Worldwide Sports News

Dodgers 14 at Blue Jays 2

The last two games I recapped were one run, extra inning losses. Tonight was…not that. The Dodgers picked up right where they left off last fall when they were last here clubbing long balls, and it’s generally not going to be a good night when the other team has more home runs (5) than you have total bases (4) before the position players start pitching.

Frankly, the less said about this one the better, but the one potentially major takeaway before things got out of hand is the status of Max Scherzer. In contrast to the vintage form he displayed pretty much all spring, Scherzer’s stuff was off today. His fastball was only about 91-92, and his slider lacked good form. After yielding a two run home run to old friend Teoscar Hernandez in the first, he worked a scoreless second but was signaling to the dugout that was okay. Nonetheless, it was the end of his night, and given the state fo the pitching rotation one can only hope that he was just under the proverbial weather with what’s been going around the clubhouse rather than something more significant.

(Update: John Schneider said forearm tendinitis in his postgame presser, so that sounds great)

That left the Jays needing to use the recent call-ups to bridge the gap, and the Dodgers feasted on the soft underbelly of what is basically AAA pitching. Josh Fleming pitched three innings, allowing at least the first batter to reach in each inning and giving up four runs including an absolute moonshot from Freddie Freeman on “home soil”.

Joe Mantiply was next up, greeted in the 6th by Shohei Ohtani taking him yard, walking a couple who scored on a two out double. Tommy Nance had a similar rough experience, greeting by an abolsute moonshot by Dodger rookie catcher Dalton Rushing, and then three more on a string of hard hit balls. Spencer Miles gave up another home run to Rushing in the 8th for good measure. The pitching star turned out not to be pitcher at all, as Tyler Heinemann pitched a mercifully clean and quick 9th.

As bleak as that was, the bats were not much better. The Jays put one the board in the 1st after George Springer walked and Kaz Okamoto and Ernie Clement singled with two out. With the opportunity to do some real damage, they left the bases loaded and they Justin Wrobleski off the hook. From that point they managed no more than one runner in any inning until the Dodgers countered Heinemann with Miguel Rojas in the 9th. The bats are simply not getting it done.

Jays of the Day: Anyone who didn’t bother with this one (though arguably that would include most of all of the start lineup, so on second thought…). Clement has the high number at +0.08 WPA. Hat tip to Heinemann.

Boo Jays: Scherzer (-0.11) and Fleming (-0.23). The margin was too big by the time Mantiply and Nance (both -0.02) got in the game, but their lines merit inclusion as well.

The good news is, no matter how one-sided that was, the slate is always wiped clean to start the next day. Kevin Gausman will look to end the Jays five game losing streak though they’ll be in tough against Yoshinobu Yamamoto tomorrow evening.

The Texas Rangers scored two runs while the Seattle Mariners scored one run.

In a battle between the league’s two best starters from Stetson University who happen to also be two of the best starters in the American League, Jacob deGrom out-dueled Logan Gilbert as the Rangers finally won a home game even if they were again embroiled in low scoring affair at The Shed.

The reigning AL West champion Mariners got on the board first when 2025 AL MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh worked a 12-pitch at-bat against deGrom with pitch No. 12 parked deep into the right field seats for his first home run of the year. The solo shot gave the M’s a 1-0 lead a couple of batters into the game.

With deGrom on a shorter leash in the early going, and with Raleigh kind of stinking up the joint throughout the spring months following his 60 homer campaign last year, it was a frustrating way to start the game with Texas trailing before the had even gotten the opportunity to bat.

When they did bat, however, they returned the favor to Gilbert with Wyatt Langford doubling and Corey Seager driving him in. Tied 1-1 after an inning, deGrom and Gilbert traded zeros until the bottom of the 6th when the Rangers finally broke through for a run-scoring rally.

Seager singled following two quick outs and then scampered into scoring position on a wild pitch before Jake Burger doubled over the head of Randy Arozarena to produce the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run.

Of course, with the Rangers having issues figuring out the right combination for their high leverage relief so far, and in a one run game with deGrom already out, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Burger’s RBI would stand up.

Against one of the AL’s top contenders, a relief combo of Jalen Beeks, Tyler Alexander, Cole Winn, Robert Garcia, and Jakob Junis worked together to toss four scoreless innings and the Rangers had their first home win of the year.

It hasn’t been easy for Texas to beat the Mariners in recent seasons so it was nice to see them claim the first one of the year, even as they still await impactful production from their bats. Ah well, we all know this is a pitching org anyway.

Player of the Game: Burger and Seager did the heavy lifting at the plate but other than the Dumper at-bat, deGrom seemed untouchable for the fairly truncated amount of time he was in the game. deGrom finished allowing just the dinger to Raleigh while walking one and striking out six Mariners. Overall, the Rangers allowed just two Seattle hits on the night.

The downside to deGrom’s outing was that he was only good for five innings on 78 pitches as he continues to build up from starting slow in spring training and seeing his first start of the year delayed a few days last week.

Also, let the record show that Danny Jansen was the first Ranger to successfully challenge a ball/strike call while in the field. Before tonight, the Rangers were the only team in the league that hadn’t had an offering from their pitchers successfully reversed.

Up Next: More Rangers and Mariners with RHP Nathan Eovaldi next up for Texas opposite RHP George Kirby for Seattle.

The Tuesday evening first pitch from The Shed is set for 7:05 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Rangers 2, Mariners 1

The Larry Bernandez ad: Julio Rodríguez, +.08 WPA
The Hal Baleigh ad: Josh Naylor -.025 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers took down the Boston Red Sox in a chaotic, long, cold game by an 8-6 final on Monday night.

The Crew looked like they’d get things going early, as William Contreras singled and Christian Yelich doubled off the Green Monster to put runners at second and third with one out. Unfortunately, Brayan Bello was able to strike both Garrett Mitchell and Jake Bauers out to escape the jam.

In the bottom of the inning, Brandon Woodruff got into some trouble himself. Roman Anthony started things off with a double before advancing to third on a flyout. Willson Contreras followed with a walk to put runners at the corners, and after a Wilyer Abreu strikeout, Trevor Story picked up a single to bring Anthony home for a 1-0 lead.

Milwaukee got a couple more baserunners in the second, as Sal Frelick walked and David Hamilton singled to once again put two runners on with only one out. Blake Perkins struck out and Brice Turang grounded out, and Bello was once again out of the inning unscathed.

The Sox started the home half of the second with a single by Caleb Durbin, who was later caught stealing second with two outs in what ended up being a circuitous 1-2-3 inning for Woodruff.

For the third consecutive inning, the Brewers threatened against Bello in the third. Contreras walked, and Yelich singled to put two runners on with no outs in this go-round. Once again, though, Bello got his way out of the inning, as Mitchell struck out, Bauers grounded into a forceout, and Luis Rengifo grounded out.

Things quickly went awry for Woodruff in the bottom of the third. Anthony started the inning with a single, and Masataka Yoshida followed with a walk. With no outs and two on, Woodruff did the obvious thing and hit Wn. Contreras on the first pitch he threw to him.

Contreras found himself upset on a pitch that barely hit him on the top of the hand (and upon a challenge by the Brewers, it was unclear if it even did hit him — the call stood). Continuing to yell at Woodruff from first (with Woodruff ignoring him), play would continue with the bases loaded and still nobody out.

The next hitter, Abreu, grounded into a softly hit forceout that wiped Contreras out at second but scored Anthony from third. Contreras, though, took what was clearly an overaggressive slide and ripped Hamilton’s pants at second base. From the point of view of my couch, Hamilton was OK, though, and no butterfly bandages were needed. Pat Murphy had a word with the umps, but nothing was done about it, and Boston still had runners on the corners with one out.

Story followed with a sac fly to bring Yoshida home, extending the lead to 3-0, but Woodruff got out of the inning with a groundout from Marcelo Mayer.

In the top of the fourth, the Crew finally broke through.

Frelick started things off with an infield single to Mayer at second, and Hamilton followed with a walk. Perkins then bunted to move both runners up, and Turang walked to load the bases with one out. Wm. Contreras followed with a hard-hit grounder to Durbin at third, but Durbin was unable to come up with it cleanly, and all runners advanced safely to give the Brewers their first run of the night.

Bello exited with the bases loaded and one out, with lefty Danny Coulombe coming in to face Yelich. Yelich, who has come up huge in multiple clutch opportunities this season, hit another hard grounder to Durbin at third, but this time, Durbin had to dive. He once again failed to glove it cleanly, and the Brewers were in the same position with the bases loaded and another run across.

Mitchell then hit another grounder on the infield, this one right down the first-base line. Coulombe let it roll a bit, but it stayed fair, and the game was tied with the bases still loaded. Bauers followed with a walk to make it 4-3, and after a long 10-pitch battle from Rengifo, he ultimately grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The Red Sox got a run back right away in the bottom of the inning, as Durbin doubled off the wall, Carlos Narváez grounded out, and Ceddanne Rafaela brought Durbin in and reached on a fielding error by Hamilton at short. Woodruff then got a flyout from Anthony, but Yoshida followed with a single and Wn. Contreras picked up a ground-rule double to bring in another run and retake a 5-4 lead before the inning was over.

In a continuation of the back-and-forth feel of this one, Milwaukee tied it back up in the fifth against Jovani Morán, as Hamilton walked, Perkins singled, and Turang beat out a double play to bring Hamilton in.

Woodruff finally got a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, setting Story, Mayer, and Durbin down with consecutive flyouts on just five pitches. The Brewers did the same against Morán in the top of the sixth, though, as Yelich and Mitchell struck out before Bauers grounded out.

Woodruff returned for the sixth, setting Narváez and Rafaela down before being replaced by Aaron Ashby. Ashby then got Anthony out on a flyout for another 1-2-3 frame. That trend would continue for Morán in the seventh, setting Rengifo, Frelick, and Hamilton down in order.

Still tied at five runs each, Ashby worked around two on and no outs in the seventh, allowing a walk and a single before picking up three consecutive flyouts to end the inning.

The Brewers finally broke the stalemate in the eighth, as Turang and Yelich both walked to put runners at first and second with two outs. With RBI Accumulator Garrett Mitchell at the plate, he was able to line a single to Anthony in left. Anthony came up throwing to try to cut down Turang at home, but his throw was way off line and allowed both Turang and Yelich to score. Yelich’s run came with a slide under the tag of Garrett Whitlock, and upon a challenge by the Red Sox, the call stood, giving Milwaukee a 7-5 lead.

Grant Anderson got a 1-2-3 frame in the eighth, and the Brewers tacked on one more in the ninth as Rengifo doubled and came around to score on a Frelick single to make it 8-5.

Ángel Zerpa entered for the ninth, looking for his first career save. He picked up a pair of outs before allowing a homer to Wn. Contreras and a single to Abreu. He was able to get out of it with a groundout by Story, though, and the Brewers locked up the 8-6 victory.

It was an exciting night, one filled with mistakes and missed opportunities for both sides, but the Brewers ultimately prevailed.

Yelich led Milwaukee’s offense with three hits, including a double, while Mitchell is now tied with the major league lead with 13 RBIs after picking up two more tonight. Frelick also had two hits, while Rengifo’s double was the only other hit of the extra-base variety. The Brewer offense totaled 11 hits and eight walks.

Woodruff looked better as the game went on, ultimately allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits and a pair of walks, striking out four. Ashby got his third win of the year with 1 1/3 scoreless innings, Anderson got a hold with his 1-2-3 eighth, and Zerpa goes home with his first career save.

The Brewers will look for their fourth consecutive series win tomorrow night as they take on Boston in game two of this three-game set. It’ll be a matchup of aces, with Jacob Misiorowski slated to go head-to-head with Garrett Crochet. First pitch is at 5:45 p.m. CT.

After losing three games in a row over the weekend, the Orioles needed a win. And a win is what they got, even if it was a little too close for comfort. The offense was sluggish, this time against a team with a 6.19 ERA so far this year. Ryan Helsley struggled in the ninth to make things dicey. But thanks to an impressive start from Brandon Young, the limited offense was just enough to lock in the 2-1 victory.

The Orioles called on Young tonight to start the 10th game of the season. None of us expected to see him so soon after the off-season bolstering of the rotation by Mike Elias, but nothing ever seems to go as planned. It may have been an unexpected chance, but Young made the most of it.

The first batter Young faced, Chase Meidroth, worked a walk in which none of the balls were particularly close. But after that, he settled in. For most of the game, Young was on the one-baserunner-per-inning plan. Austin Hays led off the second inning with a single, but was caught stealing as part of a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to end the inning.

In the third, Meidroth got on base again, this time via a two-out single. He was stranded. And in the fourth, Young walked Derek Hill. That one got dicey, as Hill stole second base and moved to third on a wild pitch. But he was also stranded.

Young saved his best inning for last, an impressive 1-2-3 fifth that required just six pitches. At that point, he was sitting at 66 pitches. In his first start of the season at Triple-A, Young also went five innings with 57 pitches thrown. If this had been later in the season, or maybe if the weather hadn’t been so frigid, it would have been an easy call to send him back out for the sixth. Instead, he was done after five and I’d say he more than met expectations.

The offense had its struggles in this game, but Young’s effort allowed what little they provided to be enough. They floundered their way through the first three innings, first against opener Taylor and then against Erick Fedde. They got lucky in the fourth inning and were able to take the lead on a fluke. With two outs, Adley Rutschman walked. It was his second nice at-bat of the game. In the first he hit a ball hard to right field that would have been a homer on many other nights.

With Rutschman on first, Tyler O’Neill hit a high pop fly to left field. Hays ranged over to catch it, but in a scene that was familiar to Orioles fans who watched him play for years, he pulled up lame and was unable to get to the ball. It fell just inside the foul line. With two outs, Rutschman was hustling on contact and scored all the way from first to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead. O’Neill, however, just stood at home plate and stared at what he clearly thought was a foul ball. Just a bad decision by O’Neill, who could have easily been on second base.

With O’Neill now on first, Ryan Mountcastle hit a ball to the right side that sneaked through for a single. This time O’Neill was running and made it to third. But it was too little, too late, as Colton Cowser struck out to end the inning.

I don’t think you can say definitively that O’Neill cost the team a run with his mishap, but it was still a pretty inexcusable play.

The team’s second and final run of the game came in a much more decisive way. Gunnar Henderson came up to bat in the sixth inning and crushed a ball to right field. It was out of the ballpark in a heartbeat, a 105.3 mph bullet. It was gorgeous, which is nice because Gunnar’s three other at-bats in the game were strikeouts.

After Young exited the game with a 2-0 lead, Tyler Wells took over. Wells started the season with three shaky appearances, but pitched two perfect innings three days ago. He attempted to build on that tonight. He wasn’t as good, but he kept the White Sox off the board.

Meidroth reached with a single to lead off the sixth, then moved to second when a ball skipped off Rutschman’s glove for a wild pitch. He did not come around to score. In the seventh, Wells walked the leadoff batter, Derek Hill. Hill had replaced the injured Hays. The speedy Hill took off for second and it looked like he had the base stolen. But Henderson signaled to the dugout that he tagged Hill out, and after review, that was indeed the case. It was another strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out.

The Orioles squandered chances on the bases in both the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, they were gifted a runner when a Mountcastle dink was deflected in the infield and he reached first. But Cowser flew out and Coby Mayo hit into a double play to end the inning. In the eighth, Jeremiah Jackson singled. He was thrown out by a mile trying to steal.

After a perfect eighth inning from the rock-solid Rico Garcia, it Ryan Helsley time. It was…not great. But it ended well.

With a two-run lead, Helsley immediately walked the first two batters. Things felt ominous. Helsley threw a fastball in the zone to Colson Montgomery, who absolutely smoked the ball towards first base. Pete Alonso, who I haven’t yet mentioned in this recap because he went 0-for-4, made a fantastic diving grab. It got an out and it saved at least one run. Great job there, Pete.

The runners moved up on the play and the drama continued. Lenyn Sosa grounded out for out number two, but a run came in to score. Andrew Benintendi hit a ball softly toward third base that died in the grass. Just like that, the tying run was at third and the winning run at first. But Helsley got his man in the end, striking out Edgar Quero to end the game.

A win! A frustrating win at times, but a win all the same. After the weekend in Pittsburgh, we’ll take a win however it happens.

Who is your Most Birdland Player for this game? Is it Brandon Young for his five shutout innings? Maybe you want to reward Rico Garcia for being the best part of the bullpen. If dingers are your thing, Gunnar might be your guy. Put your choice in the comments.

It’s another Monday night here at BCB After Dark: the coolest nightclub for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and join us. We still have a couple tables available. We’re waiving the cover charge. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last week I asked you which current Cubs players should get a contract extension. I let you vote for more than one option, but 22 percent of you thought that Cade Horton should get locked up long term. Another 18 percent (rounded down) said Ian Happ and another 18 percent (rounded up) voted for Michael Busch.

Here’s the part with the music and the movies. You’re free to skip that if you want.

April is Jazz Appreciation Month and we’re doing what we can here to celebrate. I’ve always maintained that the best gateway drug into appreciating jazz is for musicians to do jazz versions of popular songs that audiences already know. In fact, that’s what the giants of an earlier age did. It’s just that the songs of the “Great American Songbook,” which were the popular music of the twenties through the fifties, have mostly faded from the public consciousness, even as they continue to serve as the backbone of jazz.

But today we have the Molly Miller Trio playing the Jimmy Webb song “Wichita Lineman,” which, of course, was made famous by Glen Campbell. Joining Molly and her guitar are JP Maramba on bass and Tamir Barzilay on drums.

A rare bit of jazz/country crossover.

You definitely would not expect a film about Jesus made by a gay, communist atheist who had been convicted of offending Catholicism (overturned on appeal) to end up on the Vatican’s list of recommended films. But director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) is a beautiful and faithful retelling of the Greatest Story Ever Told.

Pasolini made the film after accepting Pope John XXIII’s invitation to a dialog between the Church and secular non-believers. As a part of that, he read the Gospels straight through and decided that Matthew was the best suited for adaptation for the screen. (He also dedicated the film to the late John XXIII.)

The Gospel According to St. Matthew is shot in the best Italian neorealist tradition. It’s a low-budget film with a documentary look to it all. None of the actors on screen were professionals. Jesus is played by Enrique Irazoqui, who was just a Spanish college student who had come to ask Pasolini about his previous films. He never acted on film again. Most of the rest of the cast were just locals from the impoverished areas of southern Italy where the film was shot. Mary at the time of the crucifixion was played by Pasolini’s own mother.

Pasolini gave himself writing credit, but every word in the film actually comes from Matthew. As such, it sticks faithfully to the Gospel, omitting only that which is necessary to keep the film just over two hours long. But despite not adding any dialog of his own, Pasolini certainly puts his own spin to the tale. Unlike the biblical epics coming out of Hollywood at this time, this is a small film that underplays the miracles. The miracles of the loaves and fishes, healing the lame and lepers, and the walking on the water are all here, but the film very much underplays them. There aren’t hosannahs and trumpets in this film announcing these Miracles of Jesus, rather just the humble actions of a humble Messiah.

In fact, Pasolini shifts the primary focus of story from Jesus to effect that he has on his followers. Yes, there’s plenty of Jesus here, but nearly every word is punctuated by a reaction shot of someone listening to his words. Many of the scenes are shot at a great distance while Jesus speaks. In these scenes, Jesus looks small and the crowd surrounding him looks huge. The crucifixion is here, of course, but Pasolini mostly focuses on the crowd watching it happen than the sufferings of Jesus. In any case, Pasolini gets through it and on to the resurrection quickly.Pasolini especially likes to highlight the children, who smile and laugh when Jesus defies those in power. I would argue that Pasolini isn’t really all that interested in Jesus Himself. His message interests him and the way that message changed the lives of those who heard it.

This casting of non-actors has some weird and effective results. When an angel speaks to Joseph about the Holy Spirit impregnating Mary, the camera cuts to a close-up of Joseph’s face with a look of “What am I doing here?” on his face. Now that may just be the actor not knowing what to do, but that’s actually a very appropriate response by Joseph to the situation! When Jesus rejects the Devil’s temptations, most would expect a look of anger on the reaction shot. Instead, we get a “Huh. Wasn’t expecting that,” look. Who knows if that was acting or some poor southern Italian farmer wondering why he was in a movie?

Irazoqui’s Jesus, on the other hand, is an angry revolutionary. There are times Jesus behaves in a calm and comforting manner, especially in his interactions with children or the infirmed, but most of the time he’s angry at the way those in power do not follow the way of the Lord. This is not a Jesus that questions his own divinity. Every line is read with a firm conviction.

His unibrow notwithstanding, Irazoqui was an attractive young man, but he’s also hardly the long-haired, muscular action-hero hippie Jesus that was common in religious films of the era. Most of the apostles look like they could knock Jesus out in a fistfight. But Irazoqui, with the help of some camera tricks by Pasolini and cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli, give Jesus just a tiny bit of glow that no one else on the screen has. It’s a Jesus that looks like a poor peasant, yet somehow stands out from the other poor peasants. (More makeup, I’d guess. Or maybe just some makeup.)

Despite the slight budget and the documentary feel of The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Pasolini and Delli Colli give the film a stark, quiet beauty. The camera will linger on the branches of a tree, the Italian countryside, a mountain or the sky. The black-and-white cinematography (and cheap costumes, honestly) emphasize the humble origins of Jesus.

This film was protested by both those on the far-left and the far-right, but the Vatican praised it, despite the notoriety of the director. It was awarded first prize from the International Catholic Office of Cinema and got a special screening inside Notre Dame in Paris. There are certainly things to criticize. The non-professional actors are definitely non-professional, although often that works. There are times the scenes look like a Passion Play from your local church on Easter. The laying the blame for the crucifixion on the Jewish council remains unchanged from Matthew, although you get the sense that Pasolini blames anyone with any authority rather than the Jewish leaders in particular. But no film really strips away the pageant and miracles of the Passion and emphasized the message of Jesus any better than The Gospel According to St. Matthew.

Beyond the religious message of the picture, however, is just a solid piece of Italian neorealism filmmaking. Even with the Greatest Story Ever Told, it’s how the story is told that makes a difference.

Here’s the trailer for the restoration of The Gospel According to Matthew. It gives a good sense of the feel of the film.

The Gospel According to Matthew is available in a lot of places. There appears to be a complete copy on YouTube. You can watch it for free without ads on Kanopy if you have a library card. It’s on the Criterion Channel. Tubi, Prime and some other services have it with ads.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

The Cubs aren’t off to a great start to the season at 4-6. That’s not a catastrophic start and it’s not a reason to start panicking or selling off yet. But let’s admit that it’s not nearly as good of a start as we were expecting.

It’s easy to overreact to a bad start. After all, if the Cubs were 6-4 instead of 4-6 at this point, I think the majority of us would be saying “Yeah, that’s a decent start.” So the Cubs are just two wins behind where they maybe should be.

But while panicking at this point is unwarranted, it’s OK to be concerned. And tonight I’m asking what concerns you most about the start to the season?

Let’s be clear, other than Edward Cabrera and Nico Hoerner, not much has gone right for the Cubs so far. The team isn’t hitting. Or rather they are hitting, they just aren’t getting any hits. What do I mean by that? If you look at the Statcast leaderboards, only the Rangers have a higher team hard-hit rate than the Cubs. They’re fourth in the league in walk percentage. The strikeouts are a bit above-average (the Cubs have the 12th-highest strikeout rate in the majors) but that’s hardly a big red flag. But they’re 27th in batting average in balls in play and that’s not leading to a lot of runs.

Then there is the starting pitching, which has already run arguably the two best pitchers off the road. Matthew Boyd hit the injured list today, although the Cubs are saying it should be for the 15-day minimum. Cade Horton is also on the injured list and that’s going to be more than 15 days, although we still don’t have a time estimate on that. Sure, Cabrera’s been great, but even he’s walking more than he should be.

Finally there’s the bullpen. Daniel Palencia’s been great, but he’s also only had one save opportunity. Most of the rest of the re-built bullpen has struggled. Jacob Webb, Hunter Harvey and Phil Maton all have ERAs over seven. I guess Caleb Thielbar has been good and Hoby Milner has been fine. But the Cubs are struggling to keep the game close between when the starter exits and it’s Gasolina time.

So what is worrying you the most this young season?

Thanks for stopping by. We need to stick together at times like this. Please get home safely. Don’t forget any of your personal belongings. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.

For such a cold environment for a baseball game, the Royals hitters sure seemed red-hot today. I realize that’s not something you usually say after a simple 4-2 victory, but there was a ton of loud contact. Carter Jensen’s home run in the sixth inning was a 111mph scorching line drive that just barely cleared the right field fence. Jonathan India launched a towering homer at 101mph off the bat. Salvador Perez just barely missed a home run as it sliced foul.

Jac Caglianone and Bobby Witt Jr did not make as much of an impact on the box score as Jensen and India, but Witt hit four balls above 100mph. Cags hit three. Maikel Garcia doubled on a ball that’s a homer in 6/30 ballparks according to Statcast (and doubled on another ball that would have been a homer in Houston only).

It was just one of those games – a lot of the loud contact was either sequenced without runners on base or hit directly at a well-positioned Guardians defender. The Guardians did not have as much loud contact but their two runs were also on homers. Steven Kwan launched a Wacha fastball over the fence, and it was only the 21st-hardest-hit ball of the game. Brayan Rocchio took a Matt Strahm delivery over the left field fence.

Having said that, Tanner Bibee pitched a strong game for the Guardians. He kept a balanced pitch mix, including higher usage of his curveball, to keep Royals hitter off-balance. While watching, I felt like there were a lot of unusual takes from the Royals hitters on hittable fastballs. I looked it up – Bibee had 11 called strikes on his four-seam fastball out of 27 total pitches. He also got a good number of whiffs on his other junkballs. He was on a sort of pitch count limitation due to shoulder irritation coming out of Spring Training. He made it only 4.2 innings on 87 pitches.

The only run that was not scored on a homer came from the Royals in the fourth inning. Vinnie Pasquantino walked, and Jensen struck out on a wild pitch. I heard the announcers going through the rules around this strikeout/wild pitch. If there were zero outs or one out, Pasquantino would not have been allowed to advance and Jensen just would have been out. Since there were two outs, the play was allowed to run its course. The wild pitch went pretty far, so there wasn’t much of a chance to get Jensen at first for the final out. India took a middle-middle sinker to the opposite field for a single to score Pasquantino.

Aside from the Kwan homer, Michael Wacha pitched really well. He did a good job painting corners and using his changeup, which got him a few whiffs. His fastball wasn’t fooling anyone, but he mostly stayed out of trouble. He threw seven complete innings with three walks and three strikeouts; all three of those walks came near the end of his outing in the 6th/7th innings. He gave up only three hits, including that Kwan homer.

Wacha did get some defensive help on a couple inning-ending double plays. One of those double plays was a 5-6-4-3. A grounder to Garcia doinked off his gloved straight to Witt, who completed the rest of the normal sequence for the double play.

Quick note – José Ramírez played his 1620th game for the Guardians; he’s now the all-time leader for games played in team history.

The Royals and Guardians play a day game tomorrow due to the cold weather forecast. The game starts at 12:10pm US central time. The Royals move to 5-5, and the Guardians drop to 6-5.

The Yankees have taken every series they have played and won seven of their first nine games. They entered Monday’s off-day tied for the best record in the majors. They have been led by a thoroughly dominant rotation with a majors-low 1.81 ERA even before Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt have thrown a pitch.

Things are going well. But given the expectations for a team that is a persistent contender but ringless since 2009, identifying the potential flaws is just as significant as admiring the strengths.

With the usual early April caveats — they have not even reached double-digit games, the majority of which have been witnessed by fans in blankets — one early possible concern resides in the bottom of the lineup.

Through the first two weeks, Nos. 6-7-8-9 in the Yankees lineup have been the worst in baseball in average (.143), slugging percentage (.167) and OPS (.404). Individually, the sample sizes are minuscule. Collectively, the group has logged 143 plate appearances and totaled 15 singles and three doubles.

“We need to get more production there,” manager Aaron Boone acknowledged Sunday after those lineup slots went 2-for-17 in a series-ending loss to the Marlins, “and we will.”

It is far too soon to panic, but probably not too soon to begin monitoring the bottom of the order, which has consisted of:

Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Concern that Chisholm won’t hit is virtually none, and perhaps his two-run, gapped double in Sunday’s ninth inning to bring the Yankees within one run will be a turning point. 

“I feel like that could help a lot,” Chisholm said. “… Right now, we’re just working day to day, getting better every at-bat and hoping to get hot here soon.”

Last year — his first full season in pinstripes and the first in which he was regularly exposed to frigid temperatures for home games — he logged his worst average (.181) and OPS (.714) in March and April and still authored an All-Star, 30-30 season.

Austin Wells

A bat-first prospect with a questionable ability to stick at catcher has been the complete opposite as a major leaguer, an elite defensive catcher who has been a slightly below-average hitter through two-plus seasons.

Through the very early going, in which he is 4-for-24, Wells has struck the ball hard but, too often, on the ground. Boone thought Wells fought through a few solid at-bats Sunday, including a seven-pitch battle against Calvin Faucher that ended with a long flyout to the left field wall.

“I still think there’s a lot more in there offensively, and hopefully, we can keep moving to that point,” Boone said during camp.

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José Caballero

For there to be any controversy or competition regarding the starting shortstop once Anthony Volpe returns within a month or so, Caballero would need to hit.

He has begun slowly — 4-for-31 — and also recently has been spotty defensively, airmailing a throw to Ben Rice in Sunday’s sixth inning. He can be a terror on the basepaths (and has stolen three bases), but he needs to reach at a better clip than .206.

“Been a struggle, a little bit,” Boone said of Caballero. “He’s swinging through some pitches I feel like that usually he puts in play.”

Ryan McMahon

The discouraging: a hitter who has never finished any of his nine seasons with even an average OPS — and eight and a half of those came with Coors Field as his home — again has not hit, at just 2-for-23 with 11 strikeouts. Boone said he feels McMahon has been “in between” and not simply trying to hit the ball with authority.

The less discouraging: McMahon is working walks, which he always does, and more notably overhauled his swing this winter to bring his legs closer together and be narrower at the plate. It is worth remembering that the adjustments are ongoing.

“Sometimes, it takes time for things to feel natural, to be able to repeat them without having to overthink it,” assistant hitting coach Casey Dykes said during camp.

TORONTO –– Maybe the Blue Jays’ fans should have been more mean.

In the Dodgers’ first trip back to Toronto since last year’s epic World Series, the team was greeted with a largely hostile reaction from the Rogers Centre crowd.

Shohei Ohtani was profusely booed, now two years removed from spurring the Blue Jays in free agency. Kyle Tucker got the same treatment, after also picking L.A. over Toronto as the top free agent in this past winter’s class. 

And on the whole, there was little goodwill paid to the club as a whole, after their triumph here in Game 7 last November.

“I wouldn’t say it was Game 6 or Game 7,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “But no, it was good. These fans, sadly, didn’t want to see us come to town.”

There were, however, two exceptions to the stadium-wide jeers: Freddie Freeman, beloved for his Canadian heritage and representation of the country in the World Baseball Classic; and Teoscar Hernández, a former fan favorite outfielder who played for the Blue Jays from 2017-2022.

Which made the Dodgers’ 14-2 win on Monday night all the more painful for the 40,991 in attendance.

As the Dodgers rolled to their fourth-straight win, those were the two players who did the most important damage.

In the top of the first, Hernández hooked a two-run homer inside the left-field foul pole. Two innings later, Freeman nearly cleared the right-field bleachers with a two-run blast of his own.

That marked the start of another big night for the Dodgers’ surging offense, which recorded its third double-digit scoring effort in the past four days with a 17-hit onslaught that featured runs in all but two innings.

And while Freeman (who finished 2-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs, tying the early MLB lead with 12 on the season) and Hernández (2-for-5 with a walk and four RBIs) led the way, almost every other hitter in the lineup produced.

Ohtani had two hits, including a sixth-inning home run that elicited more boos. Tucker reached base three times (a single and two walks) and scored on every occasion. Max Muncy and reigning National League Player of the Week Andy Pages also had two knocks, lifting Pages’ early batting average to an MLB-best .474. 

And then there was Rushing, who got rare back-to-back starts in his backup catcher –– so Will Smith can be behind the plate for Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani the next two nights –– and capitalized by going 4-for-4 with two home runs and a hit-by-pitch. He has reached safely six-straight times going back to a homer he hit Sunday.

What it means

New season, same result in this World Series rematch.

Monday might’ve lacked the dramatics of last year’s Game 7, and it certainly didn’t contain the same emotional stakes.

But, it nonetheless gave the club a chance to reflect before first pitch: “Obviously, a lot of great memories,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Then, it set the stage for their most emphatic early-season victory –– giving them 45 total runs through this road trip’s first four games. 

“Obviously, we threw out a lot of hits today,” Roberts said. “But I think we’re just doing things the right way – running deep counts, hitting to the opposite field … Everyone was really solid.”

With the victory, the Dodgers also improved to 8-2, good for the best record in the majors to this point and a quick three-game lead in the NL West.

Who’s hot

Hernández did not start the season with his power stroke.

Up until the fifth inning Saturday, all seven of his opening-week hits had been singles. Six came on ground balls, and three never even left the infield.

The last several days, however, have been a different story. The All-Star slugger doubled late in Saturday’s game, hit his first home run of the season Sunday, then went deep again to open the scoring Monday –– on a hanging slider Max Scherzer left over the heart of the plate.

By the end of the night, which also included a two-run single in the seventh, Hernández’s early-season batting average was up to .353, second-best among qualified hitters on the team behind only the red-hot Pages.

Who’s not

The 4-6 Blue Jays.

After starting their defense of the American League pennant with a season-opening sweep of the Athletics, the club has not resembled the one that pushed the Dodgers to the brink last fall.

They dropped a home series to the woebegone Colorado Rockies last week, then were swept by the (almost) equally hapless Chicago White Sox this past weekend. They did nothing but help the Dodgers on Monday, making two errors and watching all five of their pitchers give up runs.

Even worse, Scherzer was pulled from his start after just two innings, with the 41-year-old’s velocity looking noticeably down. Oh, and starting catcher Alejandro Kirk is set for thumb surgery Tuesday.

Up next

The Dodgers and Blue Jays continue their series Tuesday night, when Yamamoto (1-1, 3.00 ERA) will face Kevin Gausman (0-0, 0.75 ERA). Yamamoto flipped spots in the Dodgers’ rotation this week with Ohtani, so that he could get an extra day of rest before pitching ahead of an off-day Wednesday.

How about this Washington Nationals offense folks! Despite some bullpen shenanigans, the Nats snapped their five game losing streak with a comeback win against the Cardinals. The Nats started the game well and ended it well. In the end, that was enough to give them a 9-6 win. James Wood also looks to be getting on track, which is great to see.

Before we talk about the offensive fireworks, I wanted to give a shoutout to Zack Littell. The veteran right hander showed what he can provide to this Nats rotation in his five innings of work. His command was mostly excellent and his splitter was dancing. Littell signed late in the offseason, so he is still not totally built up. However, once he is off his leash, he should be able to give the Nats length as well as quality.

The offense was the star of the show today though. All the worries we had about the unit in Spring Training are gone. This offense looks like it is a force to be reckoned with, especially with James Wood seeming to turn a corner. There is a ton of young talent and guys who are being unlocked by this new hitting staff.

It has also been different guys contributing up and down the lineup. Tonight, the star was James Wood, who seems to be coming out of his hibernation. Wood hammered a 114 MPH homer in the 8th inning to tie the game. His ability to hit homers at lower trajectories is truly a sight to behold.

Wood’s homer was part of a massive six run 8th inning explosion that propelled the Nats to victory. It was started by bottom of the order hitters, like Drew Millas and Jorbit Vivas, who both got key singles to start the rally. They got it done off of Ryne Stanek, who the Nats have always seemed to see well over the years.

After Wood’s homer to tie the game, the boys were not done. Curtis Mead ripped a double down the line to keep the pressure on. Then Brady House stepped to the plate and delivered, with a monster two run blast. Ever since the start of Spring Training, House has looked like a different hitter compared to the guy we saw last season. The 22 year old is a young player who is truly figuring it out in the big leagues.

CJ Abrams delivered yet another homer in the inning to give the Nats insurance. However, with this bullpen that had already blown it a couple times, things were not comfortable. The situation became particularly uncomfortable when Blake Butera threw Cionel Perez into the fire the night after he gave up four runs without giving up an out.

That was a move that could have been disastrous if it backfired. Butera would have had a lot of arrows heading his way. To his credit, Perez delivered and put up a zero in the 9th to make it a 9-6 Nats win. The Nats pitching staff is clearly a problem, but they slugged too much for it to bite them today.

One other play that helped keep a run off the board also made the 9th slightly less stressful. In the 4th inning, James Wood made the best defensive play of his career, robbing Nolan Gorman of a homer. He had to run a long way to get to the ball and then he timed his jump perfectly to keep the ball from going in the Nats bullpen.

After Jo Adell had his crazy game, I guess James Wood wanted to get into the mix. It is great to get back into the win column. The Nats pitching staff needs to be addressed badly, but hey we can talk about that tomorrow. How about James Wood and how about your Washington Nationals.