Worldwide Sports News

We may be tracking toward seeing a bright blue glove back on the mound for the Atlanta Braves later this summer.

In an interview with BravesVision, Braves president of baseball operations and GM Alex Anthopolous shared that AJ Smith-Shawver will make a start in Single-A with the Augusta GreenJackets to kick off his rehab assignment.

The 23-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery last June. Per the AJC, he threw two innings in a simulated game in the Braves’ Florida training facility on Thursday. The typical 30-day rehab assignment with no setbacks would mean we see AJSS back with the Braves around August.

First pitch time for the Augusta GreenJackets versus the Salem RidgeYaks is at 7:05 pm ET on Tuesday.

After three demoralizing games in a row against the Phillies, it was back to business for the Washington Nationals. They grinded out yet another road series win, this time against the Orioles. Luis Garcia Jr. is the hottest hitter in all of baseball right now, and he carried the offense in this one. 

As mentioned, PJ Poulin also had a gutsy six out save to close this one out. After Mitchell Parker made things interesting in the 7th, Poulin came into the ball game. While Poulin does not throw hard, he kept Orioles hitters off balance with his deceptive delivery. He did a nice job keeping the ball off the barrel, something that has been a struggle for Nats relievers.

Poulin is not the most efficient pitcher ever, and tends to fall behind in counts, so it was certainly a stressful watch. However, the southpaw buckled down and got a game-ending double play after he walked a hitter. Nats fans were finally able to exhale, and the team was back over .500.

While Poulin got some huge outs, the MVP of this contest was undoubtedly Luis Garcia Jr., who is as hot as a hitter can get in this game. In his last 7 games, Garcia has a mind numbing 1.804 OPS with six home runs and a .435 average. His swing just looks so good right now, even the pitches he is fouling off. Garcia’s bat drop on his first homer was so sweet as well.

That homer gave the Nats a 5-2 lead. Garcia drove in five of the Nats six runs in this contest. Before the season, there were valid questions about whether Garcia could slug enough to be a valuable first baseman. Right now, he is answering those in a big way. For the season, Garcia now has an .850 OPS and a .543 slugging percentage. That slugging percentage is 7th in baseball, ahead of Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. 

With James Wood and CJ Abrams being relatively cold in June, the Nats needed someone to step up and carry the load. Luis Garcia Jr. has been the guy to do that, and he is a real contender for NL player of the month. He should be a lock for NL player of the week. 

At this rate, Garcia might break his career high in homers before the start of July. Right now, he is up to 16 home runs on the season, and the most he has in a campaign is 18. This is easily the best Garcia Jr. has ever played, and it has come when the Nats needed him most.

On his second home run, it did not feel like he got all of it, but the ball just snuck over the wall. The umps could not tell right away that it was a homer, but after a quick review, they gave the home run signal and the Nats first baseman rounded the bases.

Blake Butera has talked so much about how resilient his team is that it almost feels old. However, he is 100% right about his team’s ability to get off the mat. With the bullpen meltdowns against the Phillies, and a losing streak up to 4 games, this could easily have spiraled out of control. This team pushed through, and won yet another series. Next up is a trip to Paul Toboni’s old stomping grounds in Boston for what should be a fun matchup.

After late-inning shenanigans in many of the Rockies’ recent games, the Colorado Rockies came into their Sunday afternoon rubber match against the Minnesota Twins looking for another series win. However, the Rockies’ bats went quiet against the Twins pitching staff, wasting a fairly well-pitched game by their own arms.

Another quality start for Ryan Feltner

Rockies starting pitcher Ryan Feltner didn’t record a single strikeout this afternoon against the Twins, but he also didn’t issue a single walk and did exactly what was needed of him. Feltner worked for six innings, threw 82 pitches, and gave up just two runs–one earned–on five hits. One of those runs scored in the second inning after a throwing error by third baseman Kyle Karros, while the other came via a solo home run off the bat of Twins second baseman Kody Clemens.

Feltner now has four quality starts in his last six appearances, and has given up more than two earned runs just once in that stretch. However, his ability to strike out batters has faded over the last two games. He struck out only two in his last outing before zero today.

Mixed results from the bullpen

Right-handed reliever Seth Halvorsen was the first to be given the ball after Feltner’s day was done. The hard-throwing Halvorsen tallied two quick outs, but then allowed what would be the game-winning run via a solo home run off the bat of Ryan Kreidler. He then gave up back-to-back singles before being pulled.

Lefty Brennan Bernardino recorded the final out of the seventh inning via a hard-hit comebacker right into his glove on the mound.

Juan Mejia took on the eighth inning and had a much-needed 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. While he’s had a rough season thus far, Mejia has now gone three straight outings without giving up an earned run.

Drama free in the wrong ways

The Rockies simply couldn’t get much going against the Twins’ pitching this afternoon, and it started against rookie Connor Prielipp. In his first outing against the Rockies, Prielipp pitched six strong innings without giving up a walk, allowed just two earned runs on six hits, and struck out a career high 10 batters.

The Rockies had their best opportunity to put multiple runs on the board in the first inning. Willi Castro led off the game with a single, and Tyler Freeman was hit by a pitch with Castro advancing to third on a Hunter Goodman groundout. Castro was then driven home on an infield single by TJ Rumfield. That would be the only run scored in the inning with a Cole Carrigg forceout and a Kyle Karros strikeout on an overturned ball four via ABS.

Rumfield went 2-for-4 this afternoon, expanding his streak of multi-hit games to five and his overall hitting streak to 11.

The Rockies wouldn’t score again until the sixth inning. Rumfield started the inning with another infield single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Carrigg. Rumfield was then driven in by a Troy Johnston single. Johnston was also 2-for-4 on the afternoon.

A Carrigg double with two outs–and a good at-bat that turned into an intentional walk by Karros–had the Rockies threatening in the eighth inning, but they failed to score. Catcher Braxton Fulford reached after getting hit by a pitch in the ninth, only for the next three batters to go down quietly to end the game.

Coming Up Next

The Rockies will head back to Denver tonight to kick off a three-game home series against the Miami Marlins tomorrow evening. Marlins right-handed ace Sandy Alcantara will be on the mound for Miami, while the Rockies have yet to announce their starter. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM MDT.

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The Mets fell to the Philadelphia Phillies by score of 5-4 on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- In the bottom of the eighth, with the Mets trailing by a run, Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering walked the bases loaded. With one out, Ronny Mauricio popped out to second base for a huge second out, and Francisco Alvarez struck out on a high fastball to end the inning. 

Overall, the Mets went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

-- After Cionel Perez retired the side in order in the first, the Mets turned things over to Tobias Myers. The righty had a clean second inning, but allowed three runs on four hits in the third as the Phillies rallied to take a 3-0 lead. The Mets and interim manager Andy Green appear to be stretching Myers out to join the rotation full-time, but it came at the detriment of Myers, allowing three runs as he stayed in the game instead of Green going to a different reliever. 

--Kodai Senga made his first career relief appearance as he took over in the fifth inning. He pitched a one-two-three inning, did a great job working out of a jam in the sixth (more on that below), but gave up the lead in the top of the seventh, throwing a very hittable fastball to Kyle Schwarber,who put it over the wall in right center for a two-run homer, putting the Phillies back in front, 5-4.

Senga ended up going 5.0 innings, really saving the rest of the Mets bullpen, allowing two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and one walk.

-- The Mets put two men on with no outs in the fourth, but couldn't do anything with it as the next three batters were retired. Facing the same situation in the fifth, the Mets were able to capitalize, as it was none other than rookieCarson Benge who came through with an RBI single to left to get the Mets on the board. Benge now has nine hits over his last eight games.

The Mets would go on to load the bases with one out, but couldn't push another run across as Bo Bichette went down swinging and Eric Wagaman, hitting cleanup, flew out to shallow center.

-- A potential turning point came in the sixth inning. An Alec Bohm walk and a Brandon Marsh double had runners at second and third and no outs, but Senga dug deep and retired the next three to get out of the jam without allowing a run. In the bottom half of the inning,Alvarez led off with a double to right, and A.J. Ewingcame off the bench and delivered with a two-run homer to right field, his first career pinch-hit hit. After Jesus Luzardo allowed just one earned run in 5.0 innings, right-hander Chase Shugart immediately coughed the lead up.

Later in the inning, it was, guess who, Benge, who came through with a fielder's choice that gave the Mets a 4-3 lead, as Benge once again hit a ball hard off of left Kyle Backhus.

Game MVP

Schwarber, whose 30th homer of the season gave the Phillies a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning.

Highlights

"Man, he is just growing very day"

Carson Benge drives in the first run of the afternoon for the Mets pic.twitter.com/CDU9jXcYq0

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2026

Kodai Senga works out of trouble in the 6th pic.twitter.com/9t0xdnmAu3

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2026

A.J. Ewing ties the game with a pinch-hit, two-run shot! 💥 pic.twitter.com/3qwVuUcO0g

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2026

A bullet off the bat of Carson Benge results in the Mets taking the lead! pic.twitter.com/I3O0j6Wbru

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2026

Next up

The Mets hit the road for three games in Toronto against the Blue Jays, starting on Monday night at 7:07 p.m. on SNY.

Sean Manaea is set to face off against Trey Yesavage. 

Nolan McLean and Kevin Gausman will be the matchup in the second game of the series, before Fredy Peralta and Patrick Corbin start in the finale.

Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish only allowed one hit today against the Nationals. If you’re looking for a positive story, you should probably stop reading now. The lack of hits did not bring the desired results. Bradish walked five hitters in only four innings of work, and Washington’s Luis García Jr. tortured Baltimore in a 6-4 Nationals victory at Camden Yards.

The Orioles actually got off to an encouraging start. Adley Rutschman picked up a two-out single in his first at bat after returning from the injured list. Pete Alonso worked the count full and fouled off a high heater before catching an elevated slider. Alonso tagged the ball 437 feet to dead center, and the Orioles led 2-0 at the end of one.

Bradish breezed through the first two innings and retired the first two batters in the third. Unfortunately, that’s where things began to fall apart. Bradish came within one strike of ending the inning in three consecutive at bats, but he kept letting batters off the hook. The righty issued free passes to Keibert Ruiz and James Woods before running the count full to Luis García Jr. Bradish managed to throw a pitch in the zone, but García turned the 96 MPH sinker around for a two-run double.

Bradish bounced back by generating a weak grounder from Curtis Mead, but Coby Mayo made a costly throwing error. Despite having plenty of time, Mayo spiked his throw to first. Samuel Basallo, playing first today with Alonso slotted as the DH, failed to pick the errant throw. García raced to the plate as the ball trickled by, and the Nationals secured a 3-2 lead.

Bradish walked two more batters in the fourth but managed to post a zero. He returned to the mound in the fifth, but exited after walking the leadoff hitter. Craig Albernaz summoned Tyler Wells for some long relief, but the move aged like milk. García Jr. delivered the Nats second hit of the game. This one was a 401-foot long ball that provided D.C. a 5-2 advantage.

Albert Suárez replaced Wells and tossed a scoreless sixth. Suárez struck out Woods to start the seventh, but García Jr. continued to see red in his next at bat. The 26-year-old smoked a line drive to deep right field. The ball was initially ruled in play, but replay revealed that the ball had left the yard. Washington led the game 6-2 behind García Jr.’s three extra-base hits.

The Orioles offense cooled after the early offense. Zack Littell entered the game with a 5.40 ERA, but he delivered a shutdown inning in the third. Baltimore failed to reach base in the fourth, and the Birds suffered some bad luck in the fifth. Taylor Ward was robbed of extra bases by an impressive catch at third base, and Gunnar Henderson just missed a run-scoring double on a ball that landed an inch left of the foul line.

Littell completed five innings to put himself in position for a win. Washington’s bullpen has been rocky all season, and Baltimore made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh. Colton Cowser reached with a base hit to center, and Jackson Holliday launched a ball over the fence in right field. The blast traveled 389 feet and cut the deficit in half.

Taylor Ward brought the tying run to the plate by working a walk, but Henderson flew out to end the inning. Henderson finished 0-for-4.

“Gunnar is just not getting the results that he wants,” Albernaz said after the game. “Nothing is falling for him right now.”

The Birds went down in order in the eighth. Coby Mayo worked a walk in the ninth, but pinch hitters Tyler O’Neill and Leody Taveras failed to deliver. O’Neill lined out to center field, and Taveras grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The Orioles dropped the series and fell to 39-46. Rutschman reached base multiple times and threw out a runner in his first game back. Cowser made several nice plays, and there were the big flies from Alonso and Holliday. There were a few positives, but not nearly enough. Bradish didn’t have it today, and García Jr. is on an absolute tear, but the Orioles beat themselves again with the throwing error in the third.

The struggling American League continues to keep Baltimore alive in the Wild Card race, but the Birds are in no position to be dropping a series like this at home. The Orioles will look to get back on track tomorrow evening against the White Sox.

After being swept by the presiding World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers this past week, the Minnesota Twins were looking for a “get right” series this weekend with the Colorado Rockies.

They got it–taking two-of-three from the Colorado kids and keeping their quest for .500 in the right direction.

Twins SP Connor Prielipp’s afternoon did not get off to a great start: a base hit from Willi Castro and HBP off the hand of Tyler Freeman. Castro would eventually touch the dish on a TJ Rumfield single, but Prielipp would wriggle out of further damage by whiffing Kyle Karros (with an ABS assist from Alex Jackson) to strand runners on 2B & 3B. 1-0 COL.

The Twins tied things up in B2 when a Royce Lewis leadoff double down the LF line was immediately paid off by a Brooks Lee single plus throwing error from COL 3B-man Karros. Alas, a MN lead was prevented by an Ezequiel Tovar web gem throw from SS to nip Austin Martin at the 1B bag. 1-1 tie.

Prielipp would again get himself into a T4 jam–bases loaded, one out—but again sidestep severity with a K and a ground out. MIN wouldn’t let the escape-artist trick go to waste in B4, when Kody Clemens clobbered a majestic moonshot that nearly clanged off the flagpole in the RF plaza! 2-1 MN.

T6 started with a Rumfield single–and ended with a tie ballgame after a Troy Johnston RBI single. Prielipp would depart after those six frames with a no-decision, but an impressive 10 K and 2 ER quality start. 2-2 tie.

After a scoreless frame from RP Andrew Morris, it looked to be the same for the Twins in B7–until a two-out bomb to the CF berm from Ryan Kreidler! 3-2 MN.

Could the bullpen record 6 outs without coughing up the slim lead? Always the terrifying dilemma for the Twins.

Well, things went fine in T8–Anthony Banda setting down the side scoreless even amongst a little base paths traffic. But the first pitch of T9 from Banda plunked Braxton Fulford–then Banda immediately left the game with an undisclosed injury.

Uh oh.

But just four pitches from Yoendrys Gomez was all it took to set down the Rockies for the final three outs.

Your Final: Minnesota Twins 3, Colorado Rockies 2.

Still hanging around in the AL Central race and Wild Card berth consideration within the muddled AL.

Zach’s Zealot

• Prielipp: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 10 K–easily his best outing as a Twin thus far.

Zach’s Zombie

• Luke Keaschall: 0-3, .645 OPS. Still struggling to find any sort of consistency in ’26.

Egg-cellent Elocution

• norffcommenting from the Target Field bleachers on the last pleasant day before the humidity seeps in.

Who’s Got Next

• A hop to always-humid Houston for three games with the Yordan Alvarez’s Astros (Mon. night, Tues. night, Wed. night).

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Toronto Blue Jays scored two runs.

We can start by noting that the Rangers scored in the first inning of every game in this series. For a club often victimized by first inning runs, striking first proved to be an invaluable weapon for Texas this weekend in Toronto.

Today’s run came courtesy of Joc Pederson who, like on Thursday in the series opener, homered to lead off the game. Pederson’s solo dong came on the game’s first pitch, and the Rangers very nearly added more as they loaded the bases with one out against Toronto starter Shane Bieber before he wiggled out of trouble without another run crossing the plate.

And that ultimately seemed like potentially the big mistake of the day. The Rangers had fumbled their shot at following the same formula that had gotten them three wins to begin this series. After all, the Rangers had led big for much of each contest, allowing them to weather comeback bids by the Blue Jays in the late innings.

The Blue Jays threatened to nullify Texas’ scant early lead immediately in the bottom of the first as Kumar Rocker allowed a couple of singles to begin his start. However, Rocker buckled down to produce a shutdown inning and then ultimately enjoyed one of the more pleasant outings of his big league career.

Equipped with the deadly swing-and-miss slider that made him a No. 3 overall draft prospect, a slider that he sort of befuddlingly abandoned last season, Rocker only allowed two more hits and a walk in his six innings of work and struck out five, all swinging and four of which came on the slider.

Rocker’s biggest moment came in the bottom of the fifth when, in a 1-0 game, the big righty allowed a two-out single Andres Gimenez and then his defense started to abandon him. After a grounder to shortstop became a Corey Seager throwing error, with two on, Elias Diaz tried a back pick to get Gimenez at second base but the ball went off Gimenez’s helmet which allowed both runners to move into scoring position.

The Rocker of a year ago potentially collapses facing the top of the Jays’ order a third time and with the possibility of trailing with one hit. Instead, Rocker got Toronto’s No. 2 hitter Nathan Lukes to swing and miss on that money-maker slider to end the inning and the threat.

With the heart of the order due up an inning later, Skip Schumaker entrusted Rocker with the sixth inning and Rocker rewarded him with an easy inning to finish with an unblemished outing.

Now the Rangers are neck deep in a grueling early summer stretch of 15 games in 15 days that includes three consecutive road series. The pitching depth, especially in the bullpen, has become increasingly thin. There are going to be moments where some guys come in for appearances you probably wouldn’t want them to during this stretch and honestly most of that time that’s when Cole Winn comes into a game that the Rangers could maybe win.

After the Rangers got a bases loaded single from Diaz in the top of the sixth to make it a 2-0 game, a rally in which they failed to break open the game, Winn came on and tossed a scoreless seventh inning but then was tasked with going the eighth as well. After an out, he allowed a single to Jays’ leadoff hitter George Springer and then a home run to Lukes, a two-run shot that tied the game in the eighth.

As AJM noted, it was just the second home run that Winn had ever allowed to a left-handed batter. Nevertheless, the game was now tied and Rocker’s effort was erased. The tie game also allowed the Blue Jays to send in Louis Varland, who has been among the best relievers in the game this season.

After two quick outs, Josh Jung doubled and then was lifted for pinch runner Jarred Kelenic with Schumaker desperate to avoid extra innings and hoping that Corey Seager could come through with a go-ahead hit.

Instead, Varland unfurled a first pitch changeup for a wild pitch that the Jays showed no real urgency in fielding and Kelenic scored all the way from second base to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.

That would become a 3-2 victory after Tyler Alexander tossed a scoreless ninth.

With the win, the Rangers collected a full four-game sweep of the Blue Jays – three of which were by one run – and leave Canada all the way back at .500.

Player of the Game: It’s Rocker, who enjoyed a quality start as the return to prominence for his slider continues to be a positive development. Unfortunately for him, the lack of run support and Winn existing prevented him from earning a win.

The Rangers won, though, so I’m sure he’s not sweating it.

Up Next: The Rangers return to the states to take on the Cleveland Guardians for the final leg of this lengthy road trip. The starting pitcher for Texas in the opener has yet to be determined while Cleveland will opt for LHP Parker Messick.

The Monday evening first pitch from Progressive Field is scheduled for 6:10 pm CDT and will be aired nationally on ESPN.