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Hello and welcome to Lookout Landing. If you’re new here and/or don’t hang out in the game threads, well, I can’t blame you, because this team is zero fun right now. Tonight the Mariners showed that home cooking isn’t any better and carried their miserable 2-6 road trip back to a long homestand, starting it off with a loss to the Twins where the Mariners scored all three of their runs in the first two innings of the game and then did nothing else. But for as much fun as watching this team is not, hanging out in the game threads can be quite fun, especially when the organic energy (read: specific kind of madness induced by watching hundreds or thousands of games of Mariners baseball) takes over and we get themed threads like the Night of 1000 Fart Jars or tonight, LL’s Poetry Corner.

Tonight’s game – and subsequently the game thread – started out well. Bryce Miller did what other Mariners pitchers have not been able to do lately, and spun a scoreless first inning. The Mariners hitters then did what the Mariners offense has not been able to do lately, and scored in the first inning. The Mariners were able to get some traffic early against Twins starter Zebby Matthews; after Cole Young struck out chasing after a slider, Randy Arozarena worked a four-pitch walk, punishing Matthews for refusing to put a fastball on the plate against him. Dom Canzone followed up with a sharp ground-ball double down the right field line, pulling a cutter at the top of the zone 106.7 mph, but Julio Rodríguez got too aggressive on the same slider that got Young and struck out, chasing after three pitches not in the zone. Matthews also seemed unwilling to give Josh Naylor anything on the plate, walking him on three pitches to load the bases, bringing up Cal Raleigh, who had one of his best plate appearances of the year: a nine-pitch battle where he fell down 0-2, fouled off a bunch of pitches on the plate, spat on the same slider that gave his teammates trouble as well as some high heat, and eventually got a changeup dead red that he almost hit out of the park, settling instead for a two-run ground rule double.

Historians tell us the Poem Thread of 2026 began with JPSG’s pair of poems early in the game:

It’s always threading a needle to do a bit here on LL. Many people overcorrect and think the best way to get everyone on a certain train is to hammer the bit home. But we are not a Netflix series being second-screened against TikTok dances (although many of us might have had the Mariners relegated to a second screen lately), needing every beat sounded out. The best bits emerge organically, sweeping up some of the thread energy and encapsulating it, providing a baseline for other players to riff on.

Sorry, that poem should have come with a spoiler alert, as unfortunately, Miller gave those runs right back: one that was not his fault, as Josh Bell managed a weak-contact base hit on a splitter that was an infuriating at-bat to witness, and one that was: with two outs (argh), Miller suddenly started spiking balls up to seven-hole hitter Brooks Lee, falling behind 3-1 before grooving an absolutely awful cutter dead-red for a game-tying home run.

“The worst cutter I’ve thrown all year, down the middle” said the always-honest Miller, who also said he was working a lot on his splitter shapes trying to get it back below the zone, which might have explained all the balls in dirt (“bounce passes”) early on. Miller also said he woke up this morning with his back locked up on him, which might have explained why he took a little while to settle in.

Thankfully, Cole Young – Dutiful Young Man – read our series preview where Jake talked about how Zebby Matthews is grooving too many fastballs to be successful, and in the very next inning, pounced on a first-pitch fastball for what has to be one of the lowest home runs at T-Mobile Park by launch angle, at just 16 degrees. But ball hit low does not matter when ball absolutely scalded (110.2 EV).

The only other good thing that can be said about the Mariners offense over the next seven innings was that they put some pitches on Matthews and by “they” I mostly mean Cole Young, who made sure Matthews ended the fifth at 93 pitches with a nine-pitch at-bat which unfortunately ended on a called strike three that also cost the Mariners their second challenge (it was a close one, to be fair to the Young Master). Unfortunately, Bryce Miller had pitch count issues of his own and pitched to only one batter in the sixth before being lifted for the lefty Jose Ferrer to face Kody Clemens, who promptly grounded out. Josh Bell turned around to bat righty (I always forget Bell is a switch hitter) and Ferrer made Bell—who is below replacement level when hitting as a righty—look very silly on a changeup, so that was fun. That would be all that was left of fun.

In the game, at least. Over in the game thread, we were still having fun.

Matthews came back out for the sixth and promptly gave up a broken-bat single to Julio, prompting Derek Shelton to go to the bullpen for Kody Funderburk, which is the most left-handed reliever name of all time, to pitch to Josh Naylor. Naylor, who is legitimately the smartest Mariner, went to bunt, getting in catcher Ryan Jeffers’s eyeline just enough for Julio to swipe second without a throw. Naylor then grounded out, meaning Julio got essentially two bases on one out, which is a tradeoff we’ll make every time. Unfortunately, with the lefty up, now it was the Mariners’ turn to have their switch hitter turn around, and while Cal Raleigh has been rough in all forms this season, he is historically not as good from his right side as his left, popping up on the infield rather than getting the necessary sac fly. Weston Wilson wasn’t able to get the job done either even with the handedness advantage, and the Mariners let a golden opportunity for an insurance run pass them by.

The would come to hurt the Mariners when Ferrer, out for another inning, grooved a sinker right into righty Royce Lewis’s go zone for a game-tying no-doubt homer. Ferrer then gave up an infield hit to lefty Alan Roden before getting Brooks Lee to fly out harmlessly. Wilson went to Eduard Bazardo to deal with Luke Keaschall, a new member of Kate’s Least Favorite Batting Stances club, who dunked in a double to left field to give the Twins the go-ahead run.

Here is a very quick poem I like quite a bit, called “Motto” by Bertolt Brecht. “In the dark times,/will there also be singing?/Yes, there will be singing/about the dark times.” Here, then, some singing:

The hole got deeper in the eighth when Bazardo, out there for another inning, allowed a leadoff home run to Jeffers, making the score 5-3 and getting up human white flag Michael Rucker. To his credit, Rucker actually pitched well, helped out by another Gold Glove level play by Cole Young, who was the bright spot of this game as well as the season. The Mariners don’t win any games on that road trip without Dom Canzone, but they possibly don’t win any games this season without Cole Young (shhh this is hyperbole let me have this).

But the Mariners were punchless again, going down in the ninth with no more of a fight than back-to-back walks from Cal Raleigh and Weston Wilson. If we’re looking for bright spots Cal’s night is one of them. Cal and Cole. And although the energy went pear-shaped at the end, Cal and Cole and the game thread where people wrote silly poems all night are the things I’ll be thinking about tonight instead of this dreadful game.

I am not a poet, or at least not a good one despite multiple attempts, but I read a lot of poetry. I like poetry because, despite being made of language, it exists in a space that language alone can’t quite touch, getting its arms around emotions that feel too big for words. Sadness, sure, and maybe most famously. But also beauty, and joy, and – tonight, in a game thread about a bad baseball team playing a bad game in a bad season, with silly limericks and haiku and people generally trying to find a response to this team that isn’t just disappointed sadness – community. A community of 42,000-plus at the ballpark, still on their feet in the ninth as the Mariners tried to make those two walks turn into an improbable, but still possible, win; and a community here, and the threads that bind us in a world that often feels unfriendly or indifferent – a silly poem for a silly game for a very real reason.

The Dodgers (69-41) dropped the series opener 9-4 to the Red Sox (58-51) Friday night at Dodger Stadium. 

Failed scoring opportunities and shoddy defensive and base running doomed the Dodgers in this one. Boston’s explosive offense surged past the Dodgers 9-4. The Dodgers utilized Edgardo Henriquez as an opener for a designated bullpen game, and Dave Roberts leaned on Cole Irvin to eat the majority of the innings and make over 100 pitches in his first MLB appearance since 2024.

Nine of the first 20 batters reached base safely for Boston. The Red Sox lineup aggressively put pressure on the Dodgers bullpen from the start of the game and series.

Boston got on the board first in the top of the second inning against Will Klein. Boston cashed in a walk to Caleb Durbin and throwing error on Klein on a pickoff attempt that went awry. Jarren Duran drove in Durbin with the big RBI single to put the Red Sox ahead first.

Klein got further into trouble in the third when he loaded the bases with one out. Nick Sogard and Ceddanne Rafaela hit consecutive singles, and then Klein beaned Willson Contreras in the side of the helmet. Contreras did come out of the game, but stayed in under his own accord at first.

Irvin was thrown into the fire for his Dodger debut and first MLB appearance since Sept. 2024 with the Minnesota Twins. Another defensive blunder, this time on Freddie Freeman at first base, allowed two runs to come in on a Masataka Yoshida chopper.

Shohei Ohtani led off the bottom of the fourth against Suárez with a double, the first base hit of the game for the Dodgers. Freeman drove in Ohtani with two outs to make it 3-1 to make up for his error.

The Dodgers got the tying run aboard in the sixth after Suárez gave up a leadoff walk to Tucker and Kiké Hernández single.

Eliezer Alfonzo reached for a breaking ball and dumped it into center field to bring in the second run of the night for the Dodgers. Kiké Hernández was thrown out at second base on the play after too aggressive of a turn. That proved to be costly, erasing the man at second base with Ohtani up to bat.

The Dodgers offense went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Jovani Morán came out of the Boston bullpen to face Ohtani and served up a rocket of a 112-mph two-run home run. The Dodgers took a 4-3 lead.

The Dodgers opened the sixth with back-to-back hits from Freeman and Mookie Betts. An intentional walk to pinch-hitter Max Muncy loaded the bases with two outs for Alfonzo. With Ohtani lurking on deck, Alfonzo grounded out to leave the bases loaded.

The Red Sox took back the lead in the seventh when Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run home run off Irvin.

Andruw Monasterio doubled in another two runs to give the Red Sox a commanding lead. Boston scored their fifth run of the inning on a scoring Duran ground ball to make it 8-4. Monasterio also made a couple of outstanding defensive plays to save runs for the Red Sox.

Freeman led off the eighth inning with his third hit of the night. Tucker managed a single as well, but the Dodgers stranded another couple of runners.

The Red Sox added a ninth run in the ninth on a Carlos Narváez sac fly.

Friday particulars

Home runs: Shohei Ohtani (24); Ceddanne Rafaela (12)

WP — Brayan Bello (3-6): 4 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, no walks, 3 strikeouts (58 pitches)

LP — Cole Irvin (0-1): 6 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts (102 pitches)

Up next

Yoshinobu Yamamoto ( 10-6, 2.78 ERA, 0.88 WHIP) makes his first career start against the Red Sox Saturday (6:10 p.m., SportsNet LA). Left-hander Payton Tolle (6-6, 3.32 ERA, 1.11 WHIP) counters for Boston.

The trade deadline is Monday. Tonight was about winning a baseball game in Los Angeles against the best lineup in the National League. Mission accomplished.

Ranger Suarez was decent enough. He went 4.2 innings, got into a jam, and left, not completely unscathed but with two down. Not a disaster—the kind of start where a pitcher does what he can and trusts the bullpen to handle the rest. Well, at least that’s the hope.

Oh, Jovani Morán. He came in with men on, and the Sox actually caught a break first—Rafaela wisely nabbed Kiké Hernández overthinking things at second base, the Dodgers challenged, and the call stood. Very nice gift. Two down and one less base runner. Then Shohei Ohtani, the most dangerous hitter on the planet, doing what Ohtani does, scorched a two-run shot off him. The inning was spiraling, Boston on the wrong end of a 4-3 deficit in the fifth inning in Dodger Stadium with a murderer’s row still raring to go. The Dodgers lineup is definitely intimidating on paper.

Then Brayan Bello walked out of the bullpen.

Four innings. Three hits. Zero earned runs. Fifty-eight pitches. Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Kyle Tucker—the whole parade came through and Bello held every single one of them. The “saving the bullpen” angle alone is a story: Weissert didn’t throw a pitch. Whitlock didn’t throw a pitch. Chapman didn’t throw a pitch. Bello went out and protected the entire relief corps on a west coast late-night road game before the deadline. Bullpen Bello has been a revelation.

The seventh inning showed the Dodgers what the 2026 Red Sox have been all about.

Five runs. The Sox batted around. Rafaela hit the go-ahead bomb—a beautiful shot into the left-field bullpen, and at this point Rafaela coming up in giant moments is just in his DNA. Yoshida followed with a silly backspinning single that hugged the third base line. Durbin dropped a perfect bunt and left Max Muncy to eat his throw. Bases loaded, Andruw Monasterio—who has quietly become an extra base hit machine in this lineup—drove in two more with a double to the left-field corner. A 4-3 deficit swiftly became an 8-4 lead and Dodger Stadium had nothing to say about it.

The small ball was part of the story, but it isn’t the only thread. Go back to the third inning—Yoshida brings home two runs on a bouncer that Freddie Freeman completely misread, caught in that in-between hop and just not having an answer for it. Boston cashed those runs immediately. This team doesn’t need you to hand them something twice.

Down a run in the fifth in LA, Morán just fell victim to the monster that is Shohei Ohtani, and instead of any sign of panic the Red Sox methodically put up five in the seventh and salted the rest away. They will not die. They will not quit.

One more note: we hope Willson Contreras is okay after being pulled as a precaution after getting beaned by Will Klein in the third inning. That news hangs over what was otherwise a perfect night.

July is over. Boston went 21-4. Best month by win percentage in Red Sox history. A franchise playing baseball since 1901. 125 years! This July was the best of all of them.

Studs

Brayan Bello (4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K)

The whole story. Morán gave the game away with the Ohtani shot and Bello came in and gave it right back. Four innings against the Dodgers, not a single run, and the high-leverage relievers didn’t throw a pitch. Every one of those arms is fresh going into a stretch run. On a night the Sox needed someone to eat innings, a starter who’d been pitching out of the bullpen stepped up and delivered exactly that. Whatever the front office decides before Monday, Bello made his case tonight.

Ceddanne Rafaela (3-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R)

Three hits in Dodger Stadium, a go-ahead homer in the seventh that broke the Dodgers’ back, a baserunning play that killed a Toronto threat before it could breathe. He’s been this good on both sides of the ball all season. The Gold Glove defense was already there. The bat has ascended to match it. The most clutch player on this roster right now, and it’s not particularly close.

The Seventh Inning

Not just Rafaela’s homer. Yoshida’s backspinning single hugging the line. Durbin’s perfect bunt. Monasterio’s double to left-center when the bases were loaded. Five runs don’t just happen. They’re built.

Masataka Yoshida (2-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 R)

Two hits and the Freeman third-inning gift that became Boston’s early cushion. Quietly steady through this entire stretch.

Duds

Jovani Morán (0.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER)

One out. Ohtani homer. Three hits. The moment Morán came in and the game started unraveling, it genuinely felt like it was slipping away. Credit to everything that came after for making this a footnote in a blowout win rather than the reason for a loss.

Carlos Narváez (0-for-3, 3 K, 1 RBI)

Three strikeouts. A garbage-time sac fly in the ninth, sure, but not his night. The catcher position keeps producing these quiet offensive games and it’s part of why deadline chatter about adding behind the plate never fully went away.

Play of the Game

Come on. It has to be Ceddanne.

The Dodgers patched two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani’s absence from the starting rotation with a pseudo-bullpen day on Friday. In a 9-4 loss to the Red Sox, Ohtani did his part with his bat, but the Dodgers’ pitching wavered.

“You just can’t chase every single win, every single night,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s not responsible. It’s just not the right process.”

Back in the Dodgers’ lineup after a day off to address lingering soreness in his left knee, Ohtani had the Dodgers’ first hit, an opposite-field double into the gap off Red Sox left-hander Ranger Suarez in the fourth inning.

That same inning, Ohtani scored the Dodgers’ first run, crossing the plate on a single from Freddie Freeman — who extended his hitting streak to 10 games, the longest by a Dodger this season.

Read more:Swanson: Roki Sasaki's rise is proving the Dodgers right, and MLB rivals should be terrified

The next inning, Ohtani kept the Dodgers’ rally going after the Red Sox (58-51) pulled Suarez. Facing left-handed Jovani Morán, Ohtani turned on a changeup and sent it into the right-field stands for a two-run homer.

The Dodgers (69-41) used just four pitchers, thanks to left-hander Cole Irvin, who the Dodgers called up on Friday to provide bulk.

After opener Edgardo Henriquez threw a scoreless inning, Will Klein’s struggles continued. Adding to his three-week skid, during which Klein’s been fighting bad mechanics, he gave up three hits, made an errant pickoff attempt, issued a walk and hit Willson Contreras in the helmet. He was charged with three runs (one earned) over 1⅓ innings.

Irvin replaced Klein. What began as a largely efficient outing fell apart in the seventh, when Irvin gave up five runs over 10 batters. He gave up eight hits and six runs over six innings. The effort at least kept the rest of the bullpen fresh.

“Orange County kid that gets to play for one of his hometown teams is pretty special, and I’m pretty thankful for that, and happy and blessed,” said Irvin, a product of Servite High School in Anaheim. “It sucks to lose, but there’s a part of me that’s proud that I get to wear Dodger blue.”

This time of year, bullpen depth is top of mind for teams across MLB, with the trade deadline on Monday approaching.

The Dodgers jump on opportunities throughout the year to add relievers. But Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, noted earlier this week that the team worked over the offseason to prevent them from having an “acute need” at the trade deadline. That includes their relief corps.

“When you have an acute need, it’s really challenging, because you’re paying 150 cents, 200 cents on the dollar,” Friedman said. “So we try to do everything we can to avoid not having to do something. But when you’re able to be in a position to be a little bit more selective and opportunistic about what potentially is available, it just puts you in a better position. So as much flexibility as we can have, the better.”

Díaz’s velocity is back

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz wasn’t perfect in his first two games back from the injured list. But after undergoing surgery to remove five loose bodies from his elbow, and a three-month process to return to a major-league mound, he wasn’t expected to be.

“My first game back, I was a little bit anxious,” Díaz said after giving up two hits and a run to the Mariners en route to recording the save on Wednesday. “But I threw strikes, I made pitches, and at the end of the day I got the W. Tomorrow, we’ll see the video to see what they were [seeing] on the fastball and make an adjustment and try the next time to make some pitches to make them chase.”

The biggest positive was his fastball velocity. Díaz’s velocity was down to begin the year, dipping to about 95.5 mph in his last two outings before landing on the injured list.

On Wednesday, his fastball averaged 96.9 mph and he touched 98.9 mph, according to Statcast.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani sits out Dodgers' win over Mariners amid new concerns about his knee

“I thought the second day was better than the first, and it’s great to have him back,” Roberts said.

Díaz limited the Mariners to one hit in one scoreless inning Thursday and tallied two strikeouts.

After pitching back-to-back days, Díaz will be unavailable through Saturday, Roberts said.

Stewart injured

The Dodgers put Brock Stewart (2.45 ERA) on the 15-day IL with right shoulder discomfort as the corresponding active roster move for Irvin — a hit to the Dodgers’ right-handed, high-leverage depth. They also designated right-hander Chayce McDermott for assignment to clear room on the 40-man roster.

“Should be short term,” Roberts said of Stewart’s IL stay. “He’s done a great job when he’s been active on really pitching well. So we’ve got to make sure, with the calendar on our side, we’ve got to protect him and take a couple weeks and then get him back. This is something that we are being proactive on and really try to talk through it with Brock and understanding our thought behind it, with the bullpen day just the coverage and not trying to put him or anyone else in harm’s way.”

This is Stewart’s third stint on the IL this season. He began the year recovering from the right shoulder surgery that ended his 2025 season. Then days after being activated in early May, he landed on the IL again, after aggravating a bone spur in his left foot. He returned again in late June.

“This is just more of a formality,” Roberts said. “I really believe, the training staff believes that it’s going to be short term.”

Not rushing Snell

The Dodgers had been considering bringing back Blake Snell (loose body elbow surgery) from his rehab assignment early to bridge the gap with Ohtani shut down from pitching.

They instead have decided to have Snell make another rehab start next week, when he’ll target five innings.

By utilizing a bullpen game Friday, the Dodgers built in a full week of rest for Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Emmet Sheehan, who are scheduled to start the next two games against the Red Sox. And they avoided pitching Justin Wrobleski on regular rest.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

While in Seattle last summer, one thing I noticed at their ballpark was a preponderance of Nintendo advertising—from player sleeves to wall signs to between-inning ads. Well, tonight—okay, now last night—the Minnesota Twins navigated all the platform stages and slid down the flagpole victorious!

After Twins’ bats went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning, MN SP Zebby Matthews struck out the side in B1. The problem? Zebby’s K’s were sandwiched around two walks (both on four pitches) and RBI doubles from Dominic Canzone & Cal Raleigh. 2-0 SEA.

Fortunately, tonight the Twins didn’t wait until the ninth inning to start scoring. After a leadoff walk drawn by Josh “Ring The” Bell against Seattle SP Bryce Miller, with two outs Brooks “General” Lee smashed a sphere 367 feet and beyond T-Mobile Park’s RF fence! 2-2 tie.

The Zebster looked to be cruising through a much easier second inning of work—until Cole Young deposited one over the RF wall not far from where Lee’s launch landed. 3-2 SEA.

In T5, Luke Keaschall coaxed a free base off Miller—but was summarily picked off and any potential rally fizzled. Meanwhile, after those rough first two frames, Zebulon settled down and racked up 10 punch outs—a career high—through five frames. After allowing a bloop base hit to Julio Rodriguez to lead off B6, Matthews exited in favor of Kody Funderburk.

The long ball continued to be the scoring method of choice, this time the pendulum swinging back in the vistors’ favor when Royce “Royce Baby” Lewis rocketed a 419-ft bomb deep to LF! After that, a simple Alan Roden single was pushed around a few left turns when Keaschall deposited a double just inside the LF line. 4-3 MIN.

Back to homers in T8—this time 372 feet worth from Ryan “My Name Is” Jeffers! 5-3 MIN.

See: Zach’s Zealot below for more on this, but the combo platter of Fundy, Nance, Morris, & Gomez kept the M’s off the board the rest of the way. A little drama in B9 when two Gomez walks almost haunted, but old friend Mitch Garver proved to be new friend Mitch Garver in waving at strike three for the Game Over kill screen.

Your Final: Minnesota Twins 5, Seattle Mariners 3.

Ladies and gentlemen, YOUR ‘26 Minnesota Twins are a winning ball club for the first time since April 21! Now tied with the Cleveland Guardians for 2nd place in the AL Central & the final AL Wild Card berth, the Twins are also just 3 GB of the Chicago White Sox for the division lead!

Zach’s Zealot

• The MN bullpen: 4 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 4 K.

Zach’s Zombie

• Twins GM Jeremy Zoll: I won’t blame Tristan Gray himself for being overmatched at the dish at the major league level—but I will blame Zoll for calling him up to replace Byron Buxton (IL) when Walker Jenkins was right there.

Egg-cellent Elocution

• James Fillmore providing as good an explanation as any for why Gray is on this roster.

Who’s Got Next

• Two more with the seafarers this weekend (Saturday & Sunday @ 3:10 PM). Maybe all their fans will be distracted by the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks starting their training camp.

Shane Drohan turned in six strong innings in a bounce-back outing, while the Brewers broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning fueled by home runs from Brice Turang and Jake Bauers. After dropping two of three to the Giants to open their California road trip, Milwaukee got back on track tonight with a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

After neither team managed to score in the first, Bauers and Garrett Mitchell led off the top of the second with back-to-back singles off Angels starter Ryan Johnson. Up next was Cooper Pratt, who slapped a line drive into left field. With Bauers rounding third, Angels left fielder Jose Siri charged the ball in an attempt to gun him down at the plate but couldn’t come up with it cleanly. By the time the dust settled, Pratt had reached second, Mitchell advanced to third, and Bauers had scored the Brewers’ first run of the game.

Neither team scored again until the fifth, when Johnson walked Pratt to open the frame. Turang then hit a towering fly ball that had just enough carry to clear the center-field fence.

Johnson continued to unravel, allowing Jackson Chourio to single before walking William Contreras to put another rally in motion. He managed just one more out—a sharp lineout off the bat of Christian Yelich—before being pulled in favor of Jose Fermín, whose second pitch to Bauers, a slider low and inside, hung just long enough. Bauers crushed it 424 feet into the seats to make it 6-0, a lead that proved to be more than enough with Drohan on the mound.

Drohan was perfect the first time through the order. In the fourth, he allowed back-to-back singles to Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel before bouncing back to get Jorge Soler to ground into an inning-ending double play. He surrendered a two-run homer to Denzer Guzman in the fifth, bringing the Angels within four, but retired the side in order in the sixth to finish his night. After allowing five earned runs against Colorado in his previous outing, Drohan responded with one of his better starts of the season, earning his sixth win. He’s now gone at least 5 2/3 innings in all six of his starts during the month of July.

With Drohan done after six innings, Grant Anderson, Abner Uribe, and Trevor Megill came in and combined for three no-hit innings. If not for a hit batter by Anderson, they would have been three perfect innings.

One more note for those who missed the game: Mitchell’s stat line doesn’t quite do his night justice. He finished 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, but he also hit three balls at 109 mph or harder — a 109.2 mph double in the fifth, a 111.3 mph single in the second, and a 109.9 mph lineout that traveled 395 feet in the fourth. For Brewers fans who have watched Mitchell battle injuries year after year, it’s been encouraging to see him not only healthy but consistently squaring the ball up.

Milwaukee will look to clinch the series tomorrow night before wrapping up its road trip on Sunday. Robert Gasser is scheduled to start for the Brewers opposite Angels right-hander José Soriano. First pitch is set for 8:38 p.m.

The Athletics dropped their third straight game on Friday night, falling to the Detroit Tigers 13-1 in embarrassing fashion in front of the Sacramento home crowd. Not a lot of positives from tonight’s contest.

More to come…

Twins 5, Mariners 3

Clever, light-hearted japery in rhyme: Cal Raleigh, .16 WPA (hey! A Cal Raleigh WPA lead!)

Getting dragged to an open mic night where the theme is sadness: Eduard Bazardo, -.25 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

I think this is also a poem

And a bonus, because if you watched this stinker, you deserve a bonus and I cannot give you a monetary one:

The Colorado Rockies closed July by matching their entire 2025 win total.

Following an hour-long rain delay, Tomoyuki Sugano delivered 6.2 excellent innings, the Rockies converted five hits and two Kansas City errors into three runs against All-Star right-hander Michael Wacha, and Jordan Romano retired the Royals in order in the ninth to secure a 3-1 victory Friday night at Coors Field.

Colorado improved to 43-67, while Kansas City fell to 46-65. Last year’s Rockies did not reach win No. 43 until September 21.

Sugano earned the victory to improve to 11-4. Wacha fell to 5-8 despite striking out seven across six innings, and Romano recorded his ninth save.

Sugano controls the game

Tomoyuki Sugano did not overpower the Kansas City Royals. He simply controlled nearly every part of the game.

Sugano completed 6.2 innings on only 83 pitches, allowing one run on five hits. He did not issue a walk, struck out two and induced nine groundouts.

That line only begins to describe how firmly he controlled the night.

Sugano used all seven pitches in his arsenal and refused to give Kansas City a stable look. His 24 splitters led the mix, followed by 17 four-seam fastballs and 13 cutters. He also threw eight sinkers, eight sliders, eight sweepers and five curveballs.

The splitter was his primary finishing weapon. It generated five whiffs on nine swings, accounting for five of Sugano’s eight swinging strikes. His sweeper provided a different type of value, producing three called strikes on only eight pitches.

Sugano’s four-seam fastball averaged 92.7 mph and topped out at 93.4 mph. Neither the velocity nor movement of his arsenal differed dramatically from his season norms.

Sugano opened with two harmless popups before striking out Jac Caglianone. He set up the finish with two splitters below the zone, then changed the hitter’s eye level with consecutive 93.3 mph four-seam fastballs. Caglianone chased the second above the zone.

Kansas City made its hardest early contact in the second.

Salvador Perez opened the inning with a sharp grounder that deflected off Ezequiel Tovar, but Kyle Karros immediately started a 5-6-3 double play. Isaac Collins then lined a ball that deflected off a diving Brenton Doyle and rolled all the way to the wall for a triple.

Sugano stranded him there.

John Rave grounded out to Tovar, and Sugano went on to retire the Royals in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

Carter Jensen saw four splitters in a six-pitch plate appearance to end the third, including the final one buried below the zone for a swinging strikeout. Kansas City then managed only one ball out of the infield in the fourth and three groundouts in the fifth.

Sugano’s lone marked mistake came with two outs in the sixth.

He fell behind Jensen 2-0 and left an 85.9 mph splitter in a hittable location. Jensen crushed it 424 feet to right at 102.5 mph.

It was the 21st home run Sugano has allowed this season, but the 18th with the bases empty.

Lane Thomas followed the homer with a single, but Caglianone lined out to Doyle in center. Sugano returned for the seventh, allowed a soft leadoff single to Perez and retired the next two hitters before Warren Schaeffer went to the bullpen.

Sugano’s final numbers were excellent. Sugano was excellent.

Rockies find just enough against Wacha

Michael Wacha brought an All-Star résumé and a devastating changeup to Coors Field.

Colorado still reached him before he could settle into the game.

Mickey Moniak doubled with one out in the first, staying back on an 80.3 mph changeup and lining it into right field at 92.8 mph. Hunter Goodman struck out, but TJ Rumfield worked through a six-pitch at-bat and served another changeup into right for a two-out RBI single.

Kyle Karros followed by jumping on a first-pitch cutter for a hard ground-ball single to center. The Rockies led 1-0 after one inning.

Wacha responded quickly.

He retired Colorado in order in the second, then struck out the side in the third. Jake McCarthy, Moniak and Goodman all went down on changeups.

Wacha threw six pitch types, but his changeup controlled much of the night. He used it 31 times, more than any other offering, and generated 13 whiffs on 24 swings. Six of his seven strikeouts ended on the pitch.

His four-seam fastball averaged 92.9 mph, while the changeup sat at 81.4 mph. That separation allowed Wacha to disrupt timing without relying on overpowering velocity.

He paired it with cutters, four-seamers, sinkers and breaking balls, then repeatedly returned to it when he needed a finishing pitch.

Goodman saw five different pitch types before Wacha doubled up on the changeup for strike three. Wacha retired six straight hitters after the first inning, five by strikeout.

Karros interrupted that stretch in the fourth.

After Rumfield flew out, Karros lined an 81.2 mph changeup into left field at 103.1 mph. It was his second hit of the night and his second well-struck ball against Wacha.

Tyler Freeman grounded out to move Karros to second, and the inning began to unravel from there.

Troy Johnston hit a slow grounder between first and second. Michael Massey fielded it and threw toward Wacha covering first, but Wacha did not reach the bag in time. The throw went into the dugout, allowing Karros to score and Johnston to advance to second.

Brenton Doyle then ripped another 81.2 mph changeup past the diving Rojas and down the left-field line. The ball left Doyle’s bat at 96.8 mph, and Johnston scored to give Colorado a 3-0 lead.

Tovar nearly added another run, but his drive to right was caught near the warning track.

Colorado did not create constant traffic against Wacha. They instead converted the few openings he allowed.

Rumfield drove in the first run with two outs. Karros created the fourth-inning opportunity with hard contact. Johnston forced the defense to make a play, and Doyle punished the next pitch.

Wacha remained difficult into the sixth.

Karros laid off a curveball and slider below the zone, fouled off a four-seam fastball and then watched Wacha paint the outside corner with a 92.3 mph fastball for strike three. The fastball worked because of everything that came before it. Karros had respected the offspeed stuff, and Wacha used that expectation to steal the edge with velocity.

Freeman followed with a 10-pitch plate appearance before lining a ball at Andrew Velazquez. The shortstop bobbled it but recovered in time to make the play.

Johnston then did nearly everything right. He worked the count, laid off a tempting fastball near the top of the zone and lined a 100.5 mph drive to right with an 18-degree launch angle, but John Rave tracked it down for the final out of the inning.

Wacha completed six innings on 99 pitches. He allowed three runs, only one earned, on five hits without issuing a walk.

Bullpen finishes Sugano’s work

Antonio Senzatela entered with Perez at second and two outs in the seventh.

John Rave immediately lined a first-pitch fastball into center, but Brenton Doyle came up ready to throw and Perez held at third. Josh Rojas then lifted a fly ball to left that Jake McCarthy handled without difficulty.

Senzatela returned for the eighth and struck out pinch-hitter Nick Loftin before Warren Schaeffer turned to Brennan Bernardino.

Bernardino retired Carter Jensen on a grounder to first, walked Lane Thomas and got Jac Caglianone to ground out to TJ Rumfield. Kansas City again failed to turn traffic into a run.

The Rockies went quietly in the bottom of the eighth, leaving Jordan Romano a two-run lead to protect.

Romano did not allow the Royals to make the ninth uncomfortable.

He struck out Salvador Perez, got Michael Massey to fly out to McCarthy and finished the game when Isaac Collins lifted a high fly into shallow right.

Cole Carrigg settled under it for the final out.

Carrigg’s catch secured the 3-1 victory in his first major-league appearance in right field.

The bullpen combined for 2.1 scoreless innings. Senzatela and Bernardino each recorded two outs, while Romano completed a perfect ninth with one strikeout to earn the save.

Final thoughts

Tomoyuki Sugano was outstanding.

He needed only 83 pitches to record 20 outs, did not issue a walk and kept Kansas City from building a sustained inning.

Sugano entered the night as a possible trade candidate. If this was his final start in purple, he gave the Rockies exactly the kind of performance that made him valuable in the first place.

Kyle Karros finished 2-for-3 and scored twice. His 103.1 mph single was the hardest-hit ball by a Rockies batter, and he continued to show the zone awareness that makes his plate appearances compelling. Even his called strikeout in the sixth came after a disciplined battle that Wacha won through sequencing and location.

Troy Johnston did not record a hit, but twice lined the ball sharply directly at a defender. Results have been difficult for Johnston, but his process and contact were better than his final line.

Cole Carrigg replaced Johnston in the eighth for his first appearance in right field. Carrigg has played overwhelmingly in center, with limited time at shortstop, and added another position to his defensive résumé before recording the final out.

Colorado finished 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and produced two two-out RBI. Kansas City went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left five runners aboard.

The Rockies entered the night with 42 wins.

They reached No. 43 before the calendar turned to August, matching their entire 2025 total and closing July with another sign of progress.

Up next

The Rockies and Royals continue their three-game series Saturday at Coors Field, with first pitch scheduled for 6:10 p.m. MDT.

Kansas City will start right-hander Luis Avila, who enters at 5-3 with a 4.95 ERA and 59 strikeouts. Colorado will counter with right-hander Ryan Feltner, who is 3-5 with a 5.73 ERA and 54 strikeouts.

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After a one-hour rain delay, the Royals were quickly beaten by the Colorado Rockies on Friday night, 3-1.

Michael Wacha surrendered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first, which put the Royals down 1-0.

The Royals were completely stumped against Tomoyuki Sugano, the Japanese righty was efficient and effective, going 6.2 innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 run, striking out 2. Sugano induced tons of weak contact, outside a very few select at bats. He finished his night at just 83 pitches.

The Rockies scored the two game deciding runs in the bottom of the 4th inning, when with two outs and a runner on second, a routine grounder to second caused the Royals trouble. The ball was hit right to Massey for the third out, but Jac Caglianone, who was playing first, made a move to field the ball, he was out of position to cover the base, so Wacha sprinted over to get there, unfortunately, Massey’s throw didn’t connect, it was an error, and 2-0 Rockies. The next batter, Brenton Doyle doubled in another run making it 3-0.

The Royals got their only run of the night on Carter Jensen’s 15th home run of the season. It was a towering shot into the right field seats. With two outs in the 6th inning, Lane Thomas followed up with a single, but Cags lined out to center, ending the threat.

The Royals had another shot in the 7th, when Salvador Perez singled, and moved to second on a groundout. With two outs, John Rave singled, but Salvy couldn’t score. Josh Rojas flied out to end the inning.

Michael Wacha was really good again, and again, like all season, received no run support. His final line was 6 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs (1 earned) and 7 strikeouts. Nate Pearson and Easton McGee each looked good in their one inning of work.

The Royals will try and even the series tomorrow night, with first pitch at 6:40 p.m. CT. Luinder Avila will get the start.

The opener of a three-game series in Sacramento saw a highly anticipated big-league debut which absolutely did not disappoint, and a low-scoring game was blown wide open in the late innings as the Tigers won 13-1.

Casey Mize was supposed to be the starter but was scratched because (a.) he might be traded, (b.) his speed was noticeably down in his last start, or (c.) all of the above. So it was a good, old-fashioned Bullpen Day and Tyler Holton got things going. He’s not unfamiliar with the role, as he had nine starts during Pitching Chaos™ in 2024.

Jeffrey Springs got the start for the A’s, and it’s been a rough season for him, especially lately. A month ago he gave up six runs in consecutive starts, and in his previous start he didn’t get out of the second inning. Pitching half his starts at the launching-pad that is Sacramento certainly doesn’t help your stats.

The Athletics got on the board in the bottom of the first: Jacob Wilson walked with one out, and a Jonah Heim double clanked off a diving Riley Greene’s glove in left-centre to score Wilson and put the home team up 1-0, but that was all they’d get, as it turned out.

In the top of the second, Spencer Torkelson singled with one out to bring up Max Clark for the first time in the major leagues. On a full count he took a high four-seam fastball for ball four, putting two runners on for Javier Báez… who grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Henry Bolte, who is the fastest guy in the major leagues, got plunked with one out in the bottom of the second. Dillon Dingler had something to say about him trying to steal a base.

Kevin McGonigle opened the Tigers’ scoring with a solo home run in the third.

Gleyber Torres walked and Dingler followed with a soft single; a Riley Greene groundout acted like a bunt to push the runners up a base. But Hao-Yu Lee grounded out to short and that was that.

Ty Madden took over for Holton to start the bottom of the third. A pair of walks put two runners on with two out, but Tyler Soderstrom grounded out to second to end the mini-threat.

ClarkWatch 2026 continued in the top of the fourth: Torkelson worked a leadoff walk, and Clark served an opposite-field single into shallow left field for his first major-league hit. A lineout by Báez pushed Torkelson up to third, and Ben Malgeri walked to load the bases. McGonigle hit a shallow fly ball to right and Torkelson managed to beat the throw home for a 2-1 Tigers lead.

Meanwhile, Madden settled down and sprinkled a couple of hits here-and-there but nothing the A’s were doing looked vaguely threatening. Drew Sommers took over to start the sixth and he needed all of seven pitches to dispatch the A’s on a pair of strikeouts and a groundout. He also sailed through the seventh: a strikeout, groundout and foul popup to Dingler took eight pitches.

The game was still a tight, low-scoring affair entering the eighth — an unusual occurrence in Sacramento — and pinch-hitter Eduardo Valencia led off the inning with a sharp single. He was lifted for a pinch-runner, Zack McKinstry, who moved over to third on a Torkelson single to put runners on the corners. Clark came up and smacked a double off the wall in left field to score McKinstry, putting the Tigers up 3-1.

Báez snuck another single just over an infielder’s head to score Torkelson and move Clark up to third for a 4-1 score. A hard grounder to third by Malgeri was too hot to handle, and Clark aggressively scooted home for a 5-1 lead; smartly, Clark ran home a couple of feet on the infield side of the third base line to make any possible third-to-home throw that much harder. McGonigle walked to load the bases with none out; Torres hit a hard liner to shortstop for the first out, but Dingler rocketed a grand slam to straightaway centre for a 9-1 lead.

Enmanuel De Jesus, who was just recalled from Toledo, was brought in for the bottom of the eighth. He gave up a couple of very hard-hit outs but ultimately he put up a zero for the inning.

Clark continued his fine debut in the top of the ninth with another double, pushing Torkelson up to third, who’d led off with a single. Both runners scored on a Báez single for a 11-1 lead, and he came around to score on Malgeri’s first major-league home run for a 13-1 score.

De Jesus closed out the ninth — again, some hard contact in there — and the Max Clark Experience was officially in the books. Can we keep him?

Final score: Tigers 13, A’s 1

Bonus Max Clark Content

You want it. You know you want it.

Notes and Numbers

• Hao-Yu Lee’s hitless Wednesday game ended a twelve-game hitting streak for him.
• Max Clark made his debut tonight, of course. In his age-21 season in Toledo before the call-up, he hit .276 in 418 plate appearances, with 11 home runs and 21 stolen bases.
• The Tigers had four rookies in their starting lineup: Lee, Clark, Kevin McGonigle and Ben Malgeri. Another rookie, Eduardo Valencia, got a pinch-hit single as well.
• This day in 1970 was Black Tot Day in the UK’s Royal Navy. For nearly two centuries before this day, sailors in their Navy were given a ration of rum every single day they were at sea. Think that lasted an absurdly long time? Well, the Royal Canadian Navy abolished the ration about two years later, and in the Royal New Zealand Navy it lasted until 1990.

BALTIMORE – Shortly before the Philadelphia Phillies took the field Friday, July 31, desperate to slow their second-half free fall, owner John Middleton and Sam Fuld, their president of business operations, took a tour of Camden Yards’ new amenities, guided by an Orioles official.

The Phillies have big plans for their own Citizens Bank Park, the success of these past five seasons making a refurbishing of their lovely ballpark a well-timed venture.

Down on the field, interim manager Don Mattingly was searching even harder for upgrades.

The Phillies had lost nine of their last 12 games since hosting the All-Star Game, the fourth and fifth spots in their rotation still unreliable, the ennui spreading through the lineup and bullpen. Fresh out of ideas and the trade deadline still three stultifying days away, the Phillies returned promising but erratic right-hander Andrew Painter to the major leagues, not because they envision him immediately locking down a rotation spot.

“He gives us the best chance,” Mattingly said of Painter, 1-8 with a 7.06 ERA his first time up, “to win a game tonight.”

Painter was up to the smaller task at hand, shutting out the Orioles for five innings after a shaky two-run first. He gave them a chance to win. Yet the rookie was powerless to cure every other area failing the Phillies, a notion apparent immediately after he left the game.