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Even with a reliever warm for the sixth inning on Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided to ride with Shohei Ohtani.

On the rare night he wasn’t in the lineup as a hitter, the four-time MVP responded with a breathless exhibition of pure pitching dominance.

In the Dodgers’ 8-2 win over the New York Mets, Ohtani helped complete a three-game series sweep with six spectacular innings on the mound.

He gave up just one run. He allowed only two hits. And in a 10-strikeout exhibition, he saved his best stuff for the end of the night –– striking out the side in the top of the sixth with a swing-and-miss fastball, then curveball, then splitter.

Good morning, good afternoon and a very good night.

That was the story Wednesday, with the Dodgers (14-4) continuing their scorching hot start to the season even without the help of Ohtani’s bat.

As the two-way star continues to nurse a shoulder bruise he suffered on a hit-by-pitch Monday, the Dodgers decided to simplify his task, taking him out of the batting order so he could solely focus on his duties as a pitcher.

The move paid off perfectly, with Ohtani turning in perhaps his best start this year (despite allowing his first earned run of the campaign) while his DH replacement, Dalton Rushing, led the way offensively with a double and a grand slam.

“It was actually really good to watch him just focus on one thing,” manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani. “I thought that just channeling all that energy into pitching was helpful.”

Indeed, in Ohtani’s 95-pitch gem, he had every arrow in his six-pitch quiver working.

His upper-90s mph fastball was dotted at the top of the zone. Big-bending sweepers and late-breaking curveballs and fall-of-the-table splitters helped complement it. 

And the few times he faced stress, he also back and dialed up triple-digit heat –– most notably, firing off four-straight 100 mph fastballs to strand runners at second and third after allowing his lone run in the fifth.

“That was a situation,” Ohtani said in Japanese, “in which I had to exert max effort to hold them.”

At that point, Roberts considered removing Ohtani from the game. After he threw 22 pitches in the fifth, the Dodgers had Blake Treinen ready to go for the sixth.

“I was thinking about potentially pulling the plug right there,” the manager said. “But once he finished that (fifth) inning, I wanted to give him the opportunity to go back out there for the sixth.”

Thus, Ohtani returned to the bump, put an exclamation point on his outing by striking out the side, then exited the game to a loud ovation.

“I mean, it’s Shohei,” Rushing quipped. “I don’t have too much more to say on top of that.”

“I think he’s arguably one of the best now,” he later added, “(especially) when you give him that opportunity to just solely worry about pitching.”

On the other side of the ball, it was Rushing who spurred the Dodgers’ offense in Ohtani’s absence, helping them take an early lead and then pull away late.

In the second inning, he lined a two-out, two-strike double that preceded a two-run homer from Hyeseong Kim. Then, after a Tesocar Hernández homer in the sixth extended the lead, the backup catcher delivered the knockout punch in a five-run eighth inning by belting his first career grand slam off Mets closer Devin Williams.

“Well, I’m not getting used to it, I’ll tell you that,” Rushing joked about replacing Ohtani as DH. “But he told me to hit a homer for him, and I guess it worked out in the end.”

What it means

The Dodgers completed their second sweep of the season, and have now won 10 of 12 games by finishing this homestand with a 5-1 record.

They are also 9-0 against National League opponents to this point, making easy work of a Mets team that –– prior to their dreadful 7-12 start to this season –– was thought to be their biggest competition for this year’s pennant.

During the series, Dodgers starters gave up just two runs over 21 ⅔ innings while striking out 19 batters.

They were also better defensively, with Wednesday’s highlights including a couple tough short-hoppers that Max Muncy cleanly turned at third base, then a diving stop from Kim at shortstop to end the eighth inning. 

Most of all, the bottom of their lineup remained productive, with Rushing’s 2-for-4 display highlighting a six-hit effort from their Nos. 6-9 batters.

Who’s hot

If Ohtani’s surface-line stats weren’t impressive enough, the way he navigated Wednesday’s start only added to the performance.

Several times, he seemingly toyed with a Juan Soto-less Mets lineup that has scored just 12 runs during an eight-game losing streak.

He used a slide step to finally strike out Francisco Lindor in an 11-pitch at-bat to end the third. He ran the pitch clock down against Brett Baty in the fourth before getting him to hit a harmless comebacker to the mound.

After spending much of the past two years recovering from a second Tommy John surgery, it was a further reminder that the 31-year-old is quickly getting comfortable again as a full-time pitcher –– helping him finish the night with a 0.50 ERA this season.

“I do think that he looks at (pitching) as an art,” Roberts said. “It’s not just trying to bully guys with the fastball. It’s kind of how you set guys up, front to back, east-west, and use your entire pitch mix.”

Who’s not

This was going to be Kyle Tucker, after he entered the eighth inning 0-for-4. But even the scuffling $240 million offseason signing salvaged his night with a stat-padding home run after Rushing’s grand slam.

Still, the Dodgers are waiting on Tucker to truly heat up, with his game-winning hit on Tuesday failing to snap him out of his early-season slump

Defensively, Tucker also had a forgettable moment in the fifth, when MJ Melendez plated the Mets’ only run off Ohtani with an RBI double that Tucker failed to get to in the right field corner.

Up next

The Dodgers are off Thursday, before starting a week-long road trip Friday with a four-game set in Denver against the Colorado Rockies. That will be followed by a three-game series in San Francisco against the Giants.

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The Mets were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night following an 8-2 loss.

Here are the takeaways...

-- New York's struggling offense was once again stymied, this time by Shohei Ohtani, who got the call after Yoshinobu Yamamoto held the Mets to one run over 7.2 innings on Tuesday night. Ohtani was similarly dominant over his six innings of work, striking out 10 and allowing a run on two hits and two walks. 

-- The only Met to figure out Ohtani was MJ Melendez, who got the start after getting called up from the minors earlier in the day for the injured Jared Young, and who was making his team debut after being slotted into the lineup as the No. 8 hitter. 

After Ohtani set down the first seven batters of the game, Melendez hit a double to the gap in left center field in his first at-bat for New York. He was stranded on second base after Ohtani struck out the next two. In his second at-bat, Melendez got the better of Ohtani again with another double, this one over the head of right fielder Kyle Tucker that bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double. 

The hit drove in the Mets' first run of the night and ended a scoreless streak of 33 innings for Ohtani. It also put New York in business with runners on second and third and one out, but Tommy Pham struck out before Francisco Lindor lined out to end the inning with nothing else. 

-- That inning could've gone much differently for the Mets, though, if not for a baserunning mistake by Francisco Alvarez. Alvarez led off the inning with a walk, which brought up Carson Benge, who served one into left field that Teoscar Hernandez trapped in his glove after making a sliding attempt for the ball. Instead of reaching second base on the play, Alvarez thought the ball was caught and went back to first base and was thrown out at second base on the force out.

Not only did Alvarez rob the Mets of a chance for a big inning there, he also robbed Benge of a hit. Marcus Semien followed with a walk that would've loaded the bases with nobody out ahead of Melendez's ground-rule double. After letting Ohtani off the hook in the inning, the right-hander went back out the following inning and ended his night by striking out the side.

-- But Ohtani wasn't the only starting pitcher who had things going for him, as Clay Holmes also had a good performance. The right-hander went five innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits, a walk and a HBP while striking out four. He also added a wild pitch. 

Holmes' only blemish came in the second inning when he allowed a two-out double to Dalton Rushing before No. 8 hitter Hyeseong Kim hit a 2-1 sinker down the middle for a two-run home run. It was Kim's first homer of the season and his fourth career home run.

-- The Dodgers hit another home run in the sixth inning when Hernandez took Tobias Myers deep on the second pitch he threw to give Los Angeles a 3-1 lead. The wheels completely fell off for the Mets in the eighth inning when Devin Williams, who hadn't pitched in more than a week, came in for a non-save opportunity. 

Williams loaded the bases following two singles and a walk before Rushing unloaded on the first pitch he saw for a grand slam. It was the first runs allowed by Williams this season as the closer lasted just 0.1 innings and saw his ERA skyrocket to 6.75. The Dodgers added a solo shot by Kyle Tucker off Austin Warren, recalled from the minors on Tuesday, for good measure.

-- The Mets mustered just five hits, two of which came in the ninth, resulting in a run. One of the five hits was a one-hop double to the opposite field by Benge, who is starting to look better at the plate. Still, New York went 2-for-10 with RISP and has now lost eight in a row while scoring 12 runs (six in one game) during that time.

Game MVP: Shohei Ohtani

The Mets were able to push across a run to end his scoreless streak, but Ohtani was masterful and in control all night.

Highlights

MJ Melendez doubles in his first at-bat as a Met! pic.twitter.com/otSEDq5Qgk

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

What a catch by Luis Robert Jr.! pic.twitter.com/KJFtBuPjmF

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

Three strikeouts for Clay Holmes in the 4th pic.twitter.com/1R98VY6fDV

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

MJ Melendez delivers!

A ground rule double to bring the Mets within one! pic.twitter.com/V2xjRco9Oz

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

Carson Benge hits a one-hop double off the wall pic.twitter.com/YfHyMrrW1d

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 16, 2026

What's next

The Mets travel to Wrigley Field to take on the Chicago Cubs for a three-game series starting on Friday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 2:20 p.m.

RHP Kodai Senga (0-2, 7.07 ERA) takes on RHP Edward Cabrera (1-0, 1.62 ERA).

The San Diego Padres loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning against Seattle Mariners closer Andres Munoz. The Padres were trailing the Mariners 6-2, and Fernando Tatis Jr. who did not start the game, came in to pinch-hit for Jake Cronenworth. Tatis Jr. worked the count full against Munoz and hit a deep line drive to right field which resulted in a sacrifice fly as Manny Machado tagged up from third and scored to cut the Padres’ deficit to 6-3. Luis Campusano, who came in for Freddy Fermin early in the game after he took a foul ball off his catcher’s mask, singled to left-center field to push the score to 6-4 with runners on the corners. Ramon Laureano followed and dumped the first pitch of his at-bat into left field, which scored Ty France from third to make the score, 6-5.

Jose Ferrer replaced Munoz and was given the task of facing Jackson Merrill. The third-year center fielder shot a line drive double on a 2-2 pitch just inside the third base bag that rolled down the line and into the corner where Seattle left fielder Randy Arozarena was unable to come up with it. Campusano and Laureano raced around the bases and came in to score to walk-off the Mariners, 7-6, pushing the Padres’ win streak to seven games.

San Diego entered the game against Seattle riding a six-game win streak and they had arguably their best starting pitcher three weeks into the season on the mound in Randy Vasquez. The Padres hitters faced Emerson Hancock, who is also off to a good start on the year, but one night after beating Bryan Woo, the Friar Faithful had confidence that San Diego would find a way to push the win streak to seven.

It was evident after the second inning that Vasquez was not as sharp as he had been in previous outings and the Padres hitters were struggling to figure out how to handle Hancock. Vasquez allowed two runs in the second inning following a walk, a single and a double by Dominic Canzone which gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead. Vazquez got into trouble again in the fourth inning when he allowed a leadoff double to Arozarena. He bounced back to get two outs against the next two hitters but then gave up back-to-back walks to load the bases. Brendan Donovan followed with a single to right field, which scored two runs and pushed the Seattle lead to 4-0.

San Diego struggled over the first 3 2/3 innings against the Seattle right-hander. The Padres were held without a hit until Xander Bogaerts broke the seal with a two-out single in the bottom of the third inning. Machado lined out one batter later and the inning came to a close.

Ron Marinaccio replaced Vasquez, who finished his night with four runs allowed on five hits with four walks and six strikeouts over four innings, on the mound in the top of the fifth inning. Marinaccio received a rude welcome from the Mariners. Arozarena hit a one-out single and stole second base before Luke Raley hit a two-run home run to right-center field to put Seattle up, 6-0. Raley had a successful night against San Diego pitching, recording four hits with two singles, a double and a home run.

The Padres were able to get on the board thanks to a two-run home run by Bogaerts in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 6-2. Merrill, who made an exceptional play in center field to take a home run away from Julio Rodriguez in the top of the third inning, hit a one-out single and Bogaerts brought him in with a home run, which was the 200th of his career. It was the only blemish on the night for Hancock who finished his outing with two runs allowed on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts over six innings.

San Diego will look to complete the sweep of Seattle at Petco Park on Thursday at 5:40 p.m.

In honor of the Philadelphia Phillies playing host to the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, we here at The Good Phight are launching a yearlong series that focuses on the history of the Phillies and the All-Star Game. Check back regularly for posts about the Phillies participation (or lack thereof) in the Midsummer Classic over its history.

It’s time once again for a look at some Phillies one-time All-Stars. However, unlike the rest of this series so far (which you cancatchup onhere) there is only one member of the 1960s Phillies who was a one-time All-Star as a member of the Phillies, and he was just under the decade threshold.

Grant Jackson, 1969

In 1942, Grant Jackson was born as one of nine children to Joseph and Luella Jackson in Fosteria, Ohio. He was a strong athlete from an early age, lettering in football, baseball, and track during his time in high school. Unfortunately, Jackson’s family was not very well off financially, and their situation worsened when his father passed away following a heart attack in 1960 at the age of 52. That forced Jackson’s older brother and biology teacher Carlos to assume the role of the father figure in his life and help support the family. Jackson finished high school in 1961 but did not have the grades to qualify for an athletic scholarship to Bowling Green University.

That’s when he decided to take a long shot and reach out to the most famous resident of his hometown, Tony Lucadello, who also just so happened to be a scout for the Phillies. Lucadello would wind up being responsible for numerous players signing with the Phillies, including Mike Schmidt, Fergie Jenkins, and Mickey Morandini. But in 1961, Lucadello decided to give the 18-year-old Jackson a shot, as the Phillies signed the small 6-foot, 180-pound pitcher to a contract worth just $1,500. But Jackson needed the money to help his family, so he accepted. Shortly after, Jackson was introduced to the cruel realities of baseball in the time before high school players had agents, as he discovered just two days after signing with the Phillies that the Milwaukee Braves were prepared to offer him $35,000.

In any case, Jackson’s pro career started in 1962 when he was just 19 years old with the Bakersfield Bears of the California League. Jackson would spend the next two seasons there before eventually earning a promotion Triple-A in 1965 to Arkansas. Jackson, an African American, was walking into a very hostile environment in Little Rock as described by Arkansas teammate Fergie Jenkins. Jenkins described the racial climate by saying “things were tenser, more overt in Arkansas” and describing incidents where players would leave games to find their cars vandalized with racial epithets.

Jackson was not long for Arkansas though, as the Phillies made him a September call-up and he made his major league debut on September 3rd, 1965, on the road against the Cincinnati Reds. He entered in the bottom of the fifth with two on and no outs, relieving Phillies starter Ray Kulp who left with a 6-3 lead but traffic on the bases. Jackson struck out the first two hitters he faced in Tony Pérez and Deron Johnson, but he then allowed a three-run homer to Frank Robinson that tied the game at 6-6. Jackson would go on to pitch two innings and be charged with the loss as the Reds mounted a ferocious late offensive barrage to win 17-6.

The 22-year-old Jackson went on to appear in six total games his rookie year including two starts. He allowed 11 runs and four home runs in just 13.2 innings, but he also struck out 15 to flash his potential. Jackson began 1966 with the team but was demoted after just two relief appearances, except this time the Phillies Triple-A affiliate was in San Diego instead of Little Rock. That’s where he would stay for the rest of 1966, going 10-8 with a 3.96 ERA in 23 starts. Jackson made the MLB team in 1967 and stayed there all season, but only appeared in 43 games with four starts.

But then Phillies manager Gene Mauch was fired early into the 1968 season, paving the way for Bob Skinner to take control of the ballclub. Skinner was able to help Jackson correct a mechanical flaw in his delivery by speeding him up on the mound. The change worked, as Jackson had his best season in the majors to that point with a 2.95 ERA in 61 innings across 33 games and six starts. It was enough for Skinner to name Jackson the fifth starter in his rotation entering the 1969 season. Some in the media were incredulous about the idea that Jackson, who was still only 26-years-old, had finally figured it out. As Bill Conlin wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News, the Jackson story “was written every spring training about this time and is a story filled with hope,” calling Jackson “wild as a Filmore Auditorium Rock concert and as undisciplined as a Berkley student.” Jackson had remarked that “People ask me if this is a now or never year, I tell them it’s going to be a now year. I’ve had my last never year. This is going to be my year.”

Despite Conlin’s disbelief in Jackson’s talk, the lefty backed it up and then some. The 1969 Phillies finished with 99 losses, but Jackson excelled in his first real chance at being a major league starting pitcher. He was 9-10 with a 3.32 ERA in the first half of the season, earning him a nomination to the NL All-Star team for the contest to take place July 23rd at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. However, despite being the Phillies only representative at the midsummer classic, Jackson did not appear in the game as the NL went on to win 9-3 in large part thanks to two home runs from Willie McCovey of the Giants.

Jackson finished his All-Star season with a 14-18 record and a 3.34 ERA across 253 innings pitched with 180 strikeouts. It appeared he had finally proven himself as a pitcher, but he regressed mightily in 1970 and finished with a 5.29 ERA while having disputes with new manager Frank Lucchesi. The Phillies then finally gave up on Jackson, sending him to Baltimore in December 1970 in a package that included Sam Parilla and Jim Hutto in exchange for top outfield prospect Roger Freed who had just won MVP of the International League.

It was the best thing for Jackson’s career, as he never again had a losing record and totaled a 3.09 ERA in 538 appearances over his next 12 seasons of his career, including the 1979 season when he won the World Series as a member of the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates. Jackson had a pivotal impact in Game 7, entering a 1-0 game in the fifth inning and delivering 2.2 hitless innings of relief and earning the win to collect his first championship in three tries over the last decade. Freed meanwhile would play two seasons in Philadelphia and hit .222 in 191 games.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com

Maxwell Cates, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Biography for Grant Jackson

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 2nd, 1961

Stan Hochman, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 15th, 1967

Allen Lewis, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7th, 1967

Bill Conlin, Philadelphia Daily News, March 11th, 1969

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 17th, 1970

The Mets had lost seven in a row, including the first two games of the series against the Dodgers. Clay Holmes was taking the mound against Shohei Ohtani, who had a 0.00 ERA up to that point in the season. The Mets needed to change that to change their own fortunes, as they had been struggling to produce any offense, to score any runs.

The first inning went quietly for both sides, with a first inning Freddie Freeman single being the only baserunner for either side. In the bottom of the second, the Dodgers got to Clay Holmes, putting two runs on the board. After two outs in the bottom of the second, Dalton Rushing doubled and Hyeseong Kim hit a two run home run to give Los Angeles an early lead. 

It took until the top of the fifth for any meaningful offensive action to happen again. Francisco Alvarez walked, and Carson Benge reached first on a fielder’s choice (and some very questionable non-baserunning by Alvarez). MJ Melendez hit his second double of the game and drove in his first run as a Met, putting the Mets just one run behind the Dodgers. They were unable to capitalize further with two runners in scoring position, a story told all too often during this short season thus far.

It took the Dodgers until the bottom of the sixth to respond. Clay Holmes finally made his exit after five innings with four hits and four strikeouts, making way for Tobias Myers. And Myers gave up a solo home run to Teoscar Hernández on the second pitch he threw, putting the Mets behind by two again.

Shohei Ohtani exited the game after six innings, giving up just the one run on two hits, striking out ten while walking two. The sole run he gave up was his first earned run allowed in 32.2 innings. Blake Treinen came in in relief and the only offense the Mets could muster against him was a Carson Benge double, but he was stranded as so many mets base runners have been this season.

The wheels fully came off in the bottom of the eighth, when Devin Williams came in to relieve Tobias Myers. After giving up two singles and a walk, Rushing took Williams deep for a grand slam, putting the Dodgers well ahead with three measly outs for the Mets to try and make literally anything happen. And to add additional insult to the already added insult, Kyle Tucker hit a solo home run off of the next reliever of the inning, newly recalled Austin Warren. At the start of the inning, Edwin Díaz was warming to potentially come in to lock down the ninth.

But when the top of the ninth started, Kyle Hurt was in the game, his first appearance in nearly two years after Tommy John surgery. Bo Bichette got a one out single, and Alvarez was hit by a pitch. With two runners on, Semien was able to hit a bloop single and drive in Bichette as the Mets second run of the game…in the ninth inning. Fantastic work. But Melendez struck out to end the game with runners on first and second. 

The Mets have been swept for the second time in a row, and are riding an eight-game losing streak. Their offense has been inert, their pitching inept, and it’s added up to absolutely horrific baseball. They should be better than this, and yet here they are, last in the National League East. They have a day off tomorrow before starting a three game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. And boy, do they need it.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue
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Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: MJ Melendez, +18% WPA
Big Mets loser: Tommy Pham, -18% WPA
Mets pitchers:-11% WPA
Mets hitters: -39% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: MJ Melendez’s RBI double in the fifth inning, +18.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Hyeseong Kim’s two-run home run in the second inning, -18.9% WPA

For the first time in 15 years, the Rays win on Jackie Robinson Day

Donning the light blue Burst jerseys for the first time, Tampa Bay took the field with everyone in uniform wearing number 42, celebrating Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier on this day in 1947. 

Junior Caminero would provide the offense to start, as he hit a solo shot to left field in the third, and provided an RBI groundout in the fifth. 2-0 Tampa Bay. 

Jonathan Aranda provided an RBI double in the fifth, to lift the lead to 3-0. 

Jesse Scholtens got the win, going five innings out of the bullpen while shutting out the Pale Hose with three strikeouts and allowing one hit. 

Jake Fraley homered in the sixth, and in the seventh, Yandy Diaz stroked an RBI double, and Jonny DeLuca hit his second homer of the year. 8-0 Rays. 

Chicago would score three runs in the ninth, but Ian Seymour would hold down the fort as the Rays cruise to the best record in the American League with a final score of 8-3. 

Tampa Bay and Chicago are back at it on Thursday, as Steven Matz and Anthony Kay are the probably starters with a 2:10 EST start time from Rate Field. 

I have been very transparent in my love for these two franchises for very different reasons. For the D-Backs, their 2001 World Series win is one of my earliest and most vivid baseball memories while I got to witness the end of Cal Ripken Jr’s magical career and watch multiple waves of success and failure living in suburban Baltimore as a child and young adult. They’re also similar franchises with young lineups anchored by veterans looking to make it past their larger and better-funded division rivals while residing in two of the most competitive divisions in the sport. Additionally, both franchises feel like they’re at tipping points: the D-Backs have only made it to the playoffs twice during the Hazen-Lovullo tenure despite significant financial commitments while the Orioles have watched their much-ballyhooed prospects stagnate in their development and fail to get over the hump of winning a single playoff game during their contention window. Those kinds of situations mean that every game matters in a way it might not for a Yankees or Dodgers team. So this entire series felt a little like having to choose between my babies where one’s loss is the other’s gain. In fact, before the series my parents asked me who I was rooting for and I responded that I was hoping for “good games and health” both of which I got in spades – other than a broken jaw and some orbital fractures.

Much like the other games in this series, this afternoon was a back-and-forth affair with Eduardo Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish combining for a single clean inning in their 11 innings pitched on the afternoon. The Orioles struck first in the third with consecutive doubles from Coby Mayo and Sam Huff, but the D-Backs quickly responded with a pair of runs in their next half of the inning on a comically bad play by reserve outfielder Weston Wilson. On a deep drive off Adrian Del Castillo’s bat, Wilson sprinted back into the weird cutout in left field and got his glove on the ball, but failed to secure it, crashed into the wall and fell back – Looney Tunes style for a two-run “triple.” It was the opening salvo in what was an excellent all-around effort from the backup catcher who has filled in nicely for the injured Gabriel Moreno. As they have all road trip, the bottom of the order contributed by tacking on another run in the next half inning off back-to-back doubles from Alek Thomas and Jorge Barrosa to retake the lead after the Orioles tied the game in the home half of the third.

The seesaw action continued when Baltimore struck back for two runs off the seemingly unstoppable Jeremiah Jackson who homered for the third time in the series. But it was another short-lived lead as the D-Backs tied and then recaptured the lead with a pair of sacrifice groundouts by Thomas and Del Castillo in the sixth and seventh. The Orioles did manage to claw one run back in the seventh when pinch hitter Leody Taveras plated Gunnar Henderson, but the D-Backs finally found the knockout punch in extra innings when Del Castillo rocketed a two-run homer and Nolan Arenado plated Ildemaro Vargas for a little extra padding.

Unlike the rest of the team, Rodriguez seemed determined to roll the clock back to 2025 when he looked much more like the pitcher who struggled to a 5.02 ERA and 1.542 WHIP than the one who has carried over his success from the World Baseball Classic to the beginning of the regular season. There was always going to be some regression as his 0.50 ERA coming into today looked more like a typo than an actual statistic and was belied by a 3.49 FIP and 3.42 expected ERA. But even that regression wouldn’t have necessarily expected the 33 year old to collect his career-worst whiff rate in a game (5%) and walk four batters, nearly tying his season-worst last year with five free passes. The Orioles’ game plan of waiting out Rodriguez’s changeup proved to be a winning concept that shortened his outing and created plenty of traffic.

There’s no other way to describe this road trip than as a massive success. Across three unfriendly climes against three nominally competitive teams, the D-Backs won three series and were extremely competitive in every game. In their three losses, their run differential was a combined -4. They scored around five runs per game while allowing a little under four a game and found their power stroke in Charm City with six homers in the three-game set. After a much-needed off day tomorrow, the D-Backs return to the friendly confines of Chase Field for the scuffling Blue Jays and hapless White Sox as part of a nice, relaxing homestand. If your confidence was perking up through the first week and a half of the season, this road trip should make it absolutely soar.

LOS ANGELES — Francisco Lindor was fouling off everything Shohei Ohtani was throwing him with a runner on second and two outs in the top of the third inning, the Los Angeles Dodgers holding onto a two-run lead on Wednesday, April 15.

Ohtani threw the New York Mets' franchise shortstop a 98-mph fastball down the middle. Foul.

An 89.1-mph splitter below the strike zone. Foul.

An 85.4-mph sweeper that grazed the top of the zone? Foul.

Then, on the 11th pitch of the at-bat, Ohtani switched up his delivery with a slide step as he blew a 99.6-mph fastball by him for strike three to retire the side and flashed a smile towards Lindor as he walked off the mound.

"That was fun," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "... I do think that he looks at (pitching) as an art — as Yoshinobu (Yamamoto) does — and craft. It's not just trying to bully guys with a fastball, it's how you set guys up and front-to-back, east-west, and use your entire pitch mix. The best pitchers, in my opinion, do look at it as an art."

Ohtani — who was visibly surprised when Roberts informed the two-way megastar that he wouldn't be in the lineup on Wednesday night — painted a masterpiece with a renewed focus on the mound, striking out 10 in LA's 8-2 win over the Mets to match his most strikeouts in a Dodgers uniform.

Sho 'em. 😂 pic.twitter.com/LzJBfommDe

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 16, 2026

Any lingering concerns about Ohtani's throwing shoulder after being hit by a pitch in Monday's game subsided. He didn't allow a single baserunner until MJ Melendez's double in the third, and the only time he was in any real trouble came in the fifth when he walked two and gave up another double to Melendez — this one an RBI ground-rule double that hopped over the wall in right field that put runners on second and third with one out.

But Ohtani put on a show and worked his way out of the jam with a strikeout of Tommy Pham in which his fastball reached 100.2 and 100.3 mph. He topped out one batter later with a 100.4-mph heater that Lindor harmlessly lined out to Teoscar Hernández in left field.

"Considering where the game was at that point, I felt like I just really had to go full throttle," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "And make sure of that, considering about the game's situation."

Usually Ohtani uses the time between innings during his starts to focus on his at-bats, but the extra downtime Wednesday night allowed him to spend more time game planning for the next frame. The result was him feeling easy and loose throughout his entire outing.

Ohtani put a little more polish on his gem in the sixth by striking out the side to end his night on a high note and put the Dodgers in the driver's seat to finish off the sweep.

Here's how Ohtani fared in Wednesday's 8-2 win over the Mets:

Shohei Ohtani stats vs. Mets

• Innings pitched: 6.0
• Hits allowed: 2
• Runs allowed: 1
• Earned runs allowed: 1
• Walks: 2
• Strikeouts: 10
• Pitches thrown: 95
• Strikes thrown: 63

Shohei Ohtani highlights

Shohei Ohtani reaches double-digit Ks for the first time this season 😤 https://t.co/RWiXiCGwERpic.twitter.com/HqAlbOkLaD

— MLB (@MLB) April 16, 2026

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shohei Ohtani stats, Dodgers vs. Mets highlights

The Dodgers honored the life and legacy of Jackie Robinson on Wednesday, and then proceeded to back Shohei Ohtani’s gem with four home runs as they swept the New York Mets with a dominant 8-2 victory.

Dodgers fans might have been disappointed that they weren’t afforded the opportunity to see Ohtani demonstrate his two-ways powers, but he certainly made up for it with another dazzling start.

Both team were held scoreless in the first inning for the first time in the series, but after Clay Holmes got two quick outs in the bottom of the second inning, Dalton Rushing continued his torrid start with a two-out double down the right field line. Hyeseong Kim attacked a sinker down the middle on a 1-1 count and sent it just past a leaping Carson Benge for his first home run of the season, giving the Dodgers an early two-run lead.

The Mets broke through against Ohtani in the top of the third as M.J. Melendez lined a double to the left-center field gap to bring up the potential tying run. Ohtani, who already had one strikeout in the inning, got Tommy Pham swinging for the second out. On the 11th pitch of his battle against Francisco Lindor, he side-stepped him, and blew a fastball at 100 miles per hour by him for his third strikeout of the inning to leave Melendez at second.

Ohtani had gone the first four innings without allowing a walk, but he immediately issued a free pass to Francisco Alvarez to begin the top of the fifth. Carson Benge would have made it two on with nobody out as he lined a would-be single to left field, but Alvarez thought that Teoscar Hernández had made the catch on a diving attempt. Hernández had actually trapped it, and he threw out the lead-runner with Alvarez retreated back to first.

The Mets made up for their base running blunder as Marcus Semien reached on Ohtani’s second walk of the inning, and Melendez connected for his second double of the game, driving home Benge and marking Ohtani’s first earned run of the season. Ohtani rebounded with another strikeout of Pham, and he kept the lead intact by getting Lindor to line out to left field.

The Dodgers had Blake Treinen warming up in the bullpen during the top of the fifth, but Ohtani stayed out for the sixth inning. The decision to keep Treinen from entering paid off, as Ohtani struck out the side in order to cap off the Dodgers’ third consecutive quality start against the Mets and a 10 strikeout performance from their regular leadoff hitter.

Teoscar Hernández greeted Mets reliever Tobias Myers rudely in the bottom of the sixth inning by connecting for a solo home run to the opposite field to give the Dodgers a two-run lead.

Blake Treinen eventually entered the game for the seventh inning, and he continued his impressive start to the season as he worked around a one-out double from Carson Benge to keep his ERA scoreless over 6 2/3 innings on the mound this year. Tanner Scott added to his turnaround start to the season with a perfect top of the eighth inning on just eight pitches.

The Dodgers looked to get some insurance against the former All-Star closer Devin Williams, and Teoscar Hernández beat out a routine ground ball to Lindor for an infield single. Things continued to unravel for the Mets, as Williams walked Muncy before Andy Pages drilled a ball over the head of Benge in right field, but both baserunners held on the play and were forced to advance just 90 feet. Dalton Rushing erased a possible save opportunity for Edwin Díaz by drilling a grand slam to center field to put the game out of reach.

In need of getting anything going his way offensively, and after lining out on a ball hit 107 miles per hour, Kyle Tucker connected for his first home run in front of the home crowd in a Dodgers uniform, giving the Dodgers a seven run lead and giving the Dodgers their fourth four home run game of the season.

Kyle Hurt made his long-awaited return from injury one day shy of two whole years since his last appearance, and it started off well with a strikeout of Brett Baty. Hurt allowed a single to Bo Bichette and then plunked Alvarez to put two on with one out, but recovered by striking out Benge. The Mets got back one run on a single from Marcus Semien, but Hurt struck out Melendez to finish the sweep and hand New York their eighth consecutive loss.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Hyeseong Kim (1), Teoscar Hernández (4), Dalton Rushing (4), Kyle Tucker (2)
• WP—Shohei Ohtani (2-0): 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
• LP— Clay Holmes(2-2): 5 IP, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Thursday as they fly out to Denver to open a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Friday (5:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Tyler Glasnow makes his fourth start while the Rockies have yet to announce their starter.

Padres 7, Mariners 6

I had some really good chart art cued up, too 🙁

A puffy vest giveaway on a chilly night: Emerson Hancock, +.18 WPA

Realizing a vest doesn’t have sleeves: José Ferrer, -.84 WPA

Game thread comments of the day:

I could not choose between these two, and my hubris has been punished by the baseball gods.

José Caballero didn’t hesitate. “Always,” he said, when asked if he longed for clutch at-bats his entire career. He wanted the pressure-filled swings. The big moments of games, like the one Wednesday night, when his walk-off double less than an hour before his answer lifted the Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Angels. 

“That’s the at-bats that I want,” Caballero said. “I’m living for those at-bats. I want those at-bats every time I step in the box.” 

When the Los Angeles series began Monday, he doubled in the ninth and scored the winning run during the Yankees walk-off victory.

Two nights later, he helped play hero again with his extra-base hit, allowing both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Austin Wells to score.

Caballero, in the middle of a shrinking window to steal the Yankees starting shortstop job before Anthony Volpe returns, moved to .400 with two doubles and six RBIs with runners in scoring position this year.

He’s driven in seven runs across the past five games, too. 

It likely won’t be enough to hold off Volpe, who received a public endorsement from general manager Brian Cashman last week in Tampa and started his rehab assignment Tuesday.

Caballero, outside of the clutch spots, has struggled, hitting just .186 for the year overall with a .543 OPS.

But with Volpe’s return looming, Caballero continued to make his case with the game-deciding hit. 

“He loves the action,” manager Aaron Boone said, “and, as I’ve told you, he’s really confident. That’s one of his biggest strengths, is he thinks he’s the best player on the field — and that’s an important thing to have and play the game with. It does seem like the bigger the stakes, the more he’s able to dig in.” 

So there was Caballero, who also walked and scored the third Yankees run in the second inning in a 1-for-3 night, on the receiving end of a Gatorade cooler dump postgame.

There was Caballero, one day after Volpe played five innings for Double-A Somerset and struck out twice, delivering strong defense again and then adding to it at the plate in the final moments. 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

This was always his opportunity, with Volpe, who struggled last season, sidelined to start the year due to a shoulder injury. If he was ever going to snag the starting shortstop job, it needed to happen before May.

Two clutch at-bats in three days won’t change what happened before this Angels series began. Caballero’s average hasn’t topped .200 since April. He recorded four hits in four games to start the year but just seven in the 13 since. 

But even when Volpe returns, Caballero could still provide value for the Yankees off the bench.

His at-bat in the ninth Wednesday — and his swing on the 1-2 slider from Angels closer Jordan Romano that left the bat at 100.7 mph, dropped into left-center field and changed everything for one night — served as the latest example. 

“I like to contribute to the team,” Caballero said, “and I did it.”

The Texas Rangers scored five runs but the Athletics of California, United States on planet Earth scored six runs.

The Rangers didn’t have many hits on the night — just five total — but two of them contributed to all five of their runs with Corey Seager hitting a two-run home run in the 3rd and Jake Burger continuing to feast in Sactown with a three-run shot in the 8th.

Unfortunately for Texas, the A’s got a couple of two-out, RBI hits early off a rather inefficient Kumar Rocker and then had their own big swings with a two-run home run off the bat of Rangers killer Shea Langeliers that broke a 2-2 tie in the 6th and a two-run home run from Jacob Wilson an inning later.

Despite being solid so far this season, both homers were given up by Cole Winn in what proved to be a bad moment for a poor outing as the 6-2 lead was exactly enough insurance for the A’s.

Nevertheless, the lack of production throughout most of the game (just one hit through the first five innings) ultimately feels like more of the deciding factor than anything else.

Player of the Game: Burger and Seager tried to make it happen with their home runs but I’d like to give a nod to Gavin Collyer who made his debut, threw three pitches, and picked up the first strikeout of his career.

Up Next: The Rangers close out this series in West Sacramento with RHP Jack Leiter set to make the start opposite LHP Jacob Lopez for the Athletics.

The Thursday afternoon finale from Sutter Health Park is scheduled for 2:05 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Houston Astros beleaguered starting rotation was desperate for a strong starting performance.

Spencer Arrighetti, in his first start of the season, delivered.

Arrighetti gave the Astros their third quality start of the season, hurling 6 innings of 1 run ball while striking out 10 to lead Houston to a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Arrighetti was terrific, allowing only 2 hits on the night. He threw 100 pitches, 61 for strikes. He generated an incredible 20 swings and misses.

Arrighetti was backed by Yordan Alvarez, who was 2-for-3 with a double and his 7th HR of the season. He scored twice and also drew a walk.

Alvarez is now batting .333 on the season with a 1.250 OPS. He has 7 HR and 17 RBI.

Also of note, struggling reliever Bryan Abreu threw 1.1 innings of scoreless and hitless baseball. He walked one and struck out 2.

Enyel De Los Santos pitched a 1-2-3 9th for his second save of the season, and second in as many nights. He struck out 2, needing only 14 pitches to complete the inning.

With the victory, the Astros improve to 8-11 on the season.

The Astros will go for the sweep Thursday at Daikin Park. Ryan Weiss will get the start for Houston. First pitch scheduled for 7:10 P.M.

The line at Petco Park began forming on Wednesday night long before the first pitch was thrown. It curled around the ballpark and caused logjams at the entrances. But it wasn’t about baseball. It was about a puffer vest. 

A Padres-themed puffer vest, to be exact.

The story of the Padres puffer vest dates back to March 2 in Peoria, Arizona, at the Padres’ spring training facility. 

New Padres manager Craig Stammen was photographed wearing the now-infamous outwear on the field. It looked sharp and clean. Fans started saying they wanted one of their own in the replies. 

So when the Padres announced 40,000 of them would be handed out as a giveaway item against the Mariners, fans didn’t just show up — they descended upon downtown San Diego like the city was giving away free lottery tickets. 

What the Padres didn’t anticipate wasn’t demand. It was desperation.

Fights breaking out at Petco Park after lines wrapping around the block over the puffer vest giveaway #Padrespic.twitter.com/SeK9lfHbxn

— Chase Izidoro (@chaseizi) April 16, 2026

Videos that ricocheted across social media showed lines devolving into chaos. At multiple gates, fans pushed and shoved, not for entry, but for sizes. Mediums vanished. Larges disappeared quickly. Some fans refused to move until another box arrived, clogging entrances into the park. 

Inside the ballpark, the Padres rallied from a 6-0 deficit to stun Seattle 7-6 with a five-run bottom of the ninth and walk-off victory. Hopefully all the anger from the beginning of the game was settled by the end as fans went home happy with their puffer vests.