Glew - BWDIK: Brash, Ducey, Hicks, Lopez, Macko, Moseby, Naylor, Peters, Smith, Soroka
Vauxhall Academy alum Adam Macko (Stony Plain, Alta.) picked up his first MLB win with the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday. Photo: Toronto Blue Jays
May 24, 2026
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
Some Canadian baseball news and notes:
Macko picks up first MLB win
On Thursday, Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Adam Macko (Stony Plain, Alta.) picked up his first major league win when he tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief against the New York Yankees in the Blue Jays’ 2-0 victory at Yankee Stadium.
Three days earlier, the Vauxhall Academy grad made his MLB debut when he hurled a scoreless inning in the Blue Jays’ 7-6 loss to the Bronx Bombers. Canadian baseball historian Tyler Partridge pointed out on X that when Macko made his debut he became the first Albertan to pitch in a regular season game for the Blue Jays.
In total, Macko has pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings and has two holds in four relief appearances to begin his big league career.
Lopez still leading MLB in batting average, hits
We are more than 50 games into the 2026 season and Miami Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) still leads the majors in batting average and hits.
His .338 batting average puts him well ahead of Detroit Tigers outfielder Riley Greene, whose .324 average ranks second.
Lopez’s 69 hits are six more than San Francisco Giants second baseman Luis Arraez.
It’s still hard to believe the Marlins picked Lopez up off waivers from the Giants on April 4, 2024.
Let’s not forget that the Blue Jays also underestimated Lopez. They sold Lopez to the Giants on February 13, 2024.
Hicks has first two-homer game
Liam Hicks (Toronto, Ont.) had the first two-home run game of his major league career on Saturday to lead the Marlins to a 4-1 win over the New York Mets at loanDepot Park.
Both homers were solo shots off right-hander Freddy Peralta in the third and fifth innings respectively.
Hicks, a Toronto Mets grad, now has 11 home runs this season.
The homers also increased Hicks’s RBI total to 44, which leaves him just one behind Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams for the MLB lead.
Smith’s saves streak continues
Cleveland Guardians reliever Cade Smith (Abbotsford, B.C.) has a save in each of his last 12 appearances.
He has 17 saves in total this season, which leads the majors.
This is Smith’s first full season as the Guardians’ closer. He took over as the team’s closer in late July last season and finished 2025 with 16 saves.
Brash earns win in return
On Wednesday, right-hander Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) collected a win after being activated from the 15-day injured list by the Seattle Mariners earlier in the day.
He fanned two batters, while pitching a scoreless seventh inning, in the M’s 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox. The win improved Brash’s record to 3-0 this season.
The 28-year-old righty then notched his fifth hold of the season when he held the Kansas City Royals off the scoreboard in the eighth inning of a Mariners’ 2-0 win on Friday.
Brash had been sidelined with right lat inflammation since May 1.
A Kingston Thunder grad, he is in his fourth big league campaign. He has yet to permit a run in 16 relief outings this season.
Toronto Mets grad Jonah Tong (Markham, Ont.) was recalled by the New York Mets on Friday.
Tong recalled by Mets
Right-hander Jonah Tong (Markham, Ont.) was called up by the New York Mets on Friday and proceeded to throw three scoreless innings in relief in the Mets’ 2-1 loss to the Marlins on the same day.
Prior to his promotion, the 22-year-old Tong had posted a 1-3 record and a 5.68 ERA in nine starts for the triple-A Syracuse Mets this season. He struck out 55 batters in 38 innings.
This is the 6-foot-1 right-hander’s second major league tenure with the Mets. He went 2-3 with a 7.71 ERA in five big league starts with them last season.
Ranked the Mets’ No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Tong dominated in the minors last season, combining to go 10-5 with a 1.43 ERA in 22 starts in double-A and triple-A. His 179 strikeouts were the most by any pitcher in the affiliated minor league ranks. He also topped all minor league hurlers in ERA and opponents’ batting average (.148).
Chosen in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB draft by the Mets, Tong is in his fifth pro season.
Moseby made MLB debut 46 years ago
On this date in 1980, Lloyd Moseby made his MLB debut with the Blue Jays.
Batting seventh and DHing, he went 2-for-4 against the Yankees at Exhibition Stadium. His first hit was a double off Luis Tiant in the fourth inning.
The Yankees won the game 6-2.
Peters belts first two MLB homers
White Sox outfielder Tristan Peters (Winkler, Man.) clubbed his first two big league home runs this week.
Last Sunday, he socked a three-run homer in the eighth inning off Chicago Cubs reliever Phil Maton in the White Sox 9-8, 10-inning win.
He followed that up with a solo homer in the seventh inning off Mariners’ reliever Eduard Bazardo in the M’s 6-1 victory the next day.
An Okotoks Dawgs grad, Peters is batting .262 with 12 RBIs and four stolen bases in 48 games for the White Sox this season.
The left-handed hitting Canuck made his big league debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2025, getting into four games in August before he was sold to the White Sox on December 18.
Selected in the seventh round of the 2021 MLB draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, Peters has played parts of five pro seasons.
Happy Birthday to Rob Ducey!
Happy 61st Birthday to Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Rob Ducey!
Born in Toronto but raised in Cambridge, Ont., the left-handed hitting outfielder was signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays in 1984.
He rose through the organization’s ranks to make his big league debut on May 1, 1987. His first major league home run came on September 14, 1987 in a contest in which the Blue Jays clubbed a big league record 10 round-trippers to defeat the Orioles 18-3.
Ducey would suit up for parts of five more seasons with the Blue Jays prior to being dealt to the Angels in 1992. Tenures with the Texas Rangers, Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies would follow, as well as a two-year stretch in the Japanese Pacific League with the Nippon Ham Fighters in 1995 and 1996 that saw him belt 51 home runs.
He returned to the Blue Jays for five games in 2000 and saw his final big league action with the Montreal Expos in 2001. That made him the second Canadian (along with Denis Boucher (Montreal, Que.)) to start his major league career with the Blue Jays and end it with the Expos.
Soroka registers sixth win of season
Last Sunday, Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Michael Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) permitted just two runs in 5 2/3 innings, while striking out eight, to record his sixth win of the season in the D-Backs’ 8-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Soroka also had another strong start against the Rockies on Friday when he held them just one run on four hits in the D-Backs’ 3-2 loss.
The 28-year-old right-hander is tied for third in the National League in wins and he has already doubled his 2025 win total.
Soroka, who is in his seventh major league season, also leads Diamondbacks pitchers in wins and strikeouts (57).
Seventh anniversary of Naylor’s MLB debut
Seven years ago today, Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) made his MLB debut with the San Diego Padres against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre with dozens of friends and family members in attendance.
Batting sixth and DHing, he went 0-for-4, but the Padres beat the Blue Jays 6-3.
Naylor would record his first three hits in his second game the following day.
Quantrill strong out of pen for Rangers
Right-hander Cal Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.) is quietly enjoying a solid season out of the Rangers’ bullpen. Since being called up on April 15, Quantrill is 2-0 with a 2.79 ERA in 19 1/3 innings in eight relief appearances.
Quantrill has been a starter for most of his big league career, but he did make 18 relief appearances for the Guardians in 2021.
Quantrill signed a minor league contract with the Rangers on February 1.
A San Diego Padres’ first-round pick in 2016, the Ontario Terriers and the Junior National Team alum is in his eighth major league season.
Happy 53rd Birthday to Bartolo Colon!
Happy 53rd Birthday to former Expos pitcher Bartolo Colon!
Colon went 10-4 with a 3.31 ERA in 17 starts for the Expos in 2002 after he was acquired from Cleveland on June 27 that year for a package of prospects that included Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Cliff Lee.
In all, Colon recorded 247 wins in parts of 21 big league seasons.