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Well, things were looking good for Twins starter Simeon Woods-Richardson until a Roman servant whispered in his ear “all glory is fleeting,” and the Bad Mojo spread through the bullpen like bedbugs in a bad motel. Ouch! Inning-by-inning notes:

1: Austin Martin singles and scores; Luke Keaschall beats out a single of his own. Bringing up Super Slugger Josh Bell! He flies out to right. Paul Molitor on radio says that Martin should have read that Keaschall grounder, been at third, and scored on the Bell flyout. Says “if I was still managing, I’d have screamed his head off until he broke down in uncontrollable sobs.” (Molitor didn’t say that.)

It doesn’t matter anyways, because Ryan Jeffers HOMER! The Twins are NEVER GONNA LOSE AGAIN!

33 pitches thrown for Blue Jays starter Patrick Corbin, but he’s kinda mediocre, so knocking him out early doesn’t necessarily mean striking gold. Twins 3-0

Daulton Varsho says “the Twins are SO gonna lose again eventually” and smacks a one-out double, but neither Mini-Vlad nor Jesús Sánchez can knock him in. 20 pitches for SWR, and knocking him out gets to the worrisome Twins bullpen, so that might be gold for the Jays.

2: Brooks Lee is HBP and the Twins, alas, do not start a huge BaseBall FIGHT, they instead have the pride of Missouri City, TX (Tristan Gray) bunt him over. It makes sense, lefty on lefty. It doesn’t amount to anything.

Huh — unexpected radio story. Apparently Geddy Lee of the band Rush is a huge baseball fan, and usually attends games (not tonight), and once donated 200 baseballs signed by Negro League players to the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City. I was just there. So maybe I saw a ball donated by the guy from Rush? That’s cool. I mean it was a cool visit already.

Phil Collins of the band Genesis also donated a bunch of stuff to the Alamo museum (he was a big Alamo collector) but unfortunately a ton of it was fake. Not Collins’s fault, he didn’t know the stuff was fake.

SWR has an easier second inning.

3: Another two-out hit for Jeffers, and another HBP for the Twins. Wallner with the easy fly to end the inning. Corbin now at 59 pitches.

Brandon Valenzuela batting ninth for the Jays; he IS from Mexico, but he is not, alas, related to the great Fernando Valenzuela. I remember watching weekend baseball as a kid and Valenzuela was pitching for the Dodgers. It confused me when the TV went to commercial and a song played “there was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando.” ABBA once gave a bunch of memorabilia to the International Cryptozoology Museum in Bangor, ME. (This never happened, but such a museum actually exists.) SWR at 44 pitches.

4: Brooks Lee cries “vengeance!” for his earlier HBP with a 3-2 homer to left. Martin has a two-out double and Molitor’s still talking about ways he would discipline players in his day, a towel filled with soap bars was his favorite. Martin doesn’t score.

Vlad hits one 113 MPH over Buxton’s head for the leadoff double. Sánchez doubles on the next pitch. Two batters later, a Davis Schneider double. Right now Fred Schneider of the B-52s could hit SWR. OK, maybe not him, but Andrés Giménez can and Valenzuela can (his first MLB homer). The shame of Arkansas City, Gray, makes an error on an easy grounder and George Springer reaches second; then, inexplicably, Springer is caught stealing at third for the last out. SHEESH. Blue Jays 5-4

5: Big (6’6”, 235#) Tommy Nance in to pitch for the Jays. He made his debut in 2021 at age 30 for the ChiSox, bounced around from team to team, and had a great year last season for Toronto. He leaves with two outs for lefty Joe Mantiply to face Wallner and Wallner to cast a wistful gaze at Strike Three going over the plate.

Anthony Banda is a lefthander for the Twins; he had two good seasons for the Dodgers in 2024-2025. Apparently the Dodgers knew what they were doing in letting him go as he promptly gives up a leadoff homer to Varsho. Big Canada 6-4

6: Lee, Gray, Buxton. ꓘ, ꓘ, K. Th last one courtesy of old buddy Louis Varland. SIGH.

The Blue Jays against Banda? ꓘ, ꓘ, K, right? Um, no. Walk, double, bunt, out, double, I don’t need to name their names. Anthony Banda will see them in his NIGHTMARES. Land o’ poutine 8-4

7: The Twins have a runner on in Keaschall but Uncle Lincoln in the comments wills the rally dead.

Old friend Taylor Rogers gives up the leadoff single to Mini Vlad, he steals, and scores on a two-out single by Schneider, but to heck with that. I’ve identified why the Blue Jays are kicking the Twins’ butts.

Yeah they hired the Grand Master in December. Granted, Sweet Drew hadn’t helped the ChiSox much as a catching coach, but when you think of Butera, what you think of is RAW POWER and that’s what he’s bringing Toronto tonight. Now you know. Les Geais bleux or whatever it is 9-4

8: Another HBP Twin, Jeffers. Do you think he scores? He does not. Do you think Justin Topa is a good relief pitcher? He is not. Guerrero now 3-5 on a 115.7-hit RBI double. There is a town in south Ontario 10-4

9: Radio is talking about how Canada served them cream of wild mushroom soup. Kris Atteberry has probably never seen a mushroom that didn’t come from a stubby little can. The announced crowd on 40,721 are happy. Are you happy? I hope you are happy. Unless you’re a sack of s**t, in which case I hope you are sad. Twins (Kyle) lohse

Studs: Jeffers, 3-3 with a dinger. Lee, 1-3 with a dinger. Martin was 2-3 but the entire outfield was taking routes tonight like they’d been huffing glue. Duds: every Twins pitcher.

COTG got to Nagurskiinnortheast for asking “Where’s Don Zimmer when you need him?!?!” after a second Twins HBP and gintzer responding “Losing in a fight against Pedro Martinez.” Thanks to everybody for joining in; sorry this one became such a bummer so fast.

Tomorrow’s game is at 2:07 Central, featuring Eric Lauer against Joe Ryan. Catch ya next time!

On a night 21° colder than Thursday, everyone on the field was playing like it was 21°, period, as it didn’t even take two hours for Kansas City pitching to utterly eviscerate and embarrass their visitors’ offensive attack.

Kansas City starter Kris Bubic and White Sox counterpart threw pitches like they had to pay per toss, burning through the first two-thirds of the game. Bubic rang up five Ks (yep, shocking) in his first run through the order, piling up his sixth of 10 batters with a second punch-out of Chase Meidroth and seventh of 12 batters treating Munetaka Murakami likewise. By the end of the fourth, the southpaw had held the Pale Hose hitless and added insult with a nine-pitch frame.

But ascending ace Martin matched Bubic through three, ending that stanza on just five pitches. That effort was aided by a tidy toss-out of Isaac Collins by Tanner Murray, as Collins got greedy on a bloop to left he deigned a double. The effort ended in d’oh, and Martin put his windbreaker on in the dugout at just 32 pitches.

But Davis got rocked and socked a bit to start the fourth, as just four pitches in the Royals broke ahead on two sharp hits: Makiel García singled to right and Bobby Witt Jr. doubled deep to left.

Bobby Baseball now has a 23-game hit streak against the White Sox.

But even through the trauma of a broken tie, Martin was ruthlessly efficient, dispatching the R’s on 12 pitches and leaving Jr. stranded on third.

And almost as efficiently, the White Sox came back in the top of the fifth, as Lenyn Sosa cancelled the postgame show with a double of his own deep to left — just the second Sox baserunner, nearly halfway through the game. And two weak pops and a three-pitch K later, Sosa was left lonely in scoring position. The K, from Tanner Murray, was his second of the game, making it eight Ks of 15 outs and just 64 pitches for Bubic, cruising through the easiest first five frames he’s ever tossed.

Jac Caglianone smashed a drive 110.3 mph the other way with one out in the K.C. fifth, but that double died on the vine. Overall it was an 11-pitch, 11-strike frame for Martin, as he left Caglianone stranded just as sad as Sosa: A K and sharp ground out to first rendered the Royals hitless in their last 28 with RISP, stretching back to Monday.

After Derek Hill led off the sixth with a two-strike single to right, Meidroth gave Bubic a tie for his all-time single-game K mark, bowing for the third time to give tricky Kris nine for the night. Mune surrendered one out later for his third of the night and a record 10 for Bubic. The City Connects-bedazzled starter was sitting at 80 pitches through six.

While the bats were stiff, at least the leather was supple for the Sox. Martin cruised through the Royals sixth thanks to a smart pursuit of a Witt pop out to the no-man’s land in short center; as Luisangel Acuña struggle to find the ball in the dull heartland twilight, Meidroth kept on the pursuit for an easy elimination. And to end the inning, Vinny Pasquantino set a soft liner out to right, which Hill spread out and into for the diving catch. Martin surpassed Bubic in every way but the score on the board, tossing 50 strikes on 68 pitches, for a nifty 74% success rate.

Bubic’s 11th K got the game into the seventh-inning stretch, ending an eight-pitch frame for the southpaw, as the White Sox apparently had gotten the memo to push the lefty onto a future Hall of Fame ballot.

And as if adding insult to ineptitude, Carter Jensen stepped up with one out in the bottom of the seventh and crushed a first-pitch cutter in for a 425-foot homer to right, doubling K.C.’s lead. At 113.7 mph, it would stand as the hardest-hit ball of the night.

Michael Massey followed with a hustle double to center, and suddenly Martin slipped from catbird seat onto the ropes, with a wild pitch pushing Massey to third. The WP was yet another pitch that could have been knocked down by Edgar Quero behind the plate, but instead bounced high and deflected into the White Sox dugout. Martin escaped — but at just 82 dominant pitches, he would exit the game and wear the horns as tonight’s hard-luck loser.

After another “make quick work of the White Sox” half-inning (is that their rallying cry on the T-shirts under their jerseys this year, or what?), Duncan Davitt made his major league debut. In a desperate attempt to prevent Davitt’s first face-off ending in a walk, Quero challenged ball four, 2.7´´up and out of the zone:

But all’s well that ends, as a double play and fly out let Davitt finish his first frame clean.

Chicago’s last gasps went quickly, and mercifully. Meidroth escaped a golden sombrero by flying out to left, but not before getting victimized for the second time of the game by catcher Salvador Pérez challenging a called ball into a strike. A tap back to the mound and line out to center ended the proceedings.

The White Sox ended the game with two batters in the lineup hitting better than .200. Chill out, dear reader, the clubbers of this inept bunch are Meidroth at .224 and Hill at .214. Let’s hope the clubhouse staff can apply some elbow grease in scrubbing the stink from all nine of these pretenders out of this game.

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The Yankees didn't have enough juice on Friday night at Tropicana Field, falling to the Rays, 5-3.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Aaron Judge got the Yankees going in the first inning with a single and a stolen base, advancing to third base on a throwing error by the catcher. The MVP scored on Cody Bellinger's sacrifice fly to make it a 1-0 game. Giancarlo Stanton walked and Amed Rosario came through with his first triple since 2024 as LF Chandler Simpson mistimed a sliding catch and the ball rolled to the wall, giving the Yanks a 2-0 lead.

-- Making his season debut, Lui Gil found himself in trouble right away. The 27-year-old recorded two quick outs before walking Jonathan Aranda and giving up a two-run home run to Yandy Díaz as the Rays tied it up at 2-2.

In the second inning, Gil hit Taylor Walls and then let up a single to Nick Fortes, setting up a first-and-third situation with just one out. Simpson hit a double play ball to Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second, but used his league-best speed to beat the throw to first, allowing the run to score for the Rays to take a 3-2 lead.

Gil bounced back for a 1-2-3 third inning and avoided further damage in the fourth inning by getting a tag down on Ben Williamson, trying to score on the safety squeeze. His day ended after 4.0 IP, allowing three runs on three hits with two strikeouts and three walks.

-- After Jake Bird tossed a scoreless fifth inning, Brent Headrick had a tough sixth inning. He let up a leadoff double to Williamson and an RBI single to Simpson as the Rays pushed the lead to 4-2. Camilo Doval then came in and let up a single to Junior Caminero and an RBI groundout to Aranda, making it a 5-2 game.

-- Ben Rice blasted a pinch-hit solo home run in the top of the eighth inning, cutting the Tampa Bay lead to 5-3. 

New York couldn't keep up the momentum as Judge grounded out and Bellinger struck out to end the frame. They tried to rally in the ninth with two straight singles, but a forceout, a Randall Grichuk strikeout, and Trent Grisham popout ended the game.

Highlights

An RBI triple for Amed Rosario 🏃‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/4QJgORWCDx

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 10, 2026

Ben Rice gets a run back for the Yankees within a home run! pic.twitter.com/nT6PQXspcz

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 11, 2026

Upcoming Schedule

The Yankees continue their three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday at 6:10 p.m.

Max Fried (2-0, 1.35 ERA) gets the start against righty Nick Martinez (0-0, 2.25 ERA).

Been a while since we had a fun one, but the vibes may have turned. Patrick Corbin does not look like the answer to their rotation problems, but just about everyone else did their job. The offence was undaunted by a four run hole, racking up nine extra base hits (14 total) against just four strikeouts. The bullpen looked like they benefited greatly from a day’s rest, combining for five innings of one hit relief while picking up nine punch outs.

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It was a rough welcome back to the show for Patrick Corbin. He got Byron Buxton to pop out to open the game, but then Austim Martin and Luke Keaschall singled to set the table for Ryan Jeffers’ first home run of the year to stake Minnesota to an early 3-0 lead. Things did improve a bit from there for Corbin. He walked the next batter but got a strikeout to end the inning. He hit Brooks Lee in the second, but limited the damage there. In the third, he managed to strand a single and another hit batter. Brooks Lee chipped in the Twins’ fourth run on a solo shot to lead off the fourth, and Austin Martin would double later in the inning, but Corbin also got a pair of strikeouts and held it to 4-0. Four innings was all he’d manage. A 9.00 ERA is bad, no way to spin it, but they needed a guy to take the ball and he managed that. If you want to hunt for a source of optimism, his 9 swinging strikes on 85 pitches suggest his breaking balls can still miss some MLB bats.

Meanwhile, the Jays took three innings to get used to Simeon Woods Richardson, failing to score a Daulton Varsho one out double in the first and going in order in the second. A George Springer walk in the third was also left on. Finally, in the fourth, the floodgates opened. Vlad ripped a double to centre, Jesus Sanchez followed with one of his own to put Toronto on the board, one out later Davis Schneider chipped in the third double of the inning to plate Sanchez, and an Andres Gimenez ground single brought them within one. Brandon Valenzuela launched his first big league home run, a line shot 383 feet to right, to put them ahead 5-4.

Tommy Nance faced the first three batters in the fifth, getting a strikeout and a ground out but allowing a ground ball single. Joe Mantiply cleaned up by coming on to strike out Matt Wallner. The Jays continued to score in the bottom half against reliever Anthony Banda. Daulton Varsho his his first homer of the year, 405 feet to right-centre.

Mantiply struck out the first two Twins in the sixth, while Louis Varland got his man to finish striking out the side. Schneider worked a walk off Banda, then scored on an Ernie Clement line double, extending the Jays’ lead to three. Two batters later, Springer’s fourth double cashed Clement to make it four.

Varland walked Austin Martin in the seventh, but a ground out and a double play ball retired the Twins. For the Jays, Vlad singled, stole second, and scored on a Schneider single.

They kept rolling in the eighth. Braydon Fisher hit lead off man Jeffers, but a ground out and a pair of K’s retired Minnesota without them scoring. Brandon Valenzuela picked up his second hit on an infield single off new reliever Justin Topa, and two outs later Vlad crushed a 116mph ball over Austin Martin’s head and off the left field wall to cash Valenzuela and put the Jays in double digits.

Fisher stayed in to handle the ninth, getting a ground out and his third and fourth Ks to wrap it up.

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Jays of the Day: Team effort today. Valenzuela (0.23) and Schneider (0.12) have the number, but two hits including a homer and three hits (two doubles) and a stolen base earn Varsho and Guerrero nods

Not So Much: Corbin (-0.23)

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It’s an afternoon game tomorrow, first pitch at 3:07pm ET. Ace Joe Ryan (1-1, 4.40) will go for the Twins, while the Blue Jays will turn to Eric Lauer (1-1, 4.91).

The Dodgers (9-3) open a three-game series against the Rangers (7-5) Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

Tyler Glasnow (1-0, 3.00 ERA, 0.92 WHIP) takes the ball for the series opener.

Kumar Rocker (0-1, 3.60 ERA, 5 IP) makes his  first career appearance against the Dodgers. 

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Lineups

Tonight's #Dodgers lineup vs. Rangers: pic.twitter.com/I91PlGPN2T

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 10, 2026

Out West for 10 games. #AllForTXpic.twitter.com/nYNWcxl778

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) April 10, 2026

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Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Rangers
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Well. Not great. It started off well though!

Slade pitched today. Gave up a bloop RBI liner to Acuna in the third. In the 4th, Manzardo absolutely obliterated a first pitch sinker 454 feet to center.

Ummm, hello, Kyle.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/EGTWf9dM9M

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) April 11, 2026

Kwan, in the fifth, hit a liner to left that was mishandled by Mike Yastrzemski, leading to the go-ahead run scoring.

Steve puts us ahead!#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/Gw3pY01DoR

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) April 11, 2026

It was basically all Braves from this point on. Vogt brought out Cecconi for the 6th to face the top of the Braves’ order for the third time, and they took advantage of that miscue. Cecconi has an 8.39 ERA the third time through. After 3 runs had scored, Vogt brought in Guardians’ favorite Matt Festa, who gave up another 3 runs (only 2 credited to him). Pallette gave up another 2 runs in the 7th.

The Guardians fought back in the 8th, scoring 3 runs off a Hoskins RBI double (scoring DeLauter, who doubled to lead off the inning) and an Angel Martinez 2-RBI single (scoring Brito and Hoskins, who both hit their way on).

Allard came on for the 8th and gave up two more runs.

That’s all, see you tomorrow. It’s Messick vs. former White Sock Martin Perez.

As the Braves debuted their blue City Connect 2.0 jerseys, they hoped for more quality innings from Bryce Elder in the first game of a homestand against the Guardians.

Elder walked Jose Ramirez in the first, but struck the next batter out to start the game with a scoreless frame. Ronald Acuna nearly made my prediction true in his first at-bat, hitting a ball that might have been a homer in another park, on another night, or (perhaps most importantly) with a different ball, but instead fell for a flyout. The second inning was a quiet one and Elder worked around a Kwan single in the third before the Braves drew first blood with singles from Dominic Smith and Michael Harris before a broken bat single from Acuna brought Smith home. Baldwin unfortunately grounded into an inning-inning double-play, limiting the scoring to one run in the frame, which Elder gave back with a solo homer from Kyle Manzardo in the fourth.

The Guardians went single-walk-single with one out in the fifth, taking a 2-1 lead ahead of Cleveland’s two msot dangerous hitters in DeLauter and Ramirez. Elder walked DeLauter to load the bases for Jose Ramirez, which is exactly the type of situation you want to avoid against the Guardians. Bryce struck out Jose Ramirez, ending his outing on a high note, before Walt Weiss pulled him for Aaron Bummer to face the lefty Manzardo. That worked, as he got Manzardo to pop out, ending the inning. Tyler Kinley got the sixth and worked a 1-2-3 frame on contact outs. In the home frame, Ronald finally hit his first homer of the season, on a moonshot to left field, tying the game up at 2 runs, making my pregame prediction come true.

Ronald Acuña Jr.'s first homer of the season comes in the new @Braves City Connect threads! pic.twitter.com/MMOewaJCwO

— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2026

Drake Baldwin followed Ronald’s solo shot with a line drive single, still with no outs. Matt Olson made good on that situation with a 111.6 MPH moonshot of his own over the Chop House on a 3-0 count, as 3 batters turned a 1-2 deficit into a 4-2 lead against Cecconi.

MATT OLSON'S TURN!

The @Braves jump in front! pic.twitter.com/8J4EZMC7Ck

— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2026

Austin Riley made for the fourth straight 104+ MPH batter ball with another single, as it was clearly a mistake for the Guardians to let Cecconi face the Braves’ lineup a third time through. Austin took second and third on groundouts against the Guardians’ reliever Festa and Dominic Smith singled him home before Michael Harris launched another homer to give the Braves a commanding 7-2 lead.

The @Braves are MASHING!

3 homers and 6 runs in the 6th 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hmYAPV4lUp

— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2026

Dubon hit a ringing double and Acuna laced a lineout to end the inning. Dylan Lee handled the seventh in 1-2-3 fashion with one strikeout, and the Braves got some small ball insurance with walks from Olson and Yaz followed by singles from Albies and Smith to make it a 9-2 ballgame. Jose Suarez got the eighth and allowed some hard contact, lost his command, and allowed three runs, failing to complete the eighth inning of a 9-3 game and handing a two on, two out situation to Joel Payamps with a 4 run lead. Payamps got a deep flyout to end the inning with a nice play from Michael Harris.

The Braves’ bats once again added some insurance in the eighth, on a bloop from Dubon and a double from the still-scorching-hot Drake Baldwin. Matt Olson just missed what would have been a two-run oppo shot before Austin Riley brought Drake home on a line drive single. Osvaldo Bido got the ninth and walked the leadoff hitter, but got a double play and ended the game with a Jose Ramirez flyout.

Join us again for game 2 tomorrow night, same time and place.

The Mets' offensive struggles continued on Friday night, managing just six hits in their 4-0 loss to the Athletics.

New York has now lost three straight games and hasn't scored in 17 straight innings.

Here are the takeaways... 

-- Clay Holmes was solid through 5.1 innings, allowing just one run on five hits, but left the game early with left hamstring tightness in the sixth inning.

The one run came in the third inning when Shea Langeliers singled with runners on the corners to put the Athletics up 1-0. New York should have turned a double play on the previous at-bat, but Nick Kurtz beat Francisco Lindor's throw to first.

Holmes avoided further damage in the fourth inning after former Met Jeff McNeil doubled and again in the fifth inning after a wild pitch moved Kurtz to second base with two outs. Overall, Holmes threw 81 pitches before walking off the field with trainers after allowing a single to Jacob Wilson.

-- The Mets bats couldn't figure out former prospect J.T. Ginn, who retired the first seven batters before walking Francisco Alvarez in the bottom of the third inning. New York failed to capitalize on its first baserunner as Carson Benge struck out and Lindor flied out to center to end the inning.

Jared Young dropped a bunt down the third base line in the fourth inning and the ball somehow stayed fair for New York's first hit of the game. Although he was left stranded, Ginn got the next two outs to get through the fourth inning. Ginn's day ended after 4.0 IP, allowing just the bunt single, striking out four, and walking one.

-- Pitching changes didn't help New York turn things around. Their best scoring chance came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Lindor and Bichette both singled against Jack Perkins, giving the team runners on first and third base with no outs. Young hit a hard line drive to Kurtz at first base and the reigning AL Rookie of the Year caught Lindor in between third and home, zipping a throw across the diamond to get him sliding back to third base. Luis Robert Jr. then grounded into the inning-ending double play.

-- McNeil was honored with a tribute video in his first game back in Queens and had a strong night against his old squad. In the third inning, McNeil bobbled a sharp grounder from Bo Bichette but was able to get him out at first in time (thanks to an overturned call). He flashed his glove again in the fifth inning, robbing Carson Benge of a single. At the plate, McNeil went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

-- Tobias Myers retired eight straight A's to keep it a 1-0 game heading into the ninth inning, but then things fell apart. Wilson singled and advanced to second base on Benge's fielding error. Myers then gave up an RBI single to McNeil, and after a double to Max Muncy, he let up another RBI single to Denzel Clarke as the A's took a 4-0 lead. Richard Lovelady came in and forced a double play to stop the bleeding.

Robert singled in the bottom of the ninth, but that's all the Mets could rally with, as Brett Baty and Marcus Semien both flied out to end the game.

Highlights

Semien ➡️ Lindor ➡️ Young for the double play! pic.twitter.com/5fGdld79mw

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 10, 2026

Jared Young's bunt stays fair and the Mets have their first hit of the night! pic.twitter.com/RAsmVdXKRF

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

Clay Holmes is leaving the game with a Mets athletic trainer pic.twitter.com/JFPbShQnwb

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

What's next

The Mets continue their three-game series against the Athletics on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

Kodai Senga (0-1, 3.09 ERA) takes the mound and faces left-hander Jacob Lopez (0-1, 6.48 ERA).

The story of tonight’s game is unequivocally Kris Bubic. The long-time Royals carved up the White Sox all night. He struggled in the first inning compared to the rest of the outing again, but even then, he looked good, striking out a pair and walking one in a scoreless first. Scoreless was the name of the thing for Bubic, who ultimately pitched seven shutout innings with a career high eleven strikeouts. It was the best start the Royals have gotten among a number of pretty good starts to start the season.

That first inning saw Bubic throw over 20 pitches, but at the end of 7, he’d thrown only 88 total. Just to remind you that strikeouts don’t always mean high pitch counts. The first-inning walk was the only one he would allow, and he didn’t give up his first hit of only two allowed until Lenyn Sosa led off the top of the fifth with a double. Bubic responded by getting a soft lineout, a popout, and a strikeout to end the threat. In the sixth, he allowed a single to number nine hitter Derek Hill, but a strikeout, groundout, and strikeout ended that threat.

Matt Strahm and Lucas Erceg each pitched clean innings to finish the win off, though neither earned their own strikeout.

The Royals’ offense started in the bottom of the fourth. Maikel Garcia led off with a double and, shortly after the Artemis II mission’s Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific, Bobby splashed his third double in as many games off the left field wall to drive Maikel home. Bobby advanced to third on a Vinnie Pasquantino flyout but the team couldn’t get him home.

After Bubic finished off the White Sox in the seventh, it seemed like the Royals could use an insurance run. Carter Jensen delivered.

Carter now has twice as many home runs as anyone else on the team. Ever since the sleep-in incident, Carter has looked like a brand new guy. Before that, he was slashing .125/.167/.313/.480. Since then, he’s slashing .316/.371/.842/1.223 with three of his home runs in seven games. Michael Massey followed with a double, advanced to third on a wild pitch, but the Royals couldn’t get him in, either.

Still, Kris Bubic put the team on his back and carried them to a series-evening victory in under two hours. One really fun thing is that he got four strikeouts with the fastball, four with the slider, and three with the sweeper. His changeup is usually considered his best pitch, and he didn’t even need to use it to get his Ks. Just a truly phenomenal start.

The Royals have a late afternoon start tomorrow as they try to guarantee at least a split. Michael Wacha (0.69 ERA, 3.98 SIERA) will face off against Erick Fedde (4.09 ERA, 3.60 SIERA). The game will start at 3:10 Royals time and be aired on Royals.TV. See you then!

The A’s just keep winning! In New York for their fourth straight game the A’s took the first game of the weekend series against the Mets, winning 4-0 thanks to some late-game insurance that they ended up not really needing. Still love the foot on the gas pedal late though!

Ginn dominates in first start

We had a new starting pitcher outside of the season-opening rotation on the mound for our Athletics for the first time this season. Right-hander JT Ginn was tabbed tonight for his first start of the 2026 season after beginning the year as the team’s long man in the bullpen, taking the spot of Luis Morales.

Ginn hadn’t really pitched deep into any games this year. The longest he’d gone was in his first outing of the season when he took over after a short Morales start in the first series of the season. He’d reached 45 pitches in that outing and that was the goal the coaching staff probably had in mind for their young righty tonight.

Ginn began his night hot, striking out Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette to start tonight’s contest. He issued a walk in the second and allowed a single in the fourth but outside of those two batters Ginn sat down every Mets hitter he faced tonight. It was a dominant outing against a Mets lineup missing their biggest bat in Juan Soto, but it was still a great sight to see the 26-year-old absolutely control the team that drafted then traded him to the A’s way back in 2022.

• J.T. Ginn: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 68 pitches

It felt like a bit of a gamble to have him face the top of the order for a second time but Mark Kotsay’s roll of the dice worked out in his favor in this one. It had to have felt good for Ginn to show up his former organization in this one.

Bats mostly silent…. Mostly

Meanwhile the Mets had right-hander Clay Holmes on the mound for them tonight. The A’s were having a bit better luck early on against the former reliever but they weren’t able to cash in on those early chances.

That is, until the third inning. Backup outfielder Carlos Cortes, who looks likely to get more playing time with Brent Rooker out due to injury, singled to kick off the top of the third inning. A strikeout and walk put him in scoring position with one down but a force out seemingly killed the rally before it got started. Well Shea Langeliers had something else to say about that, collecting his first hit of the night to bring around the runner at second for the game’s first run of the game:

Shea gettin' us started! pic.twitter.com/Cf5dJmgIMn

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 10, 2026

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to have him hitting at the top of the lineup. Worked out in this situation, that’s for sure. Now if only we can get Nick Kurtz going…

Then things got quite. Real quiet. Neither team was able to get much of any type of rally going at all through the middle frames. The biggest moment from these innings came in the bottom of the sixth. Right-hander Jack Perkins, only called up today, came on in relief of Mark Leiter Jr. and was immediately greeted with singles off the bats of Lindor and Bichette with no one out. Tough spot to be in, but the defense came up huge behind him. A groundball to Nick Kurtz was fielded by last year’s ROTY and the first baseman made the decision to go for the runner at third. It was risky but ended up being the smart decision as he nabbed the runner at the hot corner, and that was immediately followed by a groundball double play that squashed the Mets’ rally in its place:

The A's TURN TWO to exit the sixth unscathed 😤 pic.twitter.com/09W1QsRrDw

— Athletics on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 11, 2026

That might have been the biggest moment of the game. If the Mets get on the board then things could have snowballed and tonight’s recap would sound a lot different.

Perkins ended up pitching the next inning as well, and then got the first out of the eighth before making way for Scott Barlow, who did his job by getting the next two out to set up a save situation for the Athletics. Perkins ended up pitching 2 1/3 innings and allowing just three hits while collecting three punchouts. A successful first big league appearance of the season, and Barlow looks like he’s slowly getting himself on track as well.

Insurance time!

Clinging to a 1-0 lead the A’s were desperate for some cushion. Anything, even one run, would help take some pressure off the man in the ninth to be perfect. Well the A’s gave him that and more. It all started with Jacob Wilson collecting his third hit of the night (he’d finish 3-for-4 on the evening), and he was able to advance to second thanks to an error in left field by rookie outfielder Carson Benge. That was then followed by a Jeff McNeil single against his former team that brought home that much-needed insurance run:

Jeff McNeil brings Jacob Wilson home 🙌 pic.twitter.com/1J0OoD5Prz

— Athletics on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 11, 2026

The club wasn’t done there, either. Third baseman Max Muncy followed McNeil with a double than put two more runners in scoring position, and after a groundout from Cortes the A’s got the biggest hit of the night, a two-run single off the bat of center fielder Denzel Clarke:

Denzel Clarke knocks in two more ✌️ pic.twitter.com/gXyUR19YM8

— Athletics on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 11, 2026

So good to see Clarke find some success with the bat. We all know about the amazing glove he has on the grass in center field but it’s going to be his bat that keeps in him the lineup on a regular basis. Clarke spoke after the game with the guys about that ninth inning:

Denzel Clarke discusses the A's big ninth inning 👏 pic.twitter.com/vY9TPJfMqo

— Athletics on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 11, 2026

That rally all but sealed tonight’s outcome. Righty Elvis Alvarado came on for the ninth and pitched a clean inning, ending the game by getting old friend Marcus Semien to fly out to Soderstrom in left. Another win for the good guys!

Things broke the A’s way tonight. Ginn was fantastic and likely earned himself another start next week (which lines up to be against the Texas Rangers at home). The bats were quiet for most of the game but came through when it mattered most. Jeff McNeil had two hits and a huge RBI against his former squad. The bullpen did its job and then some with five shutout frames. The pitching staff has now gone 26 straight innings without allowing a run, and the team is coming off back-to-back wins against both New York teams. The Athletics are now 6-7 and are starting to play like the team A’s fans expected.

The A's last three games just serve to underscore the fact that the team's level of success this season will largely depend on the quality of pitching they get.

— Bill Moriarity – A's Farm (@AthleticsFarm) April 11, 2026

The series continues tomorrow afternoon with Game 2 of the series. It’s going to be left-hander Jacob Lopez on the bump for the good guys in what’ll be his third start of the season. His first two outings weren’t horrible, but he’s yet to give the team much length after only going 4 1/3 and 4 innings in both starts this year. The club could be taking things easy with him considering his injury that ended his campaign last season but it’d still be nice to get some more length out of him for the bullpen’s sake. The Mets meanwhile will send righty Kodai Senga out there tomorrow afternoon. He’s off to a quick start this year after missing essentially all of last season due to injury. In two career starts against the A’s he’s only allowed four runs spanning 11 2/3 frames. Not an easy test for the bats but four wins in a row should be plenty of motivation. But great win all around tonight!

Law’s still hungry 👀 pic.twitter.com/6WTUJMP8Em

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 11, 2026

The Phillies gazed upon their scoreless streak and said: no more. And so it was, in the bottom of the first inning on April 10th, 2026, that Trea Turner singled to left, and Kyle Schwarber walked, and Bryce Harper hit one to right to score Turner. The scoreless streak thus passed away at the age of twenty innings. It loved strikeouts and weakly hit fly balls, and its recipe for GIDPs was the envy of the neighborhood. It will be mourned by few who knew it. Brandon Marsh, not inclined to let said streak pass gracefully, proceeded to dance on its grave by blasting an opposite-field homer to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead.

Speaking of Marsh, he was occupying an unusual role: that of cleanup hitter. It’s not entirely new to him (he did it five times last year), but it is a less typical spot for the hirsute hero. But he had 11 hits in nine games coming into tonight, and he was playing against a team that offers so few lefty pitchers that they might really believe the old fiction about lefties being agents of evil, and so putting him at the four spot seemed like smart dealing.

Smart dealing was what Jesús Luzardo was doing, too, at least for a while. He had little trouble handling the Diamondbacks allowing no hits through four, along with six K’s. Michael Soroka accrued one more strikeout than that through four, but accompanied them with a significantly less clean line. It seemed obvious that Soroka’s start would be the lesser one.

José Fernandez’ single, slapped one past a diving Turner, ended the no-hit bid but gave little reason to doubt the overall shape of the game. But a subsequent walk allowed to the alliterative Tim Tawa put two on, and then that endangered species, the bunt, emerged from the underbrush (courtesy of Alek Thomas) to load the bases with none out. Luzardo needed to find his form again, and fast. For a moment, it looked like he had: Jorge Barrossa went down swinging helplessly at a sweeper well outside the zone. But Ketel Marte singled to score two, and Ildemaro Vargas singled to score another, and a game that began swimmingly became less so. A break for the Phillies occurred when Luzardo struck out Geraldo Perdomo, and survived a challenge on the final strike. Then a break of the bad variety: a James McCann double scored two, gave the Diamondbacks the lead, and chased a suddenly mortal Luzardo. Jonathan Bowlan came in and quickly ended the unfortunate frame.

Any hope for an immediate response from the Phillies was thwarted by Soroka, who ended his day mid-sixth. The Phillies entered the seventh still down by one, with Brad Keller tasked with keeping things there; he did. But the Phillies bats, tasked with making something happen, did not. All was quiet. Somewhere beneath the earth, the scoreless streak began to stir.

Orion Kerkering came out for the eighth; his second appearance of the year. He allowed a hit on a hard luck single, with a lightly hit ball bouncing perfectly up the third base line, giving Perdomo just enough time to dash to first. A steal put him on second, and a sacrifice bunt (it was a banner day for bunt buffs) advanced him to third. But Kerkering induced a popup to end the inning, and gave the Philadelphia offense another chance to redeem themselves, to stop the resurrection of the streak.

Immediate Ks from Harper and Marsh seemed to put the kibosh on that redemption, though a single from Stott kept the hope alive, if flickering. But Adolís Garcia struck out, giving the home club a whopping, woeful 16 strikeouts.

Tanner Banks took the ninth. He was successful in thwarting the Snakes, but he did allow another bunt for a single. The bunt is alive and well, deep in the deserts of Arizona.

So is the scoreless streak, unfortunately, deep in the heart of South Philly. Bohm flew to shallow center to start the bottom ninth, and J.T. Realmuto hit a sharp liner that found a glove. That brought Justin Crawford to the plate. He shrugged off his tendency to hit the ball on the ground, sending a Paul Sewald pitch flying towards right, and over the head of a leaping Snake, and off the wall, and before anyone had time to blink, he was on third base. But Turner flew out, and the young man’s heroism was for naught. The scoreless streak has emerged from its grave, zombie-like ,and is now at a healthy eight innings. It craves flyouts like Audrey II craved human flesh.

The Phillies are 6-7. They continue the series against the Diamondbacks tomorrow at 1:05.