[jksander]

May 1, 2026: Brandon Pfaadt (2-0, 3.93 ERA, 18.1 IP, 16 K’s ,0.98 WHIP) started against Baltimore’s Grayson Rodriguez (3-0, 2.84 ERA, 25.1 IP, 29 K’s, 1.03 WHIP), and this time our offense was awake from the start ... Rafaela hit an RBI single that scored Kjerstad, and then Mike Tauchman hit a three-run homer to put us up 4-0 heading into the second inning! Baltimore got on the board in the top of the second with a two-out RBI single by Jackson Holliday, and an RBI single by Samuel Basallo, also on two outs, got them to within two runs in the top of the fourth. Pfaadt got the final out, but was not going to get to qualify for the win in this one. Syndergaard took over in the fifth inning, still leading 4-2, and his first batter faced homered out of right to cut our lead to one run ... thanks a ton, Marcell Ozuna ... and Otto Lopez singled in a run as the former White Sox second baseman tied the game at four, but a sac-fly by Kjerstad in the bottom of the inning got us back on top, leading 5-4 in the top of the sixth as Luis Sanchez took over on the mound. Too bad Holliday led off in the inning with a solo homer out of left to blow the save immediately, and Julian Merryweather took the mound in the seventh, and the Orioles pounced, taking the lead off an RBI double by Enrique Bradfield Jr that put them up 7-5 as we went into the stretch. Trevor Rogers helped us load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning, letting Gallo single into right and then walking Valdes and Kim ... but their replacement, Joel Payamps, shut our next three batters down to strand them there. Eduard Bazardo got us two outs in the eighth but had to leave with an undisclosed injury, so Jose Alvardo got us into the bottom of the inning, and we got a run back in the bottom of the eighth with a single by Brandon Valenzuela! They walked Gallo to put Valenzuela in scoring position, and we went into the top of the ninth battling hard but trailing by a run. Alvarado got three quick outs, two via swinging strike, to get us into the bottom of the inning with a chance. Meidroth led off with a single up the middle, but no rally materialized as we went down quietly, losing a hard-fought battle 7-6. Sanchez blew his first save and Merryweather took the loss, falling to 0-3 with a 5.59 ERA thanks to three hits, a strikeout and a run in his inning. They outhit us 14-8 so it was amazing we were in this one at all ... and walks weren’t a huge factor, we had six of those to their five. Rafaela led the offense with a hit, a walk, two runs and an RBI, while Kjerstad the former Oriole added a hit, a run and an RBI.

May 2, 2026: Eduard Bazardo’s injury remains undetermined from last night’s battle against the Orioles. Sean Burke (1-2, 5.12 ERA, 19.1 IP, 19 K’s, 1.40 WHIP) got the start against Garrett Whitlock (1-0, 4.01 ERA, 24.2 IP, 27 K’s, 0.93 WHIP), and Baltimore took the lead in the top of the third with a two-run homer out of right by Colton Cowser. Burke finished the inning with three strikeouts in a row, but was wearing down quickly and would not make it into a fourth inning. Jonathan Cannon came out to throw in the fourth inning, and with two outs in the bottom of the fourth we tied it up with a two-run homer out of right by Joey Gallo! Miguel Vargas hit a two-run bomb out of center that put us into the lead in the bottom of the fifth, and Chase Meidroth quickly added on with an RBI single on two outs, and we went into the top of the sixth leading 5-2! They got two back quickly with an RBI double by Dylan Carlson in the top of the sixth, and a Holliday single drove in the tying run ... we just can’t handle having leads! Jose Alvarado took over in the top of the seventh still tied up at five each, and he got us into the stretch without losing control, though our bullpen’s tiredness was going to make getting some hits critical in this one. Noah Syndergaard came out to pitch in the eighth, still tied, and with two outs Colton Cowser hit an RBI double that put Baltimore back up 6-5. Syndergaard got us through the top of the ninth without further scoring on the Orioles’ part, and with two outs in the bottom of the inning Yordys Valdes hit a shot into right field, advancing Vargas into scoring position ... but Ha-seong Kim struck out swinging and we lost yet another game by a brutal 6-5 margin ... we’re now 4-6 in one-run games, as our bullpen is being taxed by our back end starters who can’t go at least five innings. Syndergaard took the loss, falling to 0-2 with an 8.64 ERA, and we were outhit 12-7, Bellinger leading the offense with a hit, a walk, a run and two RBIs.

Bazardo’s injury is a strained oblique, and he should be day to day over the next four days, but we need his spot in the bullpen ... I don’t want to lose him for two whole weeks on the IL, however, so we’re going to option Andre Lipcius to AAA for a few days so we can call up Ryan Weber as a long-inning relief option.
 
May 3, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.80 ERA, 23.2 IP, 27 K’s, 1.23 WHIP) pitched in game three against the Orioles, facing Kevin Gausman (2-3, 4.97 ERA, 25.1 IP, 22 K’s, 1.34 WHIP). Ceddanne Rafaela hit an RBI single to give us the lead in the bottom of the first, and Rasmussen had a great five inning stretch, but stayed out in the sixth and gave up back to back hits ... a triple to Steven Ondina and a two-run homer for Jackson Holliday as, just like that, the lead disappeared. Colton Cowser singled, and we went to the pen without an out, Luis Sanchez taking the ball. It did not go smoothly, and another of Rasmussen’s runs scored before we were able to get out of there trailing 3-1. Cody Bellinger led off with a solo homer to get us back in this one in the bottom of the sixth, and Merryweather got the ball in the top of the seventh. Ryan Helsley came out in the ninth, still trailing by a run, and he didn’t let them score, so once again we came up in the bottom of the ninth needing at least one run to keep the game going. And this time we got it as Tauchman hit one out of left for a home run, tying it up from the leadoff spot! Emboldened, Miguel Vargas came up right behind him and homered out of right, walking this off as we won a stunner 4-3! That happened so fast the fans barely had time to absorb it before this place exploded. Helsley got his first win, improving to 1-2 with a 6.17 ERA, allowing just one hit with a strikeout in his inning, while we outhit Baltimore 9-7! Tauchman led the offense with two hits, a run and an RBI, and a hit for Kjerstad extended his on-base streak to 17 games.

Next up: Perhaps the biggest series of our season so far, a four-game homestand against the 12-16 Tigers, a series that could put us back into the Central race if we can turn this into a streak.