Sports
D-backs' Eduardo Rodriguez shoots to extend unbeaten mark vs. Rockies
May 10, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez against the New York Mets at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The Arizona Diamondbacks will look for a strong performance from starter Eduardo Rodriguez as they try and clinch a series win over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday in Denver.
The D-backs started off the weekend set with a commanding 9-1 win on Friday night and celebrated a major milestone as Merrill Kelly threw his first career complete game.
Rodriguez (4-0, 2.25 ERA) nearly pulled off the same feat in his most recent start, as he returned to the mound for the ninth inning on Sunday against the New York Mets holding a 5-1 lead. Manager Torey Lovullo faced some boos from the home fans when he took out Rodriguez at the 100-pitch mark with one out, but Juan Morillo got the last two outs to seal the win.
The 33-year-old left-hander said he had asked Lovullo “for 10 pitches” to try and complete the feat but accepted the decision from his manager. He still was proud of his outing despite missing out on the complete game, saying, “We used all the pitches, we just went out there and tried to execute the plan and it worked out well.”
Rodriguez allowed one run on four hits and three walks while striking out four.
“It was a super clean game for him,” Lovullo said. “He was commanding a lot of pitches and just zeroed in with the game plan.”
Rodriguez is in the third season of a four-year, $80 million contract he signed with Arizona in 2024. He is 3-0 with a 4.93 ERA in six previous starts against the Rockies.
The series-opening loss wasn’t the only bad news of the day for Colorado on Friday. Chase Dollander, 3-3 with a 3.89 ERA in 10 appearances (three starts) in 2026, was placed on the 15-day injured list because of a right elbow strain. He exited the Rockies’ loss on Thursday to Pittsburgh in the second inning.
Dollander called it “a very minor strain” when he spoke to reporters after the team made the announcement.
“I’m just thanking God it wasn’t more than that — honestly it’s probably a best case scenario with what was shown,” he said.
The Rockies did have a positive on Friday, as Sterlin Thompson made his major league debut when he pinch-hit for Ezequiel Tovar in the eighth. Thompson, a 24-year-old outfielder, grounded out to first base.
“I just soaked it all in,” Thompson said, according to MLB.com. “A lot of years were put into this.”
A first-round draft pick (31st overall) in 2022, Thompson was hitting .344 with four home runs and 27 RBIs in 36 games for Triple-A Albuquerque. He was called to replace Tyler Freeman, who was placed on the paternity list Friday afternoon.
Tomoyuki Sugano (3-3, 4.07 ERA) will start on Saturday for Colorado. Last time out on Sunday, the 36-year-old right-hander gave up five runs in five innings and took the loss as Colorado fell 6-0 at Philadelphia. The long ball was the issue for Sugano, as he gave up a season-high three home runs to the Phillies.
This will be Sugano’s first appearance against Arizona in his two major league seasons.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Brewers turn to another young pitcher in finale vs. Twins
Sep 21, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Robert Gasser (54) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Young pitchers keep coming up big for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Coleman Crow, 25, gave up only one run over five innings in helping the Brewers to a series-opening win against the Minnesota Twins on Friday.
Logan Henderson, 24, earned the victory one night later after allowing only one run and striking out seven batters in five innings.
Now comes the next young pitcher. The Brewers will turn to 26-year-old Robert Gasser, who will make his season debut as Milwaukee looks to finish a three-game sweep of the Twins on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Henderson said he and his fellow young pitchers support one another. They pitched together at Triple-A Nashville, and Henderson credits the organization with helping to develop them and showing trust in them.
“I think we have some really great arms,” Henderson said. “The organization has put a lot of trust in us. The defense is unbelievable. The guys we’ve got behind the plate are incredible. It’s just a next-man-up mentality.
“… I think it’s special. It’s cool to see that we have a lot of young arms in the room. It’s fun. We kind of just piggy-back off each other.”
The Brewers have won three games in a row and eight of their past nine.
The Twins, in turn, will try to spoil Milwaukee’s momentum in the season finale.
Minnesota has lost the first two games of the series by one run. The good news is that the Twins are staying competitive against the Brewers; the bad news is that the Twins are squandering key chances that can differentiate a win from a loss.
“I think we came into this series knowing that you cannot give away opportunities against the Brewers just because of the brand of baseball they play,” Minnesota manager Derek Shelton said after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat. “They capitalize on things. We had situations in the second and fourth (innings) that we did not capitalize on, and you can’t miss those.”
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (4-2, 3.46 ERA) will look to help stave off the sweep. Ober is coming off his best outing of the season on Tuesday, when he fired a complete-game shutout against the Miami Marlins.
Ober allowed two hits, walked none and struck out seven in a 3-0 victory and needed only 89 pitches to earn his first career shutout. He now will go for back-to-back victories for the second time this season.
This will be Ober’s third career start against the Brewers. In his first two meetings, he is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA and has 10 strikeouts in 11 innings.
Meanwhile, Gasser will make first start of 2026 and his eighth start since debuting with the Brewers in 2024. He went 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA in five starts that season and was 0-2 with a 3.18 ERA in two starts in 2025.
This will be Gasser’s first career start against the Twins.
Minnesota hopes to welcome back outfielder Byron Buxton, who has missed the past three games because of right hip flexor soreness. Buxton took part in some on-field work before Saturday’s game but remained out of the lineup.
“I haven’t been on the field in a couple days,” Buxton said. “Just to get out here and do some work definitely feels good. Growing in the right direction.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cubs, White Sox to battle in rubber game of crosstown slugfest
May 16, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami (5) celebrates in the dugout after scoring during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images The Chicago Cubs and host Chicago White Sox have alternated lopsided victories to begin the first leg of their annual crosstown series.
Any kind of win will suffice on Sunday afternoon, however, as the clubs meet in the deciding game of a three-game weekend set.
Munetaka Murakami delivered his first career multi-homer game on Saturday to key an 8-3 victory for the White Sox, who regrouped from Friday’s 10-5 loss.
Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery went deep for the second straight night for the White Sox, while Andrew Benintendi also connected.
Vargas is hitting .406 with five home runs and 10 RBIs against the Cubs in nine games over the past two seasons.
“I just want to compete out there. I want to be the best I can be in the field,” Vargas said. “We’ve got a lot of excitement for this series, and I just want to be part of it with the boys. We had a good game today, and hopefully we’ve got another one tomorrow.”
The Cubs were out-homered 5-2 in Saturday’s loss, with Miguel Amaya and Pete Crow-Armstrong connecting.
“The ball was flying today,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I’m not saying that they hit any real cheapies. … They came out swinging. They played their tails off.”
The Cubs’ Alex Bregman joined Amaya with a two-hit game to extend his hitting streak to seven. Bregman is batting .333 (10-for-30) during that span.
The White Sox and Cubs will meet again for a three-game series in August at Wrigley Field.
On Sunday, right-hander Erick Fedde will try to pitch the White Sox to their fifth series victory in the past six sets, which would secure a 6-3 finish to a nine-game homestand.
Fedde (0-4, 3.77 ERA) was in line for his first victory on Tuesday before the bullpen squandered a three-run lead against the Kansas City Royals in a game the White Sox won 6-5.
Fedde scattered two runs and six hits in five innings, but the individual accomplishment didn’t seem to matter to him, as he called the team’s victory one “that kind of proves the growth of this team and where it’s headed.”
For the Cubs, right-hander Colin Rea (4-2, 4.68 ERA) will aim to regroup Sunday from a shaky outing in his most recent start.
After yielding two home runs in a 5-2 loss at Atlanta on Tuesday, Rea pledged to be more confident and resilient. He spaced five runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings against the Braves while recording just one strikeout.
“When they’re putting good swings on good pitches, sometimes it can make it tough to still trust it and still go after them,” Rea said. “And sometimes you think you’ve got to make a better pitch, or like a perfect pitch, and you don’t necessarily have to do that. You just have to continue to execute.”
Fedde is 0-3 with an 8.54 ERA in six career starts against the Cubs, with 28 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings.
Rea has pitched to a decision-less record and a 2.45 ERA over 7 1/3 innings in two previous appearances against the White Sox, including one start.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Royals playing for more than Missouri bragging rights vs. Cardinals
May 16, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Thomas Saggese (25) slides safely past Kansas City Royals catcher Carter Jensen (22) during the fifth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images The Kansas City Royals are approaching desperation mode as they enter Sunday afternoon’s finale of a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals on a six-game losing streak.
The visiting Royals have been in contention in the first two games of the I-70 Series, but an end to their slide continues to elude them. They lost 5-4 in 11 innings on Friday, 4-2 on Saturday, and are in last place in the American League Central.
After a sweep by the Chicago White Sox, the Royals are 0-5 on their six-game road trip.
Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said the team’s effort on Saturday didn’t match the results.
“I thought there were positives with the at-bats,” Quatraro said. “We’re going to give ourselves chances. That’s the best you can do to start out, and then hopefully some of them fall in. But the approaches were pretty good.”
The Royals scored a run on five hits and three walks in six innings off Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy but didn’t manage a game-breaking hit, leaving the bases loaded in the second without scoring. A solo home run by Jac Caglianone in the ninth offered little consolation in another defeat.
Still, Quatraro said he knows — positive signs aside — that his team is going to need to turn this skid around in a hurry.
“Nobody wants to hear about encouragement. They want to hear about wins and losses and runs scored,” he said. “It doesn’t do us any good to talk about that, other than there’s no choice but to keep pushing forward.”
Right-hander Stephen Kolek (1-0, 6.75 ERA) is scheduled to start for Kansas City on Sunday.
Kolek, 29, was part of the trade that sent catcher Freddy Fermin from the Royals to the San Diego Padres last July. Kolek took a no-decision in his most recent start on Tuesday, when he allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings in a 6-5 to the White Sox.
Kolek is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA against St Louis in two career appearances (one start).
The Cardinals will start Andre Pallante (4-3, 4.46 ERA) on Sunday. The 27-year-old right-hander has decisions in his past six starts and is 3-3, as he has alternated wins and losses.
His most recent start was a win when he gave up three runs on four hits and three walks in five innings of the Cardinals’ 6-4 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday. In his two May starts — the first was a 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers — he has allowed eight runs in 11 innings.
He is 1-1 all-time vs. the Royals, with a 5.68 ERA in five appearances (four starts).
St. Louis got a big offensive contribution Saturday from No. 9 hitter Victor Scott II, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
The 25-year-old center fielder, a Gold Glove finalist last season, is known for his defensive prowess, but manager Oliver Marmol said Scott is working to improve offensively.
In 234 career games, he has a .204 batting average but is hitting only .193 this season.
“He’s been working hard at a couple things, physically and mentally,” Marmol said. “Aand it’s good to see some of the contact we’ve been seeing as of late — even the ones that aren’t falling in for him. The approach and the overall swing is where we want it.”
–Field Level Media
