Nine years after being selected as the number one pick in the MLB Draft, Mark Appel finally made his major league debut.
Four days after being promoted from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to the Philadelphia Phillies, Appel took the mound on Wednesday, pitching a scoreless ninth inning in a 4-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
"It's pretty surreal," Appel said. "I was trying to hold back the tears. It was emotional. It was special."
The right-hander, who turns 31 on July 15, became the oldest top overall pick to make his major league debut when he stepped foot on the rubber to face Marcell Ozuna at Citizens Bank Park.
He got Ozuna to line out to first baseman Rhys Hoskins on his first pitch for his first out.
"Having perspective and remembering even just two, three years ago," Appel said. "Even if I was just trying to come back, it's never been a straight line for me.
"Even in that whole process, I was lost. I felt like there were times when I was hopeless, that this dream would never happen. So yeah, I was choking back tears."
A native of suburban Houston, Appel was selected first overall by the Astros in the 2013 draft and spent three years in the Astros system before being traded to the Phillies in a multi-player deal in December 2015.
He struggled on the mound and battled through injuries in the minors before announcing in early 2018 that he was retiring, saying he was at peace with the decision to step away.
Three years later, Appel returned to the Phillies organisation but again scuffled at Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2021, posting a 6.06 ERA in 23 appearances – 15 starts.
He came out again this past spring and this time excelled – as a full-time reliever. In 19 appearances out of the bullpen for the Iron Pigs, Appel went 5-0 with a 1.61 ERA and 24 strikeouts over 28 innings.
"This whole year has been so special for me," Appel said. "I was coming in, trying to figure out: where do I fit? What's my role going to be?
"The fact I got to go to Lehigh and learn how to be a reliever and have some success, that was fuel to my fire. I didn't need a call-up for it to be a successful year.
"In that sense, this is all just extra. I'm just really thankful for it. And I'm glad that I'm able to go out and do my best and get to face the world champions from last year. It's pretty surreal."
The second batter Appel faced, William Contreras, singled to centre, but on the next batter, Appel notched his first major league strikeout on a 97 mph fastball to Aam Duvall.
After umpire Quinn Wolcott called strike three, catcher J.T. Realmuto tossed the ball to the Phillies dugout for Appel to keep as a memento of his first major league strikeout.
The inning ended one batter later when Appel got Phil Gosselin to hit into a fielder's choice – a grounder to shortstop Didi Gregorius, who tossed it to Bryson Scott.
Appel threw 10 pitches in all – six for strikes – and when he reached the Phillies dugout upon the completion of the inning, he was congratulated by interim manager Rob Thompson and his team-mates.
"It almost felt like I was being brought into this fraternity of Major League Baseball players," Appel said.
Liverpool line up Feyenoord coach Slot as Klopp replacement
Arne Slot appears to be at the front of the queue to replace Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager.
Klopp confirmed in January that he would be leaving the Reds at the end of the season.
Xabi Alonso, who has led Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title, was swiftly established as a leading candidate to take the helm at Anfield, where he starred as a player for the Reds between 2004 and 2009.
The 42-year-old, however, is staying put in Germany, and Liverpool's search for Klopp's successor has taken them to Feyenoord's door.
Slot has been previously linked to jobs in the Premier League. Leeds United wanted to appoint him last season before their relegation to the Championship, while he was targeted by Tottenham before they appointed Ange Postecoglou.
The Dutchman intimated when linked with Spurs: "A normal next step would be to go abroad and I've always said that the best league in the world is the Premier League."
Ideally, Liverpool will be aiming for a coach who can come close to replicating Klopp's style of play, and in particular has a flair for working with and developing young players.
Slot has enjoyed fantastic success in Rotterdam. He became Feyenoord head coach in December 2022, after leaving AZ, and went on to win the Eredivisie title in 2022-23, having reached the Europa League final in the previous season.
The 45-year-old has a 64.4 per cent win record from 146 games in charge, winning 94, drawing 29 and losing just 23.
His Feyenoord team have scored 329 goals, an average of 2.2 per match, conceding 147 in return. Slot's points per game is a hugely impressive 2.13.
Feyenoord are, though, set to relinquish their Eredivisie crown, as they trail leaders PSV by nine points. They have, however, won the KNVB Cup this term.
As there is no break clause in the Dutchman's contract, it has been reported that a compensation fee in the region of €10million (£8.5m) could prise him away from Feyenoord.
Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim is another coach who has been heavily linked with the Liverpool job, albeit he is reportedly in talks with West Ham.
MLB: Guardians win fifth straight, improve majors' best record to 17-6
Tyler Freeman and Bryan Rocchio delivered RBIs in the seventh inning and Jose Ramirez homered to lift the Cleveland Guardians to their fifth straight victory, 4-1 over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
The Guardians improved the majors’ best record to 17-6, matching their best start through 23 games. Cleveland also was 17-6 in 1999 and 1966.
Ben Lively allowed one run and five hits over 6 1/3 innings in his Progressive Field debut. He walked one and struck out seven.
Scott Barlow and Hunter Gaddis got the next five outs before Emmanuel Clase struck out the side in the ninth for his seventh save.
Tanner Houck, who threw a three-hit shutout against Cleveland last week, held the Guardians scoreless through six innings before Freeman singled home Will Brennan and Rocchio’s sacrifice fly in the seventh put Cleveland ahead.
Rob Refsnyder had three hits as Boston had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Fried dominates Marlins
Max Fried pitched a three-hitter for Atlanta’s first complete game since 2022 and Adam Duvall belted a two-run homer as the surging Braves blanked the Miami Marlins for the second straight night, 5-0.
Fried didn’t walk anyone and struck out six, needing just 92 pitches to become the first Braves pitcher to complete nine innings since Bryce Elder in an 8-0 win over Washington on Sept. 26, 2022.
Fried notched his fourth career shutout and fifth career complete game as Atlanta won its eighth in nine games.
The Marlins have gone 20 innings without scoring a run and dropped to 6-19.
Duvall’s second home run of the season capped a three-run sixth and extended the lead to 5-0.
Cubs keep Astros reeling
Mike Tauchman hit his first two home runs of the season and the Chicago Cubs scored five first-inning runs in a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros, who dropped 10 games under .500 for the first time since 2016.
Cody Bellinger had a two-run blast in the first inning off J.P. France and Tauchman capped the fast start with a three-run shot. He added a solo home run in the eighth.
Houston has lost three straight and six of seven and, at 7-17, is 10 games under .500 for the first time since an 18-28 start in 2016.
Jordan Wicks limited the Astros to two runs and five hits over a season-best six innings with no walks and four strikeouts.
MLB: Phillies earn seventh straight win
Ranger Suarez and the Philadelphia Phillies each extended impressive streaks in the team's 7-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Monday's opener of a four-game series.
Suarez increased his run of consecutive scoreless innings to 22 by limiting the Reds to two hits and a walk over seven dominant frames in Philadelphia's seventh straight win. The left-hander struck out five and improved to 4-0 in five starts this season.
Kody Clemens supplied the offence for the Phillies by going 2 for 4 with a three-run homer after being called up from the minors to replace slugger Bryce Harper, who is away from the team to attend the birth of his child.
Hunter Greene threw a season-high seven innings for Cincinnati but was handed the loss after allowing four runs on seven hits.
The Phillies opened the scoring in the second when Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos reached on back-to-back singles before Bryson Stott plated Bohm with a sacrifice fly.
Johan Rojas tripled off Greene to start the third and came home on Kyle Schwarber's sac fly for a 2-0 edge, and the Phillies tacked on another run in the fourth when Bohm doubled and scored on Stott's fielder's choice grounder.
J.T. Realmuto's run-scoring double in the fifth put Philadelphia up 4-0, and Clemens' blast with Castellanos and Stott aboard in the ninth closed out the scoring.
Gelof's homer in ninth lifts Athletics over Yankees
Zack Gelof broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning that gave the Oakland Athletics a 2-0 win over the New York Yankees in the opener of a four-game series.
Abraham Toro greeted reliever Victor Gonzalez with an infield single to start the ninth before Gelof lined a pitch from the Yankees' left-hander into the right field seats to end the scoreless stalemate.
Mason Miller then struck out Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in order in the bottom of the ninth to record his fifth save and put an end to Oakland's three-game losing streak.
The Yankees were dealt a second loss in three games despite a dominant start from Carlos Rodon, who yielded only a fifth-inning single and two walks over seven innings.
A's starter JP Sears was equally good, however, as the former Yankee permitted just three hits and a walk while striking out seven in six innings.
The Yankees played nearly the entire game without manager Aaron Boone, who was ejected by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt in the top of the first inning after questioning whether Oakland lead-off hitter Esteury Ruiz swung a pitch that hit the outfielder.
Boone said after the game Wendelstedt was angered by a remark directed at the umpire by a fan sitting behind New York's dugout.
Orioles stay hot by extending Angels' struggles
James McCann and Colton Cowser homered to back 5 2/3 scoreless innings from Albert Suarez as the Baltimore Orioles continued their surge with a 4-2 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Angels.
Adley Rutschman added two hits and two RBIs to help Baltimore to its seventh win in eight games, a run that has moved the Orioles a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East.
The Angels, meanwhile, have now lost five straight after dropping the opener of this three-game series.
Suarez scattered four hits and two walks while striking out five before departing with a 3-0 lead. McCann's solo homer in the second inning put Baltimore on the board before Jorge Mateo stole two bases in the third to precede Rutschman's run-scoring single.
Rutschman made it 3-0 when he followed Gunnar Henderson's single with a double off Los Angeles starter Reid Detmers in the fifth, and Cowser increased the margin in the seventh with his sixth home run of the season.
All four Baltimore runs came off Detmers, who lasted seven innings and was dealt his first loss of the season after going 3-0 over his first four starts.
The Angels did close the gap in the bottom of the seventh, as Jo Adell homered and Logan O'Hoppe followed with a single before later scoring on Nolan Schanuel's base hit that cut the lead to 4-2.
Los Angeles threatened in the ninth by loading the bases with one out, but Baltimore closer Craig Kimbrel got Schanuel to pop out before fanning Mike Trout to end the game and record his sixth save.
O'Hoppe recorded three of the Angels' eight hits for the game.
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