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Elmer Rodriguez only issued seven free passes over his first four Triple-A outings this season, but the young righty was a bit erratic making his MLB debut on Wednesday. 

Rodriguez walked four batters and hit another as he worked his way through four up-and-down innings in the Yankees’ series finale loss to the Rangers. 

The 22-year-old was able to work around his shakiness at first, putting up a clean opening inning around two walks, then escaping a bases loaded jam in the second.

He retired the next six batters he faced, but Texas jumped on him in the fifth. 

Rodriguez hit the leadoff man with a pitch then issued a seven-pitch walk, before giving up back-to-back singles to allow the Rangers to take a 2-0 lead.

The youngster was pulled after that, handing things over to Brent Headrick, who limited the damage to close his line with just the two runs allowed on four hits and four walks in as many innings. 

While the youngster wasn’t as sharp as usual, Aaron Boone thought his stuff was good. 

“There was a lot of good,” the skipper said. “We saw his stuff play, I thought his mix and spinning it was good, just a little better on the strike-throwing part and it’s a better line, but he still kept us in the game and gave us a chance.”

Rodriguez agreed that he could’ve executed a bit better, and he’ll look to grow from his mistakes in this outing before taking the ball again his next time out. 

“It’s a good experience being here,” he said. “Obviously it’s my first time around, now I’m just trying to learn from all of the good and the bad and just go forward and continue to work.”

The first inning was a little wild in this one. First, the Royals scored a run on an unusual play. Bobby singled because he is really fast though not his most impressive work with the bat. Then Carter Jensen singled and Witt went first to third. Then this happened:

Salvador’s little flare was not caught by Jacob Wilson because he did not close his glove on purpose? It is hard to say definitively. He throws to second for the out at which point Bobby takes off for home. McNeil threw home rather than try to double off Perez at first, which was not a for sure out, but seemed the safer play. Then in the bottom of the first, Oakland had their hitting coach ejected. It was hard to tell exactly why, but whatever he said did not sit well with John Libka who was behind home plate tonight.

Unfortunately, the Royals could not get any more runs off of Luis Severino. He looked very good and the KC bats just could not get much going. Severino finished with 7IP, 4h, 2BB, and 8Ks by hitting his spots and staying on the edges of the strike zone. Meanwhile, the Oakland offense scored a run on back-to-back doubles from Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil to begin the bottom of the second to tie it up. Then in the 4th Wilson and McNeil started it again with a pair of singles, only this time Lawrence Butler brought them both in as part of a 3-run Home Run and take a 4-1 lead. A 5th run almost scored later that inning, but Lane Thomas gunned Kurtz down at home:

He was called safe initially, but the Royals challenged and won. Oakland had to wait until the 6th to get that fifth run in. Nick Kurtz was prevented from scoring it himself, but he hit a gapper to score Darrell Hernaiz against Luinder Avila who took over after Wacha racked up 105 pitches through his five frames. There was also a long rehashing of Hud calling the moon a planet there in the 6th, so at least the booth is in midseason form. Alex Lange and Mason Black put up clean innings in the 7th and 8th to hopefully keep it in reach.

The Royals would try to stage a comeback for the third game in a row. Joel Kuhnel had taken over for Severino to start the 8th and got through that inning unscathed. Then in the 9th it got a little more interesting. Bobby Witt Jr. singled to begin the inning and then then two batters later Slavador Perez had an infield single to short by hitting it slow enough and far enough away from Wilson to buy time for his sprint down the base path. Kuhnel then spiked a pitch to Michael Massey that moved them up to 2nd and 3rd base. Massey hit a deep fly to center to get Bobby home and Salby to third on the sacrifice. Mark Leiter Jr. came in to take over from the Athletic’s bullpen. He walked Isaac Collins and brough the potential tying run to the plate in the form of Jac Caglianone. Jac did not tie it up and struck out to end the game. The series will be decided tomorrow.

And so, Kansas City’s four game win streak is over as the team falls to 12-18 on the season. Thursday will see Noah Cameron on the mound for an afternoon game to wrap up the club’s time in Sacramento.

The Athletics and Royals were back at it tonight at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento after an extra-inning victory by the Royals last night. Luis Severino got the start for the Athletics against Michael Wacha for the Royals.

Bobby Witt Jr. got things started in the first with a base hit and moved to third on a Carter Jensen single. He scored on a funky line drive to Jacob Wilson that he mishandled, allowing Witt to score, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second, the A’s got on the board after back-to-back doubles by Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil.

In the bottom of the fourth, Wilson and McNeil went back-to-back again, this time singles. Lawrence Butler followed with his third homer to deep right-center field.

The A’s were not done though. Nick Kurtz walked and Shea Langeliers singled. Carlos Cortes singled, apparently scoring Kurtz, but the Royals challenged the call at the plate and the run was overturned, ending the inning. When the dust settled, the A’s held the lead 4-1.

Skipping ahead to the bottom of the sixth, Darell Hernaiz singled, and Nick Kurtz ripped a double to center field to score Hernaiz.

That increased the A’s lead to 5-1. Severino came out to pitch the seventh and was dominant, striking out two of the three batters he faced. That would be all for Seve tonight.

Joel Kuhnel replaced Luis Severino with a final line of 7.0 innings, one earned run, four hits, with eight strikeouts. Kuhnel walked Lane Thomas. That was the first leadoff hitter to reach for the Royals tonight. One batter later a 4-6-3 DP sent the A’s back into the dugout.

Kuhnel returned for the ninth inning, to face the heart of the Royals order. Witt and Salvador Perez each singled. Kuhnel bounced one to the plate allowing both runners to advance still with one out. Michael Massey hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Bobby Witt Jr. That would be all for Kuhnel. Kotsay replaced him with Mark Leiter Jr. to get the final out of the game. Leiter walked Isaac Collins to bring the potential tying run to the plate in Jac Caglianone. Leiter punched him out to close out the game. The A’s win this one 5-2.

Francisco Alvarez was one of the Mets’ most productive hitters early-on this season, but the young backstop has cooled off tremendously of late. 

Alvarez’s struggles continued with another hitless showing in Wednesday's loss. 

He failed to deliver in some pretty big spots as well -- first striking out looking with two men on and just one out trailing by a pair in the bottom of the first. 

After going down looking for a second time two innings later, he came up with two on again in the fifth, and this time put the ball in play but rolled into a rally-killing double play. 

It was Alvarez’s sixth double play of the season, tying his total from all of last year. 

He completed the hat-trick of backwards K’s leading off the bottom of the eighth, working the count full before striking out looking with the game well out of reach. 

The 24-year-old is now 0-for-his-last-12, and he’s just 3-for-23 in his last seven games. 

“He’s a little bit in between here,” Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s going out of the zone but then taking good pitches to hit -- he started off good for us, and then the past week or so it’s been a battle for him.”

Alvarez is down to a .217 average with two doubles, four homers, 21 strikeouts, and .691 OPS on the season. 

Manaea going through it in relief

David Peterson was knocked around in his return to the rotation, lasting just 3.2 innings on Wednesday, and things really spiraled out of control when he left. 

The left-hander's night came to a close after forcing in a run with a bases loaded walk of James Wood with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.

Sean Manaea came on to try and limit the damage, but he ended up hitting the first batter he faced then gave up a grand slam to put this one away for good. 

Manaea ate the next two innings, stretching out to 73 pitches, but he continued to be knocked around from there. 

He was pulled after giving up a two-run double two Wood in the seventh. 

“He comes in, hit by pitch on a sweeper and then he’s trying to go with a fastball up in the zone and just leaves it right there for the grand slam,” Mendoza said. “Then he just got hit today.”

This continues what’s been a rough stretch for Manaea working out of the bullpen. 

His ERA is up to an ugly 6.55 for the year as he's allowed runs in all but one of his five April appearances. 

Positives from Edwards Jr. 

Though the game was long out of reach at that point, the Mets did see another encouraging outing from Carl Edwards Jr. behind Manaea.

The veteran provided length again and was very effective, striking out six batters across 2.2 innings of work. 

His lone run came on a homer in the top of the ninth. 

Edwards Jr. has now struck out 11, through his first two appearances as a Met. 

The Braves secured a nother series win Wednesday in a game pitched by Tarik Skubal and that really is a symbol of how things have gone for Atlanta so far this season. Atlanta comfortably has the best record in baseball and the best run differential in baseball to back it up. Franchise player Ronald Acuna’s production hasn’t really hit it’s expected level, even as he’s been hitting the ball well, and Austin Riley continues to struggle, but Atlanta has an MVP candidate in Matt Olson, has gotten tremendous seasons from a number of star position-players so far, has gotten good if perhaps lucky production from the rotation, and seems to have a dominant bullpen. To make matters even better, they have a host of reinforcements incoming, as Sean Murphy and Spencer Strider are expected back in the next week or so, Ha-Seong Kim seems to be a few weeks away from his return, and some of Atlanta’s young pitching seems to be progressing well from their surgical procedures. This has been a special and exceedingly fun start to the season and there are plenty of reasons to think that this Braves team can carry something resembling this success forward as the season goes on.

Braves News

Spencer Strider will return from injury and make his 2026 debut on Sunday at Coors Field.

Dylan Lee returned from the paternity list (and dominated Detroit hitters), as the Braves opted to keep Didier Fuentes on the active roster and DFA’d Carlos Carrasco.

Matt Olson crushed a two run walk-off homer, turning a 1-run deficit into a 1-run win on Wednesday night.

MLB News

The Tigers hired former Cubs’ starter Kyle Hendricks to their baseball operations team.

Following Tuesday night’s game against Atlanta, the Tigers placed Casey Mize on the 15-day IL with an abductor strain and Javier Baez on the 10-day IL with an ankle sprain.

The Red Sox placed star pitcher Garrett Crochet on the 15-day IL with shoulder inflammation, never a reassuring diagnosis for a pitcher.

Former Brave Jarred Kelenic is joining the White Sox, as he replaces an injured Everson Pereira.

I don’t think it’s a particularly hot take to say that I hate blackouts. They inherently limit the number of fans who can view their team and forces those fans to subscribe to a dizzying number of broadcast services just to watch the games. It’s one of the reasons why I listed their elimination as my number one priority if I were magically granted the role of baseball commissioner for a day. I think it would fundamentally improve the game’s accessibility and by extension its popularity. This is a long-winded qualifier that I didn’t get to actually watch any of tonight’s game and instead had to piece it together by the Gameday feed and the Arizona radio. It was still a fun game regardless of how it was consumed though as the D-Backs marched onto the same field on which they were shellacked last night and played a crisp team win that was badly needed to set up a rubber match tomorrow afternoon.

To put it mildly, last night’s game was not a shining moment for the Arizona pitching staff, giving up 13 runs on 15 hits and walking an additional six batters. But with the new and improved Eduardo Rodriguez starting tonight and surprise staff ace Michael Soroka starting tomorrow, I felt pretty good coming into the game. Unfortunately, Rodriguez continued his slide of reversion back towards his mean of the last two seasons in the desert rather than the excellent form he showed in the World Baseball Classic and the first three starts of this season. Once again, the veteran lefty struggled with his command, walking four batters and striking out just four while throwing a middling 55% of his 87 pitches for strikes and generating only five whiffs. Those kinds of numbers rarely equate to a good pitching performance and tonight was no exception as he had his shortest outing of the year, but was able to limit the damage from Milwaukee to just two runs. The Brew Crew opened the scoring with a pair of doubles from Brice Turang and Jake Bauers in the opening frame and plated another in the third when Turang doubled home Brandon Lockridge. Outside of those two plays, the home team created plenty of traffic on six hits and four walks, but failed to capitalize on any scoring opportunity – combining for a miserable 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranding 8 runners on the game.

I’m fairly convinced that Milwaukee’s American Family Field (which still feels wrong to write out) sits on top of a magical pitching fount that’s able to turn reclamation projects into dominant relievers that the front office can then flip for more prospects from unsuspecting franchises. But for the first time in a hot minute, the Brewers have multiple exciting young pitching prospects in Jacob Misiorowski, Kyle Harrison, and Brandon Sproat all of whom have had uneven starts to their careers but still have plenty of talent upside. We got to see both sides of Sproat tonight as he completely shut down the D-Backs through the first three innings, allowing just three baserunners, but lost his command and hit a wall in the fourth that significantly curtailed his outing. After collecting his fifth strikeout of Corbin Carroll to open the fourth inning, he gave up a solo home run to Adrian Del Castillo, singles to Ildemaro Vargas and Lourdes Gurriel Jr, and an absolute moonshot of a three-run blast to Nolan Arenado that gave the D-Backs the lead for good. The offense mostly shut down again thanks to the Milwaukee bullpen until the visiting half of the ninth when Ketel Marte and Carroll jacked consecutive homers to pad the lead and make it a much more comfortable outing for Paul Sewald to earn the save.

Sewald’s 13-pitch dramaless save was simply the cherry on the cake for an Arizona bullpen that was absolutely lights out tonight. The unit ended the night by retiring 13 batters in a row and allowed just one baserunner across the final 4.1 innings of the game after Rodriguez exited in the fifth. It’s part of a maddeningly inconsistent pattern for the relief corps that could just as easily be incredible or one of the worst in the entire major leagues. Optimistically though, this period could just as easily be seen as an evaluation period before some of the team’s higher-leverage relief arms return from injury later this season – namely AJ Puk and Justin Martinez – that can further bolster and stabilize the entire unit. If the team can correctly identify which relievers can be the most consistent and find their appropriate roles, the bullpen could be a genuine strength for the team for the first time in a long time.

Every time the Mets appear to take one step forward lately, they respond by taking two steps back.

That was again the case on Wednesday night. 

After their offense finally broke through with one of their best showings of the season Tuesday, they came back and got blown out by the Nationals in the middle of a three-game set. 

David Peterson had the matchup the Mets were looking for, but his struggles continued, as he lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed seven runs in his return to the starting rotation. 

And things only spiraled after he was pulled, as Sean Manaea entered with the bases loaded and hit the first batter he faced, then gave up a grand slam to officially put this one out of reach.

The two combined to allowed 13 of Washington's 14 runs on five walks and 12 hits. 

New York's offense did have opportunities to show some sign of life, but other than the locked in Juan Soto,theycouldn’t deliver the big hit needed against Washington's pitching staff. 

So with the Phillies having the night off due to rain, the Mets’ loss now puts them in sole possession of the worst record in baseball through their first 30 games (10-20). 

Having dropped 16 of their last 19, Carlos Mendoza isn’t looking for excuses. 

“We have to be better,” he said. “It’s been a long period of time where we’re not playing well, we have to fix it.”

With the opening month of the season set to come to a close on Thursday, New York certainly must get things fixed sooner rather than later. 

They’ll look to end the brutal month on a high note with Freddy Peralta on the mound. 

“It’s easy to let things compound, it’s easy to get caught up in it,” Peterson said. “But the only way we’re going to get out of it is by taking things one day at a time, trying to attack, and just trying to win tomorrows game.”

David Peterson’s return to the rotation went about as well as the rest of this cursed Mets season.

The left-hander allowed seven runs — all earned — in just 3 ²/₃ innings in Wednesday’s 14-2 loss to the Nationals at Citi Field.

And because the state of their pitching staff is so bad, Peterson will almost certainly remain either in the rotation or used behind an opener the next time through the rotation.

“He’s a big part of this team,’’ Carlos Mendoza said.

Peterson said his issues stemmed from falling behind in counts.

He also walked three batters, but insisted he could right himself.

“I’ve done it before,’’ Peterson said. “And I believe in myself and I know I have the stuff to do it.”

Mendoza also expressed belief that Peterson has the ability to be effective.

“We’ve seen flashes of it,’’ Mendoza said. “He’s got more than enough to compete in the strike zone.”

Peterson’s ERA in five starts this season is 8.10, compared to his success out of the bullpen, where he’s allowed one run in seven innings in two appearances.

And he’s also allowed six earned runs in the first inning of his five starts.

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“Out of the bullpen in his last couple of outings, he comes in aggressive and attacking,’’ Mendoza said. “He uses all his pitches and is competing in the strike zone.”

In the rotation, though, it’s a different story, but with so many pitchers struggling, the Mets have little choice but to keep going to the lefty.

Sean Manaea was as bad in relief as Peterson, allowing six runs in 2 ²/₃ innings.

Luis Robert Jr. remained sidelined by lower back tightness.

The center fielder had an MRI exam Wednesday, and Mendoza said they were awaiting the results following the latest loss.

The Mets have limited Robert’s playing time in an attempt to prevent the injuries that have plagued him the previous two seasons.

It’s not off to a great start.

“[His back] didn’t improve much after treatment,” Mendoza said before the game. “We’re doing everything in our power to keep him on the field.”

With Robert out and Juan Soto limited to DH duties as he deals with left forearm tightness, the Mets are willing to take advantage of Carson Benge’s ability to play all three outfield spots.

Soto, who went 3-for-5 with a solo homer in the Mets’ loss on Wednesday, entered the day swinging at the highest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone of his career (23.1 percent).

His career mark is a more selective 17 percent.

With Francisco Lindor out and much of the rest of the offense not hitting, Mendoza was asked if opposing teams will avoid giving Soto good pitches.

“Regardless of who’s in the lineup, a lot of teams pitch around him,’’ the manager said. “I feel like he continues to get, maybe not as many, [but] pitches to hit. If not, he’s got to trust his teammates.”

Francisco Alvarez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and is now hitless in his last 12 at-bats, with Mendoza saying the catcher is “in-between” in his at-bats.

A.J. Minter, rehabbing from last year’s lat surgery, is expected to pitch in two more minor league rehab games Friday and Sunday.

If all goes well, Mendoza didn’t rule out the possibility of the left-hander being activated at some point next week.

“We’ll see,’’ the manager said. “We said we’d take it slowly.”

Tommy Pham, designated for assignment by the Mets, cleared waivers and elected free agency. The veteran outfielder went 0-for-13 in his second stint in Queens.

He was replaced on the roster by another right-handed hitting outfielder, Austin Slater.

The Mets signed shortstop Jamari Baylor to a minor league deal.

The 25-year-old spent last season in the independent Atlantic League and has never played above High-A in the minors after being selected in the third round in 2019 by the Phillies.