Category: Sports News

The Twins have won five of their last six series after bringing home a near-heartbreaker on Saturday afternoon, 4-2 over the Boston Red Sox.

It was another great early start for the Twins, who knocked around opener Jovani Moran with a two-run first, logging hits in each of their first three at-bats, and seeing RBIs from Austin Martin (his 8th double of the year) and Josh Bell (a sacrifice fly deep enough to make it 2-0.)

From there, the Twins handed the ball off to Taj Bradley, who was very solid in his ease back to in-game action. Pulled after five innings and 75 pitches, Bradley did not allow a hit until the fourth, when old friend Mickey Gasper singled his way aboard and came home on a Ceddanne Rafaela double. The most interesting portion of the play was not the run scored, however; it was the fact that Willson Contreras was on first when the double was hit. Contreras had uniquely factored his way into the game already, crowding the plate in response to a brushback in his first at-bat and sliding into Kody Clemens’ cleats on the infield single that put him aboard.

When Rafaela duobled home Gasper, it was Contreras attempting to score behind him that led to a minor benches-clearing incident — the throw had Contreras dead to rights, which he used as an opportunity to lightly shoulder-check Victor Caratini standing up at home plate. Caratini had one of the funnier reactions to such a play that I’ve ever seen, choosing to put his arm around Contreras in a fatherly sort of manner and walk him back towards his own dugout.

The Twins got two more home in the fifth, as the Red Sox immediately began booting the ball around (Contreras was karmically charged with a ground-ball error that loaded the bases.) Trevor Larnach scored with a brilliant slide on a sac fly that held up post-review, and Orlando Arcia singled off the pitcher to make it a 4-1 Twins lead.

From there, Kendrys Rojas turned in an outstanding day of work with a three-inning relief appearance, allowing just one hit and one walk against three strikeouts, in a rare noteworthy bullpen performance by an Arm Barn that has demonstrated a recent ability to at least lock in a little bit. But when Andrew Morris came in for the home ninth, the usual relief demons reared their head.

Contreras led off with a single, and Rafaela walked to brign the tying run immediately to the plate. After a flyout precluded a pinch-hit groundout by Masataka Yoshida, it looked like Morris might be able to finish his outing clean — but back-to-back walks in front of an energized Fenway crowd made it a 4-2 game and put the winning run as close as first base. Taylor Rogers’ grizzled veteran closer arm was summoned, and even though it took the Sox losing a full-count challenge, he was able to strike out Jarren Duran to lock down the win.

So, it’s another series victory for the Twins, and another such win against the Boston Red Sox. Now 25-27, the Twins are one good week away from making themselves interesting again. They’ll go for a road sweep at Fenway tomorrow afternoon — see you there!

STUDS:

SP Taj Bradley (5 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 7 K)

RP Kendrys Rojas (3 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 3 K)

LF Trevor Larnach (4-for-5, 2 R)

RF Austin Martin (2-for-5, R, RBI, 2B)

2B Orlando Arcia (2-for-4, RBI)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

The New York Mets’ struggles against the Miami Marlins continued Saturday afternoon in a 4-1 loss, as the Mets couldn’t get anything going against Miami’s starting pitcher Max Meyer.

Meyer pitched seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and gave up just one hit as the Mets failed to get a runner into scoring position against the right-hander. Meyer is in the midst of a breakout year, recording his fourth scoreless outing of the season, and New York is 2-8 in their last 10 games against Miami.

The Mets’ lone run came with two outs in the ninth inning when Tyrone Taylor hit a pinch-hit double, followed by an RBI single from Mark Vientos. Taylor’s double represented the first runner in scoring position for the Mets since the ninth inning of Thursday’s 2-1 win against the Nationals.

The Mets had Freddy Peralta on the bump to start the game, but he was unable to match Meyer’s dominance despite getting an extra day of rest entering the game. Peralta gave up two solo home runs to Marlins cleanup hitter Liam Hicks, while completing a season-high seven innings to go with a season-high nine strikeouts. Ultimately, Peralta was let down by an offense that has recorded two runs and six hits in its last two games.

Peralta got through the first inning on six pitches, but ran into trouble in the second. He walked Jakob Marsee on four pitches, then gave up a single to Connor Norby. Juan Soto threw to third base rather than to the cutoff man in a failed attempt to throw out Marsee, allowing Norby to advance to second. Owen Caissie immediately made the Mets pay for the mistake when he knocked in a two-run single. Entering the game, batters had gone 3 for 43 with RISP against Peralta before Caissie’s RBI hit.

In the bottom of the third inning, Hicks hit his first solo home run to put the Marlins up 3-0. Otto Lopez followed up with a double, but Peralta retired Kyle Stowers and Marsee to end the threat.

The Marlins put more pressure on Peralta with a two-out rally in the fourth inning. Graham Pauley singled, Joe Mack walked, then Xavier Edwards hit a slow groundball towards first base that Vientos bobbled. Unable to get Edwards out at first base, he threw home to get Pauley out by a considerable margin.

Hicks hit his second homer in the fifth to cap the scoring. Peralta gave up one hit total in the sixth and seventh innings before being relieved by Jonathan Pintaro in the eighth. Pintaro earned a 1-2-3 inning in his second career appearance in the Majors.

The Mets had a base runner in each of the first four innings, but never got traction against Meyer. Juan Soto earned a two-out walk, but Brett Baty struck out to end the first. Vientos snapped a 0-for-10 streak with a softly hit single to lead off the second inning, but Marcus Semien eventually ground into a double play to cancel out the Mets’ only hit against Meyer. Luis Torrens and Brett Baty were stranded after drawing walks in the third and fourth innings, respectively.

Baty hit cleanup for the 13th time in his career and went 0 for 2 with a walk and two strikeouts. The rookie outfield duo of Carson Benge and AJ Ewing each had three strikeouts. Soto and Bo Bichette combined to go 0 for 7 with a walk and a strikeout. MJ Melendez got the start at DH despite having a .242 OPS since May 8, going 0 for 3 with a strikeout.

The Mets look to avoid the sweep on Sunday at 1:40 PM EDT.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Mark Vientos, +3% WPA
Big Mets loser: Freddy Peralta, -15% WPA
Mets pitchers: -15% WPA
Mets hitters: -35% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos single in the second, +3.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Own Caissie double in the second, +12% WPA

If the argument for much of Aaron Judge’s career has been that the Yankees have been overly reliant on their Hall of Fame slugger, their recent poor stretch of play is only strengthening it.

Certainly, Judge has gone uncharacteristically cold — in some ways going through one of the worst stretches of his career.

Including Friday’s loss, Judge is in the midst of an 11-game streak without an RBI, the longest such span he’s ever suffered in the majors, according to researcher Katie Sharp.

And in his last 15 games, Judge is just 10-for-56 with three extra-base hits and 21 strikeouts.

Not surprisingly, the Yankees have lost 10 of those games.

Also alarming: After Friday’s hitless night, Judge has just one hit in his last 23 at-bats with 10 strikeouts.

All of it is part of a Yankee offense that has gone from boom to bust, seemingly overnight.

But Aaron Boone, despite his team being held to just two runs against the Rays on Friday, believes the lineup — and Judge — might have turned a corner in the loss.

“I thought we swung the bats well,’’ Boone said after the defeat in The Bronx. “A lot of guys [were] squaring the ball up.”

And Boone singled out Judge, even as he reached base just once in five plate appearances.

“Aaron Judge had good at-bats,” Boone said. 

He noted Judge “smoked” a ball in the third inning, a 111-mph smash that went right at shortstop Taylor Walls.

And Judge ended the game with a 106-mph shot to left-center that centerfielder Cedric Mullins ran down near the warning track.

Still, it was another game in which the Yankees lost without much production from the top of the lineup.

For the last two weeks, the Yankees have had one of the worst bottoms of the lineup in the majors.

Prior to May 8, their bottom half of the lineup ranked sixth in the majors in OPS, and even hitters seven through nine were 10th in the category.

Since that date, though, they are 24th in OPS from hitters five through nine and next-to-last in the bottom third.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Perhaps not coincidentally, May 8 was the day they faced — and were overmatched by — Milwaukee’s fireballing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski.

In that game, the 6-foot-7 24-year-old opened the game by striking out Trent Grisham and Ben Rice before Judge flied out.

He threw 10 pitches in that inning — five of which registered as the five fastest pitches recorded by a starter during the tracking era, which began in 2008.

In 13 games since that night, the Yankees have scored six runs in a game just three times.

A major part of that drought is the fact that Judge hasn’t hit like Judge.

His dominance against fastballs remains, but hasn’t been as strong this season, with a .622 slugging percentage on the pitch, compared to .871 last season.

Two years ago, Judge was also in the midst of a rough first six weeks or so to the season before a mid-May heat-up propelled him and the Yankees to a strong season.

The Yankees, a season-worst 5 ½-games back of Tampa Bay, could use another dose of that from their best player — and Judge could also use some help from the rest of the lineup.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. has hit better of late after a brutal start and a healthy José Caballero should help.

If Ryan McMahon continues to be a complete non-factor at the plate, he’ll lose playing time, with Amed Rosario or Caballero at third and Anthony Volpe at shortstop.

And Austin Wells hit two balls hard on Friday — including his first homer since April 28.

Fernando Tatis Jr.’s pockets just got a lot smaller. 

A San Diego Superior Court judge officially dismissed the San Diego Padres superstar’s attempt to void a controversial 2017 agreement he signed with the Big League Advance Fund, a talent investment firm that gave the then teenage prospect a $2 million advance in exchange for 10% of his future earnings. 

The ruling means that Tatis Jr. remains on the hook for tens of millions of dollars, including an immediate $3.2 million already awarded in arbitration and more than $240,000 in the firm’s attorney fees. 

Tatis Jr. was just 18-years-old and a minor league prospect when he made the deal with the firm. 

For Tatis Jr., the dismissal is a brutal legal loss wrapped inside a much larger ongoing fight between how young athletes, especially in other countries, are monetized before they fully understand the business surrounding them. 

Tatis Jr.’s lawsuit painted the company as predatory, accusing former big league Michael Schwimer and BLA representatives of targeting financially disadvantaged teenagers with flashy promises and quick cash. 

According to the court filings, Tatis alleged he was “fraudulently induced” into the deal during a dinner meeting in 2017 where the focus centered on immediate money for him and his family, and not the long-term consequences of the deal. 

When Tatis Jr. signed the deal, he was not the face of the Padres. He was an electric talent with a bright future. Anyone with two eyes could see that he would one day become a star and with baseball’s bloated contracts in a league without a salary cap, 10% of his future earnings was going to be much greater than a $2 million dollar up-front payment. 

However, he is the son of Fernando Tatis Sr., a 14-year major leaguer who made close to $20 million in career earnings. Why on earth would his son need a $2 million advance?

Four years after receiving that advance, Tatis Jr. signed a 14-year, $340 million mega contract that transformed that original agreement into a $34 million payout to Big League advance. Talk about a return on your investment. 

And of course, Tatis. Jr. didn’t want to pay that amount of money to the firm that originally gave him $2 million. But the court ultimately sided with the firm. 

Judge Judy S. Bae ruled the arbitrator’s decision was legally sound, rejecting the arguments from Tatis Jr.’s legal team that the agreement was illegal. Tatis Jr.’s attorneys said they planned to appeal the decision immediately.

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The Milwaukee Brewers are looking to keep their four-game winning streak alive and secure a series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night.

The Crew took care of business on Friday with Logan Henderson on the mound, and now they’ll try to do it again with another young starter in Robert Gasser. Gasser is making his second start of the season with the big league club. He last pitched against the Twins and allowed two earned runs over four innings.

On the mound for the Dodgers is right-hander Roki Sasaki. Sasaki has a 5.09 ERA on the season. He’s a talented pitcher, but very young and still has a lot of development ahead of him. He’s likely a starter long-term, but spent time in the Dodgers’ bullpen last season, primarily in the playoffs. Sasaki has been exclusively starting this season and is coming off his best start yet, going seven innings and allowing just one run against the Angels.

William Contreras is getting a scheduled day off today, according to Pat Murphy. He homered in Friday night’s win and has been on a hot streak at the plate. Andrew Vaughn jumps into the three-hole in the order with Gary Sánchez batting fifth and catching. Garrett Mitchell is out of the lineup once again, as Murphy is giving him an extra day to make sure he’s recovered from the sore back that he’s been dealing with. Mitchell is available to pinch-hit later in the game if needed.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers will continue to roll out their trio of future Hall of Famers atop their lineup with Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman. Kyle Tucker drops to sixth in the lineup.

This is going to be a big test for Robert Gasser as he tries to prove he should stay in this rotation.

First pitch is at 6:15 p.m., and this one will be nationally televised on FOX. You can also listen in on the Brewers Radio Network.

Stars are just like us, and Olivia “Livvy” Dunne was the latest example for baseball fans.

Dunne, the former LSU gymnastics star, was in attdence for boyfriend Paul Skenes’ start for the Pirates on Saturday against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

She was invested in the game as the broadcast caught her yelling, taking photos and videos of Skenes, and also muttering profane language.

After the crack of a bat that prompted Blue Jays fans to get on their feet, Dunne was seen saying “f–k” twice before leaning back in her seat in frustration.

The announcers didn’t miss a beat on it.

“Paul Skenes is on the mound today and his girlfriend — the equally famous, maybe more famous — Livvy Dunne is here,” the SportsNet TV commentator said. “She was a gymnast at LSU. They met in college and she has eight zillion on social media right now. I believe she attends almost every single game of his and she is invested.

Livvy Dunne is in the house supporting Paul Skenes pic.twitter.com/zQ2NpTVGAy

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 23, 2026

“She is not just sitting around and looking around. She is into the game. Emotional and occasionally profane. But she is invested in the successes and rare failures of her Cy Young award winning boyfriend Paul Skenes.”

The reaction came from early on in Skenes’ start in the Pirates’ eventual 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays.

To open the game, Skenes gave up a leadoff home run to George Springer, who ripped the ball 396 feet to left field for an early Toronto lead.

Dunne certainly wasn’t a fan of the moment.

Nor likely as more trouble came in the sixth inning when the Blue Jays found an offensive spark and scored three runs to earn a 4-1 lead.

After five-plus innings, the two-time All-Star and the 2024 Rookie of the Year allowed nine hits for four runs (all earned). He also logged two strikeouts and one walk.

It was Skenes’ lowest strikeout tally since recording just one in Pittsburgh’s season opening 11-7 loss to the Mets. Skenes only lasted 2/3 innings as he gave up four hits and five earned runs at Citi Field.

Skenes has returned the support, including when he shared a positive reaction to her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in 2023.

“I texted him. I was like, ‘Hey, the SI photos are out.’ And he’s like, ‘Where can I see them?’” Dunne told People recently.

“He loved it. Yeah, he loved it. He always does,” she added.

The couple has been together since 2023.

To national television we go.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Brewers
• Ballpark: American Family Field, Milwaukee
• Time: 4:15 p.m. PT
• TV: Fox
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

In today’s game thread, I wrote that Stephen Kolek’s second-best career start probably came against the Mariners last September, and we might need him to do even better if they were going to win today. As it turned out, they probably didn’t need him to be quite that good, but he absolutely was anyway.

Things got started fast for the Royals today. Stephen Kolek retired the Mariners in order on 10 pitches to start the game. Then, on the second pitch he saw, Maikel Garcia tattooed a line drive into the left-center gap for a leadoff double. Bobby Witt Jr. got an infield single that sent Maikel to third, and then Maikel scored on a groundball from Vinnie Pasquantino that was only ever likely to be worth one out, but became none when J.P. Crawford couldn’t hang on to Cole Young’s glove flip at second.

Salvador Perez came to the plate, and Bobby and Vinnie each took off on the first pitch, successfully swiping their bags and giving the Royals second and third with no one out. This is where you’d expect the Royals to completely choke, and it looked like that’s exactly what was going to happen. Salvy grounded to the pitcher, though George Kirby could only deflect it to Crawford. Crawford still managed to throw Sal out because he’s so dang slow. Then Carter Jensen hit a soft roller to first, and when Josh Naylor realized he was going to have to run to the bag for the out, Bobby took off and scored.

Sure, that gave the Royals two runs, but getting two straight weak outs after putting runners at second and third didn’t feel good. Fortunately, Jac Caglianone came through with a single to right that scored Vinnie from second, and the Royals had a three-run lead. That was when it finally felt like maybe things could go their way today.

Bobby scored again in the third when Carter hit a shallow fly to left-center and Randy Arozerena couldn’t get the throw home quite quickly enough. They scored their final run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a single from Carter, a groundout by Jac that advanced Jensen to second, and a solid single to center from Isaac Collins.

But Kolek will be the talk of today’s game as he pitched the first complete game shutout by a Royals pitcher since Brad Keller in 2020. Despite the fact that he got only two strikeouts on the day, and none until the eighth inning, Kolek made it look easy.

As you can see, this was far from what we’ve come to expect from dominant pitching performances in 2026. He wasn’t necessarily in the strike zone very often, he didn’t get an excessive amount of chase, and the whiff% is frankly abysmal. But the Mariners couldn’t square him up at all; they had four hits all day, and three of those were from Luke Raley. Even one of Raley’s hits was an infield single. Thanks to his pitch efficiency, the inability of the Mariners to do anything with his pitches, and some slick infield defense that turned a pair of double plays on the day, Kolek faced only two batters over the minimum in this one. That is just absolutely wild.

This game was the first in a while for a lot of different things:

• As noted earlier, this was the first CGSO for a Royals pitcher since Brad Keller on September 13, 2020.
• It was the Royals’ first complete game with any number of runs scored since Seth Lugo got the White Sox on July 21, 2024.
• It was Kolek’s second career CGSO; he also got one against the Rockies in Coors Field while pitching for the Padres on May 10, 2025. He allowed 5 hits and 2 walks in that one, but did get 7 strikeouts, so it’s up to you which one was more impressive.
• It was the first time the Royals had scored more than three runs in a game since last Friday, May 15.
• It was the first time the Royals had a three-run inning since May 13.
• It was the first time the Royals won a game by more than 2 runs since May 9.
• It was the first time the Royals had a three-run first inning since May 1 against Bryan Woo and the Mariners.
• It was the best the Royals have looked on the field since at least May 13 and probably more like May 9
• Unfortunately, it did not end the Hawaiian Bros Curse, as the Royals still haven’t scored six runs in a game since May 4

Today’s win gives the Royals a victory in the season series regardless of tomorrow’s outcome, giving them a tiebreaker should it somehow matter by the time the season comes to an end. It would be really cool if this win was something of a turning point for the Royals. If so, hopefully we’ll see more evidence of it in a victory tomorrow to win their first series since the Detroit series two weeks ago.

Tomorrow’s game will air on Royals.TV at 1:10 p.m. Central time. Seth Lugo (3.68 ERA) will face Bryan Woo (3.51 ERA) in the rubber match. Woo has been one of the better pitchers in the AL this year, but the Royals got to him in Seattle to start the month. It would be fun to do it again.

After a memorable game 1 where the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Cincinnati Reds 8-1, the second game of the doubleheader is scheduled to get underway at 6:15pm central time in Great American Ball Park as the Cardinals will send Kyle Leahy (5-3, 3.94 ERA, 34 SO) to the mound while the Reds will rely on the arm of Chase Petty (0-0, 4.76 ERA, 1 SO). Game 2 will be watchable on Fox during a national broadcast.

MIAMI — The Mets evidently want to leave zero doubt over the identity of the NL East’s worst team.

They held that distinction by only a half-game over the Marlins as they arrived at loanDepot park on Saturday and by early evening had created a cushion.

Instead of simply not hitting, they added a second straight lackluster performance from their ace in a 4-1 loss to Miami. It was the fourth loss in five games for the Mets, who fell eight games below .500.

The Mets had only one hit until pinch hitter Tyrone Taylor doubled with two outs in the ninth. Mark Vientos’ ensuing single brought in their only run.

After a resurgence offensively on the last homestand and to begin this trip, the Mets have scored only four runs over their last three games.

“I think the past couple of games we faced some good pitching,” Vientos said. “Obviously we haven’t done what we wanted at the plate, but we have got to give credit when credit is due. We’re going to come back [Sunday] and come back strong.”

Max Meyer dominated the Mets, allowing only one hit over seven shutout innings. Vientos’ grounder to right field against a shifted infield leading off the second was that only hit. Meyer struck out eight and walked three.

A night earlier, the Mets managed only three hits in a 2-1 loss to the Marlins, spearheaded by Eury Pérez’s strong outing.

“We are coming off a few games where you are starting to see some of the guys coming out of the struggle,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, referring to the Marlins. “In the past couple of days, Pérez, even though he has been struggling as of late, he was on [Friday] and today another good pitcher. So, yeah, we are better. We have seen that, but at the same time we ran into two pretty good arms over the last couple of days.”

Freddy Peralta, who slogged in his outing against the Yankees last Sunday, allowed two homers, both to Liam Hicks, on this day.

The right-hander surrendered four earned runs on eight hits over seven innings with nine strikeouts and two walks.

“[The outing] was probably a plus in the innings and all that, because I was able to save the bullpen,” Peralta said. “But it wasn’t enough because we didn’t get a win.”

Owen Caissie stroked a two-run double in the second that put the Mets in a 2-0 hole.

Peralta walked Jakob Marsee with one out in the inning and got stung, as Connor Norby singled and Caissie followed with the double. Peralta escaped further harm by retiring the next two batters.

Hicks homered in the third to extend the Mets’ deficit to 3-0. It was the third straight appearance in which Peralta surrendered a homer. Otto Lopez followed the blast with a double, but Peralta got two outs to end the frame.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

Peralta dodged trouble in the fourth when Graham Pauley was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Xavier Edwards’ grounder off Vientos’ glove. Pauley’s two-out single and a walk to Joe Mack created peril for Peralta.

Hicks’ second homer of the game, leading off the bottom of the fifth, sank the Mets into a 4-0 hole. The multihomer game was the first of Hicks’ career.

“It was a big mistake that I made with the curveball with the second home run,” Peralta said. “I shook to that pitch with Luis [Torrens] and I should have made a better pitch, but it happens and I learned from that one.”

Vientos was hit by a pitch in the seventh to snap a string of 10 straight batters retired by Meyer, but A.J. Ewing struck out and Marcus Semien hit a grounder that became an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

Anthony Bender struck out the side in the eighth and remained in the game to retire Bo Bichette leading off the ninth before lefty Andrew Nardi recorded the final two outs, with a run scoring.

“It was one of those days where [Meyer] had everything going for him,” Mendoza said. “I thought he was better than the line, to be honest with you.”

Washington Nationals right-hander Jake Irvin held the Atlanta Braves hitless through five innings Saturday before leaving with an apparent injury at Truist Park, putting his health in question.

After the game, Nationals manager Blake Butera told reporters that Irvin felt something in the back of his shoulder or lat area during the game. Butera says Irvin will have an MRI Sunday. Irvin told his manager this was something he has felt before.

Irvin was dominant through the first five innings, striking out seven and walking just one over 80 pitches against one of the National League's most dangerous lineups.

Then, after walking out to the mound and trying to warm up for the bottom of the sixth inning, Irvin departed with a trainer.

Brad Lord entered in relief with the no-hit bid still intact, but gave up a single to Michael Harris in the bottom of the seventh. That was the only hit the Nationals' staff allowed in the game.