It’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto time at Dodger Stadium. Days off for Kyle Tucker and Mookie Betts.
The Dodgers conclude a homestand and their weekend series against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday evening at Dodger Stadium.
Emmet Sheehan is on the mound for the Dodgers in the series finale, with rookie Jake Bennett pitching for Boston, the third straight left-handed starter for the Red Sox this weekend. Bennett has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his last eight starts.
Jason Benetti is calling play-by-play for the exclusive NBC telecast, which will also be streamed on Peacock. Orel Hershiser and Lou Merloni join Benetti in the booth for the call. In addition, Clayton Kershaw will be on the pregame show with Bob Costas, then will join the broadcast for various analyses while sitting adjacent to the third base dugout.
Milwaukee comes into tonight’s game on a high note after opening their series against the Angels with a 6-2 win. With another victory tonight, the Brewers would secure the series and guarantee themselves at least a .500 road trip through California.
On the mound for Milwaukee is left-hander Robert Gasser, who’s been excellent over the last two months outside of a couple of blow-up outings. Gasser has allowed two runs or fewer in five of his last eight starts, though he’s also been tagged for six or more runs twice during that span.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles scratched scheduled starter José Soriano amid deadline-fueled trade speculation. Taking his place is veteran left-hander and longtime Brewer Brent Suter, who owns a 4.26 ERA across 40 appearances (two starts) in his first season with the Angels.
As for tonight’s lineup, there’s a bit of a shakeup at the top. Manager Pat Murphy has moved Jackson Chourio into the leadoff spot after a rough night at the plate yesterday that included three strikeouts and a couple of particularly poor swing decisions. The hope is that batting first will simplify Chourio’s approach, allowing him to focus on putting together quality at-bats instead of trying to do too much.
With Chourio leading off, Brice Turang slides down to the No. 2 spot, followed by William Contreras and Christian Yelich. Right-handed bat Andrew Vaughn will start at first base and hit fifth against the left-handed Suter. Rounding out the lineup are Jake Bauers, Garrett Mitchell, Cooper Pratt, and Joey Ortiz, who’s back at third base tonight
Finally, some roster news from earlier today: Brandon Lockridge and Garrett Stallings are both expected to rejoin the Brewers tonight. Lockridge hit .294 in 28 games earlier this season before suffering a right knee injury while attempting a sliding catch in foul territory. After spending nearly three months on the injured list, he’s back to provide valuable outfield depth behind Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, Luis Lara, Sal Frelick, and Jake Bauers.
Tonight’s game will be broadcast on Brewers.TV, WTMJ 620, and the Brewers Radio Network. First pitch is set for 8:38 p.m.
The Mariners were feckless (1-for-12 with RISP, 11 left on base), but the Twins were more feckless (0-for-7 with RISP, 4 left on base), and so the Mariners scratched out a walkoff win over the Twins thanks mostly to Randy Arozarena and Andrés Muñoz’s first multi-inning effort of the year. This game also featured, although not in the box score, a very good all-around game by Mitch Garver, professional hitter and catcher, and some more solid work by Cole Young, leadoff hitter, and other than that, was basically the baseball equivalent of this:
If you were looking for a convincing, vibes-shifting win, this wasn’t it. But it was A Win, and these days, we’ll take those.
The Mariners got off to a promising start, again scoring first thanks to a leadoff double from aforementioned Good Boy Cole Young, who pounced on the first pitch he saw, driving a fastball hard into the right field corner (see ZAM’s July chart for more on Cole Young, Hard Ball Hitter). Randy Arozarena and Dom Canzone followed that up by waiting out Twins starter Connor Prielipp, taking advantage of some shaky command to work back-to-back walks. With the bases juiced, Julio Rodríguez jumped on the first pitch he saw, but grounded it slowly to short for what looked like a double play. Luckily for the Mariners, Twins shortstop Ryan Kreidler mishandled the ball, allowing Julio to reach safely and a run to score. Not ideal, but workable. This would be A Theme for today.
But Cal Raleigh and Josh Naylor each struck out on four pitches, both having the kind of undisciplined at-bats Dan Wilson bemoaned in a pre-game press conference, putting pressure on the bottom of the lineup with two outs. Mitch Garver worked a good, 11-pitch at-bat resulting in a walk for another run, but Weston Wilson wasn’t able to convert, and the Mariners got just two runs out of a golden opportunity.
Randy Arozarena, whose name has been bandied about as a possible trade candidate as the Mariners fall further and further out of contention, added on in the second with a solo blast to make it 3-0 Mariners.
Two things can be true: I can recognize that trading Randy is probably the smart thing to do for a team that doesn’t look to have found any of its missing mojo as Halloween decorations fill the stores, and also that trading Randy, the only steady offensive producer year-long, would render the 2026 Mariners from “no fun” to “actively Harmful to my health.”
Speaking of Harmful to my Health, the Mariners let Prielipp off the hook with a five-pitch third inning, their aggressiveness failing them as the top of the lineup went down 1-2-3 on just five combined pitches, which I’m going to say again because five pitch innings basically gift a starter an extra inning of work, and that’s just bad process no matter what the rest of the game looks like. Play as a unit, my dudes!
That brought Logan Gilbert right back out after a relatively brief top of the third of his own, and although he posted a 1-2-3 inning once again, it wasn’t without incident. His third out came painfully, as Royce Lewis shot a comebacker at 106.7 mph that caught Logan square on the leg, collapsing the tall man to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Scary! Gilbert came back out for the fifth, though, and if you’re looking for “signs Logan Gilbert is his usual self,” gave up a solo homer on a poorly-located first-pitch fastball to Luke Keaschall. So. God in his heaven, things as they should be, etc. Gilbert said postgame the hot shot caught him on his calf muscle, not bone, so although he was already sporting a pretty gnarly bruise, he doesn’t expect any long-term negative effects.
Perhaps taking pity on their beleaguered pitcher, the Mariners actually made Prielipp throw some pitches in the bottom of the fifth, with Cole Young recording his second hit of the day, dunking a base hit into right, and Canzone working yet another walk to put two on for Julio. Julio put a solid swing on the ball, but it didn’t have quite enough to get over the fence, instead going as a flyout for the second out and bringing up Raleigh with two outs. The Big Disappointer struck out, ending the threat of an answer-back inning and keeping the score a tight 3-1.
That score got even tighter in the sixth, when Gilbert gave up another dinger, this time to Trevor Larnach, who tattooed a terrible changeup from Gilbert for a solo shot. Gilbert threw his changeup a lot today, and his slider even more so, an attempt to counteract the aggressive Twins hitters, who make a lot of contact on the fastball.
The Mariners again had an opportunity to pull ahead in the sixth, thanks to some more production from Mitch Garver, Walk-Master, and Colt Emerson finally getting a ball to drop, but with two outs, Cole Young just missed a pitch from new reliever (and new Twin) lefty A.J. Minter and popped out harmlessly. That would prove to be significant, as the Twins tied it up in the seventh against Gilbert, working deep into today’s game, thanks to a leadoff bad-luck ground ball double that scooted just fair past Naylor; the Twins were then able to bring that run around on some small ball to knot the score at three.
But again, the offense couldn’t answer back in the bottom of the inning against Tommy Nance; once again, it was up to Cal Raleigh with two outs to make something happen. He…did not. The Mariners countered with Gabe Speier, who needed an excellent Cole Young defensive play to keep his first runner, the nine-hole hitter Martin, off base; he then walked the lefty Trevor Larnach on five pitches and gave up a solid single to righty Ryan Jeffers to put two on with just one out. Speier was able to rebound to strike out the lefty Clemens for the second out, prompting Dan Wilson to go to his bullpen to get Andrés Muñoz for an early entrance. It wasn’t smooth, exactly, but Muñoz was able to get Royce Lewis hacking helplessly over a slider to send the game to the bottom of the inning still tied up 3-3.
The Twins brought out yet another lefty, Taylor Rogers, to face Josh Naylor, who promptly dropped a nice line drive base hit into center and then stole second; he advanced to third on a Mitch Garver groundout. But Weston Wilson couldn’t get the job done, grounding out too softly for Naylor to score from third. Wilson pinch-hit Rob Refsnyder for Colt Emerson and the Twins opted to walk him, which is, you know, A Choice. But the Twins wound up looking smart on that one as Cole Young grounded out harmlessly to strand the bases loaded.
With Leo Rivas (who pinch-ran for Refsnyder) in at short, obviously the ball immediately found him in the top of the ninth, and while I’m not saying Colt Emerson could have made a play on it, I feel better about Colt’s chances than Leo’s. Muñoz was able to get out of it, though, getting a groundout and then a good ol-fashioned strike ‘em out/throw ‘em out featuring once again Game MVP Mitch Garver.
In the bottom of the inning, the Mariners got a leadoff double of their own from Randy Arozarena, who laced a changeup from Twins reliever Andrew Morris into the left field corner. Canzone advanced him to third on a flyout, doing his job, and the Twins opted to pitch around Julio, bringing up Raleigh with one out. It wasn’t pretty, but Cal – already carrying three strikeouts in the game – did manage to make contact, hitting the first pitch he saw hard (105 mph EV) but directly at first baseman Royce Lewis. Lewis stepped on first, then looked to throw out Julio at second – except Julio was already halfway there, having taken off on first contact, and was clearly going to get involved in a rundown, hopefully long enough to allow Randy to score from third. Lewis opted to pivot and try to get the out at home instead, and Randy was able to slide around the catcher safely for the game winner.
It wasn’t pretty. Not even close. But it was everyone doing their jobs, from Cal putting the ball in play to Julio’s heads-up baserunning to Randy’s headfirst slide. It’s a low bar to clear, but it’s one the Mariners haven’t consistently cleared this season. Ugly wins are still wins.
LOS ANGELES — Dodgers right-hander Will Klein has struggled of late, and on Saturday was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort. Wyatt Mills was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
That wasn’t the only roster move on Saturday, as Kyle Hurt was also recalled from Triple-A and Cole Irvin was designated for assignment after pitching six innings on Friday night.
Klein was slowly working his way up manager Dave Roberts’ trust tree in the Dodgers bullpen, pitching in increasingly important spots over the first few months of the season. The right-hander’s first third of the season was much better than his second third of the season, and it’s been especially pronounced of late, with Klein allowing runs in each of his last six appearances.
In those last six games, Klein allowed 13 runs (eight earned) on 10 hits and eight walks with eight strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Since the beginning of June, Klein has a 6.11 ERA and 15-percent walk rate, after a 1.88 ERA and 7.3-percent walk rate through the end of May.
On the season, Klein has a 3.67 ERA and 3.43 xERA with two saves, the first of his career, with 49 strikeouts and 21 walks in 41 2/3 innings in his 36 games pitched.
This is the third stint in the majors this year for Mills, with three runs allowed in 4 1/3 innings over five games, with seven walks and four strikeouts. In Triple-A this season, Mills has a 2.41 ERA and six saves in 33 games, with 52 strikeouts and 18 walks in 37 1/3 innings.
Mills last pitched for Oklahoma City on Thursday, tossing two scoreless innings with two strikeouts against Las Vegas.
Also on Saturday, Charlie Barnes cleared waivers after getting designated for assignment on Wednesday, and was sent outright to Oklahoma City. Barnes declined the assignment and is now a free agent.
Last night, the Athletics opened this three-game series against the Detroit Tigers with another loss, falling 13-1 in a game that remained close until the A’s bullpen imploded over the final two innings. The team’s latest blowout home defeat capped a miserable 5-19 July, all but ending the A’s hopes of making a meaningful push during the final two months of the season.
Entering August 20 games under .500 at 45-65, it is imperative that the Green and Gold use the next two months as a springboard toward a more successful 2027 season—one that will hopefully not be disrupted by a looming offseason CBA lockout. The Athletics must find a way to win more games while evaluating their young players to determine who fits into the organization’s long-term plans.
Before the game, the A’s made an expected pitching change.
One of the team’s young pitchers, right-hander Luis Morales, has seen his performance decline this season. Morales’ meltdown yesterday earned him a ticket back to Triple-A Las Vegas. Left-hander Ben Bowden, who posted a 4.22 ERA in 11 relief appearances for the A’s last season, will take his place in the big-league bullpen. Bowden has spent all of 2026 in Triple-A, going 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in 32 appearances.
Another talented young pitcher, right-hander Jack Perkins, will start the middle game of this weekend’s series for the A’s. The 26-year-old enters his 27th appearance and eighth start of the season with a 2-6 record, a 6.45 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP and 80 strikeouts over 68 1/3 innings.
Tonight will be his second start of the homestand. Perkins will look to build on his strong outing against the Boston Red Sox earlier this week. In that game, he was charged with an undeserved loss after allowing two runs on just one hit over 5 2/3 innings. He exited with the A’s leading 1-0 and Boston threatening with two runners on base. His replacement, José Suarez, surrendered a game-winning grand slam, but the loss was still charged to Perkins because the first two runners had reached base before he left the game.
Here’s how manager Mark Kotsay will line up his squad for the second game of the series:
This lineup would make sense for a Spring Training game, not a regular-season contest in the dog days of summer. Unfortunately, for the A’s, that is fitting for a team that has face-planted its way out of contention in a winnable American League West division.
According to A’s MLB.com reporter Martin Gallegos, Jacob Wilson is serving as the designated hitter again, managing a lower-body issue in addition to his persistent left shoulder injury. Nick Kurtz is also out of the lineup, nursing the lingering thumb issue that still causes pain on certain swings.
Only three players in the starting nine have been with the Athletics all season. One of them, right fielder Lawrence Butler, has not lived up to his contract, although he has started to swing the bat better lately.
If the A’s want to snap this three-game skid, they will need left fielder Tyler Soderstrom and third baseman Tommy White to break out of their mini-slumps. Anything they can get from the players batting eighth and ninth tonight would be icing on the cake.
The A’s offense will face Tigers’ left-hander Framber Valdez, who enters his 22nd start of the season with a 5-7 record, a 4.53 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP and 92 strikeouts over 113 1/3 innings. The 32-year-old has not quite lived up to expectations in his first year in Detroit, alternating between good and bad outings.
Valdez has plenty of familiarity with the A’s after spending many years as a Houston Astro. That showed last month, when Valdez tossed seven innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts in his first start against the A’s as a Tiger. The southpaw likely faced a much tougher lineup that day than the one he will see today, so it could be difficult for the hosts to scratch out runs unless Valdez leaves mistake pitches over the plate, something he has been prone to do this season.
And Detroit’s starting nine:
As witnessed last night, this Tigers lineup can score runs in bunches. The club’s top prospect Max Clark, who recorded three hits in his MLB debut, makes this offense even more dangerous. Detroit will look to him and AL Rookie of the Year candidate Kevin McGonigle to lead its lineup for years to come.
In a game where runs could be at a premium, Perkins and the relievers who follow him will need to do their best to give the Green and Gold a chance to win.
Can the Athletics snap this three-game losing streak and get back in the win column? Win No. 46 awaits. It is time to start August with a victory, one the team can hopefully parlay into a long winning streak. Let’s go A’s!
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LOS ANGELES — Cole Irvin fulfilled his duty, pitching six innings in what would have otherwise been a bullpen game on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. On Saturday he was the expected casualty of his own performance, designated for assignment so the Dodgers could fill his roster spot with a fresh arm that would be available for the next few days. Kyle Hurt got the call from Triple-A Oklahoma City before the middle game against the Red Sox.
“Cole did a great job, but we obviously need to backfill an arm, some length,” manager Dave Roberts said Saturday.
Irvin followed right-handed relievers Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein, who covered the first seven outs. Then Irvin got the Dodgers into the ninth inning, with Evan Phillips getting the final two outs. The end result didn’t quite work out, as a five-run seventh inning gave Boston the win, but having Irvin soak up so many innings essentially reset the bullpen, with five more games before the Dodgers’ next off day.
This is similar to Charlie Barnes’ start against the A’s on July 1, in which the left-hander ate up seven innings but allowed seven runs in a loss to the A’s, but got the bullpen a rest day smack dab in the middle of a stretch of 13 game days in a row, and was sent down the next day.
The veteran Irvin doesn’t have minor league options, having used them in 2019, 2020, and 2023, so he had to be designated for assignment. That opens up a 40-man roster spot, which will likely be useful given that the trade deadline is Monday, offering flexibility at the least.
Hurt wasn’t alone in joining the Dodgers from Oklahoma City. Wyatt Mills is also at Dodger Stadium and was activated Saturday, but they took separate flights to Los Angeles on Saturday morning because both moves weren’t planned. Will Klein was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort.
Hurt had a strong few months in the Dodgers bullpen this season, before wildness and a couple hiccups got him optioned to Triple-A before the All-Star break. Hurt joined the Dodgers once in the interim, and pitched two scoreless innings as the 27th man for the second game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on July 19. That was a one-day affair, but now Hurt is called up for real, having last pitched on Wednesday for Oklahoma City.
In 33 games for the Dodgers this season, Hurt has a 4.59 ERA and 3.77 xERA with 39 strikeouts and 18 walks in 33 1/3 innings.
Tyrone Taylor is one of many names rumored to be on the block as the Mets get closer to the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
And as the Mets continue to start Taylor to showcase the veteran outfielder to potential trade partners, he's been making the most of the opportunity, including in Saturday's 6-2 loss to the Marlins. Taylor's two-run blast accounted for the only offense by the Mets, another blast in what's become a string of them for Taylor.
The second-inning blast was Taylor's 10th of the season, with seven of them coming in his last 19 games dating back to July 4. It's the most he's hit in that span in his career and the fourth-most in the National League during that period. He's also leading the majors in slugging (.951) and OPS (1.389) in that span.
"He’s been phenomenal," interim manager Andy Green said after the game. "Swung the bat as well as anybody in the league. Feels like he’s homering every time we put him in the lineup. Absolutely crushed that ball today. Defends the field, plays with energy, runs the bases well; he’s been great."
Green was asked what's changed for Taylor to give him these types of power numbers and the skipper said it comes down to belief.
"He’s got a lot of confidence right now. He’s turning himself loose," Green explained. "If he misses a pitch, he doesn’t worry about it, he takes a hack at the next one and trusts himself. Hitting is built on trust and he’s doing a really nice job of trusting himself and he has a lot of evidence to trust himself right now."
"Just hard work paying off," Taylor said. "The work I’ve been putting in has been really good lately. And been getting good results. I’ve just been swinging at good pitches."
Taylor is a free agent at the end of the season, perhaps the biggest reason the Mets are likely to move the 32-year-old by Monday's deadline.
But despite the rumors, Taylor is only thinking about the team he's currently with.
"I just started to think about it the past couple of days," Taylor said of the rumors. "I’ve been doing a pretty good job of staying present and just trying to be my best self daily and do what I can to help the team win."
Ironically, his recent success has only made it more likely that Taylor will be traded. And if he is, Taylor will think fondly of his three seasons with the Mets.
"I love it here, man. I got my family out there. We’ve been out here for three years," Taylor said. "I love this team, I love this staff. There’s a lot of resources here that I know other teams probably don’t have. Love my teammates. I love it here."
For the last week or so, one of the questions surrounding the San Francisco Giants is what they would do at second base for the rest of the year. All-Star Luis Arráez will almost certainly be traded ahead of Monday’s deadline, and his logical replacement, Casey Schmitt, is out for the rest of the season with a torn meniscus.
Saturday’s roster moves may not reveal the team’s long-term plans at the position, but they certainly clarify some short-term questions. Before their game against the San Diego Padres — the penultimate game before the deadline — the Giants announced that second baseman Nate Furman had his contract purchased from AAA debut, and will head to the Majors for the first time.
That certainly means that Furman will be the immediate fill-in following an inevitable Arráez trade, but it doesn’t actually tell us if that was the team’s first choice. The other logical solution to play second in August and September is utility player Jesús Rodríguez … and he’s the corresponding move to the Furman call up, as the rookie was placed on the 10-Day Injured List with right elbow neuritis.
Furman has a lot of the same traits that drew the Giants to Arráez, the person he’ll soon replace (for a little while, at least). While lacking in power, the lefty — who turned 25 about a week ago — is a contact maven. He hit .284 in AAA this year, and has a career .289 batting average in his four-year Minor League career. Furman has just a 12.4% strikeout rate and a 4.1% swinging strike rate this season, the latter of which is third-lowest among 145 qualified AAA hitters. He has a .775 OPS and a 107 wRC+ with Sacramento on the year.
Like Arráez, Furman heads to San Francisco with a less-than-stellar defensive reputation. If he can make the gains that Arráez did with Ron Washington, that will go a long way towards determining whether he can have a successful MLB career, or if he’s just up for a cup of coffee. He also has, for now, limited defensive versatility: while Furman played some third base when he first entered the Minors, he’s been exclusively a second baseman for the last two seasons.
Furman, who was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training this year, was a fourth-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft by the Cleveland Guardians. He was traded to the Giants as the Player to Be Named Later in the 2024 Alex Cobb deal, along with Jacob Bresnahan, one of the top pitching prospects in the organization. That trade is looking pretty darn good for the Giants right about now!
As for Rodríguez, who mostly played catcher this year but has played some second base and outfield, hopefully his IL stint is a short one. He’s hit .235/.316/.412 for a .728 OPS and a 104 wRC+ through 58 plate appearances in his debut season.
It’s the first game of August! Rejoice, San Francisco Giants fans …. the season won’t go on much longer. The Giants are in sunny SoCal for this contest, as they play the third of four games against the San Diego Padres.
Right-hander Tyler Mahle takes the mound for the Giants, in what could very possibly be his final start with the team. The veteran has made 17 starts this year, and is 3-9 with a 4.96 ERA, a 4.41 FIP, and 80 strikeouts to 35 walks in 89 innings. After a rough start to the year, Mahle has been much better lately, and he was excellent his last time out, when he tossed six shutout frames against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Giants are likely hoping that his recent hot stretch will make him a tradable asset ahead of Monday’s deadline.
For the Padres, it’s old foe Walker Buehler, a right-hander. The two-time All-Star, who tormented the Giants for years while on the Los Angeles Dodgers, is trying to get his career back on track but is having a rough go of it. In 21 starts this year, the 32-year old is 6-5 with a 5.13 ERA, a 4.35 FIP, and 91 strikeouts to 42 walks in exactly 100 innings. In his last start, against the Miami Marlins, Buehler gave up three runs (two earned) in 5.1 innings.
Enjoy the game, everyone!
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Giants
RHP. Tyler Mahle
Padres
RHP. Walker Buehler
Who: San Francisco Giants (47-63) vs. San Diego Padres (56-54)
Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California
When: 5:40 p.m. PT
Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area
National broadcast: n/a
Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM
A decade ago, superstar forward Kevin Durant made the league-altering decision to join the Golden State Warriors in free agency, forming an unstoppable force in the NBA.
He's seven years removed from that era, having since joined the Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns and now Houston Rockets. However, there are a few moments that make Durant reminisce on his days in the Bay Area.
The latest occurred following a USA Basketball practice, when the 16-time All-Star was asked about LeBron James and his decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers for his 24th NBA season, and whether the Sixers are top contenders for the NBA title.
"For sure! You don't think so?" Durant responded to a reporter's question. "The last time they put three 20-point scorers on a team, they said it was unfair, which was the (Warriors) team I was on. (The Sixers) have got four 25-point scorers on this team. So, hell yeah, I think they’re going to be a contender. They're going to be a great team to watch."
What an afternoon. We saw both the best and worst from Twins starter Connor Prielipp, the lineup looked completely dead for half of the game yet again, and a great defensive stop from Royce Lewis at first base actually led to a decision that only comes when you’re new to a position. This one had a bit of everything.
It was about as rough of a first inning as possible for rookie Connor Prielipp. Second baseman Cole Young doubled on Prielipp’s first pitch of the game, and then he walked the next two Mariners on nine total pitches to load the bases with no outs. Julio Rodriguez then singled on the first pitch HE saw and it was 1-0 Seattle before Prielipp even worked up a sweat. He walked in one more run a few batters later, but the young lefty struckout the side in the midst of all this chaos to limit the damage.
Seattle got one more in the second inning thanks to a solo homer by Randy Arozarena to make it 3-0, but from there, Prielipp was completely locked in. It took him 55 pitches to get through the first two innings, and then 33 to finish the next 3.1 frames. That’s the exact kind of development you want to see from a rookie starting pitcher and why so many people within the Twins are high on his long term outlook. The Mariners did mount another threat in the fifth inning with two men on and one out, but Prielipp successfully worked his way out of that jam and got Josh Naylor to start the sixth for a cherry on top.
On the other half of the game, the Twins had yet another slow start against an opposing starter. If it feels like Minnesota has been playing from behind often you’d be correct. Setting aside the three and four error slop-filled games last week, the Twins have scored just eight total runs in first five innings of games since the All-Star Break. They’ve taken the first lead in just two of those games as well. It was more of the same against Logan Gilbert and Seattle today.
The Twins had just one hit and baserunner through the first four innings before a Luke Keaschall solo shot got rid of the goose egg on the scoreboard. Trevor Larnach added a bomb of his own in the sixth, and then the Twins played some good small following a Brooks Lee leadoff double and finally worked their way to a 3-3 tie. Minnesota then had a great opportunity to take the lead in the eighth with two runners in scoring position and one out, but Kody Clemens and Royce Lewis struck out to end the threat.
Then, a weird ninth inning happened. With Andrew Morris in to try to send things to extras, Arozarena led things off of with a sharp double and advanced to third on a fly ball. Morris then intentionally walked Julio Rodriguez to put runners on the corners with one out. The Twins brought the infield in for Cal Raleigh, hoping to either get the runner at home or set up a quick double play, and they got exactly what they needed with a hard ground ball hit directly to Royce Lewis at first. Lewis, still fairly new to the position, went to step on first base, but seemed to realize the problem with that mid-play, as you can see below.
A double play where the out at second base is made first would have ended the inning and sent things to extras, regardless of what happened with the runner at third base. However, since Royce stepped on first before getting the out at second, Rodriguez was no longer a force out, meaning all he had to do was get into a rundown and the M’s would go home as victors. Lewis pretty much took the one option that would have led to a Twins loss right then. An immediate throw home likely would have nabbed Arozarena at the plate, and an immediate throw to second would have likely been a double play.
Despite how good he’s looked at the position, Lewis is still very new to first base overall and when a ball is hit at you that hard in a high leverage spot, instinct just takes over. In any other scenario, it actually would have been quite a good play from Lewis, but for now it’s a tough loss that probably says more about the Twins’ lack of offense recently than anything about Royce’s defensive abilities.
The Twins still have a great chance to win a series against a playoff contender tomorrow in a fun matchup between Taj Bradley and George Kirby. On to the next one!
STUDS
DUDS
The Twins have made two midnight trades in a row. Do they have a third in store?
For the second game in a row, White Sox pitchers held the more-or-less-league-average offense of the Rays to one run, but this time the hitters forgot to send missiles out of the park. Or, much of any in the park.
Still despite being shut out, there were some good things to grow on.
Using an opener for Noah Schultz turned out to be a good idea. Jordan Hicks, playing the role for the first time, had a clean first inning, and Schultz then followed with one of his best outings of the year, five innings of three-hit, no-walk ball, the only run coming on a bloop single by Nick Fortes in the fifth off a pretty good pitch:
Schultz had excellent control, especially given his history, throwing first-pitch strikes 12 of 19 times.
The bullpen added two more scoreless innings, the big news there being that Seranthony Domínguez had his second straight strong outing in a pressure situation, so there is hope he can turn out to be solid back-end choice after all.
As for the offense, the good news is that they only made one out with a runner in scoring position. The bad news is that’s because they only had one at-bat with a runner in scoring position, when Sam Antonacci lined out with men on first and third in the fifth.
Antonacci had drawn a walk from Drew Rasmussen to start the game but got caught trying to steal. After that, Rasmussen struck out five in a row, part of his 10 on the day. That would be the only free pass from the Rays, compared to 16 Sox Ks, many, many of them coming on swings far outside the zone, especially on 3-2 counts. So much for the vaunted improvement in plate discipline.
Sox batters did make Rasmussen throw a lot of pitches — that happens when you don’t hit any — especially on a nice nine-pitch at-bat by Edgar Quero in the third that ended in one of his two singles on the day … 40% of the Sox output.
The only person with a rougher night at the plate than Sox hitters was ump Alfonso Marquez, who got challenged more than a youngster claiming he didn’t do the bad thing. Both teams won a bunch, Quero doing particularly well, but Marquez was right enough that all challenges were exhausted by the ninth.
Oh, and the really good news, if you’re going to lose a game — it was over in a Mark Buehrle-esque two hours and 14 minutes.
The loss takes the Sox to 58-52, currently 2 ½ games up up in the AL Central. The rubber match of the series tomorrow afternoon has Anthony Kay and righty Griffin Jax doing the mound work.
San Francisco Giants (47-63) at San Diego Padres (56-54), August 1, 2026, 5:4o p.m. PST
Watch: Padres.TV
Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.
Listen: 97.3 The Fan
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I spent some time this morning remembering the Royals’ last series in Colorado. That was two years ago; the Rockies are in roughly the same place now as they were then, on pace for about 100 losses. The Royals, obviously, are in a very different place. Back then, they were competing for a playoff spot and wanted to steal a couple of wins against an “easy” opponent. The Rockies ended up taking 2 out of 3 thanks in part to a home run that was not and the inability of Garrett Hampson to either get a bunt down or do anything with a 3-0 count.
Last night the Royals lost in part because Royals first basemen always range too far to their right and Michael Massey got a little too nonchalant on a throw to Michael Wacha covering the bag. So it goes. Tonight is a new night, though, and the Royals get to face a new pitcher. Maybe they can’t hit this one!
First, Luinder Avila will be going for Kansas City. I will continue to insist that he is miscast as a starter and the 2027 Royals would be better served by having him trying to pitch in high-leverage bullpen situations. But they’ve also got Randy Dobnak taking up a rotation spot, so they’re kind of stuck with it, at least for now. Perhaps J.J. Picollo can flip Luke Maile for a couple of starting pitchers; until then, Avila needs to do the best he can with the situations he is given.
The Rockies will use right-handed Ryan Feltner. Feltner struggles mightily with the longball, and not just at home. But he also struggles with walks and not getting very many strikeouts. The only pitch he can consistently use effectively is his changeup, but it’s his third-most thrown out of six. He reminds me of Noah Cameron in that he leads the way with a four-seamer, which is also his worst pitch both stuff- and results-wise. He has a sinker that’s much better that he throws far less often, for some reason.
I think if you had told me Tyler Tolbert was going to get as many starts as he has, I would have expected the Royals to have an even worse record. Especially if you had told me they’d be at shortstop. I can’t say I really expected Isaac Collins to be batting fifth at any point since the Royals acquired him until now. I have really enjoyed watching John Rave hit since he switched from a leg lift to a toe tap. I hope he keeps it up, I’m rooting for the guy.