Worldwide Sports News

The Milwaukee Brewers picked up their second straight win on Tuesday and aim to make it three in a row—and their first series victory in over a week—on Wednesday evening at home versus the Diamondbacks.

Yesterday, Chad Patrick battled wildness (and vision problems and vomiting, apparently) but allowed just two earned runs in five innings, and the Brewer offense broke through for a massive, Brewersy sixth inning that was the backbone of a 13-2 victory. Tonight, Milwaukee sends Brandon Sproat to the mound to face the veteran lefty Eduardo Rodriguez.

Before we get to the pitching matchup, though, there are a couple of roster notes to cover. We’ll start with the good news: Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn were both officially sent to Triple-A Nashville to begin rehab assignments. They’re expected to be available to the Brewers on Monday for the beginning of next week’s series in St. Louis.

The not-as-good news is in relation to lefty Ángel Zerpa, who looked good with Team Venezuela during the World Baseball Classic but has had a rough start to the 2026 season. It turns out there could be a reason for that. Zerpa has been sent to the 15-day IL with what is being called “left forearm tightness,” which is not what you want to hear when it comes to pitchers. Even more troublingly, Pat Murphy’s concern level appears high:

It sounds like the best-case scenario that Brewers fans should hope for for now is that Zerpa does not require elbow surgery. Best wishes to him in his recovery, and we’ll hope to hear from a healthier Zerpa again before the season is over.

To replace Zerpa on the roster, the Brewers have called up another lefty, Brian Fitzpatrick. Drafted in the tenth round in 2022 out of Rutgers, Fitzpatrick will be making his major-league debut whenever he first appears in a game with the Brewers. Fitzpatrick is not really considered a prospect—he turns 26 on June 1st and did not appear on FanGraphs 53-man list of top Brewers prospects. But he’s off to an excellent start at Triple-A Nashville this season, and has not allowed an earned run in 10 1/3 appearances. Fitzpatrick was primarily a starter until midway through the 2024 season, but he’s been pitching out of the bullpen since. Last season, he earned a 1.82 ERA in 23 appearances (34 2/3 innings) for Double-A Biloxi, but had a hard time in 13 appearances after a promotion to Nashville. Things have been much smoother this season, and we’ll se how things go whenever he gets a shot.

Pitching tonight for the Brewers is Brandon Sproat, who has showcased enticing stuff even when he’s been bad this season. Sproat is still rocking a less-than-desirable 6.45 ERA, but his last two starts have been encouraging; on April 16th against Toronto, he had one of the best Brewers starts of the season when he allowed one run and walked only one batter in a 2-1 victory, and he followed that up by allowing three runs in 5 1/3 innings (while walking two) in a duel with Tarik Skubal in Detroit on Thursday. Sproat walked as many batters in each of his first three outings as he did in his last two combined, so keeping those walks down seems like a big key to his success.

For Arizona, Eduardo Rodríguez got off to an incredible start but has not been as good in his last two outings. The 33-year-old lefty began the season by allowing just one earned run across his first three starts (which spanned 18 innings), but he’s allowed four runs in five innings each of his last two times out (in games against the Orioles and White Sox). Rodríguez is in his 11th season as a big leaguer, has thrown over 1300 innings, and is closing in on his 100th career win (he enters the night with 96); I know that wins don’t matter, but it’s hard to rack up 100 wins in modern baseball, and it is a testament to his durability and longevity.

With the left-handed starter tonight, the Brewers send out their “yikes” outfield of Brandon Lockridge, Greg Jones, and Blake Perkins, and with Joey Ortiz in at shortstop, runs may be hard to come by. Luis Rengifo is starting at third base, with William Contreras behind the plate and Gary Sánchez at DH. Brice Turang and Jake Bauers round out the starting nine. Of note in the Diamondbacks’ lineup is the presence of Ildemaro Vargas, who last night extended his hitting streak to 21 games (24 if you count the end of last season).

First pitch tonight is at 6:40 p.m. on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.

The San Francisco Giants game on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies has officially been postponed, and will be made up on Thursday with a split doubleheader. About half an hour before the game was scheduled to start, it was announced that it will not happen at all, as a large storm is hitting the east coast.

While the game was originally scheduled for 3:40 p.m. PT, it was moved up earlier in the day in hopes of avoiding the storm, and had been slated for a 3:10 p.m. PT start instead.

Now the teams will instead play twice on Thursday. It’s a split doubleheader, which means that instead of playing twice in a row, with the second game starting whenever the first one ends, there will just be two scheduled games in the day. The first will be at 9:35 a.m. PT, after which the fans will leave the stadium and the next group of ticket holders will enter. The Giants and Phillies will then play the second game of the doubleheader at 2:35 p.m. PT.

Each team will be allotted an extra player that they can add to the roster for the day. The Giants have not announced who they’ll bring up, but it will almost certainly be a pitcher.

The Boston Red Sox haven't had the greatest start to the 2026 MLB season. The team fired what seemed like everyone in house, including manager Alex Cora and five other coaches after starting the year with a 10-17 record.

Frustration has been building in the clubhouse. Despite many fans believing the Red Sox would compete for an AL East crown this year, the team has floundered, ranking outside the top 20 in team runs, home runs and OPS, while ranking exactly 20th in team strikeouts and ERA.

Starting pitcher Brayan Bello has struggled in particular, amounting a 9.00 ERA in 22 innings pitched prior to Wednesday's start against the Toronto Blue Jays. Then, he surrendered three earned runs (four before the inning was over) in just 3.2 innings pitched and only recorded two strikeouts. He was struggling, and interim manager Chad Tracy gave Bello the hook after just 63 pitches.

Very, very quick hook for Brayan Bello at just 63 pitches. Shook his head for several seconds as Tracy made his way out to take the ball. Yikes.

His final line:

3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 Ks pic.twitter.com/D5vpT00FKn

— Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) April 29, 2026

Bello was clearly unhappy.

Greg Weissert replaced Bello and immediately surrendered a two-run shot. The Blue Jays would end up winning, 8-1.

Was this the shortest start of Brayan Bello's career?

No. Bello has had four outings where he threw fewer than 63 pitches. That said, only one of those outings saw Bello start the game: June 25, 2024 against (ironically) the Blue Jays. Bello pitched just 2.1 innings and was pulled after 52 pitches. He surrendered five hits and seven earned runs before being pulled.

The Red Sox lost that game, 9-4.

Brayan Bello's frustration history

Bello's frustration with Tracy comes just days after Bello experienced another rough outing against Baltimore. During that game, then-manager Alex Cora came to the mound after witnessing some very poor body language from Bello, who'd already given up four home runs to Orioles hitters.

Bello lasted just 2.1 innings in that game, and after getting pulled, he took out his frustrations by throwing his glove at a bubble gum container in the dugout.

When Brayan Bello got to the dugout, he spiked his glove off the bubble gum container a few times.

Haven't seen him lose it like that in a while. Just horrendous vibes. pic.twitter.com/KK7nZGJ9VQ

— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) April 25, 2026

Brayan Bello stats

Bello is currently undergoing one of the worst stretches of his career. The five-year vet has not made it through the fifth inning in any of his last three starts and has surrendered four, eight, and four runs respectively in those outings.

He currently boasts a 9.00 ERA and is recording the lowest K/9 rate of his career (6.1) and simultaneously the highest BB/9 of his career (5.3).

Coming into Wednesday's game, the 22 earned runs he'd surrendered this season were the most of any pitcher in the American League.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brayan Bello pulled after just 63 pitches, visibly unhappy

LOS ANGELES— The Dodgers had a chance to walk off the Miami Marlins and take the series on Wednesday, but failed to do so again as the Dodgers lost 3-2.

After both Tyler Glasnow and Sandy Alcantara completed a scoreless first inning, Miami struck first again in the top of the second as Liam Hicks drilled his second home run of the series to deep right field, putting the Marlins up 1-0.

Max Muncy led off the bottom second with a ringing double to center field just past the diving Jakob Marsee. Alcantara was an out away from preserving the lead until Alex Call skied one high on the infield that was misplayed by shortstop Otto Lopez, allowing Muncy to score and tie the game.

Glasnow settled into a nice groove after the home run from Hicks, as he managed to strike out six batters in a row from the second through fourth innings. He was an out away from completing five innings with the tie intact after picking off Graham Pauley going for second, but the former Dodger Esteury Ruiz’s first hit as a Marlin traveled over the left field wall to give Miami the lead again. Glasnow was once again an out away from completing six innings after striking out his ninth hitter, but he was pulled after 5 2/3 innings while tossing 92 pitches.

Wednesday was Glasnow’s first non-quality start since April 10 where he allowed four runs over six innings against the Texas Rangers. Despite a season-low in innings, it was the second consecutive start and third time this season where he struck out at least nine hitters.

Alcantara continued to hold the Dodgers in check until they rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning, highlighted by a game-tying single from Dalton Rushing to get Tyler Glasnow off the hook for the loss.

After a scoreless inning from Will Klein following Alex Vesia’s brief appearance, the Marlins managed to reclaim the lead in the top of the eighth inning on a bloop single from Javier Sanoja.

In pursuit of their second walk-off win against Miami, the Dodgers put the first two men on base via a walk with nobody out. A sacrifice bunt from Alex Freeland moved both runners into scoring position with one out, and Miami elected to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani to load the bases. A base hit was all Freddie Freeman needed to complete the comeback, but he grounded a soft ball to second base. Xavier Edwards stepped on the bag at first just before tagging out Ohtani running back to first to thwart the comeback.

The Dodgers end their homestand with an even record, the first time they’ve done so this season, while it is their first series at home where they failed to hit a single home run.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Liam Hicks (7), Esteury Ruiz (1)
• WP— Andrew Nardi (2-1): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
• LP— Will Klein (1-2): 2 IP, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
• SV— Calvin Faucher (1): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 0 strik

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Thursday as they fly out to St. Louis to open a three-game series with the Cardinals on Friday (5:15 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Emmet Sheehan goes for the Dodgers against left-hander Matthew Liberatore.

Mets lineup

Bo Bichette – 3B
Juan Soto – DH
MJ Melendez – LF
Francisco Alvarez – C
Brett Baty – 1B
Tyrone Taylor – CF
Carson Benge – RF
Marcus Semien – 2B
Ronny Mauricio – SS

David Peterson – LHP

Nationals lineup

James Wood – DH
Curtis Mead – 1B
Brady House – 3B
CJ Abrams – SS
Jacob Young – CF
Daylen Lile – LF
Joey Wiemer – RF
Nasim Nunez – 2B
Keibert Ruiz – C

Cade Cavalli – RHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 7:10 PM EDT
TV:
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

SIGNUPPATTERN

After a lackluster offensive performance Tuesday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts implored his team to “have a better plan” at the plate.

But an afternoon later, the club was still searching.

For a plan. For results. For anything resembling dependable offensive production.

In a 3-2 loss to the Miami Marlins on Wednesday, the Dodgers not only dropped a three-game series but raised renewed questions about their lineup’s early inconsistency.

They managed only seven hits. They went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring positions. And despite having the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, they came up empty on a game-ending double-play grounder from Freddie Freeman.

“I think in general, we’re just not all there,” Roberts said. “There are more guys that aren’t going well right now that are.”

Granted, Wednesday’s opposing pitcher was former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, who scattered all seven hits over a six-inning, two-run start.

Still, for a star-studded club that has put up big overall numbers this season, there have also been several disconcerting stretches along the way –– including a current 12-game run in which they are now just 5-7.

“The last 10 days, it just hasn’t been synced up,” Roberts said of the offense. “We just haven’t got those hits when we needed them.”

Indeed, the Dodgers (20-11) had chances to break Wednesday’s game open.

Four different times, they had a runner at second with no outs in an inning.

Capitalizing on such opportunities, however, nearly proved futile. They might have been held scoreless, had they not benefitted from a couple good breaks.

Their first run only scored when Miami shortstop Otto Lopez lost a two-out infield pop-up from Alex Call in the sun, letting it drop for the most fortuitous of RBI singles in the bottom of the second. The next came in the sixth, when Dalton Rushing followed Kyle Tucker’s leadoff double with a soft bloop single that managed to find grass in right field.

Beyond that, their offense managed nothing else.

The Marlins (15-16) weren’t much better against Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow. The only damage he allowed came via the long ball, with Liam Hicks going deep in the second and former Dodgers outfielder Esteury Ruiz doing the same in the fifth.

Otherwise, the right-hander only faced trouble when he invited it upon himself. He walked six batters (tying a career high) but stranded all of them. He racked up nine total strikeouts, including six in a row at one point, and finished his 5 ⅔ innings outing with a 2.56 ERA this season.

That kept the game tied 2-2 until the eighth, when the Marlins scored the decisive run on Javier Sanoja’s RBI single against Will Klein.

And though the Dodgers loaded the bases in the ninth on three walks –– two from Hyeseong Kim and Call to lead the inning off, then another when Shohei Ohtani was intentionally put aboard following a sacrifice bunt –– Freeman couldn’t complete the last-gasp comeback, bouncing a grounder to second base where Xavier Edwards fielded the ball, tagged out Ohtani, and stepped on first (as was confirmed by video review) to complete the game-ending double-play.

What it means

Just when it seemed like the Dodgers’ lineup was turning a corner last weekend, they suffered what was easily their worst series performance at the plate all year.

Outside of a three-run walk-off rally in Monday’s ninth inning, the team combined for only five runs in this week’s other 26 innings. They also failed to hit a home run in any of the three contests, the second time in their last three series that they have failed to go deep.

Who’s hot

Glasnow continued his strong start to the season, even while battling more wild command than usual.

Of his 92 pitches, only 56 were strikes. Because of all the free passes, he was forced from the game with two outs in the sixth.

“I think early on it felt good,” Glasnow said. “Then the fifth and sixth, I just was super weird. Lost timing, flying open. It was just one of those days where it was hard to throw strikes.”

Still, when Glasnow was in the strike zone, the Marlins had a tough time hitting him –– outside of the two home runs that came on first-pitch four-seamers over the plate.

For a second-straight start, Glasnow once again pivoted to more of a sinker-heavy game plan to get ahead in the count. And when he mixed in his breaking stuff, he got 10 whiffs out of 17 swings and eight of his nine total Ks.  

Who’s not

While Roberts said some of his hitters are lacking “a clear plan of what they’re trying to accomplish” in situational opportunities, Freeman’s recent struggles have been all about his swing.

The most glaring moment Wednesday came on his game-ending double play, when he went after a sweeper low in the zone and rolled it over to the pull side. However, his 0-for-5 performance was full of plenty other examples, from a thigh-high changeup he skied for a flyout in the third, to another double-play grounder on a bottom-edge sweeper he hit in the seventh.

“I had pitches to hit,” Freeman said. “I just didn’t hit ’em.”

Now, he is just 6-for-35 in his last nine games.

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Thursday, and will travel to St. Louis to open a three-game series with the Cardinals on Friday. It’s the first of two stops on their upcoming road trip, which will end in Houston with three games against the Astros next week.

A minor league free agent. A mediocre minor league hitter whose average generally hovered in the .240s-.250s. Mostly an afterthought of fans discussing the Opening Day roster. That’s Carlos Cortes.

Carlos Cortes is also the player who is batting .387/.457/.694, 214 wRC+, 1.151 OPS, with a 10.0% BB rate and 5.7% K rate. He’s 4 for 4 this season against LHPs and 6 for 9 in his career.

Last week’s Player of the Week started the new week by coming off the bench (???) to add 3 plate appearances to his season: a HBP, a walk, and a single. When asked why his minor league stats with the Mets were so pedestrian and his MiLB/MLB numbers with the A’s so improved, Cortes pointed to regular playing time that he never got with the Mets.

Which makes it all the more odd that despite attributing his success to regular playing time, being the hottest hitter in MLB right now, and yet to be retired by a left-handed pitcher this season, Cortes found himself sitting at the start of last night’s game. Perhaps it was divine intervention that Tyler Soderstrom jarred his body diving for a base hit, opening up a clear spot for Cortes for at least the time being.

Here’s a bold prediction: When he celebrates his 29th birthday on June 30th, Cortes won’t be hitting .387 for the season or .340 for his career. But it’s still worth noting that the sample is growing and the available indicators don’t scream “fluke!” so much as they explain his success.

The sample for Cortes’ career is now up to 169 PA, which is still considered to be tiny. But he is already in the territory of some metrics that tend to stabilize quickly and his Statcast page reads like a Hall of Famer. Specifically, along with walking nearly twice as often as he strikes out, here are some eye-popping stats to savor on this sunny Wednesday:

• Cortes’ “expected batting average” is .387, identical to his actual batting average. What he can sustain is a different matter, but he has not come to his current success by luck or chance.

• While Cortes’ wOBA is a gaudy .495, his xwOBA is almost as gaudy at .473. For reference, in his 10.1 WAR season driven almost entirely by his bat Aaron Judge won last year’s MVP award with a wOBA of .463.

• Cortes’ “average exit velo” comes in at the 84th percentile, his “barrel %” at the 89th percentile, and his “hard hit %” at the 92nd percentile. Chase % and whiff % are also high end at 81st and 92nd percentiles respectively.

• Cortes’ K % (5.7%) ranks in the 100th percentile, leading the American League and second only to the contact guru Luis Arraez (3.4%). Don’t be jealous of Arraez, though, because his ISO is a paltry .065. Cortes’? .306.

• And then there are the eyeballs, who have as much praise to heap on Cortes as the numbers do. He routinely spits on “chase/put away” pitches you see players on the A’s or opposing teams routinely whiffing on. He has an actual two-strike approach where he cuts down his swing and takes pitches away to LF. He is extremely discerning early in the count hunting only pitches he can truly drive and often getting into a hitter’s count. He can spoil borderline pitch after borderline pitch in 10+ pitch PAs that drive pitchers crazy and often end with Carlos on base. At least for the first 169 PAs he has been the real deal.

What does that mean for Cortes, who was let go by the Mets and not hotly pursued around baseball, going forward? Nobody really knows. He will come crashing down to earth, and at the same time he could watch this season’s BA plummet .060 points and he would be hitting .327, most probably with high BBs and low Ks.

We’ve been through John Mabry (2 incredible months out of the blue during a non-descript career), we’ve been through Brandon Moss (blossomed at about the same age when given a regular opportunity), and we’ve seen plenty of players who fall in between — at some point we’ll know exactly what we have in Carlos Cortes and we can look back to see at whom the comp needle points closest.

I can’t make a confident prediction based on less than 200 PAs, but I will say this: I don’t think the needle is going to be pointing at Mabry.

Wednesday was getaway day for Dodgers, so before the final game of the team’s brief six-game homestand suitcases were lined up outside the clubhouse and equipment bags in various states of packing were strewn about the floor of the locker room.

And while few places have been sweeter than home for the Dodgers over the past two seasons, the team may be happy to get out of town after falling 3-2 to the Miami Marlins.

The loss before a sun-splashed matinee crowd marked the first time the Dodgers have lost consecutive games at home since last fall’s World Series. Of more concern is the fact the Dodgers scored just three times in the two games, going four for 17 with men in scoring position and leaving 16 runners on base in the two contests.

Read more:What Shohei Ohtani's start against Marlins says about how Dodgers are handling his workload

The Dodgers still lead the majors in home wins with 12 and have the best home ERA in baseball. On the road, meanwhile, the team ERA is nearly a run a game higher and the Dodgers’ record isn’t even the best in their own division.

For Tyler Glasnow, the results have been just the opposite. The right-hander was unbeaten in three starts on the road, where he has been nearly unhittable, and winless in his first two at home, where he struggled.

And while he didn’t get a decision Wednesday his performance on a brilliant cloudless afternoon was his best of the season at Dodger Stadium, with Glasnow scattering three hits and striking out nine in 5 2/3 innings. Two of the hits were solo home runs, however, so he left trailing 2-1.

Read more:'This is sick.' Kyle Tucker's walk-off single lifts Dodgers to comeback win over Marlins

Liam Hicks opened the scoring for Miami, driving Glasnow’s first pitch of the second inning into the lower stands just inside the right-field foul pole for his seventh home run of the season. The run was the first Glasnow had given up in his last 12 innings and the right-hander didn’t allow another hit until the fifth, when former teammate Esteury Ruiz hits his first homer of the season into the first row of the left-field pavilion.

In between, the Dodgers accepted a gift run with Max Muncy starting the second with a double off the glove of center fielder Jakob Marsee, then scoring two outs later when shortstop Otto Lopez lost Alex Call’s popup in the bright midday sky.

The Dodgers had Miami starter Sandy Alcantara on the ropes most of the afternoon, putting runners on in five of the six innings he pitched. But aside from the tainted run in the second, they couldn’t break through against the right-hander until the sixth.

Kyle Tucker led off that inning with a double to right-center, moved to third on a ground out, then scored on Dalton Rushing’s two-strike single to right. But Alcantara escaped the jam when Alex Freeland to bounced to second with two runners on.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani homers, Justin Wrobleski shines as Dodgers shut out Cubs for series win

After that, it became a battle of the bullpens — a battle the Marlins won when Javier Sanoja blopped a two-out single to shallow right off reliever Will Klein in the eighth, scoring Xavier Edwards with the winning run.

The Dodgers had a chance to that back in the bottom of the ninth when right-hander Calvin Faucher walked the first two batters he faced. After a sacrifice, Faucher walked Shohei Ohtani intentionally to load the bases but Freddie Freeman hit into an unassisted double play.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

In our unofficial series “What’s wrong with a variety of Guardians’ hitters”, let us examine the strange case of Steven Kwan.

From Opening Day 2022 to May 31st, 2025, Steven Kwan put up a 119 wRC+ with a 9.7/9.4 K/BB%, a .182 ISO,a .310 BABIP and a .328 xwOBA. From June 1st, 2025 to today, Kwan has managed a 79 wRC+ with a 9.2/8.9 K/BB%, a .084 ISO and a .254 BABIP, his xwOBA dropping to .282. A 34% decline in production is, obviously, the difference between a valuable major league hitter and a player who isn’t capable of helping a big league offense.

To begin at some more surface level metrics, Kwan has gone from a 22.1 hard-hit rate to a 17.9% hard-hit rate The rest of his batted-ball metrics look virtually unchanged. Kwan hasn’t hit the ball hard at high rate in the first three years of his career, so he could ill afford a noticeable drop in that area, but 4% decline there doesn’t explain 33% loss of production.

Let’s continue investigating. I next looked at specific pitches and uncovered something of interest. Over the past 700 or so plate appearances, Kwan has a -10.1 run value against fastballs, -2.5 run value against cutters and -1.9 run value against sinkers, compared to his first three and half seasons where he ran a 14.1+ run value against fastballs, a 1.7 run value against cutters and a -2.3 run value against sinkers. So, Kwan is now a bad hitter because he went from hitting four-seam fastballs well and cutters decently to not being able to hit either pitch at all.

Why has this occurred? My next point of investigation went to examining if hitters are attacking Kwan differently and, here, we seem to have an answer. When looking at the percentages of pitches Kwan sees on the inner third of the plate and further inside, here’s what we are seeing:

Kwan is seeing more pitches in this portion of the hitting zone than he ever has and performing significantly worse against them than he ever has. Similar numbers emerge when we look at four-seamers and cutters in this hitting zone:

One thing that seems abundantly clear – 2024 Kwan was likely an outlier. He is probably something a lot more similar to a league average hitter that he’s mostly been outside of that season. Combined with excellent left field defense, this would still be likely a 3 win player. But, the question is whether or not Kwan can get back to league average, as an 80 wRC+ will not play even with gold-glove defense in left field (should the Guardians return Kwan to that spot, or average defense in center).

Why is the decline happening against pitches in the inside part of the plate? I do think part of the answer is luck. Kwan’s xwOBA’s indicate he should be performing better than he is, especially against fastballs and cutters. However, he has definitely lost some slugging ability, especially over the inside of the plate. Here’s where we enter the area of speculation. Kwan sustained a wrist injury somewhere in the middle of last season. Is it possible his wrist has not fully recovered its strength and he simply lacks the ability to get the limited oomph he managed to get on those pitches in the past? Is this, when it comes down to it, mostly bad batted ball luck that will eventually even out?

In the days to come, I would monitor whether or not teams continue to throw mostly inside to Kwan, specifically with four-seamers. If Kwan cannot turn around on those pitches with any sort of regularity, more and more pitchers will look to exploit that weakness. If this is mostly a luck issue, chances are that Kwan’s ability to make contact and still manage a 14-20% hard hit rate will eventually get him back to more of a .310-.320 wOBA. If this is a wrist strength issue, his wrist will either regain strength and get him back some of his lost power, or it will continue to plague him. In any case, I suspect we are at the beginning of teams pounding Kwan inside and daring him to make them pay.

For Kwan, the only way out is through. He needs to continue to execute a good eye at the plate, make elite contact, and try to pull inside pitches and slap outside pitches. Time will tell if there is a course correction coming or if his lack of elite bat speed and raw power makes him a below average hitter easily exploitable by four-seamers and cutters. Today, Kwan looked more like his old self, so let’s hope it is the beginning of a turn around.

Note: Thank you to Matt Seese for his help sorting through some data queries for this article.

GLOSSARY:

wOBA – OPS adjusted for the run-scoring weight of each batter-produced event. .320 is roughly equivalent to league average.

xwOBA – this is the wOBA number adjusted for the results we would expect given a hitter’s exit velocity and launch angle

Red Sox 1 Blue Jays 8

That turned into a surprisingly comfortable win.

I didn’t think Eric Lauer looked great today, lots of deep fly balls finding gloves, but he only allowed one run in his 4.1 innings, on a Willson (who puts two L’s in Wilson?) Contreras home run. He gave up 5 hits, with 1 walk and 1 strikeout.

He came out in the fifth, after giving up three one-out singles. He wasn’t happy coming out, I could read his lips and he said ‘bull’ something when coming off the mound. I was on John’s side. Eric seemed to be getting a lot of fly balls, we didn’t need one to become a grand slam, and make a game out of this.

Braydon Fisher came in and got a line out to short that became a double play with a throw to second. The runner on second did come off the bag too far, but I don’t think it would have mattered if he stayed closer. Fisher pitched the sixth as well, getting five outs, with just one hit against and a strikeout.

Tommy Nance got the first two outs of the seventh, giving up a single and John took him out to have Joe Mantiply come in to face the lefty Roman Anthony. I guess we have to use our quota of relievers in every game, but, up six, I’d have left Nance in.

Spencer Miles pitched the eighth and loaded the bases with one out, but got out of it with the help of a pretty nice play by Okamoto. He came back out for the ninth (good job, John) and had a cleaning inning.

We had a pretty good game with the bats. We scored:

• Three in the third: Singles from Brandon Valenzuela, Jesús Sánchez and Vladimir Guerrero loaded the bases with singles. Kazuma Okomoto singled home two. A walk to Daulton Varsho loaded the bases again. Yohendrick Pinango singled home Vlad. Okamoto tried to score but was out at the plate. I was ok with the send with two outs. It was pretty close, but Kazuma isn’t fast.
• Two in the fourth: Valenzuela walked and Ernie Clement hit his first home run of the season.
• Two in the fifth: Vlad started it off with a single. An out later, Varsho was hit by pitch. And then George Springer, pinch-hitting, singled in Vlad. Myles Straw followed with a sac fly.
• One in the eighth: Valenzuela homered.

Vlad had another good day with the bat, going 3 for 3 with a walk, raising his average to .358. More homers would be nice, but that seems like nit picking. Valenzuela had two hits, single and homer, with a walk.

Clement, Sánchez, Okomoto, Varsho, Pinango, Springer, and Valenzuela had a hit each.

Ernie Clement made an excellent play, in the fourth inning, making a nice pickup of a ball on the third base side of second and then made very nice one hop throw to first, ending the inning. And Valenzuela challenged three pitches, called balls, and got them overturned. One was just at the time of the zone, the other was easily inside the zone. Good job Brandon. Valenzuela also had a nice play on a ‘swinging bunt’ that ended up just in front of getting to the ball and not rushing the throw to first. He looked very relaxed. He impressed me, I’d rather he get most of the playing time until Alejandro Kirk comes back.

Jays of the Day go to: Okamoto (.17 WPA) and Fisher (.13). I’ll give honourable mention to Clement (homer and nice defensive play), Valenzuela (single, homer, walk and three successful challenges) and Vlad (for the 3 for 3).

No one had the number for the ‘Other Award’. Giménez had the low mark at -0.4.

Speaking of not being happy about being taken out, Brayan Bello came out of the game with 2 out in the fourth after giving up a walk and Bello was not happy to be pulled. When Clement homered a few seconds later, he was even less happy. But he really didn’t pitch great, 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 4 earned (one after he left the game), 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.

Tomorrow the Jays are in Minnesota to play the Twins. Kevin Gausman (2.57) vs. Bailey Ober (3.94).

The Red Sox have lost the quick-flash momentum of the managerial change already. 

Chad Tracy fell to 2-2 as the interim after another poor starting pitching outing and insufficient run production. Boston failed to lock up a pair of series wins against division opponents, as the Blue Jays earned the advantage of this three-game set. 

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s series finale.

BAD BELLO (AGAIN) 

The right-hander looked refreshed through two innings before another early unraveling. The Blue Jays sent eight hitters to the plate in the third inning as Bello allowed three runs on five hits and zipped a wild pitch. 

Bello failed to finish four innings and disagreed with Tracy’s early hook with visible frustration on the mound. 

When the rotation gets healthy, the status of Bello’s spot will be a real conversation for the Red Sox. 

SOLO POWER

The Red Sox as a team still don’t hit enough home runs as a team. Luckily, Willson Contreras doesn’t subscribe to that MO. 

Boston’s first baseman tattooed a solo shot off Eric Lauer in the first inning in a fast start for the lineup. 

The rest of the group failed to follow his lead. Not to say they didn’t have chances. The Red Sox tallied nine hits, but left an incomprehensible 19 RUNNERS on base. 

The offense isn’t good enough to overcome that level of missed opportunity. 

SPLITS AGAIN

The Red Sox fell to 7-11 on the road, though they went .500 on each of the last six-game trips.