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Guardians 4, Mariners 3

Groundhog Day as a movie: Randy Arozarena, .14 WPA

Groundhog Day for your baseball team: J.P. Crawford, -.17 WPA; Colt Emerson, -.16 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

The Phillies have had a pretty remarkable week. Three games that would have been losses were in not for the fight they showed against a weaker opponent. The catch of the year in Friday’s victory over the Mets. It’s been quite the several days.

Today, that came to a screeching halt.

After a decently long rain delay, the Mets and Phillies got underway about an hour late, a game that ultimately saw the Phillies wither without a true starting pitcher and a lockdown performance by the Mets bullpen. Things started well with Bryce Harper homering off of Christian Scott to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

However, it being the fifth starter’s turn, the team continued with its opener/Alan Rangel plan for the position and got burned today. Tim Mayza started and was fine, but Rangel allowed four runs in his four innings of work. He started off fine, but in the sixth, things got hairy. Juan Soto and Bo Bichette both singled with one out, then scored when Francisco Lindor tripled to tie the game at two.

After a walk, Jonathan Bowlan came in, walked a batter, then gave up a two-run single to give the Mets a 4-2 lead. In the seventh, Soto hit an RBI triple, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Bichette to end the scoring on the day. The Phillies’ offense struggled against the bullpen that only allowed two hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings.

It happens.

Sometimes, teams just have a rough game and this was one of them.

I was initially going to call this “Bouncy Castle Blues,” because that’s what Tropicana Field reminds me of as much as anything. With its synthetic fabric top, and its weirdly springy turf, and the fact that try as we might we never seem to play competent baseball there, it seems fitting. But that would have led me to Google Images and then probably an extended session of foolishness with Photoshop, and I realized I really wanted nothing more than to get this recap done as soon as possible, because it wasn’t a fun baseball game to watch, even with the always pleasant company in the Gameday Thread. And rays are basically fish, right? They live in water and they swim around in it, anyway. Whatever.

Young Jose Cabrera was making his second start of his young major league career, and I was kind of excited to see that, because I must admit I slept through the early innings of his debut last Sunday. And you know what, the kid looked pretty good, even though his final pitching line doesn’t quite reflect that.

We also staked him a lead before he’d even taken the mound, thanks to a one-out Geraldo Perdomo double off the top of the wall in right center that just missed being a home run, followed by a Corbin Carroll single to right that drove him in. Carroll was then promptly thrown out trying to steal second, and Gabriel Moreno grounded out to third to end things against Tampa opener (and former Diamondback, apparently) Cole Sulser. 1-0 DBACKS

Sadly, Cabrera gave that run right back in the bottom of the first. After retiring Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda without any drama at all, he allowed a 2-1 sinker to catch a little too much of the plate, and Junior Caminero launched it over the fence in the left field corner for his third first-inning home run in as many games. 1-1 Tie

And there things stood until the bottom of the fifth, as Cabrera settled down and put up zeroes in the next three innings, while the Diamondbacks offense could do nothing whatsoever against Sulser (who pitched the second inning as well) or former Doyer Michael Grove (who pitched three scoreless with no blemishes other than a Moreno single in the fourth). Cabrera retired the last two batters in the Rays’ order to start the fifth, flipping the lineup back to the top, where their big bats live. And they did big bat things, alas: Diaz drew a 7-pitch two-out walk, and Cabrera threw Aranda a sweeper on the inside that Aranda turned on and sent into the right field seats. 3-1 Tampa

Cabrera was only at 78 pitches, though, so Torey Lovullo sent him out to start the bottom of the sixth, where he was promptly greeted by consecutive first-pitch bunt singles by Victor Mesa, Jr. and Chandler Simpson. Cedric Mullins came to the plate and looked like he was going to bunt as well, and I mean, why not? We hadn’t been able to stop it the first two times, right? That was enough for Torey, though, who pulled Cabrera and sent in Juan Morillo to throw some high-velocity pitches that wouldn’t be so buntable. Which was fine, so far as it went, but Morillo bounced the second pitch he threw in the dirt and it got by Moreno and rolled to the backstop. The runners moved up, and then a fly ball by Mullins to center field allowed Mesa to tag and score. 4-1 Tampa

Some new guy had come in out of the Rays’ bullpen, and allowed a two-out Perdomo single in the top of the sixth, and a two-out Arenado double in the seventh, but both runners were left standing there as the Diamondbacks once again continued to fail to hit with runners in scoring position (they were 0 for 5 total today). We did get one run back in the top of the eighth, courtesy of Ketel Marte going deep to pretty much straightaway center to drive himself in with his 14th home run of the year:

So that was nice, I guess, though it wasn’t nearly enough to make a difference. 4-2 Tampa

Meanwhile, after Morillo’s work was done, Ginkel and Clarke put up zeroes to keep Tampa from doing any more damage, but we couldn’t do any more damage ourselves, so it wound up being kind of moot.

Loss Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

This one was a truly symphony of mediocrity, in terms of Win Probability Added, with nobody really rating in either a positive of negative way other than Jose Cabrera, who also wore the loss in this one:

Fish Food: Jose Cabrera (5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR, -15% WPA)

Sad to say, it was also a pretty anemic Gameday Thread as well, with 141 comments total at time of writing. Amusingly, it looks like the three that got the most recs were from me and Ramona for our hello posts, so in the interest of choosing something at least nominally game relevant, this one goes to AZNailgal520 and kilnborn for this trifecta regarding Jose Cabrera’s nickname and how it reflects his ability to move about the infield:

Extra credit, too, for the callback to last night’s hippo business!

Anyway. If you feel like some morning baseball, you can stop by and join us as we try to avoid getting swept by the other Florida team. Merrill Kelly takes the ball for us, Drew Rasmussen goes for Tampa, first pitch is scheduled for 10:40am AZ time. Hope to see you!

As always, thanks for reading, and as always, Go Diamondbacks!

It was another banner night for the Mets bullpen, and they came up huge in the team's 6-2 win over the Phillies on Saturday night.

Four relievers combined to pitch 4.2 scoreless innings against a tough Philadelphia lineup, and with the help of Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, the Mets snapped their seven-game losing streak.

"The pitching was really good," Mets interim manager Andy Green said after the win. "For me, what [A.J.] Minter did was pretty special today. He went through the heart of the lineup in an inning-plus; there was a lot to like about today’s game."

Minter took over for starter Christian Scott in the fifth inning with a man on and one out. The veteran reliever got Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber to fly out to end the inning. Minter then followed up by pitching a scoreless sixth, working around a Bryce Harper single to get five outs for Green and the Mets. He also gave the Mets offense a chance to score four runs in the sixth to take the lead.

Huascar Brazoban, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams followed, allowing just two baserunners in the final three innings to complete the win. 

"It’s no secret the starters haven’t been going deep into games, haven’t really been doing our jobs too well," Scott said of the bullpen. "But our bullpen’s kind of saving us. Especially Minter, Brazo, Weave and Devin. Just coming in and being nails every time they’re out. Gives us a chance to win deep in ballgames. Gives our offense a chance to compete later in games. They’ve been huge for us, honestly."

The Mets' bullpen has pitched to a 3.35 ERA, which is the third-lowest in the NL and the fifth-lowest in MLB. The pen also leads the majors in strikeouts with 363.

Minter, specifically, has increased his scoreless innings streak to 12 and has not allowed an earned run in his last 24 appearances. But Weaver has been especially nasty for the Mets.

The right-hander completed another shutout inning, getting Turner, Schwarber and Harper out in order, running his consecutive innings streak to 23 across 21 games. He tied Roger McDowell (1986) for the sixth-longest scoreless streak in franchise history by a relief pitcher. 

"He had the heart of what they have and he had his way with it today," Green said of Weaver. "Schwarber couldn’t pick up the changeup. And the fastball is just alive right now. That combination is tough for guys."

According to Elias, since May 1, Weaver is the only relief pitcher in the majors with 20.0 innings pitched and zero runs allowed. During the same stretch, Weaver has held opposing batters to a .127 (10-79) average and has pitched to a 0.65 WHIP.

With their long losing streak snapped, the Mets will try to string together wins. If they hope to climb out of the hole they created for themselves, they'll need this performance from the bullpen.

BOSTON — Ben Rice has spent most of the season looking like an MVP candidate. 

But the past six games have been much more pedestrian, magnified by the rest of the Yankees offense going through a cold stretch with him. 

Coming off a breather Friday, the slugging first baseman went 0-for-4 in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Red Sox.

He is batting just 2-for-23 with a .174 OPS over his past six games, of which the Yankees have lost four. 

“No doubt he’s grinding a little bit right now,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But that’s part of it, man. Even the guys that are going to the All-Star Game and are in the MVP conversations, there’s going to be weeks where it’s not easy, where you go through it a little bit. 

“He’ll be fine, he’ll get through that. Hopefully start getting it going [Sunday].” 

To be clear, Rice is far from alone in having a rough week. But it is noticeable because of how impactful he has been for most of the season — he finished Saturday batting .276 with a .940 OPS — with this marking the quietest stretch of his season so far. 

It comes during a week in which the Yankees have faced a heavy dose of lefty starters — including each of the past four games, with Red Sox southpaw Jake Bennett holding him down Saturday. 

“I think [Bennett] executed pretty well against him to give him some problems,” Boone said. 

In a bit of an oddity, Rice grounded out in eight straight plate appearances before striking out in his final at-bat Saturday. 

There’s still no timetable for the Yankees to get their two biggest bats back from the injured list in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, but two others should be back within the next week. 

Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon are expected to come off the injured list during the club’s upcoming homestand that begins on Monday. 

Grisham, coming back from a right hamstring strain, is set to play in at least one rehab game, likely on Tuesday (the minor leagues are off Mondays), before potentially returning.

He was one of the Yankees’ hottest hitters before he got hurt, but his return should also help defensively, as his presence in center field allows Boone to put other players where they are best defensively. 

“I think he settles things a lot,” Boone said. 

“You know he’s there, now Belli’s where’s he needs [to be], then other guys are where they’re supposed [to be]. So yeah, we certainly miss him.” 

McMahon, meanwhile, is first eligible to be activated Thursday, an off-day, meaning he should be back for Friday’s series opener against the Twins. After being diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess Wednesday, he was prescribed a few days of rest, but returned to New York on Friday to begin baseball activities again this weekend. 

“When he was leaving [Friday] morning from the hotel, he was feeling again another day better, good night’s sleep,” Boone said. “He should be doing baseball activities now all week and would expect him when the 10 days is up.” 

Max Schuemann crushed his first home run as a Yankee in the fifth inning, a 412-foot blast off Bennett that represented the team’s only run of the day.

Schuemann was starting in center field. for the second time this season.

Mets infielder/designated hitter Jorge Polanco appeared in his first rehab game in nearly a month on Saturday night for Triple-A Syracuse and finished 0-for-3 while batting second and DHing.

In his first at-bat, Polanco, a switch-hitter batting right-handed against the lefty Kolby Allard, swung at the first pitch he saw and popped out to second base. Leading off the fourth inning, the 32-year-old struck out looking against Allard on a 2-2 curveball that appeared to be a bit outside. Polanco did not challenge the call.

An inning later, with the game tied 1-1 and a runner on first base with two outs, Polanco, facing Allard for a third time, once again popped out to second base to end the inning. He was replaced by a pinch-hitter with two outs and nobody on in the seventh inning.

It's been a tough first season in New York for Polanco, who continues to recover from Achilles bursitis that has plagued him all season. In fact, the veteran had to shut down his previous rehab assignment at the beginning of June after six games due to left ankle soreness. 

Last night, the Athletics got off to a winning start in their three-game weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels, riding a seven-run fifth inning to a 9-3 victory. Tonight, the “Green and Gold” look to clinch the series, while extending their winning streak to three games with a second straight win over their division rivals.

Taking the ball for the road team this evening will be right-hander Jack Perkins. The 26-year-old enters his 22nd appearance and fifth start with a 2-3 record, a 6.26 ERA, a 1.37 WHIP and 57 strikeouts over 46 innings.

After being tagged with the loss in his first start of the season earlier this month, Perkins has steadily settled in, improving with each outing. He has gone without a decision in each of his last three starts, a streak he hopes to end in his second consecutive start against these Angels.

Last Sunday, Perkins allowed four runs on four hits over five innings while recording a season-high eight strikeouts. He exited with the Athletics holding a three-run lead and in line for the win, but the A’s bullpen surrendered the lead as the Angels rallied for a comeback victory. Still searching for his first win since joining the starting rotation, Perkins will look to change that, though he will need his teammates to hold the lead this time around.

Speaking of the A’s beleaguered bullpen, the team made a trade today to address that weakness.

Juenger, the Blue Jays’ sixth round draft pick in 2021, brings an MLB-ready arm to the A’s relief corps. The team has not yet announced whether he will join the major-league club or report to Triple-A Las Vegas.

In 21 appearances with Triple-A Buffalo, Juenger posted a 1-2 record with a 2.59 ERA. His strong minor league performance to start the season led to his first MLB promotion. The right-hander allowed three earned runs over two innings in his brief time with the big-league club before the Blue Jays designated him for assignment earlier this week.

The other player in this trade, Carapellotti signed with the A’s as an undrafted free agent following four years at Georgetown. He was off to a good start with Single-A Stockton, hitting eight home runs in 20 games.

Lastly, corner infielder Brett Harris’ time with this franchise could be coming to an end. The 28-year-old has been up and down between the A’s and the minors over the past three seasons, yet failed to make much of an impact and has now been overtaken by younger, higher-ceiling players.

Back to the game, here’s the A’s Saturday night lineup:

The A’s starting nine is nearly identical to last night’s lineup. The lone change comes in right field, where right-handed hitter Colby Thomas gets the start in place of Lawrence Butler, who started there in the series-opener. Both catchers also remain in the lineup for a third straight game, though their roles are reversed. Jonah Heim moves behind the plate, while Shea Langeliers shifts to designated hitter.

The bottom three hitters, who sparked the Athletics seven-run fifth inning, will look to deliver again. Alika Williams, one of the team’s most unexpected contributors this season, gets another start at shortstop as Jacob Wilson continues to recover from a re-aggravated left shoulder injury.

That lineup will be facing Angels left-hander Reid Detmers, who has pitched well as a starter after spending all of last season in relief. The 26-year-old enters his 17th start with a 3-5 record, a 3.93 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP and 104 strikeouts across 94 innings.

This game features the same pitching matchup as last weekend’s series finale between these two teams, when the A’s tagged Detmers for five runs on six hits over six innings.

The Athletics potent offense will look to have a similar level of success against the southpaw tonight at Angel Stadium.

And the Angels’ lineup, brought to you by old friend Kurt Suzuki:

The Angels are still without Mike Trout, yet their lineup still features several dangerous bats, including shortstop Zach Neto, right fielder Jo Adell and designated hitter Jorge Soler. Following a blowout loss yesterday, the “Halos” will look to bounce back and even the series. Can Perkins limit mistake pitches and work deep into the contest, or will the Athletics need to dig deeper into their bullpen ahead of tomorrow’s series and road trip finale?

Tune in to find out whether the squad can make it three in a row. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Talk 650 KSTE, A’s Cast

It’s time for Game 2 in the series between the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves. And it’s a doozy of a pitching matchup!

For the Giants, it’s their ace, right-hander Logan Webb. The two-time All-Star is 4-5 in 13 starts this year, with a 3.35 ERA, a 3.07 FIP, and 70 strikeouts against 20 walks in 83.1 innings. Webb has been lights out lately, having pitched eight innings in each of his last three games, while allowing just three earned runs in that span.

For the Braves, it’s fellow righty and fellow All-Star Bryce Elder, a 27-year old. Elder has made 16 starts this year, and is 5-5 with a 3.71 ERA, a 3.79 FIP, and 79 strikeouts to 29 walks in 94.2 innings. He’s been struggling lately though, as he’s allowed 14 earned runs in 10 innings over his last two starts.

Enjoy the game, everyone.

Game #82

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Atlanta Braves

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 6:05 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

In removing Carlos Mendoza and inserting Andy Green, the Mets hoped to breathe some life — any life — into a team that was perishing.

For much of Saturday, Citi Field felt funereal. But a spark — and a few hits and runs — demonstrated a pulse that had not been evident earlier.

It is just that — a pulse, rather than a steady heartbeat — but the Mets discovered a bit of fight, enough offense and finally a victory.

A sixth-inning eruption that featured big swings from Francisco Lindor and A.J. Ewing carried the Mets from two down to two ahead in what became a 6-2 win over the Phillies in Queens, where the announced crowd of 37,338 sat through a 70-minute rain delay to see the club snap a seven-game skid and see Green record his first victory as interim Mets manager.

It is far too soon to declare that banishing Mendoza and installing Green will change much around the Mets, who seem destined to sell at the trade deadline, but any trace of vitality would be welcome to a clubhouse and crowd that wants August and September games to matter.

“We know we got a mountain to climb,” said Christian Scott (4 ¹/₃ innings, two runs, six strikeouts). “But we can only climb the mountain one step at a time.”

To beat significant odds and accomplish as much, the Mets (35-48) would need more games like Saturday’s, in which they looked listless and lifeless for five innings — as did the crowd, which appeared apathetic rather than angry at the lineup’s strikeouts — before they rattled off all six of their runs in the sixth and seventh innings. During their seven-game losing streak, they scored as many as six runs in a game one time.

Through five innings against opener Tim Mayza and Alan Rangel, the Mets totaled three base runners. In the sixth, six straight Mets batters reached base.

A Juan Soto single began the rally. Bo Bichette’s knock put runners on the corners. And Lindor — in his third game back after missing two months while his team spiraled — snuck a triple under Bryce Harper’s diving glove at first base, tying the game and providing hope for just about the first time in a week.

After a pair of walks from Jared Young and Mark Vientos, it was Ewing grounding a two-run single through the middle that allowed an exhale. The Mets would add to the lead an inning later, when Soto came through with his own RBI triple and Bichette followed with a sacrifice fly.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

Lindor and Soto contributed in just the 11th game they have played together this season — “I think that’s what everybody was hoping to see repetitively all summer long,” Green said — reminding of their potential following injuries that debilitated the Mets lineup.

That injury misfortune — and not David Stearns’ trades and signings that have been largely unfortunate — is where Lindor pointed to explain the Mets’ predicament.

“I felt like Stearns did a good job putting the team together. We just haven’t been together. We just haven’t played together,” Lindor said after his 27th game and Soto’s 64th. “And now that we’re slowly getting healthy, little by little, hopefully this next however many games we can play together and make something special out of it.”

The Mets survived, for the day, because their offense awoke, Scott was solid in allowing just a two-run homer to Harper and their bullpen was shutdown.

After an abbreviated, 82-pitch outing from Scott in his first start off the injured list, Green turned to four relievers (A.J. Minter, Huascar Brazobán, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams) to cover 4 ²/₃ scoreless innings in which they walked one and let up two hits — one of which belonged to Harper, who was thrown out trying to stretch a bloop single into a double.

Minter was particularly impressive in 1 ²/₃ innings, his longest outing since Oct. 2, 2021. The 32-year-old lefty entered with a runner on in the fifth, retired Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber, then returned and got through a Harper-Brandon Marsh-Bryson Stott sixth.

“What Minter did was pretty special today,” Green said of a pitcher who has not allowed an earned run since April 4, 2025.

Speaking of streaks, Weaver took down the eighth to push his run to 23 scoreless innings.

“I think a lot of guys did a lot of really good things today,” Green said.

Join us and discuss tonight’s game in the comments below!

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, June 27, 9:05 p.m. EDT

Location: Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA

TV: BravesVision

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s June concludes with his fourth consecutive Saturday start.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Padres
• Ballpark: Petco Park, San Diego
• Time: 5:40 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Full disclosure I started writing this recap in the fifth inning when the team was down 2-0 and they couldn’t get any runs home against Alan Rangel, but as Shakespeare wrote I got hoisted on my own petard and the Mets surprisingly won 6-2.

Speaking of Shakespeare, in Henry VI, in Part II, Act III word of an Irish uprising gets sent to the king saying:

Before the wound do grow uncurable;
For, being green, there is great hope of help.

Meaning there is still hope to end the skirmishes since they have only just begun. The Mets are now in their own Green era with new manager Andy Green, are there is some hope of help with both Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto together again in the lineup, and the return of Christian Scott to the rotation.

Lindor got the first big hit of the day when he tripled home two runs to tie the game in the sixth inning. After the next two batters walked, A.J. Ewing singled home two more runs with the infield drawn in to give the Mets their first lead of the day. One inning later it was Juan Soto’s turn to triple home a run to extend the lead 5-2. Bo Bichette followed with a sacrifice fly and the Mets held a 6-2 lead. It’s a shame Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Carson Benge, and A.J. Ewing haven’t played much together because when they are all on they have the potential to be electric.

As for the pitching, Christian Scott was solid in his return from the injured list. He gave up a home run to Bryce Harper but otherwise kept Philadelphia in check. He could not complete the fifth inning but his final line was 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2, BB, and 6 K. A.J. Minter, Huascar Brazobán, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams were all stellar to finish off the game and snap a seven-game losing streak.

Did you know many common phrases in our vernacular have been borrowed from Shakespeare? Some include good riddance, a piece of work, a sorry sight, set your teeth on edge, what’s done is done, seen better days, dead as a doornail, come what may, for goodness’s sake, and laughingstock. I mention these for no particular reason but for whatever it’s worth the Mets are now 1-1 under manager Andy Green.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Francisco Lindor, +30% WPA
Big Mets loser: Brett Baty, -7% WPA
Mets pitchers: +12% WPA
Mets hitters: +38% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Lindor’s RBI triple in sixth, +34.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Bryce Harpers’s home run in the third, -22.3% WPA