Wednesday, April 29

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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.

One of the most fun parts about the new ABS challenge system is how fans in the ballpark go crazy when their team gets a ball or strike call overturned their way. 

And Reds fans might’ve just had the best reaction yet. 

Why? Because a Cincinnati challenge won them all free pizza. Here’s how.

See, the Reds have this deal with local pizza chain LaRosa’s: If Cincinnati pitchers get 11 strikeouts in a home game, fans in attendance can use their ticket to redeem a free pizza within the next week. It’s called “Strikeouts for Slices.” 

And yesterday, the strikeout that won Reds fans their slices came on an ABS challenge.

The Reds were sitting on 10 strikeouts entering the ninth inning of their 7-2 win over the Rockies at Great American Ball Park. Brock Burke was on the mound. Edouard Julien was at the plate. 

And on a 1-2 count, Burke delivered a 98 mph fastball that was very close to the outside edge of the plate. 

The pitch was called a ball. But Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson quickly challenged. Even in a five-run game, he was going to get that pizza for the Reds faithful. 

The call was overturned (the pitch was in the zone by 1.1 inches), the Reds got their 11th strikeout, and the crowd went wild. 

“I guess that was kind of like the perfect storm to get the pizza,” Stephenson said after the game.    

 

GAMES OF THE NIGHT

Here are two games to watch tonight. For info on how to watch every game this season, go to MLB.com/Watch.

Giants at Phillies (6:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network/MLB.TV) 

The Phillies got back to “better baseball” and won their first game under interim manager Don Mattingly. Now they have their ace going, Cristopher Sánchez, as they try to make it two in a row.

Tigers at Braves (7:15 p.m. ET, MLB.TV) 

It’s baseball’s best team against baseball’s best pitcher. The Braves, who have the best record in the Majors at 21-9, are facing back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who’s the favorite to win a third straight award in our first Cy Young poll of the season. 

HOW A 119-LOSS TEAM IS TURNING IT AROUND

How much difference can a year make for a 119-loss team? A lot. Just ask the new-look Rockies. 

The 2025 Rockies went 43-119, one of the worst records in modern baseball history. But the 2026 Rockies? They look a whole lot better. 

An overhauled front office and coaching staff has helped the Rockies implement several simple fixes — particularly for their pitchers — that are already paying off. 

Jared Greenspan has a thorough breakdown of how Colorado has modernized its pitching staff in just one offseason — but the gist is, Rockies pitchers have expanded their pitch arsenals, learning more effective pitch types and scrapping their bad habits from years past.

The Rockies’ new pitching philosophy is getting results. Their team ERA is way better. Last season it was an MLB-worst 5.99; this season it’s a much more respectable 4.19. Pitchers like breakout flamethrower Chase Dollander and the resurgent Antonio Senzatela are leading the way.

Heck, Baseball Reference’s Wins Above Replacement has the Rockies — yes, the Rockies — as the second-most valuable pitching staff in the Majors, tied with the Yankees and behind only the Reds. (WAR is adjusted for ballpark, so since the Rockies pitch a lot of games at the hitting cheat code that is Coors Field, they still rank highly, even though their overall runs allowed is middle of the pack). 

Most importantly: The Rockies are winning more games. They’re 13-17, which is still under .500, but a .433 winning percentage is a lot different from their .265 winning percentage a season ago.

Colorado has already swept two teams: the Astros from April 6-8 and the Mets over the weekend. They swept exactly one team all of last season, the Marlins, back in June. 

And think about this: This season, the Rockies got their 13th win in their 29th game, improving to 13-16 after sweeping the Mets. Last season, they got their 13th win in their 68th game. They were 13-55. 

These aren’t the same old Rockies. 

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Here’s a rundown of the big things happening in baseball. 

• Crochet to the IL 

Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet was placed on the injured list today due to left shoulder inflammation. Crochet was off to an uncharacteristically slow start this season, with a 6.30 ERA through six starts after posting a 2.59 mark in his first season in Boston in 2025. Losing him is another tough blow to a Red Sox team that’s been struggling to start the year.

• Shohei the ERA leader

Your new MLB ERA leader is … (drumroll) … Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani’s 0.60 ERA is the lowest by a Dodger through five starts since Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.21 in 1985. Ohtani took over the top spot on the 2026 leaderboard from the Angels’ José Soriano yesterday — both of them pitched, but Ohtani allowed just one earned run in six innings compared to Soriano’s three in five innings, which raised his ERA to 0.84. 

• Schlittler outduels deGrom (plus another Judge blast) 

Yankees emerging star Cam Schlittler got the best of two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom last night, throwing six shutout innings with eight strikeouts to beat the Rangers. (deGrom was also great, allowing one run in six innings with five K’s.) Schlittler has a 1.51 ERA this season. 

He was the star even on a day when Aaron Judge homered for a third straight game and pulled even with Munetaka Murakami for the MLB lead with 12 home runs. 

• The Soto and Bo show 

Juan Soto and Bo Bichette gave Mets fans something to cheer about at Citi Field, as both stars crushed home runs to help the Mets get a much-needed win in yesterday’s series opener against the Nationals. Soto also had a fun moment later in the game when he enlisted some help during his at-bat … from the Nats’ catcher.

• Here comes Bobby 

Bobby Witt Jr. led the Royals to a fourth straight win with a tiebreaking three-run homer in the 10th inning against the A’s. After a 27-game homerless drought to start the season, Witt has now hit home runs in back-to-back games. 

• Blue Jays big guns returning

Trey Yesavage picked up right where he left off in his season debut yesterday, as the 2025 postseason sensation tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings to beat the Red Sox. And the Blue Jays get another star back today: George Springer has been activated from the injured list. 

• Rays dominating the AL

The Rays are on a six-game winning streakafter shutting out the Guardians yesterday, and they now have the second-best record in the American League at 18-11, behind only the division-rival Yankees. And they’ve absolutely dominated their own league. Since losing their first AL game to the Twins on April 3, the Rays have won 13 games in a row against AL teams, the longest streak since the Guardians’ AL-record 22 straight wins in 2017. 

HAPPY 40TH TO THE ROCKET’S 20-K GAME

Today is the 40th anniversary of Roger Clemens’ historic 20-strikeout game for the Red Sox on April 29, 1986. 

That day at a cold, damp Fenway Park, a 23-year-old Clemens became the first Major League pitcher to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning game. It was one of the greatest pitching performances in MLB history and just the beginning for the eventual seven-time Cy Young winner.

A decade later, Clemens did it again. He was later joined by Kerry Wood, Randy Johnson and Max Scherzer. They’re the only pitchers to record 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game — a 20-K game is one of baseball’s rarest feats.

On today’s anniversary, Ian Browne looks back on how Clemens’ first 20-strikeout game unfolded. 

THESE HATS ARE LOONEY TUNES

Now you can rep your favorite MLB team andone of the greatest baseball players of all time: Bugs Bunny. 

New Era just dropped an incredible line of Looney Tunes baseball caps — where you can pick from a bunch of different combinations of MLB (and Minor League) teams and the iconic cartoon characters, from Bugs Bunny to Lola Bunny to Daffy Duck to the Tasmanian Devil. 

Bugs Bunny, of course, famously starred on the diamond in the 1946 cartoon “Baseball Bugs,” when he played all nine positions — at the same time — to take down the Gas-House Gorillas. 

 

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