Category: Sports News

Here an eight-figure salary, there an eight-figure salary, seemingly everywhere an eight-figure salary. There are not too many nights when you can point to a position and say the man playing a certain position for the Dodgers makes $17 million less this season than the opposing player at the same position.

This was one of them. The Atlanta Braves are paying Chris Sale, the nine-time All-Star, $18 million this season. The Dodgers are paying Emmet Sheehan a little less than $1 million.

You might not have bet on this outcome in the sports books or prediction markets: The Dodgers won.

Not because your home team has suddenly become a plucky underdog, even if the Braves (26-13) have a better record. The Dodgers (24-14) dented Sale for three runs in seven innings — one on a home run by Freddie Freeman ($27 million this year), one on a double by Kyle Tucker ($55 million), and one on a single by Shohei Ohtani ($70 million).

Final score: Dodgers 3, Braves 1.

Read more:Dodgers put Tyler Glasnow on injured list; Blake Snell set to start Saturday

“I know the guys think a win is a win,” infielder Miguel Rojas said, “but knowing that we’re facing (the team with) the best record in the league now and those guys have been playing really good, the bullpen showed that they took the ball and knew what they were going to face.

“For me, it’s a pretty good win, because it tells us we are ready for the big picture.”

Two of the Dodgers’ pitching stars on Friday arrived in Los Angeles together, in a little-noticed trade that now stands out as one of Andrew Friedman’s most underrated. In the fifth inning, Alex Vesia relieved Sheehan and induced a two-on, two-out fly out from Matt Olson, who might be the National League’s most valuable player to date.

In the sixth inning, Kyle Hurt stranded two runners on base to complete a scoreless inning and lower his earned-run average to 0.90. In 2021, Friedman acquired Vesia and Hurt from the Miami Marlins for middle reliever Dylan Floro.

Since then, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, Vesia has mentored Hurt.

“There’s just real confidence now,” Roberts said. “There’s always been talent.”

Will Klein, Brock Stewart and Tanner Scott finished off the Braves on a night the bullpen delivered 4⅓ shutout innings.

Vesia’s one-batter, one-out performance earned him his first victory of the season, with Scott working the ninth for the save.

Each team scored once in the second inning, with the Dodgers adding an unearned run in the fifth on the Ohtani single and a final run in the sixth on Freeman’s fourth home run — and first since April 6.

In 12 career at-bats against Sale, Freeman has two home runs. Teoscar Hernández is the only other player on the Dodgers’ current roster ever to homer off Sale.

For a left-handed hitter like Freeman, Sale combines a power fastball with a funky delivery.

“He’s probably the toughest lefty you are going to face in this game, as a left-handed hitter,” Freeman said. “He’s coming from behind you.” 

It is not that Sheehan outpitched Sale. But Sheehan pitched well enough, against a very good opponent and a very good opposing pitcher, for the Dodgers to consider this progress.

“I thought Emmet threw the ball as well as he’s thrown the ball all year, as far as stuff and compete,” Roberts said. “What he gave us was what we needed.

“I think it’s something for Emmet to build on.”

Sheehan fired his fastballs from 94-96 mph in the first three innings, and six of his first eight outs were strikeouts. His fastball velocity dropped into the 92-93 mph range in the fourth and fifth inning, and four of his final eight batters reached base.

“I think it’s just being more consistent with my mechanics,” Sheehan said. “Obviously, trying not to think about that out there but, yeah, I definitely wish I could have held it a little better.”

The line was good enough: one run over 4⅔ innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts. How long the Dodgers might stick with a pitcher with a 4.79 ERA could be determined by how long Tyler Glasnow stays on the injured list. Glasnow hit the IL Friday because of back spasms, so the question of whom the Dodgers drop from the rotation to make room for Blake Snell is moot for now. The Dodgers plan to activate Snell from the injured list Saturday and start him against the Braves.

The Dodgers hope to activate shortstop Mookie Betts from the IL Monday, and the question of whom the Dodgers drop from their roster could be determined in part by the status of Rojas, who left the game in the eighth inning. 

Rojas slipped getting out of the batter’s box in the second inning and said he had “kind of a dead leg” sensation after being hit while taking a throw at shortstop in the sixth. He said he expected to be “fine” going forward.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Nolan McLean endured the shortest outing of his career, his last time out, lasting just four innings as he was knocked around a bit by the Los Angeles Angels. 

The young righty was able to bounce back nicely Friday against the Diamondbacks, though.  

McLean didn’t have his best stuff, but he still gave the Mets six solid innings. 

“My job is to get as deep into the game as I can every time I go out,” he said postgame. “I was disappointed in myself last time not being able, so it was pretty important for me today.”

McLean worked around a two-out Corbin Carroll double in the first, but then served up a Nolan Arenado homer on just the second pitch of the bottom of the second. 

The crafty right-hander found his footing from there, retiring the next six hitters he faced before hitting Carroll with a pitch leading off the bottom of the fourth. McLean immediately rolled a double-play, though, to put up another zero. 

He was able to evade a walk in the fifth and then a single in the sixth, ending his night with just the one run allowed on three hits and a walk while striking out eight Arizona hitters.

“He was pretty solid,” Carlos Mendoza said. “He did a good job pacing himself -- the sinker was good when he needed it, the breaking ball, the sweeper, the curveball, and when he needed to let it eat, he put some on it with the velo.

“He found a way to give us six good innings, so pretty solid there -- just the execution, strike-throwing, the attack, the way he was using all of his pitches, he was pretty good today.”

The Mets' bats couldn't back him up, but they finally came back to life in the 10th to rally for the series-opening win. 

Dodger Stadium has been a house of horrors for the Braves over the years, and it continued to be so on Friday night as they lost yet again, 3-1. Atlanta had chances to score in seemingly every inning and just couldn’t get the big hit to swing the game. They ended the night 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position with 10 runners left on base.

Yikes.

The lone run came by way of an Austin Riley single up the middle in the second to score Michael Harris. It seemed like more could be on the way, but back-to-back strikes from Mike Yastrzemski and Jim Jarvis promptly ended the threat.

Shortly after the Braves took the lead, the Dodgers quickly responded with an RBI double from Kyle Tucker to tie it up. In the fifth, LA took the lead with a Shohei Ohtani single to make it 2-1. And in the sixth, Freddie Freeman homered to make it 3-1. And that’s all she wrote.

Chris Sale was really strong for seven innings; he deserved a better fate tonight. He struck out seven, didn’t walk anyone, and scattered five hits. One of the three runs he allowed was unearned as Jarvis uncorked a wild throw that ultimately plated the go-ahead run. Aaron Bummer threw a clean 8th inning against the top of LA’s lineup, an encouraging sign.

The series continues Saturday night and all eyes will be on Spencer Strider, who needed 80+ pitches in his season debut to record 10 outs. Strider will be opposed by Blake Snell, who may be a bit limited as he makes his season debut a little earlier than expected. First pitch will be an hour earlier at 9:10 p.m. ET.

Game Summary

Let’s look back at another close loss for the 2026 Diamondbacks – or don’t and just skip straight to venting in the comments if you wish. For those of you still here, away we go.

Ryne Nelson put together his second straight strong start in May after scuffling through the month of April. He became the third of four Snakes’ starters to pitch into the 7th inning after Torey Lovullo pulled all of his starters into the office and told them they needed to be better. Well, the have been better. Much better. But Torey’s club has lost 3 of the the 4 ballgames since anyway. Tonight, Nelson was very efficient, sticking in and around the strike zone all night and finishing with 2 hits allowed, 7 strikeouts and a lonely walk to the last hitter he faced in 6.2 innings. Nelson’s one crime was a leadoff homer he allowed to Mark Vents in the top of the 2nd inning. After that, he was nails, including a run of 14 straight hitters retired before his walk with 2 outs in the 6th that ended his night. Nelly is looking much more like the pitcher he was for the bulk of 2024-25, which is great news for the 2026 D-backs.

The bullpen was also great, until it wasn’t. Juan Morillo and Brandyn Garcia put in excellent outings to keep the game in reach for the Snakes, but Kevin Ginkel came in for the 10th a gave up back-to-back doubles and a bunt single before finally getting an out before handing the ball to Torey. Jonathan Loaisiga promptly got 2 ground outs to end the frame.

Normally, 2 earned runs wouldn’t sink you, but the Diamondbacks offense right now is not normal. Tonight’s 1-run squeaker by the offense makes it 5 games in their last 9 in which they’ve been held to 2 runs or less. Unsurprisingly, they are 0-5 in those games. Nolan Arenado had a leadoff homer to match Mark Vientos in the 2nd, but after that, it was mostly crickets. They had opportunities, sure, but the good guys went 0-5 with RISP and left 8 on base. To be fair, Nolan McLean is a tough customer, but this is no longer a one-off. Hopefully the offense comes back to life soon, but as we Diamondbacks fans are conditioned to expect, when the offense figures it out, one of the bullpen or starting pitching – or both – will collapse.

Oh well. I’ll still be there to watch it all go down with you all here on the ‘Pit. The Waldschmidt era has arrived and Alek Thomas is out the door. I have a feeling that AT’s exit is only the first in a series of moves the D-backs will begin to make if they don’t figure things out quickly, overhauling much of the regulars we’ve had in the org over the past few years. Buckle up folks!

Loss Probability and Box Score

Outside the Box Score

• After Gabi blew an ABS challenge on the first pitch of the game, Nelson came back and struck out Juan Soto on the next 3 pitches, culminating with a whiff on a 98mph fastball right at the top of the zone.
• No bearing on the outcome of the game whatsoever, but a gentleman wearing a Dodgers hat caught Nolan Arenado’s home run ball in the third. He was clearly stoked about catching a home run ball. It’s great that no matter who your team is, catching a ball will turn you giddy.
• DBacks fandom collectively held its breath at the end of the top of the third inning when Corbin Carroll made a fantastic catch fading/jumping into the right field fence. It looked like maybe his throwing hand was hurt since he was holding in close to his hip and then gave a little hop with a grimace as he ran back in to the dugout. Corbin had his helmet on in the dugout getting ready to hit the next inning so hopefully just a stinger that won’t cause any future issues.
• Ildemaro Vargas made a very good diving play at second base to take a hit away from the Mets to lead off the fourth. He quickly spun around through to first while barely getting off the deck. Fernandez, for his part, did well to corral the throw far to the fair side of the bag and complete the putout.
• The television broadcast showed a graphic during Corbin’s second AB of the game that showed the difference between his OPS in games the DBacks win vs. games they lose. His OPS is north of 1.300 in wins and around .400 when they lose, the largest gap in MLB so far this year. Corbin is our motor.
• Ryne Nelson only had 64 pitches at the end of 5 innings. Looking extremely efficient, with only one 3-ball count through those 5 innings per the broadcast, and a Zone% of 58% (for comparison, Nolan McLean was at 49%).
• Jose Fernandez was called out on strikes in the fifth on a curveball that looked pretty far outside, but already being down a challenge thanks to Gabi’s first pitch decision, made the decision to not risk the team’s final challenge at the halfway point of the game. Bummer as it would have brought up a full count with a runner on first and only 1 out instead of being the 2nd out of the inning.
• Ryne Nelson owned Juan Soto all night long. 2 strikeouts and a lazy fly out and he didn’t look comfortable in the box all game.
• The common refrain when something, anything, goes wrong for the Diamondbacks pitching late in the game, is that Torey was late with his hook for the pitcher. Tonight, he got up Morillo midway through the 7th and after Nelly had back-to-back full counts – with the second one resulting in a walk – Torey went out and got his starting pitcher after 6.2 stellar innings of work. Juan Morillo made quick work of Marcus Semien to strand the runner and, unfortunately, guarantee Nelson would get a No Decision for his work tonight.
• Luis Torrens, the Mets catcher tonight, took a foul ball straight off the bottom of his mask from the bat of Jose Fernandez. He was down for several minutes and was clearly in pain based on his reaction to the Mets trainer prodding around his jaw and chin, but – as most catchers are – he’s tough as nails and got the mask back on got back behind the plate. I don’t know if I could mentally get through a full season as a Major League catcher. My hats off to them, that is a brutal position.
• The Diamondbacks finally got to face someone other than Nolan McLean in the 7th inning, and the Rattle of the lineup went walk, single, walk with 2 outs to bring up Domo with a chance to put the Serpientes ahead for the first time of the night. Unfortunately, Gerry rolled over to first base for an easy out to end the threat.
• Ryan Waldschmidt, fresh off the bus from Reno, came in as a pinch-hitter for ADC with 2 out in the 8th for his first AB in the Majors and spanked single that fell at the feet of Juan Soto for his first career hit in the Bigs. Congratulations on the first of many hits Waldy!
• The Mets had runners at the corners with 1 out in the 10th and smartly had Semien steal second to remove the threat of the double play. Good thing for them as the next ball in play was a soft grounder right back to Jonny Lasagna, but since the Mets were running on contact, the Snakes got an easy out at the plate for the 2nd out of the inning and then Jonny induced a soft grounder to Arenado to finish the extra frame. Too bad it was 2 runs too late.

Comment of the Game

The GameDay Thread was very well attended with several topics touched on outside the ballgame (per usual). A final tally of 413 comments at time of publishing. Comment of the Game tonight is awarded to chwalter for this gem:

Coming Up

The Diamondbacks face the Mets for the second game of this 3-game set tomorrow evening with a 4:15pm first pitch televised on FOX. Righthander Clay Holmes (4-2, 1.69 ERA) will take the mound for New York and Merrill Kelly (1-3, 9.95 ERA) takes the ball for the good guys looking to show signs of life. Here’s to Merrill returning to his Mainstay form.

The Mets came alive late to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 in extra innings on Friday night at Chase Field.

Here are some takeaways...

- Nolan McLean was a bit shaky, but he rebounded nicely following the shortest outing of his career. The crafty right-hander was hurt by a solo homer leading off the bottom of the second, but was otherwise solid, holding Arizona to a walk and two other hits across six innings of work. 

McLean struck out six batters on the night, including two in a strong final frame. 

- Unfortunately for McLean, the Mets' offense couldn't get much of anything going against Ryne Nelson for the second time this season. Mark Vientos' solo homer in the top of the second was their lone tally on the board, which the righty followed by giving up a leadoff single in the third, then retiring the next 14 Mets he faced.

A Carson Benge two-out walk in the seventh ended that stretch and chased Nelson from the game. 

- Vientos' homer continued a positive stretch at the plate for the slugging infielder after his dreadful spring training and start to the season. The blast that left the bat at a whopping 104 mph and traveled 401 feet was his fifth on the year and gave him seven RBI since the calendar flipped to May. 

- Luis Torrens had a bit of a scare in the bottom of the seventh, as he took a 97.1 mph Jose Fernandez foul ball directly off the bottom of his catchers mask. The veteran backstop was visibly shaken up as he was checked out by the Mets' trainer, but he was able to remain in the ballgame.

- Back in Arizona, an amped up Luke Weaver easily retired the first two batters he faced. The right-hander allowed the next three batters to reach, loading the bases with two walks and a hit, but he was able to get Geraldo Perdomo to roll over to first to escape the jam with the game still even. 

- Brooks Raley gave up a two-out pinch-hit single to Arizona top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt in his first career at-bat, but then was helped out by a terrific diving stop by Marcus Semien and Vientos scoop at first to end a scoreless eighth. 

- Devin Williams made quick work of the D-backs in the bottom of the ninth, then the Mets' bats wasted no time cashing in the ghost runner in the 10th. Vientos laced a first-pitch double to bring in the go-ahead run, then Carson Benge followed that with a run-scoring ground-rule double of his own. 

- New York wasted a first-and-third with no out opportunity to cash in more, but Tobias Myers was able to come on and needed just 10 pitches to lock down the first save of his career. 

- The Mets improved to 5-2 through seven games of their nine-game road trip.

Game MVP: Mark Vientos

The red-hot slugger accounted for the majority of New York's offense. 

Highlights

Mark Vientos' 5th home run of the season! pic.twitter.com/DrKr979dzW

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 9, 2026

2 nasty Ks from Nolan McLean as he finishes off 6 solid innings pic.twitter.com/6pwYEQLMtv

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 9, 2026

Marcus Semien with the diving stop! pic.twitter.com/AHGbdsuTX6

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 9, 2026

Mark Vientos first-pitch swinging in the 10th to give the Mets the lead with a double! pic.twitter.com/JtKjtPHIhc

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 9, 2026

Carson Benge follows Mark Vientos' RBI double with one of his own! pic.twitter.com/JL3Held7CI

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 9, 2026

What's next

Clay Holmes looks to continue his phenomenal start to the season as he faces off with Merrill Kelly on Saturday at 7:15 p.m.

It was an electric night in San Diego as a brilliant start by Michael McGreevy and a “Little League grand slam” from JJ Wetherholt led the St. Louis Cardinals to another victory over the San Diego Padres.

It would be easy to start drawing some conclusions that are likely overreactions from Friday night’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres. Let’s start with the possibility that Michael McGreevy is the current ace of the Cardinals staff. He held the Padres hitless until the bottom of the 4th inning when Jackson Merrill managed a single off of him. It’s also probably too early to start thinking of the Cardinals as a team of destiny but there was another sign that might be the case based on what happened in the top half of the 5th inning.

For the first 4 innings, Ivan Herrera was the only Cardinal with a hit (and he had four of them on the night), but it wasn’t until the 5th inning that the Cardinals started mounting a serious threat (which they followed through on admirably). Masyn Winn singled to start off the top of the 5th. Nathan Church reached on an infield single and Masyn advanced to second. After Prieto struck out, Victor Scott II drew a walk to load the bases and that brought up JJ Wetherholt who did not disappoint. In typical JJ fashion, he did something productive that turned into a play that broke the game open. On the third pitch of his at-bat, he ripped a single to right field which went under the glove of Fernando Tatis Jr. and it was off to the races.

Technically, it was a single and a 3-base/2-run error, but for the rest of us, it was a Little League grand slam that gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead with JJ getting credited for 2 RBI’s. St. Louis wasn’t done, either. Ivan Herrera snuck another single between third base and short followed by a double that was lanced down the left field line by Alec Burleson which advanced Herrera to third. Jordan Walker followed that with a nice 4-pitch walk to load the bases again and Nolan Gorman came through with a single to score Herrera that made it 5-0 Cardinals. Masyn Winn managed a sacrifice fly to score Burleson and make it 6-0 St. Louis. The Rally Dawg had to be proud of the Cardinals 5th inning.

The real story Friday night was Michael McGreevy. Six innings allowing just 1 hit and no runs with 9 strikeouts and just 2 walks is ace stuff. He did not allow the Padres to create any kind of momentum. Big offense from the Cardinals grabbed the headlines, but Michael McGreevy’s performance deserves its own standing ovation.

Gordon Graceffo pitched a solid inning of relief in the bottom of the 7th and also pitched the bottom of the 8th allowing no Padres baserunners. A nice bounce-back from his last outing. Ryne Stanek was brought in to close out the Padres in the 9th inning and he did it without drama giving Riley O’Brien a night of rest. Cardinals pitchers collectively threw a 1-hit shutout. Very nice.

Dustin May will get the Saturday night start at Petco Park for the Cardinals as he’ll do battle with Randy Vásquez who will take the mound for the Padres. First pitch is set for 6:15pm central time and the musical chairs broadcast schedule has the game being broadcast on Fox Saturday night.

For the first time in 15 seasons, second baseman DJ LeMahieu finds himself without a Major League team. After injury plagued 2024 and 2025 campaigns, the former Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award winner is a free agent.

LeMahieu, 37, spent seven seasons as the franchise second baseman for the Colorado Rockies. While donning the purple pinstripes he won three Gold Gloves, was a two-time All-Star, and even took home the 2016 batting title when he hit .348/.416/.495 while being worth 5.5 wins above replacement.

After the 2018 season LeMahieu left Colorado as a free agent and joined the New York Yankees. In the Bronx he won another batting title, two Silver Slugger Awards, a fourth Gold Glove, and made his third All-Star appearance.

LeMahieu has yet to officially announce his retirement and is still open to playing opportunities. In the meantime, he is exploring his next steps in his baseball life: coaching.

The Royal Oak Leprechauns, a collegiate wood bat team in LeMahieu’s native Michigan, have announced that LeMahieu will be the team’s manager for the 2026 season.

“DJ has been hands-on throughout the entire offseason, and that’s meant everything to our staff,” Leprechauns general manager Danny Weiss said Wednesday. “As he steps into the field manager role, that same commitment carries over to the players he leads. He cares deeply about building a culture players want to be part of — and that’s going to set the standard for everything we do in 2026 and beyond.”

LeMahieu has been a long-time financial backer and supporter of the Leprechauns.

With his move into managing, LeMahieu joins a list of former Rockies players who pursued managerial efforts after their playing career.

• Former third baseman and current special assistant Vinny Castilla has managed in his home country of Mexico.
• 1993 Opening Day catcher Joe Girardi has been the skipper for the Miami Marlins, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Phillies.
• Former shortstop Walt Weiss managed the Rockies for a few seasons and took over for longtime Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker this season.

Plenty of other former Rockies over the years have pursued Major League or collegiate coaching careers after they hung up their cleats.

What current or former members of the Colorado Rockies do you think would make a good manager or coach? Let us know in the comments!

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