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At the start of the season, there were some potential happenings that I didn’t think I’d actually witness this year. I didn’t believe there’d be a day in 2025 when three AL Central teams have the longest current winning streaks going. I didn’t think I’d witness the Texas Rangers offense be this bad for this long. I certainly didn’t believe that I’d witness the NL Pitcher of the Month for April see his ERA double with one lousy start. Finally, I didn’t think I’d witness a franchise ask its star player to give up his position at third base to play DH, only to be told more than a month later that he would now be needed at first base, a position he has never played before. But, on Thursday, May 8, 2025, I witnessed all of these happenings, and at the very least, it makes for a few good stories to be told. Let’s begin.
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Today’s Headlines
Three AL Central Teams Stay Hot With Easy Sweeps
It’s got to be a nice feeling to be in the AL Central right now unless, of course, you’re the Chicago White Sox. On Thursday, the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, and Minnesota Twins all extended their respective winning streaks with sweeps. Let’s begin in Colorado, where the struggling Rockies hosted Detroit for a doubleheader thanks to Tuesday’s rainout.
It wasn’t pretty if you’re a Rockies fan. Detroit scored 21 runs on 28 hits and needed only one homer in two matches combined to complete a three-game sweep at Coors Field. That one homer came off the bat of Colt Keith in the seventh inning of Game 2 with the Tigers already well on their way to victory.
The Tigers took the first game 10-2 behind a six-inning quality start from their starting pitcher, Casey Mize. The right-hander struck out eight and improved to 6-1 with the win.
Detroit won Game 2 by a final score of 11-1. SP Keider Montero needed only two strikeouts over eight frames to earn his first W of the season. I’m not sure if I’m more impressed by the 21 runs scored by the Detroit offense or the fact that they held the Rockies to three runs over 18 innings at Coors Field. Either way, it was an impressive day for the Tigers, who extended their winning streak to four and now lead the AL Central by 2.5 games.
Back to the Rockies for a moment. It’s fascinating to think that it was only a year ago that the Chicago White Sox broke the Modern Era record with 121 losses. They finished the year with a .253 winning percentage. After Colorado’s two losses today, they fell to 6-31. That’s a winning percentage of .162, which, if that pace continues for the rest of ’25, would end up smashing Chicago’s record. Incredible.
Here’s a postgame clip from Game 1 loser Kyle Freeland. The lefty gave up five runs on 11 hits in three innings to fall to 0-5 on the year with a 6.41 ERA. His facial reactions say it all, but what’s interesting is his final comment about believing in the team before leaving the podium with his head down.
I know it’s tough to be positive when you’re on a dreadful franchise, but sorry Kyle, I’m not a believer in anything the Rockies are trying to accomplish right now. Moving on.
Next up, the scorching-hot Royals. Maybe just as impressive as Detroit’s romping of the Rockies was the Royals’ 10-0 shutout over the White Sox to complete a four-game sweep at home. Starting pitcher Kris Bubic was great over seven scoreless frames. The lefty struck out seven and improved to 4-2 while seeing his ERA drop to 1.69 on the year, good enough for fourth-best in the AL.
Offensively, the Royals scored in five separate innings, with the main highlight coming off the bat of their star Bobby Witt Jr. in the eighth.
Witt finished the day 4-for-5 at the dish with two doubles, a pair of ribbies, two thefts, and two runs scored. Coming into the series versus Chicago, Witt was batting .306. Four games later, and he’s up to .325. KC has won six straight contests and 15 of their last 17. With the sweep, they are 23-15 and tied for second place in the AL Central with Cleveland.
Not to be forgotten, and still with plenty of work to do if they have hopes of making a run in the AL Central, the Minnesota Twins finished off a three-game sweep of Baltimore with a 5-2 victory at Target Field. Unlike the aforementioned Tigers and Royals results, this game was actually close in the latter innings. With the score tied at two in the bottom half of the eighth frame, 24-year-old infielder Brooks Lee stepped to the plate with two outs and two runners on. Here’s what happened:
Lee’s double proved to be the game winner, and Minnesota will welcome the San Francisco Giants to town on Friday, riding a five-game winning streak. The Twins are 18-20 and are still seven games back of Detroit in the division.
Atlanta and Philadelphia Rally Late For Series Wins
There was no shortage of drama in Atlanta and Tampa Bay on Thursday.
We’ll begin in Tampa Bay, where it looked like the Rays would avoid being swept after a Yandy Díaz three-run homer in the seventh gave his team a 5-1 cushion.
But a four-run advantage wasn’t enough on this day. The Phillies’ offense picked it up in the eighth, and Bryson Stott delivered a three-run homer to cut the deficit to one.
An RBI groundout in the top of the ninth by Phillies right fielder Max Kepler tied the game at five, and their bullpen held the Rays scoreless in the bottom half to send the game to extras. In the tenth, Philly scored twice courtesy of a Brandon Marsh double and a Trea Turner insurance RBI single to put the road team ahead 7-5.
Tampa was able to score one run in the bottom half, but reliever Matt Strahm closed the door for his second save with a game-ending strikeout on a four-seamer.
Final score in 10: Phillies-7, Rays-6. Philadelphia enters the weekend with a 22-15 record and is now 1.5 games behind the division-leading Mets.
It wasn’t just the Phillies who gained ground on the idle Mets in the NL East. Atlanta was able to finish off a 3-1 series win against the Cincinnati Reds thanks to some late-inning drama at Truist Park. The teams went back and forth over eight frames, and with the game tied at two in the top half of the ninth, Reds right fielder Rece Hinds drilled a long ball to deep left off closer Raisel Iglesias.
The Reds called on Graham Ashcraft in the bottom of the ninth to close out a 4-2 game. Ashcraft has mostly served as a starting pitcher for the Reds since his debut in 2022, but this was his second opportunity at a save this season and it didn’t go well for the right-hander after allowing the first two runners on before this beautiful bunt by Eli White cut Atlanta’s deficit to 4-3.
The next batter, Michael Harris II, tied the game on a one-out single to drive home pinch-runner Eddie Rosario from second.
Ashcraft retired the next two batters, sending the game to extras. Neither squad scored in the 10th, and with Reds DH Blake Dunn at first with two outs in the top of the 11th, he ran into some trouble and a little controversy while trying to steal second on a Scott Blewett first pitch fastball.
The call was upheld on review, and Atlanta got out of the inning unscathed. However, Reds manager Terry Francona was not happy with the decision and was tossed after a lengthy argument claiming that Atlanta’s second baseman, Ozzie Albies, was blocking the plate.
We’ll get to what Francona had to say after the game in a bit.
In the bottom of the 11th, Atlanta rookie backstop Drake Baldwin came through with a two-out walk-off single to score Albies from second.
The 5-4 victory gave Blewett a two-inning relief win for his first W of the year. Atlanta improved to 18-19 and will look to get to .500 for the first time this year in their upcoming weekend series at Pittsburgh.
Back to Francona. Here’s his explanation of what happened during the controversial 11th inning.
Yamamoto Finally Looks Human
April’s National League Pitcher of the Month had his first rough outing of the season in Arizona. The D’backs welcomed the Dodgers to town for their first head-to-head meeting of the campaign. L.A. entered the contest with a six-game advantage over the Diamondbacks in the NL West. However, despite Los Angeles sending their second-year ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto and his MLB-leading 0.90 ERA to the bump for the opening contest of this four-game set, it mattered not to the Snakes and their starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt.
Yamamoto was solid over three scoreless innings, but ran into problems in the fourth after allowing the first three batters to reach via a walk, single, and an HBP to set up a bases-loaded and no-out situation for Arizona’s catcher Gabriel Moreno. Then this happened, and just like that, Arizona led 4-0:
The grand slam was the first long ball that Yamamoto had allowed since his second start of the year on March 28 against Detroit. The D’backs tacked on another run in the fifth via a solo homer by second baseman Ketel Marte to make it five earned runs allowed by the Dodgers’ starting pitcher. Yamamoto surrendered five runs over five innings and saw his ERA double to 1.80 by the end of his outing. Pfaadt tossed 6.1 scoreless frames and struck out six to earn his sixth W of ’25. These teams will play three more in the desert this weekend.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Devers Delivers With Bat During Game and With a Stern Message Afterward
Let’s admit that the horrible first week at the plate for Rafael Devers has mostly solved itself since that 0-for-19 start with 15 strikeouts got many pundits believing that he would need to play in the field at some point in order to find the swing that has helped him win two Silver Slugger awards. Since that dreadful beginning, the Red Sox DH has looked a lot better, and by a lot better, I mean to the tune of a .400 batting average in May. That includes what he did today in Boston’s 5-0 rubber game victory over the underachieving Rangers.
The homer shown above was No.6 on the year for Devers. He finished the day with two knocks and a walk. However, unfortunately for Boston fans, it won’t be his hot stick that the media will be talking about this weekend, but rather the comments he made after the win about replacing the injured Triston Casas at first base for the rest of the season.
At the start of the season, a friend of mine brought up this very scenario about Devers playing first base. My friend doesn’t believe that the position is an overly difficult one to learn on the fly, as compared to others. That may be true, but I told him that it still takes time to learn any position, and you can’t just throw Devers at first base without any training whatsoever and expect good results. It turns out, I might be correct on this.
The clip above comes across as honest, and if the Sox told him in spring training that he would be the DH and then, without any warning, that he might need to play a new position at some point during the season, then I can see his point about not wanting to play first, especially given his lack of experience there.
Either way, whatever side you are on with this issue, not just on the field, but off it as well, it’s obviously not good for the Red Sox. Something will have to give. However, Devers seemed emphatic about his answer, and the last thing the Sox need is another lengthy slump by their star hitter. If you want to read more about the Devers dilemma, check out the link below in the ‘Articles You Should Read’ section.
The Polaris Dawn Astronauts Honored at Royals Game
I was one of those kids growing up who absolutely never wanted to go to outer space and explore the universe. And to this day, that still holds true. I’ll stay on Earth, thank you very much. But what Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis accomplished by breaking the record for going to the highest altitude ever recorded above Earth’s surface is quite an achievement, and one I hope never to break.
Celebrating Polaris Dawn astronauts Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis at the Kansas City Royals School Day game. They were honored with a seat dedication and threw out the first pitch
Over 10K kids from around the city came out to meet the two women who have flown furthest from Earth! pic.twitter.com/g5l2dzBG1T
— Robin Seemangal (@nova_road) May 8, 2025
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ The Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton. He will be replaced by bench coach Don Kelly. The Pirates are in last place in the NL Central with a 12-26 record and entered Thursday seven games back of the next closest teams in the standings (Reds, Cardinals, and Brewers).
⚾ The Milwaukee Brewers sent SP Aaron Civale on a rehab assignment for Triple-A Nashville. Civale is recovering from a strained left hamstring and on Thursday threw 50 pitches over four scoreless frames in his first rehab start. Civale made one big league appearance this year on March 30 and should be back with the Brewers this month if all goes well.
⚾ New York Yankees 16-year veteran SP Carlos Carrasco was outrighted to Triple-A Scranton after going unclaimed on waivers. Carrasco started the year with the big league club, but his 5.91 ERA and 1.53 WHIP over 32 innings forced the Yankees’ hand.
⚾ Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech began a rehab assignment for Triple-A Oklahoma while recovering from a right shoulder impingement, which has kept him on the IL since Opening Day. Kopech walked all five batters he faced and obviously is nowhere near ready for a return to the big league club.
Articles You Should Read
The 10 biggest disappointments of the young MLB season: Teams, players, decisions to watch — Jim Bowden, The Athletic
Batting Around: Who is the best manager in baseball? Record and bullpen management isn’t all that matters — Mike Axisa, cbssports.com
Devers tells Red Sox he won’t play first, upset they asked him to move — Ken Powtak, MLB.com
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