Tuesday, April 28

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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.

We’ve got another big shakeup by a struggling 2025 playoff team. 

Just days after the Red Sox dismissed manager Alex Cora and five other coaches, the Phillies have parted ways with manager Rob Thomson.

Don Mattingly, who was the team’s bench coach, will take over as interim manager. And guess what? His son, Preston, is Philadelphia’s general manager, under president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

That’s right — the Phillies’ new manager is the GM’s dad. 

But can the Mattingly family duo get the Phils back into playoff contention? 

The Phillies are tied with the Mets for the worst record in the Majors at 9-19. They just went through a 10-game losing streak. It’s been a hugely disappointing start to the season for a star-studded team that’s made the playoffs four years in a row and won the NL East the last two seasons.

But as we mentioned with the Red Sox after their moves, in-season managerial changes have sparked teams to playoff runs before — including when the Phillies made Thomson their manager in 2022, replacing Joe Girardi during the season. 

Donnie Baseball certainly has plenty of managerial experience. He skippered the Dodgers for five seasons and the Marlins for seven, making the playoffs four times and winning the NL Manager of the Year Award with Miami in 2020.

It could be now or never for the 2026 Phillies, who have just faced a gauntlet of the Braves and Cubs but are about to start a much more favorable stretch of their schedule. Starting tonight, they host the Giants for a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV). With a new manager, this is when they really need to make a run. 

 

NO. 1 DRAFT PICK ARRIVES IN THE BIGS

Travis Bazzana was MLB’s No. 1 overall Draft pick less than two years ago. He was starring for Australia at the World Baseball Classic less than two months ago. 

Now he’s ready for the big leagues. 

The Guardians called up their top prospect today to make his MLB debut against the Rays at Progressive Field (6:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV). Bazzana is in the starting lineup, batting seventh and playing second base. 

• Get tickets to tonight’s Guardians game

The 23-year-old, who in 2024 became the first Australian player ever drafted No. 1 overall, is ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 16 prospect. Bazzana was batting .287 with a .933 OPS, two home runs and eight stolen bases in 24 games at Triple-A this season. 

Bazzana was the headliner of what is shaping up to be a loaded 2024 Draft class — that class also included 2025 AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz (the No. 4 overall pick), MLB’s current top overall prospect Konnor Griffin (No. 9 pick), Blue Jays postseason phenom Trey Yesavage (No. 20) and more.

So what should we expect from Bazzana in the Majors? Prospect expert Ben Weinrib breaks that down for you here. 

Bazzana isn’t the only top prospect who’s about to get called up. Yankees 22-year-old pitching prospect Elmer Rodríguez (MLB Pipeline’s No. 72 overall prospect) is set to make his Major League debut tomorrow against the Rangers. More on that here.  

GAMES OF THE NIGHT

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

Red Sox at Blue Jays (7:07 p.m. ET, MLB.TV) 

The Jays get their postseason rookie sensation back tonight: Trey Yesavage will make his first start of 2026 after his dominant 2025 playoff run. And he’s facing the Red Sox’s own electric young starter, Payton Tolle, who just racked up 11 strikeouts against the Yankees in his own season debut. Yesavage is ranked MLB Pipeline’s No. 9 overall prospect, and Tolle is ranked No. 15 overall. If you love stud pitching prospects — and who doesn’t? — this is the game for you. 

Yankees at Rangers (8:05 p.m. ET, MLB.TV) 

If there’s a pitching matchup to rival Yesavage vs. Tolle tonight, it’s this one: Cam Schlittler vs. Jacob deGrom. The Yankees’ rising star faces the Rangers’ two-time Cy Young winner in his latest test. Schlittler has passed all of them so far — including dominating in his first career start at Fenway Park last week (a pitchers’ duel with Tolle). But deGrom is pitching like vintage deGrom with a 2.13 ERA in five starts after his first 10-K game of the season. Texas has won every game he’s pitched. 

Marlins at Dodgers (10:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV) 

Shohei Ohtani takes his 0.38 ERA into tonight’s start against the Marlins. This will be another One-Way Shohei game — Ohtani will pitch in the game, but will not hit. But the last time he did that? He dominated the Mets with a 10-strikeout performance.  

AROUND THE LEAGUE

• Murakami is No. 1 

Munetaka Murakami took over the top spot on the MLB home run leaderboard with his 12th homer of the season, a go-ahead blast that fueled the White Sox comeback win over the Angels. The former Japanese home run king ranks ahead of Yordan Alvarez (11), Aaron Judge (11), Ben Rice (10) and James Wood (10) in his first MLB season. 

• Rice catches Judge? Not so fast 

Murakami might be No. 1 in homers, but the Judge-Rice duo continues to be MLB’s best 1-2 punch. Both of them homered again in the Yankees’ win over the Rangers yesterday — first Rice to pull even with Judge at 10 homers apiece, then Judge to retake the team lead with No. 11. Rice and Judge are the second pair of Yankees teammates to hit 10 or more homers in the team’s first 29 games of a season, after Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle in 1956. The Bronx Bombers have now won 10 of their last 12 games and have the AL’s best record at 19-10.

• Red Sox streaking 

On the heels of their coaching staff shakeup, the Red Sox have now won three straight games. Their latest W came on the back of a gem by Ranger Suarez, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and shut down the reigning AL champion Blue Jays in an eight-inning, one-hit, 10-K masterpiece — his best game yet in a Boston uniform. 

• King Tuck’s LA reign finally begins 

Kyle Tucker had his first big Dodgers momentlast night — a two-run walk-off single against the Marlins with Los Angeles down to its final out. Tucker’s knock gave the Dodgers their 20th win of the season, tied with the Braves for the most in the Majors. The marquee free-agent acquisition has had a slow start at the plate in his Dodgers debut, so as manager Dave Roberts put it: “He needed it. He needed a win.” 

• Wetherholt’s homecoming magic

Cardinals top prospect JJ Wetherholt (MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 overall) made his first trip as a big leaguer to his hometown, Pittsburgh, and his latest clutch swing helped lift the Cards to a comeback win over the Pirates. Wetherholt went back-to-back with Pedro Pagés to tie the game in the ninth inning before José Fermín’s go-ahead double a few batters later. The 23-year-old has now homered in three consecutive games. 

CLEMENT REVIVES TORONTO’S HOCKEY VIBES 

Even though Toronto’s beloved Maple Leafs missed the playoffs this year, there’s still a good chance you’ll see a lot of hockey jerseys around town thanks to … Ernie Clement?

Since his record-setting performance during the Blue Jays’ own epic postseason run last fall, Clement has become one of the city’s most popular athletes. On Monday night, thousands of fans lined up hours before game time to receive a replica Ernie Clement hockey jersey. They might have been the longest lines seen at Rogers Centre since Taylor Swift played six shows there in 2024.

Each Toronto player wore the jerseys — featuring a large Blue Jays crest — while taking batting practice as a show of love for a player who is just as popular with his teammates as he is with the fans.

“Performance and personality,” manager John Schneider said when asked to explain Clement’s appeal. “When you get 30 hits in the postseason, that’s something. When you go play for Team USA, that’s something. When you don’t change who you are, people appreciate that.”

— Ed Eagle 

STREAK TRACKER: MILLER’S RUN ENDS

Here’s our final update on Mason Miller’s scoreless-inning streak, which spanned 33 appearances dating back to last August before it finally ended last night.

Miller’s scoreless-inning streak

Streak status: Ends at 34 2/3 innings (Monday)

AL/NL record: Orel Hershiser, 59 innings (1988)

Reliever record (Expansion Era): Gregg Olson, 41 innings (1989-90) 

Miller’s scoreless streak is over at 34 2/3 innings, after the Padres closer allowed a pair of runs to the Cubs — but he still managed to seal the win with a game-ending strikeout of Alex Bregman. Miller’s streak finishes as the Padres’ franchise record (one inning ahead of Cla Meredith) and the eighth-longest by a reliever in the Expansion Era (since 1961).   

 

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