Category: Sports News

The Yankees made it almost a month into the season without any real injury concerns. They have spent the three weeks since making up for that.

Max Fried became the latest and most important piece to enter an MRI tube Thursday, with the Yankees’ hopes and dreams potentially riding on the result of it.

Fried left Wednesday’s start in Baltimore after just three innings due to left elbow posterior soreness.

While the left-hander insisted he was “not too worried about a super long-term thing,” Thursday’s imaging and examination by team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad would have the final say on that.

Even if the tests rule out the worst, it would be somewhat surprising if Fried was able to make his next start Tuesday in The Bronx against the Blue Jays, meaning the Yankees would likely need a spot starter for at least a turn or two until Gerrit Cole is ready to come off the injured list, likely by the end of this month.

With some strong rotation depth, the Yankees are in a position to withstand a short-term Fried absence.

The top candidates to replace him, should he need a stint on the injured list, would be Elmer Rodríguez and Brendan Beck.

Rodríguez, who made two spot starts after Luis Gil (now on the IL at Triple-A with shoulder inflammation) was optioned and before Carlos Rodón returned, is scheduled to start Saturday for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Beck started there Wednesday, meaning Tuesday would be his regular day to pitch if needed.

Both Rodríguez and Beck would only be eligible to be recalled if they are replacing an injured player, since they were both optioned within the last 15 days.

Fried, meanwhile, became the latest Yankees injury worry after Giancarlo Stanton, Jasson Domínguez and José Caballero all landed on the IL within the last three weeks.

Caballero’s injury was the most recent, suffering a fracture in his right middle finger Sunday, although he also is expected to be the first to return from the IL — as soon as his 10 days are up, if it is up to him.

The Atlanta Braves were unable to come away with the series sweep after Thursday’s 2-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Chris Sale got the start, where he threw six innings. He allowed an unearned run, walked two, and recorded eight strikeouts.

On the other side of the ball, the Braves’ bats were quiet, with the offense tallying just five hits on the night. The Chicago bullpen was not messing around and sat down the Braves as soon as they walked to the plate. 

Atlanta fell to 30-14 on the season but despite the loss, still managed to win the series over the NL Central-leading Cubs. 

More Braves News:

The Braves wrap up the homestand with a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox. Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder, and Grant Holmes are expected to start. 

Walt Weiss discussed several lessons learned from Bobby Cox.

Eric Hartman continues to shine for the Rome Emperors, this time robbing a home run. More in the minor league recap.

MLB News:

The Washington Nationals signed left-hander Alex Young to a minor league deal. For now, he has been assigned to the Florida Coast League but will make the transition to Triple-A.

The Athletics have acquired lefty Jose Suarez from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for cash. Prior to the Mariners, Suarez was a Brave, but he was designated for assignment earlier this month. 

For the first time in his career, Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has been placed on the 10-day injured list. He is dealing with an oblique strain, and there is not yet a timetable for his return.

From the Feed:

After Thursday’s low-scoring series finale, cast your vote for Braves player of the game. 

LOS ANGELES — Two nights after Eric Haase etched his name in the lore of the Giants’ rivalry with the Dodgers as the first San Francisco catcher to homer twice in one game at Dodger Stadium, his teammate made more history in the same venue.

Only, Jung Hoo Lee took the long way.

What looked like a bloop hit that landed on the warning track down the left-field line morphed into the first inside-the-park home run by a Giant inside their arch rivals’ ballpark, rounding the bases while Teoscar Hernandez gave chase as the ball careened away from him in the left-field corner.

The Giants outfielder dove across home plate as the throw from cutoff man Miguel Rojas sailed over catcher Dalton Rushing’s head, completing his 360-foot sprint around the base paths that tied the score at 2 in the fifth inning of the finale of the four-game series Thursday night.

That, however, proved to be the only highlight — and one of just two Giants hits — in a 5-2 loss, splitting the series two games apiece.

“It was fun. I mean, it was a meaningful moment because it tied the game,” manager Tony Vitello said. “[We] were doing anything to fight and get on base.”

JUNG HOO LEE INSIDE-THE-PARK HOME RUN!

TIE GAME! pic.twitter.com/Bu2CkdQvVv

— MLB (@MLB) May 15, 2026

Despite Hernandez’s misplay, there was no error assigned on the play, resulting in a rulebook inside-the-park home run — the first-ever by a Giant inside Dodger Stadium and the first by a San Francisco player since Patrick Bailey walked off the Phillies at Oracle Park last July.

“I got lucky, for sure,” Lee said through a team interpreter.

The Giants caught a break in more ways than one on the play.

Lee fought off a tough 0-2 fastball at the top of the zone from Emmet Sheehan with an inside-out swing that resulted in an exit velocity of only 73.2 mph. It would have been a difficult play to make on the fly, and when the ball bounced on the warning track dirt, it came up inches short of going into the stands, which would have put an end to the play and resulted in a ground-rule double.

Instead, the ball bounced off the wall in foul territory and away from Hernandez toward the Dodgers’ bullpen. Hernandez recovered and made a strong throw to Rojas, but the relay was late and off-line.

Giants third base coach Hector Borg windmilled Lee home. Catcher Eric Haase, who started the play on first base, scored easily. Luis Arráez, who was standing on deck, laid prone on the ground, signaling to Lee to get down. The headfirst dive ended up only as an unnecessary flourish.

Lee showed more emotion than usual upon returning to the dugout, emphatically slapping hands with his teammates, a few of whom had poured out to greet him.

“I’m not one of those players that show a lot of emotion on the field,” Lee said. “But that two-run home run tied the game. It just came out from inside of me.”

The third-year outfielder from Korea displayed more fire earlier in the series, uppercutting the air with his right fist and letting out a yell after a two-RBI double in the Giants’ win Tuesday night.

“Jungy’s really come out of his shell I think the last couple months,” Vitello said. “Anytime you see him emotional, it’s pretty fun.”

The inside-the-parker was Lee’s third homer of any variety this season and the first time in his career — dating all the way back to youth ball, he said — that he recorded one in that fashion.

There hadn’t been an inside-the-parker from anyone at Dodger Stadium, let alone their chief rivals, since Nick Ahmed did it on May 9, 2018. The last Giants player to do it against the Dodgers came at Candlestick Park, all the way back in 1981, by Larry Herndon off Fernando Valenzuela.

The Little League-style home run resulted in the Giants’ only runs off Sheehan, who otherwise mostly breezed through six innings. Their only other hit came on an equally weak piece of contact — another bloop hit, a single that dropped into shallow left field off the bat of Rafael Devers.

“When [Sheehan] is mid-90s and it’s up in the zone, it’s a challenge to lay off,” Vitello said. “He combines it with a pretty good slider and a couple other pitches tonight. But it’s really about that combo. He was pretty good. We chased up and made him better.”

Sheehan also hit a batter and walked two, including the other run that came home to score on the play.

Hernandez, for his part, quickly made up for the defensive blunder with his bat.

The Dodgers’ slugger had already doubled twice when he came up for a third time and proceeded to reach second again — although it was later ruled a single — putting runners on second and third and knocking San Francisco starter Landen Roupp out of the game with one out in the sixth.

Two batters later, Hernandez came around to score on two-run single to right from pinch-hitter Alex Call, effectively negating Lee’s two-run homer and giving the Dodgers the lead again, 4-2.

“It definitely got us back into the game, for sure,” Roupp said. “I kind of feel bad about giving it up.”

Yes indeed, get ready, because every sentence in this lede is going to sound more absurd than the last.

The Chicago White Sox have defeated the Kansas City Royals, 6-2. They swept the Royals in a three-game series. The win has put the White Sox record at 22-21. It has also strengthened the White Sox’s grip on an American League wild card spot. They are only one game back of the Guardians for the Central Division lead.

Sorry, I had to step away for a minute so I could laugh. White Sox baseball makes me happy! I’m writing that, and I don’t even have a traumatic brain injury!

The first inning defined the tenor of the entire game. We had a “Spiderman pointing at himself” pitching matchup between Kris Bubic and Anthony Kay, two lefthanders who lean on their offspeed stuff. They even land their plant foots on the same spot of the mound, as color man Steve Stone helpfully pointed out.

It didn’t come as a shock that both clubs also had the same plan of attack against their respective opposing pitcher: Make him live up in the zone, where they’re uncomfortable. The Royals had success early on. First, Maikel García hit a leadoff single. Then, that damned Bobby Witt Jr. waited on a changeup down-and-away that he smacked for a single, moving García to third.

Kay was up for the challenge (see what I did there?): He started living up in the zone, giving up a sacrifice fly to Lane Thomas before getting Salvador Pérez to chase a head-high fastball for a strikeout, then putting away Vinnie Pasquatino on three pitches to get out of the first inning with only the one earned run.

The bottom of the inning saw started well for Bubic, as he retired Chase Meidroth and Miguel Vargas. Next up was Munetaka Murakami. This matchup was a double-edged sword for Mune: On one hand, he had gone 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in his first game against Bubic. However, Murakami is finally getting to see some of these MLB pitchers a second time. It’s really quite impressive how well he’s done to this point in the season against a league full of strangers.

Familiarity was a good look on Mune, who drew a walk ahead of fledgling White Sox platoon bat Randal Grichuk. Grichuk spit on a two-strike pitch similar to what put out Vargas earlier in the inning — a high sweeper. His high offer rebuked, Bubic came down in the zone. Grichuk stayed back on the pitch and blasted it out of the ballpark. A one-run deficit flipped to a one-run lead, and Kay had the edge against Bubic in the battle of the high strike.

In the third inning, Kay had to contend with the middle of the Royals lineup. He collected two quick outs from Witt and No. 3 hitter Thomas, then forced second baseman Nick Loftin into an inning-ending fielder’s choice after Pérez muscled a slider off his hands for an ultimately harmless two-out single. And yeah, if I had my choice as a fielder, I’d probably take the force out on Pérez too.

The White Sox started the third off with a four-pitch walk by Meidroth before Vargas hit a single — waiting back on a changeup, of course. Murakami took his second walk to load the bases for Grichuk, who sliced a single into the outfield for his third and fourth runs batted in.

I have a confession to make: I took the garbage out between the top and bottom of the fourth inning, but I was a little late trudging up the stairs. When I got back to my TV, Luisangel Acuña had reached base. I guess I have to believe he got on base somehow, although without having seen it, I still have a hard time believing it. What isn’t in doubt is Acuña’s speed. He stole second base and then scored on Meidroth’s two-out single to expend the lead, 5-1.

As the Chicago bullpen began to stir, Anthony Kay worked a marvelous seven-pitch sixth inning to put the game to bed early. Kay gave up a triple to fellow lefty Kyle Isbel to open the seventh. He’d score on a García ground out induced by reliever Tyler Davis, putting Kay’s final line at 6 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB and 4 Ks. His six innings of work allowed Will Venable’s bullpen get some rest headed into the Crosstown series this weekend.

In the eighth inning, Sam Antonacci came off the bench to hit a double, as a little treat for the South Side fans in attendance. Antonacci came up limping into second, briefly giving everybody a heart attack, but he seemed fine as he completed his run on a Derek Hill single.

Antonacci’s run completed the scoring for the game, as first Davis and then Sean Newcomb closed the door. Regarding their performance, I bestow the highest compliment a bullpen arm can receive: Their innings were boring. And now the White Sox are better than .500 after Cinco de Mayo.

Bring on the Cubs.

Since Aiden Ruiz was 2 years old, his mom has had to battle with her little slugger to take off his baseball uniform, which he wore with pride after every Little League game.

“He would fight with me to take his cleats off,” Christina Ruiz told The Post. 

“I had to let him take a nap so I could get his cleats off, so he could go to bed.”

It was a clear foreshadowing that the Stony Brook School’s standout shortstop had a bright future on the diamond after senior year, as Ruiz has lots of noise around his name ahead of the 2026 MLB draft in July.

“That was always a dream,” said Ruiz, the 38th-ranked draft prospect by Major League Baseball.

“I’ve always had that self-confidence when I step on the field that I can turn the game around,” added the soon-to-be high school grad, who is 19 because of a double eighth-grade year due to COVID.

With ease for Ruiz 

Ruiz is no stranger to big moments and bigger personalities; the Vanderbilt commit won gold with Team USA in the World Championship and was named All-World shortstop in 2025, has played with the Yankees Area Code team, and trained with his “mentor,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor. 

“We always talk about fielding,” Ruiz said of getting to know Lindor. “It’s always cool to meet your heroes.” 

He’s also close pals with former teammate and University of Virginia ace Jayden Stroman, son of former Yankees and Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman, who had a stint at Stony Brook before transferring to play public school ball at Patchogue-Medford in 2025.

“That bond over the years, pushing each other to be better and learning the game together,” Ruiz said. “It definitely strengthened our friendship.”

He and Stroman have been on the same teams and in the opposite dugouts since they were both 12, and they’re eager to mix it up again in the NCAA one day — should Ruiz have to wait a bit to hear his name called for the bigs, that is.

“It would be sick. That’s definitely something we’ve talked about before.”

Heading for home 

Ruiz is next in a family lineage that treated baseball as second only to God in their Woodhaven, Queens, home. It’s there where he would field hard-hit balls meant for his older brother, Daniel, as a toddler.

“I had a bat and glove in my hand for as long as I could remember,” Ruiz said, adding that his whole family rooted for both the Yankees and Mets in the interest of watching good baseball.

His dad, Sam, played in the minors for the White Sox in the 1980s; Daniel played in college at Ohio Northern a decade ago; his sister, Alyssa, was a competitive high school softball player; and his mom was a longtime softball coach in the World’s Borough. 

Ruiz proudly wears No. 45, as Daniel and Alyssa did.

Most of all, Ruiz’s late grandfather, Sandalio, truly put the love for the game into Sam and Aiden since he left Puerto Rico for a new life in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, decades ago.  

“My dad was there for every single game since the sandlot,” said Sam, who also played second base and outfield in the Mets and Marlins systems but never reached the majors. 

Sandalio, who was also at each of Aiden’s games, predicted a brighter future for his grandson.

“My father would look at me and playfully say, ‘You know he’s better than you, right?’ ” Sam laughed.

Ruiz said losing his beloved grandfather and “the glue to our family” in middle school was the most difficult stretch he ever fought through. Sam added that he deeply regrets that Sandalio isn’t here to see his grandson’s promising days ahead.

Fortunately, dealing with the loss isn’t something Aiden had to do alone, as Sam was always there and gladly carried on the family tradition even years later. 

“He would drive up here every day this whole year to work out with me before practice,” Aiden said.

“Just being on the diamond with my dad, it was special. … We spent hours a day, every single day, on the field together,” he added of their years together.

The family is bursting with anticipation for the full-circle moment, hoping to receive good news in July rather than waiting for Ruiz’s next opportunity, which would come after his sophomore year with the Commodores. 

Hardly anybody is more excited than Ruiz’s grandma, Hilda, Sandalio’s longtime wife.

“She always said she’s holding on to watch me get drafted,” said Ruiz. “She’s my motivation to keep working hard and play the game.”

With tonight’s 6-2 loss, the Royals were swept by the White Sox for the first time in three years.

The Royals dominated the White Sox for the past couple of seasons, but that hasn’t been the case through the first seven games of 2026. The teams split their first series of the year, in Kansas City, before this sweep.

With the loss, the Royals fall to six games under .500 at 19-25 while the White Sox become only the second American League Central team with a winning record.

The Royals jumped to a quick 1-0 lead as Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. both singled to start the game with the former moving to third on the latter’s hit. Lane Thomas then drove in Garcia with a sacrifice fly. Salvador Perez, who ended the night 2-for-4, had an ugly strikeout for the second out. Nick Loftin then took one off the foot before Vinnie Pasquantino fanned to end the threat.

Kris Bubic takes the loss, falling to 3-2 on the year. He struggled through a 30-pitch first inning in which he only allowed one hit, but it happened to be a two-run home run by ex-Royal Randal Grichuk. Grichuk, already on his second team of 2026, was just getting started.

Bubic’s final line: four innings, five hits, five earned runs, three walks, and four strikeouts.

Chicago’s starting pitcher, Anthony Kay, gets the win, improving his record to 3-1 with two of those wins coming against the Royals. Both on Thursdays! Bully for me. Kay went six innings, allowed six hits and two earned runs while striking out four and walking two.

The White Sox put the game out of reach in the bottom of the third when Grichuk struck again, this time with a two-run single. It was his 17th career 4-RBI game. After retiring Jarred Kelenic, Bubic walked Chase Meidroth and allowed a single to Miguel Vargas before walking Munetaka Murakami, who recorded three tonight. Grichuk then poked one up the middle, scoring Meidroth and Vargas.

4-1, White Sox.

The Royals next threatened in the fifth inning when, with one out, Witt walked and Thomas singled. Then, naturally, Salvy grounded into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double-play. The heart of the order should not be considered rally killers, but here we are.

Meidroth drove in Luisangel Acuna in the fourth to enlarge Chicago’s lead to 5-1. The Royals scored another run in the top of the 7th. Kyle Isbel led off with a triple, forcing Kay from the game. Garcia brought him home on a groundout, but that would pretty much be it for Kansas City’s offense. Salvy singled in the eighth but was stranded at second. The Royals then went quietly in the ninth.

Final score: 6-2 White Sox.

Fumbled series. Last year, the Royals finished with a winning record in large part because they manhandled the White Sox, beating them in 10 of their 13 meetings. Sure, the White Sox improved over the offseason—hard not to when a team’s that bad—but the Royals supposedly also improved.

Ugly series, ugly outcomes, ugly four-game losing streak.

Now the Royals head back to Missouri but on the other side of the state to take on the surprising St. Louis Cardinals. After defeating the Nomadics earlier today, the Cardinals are 25-18, which would give them the third-best record in the American League, but since they play in the National League, they’re only third in their division.

The Royals look to former Cardinal Michael Wacha to stanch the bleeding.