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Good teams win close games. The Rays are proving so far this season that they truly are a good team.

Today was another example. Not because every win has to be clean, or because the offense is turning games into batting practice. No, this one was proof in a much more Rays’ way. Tampa Bay beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 in 10 by collecting just enough soft contact, bunts, walks, defensive outs, and pitching to turn a game that could have slipped away early into a walk-off win.

Every little hit counts. Even the weird ones. Especially the weird ones.

That theme showed up immediately, and not in the Rays’ favor.

Rafael Devers doubled in the first inning on a ball that left the bat at just 59.1 mph, the kind of contact that makes pitchers stare into the middle distance and wonder what they did to upset the baseball gods. It was not crushed. It was just enough. One batter later, Casey Schmitt singled to center, Devers scored, and the Giants had a 1-0 lead early.

Rays starting pitcher Steven Matz, to his credit, did not let that strange little rally become something larger. Luis Arraez grounded into a double play to end the inning, and that mattered more than it seemed at the time. In a game where neither defense was going to create much margin for error, Matz keeping it at one run gave the Rays a chance to keep breathing.

The Rays had their own first-inning answer ready, or at least the beginning of one. Chandler Simpson struck out looking, but Junior Caminero singled and Jonathan Aranda followed with a ground-ball single of his own. Suddenly, Tampa Bay had two on with one out and a chance to erase the Giants’ lead right away.

Instead, Ryan Vilade struck out, and Jake Fraley lined out to right.

They needed more. That would become a familiar sentence throughout most of the game.

From there, the game moved into a middle-innings grind. Matz deserves plenty of credit for that. The Giants had found an early run, but Matz kept them from stacking anything on top of it and kept the game close enough for the Rays to eventually make their brand of baseball matter.

Tyler Mahle did his part on the other side, and then some. He gave the Rays very little room to operate. The Rays went quietly through the second, third, fourth, and fifth, with only a few flickers. Ben Williamson singled in the fourth, but Cedric Mullins popped out to end that. In the fifth, Tampa Bay went down in order. Mahle kept the Rays from ever getting into rhythm, and the 1-0 deficit started to feel larger as the innings passed by.

The sixth inning was the first real chance for the Rays to change the vibe. Aranda singled with one out, building on what would become a strong offensive day for him. Vilade reached when Willy Adames made a fielding error, putting two on. Matt Gage replaced Mahle, Jonny DeLuca came in to pinch hit, and the Rays had an opening.

DeLuca struck out. Williamson walked after the Giants lost an ABS challenge, loading the bases. Now the whole game was sitting there, waiting for one swing. Mullins hit a line drive to right, but it found a glove.

Bases loaded, no runs.

The Rays had already missed a first-inning opportunity, and now they had let another one pass but they kept on fighting.

In the seventh, the Giants threatened when Adames doubled with one out, but they could not bring him home. In the eighth, Hunter Bigge gave up a one-out double to Heliot Ramos, only to strike out Devers and Schmitt back-to-back. That sequence was crucial. The Giants had a chance to finally add the insurance run that would have made the Rays’ afternoon feel desperate. Bigge slammed that door shut.

Then, finally, the Rays started making the little things add up.

Ryan Walker entered for San Francisco in the bottom of the eighth, and Caminero walked. Aranda, once again, delivered, singling to center and sending Caminero to third. Aranda was the lineup’s pulse in this game, the guy who kept showing up when Tampa Bay needed a spark.

With runners on the corners and nobody out, Vilade dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Caminero scored head-first, beating the throw, Vilade reached, and the Rays had tied the game without a big swing. Just a bunt, some pressure, and a ball in the right place.

Very on brand.

DeLuca followed with another sacrifice bunt, moving Aranda to third and Vilade to second. Now the Rays had the go-ahead run ninety feet away with one out. The small-ball machine was humming.

Then baseball proved it is truly a game of failure. Williamson lined a ball to third, and Matt Chapman turned it into an unassisted double play, catching Aranda off the bag to end the inning. He also caught Aranda in the back on a throw home that was not needed. Inning and rally over with the game tied 1-1.

The ninth passed without a breakthrough, just a Hunter Feduccia single for the Rays as the game went to extras and gave Ian Seymour a chance to author one of the most important quiet moments of the afternoon. With the automatic runner on second in the tenth, Seymour retired Jung Hoo Lee, Drew Gilbert, and Eric Haase without letting the Giants move ahead.

That gave the Rays exactly what they needed, with a chance to win, with Chandler Simpson starting at second base, with Caminero and Aranda due up to hit.  

The Giants intentionally walked Caminero, choosing to face Aranda. It made sense in the matchup logic of the moment, but it also meant challenging the one Rays hitter who had been making hits all day.

Aranda made them pay as he floated a single into right, Simpson came home, and the Rays had their 2-1 walk-off victory. The 200^th walk-off in franchise history.

The Rays had no extra base hits, but made the hits they had count as they finished the series sweep of the Giants.

The Rays’ homestand continues on Monday as they start a series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Nick Martinez is scheduled to start for the Rays with a 6:40 PM first pitch.

Max Fried wasn’t at his best.

There was some sloppy play in the infield that didn’t help the lefty.

And one of the best hitters in the game went down with an injury.

None of it stopped the freight train that is the Yankees on Sunday in The Bronx, as they beat the Orioles 11-3 to win for the 13th time in 15 games.

They’ve also won eight straight over Baltimore and look to complete a four-game sweep at home Monday.

“It just feels like guys are in a good place and we have a lot of ways to beat you,” Aaron Boone said. “I like the fact guys are doing the little things. To win in different ways is nice.”

While it’s true they have added aspects to their overall game — improved speed and defense — it’s also true they still thrive on mashing the opposition.

They hit three homers for a second straight game and turned what had been a tight game into a laugher.

Home runs by Ben Rice — who exited with a hand injury — and Aaron Judge gave the Yankees an early lead before they scratched together a run in the sixth to go ahead for good, thanks to solid bullpen work and a seven-run eighth inning.

Facing Trey Gibson in his MLB debut, Rice opened the scoring with his 12th homer of the season with one out in the bottom of the first.

Fried, who hadn’t allowed a run in his previous two outings — covering 14 innings — gave up three runs in 5 ¹/₃ innings and threw a season-high 107 pitches.

The lefty also left a pair of runners on base when he exited in the top of the sixth, with Fernando Cruz getting out of it unscathed.

Fried gave up a run in the third that tied the game and was saved from more damage by a running catch at the wall by Judge to rob Taylor Ward of a run-scoring extra-base hit.

And after Judge’s two-run homer, his 13th of the year, in the third, Fried found trouble again in the fourth.

Pete Alonso opened with a double.

After a walk to Tyler O’Neill, an infield hit by Coby Mayo loaded the bases on a play Ryan McMahon might have made.

With the bases loaded, a grounder up the middle by Leody Taveras hit a grounder up the middle — stopped by Jazz Chisholm Jr. — for an infield single a run.

Baltimore then tied it on a Jeremiah Jackson double play.

But a leadoff double by Jasson Domínguez sparked the Yankees in the sixth with a leadoff double from the right side of the plate.

He moved to third on an Austin Wells groundout, and with the infield in, McMahon scored Domínguez on an infield single.

Left-hander Brent Headrick got Adley Rutschman to ground out to end the top of the seventh, leaving Samuel Basallo at third as the potential tying run.

The Yankees put an end to the drama in the eighth, as Domínguez hit a two-run homer — his first of the season — and Paul Goldschmidt, who replaced Rice at first, drove in a pair with a single.

Since dropping five straight to the A’s and Tampa Bay and then splitting a four-game series with the Angels, the Yankees have been nearly unstoppable.

Their message at the beginning of the season was that they wanted to close out series sweeps more effectively than they did last season and avoid the lulls that have interrupted their success in recent seasons.

“It’s something we’ve been trying to do a better job of: Being consistent,” Fried said. “We want to play the caliber of baseball we know we can. We know these games in this part of the season are just as important as they are late, and we want to stay on top of it.”

ST. LOUIS — The Dodgers’ offense isn’t quite fixed.

But for one day, at least, it looked less broken than before.

For the first time in almost a week, the Dodgers scored first Sunday, tagged an opposing starter with at least three runs … and, oh yeah, actually won a game, too, beating the Cardinals 4-1 to snap a four-game losing streak and avoid a series sweep at Busch Stadium.

“We didn’t break out today,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But we scored more than they did. So that’s good.”

Indeed, this was no tour de force.

For the sixth straight game, the Dodgers (21-13) failed to hit a home run. For a second consecutive day, they also bounced into four double plays. In their last 12 games, they’ve now failed to eclipse five runs nine times.

But behind another uniquely dominant start from left-hander Justin Wrobleski — who pitched six scoreless innings, despite not striking out a batter, to lower his ERA to 1.25 –– the Dodgers’ slumping lineup found a way to do just enough.

Most of their scoring came against a familiar face in Dustin May, the homegrown Dodgers right-hander who signed in St. Louis as a free agent this offseason after being traded by the club at last year’s deadline.

In the second inning, they got on the board via doubles from Kyle Tucker and Andy Pages, who capitalized on an 0-2 mistake by lofting a hanging curveball to left for the day’s opening run. Hyeseong Kim then followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0.

In the fifth, Kim got another rally started, legging out an infield single to lead off the inning before scoring on a two-out knock from Freddie Freeman, who also came through in an 0-2 count.

In the ninth, Alex Call added some insurance with a pinch-hit RBI single off the bench.

“Overall,” Freeman said, “better quality of baseball from us today.”

A big reason for that was Wrobleski, who became the first Dodgers pitcher since Mike Morgan in 1991 to throw six shutout innings without striking out a batter.

“I’m out there trying to get outs,” Wrobleski said. “However I get them, that’s great.”

The bullpen also came through, with Will Klein, Blake Treinen and (in his latest appearance filling in at closer in the ninth inning) Tanner Scott navigating the final three innings to bring the Dodgers’ losing streak to an end.

What it means

Roberts described Sunday as a “gut check” moment for his club, noting that “it’s certainly not a must-win, but this is a game that we need to find a way to win.”

Presciently, that’s how the afternoon played out.

The Dodgers still aren’t slugging the ball, now mired in their longest home run drought since 2014. Their biggest bats aren’t producing, either, with a top four of Freeman, Tucker, Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández going a combined 4-for-17 with two walks Sunday.

But, the Dodgers did enough little things to win, from their 4-for-10 mark with runners in scoring position to a run-saving throw from catcher Dalton Rushing in the second inning when the Cardinals tried a double steal.

“You just have to bow your neck and find a way to win,” Roberts said. “Doesn’t matter how good or bad it looks, we needed a win today.”

Who’s hot

Wrobleski, who turned in a very Wrobleski-esque start.

As usual, the left-hander filled up the strike zone (58 strikes in 83 pitches) and hardly seemed to care about generating swing and miss (he only got four whiffs on 44 swings). Instead, he pitched to contact and worked around traffic, scattering six hits (all singles) and a walk even without a single punchout.

Since 2017, the only other MLB starter to go six scoreless without a strikeout was José Quintana in 2024. That seems fitting, with Wrobleski adopting a style similar to Quintana’s crafty left-handed arsenal –– and using it to put up stunning early-season results.

In five starts since moving into the rotation, Wrobleski has allowed just two runs in 32 innings. He only has 13 total strikeouts in that span but has still managed a 5-0 record with a minuscule 0.56 ERA.

“I think the strikeouts will come,” he said. “I struck out people last year. That’s not something that’s a crazy worry for me. I’m never going to give back six zeroes. However I need to do it, I’ll do it and hopefully keep rolling.”

That could be crucial for the 25-year-old’s future role, as Blake Snell nears a return from injury (he pitched four innings in a rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday). While the Dodgers haven’t ruled out moving Wrobleski back to the bullpen as a multi-inning reliever, his performances lately are making that seem borderline impossible. Sunday was just the latest example.

Who’s not

Speaking of upcoming roster decisions, Mookie Betts is expected to return from his oblique strain in the next few weeks.

That means someone from the current lineup will get squeezed out. And lately, Alex Freeland is looking like the likeliest candidate.

Freeland went 0-for-3 as the No. 9 hitter on Sunday and is now just 3-for-his-last-15 after collecting six hits the week prior. Overall this season, he is batting .232 with a .606 OPS.

Up next

The Dodgers will travel to Houston and open a three-game series with the Astros on Monday night. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-2, 2.87 ERA) will be on the mound.

The Yankees have come to rely on production from their superstars, and this afternoon against the O’s, they got just that. Aaron Judge and Ben Rice both homered early—before Rice left the game in the fourth inning with a hand contusion suffered on a pickoff throw. But for a team to sustain a hot two-week stretch, everyone needs to contribute. With the game tied in the sixth, Jasson Domínguez lit the rocket fuse with a double and scored the go-ahead run on a single. Then he kick-started a furious eighth-inning onslaught with his first home run of the year, one of two run-scoring extra-base hits he provided in the frame. The Bombers wrapped up a series win with a 11-3 victory by feasting on Baltimore’s bullpen late.

Rice set the tone looking right as rain, ambushing Gibson on the first pitch and socking a line drive over the short porch in right field for his team-tying 12th home run. This ball was blistered—Rice hit it 110 mph for the opening salvo and a 1-0 Yankee lead.

But once again, he wouldn’t have the homer lead for long. Aaron Judge stepped up in the bottom of the third and smashed a hanging slider over the left-center wall by the loading bay. Lucky number 13, as Michael Kay would say, traveled 413 feet and gave New York a 3-1 lead.

Even in the inning where Baltimore scored that first run, Judge stole the show on defense. Weston Wilson was picked off by Fried, but outran Rice’s throw to second to put himself in scoring position. So when Blaze Alexander blooped a single the other way, Wilson easily scored. But Judge caught Alexander rounding first base too aggressively, and threw behind him to start a rundown. Jazz Chisholm Jr. raced to apply the tag on Alexander to secure the out.

The next batter was Taylor Ward, Judge’s one-time teammate at Fresno State. Ward skied a ball to right, testing the wall, but Judge had it measured perfectly, making a leaping catch as he hit the fence.

The vibes took a 180-degree shift in the top of the fourth, however. First, Rice was removed from the game for reasons unclear. Rice had taken his second at-bat and legged out a bloop double ahead of Judge’s homer. Nothing the YES cameras captured could elucidate why he was removed, but the fact remained that Paul Goldschmidt was in the game to play first.

As if a big balloon deflated in the park, so too did Fried’s command. After a leadoff double, Fried issued a walk and gave up a pair of infield hits, one of which plated a run. He prevented Baltimore from putting up a crooked number by inducing a ground ball double play from Jeremiah Jackson, but Tyler O’Neill still scored the tying run to make it a new ballgame at 3-3.

The Oriole rookie Gibson departed after walking Judge with two outs in the fifth. Manager Craig Albernaz brought in a southpaw, Grant Wolfram, to face a lane with consecutive left-handed hitters. Bellinger, unfazed by lefty pitching, hit a wallscraping double to right. It was the second time this week the scorching Bellinger had missed a homer by a matter of feet, but it placed two runners in scoring position. Chisholm, less adept against same-siders, rolled over to first and was unable to leg out an infield hit when first baseman Coby Mayo bobbled the baseball.

Fried tossed a scoreless fifth inning, then re-emerged from the dugout despite having thrown over 90 pitches. He appeared to be off to a good start to the sixth, but a throwing error from Ryan McMahon on a routine grounder made things complicated. As usual, Max rebounded a batter later, getting Mayo to roll into an apparent double play—however, the out call at first was successfully overturned. Fried walked Leody Taveras and was removed from the game.

Fernando Cruz took over to face Jackson, and got the Baltimore second baseman to ground into yet another inning-ending double play—saved at the end by a beautiful stretch by Goldschmidt to corral a low throw from Jazz. That twin killing preserved the tie and preventing any further runs charged to Fried’s account.

The Bombers took the lead back in the home sixth through a series of unexpected-but-welcome developments. First, Jasson Domínguez picked up his first extra-base hit of the year, ripping a double from the right side of the plate against Wolfram. He advanced to third on a productive out, then up came Ryan McMahon, staying in the game to bat left-on-left. The embattled third baseman dribbled a grounder toward first, but Mayo, preoccupied with Domínguez streaking toward home, never fielded the glove cleanly. Domínguez scored and McMahon reached first with an RBI infield hit. Yennier Cano entered the game afterward, and Trent Grisham nearly plated McMahon with a ball in the gap, but a terrific diving catch by O’Neill saved a run and retired the side.

Following a clean eighth from breakout reliever Brent Headrick, the Bombers got their lineup in full working order. Facing veteran Andrew Kittredge, the Yankees smacked five consecutive hits—and all five runners went on to score. The second in that sequence was another loud sound from Domínguez. Having gotten his first extra-base hit in his previous AB, The Martian checked his first homer off the list with a fly ball to the short porch in right.

The top of the Yankee order added on further from there with a sac fly from Grisham and a two-run single from Goldschmidt to give the Yankees a 9-3 lead. Kittredge departed having allowed seven hits in eight batters faced. Ouch! The fun didn’t stop there—Jazz grabbed a sac fly to give the Yanks double digits, then Domínguez repeated his sixth-inning act with another double hitting right-handed to plate the seventh and final inning of the home eighth.

Needless to say, David Bednar had a good bit of margin for error, entering in a non-save situation. He still turned in a scoreless ninth to give New York another breezy victory in the Bronx. They now sit 12 games over .500, and remain the top team in the American League.

Normally, the series would be done after the Sunday matinée, but not this time. Baltimore will stay in town on Monday—I suppose they’re enjoying themselves too much? Cam Schlittler will face former Ray Shane Baz to try and get the four game sweep—mop?—with first pitch set for the usual evening timeslot: 7:05pm ET on YES.

Box Score

Box Score

Logan Henderson looked great through six strong innings, but Milwaukee couldn’t complete the sweep of the Nationals as a ninth-inning rally fell just short in Sunday’s series finale.

Both teams combined for just one hit, a Brandon Lockridge double, through the first four innings. Milwaukee was the first team to score, breaking through in the top of the fifth after Lockridge led off with a bunt single off Zack Littell. Littell then walked Sal Frelick to put runners at first and second. David Hamilton, who struck out on a bunt in his first at-bat, got it down this time — advancing Frelick to second and Lockridge to third.

As is often the case, Joey Ortiz came up with runners in scoring position. Littell left a sinker up in the zone, and Ortiz squared it up, sending a fly ball to left-center that likely would’ve been a three-run homer if not for the wind blowing in at Nationals Park. Center fielder Jacob Young ran it down on the warning track, but the sacrifice fly still gave the Brewers a one-run lead.

Henderson’s bid for perfection ended in the fifth when CJ Abrams led off with a ground ball to first. Jake Bauers made a nice play, but Henderson slipped on his way over to cover the bag, allowing Abrams to reach safely. Daylen Lile struck out on a foul tip for the first out, but Abrams promptly stole second to give Washington its first runner in scoring position.

Nasim Nuñez followed with a single to center, scoring the speedy Abrams and tying the game at 1-1. The next batter, José Tena, worked the count to 2-2 before turning on a cutter and driving it into the right-center gap. Nuñez came around to score from first on the triple, giving the Nationals the lead.

With still only one out and Nuñez on third, Henderson managed to bear down, inducing a soft lineout from Jorbit Vivas and a flyout from Keibert Ruiz to keep the deficit to one run.

Washington added an insurance run in the seventh against Brian Fitzpatrick, who came in for Henderson to start the seventh. In a sequence that felt like déjà vu all over again, Abrams led off with another infield single and Nuñez came through with another RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1.

Meanwhile, the Brewers’ offense went quiet. Milwaukee went down in order in the sixth, seventh, and eighth before finally showing signs of life in the ninth. William Contreras grounded out to start the inning, but Gary Sánchez singled to bring the tying run — Jake Bauers — to the plate. Bauers hit a single to right to advance Blake Perkins (running for Sánchez) to third.

With runners on the corners, Garrett Mitchell hit a slow chopper to second. Nuñez charged, fielded it cleanly, and threw across his body to get Mitchell by a hair. Perkins scored to make it a one-run game, with the tying run now in scoring position.

Unfortunately, that’s as close as Milwaukee would get. Brandon Lockridge waved at a sweeper in the dirt for strike three, ending the game.

The biggest positive from today’s game was Henderson. Despite taking the loss, he went six innings and struck out eight, allowing two runs and just three hits without walking a batter. Every time Henderson has started for the Brewers, he’s shown he belongs in the majors, but it’s hard to win games when your offense can only muster four hits. Brandon Lockridge’s bunt single was the only hit the Brewers recorded in 5 2/3 innings against Zack Littell (7.24 ERA after today’s game) and Mitchell Parker (4.05 ERA).

The Brewers will look to bounce back in tomorrow’s series opener against the second-place St. Louis Cardinals, who currently boast a 20-13 record. They’ll also be getting first baseman Andrew Vaughn back, who has been out since March 28 with a fractured left hand (and maybe Jackson Chourio, too). First pitch is slated for 6:45 p.m.

There was a large chunk of today’s game when the Orioles were in it. They came back from a deficit to tie the game at 3-3, they made some noise against lefty ace Max Fried, and Trey Gibson did not implode as so many starting pitchers have for the Orioles lately. When they fell behind by a run late in the game, it felt like it might just be an easily forgettable loss. But then the bullpen really messed things up and when the dust settled, it was another embarrassing blowout loss. You guys? I’m starting to think maybe the Orioles aren’t good. At baseball.

When you saw today’s pitching matchup, you may not have been surprised if I told you that the Orioles were going to lose by eight runs. Gibson was making his Major League debut against a very tough team, while the Orioles had to face one of the toughest lefties in baseball. But Gibson held his own. And while Fried wasn’t bad, he was not the untouchable pitcher he has been so often this year. When both starting pitchers exited the game, the score was tied 3-3.

Enter the bullpens. Grant Wolfram had finished the fifth inning for Gibson, then returned for the sixth. He was greeted by a double from Jasson Domínguez that put the go-ahead run in scoring position with no outs. Domínguez moved to third on a groundout. The Orioles moved the infield in to try and cut the runner down at home. It almost worked.

Ryan McMahon grounded a ball to the right side that first baseman Coby Mayo made a good diving stop on. But he couldn’t get the ball transferred and thrown home, nor could he get the out at first base. It put the team down, 4-3. It was another frustrating display of Orioles defense that we have seen so many times this year and even earlier in this game.

Yennier Cano replaced Wolfram and got the final outs (thanks in part to a very nice catch by Tyler O’Neill), but the damage was done.

Andrew Kittredge lit the whole game on fire in the eighth inning when he faced eight batters and retired just one of them. The only out he recorded was a sacrifice fly. Dietrich Enns followed Kittredge and was also very bad. So that’s nice. Those two turned a respectable 4-3 deficit into an 11-3 blowout.

It was a shame that it turned out that way, because the Gibson vs Fried portion of the game was much more exciting than we expected.

Gibson allowed a first-inning home run to Ben Rice that put the Orioles in a 1-0 hole. A frustrating way to start the game, but Rice has been unstoppable so far this year. After Weston Wilson made an error at third base to turn a groundout into a runner on second, it felt like things might fall apart early. But Gibson kept his cool and retired Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm to get out of the inning.

In the third inning, Rice hit a high fly ball to left field. Wilson raced out from third and Taylor Ward raced in from left field as the ball plummeted to earth. It looked like Wilson had no shot but Ward may have. But with Wilson running full speed towards him, Ward couldn’t get it done. It would have been a tough play but the Orioles made it look bad.

And, of course, the next batter was Judge. Gibson threw him a curveball that landed dead center in the plate. Judge did not miss. The 413 blast gave the Yankees their second and third runs.

Gibson finished out the third and then had a very nice 1-2-3 inning in the fourth. He looked strong to start the fifth as well. He got two quick outs and then battled with Judge. On a 2-2 count, Gibson threw a pitch that looked to nick the corner of the strike zone, but it was called a ball. Neither Gibson nor Rutschman opted to challenge, and the next pitch was ball four. It kept Gibson from completing five innings as he was removed from the game.

Overall, I am calling it a successful Major League debut for Gibson. There aren’t many tougher assignments than the one he pulled.

And thanks to the Orioles putting some heat on Fried, Gibson left the game in line for a no-decision.

Taylor Ward started the game by working a nine-pitch walk. The Orioles didn’t score in the first, but they did force Fried to throw 24 pitches. In the third inning, Wilson singled and then stole second base. Fried was trying to pick him off but Wilson prevailed. Blaze Alexander dropped a bloop inside the foul line in right field that allowed Wilson to score easily. But Alexander ruined the good feelings almost immediately by going to far around first base and getting tagged out.

Down 3-2 going into the fourth inning, the offense gave Fried a real hard time. Pete Alonso started with a double, then O’Neill walked. Mayo grounded a ball to third base, but McMahon couldn’t make a throw and Mayo was credited with an infield single. An infield single from Leody Tarveras scored one run, and a double play by Jeremiah Jackson brought home one more.

To only score two runs with the bases loaded and no outs is a little disappointing, but we’ve seen worse. The offense blew another scoring chance in the sixth inning when Jackson grounded into yet another double play. Fried had exited the game just before the double play and had a final pitching line of 5.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 6 K. Not bad against a pitcher of his caliber, but frustrating that they couldn’t do more with their chances.

Orioles lose, 11-3. They are now on a four-game losing streak, starting with the disaster that was game two of their doubleheader with the Astros. In three games against the Yankees this weekend, the Orioles have been outscored 27-9. They play the series finale tomorrow with Shane Baz on the mound.

The Yankees defeated the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 11-3 on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Ben Rice made an impact at the plate, but his day also came to an abrupt end. 

After hitting a solo homer in the top of the first inning off of righty Trey Gibson, who was making his major league debut, Rice later came out of the game in the top of the fourth. He left with what the team is calling a left hand contusion. X-rays are negative, and Rice is considered day-to-day. 

The injury appeared to happen when a Max Fried pickoff attempt caught him awkwardly somewhere around the left hand. 

-- Aaron Judge came up with big plays both as a hitter and fielder. In the top of the third, Judge made a terrific catch leaping up against the wall in right, robbing Taylor Ward of extra bases. Then, in the bottom half of the same inning, Judge blasted a two-run homer, tying Munetaka Murakami for the AL lead with 13 home runs.

-- Coming off of back-to-back scoreless outings, Fried wasn’t as sharp in this one. While he struck out the side in order in the second, his command, especially with his changeup, wasn't great. Fried left a 3-3 game with two runners on base in the sixth inning, and Fernando Cruz stranded both runners. Fried went 5.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits, striking out six and walking three.

-- Gibson, meanwhile, had a nice afternoon in his big league debut, going 4.2 innings while allowing three earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks. 

-- Jasson Dominguez helped the Yankees take the lead in the sixth, ripping a double from the right-hand side and coming in to score on a Ryan McMahon infield single. Dominguez then gave the Yankees some more insurance runs in the eighth inning, hitting his first home run since last August, putting the Yankees up 6-3. A Paul Goldschmidt two-run single later in the inning broke the game wide open.

And as the floodgate broke open, Dominguez got another at-bat in the eighth inning, and this time ripped another RBI double from the right side.

-- Brent Headrick did a great job out of the bullpen, recording five critical outs in the seventh and eighth innings. Headrick's season ERA is now just 1.59.

Game MVP

Dominguez, who had hits from both sides of the plate and drove in three runs.

Highlights

BEN RICE'S 12TH HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/gaZNna2UUY

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 3, 2026

Aaron Judge leaps at the wall and makes the catch! pic.twitter.com/f40KyZwQIr

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 3, 2026

ALL RISE.

NO. 13 FOR AARON JUDGE! pic.twitter.com/FbC5mj1AEO

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 3, 2026

Jasson Domínguez scores and Ryan McMahon reaches first! pic.twitter.com/qi0vDHZ6mb

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 3, 2026

Welcome to Area 161 🛸 pic.twitter.com/oXN4X1QRyu

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 3, 2026

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The Yankees and Orioles finish their wraparound series on Monday at 7:05 p.m.

Shane Baz faces Cam Schlittler.

The Dodgers didn’t hit a home run on Sunday, but didn’t need to. They scraped together just enough offense to back a stingy Justin Wrobleski, who extended his April success into May in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

That snapped a four-game losing streak for the Dodgers, their longest of the season.

Wrobleski allowed 11 hard-hit balls — defined by Baseball Savant as any batted ball with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph — and induced only four swinging strikes among his 83 pitches. He didn’t strike anybody out. But Wrobleski tiptoed through the minefield unscathed with six more scoreless innings.

The left-hander allowed six singles and a walk, but they were aligned in advantageous fashion, in that four of the hits and the lone walk came with two outs, with less time in each of those innings to cash them in.

It’s the first time a Dodgers starter finished with at least six scoreless innings and no strikeouts since Mike Morgan pitched a shutout to beat the San Diego Padres on April 19, 1991. Joe Davis during the SportsNet LA broadcast also mentioned that the last time a Dodgers pitcher got through six innings (not the finished line) with no strikeouts was Jamie Arnold on May 5, 1999 in Montreal against the Expos.

Arnold remained in that game and got two strikeouts in the seventh inning. Wrobleski’s day was done after six innings on Sunday, adding yet another solid start to his resumé.

Since joining the rotation a month ago, Wrobleski has 13 total strikeouts and nine walks in five starts, but has allowed only two runs in 31 innings. And five wins.

“There’s the thought — and with good reason — that it’s unsustainable to have this much contact and these good of numbers,” Davis said on the broadcast in the sixth inning. “But you could say that after one start of there being a ton of contact and a bunch of zeroes. You wait for that shoe to drop, but he just keeps on putting up zeroes and getting guys out.”

Wrobleski pitched with a lead in five of his six innings, thanks to a pair of runs fueled by Kyle Tucker and Andy Pages doubles in the second inning. Two more hits in the fifth plated another, with Freddie Freeman singling home Hyeseong Kim.

Pages reached on an error, stole second, and scored on an Alex Call single in the ninth inning for some insurance.

The Dodgers didn’t hit a home run on Sunday, running their streak to six straight games and 232 plate appearances without. It’s the longest power drought for Los Angeles since an eight-game skid from July 10-21, 2014.

But after scoring seven total runs during their four-game losing streak, the four runs felt like a bounty, and in a way it was, representing their largest output since Monday.

Sunday particulars

Home runs: none

WP — Justin Wrobleski (5-0): 6 IP, 6 hits, 1 walk

LP — Dustin May (3-3): 6 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts

Sv — Tanner Scott (2): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers move on to Texas, trying to find their way against the Astros beginning Monday night (5:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA) at Daikin Park. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is on the mound for Los Angeles. Steve Okert will be the opener for Houston on Monday, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

The St. Louis Cardinals didn’t provide much to get excited about for the first 8 innings. Dustin May gave the Cardinals a serviceable start, but his former team touched him up for 3 runs before his day was done. The Cardinals had early innings opportunities, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard until late and, even then, not enough to sweep the Dodgers as LA prevailed 4-1.

The Los Angeles Dodgers struck first when Kyle Tucker doubled in the top of the 2nd inning followed by a walk to Max Muncy and a double from Andy Pages giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Kim then singled scoring Muncy making it 2-0 Los Angeles. Kim would irritate the Cardinals further when he reached on an infield single in the top of the 5th inning. He advanced to second on an infield groundout by Shohei Ohtani and then scored on a Freddie Freeman single giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. That was a historic RBI with a Cardinals connection as Freddie passed Johnny Mize for 94th on the all-time RBI list.

The Los Angeles Dodgers got an excellent start from Justin Wrobleski who held the Cardinals scoreless allowing only 6 hits through the first 6 innings. Dustin May wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful either. He kept the Cardinals within striking distance allowing 3 earned runs on 7 hits through 6 innings. He did receive his World Series ring from the Dodgers this weekend which was nice…for him.

Justin Bruihl was the first representative to make an appearance from the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen entering the game in the top of the 7th inning. He walked the first batter he saw. Two batters later, he plunked Shohei Ohtani where the sun don’t shine bringing up Freddie Freeman with two runners on base, but he struck him out and escaped the inning with no harm done.

Jared Shuster pitched the 8th inning for the Cardinals and got Kyle Tucker out on a deep fly to right field. Max Muncy reached on an infield ball hit between JJ Wetherholt and Masyn Winn, but Shuster got Rushing to hit into a double-play to end the inning.

The Cardinals had their chances. Both Winn and Church bottom of the 2nd inning, but Church was thrown out trying to steal second base to end that potential rally. Similar story in the bottom of the 3rd inning when JJ Wetherholt reached on an error and Ivan Herrera walked, but Jordan Walker grounded out to shortstop so no soup for you. In yet another instance of Deja vu, the Cardinals would see Fermin and Church single in the bottom of the 4th inning, but Pedro Pagés lined out to left stranding even more runners.

The cardiac Cardinals would not go quietly as the offense waited until the bottom of the 8th inning to score. With 2 outs, Jordan Walker lived up to his name and walked. He would score on a single by Alec Burleson which was misplayed in the outfield giving the Cardinals hope cutting into the Dodgers lead 3-1.

That moment of optimism would be muted in the top of the 9th inning when Jared Shuster would give up an unearned run when Andy Pages reached on an error by Masyn Winn. Pages stole second on a ball that Pages threw into center field and then advanced to third on a ground out by Rojas. He would score on a pinch-hit single by Andy Call. Remarkably, Shohei Ohtani remained hitless for the entire series in St. Louis. The Dodgers weren’t done in the 9th as Freddie Freeman doubled on a ball that hit the foul line in left field and bounced into the stands. After an ABS challenge, Freeman was granted his well-earned double. With runners at second and third, the Cardinals intentionally walked Hernandez to load the bases, but Tucker would line out to center leaving St. Louis within a grand slam at 5-1 Dodgers.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals would get no grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning. Fermin struck out, Church lined out and Pagés struck out. All things considered, we just have to realize that we took 2 out of 3 from the defending World Champions.

The St. Louis Cardinals get no rest as they’ll welcome the Milwaukee Brewers to town for a very important early season National League Central showdown starting Monday. Kyle Leahy will start for the Cardinals while Chad Patrick will be send to the mound for the dastardly Brewers. First pitch scheduled for 6:45pm Monday night in Busch Stadium and televised play-by-play available through Cardinals.tv.

Texas Rangers lineup for May 3, 2026 against the Detroit Tigers: starting pitchers are Jack Leiter for the Rangers and Tyler Holton for the Tigers.

The Rangers take on Detroit in the series finale in Detroit. Brandon Nimmo is back in the lineup, at DH.

The lineup:

Nimmo — DH

McCutchen — LF

Seager — SS

Jung — 3B

Burger — 1B

Carter — CF

Duran — RF

Smith — 2B

Higashioka — C

6:20 p.m. Central start time on Peacock. Rangers are +102 underdogs.