Category: Baseball

LOL. LMAO even. The Sox never trailed until the final run crossed the plate, having built a 2-0 win methodically over the previous eight innings. This was a Little League-ass game (complimentary enough): Against starting pitchers neither team could do much, but the Sox eventually broke through on a sixth-inning RBI double by Willson Contreras. Caleb Durbin followed with another RBI the same inning. And that was all to write home about except a great start from Jake Bennett and an appearance by old friend Brennan Bernardino.

The first danger the Sox faced was in the eighth, when Garrett Whitlock gave up four straight one-out singles and escaped by the Sox throwing out guys at home and second. Just gnarly stuff, and the spider moment from Lord of the Rings, right? That one final major roadblock? Au contraire, because Aroldis Chapman gave up four straight hits — the first three were singles, the third was a bunt, the fourth a double to clear the bases and win it — and it was over in the blink of an eye, even after a short game (it was 2:20 in real time to play the whole thing). The first seven of the eight straight hits to end it were singles. Let tonight forever be known as the game the Red Sox gave up eight straight hits to end it to fall into a lead for the fewest wins in the league… tied with the Rockies. That’s some shit!

BOX

Rockies 3, Red Sox 2

Leverage index and box score

Graphics via FanGraphs.

Jake McCarthy!: Jake McCarthy, +0.41 WPA

Chapbad: Aroldis Chapman, -0.88 WPA

Game thread comment of the day

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What a stupid game baseball is. White Sox 6, Guardians 5. I can’t take much more of this.

The Guardians looked hopeless for six innings against a bad pitcher in Anthony Kay. The White Sox had a homer and scratched another run home off of Gavin Williams who went six. Tim Herrin gave up a homer to Randal Grichuk whom the Guardians could have had off waivers but couldn’t find room for because they have Stuart Fairchild. 3-0 White Sox.

Then, the Guardians somehow tied the game. Steven Kwan, Daniel Schneemann and Travis Bazzana got on base and Stephen Vogt pinch-hit Kahlil Watson for David Fry and it worked! Watson got his first major league hit and it scored two runs. Then Rhys Hoskins hit a single and I have no idea why third base coach Rouglas Odor held Watson at third but he did and so the Guardians only scored three runs. 3-3.

The White Sox got a hustle double on a groundball not hard hit by one of their Montgomeries off of Sean Armstrong. And then he scored on a stupid broken bat groundball that Hoskins misplayed either because he had bat shards flying at him or because of the English on the ball or because he is a bad defender. Or all of the above.

BUT the Guardians took the lead back on a Travis Bazzana walk, then two steals to get to third on a wild pitch, and a Patrick Bailey single, followed by a Brayan Rocchio double that (after a horrendous at-bat from Rhys Hoskins against a Seranthony Dominguez incapable of throwing strikes) resulted in Bailey barely scoring on a Kyle Manzardo sacrifice fly. 5-4 good guys.

Now, needless to say, Gabriel Arias, batting sixth, struck out to end this two-run 9th inning. Arias struck out five times, including one in the first where the catcher completely missed the ball and Arias could have made it to first and caused a run to score but he was too busy lazily making his way to the dugout. I have not despised a Guardians player as much as I have Arias in a good while.

Cade Smith had worked a scoreless eighth for some reason, so Stephen Vogt brought him out for the 9th. And of course he gave up a BABIP double who scored on a pitch that the one super Italian-sounding White Sox player hit for a single around his eyeballs to win the game. Yay, White Sox, you’re division leaders again.

Travis Bazzana was great, Brayan Rocchio was great. Congratulations to Kahlil Watson on your first major league hit. Now, I am going to try to go to sleep and try not to dread watching this team again tomorrow.

Thank you for stopping by BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us for a while. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. We still have a couple of good tables available. The hostess will seat you now. 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 week I asked you who was the Greatest Living Cub, since the passing of Ryne Sandberg last year. Most of you went back to the great team that almost was in 1969, with Billy Williams earning 52 percent of the vote and Fergie Jenkins finishing second with 31 percent. Both are Hall of Famers, of course.

Here’s the part where we listen to jazz and talk movies. As always, you’re allowed to pick and choose which parts you want to follow.

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Tonight we’re honored to have saxophonist Kenny Garrett live in Tokyo earlier this year. Joining Garrett and his alto sax are Keith Brown on piano, Corcoran Holt on bass, Rudy Bird on percussion, Melvis Santa on vocals (and percussion) and the drummer is Ronald Bruner, Jr.

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A few weeks ago I was asked by one of you what I thought of the various adaptations of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe novels. I had to admit that I had never seen Dick Powell’s portrayal of Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet (1944), even though Powell is an actor that I generally like. I’ve now seen Murder, My Sweet and I can tell you that while I still like Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum are still the definitive Marlowes.

Powell became a big star in the thirties playing what’s known at the “juvenile lead” in musicals like 42nd Street and The Gold Diggers of 1933. While Powell enjoyed singing and dancing (and presumably kissing Ruby Keeler), by the 1940s he felt he was too old to play the young innocent in a musical romance anymore. He wanted something darker and tougher, and Chandler’s world-weary antihero was exactly what he wanted.

Murder, My Sweet is actually the first on-screen performance of Philip Marlowe, based on the novel Farewell, My Lovely. (Test audiences reportedly thought Powell in a movie called Farewell, My Lovely was another musical, thus the name change.) Powell’s performance of Marlowe predates Bogart by two years.

The Chandler novels were very popular, but there were some major issues adapting them to film during the Code era. The first is that topics like homosexuality, drug abuse, pornography and the like were all verboten, so they had to just be alluded to or written out of the script altogether. The other issue is something that everyone who has read Chandler (and I’ve read Farewell, My Lovely among others) is quite familiar with: Chandler sucked at plots. The Marlowe novels are all about the overall mood, atmosphere and Chandler’s punch-you-in-the-face prose. The plots are usually nonsensical if you think about them for more than a minute. That’s even before you have to take out the parts that don’t meet Code specifications. Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep also suffers from this same issues with a plot that just doesn’t hang together.

Murder, My Sweet director Edward Dmytryk was a B-movie director who yearned to direct A-pictures. He and cinematographer Harry J. Wild decided to borrow from what Orson Welles and Gregg Toland did in Citizen Kane: lots of long shadows and odd angles. In doing so, Murder, My Sweet was perhaps the most influential film in creating the look of film noir that lasted through the next two decades. As I watched Murder, My Sweet, I didn’t find the cinematography to be any more than a solid if unspectacular noir look. But it wasn’t until later that I realized how it seem imitative to me was because I’d seen too many films that imitated it.

The biggest source of controversy on Murder, My Sweet is Powell’s portrait of Marlowe. Some like it as very energetic and alive. I, along with others, don’t think it’s right for Chandler’s cynical, world-weary Marlowe who swims above the muck rather than in it. Watching Powell’s Marlowe made me think that Powell was giving a very good performance as Mike Hammer. Powell is much more action-oriented and emotional than Marlowe should be. Bogart’s Marlowe and his Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon can blur together. He played them pretty much alike, although the dialogue of Hawks and screenwriters Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman’s forced Bogart to correctly play Marlowe with a slightly lighter and more detached touch than Spade. That he was opposite Lauren Bacall instead of Mary Astor in The Big Sleep made a huge difference too. Powell isn’t bad, but he doesn’t quite capture Chandler’s antihero the way Bogart or Mitchum, thirty years later, would do.

Playing against Powell are Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley as Helen and Ann Grayle, stepmother and stepdaughter. One is supposed to be the heroine and the other one the femme fatale and we’re supposed to be guessing which one is which throughout the film. Unfortunately, casting Trevor as Helen and Shirley as Ann doesn’t leave much doubt as to which one is which.

I should mention that former pro wrestler Mike Mazurki is very good in the supporting role of the big but sensitive thug Moose Malloy.

There’s some things I almost forgot to mention. There’s a short drug-induced dream sequence in Murder, My Sweet that comes off as amusing and dated. I’m pretty sure that’s not the effect Dmytryk was going for. He also tries to recreate Chandler’s prose by having Powell narrate the entire film as a flashback. That effort is more successful, and Dmytryk wisely doesn’t overuse the narration.

Murder, My Sweet was rushed into production after the success of Double Indemnity, co-written by Chandler, earlier in 1944. The success of the two films are credited for kicking off the whole film noir craze that would run for the next 15-20 years in Hollywood. The Big Sleep, for example, was rushed into production right after Murder, My Sweet was a hit, although delays because of the war and a need to shoot more scenes with Lauren Bacall (after Bogart and Bacall become front page news on all the gossip magazines) meant that it wasn’t released to theaters until 1946.

Overall, Murder, My Sweet is a good but not great film noir that is more imporant for its role in kickstarting the genre than it’s actual quality. Powell is a bit off as Marlowe, although as I said, he’d have made a decent Mike Hammer. Dmytryk and Wild did a great job of recreating Chandler’s dark Los Angeles with lighting and angles. If the film seems a little derivative, that’s mostly because so many other filmmakers copied it.

Murder, My Sweet is on HBO Max.

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Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

The Cubs announced that Matthew Boyd will come off the injured list and start against the Mets on Thursday this afternoon. Obviously that is good news for the beleaguered Cubs pitching staff.

What wasn’t announced was who was going to leave the Cubs rotation after Boyd returns. Currently, the Cubs five-man rotation stands at Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, Ben Brown, Colin Rea and Javier Assad. Yes, I know that only Imanaga and Cabrera were expected to be in the rotation at the start of the year, but Boyd, Jameson Taillon and of course, Cade Horton, are hurt.

With Boyd getting healthy, one of those five pitchers will have to move to the bullpen. Brown has been too good with a 1.70 ERA over eight starts to even think of moving him to the pen. Neither Imanaga nor Cabrera have any real experience pitching in the bullpen and the Cubs have always intended for the two of them to start.

So that leaves Assad and Rea, both of whom moved into the rotation because of injuries. Unless the Cubs decide to go to a six-man rotation (which is possible, I guess), either Rea or Assad will have to go to the pen. Luckily, both of them have a good amount of experience there. This season, Rea has made 12 starts and four relief appearances. He has an ERA of 4.99. His fielding independent pitching (FIP) is 4.83. Assad has made five starts and seven relief appearances with an ERA of 3.89 and a FIP of 4.42.

So Assad would seem like the natural one to stay in the rotation and Rea to the bullpen, right? Not so fast. For one, the FIP difference in the two pitchers is not nearly as great as the ERA, although there is enough of a difference that it’s fair to say that Assad has pitched better. But Assad also pitches better out of the bullpen than he does in the rotation (3.95 ERA to 3.78) and Rea pitches better in the rotation (4.92 vs. 5.29) than the ‘pen. Rea was also very good in his last start (six scoreless innings against the Blue Jays) while the bullpen imploded to cost the Cubs the game. Maybe the Cubs win that game if Assad is pitching out of the bullpen.

Assad also has minor league options that would allow him to be sent to Iowa to continue to start should they need him to fill in for another injured starter later on, although the Cubs are hoping to get Taillon and Justin Steele back sometime in July or August.

So which Cubs starting pitcher would you send to the bullpen to make room for Matthew Boyd?

Thank you for stopping by. Don’t be a stranger. Get home safely. Stay cool and dry out there. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.

Heading into Monday's game against the Tigers, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole had made five solid starts since returning on May 22 and shown flashes of his former self pre Tommy John surgery.

But things didn't go as planned in Detroit.

Cole battled for 4.1 innings and allowed five runs on nine hits (the most he's given up this year) with five strikeouts and a walk. He avoided trouble after leadoff hits in the first and second innings, but a leadoff triple in the third inning caught up to him as the Tigers scored three runs in the frame. The righty gave up another run in the fourth before allowing a solo homer in the fifth inning, eventually ending his night.

"I sure made a handful of mistakes there," Cole said after the 5-3 loss. "A couple of them, the two-out two-run RBI to [Colt] Keith, the homer to [Riley] Greene, the double to [Spencer] Torkelson kind of put extra pressure on us from those mistakes. They hit a good amount of good pitches, but we just weren't able to respond with the type of quality pitches to get out of those situations from the extra pressure they put on us."

One of the issues Monday was that Cole gave up a hit to the Tigers leadoff man in all five innings he pitched, including Riley's fifth-inning home run. He said that while it "puts pressure" on him, the Yanks weren't able to overcome the adversity. 

"Like I said, I certainly made some mistakes," Cole said. "The opposition is going to put pressure on you sometimes. The reality is, it's not the try-hard league, it's the get-it-done league, and we just didn't get it done tonight."

He added: "They got nine hits, they just put a ton of pressure on us and played overall just slightly better baseball. That's just the way it broke tonight."

Manager Aaron Boone thought Cole's stuff looked "alright" and credited the Tigers for making him work with consistent contact throughout the game.

"I thought stuff-wise was alright and he had some swing-and-miss going, had some strikeouts, they didn't really miss though," Boone said. "When he missed or was a little off with the fastball they were able to square it up. So probably there were some times where he was trying to go to a location and maybe pulled it or missed a little more in the middle or missed in when he was going away a handful of times and they capitalized on that. Probably had some opportunities. 

"I thought he had a good slider going, probably some chances in some situations where he didn't get that down enough to get some swing-and-miss or weak contact. But overall, stuff-wise I thought alright. They pressured him with a lot of good at-bats. Even early, first couple of innings, held them off the scoreboard. They were able to get the leadoff batter on and pressure him and make him work real hard. They put some good swings on some pitches where they got a little bit in the heart and they got a chance."

With the box scoring looking the way it did, Cole was asked if his performance can be attributed to pitching post-Tommy John surgery, which he immediately disagreed with.

"I don't think it has anything to do with that," Cole said. "The reality is, pitches over the heart of the plate, there's three. There's three over the heart of the plate. Now pretty critical about some of the other stuff... I think just when it's all set and done, the real mistake that I jumped way ahead and just goosed a fastball to Keith there to cash the other two in. That would've been great to convert that out and keep that at a one."

And Boone agreed that Monday's outing had nothing to do with Cole's injury, saying the right-hander has performed to the level he expects.

"I think overall he's pitching very much in line with who Gerrit Cole's been throughout his career," Boone said. "I think he looks good, the stuff's there. It always comes down to how well you execute time in and time out. For the most part, he's been very good. They took advantage of some pitches that probably leaked into the heart of the plate on him today and put up some points on him."

Astros 2 Blue Jays 4

We really should have scored more.

It is funny how that line just types itself at the top of recaps.

But we are back at .500, and, amazingly, hold the third Wild Card spot.

Dylan Cease had a nice night. 5.2 innings, 3 hits, 2 earned, 4 walks and 8 strikeouts. He had a tough first inning, single, walk, strikeout, single, walk and finally double play. All that added up to just 1 run.

Then he got the next 13 batters out. Cease had some trouble again in the sixth. With 1 out, he handed out 2 walks. After a line out (thanks for catching it, Jesús Sánchez. He never fills me with confidence in the outfield). After a visit from John Schneider, Jose Altuve hit a single (just cleared the infielders, but not hit hard enough to reach the outfielders). After that, Cease came out of the game. Unfortunately, that run cost Cease a W.

Dylan threw 110 pitches, which is a lot these days.

Braydon Fisher got the last out of the inning. And pitched a perfect seventh. Nice work, Braydon.

Tyler Rogers gave up a pair of singled to start the eighth, but then got a double play (very nicely turned, Ernie Clement to Andrés Giménez to Vladimir Guerrero. After a walk, another ground out ended the inning.

And Louis Varland, despite a leadoff walk, picked up his 16th save. Helped out by another nice double play, former Jay, Joey Loperfido ground to Giménez, who threw to Clement, who turned it to Vlad. A strikeout ended the game.

Offensively, we had 11 hits and 5 walks, which should have added up to more than 4 runs.

• In the first: With 2 outs, Vlad and Kirk had singles, but no runs scored.
• In the second: Kazuma Okamoto led off with a home run. Then, with two outs, Giménez was hit by pitch and George Springer singled…..but Nathan Lukes struck out to end the inning.
• In the third: With two outs, we loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a hit batter, but didn’t score.
• In the fourth: A Giménez single, a Springer walk and a Lukes sac bunt, that the Astros decided not to accept, allowing Nathan to reach on error, loaded the bases with no outs. Finally we were going to have our big inning. Vlad hit a sac fly, ok, starting with a run, no worries (with the worst throw from the outfield that we’ve seen all year, from Yordan Alvarez). A Kirk fly out (way too short to score a run. It was a rough at bat, swinging at the first pitch that was well outside and low, and then at another pitch off the plate for the fly out). And Daulton Varsho also flied out. Oh well, we were up 2-1.
• In the fifth: A one-out walk (Sánchez) and single (Clement) were wasted with a Giménez double play ball.
• In the sixth….we had our first three up, three down inning. Reliever Enyel De Los Santos looked terrific.
• In the seventh: With one out, Varsho singled and Okamoton doubled him to third. A Myles Straw sac fly scored our third run. Then Clement walked (his second this month!). But Giménez struck out to end it.
• In the eighth: Singles from Springer, Lukes, and Vlad loaded the bases. Kirk hit a sac fly to give us a 2-run lead. But, yet another double play ball ended the inning.

Springer, Vlad and Okamoto (with his 17th home run) had two hits each. Every starter reached base at least once. Sanchez was the only starter not to get a hit, but he walked and was hit by pitch.

Jays of the Day: Okamoto (0.24), Fisher (0.16) and Rogers (0.12) had the number. Let’s give an honorable mention to Varland for the save.

No one had the number for the other award. Kirk had the low mark at -0.08.

Tomorrow we have a 4:00 start time. I don’t understand why. It isn’t a travel day, the Astros are still here on Wednesday. Shane Bieber gets his first start of the season. Peter Lambert (6-4, 3.23) starts for the Astros. The Recap will likely be late, as I’ve got the MS Bike Ride this weekend and I have to get some riding in (if we can do without rain for a day) before hand. I plan to

It’s a big night when the reigning champs come to town. Anthony Banda got his championship ring, the Target Field concessions workers went on strike, and Zebby Matthews got to remind everyone that his real, government registered name is Zebulon. Unfortunately, it appears they forgot the bag labeled “runs” back in Phoenix as there was little offense to speak of for the hometown nine.

Things got off to an inauspicious start for Zebby Matthews in the Twins when Shohei “best player in history” Ohtani homered on the second pitch of the game. It was Ohtani’s 17th homer of the season and a terrible sign for a player as homer-prone as Zebby. Luckily, he really settled in from there with the only other run coming on a Freddie Freeman solo shot in the sixth.

And while the Dodgers have Ohtani, Will Klein forgot that the Twins have new AL home run leader Byron Buxton. Buck immediately answered Ohtani’s bomb with one of his own in the bottom of the inning, evening the score at one apiece. Unfortunately for the Twins, Buxton’s homer was Minnesota’s only run on the night. The Twins did follow with a couple of two-out singles in the first, but that was also the only other time the Twins got a runner past first base.

Listen. It’s not that losing to the Dodgers is a problem. They’re the best team in baseball and the World Series favorites even with all their current injuries. The problem is that they couldn’t manage anything of note against Eric Lauer who has been very bad this season. He was bad enough that the Blue Jays DFA’d him earlier this month to make space on their roster for Simeon Woods Richardson. You know, the guy the Twins DFA’d even with their starting pitching injuries because he couldn’t stop throwing meatballs down the heart of the plate. Lauer also joined this illustrious list of players to throw 6+ hitless innings against the Twins.

Eric Lauer is just the 11th opposing pitcher to throw 6+ innings and allow 0 hits vs. the Twins in team history.

And it's a helluva list:

Martín Pérez
Justin Verlander
Clayton Kershaw
Jered Weaver
Rich Harden
David Wells
Nolan Ryan
Steve Stone
Vida Blue
Catfish Hunter

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 23, 2026

The Dodgers are a pitching factory who spin up quality starts out of nowhere which is why this was the game you really needed to win. With how well the Twins had been swinging in June, they had to feel good about their chances going in. Now they’ll need to take the next two against breakout lefty Justin Wrobleski tomorrow and Ohtani, the greatest baseball player ever, on Wednesday. This was the one to get, especially with Zebby limiting the damage as well as he did. Speaking of which…

This wasn’t one of Zebby’s best starts, but he largely limited hard contact and kept a stacked lineup to just two runs which is an absolute win. Despite all of the traffic the Dodgers had on the bases, tonight was also a good sign for Matthews’ long term outlook. No one would have blamed Zebby for getting rattled after that start, but on a night where his stuff wasn’t his best and he couldn’t induce as much swing-and-miss as he would like, Zebby turned in a quality start and ate up six innings for a bullpen that needed it. That’s how you go from a volatile prospect to a rotation mainstay.

One other notable moment was manager Derek Shelton’s interesting decision in the top of the 9th inning. Andrew Morris came in to face the bottom third of LA’s lineup, with Alex Freeland lacing a pinch-hit single out of the nine hole to bring the lineup back around to Ohtani. Rather than face Ohtani for a fifth time, Shelton opted to intentionally walk Ohtani, moving Freeland to scoring position with two outs. It worked out perfectly for the Twins, with Andy Pages striking out on three pitches immediately afterward, but on a night starved for offense and the Dodgers repeatedly threatening to break the game open, it’s easy to see how it could backfire.

That being said, I called Ohtani the greatest baseball player in history three different times tonight and I also wouldn’t want to see him bat for a fifth time. This is why I write blog posts and Shelton manages a professional baseball team.

STUDS

• Zebby Matthews: limiting the damage (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR allowed)
• Byron Buxton: solo dong for the Twins’ solo run

DUDS

• Everyone besides Buxton: 2-26, 4 BB

We’re back tomorrow for the Joe Ryan Experience against breakout lefty Justin Wrobleski. It’s Kyler Fedko time, baby!

Eighty games are officially in the books.  The Astros have been victorious in 37 of them, after dropping the opening contest of their 7-game road trip in Toronto by a score of 4-2.      

Prior to exiting in the 6th inning with an apparent leg injury, Jeremy Pena would start off things on a positive note.   Pena led off the game with a single, stole a pair of bases and eventually came around to score on a hit from Isaac Paredes.    For Paredes it was his 38th RBI of the season.    Houston would threaten further but Yainer Diaz grounded into an inning ending double play.     

After the escape, Jays pitcher Dylan Cease would get on a roll, retiring the next 14 batters he faced.   For the night, he’d strike out 8 in total.    

In the bottom of the second, Kazuma Okamoto would notch his 17th home run of the year, tying the game at 1-1.    

Hunter Brown would grind out three innings of work, delivering 85 pitches.   Brown would strike out four, walk two and surrender four hits on the night.    

AJ Blubaugh would take the reins in the fourth inning and immediately run into trouble.     Andres Gimenez would single, George Springer would walk and then an error by Raynel Delgado would allow Nathan Lukes to reach safely, loading the bases.    Vladimir Guerrero would hit a sac fly to bring in Gimenez, and with that the Blue Jays would take their first lead of the evening at 2 to 1.    

Unfortunately for the Astros, Jeremy Pena would leave tonight’s game in the top of the 6th mid-at bat. After fouling a ball off, he was removed from the game. He was seen flexing his right leg, which is he same leg he had suffered a hamstring injury on earlier this year. After the game, manager Joe Espada said he had a cramp in his left leg and that was why he was removed.  

However, in the top of the 6th, the Astros would tie things up at 2-2 and chase Dylan Cease from the game.  Jose Altuve would work some two out magic, bringing home Yordan Alvarez who reached with a walk.

   

However, it would be short lived as in the bottom of the 7th, Okamoto would do further damage, with a double deep to left field which placed Daulton Varsho to third.   Former Astro Myles Straw would then come up and bring in Varsho on a sac fly giving Toronto the lead once again at 3-2.   

Brice Matthews and Yordan Alvarez would start the 8th with back-to-back singles, but that momentum quickly evaporated after Christian Walker grounded into a double play.

Toronto would add an insurance run in the 8th on a sac fly from Alejandro Kirk.  That would represent their third sacrifice RBI of the game and bring the final result of 4-2.    Louis Varland would come on to close things out.    For Varland, it’s his 8th save of the month.   

Odds & Ends:

Yordan Alvarez would play left field in consecutive games for the first time this season.   

Peter Lambert will take the hill tomorrow afternoon with a 3:07 pm first pitch.   The earlier start time is due to a World Cup match between Croatia and Panama taking place nearby.

Tony Vitello has put together 60 different batting orders in 77 games with 8 different lead-off hitters so far this season. The Giants have had four different players log at least 40 plate appearances at the top of the order, which along with the Seattle Mariners, is the most across the Majors. There are plenty of teams with three, and Washington, Toronto, and both LA squads have really one true lead-off man. 

Mostly gone are the light-power-but-high-average speedsters, it’s all about getting your best hitter the most chances to swing the game’s outcome. The Nationals’ James Wood (362 PA) and Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (324 PA) are the prototypical number-1 hitters now. They’re the cherry on top, the tip of the spear: Intimidating power with an impressive ability to get on base and be athletic and threatening once they get there. Their job is to immediately make the opposing pitcher regret becoming a pitcher. Both Woods and Ohtani have this effect. They step into the box and the diamond’s center of gravity shifts towards the plate. 

Luis Arraez doesn’t create that same imbalance. He’s entertaining to watch for sure, and he can be a headache for pitchers, but he’s not nearly as dynamic. Arraez has served as the Giants lead-off man ten times so far: twice to start the season, and seven times over the last 8 games. He’s an intuitive, if a little “old school,” option. He’s certainly got the experience, topping a batting order in 431 games (427 games started), adding up nearly 2000 plate appearances in which he’s batted .321/ .363/ .418. 

But is he the best option for the Giants? If he isn’t, than who? One has to ask considering how little production this team has got out of their lead-off man. Their 93 wRC+ is tied for 24th in the Majors. Their low batting average and bottom of the barrel base-on-balls rate has their number-1 hitter getting on base less than any other team. Their .277 OBP is 17 points separated from the Reds, the next lowest average, and more than 100 points lower than the top-3 teams’ marks (Dodgers, Nationals, and Athletics).  

Being handed the lead-off spot on this team is as cursed as being handed a black spot. Players who have thrived in various pockets and slots in the order have become worse versions of themselves serving in the lead-off role. In 71 plate appearances, Jung Hoo Lee has posted a 90 wRC+ — 39 points below his 129 wRC+ mark. Casey Schmitt is hitting like an all-star with a 136 wRC+, but over the eleven game experiment as a lead-off man at the beginning of June, he couldn’t function. The already swing-happy Schmitt didn’t work a walk in 56 plate appearances. His .232 batting average is actually higher than his on-base percentage, while his 70 wRC+ is nearly half of what he’s posted on the year so far. Since Vitello mercifully pulled him from the top of the order, Schmitt has hit .452 (14-for-31) with a streak of six consecutive multi-hit games.    

Of the four players with 40 or more PA batting first, only Willy Adames, who owns the lion share of lead-off plate appearances, has “better” overall numbers hitting lead-off. Note my snarky quotation marks. Punctuation matters. Better is relative and extremely generous here. The difference between Adames’s season 89 wRC+ and his batting order split of 93 wRC+ is nominal. His struggles have been the role’s struggles overall: low walk rate, low average, somewhat decent power. 5 of his 13 homers, and 13 of his 18 doubles have come hitting in the leadoff spot. So far he’s bagged an extra base hit every 7 at-bats; when he’s placed somewhere further down the order, his power is coming through at a much slower clip, knocking an extra-bagger about every 14 at-bats. 

Batting lead-off isn’t that different from any other place in the order once a game moves past the first inning. Admittedly you are a bit exposed there as the guinea pig, the scout, the first one out of the space capsule. No one knows if the pitcher’s stuff stuffs until you step up to the plate and have it zip by you. It’s also a unique opportunity in which a batter can lie in-wait and ambush, look for one-pitch in one-location, capitalize on a starter struggling to grow into the game.

The lead-off hitters of LA and Seattle have an OPS over 1.000 in the 1st inning. The numbers for San Francisco’s lead-off men at the start of a game…do not. Both Adames and Schmitt have homered in the opening frame, but overall, this group is setting the wrong tone, batting .197 with .612 OPS and a 71 wRC+.

As much as the spot feels jinxed, these problems have to be more correlation than causation. It’s just another disappointing quirk. There might still be solutions. When you’re this far down, the only direction to go is up, and it stands to reason that Luis Arraez ‘s production will rise to match his career numbers if Vitello sticks with him at the top. The return of Heliot Ramos could be a boost as well. He batted first in 82 games in 2025. While his overall kead-off numbers were pretty average, in the first inning, he was much better, slashing .299/ .341/ .518 with 5 homers.

Or just say “screw it,” and try something totally new. Though he’s never hit lead-off before, Rafael Devers could work — or at least, a Devers producing near his pre-2026 offensive numbers could work. As far as this season goes, Devers has been kind of a lone wolf anyway. 12 of his 23 doubles have come with the bases empty. 9 of his 11 homers have been solo shots, and 7 of those 9 have led off an inning. Suggest it, Tony! We all know how much he likes trying new things! 

And if we’re thinking about the player we want to see get the most plate appearances then Bryce Eldridge should be in the conversation. His 13 BB%, .389 OBP, .905 OPS, and 153 wRC+ lead the team, while his .516 SLG is second to Schmitt. He’s been hitting second behind Arraez as of late, why not throw him up at the top? 

Out-homering the opposition paved the way for the Dodgers to narrowly beat the Twins 2-1 in a game in which stringing hits together proved to be quite the challenge for either side. While no one can quite match Shohei Ohtani when it comes to mesmerizing displays of power with the bat, among those who come close to it, Byron Buxton is one of the names to be mentioned. For the first half of this game, all of the scoring came courtesy of Ohtani and Buxton, each hitting solo shots in the first inning, Buxton’s tying him with Yordan Alvarez at 25 for the American League lead.

Buxton’s home run came against Will Klein, who opened the game as the Dodgers surely wanted to limit Eric Lauer’s exposure to the American League leader in long balls. Unfortunately, Klein not only gave up the long ball but also struggled enough in the first inning that Dave Roberts almost had to turn to Lauer to get out of a jam. Eventually, Klein retired Victor Caratini with two on to end the threat, even if it cost him over 30 pitches to wrap up that first inning.

While the opening frame didn’t turn out as expected, the Dodgers can’t be too upset about their decision to have Lauer as the follower, given the quality of his performance. The veteran left-hander, who now has the Dodgers 5-0 in his starts, kept the Twins at bay with six scoreless innings in which the only time that Minnesota had someone on base was via a walk (three of them total). Forget getting a hit; the Twins had a hard time even launching the ball in the air against Lauer, piling on groundout after groundout to go hitless after a scary first inning.

As great as he was, for the better part of Lauer’s performance, those zeroes on the board were strictly keeping the Dodgers in the game, but the reigning back-to-back champs had yet to fully take advantage of them—their offense also struggled to stack together a rally against Zebby Matthews. And you know what they say: if you can’t string a rally together, hit one over the wall. The decisive hit of this game came in the sixth inning, when Freddie Freeman hit the longest of the game’s three home runs to hand the Dodgers a 2-1 lead, with the ball traveling 423 ft.

Right on cue, as soon as Lauer left the game, the threat loomed a bit larger as the Dodgers defended this one-run lead. Kyle Hurt allowed the leadoff hitter to get on in front of Buxton in the eighth, but then struck out the Twins’ most dangerous hitter. Miguel Rojas made a bold choice to go for the out at second as the following hitter grounded to second, and lastly, Josh Bell got just enough air under a sinking liner for it to be caught in right field. Tanner Scott’s save came without a hassle, retiring the Twins in order.

In the process of securing this win, though, the Dodgers had to not once but twice turn to their bench early on. Firstly, after reaching via a walk in the second, Kyle Tucker felt something running the bases and left the game early with low back spasms. Tucker was replaced by Alex Call, who went 2 for 3 despite being stranded both times and not driving in a run. Another position player to take an early exit was catcher Dalton Rushing, entering the concussion protocol after being hit by a Twins foul ball, with Chuckie Robinson finishing things off behind the dish.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (17), Freddie Freeman (13), Byron Buxton (25)
• WP— Eric Lauer (3-5): 6 IP, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts
• LP— Zebby Matthews (3-5): 6 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
• SV – Taner Scott (10): 1 IP

Up next

As great as Justin Wrobleski has been this season, Tuesday’s pitching matchup will favor the Twins with the left-hander facing their ace in Joe Ryan. It’s the same start time at 4:40 p.m. PT.

Andre Pallante gave the St. Louis Cardinals the quality start their bullpen so badly needed as he throttled the Arizona Diamondbacks at Busch Stadium Monday night.

The St. Louis Cardinals threatened to break the game open early as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the 1st inning. JJ Wetherholt and Iván Herrera singled along with Alec Burleson‘s walk started what looked to be a big inning of crooked numbers for St. Louis. Wrong. Jordan Walker‘s weak line-out to the shortstop and Lars Nootbaar hitting into a double-play ruined any chances the Cardinals had at jumping on Arizona quick. The lack of taking advantage of this 1st inning opportunity would make the latter innings nerve-racking.

Nolan Arenado‘s return to St. Louis was, as expected, welcomed by a nice ovation from the Busch Stadium crowd as he led off the bottom of the 2nd inning. Nolan would follow this with a single that fortunately did not lead to an Arizona run.

The St. Louis Cardinals would score first, but it wouldn’t happen until the bottom of the 3rd inning when Nathan Church led off with a single and then stole second. JJ Wetherholt moved him over with a smart groundout to second advancing Church to third. After Iván Herrera walked, Alec Burleson bounced a seeing-eye single over first base which second baseman Marte couldn’t handle scoring Church giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

St. Louis would triple their lead in the bottom of the 4th inning which sounds better than it actually was. Lars Nootbaar led off with a walk followed by a Masyn Winn single. Jimmy Crooks moved both of them up a base when he grounded out to first. Blaze Jordan knocked in Nootbaar with a deep sacrifice fly to center giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead which would become 3-0 when Nathan Church singled in Masyn Winn.

The Arizona Diamondbacks would start to chip away at the St. Louis Cardinals lead starting in the top of the 6th inning. Carroll led off with a double to right. He would advance to third on a ground ball from Smith to JJ Wetherholt. Nolan Arenado would show that he has transitioned from former teammate to arch enemy as he grounded out to Masyn Winn scoring Carroll making it 3-1 Cardinals. That would end Andre Pallante’s night as he exited after the 6th inning with a respectable start. Over those 6 innings, Andre allowed 6 hits with just 1 earned run while striking out two and walking no one.

Ryne Stanek started, but did not finish the 7th inning. He successfully got Gurriel Jr. to fly out to right for the first out, but the second batter he faced fared better against him as Tommy Troy absolutely destroyed a 97 mph four-seam fastball to dead center as his home run traveled 444 feet reducing the Cardinals lead to just one at 3-2. Stanek was able to get Tawa out on a line-out, but he was then removed for JoJo Romero who came in and got Perdomo to ground out to Blaze Jordan at third maintaining the narrow St. Louis lead after 7 innings.

What kind of confidence do we Cardinals fans have in the St. Louis bullpen? Well, I’m pretty sure I didn’t breathe (well) for the final two innings. JoJo Romero kept the Cardinals lead intact through the first two outs of the 8th inning although the ball that Vargas cracked to deep center field sure looked like we might be tied soon. George Soriano was brought in to face Nolan Arenado for the final out of the 8th inning and he was fortunately successful getting Nado out on a popup to Burleson at first.

The St. Louis Cardinals bottom of the 9th inning again was in the hands of Riley O’Brien. Did we finally get a no-drama 9th? I’m happy to report that Riley took care of the bottom of the Diamondbacks order to seal the Cardinals victory with no baserunners allowed.

The St. Louis Cardinals continue their streak of 7 home games-in-a-row with game 2 against the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday night. Kyle Leahy gets the start for the Cardinals while the Diamondbacks are scheduled to start LHP Eduardo Rodriguez. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm central time at Busch Stadium and the broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.

Box Score

When Brandon Woodruff’s velocity suddenly nosedived during his last big-league start on April 30th, there was real concern. It was fair to wonder that, given Woodruff’s age and injury history, he was facing a career-ending injury.

Instead, he’s back in the big leagues less than two months later. And in a start that echoed his triumphant return to the mound after over a year off in Miami last July, Woodruff didn’t just pitch: he pitched great. The franchise legend was nearly perfect and hit double digit strikeouts in six innings his return before he handed it off to his bullpen. But the Brewer offense didn’t have any better luck against Cincinnati starter Brady Singer, and this game finished regulation with no score. But the Brewers epitomized the term “manufactured offense” in the 10th and got a save from an unlikely source on the way to an ugly yet encouraging victory.

Milwaukee’s bats didn’t look very good in the top of the first; Christian Yelich struck out, Jackson Chourio popped out, and Brice Turang struck out by swinging through a 92 mph fastball right in the middle of the strike zone.

Woodruff was throwing 89-91 in the bottom of the first, and while he started each of the first two batters with 3-0 counts, he worked back against both and ended up with a 1-2-3 inning, including a strikeout.

Singer lost the strike zone at the beginning of the second inning. William Contreras became the game’s first baserunner when he walked, Jake Bauers walked, too, and Garrett Mitchell got ahead 3-0. But Singer came back to strike out Mitchell looking, and Sal Frelick grounded out back to the mound, which left Joey Ortiz as the Brewers’ last chance in what started as a promising inning. Ortiz grounded one back up the middle and almost hit Singer in the process, but Spencer Steer had no trouble making the play and threw to first to end the inning.

Woodruff was painting corners in the second, and struck out Nathaniel Lowe and Spencer Steer looking with perfect two-strike pitches. Eugenio Suárez jumped on the first pitch and hit a fly ball to fairly deep center, but Mitchell caught it with his feet still on the grass and the inning was over.

David Hamilton battled for nine pitches to start the third and hit a line drive, but it was right to Matt McLain for the first out. Yelich followed with a groundout to second, and Chourio struck out swinging at a high fastball, and Singer was through three scoreless. Noelvi Marte started the bottom of the inning by hitting a hard line drive on the first pitch, but it was right at Hamilton for the first out. Tyler Stephenson also swung at the first pitch and hit it pretty hard, but Chourio made the catch on the warning track in left field. Woodruff got his fastball up to 93 against Matt McLain, who he struck out on three pitches. Three outs on five pitches? That’ll do.

The first hit of the game came right away in the fourth inning, and maybe shouldn’t have been a hit. Turang hit a ball directly at first baseman Sal Stewart at about 94 mph. A great first baseman probably would’ve made the play, but Turang’s ball got past Stewart and into the right-field corner for a double. But just like the second inning, the Brewers squandered a good opportunity. Contreras flew out harmlessly to right on the first pitch, Bauers hit a pop-up, and Mitchell flew out to center. Turang never got past second base.

Woodruff picked up two more strikeouts in another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth. After Blake Dunn lined out to Turang at second base, JJ Bleday and Stewart became Woodruff’s fifth and sixth strikeout victims, and the Brewer hurler was perfect through four. But the Brewers were having nearly as much trouble with Singer as the Reds were with Woodruff, and that continued in the top of the fifth: Frelick, Ortiz, and Hamilton went down in order.

Woodruff’s dream return to the mound continued in the bottom of the fifth. Lowe popped out, Steer struck out swinging, and after a bit of a battle, Suárez struck out looking. Five perfect innings with eight strikeouts.

The Brewers continued to struggle in the sixth. Yelich hit a weak grounder to first base, Chourio struck out swinging at a sweeper way outside the zone. Turang at least made good contact on a fly ball to deep center, but it held up just enough for Dunn to catch it against the wall for the third out.

Woodruff kept the perfect game going for one more batter when he came back from a 3-0 count to strike Marte out with a 3-2 fastball above the zone. Stephenson was next, though, and he jumped at the first pitch and lined a single into center for the Reds’ first hit. Woodruff’s velocity continued to improve as the game went on: he hit 95 for the first time (technically 94.9) on his 72nd pitch of the game, during an at-bat in which McLain struck out swinging at a change-up. That was Woodruff’s 10th strikeout, and Dunn flew out to right to end Woodruff’s sixth scoreless inning.

Woodruff had only thrown 79 pitches, fewer than he’d thrown in his last rehab start, but given that he’s still working his way back, the Brewers chose to end his night there. The final numbers were staggering: Woodruff allowed one single and no walks in six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. What a way to make his return.

Lethal stuff from Brandon Woodruff tonight https://t.co/nGBf52DyC8pic.twitter.com/Ig9Nom0YMu

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) June 23, 2026

Contreras started the seventh with the Brewers’ hardest-hit ball of the day, but he hit it right at Bleday in left field for the first out. After Bauers struck out looking, Mitchell gave the Brewers a two-out baserunner with an infield single, but Frelick flew out to right to end the inning. That was also the end of Singer’s night, as he’d crossed 100 pitches during Mitchell’s at-bat; after struggling all season, Singer had thrown seven shutout innings with just two hits and two walks allowed while striking out seven.

Aaron Ashby relieved Woodruff, and needed a good outing after a rough week. He started with strikeouts of Bleday and Stewart, and then faced a pinch-hitter when Dane Myers came in for Lowe. Myers looped a lazy line drive toward center field, but Turang was able to make a leaping catch to end the inning.

Lefty Sam Moll relieved Singer in the eighth. Ortiz struck out looking at a strike three that had to be overturned on a Reds challenge. Hamilton was removed from the game for pinch-hitter Andrew Vaughn, who got a chance against a lefty; he hit a hard grounder to short that McLain didn’t initially field cleanly, but with Vaughn running, McLain was able to recover and throw him out at first. That brought up Yelich, whose bad night continued as he watched three strikes (er, a missed call and two strikes) go by.

Abner Uribe replaced Ashby in the bottom of the eighth, and Cooper Pratt came in to replace the pinch-hitter, Vaughn, with Ortiz moving from shortstop to third. Uribe worked through an easy three-up, three-down inning, and the Brewers and Reds were locked at 0 through eight innings.

The new Cincinnati hurler was righty Tejay Antone. Chourio was fooled by a 3-2 sweeper, a shame, as it ended up middle-middle but Chourio just watched it go by. Turang, one of the only Brewers to show life at the plate tonight, lined a solid single into left with one out, and it looked like the Brewers might have something when Contreras hit a line drive into the gap in right. But Contreras didn’t quite barrel it, and Dunn made a running catch for the second out. The Reds went lefty-lefty by bringing in Brock Burke to face Bauers, who got ahead 3-1 but looked at the next two pitches, both strikes, and the inning was over.

Bauers had burned one of the Brewer challenges on the last pitch of the top of the ninth, and Contreras lost the other, albeit on a pitch that was less than 0.1 inches out of the zone, to start the bottom of the inning on the first pitch from Trevor Megill. Stephenson hit a hard fly ball to left later in the at-bat, but Chourio, playing deep, didn’t have any trouble tracking it down. Megill then struck out McLain on a foul tip, and with two outs Dunn lined a ball into the right-field corner but Frelick was also playing deep and made a nice catch to end the inning.

Nine innings wasn’t enough for either of these teams to muster a run tonight, so we kept going. Bauers was the ghost runner in the tenth as righty Tony Santillan entered for the Reds. Mitchell started the inning nicely by drawing an eight-pitch walk in front of Frelick, who laid down a good sacrifice bunt to advance Bauers and Mitchell. Ortiz was next, and he hit a solid fly ball to right that was plenty deep to score Bauers from third (and advanced Mitchell to third). With two outs, Pratt, who’d entered defensively, had a chance to get a huge add-on run, but it turned out Pratt didn’t even need to do anything; Santillan’s first pitch to Pratt was in the dirt and bounced away, allowing Mitchell to score. Pratt flew out, but the Brewers had built a 2-0 lead without getting a hit in the 10th.

Brewers carry a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 10th

Tune in: https://t.co/eycfmE2vgmpic.twitter.com/URNlqWvWDx

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) June 23, 2026

That was especially important, as the pitcher the Brewers chose to use in the 10th, given that they’d use their three best leverage guys already, was Joel Kuhnel, not exactly a pick that inspired great confidence. The Brewers got the first out when Bleday grounded out to second; Dunn, who started on second, advanced to third, but that second run in the top of the inning afforded the Brewers the luxury of not caring. Another ground ball from Stewart scored Dunn, but it was also the second out, so the Reds had the bases empty and were down to their last out in the form of Myers. Myers hit a line drive toward Turang that should’ve ended the game, but Kuhnel couldn’t help his reaction of reaching up, and he knocked it down, which resulted in an infield single. The Reds were given an extra chance, and Steer jumped at the first pitch and hit a hard grounder, but Ortiz, now over at third base, made a nice sliding play and threw him out to end the game.

Brewers 2, Reds 1 in 10 innings.

Joey Ortiz drove in the game's first run in the top of the 10th and ended the game by teaming with Jake Bauers to make this play in the bottom of the 10th.

The only team that got a hit in the 10th inning lost. Baseball! pic.twitter.com/Z0PrXe3NHJ

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 23, 2026

The story tonight was Woodruff, who was so good in his return, and a return to form by the three leverage arms in the Brewer bullpen, Ashby, Uribe, and Megill. But Ortiz was also a late hero for the Brewers, as it was his sac fly that finally got a run on the board and his nice defensive play that ended the ballgame. Milwaukee was fortunate to earn the win: the offense was objectively bad, as the team managed only three hits. Two of those belonged to Turang, who was the one exception on the “bad offense” front; the other, an infield hit, was Mitchell’s.

The Brewers will look for a better offensive showing in the second game of the series on Tuesday, but they’ll be happy to escape with a win tonight. More importantly, Woodruff looked like someone who the Brewers might be able to rely on down the stretch, and from a pure fan perspective, it was just nice to see him pitching well for the Brewers again.

That second game of the series comes tomorrow evening at 6:10, when two talented but struggling hurlers face off in Brandon Sproat and Nick Lodolo.

The Atlanta Braves are coming off a series win against the Brewers in which in the two wins were one run games. Tonight they will face another tough test where they have to travel out west and face a Padres team that is two games over .500 looking to prove that they are a legitimate playoff caliber team.

In the month of June the Braves are dead last in MLB with sixty-one runs scored, but the Padres have not done much better having scored sixty-nine which places them twenty-fifth. The difference will likely come down to the pitching. Grant Holmes who has an ERA over nine in his last two starts will be facing Michael King who currently has a 3.60 ERA but an xERA in the bottom 25.0 percent of pitchers.

Follow along in the comments below while you are sipping your coffee. First pitch is at 10:10 pm EDT.

Lineup

Preview

The Texas Rangers scored four runs while the Miami Marlins scored three runs.

The Rangers started a ten-game, three-series road trip in the middle of a stretch of 15 games in 15 days that will take them through June and beyond during their final road trip of the season’s first half. They did not, however, have a starting pitcher.

Instead Texas opted for an opener with Tyler Alexander pitching the perpetually terrifying first inning. The lefty reliever Alexander tossed a scoreless first frame to pave the way for bulk pitcher Kumar Rocker. This was the second time that the Rangers have elected to have Rocker come in after an inning for one of his outings.

If you recall, the last time they went down this avenue with Rocker, he responded with arguably his best appearances in the big leagues. Just over a month ago back on May 19, Rocker entered following an Alexander scoreless inning in Colorado and proceeded to shut the Rockies out over 7.2 innings.

Then the Rangers went back to using Rocker as a traditional starter for the next month where he has gone winless while sporting a 6.92 ERA during the month of June. Tonight, Rocker was equipped with the elusive F U slider that made him look like a potential MORP during his ascension in the minor leagues in 2024.

Though he didn’t have the same length or leash as his tandem effort in Colorado, Rocker went five innings and allowed two runs on five hits with zero walks and nine strikeouts on just 76 pitches. Six of those strikeouts came via a swing and a miss on a slider.

Rocker left in a 2-2 game as the Rangers opened the scoring with a fourth inning via a two-run home run off the bat of Ezequiel Duran, but Miami got a run apiece in the fifth and sixth to even the score and prevent Rocker from being the pitcher of record.

Neither team scored after that until the Rangers were able to shake off a failed bases loaded opportunity the inning prior to plate a couple in the top of the eighth.

With the Ja(k)cobs Junis and Latz ready to be deployed with a two-run lead, it seemed like Texas was set up to cruise to a win but Junis let a couple reach so Skip Schumaker went to Latz for another four-out save but not before the Marlins scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to pull to within a run.

Latz made it through the ninth unscathed (though he needed 31 pitches tonight) as the Rangers started their road trip with a win to move to within two games of .500 again.

Player of the Game: Duran’s homer was obviously key in a one-run win but he also threw out a runner at the plate on a fantastic relay throw. However, it’s hard to argue with Rocker’s bulk work even if he was only used for five innings.

Rocker has now allowed two runs on eight hits and three walks with 16 strikeouts in 12.2 innings when used after an opener. Seems like something the Rangers should considering doing more often.

Up Next: The Rangers and Marlins will reconvene for the second game of this series tomorrow evening with a pitcher to be named (perhaps Jose Corniell?) for Texas opposite RHP Sandy Alcantara for Miami.

Tuesday’s first pitch from loanDepot park is once again scheduled for 5:40 pm CDT and will be telecast via the Rangers Sports Network.