Author: MLB Baseball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

Making it to the big leagues is always a special feat, but nothing compares to hitting your first career home run.

That special moment came in the second inning for the Athletics' third baseman Joshua Kuroda-Grauer in his first plate appearance against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, July 20.

Kuroda-Grauer approached the plate in the top of the second inning when he faced a 91-mph four-seam pitch from Mitch Bratt, who made his MLB debut just five days before Kuroda-Grauer.

The A's 23-year-old prospect took it yard, sending it back 416 feet across left-center field for a solo home run, the first in his major-league career.

Kuroda-Grauer was selected by the A's with the 75th overall pick in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft. He was called up from the Las Vegas Aviators on June 29 and has yet to look back. In his first 15 major-league games, Kuroda-Grauer has shown consistency and signs of a high-level slugger.

He followed up his homer with a gutsy base hit, but not before he could demonstrate his grit and toughness. Kuroda-Grauer was back at the plate at the top of the fifth inning when he swung at a pitch that resulted in a foul ball. The ball ricocheted off his bat and straight down to his midsection, right below the waist. Yes, that tender area that is usually protected in baseball with a cup in the under garments.

Kuroda-Grauer was down for bit but bounced back to deliver a line drive to right-center for a single.

Kuroda-Grauer was replaced defensively at third base by Donovan Walton in the bottom of the seventh inning, finishing with a batting line of 2-for-3 to push his batting average to .417.

The Athletics won the game, 5-2.

Mariners 8, Reds 0

Being on this side of it: Victor Robles, .12 WPA; George Kirby, .34 WPA

Being on that side of it: Buddy Kennedy, -.09 WPA no one is bad all mariners are good tonight

Game thread comment of the day:

It took 10 innings about three and a half hours, but the Tigers beat the Cubs 8-6.

After dropping the final game of their series against the Angels, the Tigers were hoping to have a good series against the Chicago Cubs, knowing they can’t really afford to lose multiple games in a row. To get the job done, they had Jack Flaherty on the mound and he was squaring off against James Taillon for the Cubs. The game got underway about thirty minutes late thanks to the threat of rain.

In his first game back, Gleyber Torres got a one-out single in the first. Colt Keith then doubled, and on his heels, Riley Greene hit a three-run homer.

Hot on his heels, Dillon Dingler homered as well, getting the score to 4-0.

Two outs followed, but it was an ideal start to the game for the Tigers. Flaherty had it pretty easy in the bottom of the inning going 1-2-3. He owed quite a bit of that to his defense, including this incredible play by Kevin McGonigle.

The Tigers went 1-2-3 in top of the second. In the bottom of the inning Ian Happ got a one-out walk, then Nico Hoerner singled. Two outs followed, though, getting Flaherty out of an early-inning jam.

It was another three-up, three-down inning for the Tigers in the third. In the home half, Flaherty wasn’t so lucky. Miguel Amaya singled to start the inning, then with one out Seiya Suzuki homered, bringing two runs in. Immediately after him Michael Busch homered to almost the exact same place. While Flaherty did manage to get out of the inning, the score was 4-3 at the end of the third.

Dingler did his best to add some runs in the fourth with a leadoff single, but unfortunately his teammates left him stranded, going down in order after his single. In the home half, Dansby Swanson walked with two outs. Flaherty did manage to get through the final batter without any runs scoring and even had a nice strikeout to wrap up Amaya. When he’d dialled in, his stuff is nasty. Unfortunately, when he’s not dialled in you get back-to-back home runs into center, so it really is a Tale of Two Flahertys.

Kevin McGonigle got a one-out walk in the fifth. Gleyber Torres then walked, and that was it for Taillon. Ryan Rolison came in to replace him. A pinch-hitting Hao-Yu Lee came in and did exactly what Hinch wanted him to, hitting a little bloop single to left to load the bases. Riley Greene then hit into a force out, getting McGonigle out at home. Despite their best opportunity all game to break things wide open, Dingler lined out to end the inning.

Flaherty’s day was done after four, not a big surprise given his elevated pitch count and his inconsistent performance. His final line for the game was 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR on 82 pitches. If two of his hits hadn’t been for home runs (and Wrigley can be a very home run-friendly park when the wind blows the right way) his outing wouldn’t have looked quite so bad, but the results are what they are. Drew Sommers replaced him. Suzuki got a one-out walk. With two outs, Alex Bregman singled, thanks to Lee not quite being able to make anything happen with a ball hit right to him. Dingler then came through with a throw over to second, getting Suzuki out to end the inning.

The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth. With one out in the home half, Jacob Waguespack replaced Sommers. He gave up a two-out single to Pedro Ramirez, but was able to get out of the jam.

Gavin Hollowell was the new Cubs’ reliever in the seventh. McGonigle got a one-out double. Then Torres singled, but McGonigle held at third base. Caleb Thielbar came in to pitch after the second out of the inning, specifically to face Greene, and it turned out to be a good move because he got the final out of the inning. Waguespack got the first two outs of the seventh before the Tigers turned to Kyle Finnegan to take on Suzuki. He induced a ground ball out to end the inning.

The Cubs dipped back into their bullpen for the eighth for Tyler Ferguson, who gave up a leadoff home run to Dillon Dingler. His third multi-homer game since June.

Three outs in a row followed, but Dingler had helped boost the lead for the first time since the first inning. In the home half Alex Bregman got a one-out single, then Ian Happ homered, tying up the game. Two outs followed, but the results were less than ideal. Really death by home run on both sides today.

Jacob Webb came in for the ninth. With two outs, Torres walked (though the Cubs did attempt the ABS challenge, it was upheld). Matt Vierling came in to run for Torres, and it was up to Lee. Lee, sadly, hit into a force out to end the inning. Kenley Jansen was in for the ninth, which was certainly a choice given the wind. Swanson hit a leadoff double. One out put Swanson on third. After a meeting on the mound, Pete Crow-Armstrong was intentionally walked, putting runners on the corners. PCA advanced to second on defensive indifference. Busch worked a walk after seeing a lot of pitches. With the bases loaded and a three-ball start, Jansen somehow got Bregman out to end the inning and force extras.

Riley Greene singled to start the tenth, putting runners on the corners thanks to the ghost runner, but he also hit Thornton with a comebacker to the foot, forcing the Cubs back to their bullpen. Javier Assad came in to replace him. Dingler worked the count and then hit a single to left, scoring Lee to push the Tigers into the lead. In what should have been a textbook double-play off the bat of Kerry Carpenter, Hoerner just couldn’t field it and somehow the bases were safely loaded. Carpenter was pulled for a pinch runner, looking like he might have hurt himself getting to first. Torkelson then laced a hit dead center, and scored two more runs with Ben Malgeri safely on third.

With two outs, Assad intentionally walked McGonigle to load the bases. The Tigers managed to squander a great additional opportunity, leaving three on, but they did score three to retake the lead. Tyler Holton would be the man responsible for holding that lead. With one out, Hoerner singled, putting runners at the corners. Ramirez grounded into a force out, scoring Bregman but eliminating Hoerner. Swanson singled, and thanks to an error by Outman who literally dropped the ball, Ramirez ended up at third. Former Tiger Carson Kelly grounded out to end the inning, probably one of the best things he’s ever done for Detroit, and the game blessedly ended with a Tigers win.

Final: Tigers 8, Cubs 6 (F/10)

The hot-and-cold nature of the Sox offense as of late gave a fizzled first-inning rally an ominous feeling. Sam Antonacci drew a rare leadoff walk against Jacob deGrom, and just a few pitches later a Munetaka Murakami double had him standing 90 feet from home. Yet some baserunning butchery saw the game remain scoreless into the bottom of the first, when Joc Pederson welcomed Erick Fedde back to a pure starting role with a 423-foot blast to lead off the Rangers half of the game.

Facing down a future Hall-of-Famer who had already worked his way out of one jam felt like a tall task. Yet thanks to repeated rally-sparking efforts from Antonacci, more lasers from Miguel Vargas, some Andrew Benintendi bases-loaded magic and a ninth inning cascade of hits, the Sox walked away with a resounding 10-3 win, their 52nd of the season, fourth in five tries, and seventh of their last eight.

Pederson’s homer wasn’t the only time Fedde let the Rangers get to him, as he was also tagged for an additional run in the third inning on a string of base hits from the top of the Texas lineup. But Fedde kept the Rangers off the board for two additional innings, and there are many worse outcomes than getting four innings of two-run ball from the 2026 version of Erick Fedde. So the decision to pull him for Chris Murphy after just 64 pitches felt apt. With a three-run lead, why play with fire? Murphy was able to handle the bottom of the Rangers lineup handily, which leaving 11 outs for the high-leverage part of the Sox bullpen to handle.

Oh yeah, before we get to that, the other thing. When Fedde departed his half of the fourth, the Sox still faced a 2-1 deficit, having clawed back a run thanks to some hustle from Antonacci on a Vargas double down the line. By the time Fedde was scheduled to go out again, the Sox offense had driven deGrom from the game and turned a one-run deficit into a three-run lead.

The rally was sparked by Tristan Peters and — who else? — Antonacci, who attacked a first-pitch slider from deGrom to drive in the former after he led off the inning with a double against the former Mets ace. Antonacci moved to second on a four-pitch walk to Munetaka Murakami, and then third on Vargas’s second hit of the night. Just when it looked as if deGrom was on the verge of escaping once again, Benintendi — who entered the night 0-for-8 against the 38-year-old for his career — had other plans.

Benintendi has been fantastic with the bases loaded for his entire career, hitting .365 with 16 sacrifice flies, 13 walks, and just eight strikeouts entering today. That double made for 100 RBIs in 116 appearances with the sacks packed. Not bad!

The bright offensive night was darkened, however, by an as-yet unspecified ankle injury to Kyle Teel, who left the game after a play at the plate in the third inning. Ominously, he was unable to put any weight on the ankle, needing to be helped off the field as Drew Romo put on his gear. Romo finished the game 1-for-4 at the plate, which actually brings his average up to .134 on the season. Per Baseball FR’s Francys Romero, Edgar Quero is already on the plane to DFW, so to speak.

Unfortunately, the Sox couldn’t even escape from the rest of the game unscathed, as Colson Montgomery was removed in the seventh inning after fouling a ball off his shin. He’s reportedly day-to-day with a contusion. At the very least, his replacement, Luisangel Acuña, was the one who all but put the game away with a soft two-run single in the ninth to extend the lead to five.

The seventh inning also gave us our first game action look at erstwhile farmhand Ben Peoples, who worked to a sterling 2.39 ERA in Charlotte before being dealt to Texas last month in a trade that remains as head-scratching now as it did then. Peoples worked a 1-2-3 inning to lower his ERA to 2.84 over his first 6 1/3 innings as a big-leaguer.

In one of the more poetic instances of the announcer’s jinx I’ve heard recently, Dan Plesac was unable to finish the sentence “Seranthony Domínguez is on to try to get the Sox through the seventh inning” before Domínguez coughed up a mammoth home run to Jake Burger, who’s now homered three times in 10 games against the club that drafted him 11th overall in 2017.

Domínguez did recover, to his credit, to post a hassle-free 1-2-3 effort after that, and though Sean Newcomb ran into a little bit of trouble, he kept the Rangers off the board in the eighth. Before the Sox started tacking on their five last-ditch insurance runs courtesy of Acuña, Vargas, pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk and Braden Montgomery, it looked like Grant Taylor would be getting another chance to solidify himself as a closer in the more traditional sense. Instead, the extra breathing room gave Taylor some extra rest, allowing Trevor Richards to come on for the final three outs.

With Cleveland’s equally resounding 13-4 win over Minnesota, the Sox remain a game up in the AL Central, and they’re now a season-high seven games better than .500. This graph does not include today’s game, yet the arrow is still as high as I’ve seen it in a few election cycles, so I’ll still post it.

We’ll be back with you tomorrow evening as Noah Schultz tries to secure another series win against a to-be-announced starter for the Rangers. First pitch is once again at 7:05 p.m. CT, and we’ll see you there!

MVP
Sam Antonacci: 2-for-3, BB, 2 R, RBI

Runners-Up
Miguel Vargas 1: 3-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
Andrew Benintendi: 1-for-3, 2B, 3 RBI
Sox Bullpen: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

Cold Cat
Colson Montgomery: 0-for-4, 2 K, left game w/ shin contusion

Everyone else had at least one run or one run batted in, let’s not get cute, will we?

Entering Monday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. was hitting .224 with a .705 OPS -- not what New York saw out of him last season, nor what Chisholm expects out of himself.

Still, there were signs that he was beginning to come alive from his season-long slump, including a four-game hitting streak and a late go-ahead home run to break a 1-1 tie with the Dodgers Sunday night.

Then came Monday’s series opener, where Chisholm hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat, giving him back-to-back home runs in consecutive at-bats, to put the Yanks up 4-0. For an encore, the slugger mashed his second home run of the night in the third inning, this one a two-run shot, that gave him 16 on the season and three in as many AB's.

“He’s capable of that,” manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “When he gets it rolling he’s capable of big things and obviously that was a big night for him and for us tonight.”

New York needed every bit of Chisholm’s massive night in what ended as an 8-5 win after starter Ryan Weathers struggled early but gave the Yanks for 4.2 innings in a game where the bullpen was short.

Chisholm’s two-home run performance now gives him a five-game hitting streak, eight hits (four home runs) in his last seven games, and an .815 slugging percentage over that span as well. And after a dismal June, Chisholm is batting .260 with an .856 OPS in July -- much more similar to his numbers last season.

Even though the results haven’t been there consistently for the 28-year-old, who went as far to say his season “sucked” recently, he knows there’s still plenty of time to salvage the rest of his regular season.

“There’s still two and a half months [in the season], like there’s a lot that can happen in two and a half months, especially on a baseball field,” Chisholm said. “So for me, I feel like it’s more than enough time to just flip the whole season around.”

At the same time, Chisholm is less focused on his personal numbers and concentrating more on helping his team win. On Monday night, he did that in a big way.

“I just wanna win,” he said. “Honestly that’s all I’m feeling. Like I’m going up there and trying to just help my team win. In the first at-bat I wasn’t trying to hit a home run, I was just trying to hit a fly ball to the outfield, get the run in and it happened to just go out.”

Still, the Yankees and Boone know that in order for them to win, Chisholm needs to perform, especially with the continued absence of Aaron Judge. 

Speaking of Judge, he and nearly the rest of the team gave Chisholm a boost of confidence recently by telling him that he’s the best player in the world, something Chisholm tells himself all the time, but as his struggles worsened, became harder to believe.

Then he hit that home run on Sunday and things changed for Chisholm.

“It gave me a lot of confidence, I can say that,” he said. “I mean it’s always nice when you are successful. For me, it gave me a lot. A good boost.”

With two more long balls on Monday, Chisholm has found his power stroke and is a dangerous hitter in the middle of New York’s lineup. It also brought his OPS up to .726 which is as high as it’s been in nearly a month.

What’s also impressive about the recent home runs is they all came on different pitches – fastball, curveball and slider, meaning Chisholm is seeing the ball really well.

“When he’s going good he’s a game changer,” Boone said. He can beat you in a lot of different ways. So we need it. We need him to get going like we know he’s capable of and go on one of those runs that we’ve seen him do a lot here over these last couple of years.”

Aside from the low average, Chisholm is still impacting the game, including with his 26 stolen bases, 43 RBI and 51 runs scored in 95 games.

“He’s in position here, with a couple of good months, to be right in line with what he’s had in the last couple of seasons,” Boone said. “It’s a long season, you go through a lot of different things. Hitting is as hard as ever, but he’s in position to hopefully go out and do something special for us the rest of the way.”

Down to their last out, the San Francisco Giants rallied to tie the game on a two-run, 380-foot home run from Willy Adames. Then the Kansas City Royals walked them off with two bunts that traveled about 38 feet each.

The Royals sent the Giants to their third straight loss after Nick Loftin bunted home Josh Rojas for a walkoff, 4-3 win. Rojas singled off Caleb Killian (2-6, not a great record for a closer!), then Tyler Tolbert reached on a bunt when the Giants tried and failed to force Rojas at second base. Rojas went to third on a fly ball to center, and then Loftin’s squeeze bunt succeeded, despite him bunting his first attempt foul.

Bryce Eldridge couldn’t handle the bunt in his rush to nail Rojas, but Daniel Susac wasn’t really standing in the right spot to take his throw anyway. Just like how Adames wasn’t standing on second base on the attempted force play. It wasn’t the proudest defensive inning.

It was almost an inspiring night in Kansas City. The non-Killian members of the bullpen delivered four shutout innings after starter Trevor McDonald left after suffering elbow discomfort while warming up for the 5th. JT Brubaker threw 2.1 innings and Dylan Smith bailed him out when he got in trouble in the 7th. The mustachioed Jason Foley remained perfect in his second appearance, working a 1-2-3 8th.

Drew Gilbert got McDonald out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the second inning by gunning down Lane Thomas at the plate.

Susac had two hits. Bryce Eldridge struck out three times, but drew a walk to maintain his eight-game on-base streak that he probably doesn’t realize he even has. Bobby Witt, Jr. left the game with lower back tightness, which actually seems cruel to list as a positive for the Giants, but it’s a three-game series and they need all the help they can get. And Heliot Ramos delivered his first extra-base hit in two weeks when he opened the scoring with a home run in the 4th inning, his ninth of the season, launching the ball 430 feet and nearly hitting it into the weird outfield fountain.

McDonald got into trouble because, like Eleanor of Aquitaine, he just couldn’t stop drilling Royals. He loaded the bases in the second by hitting Salvador Perez with an errant slider, then put Vinnie Pasquantino on first when another slider got away from him. Perez took revenge two pitches later.

It was Perez’s 316th career homer — putting him just one behind George Brett on the Royals’ all-time home run list. Mike Sweeney, Amos Otis, and Alex Gordon are third through fifth, but they’re 120 or more behind Perez and Brett.

Kansas City got their third run later in the inning when Michael Massey doubled and Isaac Collins singled him home. McDonald left after that, having yielded eight base runners in four innings with four hits, two walks, and two hit batsmen.

Meanwhile, Royals starter Michael Wacha shut down the Giants for six innings, besides Ramos’ big fly. He gave up two singles, two walks, and a massive dinger, with all those hits coming with two outs.

You probably remember Wacha from the 2014 St. Louis Cardinals, when he came into Game 5 of the NLCS in relief and gave up a series-winning home run to Travis Ishikawa.

The top of the 9th inning was as inspiring as the bottom was a bummer. After Rafael Devers and Ramos both struck out, Jung Hoo Lee singled off Alex Lange, who got the rare blown save/win combination, then Adames hit when out the opposite way for his 18th homer.

But the 2026 San Francisco Giants cannot have nice things, so it all fell apart. With bunts. They continue to find new and innovative ways to lose, so at least it’s not boring.

KANSAS CITY — Trevor McDonald left his start early Monday night and is likely destined for the injured list pending the results of an MRI to come in the near future.

The Giants starter took the mound to warm up for the fifth inning of Monday’s 4-3 walkoff loss to the Royals but was accompanied back to the dugout by a trainer before the inning began.

McDonald said he felt discomfort in his elbow after throwing a slider during his warm ups.

“Nothing that I wanted to chance right now,” he said. “So I thought it was best to come out when I did.”

McDonald had allowed three runs on three hits, including a 440-foot homer by Salvador Perez, the previous inning. He also hit two batters and walked another two. 

But he said those challenges had more to do with his trouble gripping the baseball as sweat poured from his body on an obscenely hot and humid night at Kauffman Stadium.

“I’m a pretty heavy sweater,” McDonald said. “I kind of turned into a one-pitch pony there for a little bit, losing the grip on the slider and the changeup.”

It’s been an up-and-down season for the 25-year-old right-hander, but the second half was primed to be important for him. While the Giants are out of the playoff chase, they will be using the final third or so of the season to evaluate what they have for next year.

McDonald figured to be a part of those plans. But his outlook is murkier now.

After his abbreviated outing, McDonald’s ERA stood at 5.12 with 57 strikeouts to a combined 35 walks and hit batters in 70 ⅓ innings across 14 starts this season.

The Giants didn’t plan to wait for the results of the MRI to make a roster move.

Tristan Beck was already on his way to Kansas City, according to manager Tony Vitello.

“It’s getting looked at by our people,” Vitello said. “And we’ll go from there.”

The Nationals entered the day tied with the New York Yankees with MLB-leading 144 home runs. They hit three against the Rockies on Monday, helping Washington earn a victory and pass New York atop the HR team standings.

Two of their homers came against Kyle Freeland (2-9, 7.28 ERA) and accounted for four runs, which ended up to be enough in the end.

The Rockies were held to six hits on the night. All three of their runs came in the third inning before the offense went cold, despite Denver hitting 100 degrees earlier in the day.

Colorado dropped to 40-62 with the loss, while Washington improved to 51-50.

Nats start off hot

Freeland got in trouble early when he walked the first batter he faced, James Woods, and then gave up a single to Curtis Mead. That set the table for Andrés Chaparro to take advantage of the 90-degree first-pitch temperature and blast a three-run homer 427 feet to left field and put Washington up 3-0.

Freeland recovered and got out of the first without giving up another run.

“Three-run homer three hitters into the game — after that, I thought he pitched angry and he pitched well,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said of Freeland’s performance. “He competed and he kept us right in that ballgame.”

He also got help from an outstanding diving catch by Kyle Karros to leave the third without further damage.

That continued through the fifth inning. In the sixth, Freeland surrendered a solo homer to Jacob Young. The bomb put Washington up 4-3. Freeland held the Nationals at bay in the rest of the inning and through the sixth. He was pulled from the game entering the seventh with a line of four runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

“You can do one of two things when you get punched in the face early in the game: You can quit or you can dig down deep and keep your team in the game,” Schaeffer said. “He’s had a lot of experience doing that here in Coors because you all know how Coors operates. So he kept us right in the game and gave us a chance to come back and win it. Great job by Kyle Freeland tonight. He gave us six innings too.”

Freeland credited his catcher in helping with his mental fortitude and his de

“A lot goes to Braxton [Fulford] behind the dish, making sure to keep my head in the game. … He did an incredible job of that tonight,” Freeland said. “The defense tonight was absolutely incredible. Down three early, it’s easy not to cash it in, but know that you have a mountain to climb, but the defense was spectacular. Karros at third, Willi [Castro], Jake McCarthy covering a bunch of ground out there, TJ [Rumfield] picking at first. The guys around me definitely kept me going.”

Here’s one example of the ground McCarthy covered.

Castro comes through on 2nd chance

The Rockies had a chance to strike back in the bottom of the first when they loaded the bases after a McCarthy single and walks by Karros and Hunter Goodman. With Cole Carrigg flying out in between, Rumfield couldn’t capitalize when he struck out. That brought Castro to the plate, but he flied out to right field and the Rockies came up empty.

Luckily, Castro got another chance with the bases loaded in the third inning and he took advantage. This time, singles by McCarthy and Carrigg, along with a Rumfield walk, loaded the bases with two outs. Castro came up and smoked the first pitch he saw to center field, where it hit off the Bridich Barrier for a three-run double to tie the game.

That’s all the Rockies could manage off Washington’s lefty starter Andrew Alvarez, who was pulled in the fifth inning. He gave up three runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 4.1 innings. The Rockies had their chances with runners on in the fourth, fifth and sixth, but Castro’s hit was the lone tally in a 1-for-8 with RISP performance.

Battle of the bullpens

Antonio Senzatela relieved Freeland in the seventh inning and the Nationals jumped on the righty immediately.

Wood singled and Senzatela seemed to be back in control after striking out Curtis Mead and getting pinch-hitter Daylen Lile to ground out in a fielder’s choice, but CJ Abrams had other ideas. He sent a low curveball 420 feet to right-center field for his 22nd homer of the season. The shot gave Washington a 6-3 lead.

Juan Mejia threw a scoreless eighth despite giving up a leadoff single to Young. But Young was erased when he tried to steal second and Brett Sullivan threw him out on a safe call the Rockies had to challenge and successfully overturned. He also notched a strikeout.

In the ninth, Victor Vodnik also gave up a leadoff single, but then quickly got two outs. But Lile tripled for an insurance run that seemed to take the sails out of any would-be comeback for the Rockies.

The Nationals, on the other hand, used four relievers over the final five innings and they held the Rockies hitless and scoreless. For the MLB’s most productive team in the eighth and ninth innings, Colorado had no answers on Monday night.

Up Next

The Rockies and Nationals will face off again on Tuesday night.

The Rockies will send RHP Michael Lorenzen (3-9, 6.22) to the mound, while RHP Miles Mikolas (3-7, 5.53) will get the start for the Nationals. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. MDT.

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The Texas Rangers scored three runs but the Chicago White Sox scored ten runs.

The Rangers were perhaps simply outclassed by a better team this evening. That’s a hilarious notion facing the White Sox of this recent era but former Bruce Bochy sidekick Will Venable has the South Siders atop the AL Central and playing good ball.

The Rangers, meanwhile, remain the picture of inconsistency until further notice.

The Rangers actually held a 2-0 lead in this game with a run apiece in the first two innings. That’s usually a solid sign of an impending victory but even so, Jacob deGrom wasn’t exactly inspiring confidence before he eventually cratered to allow four runs in the top of the fifth.

The Rangers had just two opportunities with RISP against Chicago starter Erick Fedde and left one on base. The White Sox, meanwhile, had ten chances with RISP against deGrom and capitalized on three of them with a two-out bases loaded double from Andrew Benintendi being the big blow as deGrom finally broke after spending much of his brief outing bending.

The Rangers pulled to within two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a Jake Burger solo dong but the White Sox put the game to bed with five more runs in the top of the ninth off a floundering Jose Corniell.

The Rangers have played 100 games in 2026. They’ve won 50 of them and have lost 50 of them. Take a coin out of your pocket and flip it. Heads, the Rangers win. Tails, the Rangers lose.

It was a tails kind of night tonight.

Player of the Game: After deGrom wiggled out of a runners on second and third, zero out jam in the top of the first, Joc Pederson led off the Texas half with a solo home run. Things seemed pretty promising in that moment, but alas.

Up Next: The Rangers and White Sox are back at it tomorrow night. Texas hasn’t listed a starter but Chicago will opt for LHP Noah Schultz.

The Tuesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

KANSAS CITY — Even when things are going mostly right for the Giants, this team has so little margin for error that all it took was two bunts for it all to go wrong.

Such was the case on an obscenely hot and humid Monday night at Kauffman Stadium, which saw Willy Adames provide the clutch heroics to tie the game with two outs in the ninth inning, only for San Francisco to go on to yet another heartbreaking defeat.

Adames played a factor in it all falling apart in the bottom of ninth when, for no apparent reason, he wasn’t in position to tag second base after catcher Daniel Susac made an equally questionable call to try to get the lead runner on the first of two sacrifice bunts.

In the end, the Giants were handed a 4-3 walkoff loss by the Royals, one of only four teams around the majors below them in the league standings.

“No matter how it goes down,” manager Tony Vitello said, “you don’t like it.”

Vitello didn’t second-guess Susac’s decision to go for the lead runner, or Adames’ failure to cover second. He was standing near the bag but his feet were inches off, allowing Josh Rojas, who led off the inning with a single against Caleb Kilian, to get in safely.

Rojas didn’t need to slide, and even began to pull up before he reached the base, because Adames wasn’t in position to tag the base for the force out.

The two players convened about the miscommunication after the game with infield coach Ron Washington, who clarified that the mistake was on both players’ shoulders. Susac should have gotten the out at first, and Adames should have been at second until that decision was made.

“I just couldn’t tell from home” that Adames wasn’t on the bag, said Susac, who was also responsible for two of the Giants’ six hits. “I just threw it. … Looking back at it, probably [should have] taken the out at first. You live and you learn. I tried to take a chance.”

The game ended only two batters later, when Nick Loftin dropped down another bunt with Rojas representing the winning run on third base. Bryce Eldridge charged the ball, which appeared to be drifting foul up the first-base line, and tried to flip it to Susac with his glove but his 6-foot-7 frame didn’t bend down far enough to get his leather around the ball.

The ball rolled away, Rojas raced home and his teammates soon poured out of the first-base dugout to celebrate a win that appeared to be in jeopardy just a half-inning earlier.

“I think it was a tough hop for Bryce,” Susac said. “It was one of those balls that probably goes foul, but at the same time, if he gets it, he’s out by three steps.

“We talked about that. It was a tough play. But it tends to happen — one bad play leads to another, one bad throw leads to another. It’s stuff we’ve got to clean up.”

Susac was on the receiving end of one great throw earlier in the game, when Drew Gilbert fired a dime on one hop to home plate for an 8-2 double play, preventing Lane Thomas from scoring on a sacrifice fly in the second inning and keeping the score tied at zero.

The catcher called the throw the “best we’ve had from the outfield all year,” though Vitello commended his catcher for corralling the one-hopper and making the tag.

“Susac was great all night, and he was extremely composed as the ball was coming,” Vitello said. “When you’ve got a throw coming that’s that firm and it’s gonna take a hop, you don’t really know what kind of hop you’re gonna get. I thought the composure was outstanding.”

That put the Giants in position to take a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a 430-foot solo shot to right field from Heliot Ramos. But for the third game in a row, San Francisco took a lead, failed to add on and eventually let it slip away, never to be reclaimed again.

The Giants were down to their last out when Adames launched his 18th home run of the season — his third in the past four games — to tie the score at 3. It was the second consecutive blown save by Royals closer Alex Lange that he allowed a home run with two outs in the ninth.

What it means

There are officially 100 games down, 62 to go in what is shaping up to be one of the worst seasons in the Giants’ history, before or after their move to San Francisco.

At 42-58, they are one of only 10 in the 143-year history of the franchise with as many losses at the 100-game milepost. The 16 games below .500 matches a season-worst.

They’ll need to win Tuesday to avoid falling further below .500 than any point since the end of the 2017 season, which produced the Giants’ second-worst finish in their West Coast era.

Who’s hot

Blink, and you might miss it.

A day after the less-than-fleet-footed Bryce Eldridge swiped second base — his first career stolen base — catcher Daniel Susac kicked it into gear, too. Unlike Eldridge, the catcher drew a throw on his stolen base attempt and dove headfirst ahead of the tag for his second steal.

The Giants, who began Sunday’s game tied for third-fewest steals in the majors, intended to be more aggressive on the base paths, and that apparently includes two of their slowest runners.

Susac’s successful steal was the Giants’ 12th in the month of July without being thrown out. 

In 15 games, they have matched their most stolen bases of any previous month, when they went 12-for-18 across 26 games in June. They had been 27-for-39 when July began.

Who’s not

It took less than an inning for Trevor McDonald to cough up the 1-0 lead Ramos provided with his home run, and he would walk off the mound only an inning later after experiencing discomfort in his elbow.

McDonald served up a 440-foot blast to Salvador Perez after he hit his second batter of the game to begin the bottom of the fourth. Isaac Collins singled home another run to make it 3-1.

That wasn’t the Giants’ biggest concern after the game, however. McDonald is set to undergo MRIs, and the prognosis didn’t sound great — San Francisco already has another arm, Tristan Beck, en route.

The 25-year-old right-hander summoned the training staff after something felt off on a slider he threw while warming up for the fifth inning. Teammates consoled him on the mound, and JT Brubaker took over.

Up next

The Giants resume their series against the Royals with the second of a three-game set Tuesday (4:40 p.m. PT). Tyler Mahle will make his first start of the second half against Luinder Avila.

Much like his entire first season with the Mets, Freddy Peralta’s first game back in Milwaukee didn’t go as planned. 

Simply put, other than his ovations from Brewers fans, it was ugly for Peralta.

The right-hander was greeted rudely by his old teammates, as they immediately made him pay for a four-pitch walk in the bottom of the first, striking for the first two runs of the ballgame.

21-year-old rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt jumped him for his first career homer in the second, then Andrew Vaughn got him for a two out two-run shot in the third to make it a 5-1 game.

Peralta had to battle to strand a man in scoring position as he posted his first scoreless frame in the fourth, then he followed that with his only perfect inning of the night. 

The Mets pushed him too far in the sixth, though, and he ultimately ran out of steam.

After a walk and single put runners on the corners with one out, Xzavion Curry entered and immediately served up a three-run homer to add even further damage on his line.

Overall, Peralta allowed seven runs on eight hits and a pair of walks over 5.1 innings.

“It’s frustrating for him, he desperately wants to be great,” interim manager Andy Green said. “Today he backed up some spin, he hasn’t had much trouble with that but got hit on those, and didn’t get the fastball up when he needed.

“He clicked it in there in the fourth and the fifth and was heading in the right direction, then the sixth probably gave him too much of a leash -- it was good to see some positives, but obviously, not the outing we’re looking for.”

Peralta now holds the third-highest ERA among qualified pitchers through 21 starts (5.01), and he’s completed six-full innings just six times over that span. 

He still can't explain the continued struggles, but will continue to battle to figure it out. 

“I don’t understand it,” the 30-year-old said. “I feel good, the stuff feels good and everything is there -- I’ve been working to figure it out, I’m not going to give up -- just have to keep going through this and keep fighting.”

Freddy Peralta struggled in his return to Milwaukee tonight, and the offense could not figure anything out even after Jacob Misiorowski left the game after the fourth inning, resulting in an 8-3 loss.

Bo Bichette put to rest any hopes of a no-hitter for Misiorowski in the first inning as he broke his bat on an in-field single. Francisco Lindor also smacked a single into left field, but Jorge Polanco was called out on strikes to end the Mets’ first-inning bid immediately after. Peralta walked Jackson Chourio with one out, and then Brice Turang whacked a ball right over Jared Young’s head down into the corner of right field for an RBI double. After Peralta struck out William Contreras, Garrett Mitchell also smacked one into right field for an RBI single. By the time that Andrew Vaughn flied out to end the inning, Peralta’s pitch count was already 24, and the score was Brewers 2, Mets 0.

After the Mets batters went down in order in the second inning, Peralta started with a strikeout but then gave up a home run to Cooper Pratt. With two outs, Christian Yelich lined a double over Juan Soto’s head into right field, but Chourio grounded out to strand him there. At the top of the third inning, Francisco Alvarez drove the first pitch he saw into center field to reach first base. A.J. Ewing snuck one under Vaughn’s glove, reaching first on the error, and Alvarez made it to third base. Despite Soto grounding into a double play, Alvarez was able to score. Bichette worked a four-pitch walk with two outs, but Lindor flied out right after. With two outs in the bottom of the third, Mitchell hit a ground-rule double to left field, and Vaughn lofted a home run over Luis Robert, Jr.’s head in center field to increase the Brewers’ lead and bring the score to 5-1.

Young hit an infield single to third base in the fourth inning but was left there. When Pratt lined a single into left field, he proceeded to steal second base successfully because Brett Baty could not hold onto the throw from Alvarez. A couple batters later, Pratt got to third on a wild pitch from Peralta that glanced off the edge of Alvarez’s glove. Luckily, Peralta struck out Chourio to end the fourth inning, the first inning in which the Brewers had not scored.

At the top of the fifth inning, Craig Yoho replaced Misiorowski. Ewing drew a one-out walk, but Soto and Bichette both struck out after him. Peralta worked a 1-2-3 inning to end the fifth quickly and came back out for the sixth inning. After he got the first out, he walked Jake Bauers and allowed a single to Cooper Pratt, prompting his replacement by Xzavion Curry. Curry immediately gave up a three-run home run to Joey Ortiz, the Brewers’ third home run of the night. He walked Chourio, but struck out Turang to end the inning. Unfortunately, the score was now Brewers 8, Mets 1.

At the top of the eighth inning, Soto drew a one-out walk, and Bichette dropped a double into right field. Lindor grounded out, but Soto scored and Bichette pulled in at third base with two outs. Polanco then came through with an RBI single to right field that scored Bichette. Young grounded out to strand Polanco. Curry came out for the bottom of the eighth and retired all the batters in order, and despite a single and stolen base from Alvarez, the game ended with final score 8-3.

Mets will try again tomorrow with Zac Thornton on the mound. Brandon Sproat will be pitching for the Brewers, and first pitch is at 7:40 PM ET.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: A.J. Ewing, +8% WPA
Big Mets loser: Freddy Peralta, -30% WPA
Mets pitchers: -32% WPA
Mets hitters: -18% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: A.J. Ewing reaches first on a fielding error, Francisco Alvarez goes to third base, +8.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Andrew Vaughn 2-run home run, -12.7% WPA

MILWAUKEE — Freddy Peralta received an ovation before he took the mound Monday night, and the volume of cheers only increased as he began throwing pitches.

One hittable pitch after another.

The former Brewers ace returned to his major league roots and showed Wisconsinites what life in the Big Apple has been like for him.

In just his latest ugly performance, the right-hander got torched for seven runs in the Mets’ 8-3 loss at American Family Field.

Peralta pitched 5 ²/₃ innings and allowed eight hits and two walks (all seven runs against him were earned), marking the fourth time in his last eight starts he surrendered at least five earned runs.

Overall, he owns a 5.01 ERA this season.

“I just want to get through this,” Peralta said. “I still believe in myself. I know that I’m better than great and sometimes it’s not easy. But I have to understand as a player there’s some tough moments that we have got to get through. It’s not the first one or the last one, but I don’t want to stay like this.”

With the Mets’ season in disrepair, Peralta — who is set to hit free agency after the season — figures to be a goner by the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

But his spree of ugly outings isn’t doing any favors for the Mets as they attempt to maximize their trade return.

“He has good stuff,” interim manager Andy Green said. “We want to keep him on the attack, and I think that is the main message to him.”

The Mets surrendered prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams to acquire Peralta and Tobias Myers last offseason.

Sproat, who has struggled to a 5.16 ERA in his first full season, will get a shot at his former team as the Brewers starting pitcher Tuesday.

Peralta isn’t the only underperforming pitcher in the Mets rotation: Kodai Senga was banished to the bullpen after a brutal stretch, and Sean Manaea has struggled to find consistency for much of the season.

Nolan McLean and Christian Scott have been strong positives for the club, and rookie Zach Thornton is showing early promise.

The left-hander is scheduled for his fourth major league start Tuesday.

Peralta’s pummeling began with Brice Turang’s RBI double in the first. Garrett Mitchell’s RBI single later in the frame gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead.

The assault began after Peralta walked Jackson Chourio with one out.

“I have got to keep fighting to get through this,” Peralta said.

Cooper Pratt’s first major league homer, a solo blast in the second inning, pushed Peralta into a 3-0 hole.

Peralta threw a belt-high, 0-1 sweeper that Pratt hit over the center field fence.

The Mets scored an unearned run against Jacob Misiorowski in the third inning after Francisco Alvarez singled and Andrew Vaughn misplayed A.J. Ewing’s grounder for an error.

But Juan Soto’s double-play grounder to bring in the run was hardly enough.

Peralta recorded two quick outs in the third inning before Garrett Mitchell doubled and Vaughn hit a first-pitch fastball over the center field fence to give the Brewers a 5-1 lead.

“[Peralta] has always managed to win on the top half of the strike zone and above the strike zone,” Green said. “When he gets the fastball there, he does really well. He’s obviously up there trying to fill the zone up at that part of the zone and he wasn’t getting the pitches there.”

Joey Ortiz smashed reliever Xzavion Curry’s second pitch over the left field fence for a three-run homer that buried the Mets in an 8-1 hole.

Peralta was removed with two outs in the inning after walking Jake Bauers and surrendering a single to Pratt.

“I spent a long time here and it’s a place that I will always love,” said Peralta, who pitched eight seasons for the Brewers. “It’s always going to be in my heart. Both of my kids were born here, too. Milwaukee is always going to mean something for me.”

Emmet Sheehan backpedaled down the mound, watching the ball fly just over the left-field wall.

His start Monday, much like his season, had its ups and downs. But just when it seemed he’d found a groove, he gave up a momentum-swinging solo home run to Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’10-7 loss to the Phillies.

It was Sheehan’s first start since the All-Star break, pushed back because of a rainout Saturday in New York. He gave up six runs in 5⅓ innings, raising concerns again over his inconsistency. While the Dodgers (63-38) weather the loss of Shohei Ohtani from the rotation, they need steadiness from the rest of their starters.

“Certainly, he’s getting a lot of opportunity,” manager Dave Roberts said of Sheehan. “It’s not the consistency that any of us like or want, Emmet included. Until there’s another alternative, we’re going to keep running him out there.”

Read more:Shaikin: Why Dodgers aren't panicking over their $60-million bet on Kyle Tucker

One bad inning from Sheehan pushed the game into the Phillies’ favor. With one out in the second, he gave up three straight hits, a sacrifice fly and a two-run homer by Trea Turner to put the Dodgers behind 4-0.

Sheehan adjusted, navigating the next three innings efficiently without giving up a run.

“It’s just really trying to be convicted in his pitch-making before he touches the stove,” Roberts said. “When there’s damage or things have happened, then he locks in, raises his level of intensity a little bit more. But it’s just got to be that before, you know, things start happening.”

It was clear Sheehan’s delivery wasn’t fully in sync. His velocity steadily dropped, with his fastball averaging 94.7 mph in the first inning and 92.7 in the fifth. But he gave the Dodgers’ offense time to chip away at the Phillies’ lead.

“It’s just trying to keep myself from being frustrated and knowing that our offense is so good that we’re in every game,” Sheehan said.

The Dodgers scored in the fourth when Mookie Betts came home from third as Teoscar Hernández hit into a double play. They scored two more runs in the sixth, with Max Muncy delivering an RBI double after Cristopher Sánchez’s start ended after 99 pitches.

The tide really began to turn later in the inning with two outs and the bases loaded. Andy Pages chopped a slow bouncer up the middle, and Turner charged. The ball hit off the heel of the Phillies shortstop’s glove, and another run scored.

Boos poured down even as Turner was chasing the ball. It didn’t matter that he’d hit the second-inning homer; Phillies fans were going to make it clear how upset they were about his second defensive mistake of the night.

The Dodgers, however, didn’t ride the momentum for long.

Three pitches into the bottom of the sixth, Sheehan grooved a fastball to Marsh, and he hit it out for a 5-3 lead. A double to center — which bounced off Pages’ glove — and a strikeout later, Sheehan handed over the ball.

“I thought we had a pretty good handle on [my delivery] coming in,” Sheehan said. “The past few starts have been better with that, and then kind of a step back today, which is pretty frustrating.”

Alex Vesia then surrendered a walk and a three-run homer to Turner, who won back the fans (until another botched grounder in the ninth).

From there, the game became a slugfest. Betts, who went four for five, hit two home runs — a solo shot in the seventh and a two-run blast in the ninth.

The Phillies (56-45) hit two homers off Landon Knack to finish with five.

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Ohtani update

Ohtani likely will throw off a mound late in the week, Roberts said. But it is still unclear when his next pitching start will be. Ohtani, who has continued to play as the designated hitter, went 0 for 4 on Monday.

Ohtani, who has missed his last two starts and received an Orthovisc injection to manage lingering discomfort in his left knee, has continued to throw on flat ground. He again played catch in left field at Citizens Bank Park on Monday.

Dodgers make trade

The Dodgers added bullpen depth with upside, acquiring right-hander Seth Halvorsen from Colorado. They sent two minor leaguers — right-hander Nick Frasso, who has a 4.74 ERA in triple A, and outfielder Landyn Vidourek, a 2025 third-round pick — to the Rockies.

Halvorsen, coming off a stint on the injured list because of right shoulder inflammation, is set to join triple-A Oklahoma City. He throws a 100-mph fastball but hasn’t found a way to control it. He has a 4.31 ERA and 13 saves in three seasons.

“Hopefully we can unlock some levers,” Roberts said. “But the arm talent’s there. Our guys are really excited about him.”

Read more:Eliezer Alfonzo delivers emotional first hit in Dodgers' loss to Yankees

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Orioles’ seven-game winning streak is over. And it was a heartbreaker. They came up against the buzzsaw of the Boston Red Sox’ 13-game (now 14-game) winning streak and couldn’t do quite enough to overcome it, torpedoing their own chances with a brutal four-error performance in a 6-5 loss.

Tonight marked only the fifth time in the last 65 years that two teams with 7+ game winning streaks squared off against each other, and this game lived up to the billing as a back-and-forth, bare-knuckle brawl. It felt like a playoff atmosphere at Fenway Park as the Orioles and Red Sox exchanged blows throughout the game, each team taking a lead, then losing it, then grabbing it back in a dizzying whirlwind.

What the final result came down to, unfortunately, is the same problem that’s plagued the Orioles all season long: their inability to play fundamentally sound baseball. The O’s committed four errors in this game — and arguably could’ve been charged with a fifth — that handed the Red Sox multiple gift runs. The Birds, for all the heart and grit and energy they showed in this game, could not overcome their lack of defensive competence on this night.

It stinks, because the Orioles really had every opportunity to steal the opener of this series, snap Boston’s winning streak, and extend their own. The Birds could’ve established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. And you can’t say they didn’t try! The O’s offense came up big in the clutch multiple times. Shane Baz threw a gutsy outing against a sizzling Sox lineup. But every time the O’s did something impressive, they’d follow it up by doing something infuriating. Every time they looked like they had the Red Sox on the ropes, they’d let them back into the game through unsightly defensive shenanigans. To paraphrase Dennis Green, the Red Sox are who we thought they were, and we let ’em off the hook.

The Orioles struck the opening salvo in this game with a first-inning run off Sox lefty Payton Tolle, thanks to back-to-back doubles by Gunnar Henderson and Tyler O’Neill. The Red Sox tied it in the second on a pair of singles and a Jarren Duran sac fly against Shane Baz. OK, so far, it’s a pretty crisply played, tightly contested game.

That all changed in a disastrous bottom of the third. After Baz retired the first two batters, he should’ve had the third out on a Ceddanne Rafaela grounder up the middle. But Jeremiah Jackson, with his momentum carrying him toward center field, uncorked a bad throw to first that even the elite scooper Pete Alonso couldn’t corral. You simply can’t give a red-hot team an extra out, and sure enough, the Red Sox took full advantage of the new life. Wilyer Abreu pounded a double to the wall in left-center (which Leody Taveras seemed to play tentatively), and while it looked like the O’s might have a chance to throw out Rafaela at home, cutoff man Gunnar Henderson uncorked a horrendous throw nowhere near the plate. The Sox took a 2-1 lead, and Gunnar’s error, the Orioles’ second in a row, allowed Abreu to take third base.

The next batter, Willson Contreras, smacked a sharp liner toward the middle. Henderson leapt in the air, snared the ball…and dropped it. Oh lord. I won’t say that was an easy play — Contreras smoked that ball, and it knuckled a bit — but it’s a play that I think Gunnar should have made. Contreras was credited with an RBI single, but Abreu wouldn’t have scored had he started that play on second base instead of third. And neither run that inning would’ve scored if Jackson hadn’t muffed the throw on the would-be final out. Baz deserved better.

To their credit, the Orioles battled back to erase their self-created 3-1 deficit. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, making just his second O’s start, was the unlikely spark plug. He tagged Tolle for a solo home run into the Green Monster seats in the fifth to make it 3-2.

An inning later, the O’s put together a truly impressive rally to regain the lead. Tolle retired two batters but gave up singles to O’Neill and Taveras to bring up Jackson. Jeremiah came up big, jumping on a first-pitch cutter and lacing it into left for a game-tying single. Would you believe that Jeremiah was making his first start in 15 days? Fifteen! I’m not saying he should be an everyday player or anything, but I feel like he’s earned a little more playing time than he’s gotten. And clutch hits like that one certainly don’t hurt his case.

Then it was Encarnacion-Strand’s turn to play the hero again. The O’s third baseman rolled a single up the middle, plating Taveras to give the Orioles a 4-3 lead. Nice! I enjoy when he does well, even if it means I have to take the time to type out E-N-C-A-R-N-A-C-I-O-N-dash-S-T-R-A-N-D every time. I’m willing to make that sacrifice. The Orioles, though, missed a chance to add to their lead when Sam Huff weakly struck out with two aboard. The absences of Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo felt particularly profound whenever we had to watch an at-bat from Huff, who struck out all three times tonight.

Baz now had a lead to work with, but it evaporated quickly thanks to another Orioles error. Baz only had himself to blame for this one, as he airmailed a throw past first base on Abreu’s slow roller near the mound, putting the runner on second. Abreu promptly scored on a Contreras double, knotting the score at four. Baz exited after the sixth inning, giving up four runs, but only two earned.

Again, the Orioles clawed back into the lead in the seventh on an O’Neill RBI groundout (which should’ve been a double play, but was muffed by Sox second baseman Anthony Seigler). And again, just as quickly, they gave it back, with another heaping dose of bad defense. With a runner at second and two outs in the seventh, Yennier Cano hung a two-strike sweeper to Rafaela, who lashed a single to left. Taylor Ward foolishly threw home even though he had no chance to get the runner, and his throw was so off-target that Rafaela took second. That’s error #4 for the Orioles, if you’re counting. Yeesh. That error didn’t cost the Birds, since Tyler Wells stranded Rafaela on a strikeout, but it’s still an ugly look.

At that point, the Orioles were all out of magic. The Red Sox weren’t. Light-hitting third baseman Caleb Durbin blasted the Red Sox into the lead with a two-out solo homer off Wells in the eighth, because of course he did. The exuberant Sox exploded in celebration in the dugout and the raucous Fenway crowd of 37,659 went wild. They were three outs away from their 14th consecutive win.

The Orioles, to their credit, didn’t make it easy for Boston in the ninth. Colton Cowser drew a leadoff walk and Henderson lashed his third double of the game, a two-out clanker off the Monster, to put two in scoring position against All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman. Tyler O’Neill was thisclose to delivering an enormous hit, lashing a sharp liner to the left side, but shortstop Tseng-Che Cheng made a nifty running grab to snare it for the final out.

The Red Sox made the plays. The Orioles didn’t. And that, in a nutshell, was the difference in this game.