Craig Stammen saw something in the at-bats of Fernando Tatis Jr. Friday night that no one else did.

The first-year manager of the San Diego Padres liked Tatis’ approach, even as he was going 0-for-2 with a walk as his team was being one-hit by the St. Louis Cardinals in a 6-0 shutout. So Stammen moved Tatis back to the No. 2 spot and was rewarded with a two-run single that made the difference in a 4-2 win Saturday.

Perhaps ready to make his normal sizable offensive contributions again, Tatis will aim to help San Diego salvage a split of its four-game series with St. Louis when the teams meet on Sunday.

Tatis still is without a homer through the team’s first 39 games, a dry stretch that has some questioning if the team should think of ways to unload him on someone else. But Stammen isn’t ready to answer that $340 million question just yet.

“I feel like he’s making some good decisions at the plate,” Stammen said. “And he’s been working hard in the cage, making some adjustments. And I also think the pitchers fear him, even if he’s not hitting as many home runs as we expect.”

Tatis is batting just .248 with 15 RBIs and a team-high nine steals in 12 attempts. The National League’s 2021 home run champion with 42, Tatis averaged more than 25 homers in his first six MLB seasons.

While Tatis and the Padres’ offense, which has just 10 hits in the series, try to put more barrels on balls, right-hander Walker Buehler (2-2, 5.64) aims for his second straight win. He earned a 10-5 decision in San Francisco Tuesday night, yielding four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings with no walks and five strikeouts.

Lifetime, Buehler is 3-0 with a 3.90 ERA in five career starts against the Cardinals, striking out 35 batters in 30 innings.

St. Louis counters with right-hander Kyle Leahy (4-3, 4.93), who last pitched Monday night and beat Milwaukee 6-3. Leahy scattered six hits over 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run while walking two and striking out five.

Leahy, who’s fired 5 1/3 scoreless innings in three career appearances against San Diego, has had multiple outings this year in which he found trouble after five innings. Eight of the 10 batters he’s faced in the sixth inning have reached and five have scored.

“It still comes down to execution and then the physical piece of everything and just getting over that hurdle,” he said.

The Cardinals saw a six-game road winning streak end Saturday but put up a good fight, even when facing Mason Miller. They loaded the bases in the ninth on two walks and a wild pitch on strike three to Yohel Pozo before Miller slipped a 101 mph fastball by JJ Wetherholt for a called third strike.

The hottest bat lately has been Ivan Herrera, who followed up a four-hit game on Friday night with two more on Saturday. That included an RBI double in the eighth that got St. Louis within 3-2, upping his average to .270.

–Field Level Media

Last month, the Detroit Tigers continued their recent dominance of Kansas City by sweeping a three-game series.

On Sunday night, the host Royals can return the favor by handing the reeling Tigers a season-high sixth straight defeat.

From April 14-16, Detroit posted three straight one-run victories over the visiting Royals to record a sixth consecutive winning series between the two American League Central foes.

However, Kansas City rallied for a 4-3 walk-off win Friday. The Royals then used seven strong innings from Michael Wacha, a two-run, inside-the-park-homer from Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Massey’s conventional three-run shot in a 5-1 victory on Saturday.

Kansas City, which secured its first winning series over the Tigers since August 2024, is 12-5 since losing eight in a row.

“We’ve got a special team,” Witt told Royals.TV. “This is a great series win, but we’re not satisfied. … We’re always trying to get better.”

Witt has recorded three of his five home runs over the last six games.

Massey, meanwhile, is 5-for-11 with two home runs and five RBIs in his last four contests.

Some low-back tightness forced Noah Cameron (2-2, 5.40 ERA) to miss his previous turn in Kansas City’s rotation, but he’s slated to be back on the mound for this Sunday start.

“If it were August or September, I would be very capable of pitching through it,” Cameron told the Royals’ official website of missing his previous scheduled start.

“Just trying to be smart and see where we are. … It’s feeling a lot better.”

Cameron allowed two runs over 10 2/3 innings of his first two starts this season. He since has yielded 20 runs — 17 earned — in 21 innings over his last four games.

Though the left-hander has made 30 career starts for the Royals since debuting last season, this will be his first appearance against the Tigers.

Detroit managed just four hits Saturday and has been outscored 28-11 during a five-game skid that matches the team’s longest losing streak of 2026.

“Just find a way to weather the storm,” said Tigers outfielder Matt Vierling, who went 0-for-4 Saturday.

“Get a couple wins. … Get some momentum.”

Already dealing with injuries to key offensive contributors in Gleyber Torres (oblique) and Javier Baez (ankle), the Tigers could be minus outfielder Kerry Carpenter. He exited Saturday’s contest with shoulder soreness from banging into the wall while misplaying Witt’s hit into that inside-the-park home run.

“It’s next man up,” Vierling said.

Though the Tigers continue searching for some potency at the plate, Riley Greene drove home Saturday’s lone run with a double in the eighth inning. He is batting .385 with eight RBIs in his last 18 contests and batting.458 with five doubles during his last six games at Kansas City.

With ace Tarik Skubal out at least six weeks following elbow surgery and Framber Valdez currently serving a suspension, the Tigers are slated for a bullpen game Sunday.

Right-hander Brenan Hanifee (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.2 IP) is scheduled to get the start in a potential opener role for Detroit, which has a 4.74 ERA over the last five games. He is 1-0 with a 4.05 ERA in 10 career appearances (one start) versus the Royals.

–Field Level Media

The Las Vegas Aces will try to shake off a deflating start to the 2026 season when they visit a Los Angeles Sparks team tipping off its campaign on Sunday.

Reigning WNBA champion Aces (0-1) gave up huge runs in the second and third quarters of their regular-season opener on Saturday against the Phoenix Mercury, resulting in a 99-66 blowout loss.

“I don’t think we’re in good enough shape to play at the level that we need to,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said following the rout. “The defense, it looks like we haven’t worked on it. We’ve been doing it an hour-and-a-half every day in practice.

“The little details that we talk about that are separation factors, we’re not doing them,” she added. “And until we decide we want to do them, we’ll continue to get our butt kicked like this.”

The Aces’ defensive woes to begin the campaign included surrendering 11-of-24 3-point shooting. Las Vegas was among the WNBA’s best 3-point defenses in 2025, holding opponents to 31.6% on the year.

Along with the struggles on defense Saturday, Las Vegas lacked consistent offense around four-time league Most Valuable Player A’ja Wilson. Wilson finished with 19 points while Jackie Young went for 12

Las Vegas looks to bounce back against Los Angeles, which had the WNBA’s most porous defense a season ago. The Sparks allowed 88.2 points per game in 2025 and a league-most 10.1 3-pointers a contest.

The Los Angeles side welcoming the Aces for the Sunday matchup looks a bit different, however, having added veteran forward and 2016 MVP Nneka Ogwumike.

Kelsey Plum — a key contributor to Las Vegas championships in 2022 and 2023 before signing with the Sparks last year — said to the Los Angeles Times that Ogwumike’s presence is a game-changer for the squad.

“I don’t think that last year I realized how big of a decision I made,” Plum told the Times. “When Nneka signed this year, I was like, ‘OK, I’m not crazy. They’re seeing the vision I am seeing.'”

Ogwumike averaged 18.3 points and seven rebounds per game last season for the Seattle Storm. She joins a frontcourt with another former Aces player, Dearica Hamby, who averaged 18.4 points and 7.9 rebounds an outing in 2025.

The Los Angeles frontcourt also features Cameron Brink, the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2024 and a promising defensive presence whose floor time has been limited due to injuries. Brink has appeared in 34 games combined over her first two WNBA seasons, averaging 6.1 points and 4.8 rebounds.

–Field Level Media