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The A’s had no answers for the Mariners tonight as the team came up helpless on their Holiday evening, dropping the first game of the series. Time to get back to winning.

More to come…

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Max Fried was feeling good enough to start playing catch Monday, the first time he has done so since being shut down with a left elbow bone bruise 10 days ago.

But Aaron Boone pumped the brakes on it being anything more than that, as recent imaging of the left-hander’s elbow evidently did not show enough healing to allow him to begin building back up yet.

“There’s nothing really that would say he can start the ramp-up process yet,” Boone said before the Yankees beat the Royals 4-3 in the series opener at Kauffman Stadium.

Essentially, Fried is able to keep his arm moving by playing some light catch but is not yet ready to throw with the kind of intensity that would test the injury he is dealing with.

“Don’t read too far into that,” Boone said. “He’s been doing plyos and stuff. He’s had a pretty good week overall as far as symptoms and feeling pretty good and responding to everything pretty well. But he’s not at a point to where we can start ramping him up yet.”

When Fried was originally diagnosed with the injury May 15, the Yankees said he would get more imaging “in a few weeks [or when asymptomatic] to further determine when Fried can resume throwing.”

Carlos Rodón is expected to start Friday’s series opener against the Athletics after he was pushed back a few days — after Saturday’s rainout — to allow Gerrit Cole to start on his regular fifth day Wednesday. The Yankees have an off-day Thursday and another Monday, so they wanted Cole to pitch on his fifth day this turn before going on his seventh the next time through. Rodón, who threw a bullpen session Monday, will be starting on his eighth day Friday before going on his sixth day the next time.

Giancarlo Stanton is set to undergo another round of imaging on his right calf Tuesday to determine whether his strain has healed enough to start a running progression.

“I think he was actually going outside to do some of his agility stuff today,” Boone said. “Hopefully, with the next round of imaging, we’re in a position to start ramping up the running.”

Clarke Schmidt will move his rehab from Tommy John surgery up to New York next week after spending the first two months of the season doing so in Tampa. The right-hander, who could become a factor in the second half, has been throwing bullpen sessions but has not yet faced hitters.

The Colorado Rockies had a 3-1 when the fans at Dodger Stadium sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” but the two-run cushion didn’t turn out to be enough on Monday night.

The bullpen surrendered four runs in the bottom of the seventh, erasing a solid start from Tanner Gordon, who reduced his ERA to 5.85 after only giving up one run in five innings of work.

While Ezequiel Tovar hit his second homer of the season, the Rockies biggest offensive stat was their 12 strikeouts. Colorado dropped its third straight to fall to 20-35, while the NL West-best Los Angeles Dodgers improved to 34-20.

Gordon gets back on track

Even though the Dodgers had a lot of traffic against Gordon, the 28-year-old found ways out of jams with routine flyballs and other easy outs. Los Angeles saw the leadoff hitter reach base in four of five innings — and two of those were doubles — but Gordon held the Dodgers to a 1-for-9 RISP and stranded five runners.

Despite giving up a double to Shohei Ohtani in his first at-bat, Gordon settled in, striking out three in the first two innings. The Dodgers then struck first in the third when Hyeseong Kim led off with a single and scored when Kiké Hernández doubled in his first at-bat of 2026 after returning from elbow surgery. It looked like it might be a long inning when Gordon walked Ohtani, but Gordon prevented the worst. He got Mookie Betts to fly out, and then Freddie Freeman hit into a double play to keep it at 1-0 L.A.

That was all the Dodgers could get out of Gordon. After five innings, he kept L.A. to one run on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks to give the Rockies a chance. His strikeouts came against Kyle Tucker, Teoscar Hernandez and Freeman.

“I thought TG was fantastic tonight — just attacking the strike zone, getting out of jams a couple times, he didn’t waiver,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said after the game. “He was fantastic in his start tonight.”

Bullpen falters with debut exception

Juan Mejia entered the game in relief for the Rockies in the sixth inning and sent the Dodgers down in order.

But it all fell apart in the seventh. Mejia walked the first two batters to get the hook from Schaeffer.

Brennan Bernardino then came in and — immediately — it got worse when he hit Miguel Rojas to load the bases. It seemed like the Rockies might avoid a big inning when Ohtani grounded into a fielder’s choice and Betts added a sac fly to tie the game. But then Freeman hit a double to score Ohtani and put the Dodgers up 4-3.

“Just a couple of hiccups in the bullpen tonight,” Schaeffer said. “Juan was really good in the sixth. Then the walk-walk to lead off the inning is just — late in the game against a good team in their yard, that’s just not going to work.”

Jaden Hill then entered the game and didn’t fare much better. He surrendered a single to Andy Pages, and L.A. increased its lead to 5-3. The inning finally ended when Hill got Kyle Tucker to line out to Johnston in left field.

Schaeffer said the best way to respond is to just send Hill and Bernardino back out again because that’s how baseball goes.

“Sometimes that happens. We are learning not to do that and turn those 1-to-2-run games into victories,” Schaeffer said. “We know what it takes, and it’s just a matter of time. Tomorrow, we look to flip the script on them.”

In the eighth, Welinton Herrera made a perfect MLB debut. Called up just earlier in the day, the 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic got Teoscar Hernandez to ground out on his first MLB pitch. He then retired Will Smith on a fly ball and Kim on a ground out.

“That’s pretty much the biggest stage you can make your debut on, Dodger Stadium,” Schaeffer said. “I am extremely happy for him that he got in there and got the first one out of the way. He attacked the strike zone and didn’t look nervous a bit. I am sure he was, but he didn’t look it.”

Rockies strike in 4th, Tovar breaks HR drought

The Rockies responded to a 1-0 deficit in the third by taking the lead in the fourth. Tyler Freeman started off the inning with a double and moved to third when Troy Johnston hit a comebacker off Emmet Sheehan’s arm that bounced into foul territory over the first baseline.

Willi Castro capitalized with a single to tie the game.

Ezequiel Tovar followed with a sac fly to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.

Tovar struck again in the seventh with his second homer of the year. The 431-foot shot to left-center field was more than just an insurance run. It helped Tovar snap a streak of 187 plate appearances without a homer, the longest slump of his career.

“Tovi was good. He keeps progressing,” Schaeffer said. “People who watch every day, I hope they see how hard he is trying to make adjustments, and it’s paying off.”

The dinger off Kyle Hurt was also the first run given up by the Dodgers bullpen in 11 games (37 innings), which was the Dodgers longest streak in franchise history.

Outside of the fourth and the seventh, the Rockies offense couldn’t do much against L.A. They were held to seven hits. Hunter Goodman struck out three times and was part of the Rockies No. 1, 2 and 3 hitters who went 0-for-10 in the game. Castro and Tovar each recorded two hits.

In more bad news on the injury front, TJ Rumfield was hit by a pitch in the right hand in the first inning. He was forced to leave the game and was replaced by Edouard Julien, who went 0-for-2 with a strikeout and walk. After the game, Schaeffer delivered good news that the X-rays came back negative.

Up Next

The Rockies and Dodgers will face off again on Tuesday at 8:10 p.m. MDT. Colorado’s Kyle Freeland (1-5, 7.04 ERA) will match up against Eric Lauer (1-5, 6.69 ERA).

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In his first big-league game back since Game 7 of the World Series, Kiké Hernández received playoff-level cheers at Dodger Stadium on Monday night, nearly drowning out his walk-up song as he stepped into the batter’s box against the Rockies in the bottom of the third inning. Some fans tipped their hats. Others joined the rising “Kiké!” chants.

After taking a ball, Hernández sent a four-seam fastball hopping down the left-field line for an RBI double that scored Hyeseong Kim. The crowd of 48,778 exploded.

It was shaping up to be a happy return, but it wasn’t until the seventh inning that the rest of the Dodgers lineup found its footing, taking advantage of some shaky relief pitching to rally for a 5-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Hernández reached on an infield single in his second at-bat before being lifted for a pinch-hitter as the Dodgers began to rally in the seventh.

Read more:Dodgers bullpen extends scoreless streak as they beat Brewers behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Hernández’s journey back to the big leagues has been an arduous one. Throughout his two-month stint last year on the injured list, he received seven injections in his left elbow. None worked.

A procedure by Dr. Neal ElAttrache helped numb the pain, but it came roaring back when the 34-year-old dove for a ball in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers.

“Every time I would get in my batting stance, I would feel like I had a blowtorch on, and it was kind of frustrating because there was not much we could do for it,” Hernández said before the game.

Hernández had made peace with his injury, given he was able to push through to a World Series win with little time to heal. After the season, Hernández had surgery on the elbow, not knowing the damage or the timeline for return.

When he woke, still a little delirious, ElAttrache told him the news: “This was the worst injury I’ve ever seen of this kind, and I don’t know how you played,” Hernández recalled him saying.

Hernández then FaceTimed Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.

“I told him, ‘ElAttrache, tell him what you just said,’” Hernández said, “I was like, ‘I did this for you, so you better bring me back.’”

Hernández signed a one-year, $4.5-million deal with the Dodgers in February, and began the process of starting over, relearning how to play baseball with a newly reattached left elbow.

Read more:Teoscar Hernández drives in six runs, helps Dodgers rout Brewers

In the process, he missed playing for Team Puerto Rico in the island territory where the team had been located in the group stages of the World Baseball Classic, what he called a “childhood dream.” He also missed spring training and opening day for the first time in his career. Still, he wouldn’t change a thing if given the opportunity.

“In a weird way, I would’ve rather missed the WBC and win a World Series than getting to fulfill a life dream of playing in Puerto Rico after losing a World Series,” Hernández said. “It was a fair trade.”

Hernández will play a mix of infield and a little bit of outfield, giving his teammates a chance to rest. Utility man Santiago Espinal, whom the Dodgers claimed on waivers and broke out in spring training, was designated for assignment to make room on the roster.

“Santiago was great for me, great for the team, and I think we were very forthright, up front, about the expectation, so I think he respected that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

While Hernández found contact on each of his at-bats, the rest of the team sputtered through six innings. Rockies starter Tanner Gordon commanded his slider, throwing the pitch for strikes 74% of the time.

Trailing 3-1, the Dodgers (34-20) found their momentum in the seventh after Rockies reliever Juan Mejia walked two, and Brennan Bernardino, who replaced Mejia, hit pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas with a pitch.

Shohei Ohtani plated a run on a forceout, Mookie Betts drove in Kim on a sacrifice fly to tie the score and Freddie Freeman bounced a double off the right-field wall to drive in Ohtani. Andy Pages hit a looping ball to right-center off Jaden Hill, the third Rockies pitcher of the inning, to score Freeman and complete the Dodgers’ scoring.

“Fortunately we were victims of good fortune,” Roberts said. “ I think that allowing ourselves to build off that inning, and then we started getting some hits, which was great. It was good to see us show some life tonight.”

Starter Emmet Sheehan ran into trouble when he gave up a ground-rule double to Tyler Freeman to lead off the fourth inning. Troy Johnston smacked a line drive on the next pitch that glanced off Sheehan’s right arm for an infield single. After Roberts and head athletic trainer Thomas Albert checked on Sheehan, the right-hander stayed in and gave up a run on a single to right field by Willi Castro to tie the score. Ezequiel Tovar put the Rockies ahead with a sacrifice fly to left field.

“I felt fine,” Sheehan said. “I knew it just caught muscle so stung in the moment, but it wasn’t anything to be worried about.”

Sheehan completed six innings, striking out eight and walking one.

“I gave him every opportunity,” Roberts said. “Thomas gave him every opportunity, but he wanted to stay in, and we took him at his word.”

Kyle Hurt, who eventually picked up the win, replaced him in the seventh and immediately surrendered a home run to Tovar on the second pitch of the at-bat to pad Colorado’s lead. The homer ended the bullpen’s franchise record of 38 consecutive scoreless innings set Sunday.

Will Klein pitched a scoreless eighth before Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen pitched the ninth, with Treinen picking up the save on a strikeout of Braxton Fulford.

“Kyle’s been great for us, and Tovar hit a changeup,” Roberts said. “ It was good to see Kyle come back and get that next hitter.”

Max Muncy Update

The Dodgers are hopeful for a Max Muncy return Wednesday after the swelling in his right wrist decreased. The 35-year-old was struck by a 95.5-mph slider on Friday. Initial X-rays were negative, and he hasn’t undergone more testing for the injury since. Roberts didn’t rule out a retroactive move to the injury list, though the team feels good about him avoiding it.

“He’s done better,” Roberts said before the game. “He’s a little less sore today. The swelling has dissipated.”

Roberts said after the game that Muncy was available if Rojas hadn’t been able to continue on after getting hit.

“I didn’t know how bad Miggy was, so I wanted to check in on Max to see if he could potentially go up and stand at third base,” Roberts said. “He was up for it, but fortunately we didn’t have to use that.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

First came the return. Then, a long-awaited rally.

On a night Kiké Hernández impressed in his season debut, the Dodgers did the same in just the nick of time.

Down two runs in the seventh inning on Monday, the team needed just two hits to surge to a 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies, negating what had been a frustrating offensive performance with a four-run outburst.

The inning began with back-to-back walks from Rockies right-hander Juan Mejia. Lefty Brennan Bernardino then came in and plunked pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas with an 0-2 curveball.

Just like that, the Dodgers had the bases loaded with no outs. The top of their order was due up. And though they had gone 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position to that point of the contest, they finally found a way to push some runs across the plate.

Shohei Ohtani trimmed a 3-1 deficit in half by beating out a potential double-play grounder at first. Mookie Betts then tied the score with a sacrifice fly to left field, hit just deep enough for speedy Hyeseong Kim to race home with a slide. 

After that, the club at long last got some big hits to drop in. Freddie Freeman roped a double off the wall in right to push the Dodgers in front. Andy Pages collected his MLB-leading 46th RBI with an insurance-adding single in the next at-bat.

“I just don’t think our focus was where it needed to be early,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But what we’ve done all year is, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, we start kind of bearing down a little bit more.”

Indeed, the Dodgers had been desperate for such an inning.

Without it, contributions from two of the night’s other stars would have gone to waste.

Hernández went 2-for-2 in his first game back from offseason elbow surgery, getting a loud ovation before his first at-bat –– then an even louder one when he lined an RBI double down the third-base line to open the scoring in the bottom of the third.

“I felt tonight was good to have him in the game, get him a start,” Roberts said. “I thought he was going to bring some energy, just obviously having (not) played for a while. And did bring that, got a big hit for us.” 

Starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan also gutted through a six-inning, two-run, eight-strikeout start. Both runs came in the fourth inning, after Sheehan was drilled in his upper right arm by a 103.8 mph comebacker. But he went on to retire eight of his final nine, after twice convincing Roberts and head athletic trainer Thomas Albert he was OK to stay in during visits to the mound.

“He’s just a good competitor,” Roberts said. “This was his day and he wasn’t about to come out of that game.”

That all kept the Dodgers in striking distance just long enough, allowing their offense to finally capitalize on a golden opportunity late.

“Fortunately, we were kind of [the beneficiaries] of good fortune, allowing ourselves to build that inning,” Roberts said. “We started getting some hits, which was great. It was good to see us show some life tonight.” 

What it means

The Dodgers (34-20) are still hot.

Fresh off an impressive 7-2 road trip, and having won nine of their previous 11 games overall, the club stayed in the win column Monday by picking up their 18th come-from-behind victory already this season. In the seventh inning or later, they led MLB in OPS and rank third in batting average.

It also helped continue a recent stretch in which the Dodgers have produced more consistently. Monday was their eighth time in the last 12 games scoring at least five. On the year, they are back up to third in the majors in scoring.

Who’s hot

Hernández had waited two long months to reach Monday night, after opening the season on the 60-day injured list while recovering from his offseason surgery.

So in his first at-bat, he didn’t hesitate to be aggressive, jumping on the second pitch he saw from Rockies’ right-hander Tanner Gordon for his RBI double on a 100.6 mph grounder.

Hernández would get another hit in his next trip to the plate, chopping an infield single in the fifth that was misplayed by Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros. 

He was only removed when the Dodgers did some strategic pinch-hitting in his spot in the seventh –– initially calling upon Dalton Rushing to get the left-handed Bernardino in the game, before pivoting to Rojas in the at-bat that loaded the bases.

“You’re so excited to get back, [a lot of guys in that situation are] trying to do too much,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of emotion, adrenaline, anticipation. That’s probably the thing you got to guard against. But he did a good job of managing those emotions.”

Who’s not

The Dodgers’ bullpen, but only barely.

After setting a franchise record by combining for 38 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to May 12, the team’s relief corps finally faltered for the first time in almost two full weeks Monday.

In the top of the seventh, the first man out of the bullpen, right-hander Kyle Hurt, gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar.

With that, the Dodgers’ bullpen streak ended 7 ⅔ innings shy of the all-time MLB record. It went down as the longest such run by any team since Cleveland in 2017.

“All good things are meant to come to an end,” Roberts joked. “and “We’ll start another one.”

Indeed, the unit bounced back once the Dodgers went in front. Will Klein retired the side in order in the eighth, which was puncuated by a 100.5 mph fastball. Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen combined for three outs in the ninth, with Treinen collecting his first save this year.

Up next

The series continues on Tuesday, when Eric Lauer will make his Dodgers debut after being acquired in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays last week. He’ll face off against fellow left-hander Kyle Freeland (1-5, 7.04 ERA).

Mariners 9, Athletics 2

Trampoline Parks: Luis Castillo, .14 WPA; Randy Arozarena, .13 WPA

Trampoline Parks Masquerading As Baseball Fields: J.P. Crawford, -.04 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

Normally there is no Minor League Wrap on Monday, but Indianapolis wanted to play a game on Memorial Day. So here we are. Everyone else, including Mesa, is off.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs raced past Indianapolis (Pirates), 9-7.

It wasn’t a great start for Doug Nikhazy, who gave up one run in the first inning and five more in the second. His final line was six runs on five hits over two innings. Nikhazy walked three, hit one and struck out three.

Tyler Beede pitched the next three innings, gave up just one run on two hits, and got the win. Beede walked one and struck out two.

Yacksel Ríos pitched the next two innings and allowed no runs on one hit. Ríos walked one and struck out two.

Luke Little pitched the eighth and ninth innings, retired all six batters he faced and got the save. Little struck out two.

Left fielder Owen Miller had a huge game, coming just a triple shy of the cycle. Miller was 4 for 5 with a double and a solo home run in the eighth inning. It was his third on the year. Miller had two total runs batted in.

Third baseman James Triantos was 3 for 5 with a double, a walk and a stolen base. He scored twice.

DH BJ Murray went 3 for 5 and scored once.

Center fielder Brett Bateman was 3 for 5 with a steal. Bateman scored twice and drve in two.

Miller’s homer.