Category: Sports News

Yesterday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds was a lot closer than the score would indicate. The Reds didn’t bust the scoring open until very late in the day, and the Colorado Rockies had plenty of opportunities to score. The problem was that the Rockies didn’t capitalize on those opportunities.

This evening the Rockies are once again in the Queen City and it’s delightful Great American Ballpark, looking to bounce back after their three-game winning streak was brought to an end. The Rockies also have a nice and fresh bullpen after Monday’s off-day and only using two total pitchers yesterday.

Making his sixth start for the Rockies is right-handed pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之. Without being flashy, Sugano has quietly been one of the Rockies’ best starting pitchers so far this season. Through his first five starts he carries an ERA of just 3.42 over 26.1 innings. He’s given up more than two earned runs just once an has issued only six walks to 19 strikeouts.

On the bump for the Redlegs is left-handed pitcher Brandon Williamson, who has made five starts so far this season after missing the entirety of 2025 due to Tommy John surgery. Williamson enters today’s game with a 5.40 ERA over 25 innings. Where the Rockies will need to capitalize is with long, patient at-bats. Williamson has issued 16 walks to just 15 strikeouts this season with four home runs allowed as he works on finding his footing.

The Rockies have seen Williamson twice before, where he holds a 3.38 ERA over 10.2 innings with two home runs allowed and 11 strikeouts. His primary pitch this season is a cutter that sits in the high 80s. He backs that up with a changeup he uses to get whiffs. Williamson also throws a sinker and a four-seam fastball—both in the low 90s—a curveball, and a sweeper.

First Pitch: 4:40 PM MDT

TV: Rockies TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

Reds SB Nation site:Red Reporter

Lineups:

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St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, April 29, 2026, 6:40 p.m. ET

Location: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet-PIT

Pitching Matchup: Andre Pallante (2-2, 4.26 ERA) vs. Bubba Chandler (1-2. 4.88 ERA)

The Pittsburgh Pirates are at home hosting the St. Louis Cardinals this evening at beautiful PNC Park.

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The San Francisco Giants are on pace to end the month of April with either the fewest walks over the team’s first 30 games in 125 years or 108 years. Only twice have the Giants started a season with 65 or fewer in games 1-30: 1901 (60 BB) & 1918 (65 BB). After last night’s disastrous 2-hit, 12-strikeout, zero walks performance by the dismal lineup, the Giants have just 58 walks to go with their 97 runs scored — both the lowest totals in the sport.

The only possible explanation is that walks are a joke to the Giants. What sort of insults do you think they sling at walks? I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they know better than to invoke some sort of antiquated slur. So, what’s left? “Walks are dumb”? “Walks are cringe”? “Woke”? It’s clear something’s afoot, because at this point last season, the team was right around 9%. This year’s roster isn’t substantially different.

It’s clear that the organization’s emphasis on contact is having a somewhat profound influence on a crucial component to scoring runs: the base on balls. Outside of all those intentional walks to Barry Bonds and the Farhan Zaidi era of the front office, the “walks are good” era of baseball as made mainstream by Moneyball has been vigorously rejected in San Francisco, by the fans and the front office alike. With the help of the ABS Challenge System, the league’s walk rate is the highest it’s been since 1951 at 3.69 BB/9 (9.6 BB%). The Giants are 30th in MLB by nearly 2% at 5.6%.

“Walks are washed”?

Only 56 teams in MLB history of recorded 65 walks or fewer in their first 30 games of a season and only five of those instances have come in the 21st century: the World Champion 2015 Royals, the 2015 Rockies (68-94), the 2010 Astros (76-86), the 2008 Twins (88-75), and the 2006 Angels (89-73). Prior to this group, the last MLB team to do this was Cleveland in 1990 (77-85). And before that it was in 1968. So, this is a somewhat rare feat, and it a lot about the sport has changed since it last happened: Statcast, balanced schedule, universal DH, and now ABS.

“Walks give the ick”?

Is it just a front office edict that’s causing this or is it personnel? Well, maybe it’s a bit of both. As Andrew Baggarly pointed out this morning in a post for The Athletic about the team’s worrying walk rate:

No team is seeing a higher percentage of pitches in the strike zone. When pitchers face the Giants’ lineup, the fear factor just hasn’t been there.

Hard to walk if pitchers are staying inside the strike zone.

And maybe that’s the one simple tricks staffs are using to subdue the Giants, because the walk rates for the core of the lineup are way down despite seeing plenty of strikes:

• Matt Chapman: 10.8 career BB%, 2026: 9.0% | 50.3% career pitches in strike zone percentage, 2026: 49.7%
• Jung Hoo Lee: 7.3 BB% career, 2026: 7.1% | 52.7% career zone, 2026: 48%
• Luis Arraez: 6.5 BB% career, 2026: 5.1% | 50.8% career zone, 2026: 53.9%
• Rafael Devers: 9.4 BB% career, 2026: 5% | 47% career zone, 2026: 50%
• Heliot Ramos: 7.2 BB% career, 2026: 5.6% | 48.7% career zone, 2026: 44.9%
• Willy Adames: 9.8 BB% career, 2026: 4.2% | 48.2% career zone, 2026: 47.7%

Hmm, maybe it’s better to take the Baggarly comment this way: for a roster of players who have, historically, tended to see a lot of pitches in the strike zone, they’re not doing very much damage with that situation here in the first month of the season.

I would argue that’s because the team has virtually dropped the walk from their game and because I’m a fabulist and not a journalist, I’m pitching that the reason for this is because of an ideological bent bordering on hostile. The statistical case for the walk is straightforward. Unfortunately, my statvestigation wasn’t thorough enough and so I’ll pull from this 2019 article that shows that, although a walk is not as good as a single, its correlation with run scoring is meaningful.

The post also goes into the psychological/perceptive value of singles over the walk. Singles tend to signal to people that the hitter is good whereas a walk indicates a flaw in a pitcher. There’s also the whole thing about how walks don’t drive in runs unless the bases are loaded. We can also probably extend this thought to a cynical conception of player valuation. If walks are less valuable, then walks are cheaper, which explains why the efficiencymeisters who have made cheap baseball “real baseball” here in the last 20 years. Though, to be fair, if you’re trying to make player spending more efficient, the guy who walks and hits home runs is financially more reasonable than the guy who gets a lot of hits and walks and homers. So, yes, the obsession with Three True Outcomes is because it’s cheaper.

“Walks are trash”?

Aha! You might say. Here’s proof that the Giants’ strategy is sound. They are spending money on hitters who have value because they get hits. Except, well, it takes a lot of Luis Arraezes to make that strategy work, and entirely discounting the walk looks foolish even on paper. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, and I’ll reiterate:

Still, it’s a little alarming that the Giants have dipped so far below not only [the league average] but their own lineup average since 2022 […] Still not convinced walk rates matter? Some additional information: During the championship era, the 2010, 2012, and 2014 teams posted walk rates of 7.9%, 7.8%, and 7%.

It’s the second-most likely outcome according to this chart, and Oracle Park is pretty good at suppressing home runs — offense in general — so, you might as well look at the complete picture rather than dismiss the walk out of hand. What good reason is there to avoid it?

Logan Webb, Giants lose to Dodgers despite 10 walks

H-hey! That’s not fair!

San Francisco drew 10 walks from the Dodgers’ pitching staff but only collected one hit, finishing 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine runners on base. It was the first time the Giants tallied at least 10 walks at Dodger Stadium since July 19, 2002, though that game lasted 12 innings.

OK, but at the end of the day, a walk is just another way of avoiding an out. The longer a lineup can go without making an out, the greater the odds some runs will be scored. The prevailing wisdom with contact and batting average is that “if the bats can just get going then the lineup will start clicking.” Sure, but in the meantime, why not cool it with chasing pitches outside the zone? Tony Vitello seems to be coming around on the idea. He told the press on Sunday:

“It’s not about going up there trying to walk,” he explained. “But it’s hard to get your best swing off on a pitch that’s not in the zone.”

This is just the plainspeak way of saying “swing decisions,” which was a phrase that got used a lot by the previous front office and became an exhibit in the anti-stats sect of Giants fandom’s case against “analytics.” It seems like common sense to swing at good pitches and layoff bad pitches, but when the word on high is to make contact, I wonder if that decision-making gets cross-wired in such a way that it leads to mistakes.

Anyway, the Giants are on course for some more bad history and it’s only April. I’m sure this will be a big ol’ nothingburger to those who never thought much of walks in the first place, though, because walks are dumb and bad, right?

Today’s date is April 29th, and the Cincinnati Reds already have a chance to move 10 games over .500. TEN GAMES!

To do so, they’ll need to once again get past the Colorado Rockies, whom they felled yesterday by the score of 7-2 on the backs of Elly De La Cruz and Chase Burns. Tonight, they’ll be leaning on lefty Brandon Williamson on the mound as he looks to kick his most recent run of form (9 ER and an ugly 13 walks against just 8 strikeouts in 13.2 IP in his last trio of starts).

It will be 36 year old righty Tomoyuki Sugano on the bump for Colorado tonight, and the Reds have moved back to their regular lineup after last night’s start against veteran left-hander Kyle Freeland. TJ Friedl will lead off, JJ Bleday gets his second start in the outfield, and today’s catcher will be Jose Trevino.

First pitch is set for 6:40 PM ET. Lineups for both clubs are listed below.

Go Reds!

The Yankees' bats were nonexistent on Wednesday afternoon, managing just five hits in a 3-0 loss to the Texas Rangers.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Making his major league debut, Yankees No. 3 prospect Elmer Rodríguez was solid through four-plus innings of work, allowing two runs on four hits with three strikeouts.

He issued a leadoff walk to Brandon Nimmo, but got some help from catcher J.C. Escarra on a strikeout double play, catching Nimmo trying to steal. Rodríguez retired the next three batters into the second inning, but then found himself in a two-out, bases loaded jam. Luckily, he escaped damage by getting Nimmo to line out. Rodríguez then got comfortable and breezed through the third and fourth innings, recording six straight outs. 

Things took a turn in the fifth inning as he plunked the leadoff man, walked the second hitter, and let up a single to Nimmo to load the bases. The Rangers finally got to Rodríguez with Josh Jung making it a 2-0 game on a single and ending his day on the mound. Overall, he threw 80 pitches, but only 42 strikes.

-- Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi shut down the New York bats all afternoon, allowing just four hits over seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and a walk. He forced the Yanks into six groundouts, three flyouts, and two double plays.

-- Playing in just his third game this season, Jasson Dominguez left the game in the fourth inning after getting hit by Eovaldi in the elbow. Dominguez looked to be in pain and stayed in to run the bases, but was replaced in the bottom of the inning on defense by Max Schuemann. Dominguez was playing his first game in LF after serving as DH in the previous two contests.

-- Brent Headrick came in for relief after Rodríguez's day was done and found a way to get out of trouble. He struck out Corey Seager, got Joc Pederson to ground into a forceout, and made Jake Burger flyout. Headrick recorded the first out of the sixth inning and was then replaced by Jake Bird, who got the next two outs to keep it a 2-0 game.

--After allowing a leadoff double to Ezequiel Duran in the seventh inning, Bird let up an RBI single to Sam Haggerty as the Rangers took a 3-0 lead. Tim Hill came in with one out and got an inning-ending double play.

-- Ben Rice finished with three of the team's five hits, going 3-for-4 in the loss. Cody Bellinger and Jose Caballero picked up the other two hits.

Game MVP: Nathan Eovaldi

The Yanks had no answer for Eovaldi's stuff on Wednesday afternoon.

Highlights

How about a strike 'em out, throw 'em out play for Elmer's first outs in the Bigs 👏 pic.twitter.com/cVHeyjt3Ac

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 29, 2026

Some dazzling defense from McMahon 👊 pic.twitter.com/pg9IfHqMlr

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 29, 2026

What's next

The Yankees are off on Thursday and will begin a four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles on Friday at 7:05 p.m.

Neither team has announced a starting pitcher yet.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the New York Yankees scored zero runs.

Usually an MLB debut goes one of two ways for a starting pitcher. Either the nerves get to them and they’re sent to the showers early with a massive ERA that they have the rest of their career to shave down or they befuddle a lineup that has never seen them as their flown-in parents cry in the stands witnessing their son’s dreams come true.

For New York’s debuting 22-year-old Elmer Rodriguez, he somehow kind of managed both ends of the spectrum. A little wild early, Rodriguez wiggled out of a couple of jams perhaps thanks to the courtesy of getting to debut against the RISP bewitched Rangers at The Shed.

But then he settled in for a couple of threatless innings before, in the bottom of the fifth in a scoreless game, wildness cropped up again and the Rangers loaded the bases with a HBP, walk, and infield single with no one out.

Now, usually that’s still an advantageous position for a pitcher against Texas but unfortunately for Rodriguez — but fortunately for you, me, and the Rangers — the wrong guy was coming up.

With the bags packed, Josh Jung stepped in and there was nowhere to put him. As has often been the case in April, Jung won the battle and his single drove in two runs for what might have been Texas’ first hit with the bases loaded in the last three years for all I know.

No, the Rangers didn’t follow that up with a big inning. That hit produced the only runs that they scored in the frame. But two runs felt like twenty. The Rangers added a third run in the bottom of the seventh when Ezequiel Duran doubled and Sam Haggerty singled him in after earlier failing to bunt him over.

The Rangers went 4-for-8 with RISP, and even though only two of those hits actually scored runs, those were all that they needed with the arms holding the Yankees off the board. The win allows Texas to finish their homestand on a positive note at just a game out of .500.

Player of the Game: Nathan Eovaldi accomplished goal No. 1 by not allowing a first inning run to put the Rangers behind the eight ball early, as had been the case often throughout this homestand.

With that achievement unlocked, Eovaldi shoved over his 102-pitch stint going seven much-needed innings of shutout ball on four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts against the team atop the standings in the American League.

Up Next: The Rangers will take the day off tomorrow before opening up a series in Detroit beginning on Friday.

Gavin Williams was magnificent today. He recorded 23 outs, giving up 1 (unearned) run and striking out *9* Rays. It was one of his best outings. The sole run allowed came after Bazzana threw a double play ball down the third base line (the video evidence of which I will be leaving out of this article). Gavin had everything working for him today.

He was throwing everything in the zone, and managed to only walk one batter on a HBP. Unfortunately, Statcast went down around the 5th inning, so all data recorded after that is, at least for now, unavailable. ABS was also down, which is weird to see now that I’ve gotten used to having it. Anyway, Gavin was fantastic. A true “ace” start for him.

The offense was better today, but I can always find ways to complain. They had the bases loaded in the 3rd, but managed to only record 1 run off a Kyle Manzardo sacrifice fly. But, in the 5th, Rocchio led off the inning with an infield single. Kwan followed that up with an *100.4* mph double down the first base line. DeLauter, with the infield brought in, hit a ground ball back up the middle that scored both Rocchio and Kwan.

(Naturally, DeLauter goes 2/3 with a walk and 2 RBI the day I publish an article talking about his struggles). DeLauter is riding a 5-game hit streak during which he’s slashing .438/.471/.500. You’d like to see more power, but seeing the results come in will hopefully spur some more slug.

Gavin was pulled in the 8th after two consecutive two-out singles. Sabrowski was brought on in relief, and struck out Aranda to end the inning. Cade came on to pitch a scoreless 9th, striking out 2 Rays.

The Guardians play the Athletics this weekend. It’ll be Cantillo-Cecconi-Messick.

If this felt like a game the White Sox had no business winning, that’s because for most of the afternoon, they didn’t. And then, in the end, they did anyway.

The Good Guys walked it off in extras, 3-2, completing the sweep of the Angels. Chicago finished the month with 13 wins. That’s not exactly cause for a parade, but it is their best April since 2021.

This afternoon’s victory wasn’t pretty, but it was resilient, and that was enough.

The offensive story for the first nine innings was simple: a lot of traffic, but no destination. The South Siders had no problem getting runners on base with seven hits and seven walks against Angels pitching, especially after Yusei Kikuchi exited early due to injury. They just couldn’t execute in the clutch.

They managed to scratch across their first run in the third. Chase Meidroth doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Miguel Vargas single. That should’ve been the start of something. Instead, it was a one-off. Munetaka Murakami walked, but Austin Hays hit into a double play, and Colson Montgomery lifted a fly ball out — opportunity gone.

The sixth inning was worse. Murakami walked again, Hays singled, then immediately got picked off thanks to a heads-up throw from Jorge Soler. Then, Montgomery hit a grounder that turned into a play at the plate, with Adam Frazier and Travis d’Arnaud combining to cut Murakami down. Will Venable challenged, hoping for a blocking-the-plate call. No luck. Call stands. Inning over.

By the seventh, it felt like the script was written. Walks from Jarred Kelenic and Antonacci went nowhere. Meidroth and Vargas couldn’t move them over. Another inning, another shrug.

Even in the eighth, facing a reliever with a 5.40 ERA, the Sox made Ryan Zeferjahn look like peak Mariano Rivera, striking out the side.

Down to their last outs in the ninth, it looked like more of the same, but the Good Guys had something left in the tank.

Tristan Peters wore a pitch. Kelenic struck out. Antonacci stepped in and ripped a triple down the right field line, scoring Peters and tying the game. Suddenly, life.

They couldn’t finish it there, of course. That would’ve been too easy. So, extras it was, where the Sox had already struggled this year, going 1-3 in bonus baseball.

But the bullpen gave them a chance. Bryan Hudson continued his quietly excellent season with a clean eighth. Tyler Davis helped erase trouble in the ninth, inducing a slick 6-4-3 double play. And Seranthony Domínguez stranded the ghost runner in the 10th without much drama.

That set the stage for the bottom of the 10th with Drew Pomeranz on the mound. The Angels, oddly, chose to load the bases the long way by intentionally walking Vargas, then unintentionally walking Murakami. A grounder from Hays cut down the runner at the plate. It seemed like another chance slipping away.

And up stepped Montgomery.

First pitch. No hesitation. Line drive to center. Ballgame.

First career walk-off for the “Monty Monster,” and honestly, it felt fitting. He’s been flashing power lately, and while this wasn’t a homer, it might’ve been louder.

White Sox starter Erick Fedde definitely did his part. He just didn’t get much help.

After retiring eight straight to open the game, he gave up a Mike Trout homer in the fourth to tie things, then another solo shot in the seventh to Vaughn Grissom that put the Angels ahead 2-1. That was it. The veteran’s final line: seven innings, five hits, two runs, no walks, six strikeouts. He deserved a win, but he still doesn’t have one. Maybe next time out.

Progress isn’t always pretty. Sometimes it looks like stranding runners all afternoon and still finding a way. They’ll take the sweep. They’ll take the momentum. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll take this version of themselves on the road to San Diego and see what sticks.

Mariners 5, Twins 3

Checking down to first on a check swing: Cole Young, +0.56 WPA

Not checking down to first on a check swing: Luke Raley, -0.18 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day: