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The Atlanta Braves announced that pitcher Jose Suarez was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners and reliever Joel Payamps was outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett. Both pitchers were designed for assignment by Atlanta on May 1.

Suarez had pitched in six games with the Braves, making one start and collecting one three-inning save. He struck out 21 but walked 12 in 16.1 innings, allowing 12 earned runs. His underlying peripherals were better than the outcome, and the left-hander will now try to stick as a swingman with the Mariners, whom the Braves will face in their next series.

Suarez was acquired last Spring in a deal for pitcher Ian Anderson and appeared in seven games for the Braves.

Payamps, who was a late-in-the-season pickup last year by Atlanta, was retained on a $2.5M contract by Atlanta making him less likely to be claimed by an opposing team. He pitched in 12 games for Atlanta in 2026 but allowed seven earned runs in only 7.2 innings pitched, striking out nine and walking four.

Assuming Payamps accepts his assignment to the Stripers, he’s likely to re-surface in Atlanta. He had been an average to above average reliever until struggling with the Milwaukee Brewers last year. He pitched in two games after joining the Braves in September last season.

Sunday was a good day for plenty of the Mets’ young talent down in Syracuse. 

Top prospect A.J. Ewing was right back in the leadoff spot and he reached safely for the sixth straight game since being bumped up to the new level, finishing 1-for-4. 

Ewing is now hitting a stellar .500 with two XBH’s and a 1.052 OPS so far in Triple-A.

Syracuse’s corner outfielders enjoyed a strong day at the plate as well, as Nick Morabito reached three times with a pair of hits and a walk, while Cristian Pache lifted his third homer. 

Morabito also added his ninth and 10th stolen bases of the season. 

All three have been making a strong case for a potential call-up to the big-league level as the Mets' regulars continue to battle the injury bug during the early-part of the season. 

Pitching-wise, six Syracuse pitchers including rehabbing big-leaguer A.J. Minter, combined to allow just four hits while striking out 14 batters in the shutout victory. 

Minter had one of those in a perfect inning of work. 

Jonathan Pintaro picked up five of them as he allowed just one baserunner in his two scoreless frames. 

Dylan Ross threw well as well, striking out two as he worked around a walk in just his second outing back with the club following an early-season stint on the injured list. 

Minter is expected to be back with the Mets within the next week, and if the youngsters are able to keep this up, perhaps they could soon join him. 

Try not to move is good advice when you are trapped in a Jeep with a Tyrannosaurus rex bearing down on you. It is bad advice when you are throwing a cutter. Unfortunately, as Marlins pitcher Chris Paddack found out, the Phillies are not like T. rexes,, and they will hit you very, very hard if you (or rather, your pitches) aren’t moving well.

Trea Turner got the proceedings started with a ground rule double, the ball bouncing happily over the wall. Even more happily, Kyle Schwarber walked in his first at-bat, snapping an eight-PA strikeout streak. Bryce Harper’s subsequent walk was less dramatic, but no less welcome. Less welcome was Alec Bohm’s bases-loaded dribbler to the left side of the infield. It had little power and didn’t seem to take any odd bounces. But strangely, delightfully, the Marlins couldn’t turn it into any outs, with the throw to second arriving just after a sliding Harper, and the follow-up throw to first arriving just after a sprinting Bohm. 1-0, Phillies. It became 2-0 when Paddack walked Marsh, forcing in a run. The Marlins finally got an out in the form of J.T. Realmuto— but as it took the form of a sacrifice fly, and an extension of the Philadelphia lead to 3-0, it offered little solace.

The subsequent three-run homer from Bryson Stott felt slightly cruel to the home club. Not in the sense of poor sportsmanship, but in a sort of cosmic sense. Even more so because it slipped just past the outstretched glove of a leaping Kyle Stowers, flinging himself over the wall like his team’s namesake flings itself out of the water. The Phillies ended the first frame with a half-dozen runs, and the Marlins ended it with a need for a half-dozen anti-nausea pills.

The nausea for the Fish did not lessen in a disappointing second, where they put the first two batters aboard against Jesús Luzardo, then saw the next three trudge back to the dugout. It did not lessen in the third, when an error put Realmuto on first, a double put Felix Reyes on second, and a seeing-eye single from Justin Crawford scored one. Paddack’s unhappy Sunday thus ended.

The next few innings consisted of a holding pattern. The two teams scattered a few hits, though no more runs scored.

The Marlins’ fortunes started to change in the top of the seventh, but it didn’t seem that way at first. Bohm singled, a fly ball to right dropping right in front of the glove of a sliding Owen Caissie in right. Marsh lined a ball to left that tripped up Javier Sonoja, and the Phillies had runners on second and third, none out. But Stott flew out, too shallow to score Bohm, Marsh grounded into an unassisted putout at first, and Reyes struck out, and the threat was ended.

The Marlins then put their first runs of the game on the board, as Luzardo hit Leo Jiménez on the foot with a pitch, then tossed a four-seamer to Esteury Ruiz that got smacked into left for a two-run homer. Right after, Javier Sanoja slapped a pitch right up the third base line for a double, and Luzardo’s day (6.1 IP, 10 K, 2 ER) was done. Chase Shugart came in to replace him, and navigated his way out of the inning without allowing a run. He did the same in the eighth.

As the top of the ninth wrapped up, the Phillies wrapped up their sixth straight scoreless inning. Had it not been for the eruption in the first inning, this would have been cause for frustration. But a sixth-run first buys you a lot of leeway, and ought to.

The Marlins faced Orion Kerkering in the ninth. The game seemed to end on a nice twirling throw from Trea Turner to put Ruiz out at first. The Marlins challenged, the replay center confirmed that the game had indeed come to a close, and the Marlins’ hopes finally went the way of the dinosaurs.

The Phillies are 14-20. The final game of the series against the Marlins is tomorrow at 6:40.

Mets reliever A.J. Minter cleared another hurdle in his road to recovery from lat surgery after throwing for the second time in three days following his scoreless inning for Triple-A on Sunday afternoon.

That makes four appearances in Syracuse and eight total for the left-hander who also pitched for Low-A and High-A. 

Minter has pitched well during his rehab, owning a 2.25 ERA in four innings in Triple-A and a 1.17 ERA through all minor league levels. He has struck out four in 7.2 innings and has a 0.78 WHIP.

New York said after Minter's previous outing on Friday that it would decide what's next for the southpaw after proving he can pitch twice in three days. Now that he has and left it unharmed, the Mets should certainly be pleased.

Still, Minter has yet to throw in back-to-back games during his rehab process and has not gone more than an inning in any appearance either. While Minter is not generally a candidate to pitch multiple innings with the big league club, it might be good to see that he can do it should the need ever come up with the Mets.

When the veteran reliever does return to New York, it will be interesting to see how the team deploys him after he signed a two-year, $22 million deal before the 2025 season to be the setup man. Right now, that spot belongs to Luke Weaver while Devin Williams is the closer, although both pitchers have struggled at times this year for the Mets.

When I wrote the game thread for last Sunday’s eventual loss, I described the vibe of the 2026 White Sox as something akin to the “Ricky’s Boys Don’t Quit” team that, in 2019, gave fans their first glimpse of post-rebuild promise after two years of triple-digit losses. Now, after three years of triple-digit losses, I’m going to amend that statement. Perhaps it was the record-setting futility of 2024, or perhaps it was the third consecutive year of being the worst team in Major League Baseball. Whatever it is, as difficult as it might have been to believe a few weeks ago, I feel comfortable in saying that this team feels a lot better than whatever 2019 was.

The Sox have put five straight Ws in the win column since last Sunday, and now, they have a chance to display a .500 record beyond April for the first time since the end of the 2022 season. Since his promotion earlier this month, Noah Schultz has looked every part of the top-of-the-rotation starter that fans have spent years hoping he would be. Sean Burke hasn’t allowed an earned run over his last two starts, and Davis Martin seems to have learned how to leverage his deep arsenal into an All-Star caliber run on the mound to begin the season. The fact that Munetaka Murakami has lived up to every inch of his potential almost distracts from the fact that Colson Montgomery’s power surge last summer seems to have been very much not a fluke and that he remains one of the league’s best shortstops, even if the rest of baseball hasn’t quite caught up to it yet.

Whether they can turn this little run into a full-blown winning streak has yet to be seen, but a three-game sweep of a good Padres team would go a long way towards inflating the perception that the White Sox might kind of, sort of, maybe, actually be back. Here’s the lineup that Will Venable is sending out today in an attempt to do so:

This is just me, but I have a sneaking suspicious that Sam Antonacci in the leadoff spot is something we’re going to get used to for the rest of the summer. The fact that the team is approaching .500 while routinely running out lineups like this one is part of why I believe this early-season surge isn’t just a flash in the pan.

Here’s what San Diego manager Craig Stammen is sending out to counter Anthony Kay and friends:

There was a fair amount of noise linking Padres starting Griffin Canning to the White Sox this past offseason; we can only hope that the Sox will make him regret his choice in free agent destination today. First pitch is scheduled for at 3:10 p.m. CT, live from San Diego. If you want to join us, broadcasts are available on CHSN (TV) and WMVP AM 1000 (radio) like always!

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Guardians 5/3

S. Kwan LF
C. DeLauter RF
J. Ramírez DH
K. Manzardo 1B
D. Schneemann 3B
T. Bazzana 2B
P. Halpin CF
A. Hedges C
B. Rocchio SS

P. Messick SP

— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) May 3, 2026

Here’s the Athletics lineup:

Civale Sunday 👊 pic.twitter.com/cIH6hR7vuZ

— Athletics (@Athletics) May 3, 2026

Let’s go, Guardians!

The Cincinnati Reds did not have a position player pitch on Sunday in Pittsburgh. They did not get shelled 9-1, or walk seven consecutive batters in a 17-7 drubbing.

The Reds instead watched their brightest young star turn in precisely the kind of outing they needed after their starters and bullpen had been torched the previous two days by the Pirates. Chase Burns, today’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game, pitched into the 8th inning for the first time in his career, holding the Pirates scoreless for 7 frames to begin the game while allowing just 2 hits, a walk, and striking out 7.

Despite being at 89 pitches at the end of the 7th, Burns was sent out for the Bottom of the 8th by manager Terry Francona. It was already the longest outing of Burns career, but veteran righty Marcell Ozuna was in the batter’s box, and Burns had handled him twice already on the day. Francona was surely trying to get a quick IP out of his resident ace, wary of leaning on his bullpen yet again on Sunday, but Ozuna fought off a Burns offering for a broken-bat single that ultimately ended Burns’ day.

And, as the weekend fates would have it, reliever Tony Santillan couldn’t keep the Pirates off the board after taking the mound even after getting a roll-over double play to retire that batter. Konnor Griffin smoked a double and later came in to score on a single by Oneil Cruz, the game’s lone run plated for the Pirates, not the Reds.

Cincinnati went easily in the Top of the 9th, and the 1-0 loss wrapped up a sweep by the Pirates at the Reds expense.

Cincinnati’s offense mustered just 4 hits on the day, with Jose Trevino’s double in the Top of the 8th the lone of the extra-base variety. That actually chased Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft and the Reds had runners on 2B and 3B (Spencer Steer had singled in front of Trevino), but the Reds couldn’t get a run across the plate. The key PA came with a pair of outs in that inning and lefty Gregory Soto on the mound in relief, as Francona opted to let TJ Friedl hit instead of pinch-hitting for him with right-handed hitter Dane Myers.

Friedl struck out, and that ended Cincinnati’s lone, best chance.

The Reds head to Chicago later this evening and will take on a rolling Chicago Cubs team that now sits atop the NL Central. Buckle up!

The Twins sent Joe Ryan to the bump this morning—the Peacock MLB Sunday Wakeup special—hoping for a series split. He lasted all of two batters before leaving with an undisclosed injury. It would be an unexpected bullpen game featuring the worst pen in baseball. My thoughts at the exact moment: how many innings will Kody Clemens need to cover today?

Fortunately, Twins’ bats were not as depressed as the fan base early on, with a Trevor Larnach single and Austin Martin BB paid off by a Victor Caratini RBI knock to put an early run on the board. 1-0 MN.

In the third inning, an in-game interview with Twins manager Derek Shelton revealed it was “right elbow soreness” that regelated Ryan to the bench. Wonderful. That same frame, the Twins loaded the bases (Martin single, Luke Keaschall double, Clemens BB) with two outs, only to see Royce Lewis not enjoy salami—or even a lesser-quality meat—after striking out against Blue Jays SP Trey Yesavage.

Remarkably, the first RP out of the pen for MN—Andrew Morris—tossed 3.2 innings of 2 H, 0 ER ball to keep the contest at the razor-thin 1-0 margin.

MIN finally changed the number in B5 when a Caratini BB was followed by doubles from Keaschall, heretofore-not-needed-on-the-mound Clemens, & Matt Wallner. 4-0 MN!

Toronto got on the board in T6 when Taylor Rogers tried to complete a second consecutive scoreless inning but could not. A Daulton Varsho drag-bunt single allowed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to scamper home, but Rogers avoided any further damage by coaxing a “home run in an elevator shaft” fly out from Tyler Heineman. 4-1 MN.

A ticklish situation—two Jays on the pond—was mitigated in T8 by Kody Funderburk inducing a ground-out.

Justin Topa entered in T9 to try and close this one out—which of course meant clenched cheeks (and not the chewing kind). Another Kazuma Okamoto HR closed the margin to a single run, and an error from Keaschall allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to reside on the base paths. Blessedly, a Lenyn Sosa grounder went successfully from 2B to 1B for a game-ending double play!

Your Final: Minnesota Twins 4, Toronto Blue Jays 3

Seeing their best pitcher exit with injury after recording just one out, the Twins turned to a league-worst bullpen and somehow escaped with the victory. #baseball.

Zach’s Zealot

• Morris: Coming in cold two batters into the game and keeping the defending AL champs off the board into the middle innings.

Zach’s Zombie

• Lewis: 0-4, 2 K, now at .176 BA & .598 OPS on the season.

Egg-cellent Elocution

• SooFoo Fanmirrors my thoughts on Morris’ master class.

Who’s Got Next

• After a travel Monday off-day, the Twins visit the Washington Nationals in D.C. (Tues. night, Wed. night, Thurs. afternoon)—and I’ll be joining them there! I’ll be back in time to cover next Sunday’s slate, but if you don’t hear from me much on the threads until then it’s because I’m seeing the sights of our Nation’s Capital!

The San Diego Padres activated right-handed starter Griffin Canning from the injured list Sunday morning to start in the final game in the series against the Chicago White Sox. Right-hander Randy Vásquez, slated to start on Sunday, will be pushed back to Monday in San Francisco.

The corresponding move for the Padres is to place right-handed starter Germán Márquez on the 15-day injured list with right forearm nerve inflammation, retroactive to May 2. Márquez started on Friday against the White Sox, allowing seven runs on five hits and five walks in five innings pitched. He also got two strikeouts while increasing his ERA to 5.76.

Canning injured his Achilles tendon while pitching for the New York Mets last season. He began the 2026 season with Triple-A El Paso and started five games. He threw 62 pitches in his last start on Tuesday, allowing three hits with no earned runs, allowing a walk with four strikeouts. It was expected that Canning would complete his rehab today with El Paso but is joining the Padres instead.

The injury to Márquez pushes his start to San Diego and Canning could go 70-80 pitches with a natural progression from his last start. Canning features six pitches with his four-seam fastball and slider being dominant. His pitching is ground-ball heavy but he has the repertoire to get swing-and-miss as well.

Márquez, who signed with the Padres in the offseason, underwent Tommy John surgery in 2024 and has struggled to return to his former effectiveness before the surgery. He has started six games for the Padres and has a 3-2 record with his 5.76 ERA. He features a knuckle curve 40% of the time and his 94 mph four-seam fastball 36% of the time. He also flashes a sinker, slider and changeup.

Márquez had two starts allowing no earned runs but allowed at least four earned runs in all the other outings before allowing the seven runs on May 1.

The Mariners, suddenly drawing from their depth a month into the season, made a waiver claim today, picking up lefty José Suarez from Atlanta.

Mariners fans likely remember Suarez from his lengthy Angels tenure, from the time he signed with the Angels as a free agent out of Venezuela to 2024. Prior to the 2025 season, the Angels traded him to Atlanta in exchange for injury-prone pitcher Ian Anderson (later DFA’d by the Angels and re-claimed by Atlanta). Atlanta transitioned the short king (listed 5’10”) to the bullpen and edited his pitch mix, dropping his sweeper and tweaking his slider to be shorter and more of a traditional gyro slider, resulting in more whiffs on the pitch.

Command remains an issue for Suarez, something that’s persisted since his days as an Angel. Although he had a solid first season as a Brave, this year has been a struggle, leading to much sturm und drang amongst the Braves fanbase, who are all too happy to see Suarez go. As for how he fits in the Mariners bullpen, that’s a bit of a puzzle; the Mariners have a third lefty (with his own command issues, even) in Josh Simpson, although Simpson has options, where Suarez does not.

However, the Mariners are well-familiar with Suarez, having seen him for so many years in the AL West, so there must be something there the pitching brain trust hopes to unlock. The other bonus Suarez brings is length; as a former starter, he can cover multiple innings if necessary, which it’s been more often than not lately as three-fifths of the Mariners rotation continue to turn in shorter outings.

In a corresponding move, OF Rhylan Thomas was designated for assignment.

The Kansas City Royals are going for a road sweep today in the Pacific Northwest, yes, you read that right a ROAD sweep. Last night, the Royals once again snatched a clutch victory in extras from the Seattle Mariners, allowing the Royals to win their third series this season and their first on the road. Shades of the 2024 season is starting to come up these Royals, as they are starting to show signs of the team people projected them to be preseason.

Kris Bubic gets the start this afternoon. Bubic had a rollercoaster ride of a start in Sacramento to start the road trip. He went 5 innings allowing 4 hits, 1 run, walking 4 but striking out 6, on 96 pitches. That game was the only one the Royals won in Sacramento.

The Royals have already clinched a .500 road trip with back-to-back victories, in fact all three wins this week have been in 10 innings, it’d be nice if they could take this one in the regular nine innings.

The starters behind Bubic are the same as it has been all series. Carter Jensen catches again today, while Salvy is the designated hitter, but this is the same starting lineup as the first two games, so some consistency from Q.

Going for the sweep. pic.twitter.com/O6uIAVokDr

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 3, 2026

On the other side, it’s been a rough go for the Mariners. They came into this series at .500 but have dropped two heartbreakers. They also lost Cal Raleigh for unknown soreness these last two games, and their closer Andrés Muñoz blew a save last night.

Anyways, righty Luis Castillo gets the ball today for Seattle. The 33-year-old is having a rough go to start the season. He has a 6.35 ERA over 28.1 innings this season. His last start in Minnesota was not great. He surrendered seven hits, seven runs and two homers in just 5 innings of work.

Behind him, is a different starting lineup than we’ve seen the first two nights in Seattle.

Series finale on deck. pic.twitter.com/iQKjjM9Chn

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 3, 2026

The Royals sit at 14-19 and winners in 6 of their last 8 games. Can they complete a road sweep today and a winning trip out west? They come into today 2 games out of the final wild card spot and 3.5 games behind the division leading Guardians, who they start a four-game series with tomorrow night at the K. First pitch is set for 3:10 p.m. CT, the game can be streamed on Royals.TV.