Category: Sports News

On Jackie Robinson Day, it would be the A’s who’d strike first. Tyler Soderstrom’s opposite field double brought home Carlos Cortes.

This would be the first time in 2026 that the A’s filled the box score in the first inning. They were the only team who hadn’t done so this season.

Off the bat, it kind’ve looked like Ezequiel Durán had the play but he’d lose it on the jump at the warning track. A quick recovery from the Rangers’ left fielder prevented Soderstrom from advancing any further than second base. The A’s would strand him there to end the first inning.

In the top of the second, A’s starter J.T. Ginn was able to escape a little drama. A trio of walks loaded the bases but no damage was done, thanks to Joc Pederson striking out and Danny Jensen hitting into a double play.

Ginn doesn’t have the greatest track record against Texas. Yes, he secured the last ever win in Oakland against them back in 2024, but last season, in just around twenty innings against the Rangers, he offered up six home runs in around twenty innings!

He’d serve up another to shortstop Corey Seager in the third inning. After the A’s added a little insurance on a Denzel Clarke RBI single, Seager and the Rangers tied it right back up on a no doubter to deep right field.

From there, we’d find ourselves in a bit of a pitcher’s duel. Rangers starter Kumar Rocker provided a wipeout slider that had A’s batters struggling to resist, while the signature J.T. Ginn sinker kept the Rangers on the ground floor.

After a slight lull, Shea Langeliers would get ahold of one, ripping it down the third base line for a lead off double in the bottom of the fifth. Now this is where you could feel the A’s getting to Rocker. They had him on the ropes. A mound visit was called on Rocker’s behalf, after his walk to Tyler Soderstrom. He’d get Jacob Wilson to line out to Ezequiel Durán but that would be it for the big right-hander. His day would be over after 4.2 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 ER, 4 BB, and 6Ks on 97 pitches. Lefty Jalen Beeks would be brought in to replace him. Despite walking Jeff McNeil to load the bases, he’d get out of the jam by striking out Max Muncy to end the inning.

What’s frustrating about THIS particular Muncy strikeout is that not only were the bases juiced, but he had a 3-1 count on Beeks when he decided to go hunting for a fastball up and out of the zone.

Ginn’s day would wrap up not too far behind Rocker’s. He’d give the ball to Hogan Harris after a one out single by Wyatt Langford. No damage done by the Rangers though as Harris was able to shut down Monday’s player of the game in Jake Burger.

Now we have to talk about Nick Kurtz.

In the bottom of the 6th, Kurtz came up to the plate with Lawrence Butler on second base. What did he do in this at-bat? Strikeout on a fastball right down the middle. His third of the game up to this point and quite frankly, a telling K. I know it’s early and we don’t want to have the conversation yet, but can we at least admit that Kurtz has not been the player we’ve needed him to be? His hitting woes actually run through the spring, where in 21 games he hit only .201 with 16Ks. In fact, if you go back to his performance at the end of last season, you’ll find that his September numbers took a noticeable dip. His slash in the final month was actually his worst. Even weaker than the April/May campaign that he was criticized for having.

So what do we make of Kurtz’s struggles? If we find ourselves in a similar situation by June, could a trip to AAA a la Lawrence Butler in 2024 be appropriate?

While you think on that, watch this…

Just like that the A’s were back in possession of the lead. According to statcast, Shea’s homer traveled 467 ft! At this time, that’s the longest home run of the 2026 season.

Jacob Wilson must’ve been jealous of how cool Shea Langeliers looked in the new elephant mask, because he’d send one for a ride in the bottom of the 7th.

But what would a middle of the week A’s game be without a little drama? Kotsay went to Mark Leiter Jr. in the top of the 8th and that third out just felt out of reach the entire time. He’d toss one Jake Burger’s way, who’d clobber it deep to left field for a three-run home run.

You thought a 6-2 lead in the 8th was safe? This is the 2026 A’s we’re talking about! They better keep hitting and hitting until the game’s over or their season will be over before playoffs begin in October.

Fortunately for us A’s fans, that would be the extent of it for the evening. Joel Kuhnel came in after Leiter Jr. and continued to pitch like he wants his own designated seat in the bullpen. There’s something very Kenley Jansen-esque in Kuhnel’s delivery that makes me feel safe. Sometimes all you need in the back end of the bullpen is a big boy with a cutter.

He’d get Andrew Mccutchen to strikeout to end the ball game. Kuhnel’s third save of the season and the first four-out save of his career.

It wasn’t an easy win but no one said it was going to be. For the first time since the 2021 season, the A’s are alone atop the American League West division. Tomorrow they’ll return, looking to take their fourth straight series win, their second of the year against a division rival, and hopefully the first quality start for Jacob Lopez in 2026.

LOS ANGELES — One dreadful plate appearance after another, the Mets got swept out to the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday and sank to the bottom.

Is this it? Is this rock bottom? It’s a question the Mets must ask with each new loss, hopeful for some ray of sunshine on which to latch.

Here’s one: They are finished with this series against the Dodgers. But maybe that’s not enough for this listless bunch.

Another night of offensive futility left the Mets with an 8-2 loss at Dodger Stadium that ran their losing streak to eight games. This was the seventh time during that stretch the Mets scored two runs or fewer.

“Everybody is upset,” Bo Bichette said. “You know why.”

It’s not just scoring: The Mets simply aren’t getting hits. They collected only five on this night and finished with 12 in the three-game series.

Shohei Ohtani was the chief tormentor Wednesday, pitching six dominant innings. A night earlier the Mets were stifled by Yoshinobu Yamamoto over 7 ²/₃ innings.

“It’s surprising, but you go through these things,” Bichette said. “This is a bit extreme, probably, but it doesn’t help facing two of the best in the game the last two days.”

This one turned into a runaway late, with the Dodgers receiving two homers — including a grand slam from Dalton Rushing against Devin Williams — in the eighth inning.

Clay Holmes, who departed his previous start with left hamstring tightness, gave the Mets a chance by allowing two earned runs on four hits and one walk over five innings. He was removed after 88 pitches.

“It’s one of those things where I don’t think you look around and point fingers,” Holmes said of the losing streak. “It’s not just the offense. Sometimes it’s going to happen and as pitchers we have got to be better and win games. Tonight I wasn’t good enough. You have got to look at how to win games as a team and lose them as a team.”

Hyeseong Kim launched a two-run homer in the second for the game’s first scoring. Rushing delivered a two-out double before Kim unloaded on a sinker, clearing the right-field fence.

It was the second homer Holmes allowed this season.

MJ Melendez’s first at-bat in a Mets uniform resulted in the team’s initial hit, a third-inning double. With two outs in the inning, Ohtani faced an 11-pitch at-bat against Francisco Lindor that culminated with a swinging strikeout on a 99-mph fastball that was well outside the strike zone.

Holmes received defensive help in the bottom of the inning as Luis Robert Jr. went full extension on a dive in center field to rob Freddie Freeman of an extra-base hit.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

Melendez’s RBI double in the fifth sliced the Dodgers’ lead to 2-1, but a base-running gaffe cost the Mets an opportunity for a larger inning. After drawing a leadoff walk, Francisco Alvarez, believing Carson Benge’s shot to left was caught by Teoscar Hernández, retreated to first base.

The ball was trapped by Hernández and Alvarez was thrown out at second base on a fielder’s choice. After Melendez’s RBI double, Lindor was retired by Ohtani to leave runners stranded on second and third.

“I just feel like we’re not dictating at-bats, and getting beat by fastballs” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Even though there were some good fastballs from Ohtani today I feel like we have got to be able to put pressure.”

Ohtani capped his night by striking out the side in the sixth. Ohtani allowed one earned run on two hits and two walks in the 95-pitch outing.

Tobias Myers surrendered a homer to Hernández leading off the bottom of the sixth, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1.

Myers threw a four-seamer over the middle that Hernandez crushed to right center for his fourth homer this season.

Benge doubled in the seventh, but was left stranded at third when Melendez whiffed against Blake Treinen to end the inning.

Any chance of a Mets comeback dissipated in the eighth on Rushing’s grand slam against Williams.

The right-hander, pitching for the first time in eight days, allowed two singles and a walk to begin the inning before Rushing cleared the center field fence.

Williams recorded just one out in the inning before he was removed.

“They are pissed, frustrated, obviously not happy about it,” Mendoza said of his players. “I want them to be pissed.”

Even with a reliever warm for the sixth inning on Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided to ride with Shohei Ohtani.

On the rare night he wasn’t in the lineup as a hitter, the four-time MVP responded with a breathless exhibition of pure pitching dominance.

In the Dodgers’ 8-2 win over the New York Mets, Ohtani helped complete a three-game series sweep with six spectacular innings on the mound.

He gave up just one run. He allowed only two hits. And in a 10-strikeout exhibition, he saved his best stuff for the end of the night –– striking out the side in the top of the sixth with a swing-and-miss fastball, then curveball, then splitter.

Good morning, good afternoon and a very good night.

That was the story Wednesday, with the Dodgers (14-4) continuing their scorching hot start to the season even without the help of Ohtani’s bat.

As the two-way star continues to nurse a shoulder bruise he suffered on a hit-by-pitch Monday, the Dodgers decided to simplify his task, taking him out of the batting order so he could solely focus on his duties as a pitcher.

The move paid off perfectly, with Ohtani turning in perhaps his best start this year (despite allowing his first earned run of the campaign) while his DH replacement, Dalton Rushing, led the way offensively with a double and a grand slam.

“It was actually really good to watch him just focus on one thing,” manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani. “I thought that just channeling all that energy into pitching was helpful.”

Indeed, in Ohtani’s 95-pitch gem, he had every arrow in his six-pitch quiver working.

His upper-90s mph fastball was dotted at the top of the zone. Big-bending sweepers and late-breaking curveballs and fall-of-the-table splitters helped complement it. 

And the few times he faced stress, he also back and dialed up triple-digit heat –– most notably, firing off four-straight 100 mph fastballs to strand runners at second and third after allowing his lone run in the fifth.

“That was a situation,” Ohtani said in Japanese, “in which I had to exert max effort to hold them.”

At that point, Roberts considered removing Ohtani from the game. After he threw 22 pitches in the fifth, the Dodgers had Blake Treinen ready to go for the sixth.

“I was thinking about potentially pulling the plug right there,” the manager said. “But once he finished that (fifth) inning, I wanted to give him the opportunity to go back out there for the sixth.”

Thus, Ohtani returned to the bump, put an exclamation point on his outing by striking out the side, then exited the game to a loud ovation.

“I mean, it’s Shohei,” Rushing quipped. “I don’t have too much more to say on top of that.”

“I think he’s arguably one of the best now,” he later added, “(especially) when you give him that opportunity to just solely worry about pitching.”

On the other side of the ball, it was Rushing who spurred the Dodgers’ offense in Ohtani’s absence, helping them take an early lead and then pull away late.

In the second inning, he lined a two-out, two-strike double that preceded a two-run homer from Hyeseong Kim. Then, after a Tesocar Hernández homer in the sixth extended the lead, the backup catcher delivered the knockout punch in a five-run eighth inning by belting his first career grand slam off Mets closer Devin Williams.

“Well, I’m not getting used to it, I’ll tell you that,” Rushing joked about replacing Ohtani as DH. “But he told me to hit a homer for him, and I guess it worked out in the end.”

What it means

The Dodgers completed their second sweep of the season, and have now won 10 of 12 games by finishing this homestand with a 5-1 record.

They are also 9-0 against National League opponents to this point, making easy work of a Mets team that –– prior to their dreadful 7-12 start to this season –– was thought to be their biggest competition for this year’s pennant.

During the series, Dodgers starters gave up just two runs over 21 ⅔ innings while striking out 19 batters.

They were also better defensively, with Wednesday’s highlights including a couple tough short-hoppers that Max Muncy cleanly turned at third base, then a diving stop from Kim at shortstop to end the eighth inning. 

Most of all, the bottom of their lineup remained productive, with Rushing’s 2-for-4 display highlighting a six-hit effort from their Nos. 6-9 batters.

Who’s hot

If Ohtani’s surface-line stats weren’t impressive enough, the way he navigated Wednesday’s start only added to the performance.

Several times, he seemingly toyed with a Juan Soto-less Mets lineup that has scored just 12 runs during an eight-game losing streak.

He used a slide step to finally strike out Francisco Lindor in an 11-pitch at-bat to end the third. He ran the pitch clock down against Brett Baty in the fourth before getting him to hit a harmless comebacker to the mound.

After spending much of the past two years recovering from a second Tommy John surgery, it was a further reminder that the 31-year-old is quickly getting comfortable again as a full-time pitcher –– helping him finish the night with a 0.50 ERA this season.

“I do think that he looks at (pitching) as an art,” Roberts said. “It’s not just trying to bully guys with the fastball. It’s kind of how you set guys up, front to back, east-west, and use your entire pitch mix.”

Who’s not

This was going to be Kyle Tucker, after he entered the eighth inning 0-for-4. But even the scuffling $240 million offseason signing salvaged his night with a stat-padding home run after Rushing’s grand slam.

Still, the Dodgers are waiting on Tucker to truly heat up, with his game-winning hit on Tuesday failing to snap him out of his early-season slump

Defensively, Tucker also had a forgettable moment in the fifth, when MJ Melendez plated the Mets’ only run off Ohtani with an RBI double that Tucker failed to get to in the right field corner.

Up next

The Dodgers are off Thursday, before starting a week-long road trip Friday with a four-game set in Denver against the Colorado Rockies. That will be followed by a three-game series in San Francisco against the Giants.

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The Mets were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night following an 8-2 loss.

Here are the takeaways...

-- New York's struggling offense was once again stymied, this time by Shohei Ohtani, who got the call after Yoshinobu Yamamoto held the Mets to one run over 7.2 innings on Tuesday night. Ohtani was similarly dominant over his six innings of work, striking out 10 and allowing a run on two hits and two walks. 

-- The only Met to figure out Ohtani was MJ Melendez, who got the start after getting called up from the minors earlier in the day for the injured Jared Young, and who was making his team debut after being slotted into the lineup as the No. 8 hitter. 

After Ohtani set down the first seven batters of the game, Melendez hit a double to the gap in left center field in his first at-bat for New York. He was stranded on second base after Ohtani struck out the next two. In his second at-bat, Melendez got the better of Ohtani again with another double, this one over the head of right fielder Kyle Tucker that bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double. 

The hit drove in the Mets' first run of the night and ended a scoreless streak of 33 innings for Ohtani. It also put New York in business with runners on second and third and one out, but Tommy Pham struck out before Francisco Lindor lined out to end the inning with nothing else. 

-- That inning could've gone much differently for the Mets, though, if not for a baserunning mistake by Francisco Alvarez. Alvarez led off the inning with a walk, which brought up Carson Benge, who served one into left field that Teoscar Hernandez trapped in his glove after making a sliding attempt for the ball. Instead of reaching second base on the play, Alvarez thought the ball was caught and went back to first base and was thrown out at second base on the force out.

Not only did Alvarez rob the Mets of a chance for a big inning there, he also robbed Benge of a hit. Marcus Semien followed with a walk that would've loaded the bases with nobody out ahead of Melendez's ground-rule double. After letting Ohtani off the hook in the inning, the right-hander went back out the following inning and ended his night by striking out the side.

-- But Ohtani wasn't the only starting pitcher who had things going for him, as Clay Holmes also had a good performance. The right-hander went five innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits, a walk and a HBP while striking out four. He also added a wild pitch. 

Holmes' only blemish came in the second inning when he allowed a two-out double to Dalton Rushing before No. 8 hitter Hyeseong Kim hit a 2-1 sinker down the middle for a two-run home run. It was Kim's first homer of the season and his fourth career home run.

-- The Dodgers hit another home run in the sixth inning when Hernandez took Tobias Myers deep on the second pitch he threw to give Los Angeles a 3-1 lead. The wheels completely fell off for the Mets in the eighth inning when Devin Williams, who hadn't pitched in more than a week, came in for a non-save opportunity. 

Williams loaded the bases following two singles and a walk before Rushing unloaded on the first pitch he saw for a grand slam. It was the first runs allowed by Williams this season as the closer lasted just 0.1 innings and saw his ERA skyrocket to 6.75. The Dodgers added a solo shot by Kyle Tucker off Austin Warren, recalled from the minors on Tuesday, for good measure.

-- The Mets mustered just five hits, two of which came in the ninth, resulting in a run. One of the five hits was a one-hop double to the opposite field by Benge, who is starting to look better at the plate. Still, New York went 2-for-10 with RISP and has now lost eight in a row while scoring 12 runs (six in one game) during that time.

Game MVP: Shohei Ohtani

The Mets were able to push across a run to end his scoreless streak, but Ohtani was masterful and in control all night.

Highlights

MJ Melendez doubles in his first at-bat as a Met! pic.twitter.com/otSEDq5Qgk

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

What a catch by Luis Robert Jr.! pic.twitter.com/KJFtBuPjmF

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

Three strikeouts for Clay Holmes in the 4th pic.twitter.com/1R98VY6fDV

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

MJ Melendez delivers!

A ground rule double to bring the Mets within one! pic.twitter.com/V2xjRco9Oz

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

Carson Benge hits a one-hop double off the wall pic.twitter.com/YfHyMrrW1d

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

What's next

The Mets travel to Wrigley Field to take on the Chicago Cubs for a three-game series starting on Friday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 2:20 p.m.

RHP Kodai Senga (0-2, 7.07 ERA) takes on RHP Edward Cabrera (1-0, 1.62 ERA).

The San Diego Padres loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning against Seattle Mariners closer Andres Munoz. The Padres were trailing the Mariners 6-2, and Fernando Tatis Jr. who did not start the game, came in to pinch-hit for Jake Cronenworth. Tatis Jr. worked the count full against Munoz and hit a deep line drive to right field which resulted in a sacrifice fly as Manny Machado tagged up from third and scored to cut the Padres’ deficit to 6-3. Luis Campusano, who came in for Freddy Fermin early in the game after he took a foul ball off his catcher’s mask, singled to left-center field to push the score to 6-4 with runners on the corners. Ramon Laureano followed and dumped the first pitch of his at-bat into left field, which scored Ty France from third to make the score, 6-5.

Jose Ferrer replaced Munoz and was given the task of facing Jackson Merrill. The third-year center fielder shot a line drive double on a 2-2 pitch just inside the third base bag that rolled down the line and into the corner where Seattle left fielder Randy Arozarena was unable to come up with it. Campusano and Laureano raced around the bases and came in to score to walk-off the Mariners, 7-6, pushing the Padres’ win streak to seven games.

San Diego entered the game against Seattle riding a six-game win streak and they had arguably their best starting pitcher three weeks into the season on the mound in Randy Vasquez. The Padres hitters faced Emerson Hancock, who is also off to a good start on the year, but one night after beating Bryan Woo, the Friar Faithful had confidence that San Diego would find a way to push the win streak to seven.

It was evident after the second inning that Vasquez was not as sharp as he had been in previous outings and the Padres hitters were struggling to figure out how to handle Hancock. Vasquez allowed two runs in the second inning following a walk, a single and a double by Dominic Canzone which gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead. Vazquez got into trouble again in the fourth inning when he allowed a leadoff double to Arozarena. He bounced back to get two outs against the next two hitters but then gave up back-to-back walks to load the bases. Brendan Donovan followed with a single to right field, which scored two runs and pushed the Seattle lead to 4-0.

San Diego struggled over the first 3 2/3 innings against the Seattle right-hander. The Padres were held without a hit until Xander Bogaerts broke the seal with a two-out single in the bottom of the third inning. Machado lined out one batter later and the inning came to a close.

Ron Marinaccio replaced Vasquez, who finished his night with four runs allowed on five hits with four walks and six strikeouts over four innings, on the mound in the top of the fifth inning. Marinaccio received a rude welcome from the Mariners. Arozarena hit a one-out single and stole second base before Luke Raley hit a two-run home run to right-center field to put Seattle up, 6-0. Raley had a successful night against San Diego pitching, recording four hits with two singles, a double and a home run.

The Padres were able to get on the board thanks to a two-run home run by Bogaerts in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 6-2. Merrill, who made an exceptional play in center field to take a home run away from Julio Rodriguez in the top of the third inning, hit a one-out single and Bogaerts brought him in with a home run, which was the 200th of his career. It was the only blemish on the night for Hancock who finished his outing with two runs allowed on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts over six innings.

San Diego will look to complete the sweep of Seattle at Petco Park on Thursday at 5:40 p.m.

In honor of the Philadelphia Phillies playing host to the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, we here at The Good Phight are launching a yearlong series that focuses on the history of the Phillies and the All-Star Game. Check back regularly for posts about the Phillies participation (or lack thereof) in the Midsummer Classic over its history.

It’s time once again for a look at some Phillies one-time All-Stars. However, unlike the rest of this series so far (which you cancatchup onhere) there is only one member of the 1960s Phillies who was a one-time All-Star as a member of the Phillies, and he was just under the decade threshold.

Grant Jackson, 1969

In 1942, Grant Jackson was born as one of nine children to Joseph and Luella Jackson in Fosteria, Ohio. He was a strong athlete from an early age, lettering in football, baseball, and track during his time in high school. Unfortunately, Jackson’s family was not very well off financially, and their situation worsened when his father passed away following a heart attack in 1960 at the age of 52. That forced Jackson’s older brother and biology teacher Carlos to assume the role of the father figure in his life and help support the family. Jackson finished high school in 1961 but did not have the grades to qualify for an athletic scholarship to Bowling Green University.

That’s when he decided to take a long shot and reach out to the most famous resident of his hometown, Tony Lucadello, who also just so happened to be a scout for the Phillies. Lucadello would wind up being responsible for numerous players signing with the Phillies, including Mike Schmidt, Fergie Jenkins, and Mickey Morandini. But in 1961, Lucadello decided to give the 18-year-old Jackson a shot, as the Phillies signed the small 6-foot, 180-pound pitcher to a contract worth just $1,500. But Jackson needed the money to help his family, so he accepted. Shortly after, Jackson was introduced to the cruel realities of baseball in the time before high school players had agents, as he discovered just two days after signing with the Phillies that the Milwaukee Braves were prepared to offer him $35,000.

In any case, Jackson’s pro career started in 1962 when he was just 19 years old with the Bakersfield Bears of the California League. Jackson would spend the next two seasons there before eventually earning a promotion Triple-A in 1965 to Arkansas. Jackson, an African American, was walking into a very hostile environment in Little Rock as described by Arkansas teammate Fergie Jenkins. Jenkins described the racial climate by saying “things were tenser, more overt in Arkansas” and describing incidents where players would leave games to find their cars vandalized with racial epithets.

Jackson was not long for Arkansas though, as the Phillies made him a September call-up and he made his major league debut on September 3rd, 1965, on the road against the Cincinnati Reds. He entered in the bottom of the fifth with two on and no outs, relieving Phillies starter Ray Kulp who left with a 6-3 lead but traffic on the bases. Jackson struck out the first two hitters he faced in Tony Pérez and Deron Johnson, but he then allowed a three-run homer to Frank Robinson that tied the game at 6-6. Jackson would go on to pitch two innings and be charged with the loss as the Reds mounted a ferocious late offensive barrage to win 17-6.

The 22-year-old Jackson went on to appear in six total games his rookie year including two starts. He allowed 11 runs and four home runs in just 13.2 innings, but he also struck out 15 to flash his potential. Jackson began 1966 with the team but was demoted after just two relief appearances, except this time the Phillies Triple-A affiliate was in San Diego instead of Little Rock. That’s where he would stay for the rest of 1966, going 10-8 with a 3.96 ERA in 23 starts. Jackson made the MLB team in 1967 and stayed there all season, but only appeared in 43 games with four starts.

But then Phillies manager Gene Mauch was fired early into the 1968 season, paving the way for Bob Skinner to take control of the ballclub. Skinner was able to help Jackson correct a mechanical flaw in his delivery by speeding him up on the mound. The change worked, as Jackson had his best season in the majors to that point with a 2.95 ERA in 61 innings across 33 games and six starts. It was enough for Skinner to name Jackson the fifth starter in his rotation entering the 1969 season. Some in the media were incredulous about the idea that Jackson, who was still only 26-years-old, had finally figured it out. As Bill Conlin wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Jackson story “was written every spring training about this time and is a story filled with hope,” calling Jackson “wild as a Filmore Auditorium Rock concert and as undisciplined as a Berkley student.” Jackson had remarked that “People ask me if this is a now or never year, I tell them it’s going to be a now year. I’ve had my last never year. This is going to be my year.”

Despite Conlin’s disbelief in Jackson’s talk, the lefty backed it up and then some. The 1969 Phillies finished with 99 losses, but Jackson excelled in his first real chance at being a major league starting pitcher. He was 9-10 with a 3.32 ERA in the first half of the season, earning him a nomination to the NL All-Star team for the contest to take place July 23rd at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. However, despite being the Phillies only representative at the midsummer classic, Jackson did not appear in the game as the NL went on to win 9-3 in large part thanks to two home runs from Willie McCovey of the Giants.

Jackson finished his All-Star season with a 14-18 record and a 3.34 ERA across 253 innings pitched with 180 strikeouts. It appeared he had finally proven himself as a pitcher, but he regressed mightily in 1970 and finished with a 5.29 ERA while having disputes with new manager Frank Lucchesi. The Phillies then finally gave up on Jackson, sending him to Baltimore in December 1970 in a package that included Sam Parilla and Jim Hutto in exchange for top outfield prospect Roger Freed who had just won MVP of the International League.

It was the best thing for Jackson’s career, as he never again had a losing record and totaled a 3.09 ERA in 538 appearances over his next 12 seasons of his career, including the 1979 season when he won the World Series as a member of the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates. Jackson had a pivotal impact in Game 7, entering a 1-0 game in the fifth inning and delivering 2.2 hitless innings of relief and earning the win to collect his first championship in three tries over the last decade. Freed meanwhile would play two seasons in Philadelphia and hit .222 in 191 games.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com

Maxwell Cates, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Biography for Grant Jackson

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 2nd, 1961

Stan Hochman, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 15th, 1967

Allen Lewis, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7th, 1967

Bill Conlin, Philadelphia Daily News, March 11th, 1969

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 17th, 1970

The Mets had lost seven in a row, including the first two games of the series against the Dodgers. Clay Holmes was taking the mound against Shohei Ohtani, who had a 0.00 ERA up to that point in the season. The Mets needed to change that to change their own fortunes, as they had been struggling to produce any offense, to score any runs.

The first inning went quietly for both sides, with a first inning Freddie Freeman single being the only baserunner for either side. In the bottom of the second, the Dodgers got to Clay Holmes, putting two runs on the board. After two outs in the bottom of the second, Dalton Rushing doubled and Hyeseong Kim hit a two run home run to give Los Angeles an early lead. 

It took until the top of the fifth for any meaningful offensive action to happen again. Francisco Alvarez walked, and Carson Benge reached first on a fielder’s choice (and some very questionable non-baserunning by Alvarez). MJ Melendez hit his second double of the game and drove in his first run as a Met, putting the Mets just one run behind the Dodgers. They were unable to capitalize further with two runners in scoring position, a story told all too often during this short season thus far.

It took the Dodgers until the bottom of the sixth to respond. Clay Holmes finally made his exit after five innings with four hits and four strikeouts, making way for Tobias Myers. And Myers gave up a solo home run to Teoscar Hernández on the second pitch he threw, putting the Mets behind by two again.

Shohei Ohtani exited the game after six innings, giving up just the one run on two hits, striking out ten while walking two. The sole run he gave up was his first earned run allowed in 32.2 innings. Blake Treinen came in in relief and the only offense the Mets could muster against him was a Carson Benge double, but he was stranded as so many mets base runners have been this season.

The wheels fully came off in the bottom of the eighth, when Devin Williams came in to relieve Tobias Myers. After giving up two singles and a walk, Rushing took Williams deep for a grand slam, putting the Dodgers well ahead with three measly outs for the Mets to try and make literally anything happen. And to add additional insult to the already added insult, Kyle Tucker hit a solo home run off of the next reliever of the inning, newly recalled Austin Warren. At the start of the inning, Edwin Díaz was warming to potentially come in to lock down the ninth.

But when the top of the ninth started, Kyle Hurt was in the game, his first appearance in nearly two years after Tommy John surgery. Bo Bichette got a one out single, and Alvarez was hit by a pitch. With two runners on, Semien was able to hit a bloop single and drive in Bichette as the Mets second run of the game…in the ninth inning. Fantastic work. But Melendez struck out to end the game with runners on first and second. 

The Mets have been swept for the second time in a row, and are riding an eight-game losing streak. Their offense has been inert, their pitching inept, and it’s added up to absolutely horrific baseball. They should be better than this, and yet here they are, last in the National League East. They have a day off tomorrow before starting a three game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. And boy, do they need it.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: MJ Melendez, +18% WPA
Big Mets loser: Tommy Pham, -18% WPA
Mets pitchers:-11% WPA
Mets hitters: -39% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: MJ Melendez’s RBI double in the fifth inning, +18.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Hyeseong Kim’s two-run home run in the second inning, -18.9% WPA

For the first time in 15 years, the Rays win on Jackie Robinson Day

Donning the light blue Burst jerseys for the first time, Tampa Bay took the field with everyone in uniform wearing number 42, celebrating Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier on this day in 1947. 

Junior Caminero would provide the offense to start, as he hit a solo shot to left field in the third, and provided an RBI groundout in the fifth. 2-0 Tampa Bay. 

Jonathan Aranda provided an RBI double in the fifth, to lift the lead to 3-0. 

Jesse Scholtens got the win, going five innings out of the bullpen while shutting out the Pale Hose with three strikeouts and allowing one hit. 

Jake Fraley homered in the sixth, and in the seventh, Yandy Diaz stroked an RBI double, and Jonny DeLuca hit his second homer of the year. 8-0 Rays. 

Chicago would score three runs in the ninth, but Ian Seymour would hold down the fort as the Rays cruise to the best record in the American League with a final score of 8-3. 

Tampa Bay and Chicago are back at it on Thursday, as Steven Matz and Anthony Kay are the probably starters with a 2:10 EST start time from Rate Field.