For the third time on this road trip, the Red Sox entered a game with a seemingly large pitching advantage and lost. They got shut down by Dustin May last Friday, watched Garrett Crochet get bombarded while matched up against Bailey Ober yesterday, and saw Sonny Gray get thoroughly outpitched by Mick Abel tonight.

On an evening where the Sox needed both length and effectiveness from their starter, they got neither. Gray lasted just four innings and allowed five earned runs. Oh, and as bad as he was, it easily could have been worse as he narrowly wiggled out of a bases loaded jam in the third.

Meanwhile, the bats were going up against a guy with a 6.19 ERA in 52.1 career innings entering tonight. They scored zero runs and struck out ten times.

If this is what things look like when matchups are favorable on paper, what type of horror show are we in for when this butter knife offense starts running into the teeth of real rotations? Although I guess in some ways it can’t get any worse. You can’t score less than zero runs, and you can’t have less than zero wins, which is how many the Red Sox have against American League opponents 17 games into this season.

If you dive deeper into the details, it somehow only gets uglier. Willson Contreras left the game with lower back tightness, which unfortunately feels like the most natural injury ever when you’re talking about a guy who will be 34 next month, has never played more than 138 games in a season, and started all 17 games this year. I don’t have time to look it up, but I bet there’s a decent chance this is the first time he’s ever started 17 straight games in his career. It also feels like another byproduct of a completely unbalanced roster that includes way too many outfield / DH guys, and not enough quality infielders.

Speaking of subpar play by an infielder, did you see the strike Andruw Monasterio (who came into the game for Contreras) challenged tonight? This puppy wasn’t even close!

And it should be noted, this stands juxtaposed to Roman Anthony’s more disciplined decision to not challenge a ball in the third pitch of the game tonight. If you saw this live, you could see he really, really wanted to tap his head on this one (pitch 3 below), but ultimately decided to be a good teammate and not risk burning a challenge in the very first at bat of the night.

But you know what, as we continue to iron out the best way to handle these challenges, maybe they should let Roman use them early in the game if he’s confident. He seems to have a much better handle on the strike zone than most guys on this team. Perhaps the player challenging matters almost as much as the spot? (Within reason of course)

Oh, and we also have to mention that Jarren Duran flipped off a fan in this game, but that didn’t manage to get me nearly as angry as the hideous and downright shameful play of the team on the field, so this was a real masterclass of a fiasco tonight!

Three Studs

Jack Anderson: Even somebody as cynical as me is a sucker for a major league debut, and Jack Anderson had a good one tonight. He came into a horrible situation needing to clean up the mess made by both of the top two men in the Red Sox rotation over the last 36 hours, and he delivered big time. The rookie gobbled up three innings of grunt work and struck out the side in his first frame ever pitched on a major league mound. His family was also in attendance, so for them it’s a wonderful evening they’ll never forget. (At least something good came out of this dumpster fire.)

Roman Anthony: Anthony’s slowly starting to heat up at the plate. After getting on base four times yesterday, he went 2-4 tonight, including the only extra base hit of the game for the Sox. (In case you’re wondering, his arm didn’t get challenged in this game.)

Masataka Yoshida: He took advantage of his time back in he lineup at DH and recorded a pair of hits. My guess is he’ll get another chance tomorrow too as Duran will likely be in time out.

Three Duds (You gotta clear a high bar to get on this list)

Sonny Gray: Not even close to what the Sox needed from this guy after Crochet got bombed yesterday. Five runs over four innings including two gopher balls is a dreadful outing on any night, but it stings even worse given the current state of this team. They needed somebody to step up, and instead he dug the hole deeper.

Jarren Duran: 0-4 on the night. Batting Average down to .182 on the year.

Carlos Narvaez: Should we start getting concerned about this guy? 0-4 with four strikeouts tonight, and with that golden sombrero he’s now batting .195 with a .409 OPS on the season.

Highlight of the game:

It’s Jack Anderson’s first career strike out. He’s the only person in that clubhouse who should have a smile on their face tonight.

Looking Ahead: Tomorrow’s game is Early, both in time (a 1:40pm start) and in matchup. Connelly Early will take the mound tasked with trying to prevent a Twins sweep and to salvage a .500 road trip for the Sox.

LOS ANGELES — Nolan McLean’s misfortune Tuesday night was facing a fellow Cy Young level pitcher with this reeling Mets lineup as a handicap.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto matched McLean jab for jab before Brooks Raley dented in the eighth, allowing an RBI single to Kyle Tucker that sent the Mets to their seventh straight loss, 2-1 to the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine.

Tucker, whom the Mets pursued last winter in free agency before he landed in Hollywood on a $240 million, four-year contract, delivered a bloop single to left for the go-ahead hit after Raley walked pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas to start the inning.

McLean pitched a gem, allowing one earned run on two hits with two walks and eight strikeouts over seven innings, lowering his ERA to 2.28.

“I try to treat every start the same, no matter who is standing in the box or where I’m at, I just want to win every time I go out there,” McLean said. “Growing up a baseball fan, getting to watch some of these guys on TV as I am growing up, it’s really cool to go compete against them.”

The game had only seven hits, four of which belonged to the Mets (who have one run total to show for their last three games). Francisco Lindor’s homer leading off the game gave the Mets their only run on a night Yamamoto dominated over 7 ²/₃ innings, striking out seven and walking one.

What is the Mets’ desperation level for a victory?

“The urgency level is really high,” Lindor said. “I don’t think anyone here is desperate, but we understand that we have to win. It’s a must win. I don’t want to sit here and say, ‘We’ll get them.’ Everybody in here has a sense of urgency and we are all trying to win. It’s just a matter of time. It’s still the middle of April and we have an opportunity to finish the month on the positive side.”

The Mets were overmatched by lefty Justin Wrobleski, who fired eight shutout innings a day earlier. They won’t receive a reprieve in Wednesday’s series finale with Shohei Ohtani scheduled to start for the Dodgers.

“They are good, but we’re good too,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We have got to get back to attacking, so you can’t give them too much credit. We have got to trust who we are. We have got good players here and we have just got to go out there and do it and execute.”

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Lindor’s first homer and RBI this season gave the Mets a 1-0 lead only three pitches into the game, ending the team’s scoring drought at 20 innings. Lindor jumped on a 95-mph fastball and cleared the right-field fence for his 32nd career leadoff homer. Before the game, Mendoza indicated that moving the slumping Lindor from the leadoff spot wasn’t a consideration.

Freddie Freeman’s RBI ground out in the bottom of the first tied it 1-1.

McLean walked Tucker to begin the rally and Will Smith’s sinking line drive double that just eluded Carson Benge’s grasp in left field put runners on second and third with one out before Freeman drove in his 14th run this season.

McLean kept the go-ahead run at third base by striking out Teoscar Hernández to end the inning.

Neither team had another base runner until McLean walked Hyeseong Kim with two outs in the fifth. McLean’s errant pickoff attempt on Kim moved him to second before Alex Freeland was retired to end the threat.

McLean showed no sign of fading as he worked the third time through the batting order. He quickly retired Ohtani and Tucker to begin the sixth before getting Smith to pop out on a full-count fastball.

Yamamoto didn’t allow his second hit until the seventh, when Bo Bichette stroked a two-out double. Francisco Alvarez, elevated to the fifth spot in the batting order, walked.

But Brett Baty was overmatched by Yamamoto’s 1-2 splitter, striking out to end the inning. It was Yamamoto’s 94th pitch, but he wasn’t finished.

McLean struck out Freeman and Hernández on six pitches to begin the bottom of the inning before Max Muncy’s single to left gave the Dodgers their second hit. McLean recovered to strike out Andy Pages swinging on a 1-2 changeup.

Yamamoto returned to the mound for the eighth and retired Mark Vientos on a weak comebacker before Marcus Semien hit a drive to the warning track in left that was caught.

Benge singled to left and Lindor’s ensuing single to right moved the go-ahead run to third base, ending Yamamoto’s night at 104 pitches. After Lindor stole second, Luis Robert Jr. was caught looking at Strike 3 on Blake Treinen’s full-count sweeper to end the inning.

After Tucker’s RBI single against Raley gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead in the eighth, the Mets were retired in order by lefty Alex Vesia, who subbed for hurting Edwin Díaz in the closer’s role.

There are old-school pitchers’ duels. And then there is what unfolded at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Dodgers beat the New York Mets 2-1, taking their first and only lead when Kyle Tucker –– in a breakthrough moment after his recent slump –– lofted a bloop RBI single off Mets reliever Brooks Raley in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The real story, though, was the dueling brilliance of starting pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Nolan McLean; a back-and-forth, step-for-step, exhilaratingly boring masterclass between the reigning World Series MVP and early-season Rookie of the Year favorite.

“I mean, there was just nothing happening,” manager Dave Roberts quipped. “We haven’t seen McLean up close, I don’t recall. But, man, he’s special. And our guy matched him.”

Indeed, in a game that saw the two right-handers combine for 14 ⅔ innings, 15 strikeouts and only two runs allowed, Yamamoto and McLean gave each other no margin for error.

Both allowed runs in the first; Yamamoto on a leadoff home run to Francisco Lindor, McLean on a run-scoring Freddie Freeman grounder following a one-out walk from Tucker and a double from Will Smith.

After that, though, it was nothing but zeroes. Literally.

Over the next five innings, neither pitcher allowed another hit –– let alone another run.

“They were both awesome,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Yamamoto was pretty nasty. But Nolan was pretty nasty too. They went head-to-head, inning after inning, batter after batter, pitch after pitch.”

McLean retired 14 batters in a row at one point, mixing a “wiffle ball” sweeper, as Roberts described it, with a relentless onslaught of fastballs, cutters and equally deceptive sinkers.

Yamamoto recorded 20-straight outs after Lindor’s leadoff homer, leaning heavily on his trademark splitter while also fastballs with his typically pristine command.

Not until the end of their outings did either pitcher ever face any real stress.

The Mets (7-11) put two aboard in the seventh, after Bo Bichette hit a two-out double and Francisco Alvarez drew a walk. However, Yamamoto stranded them, snapping off a wicked splitter that fanned Brett Baty for an inning-ending strikeout.

McLean faced his own danger in the bottom of the inning, after Max Muncy hit a two-out single, but also got through it by fanning Andy Pages.

That marked the end of McLean’s night, a seven-inning, one-run, eight-strikeout gem.

Yamamoto kept going, meanwhile, getting two outs in the eighth before back-to-back base hits finally chased him from the game.

“It was kind of vintage Yamamoto,” Roberts said, noting the Opening Day starter had looked slightly off in two solid-but-unspectacular starts leading up to Tuesday. “Just the command. The split. The breaking ball when he needed it … Yeah, this was special. And it’s kind of who he is right now.”

Yamamoto received a huge roar from a crowd of 48,138 as he exited with 104 pitches. Then, he watched from the dugout as reliever Blake Treinen preserved his 7-⅔ inning, one-run, seven-strikeout stat line, with Luis Robert Jr. going down a called third strike in an at-bat that featured ample ABS challenge drama (including a failed appeal by Robert on the last pitch).

The Dodgers (13-4) took the lead on Tucker’s go-ahead flare to shallow left field in the next half-inning, capitalizing on a small-ball rally set up by a leadoff walk from Miguel Rojas and a sacrifice bunt from Santiago Espinal.

Fittingly, that meant both Yamamoto and McLean finished the night with no-decisions.

After all, while one of the teams always had to lose the game, neither of them deserved to after such dominant performances.

What it means

The Dodgers might have the majors’ best offense to this point of the season.

But their rotation is proving to be an equally dangerous weapon.

The last two nights alone, Yamamoto and Justin Wrobleski have combined for 15 ⅔ innings of one-run ball. And now, the team’s starters have a combined ERA of 3.26 –– one that would be even lower if not for the early struggles of Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan.

Even more encouraging: The group has also combined for 96 ⅔ innnigs to this point, one shy of the Miami Marlins for most in the National League.

Who’s hot

Yamamoto had been plenty good in his first three starts this season, going six innings in each of them with a 2.50 ERA.

Tuesday, however, was the first time he tapped back into the dominant form he displayed during last year’s postseason, carving up the Mets lineup with a splitter-heavy game plan.

Lindor’s leadoff homer came on a 2-0 fastball in the zone. After that, Yamamoto went on the attack. He used a career-high 42 splitters, and generated whiffs half the time the Mets swung at it (12 of 24). The rest of his six-pitch arsenal only threw them further off balance, leading to a start that further cementing his place as one of the sport’s premier arms.

Who’s not

On Tuesday? Edwin Diaz.

At least, not when it mattered.

After getting three days off amid an ongoing battle to regain his normal velocity, the team’s $69 million closer was tasked with throwing a pregame bullpen session on Tuesday afternoon.

Roberts described it as a final check-mark for Díaz, confirming the team’s belief that his velocity drop was not injury-related.

But, it meant that when a save situation arose in the ninth, the Dodgers had to look elsewhere for the final three outs.

Their answer was Alex Vesia, who pitched a 1-2-3 frame to record his second save this week.

Díaz, meanwhile, should be back online to pitch in Wednesday’s series finale, Roberts said, just so long as he rebounds well from Tuesday afternoon’s pregame activity. 

Up next

The Dodgers wrap up this series, and homestand, on Wednesday against the Mets. Shohei Ohtani (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his third pitching start of the year for the Dodgers. Right-hander Clay Holmes (2-1, 1.50 ERA) goes for the Mets.

The pitchers’ duel that was advertised delivered and then some, with both the Mets and Dodgers getting stellar starts, in a nail biter of a game that, unfortuantely, didn’t break the Mets’ way. A 2-1 loss is never easy to take, but especially not when your ace pitches the game of his young career in the process.

Francisco Lindor decided that enough was enough with the 20-inning scoreless streak, leading the game off with a no-doubter solo home run off of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It was the type of veteran leadership move that gets pointed to at times as ‘turnaround’ points in a season.

If only any of the other Mets’ batters would step up.

Thankfully, Nolan McLean was up the task tonight in Los Angeles. McLean walked Kyle Tucker with one out in the first, and that would come back to bite him after Will Smith doubled down the left-field line. putting men on second and third with one out. A weak Freddie Freeman ground out scored Tucker and tied the game at one.

Despite the early run, McLean would settle in and dazzle. After retiring 14 Dodgers in a row, a fifth inning walk to Hyeseong Kim and an errant throw by McLean put a running in scoring position for the first time since the first. However, McLean buckled down and got a Alex Freeland ground out to end the threat. A Max Muncy single in the seventh didn’t go anywhere, either.

McLean’s final line was seven innings pitched, one earned run on two hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts, including three ring ups of Teoscar Hernández and two for Freeman. It was an impressive performance.

After Lindor, Yamamoto would retire the next 20 Mets in a row, until Bo Bichette ripped a double with two outs in the seventh. Francisco Alvarez then walked, and the Mets had their first real threat of the game. However, Yamamoto would strike out Brett Baty to end the seventh and keep the game knotted up at one.

In the top of the eighth, Carson Benge lined a two-out single to left, which was followed by a weak Lindor grounder between first and second, which advanced Benge to third. That would do it for Yamamoto, who would be pulled in favor of Blake Treinen. After allowing Lindor to steal second, Treinen struck out Luis Robert Jr. looking to end the Mets’ threat.

Brooks Raley relieved McLean in the bottom of the eighth, and he walked Miguel Rojas to start the frame. A sacrifice bunt by Santiago Espinal moved Rojas to second, and an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani put two one with one out. Tucker would loft a ball over third base, scoring Rojas and breaking the tie. Raley struck out Will Smith and induced a line out to right off the bat of Freeman to end the inning.

Alex Vesia, not old friend Edwin Díaz, would pitch the ninth for the Dodgers, and easily fanned Jorge Polanco on three pitches. Bichette would follow suit, leaving Alvarez as the Mets’ final hope. Alvarez would be punched on a check swing to end the game.

The Mets have now lost seven straight games and have shown only marginal offense over most of that run. Tomorrow night, the Mets play in the Jackie Robinson Day game on ESPN with Shohei Ohtani pitching for the Dodgers and Clay Holmes starting for the Mets.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Nolan McLean, +34.0% WPA

Big Mets loser: Brooks Raley, -23.0% WPA

Mets pitchers WPA: 11.0% WPA

Mets batters WPA: -6.1% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Lindor’s lead-off dinger, +9.8% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Kyle Tucker’s eighth inning RBI single, -21.8% WPA

The Texas Rangers scored one run but the Arden Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Area Athletics scored two runs.

The Rangers should have saved a few of those eight runs from last night for tonight’s contest. In a strange contest, Texas took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st with another RBI from Jake Burger in this series and then the strike zone became a mystery for Rangers pitchers.

Through a couple of innings, Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore seemed more or less like the guy we’d seen over the first few starts during his tenure with Texas until he allowed a two-out double to A’s No. 9 hitter Denzel Clarke in the bottom of the 3rd.

At that point, Gore just kind of fell apart for many minutes as he walked the next two batters and then allowed a two-out, two-run RBI single to Jacob Wilson. Frustratingly, Wilson had already impacted the game with a couple of nice plays at shortstop with runners on base for the Rangers.

After the Wilson hit gave the A’s a 2-1 lead, Gore got out of the inning without any further damage but then walked the next two hitters he faced in the bottom of the 4th. Gore wiggled out of that inning too to keep the score a one-run game thanks in part to the A’s deciding to give up an out with a sac bunt. However, after a hit and another walk in the 5th, Gore’s night was finished.

Overall, Gore walked six A’s batters but he also only allowed three hits and struck out five. It was a bad command night for the left-hander but it was also a close game throughout. With Gore struggling and with Springs settling in after the 1st inning run, the game had a mystifying vibe that the Rangers were getting soundly defeated even though it was a 2-1 score from the 3rd inning on.

Despite some early chances, and a few at-bats late with runners in scoring position, the bats just couldn’t break through against former Ranger Jeffrey Springs and then collected just one hit off the Athletics’ bullpen.

Player of the Game: Though the Rangers walked a total of eight batters tonight with six from Gore and two more from the bullpen, and though Robert Garcia was one of those relievers who issued a walk, the recently demoted from high-leverage lefty gave Texas 1.2 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts after Gore got the early hook in the 5th.

Garcia’s stock has fallen a bit in the season’s first few weeks but, in a one-run game, he helped keep the Rangers in this one by bridging the game from Gore to the late innings.

Up Next: The Rangers and A’s are back at it tomorrow with RHP Kumar Rocker expected to make the start for Texas opposite RHP J.T. Ginn for formerly Oakland.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from Sutter Health Park is scheduled for 8:40 pm CDT once again and will be telecast via the Rangers Sports Network.

LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Nolan McLean engaged in a wonderful pitching duel on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, pitchers with different styles but equally vast repertoires, and both exceedingly difficult to score against. Offenses were kept mostly at bay until the eighth inning, when both teams threatened but only the Dodgers were able to push across the game-winner, beating the Mets 2-1.

Pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas walked to open the eighth, and was sacrificed to second by pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal. With first base opened, Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked (extending his on-base streak to 48 games, by the way), setting up a struggling Kyle Tucker to dunk one just behind third base for the Dodgers’ first lead of the night.

Both starting pitchers gave up single runs in the first inning, and nothing else. Francisco Lindor hitting a leadoff home run off Yamamoto, and Will Smith doubling off McLean to set up two runner in scoring position, only one of whom scored, on a groundout.

Yamamoto struck out seven in his 7 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and a walk in a tidy 104 pitches. McLean struck out eight in his seven innings, giving up two hits and two walks on 95 pitches. By all accounts, an incredible duel.

Yamamoto not only kept the Mets in the ballpark after the Lindor home run, he mostly confined them to the infield. He induced 10 groundouts, five of which were to Freddie Freeman at first base, who dutifully fed a covering Yamamoto four times.

Yamamoto retired 20 batters in a row after the Lindor home run, until Bo Bichette snapped the string with a double over third base with two outs in the seventh inning. Yamamoto then issued his first walk of the night, to Francisco Alvarez on five pitches, in his first real jam of the night. But he struck out Baty to end the seventh, keeping the game knotted at one apiece.

With Thursday’s off day pending and a six-man rotation, Yamamoto’s next start will likely be next Tuesday, on six days rest, which made the decision to keep him — at 94 pitches — in for the eighth inning much easier to make. Yamamoto got the first two outs, but a pair of singles put runners at the corners and ended his night.

Blake Treinen rode the tightrope, allowing Lindor to steal second base to put two runners in scoring position, but then struck out Luis Robert Jr. on seven pitches to keep the game tied.

With closer Edwin Díaz still day-to-day, the Dodgers turned to Alex Vesia for the ninth inning with a one-run lead, and he struck out all three batters he faced on only 10 pitches.

After Monday’s win took two hours, 13 minutes for the shortest Dodgers game of the season, Tuesday night needed only two hours, three minutes to complete.

Tuesday particulars

Home run: Francisco Lindor (1)

WP — Blake Treinen (1-0): 1 batter, 1 strikeout

LP — Brooks Raley (0-1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 2 walks, 1 strikeout

Sv — Alex Vesia (2): 1 IP, 3 strikeouts

Up next

One more game remains on the homestand, with Shohei Ohtani starting on the mound Wednesday night (7:10 p.m., ESPN), and Clay Holmes pitching for the Mets.

The matchup between Nolan McLean and Yoshinobu Yamamoto lived up to the hype, but the Mets could not push across enough runs in their 2-1 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday night.

Both McLean and Yamamoto allowed just one run each and struck out a combined 15 batters across 14.2 innings.

Including Tuesday night, they have scored 10 runs in their last seven games, and have now lost seven games in a row.

Here are the takeaways...

-Francisco Lindor had gone the first 17 games of the season with an RBI -- the longest of his career -- but got off the schneid in a hurry, taking a 95 mph fastball from Yamamoto deep to lead off the game with a home run. The blast went 402 feet and snapped the Mets' 20-inning scoreless streak. 

But Yamamoto would settle in quickly, retiring the next 20 batters before Bo Bichette hit a two-out double in the seventh inning. Francisco Alvarez followed with a walk, setting up Brett Baty. The left-hander struck out swinging to leave two runners on and get Yamamoto through seven innings. 

Yamamoto wound up starting the eighth, and after getting the first two outs -- Marcus Semien narrowly missing a solo shot (101.9 mph off the bat) that died at the warning track -- Carson Benge hit an opposite-field single. Lindor followed up with a single that put runners at the corners. The back-to-back singles knocked Yamamoto out of the game for Blake Treinen to face Luis Robert Jr. Lindor stole second on the first pitch and Robert worked the count full but was frozen on a strike-three pitch that ended the threat.

Yamamoto tossed 104 pitches (65 strikes), allowing one run on four hits and one walk while striking out seven. 

-McLean matched Yamamoto and then some. The young right-hander was given a 1-0 lead, but would be a tough-luck pitcher in the first. He allowed a one-out walk to Kyle Tucker and Will Smith hit a blooper to left field that Benge dove for, but couldn't come up with it. The ball kicked away a bit, allowing Tucker to reach third and Smith to get to second. Freddie Freeman hit a dribbler down the first base line, which Mark Vientos picked up and stepped on first for the second out, but Tucker scored. 

McLean would also settle in after that first inning. McLean would retire 13 straight batters before navigating through a tough Dodgers lineup. 

McLean allowed just one run on two hits and two walks through seven innings (95 pitches/68 strikes) and struck out eight batters. He lowered his ERA to 2.08.

-Brooks Raley was the first reliever out of the pen and his command wasn't there to start. He walked the leadoff man and a bunt moved Miguel Rojas to second base for Shohei Ohtani. Raley intentionally walked Ohtani to pitch to Tucker. The left-hander dumped an RBI single to left field to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

-In the top of the ninth against Alex Vesia -- not Edwin Diaz, who has been dealing with velocity issues of late -- the Mets went down in order. Jorge Polanco, Bichette and Alvarez struck out to end the game. The Mets outhit the Dodgers 4-3, but could not get the hit that mattered.

Game MVP: Kyle Tucker

With the pitcher's duel, someone needed to push across the winning run and Tucker did just that.

Highlights

A leadoff home run for Francisco Lindor off Yoshinobu Yamamoto!

His first homer & RBI of the season! pic.twitter.com/C4nGtLX1oT

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 15, 2026

Nolan McLean gets his first strikeout of the night pic.twitter.com/UiopvcEqia

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 15, 2026

Bo Bichette snaps Yoshinobu Yamamoto's 20 batters in a row retired streak with a double pic.twitter.com/d0xxHEMdho

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 15, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Dodgers wrap up their three-game set on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 10:10 p.m.

Clay Holmes (2-1, 1.50 ERA) will take the mound against Shohei Ohtani (1-0, 0.00 ERA).

The Atlanta Braves began the day with a roster move that recalled southpaw Hayden Harris to Atlanta and simultaneously optioned right-hander Rolddy Muñoz to Triple-A Gwinnett. The move is a classic bullpen shuffle, and an underwhelming one at that. 

Muñoz made his first appearance of the season on Monday night, and in two innings, he surrendered three runs on five hits. He walked one and recorded three strikeouts. Given this performance, it wasn’t overly shocking to see he was demoted Tuesday morning, which brings up none other than Hayden Harris.

Harris has yet to make his 2026 debut, and he’s gotten off to a rough start in Triple-A. He’s appeared in five games, where he gave up three runs. He’s recorded six walks and seven strikeouts. The Braves will be hoping he can settle in and provide some stability out of the bullpen.

More Braves News:

Dominic Smith delivered in the eighth during Tuesday’s 6-5 win over the Miami Marlins. 

Spencer Strider will be joining Sean Murphy in Rome for a rehab start on Thursday evening. He is expected to throw 40-45 pitches.

After being designated for assignment earlier this week, Martín Pérez has cleared waivers and elected free agency. 

In the latest minor league recap, we continue the game of who’s hot, who’s not. 

MLB News:

The San Diego Padres placed right-hander Nick Pivetta on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation. He exited Sunday’s start after three innings due to elbow stiffness.

The Philadelphia Phillies traded right-hander Griff McGarry to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for international pool money. 

The Milwaukee Brewers placed OF Christian Yelich on the 10-day injured list due to a left groin strain. He is expected to be out until mid to late May.

From the Feed:

Austin Riley is off to a slow start this year but is beginning to show some encouraging signs. Let’s hear your thoughts here:

Tuesday’s game marked Matt Olson’s 800th consecutive game, giving him the 11th longest streak in MLB history.

Padres 4, Mariners 1

Bryan Woo when he throws first pitch strikes: Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley, .03 WPA

Bryan Woo when he does not throw first pitch strikes: Bryan Woo, -.11 WPA

Game thread comment of the day: