The Opener: Alonso’s Near-Homer, Cavalli, deGrom

Rays reliever Bryan Baker came into the year with four career saves across five MLB seasons. He picked up his 36th save of 2026 last night. Baker has converted 25 straight chances. 1. Alonso’s blast ruled foul Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso thought he had delivered a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Yankees on Wednesday. Instead, the ball was ruled foul. A subsequent challenge by Baltimore was unsuccessful. The ball soaring over the foul pole added an extra layer of difficulty to the call, and the technology isn’t currently in place to address it. “I think a simple fix is like football, you have the pylon camera with the plane, where it shoots right across the goal line,” Alonso said (h/t Roch Kubatko of MASN). “And I feel like, for us, we could easily have a laser or a camera that shoots straight up.” Alonso ended up striking out. New York scored twice in the eighth to secure a tight win. 2. Cavalli dominates again Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli piled up 11 strikeouts in six innings last night against the Rangers. The first eight outs he recorded came via punchout. Cavalli now has 21 strikeouts in 14 innings over his last two appearances. He’s the third pitcher in team history to toss at least six scoreless innings with double-digit strikeouts three times in a season, joining Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg (h/t Nationals Communications on X). 3. deGrom to return on Thursday Rangers righty Jacob deGrom is expected to start tonight against the Nationals. He left his most recent outing with triceps fatigue. The team opted to give deGrom a bit of extra rest, slotting Kumar Rocker ahead of him in the rotation. deGrom has not been on the injured list this season, but he’s dealt with nagging concerns. Hip and glute issues have limited him at times. The triceps injury knocked him out after two innings last week. With Nathan Eovaldi already sidelined, Texas can’t afford for deGrom to miss time as the club tries to hang on in the AL Wild Card race. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, Imagn Images View Comments (32)