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This season has been an unmitigated disaster for the San Francisco Giants. The bulk of their offseason transactions haven’t paid off. The biggest moves from last year — signing Willy Adames and trading for Rafael Devers — are currently backfiring. And to this point, the splash move of the winter — hiring Tony Vitello straight from the college ranks — hasn’t really panned out.

On the one hand, it’s early. Buster Posey has only been President of Baseball Operations for a season and a half, and he’s approaching trade deadline season, which he aced a year ago. On the other hand, the Giants have been one of baseball worst teams this year, while also committing numerous unforced errors on and off the field. Things just aren’t right.

So we wanted to poll the community on the man at the top: Posey. How are you feeling about him halfway through his second season at the helm?

One of the most frustrating features of the 2026 Mariners has been their inconsistency. They’ll have a great homestand just to muddle through a poor road trip; work a hard-fought series win only to drop the next two; and most frustratingly, follow up a fun, vibes-cleansing win like last night’s game with a real stinker like tonight’s.

To be fair, the odds were stacked against them in this contest: the combination of the Mariners’ allergies to scoring runs when George Kirby is on the mound against the Orioles (averaging less than a run per game of support in his past eight outings!) plus Kyle Bradish and his deadly high-slot curveball plus some absolutely dogwater (hi Angie) BABIP luck for the Mariners made this game an exercise in misery – a misery that was compounded when Julio Rodríguez was lifted in the sixth inning for a defensive replacement. Dan Wilson clarified postgame that it was a hamstring spasm for Julio, tweaked on a leaping play in the sixth, and he’s currently day-to-day.

To be fair, Julio might have just wanted a mental break – the Mariners hitters suffered mightily against Bradish, who came an inning and an out shy of a complete game against a Mariners lineup missing a fair amount of its punch with Luke Raley and Josh Naylor still out and the recent loss of Randy Arozarena to the 10-day IL.

Sometimes the Mariners have bad and brutal at-bats, and we may shame them for that; but sometimes you just get beat by a pitcher who’s really on his game. That was Kyle Bradish tonight, whose bemused, befuddled, and downright bedeviled the Mariners hitters. Some hitters did a better job laying off the pitch, especially in two strike counts, but it was a lot of flailing after curveballs that showed on Gameday as subterranean but must have looked very different in the batter’s box, judging from the quality of swings.

Some of the Mariners did have some success laying off the pitch as the game wound on, and managed to scrape a run off Bradish in the fourth thanks to an adjustment from Julio, who laid off the curveball that gave him trouble earlier and was rewarded with a sinker in the fat part of the plate that he clobbered for a double. He was then knocked in on a well-struck single from Dominic Canzone, who took advantage of a first-pitch sinker at the top of the zone, shooting it right back up the middle.

But that’s all the Mariners would work off Bradish tonight, who departed the game with two outs in the eighth and a runner on (Miles Mastrobuoni, doing his daily Useful Thing by hitting a single), giving way to Yennier Canó. Canó walked Cal, who had just missed a homer earlier – robbed at the wall by former Mariner Tyler O’Neill, adding indignity to indignity – to get to Rob Refsnyder, pinch-hitting for Julio. Refsnyder popped out to end the inning, because that was the only way that at-bat was going to end.

The Orioles, meanwhile, got all they needed in one swing of the bat. George Kirby was good but not perfect, and unfortunately, given that the offense stubbornly refuses to score runs in support of him whenever the team plays Baltimore, that wasn’t enough for a win. Like Logan Gilbert did last night, Kirby found success leaning on his fastball, using it to get ahead in counts, and then would dial up the sweeper as a putaway for both whiffs and weak-contact outs.

Kirby made two mistakes that cost him: the big one came early, in the third, when with two outs he left a four-seamer directly in the lefty loop zone for Gunnar Henderson, who punched the ball over the right-field wall for a two-run shot. It was a two-run shot because nine-hole hitter Blaze Alexander was on with a seeing-eye single off a well-located pitch from Kirby – a bit of bad BABIP luck but magnified by the poor pitch to Henderson.

With the Mariners offense unable to do anything against Bradish, that would have been enough, but Kirby made one more mistake on the day, in his last inning of work. It was almost a mirror image of the previous score: with two outs, Pete Alonso made contact on what might have been a check swing and rolled a snowball down the third-base line, allowing even the slower-footed Polar Bear to reach first. Kirby then got into a protracted battle with former Mariner Leody Taveras and in a full count left a sinker on the plate that Taveras demolished over Julio’s head into the deepest part of the park for a triple. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise solid outing for Kirby, who expressed frustration postgame with the mistakes and said he just had to be better.

“There are two pitches I’d like to have back,” he said.

Three runs over six innings shouldn’t be a prison sentence for a pitcher, although the bullpen couldn’t keep it there: Alex Hoppe issued a leadoff walk to Jackson Holliday, who later came around to score, and in the eighth Michael Rucker allowed a solo homer to Holliday, continuing to roll out the Mariners welcome mat for the struggling second baseman. (The bright spot sandwiched in here is another scoreless appearance by Nick Davila, who has not allowed an earned run over his first 11 appearances with the club.)

The due of Dominic Canzone and Cole Young tried valiantly to turn around the vibes in the bottom of the ninth, going back-to-back off Ryan Helsley, recently re-activated from the IL.

But it was too little, too late, and the Mariners once again find themselves searching for consistency with a bruised and busted roster and a pitcher who wears three runs over six as a personal failing. It’s somehow both inconsistent, and the same old story.

In baseball, we often like to talk about “flushing” a bad game and mentally preparing for the next one – usually the very next day – as one of several stock phrases to describe the ability to move past failure and try to visualize the next success. It’s a particularly appropriate phenomenon in baseball when failure is such an integral part of the sport. But just like the rest of us, baseball players are human and can struggle psychologically to push past particularly difficult instances of failure. Last night’s game, in which the D-Backs were thoroughly outclassed, certainly qualifies as a failure, but today, the team looked much closer to the team that went a combined 29-24 in April and May than the one that’s gone 6-9 in June coming into today’s game.

Unsurprisingly, the team’s fortunes are tied to their starting pitching and today was no exception. Eduardo Rodriguez continues to beat out all of the expected statistics and underlying red flags to maintain the most unlikely Cy Young candidacies of the season. He had just one blemish on the night – a Zach Neto ambush on the fifth pitch of the game that the young shortstop drove out to the home run porch in centerfield that gave the Angels an early lead. Outside of that drive, Rodriguez was spectacular. There was certainly some hard contact throughout his outing, but he did what so many fans and players clamor for: he let his defense do most of his work, generating three separate double plays to eliminate several threats before they started. He also collected an impressive 11 swings and misses while throwing 62 strikes and allowing 9 baserunners (three walks and six hits) over seven innings.

Of course, it never hurts a starting pitcher’s confidence if his offense provides some run support and the Arizona bats delivered plenty of fireworks this afternoon to give Rodriguez more confidence than he might have had already. After a scoreless first inning in which they worked starter Sam Aldegheri around, the bats exploded for five runs starting with a leadoff walk to Ildemaro Vargas who scored on a Tommy Troy triple after a couple outs. But the team then loaded the bases on a hit by pitch and a hard-fought walk to Geraldo Perdomo for a suddenly scuffling Corbin Carroll who turned on an inside changeup and deposited it into the right field bleachers for his fifth career grand slam. In all, the team sent nine batters to the plate in the inning in an impressive offensive showing, but they weren’t done either. The team tacked on another run in the next inning through a Jordan Lawlar double and a single from Troy as well as a two-run double from Ketel Marte that just snuck by first baseman Vaughn Grissom down the right field line. It was great to see exactly the kind of dynamic offense the team is capable of bringing to the ballpark every day after a few series of lackluster offensive results.

This series win is the team’s second straight after a rough stretch to begin the month of June. And while the Angels win-loss record on the year is nothing to write home about, they’ve been playing better as of late (if you can believe it) with an exactly .500 record over their last 20 games. Additionally, if we’re being honest, the D-Backs are desperate enough in an extremely competitive National League playoff picture that they’ll take every win they can possibly get. Next on the docket after an off day tomorrow: another losing team in the Minnesota Twins, their last such opponent before re-entering the fray with consecutive series against the Cardinals, Rays, Giants, Brewers, Padres, Dodgers, and Cardinals again heading into the All-Star Break. It should be a fun couple of weeks – especially if the team plays up to its standards like they did today.

The Athletics dropped their final game of their mid-week series against the Pirates on Wednesday evening, falling to Pittsburgh 12-4. Nothing went right tonight as the A’s were losing big from the get-go, and never really mounted any sort of comeback attempt. The loss drops them to 36-38 but on the bright side the division-leading Seattle Mariners lost tonight so the A’s remain just a game and a half back of them for the lead in the AL West. New series starts tomorrow!

Things were rough from the jump for the Athletics tonight. Right-hander Aaron Civale was on the mound for the A’s, making his first start since going on the IL a few weeks ago. Though he looked sharp in his lone rehab assignment he did not look like himself tonight. Pittsburgh plated three early runs against the veteran right in the first inning, then added two more in the second. The Pirates were up 5-0 before half of the fans had found their seats.

Civale bounded around a pair of singles in the third to post a zero for the frame, but a leadoff walk in the fourth ended his day after just 71 pitches, putting the bullpen in charge for a majority of tonight’s innings.

• Aaron Civale: 3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 71 pitches

Not a great return appearance for Civale, who didn’t look comfortable at all tonight. Maybe the biggest thing is that he made it through tonight without any sort of aggravation of the shoulder injury. He’s lined up to take on the San Francisco Giants next week.

Left-hander Jose Suarez replaced Civale for the frame and allowed a two-run home run to push this game to 7-0 Pirates.

Meanwhile on offense, the A’s bats were struggling against Pittsburgh rookie Braxton Ashcraft. The right-hander held down the offense, issuing just two free passes and one meaningless single through the first five innings.

By now it felt out of reach but at least the bats kept working. Jacob Wilson smacked a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth to get the A’s on the board, avoiding the shutout:

J Willy gives the A's some life 👀 pic.twitter.com/QTlgbpjjoJ

— Athletics on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) June 18, 2026

That was as close as the A’s would get to a comeback tonight. Just a half inning later Pittsburgh got those two runs back and then some, adding on five runs in the top of the seventh to blow this game wide open.

All that was left to do was get through these final few frames. They weren’t totally without entertainment. Rookie center fielder Henry Bolte went yard in the bottom of the seventh for his second career home run and first in Sacramento:

HENRY BOLTE HAS HIS FIRST BLAST IN WEST SACRAMENTO! ⚡️💥 #Athleticspic.twitter.com/ThIuCrRKFA

— Uprooted (@uprootedoakland) June 18, 2026

Then, in the final frame, Zack Gelof, who entered tonight on an MLB-leading 20-game hit streak, extended it at the last second with a ninth inning home run for the Athletics’ fourth run of the night:

Zack Gelof goes deep late to extend his hitting streak to 21 games 👏 pic.twitter.com/0rNDln6892

— Athletics on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) June 18, 2026

21 game hit streak now. After that the A’s went down 1-2-3 to finish this game.

Tough loss. The A’s need to flush this one though and get ready for a big series against a division rival. The A’s welcome the Los Angeles Angels to Sacramento for a four-game series, one that the A’s need to clean up in. It’ll be Gage Jump for the home team, though the Angels have yet to announce their starter for the series opener. Stay tuned…

If you’re an eagle-eyed consumer of random Orioles stats, you might have seen that the Orioles are 7-3 on Wednesdays, so this game was pretty much in the bag before a pitch was thrown. Or was it that incredibly involved handshake Pete Alonso and Adley Rutschman tried out in the dugout? Or was it … Kyle Bradish being awesome?

Chalk it up to luck, or skill, or what, this was an excellent all-around win for the Orioles. After a deflating offensive performance on Tuesday night, the team hitters managed a solid eight-hit, three-run effort against Seattle’s George Kirby, a solid competitor with a great fastball. As for Baltimore starter, Kyle Bradish, what to say other than that this was arguably his finest start of the year. The right hander pitched into the eighth inning (7.2 IP), allowing just one run on five hits while punching out twelve. His curveball was sick.

It’s been an up-and-down season for the Tommy John survivor, but if he’s snapping off breaking balls like this, hitters, beware. He’s finding his ace form again.

The two starters traded zeros for the first two innings. Kirby was throwing heat, with 98 dotted on the corners, and he retired Taylor Ward, Gunnar Henderson, and Adley in order.

Bradish got through a clean first inning himself, largely because Adley Rutschman is a good catcher. Bradish struck out J.P. Crawford on a third strike call that Adley challenged from behind the plate, ABS revealing that the ball was in by a millimeter. Gutsy challenge! Cal Raleigh singled. A couple of pitches later, the Seattle catcher then took off for second on a wayward curveball that bounced in front of Adley, but he underestimated his fellow backstop, because Adley slid to the left, grabbed the ball and fired to ring up Raleigh at second. Then Julio Rodríguez went fishing on a curveball.

The Bradish breaking ball claimed a couple more victims in the second. After whiffing Dominic Canzone with another, Bradish walked Victor Robles, a man who is difficult to walk, but Colt Emerson swung over another curve.

The Orioles’ first rally began with one in out the third. Blake Alexander managed an inside-out swing and then, with two outs and a 1-1 count, George Kirby tried to sneak an inside fastball by Gunnar Henderson. He failed. Henderson got all of it, driving the ball 370 feet to center-right, one of the prettiest home runs I’ve seen an Oriole hit this year. See if you agree.

After Gunnar put his team up 2-0, Kyle Bradish managed a shutdown third inning. Battling, he finished off J.P. Crawford with a fastball at the top of the zone, and then he caught Miles Mastrobuoni staring at a slider.

The Mariners got one run back off Bradish in the fourth. Cal Raleigh kept fouling off balls, but he flew out on a 3-2 fastball. But Julio Rodríguez got an outside fastball, and he drove it over the head of Tyler O’Neill in right. I know what you’re thinking, but it wasn’t a makeable play. Then Dominic Canzone singled through the middle, plating Rodríguez. The Mariners were down by just one.

In the meantime, two Orioles hit singles were stranded, of a fashion. Samuel Basallo got thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double, and Blaze Alexander and Taylor Ward hit back-to-back singles in the fifth, Alexander’s second of the game.

Bradish got through a scoreless fifth, courtesy of a breaking ball so deceptive that he bounced one in front of Colt Emerson and still got him swinging through it, and again, his defense. With one out, Connor Joe hit a single that bounced in front of Leody Taveras, who muffed it, letting the ball roll behind him in center while Connor Joe circled the bases. Then, another turn: the relay hit Gunnar Henderson, who fired a perfect throw to third, just in time to catch Joe. Then Adley challenged another non-call, and again, he was right: three outs. Adley really loves that ABS challenge.

How long could Bradish go? Through the sixth? No problem, it’d turn out, again through a combination of curveballs and great defense. Big Bopper Cal Raleigh hit a ball to deep right, going, going, and… caught by a leaping Tyler O’Neill, taking away at least extra bases! You saw it coming all along, right? Then Bradish racked up his season-high tenth strikeout. Snazzy.

I was kind of surprised to see Kyle Bradish come back out for the seventh—at a tidy 77 pitches, no less—but he sure did. And despite walking the leadoff man, he got two quick popouts and a ground ball. And even more surprised to see Bradish out for the eighth, but out he came and struck out Connor Joe, and wow, was this a nice sight to see. He allowed a single, but then racked up his twelfth strikeout. Wow, Bradish.

Last night, the Orioles couldn’t buy a hit after the first inning. Tonight, the cavalry made it With Pete Alonso aboard with a single, Leody Taveras hit a triple off a tiring Kirby. Alonso duly chugged home and made it 3-1.

With Kirby out after six, the Orioles scored a quick fourth run against right-hander Alex Hoppe put Jackson Holliday and Blaze Alexander aboard with no outs, Blaze hitting his third single of the day to move Holliday to third. There would be no RBI for Taylor Ward, who hit into a double play, but in that situation the run still scores, anyway, and 4-1 felt like a nice cushion.

It wasn’t enough of a cushion—but it didn’t have to be, as Jackson Holliday homered to make it 5-1 before closer Ryan Helsley, just off the IL, allowed two back-to-back home runs to make it 5-3. OK, a bit of rust. Then, he started pitching: groundout, swinging K, swinging K. That’s good to see!

This was an elegant, all-around win for a team that alternates between bad and good, depending on the day. I don’t want to prejudge the Most Birdland question, but perhaps most excitingly, Kyle Bradish looked like a fricking ace again. If you somehow hate starting pitching, then give your consideration who Gunnar Henderson, who got the scoring started (that’s important) with a two-run jack off Kirby and had a crucial play to nab a runner at third. Or Blaze Alexander, quietly crushing it in the nine-spot with a 3-for-3 day and a walk.

The Birds face Bryan Woo and the M’s at 4:10 ET tomorrow with Shane Baz countering in hopes of a series win.

Orioles 5, Mariners 3

Back-to-back solo shots in the ninth: Dominic Canzone, +.15 WPA

While down by four: George Kirby, -.12 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

As Ha-Seong Kim has been perhaps the worst player to play as much as he has in baseball this season, Walt Weiss made a number of changes including Matt Olson playing right field to avoid Kim hitting in the eighth. Kim’s performance and Weiss’ clear lack of faith in the Korean makes it fair to wonder if he will make it all season on the roster the way things are going, much less receiving regular playing time. He has been a catastrophe at the plate and not much better in the field. While I do think it remains a worthwhile contract to hand out in the offseason, it has gone about as poorly as possible, starting with his offseason injury.

Braves News

Atlanta is expecting to miss Ronald Acuna for a while, as they will slow-play his return from his second injury to the same hamstring this season.

The Braves transferred Spencer Strider to the 60-day IL in a flurry of mid-day transactions.

The Braves’ losing skid continued with a loss in the afternoon and a loss at night, each featuring sub-par pitching and less-than-sparkling offense.

MLB News

The Phillies optioned top prospect Andrew Painter back to triple-A, as he has been quite poor in his 65.0 major league innings this year.

The Guardians put promising rookie Chase DeLauter on the IL with a fractured rib, calling up former top draft prospect Kahlil Watson to make his MLB debut.

Tigers’ Gleyber Torres is hitting the IL with an oblique strain that appears to be a reoccurrence of an injury he suffered earlier this season.

For a while now, Carson Whisenhunt has been targeted as a key part of San Francisco’s second-half rotation. It’s been quite a long time since anyone who isn’t employed by the Giants thought the team could make a competitive run this year, and as the season becomes more and more fleshed out — and the deadline grows ever closer — even the Giants are forced to reckon with reality.

Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle, respected veterans who represent 40% of the team’s Opening Day rotation, will almost surely be traded, even as they slog through difficult seasons. Adrian Houser will be dangled, with Buster Posey hoping he’s not the only person on the planet who thought the mediocre veteran deserved a multi-year deal.

Add in the recent struggles of Trevor McDonald, who has temporarily stolen Mahle’s spot, and the picture couldn’t be any clearer: sooner or later, Whisenhunt will find himself slotted into the rotation, with a leash of indefinite length as the team shifts their focus to 2027.

Wednesday offered a sneak peak of that future. It may have also accelerated the timeline.

After Tuesday’s game was postponed in the second inning — meaning the starting pitcher, Houser, was limited to just one inning — the Giants needed to cover 17 innings on Wednesday. They learned from their mistake during the season’s first doubleheader, when they called up McDonald to be the allotted 27th man, but never used him, opting instead for a bullpen game and the scheduled starter. This time, Ray — initially scheduled to start the evening game — was pushed up to the early afternoon, to cover the rest of the series opener, which he did brilliantly. And Whisenhunt was brought up for his season debut, and handed the steering wheel for the full-length evening game.

He wasn’t excellent, but he was very good, which is more than Mahle and Houser can claim at virtually any point this season, and more than Ray can claim for most of it. And with that, Posey, Zack Minasian, and Tony Vitello have a decision on their hands. The Giants are 16.5 games out of the division lead, and 7.5 games out of the third wild card, while at no point looking like a competent baseball team (on or off the field, sadly). How can Whisenhunt return to Sacramento, where he’s already spent more than 280 innings honing his craft? How, after the way he pitched on Wednesday?

It was hairy at the start, admittedly. He fell behind 3-0 to the leadoff hitter, former Giant Mauricio Dubón, and eventually issued a walk to him. With two outs, he allowed a single to Ozzie Albies. It took him 21 pitches to get through the inning — efficiency has been a struggle for him this year — and even at that, it came with a scare, when Austin Riley’s third-out fly ball died at the warning track.

The second inning offered more of the same. Seen through one lens, Whisenhunt wasn’t at his sharpest, as he worked through a leadoff single and a one-out walk, throwing 18 pitches and once again escaping when the final out — a fly ball from Dubón that traveled 376 feet — died on the track. Seen through another lens, he showed his mettle, and was unfazed by danger from a great team. He looked like he’d been there before. He looked like he was never worried.

After those two stressful innings, Whisenhunt settled right in. He needed just seven pitches to cruise through the heart of Atlanta’s order in the third, striking out Drake Baldwin on three pitches, working a mild grounder from Matt Olson, and getting the laziest of fly balls from Albies. He gave up a leadoff single in the fourth, then retired the next three batters on eight pitches. He set down the side in order in the fifth inning.

It helps, of course, when your offense gives you a cushion, and the Giants did exactly that. They once again struck in the first inning — what a lovely sight — albeit with a little help from the Braves. Luis Arráez, who had drawn a leadoff walk, attempted to steal second on what would be strike three — and out No. 2 — to Matt Chapman. The thrown from Sandy León was excellent, and easily beat Arráez, save for one little issue: Albies forgot to catch the ball.

With that, life was gifted to the Giants, who did what good teams do in such situations: take advantage. Rafael Devers slapped a double the other way, scoring a run and keeping the line moving. That would be the only run of the inning, but it helped push rookie JR Ritchie’s pitch count up to 27.

It was the second inning where the Giants gave Whisenhunt a big enough lead that he would have no problem protecting it. It began when Willy Adames, who had homered in the first game, went deep on the second pitch of the inning, hitting a majestic shot exactly 400 feet.

But that was just the start. After a strange sequence — Casey Schmitt singled, Drew Gilbert replaced him on a fielder’s choice, and then Gilbert was thrown out stealing second on a play where it looked like he was only half-heartedly trying to steal the base — a new rally was started when Eric Haase drew a walk.

What followed could not have been predicted: Arráez, who has a reputation for both not hitting home runs and not swinging at the first pitch, swung at the first pitch … and hit a no-doubt home run, just the 39th of his eight-year career.

But if Arráez’s home run was a shocker, Bryce Eldridge’s was not. For the second time on the day, Giants lefties went back-to-back (in the first game it was Devers and Jung Hoo Lee), and with that, the game was broken open.

That was all the scoring the Giants would do until the ninth inning, when they scored a few desperately needed insurance runs. Whisenhunt had stayed in for the sixth inning, but given up three straight singles to open the frame, scoring a run and putting an Atlanta rally firmly in full force. JT Brubaker relieved the youngster and allowed one of the inherited runs to score (Whisenhunt’s final line: five innings, six hits, two walks, two runs, and two strikeouts), before getting out of the inning. The Giants continued with the drawing-headlines-for-the-wrong-reasons relief group, with Sam Hentges and Ryan Walker combining to pitch scoreless seventh and eighth innings, giving San Francisco a 5-2 lead into the ninth.

That’s where they added on, with a familiar man in the middle of it: Arráez. It was a small ball rally at the back of the lineup, with Schmitt knocking a leadoff single. He was then replaced by Jonah Cox, who promptly stole second … a move that was impressive, but ultimately meaningless, as Gilbert was immediately hit by a pitch. After Haase moved both runners over with a delightful bunt, Arráez brought them home with an opposite-field single … the quintessential Arráez hit.

It turned out to be a pretty critical one, too. The Giants had pushed their lead from three runs to five, which was mighty important when they proceeded to give up three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Gage, who was activated off the Injured List in between the games, didn’t have his sharpest stuff. He ceded a one-out double to Jair Camargo (the first hit of his career), and then, after having two deep fly balls die on the track, Dubón finally pushed one over the fence for a two-run blast.

Back-to-back singles by Baldwin and Olson brought the tying run to the plate, and knocked Gage out of the game. In came the unlikely hero, Tristan Beck. He let one of the inherited runners score on a wild pitch, but induced a weak grounder from Albies, before striking out Riley to end the game, and granting the Giants a 7-5 victory.

The Giants haven’t had a lot of good days lately, but Wednesday was certainly one. A dominant showing from Ray, followed by an encouraging peak to the future with Whisenhunt. Six home runs on the day. Two wins against one of the best teams in baseball.

That’ll do.

Despite a valiant comeback effort fueled by four home runs, the Colorado Rockies couldn’t overcome a disastrous second inning by the Chicago Cubs as they dropped the series finale 8-6 to lose the series. They finish their road trip with a 2-4 record.

A mixed night for Sean Sullivan

After an impressive, albeit short, outing for his Major League debut, the Rockies hoped to see more of Sean Sullivan in his second start.

The night started promisingly as Sullivan allowed just one walk as he faced four batters and retired the side on 12 pitches. The top of the Cubs’ order looked off balance as he continued to be deceptive. However, the second inning proved to be a nightmare for the young lefty.

Alex Bregman led off the inning with a walk. Ian Happ blooped a single to right field that fell perfectly in a spot that no fielder could cover. Matt Shaw then tripled to center field to get the Cubs on the board with an early 2-0 lead. An RBI double from Carson Kelly followed to make it 3-0. The struggling Dansby Swanson then stepped up to the plate and hit a fly ball to left field that the wind pushed out for a two-run home run to make it 5-0 and complete the team cycle in the inning.

Sullivan finally got the first out of the inning by getting Pete Crow-Armstrong out on a fly ball. The Cubs remained aggressive as Nico Hoerner singled to right field, followed by Seiya Suzuki’s RBI double to make it 6-0. Michael Busch then singled to put runners on the corners, and Bregman flew out to left field for the second out of the inning to drive in a run and make it 7-0. Happ flew out to right field to end the inning. By the end, Sullivan had thrown 42 pitches in the inning alone.

He rebounded nicely in the third inning with back-to-back strikeouts and a borderline catch by Tyler Freeman in right field. Sullivan then allowed a lead-off home run to PCA in the fourth inning that held up after a lengthy review by the umpire crew to make it 8-1, and then got through the inning without further damage.

His night ended after four innings, allowing eight runs on nine hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He pounded the zone, throwing 56-of-82 pitches for strikes, but he managed just two swing and misses. It was a start reminiscent of Sullivan’s starts in Tripe-A Albuquerque, where the margin of error isn’t large, leading to one ugly inning surrounded by a lot of things to like about him. He’ll likely get another start next week, this time at Coors Field against the Boston Red Sox.

“He got behind in counts and had to come over the plate with his heater,” said manager Warren Schaeffer. “But he came back out and got 1-2-3 in the third and got us through four innings. He knuckled down and did what he had to.”

Sterlin Silver

The Rockies weren’t quite as successful against Cubs starter Javier Assad as they managed just two runs on five hits (more on that in a second) while also striking out just once with no walks. Assad managed an even split of groundouts and flyouts with six apiece while he threw 56 strikeouts of his 92 pitches.

Sterlin Thompson had quite the night as he was the Rockies’ main proprietor of offense for most of the game. In his first at-bat, he collected his first career home run by sending a ball the opposite way to get the Rockies on the board.

The Rockies threatened with a couple other runners following the home run but nothing came of it. As Thompson stepped up to the plate in the fifth inning, he turned on a ball to right-center field for his second home run of the game to make it 8-2.

He added a two-out double in the top of the seventh but struck out in the ninth to end up going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. He became the first rookie in Rockies history to have a multi-home run game at Wrigley Field.

Zach Agnos steadies the ship

After Sullivan managed to grind through four innings, the Rockies turned to Zach Agnos with the hopes of getting a few good innings out of him. Despite the mixed-bag of results on the year, Agnos did exactly what they wanted him to do.

Of course, no pitcher is expected to do it all by himself, and Agnos was the beneficiary of some help from his defense in his first inning of work. Happ led off the inning with a double to right to bring Shaw up to the plate. Agnos managed to get him to fly out deep to center field, where Cole Carrigg made the catch. Happ tagged up and tried to move up 90 feet, but Carrigg fired a laser to third base to cut him down for a double-play. The throw came in at 99.8 mph, the fifth-hardest throw by a player in MLB this season.

Agnos closed out the inning and worked around two walks through his next two innings of work. In a game that could have quickly spiraled out of control, Agnos went three innings, allowing just one hit with two walks and two strikeouts.

He gave way to Jimmy Herget in the ninth for his first appearance after being activated from the injured list. The Cubs managed a couple of bunt hits, but he escaped the inning unscathed.

Late game rally

The Rockies’ offense managed to make things a bit more interesting with a rally in the eighth inning against reliever Ethan Roberts. Jake McCarthy led off with a walk and was followed by a Freeman single. Both runners then moved up on a passed ball with TJ Rumfield at the plate. Rumfield grounded out a ball to first base for the first out, which allowed McCarthy to score and make it 8-3.

Hunter Goodman then stepped up to the plate and blasted his 21st home run of the season, 14th on the road, to straightaway center to make the game 8-5. For Goodman, his 21 home runs are the most by a National League catcher before the All-Star break since Javy Lopez hit 23 back in 2003.

The Rockies couldn’t add on in the eighth but tried to build more momentum in the ninth inning. Facing Jacob Webb, Kyle Karros connected on a first-pitch fastball over the heart of the plate for his fourth home run of the season to make it 8-6. Unfortunately, that is all the Rockies could muster as Webb closed it out for the save.

On the night, Colorado had nine hits, including four home runs, while striking out just three times. However, they went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

“The Boys keep fighting, they keep fighting every night,” said Schaeffer about the comeback effort. “It’s no secret, the league has to know that we keep fighting until the end. It’s what we do and I’m proud of them for that.”

Up next

The Rockies head back home to Coors Field for a six-game homestand starting Friday. The Pittsburgh Pirates roll into town first for the weekend with Bubba Chandler (2-7, 4.76 ERA) scheduled to make the start for the Buccos. Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.98 ERA) will take the pill for the Rockies.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 pm MDT.

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