Thursday, May 14

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Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler.

Over in the Minor Leagues, “ground ball” has taken on a whole new meaning.

We’ve never seen a play like what happened in yesterday’s Double-A game between the Biloxi Shuckers and the Montgomery Biscuits. Most home runs go over the fence. This one went under the ground.

Shuckers outfielder Damon Keith was trying to chase down a ground ball down the right-field line off the bat of the Biscuits’ Austin Overn. Keith slid to cut the ball off as it rolled toward the corner. But he accidentally slid directly on top of the baseball and buried the ball into the ground. 

It was stuck. REALLY stuck.

As poor Keith futilely tried to pluck the ball out of the outfield turf, Overn went all the way around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. We just saw Bobby Witt Jr. hit the rare inside-the-parker on a ground ball … but this was WAY too literal.

Oh, and the comedy routine was just starting. 

After the play was over, one of the umpires and members of both teams congregated out in right field to see for themselves just what had happened to that baseball … and to try to dig it out. 

They couldn’t do it! Not for several minutes, anyway.

Finally, after the ump and multiple players tried their hand at freeing the baseball from its grassy prison, Biloxi first baseman Blake Burke — a burly 6-foot-3 and 236 pounds — was the hero. Coach Matt Lipka then carried the ball, caked in mud, off the field before play finally resumed.

After this, we don’t even want to know how many baseball players it takes to screw in a lightbulb.

See for yourself what happened here >> 

 

SKENES AND SHOHEI AND MIZ … OH MY

Back in the Majors, the National League Cy Young race is really heating up. 

Just in the last two days, we’ve seen top contenders Paul Skenes, Shohei Ohtani and Jacob Misiorowski all throw gems. 

Skenes had his best start of the season on Tuesday, throwing eight shutout innings with 10 strikeouts to beat the Rockies. But then Shohei and the Miz had two of their best starts of the season yesterday — Ohtani threw seven shutout innings with eight K’s to beat the Giants, and Misiorowski threw seven shutout innings with 10 K’s against the Padres.

It’s like they’re all trying to one-up each other. But who’s the most dominant right now? All three have a case. Here are some cool facts about each of them: 

Skenes 

• His ERA is back under 2.00. It was 67.50 on Opening Day. Eight starts later, it’s 1.98.
• Skenes has had a sub-2 ERA in all three seasons of his career: 1.96 in 2024, 1.97 in 2025 and now 1.98 in 2026.
• He has the lowest ERA of any regular starting pitcher since his big league debut. Tarik Skubal is next at 2.34. 

Ohtani 

• Ohtani leads the Majors with a 0.82 ERA. He’s the only qualified pitcher with an ERA under 1.00.
• His career batting average allowed is now .199. That’s tied with Herb Score for the lowest on record for any starting pitcher with at least 500 career innings pitched.
• Ohtani’s career ERA+ is 150, which means he’s been 50% better than league average. Since earned runs became official in both leagues in 1913, only three pitchers have a better ERA+: Clayton Kershaw (154), Pedro Martinez (154) and Jacob deGrom (151). 

Misiorowski 

• The Miz leads the Majors with 80 strikeouts and four double-digit strikeout games. 
• He’s thrown 233 fastballs at 100-plus mph, more than twice as many as the next-closest pitcher (Mason Miller, 112) and almost six times as many as the next-closest starter (Bubba Chandler, 41).
• He’s thrown 186 fastballs 101 mph or faster, which is already the most by a starter in the entire pitch-tracking era, which goes back to 2008. And he’s thrown 51 fastballs 102 mph or faster. All other starting pitchers COMBINED have only thrown 40 fastballs that fast in the pitch tracking era.
• Misiorowski has also thrown the fastest individual pitch by a starter in the pitch tracking era (103.6 mph), and the fastest strikeout pitch by a starter (103.3 mph).
• 46% of his fastballs have been in triple digits this season. The next-highest mark for a starter in the pitch tracking era is 32% … by Misiorowski last season. Then it’s Hunter Greene at 31%, also last year. 

 

BASEBALL HAS A NEW NO. 1 PROSPECT

With Konnor Griffin in the big leagues, he’s graduated from prospect status. Which means there’s a new No. 1 in MLB Pipeline’s rankings.

That new No. 1 overall prospect in baseball? Jesús Made.

The Brewers phenom is just 19 years old, which makes him one of the youngest players to ever reach top prospect status in MLB Pipeline’s history. 

The young shortstop has rocketed up the prospect rankings. Last season, Made was No. 56 overall. 

Now he’s following in the footsteps of Jackson Chourio, Milwaukee’s last (and only other) prospect sensation to be ranked No. 1 overall in the sport. Chourio, of course, has quickly blossomed into a star in the Majors, with two 20-homer, 20-steal seasons for Milwaukee at ages 20 and 21. 

Made had some fierce competition for the No. 1 prospect ranking from a fellow 19-year-old phenom, A’s shortstop Leo De Vries. But De Vries will stay at No. 2 overall … for now.  

AROUND THE LEAGUE

• The Braves became the first team to reach 30 wins this season by beating the Cubs for a second straight game yesterday. The biggest keys to Atlanta’s terrific start? Matt Olson’s MVP-level play and Chris Sale’s Cy Young-level dominance. Sale is back on the mound tonight, by the way (7:15 p.m. ET, MLB.TV).

• Mariners star catcher Cal Raleigh is headed to the injured list for the first time in his careerwith a right oblique strain. There’s not yet a timeline for his return, and Raleigh will undergo a more thorough evaluation when the Mariners return to Seattle tomorrow. 

• Mets rookie Carson Benge stepped up big yesterday with his first career walk-off hit … and then just-promoted prospect A.J. Ewing had his own big hit today, his first career home run. Ewing’s homer was a pretty impressive swing, too. 

• A’s No. 5 prospect Henry Bolte had an MLB debut to remember last night. The 22-year-old notched his first two big league hits and made a terrific diving catch in center field. Bolte had a catch probability of just 10% on that play, according to Statcast.

• The Phillies are facing old friend Ranger Suarez for the first time tonight in their series finale against the Red Sox (6:45 p.m. ET, MLB.TV). Suarez, who was just 16 years old when he first signed with the Phils in 2012, spent the first eight seasons of his big league career in Philadelphia before signing with Boston this offseason. 

GUARDS BALL: WALK, THEN RUN

Sometimes in life, you have to walk before you can run. Especially if you play baseball for the Cleveland Guardians. 

Walk, then run. It’s a simple recipe they’re following in Cleveland. Step 1: Draw walks. Step 2: Steal bases. Step 3: Score runs. 

Entering play today, the Guardians rank 27th out of the 30 Major League teams this season in both batting average (.228) and slugging percentage (.365). But they rank in the topthree in both walks and steals:

• 190 walks (third in MLB)
• 48 steals (second in MLB)

Thomas Harrigan has more on the Guardians’ offensive philosophy, and how it’s embodied by rookie Travis Bazzana, the 2024 No. 1 overall Draft pick. Read the story here >>  

DAILY WALKOFF

Put your baseball brain to the test with Daily Walkoff, where you can find 30 brand-new trivia puzzles every day, one for each team. Play Daily Walkoff >> 

 

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