Baseball News
Nasty result tonight. The A’s had their butts handed to them in this one, dropping the middle game of the series to the Seattle Mariners 19-1. Nothing went right on either side of the ball. Still have a chance at the series win tomorrow.
More to come…
Historic blowouts (complimentary): Randy Arozarena, +.18 WPA
Historic blowouts (derogatory): Josh Naylor, -.07 WPA
Well, you know what they say: “You can’t win ‘em all.“ On paper, it looked like maybe we should have won this one, and if you were keeping score, it would not have been lost at you that we basically won eight out of the nine innings that were played tonight. Sadly, however, that’s not how baseball works. Early in the season, before his forced vacation in Reno, we became very familiar with Brandon Pfaadt, tonight’s starter, pitching at least okay for a handful of innings and then having there be the One Big Inning™ where everything kinda blew up. Upon Brandon’s return, we still saw some of that, except that the offending innings were generally pretty mild—one or two or three runs at most, which kept things close enough that we could get back into it. But that was not the case tonight.
He was going up against former first-round draft pick and general underperformer Kumar Rocker, and in terms of the numbers, it was a very favorable matchup. Rocker is often wild, and throws a bunch of pitches, and gives up a lot of walks, and leaves ballgames a lot earlier than you tend to want your starter to leave. Irritatingly, though, he was quite efficient in the early going tonight, as he and Pfaadt traded quick, scoreless innings in the first and second. After two innings, Rocker had thrown 24 pitches; Pfaadt, despite having given up two hits to Rocker’s none, had only thrown 23. Pfaadt had another shutdown inning in the top of the third, adding only 12 more pitches to his count and setting down the Rangers in order, and Tim Tawa led off the bottom of the third with a triple off the wall in pretty much straightaway center field:
Pavin Smith, who was for many of us a surprise call-up from Reno today, then grounded a single past Corey Seager and into left field to drive in Timmy. Three quick outs followed, but we’d drawn first blood against Rocker and that Rangers. 1-0 DBACKS
Pfaadt recorded another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth, we sat down in order against Rocker in the bottom half, and then the fifth inning rolled around, much like a giant stone boulder bearing down a steep slope in a narrow passageway, heading straight for our guy. And alas, Brandon Pfgaadt was no Indiana Jones; he couldn’t get out of the way.
It started with a leadoff dinger by Wyatt Langford to tie the game, and was followed by a single, a stoledn abse, a sacrifice bunt, another single that scored a run, a hit by pitch. and then a fielder’s choice that looked like an inning-ending double play but which was overturned by a review that determined that Brandon Pfaadt’s foot was perhaps not on the bag when he ran over to cover first base. The call on the field was “safe,” and while the replays we saw on the broadcast really looked like they’d be enough to overturn that call, but it was not to be, and the call stood. That completely knocked Pfaadt off kilter, and the next three batters went single-double-single before he finally struck out Wyatt Langford, the tenth batter of the inning, to put it to bed. 6-1 Texas
And that was pretty much that. Somewhat surprisingly, Pfaadt came out and pitched the sixth, and he even recorded the first two outs in the seventh, and it was all good and all zeros, but the damage had been done.
Kumar Rocker, meanwhile, walked Nolan Arenado and Tim Tawa to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and that ended his night, and Texas got their bullpen involved and that bullpen also proved to be irritatingly effective. Both of the leadoff walks were left stranded. Rangers’ opening day starter Nathan Eovaldi, fresh off the IL and returning to big league action without any rehab starts or anything, let us get a second run in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to one-out singles by Gabriel Moreno and Geraldo Perdomo, followed by a Corbin Carroll sacrifice fly that scored Moreno from third, which narrowed the game to 6-2 Texas
But that was where it stayed. Jonathan Loaisiga, Derek Law, and Juan Morillo put zeroes up the rest of the way for us, but there was nothing further doing from the offense, despite us putting the leadoff runners on in both the seventh and eighth innings. And so it was. 6-2 Texas FINAL
The Lost Ark: Nobody.
The Last Crusade: Tim Tawa (3 AB, 1 H, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 BB, +10% WPA)
The Crystal Skull: Brandon Pfaadt (6 2/3 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, -34% WPA)
It was a fairly sparse Gameday Thread this evening, with 201 comments at time of writing. Precious few recs got handed out tonight as well, and pretty much the only comments to go Sedona Red were concentrated at the start of the game, when folks were still marveling at the return of Pavin Smith to a major league roster and a starting lineup. As such, tonight’s Comment of the Game goes to onedotfive, for this solid suggestion about how we might find a way to turn his presence to our collective advantage in the remaining days of the season:
Works for me….I think Baxter is creepy anyway.
So join us tomorrow afternoon for the rubber match of the series. Hologram Eddie takes the mound for us; Cal Quantrill goes for Texas. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm AZ time. Hope to see you around the place!
As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!
Smokies right-hander Jake Knapp went on the 7-day injured list and right-hander Kenyi Perez joins Knoxville from the Development List.
The Iowa Cubs choked on the Toledo Mud Hens (Tigers), 9-7.
Andrew Wantz started this game for Iowa and held Toledo to just one run on three hits over 3.1 innings. Wantz walked four and struck out three.
Iowa had a 7-1 lead going into the top of the fifth inning, but Toledo scored six runs in the fifth to tie it. Five of those runs came off of Luis Peralta, who gave up five of the runs on four hits over one inning. Peralta walked one and struck out one.
Tyler Ferguson allowed a two-run home run in the top of the ninth to take the loss. Ferguson’s final line was two runs on three hits over one inning. He struck out two and did not walk anyone.
Right fielder Chas McCormick hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning, his 14th on the year. McCormick was 2 for 5.
Left fielder Jordan Nwogu hit a two-run triple in the fourth inning. Nwogu went 2 for 4 with three total RBI. He scored once.
Center fielder Justin Dean went 2 for 5 with a stolen base. He drove home Nwogu after a bunt single in the fourth.
McCormick’s home run.
Nwogu’s triple.
The Knoxville Smokies were vassalized by the Birmingham Barons (White Sox), 5-2.
Starter Dawson Netz lasted 3.2 innings and gave up two runs on two hits and one walk. Both runs scored after he left the game in the fourth. Netz struck out six.
Luis Martinez-Gomez let in those two inherited runs, but then he settled in and threw 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up just the one hit. Martinez-Gomez walked three and struck out five.
Frankie Scalzo Jr. pitched the eighth inning and got shelled for three runs on three hits including a solo home run to the first batter he faced. Scalzo walked two, hit one batter and struck out two in his one inning of work.
Both Knoxville runs came in the sixth inning when left fielder Carter Trice tripled in a run and then scored on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Angel Cepeda. Trice went 2 for 3 with a double, a triple and a walk. Cepeda was 1 for 3 with the sac fly.
That’s all three hits Knoxville had tonight.
The start of this game was delayed 1 hour and 43 minutes because of rain.
The Braves have now all-but won the NL East after winning the first two games of this three-game series against the Phillies. Tyler Mahle continues to cement his spot as the presumptive game 2 starter going into the playoffs, with another solid outing Saturday. Perhaps most encouragingly, the offense showed some life, which has been a struggle recently for Atlanta. Needless to say, the Braves will need the offense to show up to have success in October.
The Rays called up top 100 pitching prospect Brody Hopkins Saturday, as he still awaits his MLB debut.
The Twins called up top outfield prospect Emmanual Rodriguez.
The Mets and Yankees conclude the Bronx half of the Subway Series on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. on SNY.
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Here's how some of the Mets top prospects did down in minor league action on Saturday...
Pitre kept up his solid production since joining Triple-A with two more hits against the St. Paul Saints. The 23-year-old finished 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI and is hitting .292 with a .802 OPS in 18 games for Syracuse. His RBI came with two strikes and two outs in the second inning and extended the Mets' lead to 4-2.
Amick hit his seventh home run with Syracuse and his 14th in the Mets organization since coming over in a trade. He has 37 long balls total in 116 games this season.
The home run came on an 0-2 pitch with a runner on first and gave Syracuse a 7-3 advantage. Amick, 23, finished 1-for-5 and although he's hitting .221 in Triple-A (compared to .307 in Double-A Binghamton), he still has a .844 OPS thanks to his power.
Perhaps lost in the shuffle of prospects is Parada who is quietly having a great second stint in Triple-A after finishing the season there in 2025 but struggling. Now 25 years old, Parada is slashing .298/.375/.452 with two home runs and 16 RBI in 28 games with Syracuse after getting promoted despite struggling in Double-A.
Parada went 1-for-3 in the No. 9 hole, but also had a throwing error at catcher, his third.
Voit extended his hit streak to five games following a 1-for-4 day for the Rumble Ponies. It wasn't all good for the 21-year-old, though, as he was caught stealing second and had a throwing error.
Still, Voit is hitting .347 with a .947 OPS in 29 games since getting promoted to Double-A.
Once again the Giants offense made things interesting against the San Diego Padres, and once again they came up short.
A late outburst of power from the unlikely sources of Drew Cavanaugh (his first career HR) and Drew Gilbert forced the Padres bullpen to rally their arms with Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller stopping the buck to serve the Giants their second loss in the series, and seventh of their last nine games against San Diego.
The afternoon didn’t start with the Giants playing catch-up. Two batters into the bottom half of the 1st, Rafael Devers put San Francisco up by two with his 37th home run of the season.
The 2-run jog earned Devers his 61st and 62nd runs batted-in at the intimidating cavern that was/is Pac Bell/SBC/AT&T/Oracle Park, the second highest RBI total after Barry Bonds’ 71 in 2001. Devers’ 19 home runs at Oracle are the most by a player not named Barry Bonds and is tied with the ‘02 Bonds model for fifth most HR in a season at 3rd and King. (Fun fact: Devers never hit more than 16 in a single season at Fenway.)
Unfortunately, the two-run lead in the hands of the rookie southpaw Cesar Perdomo didn’t last. Nor did the one-run lead regained on Shay Whitcomb’s solo shot in the 2nd. All in all, four home runs blasted by Giants bats weren’t enough in Saturday’s 7-6 loss, and that comes down to a major difference in starting pitching, as well as some key miscues on defense.
Perdomo had allowed just one run on six hits in his first 10 career innings (2 games). By the end of the 4th, both of those numbers had been surpassed by the relentless press of San Diego’s offense. Trouble boiled over in every inning. Perdomo toiled with little finesse. Offerings were elevated, out over the heart of the plate. The Padres didn’t miss much, and when they did, it proved to be the exception not the rule.
Jackson Merrill waving over an 0-2 change-up to end the 1st and strand two was not, as it turns out, a sign of good things to come. It was an aberration. That offspeed offering whistling down Main Street without a care in the world — a mistake. A mistake that was punished going forward. Dustin Harris was all over a fastball that stayed flat out over the zone and pushed it away from the defense, through the chasm on the left side of the infield, for a game-tying single in the 2nd.
Three-pitched by Perdomo in the 1st, Merrill returned the favor by one-pitching him in the 3rd. The sucker crushed 405 feet to center? Another change-up whistling down Main Street.
The game went like this for some time. After Devers’ statement dinger in the 1st, it was pretty much all San Diego until the 8th. They scored in every frame from the 2nd through the 7th using a variety of methods and means at their disposal: The homer, the opposite field single, the safety squeeze, the walk, the stolen base, the sacrifice fly. Perdomo gave up 10 hits along with two walks before getting pulled in the 5th. All those runners clogged up the bases, pressure built up in the pipes behind Perdomo, and though they went just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position, a steady drip helped their run total to pool.
San Diego’s starter Michael King turned off the tap in the 2nd and that was that. The offense stalled out at three runs on three hits as San Diego’s lead grew inch-by-inch. The right-hander retired 14 Giants hitters in a row between Whitcomb’s homer and Jonah Cox’s lead-off single in the 7th — a single promptly erased from the bases with a double play. No Padres pitcher issued a walk. No Giant hitter batted with a runner in scoring position.
For how busy and hectic and productive their offense was at the plate, and how stifling King was on the mound, it surprised me how quickly the Giants closed the gap in score. Reliever Bradgley Rodriguez took over in the 8th and within seven pitches, San Francisco had doubled their hit and run total.
Rodriguez came into the game with a 1.90 ERA, having allowed just three homers over 66.1 innings. Then Cavanaugh, Koss, and Gilbert happened — our Murderer’s Row. Three batters, three swings, three runs in after six innings of the Padres peppering the baseball around the diamond was all it took to get back within one and make it feel like a ball game.
More accurately: make it sting like a ballgame.
The 7-3 loss you’ve come to terms with in the 4th inning usually goes down easier than when a comeback doesn’t comeback all the way, but comes back enough to force you to linger with hope until the last pitch to accept the outcome you had already accepted before the whole comeback not-comeback started. Was it all just a gigante waste of time? I don’t think so — but a one-run loss does make the postgame autopsy a little more raw in its search for what went wrong.
Perdomo’s pitching was the dark cloud of ambiguous not-good that hangs over this outcome. But if you want to retroactively identify “the fatal play,” look at the defense.
A bunt single by Samad Taylor and a “swinging bunt” single by Tatis started the top of the 4th. Perdomo had to venture far off the mound to field the soft roller up the third base line. With Tatis’s speed, he should’ve known better to chase the out at first, but without a discerning glance towards Taylor rounding second, Perdomo sent the baseball chasing after Tatis. The throw arrived late and allowed Taylor to take third. A small swipe of 90 feet that immediately paid out. One pitch later, Taylor touched home on a sac fly for the Padres’ first lead of the afternoon.
There it is: the difference in the game.
An inning later, Austin Hays stood on third with two outs and lefty Jake Cronenworth up to bat. Cronenworth took a fastball for a ball. Mike Krukow, savvy as ever, noted how deep Shay Whitcomb at third was playing, exposing them to a safety squeeze, just as Cronenworth squared around. Considering the defensive alignment, Hays’s speed from third, Perdomo’s lack of speed off the mound, Cronenworth’s ability as a bunter, conditions were already perfect to execute the squeeze play, but Perdomo made them even more perfect-er by delivering a 93 MPH fastball, straight, on the outer third of the plate and just above the belt.
There it is: the difference in the game.
And in the 7th, there was just the obvious blunder. The actual error error when Whitcomb, fluctuating between GOAT and goat at third base, had what should’ve been an inning-ending, runners-stranding, no run scoring, routine groundball clang off his mitt and roll into left field. Xander Bogaerts scampered home for the Padres’ seventh and final run of the afternoon. At the time, based on how the game had been going, the misplay felt inconsequential, just some salt in the wound, a little extra blush on the cheeks of an already forgettable day — but in retrospect, after Gilbert’s homer ball skipped into the Cove with the score still coming in a run shy of tied, the error loomed.
There it is: the difference in the game.
After scoring 20 runs the night before, the Brewers offense showed no signs of slowing down against a beleaguered Reds pitching staff, putting up 13 runs en route to a 13-9 victory.
The scoring started early, again. Jackson Chourio led off the game with a walk and Brice Turang followed with his 19th home run of the season, setting a new career-high for himself. That put the Brewers up 2-0 very quickly. But they weren’t done in that first inning. With two outs, William Contreras drew a walk and then Garrett Mitchell clobbered his 11th home run of the season, a mammoth blast into the 2nd deck.
Just like that, it was 4-0 Brewers and the Reds had to be thinking ‘oh no, here we go again!’
The Reds offense, however, was able to do a little bit more than they did on Friday night, getting in some hard contact off Brewers starter Shane Drohan. After being robbed of a home run by Luis Lara in right field last night, Eugenio Suarez went pull side and lifted a home run to left field to get the Reds on the board.
The Reds would answer again in the 3rd on a double from Elly De La Cruz. Then they had a big inning in the 4th. Suarez drew a walk, JJ Bleday doubled, then Juan Brito, who was hitting .197 coming into the day, slugged a three run homer on an 0-2 pitch to tie the game at 5-5.
“I think I was 15 of 17 on first pitch strikes, I was getting in good counts, then just throwing terrible two-strike pitches” Drohan said.
That chased Drohan from the game, who ended up going 3.2 IP with five hits and five earned runs allowed.
What should have been a very comfortable Brewers lead was no more. But, the Brewers offense was able to answer right back in the bottom of the 4th. With two outs, the rally started with a Jake Bauers walk, then a Christian Yelich single, then William Contreras lifted his 17th home run of the season to take an 8-5 lead.
The Brewers were not done. They sent 10 men to the plate in the 5th inning. The rally got started with a Cooper Pratt single, his third hit of the game. That was followed by four consecutive base hits from Chourio, Turang, Bauers, and Yelich. Then Contreras was intentionally walked, the bases were loaded for Garrett Mitchell, who hit a grand slam last night, and he ripped a 2 RBI double over the head of Hector Rodriguez in right.
Mitchell finished a triple shy of the cycle in this game and was 4-for-5 on the night with 4 RBIs.
Meanwhile, the Brewers bullpen was largely locking it down. Chad Patrick, DL Hall, and Antonio Senzatela all combined to keep the Reds off the board. Then Pat Murphy turned to struggling starter Kyle Harrison for the 8th inning.
The struggles continued. Harrison’s fastball velocity was up to 97 MPH consistently, which was a nice uptick, but his command was lacking and he left a couple over the heart of the plate. The Reds did not miss them and crushed a pair of 109 MPH base hits. Then Harrison generated some soft contact, but that fell in for hits too and Murphy had to quickly pull Harrison.
All four batters Harrison faced reached and all four came around to score. In his last 7.1 IP, Harrison has allowed 23 hits and 17 runs. What does Murphy tell Harrison after an outing like that when it was supposed to help build his confidence?
“We’ll get this straight. This will happen. You’re going through a rough patch, we’ll get it straight” Murphy said.
Murphy remains confident in Harrison, but Harrison’s struggles did force him to use two leverage arms he did not want to use in what was a blowout game. Aaron Ashby had to secure the 8th inning and with the lead dwindled to just four runs, Abner Uribe came in to close down the 9th.
With the win, the Brewers dropped their magic number to clinch the division down to 3.
Murphy named Robert Gasser the starter for Sunday’s finale against the Reds.
Last night it was a rain delay without rain, tonight it was Cardinals Hall of Fame honors for Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina, so expect Sunday’s finale to be pushed back due to, dunno, no hot dogs in stock or something. But whatever the excuse, the Cardinals could not avoid the inevitable on Saturday.
With the White Sox down to their last strike after a battling but ultimately lackluster game in St. Louis, former Cardinals farmhand Randal Grichuk drove a sinker on the outer edge of the plate from closer Riley O’Brien to the shortest porch in the ballpark, putting the White Sox ahead, 6-5, and swelling their division lead back to 1 ½ games.
Grichuk, along with most of the White Sox hitters, was having a miserable game to that point, but his 358-foot doink of a round-tripper — a ball that the veteran seemed stunned by and stumbled out of the box over — made everything right:
For the first eight innings, the game looked to be a snapshot of two young, talented franchises moving in opposite directions, with fundamental play and potent offense a seeming hallmark of the St. Louis club and poor defense, mental lapses and an utter inability to string hits (and sometimes even contact at all) characteristic of the White Sox. But Grichuk, far outside of the young talent core of the White Sox, rescued the diaper dandies who had carried the club into September.
Sean Newcomb had another solid opening stint, gulping too many pitches in the first (20) but with just about the best outcome possible (three Ks and a walk). The sly southpaw came on for a second inning, but saw just two batters, adding a K but relinquishing a single before getting a quick hook (at 29 pitches) that no one really wanted to see: Luis Castillo, a career-long starter being asked to take the ball mid-frame.
Castillo poured gasoline on the embers, getting battered for a single, double, single and sac fly by the first four batters he saw, and a crooked number gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead early. (Instructively, in Castillo’s first clean start to an inning, the third, he worked through the Cards on five pitches.)
With the mood in the dugout flat, Munetaka Murakami followed up an utterly helpless K in the first inning with a battle of an at-bat with two outs in the fourth, stroking a single on the eighth pitch he saw. Another walk and Tristan Peters taking a ball off his shoulder sandwiched around a Grichuk walk loaded the bases for Colson Montgomery. The good news is Colson narrowed the deficit to 3-1 with a key RBI. The bad? It came via a walk against wild and ineffective Cards reliever Cooper Hjerpe. But Braden Montgomery wasn’t even able to match his surname kin, striking out.
After a Cardinals half-inning that saw a wild Castillo give that run right back, almost an identical arrangement loaded the bases for the White Sox in the top of the fifth: San Antonacci HBP, Kyle Teel walk and Miguel Vargas single setting up Murakami for a key RBI … once again, not a homer or even a single, but a walk, a second run forced in by Hjerpe.
But one key difference in the fifth was the number of outs: none. However, the theme of the swoon continued, as Grichuk stepped up to deliver Chicago another run … via GIDP. But with the White Sox down, 4-3, Peters delivered a ball in the left-center gap to tie things up … but was thrown out trying to stretch his hit to a double.
With the game now renewed and shortened to 5 ½ innings, manager Will Venable went to southpaw phenom Hagen Smith to take over. Not that Smith needs help at this point, but in extinguishing St. Louis on nine pitches the final out came on a mis-called K, as Cardinals third-sacker Nolan Gorman foul-tipped a ball scooped nicely off the ground by Teel but called a third strike and out by home plate ump Doug Eddings Alfonso Márquez.
Gorman’s woes extended onto the field, as his olé defense at third turned a possible inning-ending double play in the sixth into two men on for the White Sox, following a Colson HBP. But the mini-rally ended with, what new, a strikeout, this one from Teel. That out piled up a seventh runner left on base and fourth with two outs at the game’s halfway mark.
After another quick hook, this time for Smith (21 pitches, all spent simply melting through the Cardinals lineup), Grant Taylor entered in the bottom of the seventh. Taylor forgave Venable his overmanaging by blanking St. Louis while allowing only a walk.
The game seemingly came down to the eighth inning, with the White Sox adding another chapter to September’s swan song of South Side missed opportunities. In the top half, Colson and Braden drew two-out walks, but Antonacci grounded to third to extinguish the free-pass rally. In the bottom half Taylor remained for a second inning and the White Sox immediately paid for it, as Cards leadoff hitter Leo Bernal swung at three straight pitches out of the zone. Unfortunately, Bernal caught up with a 98 mph fastball at his chest that nonetheless cut the heart of the plate and turned on it 106 mph out to right:
There was no reason to expect that the White Sox, who had done all their damage in the game against a young reliever in his second MLB game and sporting a 7.20 ERA, would knot things up against Cards closer Riley O’Brien.
And they in fact did not knot it up, but won the game outright, thanks to the better of the veteran DH hydra this season, Grichuk. Without overhyping the moment, this is exactly the thrilling victory snatched from the jaws of defeat that can provide the kick needed to push a division title home over the final 14 games.
The White Sox still have not lost more than four consecutive games this season. Houston’s loss in St. Petersburg also increases Chicago’s pad to 1 ½ games for the No. 2 seed to The magic number is down to 13, and the White Sox are assured of arriving in Cleveland on Monday in first place.
MVP
Randal Grichuk: 1-for-4, 2 RBI, R, HR, GWRBI, 2 K, GIDP
Runners-Up
Hagen Smith: 2 IP, 3 K
Sam Antonacci: 2-for-4, HBP, R
Colson Montgomery: 0-for-1, 2 BB, RBI, HBP
Cold Cat
Luis Castillo: 2 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, E
Runners-Up
Miguel Vargas: 1-for-5, R, 3 K
Braden Montgomery: 0-for-3, BB, K
Grant Taylor: 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 3 K, HR
The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the Arizona Diamondbacks scored two runs.
Josh Jung had been the Rangers’ best and most consistent hitter throughout most of the first half of the season and right as the season’s second half was kicking into gear, Jung went down with a calf strain that was initially expected to be minor before it cost the third baseman nearly two months worth of action.
Things weren’t exactly easy for this lineup even with him on the field. Without him, however, the Rangers struggled to an even greater degree to consistently score runs. I suppose that makes sense as they were without their only non-platoon regular who was sporting an OPS north of .800 and also the squad’s leader in batting average.
Tonight, at last, Jung made his return and the Rangers had a new but familiar No. 3 hitter. Jung didn’t miss a beat as he singled in his first at-bat and later singled and drove in a run in the top of the fifth to extend a rally which would see the Rangers score all six of their runs.
In addition to Jung’s reappearance, Nathan Eovaldi also returned to action after missing more than a month. There’s perhaps not enough time left to ramp Eovaldi back up for his spot in the rotation, so the veteran arm is being used as a Swiss army knife for the ‘pen.
Tonight the 2023 Game 5 World Series winner took the Chase Field mound once again and tossed 2 2/3 innings of one-run ball to shepherd the game through until Jacob Latz collected the final four outs.
Eovaldi took on bridge building duties because tonight’s starter Kumar Rocker lasted just four innings on 65 pitches despite working with a five-run lead. After allowing the first two hitters to reach in the bottom of the fifth, Rocker was lifted for a third recent returnee Ranger with Robert Garcia coming on and working around the inherited danger to get the ball to Eovaldi.
Other than Garcia, the Rangers had these guys for the majority of the season so you can’t really say “oh what might have been…” but it’s clear that they were missed during a period where the Rangers couldn’t pull ahead in the destitute American League.
Maybe it’s not too late.
Player of the Game: Batting ninth, catcher Elias Diaz produced a team-best three hits, including the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the fifth that helped to spark the six-run frame which saw the Texas send ten batters to the plate.
Up Next: The Rangers and D-Backs close out this series with a matinee matchup featuring a pitcher to be named for Texas opposite LHP Eduardo Rodriguez for Arizona.
The Sunday afternoon finale first pitch from Chase Field is scheduled for 3:10 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.
One night after clinching a playoff spot, the Tampa Bay Rays went right back to work.
The Houston Astros did not waste much time to test whether Tampa Bay had moved past the previous night’s celebration.
Ian Seymour struck out Jeremy Peña to begin the game before former Ray Isaac Paredes sent a solo home run into left-center field for a 1-0 Astros lead. Jose Altuve walked, and Yainer Diaz followed with a single, putting two more runners aboard with only one out.
Seymour had seen enough.
Daulton Varsho went down on a foul tip, and Christian Walker struck out swinging, beginning a stretch in which Houston’s lineup struggled to do much of anything against the Rays left-hander.
Seymour retired the side in order in the second, struck out Peña and Paredes during a clean third and worked another clean inning in the fourth. He then turned the fifth into his most dominant inning of the night, striking out Cam Smith, Taylor Trammell and Christian Vázquez in succession.
By then, Tampa Bay’s offense was finally ready to give him something to work with.
Junior Caminero’s first-inning single was the only offense the Rays could generate through the first four innings against Peter Lambert. Victor Mesa Jr. changed that by leading off the fifth with a single, and Chandler Simpson followed with a liner into center that sent Mesa to third. Cedric Mullins dropped a sacrifice bunt that moved Simpson to second, giving Palacios two runners in scoring position with one out. Palacios took advantage, lining a single into center to score both Mesa and Simpson.
Just like that, a 1-0 deficit became a 2-1 lead.
Palacios was caught stealing for the second out, keeping the lead from growing any larger, and that extra insurance would have helped as the game progressed.
Seymour retired the first two Astros in the sixth before Altuve doubled to left, giving the Astros their first baserunner since the first inning. Diaz followed with a ground-ball single, bringing Altuve home and tying the game 2-2.
Seymour recovered by getting Varsho to ground out, finishing his night after allowing two runs while striking out 10 Houston hitters throughout the evening.
Tyler Wells kept the score tied in the seventh, working around a two-out walk to Trammell and striking out Vázquez to end the inning.
That gave the Rays another chance to move back in front.
Liam Hicks led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and was replaced by pinch-runner Kenny Piper. Mesa walked before a Simpson groundball got him out at second while advancing Piper to third.
The Rays then went to the bench.
Nick Madrigal pinch-hit for Mullins and lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Piper for a 3-2 lead. Jonny DeLuca followed with a pinch-hit infield single in place of Palacios and stole second, but Tampa Bay left runners at second and third on a Jorge Mateo line drive that found Cam Smith’s glove in right field.
One run would have to be enough.
Ty Johnson walked Peña to begin the eighth before retiring Paredes and striking out Altuve. Bryan Baker entered with two outs and immediately had to work for the final out after Diaz singled to put runners at the corners. He successfully got Varsho struck out swinging, preserving the lead.
Tampa Bay had a chance to make the ninth a little more comfortable after loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but Simpson grounded out to Astros pitcher Bryan King.
So Baker came back out for the ninth with the same one-run margin and save number 40 for the season on the line.
He did not make it complicated.
Walker grounded out to Caminero at third. Smith popped out to Jorge Mateo. Trammell then lined a ball to right that looked like it had a chance to get out but instead landed at the wall, where Mesa made the catch to finish the 3-2 victory and give Baker save No. 40.
The Rays will look for the series sweep when these two teams face off again Sunday at 1:40 pm. Freddy Peralta is scheduled to start for Tampa Bay opposite Hayden Wesneski from the Astros.
After an emotional induction into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame for Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols and Bill Sherder, it was time for baseball Saturday night at Busch Stadium. Kyle Leahy provided an efficient start for the first few innings of the game and the Cardinals offense provided some early runs. It would come down to how many more runs they could add and if the St. Louis bullpen could keep the White Sox suppressed. Short answer: eventually no.
The Cardinals bats strung together some hits in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Nolan Gorman hit a one-out single to right. Thomas Saggese copied Gorman’s plan with a single to right himself as Gorman advanced to third. Masyn Winn then came through with a clutch double into the left field corner scoring both Gorman and Saggese to give the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead.
Nathan Church followed Masyn’s double with a single that moved Winn to third. He then scored when Jose Fermin lifted a sacrifice fly to center to make it 3-0 Cardinals.
As expected, Kyle Leahy was limited to just 3 innings as his pitch count only reached 38. He was supported by some fine defense including a stellar one from Alec Burleson.
Leahy was relieved in the top of the 4th by Connor Hjerpe. Unfortunately, his control was all over the place. He had a solid start to the inning with a strikeout of Vargas, but then gave up a single to Murakami before striking out Randall Grichuk. It was then Connor caused all kinds of trouble for himself as he hit Peters with a pitch and then walked Meidroth to load the bases and then walked Colson Montgomery gifting the White Sox a run making it 3-1 St. Louis. Fortunately, he pulled it together and struck out Braden Montgomery to limit the damage.
The Cardinals offense took the momentum back in the bottom of the 4th inning when Nolan Gorman drew a leadoff walk. He advanced to second after Thomas Saggese lined out to third and the White Sox threw the ball away trying to double him off at first. Two batters later, Nathan Church came through with a clutch 2-strike 2-out double that bounced off of the right field wall giving St. Louis its 3-run lead back making it 4-1 Cardinals. They came close to adding a lot more as White Sox starter Luis Castillo seemed inclined to help as he walked Fermin and Herrera to load the bases which brought up Alec Burleson with an opportunity to break the game wide open. Too bad that he struck out on a 92 mph four-seam fastball up in the zone to end the Cardinals 4th.
You could see potential big trouble rearing its head in the top of the 5th inning when Connor Hjerpe put men on base nearly every way possible with a hit-by-pitch (again), walk and a single to load the bases for the dangerous Murakami with nobody out. Hjerpe walked him, too, to gift the White Sox a run (again) reducing the Cardinals lead to 4-2. That finally inspired Oli Marmol to take Hjerpe out of the game and bring in Luis Gastelum. He managed to get a double-play ball out of Randall Grichuk, but a run scored on the play cutting the Cardinals lead to just 1. Peters tied the game with a single to left-center, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Still, the score was all tied up at 4-4 going into the bottom of the 4th.
After the Cardinals failed to generate a rally in the bottom of the 4th inning, it was Justin Bruihl’s turn to come into the game to hit White Sox batters. After striking out Meidroth, he hit Colton Montgomery on the hands. The other Montgomery, Braden, grounded a ball that was too much for Nolan Gorman to handle at third which gave the White Sox a legitimate scoring chance. Fortunately, Bruihl was able to get a groundout to short from Antonacci for the second out. It was up to Kyle Teel if the White Sox were going to do anything with runners at first and third with two outs. Fortunately, the White Sox were out of challenges as he watched a 76 mph sweeper barely come back to catch the top-left of the strike zone for the final White Sox out of the inning. No soup for you!
After the Cardinals went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 6th inning, Ryne Stanek came in to handle the top of the 7th inning and he was exceptional in that he didn’t walk or hit anyone. Instead, he set down Vargas, Murakami and Grichuk with no drama. After a fruitless Cardinals bottom of the 7th, it was George Soriano’s turn to try and keep the game tied. He got Peters to fly out to center for the first out and then struck out Meidroth for the second out. He then walked Colton Montgomery who then stole second to give Chicago a runner in scoring position. Braden Montgomery then drew a walk because that was a Cardinals bullpen specialty Saturday night. Nolan Gorman redeemed himself for a misplay earlier in the game as he made a fine play on a hard hit ball from Antonacci for the final out of the White Sox 8th.
The Cardinals bats that went quiet through the middle innings woke up in the bottom of the 8th inning when Leo Bernal slammed a 98 mph four-seam fastball 421 feet into the right field stands for a 5-4 Cardinals lead. Boom!
St. Louis tried to add to the lead after Bernal’s homer as they loaded the bases with two outs on back-to-back singles by Masyn Winn and Nathan Church and a walk to Fermin, but Herrera lined out to right for the final out of the 8th with no additional runs scored. That meant it was Riley O’Brien protecting just a one-run lead in the top of the 9th inning. He started by walking Teel on 6 pitches putting the potential tying run on first base with no one out. Vargas was next for the White Sox. He struck out when Leo Bernal successfully challenged a high strike. Doyle, who was sent in to pinch-run for Teel, stole second when Masyn Winn was unable to handle a nice throw from Leo Burnal giving Chicago the tying run in scoring position. Fortunately, Murakami struck out for the second out. That meant it was up to former Cardinal Randall Grichuk. With two strikes he lifted a fly ball that barely cleared the right field wall over a jumping Victor Scott II giving the White Sox a remarkably depressing 6-5 lead. I think it was Yogi Berra who once said it’s like Deja vu all over again.
Could the Cardinals offense somehow muster some magic in the bottom of the 9th to avoid a heartbreaking defeat? It didn’t start well as Alec Burleson lined out weakly to third. Jordan Walker was sent up as a pinch-hitter as he had been given the night off after an awkward landing on the first base bag during Friday’s game. Jordan struck out chasing a fastball out of the zone for the second out. The last hope for St. Louis was the switch-hitting Leo Bernal. He sadly grounded out to end the game.
It’s game 3 of the Cardinals weekend series against the White Sox Sunday as Michael McGreevy takes the mound for the Cardinals. The White Sox have not officially announced their starter as of this writing. First pitch scheduled for 1:15pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.
For three innings, things were going well for the Phillies. Despite being forced to utilize a bullpen game, they had a 1-0 lead over the Braves. By the time the fourth inning ended, they found themselves trailing 8-1 as Grant Holman had a debut he (and everyone else) would like to forget. The rest of the game was mostly cursory as the Braves coasted to a 12-2 win.
After Friday night’s game when extra innings forced the Phillies to use five relievers, it certainly wasn’t welcome news that Jesus Luzardo was experiencing shoulder stiffness and wouldn’t be able to make his start. Don Mattingly would need to piece together nine innings from his beleaguered bullpen.
Tim Mayza got the start and thanks in part to inducing two double plays, he pitched three scoreless innings.
He got some early run support off the bat of Bryce Harper who hit one deep and then apparently tried to send a message with an especially slow home run trot.
You know what else would send a message, Bryce? Avoiding mistakes on the basepaths! Or getting back to the patient approach that was working so well last month. I think that would make much more of an impact than a home run trot in the first inning of a game you’d eventually lose by double digits.
After Mayza’s time was up, Brooks Raley was the next man in. After his failure on Friday night, Raley spent Saturday putting himself up there with Brandon Workman and Asdrubal Cabrera in terms of worst trade deadline pickups ever.
With one out, Ronald Acuna tied the game at one with a solo home run.
Raley actually struck out the next batter before allowing a walk and a single. This was a critical spot of the game, so naturally Mattingly decided this was the time for Grant Holman to make his season debut.
Holman spent the previous two seasons with the A’s, but was placed on waivers in May, and subsequently claimed by the Phillies. He pitched pretty well in AAA as a reliever and has been on the roster since the beginning of September, but the team didn’t trust him to appear in a game…until now.
How did that go?
It went stolen base, single, fielding error by Bryson Stott (who has apparently forgotten how to play baseball), walk, wild pitch, double, single, fly out. By the time the inning was over, the Braves led 8-1.
The rest of the game was mostly cursory. The Braves scored a few more. The Phillies got one back on a Justin Crawford home run of all things, and Garrett Stubbs pitched the final 2.2 innings.
Andrew Painter will start the series finale on Sunday as the Phillies will attempt to salvage the final game of what has been a disastrous series so far.
MLB.com defines a “no-trade clause” as “a contractual clause that allows players to veto trades to certain teams. No-trade clauses are often worked into contract extensions and free-agent contracts as a perk for the players signing such deals.”
Such a contractual element gives a player considerable control over their future.
Case in point? Jacob deGrom, who used his no-trade clause to stop a proposed trade by the Texas Rangers.
So here’s tonight’s questions for the Purple Row Night Owls.
Congratulations! Your agent has gotten you an excellent free-agent deal, and now you are ironing out the details with your new team.
You will be allowed to select five teams that you will refuse a trade to.
Which teams will you include in your no-trade clause and why?
Let us know in the comments.
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