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The D-backs have lost the first two games of the series – albeit by just a pair of runs in each, a significant improvement over the losses in Milwaukee by 11 and 12 runs. There’s therefore the specter of a sweep at the hands of Chicago. It’s actually the first time since the opening series in Los Angeles that the D-backs face this possibility, entering the final game of a real series without a win [I’m discounting the two-game set in Mexico City for this purpose] It has now been more than two weeks since Arizona either won a series or consecutive games – both of those happened against Toronto on April 18.

They’ve gone 3-8 since that point, but haven’t actually lost that much ground in the NL West. The Rockies actually have the best record since then. Although everybody in the division are below .500, with Colorado’s 6-7 mark the least woeful. As noted in a comment on yesterday’s recap, the entire division is on a losing streak of three games or more, the first time that has happened to any division in baseball history. Put another way, the NL West have a collective losing streak of nineteen games in a row. With everyone playing outside the division again today, it could potentially reach 24 games, before they start facing each other on Monday. Somebody’s gotta win, right? RIGHT?

The red-hot St. Louis Cardinals will attempt to sweep away the Los Angeles Billionaires Dodgers at Busch Stadium on Sunday. In the most appropriate jersey number meets day on the calendar, Dustin May (#3) will start for St. Louis while the evil empire Dodgers will send Justin Wrobleski to the mound. First pitch scheduled for 1:15pm on Cardinals.tv.

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Sunday Night Baseball features a shaky pitcher on one end and a bullpen game for the other when the Detroit Tigers close out a series with the Texas Rangers.

There are many reasons to expect offense in this game, and the underdog Rangers are live.

Read all about it in my Rangers vs. Tigers predictions and MLB picks for Sunday, May 3, 2026.

For more on this game, check out our Rangers vs. Tigers props from analyst JD Yonke.

Who will win Rangers vs Tigers today: Rangers moneyline (+115)

The Detroit Tigers are piecing this game together with a variety of arms and a bullpen that isn’t fully rested or healthy. What initiates the game for Detroit, however, sets the tone for the story to follow.

That Tyler Holton’s expected ERA exceeds 6.00 tells you all you need to know, and he pairs that with a chase rate, whiff rate, and K rate that all rank in the Bottom 20th percentile.

Success against the Texas Rangers usually comes from attacking their Bottom-five whiff rate in the league. Holton won't do that, which makes him vulnerable to the power throughout their lineup (whether he goes for one inning or two innings).

Who Detroit goes to after Holton is anyone's guess, but there are three contenders that stand out the most: Kyle Finnegan, Brant Hurter, and Emmanuel De Jesus.

None of those three has even an above-average whiff rate. On the other side, Jack Leiter isn’t a great pitcher, but he doesn’t need to be; he just has to be better than what the Tigers are throwing out there.

At a plus money price point, I’m willing to wager he can be.

COVERS INTEL: Corey Seager and Josh Jung are among the league leaders in barrel rate and hard-hit rate.

Rangers vs Tigers Over/Under pick: Over 8 (-114)

I made this a total of 8.9 runs and will be taking the Over for my third two-unit play of the season.

Runs coming early seems like a strong likelihood given some of the stuff I’ve mentioned above. There will also likely be chances for them late, as Detroit's bullpen is middling at best (as evidenced by their 4.17 ERA). 

On the other hand, I see Leiter as highly exploitable. His secondary pitches rank in the abysmal second and 17th percentiles by run value. This Tigers lineup will work counts and wait on his fastball, making him vulnerable, especially given the legitimate barrel threats Detroit features up and down the order. 

Rangers vs Tigers odds

• Moneyline: Rangers +105 | Tigers -125
• Run line: Rangers +1.5 (-225) | Tigers -1.5 (+150)
• Over/Under: Over 8 (-105) | Under 8 (-115)

Rangers vs Tigers trend

The Texas Rangers have hit the Game Total Over in 31 of their last 50 away games (+11.20 Units / 20% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Rangers vs. Tigers.

How to watch Rangers vs Tigers and game info

Rangers vs Tigers latest injuries

Rangers vs Tigers weather

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The Mets have placed infielder Ronny Mauricio on the 10-day IL with a fractured left thumb. 

Infielder Vidal Brujan has been called up from Triple-A Syracuse to take his place on the active roster.

According to manager Carlos Mendoza, Mauricio is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.

Mauricio, who homered on Friday night, suffered the injury on Saturday when sliding head-first into first base in the seventh inning of the 4-3 extra-innings loss.

Mauricio has slashed .219/.219/.313 with a homer and two RBI in 10 games this season. 

Brujan, 28, had a chance to make the club in a bench role out of spring training, but began the season with Triple-A Syracuse, where he posted a .618 OPS with one home run and seven RBI in 24 games.

This is the latest bit of bad injury luck for the Mets. Juan Soto missed time in April due to a calf strain, and shortstop Francisco Lindor is currently on the IL with a calf strain of his own.

While Brujan could see plenty of playing time, Mendozasaid that Bo Bichette will also be in the mix to play some shortstop.

Additionally, infielder Eric Wagaman has been designated for assignment. 

Wagaman did not appear in a game for the Mets after being claimed off waivers in late April.

Welp! An Atlanta Braves outfielder is going on the IL — just not the one who had apparently been close to making a trip to the IL for this past week. Instead of Michael Harris II taking that trip, it’ll be Ronald Acuña Jr. after he strained his left hamstring leaving the batter’s box during Saturday’s win over the Rockies.

Acuña has officially been placed on the 10-day IL and outfielder José Azócar has been called up in order to fill Acuña’s spot on the roster for the time being.

Of course, how long Acuña ends up being out depends on the severity of the strain. If it’s a Grade 1 strain then this should just be a straight-up 10-day stint on the IL. We know it’s probably not a Grade 3 strain since that likely would’ve qualified as a tear and Grade 2 might require a somewhat extended absence with a rehab stint involved. So yeah, here’s hoping that it’s just Grade 1 since that wouldn’t be too awful — and also another truly severe leg injury the last thing Acuña needs in his career at the moment.

Ronald Acuña Jr. will be heading to the IL after having a somewhat slow start to the season, for his standards at least. He’s been hitting .252/.362/.378 with a .335 wOBA, .381 xwOBA and 11 wRC+ with two home runs. That’s definitely below the standard level of production that you’d like to see from Acuña but at least his underlying stats (especially his xwOBA) seemed to indicate that a turnaround was likely going to come at some point. Now, the turnaround will be complicated a bit as he recovers from this hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, José Azócar will be making his first appearance for the Braves since June of last year. He made a couple of appearances as a substitute and and only made one plate appearance during that time, which was a fly out to center field — against the Rockies, no less. Azócar has been doing fine at the Triple-A level so far as he’s hit at a .270/.348/.420 clip with a .351 wOBA and a 106 wRC+, which is to say that we probably shouldn’t be expecting him to set the world on fire while he’s up.

Also involved in this news: Hunter Stratton has been optioned down to Triple-A as the corresponding move for the inevitable Spencer Strider activation. Stratton’s only appearance for the Braves came on Saturday night, which is when he pitched a scoreless ninth inning to seal a very comfortable series win for the Braves over the Rockies. He’ll now be rejoining the Stripers, which is where he has a 4.50 ERA and 3.82 FIP over 11 appearances and 12 innings pitched at that level so far.

Strider will now attempt to have a successful season debut at Coors Field. It’s certainly a tricky proposition but one where there’s not a lot of pressure considering the fact that they’ve already clinched yet another series win and have gotten off to a fantastic start to the season, overall. Still, it’s a bit of a bummer that as one core player of this Braves team gets activated, another core player heads to the IL. So it goes for this team, I suppose.

[UPDATE 1:30 p.m. ET]: It is, in fact, a Grade 1 strain for Acuña (per report from Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Granted, you don’t want to see him go on the IL at all but if it’s a Grade 1 strain then he’s looking at a recovery time of 2-3 weeks — maybe even just 10 days if it’s a best-case scenario. All things considered, we’ll take that.

The Minnesota Twins are hoping there's nothing seriously wrong with ace right-hander Joe Ryan.

Ryan was removed from his start Sunday, May 3, against the Toronto Blue Jays after throwing just nine pitches in the first inning.

The Twins later said he was removed with right elbow soreness, according to St. Paul Pioneer Press beat writer Betsy Helfand.

Ryan had retired the first batter of the game before walking Kazuma Okamoto on a full count. He came off the mound and motioned to the dugout immediately afterward, bringing out manager Derek Shelton and an athletic trainer.

Joe Ryan was pulled from the game in the first inning after just his ninth pitch pic.twitter.com/xS6iYgC4As

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 3, 2026

Reliever Andrew Morris had to warm up quickly and was summoned to take over, yielding one hit but not allowing any runs to score in the opening inning.

This is a breaking story. More details to come when available.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Ryan injury: Twins pitcher exits start vs. Jays in first inning

Go Rays!

After yesterday’s win over the Nationals, the Brewers have now won three straight games. Right-hander Logan Henderson, Milwaukee’s No. 6 prospect, is on the bump today to try and make it four.

Henderson, who has a 1.02 ERA in 17 2/3 innings with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, was recalled earlier this morning. In a corresponding move, Easton McGee was optioned back down to Nashville.

Henderson has made just one major league appearance this season, tossing two innings in a loss to the Royals on April 4. He showed promise in limited time with Milwaukee last year, posting a 1.78 ERA across five starts. With Brandon Woodruff hitting the IL this weekend, Henderson could be in line for more than just a spot start.

Pitching for Washington is left-hander PJ Poulin, who sports a 4.11 ERA through 16 appearances for the Nationals. He’ll serve as today’s opener, with righty Zach Littell (7.85 ERA in 28 2/3 IP) likely to follow.

Brice Turang, who reached base three times in yesterday’s contest, will lead things off. He’s followed by catcher William Contreras, who now has nine hits over his last three games. Gary Sánchez, Jake Bauers, and Garrett Mitchell make up the heart of the order.

Brandon Lockridge, the only Brewer with a multi-hit performance yesterday, bats sixth. Rounding out the bottom of the lineup are Sal Frelick, David Hamilton (at third base), and Joey Ortiz.

Finally, some good news and bad news on the injury front. Rehabbing outfielder Jackson Chourio, who was expected to rejoin the Brewers tomorrow in St. Louis, left yesterday’s game in Nashville after fouling a ball off his foot. Luckily, he looks to have avoided a major setback. Per Todd Rosiak, X-rays came back negative, though it remains to be seen whether he’ll still be reinstated during the Cardinals series.

As for the bad news, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said today that reliever Angel Zerpa — who was placed on the IL earlier this week with forearm tightness — is “deciding whether or not to have Tommy John surgery.”

As usual, you can catch today’s game on Brewers.TV, WTMJ 620, and the Brewers radio network. First pitch is set for 12:35 p.m.

UPDATE: Turang is a late scratch due to illness. Luis Rengifo is now leading off and playing third base, with David Hamilton sliding over to second.

Two things have proven true so far for the Cincinnati Reds in this weekend’s series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The first, of course, is that walks will haunt. Cincinnati pitchers walked seven straight batters in Saturday’s 17-7 drubbing by the Buccos, the strike zone simply as hard to find as ships in the Bermuda Triangle.

The second, though, is that JJ Bleday looks like the JJ Bleday of old. Rather, he looks like the former Top 5 pick and guy who once socked 20 dingers in the big leagues for Oakland, a guy on whom the Reds can lean regularly in the outfield (at least against right-handed pitching).

As a result, we’ve seen Rece Hinds slip to the bottom of the Reds roster. His strikeout proclivity returned immediately when he was recalled to the big leagues in April after Noelvi Marte’s struggles, and they simply haven’t gone away. And with Bleday looking the part of the strong-side of potential platoon in the outfield, regular playing time for Hinds has completely evaporated. Given that playing every day was paramount for his development, according to Terry Francona earlier in the year, it simply stopped making sense for him to ride pine with the Reds at the big league level anymore.

So, on Sunday they optioned Hinds back to AAA Louisville, recalling Blake Dunn to be the last bench bat on the roster for his turn.

Of note in those notes is that RHP Pierce Johnson was placed on the bereavement list, and the recently optioned Zach Maxwell was recalled to take his place in the bullpen.

It’s a shuffle that hopefully will give the Reds the best options for Sunday’s series finale in Pittsburgh as the Reds look to salvage a game out of this otherwise dismal series.

1918
The White Sox set their record for biggest win in team history, trouncing the Tigers by 16 runs, 19-3. With a 6-0 lead in the second inning, the visitors put the game away early.

The club also set their record for most hits in a game, with 25. Buck Weaver paced the Pale Hose with a 5-for-7 day, all singles; Weaver tied the team record for most hits in a game, which has since been broken with six hits but on just five occasions since.

In fact, just six of the team’s 25 hits were for extra bases, and none for home runs. All 11 White Sox batters in the game — even pinch-hitters Shano Collins and Byrd Lynn — had hits in the game. As a team, the White Sox held a .532 batting average in the contest, striking out just one time.

One interesting note, Lynn subbed for Ray Schalk in the sixth inning of the game, just one of four appearances for the White Sox on the season — and the Tigers ran wild on him, with two steals of second base and two of third; presumably, with the White Sox up, 17-1, at that point, Byrd wasn’t even making throws on the attempts.

Starting pitcher Lefty Williams had one hit in the game and scored two runs, going the distance to move to 4-0 for the 6-4 White Sox.

This 16-run win margin was tied in 1919 and eventually broken, in 1921. This win at Detroit remains tied for the eighth-biggest trouncing the club history.

This single-game hits record (tied in 1922) stood until 1936, when the Sox tapped out 26 hits. It remains tied for the fourth-most hits in a game in White Sox history.

1954
With a two-hitter in a 14-3 trouncing at Philadelphia in the first game of a twin bill, Sandy Consuegra extended South Side stinginess to three consecutive games that began with Virgil Trucks with a one-hitter on May 1 and continuing with Bob Johnson spinning a two-hitter on May 2. The White Sox out-hit the Athletics, 17-2, with all three runs against Consuegra being unearned due to two White Sox errors.

In the nightcap, the White Sox saw their winning and low-hit streak snapped, surrendering seven to Philly in a 2-1 loss.

1968
It’s a dubious record, one that Tommy McCraw wishes never was set.

In the third inning of a game at Comiskey Park, McCraw made three errors against the New York Yankees. Two of them occurred when he couldn’t field ground balls, and the third was on a throwing error. New York scored all of their runs in that frame, beating the Sox, 3-2. All the runs were unearned, of course.

2005
With a comeback win over Kansas City, 5-4, the White Sox established a major league record by holding a lead in their first 26 games of the season. That broke the old mark, set by the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

After trailing all game, the White Sox took the lead on a Carl Everett double to right-center, scoring Scott Podsednik and Tadahito Iguchi with the eventual deciding tallies. The win improved Chicago to an MLB-best 19-7 record.

The White Sox would extend this record to 37 before playing a game in which they failed to hold a lead, in a May 15 loss, 6-2, to the Orioles at U.S. Cellular Field.

2011
A moribund Minnesota club stumbled into 42° Chicago and saw its starter, Francisco Liriano, toss a no-hitter at the punchless White Sox in a 1-0 squeaker.

Lirano shook hands with danger all night, walking six White Sox and punching out two. Even after the shutout, Liriano’s ERA stood at 6.61. Only one White Sox batter, reached as far as second base — Juan Pierre, after a walk and stolen base in the fourth inning. Chicago’s Edwin Jackson pitched nearly as well as Minny’s southpaw, giving up six hits but just one walk.

Believe it or not, that gem was the first no-hitter thrown by an opposing pitcher in the history of New Sox Park, at the time in its 20th season. The next summer, Liriano was dealt to the White Sox in attempt to fortify Chicago’s ill-fated division lead.

2024
With a 3-0 loss at St. Louis, the White Sox fell 20 games worse than .500, at 6-26. The club mustered just three hits, and one — an Andrew Vaughn double — for extra bases. Brad Keller had a mediocre outing for the loss, although Jared Shuster kept the White Sox close in the second half of the game with 3 1/3 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief, lowering his ERA to 0.93.

A miserable road trip is about to come to an end. The San Francisco Giants are in Florida taking on the Tampa Bay Rays for some breakfast baseball (for us watching from the west coast, that is … it’s the less appealing and less alliterative lunch baseball where the game is), and they’re hoping to salvage a win from an awful trip. To this point, the Giants are 0-5, have been shut out twice, have blown ninth inning leads twice, and have scored eight runs.

Tyler Mahle takes the mound for the Giants, as the righty makes his seventh start of the season. He’s 1-4 on the year, with a 5.87 ERA, a 5.47 FIP, and 29 strikeouts against 17 walks in 30.2 innings. He’s trying to bounce back from his last outing, when he opened the road trip by giving up five runs in as many innings to the Philadelphia Phillies.

On the other side is left-hander Steven Matz, who, like Mahle, is a veteran making his seventh start with his new team. Matz is 4-1 on the year, and has a 4.31 ERA, a 5.06 FIP, and 27 strikeouts to 11 walks in 31.1 innings. He’s coming off an excellent start, when he held the Cleveland Guardians to two runs in seven innings.

Enjoy the baseball, everyone. Go Giants!

Lineups

Giants

1. Heliot Ramos — LF
2. Rafael Devers — 1B
3. Casey Schmitt — DH
4. Luis Arráez — 2B
5. Matt Chapman — 3B
6. Willy Adames — SS
7. Jung Hoo Lee — CF
8. Jerar Encarnación — RF
9. Eric Haase — C

RHP. Tyler Mahle

Rays

1. Chandler Simpson — LF
2. Junior Caminero — 3B
3. Jonathan Aranda — DH
4. Ryan Vilade — 1B
5. Jake Fraley — RF
6. Ben Williamson — 2B
7. Cedric Mullins — CF
8. Nick Fortes — C
9. Taylor Walls — SS

LHP. Steven Matz

Game #34

Who: San Francisco Giants (13-20) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (20-12)

Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida

When: 10:40 a.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

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