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The Athletics took on the Los Angeles Angels, looking to win their third straight game and wrap up this interdivisional series victory with a game to spare. Much like the last time these two pitchers squared off, the Angels scored multiple late runs to break a tie game and earn a 5-2 victory. The A’s finished the night 1-8 with RISP, lost another player to injury and saw Max Muncy’s struggles at third base prove costly once again.

Heim Time!

With one out in the second, A’s catcher Jonah Heim sent the first pitch he saw from Detmers 445 feet to center field. His seventh home run of the season, a birthday blast, put the visitors ahead 1-0 after the first two innings of this matchup.

Defense!

In the bottom of the third inning, A’s left fielder Tyler Soderstrom exited the game with left hip soreness. Right fielder Colby Thomas switched to left field, while Lawrence Butler entered to play right. The ball immediately found Thomas in his new position. He made a nice diving catch on a sinking line drive for the third out of the inning.

A’s Waste Chance to Increase Lead

Athletics’ designated hitter Shea Langeliers led off the fourth by drawing a walk. Butler lined a single to left, advancing Langeliers 90 feet. The rally stopped there as Detmers escaped the jam by retiring the next three hitters he faced. The Angels southpaw recorded eight strikeouts through his first four innings of work.

Angels Take the Lead

Perkins walked the first batter he faced in the fourth inning. Then Jorge Soler singled, putting runners on second and third with no outs.

With one out, Angels’ right fielder Jo Adell hit a ball down the left field line that Thomas misplayed, allowing Adell to reach third base and driving in both runners to give the Angels a 2-1 lead. Perkins got out of the inning without allowing any more runs as the Angels failed to bring Adell home.

Detmers quickly got his team back to the plate, throwing a seven-pitch fifth inning to maintain the hosts’ one-run advantage. Perkins matched his counterpart, keeping his team’s deficit at one.

Thomas Redeems Himself

Nick Kurtz singled and then Butler walked to give the Athletics two base runners with one out in the sixth. Thomas hit a two-out RBI single to left, scoring Kurtz to tie the game at two and end Detmers’ outing. The game-tying hit snapped Thomas’ 0-for-19 skid.

Angels’ right-handed reliever Chase Silseth relieved Detmers. He struck out Muncy to end the inning, stranding the two inherited runners and keeping the game tied.

Perkins’ night was done after five innings. He allowed two runs on four hits and one walk, while recording five strikeouts and inducing six flyouts in what was arguably his best outing as a starter this season. Right-hander Justin Sterner entered out of the Athletics’ bullpen and pitched a scoreless sixth inning, wiggling out of some two-out trouble.

Muncy Having A Bad Night

The Angels took the lead in the bottom of the seventh against A’s reliever Geoff Hartlieb. With two outs and a runner on third, Los Angeles third baseman Denver Guzman hit a ground ball that rolled under his counterpart Muncy’s glove and into left field. Josh Lowe scored the go-ahead run on what should have been the third out of the inning.

Not the A’s Night

Down 3-2, the A’s looked to mount another comeback in the eighth inning. They put two runners on with one out against Angels hard-throwing reliever Sam Bachman. Heim walked to load the bases, putting the tying run 90 feet away.

Bachman kept his team in the lead by striking out pinch-hitter Carlos Cortes before retiring Muncy to end the threat. The inning may have played out differently if Thomas had taken the at-bat instead of the slumping Cortes.

The Athletics failure to capitalize on that prime scoring opportunity kept the momentum firmly in the Angels’ dugout. The hosts added insurance runs in the eighth. Infielder Oswald Peraza hit a one-out RBI single off A’s left-hander Matt Krook. Logan O’Hoppe followed with an RBI single up the middle to extend his team’s lead to 5-2.

Angels closer Kirby Yates tossed a one-two-three ninth inning to earn his second save of the season and set up the rubber match tomorrow afternoon.

Seeking the series win, the Athletics will turn to right-hander Aaron Civale, who will make his 14th start of the season and third since returning from the injured list. The Angels will counter with young left-hander Sam Aldegheri, who is 2-3 with a 5.47 ERA through his first seven appearances, including four starts, this season.

One after another, Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing broke up their offensive slumps with home runs.

The Dodgers’ sixth-inning rally, en route to a 15-3 victory against the Padres at Petco Park Saturday, featured blasts from the two hitters who needed individual victories at the plate.

Tucker, who entered Saturday with just a .700 OPS, had gone four straight games without a hit. Rushing went hitless in the previous five, in a rough seven-week stretch.

“It’s tough,” Tucker said of his uncharacteristically slow offensive start. “You just have to try and stay positive as much as you can. ... We’re going to enjoy the win, but you’ve got another game tomorrow, and you’ve gotta move on to that. Anything that happened yesterday, you’ve got to move on, do your best at that, move on to the next game, and try to improve and try to help your team win.”

Tucker and Rushing’s home runs started the sunflower seed showers in a nine-run inning, which included a home run by Mookie Betts. Four of the runs scored in the sixth were unearned.

The Dodgers took full advantage of the Padres’ defensive mistakes to jump-start their offense.

In the second inning, Max Muncy hit a line drive into the corner, and Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. dove after it. But he missed the catch, and the ball bounced behind him. Muncy legged out a triple. And that put him in position to score easily on Tommy Edman’s double to the center-field warning track for the first run of the game.

The Padres evened the score with a Gavin Sheets’ solo home run off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who’d go on to limit the Padres to two runs through six innings.

Shaky defense, however, came back to haunt the Padres the next inning.

With Freddie Freeman standing on second base, after a leadoff double against Padres right-hander Randy Vásquez, Muncy hit a sharp grounder to second baseman Will Wagner, who muffed the play. Freeman raced around the bases, scoring on a close play at the plate.

Read more:Shaikin: Did Padres curse themselves by messing with that anti-Dodgers FTD burger?

Then Edman, who’s been swinging a hot bat since making his season debut last week, tripled to drive in Muncy.

That’s when Tucker, who went three for five with four RBIs Saturday, stepped up to the plate. He won a nine-pitch battle, sending a cutter over the right-field fence.

“Kind of been looking for it all year,” Tucker said. “I just kind of caught the ball at the right point of contact. I didn’t really stay through it great, but I put a decent enough swing on it, got it to work out.”

Rushing was next, and also went long in a two-strike count.

The Dodgers kept extending the inning, with two walks and three more hits, including Betts’ three-run homer off Padres reliever Ron Marinaccio. It was Betts’ third home run in as many games.

The Padres chipped away at the lead with an RBI single from Sheets off Yamamoto in the sixth and another run against Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt, who gave up two hits and issued two walks in one-third of an inning.

But the lead the Dodgers compiled in the sixth inning, plus the four runs they tacked on in the eighth with Muncy’s infield single, Edman’s bases-loaded groundout, and Tucker’s opposite-field single, was too steep to overcome.

By the ninth inning, both teams had position players pitching.

Read more:Dodgers Debate: Ohtani and Rushing, trouble in paradise

Injury update

The Dodgers hope to activate Teoscar Hernández (strained left hamstring) from the 10-day injured list on Monday, manager Dave Roberts said before Saturday’s game.

Hernández homered in all three of his triple-A rehab games, entering Saturday.

“Triple-A pitching is not comparative to big league pitching, I think we all know that,” Roberts said. “But if he’s healthy, he’s an easy guy to bet on.”

Catcher Will Smith, on the other hand, has not returned to baseball activities since receiving an injection to address his neck injury.

“I think we’re all surprised how long it’s taken,” Roberts said. “I hope he’s back before the All-Star break. But the more time he’s off, he’s going to have to play some [rehab] games. So that kind of cuts into the time of return to us. So I don’t really know. I don’t want to add any pressure to him. I want him to be healthy and then once he’s healthy we can have that conversation.”

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Braves’ starting pitching has been absolutely abysmal in June, after being much maligned in the offseason for lack of depth, but surprisingly productive to start the season. It really is “Chris Sale and pray” right now, which is a bigger problem when Sale performs best on extra rest and the offense is struggling. It looked like the Braves might have been able to skate by on their pitching depth to start the season, but injuries (that were always likely to happen) and Bryce Elder crashing back to Earth has rapidly turned this into a crisis. All the wins the team banked to start the season feel even bigger now as the team flounders due to injuries and underperformance.

Braves News

The Braves are bringing Carlos Santana in on a minor league deal, as they hope he can find another few months of productive offense in his career to give some desperately needed offensive depth.

The Braves lost a depressing game 5-0 to the Giants.

MLB News

Royals’ star Cole Ragans will get elbow surgery of an unknown extent this week.

One of the A’s top prospects and one of the best pitching prospects in baseball will get Tommy John surgery.

The Phillies are bringing in Tommy Pham on a minor league deal.

The Dodgers scored only twice in the first 14 innings of this weekend series at Petco Park. But then they erupted for a nine-run sixth inning to blow things open in a 15-3 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night.

Freddie Freeman hit another double — his fourth in five games on the road trip, and 568th of his career — and Tommy Edman tripled to get things going in the sixth, but then three home runs provided a huge cushion.

Kyle Tucker missed nearly three full games with back spasms this week but in reality has been missing for about a month, hitting just .181/.277/.281 with a 60 wRC+ over 25 games from May 25 through Friday. On Saturday he had three hits, including a two-run home run and a two-run single.

Dalton Rushing immediately followed with a solo shot, then Mookie Betts hit a three-run shot to cap the scoring in the frame, his third game in a row with a home run.

The Dodgers hadn’t scored nine runs in an inning since 2021, but they’ve now done it three times in their laast 19 games — nine-run first inning on June 6 against the Angels, 10 runs in the seventh on June 9 in Pittsburgh, then a nine-run sixth Saturday in San Diego.

Through six innings, this was only a 1-1 game, and the kind of support Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been used to over the last few years. But the eruption in the sixth was probably the only reason he wasn’t asked to go out for a seventh inning. He settled for two runs over six innings with four strikeouts, the 13th time in 15 starts Yamamoto has lasted at least six frames.

Saturday particulars

Home runs: Kyle Tucker (7), Dalton Rushing (9), Mookie Betts (11); Gavin Sheets (13)

WP — Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-5): 6 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

LP — Randy Vásquez (6-6): 3 1/3 IP, 8 hits, 7 runs (5 earned), 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Up next

Emmet Sheehan is on the mound on Sunday (1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA), as the Dodgers face Padres ace Michael King in the series finale.

Rochester Red Wings 3, Charlotte Knights 1
The Knights (44-36) scored one early in the bottom of the first but weren’t able to scratch another across, losing to the Red Wings (48-30), 3-1. Dru Baker led off the first with a double (his first of three hits on the day) and scored just a couple of batters later when Michael Turner drove him in on a base hit to right. After that, however, the offense fell completely flat, going 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position while leaving seven on base.

Rochester only had one more hit than Charlotte, 6-5, but they were able to tag Knights starter Shane Murphy for three runs on four hits, three walks, and six strikeouts. Overall the bullpen was fairly strong, as Zach Franklin and Garrett Schoenle adding another three scoreless innings, with Franklin ringing up three batters in his two innings. Murphy still ended up with the loss, as there was no comeback to be happening in Charlotte tonight.

Knoxville Smokies 7, Birmingham Barons 3
Birmingham was ahead of the Smokies (43-31) through seven innings, but the Barons (26-48) blew the lead in the eighth with a seven-run defensive implosion, dropping their eighth game in a row, 7-3. Tossing six scoreless frames with six strikeouts, righthander Dylan Cumming allowed just three hits and one walk, and was set up nicely to get the win, but unfortunately a few errors and six unearned runs were the difference there. The Barons scored one in the second on an RBI single from T.J. McCants, and the final two runs in the seventh off a sac fly from Alec Briley and another base hit from Anthony DePino to make it 3-0.

That’s when everything went haywire in the eighth, and it took three relievers just to get through it. A pair of singles set everything in motion, but a fielding error from Colby Shelton and a throwing error from Jackson Kelley, six of the seven runs that inning ended up being unearned. Kelley wound up with the loss and the blown save, his first of each this season, and the Barons will roll into Sunday in hopes to avoid the sweep and end the losing streak.

Winston-Salem Dash 13, Hub City Spartanburgers 1
The Dash (42-32) got off to a hot start to redeem themselves from Friday’s extra-inning loss, scoring seven in the first four frames before piling on six more later in the game to complete the beatdown over the Spartanburgers (37-37), 13-1. Wikelman González was the opener for lefthander Grant Umberger, making his third rehab start since coming back from the IL to eventually make his way back to the Triple-A Knights. González was spotless for 1 1/3 innings, striking out one before handing the game over to Umberger. He was just as solid, tossing for 5 2/3 innings while allowing one on three hits and a walk while striking out three – thankfully the only run scored for Hub City.

Winston-Salem’s bats started to get going as well, mashing 16 hits as a team while going 6-for-19 (.316) with runners in scoring position, still leaving 14 on base even with all those runs scored. Three of the 16 hits were for extra bases, but the Dash also walked 12 times against 11 strikeouts. James Taussig has adjusted perfectly fine to the next level, already mashing six homers in 15 games; including two more tonight with a grand slam and five RBIs. All while holding a .655 slugging percentage and a 1.049 OPS. It’s a smaller sample size (58 at-bats), but he’s also driven in 14 and has walked 11 times, helping to keep his on-base percentage closer to .400.

Nearly everyone got at least one hit for the Dash, but Ryan Burrowes, Boston Smith, and George Wolkow also drove in two runs apiece, and six of the nine batters in the lineup had two or more hits. It was a well-rounded win for Winston-Salem, as the rest of the pitching staff was excellent, only giving up one more hit, walking one, and striking out three in the final two stanzas.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4,Columbia Fireflies1
Snapping a four-game losing streak, the Cannon Ballers (36-38) pitching was elite and allowed just one run while the bats prevailed to defeat the Fireflies (38-36), 4-1. The only blemish from the pitchers was a solo home run off of Caedmon Parker in the second, but the righty otherwise gave up only two other hits and struck out three in his five innings. It took a few innings for the Kannapolis offense to really get rolling, but they continuously failed on their opportunities with runners in scoring position: 0-for-9 with nine left on base. Thankfully, the Fireflies assisted with the first run for the Ballers, as a throwing error conceded a run in the third to tie the game at one.

The three Kanny bullpen arms yielded one hit each and combined for two walks and seven strikeouts in the final four frames. Righthander Ryan Schiefer wound up with the win after a strong two-inning outing, thanks to a two-run Matthrew Boughton home run in the seventh that gave the Ballers a 3-1 lead. An RBI groundout from Leandro Alsinois added one more insurance run in the eighth, and Marco Barrios was able to record his fifth save of the season.

Rookie Leagues

ACL Rangers 12, ACL White Sox 4
The ACL Sox (12-29) put up eight hits but couldn’t capitalize with runners and scoring position (1-for-7) while striking out 13 times as a team in their loss to the ACL Rangers (18-23), 12-4. Lefthander Christian Oppor has had a rough year thus far, holding a 9.87 ERA in 14 games (13 starts) with a steep 2.39 WHIP, and ended up with his sixth loss of the season Saturday. Oppor gave up two runs on two hits, but his command was all over the place with two wild pitches and four walks, only striking out two in comparison. The bullpen wasn’t much better, surrendering six in the fourth and another four in the sixth, but we can give the hat tip to righthander Marcelo Valladares, who was the only reliever not to allow any runs or walks with a clean, hitless frame. Jordan Rich and Yordani Soto each posted multi-hit days, with Soto mashing a two-bagger and a home run, though D’Angelo Tejada led the team with two runs batted in.

DSL Cubs Red 11, DSL White Sox 6
Despite holding a one-run lead after three, a defensive implosion in the bottom of the fourth allowed the DSL Cubs Red squad (12-8) to put up a seven-spot, ultimately leading to beating the DSL White Sox (5-15), 11-6. The Sox had tallied one more hit than the Cubs, 7-6, but righthander Erlyn Lauriano floundered with four walks, a balk, wild pitch, a hit batter, and just one single, leading to seven runs though just four were earned. The Good Guys attempted the comeback while scoring four in the fifth, but the bats stopped there and the bullpen let up another three anyways. Orlando Patino was the offensive standout for the Sox, going 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, and three batted in.

For at least half an inning Saturday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers reminded everyone why they were complaining about them all winter. They displayed how dangerous they are and sent a message to the National League that they are the team to beat.

Los Angeles erupted for nine runs in the sixth inning at Petco Park, blowing open what had been a tight 2-1, rivalry game and rolling to a 10-2 lead.

The outburst tied the Dodgers' biggest inning of the season. They scored nine in the first inning against the Angels earlier this month, surpassing their six-run inning against the Cubs on April 25. Saturday's version was all the sweeter since it was against their division rival.

The inning showcased just how much firepower the two-time defending champions have.

On May 22, Bryce Elder completed six innings against the Washington Nationals to lower his ERA on the season to 1.97. His FIP sat at a reasonable 3.31 and even his 3.84 xFIP was totally palatable.

Flash forward to Saturday night — a span of six starts — and after surrendering five more runs to the San Francisco Giants over four innings, Elder’s ERA now sits at 4.01 on the season. His ERA over those six starts is north of 10.

Elder was bad, the bats were lifeless again, and the Braves fell to the Giants 5-0 on Saturday night at Oracle Park.

Rafael Devers, who transforms into Barry Bonds against the Braves, hit a solo homer in the second inning and a three-run homer that clanked off the foul pole to make it 5-0. And that, as they say, was that.

Atlanta had one hit, a double from Mauricio Dubon early. They walked three times. Logan Webb and the San Francisco bullpen cruised after the first two innings.

The lone bright spot was Grant Holmes, who was superb in relief of Elder for four innings. He allowed just one hit, walked none and struck out four. We’ll see what Walt Weiss decided to do with the rotation next week.

Chris Sale will try to win the series on Sunday afternoon. He’ll be opposed by Robbie Ray, who mowed the Braves down last week. First pitch is 4:05 p.m. ET as the Braves play their final west coast game of the season.

It was not pretty in the slightest, but the Washington Nationals are back in the win column. They eked out a 4-3 win in extra innings. Foster Griffin was brilliant, and they bounced back from yet another bullpen collapse to get the job done. When a hero was needed, Justin Lawrence stepped up in the top of the 10th to get a monster save.

Scoring was tough to come by in this contest. Both starting pitchers were excellent. Brandon Young of the O’s was getting a ton of swings and misses tonight. He got 23 whiffs in only 5 innings, which is a huge number. His splitter was really fooling Nats hitters. However, the approach of the offense left a lot to be desired tonight even accounting for Young’s sharp stuff.

However, Foster Griffin was even better than Young. Griffin had a laborious first two innings of work, throwing over 50 pitches. He got the efficiency under control as the game went on though, getting through 7 innings without allowing an earned run. Griffin had big time strikeout stuff early in the game, getting 8 K’s in 3 innings. Down the stretch though, Griffin relied more on soft contact, showing how versatile he is as a pitcher.

Watching Foster Griffin pitch is such a joy to watch. He is not going to blow anyone away, but he has so many different pitches and pinpoint command. In Griffin’s last inning of work, he did not throw a single 4-seamer or sinker. You are truly going to see the kitchen sink from Foster, and it has been working so well for him.

Earlier in the season, there is no chance that Blake Butera would put Griffin out for the 7th inning with his pitch count nearly at 100. However, Griffin has earned the managers trust, and well the bullpen has not.

The boys did not give Griffin a ton of run support, but they did scratch across a few runs. Luis Garcia Jr. continued his monster month of June, hitting a mammoth homer at 114 MPH. That was the hardest hit ball of Garcia’s career and it flew out into the street. 

This has been the best month of Luis Garcia’s career, particularly from a power standpoint. He has hit 9 homers this month and 11 since May 22nd. Early in Garcia’s career, that is the number of homers he would hit in a season. However, he has really grown into his frame and has become a true contact and power threat. He already has 14 homers this year, closing in on his career high of 18.

When Griffin exited the game, the score was 3-1, but the Nats bullpen did their thing again. This time it was Orlando Ribalta’s turn to blow it. He was tasked with coming in the game with 1 on and two outs. Ribalta proceeded to throw back to back meatballs to Pete Alonso and Samuel Basallo, and just like that the game was tied.

Clayton Beeter actually looked very sharp in the 9th, which sent the game to extras. In a bullpen filled with guys who are just flat out bad, Beeter is an interesting case. He is one of the few guys who has the stuff to dominate hitters. However, his erratic command makes him impossible to fully trust. Tonight we saw the best of Beeter, pounding the zone and finishing guys off with his slider. He is a Jekyll and Hyde reliever, which is more than you can say about most of these guys.

In the 10th, the Nats struck right away with Daylen Lile driving home the ghost runner. Jorbit Vivas got on with his third hit of the night. However, with guys on first and second with nobody out, Blake Butera elected not to bunt with Nasim Nunez, who struck out. The inning really fizzled out after that.

With Justin Lawrence coming on, with the ghost runner at second, it felt like the best case was a tied game, and a walkoff felt likely. Lawrence buckled down though. He got a ground out to start the inning, but that allowed the tying run to get to third. After that Lawrence got another ground ball, which CJ Abrams made a nice play on to nab the runner at home.

At that point things felt good, but this is the Nationals bullpen after all, so they had to make things interesting. The debuting Lawrence gave up a hit to Gunnar Henderson and walked Pete Alonso. However, the sidearmer got yet another ground ball and the game was over. The Nats finally snapped their brutal four game losing streak, with a reliever on the mound who was not in the organization when this streak started. For a bullpen that is searching for answers, that feels quite fitting. The Nats are back to .500 and got a much needed curly W.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the Atlanta Braves are adding long-time big league first baseman Carlos Santana on a minor league deal. Santana, 40, was release by the Arizona Diamondbacks last week.

Santana made his big league debut with Cleveland in 2010 and the switch-hitter was known for becoming a highly-effective defender while drawing a ton of walk. He has 335 career home runs with a .351 OBP but has bounced around a lot in recent years. He missed time with injury this season, appearing in only eight games, with two hits in 24 at bats.

Santana will head to Gwinnett to provide depth. With Rowdy Tellez on the big league roster, but unlikely to hold a roster spot, there’s a chance Tellez will be claimed or dealt to another team – like Arizona – who needs first base help.

On the back of three Hunter Goodman homers, the Colorado Rockies put up another eight runs tonight, and this time, it was enough to take home the victory.

Colorado’s #3-hitting DH earned five RBI on the night, popping two homers off starter Mike Paredes, who went a career-best 5.1 innings, then one more off Kody Funderburk. Marco Raya, who pitched the final two frames, gave up a dinger of his own to Kyle Karros. Goodman’s splits are fascinating, as the man who calls Coors Field home has actually fared much better in other ballparks:

Home: .193/.276/.393 (56 wRC+)

Road: .281/.335/.614 (156 wRC+)

Former Twin Willi Castro went 0-for-5; no other former Twins made it into the game. And current Twins? Well, let’s get into it.

Paredes’ start was perfectly fine, as he allowed eight hits but held the Colorado lineup to three runs across nearly six innings. While he didn’t walk anybody, he only generated two strikeouts. Meanwhile, Kody Clemens continued a nice stretch with another early RBI, singling in Trevor Larnach in the first inning; Larnach had three hits including his 14th double of the year, a bases-clearing double in the bottom of the ninth.

Taylor Rogers lowered his ERA to 6.16.

With the series split, the Twins will need to take Sunday’s game to avoid a mega-dud of a homestand a week after a hugely successful road trip. As is the case with almost anything in life, we’re just gonna have to see what happens.

STUDS:

LF Trevor Larnach (3-for-5, R, 3 RBI, 2B)

3B Brooks Lee (2-for-4, R, 2B)

DUDS:

RP Kody Funderburk (IP, 2 H, 3 ER, BB, HR)

RP Marco Raya (2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, K, HR)

For just the 11th time this season, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto played in the same game for the Mets in Saturday’s 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies and it was both of their contributions that led New York to a comeback victory and snap an ugly seven-game losing streak.

Down 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning with not much to show for offensively, Soto got things started with a single to right field. Bo Bichette followed with a single of his own to put runners on first and second for Lindor, who was playing in just his third game since returning from the injured list and who had been 1-for-11.

The shortstop came through, though, ripping a liner down the first-base line, under the glove of first baseman Bryce Harper, for a two-run triple that got the Mets on the board and tied the game. 

The hit was Lindor’s first real test on the bases after straining his left calf in April and he handled it with aplomb, easily reaching third base and celebrating with the team’s spider web gesture that was created while he was on the bench. Lindor credited the trainers for getting him healthy enough to be able to sprint to third base once again, although he admitted he’s reaching an age where stopping at second might be preferred.

“The older I get, the more triples I’m getting, I don’t like it. I want more doubles,” he joked. “But no, it felt good. The trainers have done a really good job of prepping me, getting me ready for this and I felt good. I’m in a good spot.”

The inning continued with back-to-back walks by Jared Young and Mark Vientos to load the bases for A.J. Ewing and the rookie wasted no time, jumping on the first pitch and hitting it sharply up the middle past the drawn-in infield to drive in two more runs and give New York its first lead in three days after a four-run inning.

But the Mets weren’t done. An inning later Carson Benge, another rookie, led off with a single for his second hit of the night before Soto hit a triple to drive him in and match Lindor. Bichette’s sac fly was the icing on the cake offensively while New York’s bullpen threw 4.2 scoreless innings in relief of Christian Scott who looked good in his first start off the IL.

“It’s fantastic, it was great,” Lindor said about the win. “To see quality at-bats from the starting lineup all the way to the end is really good. And then seeing the bullpen continue to do what they’ve been doing… It was a great baseball game for us today.”

The great game by the Mets served as a reminder of what the team was supposed to look like all year before injuries and inconsistencies took hold of them.

“I think that’s what everybody was hoping to see repetitively all summer long. It’s good to see it out there today,” said interim manager Andy Green, who got his first win as manager of the Mets, his first in six years.

Lindor shared similar thoughts about the team and what they were supposed to look like this season, praising David Stearns for the job he did in the offseason and chalking up the disappointing year to injuries.

“Like I said outside, I felt like Stearns did a good job of putting the team together, we just haven’t been together, we just haven’t played together and now that we’re slowly getting healthy, little by little, hopefully this next however many games we can play together and make something special out of it,” he said.

Regardless of what happens for the Mets over the next three months, Green will be the one leading them after the firing of Carlos Mendoza. Green’s last stint as a manager came in 2019 with the San Diego Padres where he went 274-366 in four seasons.

Green talked about getting his first win after such a long time, but ultimately lauded his players for their role in getting it done for him.

“Wins are fun,” he said. “It’s not about me in that situation, it’s about the team and winning as a group is fun and playing whatever part you play in that, that’s fun. I think a lot of guys did a lot of really good things today. It was a cool team win where you could just talk about a bunch of different guys. Those are fun games.”

A strong broadcast from a crew consisting of Ryan Spilborghs, Jeff Huson, and Cory Sullivan at one point tonight turned their attention to their favorite songs by Minnesota musical legend Prince. It seems fitting, then, that baseball’s favorite purple team decided to bring the rain down at Target Field in a win that made up for last night’s walk-off loss.

Lorenzen continues his solid streak

Rockies starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen added another game to his streak of starts lasting five or more innings. Lorenzen went five or more innings in just half of his first 14 starts this season with varying degrees of success. However, since simplifying his approach on the mound earlier this month, he has now done so in four consecutive games. In those four starts, he has given up more than two earned runs just once.

Lorenzen gave up a lot of contact against a solid group of Minnesota Twins batters, allowing seven hits and tallying just one strikeout. However, he commanded his pitches well and avoided issuing any ill-advised, potentnially haunting walks. He relied heavily on his sinker, continuing to use a reduced pitch mix compared to earlier in the season. The only other pitches with double-digit uses were his changeup and cutter.

The first of Lorenzen’s two earned runs given up came at the beginning of the game when two singles book-ended Byron Buxton getting hit by a pitch. The second came in the fifth inning when Josh Bell clanged a ball high off the outfield wall for a triple. Bell then scored on a sacrifice fly.

Vodnik and Bernardino keep the scoresheet clean

Relievers Victor Vodnik and Brennan Bernardino had much-needed strong outings against the Twins tonight. Vondik was first in line as he entered the game in the sixth to take over for Michael Lorenzen. Having struggled mightily this season, it was good to see Vodnik deliver quality pitches and set down all four batters he faced in order. Bernardino pitched the eighth inning and worked a quick 1-2-3 inning on 13 pitches with one strikeout.

The drama comes late… again

The running theme this past week has been drama in the late innings, and unfortunately that was again the case tonight. With an 8-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, reliever Zach Agnos was handed the ball in a low-leverage situation. Agnos struck out Royce Lewis, the walk-off hero of last night’s win for the Twins, on a sweeper in the dirt and it looked like Rockies fans could breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the end of the game free from drama.

Then two straight singles and a walk loaded up the bases.

Twins outfielder Trevor Larnach then cleared the bases with a double to put the Twins within striking distance with only two outs. Agnos was then pulled from the game and replaced with Jimmy Herget.

Herget wrapped up the game on nine pitches, inducing back-to-back flyouts to end the game and cement a Rockies victory and earning his third save of the season in the process.

Purple Rain

“An exceptional night from Hunter,” said manager Warren Schaeffer after the game. “Incredible.”

Proving once again that last year’s 31 home run season was no fluke, Hunter Goodman continued to tear the cover off the ball after he demolished a home run over 450 late last night. Goodman hit two more loud solo home runs in his first two at-bats before hitting a three-run homer in the seventh inning to become the third Rockies player in franchise history to hit three home runs in a game. He did this as the designated hitter, where his numbers have generally been lacking compared to nights when he suits up behind the plate.

Goodman has 25 home runs after tonight, 18 of which have come on the road. Those 18 road home runs are the most by any Rockies hitter before the All-Star break. With 15 games left before the All-Star Game in Philadelphia, Goodman now has a good chance to become the first Rockies hitter with 30 or more home runs at the break.

Kyle Karros decided to bring some additional rain of his own with a two-run home run in the eighth inning to further pad the Rockies lead—and every run counts with the late inning drama these days. Jake McCarthy would score after hitting a triple in the fifth inning on a 2-for-5 evening, while Tyler Freeman and TJ Rumfield both had two-hit nights of their own.

Coming Up Next

The Rockies have one more game to play in the Twin Cities before heading back to Colorado. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 PM MDT, at which time the right-handed Ryan Feltner will take the mound against the left-handed Connor Prielipp.

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It’s been mentioned on this site countless times before, but one thing about the Orioles is that they never let you feel good about them for very long.

The O’s followed up Friday’s easy win with an excruciating, 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Nationals. The Orioles put themselves in an early hole through repeated defensive blundery, and while they briefly gave themselves hope with an eighth-inning comeback, they fell behind for good in the top of the 10th, then failed to score the tying run against a reliever with an 8.04 ERA. Your 2026 Orioles in a nutshell, ladies and gentlemen.

Tonight’s game was eerily similar to a maddening loss to the Nationals last year — which also featured the Nats scoring in their final at-bat and an identical 4-3 final score — that prompted the Orioles to fire manager Brandon Hyde the next morning. I don’t think the same fate will befall Craig Albernaz, and I’m not saying that it should. But this 2026 club, like that doomed 2025 squad, is rife with problems that threaten to torpedo the Orioles’ season, if they haven’t already.

Let’s start with the big one: guys, the Orioles’ defense is atrocious. They’re, like, really bad. The O’s can talk all they want (and they have) about how they’re confident in themselves and how they have the talent to go on a hot streak and all that, but they’re simply not going to do so unless they figure out how to field their positions like competent big leaguers. Tonight was not that night.

It’s too bad, because Brandon Young pitched another whale of a game, only for the Orioles’ sloppy defense to muck up his outing. It began in the second inning, when Daylen Lile lofted a fly ball to deep left. Taylor Ward took a terrible route to the ball, and it sailed over his head for a gift double. Jorbit Vivas followed with an RBI single to left to give the Nationals a 1-0 advantage. Ward didn’t cover himself in glory on that play, either, making an ill-advised throw home that allowed Vivas to take an extra base, though the runner was left stranded.

The O’s were up to their antics again in the third. With one out and a runner at first, José Tena grounded a potential double play ball to short. Gunnar Henderson flipped to Jeremiah Jackson, but the Orioles second baseman dropped the ball on the transfer, allowing the inning to continue. That forced Young to throw 11 extra pitches before escaping the jam.

Young wriggled his way out of trouble again in the fourth, racking up huge strikeouts of Drew Millas and James Wood with two runners in scoring position. In the Wood at-bat, Young threw six consecutive splitters, fanning him on the final one to complete the K. It was par for the course on this night for Young, who racked up 23 swings-and-misses in five innings, the most by any Oriole in a five-inning performance in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). He notched 11 of those whiffs on his nasty splitter. But the Orioles’ defensive clownery made him throw 93 pitches in five innings, and he left the game trailing after coughing up a Luis García Jr. leadoff homer in the fifth.

And then that awful O’s defense reared its ugly head again in the sixth. With Rico Garcia pitching, Vivas led off with a routine grounder to third. But Blaze Alexander booted the ball, then made a panicked throw to first and airmailed it, giving Vivas second base. Alexander was charged with the rare — and brutal — double error, one allowing Vivas to reach first and the other allowing him to advance to second.

Naturally, that free baserunner came around to score, as the struggling-of-late Garcia coughed up an RBI single to Drew Millas, who entered the game with a .527 OPS in 130 PAs. This is not the type of hitter who should be beating you, Rico! Garcia has now been scored upon in six of his last nine outings, inflating his once impeccable 0.68 ERA to 2.62. The damage would have been worse if not for the O’s throwing out Millas at the plate on a Garcia Jr. double to right, a rare gem by the Orioles defense.

For a while, it appeared those three runs would be enough for the Nats, as starter Foster Griffin simply dominated the Birds. The southpaw worked seven innings and threw 112 pitches,, just two shy of the MLB season high of 114 (by the Twins’ Taj Bradley on April 29). The Orioles scored only one run against him, and it was an unearned one at that, as the Nats made a throwing error in the second that set up a surprising two-out RBI single from third catcher Chadwick Tromp. It was Tromp’s first at-bat with the Orioles in almost exactly a year (June 30, 2025), and he certainly made the most of it.

Other than that, the O’s simply had no answer for Griffin, the former first round pick, who’s been better than ever in his return to MLB after a three-year stint in Japan. He allowed only three hits and two walks while striking out nine Orioles tonight, lowering his season ERA to 2.93. Gotta hand it to the Nationals — signing a live arm who rehabilitated his career overseas has paid dividends for them. Meanwhile the O’s keep signing the Chris Bassitts of the world, which is going great. Anyway, Griffin left the game after seven with a 3-1 lead.

Unfortunately, he then had to turn the game over to a sad-sack Nationals bullpen. Yikes, these guys are going through some stuff. The Washington relief corps is coming off a horrific series against the Phillies in which they blew three consecutive games in heartbreaking fashion, becoming just the second team in MLB history to give up go-ahead home runs in the ninth in three straight games.

This time it was the eighth inning that ruined them. Lefty PJ Poulin was the first to pitch, and once again it was Chadwick Tromp who sparked the rally with a bloop single to lead off the inning. Not bad for a guy who I’d totally forgotten was on the roster before today. Poulin then uncorked a wild pitch but retired the next two batters before ceding to righty Orlando Ribalta, and that’s when the O’s feasted.

Pete Alonso came through with a clutch hit, smashing an RBI double to left to make it a 3-2 game. Craig Albernaz then deployed Samuel Basallo as a pinch-hitter, which proved a stroke of genius. Basallo jumped on Ribalta’s first pitch and lashed it up the middle for a game-tying RBI single, scoring a fired-up Alonso. Tie ballgame! Oh, that Nationals bullpen has done it again.

Sadly, the O’s didn’t sustain the good vibes. After Andrew Kittredge and Clayton Beeter traded scoreless ninth innings, Ryan Helsley struggled in the 10th. Lile greeted him with a sharp single to right, scoring the automatic runner to reclaim a 4-3 lead for the Nationals. The next batter also reached base before Helsley settled down and retired the next three, keeping it a one-run game.

The desperate Nationals turned to veteran Justin Lawrence, whom they claimed on waivers earlier this week, to make his team debut in the 10th. Here’s the thing about Lawrence: he has pitched in 30 games for two other teams this year and has an 8.04 ERA. That’s not a typo. He’s given up 25 earned runs in 28 innings. The Orioles should destroy this guy. Tying the game should be a given; walking it off shouldn’t be too hard, either.

I’ll give you one guess as to what actually happened. Yup. The O’s failed to score a single run against him, and lost the game. Jackson Holliday’s grounder to first moved the automatic runner, Jackson, to third base with one out. But on a Ward grounder to short, the O’s did the stupid run-on-contact play that never, ever works, and — surprise! — it did not work. CJ Abrams threw to the plate to cut down Jackson by a mile for the second out.

The O’s valiantly tried to continue the rally on a Henderson single and Alonso walk, loading the bases for Basallo. But Samuel hacked at a 1-0 sinker and grounded harmlessly to second base for the final out of the game. Sigh. What a letdown of an inning and a disappointment of a game.

This Orioles team has problems, folks. And they’re not going away anytime soon.