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The Guardians came out on top in a back and forth high scoring thriller to maintain their one game lead in the Central.

After a 40 minute rain delay neither starter could settle in. Walks were being handed out left and right and it was an absolute battle for the first 4 innings. 

The Guardians would strike first on a 2 run single by Angel Martínez in the first inning with the bases loaded, but the Royals would answer right back after a walk to Bobby Witt Jr and an absolutely scalded RBI double from Jac Caglianone. The Big Rig would avoid giving up and further damage thanks to a baserunning blunder by Caglianone, and a clutch K by The Big Rig.

In the 2nd inning the Guardians wouldn’t wait long to respond as Austin Hedges would lead off the inning with a solo shot to left center field, making it a 3-1 Guardians lead! KC would not be kept down. Carter Jensen would do the damage for the Royals with a 2 run bomb tying the game at 3 in the bottom half of the inning.

After a quiet 3rd inning for both teams, the Guards would get something going in the 4th with a leadoff walk from Hedgey and a single lined up the middle from Brayan Rocchio. Steven Kwan would move both the runners up with a sac bunt, and it would be José Ramírez with the clutch fly ball to right field just deep enough to score Hedgey from 3rd. But the Royals would have a response again in the bottom half. A leadoff walk and a sac bunt would put a runner in scoring position, and that would be the end of the day for The Big Rig (Final line 3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K) as Stephen Vogt would go to Tim Herrin to try and finish off the inning. After a stolen base to get the runner to third base it would be Carter Jensen again getting the Royals a sac fly of their own to knot it back up at 4. But the Royals weren’t done yet. With 2 outs Bobby Witt Jr. would single then steal 2nd and score on an RBI single from Jac Caglianone. The Royals, now up 5-4, would go on to run themselves out of the inning on a soft grounder to José where Caglianone got caught a little too far off second after rounding the base.

The Guardians would once again have an answer. Jo Adell would lead off with a double, and then it would be David Fry’s turn to be a hero as he absolutely smashed a 2 run bomb to left field, putting the Guardians back on top 6-5. They weren’t done yet. After Bazzana ended up on 2nd on a botched attempt to catch a flyball in right field he got to third on a grounder by Hedgey, and scored on a RBI groundout by Brayan Rocchio.

Now armed with a 7-5 lead the Guardians bullpen would lock things down. Shawn Armstrong, Daniel Espino, and Erik Sabrowski would combine to pitch the next 3 innings and only give up 1 hit, walking none, and striking out a pair. 

The Royals would not go quietly. After a lead off single then a spectacular double play on a flyball to deep left field where Kwan and Rocchio combined to double up Michael Massey at first it looked like the Guards were ready to roll into the 9th. But a 2 out single by Kyle Isbel would pave the way for Carter Jensen to crush his second 2 run homer of the game, making it a 7-7 game.

The Guardians’ patience would come to their rescue in the 9th when the Royals bullpen lost the ability to throw strikes. The Royals would walk 6 of the first 8 hitters in the inning including 3 with the bases loaded. The Guardians now up 10-7 would get one more clutch 2 run double from Angel Martínez, before turning to Matt Festa to get the final 3 outs of the game.

Festa had a rocky 9th, but one that was good enough to get the job done. He gave up an ultimately inconsequential 2 out 2 run homer to Salvador Perez then got the final hitter of the game to weakly ground out to first giving us our final score of 12-9.

The Guards look to take the series and lower their Magic Number to clinch the division to 1 tomorrow at 7:10 Eastern. It’ll be Tanner Bibee on the mound for the Guards up against Michael Wacha with Kansas City.

Around MLB:

The White Sox handled the Rockies with ease, both the Astros and Rangers lost, and the Phillies are now only one game ahead of the Diamondbacks with two to play for the last wildcard.

This is the 60th anniversary of the 1966 World Series, in which the losing team did not score for the final 33 innings of the series.

That losing team was the Dodgers. Over the final three games of the series, Jim Palmer, Wally Bunker and Dave McNally of the Baltimore Orioles each pitched a complete-game shutout.

That art of pitching is not in style today. Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched two complete games last October, but he cannot pitch every game, even if he left that impression upon the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Dodgers’ clearest and cleanest route to a three-peat nonetheless rests upon the four shoulders of Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. If the four aces can do to October opponents what the 1966 Orioles did to the Dodgers, or some reasonable 21st century facsimile, we’ll see you at the parade.

Does Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believe his starting pitchers will have to carry the load in October?

“I hope not,” Roberts said.

Read more:Tarik Skubal dominates in final tuneup before playoffs in Dodgers' win over Giants

Friday’s 2-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants offered two encouraging swings. Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages each hit home runs, a reminder that a properly tuned Dodgers offense runs on more than Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith.

Skubal scattered three hits and struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings, which would have gone for naught without the Hernández and Pages home runs. Given that the Dodgers were playing the Giants and the remains of their depleted roster, it was something of a warning sign: this could happen against a postseason team.

No team can plan to score a lot of runs against the Dodgers’ starters. The opposing game plan would be to neutralize them and keep the game close enough to where one or two big swings can make the difference. The Giants, who have the National League’s second-worst record, almost pulled it off.

“When you get to the postseason, they’re going to try to eliminate Shohei and try to make other guys beat you,” Roberts said. “So it always sort of comes to the middle to the bottom of the order, where you’ve either got to get guys on base or get hits, get big hits.”

In October, Hernández is who you want at bat. He has homered in six of the seven postseason series he has played for the Dodgers, including each of the last five. In 33 postseason games for the Dodgers, he has driven in 25 runs.

For most players, offensive production drops in October, when batters face the best pitchers from the best teams. For Hernández, his career OPS is .796 in the regular season and .792 in the postseason.

And, for all his summer struggles, he is batting .354 this month, with an OPS just shy of 1.000. He’ll be, as the league-issued hoodies used to say, October ready.

For Pages, however, last October was cruel.

This October was not looking particularly promising, either. Pages missed 27 games because of a broken hand, leaving him the final six games of the regular season to get his swing back into rhythm.

“You think that you take five weeks off,” Roberts said, “that your timing is going to be off a little bit.”

So far, so good: five hits in 12 at-bats, including the home run Friday.

Pages ended the regular season last year with four hits in his final 28 at-bats. That, Roberts said, tells him this October will be different for Pages.

“I think the one thing is the confidence, how he went into last October really scuffling, and it sort of bled into October,” Roberts said, “where I think right now he feels really confident, swinging the bat well, and the hope is that this one bleeds into October as well.

Read more:Shaikin: For the Dodgers, the varsity will take it from here

“So, I think it’s definitely a different result going into October, and then also his headspace. There’s a lot more confidence this year.”

In 2025, when the Dodgers won the World Series, they ranked second among the 30 major league clubs in runs scored, and in home runs. In 2024, when they won the World Series, they ranked third in runs scored, and in home runs.

The Dodgers rank fourth in runs scored this year, and seventh in home runs. The offense is down some, if not much. In all the national postseason hype, the Dodgers projections will boil down to one sentence: Can anyone stop those starters?

“I think at first glance that’s what you see in our ballclub,” Roberts said. “But we have a lot of talented, really good hitters and I hope they work hand in hand and not just our pitching and defense carry us.”

For the Dodgers, the postseason opens one week from Saturday. If the Dodgers roll out the 1966 playbook, their October stay will be short.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Another streak of strikeouts by a Phillies starter was created last night by Cristopher Sanchez, this one a bit shorter than what Zack Wheeler had. Sanchez struck out the last seven hitters he faced, three short of the ten Wheeler started his start off this week with.

At least that’s something positive.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• So far, it’s a left ankle sprain for Luis Arraez, something of a sigh of relief. How long he’ll be away is still a mystery.
• Bill Giles, former team president of some good Phillies teams and some bad, passed away yesterday at the age of 92.
• Alec Bohm is probably on the way out after the season. Who else is probably going out the door once the season ends ($)?

MLB news:

• Paul Skenes has blamed the WBC for his lack of velocity this season. Look around the game and maybe that isn’t an argument to make ($).
• If you’re looking for a number of games that MLB probably doesn’t want to miss if they miss any at all in 2027, 60 is probably the number you’re looking for ($).
• Alec Burleson leads the league in RBI this season. If the Cardinals want more of that, he’s open to an extension.
• Camilo Doval is going back to the Giants on a waiver claim one year after San Francisco traded him away.

A good chunk of the East Coast is getting slammed by a nor’easter this weekend, so if you’re in the area, we hope you stay safe! Since this current Yankees series against the Orioles is meaningless aside from the obvious goal of staying healthy, the game originally scheduled for today was played yesterday in a straight doubleheader. They’ll take a beat today and try to play tomorrow (rookie Elmer Rodríguez is announced as the probable starter for New York in a cameo), but if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. We may just have a 161-game regular season.

Anyway, the postseason looms on Tuesday! Monday’s league-wide offday is the calm before the storm, but we’ll have plenty of material coming up then so consider today our personal Pinstripe Alley calm before the storm. It’s not all quiet though, as I’m on the Rivalry Roundup, Nick is celebrating the 101st (!) birthday of the oldest living Yankee, and Michael is discussing how the Yankees’ low-minors teams fared in 2026.

Today’s Matchup:

Game preemptively moved up to yesterday for a twin bill, so it’s an offday with Game 162 tomorrow

Questions/Prompts:

1. Assuming Carlos Rodón is not in the Wild Card Series rotation, what do you think is the best spot to potentially deploy him out of the bullpen?

2. Think the Phillies continue their collapse and let the Diamondbacks steal the last NL Wild Card spot from them?

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Cam Schlittler put the finishing touches on his Cy Young season Thursday night against the Rays. It wasn’t his sharpest start, Schlittler needing 70 pitches to navigate three innings, but it put his ERA on the season at 1.95, the lowest mark by a Yankee starter since Ron Guidry posted a 1.74 ERA in his legendary 1978 season, and the third-lowest ERA in franchise history. It’s also the lowest ERA by an American League starer since Justin Verlander’s 1.75 ERA in 2022, which won the future Hall of Famer* his third Cy Young.

*Incidentally, Verlander is making his final career start today in Detroit.

New York Post | Dan Martin: Speaking of Schlittler, you’d expect a pitcher of his stature to be a shoe-in for Game 1 of a playoff series. However, the Yankees are considering saving him for Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series. Max Fried could start Game 1, on extra rest, and thus also give Schlittler an extra day of rest before the Yankees embark on what they hope will be a long postseason run. Schlittler would have enough rest to start Games 2 and 5 of a potential ALDS regardless of whether he pitches Game 1 or 2 of the Wild Card Series. Is it possible the Yankees are overthinking it? Yes, admits pitching coach Matt Blake, but these are precisely the things the club’s staff is paid to overthink.

Whichever way the Yankees line things up, the good news is that their excellent rotation means that they’ll have an ace-caliber talent going every night. As an aside, Andrés wrote up this debate for earlier in the week, and that’s worth a read if you haven’t checked it out yet.

The Athletic | Evan Drellich and Andrew Marchand: Drellich and Marchand report on the looming lockout, and one mark to look out for next year: 60 games. Apparently, if MLB misses 60 or more games in the 2027 season, the league’s national broadcast contracts would extend an extra year, into 2029. That introduces an interesting wrinkle into the owners’ calculus when it comes to this round of labor negotiations. On the one hand, the league would still receive their negotiated dues as part of their deals with their broadcast partners. On the other, extending those deals another year means the league can’t negotiate new national deals for another year; the league is likely seeking to earn a hefty raise on their next round of national contracts. The league also wouldn’t get paid in 2029 under this scenario. 

SNY | John Flanigan: Ryan Weathers threw a live bullpen session yesterday, facing hitters including Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham. Aaron Boone said Weathers was up to 96 mph on his fastball, though called his control a little “scattered.” According to Boone, Weathers is on track to be an option during the playoffs, but it’s unclear if the Yankees will put the left-hander on the Wild Card roster. Carlos Lagrange also threw to hitters at Yankee Stadium yesterday, though it’s unlikely he’ll be on the playoff roster soon. Boone said he isn’t in play for the Wild Card roster and Matt Blake threw cold water on the idea of him debuting in the playoffs, though it still remains a (remote) possibility that Lagrange could factor into the Yankees’ plans later in the postseason if the team advances and Lagrange’s rehab continues to go well. 

SAN FRANCISCO – The sequence was promising on paper. In practice on Friday night, it was spectacular.

Roki Sasaki in the eighth inning.

Tanner Scott in the ninth.

Manager Dave Roberts emphasized they wouldn’t necessarily be deployed in that order come the playoffs, but their performances in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory over the Giants indicated they could be the foundation of a championship-caliber bullpen for the Dodgers.

“I don’t want you to pigeonhole me into using these guys in certain roles, but, yeah, I think it’s just better to have as many guys that you have confidence in leverage (situations),” Roberts said.

Sasaki followed a seven-inning effort by starter Tarik Skubal by striking out two batters in a perfect eighth inning.

Scott retired the side in the ninth to record his 24th save.

On their World Series run last year, the bullpen was something the Dodgers had to work around. They were extremely dependent on their starting pitchers, whom they counted on not only to pitch deeper into games but also make relief contributions. Sasaki’s emergence as closer was as much a reflection of their lack of options as it was of the Japanese fireballer’s gifts. 

The Dodgers should enter the playoffs next month with an entirely different feel.

Scott has recovered from his nightmare season last year, looking more like the Padres relief ace who shut down Shohei Ohtani in the 2024 playoffs to earn a $72-million payday with the Dodgers.

As for the 24-year-old Sasaki, he looks even better as a reliever than he did last year.

“I think the fastball’s better,” Roberts said. “I think the split’s better. It’s also nice that he’s already done it. So, just in total, he’s just a better pitcher than he was last year and a lot more confident. And certainly, the stuff was really good the last couple outings.”

Four of the six fastballs Sasaki threw were clocked at faster than 100 mph.

The other two registered readings of more than 99 mph.

“Overall, he just keeps getting better,” Scott said. “Even when he was starting, I thought he was pretty dominant. For him to get moved to the bullpen as we go into October, it’s huge for us.”

Sasaki started seven games after the All-Star break and was 2-0 with a 3.05 earned-run average. A blister on his pitching hand landed him on the injured list. When he returned earlier this week, he did so as a reliever.

He also struck out two batters in his other relief appearance, a scoreless inning on Tuesday against the San Diego Padres.

“Throughout the season, I’ve sharpened myself technically,” Sasaki said in Japanese. “Compared to last year, I feel much better in that respect.”

Sasaki will likely pitch next in the regular-season finale on Sunday, Roberts said.

He could close out games again in October, as Roberts said there could be games in which he calls on Scott to pitch against a particularly dangerous segment of the opposing lineup earlier in the game.

Scott said he was open to pitching in any situation.

“Just get outs,” Scott said. “That’s all that matters in October. Get outs.

“October is about winning every single game. It really doesn’t matter what roles you get asked to do. Just go out there and do it.”

[Ed. note: if you don’t know the show Derry Girls and the wonderful character Sister Michael, I suggest you remedy that forthwith. It’s much more entertaining to watch than this game, I promise.]

Well, apparently you have some atoning to do, because somehow you’ve arrived here at the 2026 Mariners season, watching a fruitless game between two eliminated teams. The Angels, staving off a 100-loss season, managed to come out on the upper end of this particular tug of war, beating the Mariners 7-5. At this point you might be asking yourself:

And you would be right. The 2026 Mariners: putting the wake in Wake Me When September Ends.

Bryce Miller looked pretty hittable in the first, recording no whiffs and giving up some hard contact. He got stung on a Wade Meckler triple that rolled down the right field line just out of Josh Naylor’s reach; Meckler would then scoot home on a wild pitch, a splitter Miller buried in the dirt. However, the hard contact he gave up did allow for a chance for Dominic Canzone to make an eleventh-hour submission for his best catch of the year. If you read last night’s recap, you know that when I share defensive highlights, that means things are Not Going Well. MLB didn’t see fit to clip this one as a highlight, because they have apparently not watched as much of Dom Canzone playing right field as I have.

Unfortunately, the baseball gods punished Canzone by allowing Bryce Teodosio to make an equally excellent leaping grab to rob him of extra bases in the bottom of the inning, making it a 404-foot out and turning hte Mariners away without an answer-back score. Aside from an eighth-inning home run from Zach Neto off Eduard Bazardo, the other two furthest-hit balls tonight were that one from Canzone, and a 401-foot flyout from Cole Young in the fifth. Ah. So it would be one of these games.

(They were all one of these games.)

In the second inning, Miller finally was able to start getting some whiffs, getting a strikeout on his curveball and one on a nice elevated fastball up and out of the zone he got Josh Lowe chasing after. But the at-bat with Lowe consumed nine pitches, to add to an eight-pitch at-bat he’d had in the first.

To be fair, Miller pitched better than his line tonight, even if he went to some deeper counts than you’d hope. Miller led off the inning by walking Mike Trout on seven pitches, damaging both his pitch count and his FIP, and then tried too hard to get back into it, leaving a first-pitch slider in the middle of the plate for Meckler, who had already tripled off him. Meckler kept it to a single this time, but Vaughn Grissom also swung at the first pitch he saw, a splitter, for an RBI single to make it 2-0 Angels. Thankfully, because this is the Angels, they then made three straight outs to cap the damage there, including back-to-back three-pitch strikeouts; both came on well-executed fastballs up from Miller. It’s nice to see Miller working the top rail fastball again after it’s so often been low and uncompetitive this season.

“I gave up three [sic, it was two] hits in a row on first pitch and was like, all right, they’re gonna come out swinging, let’s be a little more aggressive here. So we went first pitch slider under to Lowe, got a swing and miss out of it. Those are the situations where you have to be a little more aware of what they’re doing, what’s our approach, and then adjust on the fly.”

Canzone finally broke up the no-hitter in the fourth, sending a ball to Teodosio that this time he couldn’t catch, but it turns out you generally need other players to make contact with the ball in order to score runs, and Canzone was left stranded. As someone who had to recap last night’s game, is recapping tonight’s, and will recap tomorrow’s, I have never related to Dominic Canzone more.

The Mariners did get a little traffic on in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Michael Arroyo—on base for the second time—leading off with a line-drive single and swiping second base. Fun player is fun! Cole Young then put a charge into a ball (the aforementioned 401-foot flyout) but unfortunately to the wrong part of the park, and Jhonny Pereda worked a nice nine-pitch walk, but Weston Wilson and Leo Rivas couldn’t pick up those runners.

As so often happens, the missed chance immediately bit the Mariners. The Angels broke things open in the sixth, as the Rube Goldberg machine of embarrassment that is the 2026 Mariners finally got up to full power. You’d look at the Angels scoring three runs in the sixth and think “typical, Dan left Miller in an inning too long,” but it actually wasn’t entirely Miller’s fault. Things started off badly when Miller coaxed a lazy fly ball off the bat of Meckler that dropped between Leo Rivas, Michael Arroyo, and Julio Rodríguez in a trio of futility: Arroyo couldn’t get to the ball, Rivas couldn’t make the basket catch, and Julio was slow to pick up the ball, allowing Meckler to reach second. Miller then walked Vaughn Grissom on eight pitches, again with the problem of the long at-bat. Miller, trying to be less inattentive to baserunners then he’s been, attempted to pick off Meckler at second, but Rivas let the ball squirt out of his glove, allowing both runners to advance. A lineout to Cole Young that could have been an inning-ending double play was missed when Rivas was slow to get to the bag. Then, in the most predictable sequence of events possible, in an 0-2 count Miller tried to go top rail with the fastball again to Christian Moore – not a bad plan, as he’d struck out Moore on that exact pitch the previous at-bat. This time, though, Moore got on top of it for a three-run homer.

“I’ve beat a lot of really good hitters with that pitch,” said Miller. “I don’t know how he got to it but credit to him, good swing. We struck him out on it in the second-at bat, and then first pitch of the at-bat he swung and missed and I actually missed a little bit too much in the zone there. Then got a foul ball and then…yeah. It kind of sums up how the second half of my year’s gone. It’s 0-2, two outs, sixth inning, and I thought that was a good pitch and he got to it.”

While it’s possible to argue pitch selection – maybe Miller should have tried a sweeper out first before going back to the top rail – he also didn’t have a ton of whiff tonight on anything that wasn’t the four-seamer. Attacking Moore, who strikes out over 30% of the time, with a fastball up is a solid plan. The bigger problem is that was a three-run homer and not a solo shot because of the walk and sloppy defense.

The Mariners continued not to do anything against Reid Detmers and the Angels, while Zach Neto added some insurance in the form of a home run off Eduard Bazardo. That’s the fourth homer Bazardo has given up in 5.1 innings pitched in September for a home run rate that ranks…oh who cares, I don’t want to calculate it.

The Mariners did claw back two in the bottom of the eighth against the Angels bullpen – and it was a claw, starting with pinch-hitter Lazaro Montes working a one-out walk. A pair of singles from the top of the order loaded the bases, and then Angels reliever Sam Bachman hit Julio with a pitch, forcing in a run. Michael Arroyo came up with a clutch two-out infield single, hustling down the line to scrape another run on the board. Cole Young couldn’t come up with another big two-out hit against a lefty, old friend Tayler Saucedo, who speedily dispatched Young to quell the threat.

In the ninth, realizing he hadn’t yet done his Earn A Big Payday play of the game Randy Arozarena scored the Mariners’ most ethical run of the night, lacing a triple into right field and scoring Weston Wilson, who had walked. Dom Canzone, my fellow strongest soldier, finally got revenge for that robbed home run, reaching for a slider away and muscling it out onto the netting over Edgar’s in left. That man is strong. That brought the Mariners into a garbage-time score of 7-5 that looks a lot more respectable in the box score than it was to watch, so between that and Bryce Miller, no justice was had in the box score tonight.

“His fate was – it should have been better,” said Dan Wilson about Miller’s outing.

So should it have been for us all, Dan.

Angels 7, Mariners 5

(the arrow changed a little after Dom’s homer but I’m not remaking the chart art, sorry, losing to the Angels still results in getting put in the Shame Machine)

Name game: Michael Arroyo, .15 WPA

Blame game: Cole Young, -.18 WPA; Bryce Miller, -.18 WPA

Shame game: Leo Rivas, -.07 but if WPA accounted for defense, yikes

Game thread comment of the day:

Game Summary

Full recap to follow shortly. For now, fill the comments with good tidings of great joy.

Win Probability and Box Score

Outside the Box Score

• No OTBS tonight since I was mostly following the box score myself.

Comment of the Game

A great turnout tonight in the GameDay Thread with a total of 379 comments at time of publishing. Tonight’s COTG by popular vote goes to Tim Tawa’s dad, JTawa, with his contribution to tonight’s thread. Thanks for stopping by Mr. Tawa, and make sure your son knows he’s got a group full of fans here at the ‘Pit!

Coming Up

The Diamondbacks face the Friars tomorrow at 5:40pm. With Corbin Burnes going on the IL earlier today, good ol’ TBD will take the mound for the good guys while veteran right-hander Walker Buehler (9-6, 4.56 ERA) will get the ball for San Diego.

Scoreboard Watching

• The Phillies lost at home to the Rays earlier tonight 2-0 to bring their lead over the D-backs to a single game.
• Phillies play tomorrow night at 4:15pm on FOX. A loss tomorrow night paired with a win by our Snakes would give the Diamondbacks control over their own destiny for the final game of the season.

The A’s managed to take the second game of their four-game set with the Houston Astros on Friday night, squeaking by their division rivals 6-5 in convincing fashion to even this series up. Thanks to the Rangers’ loss the Astros still remain tied for first place in the AL West. All that means is that the A’s have more motivation to win all over again tomorrow. The A’s will be the squad that sends a losing team to the postseason. Two more games left!

Lopez strong in final start of the year

Taking the ball for the final time this season, left-hander Jacob Lopez entered tonight coming off of easily his worst career outing of his career (2 2/3 IP, 10 ER). That’s put a bit of a damper on what has otherwise been a successful second half for Lopez, who as we all know lost his roster spot for a time before his recent reemergence. Ideally he wanted to end his season on a high note with a strong final outing at home in Sacramento against a division rival.

That’s just what the A’s got tonight. The lefty held Houston’s formidable lineup down tonight, allowing just a couple of hits and a couple walks. Houston put two on in the second but Lopez squashed that rally before it began. The only damage done against him this evening was a solo home run off the bat of Houston first baseman Christian Walker in the fourth. Other than that the Astros couldn’t push anything more across against a pitcher leaving it all on the mound before offseason.

• Jacob Lopez: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 94 pitches

That’s a fantastic way to end a season. Lopez came into tonight coming off the worst outing of his career and bounced back with one of his best of the season. He officially ends his season with a 5.47 ERA, though that doesn’t do justice to how well he pitched in the second half. Baseball is a game of two halves though. It’ll be interesting to see how the A’s view Lopez over the offseason and heading into spring. Something to monitor this winter.

Astros score first, A’s strike backbig

After the Astros took the early 1-0 lead the pressure was on the offense to back up their starter. The A’s hadn’t done much against Houston ace right-hander Hunter Brown, managing just a couple hits and four walks against him. They had chances in the second and third innings, getting a runner into scoring position, but wasted those opportunities.

Their fortunes would turn in the bottom of the sixth. Now much deeper into the game and likely tiring, the A’s got to work. Jeff McNeil started things off with a leadoff single then found himself at second base after a Houston error put Gelof on behind him. Needing to cash in manager Mark Kotsay called for a sacrifice bunt from Donovan Walton, which he executed to perfection. This is where the game turned.

With a left-handed hitter in Carlos Cortes coming to bat Houston pulled Brown (at 100 pitches) for lefty relief pitcher Bennett Sousa. Kotsay countered by pitch-hitting Cortes with the righty-swinging Michael Stefanic. The game of chess worked out in Kotsay’s favor tonight as Stefanic rewarded him with a two-run RBI single to take the lead:

And they weren’t done there either. Rookie infielder followed with another single to put another runner in scoring position, and Jonah Heim delivered a third straight single to bring home Stefanic:

That made it 3-1 A’s. And they still weren’t done. Sensational rookie center fielder Henry Bolte was up next and all he did was swat a two-run RBI triple to make it 5-1:

Still not done, Lawrence Butler followed and grounded out to the first baseman. Bolte made the dash for home, the throw trying to beat him. Which made it there first? Take a wild guess:

What can’t this kid do? If there’s one positive from an otherwise down year, it’s that the Athletics have their long-term answer in center field. And his name is just an addes bonus.

Astros rally, A’s hold on

That six-spot in the sixth seemed like it would be more than enough for the Athletics tonight. However Houston wasn’t ready to roll over just yet, not with the playoffs within their grasp. First they cut into the lead with a solo shot in the seventh to make it 6-2, then they rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth off Luis Medina. He’s lucky he only allowed three as it could have spiraled way more out of control than it did.

Still, the A’s had the lead heading into the ninth and turned things over to Hogan Harris, asking him for three more outs. He was more or less nails, allowing just a walk but promptly wiping him out with a groundball double play to end the game, securing his 17th save of the year.

Closer than it needed to be but still a solid win all around. Lopez dealt in his final appearance of the season and heads into winter on a high note. The offense meanwhile did its job without the long ball, again in large part thanks to Bolte. The bullpen was definitely shaky but they still held onto the lead and the A’s came away with win #64. Thanks to Texas’ loss the Astros are still tied for first in the AL West at 79-81. That just means the A’s will have to win again tomorrow.

We’re down to our final two games of Athletics baseball this year! It’s been a slog at times but we’re all going to miss it in about a week, that’s for sure. For now let’s just soak it all up while we can. The third game of the series is tomorrow night. The A’s are sending right-hander Jack Perkins to the mound for his final start of the 2026 campaign, like Lopez hoping to end his tough season on a high note. Houston meanwhile has yet to announce their starter so stay tuned there.

The Dodgers (98-62) shutout the Giants (65-95) Friday night in San Francisco behind a dominant Tarik Skubal and a pair of home runs from Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages.

Despite a Giants lineup more akin to a Triple-A squad, Skubal looked completely dominant and efficient against the San Francisco bats. Skubal struck out 10 over seven shutout innings, and he only made 75 pitches in his final tuneup before his first postseason start with the Dodgers.

Will Smith’s health and success is key to the Dodgers heading into the postseason. Smith came into the game hitting .400 with eight hits including three home runs in his last seven games. Smith continued his hot hitting and lined a single in the first inning to give the Dodgers two runners in scoring position with two outs against Yunior Marté.

While Smith and Pages continued to ramp up their offense with solid nights at the plate, Shohei Ohtani had a rough one. Ohtani went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

There were three outfield assists in the first three innings of the game. Both teams attempted to stretch singles into doubles but were shut down with laser throws from the outfield.

Pages showed off his arm in center field in the bottom of the first behind Skubal, throwing out Victor Bericoto at second. Bericoto must not have read the scouting report on Pages and his cannon in center.

Teoscar Hernández quickly crushed the first pitch he saw from Marte for a solo homer to left to put the Dodgers on the board.

Pages has been trying to get at-bats in after missing more than a month. He looked in midseason form when he launched a solo home run to make it 2-0 in favor of the Dodgers, his first round-tripper since coming off the injured list.

Both teams tried to stretch singles into doubles but got mowed down by the opposition at second base. Kiké Hernández was thrown out by Marcelo Mayer at second for the second outfield assist of the game.

Smith collected his second hit of the night, a two-out single in the bottom of the third. Smith also tried to leg out a double, but was once again blocked by Mayer. The Dodgers challenged the call on the field, but the trifecta of outfield assists stood intact.

There was no need to push Skubal any further without anything on the line for the Dodgers during this final weekend series. Roki Sasaki took over for Skubal out of the bullpen for the eighth inning and struck out two. Sasaki and his giant yellow glove will certainly be looked to out of relief during the NLDS.

America’s Catcher, Smith, picked up his third hit of the night in the top of the ninth. Despite the late-inning base runners, the Dodgers couldn’t add on to their lead.

Tanner Scott took the ball with a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth and secured the 2-0 shutout win with two strikeouts to put a bow on it.

Friday particulars

Home runs: Teoscar Hernández (16), Andy Pages (22)

WP — Tarik Skubal(12-7): 7 IP, 3 hits, no runs, no walks, 10 strikeouts (75 pitches)

LP — Yunior Marté(0-2): 5 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts (69 pitches)

S —Tanner Scott (24): 1 1P, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers and Giants face each other in the penultimate regular season game Saturday (1:05 p.m., SportsNet LA). Blake Snell (4-1, 1.86 ERA, 1.09 WHIP) looks to head into the postseason on a strong note. Fellow lefty Matt Wilkinson (1-3, 3.65 ERA, 1.01 WHIP) starts for the Giants. 

SAN FRANCISCO –– In his final tune-up of the regular season, Tarik Skubal looked like a well-oiled machine.

After looking good, but not often great, in his first couple months with the Dodgers, the team’s marquee trade deadline acquisition tapped back into his two-time Cy Young-winning form on Friday night, carving up the San Francisco Giants in a 2-0 win that could portend big things in the playoffs.

“That was the best we’ve seen,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He was on a mission tonight. You could see it. Everything was working … Incredibly good.”

During his scoreless seven-inning start, Skubal struck out 10 batters and allowed just three hits. He didn’t issue a walk. He hardly even looked stressed during an uber-efficient 75-pitch domination.

In his entire MLB career, the only time he posted a better stat line might have been in his lone complete-game shutout last year against the Cleveland Guardians.

 “It’s just pitching aggressive and challenging them,” Skubal said. “Tough park to hit in. And the wind seemed like it was blowing in, kind of keeping fly balls in the yard tonight. So just challenge them and see how far they can hit it.”

The Dodgers, of course, didn’t need proof of such excellence from Skubal.

When they acquired him from the Tigers two months ago, they knew they had landed the one player available at this year’s deadline capable of significantly boosting their World Series odds.

Still, the left-hander’s acclimation process wasn’t exactly seamless.

He felt like he was being “a little too fine” at times, recording only one start without a walk in his first nine Dodgers outings. He didn’t have a scoreless performance until two weeks ago in Cincinnati, when he blanked the Reds over seven innings with nine strikeouts and only three hits allowed. And even then, he turned right back around and allowed four runs in five innings against the Giants his last time out –– showing visible frustration with himself before spending a few days earlier this week away from the team on the bereavement list.

“I’m not attacking the way I know how to attack,” he said. “My stuff’s too good to give a guy a free pass.”

Friday’s rematch at Oracle Park followed an entirely different script.

Skubal was handed a 2-0 lead in the second, after Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages hit a pair of home runs in a three-batter sequence (for Pages, it was his first long ball since returning from a fractured hand last week).

And from there, the 29-year-old Northern California native never looked back.

He pounded the Giants with a steady diet of fastballs (even hitting 100 mph at one point for only the third time this year) and changeups (commanding it better than he had for most of the last couple months) while also starting out with a first-pitch strike to 21 of his 23 batters.

“First-pitch strikes [are important],” Skubal said. “Today’s game gets very analytical. I think when I’m really good, it’s at the old-school stuff. Like getting ahead, winning your 1-1 counts, getting guys out in three or four pitches.”

Did Skubal think he “bullied” the Giants’ overmatched offense?

“I’m not going to use that word,” he joked. “That’ll make a pretty good headline if I say that.”

With Friday’s performance, Skubal finished his regular season with a 12-7 record and 2.72 ERA overall. Following his trade to the Dodgers, he went 5-2 and posted a 2.61 ERA in 10 starts, the last four of which were all winning decisions.

“Those numbers are great,” he said. “I think there’s just some things where I could be better. Today was a really good day. But I’ve also had some kind of poor performances … I think there’s always room for improvement. I’m not really satisfied with anything I’ve accomplished so far.”

The only caveat to Friday’s gem: The Giants are trotting out what is effectively a Triple-A lineup, as they limp to the end of a dismal 2026 season in which all of their big stars first struggled, then got hurt.

Still, there are worse ways to enter the playoffs than off the back of what was arguably his most complete start all season.

Friday, after all, was exactly what the Dodgers were envisioning when they traded for Skubal at the deadline.

They will be hoping it’s the start of more things to come in October.

It didn’t matter that Tarik Skubal’s heater zipped across the middle of the plate, belt high to San Francisco Giants rookie Bo Davidson. The Dodgers’ left-hander had been unhittable all inning, and the 100-mph fastball he reached back for to end the fourth was no exception.

It was just the third time Skubal had touched 100 mph all season, and Davidson waved at the pitch, falling to the same fate as his teammates before him, as Skubal struck out the side in order.

Skubal’s final regular-season tuneup, in the Dodgers’ 2-0 win on Friday, went swimmingly. In an efficient seven scoreless innings, Skubal threw just 75 pitches.

That gem brought Skubal’s regular-season ERA to 2.72, and 2.61 since the Dodgers (98-62) acquired him from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline.

At the time, his addition looked like a luxury for a team that already boasted one of the best rotations in the majors, assuming two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani would eventually return to the mound.

When he didn’t, instead landing on the injured list for two weeks, Skubal’s smooth transition turned what could have been a shock wave of a loss for the rotation into barely a tremor.

Even without Ohtani, the Dodgers’ projected postseason rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow is still drawing comparisons to the ‘90s Atlanta Braves.

Next, they’ll test that association under postseason conditions. Skubal’s outing Friday sent him into the first-round bye on a high note.

Skubal only gave up three hits, all singles, one of which third baseman Max Muncy knocked down the line before the soft grounder could leave the infield in the seventh inning. Skubal retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced.

In all, Skubal recorded 10 strikeouts, reaching double digits for the fourth time this season.

Roki Sasaki — continuing to log innings in relief in preparation for his postseason role — threw a perfect eighth. Tanner Scott retired the side in the ninth to record the save.

The Dodgers’ offense came via the long ball. Teoscar Hernández continued his red-hot September with a solo home run in the second inning, his fifth homer in a month. Andy Pages followed two batters later with a home run, his first since coming off the injured list this week.

Read more:Swanson: Is he truly back? Shohei Ohtani showing signs he's regaining MVP form

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.