Category: Baseball

Mariners 7, Twins 1

Good: Josh Naylor, .25 WPA

Bad: Cal Raleigh, -.16 WPA

Game thread comment of the day

Blake Snell had his way with Class-A hitters in his second minor league rehab start on Tuesday night. The Dodgers left-hander struck out six in three scoreless innings for Ontario against the Lake Elsinore Storm, a San Diego Padres affiliate.

Snell struck out all three batters he faced in the first inning, then allowed a leadoff double in the second but struck out the next three batters to escape that frame unscathed. He needed only five pitches to complete a perfect third inning with a flyout and two groundouts.

In all, Snell threw 39 pitches on Tuesday, 29 for strikes. He induced 11 swinging strikes, and retired nine of his 10 batters faced.

This was the second rehab start with Ontario for Snell, who started the season on the injured list with shoulder fatigue. Last Wednesday with the Tower Buzzers in San Jose, Snell pitched one-plus inning and threw 32 pitches, and allowed two runs, one earned, with one walk and no strikeouts.

“The first two starts are like — for me, I’m very patient. I just want to see how I feel, how I respond, what’s working, what’s not working. If offspeed is really good, if the fastball is really good, I want to learn how they’re playing,” Snell told reporters last week in San Francisco after his first rehab start. “After those first two starts, that’s when you get more aggressive, like okay now we need to make it happen.”

The Atlanta Braves took on the Detroit Tigers in a clash of first place teams, both with some of the best rotation outputs in MLB. The Braves are red hot having won twenty games before May for the first time in franchise history, and going 20-9 for only the ninth time in franchise history. This game had the makings of a low scoring affair if Martín Pérez was able to keep up his surprising start. As a side note, this series will be the only time these two teams meet in the regular season.

Martín Pérez has kept runs off the board, but his underlying metrics show he has been lucky. He got the job done again tonight though. Casey Mize, the Tigers’ SP for the night, has been stellar so far this season. However, he has never beaten Atlanta and holds a career 4.66 ERA against them.

Martín Pérez sat down the the first three hitters he faced with relative ease, and this is important because Gleyber Torres has three HRs against him in his twenty-two at-bats against Pérez. Ronald Acuña may finally be heating up as he smoked a ball for a double to lead off the the bottom of the first inning. It looked like the Braves would start their scoring then with Baldwin moving the runner to third with a groundout and then Matt Olson walking. However, Mize was able to Albies to strike out and Harris to ground out.

Pérez made it interesting in the second, but just like the rest of the year he was fortunate in the stranding runners on base department. He produced a groundout, but then gave up a walk on an ABS challenged pitch. After a Greene groundout, he gave up another walk. Fortunately, he calmed down and got the strike out to end the top of the second.

The Braves could not get anything going in the second, and to add salt to the wound Dominic Smith lost a challenge on a strikeout. Pérez settled down for the most part in the third by only giving up one baserunner, but it was yet another walk. The Braves finally broke through in the third inning. Yastrzemski decided it was time to get out of his slump and hit a double. Not to be outdone, Acuña followed that up with his second double of the night to plate the first run of the game.

Drake Baldwin grounded out to the pitcher, and unfortunately Mize then left the game due to groin tightness.

On the same play, it moved Acuña to third and Matt Olson cashed in by hitting a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0. Albies grounded out, but the Braves had done what they needed to. In the fourth inning, Pérez finally gave up his first hit when Dingler hit a single. By this time it seemed like it was not possible that it was the first hit because of the amount of baserunners, but Pérez has been really good at keeping his composure this season to stay calm and strand runners. Dingler’s single was the only base runner of the inning for the Tigers.

The good news for Austin Riley in the fourth inning is he finally got on base. The bad news is that it was due to a throwing error from a pitcher who would not have even been in the game if it were not for an injury. Kyle Farmer finally saw some playing time replacing Dominic Smith at DH due the pitching matchup, but he unfortunately struck out. The Braves were not able to capitalize on the error and Riley was the only baserunner of the inning.

Pérez stayed in the pitch the fifth inning and it was the right move, technically, but it was not without its drama. Lee doubled to start the inning, but Pérez got Báez to groundout. He then got a strikeout, but then it got scary for a second when Torres walked and then after a mound visit Kevin McGonigle looked to have hit a HR, but Acuña does what he does best and jumped at the wall to make the play to end the top of the fifth. The Braves were shut down in the fifth, but thanks to Acuña, they maintained their lead.

In the sixth inning Didier Fuentes made his first appearance since being called up. This goes to show he likely will remain in the reliever role for now. Pérez ended his night with 5.0 IP with two hits, zero runs, and five strikeouts, lowering his season ERA to 2.22. Fuentes stayed in the game for 2.0 innings and only allowed one baserunner via a walk. He also picked up a strikeout along the way. The Braves again had a blank on offense in the bottom of the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh Riley led off with a strikeout which was confirmed via ABS and Farmer stuck out again as well. However, the back end of the lineup came through as Dubón had a double, making it four total for the Braves thus far in the game and then Yastrzemsi knocked him in with a single to make the score 3-0.

Moving onto the eighth inning and we see that Tyler Kinley is human after all when he gave up a single and a double. But, he did not give up a run and had assistance from ABS with a strikeout when Greene challenged and failed on an excellent pitch on the lower corner.

In the bottom of the eighth Baldwin continued to struggle with a pop out but Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies made up for it when Olson hit a double and then Ozzie Albies smacked a HR to make the score 5-0. Shocker alert, it was against a lefty.

It looked like more damage may be done with a single from Harris and Farmer but no more runs were scored. With the Braves bullpen, confidence was high.

With a five run cushion, Aaron Bummer came in to pinch. Fortunately the five run cushion existed because Bummer did not have his best night. He gave up a two-run HR, but was able to get three outs to end it.

It is hard to say if the Braves would win this game if it was simulated multiple times because of the Mize injury and Pérez walking as many hitters as he did, but the Braves were having no issues hitting doubles like it was batting practice and score enough runs to get the job done.

The first team to twenty-one wins will have a tougher test tomorrow as they face two-time reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal tomorrow at the same time and the same place.

The Cubs claimed left-handed reliever Doug Nikhazy off of waivers and assigned him to Triple-A Iowa. Infielder Ben Cowles was designated for assignment.

Left-hander Jackson Brockett was promoted from Low-A Myrtle Beach to High-A South Bend.

Shortstop Yahil Melendez was promoted to Myrtle Beach from Mesa.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were declared heretics by the St. Paul Saints (Twins), 9-5.

Jordan Wicks made a rehab start today and he was greeted with a leadoff home run and things didn’t get much better from there. The first four batters reached and then after a ground out to first, Wicks gave up a three-run home run. Overall, he gave up five runs in the first inning and one more solo home run in the second.

The final line on Wicks was six runs on seven hits, including three home runs, over two innings. Wicks walked one and struck out no one. I suppose in his defense, the wind was howling out to dead center. In fact, Iowa allowed six home runs total and hit four themselves.

Ethan Roberts pitched the fifth inning on a rehab assignment and gave up a home run to the first batter of the inning. But then he settled down and struck out the next three batters to end his day.

Minnesota native center fielder Brett Bateman led off the top of the third inning in front of his family and connected for his first home run of the year. Bateman was 1 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base.

Third baseman BJ Murray singled after Bateman’s home run and then second baseman James Triantos clobbered a two-run home run. It was Triantos’ fourth on the year. Triantos went 1 for 3 with a walk and Murray was 1 for 4.

In the sixth inning, left fielder Kevin Alcántara crushed his ninth home run of the year with the bases empty. Alcántara was 1 for 4.

Finally, Hayden Cantrelle took over for Ben Cowles at shortstop when Cowles was designated for assignment mid-game. Cantrelle hit a solo home run in his only time at bat in the top of the ninth. It was Cantrelle’s second this season.

Iowa had five hits today. Four of them were home runs.

Bateman’s home run.

Triantos went to the opposite field and just barely got over the wall.

No doubt on the Jaguar.

Cantrelle’s home run.

Knoxville Smokies

Postponed for inclement weather. A makeup date has not been announced.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs boiled the Ft. Wayne TinCaps (Padres), 6-4.

Kenton Egbert started and gave South Bend three scoreless innings, permitting three hits. Egbert struck out one and walked no one, so he kept the ball in play.

Brayden Spears took over for Egbert in the fourth inning and got the win. Spears allowed a solo home run to the second batter he faced, but that was the only hit and the only run he gave up over three innings. Spears walked one and struck out one.

Jackson Kirkpatrick had an ugly save in the ninth. First, he loaded the bases with no outs on two hit batsmen and a walk. After getting a strikeout, he walked another batter to force in a run. But with the tying run on second and just one out, Kirkpatrick got a second strikeout and a grounder to second base to end the game.

DH Cameron Sisneros hit his third home run of the year with the bases empty in the fifth inning. Sisneros went 1 for 2 with three walks and two runs scored. One of the three walks was intentional.

First baseman Cole Mathis was 2 for 4 with a double and a bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning for the Cubs first run. Mathis also scored once.

Shortstop Miguel Olivo was 3 for 4 with an RBI double.

Some great defense for Matt Halbach at third base. He was 1 for 5.

The Sisneros home run.

Olivio’s RBI double.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans extinguished the Columbia Fireflies (Royals), 7-6.

Starter Noah Edders went four innings and allowed just two runs, both unearned, on five hits. He struck out two and walked no one.

Daniel Avitia pitched the next three innings and allowed four runs in the seventh inning, coughing up the Birds 6-2 lead. Avitia’s final line was four runs, three earned, on three hits over three innings. Avitia struck out four, walked one and hit two batters.

Eli Jerzembeck was activated off the injured list, pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning and got the win. Jerzembeck allowed no hits, but he did walk three while striking out five.

Shortstop Ty Southisene broke up the 6-6 tie with an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth. Southisene went 1 for 4 with a walk and a stolen base.

First baseman Michael Carico hit a solo home run in the second inning. It was his third of the year. Carico finished the night 1 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Next up, catcher Logan Poteet went back-to-back with Carico to make it 2-0. Poteet was 1 for 3 with two walks.

In the fifth inning, DH Eli Lovich connected with the bases empty for his second home run of the year. Lovich was 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

The back-to-back home runs by Carico and Poteet.

Lovich’s home run.

Southisene’s double.

After a pit-stop on the way down I-75 for three games and some questionable “chili,” the Tigers continued south to visit the red-hot Atlanta ball club for the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday night. The Tigers’ bats ran cold, two key players left the game with injuries, and they dropped the opener to the tune of a 5-2 tally.

Making his sixth start of the season for the Tigers was Casey Mize, and he’s looked good in his last couple of starts before tonight. Arguably, his April 17 outing in Boston was one of the best of his career: 6 2/3 shutout innings, three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts? By the stat of Game Score — a rough index to try and determine how good a start is — that was a 74, the highest of his career, one above a stellar start in 2021 against the Mariners. (There are some names in that box score, eh?)

Facing Mize and the Tigers was lefty Martín Pérez, making his fourth start (against two relief appearances) for Atlanta this year. He spent nine years in the Rangers’ rotation before bouncing around a little: some time with the Twins, another stint in Texas, and the south side of Chicago last year. He didn’t make Atlanta’s big-league roster out of Spring Training, but was quickly recalled from Triple-A and has had some nice appearances so far. He’ll give you some innings, won’t dominate you too often, generally limits home-run power and, while he used to be an extreme ground-ball pitcher early in his career, has become much less so recently.

On the first pitch of the bottom of the first, Ronald Acuña Jr. smacked a double to the wall, but Mize was able to get the next three batters and strand him at third. He then sawed-through the next three batters in the second, including featuring that right-on-right splitter that, earlier in his career, he’d use primarily against lefties alone.

Meanwhile, Pérez was pulling the string with his changeup more than a kid with a new Chatty Cathy doll: he struck out both Spencer Torkelson, Kevin McGonigle and Jahmai Jones (three hitters on heaters lately) with straight change-ups right down the middle. You know what I said about not dominating teams? Well, he had it tonight.

Atlanta got on the board first with a pair of doubles to start the bottom of the third inning, by Mike Yastrzemski and Acuña to put the home team up 1-0, and let the record show that I spelled Yastrzemski right without looking. The next batter, Drake Baldwin, hit a dribbler up the first-base line; Mize fielded the ball and tossed underhand to first for the out, and he came up limping, favouring his right leg, and that was it for Mize; it was later reported that he had some “right groin tightness.”

Brant Hurter, who’s been used as a multi-inning reliever, came on for Mize and gave up a sacrifice-fly liner to score Acuña for a 2-0 lead.

Dillon Dingler managed the first Tiger hit with one out in the fourth, despite getting three on base before that via the base-on-balls. Alas, Dingler was stranded there after Riley Greene flew out and Torkelson struck out.

Hao-Yu Lee started the fifth with a double, and Javier Báez hit a grounder to shortstop. The throw to first was high, and Báez figured he could get underneath a tag by sliding into first base — which is never a good idea, kids — and ended up twisting his right ankle. He had to be taken off the field on a cart, but if you can have a little hope here, he was seen wiggling and moving his ankle around while on the cart.

(I don’t want to have to point this out, but… that belt of Báez looks a little too Zubaz-ish for my liking. IYKYK.)

After Gleyber Torres walked, McGonigle hit a long fly ball to right, but it was caught halfway up the wall for the third out and the threat was extinguished.

Pérez, whose pitch count was pushed up by a few long at-bats, was out after five innings and Didier Fuentes, a young right-hander from Colombia, took over and he had his slider working overtime, scattering a Greene walk harmlessly amid three quick outs. The Tigers struck out less than the Braves in this one, and hit the ball pretty solidly for the most part, but they neglected to hit them where they ain’t.

Burch Smith took over for Hurter to start the sixth, facing the heart of the order. He got Matt Olson to strike out swinging, and after walking Ozzie Albies, he got Michael Harris II to ground into an inning-ending double play. Smith carried on into the seventh, and with two outs he gave up a double to Mauricio Dubón, who scored on a Yastrzemski single just over Torres’ glove to make it 3-0. But then Chris Fetter paid Smith a visit, whispered some sweet nothings into Smith’s ear, and he struck out Acuña on three pitches.

In the top of the eighth McGonigle singled and Dingler doubled, putting runners on second and third with two outs and bringing Greene to the plate as the tying run. Alas, Greene struck out looking on a pitch that barely nicked the corner of the strike zone, and the inning was over.

Tyler Holton relieved Smith in the bottom of the eighth, and the Georgians tacked-on a pair of runs but-quick: with one out Olson doubled and Albies smacked a fat changeup over the fence for a 5-0 lead.

Torkelson came up first in the ninth inning for one last chance to extend his home run-hitting streak, but he grounded out to third; fun while it lasted. After Colt Keith singled, Wenceel Pérez hit his second home run of the year to get the Tigers on the board, but that would be the final scoring action of the game.

Final score: Atlanta 5, Detroit 2

Notes and Numbers

• How about that Spencer Torkelson fellow? Five straight games with a home run last week, and still didn’t win American League Player of the Week. That honour went to the A’s Carlos Cortes who went 13-for-24 with three dingers, which is fine, I guess. That Torkelson: he don’t get no respect, I’ll tell ya.
• After Sunday’s game, the Tigers as a team had the third-highest OPS (and OPS+) in the American League. Detroit’s OPS was .750, with an OPS+ of 106; if you don’t like anything related to OPS, the Tigers were fourth in batting average (.253; league-average is .239, which still boggles my mind).
• First Alex Cora in Boston, then Rob Thomson in Philadelphia: managers are getting fired left, right and centre! Who do you have next on your list?
• On this day in 1900, Dutch astonomer Jan Oort was born. He’s probably most famous for lending his name to the Oort Cloud, the spherical repository of tiny, icy bodies past the Kuiper Belt that most likely is the source of comets. But an argument could be made that his calculations regarding the rotation of the Milky Way, and the conclusion that there must be a lot of unseen (i.e., “dark”) matter kicking around, was the most important in the broader science of cosmology.

With the first month of baseball in the books, there have been plenty of surprises across the league. From surprise contenders to fallen favorites and from managers on the hot seat to unexpected performers, the 2026 season has been full of surprises. While things are certain to shift as the long season drags on, here are some of the surprises as April draws to a close:

Up-and-Comers

• As you’re well aware, it took your Colorado Rockies 68 games to get their 13th win in 2025. They’ve already hit that mark in April at 13-16.
• The Athletics are setting out for a better 2026. Not expected to do much after a 76-86 season, they’re currently holding onto first in the AL West at 15-13.
• The Cincinnati Reds are also exceeding expectations. Thought to finish near the bottom of the NL Central, they’re leading the way right now with an 18-10 record.

Underperformers

• From an American League pennant to fourth in their division, the Toronto Blue Jays are struggling out of the gate, currently at 12-15.
• The Boston Red Sox, a Wild Card team just last season, are among the worst in the league at 11-17 and just fired skipper Alex Cora and several other staff.
• The NL East looked like it would yield a number of contenders. The Braves sit at 20-9, but every other team in the division has a losing record. Among the most disappointing are the Philadelphia Phillies (who were the 2-seed in the NL last postseason but are now a league-worst 9-19) and the New York Mets (projected to contend with a loaded roster but join the Phils at 9-19). This led to another firing today, with Philadelphia moving on from manager Rob Thompson.
• The preseason PECOTA standings thought highly of the Kansas City Royals, projecting them to finish with 84 wins at first in the AL Central. So far, they’re in last at 11-17.

Big Time Players

• The Chicago White Sox needed something positive, and they got it. In his first year in the MLB, Munetaka Murakami is showing off the power that made him a star in Japan. He leads the league in home runs with 12.
• A pair of New York Yankees sluggers are also in the top five for home runs. Aaron Judge (11 HR) makes a familiar appearance on the list, but he’s joined by teammate Ben Rice (10 HR) who is having a breakout season after showing flashes last year.
• Contributing to Cincinnati’s hot start mentioned above is a potential breakout star in first baseman Sal Stewart. He came into the year at 22nd on MLB’s Top 100 Prospects list and has started the season with a bang, leading the league in RBI and is slashing .291/.385/.602.

A lot will change in the remaining games on the path to 162, but what’s caught you by surprise the most in this young season? Whether it’s one of the rising or falling teams above, a player crushing it, or a superstar not living up to expectations, what’s happening that you didn’t expect to see? Let us know below!

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

Dodgers at the moment have their second three-game win streak of the season. They also have a five-game win streak (April 3-7) and a four-game win streak (April 13-17).

The designated hitter bats leadoff for Los Angeles, per usual.

Tuesday game info

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

The fourth inning concluded Tuesday with a standing ovation from much of the small crowd at Citi Field, perhaps wondering if what it just witnessed was real.

But this wasn’t a mirage. The Mets sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning and scored seven runs. Frustration turned to smiles. The Mets had it all together for a night.

The big inning propelled the Mets to snap a three-game skid with an 8-0 victory over the Nationals before an announced crowd of 33,622 that was much smaller.

In getting swept in three games by the Rockies over the weekend, the Mets scored only four combined runs to continue their season-long offensive woes.

Clay Holmes concluded his dominant April by pitching six shutout innings in which he allowed three hits and one walk with six strikeouts. The right-hander’s ERA dipped to 1.75 before Tobias Myers and Craig Kimbrel finished it.

Now the Mets need momentum. They began this homestand with a series victory over the Twins, and anything less against the underwhelming Nationals will only increase the volume on calls for manager Carlos Mendoza’s firing.

“It’s going to take that daily showing up and doing what we can to be a little bit better,” Holmes said. “I don’t think one day good or bad is really going to change much. I think it’s really having a long-term view if we really want to get where we want to go.”

The offensive fireworks included Juan Soto’s first homer since returning from the injured list last week. Soto’s two-run blast punctuated the Mets’ wild outburst in the fourth against Zack Littell.

Bo Bichette homered on the first pitch in the bottom of the first to get the runaway started. The blast was Bichette’s second this season.

“It sets the tone, first pitch of the game,” Mendoza said. “You want to get the guys going and the last thing you want — I am not going to say panic, but the fact we get the break, loosen it up, which is good to see.”

Jorbit Vivas’ error was the big play in the fourth that launched the Mets’ seven-run explosion. With the bases loaded, Vivas misplayed Marcus Semien’s grounder, allowing two runs to score. Carson Benge’s ensuing two-run single gave the Mets a 5-0 lead. Ronny Mauricio singled to continue the rally before Bichette hit a sacrifice fly. Soto cleared the fence in left-center for his second homer this season, a two-run blast that widened the gap to 8-0.

“I appreciate the effort that the guys put in,” Soto said. “After the Marcus ground ball everybody took great at-bats and getting base hits. Bo bringing the [run] with the sacrifice fly, it was really cool to see.”

MJ Melendez’s single started the big inning and walks to Mark Vientos and Brett Baty loaded the bases ahead of Vivas’ error.

“I think we all felt it there, like this is the break we have been looking for,” Mendoza said. “Not only that, just to be able to cash in, that is like the next step there … just putting guys on base, a couple of walks set up that situation. We were able to create traffic, which is something we weren’t able to do as of late.”

Soto also gave credit to Holmes following the right-hander’s impressive performance. Holmes has pitched at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer in each of his six starts this season.

“He’s been doing it since last year,” Soto said. “No surprise what he’s been doing. He’s a grinder. He’s been putting in the work every day, so I am really happy to see that.”

ARLINGTON, Texas — George Lombard Jr. is suddenly on the doorstep of the big leagues.

The Yankees have promoted their top prospect to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, a source confirmed on Tuesday night, after he crushed the first month of the season at Double-A Somerset.

Lombard, who turns 21 on June 2, was batting .312 with a .971 OPS in 20 games at Somerset after going through some growing pains in 108 games there last year.

The Yankees believe that the shortstop — who has also played some occasional third base — is already ready defensively for the big leagues, but they wanted to see his bat catch up to his glove. 

Lombard has impressed in each of the last two springs, as a non-roster invite to big league camp, both with his talent and his character.

The son of a former big leaguer (and current Tigers bench coach), Lombard has often been lauded for his “off-the-charts” makeup and baseball IQ.

It may not be long before the organization’s first-round pick in 2023 makes it to The Bronx — the only question, now — he is just one level away from the major leagues, is how soon it happens.

Giancarlo Stanton was back in a familiar spot Tuesday, with familiar feelings about it.

The veteran DH officially landed on the 10-day injured list with a low-grade right calf strain, and while a Monday MRI exam revealed he was not dealing with something more severe, that did little to temper his frustration with going on the IL for an eighth straight season.

“At this point, there’s no real peace of mind if you’re going to be out,” Stanton said before Tuesday’s game at Globe Life Field. “It’s better [that] it won’t be a long time, but out again is not ideal.”

Stanton was not yet sure how long he might be out, indicating that he would have a better gauge of that during the upcoming homestand once he started to move around more.

“It’s good that it’s not high-grade, but at the same time, you got to make sure it doesn’t happen again and you don’t re-aggravate it,” Stanton said. “Just got to be smart with it.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

The 36-year-old is still able to hit, but has not tried running since sustaining the injury Friday. The first day he is eligible to come off the IL is May 5, though it remains to be seen whether he will be ready that soon.

“Hopefully it’s not something that’s long, but obviously [Stanton] has had some of these lower-body issues before,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’re just going to listen to that and certainly not rush anything. Hopefully it’s on the shorter side of things.”

Angel Chivilli, who flew back to New York to undergo tests after being placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday, will not throw for at least three weeks because of a shoulder injury.

Boone did not have the exact diagnosis, but said the reliever “had some acute and chronic stuff going on in there,” which will keep him from being a bullpen option again at least until June.

José Caballero started the season a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen bases, but since is 1-for-4 over his past four games. He went 0-for-3 in Tuesday’s win and did not have a steal attempt.

“We certainly want to be smart all the time, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to take some chances and take some risks sometimes,” Boone said. “I trust in his ability to execute out there and certainly don’t want him to shy away. We need him to play out there with that kind of confidence and swagger and have that continue to be part of his game — not to say we don’t want to be as smart as we can in certain spots.”

The Yankees called up utility player Max Schuemann on Tuesday as a roster replacement for Stanton.

Schuemann was likely just making a one-day cameo, since the Yankees will have to open a roster spot again Wednesday to make room for Elmer Rodríguez being called up to make his MLB debut.

Anthony Volpe played in another rehab game Tuesday with Double-A Somerset, and is scheduled to play another Wednesday before the Yankees decide his next steps.

The Tigers are holding their breath about Javier Báez.

Báez exited in the fifth inning of Detroit’s game in Atlanta after sliding awkwardly at first base, leaving the field on a cart.

The center fielder rolled over on a first-pitch changeup from Braves lefty Martin Perez, sending a ground ball to shortstop. Mauricio Dubon threw high to first, though, and to avoid a tag from first baseman Matt Olson, Báez attempted to slide feet-first into the bag but appeared to injure the lower part of his right leg after going past the base.

Javier Báez was carted off the field after an awkward slide into first base.

(Via: @BRWalkoff) pic.twitter.com/m1OwOoYRNX

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 29, 2026

Báez was helped off the field by first base coach Anthony Sanders and assistant athletic trainer Kelly Rhoades, who got him into a cart.

Wenceel Pérez came into the game to replace Báez.

Báez finished the game 0-for-2 before leaving.

Detroit had not announced what Baez is dealing with, but did say starting pitcher Casey Mize exited the ballgame with right groin tightness after yielding two runs over just 2 1/3 innings.

Báez has played center, short and second base this year and is hitting .256 with a .670 OPS through 78 at-bats.

Earlier this season, manager A.J. Hinch said Báez was looking more like his old self on the diamond after struggling through much of his six-year, $140 million contract he signed with Detroit before the 2022 season.

“I just think he’s like a kid again,” the skipper said. “He likes playing out there, but I don’t see an energy boost or a difference in him as much as I see a willing teammate go out and fill a void that was unfortunately open.”

The story before the game was Cleveland top prospect Travis Bazzana was recalled to help kickstart a struggling Guardians offense which had posted a 95 wRc+ over the past two weeks. While Bazzana did his part to help matters drawing two walks, Nick Martinez and comapny caused trouble and bothered everybody in the Cleveland lineup limiting the Guardians to three hits and six baserunners in the shutout.

For awhile, this game had the feeling of a Spider-Man meme in action as both Martinez and Tanner Bibee were trading blows from the mound as both hurlers were attacking the zone with their full arsenals, albeit with different approaches. Bibee genereated 12 whiffs in the game and the Rays consistently pushed him into 18+ pitches per inning despite doing little against him in the first four innings. Bibee’s challenge was made easier when Junior Caminero fouled a ball off his face and had to leave the game after his first plate appearance. In-game reports have Caminero with a bruised jaw and day-to-day, and it’s likely he is sitting for tomorrow’s getaway game. The workload caught up to Bibee in the 5th inning when he walked Taylor Walls on six pitches and later allowed back-to-back singles to Ben Williamson and Jonathan Aranda to plate the game’s only run. The bullpen got the final 12 outs for Cleveland with nary a scare, leaving Rays pitching to do some heavy lifting.

Martinez was incredibly efficient this evening as he left the game after a leadoff walk to Bazzana in the 8th inning despite throwing just 78 pitches. Martinez had faced 25 batters to that point, so proactively getting in front of the fourth time through the order penality was the right call by Kevin Cash. However, the opportunity cost was Ian Seymour coming in and yet again walking his first batter on five pitches only because the umpire gifted a strike one call on the 4th pitch. That set up the sacrifice bunt by Brayan Rocchio and an intentional walk to Steven Kwan to load the bases. Seymour then found his command and struck out Chase DeLauter on three pitches allowing Cash to then lift Seymour for Kevin Kelly who kept Jose Ramirez in the yard, barely, to end the inning.

Cole Sulser came in to pitch the 9th and things got a little hairy with a two-out double by Angel Martinez which nearly left the yard and an intentional walk to Bazzana, but Sulser rebounded to strike out George Valera on three pitches to secure his first save and the Rays sixth consecutive win.

Getting back to Martinez, he has simply been incredible for the Rays this season with his efficiency and his results. He has now limited opposing batters to a .196 average swith 31 baserunners in 31 innings and just 3 home runs allowed. This was his fourth quality start on the season and he has yet to allow more than two earned runs in any outing. Martinez, no doubt, took notes watching Steven Matz go changeup heavy as Martinez leaned on his own changeup to keep the batters off balance all evening. DeLauter had the only solid contact off Martinez with a single in the first inning, but nobody else was able to get to Martinez in the rest of the outing. If you are a fan of pitching without gas, these last two nights have been an absolute pleasure to watch by the two free agent vets the front office targeted this winter.

Drew Rasumssen goes to the bump in the getaway game tomorrow, which cannot thrill the Guardians after what they have gone through these past two games. Let’s hope Junior’s jaw is good and he is back in the lineup when the club returns home to kick off a six-game homestand against the Giants and Blue Jays. Pitching and defense have won many a game for this franchise over the years, but tonight was truly about the pitching because Martinez rocked up on the mound and rocked the mound (Right).

Tonight marked the third series in a row in which the O’s have faced a last-place team. Are the Orioles a good team? We’re not sure. But right now, Houston has the worst record in the American League and is down a whole outfield, a shortstop, practically an entire bullpen…  

Surely, given the depleted state of the ‘Stros, the Orioles could hope for nice things tonight? Nice things like Pete Alonso tanks and Shane Baz quality starts.

Well, close enough! Pete the Polar Bear did go deep, a big two-run bomb in the fifth inning to put the O’s up 4-1, and though a shaky Anthony Nunez allowed it to get close in the eighth, Ryan Helsley slammed the door to preserve a 5-3 win. Meanwhile, Shane Baz finished one out short of a QS, but along the way he showed some of his best stuff all season, going 5 1/3 with just one earned run allowed and six strikeouts.

Tonight’s tart felt like a good time for Shane Baz to find his ace stuff. (Or I’m just saying that because this is my recap.) But really, it’s getting late enough in the season—and Baz far enough removed from surgery—that the pressure is on a little bit to see what the talented righty’s really got.

Well, this was a good outing. If we’re nit-picking, Baz is still throwing a lot of uncompetitive breaking pitches outside the zone. But that’s OK. He has a 99-mph fastball and nasty break, and he made a lot of Astros look bad tonight.

Baz also got to pitch from a 2-0 lead, his team spotting him two quick runs against reliever-turned-starter-for-tonight Kai-Wei Teng. Teng had had sparkling results so far (2.16 ERA in 11 appearances out of the bullpen), but the O’s greeted him rudely.

Here’s how it went. Gunnar Henderson led off the game with a noisy double to left and scored on an Adley Rutschman single after the catcher nicely worked the count against Teng. Another hot young bat, that of Samuel Basallo, hit a scorching 112-mph double to right, and the Birds were up 2-0 without breaking a sweat. A nice change of pace from waiting until the eighth inning to start connecting with the ball.

Baz allowed leadoff hits in both the second and third innings, but no damage. You know what’s a great way to take care of leadoff RISP? Strike out the side. Baz did that in the second, dispatching the 7-8-9 Astros hitters in order. It was beautiful. He retired the side in the third, too, helped out by Coby Mayo’s slick play, gobbling up a slow roller with his bare hand, and firing in time to retire Paredes.

A nice moment in the fourth. Baz fell down 2-0 to Christian Walker, then battled back and finished him off with a cutter. Like “Mike Mussina at his best,” pronounced Jim Palmer from the booth. Hey, that’s pretty good company.

Baz wobbled a bit after striking out the first hitter of the fifth. The No. 9 guy, Brice Matthews, hit a fastball into the bleachers on a strong inside-out swing. Now it was 2-1.

But Pete Alonso wisely chose this moment to go long. After Kai-Wei Teng’s three innings, the Astros turned to an ineffective Steven Okert, and then Ryan Weiss, who entered with an ERA north of six. Gosh, fans have asked, when is Pete Alonso going to start hitting home runs? We have ourselves have an answer. With one aboard via walk, Weiss left a fastball down the middle, and the Polar Bear delivered, cranking the ball into the bleachers. We now had ourselves a 4-1 Orioles lead.

That lead felt kind of safe, actually. Even when Baz, approaching 100 pitches in the sixth, allowed two two-out singles in the sixth. Baz was yanked, and in came Rico “The Janitor” Garcia, to clean up the mess. Well, the Janitor Always Mops Twice. That doesn’t make any sense here, but Garcia did get out of the inning with a divebomber changeup, like he often does.

The lead shook in the seventh and eighth, I admit. Andrew Kittredge looks to have some rust to shake off, too, by the looks of it. He allowed a single and a double before whiffing Carlos Correa. Gutsy! Kittredge intentionally walked the scary Yordan Alvarez, opting to face Isaac Paredes. Paredes swung through some junk! Now José Altuve came up with the bases loaded. More junk! More swings! I don’t know if to give Kittredge flak for loading the bases, or style points for wriggling out of it. Both!

The Astros’ Ryan Weiss, a guy pitching in the KBO last season (where he was known as “Daejeon Jesus”), was a hoss tonight, giving his team length, though the results weren’t always pretty. Weiss threw breaking balls right and left, mostly successfully. Where it didn’t succeed was in the bottom of the seventh, when the O’s tacked on a fifth run on a Gunnar walk + steal and an Adley single. (Adley: definitely hot right now.)

Rookie Anthony Nunez is having a charmed debut, but there will be tougher competition in this league than Double-A, where he was last season. Christian Walker and his sheriff mustache doubled to lead off the eighth and scored on a triple by No. 8 hitter Dustin Harris. Nunez battled to strike out Cam Smith, but Brice Matthews singled to make it 5-3. Would Nunez make it out of the inning? He survived a mound visit, and also Carlos Correa, whom he got swinging on three straight pitches. Onto the ninth!

Ryan Helsley had himself a real save situation. He sat down Yordan Alvarez, Isaac Paredes and José Altuve in order (defensive replacement Blaze Alexander contributed a super-slick barehanded play to retire Altuve). The Orioles have themselves a real closer.

Is Shane Baz an ace who was worth four prospects? Are the Orioles a good team? Maybe not yet. But stacking zeroes/wins against bad teams is how you get to such accolades.

Who is your Most Birdland Player of this tidy Tuesday win? Shane Baz, starting to look ace-like, with 5 1/3 one-run innings and six K’s? Adley Rutschman, 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and lots of nice contact all night? Pete Alonso, with the big two-run bomb? Samuel Basallo, who had two hits of > 105 mph? Andrew Kittredge, for making a mess and cleaning it up himself? Sound off in the comments.

The struggling Philadelphia Phillies got a masterful start from Jesús Luzardo Tuesday night. He held the San Francisco Giants to two baserunners and three total bases in seven innings of work, striking out eight including a hat trick of Matt Chapman. The only thing he didn’t go was close, leaving with a five-run lead after 88 pitches in the Phillies’ 7-0 victory.

After all, Luzardo (2-3) started the game and left with a big lead. In this game, by rule, Jesus didn’t save.

Giants starter Tyler Mahle dropped to 1-4 in a game where he pitched quite well for five innings, holding the potent Phillies lineup to three hits and a single run, after a Trea Turner single, two walks, and a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Brandon Marsh.

But the wheels came off in the 6th, when Willy Adames bobbled Turner’s grounder up the middle and the Phillies shortstop reached on an infield hit, one of his four hits in the game. After Mahle walked Kyle Schwarber for the second straight time, Bryce Harper doubled in Turner to make it a 2-0 game, then Adolis Garcia followed with another double to push Philly’s lead to 4-0 and chase Mahle.

Both doubles came on Mahle splitters that broke right over the center of the plate. His final line was 5 IP, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 3K and his ERA rose to 5.87. Matt Gage relieved and let Garcia score on an Alec Bohm double, which was the Phillies’ third RBI on balls hit towards Heliot Ramos.

At the same time, it didn’t really matter what Mahle did in a game where the Giants got only two hits. Luzardo, Orion Kerkering, and Tim Mayza combined to retire the Giants’ final 17 hitters and only two Giants managed to hit the ball out of the infield after Luis Arraez doubled in the 4th inning. For the game, the Giants left the infield only four times, including a leadoff double by Ramos followed by three straight strikeouts on Luzardo sweepers in the 4th.

Chapman had the worst night, earning the dreaded Golden Sombrero by striking out four times in a game. Patrick Bailey struck out twice, dropping his batting average to .143 before manager Tony Vitello pinch-hit Jerar Encarnacion for him in the 9th. Who also struck out.

Philadelphia added on the their lead in the 8th inning after Brandon Marsh singled and stole second with two outs. That may or may not violate the unwritten rules of baseball, which we’ll know if Marsh gets beaned in the second inning of Wednesday’s game.

After Marsh’s steal, Justin Crawford singled him and came around to score on Turner’s fourth hit of the night, a single off daywalker Blade Tidwell that completed the night’s scoring.

Perhaps the Phillies got a boost from Tuesday morning’s dismissal of former manager Rob Thomson. Bench coach Don Mattingly took over as interim manager and is now 1-0 as skipper of the Phillies, whose even-keeled fans will surely give their new leader plenty of patience and support.

Or perhaps everyone looks good against the Giants anemic offense. How do they get back on track? We suggest cheese steaks for everyone.

In the wake of Rob Thomson’s sacrificial demise as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies (10-19) earlier today, the team put together their most complete win of the season for new boss, Don Mattingly, in a 7-0 dismantling of the San Francisco Giants (13-16).

Jesus Luzardo and company held the Giants to two hits and combined for 12 strikeouts.

Luzardo had his best start of the year, lowering his ERA nearly a point and a half by going seven clean innings with eight Ks. He allowed both of the Giants’ baserunners on doubles by Heliot Ramos and Luis Arraez in the third and fourth innings. Orion Kerkering and Tim Mayza each pitched a two-K 1-2-3 frame in relief.

The Phillies opened the scoring against Tyler Mahle in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Marsh after a Trea Turner single and walks to Kyle Schwarber and Adolis Garcia loaded the bases.

The bulk of the damage was inflicted in the bottom of the sixth inning when the entire lineup came to the dish and cashed in three RBI doubles by Bryce Harper, Garcia and Alec Bohm.

The Phillies would tack on two more in the bottom of the eighth after Marsh led off the inning with a single, stole second, and came home on a hit by Justin Crawford. Crawford scored two at-bats later on Turner’s fourth hit of the game.

Really the lone blemish on the evening was due to Bryson Stott’s three strikeouts, but he and Rafael Marchan each worked a walk that achieved every Phils’ hitter reaching base safely on the night.

The shutout victory is the Phillies’ first this season after tallying 14 last year.

Cristopher Sanchez takes the mound for Game 2 of the Mattingly era tomorrow night against Logan Webb.

The Mets' bats woke up in a big way, scoring seven runs in the fourth inning en route to an 8-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Bo Bichette smacked a leadoff home run to right-center field on the first pitch he saw from Zack Littell to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. It's his second homer of the season and seventh career leadoff HR.

-- The Mets waited until the fourth inning to record their next hit on MJ Melendez' one-out single. That got New York going as Mark Vientos and Brett Baty both walked to load the bases for Marcus Semien, who's grounder got under Jorbit Vivas' glove at third base, allowing two runners to score.

Carson Benge then came through with a two-RBI single and Bichette tacked on another with a a sac-fly, making it 6-0. New York's biggest inning of the year continued as Juan Soto launched a two-run home run to left-center field, pushing the lead to 8-0.

-- Clay Holmes retired the first seven Nationals he faced before letting up a one-out single to Drew Millas in the top of the third inning. The right-hander then walked James Wood with two outs to give Washington a scoring chance, but was able to win his first challenge of the night by striking out Luis García Jr. to end the frame.

Holmes kept it going through the sixth inning, getting three groundouts to keep Washington scoreless. He didn't come back out for the seventh inning having already thrown 94 pitches, finishing after 6.0 IP with six strikeouts, allowing just three hits and one walk.

-- Tobias Myers tossed scoreless seventh and eighth innings, allowing just one baserunner on a walk. Craig Kimbrel shut things down in the ninth, striking out the side to lock up New York's second shutout of the season.

-- The team finished with six hits as Benge was the only Met to have more than one, going 2-for-4 with two RBI in the win. He's improved to 7-for-16 at the plate over his last five games.

Game MVP

While the bats came through for New York, Holmes kept Washington's quiet as his season ERA now sits at 1.75. Holmes became the first Mets starter to earn a win since he did back on April 4 against the San Francisco Giants.

Highlights

BO BICHETTE HITS A LEADOFF HOME RUN ON THE FIRST PITCH! pic.twitter.com/NwRi9lVbfR

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 28, 2026

A shutdown inning for Clay Holmes 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QbpZn6xRvl

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 28, 2026

Jorbit Vivas can't field Marcus Semien's ground ball and two runs score for the Mets! pic.twitter.com/gTZUSsN2Zx

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 29, 2026

Carson Benge brings home two more and it's a four-run inning for the Mets! pic.twitter.com/xmvd5CSj8O

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 29, 2026

Bo Bichette's sacrifice fly brings home Carson Benge with the fifth run of the inning 🤝 pic.twitter.com/OJh9wBmpPU

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 29, 2026

JUAN SOTO HOMERS!

It's a seven-run inning for the Mets! pic.twitter.com/sHxyB2rw86

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 29, 2026

What's next

The Mets continue their three-game series against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

David Peterson (0-3, 5.06 ERA) will take the mound against RHP Cade Cavalli (0-1, 4.01 ERA).