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The closer-by-committee approach is common in today’s game, but the Minnesota Twins are taking it further early in 2026. In the opening 16 games, five different pitchers have recorded saves, and there’s no sign that anyone will take hold of the role more firmly any time soon. If someone had told you that five different pitchers would get the Twins’ first five saves of 2026, that probably wouldn’t have shocked you. What is surprising, though, is just how committed the organization appears to be to avoiding a traditional bullpen hierarchy. There is no set closer or defined eighth-inning bridge. Instead, Minnesota rotates relievers into late-inning roles based on matchups, relying on depth and adaptability. “I think that was the plan going in,” Eric Orze said. “Closer by committee. Everybody ready to go at all times. The boys are doing their job.” Cole Sands Continues to Evolve Though Sands has now moved into more frequent high-leverage spots, early in the season, he initially appeared to be Derek Shelton’s preferred late-innings option. However, due to a high walk rate, his role has shifted somewhat, and he was even removed mid-inning after issuing multiple walks versus Detroit. Shelton noted later that he had almost immediately seen that Sands's command wasn't sharp. Still, his ability to navigate different pockets of a lineup makes him an ideal candidate for this kind of bullpen structure. Whether it’s the seventh inning against the heart of the order or the ninth against the bottom third, Sands can be deployed wherever the matchup calls for it. That flexibility is precisely what Minnesota values most right now—even if the main reason for that is the lack of any pitchers who could be sicced on the opponent without thinking along those lines. Justin Topa Brings Stability Topa was brought into the Twins organization as part of the Jorge Polanco trade and came with late-inning experience. The Twins haven’t seen the same version of Topa since he joined the organization. However, he's not being pigeonholed into a single role. When healthy, Topa offers a power sinker and the kind of ground-ball profile that plays in tight spots. Last Tuesday, Orze was given the initial save opportunity but was pulled after yielding an RBI double to Kevin McGonigle. With Sands and Taylor Rogers already deployed earlier in the game, the Twins turned to Topa, who proceeded to seal the win for Minnesota by getting two of the next three batters to ground out. In this system, Topa is less a closer and more a fireman. Eric Orze Adds Another Option Orze brings a different look to the bullpen. With a plus splitter and the ability to miss bats, he gives Minnesota an option for situations where strikeouts matter. That skill set is especially valuable against contact-oriented lineups. Rather than relying on contact management, Orze can put away hitters himself when needed. Orze earned his first save in Thursday's 3-1 win over the Tigers, recording one strikeout in a hitless and scoreless ninth inning. With Kody Funderburk, Topa, and Sands all pitching three of the previous four days, manager Derek Shelton went to Orze in the ninth inning on Thursday. Orze threw 12 of his 14 pitches for strikes and set down the Tigers in order. Orze has a 1.59 ERA and a 4-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 5 2/3 innings this season. His role among the early save-getters highlights how the bullpen is constructed on complementary strengths, instead of fixed roles. Kody Funderburk and the Left-Handed Factor Funderburk walked one and hit one batter while not allowing a hit or a run in two-thirds of an inning to earn the save in Wednesday's 8-6 win over the Tigers. Funderburk made things interesting, but he managed to get the job done for his first save of the season. The Twins utilized Topa and Sands earlier in the contest, and Rogers was unavailable after pitching three times in the previous four days, leaving the bullpen short-staffed. This was a fifth straight scoreless outing for Funderburk, who has pitched three hitless innings while issuing four walks in that span. Funderburk rounds out the group, giving a left-handed option for tough late-game matchups. In a traditional bullpen, he might be called a matchup specialist; here, he is simply another path to the final three outs. And he likely won’t be the last new name in the mix. More Arms Waiting in the Wings Don’t expect the list of pitchers with a save to stop at five. With Rogers and Anthony Banda also capable in leverage situations, the pool could expand. Manager Derek Shelton has made it clear that this is by design. “Well, I think, number one, it's kind of sitting before the game and saying, ‘Hey, we like this group of hitters with this pitcher,’” Shelton said. “And then the game dictates. That's why everybody gets caught up in analytical decisions and all these things. The numbers are really good, and we use them for that, but then ultimately, the game tells you.” That philosophy eliminates the rigidity often associated with bullpen roles. Instead of predetermined innings, the Twins react in real time, letting matchups and game flow drive decisions. “I think it's just a matter of who's available, and then also, there's a little bit of meritocracy to it. You start to pitch well, you're going to pitch yourself toward the back of the game, or you're going to pitch yourself into the leverage game," Shelton said. "And I think that's where too many people get caught up. They think just because you pitch the eighth and the ninth—there’s so many games that are won in different situations, and you may have to use who you think is your best arm available at that juncture of the game.” It may lack the simplicity of sticking with one closer, and it's certainly a matter of problem-solving, not proactive planning. But it offers something more: options. In a long season where bullpen usage is critical, having as many paths to and through the ninth inning as possible could be Minnesota’s biggest advantage. Can the Twins be successful with their closer-by-committee model? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

Owen and Jesse are back after the Blue Jays lost two of three to the Minnesota Twins. They talk about the bleak state of the team and break down the starting pitching woes from Patrick Corbin, Eric Lauer, and Max Scherzer across the three games. The guys then debate which, if any, players on the roster have shown enough to change public perception, and finish by breaking down the Jays’ next series in Milwaukee against the Brewers. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jays-centre-podcast/id1846108462 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bi7SzfpcqMo5xYWnbCeoL Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-jays-centre-podcast-300304824/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/2qk9wqxd Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jayscentre View the full article

Nick Nelson and Sweet Lou Hennessy dive into the past week of Twins baseball, where the club mopped the Detroit Tigers in a four-game series, and then took two of three from the reigning American League Champion Toronto Blue Jays. Listen using Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twins-off-daily-podcast/id1741266056 Listen using Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4tb78XlurcPTYYSsARdbD7 Listen using iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-twins-off-daily-podcas-167548600/ Listen using Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/nvclbt0w Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@twinsdaily View the full article

Jason and Jake discuss a tough week of Brewers baseball. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View the full article

As preseason prognostications rolled out, it was clear that any hope the San Diego Padres had in 2026 hinged on the strength of their bullpen. Across both their slow start and a more recent stretch of success, that has largely proven to be true. No team in baseball has gotten more out of their bullpen in total value (1.4 fWAR), as the Friars sit in the top 10 in the league in ERA, FIP, walk rate, and groundball rate. It's a group that extends even beyond the very loud success of Mason Miller, but not quite in the way that we would've thought. While Miller was always going to be the guy in the ninth inning upon the free agent departure of Robert Suárez, the expectation was that it would be some blend of Jeremiah Estrada, Adrian Morejon, and Jason Adam in high-leverage situations. Others, like David Morgan, sat slightly behind in the pecking order. Early on, though, it's been Morgan that might just be the most reliable (non-Miller) arm the relief corps has to offer. Each of Estrada and Morejon have faced their struggles in the early going. Estrada maintained a high strikeout rate (26.7 percent) across his seven appearances but was battling woeful command on his way to a 16.7% walk rate prior to being placed on the injured list. Combine that with an inability to miss the barrel when he did allow contact and, consequently, a hard-hit rate approaching half of all batted balls, and you've got a high-leverage reliever working with an ERA north of five. Morejon, meanwhile, is fighting bad luck more than anything, with a .500 batting average allowed on balls in play despite good command. Both of them are working with a strand rate of around 40 percent, which is incredibly scant for relievers of their caliber. As such, with Adam's return still in its infancy following last year's ruptured quad, it may be Morgan's time to slide into the eighth-inning role given his early success. Through his first six appearances of the season, Morgan has been as stable as anyone this side of Mason Miller. He hasn't allowed a run, he's avoided hard contact, and he's getting the ball on the ground at an obscene rate. While he hasn't yet flashed the strikeout upside of his comrades at the back end of the bullpen, he's demonstrated that he has the chops to handle leverage opportunities. Here's his percentile chart from this early stage of the year: There's a lot to like there. Most notable, though, is the blend in his ability to avoid hard contact and get opposing contact on the ground. Combining those two things is going to result in plenty of success regardless of the defense behind you, and that Morgan is doing both up in the 99th percentile speaks to why he's stifled opposing hitters completely thus far in 2026. It's not a mystery as to how he's doing it either, as there's a usage change driving his success. Morgan is primarily working with three pitches. He's throwing a sinker nearly 40 percent of the time, his curveball at about a 32 percent clip, and the four-seamer about 27 percent of the time. That's a shift from last year, when Morgan threw his four-seam the majority of the time (36.7 percent) and brought his slider into the mix much more frequently (18.3 percent of the time). By ditching the slider and putting the sinker at the forefront, Morgan has lost some oomph on the strikeout side but gained it all back in run prevention courtesy of the aforementioned soft, ground-oriented contact. So, what's preventing Morgan from perhaps getting a larger share of those leverage innings? With Estrada on the IL, there's an easy case to be made that he should see some of that work, even when accounting for Adam's return. Ultimately, though, where you see that blue in the above visual is also likely what could pin Morgan down. For one, his command has been imperfect. While the dip in strikeouts is at least partially a byproduct of his change in pitch usage, he also hasn't been able to generate much in terms of whiffs. You want that from a late-inning, high-leverage arm. The fact that he's been susceptible to allowing runners on base via the free pass also isn't working in his favor. Perhaps those two imperfections begin to trend in the appropriate direction as he grows more accustomed to his change in repertoire (assuming permanence). With Adam back in the mix and Morejon experiencing more bad luck than actual struggle, there just isn't quite enough there yet to let Morgan ply his trade in, say, the eighth inning. Nevertheless, this continued growth is encouraging. His emergence last year was part of the reason the Padres felt so good about their volume in relief coming into the year. If Estrada can come back to form upon returning from the IL, you're talking about four legitimate arms leading up to your closer. The value in the pressure that relieves from your starting rotation cannot be overstated. View the full article

How has the outfield addition fared in his first season in Kansas City so far? Isaac Collins’s start to 2026 has looked very different from his 2025 performance. So far in 2026, Collins has a slash line of .171/.310/.286 with an 83 wRC+, a decline from his 2025 marks of .263/.368/.323 with a 122 wRC+. In 2025, Collins graded in the 62nd percentile in batting run value and is currently in the 53rd percentile for 2026. However, the route to getting that value has been different this year compared to last season. Collins already has three barrels in 21 batted balls, only a couple of weeks into 2026. In 2025, Collins only barreled the ball 14 times all season. Does this suggest that Collins is finding his power swing in Kansas City? Despite the increase in barrel rate, Collins has seen declines in hard-hit rate, launch angle sweet-spot rate, and average exit velocity. These trends suggest his overall power profile may not be improving as much as the barrel rate alone indicates. It is important to call out that the Royals likely did not acquire Collins for his power hitting. They got him for his plate discipline and his on-base ability. In 2025, Collins boasted an xwOBA of .322 and showed elite plate discipline with a chase rate of 18.4% (98th percentile) and a walk rate of 12.9% (90th percentile). He also graded above average in whiff and strikeout rates. However, in 2026, Collins has been less consistent at the plate. While his walk rate has increased slightly to 14.3%, his chase rate has also risen to 19.6%. More concerning, his whiff and strikeout rates have jumped significantly from 22.5% and 21.1% to 30.9% and 33.3%, respectively. These changes have negatively impacted his on-base profile, reflected in a drop to a .259 xwOBA. In light of his start, what do his other metrics show about the outlook for the rest of the season? One notable trend is that Collins’s results have slightly outperformed his expected metrics. Metric Actual Expected wOBA .288 .259 AVG .143 .171 SLG .286 .253 If Collins is hitting below average in many categories, then why is his batting run value in the 53rd percentile? According to Baseball Savant, “Every pitch is assigned a run value based on its outcome (ball, strike, home run, etc.). The sum of all of a player's contributions across a season… measures his overall batting or pitching run value. A positive value represents runs created for hitters, and runs prevented for pitchers.” These run values are grouped into pitch locations: heart, shadow, chase, and waste. Collins so far has a positive batting run value in the chase and waste zones, meaning that his plate discipline has positively contributed to the Royals' run production, and it has offset his negative value in the heart and shadow zones. Zone Run Value Heart -1 Shadow -2 Chase 2 Waste 1 It is worth noting that only the elite hitters register positive values in the heart and shadow zones; only three batters had positive run values in both zones in 2025. Another positive sign is that Collins has increased his bat speed from 72.7 mph in 2025 to 73.6 mph in 2026. While bat speed itself is not necessarily indicative of positive production, increased bat speed can contribute to faster exit velocity and more power potential. Collins has also been pulling the ball in the air more often in 2026. His pull air rate has increased to 19.1% in 2026. Pulling the ball in the air greatly increases the chances of home runs, especially when paired with a high barrel rate. If Collins can continue his increase in barrel and pull air rates, his home run and power potential will increase in 2026. Conclusion Isaac Collins’s profile is still the same in 2026 as it was in 2025. He still has the ability to draw walks and avoid chasing balls out of the zone, but his contact and strikeout rates have trended in the wrong direction to start the season. His hard contact has been “feast or famine” with a decrease in hard hit rate and average exit velocity despite barreling the ball at a much larger rate. While his metrics show that he has over-achieving expectations, Collins has shown decent signs of overall run value at the plate. There are signs of growth in power potential, but also clear areas of concern in contact ability. There is still plenty of time for Collins to fully hit his stride in 2026. With a losing record so far, the Royals will need his on-base skills to improve sooner rather than later. View the full article

Marcos Castañon tied the game with a two-run double in a seven-run seventh, but Albuquerque erupted for ten runs in the tenth to beat El Paso 19-12. Luis Gutierrez struck out six over five one-hit innings as San Antonio blanked Corpus Christi 1-0. Jack Costello hit a two-run homer, and Alex McCoy added a solo shot in Fort Wayne's 5-3 win over Lansing. Lake Elsinore routed Rancho Cucamonga 14-6, led by Bradley Frye's four-RBI night. Padres Transactions No Roster Moves Chihuahuas Rally For Seven In Seventh But Fall 19-12 In Ten El Paso fell behind early but stormed back with a seven-run seventh inning, only to see Albuquerque score ten runs in the tenth for a 19-12 loss in extra innings. Starter Triston McKenzie lasted just one and two-thirds innings, allowing six runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. Sean Boyle stabilized the game with three and a third innings of two-run ball, striking out two while allowing three hits and a walk. Alek Jacob followed with one and two-thirds scoreless innings. Albuquerque jumped on McKenzie for six runs in the second inning, highlighted by a Vimael Machín solo homer, a Cole Carrigg bases-clearing triple, and a Ryan Ritter two-run homer. Carrigg added a solo homer in the sixth to make it 7-3. El Paso erupted for seven runs in the seventh to take a 9-8 lead. Nick Solak hit a solo homer, Rodolfo Durán followed with a solo homer, and Marcos Castañon laced a two-run double to tie the game. Castañon then scored on an intentional walk with the bases loaded. Albuquerque tied it in the ninth on a Machín RBI double before blowing the game open with ten runs in the tenth, capped by a Charlie Condon three-run homer and a Chad Stevens two-run homer. El Paso scored three in the bottom of the tenth but could not complete the comeback. Name Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB Jase Bowen RF 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Samad Taylor CF 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nick Schnell CF 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 Sung-Mun Song 2B 5 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Marcos Castañon 3B 6 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 Pablo Reyes SS 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Mason McCoy SS 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nick Solak 1B 4 2 2 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 Rodolfo Durán C 4 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 Jose Miranda DH 5 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 Carlos Rodríguez LF 4 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 Totals 44 12 13 2 0 2 10 5 11 0 Name IP H R ER BB K Triston McKenzie 1 2/3 5 6 6 3 2 Jackson Wolf 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 3 Sean Boyle 3 1/3 3 2 2 1 2 Alek Jacob 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 Logan Gillaspie ((L, 0-1)(BS, 1)) 1 3 6 4 2 0 Miguel Cienfuegos 1/3 5 5 5 1 0 Misael Tamarez 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 10 17 19 17 7 8 Gutierrez Strikes Out Six In Dominant Start As Missions Blank Hooks 1-0 San Antonio rode its pitching to a 1-0 shutout of Corpus Christi, holding the Hooks to just two hits in a game that clocked in just over two hours. Luis Gutierrez earned the win with five innings of one-hit ball, allowing no runs with two walks and six strikeouts on 66 pitches. Francis Peña struck out two in a scoreless sixth, Johan Moreno threw a scoreless seventh on just ten pitches, Andrew Dalquist worked a scoreless eighth, and Sadrac Franco earned the save with two strikeouts in the ninth. The Missions scored their lone run in the second inning without recording an RBI. Luis Verdugo walked, Carson Tucker singled to put runners at first and second, and Chris Sargent walked to load the bases. Verdugo then scored on a passed ball during Kai Roberts' at-bat to give San Antonio a 1-0 lead. San Antonio managed just two hits in the game, with Tirso Ornelas going 1-for-4 and Tucker going 1-for-2 with a walk. The Missions drew four walks but struck out six times. The pitching staff was the story, combining to allow just two hits and no runs with 11 strikeouts. Name Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB Braedon Karpathios DH 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Francisco Acuna SS 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tirso Ornelas RF 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Romeo Sanabria 1B 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Luis Verdugo 3B 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 Kai Murphy LF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Carson Tucker 2B 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Chris Sargent C 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Kai Roberts CF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 26 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 6 1 Name IP H R ER BB K Luis Gutierrez ((W, 1-0)) 5 1 0 0 2 6 Francis Peña ((H, 1)) 1 0 0 0 0 2 Johan Moreno ((H, 1)) 1 0 0 0 0 0 Andrew Dalquist ((H, 1)) 1 0 0 0 1 1 Sadrac Franco ((S, 1)) 1 1 0 0 0 2 Totals 9 2 0 0 3 11 Costello Homer And McCoy Blast Power TinCaps Past Lugnuts 5-3 Fort Wayne used a pair of home runs from Jack Costello and Alex McCoy to defeat Lansing 5-3 behind a strong bullpen effort. Abraham Parra went four innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts on 72 pitches. He worked around traffic all night but limited the damage. Luis Germán gave up a solo run in two innings of work. Kleiber Olmedo earned the win with two scoreless innings, allowing two hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Igor Gil closed out the game for the save with a scoreless ninth, striking out one on just nine pitches. Lansing struck first with an RBI double from Devin Taylor in the first inning. Fort Wayne answered immediately when Carlos Rodriguez ripped an RBI double to center to tie it 1-1. Jack Costello then launched a two-run homer in the second to give Fort Wayne a 3-1 lead. Lansing pulled within a run on a Bobby Boser RBI single in the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the fifth to tie it at three. Fort Wayne retook the lead in the seventh when Dylan Grego doubled home Jack Costello, who had walked. McCoy then put the game away with a solo homer to left-center in the eighth. The TinCaps collected ten hits on the night, with Zach Evans and Carlos Rodriguez each recording multi-hit games. Name Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB Zach Evans 3B 4 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dylan Grego SS 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 Carlos Rodriguez C 4 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Alex McCoy LF 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 Kavares Tears RF 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 Lamar King Jr. DH 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Jake Cunningham CF 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jack Costello 1B 1 2 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 Rosman Verdugo 2B 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 30 5 10 5 0 2 5 3 6 0 Name IP H R ER BB K Abraham Parra 4 7 2 2 2 2 Luis Germán 2 2 1 1 0 1 Kleiber Olmedo ((W, 1-1)) 2 2 0 0 1 3 Igor Gil ((S, 1)) 1 0 0 0 0 1 Totals 9 11 3 3 3 7 Frye Homers And Drives In Three As Storm Rout Quakes 14-6 Lake Elsinore pounded out 14 hits and scored 14 runs to cruise past Rancho Cucamonga 14-6, with Bradley Frye leading the way with a homer, a double, and four RBI. Landry Jurecka started and went three and a third innings, allowing four runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts on 62 pitches. Javier Chacon earned the win with two and a third innings, allowing one run on four hits with two strikeouts. Nick Falter added two and a third innings of one-run ball, and Sean Barnett tossed a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts. Rancho Cucamonga scored three runs in the second inning on a string of singles and a double. Lake Elsinore answered with a solo homer from Frye in the bottom of the second to make it 3-1. The Storm then scored one in the third on a Ryan Wideman RBI single and exploded for four runs in the fourth, highlighted by two runs scoring on an error and an RBI single from Truitt Madonna, to take a 7-4 lead. Conner Westenburg was brilliant at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a triple, two RBI, and three runs scored. Justin DeCriscio added three hits and three RBI. Frye doubled home two more in the eighth to cap his night. The Storm stole five bases as a team and took advantage of five Rancho Cucamonga errors. Name Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB Ryan Wideman CF 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Truitt Madonna C 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 Kale Fountain RF 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Victor Duarte 1B 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 Jorge Quintana SS 5 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Bradley Frye 3B 4 3 2 1 0 1 3 1 1 0 Jose Verdugo DH 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Justin DeCriscio 2B 5 2 3 0 1 0 3 0 1 0 Conner Westenburg LF 3 3 3 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 Totals 39 14 14 1 2 1 10 4 10 5 Name IP H R ER BB K Landry Jurecka 3 1/3 3 4 4 2 6 Javier Chacon ((W, 1-0)) 2 1/3 4 1 1 0 2 Nick Falter ((H, 1)) 2 1/3 2 1 1 0 1 Sean Barnett 1 2 0 0 0 2 Totals 9 11 6 6 2 11 Padres Top-20 Prospect Performance Kash Mayfield: DNP Ethan Salas: DNP Kruz Schoolcraft: DNP Bradgley Rodriguez: DNP Humberto Cruz: DNP Miguel Mendez: DNP Ty Harvey: DNP Jorge Quintana: 2-for-5, 2 R, 3 K Kale Fountain: 0-for-5, 2 K Ryan Wideman: 1-for-5, R, K, SB Jagger Haynes: DNP Lamar King Jr.: 0-for-3, BB, K Romeo Sanabria: 0-for-4, 2 K Truitt Madonna: 1-for-4, RBI, BB, K, SB Michael Salina: DNP Garrett Hawkins: DNP Kavares Tears: 1-for-3, 2B, BB, K Deivid Coronil: DNP Francis Pena: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 K Bryan Balzer: DNP View the full article

Week in a Nutshell The Royals were looking to take advantage in the AL Central this week, with a three-game series in Cleveland and a four-game homestand against the White Sox over the weekend. Unfortunately, the Royals took a slight step back this week with a losing record and split a series at home against a team that hadn't beaten the Royals at Kauffman Stadium since 2023. It's still early in the year, but it seems like the Royals are not getting off to the start that they hoped for back in Spring Training, when some experts were thinking that Kansas City could make a push for an AL Central division title. They have only won one series this year (Opening Week against the Twins), and they have the second-worst run differential in the AL Central, as of Sunday. While there are still 146 games remaining, the Royals need a jolt, especially on offense and in the bullpen, to help ensure they do not fall too far behind in the divsional race. On a non-record note, the Royals debuted their new City Connect uniforms this past weekend, which have received mixed reception from Royals and baseball fans alike. In honor of the unveil, they wore their City Connect uniforms all weekend (and went 2-1 in the new threads). Going forward, Kansas City will wear these new City Connect uniforms for every Friday home game this season. Record this Week: 3-4 Run Differential for the Week: -5 Record for the Year: 7-9 Run Differential for the Year: -11 Standing: Tied for 3rd in the AL Central Game 10: KC 4, CLE 2 Kansas City started off the road trip well with Michael Wacha setting the tone. He allowed only one run in seven innings of work, and he also allowed just three hits. Carter Jensen and Jonathan India both hit home runs in the Royals' two-run victory. Game 11: CLE 2, KC 1 In one of the coldest games of the year (they actually had to move up the first pitch to accommodate), Cleveland beat the Royals in walkoff fashion with Brayan Rocchio hitting the game-winning single. Jensen had the lone hit for the Royals, a solo home run. Game 12: CLE 10, KC 2 The game was close initially, as Cleveland was up 5-2 entering the 8th. However, a five-run 8th inning off Steven Cruz ended up putting the game out of reach (resulting in Tyler Tolbert closing out the game for the Royals' pitching staff). Bobby Witt Jr. had two hits and collected his first extra-base hit of the year (a double). Game 13: CWS 2, KC 0 Kansas City looked flat on Thursday, as the White Sox won their first game at Kauffman after going winless there for two straight seasons (they had a 14-game losing streak). Seth Lugo threw 6.1 innings of quality ball (1 ER allowed), but he wasn't able to outduel White Sox starter Anthony Kay, who earned his first MLB victory since 2021. Game 14: KC 2, CWS 0 The Royals ended a three-game losing streak on the night they revealed their new City Connect uniforms. Kris Bubic had a career-high 11 strikeouts in seven innings of work, and Witt and Michael Massey both had doubles. Jensen also hit his fourth home run of the year, which helped seal the game for the Royals. Game 15: KC 2, CWS 0 Wacha was masterful again, going eight innings and allowing no runs, four hits, and one walk while striking out seven. Maikel Garcia got the offense going early with a leadoff home run, but the Royals wouldn't score again until the 8th inning on a Vinnie Pasquantino sacrifice fly. Lucas Erceg notched his 5th save of the year. Game 15: CWS 6, KC 5 After spotting the White Sox a 2-0 lead, the Royals ended up leading the White Sox 5-4 after four. However, Chicago scored two runs in the 6th and 7th combined, and Kansas City was unable to score (or hit) for the remainder of the game. Sunday's game was played after a three-hour rain delay. News and Notes After rough outings against the Guardians on Wednesday, the Royals optioned pitchers Luinder Avila and Steven Cruz to Omaha and called up Eli Morgan and Mitch Spence. Morgan pitched against the Brewers as the 27th man for their doubleheader on Saturday, April 4th. The Royals were on a 0-for-32 stretch with runners in scoring position, entering Sunday's series finale against Chicago. They snapped that brutal streak with a Jensen infield single that scored a run in the bottom of the third. According to Fangraphs, the Royals are the worst-hitting team in RISP situations with a 37 wRC+. The next-worst is Pittsburgh with a 57 wRC+. In the minors, Ryan Bergert was shut down during his April 9th outing for Omaha due to elbow discomfort. Bergert was put on the IL, and righty Ben Sears was called up from Northwest Arkansas to replace him. No timetable has been shared regarding Bergert's injury. On a positive note, Stephen Kolek has returned from the IL and will be making a rehab stint in Omaha. He was supposed to appear in Sunday's series finale against the Iowa Cubs, but the game was canceled due to rain. Kolek will likely pitch back in Omaha this week as they play the Indianapolis Indians at Werner Park. The former Padres pitcher, who came over with Bergert in the Freddy Fermin trade last season, posted a 1.91 ERA and 2.71 FIP in 33 IP with the Royals last season. Highlights Jensen had the best week of any Royals hitter. In 22 at-bats, he hit .273 with a .986 OPS. That included six hits, with three of them home runs. He also had four RBI and has been on fire since his "oversleeping" controversy last Thursday. After a brutal week against the Twins and Brewers, Witt looked more like his old self this week against the Guardians and White Sox. He hit .308 with a .842 OPS with eight hits, including three doubles. Witt also stole four bases on five attempts, the lone caught stealing being on a controversial no-call that should've been a balk on White Sox reliever Jordan Hicks. He is currently at the top of the league in stolen bases. The Royals franchise shortstop also showed excellent plate discipline this week with five walks drawn and only four strikeouts. While he hasn't hit his first home run yet, he may be on the verge of doing so in this upcoming week of games. On the pitching end, Wacha and Bubic carried the Royals staff over the past week. Bubic's 11 strikeouts led all Royals pitchers over the past seven days, and he only had one outing. After an uneven performance against the Brewers in his late start, the former Stanford pitcher looked like his All-Star self on Friday against the White Sox, as he ended a two-game Royals slide. It wasn't just the strikeouts that were impressive for Bubic. When looking at his TJ Stats pitching summary, he excelled in nearly every category, as illustrated below. Bubic had four pitches with a TJ Stuff+ of 100 or higher, and he also had a 35.6% chase%, a 37% whiff%, and .209 xwOBACON. While the White Sox aren't a great offense, he neutralized a team that has the potential to get hot, especially with the long ball. As for Wacha, he was excellent this week, as he made outings against both the Guardians and White Sox. In 15 IP, he allowed only seven hits, had a 0.60 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, and had 10 strikeouts to only four walks. For the year, Wacha is not just posting a 0.43 ERA and 0.71 WHIP, but also a 16.2% K-BB% and a 3.01 FIP in 21 IP. Furthermore, the veteran arm is also putting up impressive chase and whiff rates this year despite not sporting elite TJ Stuff+ marks on his pitches. That shows how strong Wacha's command has been at the start of 2026. Lastly, Erceg had a solid week with three saves in three opportunities. He didn't allow a run, and no hits or walks either. He struck out two batters this week, which is nice, but it would be encouraging to see him generate more whiffs, especially if he is to hold onto the closer's role, even after Carlos Estevez returns from the IL. Lowlights Pasquantino and Perez's slow starts to 2026 got even worse over the past week. The Royals' No. 3 and 4 hitters, respectively, hit .080 this week with .080 slugging percentages. Pasquantino had a higher OBP than Salvy, with a .172 mark to the Captain's .148 OBP. However, both had paltry OPS numbers this week, with Vinnie having a .252 mark and Salvy sporting a .228 one. They also struck out eight and seven times in the past seven days, respectively. As a result, I questioned the current Royals' lineup and suggested moving Salvy out of the cleanup spot (based on recent and historical data) in my latest post on Royals Keep. Another Royals hitter who had a rough week was Kyle Isbel, who was scorching a week ago. Over the past seven days, Isbel hit only .067 with a .367 OPS in 15 plate appearances. He also had just one hit, a single. He has shown a solid plate approach, with four walks to five strikeouts this week. However, Royals fans who said he needed to be an everyday player ate some crow this week, especially after his 0-for-4, three-strikeout performance on Thursday against Kay and the White Sox. Cruz had the most brutal pitching performance this week, as he allowed five runs on four hits and two walks in 1.1 IP. For the year, the Dominican-born pitcher has been brutal, posting a 14.40 ERA and 13.12 FIP in five innings of work. However, it sounds like he may have been tipping his pitches this year, especially against Cleveland, as a Guardians content creator noticed in Wednesday's game. Hopefully, Cruz can figure this out in Omaha and come back to Kansas City more polished. He may have the best stuff on the Royals' 40-man roster, but his command has been poor so far in 2026. Schreiber had another rough week and is showing that he may not be built for high-leverage opportunities anymore. In three outings and two IP, he posted a 9.00 ERA and 2.50 WHIP. He had two walks to only one strikeout, and he also allowed three hits. In addition to his struggles with throwing strikes, the 32-year-old hasn't been effective this year when it comes to generating chase or whiff either, as illustrated in his TJ Stats summary below. With a 6.00 ERA, 7.82 FIP, and -9.7 K-BB%, manager Matt Quatraro may be better off utilizing someone else in medium to high leverage situations, whether it's Nick Mears, Eli Morgan, or Daniel Lynch IV, who have all looked better than Schreiber this season. Looking Ahead It won't be easy for the Royals this week, as they play three games against the Tigers in Detroit and a weekend series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The Tigers have the same record as the Royals, but they have won three games in a row and have a +10 run differential, which is 21 runs better than the Royals. Detroit has also scored 70 runs this year, which is second-best in the AL Central and 16 runs better than Kansas City. The Tigers looked like their old selves this past weekend as they took care of the Miami Marlins at Comerica Park with the sweep. A positive aspect of this series is that the Royals will miss seeing Tarik Skubal, who pitched in the series finale against Miami. Cole Ragans will start the series against the Tigers. Hopefully, he can get back on track after being pulled in the first inning after getting hit on a comebacker from Jose Ramirez in his last start. The Yankees are reeling a bit as they are 8-7 and tied for first in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. New York has lost five in a row after an 8-2 start, and their losing streak was amplified this weekend by getting swept by division rival Tampa Bay in the newly remodeled Tropicana Field. Despite the disappointing record, the Yankees have a +21 run differential, which is best in the AL East. The Yankees have a strong rotation, as they rank 1st in ERA and WHIP as of Sunday. The Royals will have a stiff challenge in the Bronx, as they will face Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, and Ryan Weathers, who have ERA marks of 1.62, 3.07, and 2.81, respectively. The Royals need a winning record on this road trip. However, that won't be easy against two teams that not only made the postseason last year, but are looking to win an AL Pennant in 2026. View the full article

Caveats abound at this early stage of the season, but the Chicago Cubs are, at present and at best, a mediocre offensive team. A number of components will even out as the sample grows, but it's a hard idea to deny for a team that ranks 19th in runs scored, 24th in isolated power, and 22nd in wRC+. The inability to score runs consistently across an objectively easier portion of the calendar than they'll face in the coming weeks is frustrating from a viewership standpoint. It also doesn't feel terribly surprising. Under Craig Counsell as manager, it seems like the Cubs have always been working within a solid foundational process. They work good counts, they're able to draw walks, and they square up contact. The results themselves, however, have not always followed. In April of 2024, they were ninth in the league in runs scored. Then, in May that same year, they were 26th; in June, they were 27th. They got back to the middle of the pack in July before finishing in the top six in each of the season's final two months. In April of 2025, no team scored more runs than the Cubs' 184. They were third in runs in May before falling to 15th in June and 11th in July. The sputtering truly began in August when they ranked 27th before crawling back up to just outside the top 10 in September. Not that that's meant as criticism of Counsell or his coaching staff directly. The process is there. In each of those two seasons, the Cubs ranked in the top 10 in the league in walk rate and on-base percentage. In 2024, they were 13th in the league in squared-up contact before ranking in the top five last season. They have a presence on the bases and are able to generate meaningful contact. What they lack in bat speed, they trade in for efficiency. The issue is that their approach combines with personnel to create a rather difficult needle to thread. It requires collective effort and collective success for its merits to be realized. Following Saturday's loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates (in which the Cubs created plenty of traffic that didn't result in runs), Counsell noted the following: Therein lies exactly the problem we're seeing manifest with these Cubs at the plate. As recently as last year, the Cubs were occasionally accused of being too reliant on home runs to score offense. Those accusations weren't entirely off base. The thing about home runs is that they aren't always going to be in your offensive bag, especially when you're playing home games at Wrigley Field in April. Counsell's comment speaks to the issue we're seeing unfold and the difficulty a team can have to thread the needle when you're built the way they are. The Cubs do not have an offensive driver. There are loud tools mixed in throughout the lineup, sure. But they do not have a hitter who is going to unlock elite swing speed or make contact at a rate rarely seen on Statcast. The kind that can carry a lineup over a stretch. Their game is in a collective efficiency that raises the floor. Right now, the process toward that efficiency is playing out. They're top five in the league in walk rate (12.1 percent) and are fourth in the league in squared-up contact rate (35.8 percent). However, this philosophy requires the majority of the lineup to be locked into the process in addition to the need for timely hitting. You need those extra ingredients to find more than the floor on offense. The Cubs do not have the majority going the right way at the plate, nor have they received such timely hitting. Ian Happ is striking out roughly 36 percent of the time. Each of Dansby Swanson and Pete Crow-Armstrong were doing so at a rate pushing 30 and neither has had any power to speak of to compensate. Michael Busch hadn't recorded a hit in 30 trips to the plate prior to sitting on Sunday. The Cubs' .209 average with runners on ranks 28th in the league. Swanson notwithstanding given his place in the batting order, these are crucial elements of the lineup that need to be demonstrating the process set forth by this team in order to generate runs. The balance for Nico Hoerner's excellence or Alex Bregman's extreme batted ball misfortune (.213 BABIP) simply does not exist. And this team is not built to score in most other ways. Even with the return of Seiya Suzuki adding something new to the lineup than we've seen for the first few weeks, what we are seeing is a natural byproduct of the team's roster construction. Individuals need to adopt the philosophy, and once a certain volume of your lineup is executing said process, the runs will come. The Cubs don't have that volume, and they're struggling to score. Until things even out in that respect, in addition to the natural leveling of statistical outcomes over the course of a baseball season, this type of peak-and-valley trend in their run production is liable to continue. View the full article

The Brewers adjusted their probable starters for their series against the Washington Nationals twice within 23 hours. Both changes reflected a need to be creative with their starting pitching, as they continue to develop young arms in the big leagues—particularly early in the season. Brandon Sproat was scheduled to make his next start on Friday night, but during Thursday’s off day, the club announced that Chad Patrick, Kyle Harrison, and Brandon Woodruff would each move up one day and start on a standard four days of rest. The change came after Sproat allowed 11 earned runs in just 6 2/3 innings over his first two starts, issuing as many walks (seven) as strikeouts and yielding four home runs. Pat Murphy said on Friday afternoon that Sproat was available out of the bullpen that night, but that he has not lost his rotation spot. The off day simply allowed the Brewers to reschedule his next start. “It’s just the way things have worked out,” Murphy said. “Sometimes that happens when you have the extra off days and things like that.” The decision was partially for matchup reasons. The Nationals’ offense entered Friday third in baseball with a 119 wRC+ and has a lineup heavy with left-handed hitters. Sproat has pitches in his arsenal that can retire lefties, but his reliance on his sinker has left him vulnerable to platoon splits. Last season in Triple-A, right-handers managed just a .548 OPS against him, but lefties posted a .743 mark. His next start could instead come against the Toronto Blue Jays next week, who also feature plenty of lefties but have scuffled offensively. “I’m pretty confident he’s in a good spot,” Murphy said. “He’s got to get better. He knows that. He’s been out there a couple times. He knows, ‘Hey, I’ve got to trust this and trust that, and I’ve got to be able to execute this.’ He’s learning on the job. When you have these young pitchers, that’s what happens.” Sproat did pitch better (though still not at the level the team hopes he'll reach, and soon) on Saturday, though he also tweaked his right knee. On Sunday morning, he reported no issues, so that start against Toronto is still possible. The Brewers also tweaked Patrick’s status hours before his scheduled start on Friday, using Aaron Ashby ahead of him as an opener. The fastball-heavy Patrick has also battled platoon splits, and Washington leadoff hitter James Wood has slugged .579 against right-handed fastballs for his career. “You guys obviously know we’re very inexperienced on the hill,” Murphy said. “We’re trying to thread the needle. These are the types of things you do.” The results were mixed. Ashby allowed a leadoff double to Wood in a two-run first inning before settling down to pitch into the third inning. Patrick only went three innings and threw 50 pitches as the bulk pitcher because he pitched into a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, forcing Murphy to turn to Ángel Zerpa, who induced an inning-ending double play to protect a one-run lead. “The plan was to try to win the game, and we had the pitching to do that,” Murphy said. “We had a bad matchup for [Patrick] in the bases-loaded situation, and we had the lead, so we went with Zerpa.” Zerpa would allow a game-tying double in the seventh before Washington pulled away with a four-run ninth, in which Luis Rengifo and Trevor Megill failed to defend a series of bunts. The loss dealt the Brewers their third straight defeat, an especially tough one to swallow after emptying their 'A' bullpen in the first game of a six-game homestand. “Disappointing,” Murphy said. “That type of loss really hurts.” Things only got worse from there. Coming out of the weekend, the team has a day off to savor, but they face further questions, after two more losses to the Nationals. For the first time since June 2023, Milwaukee will go a full week between wins. They have cause to wonder about Sproat, and now, there are also questions about Kyle Harrison, whose knee suffered a contusion (an X-ray ruled out a break, initially, but the team will continue monitoring it) Saturday, too. There’s some inherent chaos to early-season baseball. Roles, player performance, and team identity take time to stabilize. Amid a largely successful start, the Brewers are still working through some of those challenges, particularly with their young arms. "Tough times," Murphy said after the seesaw loss Sunday. "We haven’t been in these waters much in the last three years. Just have to get through it." The team has enough depth to do that. It also has enough vulnerability to fall problematically off the pace, if they don't find smoother sailing soon. View the full article

Over 665 plate appearances at Vanderbilt University, Austin Martin put up an astronomical .482 on-base percentage. He was everywhere—on base all the time, and a pest once he got there. It got him drafted fifth overall in the 2020 MLB Draft, by the Toronto Blue Jays. Martin continued that trend during his first taste of affiliated ball, generating a similarly impressive .424 OBP over 196 plate appearances with Double-A New Hampshire before being traded to the Minnesota Twins alongside Simeon Woods Richardson for José Berríos. He kept thriving after the deal, too, posting a .399 OBP over 168 plate appearances with Double-A Wichita. In his first full season in minor-league baseball, he had a .414 OBP over 418 plate appearances. Then, the Twins' hitting development staff attempted to overhaul Martin’s approach, adjusting his swing and encouraging him to be more aggressive at the plate. The then-24-year-old regressed, dipping to a (still impressive, mind you) .386 OBP over 252 plate appearances with Triple-A St. Paul in 2023. Martin did tap into more power, netting six home runs over that stretch. Still, trading off nearly 40 points of OBP wasn’t worth his minimal power increase—not because the player he'd briefly morphed into wasn't more valuable than the previous one, but because it turned out not to be a step toward the player he would need to be to find success in the majors, where it matters. He moved back to his previous approach after 2023. Jumping between Triple-A and the majors during his 2024 campaign, Martin’s OBP fell from a Vanderbilt-like .469 over 130 plate appearances with Triple-A St. Paul to a Scott Van Slyke-like .318 over 257 plate appearances with the parent club. Martin battled through injuries and another stint at Triple-A in 2025, before breaking out with the major-league club late last season. Down the stretch (albeit in a lost season), he hit .282/.374/.365 (good for a 113 wRC+) over 181 plate appearances. Posting an OBP higher than his slugging average, he was one of the most disciplined hitters in baseball after August 1 last season. He generated an elite zone contact rate, chase rate, and whiff rate, while swinging less often than almost any other player in baseball. Martin has continued that trend early this season, hitting .300/.500/.333 over 42 plate appearances. Gaining traction in the lineup all the time, Martin boasts the sixth-highest OBP (.398) since Aug. 1, 2025, slotting in behind only Brice Turang, Juan Soto, Yandy Díaz, Shohei Ohtani, and Aaron Judge. At the same time, he's hit only one home run and nine doubles, resulting in a .360 SLG. Despite getting on base at an elite rate, Martin has generated a modest .758 OPS over this span, explaining why he hasn’t been spoken of in the same vein as players like Turang and Díaz—let alone Soto, Ohtani, and Judge. Martin is never going to hit for power, and that’s okay—encouraged even. His SLG will likely never be higher than his OBP; he belongs to a player archetype that has become nearly extinct in today’s game. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t possess value. In fact, he's quickly blossomed into Minnesota’s most reliable contact hitter, often finding himself nestled between Byron Buxton and Luke Keaschall atop the lineup. Given his plus defense at both corner outfield spots and the ability to play center field, the former top prospect is maturing into the best version of himself. He doesn't have great bat speed, but he can do everything else well enough to matter. View the full article

Jared Young has been given a clear role for the first time in his major-league career after breaking camp with the New York Mets this spring. It’s the first Opening Day roster that Young has been a part of and he’s been taking advantage of the opportunity. Young, a former 15th-round pick by the Chicago Cubs, has never played more than 23 MLB games in a season so far in his career. He’s a 30-year-old utility player who is a career .220 hitter with 14 extra-base hits and a 102 wRC+. He spent his first two major league seasons with the Chicago Cubs after debuting in September of 2022. He took his career overseas in 2024 to play with the Doosan Bears of the KBO. He had a solid season posting a slash line of .326/.420/.660 spanning 38 games, which was good enough to earn him a major-league contract with the Mets in December of 2024, where he’s been ever since. Jared Young's Contact-Fueled Emergence Aiding Mets' Ailing Lineup This year across 23 plate appearances, Young has hit for a .350 average with a 139 wRC+. He has not hit a ball out of the yard yet, but has logged two doubles. His surface stats are backed up by his .268 xBA and .362 xwOBA which are both well above league average. There have been some intriguing improvements to his process that are keying those results. In his small sample size so far in 2026, Young has been swinging a lot more pitches in the zone; he’s up to a 77.1% rate. His overall contact percentages have also seen a healthy jump. Young’s zone-contact percentage has jumped from 81.8% last year to 88.9% this year. Looking at his overall contact numbers, he’s posted a 82.5% contact rate, compared to 69.9% last year. Of course, with more contact often comes worse contact quality. It's a trade-off nearly every hitter faces, and Young is no exception. So far, his average exit velocity has only been 87.6 mph. That's likely due to his drop in bat speed (sitting around 73.3 mph this season, a small drop but is still a good place to be); less swing speed leads to better bat control, hence his improved contact numbers. And while he’s only managed two extra-base hits so far, he does have an excellent 18.8 barrel% to go along with a 50% hard-hit rate. The power is definitely in his bat, but has yet to be seen so far in the majors. His hardest-hit ball this year had a recorded exit velocity of 113.5 mph, a career high from his previous best of 109.4 in 2023. He hit 10 home runs in a very small sample size in the KBO, and it would be nice if he could tap into that with the Mets. To do so, he may need to sacrifice a little bit of the gains he's made in the contact game (and he definitely needs to stop hitting so many ground balls), but the overall process he's undertaken has clearly led to better results. From the fringes of the roster to a lineup staple, Young is making a name for himself in 2026. View the full article

Fish On First LIVE discusses the status of Marlins pitching prospect Robby Snelling. With the club having secured control of him through the 2032 season, how much longer until he debuts in the majors? View the full article

Welcome back to Blue Jays Clutch Plays, a recurring post that highlights the six most pivotal plays (three pitching, three hitting) from the past week of Blue Jays baseball, according to MLB's win probability model. Click here to read last week's edition. The Blue Jays have quickly been pushed into survival mode in the early portion of April, losing consecutive series to the Dodgers and Twins at home. George Springer is the latest to join a long list of regulars on the IL, fracturing his toe after fouling a ball off his foot on Saturday. Fragments of what made last year's team such a joy to watch were on display in the scrappy finale against L.A. and the relentless offensive showing to open the Minnesota series, but they still couldn't manage to make it a winning homestand. Here are the moments worth building on from another tough week. Pitching 3. Dylan Cease: Freddie Freeman Double Play, Top 1, 4/8 (+9.4% WPA) Wednesday afternoon's contest ended well for the Jays, but it didn't start on the most hopeful note. Dylan Cease fought his command, there was traffic on the bases early, and it momentarily seemed like things would go from bad to worse when Freddie Freeman hit a hanging slider on a line to the right side. Fortunately, it happened to land in Ernie Clement's glove, at which point Kyle Tucker was a deer in the headlights between first and second base. Clement flipped it harmlessly to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first to complete the double play, and Cease got out of the jam. 2. Jeff Hoffman: Freddie Freeman Strikeout, Top 9, 4/8 (+12.2% WPA) Freeman found himself up in a big spot again in the ninth with the tying run in scoring position. Ahead in the count 1-2, Jeff Hoffman elevated a fastball and blew it by him. Brandon Valenzuela hung onto the foul tip to put the Blue Jays an out away from snapping their six-game losing streak. The Opening Day home run Hoffman gave up to Shea Langeliers remains the only considerable blemish on his season; he now leads qualified AL relievers with a 48.4% strikeout rate. 1. Jeff Hoffman: Max Muncy Groundout, Top 9, 4/8 (+13.9% WPA) It can be argued that Hoffman pitched in too many high-leverage spots to start 2025, leaving him fatigued down the stretch. With the Jays starting slowly this year, it now feels like there haven't been enough spots where it makes sense to use him. Wednesday was an exception, and he delivered. He didn't make it easy for himself after Tucker and Will Smith reached with one out, but perfectly fielded Max Muncy's tapper back to the mound here to complete the save. Hitting 3. Andrés Giménez: Single, Bot 8, 4/8 (+16.6% WPA) Andrés Giménez fell behind 0-2 to Ben Casparius but sat back on a curveball in the zone and rolled it up the middle for a base hit. The ball wasn't hit hard, so Davis Schneider took third on the play, setting the table for the groundball that would score him and put the Blue Jays ahead for good. It was another big knock for Giménez, who's responsible for the Jays' offense's second and third most pivotal swings of the year so far and four of their top 10. 2. George Springer: RBI Double, Bot 7, 4/8 (+25.2% WPA) After lying dormant for over a week, the bats finally came through in a big spot in Wednesday's comeback win. Jack Dreyer missed up with a slider, and Springer shot it the other way, bouncing it off the top of the right field wall to cut the Dodgers' lead to 3-2. This left a second-and-third situation with just one out for Daulton Varsho, who would tie the game with a single. The Blue Jays squandered a golden run-scoring opportunity in the seventh inning the night before but would not let this one slip by. 1. Brandon Valenzuela: 2-Run HR, Bot 4, 4/10 (+25.4% WPA) An unlikely hero flipped the score as the Jays slugged their way to a 10-4 victory on Friday. A string of doubles and an RBI single by Giménez brought Toronto back to within a run after being down 4-0, and then Valenzuela took a hanging splitter from Simeon Woods Richardson and lined it into the visitor's bullpen for his first big league home run. It was the team's biggest moment in an effort that featured 10 unanswered runs and saw eight of the nine members of the starting lineup record a hit. This one came off the bat at 111 mph, and Valenzuela was rewarded for it, starting at catcher in all three games of the series against the Twins. View the full article

It's been a long road back to Boston for Kutter Crawford. This past Saturday, for the first time in 560 days, the 29-year-old right-hander took the mound in a professional baseball game. Crawford, who was a stalwart in the Red Sox's rotation in 2024, missed the entire 2025 season after first dealing with knee issues and then a torn tendon sheath in his right wrist that later required surgery. Pitching in a professional game for the first time since late 2024, there was some obvious rust. Crawford had some good moments and some not so great moments as he pitched three complete innings. He allowed six hits (three home runs), five earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts. Overall, he threw 60 pitches, 43 for strikes, while his fastball topped out at 93.1 mph. Noticeably, his pitch sequencing was slightly different than the last time he took the mound. Wherein 2024 he used a five-pitch mix consisting of his four-seam fastball, cutter, sweeper, splitter and curveball, Crawford did not toss a single sweeper this time out. More than rust, this may have been due to the fact he rarely uses the pitch against left-handed batters, and the Columbus Clippers’ lineup was filled with them on this particular night. Instead, he led with his fastball that averaged 91.4 mph during the outing. Along with the fastball being used 33% of the time, he gave a pretty even split to his splitter, cutter, and curveball. His cutter looked the least game-ready, as he allowed three hard-hits off it, including a home run. Hence how the average exit velocity off of the pitch sat at 107.4 mph. On the other hand, his knuckle curve and splitter were arguably best pitches of the night, as they both generated three whiffs apiece along with two strikeouts each. Keeping that up would be a huge development for his efficiency against left-handed batters. The first inning was a nightmare for Crawford, as he opened the frame with back-to-back strikeouts before allowing a single to Travis Bazzana followed up by a two-run home run to Nolan Jones. That, in turn, was followed by a solo shot by Kahlil Watson and a single from Kody Huff before Crawford finally got out of the inning. His second inning went much better, allowing just a walk to Juan Benjamin. Unfortunately, the third inning spelled more trouble, as Bazzana singled once more before Watson hit his second home run of the day to make it 5-0. Crawford finished strong, getting the next two batters out, including a strikeout of the final batter he faced. Most importantly, the right-hander will need to build up his stamina as his velocity dropped on all his pitches each inning with the exception of his cutter. Credit Crawford for battling against a lineup filled with left-handed batters (eight of the nine starters batted from the left side of the plate), but it's clear that he's still a ways off from being ready to return to the majors. View the full article

The injury bug continues to rear its ugly head for a Toronto Blue Jays team looking to piece it together through the 2026 season’s opening month. On Sunday morning, the Blue Jays placed outfielder George Springer on the injured list with a left big toe fracture, further depleting an already hurting roster. In a corresponding move, Eloy Jiménez was selected from Triple-A Buffalo to replace Springer on the active roster. Jiménez took over the designated hitter spot and hit seventh on Sunday, as the Blue Jays wrapped up a three-game series with the Minnesota Twins at the Rogers Centre. In Toronto's 8-2 loss, Jiménez went 2-for-4 with two singles and two strikeouts. The Blue Jays originally signed Jiménez to a minor league contract in September of last season after he was released from the Tampa Bay Rays organization. After appearing in just six Triple-A games for the Buffalo Bisons last year, Jiménez was brought back to the organization this past January with an invite to spring training. The 29-year-old impressed during spring training, appearing in 18 games and batting .286 with two home runs, three RBIs and a .333 OBP across 45 PA. Jiménez picked up where he left off in spring training in Triple-A with the Bisons. Through 11 games, he hit .257 with one home run and five RBIs while reaching base at a .372 clip. Jiménez is a career .269 hitter at the big league level, to go along with 95 home runs and 298 RBIs over stints with the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles organizations. The Dominican Republic native’s best season in MLB came during his rookie year, when Jiménez slugged 31 home runs for the White Sox. Jiménez’s last appearance in MLB came back in 2024, split between the White Sox and Orioles. He batted .238 with six home runs and 23 RBIs in 98 games. The right-handed hitter’s stick will determine his role with the Blue Jays. If Jiménez proves he can drive the ball with authority, then he has a chance to get consistent at-bats as manager John Schneider looks for answers on the offensive side of the ball. The Twins started right-hander Taj Bradley yesterday afternoon, so evidently, the Blue Jays aren't only planning to use Jiménez’s bat when he has the platoon advantage. View the full article

For the week, Biloxi (4-2) and Wisconsin (4-2) were series winners, while Nashville (1-5) and Wilson (1-5) came up short. Transactions: N/A Game Action: Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Gwinnett 5, Nashville 1 Box Score and Game Log Via the Sounds’ website, game details and we encourage readers to review affiliate write-ups as part of their Link Report routine: Sounds Drop Series Finale to Gwinnett Although they lost the game and it took starting RHP Carlos Rodriguez 82 pitches to cover 3 2/3 IP (1 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 Ks), it’s progress that he only conceded a leadoff homer after allowing 9 earned runs over his prior 2 starts. Rodriguez was throwing on 4 days’ rest after tossing 76 pitches in Tuesday’s contest. If the Brewers need a position player to replace Yelich (hamstring concern), the healthy 40-man MLB roster options are SS Cooper Pratt (0-for-3, walk; .452 OPS) and C Jeferson Quero (0-for-3, walk; .550 OPS). The non-MLB roster outfielders have been putting up better numbers: Luis Lara (1-for-3, triple, walk, SB; 1.007 OPS), Eddys Leonard (1-for-4, SB; .854 OPS), Greg Jones (1-for-3, walk, SB; .852 OPS). Despite being out-hit 10-4, the Sounds still had 2-on, nobody out opportunities in the 2nd, 7th and 8th innings, ultimately going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Sounds’ Extras: After RHP Kaleb Bowman (1/3 IP) stranded one baserunner for Rodriguez, the remaining bullpen of RHP Garrett Stallings, LHP Drew Rom, RHP Blake Holub and LHP Joe Corbett allowed one earned run each in from the 5th through the 8th innings. The 5’10” Leonard started at first base in this game, but that might have been out of necessity more than anything else (Tyler Black is injured; Luke Adams rested after being substituted in the 10th inning on Saturday). After Gwinnett ran ragged on Rodriguez and Quero in Tuesday’s contest (7 stolen bases in 3 1/3 IP), it’s also progress that they only stole one base in Sunday’s game. Next week’s outlook: Nashville (6-8) host Red Sox affiliate Worcester (10-4) for six games commencing on Tuesday. Biloxi Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Pensacola 4, Biloxi 2 Box Score and Game Log Via the Shuckers’ website, game details: O'Rae Extends Hit Streak to Eight, Shuckers Drop Series Finale to Blue Wahoos Also pitching on 4 days’ rest, starting RHP Jaron DeBerry was respectable over 5 innings (2 R, 4 H, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 4 Ks; 74 pitches), with the runs allowed benefiting from an infield single (first inning) and balk (5th inning). Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the 7th inning, Biloxi nearly had big inning, with all five batters reaching: OF Dasan Brown walk, OF Kay-Lan Nicasia walk, 2B Dylan O’Rae single, SS Jesus Made single, DH Blake Burke single. Unfortunately, they ran themselves out of the inning via a caught stealing, pick off and out at home. The Shuckers’ main highlights were on the defensive side of the ball: Shuckers’ Extras: O’Rae (2-for-4, HBP, SB), Burke (1-for-2, walk, HBP) and Brown (1-for-2, 2 walks, SB) reached base 3 times, but the team had no extra-base hits. The 2-out, 9th inning single allowed by LHP Mark Manfredi Sr. was his first hit allowed of 2026, though his numbers remain exceptional (0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 18.0 K/9 in 5 IP this season). After allowing 2 runs in the 6th inning, RHP Patricio Aquino (3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks) escaped that frame with a pickoff before adding 2 scoreless innings. Next week’s outlook: Biloxi (5-4) head 4.5 hours northeast to battle Braves’ affiliate Columbus (4-4) for 6 games, beginning on Tuesday. Wisconsin Pre-Game Media Notes Game One Final: Wisconsin 5, Quad Cities 3 (in 7 innings) Box Score and Game Log Game Two Final: Quad Cities 7, Wisconsin 6 (in 7 innings) Box Score and Game Log Via the Timber Rattlers’ website: Game 1 details: Rattlers Take the Opener at Quad Cities Game 2 details: Bandits Steal Game Two From Wisconsin 21-year old, 6’3” LHP Wande Torres’ first career High-A start (2nd appearance) was a success, garnering 5 strikeouts and 14 whiffs over 3 2/3 IP (2 R, 1 H, 3 BB). Torres exited with his team ahead 4-2 thanks to the homers by OF Tayden Hall and C David Garcia (videos are available within the linked Game 1 report) and an RBI double by 1B Eric Bitonti. Eight of the nine Timber Rattlers’ starters collected at least one hit in the win, with the middle infield of SS Luis Pena and 2B Daniel Dickinson collecting 2 hits each. Always-exciting RHP Yerlin Rodriguez walked 3 of 7 batters faced and added a throwing error and a wild pitch, but did not allow a relief run in 1 1/3 IP (3 Ks), while RHP Yorman Galindez earned his first career Minor League save. After out-hitting the River Bandits 10-3 in the Game 1 victory, it looked like Pena would lead them to a doubleheader sweep with his 3-for-3, 3 RBI effort in Game 2, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it. RHP Braylon Owens first career Minor League start (after an impressive Tuesday debut: 4 1/3 IP, 0 R, 8 Ks) was an up-and-down one, covering 3 innings in 66 pitches: 3 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks. He’ll likely rue the run-scoring wild pitch which allowed Quad Cities to cut the deficit to 4-3 on his last batter. Pena pushed the lead back to 6-3 with his 5th inning RBI double (videos available in the linked Game 2 report) and got himself to 3rd base on a 1-out wild pitch, but was stranded due to 2 strikeouts. Two 2-out runs for the River Bandits off RHP Jose Nova in the bottom of the 5th inning tightened the contest, before Quad Cities won the game on 3 consecutive singles off of LHP Bjorn Johnson (1 IP, 2 R, 0 Ks) in the bottom of the 7th inning. Timber Rattlers’ Extras: Absent from both games were key prospects Josh Adamczewski and Braylon Payne, who both last played on Thursday. As they’re not on the injured list, we hope that they’ll be back in action shortly. Though the team seemed intent on giving Pena one game off (excluded from Saturday’s starting lineup before the game was rained out; on the bench to start the 2nd game of Sunday’s doubleheader), he ended up playing 13 of the 14 innings on Sunday when SS Daniel Guilarte exited in the 2nd inning of Game 2. Hopefully Guilarte does not miss any time. 22-year old OF Josiah Ragsdale (a 7th round draft pick in 2025) has 6 stolen bases, 3 RBIs, 3 runs and 7 walks through 7 games of the 2026 season, but a 1-for-19 output with 9 Ks is not what anyone is expecting after hitting .300 in the Carolina League (70 at-bats) in 2025. Next week’s outlook: Wisconsin (5-3) returns home for a six-game series against Cardinals’ affiliate Peoria (3-6), with RHP Travis Smith (5 IP, 1 R, 4 Ks in his last outing) scheduled to start the opening game of the series on Tuesday. Wilson Pre-Game Media Notes Final: Salem 16, Wilson 3 Box Score and Game Log Via the Warbirds’ website, game details: Warbirds Fall in Series Finale to Salem If Wilson players are saving up their best baseball for their first-ever home series next week, perhaps that’s a good call. The home crowd probably won’t want to see their squad no-hit for 6 innings and commit 5 errors while being drubbed. Trailing 14-0, number 8 hitting DH Pedro Ibarguen and number 9 hitting OF Luiyin Alastre delivered the team’s first hits and runs on 2-out RBI hits in the 7th inning. 19-year old starting RHP Carlos Carra bounced back from his 9-run (5 earned), 1 2/3 IP Tuesday outing, but was still touched for 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits, 3 walks and 1 hit-by-pitch in this contest. Warbirds’ Extras: Carra also generated no strikeouts, but the next 3 Wilson pitchers (LHP Andrew Healy, RHP Ayendy Bravo, RHP Eric Prado) didn’t fare much better (combined 4 IP, 12 R (all earned), 9 H, 5 BB, 2 Ks). At least RHP Joshua Quezada put in a solid final shift (1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K). Next week’s outlook: The new Wilson franchise (3-6) is ready for its first-ever home game, scheduled for Tuesday at Wilson Sports and Entertainment Complex (aka “Wilson Stadium”, seating 4,500) against the Hill City Howlers (6-3), the Guardians’ Low-A affiliate. We hope that you enjoy the Minor League Link Report. On Monday, the Minor League affiliates have a travel day and the Milwaukee Brewers are also off before they host the Blue Jays on Tuesday evening. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth View the full article

Recent history tells us that the Miami Marlins are difficult to predict, but that won't stop us from trying. Welcome to a new season of Prediction Time. Once again in 2026, I will be monitoring the prognostications from our valued SuperSubs, Fish On First staffers and livestream guests. Individual article pages like this one will be created prior to every Marlins series and featured prominently on the FOF site. Consistent participation is key if you want to win this annual contest. Submissions only take a few seconds. Scoring system A "perfect" series is worth three points: Earn one point for predicting which team will win the upcoming series Earn one point for predicting the precise number of victories for each team Earn one point for predicting the “Series MVP” who accumulated the highest win probability added (WPA) during the series as calculated by FanGraphs (could pick a player from either team) Here is a reminder of what the 2025 season leaderboard looked like. FOF SuperSubs Parker Heyser and Robert Hanson currently sit atop the 2026 leaderboard, which will be updated between every Marlins series. If you are a SuperSub, leave a comment with your Prediction Time picks on this page, or join the Marlins Discord Server and submit there. We'll feature them on the upcoming Fish On First LIVE episode and track your points throughout the season! Any picks submitted prior to the first pitch of the series opener will be counted. If you are not a SuperSub, please consider signing up here to support the FOF staff. Series preview notes Probable starting pitchers: RHP Eury Pérez (MIA) vs. RHP Grant Holmes (ATL) on Monday RHP Max Meyer (MIA) vs. RHP Reynaldo López (DET) on Tuesday RHP Chris Paddack (MIA) vs. RHP Bryce Elder (ATL) on Wednesday The Marlins rank eighth in MLB with a 106 wRC+ and 12th in MLB with a 3.83 FIP. They are 3-7 in their last 10 games and have a 1-5 record on the road this season. The following Marlins players are on the injured list: Maximo Acosta (10-day IL), Griffin Conine (10-day IL), Ronny Henriquez (60-day IL), Adam Mazur (60-day IL), Christopher Morel (10-day IL), Esteury Ruiz (10-day IL) and Kyle Stowers (10-day IL). The Braves rank fourth in MLB with a 115 wRC+ and seventh in MLB with a 3.59 FIP. They are 6-4 in their last 10 games and have a 6-3 record at home this season. The following Braves players are on the injured list: Joe Jiménez (60-day IL), Ha-Seong Kim (10-day IL), Sean Murphy (10-day IL), Spencer Schwellenbach (60-day IL), AJ Smith-Shawver (60-day IL), Spencer Strider (15-day IL), Hurston Waldrep (15-day IL) and Joey Wentz (60-day IL). View the full article

Fish On First staffers react to the latest Miami Marlins series and prepare you for what lies ahead. Sunday's show was hosted by Alex Carver, accompanied by Ely Sussman. The following topics were covered: Reasons behind Sandy Alcantara's worst start of the season Otto Lopez's quiet excellence offensively Jakob Marsee laying an egg in front of family and friends in Detroit What to make of Connor Norby's mixed results How much longer will Robby Snelling have to wait for a call-up? Previewing and predicting the next series against the Atlanta Braves You can find Fish Unfiltered and Fish On First LIVE on the Fish On First YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your pods. Our next FOF LIVE episode will be Wednesday at approximately 11:00 p.m. ET following the Marlins-Braves series finale. View the full article

Having lost five in a row and with an offense needing a spark, the New York Mets are turning to journeyman outfielder Tommy Pham to invigorate the team. Pham is being called up to the Mets from Low A St. Lucie, where he has been getting into game shape, Will Sammon of The Athletic reported Sunday. Pham will join the Mets as they open a series on the road against the two-time World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. A move related to the 26-man roster will be made, but the Mets currently have three open spots on their 40-man. The 38-year-old signed a minor-league contract with the Mets on March 27 and had played five games and went 2-for-12 (.167) with a double, an RBI and three runs scored. Last year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pham had a .245/.330/.370 slash line with 10 homers and 52 RBIs in 120 games. Pham has played for 10 teams in 12 seasons, including 79 games with the Mets in 2023. The Mets' offense ranks 23rd in MLB in OPS at .658, including being shutout twice this weekend vs. the A's. The offense has struggled without superstar left fielder Juan Soto, who is on the 10-day injured list with a strained left calf. Soto is expected back around the end of the month. View the full article

The Weekly Nutshell: Well okay then! Through their first nine games of the season, the Twins much looked like the team most expected to see, opening with a 3-6 record that placed them at the bottom of the Central division. Looking ahead to matchups against Detroit and Toronto, the Twins were going to need to step it up to avoid sinking deeper here in April. They did indeed step it up, and in a big way, seizing a rare four-game series sweep at home against the Tigers before heading to Toronto and taking two of three from the defending AL champs. The Twins hit for power, pitched well, and played much more cleanly than we saw in the first few series. They took advantage of lapses while their opponents struggled to do the same. Suddenly, they've won six of seven and eight of their past 11. Now we're having some fun. Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 4/6 through Sun, 4/12 *** Record Last Week: 6-1 (Overall: 9-7) Run Differential Last Week: +16 (Overall: +14) Standing: 2nd Place in AL Central (0.5 GB) Latest Game Results Game 10 | MIN 7, DET 3: Keaschall's First Homer Sparks Win in Frigid Temps Keaschall: 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB Game 11 | MIN 4, DET 2: Bradley Outduels Skubal in Dominant Performance Bradley: 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 10 K Game 12 | MIN 8, DET 6: Twins Ambush Valdez, Hang On to Clinch Series Win Buxton: 3-4, BB Game 13 | MIN 3, DET 1: Abel's Strong Start, Lee's Clutch Hit Secure Sweep Abel: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 6 K Game 14 | TOR 10, MIN 4: Wheels Come Off for Woods Richardson and Banda Woods Richardson: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 K Game 15 | MIN 7, TOR 4: Ryan Cruises and Larnach Delivers Three-Run Blast Ryan: 7 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 5 K Game 16 | MIN 8, TOR 2: Twins Jump All Over Scherzer, Take Road Series in Rout Gray, Lee: 5 RBIs IF YOU'D RATHER LISTEN TO THE WEEK IN REVIEW THAN READ IT, YOU CAN GET IT IN AUDIO FORM! FIND THE LATEST EPISODE ON OUR PODCAST PAGE, AS WELL AS ON APPLE AND SPOTIFY. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNELS SO YOU DON'T MISS OUT! YOU CAN ALSO WATCH OUR LIVESTREAM WITH LOU HENNESY BELOW. NEWS & NOTES The Twins made their first IL moves since the season began on Saturday, placing third baseman Royce Lewis and reliever Cody Laweryson on the shelf. Utilityman Ryan Kreidler and right-hander Andrew Morris were called up from Triple-A as replacements. Lewis tweaked his knee on a swing in Thursday's game, later diagnosed as a sprain, while Laweryson is dealing with a forearm strain. Some fans expressed dismay to see Kreidler called up instead of, say, Kaelen Culpepper, but the reality is that Culpepper has only played about a dozen games at Triple-A. He's a very important prospect and his timeline should be dictated by development rather than the major-league team's needs, especially if those those needs are short-term in nature. That is hopefully the case for Lewis, who sounds likely to miss the minimum 10 days if things go to plan. Laweryson's timeline is less clear. Forearm strains are always concerning. The timing is tough because he was coming off a couple really strong appearances in the Detroit series, including his first career save on Monday. Morris, ranked by Twins Daily as the #12 prospect in the system, will provide length with the ability to pitch multiple innings. He did so in his MLB debut on Sunday, throwing two-innings of one-run ball while firing a fastball in the upper 90s. HIGHLIGHTS The Twins were failing to get anything done against left-handed starters ... up until they faced Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez — the $50 million duo atop Detroit's rotation — and knocked them around for 12 earned runs in 9 ⅓ innings, defeating them both on the way to a stunning sweep over the Tigers. Some of Minnesota's righty bats finally came alive. Luke Keaschall hit his first homer of the season on Monday and added RBIs in the next two games. Byron Buxton broke out of his slump with a three-hit game on Wednesday, with Lewis also driving in a pair. Brooks Lee delivered a clutch go-ahead hit on Thursday, and channeled the momentum into two home runs and a two-run double in Toronto. He lifted his OPS from .417 at the start of the week to .694 by the end. A desperately needed awakening for Lee at the plate. There were plenty of good signs from the offense, which averaged 5.9 runs per game on the week and now ranks second in the American League in scoring. But the rotation led the way against Detroit, with Minnesota's four starters combining to allow just five earned runs on 18 hits in 23 innings (1.95 ERA), with zero homers. Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober were good, Mick Abel was very good, and Taj Bradley was once again great. Bradley continues to look better and better each time out, and was flat-out dominant on Tuesday, holding the Tigers to one run in 6 ⅓ innings with 10 strikeouts and zero walks. After outperforming one of the best pitchers in the game on Tuesday, Bradley followed up by outperforming one of the best pitchers of this generation on Sunday, picking up another win against Max Scherzer and the Blue Jays. Bradley battled major control issues in this one, walking four and throwing just 62 of 106 pitches for strikes. But in a way it was maybe his most impressive start yet, because he worked out of self-created jams and found the zone when he needed to. It was a great indicator of how far he's come. Minnesota's patchwork bullpen is getting it done for now. They held close leads in the Detroit series, with contributors emerging from every corner and a different reliever notching the save in each win. Laweryson got five big outs to close out Monday's game. Newcomer Garrett Acton picked up the win on Thursday, tossing two critical innings in relief of Abel to set up Lee's late-game heroics. Taylor Rogers, Eric Orze and Kody Fundeburk were all effective in their opportunities, and Derek Shelton seemed to be putting them in the right spots. I'm not sure how long this grab-bag relief corps will be able to sustain its performance, but you've got to commend them for what they've been able to get done thus far. A few other performances worth highlighting from an outstanding 6-1 week for the Twins: Ryan Jeffers was a run-producing machine, driving in seven across his four starts behind the plate while impacting games with his prolific and proficient pitch-challenging. He tallied three hits, including a homer, in the opener against Toronto, and is taking a lot of high-quality at-bats. Trevor Larnach hasn't had a ton of opportunity to play due to the frequency of left-handed opposing starters, but he's definitely taking advantage of his spots. He launched a big three-run homer off lefty Eric Lauer to break Saturday's game open, and on the season he has seven walks compared to four strikeouts, reflecting masterful control of the zone. Austin Martin is getting on base relentlessly, which is exactly what the Twins need him to do. He recorded five walks and four hits last week, boosting his batting average to .300 and his OBP to .500 in the young season, and his defense in the outfield has looked much-improved. On Friday he doubled for his first extra-base hit of the season; we'll take whatever glimpses of pop we can get. Finally, Josh Bell continues to anchor the lineup with consistently fantastic production. He started in the middle of the order for all seven games and went 8-for-24 with a double, a homer, and five RBIs. Bell has been all that was advertised and then some. LOWLIGHTS Simeon Woods Richardson pitched really well through his first two starts, but felt like a little bit of a ticking time bomb. His swing-and-miss rate was among the lowest in the league, and his stuff was grading out very poorly according to qualitative models. In Toronto, the bottom fell out. Staked an early lead on home runs from Jeffers and Lee, Woods Richardson was hit hard in a four-run fourth that erased the team's advantage. He was replaced by Anthony Banda, another guy plagued by quality-of-stuff issues — his fastball is down nearly three full MPH from last year. Banda was touched up for three earned runs in 1 ⅔ on Friday, after yielding four earned runs while recording just two outs against Detroit on Wednesday. His ERA sits at 9.39 through eight appearances. Maybe we're seeing why the Dodgers were willing to let him go. While many hitters are coming around and finding success at the plate, James Outman is not among them. He's still searching for his first hit of the season after going 0-for-9 with six strikeouts last week. Outman has been overmatched and doesn't really appear to have much of a chance up there. To some extent I can give him some lenience — he's playing somewhat rarely and it can be hard to find your timing or get into any groove with such sporadic opportunities. But that's the role. And while it's not a role that demands much offensively, the Twins need someone who can pose some kind of threat at the plate when he's in the lineup. Lou and I discussed some possible options and solutions in the livestream and podcast. TRENDING STORYLINE We'll see how the Twins handle the left side of their infield in the absence of Lewis. Kreidler and Tristan Gray have traded off starts based on matchups thus far, and that's probably a fair expectation going forward. I wondered if we might see Kreidler step in at shortstop with Lee sliding to third against lefties — probably a better defensive alignment — but so far Shelton has seen fit to keep Lee home at shortstop. Kreidler made a very slick play in his first start at the hot corner, showcasing what he brings to the table defensively. Depending on how long Lewis is out, this could be a great opportunity for Gray to get some playing time and show what he can do. He's always been bit of a fringy player who's struggled to get consistent playing time in the majors, but he's got a really intriguing power tool and we've already seen that on display. He hit another big three-run homer on Sunday and has driven in 11 runs through eight games played, helping key the surprising early success of this offense. Unfortunately, the nature of the upcoming schedule might make it hard for the lefty-swinging Gray to draw regular starts in the near future (see below), but with each eye-catching moment he's establishing himself as a legitimate top backup behind Lewis at third, which as we've seen is a pretty important role. LOOKING AHEAD The parade of left-handers continues, with four more the docket next week, starting with one of the game's best in Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet. The Twins seem to have turned a bit of a corner against southpaws this past week, so we'll see if they can channel that forward into their lefty-stacked matchups against Boston and Cincinnati at Target Field. MONDAY, APRIL 13: RED SOX @ TWINS — LHP Garrett Crochet v. RHP Bailey Ober TUESDAY, APRIL 14: RED SOX @ TWINS — RHP Sonny Gray v. RHP Mick Abel WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15: RED SOX @ TWINS — LHP Connelly Early v. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson FRIDAY, APRIL 17: REDS @ TWINS — LHP Brandon Williamson v. RHP Joe Ryan SATURDAY, APRIL 18: REDS @ TWINS — LHP Andrew Abbott v. RHP Taj Bradley SUNDAY, APRIL 19: REDS @ TWINS — RHP Brady Singer v. RHP Bailey Ober View the full article

The minor-league season is filled with a series of ups and downs. That's normal in development, and then it's not unusual in the big leagues because the development continues. Look only at Sunday's Saints game to see an extreme high and an extreme low. It's going to happen. TRANSACTIONS Not transactions on Sunday. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 8, Toledo 11 Box Score Kyler Fedko had an amazing day, powering the Saints to an early lead and helped build upon it. The Saints held an 8-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Marco Raya came on to protect the lead. In 5 2/3 innings before Sunday, he had given up three runs (2 earned) on six hits and two walks. On Sunday, he just didn’t have control or command of any of his pitches. He recorded just one out and gave up six runs on three hits and three walks. It started with a home run by Ben Malgeri. Then a walk, a double, a single, a walk. Raya made one of the more athletic plays by a pitcher, fielding a bunch, turning and throwing a strike to third base for the first out. It was followed by a walk to load the bases. That’s when Dan Altavilla came into the game. On a 2-1 pitch, Cal Stevenson crushed a 96 mph fastball for a walkoff grand slam. That’s a tough way to end a week on the road. Let’s go back in the game. Lefty Kendry Rojas made his first Saints start. He tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked one and had three strikeouts. Altavilla was the seventh reliever used in the game. Yeah, let’s just jump to the offense. In the top of the third, Eric Wagaman singled to lead off the inning. Kyler Fedko followed with his first home run of the season (429 feet). David Banuelos followed with a walk. With one out, Walker Jenkins singled to drive in Banuelos. Gabriel Gonzalez doubled Jenkins to third. Alan Roden drove in both of them with a double to make it 5-0. With one out in the top of the fourth, Kyler Fedko hit his second home run of the game (437 feet) and of the season. That made it 6-0 Saints. In the top of the sixth inning, the first two batters got out. Kyler Fedko hit his third home run of the game (397 feet), his third home run of the season. It was big because it gave the Saints a 7-4 lead. As noted in the below tweet, Fedko is the fifth player in Saints franchise history to hit three home runs in a game. The others are Jose Miranda, Brent Rooker, Spencer Steer, and Chris Williams. With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Eric Wagaman walked. Kyler Fedko came up and tripled to center field (411 feet) to drive in the Saints eighth run. Fedko went 4-for-4 with a triple and three home runs. He scored three runs and drove in five runs. Walker Jenkins went 3-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases. Alan Roden went 1-for-3 with two walks and his third double. Gabriel Gonzalez, who made his first start at first base, added this third double of the season. WIND SURGE WISDOM Wichita 5, Arkansas 3 (11 innings) Box Score This game was really a well-pitched game. In fact, there was no score through the first six innings. Ty Langenberg started and struck out eight batters over five shutout innings. He gave up four hits and walked none. 48 of his 65 pitches were strikes (73.8%) It was impressive as he was pitching on three days' rest. William Fleming made his first appearance since joining the Twins organization earlier in the week. The 6-6, 220 pound, 27-year-old, right-hander struck out one in a scoreless sixth inning. Jarret Whorff came on for the seventh inning and gave up two runs on two hits. He walked two and had two strikeouts. With one out in the top of the eighth, Billy Amick singled. With two outs, he moved to second on a single by Andrew Cossetti. Ricardo Olivar followed with a single to center to drive in Amick and make it 2-1. In the top of the ninth, Kyle DeBarge led off with a walk. Ben Ross singled to left. Hendry Mendez grounded to first. Ross was out at second, but Mendez beat the relay throw. With two outs, Amick singled to left to drive in DeBarge with the tying run and make it 2-2. Extra Innings! Garrett Spain started the inning as the Manfred Man at second base. With two outs, Spain was still on second. Jose Salas picked up his teammates. He lined a single to right to drive in Spain with the go-ahead run. Jaylen Nowlin struck out three batters over two scoreless innings. Ricky Castro came in for the 10th inning. The tying run scored quickly, and after an intentional walk to load the bases, he coaxed a ground ball back to the mound, starting a 1-2-3 double play and sending the game to the 11th inning. DeBarge started the inning at second base. Ben Ross singled to left and moved DeBarge to third base. Ross stole second. Hendry Mendez followed with a ground-rule double to make it 5-3. Castro went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 11th to finish off the Wind Surge win. Ben Ross went 2-for-5. He has at least one hit in all nine games. He’s hitting .444 with an OPS of 1.139. He also now has five stolen bases. Billy Amick went 2-for-4 with a walk. KERNELS CHRONICLE Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 15 Box Score This was a rough one for the Kernels. They gave up three runs in the second, five runs in the fourth, and six more runs in the seventh inning. Three big innings for a team, and there’s a good chance that team will win. It might even surprise you to know that the Kernels had a 3-0 lead after one-and-a-half innings. Eduardo Tait scored on a balk in the top of the first inning. Then in the top of the second, with Andy Lugo on base, Miguel Briceno hit his first home run of the season to make it 3-0. Michael Ross made the start. In two innings, he gave up three runs on four hits. Brent Francisco came on and gave up six runs on four hits (including 2 homers) and two walks. Christian Becerra walked two but got the final two outs of the fourth inning. Cody Peschl and Nick Trabacchi. Ivran Romero came in for the top of the seventh. He got one out and was charged with six runs on five hits and a walk. Eston Stull got the final five outs. The Kernels added a run in the fifth inning. Miguel Briceno singled, went to third on a Jacob McCombs doubled him to third, and Tait drove him in with a sacrifice fly. In the top of the eighth, Briceno lined a single to left to drive in Danny De Andrade with the fifth run. Tait went 2-for-5. Miguel Briceno led the offense by going 4-for-4 with two runs scored and three driven in. We haven’t written much about Miguel Briceno yet this season, so here is a quick background. He signed in July of 2019 with the Milwaukee Brewers and made his pro debut in 2021. The Twins selected him in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft. He played in 59 games for Fort Myers in 2025. Unfortunately, in early July his season ended when he was placed on the 60-Day Injured List. He hasn’t had much opportunity this season with the Kernels. Last Sunday, he got one pitch hit at-bat. On Friday, he pinch ran and scored a run. Sunday was his first start of the season. MIGHTY MATTERS Ft. Myers 9, Jupiter 3 Box Score The Mighty Mussels took an early lead. They gave it back in the middle innings, but then the bats jumped back to life late in the game. Eric Hammond made the start for the Mussels. He was drafted by the Diamondbacks late in the 2021 draft but chose to pitch at Georgia. Four seasons later, he went undrafted, but the Twins signed him in early August as a non-drafted free agent. His first appearance was on Tuesday with two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. On Sunday, he started and tossed three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked on and had four strikeouts. The Mussels provided him with some run support in the second inning. Jayson Bass and Ryan Sprock started the inning with singles. Bryan Acuna followed with an RBI single to center. With one out, Jorel Ortega was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Dameury Pena’s hot start continued. He drove a single to right to drive in a second run. Quentin Young flew out to right field. On the play, Ortega was thrown out trying to advance to second. However, Acuna crossed the plate first to make it 3-0. Jake Murray, a non-drafted free agent in 2025 out of Campbell, came in to start the fourth inning. He faced three batters in the fourth. He walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the fifth inning, but he got an infield pop out followed by a pair of strikeouts. The lefty came out to start the sixth inning, but the leadoff man reached on an error. At that point, Jordan Smith brought Mitch Mueller into the game. Mueller signed as a non-drafted free agent from Utah Valley in March of 2025. He was greeted by a single and then issued a walk to load the bases. Mueller got a ground ball to first base for the out, but a throwing error allowed two runners to score on the play. After a walk, the tying run scored on a sacrifice fly. He got a strikeout to end that inning, but the score was now 3-3. How would the young Mussel hitters respond? Jorel Ortega led off the top of the seventh with a single. Pena was hit by a pitch. After a pitching change and a strikeout, JP Smith walked to load the bases. Ortega scored on a wild pitch to give the Mussels a lead. Eduardo Beltre walked to re-load the bases. The runners all moved up a base, and Dameury Pena scored on a balk. The chance for a grand slam was gone, but Jayson Bass hit a ball 100 mph and 400 feet, beyond the fence in right-center field and settled for a three-run homer. It was his first of the season and gave his team an 8-3 lead. Adam Falinski, who signed as a minor-league free agent in July of 2025, worked the final three innings for Fort Myers. He walked three and gave up three hits but gave up no runs and recorded his second save. Bryan Acuna went 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base. He is now hitting .389. Ortega went 1-for-3 and was hit by two pitches. Dameuery Pena went 2-for-4 and was hit by a pitch. His season average now sits at .476. Jayson Bass went 2-for-5 with the three-run homer. PLAYERS OF THE DAY Hitter of the Day Kyler Fedko (St. Paul): 4-for-4, 3B(1), 3-HR(3), 3 R, 5 RBI. Pitcher of the Day Ty Langenberg (Wichita): 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 65 pitches, 48 strikes (73.8%) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (St. Paul) - 3-for-4, BB, R, RBI, 2 SB(3) (batted second, DHd) #2 - IF Kaelen Culpepper (St. Paul) - 0-for-5, K (led off, played 2B) #3 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 0-for-4, 2 K (batted sixth, played CF) #4 - C Eduardo Tait (Cedar Rapids) - 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2 K (batted second, catcher) #5 - LHP Connor Prielipp (St. Paul) - Did Not Pitch #6 - LHP Dasan Hill (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Pitch #7 - OF Gabriel Gonzalez (St. Paul) - 1-for-5, 2B(3), K (Batted fourth, played 1B) #8 - LHP Kendry Rojas (St. Paul) - 2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 48 pitches, 30 strikes (62.5%) #9 - SS Marek Houston (Cedar Rapids) - Did Not Play. #10 - RHP Charlee Soto (Cedar Rapids) - Injured List #11 - RHP Riley Quick (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch #12 - RHP Andrew Morris (Minnesota) - MLB Debut. 3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 67 pitches, 50 strikes (74.6%) #13 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids) - 1-for-5, 2 K, E(4) (batted fourth, played SS). #14 - 3B/SS Quentin Young (Ft. Myers) - 0-for-4, SF RBI, 2 K, E(6) (batted third, played SS) #15 - RHP Marco Raya (St. Paul) - 0.1 IP, 3 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 29 pitches, 15 strikes (51.7%) #16 - OF Hendry Mendez (Wichita) - 1-for-5, 2B(2), 2 RBI (batted third, played LF) #17 - 2B/OF Kyle DeBarge (Wichita) - 0-for-4, BB, 2 R, 3 K (batted first, played 2B) #18 - RHP C.J. Culpepper (Wichita) - Did Not Pitch #19 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Cedar Rapids) - 0-for-3, 2 BB, K (batted third, LF, then CF) #20 - RHP James Ellwanger (Ft. Myers) - Did Not Pitch UPCOMING PROBABLES Tuesday: Lehigh Valley @ St. Paul (6:37 pm CT) - TBD Springfield @ Wichita (6:05 pm CT) - TBD Quad Cities @ Cedar Rapids (6:05 pm CT) - TBD Lakeland @ Ft. Myers (6:05 CT) - TBD CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 9-7 St. Paul Saints: 5-9 Wichita Wind Surge: 4-5 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 5-4 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 6-3 FCL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, May 4) DSL Twins: 0-0 (season begins Monday, June 1) Please feel free to ask questions about the teams, the rosters, and discuss today’s games, or anything else Twins minor-league related! View the full article

Weekly Snapshot: Record Last Week: 1-5 (Overall: 8-7) Run Scored Last Week: 20 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 32 Standing: 4th in NL Central *** Game 10 (4/6) | MIL 8, BOS 6 Game 11 (4/7) | BOS 3, MIL 2 Game 12 (4/8) | BOS 5, MIL 0 Game 13 (4/10) | WSN 7, MIL 3 Game 14 (4/11) | WSN 3, MIL 1 Game 15 (4/12) | WSN 8, MIL 6 *** Game 10 | Brewers 8, Red Sox 6 MIL Starter: Brandon Woodruff (5.2 IP, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) Top Performers: Christian Yelich (3 H, BB, 2B, RBI) Garett Mitchell (2 H, 2 RBI) Sal Frelick (2 H, BB, RBI) It was a dramatic kickoff to the week for the Brewers, as a rare trip to Boston saw a reignition of an old feud with Wilson Contreras. Behind all that drama, it was Brandon Woodruff who took the ball and labored through 5 2/3 innings in game one, although at the end of the night, it was Garett Mitchell and the pesky Brewers' offense who broke through late to pick Woody up. Garett Mitchell’s go-ahead knock Game 11 | Red Sox 3, Brewers 2 MIL Starter: Jacob Misiorowski (5.1 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 ER, 10 K) Top Performers: DL Hall (2.1 IP, H, BB, 0 ER, K) Gary Sánchez (H, BB) Tuesday’s contest saw Jacob Misiorowski earn his third start of the young season, and for Misiorowski, it was two different tales smashed into one. The first five innings of the game were flat-out dominant, as the young righty recorded 10 strikeouts and kept Boston off the scoreboard. In the sixth, though, he lost all command. Misiorowski only recorded one out, walked three, and left the game only to see all three of those runners come around to score. That would be all Boston needed, as behind the Miz, things didn’t fare much better. Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet quieted the Brewers' offense, twirling 6.1 innings of two-run ball. Misiorowski’s 10 K’s Game 12 | Red Sox 5, Brewers 0 MIL Starter: Shane Drohan (2.2 IP, 3 H, 4 BB, 3 ER, 2 K) Top Performers: Grant Anderson (1.1 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 ER, K) Aaron Ashby (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K) The offense stayed cold for Wednesday’s rubber match, as another old foe in Sonny Gray shut down the Milwaukee offense. That spoiled the major league debut of Shane Drohan, who, after two solid innings, found himself in a similar situation as Misiorowski the night before; walking multiple batters and exiting the game without finishing the inning he started. Garett Mitchell’s tumbling grab Game 13 | Nationals 7, Brewers 3 MIL Starter: Aaron Ashby (2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 K) Top Performers: Jake Bauers (2 H, BB, HR, 3 RBI) Aaron Ashby and Chad Patrick were the opener/bulk pairing for the Brewers in the series opener against Washington, a move that saw Ashby surrender two early runs and Patrick twirl three scoreless innings behind him. It seemed as if the ploy for Pat Murphy had worked, but a late implosion at the hands of Trevor Megill blew what was a small lead from a struggling offense. Jake Bauers’ 3-run home run (+26.5 WPA%) Game 14 | Nationals 3, Brewers 1 MIL Starter: Kyle Harrison (4.1 IP, 4 H, BB, 2 ER, K) Top Performers: William Contreras (H, HR, RBI) The Brewer bats remained cold into the weekend, as Nat’s starter Foster Griffin allowed just one hit in his stringent effort against the Crew, while Milwaukee starter Kyle Harrison battled through an early injury scare in his 4.1 innings of work. Unfortunately, his gutsy outing wasn’t rewarded, as it wasn’t until the 9th inning that the Brewers managed to scrape across a run, and by then, their last rally fell short. William Contreras’ solo homer (+5.2 WP%) Game 15 | Nationals 8, Brewers 6 MIL Starter: Brandon Woodruff (6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 6 K) Top Performers: Brice Turang (3 H, BB, 2 HR, 2 RBI) Gary Sánchez (H, HR, 3 RBI) Jake Bauers (2 H, HR, RBI) It was the bullpen's turn to spoil a win in Milwaukee, as on Sunday, a quality start from Brandon Woodruff was squandered by the pesky Nationals, scoring six runs late. On the offensive side, there were some signs of life, though, as Brice Turang recorded the Brewers' first multi-homer game of the season, and both Gary Sanchez and Jake Bauers went deep as well. Turang's second homer of the day (+15.0 WP%) Transactions: 04/10/26 - Recalled RHP Easton McGee from AAA Nashville. 04/09/26 - Signed free agent RHP Reiss Knehr to a minor league contract. 04/09/26 - Optioned LHP Shane Drohan to AAA Nashville. 04/08/26 - Traded RF Steward Berroa to Philadelphia Phillies for cash. 04/06/26 - Placed LHP Jared Koenig on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow sprain. (Retroactive to April 5, 2026) 04/06/26 - Recalled LHP Shane Drohan from AAA Nashville. Notes Christian Yelich left Sunday’s game with left hamstring tightness. His status for the future is currently unknown, although manager Pat Murphy was not optimistic about Yelich avoiding an injury. Both Brand Sproat and Kyle Harrison were being evaluated for Knee injuries after Saturday's game; however, it seems both have avoided any major injury. Looking Ahead: Tuesday, 4/14 - Blue Jays @ Brewers - 6:40 pm CDT Wednesday, 4/15 - Blue Jays @ Brewers - 6:40 pm CDT Thursday, 4/16 - Blue Jays @ Brewers - 12:40 pm CDT Friday, 4/17 - Brewers @ Marlins - 6:10 pm CDT Saturday, 4/18 - Brewers @ Marlins - 3:10 pm CDT Sunday, 4/19 - Brewers @ Marlins - 12:40 pm CDT View the full article

The Miami Marlins fell behind early and stayed behind in losing to the Detroit Tigers on both Friday and Saturday. Looking to avoid the sweep on Sunday, they had to feel good about having their ace, Sandy Alcantara, on the mound. Unfortunately, that optimism was quelled by the notion of facing two-time, reigning AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal. For the first two-thirds of the game, the Marlins offense may as well have just stayed home. Carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning, it would be Austin Slater, in solely due to Skubal's left-handedness, who dunked a single into center field to get Miami in the hit column. Skubal wound up tossing 6 ⅔ innings of one-run ball in Detroit's 8-2 win over Miami, clinching a series sweep. In his four starts to begin the season, Skubal has completed six innings in three of them. In his two prior outings against the Marlins, Skubal owned an ERA of 9.00. Alcantara's afternoon would not be smooth sailing, as the former Cy Young winner allowed seven runs in six innings. In his three starts before Sunday, Alcantara allowed just two earned runs, posting a 0.74 ERA in what has been a resurgent season for him. On the day, Alcantara allowed 15 hard-hit balls, all on each pitch in his arsenal. "Tough series this weekend," noted manager Clayton McCullough. "This is just part of the season, so the positive is that this part is over...All we can try to do is play better tomorrow," continued McCullough. With the loss, Miami falls to 8-8, the first time they've been .500 since Opening Day. In the weekend series, Miami went 0-for-16 with runners in scoring position. After retiring Kevin McGonigle and Gleyber Torres to begin his outing, back-to-back singles would come back to bite Alcantara, as Skubal's battery mate, Dillon Dingler, launched his third home run of the season. Alcantara would settle into the tune of scoreless frames two through four before McGonigle, a .322 hitter in his first big league season, would tag him for his first career home run. On the day, the Tigers would find the outfield seats three times against Alcantara, marking the seventh time he's allowed as many home runs in a single outing. Entering this series, the Marlins offense was above-average in most offensive categories. Whatever excuses you'd like to apply to their struggles at Comerica Park, whether it be the low temperatures, solid quality of competition or absence of newly injured Griffin Conine, the end result was an abysmal output of only three runs. That makes this Miami's lowest-scoring series in nearly a calendar year (3 R vs. SF from 5/30-6/1/25). Looking Ahead The Marlins' road trip will continue with a stop in Atlanta, where they'll meet the Braves for the first time this season on Monday. Eury Pérez (1-1, 5.06 ERA) will look to overcome his road woes in the series opener. In 23 career starts away from loanDepot park, the soon-to-be 23-year-old owns a 5.02 ERA, nearly double the 2.59 mark he's posted at home. Opposing him, Grant Holmes (1-1, 2.55 ERA) will make his fourth career start against Miami, whom he owns a 3.14 ERA against. First pitch from Truist Park is slated for 7:15 EST. View the full article

Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Taj Bradley: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K (106 Pitches, 62 Strikes, 58.5%) Home Runs: Tristan Gray (2), Kody Clemens (2) Top 3 WPA: Gray (0.25), Matt Wallner (0.10), Josh Bell (0.07) Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant): In a baseball landscape in which no team (other than the Dodgers, perhaps) really looks that impressive, the Twins had mjuddled their way to 8-7 entering Sunday, after sweeping the Tigers and splitting the first two games against the AL Champion Blue Jays. Adding the competent veteran bats of Josh Bell and Victor Caratini has helped, but the starting rotation has been the team's greatest strength—despite the absence of injured ace Pablo López. Chief among the early rotation success stories has been Taj Bradley, who was utterly dominant against Detroit on Tuesday night, striking out 10 and working into the seventh inning. His command of his 91-MPH splitter (in conjunction with his high-octane fastball) has unlocked the long-dormant upside that made him a top-50 prospect just a few years ago. Opposing Bradley was the withered husk of Max Scherzer, who came in seeking strikeout number 3,500 for his career. Scherzer had an MRI on his right forearm after leaving his most recent start. The MRI was "clean," but that's like saying a politician over 80 passed a cognitive test. In any case, Scherzer worked a smooth first inning. That was not the case for Bradley. Ernie Clement led off and roped a double down the left-field line, and Dalton Varsho singled past a diving Luke Keaschall, making the score 1-0 almost instantly. Bradley's command was all over the place, which led to falling behind hitters. He was lucky to get away with a few hanging breaking balls. He did bear down and got Jesús Sánchez to tap into a double play. A walk would follow before Bradley got the strikeout on an elevated fastball to Nathan Lukes to end the frame. That was key, because Tristan Gray was due up in the second. With two runners on, Gray got a cutter to his liking and smashed it over the bullpen in right field to make the score 3-1 Twins. At his peak, Scherzer was ruthlessly efficient, but he did tend to give up a home run or two—making him similar to fellow legends Justin Verlander and Johan Santana. That number has spiked in recent years, however, and Kody Clemens led off the third with a 417-foot moonshot off a Scherzer slider left up in the zone. The damage wouldn't end there. Trevor Larnach and Keaschall singled, followed by a walk to Josh Bell. Matt Wallner then laced a single to right, Caratini hit a sacrifice fly, and Brooks Lee scorched a two-run double down the left-field line. All of a sudden, it was 8-1 Twins. Scherzer was done after 2 1/3 innings; the Lee double came off of reliever Joe Mantiply. Bradley appeared a little rusty after the long layoff, falling behind every hitter he faced in the third, but got Sánchez swinging on what would have been ball four, and Kazuma Okamoto flied out harmlessly on a 3-1 fastball that ended the inning. Bradley just couldn't land strikes with anything but his fastball. Eloy Jiménez sat on the pitch and turned around a 97-MPH heater for a sharp single in the fourth, and Andrés Giménez hit a fastball on the ground that Keaschall made a nice play on to retire the lead runner. Bradley threw fastball after fastball to the nine-hole hitter, Brandon Valenzuela, on 3-2, before throwing a non-competitive curveball high and out of the zone. On the ropes, he threw a couple of cutters in the middle of the zone to get ahead of Clement, before a curveball was laced on a line—right to Gray at third base to end the inning (a .720 expected batting average). The Twins are in the midst of playing quite a few games in a row, which may have played into Derek Shelton allowing Bradley to pitch the fifth. Bradley fell behind Varsho 3-0 before allowing a rocket double down the right-field line to start the frame. He retired Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a splitter and struck out Sÿnchez on a challenge fastball. He then threw one of his better cutters of the day to strike out the struggling Okamoto. His ERA won't rise much today, but this was Bradley's worst start of the year, by far. His last inning was better, as he at least got the Blue Jays hitters off his fastball a little by landing some cutters for strikes. On one hand, he held a solid Toronto lineup to one run, but on the other hand, different sequencing and more batted-ball luck could have resulted in a brutal outing given his general lack of command. But that's showbiz. Andrew Morris made his debut in the sixth and looked good, hitting 98 MPH on his fastball; staying in the zone (for the most part); and dropping a sharp, slow curveball at 75-76 MPH that kept hitters honest—except for Giménez, who stayed on a curveball and roped it into the corner because he is not an honest man. Morris also seems to come from the Joe Ryan school of reacting to everything that happens in pretty comical ways. He got out of the sixth, but ran into some trouble in the seventh and eighth, with spottier command and some louder contact. He also threw a lot of pitches (67) over his three innings of work. Things to Track: The defense was good, with some nice plays made by Keaschall and Gray on the infield that kept innings from mushrooming. James Outman went hitless again. He still does not have a hit in 2026. Trading Brock Stewart for him was one of the most inconsequential (but still frustrating, somehow?) transactions in recent memory. Gray has 11 RBIs, second on the team to Bell, who has 12. Lee has been hitting well lately, but it seems a little precious, kinda like Bartolo Colón hitting that one home run. We'll see how long it lasts, but if this team somehow remains competitive, Kaelen Culpepper might be the better option, pushing Lee to a utility role. What’s Next: The Twins host the Red Sox as Bailey Ober (1-0, 5.27 ERA) takes on Garrett Crochet (2-1, 3.12 ERA). The Red Sox have been cold to start the year, but have tons of talent, with a lot of hitters with good track records who have yet to get going. The Twins' porous bullpen might be just the thing to warm those bats up—but so far, that pen has been surprisingly competent. Postgame Interviews: Coming soon. Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Morris 0 0 0 0 67 67 Banda 21 0 36 0 0 57 Funderburk 20 0 0 17 0 37 Acton 0 35 0 0 0 35 Topa 10 0 12 0 12 34 Sands 9 0 0 22 0 31 Rogers 0 0 30 0 0 30 Orze 0 14 0 0 0 14 View the full article