TORONTO –– Miguel Rojas was a late scratch from the Dodgers’ lineup Tuesday night to “tend to a family matter,” the team announced.

Manager Dave Roberts said postgame he was unsure how long Rojas would be out for the club.

Rojas had been scheduled to play shortstop and bat eighth in the second game of the club’s three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Instead, Hyeseong Kim replaced him in the lineup.

Roberts said Rojas was still in Toronto as of Tuesday night, but was unsure about his next steps.

“It’s a family situation that obviously was enough to not have him play in the game,” Roberts said. “Certainly it’s his story to tell. I’m not sure if he’s going to stick around or get on a plane. We’ll see if he shows up tomorrow and I’ll get word.”

Miguel Rojas was scratched from the lineup to tend to a family matter.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 7, 2026

Rojas had been in line for increased playing time this week, in the wake of Mookie Betts’ oblique strain that landed him on the injured list over the weekend. The 37-year-old veteran –– who saved the Dodgers season with his game-tying, ninth-inning home run in Game 7 of last year’s World Series against the Blue Jays –– was batting .263 with an RBI to begin this year.

Rojas was seen on the field pregame Tuesday, going through defensive drills and taking batting practice.

However, his scratch was announced less than 30 minutes before first pitch, leaving the Dodgers playing a man short in their eventual 4-1 win.

Roberts said they will play short again in Wednesday’s series finale, rather than rushing someone else up from the minor leagues for the final game of their road trip. The team is off on Thursday, and will wait and see where Rojas is at before making a decision ahead of Friday’s series-opener against the Texas Rangers back in Los Angeles.

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TORONTO –– Miguel Rojas was a late scratch from the Dodgers’ lineup Tuesday night to “tend to a family matter,” the team announced.

Manager Dave Roberts said postgame he was unsure how long Rojas would be out for the club.

Rojas had been scheduled to play shortstop and bat eighth in the second game of the club’s three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Instead, Hyeseong Kim replaced him in the lineup.

Roberts said Rojas was still in Toronto as of Tuesday night, but was unsure about his next steps.

“It’s a family situation that obviously was enough to not have him play in the game,” Roberts said. “Certainly it’s his story to tell. I’m not sure if he’s going to stick around or get on a plane. We’ll see if he shows up tomorrow and I’ll get word.”

Miguel Rojas was scratched from the lineup to tend to a family matter.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 7, 2026

Rojas had been in line for increased playing time this week, in the wake of Mookie Betts’ oblique strain that landed him on the injured list over the weekend. The 37-year-old veteran –– who saved the Dodgers season with his game-tying, ninth-inning home run in Game 7 of last year’s World Series against the Blue Jays –– was batting .263 with an RBI to begin this year.

Rojas was seen on the field pregame Tuesday, going through defensive drills and taking batting practice.

However, his scratch was announced less than 30 minutes before first pitch, leaving the Dodgers playing a man short in their eventual 4-1 win.

Roberts said they will play short again in Wednesday’s series finale, rather than rushing someone else up from the minor leagues for the final game of their road trip. The team is off on Thursday, and will wait and see where Rojas is at before making a decision ahead of Friday’s series-opener against the Texas Rangers back in Los Angeles.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

For the time being, Yankees fans will be stuck with having to get an actual fried chicken at Yankee Stadium. 

The viral  Mini Dessert “Chicken” Bucket — ice cream shaped like a fried chicken drumstick with a chocolate-covered pretzel bone and candied cornflakes and white chocolate — has sold out, The Athletic reported. 

The dessert item was a smash hit on social media after the Yanks previewed their new food offerings for home games this season, and received universal praise from the media and influencers who were invited to Yankee Stadium ahead of the home opener. 

“Given how well-received the item was on media day, interest from fans was tremendous, and we sold out of the item by the first inning of Saturday’s game,” Yankees senior director of communications Michael Margolis told The Athletic in an email. 

The Yankees are selling the treat, which also comes with a mini bucket, for $10.99. 

When the Yankees began their six-game homestand in The Bronx, they thought they had enough of the mini dessert chicken bucket, but by Saturday, they had run out. 

The Bronx Bombers said the club would let everyone know when they were back in stock. 

View this post on Instagram

Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay reviewed the treat on his Instagram account, where he rates chicken tenders at the ballparks he visits while calling games. 

“Look at it, it looks like chicken. It’s amazing!” Kay said in his review before taking a bite. “Really good” 

“It can’t be better,” Kay added after giving it a 10 rating. “That’s why it’s sold out.”

The Yankees hosted the Marlins during the first set of games at Yankee Stadium in 2026 and opened a three-game set with the A’s on Tuesday night. 

They play a three-game road trip in Tampa before returning to Yankee Stadium next week.

For the time being, Yankees fans will be stuck with having to get an actual fried chicken at Yankee Stadium. 

The viral  Mini Dessert “Chicken” Bucket — ice cream shaped like a fried chicken drumstick with a chocolate-covered pretzel bone and candied cornflakes and white chocolate — has sold out, The Athletic reported. 

The dessert item was a smash hit on social media after the Yanks previewed their new food offerings for home games this season, and received universal praise from the media and influencers who were invited to Yankee Stadium ahead of the home opener. 

“Given how well-received the item was on media day, interest from fans was tremendous, and we sold out of the item by the first inning of Saturday’s game,” Yankees senior director of communications Michael Margolis told The Athletic in an email. 

The Yankees are selling the treat, which also comes with a mini bucket, for $10.99. 

When the Yankees began their six-game homestand in The Bronx, they thought they had enough of the mini dessert chicken bucket, but by Saturday, they had run out. 

The Bronx Bombers said the club would let everyone know when they were back in stock. 

View this post on Instagram

Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay reviewed the treat on his Instagram account, where he rates chicken tenders at the ballparks he visits while calling games. 

“Look at it, it looks like chicken. It’s amazing!” Kay said in his review before taking a bite. “Really good” 

“It can’t be better,” Kay added after giving it a 10 rating. “That’s why it’s sold out.”

The Yankees hosted the Marlins during the first set of games at Yankee Stadium in 2026 and opened a three-game set with the A’s on Tuesday night. 

They play a three-game road trip in Tampa before returning to Yankee Stadium next week.

For the time being, Yankees fans will be stuck with having to get an actual fried chicken at Yankee Stadium. 

The viral  Mini Dessert “Chicken” Bucket — ice cream shaped like a fried chicken drumstick with a chocolate-covered pretzel bone and candied cornflakes and white chocolate — has sold out, The Athletic reported. 

The dessert item was a smash hit on social media after the Yanks previewed their new food offerings for home games this season, and received universal praise from the media and influencers who were invited to Yankee Stadium ahead of the home opener. 

“Given how well-received the item was on media day, interest from fans was tremendous, and we sold out of the item by the first inning of Saturday’s game,” Yankees senior director of communications Michael Margolis told The Athletic in an email. 

The Yankees are selling the treat, which also comes with a mini bucket, for $10.99. 

When the Yankees began their six-game homestand in The Bronx, they thought they had enough of the mini dessert chicken bucket, but by Saturday, they had run out. 

The Bronx Bombers said the club would let everyone know when they were back in stock. 

View this post on Instagram

Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay reviewed the treat on his Instagram account, where he rates chicken tenders at the ballparks he visits while calling games. 

“Look at it, it looks like chicken. It’s amazing!” Kay said in his review before taking a bite. “Really good” 

“It can’t be better,” Kay added after giving it a 10 rating. “That’s why it’s sold out.”

The Yankees hosted the Marlins during the first set of games at Yankee Stadium in 2026 and opened a three-game set with the A’s on Tuesday night. 

They play a three-game road trip in Tampa before returning to Yankee Stadium next week.

Ronny Mauricio ripped a single to right field to score Francisco Lindor in the bottom of the 10th to give the Mets a 4-3 walk-off win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field. 

Mauricio, in his first at-bat of the season after being added to the roster with Juan Soto on the IL, fell behind 0-2 on two high fastballs from ex-Met Paul Sewald, before ripping a third that was right in the heart of the plate, 107.1 mph off the bat. He improved to 5-for-9 as a pinch-hitter with the first walk-off hit of his career. 

On a cold and blustery afternoon, New York won its fourth straight game, improving to 3-1 in Queens and 7-4 overall. Arizona fell to 5-6 on the year and is now winless in four games away from home.

Here are the takeaways...

- Freddy Peralta allowed a leadoff single to Ketel Marte, after getting squeezed on a 2-2 pitch at the knees, and a two-out walk, but got through with no damage on 22 pitches in the first. He was in a spot of bother with one out in the second after a Lindor error and a walk put two men aboard. But the righty got out of things thanks to a curious Jorge Barrosa sac bunt and Marte going down swinging on the changeup. After an 11-pitch, 1-2-3 third, Peralta got around a two-out bunt single for a 20-pitch fourth.

Peralta, who pitched in numerous deep counts, got back-to-back strikeouts to start the fifth before allowing a third single of the game to send pitching coach JustinWillard out for a visit. After issuing a walk on a 3-2 count, Peralta lobbied to get one more batter. He couldn't make it count as he lost control of a 1-2 curveball and plunked Gabriel Moreno to load the bases to end his afternoon.

Huascar Brazobán thought he got Adrian Del Castillo looking at a 1-2 changeup to end the threat, but an ABS challenge said otherwise. The very next pitch floated over the plate and was lined into right for a two-run single. Nolan Arenado followed with a broken-bat bloop double into center to plate another run before Brazobán finally ended the inning with the visitors ahead 3-2.

That closed the book on Peralta: 4.2 innings, three runs, three hits, three walks, one hit batter, and five strikeouts on 101 pitches (62 strikes).

- The Mets had the chance for a big inning in the first as Lindor and Bo Bichette singled through the right side of the infield and Jorge Polanco notched an infield hit to load the bases against Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen. But after Luis Robert Jr. went down swinging, Brett Baty’s sac fly to center was all the Mets could muster. Gallen settled in and got through five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

- Lindor doubled the Mets’ lead with two down in the second when he got help from the wind on a drive to right that fooled Corbin Carroll for a double over his head. Francisco Alvarez, who walked with two outs, managed to score from first on a poor relay throw from the right fielder. 

Lindor, who was hitless in his last 10 at-bats entering the game, got a chance with two on and two down in the fourth, but popped out in foul ground on the first pitch from Gallen as he’s still looking for his first RBI of the year and finished 2-for-5 with a strikeout swinging.

- With the Mets down a run and one out in the eighth, Jared Young entered as a pinch-hitter with runners on the corners and got the job done with a sac fly to right.

- Polanco cracked a single to start the home half of the eighth inning and was lifted for pinch-runner Tyrone Taylor, sporting the No. 28 for the first time. Polanco finished 2-for-4 with a strikeout swinging.

- After his RBI sac fly, Baty bounced into a 3-6 double play to end the third and struck out looking at three straight after getting ahead 3-0 to end the fifth, before grounding a single up the middle to cover the corners with one out in the eighth.

- Robert, after striking out swinging in the first, had a patient day, walking the next two times he was up, but went down looking in the eighth, looking at three straight after getting ahead 3-0. He finished 0-for-2.

- Alvarez, after a 4-for-11 series in San Fran, hustled out a broken-bat two-out single in the fourth and finished 1-for-3 with a walk. 

- Carson Benge, who entered hitless in his last 18 at-bats, worked a two-out walk in the fourth, and after a pair of ground outs, drove a ball to the warning track to start the ninth, but it went for an out as Barrosa made a sliding catch in right-center, 387-feet from the plate. He finished 0-for-3. 

- Bichette finished the day 1-for-5 with a strikeout swinging.

- Mark Vientos went 0-for-3 with a strikeout looking before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth. 

- Marcus Semien went hitless in four at-bats.

Game MVP: Final four arms out of Mets' bullpen

- Luis Garcia, after an eight-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth, got past a two-out double for a 15-pitch, scoreless seventh. The right-hander stayed in the game after taking a hard shot off his left forearm on a liner, 94.3 mph off Geraldo Perdomo's bat, when getting the second out.

Brooks Raley got the eighth and worked around a leadoff single from Arenado with two strikeouts. Devin Williams kept the score tied in the ninth despite allowing a pair of singles as he tallied two more strikeouts.

Luke Weaver, pitching with the free runner at second, fell behind 3-0 with two outs, but blew three straight fastballs past Tim Tawa for a 1-2-3 10th.

Combined: 5.0 scoreless innings, surrendering just four hits and no walks wth five strikeouts.

Highlights

What's next

The two teams are back in action tomorrow afternoon with a 4:10 p.m. first pitch. 

David Peterson (4.66 ERA in 9.2 innings) gets the ball against right-hander Ryne Nelson (5.79 ERA in 9.1 innings).

Ronny Mauricio ripped a single to right field to score Francisco Lindor in the bottom of the 10th to give the Mets a 4-3 walk-off win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field. 

Mauricio, in his first at-bat of the season after being added to the roster with Juan Soto on the IL, fell behind 0-2 on two high fastballs from ex-Met Paul Sewald, before ripping a third that was right in the heart of the plate, 107.1 mph off the bat. He improved to 5-for-9 as a pinch-hitter with the first walk-off hit of his career. 

On a cold and blustery afternoon, New York won its fourth straight game, improving to 3-1 in Queens and 7-4 overall. Arizona fell to 5-6 on the year and is now winless in four games away from home.

Here are the takeaways...

- Freddy Peralta allowed a leadoff single to Ketel Marte, after getting squeezed on a 2-2 pitch at the knees, and a two-out walk, but got through with no damage on 22 pitches in the first. He was in a spot of bother with one out in the second after a Lindor error and a walk put two men aboard. But the righty got out of things thanks to a curious Jorge Barrosa sac bunt and Marte going down swinging on the changeup. After an 11-pitch, 1-2-3 third, Peralta got around a two-out bunt single for a 20-pitch fourth.

Peralta, who pitched in numerous deep counts, got back-to-back strikeouts to start the fifth before allowing a third single of the game to send pitching coach JustinWillard out for a visit. After issuing a walk on a 3-2 count, Peralta lobbied to get one more batter. He couldn't make it count as he lost control of a 1-2 curveball and plunked Gabriel Moreno to load the bases to end his afternoon.

Huascar Brazobán thought he got Adrian Del Castillo looking at a 1-2 changeup to end the threat, but an ABS challenge said otherwise. The very next pitch floated over the plate and was lined into right for a two-run single. Nolan Arenado followed with a broken-bat bloop double into center to plate another run before Brazobán finally ended the inning with the visitors ahead 3-2.

That closed the book on Peralta: 4.2 innings, three runs, three hits, three walks, one hit batter, and five strikeouts on 101 pitches (62 strikes).

- The Mets had the chance for a big inning in the first as Lindor and Bo Bichette singled through the right side of the infield and Jorge Polanco notched an infield hit to load the bases against Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen. But after Luis Robert Jr. went down swinging, Brett Baty’s sac fly to center was all the Mets could muster. Gallen settled in and got through five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

- Lindor doubled the Mets’ lead with two down in the second when he got help from the wind on a drive to right that fooled Corbin Carroll for a double over his head. Francisco Alvarez, who walked with two outs, managed to score from first on a poor relay throw from the right fielder. 

Lindor, who was hitless in his last 10 at-bats entering the game, got a chance with two on and two down in the fourth, but popped out in foul ground on the first pitch from Gallen as he’s still looking for his first RBI of the year and finished 2-for-5 with a strikeout swinging.

- With the Mets down a run and one out in the eighth, Jared Young entered as a pinch-hitter with runners on the corners and got the job done with a sac fly to right.

- Polanco cracked a single to start the home half of the eighth inning and was lifted for pinch-runner Tyrone Taylor, sporting the No. 28 for the first time. Polanco finished 2-for-4 with a strikeout swinging.

- After his RBI sac fly, Baty bounced into a 3-6 double play to end the third and struck out looking at three straight after getting ahead 3-0 to end the fifth, before grounding a single up the middle to cover the corners with one out in the eighth.

- Robert, after striking out swinging in the first, had a patient day, walking the next two times he was up, but went down looking in the eighth, looking at three straight after getting ahead 3-0. He finished 0-for-2.

- Alvarez, after a 4-for-11 series in San Fran, hustled out a broken-bat two-out single in the fourth and finished 1-for-3 with a walk. 

- Carson Benge, who entered hitless in his last 18 at-bats, worked a two-out walk in the fourth, and after a pair of ground outs, drove a ball to the warning track to start the ninth, but it went for an out as Barrosa made a sliding catch in right-center, 387-feet from the plate. He finished 0-for-3. 

- Bichette finished the day 1-for-5 with a strikeout swinging.

- Mark Vientos went 0-for-3 with a strikeout looking before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth. 

- Marcus Semien went hitless in four at-bats.

Game MVP: Final four arms out of Mets' bullpen

- Luis Garcia, after an eight-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth, got past a two-out double for a 15-pitch, scoreless seventh. The right-hander stayed in the game after taking a hard shot off his left forearm on a liner, 94.3 mph off Geraldo Perdomo's bat, when getting the second out.

Brooks Raley got the eighth and worked around a leadoff single from Arenado with two strikeouts. Devin Williams kept the score tied in the ninth despite allowing a pair of singles as he tallied two more strikeouts.

Luke Weaver, pitching with the free runner at second, fell behind 3-0 with two outs, but blew three straight fastballs past Tim Tawa for a 1-2-3 10th.

Combined: 5.0 scoreless innings, surrendering just four hits and no walks wth five strikeouts.

Highlights

What's next

The two teams are back in action tomorrow afternoon with a 4:10 p.m. first pitch. 

David Peterson (4.66 ERA in 9.2 innings) gets the ball against right-hander Ryne Nelson (5.79 ERA in 9.1 innings).

Ronny Mauricio ripped a single to right field to score Francisco Lindor in the bottom of the 10th to give the Mets a 4-3 walk-off win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field. 

Mauricio, in his first at-bat of the season after being added to the roster with Juan Soto on the IL, fell behind 0-2 on two high fastballs from ex-Met Paul Sewald, before ripping a third that was right in the heart of the plate, 107.1 mph off the bat. He improved to 5-for-9 as a pinch-hitter with the first walk-off hit of his career. 

On a cold and blustery afternoon, New York won its fourth straight game, improving to 3-1 in Queens and 7-4 overall. Arizona fell to 5-6 on the year and is now winless in four games away from home.

Here are the takeaways...

- Freddy Peralta allowed a leadoff single to Ketel Marte, after getting squeezed on a 2-2 pitch at the knees, and a two-out walk, but got through with no damage on 22 pitches in the first. He was in a spot of bother with one out in the second after a Lindor error and a walk put two men aboard. But the righty got out of things thanks to a curious Jorge Barrosa sac bunt and Marte going down swinging on the changeup. After an 11-pitch, 1-2-3 third, Peralta got around a two-out bunt single for a 20-pitch fourth.

Peralta, who pitched in numerous deep counts, got back-to-back strikeouts to start the fifth before allowing a third single of the game to send pitching coach JustinWillard out for a visit. After issuing a walk on a 3-2 count, Peralta lobbied to get one more batter. He couldn't make it count as he lost control of a 1-2 curveball and plunked Gabriel Moreno to load the bases to end his afternoon.

Huascar Brazobán thought he got Adrian Del Castillo looking at a 1-2 changeup to end the threat, but an ABS challenge said otherwise. The very next pitch floated over the plate and was lined into right for a two-run single. Nolan Arenado followed with a broken-bat bloop double into center to plate another run before Brazobán finally ended the inning with the visitors ahead 3-2.

That closed the book on Peralta: 4.2 innings, three runs, three hits, three walks, one hit batter, and five strikeouts on 101 pitches (62 strikes).

- The Mets had the chance for a big inning in the first as Lindor and Bo Bichette singled through the right side of the infield and Jorge Polanco notched an infield hit to load the bases against Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen. But after Luis Robert Jr. went down swinging, Brett Baty’s sac fly to center was all the Mets could muster. Gallen settled in and got through five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

- Lindor doubled the Mets’ lead with two down in the second when he got help from the wind on a drive to right that fooled Corbin Carroll for a double over his head. Francisco Alvarez, who walked with two outs, managed to score from first on a poor relay throw from the right fielder. 

Lindor, who was hitless in his last 10 at-bats entering the game, got a chance with two on and two down in the fourth, but popped out in foul ground on the first pitch from Gallen as he’s still looking for his first RBI of the year and finished 2-for-5 with a strikeout swinging.

- With the Mets down a run and one out in the eighth, Jared Young entered as a pinch-hitter with runners on the corners and got the job done with a sac fly to right.

- Polanco cracked a single to start the home half of the eighth inning and was lifted for pinch-runner Tyrone Taylor, sporting the No. 28 for the first time. Polanco finished 2-for-4 with a strikeout swinging.

- After his RBI sac fly, Baty bounced into a 3-6 double play to end the third and struck out looking at three straight after getting ahead 3-0 to end the fifth, before grounding a single up the middle to cover the corners with one out in the eighth.

- Robert, after striking out swinging in the first, had a patient day, walking the next two times he was up, but went down looking in the eighth, looking at three straight after getting ahead 3-0. He finished 0-for-2.

- Alvarez, after a 4-for-11 series in San Fran, hustled out a broken-bat two-out single in the fourth and finished 1-for-3 with a walk. 

- Carson Benge, who entered hitless in his last 18 at-bats, worked a two-out walk in the fourth, and after a pair of ground outs, drove a ball to the warning track to start the ninth, but it went for an out as Barrosa made a sliding catch in right-center, 387-feet from the plate. He finished 0-for-3. 

- Bichette finished the day 1-for-5 with a strikeout swinging.

- Mark Vientos went 0-for-3 with a strikeout looking before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth. 

- Marcus Semien went hitless in four at-bats.

Game MVP: Final four arms out of Mets' bullpen

- Luis Garcia, after an eight-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth, got past a two-out double for a 15-pitch, scoreless seventh. The right-hander stayed in the game after taking a hard shot off his left forearm on a liner, 94.3 mph off Geraldo Perdomo's bat, when getting the second out.

Brooks Raley got the eighth and worked around a leadoff single from Arenado with two strikeouts. Devin Williams kept the score tied in the ninth despite allowing a pair of singles as he tallied two more strikeouts.

Luke Weaver, pitching with the free runner at second, fell behind 3-0 with two outs, but blew three straight fastballs past Tim Tawa for a 1-2-3 10th.

Combined: 5.0 scoreless innings, surrendering just four hits and no walks wth five strikeouts.

Highlights

What's next

The two teams are back in action tomorrow afternoon with a 4:10 p.m. first pitch. 

David Peterson (4.66 ERA in 9.2 innings) gets the ball against right-hander Ryne Nelson (5.79 ERA in 9.1 innings).

Two in a row. Write it down somewhere. Frame it, even! The 2026 Orioles, playing a 3:10 afternoon matinee in the cold because apparently, temperate weather is too much to ask of Chicago even in late April, have won consecutive games for the first time this season. They did so courtesy of a 4-2 Tuesday afternoon win led by six strong innings from Trevor Rogers, three perfect innings from the bullpen, and a late rally kickstarted by new guys Blaze Alexander and Taylor Ward and capped off by Gunnar Henderson’s two-run bomb in the eighth.

It could have been easier—I certainly wish, against the lowly White Sox, that it had been. Entering the eighth, Baltimore was down 2-1, a frustrating lack of production given they’d already posted five hits and been walked seven times by what cannot exactly be a great Chicago pitching staff. Nonetheless, the eighth inning turned the tables. With one out, the new guys set to work. Blaze Alexander started the rally with a double to right. Taylor Ward followed him with a game-tying double into the right field corner, easily scoring the runner, who came home with blazing speed. (Sorry.) The White Sox changed relievers to challenge Gunnar with a lefty. Right decision, but bad result: Gunnar hammered a high sinker into the bleachers, and this was a 4-2 game.

Prior to that there wasn’t a ton of offense to report, although the hitters were not so much inept against Chicago’s Shane Smith (in the sense that many Orioles reached base) as inconsistent (in the sense that they didn’t score). Smith kept walking people—to wit, two in the first inning, two more in the second, plus a HBP of Blaze Alexander, and one in the fourth—but got enough strikeouts in key spots that he kept the O’s off the board. If I were Chicago’s manager, I’d say that five walks in 3.2 innings from my starting pitcher is not great, but Smith did allow zero runs and strike out eighth.

On that last, it feels like the Orioles’ team approach is partly to blame. When the starter is wild, it makes sense to take the walks. But it’s hard to deny, on a day the Birds struck out 13 times, that the approach is still frustratingly aggressive. In fact, every hitter in the starting lineup struck out at least once, except Alexander.

The one Orioles run prior to the eighth inning came thanks to yet another leadoff walk from Chicago. After Samuel Basallo took a free base, Tyler O’Neill was brought in to pinch-hit against lefty Sean Newcomb, and he delivered, with a well-timed single to advance Basallo to second. A groundout moved Basallo over, and Ryan Mountcastle plated the O’s first run with an RBI groundout off a big Newcomb curveball. Productive Outs for Orioles.

As for Orioles pitching, Trevor Rogers was very good today, which we’ve come to expect from our No. 1 starter, if not the rest of the rotation in April. The lefty went six innings, gave up two runs on six hits, struck out six, and walked none.

After a perfect two innings, he ran into some trouble in the third with two outs. With a runner on first, Rogers heaved a ball down the middle, and infielder Chase Meidroth served it into left field to put the White Sox up 1-0. A Lenyn Sosa single made it 2-0 immediately thereafter. This was a good piece of hitting where Sosa connected on a pitch maybe six inches off the dirt and golfed it into center field. I wouldn’t lay that one at Rogers’ feet. A popout ended the damage, and Rogers got through the fifth and sixth innings without great difficulty.

It wasn’t his prettiest start, given that Rogers needed 101 pitches to go six innings, but it’s a total luxury to have an ace who can pitch deep into games, especially given how unreliable the bullpen has been. Happily, that wasn’t the case today. Yennier Cano tossed a perfect seventh, including with one swinging strikeout. Grant Wolfram struck out two in the eight, but was lifted for Anthony Nunez after a HBP. Nunez threw a wild pitch, bringing up the faintest prospect of a blown inning, but with the count 3-2 against catcher Edgar Quero, he got a huge swinging strike three.

Closer Ryan Helsley then struck fear in our hearts with a leadoff walk in the ninth—apparently that’s just his thing now, as he’s walked a batter or more in his last three appearances. But that’s as nerve-inducing as things got: the O’s closer struck out Tristan Peters with 99 at the bottom of the zone, made slugger Munetaka Murakami swing through 100 at the corner, and got Derek Hill to fly out to the end the game. When Helsley is on, it’s simply beautiful stuff. Save No. 4, O’s win. Now everybody go party.

The Orioles are 5-6. This may not inspire visions of a ticker-tape parade come October, but they are, however improbably, sitting pretty in third in the AL East, just a game back of Tampa Bay at the time of this writing. It’s April, after all, and anything can still happen.

Who is your vote for Most Birdland Player today? Gunnar Henderson, who went 2-for-4 with the big bomb in the eighth? Blaze Alexander, who took one for the team, stole a base, started the rally in the eighth, and is hitting .320 in the nine spot? Your team ace, Trevor Rogers, who gave six good innings even on what was not his best day? Let us know in the comments.

Seattle Mariners @ Texas Rangers

Tuesday, April 7, 2026, 7:05 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / RSN, Victory+)

The Shed

RHP George Kirby vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi

Go Rangers!

The hero of last season’s World Series, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, returns to Rogers Centre to face the Blue Jays.

Tuesday Game Info

• Teams: Dodgers at Blue Jays
• Stadium: Rogers Centre, Toronto
• Time: 4:07 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA, TVA Sports & TBS
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)