Category: Baseball

The Dodgers did not need an ace. They had one in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was an absolute master last fall as he was leading Los Angeles to its second straight World Series title. The Dodgers also have a two-time Cy Young Award winner in Blake Snell coming back from the injured list soon, followed by another All-Star in Tyler Glasnow.

It didn't matter. The Dodgers went out and got the best available pitcher at the Aug. 3 trade deadline anyway.

Yamamoto threw two complete games last October, the first pitcher to do that in a postseason since Curt Schilling in 2001, then he came out of the bullpen in Game 7 of the World Series and got the last eight outs. He was the Series MVP. With Snell expected back next week and Glasnow on schedule for a late August return, the Dodgers will have depth. Shohei Ohtani has stepped away from pitching for now, but is expected back on the mound at some point this season.

So, Tarik Skubal is not filling the role of team savior. He's insurance against three arms that have to come back right. The Los Angeles rotation, despite the laments about injuries, already led the majors in ERA without the two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner.

More than 60 trades went through from the middle of July to Aug. 3. A few, like the Skubal deal, made a good team even better. A few of these moves will decide whether a team plays in October at all. Those are arguably worth more, and they are also the ones most likely to blow up.

Here are five big impact trades, sorted by how much they are likely to matter once the season gets shorter:

Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox

In June, the Red Sox looked ready to have a fire sale. Then they won 23 of 26 games, and Craig Breslow started spending prospects. He sent three of Boston's top five prospects to Baltimore to get a catcher that can help the Red Sox in October.

He needed to. Carlos Narvaez and Connor Wong combined for a .615 OPS behind the plate this season. Rutschman is a three-time All-Star who switch-hits, frames and calls a solid game. He is 28 and under club control through next season, so it's not a rental.

Where this could blow up on Breslow and Boston is with Rutschman's health. He arrived at Fenway Tuesday on the injured list with left wrist inflammation, and his injury history was the biggest worry executives had about him at the deadline. The Red Sox went into Wednesday night's games 61-51 and four games ahead of Cleveland for the last wild card spot. They will be playing in October if Rutschman is.

The Yankees dropped a dud performance to close out their series with St. Louis, losing 3-1 in a game where they had several chances but continued to be ineffective with their bats. Will Warren had an adventure in the fifth that saw him give up three runs all with two outs, but overall his outing wasn’t bad and not the biggest reason the team lost. The lineup just needs to pull their own weight at some point, especially with the Trade Deadline passed and no more outside reinforcements on the horizon. Yes, the team is hoping to get Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton back at some point, but there’s still a long stretch of time that this offense will have to manage without any of them.

One other improvement that the Yankees made beside trading for a pair of bats over the course of the deadline was calling up their top prospect, George Lombard Jr. One of the best prospects in all of baseball, Lombard made his MLB debut on Tuesday and launched a solo homer for his first career MLB hit in his second at-bat. It proved to be a valuable insurance run as the offense only produced two runs overall that night, and with the team similarly offensively-challenged on Wednesday Lombard had a chance to add to his early accolades. In the bottom of the eighth following two quick outs, New York worked a pair of walks to bring Lombard up to the plate as the go-ahead run. It was probably unfair to think it, but I couldn’t help but feel the thoughts “signature moment” creep into my head. If the kid managed to convert there, there was no doubt that the Stadium would’ve exploded.

Of course, that moment did not come to be. Ryne Stanek managed to overwhelm the 21-year-old rookie with a pair of fastballs up and got him to expand the zone, striking him out to end the threat and the last real opportunity the Yankees had to tie the game up. Ben Rice walked in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Ali Sánchez got caught looking at strike three to end it. That the Yankees’ hopes are riding on Lombard being one of the sparkplugs to an offense that has so desperately craved one is definitely unfair to him, but his debut showed that he’s clearly got the talent. His play on the field has been tremendous, his defense already looking like a veteran as scouts predicted he’d shine there. But what can we realistically expect from his bat, and what can we dare to hope for?

Projections are never quite kind to rookies debuting midseason, as they simply don’t have a lot to work off of and expect the rigors of facing MLB pitchers for the first time to be a fitting challenge. Lombard is no exception in that category, with Steamer giving him an 87 wRC+ in 39 games played to close out the year, estimating him to display a modest walk rate but otherwise struggle to make much contact. Examining his trends from the minor leagues show that Lombard has always taken a step back initially on promoting to a new level, needing a month or so to find his footing before getting into a groove and displaying his normal level of excellence. That also doesn’t bode well considering there’s only two months left in the regular season.

Lombard is riding one of his biggest hot streaks into this first foray of the major leagues, though. He owned a 30-game on-base streak down in the minors prior to his promotion, and has collected a hit in each of his first two games here in New York. He’s displayed his power already, and he seems like a natural at short turning some clutch double plays in his short stay already. I don’t think anyone is expecting him to explode onto the scene and carry the offense on his back, but if he can stay on the track that he’s found since returning from a brief IL stint earlier this year there’s potential for him to be the third or fourth most valuable bat on the team down the stretch, a significant piece of the puzzle. I think he’ll surpass that 87 wRC+ estimate with relative ease, and perhaps push into the above-average production right away that would really turn things around for this lineup.

We’ve got an off-day ahead of us while the Yankees await their next opponent, but we’ve still got some things going on around here. Andrés starts our day off with a look at how Ryan Weathers has adjusted his pitch repertoire to cut down on his unseemly home run rate, and Sam will have the Rivalry Roundup as both the Rays and Red Sox unfortunately continue to stack wins. Jonathan relives the career of Ron Davis and his emergence as a key Yankees reliever defining the setup man role, while Scott looks at the suddenly stacked RailRiders roster as they get an injection with the trio of Anthony Volpe, Jasson Domínguez, and Max Schuemann arriving and focuses on the potential for Volpe to learn second base while down there.

Today’s Matchup:

Off-day

Omaha Storm Chasers 5, Toledo Mud Hens 1 (box)

The Storm Chasers evened the series up by knocking around the Hens bullpen on Wednesday.

Dylan File got the start, and he had perhaps his best start of the year for the Hens. He fired six innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts. Omaha got to him for a run in the top of the first, but otherwise they rarely even threatened.

In the fourth, Brett Callahan got the Hens starter with a leadoff single. He took third on a Justice Bigbie ground out, and Callahan went on to steal third base. Cal Stevenson walked, and Andrew Navigato came through with a sacrifice fly to tie things up.

The Hens never really put together a good scoring opportunity again. Tyler Mattison gave up a two-run homer in the eighth as the Storm Chasers took the lead. Corey Julks doubled with one-out in the bottom half but was stranded. Nick Sandlin coughed up a solo shot in the ninth and then another run to make it 5-1 Omaha.

Stevenson: 2-2, 2B, 2 BB

File: 6.0 IP, ER, 5 H, BB, 6 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:05 p.m. ET start on Thursday.

Erie SeaWolves 10, Altoona Curve 7 (box)

This was a wild one. The Curve blew up Hayden Minton in the fourth and scored seven runs total. The SeaWolves then turned it on and roared back to win.

Minton wasn’t getting much swing and miss, but he cruised through three innings before things quickly unraveled in the fourth. He gave up a two-run homer, and then a parade of hits, along with a Stephen Hrustich error, led to three more runs. Minton left after issuing a walk and Yosber Sanchez took over in a deep jam. He immediately gave up a run scoring double to right field. The relay from Zyhir Hope to Max Burt home to Thayron Liranzo cut down a second runner at the plate, but one more single made it 7-0 before the inning finally ended.

Sanchez wiggled his way out of trouble in the fifth after hitting a batter and giving up a one-out walk, and then the offense came alive in the bottom half.

Hrustrich started them off with a single and Burt doubled. Seth Stephenson grounded one to third and Hrustich scored as Altoona made an error on the play. Peyton Graham singled in Burt, and Stephenson scored on a Josue Briceño ground out.

In the sixth, Andrew Jenkins and E.J. Exposito led off with singles and Hrustich walked to load the bases. A new reliever took over and walked Burt to force in a run, and Stephenson ripped a two-run double to left. Suddenly it was a 7-6 game and Briceño later tied things up with a sacrifice fly.

In the seventh, Jenkins tripled and scored on an Exposito ground ball. In the eighth, Graham led off with a single and rode home on Briceño’s sixth home run of the season. That made it 10-7, giving the SeaWolves a little cushion.

Johan Simon held this all together with two strong innings of relief in the sixth and seventh, striking out four. Tyler Owens handled the final two innings to earn the save.

Jenkins: 3-5, 2 R, 3B

Graham: 2-5, R, RBI, 2 K

Stephenson: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B

Briceño: 1-4, R, 4 RBI, K

Minton: 3.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Thursday at UPMC Park.

West Michigan Whitecaps 11, Fort Wayne TinCaps 1 (box)

Ben Jacobs put together a great outing, and five different Whitecaps homered in this one as they crushed Fort Wayne on Wednesday.

Jacobs fired 5.2 innings of one run ball in this one. He allowed just three hits and a walk, striking out five. The lefty threw 59 of 81 pitches for strikes, and had both the breaking stuff and his changeup working throughout his day.

He quickly had a nice lead to work with. Bryce Rainer was the second batter of the game and he torched his 10th home run to center field for a quick 1-0 lead. Jackson Strong followed with his 10th home run, another solo shot, and it was 2-0.

Juan Hernandez bashed a three-run shot in the second with Luke Shliger and Samuel Gil on board. 5-0 Whitecaps.

In the top of the third, the TinCaps walked three straight hitters to start the inning. Cristian Santana lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 6-0, and that was just the beginning of Santana’s night. Jacobs allowed a run in the bottom of the third to make it 6-1.

Rainer doubled to open the fourth inning but was stranded. However, in the fifth they were right back at it. Gil singled with one out and Santana launched a two-run shot to right field. 8-1 Whitecaps.

Shliger led off the seventh with a solo shot of his own. Two batters later, Santana came up again and crushed a solo shot to center field for his second of the game. 10-1 Whitecaps. He would add a third homer in the top of the ninth to complete one heck of a game. That made seven home runs on the night for the Whitecaps, which is a franchise record.

Santana: 3-4, 3 R, 5 RBI, 3 HR, K

Strong: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB

Rainer: 2-6, R, RBI, 2B, HR, 4 K

Jacobs (W, 3-2): 5.2 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Dunedin Blue Jays 11, Lakeland Flying Tigers 0 (Gm1)(F/7)(box)

Game 1 was pretty uneventful for the Flygers after they were rained out on Tuesday. Brant Hurter made a rehab appearance, but otherwise the offense was quiet and the Blue Jays won easily.

Hurter got knocked around for three runs in his first rehab appearances after spending two months on the IL with lumbar back issues. Xiomer Guacache took over with just one out in the first and gave up two runs of his own as well. Caleb Leys then surrendered three runs in 2.2 innings of work. Bryce Alewine gave up three more in the seventh.

Carson Rucker had two hits, and Roberto Campos managed one as his rehab continues. Enough said about this one.

Rucker: 2-2, BB

Hurter (L, 0-1): 0.1 IP, 3 ER, H, BB, K

Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Dunedin Blue Jays 3 (box)

Paul Wilson was wild in this one and gave up three early runs, but the Flying Tigers offense decided that was enough and stormed back to take Game 2.

Jesus Pinto kicked off the offense with a one-out triple in the bottom of the second. Anibal Salas singled him in and then rode home on Zach MacDonald’s 18th home run of the season.

So they had a 3-0 lead, but Wilson, after two decent innings of work, walked the first three batters he faced in the top of third. Luke Hoskins took over, but allowed all three inherited runners to score, tying the game.

The Flying Tigers roared right back. Salas led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, and MacDonald stepped to the dish and smashed his second homer of the game for a 5-3 lead. That one left the bat at 111.7 mph.

In the bottom of the sixth, Pinto and Salas singled to start the inning, and MacDonald walked. A wild pitch scored Pinto, but that was all they’d get.

Grayson Grinsell helped the cause with three scoreless innings with five strikeouts, though he walked three. Donye Evans took over after a leadoff single in the seventh, and he shut the door to earn his second save.

MacDonald: 2-2, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR, BB

Salas: 3-3, 2 R, RBI, 2B

Pinto: 2-3, 2 R, 3B

Wilson: 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 0 H, 6 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start on Thursday.

SNY | Ben Krimmel: Aaron Judge has been cleared to resume light activity, the first positive update since he landed on the IL on May 31st. The first step has been some upper-body resistance work in the weight room, and Judge was also seen running and stretching on the field before Wednesday’s game. While acknowledging his broken rib is still ailing him, the Yankee captain expressed urgency to return, noting he’s “running out of days” before the end of the season and affirming he’ll return before then. Manager Aaron Boone also provided an update on right-hander Clarke Schmidt, who’s progressing in his recovery from Tommy John surgery. He recently tossed a live batting practice (which was cut short by cramps) and could be nearing a rehab assignment.

The Athletic | Tyler Kepner: ($) Two new Yankees, George Lombard Jr. and Heliot Ramos, debuted Tuesday. They took different paths to the Bronx, with Lombard a long-touted internal prospect and Ramos a fifth-year player acquired from the Giants at the deadline, but both reveled in their new home. The 21-year-old Lombard was stoic. “I have pretty good relations with a lot of people here, so it’s not like a completely new environment,” he said. “When I first get here, everybody’s coming up to say, ‘What’s up, congrats,’ all the guys telling me to enjoy this moment, it only happens once.” Lombard indeed made the most of his moment, homering and starring in the field in a memorable 2-0 victory. Ramos, who grew up in Puerto Rico rooting for the likes of Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter, admitted to shaking with excitement upon learning of the trade, trumpeting the “high bar” set by his new organization.

ESPN: The ESPN team debates the Yankees’ trade deadline, in which the team added some thump to their lineup but failed to address top needs behind the plate and in the bullpen. Jeff Passan and Buster Olney agree they remain “squarely in the mix” in a crowded AL picture while Jorge Castillo and Bradford Doolittle lament their inability to secure a right-handed catcher. Ultimately, the consensus is that the Yankees’ fortunes will likely hinge on the return of their captain, alongside Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger.

Baseball America: An update of Baseball America’s venerable top 100 prospect list after a flurry of moves at the deadline. Lombard leads the pack for the Yankees, coming in at number 15 after slotting at 46 before the season. Next is Dax Kilby, the team’s first-rounder last year, at 37 (up from 61 pre-season). Carlos Lagrange, the fireballer who debuted at 93 this spring, ranks 79th. And Elmer Rodríguez, who’s started four games in the big leagues this year, slides back from 58 to 83.

Defector | Chris Thompson: From enemy territory, a begrudging celebration of Lombard’s debut from a self-described Yankee hater. Thompson gives a blow-by-blow of his well-worn anti-Yankee armor being pierced Tuesday night, beginning with a charming pregame interview with Lombard’s parents and ending with his solo homer in the fifth, which the writer conceded caused him to hoot and holler in joy.

Baseball is a funny sport sometimes. There aren’t very many sports or opportunities in life where you can get embarrassed and then come back less than 24 hours later to face the exact same team and completely flip the script and result of the two contests. Thankfully, baseball isn’t most sports and that’s exactly what the D-Backs were able to accomplish on Wednesday night, taking a shutout performance all the way into the top of the ninth while absolutely teeing off on San Diego pitching throughout the night. The victory not only gave the D-Backs some extra padding in their Wild Card lead, but also put them that much closer to securing the season series against the Friar’s – an important tiebreak consideration as we enter the last quarter of the season and sprint towards the playoffs.

The starting rotation has been a weakness for the team throughout the season – led by disappointing results from Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen. That disappointment and weakness has opened the opportunity for a pair of rookies to make their case for a rotation spot in Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake, two of the three players the Rangers exchanged in the Merrill Kelly trade last season. The two rookies have had an uneven introduction to the big leagues in their first eight combined starts, but Bratt’s sixth career start was a huge step forward, giving the youngster his first big league win. I don’t want to overstate the performance. It’s always impressive when a rookie is able to complete seven innings of scoreless baseball, regardless of the relative weakness of the opposing offense. But it’s also not as if Bratt had pinpoint command of all of his pitches, throwing slightly more than half of his 92 pitches on the night for a strike.I think it’s more accurate to describe the outing as effectively wild rather than wildly effective. Regardless, limiting the Padres to just three walks is an important developmental milestone for the young lefty whose walk rate has skyrocketed since making his debut and will be a closely watched development moving forward.

Of course, with the way the Arizona offense was cooking tonight, an effective position player could have likely earned a win on the mound. It was exactly the kind of balanced offensive attack that Torey Lovullo often preaches with valuable contributions coming from nearly every player in the lineup as seven out of nine of the starters got at least one hit or more. Even better, it didn’t overly rely on a single method for scoring, but featured sacrifice flies, home runs, and timely hits with runners in scoring position. They got the party started in the third with a sacrifice fly from Gabriel Moreno scoring Corbin Carroll who had walked, stolen second, and moved to third already. Tim Tawa added another run on a two-out blast off a lifeless splitter, but it wasn’t until the fourth that the party really started. After James McCann led off the inning with a harmless flyout, his teammates started a hit parade with five straight knocks and then a run-scoring walk with the bases loaded to run the advantage all the way out to five runs and knock Casey Mize – the brand new pitching acquisition from the Tigers – out of the game. Sadly for the Padres, a pitching change to Kyle Hart did little to slow down the onslaught with a Tawa sacrifice fly and two-run double from Ildemaro Vargas ending the loop on the shiny new pitching toy the team acquired earlier this week.

Tonight some friends of mine are marking one year of dating with a celebration at our regular karaoke night where everyone was encouraged to write a love note and put it in a “love box” to be read from in between songs at karaoke – where everyone is, of course, encouraged to sing love songs. I did not get to go to this celebration, because instead I was watching the Mariners play the Tigers, which was definitely not a lovefest. Instead, the game devolved into the Mariners’ first brawl of the season, while also evolving to a 4-2 Mariners win. I don’t have room for 69 Love Songs, but I do have room for nine innings’ worth of love songs.

(I originally thought I’d use only songs from the Magnetic Fields’ 1999 triple album 69 Love Songs for this recap, but honestly? A lot of those songs that would be thematically appropriate for this game are, unfortunately, filler. So we improvise.)

Love Is Strange

Appropriately enough on Jimothy Night, honoring our local PNW cryptid, tonight’s game was weird. Bryan Woo gave up as many hits as he did hit by pitches (3), which is also how many HBP he had in the entire 2024 season. But Woo also went seven shutout innings, furthering his extreme home-road splits, thanks to the Tigers’ uber-aggressive approach, and was cruising with a low pitch count for most of the game, outside of one inning where the Tigers definitely should have scored and then just…didn’t, thanks to some incredible outfield defense from [checks notes] the Mariners corner infielders? The benches also cleared in this game, although appropriately enough for these two teams no punches were thrown, making it more of an energetic on-field discussion. So yeah. Weird game. Jimothy approves.

Autumn Love

As the sun sets on summer and turns to autumn, it feels like so too is the sun setting on the Mariners’ chances in the division. The vibes today were not great following an 8-0 drubbing by the Tigers last night which many were calling “the worst loss of the season (so far)”. And for the first few innings, it felt like the Mariners were going to continue their offensive somnambulism into this game. It might have been a bullpen game for the Tigers, but Drew Anderson looked plenty capable of putting the Mariners down early, despite some pressure from the new guys in the bottom of the third, as Brendan Donovan and Taylor Ward checked in with back-to-back groundball base hits, unfortunately quickly erased by an inning-ending GIDP from the normally-steady Cole Young. The only other Mariner who got anything off Anderson was Julio Rodríguez, who worked a 1-2 count into a walk to lead off the second (before getting erased on a first-pitch swing GIDP from Josh Naylor) and in the fourth, beat out a two-out infield hit (probably an error) against Colt Keith. That was enough for AJ Hinch, who yanked lefty Tyler Holton out of the ‘pen to face Naylor, who popped out to end the inning. Sometimes love isn’t enough, and this autumn love definitely wasn’t feeling like enough.

In Spite of Ourselves

The Tigers had a good chance to break this game open in the fourth against Bryan Woo, but then…just…didn’t score. It started with Gleyber Torres, leading off the inning, knocking what looked like a sure double off the right field wall, but Dominic Canzone played the ball perfectly on the wall and then uncorked an absolute laser of a throw to keep Torres at first. I apologize Dom, I did not know you Had It Like That.

That limiting of the extra base would prove to be important because Dillon Dingler followed that up with a hit; however, Torres violated the spirit of the Gentleman’s Agreement that governs Randy Arozarena’s third base play and attempted to take third, forcing Randy to do an Effort and throw out Torres at third. That allowed Dingler to second, and then things got a little trickier when Woo grazed Riley Greene with a slider in an 0-2 count, aka the most Unintentional Hit By Pitch Ever (or at least since the third inning, when Woo hit rookie Max Clark with a pitch in a 2-2 count, and Clark dropped his elbow guard into a sinker). Trying to get back into it, Woo sent over a first-pitch sinker on the plate to Colt Keith and Arozarena, not known for sparkling outfield defense, showed that he was still pretty ticked off at the Tigers disrespecting his defense. Only Randy himself gets to do that.

A very pumped-up Bryan Woo then came back to strike out Spencer Torkelson to end the inning, because we cannot be wasting a night when the MLB video recap for this game has not one but two Randy defense highlights. In spite of themselves, the Mariners went into the back half of this game still knotted at 0-0, sitting on a rainbow.

You Oughta Know (Better than that)

Sometimes hate is just the flip side of love, as Alanis knows, and now Julio. The Mariners finally got on the board in the sixth inning of this game against Tigers reliever Brenan Hanifee, who has the unlucky distinction of having taken Tarik Skubal’s roster spot after he was dealt to the Tigers. Hanifee was brought in to face Randy Arozarena with two outs, replacing lefty Tyler Holton who did not allow a hit over two innings, and Randy promptly greeted him with a double. Then, and this is the part I think AJ Hinch should go to jail for, Hinch instructed Hanifee to intentionally walk Dominic Canzone to get to Julio Rodríguez for a right-on-right battle. Julio…did not take kindly to that.

Julio saw that sinker on the plate, decided he liked it, and crushed it oppo to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead. Next time Hanifee will know.

The First Ever Time I Saw Your Face (I swung at your first pitch)

First pitch swings were kind of a theme on the night. Bryan Woo had six outs on first-pitch swings from the Tigers tonight. He completed seven innings on just 91 pitches, and the majority of the traffic he faced was self-inflicted (HBPs and a walk). After putting down the threat in the fourth, he had to navigate around a hit by pitch in the fifth and a walk in the sixth (with again, some solid outfield defense from Canzone on a diving catch) before allowing his third and final hit of the day in the seventh: a solid line-drive single from Clark, the rookie. Catcher Eduardo Valencia ran it to a full count, but Woo was able to get out of it with a well-timed GIDP, and he was pumped.

Kiss With A Fist

With the Mariners up 3-0 and Woo having turned in seven strong and a rested bullpen after yesterday’s blowout loss, it felt like this game could be put to bed. Right? Wrong. Gabe Speier came in to work the eighth and got his first two outs before Riley Greene came up. Historians will argue about what happened next. I would say, Speier didn’t have great command tonight and was trying to pitch Greene inside and missing. AJ Hinch would say (ideally from his jail cell) that Speier was intentionally trying to hit Greene after Cal Raleigh had taken 95 to the ribs in the previous inning from reliever Enmanuel De Jesus who – and this part might be important – was only walking 5% of batters at Triple-A this year. Either way, feelings were hurt, and maybe also ribs and thighs, and the benches cleared, and at the end of it Gabe Speier was ejected – he walked off with no argument – and so was Dan Wilson, who had quite a bit more to say about it. We’ll find out if there are any knock-on effects from this tomorrow. Here’s a link to the non-brawl if you wanna see it.

Love You So Bad

The bad news here is that Eduard Bazardo had to come in for Speier, and because this is how things have been going for Bazardo lately, he immediately gave up a two-run bomb to Dillon Dingler to make this game a much closer 3-2. I love you Eduard, even when you’re so, so bad. But please try being good again.

Thirteen (home runs by the end of the season for Colt?)

Colt Emerson might look like he is thirteen years old and as tall as one blueberry, but he has a love of the bright lights. He picked a great time for his eighth (!) home run of the year, a loud, answer-back shot off De Jesus to pad the lead back out to 4-2. Eight home runs already? They grow up so fast!

(Andrés Muñoz) Is Still The One

Staked to a two-run lead now, Andrés Muñoz came in and obliterated his slate of Tigers hitters, striking out Colt Keith on a nasty changeup, Spencer Torkelson on the slider, and then getting a little help from a nice play from Cole Young (contributing in the field if not at the plate tonight) for a game-ending groundout. It was about as dominant as we’ve seen Muñoz in a while, and a very satisfying end to a weird game. I have to say, I loved it.

I promised you nine love songs and unlike the Mariners, I’d never short you, so here’s one last song and a request for the Mariners for the rest of the season, however it might go. (Mind where you open that for some spicy language.)

PHOENIX — Casey Mize was offered plenty of excuses for the worst outing of his career Wednesday night in his San Diego Padres debut.

There was the disruption of his life after being traded from Detroit to San Diego.

There were the goodbyes from his old Tigers teammates and introductions to new Padres teammates.

There was making his first National League start at Chase Field in Arizona with the high altitude and dry air.

Mize heard all of the alibis, and batted away every single one of them.

“Pretty tough time to have the worst start of my career, you know?’’ Mize said after the Padres’ 10-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. “Kind of put us in a really tough spot and (without) a chance to win.’’

Everything was going OK the first couple of innings, but the Diamondbacks scored two runs in the third inning, including a Tim Tawa home run, and in the fourth, everything unraveled. Mize gave up five consecutive hits, a walk, and departed with the bases loaded. When the inning mercifully ended, the Diamondbacks had scored six more runs.

“Obviously, throughout the outing, I could definitely tell that I was just off, not being able to execute,’’ Mize said. “I knew it was going to be a bit of a grind, and then it obviously snowballed on me there.’’

Mize’s final line: 3.1 innings, 9 hits, 8 runs, 8 earned runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout.

It was the most runs Mize has ever permitted in 103 career starts.

“So frustrated by that,’’ Mize said. “It seems like I just couldn’t execute a plan, falling behind in the counts, things were kind of elevated, and even when I got some good counts, I just couldn’t get below the zone, so they got a barrel on the ball.

“I was looking for that swing and miss.’’

Mize got only two of them the entire night, throwing 77 pitches, just 47 for strikes.

On an encouraging afternoon of Yankees injury developments — most notably Aaron Judge getting cleared for some light activities — the club also received positive news concerning Clarke Schmidt. 

Schmidt, who had to cut short a live batting practice Tuesday because of what he believed and hoped was cramping in his forearm, was informed it indeed “seems like” it was cramping, Aaron Boone said. 

“Clarke we feel like is probably good to go,” the manager said before Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Cardinals in The Bronx. “He got a lot of treatment [Tuesday]. The doc didn’t seem overly concerned.” 

The Yankees at least felt a level of concern when Schmidt, who is beginning to build up following 2025 Tommy John surgery, felt the discomfort, which prompted him to throw two “innings” rather than three. 

The next step for Schmidt, who was not expected to throw Wednesday, will be to play catch Thursday “and then hopefully do his side [session] at some point this weekend,” Boone said. 

Without further hiccups, Schmidt could graduate soon into a rehab assignment. 

Considering general manager Brian Cashman did not upgrade the bullpen at the trade deadline in part because he felt the club would have internal reinforcements, Schmidt’s eventual return to the staff has grown in importance. 

Cody Bellinger, who is a week and a half into what is expected to be a four-to-six-week absence with a hamstring strain, took on-field batting practice for the first time since suffering the injury July 25. 

“That was a big step,” said Bellinger, who added that he has been feeling well but lacks a clear return timetable. 

Bellinger has been running — though not at full speed — in a straight line and has several more hurdles to clear before he is ready for activation or a rehab assignment. 

Heliot Ramos (1-for-3 with a second-inning double) picked up his first hit as a Yankee. 

Kervin Castro, Tim Hill and Paul Blackburn combined for 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings. 

The bullpen has pitched to a majors-best 2.56 ERA in the past 55 games, holding opponents to a .200 batting average. 

The best Yankees hitter in the past four weeks: Austin Wells. 

Since July 9, the catcher has posted a .931 OPS with four home runs in 18 games. The Yankees did not add another catcher at the deadline partly because of the prices and partly because of Wells’ uptick. 

“I do feel like over the last few weeks, there’s been some steady improvement,” Boone said before Wells went 1-for-2, “and hopefully moving forward, more in line with the presence I feel like he could be, especially at the bottom of the order. I feel like he’s getting closer to that version.”

Someone is going to be sent to the bullpen, and Will Warren didn’t help his cause to avoid that fate Wednesday night. 

When Carlos Rodón returns, it’s going to be either Warren or Ryan Weathers. 

With the way Weathers has pitched of late, it is hard to see the Yankees demoting him. 

Warren was coming off a terrific outing in a win over the Cubs, but after a strong start Wednesday, he struggled to go deep in the 3-1 loss to the Cardinals at the Stadium.

The right-hander was able to record only one out in the sixth after giving up four hits and three runs in the previous frame. 

“There’s definitely a lot of uncertainty. I think it’s a good thing we have all these arms,” Warren said. “At the end of the day, my job is to take the ball every time I get it. Whenever that is, I’m going to go out there and try to execute.” 

Warren did finish with five strikeouts, but he tired late, yielding five of his seven hits in the fifth and sixth innings. With Yankees hitters continuing to slump, he didn’t have much wiggle room and paid for that shaky fifth. He was close to getting out of the jam after coming back from a 3-1 count to strike out César Prieto for the second out.

But the next batter, JJ Wetherholt, doubled in two runs with a drive over Trent Grisham’s head in center field. Iván Herrera followed with another booming run-scoring double to center. 

“I think there was a lot of good,” Warren said. “Obviously, I could’ve made a different pitch decision there to Wetherholt, possibly get out of that inning unscathed. It is what it is. I try to get as many outs as possible and keep us in the game. Overall, I think it was solid.” 

Warren was coming off a shaky July, in which he pitched to a 5.47 ERA. But he did close it out well, tossing 6 ²/₃ innings of shutout ball against the Cubs. 

Weathers, meanwhile, has allowed just one earned run over his past 20 ¹/₃ innings. He is getting stronger as the year gets deeper. Warren cannot say the same thing. 

Rodón is getting closer to returning. The left-hander last appeared for the Yankees on June 28 and has been dealing with left elbow inflammation.

He is scheduled to begin a rehabilitation assignment Saturday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. 

Following the Mets' win over the Guardians on Wednesday, interim manager Andy Green and the players met with the media to discuss a number of topics...

Jefry Yan's electric stuff and celebration

Following the trade deadline, the Mets' bullpen was remade.

One of the new arms added was Jefry Yan. The 29-year-old southpaw throws in the triple digits, but is just as known for his strikeout celebrations as his 100 mph pitches. And Wednesday, Yan made his major league debut, coming into the sixth inning with the Mets up 4-3. 

Yan struck out the first batter he faced, dropping a slider on a 1-2 count to get Angel Martinez looking. 

"I went out there to attack him," Yan said of his first strikeout. "I was attacking and attacking and once I had him on two strikes, I threw that slider, and If I freeze him, which is exactly what I did, I celebrated accordingly."

Accordingly is right.

His teammates loved to see it; the Cleveland fans...not so much. But Yan doesn't think much about how others perceive him or his celebration, he is going to stay true to himself. 

"I don't think about [the fans booing]. They can do whatever they want. They’re paying their tickets," Yan said. "If they want to yell at me, boo at me, they can do whatever they want; I’m in my zone. I’m going to enjoy my game any way that I want to."

"He’s got electric stuff too. The celebration’s one thing, but he’s also coming in throwing 100," Christian Scott said of Yan. "That’s a big weapon for us out of the left side. Super hyped, super pumped for him."

The Guardians did get to Yan, though. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Yan recovered, striking out Chase LeLauter and getting Jo Adell to ground out to help preserve the Mets' lead.

"I was really excited, I was also a little nervous," Yan said of his debut. "I wanted to get in and out of there right away but got into a little trouble, but I was able to dig deep and get out of that inning. I was very excited and very grateful for that opportunity."

"It’s real stuff. You think about the road traveled to get to that mound today and it’s really worth telling that story," Green said. "It’s really impressive. To get out of a bases-loaded jam, get your first punchout, I’m excited for him. He deserved that day."

Jefry Yan's first MLB stirkeout!

And an ELECTRIC celebration! pic.twitter.com/jMaFxMSwg2

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 6, 2026

Devin dealing with arm fatigue

With the Mets up 6-5 in the 10th, Green did not deploy Devin Williams to lock down the save. Although the Mets closer was shown on the SNY broadcast in the bullpen, Green used Daniel Duarte, who squirmed around the ghost runner to lock down his first save of the season.

Green was immediately asked about Williams' status following the win and the interim skipper gave a short update on the right-hander. 

"He’s fine. A little bit of arm fatigue. He played catch today, felt better. Took the cautious route, gave him another day," Green explained. "Fully expect him to be available tomorrow."

Williams last pitched Sunday, Aug. 2 against the Marlins. He allowed a run on two hits in his one inning of work. 

The Mets play their series finale with the Guardians on Thursday afternoon. If there's a save opportunity, we'll know whether Williams truly needed just an extra day.

In his first season with the Mets, Williams has pitched to a 4.30 ERA and converted 16 saves across 41 appearances. 

It’s Wednesday here at BCB After Dark: the coolest spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in out of the heat. It’s nice and cool in here. We’re all in a good mood. We’re glad for you to join the merriment. There’s no cover charge. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night I asked you if you thought that Ryan Zeferjahn would get the most saves for the Cubs through the end of the season. Fully 69 percent of you were impressed enough with the Cubs’ new reliever with the atomic sweeper to say yes.

On Wednesday nights, I usually play some music and talk about movies for a while. But in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been writing a lot of articles for the site over the past week. I’m also battling some mild stomach discomfort and 108 degree temperatures. (Outside. Not body temperature.) So I think I’m going to beg off the movie stuff tonight. You’re free to talk about any movies or TV shows you want in the comments. If you want to talk about the new Zendaya/Tom Holland/Jon Bernthal blockbuster and make sure we don’t know which film you’re talking about, you can. If you want to talk about whether Zendaya and Tom Holland are the Lunts of our time, you can. But I’m not going to prompt you.

But I think I can find some music for you in the meantime.

Tonight we have bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding playing “I Can’t Help It” at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2011. Joining Spalding are Leala Cyr (backing vocals); Sara Caswell (violin); Olivia de Prato (viola); Jody Redhage (cello); Leonardo Genovese (piano); Richie Barshay (drums).

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music.

Tonight I’m going to ask you what was the best Trade Deadline acquisition in Cubs’ history? Certainly time will tell on the players the Cubs got on Monday, but here are some of the most historic Trade Deadline pickups in Cubs history.

Here are some possibilities.

1945—Pitcher Hank Bowory

I wasn’t going to include Bowory because I’d be surprised if any of you remember him, but the Cubs got Bowory from the Yankees on July 27, 1945 for cash. Bowory went 11-2 with a 2.13 ERA as the Cubs won their last pennant until 2016. If manager Charlie Grimm hadn’t tried to pitch him three times in three games over four days in the World Series, the Cubs’ might have beaten the Tigers.

1984—Pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, catcher Ron Hassey and pitcher George Frazier for outfielders Mell Hall, Joe Carter and pitcher Don Schulte.

This is the one that many of you remember. Sutcliffe went 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA the rest of the way as the Cubs made the postseason for the first time since 1945. Sutcliffe won the Cy Young Award. Hassey hit .333/.405/.515 as Jody Davis’ backup. Frazier became a punching bag for Cubs fans in ‘85 and ‘86, but he was a decent but unspectacular middle reliever in 1984.

2003—Third baseman Aramis Ramírez and outfielder Kenny Lofton for José Hernandez and Bobby Hill.

This one is big because Ramírez wasn’t just a rental, although Lofton was. Ramírez became a fan favorite for the Cubs for nine seasons and hit .259/.314/.491 with 15 home runs the rest of the way in 2003. Lofton, who should be in the Hall of Fame, hit .327/.381/.471 the rest of the way and filled in center field for the injured Corey Patterson. I don’t need to tell you how this season ended, but the Cubs came extremely close to winning the pennant in 2003.

2008—Pitcher Rich Harden and pitcher Chad Gaudin for Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson and Josh Donaldson.

I almost didn’t include this one because the Cubs gave up Donaldson, who honestly was the third piece in this deal at the time and nobody thought much about him. But Harden was excellent in ‘08 as the Cubs went to the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time since 1906 to 1908. Harden went 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA in 12 starts. Gaudin kind of laid an egg with the Cubs and the entire team sputtered out when they got swept by the Dodgers in the NL Division Series. Harden started and lost game three.

2016—Pitcher Aroldis Chapman for infielder Gleyber Torres, outfielder Billy McKinney and pitcher Adam Warren.

You can argue this is the move that put the Cubs over the top in 2016 and won their first title in 108 years. Chapman went 1-1 with 16 saves and a 1.01 ERA the rest of the way. He also pitched his heart out in the playoffs as manager Joe Maddon ran him out to the mound like a rented mule. He did give up that home run to Rajai Davis in Game 7, but man, he gutted through the ninth inning despite obviously being gassed. He kept the score tied until the rains came and the Cubs could win it all in the 10th.

So what was the greatest deadline trade in Cubs’ history?

Thank you for stopping by tonight. We’re sorry we opened so late, but we had an issue in the kitchen. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.

The middle game of a three-game series with the Mariners in the Emerald City featured plenty of plunkings, a couple of ejections, and a crucial, late-innings home run in a 4-2 Seattle win.

The, uh, “revamped” Tigers rotation has a couple of new faces in it, and one of those belongs to Drew Anderson. After working as a starter in South Korea last season, the right-hander has done a little of everything for the Tigers this year: started a couple of times, saved a couple of games, and been brought into games anywhere between the fourth and the tenth inning. But now he’s been put into the starting rotation, and the plan is to have him gradually stretch out his start-lengths, so he wasn’t going to go starter distance in this one.

Bryan Woo got the nod for the M’s, and his home/away splits are truly astounding. Now, the stadium over there in Seattle is, and always has been, quite the pitcher’s paradise, but get this: at home this year he has an ERA of 2.20, and elsewhere it’s 6.71. At home, hitters are batting .167 with a .463 OPS; away, they’re batting .300 with an .819 OPS. That’s bananas, and the Tigers had their work cut out for them.

Detroit got its first baserunner in the top of the third when Max Clark got clipped by an inside sinker to lead off, which wouldn’t be the only such occurrene on this evening. With one out he advanced to second on a groundout, but with two outs Kevin McGonigle flew out harmlessly to left to strand Clark.

The bottom of the third saw the Mariners get back-to-back singles to lead off. Anderson handled it, getting a flyout and a ground-ball double play — the second consecutive inning that ended on a double-play grounder — and he was through three innings on only 33 pitches.

Gleyber Torres led off an eventful fourth inning with a single to right, and he tried to advance to third on a Dillon Dingler single to left. He slid into third feet-first and actually beat the throw, but his momentum carried him off the bag and he was tagged out. Riley Greene followed by getting hit as well, putting two runners on for Colt Keith who had a three-run home run taken away from him by a leaping Randy Arozarena.

Spencer Torkelson then, anticlimactically, struck out.

After a two-out infield single in the bottom of the fourth, Anderson’s day was done and Tyler Holton was brought in to face fellow lefty Josh Naylor. Holton got Naylor to pop out to shortstop and the inning was done. The book also closed on Anderson: 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 28 of 42 pitches for strikes. The plan was for Anderson to throw about 45 pitches, and I’m no mathematician but 42 is right around 45.

With two out in the fifth Woo hit his third batter of the night, nicking Zack McKinstry’s toe (which was confirmed on review), but McGonigle fouled-out to third for the final out. In the sixth with Dingler on first and two out, Keith again hit a ball hard — at 108 mph — but it was directly at the right fielder for the third out, and the game remained scoreless.

Holton carried on into the bottom of the sixth, and with two out his day was done; he retired all six batters he faced. Brenan Hanifee was summoned as his replacement, and the game did not remain scoreless for long: Arozarena double, intentional walk, three-run home run by Julio Rodríguez, whoopsie-daisy. That was it for Hanifee, as Drew Sommers was brought in to limit the damage, which he did by striking out Naylor.

With one out in the seventh Clark singled to centre, but was erased on a double-play grounder by Eduardo Valencia. That was the end of Woo’s night: seven shutout innings, three singles sprinkled here-and-there. Exactly what you expect from him in his home park.

Enmanuel De Jesus took over the pitching duties in the bottom of the seventh, and he started off by plunking Cal Raleigh in the gut, which certainly got the home team’s attention despite it clearly being unintentional.

If you’ve been counting, and the players certainly had, at this point the Mariners had hit three Tigers batters against one that the Tigers had hit. So with two out in the top of the eighth — the first two batters being rookies, natch — the first pitch from Gabe Speier to Torres was extremely inside, near his belt buckle. The second pitch made contact with Torres, the benches emptied, the bullpens emptied, much yelling and milling-about ensued, and both Speier and Seattle manager Dan Wilson were shown the door by the umpiring crew.

Eduard Bazardo was brought in to replace the ejected Speier; the first batter he faced was Dingler, and Dingler made the Mariners pay for their transgressions with a long two-run home run to narrow the score to 3-2.

De Jesus carried on into the bottom of the eighth and gave up a leadoff solo home run to Colt Emerson to push the score to 4-2. So much for momentum.

Andrés Muñoz, the Seattle closer with lights-out stuff, was brought in for the ninth: he got a pair of strikeouts and a groundout, and that was that.

Final score: Mariners 4, Tigers 2

Numbers and Observances

• Coming into tonight’s game, Colt Keith has had quite a post-All-Star Game run: 48 plate appearances, 19-for-43 (.442) with four doubles and two triples, for an OPS of 1.107. Pretty unlucky tonight, though.
• That may not quite be sustainable, though: his batting average on balls in play (BABip), normally around .290 for hitters, is a ludicrous .500. (That means he’s been very lucky.)
• A certain ex-Tigers right-handed pitcher gave up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings for the Padres tonight.
• On this day in 1888, Bertha Benz drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim, in southwestern Germany. Those two cities are about 100 km (60 mi) apart, which means that this was the first long-distance trip taken in an automobile. She took her two teenage sons with her, and they spent the whole time telling her to change the radio station, despite radio not having been invented yet.

Mariners 4, Tigers 2

Good night kisses: Julio Rodríguez, .40 WPA; Bryan Woo, .38 WPA

Morning breath: Cole Young, -.14 WPA; Eduard Bazardo, -.08 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

(answer: like, so sick.)

Well, outside of a rough stretch in June and an underwhelming trade deadline, this Braves team has been cruising in 2026 and has the second best record in baseball. They still probably need some bats to step up (Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, and Ronald Acuna, looking at you) and the emergence of at least one real playoff starter from the prospects and/or Tyler Mahle to be considered true postseason threats outside of variance, but they are getting the job done quite well in the regular season. Getting the bye and being able to set the pitching up would be huge for this roster, enabling the Braves to line up Chris Sale twice in the NLDS. They have stiff competition in the Brewers and Dodgers though, so that will be a tight race to watch for the rest of the year.

Braves News

We took a deep dive into the Braves’ Q2 financial report, including insight into BravesVision revenue.

Bryce Elder got the job done through 7.0 innings and the Braves won their seventh straight, this one in comfortable 4-1 fashion.

MLB News

The Reds are placing star pitcher Hunter Greene on the IL with right elbow soreness, never a good thing to hear about a pitcher.

The Blue Jays are placing Trey Yesavage on the IL with knee discomfort and are awaiting MRI results.

Mariners’ Luke Raley is expected to miss the rest of the season with a forearm strain.