Category: Sports News

The Guardians had the first bad Gavin Williams start of 2026, took some significant punches from former Guardians Andres Gimenez and Ernie Clement and had Cade Smith allow the first two Blue Jays to reach base in the bottom of the 9th… and still won 8-6.

Jakhob has your recap here. Sorry I posted it late, I fell asleep.

Kyle Manzardo has a wRC+ of 47. We are nearing emergency status with him. Also, basically, Vogt needs to keep Daniel Schneemann and Angel Martinez in the lineup every day (maybe just against RHP for Schnee) until further notice.

AROUND MLB;

The Tigers gave up a big lead to Tito’s 17-9 Reds and lost 9-8, the Twins also lost, but the White Sox and Royals won.

Four weeks into the season, the Yankees are riding high with the best record in the American League. Despite several key starters beginning the year on the IL, their rotation has been excellent and, even with a weeklong swoon, New York’s offense has scored the fourth-most runs in the league. The biggest area of concern has been a bullpen that’s ranked middle-of-the-pack and featured some alarming underperformers.

As I do each month in a given season, I’m going to take a look at the Yankees’ relievers to identify how manager Aaron Boone is deploying each and offer a verdict as to how much trust we can place in them moving forward.

Statistics below are as of the morning of April 24th.

The Closer

David Bednar

Recent results: 10.2 IP, 3.38 ERA, 13 SO, 2.11 FIP, 7 Saves (in 8 opportunities)

Bednar has not been the dominant force he was after coming over at last year’s Trade Deadline, a stretch which earned him the Yankees’ closer job. Only 3 of his 11 appearances have been clean outings, as the right-hander—known for his ability to pitch around traffic—has been forced to live up to that reputation. After a rough start, though, he appears to have settled in, rattling off scoreless innings his last four times out.

Confidence Level: High

Bednar’s peripherals, including a 2.50 ERA, suggest he’s pitched into some bad luck. He’s actually allowing much less hard contact than he did last year and, for the first time in his career, inducing opponents to put the ball on the ground at an elite rate. Weakly-hit grounders are surely a formula for success. Expect Bednar to continue to put his early-season blip in the rearview.

The Setup Man

Camilo Doval

Recent results: 10 IP, 7.56 ERA, 8 SO, 4.71 FIP

After doing little to augment their bullpen this offseason, the Yankees were counting on a resurgence from Doval. There was reason to believe — despite struggling in the second half after joining New York last year, the righty looked more like the pitcher who’d saved 107 games for San Francisco during the previous five seasons. The early returns have been abysmal. He’s allowed multiple runs three times this month, the types of showings which swing games in the late innings. Doval has limited walks after free passes plagued him last year but he’s allowing far more hard contact and struggling to induce groundballs (think Bizarro Bednar).

Confidence Level: Low

Doval may well have already lost the setup job; he hasn’t pitched since April 17th, which also happens to be the last traditional setup opportunity the Yankees have had. Boone gave his embattled reliever a show of confidence after his last poor outing. “Really, it’s back-to-back outings where I think he’s been really good, really sharp,” the skipper said, somewhat implausibly. “I feel like he’s close to being really dialed in.” Time will tell.

The Middle Relievers

Fernando Cruz 

Recent results: 7.1 IP, 2.45 ERA, 10 SO, 3.69 FIP

A late bloomer if ever there was one, a 35-year-old Cruz burst onto the scene in the first half last year, riding a filthy splitter to a 3.00 ERA while punching out 54 in 33 innings. After trailing off in the second half, it was fair to wonder if that run of dominance was a flash in the pan. Cruz’s stuff has looked nasty so far, as he’s posted the lowest hard-hit percentage (13.3) in the league. But only two AL relievers have a higher walk rate, showing the potential for boom-and-bust in his game.

Confidence Level: Medium

Cruz has performed well, but his walk rate is wholly unsustainable. If he can improve his control, he has a potential to be a difference-maker in the back end of the bullpen. If not, his numbers could quickly nosedive.

Brent Headrick

Recent results: 13 IP, 2.08 ERA, 14 SO, 2.15 FIP

After shuttling between the Yankees and their Triple-A affiliate last year, Headrick has been the biggest surprise in the bullpen so far. The southpaw has tied for the most appearances in baseball while riding a dynamic four-seamer — against which opponents have hit .160 — to strong numbers. His splits have been reversed to a startling extent, with righties posting a feeble .429 OPS against him while his fellow lefties have feasted to the tune of a 1.195 mark.

Confidence Level: Medium

Despite his solid start, the splits and 3.87 expected ERA raise some red flags. In the developing late-inning vacuum created by Doval’s struggled, Headrick will get the chance to show if his newfound dominance is sustainable. We don’t even need to attach a qualifier next to “will,” as Boone has him on pace for a number of appearances that can best be described as “Scott Proctor level.” The Yankees clearly like Headrick, and if anything, they might need to ease up on him — at least a little bit.

Tim Hill

Recent results: 10 IP, 0.90 ERA, 3 SO, 2.55 FIP

In a world in which relievers’ fortunes seemingly change by the week, you can set your watch by Tim Hill. He’s posted a 2.53 ERA in 115 appearances as a Yankee, neutralizing lefties while holding his own against righties. The sinkerballer has been at his extreme best this year — he’s yet to allow a walk or a barrel while posting a ridiculous 80-percent ground-ball rate that easily leads baseball.

Confidence Level: High

Hill’s consistency makes it difficult to find anything new to say about him. As I’ve written in pretty much every instance of this series, the 36-year-old remains one of the biggest bargains in baseball. The Yankees are fortunate to have his steady hand as an anchor of their bullpen.

The Long Relievers

Ryan Yarbrough

Recent results: 8 IP, 5.63 ERA, 4 SO, 5.64 FIP

Yarbrough had a run last year that made him something of a folk hero in the Bronx, going 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA through his first five starts to help stabilize an embattled rotation. That showcase earned him a return engagement on a $2.5 million plus incentives deal. The journeyman’s numbers are inflated by a four-run outing against the Angels on April 16th, and he hasn’t pitched since.

Confidence Index: Low

While his impressive run last year provides a glimmer of hope, the breadth of Yarbrough’s career makes that look like a wonderful outlier. Expect him to remain in a low-leverage, innings-eater role.

Paul Blackburn

Recent results: 8 IP, 4.50 ERA, 5 SO, 3.02 FIP

Despite struggling with both New York teams last year, the Yankees took a flier on Blackburn on a similar deal to Yarbrough’s. He’s performed slightly better so far in a similar role, though there’s little in his profile or peripherals to suggest a breakout on the horizon.

Confidence Level: Low

See above. Blackburn is a righty Yarbrough, serving as a veteran long reliever with little upside.

The Mop-Up Men

Jake Bird

Recent results: 7 IP, 7.71 ERA, 9 SO, 2.43 FIP

A disappointment after joining the Yankees from Colorado last deadline, Bird got a shot at redemption after cracking the team’s roster out of spring. But he allowed six runs in seven innings and it was back down to Triple-A. The righty has allowed far too much hard contact to consistently get outs at the major-league level. Called back up this week as depth with starter Ryan Weathers landing on the paternity list, Bird has yet to be used and is extremely likely to return to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre once Weathers is activated.

Confidence Level: Nonexistent

Bird remains a talented reclamation project, best suited to work through his command issues in the minors.

Angel Chivilli

Recent results: 2.1 IP, 3.86 ERA, 3 SO, 11.29 FIP

Another former Rockie, Chivilli started the year at Triple-A. He was recalled after tossing 8.1 scoreless innings but has yet to see much action with the Yankees. The right-hander features elite fastball velo but has struggled to turn that into commensurate strikeout rates, leading his new team to up his changeup usage.

Confidence Level: Nonexistent

The jury’s still out here. Chivilli has some promise but has not yet been given enough runway to establish any kind of confidence.

Dodgers broadcaster Rick Monday will be honored at the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer during induction weekend, part of the 50th anniversary celebration of him stopping an American flag from getting burned on the field at Dodger Stadium on April 25, 1976.

It’s been quite a baseball life for Monday, who was the very first pick in the first-ever MLB Draft in 1965. He played 19 seasons in the majors, eight with the Dodgers, made two All-Star teams, played in three World Series with Los Angeles and won a championship in 1981.

Monday has also been broadcasting for over four decades, and is currently in his 34th consecutive season calling Dodgers games.

The flag Monday rescued in 1976 will be on display at the Hall of Fame beginning Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. From the Hall:

Monday will be honored at the July 25 Awards Presentation at the Alice Busch Opera Theater at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown along with Ford C. Frick Award winner Joe Buck, Baseball Writers’ Association of America Career Excellence Award winner Paul Hoynes and Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award winner Bill White.

The Dodgers’ series against the Giants in San Francisco had an old school feel to it, with the Giants taking issue with catcher Dalton Rushing’s apparent comments after a play at the plate involving Jung Hoo Lee, then Rushing getting hit by a Logan Webb pitch on Thursday followed by Rushing sliding hard into second base. Katie Woo and Andrew Baggarly at The Athletic rounded up the reaction from both sides after Thursday’s game.

Mark Washington was drafted by the Dodgers in 2017 in the 25th round, a round that no longer exists, and pitched seven professional seasons in the minors and independent leagues, getting as high as Triple-A. He retired as a pitcher after last season and joined the Dodgers player development as a junior area scout. Washington talked to J.P. Hoornstra about the transition:

“Player evaluation wasn’t something I really thought about,” Washington said in a telephone interview with Dodgers On SI this week. “The Dodgers — I was there for seven years. It’s just awesome, like a full-circle moment, where the team that drafted me, I’m now employed by them.”

Good morning, baseball fans!

The San Francisco Giants are wrapping up another week of games this weekend, so it’s time to see everyone’s picks for Player of the Week!

I think my pick for this week has to be Landen Roupp. Roupp is quietly having a very good start to the season, and the team has supported his endeavors by winning four of his first five starts. So far this year, he’s got 2.28 ERA, 2.42 FIP, with 31 strikeouts to 12 walks in his 27.2 innings pitched.

That trend continued this week in the Giants’ 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday. In which Roupp allowed just the one run on one hit with seven strikeouts in five innings. That’s a good start regardless of the opponent, but to do it against the Dodgers in the opening game of the series? Yeah, he’s my Player of the Week.

Who is your pick for Player of the Week?

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants continue their series against the Miami Marlins this afternoon at 1:05 p.m. PT.

For nearly a month, the Rockies tried something you don’t see very often: They carried one left-handed reliever. 

If you’ve followed bullpens for a while, that probably jumped out to you the same way it did to me. You get used to seeing two, three, sometimes four lefties when you scan a roster. Different looks, different roles, different ways to navigate a lineup. That’s just how it’s always been. 

That’s why this stood out — and why it was worth watching. 

Now, that setup has recently changed — Sammy Peralta is here — and the Rockies have a second lefty. But that almost makes the original experiment more interesting. 

Because the Rockies didn’t just end up with one lefty. For a stretch, they leaned into it. Brennan Bernardino was the only left-handed option in the bullpen, and the question wasn’t just whether it would work. It was what would it tell us. 

So, what did the Rockies learn from trying it? 

From LOOGY to the three-batter minimum 

If you’re like me, you might tend to picture bullpen construction the old-school way. 

You needed a LOOGY (Lefty One Out Guy) — a lefty who could come in, get one tough left-handed hitter out, and head back to the dugout like he just checked a box. That was a role. That was a roster spot. 

That role is gone. 

Since MLB introduced the three-batter minimum in 2020, relievers have to face at least three hitters or finish the inning. There are small loopholes — two outs, clean inning, you can sneak through — but the point is clear: You can’t just deploy a one-batter specialist anymore. 

That didn’t eliminate left-handed relievers. It eliminated the reason to carry one who can’t get righties out. 

So the job changed. 

Now it’s not ‘do you have a lefty?’ It’s ‘can your lefty handle everyone?’ 

Why Bernardino made it work 

That’s what made this viable at all. Because Bernardino isn’t a specialist. 

So far this season, he’s handled both sides: 

• Vs LHH: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 K, 1.20 WHIP 

• Vs RHH: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 1.06 WHIP 

No dramatic platoon split. No obvious lane where he needs to be protected. 

And when you watch him — and when you dig into the data — it makes sense. 

He works with five main pitches (plus a rarely used slider), and none of them dominate the mix. Sinkers, curveballs, cutters, changeups, four-seamers — he’s constantly shifting shapes and speeds. The sinker/change combination helps him navigate right-handed hitters, while the breaking ball mix keeps lefties from getting comfortable. 

He’s not overpowering anyone. He’s just not letting hitters get comfortable. 

And the contact profile is what really drives it: 

• 82.1 mph average exit velocity allowed 

• 20% hard-hit rate 

• 53.3% ground ball rate 

At Coors Field, that’s not just useful — that’s survival. 

Bernardino doesn’t blow hitters away. He just keeps them from doing damage. And in today’s game, that’s enough to let a lefty face anyone. 

The other side of it: righties vs lefties 

If you’re only carrying one lefty, though, the rest of your bullpen has to pick up the slack. 

Right-handers have to get left-handed hitters out. 

And to the Rockies’ credit, they’ve mostly held up there. 

Jimmy Herget, Jaden Hill, and Antonio Senzatela have all been effective against lefties — limiting damage, keeping the ball on the ground, and giving the Rockies a way to survive without constantly chasing the left-on-left matchup. That’s part of why this didn’t unravel early. 

But it hasn’t been universal. 

Victor Vodnik and Juan Mejia, in particular, have been more vulnerable in those spots. And that’s where the lack of a second lefty starts to show. 

When your righties can handle those matchups, you don’t notice the absence. 

When they can’t, it becomes obvious pretty quickly. 

Where it shows up in-game 

You saw a glimpse of that recently. 

Vodnik ended up facing left-handed hitter Gavin Sheets in a big spot.

In a more traditional setup, that’s often where a lefty gets the call. 

But that’s not what happened here — and that’s what made it interesting.

Instead, Vodnik stayed in to face Gavin Sheets and gave up the home run. With the damage done, he remained in to strike out the next batter — a righty — before the Rockies turned to Bernardino. The lefty was available, but he wasn’t used as a matchup lever in that moment.

But that might not be how the Rockies are thinking about it right now. 

Part of the shift this season has been toward flexibility — leaning on pitchers who can cover innings, manage workload, and handle a mix of matchups rather than just one. In that context, leaving Vodnik in to face Sheets isn’t just a matchup decision. It’s a usage decision. 

Would having another lefty — someone like Peralta — have changed the calculation? 

Maybe. Maybe not. 

But that’s the tradeoff. 

When you only have one lefty, you don’t always get to chase the clean matchup. You trust your right-handers to navigate it — and live with the results. 

Where Sammy Peralta fits 

This brings us back to Peralta.

He’s different than Bernardino. He throws from a similar arm slot, but he’s still figuring out his pitch mix.

In 2025, Peralta leaned heavily on a slider-driven approach, throwing it nearly half the time, with a sinker and changeup behind it. That’s a more traditional relief profile — one often built to handle same-handed hitters first and figure out the rest second. So far at the major-league level, the results have been uneven. He’s shown flashes of dominance against left-handed hitters in small samples — but hasn’t found consistency — and hasn’t shown the same ability to suppress contact or flatten splits the way Bernardino has.

He isn’t replicating Bernardino’s role — he’s complementing it. Giving the Rockies a second look. A different option. A way to play the matchup when they actually want to, for now.

Strategy or shortage? 

For a stretch, the Rockies showed something. 

They showed that if your lefties are versatile enough — and your righties can hold their own — you can get by without multiple lefties. 

That part worked. 

But the roster move tells you something too. 

Calling up Peralta suggests that one reliable lefty — and a handful of righties who can survive — still isn’t the same thing as having enough flexibility over a full season. 

So what do you think? 

Did the Rockies prove one-lefty bullpens can work? Is adding Peralta to the mix any indication of their thinking?

On the Farm

Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 3, Sacramento River Cats 4

The Albuquerque Isotopes (13–11) lost a close one, falling 4–3 to the Sacramento River Cats (13–9) despite a late push. Albuquerque made it interesting with a three-run sixth to climb back into the game, but couldn’t find the tying run late. Cole Carrigg and Chad Stevens each went 2-for-3 with a walk, with Stevens driving in two runs. Patrick Weigel took the loss, while Welinton Herrera impressed out of the bullpen with 1.2 scoreless innings and three strikeouts.

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 5, Portland Sea Dogs 1

The Hartford Yard Goats (8–10) picked up a solid 5–1 win over the Portland Sea Dogs (9–9) at Delta Dental Park on a chilly 46-degree night. Andy Perez led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a home run, while Zach Kokoska added a 2-for-3 night with a long ball of his own. Blake Adams was the difference on the mound, earning the win with four innings of scoreless relief. Clean game, timely hits, and shutdown pitching — hard to draw it up much better than that.

High-A: Spokane Indians 1, Everett Aquasox 2

The Spokane Indians (6–13) dropped a tough one, falling 2–1 to the Everett AquaSox (11–8) on a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth. Alan Espinal led the offense with three hits, while Everett Catlett struck out seven over 4.2 innings, working around five walks and a solo homer. Justin Loer kept Spokane in it with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to bridge the game late. Francis Rivera took the loss after allowing the winning run in the ninth.

Single-A: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 3, Fresno Grizzlies 10

The Fresno Grizzlies (12–7) broke things open late and rolled to a 10–3 win over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (10–9), powered by a big night at the plate. Clayton Gray led the way, going 3-for-4, while Ethan Holliday and Tanner Thach each went deep — Thach’s fourth homer on the season was a towering moonshot that climbed high into the dark sky and felt like it was golfed out over the right-field fence. Jack O’Dowd added a long ball of his own as Fresno’s offense showed real punch. On the mound, three pitchers combined to keep things under control, backing up the breakout offensive performance.

Did we just become best friends? Rox hurlers bonding over boredom of injury rehab | MLB.com

In this MLB.com piece, Thomas Harding checks in on RJ Petit and Pierson Ohl as they grind through the long, often boring Tommy John rehab process, where it’s more about patience than payoff right now. Along the way, though, there’s a random noodle mishap and a worried mom sprinkled in that serve as a reminder there’s still a real human side to all of it.

Rockies Trade Nicky Lopez To Cubs | MLB Trade Rumors

The Rockies quietly flipped Nicky Lopez to the Cubs for cash. Lopez had been swinging it well in Albuquerque and represented a potential plug-and-play depth option if needed, but the Rox have chosen to move on. For the Cubs, it’s a low-risk reunion with a glove-first infielder they know well.

Colorado Rockies Fan Sacrifices Body (Not Beer) In Early Contender For Foul Ball Catch Of The Year | Barstool Sports

Barstool rounded up some clips of fans making some seriously impressive foul ball catches at Coors Field. It’s a fun mix of skill and chaos in the stands, and they’re definitely worth a quick watch.

Padres’ Mason Miller Loses One Streak in Win vs Rockies | SI.com

J.P. Hoornstra of Sport Illustrated breaks down Mason Miller’s absurd strikeout streak. The interesting part — somehow, of all teams, it’s the free-swinging, strikeout-prone Rockies that put it to an end. Of course it happens that way… baseball makes no sense.

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

Today’s Reflections

I’m willing to do all I can to make things right! I closely read the stories from my usual group of writers. Nothing about the big story of the weekend, if not the week. I even read the national writers, thinking that someone may need one more story for the day. Nada. So I present to you the fans the story that should have been written:

Michael Busch entered Monday’s game having struggled all season (.164, 12-for-73). Then … the Philadelphia Phillies came to Wrigley — and so did George the Goose. Busch was looking for contact, a hit any way. Then *Thunk* — Busch hit a weak, soft single, RIGHT OVER GEORGE, who ended up leaving Wrigley with PTSD.

But on that the night, and through the beginning of the weekend, Busch is back! From this almost tragic Monday through Friday’s game, Busch was 8-for-23 (.348) with 2 HR and 7 RBI. This is the story Mr. Busch deserved, celebrating his breakthrough.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

Thomas Domol (North Side Baseball) – Edward Cabrera’s Cubs Legacy Is Only Getting Started “Edward Cabrera has been the Chicago Cubs’ best starting pitcher in 2026. Can he keep the momentum rolling into the summer? There’s a whole lot of good going on with the Cubs, who walked it off in the 10th inning with an 8-7 win Thursday at Wrigley Field.

Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): The Annual Cubs Bullpen Reckoning is Here: “The good news is, the Cubs didn’t lose a bunch of winnable games en route to their yearly spring bullpen overhaul. The bad news is, they have to improbably nail one again, anyway.”

The Chicago Sun-Times {$}): Can’t-lose Cubs sweep Phillies for ninth straight ‘W,’ majors’ longest streak this season. From their stalls in the circular locker room, players — any of them — can shout out teammates for things done well. Some days, here are more of those things than others. Lately, there have been too many to count.“

Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation) – If it’s Never Fun to Head West, But This is as Good a Time As Ever – Cubs vs Dodgers Series Preview. “If you are going to face the Dodgers and Padres in six-straight games, like the Cubs will starting tonight, it sure helps to come in with a nine-game winning streak.”

Evan Altman (Cubs insider): Hodge to 60-Day IL, Lopez Selected, Kingery Optioned” “It’s pretty much a lateral move, with Lopez bringing better defense to the table in what figures to be a very limited role. This will be something like his 43rd stint with the team in the last two years, so he’s very familiar with Craig Counsell and a number of his new/old teammates already do.“

Chicago Cubs Veterans Praise Moisés Ballesteros’ HIGH Baseball IQ (Video)

Can Imanaga compete with his elite 2026 season? (Video)

• Food For Thought:

Everyone knows B. B., so I’ll be short with him: Riley B. King was born in Mississippi and became an American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter known as the “King of the Blues.” In 1946, he followed his cousin Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee. White took him in for the next ten months. King returned shortly afterward to Mississippi where he better prepared himself for the next visit. Two years later, he returned to West Memphis, Arkansas attracted to music and taught himself to play guitar, beginning his career in juke joints and on local radio. He worked at WDIA as a singer and disc jockey where he was given the nickname “Beale Street Blues Boy”, later shortened to “Blues Boy” and finally to “B. B.” It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker. King said, “Once I’d heard him for the first time, I knew I’d have to have [an electric guitar] myself. ‘Had’ to have one, short of stealing!”

It sounds like B. B. would gladly vouch for T-Bone Walker, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. Aaron Thibeaux Walker was born in Linden, Texas. His stepfather, Marco Washington taught him to play the guitar, ukulele, banjo, violin, mandolin, and piano. His stepfather was a musician, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, a family friend, sometimes came over for dinner. Initially, by the time he was 15, he was Jefferson’s protégé and would guide him around Deep Ellum, Dallas for his gigs. By the time he was 25, he working clubs in Los Angeles. In 1942, Charlie Glenn, the owner of the Rhumboogie Café, brought T-Bone Walker to Chicago for long stints in his club. Walker started his recording in 1946-48, and again 1950-1954.

He didn’t release a record for six years — a collaboration that was widely record during three separate years. Walker rarely recorded through the 60’s, then recorded intently from 1968 until his death in 1975.

B.B. King | Live Monterey Jazz Festival with T-Bone Walker (1967) (Video)

Humanoid Robot Beats Human Record in Beijing (Video)

Top 100 Places To Visit In The USA (Video)

Good morning Birdland,

That felt good! We have been waiting for this Orioles offense, which is loaded with potential, to finally break out and show us their power. They did exactly that on Friday night, blasting six home runs as part of a 10-3 dismantling of the visiting Red Sox. It could not have gone much better than it did.

You can go up and down the box score to find things worth smiling about.

Perhaps the most important nugget is that Adley Rutschman continues to look like his old self, picking up right where he left off before his recent IL stint. He went 3-for-5 with two home runs and six RBI in the win last night, and now has a 1.115 OPS on the season.

Rutschman being back has given the entire lineup better structure. Samuel Basallo has dropped a few spots in the order and looked better for it. The youngster went 4-for-5 on Friday, including his fourth homer of the year.

The hardest hit of the day belonged to Gunnar Henderson. He had a 111.2-mph single in the second inning, not a bad follow-up to the 109.1-mph homer he had to begin the game. Maybe he is coming out of his recent cold spell. The O’s would welcome the boost.

Speaking of which, has Coby Mayo been activated? He hit another homer on Friday, his third of the week. There is still work to be done on his season numbers, but the outcomes have been better recently. The Orioles do not need him to be a star, but they have to hope for more more than a .618 OPS out of the third base position. He has plenty of talent to make that happen.

And don’t forget about the 4-for-4 night from Taylor Ward, or the three hits (including a home run) from Dylan Beavers. Oh, and Tyler O’Neill was activated from the concussion list. Plus, the news was good on Jackson Holliday’s MRI.

The point is that the Orioles depth is (for now) showing itself. That doesn’t mean it will always be apparent, or that other rough patches won’t come. But in this moment, the team is showing what it is capable of against some admittedly struggling opponents. That’s what team’s with playoff aspirations have to do.

In case you missed it, today’s game against the Red Sox has been moved up to 12:05 in order to avoid the rain that is expected this evening. The O’s will be hoping that Trevor Rogers can bounce back to secure a series win, while the bats will have to deal with the normally dominant Garrett Crochet, who is in poor form (11.77 ERA over last three starts) at the moment.

Links

Imaging clean on Holliday’s hand/wrist, rehab paused due to ongoing discomfort | Orioles.com
Holliday said that “it felt like I broke my hand again” during that painful looking swing earlier this week. Fortunately, after getting imaging done, the Orioles medical staff confirmed that there is no structural damage, only slight inflammation. The infielder will still take some time off to let that inflammation subside. At this rate, it feels unlikely that he is back with the big league club until at least mid-May.

Elias provides injury updates before tonight’s series opener against Red Sox | Roch Kubatko
The only “negative” update was on Dean Kremer, who is going to miss “several weeks to say the least” with a quad strain, according to Mike Elias. Holliday is going to take off a week and then get back to work. Jordan Westburg is hitting and throwing down in Sarasota. Heston Kjerstad is doing the same and is close to a rehab assignment. Keegan Akin is expected to be ready soon. Dietrich Enns is right behind him. For one day at least, the Orioles didn’t get bad news about an injury.

Mike Elias is ‘bullish’ this year’s Orioles will avoid last year’s tailspin | The Baltimore Banner
This year’s team has already shown they are quite a bit deeper than the 2025 version. That has allowed them to tread water as they get healthy. A 13-13 record isn’t great, but it has them in the thick of the wild card picture, and there is reason to think that the team will improve as the season goes on.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Robert Andino turns 42 today. He played parts of four seasons in Baltimore from 2009 through 2012, with his signature moment coming on the final day of the 2011 season. On that day he (and the rest of the Orioles) eliminated the Red Sox from playoff contention with a walk-off single that was part of a wild day in MLB.
• Darren Holmes is 60 years old. The journeyman reliever played for eight teams across 13 major league seasons. In all that time he played in just five games for the O’s, all of which came in 2000. He returned to the organization as major league bullpen coach from 2020-23.
• The late Art Schallock (b. 1924, d. 2025) was born on this day. He pitched in 30 games (six starts) for the 1955 Orioles.

This day in O’s history

April 25th has been a slow date in Orioles history, according to Baseball Reference. So here are a few happenings from beyond Birdland:

1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish the first article that explains the double helix structure of DNA.

1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.

1960 – The USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. The journey had started on February 24, taking 60 days and 21 hours.

1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit, now known widely as a “microchip.”

1983 – Pioneer 10, a NASA space probe that was launched in 1972, travels beyond Pluto’s orbit