Category: Baseball

A new series means a fresh start. After losing two out of three against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Athletics began a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Tupac bobblehead night at Camden Yards. The A’s ruined the Orioles’ Tupac celebration, winning the first game of the series 4-3, thanks to timely hitting, arguably Jacob Lopez’s best start of the season and a bullpen that bent, but did not break.

Orioles Waste Early Scoring Chance

Yesterday, the A’s scored four times in the first inning against the Phillies’ pitcher. In contrast, Orioles’ starting pitcher Kyle Bradish retired the first six A’s hitters.

His counterpart, A’s left-hander Jacob Lopez got into some trouble in his first inning. He walked Orioles’ shortstop Gunnar Henderson and then catcher Adley Rutschman singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Somehow Lopez escaped the early jam unscathed by getting first baseman Pete Alonso to pop out and then right fielder Tyler O’Neill to ground out. Buoyed by that escape, Lopez shut down the Orioles over the next three innings.

Bradish Halts A’s First Rally

With two outs in the third inning, Bradish hit Jeff McNeil with a pitch then A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz hustled down the line to beat the Orioles third baseman’s throw for an infield single, his team’s first hit of the game. Kurtz’s hit extended his on-base streak to 32 games, the longest active streak in MLB. Alas, Bradish struck out A’s catcher Shea Langeliers to end the rally and the inning.

Orioles Strike First

With one out in the fourth, Alonso hit his eighth home run of 2026, a solo shot to right field to put the hosts up 1-0 after four frames. The four hitters in that inning all hit deep fly balls off of Lopez, but fortunately only Alonso’s reached the seats.

A’s Immediately Respond

Athletics’ shortstop Jacob Wilson led off the fifth with an infield single, extending his hit streak to 12 games. Center fielder Lawrence Butler followed with a single to left. Then third baseman Zack Gelof came up and hit a single to left, scoring Wilson to tie the game.

A few pitches later, with runners on second and third and one out, Kurtz came through! The “Big Amish” hit his first triple of the season, a rocket down the right field line that scored both runners to put the A’s up 3-1.

Unfortunately, the visitors stranded Kurtz at third base. Bradish got the next two hitters out to limit further damage. Langeliers struck out for a second straight time with a runner in scoring position and then left fielder Tyler Soderstrom grounded out.

Lopez, who has struggled this season the deeper he pitches into games, recorded a much-needed shutdown inning in the bottom of the fifth.

Orioles Inch Closer

In the bottom of the sixth, the Orioles halved their deficit. Rutschman hit his fifth home run of the season, a solo blast to left-center. A’s manager Mark Kotsay promptly pulled his starter from the game. Lopez performed much better tonight. He gave up three hits and those two solo home runs in 5 1/3 innings, striking out five while walking only two.

The Orioles starter was also much improved from his last start. Bradish struck out ten over seven innings of three-run ball.

It was up to the A’s bullpen to hold the team’s slim lead. Right-hander Justin Sterner got the final two outs of the sixth inning, aided by Wilson’s nice ranging defensive play to field Alonso’s hard-hit ground ball. Fellow right-hander Scott Barlow set Baltimore down in order in a scoreless seventh.

A’s Get Crucial Insurance Run

In the eighth inning, the Athletics sought insurance runs against Orioles’ reliever Trey Gibson. Langeliers and Brent Rooker singled. With two outs, Wilson poked his second single past the diving Alonso, scoring Soderstrom from second to restore his team’s two-run lead.

Once again, the A’s needed a shutdown inning and they got it, this time from reliever Joel Kuhnel, who got three quick outs in the bottom of the eighth.

A’s Barely Hang on

The Orioles did not go quietly in the bottom of the ninth. A’s hard-throwing right-hander Jack Perkins entered the game seeking his fourth save. Rutschman led off the inning with a walk. Perkins bounced back by striking out Alonso and pinch-hitter Dylan Beavers. With the Orioles down to their last strike, designated hitter Samuel Basallo bounced a single into center field, scoring Rutschman from second to make it a one-run game.

The A’s brought in left-hander Hogan Harris to replace Perkins, a risky decision that could have backfired. Harris walked the first batter he faced before striking out Orioles’ second baseman Jeremiah Jackson to put a stop to Baltimore’s last-ditch comeback attempt, pick up his second save of the season and seal the Athletics victory in this tightly-contested, entertaining series-opener.

These two teams will play the second game of their series tomorrow afternoon. The A’s will send right-hander Aaron Civale (3-1, 2.95 ERA) to the mound in pursuit of the series title. The 30-year-old has been a steadying presence in the team’s rotation through his first seven starts with the A’s. Civale will be opposed by Orioles’ right-hander Shane Baz, who is 1-3 with a 4.99 ERA through his first seven starts with Baltimore. It should be another great game between two well-matched teams.

The big story for the Yankees going into Friday night’s matchup against the Brewers was the debut of Spencer Jones. The outfielder is a former first round pick and has some intriguing tools, including massive power. However, we didn’t get to see any of that in his debut, because, unfortunately, other teams are allowed to have young talent too.

On the mound for the Brewers was their young ace Jacob Misiorowski, who the Yankees were facing for the first time. In this particular game, they had no answers for this newest puzzle. Regularly topping 100 MPH all night, Misiorowski ended up going six innings, striking out a peronal season-best 11 Yankees, while giving up just two hits and two walks.

Jones did end up drawing one of those walks, but other than that, it was an uneventful game for him and an uneventful one for the Yankees in general. Misiorowski and the Brewers blanked them, as Milwaukee won the series opener 6-0.

With Misiorowski throwing fireballs, the Brewers gave him an advantage verus Fried in the second inning. While fomer Yankee Gary Sánchez led off the inning with a single, Fried then hurt himself by walking the next two batters to load the bases with no outs. Brandon Lockridge and Sal Frelick then hit a couple of soft singles, scoring a run each. While Fried then finally got an out, it came on a grounder that scored one run, and moved another runner to third, where they scored on another weak single. Fried then bounced back with two strikeouts, but plenty of damage had been done. Milwaukee added more the following inning when Lockridge hit another RBI single.

The top of the fourth saw an unfortunate moment, as Lockridge — who is a former Yankees’ prospect — slammed his knee into the bottom concrete part of the wall in the left field foul territory. It evoked memories of former Yankee Dustin Fowler, as Lockridge was carted off the field.

After the bumps in the second and third innings, Fried did settle in and at least soaked up some innings. He ended up going six frames, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks. He wasn’t particularly sharp, but he did also get bit by just some unfortunate contact.

The main issue with the game was that the Yankees just had no answer for Misiorowski. The young star ended up allowing just two hits while he was in, both singles to José Caballero. That’s just never going to be enough, no matter how good or bad Fried was doing.

The Yankees also gave another debut — this one not an MLB one, though — to reliever Kervin Castro, who they called up alongside Jones. He gave up one further run, as the Brewers picked up some insurance in the seventh inning. However, he came back in the eighth and looked better. Castro ended up striking out two batters in his two innings.

For the day, Jones ended up going 0-for-2 with two walks, while striking out twice. Swinging and missing is the major question mark surrounding Jones, but Misiorowski was making pretty much every Yankee hitter doing that all night.

The Yankees and Brewers will continue their matchup tomorrow night at 7:10 pm ET. The Yankees will get to send their young stud to the hill in that one, as Cam Schlittler and Kyle Harrison are penciled in to be the respective starters in that one.

Box Score

Back when Ronald Acuña Jr. was initially diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, there was a feeling that Acuña’s stint on the IL might be a quick one — one where the starting right fielder for the Braves would simply just take some rest before ramping back up for a return within a 10-day span.

The fact that Acuña was in high enough spirits to be trolling his good buddy Ozzie Albies back in Colorado appeared to be anecdotal evidence that he was going to be fine and that this wouldn’t be a serious injury situation and now that does appear to be the case. Mark Bowman of MLB.com shared the news from Braves manager Walt Weiss that there’s a very good chance that Acuña could be back in action on this coming Wednesday, which would be the first day where he’s eligible to come off of the IL.

It also helped that Acuña was on the field before tonight’s game against the Dodgers getting in some exercise work.

Needless to say, this is very good news for the Braves as it really does appear that they could be getting their primary right fielder back in action as soon as possible. Usually it’s safe to assume that this is the type of injury that’ll take anywhere from 2-to-3 weeks to recover from so the fact that Acuña may be back in 10 days is a very positive development. I’d imagine that they’ll take it easy with bringing Acuña back into the fold once h is activated but the fact that this could be just 10 days after all is pretty solid news.

Hopefully there aren’t any more setbacks for Acuña between now and Wednesday so that this could come to pass. For now, the Braves can keep going knowing that it probably won’t be long until they get one of their star players back from injury. We’ll see what happens.

The Philadelphia Phillies (17-22) overcame a six-run deficit to come all the way back to take their series opener against the visiting Colorado Rockies (16-23) to extra innings, only to let it slip away for a 9-7 defeat.

Jesus Luzardo dug a huge hole with a nightmare fourth inning, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks. Prior to that, he gave up one run on two hits and struck out six, including the whole side in the third.

Kyle Schwarber got the Phillies on the board with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth. A JT Realmuto RBI double cut the deficit to four but the Rockies would get that run right back on a Tyler Freeman home run in the top of the seventh.

Don Mattingly was seemingly waving the white flag by pitching his closer, Jhoan Duran, in the eighth inning to just get some work in after his return from the injured list.

But the offense had a five-run rally of their own in store for the bottom of the eighth, bringing eight batters to the plate. Bryce Harper got the fun started with a leadoff single and came home to score on a hit by Brandon Marsh. Bryson Stott hit an RBI double, his fifth extra-base hit in the month of May after tallying only four in April.

The rally was punctuated by a game-tying two-run homer by Justin Crawford, the first of several in his career.

Jose Alvarado held the ninth but the top of the order couldn’t crack Rockies’ closer, Victor Vodnik, so onto the tenth we went. 

Orion Kerkering allowed a one-out single which put the ghost runner on third base, but he worked out of the jam with a pop fly by Mickey Moniak and a punchout of Willi Castro.

After intentionally walking Marsh to start the frame, Vodnik again retired the heart of the order with little resistance.

Brad Keller came on in the top of the eleventh and allowed the go-ahead run to score on his second pitch, a double down the right field line by Troy Johnston. Johnston scored two batters later on a single by Jake McCarthy to cap off the victory.

Crawford legged out an infield dribbler to lead off the bottom of the eleventh and Edmundo Sosa made it to third on a Trea Turner fly out, but Schwarber and Harper couldn’t finish it off.

Harper reached base four times with two hits and two walks, raising his OBP to .382. Marsh also had two walks to go along with his RBI single, and Crawford had his second three-hit game of the year.

Turner and Sosa were the only members of the lineup to fail to reach base, each going 0-5 at the dish.

Aaron Nola will face off against Rockies’ left-hander, Kyle Freeland, tomorrow night in the middle game of the series.

After a nice Thursday off day, the Tigers are in Kansas City hoping to get some games back in the AL Central and push their way back towards first. The AL Central is an extremely tight race at the moment, so every game really does count, even this early in the year. The Tigers had Keider Montero on the mound, up against Kris Bubic for the Royals. Detroit is still trying to find out what their pitching rotation is going to look like as they come to terms with major pitching losses, so we’ll see how things pan out over the coming week to get an idea of A.J. Hinch’s plans.

With one out in the top of the first, Kevin McGonigle got a walk. After another out, he successfully stole second. His hustle was admirable, but ultimately didn’t help, as the next at-bat was a groundout to end the inning. In the home half Montero got the Royals out in order.

Riley Greene got the second started with a double. Wenceel Perez then singled, but Greene was held at third. With men on the corners, Spencer Torkelson came up to bat and hit into a double play, but the Tigers managed to score their first run of the game, getting Greene home. They’d have to settle for just the one run, but it gave them an early lead. With two outs in the home half, Jac Caglianone doubled. Then Isaac Collins singled, bringing Caglianone home and tying up the game.

Freshly re-signed Zack Short got a leadoff walk to get the third started. McGonigle then grounded into a force out, eliminating Short. A wild pitch let McGonigle advance to second. Once again, though, McGonigle’s great baserunning wasn’t rewarded as a groundout ended the inning. In the home half, the Royals went 1-2-3.

Riley Greene continued to be a workhorse, reaching first on a fumbled catch by Vinnie Pasquantino. It was ruled a single but I’m pretty sure it was an error. Montero got the Royals out three-up, three-down, that’s seven Royals in a row, if you want the running count. A pretty nice game thus far for Montero.

In the top of the fifth, Short got another walk, this time with one out in the inning. He was then eliminated again in a force-out off the bat of Matt Vierling. The Tigers weren’t able to convert the baserunner, however. So far the teams have been very well-balanced in this game, which is great, but also scoring runs is fun, let’s do more of that. It was another 1-2-3 for Montero in the bottom of the inning.

For the first batter of the sixth, Jahmai Jones drew a walk, but Bubic challenged the call. The call was upheld as ball four. Jones was then eliminated in a force out off the bat of Dillon Dingler (stop me if you’ve heard this series of events before). With two outs, Wenceel Perez doubled and Dingler was able to get all the way home, and was safe largely because catcher Carter Jensen very literally dropped the ball before attempting to tag Dingler. It was a very hectic-feeling play, but the Tigers came out ahead with the run.

Bubic’s day was done after that, and he was replaced by Nick Mears. Spencer Torkelson then doubled into deep left, bringing home Perez.

The Tigers would settle for two, but given the pace of the game, those two runs would likely be very, very relevant. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Bobby Witt Jr. singled, the first time the Royals got a baserunner on since the second. Pasquantino then walked. Montero was definitely starting to look shaky at this point, throwing some pitches way out of the zone, repeatedly asking for signs, just looking very uneasy. He did manage to induce the final out of the inning, though, and that was likely his last batter for the night. His final line was 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K on 71 pitches. A pretty solid outing for him overall.

Luinder Avila was the new Royals pitcher in the mix in the top of the seventh. Matt Vierling got a one-out double. He was ultimately left stranded, however. Tyler Holton came out of the Tigers’ bullpen in the bottom of the inning and he got the Royals out in order.

John Schreiber was the next Royals pitcher. With one out, Riley Greene singled right between two diving fielders to get on first. That would be the only baserunner the Tigers would get for the inning. In the home half, Kyle Finnegan came on. The first thing he did was give up a leadoff double to Michael Massey. Kyle Isbel singled, scoring Massey, but because of a fielding error where Wenceel Perez simply couldn’t find the ball, sent Isbel to third. Then Maikal Garcia came in, singled, and scored Isbel to tie the game. On what would have been the first out of the inning for the Tigers, the Royals challenged the third strike call and it was ruled to be a ball, sending Bobby Witt Jr. to first. That was it for Finnegan, who was replaced by Brant Hurter. He induced a double play and helped cover first to get the job done. Salvador Perez walked, but a groundout did end the inning. The game headed to the ninth in a tie.

Lucas Erceg, the Royals closer, came in for the ninth. Zach McKinstry got a leadoff double. Zack Short then popped out into the infield, but this resulted in a pause in the game as Erceg and new catcher Elias Diaz collided hard to try getting the pop-up bunt near home. McGonigle battled out a two-out walk, but Colt Keith then popped out to end the inning. With two outs, Nick Loftin doubled off of Hurter. Then Isbel singled to score Loftin and walk off the game with a Royals’ win.

Better luck tomorrow, guys.

Final: Royals 4, Tigers 3

MILWAUKEE — The buzz leading up to Friday’s game was all about Spencer Jones. 

The buzz, zip and pop during it was all about another 2022 draft pick: Jacob Misiorowski. 

The Brewers flamethrower overshadowed Jones’ MLB debut, dominating the Yankees with an overpowering fastball and handing them a 6-0 loss in the interleague series opener. 

Jones went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and a walk, one of just four baserunners that Misorowski allowed across six shutout innings in which he struck out 11. The Yankees (26-13) only mustered two hits off him — a pair of singles by José Caballero — as Misiorowski cooled off what had been a red-hot offense. 

“He’s got an electric fastball,” Jones said. “I guess I’ve never seen pitches that hard in my life. Being able to foul off a couple is pretty great, so I’ll take that for now.” 

Max Fried, meanwhile, lost his command in a 40-pitch second inning and paid for it, giving up a four spot. The left-hander went on to make it through six innings, but the damage was already done as the Brewers (20-16) leaned on Misiorowski. 

“I didn’t do my job to be able to keep us in it and allow our offense to string a few together,” Fried said. “It just made it a little bit uncompetitive.” 

After the Yankees selected Jones with the 25th-overall pick in 2022, the Brewers nabbed Misiorowski 38 picks later. The 6-foot-7 right-hander made his MLB debut last season and has come out of the gates this year pitching like one of the game’s best. 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

In the first inning Friday, that included making some history. Facing Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Aaron Judge, Misiorowski threw 10 pitches to retire the side — striking out Grisham and Rice on three pitches each and getting Judge to fly out — five of which registered as the five fastest pitches recorded by a starter during the tracking era (dating back to 2008).

They came in at 103.6, 103.5, 103.3, 103.3 and 103.2 mph during an inning in which his slowest pitch was a 102.3 mph fastball. 

“Obviously he was good and got a lead and was able to get after it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s that lower slot that he has and gets the extension, almost more so than the velocity. I thought there were a couple times we were getting some good at-bats against him and controlling the zone a little bit. But he had that big lead and got after it pretty good.” 

The 24-year-old Misiorowski did not let up much from there. He hit 103.6 mph twice more — both on pitches to Jones while averaging 101.1 mph on 57 four-seam fastballs. He combined that with a slider (that averaged 95.6 mph), a curveball and a changeup to stifle a Yankees lineup that had scored at least seven runs in six of its last seven games and outscored opponents 123-52 over its last 19 games. 

The Yankees’ best chance against Misiorowski came in the fifth inning, when Jones drew a one-out walk and Caballero followed with a single. But Misiorowski got Austin Wells looking at a 100 mph heater and Ryan McMahon whiffing at a 101 mph heater to squash the threat. 

Fried made quick work of the Brewers with a nine-pitch first inning but then got into trouble in the bottom of the second. He gave up a leadoff single to ex-Yankee Gary Sanchez before walking the next two batters on eight straight balls (his third walk, later in the game, also came on four pitches). 

The Brewers then put four straight balls in play, none hit particularly hard but in the right spots for three singles — including one from former Yankees farmhand Brandon Lockridge, who added another RBI single in the third inning before leaving the game in the fourth on a cart after smashing his knee into the left field wall on a sliding attempt to catch a foul fly ball — and a fielder’s choice that turned into a 4-0 lead. 

By that point, Jake Bird had begun to warm up, but Fried came back to strike out the next two batters — if he had not gotten the last batter out, Boone was going to give him the hook — to make sure he did not leave his bullpen out to dry after it had to cover 14 innings between Wednesday and Thursday. 

“That was kind of the game right there [in the second inning],” Fried said. “I needed to be able to come through and wasn’t able to do it.”

Mariners 12, White Sox 8

The gusto with which Aaron Goldsmith introduces an in-game ad from Washington’s beef farmers and ranchers: Luke Raley, +0.43 WPA
The gusto with which Rick Griffin would recommend proton therapy: Brendan Donovan, -0.14 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jacob Misiorowski reached 103 mph on 10 pitches while pitching two-hit ball over six innings and Brandon Lockridge hit two RBI singles before getting carted off the field in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 6-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night.

Misiorowski reached a peak velocity of 103.6 mph and struck out 12 and walked two in his second straight sensational start. Misiorowski had a no-hit bid through 5 1/3 innings before a hamstring cramp forced him out of a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals last week.

Lockridge left after his right knee crashed into an unpadded section of the left-field wall as he chased a foul ball from Cody Bellinger in the fourth inning.

The Brewers, who were in the American League through the 1997 season before moving over to the NL, shut out the Yankees for the first time since 1992.

Milwaukee’s Shane Drohan worked the three innings to earn his first career save.

José Caballero had two of New York’s three hits as the Yankees opened a nine-game trip.

New York’s Spencer Jones struck out twice and walked once in his MLB debut, and Kervin Jones allowed one run over two innings in his Yankees debut. Ben Rice was 0-for-4 as he returned after missing four games with a bruised hand.

Milwaukee scored four runs off Max Fried (4-2) in the second inning.

Gary Sánchez hit a leadoff single, then Fried walked Andrew Vaughn and Luis Rengifo on eight straight balls.

Lockridge and Sal Frelick hit consecutive RBI singles, and Rengifo came home when Joey Ortiz grounded into a forceout. Jackson Chourio grounded a single up the middle to score Lockridge.

None of the singles had an exit velocity that exceeded 87.2 mph.

Before the game, the Brewers inducted Hall of Famers CC Sabathia and Dave Parker into their Wall of Honor. Sabathia went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts after joining Milwaukee in a July 2008 trade to lead the Brewers to their first playoff appearance since 1982. Parker won a Silver Slugger award in 1990, his lone season in Milwaukee.

Up next

Cam Schlittler (5-1, 1.52 ERA) pitches for the Yankees and Kyle Harrison (3-1, 2.12) starts for the Brewers on Saturday night.

Two things have been true about the Orioles this season: their defense is terrible, and they can’t hit lefties. Both of these issues were front and center in tonight’s loss to the Athletics. Starting pitcher Kyle Bradish was as good as he’s looked all year, but the offense managed just four hits against the A’s pitching staff. The end result, a 4-3 loss, is the Orioles’ seventh in their last nine games.

Bradish breezed through the first four innings. Three of those four innings were of the 1-2-3 variety. In the third, he hit a batter and allowed an infield single. Through four, Bradish had struck out six batters.

The only problem through four innings was that the A’s pitcher, Jacob Lopez, was giving the Orioles batters as tough a time as Bradish was giving the A’s. It was frustrating to watch as Lopez came into the game with a 6.60 ERA. The first inning started off in a promising way when Lopez walked Gunnar Henderson and gave up a single to Adley Rutschman. But with runners on the corners, neither Pete Alonso nor Tyler O’Neill could bring in a run.

The Orioles remembered that they do not hit lefties. Starting with the first-inning Alonso pop-out, Lopez retired nine straight. But when Alonso came back up in the fourth, he did not miss. On a first-pitch change up, Alonso went to the opposite field with a 107 mph laser. It just snuck inside the out of town scoreboard for his 8th home run of the year. The Orioles were up, 1-0. The lead did not last very long.

In the fifth, Bradish stumbled a little. And that, combined with the previously mentioned bad defense, was enough to put the Orioles in a hole. Jacob Wilson started the inning with a ground ball hit just 78.8 mph up the first base line. Alonso was playing well off the line and managed to get a glove on it with a diving stop, but couldn’t come up with the ball.

Ok, no big deal. Bradish has been dealing after all. The next batter, Lawrence Butler, hit another soft ball that fell into left field for another single. It was then that the defense decided to rear its ugly head. Manager Craig Albernaz called for the corners to play in to defend against the bunt. But the A’s did not bunt and Zach Gelof grounded a ball past Gunnar Henderson, who had been moving towards third base on the pitch.

That play tied the game and left runners on first and second for Jeff McNeil. McNeil grounded a ball up the middle, right to where Henderson was playing. It looked like an easy double play ball, but the ball kicked off the heel of his glove. Jeremiah Jackson grabbed the deflected ball and got the out at first, but the runners moved up to second and third.

That brought Nick Kurtz to the plate, and finally Bradish gave up a hard hit. Kurtz lined a ball into the right field corner, where it rattled around a bit. Tyler O’Neill chased it down in what I wouldn’t call an efficient manner. Kurtz landed on third base with both runners knocked in. The A’s were up, 3-1.

After the fifth inning, Bradish went right back to dominating. He struck out two more in the sixth inning and worked around a two-out walk. His final inning, the seventh, was 1-2-3. Bradish struck out one more to finish the night with double digits. His final pitching line: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 10 K. I think with better defensive decisions and performance behind him, he would have allowed just one run.

Two runs down wasn’t that many, and Adley Rutschman got one back with a home run into the bullpen. His fifth homer of the year was a beaut, hit 100.9 mph off the bat. It landed 401 feet later in Yennier Cano’s glove. That cut the lead to one and drove Lopez out of the game. The Orioles got to him for just three hits and two walks, though two of those hits were homers. I had hoped for more against this pitcher.

With that, the game was turned over to the bullpens, and once again, the A’s prevailed.

For the Orioles, Trey Gibson came out of the ’pen. Gibson was just called up today when Cade Povich was placed on the injured list. He started the eighth inning and was greeted by Shea Langoliers, who smoked a ball to left field for a single. Gibson then induced a groundout back to himself. But he made a low throw to second base, which kept Henderson from being able to get the ball to first for the double play.

Brent Rooker followed with another hard hit single, then Gibson got a fly ball out and was one out from getting out of it. But Jacob Wilson slapped a ball to the right side that the diving Alonso couldn’t get. That drove in a run to make the score 4-2. Gibson followed with a scoreless ninth.

The A’s bullpen has been below average this year, but just like with Jacob Lopez, you’d never know watching tonight. Justin Sterner, and Scott Barlow followed Lopez with 2.2 perfect innings, which brought us to the bottom of the ninth. Jack Perkins was on to try for the save, scheduled to face Rutschman, Alonso, and O’Neill.

Adley continued to do Adley things. He worked a five-pitch walk. Unfortunately, Alonso did not do Alonso things. He struck out swinging. Dylan Beavers came on to pinch-hit for O’Neill and also struck out, with Rutschman moving up to second base on defensive indifference.

The Orioles were down to their final out with Samuel Basallo coming to the plate. Basallo hadn’t started the game, but pinch-hit for DH Coby Mayo in the seventh. He had a great at-bat, battling some before sending a ball back up the middle for an RBI single. Leody Taveras walked to put the winning run on base, but Jeremiah Jackson couldn’t come through.

It was an exciting ending, but a loss all the same. Orioles lose, 4-3. These two teams are back in action tomorrow at 4 p.m. with Shane Baz facing off against Aaron Civale.

Let’s do a little dive into what I think was the most important frame of the entire ballgame.

Top of the third inning, things could have gone off the rails and fast. Nick Fortes leads off with an infield single—advancing to second on a balk by Connelly Early. Taylor Walls loops a single to left field on a pitch that leaks a little back towards the middle of the plate with some cut, and Yandy Diaz gets hit on a back foot curve to load the bases.

This could have been absolute chaos.

Early said no way. Ryan Vilade, sit back down on a nice strikeout to settle things down a hair. Junior Caminero then saved Boston’s skin. First pitch, bounding bouncer to Caleb Durbin: 5-4-3 double play. The Rays frankly didn’t threaten any other time in this ballgame.

Not only did this cool off Connelly Early, it completely changed his tempo. He dialed in and got six more strikeouts after that—eight total—and ate his way through seven frames.

You don’t need a ton of offense when your starter dominates like he did. Better rebound start for him and a nice Friday night win for the Red Sox.

Studs

Connelly Early (7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K)

Nuff said above. This was an absolutely stellar start for Early.

Ceddanne Rafaela (2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 R)

What a needed homer for Rafaela and a good game for the center fielder overall.

Wilyer Abreu (1-f0r-2, 1 RBI, 1 R, 2 BB)

Wilyer’s deadlock breaking solo shot is the longest home run of his career at 427 feet. Working two walks showcases how big a threat Abreu is at the dish.

Aroldis Chapman (1.0 IP, 2 K)

…how is he still this good? Did he drink the Tom Brady defy father time juice?

Duds

Masataka Yoshida (0-for-4)

Just an eh day but it happens! I’m starting to find a warm spot for Masa again.

Trevor Story (0-for-3, 3 Ks)

The hat trick of strikeouts drops Story’s season batting average to .199, and that’s a big yikes for this lineup.

Play of the Game

You don’t win if you don’t score!

The Freddie Freeman gauntlet weekend begins. Some lineup shuffling against tough lefty Chris Sale.

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Braves
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Atlanta Braves are about the face the biggest test of the season as they taking on the might Los Angeles Dodgers in a road game after losing their first series of the season and getting an off day.

Chris Sale will be taking the mound. Can we talk about how crazy it is that he gave up six earned runs in 4.0 innings in a game, yet still has a pristine ERA of 2.14? He has had one poor outing and every single other one he has been one of the best pitchers on planet Earth. He will be facing Emmet Sheehan, who is not exactly performing like he did last season. Sheehan currently has an ERA of 5.23 ERA. His expected ERA (xERA) of 4.31 is better than his on-field ERA, but it does give the Braves offense some hope. It also should be noted that the Braves are second in all of MLB in balls hit 95.0 MPH or higher and hard-hit rate is Sheehan’s biggest weakness.

Let’s keep up with the game together in the comments.

Get your caffeine ready as the game starts at 10:10 EDT

Lineup

Preview

Well, it wasn’t exactly the offensive explosion we’ve been waiting for but they got the win. Dylan Cease was phenomenal, taking the Angels lineup apart for seven innings without ever really getting into trouble. They needed to stop the losing streak, and they did enough tonight to do that.

Dylan Cease was exceptional tonight. He made it through three innings before allowing a base runner, picking up five K’s and three soft pop outs his first time through the order. Zach Neto lined a single to lead off the fourth, and Mike Trout crushed a grounder up the third base line that could have been a problem had Kazuma Okamoto not made a great grab to turn it into a double play ball. He gave up a single each in the fifth and sixth, but neither scored and he also racked up his sixth through eighth punch outs.

He got the first two batters in the seventh, but Jo Adell lofted a fly ball over Daulton Varsho’s head in centre that bounced over the fence for a ground rule double to give the Angels their first runner in scoring position of the night. Cease responded with his tenth strikeout. That would be the end of his night. He went seven shutout innings, scattering five hits. Importantly for him, he didn’t walk a batter and took only 97 pitches to get as deep as he did. This is the kind of outing the Jays hoped to see a dozen of a year when they paid him.

The offence was happy to wait out a wild Angels pitching staff, but when they did swing they didn’t generate a lot of hits. Reid Detmers battled his command all night, but it took the Jays offence a while to capitalize. Vladimir Guerrero jr. and Kazuma Okamoto worked back to back two out walks in the first but were stranded. In the second, Davis Schneider also walked and then stole second. He moved to third on a ground out but again was left on. Finally, in the third, they brought a couple home. George Springer lead off with a ground ball single up the middle. One batter later, Vlad won a challenge to earn his second walk of the evening. Okamoto singled up the middle himself to bring Springer around to score. Following a Varsho walk, Ernie Clement hit a sac fly that was just deep enough to get Vlad home, putting the Jays up 2-0.

Detmers’ pitch count was getting out of hand at that point. He returned to face the first four batters in the bottom of the fourth, getting two outs but walking Brandon Valenzuela and allowing Springer to reach on catcher’s interference. At that point, Kurt Suzuki called for Jose Fermin to face Vlad. Vlad hit one on a line but not that hard and right to Neto at short to end the inning. Fermin returned and struck out the first two Jays in the bottom of five. Clement hit a deep fly ball to the track in centre, but Trout was there to make the catch.

Brent Suter got two strikeouts in a clean sixth. In the seventh, after Kirby Yates got the first out pinch hitter Yohendrick Pinango lined a single into left field. A Yates balk advanced him to second. Vlad hit a one hopper that looked like it passed a few inches outside the third base bag, but it was called fair and Vlad was thrown out at third without running. Okamoto lined out to prevent them from adding the insurance run.

That looked like it might cost them in the top of the eighth. Jeff Hoffman gave up a lead off double to Vaughn Grissom, who advanced on a ground out. Hoffman pulled it together to get a pop out and a Trout K to escape.

Old friend Alek Manoah got the eighth for the Angels. In his first MLB appearance in almost two years, he got two pop ups and a strikeout to hold the margin at two.

Louis Varland picked up the save without much drama in the ninth.

Jays of the Day: Cease (0.40), Okamoto (0.10),

Less So: Nobody!

It’s a 3:07pm ET start tomorrow. Jack Kochanowicz (2-1, 3.05) will take the mount for the angels. For the Jays, Trey Yesavage (1-1, 0.96) will make his third start of the season.

It’s the start of a three-game series between the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hopefully it goes better than the last few series have gone.

For the Giants, lefty Robbie Ray will make his eighth start of the year. The two-time All-Star is 2-4 on the season, with a 2.95 ERA, a 4.47 FIP, and 40 strikeouts to 14 walks in 39.2 innings. He gave up three runs in 6.1 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays his last time out.

On the other side is right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski, a 27-year old in his fourth season. In seven games (six starts), Mlodzinski is 2-2 with a 4.76 ERA, a 2.49 FIP, and 40 strikeouts to 13 walks in 34 innings. After starting the season strong, he’s allowed five runs in each of his last three games.

Enjoy the game, everyone! Go Giants!

Lineups

Giants

1. Jung Hoo Lee — RF
2. Luis Arráez — 2B
3. Casey Schmitt — DH
4. Rafael Devers — 1B
5. Matt Chapman — 3B
6. Willy Adames — SS
7. Heliot Ramos — LF
8. Drew Gilbert — CF
9. Jesús Rodríguez — C

LHP. Robbie Ray

Pirates

1. Jared Triolo — 3B
2. Nick Gonzales — 2B
3. Bryan Reynolds — LF
4. Marcell Ozuna — DH
5. Oneil Cruz — CF
6. Konnor Griffin — SS
7. Joey Bart — C
8. Nick Yorke — 1B
9. Billy Cook — RF

RHP. Carmen Mlodzinski

Game #38

Who: San Francisco Giants (14-23) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (21-17)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 7:15 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area and KNTV

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers star Mookie Betts played five innings at shortstop and had a singled in his three at-bats for Triple-A Oklahoma City on a rehab assignment on Friday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. The tentative plan is for Betts to play two games for the Comets then return to Los Angeles and be activated on Monday, if all goes well.

“One part is to take six or seven at-bats, and feel good with his timing. Build up some endurance in playing defense, on both sides of the ball with the running piece,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday at Dodger Stadium. “Hopefully he gets tested where he doesn’t feel anything.”

Saturday marks five weeks since Betts strained his right oblique in Washington D.C., and on Friday he singled in the first inning for Oklahoma City before flying out to (old friend Chris Taylor in) right field and striking out.

It’s the first minor league game Betts has played since 2015 while with the Boston Red Sox. He’s since had injured list stints in 2018 (abdominal strain), 2021 (right hip inflammation), 2022 (right rib fracture), and 2024 (broken hand), and in each of those occasions used simulated games and batting practice as his rehab assignments.

“Once he gets back with us, we’re not going to run him out there every single day. There will probably be a couple days where he can get reintroduced to playing a lot,” Roberts said. “I’m going to count on Mookie. As long as he’s healthy, we’re better with him.”

Once Betts returns, whether it’s on Monday or some other date, one infielder will need to be sent down. Alex Freeland and Hyeseong Kim have minor league options, while veteran reserve Santiago Espinal does not.

“We’re going to have some hard conversations. But fortunately, we don’t have to have those until he does come back,” Roberts said. “As we’ve seen, these things can change quickly, so we’ll be prepared.”