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Ready for Round 2? The A’s and Yankees are set to go at it again tonight in New York. The Green & Gold dropped the first game yesterday evening in heartbreaking fashion with another late-game meltdown so the club will try to run through the finish line in their second try against the team with the best record in the sport.

On the bump tonight for the good guys will be Luis Severino. The right-hander will be going up against the team he began his big league career and spent the first decade-plus with. The Athletics’ Opening Day starter was good in his first game of the year but struggled in his most recent outing, not even able to give four full innings in a loss to the Braves. In two career starts against his former team (both coming last year), Sevy has gotten rocked for 15 runs in just 7 2/3 innings so he’ll be looking to conquer his old team.

The starting nine tonight looks like this:

Mostly the same regular lineup, save for one change from yesterday’s order. Center field will be manning by Lawrence Butler this evening, spelling Denzel Clarke up the middle. That means we’ll see backup outfielder Carlos Cortes draw another start tonight.

The Yankees meanwhile will have right-handed Will Warren on the mound for tonight’s game. He’s off to a quick start this year allowing just three runs in his first two starts. The A’s will hope to give Warren his first bump in his season. They’ve had some poor performances against his in the past though as he’s only allowed one run against the A’s in two starts.

The Yankee lineup tonight:

The A’s did well holding down this potent offense for most of the game last night. Will they be able to do it again? Tall task for the boys tonight but we got this. Let’s go A’s!

Every baseball game has a story. That’s what makes the game so great. Here were some of the narratives working their way through my head as we entered today’s Orioles-White Sox contest:

Will the Orioles get back to .500 and keep pace in the AL East?

Will the offense find itself against a bad Chicago rotation?

Does a post-Tommy John Kyle Bradish still have his ace stuff?

Well, we have some answers for you: Yes. Sort of (Ward and Henderson look pretty amazing). And I think so, but it’s still a work in progress.

Of those queries, the stuff and health of Bradish may be most important. Entering today, the one-time Top 5 Cy Young Award finisher hadn’t quite been himself, with an 0-2 record, a 6.23 ERA, and a 6.23 BB/9 rate in two starts. Today, he was better, but you can tell he doesn’t feel 100%. Bradish threw five innings on 96 pitches, allowed three runs (two earned), struck out seven, walked three, and also made two errors (totally gratuitous—more on those later).

But this was enough, as the Orioles scored four runs off Chicago starter Sean Burke, added a fifth in the ninth, and a bullpen outfit of Tyler Wells, Grant Wolfram, Anthony Nunez and Rico García held the line. The result gave the Birds their first series sweep of 2026, and pushed them back to the .500 mark, at 6-6. Things feel much better in Birdland right now.

Bradish managed to complete five innings today, which is progress. But he won’t be happy with this one, either. The second inning is becoming a thing for him: he allowed four runs his last time out against Pittsburgh, all in the second, and the Second-Inning Blues continued today, as the White Sox scored two off Bradish on five consecutive hits, and the results really could have been worse.

With one out, Bradish hung a slider to Andrew Benintendi, who tripled into the right-field corner while outfielder Tyler O’Neill tried to fish the ball out, looking like somebody rummaging around in the toolshed for a screwdriver. Chicago’s five-through-nine hitters made it 2-0 with the bases loaded, and it felt like Bradish was spiraling. But then, the gods smiled on him: Chase Meidroth grounded into a double play, getting us out of the inning and keeping the lead to just two.

This was key, as the O’s immediately tied the game the next inning. As on Tuesday, when Blaze Alexander, Taylor Ward, and Gunnar Henderson led a game-winning rally, it was the Birds’ hottest hitters who got the job done. In the leadoff spot, Gunnar Henderson walked, setting up No. 2 hitter Taylor Ward, who responded with a run-scoring double (the first of three today). A wild pitch moved Ward over, and a productive grounder by Adley Rutschman brought him home.

Bradish left the game furious after giving back a third run in the fifth, one of the strangest runs you’ll see. After walking two batters with two outs, he walked a third, Colson Montgomery, by a hair, to load the bases. A frustrated Bradish turned his back while catcher Adley Rutschman tossed the ball back to him, only to see it roll off his glove, and into the grass. As the runner on third took off for home, Bradish finally realized his mistake, fired way wide of the plate, and now the White Sox had a 3-2 lead. It was stupid. A run-by-tantrum, if you will.

Baseball is weird, though, because while Bradish left the game frustrated, he also left as the winning pitcher, courtesy of a rally the next inning off Chicago’s Sean Burke. Pete Alonso’s one-out hustle double (coupled with a dive into the second base bag) lit the way. “Let go of that anchor and get there, big fella!” said Ben McDonald from the booth, inimitably. Echoed Kevin Brown, “A belly flop for the Polar Bear!” Then Taylor Ward reached on an infield single and Ryan Mountcastle loaded the bases on a walk. The White Sox went to Bryan Hudson, a sidearming lefty, against rookie Dylan Beavers, and it backfired as Hudson fired one that got by the catcher. Alonso scored, showing more hustle. Then Beavers gave the Birds their first lead with a solidly hit sac fly.  

Now, it was time for the bullpen to try to make a 4-3 lead stand. This is not something you can take for granted these days, especially with closer Ryan Helsley out of action today. But they made it work.

First came Tyler Wells for the sixth, and it was a really weird inning. He walked Dustin Harris, gave up a stolen base, which the O’s lost their last challenge of the day contesting. Then Wells threw an inside pitch to Chicago catcher Reese McGuire, who tapped his left arm, alleging he’d been hit, and took first base. I didn’t see any contact, and neither did the MASN booth. Would the dugout have challenged this call if they could have? The world will never know, because two flyouts made the question moot, and got us out of the inning.

Grant Wolfram hit a batter and allowed a bunt single in the seventh, but he got a crucial double play to end the inning: Gunnar-to-Blaze-to-Mounty (just like Tinker to Evers to Chance, but with sunglasses, and more facial hair).

After him, Anthony Nunez continued his charmed rookie season with a clean eighth inning, aided by a great pick-and-throw by Gunnar, and a high swinging strikeout.

The Orioles scored a huge insurance run in the ninth with back-to-back doubles from Gunnar and Ward against the Sox’s Tyler Schweitzer, freshly added to the Chicago roster. That Ward-for-Grayson-Rodriguez trade in the offseason starts to look better when your outfielder is hitting .383 and leading the league in doubles (9).

That left only the ninth. In at closer for the first time in his MLB career, Rico Garcia turned in a ridiculous performance—I mean that in the best way possible. He opened the inning with seven straight balls, looking completely lost, then struck out two in a row, walked another guy, then got a groundout to end the game before things got cockeyed. Congrats on your first career save, Rico!

The Orioles offense is still a mysterious thing, the bullpen is weird, and Kyle Bradish’s command is still a work in progress. But you know, the team is back to .500 and working with something like momentum after handling the White Sox this last series.

So who is your Most Birdland Player of the Game? A gritty Bradish, showing improvement? Rico García with his first career save? Taylor Ward, who went 4-for-5 with three doubles? Henderson who scored two and also did it with the glove? Maybe a write-in nod for the Polar Bear, who hit a hustle double and scored on a passed ball?

The Red Sox needed 12 games to do it, but Boston secured its first series victory of the season. The 5-0 getaway day win over the Milwaukee Brewers clinched the series over the reigning National League Central champions.

Starting pitching did indeed prevent runs and the offense did its job in a productive third inning. 

Here are three takeaways from Boston’s series finale. 

Sonny Days

Sonny Gray clearly found his rhythm once Boston began its 2026 Fenway slate.

The veteran right-hander tallied six innings of two-run ball to down the San Diego Padres last Friday. Gray followed that with 6 ⅓ shutout frames Wednesday afternoon. The Brewers mustered just three hits against the Red Sox starter, who added two strikeouts. 

In the third inning with rare trouble, he made a big pitch to end the third with a sweeper to strike out Jake Bauers. 

Gray talked his way back to the mound after a post-sixth inning chat with Alex Cora. Gray pitched like the competitor the Red Sox hoped they acquired. For the second straight outing, Gray impressed.

Dro’s Woe’s

Shane Drohan ran through two stints in the Red Sox organization. At 27, he finally made his MLB debut in Boston, though he did so with the Brewers.

The lefty looked strong for two innings before the Red Sox wore him down in the third. Boston forced eight three-ball counts while Drohan walked four hitters. 

The home team tallied three runs in the inning with opportunistic offense: a bases-loaded walk for Willson Contreras, an infield laser for Wilyer Abreu and a sacrifice fly for Trevor Story. 

Mets prospect Jonah Tong gave up a pair of early runs, but settled in for a fine outing, striking out seven batters over five innings for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday afternoon.

Tong's third outing with Syracuse went much better than his last one, as he allowed two runs on just one hit and two walks while getting 15 outs on 83 pitches (53 strikes) in what would be a 4-3 defeat to Buffalo in a seven-inning affair to close a doubleheader. 

The runs came early, and then zeros followed for the Mets' No. 4 prospect in Joe DeMayo's most recent rankings.

After hitting the first batter he faced when a 1-2 breaking pitch lost its way, Tong left a 2-1 changeup right over the plate to Rafael Lantigua, and he hammered it 100.7 mph off the bat for a 382-foot home run to left. 

After a one-out walk was erased with a caught stealing, the righty issued a second walk, both on 3-2 counts, and it was an early mound visit from pitching coach A.J. Sager. A called strike three on a 96 mph fastball got him out of the inning, but not after throwing 30 pitches (16 strikes). 

And that was it as Tong rebounded for a 12-pitch second, adding a strikeout thanks to a generous call on the outside corner for the first out. And after a lengthy spell on the bench as Syracuse scored three in the top half of the third, the righty got a shutdown inning, including getting Lantigua looking at a slider that just caught the corner. 

Tong would close his afternoon by making it 13 straight batters retired with a two-strikeout fourth and a two-strikeout fifth.

On the afternoon, he was fastball-heavy, throwing the heater 59 percent of the time, and with some good effect, with a 33 percent called strike plus whiff rate. Emblematic of the 22-year-old settling in, his average fastball velocity ticked up to 96.2 for the fifth inning, after hanging at 94.8 mph in the first and second.

His cutter, a new pitch for him, was his second most used offering, 13 of 83, and almost exclusively to right-handers, and got five called strikes and whiffs.

Tong's ERA now stands at 5.06 through his first 10.2 innings to go along with 13 strikeouts, seven walks, and a hit batter.

Jonah Tong today for Triple-A Syracuse:

5 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K pic.twitter.com/wnfR71ySRI

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) April 8, 2026

Jack Wenninger strikes out five in Game 1

Wenninger, making his second start at the Triple-A level, had a decent outing in the first half of the Wednesday twin bill, a 2-0 Syracuse loss.

The 24-year-old allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks over 4.1 innings, throwing 85 pitches (50 strikes). And like his first outing of the year, the right-hander struck out five batters.

He sported an effective fastball, getting 11 called strikes and four whiffs on 11 swings for a 42 percent called strike plus whiff rate. His slider, which he threw primarily to righties, was hard to touch with five whiffs on 11 swings.

Wenninger, the No. 8 prospect on DeMayo’s list, has posted a 1.00 ERA and 1.333 WHIP through his first nine innings of the year with 10 strikeouts to four walks.

Davey Lopes was an outstanding second baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers for most of the 1970s and early 1980s, playing for them in four World Series and getting a ring in 1981. He was part of a famous infield that included Steve Garvey, Bill Russell and another guy who later played for the Cubs, Ron Cey.

Lopes passed away Wednesday, about four weeks shy of his 81st birthday, reportedly from complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Lopes was a prolific base stealer in his early years, in an era when stolen bases were a huge part of the game. He led the NL in steals in 1975 with 77 and in 1976 with 63.

He was thought to be done after 1981 at age 36, so the Dodgers traded him to the A’s for a minor leaguer. He had two decent years in Oakland and the Cubs acquired him one day before the deadline to qualify for the postseason roster in 1984, Aug. 31, as the player to be named later in a June 15 deal that had sent pitcher Chuck Rainey to the A’s.

Lopes didn’t play much for the Cubs in September 1984, just 16 games and 23 plate appearances, mostly as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement. And he appeared in just two of the NLCS games that year, once as a defensive replacement, the other as a pinch-hitter.

In 1985, though, with injuries taking their toll on the Cubs, Lopes played in 99 games, mostly as an outfielder, though he did play a bit of third base. He had a good year, batting .284/.383/.444 with 11 home runs in just 275 at-bats. And Lopes also stole 47 bases that year and was caught just four times. The 47 steals is still the MLB single-season record for any player age 40 or older.

Lopes was hitting well for the Cubs in 1986, batting .299/.419/.490 with 17 steals in just 59 games, but the team was well out of contention so they traded him to the Astros around the trade deadline for pitcher Frank DiPino, who had a couple of undistinguished seasons in the Cubs bullpen.

He did establish one distinction for the Cubs franchise before he left. On July 2, 1986, Lopes hit a walk-off home run against the Expos. At age 41 years, 60 days, Lopes is the oldest Cub ever to hit a walk-off homer. Here is video, from this Instagram post from last year when Justin Turner became the oldest Cub to do that since Lopes (and they are the only two aged 40 or older to hit walk-off homers for the Cubs).

After his playing career, Lopes coached for the Rangers, Orioles and Padres and managed the Brewers for two full seasons in 2000 and 2001 before he was fired 15 games into the 2002 season. Later he returned to coaching with the Padres and also coached with the Nationals, Phillies and Dodgers before retiring after the 2017 season.

Lopes had a 42.4 bWAR career and stole 557 bases, which ranks 26th all-time. He was definitely a Hall of Very Good player and I remember that 1985 season well — he just ran all over the place. He wasn’t a Cub very long, but that year was memorable.

Sincere condolences to Lopes’ family, friends and many fans around baseball.

Nobody likes getting called out at work — especially when doing so happens on a JumboTron in front of tens of thousands of folks.

Some MLB umpires are “stewing” about the new Automated Ball-Strike Challenge (ABS) system and believe it’s creating a “near-impossible standard” for their jobs, according to The Athletic.

The caveat is that umpires agreed to this system in their last collective bargaining agreement, as The Athletic noted, meaning they are not blameless for this new world.

That lack of accountability from umpires is why ABS received such a push, with fans and players alike wanting fewer games determined by human judgement that can sometimes be faulty.

The ABS system seemingly has earned positive reviews for fans, rewarding batters for good eyes or pitchers for painting the black.

There have been some egregious games, such as notoriously bad umpire CB Bucknor having six calls overturned in one game and Mike Estabrook making five wrong calls against the Yankees.

The system is designed to not let those types of calls blow the game.

“We’ve only really had one game where it’s been a lot – I think there were 11 challenges in the game,” former Met and current Royals starter Seth Lugo told The Athletic.

“We were all thinking that the umpire (Andy Fletcher) was starting to get pissed off and someone asked him about it and he was like, ‘This is great. I’m getting better in-game, so this is cool.’”

One issue is that the system does not have a buffer zone, meaning it doesn’t afford umpires who miss even a strike by .01 of an inch any grace.

That call is ruled a ball, the same as if a pitch missed the zone by six inches.

MLB umpires reportedly gripe that ABS is not a perfect system since MLB officials previously told the Athletic they are 95 percent confidence ABS will locate a pitch within 0.39 inches of its location and they are 99 percent the system would track the pitch within 0.48 inches of where it ultimately lands.

Umpires would prefer if they received the same kind of help, but it has not been OK’d.

“Major League umpires hold themselves to the highest standard and deeply care about getting calls right. We appreciate the professionalism of our umpires and their commitment to the good of the game and the wishes of fans,” MLB’s senior executive Michael Hill told The Athletic.

“As they adjust to the new zone, we commend the umpires for being the most accurate as a group in history, building off last season’s historic high with a 93.5 percent accuracy rate on pitches this year (through April 7), up 0.8 percent through the same number of games in 2025 (92.7 percent). We are also pleased that on the closest of pitches, those being challenged, umpires have been correct nearly half of the time (46.2 percent).”

The Athletic cited data from Tap To Challenge showing the top 11 umpires averaged less than one inch on their misses, although Bucknor averaged 1.36 inches, the seventh-worst mark in the sport.

Orioles righty and longtime starter Chris Bassitt defended the umpires.

“I don’t think people realize 0.2, 0.3 inches off the plate — they’re like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe you missed that call,” he told the publication. “Go get a ruler out, please, and realize how much they just missed it by. He barely missed it.

“This guy is throwing 96 mph, and the ball moved 18 inches sideways. You have no idea what you’re talking about. You’ve never even seen this. So the fact these umpires are that good, let’s not take that away from them. These umpires are literally that good. I could not be more in favor of keeping umpires in this game.”

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Seattle Mariners scored zero runs.

We had ourselves a real Shed classic today with two good starters on the mound and runs at a premium. Zeros were traded between Texas’ MacKenzie Gore and Seattle’s Bryan Woo before the Rangers finally broke through with a crooked number inning halfway through the game.

The Rangers probably should have had more runs as they hit a couple of balls in the early innings that would have been home runs in more than half of the parks in the league. As we know, no balls hit at The Shed go for home runs so they were forced to wait until they could manufacture a rally aided by Seattle’s questionable gloves.

That rally came in the bottom of the 5th when, after a quick out and Woo cruising, the bottom of the order made something happen. Danny Jansen reached via an infield single on a play that third baseman Brendan Donovan couldn’t make. Josh Smith followed with a sharp single and then No. 9 hitter Ezequiel Duran came back from an 0-2 count to single to load the bases.

With the top of the order up, the Rangers had their chance to score the runs that would make starter Gore the pitcher of record and Brandon Nimmo did just that with an assist from Seattle first baseman Connor Joe. Filling in for usual first baseman Josh Naylor on a getaway day in Arlington, Joe attempted a force play at home but his throw was wide of catcher Mitch Garver, who was in behind the plate to get Cal Raleigh off his feet.

Jansen scored on the play and Smith came around on the errant throw as well. A Corey Seager sac fly followed to give Texas a 3-0 lead. Following that breakthrough with Seager’s flyout accounting for the only RBI, the Rangers turned to the bullpen needing another four innings from their relievers.

Chris Martin pitched a scoreless frame and then Luis Curvelo made his 2026 debut with two scoreless innings. Skip Schumaker turned to Cole Winn in the 9th for a scoreless inning and save and the Rangers have their first sweep of the season while finishing their homestand 3-3 despite beginning it 0-3.

Texas now sits at 7-5 and are atop the American League West while the swept Mariners begin their much-hyped season at 4-9.

Player of the Game: Josh Smith had a couple of hits and made perhaps the best contact for Texas on the day. He was flat out robbed of a home run by former Ranger Rob Refsnyder in the 3rd. Brandon Nimmo also had a couple of hits and technically produced the winning run with his grounder that Joe threw away.

However, despite a shorter outing than would have been liked, starter Gore was the standout for Texas today.

The young lefty was nearly unhittable during his five innings of work with his only hit allowed coming after a dropped popup in foul territory by Jansen off the bat of old friend Garver. Otherwise, Gore struck out nine and had the Mariners looking silly with swing-and-miss stuff.

Gore did walk a couple in the first inning before he had settled in and that contributed to his high pitch total early, but overall he was excellent and has had a superb start (2-0, 2.76 ERA) to his tenure with Texas.

Also, just in general the pitching staff was fantastic with only two hits allowed all game. Overall, the Rangers allowed just three runs total in this series against Seattle and have allowed just 12 runs in their first six games at home this year including no more than two runs in any of the previous five games.

They may not be scoring much at The Shed, but they’re not giving up many runs either.

Up Next: The Rangers get a day off on Thursday to rest up their bullpen before opening a series on the West Coast against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a matchup between the two most recent World Series winning franchises. RHP Kumar Rocker is expected to make the start for Texas in Friday’s opener opposite RHP Tyler Glasnow for Los Angeles.

The first pitch in Friday’s opener from UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium is scheduled for 9:10 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

The last three World Series winners will be represented in the series opener between the Dodgers and Texas Rangers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. The Rangers after winning the 2023 Fall Classic went 78-84 in 2024 and 81-81 in 2025. This year, former Dodgers infielder Skip Schumaker is in his first year managing in Texas.

Tyler Glasnow starts the series opener, moved up a bit in the pecking order given the six-man rotation at the moment plus Thursday’s off day. Glasnow last pitched Saturday in Washington D.C., and will be on five days rest on Friday night. Emmet Sheehan, who pitched on Friday, April 3 against the Nationals, will start on Saturday vs. Texas.

Kumar Rocker starts Friday for Texas, making his second start of 2026. The right-hander allowed two runs in five innings last Saturday in a loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

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)