Worldwide Sports News

Whenever someone asks why I’m a fan of sports, I often point to any number of reasons from the simple – it’s entertaining – to the more esoteric – it’s a matter of civic pride. I also often answer that sports can offer a kind of catharsis that you can rarely find in our everyday lives. That’s particularly true for baseball which inherently creates tension through a lack of action – only for the eventual resolution to provide a special kind of resolution. I suspect the entire D-Backs’ offense felt an incredible kind of catharsis this afternoon. After losing a frustrating game in the series opener and needing extra-inning magic to eke out a win last night, the Diamondbacks were staring down a series loss against an Athletics team that seems stuck in neutral. Instead, the offense erupted for their highest run total in nearly two years to take a crucial series win as the team attempts to convince the front office to buy at the Trade Deadline or at least convince them not to sell.

The first time through the lineup, the D-Backs failed to generate much offense against rookie Gage Jump, making just his eleventh career start. The young lefty utilized his excellent fastball to generate several weak swings and misses along with plenty of weak contact. But starting with the second time through the lineup, the batters clearly made some adjustments beginning with Corbin Carroll who opened the team’s scoring with a solo shot to left field while Nolan Arenado followed with his own one batter later to knot the score at 2-2. That was just the amuse-bouche however as the main course came one inning later when the game unraveled for the rookie. Ketel Marte began with a leadoff double and scored on a wild pitch, Gabriel Moreno took Jump deep with his own solo shot, Arenado worked a walk and moved to second on yet another wild pitch, and Ildemaro Vargas doubled him in to end Jump’s afternoon. Amazingly, the fun wasn’t over as James McCann took the very first pitch from reliever Yunior Tur into the left field bleachers to put the Snakes up by five. Ryan Waldschmidt even got the proverbial monkey off his back with his first career homer at the big league level to cap off the inning and turn the game into a rout. And if you weren’t already full, the dessert course was just as much fun as the rest of the dinner. Carroll collected his major league-leading 11th triple and scored on yet another wild pitch, the D-Backs loaded the bases on three consecutive walks and then cashed them all in with knocks by McCann and Tim Tawa to turn the game into a true laugher. In all, the offense scored 14 runs in three innings and did it in impressive fashion with plenty of power, timely hitting, and excellent at-bats up and down the lineup. Every starter except for Geraldo Perdomo had at least one hit and the team had the same number of walks as strikeouts for the game. It’s hard to encapsulate and the video may do it even more justice:

On the flip side, this felt like a perfect opportunity for Merrill Kelly to feel absolutely no pressure as his offense clearly had the game in hand and focus on trying to return to the form we know he can have. Instead, we saw much of the same type of struggles that have plagued him all season: an inability to put hitters away, a lack of command that leads to walks, and depending all too much on the changeup as a putaway pitch. The final line on the veteran for the afternoon (5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) isn’t bad, but it masks some bad luck on the Athletics bouncing into two separate double play balls. Now that those pesky Athletics are out of the way, here’s hoping the team can quickly regroup for the latest in “most important series of the year” with about a week and a half until the Trade Deadline.

For weeks, Aaron Boone considered Paul Blackburn a secret.

Despite the right-handed reliever piling up zeroes out of the bullpen, he was going unnoticed.

That’s beginning to change.

“About a week ago, 10 days ago, somebody asked me about the job he had done,” Boone said after Blackburn delivered two innings of shutout relief to help the Yankees take Game 2 of Wednesday’s doubleheader over the Pirates, 2-0, and salvage a split in The Bronx. “It had been about a month-plus of some really good work — whether it be a high-leverage situation, whether it’s giving you multiple innings on a given night.

“It’s been about six weeks where he’s gotten his stuff in a really good place. He’s another guy like [Brent] Headrick, you feel good about going through lefties and righties. He’s been big for us.”

The veteran righty is enjoying a terrific year, pitching to a 2.00 ERA after his latest performance. He has given up just one earned run over his past 14 appearances dating back to June 21 spanning 21 ¹/₃ innings.

After using high-leverage arms David Bednar, Fernando Cruz and Headrick in the opener, Blackburn’s two frames were integral to the victory. He inherited a runner on first base in the seventh, and when Jared Triolo stole second and went to third on catcher Ali Sánchez’s throwing error, the Pirates were set up to take the lead.

But Blackburn struck out Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna to escape trouble, and the Yankees broke through in the bottom half of the inning.

The 32-year-old veteran joined the Yankees last year after he was released by the Mets in August. He didn’t perform well, but he enjoyed his time in The Bronx and returned on a one-year deal. This year, he has taken off.

“Just when I showed up last year, I didn’t know what to expect,” Blackburn said. “I walked in, there was a plan for me from day one. It just seemed like they were interested in helping me and getting me back to where they thought I could be.”

One major factor: increased velocity. It is up across the board for Blackburn. He is averaging a career-best 94.2 mph on his sinker, up from 92.6 a year ago, and it has made his secondary pitches more effective.

“I had a full offseason this year,” Blackburn said. “I focused on little different things I needed to get stronger and [gain] more mobility. Just ran with it.”

The trade deadline fast approaches and (stop me if you’ve heard this before) the Braves HAVE to add at least one quality starting pitcher if they want to expect any serious postseason success (setting aside the performance on offense). Without adding a postseason-quality starter, they would need to operate a three or four man rotation that would involve at least two of Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes, Reynaldo Lopez, Martin Perez, JR Ritchie, Owen Murphy, Didier Fuentes, Spencer Schwellenbach, and AJ Smith-Shawver. While you can squint in that list and see a pathway or two for passable postseason pitching, it’s certainly unlikely and only so much can be papered over by creative pitcher usage. Trades are hard to negotiate and this front office has been very firm on sticking to their value judgements, but this team simply cannot be a serious postseason contender (outside of general baseball variance) without adding at least one playoff-quality starter.

Braves News

The Braves brought back Martin Perez, sending down JR Ritchie, after he covered 3.2 innings Tuesday.

Scott discussed four trades that would make sense for the Braves, at least in terms of realistic player additions.

The Braves won a weird game against the Padres 7-6.

MLB News

Fangraphs continued their annual trade value rankings, with spots 30-21.

Red Sox’ ace Garrett Crochet is hoping to return from injury in time for the playoffs.

The Royals traded a pitching prospect to the Astros for Nate Pearson.

Bobby Witt is hitting the IL with lower back tightness, which hopefully is a short term ailment.

The mood in the clubhouse shifted as much as the sky, as the frustration of a matinee was overshadowed by the celebration of a nightcap. 

But there wasn’t much difference between the Yankees’ 2-0 series-clinching win over the Pirates and the 5-3 extra-inning loss that ended hours earlier, as their struggling offense was held without a run in 16 of 18 innings. 

The Yankees have been held to fewer than six runs in 28 of their past 30 games and have scored a total of 18 runs in the six games since the All-Star break, including eight in Monday’s win over Pittsburgh. 

“We gotta improve there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I feel like I’ve said that a lot here over the last month. We know we gotta produce better offensively, and consistently, night in and night out. We’re working to get that done. For us to reach our peak we gotta get some guys going and be more consistent.” 

It will have to come from a lineup that has offered few reasons to believe — which has ranked 28th in runs, 30th in batting average (.206), 30th in on-base percentage (.262), 26th in slugging percentage (.366) and second in strikeouts in the past month. 

It will have to come without Giancarlo Stanton, who is “much closer” to returning, according to Boone, but not close enough to offer a timeline.

And it will have to come without Aaron Judge, who has been out since May 31, when the Yankees were 13 games over .500. 

Now, they are 12 games over .500. 

“It’s Aaron Judge, it’s a massive presence,” Boone said of the impact of the captain’s absence. “But again, he’s not there right now. Look at these names, we have a lot of good names here, capable, and we gotta step it up a little better.” 

Those names combined for 12 strikeouts and six hits (four singles) in the first game of the doubleheader, while batting 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. All three runs in Game 1 came on Ben Rice’s 30th home run of the season in the seventh inning. 

Game 2 offered even less optimism, as the Yankees recorded just two hits through the first six innings. Then, a pair of once-hyped prospects briefly inspired hope again. 

After Cody Bellinger worked a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh, Jasson Domínguez brought the first run home with a two-out double to left. On the next pitch, Anthony Volpe ripped a hit to left — following a pair of defensive misplays — to record his second RBI since June 20. 

The struggling youngsters saved the day. 

But who will save the season? 

“We need everyone to step up,” Boone said. 

Clippers 0, Saints 9

This was all around a very tough game for the Clippers. They were held to just two hits with 7 strikeouts to just 1 walk.

Rorik Maltrud has been pretty solid this season, but he had arguably his worst start of the season today. He allowed 7 earned runs and 4 home runs in just 3.2 innings pitched. His ERA is now up to 4.31 on the season. Trevor Stephan still cannot seem to figure it out post surgery. He allowed two earned runs tonight in 1.1 inning pitched. Codi Heuer, Alaska Abney, and Jake Miller combined for 3 scoreless innings of relief.

RubberDucks 7, Curve 6

A huge performance from Alex Mooney helped the RubberDucks win in extra innings tonight. He went 3-4 with 2 RBIs and the game winning sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 10th. Jaison Chourio hit an absolute BOMB to tie the game when pinch hitting in the bottom of the 9th. Nick Mitchell also went 2-4 with an RBI. Angel Martinez went 1-4 with a walk in his rehab performance, he looks to be close to his return to Cleveland.

It’s been a tough year for Dylan DeLucia, he had an ok start tonight. He allowed two earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks. His ERA is now at 6.88 on the season.

Captains 9, TinCaps 1

Despite only having 6 hits, this was a dominant performance from the Captains. Tommy Hawke led the way, going 2-3 with two walks with a triple. Jonah Advincula went 1-3 with a walk and a two RBI single. Juan Benjamin also had a huge two RBI single in the top of the 4th inning.

The highlight of this game was easily Jacob Zibin’s performance. He tossed 4 scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts and zero walks. He has flown somewhat under the radar this year but he is a pitching prospect that is very intriguing. I think there is certainly potential there for a big league future if he can clean up some things. Jogly Garcia and Cam Schuelke combined for 5 scoreless innings of relief.

Howlers 6, Shorebirds 4

Dauri Fernandez led the way for the Howlers tonight, going 3-5 with a huge three RBI double in the bottom of the 8th inning. Cannon Peebles went 1-3 with two walks and an RBI single in the bottom of the 8th. It’s been an injury riddled season for Riley Nelson but he went 1-2 with two walks and an RBI double tonight. Hopefully he is starting to feel healthy after all the injuries he has dealt with this season.

Nelson Keljo had one of his better performances of the season. He has had no issue striking out batters this year, but he has had an issue keeping runs off the board. Tonight he was effective at both, allowing just one run in 5 innings pitched with 5 strikeouts and 3 walks. His ERA is now down to 4.84 on the season.

After getting thoroughly humbled Tuesday night, the White Sox responded the way good teams do.

Chicago (54-47) scratched out timely hits, got a dominant performance from the bullpen, and knocked off the Rangers, 4-2, on Wednesday night to secure its 18th series win of the season. Even better, Cleveland fell to the Twins 10-6, pushing the Good Guys back into sole possession of first place in the AL Central by one game heading into Thursday’s off day.

Texas starter Tyler Alexander retired the first four White Sox hitters before Chicago finally broke through. Braden Montgomery drew a walk and raced to third on a wild pitch before Chase Meidroth lined an RBI single to center to give the Sox an early 1-0 lead. Andrew Benintendi immediately bounced into a double play, preventing the inning from becoming something bigger.

The advantage lasted only until the bottom of the second, when Anthony Kay surrendered a two-out solo homer to rookie Cam Cauley — his first major league home run after being called up on June 29 — tying the game at one.

Kay navigated traffic throughout his outing, escaping a first-and-third jam in the third by striking out former White Sox first-round pick Jake Burger.

The Good Guys rewarded Kay in the fourth. Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery each worked walks before Braden grounded into a force out, putting runners on the corners. Meidroth once again delivered with an RBI single, and Benintendi followed with an RBI knock of his own to stretch the lead to 3-1. Edgar Quero, recalled from Charlotte on Monday, drew another walk to load the bases, but Tristan Peters popped out to end the threat.

Kay, however, continued to make life difficult for himself. Brandon Nimmo singled and Ezequiel Duran doubled to open the bottom of the fourth before Kay plunked Cauley, his MLB-leading 19th hit batter of the season, to load the bases. Elías Díaz grounded into a double play, allowing one run to score, but Kay escaped further damage by striking out Alejandro Osuna to preserve a 3-2 lead. He worked around another jam in the fifth by stranding two more runners.

Chicago’s offense added an important insurance run in the sixth. Braden knocked a one-out single, Meidroth collected his third hit of the night, and Benintendi delivered again with an RBI base hit to center to make it 4-2. Quero and Peters couldn’t cash in the remaining runners, but the extra run proved more than enough.

From there, the Sox bullpen slammed the door.

Jordan Hicks worked around a pair of defensive miscues in the sixth before Grant Taylor stole the show. The flamethrower struck out the side in the seventh on just 14 pitches, then returned to fan two more in a perfect eighth, punching out five of the six hitters he faced while touching 100.4 mph. Bryan Hudson handled the ninth, striking out Cauley and Díaz before getting Osuna to bounce out and seal the victory.

Meidroth led the offense with four hits and two RBIs, while Benny added two RBIs of his own.

Kay wasn’t at his sharpest, but he repeatedly escaped trouble and turned the game over to a bullpen that combined for four scoreless, hitless innings.

The White Sox are off Thursday before returning home Friday to open a weekend series against the Houston Astros.

MVP
Chase Meidroth: 4-for-4, 2 RBI, 26% WPA

Runners-Up
Grant Taylor: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 5 K, H, 17% WPA
Andrew Benintendi: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, K, 15% WPA
Bryan Hudson: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, S, 9% WPA
Jordan Hicks: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, K, H, 7% WPA

Cold Cat
Tristan Peters: 0-for-4, -11% WPA

Runners-Up
Miguel Vargas: 0-for-4, K, -7% WPA
Sam Antonacci: 0-for-4, -7% WPA
Edgar Quero: 0-for-3, BB, E, -6% WPA