Category: Sports News

Enough of the new season smell has worn off that we can all say this game was a bit miserable. The Yankees had a golden opportunity to blow the contest open in the first inning, and after the first three Yanks all reached base, barely a soul managed to do so for the rest of the game. David Bednar couldn’t hold serve in the ninth inning, getting himself into an immediate jam, and a solid Athletics lineup made him pay. New York dropped the second game of this three-game set, 3-2 your final.

The Yankees jumped on Luis Severino early, with both Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge starting the first inning with sharp singles. Cody Bellinger was up next and put his club ahead before an out had been recorded:

Sevy then had a hell of a back and forth with the strike zone, getting whiffs of Ben Rice and Giancarlo Stanton, before back-to-back four-pitch walks to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and J.C. Escarra, the second of those bringing in Judge from third base. Amed Rosario was also set down swinging to end the threat, and while the Yankees were up 2-0 by the end of the first, it felt like they could have gotten more out of it.

That somewhat-missed opportunity loomed large in the fourth, after Will Warren cruised through the first three innings. The Yankee right-hander began to bleed baserunners, with three-straight singles—all with two outs—bringing in the first run of the game forth the A’s. Warren would walk the bases loaded and then spike a ball that Escarra couldn’t corral, The Other Max Muncy broke for the plate, and the game was tied.

Warren doesn’t have the natural stuff that Cam Schlittler has, and he’s always going to be a little more of a project pitcher. He might even be pretty good — although he didn’t end up getting out of the fifth today. The problem is for me, he’s kinda good and an absolute slog to watch pitch:

When you don’t sit 98, you have to find strikes around the edges of the strike zone, and Warren just doesn’t have the command for that. Instead you get a lot of easy takes and it feels like he ends up spotting every single hitter one more pitch than he needs to. So he throws more pitches, they’re not very good pitches, and he forces us to watch while he does it.

Thankfully Tim Hill was somewhat more expeditious, needing just one pitch to finish the fifth, and working a sixth inning that saw an Athletics’ single and a real nice grab from Jazz:

Still, that first inning continued to cast a shadow, since after Severino threw 32 pitches in the frame, he actually settled down well to complete five innings on exactly 100 pitches. Luis Severino’s 2017 Cy Young finalist year is one of the single player campaigns I’ve most enjoyed covering while at PSA, and while he never was that good again I also couldn’t help but enjoy seeing him continue to pitch well enough — even if he could have left a cement mixer or two out.

The team continued to be flummoxed by a pretty paltry As pitching staff, especially when Mark Leiter Jr. wasn’t brought out. Trent Grisham did manage a two-out walk in the seventh inning against the lefty Hogan Harris, setting up a platoon-advantaged matchup against Judge, but he was swiftly walked. Cody Bellinger went down on strikes to continue the offensive futility.

Bednar was tasked with keeping the game tied in the ninth, and immediately allowed a single and double to the top of the Athletics order. The Yankee closer was able to get Tyler Soderstrom swinging for one out, but Brent Rooker’s sac fly brought in Nick Kurtz, and that would be all the A’s needed. The bottom of the Yankee order went down quietly in the ninth.

This has been a pretty blergh series, where outside of Amed Rosario’s heroics on Tuesday the Yankee offense has been awful quiet against a team not known for its pitching prowess. I think the hitters are largely too passive at the plate right now, taking a lot of strikes in hitters’ counts for no reason that I can see. A little more controlled aggression from the lineup would help them win this series tomorrow, where Ryan Weathers will start the finale against fellow southpaw Jeffrey Springs. First pitch will be at 1:35pm Eastern.

Box Score

The Yankees' bats went quiet after a strong first inning as they fell to the Athletics, 3-2.

Here are the takeaways....

-- The Yanks got on the board quickly with three straight singles in the bottom of the first inning as Cody Bellinger's bloop to right field scored Trent Grisham from second base. After former Yankee Luis Severino struck out two straight, New York found a way to tack on another run. Jazz ChisholmJr. walked to load the bases and J.C. Escarra followed with another walk to pickup the RBI, pushing the lead to 2-0.

-- Will Warren cruised through the first three innings before running into some trouble in the fourth. The right-hander let up three consecutive singles as Jeff McNeil singled to left field and Lawrence Butler beat Bellinger's throw home, making it a 2-1 game. Warren then issued a walk to load the bases and threw a wild pitch, scoring Max Muncy as the Athletics tied it up at 2-2.

Warren recorded two outs in the fifth inning, but with two runners on base and the lefty Butler coming up to bat, Tim Hill entered for the lefty vs. lefty matchup. His day ended after 4.2 IP and 85 pitches (48 strikes), allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Luckily, Hill needed just one pitch to get out of the jam and avoided adding on to Warren's line.

-- Starting at shortstop for the first time in the majors, Ryan McMahon got tested at the end of the first inning. He made a nice back-hand stop and got a little help from Ben Rice on the scoop at first base for the third out. McMahon looked more comfortable on his next three plays in the second and third innings, getting the runner at first each time. 

While McMahon was solid at short, Rice had some troubles at first base throughout the game, including a fielding error on a ball that bounced off his glove into foul territory. Rice also struggled at the plate, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

-- Pitching coach Matt Blake was ejected by home plate umpire Carlos Torres for arguing balls and strikes in the top of the third inning. Nick Kurtz ended up singling later in the at-bat.

-- Hill, Camilo Doval, and Brent Headrick tossed 3.1 combined scoreless innings of relief to keep the score knotted at 2-2 through the eighth. However, David Bednar got into trouble in the ninth inning, allowing a single to Kurtz and a double to Shea Langeliers. Bednar struck out Tyler Soderstrom, but then gave up a sac fly to Brent Rooker as the Athletics took a 3-2 lead. The veteran managed to strike out Jacob Wilson to avoid further damage.

The Yanks went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, finishing with just four hits after having three in the first inning. Their last hit came in the fourth inning.

Game MVP: Luis Severino

Severino reminded Yankees fans that he's still got it, striking out seven over 5.0 IP. The right-hander allowed two runs on four hits and five walks, with both runs and three of the hits coming in the first inning.

Highlights

Cody Bellinger drops in a base hit to get the Yankees on the board! pic.twitter.com/YkHCePAkt8

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 8, 2026

J.C. Escarra walks in a run! pic.twitter.com/YhsMhaG0Wb

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 8, 2026

Matt Blake has been ejected pic.twitter.com/EjrZnulrLB

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 8, 2026

Jazz Chisholm Jr. at full stretch to deny a base hit! 🎷 pic.twitter.com/GXacWP3CA0

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 9, 2026

What's next

The Yankees wrap up their three-game series with the Athletics on Thursday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m.

Ryan Weathers (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will take the mound against LHP Jeffrey Springs(1-0, 2.38 ERA).

Barring an injury to a starting pitcher, it doesn’t appear as if Sean Manaea will be joining the Mets rotation anytime soon.

Despite this stretch of nine straight days with a scheduled game for his team, manager Carlos Mendoza said Wednesday that he’s sticking with a five-man rotation. In spring training, Mendoza had indicated a six-man rotation was a possibility once the Mets got beyond their early off days in the schedule.

“We’re just going to keep guys with their routines,” Mendoza said before the Mets lost 7-2 to the Diamondbacks at Citi Field. “If we need to go that route, we will. But as I am sitting here, we are not planning on going to a six-man.”

With David Peterson removed after the fifth inning, Manaea was utilized in a second straight extended relief appearance.

He allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks over four innings (70 pitches).

“Each day we’re turning in the right direction,” said Manaea, who was squeezed from the rotation at the end of spring training.

Manaea’s lagging velocity has been part of the issue.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

On this day he averaged 88.4 mph on his four-seam fastball. It was a dip from his previous appearance — he averaged 89.9 mph with that pitch last Thursday.

Manaea was asked for his reaction to hearing he won’t be joining the rotation as a sixth starter.

“No disappointment,” Manaea said. “I am here to help this team win in any way that I can. And right now this is my job to do what I have been doing and I’m very happy doing that.”

Mendoza said the manner in which his starting pitchers have recovered between starts is the biggest factor in wanting to stick with the five-man set.

“We wanted to be flexible and leave it open just in case somebody comes in and says maybe they can use an extra day, then you can always make that adjustment,” Mendoza said. “That was the idea coming out of camp, but here we are now.”

Carson Benge snapped an 0-for-24 with a ninth-inning single.

The hit was Benge’s first in April.

Through four innings, this was an enjoyable game.

Joe Boyle and Colin Rea took two different approaches attacking hitters as each limited the other side to just one run. Boyle made an early mistake missing his location on a putaway sweeper that Nico Hoerner converted into a leadoff home run, but then Boyle quickly rebounded to retire the next batter and then execute that first sequence to Alex Bregman. Boyle did not miss that time and got the well-disciplined veteran on a check swing to strike out. Boyle, for the next three innings, went on to show more growth as he looked to distance himself from his days of wildness mixing in his new sinker and improved sweeper while aggressively attacking the strike zone.

Then, the 5th inning happened and the rather enjoyable game evolved into another cavalcade of self-inflicted problems to completely change the tone of the game.

The fifth inning opened with Boyle being a bit wild inside with his first two pitches before finding the zone again until Carson Kelly tried to pull a Derek Jeter and milk a hit-by-pitch on a ball which clearly hit the knob of the bat. The Rays successfully challenged the play, but Kelly took what felt like a commercial break to redress with his acoutrements. The long delay between pitches may have gotten to Boyle as he missed high on the next pitch and then hung another slider which resulted in a leadoff double to Kelly. The next at bat was a five-pitch walk to Ballesteros with only one of the pitches in the zone which was followed by a similar at bat to Dansby Swanson that loaded the bases with no outs. Those three runners would quickly come around to score on the next pitch that Michael Conforto drove off the centerfield fence with some extra help from the Rays poor defensive execution:

The Rays were charged with two throwing errors on the play, but charging Fraley with a throwing error was questionable in the moment and I’m still not sure how that is an error on him as Taylor Walls did not exactly make himself big for a cutoff throw and the throw scooted by him. The throw at least ended up close to second base, but then Jonathan Aranda doubled down on the miscue throwing wildly by Hunter Feduccia at home in an attempt to nab Dansby Swanson trying to score. Boyle would be allowed to stay in and he retired Matt Shaw in an eight-pitch at bat before Nico Hoerner took a 99-mph fastball off the outer half the other way down the line for a double. Five pitches later, an infield dribbler by Michael Busch was thrown down into the Rays’ bullpen by Feduccia for the third throwing error of the contest leading to the fifth run of the inning and Boyle’s departure after 34 pitches that frame.

Jesse Scholtens would come in to finish the contest and looked as good as Boyle did the first four innings. The Rays offense disappeared in the middle of the game as Colin Rea, Hoby Milner, and Ben Brown retired 12 straight until an 8th inning single by Aranda, a wild pitch by Brown, and a single by Fraley brough in a late run in the 8th. Chandler Simpson got on in the 9th and promptly stole second, but inexplicably tried stealing third with no outs and was thrown out on a perfect peg and tag by the duo of Kelly and Bregman.

Tonight was the third time this month the Rays have committed at least three errors in a contest and the 5th time in their past 25 contests dating back to the late September weekend when they did so in consecutive games against Boston. That is simply unacceptable for any team, let alone one who plans on relying upon pitching and defense to keep them in games.

Losses heading into an off-day always feel doubly painful, and things do not get easier this weekend with the Yankees coming to town with the front of their rotation ready for battle.

It was one of the best games Ron Cey ever played in his MLB career.

And looking back more than 50 years later, he had Davey Lopes partially to thank.

Entering Game 2 of the 1974 National League Championship Series, Cey can still remember struggling to find a feel for his swing.

“I was kinda sluggish and just felt like I didn’t have a lot of energy,” Cey recalled in a phone conversation with The California Post. “I mentioned to Davey, ‘I just don’t feel quick. I don’t feel like I’m getting to the zone very well with bat speed and everything.’”

So, his longtime Dodgers teammate offered a suggestion.

“Back then, I had like a 34/35-ounce Louisville Slugger (bat) I was swinging,” Cey said. “So he reaches over and gives me one of his bats, which were a lot smaller. It felt like a toothpick.”

At first, Cey was hesitant.

“Well, this is almost too small,” the eventual six-time All-Star slugger told his speedy, contact-hitting, four-time All-Star teammate.

Lopes, however, was persistent.

“Just try it out,” he countered. “I’m pretty sure you’ll see a difference.”

Lo and behold, Cey proceeded to go 4 for 5 with two doubles and a homer –– keying an NLCS victory that helped those ‘74 Dodgers reach the World Series.

“I should have done that long before, but I was too stubborn,” said Cey, who switched to a lighter bat model for the rest of his career. “And he changed my mind.”

That was one of the many memories that came flooding back for Cey on Wednesday, after learning Lopes had died at the age of 80 following several years of declining health.

To the rest of the baseball world, Lopes will be remembered for his lengthy list of accomplishments: 1,671 hits, 614 RBI and (most notably) 557 steals over a 16-year playing career that also included one Gold Glove at second base and a 1981 World Series title.

But to those who played with him during a storied decade-long run with the Dodgers, Lopes’ legacy will transcend just his stats.

“He was the catalyst,” Steve Garvey, the 10-time All-Star and 1974 MVP winner, told The California Post in the wake of Lopes’ death. “He was a quiet leader.”

Lopes, Cey, Garvey and Bill Russell, of course, will forever share the closest historical link –– serving as the Dodgers’ starting infield for an MLB-record 8 ½ consecutive seasons from 1973 to their World Series title in 1981.

“When it’s all said and done,” Garvey said, “you could argue it’s the greatest infield in history.”

And it wouldn’t have been the same without Lopes, the undersized second baseman who set the table as the team’s leadoff hitter and menaced opposing teams with his speed on the basepaths.

“He controlled the game at times with his base-stealing capabilities,” Cey said. “He wreaked havoc on defenses … His contributions were immense.”

For all of Lopes’ on-field accolades, however, Cey spent just as much time Wednesday reminiscing on their lifelong friendship away from it.  

They originally met during spring training in 1969, as just a couple young prospects playing a game of pool at the team’s old Vero Beach, Florida, training facility. They remained close for more than half a century to follow, seeing each other in recent years at alumni camps and autograph signings.

As teammates with the Dodgers, Cey joked how “you’d see more of them guys than you do your own family.”

During the 8 ½ years the infield quartet was together, they took pride in a longevity that still hasn’t been matched.

“I think we probably made Tommy Lasorda’s and Walter Alston’s days a lot easier as manager,” Cey said. “Because we played every single day … We were the glue.”

During that time, they helped the Dodgers win four NL pennants, nearly 800 regular-season games and a long-sought championship in 1981.

But while triumphs will long be remembered, so too will the little moments like before that NLCS game in 1974.

“It was real special for all of us to be a part of that, to carve out our own little history and tradition,” Cey said. “We have a unique spot in Dodger history.”

As well as in each others’ lives.

California Post baseball columnist Dylan Hernandez contributed to this report.