Category: Sports News

An overlooked aspect of the Mets’ Opening Day: For one day, their corner infield experiments did not implode. 

Veterans starting their first career games at new spots, Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco held their own.

Bichette was wild with one throw from third base, but he was assisted by a nice save from fledgling first baseman Polanco, which presented the largest bit of Mets defensive drama during the win over the Pirates. 

Bichette — largely a shortstop with the Blue Jays but whose declining glove meant most clubs saw the free agent as a second baseman, while the Mets (who already had traded for Marcus Semien) signed him as a third baseman — played his first career game at the position.

His initial chance was not perfect: He handled a third-inning ground ball from Henry Davis on the run and threw off-balance, bringing Polanco off first base. 

But Polanco — whose big league first base experience comprised one pitch last season, shifted to the position with the Mariners just before an inning ended — looked natural, taking a step toward home plate, catching the ball and applying the tag to Davis. 

Davis was up again in the seventh and smashed a 110.3 mph one-hopper to Bichette, who went to a knee and smoothly speared the ball before making a strong throw across the diamond. 

Polanco also handled a few chances himself without incident. 

If all goes well, there will be six more months of opportunities for the pair to seize or botch.

But a casual fan watching Thursday would not have known that the Mets were asking their corner infielders to learn positions they had rarely or never played before this spring. 

“I thought they were both pretty good,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “… For them to be able to communicate from pitch to pitch, it was good to see.” 

The Mets successfully passed infielder Vidal Bruján and catcher Ben Rortvedt through waivers, both outrighted and sent to Triple-A Syracuse.

Lefty Bryan Hudson was claimed by the White Sox after losing a bullpen battle to Richard Lovelady. 

Syracuse opened its season Friday, which meant it finalized its roster and injured list.

Placed on the seven-day injured list were righties Adbert Alzolay, Dylan Ross and Justin Armbruester and lefty Nate Lavender.

Righty Craig Kimbrel, who continues to throw in Florida, and righty Mike Baumann were placed on the Development list.

Outfielder Mike Tauchman, who underwent surgery Thursday on the meniscus in his left knee, also was put on the seven-day IL.

Tyler Glasnow is on the mound as the Dodgers finish off their first series of the 2026 season, starting on Saturday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.

Glasnow had a relatively normal spring, unencumbered by injuries or setbacks. He pitched into the fifth inning twice before ending his spring with five full innings and 11 strikeouts against the Angels during the Freeway Series last Sunday in his final spring tuneup.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez, who vetoed a deadline trade to the Dodgers in 2023, starts for Arizona in the series finale. He’s the first southpaw starter faced by the Dodgers this season.

Joe Davis will be in San Francisco on Saturday, covering the New York Yankees at San Francisco Giants for Fox, so Stephen Nelson will switch booths from radio to television to call the final game of this Dodgers series for SportsNet LA.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 6:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

LOS ANGELES — Longtime major league outfielder Jason Heyward, who played in two of his 16 major league seasons with the Dodgers, announced his retirement from baseball on Friday.

“I’d like to take one last time to show LOVE to the game of BASEBALL as a player. You’ve taken me around the world. Given me something to dream of and work towards as a kid and a professional,” Heyward said in an Instagram post. “You’ve shown me the value of sacrifice, support, family, friends, competition, winning, respect, growth and many other lessons along the way.”

The five-time Gold Glove Award winner was released by the Chicago Cubs after two injury-plagued seasons in 2021-22. Heyward signed with the Dodgers that winter at the urging of Freddie Freeman, his friend and longtime teammate with the Atlanta Braves since they were both drafted out of high school by the team in 2007 — Heyward in the first round, Freeman in the second.

“I never talked about really the baseball player Jason Heyward, I always talk about the person Jason Heyward,” Freeman told Mookie Betts on the Off Base podcast in 2023. “Because if anybody comes in contact with Jason, for me it’s a life-changing moment for a lot of people. The wisdom, the care, the love that he has for each person that he comes across.”

Heyward immediately held stature in the Dodgers clubhouse, and not just by his 6’5, 240-pound frame. Less then three weeks into his first season in Los Angeles, Heyward was tabbed by manager Dave Roberts to give a speech at the Jackie Robinson statue, delivered to both the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs ahead of their April 15, 2023 game at Dodger Stadium.

With the Dodgers, Heyward in 2023 had one of the best offensive seasons of his career, hitting .269/.340/.473 with a 119 wRC+ and 15 home runs, the latter matching his total for the previous three years combined. In 2024, Heyward hit .208/.289/.393 with a 90 wRC+, fell down the depth chart and was released in August. His last at-bat with the Dodgers was a game-winning three-run home run to beat the Seattle Mariners.

Heyward signed on with the Houston Astros to finish out 2024, and he played 34 games last season for the San Diego Padres. In 16 major league seasons, Heyward hit .255/.336/.408 with a 104 wRC+, 186 home runs, and 308 doubles in 1,824 games, totaling 41.5 bWAR and 34.8 fWAR for the Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Astros, and Padres.

“Great teammate, very, very good team leader. He was old school, in the sense of always doing nice things for young players, buying dinners, buying stuff for them, showing them how to be a big leaguer,” Roberts said of Heyward on Friday. “Worked his tail off everyday, was bought into everything we asked of him. He’s had a great career, and I’m happy we got to be teammates for a minute. That was great.”

“I hope he stays in the game in some capacity, whether it be the front office side or the coaching side,” Roberts added. “The game needs guys like Jason.”

Get used to this.

The cries of joy in the stands. The stadium shaking. Andy Pages rounding the bases at Uniqlo Field.

The first Dodgers player to homer this season wasn’t Shohei Ohtani or Freddie Freeman. The distinction belonged to Pages, the third-year center fielder from Cuba.

And it was no mistake.

His 400-foot shot on Opening Day confirmed what manager Dave Roberts had been saying in recent weeks: Pages isn’t the same player he was last year.

“I was simply trying to pick better pitches than I did in my first at-bat,” Pages said in Spanish.

Pages struck out in his previous at-bat against Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen.

Facing the former All-Star again in the fifth inning, Pages pounced on a curveball that stayed over the plate and golfed the pitch into the left field pavilion.

“I guess he made a mistake and left the ball where he didn’t want to leave it,” he said. “We wait for moments like that to inflict damage.”

Pages isn’t the same hitter who batted .078 in the postseason and was relegated to a reserve role in the final three games of the World Series. He’s not the free swinger who is believed to be the Dodgers player who whiffed on a pitch that was allegedly thrown out of the strike zone on purpose by Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase to help associates with an online wager.

His transformation as an offensive player can be traced back to work he did in a 12,000-square-foot building on the Dodgers’ spring training complex that stands between the team’s clubhouse and practice fields.

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There, Pages stood in against a Trajekt Arc, a machine that can show the windup of a particular pitcher and deliver pitches as if he had thrown them. The device, which is used by players to simulate real-life at-bats, was set to throw balls near the edge of the strike zone. Pages was tasked with determining whether the pitches were balls or strikes.

“He’s learned to be a better hitter, a major-league hitter, not just a slugger,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters in spring training.

That the 25-year-old Pages treated the exercise with the seriousness that he did was evidence of his maturation.

“Right now, he looks like a veteran ballplayer,” Roberts said. “I could think back to a few years ago when he didn’t really like the weight room and really wasn’t the best worker. But now you look at him and he values the weight room, being in shape, scouting and being prepared with the pitchers.

“He has fortunately had the luxury of being around a lot of great ballplayers to learn from. I’m really proud of Andy, and I think he’s going to have an even better year [than last year], I really do.”

So much so that Roberts selected Pages as his team’s “pick to click.” Roberts figured that if Pages could hit 27 homers last year, he should be able to hit even more with improved plate discipline.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to [see him] make an All-Star team,” Roberts said.

However his season unfolds, Pages will be remembered for his catch in Game 7 of the World Series. Entering the game as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the ninth inning, Pages ran over left fielder Kike Hernandez to grab a line drive by Ernie Clement at the wall for the third out. The Blue Jays had runners at second and third. If Pages hadn’t caught that ball, the World Series would have been theirs.

Pages made another critical defensive contribution Thursday, making a sliding catch to rob Gabriel Moreno of a leadoff single in the seventh inning. 

“I just think he’s getting off the ball so well,” Roberts said. “Even last year, there were questions if he could stay out and play center field at a high level. And he’s worked his tail off, he really has. Every single day, he’s putting in work, and he just keeps getting better. His jumps, his line to the ball. Obviously, the arm strength is there. So he’s a complete player, and I’m excited to see what he can do this year.”

Pages has picked up the work habits of a superstar. As a result, he could now be on the verge of becoming one himself.

The Houston Astros (0-1) continue their opening 4 game series against the Los Angeles Angels (1-0) tonight at Daikin Park.

RHP Mike Burrows will make his first regular season start for the Astros opposite former Astro LHP Yusei Kikuchi and the Angels.

TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: RHP Mike Burrows was acquired from the Pirates this offseason as part of a three-team, six-player trade in which the Astros sent OF Jacob Melton and minor leaguer RHP Anderson Brito to the Rays, while the Rays sent IF Brandon Lowe, OF Jake Mangum and LHP Mason Montgomery to the Pirates.

Burrows impressed this Spring, making five starts and posting a 1.50 ERA (3ER/18IP) while allowing a .200 opponent batting average with 17 strikeouts.

IF YUSEI SO: Tonight’s Angels starter LHP Yusei Kikuchi spent a memorable two months with the Astros in 2024, making 10 starts and posting a 2.70 ERA (18ER/60IP) down the stretch.

He was acquired that season from the Blue Jays in a trade that sent OF Joey Loperfido to Toronto.

Loperfido was reacquired by the Astros this season and made yesterday’s Opening Day start in left field.

VS. THE ANGELS: The Astros open this season with a divisional series against the Angels, who the Astros went 8-5 against in 13 games last season. The Astros are 138-83 all time against the Angels and have won the season series against them in every full season dating back to 2015.

SALAZAR OUTRIGHTED: C César Salazar has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple A Sugar Land…Salazar was designated for assignment by the Astros on Wednesday.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Friday, March 27, 7:15 p.m. CST

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: Apple TV+

Streaming: Apple TV+

Radio: KTRH 740 AM; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2

SAN FRANCISCO — The only thing that could stop Cam Schlittler on Friday afternoon was not even wearing a Giants uniform. 

Because the way he was throwing, the Yankees right-hander just might have finished off a masterpiece all by himself had he not been on a limited pitch count. Instead, he settled for pitching the first 5 ¹/₃ one-hit innings in downright dominant fashion and then watched the bullpen follow his lead — just as he followed Max Fried’s from Opening Day. 

Schlittler and four relievers combined for a one-hit shutout, while Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton provided the offense with their first home run each, as the Yankees cruised to a 3-0 win over the Giants on a beautiful Friday afternoon at sold-out Oracle Park. 

After Fried and the bullpen combined for a three-hit shutout in the season opener Wednesday, Schlittler & Co. did them one better Friday, marking the first time in franchise history the Yankees have started the season by pitching back-to-back shutouts. 

“To see Max go out there on Opening Night and do something special and then Cam up here following it up with a one-hit performance — the boys have been putting in their work in the offseason, that’s for sure,” Judge said. 

Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Camilo Doval and David Bednar finished off Friday’s gem as the Yankees became the first team ever to hold an opponent scoreless and limit them to five or fewer hits through the first two games of a season. 

“Obviously, Max was great [Wednesday], bullpen was great [Wednesday], bullpen was electric today as well,” said Schlittler, who struck out eight. “So I’m really excited for Will [Warren] to get going [Saturday] and get the sweep.” 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Schlittler was untouchable, offering a potential preview of big things to come in his sophomore season as he recorded the first 16 outs on 68 pitches. He had a pitch count of 70 because he was not fully built up leaving camp after back inflammation had slowed him early in spring training, though that did little to affect his sharpness. 

“Nothing I can do about it, it’s out of my control,” Schlittler said of the limited pitch count. “Partially my fault, dealing with that little bit of a setback. But again, keep building from this week to next week and then hopefully get up to 90 pitches in a couple starts.” 

The only Giant to reach base against Schlittler was Heliot Ramos, who slashed a two-out double the other way in the second inning. The Giants only had two more base runners the rest of the way, on a walk by Cruz in the seventh and another from Bednar in the ninth. 

The 25-year-old Schlittler came out pounding the strike zone, including a 10-pitch, 10-strike first inning with an assist from Austin Wells, who had the only ball turned into strike three via an ABS challenge. That helped keep his pitch count in check and he turned on cruise control from there. 

“Just right where he left off last year,” Judge said, referring to Schlittler’s historic performance against the Red Sox in the AL wild-card series. “It’s impressive. He’s got the 100 mph fastball, but the feel for the offspeed and filling up the zone, especially with the defense we have, it’s going to be big-time for him.” 

Judge and Stanton, meanwhile, took care of the run support as the Yankees improved to 53-7 when both go deep. 

Judge was the only Yankee without a hit in their 7-0 win Wednesday, and entered the sixth inning Friday 0-for-7 with five strikeouts. But after challenging Robbie Ray’s 1-0 strike and turning it into a ball, Judge worked a full count and then clobbered a moonshot down the left field line for a two-run, 405-foot shot that gave the Yankees a lead. 

Two batters later, Stanton crushed a 414-foot homer to stay hot in the early going and ensure the Yankees will go for the sweep Saturday. 

“[Judge] didn’t play the way he wanted to [Wednesday], but he looked great today,” Schlittler said. “I had no doubt that he was going to go do something like that today.”

A promising season opener is worth virtually nothing. One out of 162 is the equivalent of about 17.8 seconds of an NBA game. The Mets will not score 11 runs per game and knock out every opposing starter in the first inning. 

The manner in which the Mets won Thursday, though, is what the team can find encouraging. Lengthy at-bats, many against maybe the best pitcher in the world, and a deep lineup filled with a combination of stars and grinders is how David Stearns envisioned this overhauled group. 

Among the not-sustainable happenings from what became a party at Citi Field: Bo Bichette’s first four Mets at-bats came with seven runners on base. 

Among the heartening signs for the Mets: Bichette is supposed to be stepping up to the plate with runners on base. This is what he and the Mets signed up for. 

One of the most accomplished players in baseball at hitting with runners in scoring position is batting behind Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. When Bichette landed with the Mets as a free agent, did he wonder what his RBI totals would look like? 

“Well, I know I’m going to have a ton of opportunities,” Bichette said with a smile. “So I just got to be ready for those opportunities.” 

In his Mets debut, Bichette authored what might be the most hopeful 0-for-4-with-three-K’s-and-a-sac-fly days in baseball history and immediately reminded everyone why the longtime Blue Jay became the immediate fallback when Kyle Tucker chose the Dodgers. 

The memorable first inning might have looked much different if Paul Skenes could have put Bichette away. After Lindor and Soto reached, the Pirates ace reached into the upper 90s to get ahead, 0-2. Bichette, protecting, fouled off a hard four-seamer. 

“Two strikes, he gets behind in the count,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We talk about the importance of getting guys in once we get in scoring position.” 

Which is what Bichette did, staying with a diving changeup and lofting a sacrifice fly to right for the first run of the Mets season. 

Coming through in the clutch, either with hits or just putting bat to ball, is what Bichette is known for. Since he broke into the majors in 2019 through 2025, Bichette hit .330 with runners in scoring position. In the span, 360 hitters logged at least 300 plate appearances in such situations, and Bichette’s average ranked fourth. 

“I think it’s just competing,” Bichette said about his approach in those situations. “… I would love to have that focus all the time.” 

It is surely part mental but also part physical. Last season, Bichette’s average bat speed for a swing registered at 69.1 mph. With two strikes, that average tightened to 67.6 mph. He shortens up to maximize his chance at making contact. 

Which he did in the fifth inning, when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, one out and the Mets ahead, 7-4. At some point, Bichette’s battle with righty Isaac Mattson graduated into a melee, a 13-pitch duel in which Bichette fouled off eight consecutive pitches with two strikes. 

“I know he probably wants a strikeout there,” Bichette said. “Trying to compete, see the ball as long as I can, try and outlast him. But I didn’t.” 

Mattson won, finally — Bichette swung through a slider — but the Mets may have won, too. 

A reliever who had expended 26 pitches already in the inning and 13 consecutive to one batter then threw four straight balls to Jorge Polanco for a bases-loaded walk. 

“I wrote that down,” Mendoza said. “Because even though [Bichette] struck out, then we see a four-pitch walk right away to Polanco, right behind him. 

“He’s going to make them work,” said Mendoza. We got a lot of guys that are going to grind at-bats, and that was the perfect example.” 

It is less a small sample size and more a speck of a sample size. But the first look at Bichette the Met hinted that his career high of 102 RBIs in a season could be in jeopardy this year.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants did their best to erase Opening Night and start fresh on Opening Day. They redid the pomp and circumstance under a Friday afternoon sky. The starting lineups were introduced again, sans any comedians or cable cars.

The organization even went so far as to post a graphic on social media declaring Robbie Ray its “Opening Day starter,” despite Logan Webb’s shellacking two nights earlier.

Manager Tony Vitello joked before the game that the day served as a “mulligan” after their 7-0 loss Wednesday. Can he get another?

The Giants’ supposedly vaunted lineup that was held to three hits in their season opener produced just one in a 3-0 loss to Cam Schlittler and the Yankees. 

The shutout loss made history: Never in the 143-year existence of the Giants franchise, from New York to San Francisco, has the team been held scoreless its first two games of the season.

What it means

Vitello joined a long line of Giants managers to lose his debut. The list of skippers to fall to 0-2 gets slightly shorter, but the former Tennessee coach still has plenty of company.

There hasn’t been a Giants manager to start 1-0 since Felipe Alou in 2003; Bruce Bochy and Gabe Kapler didn’t earn their first wins until their third games.

Who’s hot 

Hard contact was hard to come by against either starting pitcher, as the two lineups combined to produce two balls in play at 100 mph or harder through the first five innings.

Then Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton did their thing.

Judge, held hitless through his first seven at-bats of the season, unloaded on the third straight middle-in fastball he saw from Ray and planted it halfway up the left field bleachers.

Two batters later, Stanton found a similar landing spot for a solo shot and, just like that, the Giants were down 3-0.

Besides Judge’s homer and the double from Paul Goldschmidt that preceded it, Ray limited the Yankees to only three runners over 5 ⅓ innings in his season debut.

Stanton’s home run, off Jose Butto, represented the only run the Giants’ bullpen has surrendered in 7 ⅔ innings to start the season.

Schlittler was operating under a strict pitch count but still managed to pitch into the sixth inning while retiring all but one of the 17 Giants batters he faced.

Who’s not

Through 18 innings, the Giants have produced a total of zero runs, four hits, four walks and 19 strikeouts. Their only hit to go for extra bases was a soft double Heliot Ramos poked down the right field line in the second inning. As a team, they are batting .068 (4 for 59).

Their defense, which was a focus in the spring, continued to disappoint. A sloppy effort in their season opener was followed up by more misplays Friday.

Willy Adames should have been awarded his second error of the season on a would-be double play grounder that resulted in no outs after he had trouble transferring the ball from his glove and then misfired to Casey Schmitt at first base.

Luis Arraez didn’t have the range to stop another ground ball from Jazz Chisholm Jr. from making it into right field. And Jung Hoo Lee, new to Oracle Park’s unique right field dimensions, misjudged a hit into the corner that allowed Goldschmidt to stretch a single into a double.

The Giants were forced to bring the infield in on multiple occasions, and Arraez at least acquitted himself well in those situations, cleanly fielding two sharply hit ground balls and making accurate throws home to prevent two more runs from scoring.

Up next

The Giants will seek to salvage one win in their opening series, or at least get on the scoreboard, behind RHP Tyler Mahle, who will make his club debut against RHP Will Warren.

First pitch is scheduled for 4:35 p.m., nationally televised on Fox.

The Yankees stable of arms has come out the gate hotter than the Sun. After a 7-0 victory over the Giants on Opening Night, the Bombers, led by young star Cam Schlittler, continued to post zero after zero on Friday afternoon en route to a 3-0 series-clinching victory. Schlittler combined with four relievers for a one-hit shutout against a listless San Francisco offense, and a pair of sixth-inning home runs from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton proved to be all the firepower necessary to sew up the win.

Both starters worked brisk first innings—Schlittler collected a pair of Ks, the second of which came after a successful ABS challenge from Austin Wells. Both offenses then built rallies in the second, but both fizzled out. Giants starter Robbie Ray stranded two runners by getting new Yankee Randal Grichuk on a soft liner, then Schlittler navigated around a two-out double from Heliot Ramos.

The pitcher’s duel continued into the middle innings. Schlittler in particular was in a groove, working efficiently through four—requiring only 54 pitches. He struck out Rafael Devers and Willy Adames back-to-back to end the home fourth with six Ks. Ray responded by needing just five pitches to retire the side in order in the top of the fifth, but that just gave Schlittler the opportunity to rack up two more strikeouts in a row in a 1-2-3 bottom half.

So, don’t you think there’s a player who’s been conspicuously absent from this recap so far? A Bay Area native who tends to bring the fireworks? Well, wonder no longer: Aaron Judge has arrived in 2026. After a leadoff double from Paul Goldschmidt to start the sixth, Judge turned around an inside fastball and kept it fair down the left-field line for a towering two-run home run. His first hit and homer of the year made it 2-0 Bombers.

Ray would depart from the game a batter later, with that one blemish tarnishing what was a very strong season debut for the veteran. But the power party continued after he left the game, as Giancarlo Stanton had a mighty greeting for reliever Jose Buttó: a 414-foot moonshot to left field for a 3-0 Yankee edge.

It looked like Schlittler could have kept pitching for six more innings, but since he isn’t fully built up yet, Aaron Boone opted to lift him for Fernando Cruz just before the third time through the order. He got about as far as Boone could have hoped, finishing his season debut with a sparkling line: 5.1 innings, no runs, one hit, no walks, and eight strikeouts. He was ruthlessly efficient, with just 68 pitches and 49 strikes.

With the combined performances of Schlittler and Max Fried on Opening Day, the Yankees got scoreless outings from each of their first two starters. That matches just one other team in Yankees history: the 2003 squad with Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

The Giants’ offensive futility continued in the seventh, as even Tim Hill grabbed a pair of punchouts; both Devers and Adames fell by way of the K against the funky lefty. Then former Giant Camilo Doval continued his triumphant return to Oracle Park in the eighth by striking out the side amid groans from orange-and-black-clad partisans.

The Yankees threatened to expand the lead a few times in the late innings, but those attempts fell by the boards. José Caballero nearly manufactured a run by himself in the seventh, but was thrown out at home on a contact play gone awry. Then Caballero got an opportunity with the bases loaded in the eighth before rolling over to Matt Chapman at third base to end the inning.

So in a three-run game, it was up to David Bednar to grab his first save of the year. He started out with a groundball to third from Harrison Bader, then got WBC foe Luis Arráez to roll over to second. A two-out walk to Matt Chapman gave the Giants a pulse and handed an opportunity to habitual Yankee-torturer Devers, but the former Red Sock pounded a ball into the dirt for the 27th out. Bednar’s save capped off a nearly perfect pitching performance—just one hit allowed.

Tomorrow, the Yankees go for the sweep. (That’s right: they don’t play on Sunday.) Will Warren will get the ball against veteran righty Tyler Mahle, with first pitch coming at 7:15 PM. It’s another national TV game: FOX will have the call.

Box Score