Category: Baseball

If ever there was a day to dream on a New York team, even a team as underwhelming as the 2026 Mets, this was it.

The atmosphere at Citi Field on Sunday was far from electric, yet the carryover from the Knicks’ emotionally-charged championship on Saturday night did seem to create good vibes at the ballpark, with seemingly as many fans wearing basketball jerseys as Mets’ jerseys, and manager Carlos Mendoza opening his pre-game news conference by noting the crazed reaction around New York City was a reminder of what it means to play in New York.

“I’ve had those conversations with some of our players,” Mendoza said. “It tells you how special it can be here.”

And then the Mets went out and played one of their best games of the season, whipping the big, bad Atlanta Braves and making it look routine, scoring early and rolling to an 8-1 win that gave them a 2-1 series victory as well.

If you’d been watching only basketball for the last three months, you’d have a hard time squaring the way the Mets played this weekend with their still-ugly 32-39 record. After all, even after the loss the Braves have the best record in baseball at 46-25, yet in this first meeting of the season between the teams the Mets outplayed them.

“It’s good to see the guys playing well against a very good team, Mendoza said afterward. “Overall it was a good series.”

It’s baseball, of course, and over 162 games there are ebbs and flows that make season records seem deceiving for virtually every team, and right now the Braves have some key injuries that have perhaps contributed to them going 2-4 over their last six games.

As for the Mets, they are certainly more dangerous lately, scoring runs in bunches in ways they didn’t earlier in the season, in part because Bo Bichette has finally joined the part to support Juan Soto, and in part because A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge continue to add youthful energy and production as well.

On Sunday it was Ewing taking the starring role, going 3-for-5 with a key double that fueled a four-run rally in the first inning and later a solo home run in the fourth that helped knock out Braves starter Bryce Elder, who has been having an outstanding season.

“Man, he’s impressive,” Mendoza said. “He controls the strike zone, uses the whole field. He’s like Carson [Benge]. He’s a mature guy, learning at the big league level.”

It hasn’t all been easy for the kid. After his fast start, pitchers learned quickly that Ewing has an exceptional eye at the plate and very good plate discipline, they’ve attacked him more in the strike zone, leading to some empty nights.

But his ability to work counts and hit the ball where it’s pitched makes it seem likely he’ll be a difference-maker offensively as he gains experience. It’s the reason Keith Hernandez raves about both Ewing and Benge on TV, recently saying of them, “The Mets have two golden nuggets.”

With that in mind you can find hope if you’re looking for it with these Mets. Since their disastrous April they’ve had more good moments than bad, going 22-18 over their last 40 games, and 10-6 over their last 16.

And over these last 16 games they’ve averaged five runs a game, a huge improvement over their early-season woes. Yet they also remain maddeningly inconsistent, which is why it’s hard to put too much stock into any small sample of games.

This 3-3 homestand was a glaring example. In two losses to the St. Louis Cardinals and one to the Braves, they scored 0, 2, and 1 runs. In the three wins they scored 5, 7, and 8 runs.

Again, that’s baseball, to some degree. Yet it’s the inconsistency that’s working against them. The Mets buried themselves so deeply that they’re going to need at least a couple of notable winning streaks to be considered anything resembling genuine contenders, and because of those no-show nights at the plate, they’ve offered no evidence they can overcome those tendencies.

In truth, they’re playing just well enough to be something of a tease. That is, there are more reasons to believe they’re not good enough to make a run than to buy in, but for many fans who watch as much with their hearts as their heads, it’s hard not to say, hey, if they can win two of three against the Braves, why can’t they win 10 of 12 or something like that.

And who knows, maybe they can. Even in the one loss against the Braves on Saturday, Sean Manaea offered reason to believe he can be a dependable starter again. Then, on Sunday, Freddy Peralta bounced back from his worst start of the season to hold down the Braves over five full innings.

Peralta’s inability to pitch efficiently and go deep into games remains a problem, and right now the Mets really don’t have anyone they can point to as a No. 1 starter, as Nolan McLean struggles to command his high-ceiling arsenal, which is another reason it will be hard for this team to go on a roll.

Yet the bullpen is pitching at a high level right now, with the fourth-best ERA in MLB, and it is deep enough to be a weapon in games where the starters at least get the Mets into the middle innings, as was the case on Sunday.

What’s it all mean? Well, the Knicks were down 29 in Game 4 and you know how that turned out. Simply put, they had a championship grit that wouldn’t be denied.

To this point, no one would dare say that about these Mets. Far from it.

Still, if sports is about believing "it’s not over ‘til it’s over", well, this was a day at Citi Field - a day when beating the Braves looked shockingly easy - to believe the best is still ahead for from this ever-exasperating team in Queens.

The Cincinnati Reds played the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon in Great American Ball Park in the rubber match of the series. By now, you’ll be able to recite how the game went.

Cincinnati got an effective, albeit inefficient outing from their starting pitcher. Their offense was mostly inept, but gave just enough combined with the grind from the starter to turn the game over to the bullpen while still very, very much in the game – even, one would say in a vacuum, in the driver’s seat.

The bullpen, though, is overmatched and overworked. Pair that with the inefficiencies from the starter, and they became overextended, too. The lead evaporated quickly on a mistake pitch that was punished, and the offense retreated back to its silence until the allotment of outs allowed had elapsed.

The Reds lost, 5-3. They’ve lost this game dozens of times already this year, particularly concentrated within the last six weeks. It’s the kind of predictability in these scenarios that’s become as frustrating as the final scores themselves.

It was off Tejay Antone and Zach Maxwell that the big hits came, two arms that – for many different reasons – weren’t really in the plans for late and close situations when the season began. That’s how the mop has flopped, though, and Cincinnati’s front office hasn’t been able to augment the bullpen in a meaningful way since so many other arms went by the wayside.

(Starter turned bullpen rescue guy Chase Petty was presumably unavailable today after having to perform said task twice already this week.)

The end result is a fifth straight lost series for the Reds, who fell to 33-37 on the season – the first time they’ve been 4 games under .500 all year. On top of that, the next five weeks of baseball that will take them to the All Star break don’t look any fun at all, meaning they’ve already exhausted their opportunity to build up some games, some momentum before taking on many of baseball’s Big Boys in the coming weeks.

It’s bleak in Cincinnati right now. The Reds are too predictable, to incapable to really change that course at the moment.

Rockies 23, Athletics 9

Graphics via FanGraphs.

Putting it all together: Kyle Karros, +0.28 WPA

Pitching at elevation is hard: Jeffrey Springs, -0.62 WPA

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Sunday night baseball! For (I think) the first time since NBC took over Sunday Night Baseball, the Red Sox are in the slate spot to finish the week. They’ll throw Connelly Early, and face off with old friend Nathan Eovaldi. I don’t know about you guys, but he’s always been the one who got away for me. Pitching isn’t really a concern on this iteration of the Red Sox, but there’s something I love about Eovaldi and wish he spent more time in Boston.

The Tartan Army is also descending on Fenway Park, which should make for a lively environment.

First pitch at 7:20 PM EST on NBC, Peacock, and WEEI.

Lineups

Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox

Sunday, June 14, 2026, 6:20 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / NBC)

Fenway Park

RHP Nathan Eovaldi vs. LHP Connelly Early

Go Rangers!

The Mets and Freddy Peralta had a wonderful day at the ballpark, continuing the good vibes for orange and blue New York teams this weekend (congratulations to the Knicks!!!!), beating the Braves 8-1 to take the weekend series against their division rivals.

The first inning was a rocky one for Peralta, which is not suggested in his five inning, one run box score performance. He loaded the bases with one out, before surrendering a sacrifice fly to Old Friend Dom Smith. That one run would be the only run for the Braves.

The Mets struck back right away, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first. Carson Benge walked to lead off the inning, and Bo Bichette singled to put two on with no outs. After Juan Soto inexplicably attempted and failed to bunt for a hit, giving the Braves a free out, Jared Young hit an RBI single to tie the game at one. A.J. Ewing hit a well stuck double into the left field corner. Mike Yastrzemski threw the ball in and it hit the pole that holds up the protective screen, allowing Ewing to get to third and Young to score from first. Brett Baty singled him home, putting a four spot on Bryce Elder to make it 4-1 after one.

The next three innings were very ho hum, with both teams putting up zeros in the second, third and fourth innings. The Mets added two more in the fifth, when Ewing and Marcus Semien hit back to back home runs, chasing Elder from the game. The Mets added two more insurance runs in the eighth, both on a Juan Soto single.

The Mets bullpen had a strong showing, putting together as Cionel Perez, Daniel Durate, AJ Minter, and Huascar Brazoban combined for four hitless innings, allowing two base runners in that span (two walks). Overall, the Mets put together a very nice series against the division-leading Braves, as they stay in shouting distance of a Wild Card spot, miraculously.

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Win Probability Added

Big Mets winner: A.J. Ewing, +22% WPA
Big Mets loser: No one 🙂
Mets pitchers: +34% WPA
Mets hitters: +16% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: A.J. Ewing’s two run double in the first, +16.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Matt Olson single to load the bases in the first, -7.5% WPA.

It is time. The Milwaukee Brewers are promoting shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt to the major leagues. Pratt signed an 8 year contract extension with the Brewers worth north of $50MM back in April. Now, at long last, he will arrive in Milwaukee.

Pratt was removed from the Nashville Sounds game on Sunday in the 6th inning and, as Spencer Michaelis first reported, was giving hugs to his teammates in the dugout, a sure sign that a promotion was imminent. MLB’s Adam McCalvy later confirmed that Pratt was officially getting the call.

Cooper Pratt was hitting .241 with six doubles, four triples, six homers, 17 stolen bases, and a .735 OPS on the season in Nashville. He started off slow, but has been much better over the last several weeks.

Pratt brings gold glove-level defense at shortstop and is likely going to be playing at shortstop quite regularly for the Brewers going forward.

A corresponding move has not yet been announced, but it has been speculated that it will have something to do with Luis Rengifo. Ken Rosenthal reported a few weeks ago that June 15th was a date to circle because it’s the first day teams can trade free agents in the first year of their deals. Perhaps the Brewers have a trade lined up for Rengifo, we shall see. Also a DFA isn’t out of the question for him.

Rengifo also had the trainer check on him twice during Sunday’s game, once for his wrist after an awkward fall and once after fouling a ball off his shin. An IL stint could also be a possibility.

David Hamilton has been solid of late and Joey Ortiz is still a strong defender. Ortiz could slide into more of a utility role and has played third base in the past.

The Brewers are off on Monday, so that would mean Pratt’s debut is slated to come on Tuesday night against the Cleveland Guardians.

SAN FRANCISCO — Two bloops, a bunt and a blast from Matt Chapman produced more runs in the fifth inning Sunday afternoon than the Giants had scored in their previous two games.

That was all the Giants needed behind Logan Webb, who continued to dazzle in his fourth start back from a bout with bursitis in his push-off knee, to beat the Cubs, 5-1.

Webb has allowed two earned runs over 27 ⅓ innings since returning from the injured list and none to the Cubs on Sunday over eight innings, scattering seven hits and striking out seven.

“Even if it doesn’t go well with a hitter, he makes it fun by seeing how he’s going to respond,” manager Tony Vitello said. “Because I think one of the areas where he might be a little undervalued is just how dang good he is when something goes wrong.”

Vitello leaned on that quality in Webb when he went to the mound with two outs in the eighth inning. An error allowed the Cubs to get on the board and left two runners on base with Webb’s pitch count climbing over 100.

It turned into a quick visit: Webb remained in the game.

“Willy [Adames] was basically ready to grab me by the jersey saying, ‘Let this guy do his thing,’” Vitello said.

Webb was more convicted in his answer than when Vitello asked him about coming out after eight innings, at 99 pitches, in his previous start. That time, Vitello opted to hand the game over to Keaton Winn, who allowed three runs in a 4-3 loss.

“You could tell right away: He didn’t put his arm out or anything. You could kind of see in his face that he was going to ask me,” Webb said. “I probably said some cuss words, but in the end, I said ‘I’m good.’ All the guys behind me were going, ‘Eff yeah, let’s go’ and Tony walked off the mound.”

Moments after the mound visit, Webb’s mouth was agape with both arms raised in the air.

Vitello’s decision to stick with Webb almost immediately backfired when the very next batter, Michael Busch, lined his 106th pitch of the afternoon into the right field corner. It appeared destined to drive in two more runs.

“It was almost a terrible decision,” Webb joked.

But Jung Hoo Lee gave chase and tracked down the ball before crashing into the wall, leaving Webb amazed and the 40,000-plus on hand chanting Lee’s name.

“I just knew that Webby wanted to finish that inning bad,” Lee said through a team interpreter. “I wanted to really help out. … I just really wanted to [make] the catch for Webby.”

The catch preserved the lead that Lee helped build in the fifth.

After having his 18-game hit streak broken Friday, Lee was back in the hit column with a 2-for-4 effort, including a broken-bat bloop single to begin the fifth. Daniel Susac bunted him over to second, where he was in position to score when Drew Gilbert, the No. 9 hitter, found more open territory with a shallow flare down the left field line.

That was enough to open a 1-0 lead, and Chapman quickly made it 3-0 with a line drive over the center field wall for his seventh homer of the season — and sixth this month.

Looking the part of a leadoff hitter, Chapman drew his first of two walks and scored his second run of the game on a single from Bryce Eldridge in the seventh to make it 4-0.

It was Chapman’s first time hitting leadoff in three seasons with the Giants and only the third time he had batted first in 1,221 games at the big-league level.

Vitello had tried Luis Arraez in the top spot with Eldridge batting second the past two days but shifted each player down a slot with Chapman occupying the top of the order.

Something about this configuration worked: It produced more than one run for the first time since Wednesday. The Giants had been held to one run in their two losses to begin the series.

Vitello and president of baseball operations Buster Posey set four runs as a reasonable target. The Giants are 22-7 when scoring that many and 7-36 when failing to reach that mark.

“A lot of those days where we’ve done that, it’s been 7-8-9 getting on base or driving the ball,” Vitello said. “Jung Hoo’s going to compete for a batting title, so to have him down there is interesting, but it benefited us.”

What it means

Rather than opt for a traditional leadoff hitter, Vitello has tried to use the top spot of the lineup to maximize the number of at-bats for their hottest hitter.

For a while, that was Casey Schmitt, who’s found himself in a bit of a slump (5-for-34) and never quite profiled as a leadoff man with his aggressive approach.

Lately, it’s been Chapman.

Who’s hot

Dating back to May 17, Chapman is batting .344 (31-for-90). His home run was his 14th extra-base hit in that span. His two RBIs gave him 24 in 26 games, and he’s scored 19 runs.

Who’s not

The Giants are still waiting for their Big Three infielders to get hot at the same time.

As Chapman has heated up, the Giants have gotten little from Rafael Devers or Adames, who combined to go 5-for-43 (.116) over the course of the six-game homestand.

Up next

The Giants board a charter flight to Atlanta, where they have the day off Monday before beginning a six-game road trip with three against the NL East-leading Braves.

Adrian Houser, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp are lined up to start the first series of the trip.

Yankees 8 Blue Jays 3

This one had everything, other than a Jays’ win, of course.

John Schneider got ejected. It kind of pissed me off, because the Yankees José Caballero complained for a long time about a pitch clock thing (I guess) and the umpire let him complain and complain. John comes out on a balk call, and he was ejected in record time.

The balk? Well…..I generally think that if there is a balk, all the umpires will call it. This one, only the plate umpire did. I think he felt that Jeff Hoffman started towards the plate, then turned to second. John came out for, let’s say, an explanation, but the umpire decided not to explain. Course John may not have asked nicely.

The game? Well, it was tied going into the ninth, but Braydon Fisher didn’t ‘have it’ today. He got a strikeout, then gave up a single. Then, on a full count pitch, Uncle Ben Rice homered. After a walk and a fly out, Tommy Nance came in.

He didn’t do any better. A walk and a José Caballero home run put an end to any hope of a come back in the bottom of the inning.

Patrick Corbin wasn’t great, giving up a lot of hits (7) while not all that many runs (2) in 3.2 innings.

Spencer Miles gave up a run in his 2.2,

Mason Fluharty got the last two outs of the seventh.

Jeff Hoffman gave up a leadoff walk, had that runner steal and committed the rather weird balk, talked about above, but got two strikeouts with the runner on third to get out of the inning.

Offensively? Well, as seemingly always is the case, we didn’t score as much as we should have.

We got:

• A run in the third: Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk started the inning with singles, but Yohendrick Piñango hit into a double play. Kazuma Okamoto singled in the run.
• A run in the fourth: Ernie Clement led off with a single. After outs by Davis Schneider and Charles McAdoo, George Springer and Nathan Lukes each singled to bring around Lukes.
• In the sixth Schneider homered.

We did have 11 hits (with the one home run) so, yes, we should have scored more. Nathan Lukes, who seemed to have hit a cold spell in the last little bit had 3 hits, including a double. Having two hits were Springer, Okamoto (with a double), and Schneider (with a walk, along with the home run, bringing his average up 22 points, three more games like that and he’ll make it to the Mendoza line),

Piñango, Sánchez (with a walk) and McAdoo had 0 fors. McAdoo looked very over matched. His batting average has dropped to .167. I’m afraid, he really isn’t impressing me, but it’s just 24 PA. Sanchez is also the most worrying outfielder since Corey Patterson. Today he seemed to be trying out for the World Cup on one ball in the outfield.

Jays of the Day: Davis Schneider (0.22 WPA), Hoffman (0.17), Okamoto (0.11) and Lukes (0.09).

Other Award: Fisher (-0.42), Lips (-0.18), and McAdoo (-0.15)

Tomorrow is an off-day. I don’t know about anyone else but I could use one. Tuesday the Jays will be in Boston, for the start of three against the Red Sox.

Following a dominant 8-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, rookie outfielder A.J. Ewing, and starting pitcher Freddy Peralta all spoke to the media.

Ewing finding his form and earning Mendoza's trust

Ewing starred in Sunday's win, going 3-for-5 with a homer, a double, and two RBI.

It was a much needed power surge for Ewing, who bumped up his OPS today to a respectable .720 mark after going hitless in three of his last four appearances.

His manager took notice and made sure to give him his vote of confidence after the game.

"It's impressive how he's handling himself, especially after a couple of hard games," said Mendoza.

Ewing and fellow rookie outfielder Carson Benge have been in the headlines throughout the season, and though it's still only June, Mets fans are rightfully optimistic that both of these young players have a bright future in Queens ahead of them.

"He's kinda like Carson; whether it's an 0-for or going through a tough stretch, [they have] the ability to remain consistent... he's a mature guy who is learning, adjusting, and developing at the big league level," Mendoza said.

Freddy Peralta and the Mets are trending in the right direction

Mendoza also made sure to shout outPeralta, who continues to provide solid, reliable performances on the mound as the team's pitching staff continues to deal with injury issues.

"He was aggressive with that fastball, but made some good adjustments. He wasn't too predictable today."

Peralta took the win today, pitching five full innings and allowing just four hits and one earned run on 90 pitches.

When Peralta was asked about how he viewed his performance in the victory, he showed love to his catcher.

"I have to give credit to Luis [Torrens]... he was amazing, giving me confidence behind the plate," the righty said.

"I was feeling really good in general," Peralta continued. "I was able to use not only the changeup but also the curveball today... Obviously I was looking forward to at least throwing six [innings], but stuff happens."

Finally, with the Mets still just a handful of games out of an NL Wild Card spot, Peralta spoke on what it means to win a series against the current leaders in the NL standings, the 46-25 Atlanta Braves.

"It's huge, it tells us how good we are."

Mendoza, Peralta and the rest of the Mets will be eager to continue righting the ship before it's too late.

Tobias Myers will start the Mets' series opener against the Cincinnati Reds

Following the Mets' 8-1 thrashing of the Atlanta Braves to take two of three at home,Mendoza revealed to the media that Tobias Myers will start the team's game Monday night in Cincinnati.

"Tobias will go. I think 40 pitches, but he's going to go. We've got that pitch count in mind," said the skipper.

Myers was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on May 30 to manage the team's bullpen depth, but also with the plan of converting him to a starting pitcher while in the minors.

Mets GM David Stearns recently remarked on how one of the biggest things the righty pitcher brings to the table is his ability to help the team "in a variety of ways".

Now, the Mets are taking full advantage of Myers' versatility, calling on him to rejoin the big league roster to kick off a six-game road trip, first with a three-game set against the Reds, then another three-game series against their bitter rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies.

SAN FRANCISCO — No moves a manager makes will be scrutinized as heavily or as frequently as the daily decisions when it comes to his bullpen.

So far, Tony Vitello has mostly skated scot-free.

He hasn’t tried to signal for a reliever despite nobody warming, a la Gabe Kapler during his first games leading the Phillies. And he hasn’t called for a reliever whose name wasn’t on the lineup card, like Kapler did in his second try at managing with the Giants.

Whatever performance issues there have been — and they have been abundant — fall less on the manager than the hand of cards he was dealt by his bosses upstairs in the front office.

As far as optics go, the first-year manager’s worst sin had been causing a little confusion during one change, leading bullpen coach Jesse Chavez to shrug both hands above his shoulders.

That is, until this week.

Keaton Winn was placed on the injured list Sunday with a strain in his right elbow, with the Giants calling up Tristan Beck to take his place in the bullpen.

Winn hadn’t appeared in a game since Vitello summoned him for a third contest in a row Monday night, surrendering three runs in the ninth of a 4-3 loss. The decision, it would appear, not only cost the Giants the game but came with more dire consequences.

After all, this isn’t college baseball, where coaches regularly ride their best pitchers until their arms fall off. This is Major League Baseball, where each arm comes with a seven-figure insurance policy and pitchers’ health is closely managed like the commodities they are.

However, it doesn’t all fall on Vitello’s shoulders. This was an organizational failure.

Winn, first and foremost, gave Vitello the green light to use him for a third game in a row, even though it was something he had never done before in the minors or as a big leaguer.

Club sources also said nobody among the coaching or medical staff relayed any concerns to Vitello about Winn’s availability that night in their daily pregame meeting.

Logan Webb, who was at 99 pitches and firing on all cylinders, didn’t demand the ball for the ninth, despite flying ahead of the club as one of the only players to avoid a 4 a.m. arrival from Chicago that morning. He would later privately express regret about not being more assertive when Vitello approached him about the ninth, another club source said.

While the Giants were optimistic that Winn would require no more than “a handful of days down, at the most,” per Vitello, the right-hander has experienced elbow problems in the past as a pro, including Tommy John surgery in 2021 and another procedure that ended his 2024 season.

It’s not hard to draw a straight line from Winn’s heavy workload and the decision to call on him for a third day in a row to the elbow discomfort that cropped up in the days since.

Any regrets from Vitello, however, had more to do with the three runs Winn surrendered in the loss than whatever possible effect the outing had on his health.

“I think more than anything we just wish we would have done anything differently to win the game,” Vitello said. “Anytime we have a guy that’s available down there, it means he’s available to go and feels good to go.”

Before every game, Vitello holds a meeting with his pitching coaches and medical staff to determine who is and isn’t available that day. Winn, in the past, has passed along when he wasn’t feeling physically up to pitch, but he didn’t raise any issues Monday, Vitello said.

One arm ruled out through the pregame process was Caleb Kilian, who had also pitched the previous two games in Chicago — but had only thrown 23 pitches between them, compared to 41 exhausted by Winn in the same games.

While Kilian became the first to be formally named the closer by Vitello on Friday, Winn had been regarded as the Giants’ closer internally up until his Monday outing, a club source said.

“At the end of the game, if we got to him, that’s who we were going to use,” Vitello said.

The decision came down to asking Winn to push his body to new limits or Webb to push his pitch count into uncomfortable territory in only his third start back from the injured list.

Vitello asked Webb: “Are you good?”

Webb responded: “It’s up to you. It’s your decision.”

A manager is only as good as the players on his roster and the information at his disposal, but part of the job also means bearing the brunt of the blame when decisions go awry.

Vitello was asked if he saw a correlation between Winn’s usage and his elbow pain.

“I think part of it is the nature of the split-finger, to be honest with you,” he said.

It’s impossible to know whether Webb would have been able to go the distance, though the smart money is on yes. Either way, Winn was put in a position he wasn’t able to handle.

Now, the Giants can only sit and wait and hope a third elbow surgery isn’t in his future.

Another Sunday, another opener against a lineup that I do not like the White Sox facing.

In tense but rewarding fashion, my worries went for naught, as an explosive six-run sixth inning broke the spell of Dodgers pitching on the Sox offense, leading them to a 6-4 comeback win that pushes the Sox back to a season-best six games better than .500, at 38-32.

If things go well, we are perhaps a week or two out from the 2026 White Sox surpassing their entire record-setting win total from 2024. Get out your pots and pans, folks.

I spent the entire first half of the game waffling over whether Will Venable’s planning and execution of the opener/bulk man strategy was well-conceived. I’m on the record as being extremely skeptical of the current coaching staff’s preoccupation with seemingly arbitrary platoon matchups. Erick Fedde has a reverse platoon split this season, and has been more or less neutral over the course of his career. If you stripped the names away and purely showed me the numbers, I probably would have said that using an opener was a pointless endeavor.

But as some of my colleagues pointed out, the typical scenario doesn’t account for the fact that the run of lefty hitters this would be employed against includes Shohei Ohtani, MLB RBI leader Andy Pages, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Kyle Tucker and former Top 3o prospect Dalton Rushing, almost in that order. The worst hitter in that group is second in the NL in rWAR. It’s a gauntlet straight out of Out of the Park Baseball.

Still, I thought that if Fedde, who entered the game with a 4.69 ERA (roughly 10% worse than league average), is going to take the bulk of the innings for the afternoon, it probably doesn’t matter whether he starts the game on the mound or appears in the fourth inning — he’s still going to have to get through that modern-day Murderer’s Row twice.

The latter is what we got. Bryan Hudson was tasked with handing the opening trio of Ohtani, Pages and Freeman. For the second straight week, a Sox opener failed to fully justify the platoon advantage. Freeman is undoubtedly worse against lefties than righties. That knowledge was still of little comfort when the future Hall-of-Famer drilled one into the right field bleachers for a 1-0 Dodgers lead:

Fortunately, most of my concerns turned out to be moot. The fact that Fedde only had to face Ohtani and Freeman once in his 3 1/3 innings of work gave the Sox offense critical time to engineer yet another thrilling comeback.

Part of why it happened is that Sean Newcomb was pretty nasty, and he continues to live up to the $4.5 million deal he signed last offseason. The only baserunner he allowed in 2 1/3 innings was self-inflicted, striking out four of the other six batters he faced. Getting Freeman out this time to conclude that stretch set up Fedde to finally enter the game to face Mookie Betts with one out in the fourth inning. When it looked like the Sox were on the verge of falling into an early hole, Newcomb was outstanding in keeping the Dodgers offense at bay long enough for Sox hitters to settle in.

While the Sox had to expend a lot of brainpower trying to navigate the opposing lineup with the state of their pitching staff, the Dodgers had no such concerns. Emmet Sheehan came out dealing for the former Brooklynites, sitting 95 mph on his rising heather and commanding three secondary pitches quite well. He lasted until the fifth inning before allowing a base knock, a double down the line from Colson Montgomery.

Through five innings, we were looking at a grand total of two hits for the Sox over their prior 18 innings. Sheehan looked untouchable.

In perhaps another vindication of the opener strategy, it was the third time through the lineup that turned out to be Sheehan’s undoing. Sheehan’s control took just the slightest dip as his pitch count climbed, and after hitting the ball hard into outs the first time through, Sox hitters simply didn’t miss when they got their third look. They homered three times in the sixth inning, chasing Sheehan from the ballgame and turning a 1-0 deficit into an improbable 6-1 lead.

As has often been the case this spring, the critical spark for the Pale House came courtesy of Sam Antonacci, who led off the sixth by slamming his second home run of the season, and the first one that actually flew over the fence. It wasn’t a cheap one — at 105 mph and 415 feet, Statcast tells us that it would’ve left the yard in every ballpark in The Show.

It wasn’t just Antonacci that suddenly began seeing Sheehan like he got a new pair of glasses. Momentum built, as Miguel Vargas smoked a single and double at triple-digit velocities. Benintendi’s double gave the Sox a 2-1 lead, and Colson Montgomery subsequently doubled it. Sheehan had already failed to sneak fastballs by Colson earlier in the game to the tune of that postgame show-cancelling double, and the Sox shortstop didn’t miss even in the slightest again, with his towering blast also breaking 400 feet.

Finally, Chase Meidroth joined the party with an opposite field wall-scraper, his sixth longball of 2026. It was the first oppo homer of Meidroth’s career — all 10 of his previous dingers had come to the pull side. At the end of the inning, it was a 6-1 Sox lead, and the Dodgers lineup had to deal with Grant Taylor.

While I initially thought from his pitch mix that Fedde probably would not even pitch in a traditional bulk man — how funny that phrase would have felt a decade ago — role. He threw pretty much no fastballs his first time through the order, relying almost entirely on his sweeper and changeup. That’s not the pitch mix of someone who’s concerned about establishing the fastball in order to take advantage of their secondary stuff the second and third time through the order.

To some degree, that was a correct assessment. Fedde finished with 2 2/3 innings of work, just an out more than what Newcomb recorded as an “opener.” But despite allowing three hits and two walks in his brief time in the game, Fedde got outs where it counted. The grand sixth inning comeback simply would not have been possible had he not displayed the guts to keep his team in the game.

The Dodgers did have an opportunity to mount a comeback against Taylor. Dalton Rushing came home to score after a double to lead off the inning, but that was the only baserunner that Taylor ceded.

It seems worth noting that the Sox coaching staff seems to be stepping up the 24-year-old’s workload as of late. The Dodgers tacked on another run on a Mookie Betts dinger during Taylor’s second inning of work, swelling his ERA all the way up to 2.18. It’s third time in his last four outings that Taylor has been trusted to work multiple innings, bringing his innings total to 36 2/3 on the season, on pace to fall a few innings short of the stated goal of a century.

Despite today’s bumpy outing, his strikeout-to-walk ratio of 51:9 remains impeccable.

Los Angeles relievers largely did their job in keeping Sox bats quiet the rest of the way. After lefty Jack Dreyer was victimized by Meidroth, Blake Treinen and Jonathan Hernandez took care of business in the seventh and eighth. That left the ball in the hands of Seranthony Domínguez to close things out.

I suffered a few moments of true despair as Domínguez issued a four-pitch walk to begin the inning and the dread of a full last-minute recap rewrite arrived like a sudden thunderstorm. As the clouds crept closer with a double and a four-pitch walk, infield defense bailed out the team for what feels like the 10th time this year. A heads up 4-6 putout on a sliding snag up the middle by Chase Meidroth got the Sox within an out, and Domínguez managed to shut the door with a dramatic punchout of Freddie Freeman to secure the dramatic victory and series win.

That makes consecutive series wins against two of the three occupants of first place in the National League. It may be safe to say that critics can no longer point to the state of the AL Central in writing off the potential of this Sox squad. Bob Nightengale reported today that Chris Getz and Co. may be aggressive at the trade deadline. If these South Siders can pull off another two wins in the Bronx against the Yankees, it may be time to take the training wheels off and commit to the idea that they could actually do something in 2026, arriving early or no.

That first game in New York begins at 6:05 p.m. CT, with the South Siders off tomorrow before starting their road trip with a bona fide ace-off as Gerrit Cole steps up for the Yankees against the unstoppable Davis Martin. It’ll be followed up by old friend Carlos Rodón, and with Tarik Skubal lined up to go for Detroit on Friday, the Sox are ready for perhaps their single most challenging week of the season. Win or lose, we’ll see you there!

In what could be a future playoff matchup, the Milwaukee Brewers take the rubber match behind two home runs from Blake Perkins and Jackson Chourio to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0.

Facing the reigning National League Player of the Month? No problem. Chourio opened the home half of the first inning with a lead-off home run to continue his hot week at the plate. With that long ball, it was not only his second career lead-off home run, but he now has five home runs and 10 RBIs over his last seven games. With that, he brings his season batting average up to .322 and his OPS to an outstanding .942 mark.

It was a battle of two potential Cy Young candidates at American Family Field as Kyle Harrison and Cristopher Sánchez faced off against each other. All eyes were on Harrison as he looked to bounce back after his short-lived outing in Las Vegas last Monday. He looked more like himself as he worked six scoreless frames while striking out three and only allowing three hits, with no walks allowed for the cherry on top.

Now that the first series of the homestand is over, the pitching staff no doubt figured out the recipe for success against the top third of the lineup against the Phillies. Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper combined to go six-for-35 with 14 strikeouts, two walks, one RBI, and no extra-base hits. In fact, Schwarber had five of the six hits for the top of the lineup.

In our game discussion, we referenced the success Blake Perkins has had against Sánchez over his career, noting that he’s been perfect with a handful of RBIs. Though in seasons past he’s been a bit more consistent at the plate than he has this season, it carried into today’s series finale in a powerful way.

Entering today’s game with a .111 batting average on the season, Perkins unleashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend the crew’s lead to 4-0. He’d later smash a double to make it a two-hit performance on the day with three RBIs. Perkins has quietly been playing better over the last week, as he has four hits with four RBIs in nine at-bats.

Overall on the day, the Brewers finished with 10 hits, making it six out of their last eight games with at least 10 hits as a team. Furthermore, the Crew was able to limit the strikeouts against a strikeout-heavy pitcher with only five on the day.

The Brewers will enjoy a much-needed off day tomorrow before they’re back in action on Tuesday to take on the Cleveland Guardians in a three-game series.

TORONTO — The Yankees experienced plenty of drama at Rogers Centre last year, and in most cases, it did not end well for them.

In their first trip here this season, they found the good kind of drama and came away with a series win.

For the second straight day, the Yankees broke a tie in the top of the ninth with a two-run homer — this one from Ben Rice — before piling on to take the rubber game with an 8-3 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.

After Rice’s clutch moonshot, the Yankees (43-27) kept the rally going, culminating in a three-run shot from José Caballero to put the game on ice and send them home flying high off a 5-1 trip.

It will take more than one series in June to avenge what happened last year, when the Yankees went 1-8 north of the border and saw the Blue Jays (34-38) fly past them on the way to the World Series, but it was a start.

“Chip on our shoulder, and we don’t like those guys over there, they don’t like us,” said Will Warren, who labored through four innings but limited the damage to two runs. “Finding any way to win is a good one, especially on the road.”

The Yankees, who secured their first series win at Rogers Centre since 2023, have now won seven games this season in which the winning run scored in the ninth inning — three of them on this six-game trip.

“It just speaks to the mentality of the group,” Rice said. “Feel like everyone’s got that next-man-up mentality and regardless of who is on the mound or the situation, is going to go up there and put together a quality at-bat.”

Paul Goldschmidt, who delivered the go-ahead blast in Saturday’s win, started the ninth-inning rally Sunday with a swinging bunt down the third base line. Blue Jays reliever Braydon Fisher tried to make a wild play and got off an ill-advised throw that ended up down the right field line, allowing Goldschmidt to take second.

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Rice then worked a full count before getting a slider on the inside corner that he clobbered for his team-leading 19th home run of the season.

Aaron Boone said he told Rice after the go-ahead blast that he had taken some “bad swings today,” but he was “right on time for that last one.”

“I think he’s being friendly there,” Rice said with a grin. “There definitely were some swings that weren’t very convicted on my end. So to finish the day on a good one like that feels nice.”

After walks by Jasson Domínguez and Jazz Chisholm Jr., Caballero provided breathing room by taking Tommy Nance deep, capping a day in which he played three different positions, got into an argument with the home plate umpire and then sent a ball 420 feet.

Anthony Volpe also enjoyed a strong all-around day, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and some strong defense at shortstop. He put the Yankees up 1-0 in the second inning when he singled home Max Schuemann, who had doubled off left-hander Patrick Corbin, and then came around to score on Ali Sánchez’s RBI double — Sánchez’s first hit as a Yankee and the first RBI from a Yankee catcher since May 26.

After the Blue Jays tied it off Warren with single runs in the third and fourth innings on a barrage of well-placed singles — “Blue Jays are going to Blue Jay,” Warren said with a grin — Volpe put the Yankees back on top 3-2 in the sixth with another RBI single.

The lead did not last long, as Jake Bird gave up a solo shot to Davis Schneider in the bottom of the frame, but unlike last season, the Yankees got the last laugh before heading back home.

“It feels good to shake hands and be celebrating a win in here, which obviously that was very difficult for us in this building last year,” Boone said. “It is a new year, you’ve got to keep going all the time. But what a good finish to an outstanding road trip against a couple good teams heading into the off day.”