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The Dodgers tout Yoshinobu Yamamoto as a Cy Young award contender, and every one of his starts has been a quality start, including the one he made here Tuesday.

The Dodgers talk up Shohei Ohtani as a Cy Young award contender, and Ohtani has given up one run all season. He pitched six shutout innings here Wednesday.

But the pitcher who delivered the best start of this series against the San Francisco Giants, and the one that stood tall between the Giants and what would have been a humiliating sweep, was Tyler Glasnow.

Glasnow stopped the Giants cold over eight innings, allowing one hit — a single — and facing one batter over the minimum.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani pitches six shutout innings, but one swing lifts Giants over Dodgers

He has made 133 major league starts and 130 minor league starts, but he never has pitched a complete game. This could have been his chance, but the Dodgers decided a season-high 105 pitches from an oft-injured pitcher was enough for this afternoon.

Tanner Scott got the first save situation since the Dodgers lost closer Edwin Díaz to elbow surgery, and last year’s fallen closer redeemed himself for a day. He worked a perfect ninth inning for the first of what might be quite a few saves this season.

In 10 ⅔ innings this season, Scott has given up one run and one walk, with nine strikeouts. His earned-run average is 0.84.

The Dodgers concluded a 3-4 trip to Colorado and San Francisco, the teams projected to finish in the bottom two spots in the National League West. Up next: the Chicago Cubs, winners of nine consecutive games.

Ohtani went hitless again, but Dalton Rushing singled home one run in the second inning and Hyeseong Kim singled home another in the fourth. The Dodgers also scored on an error in the fourth.

Kyle Tucker, whose average had fallen to .233 entering play Thursday, ignited the two-run rally in the fourth with a double and delivered his first two-hit game in 17 days.

On the day after he said he had no answer to explain Tucker’s struggles, manager Dave Roberts tried a remedy. Roberts flipped Tucker with Freddie Freeman in the batting order, moving Freeman up to second and dropping Tucker to fourth and saying Freeman and Tucker would remain in those spots “for the foreseeable future.”

Said Roberts: “I definitely expect him to come out of it and hit, get on base and do what he's done for many years. I just wanted to change it up, and felt like it was time.”

The Dodgers did not leave town without a hint of bad blood between them and their traditional rivals. On Tuesday, cameras caught Rushing muttering something after looking back at the Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee, who was in discomfort after an awkward slide at home plate. Rushing had tagged out Lee and was headed back to the dugout when he turned back to see Lee on the ground, then kept going.

Read more:Offense takes the night off as Dodgers fall to the Giants

Rushing did not play Wednesday. On Thursday, in his third plate appearance, Rushing was hit by a pitch from San Francisco starter Logan Webb.

Rushing did not appear pleased. When the following batter, Kim, grounded to second base, Rushing threw up his hands and slid away from the base to try and prevent shortstop Willy Adames from completing the double play.

The second-base umpire pointed at Rushing and awarded the Giants with the double play. The first-base umpire ruled the Giants had completed the double play anyway, since Adames’ throw beat Kim to first base.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

It took three games for the Dodgers to find any semblance of offense in San Francisco, and they managed to beat the Giants best starter to do it, salvaging a game behind a dominant Tyler Glasnow on getaway day Thursday in a 3-0 win at Oracle Park.

Glasnow allowed only a single and a walk, and another batter reached on an error. Groundball double plays erased two of those runners, which meant Glasnow only faced one over the minimum in his eight scoreless innings. That matched the longest outing of his career, the fourth time he’s done it and first since April 21, 2024 against the New York Mets.

San Francisco only batted twice with a runner in scoring position, both in the first inning after Luis Arráez stole second base with one out. But Glasnow struck out both Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers to end the only real threat against him.

Glasnow, who allowed three hits to the Colorado Rockies and Giants in 15 innings in his two starts on the road trip, struck out nine batters batters on Thursday, lowering his ERA to 2.45 to go with his 31.7-percent strikeout rate and team-leading 38 strikeouts against only seven walks this season.

Glasnow matched teammate Justin Wrobleski for the longest start by a Dodger this season. Both Glasnow and Wrobleski faced one batter over the minimum in their gems.

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Max Muncy walked in the second inning against Logan Webb, and advanced to second on a groundout. Dalton Rushing, getting his second start behind the plate in the series in a day game following a night contest, singled home Muncy with two outs.

It was the Dodgers’ second run of the series, but their first run-scoring hit, and all it took was 20 innings and 77 plate appearances to get it.

A pair of doubles by Kyle Tucker and Muncy, on the first two pitches of the fourth inning, set the stage for the Dodgers’ first multi-run inning of the series. It was a bit comical though that it took a throwing error by center fielder Drew Gilbert for that second double to score the first. That’s because Muncy tattooed the ball 107.7 mph directly off the wall, and Tucker held up to see if it was caught. Perhaps it was the universe recognizing Muncy’s bizarre eight-homer, nine-RBI stat line this season, and simply wanting those vibes to continue, as Muncy did not get a run batted in on the play.

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Glasnow has completed at least six innings in all five of his starts this year. Combined with Yoshinobu Yamamoto (five starts) and Shohei Ohtani (four), the Dodgers’ top three starters have lasted at least six innings in all 14 outings thus far in 2026. That’ll get it done.

Thursday particulars

Home runs: none

WP — Tyler Glasnow (3-0): 8 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts

LP — Logan Webb (2-3): 7 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts

Sv — Tanner Scott (1): 1 IP, zeroes

Up next

The losing road trip now complete, the Dodgers return home to face the Chicago Cubs beginning Friday night (7:15 p.m., Apple TV). Emmet Sheehan starts the opener, with Jameson Taillon on the mound for Chicago.

The Phillies finally showed some signs of life, but nevertheless they still couldn’t manage to finally break their losing streak, which has now extended to nine games. They erased a 6-2 deficit and tied it at 7-7 in the ninth, but ultimately, they couldn’t find a way to win in extras while Dansby Swanson walked it off for the Cubs to win 8-7. Brandon Marsh went 4-5 with two home runs and three RBIs in a losing effort.

Marsh’s first homer gave the Phillies the lead in the second inning, but Cristopher Sánchez quickly surrendered the lead in what would become a recurring theme for Phillies pitchers all day. It took the Cubs just three batters to tie the game after a Carson Kelly double, a Michael Bush single, and a Swanson sacrifice fly. It only got worse for Sánchez from there, as the Cubs hammered him for 6 runs and an eye-popping 12 hits in just 5.1 innings, both tying his career worst. Two of those hits were home runs, with the biggest one being a three-run blast from Busch in the third that extended the deficit to 4-1.

Marsh once again came through and singled in a run in the fourth to cut that deficit in half, but Sánchez again immediately gave that run right back on a home run to Ian Happ as the second batter of the bottom of the fourth. Busch would add another RBI in the sixth, this time with a single off of Chase Shugart who was on in relief of Sánchez.

But instead of rolling over, the Phillies showed a spark for the first time in weeks in the seventh, starting when Marsh tallied his second homer to cut the score to 6-3. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm followed with a single and a double to put two runners on with one out. That’s when Justin Crawford hit a weak grounder to third baseman Alex Bregman, but Bregman launched the throw past Busch at first, allowing Stott to score and Bohm to go to third. Garrett Stubbs then successfully drove in Bohm with a sacrifice fly to draw the Phillies within one before Trea Turner flew out on the first pitch he saw to end the inning.

The eighth inning brought another Phillies rally, this time started by an impressive nine pitch walk by Bryce Harper against Hoby Milner with one out. Felix Reyes then grounded into a force out and was substituted with Dylan Moore who successfully stole second to put the tying run in scoring position. It was now Marsh’s turn to work an impressive at bat against the “nasty” left-hander Milner, fouling off four pitches and heading to first after eight pitches. Right hander Jacob Webb entered to face the pinch-hitting Edmundo Sosa, who lined the first pitch back up the middle to tie the game at 6-6. Bohm picked up the third walk of the inning for the Phillies to load the bases, but Crawford struck out to end the threat.

Once again though, the Phillies pitching failed to get a shutdown inning, as Seiya Suzuki homered on just the second pitch thrown by Brad Keller, a center cut 95 MPH fastball. Keller was then able to retire the next three hitters, but the Phillies once again trailed by one. Except this time, they answered right back as well, as pinch-hitting Adolis Garcia homered to left field off of Cubs acting closer Caleb Thielbar in the ninth, once again tying the score at 7-7.

Turner and Kyle Schwarber followed with walks to put two on with still no outs. Harper hit a ball just off the end of the bat that went for a fly ball that moved Turner to third with one out, but Moore and Marsh were unable to bring the go-ahead run home.

José Alvarado worked around a one out double to Moisés Ballesteros in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras. With Marsh serving as the ghost runner, Sosa, Bohm, and Crawford failed to get the run home, leaving the game tied. Tanner Banks entered to pitch the bottom of the 10th and intentionally walked Suzuki before allowing a single to Kelly to load the bases. Banks was able to strike out Busch after a challenge but couldn’t finish off Swanson despite being in an 0-2 count, as the Cubs shortstop successfully got the ball to the outfield to win the game and finish off the four game sweep.

Tomorrow’s matchup

The Phillies will once again look to snap their losing streak when they send Andrew Painter (1-1, 4.42) to the mound in Atlanta to face Grant Holmes (1-1, 3.42). First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 pm.

The Yankees have already locked up the series win, but Thursday evening presents a bigger opportunity. New York enters Fenway Park looking for its first three-game sweep there since September 2021, and a chance to keep momentum rolling against their longtime rivals.

The formula through the first two games has been simple and effective: dominant pitching paired with one right-handed bat carrying the offense each night. On Tuesday, Luis Gil led the charge and Giancarlo Stanton powered the attack in a 4-0 victory, going 2-for-4 with a home run, double, three RBIs, and scoring the Yankees’ other run. On Wednesday, Max Fried tossed a gem and Amed Rosario took the baton in a 4-1 win, going 1-for-1 with a homer, a walk, and a sacrifice fly, collectively accounting for all four RBIs.

Now it will be Cam Schlittler’s turn to try to keep the Red Sox run total drier than an unsoaked bean. The Walpole, Massachusetts native gets the start close to home after becoming a postseason breakout story last October with his Wild Card heroics against these very Red Sox. It is another spotlight moment for the young right-hander, this time in front of a friendly local crowd at Fenway.

Plenty has been said about how Boston fans have treated Schlittler and his family this week. Frankly, I am surprised any of them were willing to pipe up after his playoff performance last October. Some still have, though, so here is hoping Schlittler gives them another reason to go quiet tonight.

Schlittler will face a Boston lineup that is still struggling to start the season. The Red Sox rank 26th in runs scored and 23rd in batting average. Schlittler has dazzled through his first five starts of 2026, posting a 2-1 record with a 1.95 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 27.2 innings.

Boston had originally lined up Brayan Bello for this game, but his scheduled start was pushed back a day after Sonny Gray landed on the injured list. That move could open the door for top prospect Payton Tolle to get the ball. Tolle nearly made the rotation out of spring training before losing the final spot to Tuesday’s starter, Connelly Early.

Tolle is an imposing presence at 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds. The big left-hander was selected in the second round out of TCU in 2024. This will be his first MLB appearance of the season. Last year, Tolle got his first taste of the majors, making three starts and appearing in seven games overall as a September call-up.

Tolle was a two-way star in college but has focused solely on pitching as a professional. He features an upper-90s fastball and mixes in a slider, changeup, and cutter. He has overwhelmed minor-league hitters, ranking third in strikeout rate (37 percent) and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.8) among pitchers with at least 90 innings.

The Yankees lineup card has a new look tonight. Cody Bellinger gets the evening off, and with his usual middle-of-the-order presence out of the mix, the batting order takes on a different flow.

Other than perhaps Tim Hill, no offseason addition has outperformed expectations quite like Rosario, and tonight he gets the leadoff assignment. He is followed by Aaron Judge, Ben Rice, Stanton, and Randal Grichuk, giving the Yankees a top half loaded with right-handed thunder while Rice’s left-handed bat breaks it up in the middle.

Call it the Righties and Rice configuration. With Boston turning to a left-hander, the Yankees are leaning into matchup advantages, and the hot hand of Rosario sits right at the top. Who will be the hero tonight?

A series at Fenway is never routine and sweeps there are never easy. If the Yankees can get one more sharp effort on the mound and another timely performance from someone at the plate, they will head to Houston atop the American League East and with a seven-game lead over last-place Boston in the standings.

How to watch

Location: Fenway Park — Boston, MA

First pitch: 6:10 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, NESN, Fox/FS1

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), WEEI 93.7 (BOS)

Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only)

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Series Finale at Fenway. #RepBXpic.twitter.com/xfNcu2fIuT

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 23, 2026

Tolle on the bump. pic.twitter.com/CaBMH2S5M1

— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 23, 2026

For the Nats big name players, today was a productive game. However, it did not come in a winning effort, with the Nats dropping this one 7-2. In a surprise to absolutely nobody, the bullpen could not hold down the fort. Cionel Perez and Gus Varland did not have it in a damaging 7th inning for the Nats.

The Nats were facing JR Ritchie, who was making his MLB debut. James Wood gave him quite the rude introduction by sending Ritchie’s first ever MLB pitch over the wall. The wide eyed 22 year old managed to shake that off and cool off this red hot Nats offense though. Ritchie went 7 innings, only allowing two runs in an impressive performance.

James Wood slugs a first-pitch leadoff homer!

He's hit 5 home runs in his last 7 games 💪 pic.twitter.com/Y4P1pEBJ2S

— MLB (@MLB) April 23, 2026

This Nats offense has been elite so far, but even the best offenses have off nights. However, when the offense is not firing, they cannot lean on this pitching staff. So far this season, the Nats pitching staff has been disastrous, allowing the most runs in the league. Some games it is the starters, but today it was the bullpen.

The starting pitching was actually excellent today. Cade Cavalli had his best start of the young season, and arguably the best one of his career. While he only went five innings, he struck out a career high 10 hitters and did not walk anybody. It was a huge step forward for the 27 year old who has been up and down to start the season.

Cade Cavalli's 3Ks in the 5th.

10Ks thru 5. pic.twitter.com/TU3DZPPVW7

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 23, 2026

In this one it felt like Cavalli was going right after guys from the jump. He leaned heavily on his two fastballs and his curve in this one. It felt like Cavalli was getting back to the basics and pitching to his strengths. His velocity also looked really good, averaging over 97 on the four-seamer and touching 99. 

He threw too many pitches over the heart of the plate in the fourth inning, which the Braves punished. Besides that, Cavalli was outstanding. He still needs to give the Nats more length, but a 4.01 ERA is not too shabby. If he throws the ball like he did today on a consistent basis, he will have a lot of success.

Speaking of success, CJ Abrams finally showed up again after a quiet homestand. In the bottom of the 4th, Abrams took young JR Ritchie yard to tie the game. He was in a 2/27 drought, but he responded in a big way today. Abrams can be prone to slumping, but I think this skid has more to do with bad luck than anything else.

CJ Abrams just snapped out of a 2-for-27 skid by belting his 7th HR. The ball traveled 426-feet. pic.twitter.com/HkKw8oY2U3

— Grant Paulsen (@GrantPaulsen) April 23, 2026

Those two homers were all the offense the Nats could muster today though. It was an off game for this usually electric unit. They only had five hits, with four of them coming from Wood, Abrams and Daylen Lile. The supporting cast just did not get anything going today.

That theme also extended to the mound. It was a good start for the bullpen, with Richard Lovelady firing a scoreless inning. However, Cionel Perez and Gus Varland were off their game today for two different reasons.

Perez was not throwing enough strikes, while Varland was throwing pitches over the heart of the plate too often. That combination led to a four run inning for the Braves, which proved decisive. The Nats dropped to 11-15 and 3-10 at home.

They will hit the road to face a rebuilding White Sox team. This will be a good measuring stick series. If they can avoid throwing meatballs to Munetaka Murakami, I like our chances. However, Murakami has been on a roll lately and is a star rookie. The road has treated the Nats well so far this year and hopefully that continues.

Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said that there is “definitely some level of concern” that the calf strain that landed him on the 10-day injured list could see him miss a decent stretch of the season, while refusing to give any indication of a timeline.

“I’ll be out for a minute, I don’t know how long,” Lindor told reporters outside the Mets’ clubhouse before Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Twins.

Lindor sustained the injury when he scored from first base on a double during the previous night’s win, adding that he felt the injury soon after he touched third base, and it wasn’t an issue before Wednesday’s game.

“I was in some pain, but gotta score,” he said, adding that after he got up from his slide, he was “encouraged” that he was able to walk off the field and down the tunnel to the clubhouse.

As far as when he will return, manager Carlos Mendoza said earlier that while a timetable at this junction is hard to pin down, the Mets “do know that he's going to be down for a while."

Asked directly if he felt he would be back this season, Lindor was emphatic: “A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah, ah… yeah. It kills me not being on the field, but I trust the trainers, and I know they have good care here. 

"And I’ll be back, I’ll be back. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”

He added that he “hopes” to be back before the All-Star break, but this injury is “one of those that I gotta go through the process on a daily basis.” 

Lindor said he’s the kind of person who “doesn’t want to know timetables” or grades on the severity of the strain.

“It just plays with my head,” the shortstop said. “I trust the trainers here; we have really good trainers. I have really good people at the house as well that help me get back on the field, hopefully soon.”

On timetables, he added later that he would ignore any discussion of that. “Let’s just stay off that,” he said of any talk of dates. “I’m a person that live day by day, and I hate living in the future. So focus on what I got today, whatever we’re gonna do at some point today. And can’t wait to go watch the boys and win a game tonight.”

Asked later if he had a goal of when he’d like to be back, Lindor said, “The goal is to win the World Series. That’s the one goal.”

Lindor said he experienced a calf injury on his other leg during the offseason a few years back, and it “took some time.” But this time, he added, with a slightly hopeful tone, “I feel better today than I did last time, but we’ll see how everything goes.”

“Trust what’s happening on a daily basis,” he said of what he learned from the previous injury. “When it’s soft tissue stuff, you just gotta trust what’s happening that day and don’t worry about tomorrow.” 

Lindor said he hasn’t gone through the full details of how his initial rehab program will take shape over the coming days, but he trusts what the Mets have in the training room.

“It’s gonna be one of those where every day you just gotta show up and give 100 percent of what you got that day,” he said. “And understanding that rehab is not a linear thing, it’s gonna be ups and downs with that. The good thing is that we’re gonna be playing games and I’ll be supporting my guys.”

Of course, catching a good break just hasn’t been in the cards for the Mets or Lindor this season. His offseason began with elbow surgery and included a broken hamate bone that required surgery at the start of spring training

“It was a long offseason,” Lindor said. “With that being said, we’re athletes, we depend on our body, stuff like this happens, it’s part of the game, it comes with the territory. And you gotta toughen up and try to find a way to get healthy and be on the field. 

“Even though the last two weeks weren't the best for us, we were still going through the process and just loving each other and being there for each other, and there wasn’t a day that I took for granted being on the field.”

And the latest injury came on the day Juan Soto returned to the lineup after missing 15 games with a calf strain of his own, after Lindor had two hits and appeared to be breaking out of an early-season funk at the plate, and as the team finally snapped a miserable 12-game losing skid.

“Whenever I get to miss games, it’s disappointing, but, at the end of the day, I am super encouraged by what I saw yesterday,” he said. “I feel like the group is in the right direction and the guys are hungry, they’re ready to start winning games, and what you saw yesterday felt like it was a new day.

“...I’m looking forward to seeing what the guys are gonna be doing and me cheering them on and pulling for them. It sucks to be on the side, but I’ll be there with them, probably just as nervous as every fan out there. When you’re watching the games and not playing, I get more nervous than when I am actually playing.”

In the corresponding roster move, the Mets brought Ronny Mauricio back from Triple-A, and Lindor expressed his confidence that the 25-year-old can bring “a lot” to the table and help the team win in his absence.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him at shortstop and helping us win games. He’s a good player,” Lindor said of Muaricio. “He’s a great competitor, he brings a good energy, and he’s gonna play well. He played well in spring training, the day that he was here, he played well.

“For however many days I’m out, I know the team is gonna be in a good spot.”

TV: NESN

First Pitch: 6:10 p.m. ET

The Red Sox are looking to salvage a series against their most hated rival on Thursday at Fenway Park.

The Yankees are looking to bury them.

Boston will roll out yet another interesting lineup in the series finale, as they remain without Roman Anthony (back soreness). Jarren Duran, who started to get things going during the middle game of the series, will return to the leadoff spot in what could be a sign of things to come:

Tolle on the bump. pic.twitter.com/CaBMH2S5M1

— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 23, 2026

New York hasn’t exactly been crushing the baseball all series, but the offense has put enough runs on the board to pull their weight in a series where the pitching staff has been superb.

Series Finale at Fenway. #RepBXpic.twitter.com/xfNcu2fIuT

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 23, 2026

Payton Toll will get the start for the good guys, having been called up to make it three consecutive left-handers in the series. Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet were both pushed back and will start this weekend against the Baltimore Orioles. Tolle has a 3.00 ERA in 15.0 innings for Triple-A Worcester in 2026.

Cam Schlittler is probably going to be as annoying as he always is, which is to say he’ll strike out a ton of guys and then post something snarky on the internet afterwards. Schlittler has a 1.95 ERA this season, having struck out 36 batters in 27.2 innings.

A four-game series within the division on the road is always interesting. It was especially interesting considering that the Washington Nationals were heading into this series having scored the third-most runs in the National League (fourth overall) with a MLB-leading 22 of those runs coming in the first inning of their games played so far. It was clear that if the Braves were going to get greedy and think about winning this series, the pitching would have to perform.

Fortunately, Atlanta had a low bar to clear when it came to their pitching staff being better than Washington’s. That’s because as good as the Nationals had been at the plate, they had been just as bad on the mound. Considering how the Braves had been swinging the bat heading into this series, this did seem like a prime opportunity for Atlanta to keep on cooking at the plate and keep on putting some breathing room between themselves and the Phillies and Mets, who had both gotten off to very sluggish starts to begin this season.

The onus was seemingly on Atlanta’s lineup to out-slug CJ Abrams, James Wood and the rest of the potent Nationals lineup. Let’s take a look at how things went down over the past four games for the Braves:

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Monday, April 20

Braves 9, Nationals 4

The Nationals scored two runs in the first inning because this is apparently they do, now. The Braves didn’t respond until the fourth inning, which is when Matt Olson cracked one out to dead-center field for a two-run shot that tied the game up at two. Daylen Lile then responded in the bottom half of the fourth with a solo shot of his own that gave the Nationals the lead and it sure seemed like we were in for a topsy-turvy game.

Fortunately, once the bullpen entered the game in relief of Bryce Elder (who was unfortunate to end up with four runs conceded as one of those came on an error), they were able to make sure that the Nationals didn’t do any more damage after that. That was a good thing since the Braves were able to eventually get to Jake Irvin for four runs (three earned as well) while he was out there for five innings. Unlike Atlanta’s ‘pen, Washington’s relief corps was unable to keep the Braves quiet.

A five-run sixth inning wound up being the turning point in favor of the Braves in this contest and then Atlanta added a couple more insurance runs in the ninth inning in order to cruise to a five-run victory. Drake Baldwin came up with the huge knock in the sixth that broke the game open, which isn’t surprising because this is Drake Baldwin we’re talking about. This ended up being a win on multiple fronts as Ronald Acuña Jr. withstood two HBPs (one of which was a scary one that smacked him on the wrist) and ended up escaping with no structural damage — he even started for the rest of the series.

Tuesday, April 21

Nationals 11, Braves 4

The Nationals scored three runs in the first inning because this is apparently what they do, now. Unfortunately for the Braves, Washington was far from done as they followed up on their first-inning damage with consistent offense that eventually crescendoed for them in the final two innings of this one. Reynaldo López got the hook in the second inning after giving up a homer to James Wood and a single immediately afterwards. The good news is that Jose Suarez, Dylan Dodd (who would unfortunately have to go on the IL the next night) and Aaron Bummer were able to keep the Braves in the game as they attempted to chip away at another early deficit.

Unfortunately, this game turned once Ian Hamilton and Joel Payamps entered the contest. They both gave up three runs in their appearances and that allowed the Nationals to pull away while the Braves were unable to keep up in order to make it a truly crazy slugfest. Instead, this was another example of how this Nationals lineup should be taken seriously and is going to win this team a fair share of ballgames via mashing their way out of any trouble. The Braves did mash their way into cutting the deficit to just one run in the fifth inning (with homers from Drake Baldwin and Eli White powering them forward) but that was as close as Atlanta got on this night.

Wednesday, April 22

Braves 8, Nationals 6

The Nationals scored four runs in the first inning because this is apparently what they do, now. This time, the Braves responded right away in order to back up the newly-recalled Didier Fuentes after he suffered another early-game ambush from Washington. The game was tied up at four runs apiece by the top of the second inning, as a two-run homer from Michael Harris II and a sacrifice fly from Ronald Acuña Jr. combined with a first-inning dinger from Drake Baldwin to bring the Braves back on level terms.

The Braves weren’t done crushing the ball, either. Money Mike got another crack at it in the very next frame and while this homer wasn’t as majestic as the one that he hit into the upper deck in the second inning, it still did the job done in putting the Braves in front at 5-4. Matt Olson got his turn in the next frame, as his big fly gave the Braves plenty of space and also doomed Zack Littell to a second-consecutive outing where he gave up at least eight runs. Oof!

Didier Fuentes only went three innings but his performance was encouraging enough to think that he’s absolutely got the stuff to eventually do well at the big league level. For now, he’s back down at Triple-A while consensus MLB Top 100 prospect JR Richie ended up getting a chance on Thursday afternoon.

Thursday, April 23

Braves 7, Nationals 2

The Nationals scored in the first inning because this is apparently what they do, now. Indeed, James Wood gave JR Ritchie a “Welcome to The Show” moment as he took the very first pitch that Ritchie threw as a big leaguer and promptly deposited it into the seats in right field for a leadoff homer. Fortunately, Ritchie proceeded to lock down the Nats from that point forward and ended up delivering a fantastic debut.

I think we’ll all take seven innings, seven strikeouts and just two runs allowed on five hits from a debuting rookie, won’t we? That’s exactly what we got from Ritchie who looked very, very good against a lineup that had been previously mashing the ball. If your only blemishes in your debut are giving up homers to the two best players that the Nats have to offer (CJ Abrams homered as well) then you are doing just fine.

This one actually stayed close while both starters were out there since Cade Cavalli was able to provide a sorely-needed stabilizing presence for Washington’s pitching staff. His only two blemishes came on a sacrifice fly from Ozzie Albies and an RBI single from Michael Harris II — whose day was unfortunately cut short after he had to leave the game in the middle of the seventh inning after feeling some tightness in his left quad.

By the time Mike had left the game, the Braves were in Washington’s bullpen and as we’d seen on multiple occasions during this series, Washington’s bullpen getting involved usually meant good news for Atlanta. Cionel Pérez was unable to maintain the 2-2 deadlock as the Braves broke out for three runs against him and eventually ended up plating four runs total in the seventh in order to turn the game on a dime. Hopefully Harris will be fine as well, since he had a big game (and a big series as a whole) and it’d truly be a shame if he had to experience a lengthy absence right when he’s starting to really heat up.

Ozzie Albies eventually added a solo homer of his own in the ninth inning to add some more breathing room and also cap off on a huge day at the plate for himself. That eventually led to ol’ Cookie Carrasco finishing things off in the ninth inning in order to gave the Braves a four-game series win on the road. Fantastic.

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Going 5-2 on a seven game road trip that consisted of nothing but divisional games is like picking up a dollar bill on the floor that you forgot about. Winning a four-game series on the road is like picking up a tenner. Doing it against a divisional foe in the form of the Nationals is like picking up a twenty. You can upgrade that to a fifty dollar bill when you consider that the Marlins aren’t doing so hot, themselves, and both the Phillies and the Mets are currently spinning their wheels in the mud. The Atlanta Braves could not ask for a more ideal way to get this season started as they are heading in the right direction while the two other preseason conteners for the division are seemingly heading in the complete opposite direction.

You always have to take April results with a grain of salt since there’s so much baseball to be played but at the same time, we all know from experience that you’d much rather be in a position where you can simply just maintain your position for the rest of the season rather than having to spend weeks or even months trying to dig yourself out of an early-season hole. The Phillies and Mets are going to have to do some serious digging to get back to ground-level while the Braves are sprinting and putting an early gap between them and their two usual foes.

So while it’s tough to say what the long-term impact of this run of form for everybody in the NL east will be, it’s certainly great that the Braves are in the position that they’re currently in. They took care of business on this road trip, they’ve already gone 8-2 in the first 10 games of this 13-game NL East gauntlet and they’ll have a further opportunity to keep on kicking the Phillies while they’re down now that they’ve got a home series against Philadelphia coming up. It will be very important for the Braves to keep this run going in the same direction in order to make sure that any path back for the Phillies will be as difficult as possible.

For now, you’ve got to tip your cap to the Nationals for continuing to swing the bat very well. Their pitching staff may not be any good but it’s clear that Washington won’t be a doormat for teams to walk all over during this season. The quality of Washington’s offense and Miami’s pitching will likely make things tougher for the Braves within the division but that’ll also be just as annoying for New York and Philadelphia to deal with as well. This division is going to be an interesting one going forward but hey, as long as the Braves can find a way to stay on top of the pile then I think we’ll all take “interesting” over “frustrating.”

Texas Rangers lineup for April 23, 2026 against the Pittsburgh Pirates: starting pitchers are Jacob deGrom for the Rangers and Bubba Chandler for the Pirates.

It is the rubber game of the series, and the Rangers are looking to bounce back from yesterday’s unpleasantness to take the series. Alejandro Osuna makes his season debut.

The lineup:

Nimmo — RF

Pederson — DH

Seager — SS

Burger — 1B

Jung — 3B

Carter — CF

Jansen — C

Smith — 2B

Osuna — LF

7:05 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are -160 favorites.