Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, June 11, 6:40 p.m. ET

The Pirates face off against the Dodgers in the series finale at PNC Park, which means it’s another tough matchup against the defending champs.

While it may not be Shohei Ohtani on the mound for the Dodgers, Justin Wrobleski is taking the bump in hopes of continuing his strong start to the season. The third-year pro out of Oklahoma State is making his 11th start of the season, hoping to pick up his eighth win. In Wrobleski’s last start, the left-hander threw six no-hit innings with four strikeouts. The Diamondbacks rallied late, scoring two in the eighth and one in the ninth, on a walk-off home run from Ketel Marte off Tanner Scott to pull off the victory on June 4.

Mitch Keller is on the mound for the Pirates, which has been a mixed bag for the team throughout the season. In 13 starts this year, Keller has a personal record of 5-3, while the Pirates overall are 7-6. The Bucks lost his last start, where he went 4.2 innings in a 6-3 loss against the Atlanta Braves. Keller was responsible for all six earned runs, and it boosted his ERA to a season-worst 4.81.

Perhaps Keller can rebound in this start, but the Dodgers will make him earn it.

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Location: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet

Pitching Matchup: Justin Wrobleski (7-2, 2.62 ERA) vs. Mitch Keller (5-3, 4.81 ERA)

BD community, this is your thread for today’s game. Enjoy!

Chris Getz waited just two games to push the chips all in on Braden Montgomery. Unfortunately, Derek Hill, who picked the wrong poker table to plant himself at, was the casualty in an unusual barter between the White Sox and Phillies. In a wild and unpredictable world where the Sox find themselves having leverage, Chicago exchanged Hill and international bonus-pool money for Philadelphia’s No. 29 prospect outfielder Dylan Campbell and infield prospect Jose Colmenares. 

Hill came to the South Side in late September last year from a waiver claim that seemed to be just another one of the Getz’s random pickups that wouldn’t mean much in a few months. And while Hill doesn’t jump off the page as an irreplaceable starter, he’s exceeded expectations. His .213/.284/.375 slash line with eight RBIs, seven walks, and four home runs is sufficient for a pinch hitter, and his versatility makes him a go-to bench guy. His timely hits have made him a valuable piece of the Sox bench, and his glove is serviceable. But the harsh fact of the matter is that there are a lot more Hills than Bradens. Just look at Chicago’s farm system.

This time, the Sox didn’t quite trade Hill for a couple of Vienna Sausages and a cake shake that gets tossed in the trash halfway through, but their return is nothing to boast about. Twenty-three-year-old Campbell was drafted by the Dodgers in the fourth round in 2023 because of his ability to use the entire field, along with a plus arm and glove. With the Fightin Phils, he’s hitting .216/.281/.412 with 31 RBIs and a few too many strikeouts for a guy who is known for making good swing decisions.

The South Siders added another middle infielder to their prospect squad in Colmenares, 24, although it’s hard to see a clear path for him to the majors. He’s been bouncing around the minors since 2018, when the Yankees signed him as an international free agent. His .278/.403/.413 slash line paired with 25 walks is refreshing to see after years of stagnation, but his development trajectory won’t do much to ease the sting for Hill supporters.

Hill was a great stopgap for Montgomery, but Getz knows it’s time to stop stalling and start fully believing in these young guys. This trade is the first sign that Getz is done clinging to Quad-A depth pieces and ready to fully commit to the youth movement. If the Sox remain in contention, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take Jerry’s credit card for a spin and make a real run for October.

The Red Sox have one more thing to apologize for in the midst of their rough season.

Team CEO Sam Kennedy went on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Thursday to offer up a mea culpa after he’d refuted the host’s report that star outfielder Roman Anthony had a tear in his ring finger, with Kennedy claiming it was a sprain.

Anthony himself confirmed it was a tear.

Anthony, sidelined since May 4, has no clear timetable to return to Boston’s lineup.

“Well, listen, I need to own up to my mistake,” Kennedy said. “I mean, I was unequivocal in my response to you regarding Roman and his situation. Apparently, I missed that day at Harvard Medical School. I shouldn’t be sitting here talking about a sprain. A sprain is a tear. I was reading off of a report that identified the sprain…So, I apologize for my mistake there. I’ve communicated with Roman about that. That’s all good. Most important is he’s doing the work to getting back.”

It’s just one of several notable injuries and issues that have seen the Red Sox fall deep into the AL East basement — at 27-39, they’re 3.5 games back of fourth-place Baltimore and 13.5 behind the division-leading Rays.

A hallmark of what’s quickly becoming a lost season is the lack of clarity around the team’s injuries.

Ace pitcher Garrett Crochet, on the injured list since Apr. 29, was said to be “making good progress on the lat strain,” on Thursday, according to chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.

Crochet, however, went on to tell the Boston Globe that the injury is “a lot worse than what we thought.”

If the Red Sox do nothing else this season, they should at least work on getting their stories straight.

PITTSBURGH — After missing four straight games with a neck issue, catcher Will Smith was finally placed on the 10-day injured list by the Dodgers on Thursday but is hopeful of returning when he is eligible next weekend.

Smith said he was diagnosed with an inflamed disk in his neck but is planning to continue hitting and throwing.

He will be able to be activated as soon as June 19 (his IL stint was backdated to Monday), when the Dodgers open a series against the Orioles.

“It’s been a long few days,” said Smith, who woke up with neck pain one day during the team’s road trip in Arizona last week. “Played on it a couple days, played on it at home, and then just that third or fourth day, I kind of felt it was just getting a lot worse. Couldn’t play that day. It’s one of the things we thought was going to get a little better in a couple days [but is] just taking a little bit longer.”

Smith said he is feeling better now but is still not 100%. The pain is on the right side of his neck and impacts most when he hits.

“With a tight neck, it’s harder to see the pitches and stuff,” he said. “The first day I felt I hit a double, so like, it’s part of it. But yeah, just kind of got to a place where I couldn’t go out there and help the team win.”

Smith had not been playing to his standards as a three-time All-Star even before the injury this year, batting just .249 with six home runs, 23 RBIs and a .720 OPS.

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Manager Dave Roberts said Smith’s injury was still “playable” now, but the team didn’t want his injury getting worse.

“I just don’t think it’s smart to run Will out there just because he’s Will Smith and he’ll do it,” Roberts said. “We gotta take care of his health for this year. So I don’t think it’s a serious thing, but I do think that us taking care of it right now on the front end will pay benefits.”

In the meantime, the Dodgers will use Dalton Rushing as their starting catcher and called up Chuckie Robinson from Triple-A Oklahoma City to serve as the backup.

The Detroit Tigers made a little move after Thursday’s series win over the Minnesota Twins. They transferred Javier Báez to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot. That spot went to outfielder James Outman, who they claimed off of waivers from those very same Twins.

Báez suffered a high ankle sprain sliding into first base in a game back on April 28. His initial rehab work didn’t progress as the team had hoped, and he was shut down again for a little rest and a round of second opinions at the beginning of June. With the move, Báez won’t be eligible to return until the end of June, but he wasn’t going to beat that timeline anyway.

As for the 29-year-old Outman, he’s a bit of an odd choice for a claim. One has to assume that the Tigers arelooking for a Jahmai Jones replacement, but Outman hits left-handed. You may remember him from a breakout 2023 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he mashed 23 home runs in a part-time role.

Since that point, Outman’s extremely high strikeout rates have kept him bouncing up and down between the major leagues and the Triple-A level. The Twins deal reliever Brock Stewart to the Dodgers for Outman back at last summer’s trade deadline. They DFA’d him back on June 6 to open a spot for Royce Lewis to be recalled to the Twins.

Outman is dangerous against hangers, but has really struggled to drive fastballs the past few years. He swings and misses a ton, and his strikeout rates have been over 40 percent the past two seasons. It’s hard to buy that the Tigers are going to unlock something that the Dodgers and Twins could not, but Outman is a solid corner outfielder who can play a solid center field, so presumably he takes over in center, letting Pérez and Vierling ride the bench until there’s a left-hander to hit against.

Outman is out of options, so he has to be added to the Tigers’ roster. The only sensible corresponding move is a DFA of Jahmai Jones, as they’re not going to run with six outfielders and cut Zack Short. Of course, to DFA Jones would’ve opened up a 40-man spot anyway, so all around this is a bit of a strange one. Outman can’t really hit major league pitching, so it’s hard to say what they’re doing with this claim.

We’ll just have to wait and see what corresponding move is to come.

It seems the Seattle Mariners may have finally found their footing. After a difficult start to the season plagued by injury and inconsistency, the Mariners have taken the lead in the AL West and seem poised to hold on for the remainder of the year. It still feels wild to have the Mariners among the best teams in the AL. I never even imagined this was possible. I thought the Mariners had not done enough this offseason and were going to fall back to being a fringe Wild Card team, but I’m glad to be proven wrong so far.

Part of their inconsistency was the absence of Bryce Miller from the rotation and the… let’s say less-than-ideal performances from Luis Castillo. With Miller returning to the rotation and the breakout season being experienced by Hancock, the question became: should the Mariners run a six-man rotation for the remainder of the season? The answer here was a resounding yes.

Personally, this was not the result I expected. I guess there really is a silent majority that backs Castillo, at least for the first four innings of a game or so; that third time through the lineup hits different. Still, despite the inconsistencies to start the season, the Mariners’ experimentation with the rotation has seemingly worked out. Moving from a six-man rotation to piggyback starts with Miller and Castillo back to a six-man rotation, and somehow, out of all of it, they actually got several quality starts out of both Castillo and Miller. Both Castillo and Miller have another start coming up on the Mariners’ current road swing, so I guess we will see if this six-man rotation can work out like we all hope it will.

Now, for a moment, it did seem like Castillo was “cooked,” as the kids say, and the Mariners would have to move back to a traditional five-man rotation eventually. The question then was, who’s the odd man out if they do so, and you all were not shy about your choice at all.

So I guess it’s good news for Castillo that he seems to have mostly gotten back on track over the past couple of weeks. While the piggybacking was rough, it seems to be just what he and Miller needed to get back into the swing of things. It looks like the Mariners will be sticking with the six-man rotation, at least through the duration of this road trip. After that, who knows!

Cal Raleigh also struggled immensely here at the start of the season, which culminated in an IL stint and a rehab assignment in Triple-A. His injury raised an interesting opportunity for young Jhonny Pereda. Pereda has emerged as a bright spot for the Mariners as a backstop in the absence of Raleigh and amid the continued struggles of Mitch Garver; one has to wonder what the roster will look like when Raleigh is back in action. Pereda has slashed an impressive .288/.351/.404 over 52 at-bats so far this season, admittedly a small sample size, but far better than Garver’s measly .193/.323/.325, and multiple years of poor play behind that. Personally, while Garver has had his moments, I see no reason to stick with him over Pereda should it come to that decision, but let us know what you think in the survey below: has Jhonny Pereda earned a spot on the Mariners roster for the rest of the year?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mariners fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The Mets and Cardinals had a wild, dinger-heavy finale to their three-game set at Citi Field, with the Mets out-slugging the Red Birds 5-4.

The two teams combined for five home runs in the first two innings: Alec Brunson had a solo home run in the first off of Christian Scott, which was quickly answered by a two-run homer by Bo Bichette and a solo shot by Jared Young in the bottom of the inning. In the second, Lars Nootbaar hit a homer with no one on to bring the Cardinals within one, and Jimmy Crooks then hit a two-run shot to put St. Louis up by one. 4-3.

That would be the end of the offense for the Cardinals, and Scott settled in nicely. While he didn’t complete five innings, aside from the three home runs, Scott’s day was effective, if not efficient. Across four and two-thirds innings, Scott allowed seven hits, four earned runs, one walk, and six strikeouts on the day. This was the sepmd career start by Scott where he gave up four earned runs; he’s still not given up five in a major league start.

Scott’s Cardinals counterpart Hunter Dobbins went four and a third, striking out five without allowing a walk. Both starters recovered nicely from the early home runs.

The Mets came back from the early deficit in the fifth when Young singled to score Juan Soto off of Justin Bruihl. Two frames later, and Soto would add a solo home run of his own to the tally against JoJo Romero, and that was all the Mets would need.

The Mets’ bullpen was fantastic throughout, allowing no hits and just one walk over four and a third innings. The relief pitching wasn’t dominant, striking out just three over those innings, but they kept the Cardinals off-balance and off the base paths. A.J. Minter (one and a third), Brooks Raley (one), Luke Weaver (one), and Devin Williams (one) pitched to just one above the minimum. Weaver is now in a 17 consecutive scoreless innings streak, despite being seen mumbling to himself when he gave up a couple of deep fly ball outs.

The Mets likely used more relievers than they would’ve liked to today, but the team needed the win.

The Mets are now 8-8 in their last 16 games, but at various points in that span, they’ve looked totally lost or like they’re snapping out of this slump. With Francisco Alvarez back and Francisco Lindor on the way back, the Mets are being given their best chance to try to salvage their season.

Nolan McLean starts tomorrow when the Mets face the Braves for the first time this season. Atlanta has not announced a starter yet.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Juan Soto +26% WPA
Big Mets loser: -23% WPA
Mets pitchers: +24% WPA
Mets hitters: +26% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s go-ahead home run, +24.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jimmy Crooks’s home run, -15.3% WPA.