Category: MLB

Good morning Birdland,

Hopefully you were one of the fortunate people that did not watch the Orioles 14-0 loss on Tuesday night. It was ugly. Each of the three pitchers that the Orioles used were bad. Chadwick Tromp, who is not a pitcher, was forced to throw an inning. The lineup collected three total hits, all singles. And they failed to create even one at-bat with a runner in scoring position.

It was the sort of loss that was so bad that you almost want to ignore it completely. Sure, the Orioles have issues, but one particularly bad night isn’t the best illustration of what ails this squad. We have enough data from other games to make that analysis.

The one caveat would be Dean Kremer’s rough night. It was the latest poor showing in what has been a nightmarish month of July for the veteran right hander. He has an ERA of 7.56 this month. Over his last two starts he has given up 14 runs across 10 innings.

It brings up the possibility that the Orioles could turn elsewhere for Kremer’s next scheduled start. The team has two off days in the next six days. So, they could simply skip him. That would buy more time for Chris Bassitt to get fit and then slot back into the rotation while Kremer goes to the bullpen for a bit. Remember, Kremer began the season in Triple-A because the rotation was so full at the time. Maybe he heads back to Norfolk to work on things.

It was a tough loss at such a critical point in the season. It is still unclear if the team plans to buy or sell at the upcoming trade deadline. Another loss like that to a sub-.500 Tigers team could be the thing that pushes Mike Elias and front office towards a sale.

Links

Orioles Have Discussed Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser In Trade Talks | MLB Trade Rumors
Sure. Rumors like this make it seem like the front office is leaning towards some sort of re-tooling. Holliday and Cowser are fine major leaguers, but they haven’t become the difference makers (not yet, anyway) that the team probably hoped for. So why not see what the going rate would be for either one. Holliday, in particular, with his improved approach, could be worth a decent amount.

What’s next for Bassitt after successful first rehab start? | Orioles.com
Bassitt looked good in his first rehab start, and he lasted 3.1 innings, which is encouraging. It seems likely that he makes at least one more appearance in Triple-A before getting back to Baltimore, but who knows. The Orioles need to win games now. If they think Bassitt gives them the best chance, and he feels good enough, then maybe he just pitches in the big leagues sooner than later.

Mountcastle rehab assignment put on hold | Roch Kubatko
This is probably not going to end well. Mountcastle has been out since April 11 with the broken foot. For now, the Orioles are simply saying that the slugger “didn’t feel 100 percent,” so they held off on starting his rehab. How long until he does feel 100 percent? No one knows that answer.

Which Orioles player would be best at catching a squirrel? We asked. | The Baltimore Banner
I though Leody Taveras did a decent job considering he was not going all out to make it happen. If he put in a better effort, then he probably snags that squirrel in Detroit.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

No current or former Orioles players were born on this day, according to Baseball Reference. But it is a celebratory day for a few other notable names, like filmmaker Ken Burns (b. 1953), musician Martina McBride (b. 1966), actor Will Wheaton (b. 1972), and football player Dak Prescott (b. 1993), among others.

This day in O’s history

1988 – The Orioles trade Mike Boddicker to the Red Sox in exchange for Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling

1997 – The Orioles purchase veteran hitter Harold Baines from the White Sox, beginning his second stint with the team.

2000 – The Orioles acquire catcher Brook Fordyce from the White Sox in exchange for catcher Charles Johnson and DH Harold Baines.

2000 – The Orioles send relief pitcher Mike Timlin to the Cardinals, landing first baseman Chris Richard and pitcher Mark Nussbeck in return.

2010 – Buck Showalter is announced as the Orioles new manager. He will take over from interim skipper Juan Samuel on August 3rd.

2025 – In the middle of a doubleheader between the two teams, the Orioles trade reliever Seranthony Domínguez to the Blue Jays. Domínguez tosses a 10-pitch shutout inning for his new club in Game 2, but the O’s win both games anyway.

Well, lo and behold! The vaunted MLB Trade Deadline is under a week away, and the Cardinals have finally succumbed to the battle for .500 and are now underwater, a couple of games under a winning season. I have been advocating for a hybrid buy/sell situation, but I can definitely empathize with anyone who would want to be sellers at this point in the season.

Which is me doing a 180 all of a sudden. I thought it was in poor taste to constantly talk about the trade deadline, rooting for trading away key players, decimating our rotation and bullpen. And also even chatter about trading away key players like Ivan Herrera and Masyn Winn. Something about the way the team has played after the All-Star Break has lead to me having a change of heart. We definitely should not be buyers, because that would require trading away our most valuable assets in the farm system. It would be folly to go all in now, even with the most enticing offers. The offense isn’t complete, with too many holes in the lineup, while the bullpen cannot hold us in games reliably enough.

I still lean more towards a very open minded buy/sell situation, however… for a variety of reasons. One being that if you want to be sellers, Dustin May and Lars Nootbaar are simply not extremely good trade pieces in this market, which I’ll explain later. You would have to open your mind to trading guys like Ivan Herrera and Masyn Winn to bring back a lot of value. Some of the other valuable players might be more surprising, like Matthew Liberatore could be traded to the right team in desperate need of a starting pitcher. Liberatore does have surplus value.

But a trade deadline is a little bit different. It’s very subjective in more ways than one. What are the current needs of the buyer? What is the market like right now?

A Trade Deadline Market Heavy On Starting Pitching

Sure, Liberatore has a bunch of surplus value, but no contending team wants him right now, with his performance. He does have 4 years of control, but he’s just not going to help anyone except maybe the Nationals or Cubs? I don’t even see it. Dustin May, has a lot less surplus value, but there is some there. But can he put a contending team over the top? That seems like a very subjective choice of the buying team. On the surface, a 4.59 ERA and 1.32 WHIP feel like a middle of rotation arm if we are being generous, and to many people that’s a #4 or #5. But we all know evaluations go deeper than that. If a team likes the stat FIP, May might seem like a sneaky good pick on the market. If you are up on the times, statcast metrics pretty much show May as about an average MLB starting pitcher, with some strengths and weaknesses that about balance out. That is for sure a mid rotation arm to a lot of teams.

But the problem for the Cardinals in dealing Dustin May is just how stacked this market is in good starting pitching. This will probably give any buying team leverage in any trade deal. Sometimes it’s best just to hold on and not take a bad deal, even if the player does not return. The upside here is What If the Cardinals do make a sort of run at the wild card? They certainly are far from out of it at this point in the season.

A Market Full of Teams On The Cusp

In the National League, the Cubs, Phillies, and Pirates are holding the wild cards at the deadline, while the Diamondbacks could strike and swipe the Bucc’s card right away at any moment. Damn snakes, arrrr! With the Nationals offense, they will probably be buyers since they are just barely out of a wild card spot. The Cardinals, Marlins, and Padres will probably not be full on sellers, either, considering they are all within 2 games. Of the three, the Padres seem least capable with a run differential of -21. The Marlins have been staggering along with the Cardinals, but has it been enough for an MLB organization to decide to just throw in the towel?

I would name the sellers in the NL as the Reds, Giants, Mets, and Rockies. But that’s not a lot of supply for all the possible buyers. The Cubs, Phillies, Pirates, and possibly the Diamondbacks will all want to shore up their rosters, to keep up their pace and fend off around 4 teams trying to take their spot.

All this contention has made this trade deadline rather murky, and is either going to be a really tough one to predict, or… will end up like last year without a ton of action. I am leaning toward the latter, especially for the Cardinals.

Applying the same terms to the American League wild card race, we find a picture even more murky. I included teams under 5 games out of the wild card as teams that might not be sellers… if I apply that logic to the AL that would include the Tigers, who are likely to be sellers, because there are already 4 teams in the wild card hunt, beyond the favorites Yankees, Red Sox, and Guardians. We can assume that NY will take one of the 3 wild cards, but that leaves 6 teams for 2 spots. It would be tough to predict which organizations will decide to sell, if any.

A Murky Trade Market

Two of what should be the major sellers are the Angels and the Mets, two teams that might make some odd decisions in the seller market. They tend to not want to rebuild! But they sure as hell look like they should move some pieces. Will they allow themselves to make some moves? I think perhaps the most intriguing thing to think about as Cardinals fans is, Will Chaim Bloom and John Mozeliak make a trade? Will Bloom continue moves with Boston? Both are very easy to see as a possibility, given that Mozeliak and Bloom worked together over the last few years, while Chaim’s previous employer was the Red Sox. Is there some kind of effect here? Or will Bloom blindside us with random trade partners? Three team trades? Will the market get creative this year?

Dream Deadline Moves

Now that I have admitted that I think that there will probably be little trade deadline stories, I want to think big and imagine what could be if it was a VERY active trade deadline for Bloom and the Cardinals. I have no idea how realistic or completely ridiculous these trades are, but let me know what you think! Anything can happen.

Part 1 Trade a catcher to the Yankees

In my opinion, we have too many catchers. We almost have a team full of catchers. Or will soon! One guy that could be considered an asset, difficult to quantify: Pedro Pages. Perhaps the Yankees will like the intangibles with Pedro Pages. He seems like a baseball guy, tighter with the coaches and manager, seems to be trusted, a clubhouse chemistry guy, a rotation manager, however you can market this idea to NY. And believe it or not, Pedro Pages actually hits better than the Yankees catcher. Make it happen, Chaim!

There’s no way in hell that the Yankees are doing this deal straight up, since the player I would be on the phone after is their #22 prospect, pitcher Chase Hampton. Hampton has 6 years of control, while Pages only has 4 years left.

To really get this deal done, you will probably have to throw in Lars Nootbaar. But then I want another player! Maybe try to talk them into adding Cade Smith to the deal, to make our bullpen much more tolerable, or maybe Ben Grable, another pitcher from their minor league system, if they do not want to take away from their current bullpen situation. There are a ton of Yankees pitchers to choose from as the add on to Chase Hampton!

I have no idea what I’m doing here, but I would take that deal in a heartbeat. The secondary pitcher can be whoever you want it to be, the Yankees have a lot of pitchers valued at $1.8M using this tool. I found it extremely useful since, again, I have no idea what I’m doing, but here we are… It’s the best I could come up with!

Part 2 The Bloom-Mozeliak Move

Maybe they will pull off a last second trade, with all other options exhausted, or maybe they’ve had something planned all along. Or maybe I’m being ridiculous… but I think something is going to happen with the Bloom and Mozeliak connection. Call it a lucky guess, if I’m right, maybe a trade will happen… maybe not. Let’s imagine so.

I want to move another catcher, and John likes Jose Fermin a lot. I will make that move because I want to give the team a shot at the postseason this year. And to me that’s going to require some shoring up of the bullpen. It’ll hurt to lose the Ferminator, but we have Torres, and maybe if Saggese ever comes back, etc.

Sure, this trade looks like an overpay, but you have to pay for some bullpen help at the deadline. And I don’t think many of us will miss Ryan Campos, correct me if I’m wrong. I’m sure there’s some Campos fans out there!

^^{_{Use the link to come up with your own Fermin + a catcher trade with the Angels!}}

Part 3 Back To Boston

Chaim cannot ignore Boston, with our good rapport and recent trade history, why not do more deals? Let’s assume that Boston’s top prospect, Roman Anthony, is off the table. So far, my dream has been to hunt down pitching at the deadline. You can never have too much pitching. Because I’m crazy, the Red Sox #2 prospect is the goal: pitcher Anthony Eyanson. Boston is another team that needs a catcher, so I’m going to once again trade a catcher for pitching!

Somehow Bloom talks Boston into taking Ivan Herrera as their solution at catcher. Don’t ask me how, but he done did it. In reture, the Cardinals get #2 Boston prospect Anthony Eyanson, plus additional pitcher Juan Valera and outfield prospect Enddy Azocar, the Red Sox #5 prospect. You’re the best, Chaim! It’s sad to see Herrera go, but I know that they believe Herrera can catch. And maybe they can convince Boston, too!

Part 4 Liberatore Goes To Atlanta

The Braves, desperate for any kind of starting pitching, acquire all kinds of it, and take a flyer on Liberatore as a middle inning reliever and insurance for their rotation. Bloom convinces them all Matthew needs is a change of scenery and a tweak to his repertoire. They are nice enough to send us 17 year old outfield prospect Diego Tornes! It’s a big gamble for both teams, but as you can see, the calculator says we actually LOSE this trade! Let’s do it!

And there you have it, my dream is 4 trades at the deadline, perhaps the most mad trade deadline ever. This is all highly impossible, but I hope that it was fun to read, at least. Because this will never happen.

But what if they wanted to also trade May and Burleson? You might be surprised that their trade values are about the same, and not as much as you might think. This is all of course anyone’s guess, and subjective to the deadline, but it’s what I have to go on. I think they’ll keep both *unless they might trade Burleson to move Herrera to 1B and aren’t telling anyone.

To sum up, I think such a tool would be moreso used in the offseason trade market, but maybe it gave me a few ideas, at least, about the trade deadline.

My 20 Top Heavy Metal Albums from 1993

Continuing on with my favorite albums of all time, year by year since 1975, heavy metal edition… 1993

In case you missed last week when I revealed my favorite albums of 1993, I now have that in playlist form here! And now for the heavy metal edition!

• Demilich – ‘Nespithe’ I’m not saying this is my favorite heavy metal album from 1993, but it is certainly most interesting… they practically invent a whole new form of death metal here, both more extreme and more prog rock and well, advanced. I was big into playing Dungeons & Dragons in high school, and one of the most powerful characters in that game is an undead being called a lich, and well, the idea of a demilich is pretty weird to think about. If I knew of this band back in high school, my mind would’ve been completely blown. They’re already mind altering enough years after it was released. (Finland)
• Neurosis – ‘Enemy of the Sun’ one of the heaviest, most disturbing, and yet spiritually moving albums you’ll ever hear from any genre of music, the legendary west coast punk band Neurosis’ second official full length will haunt your years after hearing it just a few times. It might take more than one listen for its full effect to set in, but it’s a very memorable experience. Neurosis during their peak years. (Oakland)
• Carcass – ‘Heartwork’ Carcass go full technical death metal here, but also get more melodic along the path. Probably Carcass’ heaviest album of all, and it opened their fanbase up to a whole new experience while expanding it. Gone were the grindcore punk days, leaving a metal monstrosity of epic proportions. A perfect album start to finish, if your ears can take it and your neighbors don’t start pounding on your walls. (UK)
• Cathedral – ‘The Ethereal Mirror’ Cathedral has become one of my favorite metal bands over the years, and one of the only metal bands carrying on the torch passed down by Black Sabbath to the few doom bands of the 80s and 90s. The best one of those bands was Cathedral, as far as I’m concerned. The guitarist’s tone is impeccable, and if you allow yourself to have some fun with the at times funny vocal stylings of Lee Dorrian, which contrast with the heavy seriousness of the music in such a way that it just makes it all the more entertaining. Cathedral aren’t just old school metal with a big ol’ side of DOOM, they also slyly incorporate other musical elements, genres such as classic rock, prog rock, and even punk or soul at times. (UK)
• Death – ‘Individual Thought Patterns’ this was my first album from death metal originators Death, and it’s still one of my favorites! To me this is where they fully realize their sound and Chuck Schuldiner’s musical goals for the first time; nothing against what came before it, but he was still developing the sound and lineup of the band. “The Philosopher” is a standout track, but you’ll need to hear the whole album for the full effect. Sounds a little different than the rest of the discography, too. (Tampa Bay)
• dISEMBOWELMENT – ‘The Tree of Life and Death’ albums like this is one of the reasons why I do this… I had never heard this one before but I have not heard anything else like it. Way ahead of their time, another one of those bands simply paving their own path. I would file this under the heaviest of avant garde death metal, or maybe one of the weirder, most original death doom releases you’ll hear. (Australia)
• Morbid Angel – ‘Covenant’ at this point Morbid Angel were practically a household name, at least among heavy metal households. As far as a an favorite, this album might only be outdone by the band’s legendary debut. Worth it just to hear the song “God of Emptiness”, alone! But a perfect album, nonetheless. Along with Death, Morbid Angel was a key part of the Tampa Bay death metal scene in the early 90s. (Tampa Bay)
• Eyehategod – ‘Take As Needed For Pain’ legendary NOLA sludge punk road warriors put themselves on the map and don’t look back. If you like your metal slow, disturbing, veering into hardcore punk territory, and sounding like it was recorded with amps on 11 suffocated by a giant wall of disgusting steam in the deep south, under the influence of lots of drugs, then this one’s for you! very NSFW (New Orleans)
• Fudge Tunnel – ‘Creep Diets’ another album where I’m not sure if this is more metal or punk, but I think at least upon first listen it sounds more metal. Anyways, I have had this album since around when it came out, and I practically wore out the tape back in the day. It’s full of energy and guitar hooks, and doesn’t really sound like anything else. (UK)
• Sepultura – ‘Chaos A.D.’ and another album that has been with me since I was a teenager! By this point, Sepultura had blown up pretty big, had been on Headbanger’s Ball, Beavis and Butthead, etc. It’s just an epic masterpiece of an album. And the last of the first era of Sepultura LPs. Excellent. (Brazil)
• Pestilence – ‘Spheres’ another amazing Pestilence album! Such a consistent discography, pushing the envelope and continuing to define their style of technical death metal. (Netherlands)
• Ceremonial Oath – ‘The Book of Truth’ probably the most obscure album on the list, it also features the album cover most likely to be filed under rejected Magic the gathering card art. (Sweden)
• Sinister – ‘Diabolical Summoning’ another album that reminds me of Magic the card game, and features epicly weird fantasy art. The music is an absolute scorcher and is new to me, but it sounds like a keeper and is also a rather obscure heavy release. (Netherlands)
• Anacrusis – ‘Screams and Whispers’ probably one of the only people in my area listening to these guys back in the 90s! This band sounds like art metal mixed with progressive thrash! And features vocals more like goth industrial punk legends Killing Joke than like most of the bands on the list. Also, Anacrusis is from here! (St Louis)
• Gorguts – ‘The Erosion of Sanity’ Gorguts are one of my favorite bands ever, but moreso for all the albums that were released after this one. The Erosion of Sanity is quite good however, and some fans prefer this era. To me, this is them just showing an inkling of things to come while playing more of that old school death metal sound, but with their own twist to it. They’re on here more for things to come, but this is still crucial death metal listening. (Canada)
• Brutality – ‘Screams of Anguish’ one of the more obscure but underrated Tampa Bay bands, new to me but I already think they’re better than half the legendary death metal bands of TB. These guys might be the best sleeper pick from Florida! Utterly brutal old school death metal!!! And another Magic the gathering card art reject album cover. (Tampa Bay)
• O.L.D. – ‘The Musical Dimensions of Sleastack’ I’m not even sure what to make of this band, and this album… it’s weird, it’s art metal, it’s pretty psychedelic… I like their previous album more, but this one is tough to leave off the list, it’s just an oddball. Even a bit industrial, but even weirder than their debut. Strange. To make it even stranger, I just discovered that their band name stands for Old Lady Drivers! hahahaha (New Jersey)
• Violent Dirge – ‘Elapse’ perhaps the loudest bassist in the mix of any heavy metal album, so it must be included! Intense music! (Poland)
• Necrophobic – ‘The Nocturnal Silence’ more obscure old school death metal mastery! (Sweden)
• Rottrevore – ‘Iniquitous’ you guessed it! another bad magic card album cover. Music is BRUTAL. New one to me, but it’s got staying power. (Pittsburgh)
• Crowbar – ‘self-titled’ another NOLA sludge metal album to round out the list is Crowbar’s debut! Another Beavis and Butthead chosen band. (New Orleans)

There you have it, my favorite 20 heavy metal albums from 1993! Thanks for reading.

Game 3 of Cubs @ Cardinals today at 1:15pm! Last chance to salvage an attempt at splitting the 4-game series. And did anyone notice that this is the first time this team has been under .500 all year?

Five days remain between now and the MLB Trade Deadline. The action has yet to pick up beyond the Red Sox trading a starter to the Nationals for an infielder who promptly got his wrist broken by a pitch in his Boston debut. That sounds about right.

Sooner or later, we’ll really get going though, muck of 20 teams in vague contention be damned. And when it does, the Yankees are expected to be one of the deadline’s primary figures. They remain a win-now team in Aaron Judge’s prime, and they need to supplement while their captain continues to recover from his broken rib. Carlos Rodón, Giancarlo Stanton, and now Cody Bellinger are working their way back from the IL as well. The offense has lagged without Judge—particularly in the past month—and there are questions about the rotation depth and bullpen as well since David Bednar, Fernando Cruz, and Brett Headrick have all seen a lot of work.

Whatever the Yankees end up doing, they will have to give up something to get something. The question we’re asking today is who you think is most likely to be moved? We’re not talking about just bottom-of-the-roster-type backups, either (and Camilo Doval is too easy an answer since he could just be a DFA). There have been a number of major- and minor-league names thrown into the trade rumor winds: Jasson Domínguez, Spencer Jones, Anthony Volpe, Will Warren, Ryan Weathers, Dax Kilby, Henry Lalane, Elmer Rodríguez, Henry Lalane, and Carlos Lagrange have all seen their names bandied about at one point or another. So has George Lombard Jr., though it’s harder to see the Yankees parting ways with him.

To throw my own thoughts out there, Jones is probably the safest pick. It seemed like only a well-timed hot streak saved him at the Trade Deadline last year, and it seems like he has enough red flags in his game that the October-focused Yankees can only be so patient regarding his development at the big-league level. There’s still talent in there too, and it’s not hard to envision another team champing at the bit at seeing what they can pry out of him with more tweaks to his approach at the plate. It’s not just the swing-and-miss concerns and high strikeout numbers; it’s also his stance and wobbly mechanics, not to mention always-tough numbers against lefties.

I do think that there’s a good player somewhere in there. The ceiling’s just not as high as it once was and this isn’t 2016, when the Yankees had sold at the deadline and could just let Aaron Judge test himself out in The Show to see what worked and what didn’t. (The following offseason’s strategic response changed everything for him.) And you of course can’t bet on Jones turning into Judge just because he’s also a 6-foot-7 outfielder with light-tower power. There’s nuance! For the record, there’s a lot about Jones that could also be said about Domínguez, who has seen even more MLB time and had also had too many uncharitable comps thrown on him. If we’re picking from the batch of Yankees though, Jones is probably the most likely to move.

Today on the site, Jeremy will suggest the “Grandson of the Wind,” Jung Hoo Lee, as a potential addition to shore up the outfield, Madison will tackle the Rivalry Roundup, Jonathan will celebrate the 75th birthday of a forgotten 1978 World Series champion, and Michael will throw a bone at the Yankees’ catchers, discussing what they do do well.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox

Time: 7:40 p.m. EST

TV: Amazon Prime Video, Chicago Sports Network, MLB Network, WCIU TV

Venue: Rate Field, Chicago, IL

Columbus Clippers 6, Toledo Mud Hens 4 (box)

Carl Edwards Jr. gave up four runs in the first two innings, and the Hens couldn’t quite fight back enough in this one. Edwards did eventually settle in and strike out eighth, but he continues to be pretty vulnerable to the long ball.

Max Clark was clipped by a pitch to start the game. Jace Jung struck out, but Max Anderson singled and Gage Workman walked to load the bases. There was the opportunity, but Corey Julks struck out and Trei Cruz lined out to end the inning.

New depth catcher Carlos Pérez cracked a solo shot, his third already with the Hens, to open the second inning, but it was 4-1 by the time the inning ended.

Julks did unleash a solo shot in the fifth to make it a 4-2 game. Clark doubled off the wall in right center field in the sixth, but they couldn’t get him home.

Pérez hit a second leadoff homer in this one in the eighth. Max Anderson added a solo shot in the ninth, continuing his red hot month of July.

Anderson: 2-5, R, RBI, HR

Clark: 2-4, 2B, K

Perez: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR

Edwards (L, 4-8): 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 8 K

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

Akron RubberDucks 12, Erie SeaWolves 3 (box)

Max Alba and the SeaWolves bullpen took a beating in this one as Akron pounded out 19 hits to win easily.

Alba gave up two in the top of the first, but in the bottom half, Seth Stephenson led off with a single and Peyton Graham ripped an RBI double to left. So it was 2-1 Akron, but that was the last the SeaWolves would see of their foes as they pulled away with nine runs over the next four innings.

Justice Bigbie’s hit streak came to an end over the weekend, but he started a new one with a solo shot in the fourth. Andrew Jenkins followed him with a solo shot of his own, but that completed the scoring for Erie.

Pennington: 2-3, BB

Graham: 1-4, RBI, 2B, K

Bigbie: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, K

Alba (L, 1-4): 2.2 IP, 7 ER, 10 H, 0 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.

West Michigan Whitecaps 4, Belmont Sky Carp 0 (box)

Rayner Castillo threw a good one, and the Whitecaps got some power from an old friend to carry them at home on Tuesday.

Woody Hadeen led off the bottom of the first with a single to right. Bryce Rainer struck out, but Izaac Pacheco, in the first at-bat of his rehab assignment, hammered a two-run shot to right center field. 2-0 Whitecaps.

In the second, Stephen Hrustich singled to lead off the inning and later stole second base. A Caleb Shpur single made it a 3-0 game.

Castillo wouldn’t need any more. The big right-hander went five innings, scattering three hits and three walks, striking out four.

The Whitecaps had two new faces in the lineup as catcher Edian Espinal and first baseman Beau Ankeney were promoted from Lakeland. Espinal cannot be stopped at the plate, and he walked in the first and singled in the third to get some firsts out of the way. He also cut down his first High-A runner along the way.

Ankeney singled in the sixth for his first Midwest League knock. That moved Clayton Campbell, who led off the inning with a walk, to second. Hrustich walked as well, loading the bases, and Campbell scored on a wild pitch. That’s all they got, but the pitching staff didn’t need any more help.

Preston Howey and Jalen Evans handled two innings apiece to complete the shutout.

Pacheco: 1-2, R, 2 RBI, HR, BB

Hadeen: 2-3, R

Hrustich: 1-2, R, 2 BB, K, SB

Castillo (W, 2-8): 5.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.

Tampa Tarpons 10, Lakeland Flying Tigers 7 (box)

Things went poorly for Grayson Grinsell in this one and only a late storm of runs kept this one from being a rout.

Jordan Yost singled to open the game, but Michael Olivato grounded into a force at second in his first full season A-ball at-bat, and Roberto Campos, on a rehab assignment, grounded into a double play.

Five hitters into the bottom half, it was already 4-0, and a third home runs off of Grinsell made it 5-0. After allowing another run in the second, Grinsell did settle in and go four inning with six strikeouts and no walks, but the damage was done.

Antonio Florida and Andrew Pogue each allowed two runs in relief.

Ronald Ramirez doubled in the third inning for his first hit at the Single-A level. Javier Osorio crushed a long home run in the fifth to get Lakeland on the board. In the top of the eighth, Oliveto singled for his first knock in full season ball.

In the top of the ninth, Ramirez cranked a solo shot to left.

Osorio walked with one out and Jordan Yost reached on an error. Oliveto smoked an opposite field automatic double to play Osorio.

Anibal Salas mashed a three-run homer, and Nick Dumesnil took one out to right center field for his sixth of the year.

That was where the party ended but it did make the Tarpons uncomfortable at least.

Ramirez: 2-4, R, RBI,, 2B, HR, K

Dumesnil: 2-4, R, RBI, HR, 2 K

Osorio: 1-3, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB

Grinsell (L, 5-4): 4.0 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 6 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 5:00 p.m. ET start in Tampa on Wednesday.

Rarely have the top 25 targets at Major League Baseball’s trade deadline been so fluid.

So, let’s do it again.

As teams bob their heads above or dip below the .500 mark, the notion of buyers and sellers shifts day to day, perhaps hour to hour. And while some of the best names expected to be on the move won’t change, others land on the list with dispatch, a poorly-timed losing streak shifting their fate.

With that, a look at the top two dozen-plus one names that could be on the move as the Aug. 3 deadline draws closer, based on their possible impact, the likelihood of their availability and the fit of their contracts:

1. Luis Arráez, 2B, Giants

You don’t hear his name very often these days, simply because his departure has been such a foregone conclusion. Yet his hitting ability combined with an .811 OPS will loom large down the stretch and in the postseason, a crucial part of a healthy offense.

2. Luke Weaver, RP, Mets

Practically untouchable in his last 17 games, giving up one earned run with a 19-3 strikeout-walk ratio. Weaver closed games for the 2024 AL champion Yankees and would smoothly take over a high-leverage role for a playoff team.

3. Robbie Ray, SP, Giants

His 4.49 FIP would seem to belie his 3.16 ERA, but facts are facts: Ray has given up three or fewer runs in 18 of his 21 starts. Like Arraez, easily movable and plug-and-playable.

4. Zach Neto, SS, Angels

Now this one would be interesting. Neto swings hard and plays hard, and should provide close to 30 home runs from the shortstop position – while offering a contending team three years of control beyond this season.

5. Tarik Skubal, SP, Tigers

He’s moved on up from nine to six in these rankings as the Tigers are once again in danger of falling on the wrong side of the buy-sell fence. Obviously, the top talent potentially on the market, but this is the American League, where nobody’s out of it until 5:59 ET on Aug. 3.

6. Michael Wacha, SP, Royals

He has limited no-trade protection and makes a reasonable $15 million in 2027. Better yet, he’s a workhorse and veteran of five postseasons

7. Adrian Morejon, RP, Padres

While Mason Miller is the high-velocity king causing a hubbub on the rumor mill, Morejon, a pending free agent, much more closely matches the Padres’ objective of playing the middle of this deadline. Morejon is the best lefty reliever who should be available, with a 1.08 WHIP.

8. Jake McCarthy, OF, Rockies

An excellent buy-and-flip maneuver by the Rockies as McCarthy has an .842 OPS (117 adjusted).

9. Sandy Alcantara, SP, Marlins

Will they or won’t they? A ghastly 12-game losing streak sent the Marlins from playoff position to below .500 and a franchise crossroads. Will the Marlins truly be serious about contending? Because Alcantara gives them their best chance to win this year and next, when he has an affordable club option. Otherwise, he’ll make a playoff-bound club very happy.

10. Isaac Collins, OF, Royals

A switch-hitting outfielder with a .344 OBP and a dash of speed? Eminently useful. Perhaps not the sexy move Yankees fans might want to shore up their outfield, but Collins will be useful for somebody.

The deadline for signing 2026 MLB draft picks was at 5:00pm ET on Monday. The Toronto Blue Jays had 19 picks in this year’s draft, having forfeited their 2nd and 4th round selections for signing Dylan Cease after he rejected the San Diego Padres’ qualifying offer but receiving a compensation pick in the fourth round for the Mets’ signing Bo Bichette.

The table below shows the picks, their signing bonuses (per sportrac.com), and their net effect on the Jays’ bonus pool:

As a reminder, bonus amounts in the top 10 rounds form a team’s total bonus pool. Teams can exceed their pool by up to 5% with only a tax, but there are extreme penalties for going beyond that and in practice teams never do it. The pool covers all players drafted in the first 10 rounds and any bonus amounts in excess of $150,000 for players drafted in rounds 11-20.

The Blue Jays’ draft pool this year was $5,543,100, the second smallest ahead of the Dodgers. They’ve exceeded it by $212,125, 3.83%, so they’ll pay some tax but continue the trend of no team ever having exceeded the 5% threshold.

Strategically, they’ve clearly decided to hang their draft on first rounder Cole Carlon and fourth rounder Will Brick. Carlon got most of his slot bonus, while they were forced to go way over slot to pay Brick the equivalent of borderline first/second round money. To get there, they reached slightly on Ryan Cooney in the third round to find a player they like who would sign for a cut relative to slot, and mostly punted rounds 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 by signing lower profile college guys who would sign for very little, allowing them to reallocate their slot money to Brick. That puts a lot of weight on two players, but if they think he’s a first round talent then they’ve done well to get two prospects of that calibre with this little capital to spend.

Dean West, in the seventh round, is the only other player in the first 10 to sign anywhere close to slot. West was a relatively well regarded prospect, #302 on Baseball America’s top 500, and the Jays must have liked him and decided they could get one near-full-value pick in while still saving up enough money. 11th rounder Brayden Martin, #227 on BA’s list, got a little over the $150,000 late-round amount as well, indicating another place where they felt that they could make a value pick up.

At the back of the draft, the Jays picked three upside players who were potentially in a position to command over $150,000. 20th rounder Eddie Rosado has opted to take $150,000 to sign instead of following his college commitment to St. Joseph’s University while it appears that 19th rounder Cole Travers will go to Texas A&M and 18th rounder Jake McCoy will go through with his transfer from South Carolina to Tennessee rather than turning pro. Travers and McCoy declining to sign is not a surprise. The former has a top college offer, and the latter will receive a medical redshirt after missing 2026 undergoing Tommy John surgery, allowing him to enter the 2027 season as a junior in line for a significant bonus. Both likely fell out of the top 10 rounds only because of high bonus demands, and were probably picked mostly as insurance in case a medical issue with Carlon or Brick allowed the Jays to sign them significantly below their expected bonus, creating an unexpected cash surplus.

Later this week I’ll review the Jays’ top 40 prospects, graduations, departures, additions and risers to paint a picture of the state of the farm as we head into the trade deadline.

New York Post | Dylan Svoboda: The Padres have inquired about Dax Kilby, the Yankees’ 2025 first-rounder and their number-two prospect behind George Lombard Jr., per The Post’s Joel Sherman. The Yankees also have a scout monitoring the Padres as rumors continue to swirl around Mason Miller, San Diego’s all-world closer who could be on the move. New York has also been linked to Adrian Morejon, a left-handed Padres reliever who would likely warrant a smaller return.

NBC Sports | Eric Samulski: Carlos Lagrange has begun throwing in his return from injury. The 6-foot-7 right-hander has been on the shelf since July 3rd with a capsular sprain in his right shoulder. The initial plan was that he’d be shut down for at least six weeks, so this update puts him nearly three weeks ahead of schedule. Lagrange, the Yankees’ number-two pitching prospect, was transitioned to the bullpen during the season in hopes he could help the big-league club in that capacity down the stretch. He wowed in spring training with his 100-mph fastball before starting the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty: ($) Ali Sánchez’s three-run homer Monday was his first in the big leagues, 2,179 days after making his debut with the Mets in 2020. The unheralded journeyman has carved out a role in New York, backing up Austin Wells. And, while Max Fried praised his “quality at-bats,” he’s drawn more admiration from the club for his work behind the plate, learning to work with a veteran staff midstream after his call-up last month. Sánchez’s run of play with the Yankees has come during a difficult time for his native Venezuela. The backstop has been wearing the letters “VZ” stitched into his cap to honor his homeland after devastating earthquakes on June 24th killed more than 5,000.

New Y ork Daily News | Gary Phillips: As the Yankees look to augment their catching corps ahead of the trade deadline, they signed veteran Christian Bethancourt to a minor-league deal. The right-handed hitter, who posted a .775 OPS in 206 at-bats with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate earlier this season, was cut loose a couple of weeks ago. He provides veteran depth as the team pursues a more high-profile upgrade. With Sánchez out of options, the Yankees would likely lose him if they add another catcher via trade, leaving them with only the left-handed J.C. Escarra as a viable option in wait at Triple-A.

The Athletic | Ken Rosenthal: ($) As Major League Baseball pushes for a salary cap under the guise of competitive imbalance, Rosenthal opines that the current season refutes their argument. With the Trade Deadline approaching, 21 of 30 teams sit within two games of a playoff spot while the big-market Mets, Giants, and Blue Jays are each at least 5.5 games out. This flies in the face of the league’s “Level the Playing Field” ad campaign, which Rosenthal decries as a “spurious” attempt to influence fans against the players and towards a cap with a potential lockout looming.

WASHINGTON — Toronto pitcher Shane Bieber’s start against the Washington Nationals was anything but a walk in the park.

The former Cy Young Award winner issued walks to six of the nine batters he faced — including three with the bases loaded — before departing after two-thirds of an inning Tuesday night in the BlueJays’ 8-6 loss. In his previous 149 pitching appearances, the 31-year-old right-hander’s high for walks was five.

According to Stathead/Baseball Reference, Bieber is the 11th pitcher in major league history to walk at least six while recording two outs or less, and the first to do so since Florida’s Ryan Dempster on Oct. 5, 2001, at Atlanta.

Bieber said he had difficulty gripping the ball and struggled with his command as a result. Bieber didn’t walk anyone in his previous start Thursday, when he allowed one run in seven innings against Tampa Bay.

“You have to find a way to get through it, right, and I wasn’t able to do that tonight,” Bieber said. “Ultimately, I follow up what was maybe my best start as a Blue Jay with what was definitely my worst.”

Bieber is the first Cy Young winner to have such an outing, although Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Christy Mathewson did, too. Bieber won the AL Cy Young in 2020.

Bieber threw 42 pitches, with only 15 strikes. He is the second player this season to throw that many pitches with so few strikes. Kansas City’s Eric Cerantola threw 14 strikes in a 42-pitch relief outing against Tampa Bay on June 30.

“I have no excuses,” Bieber said. “I have to find a way to get out of that first inning. Dry my hands off and change shirts and eat up innings after that. That’s what I was trying to do and unfortunately I wasn’t able to. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like that happen.”

Washington’s James Wood led off the first with a walk, and Luis García Jr. followed with a grounder to second. Dylan Crews then earned a free pass, and CJ Abrams followed with a well-placed infield single.

The typically free-swinging Keibert Ruiz followed with a four-pitch walk that scored the first run, and Daylen Lile drew another walk that pushed in another run. Nasim Nuñez hit a sacrifice fly before Jorbit Vivas loaded the bases again with the inning’s fifth walk, prompting a mound visit from Toronto pitching coach Pete Walker.

Jacob Young then took six pitches — three balls and then two called strikes followed by a slider well outside the zone — to force in a fourth run. That prompted manager John Schneider to head to the mound and end Bieber’s outing.

It was Bieber’s seventh start of the season after missing almost three months with elbow inflammation. He was limited to a combined nine regular-season starts over the previous two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2024.

“Kind of just the last thing we thought was going to happen with him right there,” Schneider said. “When you get up to that pitch count in the first, with him, with his history and everything, just didn’t want to push it.”

Reliever Brendon Little got Wood to ground out to end the inning.

CHICAGO — Carlos Lagrange may still be a long shot to impact the Yankees this season — assuming he is not traded in the next week — but his progress from a shoulder injury has at least kept the door open.

The top pitching prospect, who was diagnosed with a capsular sprain of the right shoulder July 3, has resumed throwing on flat ground after about a four-week shutdown — two weeks shorter than the club originally estimated for him.

The 23-year-old Lagrange, who was in the midst of a transition from starter to reliever in hopes of helping the Yankees bullpen in the second half, still has a ways to go to even potentially make himself an option. But the earlier-than-expected return to throwing at least keeps the possibility in play for the time being.

“We’ll see,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday before the Yankees’ 3-2 win over the White Sox when asked if he expected Lagrange to become a consideration at some point this season. “He has started throwing again, so you never know for sure. But we’ll just listen to his arm and body and hopefully, as he starts his throwing progression, things go well and he puts himself in position to be in the conversation. But impossible to know right now.”

On Tuesday, Lagrange posted video to social media of himself throwing, though Boone said he actually started throwing “a handful of days ago.” Lagrange last pitched at Triple-A on June 28, with the shoulder diagnosis coming a few days later.

The Yankees are still expected to add a high-leverage reliever or two before Monday’s trade deadline, but if Lagrange is not used in a package to make that happen, his rehab process will be worth monitoring to see if he can become a wild card late in the season.

One of those bullpen targets the Yankees are believed to be pursuing is Padres stud closer Mason Miller.

It remains to be seen whether the Padres will actually make him available, but Boone was asked for his thoughts on the hard-throwing righty.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

“Feels like a speculative question cloaked in an opinion on a player,” he said with a grin. “Look, obviously he’s one of the game’s great closers and has been now for a few years. Tremendous stuff. I don’t even know if he’ll be moved or not. He’s probably as good as is out there right now in that role.”

The Yankees signed veteran catcher Christian Bethancourt to a minor league deal Tuesday and added him to the roster at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for depth.

The 34-year-old, who has played 427 career big league games, had been at Triple-A for the Cubs this season, batting .262 with a .775 OPS in 59 games.

Turns out, Shohei Ohtani’s knee injury is not the only complicating factor in his uncertain status as a pitcher.

Speaking to reporters for the first time in almost three weeks on Tuesday night, Ohtani revealed that his right bicep is also not 100% at the moment.

Manager Dave Roberts added that Ohtani’s bicep did not respond well to a bullpen session he threw in Philadelphia last week, and is part of the reason why he has not attempted another bullpen session since then.

Ohtani has dealt with what he described as minor bicep discomfort a couple times earlier this season, most recently during a July 3 two-way start in which the Dodgers’ star last took the mound in a game.

That night, he said his bicep tightened up on him during an at-bat as a hitter, leading him to be removed from the game early.

Though Ohtani has not made another pitching start since then, the Dodgers had previously attributed the break only to the lingering left knee injury he has been dealing with since mid-June.

Then came Tuesday night, however, when Ohtani disclosed his bicep problem following the Dodgers’ 7-6 loss to the Mariners (a game in which he went 3-for-4 at the plate with his first home run since the All-Star break, while continuing to serve as the Dodgers’ designated hitter).

“There too, it’s a judgment of to what degree I can push it,” Ohtani said in Japanese, describing the precautions being taken with his bicep as similar to those with his knee. “It’s still July. What judgment will be made in August and September can be decided then.”

Speaking after Ohtani’s press availability, Roberts also confirmed that Ohtani’s bicep is also a reason he has not thrown a bullpen session, or even played catch from flat ground, since last Wednesday’s 31-pitch bullpen in Philadelphia.

“I think in the bullpen in Philadelphia, [his bicep] just wasn’t responding [afterward], nor was his knee,” Roberts said. “There is an effect on the lower half to the compromising of the upper half, the arm. So trying to mitigate that, we stopped the throwing, stopped the bullpens. Hopefully No. 1, take care of the knee, and then not try to have him create velocity with the arm that’s not 100%.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Roberts said the Dodgers have not decided when Ohtani might begin ramping up as a pitcher again.

“I’m not sure the next time he’s planning on throwing,” Roberts said, “let alone throwing a ‘pen.”

Even amid Ohtani’s recent physical ailments, the Dodgers have repeatedly expressed confidence that the 32-year-old will be able to return to pitching this season, and that he will be part of their rotation come the playoffs in October. 

Ohtani noted on Tuesday night that his knee has felt “much better” since receiving a lubricant injection over the All-Star break, and that his injuries have not impacted him offensively.

“I guess anything’s possible, but for me, it’s highly unlikely [he doesn’t pitch in October],” Roberts said Tuesday night. “We’re doing all this [right now] number one to make sure that he’s in a good spot health-wise. But given where we’re at in the calendar, if the knee continues to get better, the arm continues to feel better, I would expect him to pitch.”

Still, Roberts did acknowledge on Tuesday afternoon that Ohtani has missed enough time as a pitcher at this point that, once he does begin ramping on the mound again, he will have to rebuild stamina in order to return to making full-length starts.

The uncertainty surrounding Ohtani’s status also could factor into the Dodgers’ approach ahead of next Monday’s trade deadline –– and their potential pursuit of two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, in particular –– though general manager Brandon Gomes downplayed that notion in an interview with The California Post on Tuesday afternoon.

“We feel very good about our pitching,” Gomes said, while also referencing the progress fellow injured starters Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow have made recently in their recoveries.

Still, questions about Ohtani’s health will persist, especially now that his knee is not the only thing that isn’t 100%.

“For now, I think it’s best to wait,” Ohtani said. “We lost today, but as a team, without a doubt, we’re in a good position. So whether I should force myself to pitch through this is something I think I should decide while talking to the team. I think the team’s judgment is that we’re not there yet.”

One of the magical things about writing about baseball for a living is that, against all odds, every game seems to have its own story. 162 times a year the San Francisco Giants play someone, plus a few dozen more times in the spring and, on a few blue moon occasions, a handful of times after the regular season. And almost every time, a story somehow emerges. In great games and awful ones, through promising seasons and lost ones, baseball almost always delivers.

You’ve heard of scorigami. Well, this is a phenomenon I refer to as storygami.

And sometimes it fails. Sometimes they just lose in such bland fashion, in the midst of such a bland season, that I find myself itching to just clean the toilet so I can procrastinate writing about what happened.

That happened on Tuesday, as the Giants lost 8-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers in a game that was far more one-sided than the one-sided score suggests. The Giants just … lost. As you’ve come to expect them to do. As they’ve proven themselves far too capable of over the past few months.

Perhaps the story was that it was a doomed day for the Giants. It began, after all, with the news that Casey Schmitt has a torn meniscus, and will almost certainly miss the rest of the season. It continued with the sadness that Trevor McDonald will undergo Tommy John surgery, and will almost certainly miss the entirety of next season. It peaked with the revelation that Harrison Bader suffered an injury setback after the second serious scooter crash of his big league career. And then it nestled into bed with a long, lifeless, feckless, dreamless, hopeless, joyless loss.

Which I suppose we now have to talk about.

The Giants have a tendency to lose games in the first inning. Their pitchers are 18th in the Majors in first-inning ERA, while their batters are 25th in first-inning OPS. This tends to create three common outcomes in the first inning: the Giants set the tone for a loss; the Giants narrowly avoid disaster, suggesting that this is their lucky day and they have a trick up their sleeves; and the Giants narrowly avoid disaster, suggesting that this is their lucky day and they have a trick up their sleeves, only to point their finger and laugh at you for buying that nonsense.

This game was the third. It started in dubious fashion, when Landen Roupp gave up a ground ball to the first batter he faced, Brice Turang, but then failed to cover first base in time, resulting in a leadoff single. Jackson Chourio was next and settled for a more traditional single, putting two runners on with no outs.

But thanks to a pair of ground balls — one of which resulted in two outs — Roupp escaped the inning unscathed. And in the bottom half of the inning, after the Giants quickly had two outs recorded against them, Heliot Ramos hit a pop up in the infield that resulted in the most glorious and artful of pop up dances, before ultimately falling behind first baseman Andrew Vaughn, gifting Ramos a single. After Rafael Devers scorched a single of his own, the Giants had a pair of runners on base … and were so close to capitalizing on the Brewers’ gift.

This is where the game transitioned from the second of those aforementioned possible outcomes to the third. The Giants had escaped disaster, gotten lucky, and pulled a rabbit out of their hats, and you thought maybe they actually were going to play a decent game … and then Jung Hoo Lee struck out and it all came crashing back to reality.

From there, it was one disaster after another, but in deeply uninteresting terms. Following the Devers single, the Giants would turn the lineup over twice before registering another hit, when Willy Adames knocked a single in the seventh inning. By that point, the game was already over, due to a series of two-out flubs and self-made failures. In the third inning, it was a leadoff walk that Roupp issued that scored, after a two-out single. That gave the Brewers a run to get their engines started, and the next inning they would really take off.

It started off calmly enough, with Roupp retiring the first two batters of the fourth inning. But he would never retire the third. He walked a batter, gave up a stolen base, hit a batter, allowed an RBI single, gave up another stolen base, and walked another batter. And with that, his night was over, with just 3.2 innings in the books.

The two-out thunder cared not for the shift from Roupp to JT Brubaker, as Turang roped a two-run single on the very first pitch that Brubaker threw, cashing in a pair of inherited runners and pushing the score to 4-0.

A few innings later, Brubaker would, like Roupp before him, begin to leak oil with two outs. In the seventh, he quickly retired two batters, then gave up back-to-back singles. Tony Vitello, who currently has a misdemeanor charge for what he did to Keaton Winn’s right arm and a felony charge for his crimes against Matt Gage’s left arm, mercilessly pulled the plug at a season-high 57 pitches for Brubaker.

But the eyebrow-raising arm usage was only just beginning. In came Jason Foley, a perfectly acceptable choice for the situation, even though he promptly gave up a triple to score both of the runners he inherited from Brubaker before quickly ending the inning.

That seemed likely to be it for Foley, given a host of things I’ll get to in a minute, but no, he came back out for the eighth. No big issue there: he’d thrown just four pitches in the seventh.

Foley gave up a one-out double in the eighth, and then a single, and then a run-scoring fielder’s choice. The score was now 8-0, but hey … at least there were two outs. Except, as we’ve already learned, that’s where the Giants really failed to execute.

With a runner on second and two runs already in, Vitello opted to keep his righty on the mound. William Contreras mounted a six-pitch battle, which resulted in an infield single. And still Vitello kept Foley in. Christian Yelich took four straight balls from a pitcher who was clearly losing it. And still Vitello kept Foley in. Finally, after a five-pitch battle, Foley retired Vaughn, and ended the inning.

It’s here where I remind you that Foley made his season debut 11 days ago, after missing a season and a half with a major shoulder surgery. It’s also where I remind you that he had his rehab assignment shut down and restarted because his body was not reacting well to simulating a Major League workload in the Minors and his shoulder was barking. And it’s where I make sure you’re aware that this was just his fourth outing since returning from said major shoulder surgery that he was struggling to recover from.

He threw 29 pitches in the inning. It was his 215th career game, and at no point in those prior 214 games had he ever thrown 29 pitches in a single inning. The 33 pitches he threw across the two frames was the third-most he’d thrown in a Major League game, and the most in more than four years.

Here’s hoping he doesn’t suffer the same fate that Gage did. But even a blessed and lucky outcome can’t excuse the process that led to him alone on that dirt island.

Anyway, you made it this far in this article, so here, have a treat. Bryce Eldridge did something cool.

Shohei Ohtani hit the night’s first home run. Max Muncy belted the one with the most historical significance.

But, on a warm summer night at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday, it was the Seattle Mariners who best took advantage of the hitter-friendly conditions, racking up five home runs of their own in a 7-6 win over the Dodgers.

A first-pitch temperature of just 77 degrees belied the sultry feel that surrounded Tuesday’s slugfest, when the ball was carrying from the start behind a light breeze to straightaway center.

At first, the Dodgers capitalized, with Ohtani opening the scoring with a leadoff home run in the first that snapped a nine-game long-ball drought.

After the Mariners ambushed Justin Wrobleski with three home runs over the next three innings, the Dodgers stormed back in front on Muncy’s solo shot in the fifth –– one that tied him with Eric Karros for the most home runs in Dodger Stadium history.

Up 5-4 at that point, however, the Dodgers failed to hold on.

Wrobleski gave up a career-high fourth home run in the sixth, when Dominic Canzone took him deep to straightaway center field at the end of his six-inning, five-run start.

Then, Canzone came back up in the eighth and delivered the decisive blow against reliever Alex Vesia, uncorking a two-run drive to break the 5-5 tie.

In addition to getting outslugged, the Dodgers were also less clinical in situational opportunities.

They had the bases loaded with no outs in the third, but only scored once on a Freddie Freeman double-play.

They sent eight batters to the plate in a two-run fourth inning, but also left the bases loaded after Kyle Tucker stopped at third on an RBI single from Ohtani –– despite third base coach Dino Ebel trying to wave him home to plate another run.

Then came a failed rally in the ninth, when Dalton Rushing led off with an infield single and Ohtani laced a double in the gap that the Mariners outfield couldn’t cleanly handle –– allowing Rushing to score and Ohtani to reach third with no outs.

Max Muncy later walked and stole second without a throw, putting the tying and winning runs in scoring position. But Mookie Betts grounded out to finish the night with yet another wasted chance.

What it means

The five home runs the Dodgers allowed on Tuesday tied the most they’ve given up this season. And the four that Wrobleski yielded left the young left-hander looking particularly flummoxed, as he was charged with his most runs in a start since May 22.

The first blast off Wrobleski was simple enough: A first-pitch fastball that Raleigh was on time for.

The other were more frustrating: All of them coming in two-strike counts, and two of them on fastballs above the strike zone.

“We didn’t do the greatest job of kind of adjusting to their game plan, and they got me,” Wrobleski said.

“Clearly their plan was to get on the fastball, or get on stuff that was up in the zone,” Roberts echoed. “He didn’t change eye levels enough, and so that’s why he gave up a lot of slug … They were hitting the ball out of the ballpark. So that’s kind of the tale of the run prevention tonight.”

Who’s hot

Since hitting his last home run at Dodger Stadium on May 31, Muncy had had 59 chances to tie Karros’ record during the team’s last three homestands.

A first-half-closing slump prevented it from happening then.

But a second-half-opening surge helped it happen now.

After hitting three home runs on the team’s post-All-Star-break road trip, Muncy finally matched Karros’ all-time Chavez Ravine mark of 130 career long balls by jumping on a hanging slider from Castillo in the fifth.

Muncy now has 21 homers this season, trailing only Shohei Ohtani for most on the team.

While Muncy had to wait a while for his record-tying blast, he reached Karros’ milestone far quicker than the former first baseman did.

Where Karros needed 798 games and 2,879 at-bats to get to 130 career Dodger Stadium homers, Muncy did it in just 516 games and 1,648 at-bats.

With up to 2 ½ more seasons remaining on his contract, Muncy will have plenty of time to distance himself on the leaderboard (assuming Ohtani doesn’t catch him first).

Who’s not

Those worrying that Ohtani’s knee injury was finally beginning to impact his swing.

That had become a question after the two-way star slumped during the team’s road trip, in which he went just 7-for-38 with no home runs.

But then, seemingly refreshed by Monday’s off day, Ohtani rediscovered his swing with a 3-for-4 performance, following up his leadoff blast with an intentional walk in the third, his RBI single in the fourth, and a double in the ninth that nearly keyed a game-saving rally.

“Tonight,” Roberts said, “he looked like himself.”

That didn’t mean, however, that Ohtani’s knee is back to 100%. Instead, the two-way star revealed after the game that he is also battling a bicep issue, one that has become another factor in his continued absence from pitching.

Up next

The Dodgers will look to bounce back on Wednesday, when Eric Lauer (5-5, 4.83 ERA) will face right-hander Emerson Hancock (6-4, 3.16 ERA).

Baseball is a cruel game. Last night (well, probably two nights ago by the time you’re reading this), Ceddanne Rafaela played hero with a grand slam that drove in all the Red Sox runs.

Tonight, he swung at a pitch that might have been outside state lines with the tying runs on base to cap off an extremely lamentable eighth inning.

Three batters earlier, Romy Gonzalez grounded into this double play, which while not quite as infuriating, proved every bit as costly.

Outside of those two at bats, four of the first five Red Sox batters reached base in the inning. It was exactly the frame where a team like the A’s, who had lost 24 of 30 entering tonight, should’ve blown the game, and it was exactly the frame where the Red Sox, winners of 23 of 27 entering tonight, should’ve won the game.

Instead, the offense reverted to pumpkin form, and the group that couldn’t buy a big hit to save their life over the first two and a half months of the season resurfaced. They went just 1-9 with runners in scoring position, wasted six walks (not a single one of them scored), hit into three double plays, and only had one run on the board going into the ninth inning in a park that wants to be minor league Coors Field.

Adding to the frustration, it also kind of felt like a game the Sox might have won if Curtis Mead was in there batting second instead of sidelined with a broken wrist. That spot in the lineup ended up having an average leverage index of 1.54, and Romy Gonzalez went hitless from it. There’s no way to know exactly how this game would’ve panned out if Mead was in there, but I would’ve liked to have seen it.

There’s also a second guess to be had from Chad Tracy tonight, who let Jake Bennett go out for the seventh inning. Ultimately, this resulted in Brain Serven hitting his first major league home run in four years, which turned a manageable 1-0 deficit into a 3-0 hole, and set the stage for the irritating squandering that ensued in the top of the eighth.

The argument against Tracy would go like this: Bennett’s had a tendency to hit a wall when he gets beyond 75 pitches all year, and his velocity went from a very impressive 96 mph early to several ticks off that later in the game.

At the same time though, I get where Tracy’s coming from. He used the high leverage part of the pen yesterday and didn’t want to use them again in a game the Sox were trailing, and he also doesn’t really have any other great options. All this underscores why the Sox need to have more bullpen depth on their shopping at the trade deadline. There’s such a drop off between the Chapman / Whitlock / Slaten / Guerrero part of the pen and everything else. They need something to bridge the gap.

Three Studs

Let’s give all of these to the right buttons Tracy pushed. Specifically, all three pinch hitters / defensive subs who nearly dragged the Red Sox back into the game.

Masataka Yoshida: Pinch-hit to lead off the eighth with a single.

Anthony Seigler: Followed up Yoshida’s pinch-hit single with a pinch-hit walk. He also put this charge into the ball to end the game, nearly tying things up.

Connor Wong: Hit a two-run bomb in the ninth to get the Red Sox within one after coming into the game defensively.

Three Duds

Ceddanne Rafaela: See the at bat in the eighth inning.

Romy Gonzalez: Went hitless, including the costly double play in the eighth.

Ryan Watson: Another guy who is here because of something that happened in the eighth inning. In his case, he coughed up a run that turned out to be the game winner after Wong’s shot in the ninth.

Looking Ahead:

The Red Sox will send Patrick Sandoval to the mound for the third game of this series tomorrow against Jacob Lopez, and it feels like a pretty important one given how cold the bats have looked at times in recent days. With the Dodgers lurking on the schedule this weekend, you’d like to grab enough wins on the front part of this road trip to prevent any potential damage there from exploding into an ugly overall trip to California.

Weird things happen when the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres get together, and tonight’s game was one of many such occasions in the history of this rivalry. The first of two in San Diego had it all. Terrible defense, many different pitchers, chair interference, multiple ejections from the Padres’ bench—including manager Craig Stammen—and finally a walk-off loss after more than three hours.

“We all kept going,” manager Warren Schaeffer assessed after the game. “Back and forth ballgame, really good big-league ballgame in terms of back-and-forth. Some big offensive moments. Two big at-bats for [Ezequiel Tovar] today. Big homer from [Mickey Moniak], Willi [Castro] — a couple of good walks from Willi, and Cole [Carrigg] just moving the line.

“Scoring 7 runs on the road, that’s pretty good,” he continued. “[We] scored against their bullpen a little bit, it’s a really good bullpen. But then on the other side of the ball, we had four errors. Errors and walks, walks and errors. You’re not going to win in the big leagues if you walk guys, especially late in the game and then you make errors in big moments.”

Not Very Loren-Zen

Right-handed starter Michael Lorenzen was the first of many pitchers utilized by the Rockies in tonight’s… let’s call it “interesting” affair against the Padres. Lorenzen, despite a string of solid starts in recent memory, was looking to rebound after getting hammered hard by the Washington Nationals his last time out.

Instead, Lorenzen gave up a lot of contact in an inefficient start. He threw 93 pitches in just four innings while also giving up eight hits with a walk and only two strikeouts.

Yet somehow Lorenzen gave up relatively minimal damage despite the contact. In the second inning he walked a batter with two outs before giving up two singles and a double to score two runs. A third run could have scored on the second single—one of Fernando Tatis Jr’s five base hits—but a well timed throw home from Jake McCarthy in right field ended the inning.

Lorenzen came out for the fifth inning but gave up another single to Tatis Jr. When another runner reached via a fielding error by Edouard Julien at second base, Lorenzen’s night ended. Juan Mejia allowed a single out of the bullpen that allowed another run to score before ending the inning via a double play.

“I thought Mike battled and competed,” Schaeffer said. “[He was] inefficient and (got) behind in counts. [His] pitch count rose quickly tonight. They fouled balls off — a lot of foul balls — but he battled. He got us into the fifth inning.”

Bullpen vs Defense

The Rockies utilized five relievers in this first of two games against the Padres with mixed results. After Mejia helped the Rockies escape the fifth with only one run scoring and recorded the first out of the sixth, he completely lost the strike zone and walked back-to-back batters. None of the balls in Xander Bogaerts’ at-bat were particularly close to the strike zone.

Mejia was then lifted for Antonio Senzatela—who needs to start rebuilding some of his trade value—who gave up back-to-back singles and a run to score. He then induced a double play, but the game was tied and this began an exhausting back-and-forth that would last the rest of the game.

When the Rockies pulled ahead in the top of the seventh, the Padres followed suit in the bottom. Lefty Brennan Bernardino saw his streak of now 20 straight appearances without allowing an earned run continue, but he allowed an inherited runner to score after Senzatela gave up a walk and a single to start the inning. A fielding error by Willi Castro would allow another run to score and the game was tied once more.

The Rockies again took the lead in the eighth only to end the inning with a tie. Victor Vodnik gave up a leadoff single to Fernando Tatis Jr to start the inning, and a fielding error by McCarthy on a Manny Machado line drive saw him score from first base. Machado was caught on an ill-advised attempt to steal third base but once again the damage was done.

In the bottom of the ninth inning it came down to the embattled Jimmy Herget to try and get the game to extra innings.

Herget entered tonight’s game in a truly miserable slump. In his last four appearances he had given up ten earned runs on nine hits—three of which were home runs—and walked five batters with just three strikeouts. A leadoff single by Jackson Merrill was a bad sign. An even worse sign was yet another error—the Rockies’ fourth of the game—when Hunter Goodman threw the ball into center field while Merrill attempted to steal second. Merrill advanced to third instead. Herget then gave up back-to-back walks before a sacrifice fly brought in the game winning run to cap off a very long and very odd ballgame.

Schaeffer was asked about the compounding errors after the game.

“I think they’re all separate. I think they’re each individual moments in time,” he said. “These guys are professionals, they’re big-league ballplayers and they know how to turn the page. It’s not like a Little League team where you’ve got to bring them all together and say ‘Let’s go. Let’s stop making errors.’ It was just a bad night defensively, that’s all. We’ll turn the page and we’ll be good again tomorrow.”

A solid enough offensive effort

The Rockies put up a fight on the road in San Diego, but it wasn’t enough to make up for terrible defense and pitching struggles.

Castro kicked off a four-run third inning for the Rockies with his 11th home run of the season. He needs just one more to tie his career high of 12, set in 2024 when he was an All-Star for the Minnesota Twins.

A bizarre blooping, bouncing double from Julien kept the inning going, and a single by McCarthy helped the Rockies capitalize on the opportunity. Mickey Moniak then walloped his 17th home run of the season to cap off the frame.

Moniak went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, but also struck out three times against Padres pitching in front of his hometown crowd.

Also playing in front of friends and family—which we were reminded of constantly—was rookie Cole Carrigg. Carrigg had a strong night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run and no strikeouts.

On the other hand, it was a difficult evening for Goodman and TJ Rumfield. The duo combined for seven strikeouts while going 0-for-10 at the plate.

The Rockies scored twice more in the seventh inning thanks to doubles with runners on by Tovar and Moniak, then once more in the eighth when Tovar drew a bases loaded walk.

However, they went down flailing against the truly artful filth of Padres closer Mason Miller.

Coming Up Next

Rookie righty Gabriel Hughes will take the mound for tomorrow’s second game of this miniature series. The Padres have not announced their starting pitcher yet. First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 PM MDT.

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The Twins have a very clear direction heading into next week’s trade deadline.

General manager Jeremy Zoll made sure of that on Tuesday. 

Zoll told reporters in no uncertain terms that the Twins would be buyers ahead of the MLB trade deadline on Monday, with Minnesota sitting a half-game back of the Guardians for the final American League wild-card spot.

The Twins GM also made it clear what area of need the front office would be focused on. 

“We’re going to use this next week to do everything we can to find ways to improve the club, continue to execute on that goal and make it a reality,” Zoll said, according to the Star Tribune. “We’re going to focus on finding ways to improve the bullpen and that’ll be a clear focus.”

“We’re going to focus on finding to continue to improve the bullpen and that’ll be a clear focus,” Zoll later said, according to MLB.com. “Beyond that, we’re going to be open to a variety of creative paths and you never know what might come about. This year in particular feels like the market is taking longer to fully take shape as teams have really used last week, this past weekend and, in some cases, these next few days to finalize their path.”

The Twins are 54-54 after they pulled off a comeback 3-2 win over the Royals on Tuesday with six days to go until the deadline. 

Zoll reminded folks that the ballclub’s goal since spring training had been to “play meaningful games in September.”

“We’re really excited about how the team has played over this last stretch,” he said. Tuesday. “We’re really encouraged about that. In turn, we’re going to use this next stretch, this next week, to do everything we can to find ways to improve the club and continue to execute on that goal and make it a reality.”

The decision to be buyers at the deadline means that pieces that teams may have been interested in off the Twins roster may not be available, such as pitcher Joe Ryan

Catcher Ryan Jeffers would have certainly fit that bill as a pending free agent, but Zoll indicated that there wasn’t much interest in trading Jeffers before the deadline. 

“In terms of individual speculation, I don’t think it’s particularly productive to work through all that,” he said. “But what I’ll say is on Ryan specifically, he’s had an awesome year. We’re really excited about where he’s at, and looking forward to doing everything we can to keep the group together and put us in the best spot to keep pushing ahead.”

The Twins will continue their three-game series with the Royals on Wednesday.