HOUSTON (AP) — The Seattle Mariners placed catcher Cal Raleigh on the 10-day injured list on Thursday morning with a right oblique strain, the first IL stint of the AL MVP runner-up’s career in his sixth major league season.

The 29-year-old Raleigh was mired in the longest hitless streak in the majors this season before breaking out on Tuesday night with two singles in a 10-2 rout of the Houston Astros.

On Wednesday, Raleigh left the Mariners’ 4-3 loss to Houston in the eighth inning after appearing to aggravate an injury to his right side. Raleigh missed three games from May 2 to May 4 with soreness on his right side.

“Nobody wants to go on the IL, and especially not Cal,” manager Dan Wilson said. “But I think at this point it’s the smart thing to do.”

In 41 games this season, Raleigh is hitting .161 with seven home runs, 18 RBI, four doubles, 18 walks and 16 runs. His .161 batting average is second-lowest in the majors among hitters with enough at-bats to qualify. Only Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Cedric Mullins (.150) has a lower average.

To fill Raleigh’s spot on the active roster, the Mariners recalled catcher Jhonny Pereda from Triple-A Tacoma. Pereda, 30, has appeared in two games with Seattle this season, hitting .400 with a run scored.

In this week's Closer Report, Raisel Iglesias extends his scoreless streak with a dominant start to the season. Devin Williams is turning the page on a terrible April. And a Ryan Walker demotion opens the door for Caleb Kilian in San Francisco. All that and more as we break down the last week in saves.

⚾️ Baseball is back! MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026! In addition to becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire Wild Card round of the postseason, and much more.

Fantasy Baseball Steals Report: A.J. Ewing arrives in style, Travis Bazzana runs wild

Who is stealing bases, who isn’t, why, and how?

• James Schiano,

2026 Fantasy Baseball Closer Rankings

▶ Tier 1

Mason Miller - San Diego Padres
Cade Smith - Cleveland Guardians
Jhoan Duran - Philadelphia Phillies
Aroldis Chapman - Boston Red Sox
Andrés Muñoz - Seattle Mariners
Raisel Iglesias- Atlanta Braves

Miller recorded a four-out save against the Cardinals on Saturday, working around two walks and striking out four batters. He then struck out two for his 13th save on Wednesday against the Brewers. The 27-year-old right-hander sports a 0.92 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, and 40 strikeouts over 19 2/3 innings.

Smith is making fantasy managers forget about his slow start. He locked down four more saves this week, giving him 13 with a 3.05 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 29 strikeouts over 20 2/3 innings. He should continue to work down those ratios and be one of the league's top closers with a 4.8% walk rate and 34.9% strikeout rate.

Duran had a good week on the mound after giving up a run in his first game back from injury. He made three scoreless appearances, striking out two batters in each, and picked up his sixth save against the Red Sox on Tuesday.

Chapman made two appearances this week. He struck out two in a clean inning against the Rays on Friday for a save, then worked around two walks and struck out the side against the Phillies on Wednesday for his ninth save. The 38-year-old left-hander has picked up where he left off last year, posting a 0.66 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, and 19 strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings.

Muñoz picked up his eighth save of the season with a scoreless inning against the Astros on Monday. It hasn't been the best start to the season, with a 5.29 ERA and 1.35 WHIP over 17 innings, but his top-notch skills should overcome some bad luck (23.1% HR/FB, .371 BABIP).

There's no reason to keep Iglesias from the top tier. The 36-year-old right-hander has been dominant, tossing 12 2/3 scoreless innings with a 15/2 K/BB ratio. He's made four scoreless appearances since coming off the injured list, including three this week, with his eighth save against the Cubs on Wednesday.

▶ Tier 2

Riley O'Brien - St. Louis Cardinals
Bryan Baker - Tampa Bay Rays
David Bednar - New York Yankees
Daniel Palencia - Chicago Cubs
Tanner Scott - Los Angeles Dodgers
Devin Williams - New York Mets

O'Brien went 2-for-3 in save chances this week. He worked a clean inning against the Padres on Thursday, surrendered two runs to blow a save on Sunday, then bounced back with a scoreless frame against the Athletics on Tuesday. The 31-year-old right-hander has been one of the best overall values among relievers, posting a 2.70 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 23 strikeouts over 20 innings.

Baker has been another incredible value, emerging as the Rays' top closing option with a 2.60 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and 20 strikeouts over 17 1/3 innings. He's converted 11 of the team's 17 saves, with no other reliever converting more than two.

Bednar worked three appearances in non-save situations this week. After tossing a clean inning against the Brewers on Saturday, he gave up one run to take the loss on Sunday before bouncing back with a scoreless frame against the Orioles on Tuesday.

Palencia recorded the final out against the Reds on Thursday to pick up just his second save of the season. He then gave up two runs in a non-save situation against the Rangers on Sunday. Between his two-week absence with an oblique strain and the Cubs not producing many save chances, it's been a slow start for the 26-year-old right-hander.

Scott converted a save with a clean inning against the Braves on Friday, striking out one batter for his third save of the season. With a 1.56 ERA, 0.63 WHIP, and a 16/2 K/BB ratio across 17 1/3 innings, this is the Scott the Dodgers believed they were getting when they made him one of the highest-paid relievers before the 2025 season.

Williams made his fourth straight clean outing on Friday, picking up a win against the Diamondbacks. He then tossed a scoreless frame in a tie game against the Tigers on Wednesday. With strong underlying skills, he continues to work down his ratios and could reward patient fantasy managers.

▶ Tier 3

Paul Sewald - Arizona Diamondbacks
Pete Fairbanks - Miami Marlins
Louis Varland - Toronto Blue Jays
Seranthony Domínguez - Chicago White Sox
Kenley Jansen - Detroit Tigers
Abner Uribe - Milwaukee Brewers
Lucas Erceg - Kansas City Royals
Jacob Latz - Texas Rangers
Gregory Soto - Pittsburgh Pirates

Sewald locked down two more saves this week before blowing a two-run lead against the Rangers on Wednesday. The three-run outing raised his ERA from 3.07 to 4.70. He's been prone to these occasional blowups, with all of his earned runs coming in three of his 18 outings. Both A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez are aiming for mid-season returns. Still, Sewald has likely earned the chance to operate as the closer as long as he's effective.

Fairbanks was reinstated from the 15-day injured list on Wednesday after a bout of nerve irritation in his right hand. He steps right back into the closer role. Meanwhile, Varland has held the job in Toronto. He made four appearances this week, picking up a save against the Angels on Friday. Jeff Hoffman has continued to get his work in the seventh and eighth innings. It doesn't seem like the team will be turning back to him in the ninth anytime soon.

Domíguez was on a solid run, stringing together six straight scoreless appearances before giving up two against the Royals on Wednesday. He held on for his tenth save to go with a 4.08 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and 21 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings.

In Detroit, Jansen made two appearances. He struck out two in a clean outing against the Royals on Sunday for his seventh save, then struck out the side in a tie game against the Mets on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Uribe added a win and a save this week before blowing the save chance against the Padres on Wednesday. He's up to four saves since taking over the ninth inning in Milwaukee. Trevor Megill had made seven straight scoreless appearances, but has allowed a run in two of his last three. It remains a situation that feels like it can flip at a moment's notice.

Erceg made his eighth straight scoreless appearance, picking up a win against the Tigers on Friday. While he figures to get extra leash on the closer role with Carlos Estévez shut down with shoulder discomfort, a 14/12 K/BB ratio across 16 1/3 innings fortells some regression coming for Erceg, and not the good kind. Should he stumble at any point, Daniel Lynch IV could be a name to watch. He's posted a 2.08 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and 23 strikeouts over 17 1/3 innings.

Latz seems to be settling in as the team's closer. He collected two more saves this week to give him five on the season. He had a rare bad outing on Wednesday, giving up three runs to blow the save against the Diamondbacks without recording an out. Still, the 30-year-old left-hander has undoubtedly been their best option, posting a 2.08 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, and a 17/5 K/BB ratio across 21 2/3 innings.

In Pittsburgh, Soto picked up two saves for the Pirates. He's been dominant, recording a 1.69 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, and 26 strikeouts over 21 1/3 frames. He's been exceptionally better than Dennis Santana, more than doubling his strikeout rate.

▶ Tier 4

Rico Garcia/Anthony Nunez - Baltimore Orioles
Kaleb Killian - San Francisco Giants
Gus Varland - Washington Nationals
Graham Ashcraft - Cincinnati Reds

Garcia and Nunez alternated save chances this week, with Garcia locking down a save against the Athletics on Sunday before Nunez closed it out on Monday against the Yankees. Ryan Helsley has yet to resume throwing, but still hopes to return in late May after landing on the injured list with right elbow inflammation.

Kilian picked up the lone save for the Giants this week, recording four outs against the Dodgers on Tuesday. Manager Tony Vitello will likely play the matchups, but could lean on Kilian for the majority of save chances, especially since the team optioned Ryan Walker to Triple-A.

Varland converted a four-out save against the Twins on Thursday, then took a loss against the Marlins on Sunday before bouncing back with a scoreless ninth on Wednesday against the Reds to fall in line for a win.

It's been tough to read the situation in Cincinnati since Emilio Pagán landed on the injured list with a hamstring injury. Pierce Johnson had picked up a save on Sunday, then pitched the ninth with the team down by six runs on Tuesday. Ashcraft took the ninth in a tie game against the Nationals on Wednesday. He seems to be the favorite at the moment, with a 1.66 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 25 strikeouts over 21 2/3 innings.

▶ Tier 5

Bryan King - Houston Astros
Jack Perkins - Athletics
Victor Vodnik - Colorado Rockies
Eric Orze/Justin Topa - Minnesota Twins
Sam Bachman/Ryan Zeferjahn - Los Angeles Angels

Welcome to a new column I’m doing this season, where I take a bi-weekly look around Major League Baseball to fill you in on the league-wide trends, surging teams, and top individual performances. There will be some highlight clips, some criticisms, and some personal analysis of where I think the game is at and/or going. I hope that, if you’ve had a busy week or haven’t been able to watch as many games as you’d like, this article can be a great way to keep up with what’s happening in Major League Baseball.

So, let’s stop wasting time and dive right in.

⚾️ Baseball is back on NBC: MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026! In addition to becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire Wild Card round of the postseason, and much more.

The Kick-Changeup is the New “It” Pitch in Baseball

Two weeks ago, when I looked at how pitch mixes were expanding, I alluded to the increase in changeups that we're seeing around the league. However, it's not just changeups that are becoming popular; it's the kick-changeup. While 2024 may have been the year of the sweeper, and 2025 was the year of multiple fastballs, 2026 is turning into the year of the kick-change.

As described in this video from Tread Athletics, a popular pitching lab, a kick change is a variation of a changeup that uses primarily a two-seam grip and some spike from a bent finger to create more depth than a normal changeup. The "kick" in kick-change refers to "kicking the axis of the ball down," through pressure from the ring finger. The added depth generated on the kick-change means that you're creating splitter-like movement on a pitch that has a changeup-like grip and spin. Because it has that down-and-in dive of a splitter, pitchers are more comfortable using it to same-sided hitters, which they weren't with a traditional changeup, and you can see below just how big of an increase we've seen in right-handed pitchers throwing changeups to right-handed hitters. Much of that has to do with the increase in kick-changes.

Another reason the kick-change has become more popular is that it's easy for supinators to use. As detailed in this video, supination is when a pitcher releases a pitch with their thumb pointing up at the sky, while pronation is when the thumb turns over to point more towards the ground. Most pitchers identify as either "pronators" or "supinators" based on what feels natural or physically possible with their wrist movement. If a pitcher is a pronator by nature, then it may be hard for them to throw a pitch like a sweeper, which requires supination. Meanwhile, supinators are generally more comfortable gripping the outside of the baseball and are better at throwing breaking balls.

As Davis Martin, an early-adopter of the kick-change, told FanGraphs in an interview back in 2024, "I’ve never been a pronator...Pronating is very unnatural for us from a physiological standpoint. I’m more of a supinator now than I was before surgery [in May 2023]. So, the kick change… basically, you kick the axis of the ball into that three o’clock axis...to get the depth that a guy who could pronate a changeup would get to. You’re not using a seam-shift method. You’re not truly pronating. It’s kind of this cheat to get to that three o’clock axis...If I had a normal [grip], it would be like a 12:45 rather than a three o’clock. The middle finger is the last thing to touch it, which spins it into that axis."

In that same article, reliever Matt Bowman said that he classifies his version of the kick-change as a split-change and models it off what Kevin Gausman was throwing when he was with the Giants, which, when you look at pitch data, was actually classified just as a splitter. According to Bowman, that just comes down to how a pitcher sees his own pitch: "Splitters and kick changes exist on a very similar spectrum. You’ll see some things classified as splitters because someone calls it a splitter. Some will call it a split change, and some will call it a kick change. But how it’s coming off the hand is about the same."

Why that classification is relevant is because Eno Sarris of The Athletic just released an article about the increase in splitter usage across baseball, and I have a strong suspicion that a lot of that increase is also due to the kick-change.

As the article states, "MLB pitchers are throwing almost three times as many splitters as they did when the league first started tracking pitch types. Eight pitchers are throwing a splitter that didn’t regularly throw last year, and 11 pitchers added the pitch last season." There is some skepticism about a splitter because there has long been a perception that splitters lead to elbow injuries, but as Eno's article mentions, "there isn’t much hard evidence for a link between throwing a splitter and suffering an arm injury at the major-league level." Perhaps simply calling the pitch a changeup when introducing it to a pitcher reduces some of the stigma around the offering.

Whatever the case may be, the kick-change is becoming a bigger part of Major League Baseball, primarily for right-handed pitchers. At the end of the season, we should have a better idea of its larger impact, but it seems to be yet another way that pitchers are adding swing-and-miss to their arsenals and finding ways to attack same-side hitters down and inside instead of having to throw non-fastballs low and away so often.

Everybody Is a Closer

You've heard this before, but the era of teams having a locked-in closer is over. We've been trending that way for a long time, as the chart below shows, but that truth has never been as drastic as it was the first 29-games of this season.

If we expand that data out to include stats from the beginning of this season through May 12th, 118 different pitchers have gotten a save in the first 42(ish) games of the season. By this point last season, 100 different pitchers had earned a save. In 2024, it was 98 pitchers in the same number of games. If you wanted to have fun and go back a decade from there to 2014, 67 pitchers had recorded a save in the league's first 42 games of the season.

This, understandably, coincides with another trend that starting pitchers are pitching deep into games far less often than they ever have.

Some of this is obviously dictated by health. This season, all of Edwin Diaz, Daniel Palencia, Josh Hader, Jhoan Duran, Ryan Helsley, Carlos Estevez, Raisel Iglesias, and Pete Fairbanks have spent time on the injured list, while other "locked-in closers" like Jeff Hoffman and Devin Williams have struggled considerably. Oftentimes, the closer is the hardest-throwing pitcher in baseball, and we know fastball velocity correlates well with arm injuries, so injuries may have increased as velocity has, which has led to more closers needing to be used during a season.

What seems more likely is that MLB managers know that the most important at-bats or the highest leverage situations don't always occur in the ninth inning. Instead of holding their best reliever for the final outs of the games, managers are now deploying them for the most crucial outs of the game, even if that's in a bases-loaded situation in the seventh inning with the other team's best hitter up.

Another contributing factor is that, as arm health becomes a bigger talking point, MLB teams are limiting the number of relievers they ask to throw on back-to-back days. Eno Sarris started to talk about this back in 2022, but it has become a bigger issue now as pitchers are trying to maximize every pitch in a way they weren't before. If you're not going to ask all of your relievers to throw on back-to-back days, then there are going to be more instances where you're in a save situation and your "closer" is not available.

So, while everybody is getting saves, that doesn't necessarily mean saves aren't as valuable as before. Getting the final outs of the game will always be valuable. They just may not be the hardest outs to get, and teams are finally OK admitting that.

Team Trends

The last time I wrote this article, the Reds led the NL Central with a 19-10 record. At the time, I mentioned that it didn't seem sustainable, and, well, the Reds are now 22-20. Over those 13 games, the Reds are 21st in batting average, 22nd in OPS, 23rd in strikeout rate, 24th in wRC+, and 24th in runs scored. Shockingly, they have as many runs scored over that stretch as the Dodgers, whose offense is struggling to score runs but is still middle of the pack in OPS, slugging, and wRC+.

The Reds still lead baseball with five more wins than expected, according to Pythagorean records. That's tied with the Rays, who are 28-13 with the second-best record in baseball. The Rays have the flattest swings in baseball and the highest percentage of batted balls to the opposite field. They don't hit many home runs or doubles, but they'll slap singles the other way and then steal bases. On the season, they are 2nd in stolen bases, trailing only the Marlins. They're also tied with the Blue Jays for the best strikeout rate in baseball.

On the flip side, the White Sox, Orioles, Angels, and Rockies strikeout more than any other teams in baseball. The White Sox rank 4th in baseball in home runs, and the Angels are 8th, so they are making the most of their swings, but the Orioles strike out a lot and are 16th in home runs. However, they're still 11th in runs scored because they walk a ton, but this is not an exciting offense. They're 17th in wRC+, 21st in OPS, 25th in stolen bases, and 26th in batting average. They're below .500 right now, and it actually feels like it should be worse. In fact, Pythagorean standings say the Orioles deserve to be 17-26, which would give them the worst record in the AL East since it also says the Red Sox deserve to be 19-22. That's a small solace for Red Sox fans who are seeing the season slip away with Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony hurt, and the offense failing to do anything.

Individual Player Spotlights

Starting Pitcher Spotlight: Jacob deGrom, Rangers, and Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays

You know these guys, so I'm not introducing you to a player who is performing at a higher level than normal, but deGrom and Gausman both achieved major career milestones that are worth shouting out. For deGrom, he threw seven scoreless innings on Sunday and became the second-fastest pitcher (in terms of innings) in baseball to reach 1,900 strikeouts.

Injuries have limited deGrom to under 93 innings in four of the last five full seasons, so we sometimes forget just how dominant he was in the first six years of his career. His career ERA of 2.57 is the second-best career ERA for a starting pitcher since 1949, trailing only Clayton Kershaw (2.53). deGrom also has a 5.37 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is the best of any pitcher ever. Even at 38 years old, deGrom is sitting averaging 97.4mph on his fastball and regularly touching 100 mph. Who knows how much longer he can keep pitching like this, but hopefully w

As for Gausman, his outing on Monday was not a good one, but it did see him reach 2,000 career strikeouts, joining only five other active pitchers (only one of whom is currently healthy).

Additionally, Gausman reached that milestone while posting a 9.18 career K/9. There are only nine players with higher K/9 who also have 2,000 or more career strikeouts: Chris Sale, Randy Johnson, Max Scherzer, Yu Darvish, Gerrit Cole, Pedro Martínez, Clayton Kershaw, Nolan Ryan, and Sandy Koufax. That's not a bad list to be on.

Relief Pitcher Spotlight: Bryan Baker, Rays

Heading into Wednesday's games, Bryan Baker sits fourth in baseball with 11 saves, just one behind the three pitchers who are tied for the league lead. That's probably not a situation anybody saw coming. Baker had two good seasons for Baltimore in 2022 and 2023, but he posted a 5.01 ERA in 23.1 innings in 2024 and a 3.52 ERA in 38.1 innings last season before Baltimore traded him to the Rays. This also wasn't a situation where the Rays instantly helped him find success. He finished last season with a 4.75 ERA in 30.1 innings for the Rays.

He likely wasn't even on the radar as a potential saves option this season with the Rays having Griffin Jax, Edwin Uceta, and Garrett Cleavinger. Yet, Uceta and Cleavinger both got hurt, and Jax imploded to start the season, so Baker had an opportunity and ran with it. A big change the Rays made this season was to essentially scrap Baker's slider, going from 25% usage in 2025 to 6% usage this season. That allowed him to up his changeup usage from 28% to 45%. Baker will use the changeup 38% of the time to righties, but because it has such a dramatic downward fade, he has a 16.7% swinging strike rate and just a 20% Ideal Contact Rate allowed on that pitch to righties. His fastball is also 97 mph with elite vert at nearly 19 inches. He's getting it up in the zone far more this season and looks like the best arm in the Rays bullpen by a considerable margin.

Individual Stat Leaders (4/13 - 5/13)

Hits

1. Otto Lopez - SS, Marlins: 37 hits (.343 batting average)
2. Josh Jung - 3B, Rangers: 37 hits (.349 batting average)
3. Bobby Witt Jr. - SS, Royals: 35 hits (.324 batting average)
4. Shea Langeliers - C, ATH: 35 hits (.368 batting average)
5. Julio Rodriguez - OF, Mariners: 34 hits (.333 batting average)

Home Runs

1. Byron Buxton - OF, Twins: 13 home runs
2. Kyle Schwarber - DH, Phillies: 13 home runs
3. Aaron Judge - OF, Yankees: 12 home runs
4. Munetaka Murakami - 1B, CWS: 11 home runs
5. Matt Olson - 1B, ATL 10 home runs

Steals

1. Jose Ramirez - 3B, Guardians: 11 steals
2. Nasim Nunez - 2B, Nationals: 10 steals
3. Oneil Cruz - OF, Pirates: 9 steals
4. Jose Caballero - SS, Yankees: 8 steals
5. Josh Naylor - 1B, Mariners: 8 steals
6. Konnor Griffin - SS, Pirates: 8 steals

Strikeouts (K-BB%)

1. Paul Skenes, Pirates: 32.3% K-BB%
2. Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers: 30.9% K-BB%
3. Will Warren, Yankees: 28.1% K-BB%
4. Nolan McLean, Mets: 27.9% K-BB%
5. Chris Sale, Braves: 27.5% K-BB%

Saves

1. Bryan Baker, Rays: 9 saves
2. Cade Smith, Guardians: 9 saves
3. Mason Miller, Padres: 8 saves
4. Riley O'Brien, Cardinals: 8 saves
5. Andres Munoz, Mariners: 7 saves

Brice Turang’s homer in the ninth inning gave Milwaukee a three-game sweep of the New Yankees and was the latest example of an early-season trend.

The American League has been taking it on the chin.

By the end of the night Sunday, only three AL teams had a winning record, and one of them was the Athletics, who were only two games above .500. The Rays (26-13) and Yankees (26-15) are the only junior circuit teams that have been really impressive, and the latter ran into quite a roadblock against the NL Central’s Brewers.

If the season ended now, the last two AL wild cards would be the White Sox and Rangers, who are both 19-21.

Eleven AL teams are under .500. That’s the most through May 10 of any league in the divisional play era, according to Sportradar. The 2019 AL and the 2012 and 2010 NL each had nine teams under .500 at this point in the year.

Part of what makes this scenario possible is the proliferation of interleague play. The NL is 107-82 against the AL this season for a .566 winning percentage. The best interleague season was when the AL had a .611 winning percentage against the NL in 2006. But there were only 252 interleague games that whole year. There have already been 189 this season.

The more interleague games, the further one league can move ahead of the other. And even at the top of the AL East, the Rays are 8-10 against the NL and 18-3 against the AL.

Crucial stretch

Despite the soft AL playoff race, Orioles fans have become increasingly ornery as their team sputters at the start of a second straight season. Baltimore is 18-23, just 1 1/2 games out of a postseason spot, but May has already included a four-game sweep in the Bronx in which the Orioles were outscored 39-10.

Now the Yankees come to Baltimore for a three-game set, and the Orioles host the Rays in a series that starts Memorial Day. The big question in Baltimore is whether the Orioles can simply stay afloat for the rest of the month and avoid digging too big a hole.

Motown mess

It was a rough week for the starting rotation that was supposed to be such a strength in Detroit. Tarik Skubal was scratched from his start Monday and could be out a while because of loose bodies in his elbow. Then Framber Valdez was shelled by Boston on Tuesday and hit Trevor Story with a pitch, drawing a five-game suspension.

Jack Flaherty hasn’t been good either and Justin Verlander has made only one start.

The Tigers are 19-22, although that means they’re only a half-game out of a wild card and 1 1/2 out of first place in the AL Central.

Trivia time

Milwaukee’s Aaron Ashby is already 7-0 in relief this season. Pittsburgh’s Roy Face holds the modern single-season record for relief wins with 18 in 1959. But who has the career mark?

Performance of the week

Andy Pages had three homers and six RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 12-2 win over Houston on Wednesday. It’s been Pages — not Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman or Kyle Tucker — making an outsized offensive contribution early this season for the two-time defending champs. Pages is hitting .333 with nine home runs and 35 RBIs.

Comeback of the week

Down to their last out Sunday, the San Diego Padres tied the game against St. Louis on Nick Castellanos’ two-run homer. Then they won 3-2 in 10 innings on Manny Machado’s walk-off sacrifice fly.

The Cardinals had a win probability of 95.4% in the bottom of the ninth, according to Baseball Savant.

San Diego already has four walk-off victories this season, second to the Chicago Cubs’ six. Neither has a walk-off defeat.

Trivia answer

Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm earned 124 of his 143 wins in relief.

LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts is set to return after missing more than a month because of a right oblique strain when the Los Angeles Dodgers open a four-game series against the San Francisco Giants on Monday.

Betts hasn’t played since April 4, when he was hurt in a 10-5 win at the Washington Nationals. Manager Dave Roberts said he would have Betts hit second or third in the batting order though he was batting .179 with two home runs and seven RBIs in eight games before the injury.

Roberts did not say who would be sent down to free up a roster spot for Betts, a four-time World Series champion and the 2018 American League MVP. Hyeseong Kim, Alex Freeland and Santiago Espinal have platooned effectively to help fill out the middle infield in Betts’ absence.

“It’s a good problem in a sense of where we’re at, but it’s a potential tough conversation,” Roberts said Sunday before the finale of a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves.

Betts completed a rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday, going 2-for-5 with a walk in two games.