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At times during the first three games of his Mets tenure, Bo Bichette was unrecognizable at home plate.

The former American League batting champion is 1-for-14. The man who had a better average with runners in scoring position than any player in baseball last year went hitless with one sacrifice fly in six tries this weekend. And the player so tough to strike out that the Mets gave him $42 million not to do it for them struck out eight times in three games, swinging through pitches up and the zone and down at his back foot, alike. He did not, in other words, look much like Bo Bichette.

“I’m not familiar with it either,” he admitted, eye black still pulled across his face after the Mets’ 10-inning loss to the Pirates Sunday. “… I think I’ve just gotta be more committed, more committed in the process. I definitely find myself trying to have a moment out there.”

Who knows where 158 more games will lead Bichette, who also spent this weekend working through growing pains at third base. But it could turn out that Bichette’s first “moment” as a Met came late Sunday afternoon, when the soft-spoken 28-year-old was not shy about an opening weekend so bad for him personally that it led to some Citi Field boos.

“If anything, I thought it took too long,” Bichette said. “I get it. I thought my at-bats were terrible, too.”

In some ways, the fix for Bichette is simple. Instead of chasing a moment, he will need to focus on “being in THE moment,” as he phrased it, and stop chasing pitches he might normally let go.

“I think he’s missing good pitches early in counts, and then they’re making him chase, especially at the top of the zone,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s going to swing. He’s going to go up there and he’s going to hack. He’s a good hitter.”

In some ways, settling in will be more complicated. His six-week crash course on third base did not yield a finished product. He is handling reaction plays well, making stops and charging rollers with no signs of inexperience. But on plays that gave him time to set, his throws leaked up the first base line on multiple occasions, though only one resulted in an error.

“Front side, arm angle, footwork, there’s a lot there. It’s a completely different throw, and it’s new for him,” Mendoza said before the game. “He’s going to have to continue to get reps, which he has. I’m not worried about it because of the work ethic. It’s not going to be perfect, but he’s in a good place, but he’ll be out there right now working with our infield coaches.”

Mendoza was wrong: Bichette actually came out to work with the infield coaches a few minutes after his press conference ended. When he did, he worked mostly on routine plays at mid-to-deep third, and he debriefed with third base and infield coach Tim Leiper afterward.

“I rushed a little bit [Saturday] on a play, but overall pretty good,” Bichette said. “So I just have to keep working and getting better.”

Bichette has not been the only new Met to struggle at his new position. Jorge Polanco also wrestled with some hops in his first two games at first base. And in the meantime, having works-in-progress at the corners has made the sturdy double-play combination of Francisco Lindor and Marcus Semien look even more foundational to this team’s defensive fate. While Semien has started slowly offensively, the former Gold Glover has been as solid as advertised so far at second, and Lindor has looked like his usual self at shortstop.

“We do talk. Bo is a little more quiet when it comes on the defensive side,” Lindor said after Sunday’s game. “But it’s been great. He made great plays today … he’s excelling. He’s doing his thing. He looks good.”

Lindor said he understands Bichette’s desire to prove himself to his new team and city right away. He, too, was beloved with the only team he had ever known before becoming a Met.

“[I understand] 100 percent,” Lindor said. “He’s one of the best hitters in the game. He’s going to have a lot of big moments for us. This is only normal.”

Normal, Bichette said, might take some work, at the plate and in the field. He said he started imagining his first big moment as a Met the second he signed, but “didn’t anticipate it would affect the way I played.”

Asked if he thought heading to St. Louis and San Francisco would help ease the pressure, Bichette offered a wry smile.

“Maybe,” he said. “But I’ve gotta figure out how to hit here anyway, so…”

Bichette is right, of course. But what stands out is his willingness to say so. Struggling players often insist they took good swings or swung at good pitches, that they were happy with their approach or are so close to a hot streak. But nothing speaks to confidence like candor. Perhaps Bichette is right to stop chasing his Mets moment. Strange as it sounds, he might have just had one.

Brandon Sproat is likely to be a pretty solid big league pitcher. Especially given how the Milwaukee Brewers organization develops arm talent. Today, however, was not that day, even if a late comeback rescued Sproat from a loss in his first start as a Brewer.

The 24-year-old righthander’s Milwaukee debut registered as something we’re used to out of White Sox prospect debuts: loads of anticipation that gets nipped right in the bud. Nerves may have played a role in the back-to-back walks to Chase Meidroth and Munetaka Murakami to start the game, but the sequence of events that followed was straight out of the White Sox playbook. First, Miguel Vargas blooped a single in to center field that probably would have been caught had the usually excellent Blake Perkins charged in off the bat. When that kind of thing happens to South Side pitching, you just know what’s coming next. Colson Montgomery swung the bat 83 mph and the ball went boom.

Welcome to the midwest, Mr. Sproat!

Similarly, though, lefthander Anthony Kay had some shakiness of his own to work through in his first major league start since 2021, allowing William Contreras to continue his weekend reign of terror with a double down the line before Gary Sánchez tanked one into the left field crowd.

While I was skeptical of whether Kay’s new arsenal would be good enough to play anything close to as well as it did in Japan, it’s hard to blame him for that one. 98 mph about six inches above the zone? That’s virtually impossible to hit unless you’re looking for that exact pitch. Credit to Gary on that one — Kay made a good pitch, and he was just ready for it.

Kay settled down somewhat nicely after that over the subsequent couple innings, utilizing all parts of his arsenal and generating a nice mix of weak contact and whiffs. One can see why the sinker was his meal ticket to success in Japan. Despite poor command, his pitch showed bowling-ball traits, dropping a healthy amount more than the typical sinker coming from his arm slot, and in combination with his four-seamer and sweeper, it’s tough for lefties to square up.

The real building block, though, was the velocity on his four-seamer, which averaged 96 mph and brushed 98 mph on the afternoon, both of which were easily the highest of his career, Spring Training included. All three of the hits he gave up came against the four-seamer, but with an efficient sinker and the low-90s slider, effectively making up the majority of his other pitches to lefties and righties, respectively, it’s going to be very difficult for batters to get the ball in the air when he’s locating everything.

Unfortunately, Kay had less control today, which is why he only made it through 4 2/3 innings before getting the hook. This is not the pitch chart of a guy who had a particularly astute feel for the strike zone.

The clusters of four-seamers at the top of and above the zone is actually pretty solid, but the spread of sinkers and sliders is way too scattered to keep hitters appropriately off-balance, and the four walks on his final line is not want you want to see from your starter. Kay still wound up whiffing five, and encouragingly, four of those five were against righties.

On the offensive side, the Good Guys weren’t even close to done, continuing to make Sproat’s life difficult. This might be a bit of a deep cut, but you may have heard of the newest lefty in the White Sox lineup, a guy named Munetaka Murakami. After Sproat walked Tristan Peters to lead off the second inning, Murakami continued to show that he’s not going to let MLB pitchers get away with too many mistakes, belting his third homer in as many games.

Murakami is now the fourth player ever to homer in the first three games of his major league career, joining Trevor Story, whose 2016 record of four straight games remains standing, as well as Kyle Lewis in 2020 and Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter just this week.

Also joining the homer parade? Everson Pereira, who recovered from a simply brutal first two regular season games in a Sox uniform to bash his first homer as a South Sider, and the third of his big league career.

The analysts I’ve spoken think Pereira’s swing is just a little too long and unorthodox to consistently work at the big league level, but if he learns to purely hunt the pitches his swing can get to, he may yet have a spot on this roster moving forward.

The game was going smoothly, likely just how the Sox would draw it up, until it wasn’t. Jordan Leasure came on to relieve Kay in the 5th inning, working out of the jam left for him but allowing a run to come home in the 6th, courtesy of a pair of knocks from Sal Frelick and Brandon Lockridge.

Grant Taylor was next in line for the South Siders, working for the second straight afternoon and doing so with a bit more effectiveness than his outing yesterday. Milwaukee hitters didn’t have much of a chance as he worked through the top of their order, striking out Brice Turang and Contreras (and touching 102 mph in the process) before a two-on, two-out punch out of Frelick gave him his first hold of 2026.

Once again, the Sox bullpen looked like it was cruising, that is until the wheels started to fall off. Chris Murphy entered the game to work the 7th and only managed to record one out, retiring just one of five hitters and leaving the bases loaded after a Turang single brought the Crew within three.

Bringing back glimpses of Liam Hendriks’ 2021 heroic efforts, Seranthony Domínguez found himself in a similar situation, attempting to work a five-out save. He managed to get the first out before Luis Rengifo brought the Brewers within a run after driving a two-strike base hit up the middle. That brought erstwhile MVP Christian Yelich up to the plate, pinch-hitting with the tying run on third base. I don’t even feel like talking about it. This is what happened:

Plot twist: The score held, and the While Sox ultimately suffered the 9-7 loss. There’s really no way around it — that sucked; and while I’m not going to re-write the majority of this post to reflect the negativity of the outcome, it’s hard to not feel a sense of futile dejá vu.

Nevertheless! The Good Guys have a fresh start and fresh series in Miami tomorrow, with Davis Martin taking the ball for his first outing of the year. Opposing Martin, Chris Paddack will also make his Marlins debut, more than a decade after being drafted by the organization in the 8th round of the 2015 draft. First pitch is at 5:40 p.m. CT, and we will see you there!

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In the top of the third inning, the plastic wrapper of a hot dog was blown onto the field and picked up by the batboy for the Texas A&M Aggies. That drew the biggest cheer of the day from the Mizzou contingent at Taylor Stadium on Sunday who watched the Tigers lose 14-3 in the third straight game where the Aggies took it right to the front door that is the Missouri pitching staff and did so early. 

Down by eleven after allowing seven in the top of the third, Missouri (17-12, 1-8 SEC) found themselves in a spot that’s been all too familiar the past three games. More specifically, the third straight game where the Tigers have been trailing by at least eight runs before the fourth inning rolls around. 

The clock striking midnight before the halfway point hits hasn’t been a theme that’s been so prevalent up to this point in SEC play for Missouri. Tigers coach Kerrick Jackson has emphasized multiple times in the past, the importance of putting up “zeros” as a pitching staff. As exciting and blistering as the Tigers’ comeback against UIC was, after being down 12-1 past three, it can’t be expected to be the norm once top 25 opposition rolls into town.

Last season, it was the Tigers who rolled into College Station and picked up not only the three-game sweep, but their first SEC wins of the season, capped off by a 10-1 victory in the series finale. A&M well and truly pulled the reversal and in dominant fashion at that, also encapsulating its not sometimes how you finish a game, its how you start. 

“We just flush it,” Jackson said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to look at what we didn’t do well — which this weekend was pitching — and understand what that means. Next week, we have to pitch it better than we did. We’ve proven we’re going to play defense. We’ve proven we can score runs. We’ve proven we can pitch it well at times. We just haven’t had enough games where all three phases are clicking. Getting that figured out and getting all three phases clicking at the same time will put us in a great situation.”

Aggies long ball proves damaging

Eight of the Aggies’ runs on Saturday came via the long ball, as two each were hit by Gavin Grahovac and Nico Partida. The wind at Taylor Stadium blowing out on a sunny Sunday afternoon was a recipe for disaster for the Tigers’ pitching staff that struggled mightily in the three-game series. All in all, five home runs, totaling nine in the past two days for the Aggies. 

JD Dohrmann, after being a game time decision for the Tigers on the SEC availability report, acted as the opener, pitching one inning of work while giving up no runs and striking out a batter. Dohrmann was one of two pitchers of the day for Mizzou who put up a zero. 

“He just ended up not being healthy,” Jackson said when asked why Dohrmann pitched just the opening frame. “We couldn’t run him back out there, his stuff wasn’t good for where he has been. I think he tried to force it up, and we cautioned him to be honest with us. I think he wanted to go out there and do it, but we couldn’t continue to send him out there when he had below‑average stuff.”

Luke Sullivan came in to replace Dohrmann, after starting earlier in the week on Wednesday against Lindenwood. The Aggies offense got to him early. After a pair of walks and outs, Boston Kellner opened the scoring in the top half of the second with a two-run RBI single. 

Gavin Grahovac started off his day-that wasn’t over by a longshot-with a two-run 405 foot shot over the deep center field fence, putting the Aggies up 4-0. 

If the third inning was an offense, the fourth was a barnyard explosion. Again, a walk started the baserunning traffic for A&M and one batter later, Blake Binderup, who came a triple short of the cycle Sunday, connected on a two-run shot of his own. For Binderup, it marked his fifth tater shot of the season. That marked the end of Sullivan’s line, six earned runs, two strikeouts and four hits in 1.1 innings pitched. 

“Luke, he started against Lindenwood, so that’s a Wednesday start,” Jackson said. “This is the first time he’s gone short‑rested, but we needed to use him. Luke throws strikes, but with some of the pitches we need to execute, he’ll leave stuff over the middle and that’s where we get hurt. But he throws three pitches for strikes, and he’s a true freshman. We’re asking him to grow up at the moment, and that can be tough.” 

Ian Lohse, who’s typically played the role of closer this season, came in to stop the bleeding. The A&M offense didn’t have those plans. Jorian Wilson welcomed Lohse to the game with a single and Lohse gave the next two batters free passes with a hit by pitch and a walk. 

Bases loaded, up stepped the last person the Tigers needed to face, Grahovac. Four pitches into his at bat, Grahovac continued to tee off as if Taylor Stadium was a local driving range, connecting on a back-breaking grand slam. 10-0 Aggies and the only noise was coming from the pocket of maroon red fans behind the visitors dugout. 

In the words of Tom Cruise in a Few Good Men, “the hits just kept on coming.” Caden Sorell hit a follow up solo home run, drawing a mound visit from Mateo Serna to Ian Lohse, draping his arm on the left-hander. Lohse struck out the remaining two batters, ending the inning of 7 runs and four hits. 

Fast forward to the top of the seventh, Jake Duer’s solo homer increased the A&M lead to eleven, marking the final run of the game in a fitting way, the long ball. 50 runs in the last five games have been given up by Missouri pitching as a whole. 

“At the end of the day, you take the five‑game week, and we had to move McDevitt and Kehlenbrink up, so they were short‑rested,” Jackson said. “Now we’ll be able to go into a situation where they’ll have full rest. We only have four games this week and we’re looking for some other guys to step up and fill in for where JD and Javyn (Pimental) are out. That’s ultimately what it comes down to.”

He continued. “I fully expect next week we’ll get better starts from both McDevitt and Kehlenbrink, because both of their starts this weekend were uncharacteristic. You’re talking about guys who had some of the better numbers in our league in conference play and the short rest with long outings last time didn’t go well for them.”

Peer, Durnin, Ward stand out for the Tigers offense

Kam Durnin continued the kind of weekend that’s reaffirming the why behind the anticipation of his arrival to Jackson’s program. The third‑inning solo shot on Sunday capped off a 6‑for‑12 series that included two doubles, continuing his presence as a reliable bat in the lineup, whether he’s in the leadoff spot or sitting third or fourth in the batting order. 

Blaize Ward, reached base all three times for the Tigers and his recent resurgence has come in his eight hits in the last nine games for the freshman, who’s continued to establish himself in the past week. 

Kaden Peer’s 3-for-4 day at the plate, three singles and a run scored come as less of a surprise, as he’s been a key bat for Missouri dating back to last season, more encouragingly, he’s shown little reason for concern since coming back from injury on Mar. 3.

UP NEXT 

This past weekend might have brought the Tigers a lot of difficulty, this upcoming Tuesday presents them the perfect rebound opportunity. Missouri has the chance to earn what A&M got against them and that was revenge, as the Kansas Jayhawks will come into Columbia for a rivalry clash Tuesday evening. In Lawrence, the Tigers lost 10-0 in run rule fashion; they had the chance to split the season series in the Border War matchup. 

“We need to pitch it better and give ourselves a chance to be in that game a little more,” Jackson said. “If we do that, we’ll be just fine.”

After hosting Kansas, the Tigers head back on the road in SEC play to take on No. 19 Kentucky, beginning Friday at 5:30 p.m in Lexhington. 

After a heartbreakingly close loss last night, the Mariners will look to avoid losing their first series of the season today against Cleveland. Emerson Hancock will make his season debut for Seattle. Thanks to Zach Mason, who accidentally wrote this preview for Hancock when he’s actually recapping Castillo’s start against the Yankees tomorrow. All mine now, baybeeee.

Seattle will hand the ball to Emerson Hancock for his first start of the season. This ought to be Bryce Miller’s spot, but he’s still getting stretched out after missing some time in Spring Training with oblique tightness. Hancock lost his spot as the sixth starter last season to Logan Evans and was eventually relegated to the bullpen. But with Evans out for the year with Tommy John surgery, Hancock returns to the rotation.
Three things to watch from Hancock tonight:

• He was able to gain some velocity on his fastball when he moved to the bullpen, and he kept most of the gain in three-inning outings this spring. Can he hold the added velo over a full start?
•  He workshopped his sweeper over the winter and turned it into a pitch that was highly effective in Cactus League play. How effective is it against a legit lineup, and does he use it more than the three-or-so pitches per game he’s used in the past?
•  He’s had to trade velocity for movement on his slider in years past. This spring, he was able to get both at the same time. Was that a fluke, and, if not, how effective is it now?

Some in-case-you-missed-it reading:

• Some background info on the Steelheads, as well as quotes from Mark McLemore and Mike Cameron on the significance of wearing the Steelheads jerseys and lifting up this particular part of Negro Leagues history at this moment in time.
• That’s right, three games in and we’re lineup-construction-posting.
• Last night’s loss felt designed in a lab to make me, personally, feel as best as I possibly could about a loss, and after sleeping on it, I tried to explain why.

Lineups:

Back to the usual with a righty on the hill for Cleveland.

The Guardians will send out Slade Cecconi, who was the centerpiece in the trade when the cash-strapped Guardians shipped out Josh Naylor to Arizona. Cecconi is a junkballer (complimentary) who will throw a lot of off-speed at the Mariners to try to disguise his less-impressive heater, so the Mariners’ hitters job will be to not chase after his curve and slider and try to get to the fastball.

Injury Updates:

J.P. Crawford (shoulder) remains with the team; Tacoma has an off day tomorrow and then returns home, so it’s likely he’ll head there on a rehab assignment this week while the team faces the Yankees. Carlos Vargas (lat strain) was in the building today, but no news on where he is in his return from injury. Tomorrow will be Justin Hollander’s weekly update, so look for more info then.

Roster move:

Prior to the game, the Guardians announced they have traded OF Johnathan Rodriguez to the Baltimore Orioles for minor league reliever RHP Carter Rustad.

Today’s Game Information:

Game time: 4:20 PT

TV: NBC Peacock. The broadcast crew for Peacock is Jason Benetti, Rick Manning, and will also include our own Ryan Rowland-Smith.

Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill.

Looking Ahead:

The Mariners start a three-game series against the Yankees tomorrow and you know what? Good. Let’s go ahead and get it out of the way early. Monday night is Hello Kitty night with a HK squish pillow promotion (must purchase ticket special to receive promotion)

The San Diego Padres made an announcement before Opening Day that came as a surprise to no one. Yu Darvish was placed on the restricted list and is likely to miss the entire 2026 campaign following offseason right elbow surgery.

Being placed on the restricted list allows Darvish to rehab on his own timetable, while the Padres retain his rights. The star pitcher has voluntarily forfeited his $16 million salary for this season.

Though retirement rumors are swirling, Darvish will not address his future until next offseason.

Athletes have the will, their bodies don’t have a way

It is a harsh reality of professional sports that most athletes are eager to continue to play, but their bodies can no longer compete at an elite level.

The accumulated years on the mound do take a toll on the human body. It leads to degenerative health conditions, such as persistent pain in the hip, back, and elbow joint. 

In Darvish’s case, the mental drive to get batters out remains strong for him. Unfortunately, questions arise about the health of his right elbow and whether it can withstand the physical demands of pitching in games.

Darvish’s historic MLB legacy

For his 13-year major league career, Darvish won 115 games with a 3.65 ERA in 297 starts. He was the No. 1 starter for three different organizations: the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Padres. His performance in the role speaks for itself, as the right-hander was a difference-maker in several notable playoff runs for each franchise.

Unfortunately, the five-time All-Star has struggled to stay healthy in the latter stages of his Padres career. Since 2021, Darvish’s seasons have been interrupted with injury list stints for elbow, neck, and back injuries. There is no doubt that Darvish has reached a breaking point with the amount of missed time.

But the Friar Faithful will not forget Darvish surpassing Hideo Nomo to become the all-time MLB strikeout leader among Japanese-born pitchers. And few Friars starting pitchers have been as dominant as he was in Game 2 of the 2024 National League Divisional Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Darvish gave up only one run on three hits in a 10-2 victory.

Darvish holds all the cards

His time in the majors is very uncertain at this moment. However, there is a glimmer of hope that he may come back for one more season in 2027.

Only Darvish can determine if his arm and body will recover from his recent surgery. Players of his ilk try to conquer every step of the rehab process. But they will step away from their playing career if the physical demands become too much to overcome. 

Darvish has earned the right to end his playing career on his own terms. 

The Guardians will try to win their first series of the year tonight. Here is their lineup:

Last one in the Emerald City.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/97tPbIcd4q

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) March 29, 2026

Here is Seattle’s lineup:

Rocking our Steelheads threads for the first time this season 🙌

📺 Sunday Night Baseball on @peacock
📻 @SeattleSportspic.twitter.com/O1w21V6jKf

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 29, 2026

Let’s go, Guardians!

The Brewers fought back from an early deficit to win their third straight game, scoring six runs in the eighth to complete a sweep of the Chicago White Sox.

Starter Brandon Sproat got lit up in his Brewers debut, surrendering a grand slam before getting an out. After walking the first two hitters he faced, Chase Meidroth and Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas lifted a fly ball to centerfield that should’ve been the first out. Blake Perkins ran back instead of forward, letting it drop to load the bases with still nobody out. That brought up Colson Montgomery, who smacked a first-pitch cutter from Sproat over the centerfield fence for the aforementioned grand slam.

Austin Hays grounded out for the first out of the game, but Andrew Benintendi walked on five pitches — the third walk of the inning. At this point, Grant Anderson was warming up in the Brewers’ bullpen, but Sproat was able to bear down — inducing a pop-up from Everson Pereira and striking out Edgar Quero to keep the game from getting out of hand.

Milwaukee was able to claw back almost immediately, halving the deficit in the bottom of the first. William Contreras doubled with one out, then advanced to third on a passed ball by Quero. Luis Rengifo lined out to Meidroth at second base for the second out, but Gary Sánchez — hitting cleanup for Milwaukee today — launched a home run into left field for the Brewers’ first two runs of the day.

El Gary's first AB of the year is an absolute missile@ElGarySanchezhttps://t.co/8Qk9UusGrQpic.twitter.com/kuLE6y3Roo

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 29, 2026

Things didn’t get much easier for Sproat after a nightmare start. He walked Tristan Peters on five pitches to start the second inning before giving up a grounder into the hole at shortstop that very well could have been a hit. Luckily, the Brewers’ middle infield is Joey Ortiz and Brice Turang, who turned a beautiful double play to get Sproat two outs closer to a scoreless inning.

Up next for the White Sox was Murakami, who hit a towering fly ball to right field. Sal Frelick trailed back with the ball, but when he jumped up to try and make the catch the ball bounced off of his glove and over the wall for a solo home run. Anderson proceeded to get loose in the Brewers’ bullpen once again. Vargas then singled and stole second, and Montgomery drove him in with another single.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy left Sproat in the game to face Hays, who struck out on three pitches to end the inning, After two innings, the score was Chicago 6, Milwaukee 2. Sproat made it through the third inning, but not before allowing another solo home run, this time to Pereira. His day ended there, having allowed seven runs, six hits, four walks, and three homers while striking out three.

No doubt about it: Sproat’s Brewers debut couldn’t have gone much worse. Still, it’s too soon to worry. Back in 2019, a guy named Corbin Burnes gave up 11 home runs in his first three major league starts. He turned out fine. It’s also worth noting that catcher Jeferson Quero was making his major league debut, and that Sproat — who never pitched in the Brewers’ minor league system — very likely hadn’t worked with him much prior to today’s game.

After Sproat exited, the Brewers’ bullpen shut down the White Sox and the offense started to claw back. Grant Anderson tossed two scoreless innings and Jared Koenig struck out the side in the sixth. Sal Frelick led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, and Brandon Lockridge knocked him in with his second RBI single in as many days.

Neither team scored again until the bottom of the eighth, when Ortiz — who’s had a hit in every game this season — singled off of reliever Chris Murphy to start the inning. Jake Bauers, who’d come in to pinch-hit for Quero, struck out, but Ortiz was able to advance to second on a wild pitch. Brandon Lockridge beat out an infield single, Blake Perkins walked, and just like that the bases were loaded. The next batter, Turang, ripped an opposite-field single — scoring Ortiz and keeping the bases loaded. Contreras popped out for the second out, and Luis Rengifo went down to his final strike against Murphy. However, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Rengifo snuck a grounder up the middle to score Lockridge and Perkins.

Fighting our way to within one run 👀 pic.twitter.com/hIsaQdlLXb

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 29, 2026

Just like that, the Brewers had the go-ahead run on first with Christian Yelich walking up to the plate to pinch hit for Sánchez. Yelich took a couple balls, fouled off a couple pitches, then hit a towering moonshot down the right field line that stayed just fair — clearing the bases and giving the Brewers a 9-7 lead.

CHRISTIAN YELICH PINCH-HIT NUKE FOR THE LEAD https://t.co/BcT5OA5dsbpic.twitter.com/6l63RtZf99

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 29, 2026

Yelich’s home run came off the bat at 111.1 mph, making it the hardest hit ball by a Brewer so far this year. He may be getting older, but he’s still got it.

Trevor Megill came in for the save in the ninth and immediately gave up a single to Peters, bringing up the top of the lineup for the White Sox. Meidroth and Murakami both went down swinging, and Vargas lifted a deep fly to the warning track in right field that dropped harmlessly into the glove of Sal Frelick — ending the game and completing the season-opening sweep.

Every Brewers starter recorded a hit today except for Jeferson Quero, who walked in one of his two plate appearances. The bullpen, stretched to six innings today, was once again lights-out. After Sproat exited the game, Milwaukee didn’t allow a run. Anderson and Jake Woodford (who picked up the win) each went two scoreless innings, while Koenig and Megill racked up multiple strikeouts.

The Crew will welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to American Family Field tomorrow for a three-game series. Kyle Harrison, set to make his Brewers debut, will face off against right-hander Nick Martinez. First pitch for the series opener is slated for 6:40 p.m.

Seven of the first eight pitches from Mets right-hander Nolan McLean were outside the zone to start Sunday's series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field. 

McLean, who would walk the first two he faced, managed to overcome the lack of command without walking another man as he pitched 5.0 innings of two-run ball on four hits and a hit batter with eight strikeouts in cool and at times blustery conditions.

“We could see it the first couple of batters he was missing arm side, he didn’t have a good feel for his pitches pretty much 'til the fourth inning,” manager CarlosMendoza said after the Mets fell 4-3 in 10 innings.

The right-hander said that the conditions made it so that he felt like his pitches were “moving a little bit more than they normally do,” and he just had to “pick out the right sight line.”

“At the beginning, the first three innings, especially the secondaries, the spin – the sweeper, the curveball – it was just a ball out of the hand,” Mendoza said. 

McLean indicated that the bigger challenge than getting the right feel came from throwing into a headwind.

“Throwing into the headwind is sometimes a little tricky, especially when my stuff's moving a little more dramatically than it normally does,” he said. “I was just trying to find where I needed to start my pitches, and it was a little bit later than I wanted to be in that.

“But once I found it, it felt good.” 

And finding it when you don’t have it is what every manager wants to see from a guy who entered his first start of the 2026 season with just 48 big-league innings over eight starts under his belt.

"He was able to go out there and compete, continue to battle, and kept us in the game. Found a way. I thought by the time he got to the fourth inning, he was in a much better rhythm,” Mendoza said, adding later that it just goes to show “that on days that he's not at his best, he's still going to find a way to give you a chance to win and that’s what he did today.”

One adjustment McLean made in the final innings was going to his cutter and changeup more – he got Jake Mangum swinging through a low changeup to end a 1-2-3, eight-pitch fourth –  and that helped other pitches come along, too.

“Obviously, I didn’t have much feel early in the game of the sinker, but it started to come back to me later in the game,” the 24-year-old said. “Mixing in some four[-seamers] and some two[-seamers]. Was able to get some quick outs late in the game.” 

And the changeup is a pitch McLean is looking to use more, and he was “happy with how it felt in the cold weather.”

“I haven’t thrown it in the cold for a while now, so I was really satisfied with how it played today,” he added. 

On the 84-pitch afternoon, he threw six varieties of pitches and got 12 whiffs on 32 swings with 20 called strikes, good for a called strike plus whiff percentage of 38.1 percent.

And it was the changeup (six), curveball (six), and cutter (four) that accounted for half of those called strike plus whiff totals on just 27 offerings.

Before you start complaining about Shōta Imanaga serving up another home run at an inopportune time (with two runners on base), consider that you’re not going to win many games when you get only four hits and three of them are solo homers.

That was the tale of the Cubs’ 6-3 loss to the Nationals Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

Imanaga started out well, striking out the first two Nats he faced. Then two of them singled ahead of Joey Wiemer smacking a three-run homer. Wiemer, you might recall from his time with the Brewers, but he’s been in four other organizations (Reds, Royals, Marlins, Giants) before the Nats claimed him on waivers in January.

Imanaga threw pretty well after that, too, allowing just three more hits and a couple of walks. He got charged with a run after he left the game. All in all, it wasn’t a terrible outing for Shōta, apart from the homer.

Meanwhile, Jake Irvin, who led all of MLB in home runs allowed last year (38; Imanaga was third with 31), stymied the Cubs for three innings. The only baserunner up to the third was Alex Bregman reaching on an error in the first, but he did not get past first base. The Cubs did hit some balls hard in those early innings, including this hot line drive by Nico Hoerner, caught by Irvin [VIDEO].

That ball was hit 102 miles per hour — tip o’ the cap to Irvin for that catch.

Bregman touched ‘em all leading off the fourth with his first Cubs home run [VIDEO].

Nice grab on that ball in the bleachers, too.

Two pitches later, Ian Happ went deep [VIDEO].

So now it’s 3-2 and the Cubs did get the tying run on base later in that inning when Nico singled with one out. As Carson Kelly struck out for the second out, Hoerner stole second and moved to third on an error, but he was stranded.

The bullpen did all right, though Phil Maton allowed a run to score in the sixth, charged to Imanaga. That made it 4-2, where it stayed until the eighth, when Keibert Ruiz hit a two-run homer off Hoby Milner to make it 6-2.

The Cubs got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning on Bregman’s second homer of the game [VIDEO].

That was the end of the Cubs offense, unfortunately. As I said — four hits with three of them being solo homers isn’t going to win you too many games. The Cubs did prevent a seventh run from scoring off Daniel Palencia, making his 2026 debut, in the ninth. Palencia had allowed a one-out single, then struck out Brady House.

Then this happened [VIDEO].

Good defense all the way around there. Nice throw by Pete Crow-Armstrong, good relay by Dansby Swanson, good tag by Kelly.

The Cubs won a couple of ABS challenges in this game.

Here’s one by Carson Kelly on a called ball [VIDEO].

Here’s one by a Nats hitter on a called strike that was… well into the zone [VIDEO].

Overall, I don’t have too many complaints about Imanaga’s game. Yes, he gave up another home run, but he did strike out seven. Here’s more on Shōta’s outing [VIDEO].

So the Cubs begin the season 1-2, losing this series to the Nationals, not the way we’d like to have had 2026 begin. But there are plenty of games remaining and I’m not concerned. I was glad to see Bregman break out and have a two-homer game. I’m thinking there will be more of those to come this year.

A note from BCB’s JohnW53 on this game:

Last season, the Cubs gave up 23 triples, nine of them with nobody out, including six with nobody on base, as happened in the fourth inning today. All six of those runners scored, unlike the runner today. Four of the six did so immediately, two on wild pitches and one each on a double and groundout. The remaining two scored on a one-out groundout and one-out sacrifice fly. The fly turned into a double play.

Also from John, regarding the three solo homers:

Today’s game was the 32nd among the 19,506 that the Cubs have played since 1901 in which they scored three runs, on three homers. The have won nine of them. They finished only one previous game with three homers plus one other hit: a 6-3, 10-inning loss at Brooklyn on July 19, 1957. The hit was a single. They made three homers among five hits in four games: wins at home vs. the Giants in 1910 and at St. Louis in 1979, and losses at home vs. the Rockies in 2004 and Tigers in 2006.

The Los Angeles Angels will visit Wrigley Field for a three-game series (weather permitting, and it might not on Tuesday) beginning Monday evening. In the series opener, Edward Cabrera will make his Cubs debut. He’ll face Angels right-hander Ryan Johnson. Game time Monday is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.