Category: Sports News

José Soriano leads the major leagues with a 0.24 earned-run average. It’s hard to think of something the Angels could do to make him better.

Shohei Ohtani ranks second with a 0.38 ERA. It’s not so hard to think of something the Dodgers could do to make him better.

On Wednesday, however, that might not have turned the Dodgers into winners. The San Francisco Giants won in the unlikeliest of ways: on one swing, a three-run home run from Patrick Bailey, a catcher who opened play batting .145 and had not hit a home run since the last week of last season. After Ohtani pitched six shutout innings, Bailey homered off Jack Dreyer in the seventh.

That was not the only unlikely performance: The winning pitcher was Tyler Mahle, who pitched seven shutout innings for his first victory in 10 months. Mahle started the game with an 0-3 record and 7.23 ERA.

That was the ballgame: Giants 3, Dodgers 0, with San Francisco clinching the series and the Dodgers losing for the fourth time in five games. In two games in San Francisco, the Dodgers have scored one run.

Ohtani went hitless in four at-bats, striking out twice. His on-base streak ended at 53 games, five shy of Duke Snider’s franchise record.

On the mound, Ohtani was brilliant, giving up five hits and walking none, striking out seven.

Ohtani threw seven pitches at 100 mph, including the first pitch to the first batter he faced and the first pitch to the 23rd and last batter he faced.

That came with two out and two on in the sixth inning, and immediately after the Giants got their only extra-base hit off Ohtani, a double by Rafael Devers.

On his final pitch, Ohtani stuck out Casey Schmitt, then twirled off the mound, pumping his fist and letting out a yell of delight.

There was no such delight when the Dodgers were at bat, triggering a renewed debate about whether Ohtani and his team might be better off if he did not hit on days he pitched.

In his career, Ohtani is batting .185 as a pitcher, with three home runs in 65 at-bats, according to Baseball Reference.

On the other hand, who could forget the three-home run, 10-strikeout show that Ohtani put on in the National League Championship Series clincher last October?

Even if his batting performance on pitching days might not live up to his usual otherworldly standards, would you really submit a lineup with nine batters, but not the one who hit 55 home runs last year and 54 the year before?

Read more:Who's the Dodgers closer? Tanner Scott ... maybe

And, if not Ohtani, who would the Dodgers use as a designated hitter?

For now, manager Dave Roberts said, the Dodgers have not had a conversation with Ohtani about whether he should pitch and hit in the same game.

“I’m going to continue to keep my eye on it,” Roberts said. “I think everything should be on the table. But again, you have to look at what’s the alternative?

“For me, I don’t like having conversations that are open-ended where you don’t have an alternative. Tonight, what’s the alternative? I’m not trying to get into a discussion. But people can pose questions and unless you have an alternative, for me, I don’t really pay too much attention.”

The alternatives: Roberts said he understands the appeal of using the DH to give a position player a break from the field, the so-called “half-day off” that could be particularly valuable on a team with the oldest collection of position players in the major leagues.

He also could use backup catcher Dalton Rushing, who is batting .414 over nine games, with seven home runs in 29 at-bats. The only Dodger with more home runs: Max Muncy, with eight in 82 at-bats.

“Dalton is swinging the bat well, but no one was saying that two weeks ago,” Roberts said. “He’s on a heater. He’s swinging the bat well. Let’s just keep monitoring it. I’ll keep monitoring it and making decisions.”

Rushing downplays incident with Jung Hoo Lee

The Dodgers concluded a peaceful if unsuccessful game here Tuesday, and then the waves hit: On social media, catcher Dalton Rushing had become the newest enemy among Giants fans.

In the sixth inning of Tuesday's game, Rushing tagged out Jung Hoo Lee at home plate to end the inning. Lee, who tried to step around Rushing and then reach behind him to tag the plate, then slid awkwardly and sat up in discomfort.

Television cameras caught Rushing, who walked toward the Dodgers' dugout, looking back toward Lee, shrugging and saying something.

The Bay Area news site SF Gate said Rushing was "crudely dismissing the injury with an NSFW phrase," with the first word a four-letter expletive. Rushing said Wednesday he said nothing disparaging toward Lee.

Lee left the game with what the Giants listed as a quadriceps injury but was in the starting lineup Wednesday. In an indication this might not be a crisis after all, neither Roberts nor Giants manager Tony Vitello was asked about it during their pregame interview sessions.

Rushing was not in the starting lineup Wednesday but is expected to be Thursday, and he planned to check in with Lee to ensure he was not seriously hurt. Rushing said he already checked with one of Lee's South Korean countrymen, Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim.

"To make sure he was OK. That’s the biggest thing," Rushing said. "That’s the only thing that matters. Hopefully, he did not take it the way it was put out. I’ll be sure to say something to him face to face [Thursday], making sure he’s OK. There was nothing really directed at him. He’s a great guy."

Rushing said he was unaware Lee was hurt.

"No, I thought it was just a weird slide," Rushing said. "As long as he’s OK and he doesn’t think that I’m coming at him or any of those guys over there, that’s the biggest thing for me. I don’t care what other people put out there or say. I was just trying to play the game, play the game hard."

Rushing said he was not frustrated with Lee.

Read more:Dodgers Dugout: The first problem of the season has arrived

"It was kind of an awkward slide, and that’s all it was," Rushing said. "There wasn’t anything else added to it."

If he was not frustrated with Lee, was he frustrated with himself? No, he said.

"I play with fire," Rushing said. "Everybody that has ever played with me, everyone that has watched me play knows that. Whatever people want to make of it, I hope it’s not negative. I just hope he’s OK."

Rushing declined to say exactly what the cameras caught him saying.

"I used a word, but it was not what was said that was said. I’ll just leave it at that. There was no direction toward him.

"I just think some people make something out of nothing."

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Max Fried baffled Boston batters for eight scoreless innings, Amed Rosario tallied all four runs batted in, and the Yankees grabbed a 4-1 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.

New York (15-9) has now won five straight games. Boston (9-15) has now lost four of the last five.

Here are the takeaways...

- Fried, who came to the mound with a three-run lead, worked around a one-out walk with a pair of strikeouts on the fastball (one looking and one swinging). The lefty didn't look too sharp to start, issuing a leadoff walk in the second and leaving a fastball up and over the plate to Jarren Duran to double off the Monster. That’s when Fried went to the offspeed, getting Caleb Durbin whiffing on a pair of good changeups, Connor Wong swinging on a change below the zone, and ex-Yank IsiahKiner-Falefa fishing on a curveball in the dirt. 

Fried had an easier third, allowing only a slapped two-out single the other way to Wilyer Abreu as another cutter found too much of the plate. The lefty got dinged by Duran with one out in the fourth as a 2-2 fastball over the plate was driven off the Monster in left-center for a double. But once again, the lefty pitched his way out of danger. 

Fried then put his early-inning wildness to bed; he retired the final 14 batters he faced, adding four more strikeouts in the process.

His final line: 8.0 shutout innings with just three hits and two walks against him and nine strikeouts on 100 pitches (66 strikes).

- Rosario, after swinging through a first-pitch changeup, didn't miss the next change. A hanging Ranger Suarez offering was absolutely pummeled 416 feet (108.4 mph off the bat) over the Green Monster for a two-out, three-run homer in the top of the first. He added a fourth RBI with a sac fly to left in the third before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the sixth.

- Giancarlo Stanton ripped a changeup into the left field corner and scampered into second with a double to put two in scoring position. Stanton hit a liner off the Monster for a double with one down in the third, this one 107.4 mph off the bat, six mph faster than his first extra-base hit. He had a two-out RBI chance with a man on third in the fifth, but the Red Sox went to the bullpen and righty Zack Kelly got him to pop out on the infield. He finished 2-for-4.

- Aaron Judge ripped a single into left to start the top of the third. He also worked two walks against Suarez, who was pitching the slugger very carefully. Judge swiped his fifth bag of the season in the fifth and finished the day 1-for-2.  

- Randal Grichuk singled to the left side in his first at-bat and flied out to right before being pinch-hit for in the sixth. After starting the season hitless in his first 13 at-bats, he is now 5-for-13 in his last five games.

- Paul Goldschmidt, batting leadoff against the lefty, grounded out to first after a 10-pitch at-bat to start the top of the first. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as his early-season struggles continue during his inconsistent playing time; he’s now 3-for-24 (.125) at the plate.

- Cody Bellinger went down swinging on a good low-and-away fastball in the first. He finished 0-for-4. 

- Jazz Chisholm Jr. popped out to left to end the first, popped out to left on the first pitch of the fourth, and went down swinging on a fastball above the zone to end the sixth against lefty Eduardo Rivera, who was making his MLB debut. He finished 0-for-4 and is now batting .173 to start the year (14-for-81).

- José Caballero went down swinging on a changeup in the dirt his first time up. He got an infield hit to start the seventh to go 1-for-3.

- Austin Wells popped up to the catcher in foul ground first at-bat, was caught looking to end the top half of the fourth, and grounded into a 3-6-4-5 double-play as Caballero made it interesting in a rundown.

- Aaron Boone made two pinch-hit decisions with the lefty starter out of the game at the top of the sixth, but neither worked out as both Ben Rice (for Rosario) and Trent Grisham (for Grichuk) went down looking. (Grisham finished 0-for-2.)

- Ryan McMahon, who took over at third base for the bottom of the sixth, made a nice play on the hot corner to end the inning with a nice backhand and throw across to end the inning. He made a better play to start the eighth, robbing a Kiner-Falefa double with a diving grab on a sizzling liner down the line. He struck out swinging in his only at-bat. McMahon's struggles at the plate continue – 6-for-48 (.125) with 20 strikeouts on the year.

- Brent Headrick allowed a one-out single before Duran snuck a single up the middle for his third hit of the night to end the Sox's scoreless run against the Yanks. After a mound visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, the big left-hander got Durbin to ground out to short to close the door.

Game MVP: Max Fried

The southpaw was sensational, dispatching a lousy-hitting Sox lineup (.643 team OPS through 24 games, tied for second worst in MLB). Fried had 20 called strikes and 18 whiffs (on 46 swings) for a 38 percent called-strike plus whiff rate. The changeup was his best of the bunch with seven whiffs on 11 swings.

Highlights

Amed Rosario with a three-run shot onto Lansdowne Street! pic.twitter.com/jxhIQhfyfs

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 22, 2026

Amed Rosario drives in another with a sac fly! pic.twitter.com/Hej9oGKXAk

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 22, 2026

Ryan McMahon with the backhand! pic.twitter.com/XtbJ4ob8rR

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 23, 2026

What's next

The Yanks go for the sweep on Thursday night with a 6:10 p.m. first pitch.

Cam Schlittler (1.95 ERA, 0.759 WHIP with 36 strikeouts to three walks in 27.2 innings) gets the start for the Yanks. The home side has yet to announce a starter.

The San Francisco Giants continue this three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight from Oracle Park.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Tyler Mahle, who enters tonight’s game with a 7.23 ERA, 7.00 FIP, with 21 strikeouts to 12 walks in 18.2 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 8-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds last Wednesday, in which he allowed eight runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and five walks in four innings.

He’ll be facing off against Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani, who enters tonight’s game with a 0.50 ERA, 2.30 FIP, with 18 strikeouts to six walks in 18 innings pitched. His last start was in the Dodgers’ 8-2 win over the New York Mets last Wednesday, in which he allowed one run on two hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks in six innings.

Game #24

Who: San Francisco Giants (10-13) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (16-7)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 6:45 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor suffered an injury that forced him from the game in the fourth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field.

He appeared to grimace in pain after rounding third base on Francisco Alvarez's RBI double. Lindor was also seen wincing after he slid into home plate to score. The Mets announced that Lindor was dealing with left calf tightness and would not return.

It was not made entirely clear if the injury occurred during his trip around the bases. "I knew right away something wasn't right," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said, per Newsday's Laura Albanese.

Mendoza told reporters that Lindor will have an MRI on Thursday.

Francisco Lindor has been pulled from tonight's game after grimacing rounding third on Francisco Alvarez's RBI double pic.twitter.com/wi7PGalANx

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2026

Lindor went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored before his exit. The Mets, who had lost 12 games in a row entering Wednesday, defeated the Twins 3-2.

Entering Wednesday's game, Lindor had gone 19-for-91 at the plate with 13 runs and four RBIs this season. He'd also been walked 11 times.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Francisco Lindor injury update, status as star leaves Twins vs Mets

Key to the game: avoid having a starting pitcher give up eight earned runs for a third game in a row. As mentioned in the GDT last night, the last – indeed the only – time consecutive 8 ER starts happened for Arizona was back in August 2005. This came during a six-game spell which was the most brutally bad for pitching in franchise history. From August 19-24, the D-backs allowed 68 earned runs over just 52 innings, an 11.77 ERA. That included eighteen home-runs. No other six games outside that have led to more than 58 earned runs. Somehow, the team won one of those: 6-2 in Cincinnati. But the rest? Hoo-boy.

Russ Ortiz was responsible for two of those games. The streak started with a 17-3 loss to the Reds, who enjoyed a six-run third – chasing Ortiz – followed by a ten-run fourth off Brian Bruney and Lance Cormier. After leveling the series, the D-backs dropped the rubber game 13-6, starter Brad Halsey being tagged for seven runs in the fourth inning. The series then moved to New York, beginning with a restrained 4-1 loss to the Mets. But the next night, Claudio Vargas allowed eight earned runs in a 14-1 defeat, though did at least get through five innings. That saved the ‘pen for the 18-4 walloping the next night – Ortiz also gave up eight ER, this time in only four frames.

Naturally, we will be hoping Eduardo Rodrigez breaks the chain which now sees our rotation ERA (4.49) surpass that of the much-maligned bullpen (4.40). By fWAR, the gap is bigger still: Arizona’s starters are ranked 26th, while our relievers are 18th. Right now, Mike Hazen has a rotation problem, it would appear. Kelly in particular is concerning to me. He only came off the injured list eight days ago, but is already just two off the team lead for walks, despite having thrown less than ten innings. Is he still hurt? At 91.8 mph, his fastball velo is only a couple of tenths down on last year. But he’s getting hit hard. At least we won’t have to worry about him pitching in Mexico City.

On the same night Juan Soto returned to the lineup from a strained right calf, the Mets lost Francisco Lindor to left calf tightness in Wednesday’s game against the Twins.

With the Mets looking to snap a 12-game losing streak, Lindor was removed after scoring from first base on Francisco Alvarez’s run-scoring double in the bottom of the fourth.

Lindor managed to just beat the throw home to give the Mets a 2-1 lead, but he was slow rounding the bases and remained down at home plate momentarily before he got to his feet and returned to the dugout.

He was removed in the top of the fifth, with Brett Baty entering to play third base, while Bo Bichette moved from third to shortstop.

It occurred just as the Mets got Soto back from the IL after the star was sidelined for over two weeks with the calf injury he suffered while running the bases in San Francisco on April 3.

The Mets’ offense was nonexistent without Soto and they’d hoped the return of the $765 million star would turn their fortunes around, but missing Lindor for any extent of time would also hurt. 

Ronny Mauricio had a three-homer night at Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday and could be in line to be called up if Lindor ends up on the IL, as he almost certainly will.

Francisco Lindor has been pulled from tonight's game after grimacing rounding third on Francisco Alvarez's RBI double pic.twitter.com/wi7PGalANx

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2026

Lindor has already had an injury-marred 2026, with surgery to repair a hamate bone fracture during spring training. He got off to a slow start to the season, but hit a three-run homer in Tuesday’s loss and added an RBI single in the first on Wednesday.

We’ve had the good (not enough), we’ve had the bad (too much), now welcome to the weird of the Mariners season. Logan Gilbert was shaky but shaken, the defense (non-Cole Young edition) was porous and also game-saving, the bullpen was fine and also not fine but also still kind of fine, the offense was good and then bad and then good again. The 2026 Mariners! They’re fine, probably.

“Just a regular Wednesday,” quipped Dan Wilson postgame, and if Dan Wilson is making a joke, you know this game was wacky.

It certainly started off weird. Logan Gilbert loaded the bases in the first through a series of events that were mostly not his fault: two unchallenged strikes to Nick Kurtz that resulted in a walk, a 70 mph exit velocity lollipop on a curveball that dropped for a base hit; and then this, the latest entry in “you never know what you’ll see when you come to the ballpark” [derogatory]:

As those of you who read Short Relief over the years know, the rule is that a player cannot field a ball with anything other than a glove or a bat, because baseball is designed by men with tiny minds. However, umpires also have some discretion in declaring a play dead, and it feels like if a ball gets lodged in a player’s jersey to the point where he must disrobe to retrieve it, it seems fair to call that play dead instead of a base hit, much like if I made a cake and then a bird fell out of the sky and died in the cake it seems fair to call that a ruined cake and not dessert.

“I’ve never seen a ball go in someone’s shirt before. That’s a first for me,” said Dan Wilson postgame, and if Dan Wilson, who has seen more baseball played than 99% of the population, has never seen something, that’s how you know it’s weird times. That, and a joke? Wacktacular.

I had hoped for Logan to bounce back after escaping having his abdomen look like an outtake from Alien, and it seemed he might, as he got his first two outs of the inning – one on a sac fly, and one on a harmless pop out – and looked like he might get out of the jam with just the one run scored. But Jeff McNeil spoiled that hope, lacing a line drive on a fastball that crept too close to the middle of the plate, putting the Mariners in an early 2-0 hole. The inning ended when McNeil tried to steal second, which at 34 years of age is just rude, and Cal Raleigh had the throw there well in time, run down by a particularly determined-looking Cole Young.

Speaking of Young, the defense did not do Gilbert any favors as he labored through his outing, bobbling balls in the outfield (Julio Rodríguez), making offline throws (J.P. Crawford), and whiffing on gettable ground balls (Leo Rivas), so thank goodness for Cole Young’s defense, as I have always said.

Unfortunately, Gilbert didn’t help himself out in a similar fashion, immediately hitting Max Muncy after that and then walking Lawrence Butler to load the bases and cost himself a bunch of extra pitches in order to get out of the inning. Gilbert just was not efficient today, making it just four innings on his weekly allotment of pitches.

Afterwards, a banged-up Gilbert – wincing around the bruise in the center of his chest (“it’s not great”), his wrist bandaged but a bright red spot still blooming through, looking like a 19th century Legionnaire washed up at T-Mobile Park – said the issue for him today was in not having his fastball command.

“I was fighting against myself, like fastball and cutter were missing armside, and I wasn’t really able to make an adjustment during the game. So my other pitches felt fine, but you know, that’s kind of the baseline. Commanding those pitches sets everything else up. So it’s kind of unfortunate. I’m usually able to make a quick adjustment, but that just wasn’t the case today.”

Since Gilbert narrowly avoided a fate where he was punched clean through the chest like Elmer Fudd facing a Bugs Bunny-wielded cannon, we’ll give him a pass on the adjustment. But that did leave four innings for the bullpen to cover – a bullpen that had been stretched fairly thin over the previous two games, and coming up on the end of a 13-game stretch.

In college I wrote a really terrible poem about a chair I saw in a museum with a big sign on it that said “PLEASE DO NOT SIT” and I wondered, what is a chair you can’t sit on? Divorced from its function, is it still a chair? Anyway, this occurred to me for no discernible reason while watching José A. Ferrer throw two innings in relief of Logan Gilbert. What is a ground ball pitcher who can’t get ground balls? No sooner had I posed the question then Ferrer rolled an inning-ending double play, so we will save that particular existential question for another day.

Meanwhile, though, as the SS Gilbert shuddered and limped into port on a shorter journey than anticipated, the significantly older and rustier SS Civale rebounded from an inflated pitch count first inning and dispatched the Mariners neatly over the next four innings, a lone Cal Raleigh solo shot the only damage other than the first inning. Oh, you would like to see the Cal Raleigh dinger? Out of respect to Civale and how terrible this pitch is I was going to skip it, but if you insist:

I know Cal Raleigh has been struggling early in the season, but you absolutely cannot throw him that pitch there. But thank you for doing so.

With Josh Naylor aboard in the sixth, the A’s lifted him for lefty Brady Basso, causing Dan Wilson to push the big red scuffed-up button labeled PLATOON! in the dugout. First up was Mitch Garver, in for Luke Raley, and Garver found the sauce: Basso tried to throw him similar pitches in the same location and after taking the cutter for a strike, Garv pounced on the changeup, walloping (for Garver, 101.5 off the bat is a certified Wallop) it for a double. Then Rob Refsnyder, who is one of the few Adults on this team, did his job and got the run home with a sac fly. Platoon Power!

With a brand-new-ballgame that allowed Dan Wilson to pull on the leverage side of his bullpen, bringing out Matt Brash for the seventh. Brash had a bumpy spring but I thought he looked very sharp in his last outing against the A’s, and he was so again today, tossing an aesthetically pleasing 1-2-3 inning where the outs were recorded 6-3, 5-3, and 4-3: the infield defense version of an immaculate inning.

The A’s brought out Mark Leiter Jr. for the bottom of the seventh and with one out, J.P. Crawford poked a single through the right side of the infield. Cal Raleigh followed that up with a double deep into the right field corner (after it rolled past Carlos Cortes). J.P. had to hold up to see if Cortes would catch the ball so was only able to make it to third, but Julio Rodríguez was able to bring in the run anyway, shooting a ball at a drawn-in Jacob Wilson, who had to slide to snag the ball and opted for the safe out at first rather than the play at home.

With a narrow 4-3 lead, the Mariners turned to one of their leverage arms: that’s right, I speak of 6’6 Cooper Criswell, who can probably be used as a lever to move the world if necessary. Criswell pitched a clean 1-2-3 inning, setting up Andrés Muñoz for the ninth after the Mariners failed to add on in the bottom of the eighth. Rob Refsnyder, Certified Adult, put away the first out with a nice sliding catch that I’m not sure Luke Raley gets to, so another point for platoons today. But then Nick Kurtz did what Nick Kurtz does and socked a 2-2 slider from Muñoz to dead center for a game-tying home run.

Refsnyder making that catch turns out to be important, then, because instead of the A’s being ahead 5-4, the Mariners went into the ninth inning tied, facing the Mason Miller-less A’s. Joel Kuhnel just does not spark the same fear, as made manifest by Leo Rivas leading off the inning with a single against him. Unfortunately, J.P. Crawford grounded into a double play, putting the threat of extras on the table with the Mariners down to just recently-called-up Alex Hoppe left in the bullpen. But the big bats, which have been warming up this series, did what they needed to do. Back-to-back singles from Raleigh and Rodríguez put two on for Josh Naylor, who leapt on a first-pitch cutter for his first walkoff as a Mariner.

“It’s awesome,” said Naylor. “You work hard to get those results. It’s a hard game we play. It’s arguably the hardest sport we chose to play, and we’re idiots for choosing it, but we did, and we have decided to come to this ballpark every day and grind. Working hard is awesome; working hard with this group is even better.”

Oh, Josh. We’re all idiots for choosing it.

The Dodgers finish up their road trip with one more game under the sun on Thursday afternoon against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.

Tyler Glasnow started this road trip last Friday by pitching seven innings at Coors Field, and allowed only one run. The right-hander has lasted at least six innings in each of his four starts this year, with a 3.24 ERA, 2.61 xERA, 29 strikeouts and six walks in 25 innings.

Logan Webb led the National League in innings pitched in each of the previous three seasons, including a major-league-best 207 frames in 2025. He has 30 innings thus far in his five starts this year, but also a 5.40 ERA and 4.39 xERA. He get the ball for the Giants on Thursday.

Thursday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Giants
• Ballpark: Oracle Park, San Francisco
• Time: 12:45 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Athletics entered Wednesday’s series finale against the Seattle Mariners seeking a road sweep, but fell 5-4 on a walk-off, undone by shaky defense and relief pitching.

The action started fast and furious in this matchup. A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz drew a leadoff walk against Mariners starter Logan Gilbert, extending his streak to 13 consecutive games with a walk, two shy of tying franchise great Rickey Henderson for the record. Designated hitter Shea Langeliers and right fielder Carlos Cortes followed with singles to load the bases.

Cortes’ hit was a searing line drive comebacker that was ruled a hit due to it somehow ending up in Gilbert’s jersey, not his glove. What do you think about that play? Did the umpires correctly rule it a hit or should it have been an out?

Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom’s sacrifice fly and second baseman Jeff McNeil’s RBI single gave the A’s an early 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first, the Mariners immediately responded against A’s starting pitcher Aaron Civale. They loaded the bases on three singles and then halved the deficit on left fielder Randy Arozarena’s sacrifice fly. Civale escaped further damage by striking out right fielder Dominic Canzone to end the inning and strand the bases loaded.

In the second inning, the A’s threatened to score again. They got two runners on base, only for Langeliers to hit a rocket line drive right to the Mariners third baseman to end the inning. Following a one-two-three second inning of work for Civale, his team increased its lead in the third.

Cortes recorded his second single in two at-bats. Two batters later, he came around to score on shortstop Jacob Wilson’s RBI double past the diving third baseman down the left field line.

The A’s had a chance to score more, but Gilbert got catcher Austin Wynns to fly out with the bases loaded and two outs. Earlier in the inning, Mariners second baseman Cole Young’s outstanding defensive play likely robbed McNeil of his second RBI single of the game.

For the second time in three innings, Civale unsuccessfully pitched a shutdown inning. Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who hit an MLB record for a catcher 60 home runs last season, connected for a solo home run in the third inning, his third in three games and fifth of the season. The Mariners left the tying run on second, yet inched closer once again.

Gilbert pitched four innings with the Mariners turning things over to their bullpen in the fifth inning. His performance today was a far cry from what the team normally expects from him. In five starts against the A’s over the last two seasons, Gilbert had compiled a 1.99 ERA with 42 strikeouts and two walks allowed.

The Athletics wasted another scoring opportunity in the fifth inning as center fielder Lawrence Butler struck out with two guys on and two outs. Seattle’s hard-throwing left-handed reliever Jose Ferrer got through that inning and the next, keeping his team’s deficit at one. However, the hosts would not score any more against Civale, who only gave up two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Civale struck out five and most importantly ended his outing retiring seven of his final eight hitters faced.

With two lefties due up and a runner on first, A’s manager Mark Kotsay summoned recently promoted left-handed reliever Brady Basso to make his season debut. In response, the Mariners called upon two right-handed hitters to pinch hit. Mitch Garver doubled and then Rob Refsnyder hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Basso’s inherited runner to tie the game at three apiece. The Mariners had a chance to take their first lead of the game with a runner on third and two outs, but Basso got the next hitter he faced to line out to keep the game tied.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Mariners took a 4-3 lead. Facing Athletics reliever Mark Leiter Jr, Seattle’s shortstop JP Crawford singled to right and then Raleigh hit a line drive to right that Cortes misplayed, resulting in a double. With runners on third and second and one out, center fielder Julio Rodríguez hit a grounder that was snagged by A’s shortstop Wilson. His only play was to first, allowing Crawford to score the go-ahead run.

The eighth inning was scoreless, though the Mariners threatened with a runner on second and no outs in the bottom half before A’s reliever Justin Sterner escaped the jam.

In the top of the ninth, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year winner came up huge for the A’s. The “Big Amish” blasted a game-tying solo home run to center off Seattle’s stellar closer Andrés Muñoz.

Reliever Joel Kuhnel entered to pitch the bottom of the ninth, hoping to send the game to extra innings. Following a leadoff single, he got Crawford to ground into a big double play. Alas, the Mariners big three of Raleigh, Rodríguez and Josh Naylor hit three straight singles with two outs to earn the walk-off win and salvage game three of the series.

The Athletics have a day off Thursday after a stretch of 16 games in 16 days. The team opens a three-game series Friday at the Texas Rangers. These teams split a four-game series in Sacramento last week, so it will be interesting to see which team wins this weekend’s series. Luis Severino is scheduled to pitch for the A’s, while the Rangers have not listed a starter.

Boring game today.

No runs, 5 hits, lots of runners left on base.

Bibee was fine today, barring a horrific pitch to Yordan Alvarez. He gave up his only runs on a 2-run shot off Alvarez’s bat in the 1st. He was fine after that. Some traffic, but none crossed the plate.

Offense was rough. 5 hits off Peter Lambert; a career 5+ ERA pitcher. Offense looked like it usually does on day game getaway days. DeLauter had 2 of the Guardians’ 5 hits — an encouraging sign.

The bullpen was good, pitching 3 scoreless innings between Festa, Gaddis, and Sabrowski.

Onto Toronto, where it’ll be Williams vs. Scherzer on Friday. The Blue Jays (as of my writing this) seem to have turned things around on a 3-game win streak.

SAN FRANCISCO — No, Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing was not trying to belittle the injury that Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee sustained in Tuesday’s game at Oracle Park.

On Wednesday, Rushing was asked about a clip that made the rounds (especially among Giants fans) the night before, when he appeared to say “f— ‘em” after Lee was slow to get up following a tag play at the plate.

Lee eventually left the game with a leg injury.

But Rushing insisted the moment was taken out of context.

“Hopefully he didn’t take it the way it was put out,” Rushing said. “I’ll be sure to say something to him face-to-face tomorrow, making sure he’s OK. There was nothing really directed at him. He’s a great guy.”

Rushing also said the internet’s attempted lip-reading of what he said wasn’t exactly accurate.

“I used a word, but it was not what [people thought] was said,” he insisted. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

Dalton Rushing said he was not directing anything toward Jung Hoo Lee in this moment last night. Didn't even realize in the moment Lee was hurt

"Hopefully, he didn’t take it the way it was put out. I’ll be sure to say something to him face-to-face tomorrow, making sure he’s OK." https://t.co/lTsFtJ9EGq

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) April 22, 2026

The moment in question happened during the sixth inning Tuesday, when Lee attempted to score from first on a single by Helios Ramos.

A relay play from center fielder Alex Call to second baseman Alex Freeland easily beat Lee to the plate.

Still, Lee tried to slide around Rushing’s tag. As he did, his leg got caught underneath him, aggravating a quad injury he said he initially suffered last week.

Lee stayed down at the plate for a few moments after the out, which retired the side, was recorded — though he remained in the game for another inning before eventually being removed.

It was as Rushing was returning to the Dodgers’ dugout after the tag that a TV camera caught him looking back toward the plate, then dropping what many online observers believed to be the F-bomb.

The video went viral, fueled by long-heated emotions that accompany every rivalry meeting between the Dodgers and Giants. One post on X (formerly Twitter) received more than 1 million views.

“It’s social media, it’s fine,” Rushing said. “As long as he’s OK, and he doesn’t think I’m coming at him or any of those guys over there, that’s the biggest thing for me. I don’t care what other people put out there or say. I just want to play the game, play the game hard. That’s what I do every night.”

Rushing noted that he also checked with Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim, a fellow South Korean native who has been teammates with Lee in the World Baseball Classic, to make sure Lee was all right.

“He’s playing the game, he’s doing what his coach told him to do,” Rushing said. “Third base coach sent him, and he ran hard the whole way. It was kind of an awkward slide. That’s all it was. There wasn’t anything else added to it. I think it was just media making something out of nothing.”