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On a sunny, but blustery and chilly afternoon at Wrigley Field, two Cubs totally dominated the action.

Shōta Imanaga had another outstanding start, scattering four hits over seven innings and striking out five.

And Ian Happ doubled, tripled and homered, scoring both of the Cubs’ runs in a 2-0 shutout of the Diamondbacks, the Cubs’ second shutout win of 2026.

Neither team scored in the first, then Happ led off the second with his eighth home run of the year [VIDEO].

Happ didn’t hit his eighth home run last year until June 19, the team’s 74th game. And that one went into the proverbial teeth of a pretty strong wind blowing off Lake Michigan.

Imanaga continued to dominate the D-backs. After a first-inning single by Corbin Carroll, he retired 16 of the next 18 Arizona hitters he faced, and got helped in part by some slick defense by Dansby Swanson.

I don’t think any other shortstop in the league makes this play [VIDEO].

It’s not just the stop behind the bag — sure, many shortstops can do that. Then he whirls and makes a strong, accurate throw to Michael Busch. The totality of the play is what makes Swanson so good. That was the first out of the sixth and he wound up making all three plays that inning.

The Cubs, though, could not get any offense going after Happ’s home run. They loaded the bases in the third on a walk, double by Busch and a two-out intentional walk to Happ (now how often do you see that in the modern game in the third inning?). But Seiya Suzuki flied to left to end the inning.

Happ’s one-out double in the sixth gave the Cubs a runner in scoring position, but Suzuki flied to right and after a walk drawn by Pete Crow-Armstrong (he’s getting good at that!), Swanson grounded out to end the inning.

Imanaga got into a bit of trouble in the seventh, allowing a one-out double and two-out walk. But then he got James McCann to ground to third to end the inning.

Overall, Imanaga threw 87 pitches (56 strikes). Here are his five K’s [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Imanaga’s outing [VIDEO].

Imanaga now has a 2.40 ERA in 41.1 innings, with 10 walks and 43 strikeouts. He again did not allow a home run in this game, so he’s still given up just three long balls this year, no more than one in any game. This is exactly the guy the Cubs hoped he’d be, and hopefully Jed Hoyer is working on some sort of contract extension for Imanaga. Yes, it will cost more than the $57 million for three years the Cubs turned down. Yes, it’s worth it.

Ben Brown, who has been so good in a multi-inning relief role this year, threw a 1-2-3 eighth.

Then Happ and the Cubs padded the lead with an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Happ tripled into the gap in right-center [VIDEO].

That was his first triple of the year — and he didn’t hit any last year, either. He now has 17 triples in his career, and that was his first since Sept. 2, 2024 against the Pirates at Wrigley. More on Happ’s day from BCB’s JohnW53:

Ian Happ extended his on-base streak to 23 games with his second-inning homer. He began the day tied with Ronald Acuna of the Braves, Yordan Alvarez of the Astros and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers for the third-longest such streak in MLB this season. Acuna’s streak was active. So were the two longer than Happ’s: 26 games, by Nick Kurtz of the Athletics, and 24, by Ildemaro Vargas of the Diamondbacks. Vargas’ streak ended in today’s game.

Suzuki drove Happ in with this sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 [VIDEO].

Brown was left in the game to throw the ninth. And Swanson made a nifty play to help out Brown for the first out [VIDEO].

All three outs in the ninth went to Dansby, who had nine assists on the afternoon. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].

What a fantastic team effort — great pitching (from both Imanaga and Brown), outstanding defense and timely hitting. And so, at least for today:

An additional note on the game, and Happ’s afternoon, from John:

With Happ’s eighth-inning triple, the Cubs completed a team cycle — with only five total hits.

Happ missed a cycle by a single. He is the 31st Cub to do that since 1901. Michael Busch was the last, on Sept. 27 of last year. Seiya Suzuki had done it on April 29, 2025, and Garrett Cooper, on April 2, 2024. Those had been the first such games by a Cub since Happ, on May 19, 2018.

There have been seven since 2000. Aramis Ramirez, in 2006, and Moises Alou, in 2004, were the earlier two.
Happ joins Manny Trillo as the only Cub to do it twice.

For comparison, a Cub has had 10 complete cycles, while 702 missed one for lack of a triple. They included Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw this year and 11 last year. Among the nine were Suzuki and Kyle Tucker, three each, and Busch and Happ, twice.

Last note: This was the first time in 2026 that the Diamondbacks lost to a left-handed starter.

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].

The Cubs won the series and now have not only a 10-game home winning streak, but have won four in a row overall, and are 14-3 since beginning that 10-game overall win streak on April 14. Good times. And at this writing the Pirates are demolishing the Reds 15-3 in the fifth (!) inning. Presuming that score holds up, the Cubs will be in first place by themselves after today’s action.

The Cubs will go for the series sweep Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Merrill Kelly goes for the D-backs. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

Go Rays!

With Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole's impending returns over the next month or so, Yankees manager Aaron Boone and the organization have important decisions to make when it comes to whose spots they will take. 

Ryan Weathers took the mound Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles in his latest pitch to stay in the Yankees starting rotation and was effective. The southpaw pitched five-plus innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks while striking out five in the team's 9-4 win over Baltimore. It was Weathers' second win of the season and the performance dropped his ERA to 3.03. 

"I thought Weathers was good," Boone said of Weathers' start. "Scattered a little bit, but other than those two walks, I thought he did a really good job. Had a lot of different ways to get you out. Sweeper, changeup, fastball were all playing well. Maybe ran out of a little steam there, but to get into the sixth inning there with another strong performance, really nice by him."

It's the fifth consecutive start Weathers has pitched at least five innings and he's allowed three runs or fewer in six of his seven starts, including one earned run or fewer in four starts. That's helped the Yankees starting rotation boast the best ERA (2.67) in the majors. 

But in a rotation that features Max Fried and Cam Schlittler as stalwarts, there are only so many starts for this team when Rodon and Cole get back. Elmer Rodriguez was called up to take the spot of Luis Gil -- who was optioned earlier this week -- so Rodon could potentially slide in for Rodriguez when he's ready. But when Cole comes back, Weathers will be competing with Will Warrento remain in the rotation.

Boone was asked if he's started to think about what the team will do when both veteran pitchers come back, and the Yankees skipper simply said, “That’s a lifetime away.”

When a follow-up was asked on how he evaluates which pitchers can be best suited for a bullpen role, Boone offered the same response.

"Lifetime away. We’re in a good spot," he said. "Guys are throwing well. Looking forward to getting other guys into the mix. A lot between now and then." 

Rodon and Cole are set to have rehab starts this coming Tuesday. Depending on how he feels after his next start, it could be Rodon's final rehab assignment before returning to the Yankees. And while Cole is still about a month or so away, evaluations are certainly ongoing. 

But as Boone said, a lot can happen between now and when both are back, so fans and the baseball world will have to wait and see how the team approaches it when the time comes.

The San Francisco Giants are set to face the Tampa Bay Rays this afternoon, and the hope is that they can start to turn around a miserable road trip, though they’re fast running out of time. San Francisco has lost the first four games of the six-game swing, and that underscores how bad it’s been: two of the losses have been shutouts, and the other two were walk-off losses after blowing ninth-inning leads.

In other words: please win today.

Thankfully, the Giants have the best guy for the job, as right-handed pitcher Landen Roupp will take the mound. Roupp has been the Giants best pitcher (and player, I’d argue) through the first month of the season, and through six starts is 5-1 with a 2.55 ERA, a 2.77 FIP, and 37 strikeouts against 14 walks in 35.1 innings. In his last start, against the Miami Marlins, Roupp gave up three earned runs, but went 7.2 innings deep.

The Rays, on the other hand, are opting for an opener, as right-handed reliever Griffin Jax will kick things off for Tampa. Jax has had a rough go of it in 12 appearances this year, as he’s 1-2 with a 6.35 ERA, a 6.58 FIP, and 12 strikeouts against eight walks in 11.1 innings. It will be interesting to see how long Jax pitches, as he told reporters that he is beginning a transition to a starting role. In his last game, which was his first start/open of the year, he went a season-high 2.1 innings. The bulk of the innings, however, are expected to be eaten by righty Jesse Scholtens, who in four games this year is 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA, a 4.26 FIP, and 14 strikeouts against six walks in 19.2 innings.

Enjoy the game, everyone! Go Giants!

Lineups

Giants

1. Jung Hoo Lee — RF
2. Luis Arráez — 2B
3. Casey Schmitt — DH
4. Rafael Devers — 1B
5. Matt Chapman — 3B
6. Willy Adames — SS
7. Heliot Ramos — LF
8. Drew Gilbert — CF
9. Patrick Bailey — C

RHP. Landen Roupp

Rays

1. Chandler Simpson — LF
2. Cedric Mullins — CF
3. Junior Caminero — 3B
4. Jonathan Aranda — 1B
5. Jake Fraley — DH
6. Richie Palacios — 2B
7. Jonny DeLuca — RF
8. Hunter Feduccia — C
9. Taylor Walls — SS

RHP. Griffin Jax

Game #33

Who: San Francisco Giants (13-19) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (19-12)

Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida

When: 3:10 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

Chicago White Sox (15-17) at San Diego Padres (19-12), May 2, 2026, 5:40 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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The Mariners made a surprising move to bolster their bullpen today, calling up right-handed reliever Nick Davila from Double-A Arkansas. In a corresponding move, LHP Josh Simpson – who was just summoned yesterday from Triple-A – was returned to Tacoma. The Mariners roster is now full at 40 players.

If you’re not familiar with Davila’s name, that’s understandable, although Davila is a long-tenured Mariners minor-leaguer; he’s been cropping up in our MiLB round-ups as far back as 2023, when we said the then-24-year-old Davila was “old for the level” at High-A. Davila has stuck around, though, and saw significant action this spring with the big-league club this spring with many players away at the WBC, often being used as a clean-up man after another reliever had made a mess of things.

My blurb for Davila in the NRIs article this spring said this:

The Mariners re-signed Davila, 27, to a minor-league contract this off-season with an invitation to spring training, which is why he’s here. Davila is more of a contact manager than a strikeout artist, a tough fit as a reliever; he also got a little walk-happy in Arkansas this year, which is a problem that will have to be tamped down.

So far, so good on that front. Davila has been serving as Arkansas’ closer this year, and so far over nine innings pitched he’s amassed two saves and 10 strikeouts to just one walk. Davila’s primary weapon is a sweeper that he pairs with a sinker, which doesn’t lead to a ton of strikeouts but does get hitters to put the ball on the ground.

Davila, who spent one season at USF after transferring from Hillsborough CC, was originally signed by the Tigers as an undrafted free agent back in July of 2020 and spent 2021-22 in the Detroit organization before coming to Seattle as a minor league free-agent signing in 2023. When and if he makes an appearance for the Mariners, it will mark the Mariners’ second debut of the season.

Blue Jays 11 Twins 4

Jays did everything they needed to do in the top of the eighth:

• Ernie Clement started the inning with a singled.
• Vladimir Guerrero took a six pitch walk.
• Kazuma Okamoto singled in one.
• Lenyn Sosa got an infield single bringing home the second run.
• Daulton Varsho ground one softy that went right between the pitchers legs. E1 loads the bases.
• Myles Straw walked on four pitches. Third run in.
• Davis Schneider doubled in the fourth and fifth run.
• Brandon Valenzuela homered in six, seven and eight.

But there was also bad news, George Springer took a pitch off the, already broken, toe and had to come out of the game. I’d imagine he’ll be back on the IL.

I was wrong the Jays said ‘no further damage’ (tough to believe). He was getting tomorrow off anyway, apparently. So we’ll see Monday.

Dylan Cease wasn’t great, giving up four runs three earned. But he went seven inning. I thought he would be out after six, when he was at 98 pitches, but he stayed in and got to 106 pitches (and a win). He gave up seven hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.

Mason Fluharty and Spencer Miles pitched a clean inning each.

Before the seventh, the Jays scored:

• Two in the second: Sosa and Straw homered.
• One in the sixth: Okamoto hit his eighth homer of the season. Crushed it. 453 feet to center.

Jays had 9 hits and 5 walks. Okamoto and Sosa had two each. Jesus Sanchez (who went in for Springer) and Vlad (with the walk) had 0 fors.

Vlad also had an error. In the second inning, with runners on second and third and the infield in, Vlad got a ground ball hit softly at him. He thought he might have a play at home, but the runner was off with contact, so he tried to throw to Cease covering first but missed him and a second runner scored.

But, other than that, it was the Twins that had the poor defense.

Jays of the Day: Okomoto (.34 WPA), Sosa (.14) and Straw (.13).

Other Award: Sanchez (-.15) and Cease (-.12) had the number too.

Tomorrow we have an early start, 12:45 Eastern. Trey Yesavage vs. Joe Ryan. A win and the Jays are back to .500.