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Record 5-5. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2025: 0.

The D-backs blew leads of 3-1, 4-3 and 5-4, but managed to prevail in the bottom of the tenth inning. Ketel Marte swatted the first pitch he saw over the head of the Atlanta right-fielder, driving in Manfred Man Jorge Barrosa from second for our first walk-off win of the year. That gave them a split of the four games against the Braves, despite being outscored 25-10 overall. It also returned the team to .500, and Arizona now gets a day off tomorrow, to rest before a tough upcoming road-trip to the East coast.

Brandon Pfaadt started this game, and it was another underwhelming experience. He seemed to be throwing an inordinate number of curveballs in the early going. But it didn’t help in the first, as new nemesis Drake Baldwin homered off a thigh-high sinker with one out in the top of the inning. However, the Answerbacks showed up, tying the game in their half. Ketel Marte led off with a double to left, and productive outs proved to be productive. Marte advanced on a groundout to second by Corbin Carroll, and Geraldo Perdomo was able to get the run in from third with a sacrifice fly to left, making it 1-1.

The bottom of the second saw Carlos Santana gets his second single of the year, therefore avoiding the dishonor of lowest batting average by a D-back through ten games. However, he tweaked his groin earlier in the at-bat – not even on a swing – and was clearly hobbling as he was going down the line to first. He was lifted from the game, replaced at first by Ildemaro Vargas. But if an IL stint is needed – and it didn’t look good – it’s going to be interesting. Because the Diamondbacks literally do not have any other healthy position players on the 40-man roster. Jordan Lawlar, Tyler Locklear, Pavin Smith and Lourdes Gurriel are all hurt.

Today, at least, this proved to a blessing in disguise. The next time that spot came up, in the bottom of the fourth, two men were on base: Carroll had singled and Nolan Arenado walked. Vargas then drove them both in with a two-run triple into right (above). I feel fairly confident in saying that Santana would not have done that. Not least because since the start of 2020, he has hit precisely one triple in 3,133 plate appearances. That gave the D-backs a 3-1 lead. However, Pfaadt was unable to hold it. Three hits, a walk and a wild pitch, while recording only one out, let the Braves tie things up, and one out later, Pfaadt’s day was over.

The final line for Brandon: six hits and two walks over 4.2 innings, with three runs (all earned allowed) and just two strikeouts. The last is perhaps the most immediate matter of concern. In 10.2 innings of work, Pfaadt has struck out just five batters: that 6.75 ERA seems earned. He will get one more start, with the news today that Merrill Kelly needs an additional rehab appearance. But when Kelly is pronounced fit to return, on the evidence of the first two spins around the rotation, it would probably be Pfaadt, and not Michael Soroka, who makes the transition to pitching long relief out of the bullpen.

Thereafter, it was a case of punch and counter-punch. In the sixth inning, Carroll singled, stole his first base of the year and eventually scored on Arenado’s first RBI of the year, making it 4-3. But Nolan then blotted his copy-book with an error in the seventh, while trying to look the runner on third back to the bag. That extended the inning, allowing that runner to score: 4-4. The Answerbacks answered back immediately again, on a Jorge Barrosa double, followed by a Carroll triple (above): 5-4. Kevin Ginkel pitched a scoreless eighth, but three straight hits off Jonathan Loaisiga, in to save the game (because Paul Sewald pitched Friday and Saturday) blew that lead.

Indeed, it could have been worse than just a tying, but Loaisiga then avoided further damage from a situation of two on, with nobody out. This took Arizona into extras, and all the was left in the bullpen for the D-backs was either Taylor Rashi or Andrew Hoffman. Torey Lovullo went with the former, and the key play came with one out, after the Manfred Man had been advanced to third. The Diamondbacks had their infield in, and it paid off as a hot smash (102 mph) off the bat of Mauricio Dubón, was smothered by Perdomo. He looked the runner back, threw to first for the second out, and Rashi finished off the inning, putting up an invaluable zero.

Ketel Marte: one pitch (above). Any questions? It was Marte’s first walkoff hit in almost seven years, and gave him two doubles on the day. Carroll had three hits – all coming off left-handed pitchers – while Arenado and Vargas each reached base twice, with a walk and a hit. Credit must also go to the bullpen. While they were credited with a pair of blown saves, they allowed one earned run over 5.1 innings of work. Taylor Clarke and Ryan Thompson worked in addition to those mentioned above. While their collective ERA is still 6.50, it’s worth noting that half of the 26 earned runs they have allowed belong to Joe Ross and James McCann.

Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
Eggs Benedict: Corbin Carroll, +33.5%
Eggs-ultation: Marte, +33.4%; Vargas, +22.6%; Rashi, +14.0%; Clarke, +13.4%; Ginkel, +12.2%
Rotten Egg: Jonathan Loaisiga, -19.5%
Walking on Eggshells: Tawa, -18.0%; Pfaadt, -12.7%; Thompson, -10.4%; Fernandez, -10.2%

An interesting decision about who should get the SnakePit W today. Unofficially (based off the Fangraphs figures, which are slightly different from Baseball Reference), this game goes to Carroll. The hitters picked up +53% in total, while the pitchers combined for -3%. But Carroll and Marte are so close at the top, that we will have to wait for the B-R results tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, in the Gameday Thread, we went past two hundred comments, with today’s winner being chwalter. While there were more-rec’d comments, this was the most relevant to the outcome!

All told, given how this series started, I’m more than happy to walk away with a split, and the team back at .500. Fingers crossed they will come back from this nine-game road-trip to the Mets, Phillies and Orioles no worse than one game below even. Things get under way at City Field on Tuesday, with Zac Gallen on the mound for the Diamondbacks, facing Freddy Peralta.

Angels 8, Mariners 7

Reese’s eggs: Cole Young, .37 WPA

Black jellybeans: José Ferrer, -.34 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

The Cubs had three home runs in this game, the second time they’ve gone deep three times in the early going in 2026. Matt Shaw, Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ homered for the Cubs.

Unfortunately, the result was the same as the other time they homered three times (a 6-3 loss to the Nationals). This time, it was a 6-5 loss to the Guardians, giving them a split of the Sunday doubleheader and a loss in the series.

The game began like the first game had been all along — scoreless, with the teams seemingly not able to hit anything.

Shaw’s home run in the third gave the Cubs the lead [VIDEO].

The Cubs extended their lead to 3-0 in the sixth. With one out, Carson Kelly singled. One out later, Swanson smacked his first home run of the season [VIDEO].

Meanwhile, Shōta Imanaga was mowing down Guardians hitters. He had allowed just two hits and a walk through five innings, then Steven Kwan doubled leading off the sixth. That was it for Shōta, who had a nice outing, throwing 92 pitches (62 strikes). Here’s more on Imanaga’s afternoon [VIDEO].

That was a good outing from Imanaga and he did not allow a home run. So, progress!

Ben Brown relieved Imanaga and, to be frank, was just awful. He couldn’t throw strikes — only 22 in 42 pitches — and allowed two walks, two hits and a sacrifice fly in the sixth, one of the runs charged to Imanaga, and Cleveland tied the game 3-3.

Brown was better in the seventh, retiring the side 1-2-3. I am still beginning to wonder what spot Brown actually has on this team. He’s clearly being used in a long relief role. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s very early in the season, but so far, the Cubs pen, a strength last year, has been shaky.

Happ, who was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, led off the eighth for the Cubs.

He had struck out the first six times he batted Sunday afternoon — all four times he batted in Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Guardians and the first two times in the nightcap. That was followed by a fly out in the sixth, making him 0-for-7 on the day.

Happ homered in his eighth PA of the day, his fourth long ball of the young season [VIDEO].

Facts about Happ’s six whiffs from BCB’s JohnW53:

Ian Happ struck out six times, something a Cub had done 165 times before in back-to-back games. A Cub has had  seven strikeouts 27 times and eight strikeouts eight times.
Twenty-seven of the 165 with six whiffs also hit a home run, including two who homered twice: Byron Browne, in 1966 and Sammy Sosa, in 2000.
But only five before Happ struck out six times in a doubleheader, and none of them hit a homer:
Hank Sauer, 1951 (9 PA, 1 for 9, double)
Dee Fondy, 1953 (8 PA, 2 for 8, single and double)
Bobby Morgan, 1957 (9 PA, 2 for 9, single and double)
Billy Cowan, 1964 (10 PA, 2 for 10, two singles)
Derrek Lee, 2024 (9 PA, 1 for 9, double)

Unfortunately, Jacob Webb could not hold the lead in the bottom of the eighth. CJ Kayfus hit a one-out homer off Webb to tie the game, and then a single, walk and another hit gave Cleveland a 5-4 lead. So far — and yes, I realize it’s early — the signing of Webb isn’t looking too good.

Ethan Roberts, up as the 27th man for the doubleheader, relieved Webb. The first hitter he faced, Austin Hedges, singled to drive in a run to make it 6-4. That run, unfortunately, turned out to be really important for the Guardians.

Cade Smith came on to throw the ninth for Cleveland. And the Cubs rallied off him with two out, scoring a run and getting the tying and lead runs to scoring position.

Smith got Pete Crow-Armstrong on a fly to short right and struck out Moisés Ballesteros. Then Nico Hoerner and Alex Bregman walked. Happ singled in Hoerner to make it 6-5 [VIDEO].

Scott Kingery ran for Happ and took second on defensive indifference.

But Carson Kelly struck out to end the game [VIDEO].

Give the Cubs credit, at least, for not folding with two out in the ninth and at least putting together a rally. But they are going to have to revisit some of the bullpen structure. So far, only a few of the relievers have been reliable.

Some doubleheader facts from John:

This is the first time since at least 2015 that the Cubs have alternated losses and wins through nine consecutive games.
….
The Cubs have not swept a doubleheader on the road since Sept. 11, 2015, when they won at Philadelphia, 5-1 and 7-3. They are 6-12 in games of nine subsequent twin bills on the road, including today. Today was just the third time they won Game 1. The two others both were at Cincinnati, on Aug. 29, 2020, and Sept. 1, 2023.

The Cubs move on to Tampa Bay, where they will open a three-game series against the Rays Monday afternoon. It’s the Rays’ home opener and first game back at Tropicana Field, which has been renovated after the roof was destroyed in Hurricane Milton in October 2024.

Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and Shane McClanahan will go for the Rays in the series opener. Game time Monday is 3:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

Welp, going into extra innings to keep the game alive, the Arizona Diamondbacks capitalized on an opportunity to prevent the third consecutive series win for the Atlanta Braves (6-5) and end the series on a split.

Besides Drake Baldwin’s solo homer in the first inning to give the Braves their early lead and racking up on RBI’s to keep the team in the game, today might not have started as the most exciting, but it sure was kept interesting to the finish.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Mets waited most of Sunday afternoon to start their offensive engine, and once it got revved, they weren’t about to leave Oracle Park with anything short of a series victory.

One at-bat after another in the eighth inning they persisted, placing hits in all corners of the field until four runs scored in a 5-2 victory over the Giants.

Luis Torrens’ pinch-hit double brought in the tying and go-ahead runs in the eighth before the Mets added on. That meant Mark Vientos and Marcus Semien each with a run-scoring hit, allowing a cushion for Luke Weaver and Devin Williams, who pitched the final two innings scoreless.

The Mets won their third straight to complete a 4-3 road trip.

“The team has looked excellent the way the pitchers are pitching and the hitters are hitting,” Torrens said through an interpreter. “It’s been really special to come back in these games and just how [Kodai] Senga pitched today was amazing.”

Jared Young, who had already delivered three hits in the game, wasn’t permitted to face lefty reliever Erik Miller in the eighth with runners on second and third with one out. Enter Torrens, who worked the at-bat to nine pitches before slicing a changeup just inside the right field line, scoring both runners.

A short bench — Brett Baty was scratched from the lineup with left thumb soreness and Juan Soto is awaiting further evaluation on a right calf strain — left Carlos Mendoza’s options limited. The manager credited bench coach Kai Correa with the idea to use Torrens, the backup catcher, as a pinch hitter if an opportunity against a left-hander arose.

“And sure enough the situation presented itself and we shot him and [Torrens] was ready to go from the very beginning and he executed,” Mendoza said. “You are not so inclined to use the catcher when you are short on the bench.”

Torrens scored when Matt Chapman threw away Vientos’ grounder. The go-ahead rally was complete on Semien’s RBI double. Others involved included Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr., whose double and single, respectively, ignited the comeback. Robert also stole second, eluding the tag on a throw that had him beat.

“We have got good players up and down,” Mendoza said. “We’re dealing with a few guys that have injuries and we’re feeling really good, not only with the guys that are in the lineup who are getting to play more, but on the bench as well. There’s a lot of versatility. There’s a lot of things we can do because of the flexibility.”

In a second straight solid outing to begin his season, Senga allowed two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over 5 ²/₃ innings. The right-hander took a shutout into the sixth but was undermined by two bloop hits sandwiched around Chapman’s game-tying double. Huascar Brazobán gave the Mets 1 ¹/₃ scoreless innings in relief before Weaver and Williams handled the rest.

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Vientos’ sizzling stretch continued with an RBI single in the second that gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Vientos, who reached base seven times over the previous two games, is batting .476.

Robert and Young singled in succession before Vientos delivered against Logan Webb with a third straight hit to begin the inning. But Semien’s ensuing double-play grounder thwarted dreams of a big inning.

Senga struck out six of eight batters to begin his afternoon, utilizing the forkball as his weapon of choice.

Luis Arraez’s 10-pitch at-bat culminated with a leadoff single in the fourth, but Senga rebounded by getting Chapman to ground into a double play. After Rafael Devers walked, Senga escaped the inning by getting Heliot Ramos to hit into a fielder’s choice.

Jerar Encarnacion smoked a shot off the left field fence in the fifth, but Young fielded the carom cleanly and threw a strike to Semien, nailing Encarnacion as he attempted to stretch the single into a double.

Chapman jumped on an 0-1 forkball in the sixth and smashed an RBI double that tied it 1-1. Patrick Bailey singled leading off the inning and stole second before Chapman, with one out, delivered. Devers’ ensuing bloop single — just in front of a lunging Robert — gave the Giants a 2-1 lead and ended Senga’s afternoon.