Royals take on the Tigers looking to stop road skid
Kansas City Royals (7-11, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Detroit Tigers (9-9, third in the AL Central)
Detroit; Thursday, 1:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Kris Bubic (2-1, 2.50 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 23 strikeouts); Tigers: Keider Montero (1-1, 1.74 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 10 strikeouts)
LINE: Royals -113, Tigers -106; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals travel to the Detroit Tigers looking to end a four-game road slide.
Detroit is 9-9 overall and 7-1 in home games. The Tigers have a 3-5 record in games when they have given up at least one home run.
Kansas City is 2-6 on the road and 7-11 overall. Royals pitchers have a collective 3.75 ERA, which ranks ninth in the majors.
The teams meet Thursday for the third time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kevin McGonigle has six doubles, a triple and a home run while hitting .313 for the Tigers. Kerry Carpenter is 8 for 29 with a double and three home runs over the past 10 games.
Jac Caglianone leads the Royals with a .275 batting average, and has four doubles, a triple and five walks. Maikel Garcia is 10 for 42 with two home runs and four RBIs over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 5-5, .228 batting average, 3.14 ERA, outscored opponents by three runs
Royals: 3-7, .186 batting average, 3.45 ERA, outscored by 11 runs
INJURIES: Tigers: Zach McKinstry: day-to-day (ankle), Parker Meadows: 60-Day IL (head/arm), Trey Sweeney: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Justin Verlander: 15-Day IL (hip inflammation), Bailey Horn: 15-Day IL (elbow), Reese Olson: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jackson Jobe: 60-Day IL (elbow), Troy Melton: 60-Day IL (elbow), Beau Brieske: 60-Day IL (groin)
Royals: Isaac Collins: day-to-day (knee), Bailey Falter: 15-Day IL (elbow), Carlos Estevez: 15-Day IL (foot), Stephen Kolek: 15-Day IL (oblique), James McArthur: 15-Day IL (elbow), Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
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Royals bring road slide into matchup against the Tigers
Kansas City Royals (7-10, fourth in the AL Central) vs. Detroit Tigers (8-9, third in the AL Central)
Detroit; Wednesday, 6:40 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Seth Lugo (1-1, 1.53 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 14 strikeouts); Tigers: Jack Flaherty (0-1, 5.14 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, 14 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Tigers -133, Royals +112; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Kansas City Royals will look to stop a three-game road slide when they face the Detroit Tigers.
Detroit has an 8-9 record overall and a 6-1 record at home. The Tigers have the sixth-ranked team on-base percentage in the AL at .325.
Kansas City has a 7-10 record overall and a 2-5 record on the road. The Royals have gone 4-7 in games when they have allowed at least one home run.
Wednesday's game is the second meeting between these teams this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kevin McGonigle has six doubles, a triple, a home run and eight RBIs for the Tigers. Kerry Carpenter is 8 for 29 with a double, three home runs and eight RBIs over the past 10 games.
Maikel Garcia has five doubles and two home runs for the Royals. Bobby Witt Jr. is 10 for 38 with three doubles over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Tigers: 5-5, .241 batting average, 3.70 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs
Royals: 4-6, .199 batting average, 3.41 ERA, outscored by four runs
INJURIES: Tigers: Parker Meadows: 60-Day IL (head/arm), Trey Sweeney: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Justin Verlander: 15-Day IL (hip inflammation), Bailey Horn: 15-Day IL (elbow), Reese Olson: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jackson Jobe: 60-Day IL (elbow), Troy Melton: 60-Day IL (elbow), Beau Brieske: 60-Day IL (groin)
Royals: Isaac Collins: day-to-day (knee), Bailey Falter: 15-Day IL (elbow), Carlos Estevez: 15-Day IL (foot), Stephen Kolek: 15-Day IL (oblique), James McArthur: 15-Day IL (elbow), Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
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Cardinals and Guardians play in series rubber match
Cleveland Guardians (10-8, second in the AL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (9-8, third in the NL Central)
St. Louis; Wednesday, 1:15 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Guardians: Slade Cecconi (0-2, 5.74 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 14 strikeouts); Cardinals: Dustin May (1-2, 9.45 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, 11 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cardinals -114, Guardians -106; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Guardians play on Wednesday with the three-game series tied 1-1.
St. Louis has a 6-5 record at home and a 9-8 record overall. The Cardinals rank fifth in the majors with 20 total home runs, averaging 1.2 per game.
Cleveland has a 6-6 record on the road and a 10-8 record overall. Guardians hitters have a collective .384 slugging percentage to rank seventh in the AL.
Wednesday's game is the third meeting between these teams this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: JJ Wetherholt has a double, three home runs and eight RBIs for the Cardinals. Jordan Walker is 16 for 41 with seven home runs over the past 10 games.
Jose Ramirez has four doubles and three home runs while hitting .217 for the Guardians. Angel Martinez is 13 for 38 with three doubles and two home runs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 5-5, .232 batting average, 5.70 ERA, outscored by 16 runs
Guardians: 5-5, .247 batting average, 4.29 ERA, even run differential
INJURIES: Cardinals: Matt Pushard: 15-Day IL (knee), Hunter Dobbins: 15-Day IL (knee), Lars Nootbaar: 60-Day IL (heels)
Guardians: Gabriel Arias: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Andrew Walters: 15-Day IL (lat)
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Blues visit the Mammoth after Snuggerud's 2-goal game
St. Louis Blues (36-33-12, in the Central Division) vs. Utah Mammoth (43-32-6, in the Central Division)
Salt Lake City; Thursday, 7:30 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Blues visit the Utah Mammoth after Jimmy Snuggerud scored two goals in the Blues' 7-5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Utah is 43-32-6 overall with a 13-10-2 record in Central Division games. The Mammoth have committed 313 total penalties (3.9 per game) to rank 10th in league play.
St. Louis is 36-33-12 overall with a 9-16-0 record against the Central Division. The Blues have a 29-10-5 record in games they score at least three goals.
The matchup Thursday is the fourth time these teams square off this season. The Mammoth won 4-2 in the last matchup. Nick Schmaltz led the Mammoth with two goals.
TOP PERFORMERS: Clayton Keller has scored 26 goals with 60 assists for the Mammoth. Mikhail Sergachev has 13 assists over the past 10 games.
Snuggerud has 21 goals and 29 assists for the Blues. Dylan Holloway has six goals and nine assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Mammoth: 6-4-0, averaging 4.2 goals, 7.3 assists, 3.8 penalties and 10.9 penalty minutes while giving up 3.4 goals per game.
Blues: 6-3-1, averaging four goals, seven assists, 2.9 penalties and 6.6 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game.
INJURIES: Mammoth: Barrett Hayton: out (upper-body), Jack McBain: out (lower-body), John Marino: day to day (upper-body).
Blues: None listed.
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Wetherholt homers twice, Brito error lets Cardinals rally for 6-5, 10-inning win over Guardians
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cardinals rookie JJ Wetherholt homered twice, second baseman Juan Brito allowed Masyn Winn’s potential game-ending grounder to bounce into right field and St. Louis stopped a three-game losing streak when it rallied to beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-5 in 10 innings on Tuesday night.
Wetherholt had his first multi-homer game, going deep for the first time since homering in his debut on opening day. His solo homer off Joey Cantillo tied the score 2-2 in the third and his two-run drive against Erik Sabrowski cut the Cardinals' deficit to 5-4 in the eighth.
With two outs in the ninth, Winn reached when his two-hopper hit off Brito's left wrist for just the sixth error by Cleveland this season. Winn advanced on Cade Smith’s wild pitch and scored on Yohel Pozo’s opposite-field double that bounced to the right-center field wall.
Riley O’Brien (2-0) pitched a perfect 10th, stranding automatic runner Chase DeLauter at third when Brito grounded out.
Automatic runner Thomas Saggese advanced to third in the bottom half on a wild pitch by Tim Herrin (0-1) and scored with a headfirst slide, just beating the throw from right fielder Angel Martínez on Nathan Church’s sacrifice fly.
Iván Herrera hit his first home run this season for St. Louis, which improved to 4-0 in extra innings with its seventh comeback win.
José Ramírez hit a first-inning homer off Michael McGreevy and with 288 moved past Bernie Williams and Bobby Bonilla into sole possession of 11th place among switch-hitters.
Cleveland opened a 5-2 lead in the eighth on George Valera's tiebreaking double and Martínez's two-run double.
Cleveland RHP Slade Cecconi (0-2, 5.74 ERA) goes against St. Louis RHP Dustin May (1-2, 9.45) on Wednesday.
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Jimmy Snuggerud scores twice, leads Blues back from 3-goal deficit to beat Penguins 7-5
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jimmy Snuggerud scored twice and assisted on both of Dylan Holloway's goals in the third period as the St. Louis Blues rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-5 on Tuesday night.
Pittsburgh raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period despite resting most of its regular players, including Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, with the playoffs looming this weekend. The Blues surged ahead with five consecutive goals in a span of just over 20 minutes, with Holloway and Pavel Buchnevich scoring 44 seconds apart in the third period.
Holloway gave St. Louis its first lead 4:11 into the third on a wrister from the slot that to the stick side against Arturs Silovs, who relieved Stuart Skinner for the third period and made seven saves. Buchnevich added a breakaway goal for his 19th of the season.
Rookie Avery Hayes scored twice for his second career multigoal game, and the Penguins also got goals from Rutger McGroarty, Anthony Mantha and Elmer Soderblom. Hayes' second goal pulled Pittsburgh within one goal with 7:40 to play.
Holloway added an empty-netter to secure the Blues' win in their home finale. Jordan Binnington had 18 saves.
Stuart Skinner stopped 17 of 21 shots before getting pulled after St. Louis scored three times in the second period.
The Penguins scored on three of their first six shots despite resting half of their regular lineup. In addition to Crosby and Malkin, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Samuel Girard, Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar and Parker Wotherspoon were scratched with Pittsburgh already locked into its playoff position.
St. Louis concludes its season Thursday night at playoff-bound Utah.
Pittsburgh awaits a first-round playoff matchup against in-state rival Philadelphia
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Blues and Penguins face off for out-of-conference matchup
Pittsburgh Penguins (41-24-16, in the Metropolitan Division) vs. St. Louis Blues (35-33-12, in the Central Division)
St. Louis; Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. EDT
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Blues -135, Penguins +113; over/under is 6
BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Blues play the Pittsburgh Penguins in a non-conference matchup.
St. Louis has gone 19-14-7 at home and 35-33-12 overall. The Blues have a 28-10-5 record in games they score at least three goals.
Pittsburgh is 41-24-16 overall and 21-11-8 in road games. The Penguins rank third in NHL play with 285 total goals (averaging 3.5 per game).
Tuesday's game is the second time these teams meet this season. The Penguins won 6-3 in the last meeting. Bryan Rust led the Penguins with two goals.
TOP PERFORMERS: Robert Thomas has scored 22 goals with 37 assists for the Blues. Dylan Holloway has five goals and nine assists over the past 10 games.
Erik Karlsson has 15 goals and 51 assists for the Penguins. Rickard Rakell has scored nine goals and added three assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blues: 6-3-1, averaging 3.5 goals, 6.1 assists, three penalties and 7.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.5 goals per game.
Penguins: 6-4-0, averaging 4.4 goals, 7.6 assists, 3.2 penalties and 7.6 penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game.
INJURIES: Blues: None listed.
Penguins: Anthony Mantha: day to day (lower-body), Ben Kindel: day to day (upper-body), Connor Clifton: day to day (upper-body), Filip Hallander: out (leg), Blake Lizotte: out (upper-body), Noel Acciari: day to day (upper-body), Ryan Shea: day to day (upper-body), Connor Dewar: out (lower body), Caleb Jones: out for season (shoulder).
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Walker hits MLB-leading 8th HR and joins Cardinals greats Musial, McGwire, Rolen and Pujols
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis outfielder Jordan Walker hit his MLB-leading eighth homer of the season Monday night, and his season-opening power display has placed him among some of the Cardinals' greats.
With the homer in the 9-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, Walker became the fifth player in Cardinals history to hit at least eight homers in the first 16 games of a season, joining St. Louis standouts Stan Musial (1954), Mark McGwire (1998), Scott Rolen (2004) and Albert Pujols (2006).
“It means a lot, man,” Walker said. "I mean, those are the greats. So, you learn about those guys early on, as soon as you come into the Cardinals organization. So, you know, to be put with them is pretty special.”
Walker’s 398-foot solo shot to lead off the sixth inning was one of the few highlights in the loss to the Guardians that dropped St. Louis to 8-8.
The 23-year-old Walker and Albert Pujols (age 21 in 2001) are the only Cardinals to hit eight or more homers in March and April before turning 24.
Walker has homered in three straight games and in seven of his last nine games. He became the first Cardinals player to accomplish the feat since Paul Goldschmidt in 2022. The first round pick, 21st overall, in 2020 had just 11 total home runs in 527 at bats in the previous two seasons combined.
For his career, Walker had 16 homers in 117 games in 2023, five in 51 games in 2024 and six in 111 games last season.
“Just the work and the preparation is key, and he’s benefiting a ton from that right now, an absolute ton,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “You can just see the calmness when he’s taking his at bats. When you’re prepared for the test, man, it’s a lot easier to go up there and trust it.”
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Winquest’s Yankees career ends without a pitch. New York returns Rule 5 pick to St. Louis Cardinals
NEW YORK (AP) — Cade Winquest’s New York Yankees career ended without him throwing a pitch that counted.
New York returned the 25-year-old right-hander to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, three days after he was designated for assignment. The Cardinals assigned him to Triple-A Memphis.
Winquest was selected from St. Louis during the Rule 5 draft at December’s winter meetings and became the Yankees’ first Rule 5 player to make the opening day roster since infielder Josh Phelps in 2007. He didn't get into any regular-season games.
St. Louis paid $50,000 for Winquest after the Yankees paid $100,000 to select him at the draft.
He went 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA over nine spring training appearances.
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Blues rally from a 2-goal deficit and beat the Wild 6-3
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Theo Lindstein scored and the St. Louis Blues overcame a two-goal deficit and beat the Minnesota Wild 6-3 on Monday night.
Lindstein scored on a backhand shot with 3:19 remaining in the second period to put the Blues up 4-3. Jonathan Drouin and Dalibor Dvorsky each had an assist on the goal.
Pavel Buchnevich scored the 200th goal of his NHL career and Jimmy Snuggerud, Jake Neighbours, Otto Stenberg and Colton Parayko added goals for the Blues.
Parayko's goal was his 81st and he moved into fourth in franchise history in goals by a Blues defenseman behind Al MacInnis (127), Alex Pietrangelo (109) and Chris Pronger (84). He moved out of a tie with Jeff Brown (80).
Nick Foligno, Michael McCarron and Danila Yurov scored for the Wild.
Joel Hofer made 28 saves in the win for the Blues. Filip Gustavsson made 16 saves for the Wild.
The Blues won 58.8% of the faceoffs in the game.
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