Worldwide Sports News

The Yankees appear to have dodged a massive bullet. 

Ben Rice is feeling better after leaving Sunday's win over the Orioles with a left hand contusion. 

“I feel good,” he said. “It’s a little sore, but should be alright.”

Rice suffered the injury when a Max Fried pickoff caught him awkwardly on his palm in the top of the third. 

“I read that the throw low, it was a little lower than I thought it actually was,” he said. “I went down quick like it was going be in the dirt and it kind of just stayed up at the end so I caught it poorly and it kind of hit me in the palm.”

The lefty took some practice swings in the on-deck circle and his hand started to feel better, but it didn’t feel great when he ramped it up towards game-speed. 

He was replaced in the field by Paul Goldschmidt in the top of the fourth. 

X-rays came back negative, but Rice and the Yanks are still unsure if he’ll play in Monday’s series finale, as they’ll wait and see how he feels in the morning. 

Rice was sure to get in on the fun prior to the departure, though, retying Aaron Judge for the team-lead in homers before the captain took it back over a few innings later. 

The 27-year-old also doubled down the third-base line in the bottom of the third. 

The Chicago Cubs train just keeps on rolling.

Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, Moisés Ballesteros homered and Michael Busch smacked a bases-loaded triple. That, plus six solid innings from Matthew Boyd, helped the Cubs to an 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks, a series sweep and their 11th consecutive win at home.

Arizona scored first, in the top of the second inning, their first lead of the series. Nolan Arenado doubled with one out and one out later, Gabriel Moreno smacked a home run for a 2-0 lead.

The Cubs chipped away in the second. After the first two Cubs struck out, Busch popped a ball into short center that dropped among three D-backs fielders. Those guys are likely going to be very happy to get out of playing outdoors in the wind. Busch’s ball went for a double.

Carson Kelly’s single cut the Arizona lead to 2-1 [VIDEO].

Pete Crow-Armstrong followed with a double, with Kelly stopping at third, but Dansby Swanson struck out to end the inning.

The Cubs took the lead in the third. Nico Hoerner, back in the lineup after missing a day with a neck issue, beat out an infield grounder for a hit.

Ballesteros launched his sixth homer of the year to make it 3-2 Cubs [VIDEO].

Boyd then started setting down D-backs hitters. After a two-out double in the third, Boyd retired eight of the next nine Arizona batters he faced.

In the meantime, the Cubs extended their lead. Ballesteros drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, followed by Alex Bregman hitting a ground ball to third that wound up as a fielder’s choice when the throw to second was late. Then Ian Happ got a called strike three overturned [VIDEO].

Good call by Happ, and he wound up with a walk to load the bases.

Busch then un-loaded them with this triple [VIDEO].

That was Busch’s first triple of 2026 — he had five last year. More on the bases-loaded three-bagger from BCB’s JohnW53:

Busch’s bases-loaded triple was the Cubs 141st since 1901, only slightly more than one per season. It was their 74th at home and 61st at Wrigley Field. The previous one there was by Nico Hoerner, against the Padres, on April 25, 2023.

They have had two on the road since then, by Cody Bellinger at Philadelphia in 2024 and by Dansby Swanson at Colorado on Aug. 29 of last year.

They have been hit by 113 batters. Busch is the 92nd with one. Frank Schulte and Sammy Sosa hit four; Augie Galan, Ray Grimes and Ryne Sandberg, three.

Boyd completed six innings, allowing just the two runs on the homer. He got out of the sixth on a nifty play by Nico. Corbin Carroll was on first with one out, and he took off on a pitch that got popped into short right.

Here’s the slick double play Hoerner pulled off [VIDEO].

I think that one should end any concerns about whether Nico returned too quickly from the neck issue. That’s a really athletic play and he doesn’t do it unless he’s 100 percent.

As for Boyd, I thought he had a really good outing, the only real mistake the home run ball to Moreno. Boyd struck out five [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Boyd’s afternoon [VIDEO].

Phil Maton threw the seventh and got himself in trouble with a single, hit batter and walk that had originally been called strike three [VIDEO].

That’s about as close as you can get and still get a call overturned. Good call by the hitter. Maton got out of the inning by striking out Ketel Marte.

The Cubs put two more on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Happ led off with a walk, his second of the game. Incidentally, the two walks extended Happ’s on-base streak to 24 consecutive games. Seiya Suzuki followed with a double, with Happ stopping at third.

Busch hit a fly to medium right, scoring Happ [VIDEO].

Suzuki took third on that play and scored on this single by Kelly that made it 8-2 [VIDEO].

Hoby Milner threw a scoreless eighth and then Corbin Martin was summoned to finish things off. He did so, but not before issuing a walk and allowing a two-run homer to pinch-hitter Adrian Del Castillo. Here’s the final out of the game [VIDEO].

The game was pretty much well in hand, but after the home run, Craig Counsell got just-activated Daniel Palencia up in the bullpen and I am pretty sure he didn’t want to have to do that. I suspect Martin will be replaced on the active roster sometime soon, perhaps even tomorrow if there’s someone else at Iowa who could take that roster spot. As always, we await developments.

Aside from the ninth inning, this was another outstanding team effort, with guys stepping up who hadn’t done much the last couple of days. That’s always good to see.

One last note on the game from John:

Michael Busch’s three-run triple in the fifth inning completed a team cycle by the Cubs for the second day in a row. They had had only two in their first 31 games, April 22 and 24.

They won each previous game this year. They were 18-1 a year ago with a team cycle and 11-2 in 2024, for a combined 32-3 before today.

The Reds, Cardinals and Brewers all lost Sunday, so the Cubs, now 10 games over .500 at 22-12, lead the Cardinals and Reds by two games and the Brewers and Pirates by 3.5. Good times.

The Reds come to Wrigley Field to open a four-game series Monday evening, just the second series so far this year for the Cubs against an NL Central rival. Edward Cabrera will start for the Cubs and Chase Petty will go for the Reds. Game time Monday is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! It was a big week for the Bombers, who finished up a road trip with three games in Arlington, hosted the Savannah Bananas at Yankee Stadium, and came back home for a weekend of Star Wars themed festivities with the Baltimore Orioles. How has social media reacted to all these shenanigans? Let’s find out!

Yankee Yellow

As the Yankees were taking two out of three games against the Astros last weekend, the Savannah Bananas were taking their show to the Bronx. Unlike last September’s Banana Ball weekend, this year’s show didn’t quite have as much craziness (at least, according to the Internet — I wasn’t there either time), although Monument Park honoree Tino Martinez did take an AB as a pinch-hitter. What more than made up for it, though in terms of social media was the sheer number of Bananas players who expressed their excitement for the chance to play at Yankee Stadium — including former Giants QB Russell Wilson — whose baseball rights are owned, as you may recall, by the Yankees!

The Bananas had a bit of fun with the fact that they were in New York, by having Derek Klena — who spent 14 years on Broadway — come in to pitch while singing “Phantom of the Opera.” Oh, the Genie from Aladdin showed up too.

Thank You, DJ

For the first time since the 2020 Major League Baseball season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, former Yankees leadoff hitter DJ LeMahieu took to Instagram. This time, it was to reflect on and express his thanks for his years in pinstripes. While officially speaking, he has not retired (he is still owed some $12 million left in the final year of his contract), this seems like a goodbye to the game — a feeling reinforced by the number of former teammates who commented on the post: Aaron Judge, CC Sabathia, Dellin Betances, Harrison Bader, Austin Wells, and long-ago Rockies pal Nolan Arenado, to name a few. Age and injuries might have caught up to DJ toward the end of this time in pinstripes, but there’s no denying that man was indeed an MVP-caliber threat and worthy of the “LeMachine” nickname.

Prospect Promotions

The Yankees farm had two of my favorite moments this week, as George Lombard Jr. got promoted from Double-A Trenton to Triple-A Scranton, while Elmer Rodríguez got to make his MLB debut on Wednesday.

Game Belts

As happens when the Yankees win some ballgames, they passed the Game Belt around quite a bit this week. It really is fun to see the exchange progress from player to player, with the previous winner in the new photo, bestowing the honor on his teammate.

Dave’s Thoughts

As always, Yankees radio voice Dave Sims took to Instagram to react to the Yankees’ games this week.

Some Assorted Updates

In a rapid-fire of summary of this week’s post, we’ve got Carlos Rodón advertising this year’s Willow Gala, Camilo Doval getting some throwing in, and Roger Clemens remembering his 20-strikeout game (even if it was as a member of the Red Sox), and the latest episode of Behind the NY.

Question of the Day

This time around, the YES Network asked the Yankees which teammate would lose their hotel room key. Props to Cam Schlittler, who had the self-awareness to understand exactly why a whole bunch of teammates pegged him as the answer without a moment’s hesitancy.

Squandered is the word of the weekend. It means to waste resources or opportunities through negligence or inaction. In this context, it means leaving runners on base at seemingly every turn. The Red Sox pitched a really good game today. Ranger Suarez threw four shutout innings before leaving the game with hamstring tightness. Tyler Samaniego, Jovani Moran, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman kept the Astros off the board, too.

They played good defense as well, turning a few nifty double plays in the sixth and tenth innings to quell what looked to be big innings. Unfortunately, pitching and defense can only get you so far. The team left 13 runners on base and only managed to score a single run on the afternoon. Some of that was due to poor batted ball luck; Roman Anthony smoked the ball on multiple occasions but only had one hit to show for it, for example.

Winning 1-0 is possible, but it’s not possible to do consistently. The Boston Red Sox, as currently constructed, are going to continue having a hard time winning games. With significant injuries to the rotation, it’s going to be even harder. Astros win 3-1. We go to Detroit for a three-game set starting on Monday.

Three Studs

Jarren Duran

He hit a home run. That was pretty cool.

Roman Anthony

As I mentioned, he crushed a few balls and only had the one hit. He’s starting to get it in the air more, and the production should follow.

Ranger Suarez

His last two starts are a combined twelve innings of scoreless baseball. Let’s hope he isn’t on the shelf for too long with his injury.

Three Duds

Zack Kelly

Navigating the ghost runner in the tenth inning is incredibly difficult, and he was so close to doing it. Unfortunately, a two-run single in the tenth was the difference, and Kelly took the loss.

Caleb Durbin

He’s really great at third base, which only makes things worse, because if you point out how good he is defensively, you look like you’re coping for his lack of offensive ability. When I see “you”, I’m talking about me. Please start hitting, Caleb.

Wilyer Abreu

0-3, three strikeouts. He walked twice, but the Red Sox need him to drive in runs.

Jasson Dominguez hadn’t made much of an impact in his return to the Yankees, but the youngster finally broke through in Sunday's win over the Orioles. 

Dominguez came into the day with just two hits over his first 13 at-bats of the season.

He grounded out in his first two plate appearances of the day, then was able to do damage in each of his next three.

The switch-hitting slugger doubled leading off the bottom of the sixth in a 3-3 ballgame, and scored the go-ahead run just two batters later on Ryan McMahon’s RBI single.

Dominguez helped pad onto that slim advantage two innings later, as he stepped up from the left-side of the plate and crushed a two-run homer to right-center. 

He received another AB in the inning after the Yanks batted around, and came through again, this time delivering an RBI double from the right-side of the plate. 

The 23-year-old finished the much-needed big day 3-for-5 with all three of his hits going for extra-bases, three runs driven in, and a pair of runs scored.

“When you have a game like that and help the team win, it’s awesome,” he said. 

Perhaps the most encouraging part of Dominguez’s day was the fact that two of his three hits came from the right-side, which is an area of his game he’s been working to improve.

He hit just .204 with six XBHs as a righty all of last season, but showed tremendous progress to begin this year in the minors, and thus far has carried that over to the majors.

“I’ve been working for a long time on the right-side, so I’m glad it’s showing off,” he said. 

“As I’ve always said, it’s his natural side,” manager Aaron Boone added. “When you see him hit and take BP, you can see it’s not an unnatural move -- I’ve always said it’s about reps, it’s about experience, but it’s good to see.”

This is my first guest recap on this new (well, since last summer) format. Let’s see how this goes, a bit different than how I usually do things. Today it will be Merrill Kelly against Matt Boyd. One March 30th of last year, he went 5 innings and did not give up a run, but surrendered 4 hits and 3 walks against us. The Cubs bullpen then imploded. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ARI/ARI202503300.shtml Before that, he had been in the AL all of his career. I was surprised he debuted in 2015 when I looked. I guess it’s obvious which “League” I pay attention to.

The last few years I would have had confidence that Kelly would rise up and be the stopper, as it seems he has been so often for us. Today, I am not sure. Let’s see how this plays out. First pitch at 11:20 and per Snake Bitten in the GDT, “The wind is blowing out today towards right center, at 21 mph, and it’s gusting to 33 mph. It’s 55 degrees, with a humidity of 54%, and a chance of rain.”

I’ll be honest, I haven’t been able to watch any of the previous two games. For my lunchtime roll call, I am having brats with Don Franscisco buns, peanuts and Pringles with Coors. Might have some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream later.

First inning

The first offering to Marte from Boyd is popped up out of play, he would strike out on a 2-2 count. Perdomo next, bunts, but it rolls foul 3b side. He eventually popped up to Carson Kelly behind the plate. Corbin struck out to end it.

Merrill Kelly against Nico Hoerner to lead things off for the Cubs. He few out to Barrosa, the wind may have aided the distance of the fly ball, this should be fun. Ballesteros, the Cubs DH, singled in front of Gurriel in LF. Alex Bregman hits a ball that short hopped Perdomo a bit, but he recovered and was able to make a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.

Second inning

Vargas leads things off and pops up the first pitch pretty much straight up and Carson Kelly gets it for the first out. Arenado on a pitch right down the plate doubles between LF and CF. Gurriel struck out. Gabriel Moreno takes a pitch up and away and sends it into the Wrigley Field bleachers! 2-0, Dbacks. Exit velocity 105 and distance is 427 feet. Probably wind aided. That was Moreno’s first home run of the year. Fernandez taps out to the pitcher, Boyd for a 1-3.

Let’s see how Kelly and the defense responds. Braodcast saying Kelly throws the changeup about 29% of the time, and he hasn’t had a feel for it this year. He strikes out Happ for the first out. Kelly is throwing pretty much all of his pitches and is looking good. Suzuki strikes out on a 94 mph fastball low and away. Busch pops up to shallow CF, too far for Perdomo and it bounces away from Barrosa, and Busch goes to 2B. Yet another probable wind aided thing this afternoon. It would probably have dropped either way, but still. Carson Kelly singles past a diving Marte into CF-RF, 2-1 Dbacks. PCA doubles to CF, Carson to 3B. It started well at least. Swanson, 0-2 swung at the first 2 that would have been balls low and away Merrill comes inside for a ball and Swanson strikes out on the next offering which was pretty much where the first two pitches were.

Third inning

Barrosa popped up to CF. So does Marte. Perdomo shows bunt on the first pitch like last time, then smacks the ball down the LF line for a double. They said it was 99 mph off the bat. Corbin Carroll hit a ground ball to Hoerner at 2B for the final out of the frame.

Hoerner leads off their half inning, ground to Perdomo on the outfield grass, jump throw and not in time to get him. Ballesteros hits the 2nd pitch he sees, and Kelly’s 40th, into the LF bleachers. It is now 3 to 2 Cubs. Happ, full count, flies out to Barrosa in CF. Suzuki lines the first pitch he sees past Arenado for a single. First pitch to Busch is away, Moreno held on to it for a bit like he wanted a call, but apparently not worth challenging. Busch with a 3-1 count now, and walks. Full count to Carson Kelly, with 2 runners on, hits a shot to Arenado for the final out. Merrill Kelly is at 63 pitches, after an 8 pitch first inning.

Fourth inning

Vargas leads things off by flying out to PCA. Arenado strikes out, Boyd’s 4th. Gurriel dumps a 2 out single to RF, that offering was Boyd’s 63rd pitch. Moreno grounds out to 2B to end it.

PCA leads things off by hitting a long fly ball to RF, but goes foul and then flies out to RF. Swanson lined out to Perdomo. Hoerner grounded out to 3B. Kelly only needed 6 pitches to get out of that inning.

Fifth inning

Fernandez struck out. Barrosa showed bunt, eventually lined out to LF. Marte grounds out to Swanson.

Ballesteros draws a full count and then walks. Bregman grounds it to Arenado, a bit behind the 3B bag and Arenado tries to get Ballesteros but he is safe. Two on and nobody out. Ryan Thompson has begun to loosen in the bullpen. Happ on a 2-2 pitch takes a pitch away for a called strike 3, immediately challenges. Not even close, call overturned, no idea what Doug Eddings saw. missed by about 3 inches. Happ walks on the next pitch to load the bases. Suzuki on a 0-2 pitch takes a pitch on the outside corner for a strike out, he challenges. This time the call is upheld. The bases are loaded with 1 out. Busch hits the first thing he sees, a 91 mph fastball right down the middle, to RF for a bases clearing triple. This inning wasn’t wind aided. That will chase Kelly, but at his pitch count it was inevitable anyway, Thompson now in the ballgame. Candiotti talking about how he sees some good signs from Kelly. Carson Kelly grounded out to Thompson and then PCA grounded out to Marte to end it. Thompson needed 4 pitches. The score is now 6-2 Cubs.

Sixth inning

The Dbacks have not been swept by the Subs since the 2015 season. Perdomo grounds out to Swanson. Corbin Carroll draws a walk, Boyd’s first of the afternoon. Vargas pops up to Hoerner, who started by the 2B bag but had to run a bit to catch it, he then doubles off Corbin at 1B. “That play encapsulates our road trip pretty well”- 1AZfan1

Brandon Pfaadt is now in the game for the Dbacks. Swanson full count, he walks. Hoerner pops up to Marte, as he throws the bat angrily. Bad bat, bad! The Cubs have a 4 run lead and Hoerner himself has a hit and run scored. Ballesteros hits a chopper past Pfaadt, Perdomo plays it but his only play is to 1B. Bregman popped it up to Vargas at 1B to end it.

Seventh inning

Phil Maton now on to pitch for the Cubs. Arenado grounds out to Busch at 1B, who tosses it to the pitcher covering for the first out. Gurriel singled to LF. Moreno hits one to deep right, caught on the warning track with soe difficulty by Suzuki. That definitely was wind aided. Fernandez hit by pitch on a 0-2 count. Barrosa takes a 3-2 pitch up, rung up, but immediately challenges. It’s over rulled and so he walks. Bases loaded for Marte. He struck out on 3 pitches.

Pfaadt still in the game. Happ walked. Suzuki doubled to LF. Busch flies out to Corbin, both runners advance and it is now 7-2 Cubs. Carson Kelly hits a ground ball past Perdomo for a single, Suzuki scores. PCS hitd s line out to Perdomo for the 2nd out. Swanson then grounded out to Perdomo.

Eighth inning

Hoby Miller in the game now for the Cubs. Perdomo grounds a 3-1 pitch to Hoerner at 2B for the first out. Corbin Carroll hits a tapper to the mound for the second out. Vargas singles past a diving Alex Bregman. Arenado hit a line drive right at Hoerner for the final out.

Pfaadt, still in there to start the inning. Hoerner splits Barrosa and Carroll in CF-RF for a double to lead things off. Ballesteros strikes out on a foul tip. Full count to Bregman, he walks, third walk issued by Pfaadt. Happ shattered his bat, Marte plays it almost on the outfield grass and tosses it to Perdomo can’t get Bregman. Everyone is safe. Sewald on to pitch, bases loaded, one out. Suzuki strikes out on 3 pitches. Busch, sees a pitch that almost got thrown to the backstop. Moreno looked like a short stop. Couple pitches later Moreno takes a pitch off his mask. Busch ends up striking out looking.

Ninth inning

The Dbacks game out ahead 2-0, and currently trail 8-2. Corbin Martin, former Dback patient, now on to pitch. First two pitches to Gurriel not even close. Overthrew the catcher to the back stop. Gurriel walks. Moreno pops up to foul territory on the 1B side, Bush goes after it and jumps over the tarp and of course can’t get it. Moreno strikes out on a pitch that would have been a ball. Fernandez pops it up for the 2nd out to 1B. Del CAstillo will bat for Barrosa. Gurriel takes 2B on a defensive indifference. Full count to ADC, he homers to straightaway CF. The wind blew that, but at least if wet something exciting at the end. Marte struck out to end it. Corbin Martin threw 26 pitches, 14 were strikes, unless I am reading this incorrectly.

Time of the ballgame 2 hours and 45 minutes, 35000+ at Wrigley. The Dbacks were 2-5 with RISP and left 6 on and had 4 runs on 7 hits. The Cubs were 4-13 RISP and left 10 on and had 8 runs on 12 hits.

Decent game day thread, 176 comments as of right now. Tied for most reccs was a comment I made, so I am awarding COTN to 2 people.

The Dbacks have an off day tomorrow and will be back at Chase Field to play the Pirates at 6:40pm. The preview person for that series will be DBE. Next Sunday’s guest recapper will be TheRealRamona against the Mets. Have a good afternoon.

The Red Sox’s nightmare season may have taken another unfortunate turn Sunday. 

Starter Ranger Suarez exited in the fourth inning of the final game of their weekend series with the Astros with right hamstring tightness. 

Suarez had thrown 70 pitches through four scoreless innings and allowed three hits before exiting the game. 

The NESN broadcast appeared to catch the moment that he alerted the Boston coaching staff about the issue.

Video showed Suarez walking off the mound into the dugout and telling pitching coach Andrew Bailey something as he went down the steps. 

Suarez has had hamstring issues in the past, which included a 15-day stint on the injured list in August 2023 while he was with the Phillies and a seven-day IL stint when he was in the minors in 2018. 

The left-hander entered Sunday off a start last week when he allowed one hit through eight scoreless innings in a win over the Blue Jays.

Suarez has made six starts this season and posted a 2-2 record, with a 3.09 ERA over 35 innings on the mound. 

He hadn’t allowed a run in four of his past five starts. 

The Red Sox signed Suarez to a five-year, $130 million deal in January after he spent eight seasons in Philadelphia. 

The Red Sox have suffered quite a bit during the start of the season, having already fired longtime manager Alex Cora 

They entered Sunday’s game with a 13-20 record and nine games behind the Yankees for the top spot in the AL East.