Category: MLB

Astros 2 Blue Jays 4

We really should have scored more.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STUDS

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

DUDS

• Everyone besides Buxton: 2-26, 4 BB

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Odds & Ends:

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

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

MINNEAPOLIS – When Eric Lauer was on the Toronto Blue Jays, he said he “hated” pitching behind an opener.

So what did the Dodgers have him do on Monday?

You guess it: They had him pitch behind an opener.

Only this time, the results were different.

They were better.

Replacing opener Will Klein after one inning, Lauer pitched six no-hit innings in a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.

Pitching through the seventh inning, Lauer departed the game with a 2-1 lead the Dodgers built on solo home runs by Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

Before the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Lauer was “all-in’” on the plan to deploy him behind reliever Will Klein.

Roberts made it a point to alert Lauer about how he would be used after the Dodgers’ series finale against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday in Los Angeles.

“I just laid it out there,” Roberts said. “He received it very well. 

“All players want, they want some clarity. I think for us he’s going to go into the game in the second inning, so he can do his preparation and be consistent with that.”

Ironically, the only problem with the plan turned out to be the inning pitch by the opener. The second hitter of the game, Byron Buxton, homered off him to tie the game, 1-1.

What it means

This was potentially a costly game for the Dodgers.

Kyle Tucker drew a walk in the second inning and advanced on a single by Tommy Edman, only to appear to be in obvious discomfort once he reached second base.

The Dodgers later announced Tucker was removed from the game with lower back spasms. The injury could be a major blow for Tucker, who is batting .234 in his first 75 games with the Dodgers.

But Tucker wasn’t the only player to go down.

An inning later, catcher Dalton Rushing was replaced by rookie Chuckie Robinson. Rushing left the game to rule out a concussion, according to the Dodgers.

Rushing was hit on his mask by a foul ball on the first pitch of the first inning.

Who’s hot

Right-hander Brock Stewart was activated from the injured list, a move that could help a bullpen that recently lost Blake Treinen to elbow inflammation.

The 34-year-old Stewart has pitched in only 5 ⅔ innings since he was acquired from the Twins last year in a trade for outfielder James Outman. 

Stewart pitched only two innings this season before he was placed on the injured list with bone spurs.

Who’s not

A day after Roberts ripped his team’s hitting approach, Ohtani led off the game with a home run – his 17th of the season.

But the Dodgers didn’t score again until the sixth inning when Freeman homered to center against Twins starter Zebby Matthews.

Matthews entered the game with a 4.78 earned-run average, but the right-hander limited the Dodgers to six hits and two runs over six innings. He struck out five.

Up next

On Tuesday, the Dodgers and Twins will play the second game of their three-game series at Target Field, with Justin Wrobleski (8-2, 2.72) starting for the Dodgers and Joe Ryan (5-3, 2.99) pitching for the Twins.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game particulars

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

Up next

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mets-Cubs game wasn’t the only rainout Monday night.

Francisco Lindor’s chance at a simulated game was washed away, as well, but the Mets haven’t ruled out the shortstop returning to the lineup on Wednesday, Carlos Mendoza said.

Lindor, rehabbing a left calf strain that has kept him sidelined since April 22, played a full minor league game for Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday and was supposed to go through a simulated game at Citi Field on Monday before the Mets opened a series against the Cubs.

Inclement weather limited Lindor to working out indoors and he’s scheduled to play again for Syracuse on Tuesday at Lehigh Valley.

If that goes well, Mendoza said the team would “reassess” Lindor’s status and “see what’s next for him.”

“We’ll see whether he needs a day off or if he’s ready to come back,” the manager said. “We just have to get through [Tuesday] and we’ll have those discussions.”

Lindor also played a rehab game for Double-A Binghamton on Friday before receiving a day off Saturday.

The Mets have had Bo Bichette mostly at shortstop without Lindor and have seen their season disintegrate with Lindor out after he was injured on the same day Juan Soto returned from his own calf injury in April.

Monday’s game will be made up as part of a split doubleheader on Wednesday at Citi Field.

The first game is scheduled to begin at 1:10 p.m. followed by the originally scheduled game at 7:10 p.m. Fans with paid tickets for the game originally scheduled to be played Monday may use them for the rescheduled game on Wednesday.

It feels like the Mets have been waiting for decades for Mark Vientos and Brett Baty to reach their respective potentials.

And now, they can’t get the two corner infielders to get going at the same time.

Just as Vientos shook off an ugly 17 at-bat hitless skid with a solid six-game stretch in which he’s gone 6-for-17 with a pair of homers, Baty finds himself in an 0-for-12 rut.

Vientos’ ability to hit lefty pitching — and inability to do anything against righties — has been an issue throughout his career and it’s been even more pronounced this season.

He has an OPS of .830 against lefties, compared to .776 for his career, but his struggles with right-handers on the mound have been even more pronounced: .543 OPS this season and .692 in his career.

Box Score

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lineup

Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are plenty of baseball games where you can pinpoint an individual moment to being what the result hinges on. There are others where things just always feel destined for a loss. Despite a close final score, Monday’s game against the Tigers felt like one of the latter for the Yankees.

On the mound, Gerrit Cole did not have the best of days. He lasted just 4.1 innings, having given up five runs on nine hits and a walk. Some iffy defense made things a bit worse than they should’ve been, but still, when your star former Cy Young pitcher has a sloppy day, things are always going to be tough.

That’s doubly so when the offense remains in a bit of a slump. Facing Framber Valdez, the Yankees managed just one run on four hits, striking out eight times. They made a bit of a late charge to make things a bit interesting, but they didn’t do nearly enough. Add in a couple errors on defense, and not much went in the Yankees’ favor as they fell 5-3 to the Tigers on Monday night.

The Yankees struck first, picking up a run in the second inning. With two outs in the inning, José Caballero worked a walk to keep the inning alive, and then stole second base. That put him in position to score when Ali Sánchez doubled.

However, the Tigers got that run back and more a little while later. Zach McKinstry led off the bottom of the third with a triple, after he managed to split the outfielders in deep left-center field. That allowed him to come home when Kevin McGonigle grounded out. While Cole followed that ground out by getting the second out of the inning, he had trouble getting the third, allowing a Kerry Carpenter single and a Riley Greene walk. Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith then both added RBI singles to give the Tigers a lead.

Detroit picked up another run off Cole in the fourth inning. Following a lead-off single and a delay caused by a Comerica Park dirt cam, McGonigle doubled home another run to increase the Tigers’ edge. Detroit then got Cole for one more run when Greene homered in the fifth. Cole ended up departing a few batters later, ending a day where he was far from his sharpest.

Valdez kept the Yankees off the board for the next little while, but they eventually managed to get something going against him. In the top of the seventh, Sánchez reached base again, albeit painfully, as he was hit by a pitch that knocked him out of the game. However, getting that runner on base proved helpful as Amed Rosario then hit a two-run homer to get the Yankees back in striking distance.

The Yankees had a chance to further eat away at their deficit, putting a couple runners on in the eighth. They didn’t take advantage of that though, and that ended up being curtains. The offense then went down in order in the ninth, dooming the Yankees to a defeat in the opener.

With the Yankees looking to bounce back and snap a three-game losing streak, they and the Tigers will continue their series tomorrow at 6:40 pm ET. Carlos Rodón will go for the Yankees, opposite Casey Mize for Detroit.

Box score

DETROIT — Whether he was most frustrated by a few pitches left over the heart of the plate, the inability to retire leadoff hitters, the Tigers finding some holes on him, or a pair of in-game delays, the problem was that Gerrit Cole had options.

The Yankees did, too.

On a third straight day when their offense was held in check, Cole got hit around more than he had all season as the Yankees dropped their third straight in a rough 5-3 loss to the Tigers on Monday night at Comerica Park.

Cole, who came into the night holding opposing hitters to a .196 batting average in his first five starts back from Tommy John surgery, got tagged for nine hits and five runs across 4 ¹/₃ innings.

He allowed the leadoff batter to reach in all five innings, including a home run in the fifth, as the Tigers (34-44) raced out to a 5-1 lead.

“I certainly made some mistakes, but the opposition is going to put pressure on you sometimes,” said Cole, who struck out five and walked one across 89 pitches. “The reality is it’s not the try-hard league, it’s the get-it-done league, and we just didn’t get it done tonight.”

Tigers lefty Framber Valdez, meanwhile, suffocated the Yankees (46-31) after they squandered some early chances, retiring the final 10 batters he faced across six innings. Amed Rosario belted a two-run shot in the seventh inning to pull the Yankees within 5-3, but that was as close as they would get.

The Yankees threatened by putting a pair of runners on base with two outs in the eighth inning, but the Tigers brought in Will Vest — a possible trade deadline candidate for the Yankees — who struck out Jasson Domínguez and then retired the side in the ninth.

After a strong stretch, the Yankees have now scored just six runs over their past three games and three or fewer runs in four of their past five games.

“I just think it’s part of the season,” Rosario said through an interpreter. “We’ve been there before. [Tuesday], we have a really good opportunity to tie the series and hopefully win this series. You can’t really panic. You understand you go through some stretches like that, but looking forward to [Tuesday].”

Since he returned from the injured list in late May, Cole has looked like his vintage self at times and more human at others, like Monday. There was an understanding all along that there would be some ups and downs as he settled back into pitching regularly for the first time since 2024, and that the Yankees would handle him with the long run in mind — as they did this turn by inserting Elmer Rodríguez as a spot starter Sunday, giving Cole (and the rest of the rotation) an extra day’s rest during a stretch of 16 games in 16 days.

But after Rodríguez gave up three runs in four innings Sunday, Cole wasn’t much sharper Monday.

Ali Sánchez — who left the game in the seventh inning after getting drilled on the right wrist by a 98 mph fastball that required tests — roped an RBI double that put the Yankees up 1-0 in the second before the Tigers took the lead for good in the third.

Zach McKinstry led off with a triple to the gap that left fielder José Caballero was unable to cut off before it bounced all the way to the wall.

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McKinstry came in to score on a groundout that tied the game before the Tigers restarted a rally with two outs on a single and a walk.

Spencer Torkelson then blooped a single to center that made it a 2-1 game before Cole left an 0-2 fastball down the middle to Colt Keith, who lined it for a single and the 3-1 lead.

After a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth, a six-minute delay ensued as an infield dirt camera in front of second base became exposed.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. tried to cover it up with dirt, but the grounds crew eventually came out to handle matters as Cole threw warmup pitches.

Cole retired the next batter before stud rookie shortstop Kevin McGonigle — on another 0-2 count — slapped a double to left field.

Caballero fielded it off the short wall but then hesitated on the throw and misfired home, his throw tipping off Rosario’s glove and bouncing to the backstop as the Tigers went up 4-1.

“They got nine hits and they just put a ton of pressure on us and played overall slightly better baseball,” Cole said. “That’s just the way it broke tonight.”

An in-ground camera at second base produced the highlight of the Detroit Tigers-New York Yankees game on Monday, June 22.

During the series opener at Comerica Park, the small camera embedded in the dirt near second base worked its way up out of the ground, exposed enough to stop play. While it took half a dozen people on the field to kick and tap the camera to figure out what to do, the Detroit broadcast duo of Jason Benetti and Roman Dirks leaned into the bizarre moment.

The broadcast showed the rogue camera's footage of the up-close view of Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm trying to bury it as Benetti and Dirks hilariously narrated the standoff.

"Hey get away from me..... Quit stepping on me!"

"I'm just trying to do my job here."

As Chisholm started piling infield dirt over the camera and the view was like that of someone being buried, it got funnier.

"No! No! No! I can't see."

"This is an obstructed view seat now"

The delay paused the game with the Tigers leading 3-1 and Gerrit Cole on the mound. Detroit went on to win 5-3.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watch camera delay at second base in Yankees Tigers game