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The mystery around Paul Skenes' 2026 struggles just keeps growing. The reigning National League Cy Young winner will not start Sunday as scheduled. Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly said that his ace will get three extra days of rest and will start Wednesday instead.

Skenes told reporters he did not disagree with the decision to push him back.

Pittsburgh is not calling it an injury, but there is no denying that something is clearly off with Skenes this year.

He threw just 65 pitches over five innings Tuesday in Miami and came out anyway, having allowed two runs, one of them earned, on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts. His four-seam fastball averaged 95.7 miles per hour that night, the lowest single-game mark of his career and more than a full tick under his season average. Hitters put eight balls in play at 95 mph or harder and he got just four swings-and-misses.

The velocity has been a red flag. He is at 96.8 mph on the four-seamer, down from 98.2 last year and 98.8 as a rookie. Kelly said the bigger issue is command. The league is adjusting back, he said this week, and Skenes has to adjust with it.

More: Are Pirates signaling a Paul Skenes shutdown? Or a more actively managed workload?

Skenes had a 1.98 ERA in early May after back-to-back eight-inning shutout starts. In 16 starts since May 17 it is 5.00, with 10 home runs allowed in 84⅔ innings. (He gave up 11 home runs all of last season in 187⅔ innings.)

Pittsburgh is 3-13 in that stretch. His walk rate has climbed up to 6.8%.

Skenes, 24, has discounted the velocity questions all summer, and he did not argue with the early hook Tuesday. If he were the manager, he said, he would probably have made the same call.

The Pirates are 60-65, 6.5 games out of the last National League wild card and in last place in the National league Central. They were tied for a playoff spot four weeks ago. They don't get there without Skenes.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When does Paul Skenes pitch next? Pirates push back ace's next start

The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Sacramento Athletics scored three runs.

After the Rangers missed out on delivering on an early RISP opportunity in the top of the first, an inning later someone named Henry Bolte, a person I’m not sure family could pick out of a lineup, hit a ball with two on that just barely glanced off the base of the left field foul pole at the A’s temporary minor league home.

Suddenly down 3-0, it would have been easy to think, “Here we go again.”

That feeling permeated as the lineup didn’t really get anything else going through the first handful of innings and, just when it seemed like the Rangers were headed for a fifth straight loss to the two worst teams in baseball, Nicky Lopez followed a Jake Burger double with an RBI single in the top of the fifth.

The Rangers have been desperate for anything from the bottom of the order and Lopez provided a run out of the nine spot. Maybe that helped lift the spell a little from this freefall that Texas has found itself in on the West Coast, or maybe pride finally gurgled up to put a purposeful taste in the mouths of the Rangers batters.

An inning later, down 3-1, the middle of the order was due and Brandon Nimmo, Corey Seager, and Wyatt Langford went double, RBI single, two-run home run to ambush the A’s and take a 4-3 lead in a matter of moments.

MacKenzie Gore allowed the three-run home run that put Texas in that early hole, so count that as his weekly Gore Inning. After that seemingly ruinous second inning, Gore eventually managed to make it through 5 2/3 innings with just the three runs allowed, just barely missing a quality start.

Thankfully, Chase Silseth cleaned up for Gore in the sixth and then Jakob Junis made his first appearance in over two weeks, a scoreless seventh inning. It was curious to see Junis come in in the seventh but that ultimately meant Jacob Latz was called upon for one of his patented two-inning saves.

The Rangers decided to wait all the way until the top of the ninth to score again and give Latz a little breathing room. Following an Evan Carter double, Jarred Kelenic came off the bench and provided the insurance with an pinch-hit RBI single.

Latz, who was pitching in just his fourth game all month, worked around a leadoff walk in the eighth but never allowed another baserunner. With his lead doubled by his second frame, Latz was able to comfortably claim his 24th save of the year to snap the losing skid.

Further good news, since Houston was walloped by Seattle earlier in the day, the Rangers gained a game in the standings where they now sit just two back of first place. Despite being two games below .500, the Rangers are also ahead of three other teams by a half game for the final American League Wild Card spot.

Weird year.

Player of the Game: The Rangers have really, really, really needed Langford to break out of his lengthy August slump and that finally came about tonight as he collected three hits including the big eventual game-winning two-run dong.

Up Next: The Rangers and A’s conclude this series in the road trip finale with LHP Cody Bradford next up for Texas opposite LHP Jacob Lopez for the Northern California squad.

First pitch Sunday’s finale is set for a more reasonable 3:05 pm CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Michael Massey and Jac Caglianone powered the lineup last night. They did it again tonight, with the only two hits KC had – both singles – in a 1-0 loss to the Angels.

When your team falls by a score of 1-0, it would be easy to place the blame on the offense. But this was really Reid Detmers flashing some of that brilliance I wrote about before the game. When he’s on, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do, and baby, he was on tonight. Detmers struck out 11 over 8 scoreless innings and required only 92 pitches to do it. He didn’t walk anyone, and he allowed those two singles mentioned at the top. That’s it. The Angels asked closer Ben Joyce to finish it off and, wielding a fastball that easily tops 104 MPH, he did just that with a pair of strikeouts.

Randy Dobnak, known more for his sweeper, threw the Angels a healthy dose of changeups in his 5.2 innings tonight. He figured out early that the sweeper wasn’t working and the Angels could do nothing to the changeup, so he threw it more than any of his other pitches. Ultimately, he struck out six while allowing 4 hits and 2 walks in 5.2 scoreless innings. He had some good defense behind him, but Dobnak Time continues unabated as we inch ever closer to the end of the season.

Craig Kimbrel was tasked with escaping the sixth inning with two runners on and managed to do so when a deep flyball from Josh Lowe died just in front of the track, landing in Starling Marte’s glove. Kimbrel relied again on the marine layer as well as a fantastic play from Tyler Tolbert in the seventh.

Nate Pearson got the eighth and, unfortunately, his control issues from most of his career popped up again when he allowed a leadoff walk to Wade Meckler. Jose Siri pinch-ran for him and promptly stole second. Pearson got Mike Trout to pop out, but a groundball at 102.6 off the bat of Nolan Schanuel managed to deflect off of Caglianone’s glove into right, and that was all she wrote. Pearson recovered to get a strikeout and a groundout, but the winning run was already in.

Cags just missed a home run to center field in the first inning. According to Baseball Savant, it was barreled, the third-hardest hit ball in the game, and would have been a home run in 6/30 parks, including UNIQLO in Los Angeles. Jac’s single in the fourth was hit at 105.5, the hardest-hit ball for either team all night. When he stole second (his sixth of the season!) a few moments later, it was the first and only time a Royal made it past first all night. He did look pretty silly striking out in the seventh, but you can only do what you can do. The lack of offense meant he did not get a fourth at-bat.

That was the first time in five contests the Angels managed to beat the Royals. KC can’t have a .500 road trip anymore, but they could at least escape Anaheim of Los Angeles with a series victory if they can win tomorrow. Noah Cameron (4.45 ERA, 4.13 SIERA) will try to rebound from the off-kilter start in LA. The Angels will counter with a right-hander, thankfully, rookie Ryan Johnson (6.71 ERA, 5.17 SIERA). The game is the Royals’ last one on the West Coast this year and will start at 3:07 PM Central time.

Danny Young this season has an ERA over 8, a FIP over 7, and an xFIP over 6. He has at times in his 5 season, 73.0 inning major league career been an acceptable major league reliever and even has acceptable career numbers over that time, but he has simply not given the Braves a compelling reason to keep him on their roster this year. Meanwhile, the Braves are reportedly contemplating how to bring AJ Smith-Shawver onto the roster. My proposal is to simply get rid of Danny Young, perhaps bring up a stopgap arm for a few days and then have AJ replace Grant Holmes in the rotation. Holmes can be a good arm out of the bullpen and while he has done admirably to perform the job of a back end rotation starter, he can impact the Braves the best for the remainder of this season out of the bullpen.

Braves News

The Braves got absolutely pounded on a night when they really had nothing going against the Diamondbacks.

MLB News

The Cardinals promoted top prospect Joshua Baez and he hit a homer in each of his first THREE MLB plate appearances Saturday.

Red Sox’ Aroldis Chapman passed the threshold for his $13 million vesting option, pending post-season physical.

The Blue Jays put Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the concussion IL after taking a knee to the head.

I hope you all will forgive me for spending a portion of my Saturday mornings sorting through various somewhat bleak baseball things in preparation for the coming recap. For instance, today I found myself roaming around looking at the recent game logs for Harrison Grant Holmes and comparing them those of Eduardo Rodriguez (Holmes had a better run recently, at least until today), and then looking at how the Braves as a team hit versus left-handed pitching (10th in the majors, as opposed to 8th vs. right-handers). The Diamondbacks, incidentally, are 2nd in the majors facing lefties, at least in terms of OPS, which was nice to see. But Grant Holmes is not a lefty, so I scrolled down to see how we do against righties, and discovered the rather depressing fact that we rank 29th in the majors in OPS against right-handed pitching. I tend to try to look for something interesting that I could touch on and organize my thinking around, in case a Saturday game goes badly for us, as it feels like they often do.

Anyway. As it turns out, I didn’t really need to, though it certainly didn’t look like it was going to be that way in the early going. Holmes caught leadoff man Lars Nootbaar looking to start off the game, then got Corbin Carroll to pop out on the infield and Geraldo Perdomo to strike out swinging on three pitches to make short work of the Snakes in the top of the first. Everyone’s favorite hologram then came on for the bottom of the frame and gave up hits to the first three batters he faced: a home run to absolutely straightaway center field to Ronald Acuña, Jr., followed by a double to Drake Baldwin and a maddening bloop single just behind shortstop that fell in and advanced Baldwin to third. ERod finally recorded his first out on an Ozzie Albies pop fly to shallow right, but Baldwin crossed the plate on a grounder to second. That wound up being all the damage done, but we were already in a hole and Rodriguez had already thrown 24 pitches. 2-0 Atlanta

Given our dismal 0 for 14 performance last night with runners in scoring position, and given how easily Holmes had disposed of the top of our lineup in the top of the first, it seemed like we were in a very deep hole. But the bottom two thirds of the lineup, perhaps shamed by yesterday’s aforementioned dismal performance, were having none of it today. Gabriel Moreno drewa five-pitch walk to lead things off, and was promptly advanced to third by a Max Kepler double into the alley in right center that rolled to the wall. Nolan Arenado grounded out slowly to third, allowing Moreno to score. Then Tim Tawa grounded a single to left, driving in Kepler and tying things back up. But we weren’t done! Ildemaro Vargas, starting at second today due to Ketel Marte’s gimpy knee, rolled over to second for the second out, but then Ryan Waldschmidt hit an opposite field liner to right that dropped for a single and scored Tawa from second. 3-2 DBACKS

And it was basically off to the races after that. ERod surrendered a leadoff double to Atlanta left fielder Lane Thomas to start the bottom of the second, but then sat down the next three batters to leave Thomas stranded there and put up a very reassuring zero. Corbin Carroll led off the top of the third with a double to right. Perdomo launched a fly ball to deep center that allowed Corbin to tag and take third. Moreno then doubled off the wall in right center, plating Carroll. Kepler popped out the infield, which was unfortunate and frustrating, marking as it did the second out of the inning, but Nolan Arenado came to the plate for the second time in two innings and launched the third pitch he saw from Holmes into the seats in left center field:

Tim Tawa flied out to end things, but Nolan’s 29th of the season had extended the lead substantially. 6-2 DBACKS

Things kind of cooled down after that for both teams, at least for awhile. Holmes walked Nootbaar and Carroll on five pitches apiece with two outs in the top of the fourth, which earned him an early end to his night, but the Braves bullpen got involved and put up three straight zeros in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Eduardo Rodriguez, however, had settled down nicely, and was doing the same. He retired Altanta in order in the third and fourth, pitched around a two-out Acuña single that just trickled in and out of the glove of a diving Perdomo, and then recorded a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth to end his night on a very satisfactory note.

But our offense still wasn’t done. In fact, Arenado himself wasn’t done. He stepped to the plate with two outs in the seventh against Atlanta lefty Brent Suter and launched his 20th home run of the year to pretty much the same place that he’d deposited his 19th:

So that was fun. 7-2 DBACKS

The game was mostly in the bag at this point, with Jonathan Loaisiga and Kevin Ginkel each pitching a pristine inning in relief, while the Braves relievers continued to toil along haplessly. Corbin Carroll tripled with off the wall in right with two outs in the eighth, but wasn’t able to score. In the top of the ninth, Moreno singled to lead things off, Arenado drew a one-out walk, and then with two outs Ildemaro Vargas, who’d been quiet all evening up to this point, sent a third souvenir over the wall in left to pad things a little more. 10-2 DBACKS

With an eight run lead, Torey Lovullo opted to go with Philip Abner, an admittedly low-leverage arm, out of the bullpen for the final three outs, and Abner got it done, though he did cough up one more run thanks to a Matt Olson leadoff double and then a couple of infield groundouts that allowed Olson to come around and score. But no harm done, and we had a very emphatic second win of the series! 10-3 DBACKS

Win Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

Heroes: Nolan Arenado (4 AB, 2 H, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR, 1 BB, +13% WPA), Cabriel Moreno (4 AB, 3 H, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, +11% WPA)
Zeros: None! Lars Nootbaar, Geraldo Perdomo, and Ildemaro Vargas each contributed negative WPA, but at ultimately negligible levels. Everyone played real good ball tonight! Good job, Snakes!

It wound up being a nice and well-populated Gameday Thread tonight, with 289 comments at time of writing. Our Fearless Leader got the most rec’s for his observation regarding how helpful it might be for tomorrow to chew through some more of Atlanta’s bullpen, but I’m giving today’s Comment of the Game to piratedan for this early comment that aptly captures the whiplash many of us felt seeing the offense go off like this less than 24 hours after last night’s Dismal Performance (TM):

Didn’t have this in my bingo card going into last night’s game, but I hope you can join us tomorrow as we go for the three-game sweep against the runaway leaders in the NL East! Michael Soroka goes for us, Bryce Elder goes for Atlanta. Elder got lit up last time out with 7 earned runs allowed to the lowly Mets on August 10, so with any luck we can make his month of August even worse. First pitch is scheduled for 10:35 AZ time, TheRealRamona will have the guest recap, so we hope to see you with all of your favorite morning baseball snacks tomorrow as we go for the sweep!

As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!

As Shohei Ohtani’s manager, Dave Roberts knows how much a singular talent can mean to baseball.

Roberts described Milwaukee Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski in such terms following the Dodgers’ 4-1 loss on Saturday.

“It’s fantastic,” Roberts said. “I hope that we can give Jacob as much credit and publicity as possible. He’s a great kid and he’s great for the game. What he did today, what they see every time he pitches, you just don’t see it. Guys like him, and obviously guys like Shohei, the game’s in a great spot.”

Roberts was awestruck by how Misiorowki attacked Ohtani in his six-pitch at-bat in the first inning, which resulted in a popup to third base.

Misiowowki threw him only fastballs.

The pitch velocities that flashed on the Dodger Stadium scoreboard: 104, 104, 104, 103, 104, 104.

“I’ve never seen the first [three] pitches of a game 104,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers’ first hit against the Cy Young Award frontrunner came in the third inning when Alex Call reached base on an infield single. Call scored on a triple by Ohtani.

Behind by a 4-1 margin, the Dodgers loaded the bases in the fifth inning, only for Misiorowski to get out of the jam by striking out Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in succession.

Considering what the Dodgers were up against, Roberts considered it a minor victory to be able to force Misiorowski out of the game after six innings. The Dodgers collected five hits and a walk against Misiorowski, who struck out six batters. Misiorowsk improved his record to 12-5 and lowered his earned-run average to 1.75.

“I thought we did a nice job in the sense of shortening up, competing, getting him out in the sixth inning,” Roberts said.

In doing so, the Dodgers were able to force left-hander Aaron Ashby to pitch two innings in relief, which will likely make him unavailable for the series finale on Sunday.

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TORONTO — The reasons for the Yankees offense death-spiraling over the past two months are spread up and down the lineup.

But among the more notable culprits has been Ben Rice not producing like the Ben Rice from earlier this season.

Before going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts Saturday in a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jays, the slugging first baseman still came into the game with the fifth-highest OPS in the American League at .883 and the third-most home runs with 32. But over his past 21 games, he was hitting just .130 (10-for-77) with a .494 OPS and two home runs, coinciding with a team-wide slump.

Going back even further, over his past 46 games, he was batting .193 with a .694 OPS and 10 home runs.

“Definitely been going through it here in the second half,” manager Aaron Boone said before Saturday’s loss. “Just getting under some balls or getting on top of balls. Just got to make sure he gets on a line.”

Rice hit a 105.4 mph flyout to center field in his first at-bat Saturday and later flew out to the warning track in right field, a day after barreling up four balls in another 0-for-4 effort.

“I’ve felt increasingly good,” Rice said after their latest defeat. “Over the last couple series, I feel like the swing has felt good and I’m hitting some balls hard, not getting rewarded for it. Just got to keep going. That’s literally the only thing you can do is just keep going. It’s all you can do in this game.”

Saturday was a grind for Cam Schlittler, but he still turned it into 5 ¹/₃ innings of one-run ball while striking out seven and walking three.

He finished the day with a 2.19 ERA, keeping pace in the AL Cy Young race before his biggest threat — Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease — takes the ball for Sunday’s series finale. Cease enters the start with a 2.40 ERA in 20 ²/₃ fewer innings than Schlittler.

While Cody Bellinger (hamstring strain) is on track to begin a rehab assignment next week, Boone was mum on when that might be the case for Giancarlo Stanton (calf strain).

The veteran DH did not make the trip to Toronto, instead staying back at Yankee Stadium to continue his running progression, which now includes the bases — the stage where Stanton re-injured himself in June.

“I know he hit out on the field [Friday] again,” Boone said. “But I don’t know when he would be ready to start something.”

The Blue Jays placed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the seven-day concussion injured list Saturday after he left Friday’s game early following a collision with George Lombard Jr.

Boone said he spoke to the league on Friday night and Saturday morning about his ejection in the series opener — tossed by home plate umpire Vic Carapazza for arguing balls and strikes — which appeared to be among the tamer (at least initially) of his 50 career ejections.

After Friday’s loss, he called it a “tired toss” by Carapazza.

“Look, I said what I was going to say [Friday] night,” Boone said. “At the end of the day, that’s just one little part of the game, and it had nothing to do with us winning or losing last night. We got to find a way to score more. I’ve had my conversations with the league and we move on to a fresh day today.”

Drew Gilbert had never hit lead-off before. The vast majority of his plate appearances this season have come out of the 8th and 9th spots in the batting order. There’s plenty of reasons why Gilbert wouldn’t be seriously considered to bat first when constructing a Major League line-up. Mainly, he doesn’t hit for average, he doesn’t hit for power, nor does he inflate his on-base percentage with walks. Gilbert’s barely the same species as a Kyle Schwarber or Shohei Ohtani, the 21st century take on the top spot. Considering he’s swiped only 2 bases in 137 Major League games, Gilbert is pretty far from Vince Coleman and the more old-school, light-and-fast model too, aimed at wrecking havoc on the bases after beating out an infield single. 

The lead-off man has been a revolving door for the Giants all season. It’s been dependent on the opposing starter’s arm, who’s healthy, or the hot hand. No one has been particularly good at it. San Francisco’s lead-off men have posted a .279 OBP — by far the lowest in the Majors. Their overall production, with a 89 wRC+, is well below league average.

The point of the offensive spear being not that pointy could explain some of the team’s frustrating inconsistencies and overall struggles.  

Game 123 of this doomed season, Tony Vitello is throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. Dating back to July 30th, in which the Giants have gone 4-10 while dropping four straight series, seven different players have hit lead-off. Pencilling Gilbert’s name into the top spot — because why not? — made him the 13th player to serve in the role this year, which is the most in any Giants season since 1901. 

13 might be a lucky number because Gilbert transformed himself to fit into the role. The middle schooler hyped-up on Mountain Dew Baja Blast energy he typically emanates at the plate was completely gone. In its place, a stoic figure, a discerning eye. The new number-1 went 3-for-4, with a walk, 3 runs batted in, and 2 runs scored. He worked a lead-off walk, taking six straight pitches, and didn’t lift his bat off his shoulder. The Number- 9 hitter Gilbert probably would’ve swung a dozen times. But that Gilbert is dead now; or at least, repressed, stuffed in the locker of his subconsciousness (for the day at least), because when he came up again in the 3rd, nothing had changed. Gilbert was just as calm and disciplined. He took a first pitch fastball in the dirt for ball one, and an elevated curveball at the letters for ball two. Being ahead in the count matters, and Gilbert specifically needs that breathing room. He’s hitting .300 with a 1.014 OPS (70 AB) when he’s swinging with count leverage. When he’s backed into a corner: .224 with a .585 OPS (85 AB).

Up 2-0, Gilbert was cool and collected. Hecould sit on a specific pitch in a specific location. Starter Michael Lorenzen’s best bet of getting in the zone was with his fastball, he put it on the inside corner and Gilbert beat him to the spot, lining it onto the arcade for a game-tying solo shot.  

Turning an 0-2 count into a base-on-balls  was good, the solo homer was obviously better, but Gilbert out-did himself as the lead-off man his third time up. With the bases loaded and two out in a tight 2-1 game, Gilbert didn’t let the situation rush his approach. The prospect of knocking in runs didn’t cause him to devolve back into his previous hacker state in which he was liable to take a cut at any moving object within feasible reach of his bat. He maintained control and put himself in a good count by taking two fastballs off the plate. He fouled off a cutter, only his second swing of the day, but didn’t succumb to swing-mode when Lorenzen dotted another just above the letters. With the count back in his favor, he got his fastball — this time a sinker decently located low-and-away — and the ball found a hole. 

This is how the number 1 hitter has to operate, especially in the middle of a game. When the line-up flips back over to the top, that shift should be felt by the opposing arm. The pitcher should be thinking Again? Didn’t I just pitch to this guy?  They need to be a nuisance. They need to extend and prolong  and act as a gateway to the heart of the order. Gilbert did exactly that — he picked up number-9 man Christian Koss after he rolled an ineffectual comebacker for the second out of the inning. Even with the bases loaded, Lorenzen approached him with care. He made his pitches and Gilbert still got the best of him. His single was the Giants’ first hit with a runner in scoring position, and it led to two more in quick succession from Devers and Eldridge. 

It was opposite day for the Giants in many ways. Gilbert set the tone in this bizarro world with his disciplined approach.  5 of San Francisco’s 6 runs in the 4th came with two outs. They worked three walks while the pitchers Logan Webb, Carson Seymour, and Dylan Smith gave out none. The offense went 3-for-6 with runners in scoring position, a situation that had been their collective bugaboo of late. Two of those clutch hits from Devers and Eldridge came in a disadvantaged split against lefty reliever Parker Mushinski. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Turner Hill, who made his Major League debut in left field today. While it may not be as noteworthy as Joshua Baez’s three homer debut (a first in baseball history), Hill gave the Giants the lead with a bases-loaded sac fly,  a  key situational at-bat that kicked off their back-breaking rally. Overall, Hill went 0-for-3 with a couple of routine put-outs recorded in the field. 

Logan Webb turned in another excellent outing albeit an abbreviated one. After six complete, with a 7-1 lead and Webb dealing with the inevitable aches that a 100+ MPH line-drive off the shoulder would cause, Vitello decided to pull him out of an abundance of caution. Webb had more in the tank. He had only thrown 80 pitches while striking out 7 (his season high is 8). 

The four-seam, not typically called on to bear a heavy load, served as the workhorse in this one.  Webb used it 30% of the time, a season high — a necessary adaptation to face the seven lefties in the Colorado line-up. It worked well. The Rockies appeared caught off guard by Webb’s willingness to push the straight fastball up in the zone. The pitch punctuated four of his strikeouts and generated a 50% whiff-rate (8 of 16) along with 9 called strikes. Not bad for an offering that typically scoots in around 92 MPH. 

When contact happened, it was quick and pretty weak. Webb held Rockies hitters to four singles, unfortunately three of them came on three consecutive pitches in the 3rd. Three doinky donks which gave Colorado the early lead. Both Ezequiel Tovar and Jake  McCarthy found grass with 60 MPH bloops, and Cole Carigg’s grass cutter, which looked like a tailor made double play ball off the bat, proved to be an RBI single thanks to the defensive alignment of the shortstop. A meek rally made up of the kind of contact that keeps Webb up at night, and ironically, it’s the kind of contact he’s built a career on. This is the bargain Webb has made: the doinks giveth, and they taketh away.   

Thanks to Gilbert, Webb didn’t have to sweat the run for long. He’d take the mound in the 4th with the game tied and again in the 5th with a comfortable lead. Though the liner off the bat of Brett Sullivan probably didn’t feel too good, it didn’t take the veteran out of his rhythm. Koss would handle the deflection easily, just one of the 11 Webb would record in order to end his afternoon.   

Luis Robert Jr.’s next stop is left field.

With the Mets looking to receive more action for rookie A.J. Ewing in center field — the position he figures to play for the foreseeable future — Robert is scheduled to start in left Sunday for the first time in his major league career, according to interim manager Andy Green.

“I think he has confidence he’s ultimately going to be fine there,” Green said before the Mets rallied past the Nationals at Citi Field, noting that Robert took pregame reps at the position with outfield coach Gilbert Gomez.

Green expects Ewing (who lately has played mostly in left) will go from playing center field once every three games to twice every three games.

Robert would still get every third start in center.

The Mets hoped to trade Robert before the deadline, but a deal never materialized, leaving them with two center fielders.

Ewing got his opportunity this season after Robert went on the injured list in April and has played the position at a high level.

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Kodai Senga indicated to Green during the last trip that he was fine to pitch a second straight day if needed.

The right-hander wasn’t needed, but it served as a message to Green that back-to-back appearances shouldn’t be an issue for Senga, who has shifted to the closer’s role with Devin Williams on the injured list. Senga earned his second save in as many chances Friday.

“Assuming he feels good, a back-to-back is imminent if the situation arises,” Green said. “I don’t feel pressed to force it just to say he threw back-to-back. It’s going to happen, so if it doesn’t happen today or this week, I am not bothered by it. We’ll let the games determine how he is used.”

Carson Benge has reached base in 18 straight games thanks to his 1-for-2 effort against the Nationals on Saturday, the second-longest such streak by a Mets player this season.

Juan Soto reached base in 18 straight games from March 26 to May 2 (with an IL stint in the middle).

That was an enjoyable baseball game.

The Mariners beat the Astros 10-5 on Saturday in Houston. The offense strung together a bunch of hits early and found some power late. Emerson Hancock turned in another outing so good that it would have seemed laughable about this time last year. The season is over, of course, and the Mariners are still eight games below .500. But this was a nice reminder that even losing baseball seasons can have a few gems.

Despite the final line, Hancock was in trouble right out of the gate. In the bottom of the first, he walked Yordan Alvarez and gave up three straight singles to open the scoring at 1-0. None of the singles were hit too hard, but with the bases loaded and just one out, this felt like a looming clunker. Then Hancock put together a fun little sequence to Christian Walker:

• Fastball paint, called strike
• Fastball paint, called ball but challenged for a strike
• Nasty sweeper away, chased for strike three and out number two

Then Hancock put together came a fun sequence to Taylor Trammell:

• Fastball down the middle, called strike
• Curveball below the zone, chased foul
• Fastball up in the zone, can’t touch it for strike three

The Astros had Hancock dead to rights, but he wriggled out of it with two strikeouts on six total pitches. It was a phenomenal escape from the first inning. And from there, Hancock was fantastic. He gave up a Crawford Boxes homer to Christian Vázquez in the second, but he faced the minimum the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. 

Now, it was just four innings, but I love “faced the minimum” stretches for pitchers, so I was looking forward to the seventh. Things started off well. Hancock got Walker to chase a high fastball for a strikeout. He fell behind Trammell 3-1 before getting a pop up — way, way up — that hit the roof and fell back into Hancock’s glove for what looked like the second out. Unfortunately, that’s considered a foul ball in Daikin Park, keeping the at bat alive. On the next pitch, Hancock got Trammell looking with a called strike, but Trammell successfully challenged for ball four. This wasn’t quite the end of the “faced the minimum” stretch, as a double play was still in order. And what do you know, Hancok got Cam Smith to hit a hard grounder right to the bag at first. Naylor scooped it, stepped on the bag for an out, then fired to second for the turn. But the throw hit Trammell while sliding into second (he probably would have been safe anyways), and this seemed the end to the “faced the minimum” stretch. I suddenly realized I was standing up — man, there really hasn’t been much to root for this season. Then, improbably, out of nowhere, with LaMonte Wade Jr. at the plate in a 1-1 count, Hancock turned and picked off Trammell at second to end the inning. I whooped audibly. Does this actually count as facing the minimum? Hancock did technically face four different batters in the inning, which would imply no. But he also got the first three batters out, and Wade got a fresh at bat to start the eighth, so yes? I don’t know what the ruling is here, but that was the most fun I’ve had watching an inning of Mariners baseball in a while.

Anyways, Hancock’s night was over after seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out eight on 16 whiffs. The Astros managed just four hard hit balls against him. Hancock with the outing reached the 2.0 fWAR mark on the season, making him tied for the 48th best starter in the majors this year. Unbelievable.

Also unbelievable: The Mariners offense was actually great from beginning to end on Saturday. Julio led off the second with a hard line drive single up the middle. Josh Naylor fell behind 0-2 and swung at a heater at his eyes, but got enough of it to poke a grounder up the middle and put runners on first and third. Cole Young followed with a dribbler to the first-base side of the mound. Hayden Wesneski charged after it but missed with a lunge, allowing Julio to score. After a strikeout from Cal Raleigh, Victor Robles hit a slicing line drive into right center gap. Varsho gave it a dive but fell just short and the ball trickled to the wall. Naylor, tagging at second on the play, came around to score easily. Young, not tagging from first, nearly caught up with him and scored with a slide into Naylor’s rear. Regardless, it was a two-run triple for Robles. Brendan Donovan followed with a single to make it 4-1.

The Mariners had runners most innings from there. In the fourth, Young singled, Robles walked, and Donovan drove in another run with a single.

In the fifth, Dominic Canzone and Julio each reached to lead off the inning. But they ultimately didn’t score, with Raleigh finishing the inning with a weak fly out. This was a fun game overall, and I hate to sour the recap with analysis, but it’s pretty clear how opposing pitchers are attacking Cal (these were all fastballs), and it’s pretty clear he can’t lay off.

There were more runners in the sixth and seventh, but they didn’t score again until the eighth. Robles singled with two outs then stole second. Brock Rodden swatted what looked like it might be his first big league home run, but it clanked off that weird, two-story, chainlink, garage door, bullpen fence(?) in left center for an RBI double. Donovan followed with another single to score Rodden — his third RBI single of the day.

The game was 7-2 at this point. José Ferrer came on to relieve Hancock. He gave up a double and a homer to make the game 7-4. If the season weren’t over, I might give you some analysis on this inning. Alas!

The Mariners couldn’t stop scoring in the top of the ninth. Julio led off with a sharp ground ball single. Naylor dunked a looping single. And Young juuuuust snuck out a wall scraper to right for a three-run homer. With 10 runs on 15 hits, every Mariner reached based today except Randy Arozarena (understandable!) and Raleigh (understandable…). This was a great night for the offense.

The Astros would get one more. Jose Altuve led off the bottom of the ninth with a line drive into the right-center gap. It probably would have been a single or a double but Victor Robles laid out and landed nowhere near the ball and allowed it roll to the wall for a triple. A groundout scored him. Whatever. Seranthony Domínguez quickly set down the next two batters to deliver the Mariners a 10-5 win. It was the most enjoyable game in weeks.

Recap

Confession: I began the game in a mood because of the FOX broadcast. As a dedicated no-cable streamer for years, I have the MLB subscription and resent it when MLB spreads games across multiple platforms throughout the season. (How many subscriptions is a sports fan expected to have, for pete’s sake?!) I was ready with a new subscription, specifically to stream this game on FOX, but FOX, in all their brilliance, went with regional games and my market was showing the Brewers and Dodgers instead. Well, I didn’t want to watch that. I had to listen to the game on WEEI, rather than watch it. Infuriating!

Rant over. But my simmering carried into the first inning.

Ceddanne Rafaela, second batter of the game, did nothing to improve my mood. Three pitches, three swings—with the final pitch (I’m told) a foot above the strike zone. What the hell? Jared Jones, the Pirates starter, threw 10 pitches, nine of them strikes, and got two punchouts.

I was mad right up until midway through the second inning, when Wilyer Abreu mashed his 22nd home run. Nice to get out to a quick lead, 1-0.

Sonny Gray pitched well, doing his absolute best to be the stopper the Sox need, with four strikeouts through two innings. Masataka Yoshida tweaked a hamstring running out a double and came out of the game. We didn’t need that. The Sox had plenty of chances but were unable to capitalize; case in point, Durbin was picked off of first in the second inning.

It was a tense, frustrating game through eight innings, despite the Sox having the one-run lead for most of it. Thank god for the wakeup call to the offense in the ninth. Andrew Monasterio plated two insurance runs and then he was driven in by Jahmai Jones. Aroldis Chapman locked it down and we can all breathe a sigh of relief and sleep well tonight.

Studs

Wilyer Abreu

With a homer and two doubles, he almost singlehandedly contributed most of the offense, until the ninth inning.

Pitching

Sonny Gray bore down: 7 IP, 6H, 1 BB, 7K. Erik Miller did his job. Chapman got in some needed work and the pitching once again shone.

Andruw Monasterio

Big hero tonight. What will happen to him with Trevor Story starting a rehab stint in Worcester on Sunday? He deserves to keep playing.

Duds

Ceddanne Rafaela

He’s gone back to his free-swingin’ ways and it ain’t good. He swung at some pitches he had no business giving a second thought to. 1-5, 3K.

Masa’s Tight Hamstring

Don’t like the look of this.

Offense, Innings 1-8

Why do they make us wait until the 9^th inning? Coming back to win a game is exciting but a sleepy offense coming alive late—but delivering too little, too late—is a tired act. Tonight’s one-run lead felt precarious simply because of that inability to score—until Monasterio broke it open, bless his heart.  

• In the third inning, there were runners on second and third with one out: the second and third hitters (Rafaela and Rutschman) both struck out.

• The Sox had a second chance with runners at second and third, with no outs this time, in the fourth. Durbin grounded out, while Duran struck out on a pitch that was well out of the zone.

• They had a lot of chances, including getting the leadoff man aboard in the 4^th, 6^th, and 7^th but they didn’t come through. Why no small ball to try to advance runners?

• The Sox left six on base and didn’t capitalize on a single RISP in these innings. They need to do more.

Play of the Game

Andruw Monasterio’s double that plated two insurance runs in the ninth. Big exhale.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were swept in a doubleheader by the Saint Paul Saints (Twins), 6-0 and 5-4.

Grant Kipp started game one and gave Iowa three strong innings with no runs and no hits. He did walk three batters, however, while striking out four.

Hoby Milner relieved Kipp as part of his rehab assignment and he took the loss. Milner gave up two runs on three hits over just two-thirds of an inning. Milner also hit a batter, although he didn’t walk any. Milner struck out one.

Shelby Miller pitched the seventh inning in his rehab stint and allowed one run on two hits and a walk. Miller did not strike anyone out.

Iowa had six hits in game one and first baseman BJ Murray had three of them. Murray was 3 for 4 with a double.

Third baseman Owen Miller was 2 for 4 with a steal.

Iowa went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position in game one.

Andrew Wantz started game two and pitched the first two innings, giving up two runs on four hits. Wantz walked three and struck out two.

Tyler Ferguson gave up three runs in the top of the sixth inning and took the loss. Ferguson’s final line was three runs on three hits and a walk over one inning. He did not have a strikeout.

Iowa scored four runs in the first inning and then the bats went silent. DH Owen Ayers hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. It was his second Iowa home run and 24th overall. Ayers went 1 for 2 with a walk.

Three batters later, catcher Ethan Hearn hit a three-run home run. It was Hearn’s third home run in Triple-A and seventh overall. Hearn went 1 for 3.

Ayers’ home run.

Hearn’s blast.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies grounded the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels), 4-1.

Brooks Caple started and picked up his fourth win. Caple pitched 5.1 innings and surrendered just one run on five hits. He walked three and struck out four.

Tyler Ras pitched the ninth inning and got the save. He hit a batter with one out, but that was the only baserunner he allowed. Ras did not have a strikeout.

Left fielder Andy Garriola was most of the offense, going 3 for 4 with an RBI double in the third inning. Garriola also scored one run.

Second baseman Alex Madera had a two-run single in the second inning. He went 2 for 3.

Madera’s two-run single.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were stuffed by the Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers), 7-4.

Pierce Coppola started and took the loss after he allowed four runs on three hits over three innings. One of those hits was a two-run home run. Coppola walked three and struck out two.

Shortstop Angel Cepeda hit a solo home run in the first inning, his fifth with South Bend and sixth overall. Cepeda went 2 for 5 with a double and the home run. He scored twice.

Left fielder Kade Snell doubled twice in a 2 for 4 game. Snell tallied one RBI.

First baseman Brennan Hudson was 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI.

Cepeda’s home run.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans silenced the Hill City Howlers (Guardians), 5-1.

Riely Hunsaker dominated the Howlers for five innings, allowing just one run on two hits on the way to the win. Hunsaker struck out a career-high eight and walked just one.

Sam Mettert pitched the final 1.2 innings and picked up the save. He allowed no runs and no hits, but he did walk one while striking out two.

DH Juan Cabada hit his first Pelicans home run with a man on in the seventh inning and it was an inside-the-park version. It was his third home run overall. Cabada was a perfect 3 for 3 with the home run and he was hit by a pitch.

Cabada’s inside-the-park home run.

Here’s a nice double play by the Pelicans.

Is it possible that the Phillies were able to put up a crooked number in an inning? It seems that the corn of Iowa has added some punch to the offense as they used a seven run fifth inning to power their way to another victory over the Twins, this one in Minnesota.

After coming back from the Field of Dreams game/event that was still the talk of the baseball world, the Phillies got off to a good, yet frustrating, start to this game. In the second inning, they loaded the bases off Twins pitcher Connor Prielipp with no outs thanks to a single by Luis Arraez, double by Alec Bohm and a walk to Edmundo Sosa, yet could only push across a measly sacrifice fly J.T. Realmuto to give them one run. The way Jesus Luzardo was throwing on the night, it looked like that run could hold up, but in the fifth inning, things got good.

Realmuto singled to start the inning, then was followed by two quick outs. From there, back to back walks to Trea Turner and Bryce Harper loaded the bases. Arraez walked to get the first run, then was followed by an RBI single from Bohm that scored another. Sosa followed with two more RBI on a single to bring Bryson Stott to the plate.

Stott would deliver.

That’s the crooked number this offense needed and broke the game open.

In the sixth inning, the Twins started to make a little noise by getting back to back doubles from Ryan Jeffers and Royce Lewis to get a run, yet Luzardo locked up the rest of the lineup to prevent further damage.

From there, the game was pretty much ho hum. The bullpen locked down the Twins’ lineup for the rest of the day while another run was pushed across by the Phillies off old friend Jeff Hoffman thanks to another double from Bohm and another sacrifice fly by Realmuto.

The star of the game was Bohm. His five hit game was the first of his career, and gave him another solid day in what has been a decent stretch for him since the All-Star Break.

The Phillies will go for a sweep on Sunday.