Category: Sports News

The San Diego Padres finished their road series versus the Los Angeles Angels winning two of three despite being shutout in the first game, scoring all their runs in the eighth and ninth innings in the second game, and squeaking out the third game with Mason Miller’s eighth save. Jackson Merrill robbed his third home run of the season in the middle game, almost colliding with Fernando Tatis Jr. in the process. 

They moved on to Colorado, hoping to get their offense, that has been struggling to hit for power since leaving home, back on track before their short series in 7,300 feet of elevation in Mexico City.

That plan was not wholly successful. 

The Friars took two of three from the Rockies but it was frequently not easy. They split the first two, with Randy Vasquez winning a 1-0 game over seven innings pitched.  The last game appeared lost with the Rockies leading 8-5 going into the ninth inning but those gritty Padres fought back. 

With a walk by Jackson Merrill followed by three singles from Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Miguel Andujar to plate two runs, the Padres were only trailing by one. Gavin Sheets, in the game after he pinch-hit for Ty France in his previous turn in the order, lined a home run down the right field line with two on for a game winner. 

Mason Miller didn’t strike anyone out in the bottom of the inning, showing that even he is not as effective in the mile high altitude of Coors Field, but he did get a double play after allowing a hit and getting a ground out.

Dominant Randy

The 1-0 shutout was only the 12th such game in Coors Field history. Those seven innings gave Vasquez a 1.88 ERA for his early season and a 3.32 ERA in his last four starts in Colorado.

As a contrast, opposing pitchers currently have a 5.79 ERA when pitching against the Rockies at home while the Rocks have a .365 batting average at home.

Error-free Friars

As part of their ability to win close and late in games, the Padres have had a lot of timely hitting and contributions from up and down the lineup. They have also played error-free baseball over their last 13 games. If you have some spotty starting pitching and an inconsistent offense, which they have had, then playing clean defense is a must.

Padres to Mexico

Due to the international trip to Mexico City, the Padres will carry an extra player for emergencies. The player must be on the 40-man roster so an extra catcher is not an option. The team has not announced who joined the regular 26 for the plane trip to Mexico City but an extra pitcher would be the most obvious choice. Scratch that, they called up Sung-Mun Song.

Players on the injured list will not accompany the team to Mexico City. Both Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta returned to San Diego while the team brought executives, staff, sponsors and family members for the two-game series.

Gavin Sheets gives everyone a gift

April 23 was Gavin Sheets’ 30th birthday. He didn’t start the game but gave all of us a gift with his three-run homer in the ninth to put the Padres ahead. After the game, he also received the ceremonial ice bucket shower routinely given to the hero of the game during his interview with Padres.TV. Coincidentally, Sheets also wears number 30 for the Friars.

Padres contributions

With Machado (.195 average, .620 OPS), Merrill (.211 average, .647 OPS) and Tatis Jr. (.250 average, .620 OPS) all struggling with their offense, Bogaerts and Ramon Laureano have stepped forward to lead the team.

Bogaerts is hitting .289 with an .810 OPS and has four home runs and 16 RBI. Laureano is hitting .264 with an .804 OPS with four home runs and 17 RBI. There have been key contributions from other players as well and catcher Luis Campusano deserves a special mention. 

Campusano, in his back-up role to Freddy Fermin, has played in 13 games with a .333 average and 1.052 OPS. He has six doubles, two home runs and seven RBI. He has also had key hits in many of the dramatic wins the Padres have put together this season. His framing still ranks below average, but he excels at ABS and ranks above average or average with his arm and his blocking. He has been the regular catcher for Michael King and Walker Buehler this season.

The other bench player of note is Miguel Andujar, who frequently serves as DH, and has contributed a .316 average, .789 OPS, five doubles and five RBI.

While the team offense continues to lag in the bottom part of MLB statistics, the pitching staff ranks ninth with a 3.62 ERA. The bullpen again carries the bulk of that load with a 3.12 ERA, fourth in baseball.

Injuries and transactions

The Padres signed starting pitcher Lucas Giolitto to a team-friendly deal, guaranteeing him a prorated $1.5 million for this season, a $1.5 million buyout for an option in 2027 and incentives that can equal up to $5 million. He will report to Lake Elsinore to begin his build up and keep him close to San Diego to work with the Padres pitching coaches. His contract guarantees he will be added to the roster by May 16.

Starter Griffin Canning continues his rehab with El Paso and his rehab window closes on May 4. He has time for one more start before being added to the Padres roster and should be up to 70-80 pitches. He was removed from his last start after 31 pitches in the second inning and 45 pitches total. He allowed three hits and two earned runs with two walks in the 1.2 innings pitched.

Yuki Matsui pitched in back-to-back games for the first time this week. His rehab window also expires May 4.

Song was on the El Paso Chihuahuas roster after being optioned last week and before being added for the Mexico City Series. He continues to have issues with his contact and barrel rates while striking out 21 times in 75 at-bats.

Jeremiah Estrada is expected to begin his rehab assignment this weekend with El Paso.

Neither Joe Musgrove nor Nick Pivetta have had a recent update to their injury status.

Detroit Tigers (14-13) vs. Cincinnati Reds (17-9)

Time/Place: 7:15 p.m., Great American Ball Park
SB Nation Site: Red Reporter
Media: FOX, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Jack Flaherty (0-1, 3.47 ERA) vs. RHP Brady Singer (1-1, 5.32 ERA)

The Twins were drubbed 6-1, nearly taking in their first shutout loss of 2026, but regardless marking their eighth loss in the last nine ballgames, and exacerbating the absolute morale tailspin that Minnesota has found themselves in during the back half of April.

A bizarre first inning opened with a ghost-timeout that required something akin to a crew chief review, and ended with an outfield assist at home plate from Austin Martin, the fourth of his career.

From there, an early pitching duel developed, with an embattled Shane McClanahan trading zeroes with a velocity-challenged Bailey Ober (Tampa Bay’s starter logged a changeup that came in hotter than Bailey’s hardest fastball of the day.) A scoreless tie held for an hour and change, until a two-out solo shot from Jake Fraley, 401 feet into right field, cracked open a 2-0 lead for Tampa Bay.

But while the Rays had eventually broken through, the Twins would not produce an offensive highlight today. (Their lone run came with two outs in the ninth, when a snapped-bat single from Royce Lewis would bring in Luke Keaschall from second base.) And even the homer would not tarnish much of starter Bailey Ober’s linescore; he went six innings and gave up only three hits. While the swing-and-miss stuff was not present, Ober drove his ERA down below 4.00 in his first loss of the season.

McClanahan’s outing was quicker, but better. In five innings, he too allowed just three hits, but kept Minnesota off the board and struck out seven to only two walks.

The loss was cemented by another poor bullpen performance, which is becoming as dependable (and predictably dependable) of a theme as you might imagine. Taylor Rogers couldn’t get an out in the seventh, allowing an RBI triple off the bat of Ben Williamson, as well as a run-scoring single to Nick Fortes; he was also charged for the run when a sac fly from Richie Palacios scored known thorn Cedric Mullins.

Tampa Bay tacked on a sixth and final run off Garrett Acton (a Ben Williamson RBI double.)

The Twins have now dropped eight of nine, effectively erasing their astonishing stretch where they went 8-1 in nine games against numerous Cy Young-caliber starters and potential playoff hopefuls. The Rays win also delivers the first win at Tropicana Field for McClanahan in, per the telecast, over a thousand days. The Twins will attempt to avoid another sweep tomorrow afternoon.

See you there!

STUDS:

CF Byron Buxton (2-for-4)

DUDS:

RP Taylor Rogers (0.0 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, BB, 0 K)

1B Victor Caratini (0-for-4, 2 K)

RF Matt Wallner (0-for-4, K)

The Royals arrive at the ballpark today winners of two of their last three games, but also two of their last two of their last eleven. So ya know, fun with endpoints!

The Royals are 2-2 so far on this home stand, and boy, things would feel a lot better after that awful losing stretch if they could finish it 4-2 with a series sweep over the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, California. No, the Angels aren’t a particularly good team, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

Speaking of starting somewhere, Cole Ragans will take the mound to begin the day. Over his last 3 starts, he has pitched 11 innings while giving up 10 runs with 13 walks and 9 strikeouts. The team ace has not seemed himself at all since taking a soft liner off the bat of Jose Ramírez in Cleveland. But he’s going to give it another shot, and today would be the best day to look like his unhittable self since the last day he started.

In an argument against it being an injury problem, his spin rates, velocity, and movement profiles are all exceptionally similar using that day on April 8 as a breaking point. If anything, his spin rates have gone up slightly, and he’s even throwing about 2% more strikes than before. But his chase rate has dropped from 32% to 17.2%, and his whiff rate has dropped from 35.8% – one of the best in baseball at the time – to 17.5%. If we can accept that the issues aren’t physical, then I can only imagine that Brian Sweeney, Mitch Stetter, and Mike McFerran are lying awake at night over it.

Rookie Walbert Ureña will be making his second career big league start and fourth overall appearance this year. He made the club as a reliever out of Spring Training, but struggled in his first two appearances and was demoted back to AAA to stretch back out as a starter. He was recalled last week to allow an extra rest day for other starters on the Angels’ staff and shone, striking out 8 and allowing 2 runs in a six-inning performance against the Padres. Unfortunately for him, he took the loss as the Angels could only muster one run in support.

He entered the season ranked as the Angels’ 18th-best prospect on MLB Pipeline and 23rd-best on FanGraphs with a 40 FV. According to TJ Stats, he features four pitches, of which three are elite. Against righties, he will primarily throw a sinker that averages 98.8 MPH and grades out at 72 on the 20-80 scouting scale, mixing in a 67-grade sweeper. Against lefties, he throws a 45-grade four-seamer that averages 98.7 MPH and a 65-grade changeup. The four-seamer and changeup have gotten hit hard so far in his young career, and, not coincidentally, lefties have tortured him.

Lineups

With Maikel Garcia out for his second straight game but with a righty on the mound, the Royals have decided not just to go lefty-heavy, but to ask Carter Jensen to lead off for the third time in his career. The first two times were both last year, and while he was the designated hitter. The first time he did it was in that wild game against the Blue Jays when he went 3-for-7 with 3 doubles and the Royals won 20-1.

The Royals will only have three righties in the lineup. What will be particularly interesting to see is if this goes well for Carter, if the Royals might consider having him lead off against righties on the regular and move Maikel down in the order to even things out a bit, handedness-wise. Possibly finally shifting Salvy to a lower spot in the order where he better fits.

Regardless, the Royals have averaged 5.75 runs on this homestand, even with a lineup that didn’t really get anyone excited last night as they won 6-3. If they can keep doing that, we’ll stop caring about the batting order nearly as much.

The Houston Astros (10-17) will play the second of a three-game series with their heated interdivision rival New York Yankkes (17-9), tonight at Daikin Park.

RHP Mike Burrows(1-3 ,6.75 ERA) will make his sixth regular season appearance for the Astros tonight opposite the Yankees and starter RHP Ryan Weathers (1-2, 3.18 ERA).

TONIGHT’S STARTER: RHP Mike Burrows is making his sixth start of the season as he tries to follow up a promising beginning to his last start (4.2 hitless innings) before everything unraveled following the second out in the fifth inning.

This season, Burrows has actually been the Astros most durable starter as he has gone five or more innings in all but one of his starts.

HOME-COOKIN’: Tonight is the second game of a brief three game home stand against the Yankees. Even though the team is 10-17 overall, seven of those wins have come at home this season as the team is a respectable 7-7 at home coming into tonight’s game.

VS. THE YANKEES: This series revives a major rivalry between two stalwart American League franchises including three different playoff tilts since 2015. In spite of the dominance in the playoffs, the Yankees hold a 53-36 record all-time. The two teams split the season series last year at three games a piece.

TODAY’S ROSTER MOVE: The Astros have reinstated LHP Bennett Sousa from the 15-day IL today…he takes the roster spot of LHP Colton Gordon, who was optioned to Triple A Sugar Land after last night’s game.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, April 25, 6:10 p.m. CST

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: Space City Home Network

Streaming: SCHN+

Radio: KBME 790 AM & 99.1 FM HD2; KTRH 740 AM; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Astros Lineup

SS Carlos Correa

LF Yordan Alvarez

3B Isaac Paredes

2B Jose Altuve

1B Christian Walker

DH Yainer Diaz

RF Cam Smith

C Christian Vazquez

C Yainer Diaz

CF Brice Matthews

Yankees Lineup

CF Trent Grisham

1B Ben Rice

RF Aaron Judge

LF Cody Bellinger

2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.

DH Amed Rosario

C Austin Wells

3B Ryan McMahon

SS Jose Caballero

The Yankees are rolling, and suddenly the offense looks awake again. After a brief April slowdown that had some fans uneasy, New York has responded with the type of outburst everyone had been waiting for. After feasting on the Royals in the Bronx, sweeping Boston at Fenway Park, and then opening the Houston series with an emphatic win, the mood has quickly changed around this club.

Now the Yankees will look to make it eight consecutive victories on Saturday night. That would match their longest winning streak from all of last year (September 20-28, to end the season). Winning streaks can disappear quickly over a long season, but right now, New York is playing with confidence, getting production throughout the lineup, and stacking wins against rivals on the road.

Before first pitch, the Yankees officially reinstated Ryan Weathers from the paternity list. The left-hander returns after welcoming a healthy baby boy and will take the mound looking to add another chapter to an already strong start in pinstripes. In a corresponding move, right-hander Angel Chivilli was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 23, with right shoulder discomfort. Jake Bird had been recalled to take Weathers’ spot on the roster and will remain in the bullpen. So the ’pen will be a situation worth monitoring as the Yankees continue this road trip.

Weathers gets the ball coming off his best start of his still-young Yankees career. The left-hander fired 7.1 scoreless innings against Kansas City in his last outing while striking out eight. He has piled up 18 K’s over his last two starts. The overall numbers have been mixed across starts thanks to some Angels homers, but the stuff passes the eye test.

This outing also marks Weathers’ first start as a father. Baseball players believe in routines, lucky charms, and hot streaks, but few forces are stronger than Dad Strength. The Yankees will hope this new chapter helps Weathers continue building toward the arm the front office believed he could become when he was acquired this offseason.

Houston counters with right-hander Mike Burrows, a newer addition to the Astros after arriving from Pittsburgh in a three-way trade that sent longtime Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe to the Bucs (among other player moves). Burrows works with a four-pitch mix built around his changeup, but he enters this start searching for better results after allowing 10 earned runs across his last 10.2 innings.

The Astros’ pitching staff as a whole has been one of baseball’s strangest groups so far. Houston enters tonight last in Major League Baseball with a 5.97 ERA and has walked 22 more batters than the second-worst Angels. Yet Houston also ranks top three in strikeouts, meaning the raw stuff can still dominate if opponents lose patience. That makes the Yankees’ offensive approach especially important tonight. If New York forces deep counts, accepts free passes, and avoids chasing, there should be opportunities to create traffic and keep pressure on Houston pitching.

Houston’s larger issue is simply health. The Astros currently have 16 players on the big-league injured list, including notable names such as Hunter Brown, Josh Hader, Cristian Javier, Jeremy Peña, Ronel Blanco, Jake Meyers, and others. It is a bruised roster, particularly on the pitching side, and one that has been forced to patch together innings throughout the opening month. Even with those absences, the Astros still bring a dangerous lineup for Weathers to navigate. Houston leans on veteran bats and middle-order power, so the Yankees’ southpaw will need sharp command from the opening inning.

The Yankees lineup card has a slightly different look tonight, and it starts with Trent Grisham at the top. Grisham leads off ahead of Ben Rice and Aaron Judge, giving New York two left-handed bats before its superstar slugger. Cody Bellinger slots cleanup, followed by the red-hot Jazz Chisholm Jr. and tonight’s designated hitter, Amed Rosario.

This alignment gives Aaron Boone a balanced mix of speed, on-base ability, and power with a fun lefty-lefty-righty split. Grisham and Rice can set the table, Judge remains the centerpiece, and Bellinger protects in the spot behind Judge. With Jazz and Rosario hitting behind them, there should be traffic throughout the order if the Yankees stay patient.

Austin Wells catches, while Ryan McMahon and José Caballero round out the lower third of the lineup. One major storyline is Giancarlo Stanton, who exited Friday’s game with an injury and is absent from tonight’s lineup. He will not be going on the IL yet as the club continues to evaluate the severity of the injury and what makes sense from a roster logistics perspective (mostly unsaid in all this is that Anthony Volpe is expected back soon himself but isn’t quite ready to return from his rehab assignment).

A theme during this seven-game runR has been really good pitching and an offense that either produces four runs or hangs a football number on the scoreboard. With the weather finally turning the corner across the country, perhaps the bats are warming up too and can keep giving the pitching staff some comfortable leads.

Winning streaks can feel ordinary or sudden while they are happening, but they are not. If the Yankees keep taking care of business against clubs like Boston and Houston, this could become one of the stretches that matters in the final standings when the season ends. So here is to seven in a row, and hoping for eight tonight!

How to Watch:

Location: Daikin Park — Houston, TX

First Pitch: 7:10 pm EDT

TV broadcast: YES / Space City Home Network

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Ahead of this evening’s game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies, there was a special guest in the press conference room. Well, he’s a special guest who used to be a regular in that room. Former manager Brian Snitker is getting inducted into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame and he took some time on his big day to take some questions from the media before the festivities got started.

Snitker was asked about how it feels to be up there with al of the other legendary figures in Braves history and as expected, Snitker felt pretty honored by the recognition.

“It makes me feel great,” said Snit. “When I got the job, I felt like I was a caretaker here to keep this thing going. There’s a lot of history here and we’ve had a lot of success. It takes a lot of people to make that happen and I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to be at the helm here. There’s a lot of people that were involved in that success.”

One of the many, many people that helped contribute to Snitker’s successful tenure here was current Braves manager Walt Weiss, who served as a bench coach under Snitker for eight seasons before taking over. I asked Weiss about what his main takeaway was from spending so much time working under Snitker and he gave a pretty interesting answer to that question.

“I always talk about Snit’s patience,” answered Weiss. “As a bench coach, I would always go in there and make sure everything was good and I know as a manager — especially after a loss — a manager wears a loss really tough. I never wanted Snit to be in there by himself following a loss, so I’d go in there and talk about things or sometimes we wouldn’t talk about anything. I’d just sit there in case he wanted to vent.”

“In the end, I’d go in there after a tough loss and try to make sure he’s okay and he’d end up talking me off of the ledge. He just had a calm presence about him — a patience that came across great in that leadership role. He was great at calming the waters. Through the tough times, he was very consistent and he was the same guy every day. That’s important in leadership — the players see that and it brings a calmness and consistency to the group.”

“I’m still working on that patience part! But that’s probably the greatest takeaway for me from Snit.”

Snitker was asked about his future and whether or not he thought about ending things earlier than usual. Snit was pretty candid in his response and made it clear that the time he decided to retire was indeed the right time and not a moment sooner.

“I might’ve thought about it but I never really seriously processed that. I remember one time after a phone call with Ronnie, the kids weren’t being real good and she’s kind of freaked out and all stressed out and I said, ‘Well, if I gotta come home and leave what I’m doing right here, I’m not going to be very much fun to be around because I’m gonna be miserable.

“This is what I do, this is where I’m happy at. I wanted to keep going. There’s never a time where I didn’t want to do this. I couldn’t wait every year to get to spring training. I hated the end of every year. I loved that routine in July where it’s 100 degrees and every day is the same. I liked that! Now I’m trying to figure out what my new normals are.”

He continued on by talking about what his new normal looks like. While he’s still hanging around baseball, you’ll have a better shot at catching him at one of the many local fields being a supportive grandparent instead of any big league action.

“I’ve been busy going to baseball practices, games, and I’ve been making a lot of sandwiches and getting snacks and going to the ballpark. It’s awesome.”

Going back to Snit’s comments about being a caretaker, it’s truly remarkable to see the journey that he went on as a member of the Braves. From seemingly being a minor-league lifer to getting the interim tag as manager to becoming full-time manager and eventually winning the World Series, this was an incredible run for Snit and one that will have a lasting impact in what’s becoming an increasingly long line of impactful Braves managers.

Guardians 3 Blue Jays 5

It seemed like the Kazuma Okamoto show. He was 2 for 3 with a homer, walk, 2 RBI and a number of nice plays at third. The home run, like yesterday’s was crushed to dead center, 425 feet, 108.9 mph. Just a terrific day for him.

But Kevin Gausman was pretty good too. 6.2 innings, 6 hits, 2 earned, just 3 strikeouts, but no walks. Few things hit hard off him. He came out at 91 pitches, after giving up a home run and a hard hit line drive out. He likely could have stayed, but after a couple of hard hit balls, and a lefty coming up, I was good with the switch.

Mason Fluharty got the third out.

Tyler Rogers had a quick eighth, with the help of a couple of nice plays by Okamoto, He gets such weak contact that infielders are going to have to make good plays for him.

Louis Varland, on the other hand, didn’t have a quick ninth. It went fly out, single, single, double (run scored, Varsho almost made a great catch, but had it go off his glove), walk (bases loaded), strikeout (on eight pitches), and strikeout (on five pitches). Just your routine 30 pitch save.

Offensively? Well, they did enough. I’d have preferred more than enough, but that’s me. 10 hits, and 3 walks, it would have nice to have more than 5 runs.

We scored:

• One in the fourth: Okamoto homered.
• Three in the sixth: Vlad singled and stole second. He was pretty easily safe, running on an 3-0 pitch. Okamoto singled putting runners on the corners. Jesús Sánchez struck out. Daulton Varsho singled, he had some tough at bats, but bounce that through the infield (though it could have been called an error on the second baseman, who looked like he was settling up up throw home and cut down the run. Varsho stole second. Davis Schneider struck out. Andrés Giménez doubled in two on a fly ball to left that likely should have been caught, but George Valera spent the game showing what it would be like to have me playing left field.
• One in the seventh: Straw and Clement singled. Vlad walked. Okomoto walked bringing in a run. But then Sánchez popped out to left, to shallow to score Clement. Varsho hit into a 3-2 force. And Schneider struck out. They should have scored more

Straw, Clement and Okamoto had two hits each. Eloy Jiménez and Sánchez split an 0 for 4 down the middle, and Schneider was 0 for 3 with a walk. He had some bad at bats. Clement had a couple of bad at bats, but also had two hits, so I guess we’ll forgive. But he is so willing to chase a foot off the plate.

Jays of the Day: Okomoto (.22 WPA), Gausman (.20). Varsho deserves an honourable mention.

Other Award: Schneider (-.09) and Sánchez (-.09) both who struck out at the worst times.

Tomorrow’s game is a 1:30 start time. Patrick Corbin (3.68 ERA) vs. Slade Cecconi (6.20). Let’s get some runs off him.