Worldwide Sports News

All Shohei Ohtani needed to snap his two-week home run drought?

How about Ice Cube in the broadcast booth.

On Tuesday night, the Dodgers did a stadium-wide Ice Cube bobblehead giveaway, featuring the LA entertainment icon in a Dodger blue low-rider along with the team’s last two World Series championship trophies.

To honor the occasion, Ice Cube was on hand –– throwing out the first pitch, announcing the traditional “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball” call before the start of the game, then joining the team’s television broadcast on SportsNet LA in the bottom of the third inning.

It was while Ice Cube was on the air that Ohtani came to the plate and went deep for the first time since April 26, and only the second time in his last 109 plate appearances.

Shohei Ohtani hadn’t homered since April 26th but Ice Cube showed up so that changed pic.twitter.com/0dZK9K19iW

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 13, 2026

As Ohtani’s drive sailed out to left-center field, Ice Cube injected excitedly on the TV call.

“Yes! There we go. Yeah, yeah!” he said. “Couldn’t have scripted it better.”

Before the blast, Ice Cube was in the middle of a discussion with Joe Davis and Orel Hershisher about his life-long Dodgers fandom, and role as the team’s unofficial hype man during their back-to-back World Series titles.

Over the last two years, he’s been part of plenty of memorable moments at Chavez Ravine, including a pregame concert during the 2024 World Series, more live performances at their championship parades, and opening day ceremonies in which he drove a blue low-rider onto the field to deliver the Commissioner’s Trophies to the team –– which inspired Tuesday’s bobblehead design.

“This is one of the craziest things that ever happened to me,” he said. “I love the Dodgers. I love being a fan. I like to just fan out … And then to be asked to be a part of it, against the Yankees, it was next level. I’ve just been on Cloud 9 ever since, for two years straight.”

That continued when Ohtani went deep, leading Davis and Hershiser to lay out so he could analyze the replay of Ohtnai’s swing.

“He smacks this thing, goes yard, the man,” Ice Cube said of Ohtani. “How great is it to be a Dodger fan right now, to see that.”

Timely hitting and some clutch home runs helped propel the White Sox (20-21) to their third straight win, defeating the Royals (19-23), 6-5. Four of the seven South Side hits were for extra bases, with three dingers and a double, including two clutch bombs that both took the lead at different points in the game. The pitching struggled early, but the offense carried its weight by keeping the Good Guys in the contest until the bullpen established itself late in the game, with the final two arms not giving up a hit.

While it definitely wasn’t his best outing, Erick Fedde mostly did his job, eating five innings for the Good Guys, allowing two runs on six hits with a walk and two strikeouts. In today’s game thread, I referenced how Fedde has been making a habit of surrendering home runs, and naturally, he gave up two more in tonight’s start: a solo shot each for Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Pérez in the top of the first, 2-0.

The South Siders chased a two-run lead for the first four frames, but Fedde was able to settle in a bit after the round-trippers, hoping the offense would wake up. The Sox finally had an opportunity after loading the bases in the bottom of the third, with a base hit from Sam Antonacci starting things off, followed by back-to-back walks from Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas. After four straight balls, Colson Montgomery came up to the plate in a prime situation, but he struck out on pitches that almost certainly would have been balls. Why he was even remotely considering swinging after so many balls in a row is beyond me — just one of those at-bats.

Finally coming alive in the fifth, the South Side bats posted a five-spot, first tying, then taking a three-run advantage to turn the game on its head. Drew Romo cut the lead in half after mashing his fourth home run since being called up, possessing a 1.092 OPS while holding a batting average below .200 (.192). Romo struck out for the rest of his at-bats, so perhaps the average makes sense.

To keep the inning rolling, Antonacci drove a double out to center to pick up his second hit and put the game-tying run into scoring position. As he already had a hot bat, Vargas was set up perfectly to drive him in with a base hit and tie the game up at two. Vargas has driven in at least one run in his last three games and has seven RBIs this month after accumulating nine in the entire month of April.

Mune struck out to bring Colson up, who put together a much better at-bat than earlier in the game and worked a base on balls to put another runner on. That brought up Chase Meidroth, who blasted his third bomb of the season into the White Sox bullpen, putting the Good Guys up, 5-2.

So quickly after taking the lead, the White Sox imploded once Fedde was replaced by lefthander Tyler Schweitzer, who only made it through one out before giving up two runs to bring the Royals back within one, 5-4. In the blink of an eye, the win fizzled out before Fedde’s eyes. Will Venable decided to go with Grant Taylor a bit earlier than expected. Unfortunately, the one hit he allowed in the final 2/3 of the inning was the tying run, also charged to Schweitzer, before striking out Witt to end the inning.

Taylor made it a nail-biter returning in the seventh, giving up back-to-back singles to start the frame, but struck out both Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone before forcing a ground out to end the inning. Despite having to clean up Schweitzer’s mess, he was still assigned a blown save. Seranthony Domínguez is typically more of a ninth-inning kind of guy, but he was turned to in the eighth as the Good Guys worked to keep the game tied at five. Three-up, three-down for Domínguez was exactly what the Sox needed to get the bat back in their hands.

Even if you were given 10 guesses to predict who won the game for Chicago, you probably wouldn’t get it because it was a pinch-hit, go-ahead blast from Derek Hill to put the South Siders up one, 6-5. The best part was that the pitch was below the strike zone, but Hill muscled it enough to clear the left-center wall and put the ball into the bleachers.

Out for the ninth was southpaw Bryan Hudson, who has been nothing short of excellent in his 21 appearances (20 innings) this season. Hudson wrangled the Royals for a 1-2-3 inning to earn his second save of the year, but not without a little more help from Derek Hill, who made a diving catch out in right to rob a clutch hit from Witt. Hudson has maintained a sub-1.00 ERA (0.90), and tonight’s save also secured the W for Seranthony.

Wednesday is Noah Schultz Day. The lefty will be going against righthander Seth Lugo. We’ve got another night game tomorrow, so join us at the same time and place — 6:40 p.m. CT — to watch some quality baseball and hopefully get the club to .500.

On the night where Christian Yelich returned to the lineup, one of the biggest punching bags of the offense had the big performance.

Joey Ortiz has taken a lot of heat this year from fans for his slow start at the plate. Understandably so, Ortiz entered Tuesday’s game with a .181 average, a .443 OPS, and a 27 OPS+. He had just one extra-base hit on the season.

That changed on Tuesday night at American Family Field as Ortiz secured the first Brewers hit of the night and their first run in one swing, lifting a 395 foot home run to left. That’s his first home run since July 19th, 2025.

“In the cages before the game, I was watching William (Contreras) and I was like ‘I wanna be like William today’ and it worked out so maybe I’ll do that tomorrow, too.” Ortiz said. “I went in there, fooled around with William a little bit and it actually (made me) lock in, so it’s funny how it happens.”

“The whole team was so excited for him. That was one of the neat things of today, was to see how the team reacted to him hitting one. I mean, it was like a walk off” Pat Murphy said

The Padres answered with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on a 2 RBI single up the middle by Nick Castellanos.

The Brewers then punched right back in the fourth inning, sending 10 men to the plate. It all started on a William Contreras one out double off the top of the wall in right field. Then Jake Bauers walked and Garrett Mitchell lined a single to center to load the bases for Sal Frelick.

Frelick then hit a 60.6 MPH dribbling ground ball through the left side of the infield, with the shortstop Xander Bogaerts playing up the middle, he wasn’t even close enough to get to that baseball, allowing two runs to score on a ball that barely made it 10 feet into the outfield grass.

David Hamilton then followed with a bunt single and was able to reach because Matt Waldron looked to third base right away with no one there and couldn’t make the throw to first in time to get the speedy Hamilton. That meant Joey Ortiz was up again, this time with the bases loaded.

Ortiz lifted the first pitch he saw high and deep into centerfield, the crowd erupted, thinking Ortiz had just homered again, but it fell short at the warning track and Ortiz had to settle for a sac fly.

Brice Turang kept the inning going with a 2 RBI double to make it a 6-2 ballgame and Jackson Chourio supplied an infield single that chased Waldron from the game.

The Brewers continued to just hold on after that with the offense falling fairly silent against the Padres bullpen. San Diego got a home run from Miguel Andujar in the 6th, and an RBI double from Andujar again in the 8th.

Brandon Sproat was very good tonight, striking out four Padres in the first two innings and ending up with six strikeouts on the night, tying his season-high. He was pulled after 5.1 IP with 3 earned runs as he seemed to be running out of gas in that sixth inning.

“We were hoping, like hey look we got a nice lead here. Go out there, you can get it done. But then he hung a breaking ball, and then made another pitch down the middle. His stuff was going down, you could see the difference in the stuff. We want to try to work through that and still make pitches. It doesn’t mean just because your fastball is 97 to 95 to 94, it doesn’t mean you can’t be effective. We were hoping he could” Pat Murphy said.

Sproat gets his first MLB win in his 12th career game (10th start), which led to his first career beer shower from the team.

“It got my eyes a little burned, but my hair kind of felt soft after, so I might start using that as shampoo.” Sproat joked after the game.

Shane Drohan got him out of the 6th inning, Bullpen Chad Patrick made an appearance, butting together a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Pat Murphy said pre-game that they have some decisions to make with Patrick and his role in the starting rotation, but that he likes how Patrick has pitched out of the bullpen. After that, it was the back-end of the bullpen 1-2 punch of Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe to slam the door and secure the Brewers fifth straight win.

Joey Ortiz finished the night 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, one of his best games in a while. The offense certainly looked more potent with Yelich in the lineup, especially in that 4th inning, even though Yelich finished the night 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

Tuesday wasn’t Freddy Peralta’s sharpest outing of the season, but the right-hander still found a way to give the Mets six quality innings in a win over the Tigers.  

The first two were where Peralta struggled the most. 

Detroit forced him to throw 21 pitches in a scoreless top of the first, then 27 more in the second as they put two runs on the board on a solo homer and a sacrifice fly. 

Peralta gave up a well-struck double to right leading off the top of the third, but then was able to find himself a nice little groove from there.

“I just had some conversations with [Francisco Alvarez], he was great,” he said. “We just got together, changed up the plan a little bit between innings, and we were able to get outs.”

The righty retired the next eight hitters he faced in order. 

Colt Keith ended that stretch with a two-out single in the fifth, but Peralta threw him out at the plate trying to score on an overthrow after a Riley Greene hit. 

“That was huge,” he said. “I was there, it was a hard sprint for me and I was able to make a good throw home, and Alvy made good tag to get him.”

That out enabled Peralta to come back for the sixth with 89 pitches, and he was able to end his night on a high note, cruising through the inning with help from a pair of strikeouts. 

He allowed just the two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out seven.

“I have confidence in myself and all my pitches,” he said. “We just changed the way we were using the pitches -- the curveball for the slider, the location of the fastball -- we made adjustments and were able to finish the sixth.”

This marked the second time in three outings that Peralta has completed six innings.

The Kansas City Royals built a 2-0 lead and came back to tie the game at 5-5, showing some fight. But in Major League Baseball, “almost” doesn’t cut it, and the Chicago White Sox where the victors in tonight’s contest.

The Royals struck first. Bobby Baseball smacked a solo home run to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.

The Royals also struck second, in the same inning! Salvador Perez knocked his own solo home run.

At this point, let’s go to a few sentences I said in the pregame:

Welp, Salvador Perez is hitting cleanup, dragging his .233 OBP along with him. Perez wasn’t in the lineup on Sunday, so there was maybe some hope that he’d be further down the lineup when he reappeared. The answer is: no. I’m sure that won’t negatively impact the game at all tonight, but we’ll quote these sentences and see if that’s correct truly or ironically.

The good news is that the sentence was correct (truly), at least here! And Salvy did get another hit later, so he was legitimately productive there in his return to the game. Maybe some more off days are in order, TBH.

On the pitching side of things, the Royals sent Stephen Kolek to the mound in place of the injured Cole Ragans. Kolek, somewhat famously, had started his Royals career with six consecutive quality starts. For four innings, Kolek sure seemed like it would be another quality start. But he ran into trouble in the fifth inning. With one out Drew Romo (seems like a fake name, tbh) hit a home run. Sam Antonacci (also seems fake, who are these people) hit a double. And with Munetaka Murakami up, the looming threat of a Murakami bomb to truly push the game over the edge was a problem.

But it wasn’t Murakami who hit the bomb. That would be Chase Meidroth (seems like a name from a Final Fantasy game, but I digress) two batters later. That gave the White Sox a 5-2 lead.

The Royals bats weren’t done, though. In the sixth inning, Carter Jensen walked and Jac Caglianone hit a rocket line drive out to center field. Were the Royals finally going to do some damage? Yes, as it turns out. Isaac Collins doubled to put runners on second and third. And for the second time in a week, Nick Loftin hit a key RBI double. Later, Maikel Garcia singled him home to tie the game. It was exciting.

The excitement wound end rather unceremoniously. Matt Strahm replaced Daniel Lynch IV, and though he pitched a mostly clean eighth inning, his one mistake was a home run meatball swatted by Derek Hill. That gave the White Sox a 6-5 lead, a lead they would not relinquish as Witt, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Salvy went 1-2-3 in the ninth inning.

Just like that, the Royals are back in last place in the AL Central—well, tied for it at least. They are a dreadful 6-13 away from Kauffman Stadium. Hopefully, they can win some games on the road soon. If they don’t, the season will continue to slip away.

Mariners 10, Astros 2

Funshine Bear: Randy Arozarena, +0.27 WPA

Grumpy Bear: Julio Rodríguez, -0.10 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

Rays 7 Jays 6 (10 innings)

The nice part about that game was the come back. The Jays were down 5-0. We were continuously told they would never score again. And then they got five runs in the seven to tie things up.

It was a fun game to watch.

In the seventh:

• Andrés Giménez, pinch hitting, flied out.
• Ernie Clement singled to left.
• Daulton Varsho struck out.
• Jesús Sánchez doubled off the left field wall, scoring one.
• Brandon Valenzuela walked on a full count.
• George Springer single in one.
• Yohendrick Piñango doubled bringing in two more.
• Vladimir Guerrero reached on an error by third baseman Junior Caminero, bringing in the tying run. He had a couple of well hit foul balls earlier in the at bat. Then Vlad stole second.
• But Kazuma Okamoto struck out to end the fun.

Patrick Corbin wasn’t good. He gave up 9 hits, and a walk, but just 3 earned. Fairly lucky to have just given up 3.

Tommy Nance game up another run in 1.2 innings, with 3 strikeouts..

Jeff Hoffman gave up a solo home in his inning, with 2 strikeouts.

Ty Rogers pitched a scoreless inning, in a very non-Rogers way. Walk, line out to right, caught stealing (great throw Valenzuela) and a strikeout.

Louis Varland fought his way through a scoreless ninth.

Braydon Fisher had a tough time in the 10th. with the runner on second, he gave up a deep fly to left that Piñango took a strange route on, but he made the catch. Runner to third. Taylor Walls singled one home. Yandy Díaz walked. A wild pitch moved them to second and third. A sac fly to the wall in center (an amazing catch by Varsho, running into the wall) scored a second run. A ground out (that Clement bobbled) ended the inning.

We got one back in the bottom of the inning. Piñango ground out moving Springer to third. Vlad (after two hard hit foul balls, I’m hoping that is a good sign) hit a sac fly. Okamoto walked, but Giménez ground out on the first pitch, against a lefty.

Our defense has been suspect this year and today in particular. Varsho misread a fly ball. Clement misplayed a couple of grounders. Okamoto had a misplay.

We had just six hits, two doubles. Springer and Clement had two each. Piñango and Sánchez had the others.

Jays of the Day: Piñango (0.21 WPA), Varland (0.14), Rogers (0.11) and Vlad (0.12).

Other Award: Fisher (-0.41), Corbin (-0.17), Giménez (-0.15), and Valenzuela (-0.12).

Tomorrow we have our last game with the Rays (for awhile). Dylan Cease (3-1, 2.58) vs. Griffin Jax (1-2, 5.00). It would be nice to win one.

Zac Gallen getting lit up, the Dbacks offense allowing an opposing pitcher to cruise through 8 innings needing only 95 pitches. I feel like I have typed this exact game recap multiple times already this season. So I will make this quick as there is not much that came from this game that is going to surprise anyone.

This was a worse game then the final score will show as if it wasn’t for the Rangers reliver losing all control for the strike zone in the 9^th inning and walking the bases loaded, this would’ve been a 7-1 loss. I put the late game runs on the Rangers reliever more so than I do on the Dbacks offense.

After the starting rotation had been rolling, leave it to Zac Gallen to break the streak of 6+ inning games and solid run prevention performance. Gallen allowed 7 runs in just 4.2 innings tonight while just being entirely to hittable. Gallen gave his team no chance tonight as he gave up a HR to the leadoff hitter old friend Joc Pederson on a center cut fastball at 93 mph. Once again, it was the fastball that bit Gallen as the pitch was down in velocity a full tick from his season average and he was able to generate just 1 whiff on the pitch. His once trademark knuckle-curveball was also ineffective today as that pitch also generated just 1 whiff as it was not fooling anyone.

It is sad for me to see Gallen fall so far when he is still just 30 years old and he was really betting on himself this year to get that big contract. However, the big payday just doesn’t appear to be in the cards anymore for the once top of the rotation star as his season ERA is now up to 5.65 after turning in another clunker. I feel as though he is not just one small tweak away from being competitive again either. Looks more like a reinvention is in store. Here is another thing to think about, if Corbin Burnes was ready to come back tomorrow, it would likely Gallen’s rotation spot that would be lost if decisions were made on performance.

The offense once again was unable to make an adjustment to their ultra-aggressive approach that has plagued them most of the season. They were only able to walk 1 time through the first 8 innings against a starting pitcher that has really struggled with the free pass all season.  The number of pitches outside of the zone that the Dbacks hitters are swinging at is staggering. Of people that look particularly lost is Gabi Moreno who popped out on a pitch a foot below the zone, and then struck out in the 8^th on a ball that literally bounced. No plate discipline whatsoever. Jose Fernandez also had some pretty bad at bats as it looks like the inconsistent playing time he’s been having as of late may be getting to him a little bit. Although the book on him is clearly out, spin away and Fernandez will chase.

I also want to note that there was a pivotal play in the 5th inning where with 2 outs Geraldo Perdomo stumbled trying to field a ground ball allowing the inning to go on and allowing what would be the decisive 5th run of the game to score. The Rangers would go on to score 2 more runs in the inning. Just another example of how critical defense can be as rather than Gallen getting through 5 innings of 4 run ball, he got pulled and didnt make it through the 5th inning and got charged with the additional 3 runs. Not saying it would’ve been an easy play for Perdomo and I’m certainly not making excuses for Gallen, however we have seen noticeably more booted balls from our SS this season as it looks like he may be trying to rush.

One of the few positives from this game from an offensive perspective was Ryan Waldschmidt continuing his advanced hitting approach taking a pitch low and away 101 mph to the right centerfield gap. To me, this swing really shows me something. Not just because his bat speed has been consistently registering in the 80 mph range producing 100+ mph rockets, but also because he didn’t get pull happy like so many of the Dbacks hitters and he took the ball where it was pitched from the other way using the big part of the field. He has really impressed me thus far. He also made another super catch in CF. I haven’t noticed any drop off at all not having Alek Thomas in CF.

Another positive that should be noted was a great game by Ildemaro Vargas as he hit a HR and had a big 9^th inning RBI. It cant be understated how big he has been for this team.

The Dbacks will look to win their second straight series tomorrow in an uncharacteristic get-away evening game. This team will need Ryne Nelson to keep his momentum going and for the love of Pete, this offense needs to make an adjustment. See more pitches and take some walks and get some base traffic. Not every batter needs to be the hero. Pass the batton to the next guy.

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Arizona Diamondbacks scored four runs.

The roof was open allowing for a breath of fresh air at The Shed tonight. One night after going nine innings without a run, the Rangers scored one batter into tonight’s game when surprise leadoff hitter Joc Pederson took Zac Gallen deep for his third dong of the year.

After the Diamondbacks tied the game in the top of the second, the Rangers immediately retook the lead in the bottom of the inning via a Jake Burger RBI single. Two innings after that, they scored another run on an Ezequiel Duran solo home run. In the fifth, the Rangers finally produced a crooked number with four more runs crossing the plate and before you knew it, it was 7-1 and the Rangers were on their way to evening this series.

With a rare banquet of runs as a buffer, tonight’s starter MacKenzie Gore was able to work effectively and efficiently after a handful of less-than-stellar outings over the last month or so. Tonight, with the bullpen taxed from having to pitch the whole game last evening, Gore went eight innings for his longest outing with Texas as the lefty allowed just one run on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts in his 95 pitches.

The only negatives on the night were Brandon Nimmo getting replaced in the top of the seventh a half inning after twisting his ankle beating out an infield single and Gavin Collyer finally earning himself a big league ERA by walking the bases loaded in the ninth to force Jacob Latz to come in and clean up.

Otherwise, the Rangers cruised to their 20th win of the season with the wind blowing in their hair.

Player of the Game: The Rangers had Burger sit for a few games over the weekend after a rough season thus far and though he didn’t do much in his return to the lineup last night, tonight Burger went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs batting in the No. 8 spot.

Up Next: The Rangers and Diamondbacks close out this series with a rubber match featuring RHP Kumar Rocker for Texas opposite RHP Ryne Nelson for Arizona.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

A.J. Ewing was summoned from Triple-A to provide a much-needed spark to a moribund Mets team in Queens. 

If his debut in a 10-2 win over the Tigers at Citi Field was any indication, the speedy outfielder may be up to the task. 

The 21-year-old did a little bit of everything, as he reached base four times, drew three walks, scored twice, drove in a pair of runs, picked up his first hit — a triple — and stole a base. 

His lone out of the night came on a 102 mph laser to the warning track in center. 

“I think that’s part of my identity as a hitter: I’m patient and make pitchers work hard,’’ Ewing said of his ability to work counts consistently. 

The Mets will take all of it. 

“There’s gonna be playing time for him,’’ Carlos Mendoza said before the game of Ewing, who spent just 12 games with Triple-A Syracuse before his promotion. 

By the end of the night, the small crowd remaining was chanting his name. 

“I’m confident in my ability to play,’’ Ewing said beforehand. “I’ll play the same game I’ve been playing.” 

His arrival was a boost for a team running out of time to show it’s capable of turning around the season. 

As Mendoza noted, “It’s not early anymore. We’ve got to go out there and do it.” 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

After dropping three of the last four games on their recent road trip, the Mets got some life from what’s been a dead lineup, as well as a fourth straight solid start from Freddy Peralta. 

The right-hander allowed just a pair of runs in six innings against Detroit, which has lost six of seven. 

It was just the second time in the past 12 games they scored more than five runs. 

After Peralta and the Mets fell behind in the second, they came back and went ahead in the fourth and took advantage of plenty of mistakes by the Tigers to improve to 16-25. 

Even in victory, though, the Mets found trouble, as Francisco Alvarez left the game with a right knee injury. 

It was Alvarez who started the go-ahead rally with a one-out double to left-center in the fourth. He came in when Benge followed with a hit to left to make it 3-2. 

The Mets had fallen behind in the top of the second, as Dillon Dingler took Peralta deep to open the inning. Wenceel Pérez followed with a single and moved to third on a double by Gage Workman before Spencer Torkelson’s sacrifice fly. 

But Jack Flaherty, who’d allowed 16 earned runs in just 14 innings over his previous four starts, couldn’t hold the lead for Detroit. 

In the bottom of the inning, after Ewing walked to load the bases in his first plate appearance in the majors, Alvarez just beat out a throw to first to avoid an inning-ending double play, which allowed Melendez to score. 

They tied the score in the bottom of the third with three straight singles by Bo Bichette, Juan Soto and Mark Vientos. 

The Mets stayed ahead in bizarre fashion in the fifth. 

After Colt Keith singled with two outs, Riley Greene followed with a base hit to right. 

Benge’s throw got by Brett Baty at third and ricocheted off the railing in front of the Tigers dugout, where Peralta picked it up and fired home. 

Keith, after sliding safely into third, got up and immediately ran into third base umpire Rob Drake. 

He continued home and was tagged out by Alvarez. 

The Mets got some insurance in the sixth, courtesy of more shoddy play by the Tigers around third base, as Workman’s throwing error led to a pair of runs, and the Mets put the game away late. 

With the Mets looking to put the first 40 games of the season behind them, perhaps Ewing can help revive the season. 

“He was pretty much perfect at the plate,’’ Mendoza said. 

And the manager added: “We’re gonna need him and everyone in that room.”

I don’t even know what to say about this game. We just witnessed Bailey Ober, 88 MPH fastball and all, toss an 89 pitch complete game shutout. He did it using mostly changeups and fastballs, picking up 4 strikeouts and a 43% whiff percentage with the changeup. The only blemishes on his day were singles to Jakob Marsee in the 2nd, and Kyle Stowers in the 4th. Ober retired the final 16 batters of the game after the Stowers single. In conclusion, he spun the ball real good and got a Maddux (a complete game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches). The last Twin to throw a Maddux was Ervin Santana in 2017. The last time a Twin threw a Maddux with fewer than 90 pitches was Bill Krueger in 1992.

On the other side, Eury Perez for the Marlins was in the middle of a no-hitter through 5 and 2/3 innings. Then, after walking Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach singled and Buxton moved to 3rd. With Ryan Jeffers batting, Larnach broke for 2nd, the catcher tried to throw him out, but that allowed Buxton to steal home and Larnach to steal 2nd. It was a cool play, but the Marlins probably shouldn’t have thrown to 2nd. Ryan Jeffers followed that up by launching a homer to the 2nd deck in left field to make it a 3-0 game. That seems like an easier way to score runs.

With that, the Twins have now won 3 in a row for the first time since the Boston series back on April 14th, and move to 19-23 on the season. Tomorrow we will see Simeon Woods Richardson take on Minnesota native and former Golden Gopher Max Meyer.

Studs:

Bailey Ober: 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 7 K, 0 BB

Ryan Jeffers: 1-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI

Trevor Larnach: 1-2, 2 BB, SB

Byron Buxton: 0-3, BB, Stealing home is cool.

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!