What’s Happening in Baseball Today

The First Pitch: May 4, 2026

New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, once labeled as the second coming of Derek Jeter and given the team’s lowest unretired uniform number (11), has been sent to Triple-A as he finishes rehab on a surgically repaired shoulder. Part of the reason for Volpe’s demotion is the quality work of his fill-in at short, Jose Caballero—who’s batting .259 on the year but has recently been hot with the bat; his 13 steals are also tied for the AL lead. 

The 25-year-old Volpe has shown good speed of his own and has decent power, but has a career .222 batting average over three seasons and, last year, led the AL in shortstop errors after winning a Gold Glove in his rookie campaign.

The Braves are off to their hottest 35-game start since the 1800s. At Denver, Atlanta finishes off a three-game sweep of the Rockies and improve to 25-10 with an 11-6 victory, pulling away after trailing early with Spencer Strider making his 2026 debut with six strikeouts over 3.1 innings—but also five walks and three runs allowed. Offensively, Jonah Heim brings home five runs on a double, sac fly and two-run homer.

Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)

5-2-3-3—Jasson Dominguez, New York Yankees  
The Martian returns! In his fifth game back with the Yankees after looking sharp at the Triple-A level, Dominguez saved the bulk of his damage in an 11-3 rout of the visiting Orioles with a two-run homer and RBI double—both in the same inning, bookending a seven-run rally in the eighth that pulled the Yankees away from a close game. The homer was Dominguez’s first this season with New York.

Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)

7.2-4-0-0-2-6—Braxton Ashcraft, Pittsburgh                                 
The 28-year-old Ashcraft is not related to Cincinnati reliever Graham Ashcraft. But the Reds certainly wish they had this Braxton on their side, rather than be shut down by the right-hander. Ashcraft rebounded from his worst start of the year in his previous outing—giving up six runs to the Cardinals on April 28—with this, his best thus far in 2026. Alas, he got no credit for the 1-0 Pirates win as he was removed with two outs in the eighth—thus not making him the pitcher of record when Oneil Cruz’s RBI single gave the Bucs the game’s only run in the bottom half of the inning.

It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today

1901: A fire erupts in the wooden grandstand of St. Louis’ Robison Field during the 10th inning of a 4-4 game between the Cardinals and Chicago Orphans. No one is hurt as fans safely retreat to the playing field from the blaze, said to start in a garbage can by a discarded cigarette. The game is called and, amazingly, the Cardinals patch things up and resume their home schedule with just one canceled game. 

1963: Milwaukee pitcher Bob Shaw sets all-time marks by balking three times in an inning and five times overall in a 7-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs. Shaw takes offense to the numerous calls and gets ejected; Braves manager Bobby Bragan takes offense to Shaw’s balk-anilia and fines him $250. 

1969: The Giants tie a major league mark by hitting into seven double plays against the Astros at Houston. The continuous twin-killings kill the Giants’ chances in a 3-1 loss. 

1973: In losing 5-4 to the Phillies in 20 innings, the Braves leave 27 men on base—a major league record for a game of any length. 

1975: In the National League’s 100th season, the Astros’ Bob Watson scores the millionth run in major league history when he crosses home plate on a three-run homer by Milt May at San Francisco. In the second game of a doubleheader, both the Astros and Giants issue 13 walks each; the 26 total passes set a NL record for a nine-inning contest. The Giants win the first game, 8-6; the Astros take the second, 12-8. 

1981: Yankees reliever Ron Davis takes over in the seventh inning with a 4-2 lead over the California Angels at Anaheim. He gets Don Baylor to pop out—and then strikes out the next eight Angels batters to finish the game. The eight K’s in a row sets a major league record for a reliever. 

2018: In the Angels’ 5-0 win at Seattle, Albert Pujols knocks out a fifth-inning single to become the 32nd major leaguer to reach 3,000 career hits. None of the previous 31 players achieved the milestone with as many extra-base hits as Pujols’ 1,262.

You Say It’s Your Birthday

Happy birthday to:

Ben Grieve (50), 1998 AL Rookie of the Year; 118 career home runs 

Joe Borowski (55), reliever of 131 saves, 45 of those in 2007 despite posting a 5.07 ERA 

Ken Oberkfell (70), infielder of 16 years and 1,354 hits 

Rene Lachemann (81), 10-year manager of four different teams, never producing a winning record 

Born on this date:

Jack Tobin (1892), outfielder of 13 seasons, mostly with the St. Louis Browns; career .309 batting average

Shameless Link of the Day

The April Comebacker—is now live! Check out the top stories, record-breaking moments and oddities of the past month—plus, our first installment of the Best and Worst hitters, pitchers and teams from each league since Opening Day! Check it out!

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