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After 569 days between outings in the major leagues, Gerrit Cole returned Friday night and looked a lot like vintage Cole. Well, with fewer strikeouts than usual. 

Still, Cole was excellent, throwing six shutout innings in his comeback from Tommy John surgery. He got close to 99 miles per hour on the radar gun and gave the Yankees and their fans every reason to believe their ace is indeed back and at least close to his full powers.

The Yankees’ other returning player -- José Caballero -- didn’t fare quite as well. Caballero was back at shortstop in place of Anthony Volpe, but made a key error in the eighth inning to help the Rays start a game-tilting four-run rally. Tampa Bay ended up with a 4-2 victory in front of 41,358 at Yankee Stadium.

The Yanks’ loss dropped them to 30-22 on the season and they are 5.5 games behind the first-place Rays (34-15) in the AL East. The Rays are 4-0 against the Yankees so far this year.

Here are the takeaways...

-Cole might not have been missing bats the way he has throughout his career – he only induced five swings-and-misses, according to Statcast – but he was economical all night. He only used four pitches to get three outs in the air in the fourth inning, meaning he had only thrown 42 pitches through that point. He finished throwing 72 pitches over six frames, 50 of them for strikes.

Cole, who missed the first 51 games of this season and all of 2025, made six rehab starts before joining the big-league roster. He had been set for a seventh, but the Yankees believed he had crossed enough thresholds that he belonged with them instead. Based on the way he pitched, they nailed it. The three walks were a bit uncharacteristic for Cole, but other pitchers have said command was one of the final things to come online at the end of Tommy John rehab, so perhaps that offers an explanation of sorts.

-In the ninth inning, the Yankees brought the tying run to the plate in the form of a struggling Aaron Judge, who came into the game 1-for-his-last–20 and 0-for-his-previous-11. With a runner on second base and two out, Judge put a charge in one, but it was caught on the warning track in center. Judge finished 0-for-4 with a walk. The Yanks had 11 hits, but could only muster two runs. They were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.

-In the eighth, Chandler Simpson hit a grounder leading off that Caballero botched for his fourth error of the season. Entering the game, some defensive metrics ranked Caballero as the best fielding shortstop in baseball. The Rays scored four runs in the inning – three earned – on an RBI double by Jonathan Aranda, a two-run single by Richie Palacios that was deflected by reliever Tim Hill and a sacrifice fly by Ryan Vilade. Reliever Camilo Doval got out of the mess with the help of a pickoff at second base – the Yankees’ second of the game.

-The Yankees got within 4-2 in their half of the eighth. Cody Bellinger hit a one-out double to right and scored on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s triple to right-center one out later. But they couldn’t tack on more – Caballero followed with a groundout to end the inning.

-As good as he was overall, Cole felt pressure quickly – Simpson hit the second pitch of the game for a single and then Cole walked Junior Caminero. But Cole escaped. He retired Aranda on a fly ball and then picked off Simpson at second base. Then he got his first strikeout, catching Yandy Díaz looking at a 97 mile-per-hour sinker. Earlier in the inning, Cole had hit 98.6 mph on the radar gun, his high mark of the night.

-There has been a lot of teeth-gnashing over the Yankees’ catching corps, with them not getting much offense from behind the plate. But Austin Wells showed why his skill set can be enticing when he led off the fifth inning. Wells, who entered the game with a .165 batting average and a meager .539 OPS, smacked the first pitch of the inning into the right-field stands for his fourth home run of the year. It was only his sixth RBI thus far, but it gave the Yanks a 1-0 lead.

-With one out and a man on first in the Rays’ fifth, Chisholm let a pop fly fall to the earth on purpose, a cagey play. Chisholm then scooped up the ball and fired to second for a force out, which removed the speedy Cedric Mullins from the basepaths in exchange for the catcher, Nick Fortes, who reached first via the fielder’s choice. Cole and the other Yankees pointed at Chisholm afterward to recognize him for the savvy play. After a walk, Cole retired Simpson on a groundout to end the inning.

-The Yanks had good chances in the first and third innings, but came up empty. Trent Grisham, who came into the night batting just .174, led off both frames with doubles. In the first, Judge followed with a walk, but Rays starter Nick Martinez retired the next three hitters. In the third inning, Ben Rice hit a one-out single and Grisham chugged for home, but was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Jonny DeLuca.

-The Rays threatened in the seventh inning when Mullins doubled with one out and a man on first against reliever Brent Headrick. That prompted another pitching change and Aaron Boone brought in Fernando Cruz to face Tampa’s 8-9 hitters. First, Cruz got Fortes to swing over a splitter for strike three and then he threw a fastball past Taylor Walls for strike three. Cruz bounded off the mound with a big fist pump in celebration.

Game MVP: Gerrit Cole

Cole, obviously. He allowed just two hits, both singles, and was only in serious trouble once. He struck out only two batters – Cole has averaged more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings in his career – and walked three. He threw three 1-2-3 innings. Only one ball hit into fair territory off Cole was clocked at more than 100 miles per hour off the bat, a lineout to right by Mullins.

Highlights

A great catch by Aaron Judge with Gerrit Cole on the mound 🥲 pic.twitter.com/yxHOTJCH6Z

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 22, 2026

Austin Wells with a solo shot! pic.twitter.com/iok1CUxurC

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 23, 2026

What's next

The Yankees continue their three-game series with the Rays.

Ryan Weathers (2-2, 3.58 ERA) will take the mound against Drew Rasmussen (4-1, 3.19 ERA). 

MIAMI — The Mets’ patchwork pitching plan worked out just fine Friday night, but a sputtering lineup couldn’t help the cause.

After scoring just two runs in Washington a day earlier and escaping with a victory, the Mets went backward.

Juan Soto homered in the first inning and silence followed for the Mets in a 2-1 loss to the Marlins.

The Mets, who had only four base-runners, wasted a solid pitching performance from Tobias Myers, Sean Manaea and Jonah Tong, who combined to limit the Marlins to five hits.

Tong was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse before the game, with Craig Kimbrel designated for assignment.

Soto had the Mets’ only two hits (he also singled in the fourth) until A.J. Ewing’s single in the eighth.

But Ewing was thrown out attempting to steal second for the final out.

In the ninth, Carson Benge drew a two-out walk from Pete Fairbanks before Bo Bichette was retired.

“We have been playing a good baseball the last couple of days,” Soto said. “I feel like we scored a good amount of runs in D.C., and before that we took care of business [at home]. We have been doing well. It was a tough day today and sometimes you have got to tip your cap to a guy who is throwing 100 [mph] and then his offspeed.”

Eury Pérez’s heat created much of the Mets’ angst, but the right-hander also entered the day with a 5.33 ERA.

He toyed with the Mets over 6 ¹/₃ innings before the Marlins’ bullpen finished strong, with five strikeouts over the final 2 ²/₃ frames.

“You take the positive, obviously it’s not what you want as far as the results,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But on a night we went in there trying to piece it together there was a lot of good things from the pitching staff. We just didn’t get anything other than a couple of at-bats from Soto, a couple of hard-hit balls from Benge. Other than that, we couldn’t put together anything against Perez.”

Soto’s fourth home run in as many games gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Soto’s 449-foot blast to right-center against Pérez continued a sizzling stretch for the All-Star outfielder, who began the day with a 1.357 OPS over his previous eight games.

Soto’s thunder included a two-homer game on Wednesday in Washington.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

Tobias Myers, as the opener, worked 1 ¹/₃ innings and allowed one earned run.

Esteury Ruiz doubled and stole third, before he scored on Owen Caissie’s ground out.

Myers served as an opener for a second time this season.

Caissie’s RBI single in the fourth against Manaea put the Mets in a 2-1 hole.

Manaea got two quick outs in the inning before Ruiz hit a slicing fly ball to right that bounced as Benge slid toward the foul line.

Ruiz raced to third base.

Nick Morabito’s diving catch in left helped prevent a run in the fifth.

Javier Sanoja doubled leading off the inning and stole third with two outs before Connor Norby hit a sinking line drive that Morabito snagged on a dive.

Jakob Marsee’s leaping catch near the top of the center-field fence deprived Benge of an extra-base hit for the Mets’ final out in the sixth.

Manaea gave the Mets 3 ²/₃ innings in relief and allowed one earned run on four hits with three strikeouts.

It was the lefty’s first appearance since last Sunday in the Subway Series, when he allowed two earned runs over four innings in relief.

Manaea has struggled for most of the season before showing glimpses of hope more recently.

“He’s just a different guy right now with the way he’s moving on the mound, with his delivery, the way the ball is coming out,” Mendoza said. “He’s attacking and it’s just good to see him get swings and misses with his fastball. When he’s at his best he does that, he can elevate it, the two-seamer going into righties, it makes all the other pitches more effective.”

Tong was also effective, with three hitless innings in which he struck out two and walked one.

“It was awesome to be out there with the boys again,” said Tong, who started five games for the Mets’ last season.

After back-to-back to back road trips to the West Coast, this series represents, in late May, the White Sox final games in the Pacific Time Zone. Tony Vitello and the San Francisco Giants look to give the South Siders their first series loss since April 26, while Munetaka Murakami and friends will look to not drop back-to-back games and series.

On the mound to protect the club’s quickly-building reputation as a threat in the league is this season’s ace, Davis Martin. The dominant righthander is coming off of a thrilling win at home against the Cubs where he went six innings, gave up one run, and struck out seven. His 10th start of the season could tie him with former White Sox great Chris Sale with seven wins to lead baseball.

Martin was recently name No. 10 on the MLB’s pitching power rankings, a standing that should be higher but nonetheless has been earned given his third-ranked 1.61 ERA. He ranks in the top 5% of MLB pitchers with a 4.7% walk percentage. He has only struck out 59 batters over his 56 innings of work, but of the 45 hits he has given up so far this season, only 38% have gone for extra bases. Martin’s quick work of batters is also allowing him to get further in games this year. In 2025, Martin had a total of nine quality starts to his name. Not even halfway through 2026, only two of his nine starts haven’t been quality.

Opposing Martin is 25-year-old Trevor McDonald. The 18th-ranked Giants prospect was called up back on May 4. On May 5 he was sent back to Triple-A, but before he could get too comfortable. he was called right back to San Francisco before his next start. The rookie righty has been given three games so far. In them, he is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA. His 19 innings of work have resulted in 17 strikeouts, three walks, and two home runs. The White Sox are likely to see a good mix of 94 mph sinkers and 87 mph sliders.

Here’s how the Giants line up behind McDonald:

As for the White Sox, after this graphic was posted it was announced that Jarred Kelenic was scratched due to a back contusion. Derek Hill will replace him in right field. The bottom of the lineup will now have Edgar Quero batting seventh, Tristan Peters batting eighth, and Hill batting ninth.

It is a late one tonight. First pitch will be thrown at 9:15 PM CDT. If you are staying up past your bedtime with us, you can catch the game on CHSN or listen on ESPN 1000.

The Mets’ offense once again could not get anything going in their 2-1 loss to the Marlins. With this loss they now drop below Miami in the standings to become cellar dwellars once again in National League East.

Marlins starter Eury Pérez had been struggling heading into this game so of course he gave up just one run and pitched into the seventh inning against this pitiful offense. Juan Soto was the only Met batter to get to Pérez when he turned on a 100mph fastball and deposited it 449 feet away into the centerfield stands. The rest of the offense did not put up much of a fight except Carson Benge who had two great plays made against him in the outfield.

Tobias Myers got the start for the Mets but the team ultimately went with a bullpen game with all long men. None of the three pitched poorly but extra base hits combined with pesky Marlins baserunning ultimately doomed them. First it was Myers who departed in the second inning after he gave up a double with one out. A stolen base and a groundout later against Sean Manaea and the game was tied at one apiece.

Manaea for his part looked much better on the mound until he gave up a triple with two outs in the fourth. He couldn’t work out of it when he gave up a hit to Owen Cassie and Miami took a 2-1 lead.

The newly recalled Jonah Tong came in after Manaea and pitched well. He didn’t allow any hits in three innings and struck out two. It certainly was an encouraging appearance for the youngster who was having a bit of an uneven year in Triple-A.

While a bullpen game isn’t ideal, this loss is squarely on the shoulders of the offense who managed just two runs in the finale against Washington and now only scored one in the opener against the Marlins. They still have an opportunity to come out ahead in Miami, but this wasn’t an ideal way to start a series against a team ahead of you in the standings.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Jonah Tong, +13% WPA
Big Mets loser: Nick Morabito, -20% WPA
Mets pitchers: +15% WPA
Mets hitters: -65% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto home run in first, +10 WPA added
Teh sux0rest play: Owen Cassie RBI single in fourth, -11.4% WPA

In what would only be described by your dad or your grand-pappy as “A good old fashion pitchers’ duel”, runs were at a premium in Philadelphia tonight. Both Gavin Williams and Chistopher Sanchez were lights out all night long. 

As the game went on, it felt like each pitcher was just trying to outdo the other, inning after inning. There was little drama to speak of. Bryce Harper would hit a two out double in the 1st, but The Big Rig would strike out the next hitter Alec Bohm. The Guardians would follow in the top of the 2nd inning with a leadoff single by David Fry, but Sanchez would go on to retire the next three hitters in order. Adolis Garcia would reach base on a fielding error by José Ramírez on a softly hit grounder, but Williams would not be phased, as he retired the next 2 hitters on just 2 pitches!

Both pitchers would toss a 1-2-3 3rd inning, and back and forth it went. Neither pitcher would allow more than 1 baserunner at any point in the game. The Phillies were able to get a 1 out single from Brandon Marsh, but after a few attempts to steal second (with Garcia up to bat) that were foiled by foul balls, on a 3-2 pitch The Big Rig would finally get the swing and miss he needed. Marsh would be thrown out with the combination of a great throw and an even better catch and tag by Austin Hedges and Travis Bazzana.

Both teams would also get a 1 out baserunner in the 8th, but both pitchers would again get out of the jam with relative ease. Sanchez, with two soft outs from Petey Halpin and Angel Martínez, and Gavin Williams, with a 4-6-3 double play ball off the bat of Justin Crawford. The final line for each pitcher was 8 IP 4H 2BB 6Ks for Sanchez, and 8IP 4H 0BB 11Ks for The Big Rig.

After that, it was closer time for both teams. The Phillies brought in a familiar face in Jhoan Duran to try for a scoreless 9th. He would be greeted by an old friend in José Ramírez, who lined a 2-1 splitter down the right field line. In typical José fashion, he was looking for two, but the former Gold Glove Right Fielder Garcia cut the ball off before it could get into the corner, and fired a bullet to second to get José out at 2nd base. On a night where offense felt like it was at a premium, it was hard to feel hopeful after that gut punch from the Phillies, but then out of the dugout to pinch hit for Rhys Hoskins came Kyle Manzardo. He drilled the first pitch he saw from Duran the opposite way to Left Field over the wall to give the Guards a 1-0 lead.

There would be no more for the Guards in the 9th, however, and the fate of the game would now lie with our own closer, Cade Smith.

It would be no easy task, as Smith would have to face the top of the Phillies lineup in the bottom half of the inning – Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper – or so you would think. On the first pitch of the 9th, Turnerhit a weak popout to Rocchio, and after working a full count, Smith blew a 98 MPH fastball right by Schwarber. That was the only Fastball he saw in that at bat as well. All hope for the Phillies would lie with Bryce Harper, but he somewhat poetically would weakly top a ground ball to the (just into the game) first baseman Kyle Manzardo, who fielded it and easily jogged to first to record the final out of the game. In all, it would take Smith just 8 pitches to hurl a scoreless 1-2-3 9th inning and secure for the Guards their 7th consecutive win!

The Guards will look to take the series tomorrow afternoon at 4:05pm. It’ll be Slade Cecconi on the mound for Cleveland, up against Zach Wheeler for the Phillies.

The San Francisco Giants welcome the Chicago White Sox to Oracle Park tonight to begin a three-game series.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Trevor McDonald, who enters tonight’s game with a 2.37 ERA, 3.47 FIP, with 17 strikeouts to three walks in 19 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 6-4 win over the Athletics last Saturday, in which he allowed one run on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk in six and two thirds innings.

He’ll be facing off against White Sox right-hander Davis Martin, who enters tonight’s game with a 1.61 ERA, 2.39 FIP, with 59 strikeouts to 10 walks in 56 innings pitched. His last start was in the White Sox’ 8-3 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, in which he allowed one run on five hits with seven strikeouts in six innings.

Game #51

Who: San Francisco Giants (20-30) – Chicago White Sox (25-24)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 7:15 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

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

The St. Louis Cardinals were clear that this season would be a constant desire to compete, but the priorities would be player development and the future. The only thing that is clear right now about Victor Scott II’s development is that what he’s doing to make adjustments is not working against Major League pitching. Is it time to utilize one of his minor league options or is there wisdom to continue on the road the Cardinals are on with him staying in the lineup? The numbers don’t seem to favor the latter.

It was almost exactly one month ago when our own Jake Wood did an excellent deep dive into Victor Scott II and what he did during the offseason to adjust his swing and approach. I won’t rehash all that Jake shared, but I highly recommend you check it out if you haven’t already. The Cliff Notes version is Victor spent the offseason with a biomechanical specialist at his alma mater of West Virginia trying to improve swing efficiency. As Jake mentioned then, the early Statcast numbers didn’t reveal any great improvement other than an effort to direct the all up the middle to allow himself the opportunity to beat out more infield hits. He also moved back in the batter’s box to support that approach.

One month later, where is Victor Scott II now?

As of today, Victor Scott II has 138 plate appearances and he’s below the Mendoza line with an average of just .185. He’s making very little solid contact with a barrel rate of only 1.1 and a hard hit rate of just 27.7 according to Baseball Savant. Most of his offensive metrics are in the bottom 13th percentile with the exception of his whiff rate of just 22.9. I was surprised to see that Victor’s defensive numbers have regressed with only a 2 outs above average compared to his stellar 17 OAA last season.

Why won’t the Cardinals use one of Victor Scott II’s remaining minor league options?

The question is who would take Victor Scott II’s place on the major league roster if he gets another stint in the minors. The Cardinals just placed Nathan Church on the injured list which resulted in the callup of Bryan Torres. Torres would have been one of the likely candidates for Scott II’s roster spot if he were sent down. I have to wonder if St. Louis might be approaching the time when this would make sense for everyone involved since I’ve seen estimates that Lars Nootbaar will be ready to return to the Cardinals lineup around the start of June. Victor still has 2 minor league options remaining and the end of May/beginning of June timeframe might be the time to utilize it once Lars is ready for prime time again.

I love having players like Victor Scott II on the major league roster. His speed off of the bench and his ability to be a late inning defensive replacement are valuable. However, I would much rather he be allowed more development time out of the major league spotlight if he can manage to overcome the offensive struggles to become a complete player. I’ve seen Oli Marmol and the other Cardinals coaches talk about how hard Victor is working pre and post-game and I don’t doubt that effort, but I think the reappearance soon of Lars Nootbaar gives the St. Louis Cardinals the opportunity they need to allow VSII to see if he can ascend into the kind of all-around player they need him to be for the long term.

The Mets' offense couldn't get anything going and New York lost to the Miami Marlins, 2-1, on Friday night.

Here are the takeaways...

-- It looked like the Mets might get to feast against struggling Marlins starter Eury Perez after Juan Soto blasted a tank of a solo shot in the first inning that gave New York a 1-0 lead. The home run, which traveled 449 feet, landed in the second deck and was Soto’s longest career homer.

-- Also in the first, Carson Benge led off the game with a deep fly ball to center field that Jakob Marsee made a splendid running catch at the wall. While the play was impressive, Mets hitters appeared to be on Perez early.

-- But after Soto’s home run, Perez retired the next eight hitters in a row before Soto stayed hot with a single. Soto has had a terrific road trip with eight hits, four home runs, five RBI, six runs scored and a stolen base. He’s also hit safely in nine of the last 11 games and has had multiple hits in seven of those games.

-- Unfortunately for the Mets, Soto was the only player to show up in Miami as the rest of the offense went hitless against Perez, who settled in after the dicey first and looked incredible in his 6.1 innings of work.

-- Perez left with a lead after the Marlins scored once in the second and once in the fourth. The first run was charged to Tobias Myers, who got the start and lasted 1.1 innings, leaving the game after giving up a double to Esteury Ruiz.

-- Sean Manaea was the bulk reliever and the first one out of the bullpen and was unable to strand the runner in scoring position, giving up the tying run on a groundout after Ruiz stole third base. The left-hander looked better than he has in recent outings in his 3.2 innings of work. He struck out three while reaching 94 mph on his fastball, which the Mets have not seen this year.

Still, he allowed the go-ahead run in the fourth after Ruiz reached third base on a two-out triple down the right field line that Benge just barely missed before Owen Caisse singled Ruiz home.

-- The only other hit New York had aside from Soto was A.J. Ewing, who singled with two outs in the eighth inning. Trying to make something happen, the speedster immediately took off for second base, but he was gunned down on a perfect throw by catcher Joe Mack to end the inning.

-- Perhaps the biggest star for the Mets was Jonah Tong, who, in his season debut, came in after Manaea and looked dominant, facing the minimum over three innings and striking out two on just 28 pitches.

-- Benge made a bid to tie the game in the sixth with another shot to center, but there was Marsee once again making a tremendous catch high up the wall for the out. Benge finished 0-for-3 with a walk and had 801 feet worth of flyouts.

Game MVP: Jonah Tong

The right-hander looked unhittable in his season debut, which could be great news for the Mets and their patchwork starting rotation.

Highlights

A SOTO SHOT!

Juan Soto's 10th homer of the year! pic.twitter.com/0Etdg0VfwS

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 22, 2026

Nick Morabito makes the diving catch to keep the Marlins off the board in the 5th pic.twitter.com/kM06bou4b9

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 23, 2026

What's next

The Mets continue their three-game series with the Marlins on Saturday, with first pitch set for 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Freddy Peralta (3-3, 3.31 ERA) goes for New York and will be opposed by RHP Max Meyer (4-0, 2.85 ERA).

The weekend Memorial Day series is going to be filled with weather issues. It’s projected to rain all day tomorrow, which could force a doubleheader for Sunday before they play a day game in San Diego on Monday. They did not get batting practice in today because of rain and showers filled through as Cristopher Sánchez and Gavin Williams dueled for eight scoreless innings each.

So even if the Phillies lost this game, there is some good news for it going quick.

Sánchez entered tonight’s game with a 29.2 inning scoreless streak that began back in April against the Giants. Even if he threw eight shutout innings against a surprisingly competent Guardians offense, it didn’t always look like his A stuff.

He was cutting his changeup often early in the game but it didn’t matter. Angel Martínez and Rhys Hoskins couldn’t stop biting on it in the first.

David Fry took a hanging changeup into left field for one of his two hits off Sánchez for the night but the next three batters couldn’t do anything.

Skipping to the 5th, Brayan Rocchio took a single to left field for a knock but it led to nothing again. This time, it was JT Realmuto who fired a dart to keep the Guardians out of scoring position. They did not have a runner on second or third base for a single pitch of this game.

The seventh inning was the Guardians best chance of ending Sánchez’s streak. Rhys Hoskins crushed a sinker at 99.9 mph off the bat but it died into Justin Crawford’s hands. David Fry hit a 106.2 mph line drive over Bryson Stott’s head and after a Bazzana strikeout, Sánchez fell 3-0 to Rocchio.

Rocchio got the green light to swing 3-0, got a good pitch to crush, but the ball died at the warning track in Crawford’s hands.

Sánchez would fire a scoreless eighth inning to put his streak at 37.2 innings for second most in Phillies history. It’s incredible.

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams more than matched Sánchez pitch-for-pitch with 11 strikeouts, 17 whiffs, four hits allowed, and no walks. The command and feel for his sweeper and curveball tonight were elite and the Phillies didn’t stand a chance.

Bryce Harper smacked a two out double past a diving Rhys Hoskins into right field but Alec Bohm struck out to end the threat. Adolis García reached first base on a José Ramírez error but nothing could follow.

The single worst at bat of the entire night might’ve been in the fifth inning by García. He has not been able to find any sort of offensive stroke for two weeks. He entered tonight just 1 for his last 32 with 17 strikeouts in his last ten games. He chased three different Williams sweepers that weren’t particularly close and went back to the dugout.

They tried to start something right after with Bryson Stott slapping a single and stealing second base. However, the bottom of the order couldn’t get the job done and the game stayed scoreless.

Moving forward to the bottom of the seventh, there could’ve been a spark. Brandon Marsh took a curveball to right field for a one-out single and was looking to run. García worked a seven pitch at bat, laying off a few down and away sweepers but wasn’t ready for the high fastball and Marsh was caught stealing.

Jhoan Duran entered the ninth inning with a game still searching for it’s first run of the night. As both starters threw body shots and uppercuts at the opposing lineups for eight innings, it was time for both teams’ top-tier closers to send the game into extra innings.

José Ramírez was ready for a splinker and sent one down the right field line for what should’ve been a leadoff double. Adolis García had other plans, throwing an absolute strike to second base to nail JRam by multiple feet.

It seemed like the game would remain scoreless forever… well for only a few extra minutes.

Stephen Vogt went to his bench and called on Kyle Manzardo to hit for Rhys Hoskins with the right handed Duran on the mound. He looked for a splinker up in the zone, got it, and sent it into the left field seats to finally break the tie.

Cade Smith, one of the game’s underrated closers, entered to shut down the top of the Phillies lineup. Trea Turner popped up a first pitch sweeper to shortstop. Kyle Schwarber saw a steady diet of splitters and sweepers to work a full count but was not ready for the one fastball he was going to get and walked back to the dugout. Bryce Harper ended it quickly by chasing a first-pitch sweeper to Manzardo to end the inning.

The Phillies are once again below .500, with the offense being shutout by the Guardians. As things were heading in the right direction to begin the Don Mattingly tenure, the club has now lost three in a row.

Gerrit Cole's long-awaited return fell short of spectacular, but was the solid shot in the arm the New York Yankees badly needed.

Pitching for the first time since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, Cole pitched six shutout innings against the first place Tampa Bay Rays Friday, May 22 at Yankee Stadium.

Cole missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, his right elbow finally giving way during spring training. He underwent a steady and successful rehab since, and rejoined the Yankees after they jumped out to a 30-21 start − but still 4½ games behind the Rays.

Amid that backdrop, he took the Yankee Stadium mound and delivered efficiency, giving up just two hits in six innings, but walking three and striking out just two. Yet he finished striking, fanning Jonathan Aranda looking on a full-count 96-mph fastball.

Thanks to an Austin Wells home run, Cole left with a 1-0 lead.

Cole, who won the 2023 AL Cy Young Award, is in the seventh year of a nine-year, $324 million contract.

Yankees bullpen blows lead

Alas, the Yankees bullpen could only preserve the advantage provided by Wells and Cole for one inning. Shortstop José Caballero committed an error on a grounder by leadoff batter Chandler Simpson, and after a Junior Caminero single, Jonathan Aranda followed with a game-tying double off lefty Tim Hill.

Richie Palacios then followed an intentional walk with a go-ahead two-run single, producing a 3-1 lead and chasing Hill.

We did previously highlight how well the D-backs’ bullpen is pitching this month. While their ERA has crept up a little from the sub-two figure, it’s still a thoroughly respectable 2.08. That’s fourth-best in the majors, and they are also the only bullpen to have a WHIP below one. Over 47.2 innings, they have allowed only thirty hits (that’s a minuscule .181 average against) and fifteen walks, for 0.944 WHIP in May. However, a league-low BABIP of just .227 is clearly a factor there. They also haven’t allowed a home-run this month: the last reliever to do so was Brandon Pfaadt on April 30th. Let’s hope I’m not tempting fate by mentioning this. It’s why their xFIP – FIP with a normal home-run rate – is a much less impressive 4.30.

But it’s worth nothing that the rotation have been getting on board the performance train of late. As noted the other day, they have been working hard, having thrown 119 innings across nineteen starts. That’s an average of 6.26 IP per start. The next-highest figure for May is the Phillies, down at 5.84 IP/GS. At the other end? The Tigers, barely at four. They have one win in nineteen efforts this year. But it’s not just length, it’s quality length. A 3.18 ERA by the rotation this month is fourth-best, and certainly deserving of more than the eight wins, also in nineteen starts.

It’s when we combine the two that we get the really startling number. Because it’s not often that the D-backs have had both the rotation and bullpen firing on all cylinders. Combined, through 19 games in May, Arizona has an ERA of just 2.86. It has been almost twenty-four years since the Diamondbacks have posted a figure that low over the course of a calendar month. You need to go back to August 2002 to find a lower figure of 2.63. [Kinda fun to look at the contributors – not just the obvious!] There hasn’t even been an ERA for a month under 3.20 since August of 2018. Hopefully that can continue tonight against the cellar-dwelling Rockies.

Prior to Friday’s game, Aaron Boone made it clear what it meant to the Yankees to have Gerrit Cole back on the mound: “We’re excited to get our ace back.”

Cole returned against the Rays in The Bronx, having last pitched in a major league game in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.

And he looked every bit as good as the Yankees remembered after missing a year-plus following March 2025 Tommy John surgery.

The 35-year-old pitched six shutout innings, allowed two hits and three walks.

He struck out just two and was removed after just 72 pitches- with lefty Brett Headrick taking over to start the seventh.

It was exactly what the Yankees wanted to see from Cole.

He started off with a 96-mph four-seam fastball to Chandler Simpson before the speedster poked a single over shortstop to lead off the game.

A walk to Junior Caminero put the Yankees and Cole in a dangerous spot, but Cole got Simpson leaning off second and got him caught in a rundown for the second out before the right-hander struck out Yandy Diaz looking to end the inning.

The right-hander, who was initially expected to make one more minor league rehab start before his return to the Yankees rotation, was certainly major-league ready.

After allowing a leadoff walk in the second, Cole retired the next 10 batters he faced before Cedric Mullins’ one-out single in the fifth.

And he threw hard throughout the outing, consistently hitting 96-plus and topping out at 98.6 mph before Boone went to the bullpen with the Yankees leading, 1-0.