Category: Sports News

Toledo Mud Hens 8, Omaha Storm Chasers 2 (box)

The Mud Hens bashed four home runs in support of Ty Madden and cruised to victory over the Storm Chasers on Wednesday.

Madden got himself into a jam with some walks in the top of the first, but escaped with just a run allowed. He went on to blank them through three more innings before turning it over to the bullpen.

The Mud Hens seized control in the bottom of the second against RHP Aaron Sanchez, who at 33 years old refuses to give up. Some may remember the excellent start to his major league career with the Blue Jays a decade ago. Corey Julks and Jace Jung, unlike Pepperridge Farms neither remember nor care, and they blasted back-to-back solo shots to lead off the inning.

In the third, Ben Malgeri cracked a solo shot to leadoff that inning. 3-1 Hens.

Tyler Mattison took over from Madden in the fifth. He was a little wild, and a Luke Ritter error contributed to a run scoring, but Mattison limited the damage. 3-2 Hens.

Finally in the fifth the Hens pulled away for keeps. Max Clark led off the inning by reaching on an error and Gage Workman ripped a single to right field. Julks stepped in and smoked a line drive to left for a two-run double that made it 5-2. That was the end of Sanchez’s outing.

Ethan Bosacker took over for Omaha and promptly walked Jung. A Tyler Gentry single loaded the bases and Tomas Nido walked to make it 8-2. Ritter lifted a sacrifice fly to score Jung for a 7-1 lead.

Malgeri would lead off the bottom of the eighth with his second solo shot of the day and his third homer of the season.

Scott Effross returned from rehab with a clean inning of relief. Ricky Vanasco, who I referred to as Ricky Nolasco like a maniac in an article yesterday, remained untouchable with a clean inning and a strikeout, maintaining his 0.00 ERA. Brenan Hanifee closed it out with no issues.

If it feels like Max Clark watch has been quiet, he looks fine and hasn’t been striking out. He just hasn’t been racking up the hits or doing much damage the past few games.

Julks: 3-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B, HR, K

Malgeri: 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR, 2 K

Jung: 1-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB, 2 K

Madden: 4.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start in Toledo on Thursday with the series tied at a game apiece.

Erie SeaWolves 8, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 1 (box)

Kenny Serwa threw his first good game of the season, and the offense took advantage of some wildness from the Ponies to win easily on Wednesday.

Serwa got himself into a bit of a jam in the bottom of the first, but the knuckleballer worked through it without surrendering a run. Then his teammates got to work in the top of the second.

Chris Meyers singled with one out, and Izaac Pacheco drew a walk. An Andrew Jenkins ground out advanced the runners but it didn’t matter as E.J. Exposito cranked a three-run shot, his third of the year, for an early lead. Singles from Brett Callahan, Justice Bigbie, and Meyers produced another run in the third. 4-0 SeaWolves.

Serwa leaked a run in the bottom of the fourth but he handled the fifth without issue and put together a really good outing overall.

A sacrifice fly from Callahan scored Seth Stephenson in the seventh, and in the eighth, a pair of walks to Bigbie and Meyers were cashed in by a Pacheco two-run double. A ground out got Pacheco to third where an Exposito fly out was deep enough to score him and make it 8-1.

Moises Rodriguez was strong in two scoreless innings of relief, while Tyler Owens struck out three across the eighth and ninth to wrap this one up.

Meyers: 3-3, 2 R, RBI, BB, CS

Exposito: 1-2, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR, BB, K

Pacheco: 1-2, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 BB, K

Serwa (W, 1-3): 5.0 IP, ER, 4 H, BB, 6 K

Coming Up Next: First pitch is set at 6:07 p.m. ET on Thursday as the SeaWolves hold a 2-0 lead in the best of six series.

West Michigan Whitecaps 7, Lake County Captains 1 (box)

Junior Tilien’s three-run shot early on was plenty as Hayden Minton and the Whitecaps’ pitching staff had the Captains well under control on Wednesday.

Minton got into some trouble in the second, but a potential RBI double that instead went for a ground rule double from the lead runner at third, and Minton escaped the inning unscathed.

In the bottom half, Nolan McCarthy walked, and Juan Hernandez singled with two outs. Tilien stepped in and blasted a drive to left to make it a 3-0 game.

Minton dug himself a deep hole in the top of the third and was lucky to escape with only one run allowed. He eventually gave way to RHP Duque Hebbert in the fourth, and Hebbert had no trouble getting them through the fifth with the score 3-1.

In the bottom of the third, Ricardo Hurtado and Garrett Pennington singled, and McCarthy eventually singled in Hurtado, though Pennington was cut down trying to score. 4-1 Whitecaps.

In the fifth, Pennington doubled with one out and Cristian Santana drove a deep drive to right field that was briefly misplayed into an RBI triple. 5-1 Whitecaps.

Zack Lee handled the sixth and seventh in relief without any issues. In the bottom of the seventh, Hurtado and Santana walked. With two outs, Clayton Campbell doubled both runners in to make it 7-1.

Logan Berrier tossed the final two frames with no trouble to lock this one up.

Pennington: 2-4, R, 2B, 2 K

Santana: 1-3, R, RBI, 3B, BB, K

Tilien: 1-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, K

Minton: 3.1 IP, ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Thursday with the series knotted at a game apiece.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Tampa Tarpons 0 (box)

Lefty Ben Jacobs was excellent yet again, and the Flying Tigers broke through for one big inning to win again on Wednesday, running their record to 12-5.

Jacobs looked really good despite recording only three strikeouts in five innings of work. The rookie attacked the zone relentlessly with a well commanded mix of fourseamers, sinkers, and sliders, recording nine whiffs on 35 swings. The fourseamer continues to display really nice riding action, and the Tarpons were only able to manage two hits, while Jacobs didn’t walk a batter.

The Flying Tigers had a few chances to score but didn’t manage to cash any of them in until the seventh inning. Anibal Salas led off that inning with a missile to center field for a triple. Jordan Yost took a called strike three, but Jesus Pinto walked and Thayron Liranzo, who did have two more hits in this one as the DH, was hit by a pitch. Jack Goodman singled in two runs, and then Beau Ankeney was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Carson Rucker struck out, and the Tarpons brought in Brian Arias in reilef of Jordarlin Mendoza, looking to escape the inning.

They would not escape, as Javier Osorio singled in two runs, Sergio Tapia singled in Ankeney, and then Osorio and Tapia pulled off a double steal and the Tarpons catcher threw the ball away, scoring Osorio to make it 6-0. Salas followed by drawing a walk, but Yost struck out swinging to end the inning.

Donye Evans and Luke Hoskins cleaned up the final 3 1/3 innings with no real trouble to put this one away.

Osorio: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, SB

Liranzo: 2-3, R, BB, K

Salas: 1-1, R, 3B, BB

Pinto: 1-3, R, 2 BB, K, SB

Yost: 0-4, 2 K

Jacobs: 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start on Thursday.

After falling into a rut in the middle of April, the Yankees starting rotation has righted the ship in its last turn. Since the start of the series against the Royals, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, Ryan Weathers, Luis Gil, and Max Fried all authored some of the best starts of their Yankees careers. After Fried’s gem against the Red Sox on Wednesday, their starting staff stood atop the MLB heap in both ERA and fWAR. However, it’s Gil’s start the evening before that we’re going to focus on for this week’s installation in Sequence of the Week.

Gil entered the series opener on Tuesday coming off a pair of mediocre performances against the Rays and Angels. He had given up seven runs in nine innings (7.00 ERA) including an unsightly four home runs. With the returns of Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón from their elbow surgery rehabs looming on the horizon, you felt that Gil’s days in the rotation, and indeed on the major league roster, were numbered.

We join Gil with two outs in the second, the Yankees out to an early 1-0 lead courtesy of a Giancarlo Stanton moonshot over the Green Monster. Marcelo Mayer stands on second following a two out double, so Gil has to lock in here to prevent the Red Sox from immediately answering.

Gil had been spraying his four-seamer wildly through the first seven batters he faced. This fact combined with the need for a damage-mitigating pitch is likely behind Austin Wells’ decision to call for a first pitch sinker here.

Really good execution of the sinker here from Gil. It’s just an inch or two off the corner low and away — a call that could have gone either way but is given as ball one. He may have missed the zone with the previous pitch, but it was executed the way he wanted so there is no reason to get scared off the sinker.

This time the sinker lands squarely in the zone for a called strike one. Durbin must be hunting something inside, because he’s not even interested in offering at this heater that catches a lot of the plate. Perhaps Gil and Wells pick up on this, because they go right back to the well looking to execute a third straight sinker to the outer half.

Some excellent framing from Wells earns a generous strike two call. I’m surprised Durbin doesn’t challenge this pitch given the situation — you can see he isn’t impressed with the call but hesitates after Boston burned one of their ABS challenges earlier.

After three straight sinkers away, Gil has the situation perfectly set up for a changeup below the zone hunting the inning-ending strikeout.

What a great pitch for the strikeout! Gil perfectly executes this changeup over the plate but below the zone to induce the chase and whiff. This pitch looks like a strike for so long before diving downward at the last moment. It’s not just Gil’s command of the pitch to that spot that is impressive but his ability to tunnel it with the sinker he threw right before.

Out of the hand and for about half of it’s path toward home, the changeup looks a lot like the sinker that immediately preceded it for a called strike. In Durbin’s mind, he cannot take this pitch out of fear that he will get punched out on exactly the same pitch that put him in the two-strike hole.

Here’s the full sequence:

Though still not close to his AL Rookie of the Year form in 2024, Gil demonstrated several encouraging signs in this start. I support the increased sinker usage. Gil dropped his arm slot last season to compensate for the lat injury he suffered preseason — this robs his four-seamer of its riding life and is better suited for throwing a sinker (plus he generally exhibits better command of sinker vs. four-seamer). I also loved a handful of the changeups he threw in this game. As Joe Girardi mentioned on the broadcast, the changeup seems to be Gil’s go-to pitch to reset his mechanics, allowing him to find the right release point when he starts getting wild with the fastball and slider.

That being said, Gil’s name is likely the first on the chopping block once Rodón returns in the coming weeks. His floor is just so much lower than the other starters who are candidates to be displaced from the rotation. The main issues for Gil are command and a limited repertoire. His walk rate of 12.3-percent is almost double the next-worst starter in the rotation. His ERA is a run higher than anyone else and his 7.32 FIP more than double the next-worst mark. His primary competition — Will Warren and Ryan Weathers — both possess deeper arsenals with at least five pitches each that they trust. Gil on the other hand rarely has all three of his pitches in fastball, slider, and changeup working for him when he starts, reducing him to a two-pitch and even sometimes a one-pitch pitcher. The wayward command particularly of his secondaries is a major driver of his plummeting strikeout rate — at 13.8-percent it’s less than half that of Warren and Weathers. All of this combines to result in Gil being the starter who inspires the least confidence when he takes the mound, and the Yankees have just too many good pitchers to justify keeping him in the rotation long term.

If you missed it, the Royals announced they will have a new stadium, and it’ll be at Crown Center.

Phase one of the $3 billion project will cover 85 acres and include a new $1.9 billion ballpark and surrounding ballpark district. The city will contribute $600 million in funding, with previous reporting indicating that will largely come from tax-increment financing, which uses revenues from the project to pay back bonds. Additional money will come from the state of Missouri, using tax credits, with $2 billion in private financing.

The event featured renderings, although Sherman acknowledged they are “conceptual,” adding “There’s a lot of work to do.”

Our Lady of Sorrows, the historic Kansas City church, will be remain next to the new stadium.

The century-old Catholic church, Our Lady of Sorrows, is poised to get a new neighbor: the Kansas City Royals.

Sunday worshippers going to Mass could soon be joined by baseball fans going to their sacred space when the Royals stadium opens in Crown Center.

Bishop James Johnston of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was in the audience as leaders of the Royals, Hallmark Cards, Kansas City and the state of Missouri announced plans Wednesday morning for a baseball stadium on the site of the current Hallmark headquarters in Crown Center. Construction is expected to start in 2027 on the $3 billion project.

Maikel Garcia left yesterday’s loss in the 6th inning with right elbow soreness.

Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia exited the Royals’ 8-6 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium in the sixth inning due to right elbow soreness. Garcia will undergo further evaluation in the next few days, although he was already looking forward to playing Friday after Thursday’s team off-day.

Garcia felt something during his second at-bat Wednesday when he popped up to second base but stayed in the game. By the sixth inning, though, it was Nick Loftin running out to third base rather than Garcia.

The Mets ended their 12-game losing streak, topping the Twins 3-2. Francisco Lindor left the game hurt though.

Oneil Cruz hit a laser beam homer off the top of the foul pole against the Rangers.

Shohei Ohtani lowered his ERA to 0.38, but his 53 game on base streak ended against San Francisco.

Mariners starter Logan Gilbert had one of the most improbable things happen to him yesterday

Angels starter José Soriano is off the greatest start in over 100 years, ERA wise.

The Braves are calling up JR Ritchie, their number 2 prospect to start today

The NFL Draft starts tonight.

Your song of the day is Get What You Give by New Radicals

After taking a brief respite from batting while pitching last week at home, two days after getting hit by a pitch in his right shoulder, Shohei Ohtani was back to double duty on Wednesday night against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.

He pitched six more scoreless innings to lead the National League with a 0.38 ERA in 24 innings, but was hitless in four at-bat to snap his on-base streak at 53 games, tied with Shawn Green for the longest in Los Angeles Dodgers history. Ohtani’s hitting stats through the first four weeks this season are down relative to his first two full seasons at the plate in Los Angeles, hitting .258/.382/.472 with a 131 wRC+, still well above average.

So far this season Ohtani has batted 111 times and faced 92 hitters while pitching. His 203 total plate appearances are his heaviest workload during a baseball month since 208 PA in July 2023 while with the Angels. His most total PA in a month was 268, in September 2022 (126 batting, 142 pitching).

Ohtani being a full-go as a pitcher from the start of this season, in addition to his batting, which has improved since joining the Dodgers relative to his Angels days, has Mike Petriello at MLB.com wondering what heights Ohtani might now achieve.

“There’s still one more thing we haven’t seen Ohtani do, and that’s to put it all together for a full season, to marry Peak Batting Ohtani and Peak Pitching Ohtani together, at the same time, for six months,” Petriello wrote.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell, whose contract with Chicago raised the bar for managers ahead of Dave Roberts signing his own extension with Los Angeles, criticized MLB’s two-way player rule on Monday. From ESPN:

“It’s a rule to help offense, I think, more than anything, if you ask me,” Counsell said. “And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and that he gets special consideration. Which is probably the most bizarre rule. … For one team.”

Two-way players — those with at least 20 major league innings and at least 20 starts as a position player or designated hitter (with at least three plate appearances in each game) in the current or either of the previous two seasons — do not count against the active roster limit of 13 pitchers. The rule was first agreed to by Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association in March 2019, before Ohtani’s second year with the Angels, for implementation beginning in 2020.

Ohtani has been the only player to qualify for two-way status thus far.

Roberts on Monday night in Denver was asked about Counsell’s comments and had, frankly, an appropriate response. From Max Ralph at MLB.com:

“The thing is it certainly benefits us because we have the player,” Roberts said. “But that’s something that, any team that had Ohtani would have that player. We’re more than willing for other teams to go out and find a player who can do both. He’s an exception because he’s an exceptional player. It is what it is.”

Dodgers host the Cubs this weekend at Dodger Stadium, beginning Friday night in Los Angeles.

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz had arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday to remove loose bodies in his right elbow, and is expected to miss around three months. You might remember his three-year, $69-million contract signed in December, which included a conditional $6.5 million club option for 2029 “if he has a specified injury through the end of the 2028 season and he does not end the season or postseason healthy, or if he has a specified surgery.”

J.P. Hoornstra for Dodgers on SI reported that Wednesday’s surgery was not the kind of procedure that would trigger the option.

With yesterday’s loss the Guardians dropped another series. Like the previously lost series, there were certainly some disappointing moments against the Astros. The team has been interesting in this first month, to say the least. There are some flaws with every part of this team, yet they still sit atop the AL Central half a game ahead of the Minnesota Twins and two games above .500. The team has an off day today before heading up north to face the Toronto Blue Jays.

The farm made some moves yesterday:

Kolby Allard (AAA), Matt Jachec (AA) and Cannon Peebles (Low A) all were moved to the 7-day for their teams.

Around the League

The New York Mets finally got a win, beating the Minnesota Twins 3-2, to snap their 12-game skid.

Josh Naylor walked it off for the Mariners against the A’s.

The San Diego Padres signed Lucas Giolito to a one-year deal.

Good morning, baseball fans!

The San Francisco Giants are in the midst of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers this week, with the final game being played later today.

These posts are pre-written, so I don’t get to be as timely as I might like. But I wanted to touch on a moment from Tuesday night’s game that I missed at the time, but read more about afterwards in Alex Simon’s reporting for SF Gate.

During Tuesday’s game, Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was thrown out at the plate, but appeared to get injured in an attempt to beat the throw with a slide.

The broadcast caught Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing appearing to say “F*** him” (Lee) as he left the field while Lee was dealing with his injury.

I get that it’s a rivalry game and things can get heated. And maybe there is context I’m missing that would cause such a reaction from Rushing. But that’s a cruddy thing to say in dismissal of someone who just got hurt. And it’s an even cruddier demonstration of sportsmanship, especially at the professional level.

One would think that a player for the reigning World Series Champions, who will likely be competitors for the throne once again this year, might represent themselves and their organization a little better than that. But one would clearly be wrong.

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants wrap up this series against the Dodgers this afternoon at 12:45 p.m. PT.