Worldwide Sports News

The Orioles will attempt to get back to .500 tonight against Logan Webb and the Giants. San Francisco took the first of three games last night in a 6-3 result at Camden Yards.

Chris Bassitt will look to bounce back after a rough start to his Orioles tenure. Baltimore inked Bassitt to a one-year, $18.5 million deal before the start of the season. Now, with Zach Eflin out for the year, Baltimore needs Bassitt to be the veteran innings eater that the club signed him to be. He’s currently 0-2 with a 14.21 ERA and only three strikeouts in two short appearances.

Adley Rutschman was originally in the lineup but scratched with left ankle discomfort. The Orioles moved Samuel Basallo to catcher and inserted Ryan Mountcastle as the DH.

Rutschman has been one of Baltimore’s hottest hitters, and he feels like a guy the team cannot afford to lose for an extended period of time. Basallo has struggled to find his footing early in the season, but the rookie will have another chance to breakout today.

The same can be said for first baseman Pete Alonso and today’s left fielder Colton Cowser. Leody Taveras will play center field with doubles machine Taylor Ward playing right. Coby Mayo and Jeremiah Jackson will round out the infield.

1. Gunnar Henderson SS
2. Taylor Ward LF
3. Pete Alonso 1B
4. Samuel Basallo C
5. Ryan Mountcastle DH
6. Leody Taveras CF
7. Colton Cowser RF
8. Coby Mayo 3B
9. Jeremiah Jackson 2B

Starter: Chris Bassitt

Your first place St. Louis Cardinals will try to win the series vs the Boston Red Sox Saturday night at Busch Stadium. Game time is 6:15pm with Kyle Leahy on the mound for St. Louis vs Ranger Suarez for the Boston Red Sox. Saturday night’s game is a nationwide broadcast on Fox.

The Nats stole game one of the series in Milwaukee last night, putting up 4 runs in the 9th inning to win it 7-3. The rally in the 9th was led by 3 consecutive bunts, which resulted in hits for the Nats, much to the dismay of Brewers fans. A welcome surprise was 4 scoreless innings from the Nats bullpen after Jake Irvin went 5 innings and allowed 3 runs, with Clayton Beeter finishing the job in the 9th.

Foster Griffin toes the rubber for the Nats in game two against the Brew Crew, coming off successful starts against both the Phillies and Dodgers, 2 heavyweight lineups. There are a few alterations for the Nats against the left-handed starters tonight, with Curtis Mead shifting from DH to 1B and Luis Garcia Jr. hitting the bench, Nasin Nunez playing 2B over Jorbit Vivas, and Jacob Young returning to the lineup in CF.

For the Brewers, Kyle Harrison toes the rubber in his 3rd Brewers start, acquired from the Red Sox this offseason. There are plenty of alterations to the Brewers’ lineup, as there often is, with Gary Sanchez, Brandon Lockridge, and Joey Ortiz joining the starting lineup and Garrett Mitchell, Jake Bauers, and David Hamilton hitting the bench.

Game Info:

Stadium: American Family Field

Time: 7:40 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

Small ball and clutch pitching got the Nationals the victory against the Brewers last night, and they’ll need it again to beat the Brewers tonight and steal the series. Foster Griffin will also face another test in a scrappy Brewers lineup that will make starting pitchers work for outs. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

Less than twenty-four hours after the Diamondbacks managed to overcome a disastrous first inning from Michael Soroka, they had the chance to do it again, thanks to the kind of performance we’ve sadly become accustomed to from Brandon Pfaadt in 2026. On paper, at least, this seemed like a winnable game, and maybe even one in which we had the advantage coming in. Pfaadt hasn’t been good to start the season—he was rocking a 6.75 ERA after his first two starts—but his opposite number today was old friend Taijuan Walker, who came into the game sporting a distinctly unsexy 9.31 ERA.

Pfaadt and Walker are actually in similar positions within their respective team’s rotations, insofar as the Diamondbacks will likely be sending one starter to the bullpen once Merrill Kelly is ready to take his rotation spot, while Walker is keeping a spot warm until Zack Wheeler returns from the injured list. Walker is definitely going back to the Phillies’ bullpen when Wheeler returns; Pfaadt, meanwhile, has been looking increasingly likely to be pitching out of our ‘pen once Kelly is back on the mound. There was some question before Opening Day as to whether he or Michael Soroka would be the odd man out, but while Soroka has been getting good results (aside from that first inning yesterday), Pfaadt continues to display his unerring talent for giving up the dreaded One Big Inning.

The good guys got off to a good start, at least. Ketel Marte greeted Walker by launching a towering dinger into the right field seats on the third pitch he saw:

So that was fun! Corbin Carroll, back in starting lineup today as the designated hitter, drew a four-pitch walk, and then Geraldo Perdomo moved him to along with a ground out to second. Adrian Del Castillo, behind the plate this afternoon with Gabi Moreno once again ailing, singled to center, driving in Carroll. Jose Fernandez and Nolan Arenado then struck out in succession, leaving ADC stranded at first. Still, it’s nice to take the early lead. 2-0 D-BACKS

Sadly, however, that lead didn’t last. Pfaadt pitched a great bottom of the first—two Ks, ten pitches thrown—and a perfectly serviceable second frame, pitching around a two-out walk to record a second zero. Then, alas, came the OBI.

For starters, Alek Bohm reached on a grounder to short that Perdomo booted for an error. Phillies center fielder Justin Crawford followed with a single to left, turning the lineup over. Pfaadt managed to record the first out by striking out Trae Turner for the second time in the ball game, but then gave up two consecutive long balls over his next four pitches. Kyle Schwarber launched a hanging changeup into the right field seats, and then Bryce Harper launched his own over the fence in right center. Two outs (and another walk, and a hit batsman) later, the inning finally ended, but the damage was done. 4-2 Philadelphia

And that was pretty much that. Pfaadt returned to competence in the fourth, as is often the case—in fact, he wound up going six full innings, pitching around minimal traffic in each inning—a walk in the fourth, a single in the fifth, a double in the sixth—to put up three zeroes. The bullpen did its job, too, with Kevin Ginkel pitching a scoreless seventh and Ryan Thompson a scoreless eighth. But the Diamondbacks offense couldn’t make up the lost ground, despite having plenty of chances:

• Alek Thomas hit a two-out double in the second but was stranded there;
• Tim Tawa TOOTBLANned his way into an out after drawing a two-out walk in the fourth;
• Jorge Barrosa reached on a one-out single in the fifth, but was doubled off thanks to a Ketel Marte grounder to first;
• Adrian Del Castillo singled with two outs in the sixth, but was stranded there;
• Alek Thomas was drilled with two outs in the seventh, stole second and took third on an errant throw, and was left standing there when Barrosa couldn’t get him home.

We did manage to get a run back in the top of the eighth, thanks to a two-out Perdomo walk, ADC’s third single, and a Jose Fernandez RBI single that scored Perdomo and advanced ADC to third. Sadly, however, ADC is slow as molasses on the bases, so there was no chance he was going to score, and, shocking as it might be to believe, Nolan Arenado struck out on four pitches when it was his turn to try and drive in the tying run. 4-3 Philadelphia

The bottom of the Diamondbacks order had one last chance in the top of the ninth, but they sat down in order, and that was that.

Loss Probability Added, Courtesy of FanGraphs

R2D2: Adrian Del Castillo (4 AB, 3 H, 1 RBI, +12% WPA)
Imperial Stormtroopers: Nolan Arenado (4 AB, 0 H, 2 K, -19% WPA), Brandon Pfaadt (6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 HR, 3 BB, 6 K, -20% WPA)

The Gameday Thread seems to have been reasonably lively for a Saturday game for which the first pitch happened at 10:05am Arizona time, with 156 comments at time of writing. Sadly, my attention was taken up with getting some final stuff in order around the house in preparation for TheRealRamona’s dad, who arrived at his new home with us sometime during the eighth inning. Comment of the Game goes to MikeMono by popular acclaim, and because it shows you how it’s done with the /sarcasm font when one is critiquing the lineup and lack of timely pinch-hitting decisions:

Anyway, thanks to the Friday night result, we are still in line for a possible series victory. Join us tomorrow as Zac Gallen takes the mound for the rubber match, going up against highly-regarded Phillies prospect Andrew Painter. First pitch is scheduled for 10:35am AZ time. Hope you can stop by!

As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!

On Friday evening, the Brewers dropped an ugly one, maybe their most painful loss of the young season. After Jake Bauers hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the first inning to respond to two early Nationals runs, it felt like Milwaukee might cruise. But instead they were shut out for the next eight innings by the Nationals’ pitching staff — not exactly the ‘90s Braves over there — and fumbled the game away after a bit of a ninth-inning implosion.

They’ll look to bounce back tonight behind Kyle Harrison, one of the brighter spots in what has been a mostly encouraging start to the season. Harrison is making his third start, and each of the first two has been good. On March 30, Harrison allowed one run to the Rays on four hits and one walk while striking out eight in five innings, though Milwaukee lost that game when the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead that Harrison left with. On April 5, Harrison pitched 5 1/3 innings in Kansas City and allowed two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out six. He earned his first win of the season in that one, an 8-5 Brewers victory.

Washington counters with lefty Foster Griffin, who is back in the big leagues at age 30 after spending the last three seasons in Japan. Griffin came up through the Royals’ organization and made his brief major league debut in 2020, but he was unable to nail down a spot in the majors, and after just nine big-league appearances across three seasons, he made the move to Japan, where he was a star for the Yomiuri Giants — in three seasons that covered 348 innings, Griffin pitched to a 2.51 ERA and 4.50 K-to-BB ratio. That got him a job back in the US, where he signed with the Nationals. He’s been pretty good so far and is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in two starts. Foster does not throw hard (low-90s) but throws a whole bunch of different pitches, which keeps hitters off balance.

The Brewer lineup hasn’t looked great against left-handed pitching lately, but they’ll take another crack at it tonight. Luis Matos, however, continues to ride the pine despite being one of the few available right-handed bats; Brandon Lockridge will play left, with Blake Perkins in center and Sal Frelick in right. After a night off on Friday, Joey Ortiz is back in the lineup today, and Luis Rengifo, who hasn’t been able to buy a hit (though that’s certainly partially due to a .188 BABIP), bats second. Get well soon, Jackson.

A couple of injury notes from the organization: Quinn Priester had a good live batting practice session and is expected to get some game action soon in extended spring training. Tyler Black, who is playing at Triple-A Nashville, went on the seven-day injured list with a “shoulder impingement,” but is not expected to be out long. Cooper Pratt missed a couple of days with a sore shoulder but is back in the Nashville lineup tonight.

First pitch at 6:10 p.m. on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.

The defending American League champions are feeling a little more snakebit with every passing game.

The Toronto Blue Jays, already beset by a rotation's worth of pitching injuries, lost a crucial offensive performer Saturday, April 11 when leadoff hitter George Springer suffered a fractured big left toe in their 7-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Rogers Centre.

The designated hitter fouled a ball off his left toe in the third inning, initially waved off Toronto's training staff, but did not come to the plate for his next at-bat in the sixth. The Blue Jays dropped to 6-8 with their seventh loss in nine games.

George Springer had to leave the game with a left toe fracture after fouling a pitch off his foot in the third inning pic.twitter.com/esUbWUhMC5

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 11, 2026

And suddenly, the Blue Jays are down the equivalent of three everyday players, with Springer, All-Star catcher Alejandro Kirk (thumb surgery) and infielder/outfielder Addison Barger (ankles) all shelved.

The rash of everyday players going down comes during a spring in which Shane Bieber (forearm), Trey Yesavage (shoulder), Jose Berríos (elbow) and Cody Ponce (torn ACL) aren't able to go. Additionally, 41-year-old Max Scherzer underwent a recent MRI on his right elbow in the wake of his two-inning start April 6.

George Springer injury update

Springer is certainly a big loss. In the final year of a $150 million contract, Springer revived his career with a 32-homer, .959 OPS 2025 season, capped by the biggest homer for the Blue Jays this season, his three-run shot to clinch the pennant in ALCS Game 7. This year, he was off to a 10-for-54 start (.185) with two homers.

His bat may prove difficult to replace, given that the club let Bo Bichette walk in free agency, figuring Barger would take a step forward and newcomer Kazuma Okamoto would adjust quickly to the major leagues. Now, Barger and Springer are shelved and Okamoto is producing a .651 OPS in 13 games.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: George Springer breaks toe, another big injury blow for Blue Jays

Martín Pérez will lead the Braves against Parker Messick and the Guardians in the first City Connect Saturday of 2026.

Side note, this picture seems to be from the elaborate light show we now deploy when the opposing team makes a pitching change. They are definitely making use of those state-of-the-art lights and projections… thoughts?

First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 pm ET. 

Game Notes

Pitching matchup

Lineups

After a spirited victory in the series opener, the San Francisco Giants will look to win their series against the Baltimore Orioles today, in the second game of their nine-game road trip.

The Giants are sending their ace to the mound, as right-hander Logan Webb will make his fourth start of the year. On the year, the 29-year old is 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA, a 2.65 FIP, and 15 strikeouts against just six walks in 18 innings. His last start was his best, as he held the New York Mets to one run in seven innings.

He’s up against the veteran right-hander Chris Bassitt, who makes his third start for the Orioles, his fifth MLB team. It’s been a tough start for the 37-year old, who is 0-2 with a 14.21 ERA, an 8.52 FIP, and just three strikeouts against six walks in 6.1 innings.

Enjoy the game, everyone! Go Giants!

Game #15

Who: San Francisco Giants (6-8) vs. Baltimore Orioles (6-7)

Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland

When: 4:15 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: n/a

National broadcast: FOX

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

The Twins bounced back in decisive fashion on Saturday afternoon, riding a wonderful start from Joe Ryan and an early crooked number to best the Toronto Blue Jays by a 7-4 final, and even the series at a game apiece.

Early momentum was not in Minnesota’s favor; after allowing 10 unanswered runs in the series opener, the Jays jumped on Joe Ryan early, with a two-run homer off the bat of Daulton Varsho making it a 2-0 Toronto lead before Ryan had recorded an out.

But from that point on, Ryan was nails. The Varsho homer was one of only two hits Ryan would surrender in a robust seven-inning start, the other a fourth-inning Vladdy Jr. single. Minnesota’s number-one starter retired the final 12 hitters he faced from then on, providing the bullpen with a much-needed respite in the midst of a remarkably long early-season stretch of games without a day off.

Meanwhile, the lineup consolidated all their momentum into a single inning. Facing an oft-troubling lefty, this time in the personage of Eric Lauer, the Twins were held off the board in every single frame of the game except the third. In that third, Brooks Lee kept his turnaround narrative hot with a leadoff blast to left to cut the Jays’ lead in half. Call-up Ryan Kreidler would ground out, but then it was off to the races.

Back-to-back singles from Byron Buxton and Austin Martin put set up a walk of Luke Keaschall to load the bases, and then a walk to tie the game when Ryan Jeffers drew a free pass on four straight out of the zone. Varsho’s name would come up again when a questionable read on a towering fly to center wound up going as a Josh Bell two-run single. With a 4-2 Twins lead and two outs later in the inning, Trevor Larnach homered against a left-handed pitcher, a three-run jack into right field that marked his jusf fifth career bomb off any southpaw.

Unfortunately, that was almost literally it for the Twins offense. Brooks Lee singled in the visiting sixth, the only remaining hit for Minnesota.

And while Ryan was great, Kody Funderburk had to tiptoe out of danger in the eighth inning, letting his first two assignments reach base and only just managing to record a shutout inning. Cole Sands was not so lucky; tasked again with the ninth, he gave Toronto two back when Jesus Sanchez launched a two-run shot for his second homer of the year.

The loss wasn’t the worst news of the night for the Jays, either; already absolutely beleaguered by injuries, George Springer suffered a toe fracture after fouling a pitch off his foot. He finished his at-bat, but was pulled for the rest of the game in the DH slot.

And so, with the highlights consolidated into one starting pitcher and one offensive inning, and the usual weaknesses (streaky offense + poor bullpen performance) rearing their heads, it is a somewhat incomplete victory that evens this series, but a victory nevertheless.

The rubber match is tomorrow, and the Twins have a lot to play for — a four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers followed by a road victory against the reigning American League champions would do a lot to alter perceptions of this team in the early goings.

See you there!

STUDS:

SP Joe Ryan (7 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, BB, 5 K, HR, W)

RF Austin Martin (1-for-2, R, 2 BB)

LF Trevor Larnach (1-for-3, R, 3 RBI, BB, HR)

SS Brooks Lee (2-for-4, R, RBI, HR)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

A Saturday national game, is this the pressure the Red Sox need right now? We at least see a little more normal of a lineup with Roman back in—maybe being the DH will let him focus on one thing at a time and his bat is more important right now. Can the Red Sox stop seeing red and pull out a victory or will Ranger Suárez keep getting pecked by the Redbirds?

⚾️ First Pitch: 7:15pm ET — Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO

📺 TV: FOX

📻 Radio: WEEI