It was unfortunate to see the Yankees’ perfect 3-0 record go by the wayside. Obviously that was never going to last, but it was almost more annoying to lose a close game, even when the opponent is a tough one in Seattle. Ryan Weathers didn’t go very deep, the bullpen was exposed a bit with Paul Blackburn one of the few arms left by the ninth (though David Bednar and Tim Hill went unused), and the offense couldn’t do anything with multiple opportunities against Luis Castillo, held to a single sacrifice
fly and an 0-for-6 showing with runners in scoring position.
Whatever. So it goes. If it’s any solace, the Dodgers, Marlins (lol), and Blue Jays entered Monday undefeated as well, and all of them now have losses on their ledgers as well. The two-time defending champions surprisingly got blanked at home over six by rookie Cleveland southpaw Parker Messick in a 4-2 loss, the Fish fell to the White Sox in Chicago’s first win of 2026, and the woebegone team that the Marlins just swept away over the weekend pulled off the upset of the night in the Great White North.
Want more on that? I’m so glad you asked.
Toronto Blue Jays (3-1) 5, Colorado Rockies (1-3) 14
Every dog has its day, and that extends to the rebuilding Rockies. Remember, even though they lost an eye-popping 119 games a year ago, they also won 43. So roughly every four games, Colorado eked one out.
The Rockies didn’t leave this one to chance, either. They drew some fortune early on in a way that they honestly wouldn’t have wanted, as Blue Jays starter Cody Ponce—fresh off returning stateside after winning the 2025 KBO MVP with the Hanwha Eagles—suffered a knee injury while trying to field a comebacker in the third. He was carted off the field and Toronto had to gp to the ’pen early. Colorado scored its first run on that play, and though George Springer then promptly homered off Tomoyuki Sugano in his Rox debut, that was just a solo shot.
The Rockies regained the lead on small ball, Ezequiel Tovar leading off the fourth with a single, stealing second, and taking advantage of a bobble at second base from Ernie Clement to score their second run. Sugano departed two outs into the fifth with Springer due up next and a runner in scoring position, but the previous Springer dinger was one of only two knocks allowed. Jaden Hill got Springer to ground out to preserve the 2-1 lead.
From there, it was all Rockies.
Troy Johnston (??) got the party started in the sixth with a two-run shot off Spencer Miles, and Brendon Little was even worse for Toronto in relief of his bullpenmate. After fanning Kyle Karros, Braxton Fulford—see Matt Ferenchick on BlueSky for more on this amusing fella—singled in Jordan Beck, who had singled against Miles and stole second on Little. Defensive specialist Brenton Doyle got a knock of his own, 2025 All-Star Hunter Goodman walked to load the bases, and free-agent signing Willi Castro flared a two-run double to right. Tovar followed with a two-bagger of his own and the Rockies had a seven-run inning and a 9-1 lead.
The Jays went quietly in the sixth and seventh before effectively waving the white flag in the eighth by putting backup catcher Tyler Heineman on the mound. Doyle, Goodman, and Tovar all doubled as the lead increased to 13-1, and honestly, manager John Schneider might have regretted the surrender because former first-round pick Chase Dollander really faltered for Colorado in the Toronto half of the eighth. Andrés Giménez and Davis Schneider’s first long balls of the season cut into the lead, but 13-4 is far less interesting than 9-4 (Kazuma Okamoto also went yard an inning later against Dollander). Fulford tacked on with a homer off Heineman in the ninth, and that was all she wrote.
Houston Astros (3-2) 8, Boston Red Sox (1-3) 1
The date was September 21, 2022. Aaron Judge had already reached the 60-homer plateau with multiple weeks remaining in the season, Paul Skenes had only just transferred from the Air Force Academy to LSU, the cast-drama-riddled Don’t Worry Darling was No. 1 at the U.S. box office, and Twitter was blissfully not yet owned by That Particular Idiot. It was also the last time that injury-riddled Lance McCullers Jr. went seven innings in a ballgame. It’s a little weird to say that a 32-year-old turned back the clock, but that’s exactly what he did in his 2026 debut, firing seven brilliant frames of four-hit ball and striking out nine Red Sox in a smooth Houston victory.
If one of Boston’s prized signings had lived up to his end of the bargain, this might have been a pitchers’ duel. Alas for Red Sox Nation, Ranger Suarez’s debut was an absolute dud. He immediately loaded the bases in the first on three-straight singles and was fortunate to escape with just one run scoring on Carlos Correa’s double-play ball. Two innings later, Yordan Alvarez dropped the hammer with a two-run homer.
Suarez would be knocked out in the fifth, shortly after a solo shot from rookie Brice Matthews. Fellow offseason addition Johan Oviedo—previously a starter for the Pirates—piggybacked on Suarez and was slightly worse, Jose Altuve taking him yard twice. Suarez and Oviedo’s pitching lines were remarkably similar:
Suarez: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 3 K, 2 HR (loss)
Oviedo: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 3 K, 2 HR, HBP, WP
It’s not what you want. Well, it’s what we want, but it’s not what Alex Cora and Craig Breslow want.
Detroit Tigers (2-2) 6, Arizona Diamondbacks (1-3) 9
The D-backs were one of the league’s last winless teams as they began their Monday night game against Detroit, and unlike the 0-4 A’s (who fell to Atlanta), they got off the schneid. However, they made life more complicated than it needed to be for their hometown fans, as they came close to squandering the 8-0 lead gifted to them by a decrepit-looking Justin Verlander in his return to a Tigers uniform.
It’s easy to underrate how young Corbin Carroll is, huh? He already has a nine-figure contract, two All-Star berths, a World Series run under his belt, and nearly 500 big-league games under his belt. Verlander is fading into memory, but we may still only be at Carroll’s ascent. He disrespected his elders by carving up JV, first with one of his patented triples (he’s led the NL in three consecutive seasons with 41 total from 2023-25) in the first to plate Ketel Marte, and then by clobbering a Verlander slider 403 feet for a three-run homer in the second.
Verlander was gone by the fifth, when Arizona tacked on three more to make it a blowout. And skipper Torey Lovullo got outstanding work from starter Michael Soroka in his D-backs debut. He fanned 10 in five scoreless frame, including an immaculate inning in the fifth — the first of 2026, the 119th in MLB history, and just the fourth by a D-backs pitcher.
This game was all but over. Then, it wasn’t. 2019 Nationals legend Joe Ross was abysmal in relief when he entered in the seventh. Dillon Dingler doubled in Kevin McGongile for Detroit’s first run after the rookie’s leadoff walk, Javy Báez singled him in, and following a Gleyber Torres knock, Colt Keith doubled to score both of them. A third out for Ross proved elusive, as Riley Greene singled to make it 8-5, sending Ross to the showers.
Ryan Thompson was no better, as he balked twice to move Greene to third and Spencer Torkelson shrank the lead to a measly two runs with a double to left. Eight consecutive pitchers out of the zone followed to McGonigle and Dingler, and Lovullo had to turn to the bullpen yet again. With the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first, Juan Morillo restored sanity by getting Parker Meadows to ground out.
Ildemaro Vargas helped Arizona fans breathe a little easier with an insurance-run solo shot off Brant Hurter, and the one-two punch of Taylor Clarke and Paul Sewald slammed the door on the Tigers in order before they could get another shot.
