The Athletics parted ways with one of their talented youngsters on Wednesday.
The Green and Gold traded speedy outfielder Esteury Ruiz to the Los Angeles Dodgers for right-handed starting pitcher Carlos Duran, ESPN’s Alden González first reported before the team made the move official shortly after.
The A’s have acquired RHP Carlos Duran from the Dodgers in exchange for OF Esteury Ruiz.
Ruiz, 26, has been back and forth between Triple-A Las Vegas and the major leagues over the past season-plus after stealing an American League-most 67 stolen bases during the 2023 MLB season, which also broke Rickey Henderson’s Athletics rookie record.
In 178 games at the major-league level, Ruiz is batting .243/.297/.343 with seven home runs, 57 RBI and 73 stolen bases in 598 plate appearances.
Duran, whom the Athletics acquired for Ruiz, is a 23-year-old starting pitcher who signed with Los Angeles as a 16-year-old international prospect in 2018.
In 19 starts last season, Duran posted a 3.71 ERA in 53 1/3 innings pitched with 73 strikeouts and 32 walks for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate.
Major League Baseball updated its rulebook in 2023 to increase the pace of action on the field. But the changes put concessionaires on the clock, too.
Rishav Dash, senior director of analytics for Delaware North’s sports business, remembers the lead-up to that year’s Opening Day—months spent modeling the potential ramifications and discussing them with the company’s 10 MLB clients.
MLB games were 24 minutes shorter on average in 2023 than they were in 2022, and games were another four minutes faster last season, a roughly 15% deduction in all. But the condensed time ultimately “had only a marginal effect on consumer behavior,” a white paper published by Aramark Sports + Entertainment found.
Ballparks were prepared for the new status quo, it turned out, because they’d already undergone a revolution. Teams optimized operations for the same reason MLB added a pitch clock: Fans could no longer stand to wait. This year, baseball’s Ballpark app is testing new concession-buying functions—including using digital wallets—in search of even speedier delivery.
The hot dog cannon is no longer just a jumbo-sized novelty gag. It represents the apotheosis of MLB teams’ quest to serve food, fast.
Some clubs responded to shrinking game times by extending beer sales through the eighth inning. But most found game-goers buying about as often as they did before, most commonly just before the first pitch and often sometime again about a third of the way through a game.
If anything, the larger impact was likely the 10% jump in attendance baseball saw in 2023, in part thanks to the rule changes. An endless tally of concession analytics has also altered the game.
Aramark VP of Data Science Scott McDade said the company tracks the ratio of sales locations to fans, especially in the upper decks, to ensure quick food access. One hundred fans-per-register represents a rough baseline target. At Delaware North, purchase tracking data allows Dash’s team to narrow in on specific sections that aren’t selling to expectations. Changes range from menu updates to additional automation.
These days, there’s more than one way to get your peanuts and Cracker Jack. The Texas Rangers cited the pitch clock when rolling out mobile ordering to all visitors in 2023. Fenway Park brought in self-order kiosks to celebrate its 111th birthday. The Pittsburgh Pirates called up computer vision technology from Mashgin to facilitate speedier self-checkouts using cameras that capture what each fan is buying. Across 16 venues, Mashgin estimated it saved baseball fans 14 million minutes of line time in 2023—the equivalent of more than 86,000 extra baseball games viewed. Then, of course, there are still the roving vendors hawking options. Now they wield Square point-of-sale devices, naturally.
Some new concepts digitize the checkout altogether. MLB SVP for ballpark experience and ticketing product Karri Zaremba said the league is testing “a number of new purchase experiences” this season, starting in Cleveland and Philadelphia. There, fans can now order food and pay through the MLB Ballpark app.
The tests build on advancements in the stadium entry process. A hands-free, facial recognition-based experience lets fans better appreciate their moments walking up to historic venues, Zaremba said. It also proved to be 2.5 times as fast as digital ticketing methods. The league is still working with teams to figure out how they might use extra space once reserved for winding lines.
With fans walking in at a faster clip, it is on stadiums to be ready to serve them. More than 40% of in-stadium purchasers made their buys before first pitch, according to Aramark’s study. McDade said some teams have updated their giveaway promotions to encourage earlier arrivals and smooth out that pregame rush.
In Atlanta, the Braves opened a food court just around the corner from their most frequented entrance gate, increasing serving speed as fans enter.
The eight-stall hall also represents an evolution in ballpark design philosophy. Truist Park opened in 2017. But rather than wait 20 years for massive overhauls, the Braves have created a master planning committee that oversees updates on an ongoing basis. Back in 2019, the team tracked food acquisition time throughout the stadium. The venue opened with 100% traditional food counters but has added mobile ordering, self-checkout and Amazon’s Just Walk Out stores to its footprint since. Occupancy tracking sensors improved the flow through the team’s retail store as well.
Atlanta was rated No. 1 in overall guest experience and concessions in an MLB-wide survey last year.
Still, there are human cashiers ready to serve those who prefer the ol’ way—and many do.
“Our fans really equate a baseball game with the food and beverage experience,” Braves SVP for operations Hannah Basinger said. “And doing so in such an automated fashion—I don’t think it’s for everyone.”
The goal then, is not too dissimilar from what the architects of baseball’s modern rules had in mind: The same beloved ball game, just a little bit snappier.
Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers during the third inning of the team's 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Dustin May closed his eyes, took a breath and held his head suspended toward the heavens.
For a brief moment, shortly before he began warming up for the first inning on Tuesday night, the Dodgers' pitcher let himself absorb the significance of his milestone moment — reflecting one last time on the 685-day journey that brought him there.
“There was definitely a lot of emotions that got let out,” May said. “It was just super, super great to be back out there.”
Not since May 17, 2023, had May last stood atop the Dodger Stadium mound. That day, he suffered an elbow injury that led to a flexor tendon surgery and Tommy John revision, the second major arm procedure of his young MLB career.
During the 22 months that followed, the hard-throwing right-hander endured a rehab process of uniquely difficult circumstances, getting close to a return midway through last season before a freak accident at dinner last July forced him into emergency, and season-ending, surgery to repair a frightening esophagus tear.
As May finally worked his way back to full strength this spring, the experience gave the 27-year-old renewed perspective. He was no longer a promising young prospect. He was unable to contribute to the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series championship.
But after so much time away, and such a scary medical saga last summer, he was simply grateful to once again be back on the rubber — making his season debut, and first MLB start since in almost two years, in the Dodgers’ 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves.
“Even if it would have went bad, I still would have been having a good time,” May said afterward. “It literally meant the world to me just to be back out on the mound.”
Instead, May was clinical during a five-inning start on Tuesday, giving up just one unearned run to help the Dodgers — who also got a go-ahead two-run home run from Mookie Betts in the sixth inning off reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale — extend their perfect start to the season to a Los Angeles franchise record of 7-0.
In his outing, May gave up just one hit, struck out six batters and worked around three walks to escape a couple crucial jams.
Most notably, he also displayed a calming demeanor in his return; replacing his old fiery and self-critical disposition with increased poise and, in the view of Dodgers coaches, newfound maturity.
“Just knowing that everything that I've been through in the last two years, it was just a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and it was like I could just kind of relax,” May said. “Being able to stay a little bit more level-headed throughout life in general has been one of my biggest things in the last six months. Just trying to live in the moment. [Knowing] everything is going to be OK no matter what happens.”
May first began to change 10 months ago — when, just weeks away from a big-league return last July, he suffered his torn esophagus on a bite of a salad that got lodged in his throat.
That night, he went to the hospital and was rushed into surgery. Doctors told him that without medical intervention, “I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night.”
Dodgers pitcher Dustin May breathes in deeply after retiring Atlanta Braves leadoff hitter Michael Harris II Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
“I felt like I was really close. And then after the esophagus thing happened, it was just like a total reset,” May added. “Like there's nothing I can even do at the moment. … I was just trying to get healthy, get home and be able to see the next morning.”
The Dodgers were on a road trip to Philadelphia and Detroit when May went through his medical scare. And as word started spreading about what had happened, the team almost couldn’t believe the gravity of the situation.
“We have a message [chat] with medical updates, and got a thing saying, ‘Hey, he had a choking incident. He choked on some salad,’” pitching coach Mark Prior said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Huh? OK, that doesn’t sound great.’ But then we learned, ‘Oh no, it was an emergency surgery.’ We didn’t hear about that for a couple days.”
Echoed Betts: “We didn't understand what that really meant. It was hard to believe. Like one of those stories that you just make up, but it was actually true.”
When the Dodgers next saw May during a road series in Phoenix a couple months later, the pitcher was back on his feet but nowhere near playing shape.
An already lanky right-hander, he looked concerningly skinny after losing roughly 40 pounds from the liquid-only diet he was required to follow in the wake of his surgery. When coaches asked about the scar from his procedure, he lifted his shirt to show a long vertical incision running up the length of his chest.
“It almost looked like an open-heart-type surgery,” Prior said of the scar. “So to see where he’s at now, it’s pretty incredible.”
Despite not returning to full strength until around the turn of the New Year, May showed up to spring training displaying surprisingly impressive form. From the outset of camp, he emerged as a front-runner for the No. 5 spot in the team’s opening day rotation. And as he kept ramping up over the course of the preseason, the team noticed his altered approach to the game.
“To watch him mature and grow up in his own way, he’s just got a nice pro presence around him right now,” assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness said. “As scary as it was, I think it put some things in perspective for him.”
For example, rather than throwing at “full max effort all the time” to overpower hitters with upper-90s mph heat, McGuiness said, May found increased consistency by “pitching efficiently at a good effort level, without blowing it out every single throw.”
“He can tap into that bigger velo when he needs it,” McGuiness added. “But [without it], he can actually kind of move the ball around, command it a little better.”
May still walked three batters, and threw only 46 strikes in 81 pitches. But he was able to repeatedly execute in the most crucial situations, like when he stranded two aboard in the second inning after Betts’ throwing error at shortstop led to his lone unearned run, or when he got ahead of Nick Allen with two strikes in the top of the fifth to set up his sweeper for an inning-ending double-play
“It was good to see [myself] actually getting big-league hitters out,” May said. “That was the best I’ve felt mechanical-wise and stuff-wise [in a long time] tonight.”
The other big change on Tuesday was May’s in-game emotional state.
Instead of cursing and screaming every time his adrenaline surged, the now sixth-year big-leaguer kept a cooler head. After striking out the side in the first, he simply skipped his way back to the dugout. In moments of frustration, he did little more than crane his neck.
“He's out there, certainly, being grateful that he has an opportunity to pitch and be healthy,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He's not as hard on himself as I recall in years past. He just kind of gets to the next pitch a lot better.”
It was all reflective of the long road May had traveled to get back to this stage, and the adversity-hardened mindset he was forced to evolve along the way.
“I was looking for the positive side of things, even though there wasn’t really a very bright light at the end of the tunnel,” May said. “I had to scratch and claw my way out, and find my way back.”
The Yankees dropped their first game of the season Tuesday night, a 7-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game got away from the Yankees after the bullpen allowed five runs in the eighth inning.
Despite the loss, the Yankees (3-1) are happy with the performance of young right-hander Will Warren. The 25-year-old made his first 2025 start and was impressive. He worked five innings, allowing just two runs to a formidable Diamondbacks lineup.
“That’s an exciting first outing for him," manager Aaron Boone said after the game. "That’s a really good offense to go through and I thought he pitched really well. Even when he had a couple leadoff walks, didn’t come unraveled at all. I thought he did a very good job of changing speeds. His secondary tonight was excellent. But a very encouraging first outing against a good offense there."
Warren made six appearances (five starts) a season ago and struggled. In that time in the big leagues, Warren was 0-3 with a 10.32 ERA. In the past, walks would snowball innings for Warren but Boone was glad to see his young hurler stay composed and get through five, especially in that fifth inning.
After allowing a leadoff walk, Warren got Alek Thomas and Geraldo Perdomo before taking on Corbin Carroll. The former NL Rookie of the Year took Warren deep in the third inning, so this was a hug spot with the Yankees only up 4-2.
Warren fell behind Carroll in the count 2-0 but then got the left-handed hitter swinging on the next three pitches, finishing with a curveball in the dirt. Warren was visibly pumped up as he walked off the mound and into the dugout.
"I loved seeing the emotion out there," Ben Rice, who went 2-for-4 with a home run,said of Warren. "He's got electric stuff and he showed that he's a competitor. That's what we know he's capable of."
"That was nice. Definitely was emptying the tank there in the fifth," Warren said of his final inning. "That was big for me to try and get through five."
Boone said he believes Warren's time in the majors last year and his impressive spring are reasons for Warren's ability to overcome the walks -- which he had four of on Tuesday.
"I do think that next wave of experience for him, I thought he did a good job of controlling the environment around him," Boone said. "Was poised all night. Yea, his stuff was good. There was some adversity along the way but he handled it really well."
With injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, Warren will be asked to play a big role in the Yankees rotation this season.
Clarke Schmidt is starting the 2025 season on the IL with shoulder fatigue but the Yankees now know when they'll the right-hander back.
"He threw yesterday," Boone said after Tuesday's game. "We have him marked April 15/16. He’s got two more starts. He’ll start this weekend with Somerset up in Hartford and then he’ll have one more and the plan is for him to be with us."
Following Schmidt's two minor league starts, and if all goes well, the Yankees will have him back for their home series against the Kansas City Royals.
The 29-year-old was impressive with the Yanks last season, pitching to a 2.85 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 16 starts. Schmidt's return would bolster a rotation that is, as previously mentioned, without Cole for the entire season and Gil for the first few months.
Yankees bullpen implosion
The Yankees' eight-inning was their downfall. The bullpen allowed five runs including a massive grand slam to Eugenio Suarez.
Tim Hill started off and allowed a scorching double to Randal Grichuk before Geraldo Perdomo hit a single over the first base bag to score Grichuk and bring Arizona within a run.
Hill would rebound by getting Carroll to ground out, and although he struggled, the Yankees skipper felt his southpaw executed well.
"That team creates some challenges for you especially with the platoon advantages they try to create," Boone said. "Grichuk stings the ball up. We want Perdomo on the right side he blocked that chopper over there and then [Hill] gets Carroll and we want to keep Marte on the left side. Overall, I thought Timmy threw the ball fine. Grichuk really stung it on him but he executed well against Perdomo and Carroll there."
Boone relieved Hill to bring in Mark Leiter Jr. with one out. The right-hander walked the first two batters he faced before getting Josh Naylor to strike out. He then had Suarez on a 2-2 count but left a splitter over the middle of the plate, which the third baseman smashed to left field for the lead.
"Can’t walk two guys, that’s really it. That’s all I got for you," Leiter Jr. said. "Can’t really walk those two guys. Trying to keep Ketel [Marte] close and being a little too quick and falling behind. And not landing the offspeed pitches."
"Just not his sharpest outing," Boone said. "He’s been throwing the ball so well the last month or so especially his first couple of outings. I thought he got himself back on track with the Naylor punch and I thought he executed a couple of good pitches in the Suarez at-bat but it wasn’t a good split there, obviously, that he threw there.
"Just one of those nights where he was just a little bit off there."
One of those nights indeed. Entering Tuesday, Leiter Jr. was lights out, pitching two perfect innings with four strikeouts this season. And before that, Leiter Jr. didn't allow a run in 4.2 innings during spring training.
LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman is hearing it after he slipped and fell in the shower, injuring his surgically repaired right ankle and missing his second straight game for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Freak accident, you can’t really make it up, crazy,” Freeman said Tuesday.
The incident happened at home Sunday morning, an off day for the World Series champions.
“Halfway through my morning coffee I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just shower to get ready for the day' and next thing I know I’m down in the bathtub," he said. “It’s a great mental picture if you guys want to think about it. Big guy falling all over the place.”
Freeman's wife, Chelsea, relayed the news to the first baseman's father.
“He was like, ‘Are you serious?’” Freeman said. “Chelsea actually made the joke, ‘I thought I was going to deal with this when you’re 70, not when you’re 35.’”
Even his 4-year-old son, Brandon, piled on, saying, “Daddy, you got another boo-boo.”
Freeman sprained his right ankle on a play at first base in late September and struggled in the first two rounds of the postseason, but it was hardly evident during the World Series. He homered in the first four games and had 12 RBIs as the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in five games.
He had debridement surgery in December to remove loose bodies in the ankle.
His wife had to drive him to Dodger Stadium on Sunday for a three-hour treatment session. By the time it was over, he was able to drive himself home. An X-ray showed no serious damage.
“That was a big relief,” he said. "I just kind of irritated everything again. I was a little sore.”
Freeman felt fortunate, given that the combination shower-tub has a glass door.
“It could have been much worse,” he said. “I could have hit my head.”
The World Series MVP is 3 for 12 with two home runs and four RBIs to start the season. He was scratched from the Dodgers’ season-opening game in Tokyo because of left rib discomfort.
Freeman, a hitting purist, said when he returns he won't be jumping on the torpedo bat trend.
“I’ve swung the same bat for 16 years, I will not be changing,” he said. “I do not look down on anybody. If it’s legal you can do whatever you want. If it works for the guys, then go for it. I know some of our guys are getting them.”
Freeman is hopeful he can return for Wednesday's series finale against his old team, the Atlanta Braves.
Back at home, a plumber arrived Tuesday to repair a leaking handle in that shower.
“I’m not going to use that one again,” Freeman said. “I’m 0 for 1 on that shower.”
MIAMI — New York Mets left-hander Sean Manaea had a setback in his recovery from a right oblique strain and won’t throw for two weeks.
“He experienced some discomfort a couple of days ago when he was starting to ramp up,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday before a game against the Miami Marlins.
Manaea underwent imaging that showed inflammation and received a platelet-rich plasma injection on Monday.
“He’s going to go two weeks with no throwing, so we’re going to start building him back up,” Mendoza said.
Manaea didn’t pitch during spring training. He was shut down in late February and then placed on the 15-day injured list March 27. The original timeline for his return was late April, but Mendoza indicated that date no longer seems feasible.
The 33-year-old Manaea was New York's top starter in 2024, going 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 32 outings during his first season with the team. He helped the Mets reach the National League Championship Series before they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manaea became a free agent again in November and re-signed with the Mets in January for $75 million over three years.
“I felt like we played a clean game except two pitches on my two ground balls,” Lindor, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI single, said after the game. “I take a lot of pride in it, it doesn’t feel good.”
“Very rare to see him with two errors in a game,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It happens; he’s human.”
The first play was a tougher chance, and a more generous official scorer may have bailed him out when the speedy Dane Myers’ slow roller bounced off the heel of his glove as he came charging in toward the infield grass.
The second was a play Lindor makes in his sleep: He was in perfect position in no time to field Otto Lopez's 103.8 mph grounder to start the fourth inning but misplayed the hop off the heel of his glove.
“Usually, errors happen when you take your eyes off the baseball,” Lindor said. “And I saw both of them hit my glove. So my head, everything was on the baseball. Just missed it.”
He added: “It’s our job to finish the plays, and today was on me.”
And while the first error went unpunished, the second allowed the Marlins to plate two runs on Graham Pauley’s two-out double to break a 2-2 tie. And the two unearned runs ended up being the difference and spoiled five solid innings from Kodai Senga.
Lindor said that he spoke to the starter after the game, who told him not to worry about it, but “it still kinda hurts” because Senga is a “great professional” and “great teammate.”
“I wish had still done better for Senga,” the shortstop said. “Senga had a great game. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t finish the play for him; he executed today all night long. Definitely should be better.”
But the starter didn’t let Lindor take all the blame, either.
“Since the day I signed with this team, Lindor’s always been there,” Senga said through an interpreter. “He’s always supported me, always given me words of encouragement, he’s always been there for not just me but everybody on the team. So, when he makes a mistake, I need to be there to pick him up.
“Not only him but everybody else on the team. He’s always there for everybody, and it was my fault to make his error be highlighted because of my poor performance.”
The only thing left to do is “go out there tomorrow, work at them and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Lindor added.
Torpedoes jammed
After an explosion for 10 runs on Monday night, the Mets could muster just a pair in the early innings off Miami ace Sandy Alcántara through five innings.
The right-hander surrendered just three hits – a Brandon Nimmo home run, a Luisangel Acuña double, and Lindor single – while getting four strikeouts and needed just 70 pitches.
“The way he mixes pitches, not only the sinker against righties but the changeup, the slider against lefties,” Mendoza said. “He used all of his pitches, kept the ball down, got ground balls, and we didn’t do much off him.”
The four Marlins who came out of the bullpen were equally tough, with only Jesse Winker managing an infield hit before the ninth inning saw Juna Soto walk and Nimmo grab a single. In all, the home side’s bullpen needed just 55 pitches to get the final 12 outs.
“We didn’t have many good at-bats there,” the manager said. “We couldn’t create opportunities until that last inning. Didn’t get much going and didn’t hit many balls hard against their bullpen.”
No Kranick at the disco
Mendoza said Max Kranick could be a “really good” weapon for the Mets after his three perfect innings of relief.
“For him to come in like that and basically save the bullpen and kept the game and gave us a chance,” the manager said. “That was pretty impressive.”
“Attacked, threw stikes, used all of his pitches, was pitch efficient, and that’s gonna be huge for us moving forward having a guy like that that you know you can trust in helping you keeping games close or keeping a lead, giving you distance out of the bullpen,” Mendoza added. “That’s a pretty valuable piece.”
Kranick did allow some hard contact, but the results – much like Huascar Brazobán on Monday – were hard to argue against.
Kodai Senga’s first start of his 2025 season got off to a horrible start – allowing two runs on two hits in just four pitches – but the Mets' right-hander settled into deliver a commendable effort in a 4-2 loss at the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
“I think I lacked a little bit of calmness, just kind of giving them easy pitches to hit,” Senga said of the two extra-base hits to start the game. “I was just a little relieved to be back out there in a big-league game after the year that he had last year and that lead to bad results.”
The first inning has been the bugaboo his entire career, as he has a 4.65 ERA in that frame, the highest for any inning. But after that, the right-hander really went to work and toyed with the Marlins lineup.
Senga got the first two batters of the second inning swinging through forkballs before the forkball got all three batters swinging in the third inning.
Carlos Mendoza called the first two batters a “wake-up call” for the right-hander. “Other than the first two batters of the game,” he said. “He was really good.”
The starter concurred with the manager: “After that, I was able to sort out through my head what I need to do, all the data on how to approach the hitters, and that turned out to be effective.”
Overall, he threw 77 pitches through five innings, with 22 forkballs and 22 four-seam fastballs toping out his mix. But the forkball was most effective, getting nine whiffs on 15 swings.
But Senga is a harsher grader than most: “It was not bad, not great, but not bad,” he said of the forkball.
“First time throwing to [Luis] Torrens in a big league game, so I think there are some adjustments that are going to be continued to be made and I think he did a great job using it and that’s why I was able to perform decently," he said. “I think it’s gonna be better throughout the rest of the season.”
Despite the harsh self-critique, there were positives to take from his first outing of the season. Senga said he was able to “get his rhythm” and settled in very nicely to put the first four pitches behind him.
"I only threw about five innings in a big league game last year, and that's why a lot of the rythm part... was gone," he said. "How much to push and step on it earlier on in the game. And I think you could see my velo was a little bit higher toward the end of the game.
"I was able to grasp a little bit of that and able to get a lot out of this outing."
Senga closed on a high note, blowing a 97 mph fastball past Kyle Stowers for his eighth strikeout, making his final pitch the fastest he threw of the night by 1.2 mph.
Tuesday marked his first regular season start since July 26 last season and a pair of ill-fated outings at the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ALCS that October. Against that backdrop, Mendoza's assessment rings closer to reality: “The slider, sweeper, the split was really good. And then the way he was using the fastball."
But mistakes loomed large for the right-hander.
The second pitch of his debut was a 94.4 mph four-seam fastball that was right over the heart of the plate and smacked to right-center for a double off Xavier Edwards' bat. Two pitches later, he threw a 93.4 mph four-seam fastball that was middle-middle, and Stowers launched it 421 feet to center for a two-run home run.
“It all comes down to not winning,” Senga said. “I wasn’t able to put my team in the best position to win, gave up two runs quick against their ace. Our team got those two runs back, and then I let up the lead again.”
In the fourth, with two outs and a runner on first base after a Francisco Lindor error in a tied game. And here is perhaps where Senga's critique is harshest: Back-to-back forkballs failed to induce a swing from Jonah Bride, with the 3-2 offering not even close or tempting at all, came back to haunt the righty.
“They weren’t executed very well,” he said of the two forkballs. “They weren’t perfect pitches, mistake on my end, they could have been better.”
Senga then left another pitch right in the middle of the plate (this time a 90.4 mph cutter), and Graham Pauley cranked a two-RBI double to the opposite field in left-center to break the tie and proved to be the difference.
“We gave ‘em some extra outs, some extra bases, and they made him pay,” Mendoza said. “The two-out walk and then left pitch up. Just didn’t make a play there.”
The Yankees were on the verge of victory, but the bullpen's eighth-inning implosion led to New York's 7-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
With the Yanks nursing a 4-3 lead in the eighth, reigning NL Player of the Week Eugenio Suarez launched his MLB-leading fifth home run -- a grand slam -- off of Mark Leiter Jr. to give the D-backs a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Prior to that inning, Yankees pitching allowed just two runs on one hit.
Here are the takeaways...
-The fated eighth inning was the stuff of nightmares for the Yankees. With Devin Williams out on paternity leave, Luke Weaver was not available for the inning, so manager Aaron Boone went with Tim Hill to start. The southpaw allowed a double and single to start as Arizona cut the Yankees lead to 4-3. After Corbin Caroll ground out, Boone went with Leiter Jr. The right-hander walked Ketel Marte and Pavin Smith before striking out Josh Naylor. He was one pitch away from getting out of the inning before his splitter stayed out over the plate and Suarez launched his grand slam 376 feet over the left field wall.
Before that, the Yankees' bullpen was great. Fernando Cruz struck out four in two perfect innings and newly acquired RHP Adam Ottavino allowed just one walk over his 0.2 innings.
-Will Warren, making his season debut, started off strong, getting through the first two innings in order with three strikeouts. He wouldn't allow a baserunner until two outs in the third inning (a walk). Warren threw five straight balls before he grooved an 87 mph changeup over the plate to Carroll, who deposited it over the right field wall to put the D-backs ahead, 2-0.
Those location issues continued in the fourth as Warren walked his first two batters. A mound visit from pitching coach Matt Blake seemingly settled Warren down, who induced a 4-6-3 double play from Suarez and a ground out from Gabriel Moreno.
The young right-hander had to work to get the requisite five innings to qualify for the win. After giving up a lead-off walk, Warren got the next three batters out, including striking out Carroll swinging on a curveball in the dirt.
The 25-year-old had a 10.32 ERA across six games (five starts) a season ago and showed that his impressive spring was not a fluke. Warren threw five innings (85 pitches/46 strikes) while allowing two runs on one hit and four walks while striking out four.
-Cobrin Burnes entered Tuesday's start with a 0-2 record against the Yankees but a minuscule 1.42 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees. In his first game as a Diamondback, the former CY Young winner was cruising until the third inning when he allowed a leadoff homer to Jasson Dominguez that went 377 feet over the right-center field wall. Ben Rice followed with a double, and then Oswaldo Cabrera walked, but Burnes got Paul Goldschmidt to pop out, before striking out Cody Bellinger and getting Aaron Judge to ground out to end the threat.
The Yankees were close to squandering a golden opportunity in the fourth. With men on second and third and one out, Rice struck out before Cabrera hit a weak grounder to Naylor. The former Guardians first baseman -- who has plenty of history with the Yankees -- airmailed a toss that went over Burnes' glove, who was covering first. That allowed the two go-ahead runs to score.
-Dominguez was one of only a few Yankees to not go deep this season, but he got off the schneid with his blast. The young left fielder finished 2-for-3.
Anthony Volpe's fourth-inning blast went 418 feet and broke the MLB record for most home runs through a team's first four games, which was set by the 2006 Tigers. It would be the shortstop's only hit (1-4), but he struck out twice.
Rice would tack on his second home run of the season in the ninth to extend the Yankees' new record to 18.
-Judge, Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Jazz Chssiholm Jr. went a combined 0-for-15 with a walk and nine strikeouts. Chisholm struck out four times. The Yankees as a team struck out 14 times.
The Yankees and Diamondbacks continue their three-game set on Wednesday night in The Bronx.
RHP Zac Gallen (0-1, 9.00 ERA) will take the mound for Arizona, while the Yankees will see LHP Carlos Rodon (1-0, 1.69 ERA) on the bump for the second time this season.
Kodai Senga delivered eight strikeouts over five innings of work, but the Mets’ errors and stimied bats spelled a 4-2 loss to the Marlins on Tuesday night in Miami.
New York managed just one base runner after the third inning until Juan Soto started the ninth inning by working a walk against left-hander Anthony Veneziano. After a fielder’s choice, Brandon Nimmo's single brought the go-ahead run to the plate. But righty Anthony Bender came on for Miami and got Mark Vientos to fly out to right and Jesse Winker to ground out to first to end the game.
Here are the takeaways...
- Senga opened up his 2025 campaign by allowing a bullet of a double (99.5 mph off the bat) into the gap in right-center by Xavier Edwards before Kyle Stowers drilled (104.5 mph) for a 421-foot two-run shot to center. The two hits both came on four-seam fastballs (94.4 mph and 93.4 mph) that were up in the zone and right over the heart of the plate. After the awful first four pitches, Senga's next 12 got his first three outs, but his career ERA in the first inning went up to 4.65, the highest of any inning. (His ERA in all other innings: 2.60.)
And then Senga started getting everything working. The right-hander’s spooky forkball got back-to-back swinging strikeouts to start the second and then three straight in the third.
The righty worked around a leadoff error in the fourth, but a two-out walk put two on for Graham Pauley. And Senga left a 1-0 cutter right over the heart of the plate and was punished for a two-run double to the gap in left center.
Senga closed his day with a 12-pitch, 1-2-3 fifth inning, blowing a 97 mph fastball past Stowers for his eighth strikeout of the evening.
- Out of the bullpen, Max Kranick entered a lower-stress situation than his first outing of the season and needed just six pitches for a 1-2-3 sixth with a strikeout. The right-hander allowed a pair of hard-hit balls, but 10 pitches saw him through his second perfect inning of the evening. Manager Carlos Mendoza saw no issue with the reliever going back out there and neither did Kranick, who got his third straight perfect frame in the eighth, needing just five pitches.
- Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara looked every bit the real deal again, getting three groundouts against the Mets’ top trio on just nine pitches in the first. While changeups got the two lefties in the first, Nimmo cranked a 2-1 changeup 388 feet for a solo shot to right, 108.3 mph off the bat. Alcántara, working his way back from Tommy John in late 2023, went 5.0 innings with two runs on three hits and four strikeouts.
Nimmo, who added his second homer of the series, finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts looking.
- Luisangel Acuña, getting the start at second against a right-hander ahead of Brett Baty, slashed a ground-rule double to right, going with an Alcántara 98 mph fastball on the outside corner. Acuña proved he was a plus-plus defender, including making a nifty play fielding a hot shot in the seventh.
Baty would pinch-hit for Acuña to lead off the eighth and grounded out to second in his only at-bat.
- Francisco Lindor, in his return to the lineup after the birth of his first son, was charged with an error in the second but made up for it the next half inning with an RBI single up the middle to past a drawn-in infield to plate Acuña. The hit snapped a 0-for-12 start to the season for the shortstop. The shortstop committed a second error to lead off the fourth. He finished the day 1-for-4 with a strikeout and RBI.
- Soto hit a ball right on the screws his second time up (104.8 mph, 348 feet), but right at the center fielder. He finished 0-for-3, with a walk to start the ninth. The on-base king has now reached base in every game this year.
- Pete Alonso had a quiet day going 0-for-4.
- Luis Torrens showed he was no fool when he nailed the speedy Dane Myers at second base to close the second inning with a perfect throw to Acuña. The catcher looked like he tied the game in the seventh, but his deep drive to center (103.5 mph off the bat) traveled just 394 feet to the warning track.
- Vientos committed a big no-no his second time up when he slowed down about 15 feet from first base on a grounder. Had Vientos run as hard as he did the first 75 feet, he would have easily reached as the Marlins' third baseman bobbled the ball. Instead, he was out by a half step. He finished 0-for-4.
Game MVP(s): Senga and Kranick
With Senga still building himself back up to his full strength, he showed off a devastating forkball and a good arsenal of pitches to finish his season debut with a final line of 5.0 innings, four runs (two earned), three hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts on 77 pitches (49 strikes).
The two Mets pitchers combined to throw just 99 pitches (66 strikes) on the night. Hard to find too many faults there.
The Mets wrap up the three-game set in Miami with a late-afternoon first pitch of 4:40 p.m. in Miami before returning home for Opening Day at Citi Field on Friday.
Right-hander Clay Holmes will look to do better in his second start of the campaign. He'll face off against Marlins righty Connor Gillespie.
Here’s the latest from some of the Mets’ top prospects at Double-A media day…
Jett the Met is 100 percent
Last season didn’t quite go as planned forJett Williams.
The No. 2 ranked prospect on SNY’s Top 30 list had his development slowed down a bit as he was limited to just 33 games after undergoing a wrist procedure that kept him sidelined for a little over four months.
Williams was able to make his way back down the stretch and then participated in both the Arizona Fall League and big-league spring training -- so now he’s feeling 100 percent heading into the Double-A season.
The versatile youngster will continue receiving reps at all three positions up the middle -- but he told reporters on Tuesday at Binghamton Media Day that the team is planning on giving him more time in center field this year.
“It doesn't matter to me, as long as I’m on the field whether that’s at short, second, center. They told me I was going to be getting more reps in center, but at the end of the day, it’s just going out there, and just being on the field and staying healthy.”
Williams has appeared in 33 games in center to this point in his career -- but if he can master the position and regain his dominant form at the plate while staying healthy, he just might be able to continue cruising his way through the system.
Clifford looking to be more consistent, will play some OF
Ryan Clifford is another one of the Mets’ top prospects who will start the year on a loaded Binghamton squad.
The young slugger had gotten off to a slow start last year in the pitcher-friendly confines of Single-A Brooklyn -- but after receiving a promotion to Double-A, he returned to his power-hitting form and finished the season on a high note.
He popped 18 homers, 21 doubles, and recorded a .359 on-base percentage in 99 games.
After working on some things this offseason and being around some of the Mets’ top sluggers throughout big-league camp, Clifford is looking to add more consistency to his game this year in Binghamton.
"If I can do my best to put the bat on the ball, good things happen," he said.
Defensively, the plan is for him to spend the majority of his time at first base for the first month of the season and then to get some reps in the outfield in an effort to continue increasing his versatility.
Clifford played 60 of his 130 games in the outfield last season.
Morabito ready for opportunity
Nick Morabito is one of the newcomers for this Double-A squad.
The second-round pick is making the leap up from Brooklyn after putting together a tremendous campaign in which he took home the Mets' Minor League Player of the Year award after leading the organization in batting average (.312), on-base percentage (.403), stolen bases (59), and hits (142).
The jump from Single-A to Double-A is usually a big one, but he feels ready for the promotion.
“I’m very grateful for this opportunity to be here in Binghamton,” he said. “I’m ready for the opportunity and ready to take it on -- I'm going to embrace it, and I just want to be on the field as much as possible and allow my game to play itself.”
For those of you not familiar with his game -- SNY’s Joe DeMayo notes that Morabito has an above-average hit tool, above-average plate discipline, and is a plus athlete in center with tremendous speed.
He only appeared in one spring training game because of a wrist issue but is 100 percent heading into the season.
Morabito is the 14th-ranked prospect in the organization according to DeMayo, and he could improve upon his floor of a fourth outfielder profile if he can become more of a gap-to-gap line drive hitter.
HOUSTON — It’s not unusual for a player to return to his locker after a game and find a baseball in a glass case. It’s the move for any milestone, from a first hit (which Christian Koss is chasing) to a 100th (Tyler Fitzgerald is one away). It’s a way to commemorate big homers, big wins or your 200th double, but the Giants are putting a twist on the tradition this season.
Logan Webb had a glass case in his locker after Tuesday’s 3-1 win, but if the Giants come out on top again on Wednesday, it won’t belong to him anymore. Willy Adames had one, too, but he might not be the owner for long, either.
The Giants are celebrating wins by choosing a Player of the Game and a Pitcher of the Game, and their names are written on the two baseballs by bench coach Ryan Christenson, who might have the best calligraphy in the game. The hope is that everyone is involved, and that the balls make their way around the clubhouse.
Webb was disappointed by his performance in the opener last Thursday, but he looked like his old self Tuesday, and he smiled as he looked up at the baseball in his locker. In a win over the Houston Astros that clinched a winning road trip, Webb threw seven innings and showed his evolution as a pitcher.
The face of the franchise has always been known for two things: Piling up innings and dominating hitters with a sinker-changeup combination down in the zone. But on Tuesday, Webb was a four-pitch guy, and he bordered on five pitches. He has full faith in his cutter, developed last season and sharpened this spring, and he’ll mix in the occasional four-seamer to give him a third fastball he can elevate.
“I’m just trying to mix it up, I’m trying not to be a one-dimensional guy,” Webb said. “That fastball up, whether it’s the two-seam, four-seam or cutter, it can be kind of a game changer.”
Yordan Alvarez learned that the hard way in his first at-bat. The Astros superstar swung through a cutter that was up and outside, one of six strikeouts for Webb. In the seventh, with a runner on first and a two-run lead, Webb threw him a slider down and in. Alvarez again struck out.
The two strikeouts showed why Webb is so excited about his cutter in particular. He’s now comfortable elevating on some of the best hitters in the game, and once that’s in their head, he can attack every part of the strike zone.
“It’s just a different look for me, and being able to do that and trying to mix things up to certain hitters that maybe I don’t match up the best with, I think those are situations where I can throw something like that,” Webb said.
The previous version of Webb would have had his name on the Pitcher of the Game ball often. He’s been one of the game’s best since his breakout 2021 MLB season, but at the age of 28, he’s hoping to evolve. Hitters taught him some lessons last year. Now it’s time to return the favor.
“You saw some of the takes and some of the swings — it’s different now,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Alvarez [got] a couple in, a cutter in, he’s never seen that one from him before. With the sweeper and changeup, it’s really a four-pitch mix and it’s both sides of the plate, which is going to make him better. He needed all that tonight.”
Ahead of the Yankees opening a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night in The Bronx, manager Aaron Boone, in answering questions about the hot topic of the torpedo bats, discussed the level of organizational thought that went into the equipment change and discussed the signing reliever Adam Ottavino on a big league deal.
Run (not so) silent, run deep
Over the last three days, the shape of lumber has become the main story of the new season.
“I’m kinda starting to smile at it a little more,” the manager of the team at the center of the new controversial but MLB-approved bats said.
“It’s taken on a life of its own. A lot of things that aren’t real,” he continued. “I really just look at it as the evolution of equipment, and I think I said the other day, I went and got fitted for golf clubs 10 years ago. This is essentially that. This is all within regulations.”
In keeping with the analogy of golf clubs to bats, Boone indicated that there is “a lot more to it” than just, say, selecting the “torpedo bat off the shelf over there, 34-32."
“Our guys are way more invested in it than that,” he added. “Really personalized, really work with our plays in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”
Boone said it is “to each their own” when it comes to the club recommending a certain bat to a player, but he seemed to indicate that the organization is involved in working with the players on figuring out what bat would work best for them.
“We want to create an environment where we’re not missing anything, we’re not missing any chance to help a player become their best or optimize a player,” he said. “Ultimately, it's up to the players. How much information do you want? That’s on individual players and us to help educate. But, ultimately, it comes down to what works for you.”
While the league is now aware of the new bats, the manager "doesn't necessarily know that everyone 'knows about it,'" he said while adding air quotes around the final three words. When asked about the distinction, he seemed to imply that awareness of the torpedo bats is "different than knowing about it," he said while pointing for emphasis.
“I think there’s just a lot more that goes into it” than just deciding to use the torpedo bat, the manager added. “A lot went into doing that for our individual guys, and it’s a lot more than just the look of the bat.”
He added: “I think there’s a lot more to it. That even I don’t know all about it, I’m not smart enough to know all of that stuff, but I think there’s more to it.”
But with that being said, how much of an impact do the new bats have? The manager isn’t sure.
"Hopefully what doesn’t get lost in this: It's about the player. It’s about the hitter. It's about the person swinging it,” he said. “Understandably, I get it. It's getting a lot of attention right now. But yes, ultimately, when the dust settles here, it's about players performing.”
Boone stressed he doesn’t see this as giving any player a big advantage: “You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit. And that’s really all you’re gonna do. It’s not like this is some sort of revelation… It’s not related to the weekend we had. I don’t think it’s that.”
He said for some players in some cases it “may help them incrementally.”
Mar 30, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. (13) follows through on a two run home run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the third inning at Yankee Stadium. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
In discussing how the bats work, Boone wanted to dispel a notion, saying that it was “wrong to say we’re moving the sweet spot” with the torpedo bats.
“It’s no moving. Big leaguers don’t not hit the ball off the barrel. The worst of big leaguers they hit the ball off the barrel more than they [don’t],” he said. “You’re trying to just optimize the weight of the bat and take out wasted spots that you don’t use.”
Boone said he was aware Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Trevino were using torpedo bats last season. Stanton was asked if the new lumber was the "bat adjustments" he said earlier this year that may have contributed to his elbow injuries.
"You're not going to get the story you're looking for, so if that's what you guys want, that isn't going to happen,” the slugger said, via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Stanton added that he will use a torpedo bat when he returns from the IL.
Ottavino has chance to stick
Reports of Ottavino throwing the ball much better during the end of spring training with the Boston Red Sox helped nudge the Yankees to sign the veteran reliever for a second stint with the club, the manager said.
“He’s kinda been on our board a little bit. I know the front office [has] been talking about him the last couple weeks as a potential,” Boone said. “Felt like what he was doing back-end of spring training was in-line with who Otto is.”
And with closer Devin Williams going on the paternity list, Boone said the club “felt like it an opportunity to get him in here and excited to have him back.”
Ottavino regained his form after back-to-back down seasons during his first year with the Mets in 2022, pitching to a 2.06 ERA and 0.975 WHIP over 65.2 innings. But the veteran saw his effectiveness decline over the following two years and his ERA climb to 4.34 and WHIP to 1.286 over 56 innings.
“I think he’s got a lot left in there,” Boone said. “He’s still been very effective, really, throughout his entire career.”
While the Yanks will have a decision to make on the roster when Williams returns, the skipper left the door open for the 39-year-old to stick around.
“We’ll see, we’ll see,” he said, before adding that his two seasons in The Bronx during 2019 and 2020 provide a level of familiarity.
“When we first got him, we brought him in to kinda be that righty killer, high-leverage, set-up [man,] and he delivered on that,” Boone said. “And, obviously, very familiar with what it takes to play here… and he’s played [with] the Mets and Boston. This [pressure environment] is what he knows.
“This is a chance to get a quality pitcher in here, and hopefully it can help us. And where it goes, we’ll see.”
Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo check in with a new episode of The Mets Pod presented by Tri-State Cadillac, as the Mets have started the season and there’s actual baseball to discuss!
The guys cover the early returns from the starting rotation, the bullpen, and the lineup, plus also chat about what April holds in store for Francisco Lindor.
Connor and Joe then go Down on the Farm to look at the first outings of the year for top pitching prospects Blade Tidwell and Brandon Sproat, bring back The Scoreboard for more weekly bets in 2025, and open the Mailbag to answer questions about adding pitching at the trade deadline and the current depth in the outfield.
Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
After dropping a handful of best bets for the futures market ahead of Opening Day, here is another player prop in the futures market worth adding to your bet slip.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on how to catch the first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.
Aaron Judge to lead the MLB in home runs (+130)
One of my earliest blunders was thinking Aaron Judge wouldn’t win the MVP. Oh, how wrong I'll probably be!
The only thing standing between Judge and another MVP trophy is, quite simply, his health. A freak injury could throw a wrench into what promises to be an incredible season. But with odds sitting at -110 to -130, that ship has pretty much sailed on betting Judge for MVP. The value is gone.
Instead, let’s get a little creative. Forget MVP, let’s talk about Judge leading the league in home runs. After all, the man’s a monster. Last season, he crushed 58 bombs, and in 2022, he set a career-high with 62. And guess what? That record could fall this season.
Judge has been absolutely on fire to start the year, launching 4 homers and racking up 11 RBIs in just 3 games. He’s not just hot, he’s scorching. As the Yankees make headlines with their offensive fireworks, don’t be surprised if other teams start following suit. New York just laid a smackdown on the Brewers, sweeping them in a 3-game series with a jaw-dropping 36-14 scoreline. Sure, Judge is wielding last season's bat, but let’s be real—it’s mostly him, not the bat.
Pick: Aaron Judge to lead the MLB in home runs (2u)
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