WASHINGTON, DC. – Roki Sasaki has lost his signature pitch. 

He’s lost his forkball.

The role that luck played in his grotesque pitching line in the Dodgers’ 8-6 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday can’t be understated, but neither can his transformation into a diluted version of himself.

Here he was pitching against an unimposing opponent, throwing a fastball that was a tick or two slower than usual while mixing in a ho-hum slider because he didn’t have a feel for his out pitch. 

What Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called improvement looked more like an identity crisis for the 24-year-old Sasaki, who bore minimal resemblance to the Japanese-league fireballer considered the world’s No. 1 pitching prospect.

There was always an element of unpredictability with Sasaki’s forkball, which tumbles like a knuckler because of its extremely low spin rate. But Sasaki has started missing badly with the pitch with greater frequency. He threw one against the Nationals that was so off the mark that it ended up in the middle of the plate and was clobbered for a three-run homer by James Wood in a four-run fourth inning for the Nationals. 

To be fair to Sasaki, Wood wouldn’t have come up if not for spectacular misfortune. With two outs in the inning, Keibert Ruiz hit an unthreatening grounder at Freddie Freeman. Before the ball reached Freeman’s glove, however, it hit the bag, popping up over the first baseman’s head and bouncing into right field for a run-scoring single. Two batters later, Wood homered.

Sasaki regrouped to retire the side in the following inning to give manager Dave Roberts the five frames he wanted from him. But Sasaki departed the game with a 6-1 deficit after giving up five hits, including two homers, and three walks. If this counted as progress, it was only because he was even worse in his previous start.

Sasaki’s improved fastball command came at the expense of velocity, which dropped from an average of 97.6 mph in his last start to 96.6 mph. Sasaki has refuted the idea that the arm action required to throw his slider has negatively affected his forkball, but the truth is that he’s never thrown both pitches well at the same time.

What is Sasaki without an overpowering fastball and wipeout forkball? How effective can he be as a fastball-slider pitcher?

As he did after his previous start, Sasaki pushed back when questioned about his forkball. He said he hadn’t lost confidence in the pitch and the reason that he didn’t throw it as much was because he was following the lead of catcher Dalton Rushing.

“I’m not the one deciding,” Sasaki said in Japanese.

But Rushing, at very least, expressed some apprehension about Sasaki’s trademark offering.

“It’s just inconsistent,” Rushing said. “It’s a pitch that if you can’t strike it, it starts to give the opposing team the opportunity to just lay off of it every time you throw it. Maybe there’s a couple technique things we can figure out in his delivery to strike it a little more, or maybe it’s just a mindset (that) you don’t have to throw your best splitter every pitch.”

As for the 0-2 forkball on which Wood homered, where did Rushing want Sasaki to throw it?

“I wanted it in the dirt,” the backup catcher said. “He could have bounced it in the grass, I don’t care. Look, it’s part of pitching. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to lose a couple, but at the same time, it’s a maturity thing and hopefully he learns from it. You usually try to take advantage of 0-2 counts, especially with a guy that’s been struggling with plate discipline.”

Roberts tried to present a more positive outlook of Sasaki’s start.

“Roki getting through the fifth inning was big,” Roberts said. “Some people are going to look at the line score, but if that ball doesn’t hit the bag and the inning’s over, it could have been a different outing for him.”

What else was Roberts going to say?

The front office has shown no interest in sending Sasaki to the minor leagues, meaning he will probably remain in the rotation until Blake Snell returns from the injured list. 

Snell isn’t expected back until late May.

An interminable rain delay before Sunday’s game at Yankee Stadium was far from the ugliest part of the day for a team that entered as hot as any in the sport.

The Yankees blew a three-run lead to the Marlins in a 7-6 defeat, as a bullpen filled with question marks imploded in the eighth inning and the lineup mostly disappeared after the third.

Down by three runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees rallied with walks by Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice.

Giancarlo Stanton struck out looking before Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled in the gap to right-center to get the Yankees to within a run.

After an intentional walk to Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra pinch hit for José Caballero and struck out to end it.

“We don’t think the game is over until the last out,” Chisholm said of the late drama.

The defeat was surprising, but what caused it wasn’t, as even with the Yankees winning eight of their first nine games — and four in a row entering Sunday — there were some lingering questions.

At the forefront was the pen, filled with pitchers with lackluster résumés.

And the lack of production from the bottom of the lineup has been alarming.

Both were on display in the loss.

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Jake Bird and Ryan Yarbrough gave up run-scoring hits in the decisive eighth inning, but they weren’t the only culprits.

The game began well enough, as the Yankees brushed off an early run allowed by Max Fried — his first of the season — with Rice’s three-run homer in the bottom of the inning.

It was Rice’s third home run in his past four games.

The 410-foot blast into the second deck in right came against Pete Fairbanks, who opened the game because he had to return to Miami for his wife’s induced labor Monday.

The bizarre strategy backfired early, as Fairbanks was terrible in the first, but Yankees hitters hardly did anything once he left.

They scraped together an unearned run in the third to make it 4-1 against Miami’s scheduled starter, Chris Paddack.

And with Fried on the mound — having pitched 13 ¹/₃ shutout innings to open the season — that seemed like it would be enough.

But Fried wasn’t sharp and lamented the three walks he issued, as he allowed three runs in 6 ²/₃ innings.

Miami got a run back in the fourth and inched closer in the sixth, as the first three runners reached — including on a throwing error by Caballero on Heriberto Hernández’s grounder to short.

Fried picked off Hernández at first and then Caballero made up for his miscue by throwing out Lopez at the plate on Connor Norby’s ground ball.

Home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez missed the call despite Wells clearly tagging Lopez’s elbow, but a replay review overturned it to preserve the Yankees lead.

But the game came apart in the eighth.

With the bullpen short after being used heavily, the Yankees went to Bird with one on and one out in the eighth.

Bird walked Lopez, hit pinch hitter Griffin Conine and then gave up a two-run, go-ahead double to pinch hitter Graham Pauley.

“I have to bear down and I didn’t do my job,” Bird said. “Just not a good day.”

Down a run, the lefty Yarbrough entered and allowed a single to Xavier Edwards to make it a three-run game.

It proved to be too much for the Yankees to come back from.

By the time this is published, three series will be in the books, and it’s been the best of times and the worst of times. Initial thoughts on the whip lash?

James: The team’s lack of overall depth is staring them straight in the face. Paul Sewald is still a head-scratching signing by the front office. Loaisiga is pretty much just who we all thought he would be when he signed the make-good minor league deal. He’s likely working his way into becoming the team’s primary closer the way Shelby Miller did last season. The team needs to find some consistency in the offense. Right now, Marte, Perdomo, and Carroll are largely carrying the team. Lawlar was just really starting to shape up before he got hurt. The currently rostered alternatives to Lawlar are not encouraging. Santana and Arenado need to find some sort of fountain of youth, at least for a few months. The current Eduardo Rodriguez is the one we all thought we were getting starting 1.5-2 years ago. Zac Gallen is starting to look like the “better” version of Gallen from last season, the post deadline version. Someone needs to get into the bullpen and work with Ryne Nelson on his pitch shape. His four-seam is not moving quite like it did last year and he is getting punished as a result.

Overall, the team is basically playing to the level expected, even if a closer examination has those results coming in a way other than expected. Mostly, the team cannot afford any further significant injuries. The roster is already being held together with bubble gum and bailing wire. One more injury to a starter or primary bullpen arm and this season could get ugly in a damn hurry.

Makakilo:  With a little bit of serendipity, the Diamondbacks could have won Friday’s game (tied after 8 innings), and they could have won two games against the Dodgers (each lost by 1 run).  Their record would have been 6-2!  So far, the Diamondbacks have not yet reached their potential to be a playoff team.  It could happen!

Spencer: I’m not sure what to make of it. Expecting a win against LA would be foolish. But expecting to sweep the Tigers would’ve been similarly foolish going in. And we pulled the worst of Atlanta’s pitching yet receive no offense….? Let’s talk at the end of May and see what’s up. 

1AZfan1: It’s been a rollercoaster, for sure, but I’m going to follow along with Mak’s comment and say that we’ve been blown out twice and in each other loss we’ve either lost by 1 or we were tied going into the 9th inning. Finishing about .500 in 1-run games is about what you should expect so sitting at 2-2 in those contests seems fair. The only disappointment with our current record is that we swept the Tigers instead of the Dodgers. It stinks losing to the Dodgers.

ISH95: Pretty crazy start to the season. There have definitely been positives. The offense got off to a great start, then switched to ice cold. E-rod has been great to see, Gallen’s been decent in total, but Nelson has been a concern. If this is how it’s going to be all season, we’re all going to have more grey hairs by the time it’s finished.

Which is more likely to continue: Rodriguez’ hot start of Nelson’s cold one?

James: I think Rodriguez’s hot start is the more likely for two reasons. First, this version of E-Rod is pretty much the pitcher the team was expecting to get all along. Over the previous two seasons he has shown flashes of this, but was constantly battling nagging injuries. A nick here, a knock there and he was rarely ever pitching at his best. Now, he’s in better shape after new conditioning and he was made ready earlier in the spring to pitch for Venezuela, which has helped him be in mid-season form in April. The second reason I pick E-Rod is that Ryne Nelson has had some ridiculously bad luck. The first four hits he surrendered this season all left the yard. Even Brandon Pfaadt bounced back from a similar stretch earlier in his career and he doesn’t have as high a ceiling. I’ve never been one convinced that Nelson had TOR stuff, but he does have the makings of a solid #2/3 pitcher if he can correct his current four-seam issue and continue to develop his secondaries.

Makakilo:  Two reasons that Nelson will bounce back before Rodriguez regresses.

• This season through Friday, Rodriguez’s FIP was 2.60 and Nelson’s FIP was 9.18. Nelson’s FIP is unbelievably different from his career FIP.  Rodriguez and Nelson have career FIPS that are not that much different (3.95 vs 4.25).  
• Nelson is 28.2 years old and Rodriguez is 33.0 years old.  Rodriguez has the experience needed to stay consistent. 

Spencer: Rodriguez’. Nelson is still young and the league has been adjusting to him. Plus he’s only been a full time starter for…what like months not even years at this point because of Yo-Yo Hazen? Rodriguez has a history of a great season every few years. 

1AZfan1: I’m expecting regression to the mean from both, but I don’t have faith in ERod to keep this going much longer. Maybe he really is the pitcher we had always hoped he was when we initially signed him, but it’s been a whole lot of disappointment over the last 2 years that have scarred me to the point that I’m just waiting on the other shoe to drop and he’s back to our old 5 ERA pal. I hope I’m wrong, of course.

ISH95: The constant hard contact that Nelson is giving up scares me. His last start saw 9 balls hit over 100 miles per hour while he was in the game and he was responsible for eight of them. That’s not a recipe for success, and if they don’t figure that out, he’s going to have a long season.

Bigger loss: Pavin Smith or Jordan Lawler?

James: Lawlar by a country mile. Pavin Smith is little more than a placeholder player in the 26-man roster anymore. He is entirely mediocre in the field, both at first and in right. Even without signing Santana, I wondered just how much time Smith would actually get as a starter. Yes, he puts together decent at-bats. But he doesn’t find the production of someone like Perdomo, despite his reputation for his discernment at the plate. On the other hand, this is basically Jordan Lawlar’s big make or break season. And right now, he is on the shelf with a significant break. Jordan Lawlar still looks to have a bright future in the desert, albeit in left instead of at short. This is likely Pavin Smith’s last season in Arizona

Makakilo:  Lawlar’s injury was the bigger loss because the outfield has significant uncertainty about which outfield players will exceed pre-season expectations.  After the injury, it looks like Carroll and Tawa have the best chances to exceed pre-season expectations.

Spencer: Lawlar because he needs healthy reps and was finally showing why judging a prospect with ~100 plate appearances is bad analysis. But don’t sleep on the effect of losing Smith. Santana’s leash just got a lot longer since we have basically no 1B depth. That’s going to have a big impact too. Positive behind the scenes (hopefully) and negative on the field. 

1AZfan1: Lawlar is the popular answer for all the reasons everyone mentioned above and I agree with it. Among players with at least 20 PA on the D-backs, he leads in OBP, wOBA and wRC+ and he’s second (to only Corbin) in SLG, xwOBA and fWAR. Pavin’s loss hurts because Santana is now our only first baseman, but I’m happy to see Fernandez getting reps there just to find him a spot in the lineup.

ISH95: At the start of the season, I’d have said Pavin Smith because Carlos Santana: Only First Base Option is the stuff of nightmares, but Fernandez has shown very strong early returns that might mitage that disaster a bit more. Plus I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot from Lawler in his first real season. But Fernandez and Lawler’s start has switched that around for me.

How has the first few games of ABS gone in your opinion? Has it changed anything about your game experience?

James: I don’t mind it. I think it is helping to drive home just who the worst of the worst umpires are. Mostly, I will be glad when ABS has been around long enough that I don’t get 5-10 minutes of explanation about the ABS system in every MLB game I watch. Overall, I think it is shaping up to be a net positive. That will only become more so once the early days negatives start to fade away.

Makakilo:  I like it!  Even a few corrected calls give the players more control over the game outcome, which is a great thing! 

Spencer: I’ve been singing its praises since I first saw it in AAA years ago. Full Robo Calling can’t come fast enough for me. Human action changes everything else about the game, why limit the one thing you can fully automate to create a level playing field? (We all know the actual answer: the ump union would be furious and mlb gets free marketing from bots and incels tweeting about wrong calls constantly…)

1AZfan1: I think on the whole it’s been a success, but I don’t think it’s made as much an impact on the game as the pitch clock did. I still feel there are too many missed opportunities by our hitters and catchers. To that point, our 4 ABS challenges by hitters is the least amount in the league, per FanGraphs (catchers are middle of the pack in total challenges). I hope our hitters get more comfortable challenging soon.

ISH95: Love it. And one thing I’ve been particularly happy to see is that my general reaction to a call being overturned against the Diamondbacks has been fairly neutral. I’m sure that will change as the season progresses and the stakes get higher.

What’s one topic that you could give a 15 minute Ted Talk on with no prep time?

James: I was a chef for 30 years before becoming a scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature, Tolkien, and fairy tales. So I have two knowledge bases that I can pretty readily draw from for anything from a 30 second explainer all the way up to a 90 minute lecture. None of those subjects are particularly Ted Talk type material though. I would probably have to settle for something like the value of art or something related.

Makakilo:  My journey from Diamondbacks fan to writer.  Along the way, I learned how to use statistics websites, improved my writing, and developed my own writing style. And I had a lot of fun!  I overcame several bumps in the road.  My writing moves between Microsoft Office Software, Google Docs, and the WordPress Editor.  The editor shows that I currently have 555 posted articles.

Spencer: Personal security in Big Brother America. More necessary than ever and yet rarely allowed. 

1AZfan1: My professional training is in maintenance management, but that’s not a very TED Talk friendly subject, so it would likely be on the value of utilizing history in organizational leadership. The Navy is huge on history and heritage and learning to leverage that has helped me tremendously as a leader. Maybe that doesn’t play too well outside the military, though.

ISH95: I’d always argue that history and heritage is important as a leader. What that history and heritage looks like, however, would differ from path to path. For me, I could probably give a pretty decent TED talk on how to improve the financials of a restaurant or how to train and develop younger people to get to where they want to be. That’s a huge part of my job as a fast casual/fast food restaurant manager, and, as much as I may complain about them kids sometimes, something I actually find very rewarding.

And on the third start did his ERA rise. Yes, Max Fried finally allowed a man to score, indeed early in Sunday’s rain-delayed series finale with the Marlins. The game started three and a half hours after the scheduled first pitch time, and maybe that delay took a little off Fried’s game. His control wasn’t sparkling, but the Yankee offense was able to pick up for that early snafu…but the bullpen couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. The Yankees have lost for the second time this year, 7-6 your final.

Naturally it was old friend Austin Slater — er, old acquaintance —, he of the sub-.100 OPS, that reached in the first and came around to score, the first such player to do so against Fried in 2026. Nobody is going to be on it every single day, but you could tell that for the second time in three starts Fried wasn’t quite what you’d expect him to be, especially with his fastball offerings:

There’s far more easy takes here than we’re used to seeing with Fried, and when he uses his fastball early in counts to set up the four other, more “junky” pitches he uses later in the count, throwing fastballs for balls gets him into 1-0 or 2-1 holes, rather than spotting himself an early strike. We then are left with hitters in hitters’ counts and throwing more pitches than we’d like to see.

The Marlins got to Fried twice more in his outing, and were on the verge of tying things up when home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez calling Marlin Connor Norby safe on a contact play at home. Fortunately we have the benefit of review:

If nothing else the Yankees can return their own firepower, and Ben Rice was able to do just that in the bottom half of the first:

Rice’s all-world contact quality also helped the Yankees push across what would be a very needed insurance run, this time in the third inning with two men on once again:

No RBI here for Rice, but if that ball’s not 98 off the bat, maybe Norby is able to handle it cleaner and get off a better throw. Hit ball hard, good things happen.

That wouldn’t be enough for a contact-heavy Marlins team to overcome though. The Fish walked twice before Griffin Conine was hit by a pitch in the eighth, and Jake Bird couldn’t bear down. Graham Pauley’s double gave Miami the lead, and Xavier Edwards welcomed Ryan Yarbrough to the game with a two-run single of his own.

Ryan McMahon actually had himself a decent day at the plate, with a hit and a walk to reach twice. That was welcome because the rest of the bottom half of the order was bowling shoe ugly.

That same 6-9 entered the ninth with the score 7-4. Grisham, Judge, Rice and Giancarlo Stanton have all had strong starts to the year, but that’s still only half a lineup. The Yankees need more out of their depth bats, and while Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a better player than he’s shown, maybe this is why we don’t brag about going 50/50 in the offseason. Perhaps that pressure finally came to a head for Jazz, whose big two-run double down to the final strike of the game may be what shakes him out of this early-season slump:

That would be as good as it gets, as Austin Wells was intentionally walked and J.C. Escarra would be sat down on three pitches. Game over.

We haven’t had many of these games this year, and while it did come on a day the rest of the AL East was also slapped around, if the club goes 4-2 every week for the rest of the season we’ll end things just fine. If nothing else hopefully our upcoming series with the Athletics won’t involve multiple three-hour slogs, but will feature the same end result or better. Cam Schlittler gets the ball Tuesday night, with a 7:05pm Eastern start time.

Box Score

The Yankees couldn't secure a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins on Sunday, losing 7-6 and ending their four-game winning streak.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Despite the start of the game being delayed by three hours and 35 minutes due to inclement weather, scheduled starter Max Fried still took the mound for New York when the game began and delivered a gusty performance in less-than-ideal conditions to help out the bullpen which had a taxing night the previous game following Ryan Weathers' short start.

The left-hander was down early, allowing a run through the first four batters in the first inning after Otto Lopez singled home Austin Slater who led off the game with a single before stealing second base. Fried limited the damage to just one run and struck out two in the inning.

-- The Yankees' offense quickly up their starter in the bottom half of the frame, though. Trent Grisham started things off with a walk, followed by a single from Aaron Judge. With one out, Ben Rice turned on a 97 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and absolutely crushed it to the second deck in right field for a three-run homer and just like that, New York had the lead. 

-- Fried took it from there and didn't allow another run until the fourth inning when Xavier Edwards doubled in Connor Norby who worked a two-out walk. Fried put an end to the threat with a flyout and pitched a clean fifth inning before finding more trouble in the sixth. After a walk led off the inning, Lopez singled to put runners on the corners and then promptly stole second to put two in scoring position. 

Heriberto Hernandez followed and reached base on a throwing error by shortstop Jose Caballero which allowed a run to score and trimmed New York's lead to one. But Fried immediately picked up his shortstop by picking off Hernandez at first base for the first out of the inning. The runner was initially ruled safe, but the Yankees challenged the call and it was overturned.

With the tying run at third base, Norby hit a ground ball to the drawn in infield and Caballero wasted no time making a strong throw to home plate which beat the runner by a mile. Austin Wells applied the tag but the call on the field by home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez was safe, causing the Yankees to challenge another ruling in the inning and go 2-for-2. With help from the Marlins running themselves out of the inning, Fried got the third out to keep it a one-run game. 

-- At 94 pitches, Fried went back out for the seventh and recorded the first two outs before manager Aaron Boone pulled his ace who showed a lot of grit during his 6.2 innings in which he threw 103 pitches (64 strikes). 

-- Fernando Cruz was the first reliever out of the bullpen for New York and after closing out the seventh with a strikeout, he began the eighth inning with a strikeout before issuing a walk. Boone then turned to Jake Bird who had been perfect to start the season. But the right-hander didn't have it on Sunday, walking the first batter he faced and hitting the next one to load the bases with one out. 

Bird then lost Graham Pauley on a 1-2 pitch and allowed a two-run double that gave the Marlins their first lead since the first inning. Ryan Yarbrough came in to put out the flame but the left-hander allowed a two-run single to Edwards and Miami's lead grew to 7-4 thanks to the four-run eighth inning.

-- The Yankees got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning after back-to-back walks to Cody Bellinger and Rice brought up Giancarlo Stanton who was 2-for-4 in the game and off to a scorching start at the plate. Stanton struck out looking which brought Jazz Chisholm Jr. to bat. Chisholm, 0-for-4 on the night and struggling offensively, laced a two-run double to right-center field against his former team to cut New York's deficit to one. 

After the Marlins intentionally walked Wells, pinch-hitter J.C. Escarra entered for Caballero but struck out on three pitches to end the game and handing the Yankees their second loss of the season.

Game MVP: Max Fried

Even in a loss, Fried's outing saved New York's bullpen for down the road.

Highlights

BEN RICE HITS ONE TO THE SECOND DECK! pic.twitter.com/ZhTa4fJfDb

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 5, 2026

Jazz Chisholm Jr. brings the Yankees within one! pic.twitter.com/QZaTIKlJyY

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 6, 2026

What's next

The Yankees enjoy a day off on Monday before returning to action on Tuesday night to host the Athletics for a three-game series. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

RHP Aaron Civale (1-0, 3.60 ERA) takes the mound against RHP Cam Schlittler (2-0, 0.00 ERA).

Some Red Sox fans are not happy with owner John Henry and they let him hear it on Sunday. 

The Red Sox fell to the Padres 8-6 at Fenway Park and moved to 2-7 in the club’s first nine games of the season. 

When Boston was down to its final out of the game, a smattering of fans began chatting for Henry to “Sell the team!” 

“Sell the team” chants can be heard in a quiet Fenway Park pic.twitter.com/2JctT2TyUQ

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 5, 2026

Sunday was a bad day all around for the Red Sox, who let a 4-0 lead slip away in the fourth and fifth innings. 

The Padres scored three runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead. The Red Sox managed to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, but they gave up two more runs through the final two innings in the loss. 

The Red Sox, who do sport a $265 million payroll, are in last place in the American League East and 5.5 games back of the 7-1 first-place Yankees. 

“We need to find a way to just bring more energy and just be better,” Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony told reporters. “This is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable to the fans. It’s unacceptable to the standard we set for ourselves. It’s as simple as showing up and doing everything you possibly can.”

Fans of the Boston ballclub had become disillusioned with ownership and the way things have gone for the organization. 

The Red Sox have made the playoffs a mere two times since the team won the World Series in 2018 and the decision to trade away Mookie Betts in 2020 has haunted the organization and fans. 

Last season, when the Red Sox did make the playoffs, the team was bounced in the wild-card series by the Yankees. 

The ballclub’s start to the 2026 season isn’t going to endear Henry to Red Sox fans.

Say it with me, now: “You always take a four-game series split on the road.” With that being said, it sure seemed like this could’ve been more than just a split for the Atlanta Braves as they made their annual trip out to the desert. It especially feels like a bit of a bummer when you consider how this series opened up in such dominant fashion for the Braves as they brought out the boomstick early on in this series.

Despite the disappointing ending to the series, there’s still a lot to leave you encouraged as the Braves shift venues from Arizona to Anaheim. Let’s break it down, shall we?

Thursday, April 2

Braves 17, Diamondbacks 2

It took the Braves nine attempts in 2025 to win their first road game. This season, it took only one and not just that, the Braves picked up their first road win in emphatic fashion. This was actually a close one through the early goings — though the Braves still had the advantage thanks to a first-inning solo homer from Matt Olson and a third-inning solo dinger from Dominic Smith.

Then the fifth inning rolled around and the floodgates opened. After Ozzie Albies got on with a leadoff walk (that was aided by ABS), the following events occurred for the Braves: Lineout, Walk, Fielder’s Choice Error, Bases Loaded Walk, RBI Groundout, RBI Double, RBI Double, Walk, RBI Single, RBI Double, Groundout. That, folks, is an eight-run inning.

Thanks to five strong innings from Reynaldo López, a scoreless inning fo relief from Tyler Kinley and three innings of long relief work from Osvaldo Bido, the Braves ended up cruising to a 17-2 win. Atlanta tacked on five runs in the ninth when the Diamondbacks waved the white flag by putting in catcher James McCann to go out there and soft toss, which is how we ended up getting to the really gaudy scoreline. Needless to say, this was fun! Matt Olson definitely had a lovely time in this one.

Friday, April 3

Braves 2, Diamondbacks 0

Grant Holmes and Eduardo Rodriguez engaged in an intense pitchers’ duel in this one. While Rodriguez ended up outlasting Holmes with seven shutout innings, Holmes certainly kept pace with Rodriguez and tossed six shutout innings of his own. Holmes also struck out four batters along the way and even carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. This was certainly a strong start from Grant Holmes and it’s definitely encouraging to see the way he (and the rest of this pitching staff) has started off this campaign.

This eventually came down to which team’s bullpen would blink first. Fortunately for all of us Braves fans, Ozzie Albies continued to exert dominance over Paul Sewald. Albies had two homers against Sewald in the past and on this night, he made it three as he crushed one out to right field for a solo shot that broke the deadlock. Matt Olson then proceeded to make it back-to-back jacks after he sent the third pitch he saw from Sewald flying into the seats in left-center. Raisel Iglesias locked things down in the ninth inning and just like that, the Braves had at least assured themselves. of a split out in the desert.

Saturday, April 4

Diamondbacks 2, Braves 1

The Braves made history on Saturday! It’s not necessarily history that they’d want to make but they made history, nonetheless!

It’s been a long, long time since the Braves had such a feast-or-famine swing over the course of three games. I know there’s that old cliche of “Save some for tomorrow” but this was getting to be kinda wild. Either way, the only run of the game for the Braves came from an RBI single from Dominic Smith in the second inning. That was all the Braves could muster up and it wasn’t enough to overturn the two-run deficit that they entered the second inning with as the game eventually ended 2-1.

Arizona got those two runs in creatively frustrating fashion, as Jose Fernandez surprised the Braves went a bunt. Bryce Elder was certainly caught by surprise, as his error ended up proving costly. It’s a shame because Elder was once again in very good form on the mound — those two unearned runs would be the only blemish on his record for the day as he went seven innings and struck out eight batters. Elder certainly deserved better than what he got as the Braves were unable to really figure out old friend Michael Soroka and the rest of Arizona’s pitching staff on the day.

Sunday, April 5

Diamondbacks 6, Braves 5

This was a back-and-forth affair between the two squads, as the Braves looked desperate to come away with the series win while the Diamondbacks were trying to make sure that they didn’t suffer the indignity of losing three games out of a four-game home series. Indeed, this game had a real ‘punch-then-counter punch’ feel to it as the two squads were unable to get real separation from each other as the game progressed. Drake Baldwin continued his hot start to the season with another home run in the first inning but then Arizona responded with two runs via a triple from Ildemaro Vargas in the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead. The Braves responded immediately with two runs in the fifth to make it a 3-3 contest heading into the second half of the game.

Arizona got the edge once again as they plated one run in the sixth and seventh innings while Atlanta’s lone run from the first inning (from a RBI groundout from Baldwin) meant that the Braves had their backs against the wall going into the ninth inning. That was when Jorge Mateo got a rally going with a leadoff single. Ronald Acuña Jr. followed that up with a single of his own and then (who else but) Drake Baldwin brought in the game-tying run in order to make it a tie game in the ninth inning. Raisel Iglesias kept the D-Backs quiet in the ninth and we got our first ManfredBall experience of the 2026 season partly thanks to Drake Baldwin’s heroics.

Extra innings didn’t go Atlanta’s way at all — Ghost Runner Michael Harris II got to third base but the Braves were unable to cash him in. After watching that painful experience of seeing the Braves leave the runner stranded at third, it was even more painful to see Ketel Marte take the first pitch he saw from Joel Payamps and promptly dump it into the outfield for the game-winning RBI that ensured that the Diamondbacks were able to salvage a split.

Again, this could’ve been an impressive series win for the Braves out in Arizona had just a few things gone Atlanta’s way. That’s baseball, though — opportunities come in a flash and if you can’t grab onto it, you usually get punished for it at the big league level. The power outage immediately following the 17-run game was particularly frustrating — it felt like one of those baseball clichés coming to life where the Braves did not, in fact, save some for the next game.

Still, the offense bookended this series with a pair of solid performances at the plate and the pitching was impressive for the most part. The fact that the Braves have three shutout wins already is impressive — they had a grand total of eight throughout the entire 2025 season, so they’re nearly halfway towards that mark and we’re still in the infancy of April. Reynaldo López and Bryce Elder were big question marks heading into this season and while it’s still very early, the fact that they’ve come out of the gates in such a strong manner is encouraging to see and could be crucial to this team’s level of success as we get deeper into the regular season.

There’s a lot to be happy about but it’s totally understandable to see this as a missed opportunity for the Braves to make a statement here in the early goings. Again, a split of a four-game series is always acceptable but it’s also acceptable to want more and it really feels like the Braves left more by the wayside here. Atlanta’s going to have a tricky series on their hands in Anaheim against the Angels and they’ll also be looking to exorcise some demons after the entire state of California bedeviled them to seemingly no end in 2025. The Braves played 13 games in the Golden State last season and won a grand total of one (1) game out there all last season. Here’s hoping that they can do better than that with a series win right out of the gates against the Angels so they can bounce back from dropping two straight in the desert. We’ll see what happens!

The Milwaukee Brewers, coming off their third consecutive series win to begin the season and now sitting at 7-2 on the year, are headed to Boston to take on the Red Sox this week. The Brewers and Red Sox are probably most tied together at this point thanks to a pair of trades in the last two seasons, as Milwaukee picked up Quinn Priester, Kyle Harrison, Shane Drohan, and David Hamilton from Boston in exchange for Yophery Rodriguez, a pair of draft picks, a player to be named later (John Holobetz), Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler. So far, it looks like Milwaukee has come out on top, as Priester and Harrison have both been solid for Milwaukee while the only major league pieces on the other side — Durbin and Monasterio — have struggled to begin the season.

Speaking of struggling, the Red Sox sit at the bottom of the AL East with a dismal 2-7 record through three series, as they lost two of three to the Reds, were swept by the Astros, and just lost two of three to the Padres this weekend.

Andrew Vaughn and Jackson Chourio are the key injuries for Milwaukee, with Vaughn expected to be out until mid-May and Chourio out until late April. The latest injury is Sal Frelick, who exited the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader with left side tightness — something to monitor in the coming days, though he’s expected to be fine. Quinn Priester is targeting a May return as he deals with thoracic outlet syndrome, while Craig Yoho could be ready in April but may start the year with Triple-A Nashville. Rob Zastryzny suffered a setback in his rehab, and his return is now TBD. Outfielder Akil Baddoo is also out until midseason with a quad strain.

Boston’s injury list includes new acquisition Johan Oviedo, who is out with an elbow strain. Fellow pitchers Patrick Sandoval, Kutter Crawford, and Tanner Houck are also out, with Sandoval and Crawford expected to return in the coming weeks but Houck expected to miss most, if not all, of 2026. First baseman Triston Casas and utilitymen Romy Gonzalez and Anthony Seigler are also shelved.

Milwaukee’s offense has done the little things well thus far, as the only multi-homer hitters are Gary Sánchez (three) and Jake Bauers (two). Garrett Mitchell has gotten off to a solid (see: healthy) start, William Contreras, Brice Turang, and Christian Yelich are all hitting well, and even some of the utility guys like Blake Lockridge, David Hamilton, and Luis Rengifo have held their own. Frelick, who as mentioned above is dealing with some side tightness, has gotten off to a slow start, but he still boasts a .344 OBP, and Joey Ortiz has also looked at least slightly better from his very rough 2025. As a team, Milwaukee is hitting .267/.369/.446 (.815 OPS ranks third), with 10 homers (tied for eighth), 60 runs scored (second), and 20 steals (first).

Wilyer Abreu is a key bright spot in Boston’s disappointing offense to this point, as he has 15 hits, including three homers, four doubles, and a triple, slashing .429/.444/.857. Roman Anthony has gotten off to a slow-ish start, as he’s hitting .235/.316/.382 with a homer. Ceddanne Rafaela, Carlos Narváez, and Connor Wong are the only other hitters hitting over .250 (and all three have seven or fewer hits). Speedy Jarren Duran has two of Boston’s three steals, but he’s hitting just .200/.314/.267. The aforementioned Durbin is hitting just .071/.133/.071 with a pair of singles and a pair of walks over 28 at-bats, while Monasterio is 1-for-7 with a double and an RBI. As a team, Boston is hitting .226/.297/.372 (.669 OPS ranks 18th), with eight homers (tied for 20th), 30 runs scored (tied for 27th), and three steals (tied for 25th).

Milwaukee’s bullpen remains one of the best in baseball even with some under-the-radar names. Grant Anderson and Aaron Ashby lead the squad with five appearances each, while DL Hall has held opponents scoreless over five innings, allowing three hits and four walks while striking out nine. Trevor Megill is 3-for-3 in save opportunities with one run allowed and five strikeouts over four innings, and Abner Uribe has also been solid with one run allowed over 3 2/3 innings (2.45 ERA). Ángel Zerpa, Jared Koenig, and Jake Woodford round out the Brewer bullpen. As a staff, the Brewers have a 3.38 team ERA (eighth), including a 3.98 starter ERA (15th) and a 2.75 reliever ERA (seventh). They’ve struck out 103 batters (fifth) over 80 innings.

Boston’s bullpen is anchored by closer Aroldis Chapman, who is 2-for-2 in save opportunities with one run allowed and three strikeouts over four frames. Garrett Whitlock (currently on the paternity list, dating back to April 3) hasn’t allowed a run over three innings, and Justin Slaten’s allowed only an unearned run over 3 1/3 innings. Greg Weissert’s five runs allowed over 4 2/3 innings are pushing the bullpen’s ERA up drastically. Danny Coulombe, Zack Kelly, Jovani Morán, Tyler Uberstine, and Ryan Watson round out Boston’s bullpen, though one of them will have to be demoted upon Whitlock’s return. As a staff, the Red Sox have a 4.71 team ERA (tied for 23rd), including a 5.19 starter ERA (27th) and a 4.11 reliever ERA (14th). They’ve struck out 76 batters (tied for 18th) over 78 1/3 innings.

Probable Pitchers

Monday, April 6 @ 5:45 p.m.: RHP Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 3.60 ERA, 5.98 FIP) vs. RHP Brayan Bello (0-1, 9.64 ERA, 7.04 FIP)

Woodruff is lined up to make his second start of the 2026 season to open the series. He went five innings against the Rays his last time out, allowing a pair of solo homers but nothing else while striking out six on 67 pitches. Expect him to stretch out to 75-80 pitches this time around. Woodruff’s only career start against the Red Sox came back in 2022, when he picked up the win, allowing one run on four hits and a pair of walks with nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings.

Bello, 26, is in his fifth MLB season, all with the Red Sox. He’s made 101 career appearances (98 starts) with a 4.14 ERA and 4.18 FIP. His only start this season came against Houston on the last day of March, as he was roughed up to the tune of six runs (five earned) on eight hits and three walks, striking out just two over 4 2/3 innings. Bello has made three career appearances (two starts) against the Brewers, with a 3.95 ERA and nine strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings.

Tuesday, April 7 @ 5:45 p.m.: RHP Jacob Misiorowski (1-0, 2.45 ERA, 3.91 FIP) vs. LHP Garrett Crochet (1-1, 3.27 ERA, 2.73 FIP)

Misiorowski is lined up for his third start of the year on Tuesday. In his first two starts of the season, he’s allowed three runs on six hits and five walks over 11 innings, striking out an NL-best 18 batters. He took the no-decision in his last start against the Rays, allowing two runs and striking out seven over six frames. This marks his first career start against the Red Sox.

Crochet, 26, is Boston’s ace, as he finished second in AL Cy Young voting to Tarik Skubal last season. In two starts this year, he’s allowed five runs (four earned) over 11 innings with 15 strikeouts. His last outing came against the Astros on April 1, when he allowed all five of those runs and struck out seven over five frames. He’s made two career starts against Milwaukee, one while with the White Sox and one with the Red Sox. Across 12 2/3 innings, he struck out 19 batters and allowed three runs (2.13 ERA), though he has an 0-1 record to show for it.

Wednesday, April 8 @ 12:35 p.m.: RHP Chad Patrick (1-0, 0.96 ERA, 4.36 FIP) vs. RHP Sonny Gray (1-0, 4.50 ERA, 3.18 FIP)

Patrick hasn’t been the most efficient this season, but his results have been solid. In a pair of outings against the White Sox and Royals, he’s spanned 9 1/3 innings, allowing one run (a solo homer), nine hits, and four walks with seven strikeouts for a sterling 0.96 ERA but 4.36 FIP. He started the first game of Milwaukee’s doubleheader against the Royals, going five scoreless innings with three strikeouts to pick up the win. He made his lone start against the Red Sox last May, allowing no runs on three hits and two walks with six strikeouts across 4 2/3 innings.

Gray, now with his sixth MLB team in his 14th season, has made two starts with his new team in Boston. Over 10 innings against the Reds and Padres, he’s allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits and a walk with eight strikeouts. He picked up the win in his last appearance against San Diego, allowing two runs over six frames. A familiar foe from his five combined seasons with the Reds and Cardinals, Gray has made 20 career starts against Milwaukee, with a 5-6 record, 3.52 ERA, and 139 strikeouts over 110 innings.

How to Watch & Listen

Monday, April 6: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Tuesday, April 7: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Wednesday, April 8: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Prediction

The Red Sox have limped out of the gate this season, especially on offense. Even so, this is a tough battle at Fenway, but I’ll take the Crew to win two of three.

The Astros had an early lead, they had a late lead. Neither held up, and Houston fell to the Athletics in Sacramento 12-10 in 10 innings.

Brent Rooker entered the game with no extra base hits on the season. He would hit two home runs on the day, including a walk-off 3-run homer off Bryan Abreu to end the game.

Abreu, who came into the game with 2 outs in the 9th in relief of Bryan King, didn’t seem to have command coming back out for the 10th. He opened the bottom of the tenth walking Tyler Soderstrom on 5 pitches, the last 4 of which were nowhere near the strike zone. He then threw a knee high fastball middle in to Rooker, who blasted it at 104,8 MPH on a line over the wall in left field to send everyone home.

It wound up being a barn burner of a game, but it didn’t start that way. The score was 0-0 through the first four innings.

The Astros took an early lead in the top of the 5th on a Yordan Alvarez two-run homer. Yordan got an 89.4 MPH sinker from Jacob Lopez that he drilled 399 FT to right center field at 110.8 MPH off the bat.

Yordan’s homer made it 2-0. Later in the inning, after Carlos Correa walked and stole second, Cam Smith would single to left scoring Correa to make it 3-0.

That would seemingly be a solid lead for Lance McCullers Jr., who was the beneficiary of 2 double plays through 4 scoreless innings, but it was not to be. McCullers suffered a catastrophic loss of command in the 5th.

McCullers had thrown his cutter more than any other pitch through the first 4, and sporadically throwing his four-seam, sinker, and knuckle curve.

His first pitch of the fifth was an 89.9 MPH sinker. He would give up a single to Max Muncy later in that AB leading off the bottom of the fifth. He then walked Jeff McNeil on 5 pitches, 4 cutters and a change (three of the balls weren’t close), bringing up Carlos Cortes. Cortes would see 3 knuckle curves, and his the last one for an RBI double. That would end McCullers day after 79 pitches.

Steven Okert would come on in relief of McCullers and threw gasoline all over the place.

Okert’s first batter was Nick Kurtz, whom he walked on 5 pitches to load the bases. After getting Shea Langeliers to fly out, Okert allowed a bases-clearing triple to Tyler Soderstrom on a ball that CF Jake Meyers appeared to lose in the sun:

That would give the A’s a 4-3 lead and end the day for Okert, who faced the minimum 3 batters and threw 9 pitches. A.J. Blubaugh was then brought in to try to get out of the inning. Blubaugh allowed a sac fly to make the game 5-3 before getting out of the inning.

In the 7th, the Astros would tie the game again. Carlos Correa worked a 1 out walk, and then Christian Walker took a slider from J.T Ginn 397 feet to left center for his 2nd HR of the season.

The tie wouldn’t last as the Astros bullpen fell apart again.

After walking Soderstrom to lead off the bottom of the 7th, Blubaugh surrendered a 2-run homer to Rooker. Rooker took a 95.7 MPH fastball belt high and deposited it just over the wall in left to give the A’s a 7-5 lead.

Blubaugh then allowed a one-out double to Lawrence Butler and a single to Munch before giving way to Christian Roa.

Roa gave up a pop up single that Nick Allen couldn’t find to score a run, and then an RBI single to Cortes to make it 9-5 Athletics.

The Astros would answer back in the top of the 8th, starting with a leadoff homer from Jake Meyers.

Meyers hammered a sinker from Scott Barlow 393 feet to left for his first HR of the season. Jake smashed it at 106.5 MPH off the bat to make it 9-6.

Barlow then issues back to back walks to Joey Loperfido and Allen before Jose Altuve hammered an RBI double down the line in left to make it 9-7.

Mark Leiter Jr. then replaced Barlow, and promptly walked Yordan to load the bases. He then got Carlos Correa to line to right and Walker to pop to first, but Cam Smith delivered a 2-run single to tie the game again.

Bryan King would work a 1-2-3 eighth inning, and neither team would score in the 9th.

In the top of the 10th, the Astros would take the lead.

Correa delivered an RBI single, scoring Allen, and gave the Astros a 10-9 lead. Despite loading the bases with one out, the Astros would not push across any other runs.

In the bottom of the 10th, Abreu would come undone, and the Astros would drop 2 of 3 to an A’s team that dropped 5 of it’s first 6 games entering this series.

The Astros fall to 6-4 on the season, the A’s improve to 3-6.

Tomorrow the Astros open a 3-game series in Denver against the 3-6 Colorado Rockies.