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Anthony Volpe played a baseball game Tuesday night for the first time since he underwent shoulder surgery to deal with a torn labrum last October. It was in Somerset, not Yankee Stadium. And he only played long enough to take two at-bats. But he was out there again, and he felt that was worth celebrating.

"It was great. Like, so much fun to be back out there,” Volpe said. “It felt like a big milestone. We appreciated it for what it was.”

Whatit was is the beginning of a build-up that his manager, Aaron Boone, said will likely continue in the minor leagues through at least next week. He said Volpe will play five-plus innings in Somerset again Thursday and Friday, take a day off Saturday, then play again Sunday. Minor league teams do not play on Mondays, so the Yankees currently plan to use that as a rest day before transferring Volpe’s rehab to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he will continue to increase workload.

“Probably four or five games next week, then we’ll kind of evaluate and see where we’re at from there,” Boone said.

Volpe admitted it will be difficult for him to wait through such a deliberate build-up before returning to the big leagues, though he conceded he wants to experience a variety of in-game occurrences – running the bases, diving for a ball, etc. – so he knows how the shoulder will feel during and after each of them.

“I wish I could play more to test it more, but it felt amazing,” Volpe said. “I feel like we have a great routine to warm everything up and get ready, so it feels good.”

The Yankees have mostly relied on Jose Caballero to play shortstop in Volpe’s absence, with a few appearances from Ryan McMahon sprinkled in as well. That combination left the Yankees tied for the worst shortstop OPS in baseball entering Wednesday night’s game -- .471, tied with the Boston Red Sox.

Exactly what a now-healthy Volpe will be offensively remains to be seen, but he certainly enjoyed a good test of his readiness Tuesday: Both of his at-bats came against rehabbing Phillies ace Zack Wheeler. He struck out both times.

“He looked sharp,” Volpe said. “But I feel like I saw it okay. It was a treat for sure.”

Speaking of injured aces, two Yankees who qualify for that title should be taking steps forward in the next few days. 

Carlos Rodón, who threw three innings and 50 pitches in his last live batting practice session, will pitch to live hitters in Somerset on Saturday, Boone said. Gerrit Cole, meanwhile, threw his regularly scheduled side session before Wednesday’s game. The team later decided that Cole will pitch in a game Friday at Somerset. The veteran threw three innings in a live batting practice session last weekend.

Exactly when both will return to the majors remains unclear, though Boone said earlier this week he still estimates Rodón is ahead of Cole. But both pitchers are firmly in the building-stamina phase of their rehabilitation process, which means if everything continues to go well, they can both now count their remaining absence in weeks, not months.

For those of you asking. Jaxon Wiggins was placed on the injured list today. The Cubs say that they’re hopeful it will be a short trip.

Porter Hodge will have elbow surgery and is out for the season.

Dylan Carlson elected free agency.

Left-hander Marino Santy was promoted to Double-A Knoxville from High-A South Bend.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were broadsided by the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), 9-4.

Paul Campbell pitched the first four innings in his Cubs’ organization debut. Campbell allowed a two-run home run in the fourth, but otherwise acquitted himself well. His final line was two runs on four hits over four innings. He struck out four and walked no one.

Unfortunately, Tyler Beede did not have as good of a Iowa debut. He came on to pitch the sixth inning and didn’t managed to get through it. Beede got the loss after allowing four runs on two hits and two walks over two-thirds of an inning. One of those hits was a three-run home run. Beede did not have a strikeout.

Catcher Casey Opitz made his season debut and went 2 for 3 with an RBI single and a squeeze bunt. He scored once in addition to the two RBI.

Shortstop Ben Cowles went 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI single.

DH BJ Murray was 2 for 4.

Here’s Opitz’s safety squeeze.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies reeled in the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Marlins), 8-0.

Four Knoxville pitchers combined on the five-hit shutout. Yennri Rojas started and gave up just one hit over 3.1 innings. Rojas did walk four while striking out two.

Jace Beck pitched the next 2.2 innings and got the win. Beck surrendered one hit while walking two. He struck out six.

Evan Taylor pitched the seventh and eighth innings. He allowed two hits but didn’t walk anyone and struck out one.

Marino Santy handled the ninth. He allowed a leadoff single but nothing else. Santy struck out one.

Right fielder Alex Ramirez was 3 for 5 with a double. He scored twice and drove in one.

DH Ethan Hearn was 2 for 4 with a two-run double. He went 2 for 4 and was hit by a pitch. Hearn also stole a base.

Miguel Useche added an insurance run with a pinch-hit home run in the top of the ninth.

Some Smokies highlights from the fourth inning.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs filleted the Beloit Sky Carp (Marlins), 9-5.

Starter Kevin Valdez struggled tonight, giving up three in the first inning and two in the fourth. His final line was five runs on five hits over 3.1 innings. Valdez walked two, hit one batter and struck out three.

Ethan Bell relieved Valdez in the fourth and while he did let two (out of three) inherited runners to score, he didn’t allow any runs of his own and took home his first South Bend win. Bell allowed no runs and no hits. He walked one and struck out one over 1.2 innings.

Ethan Flanagan pitched the final four innings without giving up a run for the save. Flanagan allowed just two hits while striking out seven and walking no one.

Right fielder Kade Snell gave South Bend the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth with an two-run single. Snell also had an RBI ground out earlier in the game and a sacrifice fly later. That gave him four RBI on a 1 for 4 game. Snell also stole a base.

First baseman Cameron Sisneros clubbed a solo home run in the seventh inning. It was his second on the year. Sisneros went 3 for 4 with two RBI.

Catcher Owen Ayers tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run. It was his fourth home run already this season and third in as many games. Ayers went 2 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Second baseman Drew Bowser was 2 for 3 with a walk. He scored once.

An RBI triple for Leonel Espinoza. He was 1 for 4 and was hit by a pitch. He scored twice.

Easy power out of Sisneros.

Ayers’ home run.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans melted down the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox), 5-4 in 10 innings.

Starter Dominick Reid surrendered three runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. He walked three and srtuck out five.

Eli Jerzembeck provided solid relief after not giving up a run over 2.2 innings. He allowed two hits and walked one while striking out four.

Ben Johnson pitched the top of the tenth, didn’t allow a run and got the win. After balking the automatic runner over to third with no outs, Johnson escaped with a walk, a caught stealing and two strikeouts. Johnson walked two batters total.

First baseman Cole Mathis provided most of the offense tonight with two two-run home runs. The first came in the bottom of the first and the second one was in the third. Mathis now has six home runs in just 11 games. He just missed a home run later in the game and had to settle for a double. Mathis went 4 for 5 with the double and two home runs.

Left fielder Jose Escobar singled home the winning run in the bottom of the tenth. Escobar was 3 for 4 and was hit by a pitch.

Shortstop Ty Southisene was 1 for 2 with two walks. He scored one run.

The two Mathis home runs.

Escobar sends everyone home happy.

In the first two games of this series, the Braves had to weather an offensive barrage from the Marlins. They didn’t do so effectively in the series opener, and needed a huge hit from Dominic Smith to even the series last night. Tonight, though, it was largely smooth sailing through Marlin-infested waters, as Bryce Elder mostly cruised and the Braves jumped out to an early lead and more or less left the opposition in their wake.

Elder’s first frame was a bit rocky, as he walked Xavier Edwards and then grazed Otto Lopez to put two on with one out. Not to worry, though, a routine flyout and then a slider-slider-slider strikeout of Connor Norby ended that threat. Elder then struck out two more in a perfect second and let his defense help him to a perfect third, before another two strikeouts started the fourth. Norby collected the first hit off Elder with a plonked double down the right-field line, but Michael Harris II flagged down a hard-hit liner by Owen Caissie to keep Miami off the board.

Chris Paddack struck out both Ronald Acuña Jr. and Drake Baldwin in a perfect first, but the Braves got to him in the second. Ozzie Albies hooked the first Paddack pitch he saw Chop House-ward for a solo homer. The trio of Mike Yastrzemski, Smith, and Mauricio Dubon followed with singles to plate another run; Paddack struck out Acuña to end the inning with two in scoring position.

After that, things were quiet until the fifth, where they got slightly dicey. Graham Pauley did a nice job connecting on a good Elder slider and thwacked it for a one-out double. Deyvison De Los Santos followed with a soft bouncer that Dubon charged, rushed, and threw wide of the bag. Elder then had a very unfortunately-timed lapse in command, issuing a walk (six pitches, but none anywhere near the zone) to load the bases, with Edwards coming up. Elder threw two four-seamers to Edwards. The first missed its spot but nestled in for a strike. The second was fought off and bounced weakly to Dubon, who raced to second and fired on the first — aided by a big stretch from Matt Olson, the initial call was safe at first, but it was quickly overturned on replay review to keep Miami off the board once again.

Paddack departed after a two-out single by Acuña in the fifth. Baldwin followed with a single off new pitcher John King, but the Miami reliever froze Olson on 1-2. After a leadoff single started the sixth, Elder got two groundouts, but neither could be converted to a double play. Skipper Walt Weiss then lifted Elder in favor of Dylan Lee, who walked pinch-hitter Austin Slater but then caught Heriberto Hernandez looking on a 3-2 slider right down the pipe. Elder finished the game with more or less a return to form to his earlier, Bryce Eldar-level of pitching, with a 7/2 K/BB ratio in 5 2/3 innings. Things felt a little rocky for him because his three free passes (remember the hit by pitch) came with men on, but the slider was absolutely on point tonight both in terms of command and in terms of results, with a whiff rate north of 50 percent.

Elder left the game when it was 2-0, but that quickly changed. Austin Riley connected for his first homer of the year, a 400-footer to left center, on King’s first pitch of the sixth. After an easy Tyler Kinley frame in the seventh, the Braves basically engaged in a bit of batting practice against Andrew Nardi: Acuña doubled (on basically a missed sliding catch), Baldwin singled, and Olson obliterated a hanging slider to make it 6-0. Riley added a double for good measure, but was stranded.

With the game now resembling a rout, the Braves went to Osvaldo Bido for the eighth, and …. egh. Liam Hicks had a two-run homer, Norby reached on a bad throw to first by Riley, Bido uncorked two wild pitches, and Slater walked (again), before Weiss had seen enough and sent Robert Suarez in to restore order. The first batter Suarez faced hit yet another dinky bouncer to Dubon, who took a chance and threw to second — but Albies couldn’t corral the throw. Not to worry, though: Pauley, as the tying run, got beat on a changeup and hit into an easy double play.

The Braves went 1-2-3 against Calvin Faucher in the bottom of the eighth, and Raisel Iglesias easily wrapped up the game. He struck out pinch-hitter Agustin Ramirez on three pitches, clipping the zone with a four-seamer to end the at-bat. He then threw three straight changeups and got three straight whiffs from Jakob Marsee. Edwards ruined the potential immaculate inning with his PA that resulted in a single up the middle, which was a shame because Iglesias ended the game on his third three-pitch strikeout of the night: Lopez waved weakly at a buried changeup to seal yet another series win for the Braves.

Every Brave had a hit except Harris, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Though the Braves went without a walk, they hit three homers, so, y’know, whatever. They’ll try to keep things rolling after Thursday’s off day in a big weekend set in Philadelphia.

It was a dark and stormy night in Milwaukee, with big lightning displays outside the stadium and rain leaking through cracks in the American Family Field roof. Inside the stadium, it was a pretty juiceless affair. Neither offence could get much of anything going. Ultimately, it was the Brewers who cobbled together a little bit more.

Toronto struck first. Daulton Varsho worked a one out walk in the first, moved to third on a Vladimir Guerrero jr. ground ball single, and came home on a Jesus Sanchez sac fly. From there, it settled into a pitchers’ duel. Cease gave up a line single in the bottom of the first, walks in the second and fourth, and another hit to Joey Ortiz in the fifth. In the sixth, he gave up his third walk but a strike’em out-throw’em out double play ended the inning. All told, he went six shutout innings on two hits and three walks, striking out six.

After his stumble out of the gate, Chad Patrick was even stingier, conceding just one single each in the third (by Brandon Valenzuela) and fifth (by Lenyn Sosa). He also went a bit deeper than Cease, recording two outs in the seventh around a walk to Kazuma Okamoto. DL Hall took over to face the lefty Lenyn Sosa, getting a fly out.

Mason Fluharty started the bottom of the seventh, giving up a single while getting two outs before giving way to Braydon Fisher. Fisher got Ortiz to ground out to preserve the shutout.

In the eighth, Aaron Ashby gave up a single to Varsho and walked Guerrero with two out. Myles Straw was called on to pinch hit for Jesus Sanchez, but struck out.

Tyler Rogers took the eighth. David Hamilton reached on a swinging bunt that Rogers couldn’t bare-hand. Brandon Valenzuela misplayed a ball chopped straight down onto the plate, allowing Sal Frelick to reach and Hamilton, representing the tying run, to move all the way to third with none out. A Contreras ground ball single tied the game with runners still on the corners. A Turang chopper bounced just over Rogers’ head, scoring the go ahead run. Rogers got out of it from there, but the damage was done. The four balls that resulted in either batters reaching or scored runs traveled a total of 22 feet in the air. So it goes.

Abner Uribe locked it down, retiring the Jays in order

Jays of the Day: Dylan Cease (0.39)

Less so: Nathan Lukes (-0.12), Ernie Clement (-0.13), Tyler Rogers (-0.54)

Getaway day tomorrow, with first pitch at 1:40pm ET. The Jays will hope that Patrick Corbin (0-0, 9.00) can do a little better than he managed last time out. For Milwaukee, top prospect Brandon Sproat (0-1, 10.45) will look to bounce back from a dreadful first three starts of the season.

As corny as it sounds, a lot can happen before that 27th out, and what felt like it would’ve been yet another deflating loss—following a dangerous trend early on in 2026—turned into one of the more thrilling wins for the Yankees this season as they walked off the Angels at home, 5-4, on a José Caballero two-run double. But before getting to that moment against a familiar face in Jordan Romano, the Angels’ new closer who also blew the game on Monday, the Yankees tested the patience of their fans.

Facing a starting pitcher who was dealing with walk issues ahead of this game, the Yankees capitalized on it by earning four free passes against Jack Kochanowicz. Two of them led directly to runs, as Trent Grisham made it a 3-0 game early on with a two-run knock in the second after Aaron Judge began the scoring in the first with his 375th career homer, a solo shot. And yet one can’t help but feel underwhelmed by the Yanks’ efforts. Despite allowing three runs in the first two innings, Kochanowicz managed to pitch into the seventh inning and left in line for the win as the Yankees’ bats took a hiatus from scoring in between the second and the ninth, allowing the Angels to take control of this one for a large period.

In order for the Halos to do that, they had to get at Luis Gil, which turned out to be not much of a problem, homering three times against him. In fact, with the way the Yankees performed after Gil’s departure, the Angels probably wished he could’ve stayed in there a bit longer. For someone who ultimately failed rather spectacularly in his number-one objective in trying to deliver a solid performance tonight—keeping the ball in the park—Gil certainly could’ve done worse than the four runs he allowed in five innings of work.

The Angels got to work on Gil with solo shots by Adam Frazier in the third and Logan O’Hoppe in the fifth, and then the star of this series, Mike Trout, got what looked like—right until the end—was going to be the biggest hit of this game. Notorious for loving the ball down in the zone, Trout got a low heater he was looking for and took it to right field for a two-run shot to then give the Angels the 4-3 lead on career long ball no. 410. Absurdly, it was Trout’s fourth long ball of this series, going deep in each of the three games.

What’s even more worrisome is that the three home runs were in no way a fluke—the Angels were all over Gil and could’ve easily constructed a more damaging scoreline. According to Statcast, the average exit velocity on batted-ball events against Gil’s fastball was 99.1 mph. Every time the Angels connected, they did so with authority, and they connected quite often, whiffing on just 3 of 17 swings against his fastballs.

Somewhat leaving Gil off the hook would come back to bite the Angels, but it took many a comeback attempt from the Yankees before doing so. The Yankees first got some momentum back in the seventh inning, securing the third out at the top of the frame with Cody Bellinger gunning down Zach Neto, who attempted to go from first to third on a ground-ball single from Trout—and then by opening the bottom of the frame with a beautifully laid down bunt single from Austin Wells. With Wells at second and two outs following Ryan McMahon’s strikeout, the managerial chess match took place. Trent Grisham was coming up for his fourth at-bat against Kochanowicz, so the Angels brought in Drew Pomeranz, and Aaron Boone countered with Paul Goldschmidt. The veteran’s hard liner unfortunately found the glove of Frazier at second base to close the threat.

The theme of narrowly missing out kept going as Giancarlo Stanton—who had a particularly difficult time striking out three times against Kochanowicz—crushed a 3-2 fastball against Romano to start the ninth, but it didn’t have enough air under it and was caught by Bryce Teodosio in right. Teodosio had just come into the game as a defensive replacement.

Sometimes, though, it’s better to be lucky than good, and the Yankees’ successful comeback effort originated on a massive blunder from the Angels’ defense. Right after Stanton’s lineout, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a casual popup, but miscommunication on the infield between Neto and old friend Oswald Peraza saw it drop in.

With Jazz on base, the Yankees had an immediate threat. Chisholm stole second, and a slightly-rattled Romano walked Wells.

That’s when Caballero mustered a timely hit, knocking one into left-center field with the runners in motion. Chisholm easily scored the tying run, and a hustling Wells came all the way around to cross home as well, just barely beating the surprised Angels’ relay throw home.

The Survive Trout Show continues for one more day tomorrow at 1:35pm ET, as the Yankees send out the best they have for this series finale against the Angels, with ace Max Fried looking for his third win of the season. The Angels haven’t announced their starter yet. Just in case you were wondering, Trout and Fried have never faced each other before in the big leagues.

Box Score

Sometimes a slumping offense just needs to see an opposing pitcher it routinely hits. Sometimes a slumping offense just needs to catch a break from the opposing defense.

In Wednesday’s ninth inning, the Yankees were gifted both.

Bats that seem to be silent against everyone except Jordan Romano these days got to face the Angels closer again. And Romano’s job grew much tougher when a routine pop-up to his infield somehow bounced on the dirt.

When the frame from Angels hell was over, José Caballero had drilled a walk-off two-run double to steal a 5-4 victory in front of 41,019 in The Bronx, where Aaron Boone’s club blew an early three-run edge and was shut out from the third through eighth innings before finding life (and two runs) just in time.

A hard-to-believe comeback was launched against Romano, who blew Monday’s game when he allowed three runs without recording an out and who owns a 6.17 ERA in 26 career games against the Yankees, who seem to enjoy stepping into the box against the former Blue Jays reliever.

The second blowup in three days — which led to the second Yankees walk-off in three days — was not entirely Romano’s fault. In a frame that began with the Angels ahead 4-3, Jazz Chisholm Jr. lofted a lazy, one-out pop-up to the left side of the infield.

Third baseman Oswald Peraza seemed early in the ball’s ascent to take charge. Shortstop Zach Neto probably should have called him off because the high pop ended up in his territory.

Both were unsure who would catch it, and thus neither did.

“Let’s go,” went through Boone’s mind as the ball dropped.

“We’ll take anything we can get,” said Austin Wells, who followed the pop-up single with a hard-earned walk.

“Whenever you give us a chance,” Caballero said with a small laugh, “it’s a dangerous thing.”

Two days prior, Caballero had played hero by following Trent Grisham’s game-tying ninth-inning home run against Romano with a double and, with aggression, a stolen base and wild pitch creating the game-winner. This time Caballero’s bat was the star, smacking a hit over Neto and into left-center while Chisholm and Wells were attempting a double steal. Chisholm scored without issue, and third base coach Luis Rojas kept spinning his arm with an audacious send.

The relay throw beat Wells to the plate but was toward the first base line, allowing Wells’ leg to graze home plate just in timeto jump-start the week’s second game-ending party in The Bronx.

The Yankees (10-8) have responded to their five-game skid by taking two of three from the Angels and will try to seize the series Thursday afternoon behind Max Fried.

In the span of 21 pitches from Romano, the feelings around the club were flipped. A few minutes earlier, it had seemed Boone was going to have to answer questions about how this roster had fallen to .500 and why an offense that was baseball’s best last season suddenly could not hit.

“It’s not easy for us necessarily right now,” Boone said, “but just a lot of really gritty plays there at the end.”

The Yankees were strong defensively, including nice diving plays by Caballero (to retire Peraza in the ninth) and Chisholm (spearing a ground ball from Nolan Schanuel with a dive in the third).

Their bullpen — four scoreless innings from Tim Hill, Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick and David Bednar — did everything it could to keep the game close. And their offense eventually found the break it needed and the break that did not seem as if it would arrive.

Apart from Monday’s 11-run explosion, the Yankees have scored 19 runs in seven games (six losses) against the A’s, Rays and Angels, whose pitching staffs are, well, mortal.

Wednesday started differently — against righty Jack Kochanowicz, Aaron Judge clobbered his seventh homer of the season and fourth in four games in the first and Grisham came through with a two-out, two-run single in the second — but then felt familiar, the Yankees picking up two more hits through the eighth inning. One, from Wells, was a bunt single.

As the early lead disappeared in the fifth, when Luis Gil (five innings, four runs on five hits and two walks) surrendered his second and third home runs of the night, a one-run deficit felt insurmountable.

But somewhere, Luis Castillo smiled.

“Every win matters,” Wells said. “Doesn’t really matter how you get it done.”