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The San Francisco Giants ended their winless streak to start the 2026 season, collecting their first win in the Tony Vitello era after defeating the San Diego Padres, 3-2, on March 30.

Under Vitello — joined the Giants as manager in October 2025 — San Francisco had dropped all three of its games in the season-opening series against the New York Yankees. The Giants went on the road to face the Padres, their NL West divisional rivals, where they got their first victory of the season.

Harrison Bader opened the scoring in the third inning with a 408-foot bomb over left field. The Giants added a couple of runs in the fourth inning by methodically filling the bases, something they hardly did in their series against the Yankees.

San Francisco went up 3-0 in the fourth inning. Patrick Bailey singled to left, which allowed Matt Chapman to cross home plate, as Jung Hoo Lee went to second. Another run shortly followed after Casey Schmitt hit an RBI single to left field that allowed Lee to score.

"The first one's huge," Bader told NBC Sports Bay Area. "Just a matter of going out there and, you know, continuing to process, you know, throwing strikes, taking care of the baseball, getting your swing off as a hitter. You do that, I think good thing happens in the lineup. It felt good to kind of get that off out of the way. Just a good team win."

The Yankees’ bullpen had been flawless up until the ninth inning of Monday’s ballgame. 

With the group a bit shorthanded on the night, Aaron Boone decided to keep the ball in the hands of Paul Blackburn in a tie ballgame heading into the bottom of the ninth. 

Blackburn had just put together a scoreless eighth making his first appearance of the season, but the Mariners quickly created some traffic against him leading off the final frame. 

Boone was forced to make another decision after a pair of singles put the winning run 90 feet away with just one out. 

The skipper decided to have Blackburn pitch to switch-hitting AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh rather than walking him to load the bases for the righty Julio Rodriguez. 

Rodriguez was 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts on the night, and Raleigh had struck out in his lone at-bat off the bench, as both fight through some early season struggles. 

Still, the decision came back to cost the Yanks as the slumping backstop laced a walk-off single on the fourth pitch he saw to give the Mariners the series opener. 

Asked about it postgame, Boone said via YES Network that he never considered issuing the intentional walk. 

“Then you’re just bringing up no margin for error and a walk in play,” he said. “You got both guys that are struggling out of the gates, and Julio would be almost impossible to double-up so we’d have to bring the infield in in that situation -- we view [Blackburn] as very neutral, and even reverse, so no, there’s was no thought to that.”

In the end, the Yankees' three-game winning streak and the bullpen's 14+ inning scoreless streak were snapped.

Things finally came full circle after eight years and seven months away from home. Justin Verlander returned to the mound in regular season action as a Detroit Tiger on Monday night in Arizona. Were you nervous? I’ve rarely had the mix of excitement and nerves I felt going into this one except in September and October.

Despite making peace with the reality that Verlander is just a regular rotation arm at this point, it’s hard to see him on the mound and not just expect greatness, but there was no greatness in this one as Verlander’s command was pretty lousy all night. A wild, strange contest ultimately did not go the Tigers way. The Diamondbacks built a big lead, nearly fumbled the bag, but then held on to win their first game of the season 9-6. The Tigers fall to 2-2 on the young season.

Veteran right-hander Mike Soroka was on the mound for the Snakes. He blew Kerry Carpenter away with a 95 mph heater right down the gut to open the game, but Gleyber Torres waited him out to draw a walk. Colt Keith got into a full count, slashing a near double just foul in the left field corner, but Soroka dotted the bottom edge with a fastball and froze him. Riley Greene flared a single to right as the left-handers seemed to be looking to go opposite field. That brought up Spencer Torkelson, who bounced a ball to Nolan Arenado, and the veteran third baseman beat Torres to third base to end the top half.

Over 21 years since his major league debut with the Tigers, Justin Verlander then took the mound against a tough 1-2-3 in the D-Backs lineup. Ketel Marte had no respect for the moment, smoking a 1-1 curveball for a single back through the box. Against Corbin Carroll, Verlander worked into a 2-2 count, shook Dillon Dingler off, and bounced another slider hunting chase. The ball got away from Dingler and Marte took second, and Carroll roasted a heater to the warning track in right center field for an RBI triple. 1-0 Diamondbacks.

Verlander tried to junkball Perdomo, and it didn’t work as the shortstop took a breaking ball down in a full count to walk. Gabriel Moreno bounced out to Javy Báez at shortstop, but it was weakly hit and they couldn’t turn it over. So, Carroll scored, and it was now 2-0 D-Backs with one out as Arenado stepped into the box.

Arenado lined a 1-2 fastball right to Báez for the second out, but the shortstop uncorked a wild snap throw to first as Perdomo was leaning, and that was a two base throwing error. Fortunately it didn’t matter as Alek Thomas flew out to right to end the inning.

Not an ideal start for the Tigers in this one.

McGonigle led off the second by smoking a line drive to right at 103.4 mph, but the speedy Carroll ran it down. Dingler chased a bunch of breaking balls to strike out swinging. Parker Meadows got a changeup down and away, lining it down the left field line for a double, and that brought Báez to the dish. The shortstop worked a full count, but presumably expecting them to fish away with a breaking ball, was instead locked up by a sinker middle-in. The only bright spot was that Soroka was already 40 pitches deep.

When I think of a long-time JV killer, one of the first names that comes to mind is long-time Cleveland slugger Carlos Santana. We prefer the guitarist, but it was Santana digging in against Verlander to open the bottom of the second. An 0-2 slider was hung, but Santana lined it to Carpenter in right field. Another hanging slider was roped to right for a single by Ildemaro Vargas. A first pitch curveball to Jordan Lawler was ripped to left for a single. Quite a bit of hard contact already, and now we were back to Marte at the top of the order.

Marte lifted a dangerous pop-up into shallow left-center and Báez called off Greene and made a pretty sweet basket catch while running well out into the outfield for the second out. In a 1-1 count, yet another hanging slider was right into Carroll’s bat path and got launched for a three-run shot. 5-0 Diamondbacks.

This was not what we were looking for. The stuff looks just fine, but the slider was all over the place in the early going. The hard contact continued as Perdomo got a first pitch heater down the pipe and fortunately lined it to Meadows to end the inning.

So far the command was pretty poor from JV.

Carpenter opened the third with a line drive single to right field. Torres drove one out to the warning track in dead center but it died in Thomas’ glove for the first out. Keith did better, hammering one further to center field. It kicked off the wall just shy of the yellow line high up the wall for a double. Carpenter thought it was out and perhaps wasn’t on his horse, stopping at third, and Keith had to scramble back to second base. Tough medicine on a ball that probably carried 415 feet or more.

Greene worked a 3-2 count and then took a front hip fastball that caught the inside edge to strike out. Tork watched a pair of breaking balls away to get to 2-0, then took a sinker on the inner edge for a strike. The next sinker was right down the pipe but he fouled it off and then chased a slurve just off the plate away to strike out. TTBDNS time. Make that five baserunners stranded in three innings.

Verlander’s command was just really spotty throughout his season debut. He wasn’t getting ahead enough, and made some mistakes in hitters’ counts. Curiously, we saw no high fourseamers at all really through the first three innings, but he did settle down for a scoreless frame.

He tugged three straight fastballs to Moreno before working back to a full count. Moreno drilled a 95 mph heater at the bottom of the zone down the right field line for a double. Verlander got ahead of Arenado 0-2, then missed down with a changeup. A fastball down was lifted out to Greene near the warning track in left for the first out. Thomas was locked up by a curveball and flailed at it for Verlander’s first strikeout. He and Santana locked up in a lengthy battle as his pitch count reached 65 on the night, and eventually popped him up to McGonigle for the final out.

The bats still weren’t doing anything in the fourth. McGonigle grounded out, Dingler punched out on a slurve down and away, and Meadows flew out to center field after starting ahead 3-0.

Verlander came back out and quickly collected two outs on very routine contact. Marte stepped in with two outs, and Verlander was closing in on 80 pitches. After getting ahead, he couldn’t get the talented outfielder to chase, and Marte worked a walk. That was all for Verlander’s return start to the Tigers.

Enmanuel de Jesus took over against the tough series of lefties atop the order. Dillon Dingler had a successful challenge as de Jesus dotted the outer corner with fastballs, but in a 2-2 count de Jesus yanked a fastball and it got away from Dingler as Marte took second, but it didn’t matter as Carroll chased a cutter away and struck out. Onto the fifth.

Soroka’s day was about to end as well, but he had enough left in the tank to punch out Báez, Carpenter, and Torres on 9 pitches. The immaculate inning did not speak well for the Tigers chances of fighting back in this one.

De Jesus got Perdomo to start the bottom of the fifth, bur Moreno singled to left. Arenado came up with a nice piece of 1-2 hitting, punching a fastball through the open right side of the infield. Thomas tried to bunt first pitch but tapped it foul, and then the left-handed outfielder smoked a cutter the opposite way off the wall to make it 6-0. De Jesus was following Verlander’s example and missing way too often, and he walked Santana to load the bases. He bounced back to pop up Vargas, but after getting ahead of Lawlar, de Jesus tried high sinkers twice and then missed low with a changeup to walk in a run. 7-0 Diamondbacks. Le sigh.

Marte got tied up by de Jesus’ first two pitches and eventually grounded one to Báez at shortstop. It was a bouncer and Marte runs well, so Báez fired quickly to second to get Lawlar. He was called out, but the Diamondbacks rightly challenged, and Lawlar was safe. 8-0 Diamondbacks. The late night suffering will continue until morale improves.

That was all for de Jesus’ return to the major leagues. After painting edges all spring, his command wasn’t sharp here either, and Hinch had to go get him as well. Brant Hurter came on to retire Carroll on a bliner out to Greene to end the inning.

Right-hander Kevin Ginkel took over in the top of the seventh. He froze Keith and got a soft tapper from Greene to start the inning. An end of the bat liner to center field from Torkelson was caught on a nice sliding catch by Thomas in the seventh. The Tigers now had 11 strikeouts to one walk, and the zone was not under control.

Hurter tossed a 1-2-3 bottom half of the sixth. Moreno flew out to the warning track in left but Greene was camped under it. Arenado grounded out to McGonigle to send us to the eighth.

So far, this had been classic bad at-bat theater by the Tigers. They were largely trying to be patient, only to let pitchers back into counts taking fastballs for strikes when ahead, and then chasing once there were two strikes. Not what we are looking for.

Right-hander Joe Ross, brother of Tyson, handled the seventh for the Snakes. He walked McGonigle to start things off. Dingler ambushed a first pitch slider and hammered a one hopper off the center field wall for a double to get the Tigers on the board. 8-1 Snakes.

Parker Meadows grounded out to second, moving Dingler to third, and Báez strafed a line drive single to right field to plate the Tigers’ second run. Small victories against arguably the D-Backs worst reliever. Carpenter chased a splitter away and struck out yet again, but Torres drilled a single to center field to keep the inning alive. Colt Keith stepped into the box, and Diamondbacks called a mound meeting to discuss.

It didn’t help them. Ross fell behind 2-1, and Keith smoked an opposite field drive into the left field corner to plate both runs. 8-4 Diamondbacks, and now things were getting interesting. They got more interesting when Riley Greene dumped a single to center field. Keith raced around to make it 8-5, and that was it for Joe Ross.

Sidearmer Ryan Thompson came on and threw three straight balls, balked Greene to third, and then gave up an RBI double to Torkelson. Hmm….8-6 Tigers. McGonigle back up as the 10th batter of the inning. Thompson fell behind 2-0, and the D-Backs were in danger. Probably the right thing to do was just to walk McGonigle, and Thompson agreed, doing so on four straight pitches. And now it was Dillon Dingler’s turn. Thompson missed four more times in a row, yes that’s eight straight, and Dingler walked as well. Yeesh.

That was it for Thompson, and at this point Jason Benetti, who had pointed out all game long that the Diamondbacks bullpen was terrible last year and not particularly upgraded this offseason, was grinning like the cat that swallowed the canary. Still, the Tigers were still well short of a comeback.

Torey Lovullo came to the mound once again, looking fully fed up with the situation, and called on Juan Morillo instead. A disgusted home crowd let out a roar when Morillo floated in a first pitch strike, but he too fell behind 2-1, then 3-1. However, Meadows got a 99 mph fourseamer down in the zone, and grounded out to second to at least temporarily restore sanity to the game. 8-6 Diamondbacks.

Hurter nearly hit Alek Thomas with a sinker to start the bottom half, but instead the center fielder swung and grounded out to Báez. Carlos Santana also grounded out quickly to Torres. Unfortunately, a 1-0 sinker to Vargas was up a bit and he smashed it out to left center field for a solo shot to make it a 9-6 game. Lawlar ripped a hot grounder past McGonigle into left, and that was it for Hurter as Kyle Finnegan entered the contest.

Finnegan dotted 97 on the inner edge to start Marte off, and Dingler had to challenge, making that two successful challenges for the Tigers catcher. Finnegan heard Lawlar break for second, turned and fired high to Torkelson. The ball got away and Lawlar ended up on third, but Marte lifted a shallow fly ball to left to end the inning.

Lovullo turned to Taylor Clarke to open the eighth. Báez flew out to left off the end of the bat to start things off. Carpenter struck out again, and then Torres flew out to center field.

Tyler Holton took over in the bottom of the eighth with tough lefties to face, and Holton quickly walked Corbin Carroll on four straight pitches. The speedy Carroll is not the guy to put on base to leadoff an inning. Holton did erase him by getting Perdomo to ground to Báez, who forced Carroll at second. Tyler Holton threw a 94 mph fastball in that at-bat which is odd, but he also was missing a ton, which was even odder. Holton walked Moreno on four straight pitches as well, and Nolan Arenado stepped in with a chance to put this game to bed for good. Instead, he popped out to Torkelson in foul territory. Holton punched out Thomas, and it was last call for the Tigers’ offense.

Keith opened the inning with another well struck ball off of Paul Sewald, but flew out to Lawlar in left. Greene flew out just shy of the warning track in center, and it was up to Torkelson who struck out.

Overall, poor showings from Verlander and de Jesus. Dingler, Greene, and particularly Keith had good nights at the plate, but not enough to overcome a big deficit. The Tigers are 2-2, and now Casey Mize will make his season debut on Tuesday night against RHP Brandon Pfaadt at 9:40 p.m. ET.

SEATTLE — Aaron Boone wanted the Yankees to be aggressive in using the automated ball-strike system.

A 5-for-5 night of challenges Monday — including two in one at-bat and the other three by three consecutive batters in one inning — was right in line with those wishes, though it did not ultimately make a difference in a 2-1 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

On a night when they struggled offensively, the Yankees at least created some better opportunities for themselves by getting called strikes turned into balls, which turned into some barking with home plate umpire Mike Estabrook along the way.

“Really good job by the guys,” Boone said. “When you have that kind of success rate, it’s not going to be like that every night, but I thought every one was obviously warranted and a couple in some key spots to give us a chance to build an inning. We just weren’t able to build much offensively tonight.”

Estabrook heard it from Boone and the Yankees dugout in the fourth inning, when Ben Rice, Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each successfully challenged pitches below the zone in consecutive at-bats.

“You also get a little frustrated over there, like, those are razor-thin pitches sometimes, you don’t want to always have to be challenging,” Boone said. “But good on the guys for hammering the strike zone right now.”

An inning earlier, José Caballero successfully challenged two pitches in the same at-bat. He turned a 1-1 count into a 2-0 count and then a strikeout into a walk.

The Yankees are 10-for-11 in ABS challenges through four games.

The Yankees are now 5/5 on challenges against Mike Estabrook.

Estabrook got mad because Aaron Boone started chirping him to lock in

Ridiculous Estabrook is pissed off, get the calls right… pic.twitter.com/5ARiCznrfX

— js9innings (@js9inningsmedia) March 31, 2026

For the first time since their down-to-the-wire race for the American League MVP last season, Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh squared off Monday night.

Raleigh was not in the Mariners starting lineup, entering the day 2-for-15 with 10 strikeouts, but pinch hit in the seventh inning and later delivered the game-winning hit with a walk-off single. The catcher was off to a slow start after crushing 60 home runs last season and nearly swiping the MVP from Judge, who received 17 first-place votes to Raleigh’s 13.

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“I figured it would be pretty close,” Boone said before Monday’s game. “I kind of believed Judgey would carry the day. I think [the voters] got it right. But there’s no denying the all-around season that Cal had. It was deservingly a very tight race.”

Carlos Rodón (elbow surgery) threw 50 pitches in live batting practice Sunday in Tampa, continuing his buildup toward rejoining the Yankees in April. It is possible his next outing could come on the start of a rehab assignment this weekend.

Gerrit Cole, meanwhile, is expected to throw one inning of live batting practice in a few days as he goes through a scheduled deload before building up a final time.

As for Anthony Volpe, the shortstop remains on track to begin facing live pitching Wednesday in Tampa. He has been hitting off the Trajekt pitching machine over the past few days.

Carlos Lagrange made his Triple-A debut Sunday, tossing four innings of one-run ball with no walks and three strikeouts. The 22-year-old threw 68 pitches in frigid Buffalo, but still brought the heat with his fastball, averaging 97.9 mph and topping out at 101.3.

The rest of the Yankees minor league rosters were announced Monday ahead of those affiliates beginning the season Friday. Among the notable assignments: SS George Lombard Jr., RHP Ben Hess and LHP Kyle Carr at Double-A Somerset; LHP Pico Kohn, INF Kaeden Kent and INF Core Jackson at High-A Hudson Valley; and LHP Henry Lalane, LHP Allen Facundo and OF Brando Mayea at Single-A Tampa.