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“Javier Assad has faced 51 batters without allowing a single barreled ball”. So said the helpful auto-generated commentary in the MLB app’s Gameday feature after Trea Turner grounded out to start the bottom of the first. The next play read “Kyle Schwarber homers (5) on a fly ball to center field”.

Well. Can an AI create a jinx? If a billy goat can, probably (then again, goats may be stronger than robots, since they eat tin cans). At any rate, the Phillies had a 1-0 lead against the visitors from the Senior Circuit’s Chicago club.

It was a battle between sinkerballers: Javier Assad and Cristopher Sánchez. Both got off to a bit of a rocky start: Assad with his inability to reach 52 batters without a barrel, and Sánchez with his putting two on (via liner hit and walk) to open the second. It got worse for Cris when another single loaded the bases, with just one away. What’s a sinker specialist to do when he gets that sinking feeling? Well, rely on ol’ faithful. A trio of low and inside sinkers produced a trio of whiffs for Pete Crow-Armstrong. Sánchez showed one more sinker to Matt Shaw, decided four in a row was enough, and got out number three by inducing a weak grounder on a changeup.

In the second inning, Brandon Marsh got on base with a worm burner through the right side. He stole second, then scored when the Cubbies lost a fly ball from J.T. Realmuto, allowing it to land harmlessly on the grass (well, harmlessly for the ball, less so for the visitors). A bad break for the baby bears, but they got a better one in the bottom of the third, when Turner smacked a ball that went just to the wrong side of the foul pole; a crew chief review confirmed that the Phillies would have to wait for the next ringing of the roundtripper bell.

Not much longer, though. Turner singled to left, and Assad gave Schwarber a two-seamer that hung up in the middle of the zone, and in turn Schwarber ripped open a few more seams on it. The ill-fated sinker went sailing into center, and the Phillies were up 4-0.

They were cruising. Then the robots chimed in. Not the ABS robot (which helpfully confirmed a fourth ball for Brandon Marsh in the bottom third). Rather, it was the Gameday AI, which noted that “Sánchez’s slider is dropping more vs. last season” after Carson Kelly singled. The good news for the Phillies was that the AI didn’t really jinx Sánchez; it wasn’t his slider that cause him trouble. It was his sinker, as Dansby Swanson swatted one over the right field fence to narrow the Philadelphia lead to two in the fourth.

Sánchez faced more trouble in the top of the fifth, as an error by Turner and a walk to Seiya Suzuki put two on with one away. Fortunately, though, a sinker specialist is especially well equipped to navigate that situation: a sinker low and inside to J.A. Happ induced a weak ground ball, as the pitch is designed to do, and the inning ended without further damage.

Sanchez’ sibling in sinkerhood would not be so fortunate. Assad walked Schwarber to start the bottom of the fifth (Gameday AI noted that Schwarber’s bat speed is down nearly 2 MPH from last year, and that one is actually interesting, thank you robots), then allowed singles to Bryce Harper and Adolis García to load the bases with none away. Marsh hit one to center to score two, and Bohm produced a sacrifice fly to score another. Marsh scored soon, since Stott swiftly smacked a subpar sinker to center for a swell single, successfully stretching to second subsequently. Stott himself scored when J.T. Realmuto joined the hit parade, and Assad’s night was done. In the duel of the sinkers, Sánchez emerged as the decisive victor.

Things didn’t get much better for the Cubbies in the sixth. Reliever Charlie Barnes plunked Schwarber, walked Harper, and allowed an RBI double to García before recording an out. Bohm scored Harper with a productive groundout, Realmuto scored García with a single, and the Phillies had a dozen runs.

As the seventh dawned, Sánchez’ day ended, with a 6 hit, 8 K, 2 ER line. Seth Johnson replaced him, and navigated through the inning without allowing a run. The same could not be said of the Cubs. Sorely missing the Friendly Confines, they looked all around for some sign of comfort. But it was BOGO hot dog night, and the Cubs were in the land of the Phillies Frank, not Vienna Beef. Perhaps shaken by the lack of celery salt and sport peppers on the dogs, they allowed a 13th run on a throwing error from Swanson.

They must’ve found a lucky piece of Wrigley ivy in a pocket after the seventh, as Johnson and his fielders struggled mightily in the top of the eighth. The first six runners reached base and four runs scored before an out was recorded, aided by errors from Marsh and Bohm. Johnson got two outs, but allowed another run on a Suzuki single, and was pulled. Orion Kerkering subbed in, offered Happ a trio of sweepers on the outer edge, watched him take all of them for called strikes, and the inning ended. So did the game, after Kerkering’s quick work (leadoff double, then three consecutive outs) in the ninth.

The Phillies are 8-8. They’ll return to action against the Cubs tomorrow at 6:40, with Aaron Nola and Colin Rea scheduled to duel.

Although the next steps have not been officially decided, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón appear to be nearing rehab assignments.

Cole threw 42 pitches over three approximated innings during a simulated game Sunday in Hudson Valley. Rodón completed three “innings” over 50 pitches during a live batting practice in The Bronx on Monday.

Both are expected to pitch again in five days, manager Aaron Boone said Monday, though the club had not decided whether that meant another simulated session or whether they would be ready to begin their climbs through the minors.

Cole, who underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2025, has been checking off boxes and seems just about ready to begin stretching out.

“Stamina was good,” Cole said of his simulated game before the Yankees hosted the Angels. “Pitches are fine right now. They’re good — being a little nitpicky. But everything’s good.”

Rodón also “looks good,” Boone said. Rodón had been on the verge of a rehab assignment before feeling tightness in a hamstring two weeks ago, which prompted the Yankees to pause his progression. After Monday’s session, Rodón ran sprints in the outfield.

Presuming continued health with Cole and Rodón, the Yankees would have rotation decisions to make if both return in May or June. Luis Gil began his year in the minors and probably needs to pitch his way to a more permanent spot, while Will Warren has been mostly dependable, though might not have the ceiling that Ryan Weathers possesses.

The group — down two front-of-the-rotation arms plus Clarke Schmidt — has been excellent.

“I thought we’ve got off to a great start,” Cole said. “A lot of attacking the strike zone. When we haven’t, we’ve paid the price a little bit. But we’ve been able to minimize. We’ve kept ourselves in the ballgame so far every game this year. … A lot of encouraging signs.”

Kyle Tucker insists he hasn’t been pressing in the opening weeks of his debut Dodgers season.

His slow start to the year, he told The California Post on Monday, has simply been because his swing is a little off.

“I’ve missed some pitches that I feel the at-bat should have been over with,” Tucker said. “Then you just get deeper into counts. And then whatever happens after that, happens.”

Such was the simple explanation the four-time All-Star cited to explain some early uncharacteristic numbers.

Entering Monday, Tucker was batting just .246 through the season’s first 15 games, second-lowest on the club among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances. He had just one home run, nine RBIs and a below-league-average .659 OPS despite still reaching base more than one-third of the time.

More surprising were Tucker’s strikeout and swing-and-miss totals, both of which have been noticeably higher than his career-long averages.

With 16 strikeouts in 67 trips to the plate, Tucker has a K-rate of nearly 24%. Over his previous five seasons, it has never been higher than 16%.

Tucker’s plate discipline metrics are also atypical. He is swinging more often (53.6% this year, compared to 41.2% for his career), chasing out of the zone more frequently (24.2% this year, compared to a 17.6% rate the past two seasons combined), and whiffing at an above-league-average rate (27.1%, compared to his 20.4% career rate) –– all of which run counter to his reputation as a contact-minded, selective-swinging, on-base machine.

Because of all that, manager Dave Roberts was asked Sunday whether he felt the team’s new $240 million signing was pressing.

He didn’t exactly say no.

“I think there’s a little bit to that,” Roberts said. “That’s kind of what I see. Typically when guys chase, they’re trying to do a little bit too much.”

Tucker, however, offered a different theory behind the numbers –– which, admittedly, have come in a minuscule 2 ½ week sample size.

Because his swing has been a little off, he feels like he has missed more hitable pitches than usual, leading to more foul balls and deeper pitchers’ counts.

Indeed, Tucker’s foul ball rate is slightly up this year (43% now, compared to 40% last year). His 60 foul balls are also the ninth-most in the majors.

As a result, he said, he has found himself behind in more of his at-bats, forcing him to expand the strike zone and chase pitches –– especially below the strike zone –– he’d probably lay off more easily otherwise.

“I mean, if I did what I wanted to do from the first swing, putting it in play, I don’t think I’d be swinging as much,” he said. “When you’re swinging at strikes and putting a barrel on the ball and staying through the ball well, better outcomes happen. But I kind of cut my swing off a little bit, don’t really stay through it great, and then you start fouling pitches off and chasing some later in some counts. That’s where a lot of the extra swings come from.”

Thus, Tucker is focused on one priority at the plate right now: Trying to hit the ball to center more often, and find a feel that will get his non-traditional swing back in sync.

“It’s just trying to make sure your hands and everything are staying through the ball, rather than cutting across and over,” he said. “That’s when you start getting more foul balls and you start top-spinning balls to right, or getting more ground balls. But if you’re able to stay inside and through the ball a lot better, it starts getting better backspin and you drive the balls to the outfield a lot better.”

In other words, Tucker believes his underwhelming start has been more mechanical than mental –– downplaying the pressure that has come with playing for the two-time defending champion Dodgers, and under the spotlight that accompanied his record-setting contract this winter.

“I play the same regardless of whatever is happening around me,” he said. “The fans make coming to the field a lot of fun. The guys make coming to the field every single day a lot of fun. So it’s been great.”

So too, he said, has been hitting in the Dodgers lineup, where he plays the important role of protecting leadoff man Shohei Ohtani from the No. 2 spot.

“Even if we’re not hitting great that day,” he said, “we always have the potential to put up a big inning.”

The Dodgers have a similar hope with their newest superstar, confident that even though he’s not hitting great now, he’ll inevitably break out at the plate soon.

Mets lineup

1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Luis Robert – CF
3. Mark Vientos – 1B
4. Bo Bichette – 3B
5. Jorge Polanco – DH
6. Francisco Alvarez – C
7. Tommy Pham – LF
8. Marcus Semien – 2B
9. Tyrone Taylor – RF

David Peterson – LHP

Dodgers lineup

1. Shohei Ohtani – DH
2. Kyle Tucker – RF
3. Will Smith – C
4. Teoscar Hernández – LF
5. Freddie Freeman – 1B
6. Andy Pages – CF
7. Max Muncy – 3B
8. Santiago Espinal – 2B
9. Miguel Rojas – SS

Justin Wrobleski – LHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 10:10pm EDT
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

First-year Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz was struck in the face by a foul ball off the bat of his second baseman, Jeremiah Jackson, in the fifth inning of the team's 9-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, April 13 at Camden Yards.

Albernaz, 43, was positioned in his usual spot in Baltimore's first-base dugout when Jackson looped a line drive measured at 70.6 mph off his bat. It struck Albernaz in the side of the face and he was immediately escorted down the tunnel to the Orioles' clubhouse by coaches and players.

Here's video, courtesy of MASN, of the foul ball off Jeremiah Jackson's bat that struck Orioles manager Craig Albernaz. Scary scene. pic.twitter.com/5OjR39MSkH

— Andy Kostka (@afkostka) April 14, 2026

The ball came up on Albernaz quickly, leaving him virtually helpless to avoid the baseball, though he turned his head and perhaps absorbed a more glancing blow.

Albernaz, the Orioles said, was evaluated on site by the team's medical personnel and returned to the dugout some 45 minutes later. Meanwhile, his team battled back from a six-run deficit to claim the victory.

He did not meet with the media following the game, but bench coach Donnie Ecker told reporters that Albernaz is expected to get a scan but is doing well.

Jackson hit a grand slam one inning after his foul ball struck Albernaz, and the Orioles pulled ahead of the Diamondbacks 8-7 on Pete Alonso's two-run homer in the seventh. Jackson hit his second home run in the eighth.

"It really speaks to what Alby means here and the culture he wants to create," Ecker told reporters. "If it were up to him, he'd be sitting right here. Not surprised to see him (return to the dugout)."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Orioles manager struck in face by foul ball in game vs. Diamondbacks

Even after waiting all offseason to find a new club, Tommy Pham didn’t consider hanging up the spikes. 

It took him right up until a couple of hours before first pitch on Opening Day, but Pham did finally land himself a deal, rejoining the Mets on a minor league pact.

He spent the past couple of weeks building himself up in the lower levels of the system, but was called upon on Monday to help spark the struggling club. 

“Happy to be back, happy to be up here,” Pham said before Monday’s game in Los Angeles. “Still some familiar faces here, lot of smiles on the faces today, so I’m happy that I could provide some sunshine.”

The Mets are hoping that Pham can provide more than just smiles, though. 

He’s already been inserted directly into the starting lineup, batting seventh and playing left field, and Carlos Mendoza has heard nothing but good things about his new veteran. 

“Competitor, a pro, he goes about his business the right way,” the skipper said Monday. “When word got out, I got a couple of texts from ex-coaches of his telling me how much you’re going to love this guy -- he knows what it takes to play in New York and wants to be a part of it.”

Mendoza expects to mainly use Pham against lefty pitching, but thinks he still feels has a lot to offers this team as a right-handed bat off the bench. 

Heading into his 13th MLB season, the 38-year-old certainly agrees.

“Body-wise, I’m in better shape than a lot of guys in the league,” Pham said. “That’s just because of how I work in the offseason -- I signed two weeks ago so I still feel there’s a bit left that I need to handle, but for the most part I’m great.

“I show up. I prepare. I’m just a pro. I know how to play the game, I love the game, that’s what you’re going to get -- one thing I told myself this year is I’m going to go harder because I was thinking I want to leave everything on the table.”

Coming out of the All-Star Break in 2025, the Seattle Mariners had some juice. They’d faltered from their scalding April-May surge, ceding the division lead to the Houston Astros at the start of June with a brutal 4-13 stretch from May 24-June 11th featuring multiple losses to Houston and dismal sweeps. A crucial, prescient drubbing of the Detroit Tigers to close the first half set the club on better footing, and with increased health from their rotation the club took two of three from Houston to start the back half. Dropping the third game in an 11-3 drubbing was a disappointment, a presumed pitcher’s duel that got away from Hunter Brown and Bryan Woo but remained uncorralled by the M’s bullpen on July 20th, 2025.

Today’s 6-2 M’s victory ensures that that date will remain the most recent time Seattle lost to Houston until at least mid-May. It buries the Astros where the Mariners found themselves at the outset of this four game series: last place in all of MLB. It solidifies what Three Nights in Houston dared us to believe: the center of gravity in the American League West is rooted in the Pacific Northwest.

Houston got their best start of the series from young righty Mike Burrows, whose line belies a reasonable enough performance given his task. Hell or high water, which at least three Astros pitchers are on the injured list with I believe, Burrows would be working deep into this afternoon’s game to save a beleaguered bullpen further indignity. 11 hits, six runs, all but one of which came on beautiful, Canadian moonshots. This was a tactical retreat of a ballgame from the start by the injury-riddled Astros, and while that’s no source of joy, the wins count the same.

That’s especially true for three stars of tonight’s game, which will not account for three of the five Mariners to secure multiple hits on the afternoon. Brendan Donovan, Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodríguez each notched a pair of knocks, looked good doing it, and boded well for the Vedder Cup to come. Raleigh even gets an honorable mention for the most Lastros moment of the evening, an infield single where nobody decided to get him out. You can almost see the deflated spirit of this bedraggled, dying empire in this resigned miscommunication.

But they take standing positions on this train to the honored, seated standouts: Josh Naylor, George Kirby, and Luke Raley.

Raley’s day was lizard-brain simple. Hit ball, line drive. Hit ball, line drive. Hit ball, hmm, let me consider the panoply of optio-just kidding obviously it’s line drive. The absence of Raley in 2025 was muted by Randy Arozarena’s early fireworks and Dominic Canzone’s late emergence, but this has been an excellent baseball player when healthy, and right now he’s just that. That the game capped with two deep fly balls in the park’s most treacherous gap, where Raley came up just short of a Yordan Alvarez robbery over the weekend, was an added bonus.

For Kirby, things progressed as close to perfection as imaginable against a still-potent offense. The efficiency the 28 year old carved through Houston’s order with allowed him to work 7.2 frames, yielding two runs in one inning that might’ve been mitigated with a bolder backstop to challenge his two-strike breaking ball to Taylor Trammell, reversing what became a leadoff single into a strikeout. As it was, Kirby hounded and pounded Houston with sliders, forcing the aggressive offense into the ground on pitch after pitch. For a pitcher who still worked the upper half of the zone prominently, it was a third straight performance reminiscent of Logan Webb or prime Marcus Stroman more than the fly-ball dependent walk-avoider we – and the league – have come to expect.

The moment of the game for Kirby was, in many ways, one that went poorly. With two outs and a runner on in the 8th, manager Dan Wilson strolled to the mound, apparently to a call from J.P. Crawford to let Kirby remain in. After counseling Kirby, Wilson allowed Kirby, at 94 pitches, one more hitter. It sadly was a four-pitch walk to Alvarez, yielding to Matt Brash to tidy the mess with an Isaac Paredes lineout. The message was well-received postgame, however, with Kirby lamenting his poor command at the end but effusive in his praise and gratitude for the willingness of his manager to hear and adapt to the feedback from his players in the moment. Might it have been adjudicated differently without a four-run lead? Perhaps, but with the stakes slightly lower than the typical M’s-Stros matchup at that stage, the opportunity to give the bullpen extra rest in an off-day-free marathon was taken by Wilson, and unpunished by Houston.

Like his fellow sluggers in the heart of Seattle’s order, Josh Naylor was seeking results to match increasingly encouraging processes. Through the first two weeks of the year, he has made his usual rash of intriguing swing decisions, as well as scalding and just missing several big flies and big hits. With a soft single and a scorched double ahead of him by Cal and Julio, Naylor’s missed connection was found, with help from an added mechanical tweak:

Incredibly, upon his next plate appearance, Burrows offered him an encore, a belt-high heater with no buffs or damage reduction. This big day has been on the horizon for the pride of Mississauga, but Mariners and Astros should know better than anyone that chasing the horizon isn’t a surefire avenue to imminent success. Monday, it was enough to lift Seattle’s ships and send Houston scurrying deeper into the cellar, far from the light of the stars they once knew.

Fresh off a three-game sweep of the inter-league rival New York Mets, the A’s return home today for a division series matchup with the Texas Rangers. Not only are the two teams tied for the lead in the American League West, but they are tied for the second-best record in the American League, period!

Tonight, Luis Severino returns to the Sutter Health Park mound for the first time in 2026. He’s made three road starts and has a 0-1 record with a 5.40 ERA. He’s struck out seventeen batters in 13.1 innings. His challenges at home last season were well documented. In nearly an identical number of innings his splits were dramatic; a 3.02 away ERA compared to a 6.01 home ERA, and a 2-9 home record compared to a 6-2 road record. He’ll go up against 36-year-old righty Nathan Eovaldi for the Rangers. Eovaldi is 1-2 with a 7.98 ERA so far in this young season.

Eovaldi will face this lineup for the A’s in West Sac tonight:

Severino will match up against this batting order for the Rangers:

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA+

Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast

Texas Rangers @ Athletics

Monday, April 13, 2026, 8:40 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

Sutter Health Park

RHP Nathan Eovaldi vs. RHP Luis Severino

Go Rangers!