Category: MLB

Today’s subject is in kind of an unusual spot as regards his prospect status. Bloss actually debuted two years ago, and as he turns 25 today (Happy Birthday, Jake) he’s on the fringes of what’s typically considered prospect eligibility. He’s also coming back from Tommy John surgery, which has eaten up the last 14 months for him when he would normally have been breaking into the MLB rotation. All that means the excitement about him is a little muted for a former top 100 prospect on the cusp of the majors. We ranked him as the system’s #6 prospect coming into the season, and he’s undoubtedly a key part of the organization’s medium term hopes, but right at this minute the buzz is lacking. He’s back at AAA as of last week, though, and given the state of the back of the Jays’ rotation he might become a factor of the big league club soon if he looks up to the challenge.

His rehab outing Statcast data offers some immediate intrigue. Last time we saw Bloss for a full season, in 2024, his four seamer sat 92-95 and touched 96. It’s a small sample size, with only 95 heaters tracked (we only have public StatCast data for his three appearances with A Dunedin and one with AAA Buffalo), but since coming back he’s sitting 95.8mph and regularly cresting 97. His hardest single pitch in 2024 was equivalent to his average in 2026, and he hasn’t thrown a pitch classified as a four seamer this season as slow as his average from the earlier year. There were hints before he went down with the elbow injury last year that he was taking a step forward with his velocity, but what we’re seeing right now is a big leap. The pitch was already considered to be above average in spite of middling velocity because Bloss gets great extension and generates a lot of backspin and vertical carry. That’s all preserved, so if he maintains most of the velocity gain as he gets fully stretched out his fastball has improved from solid to an easy plus pitch.

His sinker appears to have made the same gains, going from 93.3mph to 95.0. He’s spinning both fastballs harder by about 80rpm, which has preserved their total movement in spite of the velocity bump (slower pitches break more because they have more time to accelerate in whatever direction their spin is taking them before reaching the plate).

He also seems to have made changes to his secondaries. His changeup has gotten harder, but by only 1.3mph (87.2 up to 88.5mph), and he’s actually gotten better at killing the spin on the pitch, reducing the rotation by 100rpm. The result is that it has more drop and a bigger velocity gap off the fastball. The slider, like the fastballs, has picked up about 2mph and about 100rpm, breaking harder to cover the same distance in less time. His curveball, interestingly, hasn’t seen the same gains in spin rate but is now almost 2.5mph harder, leading to less glove side break and a slightly more up and down shape.

There have been the hiccoughs with command that you’d expect from a guy coming back from surgery, and he’s still only partially stretched out. Bloss probably won’t be ready for the majors for a few weeks yet. The leap his stuff has taken during his rehab creates reason to be excited for him when he arrives, though.

MLB.com | Brian Murphy and Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru: With Phase 1 of the All-Star Game voting process concluding on Thursday, several Yankees have a good chance of moving on to Phase 2. Ben Rice is the second-most-voted first baseman behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and should advance. The same can be said about Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge (who won’t be able to play), who are fourth and first, respectively. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is fourth with 419,777 votes, and the second-ranked second baseman, Ezequiel Durán, has 531,182. As a reminder, the top two vote-getters in every position advance to the next phase, along with the top six outfielders.

NJ Advance Media | Randy Miller: The Yankees added right-hander Yerry de los Santos to their active roster on Monday. He was one of the hottest arms in Scranton, working 8.1 scoreless innings in seven June games. He occupies Elmer Rodríguez’s roster spot after he was sent down following his start on Sunday. De los Santos has a 1.69 ERA in 5.1 MLB innings this year and a 3.41 mark in Triple-A across 31.2 frames.

ESPN Press Room | Courtney Clawson: Former Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott, who tossed a no-hitter in pinstripes on September 4, 1993, will be honored in the 2026 edition of the ESPY Awards to be held in New York on July 15th. He will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the ceremony. Abbott went on to have a highly successful career in MLB despite being born without a right hand.

The Braves offense was lifeless against Michael King and the San Diego bullpen on Monday night, losing 1-0 to drop their second game in a row.

It was more of the same for Grant Holmes, who labored through 4 2/3 innings. He hung a slider to struggling Manny Machado in the fourth inning that was rocketed over the center field wall for San Diego’s lone early run. Holmes issued five walks and struck out four, including back-to-back walks in the fifth that prompted Walt Weiss to remove him from the game. Credit to Weiss and Didier Fuentes, who entered the game and promptly struck out Gavin Sheets to keep the deficit at 1-0.

Holmes ought be in the bullpen. I’m just not sure what other options the Braves have given the current state of things.

The Braves had the leadoff runner on a handful of innings against King and Co., but they were unable to get a run across despite numerous opportunities. There was a hack-at-everything approach on Monday night, which obviously did not work. They also hit a half-dozen rockets at center fielder Jackson Merrill, who caught them all.

The series will continue tomorrow night from Petco Park with JR Ritchie hoping to right the ship after a rough start against the Giants last week. Ritchie will be opposed by To Be Announced, a daunting opponent. First pitch will be half an hour earlier at 9:40 p.m. ET and will be carried by BravesVision.

Two pitches after Jake McCarthy’s walk-up Led Zeppelin song rang through the speakers at Coors Field, the Rockies outfielder drilled a triple down the third base line to empty the formerly loaded bases and walk-off the Red Sox on Monday night.

The hit erased the embarassing baserunning blunders in the eighth inning and the nine strikeouts at the hands of Boston rookie Jake Bennett in the first six innings to give Colorado an unbelievable win.

Ryan Feltner kept it close by throwing a quality start and only surrendering two runs in six innings, Brennan Bernardino threw a scoreless seventh and Victor Vodnik earned the win with two scoreless innings to close out the game.

The last hit of the game was McCarthy’s only hit of the night, and he made it count.

“Jake is awesome. He’s the best. He gets on base. He uses his legs, he’s never out of it,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “You want him at the plate at all times. He can get on base with bunts. He doesn’t strike out. I could go on and on about Jake.”

Eight hits in a row to end it

If someone asked you if it’s possible to have eight hits in a row over two innings, you might not think it can be done. But the Rockies proved it can be and used the rally to pull off a remarkable win.

The Rockies offense, absent for seven innings, finaly showed up in the eighth inning when a Colorado strung together four straight singles in a rally that should have at least put the Rockies on the board, if not tied the game. Instead, the Rockies managed the unthinkable — not scoring.

With runners on first and second with one out, third base coach Andy González sent Edouard Julien home on a Willi Castro shallow single, only to see Julien thrown out by what felt like a mile. Tyler Freeman tried to bail the Rockies out with his third single of the night, only to have Castro get caught between second and third when Mickey Moniak wiselyy stopped at third.

Schaeffer, who went 2-for-3 on pinch hitters getting hits in the eighth, didn’t question his coaching staff, instead crediting a great throw from center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela and admitting the Rockies runners need to have their heads up better in those situations.

A promising rally was quickly erased and the Rockies remained behind, 2-0, entering the ninth inning. After Vodnik put up a goose egg, the Rockies didn’t let their mistakes change their never-say-die attitude.

“I don’t ever think they are out of it. I don’t care what happens the inning before. These guys fight until the end,” Schaeffer said. “You always know there is going to be fight in the next inning. You just know it’s coming, even if in the eighth, the base running was a little deflating, but we keep going. They are professionals.”

With four hits in a row, which doubled the amount before the eighth inning, the Rockies picked right back up where the left off. After combining to go 0-for-6 going into the ninth, TJ Rumfield and Hunter Goodman led of the ninth with back-to-back singles.

Cole Carrigg then came to the plate and attempted to bunt the runners over. Instead, his bunt was too good and his speed too fast for Boston, as the bunt turned into a base-loading single. Then came McCarthy for the cooler-dumping three-bagger.

“That was incredible. Eight straight hits to end the ball game there against two world-class pitchers — [Garrett] Whitlock and [Aroldis] Champman,” Shaeffer said. “They don’t quite. We’ve been saying it all year. We fight until the end and tonight we got rewarded for it. Hats off to all of them.

“Goodman tough night at the plate and then a big knock. Rumfield tough night at the plate and then a big knock. It doesn’t effect them. They just keep going,” Schaeffer continued. “Carrigg huge bunt, Jake obviously the big one. Eddie [Julien], Mick [Moniak] good to see him back off the bench. Just good stuff for the last two innings. It was awesome.”

Feltner’s performance sets table for win

Feltner’s night started out rough, got so much better, and ended on a tough note again. When Feltner walked two Red Sox in the first inning, it seemed like a bad sign. He was able to bounce back, however, with help from a double play and was able to escape the inning without any damage.

In the second, Caleb Durbin doubled and Masataka Yoshida walked to put runners on first and second with one out, but Feltner’s luck continued as he was able to again get out of the inning without allowing Boston to cross the plate.

Then Feltner found his groove. From the last two outs in the third to the first two outs in the sixth, Feltner retired 13 straight Red Sox, tying a career-high number from last season. He only notched two strikeouts, but forced seven ground outs to make the innings fly by scoreless.

“When you start off the game and you don’t really have what you want and it doesn’t feel right, it can go one of two ways: you can completely shut down and be done, or you can keep going and fighting and get through it for your team and save the bullpen. He did more than that,” Schaeffer said of his starter. “He was outstanding through six innings to only give up the two runs in the sixth. He settled in, started pounding the strike zone. It was great.”

But with two outs in the sixth, things went south for Feltner. Wilyer Abreu reached on an swinging bunt and Willson Contreras doubled to put the Red Sox up 1-0. Feltner then walked Jarren Duran before giving up an RBI single to Durbin. It could have been worse, but Yoshida ended the inning by lining out.

In six innings, Feltner gave up two runs on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts. He only needed 59 pitches to get through the first five innings, but then used up 34 in the sixth to end his night.

Other notes

• Moniak returned to the lineup after missing a month due to an ankle injury and singled on the first pitch he saw in his only at-bat, a pinch hit appearance in the eighth inning.
• The Rockies issued six walks to the Red Sox, while drawing none of their own.
• Colorado out-hit Boston 12-5.
• Every Rockie in the starting lineup got a hit except for Ezequiel Tovar.
• Vodnik issued leadoff walks in both the eighth and ninth innings, but was saved by a double play and three ground outs.
• The win marked the Rockies third walk-off win of the season, after winning their first on May 29th.

Up next

The Rockies and Red Sox will be back in action on Tuesday night. Sean Sullivan (0-1, 10.29 ERA) will be on the mound for the Rockies, making his third career start. Veteran righty and three-time All-Star Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.12 ERA) will get the start for Boston.

First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. MDT.

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In a game full of emotions, poor bullpen management, and too-close-for-comfort scores, the White Sox pulled one from the Guardians as my favorite scrappy rookie, Sam Antonacci, walked it off in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 win. Grab your Tums and strap in for this winning recap.

Things started really well for the Good Guys, denting the scoreboard in the second inning with a two-out rally: Chase Meidroth singled, and Braden Montgomery followed up with a double that sent Meidroth racing home.

And the Sox didn’t stop. Luisangel Acuña started the bottom of the third with a single and distracted Gavin Williams quite a bit by stealing second and taunting Cleveland. Sam Antonacci battled, earning himself a nine-pitch walk after Cleveland lost an ABS challenge. Miguel Vargas singled, and Acuña was waved home but called out. The White Sox challenged the tag and a blocking interference, but lost.

I sat and pondered if I knew anything about baseball after that call, because it was a clear block. Alas. Thankfully, Andrew Benintendi knocked Antonacci in, making it 2-0.

Kay continued to keep Cleveland off the board, but as his tank was emptying in the sixth, he gave up his second walk of the game with two outs, prompting the bullpen to get Grant Taylor warmed up. Kay dug deep for a career-high 101 pitches, but also got the much-needed, inning-ending punch out of Gabriel Arias. Kay tied his career high with his eighth K, and Arias was on his way to a platinum sombrero.

Tim Herrin replaced starter Gavin Williams for the Guardians, which prompted a Randal Grichuk pinch-hitting appearance. It would prove to be a great call by Will Venable, as Grichuk homered, again, against a lefty. That would be it for the frame, but the White Sox were now up, 3-0. Taylor, who entered the game for the seventh, struggled with his command early. He gave up a leadoff walk to Steven Kwan, a hit to Daniel Schneemann, and a wild pitch that would advance both. Another walk loaded the bases, and trouble surfaced when Kahlil Watson singled, sending two runners home. Ryhs Hoskins sent a ball up the middle to tie the ballgame and prompted a the hook for Taylor. Bryan Hudson ended the inning with a strikeout, but the lead was long gone.

Braden Montgomery led off the seventh with a double. With a broken bat, Antonacci snuck a hit past first base, sending Montgomery home to regain the lead. Antonacci promptly stole second, and then third on a wild pitch. Unfortunately, Miguel Vargas struck out to end the inning.

With the Sox still up, 4-3, Seranthony Domínguez came in for the ninth and promptly walked the leadoff batter. A stolen base and wild pitch got Travis Bazzana to third, putting the tying run 90 feet away with nobody out. Patrick Bailey singled, tying the game and giving Domínguez yet another blown save.

But it got worse, as Brayan Rocchio doubled to put ducks on the pond, and Domínguez lucked into a strikeout before being booed and yanked off the mound. A shallow fly ball to center would send the runner home after a successful challenge from the Guardians, putting them up, 5-4. But, with a runner on third and two outs, Arias waved at a third strike for his fifth K of the game.

Braden Montgomery started a ninth-inning rally with one out by picking up a walk, and Tristan Peters made up for an awful throw in the previous frame with a stand-up double that shouldn’t have even been a hit. After a strikeout by pinch-hitter Jacob Gonzalez, the White Sox were down to their last out, one batter away from dropping two games behind Cleveland in the AL Central.

But we had a guy there, my favorite guy, Antonacci, who stepped up and smacked a first-pitch fastball at his eyes for a single past matador-shortstop Brayan Rocchio, sending both runners home. The Guardians challenged the tag play with on Peters for the winning run, but the call was upheld — SAFE!

The Good Guys stormed the field, ripping Antonacci’s jersey off and baptizing him in Gatorade after his first career walk-off, as he took it all in while wearing the best shit-eating grin I’ve seen in my life.

The White Sox and Guardians are back to being tied for first place, with the White Sox technically ahead by .04 percentage points.

The Tartan effect made its way to Miami — and provided one of the more unforgettable nights in the history of typically moribund loanDepot Park.

With Scotland gearing up to take on mighty Brazil in a World Cup Group C match on Wednesday, June 24 at Hard Rock Stadium, its spirited, soggy and fun-loving Tartan Army continued a takeover of Major League Baseball stadiums, turning one of the most nondescript nights on the calendar — Rangers-Marlins on a Monday night — into a spectacle.

How big a spectacle? Well, the Marlins have played five Monday games this season, and averaged 8,404 fans. Yet on Monday, June 22, with Scottish fans needing to kill a couple nights before the big Brazil match, 20,008 kilt-wearing, lager-swilling, chant-crazy fans made the ballpark thump.

They were treated to a great game, the Rangers and Marlins going back and forth before the Rangers' two-run eighth-inning rally proved decisive for a 4-3 victory.

Record: 39-39. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2025: -1.

I suppose we should have predicted a one-run game here, and it may not be the last in the series. Coming in, the D-backs and Cardinals were first and equal second (with the Dodgers) for the most one run games in the National League. Arizona were 13-12, and St. Louis 13-10. Both those numbers now tick up a point in the appropriate direction. The D-backs’ recent string of futility with runners in scoring position continued. While they pulled back from three runs down to close within one, they were unable to get the big when they needed it. The runs scored on a solo home-run by Tommy Troy, and a groundout by ex-Cardinal Nolan Arenado, but Arizona went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

I would not have bet on a one-run game three batters into the bottom of the first, however. With a possible bullpen game looming on the horizon, the last thing the Diamondbacks needed was a short outing from Merrill Kelly. It looked like one could be on the Cards (pun very much intended), as Kelly allowed back-to-back singles, followed by a walk, to load the bases before getting around to retiring a home hitter. However, disaster was averted in two pitches, as Jordan Walker (5th in the NL for homers coming in), lined out to Geraldo Perdomo and the next pitch saw Lars Nootbaar (1st in the NL for name that’s most fun to say) hit into a double-play.

Unfortunately, that basically used up all Arizona’s luck points for the evening. That much was spectacularly clear in the third inning, after Ketel Marte singled to lead things off. Perdomo then hit into what was a potential double-play, but Masyn Winn’s screaming throw to first skidded past the first baseman. Geraldo then tried to take second, but appears to have been blown over by the shockwave from Wynn’s throw (above). That’s the only way to explain him eating dirt, on his way to the old 4-6-3-6-2 double-play, where both of the outs were made at second-base. After that, it really didn’t feel like it was going to be the D-backs’ night.

The bottom of the third proved it. A lead-off single almost drilled Kelly, and the runner came around to score on a perfectly-placed infield hit with an expected batting average of just .060. That was the first of the Cardinals’ two hits with RISP tonight, and gave them a 1-0 lead. At least it was followed by another double-play, this one sweetly turned by Arenado. Speaking of whom, he got a very nice reception from the St. Louis fans when he stepped to the plate in the second inning. Perhaps a little surprising, considering how much their team is paying for him to be on the Arizona roster, this year and next. But they appear to be mostly intent on remembering the good times, like 2022 when he was 3rd in MVP voting behind some “Goldschmidt” guy.

The Cardinals added to their lead in the fourth, after a lead-off walk came home on a sacrifice fly, and a two-out RBI single followed for a 3-0 lead. That was the end of the damage against Kelly, who was able to deliver a quality start, by the bare minimum in both metrics: exactly six innings pitched, with precisely three earned runs allowed. He allowed seven hits, all of which were singles, but walked three and struck out just two of the 26 batters faced. That’s a K-rate of 5.23 per nine innings, one of the worst by any everyday pitcher in the majors this year. His K:BB ratio is 1.42, compared to 3.48 last season, and that’s surely one of the main reasons for his struggles.

The Diamondbacks were able to make something of a game of it. They got on the board on the sixth. Corbin Carroll led off with a double off the wall in right, which would have been a home-run in 21 parks. He scored anyway, on a pair of groundouts. There was no such doubt about Arizona’s second run, coming courtesy of Tommy Troy’s third home-run of the year (above) in the seventh inning. It was a no-doubter, estimated at 444 feet. That’s the third-longest by any Arizona batter this year, trailing a 448 ft Carroll shot (at Coors, so give it a *), and a 452 ft. monster by Marte in San Francisco. Not bad for a kid playing only his 25th major-league game.

That was more or less that last hoorah for Arizona. Marte singled and stole second, but a groundout by Perdomo started a run of the seven final D-backs being retired in order, ending the game with the one-run margin in favor of the Cardinals. Taylor Clarke and Johnny Lasagna kept St. Louis off the board the rest of the way. Arizona did outhit their opponents 8-7 and also prevailed 3-0 in the XBH column. But they didn’t draw a single walk and, along with the RISP failings, that was likely the difference maker here. [Wait till you see the Deserve To Win chart in the comments…] Arizona drops back to .500, at the beginning of a tough series of games leading into the All-Star break.

Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
The Perfect Kiss: Taylor Clarke, +6%
World in Motion: Geraldo Perdomo, -22%
State of the Nation: Lourdes Gurriel, -10%

Just shy of two hundred comments, which given the early start time here in Arizona, is quite respectable. There were some very respectable comments in the GDT, but the most rec’d ones tended to rely on GIF usage, which doesn’t translate very well to screenshots. So let’s give it to ChefAZ for this uplifting bit of news, on a night when our five-game streak of winning on Mondays came to an end.

Tomorrow sees another 4:45 pm first pitch (AZ time), with team ace Eduardo Rodriguez – nope, still sounds weird – taking the mound for the D-backs. Probably our best chance of victory in the series, so fingers crossed the team gets back above .500.

DETROIT — Ali Sánchez was already scheduled to be out of commission for a few days this week, for good reason: paternity leave.

But after Monday night, the Yankees were left hoping he would not be out longer than that because of a right wrist injury.

The catcher, who has played well in limited starts since being called up earlier this month, left Monday’s 5-3 loss to the Tigers early after taking Drew Anderson’s 98 mph fastball off the right wrist, which caused him serious pain.

X-rays were negative, but Sánchez was headed for a CT scan postgame to determine if there was any damage.

“Initially, he was in a ton of pain, enough to take him out right away,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Hopefully we get clean on the CT and it’s just a day-to-day thing.”

Sánchez had doubled home the Yankees’ only run off Tigers lefty Framber Valdez, snapping the club’s 0-for-23 skid with runners in scoring position.

The right-handed hitter has been productive across 10 games, batting .316 (6-for-19) with an .802 OPS and three RBIs.

“Feel like he’s done a good job,” Boone said. “I think he’s more than held his own at the plate. Drove in our first run tonight with a really good at-bat. I thought both of his at-bats were really good and competitive and in control. That’s been good to see. Hopefully this is just a day-to-day scenario.”

With Sánchez planning to go on the paternity list any day, J.C. Escarra was already in Detroit with the Yankees on the taxi squad and would also replace him if an injured list stint is needed.

The game was delayed six minutes in the fourth inning after an infield dirt camera became exposed.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. tried to cover the camera in dirt or possibly remove it, to no avail, and the grounds crew eventually had to work on it as Gerrit Cole threw warmup pitches to stay loose.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

“That’s just part of it, I guess, 2026,” Cole said. “I still made quality pitches coming out of the back of those delays, but not easy to deal with. Did the best we could.”

Trent Grisham is trending toward a return that may be even quicker than the Yankees had initially expected.

The outfielder, who has been on the injured list since June 13 with a “moderate” right hamstring strain, was moving well in agility drills in recent days before the Yankees left town and is expected to meet them this weekend at Fenway Park, where he will ramp up to full baseball activities — running the bases, taking batting practice and shagging fly balls in the outfield — before potentially playing in rehab games next week.

“We don’t want to rush the ending of that,” Boone said. “It is encouraging how good he is moving, how well he’s moving. So we need to continue that trajectory and hopefully he’s back sooner rather than later.”

While Boone was mum on Aaron Judge, who is three weeks into a four-to-six-week timeline for reimaging on the stress fracture in his first right rib, he said that Giancarlo Stanton could “start to get ramped up a little bit” Tuesday, a little over a week after suffering a setback with his calf strain.

The Yankees called up Yerry de los Santos on Monday to fill the empty bullpen spot vacated by Jake Bird — with Elmer Rodríguez using the roster spot Sunday for a spot start before being sent right back to Triple-A.

Boone said a few relievers were in consideration — presumably including the hard-throwing Yovanny Cruz — but de los Santos was the choice because he was “in a good spot and fits the role well.”

The righty, who had a four-pitch outing Tuesday, had not given up a run in his last seven appearances.

The Phillies offense struggled against another left-handed starting pitcher, as this time Foster Griffin of the Nationals shut down the Philadelphia lineup while a back breaking two-run homer from Curtis Mead in the seventh put the game out of reach in a 4-1 loss. Griffin flummoxed the Phillies hitters all night, racking up nine strikeouts in 7.1 innings, the longest outing of his MLB career.

Tim Mayza started the game on the mound for the Phillies as an opener in the first attempt to fill the fifth rotation spot vacated by the recently demoted Andrew Painter. He surrendered a leadoff double to James Wood before retiring Mead on a fly out that moved Wood to third. But Dylan Crews followed with a single off of Mayza to drive in the first run of the game. CJ Abrams then reached on an error by Trea Turner, his eighth of the season, before Mayza was able to end the inning with a pair of strikeouts.

It was then Alan Rangel’s opportunity to audition for that fifth spot, as he followed Mayza as the bulk pitcher. It didn’t start off too well, as he surrendered a home run to the second batter he faced in Luis Garcia Jr. to push the deficit to 2-0. Outside of that though, Rangel did just about as much as could have reasonably been asked of him. He finished five innings and allowed just that one run on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

The Phillies bats meanwhile could not figure out Griffin, as the lefty held them in check with seven strikeouts through the first four innings, including striking out the side in the fourth. Rafael Marchán led off the third with a single, but Turner quickly grounded into a force out before Kyle Schwarber lined out to center and Bryce Harper grounded out to first. The best scoring chance came in the fifth when Derek Hill hit a line drive to left field and just narrowly beat the throw from Crews to be safe at second with a leadoff double. He then advanced to third with one out when Bryson Stott grounded back to the pitcher. But Marchán popped out softly to shortstop on two pitches and Turner grounded out on the first pitch to third base that was deftly picked by Mead whose throw just beat Turner to the bag at first.

The sixth brought another chance for the Phillies, but yet again, they failed to break through against Griffin. Schwarber reached base on an error from second baseman Nasim Nuñez to begin the inning, but Griffin needed just six pitches to retire Harper on a fly out and Alec Bohm on a spectacular double play started by Nuñez to end the threat.

It took until the seventh, but the Phillies did finally get a run across against Griffin thanks to a Brandon Marsh solo homer to right field for his 10th home run of the season. On the night, Griffin finished with 7.1 IP, four hits, no walks, and nine strikeouts. But Marsh’s homer brought the Phillies right back into the game, cutting the then 2-0 deficit in half. The comeback attempt wouldn’t last long though, as Seth Johnson allowed the two-run shot to Mead in the bottom half of the inning to put the Phillies down three.

The Phillies went down quietly in the eighth against another lefty in Richard Lovelady before Harper led off the ninth with a single against Clayton Beeter. But before you could even get your hopes up, Alec Bohm dashed them with a quick double play on the first pitch he saw. Justin Crawford had the honor of being the game’s last out, striking out after being used as a pinch hitter for Edmundo Sosa.

Tomorrow’s matchup

Jesús Luzardo (6-4, 4.20) will look to get the Phillies back on track against Zack Littell (6-6, 5.45) of the Nationals. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45.

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

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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.

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.

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.

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."