LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 13: Shane Drohan #55 of the Milwaukee Brewers pitches during the game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, August 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Nicole Vasquez/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Brewers are raiding a three-game winning streak, as well as a four-series winning streak entering tonight’s game. They have the chance to extend both of those tonight in the second game of their series against the Rangers.
Shane Drohan gets the start tonight for the Brewers. Though the plan is to move him to the bullpen to manage his innings, he remains in the rotation for at least one more start. He’s coming off of a five-inning start against the Braves, where he allowed two runs, eight hits, and three walks while striking out five. Drohan has a 3.84 ERA and 3.33 FIP overall this season, but that jumps to a 4.58 ERA and 3.71 FIP as a starter. If the Brewers are limiting his innings, the bullpen should be in good shape to take an extra inning or two tonight.
The Brewers will have a tough challenge ahead of them tonight as they face Cal Quantrill of the Rangers. He is finishing up an incredible August tonight, posting a 0.72 ERA and 2.40 FIP over five appearances (25 innings). He has not allowed more than one run in an appearance since July 22nd, which was a three-inning relief appearance against the White Sox where he allowed two runs. He began the season in the bullpen but has shifted to the rotation since late June. This is Quantrill’s fifth career appearance against the Brewers. He faced the Brewers twice last season, allowing three runs in 8 2/3 innings pitched. Overall this season, he has a 2.90 ERA and 4.02 FIP with 60 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings.
The Brewers will make a couple changes in the lineup tonight. The top four remains the same, with Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio, Jake Bauers, and William Contreras starting. Garrett Mitchell moves up to fifth with Christian Yelich sliding back to sixth. Luis Lara gets the start over Sal Frelick in right, and Cooper Pratt is back in the lineup at shortstop. David Hamilton rounds it out at third base, with Joey Ortiz on the bench.
Tonight’s game is at 6:15 p.m. on FOX, but is the secondary broadcast. It will be broadcast in Wisconsin and Texas, as well as some surrounding markets. It will also be available on the Brewers Radio Network, as usual.
The Cubs celebrated 150 years since becoming a National League franchise before Sunday’s game, with many of the team’s icons present.
Then the current Cubs put on an offensive show, with its newest potential franchise player, Pete Crow-Armstrong, solidifying his claim on this year’s National League MVP award. PCA hit three home runs, also singled, and had a chance at a fourth homer in the eighth inning. He got a standing ovation after grounding out against a Reds position player in that at-bat, and how often do you see that?
Alex Bregman, Carson Kelly and Seiya Suzuki also homered for the Cubs and all of that helped the team to a 17-5 blowout of the Reds.
The fun started in the first inning, after Kevin Gausman set the Reds down in order in the top of the frame.
Gausman, though, was also susceptible to the long ball on an afternoon with the wind blowing out at 13 miles per hour. A double by Tyler Stephenson was followed by … sigh… yet another home run by Eugenio Suárez against the Cubs, the 39th career blast for him against the North Siders, making it 3-2.
But the Cubs came right back in the bottom of the inning. Tyrone Taylor led off with a single and went to second on a single by Pedro Ramirez.
That one clanged off the right-field foul pole, homer number 35 for Pete, and a 6-2 Cubs lead.
Again Gausman got taken deep in the third. After he walked De La Cruz, Sal Stewart homered and it was 6-4. That, though, would be as close as the Reds would get.
The Cubs added one in the fourth. PCA came up for the third time in four innings, with people cheering for another homer. Instead, he singled, then went to third on a single by Suzuki and scored on this single by Bregman [VIDEO].
So that’s 3-for-3 and four RBI for PCA in just four innings.
One more run scored off Gausman in the fifth to make it 7-5, and Gausman was removed after the fifth having thrown 102 pitches. It wasn’t a great outing, but with Cubs hitters smacking the ball all over the yard, it didn’t need to be.
The Cubs then began to pour it on in the bottom of the fifth. Taylor and Ramirez singled and Kelly went deep [VIDEO].
It’s now 10-5 Cubs, where it was in the seventh and that’s when the Cubs had even more offensive fun. Taylor and Kelly drew one-out walks, bringing up PCA again [VIDEO].
PCA three-homer game facts from John:
Pete Crow-Armstrong is the 30th different Cub since 1901 to hit three homers in a game. He is the third to join the club this season, after Dansby Swanson on July 1, at home vs. the Padres, and Alex Bregman, on Aug. 12 at Washington. Michael Busch did it on July 4 of last year at home vs. the Cardinals. So they have done it four times in less than 14 months, while playing 211 games.
The previous four had come over 23 years: Brant Brown in 1998, Moises Alou in 2003, Dioner Navarro in 2013 and Rafael Ortega in 2021.
The 30 players have done it a total of 45 times. Sammy Sosa leads, with six; followed by Ernie Banks, four; Dave Kingman and Aramis Ramirez, three; and Kris Bryant, Hank Sauer and Alfonso Soriano, two. PCA is the 23rd with one.
But the Cubs were not done in that inning. Suzuki walked and Bregman was hit by a pitch. One out later, Nico Hoerner came to the plate. He had gone 0-for-4 up to this point, but his single scored Suzuki to make it 14-5 [VIDEO].
At first it looked like Bregman had caught the ball, but he immediately threw to first. He knew he hadn’t, and on replay you can see the ball hit the dirt first. Nice grab.
With a nine-run deficit the Reds brought in backup catcher Jose Trevino to throw the bottom of the eighth. Taylor blooped a single to right, his fourth hit of the game. Ramirez flied to center, and then Taylor scored on a double by Kelly [VIDEO].
That brought up PCA. As you can imagine, with a 15-5 lead he was absolutely, positively trying to hit a home run. Who could blame him in that situation? Instead, he grounded out and left to a huge ovation.
Colin Rea, who hadn’t pitched since a week ago Friday (and only once since Aug. 15) threw two scoreless innings to finish things up. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].
A note on the three-run homers by PCA and Kelly from John:
The three-run homers by Carson Kelly and Pete Crow-Armstrong raised the Cubs’ total this season to 30 with two men on base, breaking the team record for such homers, set in 2017. They hit 28 in 2008, 27 last year and 26 in 1930.
Their 30 this year are the most by any team. The Nationals went into today with 26; the Mariners, 24; and the Brewers and Yankees, 23.
It was a fantastic day in and around Wrigley Field, both during and before the game. Here’s the full 150th anniversary pregame ceremony, which was well done, and it was wonderful to see all these Cubs greats together on the field:
The Cubs will go for the series win against the Reds Sunday evening at Wrigley Field — remember, this was originally a 1:20 p.m. CT game, it was moved for NBC, which is featuring it on Sunday Night Baseball at 6:20 p.m. CT. Announcers will be Jason Benetti, Anthony Rizzo and Jeff Brantley.
Starters for the game Sunday: Shōta Imanaga for the Cubs and Chase Burns for the Reds. Let’s hope the Cubs can start another winning streak here.
ARLINGTON, TX - AUGUST 18: Cal Quantrill #44 of the Texas Rangers celebrates during a game against the Washington Nationals at Globe Life Field on August 18, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Bailey Orr/Texas Rangers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Bet you didn’t have Andrew Benintendi as the only Sox player to get any hits. | Getty Images
Andrew Benintendi had three hits and was involved all three White Sox runs. The rest of the team had zilch. Didn’t matter, because the Twins are really bad, resulting in a 3-2 game and series win for the White Sox.
Benintendi’s first hit was an RBI single in the first, a 78 mph squib through a drawn-in infield that was only drawn in because Bailey Ober walked Sam Antonacci and Munekama Murakami to start the game, with Antonacci taking third on a Miguel Vargas fly out.
Erick Fedde gave up runs in the first and second to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead, walks being key in both cases because the Twins can’t hit much with Byron Buxton hurt.
Benintendi’s second hit was a leadoff double in the fourth, after which he scored when rookie shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, perhaps having watched too much World Cup, decided to kick around Chase Meidroth’s absolutely routine grounder to make it 2-2.
Benintendi’s third hit was a homer in the sixth, which would stand up as the game-winner:
Meanwhile, Fedde settled down to throw scoreless ball through the fifth, Sean Newcomb had an excellent relief stint of three innings with two singles and no walks, and Bryan Hudson tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
As his luck — or skill — would have it, Culpepper followed up the costly error by striking out, fouling out, and then ending the game on a grounder to first. Definitely not his day, so let’s be kind and show his one moment of competence — oh, OK, make that excellence — on a Braden Montgomery grounder with two on (via walks, of course) in the seventh.
Twins pitchers tried to help the Sox, issuing six walks, but when you go 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, the walks don’t help enough. Twins batters tried to help as well, going an even worse 0-for-7 with RISP.
Heck, even Twins catcher Victor Caratini did his best to help the Sox by running his team out of challenges early, one of his calls on a pitch not even close — challenges they could really have used in the eighth and ninth, when two very bad calls against them had to stand.
The win runs the White Sox record to an amazing 72-63, a season-high nine games better than .500. With Cleveland again trailing Kansas City, there’s a chance that the magic number drops to 24 to 23 in another hour or so.
Either way, the White Sox are eyeing a sweep tomorrow, with Jordan Hicks playing the role of opener versus Zebby Mathews, who sports a 4.86 ERA but has had good performances his last two times out.
Sox MVP Andrew Benintendi: single, double, HR, two RBI, 1 run
Runners-up When Benintendi had the only hits and RBIs in the game? Fuggedaboudit
Soiled stockings The rest of the offense, in a team effort
United to be without Carlos Baleba against Ipswich
Michael Carrick has said it was “lazy and easy” to say everything was wrong with Manchester United after the opening-day defeat at Hull.
United lost 2-0 in a tame display and the manager was asked whether his captain, Bruno Fernandes, and Youri Tielemans, Belgium’s captain, had shown the leadership that might have affected the performance and result.
Dan Lawrence’s unbeaten fifty on Saturday left Pakistan needing to rewrite the record books in their quest for a series-levelling win against England in the second Test at Lord’s.
The first draft pick that Kyle Davidson made as the full-time General Manager of the Chicago Blackhawks was Kevin Korchinski, 7th overall in 2022. Since then, his development has had an up-and-down curve.
Before his NHL career started, Korchinski won a Gold Medal with Connor Bedard at the 2023 World Junior Championships. He has big-game experience, and that could come to help him down the line.
Korchinski played his entire rookie pro season in the NHL, where there were some good and bad moments. Over the last two years, however, he spent most of both seasons in the AHL. He was an All-Star both times, including the All-Star Game MVP in 2025.
He is still working on becoming a full-time NHL player again, which is becoming increasingly difficult with all of the young talent around him.
The Blackhawks clearly believe in him, however, as the restricted free agent locked down a two-year extension on Saturday. He is going to carry a cap hit of $1.325 million, starting in 2026-27, and that will go through the 2027-28 season.
If Korchinski wants to become an important NHL player rather than an above-average AHL player, he has two years to put it all together. If he blossoms into his full potential, this will be a great deal for Chicago over two years. At the same time, there isn't much risk if it doesn't work out.
Korchinski has a lot to prove, but the skills are there for him to do so. Now, he must take advantage of this opportunity to get better with an organization that has invested in his long-term success.
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 28: Sal Stewart #27 of the Cincinnati Reds hits a solo home run in the fifth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on August 28, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Sage Zipeto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Cincinnati Reds played baseball against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday afternoon up in Wrigley Field. We won’t get into the nitty gritty of what kind of score ended up on the scoreboard – that’s the kind of thing that teams who are in playoff chases get to care about.
Over here at Red Reporter, we get to follow the exploits of one Sal Stewart as the season dwindles to a close. And thankfully for us, Sal keeps providing us with the good stuff.
Sal swatted a 105.9 mph hammer some 431 feet into the left-center seats at Wrigley for his 30th homer of the season during Saturday’s game. In the process, he became just the 14th big league rookie to ever post a season with at least 30 homers and more than 100 runs batted in, while also joining inner-circle Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as the only rookies in Reds history to hit at least 30 dingers.
As MLB’s Sarah Langs pointed out, 9 of the aforementioned 14 rookies with 30/100 seasons came after the Rookie of the Year Award began in 1947, and all 9 of those rookies took home the award at season’s end.
Pretty rarified air Sal finds himself in these days. I wonder if the front office of the Reds can put anyone else around him and build a winner while he’s in a Reds uniform the next few years…
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - AUGUST 29: Joshua Báez #22 of the St. Louis Cardinals hits a home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third inning at Busch Stadium on August 29, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Saturday’s matchup between the Cardinals and Pirates had an odd feel to it. Pittsburgh was planning on having a bullpen game and with Kyle Leahy on a strict pitch count limitation, St. Louis was, too. Eventually, it would be mistakes and who could make the most of opportunities that would decide which team would walk away with a win. In the end, the Cardinals and Pirates would join forces to try and defeat Pittsburgh, but neither was successful.
Kyle Leahy only made one mistake in the top of the 1st inning, but that mistake traveled 364 feet when he threw a 91 mph slider to Brandon Lowe who sent it over the fence in right for a 1-0 Pirates lead. The Cardinals would pull even in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Joshua Baez hit his first Busch Stadium home run which barely snuck over the left field wall tying the game 1-1.
Kyle Leahy was pulled from the game after 3 innings as his pitch count hit 51. He was replaced by Brycen Mautz for the top of the 4th inning. He gave up what looked like an innocent single to left to Lowe, but Joshua Baez misplayed it as the ball got past him which resulted in a two-base error and Lowe standing at third base with no outs. He would score two batters later when Gonzalez singled to center giving Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead.
Pittsburgh would threaten again in the top of the 5th inning. Mautz walked Reynolds to leadoff the inning. He advanced to second on a wild pitch then advanced to third when O’Neil Cruz singled to right. With runners on first and third with just one out, Brycen struck out Mangum. A hanging breaking ball to Flores Jr. would doom Mautz as he blasted it deep into the bleachers in left-center for a 5-1 Pirates lead.
Just when it looked like Saturday’s game would go down the drain as a big dreary disappointment, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to join the Cardinals in trying to defeat themselves. In the bottom of the 6th after Alec Burleson popped out, Jordan Walker smoked a ball directly to Gonzalez at short, but it went right through him into left field for an error (the first of many in the 6th). Nathan Church grounded into a fielder’s choice which resulted in another error by Gonzalez giving the Cardinals runners on first and second with just one out. The most outrageous error of the 3 by Pittsburgh happened next when Jose Fermin flied to centerfield, but O’Neil Cruz just completely blew the play which allowed Jordan Walker to score cutting the Pirates lead to 5-2. Sadly, that’s all the runs the Cardinals would get after Gorman and Baez both popped out to end the Cardinals 6th. Even with the Pirates helping, St. Louis couldn’t make much of the nearly unprecedented blunder-fest.
Cade Winquest made his Major League debut in the top of the 7th and his first effort was impressive. He made Bryan Reynolds look ridiculously bad striking him out on 3 straight pitches, the last one a wicked 79 mph curveball. Nasty (in a good way). He would end the 7th inning with 2 strikeouts and a pickoff.
The Cardinals offense was so pathetic for the first 2/3 of the game, they didn’t get their 3rd hit until the bottom of the 7th inning when Jimmy Crooks led off with a double down the right field line. The slumping JJ Wetherholt was unable to move him over as he broke his bat and popped out to short center. Ivan Herrera didn’t do anything productive either as he flew out to center. Perhaps it was peer pressure of not coming through with positive offense that led Alec Burleson to ground out to third to end the Cardinals 7th with no runs.
THIS TEAM IS SO FRUSTRATING TO WATCH ON DAYS LIKE THIS.
Back to positive thoughts. Cade Winquest looked impressive in the top of the 8th inning, too. The movement on his curveball is a sight to behold. Groundballs, strikeouts and not allowing hard contact are a reason to be pleased about his debut. Ryan Fernandez was brought in to handle the top of the 9th inning for St. Louis. His goal was to keep the Cardinals within reasonable striking distance for the bottom of the 9th in case the St. Louis offense decided to wake up and he was not successful. With two outs, he walked Lowe. Reynolds followed that with a single and Gonzales doubled to give the Pirates an extra run they likely would never need making it 6-2.
The St. Louis Cardinals would need to do something in the bottom of the 9th that they had not done in any of the previous innings Saturday. A come-from-behind win would require multiple back-to-back hits and a bit of luck. Lefty Mason Montgomery came in to close out the games for the Pirates. Oli Marmol sent up Thomas Saggese to pinch-hit for Nolan Gorman. It only took 3 pitches for Saggese to strikeout. Joshua Baez was next to face the 99 mph heat from Montgomery. He worked the count full before flying out to deep left-center for the second out. Ramon Urias was the Cardinals last hope Saturday. He struck out on a check swing strike 3 which was appropriate considering how the rest of the game went. A big bummer effort, Cardinals.
The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their homestand before a long west coast swing as they’ll host the Pirates again on Sunday. Matthew Liberatore will give it a go for the Cardinals while the Pirates will start Braxton Ashcraft. First pitch is set for 1:15pm at Busch Stadium and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.
On Friday, the San Francisco Giants had a couple of guests before they played the Arizona Diamondbacks. San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith made a special visit to Oracle Park and participated in batting practice in a Bay Area crossover.
Celebrini nearly hit a long ball, but fell just short hitting the Levi's Landing sign in right field:
The Sharks and Giants often team up for Bay Area Unite events and collaboration events, so we'll likely see Celebrini and Smith visit the stadium on the sea again in the relatively near future, which the Giants hinted at themselves:
With Celebrini earning himself one of the NHL's biggest contracts and Smith competing in Drake Maye's charity softball game back in May, then visiting the Giants on Friday, the Sharks' young stars have certainly been keeping themselves busy ahead of their third season in the NHL.
ATLANTA, GA - AUGUST 27: Los Angeles pitcher Shohei Ohtani (17) throws in the outfield prior to the start of the MLB game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves on August 27th, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Shohei Ohtani is expected to pitch again in a game for the Dodgers at some point, possibly soon. But it won’t happen on Sunday, or Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park in Detroit after a loss to the Tigers.
“In total, Sho hasn’t come out of it well, the arm, the knee. If any pitcher was feeling like this, we wouldn’t run them out there,” Roberts told reporters, as shown on SportsNet LA. “For us, it’s take tomorrow off the table, let’s get back to LA, let’s kind of figure out where his body is at, and go from there.”
“I don’t think he’s 100 percent. That’s the hard part right now is trying to figure out if he’s not 100 percent, overall body, is it worth giving him an inning to build up, or not,” Roberts said Saturday morning, as shown on SportsNet LA. “It’s more of when [Ohtani might pitch], and does it have to be [Sunday]. Internally, we’re trying to discuss it.”
“To be quite frank, I just don’t see everything getting to 100 percent by the end of the season,” Roberts added. “But then again, there are a lot of pitchers who aren’t 100 percent, but are still viable. It’s just not an exact science.”
Ohtani won’t pitch on Tuesday either, Roberts said. But he will continue to hit, and will be in Sunday’s starting lineup in Detroit.
Ohtani this season has a 1.79 ERA and 2.59 xERA with 95 strikeouts and 26 waks in 85 2/3 innings. Among major league pitchers with at least 80 innings this season, Ohtani ranks second in ERA, fifth in xERA, and 14th in strikeout rate. He completed at least six innings in 13 of his 14 starts.
It’s unclear how many pitching starts during the regular season might get, but considering his first outing would be one inning, he might not be able to build back up to five innings by the postseason. Because Ohtani is a two-way player, he doesn’t count against the active-roster limit of 13 pitchers, which will increase to 14 pitchers on Tuesday, September 1. That means any innings Ohtani throws are innings the rest of the Dodgers pitching staff doesn’t aren’t burdened with.
“For Shohei, knowing that any inning is additive is important, and it was a formula that worked,” Roberts said on August 14.
Tyler Glasnow was always going to pitch on Sunday, whether following Ohtani’s one inning or not. Now, Glasnow will start. The right-hander returned Tuesday from three and a half months on the injured list with back spasms with seven strikeouts in five innings allowing three runs in Atlanta, and will be pitching on four days rest against the Tigers.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - AUGUST 28: Danny Jansen #9 of the Texas Rangers hits a solo home run against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on August 28, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Texas Rangers lineup for August 29, 2026 against the Milwaukee Brewers: starting pitchers are Cal Quantrill for the Rangers and Shane Drohan for the Brewers.
Texas will try to score some runs today. Ideally multiple runs. They have the righty-swinging crew going.
The lineup:
Foscue — 2B
Seager — SS
Langford — LF
Nimmo — RF
Duran — CF
Burger — 1B
Jansen — C
O’Hoppe — DH
Freeman — 3B
6:15 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are +145 underdogs.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 29: Wilyer Abreu #52 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates his first inning home run against the New York Yankees in the dugout with his teammates during game one of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on August 29, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Recap
The Sox jumped out to a sweet, sweet lead in the first with Wilyer Abreu’s twenty-third home run, a career high.
Jake Bennett went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning and damn it felt good. He did the same in the second. He threw a fantastic game, in fact, keeping the Yankees off-balance and off the board.
Carlos Rodon who, outside of Abreu’s homer, had been extremely steady, unraveled in the fifth inning: a long at-bat to Adley Rutschman, a small tantrum after a passed ball that scored Rutschman, followed by a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Simply put, the Sox tilted him and got to the Yankees’ bullpen early with the bases loaded. Unfortunately, nothing came of it, and the insurance run had to be enough to satisfy…for now. 2-0, Sox.
But this rush to the bullpen could take on more importance in Game 2 of the doubleheader tonight. Yankees manager Aaron Boone used four pitchers by the seventh inning and was pretty liberal with the use of the bench too. We’ll see how fresh the Yankees feel later on.
Garrett Whitlock returned from the IL in the eighth and in the same inning, Rutschman successfully used an ABS challenge to recover a strikeout (he did it again in the ninth too). What began as a tough game for Rutschman ultimately was a triumph: ending his drought at the plate, scoring two runs, and converting those strikeouts.
So many other moments worth mentioning:
Nick Sogard was unfairly sent back to second base in the fifth inning when the third-base umpire inexplicably called time while the play was still in progress. He was sent back and forth from third to second and back while it was sorted out. He had a nice game.
Three Yankees let a shallow outfield fly drop among them and it was glorious.
Yankees fans booed the team and started leaving the stadium. Also glorious.
The Sox had several defensive hiccups but they had some great defensive plays too.
The Sox took a one-game lead against the Yankees in the season series. This series is the last time they’ll meet in the regular season and for the record, I completely disagree; what is September without the Red Sox/Yankees?
What a win. Stay tuned for tonight!
Studs
Pitching
Jake Bennett was in command today: 6 IP, 3H, 0 BB, 7K. Garrett Whitlock returned, with a 1-2-3 eighth inning, and only 13 pitches. Tyron Guerrero and Jovani Moran also did their jobs. No Yankees batters walked.
Erik Miller and Aroldis Chapman remain fresh for Game 2 tonight.
Baserunning
Lots of heads-up running to capitalize on Yankees passed balls, errors, miscues, falls in the outfield. I love our running game.
Ninth-Inning Pile-On
The Sox added four runs and we could relax.
Duds
I hate to get picky on a day like this but here goes.
Willson Contreras
He had 3K, though also some nice moments over at first. Tough day at the plate.
Defensive Hiccups
A throwing error by Caleb Durbin, and a fielding error by Eli White. Ceddanne Rafaela uncharacteristically misread what looked like an easy fly and allowed it by him (though he recovered quickly from his initial misplay and started a beautiful relay to the plate that erased the runner and kept the Yankees off the board). Adley Rutschman allowed a passed ball in the fifth, and also dropped a foul tip, seemingly while trying to transfer the ball in order to throw it to third (there was no reason for this). This gave the Yankees another bite at the apple but thankfully nothing came of it. A parade of miscues and two actual errors; that’s not usually the Sox brand of ball. This being said, there were some nice scoops at first, and the dramatic recovery to nail the runner at the plate could almost make you forget about the rest (except for the box score, which doesn’t lie). But with a dramatic finish and the W, all is forgiven.
Play of the Game
Andrew Monasterio’s single in the ninth drove in two and instantly turned a relatively tight 2-0 game into a shout-out-loud party. The Sox had no outs and went on to score two more in the inning but this was the play that wrapped the game up in a bow.
