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We’re all acutely aware this is the third series loss of the season, but it is unfortunately the first one where the Braves have dropped the first two games. The fact that it took until June 10th to happen… I’m holding onto that really tight with both hands.

Chris Sale’s outing was reminiscent of his last one versus Toronto: soft hits, navigating traffic, and the bats doing very little to bail him out. The White Sox made him work; he threw 103 pitches in his 5.2 innings of two-run ball. He was still reaching back to fire that fastball 98 mph on his very last pitch (which unfortunately came in and hit Jacob Gonzalez), because Christopher Allen Sale is a madman. 

Sale put up zeroes the first three innings and ran into trouble in the fourth. I, for one, am ready to be done seeing Braden Montgomery. Defensively, he was at the scene of the crime of every Braves ball caught at the warning track. Offensively, he laced a leadoff double to start the fourth inning and would come home to score immediately on a Derek Hill single. The White Sox would tack on another one with an RBI groundout to make it 2-0 White Sox. That would be all the damage, but it was enough to sink the Braves. Alas, the insurmountable two runs.

Sale was outdueled by Davis Martin, who spun six scoreless innings with six hits and six strikeouts. The Braves had the bases loaded with one out in the second after a Dom Smith lineout, a Mauricio Dubón single, an Austin Riley hit by pitch, and a Mike Yastrzemski single. But it wasn’t to be – a Jorge Mateo strikeout and Austin Wynns lineout would end the inning. There were a ton of hard-hit balls the whole game, but nearly every single one managed to find a Sox glove to end a rally or strand a pair of runners. 

Didier Fuentes came out to get the last out in the bottom of the sixth, which was quickly taken care of by a Wynns pickoff. 

It was probably a relief for both the Braves and those watching at home to see Davis Martin out of the same in the seventh. Instead, old friend Sean Newcomb was tasked with holding down his former team. Jorge Mateo, with no such sentimentality, led off the inning with a single. Wynns hit one on the screws but right to Chase Meidroth, followed by Michael Harris II striking out swinging at a slurve. But Ozzie Albies gave the Braves a sign of life with a hit that had the ball skittering past the third baseman Miguel Vargas to cut the lead in half, 2-1. Matt Olson worked a walk, but Dom popped out to end the inning.

Luisangel Acuña was doing Acuña things to the Braves, wreaking havoc with a single, advancement to second, and stolen base, with a Tristan Peters bunt pop out in the middle of all of it. But he’d be out at home on a fielder’s choice play by Riley. Andrew Benintendi came in to pinch-hit, Walt Weiss countered with Dylan Lee, and Lee got him on three pitches. 

The Braves had nothing going against Seranthony Domínguez in the eighth, with Dubon, Riiley, and Yaz going down in order. 

Braves debut alert – #00 James Karinchak entered in the eighth to make his first big league appearance since 2023 with Cleveland. Other than a double to Montgomery (who else?), he threw 19 pitches (12 for strikes) to get a Vargas flyout, Edgar Quero lineout, and Hill strikeout. How we feeling, Karinchak Collective?

Eli White (pinch-hitting for Wynns) worked a one-out walk off of reliever Bryan Hudson in the ninth, but no late magic for Atlanta in this one. Final score: 2-1, White Sox. It’ll be the same time and same channel for the Braves tomorrow as they look to salvage the series finale.

Phillies 7 Blue Jays 4

That was bad in a lot of ways.

Might as well get the congratulations out of the way first, Max Scherzer got his 3500th strikeout, just the 11th pitcher to get to that number. He’s at 3503 now. Number 10 in the list is Walter ‘Big Train’ Johnson at 3509. But I really don’t care if Max passes him. It very much appears that Max has aged out of being a useful MLB pitcher.

Max threw 3.1 innings, allowed 5 hits (with 2 home runs ), 5 earned, 3 walks with the 4 strikeouts.

When Shane is ready to come back, I’d likely hand Max his gold watch.

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And the offense did very little. There are a couple of moments I’d like to mention. In the third inning, with two out, George Springer walked on five pitches (it could have been four, he swung at one off the plate) and then Vladimir Guerrero walked on four pitches. Next up Ernie Clement, who, one would imagine, would have seen the two at bats before him and thought ‘maybe I should take a strike’. Nope swung at the first pitch, that was outside and almost bounced. And he swung at the second pitch, but it was a strike. And then he swung at the third pitch, which was a little further outside than the first.

I know that Ernie is like that (though he did walk later in the game), but we were down by four. I mean, I can see going up and thinking ‘I’m likely to get a first pitch fastball down the middle’ and then sit on that, cause the pitcher doesn’t want to walk the bases loaded. But anything else, he should have kept the bat on his shoulder.

Sorry Ernie, you are having a great year, but that could have been our chance to get in the game.

And in the fifth, we had runners on first and second (Myles Straw and Nathan Lukes hit singles) with one out. A pitch was bounced, Straw got a bit of a jump off second, but the ball bounced off the catcher and up the third base line. Straw saw he’d be out and went back to second, but Lukes saw Straw take the couple of steps and headed to second. He didn’t see Straw retreat and Lukes was an easy out, ending the inning.

You gotta be watching the guy ahead of you.

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We did get some runs:

• One in the sixth: With one out, Clement (now he walks) and Kazuma Okamoto walked. Yohendrick Piñango, in a tough spot against a lefty, struck out. But Brandon Valenzuela singled. Clement ran through the stop sign at third and scored. If he had been thrown out, I’d have benched him. We were down six and would have had the bases loaded. Unfortunately Andrés Giménez flied out to end the inning.
• Three in the seventh: Phillies reliever Chase Shugart had all sorts of trouble with the strike zone. Straw singled. Lukes (on four pitches) walked. Springer (on four pitches) walked. Vlad (on five pitches, one right dead center) walked in a run. Ernie Clement, who had the bad at bat earlier, took a strike and then hit a deep fly to the opposite field, unfortunately caught at the wall, for a sac fly. Okamoto hit another sac fly (Springer was just safe). Piñango ground out to end the inning.

In total, we had eight hits and seven walks. Straw had 3 hits. Vlad and Springer each had a hit and two walk. . Lukes a hit and a walk. Piñango and Charles McAdoo were the only starters not to reach base.

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With Scherzer coming out early, we used a bunch of relievers, thankfully tomorrow is an off day.

• Mason Fluharty got the last two outs of the fourth, but gave up another run.
• Tommy Nance pitched the fifth, giving up just a hit.
• Jeff Hoffman pitched the sixth, with just a walk and a strikeout.
• Braydon Fisher started the seventh, but gave up a couple of hits, a walk and run, while getting just one out.
• Spencer Miles finished the seventh and pitched the eighth, without giving up a baserunner, with 2 strikeouts.
• Tyler Rogers pitched the ninth. He made a couple of nice defensive plays. On a comebacker he looked the runner at second back to the bag and then threw to first and, on the last out, it was a roller down the first base line, and

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Jay of the Day: No one, the high mark was Springer (0.05).

The Other Award: Max (-0.24) and Clement (-0.08).

Tomorrow is an off-day. I can use it.

Over the course of his long, illustrious career, future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer has had many dominant performances against the Phillies.

Tonight was not one of them.

The Phillies victimized the 41-year-old Scherzer in his first start back from the injured list, teeing off for five runs and two home runs off of their old nemesis while Jesús Luzardo delivered 5.2 strong innings and the Phillies bullpen avoided disaster to deliver a series win in Toronto with a 7-4 victory in the finale.

How many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man?

Bryce Harper opened the scoring in the first, taking the first pitch he saw from Scherzer to deep left field, and it kept on carrying right over the head of Blue Jays left fielder Yohendrick Piñango for Harper’s 15th homer of the year.

Ope sorrey to crash the party pic.twitter.com/0FiF6sDeRD

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 10, 2026

Scherzer needed 47 total pitches to get through the first two innings. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner then led off the third inning with back-to-back singles before Harper grounded out to put runners on the corners with one out. Brandon Marsh then popped up to shortstop, putting the scoring threat in jeopardy, but Alec Bohm blasted a hanging slider from Scherzer into left for a three-run home run to push the lead to 4-0.

Annnnnd Bohm goes the dynamite pic.twitter.com/sSsgDYif35

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 10, 2026

Bryson Stott then drew a five pitch walk and stole second, but J.T. Realmuto grounded out to end the inning. Scherzer was already at 75 pitches through three and the knockout blow would come in the fourth. That inning started with an Adolis Garcia strikeout before Justin Crawford singled on an infield hit to third base that chased Scherzer from the game. Mason Fluharty entered in relief and Schwarber greeted him with a two-run homer, his MLB leading 24th home run of the season, and gave the Phillies a 6-0 lead.

Running through the 6@Toyota x #RingTheBellpic.twitter.com/ESalydTqAE

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 11, 2026

Road sweet Road

Jesús Luzardo entered tonight with a drastic split in his home/away ERA, with a 1.54 ERA in six road starts and a 7.34 ERA in seven starts at Citizens Bank Park. That trend continued as he went 5.2 and allowed one run on four hits and four walks with eight strikeouts. Luzardo looked to be headed for trouble in the third following back-to-back two-out walks, but a mound meeting with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and catcher J.T. Realmuto seemed to do the trick, as Luzardo then struck out Ernie Clement on three pitches.

He couldn’t quite finish his strong outing though, as Luzardo again walked two in the sixth, this time with one out, and then allowed a two out single to Brandon Valenzuela to get the Blue Jays on the board and end the night for the Phillies lefty after 96 pitches. Jonathan Bowlan replaced Luzardo and quickly retired Andrés Giménez to end the sixth. Stott meanwhile singled in Harper in the top of the seventh to get the run back that Luzardo surrendered.

Too close for comfort

Chase Shugart was then tasked with giving the Phillies leverage relievers some much needed time off with a 7-1 lead, but he couldn’t get the job done. Shugart allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh before issuing three straight walks, forcing a run in and cutting the lead to 7-2. Clement followed with a sacrifice fly, finally getting the first out but bringing in yet another run. Brad Keller was called upon to clean up Shugart’s mess and he allowed another sacrifice fly, this time to Kazuma Okamoto that cut the lead to 7-4 before getting a groundout to end the inning. To add injury to insult, Adolis Garcia was injured making the throw on Okamoto’s sac fly and had to be replaced by Steward Berroa.

José Alvarado pitched around a two out single to throw a scoreless eighth, but the three-run lead once again led to Jhoan Duran entering for a save situation, making his 17th appearance in 33 games since returning from the injured list and fifth in a back-to-back over that span. He erased a leadoff single with a double play off the bat of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but surrendered a two-out single to Ernie Clement. An ABS-assisted strikeout of Okamoto ended the game and gave the Phillies the lead, but Duran added 10 more pitches to his recent workload.

Friday’s Matchup

The Phillies will head to Milwaukee to face Jacob Misiorowski (7-2, 1.50) on Friday night. Andrew Painter (1-7, 6.21) will once again search for consistency on the mound for Philadelphia. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40 pm.

It may have started on time and finished without interruption, but Wednesday night’s game was rain-delayed in spirit for the Mariners. They could never really get the engine to start for their offense as they dropped the third game of their series in Baltimore, 7-2.

Orioles starter Brandon Young cruised as the Mariners struggled to get the ball in the air. He induced 12 ground-ball outs — a recipe for success against a Mariners team that leads baseball in percentage of runs scored via the home run. At one point, he set down 12 consecutive hitters. When all was said and done, Young worked seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball, striking out five and walking two.

Both offenses struggled to get much of anything going through the first half of the evening. The biggest threat of the early-going came in the third, when George Kirby pulled off quite the escape act. After the Orioles loaded the bases with nobody out to begin the inning, Kirby was able to force a shallow fly ball and strike out a pair to leave all three base runners stranded and keep the score 0-0.

After five innings, the game was scoreless. As it turns out, that was as long as Kirby could hold off the Orioles. To lead off the bottom of the sixth, Pete Alonso drove a 97 mph four-seamer over the wall in right-center to open up the scoring.

The O’s saw the crack in the armor, and they took advantage. Following the Alonso dinger, Colton Cowser drew a four-pitch walk and promptly stole second on the first pitch of the next plate appearance. Leody Taveras, who was briefly a Mariner in 2025, drove him in with an RBI double into the gap, making the score 2-0.

For a moment, it looked as though Kirby might stop the bleeding there; he was able to strike out both Jackson Holliday and Tyler O’Neill to get the first two outs of the inning. However, Blaze Alexander brought in Taveras with a ground-rule double, extending the lead to 3-0. Since the Mariners are dealing with a taxed bullpen, Kirby finished out of the sixth anyway. He’d end the night at 104 pitches, just shy of his career-high at 106.

When all was said and done, Kirby finished with a line that probably doesn’t accurately represent his performance. His velocity was up all evening, topping out at 99 mph with both the sinker and four-seamer, and he struck out 10 Orioles hitters. He also notched a quality start, going six innings and allowing three earned runs, but was given no breathing room by his offense. Eventually, the floodgates opened.

Down several runs, Domingo González was brought in to pitch in relief in the seventh, having been recalled from Triple-A Tacoma earlier today. He allowed a single and walked a pair of hitters before surrendering a grand slam to Holliday, breaking the game wide open.

If there’s a silver lining to this one, González was allowed to eat the final innings, giving the rest of the bullpen a much-needed breather. The Mariners also avoided a shutout by scratching across a couple of runs in the eighth with the result no longer in much doubt.

A series win is still on the table for the Mariners as they close out the four-game set against the Orioles tomorrow with a 4:05 p.m. PDT first pitch. As a quick programming note, tomorrow’s game is available exclusively on ESPN and will not be broadcast on Mariners.TV, so plan accordingly.

The Mets were routed for a second straight night by the St. Louis Cardinals, losing 9-2 on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

The Cardinals have outscored the Mets 16-2 in the two games to start this six-game homestand.

Here are the takeaways...

-The Mets’ offense continues to be woefully inconsistent. After a strong series in San Diego seemed to give them some momentum, they’ve managed only eight hits in two games against the Cardinals, including three on Wednesday night.  The Mets did manage to get runners into scoring position six times tonight, but went 0-for-6 in those situations.  

-The only real good news offensively for the Mets was Francisco Alvarez’s two-run home run in the third inning, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 7-2. It was Alvarez’s second game back from the IL after his remarkably fast recovery from meniscus surgery on his right knee. After catching on Tuesday, Alvarez was in the lineup as the DH tonight, as the Mets want to both ease him back into action as well as give Luis Torrens the playing time behind the plate he has earned.

-It was also notable that A.J. Ewing walked ahead of Alvarez’s home run, making it a two-run shot. The rookie continues to show remarkable plate discipline in working counts and laying off tough pitches.  

-The Mets couldn’t do much with Cardinals’ righthander Andre Pallante, who gave up only three hits over six innings, including the Alvarez home run. Pallante has been solid for the Cards, pitching to a 3.88 ERA, but he has a statistical quirk, with a 9.00 ERA in the first inning this season, tied for the highest of all qualified starters. However, the Mets couldn’t take advantage, going 1-2-3 in the first inning.  

-Rookie right-hander Jonathan Pintaro had a strong outing for the Mets, pitching three innings in relief, allowing only one hit and one run, a home run by Alec Burleson.  

-David Peterson’s run of dominance out of the bullpen as a bulk reliever came to an end as the lefty gave up six runs in 3.2 innings, including a three-run home run to Jordan Walker that blew the game open.  

-Coming into tonight, Peterson had a 1.88 ERA in six appearances as a reliever, spanning 24 innings, compared to a 7.56 ERA in seven starts. He also had a whopping 1.950 WHIP as a starter. But this relief outing didn't follow this trend. Peterson never looked sharp, giving up seven hits and two walks, and on the home run to Walker, his 1-1 fastball was left hanging agonizingly over the plate.  For the season, Peterson now has a 5.75 ERA.  

-The Mets used an opener tonight, using reliever Austin Warren to start the game. Warren couldn’t command his signature slider/sweeper, which he throws on nearly 50 percent of his pitches, and gave up two walks and two hits, which led to two first-inning runs for the Cardinals.  

Game MVP: Jordan Walker

Jordan Walker delivered the biggest hit for the Cardinals, a three-run home run in the fourth inning that made the score 7-0 at the time.  

After failing to live up to huge expectations for a few years, Walker appears to be emerging into a star slugger.  

The home run was Walker's 17th of the season. He’s also hitting .304 with a .929 OPS.  

Highlights

Francisco Alvarez's first homer back from the IL!

His 5th homer of the season! pic.twitter.com/QJtOrJGZU5

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 11, 2026

What's next

The Mets look to salvage a game in this series as they host the Cardinals on Thursday afternoon.

Christian Scott (2-0, 2.50 ERA) will take the mound against Hunter Dobbins.

For the second time in as many nights, the Mets found themselves in an early hole against the Cardinals and went on to lose. As had been the case in their loss in the series opener, the game never felt competitive, and it ended with St. Louis winning 9-2.

The fact that the Mets spared themselves the embarrassment of getting shut out in back-to-back games doesn’t really serve as consolation. The team is now 29-38 on the season, and the relative excitement about them taking two of three games from the Padres over the weekend has already been squashed.

The Mets chose to go with an opener-plus-David Peterson approach in this one, and it didn’t go well. Austin Warren served as the opener, and he was somewhat fortunate to give up just two runs in his one inning of work. He gave up two hits, walked two, and only struck out one. It could’ve easily been worse.

Peterson made Warren’s outing look effective, as the Cardinals tattooed him for six runs in three-and-two-thirds innings. They got him for seven hits, and he walked two, struck out just one, threw a wild pitch, and gave up a pair of home runs.

It probably didn’t matter in the end, but the Mets had their best shot at making it a ballgame shortly after Peterson gave up his first two runs of the night, both of which scored in the top of the third. Trailing 4-0, the Mets had runners on first and second with two outs and Juan Soto at the plate. A home run would’ve made things interesting, but Cardinals starter Andre Pallante—who was pitching to get Soto out—wound up walking the bases loaded instead. And Jared Young, who represented the tying run as he came to the plate, grounded out softly to end the inning.

Peterson gave up his next three runs in the top of the fourth. Trailing 7-0 in the bottom of that inning, the Mets finally got on the board when Francisco Alvarez hit a two-run home run. Peterson gave up his sixth and final run of his brief outing in the top of the fifth, and the Mets’ bats went silent from there. Cardinals pitchers retired sixteen batters in a row, nearly finishing the game without allowing a single Mets baserunner up until a hit-by-pitch with two outs in the ninth broke that streak. The fact that they retired seventeen of the final eighteen Mets hitters they faced still served as a reminder that these Mets don’t do comebacks.

If you’re looking for some relatively positive stuff to take out of the game, Cionel Perez threw one-and-one-third scoreless innings in relief of Peterson. And Jonathan Pintaro, who got called up earlier in the day, went three innings and gave up just one run in the top of the ninth. He has a 1.35 ERA in his limited major league time this year, and it’d be fun to see more of him if he weren’t seemingly destined to return to Syracuse as part of the Mets’ ongoing bullpen churn.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: none
Big Mets loser: David Peterson, -19% WPA
Mets pitchers: -35% WPA
Mets hitters: -15% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jared Young hits a double in the second inning, +6.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Nelson Velásquez hits a two-run home run in the top of the third, -15.2% WPA

The Dodgers had a five-run lead in the sixth inning on Wednesday, but the Pirates rattled across eight runs against the Dodger bullpen as they stole the middle match 9-8.

The Dodgers ensured Pittsburgh’s starter Jared Jones wouldn’t face the minimum over his first three innings as Alex Freeland worked a two-out walk to bring up Shohei Ohtani in the top of the third. Ohtani sent a ball to deep left field that would’ve given him his third home run over his last four starts, but Bryan Reynolds made a leaping catch over the short wall to keep the game scoreless.

Freddie Freeman laced career hit no. 2,501 with a one-out double down the left field line to end the short no-hit bid for Jones. It was also career double no. 564, placing him one shy of 2026 Hall of Fame inductee Carlos Beltrán for 28th on the all-time list. Max Muncy had two hits with runner in scoring position on Tuesday, and he made it three hits with a double down the right field line to plate Freeman and give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Kyle Tucker collected his third RBI in as many games with a single up the middle to make it a two-run lead.

Max and Kyle put up two! pic.twitter.com/z8ppuq1Kes

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 10, 2026

Ohtani was one out away from keeping the Pirates silent over four full innings, but Tyler Callihan launched his first big league home run over the right field bleachers and into the Allegheny River to trim the lead to a run. Jake Mangum doubled to put the tying run in scoring position, but Ohtani bounced back with a strikeout of Jared Triolo to end the two-out threat.

After going down in order against Carmen Mlodzinski in the top of the fifth, the Dodgers put the first two men on with a single from Andy Pages and a walk to Freeman. Muncy worked a walk to load the bases, and after Mlodzinski struck out Tucker for the second out, Ryan Ward launched his first career grand slam to break the game wide open and give the Dodgers a five-run lead.

RYAN WARD GRAND SLAM. pic.twitter.com/XQbDkD0Cph

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 11, 2026

The home run from Callihan was the only dent on Ohtani’s outing over his first six innings of work. The two-way superstar pitched into the seventh inning for the first time since May 13, but the decision proved costly as the Pirates put the first two men on with nobody out. Ohtani managed to strike out two in a row, but Brandon Lowe brought home two on a double down the right field line to cut the lead in half.

After 102 pitches over 6 2/3 innings, Ohtani was pulled after allowing a season-high three earned runs. Despite the runs given up, his ERA now sits at 1.06, still ranking best in baseball for any starting pitcher with at least 65 innings on the year.

Alex Vesia came in relief of Ohtani, and he got Bryan Reynolds to roll one to third, but the Muncy had the ball roll under his glove allowing Lowe to score to make it a two-run lead. With Ryan O’Hearn representing the tying run, Vesia got him to roll one right back to him to get out of the inning with the lead intact.

Kyle Hurt came in relief for the bottom of the eighth and immediately put the first two men on base with nobody out. Tyler Callihan, who had the home run against Ohtani in the bottom of the fourth, crushed a go-ahead three-run home run as the Pirates took their first lead of the night.

Hurt could only get one out before he was relieved by Jack Dreyer to face the left-handed hitting Horwitz. Horwitz jumped on an 0-1 fastball down the middle, sending it out to give the Pirates a five-run eighth inning and a three-run lead. Just one day after the Dodgers sent 15 men to the plate in the top of the seventh inning, the Pirates bat around against Hurt and Dreyer.

Shohei Ohtani made sure the Dodgers didn’t go down without a fight with a two-run home run against Gregory Soto in the top of the ninth, making up for the robbery from Reynolds in the third. The comeback attempt was too little and too late, as the Pirates stole the middle match from the Dodgers to snap their four-game losing streak. The Dodgers division lead now sits at 7 1/2 games after the San Diego Padres walked off the Cincinnati Reds.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Tyler Callihan, 2 (2), Spencer Horwitz (9); Ryan Ward (3), Shohei Ohtani (12)
• WP— Evan Sisk (1-0): 1/3 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout
• LP— Kyle Hurt (1-1): 1/3 IP, 3 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts
• SV— Gregory Soto (9): 1 IP, 2 hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout

Up next

The Dodgers will look to take the series in Pittsburgh on Thursday (3:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA) before heading to Chicago for a three-game set with the White Sox over the weekend. Justin Wrobleski faces Mitch Keller.

The St. Louis Cardinals are really enjoying their tour of New York. The Redbird bats were ready for action and Andre Pallante was pretty sharp as the Cardinals easily beat the Mets for their 6th straight victory.

The St. Louis Cardinals did not hesitate to let the New York Mets know they would be scoring often as JJ Wetherholt led off the game with a single to center. Ivan Herrera was not hit by a pitch, believe it or not, but did end up on base with a walk giving St. Louis runners on first and second with no outs. Alec Burleson grounded out to the right side moving Wetherholt and Herrera into scoring position. Jordan Walker then smoked a single to left-center scoring JJ from third giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead.

Herrera didn’t get a good jump off of second making sure the ball wasn’t caught and was held at third. Lars Nootbaar then drew a walk to load the bases. The Cardinals got their second run of the inning when Masyn Winn grounded into a fielder’s choice, but avoided the double play as St. Louis ended up leading 2-0 after the top half of the 1st inning.

The Cardinals would strike again in the top of the 3rd inning after Masyn Winn drew a 2-out walk which brought up Nelson Velázquez with a chance to show why we like it when he’s in the lineup as he turned a 92 mph sinker into a souvenir in the left field seats 413 feet away giving St. Louis a commanding 4-0 lead.

The biggest jolt of the night would follow one inning later in the Cardinals 4th as JJ Wetherholt reached on an infield single that ricocheted off of the pitcher. Ivan Herrera then walked again giving St. Louis two men on base for Jordan Walker who helped the Mets understand that you don’t groove a 92 mph four-seam fastball down the middle to the 2026 version of Jordan Walker. 401 feet later, the Cardinals had a 7-0 lead. BOOM!

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for Andre Pallante. He pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 3rd inning without allowing the Mets to score, but wasn’t as fortunate in the bottom of the 4th as AJ Ewing walked and then Francisco Alvarez put a charge into an 85 mph Pallante slider that didn’t slide enough as it traveled 368 feet to right hitting just above the home run line in left cutting the Cardinals lead down to 7-2. When all was said and done by Andre, he gave the Cardinals a solid full 6 innings allowing just 3 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 5 and walking 2. Not bad at all.

The St. Louis Cardinals continued to live up to their relentless offensive reputation as they immediately grabbed another run back in the top of the 5th inning as Masyn Winn singled followed by a flyout from Velasquez and a fielder’s choice groundout by Nathan Church. With Winn on second, Jose Fermin singled him in upping the St. Louis lead to 8-2.

Matt Svanson was the Cardinals relief arm for the 7th inning. He did what you want to see happen when you have a big lead. He came in throwing strikes and had all three outs after throwing only 6 pitches. Efficient! Matt also took care of the 8th inning for St. Louis while only throwing 7 more! JoJo Romero was giving bottom of the 9th duties Wednesday night and the Mets did nothing to foil him. I could have just said the Mets did nothing which would also have been accurate. (unless you consider Magaman getting hit on the toe as doing something)

How did the Cardinals end up with 9 runs instead of just 8? That was Alec Burleson extending his hitting streak to 10 games with an 89 mph cutter that he turned into a 408 foot home run into the right field stands. BOOM (again)!

The St. Louis Cardinals will continue their joyride in New York Wednesday afternoon as Hunter Dobbins will get the start for the Redbirds. The New York Mets will hope Christian Scott can pull off a miracle as he will take the mound for the metros. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10pm central time and the broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.

After losing four games in a row, the Orioles needed someone to step up and be a stopper. Tonight, that man was Brandon Young. Young cruised through seven shutout innings. The offense took a while to wake up, but when it did, things got really fun with a two-inning rally capped by a grand slam. The O’s took game three of the series, 7-2, and have a chance to grab a split tomorrow.

Branden Young, folks. He’s been good this year, but tonight he took it to a new level. In each of his last three games, he started the seventh inning but could not finish. Tonight, he finished with ease. It’s his second-longest performance of his young career; we all remember his eight-inning one-hitter against the Astros last August.

Young kicked things off with five straight groundouts before Dominic Canzone singled with two outs in the second. He followed with a walk to Mitch Garver but ended the inning with a strikeout. And that was the most trouble he got into the entire game.

Through the next five innings, the Mariners had just two more baserunners, a single in the third and a walk in the seventh. That’s it. They didn’t look like they had a chance. The Orioles gave Young three runs of support before he left the game, then added on four more after his exit to help ensure he’d get the win. Young’s final pitching line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K. He threw 88 pitches. He got 12 groundouts to just one flyout.

For most of this game, it looked like the offense was not going to take care of Young. I admit, the longer he went without giving up a run, the more I imagined him ending up as a hard-luck loser. I was wrong, but I think I had a good reason to think they’d choke.

In the early innings, they blew two scoring opportunities. In the second, Leody Taveras led off with a bunt single, only to get thrown out as part of a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play with Jackson Holliday at the plate. With the bases empty, Tyler O’Neill hit his first of two doubles on the night. He was stranded, and it was a real shame to waste a rare hit of his.

The third inning was much worse. Sam Huff singled, Taylor Ward walked, and Gunnar Henderson singled back up the middle to load the bases. Bases loaded with no outs! Surely they’d get at least one run. They did not. Pete Alonso struck out for the second time in the game, Colton Cowser flew out but not deep enough for a sac fly, and Taveras struck out. Argh!

It felt like the Orioles would regret that, and that feeling only grew after 1-2-3 fourth and fifth innings. But they didn’t roll over. As is so often the case with these guys, the late innings were when they began to shine.

Alonso, whom I have been pretty down on lately, started the inning. After three straight foul balls, Alonso swung at a pitch above the strike zone and hammered it to center field. Julio Rodríguez chased after it but couldn’t catch up. It landed on the other side of the fence for Alonso’s 14th home run and a 1-0 lead.

But they weren’t finished! Cowser walked, stole second, and scored on a double from Taveras. Taveras stole third, then scored on a two-out double by Blaze Alexander.

A 3-0 lead after six innings with Young dealing felt good, but not great. In the bottom of the seventh, Holliday made the lead feel great. With the bases loaded on an Alonso single and walks from Ward and Taveras, Holliday stepped in with two outs. Three pitches later, he deposited a pitch into the section next to the out-of-town scoreboard. It’s a grand slam and a 7-0 score! Now that’s a comfortable lead.

Tonight was Bark at the Park night at Camden Yards, a night when Holliday tends to play well. He does it for the pups! In fact, his last grand slam came last year, also at Bark at the Park. Sadly, after the game Holliday told Kevin Brown and Jim Palmer that his dog, Coconut, had not made the trip to the game tonight. Holliday was sure to say that she was probably watching on TV.

With a seven-run lead and two innings to go, things felt pretty stable. Grant Wolfram tried to ruin it by allowing three baserunners and two runs in the eighth, but Craig Albernaz called on Yennier Cano to shut the door. He did just that with a strikeout of Randy Arozarena to end the inning. Cano returned for the ninth and had an easy 1-2-3 to seal the win.

Orioles win! The four-game losing streak is over, and maybe they can use this game to start a new streak. Brandon Young was incredible. Pete Alonso and Jackson Holliday homered. Even Tyler O’Neill got to have some fun. I think we needed this.