ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - MARCH 22: Tre Donaldson #3 of the Miami Hurricanes dribbles against the Purdue Boilermakers in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 22, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The 2026 NBA Draft is about a month away, and for the Golden State Warriors, the draft represents a prime opportunity to retool as they seek to re-open their competitive window. The Dubs currently hold the No. 11 and No. 54 picks in the 60-selection draft, though that could certainly change between now and draft day.
While three teams continue to fight for an NBA title, the Warriors are deep in draft prep, and six names have recently emerged for workouts with the team. According to a report from Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Warriors are working out Miami guard Tre Donaldson, Texas Tech forward Dillon Mitchell, Vanderbilt forward Tyler Nickel, Grand Canyon guard Jaden Henley, Michigan State center Carson Cooper, and Purdue forward Oscar Cluff.
As is the case with so many pre-draft workouts, none of these players are in contention for the Warriors with their first-round selection. In fact, none of the six were projected to be drafted at all in the latest ESPN mock draft. That doesn’t mean that Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Co. are only looking at this group as potential undrafted free agents, as a lot can change in the next month (and contract situations can impact the second round fairly dramatically). But these are all players that the Warriors are doing due diligence on for the second round, or after the two-day draft has concluded.
But, as the Warriors have shown plenty of times in recent seasons — including with Will Richard a year ago — overlooked players who aren’t Day 1 selections can still be mighty fine hoopers.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 27: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates his solo home run with Dino Ebel #91, to take a 1-0 lead, during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium on May 27, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
For the 10th straight time in Los Angeles, the Colorado Rockies lost to the LA Dodgers as they fell 4-1 on Wednesday. In a game featuring two of Japan’s baseball heroes on the mound, it would be the Dodgers’ unicorn of a player that highlighted the game as Colorado managed just one hit.
Sugano’s shortened start
Making his first career start at Dodger Stadium, Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) had the monumental task of trying to tame the Dodgers’ offense with the eyes of the world upon him.
Things got off to an ominous start in the bottom of the first inning for the veteran righty when Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平) belted a lead-off home run, his ninth long ball of the year, on Sugano’s third pitch to give the Dodgers a quick 1-0 lead. It was the third time in MLB history that a pitcher hit a lead-off home run, Ohtani being the only one to accomplish the feat.
After Andy Pages flew out to right field, Freddie Freeman then laced a ball to left field for an opposite-field home run, his seventh of the year, to put the Dodgers up 2-0. Sugano responded accordingly and retired the next two batters to escape the inning, highlighted by a Max Muncy strikeout.
He then went to work attacking the Dodgers’ lineup. He ended up allowing just four more hits after the two home runs. Pages collected a single in the third inning, but it was the three hits with two outs in the fourth inning that proved costly. Hyeseong Kim laced a single to center field, followed by a double from Will Smith. Alex Call then sent a ball into left field for an RBI single to score Kim, but an excellent throw from Troy Johnston cut down Smith at the plate and ended the inning.
Sugano then got two quick outs in the top of the fifth, but a throwing error by third baseman Willi Castro allowed Pages to reach, and with the left-handed Freeman coming up to the plate, manager Warren Schaeffer decided to pull Sugano from the game.
He ended up tossing 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He had three strikeouts, including one of Ohtani, and issued just one walk. He threw 83 pitches, 48 for strikes, and induced six groundouts along with three flyouts. He also managed to pick off a batter at first base.
“Sugano, I thought, gave us a chance to win,” Schaeffer said. “Just a couple of homers in the first inning, but then he settled in.”
“The fastball command wavered a little bit [in the fourth inning], but he was good overall.”
One of One
The Rockies were going to have a tough time against Ohtani at the plate, but he proved just as troublesome on the mound.
Through six innings, Ohtani did not allow a hit while striking out seven batters. His pitches had the signature bite and kept the Rockies off balance, but the oddity of his outing is what was fascinating.
Ohtani battled his command as he allowed a season-high four walks and hit a batter while throwing 56-of-99 pitches for strikes. He found himself working behind hitters often, as the Rockies did put together some quality at-bats despite the lack of production.
The Rockies’ lone run against Ohtani came in the fourth inning after TJ Rumfield drew a leadoff walk — his second of the game — becoming the first hitter to draw two or more walks in a game against Ohtani since Cal Raleigh in 2023. Hunter Goodman was then hit by a pitch, setting up Johnston to bounce into a fielder’s choice and put runners on the corners. Castro then chopped a ball high to second base, where Alex Freeland snagged the ball and dove to first base to get the out, allowing Rumfield to score and make it 2-1 at the time.
Ohtani exited the game after the sixth inning, securing a quality start and a unique line, as it was the first time in MLB history that a starting pitcher allowed one run on no hits with four walks and seven strikeouts over six innings.
It was also the first time since 1971 that a player hit a home run and threw six no-hit innings.
“Ohtani, we couldn’t find a barrel tonight,” Schaeffer said, “I thought we made him work… gave us chances to score but couldn’t get the knock.”
Bullpen fills in
Thanks to a mostly rested bullpen and the off day on Thursday, Schaeffer felt comfortable lifting Sugano in the fifth inning to bring in Brennan Bernardino to finish that inning. Bernardino then completed a quick 1-2-3 sixth inning to keep the score 3-1 and hand the baton to Antonio Senzatela.
Senzatela easily navigated a leadoff walk in the seventh, getting a couple of groundouts and a lineout but the Dodgers found a way to add on to their lead in the eighth. Pages hit a leadoff home run, his 13th of the year, to make it 4-1. After allowing a single, the Rockies then had to turn to Blas Castaño, who managed to strike out Mookie Betts and then induce a double-play ground ball.
The Dodgers bullpen, on the other hand, kept things rolling for 1.2 innings after Ohtani departed, but thankfully, with two outs in the eighth, Tyler Freeman collected the Rockies’ first hit with a single into right field. However, Kyle Hurt managed to slam the door in the ninth to complete the sweep.
Up Next
The Rockies are off Thursday before welcoming the San Francisco Giants to Coors Field to kick off the homestand. Michael Lorenzen (2-7, 7.21 ERA) will face off against the Giants’ Logan Webb (2-4, 5.06 ERA).
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 27: Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Michael Soroka (34) throws a pitch during a MLB game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants on May 27, 2026 at Oracle Park in San Francisco, CA. (Photo by Trinity Machan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
No matter how you split it, it’s been a pretty fun couple of weeks to be a Diamondbacks’ fan. Since May 9th, the day after the D-Backs lost an extra-inning affair to the Mets, they’ve gone a major league best 14-4 including today’s win. They’ve pitched to a 2.69 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP between then and today while putting together a .271/.346/.423 slash line and scoring 5.3 runs per game. This stretch has obviously been keyed by an incredibly hot stretch at the plate by Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll, but it’s also been a stretch that has shown the depth this team has up and down the lineup as well as on the pitching staff. There are obvious qualifiers, namely that none of their opponents in that stretch have winning records, but good teams are supposed to beat bad teams, none of these teams are pushovers, and they’re all professionals.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the team-focused approach the players have brought to the stadium every day during this stretch where there are days the offense has to carry the pitching staff and the pitchers find ways to support a struggling offense. This afternoon featured more of the latter as the D-Backs’ dynamic offense managed just three runs on six hits and a pair of walks while striking out eight times. Instead, Michael Soroka continued to impress in his first season with the D-Backs, keeping his ERA down at 3.25 and firmly putting that rough outing against the Brewers in the rearview mirror. As has become D-Back pitcher tradition, Soroka was the victim of one bad inning, but was otherwise pretty efficient at keeping the struggling San Francisco offense off-kilter throughout the afternoon. His one bad inning came in the third when he allowed a leadoff single to Drew Gilbert and a one-out double to Will Adames before grooving a fastball to Luis Arraez that just eluded both Soroka and Geraldo Perdomo to sneak into centerfield and plate both Gilbert and Adames to give the Giants an early two-run lead. Outside of that rough patch, Soroka limited the traffic around him by leaning on his slurve and four-seamer to keep batters guessing even if he struggled to strikeout very many Giants.
Meanwhile, an Arizona offense that has been on an incredible heater lately struggled to find any kind of traction against Trevor McDonald making just his seventh career start. Through the first five innings, Arizona batters had been limited to just three total baserunners. Unsurprisingly, Marte shifted the dynamic in the sixth with a leadoff single before being erased on a would-be double play from Corbin Carroll that he just beat out to keep the pressure up. Carroll advanced to third on a Perdomo single and eventually scored on an Adrian Del Castillo single before Ildemaro Vargas collected his 35th RBI of the season on a sacrifice fly to deep right field that tied the game. The D-Backs manufactured their final run of the game in the next inning by loading the bases on a pair of one-out singles and an ugly error from newly-entered reliever Matt Gage before Perdomo scooped a Gage changeup to left field for another sacrifice fly to give the team the lead for good.
Poor play was yet again a theme for a Giants team that has mostly disappointed to this point in the season. There was the key fielding error by Gage that loaded the bases in the seventh and set up the go-ahead sacrifice fly, but there were also two baserunning blunders that kept the Giants from tying the game in the bottom of the eighth. Adames again doubled to put the tying run into scoring position and bewilderingly tried to score on a bloop single from Arraez that Jorge Barrosa couldn’t quite corral and a perfect relay play cut him down at home. Then Arraez, who had moved up to second on the play, wandered too far off the base and Kevin Ginkel executed an excellent pickoff move to catch Arraez and end the inning. But good teams are able to take advantage of poor play from their opponents and the D-Backs have been doing that in spades lately. They are now seven games over .500 and will take on a Mariners team that has failed to find any traction in a strangely weak AL West and junior circuit more generally. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 27: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium on May 27, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Dodgers flirted with a no-hitter until the eighth inning and earned a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, winning the finale 4-1 on Wednesday.
Less than 24 hours after taking a pitch to his right hand, Shohei Ohtani was both the starting pitcher and the leadoff hitter for the series finale. After starting his day on the mound with a scoreless first inning, Ohtani connected for his second leadoff home run in as many starts to give the Dodgers another first inning lead. It was Ohtani’s third home run in just his sixth at-bat against Tomoyuki Sugano. Ohtani now has 22 leadoff home runs as a Dodger, passing Joc Pederson for the third most in franchise history.
Freddie Freeman gave the Dodgers their seventh home run over their last nine innings at the plate by taking Tomoyuki Sugano the other way for his third home run over his past eight games, giving the Dodgers their second 2-0 first inning lead in as many games.
The two runs in the first were plenty for Ohtani on the mound, as although he allowed a pair of two-out walks over his first two innings, the Rockies went scoreless through their first go-around. Colorado to lead off the fourth inning with a pair of baserunners, as T.J. Rumfield walked before Hunter Goodman was drilled by a pitch. A fielder’s choice from Troy Johnston moved Rumfield to third base, and Willi Castro drove him in on a groundout.
The Dodgers would get that run right back in the bottom half of the fourth, as Alex Call followed up Hyeseong Kim and Will Smith with the Dodgers’ third straight two-out hit. While Kim scored on the play, Smith was cut down at the plate trying to extend the lead to three.
Ohtani was able to complete six innings after tossing just five in his last start in San Diego, and although he held Colorado hitless, he put five runners on base as he walked four along with the hit batsman. While Ohtani does have seven different pitches in his repertoire, he relied heavily on his fastball and sweeper, accounting for 88 of his 99 pitches on the night and six of his seven strikeouts. He tossed his curveball, sinker and splitter a total of 11 times while completely ditching his cutter and slider altogether.
After allowing the one run over six innings, Ohtani’s ERA now sits at 0.83 over his first nine starts on the year, besting Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 ERA he had over his first nine starts in his legendary 1981 season.
Will Klein followed Ohtani with a scoreless inning with the potential no-hit bid intact, but a two-out single from Tyler Freeman against Tanner Scott in the top of the eighth ended the bid with just four outs to go.
Andy Pages added some insurance in the bottom of the eighth with his third home run in his last four games to give the Dodgers a three-run lead. Pages’ 13 home runs on the year are now the most on the team while he is the first player this season to reach the 50 RBI plateau.
Kyle Hurt recorded his first career save to lock down the sweep of Colorado. Hurt has been remarkable over his first 17 appearances on the season, as he has 20 strikeouts to only four walks over 17 innings while carrying a 1.06 ERA.
The Dodgers are now in the midst of a five-game winning streak and are now winners in 11 of their last 13 games. The three-game sweep of the Rockies was the first series sweep at home since the Dodgers took all three against the New York Mets from April 13-15. With the Philadelphia Phillies sweeping the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers now increase their division lead to 4.5 games over both San Diego and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Game particulars
Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (9), Freddie Freeman (7), Andy Pages (13)
The Dodgers are off on Thursday but are back at home to welcome the Philadelphia Phillies for a three-game series beginning Friday (7:10 p.m. PT, Apple TV). Justin Wrobleski faces Zack Wheeler.
Judge unleashed a laser from right field to throw a runner out at the plate in the third inning Wednesday night, keeping Gerrit Cole’s shutout intact on the way to a 7-0 win over the Royals that finished off a sweep at Kauffman Stadium.
“I thought the game really got going with Judge’s play,” said Cole, who tossed 6 ²/₃ scoreless innings. “He set the tone.”
It was still a scoreless game in the bottom of the third inning when the Royals had a runner on second and two outs for Maikel Garcia, who hit a sinking liner to right field. Judge knew he could either make a do-or-die diving attempt on it or pull up and try to throw out Michael Massey at the plate. He chose the latter, playing it on one hop and casually firing home to nail Massey for the third out.
“All I was thinking was, ‘Don’t let this guy score,’ ” Judge said. “Especially Gerrit coming back, second game, it’s a tight game. I know if we stop them from scoring there, they’re probably not going to score the rest of the game. Just trying to do my job.”
Aaron Judge throws Michael Massey out at the plate during the third inning of the Yankees’ 7-0 win over Royals on May 27, 2026 in Kansas City. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Judge, who dealt with a right flexor strain late last season that initially shut him down altogether before sapping some of his arm strength upon his return to the field, got healthier with rest this offseason and then came back looking like himself this spring.
But even knowing Judge’s arm, Cole thought the runner was going to score “for sure” before seeing it play out.
“He was dead to rights,” Cole said. “That just elevated our play a little bit, and we rolled from there.”
Aaron Boone said he thought it was the right send by the Royals because it was going to take a perfect throw to nab the runner. Judge delivered just that.
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“It was a sneaky great play,” Boone said. “What he does so well out there is slows it down. He moves quickly, but not in a hurry. To take a tricky hop and gather himself and slow down and execute a perfect throw, that’s a really good play right there.”
He grew up a Mets fan about 15 minutes away in Brooklyn during the years that Reyes manned shortstop.
Jose Alvarado on the field before the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Reds on May 27, 2026 at Citi Field. Ryan Dunleavy/New York PostJose Alvarado had his own jersey. Ryan Dunleavy/New York PostKnicks guard Jose Alvarado (5) before the game. Robert Sabo for NY Post
Alvarado was presented with a Mets jersey with his name and No. 5 on the back as well as other Mets memorabilia.
He practiced his imaginary swing in the dugout and signed an autograph for a thrilled young Knicks fan before going to the clubhouse to meet some players.
Alvarado is averaging 4.2 points and 1.1 assists in 8.5 minutes per game during the playoffs.
The Eastern Conference champion Knicks will visit the winner of the Thunder/Spurs series June 3 in their first NBA Finals game since 1999.
Devin Williams is going through one of those stretches again.
Taking the mound Wednesday night, the right-hander seemed to have picked up right where he left off in his previous outing where he struggled and ended things by giving up a walk-off grand slam.
Williams entered in the top of the ninth Wednesday looking to protect a two-run Mets lead.
The usually effective closer had a hard time putting the first two hitters he faced away, though, battling before walking the both of them on a total of 15 pitches.
He then picked up a much-needed first out, striking out Spencer Steer on four pitches.
Williams endured another long and tough at-bat, though, this time battling P.J. Higgins for eight pitches before walking him to load the bases and push the tying run into scoring position.
With no room for error, the righty was able to lock back in though, and he struck out Dane Myers on four pitches and then Blake Dunn on three to somehow dance his way out of danger.
“He got the job done,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Obviously you don’t want to walk the bases loaded, he kind of lost it a little but then got back on track, made pitches -- I’m glad he was able get the job done, that was a good team win.”
It was a much-needed victory too, as it snapped New York’s five-game losing skid.
The Mets will have an off day on Thursday before they look to get some vengeance on those pesky Marlins during a three-game weekend set at Citi Field.
TAMPA, FLORIDA - MARCH 21, 2026: Eric Hartman #64 of the Atlanta Braves throws a ball to the crowd during the third inning of a spring training Spring Breakout game against the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field on March 21, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
MLBPA submitted their initial CBA proposal Wednesday, as the owners are expected to make their initial proposal Thursday. The union proposal includes some interesting ideas, some increased benefits to players, and at least one clear nonstarter for the owners. The owners positioned themselves as advocating for fan desire for competitive balance and rejected the proposal, criticizing its ideas towards achieving competitive, which focused on raising spending floors and creating stronger incentive structures to win games, rather than limiting the top spending clubs. I think the union’s ideas about making recipients of revenue sharing more incentivized to spend money and win games by socializing the more stable TV money through revenue, while privatizing more performance-responsive stadium revenue is a strong idea. I am also sympathetic to the concept of withholding revenue sharing from teams that don’t spend it towards winning games. Dramatically raising the luxury tax ceiling is going to be a tough sell for owners and fans, however, and the proposed changes to service time rules, making players over 30 free agents after 5 years of service time instead of 6 is a clear nonstarter for owners.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins got their Eastern Conference Final series against the Toronto Marlies started on Wednesday night, but it didn't go very well.
WBS got out to a 1-0 lead in the first period before losing 4-2 and is now down 1-0 in the best-of-seven series. This is the first best-of-seven series for WBS after playing two best-of-five series in the Atlantic Division Semifinals and the Atlantic Division Final.
Alexander Alexeyev opened the scoring in the first period before the Marlies took a 2-1 lead in the second period. Rutger McGroarty tied the game in the third period, and it looked like the game was about to go to overtime, but Michael Pezzetta had other ideas, scoring the game-winning goal with 1:36 left in regulation.
The Marlies later added an empty-net goal after WBS tried to tie the game in the final minute.
Here are three takeaways from this game:
1. Special teams need to be better
Both the power play and the penalty kill were simply not good enough for WBS in this one. The Penguins had multiple opportunities to cash in on the power play, but couldn't make any of them count. To make matters worse, they gave up a goal to the Marlies power play in the second period, giving them a 2-1 lead.
Special teams are a big part of short playoff series and can swing momentum in an instant. That will be a huge key heading into Game 2 on Friday.
2. Rutger McGroarty played very well
I thought this was one of McGroarty's best games of the playoffs. I've really liked the chemistry he's had with Avery Hayes, but in this game, it was all McGroarty. The goal he scored to tie the game in the third period was awesome.
Tristan Broz stole the puck and fed it to McGroarty, who went forehand, backhand, but was denied. However, he got the loose puck and banked it in.
He was everywhere in this game and had some other good chances that didn't go in. If he can continue to have a solid AHL playoff run, it will only help his chances of cracking the NHL roster next season.
3. More net-front traffic
WBS may have outshot Toronto 36-16, but I felt that the team didn't get enough traffic in front of Toronto goaltender Artur Akhtyamov. The team understood the assignment on Alexeyev's goal with traffic in front of him, but didn't do a good enough job with that for the rest of the game.
Akhtyamov has been really good for Toronto in these playoffs, and WBS needs to do a better job of taking his eyes away when he's in the crease.
Game 2 of this series is set for Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET. If WBS wins, the series would be tied at one heading back to Toronto for three games.
May 27, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Steven Matz (32) throws during the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images
This one was over in the bottom of the first when Matz got tagged for five runs. It was downhill from there and the end result was an 11-2 defeat and series sweep at the hands of the O’s. There isn’t much else to say about this one, so I’ll leave you with the below video that encapsulates the series and recent stretch of play by the Rays.
The battered Rays will rest up on Thursday prior to hosting the Angels for a three-game set. Nick Martinez will be on the bump as the Rays will look to right the ship against the worst team in the American League.
Tong again entered as the bulk reliever behind Huascar Brazoban in the top of the second, and he battled his way through 3.2 innings of work before ultimately running out of steam.
The right-hander was able to work around three hits and four walks, with the lone unearned run on his line coming from an error of his own doing on a comeback in the top of the third.
He was pulled after issuing two free passes in the fifth, but pitched well enough to earn the victory.
“Some longer counts than I would’ve liked towards the end,” Tong admitted. “There’s a lot of things I can work on moving forward, but overall I’m just happy that I was able to put together some clean innings for the guys.”
Tong has now accomplished that in each of his two outings back with the Mets.
Wednesday’s unearned run is the only one he’s allowed to this point, after he put together three terrific innings of one-hit ball his first time out Friday night against the Marlins.
With the Mets' starting rotation in need of a boost, the club plans on keeping the 22-year-old top prospect around in this same flexible role for the time being.
“We’re going to need him,” Mendoza emphasized. “We’ll continue to get creative -- whether it’s using him as the opener, as a bulk guy, we’re going to have some off days coming up, so there’s a lot of different ways we can go.”
Now they're waiting to find out whether they will face the Carolina Hurricanes or the Montreal Canadiens in the championship round. The Hurricanes took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals with a 4-0 win on Wednesday, May 27.
But when will the Stanley Cup Final begin?
Generally, the NHL will move up the Final if the conference finals wrap up in five games. Here are opening dates that make sense if that happens or if the Canadiens extend the series.
If Eastern Conference finals end in five games
June 2 would be the ideal starting date.
That's already set aside for Game 7 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Game 5 would be May 29 in North Carolina, so there's plenty of time for the Golden Knights to fly to Raleigh and for the NHL to hold media days.
If Eastern Conference finals end in six or seven games
How about June 4?
ABC is showing both the Stanley Cup Final and the NBA Finals, so there aren't a lot of open dates. June 4 would fall between Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals.
And nothing is going on at the Lenovo Center (Hurricanes) and Bell Centre (Canadiens) that day. The Stanley Cup Final will begin at the home of the East champion, regardless of who wins.
If there is a Game 7, it might be a tight turnaround for the Golden Knights to fly to the winning team's city and take part in media days, but it can be done.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - MAY 26: Yordan Alvarez #44 of the Houston Astros is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on May 26, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Yordan Alvarez has been absolutely on fire in this series, and he continued his torrid stretch at the plate with 2 more home runs to back SP Mike Burrows (W, 3-6) in the Houston Astros (25-32) 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers (25-30) tonight in Arlington.
Burrows tossed 7 innings of 2-run ball, allowing only 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. It is the kind of length the Astros have sorely lacked in the rotation on a consistent basis this year, but have gotten from Burrows in 2 of his last 4 starts. He has gone at least 6 innings in 4 of his last 5 starts.
Alvarez hit his first HR of the night in the 4th off Rangers starter Jacob deGrom, victimizing the star pitcher for the second time this year, which tied the game at 2. He also took Tyler Alexander (L, 1-1) deep in the 8th give the Astros a 3-2 lead.
Alvarez finished the night 3-for-4 with 2 runs, 2 RBI, and a walk. His 20 HRs are 2nd in MLB and tops in the AL. He has now hit 5 HR in this series.
Enyel De Los Santos got the final 5 outs for his 4th save of the season. He did not allow a run, hit or walk, and struck out 3 in a dominant performance.
Taylor Trammell hit cleanup tonight and finished 2-for-3 with a double and a run. He’s currently batting .371 with a .922 OPS. Those numbers are far higher than anything he has ever shown previously at the MLB level, but he did make swing adjustments before the season and hit well both in spring training and earlier in the season before he was injured. It remains to be seen if this can be a breakout season for Trammell, but the early returns for him are very strong this season.
Houston will look to win the series tomorrow night behind RHP Spencer Arrighetti (6-1, 1.32), who will be opposed by Rangers SP Nathan Eovaldi (5-5, 3.55).
Houston is currently 4-2 vs. the Rangers this season in the Silver Boot Series. They are 3 GB the Seattle Mariners for 1st place in the AL West.
The New York Mets won a baseball game Wednesday evening, and it took everything they had.
Beating the Cincinnati Reds to pull themselves 10 games under .500 required Devin Williams throwing more pitches than he has thrown in an outing all year and happened in large part because the Reds left 17 men on base.
It took every out Jonah Tong could provide in a bulk role behind Huascar Brazoban, the opener they leaned on to get past the Reds' big bats once before handing the game off to a rookie. And Tong needed every inch of center field to keep a few Reds hitters in the ballpark in his 3.2 gritty innings in which he allowed one run.
It took Tobias Myers moonlighting in short relief, heavily worked Brooks Raley throwing more than an inning, and a diving catch from A.J. Ewing with the bases loaded just to get through seven innings with a lead.
They threw recently summoned Eric Wagaman, who had two Major League plate appearances to his name this year, into the starting lineup because of his platoon advantage against Reds lefty Andrew Abbott. He rewarded them with his first big league homer of the season. When they replaced him with recently activated Jared Young against a righty in the seventh, he singled, and it took a two-out hit from Carson Benge to score a much-needed insurance run.
Were it not for two two-out hits from Benge, who was so desperate to climb out of a slump that he shaved his mustache beforehand, the Mets would not have won the game at all.
The point is this: Even games the Mets win these days leave the gnawing suspicion that the Mets are neither better at any one aspect of the game, nor as competent in as many facets of the game as most of their competition. David Stearns momentarily silenced questions about Carlos Mendoza’s job status. Questions about a potential sell-off are fair, but still premature in the eyes of an organization that believes the roster they built can still win when healthy.
So while more existential questions for and about Mets decision-makers are creeping closer, the queries the Mets are trying to answer imminently are these: Will they look more formidable when healthy and whether they can stick around long enough for it to matter if they do?
Their strongest unit, the starting rotation, has been picked apart by injuries. Most noticeably, injuries have also rendered their remodeled lineup completely unrecognizable from its intended form:
Francisco Lindor, Bo Bichette, Juan Soto, Luis Robert Jr., and Jorge Polanco have been in the Mets starting lineup together seven times this season. The Mets are 4-3 in those games, one of which was an Opening Day disemboweling of the normally steel-stomached Paul Skenes.
But without one or two or three of them at any given time, and with Bichette struggling early, the Mets have looked lifeless. The day Soto returned from injury, Lindor suffered his. If there is one thing anyone evaluating the Mets internally or externally can say for sure, it is that their lineup did not have the depth to withstand losing multiple of its most important hitters for long stretches, some of which overlapped.
May 27, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets right fielder Carson Benge (3) reacts to hitting an RBI single against the Cincinnati Reds during the fifth inning at Citi Field. / Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Whether a team with the financial resources they have should run out of depth is a fair question, given the way the Los Angeles Dodgers have spent to inoculate themselves against casualties in recent years.
And while one person’s feelings do not a teamwide mindset define, multiple people who spend their evenings in the Mets dugout have expressed continued belief in what this team can be when Lindor and Francisco Alvarez and Polanco and Clay Holmes and maybe even long-stalled Robert Jr. get healthy.
So the key will be trying to find ways to get the players they do have to perform beyond projections -- taking chances on the bases with Ewing and Benge they might not otherwise, trying to get Tong’s best innings without relying on him so much to fall victim to his growing pains, adjusting David Peterson’s role and Sean Manaea’s role and shuffling whenever one hand looks hotter than the other.
At times earlier this month, the Mets were piecing things together that way more often than not. The trouble, however, is that since they climbed to five under .500 with a win against the Nationals last week, they have looked like a team without several of its best hitters relying on people to produce above their proven means.
Recent history suggests that rallies from late May deficits like these are possible. Soto, of course, was on the Washington Nationals team that was 19-31 in May and went on to win the World Series. Bench coach Kai Correa served in that role for last year’s Cleveland Guardians, who rallied from 15.5 games out to win the American League central. But those teams were largely healthy when they staged their comebacks. The Mets are still beholden to daily injury updates about players they desperately need.
Lindor is fielding ground balls before games daily. Alvarez did what looked to be high impact, highly athletic agility work in the outfield before Wednesday’s game, despite being just two weeks removed from tearing his meniscus. In fact, only Robert seems stalled entirely, as the Mets moved him to the 60-day disabled list Tuesday because he remains limited by a lower back issue.
A few weeks from now, the Mets lineup could look much more potent than it has since early April. But if they cannot play .500 baseball, let alone make up games between now and then, a few weeks from now might be too late.
Mets veterans understand the numbers, which will either prove a blessing or a curse. On one hand, Soto and Bichette and Marcus Semien and others understand the reality of their situation – sometimes, believing is easier when no one knows better.
But Semien’s World Series winning Texas Rangers looked dead more than once in 2023. Bichette knows what it looks like for a team that has fallen short of expectations to finally meet them. Soto’s experience in 2019 always serves as a beacon. And the somewhat dwindling number of Mets who rode 2024’s magic to the National League Championship Series also know first-hand that slow starts do not guarantee quiet finishes.
Practically speaking, the Mets roster and coaching staff understand the importance of scratching out wins and staying in striking distance until injured players return. Realistically speaking, they have not yet proven they can do that.
The game got off to a rough start for Hagen Smith, who allowed a two-run homer in the top of the first. However, despite that mistake, Smith had a strong performance, and he did not allow any additional runs during his five innings of work. Smith struck out seven and only issued one walk.
In the third, with the score still 2-0, Korey Lee stepped up to the plate and fell behind in the count. With a runner on second and an 0-2 count, Lee took full advantage of a breaking ball over the heart of the plate, and he launched it 424 feet. That was Lee’s seventh homer of the season, and this one tied the game at two.
After Smith delivered a scoreless top of the fifth for the Knights, the game entered a rain delay with the score tied at two. Due to inclement weather, the game was suspended and is scheduled to be completed on Thursday. The Knights are set to bat in the bottom of the fifth and will be looking to break the 2-2 tie.
Pensacola Blue Wahoos 23, Birmingham Barons 4 After taking the first game of the series on Monday, the Barons (17-29) came up way, way short in Birmingham against Pensacola (24-23).
Barons starter Connor McCullough, 25, did not have his finest performance. McCullough allowed three runs in the first and five in the third. McCullough was removed with one out in the top of the third, but incredibly, things did not improve when the bullpen took over. While McCullough allowed eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings, the bullpen allowed 15 in 6 2/3 innings. Just an ugly day all-around for the pitching staff.
The Barons did stay in this game for a little while, as the score was 3-3 after two innings. Alec Makarewicz put the Barons on the board with a solo homer in the first, his 11th blast of the season. Then, in the second, the Barons scored a pair. Wilfred Veras led off with a single, and with one out, Drake Logan doubled to put a pair in scoring position. Jordan Sprinkle hit a sacrifice fly, and Colby Shelton doubled to tie the game. After that point, however, Pensacola went on a 20-1 run.
Winston-Salem Dash 3, Rome Emperors 0 For the second straight day, the Dash (28-19) had an excellent pitching performance during a victory against the Emperors (25-22).
In the bottom of the second, the Dash broke the scoreless tie. With one out, Kaleb Freeman singled, and after a productive ground out, Alex Ungar walked. That set the stage for T.J. McCants, who lined a single to drive in the first run of the game. From there, the Dash did not look back.
In the fourth, Kyle Lodise hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Ely Brown, who had singled to open the inning. Winston-Salem added another insurance run in the fifth, when Ely Brown reached on an error. That error allowed Arxy Hernández, who had singled, to score the third and final run of the game.
Meanwhile, the pitching staff got the job done and then some. Drew McDaniel pitched four shutout innings after Frankeli Arias served as the opener, delivering a shutout inning in the first. From there, Jake Bockenstedt, Mathias LaCombe, and Jack Young took care of business, combining for four shutout innings down the stretch.
Ryan Galvan led off the bottom of the second with a bang, launching his eighth homer of the season to put Kannapolis ahead, 1-0. The Cannon Ballers were not done hitting homers, as Javier Mogollón crushed a two-run shot in the third to drive in Abraham Núñez, who had singled. Incredibly, the next batter after Mogollón was Stiven Flores, who homered to extend the lead to four.
Cannon Ballers starter Truman Pauley was quite effective during his first three innings, but the fourth frame was a challenge. Pauley allowed two runs on two hits and a walk before being removed with two outs. Still, when Pauley left the game, Kannapolis had a 4-2 lead.
Kannapolis just could not find any runs down the stretch, and the bullpen was not up to the task of protecting a 4-2 lead. A three-run homer by Dallas Macias in the top of the eighth gave the GreenJackets a lead that they did not relinquish.
Complex Sox starter Fabian Ysalla, 21, struggled, allowing two runs on three hits in the first. After allowing a single and a walk in the third, Ysalla was removed from the game with two outs. Reliever Jesús Méndez took over, but he failed to strand either of the runners he inherited from Ysalla.
The Complex Sox scored their first run in a unique way. In the top of the third, Osniel Castillo doubled with one out and advanced to third on a ground out. D’Angelo Tejada walked, and incredibly, Castillo and Tejada executed a double-steal. Although they pulled off one of the most exciting plays in baseball, it was not nearly enough to come away with the victory, as the ACL Rangers pulled away late.
The Complex Sox did not score again until the seventh, when the game was far out of reach. Tejada hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Jurdrick Profar, who led off that inning with a walk.
