Category: Sports News

They showed up!  Nebraska fans turned out in mass to cheer on their Cornhusker baseball team on a day that flipped back and forth from light rain to beautiful sunshine.  Hosting a regional for the first time in 18 years, the seats were full in the stadium with an announced sell out and the berms were full.  Along the rails around the field people were standing three-deep trying to get a glimpse of the action on the field.  

Nebraska’s top starter Carson Jasa took the mound for Nebraska against the familiar opponent from north of the border.  Jasa brought a 9-2 record to his matchup against SDSU starter Sam Schlecht (4-4).  Both of them are tall right handers, but their collection of pitches could not be any different with Jasa the flamethrower and Schlecht being the master of the change up and off-speed stuff.

Nebraska threatened early but could not muster a run, leaving two runners on base in each of the first two innings, and another one in the third.  They struggled with Schlecht’s change-up and were not able to put the barrel of the bat on the ball.

The Jacks put runners on the corners in the top of the third thanks to a walk and a hit, but a very slick double-play turned by Dylan Carey and Rhett Stokes bailed Jasa out of the inning with no damage done.

Jett Buck led off the bottom of the fourth ripping a liner off the glove of third baseman Nolan Grawe and ended up on second base as well as sparking the Cornhusker crowd.  Joshua Overbeek followed with a single to left, putting runners on the corners.  Up came Trey Fikes who hit a line-drive that tipped off the glove of a leaping second baseman Matthew Werk.  Buck scored for the first run of the game.

The Big Red added one more off reliever Ty Madison as Stokes bunted the baserunners up 90-feet bringing up the top of the order.  Mac Moyer put the ball in play on the right side allowing Overbeek to come home with the Cornhusker’s second run.  After four innings, Nebraska was up 2-0.

In the top of the sixth inning, Jasa plunked lead-off man Carter Taylor in the ribs and Dayton Franke followed with a single down the rightfield line to move him to third.  Wanting to take advantage of some momentum, the Jacks called on Keagan Jirschele to lay down a bunt to squeeze home a run.  Maybe a good idea, but poor execution as he sent the ball right back to Jasa, who flipped it to Worthley for the easy tag at the plate.  Run averted.

The Jackrabbits weren’t done trying to get that first run on the board.  Werk laced a single to leftfield with runners on first and second.  Franke was sent home and Jett Buck came up throwing.  He threw a laser home to Fikes, who did a brilliant job grabbing the ball and putting the tag on the runner before he reached the plate.  Second run averted.

SDSU would finally get a run in the inning when reliever J’Shawn Unger gave up his second single of the inning to Owen Siegert, who drove in Jirschele to make it 2-1 Nebraska.  Unger walked the next batter to load the bases, raising the tension in the ballpark, but then gave the red-clad masses a chance to release it as he struck out Nate Wachter swinging.  

Dylan Carey gave the crowd what they were waiting for in the bottom of the eighth.  He blasted a towering home run on a 2-2 pitch from Madison that brought the crowd to their feet once again.  It looked like Nebraska may be able to blow this one open as Madison walked Sanderson and Drew Grego came to the plate.  However, Grego’s bunt attempt flew into the glove of Grawe at third, who then fired across the diamond to double-off Sanderson.

All was not lost on the inning though as Jett Buck showed that opposite field power we saw earlier in the season as he homered to the party porch in right-centerfield.  Going to the ninth, Nebraska extended their lead to 4-2.

With Ty Horn tossing lightly in the bullpen, Unger came back out for his third inning of work and faced the bottom of the Jackrabbit order. Franke grounded out to Overbeek and then Unger stepped up to win it in style by striking Jirschele and Werk.  Ball game!  Nebraska 4, South Dakota State 1.

Carson Jasa sat down at least three of his strikeouts looking at a sneaky off-speed pitch on the inside black.  Of his eight strikeouts, six were called third strikes.  He went 6.1 innings, giving up five hits, walking two and hitting one with 92 pitches for the win.  J’Shawn Unger got his 13^th save recording four strikeouts in 2.2 innings.

The ballpark was full so it is a little surprise that official attendance was 7828.  It appeared there would be more than that.

With rain in the forecast most of the day Saturday, it could be a mystery what time Nebraska will play.  They are scheduled for a 7:06 first pitch.

Notes:

• Jett Buck’s throw-out at the plate brought the loudest roar in the stadium for quite some time.  Plus, you rarely get to see that play in a game.  
• As always, there are a few upsets in the first round of the regional tournament.  One that matters to Nebraska is Milwaukee’s 13-7 win over 4^th seeded Auburn.  This took place in the regional that Nebraska’s is paired with.  Yes, there is a lot of baseball to play!  We can’t ignore St. Mary’s 3-2 win over top-seeded UCLA.  That one has stolen the headlines.
• While the Nebraska – South Dakota State matchup was not a really attractive one, it is interesting that it was relegated to streaming rather than carried on one of the many ESPN networks when they assigned their top college baseball broadcast team to the regional.  Karl Ravitch and Kyle Peterson are in the house for the weekend.  The Mothership apparently wanted to save some travel expenses as Peterson could just drive down from Elkhorn. 

If almost 8,000 people can climb more than 29,000 feet to the top of Mount Everest, what sounds so daunting about the Mets overcoming a 7 ¹/₂-game deficit in the National League playoff race?

Well, just about everything. But president of baseball operations David Stearns isn’t ready to pack up and head down the mountain in defeat.

“We have not had a good year so far,” Stearns said Friday in an understatement, hours before moving to 24-33 with a 9-7 win over the Marlins in 10 innings. “We’re not where we thought we would be. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. It’s not an insurmountable hole.”

Seventeen days, eight wins and eight losses after he acknowledged feeling a time crunch to improve, Stearns projected a there’s-still-time vibe Friday before opening a three-game series against the Marlins. Whether he convinced any outsiders to believe in the NL’s third-worst team is another story.

“We’re going to have to play a lot better baseball to do what we want to do this year,” Stearns said.

Ace Freddy Peralta started Friday against the backdrop that he could garner the best return — even in his walk year — if the Mets want to start trading off pieces.

“We’re not there yet,” Stearns said. “We’ve got time.”

Tick, tick, tick.

The MLB trade deadline is Aug. 3, but the Mets aren’t the only flailing big-expectations contender. What if the Red Sox, Tigers, Giants or Rangers want to get a jump on the seller’s market?

“I still think it’s early to have very robust trade discussions,” Stearns said. “If you look at the history of midseason acquisitions, we really are talking about the majority taking place in a very concentrated period after the All-Star break and close to the end of July. We’re still a long ways away from that. Is there a specific set of circumstances this year that maybe accelerates that? I think that’s possible, but we haven’t seen that yet.”

Stearns’ patience in the face of the fans’ impatience is good for …

The coaching staff: As mental mistakes mount every game — as SNY analyst Ron Darling recently vented after pitcher David Peterson failed to back up an errant throw — it reflects poorly on the coaching staff.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

Or does it?

“I think our coaching staff does a really good job,” Stearns said. “On the Petey one in particular, that’s a pretty heady player who is frustrated.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza received a vote of confidence from Stearns earlier this season but continues to twist in the wind with no contract security beyond this season.

“We’re not always going to be public about it, but we’ve had certain players at times get a little bit off the rails in their respective disciplines,” Stearns said. “And I think our staff has done a very nice job of course-correcting in certain instances. I also think that the motivation and energy from these players remains very high. I understand there is frustration everywhere, there is exasperation — we all get that — but our players are playing hard and they compete. That’s a reflection on them and our coaches.”

The young veterans: One of the failings of the Mets has been the development of former top prospects Brett Baty and Mark Vientos into core pieces who can complement Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor (when healthy). The same could be said for injured Francisco Alvarez.

“Any player who demonstrates a level of inconsistency over multiple years or over their careers, there are probably individual reasons,” Stearns said. “Candidly, I think … we know the reasons and are working. In certain cases, we don’t. That’s the reality of baseball and player evaluations.”

Still-developing minor leaguers: You could make a case center fielder A.J. Ewing (12 games at Triple-A) and Jonah Tong (5.68 ERA at Triple-A) were rushed to the majors because of injuries, but Stearns isn’t quite ready to keep dipping down for more reinforcements.

The time will come, though. Maybe for first baseman/outfielder Ryan Clifford or pitcher Jack Wenninger.

“We have to be confident those players are ready and can contribute,” Stearns said. “We’re certainly not going to preclude ourselves from adding more from our minor league system. We believe we have very good players down there — some of whom aren’t too far away. We have players in the minor leagues right now that we would anticipate contributing at the big leagues over the course of the season. It’s very difficult for me to put a time frame on it.”

Justin Hollander met with the media prior to the Mariners’ series opener with the Diamondbacks to provide updates on some key injured Mariners. Unfortunately, there’s no set timetable for return for either Cal Raleigh (oblique) or Brendan Donovan (groin), even though both are making steady progress in their recoveries.

Donovan remains in Arizona, but has not yet progressed to baseball activities. The team’s chief concern for Donovan is his ability to run, given the nature of his lower body injury. Currently he’s running on an anti-gravity treadmill, with the hopes that he can transition to a baseball running progression on a field next week when the team heads out on the road, provided he clears the next couple of days without the pain returning. For the baseball running progression, he’ll start by running in straight lines before moving to more intense game-type movement: lateral cuts, starts and stops, etc. Hollander says it’s a deliberately slow build to try to ensure Donovan’s injury won’t be re-aggravated during normal baseball activities.

“These are the type of injuries that you want to be really deliberate with to makes ure we don’t have any kind of setback like we did last time.”

Cal Raleigh will make a visit to the team tomorrow from where he’s been rehabbing in Arizona tomorrow and get a check-in with the medical staff in Seattle while also being able to connect with his teammates. “I think he misses us,” said Hollander. In addition to catching and playing long toss, Raleigh swung off a tee today – 15 swings per side – at moderate (80%) intensity. The goal is next time for him to ramp up the intensity rather than increase the number of reps. Similar to Donovan, the team is managing Raleigh’s ramp-up very carefully, and there’s no official timetable for his return.

“We want to build responsibly and make sure that when he cuts it loose at 100%, that he feels 100%”, said Hollander.

While it can be frustrating for fans – and for the players themselves – to not have a definitive timeline for their return, Hollander was careful to highlight why the organization is being especially careful with these two players, known for their gritty play style and high pain tolerance levels, in particular.

“You want to treat the patient, not just treat the diagnosis,” said Hollander. “And I think the reason we’re being extra-cautious with these guys [Donovan and Raleigh] is I think if we put a date on the calendar and say they’re going to go on a rehab assignment on this day, they will go on the rehab assignment on that day, whether they’re actually feeling good enough to do it or not.”

“I don’t want to say we’re ignoring what they’re saying, but we’re taking what they’re saying in the context of who they are and making sure that when they’re ready to go out, they’re actually ready to go out and not playing to the day on the calendar that they set up for them weeks in advance.”

Other injury updates:

• Carlos Vargas is having a repeat MRI today as a final checkpoint before he returns to the ramp-up program he was shut down from a month ago after experiencing aggravation. He’ll have a more defined return to play program once the results from the scans are back.
• Miles Mastrobuoni (L, R calf) is currently on a rehab assignment with the Rainiers.
• Will Wilson (thumb) should be able to begin a rehab assignment in the next week or so.
• On the minor-league sign, Brock Rodden has a minor hamstring strain and will be down for the next one to two weeks. Same for Michael Arroyo, who has had a couple issues with his right hamstring this year but is, in Hollander’s words, a “quick healer.”

After a sweep of the San Diego Padres, the Phillies will return to the place where their 2025 season ended as they begin a three-game series against the defending champion Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Zack Wheeler gets the start for the Phillies. Wheeler has been fantastic since his return from the Injured List, and has given up just one total run in 20.1 innings over his last three starts.

The Dodgers will go with lefthander Justin Wrobleski. Considering the Phillies’ struggles against lefty pitching this season, runs may be at a premium on Friday night.

Game time is 10:15 PM and will be televised exclusively on Apple TV.

Zack Wheeler serves up Dodger dingers, another lefty stifles Phillies originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES — The Phillies have been winning lately with a pretty narrow formula.

It has usually come with a homer, or multiple, and a strong starting pitching performance. That recipe has worked during their recent surge, but it is only so sustainable.

And on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, they did not fit that bill in their 4-2 loss to the Dodgers. They got the homer, but not the kind of starting pitching performance they have become used to.

Los Angeles got to Zack Wheeler — the first time in his seven starts since returning from thoracic outlet decompression surgery that he has looked human.

Wheeler went six innings, allowing five hits, four runs and four solo homers. He struck out four and walked one.

He knew he was not sharp.

“I was a little out of whack,” Wheeler said. “Some pitches didn’t get where they needed to be, especially against this kind of lineup. It’s just the combo of being out of whack and pitches not going where I want, but against a good lineup, they’re going to hit it.”

In the first three innings, the Dodgers hit three solo homers against him. Freddie Freeman got him in the first. Max Muncy left the yard in the second. Shohei Ohtani followed with another in the third.

Will Smith added a fourth solo shot against Wheeler in the fifth.

He looked toward the sky after that ball left the park. It was that kind of night.

“It’s baseball,” Wheeler said. “It’s a weird sport when things happen. Sometimes you feel out of whack and you do well. Sometimes you don’t. Just little frustrations, all. Just a good lineup, a good team. You want to come in here and do well against them.

The Dodgers were hitting his misses. Up, middle, down. It did not matter. They kept leaving the yard.

Wheeler’s stuff was there. He had swing-and-miss pitches. His velocities were up. But the thing that makes the Dodgers such a difficult lineup from top to bottom is that they consistently punish mistakes.

Don Mattingly did not think Wheeler was far off. The misses were just loud.

“I didn’t think he was terrible,” Mattingly said. “Just the solo homers.”

Wheeler ended his night with a nine-pitch, scoreless sixth. That was about all he could take from it.

“It was good, feeling like I should, leaving that outing,” Wheeler said. “That was the only good part of it.”

“Besides the four home runs, I felt like I did well. But at the end of the day, I let them up and we lost because of that.”

That damage was too much.

The Phillies were being no-hit by Dodgers lefty Justin Wrobleski through 5 2/3 innings, and their clearest offensive issue showed up again.

They continue to struggle against left-handed starting pitching.

It was a problem under Rob Thomson. It has remained one under Mattingly.

With Friday’s loss, the Phillies are slashing .187/.251/.320 against left-handed starters. If you take out their seven-run showing against Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland on May 9 at Citizens Bank Park, they are at .169/.239/.279.

Mind-boggling, especially compared to recent seasons.

Last year, the Phillies had a .718 OPS in games against left-handed starters. That was not spectacular, and it still pointed to a weakness. In 2024, they had a .807 OPS in those games. In 2023, it was .825.

With a fairly similar personnel group, it has gotten much worse in 2026.

It was exposed again Friday.

Wrobleski did not need to get overly creative. He almost exclusively used two pitches against Phillies hitters: a four-seam fastball and a slider. He used essentially the same mix against lefties and righties.

The plan was there in front of them.

The Phillies still had no answers.

Mattingly pointed to the fastball as the pitch that controlled the night.

“I thought he beat us with a fastball a lot tonight,” Mattingly said. “He was getting ahead in the count. He was on the attack, it seemed like, from the first on.”

Wrobleski’s four-seam fastball, which had averaged 93.7 mph this season, sat at 94.9 mph Friday. He generated a 57 percent swing-and-miss rate with the pitch, threw it for a strike 76 percent of the time and recorded all nine of his strikeouts with it.

None came on any other pitch.

That has been part of the larger trend.

The Phillies have not hit fastballs well when they face left-handed starters. They are batting .193 against all heaters in those spots with a .628 OPS. Somehow, it has been worse against breaking balls, where they have a .364 OPS.

Mattingly did not have a sweeping explanation for the lefty issue. Friday, to him, was more direct.

“We just didn’t get on the fastball,” Mattingly said. “It took us a while to get going with the fastball and trusting what he was doing.”

At 29-28, the Phillies still need to gain ground to fit more comfortably into the National League Wild Card picture. But if they keep getting handled by left-handed starters, that climb becomes tougher.

The Phillies finally broke up the no-hit bid with a Kyle Schwarber solo shot, extending his Major League lead with 22 homers.

Schwarber has been one of their few bright spots against lefties, posting a .987 OPS against southpaws.

He still believes there is more in the lineup than the results have shown.

“I like our offense,” Schwarber said. “I know that the results aren’t there. I think we all have the most confidence in each other.”

Schwarber credited Wrobleski, who kept the Phillies behind in counts for most of the night.

“He had a really good game against us,” Schwarber said. “Felt like he was getting ahead, putting the ball in really good spots the whole game.”

Brandon Marsh helped the Phillies climb back against the Dodgers’ bullpen with a one-out double in the eighth. Steward Berroa, hitting from the left side, followed with his first Phillies hit, an RBI single that cut the deficit to two.

Berroa also made a strong play in right field earlier in the night, tracking a ball near the wall and holding a runner at first.

“He’s an energy guy,” Mattingly said. “He knows what he’s doing out there. It’s not like this is some young kid that hasn’t played a lot of baseball. He’s got a good idea what he’s doing out there.”

They had nothing going in the ninth against Tanner Scott.

Friday was a reminder that the flaws are still there.

Wheeler had his first rough night since returning. The Phillies, who just swept three Padres right-handed starters, were quiet against another left-hander. Against a team like the Dodgers, those two things are hard to overcome.

The Phillies have won plenty of games recently by finding one big swing. Schwarber knows that cannot be the only path.

“We want to keep finding ways to get guys on base and keep trying to find ways to produce runs, not just via home run,” Schwarber said. “We have all the trust in the world that we’re going to find a way to get that done at the end of the day.

The San Francisco Giants head to Coors Field tonight to begin a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Logan Webb, who enters tonight’s game with a 5.06 ERA, 3.52 FIP, with 42 strikeouts to 15 walks in 48 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 10-5 loss to the San Diego Padres on May 5th, in which he allowed six runs on seven hits with four strikeouts in four innings.

He’ll be facing off against Rockies right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who enters tonight’s game with a 7.21 ERA, 5.13 FIP, with 41 strikeouts to 18 walks in 53.2 innings pitched. His last start was in the Rockies’ 5-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, in which he allowed five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk in five innings.

Game #57

Who: San Francisco Giants (22—34) vs. Colorado Rockies (20-37)

Where: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado

When: 5:40 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

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

The Athletics had a much-needed day off yesterday to reset and, hopefully, figure out how to play better at home. The team opened its latest homestand by being swept in three games by the Seattle Mariners, who knocked the A’s out of first place in the American League West for the first time in several weeks.

Now 10-15 at Sutter Health Park, things will not get any easier for the A’s. Tonight, the team begins a three-game weekend series against the New York Yankees, who own one of the best records in baseball. The “Bronx Bombers” enter on a four-game winning streak after sweeping the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City. Led by Aaron Judge and Ben Rice, the Yankees will look to bounce back after the Athletics took two of three from them in the Bronx earlier this season.

For the A’s, however, it is imperative that they bounce back and take this series to avoid dropping both series this week. Veteran right-hander Luis Severino will take the mound in today’s series-opener. Severino was originally supposed to start Tuesday. The A’s moved his next start back a few days, adjusting the rotation to allow the team top pitching prospect, left-hander Gage Jump, to make his first MLB start that day. Jump wound up allowing four runs on nine hits in five innings.

Facing his former team on seven days’ rest, Severino will likely pitch with extra motivation tonight. The 32-year-old enters his 12th start of the season with a 2–5 record, a 4.23 ERA, and 64 strikeouts over 61.2 innings pitched. He is coming off one of his best starts of the season, allowing two runs over seven innings against the Los Angeles Angels while recording a season-high 10 strikeouts. The Yankees’ offense is much more potent than the Angels and this game will be at hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park, a place where Severino and the entire A’s pitching staff has struggled to replicate their success on the road.

If the A’s want to snap their losing streak, they will need a strong performance from Severino and the bullpen to limit the Yankees’ opportunities and keep runs off the board. The Athletics’ offense must also improve after scoring just four runs in their previous three games.

Here’s how the Athletics’ lineup looks for the series opener:

A’s manager Mark Kotsay is rolling out a lineup that looks very similar to the ones used over the past few games.  Designated hitter Brent Rooker is back in the lineup and hoping to snap out of his slow start to the season.

The biggest change comes at the top of the order. Right-handed hitter Colby Thomas gets the start in right field and will bat leadoff in place of the usual starter, left-handed hitter Carlos Cortes. Additionally, Henry Bolte draws another start over fellow outfielder Lawrence Butler, whose playing time has diminished significantly amid his season-long offensive struggles.

Butler and Cortes are on the bench because left-handed pitcher Carlos Rodón will start for the Yankees. The 33-year-old veteran missed the first month of the season while completing his rehabilitation from offseason elbow surgery. Rodón enters his fourth start of 2026 with an 0-2 record, 4.15 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 13 innings pitched. He seems to be rounding into form, limiting the Toronto Blue Jays to one run over five innings in his most recent outing.

The southpaw aims to win his first game of the year against an A’s lineup that has been scuffling lately. For the A’s offense to succeed, they will need to be patient at the plate, work counts, and capitalize on any mistake pitches over the heart of the zone.

And the Yankees’ starting lineup this evening:

The Yankees, led by their dynamic trio of Judge, Rice and Cody Bellinger, have hit the most home runs in MLB and rank fourth in runs scored. Last year, A’s owner John Fisher said he was looking forward to watching Judge hit home runs at Sutter Health Park, and that possibility looms again this evening.

The matchup between Luis Severino’s power arsenal and the Yankees’ slugging lineup will likely hinge on traffic ahead of the heart of the order. If Severino wants his third win, he’ll need to consistently retire the bottom of the Yankees lineup and avoid letting Judge and Rice come to the plate with runners in scoring position in a park that punishes mistakes.

With a win tonight and a Mariners loss, the Athletics can jump right back into first place. More importantly, they need this victory to close the week strong and secure their first win of the homestand. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, A’s Cast