Two days after he was hit by a fastball in the right shoulder, Shohei Ohtani will test any residual soreness when he takes the mound against the visiting New York Mets on Wednesday night.

Ohtani (1-0, 0.00 ERA), a right-handed pitcher, will make his third start of the season and first in a week after he gave up an unearned run on four hits over six innings against the Toronto Blue Jays in a no-decision.

Ohtani’s two strikeouts were his lowest in an outing of at least four innings in his MLB career. The Dodgers ended up losing 4-3 for their only loss on a six-game road trip.

“For players, we usually feel fatigue at the end of the road trip,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “I’m not sure if that was the main cause (for a low strikeout total), but I want to make sure that I’m addressing, if any, some mechanical changes.”

On Monday against the Mets, while serving as the Dodgers’ designated hitter, Ohtani was hit on the back of the shoulder by a 94-mph sinker from left-hander David Peterson.

Ohtani remained in the game, with manager Dave Roberts saying afterward that he might have been concerned if Ohtani had to pitch Tuesday but that a bruise would not be an issue.

Ohtani will pitch against the Mets for the first time in his career. New York has lost seven straight games.

In consecutive Dodgers victories over the Mets this week, Ohtani was handed a blueprint for how to handle the New York lineup. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski and right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto each pitched into the eighth inning as Los Angeles won for the ninth time in 11 games.

The Mets will counter Wednesday with right-hander Clay Holmes (2-1,1.50 ERA), who has given up one total run over his past two starts (12 1/3 innings) but is just 1-1 to show for it. He took the loss in a 4-0 home defeat against the Athletics on Friday when he gave up one run on five hits over 5 1/3 innings.

Holmes’ outing was cut short because of left hamstring tightness, but he threw his regular between-start bullpen session on Monday.

“There was just kind of a weird feeling and some unsureness about what was going on,” Holmes said. “I think (we) just made the smart decision to not make it worse.”

In eight career appearances (one start) against the Dodgers, Holmes is 1-1 with a 4.35 ERA. The start came in 2018 when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

With the offense in a funk, and the team on a losing streak, the Mets will need Holmes to be at his best. New York has just one run over the past three games, and it came on Francisco Lindor’s leadoff home run Tuesday. The Dodgers then squeezed out a 2-1 victory.

“The urgency level is really high,” Lindor said afterward. “I don’t think (anybody) here is desperate, but we understand we have to win. It’s a must-win. … Everybody here has a sense of urgency. We’re all trying to win. It’s just a matter of time. We have to get it done. Everyone understands the task is winning.”

It was not only Lindor’s first home run of the season, it was his first RBI. He has scored 11 times.

New York outfielder Jared Young was a late lineup scratch Tuesday because of left knee discomfort.

–Field Level Media

In recent years, the San Diego Padres haven’t played well or gotten much good luck against the Seattle Mariners, reflected in their 4-14 record against their interleague rivals in their previous 18 meetings before Tuesday night.

But if Xander Bogaerts’ two RBI hits during a 4-1 victory in the opener of a three-game series are any indication, that record and luck might be changing.

Exit velocity might not have wowed the analytics crowd, but the results were good enough for San Diego to notch its sixth straight win and its ninth victory in the past 10 games.

The Padres will try to keep rolling Wednesday night when they shoot for a series win over Seattle in San Diego.

Bogaerts pushed his batting average to .270 after recording three hits on Tuesday. He drove in two runs in the third inning with a looping single to shallow center and knocked in another run in the eighth by dinking a single over a drawn-in infield.

If nothing else, it shows the value of simply making contact instead of striking out. And Padres manager Craig Stammen said Bogaerts was due a peck on the cheek from the baseball gods.

“He didn’t really hit them as hard as he’s been hitting them,” Stammen said. “But we talk about the luck kind of turning our way and some of those softer hits falling in.”

San Diego has outscored opponents 40-15 during its winning streak, taking every game by at least three runs. The Padres will try to extend the streak to seven behind right-hander Randy Vasquez (1-0, 1.02 ERA), their best starting pitcher through the first 17 games.

Vasquez has allowed just two runs in 17 2/3 innings and is coming off a no-decision in the team’s 7-3, 12-inning win Thursday night against Colorado. He scattered seven hits over 5 2/3 innings but allowed just one run and struck out eight.

Seattle will counter with right-hander Emerson Hancock (2-1, 2.04 ERA), who last pitched on Friday night and got the win in a 9-6 verdict over Houston. Hancock lasted five innings, allowing four hits and three runs, with two walks and five strikeouts.

Hancock has pitched well in two career starts against the Padres, logging a 1.86 ERA in 9 2/3 innings without a decision.

Vasquez, in his fourth season in the majors, will face the Mariners for the first time.

Seattle appeared to have found some offense during a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros in a wraparound weekend series, but on Tuesday, that attack was replaced by the pop-gun offense that served as a source of frustration in the season’s first three weeks.

The Mariners managed four hits off Michael King and three relievers. Their batting average is a meager .205, ranked 28th in MLB, and they have only 70 runs, well below the Astros’ MLB-leading 102.

That offensive output has wasted some pretty good pitching. As a team, Seattle is second in ERA at 3.02 and leads MLB in WHIP (walks plus hits/innings pitched) at 1.06.

Hitters such as Josh Naylor, who have been struggling, know that there’s plenty of time to turn things around.

“This game we play is the hardest game in the world, in my opinion,” said Naylor, who is batting .134 this season. “So I think trying to do things to minimize thinking too much, I guess, that helps you in the long run.”

–Field Level Media

Buried beneath the rubble of an eight-game losing streak was the fact that the Houston Astros entered a six-game homestand on Tuesday leading the American League in several offensive categories.

With their rotation weakened by injuries and their bullpen stretched thin, the Astros will have to slug their way to victory more often than not.

Houston followed that script in the opener Tuesday of a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies with a 7-6 white-knuckle win, and the teams will meet again Wednesday night.

“Our offense is relentless when they get good pitches to hit, score a lot of runs and allow us to deploy some of our relievers and put them in better spots,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Our offense has been phenomenal. They understand the situation that we are in. They continue to grind at-bats.”

The Astros needed five relievers to cover the final 5 1/3 innings Tuesday after starter Colton Gordon departed in the fourth. With closer Josh Hader on the injured list and his replacement in the role, Bryan Abreu, scuffling, Espada is having to piecemeal his way through the latter frames.

“My focus is trying to get these guys matched up with the right pockets,” Espada said. “Try to put these guys into the position to deploy their pitches, go through the areas where they can get people out, and try to get them rolling that way. Once the dust settles, some of these guys will start falling into those roles.

“But right now, we’re trying to get going that way. We’re trying to get these on a positive note.”

Right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (1-5, 5.35 ERA in 2025) was announced as the Astros’ starter for Wednesday. He was added to the taxi squad on Tuesday after posting a 1.26 ERA and 20 strikeouts across 14 1/3 innings and three starts with Triple-A Sugar Land.

He made just seven starts during an injury-plagued 2025 after finishing 7-13 with a 4.53 ERA across 29 appearances (28 starts) during his rookie season in 2024.

Arrighetti threw seven shutout innings in his lone appearance against the Rockies on June 26, 2024, allowing three hits while recording 10 strikeouts in a 7-1 home victory.

Left-hander Jose Quintana (0-0, 4.15 ERA) will be reinstated from the 15-day injured list to start Wednesday for the Rockies, who have lost five straight games. Quintana landed on the IL with a right hamstring strain on March 30, one day after allowing two runs on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings in the Rockies’ 4-3 road loss to the Miami Marlins.

That marked the first career start with Colorado for Quintana, who went 11-7 with a 3.96 ERA for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2025. The Rockies are his ninth MLB team.

Quintana is 3-1 with a 3.08 ERA in 11 career appearances (nine starts) against the Astros.

Colorado optioned pitcher Valente Bellozo to Triple-A Albuquerque following Sunday’s game and recalled pitcher Tanner Gordon.

Another move will be required to make room on the roster for Quintana, with left-hander Kyle Freeland a likely candidate to land on the IL after he was scratched before his start on Sunday.

The Rockies swept a three-game series against the Astros last week in Denver.

–Field Level Media

The Tampa Bay Rays will try for their fifth straight victory and second consecutive series win on Wednesday night when they visit the Chicago White Sox for the second game of a three-game set.

Tampa Bay has done much of its damage lately via a mix of situational hitting and small ball, leaving opponents on notice.

“This kind of contact-heavy, team-first approach, it’s fun to watch,” hitting coach Chad Mottola said. “But more importantly … it’s frustrating for opposing teams, because that pressure just never lets up.”

Ryan Vilade (three hits) and Ben Williamson (two hits, three RBIs) sparked the Rays to 12 hits in Tuesday’s 8-5 victory in the series opener. But true to Mottola’s assessment, Tampa Bay also found effectiveness when its foes struggled to execute.

White Sox left-hander Noah Schultz, making his major league debut, threw wide of home plate on Williamson’s sacrifice bunt in the first inning, allowing two runs to score to push the advantage to 3-0.

Chicago has lost six of its past eight games. After managing only two runs through the first three games of a weekend series in Kansas City, the White Sox have totaled 11 in the past two games.

That includes home runs from recent call-up Tanner Murray, as well as from Colson Montgomery, Everson Pereira and Munetaka Murakami.

Still, the White Sox had just three hits until the ninth inning Tuesday, when Murakami’s team-high fifth homer drew them to within the final margin.

White Sox general manager Chris Getz said that a recent trade to Toronto of infielder Lenyn Sosa, a capable hitter, illustrated the organization’s push toward a different offensive profile. Sosa also was expendable because of the glut of promising infielders the White Sox have, including Montgomery and Chase Meidroth, both currently on the roster.

Sam Antonacci and William Bergolla Jr. are middle infielders off to strong starts this season at Triple-A Charlotte, with MLB.com projecting a 2026 arrival in the big leagues for Bergolla and Antonacci in 2027.

“Lenyn did good things in a White Sox uniform,” Getz said. “We can all acknowledge that he can bring some offense. It’s more prioritizing the style of play that we want for our major league club moving forward. When you have Antonacci and Bergolla, even (recently promoted) Tanner Murray, players that offer more defensive versatility, the baserunning.”

Chicago will try to even the series against a familiar face in Rays right-hander Jesse Scholtens.

With starter Joe Boyle sidelined because of a strained elbow, the Rays will turn to Scholtens (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who made 26 appearances, including 11 starts, for the White Sox in 2023. He missed the 2024 season due to injury, and Chicago designated him for assignment last August.

He joined the Rays and made two appearances at the end of the regular season.

Scholtens helped keep the Rays afloat in an eventual 6-2 home loss to the Chicago Cubs on April 8, providing 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. He scattered four hits, one walk and four strikeouts in his only appearance this season. Most recently, he has been pitching at Triple-A Durham.

Right-hander Sean Burke (0-1, 3.60 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season for the White Sox on Wednesday.

After allowing four runs (three earned) in four innings in a 6-1 loss at Milwaukee on March 28, Burke has been steady over his past two outings. He has spaced three earned runs, two walks and 10 strikeouts over 11 innings in no-decisions against the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles.

Burke is 0-0 with a 3.24 ERA in two career starts against the Rays, with 10 strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

The Milwaukee Brewers will turn to Chad Patrick on the mound as they look to halt their six-game skid when they host the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

Patrick (1-0, 0.73 ERA) will oppose fellow right-hander Dylan Cease (0-0, 2.45).

Toronto won the series opener with a wild 9-7 comeback victory in 10 innings Tuesday. The Blue Jays scored three runs in the ninth off struggling closer Trevor Megill, only to see the Brewers tie the score at 6 with two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Myles Straw doubled to drive in a pair of runs to key a three-run 10th inning, lifting Toronto to just its third win in the last 11 games.

“it’s huge. This is the best kind of win, in my opinion,” Straw said. “This is what we did a lot of last year, and last year we were a really good team. So that’s what it’s going to take.”

The losing streak is the Brewers’ longest since the team dropped six straight games in June 2023. Milwaukee is 0-4 on its current six-game homestand.

Cease, who will make his fourth start of the season, has allowed six runs (four earned) in 14 2/3 innings. He has struck out 26, walked nine and has yet to allow a homer.

Cease allowed two runs (one earned) in five innings in his most recent start but did not get a decision in a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last Wednesday. He struck out eight but walked four in a 96-pitch outing.

Cease is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in four career starts vs. Milwaukee, with 32 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings. He faced the Brewers once last season while with the San Diego Padres, allowing one run on six hits without a decision in a 3-1 defeat.

Daulton Varsho, who played collegiately at nearby Wisconsin-Milwaukee, was 2-for-5 with a homer Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to five games. He is batting .409 with three homers, two doubles and six RBIs over that span.

Patrick will make his fourth appearance and third start of the season. He came out of the bullpen his last time out, following an opener with three scoreless innings in his team’s 7-3 loss to the Nationals on Friday.

Patrick has allowed just one run in 12 1/3 innings, with seven strikeouts and five walks. He has yet to face the Blue Jays in his career.

Megill, who had 30 saves in 36 chances last season, is 0-2 with a 14.40 ERA. Tuesday was his first blown save in three opportunities. In his previous outing, he allowed four runs, facing five batters without getting an out.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy would not rule out a change at closer.

“We’ll see. I don’t know for sure. I like to talk to other people about it,” Murphy said. “Obviously you can’t have a guy go out there six times and three times not do the job. The way he’s throwing the ball now, he doesn’t deserve it.”

Both Jake Bauers and Gary Sanchez hit their fifth homers of the season for Milwaukee in Tuesday’s loss, giving them a combined 10 of the team’s 18 homers.

Third baseman Luis Rengifo, signed as a free agent by the Brewers during the offseason, is batting .128 and is hitless in his last 19 at-bats.

–Field Level Media

Dominic Smith has proved to be a consequential addition to the Atlanta Braves’ roster, even though he signed with the club only six days before the season opener.

Smith delivered a bases-clearing double with two outs in the eighth inning to help the Braves record a 6-5 win over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.

Atlanta evened its three-game series with visiting Miami heading into the finale on Wednesday night.

It wasn’t the first time that Smith delivered in the clutch. He hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning to beat Kansas City on March 28 in his Atlanta debut.

“It’s been a whirlwind ever since I signed with the Braves in spring training,” Smith said. “I signed a little late, but to get the opportunity to join this great group was a dream come true. This team has welcomed me with open arms from day one, and this has been a ride.”

Smith was 3-for-4 with four RBIs on Tuesday, lifting his batting average to .395 with 15 RBIs.

“The biggest thing is just having the confidence pitch-to-pitch,” he said. “It only takes one pitch to get the job done. The biggest thing is just going up there and not trying to do too much.”

The pitching matchup for the series finale will feature a pair of right-handers — Atlanta’s Bryce Elder (1-1, 1.02 ERA) vs. Miami’s Chris Paddack (0-2, 6.14).

Elder will make his fourth start of the season and has not allowed more than two runs in any appearance. In his last outing on Friday, he did not receive a decision after allowing two runs in 4 2/3 innings against Cleveland. The Braves won 11-5.

In 10 career starts against the Marlins — his most appearances against any opponent — Elder is 2-4 with a 3.88 ERA. He was 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA in two starts against them last season.

Paddack, who signed a one-year, free-agent deal with Miami in February, will make his fourth start of the season. He made his first quality start in his last outing on Friday, when he was charged with two earned runs on seven hits, one walk and four strikeouts in a 2-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

“Chris was great. He really was,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He really located the bottom of the zone. Just painting down there. “To go six there and keep us right there a 2-0. I thought he used his whole mix really well.”

Paddack has made four career appearances (three starts) against the Braves, posting a 2-0 record with a 2.14 ERA. He made one start against them last season and did not receive a decision.

Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias earned a save on Tuesday. It was his 100th since joining the Braves in 2022. He is 100-for-114 in save situations and joined Craig Kimbrel, John Smoltz, Gene Garber and Mark Wohlers as the only others to reach 100 saves with the Braves.

–Field Level Media

Tyler Mahle of the San Francisco Giants will return to his old home Wednesday night when he starts on the mound against the Reds in Cincinnati in the second game of a three-game series.

Mahle, a right-hander, spent the first five-plus seasons of his career in Cincinnati, and after stints with the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers, he signed with the Giants in the offseason.

He will be asked to help stop the Giants’ three-game losing streak, but he might need to be nearly perfect to do it because San Francisco has only five runs during the skid.

Solo home runs by Spencer Steer and Sal Stewart provided all the Cincinnati offense on Tuesday night in a 2-1 victory.

Four Reds pitchers, led by starter Brady Singer, combined on a seven-hitter that included an 0-for-3 performance by Rafael Devers, who saw his season batting average drop to .212.

The slugger brought a five-game hitting streak into the series, but five of the six hits during that run were singles. A three-time All-Star who averaged 32.2 homers over the past five seasons, Devers has gone deep just twice in 17 games this season.

“He’s competing. He’s probably a little extra frustrated at times. He’s trying,” Giants manager Tony Vitello told reporters after the Tuesday defeat. “There’s maybe a little extra body in his swing.

“He’s a smart guy. He knows his swing better than anybody. He’s got such a pretty swing. Really handsy. At times, there are times when hands get gobbled up by a little extra body in there. Sometimes extra body comes from extra effort.”

On Wednesday, Devers and the Giants will face Reds right-hander Rhett Lowder (1-1, 3.31 ERA), who started the season strongly with 11 innings of six-hit, two-run ball in his team’s wins over the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers before getting roughed up on the road by the Miami Marlins last Thursday. He allowed eight hits and five runs (four earned) over 5 1/3 innings in an 8-1 loss.

The 24-year-old has pitched in just nine games in his career, none against the Giants.

Mahle (0-2, 4.30 ERA) made his first 113 starts for the Reds, who drafted him out of a Southern California high school in the seventh round in 2013. He went 31-38 with a 4.35 ERA with Cincinnati before getting dealt to the Minnesota Twins in August 2002 for three players, including Steer.

Mahle, 31, has never faced the Reds, the only major league team he hasn’t pitched against. He’s very familiar with the Great American Ball Park, however, having gone 13-18 there with a 5.02 ERA in 55 career games (54 starts).

After allowing a combined seven runs and 13 hits in nine innings in losses to the New York Yankees and New York Mets, Mahle shut out the Philadelphia Phillies on three hits over 5 2/3 innings in his last start. He did not get a decision in a 5-0 win over the Phillies last Wednesday, as all five Giants runs came after he left the game.

After walking four and throwing 94 pitches his last time out, the veteran said he can improve on his return to Cincinnati.

“We want to go deep in games whatever the pitch count is. That’s the goal,” he told reporters after failing to complete six innings for the third straight time in a Giants uniform. “Six innings is the baseline we should be striving for.”

– Field Level Media

Mike Trout was hitting the ball hard but running into tough luck for the past few games before arriving at Yankee Stadium.

In the past two nights, he has hit the ball hard and over the wall for the Los Angeles Angels.

The Angels hope to see another big night from Trout and their offense on Wednesday when they play the third contest of a four-game series against the host New York Yankees.

The Angels have 17 runs on 24 hits in the first two games and evened the series with a 7-1 rout on Tuesday. After Trout homered in the sixth and eighth innings on Monday, the Angels absorbed an 11-10 loss on a game-ending wild pitch.

On Tuesday, Trout homered in the first inning off Ryan Weathers.

Jo Adell and Jorge Soler also went deep as the Angels hit three homers in a span of five pitches.

Trout is 6-for-21 with three homers and 10 RBIs over his past five games and has raised his batting average from .190 to .222.

“Honestly, he’s swinging the bat the same he has been, and now he’s getting it to go far,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said.

Trout’s latest homer was part of big night for the Angels, whose 26 homers lead the American League. Former Yankee Oswald Peraza also homered and had three hits while Yoan Moncada went deep and drove in three runs.

“It was good,” Trout said. “Last night’s game, just the back and forth. Obviously it didn’t come out with what we wanted to with the loss, but we came back and turned the page quick.”

After snapping a five-game skid by getting two homers apiece from Aaron Judge and Trent Grisham on Monday, the Yankees took their most lopsided loss so far. New York was held to five hits and struck out 12 times.

Judge was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts while Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton were a combined 0-for-7 with four strikeouts.

“I think you see how streaky this game is,” Goldschmidt said. “You just got to take in stride and day by day.”

After New York saw a starter allow more than three runs for the first time, Right-hander Luis Gil (0-1, 6.75 ERA) will make his second start Wednesday, and the Yankees hope to see some better command.

Gil made his season debut Friday when he allowed three runs, three hits and walked three over four innings in a 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. He issued 33 walks in 57 innings during his 11 starts last season, when he missed four months with a lat strain.

Gil is 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA in a pair of starts against the Angels, who have four hits off him in 13 innings.

After Reid Detmers saved the Angels’ bullpen by pitching into the eighth on Tuesday, Jack Kochanowicz (2-0, 3.24 ERA) can match his win total from last season, when he was 3-11 with a 6.81 ERA in 23 starts.

The right-hander has struggled with command by issuing 11 walks in 16 2/3 innings and survived four free passes when he allowed a run on two hits in seven innings during Friday’s 10-2 win at Cincinnati.

Kochanowicz is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two career starts against the Yankees.

–Field Level Media

Nico Hoerner will look to continue his stellar month on Wednesday night when the Chicago Cubs play the decisive contest of their three-game series against the host Philadelphia Phillies.

Hoerner, who has 16 hits and 11 RBIs in April, joined Alex Bregman and Carson Kelly in driving in three runs apiece for Chicago during a 10-4 victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Hoerner recorded an RBI single in the third inning and joined Bregman with a two-run single in the sixth.

“The at-bat where Nico drove in two (runs) is kind of a Nico at-bat,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He gets down 0-2, fouls a couple pitches off, and then he puts a ball in play. That’s the difference in the situation like that. Hit a ball hard up the middle and good things happen.”

Bregman collected three hits on Tuesday and has 11 in his past seven games.

The Nos. 1-4 batters in the Cubs’ lineup combined to go 9-for-20 with seven RBIs on Tuesday.

The Cubs’ offense in general has picked it up a notch as well, totaling 24 runs on 36 hits over the past three games.

“It’s a mature group. … It’s a bunch of guys who know how to compete and know how to get the most out of it even when they’re not feeling good,” Bregman said. “We’ll get this thing rolling, and we’ll get guys locked in and be right where we need to be.”

The Cubs and Phillies have combined for 34 runs in the first two games of the series.

Left-hander Shota Imanaga (0-1, 2.81 ERA), who will start for Chicago in the finale, was right where he needed to be in his most recent outing, as he did not allow a hit and struck out nine over six scoreless innings in a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Friday. The Pirates won 2-0.

Imanaga, 32, also received a no-decision in his lone encounter vs. Philadelphia. He yielded three runs on six hits — including two homers — with eight strikeouts in six innings of a 5-3 loss on July 3, 2024.

Philadelphia left-hander Jesus Luzardo (1-2, 6.23 ERA) will provide the opposition on Wednesday.

Luzardo has sandwiched lackluster starts around one good outing this season. He answered striking out 11 batters in a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on April 4 by allowing five runs in 4 2/3 innings of a 5-4 defeat to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.

Luzardo, 28, is 4-0 with a 2.30 ERA in seven career encounters with the Cubs.

On Tuesday, Edmundo Sosa belted a three-run homer onto Ashburn Alley in the second inning to stake the Phillies to an early lead. Sosa and J.T. Realmuto each had two of Philadelphia’s eight hits, one day after the team erupted for 13 runs on 15 hits in a 13-7 win in the series opener on Monday.

“I thought we hit some balls hard today,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said following Tuesday’s game. “I didn’t think our at-bats were that bad today. They just didn’t fall.”

Chicago placed right-handed reliever Ethan Roberts on the 15-day injured list on Tuesday, one day after he sustained a lacerated right middle finger during his typical pregame routine in the series opener.

Left-handers Ryan Rolison and Luke Little were recalled from Triple-A Iowa, with Rolison allowing one hit in a scoreless inning on Tuesday.

–Field Level Media

CJ Abrams continues to be at the heart of most of the positives thus far for the Washington Nationals.

He remains one of the hottest hitters in the majors for the Nationals, who will visit the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third contest of a four-game series on Wednesday night.

Abrams is hitting .356 with a 1.121 OPS, six home runs and 19 RBIs in 16 games this season. He is on pace for career highs in each of those categories.

Abrams will try to provide run support again when the Nationals send right-hander Jake Irvin (1-1, 7.07 ERA) to the mound on Wednesday.

Abrams collected three hits and two RBIs, including a home run, in Washington’s 5-4 win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. He would have scored an additional run had he not been thrown out at the plate on a great play from left field by Jake Mangum in the eighth inning.

The Nationals have won four of their past five games.

“There are a lot of positives with CJ’s game right now,” manager Blake Butera said. “The leadership stands out, the way he rallies the guys around him from all aspects … and he’s not afraid to go out there and make a play.”

Pittsburgh second baseman Brandon Lowe has been one of the top hitters in baseball as well this season.

Lowe became the first Pirate to record five RBIs in consecutive games since the RBI became an official statistic in 1920. He accomplished the feat Sunday against the Chicago Cubs and Monday against the Nationals.

Lowe homered in the second inning on Tuesday, but Pirates manager Don Kelly took some heat from fans later that night after his decision to pinch hit Nick Yorke for Lowe in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out and Pittsburgh trailing 5-4. Yorke worked the count to 3-1 against reliever Cionel Perez before grounding into an inning-ending double play.

“I thought it was the right move,” Lowe said. “if you take the personal out of it and look at it with a baseball mind, it was bases loaded, one out, lefty on the mound and lefty in the pen. (Yorke) sees lefties really well and doesn’t strike out against them. … If the ball was (hit) three feet one way or another, we’re having a completely different discussion about this.”

Irvin, who is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates, produced mixed results in his last outing Friday at Milwaukee. He pitched five innings and gave up three runs on just two hits but walked five batters and struck out five as the Nationals won 7-3.

The Pirates had not named a starter for Wednesday’s game, although right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (0-0, 2.51 ERA) would be in line to pitch in the contest.

If Mlodzinski gets the nod, he’ll make his first career start against the Nationals. He has faced them as a reliever, going 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA in five career appearances.

Mlodzinski would be looking to build off his best start of the season last Friday against the Cubs. He pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings despite allowing six hits and three walks while striking out two in a no-decision in Pittsburgh’s 2-0 victory.

–Field Level Media