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Even on their off day, the Orioles managed to find a way to put a player on the injured list. The team placed starting pitcher Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list with an announced right quad strain. As a corresponding move, pitcher Brandon Young was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk.

Kremer was the guy on turn to start tomorrow’s game against the Red Sox, so that’s wiped right out by this injury. Young is now set to start the game instead. The roster maneuvering is neat enough. The 27-year-old Young was no good in 12 starts a year ago, though he made a nice first 2026 impression with a five-inning spot start against the White Sox back on April 6. Young allowed two hits while keeping Chicago off the board in that game.

Since this move was announced on the off day, there was not an immediate media availability to give an indication of how severe the team believes the injury to be and how long Kremer might be out. The move is retroactive to April 20. Kremer can be brought back 15 days after that.

This is assuming that Kremer is healthy and ready to go. There was no indication that he might be hurt when he delivered a delightful mid-game interview on MASN earlier in the week. It’s more tough luck for a guy who was shuffled to the minors to begin this season and didn’t get recalled even when Zach Eflin went down with a torn UCL. Kremer only got to make two starts before his own trip to the injured list. He allowed five earned runs in 11 innings, a 4.09 ERA. That is almost perfectly in line with the full season ERAs from 2023, 2024, and 2025.

There are a number of injured Orioles about whom we could get updates from manager Craig Albernaz on Friday. The team certainly knows what was on Jackson Holliday’s wrist MRI by now. There could be updates on any of the relievers Keegan Akin, Dietrich Enns, and Andrew Kittredge. There might be an update or even news regarding Tyler O’Neill’s progression in returning from a concussion.

With Young arriving to replace Kremer, the Orioles also set their remaining starters for the weekend. Trevor Rogers is set to pitch on Saturday, with Kyle Bradish pitching on Sunday. The team has used the off day Thursday to give those guys an extra day of rest. If they had wanted to, they could have skipped Kremer’s turn and had Rogers and Bradish pitch on regular rest on Friday and Saturday.

Coming into today’s matchup, the Braves were coming off of a strong win but one where the bullpen was taxed after Didier Fuentes was removed after three innings – just a single day after Reynaldo Lopez struggled through a little more than an inning of work.

The Braves were looking for a hero – enter Battery Power No. 2 prospect JR Ritchie, who did just that. He not only limited the No. 2 offense in the league to just five hits and two runs but also giving the team much needed length as he navigated through seven innings while making a bit of franchise history.

What’s so impressive about JR Ritchie this season is that there is no formulaic recipe for success. If we take a look at his last start in Gwinnett (6IP 3H 0R 3BB 8K), Ritchie struggled with his fastball and slider command, his changeup was a non-factor against left handed hitters so he focused on his curveball and used it to not just get ahead, but put away hitters. This ability to recognize that a certain pitch isn’t working, and being able lean on another one shows maturity beyond his age and I’m sure was a reason that led to the Braves promoting him.

While Ritchie may not have a stand alone elite pitch – his ability to use any of his six at any point in time allows him to stay in control and lean on what is working best and we saw that immediately. After a grooved four-seam pitch that was deposited in the stands by James Wood, Ritchie immediately leaned on his curveball and changeup to quickly retire Luis García Jr., and regain composure on the mound. This confidence in being able to throw any of his pitches at any times allows JR Ritchie to be the one in command on the mound, allowing for good sequencing as long as the command is there. JR used the same pitch at least two times in a row just twelve times this game – again showing confidence not just his catcher and their game plan, but also in himself.

While his four-seam isn’t the strongest pitch, with an IVB of 13.9” and coming in around 94 MPH, his ability to command it in the upper third of the zone, as well as to all the quadrants is a great strength. Once he establishes that, he’s able to then either go with his slider or changeup, depending on the handedness of the hitters, before ultimately deploying his plus curveball that had a 43% whiff rate today. Let me say that another way – nearly half of the curveballs he threw (25) were swung at and missed. As if that weren’t enough, his changeup showed average to plus, and he also threw in a cutter (7), and sinker (4).

The best thing to happen out of today was that this kind of performance is absolutely repeatable for the young pitcher. There was nothing that stuck out from today’s game – this is exactly who JR Ritchie is as a pitcher. Nothing elite, but four good offerings, and two more (cutter, sinker) he can use when the occasion rises. JR lives in and around the zone with all six pitches, making for uncomfortable at bats because hitters can’t truly key in on a single pitch in any single at bat. He’s able to locate nearly each pitch to every single quadrant not allowing hitters to really hone in on a single pitch, in a single location. His ability to do that exact thing leads this author to say, hopefully this is the beginning of a very illustrious career for JR Ritchie.

Well.

That was…

Not exactly the way you’d want to win a game, but wins are wins. The Cubs blew leads of 6-2 and 7-6, but walked off the Phillies 8-7 in the 10th inning on Dansby Swanson’s bases-loaded hit. The Cubs have now won nine consecutive games and, at 16-9, are tied for first place in the NL Central with the Reds, who were idle Thursday.

Unfortunately, this good news is tempered by yet another pitching injury. Caleb Thielbar left the game after allowing a leadoff homer to Adolis Garcia in the ninth. Here’s the Thielbar news:

So that’s probably an IL stint and who do the Cubs have left that they can call on? I’d guess Ben Brown will close games now, but the Cubs have to find someone to replace Thielbar on the active roster.

Anyway, that’s a topic for tomorrow. Let’s rewind to the beginning of this wild game, played on a gorgeous spring afternoon at Wrigley Field.

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the second on a solo homer by Brandon Marsh. The Cubs got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Carson Kelly led off with a double and took third on a single by Michael Busch.

Swanson’s sac fly tied the game 1-1 [VIDEO].

That’s all the Cubs got in that inning, after they loaded the bases on singles by Matt Shaw and Miguel Amaya. Nico Hoerner hit into a force play at the plate and Alex Bregman popped up.

Leaving baserunners was going to be a Cubs theme again in this game.

The Cubs took the lead in the third. With one out, Seiya Suzuki and Kelly singled.

Michael Busch then homered for the second straight game, giving the Cubs a 4-1 lead [VIDEO].

The Cubs got two more baserunners after the homer, singles by Swanson and Shaw, but stranded both runners. The Phillies got to within 4-2 in the fourth on a single by Bryce Harper, who advanced to second on a ground out and scored on a single by Marsh.

The Cubs got that run back in the bottom of the inning when Ian Happ put one on Waveland [VIDEO].

Here’s where that ball wound up:

That ball was crushed! [VIDEO]

Some good defense helped Edward Cabrera out in the fifth. Check out this slick throw by Nico [VIDEO].

I put a check mark on my scorecard whenever there’s a really good defensive play. My cards this week have check marks all over them. Today, I made six of them for Cubs defensive plays.

The Cubs made it 6-2 in the sixth. Happ hit an infield single with one out and went to second on a single by Suzuki. Kelly was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Busch grounded to first, with Happ scoring [VIDEO].

That lead looked pretty safe with Cabrera cruising. He allowed just three hits and two runs through six, and unfortunately, one bad defensive play led to a pair of Phillies runs in the seventh. With one out, Marsh homered for the second time to make it 6-3. A single by Bryson Stott and double by Alec Bohm put runners on second and third. Then Bregman made an uncharacteristic throwing error, allowing a run to score. and another one crossed the plate on a sac fly to make it 6-5, the last two runs unearned.

Cabrera had a nice game against a tough opponent, and the Cubs really teed off on Cristopher Sánchez, iwth 12 hits and two home runs off him, and six runs charged to Sánchez, the most he’s allowed in a game since last August.

The Cubs still led by a run when Hoby Milner entered to throw the eighth. Milner’s been very good, but not this time. He issued a one-out walk to Harper, who was forced at second. But then Milner walked Marsh, and Jacob Webb entered the game. Webb gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa, tying the game, then gave up the third walk of the inning, loading the bases.

Webb struck out Justin Crawford to preserve the tie at 6-6.

It looked like the Cubs would win in regulation when Suzuki smashed a homer leading off the eighth [VIDEO].

That was Suzuki’s third homer in as many games and he looks really locked in.

Thielbar entered to throw the ninth. Garcia homered to tie the game and then this happened [VIDEO].

You could tell something was wrong right away, possibly Thielbar landed wrong. As noted above, it’s “hamstring tightness,” which you do not want to get worse. I suppose we’ll get an update later today or tomorrow.

Riley Martin entered the game with a 2-1 count on Trea Turner. Turner was called out on strikes, but strike 3 was overturned on this ABS challenge [VIDEO].

Martin then walked Kyle Schwarber, but got the next three hitters, including a strikeout of Marsh, to end the inning.

The Cubs got a one-out double by Moisés Ballesteros in the ninth (his second double of the game, man, that guy can hit!). He went to third on a ground out. The Phillies intentionally passed Bregman, but Happ flied to right to send the game to extras.

Javier Assad, playing whatever role the Cubs now need him to, entered to throw the 10th. He retired the Phillies 1-2-3 on only seven pitches, giving the Cubs a walkoff chance.

Happ was the placed runner. Suzuki was intentionally passed, the Phillies hoping Kelly would hit into a double play. Instead, he blooped a single to center, loading the bases with nobody out.

Busch struck out. That brought up Swanson. He took a strike, then swung and missed, and then walked it off [VIDEO].

History was made with this walk-off win, per BCB’s JohnW53:

According to my extensive research, including checking contemporary newspapers of all games that the Cubs won by four or fewer runs before 1901, this was the Cubs’ 1,000th regular-season walk-off win since 1876, first year of the National League.

It was their 959th at home. They had 41 on the road back when the home team did not always bat first.

This was No. 902 of the Modern Era and No. 797 at Wrigley Field.

This was also Swanson’s first walk-off hit as a Cub. Here are his postgame comments [VIDEO].

Not the way you’d have drawn it up, but a win is a win. Still, going 5-for-18 with RISP and leaving 17 runners on base isn’t going to win you too many games. Fortunately, the Cubs pulled this one out — and have won nine in a row with a whole bunch of leverage relievers injured. Hopefully, whatever’s up with Thielbar won’t be too serious.

The Cubs will head west for a tough road trip to Los Angeles and San Diego. The Dodgers just lost two of three to the Giants, so they’ll likely not be in such a great mood when the series opener happens at Dodger Stadium on Friday. Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and Emmet Sheehan goes for L.A. Game time Friday is 9:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Apple TV (how to watch).

First Pitch (CT):6:10 PM
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN/830 WCCO/102.9 The Wolf /Audacy App
Know Yo’ Foe: Amazin’ Avenue

The Mets were able to break their cursed 12-game losing streak yesterday, but the Twins still have a chance to take the series and put the Mets right back where they were at the start of this series: last place. Ace Joe Ryan is on the mound for Minnesota while New York will counter with Christian Scott, making his season debut.

Scott missed all of 2025 and most of 2024 with a torn UCL, but was a top 100 prospect prior to 2024. Prior to his injury, Scott’s sweeper was among the best in the minor leagues, but after missing nearly two calendar years, no one really knows how his pitches will play against MLB competition. Tommy John surgery isn’t the career killer it once was, but it typically still takes some time to get a feel for your pitches after returning. We’ll see if the Twins can capitalize tonight.

A few notable lineup changes:

• Matt Wallner is out of the lineup vs a righty for the second time in the past four games. Austin Martin gets the start in his place.
• Francisco Lindor was placed on the IL after leaving last night’s game with calf tightness. A big blow after just getting Juan Soto off the IL yesterday.

Lineups