Stay updated on everything baseball with our morning MLB News & Moments articles. We’ve got you covered to keep you in the know.
It’s Super Regional weekend in the NCAA softball tournament. The softball equivalent of the Sweet 16, 12-seed Texas Tech ousted 5-seed Florida State to claim the first spot in Oklahoma City. No. 6 Clemson and No. 11 Tennessee play the deciding Game 3 today, and unseeded Nebraska and Ole Miss hope to sweep top ten teams with wins. Cinderella squad Liberty took out No. 1 Texas A&M in the regionals but lost to 16-seeded Oregon in Game 1. The entire field will be decided by Sunday, and the final eight teams will start the last stage of the tournament on May 29.
Don’t forget to watch every game with the Pitcher List community on Playback!
Today’s Headlines
Mets Fall in Marathon
The New York Mets held Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman to a combined 1-for-13 with four walks. An hour-and-38-minute rain delay knocked Clayton Kershaw out after two innings. The Mets rallied for three runs to tie the game in the ninth. And the Los Angeles Dodgers still found a way to win the 13-inning opener of the rematch of last year’s NLCS. Teoscar Hernández doubled home the automatic runner to give the Dodgers the lead after three tense, scoreless extra innings. Hernandez scored on an Andy Pages sacrifice fly to make it 7-5. The teams combined to use 17 pitchers. Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, and Pete Alonso went 0-for-12 in a game that tested the supporting casts of star-studded rosters. The teams play an evening game, and the weather looks better for Saturday.
Acuña Clobbers Longball
On his first swing of the season, Ronald Acuña Jr. delivered a jolt to the Atlanta crowd that waited almost a year for the 2023 MVP to return to action. Acuña launched a 467-foot leadoff homer in his first Major League action since tearing his ACL on May 26, 2024. He also threw out Elias Díaz on the fly when the San Diego Padres‘ catcher tried to stretch a ball to the wall into a double. Unfortunately for Atlanta, Acuña’s fireworks show and seven innings of one-run ball from Chris Sale still weren’t enough. Manny Machado hit a go-ahead solo shot off Raisel Iglesias in the top of the ninth (the seventh homer allowed by Atlanta’s closer this season). A bizarre baserunning blunder from Eli White put a damper on Atlanta’s attempt at a comeback. Ozzie Albies looped a soft single to center, and White not only put on the brakes a step before third but turned back to tag up at second while third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo held up his hands in disbelief, much like Atlanta fans when Acuña’s return ended 2-1 in favor of the Padres.
Crow-Armstrong Leads Comeback
Pete Crow-Armstrong flipped a 6-2 deficit with one swing, and his teammates turned Hunter Greene’s return to the mound into a blowout. Crow-Armstrong tagged Greene for a two-run homer in the fourth to cut the Cincinnati Reds‘ lead in half. Trailing by four again in the seventh, this time with the bases loaded, PCA pulled an outside pitch down the first base line and nicked the foul pole for a grand slam. Seiya Suzuki added a three-run home run in the eighth, Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer in the ninth to pad the lead, and the Chicago Cubs won 13-6. Crow-Armstrong is second in fWAR with 2.9, leading the pack that trails Aaron Judge at 4.3.
Boston Blowout
The Boston Red Sox lit up the scoreboard in two big innings to trounce the Baltimore Orioles 19-5 in Game 1 of a doubleheader. Rafael Devers capped a five-run sixth with a two-run homer and tacked on a grand slam in a 13-run eighth. Devers ended the night 4-for-6 with three runs and a career-high eight RBIs. However, the blowout came with some bad news: third baseman Alex Bregman left the game in the fifth with right quad tightness. The severity of the injury isn’t clear yet, but Bregman’s absence creates an interesting situation for the Red Sox. They publicly moved Devers off 3B to DH and could call up their No. 2 prospect, infielder Marcelo Mayer. Nick Sogard finished the game at third, and the second half of the doubleheader got postponed until today.
Happy Cruz Day
Oneil Cruz has not hit a home run harder than he did on Friday night. Assistant coach and translator Stephen Morales chided Cruz about his home run drought, and the Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder responded by crushing a ball 117.9 mph to the seats in center. And he wasn’t done responding to Morales. In the top of the ninth, Cruz hit another home run to tie the game and make this his first multi-homer performance. Instead of wasting a six-inning, eight-strikeout start from Paul Skenes, the Pirates took the Milwaukee Brewers to extras and won 6-5 when Adam Frazier trotted home on a walk-off wild pitch.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Underdogs Unite
I’ll see that Pirates win and raise you victories from the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox on the same day. Tanner Gordon took the ball in place of Chase Dollander because of the Rockies’ rookie’s right forearm strain and gave up two runs over six innings against the New York Yankees in a 3-2 win at Coors Field (and Judge even homered!). The White Sox got six innings and six strikeouts from Sean Burke in a 4-1 win over the Texas Rangers.
W is for Kikuchi
Yusei Kikuchi picked up his first win for the Los Angeles Angels in his eleventh start. I was going to put this in with the other underdogs, but the Angels are on an 8-game winning streak that brought them to .500 at the 50-game mark. I’m not an Angels fan, but I continue to hope that there’s an “Angels in the Outfield” subplot going on this season.
May the France Be with You
Come for Ty France’s first career walk-off homer, stay for the Minnesota Twins stadium PA blasting Star Wars music and Wookiee noises as he rounds the bases. Chewbacca approves.
Holy Cal
The Major League leader in home runs nearly hit this one to the moon and threatened to doink it off the foul pole cow. No. 17 for Cal Raleigh stayed fair and gave the Seattle Mariners the win in a division game against the Houston Astros.
Johan-derful
Johan Rojas tracked a ball scorched to straightaway center, looking back over his right shoulder, twisted the other way, snatched the ball out of the air, and tumbled across the track to maintain possession. An NFL receiver would be proud of this effort.
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ The Kansas City Royals designated outfielder Hunter Renfroe for assignment and called up infielder Nick Loftin from Triple-A.
⚾ Atlanta designated shortstop Orlando Arcia for assignment in a move corresponding with Acuna’s return to the roster.
⚾ The Athletics shuffled their deck by bringing up outfielder Denzel Clarke, infielder/outfielder Logan Davidson, catcher Willie MacIver, left-hander Jacob Lopez, and infielder CJ Alexander up from Triple-A. Outfielder JJ Bleday, right-hander Carlos Duran, and catcher Jhonny Pereda were all sent the other way. Third baseman Gio Urshela was placed on the IL, and outfielder Seth Brown was designated for assignment.
⚾ The Arizona Diamondbacks reinstated right-hander Justin Martinez from the 15-day IL.
⚾ The White Sox optioned first basemen Tim Elko and Andrew Vaughn to Triple-A after reinstating outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Mike Tauchman from the IL.
⚾ Ohtani is scheduled to throw live batting practice to hitters today, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
⚾ MacKenzie Gore left his start for the Washington Nationals in the seventh inning with a thigh injury.
Articles You Should Read
Jacob Wilson Is an Unbalanced Load — Davy Andrews, FanGraphs
What’s Gotten Into Geraldo Perdomo? — Michael Baumann, FanGraphs
Tough first season in Queens? Lindor has been there — Anthony DiComo, MLB.com
Best player of their generation: Mike Trout and Mookie Betts — David Schoenfield, ESPN
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
