Category: MLB

With the Yankees sitting idle, and at first pitch, the Red Sox losing a one-run game to the Blue Jays, tonight felt like the perfect opportunity to gain ground on both teams in the AL East pennant race.

Two pitches in from West Sacramento, Yandy Diaz launched Jacob Lopez’s offering atop the visiting clubhouse at Sutter Health Park.

Diaz’s 16th round-tripper of the season also gave him sole possession of sixth all-time on the Rays’ home run leaderboard. 1-0, Tampa Bay.

Newly-acquired right-hander Freddy Peralta had the honor of taking the mound first at the launchpad of the American League.

In the bottom of the first, things got shaky as Peralta had a nearly 30-pitch first inning that included a Tyler Soderstrom double, as well as a Soderstrom steal of home.

From the second through the fifth inning, other than a Jonny DeLuca single, the Rays offense went stone cold.

In the bottom of the fifth, Zack Gelof homered to bring the score to 3-1 Athletics.

In the seventh, DeLuca and Chandler Simpson reach base on singles that traveled no more than 40 feet from home plate. Nick Fortes drove in DeLuca with an RBI groundout, and the Rays draw within 3-2.

Right-hander Chris Roycroft entered after Freddy Peralta’s quality start, and surrendered three runs to push the Athletics’ lead to four runs. 6-2 Sacramento.

Within four pitches, in the top of the eighth, Diaz and Jonathan Aranda single, and Diaz signaled for Caminero to calm down from second base as Caminero has been pressing recently with runners in scoring position.

On the very first pitch of the at-bat, Caminero launched one into the West Sacramento sky to cut the deficit to one.

Ryan Vilade would walk next, followed by a DeLuca single, and Chandler Simpson tied the game with a single to right field.

DeLuca and Simpson would steal second and third, Nick Fortes would draw a walk, and Taylor Walls delivered with a two-run go-ahead double to bring the Rays to 8-6.

Tampa Bay would send twelve men to the plate and score eight unanswered runs, their biggest offensive inning of the season.

Tyler Wells and Kevin Kelly pitched the eighth and ninth innings, with Wells allowing one hit and one walk, and Kelly delivering a scoreless frame.

The Rays win 10-6, and sit atop the AL East with a six game lead over the Yankees and an eight game lead over the Red Sox. Tomorrow’s probable pitchers are Nick Martinez and Mason Barnett, and first pitch is 9:40 EST from Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, CA.

The Texas Rangers scored four runs while the Anaheim Angels scored one run in ten innings.

Despite the fact that the Angels are among the worst teams in baseball, and indeed the team currently with the worst record in the American League, the Rangers came into tonight’s game winless at Angel Stadium in 2026 after getting swept by their divisional rivals up the road from Disneyland back in late May.

The Rangers only fared marginally better when last these two teams met in Arlington around a month ago with Texas claiming two of three against the Angels despite suffering a 13-1 loss to Anaheim in the middle game of the series, a game started by MacKenzie Gore.

Gore was on the hill tonight for the Rangers as they tried to inch closer to a positive record against the division’s basement dwellers. Two batters into the game and it was already 1-0 Angels as Mike Trout hit his 785th career home run against Texas.

Ultimately though, that first inning solo home run amounted to the Gore Inning (TM) as Gore settled in and didn’t allow another run through his 5 1/3 innings of work. The Angels did make him work a little as it took him 103 pitches to get to one out in the sixth before hitting the showers, but he finished allowing just the one run on four hits and a couple of walks with nine strikeouts.

Meanwhile, tonight’s starter for the Angels was Reid Detmers and he seems to enjoy alternating between being pedestrian and dominant against the Rangers. The last time Detmers took the mound against Texas he allowed five runs in four innings which seemed seemed to mean the Rangers were in for a struggle tonight.

Detmers didn’t reach dominance but he did hold the Rangers to a run in six innings on three hits and four walks with six strikeouts.

After the lefty starters left, we eventually had a battle of the bullpens. I’m loath to assume that’s a situation that favors the Rangers in any particular game this season but against Anaheim, it should be. Luckily Texas’ ‘pen held firm keeping the Angels off the board for the remaining 4 2/3 innings, not even allowing Anaheim’s Manfred Man to touch home in the bottom of the tenth.

As for the Manfred Man for the Rangers, Nicky Lopez scored the go-ahead and eventual winning run when the Rangers loaded the bases (scary, I know!) and got consecutive weakly-hit RBI base hits from Brandon Nimmo and Jake Burger. Burger’s hit, which drove in two, included Corey Seager scoring from second base where Seager decided to test the arm of Anaheim right fielder Wade Meckler.

Perhaps that was a bit out of spite after Meckler had committed robbery against Seager earlier in the game, reaching over the fence to take away a potential two-out, three-run home run in the top of the seventh with the score 1-1 that would have saved us all a little grief with the need for extra innings.

Nevertheless, Jacob Latz came in with a three run lead and worked around an 11-pitch walk to Trout but nothing else as the Rangers are again above .500 and have their first win at the Big A this year. It doesn’t seem like it needed to be that difficult but will be marked off in the win column regardless.

Player of the Game: I supposed I could highlight Elias Diaz for collecting a couple of hits including an RBI single off of Detmers to tie the score when it looked like the Rangers were about to waste a two on, no outs situation in the top of the fourth. Or Nimmo for the winning hit with the bases loaded.

Also, though, Robby Ahlstrom came in to clean up an inning where Chase Silseth had gotten into a little trouble with the game tied. Ahlstrom pitched another scoreless frame after that and hasn’t allowed a run since July 12 spanning 13 appearances.

Up Next: The Rangers and Angels will be back at it for some late night baseball with LHP Cody Bradford expected to make another start for Texas against RHP Ryan Johnson for Anaheim.

The Tuesday night first pitch from the Big A is once again scheduled for 8:38 pm CDT and will once again air on the Rangers Sports Network.

Well, I’m not sure what I expected. The Royals stars (Witt, Cags) were showing out both offensively and defensively, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the moribund bullpen in a 6-5 loss to the Dodgers that was full of punch-counterpunch.

The 6th inning was the key part. The Royals held a 3-2 lead and Noah Cameron, who had pitched pretty well up to this point, gave up a few hard-hit balls in a row to put runners on second and third with two outs. John Schreiber came in and promptly blew the game by walking Kyle Tucker and giving up a weak line drive down the right field line just beyond Cags’ outstretched glove. All three runners scored to give the Dodgers the lead. Sigh.

The Royals counterpunched with a Kyle Isbel two-run homer in the seventh inning to bring the game back to even-steven at 5-5, but Alex Lange gave up two singles in the bottom of the seventh to relinquish the lead for good. It goes as two runs total charged to Schreiber and Lange, but I don’t think Cameron really deserved those runs being charged to him.

It’s a shame. Facing Tarik Skubal, the Royals position players put up a good fight.

In the first inning, in his first-ever at-bat against Skubal (really?), Cags fouled off four pitches to hit a grounder that squeaked through the middle to score Witt from second (Cags extended his hitting streak to 9 games with that hit).

In the third inning, once again Cags came up to bat and continued his torrid second-half power show. After a Nick Loftin double, Cags was down 0-2 in the count. Then he ripped a 110.8mph line drive home run to push the lead to 3-0. It was beautiful – one of those rising liners that seemed to just keep elevating as it went. Skubal embodied the grimace emoji as soon as the ball left the bat. The Royals chased Skubal after only five innings pitched in which he gave up three runs. I think if you’re facing Skubal, you take that every time.

The star on the other side, Shohei Ohtani, then counter-punched with a deep hit of his own after seeing Jac hit the dinger in the third. It was just short of a homer, but with Hunter Feduccia on second after a double, Ohtani got a bread-basket changeup from Cameron and blasted it to the gap. Freddie Freeman followed with a single to score Ohtani.

On the defensive side, throughout the game, Witt flashed the leather in the deep hole, like in the bottom of the second when he ranged to his right and fired a perfect throw to Massey to allow him to turn the double play. Witt was all over the place. I think he even caught a pop fly in left-center later in the game. Rex was talking about his hands so much that my wife wanted to file a complaint with HR. Fair. He was ridiculous.

It felt like a good effort from the boys. Well..at least it was a good effort from half the team.

The Royals fall to 49-71. The Dodgers are 71-48. They play again tomorrow at 9:10pm US Central time. Michael Wacha will pitch against Blake Snell.

Tarik Skubal never located his best stuff Monday, missing the strike zone with his fastball far more frequently than usual.

The Dodgers found their way out of their recent downward spiral, though, and that was enough of a relief for their new ace and back-to-back Cy Young winner. Skubal pitched five innings, giving up four hits and three runs. He struck out six.

“I kind of sprayed the ball a little bit,” Skubal said after a 6-5 win over Kansas City in his Dodger Stadium debut. “That’s kind of unusual for me, especially with my command, but I thought I competed well and gave our team a chance to win.”

That was a welcome change for the down-on-their-luck Dodgers, who entered having lost eight of nine, including sweeps by the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. The Dodgers had lost seven in a row before finally winning Saturday at Arizona, then promptly resumed the slide Sunday with a loss to the Diamondbacks.

Read more:Shaikin: The Shohei Ohtani Economy: A two-mile ride to Dodger Stadium, for $85

So it’s hard to know whether Monday’s win marked a turnaround or simply another tourniquet to pause the bleeding. Tuesday, it’s Blake Snell’s turn. He underwent surgery on his left elbow and hasn’t pitched for the Dodgers since May 9.

The Dodgers (71-48) are hoping for an encore performance at the plate, where Monday there were some familiar flickers of life.Freddie Freeman had three of their 10 hits, driving in two runs. Shohei Ohtani had two hits and scored twice. And Max Muncy — on his bobblehead night — had a bases-loaded double that gave the Dodgers a 5-3 lead in the sixth and ignited the antsy crowd.

That good feeling didn’t last long, as the Royals (49-71) forged a 5-5 tie in the seventh with a two-run homer.

The Dodgers pulled away for good in the seventh after Ohtani singled, then stole second, and Freeman brought him home with a single to right.

“I thought we fought well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Tarik didn’t have his best stuff. You could see his fastball command wasn’t there. But he didn’t buckle.”

From the offense, Roberts said, “I saw that urgency tonight which we’ve got to build on from here on out.”

Urgency? The guy who had the winning hit probably wouldn’t choose that word.

“There’s going to be no panic out of this clubhouse,” Freeman said. “I understand what Doc’s saying [but] baseball’s a little different. I can’t go out there and swing harder and throw harder. That’s just not how it works.”

Slumps happen, even with good teams. Last year’s Dodgers lost seven in a row in July yet went on to win the World Series. But this recent slide has been sobering, with virtually all bats going cold at once. What’s more, the Dodgers have struggled mightily to hit fastballs.

The Athletic crunched the numbers and determined that no team in baseball has faced as dramatic an increase in fastball percentage, with the Dodgers seeing that frequency climb steadily since May.

“It never feels good to be bullied,” Roberts said. “And to know that teams go after us with the fastball more than any team in baseball, that’s bothersome. ... We’ve scored a lot of runs — fourth in baseball — but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The story is the best version of ourselves, and that’s hitting the fastball and making adjustments in at-bats situationally, all of it.

“So yeah, it’s something that I hope our guys will take that personally. We shouldn’t get bullied.”

There were some mental errors too. By the fifth, the Dodgers were out of ABS challenges, with Miguel Rojas tapping his helmet to check on a called strike that wound up being squarely in the strike zone.

That came after an unsuccessful challenge by Andy Pages in the fourth, and his track record on those inquiries is grim. Thirteen of his 24 challenges were confirmed strikes.

Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone had 20/20 vision at the plate, with a pair of two-strike hits early in the game that gave the Royals a 3-0 lead. The first was a low-velocity ground ball threaded up the middle to drive in a run. In the third, he hit a two-run shot over the right-field wall.

It wasn’t until the fifth that Skubal at last punctuated Jac with a K.

Skubal made no apologies about the butterflies he was feeling.

“I think nerves are a good thing,” he said. “The day I’m pitching and I don’t have nerves is probably the day I retire, because having nerves just means you care.”

Roberts said of Skubal: “I think we’ll see a different guy Sunday. ... I liked the way he came back to the bench and looked over his outing. I’m sure all he cares about is winning the game, which we did. We’re going to have plenty of time to lean on him, and he’s going to be great.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Athletics opened their latest homestand Monday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. It was a familiar story for this A’s team, as its league-worst bullpen allowed eight runs in the eighth inning, ruining starter Jacob Lopez’s season-best outing and sending the A’s to a series-opening 10-6 defeat.

Early Offense

Lopez got off to a rough start. The first batter of the game, Rays designated hitter Yandy Díaz, hit his 16th home run of the season, a solo shot to center field.

The Athletics immediately tied the game against Rays’ starter Freddy Peralta in the bottom of the first inning. First baseman Jeff McNeil singled and then scored from first base on Tyler Soderstrom’s RBI double that sailed over the center fielder’s head.

With runners on the corners and two outs, the A’s aggressive baserunning put them in front 2-1. Left fielder Carlos Cortes broke for second base, and Rays catcher Nick Fortes’ throw sailed into center field. Soderstrom, who was standing at third base, scored the A’s second run of the inning on the defensive mistake.

Game Settles Down

Pitching with the lead for the first time, Lopez turned in four straight scoreless innings, keeping his team in front. In the top of the fourth inning, a walk and a single gave the Rays their first opportunity with a runner in scoring position. A’s second baseman Donovan Walton made a nice diving stop to rob Chandler Simpson of a potential game-tying hit and end the inning.

The Rays played some nice defense in the bottom of the fourth. First, they threw out Lawrence Butler, who was too slow trying to stretch a bloop hit into a double. Center fielder Jonny DeLuca ended the inning with a nice diving catch to rob the hosts of their third hit of the frame.

Gelof Back in Style

Athletics’ third baseman Zack Gelof led off the fifth inning with his 12th home run of the season, a 456-foot blast to left-center field off Peralta that put the Green and Gold ahead 3-1.

Rays Threatening

Seeking to come back against Lopez, Díaz doubled to begin the top of the sixth. The A’s southpaw escaped the jam by retiring the next three batters, completing six innings for the first time this season. His counterpart, Peralta, also pitched six innings, allowing three runs on six hits with five strikeouts.

The Rays used small ball to rally in the seventh inning against Lopez. The Rays had runners at first and third with no outs after two straight infield singles. The first was a swinging bunt on which the batter advanced to second following an errant throw from A’s catcher Jonah Heim. Fortes’ RBI groundout reduced the A’s lead to one run.

Lopez retired the next two hitters to strand the game-tying run at third base. He posted a quality start, allowing just two runs on five hits over seven innings while striking out five and walking only one batter.

A’s Add On

Facing Rays’ reliever Chris Roycroft, Henry Bolte led off the bottom of the seventh inning with his second single of the game. Roycroft then hit Walton with a pitch, giving the A’s two runners on with no outs. Gelof came through again, crushing an RBI double off the center field wall to score Bolte and put the A’s back ahead by two.

McNeil’s sacrifice fly brought Walton home from third to make it a 5-2 game. Shortstop Jacob Wilson lined a two-out RBI double, with Gelof scoring the hosts’ third run of the inning.

A’s Bullpen Horrible!!!!!

It did not take long for the Rays to storm back. Right-handed reliever Seth Johnson entered out of the A’s bullpen. Following two straight singles, Rays superstar Junior Caminero hit his 34th home run of the season, a three-run shot to left that made it a one-run game once again. Johnson failed to retire any of the four batters he faced, immediately erasing his team’s momentum.

Left-hander Jose Suarez replaced Johnson. He continued the implosion, only getting one out while allowing three more singles and a walk. The pathetic A’s bullpen allowed the first eight batters of this inning to reach safely, as the visitors turned a four deficit into a four-run lead in the blink of an eye.

There is a good chance that this inning would not have gone so sideways had Luis Medina, Brady Basso or anybody else started the inning. For some reason, Mark Kotsay summoned Johnson, only to watch him fail his latest audition and take a well-deserved win away from Lopez, who put together his best start of the season.

Post-game Takeaways

Once again, A’s pitchers allowed double-digit runs at this ballpark, but tonight all of the blame falls on three guys who are part of one of the worst bullpens ever assembled. The Rays capitalized on the momentum change, preventing the A’s from pulling off their own comeback over the final two innings of the game.

At the moment, there is uncertainty regarding if there will be an MLB season next year, and if so what it will look like. Tonight’s loss, the A’s 72nd of this season, should be the nail in the coffin for Mark Kotsay’s tenure as the team’s manager. Hopefully, these next 42 games will be his last in charge of the Green and Gold.

Losses like this can be demoralizing, so it would not be surprising for the Rays to carry this momentum into a potential series sweep. As a result, it will be interesting to see how the Athletics fare in tomorrow’s matchup. Right-hander Mason Barnett will start for the A’s, while the Rays will send veteran right-hander Nick Martinez to the mound.

The Colorado Rockies have had a few games in recent weeks where mistakes piled up and got the best of them. They have also had their fair share of games where the bats go cold and nothing comes together offensively. On top of that, they’ve had some games where starting pitching puts them in an insurmountable hole.

Tonight, all three of those were true.

Michael Soroka, coming back to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ rotation after a stint on the injured list, kept the Rockies’ bats at bay. They couldn’t get much going when he was gone, either.

Gabriel Hughes struggled with his command tonight and what could have been a clean first inning turned quickly into a disaster thanks to an early grand slam.

Wild pitches, walks, fielding miscues, and a do-nothing offense were all the recipe for the wrong end of a very forgettable shutout to start this series.

A wild (almost literally and then figuratively) first inning

Picking up where he left off, Soroka dominated the Rockies in the top of the first inning, showing no rust from the injury that sidelined him since mid-June.

Through the early part of the 2026 season, Soroka relied primarily on his four-seam fastball and his slurve at 33% each. Both of those pitches factored in heavily through the first. He sat the scorching hot Jake McCarthy down on just four pitches, getting him to swing and strikeout on a slurve down low after peppering him with fastballs and a changeup. Cole Carrigg and TJ Rumfield put balls in play for outs as the Rockies went down 1-2-3.

It felt like we were on the way to a scoreless first. Unfortunately for Gabriel Hughes and the Rockies, that was far from the case.

Hughes was able to get two quick outs, with Geraldo Perdomo grounding hard up the middle to Carrigg making his second career start at shortstop, and with Corbin Carroll lining out to second. Things took a turn with Gabriel Moreno hitting a triple to the corner in right.

Hughes then threw a sweeper that fell deep into the dirt. Initially, it was ruled a wild pitch that scored Moreno. The Rockies correctly challenged, claiming the ball hit batter Ketel Marte. With runners on first and third and a chance to escape, Hughes walked Lars Nootbar to load the bases. Up next… old friend Nolan Arenado. Because of course he did, Arenado knocked a grand slam to left giving the D-backs an early 4-0 lead.

By the end of the first, Hughes was already over 30 pitches and looking shaky throughout.

When it rains, it pours

The action remained one-sided through the second inning.

While Hunter Goodman drew a walk, Soroka responded by sitting down the next three batters, including two more strikeouts. Back again with his slurve, Soroka got Mickey Moniak to chase one low. He also got Willi Castro to strike out on a foul tip with another slurve.

The Arizona Cardinals are fresh off of the Hall of Fame Game, so the Diamondbacks followed in their footsteps with a touchdown of their own, extending their lead to seven by the end of the second inning.

Ryan Waldschmidt connected for a single to jumpstart the action. Hughes continued to struggle with his command and walked Perdomo after a six pitch at bat. A Carroll double drove in run number five before another Hughes wild pitch (this one recorded as such) scoring the next run.

Hughes would walk Moreno after getting ahead in the count and then issuing four straight balls all over the zone on a mix of pitches. A Marte single made it 7-0. By the end of the second, Hughes hit 62 pitches.

Colorado broke through with their first hit of the game with one out in the third inning (a Troy Johnston single), but it was all for not. Despite McCarthy notching another single, Carrigg lined into an unassisted double play to end things.

Even though it didn’t amount to more runs, Kyle Karros had an uncharacteristic error in the inning that seemed to encapsulate the Rockies’ night.

A one-sided pitching matchup

The middle innings went by and gave the scoreboard a break, despite some action on the basepaths.

Both pitchers were yanked in the fifth inning, but their starts couldn’t have been any more different.

After nearly two months away, Arizona pulled Soroka with a seven-run cushion after he hit the 77-pitch mark. He wasn’t able to hit a full five innings to be in line for the win but finished his day at 4.1 scoreless innings pitched. He allowed just three hits and logged four strikeouts, dropping his ERA on the year to 2.92. As hinted at earlier, Soroka was dangerous with the slurve, posting a 32% usage rage and a 44% whiff rate with it tonight.

Hughes had two awful innings followed by two scoreless ones. His line ended at 4.0 innings pitched with seven earned runs on five hits alongside three walks and three strikeouts. As he typically does, Hughes mainly worked with his four-seamer (64% usage tonight, compared to 55% on the season).

After the game, Warren Schaeffer noted that Hughes “just lost command. Lost command with the fastball. Lost command with the breaking ball. Gabriel usually attacks the strike zone with his stuff and it just seemed like he had a tough time doing that tonight.”

Hughes said the same about his own performance, noting that “any day where you’re close to 50/50 on strikes and balls isn’t going to be a good one.” He lamented “putting (his) team in a hole pretty early. And it’s hard to come back from seven runs after two innings.” He falls to 0-4 on the season.

Soroka was replaced by Zack Littell and Hughes was relieved by Zach Agnos.

Things calm down through the bullpen innings – until the end

The score established in the first two innings would stick for the next five innings.

The Rockies posed perhaps their biggest threat of the game in the fifth inning. Soroka allowed two baserunners before Littell entered and loaded the bases with a walk. The Rockies did not capitalize with ducks on the pond and one out, as Carrigg hit into his second double play of the game.

The sixth inning got a little wonky. A Rumfield single started things off, but a deep Goodman fly ball would double him up after Colorado unsuccessfully challenged.

For his part, Agnos looked solid and worked through his three innings surrendering just two hits. Schaeffer applauded Agnos last few outings and his ability to attack the strike zone and get out of jams.

Nick Frasso entered in the eighth, throwing heat. He threw a series of 95 MPH fastballs and struck out Tim Tawa to start. He wouldn’t survive unscathed. Arizona tacked on two more runs off of a Jorge Barrosa RBI single and a Moreno double to bring the game to 9-0.

Littell, acquired by the Diamondbacks from the Tampa Bay Rays at the deadline, had a spectacular debut for his new squad. He finished the job that Soroka started and closed out the game with 4.2 innings pitched, allowing only two hits through the back half of the game to earn the win.

Up Next

Game two of the series and game 120 of the season are on deck Tuesday night.

Monday night was not kind to the Rockies, but Tuesday presents a glimmer of hope: it’s a Sugano day! Tomoyuki Sugano (11-5 in 20 starts, 4.51 ERA, 61 strikeouts) is set to take the mound for the Rockies.

The Diamondbacks will counter with left-handed pitcher Mitch Bratt (1-1 in six starts, 3.90 ERA, 21 strikeouts).

The Rockies and the D-backs meet for another 7:40 p.m. MDT first pitch.

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The wins are rare and not so easily attained for the Dodgers at this specific moment in the season. And hosting the Royals, it took all that this team had to outlast the opposition in a 6-5 victory in a back-and-forth matchup with multiple lead changes, ultimately decided on a Freddie Freeman RBI single.

Allowing a run in the first, Tarik Skubal didn’t deliver a lights-out performance, but how a pitcher handles outings with some form of adversity can often be the true measure of him. The Royals were relatively lucky to get on the board early on with a softly hit single from Nick Loftin that found the right spot—followed by an RBI knock from Jac Caglianone on a groundball that should’ve found a Dodger glove but didn’t, as Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts didn’t react well enough to make a play. Those two singles were enough for the run because once Bobby Witt Jr. replaced Loftin on the basepaths after a forceout, he showed off his speed by swiftly stealing second, his AL-leading 32nd SB.

It would not be the only time Caglianone would hurt Skubal, as a couple of innings later, he would hit a two-run shot on a hanging slider to hand the Royals a 3-0 lead. What was particular about that at-bat was the unpredictable attack plan of Skubal versus Caglianone, with the slider being the fifth different pitch he threw to Caglianone. The problem is that unpredictability can only do so much if hangers are coming to the plate.

Laboring a bit more than he is used to per inning, Skubal established a very high pitch count in the first few frames, allowing him to just complete five, not before getting the final laugh on Caglianone, though. Caglianone came up to the plate with two on and two out in the fifth with the chance to do the most damage in this one. Skubal gave him a recipe of nothing but heaters that laid the groundwork for a strike three swinging on a changeup down and in, a dangerous pitch to throw to the tall lefty, but one that worked out.

Chasing the game from the start, the Dodgers didn’t spend a lot of time trailing by those three runs, answering the Royals’ two-run third with two of their own in the bottom of the frame. The lefties provided the big hits against Noah Cameron as a Shohei Ohtani RBI double was followed by a Freddie Freeman single to make it 3-2.

Tommy Edman’s hustle in the sixth inning on both sides of the ball is in many ways what paved the way for the Dodgers’ three-run rally that gave them the first lead of this game. Firstly, Edman made a terrific play in left, diving to catch a fly ball from Starling Marte.

A few minutes later, Edman hustled to leg out an infield single in the bottom of the sixth, and a Miguel Rojas double later, Cameron got the hook with two in scoring position and just one out. Kyle Tucker pinch hit for Teoscar Hernández with the righty John Schreiber coming into the game, and walked, which brought up the Dodgers’ most clutch hitter as of late to the plate. Once again, Max Muncy delivered in a time of need with a bases-clearing double.

In normal games throughout the regular season, this momentum shift would be enough to carry the Dodgers to a win, but right now nothing is coming easy. The Royals decided that two can play the quick-answer game, managing to tie things up at 5-5 in the next half-inning. Just like Skubal against Caglianone in the third, Jack Dreyer left a slider up against Kyle Isbel and saw the left-handed hitter just clear the right-field wall. It was only Isbel’s fourth homer of the season.

The good news was the Dodgers were facing one of the two bullpens in baseball with an ERA above 5.00, and it clearly showed once Cameron’s night was done. The Dodgers regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh despite some self-imposed challenges. Ohtani was stealing second with Andy Pages at the plate when the center fielder was punched out looking on a bad call that couldn’t be challenged due to previous ill-advised challenges from Rojas and Pages himself. Luckily, Freeman didn’t let that mistake linger for too long by driving in Ohtani to make it a 6-5 game.

The Dodgers could not score insurance runs after that, but they didn’t need to as the bullpen provided shutdown innings to secure the win, including an encouraging one-two-three ninth from closer Edwin Díaz.

Monday particulars

Home runs: Jac Caglianone (21), Kyle Isbel (4)

WP —Jack Dreyer (5-1): 1 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

LP — Alex Lange (1-7): 1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 strikeout

Sv — Edwin Díaz (6): 1 IP, 1 strikeout

Up next

Looking to improve on a shaky season debut against the Braves, Blake Snell gets the ball against the best the Royals have to offer in Michael Wacha. It’s the same place, same time, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. (PT).

Record: 64-56. Pace: 86-76. Change on 2025: +6.

There was no hangover for the Diamondbacks after their low-scoring series victory over the Dodgers. Indeed, the offense nearly matched the entire output there, in just the first four outs. That provided a nice, soft landing for Michael Soroka, in his return from the injured list, as he threw 4.1 scoreless innings, before being removed for pitch count purposes. Zack Littell made his D-backs debut, and was awarded the win for his 4.2 innings of relief. Arizona simply took care of business tonight at Chase Field, and as a result remain tied with the Phillies for the second wild-card spot, since Philadelphia also won, in St. Louis.

Before this season, the Diamondbacks had hit only five first inning grand-slams in team history – that’s over a span north of 4,400 opening frames. The last came more than fifteen years ago, in April 2011, when Stephen Drew took Ryan Dempster deep. But the team has now done it twice this year, with Nolan Arenado the man responsible on both occasions. Amusingly, he has a Rockies appeal to thank for it. With two outs, Gabriel Moreno hit a triple that rattled around in the right-field corner. It looked he then scored on a wild pitch, but Colorado appealed, saying it hit Marte. A review confirmed this, so Gabi was sent back and Ketel took first. But instead of getting out of the frame, Lars Nootbaar drew a walk, which allowed Arenado to come up with the bases loaded. Just like on May 18 against Robbie Ray, this then happened.

Arizona put up another crooked number in the second inning. With one out, Ryan Waldschmidt singled, Geraldo Perdomo walked, and Corbin Carroll doubled home Waldschmidt for a 5-0 lead. A wild pitch added another run, and Marte drove in one more with a single. Through two innings, Arizona were 7-0 up, and they had made Colorado starter Gabriel Hughes throw 63 pitches. With Soroka having allowed one walk and no hits through two, it was a bit of a surprise that it was the D-backs starter who was the first to be replaced. Part of this was the Arizona offense taking a bit of a nap for the next few innings. Also, this was Soroka’s first outing in the majors since June 19. He had only one rehab start, throwing 57 pitches for the Reno Aces.

Therefore, while it would have been nice to get him through five and qualify for the victory, a fairly long fourth inning (needing 22 pitches) put the dampers on that. After getting the first out in the fifth, Soroka threw an 8-pitch walk, and Torey Lovullo decided that was enough, at a total of 77 pitches. The final line: 4.1 shutout innings, on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Under normal circumstances, this might have been a bit of a problem. But new guy Zack Littell had been signed for exactly this, and had no pitch count limitation. He didn’t make a great first impression, walking the first batter he faced on four pitches. However, he immediately dialed up a double-play to end the fifth. The DP was Arizona’s friend tonight, with four being turned. Tim Tawa had an unassisted one in the third, and Waldschmidt got an assist (below) in the sixth, surviving a Colorado appeal.

Littell ended up finishing out the game, giving the rest of the bullpen a welcome day off. He got the W in his Arizona debut, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings, on a pair of hits and two walks, with two strikeouts. I was doing some desultory searching, but couldn’t find any other reliever who won their D-backs debut with such a long outing. Indeed, he’s only the 11th D-back with a relief W requiring 14 outs, at any point in their time with Arizona. The last one was Ryne Nelson in 2024. He was also the pitcher before that, in 2023. But long relief is not a glamorous job, and the list largely consists of journeyman pitchers. Oh, and one Hall of Famer, of course.

Arizona tacked on a pair of runs in the eighth, on a Jorge Barrosa RBI single and Moreno RBI double. Moreno, Marte, Arenado and Waldschmidt all had two-hit games, the first- and last-named each drawing a walk as well. On the other end, Max Kepler was 0-for-4 with three K’s. He’s 1-for-22 with eight strikeouts over his last seven games, and I’ve a feeling – read, “hope” – he might not be long for the roster, with Jordan Lawlar and Lourdes Gurriel Jr both on the way back. There was some concern over Perdomo’s early departure from tonight’s contest. He was lifted for the fifth inning with what’s described as left knee soreness. Hopefully just Torey Lovullo being cautious in a blowout win.

Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
Rain: Nolan Arenado, +27%
That ozoney smell: Michael Soroka, +10%
Microbursts: Kepler + Tawa, each -1%

That is the kind of Fangraph I like to see at home. It hit 97.5% with one out in the bottom of the second inning, and never declined below 94.9% the rest of the way. Let’s give Comment of the Night to Worleybird:

It’s certainly good to have Soroka back. Let’s hope that tomorrow, Mitch Bratt can follow up his stellar performance last time out. The win pushed the D-backs to a season-high eight games above .500, which is the most they’ve been above it since the end of the 2024 campaign. Unfortunately, it didn’t move the needle much, since the Phillies and Padres both also won. The Dodgers are 6-5 up going into the ninth, so that’s not looking good either. Oh, well: just keep winning and it’ll all work itself out. Tomorrow, it’s Bratt starting as mentioned, as the D-backs face the Rockies again, with another 6:40 pm first pitch.

PS Nick Piecoro just Tweeted, “Torey Lovullo did not sound overly concerned about Perdomo’s knee. Said if it were a close game he might have left him in. Could still get a day off in the coming days.”

Different venue, different result.    Astros 6.  Giants 3.    It took extra innings, it took perseverance, and it took Jeremy Pena breaking out of a 0-24 slump.      It also took a three-hit night from Cam Smith.   The change of scenery from Petco to Oracle made all the difference as the offense finally showed some signs of life in front of 28,070.   

For the first time in ten games, Houston would score in the opening frame to start things.    Yordan Alvarez recorded his 60th extra base hit, hitting a double before Isaac Paredes moved him over to third with a single.    Jose Altuve would bring in Alvarez on a sac fly making it 1-0.      The next run would come off the bat of Cam Smith who would leave the yard, jacking his 16th of the year in the 7th.      In the top of the 9th, Cam would weave some more magic, singling to right field which brought in pinch runner Nick Allen.       Cam would go 3-4 on the night, driving in a pair.   

Hayden Wesneski would cruise until the bottom of the fourth.     Bryce Eldridge reached on a double.  Rafael Devers followed that up with a walk and Oslevivis Basabe would single to load the bases.    Drew Gilbert would notch his 23rd RBI of the season on a sac fly, tying things up at 1-1.     Taylor Trammell would then make the defensive play of the night, making a spectacular play on a line out from Drew Cavanaugh to close out the inning.  The Giants would strand a pair of runners.   

However, the next pair of innings, the Giants would take Wesenski deep on multiple occasions.    Jung Hoo Lee would hit his 9th homer of the year.     That would be followed up by former Astros prospect, Drew Gilbert, who in the seventh went yard.    Houston had plenty of opportunities during that window, including a bases loaded opportunity, but Christian Walker grounded out, stranding three.        Even with the home runs, for all intents and purposes, Wesenski rendered a decent showing.    His seven innings of work was the deepest a starter has gone in a game for Houston since Hunter Brown verses the White Sox on July 25th.   

In the 10th inning, LaMonte Wade walked and went to second on a Pena single.    They would each score on a clutch double from Isaac Parades.     The bottom of 10th was arguably the best move Joe Espada has made this baseball season, sending out Josh Hader for a second inning of relief after previously vowing not to implement.    Hader would dazzle, pitching a pair of scoreless innings, registering a pair of K’s.   

Odds & Ends:

The Astros have now played 120 games this season, with a mark of 61-59.     A year ago, the Astros were 67-53 at this stage.  

Hunter Brown will look for his fourth win tomorrow night.     First pitch will once again be 8:45pm CDT.   

It’s never a good sign when even the umpires need to check the rule, which is what happened in a wild seventh inning moment during Monday’s Red Sox-Blue Jays game. 

The incorrect number of outs shown on the Rogers Centre scoreboard sent the game spiraling into chaos that led to a more than 15-minute delay as the umps tried to ascertain the situation, which was an inning-ending double play that occurred because two outs were incorrectly shown on the scoreboard. 

Because of the confusion caused by the stadium error, when Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela made contact with the ball on a fly out to center field, the runners on first and third ran on contact, allowing Blue Jays outfielder Brett Bateman to fire the ball to first for the out. 

Simultaneously, the runner on third base also had run on contact and crossed home plate, but he never tagged, which led to the confusion and led to crew chief Chris Guccione to have to call New York to get a ruling. 

“The runner at third base did not tag and crossed home plate before the out at first was recorded,” Guccione told the crowd in Toronto after a long pause. “We are going to New York to do a rules check.”

He came back a short time later and announced to the crowd that “the run is going to score,” making it a 2-1 ballgame that the Blue Jays still led.

The Blue Jays did manage to hang onto the lead for the rest of the game to pick up the win. 

“What I was told was the rule is the rule. It’s a timing play,” Jays manager John Schneider told reporters after the game. “If the run scores from third no matter what he did – tagging up or not – before the out is recorded at first, the run counts. Now if we had just thrown the ball to third instead of first, obviously a different story.”

Schneider added that Boston did not challenge the play and because his team ran off the field already, the Blue Jays weren’t able to appeal the play by throwing the ball to third base. 

“We weren’t given an opportunity to appeal to third and going forward when that play happens again in the next 100 years, if it’s us, we will record the out at third,” he said. 

ATLANTA — The Mets didn’t trade Devin Williams at last week’s deadline but will still have to navigate the late innings — at least for a few weeks — without him. 

An already largely untested bullpen, which subtracted four key veterans before the deadline, has another hole to fill after Williams was placed on the injured list Monday with a right shoulder strain. 

The right-hander had arm fatigue last week before returning to pitch Friday. 

“He has been dealing with a little bit of shoulder fatigue for a little while now, something he felt confident he could pitch through,” interim manager Andy Green said. “You appreciate the warrior mentality to step on the mound and continue to compete for us, but after the last outing it just made sense for us to get an MRI and get it checked.” 

Enter Kodai Senga, who assumed the closer’s role in the Mets’ 8-5 victory over the Braves on Monday. 

Senga pitched a scoreless ninth and wanted the baseball as a keepsake from his first MLB save, except that Carson Benge — who caught the final out — had already thrown it to a fan. 

“I think Bengie is trying to tell me that I should have just punched him out,” said Senga, who struck out the previous two batters in the inning. 

Williams, who arrived on a three-year contract worth $51 million, has pitched to a 4.66 ERA with 16 saves in 42 appearances this season. In his outing Friday against the Pirates, he surrendered two earned runs on three hits in recording the save. 

Williams’ strain, according to Green, isn’t considered serious and the Mets are hopeful he will return this season. Green placed a timeline of a “few weeks” for Williams to potentially begin throwing again. 

“I know he wants to compete for us again before the year is out,” Green said. “He wants to get on the mound and finish strong.” 

The IL stint occurs a week after the team dealt A.J. Minter, Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazobán at the trade deadline. 

Green said the closer’s role will remain fluid in Williams’ absence, but acknowledged Senga’s upside. Senga has shifted to higher-leverage relief situations since the bullpen’s overhaul. Entering Monday, he had pitched two shutout innings in higher-leverage spots over the past week. 

“I think it’s a great environment for myself,” Senga said. “First of all, my body feels great. I’m able to go out there and perform in short innings, regardless of the situation.” 

Senga’s struggles as a starter prompted his shift to a middle relief role last month. The right-hander began play with an 8.29 ERA overall. 

“He was great [tonight],” Green said. “Hopefully he feels great [Tuesday] and he’s ready to go again.” 

Senga acknowledged the challenge he will face in pitching consecutive days if needed. 

“I have not done that before, so I don’t know what’s to come,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect, but as a reliever it’s something that most of these guys do and experience, so that may be coming down the road, but it’s to be seen.” 

The new cast includes lefties Nate Lavender and Jefry Yan and right-hander Dedniel Núñez, who returned last week from Tommy John surgery rehab. The Mets have received a boost from Daniel Duarte, who has pitched to a 1.04 ERA in 12 appearances — including a scoreless two-inning stint Monday. Yan, who possesses triple-digit heat, has gained attention for his post-strikeout celebrations. 

“Right now, it depends on the pocket,” Green said of his plans at closer. “I think there’s three or four guys that, given the context of the game, it makes sense to face certain hitters and I am confident in the makeup of the human that they will be able to handle the moment.”

Box Score

The Brewers carried a one-run lead into the seventh inning behind six dominant frames from Logan Henderson, but the Padres finally broke through against him the third time through the order. Jackson Merrill’s two-run homer put San Diego ahead, and Milwaukee couldn’t answer against the Padres’ bullpen in a 3-2 loss.

Neither team managed to score in the first, but Milwaukee opened the scoring in the second. William Contreras, hitting sixth tonight, worked a one-out walk off Padres starter Casey Mize before Christian Yelich, hitting seventh, squared up a first-pitch fastball for a two-run homer.

Contreras and Yelich have been mainstays in the heart of the Brewers’ lineup for years, but both have struggled recently, leading manager Pat Murphy to move them down in the order before tonight’s game.

Neither player has quite lived up to his lofty standards this season — especially Yelich, who has started to look like years of injuries may finally be catching up with him — but both are still capable of catching fire at any time. There’s a reason they’re still in the lineup every day, and if nothing else, moving them down in the order takes some pressure off while giving other hitters a chance to carry more of the offensive load. At least for one at-bat tonight, the change worked exactly as intended.

Meanwhile, Brewers starter Logan Henderson was dominant for nearly the entirety of his outing. Other than a solo home run by Ty France in the bottom of the third, Henderson shut the Padres down, allowing just two additional hits while striking out seven through six innings.

With Henderson at only 76 pitches and the Brewers still up by a run, Murphy sent him back out for the bottom of the seventh — a decision that eventually proved costly. Although he got Manny Machado to pop up for the first out, Henderson was clearly slowing down, with his fastball barely touching 90 mph. France followed with a ground-ball single into left field, bringing the tying run to the plate.

Henderson stayed in to face Jackson Merrill, who took a strike, then a ball, before turning on an 82 mph changeup and sending it 431 feet over the center-field fence to give the Padres a 3-2 lead. In the span of two batters, Henderson had gone from being in line for the win to being in line for the loss, and San Diego wasn’t done threatening. Murphy left him in for one more batter, Luis Rengifo, whom Henderson walked on five pitches.

With Gavin Sheets coming up and still only one out, Murphy finally made the call to the bullpen, bringing in the recently activated Lyon Richardson for his first appearance as a Milwaukee Brewer. Richardson walked Sheets to put another runner on base but recovered to strike out Freddy Fermín for the second out. Sung-Mun Song then hit a hard grounder down the first-base line, but Jake Bauers made a nice play to spear it and beat Song to the bag, preventing any further damage.

The decision to send Henderson back out wasn’t unreasonable considering his pitch count and how dominant he’d been through six, but the end result was particularly frustrating for Brewers fans. Henderson had given Milwaukee six excellent innings, and with one of the better bullpens in baseball available, the Brewers had options. Instead, a start in which Henderson had shut down the Padres turned on one pitch.

Milwaukee managed to keep the deficit at one, but against the Padres’ bullpen tandem of Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller, one run is often insurmountable. Morejon faced the minimum in the eighth, allowing a ground-ball single to Jackson Chourio before getting Jake Bauers to ground into an inning-ending double play. Miller walked Contreras with two outs in the ninth, bringing Yelich to the plate with a chance to bookend the game with another big hit, but he never got the opportunity. Brandon Lockridge, pinch-running for Contreras, was thrown out trying to steal second to end the game.

On the bright side, the Brew Crew will have a chance to bounce back tomorrow in San Diego. Kyle Harrison will get the ball for Milwaukee opposite Walker Buehler. First pitch is set for 8:40 p.m.

They say to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, which is why for most of my adult life I’ve hung out with people who I don’t really like. Tonight, starter Dean Kremer proved why that maxim is not just a magazine, spinning a gem against his former club in a shiny 7-inning, one-hit start.

It was something I’m calling “no cookies” tonight from Kremer, who drove a perfect first trip through the Orioles’ lineup, then only allowed a fourth-inning hit — the lone base knock against his ledger today — on a squib shot that went maybe ten feet in front of home. That hit would put runners on the corners (a Gunnar Henderson walk had made its way into scoring position already), which would allow Baltimore to tie the game on a designed delayed double-steal.

The fact that this tied the game came courtesy of Austin Martin, who took offense to my subtle jab at him in the pregame, and chose to put up eight total bases across four hits tonight. He’d gotten Minnesota on the board with a third-inning line-drive homer, after already having roped a double to lead off the game.

The Twins would add another in the home fourth, reclaiming the lead from Baltimore almost immediately; Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch to set the table, and Brooks Lee doubled him over to third; this allowed Kaelen Culpepper to earn an RBI on a sacrifice fly, the only distraction from the golden sombrero he would later be wearing.

After Kremer completed 7 full innings, the Twins exploded for five in the 7th and two more in the 8th. The barrage included a two-run single from Ryan Jeffers and a three-run shot off the bat of Josh Bell (16.) (Homers, he’s older than that.) Jeffers would add another on an RBI double in the eighth, and would score on a Royce Lewis single.

The insurance proved necessary, as a combination of Travis Adams and Taylor Rogers allowed six hits and four earned runs in the final two innings. Nevertheless, she (the Minnesota Twins) persisted, and claimed the series opener on a nice evening at Target Field.

STUDS:

SP Dean Kremer (7 IP, H, R, ER, 1 BB, 7 K)

LF Austin Martin (4-for-5, 3 R, RBI, 2B, HR)

C Ryan Jeffers (2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B)

DH Josh Bell (2-for-5, R, 3 RBI, HR)

3B Brooks Lee (2-for-4, 2B, BB)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

Even with almost one-third of their big-league roster shipped out of town ahead of last week's MLB trade deadline, the Mets continue finding ways to win ballgames.

The offense has been clicking on all cylinders, the starting pitching continues to deliver, and the new-look bullpen has stepped up tremendously over the past two series. 

That was again the case during Monday's series-opener in Atlanta. 

New York jumped all over Braves right-hander Bryce Elder, striking for seven runs on 10 hits over the first three innings to establish a commanding early lead. 

They received contributions from up-and-down the lineup, but Brett Baty was accountable for the big blow, launching his first career grand slam as part of a five-run top of the first. 

“It was really cool,” Baty said. “First homer here, now my first grand slam here -- I haven’t hit many grand slams in my life too, so it’s definitely pretty cool.” 

Christian Scott faltered a bit, allowing the high-powered Braves to scratch their way back in the game, but the Mets’ bullpen again delivered some big innings to get the job done down the stretch. 

Jonathan Pintaro allowed a run behind Scott, but then Nate Lavender and Daniel Duarte combined for three scoreless frames, before handing the ball to Kodai Senga, who was terrific to secure his first career save. 

“It’s been next man up,” Andy Green said. 

“We lost a lot of guys in this bullpen, but we also gained a lot of talent,” Scott added. “Not enough credit goes to those guys, they’ve really done an unbelievable job.”

Just like that, New York improves to 6-1 with just two games remaining on their nine-game road trip. 

“The boys are swinging some hot bats, the bullpen is doing their thing and the starters are always going to do their thing,” Baty said. “It’s been fun, we’re rallying around each other and we’ve just been playing some really good ball.”