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Tejay Antone never should have been tasked with this. To be quite clear, I am ecstatic that Antone not only made it back to the big leagues in very successful fashion after his third Tommy John surgery almost two years ago, but he never should’ve found himself in the situations he was in this weekend against the Miami Marlins in Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati had slugged its way back into the lead on Saturday, and they took a 4-3 lead into the Top of the 8th when Tejay took over. In a blink, he was tagged with 3 ER in an inning that eventually saw the Reds surrender 4, and that 4-3 lead turned into an eventual 8-4 loss.

Sunday afternoon in GABP told a similar story, albeit one that wasn’t technically just the bullpen’s fault. Nick Lodolo turned in 5.0 scoreless innings in a game where the offense completely failed to show up, but it was once again Antone on the mound in the Top of the 8th in a 0-0 game, and he served up the go-ahead solo homer before the rest of Cincinnati’s beleaguered bullpen collapsed in a 7-1 loss.

Again, this ain’t about Tejay. It’s just that he’s the only one standing despite being the last one anyone should’ve expected to be standing in a unit that – whether by injury, design, or mismanagement – has completely burned through every single thread it once had.

We’ve not seen Graham Ashcraft since late May. Tony Santillan’s been gone since late June. Caleb Ferguson was a total bust before he was shipped out at the trade deadline, and none of Zach Maxwell, Lyon Richardson, or Kyle Nicolas panned out as hoped. Connor Phillips was such a disaster again at the start of the year that we haven’t heard a peep from him in months, while Sam Moll, Pierce Johnson, and Julian Garcia have been so-so at best.

Ron Marinaccio, who was just claimed off waivers when there was nobody else in the quiver, was on the bump for the 5-run Top of the 9th inning in today’s loss.

The weekend was indicative of just what the Reds bullpen has become – a mix of poor, run down, overworked, and overmatched, with only Tejay there to be the one guy who actually looks the part. Unfortunately for him, he’s been tasked with that job so damn often of late that it finally came back to haunt the Reds this weekend, the end result them dropping a home series to a struggling Marlins club and dropping (once again) back into last place in the NL Central.

The Diamondbacks dropped two out of three to the Rockies. Are we at the point in the season where we can no longer brush it off as “just a series”?

Spencer: Sure? But what about all the games early on we lost? It sucks but there’s a lot of baseball left. There’s just a lot less leeway than there was a week ago.

Makakilo: Momentum Matters: losing that series damaged some great momentum from winning against the Dodgers. Downhill To Playoffs: it’s easier than needing to win the last games of the season.

Dano_in_Tucson: Nope. It was just a series. Result was disappointing, certainly, but any major league baseball team can beat any other major league baseball team on any given day, or even win a three-game series. Besides, aside from Soroka, Colorado drew the weakest links in our chewing-gum-and-baling-wire rotation, and Colorado can hit, even if they usually can’t pitch.

Of course, I’m answering this after writing up the recap for our series-win-deciding game against the best team in the NL East, so that’s probably informing my mindset. We’ve taken two so far from Atlanta….to my thinking, that more than outweighs dropping two of three against the Rockies.

Ben: I think the middle loss of that series was one you could brush off as “just baseball,” but the series finale was particularly ugly. They were handed golden opportunity after golden opportunity to score and failed in nearly all of them. In isolation, dropping the series to the Rockies is a setback for sure, but following that up with a series win against a much stronger Atlanta team is a real palate cleanser.

1AZfan1: I understand the camp who says that each game matters equally throughout the season, from 1 to 162, but from a mental standpoint we’re getting close to the games that matter just a little bit more than the rest of the regular season. As fans, we’re all scoreboard watching and keeping tabs on the standings, but no one is tracking magic numbers yet. No one is lining up rotations for the postseason yet. We’re not quite to the point that each series carries the weight of the season. To me, early September is when I feel that switch hits. All that to say, winning series against the Rockies in August can help make September less stressful, but there are still nearly 40 games left. Not plenty of time, but time enough.

An issue the Diamondbacks have consistently faced is hitting with RISP. Is there a solution to this that can take affect in the short amount of time remaining?

Spencer: Hit the ball where the defenders aren’t. Problem fixed.

Makakilo: Perhaps scoring runs with RISP is not an issue. 78% of Diamondbacks runs scored happened with RISP, which is the second highest percentage in MLB (Brewers are highest with 81%). Alternative viewpoints are that the Diamondbacks need more baserunners, or that the Diamondbacks need to hit more homers.

Dano_in_Tucson: Um….maybe? I hope so? Honestly, I have no idea what all that is about, and what could possibly be done about it at this late date in the season. But here’s hoping.

Ben: As far as I’ve seen, so much of the success around specific situations comes down to luck and the variability of baseball over the course of the season. There’s little the team can do to change their hitting philosophy or approach at this point in the season. Certainly, there are some changes that could be made to batting order, approach in attacking a specific pitcher, etc, but their approach has gotten them this far so why would they change?

1AZfan1: The solution goes by many names. Sequencing. Randomness. SSS. YCPB. Anything can happen over a short time period in baseball. I am encouraged that they have a large amount of opportunities with RISP in just about every game (5th most PA in MLB) and their batted ball metrics are all basically the same comparing RISP to overall season numbers. LD-GB-FB numbers are all nearly identical. K% is nearly identical. The biggest difference is a 10 point drop in BABIP from .281 to .271. If the batted ball luck swings only partially back toward the mean they will score a fair amount of runs. I don’t think there’s any team-wide mechanical or mental adjustment that can or will happen within the daily grind of a postseason race in August and September. What can happen is just pure luck. The balls start to fall our way a little more often. I just hope they keep giving themselves opportunities.

Justin Martinez seems to be nearing his return from the IL. How much of an impact do you see him having the rest of the season?

Spencer: Probably not all that much. He’s still a lot of potential. I’m not sure I want him pitching leverage innings this year. Garcia is killing it as closer, so for 2026 I wouldn’t change stuff just because Martinez is signed.

Makakilo: He would have a high impact in an area of need. In 2 games in Reno, he faced 6 batters. He struck out three and none of the other three got a hit or walk.

Dano_in_Tucson: I see it being big, assuming that he’s got his control back as well as his velocity after his Tommy John surgery. Of course, our bullpen has actually been a strength this year, so having him come back is perhaps not as crucial as it might have been in previous seasons. That said, though, being able to plug him back into the back end of what has already proven to be a really solid unit should help us out enormously down the stretch as we push to hold onto a wild card spot.

Ben: I would imagine he’ll have a marginal role in the bullpen, but I would be surprised if Lovullo uses him in higher leverage spots until they feel confident about his health. They clearly see Martinez as part of the team’s future so I have a difficult time believing they would take even the slightest of risks with his health at this point in the season.

1AZfan1: I think it will be substantial. Garcia and Morillo would be legitimate back-end weapons on any team in baseball. Both are within the top 6 in MLB in reliever xERA. J-Mart, when fully healthy, is better than both of them. Will he be fully healthy? His pitching lines and velocity readings in Reno certainly suggest that if he’s not fully healthy now, he should be in September. This bullpen has had admirable contributions up and down the line from Ginkel, Clarke, Loaisiga, and even Carrillo, but they aren’t at the same level of those other three. I honestly believe that when Martinez returns we will be able to stack our 7-8-9 against anyone else in baseball.

Same question, but Jordan Lawler?

Spencer: More of an impact than Martinez I think. Although I’m not sure where I see him playing. Does he deserve to play over Waldschmidt? I could see either side of that argument. He certainly deserves to play over Kepler or Noot, but Noot is the veteran the team just targeted to acquire…. You can’t have either Lawlar or Waldy riding the bench in Barrosa’s role for development purposes. But the team seems pretty adamant Lawlar is no longer an infielder. I think in a world where everyone is healthy, I cut Kepler for Jordan but make Marte the DH most days and play Lawlar at 2B. When Moreno needs to DH, one of Lawlar/Marte takes an injury prevention rest day.

Makakilo: I’m uncertain. The positive is that for the Sod Poodles he hit 4 homers in 32 PAs (exceptional!). The negative is that for the Sod Poodles he struck out 13 times in 32 PAs with zero walks (plate discipline needs to be fixed).

Dano_in_Tucson: Dunno, honestly, because I’m not entirely sure how/where he’s going to fit into the outfield mix. I mean, he could replace Kepler/Nootbaar in left, or reclaim center and push Waldschmidt to left, where he would be the one replacing Kepler/Nootbaar, either way that would likely be a positive. That assumes, of course, that he can resume his performance with the bat after so much time on the IL this year.

It seemed at the start of the season like he’d finally figured out that side of his game, and when he came back after his first IL stint it seemed like he still had it and there wasn’t much rust to shake off, but he was back on the IL again so quickly after his return that….well, I just don’t know. We’ll see. His return might turn out to be really big, which would be great. But it could also turn out to be, well, meh. Here’s hoping it’s the former.

Ben: I think Lawlar is a very different case. He’s obviously gotten the prospect pedigree and his performance at the beginning of the year finally shows some of the translation between those expectations and actual on-field performance. I’m not convinced he’ll be able to jump right back into the .316/.409/.447 slash line as soon as he returns, but anything will be better than the black hole that Max Kepler has been so far – and the latter’s unavailability in the postseason adds even more impetus to bring Lawlar back as a third/fourth outfielder.

1AZfan1: Lawlar’s impact is a little less convincing to me. If he’s still the same player he was when he was injured, then it’s a big deal getting him back in the lineup every day. I’ve been one of the biggest Lawlar believers on this site, and even I am concerned that much of his success may be tied to the .407(!) BABIP he was rocking over his small sample of 12 games, but I don’t expect him to crater offensively, either. I’d expect that Kepler gets the boot in favor of Lawlar so the bar is set pretty low for how much he needs to do and still provide value. A Waldy-Lawlar-Carroll (or Lawlar-Waldy-Carroll) outfield defense looks pretty legit, too.

What is the biggest thing in the Diamondbacks’ favor towards heading back to the Postseason, and what is their biggest danger in missing it?

Spencer: We have killed it in division this season. That’s the second tie breaker and I believe we beat every team in the race currently (in one of those first two tie breakers). Conversely, our biggest danger of missing the postseason is that we are once again playing poor enough ball that the tie breakers may not matter; we are letting other teams dictate how the season goes rather than winning enough for it to not matter.

Makakilo: If the season ended the morning of 15 August, the Diamondbacks would be a NL Wild Card team. That is the biggest thing in favor of reaching the postseason. On the other hand, baseball is a streaky game, which is the biggest danger.

Dano_in_Tucson: In our favor, I would say it’s the vast improvement we’ve shown in the last month or two in going toe-to-toe with teams with actual winning records, and beating them, and taking series from them.

Our biggest danger? I guess I’d have to say the intermittent signal loss we seem to get with our offense, as illustrated by the ongoing RISP issues that we see a lot of days.

All in all, though, I feel quardedly optimistic about our chances of reaching the postseason as we slouch along into the last month and a half of the season.

Ben: For the first time in a long time, the D-Backs have an excellent bullpen. That has been an absolute weapon throughout the season and it’s been a marvel to watch develop. Ironically, their biggest weakness remains their rotation. Eduardo Rodriguez continues to be a marvel and Brandon Pfaadt has executed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent memory, but the team is still relying on a combination of Michael Soroka and a pair of rookies in Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake to carry them into the postseason. That isn’t exactly one of the most intimidating rotations in the National League.

1AZfan1: Biggest thing in their favor, in my opinion, is the strength of their pitching staff. Pfaadt, ERod and Soroka look to be good enough to go toe-to-toe with anyone else in the business and with Corbin Burnes on the mend (and Ryne Nelson as a possible piggy-back partner), I think we will have enough starting pitching to hand the ball off to our good-to-great bullpen and make it easier for our offense to score enough runs to win any given night. Our biggest danger in missing the playoffs likely comes from the fact that we are fighting for 2 spots against 2 teams who were considered to be better than us on paper at the beginning of the season and can very possibly lean on their talent to perform to expectations more than we can. We either need one of the other teams to underperform or we have to outperform compared to expectations.

The Dodgers placed left-handed pitcher Justin Wrobleski on the injured list on Sunday, Aug. 16.

The 26-year-old is dealing with forearm inflammation. He's produced a strong first half to the season and was named an All-Star for the first time in his career.

Wrobleski posted a 2.69 ERA over 100 1/3 innings in the first half of the season but has struggled of late. He has a 6.92 ERA with 11 home runs allowed in 26 innings pitched since the All-Star break.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was "not concerned" about Wrobleski being placed on the injured list, believing it "should be short-lived."

"Given his workload and where he's at, taking some of the load off his arm, I think it's smart," Roberts told reporters.

Tyler Glasnow is expected to be back from the injured list soon and could return to a starting role. Wrobleski might be coming out of the bullpen during the postseason if all of the Dodgers' starting pitchers are healthy.

The Dodgers called up reliever Kyle Hurt to take Wrobleski’s place on the roster.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were excommunicated by the St. Paul Saints (Twins), 2-1.

Jordan Wicks turned in his second-straight start of five innings and two runs, but he took the loss anyway. Wicks surrendered four hits. He struck out six and walked two.

Daniel Palencia pitched a scoreless sixth inning in a rehab appearance. Palencia gave up a one-out single, but otherwise struck out the side. Palencia’s fastball was consistently 97-to-99 miles per hour and he hit 100 on his final pitch.

The I-Cubs managed to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth with one out and they failed to get the tying run across after a Jordan Nwogu pop out and a Justin Dean fly out.

Right fielder Kevin Alcántara was 2 for 4.

Here’s Palencia hitting 100.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies burned down the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels), 5-4.

Kevin Valdez started and got the win. Valdez pitched six innings and surrendered two runs on four hits. He struck out six and walked one.

Vince Reilly pitched the ninth inning and got a very ugly save. Reilly gave up two runs on one hit, one walk and two hit batsmen. The one hit was a two-run home run with no outs in the inning. Reilly did not strike anyone out, but he did induce a key double play when he needed it.

Center fielder Kane Kepley hit his second Double-A home run in the fourth inning with two men on. Kepley went 3 for 4 with two runs scored.

First baseman Drew Bowser was 3 for 4 and scored one run.

Shortstop Alex Madera went 2 for 2 with a walk. He scored twice.

Kepley’s home run.

South Bend Cubs

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

Starter Ethan Flanagan pitched 4.1 innings and held the Loons to one run on four hits. He did struggle with his control as Flanagan walked three and hit one batter. He struck out one.

J.P. Wheat pitched the bottom of the seventh and got the win after South Bend took the lead in the top of the eighth. Wheat issued a one-out walk, but no other baserunners. He struck out two in his one inning.

Jose Romero threw the final two innings without allowing a run and got the save. Romero allowed one hit. He struck out four and walked no one, but he did hit a batter.

First baseman Brennan Hudson hit his first career home run with two men on in the seventh inning. Hudson went 2 for 4 with four total runs batted in.

Two batters later in the seventh, right fielder Geuri Lubo hit a solo home run to tie the game up 4-4. It was Lubo’s second South Bend home run and eighth overall. Lubo was 1 for 4.

Left fielder Kade Snell was 3 for 4 with a double and a stolen base. He scored one run.

Second baseman Jose Escobar was 2 for 4 with a walk and one run scored.

Hudson’s home run.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Rained out. The game will not be made up.

The Cubs lost one of their most important players at a very inopportune time.

Shortstop Dansby Swanson was placed on the 10-day IL after an early exit from the team’s 11-4 loss to the Cardinals at Wrigley Field on Sunday.

Swanson, 32, left the game in the third inning after an awkward swing and miss on the first pitch from St. Louis starter Hunter Dobbins before immediately heading toward the dugout.

It was revealed after the game to be an oblique injury that could easily cost him the rest of the regular season with a traditional four- to six-week recovery.

He will undergo imaging on Monday, the team said.

“I just felt like my left side kind of tightened up on me,” Swanson told reporters after the game.

Rookie James Triantos finished the at-bat by drawing a walk before Nico Hoerner moved from second to short.

Hoerner will likely make that move permanently with Swanson out. 

The Cubs are in a battle for playoff positioning, five games behind the Brewers in the NL Central race and 5 ½ games ahead while sitting in the top NL wild-card spot after back-to-back losses.

Swanson, a two-time Gold Glove winner, was hitting 216/.300/.404 with 18 home runs, 16 doubles, 66 RBIs and 17 stolen bases this season.

Defensively, he has made just six errors this season and ranked eighth in all of baseball in Fielding Run Value (12), according to Baseball Savant. 

“He’s critical to our defense,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said during the ESPN broadcast. “He’s one of the better shortstops in the game. Hopefully, it’s not too bad.”

This is Swanson’s first IL stint since May 2024. 

After the great win last night and a three hour, ten minute rain delay to start the game, the Guardians were shut out for the eleventh time and for the fifth straight series loss.

Tanner Bibee had a quality start and really push through some early struggles. In the top of the second, back-to-back solo home runs put the Padres up 2-0. In the top of the fourth, the lead off hitter drew a walk. A groundout and a wild pitch put the runner on third, allowing him to score on a two-out single. In the top of the sixth, Bibee worked himself into a bases loaded situation. Vogt did visit the mound, but Bibee remained in the game and got an inning-ending double play to retire the side.

Bibee fell to 4-13 on the season with the loss. He finished the game having gone 6.0 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out three batters. Matt Festa came on in the seventh inning and gave up a hit before the side was retired, with the help of a killer catch from José Ramírez.

Tim Herrin started the eighth inning, but gave up a solo home run and recorded only two outs. Logan T. Allen finished the eighth and started the ninth. LTA also gave up a solo home run. Vogt brought in Cade Smith for two pitches to retire the side.

You can’t expect to win games when the offense only records three hits and three walks in nine innings. José accounted for two of the three hits, Nathaniel Lowe the other, but the offense looked lifeless.

Chase DeLauter was pulled in the top of the third inning for left hamstring tightness. The Guards have an off day tomorrow before welcoming the San Francisco Giants to town for a three game series.

Because Tarik Skubal returned to the Detroit Tigers’ spring training camp after making just one start in the World Baseball Classic this year, Clayton Kershaw didn’t spend as much time with him as he did with Team USA’s other players.

But in the little more than a week in which they shared a clubhouse, Kershaw said Skubal made it obvious what he was about.

“He wants to be great,” Kershaw told The California Post.

Kershaw, who temporarily came out of retirement to be on Team USA, said everything Skubal did reflected the scale of his ambition.

“I think that comes out in how he talks and how he prepares,” Kershaw said. “You can tell he wants to be the best.”

Something else: Skubal asked a lot of questions.

“He’s very confident in what he does well, but he really likes to ask guys and hear how other people do it,” Kershaw said. “I just think it’s a really good quality to be interested in what other people are doing.”

From Skubal’s vantage point, Kershaw was a former Most Valuable Player, a three-time Cy Young Award winner and a three-time World Series champion. Why wouldn’t Skubal use him as a resource?

“He’s the best left-hander ever, right?” said Skubal, himself a two-time Cy Young Award winner. “Obviously, that was a great opportunity for me to pick [his] brain and talk about what made him tick, what made him so good, his process, all that kind of stuff. I want to accomplish all the same things he’s been able to accomplish. I’ll probably keep most of what we talked about between me and him, but as far as the questions that I asked, they were very much [about] how to be great, how to be like him.”

Skubal pitched six innings in a 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday in his third start for the Dodgers, who acquired him two days before the trade deadline.

He wasn’t great.

Skubal gave up seven hits and walked two. His pitch count was at 48 after just two innings, departing with a 2-1 deficit and ultimately falling to 0-2 as a Dodger.

But on a day in which he wasn’t at his best, he limited the damage to two runs, of which only one was earned. He competed.

Which is what Kershaw was known to do.

“He competes his ass off,” Skubal said.

Last year, in his final major league season, Kershaw threw a fastball with an average velocity of 89.0 mph. He managed to finish with an 11-2 record and 3.36 earned-run average.

“I think what I admire about all the really good players in this game is that longevity and consistency, year in and year out, of who he was even towards the end of his career,” Skubal said. “He was incredible from start to finish. That consistency is pretty impressive to watch. That’s what I admire.”

Kershaw was in the major leagues for 18 seasons. Skubal’s former Tigers teammate, three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, is now in his 21st season.

“Guys could have a good season, or a good first half, or a good second half, but the really good players, the great, great players in this game are season after season after season after season after season. And then you look up and it’s like, damn, he’s been the best pitcher in baseball for eight years. Not that having a good month or having a good half isn’t impressive. It’s all impressive. This is the best league in the world. But being able to do it for 10, 12, 13, 14 [years], it’s just different.”

That’s how the 29-year-old Skubal would like for his career to unfold. 

“I’m going to play this game as long as I can,” he said. “I feel like I can help a team win, I’m gonna play. If I feel like I can’t help a team win anymore, then I’m probably done playing.

Conversations with the likes of Kershaw and Verlander reinforced Skubal’s belief in the importance of what he does between starts.

“I think I’m the most prepared player on the field every time I take the field,” Skubal said exclusively to The Post. “If I’m going to lose a game, I want it to be in my hands. I can wear the loss just because I know I prepare really well and I go out there and I don’t really leave anything on the table. I give this game everything I’ve got.”

Kershaw and Verlander continually pushed their limits, and Skubal said he is determined to do the same. The reigning two-time Cy Young winner is in unfamiliar territory now, playing for a team that is expected to win the World Series based in the country’s second-largest media market.

Kershaw said he should be up for it.

“I think he’s ready to do that,” Kershaw said. “He’s got the temperament and mentality. 

“From what I saw, he puts the work in to be great.”

Prior to the trade deadline on Aug. 3, Mets catcher Luis Torrens had just two home runs over his first 67 games of the season.

But since then, Torrens has found a new burst of power with four home runs in his last six games, including a go-ahead two-run homer in Sunday's 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals. 

Overall this month, Torrens is hitting .381 with the four home runs and 10 RBI. When asked about Torrens' hot stretch at the plate, interim manager Andy Green said it's been enjoyable to watch and highlighted the catcher's "intelligent hitting."

"It's fun, I know that much," Green said. "He's always driven the ball well in that direction. I thought for a bit he was enjoying some of the parks we played in on the road, smaller right field, intelligent hitting. That ball was crushed today, the ball does not go out easily there. 105 (mph) in the oppo gap, impressive. Thrilled to see it. He called a good game too. He's been really good for us."

When Torrens came up to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning on Sunday, Jorge Polanco had just cut the Nats' lead to 2-1. Looking to keep the rally going, Torrens told reporters that he was trying to be "aggressive" at the plate with a runner on base. The approach worked, blasting a two-run HR to put the team up 3-2.

"I was aggressive there at home. Trying to do some damage on the play there, trying to help the team out," Torrens said through an interpreter.

The 30-year-old has also seen an increase in playing time as of late, noting that the more consistent at-bats have helped him lock-in offensively.

"It's easier when you have more opportunity to play," Torrens said. "You have to take advantage of it when you do get that opportunity to play more."

Starter Christian Scott, who pitched into the seventh inning, said having Torrens step up offensively has been big for the team. He added that the two were in sync against the Nationals, as Scott struck out seven and held them to just three runs. 

"It's awesome, especially when he gets to catch me at the end of it," Scott said. "He had a great game today. We were on the same page the whole time, I don't really think I shook at all. Just be able to have him, be able to contribute offensively too, it helps our lineup a lot. He's having a great year, excited to have him."

With their win on Sunday, the Mets have won nine of their last 12 games. Torrens' spark is just one of the reasons for the winning stretch, as he said the team is just "having fun" on the field and "staying together" as a unit.

"We're just trying to go out there and play baseball the right way. And thankfully right now, things are going well," Torrens said. "I think for us, the most important thing is that we're staying together. We're just going out there and having fun, trying to play well."

Torrens and the Mets will look to keep the good vibes going when they begin a three-game series against the San Diego Padres on Monday.

The Rockies and Giants found themselves in a tight ball game through five.

Then the Rockies pulled away.

Colorado overcame a poor start from Gabriel Hughes, drew 10 walks and scored nine runs over the final five innings to beat the San Francisco Giants 13-7 at Oracle Park.

The Rockies improved to 50-74, while San Francisco fell to 51-73. Colorado won the rubber match, took the season series and finished its nine-game road trip with a winning record.

Nick Frasso earned the win to improve to 1-1, while Sam Hentges took the loss and fell to 1-5.

Adael Amador reached three times and hit his first home run of the season. Mickey Moniak drove in three runs, Brett Sullivan added a three-run homer and Cole Carrigg drove in two. But it was Zac Veen who supplied the play of the day.

Hughes throws more strikes, but Giants keep getting to him

Gabriel Hughes threw more strikes Sunday.

The results were still poor.

Hughes allowed seven runs on eight hits over 4.0 innings, with one walk and two strikeouts. He threw 81 pitches before leaving after walking Bryce Eldridge to open the fifth. That inherited runner eventually scored.

Notably, Hughes used his four-seam fastball 44% of the time, down from his season rate of roughly 57%, while increasing his sinker usage to 15%. He continued to mix four other secondary pitches around them.

His four-seamer averaged 92.5 mph.

Visually, the pitch looked flat. More importantly, the arsenal did not miss enough bats.

Hughes generated six whiffs on 38 swings, a 16% rate. His 53% zone rate was an improvement from his previous two starts, but the Giants kept making contact and extending plate appearances.

The first inning offered an early example of how the contact did not always need to be authoritative.

Rafael Devers lifted an opposite-field pop that dropped just fair in front of Jordan Beck, then hustled into second with a headfirst slide just ahead of the tag. Bryce Eldridge followed with a soft single to center to score him. Hughes recovered to end the inning with a strikeout.

The second inning was much worse.

All four San Francisco runs came with two outs.

Hughes struck out Christian Koss for the second out with two runners aboard, then immediately got Drew Gilbert into an 0-2 count with a slider and changeup for called strikes.

Gilbert fouled off a 94.2 mph four-seamer before lining another four-seamer into center for an RBI single.

Hughes had leverage.

Devers added on in a big way.

Hughes fell behind 2-0 before working the count back even. Devers fouled off a curveball and slider, took a sinker to run the count full and then went down to get an 81.4 mph curveball only 0.91 feet off the ground.

The pitch was below the zone and in.

Devers still hit it 105.5 mph at a 25-degree launch angle and sent it 380 feet into McCovey Cove on the fly for his 25th home run.

The three-run shot turned a 4-2 Rockies lead into a 5-4 deficit.

Devers deserves credit. Hughes did not hang a curveball over the middle of the plate.

But the problem for Hughes was broader than one swing. He repeatedly reached counts where he needed a pitch capable of producing a miss, foul ball or manageable contact, and the Giants kept getting the bat to the ball.

That included the fastball.

Hughes allowed five hits on 10 balls in play against his four-seamer despite an average exit velocity of only 78.2 mph and just one hard-hit ball.

The pitch avoided loud contact. It did not avoid hits.

The pattern continued in the third.

Jung Hoo Lee worked from a 3-1 count to full, fouled off multiple pitches and drove a ball deep to right-center before Veen made a jumping catch just shy of the wall.

Osleivis Basabe then doubled down the left-field line after an unusual sequence in which Hughes elected to let a check-swing dribbler roll foul rather than attempt a play.

After Hughes recorded the second out, Turner Hill lined a 92.2 mph four-seamer off the plate into right for his first MLB hit and second RBI.

It was another two-out run.

Hughes finally posted a zero in the fourth.

Troy Johnston committed his fourth error on a slow chopper, losing the ball on the exchange while Hughes covered first. Hughes helped erase the mistake by catching Gilbert too far off first, and Johnston chased him down between first and second for the tag.

Devers grounded out to second to finish Hughes’ first scoreless inning.

Hughes returned for the fifth after Colorado tied the game 6-6, but fell behind Eldridge 3-0 and eventually walked him on five pitches.

That ended his start.

The strike-throwing was better than it had been recently.

The putaway quality was not.

Rockies stay patient against Tidwell

Blade Tidwell had a different problem.

The Rockies did not hit him particularly hard.

They also refused to chase enough to let him control the game.

Tidwell allowed six runs on three hits over 4.1 innings with five walks and one strikeout. He generated only three whiffs on 25 swings, while Colorado chased just 22% of his pitches outside the zone.

His sweeper remained his most-used pitch at 33%, but produced only two whiffs. His four-seamer averaged 94.1 mph, 1.7 mph below his season average, and his slider and curveball showed less depth than their season averages.

Colorado produced four hard-hit balls against him and averaged 85.4 mph on 13 balls in play.

The Rockies did a much better job controlling their swing decisions.

The first inning ended when Mickey Moniak lined into an unassisted double play.

The second brought another unfortunate double play.

Willi Castro walked, Johnston singled and Veen beat out a slow grounder to second to tie the game.

Jordan Beck then hit a line drive glove-side toward shortstop Christian Koss at about head level. Koss got his glove on it, but the ball kicked away.

Johnston had started back toward second because the ball appeared catchable. The Giants recovered to retire Veen at second and tag Johnston at third.

Colorado kept the inning alive.

Sullivan walked, bringing Amador to the plate.

Amador had been recalled several days earlier but had only pinch-hit Saturday before receiving his first start Sunday.

He needed one pitch.

Tidwell threw a 94.8 mph four-seamer up and in, and Amador turned on it.

The ball left his bat at 102.3 mph with a 36-degree launch angle and traveled 374 feet. It landed on the concourse in right and took one large bounce into McCovey Cove. It was Amador’s first home run of 2026, and the three-run shot gave Colorado a 4-1 lead.

Tidwell recovered well.

He retired Jake McCarthy to finish the second, then worked 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth to retire seven straight.

His fourth-inning matchup with Beck showed how the sweeper could work when Colorado expanded.

Tidwell threw Beck four consecutive sweepers. The first was a called strike, Beck fouled off the second, took the third outside and chased the fourth well off the plate for strike three.

But Tidwell eventually lost the zone.

Amador walked with one out in the fifth. McCarthy followed with another walk, ending Tidwell’s afternoon.

San Francisco brought in the left-handed Hentges, flipping Carrigg to the right side, and he skipped a double down the third-base line to score Amador and cut the deficit to 6-5.

Moniak followed in a left-on-left matchup.

He fell behind 0-2 but lifted a fly ball deep enough to center to score McCarthy for his 55th RBI and tie the game.

Colorado had turned Tidwell’s two fifth-inning walks into two runs.

That became a recurring theme.

Veen sets the tone as the Rockies take over

The Giants briefly took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth.

Hughes walked Eldridge before leaving, and Nick Frasso entered with nobody out. Frasso’s fastball-changeup combination immediately stood out. Against Hill, he threw four consecutive changeups, showed a 98.4 mph four-seamer, then returned to an 83.1 mph changeup for a swinging strikeout.

The command was less consistent.

Frasso hit Basabe and allowed a single to Drew Cavanaugh to load the bases. After striking out Hill for the second out, Frasso got Buddy Kennedy into an 0-2 count.

Then he missed with four straight pitches.

The bases-loaded walk forced home Eldridge and gave San Francisco a 7-6 lead. Frasso came back to strike out Koss on three pitches, finishing him with an 83.2 mph changeup.

Colorado answered immediately.

Johnston walked to open the sixth. Veen attempted to bunt him over, but Cavanaugh pounced on the ball in front of the plate and cut Johnston down at second.

Beck walked, and Sullivan grounded out to move Veen to third and Beck to second.

Then came the play of the game.

JT Brubaker buried a pitch in the dirt to Amador. Cavanaugh blocked it and kept the ball underneath him, but could not locate it.

Veen never hesitated.

He broke immediately and dove headfirst across the plate before San Francisco could recover.

Tie game.

The ball barely got away from the catcher.

Veen saw enough.

That was the best example of the energy and edge Colorado’s young players brought to the game.

Amador walked.

McCarthy walked.

With the bases loaded, Brubaker spiked another pitch and hit Carrigg on the foot. Beck scored and Colorado took an 8-7 lead.

San Francisco went to left-hander Reiver Sanmartin to face Moniak.

Moniak won the matchup.

He lined a two-run single into left. Turner Hill bobbled the ball as Amador and McCarthy scored, and Moniak reached second.

Colorado led 10-7.

At that point, the Rockies had scored 10 runs on five hits.

They were not overwhelming Giants pitchers with hard contact.

They were putting runners on base and forcing San Francisco to keep pitching under pressure.

Parker Mushinski worked around a walk in the sixth. Jimmy Herget followed with a scoreless seventh, getting Kennedy to swing through a sweeper to finish the inning.
Then Colorado added three more.

Connor Norby, who had entered as part of the defensive changes, lined a 100.9 mph single to left and stole second for his eighth stolen base.

Beck appeared to strike out, but Colorado challenged the call.

The ruling was overturned.

Beck walked.

That brought Sullivan to the plate.

Sullivan fell behind 0-2 against Keaton Winn, fought off another pitch and then turned on a 95.4 mph four-seamer on the inner half.

He lifted it high down the right-field line and over the tall wall for his seventh homer.

The three-run shot made it 13-7.

The successful challenge kept the inning alive. Sullivan made it count.

Zach Agnos handled the final two innings.

Colorado’s defense contributed to the sloppiness at points, but also recovered.

In the eighth, a sharply hit ball went glove-side on Castro, caught the edge of his web and kicked toward short. Ezequiel Tovar recovered and threw to first, but Koss beat it out for a single.

Norby immediately started a 4-6-3 double play.

Agnos returned for the ninth and finished it with a strikeout, another strikeout and a soft grounder after allowing a one-out single.

Colorado’s relievers allowed no runs of their own over the final 5.0 innings. The only Giants run after Hughes left belonged to Hughes after Frasso allowed the inherited runner to score.

Final thoughts

This was not a clean game. There were defensive mistakes, command problems, a failed bunt and plenty of opportunities created by poor execution.

Amador finished 1-for-1 with his first homer of the season, three runs, three RBI and two walks.

Veen went 1-for-3 with an RBI, but his box-score line misses his biggest contribution. His sixth-inning dash home changed the inning. The pitch never got far from Cavanaugh. Veen simply recognized that the catcher did not know where the ball was and committed immediately.

Beck scored three times and walked twice.

Carrigg reached three times and drove in two.

Sullivan drove in three with his seventh-inning homer.

Colorado finished 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left only four runners on base.

The Rockies also drew 10 walks, and eight of those walks eventually scored.

Colorado did not consistently hit the ball hard, but it controlled the zone, accepted the free bases and converted most of them.

The Rockies’ younger players kept playing with an edge, with Veen’s run home providing the clearest example.

Frasso getting the win also says plenty about the usefulness of pitcher wins as an individual stat.

He entered a 6-6 game, allowed Hughes’ inherited runner to score on a bases-loaded walk, then became the pitcher of record when Colorado scored four times in the next half-inning.

The Rockies did not need a clean game Sunday.

They just needed to keep answering.

Up next

The Rockies and Dodgers open a three-game series Monday night at Coors Field, with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. MDT.

Colorado will send Tomoyuki Sugano to the mound. The right-hander enters the game 12-5 with a 4.43 ERA and 66 strikeouts and has been steady over his last seven starts, going 5-1 with a 4.24 ERA and 1.09 WHIP.

Los Angeles will counter with Blake Snell, who comes in 0-1 with a 5.00 ERA and 15 strikeouts. It will be just his second start since returning from the injured list. In his first start back, Snell held the Royals to one run on three hits over six innings while striking out 10 and walking one.

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Kodai Senga may not want to be the Mets closer forever, but he’s off to a pretty good start.

Senga pitched another scoreless ninth inning Sunday in a 4-3 win over Washington at Citi Field, helping the Mets finish a sweep of the Nationals.

And while the right-hander still hasn’t pitched on consecutive days — something he’ll need to do if he stays in the role — Senga did at least warm up in the eighth inning Saturday after pitching Friday night.

The workload has so far not affected Senga, bumped to the bullpen after an ugly stretch as a starter.

On Sunday, Senga entered — again to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” much to the delight of the Citi Field crowd — to protect a one-run lead.

Unlike his first two save opportunities, which both came in three-run games, Senga had no margin for error against Washington.

He retired the side in order, striking out the final two batters of the game.

Interim manager Andy Green said Senga is “handling [the role] really well.”

As Luis Torrens said through an interpreter, Senga is “adjusting quickly” to pitching in the ninth inning and closing games.

“He’s doing everything we want him to do now,’’ Green said.

Since being moved to short-inning relief appearances, Senga has pitched five times.

Over five scoreless innings, he’s allowed just one hit and a pair of walks while striking out seven.

How that translates to his future with the Mets will be a matter for somewhere down the road, although Senga wants to get back into the rotation at some point.

“We’re all enjoying what he’s doing now,’’ Green said. “It’s huge for us. Every single player wants to impact winning and he’s done that in a profound way the last 10 days.”

With Devin Williams sidelined indefinitely with a strained shoulder, Senga will continue to get opportunities to make an impression.

Luis Robert Jr.’s first game in left field was uneventful, as the veteran outfielder was shifted over so A.J. Ewing could go back to center.

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What was more noticeable about the Mets defense in the outfield was the standout defense by Carson Benge, who made two excellent plays against Washington.

The first ended the top of the first, as Benge raced down Dylan Crews’ shot to the right field wall, with Benge crashing into the fence after making the play.

Benge then helped Christian Scott get through the sixth inning with a sliding catch of Daylen Lile’s fly ball to shallow right.

“He’s defending the field well,” Green said of Benge.

Nate Lavender got two more big outs, entering in the seventh with two on and one out.

Green noted that both were lefties at the top of the lineup — including C.J. Abrams.

Lavender, Green said, “Has elite confidence and conviction in his pitches … He’s got good stuff and a different look.”

Bo Bichette reached base in all four of his plate appearances.

After the game, the Mets called up veteran Christopher Morel from Triple-A Syracuse, where he was batting .321 with 12 homers in 31 games.

Morel, 27, was picked up after being placed on waivers by Miami in June.