Category: MLB

Columbus Clippers 6, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (box)

A bullpen game from the Hens went sideways as their pitchers issued 10 walks on the night. The offense was a little off, failing to capitalize on a few chances as they fell to the Cllippers on Wednesday.

Konnor Pilkington got the spot start and just dug himself a little hole in the second with walks, allowing a pair of runs. Tyler Mattison was lucky to only surrender a run in the fourth as he walked four hitters and only got one out in the inning. Tanney Rainey was the only one looking good as he cleaned up Mattison’s mess and tossed a nice fifth inning, collecting five outs with three punchouts.

So it was 3-0 Clippers heading into the sixth as Nick Sandlin took over for the Hens. He had a shaky inning with an assist from a Jace Jung error at second base as the Clippers scored two more for a 5-0 lead.

Finally in the bottom of the sixth, Max Burt drew a walk and singles from Ben Malgeri and Max Clark loaded the bases. Instead of a chance to come back in the game, they just ended up with one run as Max Anderson grounded into a double play. A Corey Julks solo shot and a Max Burt sacrifice fly to score Tyler Gentry made it 5-3 in the seventh.

Matt Seelinger allowed a run in the eighth, and the Hens couldn’t muster any more offense.

Malgeri: 2-4, 2B, K

Gentry: 1-3, R, BB, K

Pilkington (L, 1-4): 3.0 IP, 2 ER, H, 2 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Chesapeake Baysox 9, Erie SeaWolves 2 (box)

The SeaWolves had an uncharacteristically quiet day at the plate while the Baysox did not on Wednesday.

Max Alba got the start, allowing a run in the top of the first. John Peck answered back in the bottom half with his ninth homer of the season to tie things up. It was Peck again in the third with a two-out double, scoring on a Thayron Liranzo single that sneaked through the right side of the infield.

So it was 2-1 Erie, but Alba ran out of gas in the fourth. He gave up three runs, and Johan Simon took over and gave up three more of his own as the Baysox took a 7-2 lead. The offense was out of juice at that point, and Yosber Sanchez gave up two more late runs as the Baysox ran away with this one.

Peck: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, 2B, HR, BB

Liranzo: 1-4, RBI, K

Alba (L, 0-1): 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K

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

West Michigan Whitecaps 6, Lansing Lugnuts 5 (F/12)(box)

After being walked off over and over again over the past month, it was finally the Whitecaps who rallied late to win on Wednesday. It took 12 innings, but a wild pitch from Lansing and impressively game work from the Whitecaps bullpen got it done.

Ben Jacobs had a rough outing and the Lugnuts took advantage. A pair of walks in the bottom of the second, followed by a successful double steal got them in position for a sacrifice fly that made it 1-0 Lansing. In the fourth, Rodney Green Jr. got to Jacobs for a leadoff homer, and a single followed, ending Jacobs night. Luke Stofel took over and walked the first two hitters he faced, ultimately allowing two more runs and a 4-0 Lansing lead.

Jacobs struck out seven and intermittently looked outstanding as usual, but two walks and a lot of lengthy at-bats shortened his outing signficantly.

The ‘Caps had plenty of opportunities, but couldn’t break through until the eighth inning. Andrew Sojka led off with a walk and stole second base. Ricardo Hurtado was hit by a pitch with one out, and then Lugnuts relievers Ryan Brown threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt. Bryce Rainer stayed ball and flicked an RBI single to right field to make it 4-1, and Luke Shliger pulled a single through the infield to score Hurtado.

Jalen Evans spun a shutdown inning in the bottom of the eighth after good work from Duque Hebbert and Dariel Fregio shepherded the Whitecaps through the middle innings.

In the top of the ninth, with the game on the line, three straight singles from Clayton Campbell, Sojka, and Garrett Pennington scored a run and with two outs, Rainer and Shliger drew walks to force in the tying run. Unfortunately, Jackson Strong struck out to end the bases loaded threat, turning this one into an endurance test.

With Strong on second base to start the 10th, Cristian Santana sacrifice bunted him to third. That proved unnecessary as Juan Hernandez lined a single to make it 5-4. Campbell was hit by a pitch, but Sojka and Pennington struck out.

Logan Berrier allowed the tying run in the bottom half, and the game was only saved by a double play turn that went 4-6-3-2. CJ Weins was able to get a double play ball after a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 11th to keep things tied up after the Whitecaps failed to get the runner home in the top half.

Finally, in the top of the 12th, Strong came through with a good bunt for a single that moved the runner to third. A wild pitch scored the run, but that was all they’d get after they loaded the bases only to see Sojka strike out and Pennington fly out to end the threat.

Weins came back out and induced a pair of pop-ups, and then a grounder to Rainer at shortstop that ended it.

Hernandez: 3-5, RBI

Sojka: 2-5, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K, SB

Rainer: 1-5, RBI, BB, K

Jacobs: 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K

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

Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, Palm Beach Cardinals 3 (box)

Cash Kuiper ran into some largely walk-induced trouble in his start, but Alistair Tanner and the offense were up to the task as the Flying Tigers pounded out 10 hits and took nine walks, running away with this one late.

Zach MacDonald opened the scoring in the top of the third with a drive over the left field wall for his 11th home run already on the season. Unfortunately, he’s still striking out a ton, because he’s an athletic outfielder with huge power developing.

Kuiper was solid early, but gave up two runs in the third and another in the bottom of the fourth. Beau Ankeney had cracked a two-run shot in the top half with Trei Cruz aboard after a walk, so it was 3-3 after four innings.

In the top of the fifth, the Flying Tigers took the lead for good. Jack Goodman reached on a swinging bunt, taking second on a throwing error, and then scoring on a Jordan Yost opposite field double. Trei Cruz spanked a ground ball single to score Yost and make it a 5-3 game.

Jan Carabello did nice work taking over for Kuiper and pitching a clean fifth inning. Then Ali Tanner took the mound for the final four innings, and the 19-year-old right-hander was untouchable. Tanner has a high overhand arm slot and gets massive ride on his fastball. The Cardinals couldn’t cope with it as Tanner mowed through them for four perfect innings and seven strikeouts.

Tanner topped out at 96.5 mph with his fourseamer, averaging 94.5 mph with 20 inches of induced vertical break. He got eight whiffs on 24 swings, but the Cardinals largely just couldn’t pick up his stuff out of hand, taking a ton of called strikes as well. He’s got a mean breaking ball to boot. Like most of the Tigers best young arms, Tanner is still years from Detroit, but his progress will be worth following.

In the seventh, Yost and Cruz drew walks to start the inning and the Flying Tigers were able to rack a pair of insurance runs. Nick Dumesnil bounced into a force of Cruz at second, but Ankeney singled in Yost, and Jesus Pinto plated Dumesnil with a single to make it 7-3 where it ended as Tanner was unhittable the rest of the way.

Yost: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB

Pinto: 3-4, RBI, 2B, BB

Ankeney: 2-5, R, 3 RBI, HR, 2 K

Kuiper: 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 3 K

Tanner (S, 1): 4.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 7 K

Coming Up Next: First pitch on Thursday is set for 6:30 p.m. ET with the series tied at a game apiece.

New York Post | Greg Joyce: The results from imaging taken on Giancarlo Stanton Tuesday showed enough progress to give him the green light to begin running again. Per Aaron Boone, he’s seeing “a lot of improvement” and, given the fact that he’s continued taking swings while on the IL, he might be able to return before too long. The Yankees DH landed on the shelf a month ago with an injured right calf.

In other injury news, Jasson Domínguez may be in a position to begin taking live BP next week, advancing him along in his recovery from an AC joint sprain in his left shoulder. The outfielder would likely need a rehab stint before he’s ready to be activated.

MLB.com | Brian Murphy: The Yankees accomplished an extraordinary team feat Tuesday in the middle game of their eventual sweep, with each starter recording at least two hits for the first time in franchise history. “It feels great to be part of Yankees history,” said third baseman Amed Rosario who notched four hits, two of which were round trippers. A few other statistical nuggets to underscore the rarity of the offensive explosion:

• Five players recorded at least three hits (the most since August 3, 2011)
• The lineup recorded 46 total bases (the most since July 22, 2007)
• The lineup had 24 hard-hit balls (the most in the Statcast era, which began in 2015)

MLB.com | Robert Falkoff: Amidst the Yankees’ historic 15-1 steamrolling of the Royals Tuesday, Cam Schlittler’s six-inning, one-run showing was an afterthought. It’s a testament to how dominant the sophomore hurler has become. “Not the best,” Schlittler said of his strong performance. “My stuff wasn’t as sharp, but I was able to put the team in position to win. That’s all you can ask for.”

His manager was more effusive in his praise of the right-handed phenom, highlighting his competitive edge. “He expects to not only pitch well, but dominate,” said Aaron Boone. “He has that mindset. Some people have that mindset but don’t have the confidence to go with it. He certainly does.”

The Athletic | Evan Drellich: ($) The MLB Players Association has proposed a new revenue sharing model, including a soft salary floor to encourage teams to spend at least $150 million. The proposal comes a day in advance of the owners’ plan, which is expected to include a salary cap. The union’s plan also includes nearly doubling the baseline MLB salary to $1.5 million with sizable increases in the pre-arbitration pool and arbitration minimums. In competing statements, the MLBPA and owners presented opposing viewpoints, with the union trumpeting competition while the owners drove home their purported belief in the importance of parity.

Columbus Clippers 6, Toledo Mud Hens 3

This Columbus lineup is extremely stacked. Cooper Ingle went 1-5 with a two RBI single in the 8th. Ralphy Velazquez extended his on base streak to 12 games with a single. Angel Genao went 1-3 with an RBI, single, and a walk. Kody Huff went 0-1 with 2 RBIs via a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly.

Koby Allard got the start and went 5 scoreless innings with 5 strikeouts and 0 walks. Andrew Walters and Franco Aleman both appeared in this game and they both looked great. Walters struck out two and didn’t allow a single hit. Aleman still has yet to allow an earned run in AAA this season. I expect both of these two to make an impact in the Guardians bullpen at some point this season.

Akron RubberDucks 0 , Richmond Flying Squirrels 3

It was a rough game for the RubberDucks offense. Former RubberDuck Matt Wilkinson shut them down with 7 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit. Jake Fox was the only player to record a hit tonight, he went 1-3 with a walk. This offense badly misses Angel Gena0 and Ralphy Velazquez.

Khal Stephen had another great outing. He tossed 6 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks. I would like to see that strikeout number increase but it’s hard to complain about 6 scoreless innings. His ERA is down to 2.74 on the season.

Lake County Captains 2, Beloit Sky Carp 4

No multi hit performances from anyone on the Captains today, but we did see Dean Curley, Luke Hill, and Aaron Walton hit doubles. Nolan Schubart went 1-2 with a HR and two walks.

It wasn’t the best start for Franklin Gomez today, as he allowed 3 runs on 8 hits in 4.2 innings. However he was still able to strike out 5 batters, his ERA sits at a cool 2.47 on the season.

Hill City Howlers 2, Fayetteville Woodpeckers 3

It wasn’t a big day for the Howlers offense. Cannon Peebles went 1-3 with an RBI single. Yeiferth Castillo went 3-4 with three singles.

Nelson Keljo continues to rack up the strikeouts against Single A hitters. He did allow two runs in 3.2 innings pitched but was able to strike out 7 batters. His ERA on the season is at 3.14.

For the 10th straight time in Los Angeles, the Colorado Rockies lost to the LA Dodgers as they fell 4-1 on Wednesday. In a game featuring two of Japan’s baseball heroes on the mound, it would be the Dodgers’ unicorn of a player that highlighted the game as Colorado managed just one hit.

Sugano’s shortened start

Making his first career start at Dodger Stadium, Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) had the monumental task of trying to tame the Dodgers’ offense with the eyes of the world upon him.

Things got off to an ominous start in the bottom of the first inning for the veteran righty when Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平) belted a lead-off home run, his ninth long ball of the year, on Sugano’s third pitch to give the Dodgers a quick 1-0 lead. It was the third time in MLB history that a pitcher hit a lead-off home run, Ohtani being the only one to accomplish the feat.

After Andy Pages flew out to right field, Freddie Freeman then laced a ball to left field for an opposite-field home run, his seventh of the year, to put the Dodgers up 2-0. Sugano responded accordingly and retired the next two batters to escape the inning, highlighted by a Max Muncy strikeout.

He then went to work attacking the Dodgers’ lineup. He ended up allowing just four more hits after the two home runs. Pages collected a single in the third inning, but it was the three hits with two outs in the fourth inning that proved costly. Hyeseong Kim laced a single to center field, followed by a double from Will Smith. Alex Call then sent a ball into left field for an RBI single to score Kim, but an excellent throw from Troy Johnston cut down Smith at the plate and ended the inning.

Sugano then got two quick outs in the top of the fifth, but a throwing error by third baseman Willi Castro allowed Pages to reach, and with the left-handed Freeman coming up to the plate, manager Warren Schaeffer decided to pull Sugano from the game.

He ended up tossing 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He had three strikeouts, including one of Ohtani, and issued just one walk. He threw 83 pitches, 48 for strikes, and induced six groundouts along with three flyouts. He also managed to pick off a batter at first base.

“Sugano, I thought, gave us a chance to win,” Schaeffer said. “Just a couple of homers in the first inning, but then he settled in.”

“The fastball command wavered a little bit [in the fourth inning], but he was good overall.”

One of One

The Rockies were going to have a tough time against Ohtani at the plate, but he proved just as troublesome on the mound.

Through six innings, Ohtani did not allow a hit while striking out seven batters. His pitches had the signature bite and kept the Rockies off balance, but the oddity of his outing is what was fascinating.

Ohtani battled his command as he allowed a season-high four walks and hit a batter while throwing 56-of-99 pitches for strikes. He found himself working behind hitters often, as the Rockies did put together some quality at-bats despite the lack of production.

The Rockies’ lone run against Ohtani came in the fourth inning after TJ Rumfield drew a leadoff walk — his second of the game — becoming the first hitter to draw two or more walks in a game against Ohtani since Cal Raleigh in 2023. Hunter Goodman was then hit by a pitch, setting up Johnston to bounce into a fielder’s choice and put runners on the corners. Castro then chopped a ball high to second base, where Alex Freeland snagged the ball and dove to first base to get the out, allowing Rumfield to score and make it 2-1 at the time.

Ohtani exited the game after the sixth inning, securing a quality start and a unique line, as it was the first time in MLB history that a starting pitcher allowed one run on no hits with four walks and seven strikeouts over six innings.

It was also the first time since 1971 that a player hit a home run and threw six no-hit innings.

“Ohtani, we couldn’t find a barrel tonight,” Schaeffer said, “I thought we made him work… gave us chances to score but couldn’t get the knock.”

Bullpen fills in

Thanks to a mostly rested bullpen and the off day on Thursday, Schaeffer felt comfortable lifting Sugano in the fifth inning to bring in Brennan Bernardino to finish that inning. Bernardino then completed a quick 1-2-3 sixth inning to keep the score 3-1 and hand the baton to Antonio Senzatela.

Senzatela easily navigated a leadoff walk in the seventh, getting a couple of groundouts and a lineout but the Dodgers found a way to add on to their lead in the eighth. Pages hit a leadoff home run, his 13th of the year, to make it 4-1. After allowing a single, the Rockies then had to turn to Blas Castaño, who managed to strike out Mookie Betts and then induce a double-play ground ball.

The Dodgers bullpen, on the other hand, kept things rolling for 1.2 innings after Ohtani departed, but thankfully, with two outs in the eighth, Tyler Freeman collected the Rockies’ first hit with a single into right field. However, Kyle Hurt managed to slam the door in the ninth to complete the sweep.

Up Next

The Rockies are off Thursday before welcoming the San Francisco Giants to Coors Field to kick off the homestand. Michael Lorenzen (2-7, 7.21 ERA) will face off against the Giants’ Logan Webb (2-4, 5.06 ERA).

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

No matter how you split it, it’s been a pretty fun couple of weeks to be a Diamondbacks’ fan. Since May 9th, the day after the D-Backs lost an extra-inning affair to the Mets, they’ve gone a major league best 14-4 including today’s win. They’ve pitched to a 2.69 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP between then and today while putting together a .271/.346/.423 slash line and scoring 5.3 runs per game. This stretch has obviously been keyed by an incredibly hot stretch at the plate by Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll, but it’s also been a stretch that has shown the depth this team has up and down the lineup as well as on the pitching staff. There are obvious qualifiers, namely that none of their opponents in that stretch have winning records, but good teams are supposed to beat bad teams, none of these teams are pushovers, and they’re all professionals.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the team-focused approach the players have brought to the stadium every day during this stretch where there are days the offense has to carry the pitching staff and the pitchers find ways to support a struggling offense. This afternoon featured more of the latter as the D-Backs’ dynamic offense managed just three runs on six hits and a pair of walks while striking out eight times. Instead, Michael Soroka continued to impress in his first season with the D-Backs, keeping his ERA down at 3.25 and firmly putting that rough outing against the Brewers in the rearview mirror. As has become D-Back pitcher tradition, Soroka was the victim of one bad inning, but was otherwise pretty efficient at keeping the struggling San Francisco offense off-kilter throughout the afternoon. His one bad inning came in the third when he allowed a leadoff single to Drew Gilbert and a one-out double to Will Adames before grooving a fastball to Luis Arraez that just eluded both Soroka and Geraldo Perdomo to sneak into centerfield and plate both Gilbert and Adames to give the Giants an early two-run lead. Outside of that rough patch, Soroka limited the traffic around him by leaning on his slurve and four-seamer to keep batters guessing even if he struggled to strikeout very many Giants.

Meanwhile, an Arizona offense that has been on an incredible heater lately struggled to find any kind of traction against Trevor McDonald making just his seventh career start. Through the first five innings, Arizona batters had been limited to just three total baserunners. Unsurprisingly, Marte shifted the dynamic in the sixth with a leadoff single before being erased on a would-be double play from Corbin Carroll that he just beat out to keep the pressure up. Carroll advanced to third on a Perdomo single and eventually scored on an Adrian Del Castillo single before Ildemaro Vargas collected his 35th RBI of the season on a sacrifice fly to deep right field that tied the game. The D-Backs manufactured their final run of the game in the next inning by loading the bases on a pair of one-out singles and an ugly error from newly-entered reliever Matt Gage before Perdomo scooped a Gage changeup to left field for another sacrifice fly to give the team the lead for good.

Poor play was yet again a theme for a Giants team that has mostly disappointed to this point in the season. There was the key fielding error by Gage that loaded the bases in the seventh and set up the go-ahead sacrifice fly, but there were also two baserunning blunders that kept the Giants from tying the game in the bottom of the eighth. Adames again doubled to put the tying run into scoring position and bewilderingly tried to score on a bloop single from Arraez that Jorge Barrosa couldn’t quite corral and a perfect relay play cut him down at home. Then Arraez, who had moved up to second on the play, wandered too far off the base and Kevin Ginkel executed an excellent pickoff move to catch Arraez and end the inning. But good teams are able to take advantage of poor play from their opponents and the D-Backs have been doing that in spades lately. They are now seven games over .500 and will take on a Mariners team that has failed to find any traction in a strangely weak AL West and junior circuit more generally. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

The Dodgers flirted with a no-hitter until the eighth inning and earned a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, winning the finale 4-1 on Wednesday.

Less than 24 hours after taking a pitch to his right hand, Shohei Ohtani was both the starting pitcher and the leadoff hitter for the series finale. After starting his day on the mound with a scoreless first inning, Ohtani connected for his second leadoff home run in as many starts to give the Dodgers another first inning lead. It was Ohtani’s third home run in just his sixth at-bat against Tomoyuki Sugano. Ohtani now has 22 leadoff home runs as a Dodger, passing Joc Pederson for the third most in franchise history.

Freddie Freeman gave the Dodgers their seventh home run over their last nine innings at the plate by taking Tomoyuki Sugano the other way for his third home run over his past eight games, giving the Dodgers their second 2-0 first inning lead in as many games.

The two runs in the first were plenty for Ohtani on the mound, as although he allowed a pair of two-out walks over his first two innings, the Rockies went scoreless through their first go-around. Colorado to lead off the fourth inning with a pair of baserunners, as T.J. Rumfield walked before Hunter Goodman was drilled by a pitch. A fielder’s choice from Troy Johnston moved Rumfield to third base, and Willi Castro drove him in on a groundout.

The Dodgers would get that run right back in the bottom half of the fourth, as Alex Call followed up Hyeseong Kim and Will Smith with the Dodgers’ third straight two-out hit. While Kim scored on the play, Smith was cut down at the plate trying to extend the lead to three.

Ohtani was able to complete six innings after tossing just five in his last start in San Diego, and although he held Colorado hitless, he put five runners on base as he walked four along with the hit batsman. While Ohtani does have seven different pitches in his repertoire, he relied heavily on his fastball and sweeper, accounting for 88 of his 99 pitches on the night and six of his seven strikeouts. He tossed his curveball, sinker and splitter a total of 11 times while completely ditching his cutter and slider altogether.

After allowing the one run over six innings, Ohtani’s ERA now sits at 0.83 over his first nine starts on the year, besting Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 ERA he had over his first nine starts in his legendary 1981 season.

Will Klein followed Ohtani with a scoreless inning with the potential no-hit bid intact, but a two-out single from Tyler Freeman against Tanner Scott in the top of the eighth ended the bid with just four outs to go.

Andy Pages added some insurance in the bottom of the eighth with his third home run in his last four games to give the Dodgers a three-run lead. Pages’ 13 home runs on the year are now the most on the team while he is the first player this season to reach the 50 RBI plateau.

Kyle Hurt recorded his first career save to lock down the sweep of Colorado. Hurt has been remarkable over his first 17 appearances on the season, as he has 20 strikeouts to only four walks over 17 innings while carrying a 1.06 ERA.

The Dodgers are now in the midst of a five-game winning streak and are now winners in 11 of their last 13 games. The three-game sweep of the Rockies was the first series sweep at home since the Dodgers took all three against the New York Mets from April 13-15. With the Philadelphia Phillies sweeping the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers now increase their division lead to 4.5 games over both San Diego and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (9), Freddie Freeman (7), Andy Pages (13)
• WP— Shohei Ohtani (5-2): 6 IP, 0 hits, 1 earned run, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
• LP— Tomoyuki Sugano (4-4): 4 2/3 IP, 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts
• SV— Kyle Hurt (1): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Thursday but are back at home to welcome the Philadelphia Phillies for a three-game series beginning Friday (7:10 p.m. PT, Apple TV). Justin Wrobleski faces Zack Wheeler.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An injury robbed Aaron Judge of one of his superpowers in the second half of last season.

But his right arm is alive and well now, and teams are once again being reminded of the dangers of trying to test it.

Judge unleashed a laser from right field to throw a runner out at the plate in the third inning Wednesday night, keeping Gerrit Cole’s shutout intact on the way to a 7-0 win over the Royals that finished off a sweep at Kauffman Stadium.

“I thought the game really got going with Judge’s play,” said Cole, who tossed 6 ²/₃ scoreless innings. “He set the tone.”

It was still a scoreless game in the bottom of the third inning when the Royals had a runner on second and two outs for Maikel Garcia, who hit a sinking liner to right field. Judge knew he could either make a do-or-die diving attempt on it or pull up and try to throw out Michael Massey at the plate. He chose the latter, playing it on one hop and casually firing home to nail Massey for the third out.

“All I was thinking was, ‘Don’t let this guy score,’ ” Judge said. “Especially Gerrit coming back, second game, it’s a tight game. I know if we stop them from scoring there, they’re probably not going to score the rest of the game. Just trying to do my job.”

View this post on Instagram

Judge, who dealt with a right flexor strain late last season that initially shut him down altogether before sapping some of his arm strength upon his return to the field, got healthier with rest this offseason and then came back looking like himself this spring.

But even knowing Judge’s arm, Cole thought the runner was going to score “for sure” before seeing it play out.

“He was dead to rights,” Cole said. “That just elevated our play a little bit, and we rolled from there.”

Aaron Boone said he thought it was the right send by the Royals because it was going to take a perfect throw to nab the runner. Judge delivered just that.

“It was a sneaky great play,” Boone said. “What he does so well out there is slows it down. He moves quickly, but not in a hurry. To take a tricky hop and gather himself and slow down and execute a perfect throw, that’s a really good play right there.”

Devin Williams is going through one of those stretches again. 

Taking the mound Wednesday night, the right-hander seemed to have picked up right where he left off in his previous outing where he struggled and ended things by giving up a walk-off grand slam. 

Williams entered in the top of the ninth Wednesday looking to protect a two-run Mets lead.

The usually effective closer had a hard time putting the first two hitters he faced away, though, battling before walking the both of them on a total of 15 pitches. 

He then picked up a much-needed first out, striking out Spencer Steer on four pitches.  

Williams endured another long and tough at-bat, though, this time battling P.J. Higgins for eight pitches before walking him to load the bases and push the tying run into scoring position. 

With no room for error, the righty was able to lock back in though, and he struck out Dane Myers on four pitches and then Blake Dunn on three to somehow dance his way out of danger. 

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Williams locked up a 4-2 win and his eighth save of the season.

“He got the job done,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Obviously you don’t want to walk the bases loaded, he kind of lost it a little but then got back on track, made pitches -- I’m glad he was able get the job done, that was a good team win.”

It was a much-needed victory too, as it snapped New York’s five-game losing skid. 

The Mets will have an off day on Thursday before they look to get some vengeance on those pesky Marlins during a three-game weekend set at Citi Field.

MLBPA submitted their initial CBA proposal Wednesday, as the owners are expected to make their initial proposal Thursday. The union proposal includes some interesting ideas, some increased benefits to players, and at least one clear nonstarter for the owners. The owners positioned themselves as advocating for fan desire for competitive balance and rejected the proposal, criticizing its ideas towards achieving competitive, which focused on raising spending floors and creating stronger incentive structures to win games, rather than limiting the top spending clubs. I think the union’s ideas about making recipients of revenue sharing more incentivized to spend money and win games by socializing the more stable TV money through revenue, while privatizing more performance-responsive stadium revenue is a strong idea. I am also sympathetic to the concept of withholding revenue sharing from teams that don’t spend it towards winning games. Dramatically raising the luxury tax ceiling is going to be a tough sell for owners and fans, however, and the proposed changes to service time rules, making players over 30 free agents after 5 years of service time instead of 6 is a clear nonstarter for owners.

Braves News

Our prospect team put out an early refresh of the Battery Power Braves Top 30 prospect list, which is the best you’ll find, featuring the nationally recognized meteoric rise of Eric Hartman.

The Braves’ offense was shut out and Bryce Elder was bad and unlucky in an 8-0 loss.

MLB News

ESPN’s Jeff Passan gave the major bullet points of the MLBPA’s initial negotiating proposal to MLB, with the owners’ proposal expected today.

Dodgers’ utilityman Kike Hernandez will miss significant time with a significant oblique tear.

Former Brave Aaron Bummer signed a minor league deal with the Cubs.

NFL star Travis Kelce purchased a minority stake in the Guardians.

This one was over in the bottom of the first when Matz got tagged for five runs. It was downhill from there and the end result was an 11-2 defeat and series sweep at the hands of the O’s. There isn’t much else to say about this one, so I’ll leave you with the below video that encapsulates the series and recent stretch of play by the Rays.

The battered Rays will rest up on Thursday prior to hosting the Angels for a three-game set. Nick Martinez will be on the bump as the Rays will look to right the ship against the worst team in the American League.

Jonah Tong is sticking around a bit longer. 

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed following Wednesday night’s skid-snapping win over the Reds that the youngster will remain with the big league club following his second effective outing. 

Tong again entered as the bulk reliever behind Huascar Brazoban in the top of the second, and he battled his way through 3.2 innings of work before ultimately running out of steam. 

The right-hander was able to work around three hits and four walks, with the lone unearned run on his line coming from an error of his own doing on a comeback in the top of the third. 

He was pulled after issuing two free passes in the fifth, but pitched well enough to earn the victory. 

“Some longer counts than I would’ve liked towards the end,” Tong admitted. “There’s a lot of things I can work on moving forward, but overall I’m just happy that I was able to put together some clean innings for the guys.”

Tong has now accomplished that in each of his two outings back with the Mets. 

Wednesday’s unearned run is the only one he’s allowed to this point, after he put together three terrific innings of one-hit ball his first time out Friday night against the Marlins.

With the Mets' starting rotation in need of a boost, the club plans on keeping the 22-year-old top prospect around in this same flexible role for the time being. 

“We’re going to need him,” Mendoza emphasized. “We’ll continue to get creative -- whether it’s using him as the opener, as a bulk guy, we’re going to have some off days coming up, so there’s a lot of different ways we can go.”

Yordan Alvarez has been absolutely on fire in this series, and he continued his torrid stretch at the plate with 2 more home runs to back SP Mike Burrows (W, 3-6) in the Houston Astros (25-32) 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers (25-30) tonight in Arlington.

Burrows tossed 7 innings of 2-run ball, allowing only 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. It is the kind of length the Astros have sorely lacked in the rotation on a consistent basis this year, but have gotten from Burrows in 2 of his last 4 starts. He has gone at least 6 innings in 4 of his last 5 starts.

Alvarez hit his first HR of the night in the 4th off Rangers starter Jacob deGrom, victimizing the star pitcher for the second time this year, which tied the game at 2. He also took Tyler Alexander (L, 1-1) deep in the 8th give the Astros a 3-2 lead.

Alvarez finished the night 3-for-4 with 2 runs, 2 RBI, and a walk. His 20 HRs are 2nd in MLB and tops in the AL. He has now hit 5 HR in this series.

Enyel De Los Santos got the final 5 outs for his 4th save of the season. He did not allow a run, hit or walk, and struck out 3 in a dominant performance.

Taylor Trammell hit cleanup tonight and finished 2-for-3 with a double and a run. He’s currently batting .371 with a .922 OPS. Those numbers are far higher than anything he has ever shown previously at the MLB level, but he did make swing adjustments before the season and hit well both in spring training and earlier in the season before he was injured. It remains to be seen if this can be a breakout season for Trammell, but the early returns for him are very strong this season.

Houston will look to win the series tomorrow night behind RHP Spencer Arrighetti (6-1, 1.32), who will be opposed by Rangers SP Nathan Eovaldi (5-5, 3.55).

Houston is currently 4-2 vs. the Rangers this season in the Silver Boot Series. They are 3 GB the Seattle Mariners for 1st place in the AL West.

The New York Mets won a baseball game Wednesday evening, and it took everything they had.

Beating the Cincinnati Reds to pull themselves 10 games under .500 required Devin Williams throwing more pitches than he has thrown in an outing all year and happened in large part because the Reds left 17 men on base.

It took every out Jonah Tong could provide in a bulk role behind Huascar Brazoban, the opener they leaned on to get past the Reds' big bats once before handing the game off to a rookie. And Tong needed every inch of center field to keep a few Reds hitters in the ballpark in his 3.2 gritty innings in which he allowed one run. 

It took Tobias Myers moonlighting in short relief, heavily worked Brooks Raley throwing more than an inning, and a diving catch from A.J. Ewing with the bases loaded just to get through seven innings with a lead.

They threw recently summoned Eric Wagaman, who had two Major League plate appearances to his name this year, into the starting lineup because of his platoon advantage against Reds lefty Andrew Abbott. He rewarded them with his first big league homer of the season. When they replaced him with recently activated Jared Young against a righty in the seventh, he singled, and it took a two-out hit from Carson Benge to score a much-needed insurance run. 

Were it not for two two-out hits from Benge, who was so desperate to climb out of a slump that he shaved his mustache beforehand, the Mets would not have won the game at all.

The point is this: Even games the Mets win these days leave the gnawing suspicion that the Mets are neither better at any one aspect of the game, nor as competent in as many facets of the game as most of their competition. David Stearns momentarily silenced questions about Carlos Mendoza’s job status. Questions about a potential sell-off are fair, but still premature in the eyes of an organization that believes the roster they built can still win when healthy.

So while more existential questions for and about Mets decision-makers are creeping closer, the queries the Mets are trying to answer imminently are these: Will they look more formidable when healthy and whether they can stick around long enough for it to matter if they do?

Their strongest unit, the starting rotation, has been picked apart by injuries. Most noticeably, injuries have also rendered their remodeled lineup completely unrecognizable from its intended form:

Francisco Lindor, Bo Bichette, Juan Soto, Luis Robert Jr., and Jorge Polanco have been in the Mets starting lineup together seven times this season. The Mets are 4-3 in those games, one of which was an Opening Day disemboweling of the normally steel-stomached Paul Skenes.

But without one or two or three of them at any given time, and with Bichette struggling early, the Mets have looked lifeless. The day Soto returned from injury, Lindor suffered his. If there is one thing anyone evaluating the Mets internally or externally can say for sure, it is that their lineup did not have the depth to withstand losing multiple of its most important hitters for long stretches, some of which overlapped.

Whether a team with the financial resources they have should run out of depth is a fair question, given the way the Los Angeles Dodgers have spent to inoculate themselves against casualties in recent years.

And while one person’s feelings do not a teamwide mindset define, multiple people who spend their evenings in the Mets dugout have expressed continued belief in what this team can be when Lindor and Francisco Alvarez and Polanco and Clay Holmes and maybe even long-stalled Robert Jr. get healthy. 

So the key will be trying to find ways to get the players they do have to perform beyond projections -- taking chances on the bases with Ewing and Benge they might not otherwise, trying to get Tong’s best innings without relying on him so much to fall victim to his growing pains, adjusting David Peterson’s role and Sean Manaea’s role and shuffling whenever one hand looks hotter than the other.

At times earlier this month, the Mets were piecing things together that way more often than not. The trouble, however, is that since they climbed to five under .500 with a win against the Nationals last week, they have looked like a team without several of its best hitters relying on people to produce above their proven means.

Recent history suggests that rallies from late May deficits like these are possible. Soto, of course, was on the Washington Nationals team that was 19-31 in May and went on to win the World Series. Bench coach Kai Correa served in that role for last year’s Cleveland Guardians, who rallied from 15.5 games out to win the American League central. But those teams were largely healthy when they staged their comebacks. The Mets are still beholden to daily injury updates about players they desperately need.

Still, some of those updates are positive.

Polanco, who along with the Mets’ staff has seemingly decided he is willing to play through discomfort in his heel for the rest of the year as long as he can tolerate it, played in his first rehab game for Double-A Binghamton Wednesday.

Lindor is fielding ground balls before games daily. Alvarez did what looked to be high impact, highly athletic agility work in the outfield before Wednesday’s game, despite being just two weeks removed from tearing his meniscus. In fact, only Robert seems stalled entirely, as the Mets moved him to the 60-day disabled list Tuesday because he remains limited by a lower back issue.

A few weeks from now, the Mets lineup could look much more potent than it has since early April. But if they cannot play .500 baseball, let alone make up games between now and then, a few weeks from now might be too late.

Mets veterans understand the numbers, which will either prove a blessing or a curse. On one hand, Soto and Bichette and Marcus Semien and others understand the reality of their situation – sometimes, believing is easier when no one knows better.

But Semien’s World Series winning Texas Rangers looked dead more than once in 2023. Bichette knows what it looks like for a team that has fallen short of expectations to finally meet them. Soto’s experience in 2019 always serves as a beacon. And the somewhat dwindling number of Mets who rode 2024’s magic to the National League Championship Series also know first-hand that slow starts do not guarantee quiet finishes.

Practically speaking, the Mets roster and coaching staff understand the importance of scratching out wins and staying in striking distance until injured players return. Realistically speaking, they have not yet proven they can do that.

Charlotte Knights 2, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 2 (Suspended in the fifth inning)
The Knights (27-25) fell behind early but rallied to tie the game against the Jumbo Shrimp (29-23) before the weather got involved.

The game got off to a rough start for Hagen Smith, who allowed a two-run homer in the top of the first. However, despite that mistake, Smith had a strong performance, and he did not allow any additional runs during his five innings of work. Smith struck out seven and only issued one walk.

In the third, with the score still 2-0, Korey Lee stepped up to the plate and fell behind in the count. With a runner on second and an 0-2 count, Lee took full advantage of a breaking ball over the heart of the plate, and he launched it 424 feet. That was Lee’s seventh homer of the season, and this one tied the game at two.

After Smith delivered a scoreless top of the fifth for the Knights, the game entered a rain delay with the score tied at two. Due to inclement weather, the game was suspended and is scheduled to be completed on Thursday. The Knights are set to bat in the bottom of the fifth and will be looking to break the 2-2 tie.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos 23, Birmingham Barons 4
After taking the first game of the series on Monday, the Barons (17-29) came up way, way short in Birmingham against Pensacola (24-23).

Barons starter Connor McCullough, 25, did not have his finest performance. McCullough allowed three runs in the first and five in the third. McCullough was removed with one out in the top of the third, but incredibly, things did not improve when the bullpen took over. While McCullough allowed eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings, the bullpen allowed 15 in 6 2/3 innings. Just an ugly day all-around for the pitching staff.

The Barons did stay in this game for a little while, as the score was 3-3 after two innings. Alec Makarewicz put the Barons on the board with a solo homer in the first, his 11th blast of the season. Then, in the second, the Barons scored a pair. Wilfred Veras led off with a single, and with one out, Drake Logan doubled to put a pair in scoring position. Jordan Sprinkle hit a sacrifice fly, and Colby Shelton doubled to tie the game. After that point, however, Pensacola went on a 20-1 run.

Winston-Salem Dash 3, Rome Emperors 0
For the second straight day, the Dash (28-19) had an excellent pitching performance during a victory against the Emperors (25-22).

In the bottom of the second, the Dash broke the scoreless tie. With one out, Kaleb Freeman singled, and after a productive ground out, Alex Ungar walked. That set the stage for T.J. McCants, who lined a single to drive in the first run of the game. From there, the Dash did not look back.

In the fourth, Kyle Lodise hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Ely Brown, who had singled to open the inning. Winston-Salem added another insurance run in the fifth, when Ely Brown reached on an error. That error allowed Arxy Hernández, who had singled, to score the third and final run of the game.

Meanwhile, the pitching staff got the job done and then some. Drew McDaniel pitched four shutout innings after Frankeli Arias served as the opener, delivering a shutout inning in the first. From there, Jake Bockenstedt, Mathias LaCombe, and Jack Young took care of business, combining for four shutout innings down the stretch.

Augusta GreenJackets 6, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 5
The Cannon Ballers (25-22) jumped out to an early lead, but they let this one slip away against the GreenJackets (26-21).

Ryan Galvan led off the bottom of the second with a bang, launching his eighth homer of the season to put Kannapolis ahead, 1-0. The Cannon Ballers were not done hitting homers, as Javier Mogollón crushed a two-run shot in the third to drive in Abraham Núñez, who had singled. Incredibly, the next batter after Mogollón was Stiven Flores, who homered to extend the lead to four.

Cannon Ballers starter Truman Pauley was quite effective during his first three innings, but the fourth frame was a challenge. Pauley allowed two runs on two hits and a walk before being removed with two outs. Still, when Pauley left the game, Kannapolis had a 4-2 lead.

Kannapolis just could not find any runs down the stretch, and the bullpen was not up to the task of protecting a 4-2 lead. A three-run homer by Dallas Macias in the top of the eighth gave the GreenJackets a lead that they did not relinquish.

ACL Rangers 11, ACL White Sox 2 (7 innings)
The woes continued for the ACL White Sox (5-13), who lost handily to the ACL Rangers (6-12).

Complex Sox starter Fabian Ysalla, 21, struggled, allowing two runs on three hits in the first. After allowing a single and a walk in the third, Ysalla was removed from the game with two outs. Reliever Jesús Méndez took over, but he failed to strand either of the runners he inherited from Ysalla.

The Complex Sox scored their first run in a unique way. In the top of the third, Osniel Castillo doubled with one out and advanced to third on a ground out. D’Angelo Tejada walked, and incredibly, Castillo and Tejada executed a double-steal. Although they pulled off one of the most exciting plays in baseball, it was not nearly enough to come away with the victory, as the ACL Rangers pulled away late.

The Complex Sox did not score again until the seventh, when the game was far out of reach. Tejada hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Jurdrick Profar, who led off that inning with a walk.