MLB Quickcap (May 6, 2026)
The Cubs walk off the Reds again, the Mariners hand Atlanta its first series loss, and Ted Turner's impact on my baseball life.
SCORES OF THE DAY
Cubs-7, Reds-6 (F/10): Chicago walks off the Reds for the third straight game, this time via a bases-loaded walk to Michael Busch in the bottom of the 10th frame following a Pete Crow-Armstrong game-tying homer in the ninth.
Rays-3, Blue Jays-0: Bring out the brooms after Tampa Bay finishes off the sweep of the visiting Blue Jays for a 10th straight win at Tropicana Field.
Brewers-6, Cardinals-2: After a rainout cut this three-game series short, the Brewers come out of St. Louis with a 1-1 series split thanks to a four-run first inning, which included a three-run homer by Andrew Vaughn.
Dodgers-12, Astros-2: Three taters and six ribbies by the Dodgers’ best hitter in ‘26, Andy Pages, give the visitors a series win at Houston.
Padres-5, Giants-1: San Diego takes the rubber game on the road after scoring twice in the seventh and eighth frames while the pitching staff holds the Giants to one run on three hits.
Angels-8, White Sox-2: One thing we’re learning about the White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami is that even though he’s right up there on the home run leaderboard with 14, he’s also prone to striking out often and currently leads the American League in that category with 55 after going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Chicago’s loss to the Halos.
Mariners-3, Braves-1: Seattle hands Atlanta its first series loss of the year behind SP Bryan Woo’s six shutout frames (W, 6 IP, 0 ER, 9 K).
Red Sox-4, Tigers-0: Boston’s Sonny Gray returns from the IL and tosses five scoreless innings (W, 5 IP, 0 ER) to help the Red Sox earn a road sweep in Detroit.
Phillies-6, Athletics-3: Philadelphia wins its fourth straight contest after a four-run eighth highlights a late comeback victory.
Orioles-7, Marlins-4: Pete Alonso and Adley Rutschman drive in five of Baltimore’s runs as the O’s will look for the three-game sweep on Thursday.
Nationals-15, Twins-2: Washington's shortstop C.J. Abrams goes off with a grand slam, two doubles, and five ribbies as part of a monster offensive outburst for the Nats that saw five other players collect two hits apiece.
Rangers-6, Yankees-1: Corey Seager and Evan Carter both go yard to help Rangers SP Nathan Eovaldi to a win (W, 8 IP, 1 ER, 8 K).
Guardians-3, Royals-1: Cleveland will look for a series split on Thursday after rookie Chase DeLauter’s go-ahead two-run single in the fifth leads to a victory.
Mets-10, Rockies-5: New York’s Marcus Semien has four knocks, including a homer and four RBI.
Pirates-1, Diamondbacks-0: Paul Skenes gets very little run support from his Pirates offense, but still collects the win after throwing eight scoreless frames (W, 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 7 K)
OFFENSIVE LINE OF THE DAY
Abrams had a great Wednesday at the plate for Washington, but the three-homer outing for the 25-year-old Pages takes the top spot with ease.
LAD - Andy Pages (3 H, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K)
PITCHING LINE OF THE DAY
No question that it’s Paul Skenes after eight shutout frames. Eovaldi’s one run allowed against the Yankees over eight innings would usually be good enough.
It’s nice to see Skenes go deep into games for once. Let’s hope this is a trend. When a pitcher is as efficient as last year’s NL Cy Young winner, anything under six innings per outing feels wrong. Let him eat. Let him dominate. I see no way the Pirates make the playoffs if their ace isn’t fully unleashed. This is what fans should be witnessing more often than not.
PIT - Paul Skenes (W, 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 7 K, 0 BB)
THOUGHTS OF THE DAY
Ted Turner. I’m going to link a well-written article about Turner’s legacy. He died on Wednesday at the age of 87.
Here’s a good one by longtime Braves beat writer, Mark Bowman, on MLB.com. Check out this link.
I don’t want to go over the full impact Turner had beyond television. Again, the article linked above provides a lot of information about his life and legacy if you’re unaware.
What I want to mention briefly is that without Turner’s creation of TBS, many of us outside the Atlanta area would not be the Braves fans we are today.
It goes a little deeper for me because the Braves were the team that I followed fully while growing up in upstate New York. When I was about 12 years old, my family purchased PrimeStar. It was the first satellite television provider we had in our house. Before that, the two stations we got came from an old antenna outside. NBC and CBS, and once in a while, a fuzzy-at-best FOX. Our options were very limited.
Anyway, PrimeStar came, and with that, the Atlanta Braves entered our home. Viewers were guaranteed well over 100 games a year on TBS during that period. I can go so far as to say that I wouldn’t be the baseball fan I am today without that network. My family was and still are Boston Red Sox fans. I pulled away from the Sox with the addition of TBS in the 90s. The timing of becoming a Braves fan was helped by the fact that they were also the best team in the National League for that entire 90s period. They were fun to watch, and I became a fan almost immediately thanks to Turner’s efforts.
I have a few friends who are also Atlanta fans. They’ll tell you the same thing. If not for TBS, it’s highly unlikely, given where we live, that Atlanta would be our favorite franchise. As I said earlier, TBS made me more than just a Braves fan. I became a hardcore baseball fan because I could watch games nearly every day. That was never going to happen otherwise.
Rest in peace, Ted Turner. Thank you for giving America something to look forward to during that time each MLB season.
EYES ON TODAY *all times Eastern
2:20 PM - Reds (20-17) at Cubs (25-12): Is it possible that Chicago walks off the Reds for a fourth straight day? I guess it is. Two things I’m watching for.
#1: Can Chicago make it 15 straight wins at Wrigley Field?
#2: Can Cincinnati avoid a seven-game losing streak?
This is a huge game for the Reds. Lose this, and they go from being in first place in the NL Central a week ago to being six games out and potentially alone at the bottom of the division.
The Reds will send Rhett Lowder to the bump (7 GS, 3-2, 5.09 ERA) after the right-hander was hammered on Saturday by the Pirates for eight runs over 1 ⅓ frames. He’ll face Chicago’s southpaw Shota Imanaga, who’s been anything but disappointing so far in ‘26 (7 GS, 3-2, 2.40 ERA).
MLB Quickcap will be released five days a week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. If interested, you can read my MLB Series Preview on Pitcher List every Monday and Friday by following the attached link.
Enjoyed the personal story on the Braves and Turner.