Category: Baseball

“I had a root canal on Thursday and I’m not sure which was worse,” said Rockies commentator Jeff Huson about today’s baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants.

The Rockies entered today’s game with a series win already wrapped up and a chance to sweep a scuffling division rival. Instead, they lost to the Giants in what might end up being the worst game of the 2026 season.

On a combined 396 pitches, there were a combined 25 runs on 35 hits and six errors—though most of those runs and hits were from just one team. The game lasted a grueling three hours and 38 minutes to become the longest nine-inning game the Rockies have played this season. It was also one of the longest nine-inning games played in the league so far in 2026.

TJ Rumfield was a late pre-game scratch with shoulder soreness, the pitching was unpleasant, the offense could have been better, and ultimately Rockies fans were left with a game they’d love to forget to finish out what has been a largely unpleasant month of May.

A truly spectacular pitching meltdown

With the Giants scoring 19 runs on 25 hits and three Rockies errors over a total of 216 pitches thrown, this afternoon was easily the worst overall pitching performance of the season.

Starting pitcher Tanner Gordon lasted just three innings and threw 75 pitches with only two strikeouts. The Giants opened up the scoring in the first inning with a double—the first of many—a walk, and a single to score their first run and it was all downhill from there. Back-to-back doubles in the second inning plated another run, though it was in this frame that Gordon notched his only two strikeouts of the game.

With just a two run deficit heading into the third inning, it looked like the ship could still be righted. Gordon allowed a single but no other baserunners in what would end up being the only scoreless inning of the game for Rockies pitching.

Gordon started the fourth inning by giving up his fourth double of the game and then hitting catcher Daniel Susac in the (helmeted) head to end his afternoon. He was replaced by bullpen lefty Brennan Bernardino, who immediately threw a ball into the outfield checking a runner to have both runners advance. He then gave up a single, a walk, and a sacrifice fly for another two runs to score. Both runs were credited to Gordon.

The fifth inning is where things completely fell apart. With a close 4-3 ballgame, Zach Agnos—sporting a newly grown beard—took the mound. Things got ugly quick.

The Giants sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in the fifth inning. Agnos gave up five extra-base hits—three doubles, a triple, and a home run—with a grand slam following an intentional walk to load the bases sealing the Rockies’ fate. Six of the seven runs allowed by Agnos came with two outs and his ERA for the season jumped to an ugly 7.78.

The Rockies sent out Keegan Thompson, Juan Mejia, and finally Brett Sullivan to finish the game in mop-up duty. All three gave up multiple hits and multiple runs.

Feared catcher reliever Brett Sullivan was finally made to look mortal, giving up his first two earned runs of the season. It was his fourth appearance as a reliever in ten days.

Hard and loud contact was ultimately what the Giants brought to the table against Rockies pitching. Of their 25 total hits, 13 were for extra bases: nine doubles, a triple, and three home runs.

What offense would have been enough?

In another world, the Rockies could have won this game and swept the Giants with a generally decent outing from their bats. The Rockies scored six runs on ten hits and drew five walks against San Francisco pitching while their defense committed three errors. However, there’s not a lot you can do when the pitching staff gives up 19 runs and you don’t capitalize on the many opportunities you had available to you.

The Rockies had at least one baserunner in every inning except for the ninth—which, by then everyone from the Rockies to the Giants to the Umpires were ready to call it a day. In several innings they had multiple baserunners. However, they ended the day going just 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left ten men stranded. They also had just three extra-base hits compared to the Giants’ 13.

For what it’s worth, a few Rockies hitters did have genuinely solid days at the plate. Tyler Freeman went 3-for-4 with a walk and a double, Kyle Karros went 2-for-4 with a walk and a double, and Troy Johnston went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Infielder Chad Stevens drew two walks despite going hitless, and backup catcher Braxton Fulford had just one hit but used it to drive in two of the Rockies’ six runs.

Up Next

The Rockies are back out on the road with a series against another basement dweller. With a record of 23-27, the Los Angeles Angels are just one win above the Rockies and the Detroit Tigers for the worst record in Major League Baseball.

California games also mean late start times. Tomorrow’s series opener will kick off at 7:38 PM MDT with a match-up between struggling veteran lefty Kyle Freeland and right-handed Angels ace José Soriano.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Call it what you like: Dodger Stadium, Chavez Ravine, Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium if you’re a pedant or obligated by branding contracts. It’s a special place. I visited for the first time earlier this month to catch an installment of the age-old showdown between the Dodgers and their former citymates in black and orange, and soon found myself overwhelmed. The history of the place— the almost-tangible presence of the many greats who called the ballpark home, the almost-audible echoes of the crowds roaring at yet-another championship as Vin Scully voices their joy in his immortal tones—knocked me flat, left me dizzy. There was no doubt about it: the sheer presence that fills Dodger Stadium had sent me into delirium.

Actually, I was just dehydrated. One popsicle and two rapidly-chugged bottles of water later, and I was feeling normal. Still impressed by the stadium, sure: it’s genuinely great. But perhaps not quite so magical as woozy eyes might make it look. The Phillies, unfortunately, were left as woozy as I was, not by Dodger Stadium magic or dehydration, but by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and some unforced errors.

The start of the game was an exercise in frustration for the Phillies. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper both struck out looking on pitches that were initially ruled balls and became strike three upon being challenged by Dodger backstop Dalton Rushing. Sandwiched in between was a groundout from Trea Turner. It didn’t get much cheerier when Shohei Ohtani hit a single that soared just over the outstretched glove of Bryson Stott. And it didn’t get any nicer for Phillies fans when Andy Pages skied a ball to deep center. But Justin Crawford, taking the mood of the Phillie faithful into his capable hands, dashed, leapt, caught the ball, and slammed into the wall. His cap flew off, his sunglasses were knocked askew, and the ball remained securely in his glove. After that, the Phillies got to engage in the age-old game of turnabout as J.T. Realmuto turned a Freddie Freeman walk into a backwards K via a challenge. The inning wrapped up without a run.

Brandon Marsh walked to open up the second, then got tossed out at second when he jumped before Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched. The Dodgers had better results with their baserunner in the second, as Max Muncy singled and was plated by a double to center from Alex Freeland. Andrew Painter recovered nicely, with a strikeout of Ohtani to end the inning.

The Phillies continued to get some bad luck as the Dodgers got the better bounces. In the top third, Realmuto was hit by a pitch, which would later see him pulled from the game. In the bottom third, Freeman singled, advanced to second on a Mookie Betts groundout, then scored when Kyle Tucker hit a weak grounder that bounced awkwardly off of first base, over Harper’s glove, and into right. But luck, like the wheels of the Dodger Stadium Express, eventually turns(it does not, however, turn for the people who eschew said bus in the hopes that parking near the stadium will work out. They’re doomed). In the top of the fourth, Turner hit a bloop single that fell perfectly between a trio of descending Dodgers. Alec Bohm singled too, but it came to naught.

And it turned out the luck hadn’t changed so much after all: in the bottom fourth, Ryan Ward saw a slider from Painter that was about as spicy as the garlic fries they serve at Dodger Stadium— which is to say, not very. He sent it skyward, where it found the Phillies bullpen for what was his first career homer. It’s a lovely thing to see a milestone like that, unless it’s from the other team, in which case it’s just frustrating. That’s just a momentary frustration, though. The injury to Realmuto, who was pulled prior to the start of the bottom fourth, might be a longer one. Hopefully not. Rafael Marchán replaced him. Then Freeland saw a splitter that he rather liked, and sent a roundtripper to a similar spot as Ward did. The Tinseltowners took a 4-0 lead, Tanner Banks came into replace Painter, and the Phillies desperately hoped for a narrative change.

For a moment, it looked like they got one. Márchan singled in the top fifth, and Crawford doubled to center-right, with the ball landing just past the reach of a sliding Pages. But neither could be brought home, and the Phillies wrapped up their portion of the fifth with a run column as empty as my wallet after I purchased the $80 Ohtani-endorsed skincare for sale at the Dodgers team store.

Note: this is a joke. Not the part where the Dodgers sell that, which they do, or the part where they charge $80 for it, which they do. I did briefly consider actually buying it to turn into some sort of bit for this recap, but while I truly appreciate you, dear TGP reader, I still couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Just like I couldn’t buy that skincare, the Phillies couldn’t buy a break. In the bottom fifth Betts walked, Tucker doubled, and both scored when pinch-hitter Alex Call hit a fly ball that dropped perfectly between the onrushing Phillies.

Yamamoto walked Harper, struck out Marsh, and then finished his day (4 hits, 0 runs, 10 K). Will Klein was the choice from the bullpen, and, despite being more hittable than Yamamoto, soon thwarted the Phillies. They put two aboard, but neither came home, in part because a Bryson Stott bloop found a sliding Pages’ glove, with the latter turning the page from his earlier failed catch.

Pages then rubbed it in by hitting a popup that Stott couldn’t quite chase down, the ball bouncing away and becoming a triple. Pages promptly scored on a sacrifice fly.

As the Phillies entered the bottom of the seventh, they replaced Turner with Edmundo Sosa, and Harper with Garrett Stubbs. Muncy homered. That gave the Dodgers their eighth run. In the bottom eighth, Nolan Hoffman loaded the bases (walk, single, walk), with none out. The damage was limited, with the Dodgers plating only one more.

The bottom ninth saw the Phillies finally score, via Stott solo shot. There was to be no grand comeback, but the moment was appreciated.

The Phillies are 30-29. They return to action Tuesday at 6:40 for a series against the Padres.

After suffering a deflating loss on Saturday, the Dodgers bounced back behind a dominant performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, taking the finale 9-1 and securing a series win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies were the first to strike on Saturday with a home run from Alec Bohm in the second inning. The Dodgers were the first to strike on Sunday in the bottom of the second as Alex Freeland lined a two-out, RBI double to make it a 1-0 lead. Kyle Tucker brought the lead to two in the bottom of the third with a two-out RBI single to snap an 0-8 skid in the series.

Ryan Ward bounced back after striking out against Painter by crushing a hanging sweeper 108 miles per hour into the Phillies bullpen for his first major league home run, extending the Dodgers lead to three to begin the bottom of the fourth.

Alex Freeland followed up Ward with a home run of his own— his first since being recalled from Triple-A— to give him two RBI in as many at-bats, helping extend the lead to four and chase Painter out of the game.

The Dodgers early scoring spree was ample support for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, as he began his afternoon with a pair of strikeouts against Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the top of the first inning. Yamamoto was working on a no-hitter briefly until he allowed a bloop single from Trea Turner to begin the top of the fourth. The Phillies had two men on base in both the fourth and fifth innings, but Yamamoto managed to work around the traffic both times.

Yamamoto was not able to throw a quality start for the first time since allowing five earned runs against the San Francisco Giants on May 12, but he struck out a season-high 10 hitters while tossing his first scoreless outing all season and his first since his final regular season start last year against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Alex Call came in to pinch hit for Ward with the left-hander Tanner Banks on the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning, and he answered the call with a two-run single to give the Dodgers a six run lead. After Andy Pages reached on a bloop triple to shallow right field in the bottom of the sixth, every single Dodger in the starting lineup reached base at least once on Sunday. A sacrifice fly from Freddie Freeman extended the Dodger lead to seven.

Max Muncy joined in on the offensive barrage with a monster solo home run against Chase Shugart in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it an 8-0 lead. It was Muncy’s 14th home run on the year— reclaiming the team lead— and it was his 129th home run hit at Dodger Stadium, placing him just one home run behind Eric Karros for the most by a Dodger at home.

Freddie Freeman’s second sacrifice fly of the game to give the Dodgers their final run. They were three outs away from a shutout victory, but a home run from Bryson Stott against Jonathan Hernández put the Phillies on the board late.

It is the first time since May 2023 that the Dodgers have won a regular season series against the Philadelphia Phillies at home. With the San Diego Padres getting swept by the Washington Nationals, the Dodgers increase their division lead to 5 1/2 games.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Ryan Ward (1), Alex Freeland (3), Max Muncy (14); Bryson Stott (6)
• WP— Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-4): 5 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
• LP— Andrew Painter (1-6): 3 1/3 IP, 7 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers head out to Arizona to begin a four game set with the Diamondbacks on Monday (6:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Emmet Sheehan faces Eduardo Rodriguez.

The Yankees secured back-to-back series wins Sunday when they took their three-game set at the Athletics with a 13-8 victory in the finale, rebounding from Saturday's 6-4 loss.

Takeaways

1. New York (36-23) was one run shy of a franchise-record 14 runs in the third inning when it batted around twice on its way to 13 runs, 11 hits -- eight singles, two doubles and one triple -- and four walks that spanned three A's pitchers. The 43-minute top half started on Paul Goldschmidt's RBI single with the bases loaded and none out, and Cody Bellinger's two-out edition to follow Ben Rice's two-run triple capped the Yankees' scoring frenzy. After New York scored one run in the first eight innings of Saturday's defeat, it found its stride with a breakthrough that added some needed cushion.
2. Will Warren allowed three unearned runs in the first inning to put the Yankees in an immediate hole but subsequently bounced back with five scoreless frames. He ended his six-inning start with six hits allowed while striking out five and walking three on 82 pitches (51 strikes). Warren lacked his best stuff but dug deep to earn his seventh win at 7-1 and lower his ERA to 3.22.
3. Warren's replacement, Tim Hill, allowed three runs or more for the second time since surrendering three in a short-lived relief appearance during last Friday's 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Hill (4.03 ERA) entered the seventh inning with a 10-run lead but gave up two homers while struggling to locate pitches. Fortunately for New York, the A's (28-31) create too much of a mountain to climb.
4. The Yankees match the AL East-leading Rays (36-20) with 36 wins entering June. After a three-game skid between May 20-21 losses against the Toronto Blue Jays and the aforementioned May 22 defeat against Tampa Bay, New York has won six of its past seven games as it enters the new month with a six-game homestand on the horizon.

Who's the MVP?

Rice, whose start as the Yankees' designated hitter in the second spot of the batting order -- behind Goldschmidt, who started at first and led off -- featured four RBI during a 2-for-5 afternoon. Before Rice's aforementioned triple, his two-run double earlier in the third inning tied the game at 3-3 and ignited the rally.

Highlights

Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice get the Yankees even! pic.twitter.com/1nNdYuNF9p

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 31, 2026

Aaron Judge gets it to drop and the Yankees lead! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/z94Lq4wKKr

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 31, 2026

Trent Grisham brings home a pair! pic.twitter.com/PkHpfCH4ow

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 31, 2026

Anthony Volpe brings in the 8th run of the inning before the Athletics have gotten an out 💪 pic.twitter.com/eOVg9IvvKU

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 31, 2026

10 RUNS, NO OUTS.

MAX SCHUEMANN BRINGS HOME TWO! pic.twitter.com/B6HhroTb6H

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 31, 2026

BEN RICE WITH A TWO-RUN TRIPLE! pic.twitter.com/sTSe7bde0v

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 31, 2026

LUCKY 13.

CODY BELLINGER KEEPS THE LINE MOVING! pic.twitter.com/8b4AQS49PC

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 31, 2026

What's next

The Yankees take Monday off before Tuesday's 7:05 p.m. opener with the Cleveland Guardians starts a three-game series that spills into Wednesday and Thursday. New York's six-game homestand subsequently continues Friday through Sunday with a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox.

Yankees RHP Cam Schlittler (7-2, 1.50 ERA) and Guardians LHP Joey Cantillo (4-2, 3.57 ERA) are set to start Tuesday.

That was one of the stranger games of baseball you’ll see. If you came in blind and I told you that the Yankees would give up eight runs while only scoring in a single inning, and Sacremento pitching faced the minimum in every other inning, you’d probably bet that they lost their Sunday rubber match with the Athletics. Except, it was a really, really big inning, a historically big inning. Thirteen men crossed the plate in the top of the third, and New York finished this road trip 5-1 after a 13-8 victory over the A’s.

We were all frustrated by the start of the game. The Yankees went down quietly in the top of the first, and Trent Grisham couldn’t find second gear on a dying quail in center field:

Bad defense leading to a crooked number, in a West Coast game on a getaway day in an MiLB stadium. There were a lot of reasons for the more superstitious to believe this was going to turn into one of those games. Instead, we got to see something no Yankee fan had seen in more than a hundred years.

How do we even start? Anthony Volpe singled and stole second, before Max Schuemann and Austin Wells both worked walks to load the bases. Down three, with the bases drunk and nobody out, my thought was “You’ve gotta tie the game here.”

Paul Goldschmidt did his job, an infield single and the Yankees were able to capitalize on Jacob Lopez’s failure to cover first; 3-1. Then came Ben Rice, to knot us up:

I’m thinking, “Great, fantastic, exactly what the team needed to do.”

I’ve watched a lot of baseball, you figure they’ll maybe tack on another run or two, little bit of a cushion for Will Warren. The club pushed another run across in an eerie echo of the Grisham blunder two innings prior:

It’s a line drive in the box score, Cap.

But then something started to happen. The Yankees kept getting hits, and when they weren’t getting hits it was because José Caballero walked with the bases loaded, ahead of Trent Grisham making up for that first-inning error:

Volpe completed the bat-around with another single, scoring another run. Schuemann pitched in a two-run double. Austin Wells walked again!

Side note — if there’s anyone in the Yankee org that passed along my “Austin Wells stop swinging” advice earlier this weekend, I appreciate you.

The leadoff hitter Goldschmidt was the first Yankee retired in the frame, after a dozen men safely reached base. I can only imagine the ribbing the veteran must have received on returning to the dugout, the crack in the chain of baserunners. Rice picked up the old man with a triple that scored two more runs:

Cody Bellinger would add another run on a single, and Cabby notched the last hit in a historic frame before Grisham was finally retired.

The Yankees sent 18 men to the plate, scoring 13 runs. The franchise record in a single frame is 14, set in the 1920 campaign. I suppose it is mathematically possible that someone in the stadium today or watching the YES broadcast was around for that, but the old adage that when you go to the ballpark, you have a chance to see something you’ve never seen before certainly rang true in Sacremento today.

Suzyn Waldman noted on WFAN that 45 minutes is the decision point during a rain delay, where teams remove whatever pitcher was in at the time the skies opened up and go with a bullpen arm. The top of the third lasted 42 minutes, with Will Warren jogging down to the outfield bullpens in an attempt to stay warm. As impressive as the offense was, perhaps equally as impressive was Warren needing just 11 pitches to work the bottom of the inning, and five the bottom of the fourth — the platonic ideal of the quick, shutdown inning after an explosion like that.

Warren ended up going six innings, with zero earned runs allowed. He pretty clearly pivoted to “pitching to the scoreboard” after the third inning, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the 5:3 K:BB ratio. Tim Hill was the first bullpen arm used, likely since with such a significant lead Aaron Boone needed someone who could keep the ball in the strike zone. While Hill did that, he didn’t exactly keep the ball in the yard, giving up two home runs and taking it from a ten-run game to a six-run affair.

Fernando Cruz also allowed a run in the eighth, an RBI double off Nick Kurtz’s bat. David Bednar, in need of work after five days off, was called upon in the ninth and put a pair of men on, before finally closing it out and sealing a series win. The Yankees didn’t even get a hit outside of that mammoth third, but it was mammoth enough that we’ll remember it for a long time.

The club gets a much-appreciated day off tomorrow as they fly home from the West Coast, and then we get Cam Bump Day on Tuesday. Cleveland comes to town for a three-game set, and Cam Schlittler gets the ball for the first round against lefty Joey Cantillo. Tuesday’s action starts at 7:05pm Eastern.

Box Score

The train just won’t stop rolling, folks. The Atlanta Braves went into this series with the Cincinnati Reds following an emphatic bounce-back series win against the Boston Red Sox and looking to ensure that this road trip would be a winning one as well. It was especially encouraging to see Ronald Acuña Jr. deliver a big hit for the first time in what felt like ages during that final game in Boston and I’d imagine that we were all hoping that this would keep on going as the team switched venues from Fenway Park to the Great American Ball Park.

As it turned out, to say that Acuña kept it going would be an understatement. It is legitimately not hyperbolic to say that Acuña looked like an MVP-caliber hitter again over the course of these three games in Cincinnati. Now granted, Acuña (and the Braves as a whole during this current era) have usually had a good time swinging the bat in this ballpark but what happened over the course of this weekend was something akin to watching a supernova go off right in front of your eyes. Let’s get into this series to see exactly how things turned out on what ended up being a typically loud series on the Buckeye side of the Ohio River.

Friday, May 29

Braves 8, Reds 3

Ronald Acuña Jr. picked up exactly where he left off in Boston as he crushed a leadoff dinger to get the Braves on the board first. In fact, Reds outfielder bake Dunn was the only reason why it didn’t get worse for starting pitcher Chris Paddack and the Reds in the first inning as Dunn robbed Michael Harris II of a dinger and then unleashed a laser to get Matt Olson out at second base after Olson tried to leg out a double.

With that being said, that didn’t stop the Braves from continuing their early onslaught once the second inning rolled around. Atlanta loaded the bases with nobody out to get the top of the second started and they eventually ended up cashing in three runs from it in order to take a 4-0 lead. That was all the damage they’d end up doing to Paddack and in fact, this was a tight game after five innings after the Reds launched two solo homers off of Grant Holmes in the fourth inning and then added a third run to Holmes’ line after Didier Fuentes gave up an RBI single to Sal Stewart to make it just a one-run lead for the Braves.

Fortunately, Yunior Marte suffered the same fate as Chris Paddack in that they both gave up four runs. Marte surrendered all four of those runs in one inning, though, as the first four Braves who came to the plate in the sixth all reached safely. Michael Harris II, Jorge Mateo (who has been lowkey heating up lately) and Mike Yastrzemski all delivered the big RBI shots that resulted in the Braves taking a five-run, 8-3 lead. Didier Fuentes sat down the side in order in the sixth inning and Atlanta’s bullpen clamped down from that point forward in order to make sure that 8-3 was how it ended.

Saturday, May 30

Braves 5, Reds 2

The long ball played a major factor in Atlanta’s success in picking up yet another series, as the Braves clubbed four homers in this one. Half of those came off of the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr., who appears to be on the start of a real heater. The Braves actually trailed after two innings thanks to JJ Bleday taking advantage of a hanging curveball from Martín Pérez for a two-run homer but after that, the homers were exclusively reserved for the Braves.

Acuña’s first dinger of the game came in the third inning as it tied the game up at two runs apiece. Two innings later, Jorge Mateo hit his third dinger of the season to put the Braves in front (now mind you, Mateo hit one (1) homer in 43 games last season) and then Acuña followed that up by reaching third base without swinging the bat following a walk and two stolen bases. He didn’t score but it’s also another sign that Acuña may be rounding into MVP form — plus it was pretty cool to see so I had to mention it.

Anyways, Matt Olson sent one out for a solo shot in the seventh inning to give the Braves some breathing room and then Acuña put the icing on the cake with a bomb in ninth inning to make it a three-run deficit. Thanks to Martín Pérez throwing another solid five innings and Atlanta’s high-leverage bullpen quartet of Tyler Kinley, Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias combining for four scoreless innings with just one baserunner allowed between the four of them, the Braves ended up cruising to their 40th victory of the season. Folks, that’s 40 victories before June — PHEW!

Sunday, May 31

Reds 6, Braves 4

The good news to report from this one is that Ronald Acuña Jr. continued to absolutely light it up at the plate. Acuña reached base four times in this one and in fact, the very first pitch he saw from Nick Lodolo during this game ended up landing in the right field seats for his fifth home run in four games. As far as the plate production goes, the Reds will surely not miss seeing Acuña for the rest of this season!

The bad news is that the Braves couldn’t really string together enough offense to deliver a big inning that could’ve potentially turned the tide in this one. The Reds responded with an RBI double from (none other than) JJ Bleday in the first inning to tie it up and then Bleday hit liner out to right for another double that gave the Reds the lead in the third inning. As a matter of fact, the Reds basically just wore out Acuña out there in right field as Will Benson’s double in the fourth inning ended up turning into another run scored for the Reds as Acuña had a devil of a time trying to retrieve the ball. Spencer Steer went first-to-home as a result and the Braves were in a 3-1 hole.

That was the second of five straight innings where the Reds added exactly one run to their tally. Despite another Jorge Mateo home run in the fifth inning and a sacrifice fly from Austin Riley in the sixth inning, the Braves were unable to keep pace with Cincinnati and found themselves dealing with a three-run deficit once the ninth inning rolled around. Atlanta was able to get a rally going in the final frame which saw Acuña drive in another run to make it 6-4 while also getting themselves into a bases-loaded situation with two outs. Having Matt Olson at the plate was about as good as what the Braves could ask for but unfortunately, Olson grounded out to third and the Braves ended up having to settle for a series win instead of a sweep.

So, that’s another series win, another successful road trip and another wildly successful month of baseball for the 2026 Atlanta Braves. They’ve now won or split 15 of 17 series that they’ve played so far and they’re the first team to win 40 games this season. They’ll be the only team with at least 40 wins for at least a few days since the only other team that’s knocking on the door of 40 wins is none other than the Dodgers, who have 37 wins. The Rays and Yankees aren’t too far behind with 36 and 35 wins and then you have the Brewers with 35 wins as well and the Guardians are continuing to practice witchcraft over there with 34 wins of their own.

No matter how you slice it, the Braves are red-hot and they aren’t showing too many signs of stopping. For reference’s sake, the Nationals have gone 20-13 over their past 33 and they’re still firmly in the rear view mirror. The Phillies are starting to recover from their rough start and yet they’re right there wit the Nationals in terms of distance behind the Braves. No current divisional leader has a bigger cushion at the top of their division right now than the Braves do and it’s tough to imagine that changing any time soon.

It also sure helps that Ronald Acuña Jr. is showing some loud signs that he’s getting right again. The Braves have been successful with Acuña kind of treading water (for his standards) and now it’s fun to imagine what this team can do with Acuña firing on all cylinders like he’s capable of. It was clear that the offense needed some sort of a spark after Drake Baldwin went down with an oblique injury and ever since the series finale in Boston and throughout this series in Cincinnati, Acuña has provided that spark for this team and it’s been truly exciting to witness.

Now, the Braves will get a day off on Monday before kicking off the June slate with a six-game homestand against the Blue Jays and Pirates. With the way this team is continuing to play, they can reasonably believe that they’ve got a very good shot of winning any and every series they play in, which is some rarefied air to be in this deep into any given regular season. Plain and simple, this is a very fun baseball team to watch right now and hopefully it’ll continue for a good, long while — especially if Acuña can keep on lighting it up as the Braves return home.

The St. Louis Cardinals will try to rebound and win the series Sunday night when Matthew Liberatore takes the mound for another national broadcast. Jordan Wicks will get the start for the Chicago Cubs. First pitch is set for 6:20pm central time as the game will be watchable on NBC/Peacock.

Jesús Sánchez wasn’t “trying to play catch” — but a fan apparently was.

The Blue Jays outfielder was injured in bizarre fashion on Sunday, when he was hit in the hand by a ball thrown from the stands during a game against the Orioles.

During the sixth inning, Sánchez was talking with a fan in the outfield when he put his glove up, which seemingly led the fan to believe the MLB veteran wanted a ball thrown his way.

But the 28-year-old had put his glove down when the ball came flying his way, and he was left in pain when the ball hit him.

Sánchez was attended to by medical staff and ultimately left the field holding his hand.

He shared after the game through an interpreter that the situation with the fan was a “misunderstanding.”

“I wasn’t trying to play catch right there with them,” Sánchez told reporters.

“I just looked at them and they thought maybe that I wanted them to throw the ball back to me.”

The Blue Jays, who lost the game 9-5, said Sánchez had suffered a right wrist contusion, but that X-rays for a fracture had come back negative.

The Orioles also released a statement to reporters, which said that the fan had been identified and removed from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Sánchez is slashing a .287/.324/.461 line this season with 28 RBIs — and the Blue Jays will hope he doesn’t miss much time.

The Athletics are playing in a minor league ballpark again this year as they wait for their new home to be built in Las Vegas. On Sunday, in the top of the third inning, they pitched like a minor league team as well.

The New York Yankees teed off on A's starter Jacob Lopez and relievers Michael Kelly and Jack Perkins for 13 runs in the top of the third inning.

The Yankees sent 18 players to the plate at Sutter Health Park, pilling up 11 hits and four walks in the biggest inning the team has had since at least 1974, according to the WFAN broadcast. Lopez wore most of it before manager Mark Kotsay turned to Kelly and then to Perkins, who finally put an end to the circus.

Lopez was charged with seven earned runs on five hits. Kelly allowed six runs on six hits and two walks.

Ten runs were scored before anyone made an out. No Yankees team had ever done that.

It was another tough day of Royals baseball. They were promptly swept for the third time in their last four series. They have lost 6 straight and 16 of their last 19. They are one of the worst teams in all of baseball.

A four-run first inning, all with two outs, doomed Michael Wacha and the Royals. Ezequiel Duran tripled to score two, scoring himself on a single y Alejandro Osuna. A Kyle Higashioka double would plate another run to make it 4-0.

Wacha would allow two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Wacha, who’d thrown five straight quality starts, just simply didn’t have it today. His final line was 5 innings, 8 hits, 6 runs, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts. Steven Cruz, Eli Morgan and Mason Black all pitched scoreless innings for the Royals.

On offense, Michael Massey hit a 2-run homer late to make it 6-3. He had a pair of hits, and Bobby singled and hit a bloop double in the ninth to give him a multi-hit day.

I wish I could say more, but there is simply nothing positive going on right now for the Royals. Their road trip continues tomorrow as they open a 3-game set in Cincinnati to take on the Reds. Luinder Avila is the expected starter for what should be a bullpen game. First pitch is set for 6:10 p.m. CT.

At least my Kansas Jayhawks might clinch a super-regional berth tonight! 🙂

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Looking back, the most remarkable feat accomplished here Sunday afternoon may have been that across eight combined innings, the Athletics faced the minimum against the Yankees.

That’s because for one inning in between — a 43-minute top of the third — they faced a Yankees parade.

Sparked by a message from Aaron Judge to wake up after a “sleepy” first two innings, the Yankees began the third by having their first 12 batters reach base safely and scoring 10 runs before they made the first out. And their stupefying rally did not stop there.

By the time the marathon inning was over, the Yankees had sent 18 men to the plate, with 15 of them reaching and 13 of them scoring — one shy of a franchise record that has stood since 1920. They racked up 11 hits — incredibly, none of them leaving the park — four walks and four steals, seeing 75 pitches from three pitchers. Anthony Volpe, Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger each had two hits in the inning, with Rice driving in four runs on a double and triple.

In the process, the Yankees turned a three-run deficit into a 10-run lead, sucking the life out of the A’s pitching staff one painstaking at-bat at a time on the way to a 13-8 win.

“We were sitting here kind of flat, but when we have energy and we press on the gas against all these teams, we’re the best team in baseball,” Judge said. “Just wanted guys to remember that.

“A couple choice words there, just get it going. The boys responded.”

Amazingly, in the eight innings outside of the ridiculous third, the Yankees only had a single base runner: a leadoff walk in the sixth inning that was erased by a double play. In other words, the A’s were one inning short of a combined no-hitter.

“Today was one of those crazy games that I don’t know what it was, but it was a win,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Will Warren, who had to jog to the bullpen during the second pitching change of the third inning to warm up because it had been so long since he last threw a pitch, did not allow the A’s (28-31) to return serve. The right-hander took the gaudy run support and cruised across six innings, allowing only three unearned runs, as the Yankees (36-23) wrapped up a 5-1 road trip in style.

“It’s very easy in a day game to, ‘Oh let’s go through the motions,’ but that’s how you get your ass beat,” Warren said. “I’m glad we woke up and turned it around on them.”

The 12 straight Yankees to reach base to start the third inning matched a franchise record from 1949. Phil Rizzuto led off that rally with a walk before the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra piled on.

On Sunday, it was Volpe who got it going with a bloop single after the Yankees had not even hit the ball out of the infield through the first two innings against A’s lefty Jacob Lopez and trailed 3-0.

Former A’s utilityman Max Schuemann and Austin Wells followed with walks to load the bases for Paul Goldschmidt, who roped an RBI single to make it a 3-1 game.

Rice came up next and smoked a two-run double down the line to tie the game before Judge blooped a single into center field for the 4-3 lead, and the Yankees were off and running. They did not make an out until Goldschmidt, batting for the second time in the frame, was called out looking at a pitch out of the zone, at which point they led 10-3.

“It was crazy,” said Volpe, who was on deck to hit for the third time when the inning finally ended. “I felt like I would run the bases and then I’d get up and have to put my stuff back on [to hit].”

They leaned on station-to-station action to keep extending the lead instead of waiting for the big swing to clean up the traffic with a home run. The long ball never came for the team that leads the majors in homers, but they found a different way to attack against Lopez and righty reliever Michael Kelly.

“We got guys up and down this lineup that can hit homers, but it’s guys taking walks, guys just putting the ball in play and seeing what happens,” Judge said. “I feel like [for] a couple years, we haven’t had that ability to do something like that. But now we got the capability with the type of lineup we have, there’s a lot of grit in this team.

“That inning was fun.”

The A’s made things semi-interesting in the seventh inning when Tim Hill got some work in and gave up four runs on a pair of homers, but eventually the Yankees escaped with the win.

“I don’t think the prettiest game on either side necessarily,” Boone said, “but we were able to make a really outstanding inning stand up.

With how this month of May went for the Nats, it was only fitting that they finished it off by taking a series against a team above .500. That is what this team has been doing all month, and it is why they had a 16-12 record in May. It is even more fitting that the battery of Zack Littell and Keibert Ruiz led them to this win.

Both Ruiz and Littell had tough starts to the season, but really turned things around in May. Ruiz hit .379 with a 1.107 OPS on the month, while playing great defense. Meanwhile, Littell posted a 2.35 ERA in 30.2 innings, after having an ERA over 8 in April. For Ruiz, he needed to find his confidence and Littell just needed to get back up to speed after signing late in the offseason.

It also appears that the two have developed a mutual respect for each other. After the game, Ruiz credited Littell for “attacking hitters and getting quick outs”. Littell seemed very impressed with Ruiz, especially on the defensive side of the ball. He admitted that prior to playing here, he knew that Ruiz was not exactly known as a defensive minded catcher. After working with him though, Littell said that Ruiz has been “Unbelievable” and says that he “loves working with him”. 

Littell also credited Ruiz’s work ethic, which has been a common theme this year. In Spencer Nusbaum’s great piece about Ruiz, it talked about how the work ethic has always been there for him. The difference this year is that Ruiz is working smarter as well. 

While the Nats catcher went 2 for 3 today, his biggest contributions were on the defensive end. He gunned down three runners today including two huge strike em out throw em out plays that ended stressful innings. Ruiz got the Nats out of a nervy 7th by gunning down a runner, and did the same to end the game in the 9th.

This version of Keibert Ruiz has absolutely shocked me. He is playing like an elite catcher. Who knows if it will last, but now we can see what Keibert is capable of when he is at the top of his game. Ruiz seems like a really easy guy to root for, and he has taken a lot of flack over the years from people like myself and others. It is just great to see him succeeding and playing to his potential.

I feel like we have been saying this after each of his last few outings, but Zack Littell may have had the best outing of his season yet again, at least for the first six innings. The veteran absolutely cruised through the Padres lineup for 6 frames. He was getting quick outs at will, while also getting swing and miss when he needed it. Littell credited his increased whiff and chase numbers to staying in the zone more. When he gets ahead of hitters by pounding the zone, he is able to force them to chase later in counts. This start finished off a fantastic month for the righty.

The Nats offense may not have been at their electric best today, but they still got the job done, thanks largely to a couple laser beam home runs. Luis Garcia Jr. hit the first one, swinging away on a 3-0 count. He hit a 111 mph line drive that just kept going out to right field.

In the next inning, James Wood found a way to one up Garcia. He hit a very similar line drive home run, just slightly harder and slightly further. Wood’s homer was 113.8 MPH off the bat and traveled 417 feet. It was an absolute missile that got out of Nats Park in the blink of an eye.

After the Wood homer, the Nats had a seemingly comfortable 3-0 lead with Littell rolling. However, things got dicey in the 7th when Littell allowed three straight base runners. Blake Butera turned to his fire man Orlando Ribalta to get out of the jam. He started things out by allowing a sac fly and then walking a batter. However, after a long battle with Miguel Andujar, he got the strikeout and Keibert Ruiz gunned down Sung-Mun Song at second.

The Nats then added a key insurance run in the bottom of the frame. This run came thanks to three unlikely heroes. Jose Tena, Jorbit Vivas and Andres Chaparro have not exactly been crushing the ball lately, but they sparked this mini rally. Tena and Vivas got on base to start the inning. Then with two outs, Chaparro hit a double down the line to bring in a key insurance run. Chaparro has not played a ton, but he has gotten two clutch knocks.

The Nationals outstanding month of May was capped off by yet another runner gunned down by Ruiz. Clayton Beeter looked a little shaky, but he was able to get through the inning without much trouble, in part due to his catcher. The Nats won again and improved to 31-29.

If you told me that this team would be two games over .500 heading into June, I am not sure I would have believed you, yet here we are. This team is playing inspired baseball under Blake Butera, and only seem to be improving. Things are looking up in DC for the first time in a while.

Before Sunday afternoon’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves President of Baseball Operations/General Manager Alex Anthopoulos spoke with BravesVision Play-by-Play commentator Brandon Gaudin in something of a “state of the front office”-type interview. With that being said, the biggest question of the session had to do with the status of a couple of injured players. Drake Baldwin is currently on the IL with an oblique strain and there’s been little news when it comes to hammering down a potential return date for Atlanta’s rising star of a catcher.

AA did provide a little bit of an update but it’s still something that’s more of an estimate rather than something concrete to look forward to. With a Grade 1 oblique strain, the time frame is usually around 3-4 weeks and AA mentioned that when it comes to that sort of thing, he and the rest of the front office like to use the latter estimate instead of the former. If it’s four weeks then that would mean that mid-June would seem like the time to hopefully start expecting an imminent return for Baldwin.

AA also mentioned that he isn’t anticipating that Baldwin’s return would be preceded by a rehab stint. He explained that since Sean Murphy and Ha-Seong Kim didn’t have a spring training, they needed the rehab stint when compared to Baldwin’s situation. In the case of Baldwin, since he’s been getting plenty of regular season reps (and swinging the bat very well, to be frank) that would mean that they’d try to just throw him back in the action once it’s clear that he’s healthy.

Again, this is all pretty nebulous and when you once again consider that this is an oblique injury that we’re talking about, I’d imagine that the Braves are going to take it very easy when it comes to bringing Drake Baldwin back into the fold. They also have the benefit of having the best record in baseball with a comfortable lead in the division, so it’s not like they have to rush Baldwin back into the fold. It also helps that Ronald Acuña Jr. appears primed to pick up the baton that Baldwin unfortunately had to drop due to his injury.

All of this is to say that Baldwin is likely still at least a couple of weeks away from starting to really ramp up for a return. As I mentioned above, it’s good that the Braves don’t have to rush him but it’s also fun to imagine what this lineup could look like with everybody firing on all cylinders. We still have yet to see this lineup in it’s fully healthy form and it’s very exciting to think about what this offense could do with its full compliment of players.

For now, it’s time to remain patient when it comes to Drake Baldwin coming back in the near future. There are plenty of reasons to be patient and hopefully Baldwin will go back to raking once he does eventually make his return from a notoriously tricky injury to deal with. We’ll see what happens.

Meanwhile, AA did provide some tangible good news when it comes to their injured pitching. He told Gaudin that Hurston Waldrep is apparently going to begin a rehab stint on Monday, so that’s obviously good news. Waldrep is clearly on the road to recovery and apparently he’s been throwing bullpen sessions where he’s been hitting 96-99 mph on the radar gun. That’s pretty exciting to hear and hopefully this means that Waldrep will be arriving to join a Braves pitching staff that has already been doing a great job of holding down the fort without the likes of Waldrep or Spencer Schwellenbach as well.

Friends, you’ve been so engaged that we had to put together another overflow thread!

Unfortunately, the Rockies are currently losing to the Giants 12-5 in a game that started over 2.5 hours ago after a ghastly seven-run fifth.

In case you forgot, here are the lineups:

Keep it civil, friends, and please remember the Purple Row Community Guidelines as you’re commenting!

If you’ve seen a band with two bassists live, you’d understand why it’d be an odd sight to see three catchers in the starting lineup (Wong as DH, Gasper as 1B, and Narvaez actually doing the catching for Ranger Suarez.) But, at first, there appeared to be no LOW END (music pun!) for the offense against the Guardians, as Jarren Duran cranked a ball into the stands by the time I turned my television on and Mickey Gasper had also gotten on base with a single into the outfield. 

It didn’t take too long, though, for Suarez to fall into some early trouble in the second and fourth innings, but he whiffed two to end the fourth before any damage can be done, upping his total to seven through four innings. Unfortunately, in the bottom of the fifth, Masataka Yoshida lost a ball in the sun that dropped in and scored Cleveland’s third run, and exactly one (1) pitch later Chase Delauter smacked Jose Ramirez in. Gone was the confidence of Suarez, evidently, along with the Red Sox’s short-lived lead, an issue that has plague them all season, but Suarez was still able to finish that inning – and his afternoon – strong with his tenth strikeout. 

In the late going, namely, the 7th, the Guardians fell victim to a common Red Sox trope: letting failed ABS challenges come back to bite them. With the bases loaded, Tim Herrin threw a third strike to Wilyer Abreu that was a called ball four to walk a run in and tie the game. The Masataka Yoshida redemption arc then concluded with maybe his biggest hit of the year to score one, and IKF and Caleb Durbin each added insult to injury following the pitching change to Codi Heuer, and the lead was 9-4. A couple more innings of stagnant action, and the Red Sox brought Aroldis Chapman in to get his first work in since May 20 in a non-save situation to slam the door.

The Red Sox win the series but there’s still some work to do, as the next three series are all against divisional opponents.  

Four Studs

Jarren Duran: The Guardians’ Tanner Bibee hasn’t gotten a win in his 13 appearances yet, and, thanks in part to Duran getting to him by firing that lead-off shot within 30 seconds of the first pitch, that continues here. After struggling in April, he finished May off with 9 home runs and an .871 OPS.

Ranger Suarez: It wasn’t the most beautiful outing he’ll ever have, as he gave up three runs and looked very shaken after that Yoshida bobble, but he finished extremely strong and avoided melting down like he did in his last start. 10 strikeouts now have him tied with Connelly Early for the lead on the team (57.)

Caleb Durbin: Any time you get your first career triple along with two RBIs, you can get a stud nod. He’s still got some work to do, but he’s really starting to turn a corner in the last week.

Connor Wong: With this double, his career OPS against Cleveland continues to drift well over 1.300.

Three Duds

The Guardians’ ABS challenging skills: The Red Sox have been an enemy of the ABS challenging system since its’ implementation, as they’re the worst in the league. But, today, it helped them. Wilyer Abreu taking that walk in the 7th had consequences, as that was indeed a strike but the Guardians had incorrectly challenged two calls prior and were left to deal with that call. That resulted in five more runs as the Red Sox broke it open.

That’s it. Everyone who started had hits. Even Greg Weissert didn’t allow a run today. Nothing could bring the vibes down after Red Sox nation initially biting their nails for six and a half innings.

Play of the Game

Here’s that Yoshida hit.

And for measure, here’s Marcelo Mayer running a foul ball down and giving a great effort to give Jovani Moran a much-needed second out of a pivotal 6th inning. Moran would go on and get the relief decision win.

And thus concludes my first Major League Game Recap since September of 2023, and the month of May.