Category: Sports News

If you ask starters Matthew Liberatore and Bryan Woo, Saturday’s Cardinals versus Mariners game did not go according to plan as both teams launched 8 home runs in total, but Seattle ended up with more runs on the scoreboard winning 11-9.

The Seattle Mariners struck first when Julio Rodriguez crushed a ball into Big Mac Land after Cal Raleigh singled giving the Mariners a 2-0 lead. That lead didn’t last long as JJ Wetherholt turned on the 2nd pitch he saw and hit a no-doubt home run into the right field stands for his first-ever leadoff homer.

The very next pitch would also become a souvenir, this time in the left field stands, as Ivan Herrera also went yard tying the game at 2-2.

The 2nd inning was equally exciting as Garver reached on an infield single for the Mariners and he scored when Will Wilson hit a 2-run shot making it 4-2 Seattle. That lead was cut in half in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Nathan Church turned a Bryan Woo pitch into an extra ball for the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen to play around with.

The Cardinals pulled even in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Jordan Walker lined a hard single to right field followed by Nolan Gorman doing the same. Walker would score on a bloop single by Masyn Winn that likely should have been a double as the ball landed just barely fair and then bounced up against the netting and then falling back into the field of play. Winn thought it was a ground rule double but the ground rules said it was a live ball. Fortunately Nolan Gorman did advance to third on the play and then he scored on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Church giving the Cardinals the lead 5-4. Winn would score on a 2-run home run by Pedro Pagés who yanked a ball just to the right of the left field foul pole making it 7-4 St. Louis.

Batting practice would continue into the 4th inning when Cole Young (you guessed it) hit a home run to draw the Mariners closer at 7-5 which inspired manager Oli Marmol to bring in Gordon Graceffo with just one out in the 4th inning. Matthew Liberatore’s line for the day was a mere 3 1/3 innings giving up 8 hits including 3 that left the yard and 5 earned runs. Graceffo was able to shut down Seattle by getting Cal Raleigh to hit into a double play. Woo was pulled after just three innings giving up 9 hits and 7 earned runs. He was replaced by Ferrer who started the Cardinals part of the 4th inning allowing a hit to JJ Wetherholt and then hit Ivan Herrera with a pitch, but Burleson, Walker and Gorman were unable to add to the Cardinals lead.

Seattle would reduce the St. Louis lead to just one in the top of the 5th inning when Rodriquez reached on a bloop single. He stole second and was then moved over to third on a ground out to the right side by Naylor. Randy Arozarena brought him in on a sacrifice fly to center making it 7-6 Cardinals. The Mariners would nearly tie the game with one out in the top of the 6th inning when Garver would hit a ball off of reliever George Soriano that would have cleared the left field wall if not for the heroic effort of Nathan Church who made an amazing grab. Young would hit a double high off the center field wall over Victor Scott II and he would score on a single by Wilson tying the game 7-7.

Nathan Church would untie the game in the bottom of the 7th inning when he slammed his second home run of the game after Masyn Winn singled to left giving the Cardinals a 9-7 lead.

Pedro Pagés would leave the game with possible hamstring trouble after beating out an infield single after Church’s home run.

JoJo Romero got into all kinds of trouble in the 8th inning giving up singles to Young and Garver. Rivas laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to third to move both of them over. Marmol then brought in Riley O’Brien to try and slam the door on the Mariners, but instead the door flung wide open when Connor Joe singled them both in tying the game 9-9. O’Brien would also give up a single to Julio Rodriguez making it first and third for the Mariners, but he would get Naylor to fly out to deep right to end the top of the 8th.

The bottom of the 8th inning was a strange one for Jordan Walker. After getting hit on the top of the hand by a pitch that looked painful, he was called out trying to steal 2nd base when he somehow failed to slide, but instead awkwardly stumbled over the base. The Cardinals appealed the call, but Walker did appear to get tagged during his epic non-slide maneuver.

The game would go off-the-rails for the Cardinals in the top of the 9th inning when the Mariners would load the bases on a bunt single by Crawford, a walk to Garver and a hit-by-pitch for Young. Rivas untied the game by singling off of Riley O’Brien giving Seattle an 11-9 lead. Matt Svanson was brought in to keep the Mariners from adding to their lead. He retired Connor Joe on a lineout to right center, but then walked Raleigh to load the bases again, but he was able to strikeout Rodriguez to close out the top of the 9th inning with no further damage done.

Seattle brought in their closer Andrés Muñoz to finish off the Cardinals in the bottom of the 9th. After walking Nolan Gorman, he struck out Masyn Winn and got a double-play getting Nathan Church to ground out as Nolan Gorman was tagged out to end the game.

The St. Louis Cardinals will try to salvage a game in the short homestand series versus the Mariners on Sunday as Michael McGreevy gets the start for St. Louis while Emerson Hancock will pitch for Seattle. First pitch scheduled for 1:15pm Sunday at Busch Stadium.

Redefining the concept of “home game” here a bit. Not the first time the D-backs have been screwed over by the schedule makers. If I remember correctly, when we played the Dodgers in Sydney to kick off the 2014 campaign, those were also considered to be “home games” for Arizona. Admittedly, it probably won’t make any difference in the final reckoning, any more than it did then. In 2014, the D-backs ended the year 64-98, thirty games back of the Dodgers. So the head-to-head record was unimportant. But it’s still slightly galling that these aren’t pulled equally from the two sides making the trip.

It isn’t the first time the D-backs have been scheduled to face the Padres in Mexico. They were originally planned to meet up in April 2020, but that got canceled for obvious reasons. Arizona have also played a number of spring training games down there, though it has been a while. The most recent was more than seven years ago, when they faced the Rockies for a couple of games in Monterrey on March 9-10, 2019. The Diamondbacks lost the first 3-1, but won the second 5-2. Four D-backs remain from the squads who took the field there. Ketel Marte and Ildemaro Vargas on the position player side, while Taylor Clarke and Kevin Ginkel pitched in those contests.

I suspect it’s going to be an offensively-driven series. Four teams have played two-game series in the Alfredo Harp Helú stadium, and only the Rockies scored less than fifteen runs in their contests. The last time the Padres were there, in 2023, they scored twenty-two runs, including a 16-11 slugfest victory over the Giants. All told, there have also been twenty-two home-runs over the four games. So, keeping the ball in the park – and, ideally, on the ground – is going to be important. Interesting the team is going with Ryne Nelson on Sunday, who has been the most fly-ball prone pitcher in our rotation. Let’s hope that doesn’t come back to bite them.

Ryan Weathers is back from the paternity list and will be rejoining the rotation ahead of his start tonight in Houston against the Astros. The corresponding move was to place right-hander Angel Chivilli on the injured list with right shoulder discomfort, retroactive to April 23rd.

Asked to fulfill a bigger role early in the season with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón both recovering from long-term injuries, Weathers has been terrific in his five starts with the Yankees. The coaching staff has—thus far—helped unlock a new level in the left-hander with a 3.18 ERA and, more importantly, an outstanding 31-percent strikeout rate. He and his wife, Thayer, recently welcomed a baby boy named Paul David Weathers into the world — his middle name coming from his grandfather, the 1996 Yankees World Series champion.

Chivilli heads to the IL, having made just a couple of appearances with the big-league club after coming over from the Rockies in the offseason and beginning 2026 in Triple-A. He hadn’t pitched since coveirng 1.2 scoreless frames against the Royals on April 19th. Fellow reliever Jake Bird was recalled when Weathers was put on leave, so he had been widely expected to return to Triple-A upon Weathers’ activation, but the Chivilli injury obviously changed the status quo.

As important as who the Yankees put on the injured list is who they didn’t: Giancarlo Stanton. The right-handed hitter was removed from the Friday game due to calf tightness, and the initial report was that they were treating it day-to-day. Properly scarred from the plethora of issues Stanton has had to deal with throughout his career, fans can at least reserve some optimism that he wasn’t the one placed on the IL here — yet. He is understandably not in Saturday night’s lineup though, with Amed Rosario filling in at DH.

Stanton and manager Aaron Boone weighed in on the situation, saying that they were still in “wait and see” mode before making any kind of IL decision.

Well, things didn’t go very well for the Brewers yesterday against Paul Skenes. The reigning NL Cy Young struck out seven Brewers, didn’t walk any, and allowed just one single in seven dominant innings of work. Milwaukee couldn’t muster a hit against either of Skenes’ relievers, either, and they were shut out, 6-0, and managed just two batters over the minimum.

Today, they’ll look to turn their fortunes around with what should be a game with a lower degree of difficulty. But Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller isn’t a slouch, either; in five starts this season that span 29 innings, he holds a 2.79 ERA and 3.30 FIP. That FIP, though, is buoyed by the fact that he’s allowed just one homer in those 29 innings; his walks are up slightly from the past few seasons (2.8 per nine innings) and his strikeouts are down significantly (5.9, down from a peak of 9.7 when he was an all-star in 2023). For what it’s worth, Keller didn’t have a whole lot of success against Milwaukee in 2025: in three starts, he had a 4.96 ERA and 1.347 WHIP and went 0-2.

Milwaukee’s counter to Keller is Jacob Misiorowski, one of the more exciting Brewers stories of the young season. Miz hasn’t quite put it all together yet but you can feel him getting close: in five starts, Misiorowski is just 1-2 but holds a 3.04 ERA and he leads the majors with 14.2 strikeouts per nine innings. With three strikeouts tonight, Miz will move back into the major-league lead.

Tyler Black, just up from a short stint with Triple-A Nashville after coming off the injured list, will bat cleanup again today after going 0-for-3 against Skenes yesterday (like everyone else, pretty much). Greg Jones gets the start in left field in place of Brandon Lockridge, and the rest of the lineup is packed with lefties against the right-handed Keller. Only William Contreras and Joey Ortiz are in there from the right side of the plate, everyone else is left-handed.

First pitch tonight is at 6:10 p.m. on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.

Zack Wheeler is back, but can he bring the mojo back to the team as they look to avoid an 11th loss in a row? Time will tell! Will anyone be watching this game with the Flyers Game 4 starting at 8:00pm? Time will tell!

Lineups:

Braves:

San Diego Padres (17-8) at Arizona Diamondbacks (14-11), April 25, 2026, 03:05 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu – Mexico City, Mexico

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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