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What’s Happening in Baseball Today
The First Pitch: May 21, 2026
Shohei Ohtani is back to showing off his two-way powers in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win at San Diego. He leads off the game with a first-pitch home run, his eighth round-tripper of the year, against the Padres’ Randy Vasquez; later taking the mound, Ohtani throws five more scoreless innings to lower his season ERA to 0.73 over 49 innings—one inning less than needed to qualify for the league lead—while extending a streak of consecutive scoreless frames to 16.2. With the win, the Dodgers take the year’s first series between the two NL West rivals and depart San Diego with a 1.5-game lead in the division.
A bad week for Pete Crow-Armstrong gets worse. It all began with him ultimately getting fined for profanely talking back to a female fan behind the fence at Chicago’s Rate Field; then, a couple of days later at Wrigley Field, he drops a routine fly ball against the Brewers. In the series finale against Milwaukee, Crow-Armstrong—or “PCA,” as often used by the character-challenged social media crowd—charges a base hit by David Hamilton, but the ball ends up going under his glove and continues all the way to the center-field fence. The speedy Hamilton rounds the bases, following two others scoring in front of him.
Crow-Armstong’s gaffe accounts for two of the three unearned runs allowed by the Cubs in a 5-0 defeat, securing a three-game sweep by the Brewers at Chicago. After rampaging early in the month, the Cubs have dropped five straight games and have fallen into a second-place tied with St. Louis, a game and a half back of the Brewers.
Loose bodies in the elbow seems to be the current injury de jour within MLB. Numerous star pitchers, from Tarik Skubal to Blake Snell, have been affected—but both appear to be on their way to avoiding long-term absences. The same cannot be said for Toronto’s Jose Berrios, whose condition in the elbow is so bad that he’ll undergo Tommy John surgery; he is not expected to return until midway through the 2027 season—assuming that there will be one.
The soon-to-be 32-year-old Berrios hasn’t pitched since last September; over 10 seasons, the right-hander has accumulated a 108-82 record.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)
5-3-4-2—Sal Stewart, Cincinnati
For a while it looked as if the shine was starting to fade from the 22-year-old rookie’s glowing start to 2026. But the reflection is starting to intensify again. Stewart collected a career-high four hits, including a double, two singles and his 12th home run of the year, helping to lead the Reds to a 9-4 win at Philadelphia. Just four days prior, Stewart was mired in a hitless funk that dropped his season batting average to .236; in four games since, he’s 9-for-15 with a pair of homers.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)
7-2-0-0-1-11—Kyle Harrison, Milwaukee
Pete Crow-Armstrong did the Cubs no favors with his latest outfielding gaffe against the Brewers, but it didn’t really matter; the Brewers were already in good hands thanks to Harrison, who had his most dominant start in three-plus years of major league pitching. Overall, Harrison’s seven shutout frames extend a fantastic start in which he’s gone 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA in nine starts—leaving both the Giants and the Red Sox, the two teams that traded him away over the past year, to surely start developing second thoughts over their decision.
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1902: Bill Bradley homers in his first of four straight games for the Cleveland Blues. Though it’s hardly a record today, Bradley’s spree is eye-opening considering it takes place in a time where home runs are generally scarce and league leaders work hard to reach double figures. Bradley will hit 11 homers on the year, easily a career high.
1904: Bill O’Neill, shortstop for the Boston Americans (Red Sox), is charged with six errors in a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Browns. It’s the most errors ever committed by a player in one game regardless of position. In fairness to O’Neill, the game lasts 13 innings and O’Neill’s last error occurs in the 13th—but it allows the visiting Browns to score the winning runs.
1952: The Dodgers set a major league record by scoring 15 runs in the first inning off Cincinnati starter Ewell Blackwell and three relievers at Ebbets Field on May 21. The Brooklyn carnage includes 10 hits, seven walks and two hit batsmen; at one point, 19 straight batters reach safely to set another mark. The Dodgers coast to a 19-1 win behind pitcher Chris Van Cuyk, who doubles as the team’s leading batter with four hits.
1992: On its way to Baltimore from New York, a bus carrying the Angels crashes on the New Jersey Turnpike. Twelve members of the Angels are injured, the most serious of which is sustained by manager Buck Rodgers. With injuries to his knee, ribs and elbow, Rodgers is sidelined from the dugout for two months following surgery.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
Jose Alvarado (31), Phillies reliever of 400 appearances
Matt Wieters (40), four-time All-Star catcher; recipient of two Gold Gloves
Reliever Andrew Miller (41), two-time All-Star reliever; Cleveland postseason standout in 2016
Josh Hamilton (45), greatly talented but highly troubled outfielder/slugger; first overall draft pick of 1999 draft; 2010 AL MVP; five-time All-Star; hit four home runs in a 2012 game; top AL hitter of 2008, same year he was given rare bases-loaded intentional walk
Kent Hrbek (66), 14-year first baseman for Minnesota; 1984 AL MVP runner-up; recipient of two World Series rings
Born on this date:
Bobby Cox (1941), Hall-of-Fame manager who ranks fourth with 2,504 wins; oversaw Braves’ dominant run from 1991-2005, winning 1995 World Series; all-time leader in ejections with 162
Monty Stratton (1912), promising pitcher for White Sox who lost his leg in hunting accident; made comeback attempt in minors starting in 1946, lasting parts of five seasons; portrayed by Jimmy Stewart in 1949 movie The Monty Stratton Story
Earl Averill (1902), Hall-of-Fame center fielder who homered in his first at-bat; member of first six AL All-Star rosters; batted .318 over 13 seasons with 328 home runs
Eddie Grant (1883), Deadball Era third baseman who died during combat in France during World War I
Fred Dunlap (1859), second baseman/manager during 1880s; batting champ for one-year Union Association in 1884
Shameless Link of the Day
How about an interview with Wally Westlake?
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