Worldwide Sports News

After a stellar walk-off victory on Monday, the Colorado Rockies stumbled to a 5-2 loss on Tuesday as the offense couldn’t quite get rolling against Sonny Gray. Now, with the series tied, the Rockies will try to snag another series win to close out the homestand.

Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.36 ERA) will take the mound for the Rockies, looking to replicate the success of his previous start. Freeland cruised through seven scoreless innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates before coming out to pitch the eighth inning, where he ended up responsible for two runs. He allowed just four hits and struck out eight, including his 1,000th career punchout, while allowing no walks for the second straight start. Freeland has been a little bit more comfortable at home this season, sporting a 1-2 record along with a 6.32 ERA in 31.1 innings over six starts. As for his experience against the Red Sox, he has made two starts and allowed six runs on nine hits over 11.2 innings.

Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.93 ERA) is scheduled to make the start for the Red Sox. The former Phillie standout has had mixed results in his first season in Boston, as he has battled a little bit of inconsistency between less-than-average starts and ace-like outings. However, has settled into a familiar form in June while staying effective overall. Over his three starts this month, Suarez has allowed just three runs over 18 innings with five walks and 18 strikeouts. His last outing came in Seattle, where he threw 6.2 shutout innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five and walking three, to bring his ERA under three. He owns a 2.43 ERA against the Rockies in seven appearances, including a 3.20 ERA in four appearances at Coors Field. As for facing right-handed batters, he has limited them to a .202 AVG as opposed to lefties, who are hitting .266 against him.

In roster news, the Rockies placed reliever Jaden Hill on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder tendinitis. Seth Halvorsen was recalled to take his spot.

First Pitch: 1:10 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM KOA Rockies Radio Network; KNRV 1150 AM (Spanish)

Red Sox SB Nation Site: Over the Monster

Lineups:

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The White Sox have a chance to sweep their division rivals after reclaiming first place from the Guardians after Tuesday’s win. The pitching matchups are fairly even, with Erick Fedde (2-6, 4.48 ERA) facing a struggling Tanner Bibee (2-8, 4.03 ERA). White Sox batters will need to be cognizant of Bibee’s strikeouts, however. While his pitching stats don’t seem anything special on paper, Bibee has punched out 78 batters on the season so far.

Chris Murphy will be used as an opener for Fedde in this afternoon’s contest. Sam Antonacci gets to lead it off today, and Kyle Teel is back behind the plate and batting cleanup. His season debut didn’t go well on Monday night, so hopefully he can bounce back and produce a few hits like we saw in Charlotte.

As mentioned above, Bibee excels at striking out batters. Cleveland always manages to put on pitching clinics, but at this moment in time, that’s all they really have. Bibee also has 40 earned runs on his tab, and has not had a lot of luck in his last seven games.

First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. CT. You can watch the game on CHSN or listen on ESPN Chicago 1000.

One of manager Mark Kotsay’s flaws has reared its ugly head more than usual of late, and that is a lack of understanding of who his relievers are, what they do well, and just as importantly what they do not do well. Sometimes you get away with “wrong move, right result” and often you do not.

A Costly Blunder

A devastating loss Sunday came when the A’s, poised to take the 3 of 4 they should against the last place Angels, served up 3 in the 7th and 2 in the 9th in a 9-7 gut-puncher.

The blunder came in the 7th inning when Kotsay had to select a reliever to start the inning with a 7-4 lead. He went with Hogan Harris, why? Kotsay has said Harris is “the reliever I trust the most” and also 2 of the 3 batters due up to start the inning batted LH.

Here’s the problem. While valuable and useful for his durability and competitiveness, Harris shouldn’t be the A’s most trusted reliever because he isn’t actually worthy of that moniker. No matter how you slice it, in 36 IP Harris has not only allowed 34 hits he has also walked 24 and hit 3 more.

It’s also foolish to bring in Harris, as Kotsay has repeatedly done, to try to neutralize LH batters because LH batters have a whopping .403 OBP against Harris. And even if you mistakenly believed Harris was a good choice to retire LH batters, that was rendered moot when Vaughn Grissom came up to pinch hit leading off the inning.

It should have come as no surprise that Harris, who issues a freebie of some kind 3 times every 4 innings, hit Grissom with a pitch to lead off the inning. Nolan Schanuel’s seeing eye single was bad luck, but again no shock that a LH batter got a hit off Harris considering they are batting .292 for the season against him. Then came the crippling 3-run HR by Denzer Guzman.

But it goes beyond choosing Harris because of unwarranted “trust”. Mason Barnett was available and while his long term prognosis is still blurred by small sample, you can’t argue with what he has done so far out of the bullpen: 13.2 IP, 7 hits, 1 ER, 7 BB, 18 K. And the lone run came on a solo HR when Barnett was pitching with a 10 run lead; in high leverage he has been nails.

Another Puzzler That Didn’t Cost

Last night once again Kotsay ignored the skill sets of his relievers in a close game. With the A’s trailing just 2-1 he asked Matt Krook to pitch the 5th, then sent him out to begin the 6th. This made sense with the LH batting Jung Hoo Lee leading off. Lee walked, however, and that brought up the RH batting Willy Adames.

By this time Mason Barnett was well warmed up in the bullpen, but for some reason Kotsay decided to stay with Krook. The problem? Check out Krook’s career body of work against RH batters over the 36 batters he has faced: .400/.472/.667.

Kotsay went to Barnett one batter later, and got lucky that it wasn’t “one batter too late” as Adames made solid contact but grounded out. One can imagine maybe Barnett was having trouble getting loose, wasn’t ready, etc., only that would also be on the manager if he didn’t use the top of the 6th to give his reliever ample warning he was going to be summoned in the bottom half.

The pattern you’re seeing is a manager who seems to think that Harris is a good choice against LH batters and a great choice for high leverage in general, that Krook can handle RH batters too, that Barnett is nothing special and can be burned for 2 IP in a blowout then not used in high leverage — none of which is true based on the actual stats, performances, available data and information.

If you don’t understand your own players, it’s hard to use them correctly. You wind up acting like Lawrence Butler is a capable CFer and that the AL’s RBI leader should bat lead off. The A’s just don’t have a strong enough bullpen to also be used improperly, and yet there you have it. And it’s costing the team actual wins they don’t have to give.

Luckily, Gage Jump is the type of pitcher who tends to make a manager look smart no matter what he does. Jump goes tonight in as close to a must-win as you’ll find in June as the A’s try to avoid losing contact with the .500 mark in a weak AL that still won’t send a sub-.500 team to the post-season. Here’s hoping Kotsay doesn’t yank him in the 3rd inning of a 0-0 game to play the platoon match ups.

Following yet another depressing loss in Petco Park for the Atlanta Braves, some changes have been made and there’s some good news as far as the bullpen is concerned. Tyler Kinley is back healthy after dealing with “right elbow inflammation” and has been reinstated from the 15-day IL as a result.

This is very big news and not just because of the fact that Kinley had been turning things around before his IL stint after a rough first on the mound. Ever since May 13, Kinley had produced a 2.45 ERA (59 ERA-) and a 3.56 FIP (87 FIP-) across the 12 appearances he made leading up to his IL stint. Getting Kinley back will be huge since the bullpen was starting to show some signs of wear. Due to Robert Suarez’s forearm issues, Carlos Carrasco ended up pitching two high-leverage innings and to be quite honest, that’s just not an ideal situation for the Braves in this particular moment in time. So yeah, getting Kinley back will be massive for a bullpen that has largely kept it pushing despite dealing with whatever woes may come their way.

Speaking of Carrasco, he’s going back on the DFA cycle following last night’s performance and he’s been subsequently replaced by Ian Hamilton. So far, Hamilton has pitched one inning for the Braves and it was back on April 21 when he gave up three runs on two hits and two walks, so I’d imagine that you can guess that the Braves are doing this simply to have another arm available until Cookie does his latest circuit on the DFA cycle and they can bring him back again.

Meanwhile, the corresponding move for Tyler Kinley was that JR Ritchie was sent back down to Triple-A Gwinnett following his efforts on Tuesday in San Diego. As admirably as Ritchie performed in getting through five innings in each of his past three starts, giving up five runs each to the Giants and Padres is certainly not conducive to success — especially in a situation where the Braves are badly in need of consistent and stable starting pitching. Ritchie did end up with seven strikeouts on the night but he also walked four and gave up five hits on his way to giving up those five runs (four earned) and it also came as a bit of a gut punch since it happened all in the frame immediately after Atlanta had score four runs, themselves.

So while Ritchie has shown some promise during his time with the Braves so far this season, it’s clear that he’s going to need a bit more work in the minors before this the big leagues becomes his permanent home station. For now, the Braves do get one of their more effective relievers back from the injury list so that’s one less thing to worry about for the time being. It’s one thing but it’s a big thing.

On Wednesday morning prior to their final game of three against the Boston Red Sox, the Colorado Rockies announced that they have placed right-handed reliever Jaden Hill on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder tendonitis.

Hill, 26, was originally selected in the second round of the 2021 draft as a starting pitcher. However, he was converted into a reliever for the 2024 season. He has since become a regular contributor in the Rockies bullpen after posting a solid 3.38 ERA in 28 appearances last season.

The Louisiana State University product started out strong this season. Through the end of May he had posted a 2.61 ERA with 23 strikeouts and just nine walks over 20.2 innings of work. Unfortunately, he has struggled in the month of June. In nine appearances this June he has completed just six innings and given up nine earned runs on eight hits, eight walks, and just five strikeouts. He has also hit three batters and seen his ERA grow to 5.06 while finishing a full inning in just three appearances.

In a corresponding roster move, the Rockies have recalled right-handed reliever Seth Halvorsen from the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.

Halvorsen, 26, has a 3.31 ERA over 18 appearances and 16 strikeouts over 16.1 innings across multiple stints with the Major League roster.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Want to get more Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account here.

Houston Astros starter Mike Burrows should be in for a tough day against the pesky Toronto Blue Jays batters, who profile well against him, making Over 2.5 runs allowed my favorite play of the day. 

Read on for my Astros vs. Blue Jays predictions and MLB picks for this Wednesday, June 24 matchup.

Astros vs Blue Jays predictions

Astros vs Blue Jays best bet: Mike Burrows Over 2.5 earned runs (-150)

The Toronto Blue Jays' offense is turning a corner, averaging 4.6 runs per game with a 113 WRC+ over their last 10 games. 

They also profile well against Mike Burrows, who throws a heavy dose of the four-seamer, with the changeup as his main secondary pitch. The Houston Astros' hurler owns a 5.89 ERA this season, allowing 4.3 runs per game over his last six full starts. 

Toronto handles his pitch mix well with a league-leading .263 average against the four-seamer and changeup with a .440 slug rate.

The Jays have seen a power uptick lately as well, with 15 home runs over their last 10 games, which is a big reason why they’ve been able to score more runs lately. 

I’d bet this to -160.

COVERS INTEL: Burrows gives up a lot of contact, ranking in the 22nd percentile in xBA, and decently hard contact with a high air-ball and line drive rate. 

Astros vs Blue Jays same-game parlay (SGP)

Kazuma Okamoto has a hit in four of his last five games and profiles well against Burrows’ pitch mix, owning a .346 average against them since June 1. He’s recorded at least one hit in 14 of 19 games this month.

The Astros own a 32% strikeout rate against the splitter with a 38% whiff rate. Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage uses the splitter as his out-pitch and generates a 40% whiff rate on it.

Astros vs Blue Jays SGP

• Mike Burrows Over 2.5 earned runs
• Kazuma Okamoto Over 0.5 hits
• Trey Yesavage Over 5.5 strikeouts

Astros vs Blue Jays home run pick: Kazuma Okamoto (+265)

Okamoto profiles well against Burrows, who’s a contact pitcher that gets barreled up at a 9.1% rate and ranks in the 54th percentile in hard-hit rate 

The Jays slugger barrels the ball better than any other Blue Jays and makes hard contact with a .300 average and a 56.8% hard-hit rate against Burrows’ top pitches. 

Additionally, Burrows has surrendered 18 home runs through 14 starts this season, including at least one in eight of his last 10 outings. 

Despite the favorable matchup, I’ll make this a half-unit wager due to the volatility of the home run market. 

Astros vs Blue Jays odds

• Moneyline: Houston +120 | Toronto -140
• Run line: Houston +1.5 (-160) | Toronto -1.5 (+140)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-110) | Under 8.5 (-110)

Astros vs Blue Jays trend

The Toronto Blue Jays have hit the first five innings (F5) run line in seven of their last 10 games (+3.65 Units / 31% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Astros vs. Blue Jays.

How to watch Astros vs Blue Jays and game info

Astros vs Blue Jays latest injuries

Astros vs Blue Jays weather

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

TV: NESN

First Pitch: 3:10 p.m. ET

The Red Sox should be playing for a sweep of the Rockies in the series finale, but we’ll finally let go of a rare Aroldis Chapman dud from Monday night. Boston got an exceptional start from Sonny Gray with 11 strikeouts in Tuesday’s win and could see another strong outing from Ranger Suárez on Wednesday. The lefty took a no-hitter into the seventh inning last time out against the Mariners and allowed two earned runs or less in each of his last three outings. 

Here’s who the Red Sox will send to the plate behind him Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field. 

The Rockies counter with lefty Kyle Freeland, who earlier this season set the franchise record for innings pitched in a Colorado uniform. 

The Mets are moving Kodai Senga to the bullpen, manager Carlos Mendoza announced before Wednesday’s doubleheader. Mendoza said that Senga could be used in a variety of roles, including multiple-inning bulk relief or high-leverage spots on back-to-back days. 

Senga has struggled to the tune of a 10.08 ERA in seven starts this season. Since returning from the injured list with lumbar spine inflammation on June 16, Senga has allowed eleven runs in 7.2 innings. Tuesday night’s start got off to a scintillating start, with Senga touching 98.9 mph and striking out a pair in the first inning — but things swiftly came crashing down, as the Cubs pounced for five runs in the second and two more in the fourth. That seems to have been the final straw in pushing Senga out of the rotation.

“We saw what he’s capable of doing,” Mendoza said in a press conference before Wednesday’s games. “We’ve seen flashes of it. You see the first inning yesterday, and he comes out throwing 98, 99, just throwing the fastball by people.”

With Christian Scott on the cusp of returning from an IL stint with a right hip impingement, Senga’s next turn in the rotation is likely accounted for. Scott, Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, Sean Manaea, and David Peterson will be the Mets’ starting five — at least for now. If Senga can replicate Tuesday night’s high-velocity, high-command first inning a few times per week, perhaps he’ll be a valuable piece of the 2026 Mets’ pitching puzzle once again.

Here’s the Guardians’ lineup at the halfway point of the MLB season today, game 81:

Here’s the White Sox lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

I’ve never been a pitcher— unless we count a few Be a Pro save files in various editions of MLB: The Show —, but I have to imagine it’s something of a relief to throw a fastball. You don’t have to torture your arm with some tendon-twisting, movement-generating motion, you don’t have to worry that your offspeed pitch will get sniffed out and given one-way airfare out of the park. You just get to rear back, and throw it as hard as you can. Just like you did when you were first messing around in the backyard.

Pitchers who face the Phillies don’t always have the opportunity to do so. They first have to work their way past Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, whose faces appear annually on the “WARNING: Do Not Throw These Men a Fastball” list thoughtfully distributed to pitchers league-wide. After that, though, they probably want to toss a bunch of heaters to whoever’s up next. Alec Bohm? He’s got a pretty slow bat. Yes, why not toss him some fastballs? It must be tempting to do so, because he’s seeing a greater percentage of fastballs than any Phillie besides Justin Crawford.

Opposing pitchers reading this, please read the following carefully: do not throw fastballs to Alec Bohm. I know he ranks in the 28th percentile for bat speed. I know he was really bad against fastballs in the first month of the season. He is not bad at hitting them anymore. By telling you this, I have done my due diligence. If you ignore me, I can’t be held responsible.

I really hope they didn’t read that, though. Because I would like pitchers to keep throwing fastballs to Bohm. And so would he, I’d imagine. (All stats prior to Tuesday’s game). His tremendous struggles at the plate in March and April were a result of his dismal performance against fastballs (wOBA of .177) and breaking balls (.191). And so it came as no surprise when he kept seeing a steady diet of the same in May. But as the weather heated up, so did his bat. His performance against both fastballs and breaking balls improved in the fifth month, but much more so for the former: his wOBA against the fastball leapt up to .347, nearly double what it had been. His wOBA against the moving stuff went up from .191 to .260; notable, but comparatively modest. In June, his wOBA against breaking balls dropped, but his performance against fastballs just kept rising: wOBA of .423. And yet, he’s seeing a slightly greater percentage of fastballs in June than he did in May, which in turn was a slightly greater percentage than he saw in April. Hence the warning above.

But how’s Bohm doing it? His BABIP against fastballs just keeps rising: it was a dismal .113 across March and April, more than doubled in May, and now sits at a whopping .395 in June. That only gets us part of the way there, though. What’s behind the change in BABIP? Some luck, surely, both good and bad: he underperformed his expected stats against the fastball in April, and he’s overperforming against them in June. But there’s something real there, too. He’s changed the way he’s attacking against fastballs.

Firstly, he’s swinging at them more. He started out the season with a tremendous reluctance to swing at fastballs: 43% swing rate, the second-lowest in a month across his career. But that changed fast: in May his swing rate against fastballs was 48.9%, and it June it was 52%. And his contact rate has followed the same pattern, having gone from 84.7% in March/April to 92.2% this month. Swinging more isn’t necessarily good, but if you’re pairing it with hitting more of the pitches you swing at, well, that alleviates some of the concerns. And it should be noted that this is fastball-specific—he hasn’t increased his swing rate for breaking pitches to an appreciable degree over the course of the season, and he’s swinging less at offspeed pitches.

He’s not swinging at just any fastballs, though. He’s more selective than that. Here’s his swing rates on fastballs, by month, and by Attack Zone.

He’s swinging more at fastballs over the heart of the plate, where he can do the most damage.

And the nature of the hits he’s getting on those fastballs have changed. In March/April, 15.7% of his hits on fastballs were line drives, and 51% are ground balls. In May, the split was 25.5%/41.8%, and in June it’s 32.5%/42.5%. That’ll get you better results.

But opposing pitchers just haven’t taken notice. As mentioned above, they’re throwing him more fastballs now than at the beginning of the season. Maybe they’re not believers in what he’s doing, thinking that he’ll regress to the mean sooner rather than later. Maybe they’re just really itching to throw some fastballs after having to avoid tossing them to Schwarber and Harper. If Bohm keeps this up, eventually pitchers are going to stop throwing him so many heaters. But no rush, enemy hurlers— take your time.