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What’s Happening in Baseball Today
The First Pitch: April 29, 2026
You’re definitely as good as the start to your latest season. Alex Cora found that out in Boston, and now Rob Thomson finds it out in Philadelphia as he’s the first major casualty of the team’s 9-19 start. The fifth-year manager, who’s led his team to the playoffs every season—including an NL pennant in 2022—is fired after the team’s worst start since 2002.
In his place, bench coach Don Mattingly—with extensive managerial experience with the Dodgers and Miami—promptly leads the Phillies to a 7-0 home win over San Francisco in his first game as interim manager, with Jesus Luzrado (see below), tossing seven shutout innings.
Phillies front office head Dave Dombrowski confirms that before he fired Thomson, he offered the position to Cora, whom Dombrowski hired in Boston and led the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series. Cora declined.
Jose Soriano shows his mortal side for the first time all year, allowing three runs over five innings and taking the first loss of his season as the Angels bow at Chicago to the White Sox, 5-2. The first of two home runs conceded by Soriano—Colson Montgomery’s solo shot to lead off the second—ends his streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 26.1.
With Soriano’s ERA rising to a still-excellent 0.84, the new leader in that category is Shohei Ohtani. Against the visiting Marlins, Ohtani throws exactly six innings for the fifth time in five starts this year, allowing two runs (one earned) with nine strikeouts; his ERA actually rises as well, but to only 0.60. However, he doesn’t bat—and that costs the Dodgers, who suffer a 2-1 loss.
The Braves now own the majors’ best record at 21-9 after topping the visiting Tigers, 5-2. Martin Perez tosses five shutout innings, as he and three relievers especially silence Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who goes hitless in four plate appearances—thus ending his team-tying, five-game streak with at least one home run.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)
4-2-3-4—Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati
The multi-talented shortstop was a pain from start to finish for the opposing Rockies, as he knocked out his 10th home run, two singles, and stole two bases in the Reds’ easy 7-2 victory. It continues a solid start for De La Cruz, who co-leads the NL in homers and is batting .291 with eight steals.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)
7-2-0-0-0-8—Jesus Luzardo, Philadelphia
The Peruvian southpaw became the first Phillies pitcher this season to complete seven innings—allowing no runs to boot—and somewhere, Rob Thomson is staring at the 7-0 result over the Giants and shouting, “Oh, now you guys start pitching!” (Easy, Rob—the opposing Giants are dead last in runs scored and home runs, so there’s that.) For Luzardo, who came into the game with a 6.91 ERA, the outing was much needed.
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1913: When the visiting Reds come to Chicago, they discover that their uniforms have been left behind in Cincinnati. They end up borrowing the uniforms of the nearby White Sox and lose to the Cubs, 7-1.
1934: The Pirates and Phillies become the last two major league teams allowed to play home games on Sundays when the State of Pennsylvania lifts the “blue laws” that prevented such events. The Pirates beat Cincinnati, 9-5, while the Phillies lose to Brooklyn, 8-7.
1986: Roger Clemens becomes the first pitcher to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning game when the Red Sox flamethrower defeats the Mariners, 3-1, at Boston. Eight of Clemens’ strikeouts come consecutively; he allows three hits and walks none. Phil Bradley strikes out four times for Seattle, and Dave Henderson—who after a midseason trade will help rally the Red Sox to the World Series—strikes out in all three of his at-bats against Clemens in a Seattle uniform.
1988: After a record 21 straight losses to begin the season, the Orioles finally notch a win as they coast to a 9-0 win at Chicago over the White Sox. Cal Ripken Jr. has four hits to lead the charge.
2007: Just five years after the stunning death of Darryl Kile, the Cardinals are forced to relive the trauma when 29-year-old relief pitcher Josh Hancock is killed crashing his SUV into the back of a flatbed tow truck in St. Louis. Investigators discover that Hancock, a major league veteran of five-plus seasons, was talking on his cell phone at the time of the crash, had a blood alcohol level twice the legal state limit and had on his possession eight grams of marijuana. The Cardinals’ game with the Cubs the next evening is postponed; the team decides to bar alcohol from the clubhouse and on St. Louis-bound charter flights.
2015: In the wake of local riots sparked by the controversial death of an African-American in police custody, the Orioles decide to carry on with a game against the White Sox in a completely empty Oriole Park at Camden Yards, as fans are told not to show up out of fear for their own safety. It is the first time that spectators have been shut out of a major league game, though some appear outside the iron rod outfield gates and get a limited view of the action. The Orioles win 8-2 in a game that will last just two hours and two minutes.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
Detroit utility player Zach McKinstry (31), 2025 All-Star
Rafael Betancourt (51), reliever of 680 appearances with a career 3.36 ERA
Bob McClure (74), southpaw reliever of 19 seasons, making 698 appearances; career 1.93 ERA in nine postseason games
Rick Burleson (75), four-time All-Star shortstop in 13-year career split between the Red Sox and Angels
Tom House (79), left-handed reliever of the 1970s best remembered as the guy who caught Hank Aaron’s 715th home run
Luis Aparicio (92), speedy Hall-of-Fame shortstop who led league in steals over each of his first nine years and collected nine Gold Gloves; 1956 AL Rookie of the Year; 10-time All-Star
Born on this date:
Nip Winters (1899), left-handed Negro League pitcher who led his league four straight years in victories; career 89-42 record, 3.55 ERA
Noodles Hahn (1879), workhorse for the Reds in the early 1900s; four-time 20-game winner; led league in strikeouts three times; pitched over 300 innings four times, maxing out at 375.1 in 1901
Shameless Link of the Day
As bad as the Phillies have been to start 2026, they’ve been worse—much worse. Witness 1930.
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