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The Yankees didn't have enough juice on Friday night at Tropicana Field, falling to the Rays, 5-3.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Aaron Judge got the Yankees going in the first inning with a single and a stolen base, advancing to third base on a throwing error by the catcher. The MVP scored on Cody Bellinger's sacrifice fly to make it a 1-0 game. Giancarlo Stanton walked and Amed Rosario came through with his first triple since 2024 as LF Chandler Simpson mistimed a sliding catch and the ball rolled to the wall, giving the Yanks a 2-0 lead.

-- Making his season debut, Lui Gil found himself in trouble right away. The 27-year-old recorded two quick outs before walking Jonathan Aranda and giving up a two-run home run to Yandy Díaz as the Rays tied it up at 2-2.

In the second inning, Gil hit Taylor Walls and then let up a single to Nick Fortes, setting up a first-and-third situation with just one out. Simpson hit a double play ball to Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second, but used his league-best speed to beat the throw to first, allowing the run to score for the Rays to take a 3-2 lead.

Gil bounced back for a 1-2-3 third inning and avoided further damage in the fourth inning by getting a tag down on Ben Williamson, trying to score on the safety squeeze. His day ended after 4.0 IP, allowing three runs on three hits with two strikeouts and three walks.

-- After Jake Bird tossed a scoreless fifth inning, Brent Headrick had a tough sixth inning. He let up a leadoff double to Williamson and an RBI single to Simpson as the Rays pushed the lead to 4-2. Camilo Doval then came in and let up a single to Junior Caminero and an RBI groundout to Aranda, making it a 5-2 game.

-- Ben Rice blasted a pinch-hit solo home run in the top of the eighth inning, cutting the Tampa Bay lead to 5-3. 

New York couldn't keep up the momentum as Judge grounded out and Bellinger struck out to end the frame. They tried to rally in the ninth with two straight singles, but a forceout, a Randall Grichuk strikeout, and Trent Grisham popout ended the game.

Highlights

An RBI triple for Amed Rosario 🏃‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/4QJgORWCDx

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 10, 2026

Ben Rice gets a run back for the Yankees within a home run! pic.twitter.com/nT6PQXspcz

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 11, 2026

Upcoming Schedule

The Yankees continue their three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday at 6:10 p.m.

Max Fried (2-0, 1.35 ERA) gets the start against righty Nick Martinez (0-0, 2.25 ERA).

Been a while since we had a fun one, but the vibes may have turned. Patrick Corbin does not look like the answer to their rotation problems, but just about everyone else did their job. The offence was undaunted by a four run hole, racking up nine extra base hits (14 total) against just four strikeouts. The bullpen looked like they benefited greatly from a day’s rest, combining for five innings of one hit relief while picking up nine punch outs.

It was a rough welcome back to the show for Patrick Corbin. He got Byron Buxton to pop out to open the game, but then Austim Martin and Luke Keaschall singled to set the table for Ryan Jeffers’ first home run of the year to stake Minnesota to an early 3-0 lead. Things did improve a bit from there for Corbin. He walked the next batter but got a strikeout to end the inning. He hit Brooks Lee in the second, but limited the damage there. In the third, he managed to strand a single and another hit batter. Brooks Lee chipped in the Twins’ fourth run on a solo shot to lead off the fourth, and Austin Martin would double later in the inning, but Corbin also got a pair of strikeouts and held it to 4-0. Four innings was all he’d manage. A 9.00 ERA is bad, no way to spin it, but they needed a guy to take the ball and he managed that. If you want to hunt for a source of optimism, his 9 swinging strikes on 85 pitches suggest his breaking balls can still miss some MLB bats.

Meanwhile, the Jays took three innings to get used to Simeon Woods Richardson, failing to score a Daulton Varsho one out double in the first and going in order in the second. A George Springer walk in the third was also left on. Finally, in the fourth, the floodgates opened. Vlad ripped a double to centre, Jesus Sanchez followed with one of his own to put Toronto on the board, one out later Davis Schneider chipped in the third double of the inning to plate Sanchez, and an Andres Gimenez ground single brought them within one. Brandon Valenzuela launched his first big league home run, a line shot 383 feet to right, to put them ahead 5-4.

Tommy Nance faced the first three batters in the fifth, getting a strikeout and a ground out but allowing a ground ball single. Joe Mantiply cleaned up by coming on to strike out Matt Wallner. The Jays continued to score in the bottom half against reliever Anthony Banda. Daulton Varsho his his first homer of the year, 405 feet to right-centre.

Mantiply struck out the first two Twins in the sixth, while Louis Varland got his man to finish striking out the side. Schneider worked a walk off Banda, then scored on an Ernie Clement line double, extending the Jays’ lead to three. Two batters later, Springer’s fourth double cashed Clement to make it four.

Varland walked Austin Martin in the seventh, but a ground out and a double play ball retired the Twins. For the Jays, Vlad singled, stole second, and scored on a Schneider single.

They kept rolling in the eighth. Braydon Fisher hit lead off man Jeffers, but a ground out and a pair of K’s retired Minnesota without them scoring. Brandon Valenzuela picked up his second hit on an infield single off new reliever Justin Topa, and two outs later Vlad crushed a 116mph ball over Austin Martin’s head and off the left field wall to cash Valenzuela and put the Jays in double digits.

Fisher stayed in to handle the ninth, getting a ground out and his third and fourth Ks to wrap it up.

Jays of the Day: Team effort today. Valenzuela (0.23) and Schneider (0.12) have the number, but two hits including a homer and three hits (two doubles) and a stolen base earn Varsho and Guerrero nods

Not So Much: Corbin (-0.23)

It’s an afternoon game tomorrow, first pitch at 3:07pm ET. Ace Joe Ryan (1-1, 4.40) will go for the Twins, while the Blue Jays will turn to Eric Lauer (1-1, 4.91).

When pressure and, now, injuries begin mounting and the hits are not, there is a tendency for players to try to do too much. 

Maybe that is why the at-bats for the Mets seemed to grow progressively worse Friday night as the booing from the Citi Field crowd grew progressively louder. 

Maybe that is the explanation for Francisco Lindor short-circuiting a potential rally, wandering too far off third base and getting gunned down from across the diamond. 

The Mets offense was silent, and the jeers became loud in a 4-0 series-opening loss to the Athletics in front of 36,349 unhappy customers as just about everything went wrong, including starting pitcher Clay Holmes leaving with a tight hamstring. 

The most wrong, though, was an offense that scored in Thursday’s first inning when Luis Robert Jr. homered but since that blast has gone 17 consecutive innings without a run. It is difficult to win when a team cannot score, and the Mets (7-7) have dropped three straight. 

“Couple of guys going through it,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the Mets were shut out for a second time this season. “When you got a few guys that are having a hard time, we’re not creating traffic. … Right now, it’s just quick innings.” 

They did not get a hit against the A’s — who two-hit the Yankees over the final 17 innings of a series in The Bronx that ended Thursday — until Jared Young laid down a bunt that somehow stayed fair with one out in the fourth. 

Young was the last position player to crack the roster coming out of spring training yet was the club’s No. 3 hitter. He is off to a nice start, so the slot was understandable, but it underscored how feeble the Mets order has looked. 

There is no Juan Soto, who is not yet running and is likely weeks away from a return. It is possible the rest of the order — which finished with six hits, not a single Met with more than one — is trying to do too much without its best hitter. 

“Soto is irreplaceable. He’s one of the best hitters in the game,” Lindor said. “Guys understand that we got to get it done. We’re all professionals, and we have to get it done.” 

Lindor has to get it done, he acknowledged, but this is turning into yet another April in which he gets off to a slow start. Through 14 games, he is 9-for-55 (.164) without a home run. Even a rare hit Friday ended up leading to a different kind of mistake. 

Down a run, the Mets began a rally in the sixth inning against righty reliever Jack Perkins. Lindor singled and went to third on a single from Bo Bichette. 

There was life injected into Queens. An instant later, it was gone. 

Young grounded to Nick Kurtz, and Lindor attempted — successfully — to draw a throw from the first baseman. 

“That’s the right play,” Mendoza maintained. 

“We definitely wanted to stay out of a double play in that situation,” Lindor said. 

The merits of the play are debatable, but the execution lacked. Ideally, Lindor would have wandered far enough off the base to draw a throw and either return to the base safely or induce a rundown, which would allow the trail runners to move to second and third. 

Instead, Kurtz eyed Lindor, hesitated a moment and then threw a strike to nail Lindor before he could return to the base. Three pitches later, Robert grounded into a double play, which jump-started rounds of boos that became the soundtrack for the late innings. 

“I could have done a better job of holding [out for] the rundown,” said Lindor, whose bigger issues reside with his bat than legs. 

He continues to state that the spring surgery on his hamate — which notoriously saps power from hitters — is not a factor. 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

What he does believe is a factor is a tendency of late to swing at pitches outside the strike zone. 

“I got to get better,” Lindor said. “At the beginning of the year, I was doing a really good job of controlling the strike zone. Now, I’m expanding a little bit.” 

Adding to the insulting offense was the Holmes injury, which was not immediately believed to be serious. The righty exited in the sixth with what the club called left hamstring tightness after allowing one run in 5 ¹/₃ innings. 

Tobias Myers entered and pitched well until he let up three runs in the top of the ninth, but pitching became a Mets afterthought Friday.

Three days removed from the sudden death of his father, Miguel Rojas was business as usual at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

The veteran infielder could’ve stepped away from the team, of course. He could have gone on the bereavement list this weekend amid his family’s loss.

However, Rojas said he was going to stay with the team for its series against the Rangers and expressed more gratitude for all the support he has received from the club and his teammates over the last several days.

“There’s a lot going on [with his family] in Venezuela, and his family is kind of dispersed all over the world,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He just feels they’ve got a handle on it down there, so he’s gonna stay with us.”

Rojas missed the Dodgers’ Tuesday game in Toronto after learning only 45 minutes before first pitch that his father, Miguel Rojas Sr., had suffered a heart attack.

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The funeral was the next day in Rojas’ native Venezuela. However, with the Dodgers already on the road in another country, Rojas said it was too short notice for him to make it home in time. So, he instead started in that afternoon’s game, writing his dad’s nickname, “Mickey,” on his hat.

Starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani had “MR” written on his cap during the game, too.

“I’m sure it’s been a tough day for Miggy,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after the game. “He showed up today, made some really good plays. We just want to make sure that he’s well-supported.”

Mookie Betts, Blake Snell making progress

Less than a week after suffering an oblique strain, Mookie Betts is already “symptom-free,” Roberts said.

“He feels good,” the manager added. “He’s not feeling anything.”

That’s good news for the Dodgers, who have replaced Betts at shortstop over the last week with a combination of Rojas and Hyeseong Kim. Roberts said Betts is unlikely to return when his 10-day injured list stint is up next Wednesday but sounded optimistic the former MVP would return soon after.

Another injured star making progress this week: Blake Snell, the two-time Cy Young Award winner who has been sidelined by shoulder fatigue to start the year.

Snell said he is scheduled to face hitters for the first time this year on Saturday, a key step in his recovery that should keep him on pace to return sometime in May.

The Dodgers are also hoping to get right-handed reliever Brock Stewart back before even then. Stewart has been facing batters in Arizona the last few weeks and is expected to go on a rehab assignment soon.

Slower progress

On the other end of the injury spectrum, Tommy Edman still isn’t on the verge of returning from his offseason ankle surgery, as he hasn’t yet begun running at 100%.

“He’s a ways from running full speed,” Roberts said. “And then also, I think that when you’re coming back from surgery, the next part is the recovery. So being able to run full speed, when he gets to that point, [he also needs] the next couple days after to feel no symptoms. That’s the thing that we haven’t really got to yet.”

Roberts said Edman is further behind schedule than Kike Hernandez, who won’t be eligible to come off the 60-day injured list until mid-May after undergoing offseason elbow surgery.

Two other players who remain on a slow recovery timeline: pitchers Gavin Stone and Brusdar Graterol.

Stone was shut down after one start this spring when his surgically repaired shoulder flared up on him. Graterol, meanwhile, was put on the IL to begin the season when his own surgically repaired shoulder gave him velocity issues earlier in camp.

Roberts said Graterol’s velocity has ticked up in recent bullpens but didn’t say how close he was to facing batters. With Stone, he said “it’s slow,” unsure of exactly where he is at in his rehab process.

The Dodgers (9-3) open a three-game series against the Rangers (7-5) Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

Tyler Glasnow (1-0, 3.00 ERA, 0.92 WHIP) takes the ball for the series opener.

Kumar Rocker (0-1, 3.60 ERA, 5 IP) makes his  first career appearance against the Dodgers. 

Lineups

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Rangers
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Well. Not great. It started off well though!

Slade pitched today. Gave up a bloop RBI liner to Acuna in the third. In the 4th, Manzardo absolutely obliterated a first pitch sinker 454 feet to center.

Kwan, in the fifth, hit a liner to left that was mishandled by Mike Yastrzemski, leading to the go-ahead run scoring.

It was basically all Braves from this point on. Vogt brought out Cecconi for the 6th to face the top of the Braves’ order for the third time, and they took advantage of that miscue. Cecconi has an 8.39 ERA the third time through. After 3 runs had scored, Vogt brought in Guardians’ favorite Matt Festa, who gave up another 3 runs (only 2 credited to him). Pallette gave up another 2 runs in the 7th.

The Guardians fought back in the 8th, scoring 3 runs off a Hoskins RBI double (scoring DeLauter, who doubled to lead off the inning) and an Angel Martinez 2-RBI single (scoring Brito and Hoskins, who both hit their way on).

Allard came on for the 8th and gave up two more runs.

That’s all, see you tomorrow. It’s Messick vs. former White Sock Martin Perez.

As the Braves debuted their blue City Connect 2.0 jerseys, they hoped for more quality innings from Bryce Elder in the first game of a homestand against the Guardians.

Elder walked Jose Ramirez in the first, but struck the next batter out to start the game with a scoreless frame. Ronald Acuna nearly made my prediction true in his first at-bat, hitting a ball that might have been a homer in another park, on another night, or (perhaps most importantly) with a different ball, but instead fell for a flyout. The second inning was a quiet one and Elder worked around a Kwan single in the third before the Braves drew first blood with singles from Dominic Smith and Michael Harris before a broken bat single from Acuna brought Smith home. Baldwin unfortunately grounded into an inning-inning double-play, limiting the scoring to one run in the frame, which Elder gave back with a solo homer from Kyle Manzardo in the fourth.

The Guardians went single-walk-single with one out in the fifth, taking a 2-1 lead ahead of Cleveland’s two msot dangerous hitters in DeLauter and Ramirez. Elder walked DeLauter to load the bases for Jose Ramirez, which is exactly the type of situation you want to avoid against the Guardians. Bryce struck out Jose Ramirez, ending his outing on a high note, before Walt Weiss pulled him for Aaron Bummer to face the lefty Manzardo. That worked, as he got Manzardo to pop out, ending the inning. Tyler Kinley got the sixth and worked a 1-2-3 frame on contact outs. In the home frame, Ronald finally hit his first homer of the season, on a moonshot to left field, tying the game up at 2 runs, making my pregame prediction come true.

Drake Baldwin followed Ronald’s solo shot with a line drive single, still with no outs. Matt Olson made good on that situation with a 111.6 MPH moonshot of his own over the Chop House on a 3-0 count, as 3 batters turned a 1-2 deficit into a 4-2 lead against Cecconi.

Austin Riley made for the fourth straight 104+ MPH batter ball with another single, as it was clearly a mistake for the Guardians to let Cecconi face the Braves’ lineup a third time through. Austin took second and third on groundouts against the Guardians’ reliever Festa and Dominic Smith singled him home before Michael Harris launched another homer to give the Braves a commanding 7-2 lead.

Dubon hit a ringing double and Acuna laced a lineout to end the inning. Dylan Lee handled the seventh in 1-2-3 fashion with one strikeout, and the Braves got some small ball insurance with walks from Olson and Yaz followed by singles from Albies and Smith to make it a 9-2 ballgame. Jose Suarez got the eighth and allowed some hard contact, lost his command, and allowed three runs, failing to complete the eighth inning of a 9-3 game and handing a two on, two out situation to Joel Payamps with a 4 run lead. Payamps got a deep flyout to end the inning with a nice play from Michael Harris.

The Braves’ bats once again added some insurance in the eighth, on a bloop from Dubon and a double from the still-scorching-hot Drake Baldwin. Matt Olson just missed what would have been a two-run oppo shot before Austin Riley brought Drake home on a line drive single. Osvaldo Bido got the ninth and walked the leadoff hitter, but got a double play and ended the game with a Jose Ramirez flyout.

Join us again for game 2 tomorrow night, same time and place.

The Mets' offensive struggles continued on Friday night, managing just six hits in their 4-0 loss to the Athletics.

New York has now lost three straight games and hasn't scored in 17 straight innings.

Here are the takeaways... 

-- Clay Holmes was solid through 5.1 innings, allowing just one run on five hits, but left the game early with left hamstring tightness in the sixth inning.

The one run came in the third inning when Shea Langeliers singled with runners on the corners to put the Athletics up 1-0. New York should have turned a double play on the previous at-bat, but Nick Kurtz beat Francisco Lindor's throw to first.

Holmes avoided further damage in the fourth inning after former Met Jeff McNeil doubled and again in the fifth inning after a wild pitch moved Kurtz to second base with two outs. Overall, Holmes threw 81 pitches before walking off the field with trainers after allowing a single to Jacob Wilson.

-- The Mets bats couldn't figure out former prospect J.T. Ginn, who retired the first seven batters before walking Francisco Alvarez in the bottom of the third inning. New York failed to capitalize on its first baserunner as Carson Benge struck out and Lindor flied out to center to end the inning.

Jared Young dropped a bunt down the third base line in the fourth inning and the ball somehow stayed fair for New York's first hit of the game. Although he was left stranded, Ginn got the next two outs to get through the fourth inning. Ginn's day ended after 4.0 IP, allowing just the bunt single, striking out four, and walking one.

-- Pitching changes didn't help New York turn things around. Their best scoring chance came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Lindor and Bichette both singled against Jack Perkins, giving the team runners on first and third base with no outs. Young hit a hard line drive to Kurtz at first base and the reigning AL Rookie of the Year caught Lindor in between third and home, zipping a throw across the diamond to get him sliding back to third base. Luis Robert Jr. then grounded into the inning-ending double play.

-- McNeil was honored with a tribute video in his first game back in Queens and had a strong night against his old squad. In the third inning, McNeil bobbled a sharp grounder from Bo Bichette but was able to get him out at first in time (thanks to an overturned call). He flashed his glove again in the fifth inning, robbing Carson Benge of a single. At the plate, McNeil went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

-- Tobias Myers retired eight straight A's to keep it a 1-0 game heading into the ninth inning, but then things fell apart. Wilson singled and advanced to second base on Benge's fielding error. Myers then gave up an RBI single to McNeil, and after a double to Max Muncy, he let up another RBI single to Denzel Clarke as the A's took a 4-0 lead. Richard Lovelady came in and forced a double play to stop the bleeding.

Robert singled in the bottom of the ninth, but that's all the Mets could rally with, as Brett Baty and Marcus Semien both flied out to end the game.

Highlights

Semien ➡️ Lindor ➡️ Young for the double play! pic.twitter.com/5fGdld79mw

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 10, 2026

Jared Young's bunt stays fair and the Mets have their first hit of the night! pic.twitter.com/RAsmVdXKRF

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

Clay Holmes is leaving the game with a Mets athletic trainer pic.twitter.com/JFPbShQnwb

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 11, 2026

What's next

The Mets continue their three-game series against the Athletics on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

Kodai Senga (0-1, 3.09 ERA) takes the mound and faces left-hander Jacob Lopez (0-1, 6.48 ERA).

The story of tonight’s game is unequivocally Kris Bubic. The long-time Royals carved up the White Sox all night. He struggled in the first inning compared to the rest of the outing again, but even then, he looked good, striking out a pair and walking one in a scoreless first. Scoreless was the name of the thing for Bubic, who ultimately pitched seven shutout innings with a career high eleven strikeouts. It was the best start the Royals have gotten among a number of pretty good starts to start the season.

That first inning saw Bubic throw over 20 pitches, but at the end of 7, he’d thrown only 88 total. Just to remind you that strikeouts don’t always mean high pitch counts. The first-inning walk was the only one he would allow, and he didn’t give up his first hit of only two allowed until Lenyn Sosa led off the top of the fifth with a double. Bubic responded by getting a soft lineout, a popout, and a strikeout to end the threat. In the sixth, he allowed a single to number nine hitter Derek Hill, but a strikeout, groundout, and strikeout ended that threat.

Matt Strahm and Lucas Erceg each pitched clean innings to finish the win off, though neither earned their own strikeout.

The Royals’ offense started in the bottom of the fourth. Maikel Garcia led off with a double and, shortly after the Artemis II mission’s Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific, Bobby splashed his third double in as many games off the left field wall to drive Maikel home. Bobby advanced to third on a Vinnie Pasquantino flyout but the team couldn’t get him home.

After Bubic finished off the White Sox in the seventh, it seemed like the Royals could use an insurance run. Carter Jensen delivered.

Carter now has twice as many home runs as anyone else on the team. Ever since the sleep-in incident, Carter has looked like a brand new guy. Before that, he was slashing .125/.167/.313/.480. Since then, he’s slashing .316/.371/.842/1.223 with three of his home runs in seven games. Michael Massey followed with a double, advanced to third on a wild pitch, but the Royals couldn’t get him in, either.

Still, Kris Bubic put the team on his back and carried them to a series-evening victory in under two hours. One really fun thing is that he got four strikeouts with the fastball, four with the slider, and three with the sweeper. His changeup is usually considered his best pitch, and he didn’t even need to use it to get his Ks. Just a truly phenomenal start.

The Royals have a late afternoon start tomorrow as they try to guarantee at least a split. Michael Wacha (0.69 ERA, 3.98 SIERA) will face off against Erick Fedde (4.09 ERA, 3.60 SIERA). The game will start at 3:10 Royals time and be aired on Royals.TV. See you then!

The A’s just keep winning! In New York for their fourth straight game the A’s took the first game of the weekend series against the Mets, winning 4-0 thanks to some late-game insurance that they ended up not really needing. Still love the foot on the gas pedal late though!

Ginn dominates in first start

We had a new starting pitcher outside of the season-opening rotation on the mound for our Athletics for the first time this season. Right-hander JT Ginn was tabbed tonight for his first start of the 2026 season after beginning the year as the team’s long man in the bullpen, taking the spot of Luis Morales.

Ginn hadn’t really pitched deep into any games this year. The longest he’d gone was in his first outing of the season when he took over after a short Morales start in the first series of the season. He’d reached 45 pitches in that outing and that was the goal the coaching staff probably had in mind for their young righty tonight.

Ginn began his night hot, striking out Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette to start tonight’s contest. He issued a walk in the second and allowed a single in the fourth but outside of those two batters Ginn sat down every Mets hitter he faced tonight. It was a dominant outing against a Mets lineup missing their biggest bat in Juan Soto, but it was still a great sight to see the 26-year-old absolutely control the team that drafted then traded him to the A’s way back in 2022.

• J.T. Ginn: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 68 pitches

It felt like a bit of a gamble to have him face the top of the order for a second time but Mark Kotsay’s roll of the dice worked out in his favor in this one. It had to have felt good for Ginn to show up his former organization in this one.

Bats mostly silent…. Mostly

Meanwhile the Mets had right-hander Clay Holmes on the mound for them tonight. The A’s were having a bit better luck early on against the former reliever but they weren’t able to cash in on those early chances.

That is, until the third inning. Backup outfielder Carlos Cortes, who looks likely to get more playing time with Brent Rooker out due to injury, singled to kick off the top of the third inning. A strikeout and walk put him in scoring position with one down but a force out seemingly killed the rally before it got started. Well Shea Langeliers had something else to say about that, collecting his first hit of the night to bring around the runner at second for the game’s first run of the game:

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to have him hitting at the top of the lineup. Worked out in this situation, that’s for sure. Now if only we can get Nick Kurtz going…

Then things got quite. Real quiet. Neither team was able to get much of any type of rally going at all through the middle frames. The biggest moment from these innings came in the bottom of the sixth. Right-hander Jack Perkins, only called up today, came on in relief of Mark Leiter Jr. and was immediately greeted with singles off the bats of Lindor and Bichette with no one out. Tough spot to be in, but the defense came up huge behind him. A groundball to Nick Kurtz was fielded by last year’s ROTY and the first baseman made the decision to go for the runner at third. It was risky but ended up being the smart decision as he nabbed the runner at the hot corner, and that was immediately followed by a groundball double play that squashed the Mets’ rally in its place:

That might have been the biggest moment of the game. If the Mets get on the board then things could have snowballed and tonight’s recap would sound a lot different.

Perkins ended up pitching the next inning as well, and then got the first out of the eighth before making way for Scott Barlow, who did his job by getting the next two out to set up a save situation for the Athletics. Perkins ended up pitching 2 1/3 innings and allowing just three hits while collecting three punchouts. A successful first big league appearance of the season, and Barlow looks like he’s slowly getting himself on track as well.

Insurance time!

Clinging to a 1-0 lead the A’s were desperate for some cushion. Anything, even one run, would help take some pressure off the man in the ninth to be perfect. Well the A’s gave him that and more. It all started with Jacob Wilson collecting his third hit of the night (he’d finish 3-for-4 on the evening), and he was able to advance to second thanks to an error in left field by rookie outfielder Carson Benge. That was then followed by a Jeff McNeil single against his former team that brought home that much-needed insurance run:

The club wasn’t done there, either. Third baseman Max Muncy followed McNeil with a double than put two more runners in scoring position, and after a groundout from Cortes the A’s got the biggest hit of the night, a two-run single off the bat of center fielder Denzel Clarke:

So good to see Clarke find some success with the bat. We all know about the amazing glove he has on the grass in center field but it’s going to be his bat that keeps in him the lineup on a regular basis. Clarke spoke after the game with the guys about that ninth inning:

That rally all but sealed tonight’s outcome. Righty Elvis Alvarado came on for the ninth and pitched a clean inning, ending the game by getting old friend Marcus Semien to fly out to Soderstrom in left. Another win for the good guys!

Things broke the A’s way tonight. Ginn was fantastic and likely earned himself another start next week (which lines up to be against the Texas Rangers at home). The bats were quiet for most of the game but came through when it mattered most. Jeff McNeil had two hits and a huge RBI against his former squad. The bullpen did its job and then some with five shutout frames. The pitching staff has now gone 26 straight innings without allowing a run, and the team is coming off back-to-back wins against both New York teams. The Athletics are now 6-7 and are starting to play like the team A’s fans expected.

The series continues tomorrow afternoon with Game 2 of the series. It’s going to be left-hander Jacob Lopez on the bump for the good guys in what’ll be his third start of the season. His first two outings weren’t horrible, but he’s yet to give the team much length after only going 4 1/3 and 4 innings in both starts this year. The club could be taking things easy with him considering his injury that ended his campaign last season but it’d still be nice to get some more length out of him for the bullpen’s sake. The Mets meanwhile will send righty Kodai Senga out there tomorrow afternoon. He’s off to a quick start this year after missing essentially all of last season due to injury. In two career starts against the A’s he’s only allowed four runs spanning 11 2/3 frames. Not an easy test for the bats but four wins in a row should be plenty of motivation. But great win all around tonight!