Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy had to be convinced that center fielder Garrett Mitchell belonged on the big-league roster.

Mitchell provided a strong case in Milwaukee’s doubleheader split with the host Kansas City Royals on Saturday. The Brewers will vie for a series win on Sunday afternoon.

Mitchell was 2-for-4 with a run, a double, a home run and five RBIs in Milwaukee’s 5-2 victory in the opener of the doubleheader. He went 1-for-4 with an RBI double in an 8-2 setback in the nightcap.

“I was the first one to believe that Garrett wasn’t ready,” Murphy said. “He had a poor result in spring training but he was healthy. It was really the front office that was adamant that this guy could be our best player in a lot of ways.

“I was skeptical, I thought (Mitchell) didn’t have enough at-bats and had been out for a long time. But the front office convinced me that it was the right thing to do to have him on our team. He’d done OK so far in the first six or seven games. But today was a showcase of what he can do and that is pretty special.”

After an oblique strain and shoulder injury forced him to miss most of the 2025 season, Mitchell is looking for a return to the form of his 2024 rookie campaign.

Mitchell had a .255 batting average, .342 on base percentage and .469 slugging percentage to go along with eight homers and 21 RBIs in 69 games in 2024.

After contributing three extra-base hits in the doubleheader, Mitchell was confident he can continue to string together quality at-bats.

“There’s nothing better than being back out here with the boys and playing,” he said. “Home run or not, that’s not what I am looking for, I’m just trying to put together some good at-bats. But I really like the way I am swinging it right now.”

The Brewers are expected to call on Kyle Harrison (0-0, 1.80 ERA) to get the start, while the Royals are set to counter with fellow left-hander Kris Bubic (1-0, 1.50).

Harrison allowed one run on four hits and struck out eight batters in five innings of a no-decision against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. He allowed one run on one hit in 1 1/3 innings in relief without getting a decision in his lone career encounter versus Kansas City.

Bubic yielded one run on two hits in six innings of a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday.

He has yet to allow an earned run in three career meetings with Milwaukee. He is 1-1 with 19 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings versus the Brewers.

The Royals’ pitching staff has had its hands full with the Brewers’ potent offense.

“With all things we want high quality,” Mitchell said. “We want to put together long innings; that’s Brewers’ baseball.”

Kansas City sent 12 batters to the plate — including nine with two outs — in the sixth inning of the nightcap.

“It was pretty good to see the offense come to life,” Royals catcher Salvador Perez said. “I just try to do my job every night to help my team win. Today is over, we have to concentrate on tomorrow, go get in a quick recovery and get ready.”

–Field Level Media

The Minnesota Twins have not won a series yet this season.

They have an opportunity to do so in front of their home fans on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.

The Twins will square off against the Tampa Bay Rays in the rubber match of a three-game set. Minnesota won the series opener 10-4 on Friday night before Tampa Bay responded with a 7-1 victory on Saturday evening.

Twins manager Derek Shelton acknowledged that a lineup overrepresented with left-handed hitters made it harder to be flexible with certain pitching matchups.

“The fact we’re a little left-handed heavy may be something we have to look at as we get farther down the road,” Shelton said.

The series finale should give the Twins a chance to showcase their left-handed hitters.

The Rays will start right-hander Nick Martinez (0-0, 3.00 ERA). He also is making his second start after allowing two runs on six hits in six innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday.

Martinez, 35, has faced the Twins seven times, including six starts. He is 1-2 with a 7.20 ERA in those matchups, and he has allowed 24 earned runs on 43 hits in 30 innings.

Rays manager Kevin Cash observed Martinez this spring and recognized that he is a complete teammate.

“He’s available, and he initiates conversation,” Cash said. “He initiates support. He’s actively having conversations with position players and pitchers alike. It’s easy to talk to your buddies about pitching, but I’m watching him interact with our position group.”

The Twins will counter with right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (0-1, 3.60), who will make his second start of the season. He allowed two runs on five hits in five innings in his 2026 debut against the Kansas City Royals on Monday.

Woods Richardson has faced the Rays two times in his career. He is 0-0 with a 4.66 ERA in those outings, and he has walked four and struck out eight in 9 2/3 innings.

Byron Buxton was out of the lineup Saturday after being hit on the right forearm in Friday’s series opener. Buxton sustained a bruised arm and X-rays were negative.

If Buxton returns to the lineup, he will look to break out of an early-season slump. He is hitting .154 (4-for-26) with no homers and one RBI in his first seven games.

Twins infielder Luke Keaschall said he and his teammates will need to show more strike-zone discipline in the season finale.

“We didn’t get a lot of hittable pitches, and we probably left the zone a little bit too much,” Keaschall said.

Meanwhile, Chandler Simpson continues to swing a hot bat for the Rays. He went 2-for-5 on Saturday and is hitting .414 this season with a .469 on-base percentage.

Cash has been fielding questions about potentially promoting Simpson to the Rays’ leadoff position.

“There is a lot of conversation about Chandler,” he said. “I totally appreciate and understand the thought, the sentiment, that Chandler could be your prototypical leadoff hitter.

“He very well may be. But right now, he’s not.”

–Field Level Media

The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to make it back-to-back victories over the visiting Florida Panthers and sweep the season series on Sunday afternoon.

The Penguins (39-22-16, 94 points) topped the visiting Panthers 9-4 on Saturday night for their third win in the last four games.

With the victory, Pittsburgh resides 10 points back of the first-place Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division and five points up on the third-place New York Islanders.

Evgeni Malkin (three goals, one assist) and defenseman Erik Karlsson (one goal, three assists) each recorded four-point performances for the Penguins. Ricard Rakell, Anthony Mantha and Elmer Soderblom each had a goal and an assist.

Noel Acciari and defenseman Ryan Shea also tallied while Arturs Silovs made 19 saves for the win.

Malkin became the 23rd player in NHL history to reach 1,400 points (1,403). He is the third active player to reach the milestone, joining teammate Sidney Crosby (1,756) and Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin (1,682).

“It’s an amazing number, for sure,” Malkin said. “For one team, it’s huge. I love playing here. … We have a great team right now. We played hard. Points are important, two points for the team are important because it’s huge for us. We’re fighting for the playoffs.”

Crosby had two assists in the win on Saturday to pass Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman (1,755) for the seventh-most points in NHL history.

“It feels like every couple of games these guys hit another milestone,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “It’s not like these minor milestones. These are big ones; these are some that you never really even get to see. It’s incredible.”

The Panthers (37-36-3, 76 points), who are officially eliminated from playoff contention, enter Sunday’s rematch with the Penguins looking to avoid back-to-back losses and win for just the third time in seven games.

“Obviously, we’re playing the exact same team, so clean things up that we need to and get another crack at them tomorrow,” Panthers forward Cole Schwindt said.

A.J. Greer collected a goal and an assist and defenseman Seth Jones, Noah Gregor and Mackie Samoskevich also tallied for the Panthers, who are 16-21-0 on the road.

“It was kind of a barrage of goals,” Jones said. “We did a good job coming back and making it 2-2 after a slow start, but then you blink, and it’s 9-2. We just couldn’t stop the bleeding. They did a good around the net.”

Sergei Bobrovsky allowed six goals on 19 shots before being replaced by Daniil Tarasov midway through the second. Tarasov stopped nine shots in relief.

“It got away from us,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I mean, just the quickness of the game, for us, was a lot. The puck movement. So, we had touches on almost all of the pucks that ended up in our net. … We were slower than they were. Credit them, they were fast.”

Florida dropped a 5-3 decision in Pittsburgh on Oct. 23.

The Panthers last beat the Penguins 4-3 in a shootout on March 23, 2025. Florida won two of three meetings between the clubs last season.

–Field Level Media