Category: Sports News

The Royals announced they have called up reliever Eric Cerantola from Triple-A Omaha and have optioned Stephen Kolek to the Storm Chasers. Kolek earned the win in last night’s game against Cleveland, making a spot start for the injured Noah Cameron, with three runs allowed in six innings. Cerantola had a 1.42 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 12.2 innings for Omaha.

The Canadian-born Cerantola was a fifth-round pick in 2021 out of Mississippi State. He was added to the 40-man roster after the 2024 season, but had mixed results last year. He finished with a 4.04 ERA with 63 strikeouts in 49 innings in Triple-A, missing some time with injury. He pitched briefly for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic, making two scoreless appearances.

In 2025, MLB Pipeline had this scouting report on him:

The Royals like his power arm, though, with a fastball that has reached 99-100 mph. Cerantola uses the heater a lot, which is why it can be vulnerable to contact with average movement and vert. His plus 82-87 mph breaking ball — he calls it a curveball — is sharp with good break and spin, missing bats and getting chase. Cerantola reintroduced a fringe-average-to-average changeup into his arsenal recently, and although he hasn’t used the 85-87 mph offering much, it will be helpful against lefties and could help the fastball play up.

Kolek has made six starts for the Royals since being acquired from the Padres, and has a Quality Start (at least 6 innings, with 3 or fewer runs) in each, with a 2.31 ERA in a Royals uniform.

Blue Jays 0 Rays 3

I said in the thread: The thing I like about baseball, is the team can be going bad, the game can be going bad, but there are still just amazing plays to watch.

I have been a Jays fan pretty much since the first series. There have been a lot of bad games. When teams play 162 games a year, even in the best of years, there are a lot of bad games. I’ve always thought that if you can’t handle losses in baseball, this is the wrong sport for you. Even the best teams lose more games that+n football teams will lose in five years

And there were a number of nice plays:

• Piñango made a nice catch in the first.
• Clement and Sosa made a nice double ply in the third.
• Okamoto had a very nice play on a ball right down the left field line.

• Straw hit one off the top of the center field wall.
• Patrick Corbin pitched quite well.
• Nice to see Fisher have a good outing.

But it was a loss.

We had just four hits: Okamoto, Varsho, and Straw (2).

Vlad, Springer, Clement, Schneider and Heineman all look just lost at the plate at the moment

The defense wasn’t as sharp as it needs to be. Clement had a throwing error that ended up costing us a run (Vlad could have saved him the error by making a catch).

Jays of the Day? Well, I’ll give one to Varsho for the pinch hit (0.08 WPA) and it was a nice swing.

Other Award: Piñango (-0.16, he had a really tough time against the lefty Shane McClanahan), Clement (-0.11, plus the error) and Vlad (-0.10). But really, call the game in the starting lineup could get the ‘award’.

Tomorrow’s an off-day, and I can use it. Sometimes too much negative in the GameThread can get to me. As always, if I ask ‘stop’ please stop. Moderating is not all that much fun, it is the part of running this place that I hate.

Friday we start a series with the Angels in Toronto. It can’t possibly be as bad as this one was. Right? Tell me I’m right. We get Dylan Cease (2-1, 3.05) vs. Reid Detmers (1-2, 4.28).

The Cincinnati Reds are going bold in their attempts to address their diminished bullpen.

In the wake of last night’s hamstring injury to closer Emilio Pagan, they’re turning to veteran right-hander Tejay Antone to bolster their relief corps. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic broke the news earlier on Wednesday, noting that Antone – who’s coming off his third Tommy John surgery – will be back in the big leagues 759 days since going under the knife the most recent time.

Antone, 32, has revamped his pitching arsenal and is a much, much different pitcher than he was during his last stint in the big leagues. He used to touch 100 mph with his heater while sporting a ridiculous breaking pitch that earned him the nickname of ‘Captain Hook,’ but even the revamped arsenal has proved quite effective at the AAA level so far in 2026. To date, he’s appeared in 12 games and sports a 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and impressive 15/6 K/BB.

What remains to be seen is what the Reds did to open up a 40-man roster spot for Antone, since he was not on that roster. It could be Emilio Pagan heading straight to the 60-day IL, a move that would clearly signal the severity of his hamstring injury last night. It could be a DFA elsewhere, with catcher PJ Higgins a likely candidate if that’s the way they choose to go.

We’ll have to wait and see how manager Terry Francona chooses to stack his new bullpen with Antone now on the roster and Pagan, their closer, off of it, bt we’ll get that chance tonight in Wrigley Field as the Reds look to shake off back to back walk-off losses amid their 5-game skid.

Welcome back, Tejay!

UPDATE

It appears that moving Brandon Williamson to the 60-day IL is the move that opens up a 40-man roster spot. The Reds made that announcement on Wednesday afternoon, noting that Pierce Johnson has been recalled from the bereavement list and Chase Petty was optioned back to AAA Louisville.

Pagan was placed only on the 15-day IL, which is an encouraging development.

The Yankees officially optioned Elmer Rodríguez to Triple-A after his start in last night’s game against the Rangers, with Carlos Rodón set to rejoin the rotation in the next week. Since Rodón won’t need to be activated until his start, the Yankees promoted Yerry de Los Santos in the interim.

de Los Santos gives the Yankees an extra arm in the bullpen during this period in which they’ll carry four starters. It’ll be his second trip on the Scranton shuttle this year, having appeared in one game in mid-April, allowing one run in two innings. Though he’s been given the role of Triple-A depth this year, De Los Santos impressed with the big club in 2025, posting a 3.28 ERA in 35.2 innings. He might be ticketed for a short stay this time around, but he should have more chances throughout the year to prove himself at the highest level.

Rodríguez will return to Scranton after an uneven couple of outings in the majors. The 22-year-old right-hander flashed plenty of promise, showcasing a true five-pitch mix and sitting 95-96 mph on his fastballs. However, he also uncharacteristically struggled to find the zone, walking eight batters in 8.2 innings, forcing himself to work constantly with traffic on the base paths. It’s not quite the debut he was looking for, but it’s telling he was the Yankees’ first call when they needed a spot starter. Rodríguez clearly has a lot of promise, and this may not be the last we see of him this year.

The Mariners have an opportunity to close up what’s been a fairly miserable homestand with a series win, but whereas Bryan Woo would previously feel like a lock to keep the Mariners in it, he’s coming off back-to-back starts where he’s, in his own words, gotten his “ass kicked.” He’ll try to rally back today against (gulp) the powerful Braves lineup.

Lineups:

Even though the Braves are sending a lefty to the mound today, there’s no Rob Refsnyder in this lineup, as the DH spot is occupied by Cal Raleigh. Refsnyder is apparently dealing with knee stiffness and the team wants to keep him out of the field.

News:

Former Braves owner Ted Turner passed away today, which will certainly be a storyline in today’s game. You can read a writeup on the influence Turner had on the Braves at our sister site Battery Power.

Injury updates:

See above note re: Rob Refsnyder.

In other news: F/OF Brendan Donovan went 1-for-3 with 1 doubles and 2 walks yesterday in the first game of his rehab assignment with Double-A Arkansas. OF Victor Robles played for Triple-A Tacoma in his second rehab start and made three plate appearances with a walk and a strikeout. INF Patrick Wisdom also appeared in yesterday’s game with Triple-A Tacoma on rehab and took two walks. RHP Bryce Miller will start for Everett tonight; in what will hopefully be his last rehab start, he should be cleared to go as deep as five innings and 75-80 pitches, depending on how the game goes.

Roster moves:

The Braves made a roster move today, selecting INF Jim Jarvis to the major league roster and designating OF José Azócar for assignment.

Game information:

Game time: 1:10 PT

TV: Mariners TV, with Aaron Goldsmith and Dave Valle, with Angie Mentink as field reporter

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr.

For much of his Mariner tenure, George Kirby has carried the moniker “Furious George,” a tongue-in-cheek nod to his angry mound persona (his other nickname is “Angry Cheddar”, bestowed by Bryce Miller) and a play on the classic children’s book series about a curious monkey. But the 2026 version of George Kirby is a different animal altogether.

“I want to be a workhorse,” said Kirby after last night’s start, where he turned in seven strong innings against a red-hot Atlanta lineup, giving up just two runs on some bad-luck hits, including a fluky double that rolled down the right-field line at 71 mph off the bat of Mauricio Dubón.

So far, Kirby has been as good as his word: Kirby hit 52 innings pitched last night, good for second in all of MLB behind Yankees ace Max Fried. The three MLB pitchers to have eclipsed 50 innings so far this season are Fried, Kirby, and Miami’s Sandy Alcantara.

Those three pitchers also have something else in common: elite ground ball rates. Both Fried and Alcantara ranked within the top 20 in baseball last year in ground ball rates. Kirby, however, is a newer member of this club. After last night’s start against the Braves, Kirby’s groundball rate is up to 57.6% – fourth-highest in baseball, and second in the AL behind Anaheim’s Jack Kochanowicz.

Last season, maybe in an attempt to chase some more strikeouts and limit hard contact, Kirby dialed down his four-seamer, which he’d gradually been backing off of – he went from throwing it 45% of the time in his debut season to a low of 29% in 2025. In its place, he used his sweeper more heavily, a pitch he threw under 10% of the time in 2022 but compromised 28% of his arsenal by 2025. That tweak had the effect of creating more whiffs for Kirby, but also cost him some of his elite command – pushing him towards a nearly pedestrian walk rate of 5.5%. But the bigger knock-on effect was it cost him some of his efficiency; even accounting for the injury that held him out for part of the season, Kirby only completed seven innings three times, compared to six in 2024 and 11 in 2023.

Kirby says he hasn’t made any tweaks to his arsenal and he’s not exactly sure where all the ground balls are coming from, but he was able to hazard a guess.

“I think that’s just kind of what happens when you try and get strike one,” he said. “You’re in the zone a lot throwing quality strikes. So, the more ground balls, the better. Helps me go deeper in games and eventually get the swing and miss when I need it…As a starter, I want to go as deep in the game as possible and give my team the best chance to win. So if it’s ground balls, great, strikeouts, awesome. If it’s a little bit of both, even better.”

“I’ve always felt like contact can be your friend sometimes,” said manager Dan Wilson. “I think [Kirby] understands…ground ball outs are just as important.”

Maybe the biggest change for Kirby has been mentally. He’s spoken extensively this year about shifting his perspective about having runners on base, trying to let go when a fluky base hit happens (like the Dubón double last night) and refocus on the task at hand, not getting too wrapped up in the results of a prior pitch, especially one he felt he executed well but got poor results on.

“That stuff just doesn’t matter anymore, in the moment. I’m doing a better job of bringing my awareness back to the batter and forgetting about what just happened…I’m trying to just stay in control as much as possible in those moments and try to be the best I can. Not do too much, just go out there and attack and things usually work out.”

It’s something he’s worked on extensively with Mariners mental skills coach Adam Bernero, who has helped Kirby understand how to channel the emotion he feels on the mound in more productive ways and learn to let go of emotions that don’t serve him. Anger can be a motivating force; it can also, in excess, be toxic.

“Maybe, as a reliever, you can go full caveman,” said Bernero. “As a starter, that’s hard. You have to pick your spots.”

“Emotion can be a funny thing,” said Dan Wilson. “Emotion can be a great motivator, but when you let the emotion last too long, it can become a negative drag.”

“Sometimes you need a little bit of extra something, emotion, to kind of get you going. But for the most part I think George has done a really nice job of staying focused, staying right where he needs to be. And that’s been a huge step forward for him, and one that’s really paid dividends for him in helping him get deeper…And I think he’s done a great job of it and has been able to move on from things. We’ve seen it in different situations, whether it was reversed calls or reversed challenges, whatever happened. He’s able to bounce back and keep going. And I think that shows real maturity.”

Crowds tend to get hyped up around strikeouts; it’s a little harder to get them humming about a routine 4-3 putout. Efficiency is not sexy to the average baseball fan. But it’s something Kirby is learning to embrace.

“I think that’s what you should want to go do when you get out there, just go as long as you can,” he said. “I think that’s what matters the most. Like, the strikeouts are cool, the crowd – whatever. But the longer you stay out there, you’re doing your job. You’re doing your job for the bullpen, for the guys behind you. So that’s my focus.”

So in taking this more long-term view, has he let go of some of the persona of “furious George”?

“Oh no, it’s still in there,” he said after his last home outing against Texas. “I walked two guys today, I’m not very happy about it. But I’m using it in a different way. Use the anger as a weapon instead of something that would hold me back the last couple years. Use it more as fuel. It’s been feeling a lot better. You just gather your breath, just take a couple fast, quick exhales, get yourself going, get your body right for the moment you’re in. The more I can use anger to my favor, the better.”

It’s hard to stay furious for long. Anger is literally exhausting: it spikes adrenaline and cortisol levels and stresses your cardiovascular system. While one can manage its spikes, it’s not a sustainable emotion for the hours it takes to pitch deep into a baseball game. Furious George will still make an occasional appearance, but he’s being replaced by Steady Hand George, the workhorse.

“He was very efficient yesterday,” said manager Dan Wilson. “Workhorses find a way to be efficient and find a way to get deep into the game, and that’s what George did yesterday.”

Tyler Glasnow left his start on Wednesday afternoon against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park after only one inning, with the Dodgers right-hander suffering lower back pain per an announcement from the team.

Glasnow was warming up for the second inning when he felt something, and was quickly joined on the mound by catcher Dalton Rushing, manager Dave Roberts, head athletic trainer Thomas Albert and the entire infield. After a bit of deliberation, Glasnow walked off the field and into the clubhouse.

Glasnow allowed a solo home run in the first inning but also struck out a pair. His first strikeout, getting Yordan Alvárez looking on a curveball, was the 1,000th strikeout of Glasnow’s career. He’s the 576th pitcher in major league history with at least 1,000 strikeouts.

Prior to the injury, Glasnow was off to a good start this season, leading the Dodgers with 49 strikeouts with his 2.72 ERA. He led the team in innings (38 2/3) through the end of April.

Left-hander Jack Dreyer replaced Glasnow on the mound and pitched two scoreless innings to start a scramble of six pitchers who recorded the final 24 outs of Wednesday’s win.

The Atlanta Braves will look to improve to 6-0 in rubber matches and stay unbeaten in series with Wednesday afternoon’s 4:10 p.m. EDT series finale against the Seattle Mariners.

Martín Pérez will be tasked with making another start after he wasn’t used in the bullpen Tuesday night. Jim Jarvis, called up this morning, will make his major league debut at shortstop to give Jorge Mateo a day off.

Let’s baseball one more time before a high-stakes series this weekend against the Dodgers.

Game Info

Preview

Lineups

There's good news and bad news for Tyler Glasnow and Los Angeles Dodgers fans.

Good news for the Glasnow generals, or those who have him on their fantasy team, Glasnow recorded his 1,000th career strikeout in a start against the Houston Astros on May 6. He threw a curveball at Yordan Álvarez, one of the game's notable sluggers, who bit and missed, giving Glasnow strikeout No. 1,000.

The San Francisco Giants conclude their three-game series against the San Diego Padres this afternoon, and they’re hoping for a much-needed series win. We’re also hoping for that.

Taking the mound for the Giants is righty Adrian Houser, who is still trying to find his groove this season. Houser has made six starts this year, and is 0-3 with a 7.12 ERA, a 5.75 FIP, and 16 strikeouts against 10 walks in 30.1 innings. He gave up three earned runs in 4.2 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies his last time out, which, unfortunately, was one of his best starts of the year.

San Diego is opting for an opener, with righty Bradgley Rodriguez kicking things off. The 22-year old has appeared in 14 games this year, and is 0-1 with a 1.62 ERA, a 2.60 FIP, and 12 strikeouts to five walks in 16.2 innings. This is his first career start.

Enjoy the game everyone. Go Giants!

Lineups

Giants

1. Heliot Ramos — LF
2. Jung Hoo Lee — CF
3. Casey Schmitt — 2B
4. Matt Chapman — 3B
5. Rafael Devers — 1B
6. Willy Adames — SS
7. Bryce Eldridge — DH
8. Jesús Rodríguez — RF
9. Patrick Bailey — C

RHP. Adrian Houser

Padres

1. Jackson Merrill — CF
2. Manny Machado — 3B
3. Miguel Andujar — DH
4. Gavin Sheets — 1B
5. Fernando Tatis Jr. — 2B
6. Ramón Laureano — LF
7. Nick Castellanos — RF
8. Freddy Fermin — C
9. Sung-Mun Song — SS

RHP. Bradgley Rodriguez

Game #37

Who: San Francisco Giants (14-22) vs. San Diego Padres (21-14)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 12:45 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM