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Yesterday, Nick Pollack said this in the Pitcher List Discord: “I don’t normally do this, but everyone, you need to read this article from Lindsey Adler.” Yesterday was Sarah Langs‘ birthday, and Adler published an essay about her friend, an S-tier baseball enjoyer, and her friend’s terminal illness. If you’re unsure about your Saturday, including an essay about someone dying of ALS, I offer you two quotes from Adler about Langs as a stat whiz and an encourager of open kindness:
Sarah loves celebrating surprising human feats and the experience of witnessing something unexpected. For this, she chose the right profession. Baseball is a sport full of hijinks and unpredictable outcomes. When one of these events occurs, she rushes to search the entire history of the sport to see if, or when, this event has happened before. She loudly celebrates people beating the odds.
Long before her diagnosis, Sarah encouraged those around her to be open and earnest about the love we hold for the other people in our lives. She led by example, walking around like some bizarre alien of kindness while the rest of us stifled our sentimentality.
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Today’s Headlines
Greene Lights Up the Ninth
Riley Greene’s first home run in the top of the ninth gave the Detroit Tigers a 2-1 lead over the Los Angeles Angels. Greene’s second homer of the inning bookended a four-homer barrage. Colt Keith went back-to-back with Greene. Javier Báez made it three games in a row with a home run, but that didn’t chase closer Kenley Jansen. That took a single and a double. New pitcher Jake Eder walked Spencer Torkelson to bring Greene back up. Only a wild pitch kept Greene’s second from being a grand slam. Greene became the first person to hit two homers in the ninth inning of a Major League game.
Greene Lights Up the Nats
Hunter Greene struck out 12 in the Cincinnati Reds’ 6-1 win over the Washington Nationals. Greene threw 114 pitches, the highest total for a game this season, over six innings. This was Greene’s 10th career double-digit strikeout performance. Greene has struck out 10.55 batters per nine innings while dropping his BB/9 by almost two full walks from last season (3.41 to 1.47).
April Flowers, May Shovers
The American and National League Pitchers of the Month started May with strong performances. Max Fried and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were announced as each league’s top hurler for April before their Friday starts. Fried pitched seven innings, allowed the Tampa Bay Rays‘ only hit of the night, struck out six, and walked one. A Paul Goldschmidt three-run homer and clean innings from Devin Williams and Luke Weaver were enough to earn Fried his sixth win, just under a third of the New York Yankees‘ 19 on the season. His ERA is down to 1.01.
Yamamoto took a no-hitter through 5.2 innings and finished with six strikeouts in six innings, taking his ERA to 0.90. Mookie Betts scored on a sacrifice fly and homered in the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ 2-1 win over Atlanta.
Crow and Cal Homer Twice
The Chicago Cubs and Seattle Mariners earned blowout wins, led by two-homer nights from a couple of the defining players of this season. Pete Crow-Armstrong launched two solo shots in the Cubs’ 10-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Michael Busch added his first career grand slam.
Cal Raleigh knocked in five with a solo homer and a grand slam, leading Seattle to a 13-1 win over the Texas Rangers. Raleigh now tops the home run leaderboard with 12. Bryan Woo struck out eight in six innings.
Home Away from Home
Gunnar Hoglund debuted for the Athletics with six innings and seven strikeouts in his home state of Florida. The A’s beat the Miami Marlins 6-1 in front of Hoglund’s family and friends. The 25-year-old came back in the Matt Chapman trade with the Toronto Blue Jays and underwent elbow surgery in 2022. Hoglund’s debut doubles the number of Major Leaguers named Gunnar (both current and all-time).
Triage Trio
Triston Casas, José Ramírez, and Fernando Tatis Jr. left their games with significant injuries, and we’re waiting to hear about the severity. Casas ran out an infield tapper, stumbled on first base, and had to be stretchered off the field. After a 6-1 win, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Casas was at the hospital and they would know more today. José Ramírez suffered a less severe injury on a play at first. He sprained his right ankle in the third and walked off on his own when removed from the game. Tatis earned a trip to first base when he was plunked on the forearm. X-rays were negative, but no update yet.
Fernando Tatis Jr. left the game after being hit by this pitch
You could see the swelling already on his left forearm pic.twitter.com/TuCzvRrij5
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 3, 2025
Best Moments From Yesterday
On His Horse to the Farm
Johan Rojas chased down a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drive to deep centerfield, made the leaping grab, and crashed into the wall. Rojas rolled on the warning track and took time to collect himself before finishing the game. The clutch factor was high as this was the top of the ninth with no outs and a 3-2 lead that the Philadelphia Phillies held onto.
!! :|
Crow-Armstrong’s homers were the two exclamation points that got the Cubs to double digits, and this fan reacted like he was tired of the extra punctuation. Congrats on the clean catch. Sorry about the scoreline.
This Brewers fan was just so tired of the Cubs today pic.twitter.com/Dm7sUZMO1A
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 3, 2025
Nervous?
Matt Mervis fails the cup check.
Marlins 1B Matt Mervis missed the pick at first base and got the throw right in the 🥜🥜
Bull Market
The Chicago White Sox debuted their new Chicago Bulls-inspired City Connect uniforms and earned their ninth win of the season. The crossover exists because Jerry Reinsdorf owns both franchises, which isn’t going very well for either right now. But that winged sock logo on the hat is great.
The White Sox are debuting their Bulls-inspired City Connect uniforms tonight 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bcT0qWhSW6
— MLB (@MLB) May 2, 2025
All Laud Sarah
One more for Langs. Actually, from Langs and about Langs. I don’t know of anyone better to carry the banner of joy for baseball. Here’s what the people who work with her said about Sarah Langs for her birthday.
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 oh my goodness 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
Thank you so much to everyone here for the inordinately kind words, and to the amazing @MLB social squad for making this happen !! 🫶
Baseball is the best because its people are the best 💕 https://t.co/rDqFigbNUq
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 2, 2025
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ The Yankees placed infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the 10-day IL and recalled infielder Jorbit Vivas from Triple-A. Chisholm could miss four to six weeks, according to manager Aaron Boone.
⚾ Ketel Marte returned to the Arizona Diamondbacks lineup today and earned a base hit in the first to go 1-for-4.
⚾ The New York Mets are calling up pitcher Blade Tidwell for the weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
⚾ The Reds activated catcher Tyler Stephenson from the 10-day IL and placed outfielder Austin Hays on the 10-day IL.
Articles You Should Read
Julio Rodríguez and the Transit Method — Davy Andrews, FanGraphs
Pirates fan who fell over wall at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park identified as young man who “made a lasting impact on the South Allegheny community” – CBS Pittsburgh — Jennifer Borrasso, Michael Guise, KDKA
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
