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. Thanks for being here.

What a weekend we just had in baseball. We saw Jarren Duran steal home like Jackie Robinson. We saw the Giants win a game on a walk-off Little League home run.

But let’s take a second to appreciate Eugenio Suárez. Because Geno treated us to one of the rarest feats of all: a four-home run game.

See, until Saturday, there had only been 18 four-homer games in all of MLB history. Then Suárez made it 19 with four long balls against the Braves in Arizona — capped off by a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth to make history.

Suárez put up the first four-home run game in the Majors since 2017 (that one was also a D-backs slugger, J.D. Martinez), joining an exclusive list of hitters to accomplish the feat that includes greats like Carlos Delgado, Mike Schmidt, Willie Mays and Lou Gehrig … and goes all the way back to Bobby Lowe of the Boston Beaneaters, who had the very first one on May 30, 1894.

But we might not even give the four-homer game enough credit for just how rare it is.

Think about it. There have been even fewer four-homer games in MLB history than there’ve been perfect games in MLB history — 24 pitchers have thrown perfectos. And a perfect game is treated like the gold standard of baseball rare feats.

Meanwhile, home runs are everywhere these days. And there are 18 guys between the two lineups who have a chance to slug four of them every single game. Only the two starting pitchers have a chance to pitch a perfect game.

But there haven’t been nine times as many four-home run games as perfect games. Not even in recent history, with the rise of home runs and decline of complete games — since the Year 2000, there have been seven four-homer games … and eight perfect games. The scales just go the other way around.

Heck, Aaron Judge himself — who’s been slugging like Babe Ruth — had a chance at a four-homer game earlier this season and couldn’t do it. Judge stalled out on three home runs … even when he got to face a position player pitching in his last at-bat.

Suárez, at 33 the oldest player in MLB history to have a four-homer game, got it done facing the other team’s closer with the game on the line. That just makes one of the coolest things a hitter can do on a baseball field even cooler.

— David Adler

• Yankees @ Orioles (6:35 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): The O’s find themselves in last place in the AL East looking up at the Yankees in first, so this first 2025 matchup between the rivals feels like a crucial chance already for the Orioles to try to creep back into contention. Pitching has been their biggest issue, with an MLB-worst 5.37 staff ERA, a scary thought against one-man ERA inflator Aaron Judge.

• Cardinals @ Reds (6:40 p.m. ET, FREE on MLB.TV): Under the guiding hand of new skipper Terry Francona, the Reds have steadily (and quietly) overcome their slow start and pulled just 1 1/2 games back of the Cubs. A three-game sweep of the Rockies over the weekend certainly helped, but Elly De La Cruz is riding an 11-game hitting streak and some of the young pitchers, like left-hander Nick Lodolo yesterday, are flashing real potential.

• Tigers @ Astros (8:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): How the tables have turned since underdog Detroit’s stunning Wild Card Series sweep of Houston last October. The Tigers now own the best record in the AL (18-10), while the Astros are trying to keep their heads above water in their crowded division. Houston draws a tough matchup in Jack Flaherty, who’s been excellent (2.63 ERA) in his return to wearing the Old English D.

Suffice to say, Kevin Durant has some big-time basketball bona fides — he’s a two-time NBA champ, a 15-time (!) All-Star and has scored the eighth-most points in league history.

But under the radar, KD is a pretty big baseball guy, too. A D.C. native, he takes it a step further than just rocking a jersey — he has a tattoo of the Nationals’ iconic Curly W. KD repped the Giants when he played in the Bay, and now with the Suns, he’s all in on D-backs dynamo Corbin Carroll. (So are we!)

So it follows that Boardroom, the sports/entertainment media imprint founded by Durant and CEO Rich Kleiman, staged a successful collaboration with MLB over the past year. Just last week, Boardroom dropped an online cover story with Mets superstar and style icon Francisco Lindor that hit the sweet spot between his on-field goals and off-field pursuits.

Turns out they were just getting started: On Monday, Boardroom and MLB announced an expansion of their partnership that will include new storytelling opportunities, interactive events and other unique content.

Part of the partnership includes Boardroom booking the talent for the MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game, so could KD suit up this July in Atlanta? Maybe he’ll take the mound.

– Bryan Horowitz

• You know things are clicking when your teammate says, “We called up the greatest hitter alive,” and it’s unclear for a moment if he’s kidding. Cal Quantrill was referring to Marlins catcher Agustín Ramírez, who had multiple extra-base hits in an unprecedented three of his first five big league games, including two homers yesterday.

• We’ve seen plenty of 100-plus-mph pitches in pro baseball this year, but Single-A Mets prospect Raimon Gomez topped them all Saturday with a 104.5 mph fastball.

• The Padres’ Tirso Ornelas achieved a lifelong dream Friday with his first career hit after recording 3,200 plate appearances in the Minors. AJ Cassavell has more on Ornelas, who grew up watching the Padres in nearby Tijuana, Mexico, and secured his milestone in front of dozens of friends and family members.

• Pirates reliever Chase Shugart knew exactly what to do with the game ball after earning his first win last week: Offer it to the grandparents who raised him. Alex Stumpf spoke to Shugart about the bond he shares with his grandparents, who have “two rooms with all my baseball stuff.”

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