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It’s been a consistent refrain for weeks now as the Yankee offense has limped through the summer: the lineup will soon improve (NARRATOR: It has not improved). Aaron Boone and the Yankees have maintained their belief that things will turn around for the sputtering unit despite watching the bats flail night after night, every run scored feeling like a precious, nonrenewable resource.

Ultimately, though the offense has not improved of its own volition over the last two months, the impending returns of Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton, and Aaron Judge, will all but force the lineup to get better. So let’s dare to dream a little bit today; how good do you think the Yankee offense will be if it gets back to full strength by the end of the season?

First, we can look at what that trio of veteran bats themselves are likely to add to the lineup. At the moment, the ZiPS projection system at FanGraphs pegs Stanton for a 111 wRC+ the rest of the way, Bellinger for a 121 mark, and the incomparable Judge at 175. Anything close to that level of production would be miles better than what most of the offense has done since Judge went down.

Then, there are the plausible multiplicative effects that getting legitimate bats back into the lineup could have. Adding Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton onto the card could add some protection for the hitters that have struggled in their absence, though the effects of lineup protection are often overstated. However, to lean on a separate baseball adage, hitting is contagious. Better players in the lineup means more runners on base, and more runners on base means more advantageous spots for hitters; the league OPS with runners on is more than 40 points this year than the league OPS with no on one base. Hitting begets hitting, something that we may have forgotten after two months of futility.

As hard as it can be to imagine when watching a recent Yankee game, with the scoreline inevitably heading into the eighth inning tied at 1-1, the ceiling here is high. On May 31st, the day Judge was at last sidelined with a rib fracture that had bothered him for over a month, the Yankees had a 117 wRC+ and .342 expected wOBA, both marks tops in the AL and second in MLB, while their position player unit as a whole led baseball in fWAR. This was a team that had already seen Stanton go down, and had not received anything resembling the best version of Judge, the three-time MVP suffering through a slump in the five weeks he played post-injury. In spite of all that, the club’s offense remained elite, thanks to impressive contributions from the likes of Bellinger, Ben Rice, and Paul Goldschmidt.

That looks to me like the fun scenario, the one where getting healthy sparks the Yankee offense to its previous highs. The bear case, of course, isn’t too hard to see. So many of the club’s hitters have floundered in the time since their captain went down, and it’s possible their slumps continue even as the team gets healthier. It’s also possible that Stanton, at 36, is cooked, that Bellinger needs time to get his rhythm back after missing weeks with a hamstring injury, and most of all, that Judge, who may not be fully healed from his rib fracture when he returns and could also need a few weeks to get his timing up to speed, isn’t the Destroyer of Worlds that we’re accustomed to if he comes back in September.

What’s your feeling? In a month’s time, will we see a fully revitalized Yankee offense, reinvigorated after the injection of three sluggers? Will the struggles continue even as the team gets healthier? Or will we find a middle ground, where the club’s offense improves to something better than average, but not to the level it showed at the start of the year? Let us know in the comments below.

It’ll be a busy day on the site as the Yankees get back in action. It’s a three-game set in Baltimore, which Jeff will preview this morning, before Sam runs down last night’s action in the Rivalry Roundup. Matt profiles Burleigh Grimes, born on this day 133 years ago and one of the game’s last spitballers, and Michael recaps the week that was down on the farm, before Peter’s At-bat of the Week, which features, you guessed it, Ben Rice’s game-changing swing in Toronto on Sunday.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles

Time: 6:35 p.m. EST

TV: YES Network, MASN

Venue: Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips: The Yankee rotation has been elite nearly all season, but they just haven’t been able to be at full strength at any point during their dominant run. Monday was the closest they’d come yet, as Carlos Rodón was set to return today following a strong outing in his latest rehab start for Double-A Somerset, but then news dropped that Max Fried was returning to the IL with a bone bruise in his elbow. This is the same injury that shelved Fried from mid-May well into July, though it’s unclear at this time if it’s a re-aggravation of the old injury or a new one altogether. Regardless, the Yankees will slot Rodón into Fried’s place in the rotation and keep the line moving, ensuring that the long-awaited decision on who would get moved to the bullpen gets punted down the road once again.

Baseball America | Eli-Ben Porat ($): BA took a look at two Yankees prospects having made different but remarkable strides this season. Antonio Gomez has converted into a pitcher after coming up through the system as a catcher, and his 70-grade arm strength behind the plate has transferred over remarkably into a reliever with 80-grade velocity and a pair of plus-pitches. He’s still got a ways to go in his journey to the majors, but Marco Luciano could be knocking on the door after reviving his prospects with New York this season following a move to second base. The position could be in a state of flux this offseason, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. is scheduled to hit free agency and Anthony Volpe is practicing there as well following his ouster from being the full-time shortstop, but Luciano’s power tool is enticing and he’s redefined his process of attacking pitches while still keeping his chase rates in line. If you’ve got a BA subscription, it’s worth a read at what two under the radar guys have done.

ESPN | Jeff Passan: The world has been saying their goodbyes to an icon of the sport since Saturday when Tommy John passed away at the age of 83, and Passan praises the life of a man whose name may be the most synonymous with modern baseball. As he put it: “Every day during baseball season, and plenty in the offseason, Tommy John — always his first and last name together — is talked about, written about, bandied about.” He’s absolutely correct, and the sport would not have had the pitching evolution we’ve experienced over the last decade or so without the risk that Tommy John took in agreeing to the procedure he’d become the moniker for. Rest easy to a legend of the sport.

NJ.com | Jerry Izenberg: Baseball is heading to a bitter labor dispute after this season, and that comes as no surprise to anyone. Though the commissioner may have gotten his start in labor relations Rob Manfred now works first and foremost for the good of the owners, which to be clear is by design. The Players’ Union has a united front on battling against a salary cap but they lack a front-facing leader after the scandalous resignation of Tony Clark, and I think that may be felt in how their message has gotten lost on some fans who see millionaires complaining and a lone team flexing their financial might to long-term success. Izenberg takes us on a journey to remember the advocate for the game that Casey Stengel was, and bemoans that the fans don’t have an icon quite like him in the game today.

The recent surge by the Mets hasn’t changed president of baseball operations David Stearns’ plans to conduct a managerial search after the season.

Stearns said Monday he still expects that interim manager Andy Green will return to the front office next season.

Green was the Mets vice president for player development before replacing fired manager Carlos Mendoza in the dugout in June.

The Mets have won 10 of their past 13 games. Overall, they are 23-22 under Green’s guidance.

“My expectation, Andy’s expectation, is he’s going to rejoin the front office, and I have no reason to believe otherwise right now,” Stearns said before the Mets’ 2-1 win over the Padres at Citi Field.

Are there any qualities Green has displayed that will inform Stearns as he looks to fill the position?

“When we get to that point, I will be able to talk more broadly and holistically about what we would be looking for in the next manager,” Stearns said. “I don’t think right now is the right time to have those conversations.”

Green’s familiarity with the young Mets players has been beneficial, according to Stearns.

“They know him, he knows them,” Stearns said. “He also has some familiarity with our veteran players and that wasn’t completely new to anyone as well. I think any time a manager steps into a new role, having those preexisting relationships is definitely beneficial.”

Jorge Polanco has played only two games on defense after arriving last winter as the primary first baseman. But Stearns said he doesn’t necessarily have to see Polanco, who has been slowed by ankle ailments, play the position this season to form an opinion for next year.

“I think the most important thing for [Polanco] is to get him on a path where he is physically in a much better place in 2027 than he has been this year, and that’s our focus,” Stearns said.

Luis Robert Jr. returned to center field a day after starting his first major league game in left field. Robert didn’t receive any chances in the field Sunday. The next step in the progression for Robert will be receiving consecutive starts in left, according to Green.

The Dodgers needed a get-right game, and apparently all they needed to do was come to Coors Field.

After going 5-11 in their last 16 games, being swept by the Red Sox and Cubs, while also dropping series to the Diamondbacks and Brewers, the Dodgers looked their regular selves on Monday, hitting three homers, while Blake Snell held the Rockies to two hits and one run in six innings on the way to a 11-5 blowout.

To summarize the vibe of the night, through eight innings, the Rockies had as many hits — two — as fielding errors and the best part of the broadcast was the footage from the Savannah Bananas takeover of Coors Field over the weekend.

At least the Rockies tried to come back, putting up a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

Good 1, then downhill

It only took nine pitches for Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) to retire the mighty top of the Dodgers lineup — Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages — on three ground balls in the first.

The Dodgers got on the scoreboard in the second and again in the third and a familiar Rockies killer was behind it all: Max Muncy. In the second inning, Muncy drew a walk and came around to score on a double by Mookie Betts. Sugano was able to prevent further damage in the second, but it got worse in the third.

With one out, Ohtani, Freeman and Pages hit back-to-back-to-back singles to put the Dodgers up 2-0. Then Muncy did what he does best – hit homers and drive in runs at Coors Field. His towering shot went 461 feet to the second deck of the right field stands, increasing L.A.’s lead to 5-0.

“I saw [Sugano get] behind in counts, which is abnormal for him, and then missing over the heart of the plate a little much for that lineup. They are not going to bite,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said of Sugano’s performance. “Everybody knows that those guys bring you in the zone. And I think that was the case early on with some offspeed pitches that borderline navigated their way out of the zone, and they didn’t bite. They got in good counts and that’s how they do their damage.”

Sugano left after five innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts and a walk. He’s now 0-3 against the Dodgers this season in three starts. The good news is that he won’t have to face them again in 2026.

Juan Mejia didn’t fare much better in the sixth when he gave up another homer to Ohtani, an RBI double to Freeman and an RBI single to Pages. Just like that, it was 10-1.

Wasting walks and chances

When a team faces Snell, despite this being only his third start in an injury-riddled season, it’s going to be tough, and you can’t afford to miss your chances. But the Rockies missed a big chance in the third. Adael Amador, Brett Sullivan and Ezequiel Tovar drew three consecutive walks to lead off the inning to bring Jake McCarthy to the plate. Usually a clutch hitter with runners in scoring position, McCarthy was only able to muster a fielder’s choice to score Amador. Jordan Beck flied out to shallow center and Cole Carrigg struck out to end the threat.

“Snell is really good. So he’s going to make an adjustment,” Schaeffer said. “Against a guy like that, you get a shot to have a big inning off of him and then it’s tough to get that shot again. We just didn’t get the job done.”

After three innings, Snell had held the Rockies hitless and surrendered the one run on three walks. The Rockies finally got their first hit in the fourth inning when TJ Rumfield and Connor Norby hit back-to-back singles with one out. The Rockies again weren’t able to capitalize as Amador struck out and Sullivan popped out.

The Rockies had seven total base runners through the first eight innings, but went 0-for-6 with RISP and left four on base. Norby reached once on an error, but it was an uneventful night at the plate for the Rockies vs. Snell and the Dodgers bullpen. That was until the ninth when Edwin Díaz came in.

And now pitching for the Rockies …

TJ Shook, who was just recalled by the Rockies earlier on Monday, pitched must better, only allowing one run on two hits  — which were made worse by a fielding error by Cole Carrigg — in two innings.

For the ninth, with the Rockies regular pitching position player Sullivan behind the plate, Troy Johnston entered the game to pitch. The utilityman gave up a hit by a pitch and a walk, but didn’t allow a run.

“Usually that’s Sully, but with Goody [Hunter Goodman] being hurt, we didn’t want to put him in the ball game. I think that would probably be malpractice,” Schaeffer said. “So Troy’s the next man up and I thought he did a really nice job. He got to pitch in the big leagues.”

A rally in the ninth

Not only did Johnston put up a scoreless frame on the mound, but he also hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. After Willi Castro led off with a single and Rumfield reached after being hit by a pitch, Johnston came up clutch. Amador followed suit with an RBI single of his own, while Sullivan followed with a single, which set up a sac fly from Tovar. Zac Veen then continued his hot start with the Rockies since being called up from Triple-A Albuquerque on Aug. 11 with an RBI double.

Unfortunately, Beck then flied out to end the rally and game.

In the ninth, the Rockies tripled their hit count and more than doubled their runs compared to the previous eight innings.

Up next

The Rockies and Dodgers will be back in action on Tuesday night at 6:40 p.m. at Coors Field. Colorado will send RHP Ryan Feltner (5-6, 5.59) to the mound, while LHP Eric Lauer (6-1, 3.48) will start for Los Angeles.

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Nolan McLean allowed seven consecutive batters to reach base in the first and second innings Monday night.

Only one run scored over that stretch.

It was a charmed life indeed for the right-hander, who watched two other rookies — Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing — combine to nail three runners at the plate in the Mets’ 2-1 victory over the Padres at Citi Field.

“That fires me up,” McLean said. “It’s saving not only the team runs, but me as well.”

McLean survived the rocky terrain to pitch six innings, allowing one earned run on six hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Jonathan Pintaro, Nate Lavender and Daniel Duarte handled the final three innings, scoreless.

Benge threw out Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado at the plate in succession to conclude the first inning. In the frame, McLean surrendered four straight singles after snagging Fernando Tatis Jr.’s line-drive comebacker.

McLean was spotted a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Bo Bichette’s RBI single and Luis Robert Jr.’s sacrifice fly.

In the second, McLean walked Xander Bogaerts (his second walk of the inning) to load the bases with nobody out after drilling Gavin Sheets. McLean escaped, allowing one run, after fielding a comebacker, throwing home for the force and then getting Tatis to fly out for an RBI. But the big play was Ewing scooping up Cronenworth’s single and throwing out Bogaerts at the plate to conclude the inning.

McLean’s start was his 10th in his past 11 in which he pitched at least six innings. It was also his 12th start in his past 14 of allowing two earned runs or fewer. Over that stretch, he’s pitched to a 2.55 ERA.

“He was a little lucky at the outset,” interim manager Andy Green said. “But the competitor that he is, he didn’t let his first two innings dictate the next four. He was really good from that point.”

McLean pitched to soft contact early in the first inning when he surrendered four straight singles.

“Some pretty unlucky hits early from a how-hard-they-were-hit standpoint,” McLean said. “I had a hard time getting a grip on the ball early in the game. I was able to find it a little bit later, which helped me get through it.”

Yesterday against the Phillies, the Twins scored four in the first, failed to add on in the middle innings, and ended up losing the game after the bullpen blew the lead. Tonight, the Twins scored four in the first, failed to add on in the middle innings, but won the game when the bullpen was able to preserve the lead. Though, they were one nice Kody Clemens play away from this being almost exactly the same as yesterday.

Let’s start at the beginning.

After a short rain delay, the Twins came into this outing with a clear strategy against old friend Martín Perez: don’t swing at anything low if you don’t have two strikes, and it worked very well as Perez couldn’t find the bottom of the zone early. The first six Minnesota batters reached to give the Twins an early advantage.

Luke Keaschall led off the bottom of the first with a hustle double, then Perez walked both Byron Buxton and Ryan Jeffers to load the bases for the middle of the lineup. Josh Bell then hit a two run double to give the Twins an early lead, but however you’re picturing this Bell double came to pass, you’re almost definitely wrong.

The broken bat double had an exit velo of 70 MPH and a 44 degree launch angle, an easy fly out if the ball was placed literally anywhere else on the field. A little BABIP luck spun it into the stands and, after some of the bad breaks Minnesota got yesterday, they’re surely happy to even the score in that department. Royce Lewis and Kody Clemens singled on the next two pitches to make it 4-0 Twins, but weren’t able to add on from there as Perez was suddenly able to find the bottom of the zone, rendering their initial strategy moot.

On the other side, things were once again shaky for Bailey Ober, who struggled to crack 87 MPH with his fastball which somehow continues to trend downward. Ober has always been a pitcher who relied more on control than stuff, but back when he was sitting 92-93 MPH, it was much more manageable. The separation he could get between that and his changeup was elite. Now, the changeup is still good, but his four seamer being so slow gives these hitters plenty of time to react and adjust, especially ones as star-studded as this Atlanta lineup.

The Braves were hitting the ball hard off of Ober, but the Twins got lucky as most of those ended in singles or outs. Ober looked to finally be getting into a groove in the third and fourth, but ran into trouble in the fifth when an Austin Riley single and Drake Baldwin double put two in scoring position for Ronald Acuña Jr., who promptly drove them in to get the game to 4-2. Derek Shelton turned to veteran lefty Taylor Rogers, who channeled his old self to get Matt Olson and Michael Harris II to get his team out of the jam.

The Twins had a few chances to add on, but the biggest came in the eighth inning when they loaded the bases with no outs. Brooks Lee was hit by a pitch to start the inning, Kaelen Culpepper had a long AB that ended in a hard hit single, and then Alan Roden laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that the pitcher misplayed, allowing Roden to reach as well and juicing the bases with the top of the lineup coming around. Unfortunately, the NOBLETIGER population is robust in Minnesota in the summer months. Keaschall and Buxton both popped up to first base and Jeffers hit a sharp grounder right at Ozzie Albies to end the threat.

It wouldn’t be a Twins win without a touch of disappointment, right?

Jeff Hoffman and Yoendrys Gomez provided some nail-biting moments toward the end of the game as well. All-Star Matt Olson doubled off of Hoffman with one out in the eighth. Michael Harris then hit a hard grounder to second base, where Clemens made one of the best defensive plays of his career to keep Olson from scoring and record the second out.

Hoffman walked one more Brave to bring up Ozzie Albies as the go-ahead run, who proceeded to hit a deep fly ball to left that stayed in the park. No harm, no foul, three outs, next inning.

Gomez saw what Hoffman did and wanted in on that action, walking the leadoff batter in the ninth inning to make sure he had no room for error to every other batter. He got the next two Braves out, but that turned the lineup back over the All-Star catcher Drake Baldwin, who just missed a game-tying home run, hitting it 369 feet out to Kody Clemens in left field where the wall measured about 370 feet.

No harm (barely), no foul (a foulout would have been preferred), no more innings (phew). Twins hang on to beat one of the best teams in baseball and move a half game out of the third Wild Card spot, which is currently a three way tie between the Orioles, Rangers, and Tigers at 61-64.

STUDS

• Luke Keaschall: 2-5, R, 2B, has reached base at least twice in 10 of his past 14 games
• Josh Bell, 2-3, R, 2 RBI, BB, 2B
• Travis Adams: 2 perfect innings after a short Ober start, 3 K, looked absolutely electric in both innings

DUDS

• NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!

We’ll see you tomorrow night where the Twins will be facing Minnesota legend Tyler Mahle.

Shohei Ohtani paused to admire the flight of his no-doubt home run as it sailed to right-center field.

Clearly on a home-run trajectory, it was headed toward the visitor’s bullpen. From among the trees, Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt’s glove shot up and secured the ball.

As Ohtani circled the bases, the bullpen turned into a mosh pit around Hurt.

In what has been a brutal August for the Dodgers, the vibes were undeniably high.

Maybe all the Dodgers needed was a trip to the Mile High City.

En route to an 11-5 win over the Rockies, Ohtani’s two-run blast in the sixth inning — his second homer of the game — widened the Dodgers’ lead to eight runs, a comfortable lead even at hitter-friendly Coors Field.

Read more:Swanson: Tarik Skubal's gritty starts would pay off if slumping Dodgers would wake up

Even with Monday’s win, the Dodgers have a 6-10 record in August. And they entered Monday with a paltry .672 OPS, on pace for their worst offensive month of the season. For comparison, it posted a .710 OPS in July — its worst complete month.

There are plenty of asterisks to put on Monday’s victory. The altitude in Denver elevates any offense. And the Rockies have the worst record (50-75) in the National League.

Maybe what the Dodgers (75-51) needed most — after dropping three of four to the Brewers at Dodger Stadium and handing over the season series (and tiebreaker if it comes down to that) — was a lighter series to loosen them up.

It was already working by the second inning when Max Muncy scored from first on Mookie Betts’ double into the left-center gap of the expansive Coors Field outfield.

The next inning, Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages singled one after another for a second run.

Then Muncy demolished a sinker that Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano left over the center of the plate, giving it a ride to the second deck in right-center.

It was Muncy’s third home run in five games, and they’ve all been momentum-swingers. His pinch-hit home run Thursday gave the Dodgers the lead over the Brewers — before Edwin Díaz’s blown save. On Sunday, his solo shot temporarily tied the score before the Dodgers’ loss.

On Monday, his three-run blast put the Dodgers up 5-0 in the third.

Dodgers starter Blake Snell, who held the Rockies to one run and two hits in six innings, dominated the first two innings. Even with the altitude affecting the shape of his pitches, he was getting whiffs on his curveball. And he paired it with his four-seamer (and threw just one changeup) to retire six straight batters.

Then in the third, he temporarily lost command. Snell walked three straight, throwing 21 pitches. Snell got Rockies leadoff hitter Jake McCarthy to ground into a fielder’s choice, but it pushed a run across. But Snell avoided further damage by inducing Jordan Beck to fly out and Cole Carrigg to strike out.

He threw three straight curveballs to Carrigg, bouncing the first and last in the dirt, and Carrigg swung at all three.

Getting back on track, Snell navigated around a pair of singles in the fourth inning, before retiring the Rockies in order in the fifth.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers added two more insurance runs in the fifth with a solo homer from Ohtani, a double from Pages and a couple of defensive bobbles by the Rockies.

Read more:'Rare accomplishment': How Max Muncy went from being cast off to longest-tenured Dodger

Ohtani’s three-run homer in the next inning, followed soon after by an RBI single from Pages, made the Dodgers’ lead insurmountable.

The Rockies got one back in the seventh, with some help from Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker, who dropped a flyball. Then in the eighth, the Dodgers took advantage of an error by Carrigg in center field that allowed Ohtani to advance to second. Freeman drove him in with a double.

With an 11-2 lead, the Dodgers sent Díaz, who hadn’t pitched since Friday, to the mound for the ninth. Still working through delivery problems, he gave up four hits, three runs and hit a batter.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

I’d say “stop me if you heard this one before,” but you can’t stop me, because I have a recap to write. The Braves fell behind early, and didn’t hit any homers, losing a close-ish game on the margins to the Twins. When you don’t hit homers, you need BABIP, and when you don’t get BABIP, chances are you’re going to lose. That’s pretty much what happened on Monday night at Target Field.

This game was a weird one in many ways. After a 45-minute rain delay, the Braves grinded Bailey Ober for 26 pitches, but ultimately came up short. Both Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II singled, but Mauricio Dubon fouled out weakly to right on the eighth pitch he saw from Ober. Then, the Twins pulled off some high-wire only-in-baseball garbage, aided by Martin Perez’ inability to keep the ball in the zone. Look, I’ll just post the snip from the Baseball Savant gamefeed:

Basically, a soft double, two walks, a bloop double that basically kissed the chalk that no one was able to run down, a very soft bloop, and then a perfectly-placed slow roller. Put that together, and it’s four runs. Yeah, Perez shouldn’t be walking two guys in an inning if he’s not going to strike anyone out, but… help us out a bit, BABIP gods, eh?

They would not. The funny thing is, the Twins didn’t manage to get much of anything going the rest of the way, but neither did the Braves. Perez basically cruised until the fourth, when the Twins managed two hard liners, but Ryan Jeffers had a weak flyout to strand them. Perez completed five innings with a 3/2 K/BB ratio — no walks after those two to the second and third batters he faced. Victor Mederos had a 1-2-3 sixth, and then Tyler Kinley came on (white flag?), hit a batter, walked another, and gave way to Ray Kerr, making his first MLB appearance since June 15, 2024. Kerr threw literally one pitch, a down-the-middle sinker to Kody Clemens, which turned into a groundout. For the eighth, the Braves left Kerr in the game, and somehow, the Twins loaded the bases with none out again (somehow equals a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a bunt that Kerr threw too high for Ozzie Albies to flag down at first and still touch the base). But, despite me looking very askance at the Braves for deciding to throw Kerr in for an up-down in a close game while still recovering from Tommy John Surgery, he somehow got out of it with no runs scoring, thanks to two pop-outs and a groundout.

That was the pitching slate for Atlanta; the hitting slate was a lot more frustrating. The Braves made Ober throw a ton of pitches, a la the first inning, but to little avail the first two times through the order. After that first inning, they got a leadoff single in the second and a two-out walk in the third, but didn’t do anything with either. They finally broke through in the fifth: Austin Riley singled to start the frame, and Drake Baldwin pulled a double down the right-field line. Ronald Acuña Jr. got a fastball down the pipe on 2-1 at a sad 85.6 mph and yanked it down the left-field line to make it a 4-2 game. The Twins then immediately yanked Ober for lefty Taylor Rogers, and the Braves obliged with two outs in the air.

Atlanta went down in order twice against Travis Adams in the sixth and seventh. In the eighth, Olson hit a dribbler down the right-field line against Jeff Hoffman for a double. Harris followed with a very hard grounder, but Clemens made a great diving play and on-target throw. Hoffman walked Dubon and Albies could have played hero… but hit a weak fly ball the other way for the third out.

In the ninth, it looked like the Braves might make a game of it against Yoendrys Gomez, who walked Mike Yastrzemski to start the inning. But, Riley bounced out, and pinch-hitter Dominic Smith tried to slap a ball on the outside edge the other way and hit it too high, making it an easy play for the left fielder. So, it was all up to Baldwin and he hit the only barrel of the game… except he hit it to left field, where again, it went for a relatively easy out. Basically, the Braves had seven opposite-field fly balls go for outs in this game, four of which would’ve probably changed the game to a substantial degree had they found grass. Maybe pull the ball next time, guys.

Anyway, the loss is as costly in the standings as it could be at this point, which is to say not very much. The Phillies won a one-run game against the Marlins, so the division lead is down to 6.5. The Dodgers beat up on the Rockies, so they take over the second seed. I always just think to myself, “Well, that’s why they have this cushion.” Maybe the BABIP gods will be kinder next time, or maybe the Braves can just hit some homers so they don’t need to sweat another team out-BABIPing them by .100 or whatever.