Category: Baseball

87 hitters have taken 100 PA so far in AA leagues so far this season. The best batting line among them belongs to the Blue Jays’ 2024 fourth round draft pick, Sean Keys. Keys played his college ball at Bucknell, putting up ridiculous numbers against pretty pedestrian Patriot League competition. He popped a bit with excellent showings in summer wood bat leagues, particularly a brief cameo in the top tier Cape Cod League the summer before his draft season. After turning pro, he put up good-not-great surface level numbers in Dunedin and Vancouver. His advanced approach allowed him to wait out wild low minors pitchers, leading to big walk totals, but his power production was just solid. Underlying metrics suggested he was doing a lot of things right, though, and so far in 2025 a move up to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ lefty-power friendly Delta Dental Stadium has allowed the top line stats to catch up. Keys is hitting .310/.429/.667 with nine home runs in 24 games.

Keys’ offensive calling card is his power. His raw strength is solid average or a little better, but he has an uppercut swing that’s geared to pull balls hard in the air and might allow his game power production to come out as plus. Keys is a solidly built guy at 6’2” and 230lbs and can generate that power without selling out. It’s a simple swing, with just a small toe tap and a pretty direct path to the ball. This season, it looks like he’s quieted down his pre-swing movement in the box and opened his stance just a little. He can look a bit stiff, particularly in his two-handed follow-through, but he’s shown decent ability to get the bat on the ball. Last year his 78% contact rate was a bit above average. It’s fallen to 72% this year, partly because he’s gotten more aggressive but probably also because of better competition. He doesn’t have top tier bat speed, and good fastballs at the top of the zone can beat him. It’s possible the swing tweaks are an attempt to adjust to that. Whether he can reliably catch up to MLB calibre heat will be the biggest question on his offensive upside. If he can, he profiles as a low-ish average but solid OBP hitter who could produce 20-something home runs a season. He didn’t show a marked platoon split last year, but as a lefty he has the advantage of being the big side of a platoon if that ends up being his role.

Defensively, Keys’ only real long term home is at first base. He’s still mostly playing third, and his hands and arm actually look solid there, but he’s got a first base build and is a 30 grade runner. At some point probably just won’t have the range to stick at the hot corner. He has a reputation as a hard worker, and can probably be an above average glove at first with reps. He could probably also stand in left field, but again his speed would be a liability.

Keys is off to one of the most intriguing starts in the Jays’ system, and he has real tools to back it up. His 1.096 OPS is a bit of a caricature, but he’s also clearly better than the .773 he put up last season. Given his defensive limitations he’s unlikely to be a star, but he has everything he needs to be a dangerous bench bat in the near future, and everyday upside if he continues to regularly get to his power against higher level pitching.

Tuesday marked the first day Giancarlo Stanton was eligible to be activated off the 10-day injured list.

But it does not sound as if the veteran DH, dealing with a “low-grade” right calf strain, is actually close to a return.

Stanton has not yet started doing any kind of running, manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday, as the 36-year-old is still feeling the effects of the lingering calf issue.

“He’s doing OK, and he’s hit some,” Boone said before the Yankees beat the Rangers 7-4.

“[It’s lingering] a little bit. It still feels minor, but not ready to push it yet.”

When Stanton landed on the IL — four days after suffering the injury jogging between first and second base in an April 24 game against the Astros, with the club waiting to see if he might be able to avoid a stint — the Yankees were hoping it would be a shorter stay.

But Stanton has had a history of soft-tissue injuries in his legs, so they said they were not going to push anything to have it turn into something more significant.

In the meantime, Jasson Domínguez has mostly filled the DH role — after avoiding a serious elbow injury when he was hit by a pitch last Wednesday — entering Tuesday batting .273 with an .833 OPS in six games.

He went 0-for-4 in Wednesday’s win.

Ben Rice was out of the lineup for a second straight day Tuesday, still dealing with soreness from a left hand contusion he suffered Sunday.

The slugging first baseman was hoping to pick up a bat at some point Tuesday to see how much improvement he had made, but was mostly relegated to getting treatment.

“Better today,” Rice said before trying to swing.

Paul Goldschmidt started again at first base in Rice’s place and went 2-for-4 with a home run.

Carlos Rodón made his third and likely final rehab start Tuesday night with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre — throwing 85 pitches across 6 ¹/₃ innings in which he gave up six runs (five earned) — as long as everything goes well in the coming days.

Carlos Rodón's road back to the @Yankees rolls on.

The southpaw strikes out four over 6 1/3 innings during his third rehab start, first for the @swbrailriders. pic.twitter.com/k4uZNoDg8F

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) May 6, 2026

The plan is for the left-hander to make his next start with the Yankees, Boone said Tuesday, assuming he comes out of the start healthy as he finishes off his comeback from October surgery to remove loose bodies and shave down a bone spur in his left elbow.

“I’m up to do whatever they want me to do,” Rodón said at Polar Park. “I’ll be ready when they call my name. That would be great.”

Rodón said his stuff could have been crisper, but he got done what he wanted to get done in terms of increasing his workload.

Gerrit Cole also made a fourth rehab start Tuesday with High-A Hudson Valley — building up to 69 pitches while giving up five runs across 4 ¹/₃ innings — though there was nothing imminent in regards to his return as he goes through a longer comeback from Tommy John surgery.

“I don’t know for sure, but I still think he’s a little bit of ways away,” Boone said.

— Additional reporting by Dan Martin in Worcester, Mass.

The San Francisco Giants’ offense came to life on Tuesday, and it is critical that you understand that “come to life” is a relative term. Life, in living and breathing human being terms, may be binary, but in baseball parlance it is not.

For the Giants, coming to life means they scored exactly five runs, which marked just the 11th time they’ve done that through 36 games this year. It might not be a sign of life for the eight MLB teams that are averaging at least five runs per game.

But the issue with an offense that comes to life is that you never know whether its relationship with the other half of the game will be symbiotic or parasitic. Can life on offense beget life on the mound? Or must life on offense funnel life from a pitcher in order to stay alive?

On Tuesday, it was emphatically the latter. San Francisco’s life in the batter’s box, relative as it may be, came at the direct expense of their life throwing pitches. And the result was a 10-5 loss at the hands of the San Diego Padres.

That’s disappointing enough as is, but disappointment gives way to concern when you get to the critical detail: Logan Webb was on the mound.

We keep waiting for Webb’s season to arrive, and it keeps putting us on hold, and making us listen to that annoying music while we wait. There are flashes though, and Webb treated us to a few right out of the gates. He opened the night by striking out Jackson Merrill, and immediately followed it by K’ing Manny Machado. He did allow a two-out triple to Miguel Andujar, but in vintage Webb fashion, looked utterly unbothered while quickly retiring the next batter.

And on the other end, the offense wasted no time upping its game, and trying to prove to Buster Posey and Tony Vitello that the roster buttons being pressed are not in vain, and that the roster messages being yelled are heard, chef. Jung Hoo Lee quickly started a rally with a leadoff single against old frenemy Walker Buehler, setting the first inning in motion.

That set the stage for seemingly the only player employed by the Giants who knows how to hit these days, but my goodness does he know how to hit. For the second day in a row, Casey Schmitt (playing second base this time) launched a majestic first-inning moonshot that tickled the fog and hugged the left field line.

Just like that, the Giants had struck first with a pair of runs. With their offense looking lively and their ace on the mound, it didn’t even feel concerning when Xander Bogaerts bopped a solo shot in the second inning, cutting the lead in half.

You had more confidence than a one-game winning streak should afford you, but you felt sure that the offense would get the run back and Webb would settle down.

Right on the former; wrong on the latter.

The offense got the run back and then some in the bottom half of the inning thanks to the final third of the lineup. The seventh, eighth, and ninth hitters — Willy Adames, Drew Gilbert, and Jesús Rodríguez, respectively — all singled with one out. It was the third and final knock in that hit parade that was special: Rodríguez, getting a second straight start behind the dish to begin his MLB campaign, slapped one to right field for his first career hit. Adames, meanwhile, with his head down in reckless hustle, never looked up to see Hector Borg’s stop sign, and ran right through it, challenging Fernando Tatis Jr.’s dynamic arm, and winning ever so slightly.

Lee would follow that up with a fielder’s choice to score Gilbert, and the Giants led 4-1. Life was good, and it was even better when Webb would set down the side in order in the third, once again striking out Giants killers Merrill and Machado.

But soon it would not be very good at all. The fourth inning ended any and all hopes we garnered for an enjoyable baseball game. It started with a one-out, mild-mannered, seeing-eye single by Gavin Sheets. Such is the life of a sinkerballer.

It escalated a pitch later, when Tatis mashed a double to put runners at second and third with one out. Now the Padres were threatening to not just score a run, but get right back into the game.

They scored a run indeed, on a productive groundout by Bogaerts. It cut the score to 4-2, but it also gave Webb the second out of the inning, and escaping mostly intact was still in play. But Tatis would score when Nick Castellanos, who somehow still has a job, singled. And the danger only mounted further when Webb hit Luis Campusano with a pitch, putting the go-ahead run on the bases. And those runs would both score when Sung-Mun Song one-upped Rodríguez with his first career hit, which went for two bases and scored two runs. Take that, Jesús!

Song, who had taken third on an error by Adames on the play, would score easily on a Merrill single, and just like that, the Padres had flipped the game on its head. The inning had started with what felt like a comfortable lead. It had ended with the worst inning Webb has had in ages, and a 6-4 deficit.

It would be the final inning for Webb, who finished with four frames thrown, seven hits allowed, six runs, and four strikeouts (but no walks!). He had only thrown 62 pitches, but Vitello announced after the game that Webb had some leg discomfort, and the training staff wanted to play in safe after a long inning.

Ever the gamer — and in this case, likely ever the truth-teller — Webb was adamant that any soreness he felt had no impact on the way he threw the ball. He just didn’t throw it well, and with that, his ERA ballooned to 5.06.

What came after wasn’t much prettier. JT Brubaker took over for the fifth, and managed to give up two hits and two walks in his only inning, though he somehow allowed just one run along the way. Despite the second and third batters in the sixth inning being right handed, Tony Vitello shockingly opted for Ryan Borucki in the frame, and it went about how you would expect: he didn’t even get through the opening lefty unscathed, as Merrill bopped a leadoff single. After stealing second, he scored on the most predictable of outcomes: Borucki allowing a hit to a righty.

Gregory Santos handled the seventh and eighth, and while his stuff was nasty — and 20 of his 28 pitches were strikes — his second frame featured a single by Song, a stolen base, an RBI double by Merrill, and, just because this is the kind of day the Giants were having, a balked-home run.

The lone clean outing belonged to Joel Peguero, who made his return from the Injured List and pitched a scoreless ninth inning in his season debut. Welcome back, Joel. And happy birthday!

As that chaos and disappointment unfolded on the mound, the Giants’ offense realized that resistance was futile, and tucked their hits into their back pocket for Wednesday’s game (or at least that’s what I’m telling myself). They went down in order in the third, fourth, fifth, eighth, and ninth innings. But while the showing was feeble during that time, it wasn’t devoid of highlights or feels, because in the seventh inning we were treated to one of the most special things in baseball: the first career home run.

No, it wasn’t off the bat of the highly-anticipated slugger Bryce Eldridge, though he did single for his first hit of the year. Instead, it was Rodríguez, who is getting the playing time preference over Patrick Bailey, it seems. With one out in the inning, Rodríguez got a slider from Jeremiah Estrada and, as he did earlier in the day with his single, inside-outed it to right field.

One day the rookie will learn about the disappointments that await hitters who hit fly balls to right field at Oracle Park, but that day will have to wait. Because in just his second career game, Rodríguez took on the arcade and emerged victorious, with his first slow jog around the bases.

I’ll say this much about the Giants following Monday’s desperation promotions: they may still be awful, but they sure are a lot more interesting.

Near the end of Tuesday’s telecast of the San Diego Padres’ 10-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants, broadcaster Duane Kuiper tried to look on the bright side of Matt Chapman’s 0-for-4 night.

“If it’s any consolation,” Kuiper said, “Chapman’s had the longest out in this game.”

That’s how hard it was to find a positive on a night where the Padres overcame early deficits of 2-0 and 4-1 with a five-run 4th inning off Logan Webb. As the Padres were coming back, starter Walker Buehler (2-2) settled down with three straight shutout innings. By the time a Rafael Devers single and Bryce Eldridge’s first hit of the season chased Buehler in the 6th inning, the Giants were trailing 8-4.

Buehler worked 5.1 innings and gave up seven hits and four runs. Three Padres relievers retired 11 of the 12 Giants they faced, with the lone exception being rookie catcher Jesus Rodriguez, who launched an opposite-field blast off Jeremiah Estrada for his first big-league home run.

Rodriguez got his first big-league hit and first big-league RBI five innings earlier, when he slapped the ball into right field and Willy Adames was rewarded by absolutely blowing through a stop sign at third base to score the team’s third run of the game. After a Jung Hoo Lee groundout, 25-year-old Drew Gilbert came around to score, following his 33rd big-league hit earlier in the inning.

The Giants took an early lead on the 29th big-league home run by Casey Schmidt, his sixth of the 2026 season and one that inspired a truly wretched pun from the NBC Sports social media intern.

This author contends that the sheer awfulness of “HOTTER THAN SCHMITT GREASE” doomed the Giants to their defeat Tuesday night. Maybe reading that tweet in the dugout made Webb lose focus, leading to Xander Boegarts’ solo homer that halved the Giants’ lead in the 2nd.

Aside from the Bogaerts blast, Webb cruised for the first three innings until disaster struck in the top of the 4th. Gavin Sheets continued his career-long ownage of Webb with a single, and No. 5 hitter Fernando Tatis, Jr., hitting the lowest in the Padres lineup since his rookie year, doubled to right.

After an RBI grounder from Bogaerts, Webb brushed back Nick Castellanos, which woke up the slumping outfielder, and his single to center score Tatis. Then Webb really did hit a Padre, catcher Luis Campusano. Sung-Mun Song, in his second big-league at-bat, got his first two big-league RBIs with a double off the wall and scored his first major-league run on a Jackson Merrill single.

Webb’s final line: 4IP, 7H, 6R, 4K, but hey, zero walks!

JT Brubaker had a miserable, 38-pitch 5th inning, but escaped having allowed only one run on a Castellanos sac fly despite walking the bases loaded twice. Merrill singled, stole second, and scored in the 6th on a Miguel Andujar (3-for-5) single off Ryan Borucki.

Gregory Santos gave up two runs in a mistake-filled 8th inning, where Song reached on an infield single, stole second and took third on a Rodriguez throwing error, a double from Merrill (he went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs) and a balk. All in all, the Giants’ defense was sloppy all game, with dropped throws, balls bouncing past outfielders, wild throws, and ill-timed balks.

But Matt Chapman really did hit that ball a long way when he flew out to right field in the 4th inning.

The White Sox (17-19) fought to the very end, but the bats were inconsistent with runners in scoring position, and the Angels (14-23) knocked Erick Fedde around as the Good Guys dropped game two of their LA road trip, 4-3. Now just two games under, the South Siders are hopefully just taking the scenic route on the road to .500, because we won’t be seeing it tomorrow. The good news is that since both the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers lost Tuesday as well, the Sox are still just a half-game back in the division.

It was not Fedde’s night. The Angels hit him pretty hard, and his pitches simply just weren’t as effective. He only drew a 9% whiff rate over his 4 2/3 innings, and his sweeper typically averages around 23%, whereas it recorded only two whiffs (13%) tonight. The righthander came into this game with five home runs allowed, and added three more Tuesday as Mike Trout, Jorge Soler, and Zach Neto all took him deep.

The White Sox provided a small two-run cushion for Fedde to begin the game, quickly loading the bases in the top of the first and actually taking some advantage of it. Chase Meidroth led off the game with a base hit, and a pair of walks from Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery loaded ’em up. Making his first start as a South Sider and batting in the cleanup spot, Randal Grichuk dropped a broken-bat flare over the second baseman to score the first run of the game. In all honesty, the batting order was a bit weak after Montgomery without Munetaka Murakami in the lineup. I wasn’t expecting much with Edgar Quero up to bat, but he (sort of) proved me wrong and drove in the second run on a sacrifice fly out to center, but those two runs were all the Good Guys could push across the plate, 2-0.

That lead lasted for all of 10 minutes as both Trout and Soler launched solo bombs to tie the game up at two, making it a brand new ball game. Fedde maneuvered through the next few innings without many issues, but once the batting order swung around for the third time, Los Angeles started to get to him. This is when Neto struck, hanging for a second at the plate to watch it fly to give the Angels the lead, 3-2.

Trout walked for the second straight at-bat, and Nolan Schanuel doubled to drive him in and give LA a two-run lead, 4-2. Fedde met the end of his night after that, finishing with four runs surrendered on six hits, two walks, three bombs, and two strikeouts. Fortunately, this didn’t severely impact his ERA, which increased to 3.79 after starting the night at 3.23, and hopefully these types of outings don’t become a habit.

After the first inning rally, it took until the seventh for the South Siders to scrape another run across. They got something going in the sixth after Derek Hill reached on an infield single, and Will Venable called on Murakami to pinch-hit. In another universe, he might have hit the game-tying homer, but he did knock a single to put runners on the corners for Sam Antonacci, who flew out to end the inning. Finally breaking the scoring drought, Meidroth mashed his second long ball of the season in the seventh to bring the Sox within one, 4-3.

The bullpen was solid coming in to relieve Fedde, only allowing one base runner while keeping Los Angeles at bay in hopes that the bats could figure something out. For the final 3 1/3, Tyler Davis, Jordan Leasure, and Bryan Hudson shut the Angels down, combining for just one hit (from Hudson) and three strikeouts.

Sure, the three homers from Fedde were a killer, but the Sox had ample scoring opportunities, especially being within just one run. It’s a shame that the hitting couldn’t pull it together.

The Good Guys applied more pressure in the top of the ninth after Antonacci was hit by a pitch, stole second, and then made it to third base with one out and the heart of the order coming up. Vargas walked to bring Colson up with one out, needing just a measly fly ball to tie the game. He unfortunately struck out, but naturally Jared Kelenic walked to extend the inning and loaded the bases up for the second time of the night. A walk is fine, I guess, but with the Angels fan that was screaming his name throughout the entire broadcast, I was hoping that he would tank one out of the park.

That brought us to … Quero with the bases loaded. Just who you want in that situation, the guy with a .425 OPS. Shockingly enough, he rolled over on a ground ball to second to end the game. Unless Drew Romo was completely incapacitated, he should have been available off the bench, and that might have been a good time to use him — the guy that is mashing homers lately — but I digress.

Though they (barely) outhit the Angels again, 8-7, the White Sox weren’t able to convert as they did in the series opener. There were plenty of opportunities to drive in runs, but outside of Grichuk’s base hit in the first, no one else could get the job done, going 1-for-7 with RISP and 11 left on base. Literally any one of those runners would have made for a completely different ball game, but unfortunately, the South Siders won’t be making it back to .500 on this road trip.

George Kirby kept the Braves on the ground for seven innings, but the Mariners struck out 16 times while watching an early lead slip away.

Andrés Muñoz allowed the go-ahead homer to Matt Olson in the ninth inning Tuesday, giving the Braves a 3-2 win. The Mariners had gotten out to an early lead on a two-run home run from J.P. Crawford in the third. But they picked up just one more hit the rest of the way, rarely threatening while, again, punching out 16 times.

The highlight of the game, however, was another strong start from Kirby. It’s been a weird season for him so far. He’s walking more and striking out fewer batters than ever, but he entered the day with a 56.5% ground ball rate — the fifth best in baseball. His 2.84 xERA suggests the approach has been working, but even he’s not quite sure where all the grounders are coming from.

“Guys are just kind of hitting them on the ground, honestly,” Kirby said after the game. “I think that’s just kind of what happens when you try and get strike one. You’re in the zone a lot throwing quality strikes. So, the more ground balls, the better. Helps me go deeper in games and eventually get the swing and miss when I need it.”

Here’s how his first pass through the order went: 

1st inning: Groundout, groundout, strikeout
2nd inning: Groundout, single, groundout double play
3rd inning: Strikeout, weak fly out, ground out

The plot below doesn’t reflect Tuesday’s outing, in which Kirby posted a 65% ground ball rate, but it’s clearly a trend. We’ve simply never seen this type of contact from him before.

The other, less-fortunate trend for Kirby in the early going is a noticeable dip in effectiveness on the second turn through the order. He entered the day with a stellar 2.79 FIP on the first pass and a less flattering (but not terrible) 4.21 FIP on the second. 

That issue “technically” cropped up again in the fourth inning. Ozzie Albies and Olson picked up back-to-back singles, and Mauricio Dubón doubled them home to tie the game at 2-2. The contact wasn’t particularly hard, and it was mostly on the ground, so it’s not like he was getting rocked.

“I don’t think they made any good swings in that inning,” Kirby said of the fourth. “I thought I executed really well, it just kind of found a hole. So I’m gonna keep doing my thing, keep inducing weak contact, and those will eventually go my way off the bat.”

The flukey double from Dubón was hit at just 66 mph down the right field line.

Kirby mixed his pitches effectively throughout the game, helping keep a great Braves’ lineup off balance. He really leaned on his sweeper, throwing it 36% of the time — the most he’s thrown in a game this season. He was even throwing it 30% of the time to lefties, or about double his rate from his previous seven starts. He was clearly trying to back door the pitch, starting it way outside before scraping the outer part of the zone.

It often worked. In his final at bat of the game, Kirby started Mike Yastrzemski with a changeup right over the center of the plate, which he was clearly not expecting. Then he threw a biting hook that Yastrzemski chased at his toes. Kirby followed with two 96+ mph fastballs up, and Yastrzemski fouled them off. Then came the sweeper, looking like a fastball way up and away before landing right on the outer black for a called strike three.

“Tonight Garv did a good job establishing the outside to lefties with the sweeper, getting them to lean over and then attacking with heaters and then crowding them with spin. So, got a a lot of good weak contact…We game-planned to steal them back-door. I feel like that’s always been a good pitch of mine, I can get it there whenever I want to. And then with two strikes, I was able to get it down below the plate when I needed to. I’m always working on that pitch, trying to get some swings and misses.”

The paired pitches tool from FanGraphs illustrates just how tough it is for a batter to offer at that backdoor pitch:

Kirby’s final line was seven innings, six hits, one walk, four strikeouts, and a 65% ground ball rate. It’s sixth time in eight starts Kirby has gone at least six innings, and he’s now two-thirds of an inning short of Max Fried for the most in the majors.

“As a starter, I want to go as deep in the game as possible and give my team the best chance to win. So if it’s ground balls, great, strikeouts, awesome, if it’s a little bit of both, even better,” Kirby said.

Jose Ferrer came on in the eighth with the game stilled at 2-2. He delivered another impressive outing: strikeout, strikeout, pop out. He lowered his FIP to 2.31 in 18 innings, making him one of the top 15 relievers in baseball this year. Hhis role is only going to increase with Gabe Speier and Matt Brash each on the injured list.

Dan Wilson turned to Muñoz in the ninth with the game tied 2-2. He hung a slider not quite middle-middle but clearly within the reach of Olson, who deposited it over the center field wall at 110 mph. It was a leadoff homer that gave the Braves a 3-2 lead, which wound up being the final score.

It was the third home run Muñoz has allowed this season and raised his ERA to 6.00. He also picked up two more strikeouts to raise his K/9 to 15.00. He has a 3.81 FIP and 2.34 xFIP. This pesky homer problem crops up from time to time with Muñoz, mostly because he’s a reliever. A few bad outings looks like a streak when they come one inning at a time. The stuff continues to look dominant. I’m not worried.

Then there’s the Mariners lineup. Again, they struck out 16 times Tuesday. Cal Raleigh returned at DH after three days dealing with “general soreness” in his side, and he struck out three times. Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, Mitch Garver, and Cole Young each struck out twice. Crawford also struck out twice, but he did this as well:

It’s the second homer in as many nights for Crawford, who swatted a tremendous go-ahead blast in Friday’s 5-4 win. He’s clearly seeing the ball well right now, drawing walks, avoiding strikeouts, and elevating to the pull side. Yes, the defense is worse than ever and unplayably bad — not an ideal for a team with several other DHs. But in general, Crawford remains with the team because he’s a solid hitter who can occasionally get scorching hot. His contact quality has outpaced his results most of the season, and the results are starting to come.

That’s the only positive thing to say about the offense Tuesday.

The Mariners will look to take the series Wednesday afternoon, with Bryan Woo facing Martín Pérez. The Braves have not lost a series in 2026.

On the same day that manager Torey Lovullo called the entire starting rotation into his office to tell them they needed to pick up the pace, Dbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez did just that and then some. ERod put this team on his back tonight shutting down the Pirates offense taking some of the pressure off his team and allowing them to get back to .500 on Cinco de Mayo as they beat the Pirates 9-0.

Eduardo Rodriguez was commanding all of his pitches to all parts of the zone today. His final line was 7 innings pitched, allowing only 2 hits, while walking 3, and striking out 7.  Early in the game he did a great job of getting some strikeouts on the curveball low in the zone. The curve is a pitch that ERod has not used much historically but tonight it was critical. That low curveball opened up the top of the zone for his fastball later in the game which generated a 47% whiff rate striking out 4 Pirates hitters. In the words of Jim McLennan earlier on twitter, only 2 AZ pitchers this year have thrown 7 shutout innings and Eduardo Rodriguez is both of them. Tonight’s outing lowered ERod’s season ERA down to 2.50, far and away the best of the starting rotation and I don’t even have to check.

The Dbacks offense got off to a great start in this one pushing across 2 runs in the first inning also pushing Pirates starter Bubba Chandler to 38 pitches. The Pirates actually had their bullpen up in the first and would’ve likely pulled Chandler had 1 more batter reached in the inning. Rather than continue to focus on getting the Pirates starter out of the game, the Arizona offense would proceed to have the next 7 batters get retired in order. This game was looking like it was going to be closer as the offense failed to record a hit in innings 2-5, however their patient approach would pay off in the 6^th inning as they sent 9 men to the plate and scored 5 runs blowing the game open.

The offense did do a much better job tonight staying patient at the plate walking 7 times creating a lot of base traffic and setting up some timely hits. Certainly a positive sign for an offense that has been perhaps overly aggressive in recent weeks. The most timely of the hits were a pair of doubles in the 6^th inning by Gabi Moreno and Geraldo Perdomo. It was also great to see some of Ketel Marte’s early season tough like start to dissipate tonight as he hit a triple, a single, scored 2 runs, and 2 RBI. Tonight was a good example of what this offense can do when they take their walks and cut down on the chase.

This was only the 2^nd win of 5 or more runs this season. Certainly a welcome beginning of the homestand for a team that has played so many high leverage close games. All eyes will be on Michael Soroka tomorrow night as he faces Paul Skenes. If Soroka can get back to the form he showed earlier in the season and keep this momentum rolling in the starting rotation, that could be a big boost for this team. Perhaps we will be able to look back on today as the day the starting rotation got back on track following a timely group meeting? Let’s hope!

An early lead with their ace on the mound wasn’t enough for the Giants to beat the Padres.

Casey Schmitt clubbed his second home run in as many games, and San Francisco built on that early advantage, but Logan Webb allowed it all back and more in a 10-5 loss Tuesday night at Oracle Park.

Webb was responsible for six of San Diego’s runs, including a five-spot in the fourth inning that turned the game in the Padres’ favor after the Giants jumped ahead 4-1 after two.

He didn’t return for the fifth, his shortest start of the year — only his 11th time in 140 starts since the start of 2022 going four innings or less. Manager Tony Vitello said knee discomfort was the reason Webb departed after only 62 pitches.

It put a damper on a night to remember for rookie catcher Jesus Rodriguez, who followed his first major-league hit and RBI in the second with a solo shot to right for his first career homer in the seventh.

San Diego brought nine men to the plate in the fourth. Only one run was in when Webb recorded the second out of the inning, but he allowed the next four Padres to reach.

Sung-Mun Song delivered the biggest hit of the inning — and the first of his MLB career — with a bases-clearing double that split Heliot Ramos in left and Drew Gilbert in center.

The six earned runs on Webb’s line were one away from a career high, raising his ERA to 5.06. It’s the highest mark he has carried this late into a season since 2021.

He had never allowed five runs in one inning at home before this season, but it has happened twice this year.

The Yankees also pounced on him for five runs in the second on their way to a 7-0 Opening Day win.

What it means

The Giants hit multiple home runs for only the fifth time this season, fewer than any team besides the Red Sox.

They had been unbeaten in those games but fell to 4-1 — 11-4 when getting any homers at all.

Who’s hot

Schmitt’s two-run shot stayed fair down the left field line for his team-best sixth home run of the season — his fourth in his past 10 games.

He has also hit safely in all but one of those games and now leads San Francisco in most offensive categories.

Meanwhile, Rafael Devers extended his hitting streak to a season-long six games with an opposite-field single. He stuck in the three-hole while Vitello slotted their other struggling veterans, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, below rookie Bryce Eldridge in the lineup.

Jackson Merrill has been a thorn in the Giants’ side so far this series with five hits in nine ABs.

Who’s not

Adames struck out in his 15th consecutive game, matching the third-longest streak of his career.

While he singled and scored on Rodriguez’s knock in the third, it was just his seventh hit in 63 at-bats (.111 BA) since his last game without a strikeout.

Chapman came up empty in four tries and is now hitless in his past 21 at-bats.

Fernando Tatis Jr. moved down to fifth in the Padres order, the lowest he has batted since 2019, as his homerless drought to begin the season extended to 148 plate appearances with a 1-for-5 performance.

Tatis shot a double into right field and scored in San Diego’s big fourth inning, but he went down swinging against J.T. Brubaker with two on and nobody out his next time up.

Up next

RHP Adrian Houser (0-3, 7.12 ERA) gets the ball in the rubber match against RHP Matt Waldron (0-1, 9.88 ERA). First pitch is set for 12:45 p.m.

Sung-Mun Song made his MLB debut in Mexico City against the Arizona Diamondbacks when the San Diego Padres added him to their roster as the 27th man. Song made an appearance as a pinch runner but did not do much more than that. Song changed that in his first MLB start when he hit a two-run double to left-center field to give the Padres a 5-4 lead in the top of the fourth inning against the San Francisco Giants.

The double by Song was part of a five-run fourth inning for the Padres against Giants starter Logan Webb. San Diego entered the top of the fourth trailing 4-1, but after scoring five runs to take a two-run lead, they never looked back while earning a 10-5 win at Oracle Park Tuesday night.

Walker Buehler started on the mound for the Padres and surrendered two runs in the bottom of the first inning on a Casey Schmitt two-run home run. San Diego answered in the top of the second inning when Xander Bogaerts hit a solo home run to left field, but Buehler returned to the mound in the bottom of the second and quickly surrendered two more runs to San Francisco, giving them a 4-1 lead. Buehler settled in after the second and completed 5.1 innings allowing four runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

The new-look Padres offense continued to apply pressure to Giants pitchers, scoring runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings. Jackson Merrill was 3-for-5 with two runs scored two RBI and a stolen base from the leadoff spot. Miguel Andujar batted third and finished 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, a run scored and an RBI. Gavin Sheets and Xander Bogaerts each finished 2-for-5 batting in the fourth and sixth spots respectively with Sheets adding a stolen base and Bogaerts opening the San Diego scoring with a solo home run in the second.

Perhaps the most notable change to the Padres lineup was Fernando Tatis Jr., who moved from the first or second spot in the lineup for much of the season, all the way down to fifth. Tatis Jr. finished 1-for-5 with a run scored.

San Diego will look to win the series when the two teams meet Wednesday at 12:45 p.m.

Nick Morabito continued his good run at the plate as Triple-A Syracuse dropped a 3-2 rain-shortened game, in six innings, to Rochester, on Tuesday night. 

Morabito notched a pair of singles in three at-bats and came around to score, raising his average to .284 and OPS to .864 through his first 30 games at Triple-A on the season, as he's 11-for-30 in his last 10 with four extra-base hits, four RBI, and eight walks.

Morabito, who turns 23 on Thursday, entered the 2026 season on the Mets' 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft and as the No. 11 prospect on Joe DeMayo's Top 30 list of Mets’ prospects.

Ryan Clifford had a single and a double with an RBI and a walk in his three times at the plate on Tuesday. Both hits were scorched: 108.1 mph off the bat and 106.1 mph.

The No. 6 prospect raised his average to .234 with a .740 OPS in 32 games this year. He's got 11 extra-base hits (five homers) with 19 RBI.

A.J. Ewing, the No. 3 prospect in the Mets’ system, went hitless on Tuesday. Through his first seven games at Triple-A, the 21-year-old is batting .440 (11-for-25) with a pair of extra-base hits and two RBI and a 1.060 OPS.

Down in Port St. Lucie, Elian Peńa smacked a three-run home run for his lone hit in five times up. The 370-foot blast was smacked 104.7 mph off the bat. The Mets’ No. 7 prospect struck out twice, but is still batting .311 with a .866 OPS through his first 26 games of the year at Single-A

A night after letting another win slip through their fingers, the Atlanta Braves battled back to even the series in Seattle against the Mariners with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday.

In the top of the ninth, Matt Olson launched a solo homer off Mariners closer Andrés Munoz to give the Braves a 3-2 lead. Olson barreled the ball to center field, which kept cutting towards the left-center gap and cleared the fence. It was career homer No. 301 for Olson, who currently leads Major League Baseball in WAR. It ticked up a few more notches on Tuesday night.

Offense was tough to come by for the better part of eight innings for the Braves, who seldom had much action on the bases against Seattle righty George Kirby. The lone rally came in the fourth inning — just moments after Seattle had taken a 2-0 lead — as Mauricio Dubon poked a ball down the right field line to score two runners. Dubon’s double and Olson’s homer were the lone extra base hits for Atlanta on Tuesday night.

Bryce Elder was, once again, fantastic for six innings. He struck out nine Mariners and generated 17 whiffs over 93 pitches. His lone mistake was a middle-middle fastball to JP Crawford that was crushed about 15 rows deep to the right field seats, but he was excellent otherwise. Through eight starts this season, Elder owns a stellar 2.02 ERA, 3.20 FIP and 3.83 xFIP. For a pitching staff with a lot of injuries and question marks, Elder has been a pillar of consistency through the first quarter of the season.

In relief of Elder, the vaunted trio of Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez and freshly off the injured list Raisel Iglesias was nearly perfect. They recorded seven strikeouts across three innings, allowed just one soft single in the ninth to Josh Naylor.

The series will wrap up on Wednesday afternoon, and as of this writing, it seems Martin Perez may make the start in place of Grant Holmes. Whoever starts for the Braves will be opposed by righty Bryan Woo, who has pitched well the previous few years but is coming off two brutal starts in which he surrendered 13 runs across nine innings. First pitch is a much earlier 4:10 p.m. ET.

Top Yankees pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez took the mound Tuesday night for his second career start. 

After making his major league debut in Arlington against the Rangers, Rodriguez stood across the same lineup, but this time, in front of fans at Yankee Stadium.

"Better than what I expected. It was always a dream of mine pitching here," Rodriguez said after his start. "I was excited and it was a blast... Ever since I was a little kid, I was dreaming of playing in the big and hopefully play for the Yankees, extremely blessed and thankful for the opportunity to be here and wear pinstripes."

While it was a dream come true for Rodriguez, it started like a nightmare.

Rodriguez walked the first two batters of the game and it came back to bite him. That lack of control sullied what was otherwise a strong start from Rodriguez, and it was in danger of doing so again. The Rangers took advantage of the walks to put up a three-spot before the Yankees even came to bat. 

The young right-hander had to throw 37 pitches to get out of the first frame, but Rodriguez would find his way. He settled in and was able to pitch into the fifth for the second time and the offense was able to tie the score at 3-3. Rodriguez was close to getting through the fifth, too, but the Rangers got three on base before Aaron Boone had to pull his youngster. 

Brent Headrick came in and slammed the door on Texas to put an end to Rodriguez's stat line.

"Just having a hard time getting settled. Again, though, credit to him. It could have really gotten away there," Boone said of Rodriguez's performance. "To have two long at-bats to start it and lose them both. Then a base hit right away, to limit the damage somewhat and still grind his way through it. Proud of the effort and a great learning experience. You’re in the fire there. It can go haywire really quick. He didn’t flinch. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but he battled his butt off."

"First inning wasn’t the first inning I was trying to go for," Rodriguez said. "Two walks to start the game, I can’t be doing that. Makes me go into trouble, struggled a little bit there. After that, just tried to be simple, just go there, attack and not try to do too much and it felt like it worked better."

That simplification helped Rodriguez get through the bulk of his start, and leave runners on base -- the Rangers left 12 on Tuesday. He credited going one pitch at a time and executing. 

"I got good stuff," Rodriguez said. "Just trust in myself, stay in the zone and got good results."

"He’s got good stuff. He’s a good athlete," Boone said. "I feel like he was able to slow the situation down enough. In a night where he was struggling to get the ball where he wanted consistently."  

Following Tuesday's win, the Yankees optioned Rodriguez back to Triple-A.

The move isn't shocking. It doesn't have everything to do with Rodriguez's performances but with the imminent return of Carlos Rodon,who likely pitched his final rehab start with Scranton on Tuesday night.

Although his Yankee Stadium experience was brief, the 22-year-old can use that experience and continue his development at a level where he excelled. In his four starts with Triple-A this season, Rodriguez had a 1.27 ERA and walked just seven batters, just one more than his first two starts in the bigs, so the organization knows the control is there, and if he continues to pitch well this season, Tuesday may not be the last time Rodriguez dons pinstripes.

The good times: J.P. Crawford, +.14 WPA

The better times: George Kirby, +.16 WPA

Don’t cry for me: Andrés Muñoz, -.32 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

After the first month of the minor league season, MLB Pipeline reposted their top 100 prospects list with the graduation of St. Louis Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt. Catcher Ethan Salas, playing with the San Antonio Missions, has taken the 100th spot and re-entered the list after being left off at the start of the season.

He joins LHP Kruz Schoolcraft as the only two Padres prospects on the top 100 list, Schoolcraft is listed at No. 78. Salas has had an impressive first month with the Double-A Missions, again showing why he was so highly thought of as a 17-year-old. After losing all but 10 games of last season to a back injury, Salas spent the bulk of the year and the offseason working on his physical makeup and the mental side of the game. Reportedly gaining 15-20 pounds during that time, Salas studied film and worked with coaches to refine his mental approach and begin work on altering his swing.

Baseball America predicted his return to the prospect list on May 4.

The Padres have another young player attracting attention throughout baseball. Centerfielder Ryan Wideman, 22, who has blazed through the first month of the season with the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm, has been ranked No. 4 in the Padres system by ESPN (si.com is spreading the news). That puts Salas, Schoolcraft and LHP Kash Mayfield the top three with Wideman and RHP Tucker Musgrove rounding out the top five, according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.

Lake Elsinore Storm (5-1 over the week)

In other good news, Lake Elsinore has continued its winning ways and now sits atop the California League South Division with a 17-10 record. Newcomer, Qrey Lott, 21, brought up from Arizona to replace the injured Kale Fountain, has started with a bang. In eight games and 20 at-bats, the undrafted free agent from Northwest Florida State College is hitting .400/.500/.750 with a 1.250 OPS while playing both outfield corners. He has two home runs and nine RBI with four walks over those eight games.

The two other undrafted free agents playing with the Storm, Connor Westenburg and Bradley Frye, continue to hit well. Infielder Frye sits with a .347/.414/.507 line and has two home runs and 17 RBI. Outfielder Westenburg is hitting .315/.390/.425 with no homers but 13 RBI with four doubles and two triples.

Of the starters for the Storm, RHP Winyer Chourio has five games/four games started and 17 innings pitched with a 2.12 ERA. He leads the team in strikeouts with 26 and has eight walks. Fellow righty Bryan Balzer, the Japanese pitcher signed by the Padres in 2023 for $10,000, has finally found his stride after spending last season getting his feet under him. Not long after signing with the team he had Tommy John surgery and spent last season with the Storm working his way back into effectiveness.

Balzer, 21, has five games/four starts with 22 innings pitched and a 3.68 ERA. He is right behind Churio with 25 strikeouts and nine walks. Balzer boasts a four-seam fastball up to 97 mph, a sinker that sits around 93-94 mph, a sweeper, a changeup and a splitter (informative write-up here).

Reliever Ethan Long has three saves and a 1.35 ERA over 6.2 innings while striking out five. Javier Chacon has a 1.59 ERA over 17 innings with 24 strikeouts in his eight appearances.

The Storm benefited from the first two starts by Padres pitcher Lucas Giolito. He started two games and seven innings but did not factor into the decision for either game. He has now moved on to San Antonio for his start today.

Fort Wayne TinCaps (12-15 record, 4th in Midwest League East)

OF/1B Alex McCoy leads the TinCaps with a .330 average and has five home runs and 14 RBI. He has also walked six times with 24 strikeouts. Outfielder Jake Cunningham continues to reassert himself with Fort Wayne, showing a .325 average and .391 OBP with six home runs and 16 RBI. He also leads the team in slug at .636 and has the best OPS at 1.027.

RHP Carson Montgomery has four starts and 17 innings pitched with a 2.12 ERA with 13 strikeouts and seven walks. In his first season back after Tommy John surgery, Montgomery made his debut with the Storm in 2024 but this is his first full professional season. He is a sinker/slider pitcher that also mixes in a changeup so it would be expected that he would have a high ground ball rate.

Reliever Clay Edmondson, a 14th-round pick from the 2025 draft, has five saves and a 0.75 ERA in his 12 innings pitched with 16 strikeouts and three walks. The sidearmer, who hits the mid-90’s with his fastball, has appeared in 10 games and allowed no home runs so far.

San Antonio Missions (7-20 record, last in Texas League South)

The Missions continue to struggle through the start of the season despite the break out performances of Ethan Salas, infielder Carson Tucker and DH/1B Leandro Cedeno. Cedeno leads the team with a .345 average, .441 OBP, .586 slug and 1.027 OPS. he has played in 16 games with 58 at-bats and has three home runs and nine RBI. At 27, he is far older than anyone else on the Storm roster and is making his transition stateside after playing the last several seasons in Japan and Venezuela.

Not far behind is 19-year-old Salas who has a .307/.402/.573 line with a .976 OPS in 22 games and 75 at-bats. He has five home runs (tops on the Missions) and 14 RBI (also first) with 21 strikeouts and 12 walks. Salas hit those five home runs in the span of seven games and has been on fire for the past two weeks.

Pitching for the Missions has been problematic. RHP Eric Yost is the best starter in his 6 games/3 games started and 22 innings pitched. He has a 3.27 ERA with 27 strikeouts to 15 walks. Top prospect Miguel Mendez is on the IL as is Luis Gutierrez.

Reliever Johan Moreno has appeared in 9 games and 15.2 innings pitched with a 1.15 ERA and a save. He has 17 strikeouts and 6 walks. Righty Francis Peña is staging a comeback after a rough 2025 second half. He sits at a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings pitched in his 9 appearances. He has 16 strikeouts but is still fighting with his command at times and has 14 walks.

El Paso Chihuahuas (15-18 record, 4th in Pacific Coast League East)

The Chihuahuas broke even over their past six games and have infielder Will Wagner back after his long stint on the injured list. Wagner strained an oblique early in spring training and just returned this past week to El Paso.

Outfielder Samad Taylor leads the team with a .330 average, a .750 slug, a .990 OPS and is second with six home runs and second with 21 RBI. Infielder Pablo Reyes leads with a .430 OBP due to his team leading 18 walks. Outfielder Jase Bowen has seven home runs to lead the team and infielder Mason McCoy has broken out the power this season with 24 RBI and six home runs.

Sung-Mun Song hit his first home run and has 15 RBI and three doubles but has struck out 27 times with 11 walks. His hard-hit rate remains low at 34.8% and he still has no barrel and a .354 slug. His home run was clocked at 94.6 mph off the bat. His line is a respectable .293/.364 otherwise and his OPS sits at .717.

RHP Evan Fitterer, 25, a free agent sign who was in the Marlins system for six years, has seven games and five starts for El Paso with a 0.98 ERA, 20 strikeouts and seven walks over his 18.1 innings pitched. That is an anomaly in the PCL with hitters only able to generate a .203 average against him. Lefty Jackson Wolf is the only other starter with an ERA below 5.00.

The best reliever is Ethan Routzahn with a 3.60 ERA in 15 innings and 13 appearances. He also has two saves and is tied with Alek Jacob for saves on the team. All other pitchers have ERA’s over 4.00 and many well over 5.00.

Yuki Matsui, who must be activated back to the Padres, finished his time in El Paso with a 4.97 ERA over 12.1 innings with 14 strikeouts and three walks.

The early season has not been kind to Chihuahuas pitching and their best starter, Matt Waldron, has been with the Padres since his third start with El Paso.

ACL Padres (Arizona Complex League)

The rookie league season has begun, and the Padres played their first game on last Saturday. They started the season against the Milwaukee Brewers rookies, and the season plays through July 23. There are undrafted free agents, 2025 draftees and international sign players on the roster. Several of the top players are transfers from last season’s Dominican Summer League team. As a side note, for those long-term Padres fans out there, former Padres pitcher Ernesto Frieri is the pitching coach for the ACL Padres.

Taiwanese pitcher Lan-Hong Su, the Padres No. 18 prospect, made his debut in the system. Su, 19, was the player signed by the Padres after missing out on Roki Sasaki in the international signing competition. He has high upside and should be closely monitored as he adds bulk to his 6-1 frame as well as development with MLB coaching.

Infielder Jhoan De La Cruz, infielder Luis De Leon and infielder Yimy Tovar are all international prospects to watch with the ACL team. Outfielder Cardell Thibodeaux, 22, drafted in the 15th round of the 2025 draft and former big leaguer Alex Verdugo, 29, who is working his way back from a sub-par 2025 where he was released by the Braves in July, both will be watched as well.

The ACL team played their first game last Saturday and lost to the Brewers 12-0 with five pitchers giving up eight hits and 12 earned runs with 12 walks. The offense only managed three hits over the game. IF De La Cruz went 0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts while 3B De Leon went 1-for-2. Catcher Ty Harvey, rehabbing from an injury, was 1-for-3 with a strikeout.

Thomas Harding of MLB.com is reporting that the Colorado Rockies have signed RHP Jordan Romano to a minor-league contract.

On April 26, the Los Angeles Angels designated Romano for assignment; on April 27, he was released. The Angels must still pay the remainder of is $2 million salary with the Rockies only responsible for the prorated league minimum based on the time Romano spends on the roster.

In recent years, Romano, 33, has struggled, so the Rockies decision to send him to their Scottsdale pitching facility makes sense.

Romano was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2014 MLB Draft (10th round) and with their MLB team from 2019-2024. During his time with the Blue Jays, he earned a 2.90 ERA in 229.2 IP. In 2022 and 2023, the closer was named to the American League All-Star Team.

However, his 2024 season, the last with the team, was marred by injury when he pitched just 13.2 innings and posted a 6.59 ERA. Romano had mid-season surgery to fix an impingement in his throwing shoulder and missed the remainder of that season.

In 2025, he signed a one-year, $8.5 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, but he continued to struggle. Over 42.2 IP, he earned an 8.23 ERA.

While with the Angels, Romano had 8.o IP. He recorded a 10.13 ERA that included 12 Ks and four saves.

According to Baseball Savant, Romano boasts a three-pitch mix: a four-seamer (94.5 mph), a slider (84.7 mph), and a splitter (86.6), all of which have seen declines in velocity in recent years.

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