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The Mets returned home after their west coast road trip to face the Tigers. Freddy Peralta was taking the mound for the Mets, looking to try and get back on the right foot after losing the final two games (and the series) against the Diamondbacks. Jack Flaherty was starting for the Tigers, struggling so far in 2026 with an ERA north of 5.50 and just 34 innings pitched across eight starts. And it was a very special day for Mets top prospect A.J. Ewing, who was getting his first start as a major leaguer, playing in center field and batting eighth.

The first inning was quiet for both sides, with each team having one base runner and both teams stranding that runner. Dillon Dingler hit a solo home run to lead off the second inning for the Tigers, putting the first run of the game on the board. A single and a double put runners on second and third with no outs, and Spencer Torkelson hit a sacrifice to score the Tigers’ second run of the game. Peralta was able to work his way out of the jam to stop the scoring there. In the bottom of the inning the Mets immediately threatened to come back, loading the bases with only one out. Francisco Alvarez drove in the Mets first run on a force out, but that was all the Mets could do in the inning.

In the bottom of the third Mark Vientos hit an RBI single to drive in Bo Bichette and tie the game, and in the bottom of the fourth Carson Benge hit an RBI single to drive in Alvarez and take the lead. The Mets were able to drive Flaherty from the game with two outs in the fourth after he gave up three runs on six hits and three walks. 

In the bottom of the sixth, facing Burch Smith, the Mets loaded the bases with one out. In the midst of it, Alvarez hurt himself while at bat and had to be removed from the game, with Luis Torrens coming in to replace him. Bo Bichette came up and hit what should’ve been an inning ending double play. But when Gage Workman threw the ball into right field instead of to second base, two runs scored to give the Mets a three run lead with still just one out. Smith was then pulled in favor of Emmanuel De Jesus. Juan Soto hit a dribbler back to Torkelson at first whose only play was to get the out at first allowing Benge to score as the Mets third and final run of the inning before De Jesus finally got out of it.

Brooks Raley came in to relieve Freddy Peralta, who recorded a quality start giving up just two runs in six innings, with seven strikeouts and just one walk. Raley dealt with a little trouble, ending up with runners on second and third with just one out. But he got through it without allowing a run to score and keeping the Mets lead intact. In the bottom of the seventh, De Jesus was still in the game, and he had given up a single to Brett Baty bookended by outs to put him one out away from a clean inning. But A.J. Ewing, who had already walked twice and gotten his first stolen base earlier in the game, got his first major league hit (and RBI) and made it count, hitting a triple that drove in Baty. Ricky Vanasco came in to try and get the Tigers out of it without any further damage. Luis Torrens hit an RBI single to drive in Ewing as the Mets’ eighth run of the game, but that was the end of the Mets seventh inning outburst.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Mets continued to pile on. Two singles led to runners on the corners with just one out. Austin Slater (who was brought in to pinch hit for MJ Melendez earlier in the game) hit a dribbler up the first base line, and Vanasco fielded the ball but lost it on the transfer to his hand, allowing Slater to reach safely and Soto to score. An infield single for Semien loaded the bases, and Ewing walked to drive in yet another run for the Mets, his third walk and second RBI of the game. That drove Vanasco from the game in favor of Jake Rogers, a position player taking the mound. He was able to get the final out of the inning and get the Tigers up for their last chance, with eight runs distancing them from just coming even with the Mets.

Austin Warren pitched both the eighth and ninth innings, and he went scoreless in both, delivering the Mets the first win of the homestand and helping to keep the rest of the bullpen rested. They started the homestand off on the right foot and saw a burgeoning young star potentially emerge in A.J. Ewing’s first major league game. Next, they have to face Framber Valdez behind Christian Scott, who’s looking to build on his last performance and put his shaky first start behind him.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Bo Bichette, +15% WPA
Big Mets loser: Marcus Semien, -14% WPA
Mets pitchers: +16% WPA
Mets hitters: +34% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s third inning single, +11.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Dillon Dingler’s second inning home run, -11% WPA

Mets prospect A.J. Ewing showed off his blazing speed when he belted an RBI triple in the seventh inning of his major league debut on Tuesday night in Citi Field.

But it was the reaction of his joyous family that stole the show. His dad, Joe, and his other family members were pumping fists, high-fiving and going crazy after Ewing’s big hit in a Mets 10-2 win.

In the second inning, Joe talked to SNY’s Steve Gelbs after the rookie worked the first of his three walks, saying he was built for this moment.

A.J. Ewing's dad reacts to his first major league hit pic.twitter.com/IMiHSofeMJ

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 13, 2026

But Joe admitted he was a “nervous wreck watching him.”

Joe, who said he was a high school pitcher who couldn’t hit, did say he was the one who started his son on the path to becoming a left-handed hitter at 3 years old.

Joe, who had six messages on his phone before finding out, was surprised his 21-year-old son was called up so soon.

“He’s definitely grown as a player,” Joe said. “I think when he first realized, ‘Hey, I have a shot to be a major league player,’ he went after that dream really, really hard.”

Joe said others saw more of his son’s potential than he originally did.

“I knew he was good baseball player, but I knew how hard it was to get to this level,” Joe said. “I think being his Dad, I … didn’t think he was as good as he really was, maybe.

“The first time I was having a conversation with an agent talking to me about my son, I remember I looked at him and said, ‘You think my kid is going to get drafted?’

“He stopped and he paused as calm as can be and said, ‘I know you’re kid is going to get drafted.’

“I said, ‘What!’ Then it kind of hit me, ‘Alright, here we go.’ ”

Ewing filled up a lot of the stat box in the win.

A.J. Ewing pic.twitter.com/QXp7UJvLRt

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) May 13, 2026

Besides becoming the first Met to hit a triple for his first big league hit, he also walked three times, stole a base and had two RBIs.

It’s Tuesday here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. There are still a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night I asked you how big a role did you think Ryan Rolison would play on the 2026 Cubs. You’re mostly optimistic as 58 percent of you think he’ll be in the Cubs bullpen all (or almost all) season. Another 39 percent think he’ll be shuttling back and forth between Iowa and Chicago.

On Tuesdays I don’t do any movie stuff, but I’m sure I can find the time for some music for us.

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Bless the great Ron Carter. The legendary bassist has a new album coming out next month at the age of 89. It’s called Duets, a collaboration with guitarist Yotam Silberstein.

This is a cut from the upcoming album entitled “Blues for Brother Malone,” a tribute to jazz guitarist Russell Malone who died in 2024 at the too-young age of 60. Malone was a friend to both Carter and Silberstein.

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Welcome back to those of you who skip the music.

It’s no secret to anyone that the Cubs are searching for starting pitching after the injuries to Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd as well as the setbacks in the recovery of Justin Steele. I suspect that it will be a major topic of conversation around here until the end of July.

The one name that has been closely connected to the Cubs is Freddy Peralta, and we’ve already covered him here. Peralta played for manager Craig Counsell for six seasons in Milwaukee, so there is familiarity there. Peralta has made noise about wanting to stay in New York, but the Mets terrible start to the season and his upcoming free agency means that decision is likely out of his hands.

Still, there are other starting pitching options on the trade market for the Cubs to pursue. Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma list ten of them in The Athletic (sub. req) and I want to examine two in particular that I want to consider tonight. The first is Peralta’s Mets teammate Clay Holmes and the other one is San Francisco Giants pitcher Robbie Ray.

Both Holmes and Ray are free agents at the end of 2026, so both of them would be pure rentals. Ray, according to Mooney and Sharma, is someone the Cubs have wanted for years and it’s not hard to understand why. The left-handers’ biggest weapon is his hard slider, which is his primary out-pitch. But his 93-94 mile per hour fastball also has good movement and in recent years he’s added a changeup, which is a real weapon against right-handed hitters.

Ray won the American League Cy Young in 2021 and while he’s suffered through injuries since then, he’s been healthy this year and last. Ray was an All-Star last season and he’s been just as good this year. With the Giants, he’s posted a 2.76 ERA and has struck out 47 batters in 42.1 innings. He is a bit of a flyball pitcher and he has benefitted from how hard it is to hit a home run at Oracle Park the past few seasons. But we should note that Wrigley Field has played as a pitchers park the past few seasons, even if most of us are conditioned to think of it as a home-run hitters paradise.

Holmes is a different type of pitcher without the same kind of track record as Ray (although he is a two-time All-Star from his time with the Yankees), but he’s arguably been the better pitcher this year. Holmes had made eight starts so far this year and has a 1.86 ERA over 48.1 innings. The right-handed Holmes almost never throws a traditional four-seam fastball, instead relying on a sinker/slider/change repertoire that induces a ton of ground balls. Holmes strikes out a lot fewer batters than Ray with a 19.3 percent strikeout rate as compared to Ray’s 26.3. But he also walks fewer (8.3 percent to 10) and boy, does he get the ground balls. His groundball rate is 57.2 percent, which is actually down from his career averages. Holmes seems like the kind of pitcher that you want in front of the Cubs stellar infield defense.

Now there’s no guarantee that either pitcher will be available in trade. The Mets have said they’re going to wait until June to see if they can snap out of their disappointing season before they decide whether or not they want to sell. The Giants are already making moves, sending catcher Patrick Bailey to the Guardians, but that was likely more a way of getting the black hole of Bailey’s bat out of the Giants offensively-challenged lineup than it was the start of a fire sale.

Still, I strongly suspect that both the Giants and the Mets will be selling by the time trade season comes along. I have no idea how much either one will cost in terms of prospects, but I suspect that it will be roughly even. So whom the Cubs get might be dependent on whether the Giants or the Mets like the Cubs farm system more. And of course, there will be other pitchers available as well.

But if the Cubs were offered either Ray or Holmes for the same package, which one would you take? Which player would be the better “get” for the rest of the season? Which one would make you happier?

Thank you so very much for stopping by. We hope we made your night a little better. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.

After a couple tough losses in Miami, the Nats responded in a big way tonight. They overpowered the Reds in a 10-2 win where they homered 6 times. Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile both had multi-homer games in the blow out. The bullpen also did great work tonight, eating 5.2 innings in this one.

Luis García Jr. goes yard for the second time tonight! pic.twitter.com/dYqaYDeIg6

— MLB (@MLB) May 13, 2026

The Nats still made plenty of defensive mistakes, including 2 errors and a catcher’s interference. However, the offense was too good for that to matter. After not scoring in the first two innings, the Nats put a world of hurt on the Reds pitching staff.

James Wood started the scoring in the third with a homer. It was a classic James Wood home run, sailing majestically to the opposite field. Luis Garcia Jr. made it back to back jacks with a pull side bomb of his own. Garcia is red hot right now, and he is starting to hit for power. He only had one home run on the season entering this game, but he hit two tonight.

In the top of the 4th, Daylen Lile homered to make it a 3-0 game. However, Miles Mikolas would get into a sketchy situation in the 4th. He was on the ropes after allowing two singles and a walk to start the inning. With the bases loaded, Mikolas traded a run for an out on a ground ball. However, after walking another batter, his night was over after just 3.1 innings.

Brad Lord would come in to replace him, and the long reliever performed very well. His evening got off to a rough start, but it was not his fault. Lord got a much needed ground ball, but Brady House booted it. House has had a really rough season defensively at the hot corner. Heading into the year, his defense was seen as a strength, but it has been anything but that to start 2026. However, Lord would rebound quickly and get a double play ball to end the inning.

After that mess, the Nats knew they needed more runs. Luis Garcia Jr. would start the inning with his second homer of the night. A couple more batters would reach, and then Daylen Lile would come to the plate with 2 on and 1 out. Lile is from Louisville, which is right nearby, so his family was in attendance.

The Lile family saw their boy have his first career multi-homer game. Lile absolutely torched a 98 MPH sinker out of Great American Ball Park. It was a no doubt shot and his family went absolutely crazy in the stands. This was an amazing moment for the Lile family, and it also made the lead 7-2.

Daylen Lile also has a multi-homer game!

The @Nationals have gone deep FIVE times tonight 😳 pic.twitter.com/uqoaVTWuNh

— MLB (@MLB) May 13, 2026

With the lead in a comfortable spot, Brad Lord went into cruise control. The right-hander gave the Nats 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball. Lord is such a valuable piece to this bullpen, and sometimes I think he may even be under-utilized. 

The Nats were not done with their home run parade though. In the late innings, Brady House made up for his error and put a cherry on top of a blow out win. While he has a tough time hitting fastballs, House does not miss hanging breaking balls. Tony Santillan hung a breaking ball and House banged it out of the ball park.

Brady House just hit the Nats SIXTH HR of the night‼️#Natitudepic.twitter.com/A1pVWtFq64

— SleeperNationals (@SleeperNats) May 13, 2026

This was one of the Nats bigger wins of the season. The offense, which is second in baseball in runs, flexed their muscles tonight. While Wood and Abrams both had good games, it was contributors from down the lineup that provided the biggest blows. Luis Garcia Jr. and Daylen Lile are starting to really heat up, and that makes the Nats lineup very dangerous.

If the Nats can get big time production from Lile and Garcia, this could be a truly deep lineup. It has been crazy to see what this offense has been able to do this year. We are deep enough into the season to say that this offense is no fluke. They are a fun and frisky unit. The pitching and defense needs work, but the Nats are really starting to build a foundation here.

After limping out of Kansas City bruised and full of more question-marks than The Riddler, the Tigers went to New York City to face the Mets, who have been terrible so far. Well, the questions kept coming as fast as the Mets scored runs in this one, with the New Yorkers besting the Detroiters by a 10-2 score.

Opening the series on the mound for the visitors was Jack Flaherty, who had a better start in his last outing, against the Red Sox: he gave up four runs, sure, and he slipped a bit in an inning that was threatening to get completely out of control, but when he was on, he was absolutely locked-in. He struck out the first five and the last four batters he faced, which has got to be some sort of first. In a rotation full of chaos, the Tigers absolutely need Flaherty to give them solid innings. Sadly, tonight, he didn’t give too many.

Freddy Peralta faced Flaherty in Flushing; the righty is in his ninth year in the major leagues, and his first with the Mets after spending eight years in Milwaukee. He’s dependable: he’ll keep extra-base hits down (especially home runs), he’ll give you six solid innings, and while his strikeout rate is down a bit this season, it’s still about one per inning. His final three years with the Brewers were a really nice run: a 3.40 ERA, WHIP of 1.136, and 10.7 K/9 innings, making thirty or more starts each of those years.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the second with a Dillon Dingler dinger.

The Tigers kept the party going: Wenceel Pérez singled, Gage Workman doubled, and Spencer Torkelson hit a fly ball deep enough to plate Pérez for a 2-0 lead. With two outs Kevin McGonigle walked to put two runners back on base, but Matt Vierling flew out to end the inning and this party was about to have someone put something awful in the punch bowl.

The bottom of the second saw Flaherty get into trouble… and this is the kind of situation that has had the potential to spin out of control for him: a leadoff walk and a single, and some big misses of the strike zone against Marcus Semien. Semien harmlessly lined-out, but A.J. Ewing walked in his first-ever major-league plate appearance to load the bases with one out. A sharp grounder to shortstop saw the Tigers try to turn a double play, and despite a fantastic turn at second base by Zach McKinstry, the throw to first wasn’t in time and a run came in to score. A harmless fly ball to shallow centre limited the damage, but it was clear that Flaherty was nowhere near as dialed-in as he was in his previous start.

The trouble followed Flaherty and his shaky fastball into the third, with a pair of singles to put runners on the corners. Another single plated the tying run, and after a pair of hard-hit outfield outs, a wild pitch pushed Juan Soto up a base to put runners on the corners. But a Semien grounder to shortstop saw McGonigle make a nice play and throw for the third out.

Again, in the bottom of the fourth, traffic on the basepaths produced a run: a one-out double-single combination pushed the Mets ahead 3-2. He stuck around to strike out Bo Bichette, and departed in favour of Tyler Holton to face the lefty Soto. Holton did the job, getting Soto to not-quite check his swing at a low-and-away sweeper for strike three. Thus, Flaherty’s final line: 3 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 2 K. That’s… not great.

You know what else wasn’t great? Colt Keith on the basepaths in the top of the fifth. He singled with two out, and he went first-to-third on a Riley Greene single to right-fielder Carson Benge. Benge’s throw skipped a bit past the third baseman; Keith took off for home, forgetting that Peralta was (quite correctly) backing-up third base, but he also managed to run into the third base umpire inexplicably standing on the base path, which also didn’t help. Keith had to show the ump out of the way just to get up to speed and probably should’ve shut it down at that point. He was easily cut down trying to score.

Shoot, it looks like Keith also took a pretty good forearm to the left side of his jaw, too.

Holton carried on and had a 1-2-3 fifth; Burch Smith took over in the sixth and struck out Semien, but walked the next two batters and an infield single loaded the bases. A ground ball found Workman at third; he threw to second to start what probably would’ve been an inning-ending double play, but he rushed it with the baserunner right in his throwing lane and sailed the throw 20 feet wide of second base and into right field, two runs scored, and Smith departed a 5-2 game. That was really the play that put the game ultimately out of reach for the Tigers. Enmanuel De Jesus took over, a grounder to first got another out but allowed another run to score; a sharp liner to Vierling in centre ended the inning with the Tigers in a 6-2 hole.

They started the seventh against a new pitcher, Brooks Raley, and suddenly showed signs of life: with one out Hao-Yu Lee singled, and McGonigle followed with a double to put two runners in scoring position. Alas, a popup to second base and a strikeout ended the inning with those two runners staying right where they were.

In the bottom of the seventh the Mets tacked-on: with two out and a runner on first, Ewing — who’d already walked twice in his debut — tripled to the right-field corner as Wenceel Pérez fumbled the ball against the wall to make it 7-2 and chase De Jesus. Ricky Vanasco was brought in to stop any further damage, which he did not, as he surrendered a single, scoring Ewing for an 8-2 tally.

They scored even more runs in the eighth in ways I’d rather not describe, with an error from Vanasco contributing to the disastrous defensive work on the night. At least Jake Rogers got to pitch in this one, getting the final out in the bottom of the eighth. He touched a cool 80 mph on his fastball, but sadly we didn’t get to see his sterling knuckleball.

Final score: Mets 10, Tigers 2

M*A*S*H Update

Oodles of Minutiae

• In case you missed it, Gary Jones and his toothpick were named as the new manager of the Toledo Mud Hens.
• In the second inning, Kevin McGonigle walked. That was his 24th walk in the year, against 21 strikeouts. That is an impressive stat, and doubly so for a rookie. I can’t wait to see what he’s capable of in the years to come.
• Colt Keith came into tonight’s game with a .304 batting average. If you’re not into some more advanced stats, though, here’s how they can be useful: his Batting Average on Balls in Play (BAbip) is .386. A normal value of that these days is around .285, which means he’s getting lucky. He’s also not getting too many extra-base hits, which isn’t great, but his hard-hit percentage is 46.0% (average is 40.0%), which is good.
• Towards the end of this miserable contest, on the radio broadcast Dan Dickerson read off the standard “without written consent” blurb, which I have always found puzzling. (Isn’t this an “account or description” of such a game?) Anyway, Dickerson mused that, if you wanted to get written consent from MLB to do whatever it is people do that need this legal disclaimer, you’d be better off picking a game other than this one.
• Happy birthday to probably the weirdest of the Kids in the Hall, Bruce McCulloch. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to battle Satan in a guitar showdown, learn about the Daves he knows, or get advice on your 13th birthday from your drunk dad, Bruce has got you covered.
• It’s also Lou Whitaker’s birthday, and every single day that guy isn’t in the Hall of Fame is a pretty lousy day.

The Atlanta Braves were riding high after a road trip out west that saw them win a series with the Dodgers. They were faced with a new test when the Chicago Cubs came to town. It just so happens that MLB ranked the Cubs as number one in the power rankings over the Braves even though the Braves just beat the Dodgers.

Power rankings don’t mean anything, but it was a fun coincidence.

The biggest question mark was if Grant Holmes was going to be able to bounce back after his five earned runs appearance his last start. Holmes did just that. He did not pitch a perfect game, but we saw a huge improvement. Holmes sat down the first five hitters he faced before finally giving up a walk to Michael Busch, but then quickly ended the second inning. Holmes then sat down five in a row again, but then Bregman, who was only one of two Cubs to face him before took him deep. That is when things got shaky. Holmes has struggled with walks all year and tonight was no different. He walked three hitters in a row to load the bases. He was able to induce a groundout, but a run score to give the Cubs a two to one lead and then he struck out old friend Dansby Swanson.

Walt Weiss made the wise decision to replace Holmes in the fifth with Didier Fuentes. Holmes finished the night going 4.0 innings with only the HR to Bregman as his lone hit, but gave up four walks which was enough to end his night. The rest of the night was all bullpen. Fuentes, Lee, and Iglesias combined for 5.0 innings of no hit ball allowing zero walks and accumulating four strikeouts. Fuentes was the MVP for the pitching side of things tonight with three of those innings.

On the offensive side of things, Mike Yastremski finally came through. With Dominic Smith on second in the third inning, Yastrzemski knocked him in to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. After the Cubs took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, Austin Riley continued his much needed surge with a solo shot to tie the game in the fifth.

Air Austin 🚀#BravesCountrypic.twitter.com/vE9U1RB44T

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 13, 2026

Not to be outdone, Yastrzemski decided he wanted to get hot too, and once again knocked in Smith, but this time it was a two run show to give the Braves a 4-2 lead. The scoring did not stop in the fifth inning. Matt Olson had a bit of fortune when a ball he hit was deflected by Busch, albeit hit very hard to put the Braves up 5-2, which would be the final score.

Another one 😎#BravesCountrypic.twitter.com/lQUzREeu6v

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 13, 2026

All in all the Braves won in demanding fashion. Not only did the pitching only allow five baserunners, but the Braves had eleven hits of their own to go along with two walks.

Yastrzemski was the star with three RBI tonight, in a time when we were wondering if he would ever hit again. However, the unsung hero was Dominic Smith. In a game that he may not have gotten the start if Murphy had not been injured, Smith went 4-4 and showed he very much is worth staying in the DH rotation.

Ha-Seong Kim made his return, but he will have to wait for his first hit of the season, although he did have a walk.

The Braves proved yet again tonight that they are for real. They have now won a series against the Dodgers and took game one against a Cubs team that has two separate ten game win streaks all within a week.

The Braves look to win this series tomorrow night at the same time and same place.

Alex McCoy OF/DH/1B won April Player of the Month for the Fort Wayne TinCaps. In 22 games, he hit .354/.386/.683 with 10 doubles and five home runs. For the season, McCoy has a .284/.344/.885 line with 15 RBI. His vital stats state he is 6-5 and 260, but in a recent interview with MadFriars.com, McCoy gave his updated size as 6-6 and 277. He stated he spent the offseason getting a little bigger and working on his swing to improve his swing-and-miss.

Reliever Logan Gillaspie won Pitcher of the Week for the El Paso Chihuahuas in the Pacific Coast League. In 5.1 innings pitched, Gillaspie allowed no hits, no runs with one walk and three strikeouts. For the season, he has a 4.44 ERA in 24.1 innings pitched with 25 strikeouts. Like many of the El Paso pitchers, the beginning of the season was not kind to Gillaspie.

Lake Elsinore lost its series against Inland Empire 2-4 but remained atop the California League South division with a 19-14 record. Starter Tyler Schmitt won California League Pitcher of the Week with six innings pitched with no earned runs, five strikeouts and one hit in his latest start. Fort Wayne went 4-2 for the week, San Antonio had a 4-2 record and El Paso copied with their own 4-2 record.

El Paso Chihuahuas (19-20 record, 3rd in Pacific Coast League East)

IF/OF Samad Taylor continues his hot tear through Triple-A, hitting .331/.403/.978 with seven homers and 22 RBI. He plays all three outfield spots, has played second base and can DH. Infielder Pablo Reyes has a .439 OBP with 20 walks and a .320 average. OF Jase Bowen has a .948 OPS with 10 home runs and 21 RBI. He is excellent defensively, runs well and has power. The only thing holding him back from a job with a major league team is his 40 strikeouts in 130 at-bats.

RHP Evan Fitterer has a 2.63 ERA in 27.1 innings pitched and seven starts. He has 24 strikeouts and 14 walks. LHP Jackson Wolf works with a low 90’s fastball but has a lot of extension with his 6-7 frame. He has 32 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched with five starts and 10 appearances overall.

Reliever Ethan Routzahn has a 3.00 ERA in 15 games and 18 innings pitched with 11 strikeouts. Reliever Alek Jacob, who has 17.2 innings pitched for El Paso, has 18 strikeouts and two saves.

San Antonio Missions (11-22 record, last in the Texas League South)

IF Carson Tucker continues to impress in his first season back in affiliated baseball after resetting in the Pioneer League. He has a .352 average with nine doubles, a triple and six RBI in 22 games. 1B/DH Leandro Cedeño leads in just about every other offensive category. His average sits at .325 with a .435 OBP and 1.006 OPS. He has four homers and 12 RBI. Catcher Ethan Salas continues his impressive 2026 season with five homers, seven doubles and 18 RBI with eight stolen bases.

RHP Eric Yost has a 3.21 ERA over four starts and seven games total and 28 innings pitched with 33 strikeouts. He has a mid-90’s fastball but it is the curve/slider/sweeper combo that gives him his swing and miss ability. Reliever Francis Peña had a difficult second half in 2025 and started off with the same issues this season. Struggling to command his sinker/slider combo, he fell down the prospect ranks at the end of last season. In nine games and 13 innings pitched, the 25-year-old has a 1.38 ERA with 16 strikeouts but still has too many walks at 14. Reliever Johan Moreno has excelled with a 1.62 ERA in 16.2 innings pitched and 18 strikeouts to six walks.

Fort Wayne TinCaps (16-17 record, 3rd in Midwest League East)

Outfielder Jake Cunningham, 23, signed a minor league contract with the Padres in January before the start of the season. He was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the fifth round of the 2023 draft and released in January. He struggled with injuries and consistency in his two full seasons in the Orioles organization.

Since joining Fort Wayne, Cunningham is hitting .323 and has a .591 slug with six home runs and 18 RBI, all of which lead the TinCaps. He plays all the outfield positions, can DH and has played first base with the Orioles. C/1B Lamar King Jr. has a .409 OBP, leading Fort Wayne, with 19 walks and eight stolen bases in 29 games.

RHP Carson Montgomery, playing his first full season since returning from Tommy John, has started five games and 22 innings pitched with a 1.64ERA and 18 strikeouts to eight walks. LHP Kash Mayfield continues to dominate with a 1.82 ERA in six games started and 24.2 innings pitched. He has 26 strikeouts to 13 walks. Closer Clay Edmondson, 22, was drafted last year in the 14th round and has done nothing but impress since the start of the season. In 12 appearances and 14.1 innings pitched he has a 0.63 ERA with 21 strikeouts and four walks. He has K’d 38.2% of the hitters he has faced with his sidearm/submarine-type delivery.

Lake Elsinore Storm (19-14 record, 1st in California League South)

First baseman Luke Cantwell was drafted in the 20th round of the last draft and has started quickly for the Storm. He is hitting .352/.477/.493 with seven doubles, a homer and 17 RBI. He leads the team in average and on base with shortstop Justin DeCriscio leading in slug with .544 (three homers and 18 RBI). Centerfielder Ryan Wideman spent the offseason re-working his swing and has broken out this early part of the season. He is hitting .328/.420/.541 with nine doubles, four triples, three homers and 26 RBI. He has stolen 27/31 bases. That is the best stolen base number in all of baseball, not just the minor leagues. He was a legitimate four-tool player when drafted with only a question about his contact ability due to the big swing he had when drafted. He seems to be answering that question quickly.

RHP Winyer Chourio, 22, an international sign out of Venezuela, has a 2.14 ERA in six games/five games started with 21 innings pitched and 32 strikeouts to 12 walks. That gives him a 13.71 K/9 while allowing no home runs. LHP Javier Chacon, 23, an international sign from Cuba, has pitched in eight games and 12 innings with a 1.59 ERA and has 24 strikeouts to seven walks. RHP Ethan Long has three saves and a 1.35 ERA in six games and 6.2 innings pitched.

LHP Kruz Schoolcraft had a miserable start to his Storm career but has worked his way back to a respectable start on May 8. He went four innings while allowing three hits and no earned runs with two strikeouts and two walks. He had seven whiffs with his fastball returning to the normal 95-98 mph.

ACL Padres (3-3 record in the ACL West)

Shortstop Yimy Tovar has played in six games with a .316/.381/.632 line with three RBI and three stolen bases. Third baseman Luis De Leon is hitting .313/.421/.500 to begin the season.

RHP Jordan Valenzuela has 4.2 innings pitched with a 3.86 ERA as the best reliever on the team. RHP Erick Batista has started one game with four innings pitched with a 2.25 ERA.

Injury and rehab

Both Ty Adcock (oblique) and Jhony Brito (elbow surgery) have begun their rehab with the ACL Padres. Brito has three innings in his first start with a 3.00 ERA. Adcock has one inning pitched, struck out one and walked none.

Padres prospect Michael Salina, the fourth-round pick in 2025 that required Tommy John surgery before the draft, has begun his rehab in Arizona with the ACL Padres. He made one start for 0.2 innings with two strikeouts but allowed two runs and a walk.

The Mets might owe one to Rob Drake.

In a chaotic play in the top of the fifth inning at Citi Field on Tuesday night, the third base umpire got in the middle of the fray and might have even helped the Mets stop the Tigers from scoring a game-tying run.

It all started when Mets starter Freddy Peralta yielded a two-out single to right to the Tigers’ Riley Greene, and Colt Keith, who started the play on first base, made it all the way to third safely when Carson Benge’s low, hard throw could not be handled by third baseman Brett Baty.

As the ball bounced around near the boundary of the visitor’s dugout, Keith darted home but hit into an expected wall — Drake.

Chaos at Citi Field!

Colt Keith goes to third, the throw gets away and Keith is thrown out at home

Keith collided with third base umpire Rob Drake on his way home pic.twitter.com/x5zVi5vDhl

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 13, 2026

Drake had been in position to make the call at third, but when Keith made his dash to the dish, the umpire could not move out of the way before Keith slammed into him.

As Drake fell to the grass, Keith threw off his helmet and stayed on his feet, but was thrown out at home by Peralta, who was in the right position backing up the play.

Had Keith b\scored, the ballgame would have been tied. Instead, he was the final out of the frame. The Mets added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend their edge. They added two more in the seventh, one of which came on rookie A.J. Ewing’s first big league hit, an RBI triple.