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As Roki Sasaki and Trevor McDonald took different paths to deliver extremely similar results—Sasaki navigating through far less traffic than McDonald—it was up to the bullpens to decide this game, and the Giants’ one proved superior on the evening, securing a 9-3 win to open up this four-game set at Dodger Stadium.

Hanging splitters and a lack of swing-and-miss action on the fastball proved costly for Sasaki. As disappointing as Sasaki might be with the loss, a second straight start allowing just three runs and pitching into the sixth at least shouldn’t be dismissed—it represents growth from where he was a couple of weeks ago. At the same time, a bitter taste is to be expected when you cough up the lead as you exit, seeing the Giants score two of their three runs against him in the sixth, an inning in which he failed to record an out.

The Giants scored a run against Sasaki in the second and sixth. In both times, Rafael Devers provided key hits, first by waiting on six straight fastballs to hit a hanging splitter over the right-field wall—later on, Devers went well outside of the zone to dump an 0-1 fastball into left field, advancing to second as the Dodgers tried to nab the baserunner at third. With two in scoring position, the subsequent single from Helliot Ramos handed the Giants a 3-2 lead. When Sasaki left the game, he was responsible for a runner at second with no outs, but Blake Treinen carried on the recent success of this somewhat depleted bullpen by keeping the score at 3-2.

It was a short-lived lead for the Giants as the Dodgers answered back in the bottom of the sixth with a home run from Max Muncy, his eleventh of the season, and one that puts him three behind Eric Karros in the all-time leaderboard for Dodger Stadium long balls at 127.

Much like Devers had been at the forefront of the damage against Sasaki, Muncy filled a similar role against McDonald. The first RBI from the Dodgers in this game came from a Muncy bases-loaded single in the fourth. Sadly, they only tacked one more in that frame, leaving the Giants ample room to take control of this game not long after.

That Muncy home run in the sixth came as he picked up on a clear trend from Trevor McDonald, who, for the most part, managed to smoke and mirrors his way through an effective outing, loading up on sinkers early on and gradually moving to more off-speed stuff in the second and third time through the orders. Keeping the Dodgers a disappointing 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position, McDonald managed to pitch five-plus frames, allowing just three runs, matching Sasaki’s numbers, and leaving the decision to the bullpen.

After each bullpen took care of their inherited runner from the starter, the Giants drew first blood. Alex Vesia’s fastball-heavy approach in the seventh didn’t work, walking in the go-ahead 4-3 run with a free pass to Devers (him again) on a 3-2 heater too high for even him to chase. Will Klein threatened to get out of it with just that run as he struck out the first hitter he faced, but Willy Adames dumped a hanging sweeper in the outfield for a two-run single, making this a 6-3 affair. And near the end, any hope that the Dodgers might’ve had of making this a close one was silenced as the Giants added three more in the ninth against Wyatt Mills.

It won’t get the same attention it otherwise would have had the result favored the Dodgers, but if you’re looking for silver linings, Teoscar Hernández’s performance on both sides of the ball provides one. Moving down in the order due to his hitting struggles, Hernández reached base thrice with a pair of hits and a walk and made two nice defensive plays.

On top of this great catch for the first out of this game, Hernández smothered a sinking liner from Casey Schmitt in the seventh that loaded the bases in front of Devers. Ultimately, all three base runners came around to score, but he gave Vesia and Klein a fighting chance in that frame. On the flip side, Shohei Ohtani’s struggles with the bat continue, finishing the game 0 for 5 with a pair of strikeouts. Mookie Betts recorded a hit in five at-bats in his first game back from the injured list.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Rafael Devers (5) and Max Muncy (11)
• WP— Matt Cage (3-1): 1.2 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout
• LP— Alex Vesia (1-1): 0.1 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Up next

Look around this week, and you will struggle to find such a lopsided pitching matchup as the one taking place at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start opposite Adrian Houser, who enters the game with a 0-4 record and an ERA over 6.00. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. (PT).

The Mets are desperate, obviously. They had to try something, anything to give angry fans a reason to cling to any sort of hope at Citi Field as a six-game homestand opens Tuesday night. Or, in truth, a reason not to boo from the jump.

So here come A.J. Ewing, and under ordinary circumstances David Stearns wouldn’t be calling up a 21-year old kid with all of 12 games at Triple-A under his belt. But under these circumstances it’s the right move to make, and not just because Stearns knows that fans want to run him out of town.

That is, it’s right because Ewing might just have the game to make it pay dividends.

At least that’s the opinion of scouts I’ve spoken to, before and after Monday night’s decision, via sources, to call up Ewing.

“If you’re looking for a spark, like they are, he’s got the game to bring energy,” one scout told me Monday night. “He’s got great speed. He’ll steal a base, he’ll make a diving play. He gets really good jumps in the outfield -- he’s a natural in center field.

“Whether he’ll hit major league pitching right away, that’s always the toughest thing to project. But he’s got the tools for it. His swing is short and quick to the ball, and he has a knack for fouling off pitches to keep at-bats alive until he gets a pitch he can handle. He adapted quickly to Triple-A pitching, so I wouldn’t bet against him.”

As the Mets’ fourth-round pick out of high school in Ohio in the 2023 MLB Draft, the left-handed-hitting Ewing has exceeded projections as he has excelled offensively and moved up quickly in the minors.

Last season Ewing moved up two levels as he put up numbers, finishing the season in Double A, where he hit .339 in 28 games. He began this year in Double A and was hitting .349 with a 1.051 OPS after 18 games, forcing his way to Triple-A as he began to show power in addition to his contact skills.

He was hitting everything his first week in Triple-A, and though he cooled recently, he was still hitting .326 with a .392 on-base percentage at the time of his call-up, with five stolen bases -- and never caught stealing.

In short, he profiles as an obvious leadoff hitter, and you’d have to think he’ll be in that spot on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers, which would allow Carlos Mendoza to slide Juan Soto back to the No. 2 or 3 spot, especially considering Soto has been slumping since being moved to leadoff himself.

“He’s got leadoff skills,” a second scout said of Ewing. “He gets into deep counts because he fouls off tough pitches and doesn’t chase a lot, but he’ll see a different caliber of pitching now, and that’s always the X factor, especially for someone making the jump so quickly.

“He could use more at-bats in Triple-A, where you usually see more spin, better command than you do in Double-A. So it’s not ideal, rushing him to the big leagues, but I understand why they’re doing it. He’s got a good approach, and he’s short and quick to the ball, which gives him an advantage over a lot of guys as far as having immediate success.”

Indeed, Ewing has made an impression with his ability to adapt at every level of the minors and continue to improve his offensive game.

For example, he recently made a huge jump in Baseball America’s ranking of prospects throughout the minors. He moved from No. 83 to the No. 37 overall prospect, based on the way he was tearing it up early this season.

After what Ewing did last season, the Mets were convinced he was keeper. Still, they weren’t thinking he’d be at Citi Field this soon, considering they made the gamble to trade for injury-prone Luis Robert, who is currently on the IL -- surprise, surprise.

In any case, I got a sense of just how high the Mets were on Ewing during spring training. I happened to be talking with a Mets’ person in the seats behind home plate when Ewing came to bat late in the first game of the Grapefruit League season. 

The bases were loaded with one out the time and Ewing worked a long at-bat, fouling off a few pitches before hitting a fly ball to center field, deep enough to score a run with a sacrifice fly.

“I love that at-bat,” the Mets’ person said. “He’s up there grinding, just trying to put the ball in play to get the run in, like he’s in a pennant race. He plays the game that way. He’s going to be our center fielder at some point.”

The person who was speaking certainly didn’t expect it to be just a few months later, in mid-May. Nobody did. Ewing is getting a chance only because Stearns couldn’t stand by and watch the season crumble without trying something.

And logic says it’s too soon. Yet Ewing’s fast rise through the minors, with success at every level, says maybe it’s not.

BALTIMORE — Gerrit Cole still needs at least one or two more rehab starts before he might be ready to rejoin the Yankees.

But before Ryan Weathers made a case for keeping his rotation spot once Cole returns, potentially by the end of this month, Aaron Boone watched his ace’s latest rehab start Monday morning and came away impressed.

Cole built up to 77 pitches across five innings with Double-A Somerset on Sunday night while striking out eight.

“Really good,” Boone said before a 3-2 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards. “Ripped his last heater 99 [mph] for another punch. I thought [Sunday] — working on things every time prior, and not that he wasn’t [Sunday], but I think it was a little more of a competitive Gerrit trying to get outs. I thought he threw the ball really well. Stuff was really good. Another good step for him.”

Across five rehab starts so far, Cole has shown strong command — which is often the last thing to come back for pitchers returning from Tommy John — walking only two batters while striking out 22.

“I think that’s in a pretty good place,” Boone said. “I think he probably stuff-wise ramped it up maybe even another notch [Sunday]. Hopefully now as he continues to build his pitch count, he can continue to do that through his next couple.”

Once Cole finishes off his comeback from Tommy John surgery, the Yankees could have a tough decision on their hands for how to open a rotation spot, with both Weathers and Will Warren pitching well.

Weathers took his latest shot Monday, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up two runs in 6 1/3 innings while lowering his ERA to 3.00.

“Just felt like I was competing in the strike zone really well, still had a few walks [three] which I wish I could take back,” Weathers said.

Two weeks after an MRI revealed his low-grade right calf strain, Giancarlo Stanton returned for imaging Monday to see how much healing has occurred and whether he might be cleared to start running.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

The veteran DH has been limited to hitting since suffering the injury April 24 against the Astros, not able to do much in the way of jogging or running outside. But pending the results of Monday’s MRI, Stanton could begin taking the next steps in his road back to the active roster.

“Hopefully start ramping up running this week, based on that,” Boone said. “But we’ll see.”

In the meantime, Spencer Jones started a fourth straight game Monday — the second time at DH — since being called up to replace the injured Jasson Domínguez (AC joint sprain), who essentially replaced Stanton.

Jones went 0-for-2 with a strikeout before being pinch hit for by Paul Goldschmidt against a lefty reliever in the seventh inning.

Ben Rice had gone 0-for-13 over the weekend in Milwaukee, his first three games back from missing four games with a left hand contusion. But he snapped back into rhythm Monday, going 2-for-4, including his 13th home run of the year. … Nine of the Yankees’ 16 losses this season have been decided by one run.

It’s another week here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us for a while. We’re always open for a friendly face. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. We still have a few tables available. There’s a two-drink minimum, but it’s bring your own beverage.

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

Last week I asked you if you would like the Cubs to trade for an injured Tarik Skubal on the hope that he would be healthy and his old dominant self by the playoffs. That idea seemed too risky for you, as 88 percent of you would rather the Cubs look elsewhere for starting pitching help. Presumably someone who was healthy at the time the deal was made.

Here’s the part where we listen to jazz and talk movies. You’re free to skip ahead if you want.

Tonight we’re featuring one of those fun Postmodern Jukebox videos. Postmodern Jukebox is the creation of pianist Scott Bradlee and here he’s joined by Gunhild Carling on vocals and trumpet and Aaron McLendon on drums.

This is ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” performed as a 1920s hot jazz number.

Dillinger was the surprise hit film of 1945 from Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures. Directed by German exile Max Nosseck and starring a then-unknown Lawrence Tierney, Dillinger is a throwback to the gangster films of a decade earlier. The film received a Oscar-nomination for Best Screenplay for screenwriter Philip Yordan, but the script is nowhere near the best part of the film. Instead, Tierney’s cold and psychopathic portrayal of John Dillinger is what makes the film.

Monogram Pictures was one of the many, and arguably the most-successful, of the many small independent movie studios outside of the major or “Big Five” studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood. These studios specialized in churning out cheap films, often with lurid subject matter, that could turn a small profit even if they weren’t big hits. Dillinger broke out of that B-movie ghetto and became a huge hit in 1945, which led to more films from Monogram and producers the King Brothers that dealt with sensationalist themes. Its success also led to the Hays Code banning films made about real-life criminals for fear that they glamourized them.

The King Brothers never had any money to pay actors, but in this case, they wanted an unknown face, believing that the public wouldn’t accept a well-known actor as the infamous John Dillinger. They landed on Lawrence Tierney, who had only a few small credits to his name when he got the part. Tierney had spent more time in the Los Angeles County jail for fighting and being drunk and disorderly than he’d spent on-screen. But it was an inspired choice. I’m not sure what Tierney does on screen is acting so much as it is inhabiting the screen with a glowering presence. His Dillinger is a cold-blooded killer who shows no emotion when he decides to shoot one of his fellow outlaws or carve up a waiter who disrespected him years earlier with a broken beer mug. Ironically, it’s the lack of on-screen emotion that makes Tierney’s Dillinger so scary.

Tierney would go on to have a long career playing violent tough guys in crime pictures. Most of you probably remember him from his later work, which includes Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino was unsurprisingly a fan) and guest appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

The plot of Dillinger very loosely follows the career of the title gangster. He does crimes, gets arrested, breaks out, does more crimes again. He has a girlfriend Helen Rogers (Anne Jeffreys) who will become the infamous “woman in red” who betrays him. There’s a gang, and Dillinger’s relationship with the older Specs (Edmund Lowe) is a major theme of the film. Specs goes from a cellmate to a mentor to someone whom Dillinger battles for control of the gang once they get out. The always great Elisha Cook Jr. also plays one of the members of Dillinger’s gang.

Because Dillinger is about crime and came out in the heart of the noir period, some people claim that the film qualifies as a noir. But while there are some noir elements, it’s really a throwback to the gangster films of the 1930s. A man goes down a wicked path of crime and ends up paying the ultimate price is the story of The Public Enemy, Scarface, and Little Caesar. It’s a stretch to call Jeffrey’s Helen a femme fatale, even if she ends up betraying him. He pulls her into a life of crime rather than the other way around, for example. Most of the noir elements are just the way the film was shot with some of the trademark shadows and Dutch angles, but those were popular in a lot of films of the forties.

Another way that Dillinger reflects the gangster film tradition is that, in a cost-cutting move, they just re-use action scenes earlier crime pictures of the era, in particular director Fritz Lang’s 1937 film You Only Live Once. So there’s literally a different gangster film inside of this one.

Dillinger is a great example of how a low-budget film can turn a lack of money into an asset. The 70-minute runtime means that the plot has to be simple, tight and fast-moving. (That also meant that theaters could get in more showings of the film every night, bringing in even more money.) The lack of money for a big-name actor made them turn to Tierney, who is biggest reason to watch the film. Even the crime scenes that were reused from Lang were undoubtedly better than anything Nosseck could have shot.

Dillinger isn’t a great film. It’s Oscar-nomination aside, the script is more good rather than great. (Although looking at the other nominees, it’s a surprise it didn’t win.) But it’s certainly worth 70 minutes of your time just to see Tierney’s terrifying performance as John Dillinger.

Here’s the trailer for Dillinger.

Dillinger is on HBO Max, Watch TCM and there are free copies floating all over the internet as well. I believe it’s in the public domain.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

Last year, the Cubs built a pretty good bullpen out of castoffs. Two big pieces were Brad Keller, whom the Cubs signed on a minor league deal, and Drew Pomeranz, whom the Cubs acquired from the Mariners after he opted out of his minor league deal with the Mariners.

Both of those players went and signed free agent contracts elsewhere. This year, the potential “scrap heap to scrap iron” reliever just might be southpaw Ryan Rolison. Rolison was a first-round pick of the Rockies out of Ole Miss in 2018, which has got to be a good news/bad news thing for a college pitcher. The good news is that you’re a first-round pick. The bad news is that they’re expecting you to pitch for the Rockies.

Rolison was a top-five prospect for Colorado, as you might expect from a first-round pick. Scouts weren’t enamored with his pure stuff which graded out as more average, but he got good grades for plus command and “pitchability,” or the ability to mix up his stuff to keep hitters off balance.

But Rolison battled injuries during his time with the Rockies, which included two shoulder surgeries and a broken finger. He finally made it to the majors last year, but by that time he’d been moved to the bullpen full-time. He also didn’t pitch well in Colorado, putting up a 7.02 ERA in 42.1 innings. Even for the Rockies, that’s bad.

This winter, Rolison got stuck in waiver wire purgatory. The Rockies designated him for assignment in November and they ended up trading him to the Braves for cash. The Braves tried to sneak him through waivers in December, but the White Sox claimed him. Then, just two days before Christmas, the White Sox designated him for assignment with the Cubs claiming him in early January.

Rolison made his Cubs debut on April 14 as the Cubs bullpen was decimated with injuries. But he only pitched one inning until April 24 when he pitched three scoreless innings in that dramatic comeback win over the Dodgers.

Since then, Rolison has gotten his name called more often from manager Craig Counsell. Not only did he get the win in that Dodgers game, he improved his record to 3-0 with wins in back-to-back games against the Reds. Rolison has an ERA of 4.00 even, most of which was earned in a game against the Diamondbacks where he gave up a three-run home run to Geraldo Perdomo. Not good, but he’s not the first one to mess up against Perdomo and he won’t be the last.

But can Rolison keep it up? This article by Matthew Trueblood argues that he (probably) can. For one, Rolison has added about 1.3 miles per hour on to his fastball this year and it features a bit more vertical rise. But the more interesting point that Trueblood makes is that Rolison is uniquely qualified to take advantage of the new strike zone this year. As others have noted, the strike zone as called by ABS is slightly smaller than what had been called in previous years. In particular, there is less room at the top of the zone. Trueblood argues Rolison’s command and movement allows him to work the top of the zone better than a lot of pitchers out there.

Now maybe that’s true and maybe it isn’t. You can read the article and make up your mind for yourself. But tonight I’m asking you if you think that Rolison is going to be a critical member of the Cubs bullpen this year. I’m essentially asking a “circle of trust” question and whether or not you think he will be in or close enough to the circle of trust to stay in the Cubs bullpen all year.

I’m giving you three options to pick from. The first is that you think Rolison will pitch well enough to stay in the majors all season—or at least only make one short trip back to Iowa. The second option is that he doesn’t earn a permanent spot in the ‘pen, but that he rides the “Des Moines shuttle” between the majors and Triple-A most of the year. Rolison has an option left, so as long as the Cubs leave him on the 40-man, he can go back and forth betwen the majors and the minors.

The final option is that you don’t think Rolison will continue to pitch well and that eventually he’ll be designated for assignment. I put “injured” in with this choice as well. I don’t know how you could possibly predict that Rolison will suffer an injury that will cost him much or all of the season, but I have to admit that’s a real possibility with every pitcher. So I put it in with the DFA option because I didn’t want to put any of you on the record thinking that a Cub is going to get hurt.

Thank you for stopping in tonight. It’s always good to see you. We hope you’ve enjoyed being here as much as we’ve enjoyed hosting you. Travel home safely. Don’t forget any personal items. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.

Record: 20-20. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2025: -1.

It’s amazing to think that, not long ago, the D-backs’ rotation was going through one of the most wretched sequences in team history. On May 1st, here’s what Arizona’s starting pitchers had done over the previous two turns through the rotation:
AZ rotation: 39 IP, 67 H, 48 ER, 24 BB, 33 SO, 11.08 ERA
It was enough to compel manager Torey to have a meeting – unusually, with the entire group – when the team was in Chicago. “I let them know what was on my mind,” Lovullo said – adding ominously, “It was a one-way conversation.”

Well, whatever he said, I hope it’s available in a format suitable for framing. Because it’s as if the talent switch was flicked in their brains, to the ON position. Tonight was just the latest example, Michael Soroka tossing 6.1 scoreless innings as the D-backs battled their way to the second 1-0 win of the season (the first being on April 1 against Detroit). That’s now seven starts in a row where the starter has gone six-plus innings, and in all but one of those, they have also allowed one or zero runs. The total numbers across this period:
AZ rotation: 47.2 IP, 27 H, 8 ER, 15 BB, 40 SO, 1.51 ERA

I guess it’s kinda galling that the team is only 4-3 in that time, because the offense has been as limp and flaccid as… [looks over shoulder at SB Nation’s Standards and Practices department] a limp, flaccid thing. But on the other hand, we’re at the quarter-mark on the season, and the team has already picked up four wins where they scored two runs or fewer. They only had five such victories in all of 2025, and just two in 2024. For what it’s worth, the Diamondbacks are also 12-1 when scoring more than five runs. We know what a problem that was last season: Arizona was only 4-3 when scoring 11+ runs in 2025.

What this all means, I don’t really know. It certainly makes for exciting baseball, when every swing of the bat could result in a lead change. It also makes for quick games, which the recapper welcomes. This one lasted only 2:21, and it would have been less except for Texas making every single one of their pitching changes in the middle of an inning. And there were a few, despite the score. Planned starter Nathan Eovaldi was scratched, and so the Rangers had to go with a bullpen game. Probably less an issue for them than most teams, considering they came in with an MLB-best 2.80 ERA, close to half a run better than anyone else.

The late change in plans didn’t seem to bother Arizona. Three batters in, they took a 1-0 lead, Geraldo Perdomo following up Corbin Carroll’s double, with one of his own. Little did we know that it would be the last time either side would cross home plate. Indeed, scoring opportunities in general would be few and far between. The best probably came to the D-backs in the eighth. With one out, Ketel Marte doubled, Carroll walked, and Perdomo singled to left, loading the bases. But Jose Fernandez went down swinging (he’s now 3-for-26 since April 26th, with nine strikeouts) and Ildemaro Vargas (5-for-36 since briefly brushing .400) grounded out.

Meanwhile, the Rangers only had three at-bats with a runner in scoring position. All of them came in the bottom of the opening frame. Marte booted what should have been an double-play, after the first two Rangers singled off Soroka. He still got the hitter at first, so it won’t go down as an error. But it meant Texas had men on second and third with one out, rather than just third with two outs. Fortunately, Soroka got out of the jam, helped by a key strikeout of Josh Jung, and was never trouble thereafter. Arizona was helped by some key plays on defense: Gabriel Moreno nailed a SB attempt, Ryan Waldschmidt had a fine catch in center (above), and Taylor Clarke picked a runner off first.

Soroka seemed to get better as he went on. He retired 11 batters in a row before allowing a lead-off single in the sixth, and was remarkably efficient with it. After needing 23 pitches in the first, thanks in part to Marte, his pitch counts for the next four innings were 13, 12, 6 and 8. Soroka did need 24 pitches for the sixth, and that might be why he was pulled with one out in the seventh. He was at 89 pitches, which is about his average. It’s worth noting that while he did go over 100 against the White Sox, his next time out was far and away his worst start of the year. So this might have been Lovullo playing the long game, ensuring Michael isn’t overtaxed.

The bullpen did it’s duty, with Brandyn Garcia finishing the seventh, Clarke working the eighth, and Paul Sewald notching his ninth save. He’s our first closer since Brad Boxberger in 2018 to reach that number of saves in the first 40 games. That did involve him facing Corey Seager with two outs. Of course, we all remember Game 1 of the 2023 World Series, where Seager hit a game-tying 2-run homer off Sewald, Texas winning in extra innings. Tonight though, Sewald hit Seager instead, on the ankle. While that brought the winning run to the plate, a harmless fly-ball ended the game, and the D-backs were back to .500 again.

You’ll have noticed the offense is notable by its absence from this recap. That’s because the offense were, again, notable by their absence. They could muster only six hits and two walks. Nolan Arenado doubled and singled, as did Perdomo, while Carroll drew both walks in addition to his double. But in the end, they did just enough to secure victory.

Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
I Feel Love: Michael Soroka, +44%
He Works Hard for The Money: Sewald, +19%; Clarke, +14%; Perdomo, +11%
Macarthur Park: Ildemaro Vargas, -14%

A bright and energetic Gameday Thread, passing 300 comments without difficulty. If we were still playing the Mets, I’d continue the musical theme and nominate Dan’s version of Money For Nothing. But that joke’s time has passed and it’s too big to screen-cap. 🙂 So, instead, I’ll give it to the very Dan-adjacent TheRealRamona:

Same two teams tomorrow, and we will see whether a) the offense wakes up, and b) the rotation can keep up its miraculous resurrection. Zac Gallen starts, with first pitch in Texas at 5:05 pm. See you then! I’m off to watch 20 Million Miles to Earth.

Three runs of offense and five innings from a starter aren’t the typical blueprint for a Mariners win, but the bullpen – missing two of its leverage arms – made those three runs hold up in a 3-1 victory in the series opener with the Astros.

This game got off to a frustrating start: the Mariners hit the ball hard in the first four batters but foul or into gloves – so of course the first hit to fall for the Mariners was an 87 mph exit velo parachute shot by Randy Arozarena with one out in the second. Astros starter Peter Lambert struggled with the zone after that, walking Luke Raley on five pitches and falling behind J.P. Crawford 3-1 before he lined out to Cam Smith in right field, but Dominic Canzone made sure the Mariners would get something out of the traffic, smoking a line drive (104.7 mph off the bat) that Astros left fielder Zach Cole couldn’t handle cleanly, allowing Arozarena to hustle home. Cole Young then ambushed a first-pitch fastball up but in the middle of the zone for his own hard-hit RBI single (103.6 mph EV) to give the Mariners a 2-0 advantage and also treat us to some vintage Luke Raley Running. Look at him chug home like he’s driving a chariot made out of scrap metal harvested from the shores of Lake Erie and tell me this does not spark joy:

Carrying forward the good vibes into the third, Julio eventually got his rightful homer. Crawford Boxes? He don’t need no stinkin’ Crawford Boxes. This was estimated at 414 feet but it feels like that pesky wall just got in the way of a ball that could have traveled deep into the heart of Texas.

But the offense would shut down after that, leading to a game that was closer than it probably needed to be, especially because George Kirby was good-not-great tonight. Last week I wrote about how Kirby has traded some of his strikeout stuff to become a groundball king in 2026, so today of course he decided to revert to 2025 Kirby, racking up seven strikeouts in his first four innings but also pushing his pitch count to 81 through those four innings. Kirby had to work around traffic in each of his first four innings as the Astros made him work, scattering base hits and walks but keeping the Astros from stacking a sustained threat. The biggest culprit for Kirby: a lack of first pitch strikes. Over those first four innings, he threw just seven of 17 first-pitch strikes, compared to 16 of 26 in his start against Atlanta.

Because he loves to be oppositional, right after I typed that paragraph Kirby immediately went back to throwing first-pitch strikes, throwing five of six in the fifth inning to bring his number up to a respectable ratio for the day. Because baseball loves to be oppositional even more, of course that was the inning where Kirby got stung by some bad batted-ball luck and porous infield defense to give up his first run of the day. It started, as most annoying Astros things do, with José Altuve ambushing a first pitch, this time parachuting a sweeper (77 EV) into center. Yordan Álvarez then punched a sinker that was in and off the plate for a single, because Yordan, and Paredes followed that with an RBI single on a sweeper that a rangy defensive shortstop gets to, but J.P. Crawford does not. Kirby was able to close things up from there without further damage on the scoreboard, but did take more damage to his pitch count, necessitating Dan Wilson to call on his bullpen about an inning before is ideal.

The Mariners hitters – who did not score after the Julio homer in the third, allowing Jose Espada to ride a wave of cromulence with Lambert and save his deeply crummy bullpen – didn’t do their part to give the Mariners’ beat-down bullpen any extra help. To their credit, Nick Davila delivered a scoreless bottom of the sixth and a flurry of puns on his name, as did Cooper Criswell, forced into a leverage spot facing the top of the Astros lineup in the seventh. Criswell did get some help from a strong diving play by Brendan Donovan (!) at third, who wolfed up a ball hit weakly in front of him to rob Altuve of yet another annoying infield single against the Mariners, but Criswell also somehow struck out Yordan swinging on a slider that looked like it landed right in the middle of the plate. So much talk this spring training about how tall Cooper Criswell is and not enough about how he is, apparently, a powerful wizard.

Speaking of powerful wizardry, you can’t spell “Boo, A Wizard!” without “Barzardo,” who bounced back nicely after a tough outing in Chicago to hang a Bazero in the bottom of the eighth, working around a leadoff walk but then obliterating his next three hitters, who looked very baffled by what Bazardo was sending to the plate. The element of surprise! Sometimes it works out.

Because of course the Mariners hitters failed to do anything in the ninth – except pinch-hitter Rob Refsnyder, who got a single off Astros lefty Bryan King to break up the long, long string of consecutive Mariners batters sent back to the bench – that meantAndrés Muñoz would be handed the same slender lead Davila, Criswell, and Bazardo all had to work with. Muñoz – subject of this excellent breakdown by Ryan Blake which you should read if you were otherwise engaged on Sunday – has hovered just this side of the dreaded “embattled” label this season, but he was nails tonight, disposing of the Astros despite yet another pesky Altuve single, ending on this strikeout of Álvarez on the changeup of all pitche,s in an at-bat wheretwo pitches before he hit a season-high 101.3 mph. It was a fantastic exclamation point on a night when the bullpen carried the day.

Not the typical route to a Mariners victory. But a necessary one, after the disappointment this weekend in Chicago, and an encouraging one, especially for the lesser-heralded bullpen arms. Tomorrow it will be Bryan Woo’s turn, and hopefully the Mariners hitters can provide him, and the hard-working bullpen, a little more offensive cushion.