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Umpires call it a train wreck, a play that results in a horrific collision through no fault of the baserunner or fielder. No interference or obstruction is called. It's considered "just baseball" and seemingly unavoidable.

The most recent example began with a bunt by Luis Arráez of the San Diego Padres against the Houston Astros on Sunday. First baseman Christian Walker fielded the ball and tossed it to second baseman Mauricio Dubón, who'd raced over to cover first.

Dubón's momentum carried him directly behind the base as he touched it with his foot to record the out. Arráez, meanwhile, motored up the line and through the base, then slammed into Dubón. Arráez got the worst of it, suffering a concussion that landed him on the injured list.

Throughout baseball history, such collisions have been met mostly with grimaces and shrugs. Nobody likes seeing an injury, but the game is the game and, as the saying goes, it hasn't changed in 150 years.

Now, though, tweaking rules and introducing concepts are in vogue, whether to improve the pace of play with a pitch clock, increase stolen bases with larger bags, or address player safety by eliminating catchers blocking home plate.

Read more:How four rule changes will impact Major League Baseball

Addressing collisions at first base might be next. They are frequent, and often result in serious injury.

An abbreviated list of memorable train wrecks at first base:

— 2023: The Minnesota Twins' Royce Lewis flips over Cleveland Guardians first baseman Gabriel Arias and lands on his face, with his neck bending as his legs fly up and over his body.
— 2022: Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gets his free hand stepped on while stretching for a throw.
— 2017: The Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper hyperextends his left knee when he lunges to beat a throw and slips on a wet base during a crowded play at first.
— 2013: The New York Mets' Eric Young steps on the right ankle of Atlanta Braves pitcher Tim Hudson, who is covering the bag on a ground ball to first baseman Freddie Freeman. Hudson suffers a fractured ankle.

And, of course, Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy suffers a torn ulnar collateral ligament when the Brewers' Jace Peterson slams into his left arm as he reaches into the base line to catch a throw in the last game of the 2021 regular season. Muncy is out for the entire postseason and the injury lingers into the next spring.

"I definitely felt like my arm wasn't there," Muncy said.

Read more:Haunting memories of last year are driving Max Muncy

Several if not all of those calamitous collisions could have been avoided with one simple solution: Follow the lead of NCAA baseball and utilize two first bases, an orange or green one for the runner and a white one for the fielder.

The injury to his three-time National League batting champion Arráez fresh in his mind, Padres manager Mike Shildt said on the "Starkville" podcast with Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville that common sense dictates Major League Baseball explore the two-base solution.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” he said. “I haven’t seen it or played with it to form a real strong opinion. But conceptually, it’s one of those things where you go: You know, why not? I mean, we want our players to be safe and on the field. ... Conceptually, it does check some boxes to me that make sense — that listen, let’s just create a lane for everybody.”

Shildt said Arráez seems to be recovering well so far.

“He’s sore, as you would expect,” Shildt said. “But nothing from a CT scan that’s alarming in the cervical area or the jaw line, because he got a little abrasion on his jaw. And cognitively, [he’s] alert, remembers what’s taken place, is testing positively to this point on anything relative to the concussion side of it.”

Read more:Shaikin: Are Dodgers ruining baseball? 'There are some owners that have concerns'

Pushback on implementing double first bases might come from purists, but player safety has become an overarching concern as salaries have increased. The average MLB salary this year is $5 million, which is what Dubón will make. Arráez will make $14 million.

The collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season. Top of the agenda for owners in negotiations will be the creative spending of deep-pocket teams such as the Dodgers and Mets. Another hot-button topic is player safety, which union chief Tony Clark mentions at every turn. Double first bases, anyone?

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

What we learned as Logan Webb, Wilmer Flores spark Giants' win over Brewers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — Through the first month of the season, Logan Webb has already faced Hunter Greene (twice), Carlos Rodón, Tyler Anderson and Freddy Peralta. That’s just part of being the Opening Day starter, but so far the difficult slate is working out well for Webb and the Giants. 

The staff ace threw 6 1/3 shutout innings Wednesday, outdueling and outlasting Peralta, who entered as one of the league’s ERA leaders, to pick up his third win of the season. With a 4-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, the Giants improved to 4-2 in games started by Webb and 7-6 during this stretch of 17 consecutive games. 

Webb didn’t need much help, but Mike Yastrzemski provided a boost in the top of the sixth by making a perfect throw from right to nail William Contreras at third and keep the Brewers from having runners on the corners with one out in a scoreless game. In the bottom of the inning, the Giants broke through for four runs, and they ended up needing that big frame.

Ryan Walker came on in a non-save situation and again struggled to put hitters away. After two singles, a hit-by-pitch and a double, Walker was pulled for Camilo Doval, who struck out Jackson Chourio and then got Christian Yelich to ground out to pick up his fourth save of the year. 

Walker has given up six earned runs in his last two outings after going 15-for-15 previously in save opportunities. The struggles have come out of nowhere and might lead to a change in the ninth far sooner than anyone could have expected.

Here are the takeaways as the Giants improve to 16-9 this season:

Mr. 200?

Webb said at the end of camp that he would like this to be the year he wins his first Cy Young. He also said he would like to finally join the 200-strikeout club, and that one is starting to look like a lock if he stays healthy. 

Webb struck out six on Wednesday to get to 44 through six starts, putting him on pace for about 240 over a full season. His previous career-high is 194 and he has only one previous season with an average of even one strikeout per inning. He currently ranks third in the NL in strikeouts and, as always, he is among the league leaders in innings pitched. Only Zack Wheeler currently ranks ahead of him there. 

Put those two numbers together with an ERA that dipped to 1.98 and Webb is among the early favorites for the Cy Young, which is no surprise. He currently ranks fifth in the NL in ERA behind Yoshinobu Yamamot, Nick Pivetta, Mitchell Parker and Andrew Heaney. 

Mr. 100? 

Wilmer Flores has just one season in his career with more than 60 RBI, and his career-high is 71, set in 2022. At the moment, he’s on pace to more than double that total. 

Flores bounced a single up the middle and off shortstop Joey Ortiz’s glove in the sixth and two runs scored easily, getting him to 27 RBI, the most in the big leagues. He’s one ahead of a couple of New York sluggers, Aaron Judge and Pete Alonso. The hit came after singles by Willy Adames and Jung Hoo Lee and a walk by Matt Chapman, and it ignited a four-run rally.

Going For Gold, And Then Platinum

Chapman and Patrick Bailey are coming off Gold Glove seasons, and both look like they’ll win again this year. There’s a level beyond gold, though, and last year’s Platinum Glove winner is in this series, too. 

Brewers second baseman Brice Turang got the honor of being named the best defender in the NL last year, but he has had a rough three days in San Francisco. Turang had two balls bounce off his glove Monday, although he recovered both times to avoid errors. 

In the sixth Wednesday, Turang couldn’t glove a double-play ball from LaMonte Wade Jr., and the Giants piled on. The error allowed a run to score and the Giants made it a four-run inning when Ortiz made a wide throw on a bouncer up the middle from Christian Koss.

Turang led all big leaguers with 22 Defensive Runs Saved last season but he was at negative one coming into Wednesday’s game. Chapman is currently at three DRS, which is tied for third in the NL behind Tommy Pham (six) and Pete Crow-Armstrong (four).

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When the Mets started talking last year about getting Brett Baty reps at second base, the rational response was … what? That Brett Baty? The bat-first corner guy? The one who does not seem to possess the tools of a middle infielder?

It felt like a classic case of a team floating a topic that it knew made little sense, but that it hoped rivals would notice enough to increase a player’s trade value.

In the offseason, when president of baseball operations David Stearns continued to praise Baty’s work at second, it seemed more of the same. The Mets weren’t actually planning to do this at the major league level, were they?

But then Jeff McNeil suffered an oblique injury during spring training. Nick Madrigal, the infielder who would have backed up McNeil, was already out for the season after separating his shoulder. That left Baty and Luisangel Acuña with an opportunity to split time filling in for McNeil.

A funny thing happened when reality met expectations. Baty ended up exceeding all internal and external projections for his defense. He utilized a strong work ethic and naturally quick first step to perform capably at second base. If he goes back to Triple-A on Friday, as seems likely with McNeil’s expected return, he will do so with increased value and versatility.

Similarly, Hayden Senger – a catcher who was long perceived to have a big league-caliber glove but perhaps the bat of an org-gut or non-prospect – has hit well enough during Francisco Alverez’s stint on the injured list to prove himself a viable MLB player.

Senger will also likely head to Syracuse prior to Friday’s game, but he will leave having added potential years to his professional career. That’s likely no exaggeration; now that Senger has shown that he belongs, he could break through as someone’s backup rather than wind down his career in the minors. For that matter, Luis Torrens proved he can be a starting catcher, which is why he’ll continue to see significant playing time after Alvarez returns on Friday.

Baty, of course, holds more significance to the franchise. A one-time top prospect, he has established a pattern of raking in spring training and at Triple-A and failing to control at-bats while with the Mets. He now finds himself blocked by Mark Vientos at third base.

Talk of Baty switching positions or serving in a utility role long seemed fanciful. Through no fault of his own, Baty was born with the broad lower half of a corner guy. Increasing his agility at third seemed a more reasonable goal.

But while Baty will never be as naturally slick and rangy at second as Acuña (who has earned a lasting place on the team) or Jose Iglesias, he left a deep impression on the Mets with his progress there. Just as Senger can survive at the plate in the big leagues, Baty has now shown that he can play a credible middle infield. Both he and the Mets staff, from Triple-A manager Dick Scott to major league infield instructor Mike Sarbaugh, deserve praise.

He has also validated the confidence that the Mets showed in him earlier this month. On April 9, Baty went 0-for-3 in a loss to Miami, striking out twice and hearing boos from the home fans. It seemed like a moment to consider optioning him to Triple-A, but the Mets did not seriously weigh it. Between that day and Tuesday of this week, Baty batted .280 with a .797 OPS.

On Wednesday, he homered when Zack Wheeler left a fat cutter over the plate, punishing the ball at 113.9 miles per hour. He also made a pair of slick plays and second on well-struck balls. If Baty goes down now instead of outfielder Jose Azocar, roster construction will be to blame, not the quality of his play.

This all means that, if Baty is forced to take another trip to Syracuse, it will be as a player enhanced by this stint in Queens, not diminished by it. Now the Mets – and perhaps as importantly, with Vientos emerging – other teams can view him as more versatile and attractive.

Down 3-2 heading into the bottom of the 10^th inning against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Mets’ six-game winning streak and hopes of a possible perfect homestand seemed to be dwindling at Citi Field on Wednesday.

At least outside of the Mets’ dugout, that is.

Inside the dugout, the Mets never lost faith, and their fundamentally sound play in the field and in the batter’s box paid off as they came back to win 4-3, finishing off a perfect homestand and a three-game sweep of the NL East-rival Phillies.

“That’s a huge team win there,” Carlos Mendoza said afterward.

And that statement couldn’t be more true, as it felt like every player on the roster contributed in one way or another, whether it was Juan Soto gunning down Nick Castellanos at home plate in the eighth, or Max Kranickrelieving a cramping Edwin Diaz to escape a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 10^th, or Pete Alonso coming up clutch with a game-tying double that led to Starling Marte’s walk-off single.

Baseball is a game of fundamentals, and right now, perhaps no one is playing better fundamental baseball than these Mets.

“Today is a perfect example of a lot of winning plays, a lot of fundamental plays,” Mendoza said. “…Outfielders getting behind the ball on shallow fly balls with runners on third base, Soto making a huge throw at the plate, [Hayden] Senger not only catching the ball but making the tag, Pete being in the right spot with cutoffs. There’s a lot of good things happening. There’s a lot of good at-bats, getting big hits, walks, and then from a pitching standpoint, not giving in.

“There’s a lot to like about the way the guys are playing.”

While players like Soto and Alonso are expected to come up huge in big moments given their salaries and stature within the game, the unheralded Kranick played a huge role on Wednesday. After Diaz had to come out of the game due to what the team said was cramps in his left hip, Kranick faced a bases-loaded one-out jam against a Phillies lineup that has the potential to have things snowball.

But Kranick, who has been terrific so far this season to the tune of a 2.81 ERA, stopped any potential avalanche before it could even start, getting Bryson Stott to fly out weakly to center before Max Kepler followed suit to right.

Kranick’s magic act only fueled the Mets’ fire heading into the bottom of the inning.

“For Kranick to keep it there and what’s coming for us offensively when you see it’s Soto, it’s Pete, it’s [Mark] Vientos, it’s [Brandon] Nimmo,” Mendoza said. “So you’re like ‘We’ve got a chance, we’ve just got to keep it somewhat close,’ and that’s what Kranick did. Coming into the bottom of the 10^th, we liked our chances. There was a good feeling in that dugout, and I’m glad Pete came through and then the other guys and then Marte there.”

It was almost fitting that it was Marte who walked the Mets off with a win, as he’s perhaps the perfect embodiment of what the Mets have become: a player putting the team first, and someone who has gone from being a full-time outfielder to a part-time DH, yet he still did his job when called upon.

“Not an easy role for him now after being an elite player in this league for a long time,” Mendoza said. “…At some point he’s going to contribute, and sure enough he did it today.”

The Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies, winning 4-3 in 10 innings on Wednesday afternoon, rounding out a perfect 7-0 homestand.

Here are the key takeaways...

-A huge moment came in the top of the eighth inning. With two on and two outs, Max Kepler lined a hit into right field, with Nick Castellanos steamrolling home for the potential go-ahead run. But Juan Soto came up firing, throwing a dart to the plate that was slightly offline, and Hayden Senger lunged and applied the tag just in the nick of time, keeping the game scored at 2-2.

-With the game still tied into extras, the Phillies pushed a run across againstEdwin Diaz in the 10th, as free runner Bryce Harper stole third and came in to score on a Castellanos single past a drawn in Mark Vientos. Diaz then committed a balk, disengaging three times, before motioning to the dugout. After talking to coaches and trainers, Diaz left the game, and the balk was overturned since it was deemed he stepped off due to injury.

Diaz was pitching in his second inning of work, and he ended up throwing 18 pitches before leaving the game.

-Max Kranick took over on the mound, and was able to escape a bases-loaded, one-out jam, keeping the Phillies' lead at one run. In the bottom of the inning, Pete Alonso delivered an RBI double off of Jordan Romano, tying the game and putting the winning run in scoring position. Starling Marte then played hero, lining a soft single into center to score Alonso and give the Mets a walk-off victory.

-Prior to the game, Carlos Mendoza discussed the roster crunch looming when Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez return, which will likely be on Friday. Brett Baty may have made that decision even more difficult in the bottom of the second, when he blasted a no-doubt, two-run home run off of Zack Wheeler, depositing the ball in the the upper deck in right field.

Baty went 1-for-2 with his first big fly of the season, and was later pinch-hit for in the top of the seventh inning.

-David Peterson dealt with traffic on the bases for most of his outing, but he did a nice job of mitigating any damage, like in the second when he escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam without allowing a run. The Phillies did get to him for a pair of runs in the fourth on RBI knocks from Johan Rojas and Trea Turner, but that was all the tall lefty would surrender.

Peterson went 5.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits while striking out two and walking one batter.

-Francisco Lindor stayed hot at the plate, reaching base three times, including a pair of hits. Lindor had multiple hits in each of the three games against the Phillies, raising his batting average from .271 at the start of the series, to .309 at the end.

-Brandon Nimmo had a quiet day at the plate, but he made a couple of terrific plays in the field. In the fifth, Nimmo went all out to dive and catch a sinking Castellanos line drive, and then in the sixth he followed that up by running full speed and jumping to grab an Alec Bohm liner that looked like it was bound to go for extra bases over his head.

-Wheeler, who came into the game with a 3.56 ERA in 15 starts against his former team, had another good showing. The former Met went 6.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and two walks. Like Peterson, he left the game without factoring into a decision.

Who was the game MVP?

Marte, who came into the game as a pinch-hitter and later delivered the game-winning knock.

Highlights

A nice play made in the hole by Francisco Lindor! pic.twitter.com/eZQpSIeWjK

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2025

BRETT BATY'S FIRST HOMER OF THE SEASON! pic.twitter.com/v761Vqz1fA

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2025

A leaping grab from Brandon Nimmo! pic.twitter.com/O4e6rGBrMY

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2025

JUAN SOTO THROWS OUT NICK CASTELLANOS TO KEEP THE GAME TIED! pic.twitter.com/0PhXH8iIl9

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2025

Max Kranick leaves the bases loaded in the 10th! pic.twitter.com/l6ShWi0Sj3

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2025

PETE ALONSO BRINGS THE METS EVEN IN THE 10TH! pic.twitter.com/dmW3YTD5Q1

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2025

STARLING MARTE WALK-OFF WINNER!!

THE METS HAVE SWEPT THE PHILLIES!! pic.twitter.com/yif1Azk1mr

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 23, 2025

Upcoming schedule

The Mets have a day off on Thursday before hitting the road for a four-game series in Washington D.C. against the Nationals.

Kodai Senga will start for the Mets, while the Nats have not yet announced a starter.