drama, with manager Tony Vitello going back and forth with home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt and crew chief Vic Carapazza tossing director of pitching Frank Anderson and right-hander Adrian Houser from the game.

There are no shortage of reasons for frustration in the San Francisco dugout.

The last home run the Giants hit came almost a week ago, off the bat of Casey Schmitt in what was also the last game they won, Sunday at home against the Marlins. They remain the last team in the league yet to hit 20 total and have scored the fewest runs in the majors.

When they finally pushed across a run in the sixth inning, on a pair of doubles from Rafael Devers and Luis Arraez, it was the first time they had scored since they tied an eventual walkoff loss Thursday against the Phillies — 16 innings prior.

Mets lineup

Bo Bichette – 3B
Juan Soto – DH
Francisco Alvarez – C
Mark Vientos – 1B
Marcus Semien – 2B
Andy Ibáñez – LF
Tyrone Taylor – CF
Austin Slater – RF
Ronny Mauricio – SS

Nolan McLean – RHP

Angels lineup

Zach Neto – SS
Mike Trout – CF
Nolan Schanuel – 1B
Jorge Soler – DH
Jo Adell – RF
Josh Lowe – LF
Vaughn Grissom – 2B
Oswald Peraza – 3B
Travis d’Arnaud – C

Reid Detmers – LHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 9:38 PM EDT
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

The sequence that most perfectly encapsulates today’s loss to the Astros began in the bottom of the third inning. Willson Contreras was at the plate with the bases loaded and just one out; Astros’ starter Spencer Arrighetti was teetering and had just walked the previous two men, and there was more lumber lurking on deck with Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu due up next. The Red Sox were down 1-0, but it very much felt like they were about to take control of the game.

I remember thinking to myself in this moment “Boy, after that three hit game last night, it feels like Roman Anthony’s really about to turn the corner. Now he’s gonna get a golden opportunity to build on that momentum against a struggling starter with either a chance to take the lead or put the Sox ahead by even more if Contreras comes through.”

Instead, by the time Anthony came to the plate, the Sox were down 5-0 in the bottom of the next inning.

The deadly combination of events came as follows:

First, Willson Contreras hit into this brutally costly double play to ruin the third inning threat:

Then Brice Matthews hit this three run bomb off Connelly Early in the top of the fourth:

That wasn’t quite the ballgame, but it sure felt like it. The Red Sox are now 0-17 when they fall behind by at least two runs at any point in the game, and this lineup proves itself relentlessly incapable of changing that stat on a near daily basis.

Today was actually a perfect example of why that’s the case. There were plenty of other chances for the Red Sox to get back in the thing and mount a comeback, but time and time again they lacked the big hit when they really needed it. They had opportunities littered throughout the middle innings to the tune of eight hits and seven walks, but not a single one of those hits went for extra bases, and the team went just 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position (zero of which came when the deficit was within three runs).

The Astros meanwhile had three extra base hits in just the fourth inning alone (the biggest frame of the game for either team), and that really was the difference in this tussle. The Astros lineup leads the American League in batting average, RBI, OPS, and wRC+. It doesn’t matter if your measuring stick is a metric old or new, their bats are good! The reason they have an even worse record than the Red Sox overall though is because their pitching staff has fallen apart like a piece of single-ply toilet paper.

And along those lines, I can’t underscore enough how much this Astros pitching staff sucks and how much the Red Sox offense sucks even more. In the five games Houston has played against Boston this year, they’ve held the Sox to four runs or less every single time. But in the other 29 games, the Astros opponents have scored five or more runs 22 times. Ironing that out to a bird’s eye view, the Red Sox have averaged 2.60 runs per game in their five slates against the 2026Astros, and everybody else has averaged 6.45 runs per game in the other 29 contests.

This lineup is beyond disgraceful!

Three Studs

Roman Anthony: After three hits last night, Roman Anthony was on base three more times today with a hit and two walks. Also, the hit was a liner the other way into the left field corner, so it was nice to see Anthony smack a free strike teams have been getting against him on the outer third of the plate.

Wilyer Abreu: On base four times with two hits and two walks, and the only Red Sox player with a multi hit game.

The bullpen: Ryan Watson and Tyler Samaniego probably wouldn’t tell you it was their best day on the mound, but together them combined for five innings of one run baseball that base kept the team in today’s game and saved all the high leverage relievers for a potential series win tomorrow.

Three Duds

Willson Contreras: That third inning double play was the backbreaker that set the table for the rest of the game. If he gets a hit or a walk in that spot, the Red Sox probably win as Arrighetti walked both the two batters before this and the two batters after.

Trevor Story: Hit into a costly double play in the second inning and then had a costly strikeout with nobody out in the fourth after the first two batters walked.

Connelly Early: The was the worst outing of Connelly Early’s career so far. Four runs allowed in four innings and gave up plenty of hard contact.

Play of the game:

One of the many frustrating things about this Red Sox season in a long line of frustrating things is how high the overall percentage of great defensive plays made in center field have been by their opponents. The Red Sox are supposed to have a huge advantage here with Ceddanne Rafaela patrolling that part of the diamond, and for whatever reason he’s off to a slow start with the glove while just about every opponent coming into Fenway Park has made themselves right at home in one of the more difficult centerfields in all of baseball.

Anyways, it happened again today with Brice Matthews:

Winning is fun! The Chicago White Sox are on a four-game winning streak and have won three of their last four series. The Good Guys look to extend both streaks tonight, to five and four.

After notching his first career road win on April 22 in Arizona, Sean Burke takes the bump tonight and looks to snag his second. He’s been avoiding walks and missing barrels, which will be crucial against one of the best teams in baseball.

The ace for the San Diego Padres, Michael King, plans to put an end to Chicago’s offensive explosion. Where Burke excels with the fastball, King gets his job done with his breaking and off-speed pitches. Hopefully, he’ll hang a few tonight!

Here’s how the Sox are going to line up against King, with a few changes from last night:

Jarred Kelenic makes his first White Sox start, and Edgar Quero will take over tonight’s backstop duty.

The Padres are shaking it up a bit compared to last night:

Gavin Sheets (old friend alert), Jackson Merrill, Luis Campusano and Jake Cronenworth find themselves in the starting nine.

Luckily, starting an hour earlier today, you can catch the White Sox at 7:40 p.m. CT on CHSN for your viewing pleasure and WMVP-AM 1000 for your listening pleasure.

ST. LOUIS — You won’t find anyone with the Dodgers who thinks Dalton Rushing is a bad guy.

But that doesn’t mean the second-year slugger wants to be saddled publicly with a bad rap.

Throughout his career, Rushing has always tried to play with a smoldering competitive fire. He has never shied away from the fact he carries a competitive edge.

“I played football half my life,” the Dodgers’ backup catcher said. “So I compete a little differently, I click a little differently.”

Lately, however, a string of heated in-game interactions that have gone viral on social media — and, in one instance, drawn public criticism from an opposing player — have forced the 25-year-old to take a step back and make a renewed effort to keep his emotions in check.

“You never want to be viewed as a guy like that from opposing teams,” Rushing told The California Post on Saturday. “You want guys to hate playing against you because of the player that you are and how great you are on a baseball field. Not because of the verbalized things you say.”

Already this season, Rushing had been in the middle of several different headline-grabbing situations; from saying the Rockies were making “fishy” swing decisions during a series in Denver, to catching flak for an F-bomb he appeared to direct (though later said was misinterpreted) at Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee after a collision at the plate.

Then came last weekend’s series against the Cubs, when Rushing was captured dropping another seemingly disparaging expletive in reference to Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya.

This time, it wasn’t only lip-reading internet sleuths who called Rushing out but also Cubs veteran Nico Hoerner, who was standing in the box when Rushing made his alleged “fat f–k” comment as Amaya advanced to second base on a wild pitch last Saturday.

“I wish that I had confronted him a little more directly, to be honest,” Hoerner said during a radio interview this week. “It was just kind of a strange thing to experience. So, yeah, I felt a little weird about that.”

Turns out, Rushing did, too.

Rushing and Hoerner are represented by the same agency, Apex Baseball. So this week, Rushing said he reached out to Hoerner through his agents “to clear the air” about what happened.

“I respect his point of view of it, from the looks and the sound of it,” Rushing said. “And I respect him sticking up for his players. I would do the same thing for any of these guys.”

Asked if he thought Hoerner (or, for that matter, the online lip readers) had understood him correctly, Rushing said he didn’t think so — though stopped short of recounting his exact dialogue from the moment in question.

“Regardless,” Rushing explained, “there was a word said, whether it was positive or negative or what. And he didn’t like it. And I respect that.”

Thus, moving forward, Rushing is trying to be more careful about how his emotions are expressed on the field.

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“Obviously, you know what social media can turn you into, [how it can] build an image for yourself both positively and negatively,” the second-year big leaguer said. “So I think from here on out, it’s just my job to build a positive platform for myself.”

“There’s things that can change,” he added. “There’s things I’m going to change.” 

Rushing’s fiery temperament is nothing new. It was part of his persona long before the Dodgers made him a second-round draft pick out of the University of Louisville in 2022. And it was there throughout his rise through the farm system as one of the organization’s top prospects.

For the most part, the Dodgers have appreciated that component of his competitive makeup.

Even after the recent bouts of drama, manager Dave Roberts said the club doesn’t “want to take the fire out of him.”

At the same time, though, Roberts has cautioned Rushing “to be mindful” of his outbursts. Others in the clubhouse have reinforced the same message.

“He’s bringing stuff onto himself he doesn’t need to bring on,” Roberts said. “There’s a responsibility to not be reckless because everything is captured.”

Rushing also cited that “responsibility” during an interview at his locker Saturday, acknowledging how, when “tempers flare,” he sometimes lets “things take over.”

“I don’t want to create an image like that,” he said.

The good news: The newfound scrutiny has been spurred by Rushing’s breakout start to the year. Entering Saturday, he was batting .348 with seven home runs and 17 RBIs despite limited playing time in the season’s opening month.

“It wouldn’t matter if I was struggling,” he said. “It would just be, ‘Oh, this guy is just a bad dude. Bad player. Bad dude.’”

However, Rushing also noted that nothing “I’ve said verbally on a field has enhanced my play by any means.”

So, while he won’t douse his competitive fire anytime soon, he will be trying to limit how often it flares up. 

“I’m gonna continue to compete, I’m gonna continue to play with an edge,” he said. “But obviously we can hone back a little bit on things that can get you in trouble in this media world.”

The Cincinnati Reds pitching staff accomplished something Saturday that hadn’t been done in more than 40 years.

Two Reds pitchers walked seven consecutive Pittsburgh Pirates hitters in the second inning of a May 2 game at PNC Park, tying an MLB record and turning what was already a rough afternoon into a historically bad day.  

Starter Rhett Lowder and reliever Connor Phillips combined to walk seven consecutive Pirates with one out in the second inning. That included issuing the final four walks with the bases loaded. Between them, they threw 42 pitches and only 11 for strikes, according to MLB.com.  

Lowder struck out leadoff hitter Oneil Cruz and then it went off the rails from there.

Lowder issued the first three walks before being pulled for Phillips. He came in with the bases loaded and walked four in a row, each one forcing in a run. Reliever Sam Moll finally stopped the bleeding. Entering the game with the bases loaded, he got both catcher Henry Davis and Cruz, batting for the second time that inning, to ground out.  

After that inning, the Pirates led 10-3.