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Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs broke the Louisville Bats (Reds), 12-7.

The game started out poorly for Iowa as starter Connor Noland gave up a grand slam to Rece Hinds, the fourth batter of the bottom of the first. But he settled down after that and finished the day after 4.1 innings, allowing the four runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out two.

Meanwhile, Iowa jumped on Louisville for seven runs in the top of the second inning. First, third baseman BJ Murray Jr. hit a solo home run.

Iowa made it 4-2 Louisville later in the second on a single by catcher Eric Yang. But Iowa loaded the bases with two outs and then first baseman Jonathon Long unloaded them with this grand slam.

Luke Little relieved Noland in the fifth inning and got the win because Noland didn’t go five. Little allowed one run on one hit and three walks over 1.1 innings. Little did not record a strikeout.

Iowa put this game out of reach with a five run top of the eighth inning. Long walked with the bases loaded to make it 8-6 Iowa and then DH Pedro Ramirez doubled home two.

Yep, Ramirez turned 22 today.

This single by right fielder Kevin Alcántara then plated two runs.

Long went 1 for 4 with a walk and five RBI. He scored twice.

Ramirez was went 3 for 5 with a double. He scored twice and drove in two.

Alcántara was 2 for 4 with a double, a walk and three RBI.

Second baseman James Triantos went 2 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.

Yang was 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored twice and drove in one.

The Royals announced they have placed closer Carlos Estévez on the 15-day Injured List with a left foot contusion and have called up pitcher Steven Cruz. Estévez was hit by a line drive in his only appearance of the year on Saturday and has been wearing a walking boot since then.

Estévez looked off in his season debut against the Braves, allowing six runs while recording just one out in the 6-2 loss. He had trouble breaking 90 mph in spring training, raising alarm bells with many observers. On Saturday, he averaged 91.2 mph on his fastball, and had erratic command, particularly on his change up. He gave up three singles and two walks before giving up a walk-off grand slam to Dominic Smith. After the game, manager Matt Quatraro suggested Estévez may pitch in lower-leverage situations to ease him back after he spent some of his spring training with Team Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

Cruz made 47 appearances with the Royals last year, with a 3.74 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 45.2 innings. The 26-year-old right-hander gave up two hits and two runs with a walk and three strikeouts in his only appearance for Omaha.

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Carlos Estévez led all of MLB in saves in 2025. He also had a very bad, no-good, borderline horrific day when he first attempted a save for the Royals in 2026. All signs point to him relinquishing the closer’s role, at least temporarily. Matt Quatraro indicated he’d pitch in low leverage for a while, but he’s also been considered day-to-day with a foot contusion after taking a comebacker to the ankle during Saturday’s meltdown.

In the interim, the Royals will need someone else to become the closer. We’ve seen Lucas Erceg close Sunday’s contest, and John Schreiber picked up a save in Monday’s game. Those aren’t even remotely the only options in KC’s bullpen, though.

Erceg obviously has experience as a closer for the Royals, picking up 11 saves down the stretch in 2024, plus two more last year. Schreiber has never been a primary closer, but Monday’s effort means he’s now earned at least one save for five straight years. Similarly, Matt Strahm has never been a primary closer, but he has saves in each of the past four years as well. Nick Mears earned a single save last year, his first. Alex Lange was the primary closer for the Tigers in 2023, but has barely pitched at the big league level since then.

Then, of course, the Royals have Luinder Avila in the minor leagues with perhaps the best strikeout stuff out of all of them, but should the Royals have him attempting to close games now when they still think he could become a frontline starter in the future? Especially when you consider what the pressure might do to an inexperienced reliever such as he. The Royals could also go with a closer by committee, but has that ever truly been a strong solution?

I can’t decide! What do you think?

Not much to write home about here after yet another series dropped to begin the 2026 campaign.

Luis Severino took the bump. His second start of the season, following an outing on opening day where he pitched…fine. Across five frames against the Blue Jays he gave up 2 ER while striking out three. Everything would go up today (good and bad). His 7K’s seem a little less impressive when you hold them next to the 4 ER and 5 BB also offered up by the big righty.

Drake Baldwin’s single to left field would net Atlanta their first set of runs. Ozzie Albies and Dominic Smith scored on the base hit, making it 2-0 Braves.

That would be the score going into the 4th inning when none other than Shea Langeliers got ahold of one. That’s five home runs! Five dingers in the first six games.

He’d walk away from today’s action with the lone A’s hit against Atlanta’s ace Chris Sale, continuing to be the only real bright spot in an otherwise dopey start to the season.

Speaking of…

Just a half a frame later, Drake Baldwin would get ahold of another one. This time a double off of Elvis Alvarado which scored Dominic Smith and Mauricio Dubon. Both runs would be charged to Severino, who exited the game on 91 pitches in less than four innings pitched.

Matt Olson’s single to right brought in another.

5-1 Braves going into the 5th inning and it would stay that way through the final out.

Another tough day at the plate for A’s hitters. Tough day all around actually. The only real bright spot came in the form of Denzel Clarke’s home run robbery of Drake Baldwin in the 7th. His bat might be non-existent but hey, maybe he’ll bring home a gold glove soon.

The A’s will be given an off day tomorrow and then it’s off to West Sacramento, where they’ll play host to the Houston Astros in their first series of the season at Sutter Health Park.

Maybe the day off will do them good. They can collect themselves, go grab a drink, see a flick. It’s been an unforgiving past six days for the green and gold and any break in that action couldn’t hurt in the slightest.

If you plan on attending any of the games this weekend, feel free to let me know! I’ll be at all three and ready to talk ish with anyone. Let’s have a little fun this weekend and hopefully the energy will help propel the A’s to their first series win of 2026!

The San Francisco Giants conclude their series against the San Diego Padres this afternoon from Petco Park.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Adrian Houser, making his Giants debut. Houser finished the 2025 season with a 3.31 ERA, 3.81 FIP, with 92 strikeouts to 38 walks in 125 innings pitched between the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.

He’ll be facing off against Padres right-hander Nick Pivetta, who finished the 2025 season with a 2.87 ERA, 3.49 FIP, with 190 strikeouts to 50 walks in 181.2 innings pitched. His last start was in the Padres’ 8-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, in which he allowed six runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks in three innings.

Game #6

Who: San Francisco Giants (2-3) vs. San Diego Padres (1-4)

Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California

When: 1:10 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

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

ST. LOUIS — A back issue has landed SNY's Keith Hernandez on the injured list at the start of the 2026 season.

Hernandez, who cited a slipped disc in his back during the broadcast during the team's series with the Cardinals for excruciating pain, will miss the upcoming five games on the Mets' road trip to receive treatment.

Who is replacing Keith Hernandez in SNY booth for Mets games?

Todd Zeile arrived in St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon to do color commentary alongside Gary Cohen for the Mets' series finale against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Hernandez's back issue will force him to miss Wednesday and the entirety of the team's upcoming four-game series against the Giants at Oracle Park, beginning on Thursday.

The 72-year-old Hernandez, who had his No. 17 retired by the Mets in 2022, agreed to a three-year deal to help broadcast games on SNY and PIX11 for the next three seasons.

Hernandez has long suffered from back issues. He underwent surgery in 2019 to help alleviate pain from a ruptured disc and has stenosis in his lower back.

What a difference a day makes. After two games of a frustrating lack of offense and problems with the starting pitching, the Orioles came into Wednesday afternoon looking to avoid a sweep by the Rangers with #1 starter Trevor Rogers on the mound. Even with the challenge of Texas pitcher Nathan Eovaldi awaiting them, the hitters were able to break out, Rogers continued to pitch well, and the team came away with an 8-3 victory to even up their record at 3-3 for the season.

The early games of the 2026 season have not done a lot to dispel any concerns that carried over from last year, when the team was often unable to shake off setbacks within a single game or from a game-to-game basis. Fighting to avoid this sweep is another point towards thinking maybe these guys are different. They will still have challenges to overcome, such as Zach Eflin’s injury from Tuesday, the impact of which is still not totally known on the roster. Just, maybe they’re capable of overcoming the challenges sometimes.

One thing that always helps on the road to victory is when the bottom of the order can deliver. It was the 6-9 batters in the order who opened up the scoring against Eovaldi in the game’s early innings. Consecutive one-out singles by Colton Cowser and Leody Taveras put men on the corners in the bottom of the second. The #9 batter, Jeremiah Jackson, succeeded at his job of putting the ball in play productively, delivering a deep fly ball that handily scored Cowser from third. Taylor Ward continued Tuesday’s explosion by adding an RBI double, giving the O’s a 2-0 lead heading into the third inning.

The bottom of the third saw Pete Alonso lead off the inning with a walk. He was still on first base two outs later, then came some bottom of the order contribution again. Dylan Beavers hit a single and Cowser drew a walk to load the bases. The light-hitting Taveras was able to capitalize with a double off the wall in right field, plating two more runs.

This 4-0 lead proved to be all that the Orioles would need to win the game, not that you could have known it at the time. Texas got Rogers on the ropes a bit in the top of the fourth, scraping together four singles in a row after Rogers had gotten two outs. This brought two runs home, cutting the deficit in half. The fourth inning also saw Rogers throw over 30 pitches in that one frame.

Rogers was able to keep the game from spiraling and add another two more innings on top of that, finishing the day with two earned runs allowed over six innings. It’s only disappointing if you were expecting him to carry last year’s 1.81 ERA or better all season.

The Orioles offense also proved to be capable of adding on further runs after scoring some early in the game. The inability to do this year ago was another frustrating feature of that season. None of that on Wednesday. After a quiet bottom of the fourth, Samuel Basallo announced his presence with authority. Leading off the bottom of the fifth, the Orioles catcher was heaved a middle-middle mistake and he did not miss.

There was a satisfying crack of the bat, a majestic flight path apparent even before the camera cut away to show the ball in flight, and by the time the ball landed in front of the batter’s eye beyond center field, it had traveled a Statcast-estimated 437 feet. That’s the good stuff.

After Eovaldo walked the next batter, Coby Mayo, he got the hook from the game. Texas brought in reliever Tyler Alexander, who allowed the inherited runner to score plus one more of his own as, again, the bottom of the order helped get things done. The Orioles even scored two runs over the remainder of the inning after laying down a tactically-unsound sacrifice bunt, which is how you really know things were going in their favor in the game. Jackson and Ward cashed in with an RBI apiece as the Orioles lead grew to 7-2.

With a safe-seeming lead and three innings left to cover, the Orioles turned to Albert Suárez to get them the rest of the way. The 36-year-old Suárez rejoined the team as the player called up when Eflin landed on the injured list. He needed to be called back up after not making the roster following spring training. Suárez’s objective for the game was to make sure the Orioles would not need to use any of their other pitchers.

Although there was some traffic on the bases in the seventh and Corey Seager led off the top of the eighth with a solo homer, Suárez proved up to the task that he was asked to do. He notched a classic three-inning save, allowing the one run on the solo shot over his three innings. The bullpen gets a day to rest, so hopefully it will be at full strength when the series against the Pirates opens on Friday.

Former Orioles minor leaguer Carter Baumler, who’s now with the Rangers as a Rule 5 pick, pitched two innings for Texas. He gave up a solo home run to Beavers across his two innings. Maybe he’ll pitch badly enough that he’s offered back to the Orioles. Maybe it won’t matter all that much whether he’s offered back or not.

The game wrapped up on an amusing note that’s only possible in this era of Automated Ball/Strike challenges. Suárez tossed a 1-2 pitch to Evan Carter that looked to be in the strike zone yet was called a ball. Basallo, behind the plate, tapped his helmet immediately, initiating a challenge. The replay came back and showed a clear strike in the zone, reversing the ball and ending the game on a third strike looking instead. In all, the Orioles made three challenges and won each of them.

The team will be back in action in Pittsburgh on Friday. The game is the Pirates home opener, so there’s a weird 4:12 scheduled start time. Kyle Bradish and Mitch Keller are the currently-scheduled starting pitchers.

As this game has ended in an Orioles victory, it is time to proclaim a Most Birdland Player for the game. Who is your pick for the player who made the most unlikely and/or fun contribution to the O’s winning the game? Nominate your choice in the comments below.

After opening up the new season on a West Coast road trip, the Yankees are finally headed home this weekend. However before they do, there’s till one more game to finish up, as they’re set to play the Mariners one last time. The Yankees dropped the opener in Seattle on a Cal Raleigh walk-off, but they rebounded last night thanks to another excellent effort from Max Fried. Although they already have a winning road trip guaranteed (5-1 or 4-2), they won’t rest on their laurels, and they will try to take a second-straight series on the new year.

The first time around in the rotation, Fried threw a scoreless outing on Opening Day, and was followed by Cam Schlittler doing the same in San Francisco for Game 2. Today, Schlittler will attempt to repeat that pattern after Fried kept the M’s off the scoreboard on Tuesday night.

Despite facing a righty in George Kirby, the Yankees are giving starts to both Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario, in an otherwise normal lineup. At least in the case of Rosario, that may have something to do with Ryan McMahon looking lost at the plate so far this season. This will be Goldschmidt’s first appearance of the season, as Ben Rice shifts to DH and Giancarlo Stanton takes a seat on the bench. Stanton’s been hotter than just about anyone in baseball, but the Yankees perhaps understandably being cautious with the oft-injured 36-year-old is nothing new.

As mentioned, Kirby will take the mound for the Mariners, coming off a season debut where he held Cleveland to one run in six innings. The M’s will roll out a similar cast of characters to last night in their starting lineup, though they did tag in Dominic Canzone for Rob Refsnyder at DH and Luke Raley for Victor Robles in right field. Offseason trade acquisition Brendan Donovan also returns to the leadoff spot after hitting sixth against Fried.

We hope that you’ll come join us in the game thread for this afternoon’s action, and here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game.

How to Watch

Location: T-Mobile Park — Seattle, WA

First pitch: 4:10 p.m. ET

TV broadcast: YES Network (NYY) | Mariners.TV (SEA)

Online stream: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv

Listen: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | Seattle Sports 710 AM (SEA)

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

Lousy Smarch Weather! Hey look at that, no more March baseball, which really shouldn’t even be a thing. Now we’re playing in April, like the good baseball gods intended where it is also cold and rainy. Nevertheless, DAY BASEBALL on a WEDNESDAY! Let’s get into it.

The Mariners had their first true stinker of a game last night in a lifeless 5-0 shin-kicking by the Yankees, but the M’s can bounce back today and stroll off with a series win versus the big baddies of the AL East. Taking the mound for the Mariners is Furious George Kirby versus Cam Schlittler, who has all the letters in his last name for multiple frowned upon words and names. Fun fact: Kirby, who grew up in Rye, New York, has pitched at least 7.0 innings in both of his career starts against the Yankees. Let’s see if he can match or top that in today’s tussle.

Lineups!

And these guys:

I will begrudgingly hand it to them for the cool 80’s Fleer/Topps mash-up style baseball card graphics, though. Big shoutout to friend of the site Dave Sims, too.

Pre-Game Reading

• More on the Yanks in the series preview from Jake
• Last night’s recap
• Kate on why M’s fan should get excited for Colt Emerson this season
• Check out the 2026 Everett AquaSox roster

Game Info

First pitch: 1:40 PM PDT
TV: Mariners TV, which you can a subscription to online or watch on several cable networks. Kate’s got the details.
Radio: 710 KIRO, in Rick Rizzs’s final season