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The Royals could not continue the offensive explosion of the last two games for another day. We saw baseball style scoring rather than football on Wednesday, at least until right at the end. New York scored 5 runs in the 8th inning to take this one 6-2.

New York got off to a fast start. Steven Cruz grooved a 2-0 pitch to leadoff hitter AJ Ewing and he drove it over the wall a little right of center. It was not an ideal start for Cruz as the opener, but he struck out two and got out of his inning with only one run of damage done.

Christian Scott made the start for New York and he had a solid night. In the first, Bobby Witt got an infield single without really having any threat from there. His second frame he walked Nick Loftin and then Isaac Collins singled to move Loftin to third and create the only jam of the night for Scott. He got out of it. Then he went on to three easy innings. He could not go deep in the game, however, due to those first two innings taking 49 pitches. It took 8 pitches to strike out Lane Thomas in the first and 7 a piece on the walk and single in the second. So, Scott looked very good and also left after five innings.

That mattered because the Mets bullpen was pretty taxed, so taxed that they had pulled up two arms from the minors in moves earlier today. One of those called up, Tobias Myers, came in for the 6th and 7th. Jac Caglianone lined a 113 MPH ball off the wall in right center for a double in the 6th and then moved to third on Lane’s groundout to third that pulled Bichette into foul territory and opened up the bag for Cags to take. Salvador Perez battled Myers until he got the 9th pitch of the at bat for a single to bring in Caglianone and tie the game up 1-1.

I want to apologize for throwing some shade toward Randy Dobnak in the game discussion writeup. He took over for Cruz in the second and then went 5 2/3 innings as the bulk guy. He had some help from the defense. In particular, he got in a bit of trouble in the 3rd inning. With 2 outs, Juan Soto did what he does and took a walk. Bo Bichette followed that up with a single to center and brought Francisco Lindor up with two runners on. He hit the ball well to right field, but Tyler Tolbert made a running catch at the wall that I wanted to embed here for you and MLB Film Room has it linked wrong, sorry.

Regardless, a few hard-hit balls and one near miss was all Dobnak really gave the Mets. He finished with a line of 5 2/3 IP, 3H, 3BB, 2K, 0ER before Matt Strahm came in to finish the 7th on a strike out call that Ewing wanted to challenge. The Mets has lost both challenges already, and if they had not, he would have lost that one. We were now into a bullpen battle.

Lane Thomas doubled off of Brooks Raley in the 8th to give the Royals a chance at a lead. It was not to be and it started to shuffle some players around. Starling Marte pinch hit for Michael Massey with two outs and ended the inning. He moved to right field where Tolbert had been, and Tolbert took over second base. Alex Lange came in for the 8th with Soto, Bichette, and Lindor coming up. Now he is fireman rather than traditional closer? Lange made quick work of the first two before Lindor singled to right and Carson Benge worked a walk in a long plate appearance. Jorge Polance came up for just the second NY attempt with a runner in scoring position. He hit a roller to Jac at first in a weird spot that made it hard for Lange to cover first. That led to an awkward and late flip to first and loaded up the bases for Jared Young who Alex hit with a pitch on the elbow to give the lead back to the Mets. Brett Baty quickly extended the Mets new lead with a single to the right center gap, 4-1 and Jose Cuas was brought in to try and end this long two out rally.

Cuas’ first pitch was WAY outside to add yet another run to ledger and the inning just would not end. Franciso Alvarez singled to left and scored Baty. Ewing followed that with a double and Soto was intentionally walked so that the bases were loaded yet again.

Xzavion Curry came in for the Mets in the 9th, his debut for them and for 2026. He has a track record that said the Royals had a shot a big comeback. Similar to the disaster 8th for the Royals, the Mets got two outs right away and looked comfortable. Josh Rojas came on to pinch hit with no one on and two down and worked a walk. Carter Jensen doubled to drive him in and make it look like the comeback could be on. But Bobby struck out and the game was over.

This series will be decided starting at noon central tomorrow. Then one more series to the All-Star Break and Jac Caglianone’s home run derby debut.

The Mets found a way to break a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning and beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-2.

New York took advantage of Kansas City's mistakes in the bottom of the eighth, rattling off five runs with two outs. Jorge Polanco somehow reached first safely to load the bases and Jared Young was hit by a pitch to drive in the go-ahead run. With the inning extended, Brett Baty gave the team some breathing room with a two-run single, a wild pitch scored a run, and Francisco Alvarez drove in another.

Here are the takeaways...

-- After recording his first career four-hit game in Tuesday's wild loss, A.J. Ewing smashed his first career leadoff home run off of Steven Cruz to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

He's the fifth different Met to hit a leadoff homer this season, joining Francisco Lindor, Bo Bichette, Juan Soto, and Carson Benge. The last time five Mets hit a leadoff home run in a season came in 1962.

-- Christian Scott had one of his best outings of the season by tossing five scoreless innings, lowering his season ERA to 3.17.

The young right-hander needed 49 pitches to get through the first two innings scoreless, but was able to settle down for two quicker frames in the third and fourth innings (25 pitches combined). Scott kept it going with a 1-2-3 fifth inning, but that would be all after reaching 90 pitches. Overall, he allowed three hits, struck out five, and walked one.

-- Lindor nearly had a huge hit in the bottom of the third inning with two runners on base, but Tuesday's star Tyler Tolbert made a leaping catch at the wall in right field for the third out.

-- Tobias Myers, who was recalled from Triple-A earlier Wednesday, replaced Scott on the mound in the sixth inning. Although it didn't go as he'd like, as he allowed a one-out double to Jac Caglianone and an RBI-single to Salvador Perez that tied the game at 1-1.

Myers returned to pitch the seventh inning and escaped some trouble, including a leadoff double, to keep the game knotted up. In total, he allowed one run on three hits over 2.0 IP with one strikeout and one walk.

-- The Mets bats struggled against Royals bulk reliever Randy Dobnak, getting just three hits (two by Benge) against him over 5.2 innings into the bottom of the seventh. Francisco Alvarez walked with two outs, ending Dobnak's day, but was left stranded as Ewing struck out looking on a questionable call and couldn't challenge since they had none remaining.

-- Xzavion Curry made his team debut in the ninth with a five-run lead, allowing one run on a double with a walk.

Game MVP: Christian Scott

Scott silenced the Royals' bats after they put up 19 hits and 16 runs on Tuesday night.

Highlights

A.J. Ewing's first career leadoff homer! pic.twitter.com/wXNkUgz8Va

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 8, 2026

Christian Scott is fired up after striking out Carter Jensen to end the top of the 5th inning pic.twitter.com/tw0hBxHjOz

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

Jared Young gets hit with the bases loaded and the Mets lead 2-1! pic.twitter.com/Q0MTRF4A1u

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

A two-run double for Brett Baty extends the Mets' lead to 4-1! pic.twitter.com/DkW8vfIX3U

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

Jose Cuas' first pitch is a wild one and the Mets' score their fourth run of the 8th inning! pic.twitter.com/A2dHR7uJt1

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

The two-out rally continues!

5 runs in the 8th inning after this RBI single from Francisco Alvarez! pic.twitter.com/9zl6q7BHe6

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

What's next

The Mets wrap up their three-game series on Thursday against the Royals at 1:10 p.m. on SNY.

Sean Manaea (1-4, 4.76 ERA) will take the mound opposed by Michael Wacha (5-6, 3.45 ERA).

The Athletics squared off with the Detroit Tigers in the middle game of this three-game series between these two historic American League franchises. The Tigers scored early and never looked back, winning 6-1 to take the series and leave the A’s sitting ten games under .500.

Tigers Strike First

Tigers’ starter Troy Melton needed only eight pitches to retire the side in the first inning. Meanwhile, A’s starter Jeffrey Springs got off to a rocky start. Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler reached second base on an infield single coupled with A’s third baseman Zack Gelof’s throwing error. Springs then walked two straight hitters to load the bases with only one out.

Left fielder Riley Greene’s RBI single brought home the Tigers first run of the game. Springs retired the next two batters to limit the damage, although he needed 34 pitches to get through that high-stress first inning.

A’s Waste Chance to Respond

In the second inning, A’s right fielder Lawrence Butler hit a two-out double. He advanced to third on second baseman Joshua Kuroda-Grauer’s infield single. Alas, the visitors wasted their first scoring opportunity as Melton struck out Carlos Cortes to end the inning.

Tigers Roar

In the bottom of the second inning, Jeff McNeil took over at first base for Nick Kurtz, who left the game due to illness. That marks two straight days the team has had a player exit the game early, suggesting an illness may be spreading through the A’s clubhouse.

The Tigers extended their lead that inning. Backup catcher Jake Rogers, pinch-hitting for injured starter Dingler, hit his second home run of the season, a two-out, two-run shot to left-center field.

A’s Catch a Break

The A’s scored their lone run in the fourth inning. With one out, Tyler Soderstrom doubled. He scored on Tigers’ shortstop Zach McKinstry’s throwing error. For the second consecutive time, Kuroda-Grauer’s infield single advanced a base runner 90 feet before Cortes struck out to end an A’s rally. The shine has worn off from Cortes, who now looks like the player that failed to break through with the New York Mets earlier in his career.

Springs: Batting Practice Pitcher!

After throwing two straight scoreless innings to keep the A’s deficit at two, the Tigers got to Springs in the fifth inning. Back-to-back singles set up runners at the corners with one out. Springs promptly served up his second home run of the night. First baseman Spencer Torkelson hit his 15th of the season, a three-run shot to left field, making it a 6-1 ballgame.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay finally removed Springs, replacing him with right-handed reliever Justin Sterner, who got the final two outs of that inning. Springs struggled again, allowing six runs on six hits plus four walks in 4 1/3 innings.

It seems that no matter where he pitches, he is prone to giving up the long ball. Springs has given up more home runs over his last 15 starts than any pitcher in A’s history. With an ERA north of 6.00, it may be time for the A’s to consider moving Springs to the bullpen.

If they do not view him as a part of their plans moving forward, a trade could be another option. However, it is unclear whether the Athletics have a better internal replacement should they decide to make that switch before his next start, which would come after the All-Star break. As it stands, the A’s are using an MLB high 4.2 pitchers per game, a reflection of how many short outings they have recently received from their starting pitchers.

If the A’s want to contend for a playoff spot, they need more young, hard-throwing pitchers like Melton, not soft-tossing veterans such as Springs and fellow starter Aaron Civale. At this point, it might do the club good to bring in new pitching coaches and see if fresh voices in the pitchers’ ears can help this team’s talented young arms improve.

Melton’s Dominance Continues

Melton’s outing ended after he walked Soderstrom with one out in the sixth inning. The young right-hander fared much better, allowing just one unearned run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings. He walked only one while striking out nine, and his overpowering stuff was on full display all evening.

A’s Late Offensive Rallies Die

Right-hander Keider Montero entered out of the Tigers’ bullpen. He walked A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson before retiring the next two batters on groundouts. The visitors stranded two more runners in scoring position, wasting another scoring opportunity.

In the seventh, the A’s failed to cash in with runners in scoring position for a second straight inning. Meanwhile, A’s relievers Mason Barnett and Jose Suarez kept the score unchanged, combining to pitch the final three innings of the game.

Kuroda-Grauer was arguably the A’s lone offensive bright spot. He added his third hit in the ninth inning, giving him his third three-hit game in just eight MLB appearances. Unfortunately, the rest of the A’s lineup contributed next to nothing in a game where the visitors once again had to play from behind. The “Green and Gold” finished the night 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.

The free-falling Athletics will look to avoid a second consecutive sweep tomorrow afternoon. The pitching matchup features Jack Perkins taking on longtime A’s nemesis Framber Valdez. The former Houston Astros’ standout has not fared as well in his first year with Detroit.

The rubber game of Dodgers vs Rockies is upon us. What late-game weirdness is in store for us tonight?

Wednesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Rockies
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Orioles entered this homestand in need of a series win to keep their slim playoff chances afloat. Baltimore dropped the opener on Tuesday, and the team continued to spiral out of contention tonight.

Pete Alonso gave the Orioles an early two-run lead, but Dean Kremer allowed three home runs in the fifth inning. Chicago struck for five more in the seventh, and Baltimore’s rally fell short in a 9-7 defeat.

Kremer made his first mistake in the top of the third inning. The righty threw Pete Crow-Armstrong three consecutive splitters in the same location. Crow-Armstrong went swing and a miss for strike one, swing and a miss for strike two, swing and a solo home run for a 1-0 lead.

Baltimore’s offense showed some life in the fourth inning. Blaze Alexander and Jackson Holliday put runners on the corners with a pair of singles. Gunnar Henderson bounced into a double play, but the twin killing still allowed the tying run to score.

Kremer posted a zero in the fourth with some help from a caught stealing by Adley Rutschman, and Alonso gave the Birds the lead with a two-run blast in the bottom half. Unfortunately, Kremer failed to deliver the shutdown inning.

Michael Conforto launched the first pitch of the inning over the fence in right field, and Carson Kelly obliterated the second pitch of the frame to tie the game at three. Conforto ambushed a first-pitch fastball that was north of the strike zone, but Kremer grooved a cutter to Kelly.

Kremer retired Dansby Swanson for the first out, but Crow-Armstrong stepped in for his second blast of the game. The All Star gave the Cubs the lead with a solo shot to center, and the Orioles never recovered.

Holliday led off the bottom half with an opposite-field single, but Henderson grounded into his second double play of the evening. Rico Garcia entered and posted a zero in the sixth, but Chicago broke the game open in the seventh.

Garcia retired Conforto before allowing a single and a walk. Craig Albernaz summoned Grant Wolfram to face Crow-Armstrong, and Wolfram struggled to find the strike zone. The lefty walked PCA to load the bases and surrendered a sacrifice fly to Alex Bregman.

Wolfram came within one strike of ending the inning with the game still in reach, but he lost Michael Bush to reload the bases. The Cubs scored their sixth run of the game on a wild pitch by Wolfram, and Seiya Suzuki put the game out of reach with a three-run blast.

The Orioles did their best to battle back. Tyler O’Neill hit a pinch-hit home run to start the seventh, and the Orioles used three singles to manufacture their fifth run of the game. Alonso stepped up with two outs and runners on the corners, but the Polar Bear flew out to center.

Albert Suárez tossed a scoreless eighth, and Baltimore continued to claw their way back in the eighth inning. Coby Mayo launched a ball to the second deck in left field, and O’Neill followed with his second home run of the game.

Holliday hit a ball off the top of the wall for his fourth hit of the game, and Henderson lined a ball up the middle at 103.6 MPH. Henderson nearly broke through for his first hit of the game, but Swanson made a diving catch to rob Baltimore’s shortstop and keep the lead at two.

Tyler Wells tossed a scoreless ninth, but Baltimore’s two, three and four hitters went quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Rutschman, Ward and Alonso all grounded out to prevent the tying run from ever reaching the plate.

The Orioles would have killed for seven runs in several of their recent losses, but they were done in by an 8-0 run tonight. Holliday finished 4-for-4, O’Neill tallied 40% of his home runs this season, and Mayo showed off his power against lefties. Both Ward and Dylan Beavers notched multi-hit games, but the pitching let the team down.

Baltimore fell to 42-51. The O’s will look to avoid the sweep tomorrow with Trevor Rogers on the mound.

The San Francisco Giants have a lot to consider at this juncture of the MLB season.

There were mid-level expectations for the Giants at the start of the season. On paper, it seemed like the Giants could battle for a wild card berth.

The Giants won't meet those expectations.

A week before the All-Star break, San Francisco has the third-worst record in baseball at 38-54. The Giants lost 10-0 to the Toronto Blue Jays on July 8, held hitless through eight innings.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that this team won't be competitive down the stretch, which has many of the Giants faithful singing a NxWorries tune, wondering what to do and where to go from here.

It's evident that a shake-up is needed. It's simply a matter of where they start and what they can realistically do to change things in the dugout. But one thing's for sure: the Giants are sellers heading into the trade deadline.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For the first time in three games, the Yankees did not strike out 17 times Wednesday night, so there was that.

Otherwise, their lineup remained abysmal as their deficit in the AL East grew larger.

The Yankees wasted a quality pitching effort from Gerrit Cole because the only thing they are doing consistently well of late is slumping together offensively, their latest collective dud resulting in a 3-0 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field.

In a game in which their frustration began to boil over, with Aaron Boone and bench coach Brad Ausmus both getting ejected in the sixth inning, the Yankees (50-42) lost for the 11th time in their past 13 games while dropping to five games back of the Rays (54-36) for the division lead.

“Just looking at the outcomes, it’s not where we want to be, and it’s not good enough to compete for first place right now,” Cole said.

After the Yankees had struck out 17 times in each of the first two games of this series, they whiffed just 11 times Wednesday, yet they still mustered just six hits (all singles, only three of which left the infield) as they were stifled by lefty Shane McClanahan and the Rays bullpen.

They had just one hard-hit ball all night, coming on a Ben Rice groundout.

They will try to salvage a series split Thursday afternoon, but that will be a difficult task against Rays All-Star Drew Rasmussen, who has pitched the Yankees tough (including 13 shutout innings this season) even when they are not going through a death spiral.

“You can feel it,” José Caballero said of the lineup’s struggles. “Personally, I think it’s us thinking about the bad stretch and taking it heavy on ourselves. I can speak for myself, I don’t like knowing that the last seven to 10 games, I’m doing bad. You think about it too long and it doesn’t get easier if you continue thinking about it. For me, we should just keep it simple and trust the room. We know how good we can be and we know how good we are.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

During the first three games of this series, the Yankees have recorded 45 strikeouts and two walks.

The Rays always pitch them tough, but this is taking that to another level of dominance.

The top four hitters in the Yankees lineup — Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice, Amed Rosario and Cody Bellinger — went a combined 2-for-16 on Wednesday.

Goldschmidt is now in an 0-for-34 skid after striking out three more times, giving him 10 punchouts over his past three games before he likely sits Thursday.

Bellinger went 0-for-4 and is now in an 8-for-70 (.114) slump.

“Obviously offensively now is a real struggle for us. I keep saying that,” Boone said. “It’s no secret. There’s no magic pill. … I do believe we’ll get through this, but there’s not much more to talk about. We got to go make some things happen.”

Cole allowed three runs across 6 ¹/₃ innings while throwing 97 pitches, his most since returning from Tommy John surgery.

He was hurt by the top two hitters in the Rays lineup, on a night when Yandy Díaz had four hits and Jonathan Aranda drove in all three runs.

But even a shutout wouldn’t have been enough.

The Yankees had a chance to take a lead in the second inning after back-to-back singles by Jasson Domínguez and Anthony Volpe with one out.

But Max Schuemann came up next and dropped down a safety-squeeze bunt to the pitcher, but Domínguez got a late break from third and was easily thrown out at the plate.

Austin Wells followed by popping out in foul territory, on the way to finishing the night batting .148.

McClanahan retired 10 straight batters into the sixth inning, when Caballero led off with a bunt single. But he was soon erased on a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play with Goldschmidt providing the whiff.

The Yankees tried to challenge the play at second, but did so too late, which resulted in Boone and Ausmus getting tossed by home plate umpire Doug Eddings.

“I feel like sometimes you get beat up a little bit, you can have that defeated feeling,” Boone said. “We got to avoid that. This game waits for no one. It’s hard as can be. We got to get over ourselves in that.”

As Alex Weiner noted last night, the D-backs after 91 games have exactly the same 45-46 point they had after 91 games in both 2024 and 2025. Of course, in neither of the previous season did Arizona end up making the playoffs. But things the rest of the way went rather different. In 2024, the D-backs had the second-best record in the National League from this point on, going 44-27. Unfortunately, the New York Mets were almost as good, and their 45-28 mark proved sufficient to bring them into a three-way tie with the Diamondbacks on 89 wins, and that infamous double-header against the Braves which saw both side win the tie-breaker against us.

In 2025, however, the mediocrity continued. They were a mere 35-36 thereafter, on their way to eighty wins. However, the bar was considerably lower to reach the post-season. A mere 83 wins was sufficient for the Reds to make the playoffs – ironically, it was the Mets turn to lose out on the tiebreaker. The D-backs could have been involved as well. In their penultimate series, they walked off the Dodgers to move to 80-77: winning three of their last five contests would have had them finish on 83 wins as well (though they dropped the season series to the Reds anyway). But they lost all five contests, and were eliminated after Friday night’s loss in San Diego.

Which way will things break over the remainder of 2026? Only time will tell. We don’t know if the team will buy or sell, and that could well be a factor. Or maybe not. After all, Mike Hazen sold last year, but the D-backs then went on a bit of a tear to keep things interesting into the final week. Meanwhile, the 2024 team bought A.J. Puk and Josh Bell, and after 140 games were 2.5 games clear. But they played below .500 ball the rest of the way, going 10-12, and that ended up costing them. So it’s very hard to predict. But as the chart above shows, the rest of the way we can’t possibly find ourselves with the same record as 2025 and 2024 again!

Perhaps they should rename Comerica Park to Rogers Center after Jake Rogers’ pinch performance helped the Tigers beat the A’s 6-1.

The Tigers have been pretty good lately, 7-3 for their last 10 games, and as we know, performing well against teams with much better records than theirs. So naturally, against another fourth-place team, they’re going to potentially struggle. However, they did take the first game of the series against the A’s, so how this series will play out is anyone’s guess. The Tigers had Troy Melton on the mound up against Jeffrey Springs for the A’s.

The A’s went 1-2-3 in the top of the first. The home half took considerably longer to work through. With one out, Dillon Dingler singled and was able to advance to second on a throwing error by the A’s third baseman. Kevin McGonigle walked, then Spencer Torkelson walked. Springs was having a heck of a time finding the zone, and that didn’t change when Riley Greene came up to bat, and both Greene and the catcher challenged pitches, both of them balls, before Greene singled to score Dingler and put the Tigers on the board first. Two outs followed, but they had certainly worn Springs down early.

After the first out of the second inning, there was a pause in play. A foul tip hit Dingler in his exposed hand, and while he stayed in through the top of the inning, he did ultimately leave the game. No current status updates. With two outs in the second, Lawrence Butler doubled. Then Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (a challenger for the Isiah Kiner-Falefa crown of making me struggle to spell their names right) singled. A final out ended the inning and the threat. In the bottom of the inning, Nick Kurtz was out of the game for the A’s after two, citing illness, so a rough game all around. Zach McKinstry got a one-out single. Then, with two outs and pinch-hitting for Dingler, Jake Rogers came in and hit a home run. Now that’s how you step in with style.

The A’s went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. The Tigers, likewise, went down in order in the bottom of the inning.

In the top of the fourth things got rough for Melton for the first time all game. Tyler Soderstrom got a one-out double. Jacob Wilson then reached on a fielding error by McKinstry, which allowed Soderstrom to score. With two outs, Kuroda-Grauer singled. Melton managed to get out of the jam, though, with only the one run scored. In the home half, the Tigers went down in order once again.

Melton struck out the side in the fifth, though Jeff McNeil really fought him for the final out of the inning, and then when he finally did strike out, he had a good scream at himself.

In the bottom of the inning, Rogers continued to have himself a heck of a game with a leadoff single, then hustled all the way to third when McGonigle singled. He was looking a little breathless after that, so Spencer Torkelson decided to give him a break and hit a three-run homer to clear the bases.

Riley Greene walked, which was the end of the game for Springs. He was replaced by Justin Sterner. Sterner came in and got the final two outs of the inning. The Tigers were up 6-1 after five innings.

In the top of the sixth, Soderstrom walked with one out. Melton’s day was done at that point with a final line of 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 E, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K on 91 pitches. Keider Montero came in to replace him, and gave up a walk to Jacob Wilson. Two outs followed to get the Tigers out of the inning, no harm done. Mason Barnett was the new A’s pitcher in the home half. With one out, McKinstry walked. McKinstry was then eliminated by a force out off the bat of Matt Vierling. Rogers drew a walk, putting him on base for every one of his at-bats for the evening. The Tigers ultimately left their baserunners stranded, unfortunately.

Carlos Cortes got the A’s going in the seventh with a leadoff single. With two outs, McNeil singled, so maybe he can be a bit nicer to himself later. Montero got out of the inning, though. José Suarez came in to pitch for the A’s in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Greene singled. However, two outs followed to leave another baserunner stranded.

In the eighth, Montero was replaced by Tyler Holton, who got three outs in a row. The Tigers also went three-up, three-down. Now they just had to get the final outs of the game to lock it down.

Beau Brieske was the man the Tigers turned to for the ninth. Kuroda-Grauer singled to get things started. With two outs, he took second on defensive indifference. It was Rogers who caught the final out of the inning, a cherry on top of an incredible evening for him.

Final: Tigers 6, A’s 1

I don’t want to write this recap.

The Mariners lost 2-0 to the Marlins on Wednesday. It was a very boring game. George Kirby pitched well, in the way that George Kirby often pitches well, but not in the way that he pitched so well as to be newsworthy. The Mariners lineup hit poorly, in the way that the Mariners lineup often hits poorly, but not in the way that they hit so poorly as to be newsworthy. The Marlins stadium on television is ugly and empty and fills me with an unseasonal depression. I don’t want to write this recap.

The Mariners offense was bad today. Five hits, two walks, one hit by pitch, no runs. They distributed this modest sum with a base runner in each the first four innings; they didn’t get another base runner until Josh Naylor singled with one out in the ninth. It never felt like they were going to score. I don’t even remember who pitched for the Marlins, because whatever it is about LoanDepot Park renders everything into an ocular Lorem Ipsum. Again, it was very, very boring to watch. The most interesting thing that happened for the Mariners on offense was Naylor swung and missed so hard at an 0-1 pitch in the sixth inning that he fell over and needed a few moments to recover. I chose to believe he simply fell asleep mid swing.

Kirby was good again. He threw six innings and struck out seven with 12 whiffs. He walked nobody and didn’t give up a ton of grounders, so it felt almost like a vintage Kirby outing, rather than the still pretty decent but definitely new version of Kirby we’ve seen much of this year.

The Marlins got the only run they’d need with a solo homer from Kyle Stowers to lead off the second. In the third, Javier Sanoja hit a lead off double. He was later erased after Luke Raley made a nice, not-so-boring diving catch, tossing to second for an easy double play. Unfortunately, the Marlins followed later in the inning with a single and a triple to make it 2-0, increasing their lead over the Mariners by infinity.

In the fourth, Heriberto Hernández got a double. Jakob Marsee hit a rocket grounder to short that nearly hit Hernández. In his attempt to get out of the way, Hernández strayed too far from the bag, and Colt Emerson raced him back to second and tagged him with a dive.

In the fifth, Otto Lopez doubled with two outs. The Marlins nearly scored again on an Xavier Edwards single, but Victor Robles fielded and fired home to Cal Raleigh, who made a great snag and tag for the final out.

Well, those last three things weren’t that boring. The Mariners actually played pretty solid defense on Wednesday, which is closer to a miracle that it is boring. Frankly, if the Mariners had won this game, I would have called it “solid” or “necessary” or maybe even “rugged.” But, well, they didn’t. With two outs in the ninth and Naylor on third, Cole Young watched the final strike three on a pitch that was well outside. It seemed he, too, was so bored that he didn’t bother to challenge. The Mariners lost 2-0.