It’s unclear when Palencia suffered the injury as he hadn’t pitched since last Sunday. In the topsy turvy world of the Cubs bullpen, which somehow carries five left-handed relievers at the moment, our best guess is that Ben Brown would be in line for saves if the Cubs choose to use a traditional closer going forward. It’s possible this becomes a full-blown committee in Palencia’s absence. It’s great news that it’s not an arm injury — at least for the long-term — but the 15-day placement tells us this is serious for Palencia and something that could stretch well into May.

Buried in that positive news is the somewhat-ominous “the Mets will want to do a supplemental MRI to ensure he’s OK before activating him.” Soto’s progression to return from his calf injury has appeared normal from the outside. Assuming things check out, he’ll be back at some point next week.

A cause wasn’t formally announced. Angels owner Arte Moreno issued a statement saying that the organization is “mourning the loss of one of our franchise’s most beloved icons.” The team plans to wear a jersey patch saying “GA, 1972-2026" for the rest of the season. Anderson got one Hall of Fame vote after finishing his 17-year career with 2,529 hits, 287 homers, and a .293/.324/.461 triple-slash line. He helped lead the Angels to a World Series in 2002, a year in which he finished fourth in MVP voting. and made three All-Star teams.

Benge is still hitting just .151/.237/.226 on the season, but he has hit in five of his last six games, and with how the Mets are currently swinging the bats right now, that makes him a viable leadoff candidate. Francisco Lindor is batting third as the Mets try to shake out of a doldrum in which they’ve scored two runs or less in five of their last six games.

He allowed a leadoff walk to Taylor Ward to start the game and another to Leody Taveras to start the sixth inning but that was the only traffic on the bases against him until Taveras singled on the first pitch of the ninth inning to break up the no-hit bid. Blaze Alexander then followed with a single before Messick handed the ball over to Cade Smith — and both inherited runners ultimately scored. The 25-year-old rookie left-hander struck out nine batters on the night while issuing a pair of walks. He got 18 swings and misses on 112 pitches on the night — nine of those on his changeup — while posting a solid CSW of 30 percent. Now 3-0 on the season, he’ll carry a microscopic 1.05 ERA, 0.74 WHIP and a 25/7 K/BB ratio (25 2/3 innings) into Tuesday’s matchup against the Astros.

Greene singled off of Kris Bubic in the fourth inning, though Dillon Dingler was cut down at the plate attempting to score on the play He then scored on an RBI knock off the bat of Matt Vierling. He also smacked a two-out double in the seventh inning but the Tigers couldn’t cash him in. He got to play the role of hero in the ninth though, lining a two-out, two-strike, two-run double into the right field corner off of Lucas Erceg to tie the game at 9-9. He then raced around to score the game-winning run on Colt Keith’s walk-off single. The 25-year-old outfielder is off to a solid start offensively this season, slashing .257/.350/.386 with one homer, 12 RBI and one stolen base in his first 80 plate appearances.

That’s a five-homer series for Trout, who is now batting .246/.416/.593. Including Sunday’s affair with the Reds, he’s scored three runs three times in his last five games. He’d done that a total of twice in 255 games since the beginning of 2023. His third run today came on a Jo Adell grand slam after he was intentionally walked.

He carried a no-hitter into the sixth before allowing a single to P.J. Higgins to lead off the inning. He then took care of a 2-on, no-out threat by striking out Matt McClain and getting Elly De La Cruz to hit into a double play. It was threatening to be a no-decision as Chase Burns matched him frame-for-frame, but Cincinnati’s bullpen forked over three runs in the seventh. Roupp’s peripherals have been strong so far and he should be started with confidence against most teams. We wouldn’t blame you if you shied away from starting him against the Dodgers next week, though.

This was just unfair. With a night off from hitting, Ohtani was able to tear apart the Mets’ lineup. His 22 swings-and-misses were his most since joining the Dodgers and was just the sixth time a pitcher reached that mark so far this season. Coincidentally, his teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto did so last night against these same Mets. Nevertheless, it’s easy to forget how advanced Ohtani’s feel for pitching is considering how much praise he gets for his offense. He led with his fastball that sat around 97 mph and mixed in plenty of sweepers, splitters, and curveballs whenever he needed to. Possibly his most impressive sequence of the night, he threw his four hardest fastballs in his second-to-last inning after the Mets put runners on second and third with one out in a one-run game. All four of those fastballs were harder than 100 mph. Now through 18 innings this season, he’s struck out 18 batters and allowed just one earned run. Sometimes you just have to sit back and appreciate greatness. He’s expected to be back in the lineup on Friday night in Colorado and is scheduled to make his next start in San Francisco against the Giants.

This was an all-time series for Trout in the Bronx. With another home run here, it gave him four in the three-game series along with nine RBI. He went from a .777 OPS to a .945 OPS in that span, just to remind us all how small everyone’s sample sizes still are. Nevertheless, Trout looks the best he has in years. The raw power never left him, but his swing-and-miss rose sharply over the past few seasons. Now, his whiff rate is back in line with where it was when he was still in his 20s! It’s wheels up for Trout as long as he can stay healthy.