Category: MLB

Baseball, perhaps more so than every other ball sport save golf, might be the one in which more happens to decide the outcome of a play, game, or season not on the field of play but in that one square foot of real estate nobody can see: What's going on inside the players’ minds?

During a 19-game stretch in August during his rookie year, Mets outfielder A.J. Ewing had just eight hits in 73 at-bats (.110) and saw his average (.269) and OPS (.743) fall by .033 and 0.089, respectively.

Interim skipper Andy Green said Ewing had the “attitude” and “confidence” to break out of it. After a three-hit, three-RBI game in Monday’s 9-4 win over the Miami Marlins, the rookie is now 10-for-25 (.400) with eight RBI in his last seven games.

“He’s been really good,” Green said after the win. “The at-bats are outstanding; he’s hitting the ball all over the field, he’s hitting it with authority.”

Ewing said it comes down to feeling “really comfortable in the box right now” as he tries to stay true to his game. Does that mean there was a change of approach after the August slump?

“A little bit,” Ewing said. “I would say it’s not chasing results and just kinda sticking to an approach and a plan and just being pitch-to-pitch.”

And chasing results and letting the mental side of his game slip away is something Ewing indicated was happening during the bad run at the plate

“I’d say it’s impossible not to be up there and have those thoughts in your head,” Ewing said. “But staying away from that as much as you can is definitely the mental challenge of this game.” 

For the season, Ewing has five games with three or more hits over his first 102 appearances and has his slash line back up to .247/.319/.365 for a .684 OPS. 

With Ewing getting back on base, Green added that he is once again bringing an extra dimension to the Mets' offense with his speed.

“He can apply so much pressure with his speed,” the interim skipper said. “So getting him back on the bases really causes our offense to churn.”

Of course, the 22-year-old rookie will still have more to learn. “I just wasn’t expecting [it],” he said about getting picked off first in the third inning on Monday.

Put it in the memory bank for later.

Four down, three to go. The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies have now played four of the seven games they’ve got scheduled against each other here in September and so far, the Braves can at least rest easy knowing that they held serve in the division. Sure, it would’ve been great to see the Braves win the series or even sweep it but being realistic, a road split was a decent result and as we always say, “you always take a four-game split on the road.”

So, how did Atlanta go about earning the split in order to make sure that their four-game lead in the division remained at four games once they left town? Let’s not waste any more time and hop right into it, shall we?

Friday, September 4

Braves 5, Phillies 2

Chris Sale just keeps on making it happen, doesn’t he? While this wasn’t on the same level as that epic complete game shutout that he pulled off against the Dodgers not too long ago, the fact that he was able to pitch six strong innings while holding Philadelphia to just two runs and leaving the game with a lead was absolutely huge. The only Phillies hitter who really had any sort of idea as to how to really get to Sale on the night was Alec Bohm, whose RBI double in the second and his dinger in the fourth served as the only blemishes on Sale’s record for the night. Outside of that, Sale gave the Braves exactly what they needed on this particular night.

While this was going on, Atlanta’s lineup essentially rode a three-run inning in the second nearly all the way to the house. Like manna from heaven, the Braves managed to get a real rally going off of Cristopher Sánchez and it peaked with a three-hitter run where Austin Riley bounced one into right field (where Bryce Harper continued to show why it’s probably not a great idea to have him back in the outfield) for an RBI single, Ha-Seong Kim continued his return to relevancy with a productive out that plated Mauricio Dubón from third base and then Ronald Acuña Jr. fired off his first salvo of the weekend with an RBI single to make it 3-0 Braves.

Atlanta had a 3-2 lead heading into the eighth before a big fly gave Atlanta the breathing room they needed in order to make it a relatively comfortable finish. Mike Yastrzemki came through with a pinch-hit, one-out walk against Orion Kerkering and then Mauricio Dubón popped one into the seats in left field for a two-run shot that put the Braves out ahead by three. Didier Fuentes and Raisel Iglesias held down the fort in their relief innings and Atlant was halfway towards the split they needed.

Saturday, September 5

Phillies 4, Braves 2

Unfortunately, it was Philadelphia’s turn to go up 3-0 early on in the contest. The Braves wasted a bases-loaded opportunity against Zack Wheeler in the first inning and as it turns out, that was the golden opportunity for the Braves against Wheeler as he ended up cruising through six innings with only one run given up. Meanwhile, Martín Pérez got tagged for four runs in just 3.2 innings as he struggled to find the strike zone for most of his outing.

Four walks for Pérez in the first basically led to two runs being scored by the Phillies and then a productive out from Kyle Schwarber cashed in a leadoff triple in the second from Derek Hill. Schwarber then proceeded to add Philadelphia’s fourth run in his usual way in the fourth inning — via dinger. That’d be the first of three dingers on the weekend for Schwarber, who currently has five homers against the Braves so far this season. Good grief. For what it’s worth, he’s also got six dingers agains the Mets so basically he’s the ultimate crowd-pleaser up there in Philadelphia.

Anyways, Atlanta’s offense couldn’t hack it against José Alvarado and Jhoan Duran on this particular night, though Ronald Acuña Jr. did homer off of Wheeler in the third and Austin Riley smacked one out against Jonathan Bowlan in the seventh outside of those big flies (and Acuña continuing to be a thorn in Philadelphia’s side), there wasn’t much to cheer about from an Atlanta perspective as the Braves were unable to keep up with the Phillies on the offensive side of things.

Sunday, September 6

Braves 5, Phillies 4

This one was certainly looking bleak late! Once again, the Phillies rushed out to an early lead and it eventually turned into a late lead after both Derek Hill and Kyle Schwarber launched bombs at Dylan Dodd’s expense to make it a 4-1 ballgame. The Braves had six outs in order to make sure that they didn’t drop two in a row to Philadelphia and fortunately, they had one of their stars ready to do some more damage.

Ronald Acuña Jr. was already responsible for the lone run batted in for Atlanta up until that point (via a sacrifice fly) and he had an opportunity in the eighth inning to at least add two more RBI to his tally with both Drake Baldwin and Mike Yastrzemski in scoring position. He ended up adding three in one swing, as he turned on a 101-mph heater from Alex McFarlane and drove it into the seats in left-center for a game-changing three-run dinger (his 1,000th career hit, to boot) that brought both the Braves and the local boo-birds in Philadelphia back to life.

Jhoan Duran got the ball for the ninth inning in an effort to restore order. He did not do so, as Ozzie Albies led off the ninth with a double and then Austin Riley picked a fantastic time to hit his second triple of the season over the head of Derek Hill in center field. The three-bagger put the Braves in front, which gave Raisel Iglesias a chance to make another save. A leadoff single made things scary considering Iglesias’s track record with men on base and then a productive out and a passed ball brought Stott al the way to third. For the second time in as many weeks, Iglesias ended up stranding the tying run at third base and just like that, the Braves had stolen one and guaranteed themselves the crucial road split.

Monday, September 7

Phillies 1, Braves 0

Well, as you can tell by the scoreline, there wasn’t much to write home about as far as the offense goes. It was always going to be tough sledding for the Braves on this particular day with Jesús Luzardo going and it ended up being the toughest sledding of all, as Luzardo ended up going the distance and pitching a complete game shutout. Atlanta only managed two hits on the day and three baserunners total, as Matt Olson and Michael Harris II got on with base knocks and then Ronald Acuña Jr. got on with a walk. That’s all she wrote as far as the offense went for the Braves and it was a very, very good thing that they had the split going into this game because this would’ve been a very depressing note to end a four-game series loss on!

Anyways, you’ve got to give credit to Grant Holmes for delivering a strong performance while he was out there. Holmes went six innings and only gave up three hits and two walks while striking out six. When he left the game, it was still a scoreless tie. Instead, Didier Fuentes ended up being the “goat” in this one as he left a 2-2, 2-out pitch against Kyle Schwarber right down the middle. Schwarber is only thinking about one result and looking for one pitch in one location in that situation — he got what he wanted and that ended up being the difference!

So there you have it! Atlanta went into Philadelphia with a four-game lead in the NL East standings and they’ll be leaving town with the same lead in hand. Considering the circumstances, that’s a job well done for the Braves to be able to go into hostile territory with the stakes as high as they were and ultimately hold serve. It’s also huge for the Braves to have gone ahead and clinched the season series over Philadelphia as well — they now hold the tiebreaker over both the team that they’re pursuing for the second seed in the National League and the team that they’re trying to hold off for the divisional title. It’s been a productive couple of weeks for the Braves!

Perhaps the most encouraging development over the past couple of weeks is that Ronald Acuña Jr. is going back on a heater. Heading into the series finale and dating back to August 24, Acuña had been hitting .419/.458/.698 over 11 games and 48 plate appearances, good for a wOBA of .488 and a wRC+ of 213 during that short sample size. It’s exactly what you want to see from a player of Acuña’s caliber as the team gets closer and closer to the Postseason and hopefully this’ll be the start of a special run for Acuña as the playoffs beckon.

Meanwhile, Matt Olson has been mired in a serious funk in that same span, as he’s only been hitting .149/.216/.255 over the past couple of weeks with a wOBA of .205 and a wRC+ of 24. It’s hard to begrudge Olson considering just how well he’s been playing all season but it sure would be nice for him to figure it out at the plate as the season winds down. We’re slowly but surely starting to finally see what this lineup was meant to look like when it was constructed and hopefully this team will finally start hitting on all cylinders at the plate as a unit once October rolls around.

Predictably, the pitching was solid. Chris Sale kept up his fantastic level of performance with a strong outing on Friday, Tyler Mahle pitched another six solid innings on Sunday and then Grant Holmes’ six shutout innings on Monday shouldn’t be forgotten, either. Martín Pérez had the only slip-up as far as starting pitching was concerned and even still, the bullpen picked up the slack and kept the Braves in that particular game. In fact, outside of stumbles from Dylan Dodd on Sunday and Didier Fuentes on Monday (and again, tough to begrudge him considering that he came up huge on Friday), the bullpen put in some really good work against Philadelphia’s lineup in their own cramped ballpark.

Overall, I will absolutely take the Braves grabbing a split of this four-game series. Weirdly enough, the result may also suit the Phillies as well considering their remaining schedule. They’ll be facing the Astros for the next three days while the Braves face the Rays and then after this weekend’s series, Philadelphia will be taking on the Nationals for two and the Mets for four to complete their road trip before returning home to face the Brewers and the Rays. On paper, that seems imposing but both of those teams may have clinched their divisions and their Postseason seeds so they might be letting off the gas a bit in that final week.

Meanwhile, Atlanta has to take on the Rays next, then they travel to Wrigley to face a mercurial-but-tough Cubs team, then they’ll be facing that same Astros team that’s fighting to hold on to the AL West crown before ending the season with three at home against the Reds and three at home against the Marlins. Depending on the circumstances, both teams will have choppy seas to navigate heading into October.

The good news is that the Braves still have the four-game lead intact. That’s not to say that it’s a green light to let off the gas but it’s still good that the Braves remain in the driver’s seat. A strong homestand against the Rays and Phillies is still a must for Atlanta and with the way that they’ve performed at home lately, it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility that they can get it done and make sure that this lead holds up heading into mid-September. For now, Atlanta has avoided slipping up at the first hurdle and hopefully they’ll continue to clear the hurdles that are ahead of them.

There have been some interesting games on Labor Day over the years. We begin in 2002, with the infamous 19-1 blowout against the Dodgers at Bank One Ballpark, which ended in Mark Grace working the ninth inning. At the other end of the pleasantness spectrum, and also against Los Angeles, we have J.D. Martinez blasting four home-runs against them on Labor Day 2017, in Dodger Stadium. Between those, we had Internet famous (and sadly missed) Arizona resident Grumpy Cat, who along with her owner threw out the first pitch, on this holiday in 2015, paving the way for a 6-1 Diamondbacks victory.

This one likely deserves to be filed alongside them. Despite being a bullpen game for Arizona, it was a taut pitcher’s duel, with both sides failing to score. The Royals left the bases loaded in one inning. The D-backs wasted a situation with men on the corners and no outs. But neither side could score in regulation. So it went to extras, where the D-backs proved to be kryptonite for Craig Kimbrel once again. They scored five runs, and looked to be laughing their way to victory. But Gerardo Carrillo had another nightmare, allowing four runs to score while recording one out. Dennis Santana came in with the tying run on second, but got the last two outs for the save.

If my searching is correct, it’s the first time in National League recorded history (per Baseball Reference) where a game was scoreless through the regulation nine innings, but ended with both teams scoring 4+ runs. It has happened twice in the AL, most recently in April 2015, when Houston beat Oakland, also 5-4. Though the record number of runs scored in a scoreless regulation game is 12. The White Sox and Mariners were scoreless through nine in June 2013. After four more sets of zeroes, Chicago scored five in the top half of the fourteenth – only for Seattle to do the same in the bottom half! The White Sox finally prevailed 7-5 in sixteen innings.

Anyway. A long, long time ago, Derek Law started for the Diamondbacks. It’s not actually his first experience of the role, having been the opener for three games during his time in Cincinnati, three years ago. He filled the same role in Toronto back in 2019. I’d forgotten the concept of the opener had been around that long, but it was started by the Rays the previous season. Today, he worked a pair of scoreless innings, assisted by a nifty unassisted double-play by Ildemaro Vargas. Though really, it was more a case of buzzard luck for the hitter. No change of that kind of thing happening twice in the same game, right? Right?

That was, by and large, the most interesting thing that happened in the first eight innings. Santana was followed by Jose Cabrera, who added three scoreless inning. That did get a little wobbly in the fifth, when he put men on the corner with one out. But in a demonstration of why attempting to bunt isn’t necessarily a good idea, the KC hitter popped it up, for Vargas to catch on the slide. The Royals then loaded the bases, before Bobby Witt Jr. hammered one with an exit velocity of 101.4 mph, sending it 375 feet, but fortunately into the waiting glove of Tim Tawa. Scoreless through five, it was then turned over to the more traditional bullpen.

Taylor Clarke worked the sixth and seventh, giving the team two innings for only the second time this year. The pair of scoreless frames reduced his ERA to 2.45. And, remember – he was tagged for four runs in less than an inning on Opening Day against the Dodgers. Since then, his ERA over 63 appearances and 65.2 innings has been 1.92. Brandyn Garcia struck out two batters in the eighth, and Justin Martinez worked around a walk in the ninth. He also threw a pitch at 103.4 mph, the second fastest ever thrown by a Diamondbacks (he had one at 103.6 mph last month).

The top of the ninth had seen Arizona have their best chance to score. Ketel Marte extended his hitting streak to six games with a lead-off single. A perfectly executed hit-and-run by him and Gabriel Moreno, saw our catcher lace one through Gaby Lane (TM, Berthiaume Productions, Inc.) to put men on the corner with one out. Nolan Arenado then came up, and on an 0-2 count, lined a 99 mph fastball, with an exit velocity of 101.4 mph… Right into the diving glove of the Royals’ third baseman, who was then able to lunge for the bag and double off Marte. He wasn’t exactly far off the bag: it was just the same buzzard luck, which had benefited the team earlier.

It felt like a momentum swing, but Kansas City couldn’t score, and so it was hello to old friend Craig Kimbrel in the 10th. Corbin Carroll was the man on second, having struck out woefully on three pitches to end the ninth. Ildemaro Vargas looked to bunt, and did so perfectly past a lunging Kimbrel, to put men on the corners with no outs. Lars Nootbaar pinch-hit and drove in the game’s first run with a deep sacrifice fly. But Kimbrel and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day continued. Arizona scored four more times with two outs, on RBI by Ryan Waldschmidt, Geraldo Perdomo (+1 on an error) and Gabriel Moreno.

To be fair, Kimbrel had actually been good against us since taking two losses in the 2023 NLCS while pitching for the Phillies. Five scoreless appearances, but that streak died hard today. 5-0 up in the middle of the tenth, with a Win Probability of 97.9% = game over, right? No. Enter Carrillo, whose last outing was also a stinker. Today was worse still. Four-pitch walk, RBI double, HBP, K, three-run double. His ERA has jumped from 1.06 to 4.15 in 0.1 IP. Should Dennis Santana have been up earlier? Well, given the results, I’d say he was up just in time. A fly-ball got the second out, but moved the tying run to third, before the most perfectly placed strike three (above) ended a dramatic inning.

This one seriously reminded me of some of the games in the 2007 campaign. There were a couple against San Diego where we blew a 5-1 lead in the ninth, only to win 9-5; or where Arizona were eight runs up at the stretch, only to squeak out an 8-7 victory. But the win’s the thing: it was the D-backs’ fourth in five games, all of them coming by a margin of one run. We now get to relax, enjoy the rest of the day’s games and engage in a little light scoreboard watching, while we prepare for the long awaited return of Corbin Burnes tomorrow…

Click for details at Fangraphs
The Dignity of Labor: Dennis Santana, +29%
Labor relations: Perdomo, +27%; Moreno, +21%; Cabrera, +18%; Clarke, +17%; Martinez, +14%; Vargas, +13%; Garcia, +11%; Law, +10%
Labor pains: Nolan Arenado, -34%
Labor dispute: Carrillo, -27%; Gurriel, -15%; Lawlar, -12%

To be fair, Arenado doesn’t deserve the blame, considering his double-play ball has an xBA of .530. Gurriel did not look good, in his first game back. Those Reno numbers look painfully real, and he may not see much playing time the rest of the way. 267, increasingly-stressed comments – feels like most of them came after the eighth inning! A number turned Sedona Red, but I’m giving it to chwalter, for one which slipped through the net at the time, but in hindsight proved entirely prophetic.

Tomorrow, the same two teams, albeit at a more civilized hour, with a first pitch scheduled for 4:40 pm, Arizona time. As noted above, it will be the long-awaited return of Corbin Burnes, who last pitched for the D-backs on June 1st 2025…

MILWAUKEE — Before I begin my critique of Cubs manager Craig Counsell, the Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Brewers Monday was a really good ballgame in front of a packed house that had to be close to 40 percent Cubs fans. Well worth the drive up despite the loss.

Anyway.

Situation: The game’s going into the eighth inning with the Cubs leading 2-1. Matthew Boyd has been absolutely magnificent all the way through the first seven, allowing just four hits and one run, striking out seven. He had thrown 87 pitches.

The Brewers’ leadoff hitter in the eighth was a left-handed bat, Garrett Mitchell. So I figured Counsell would leave Boyd in to face Mitchell, then call on a right-handed reliever to face the next two bats, right-handed hitters Joey Ortiz and Jackson Chourio.

Ryan Zeferjahn, who’d been so good in his last two outings, was the righty in the bullpen. Unfortunately, Boyd walked Mitchell.

Still — the right call here is to bring in Zeferjahn to face Ortiz, right? With Ortiz being a right-handed hitter and Boyd now tiring at 93 pitches?

Well, you know what happened. Ortiz doubled down the line. Now Zeferjahn has to come in and face Chourio with two runners in scoring position with nobody out. His two-run single gave the Brewers the lead, and after a walk and strikeout, Jacob Webb was called in to clean up the mess. Another walk loaded the bases and a sac fly by Christian Yelich gave the Brewers a fourth run which, as it turned out, they needed.

Counsell should have taken Boyd out after Mitchell. Period. Not sure what he was thinking.

Anyway, let’s go back to the beginning of this game, now that I’ve told you about (most of) the ending, though there’s more on that to come.

The teams matched zeroes for four innings, with both Boyd and Brewers starter Robert Gasser dealing. At one point Boyd struck out four straight Brewers. The Cubs had a chance in the fourth when with one out, Alex Bregman walked and Tyrone Taylor doubled him to third. At first it looked like Bregman might try to score on the double, but he was held. Ultimately that didn’t matter, as he was later tagged out in a rundown play [VIDEO].

The Cubs broke through in the fifth, when with two out Pedro Ramirez broke an 0-for-19 stretch with his fifth home run of the year [VIDEO].

The Brewers got that run right back in the bottom of the inning. Luis Lara led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. A single by Mitchell made it 1-1.

In the top of the seventh, the Cubs took a 2-1 lead. With two out, Pete Crow-Armstrong singled and stole second, his 35th (he’d earlier stolen his 34th) [VIDEO].

That steal tied PCA’s career high, set last year, and put him just five steals away from the first 40/40 season ever by a Cubs player.

Seiya Suzuki followed with a walk, and a single by Bregman made it 2-1 Cubs [VIDEO].

That lead did not last, unfortunately, as previously described.

So the game went to the ninth with the Brewers leading by two. The Cubs did not quit against Milwaukee closer Trevor Megill. Ramirez nearly hit his second homer of the game, but Lara stole it from him [VIDEO].

That might not quite have cleared the wall if it’s not caught, but it was close, and if it had fallen in, Ramirez’s drive would have likely been a double — and then PCA’s 41st home run would have tied the game [VIDEO].

The next hitter, Suzuki, nearly poked a double into left-center, but Chourio made this sliding grab to end the game [VIDEO].

Like I said: Good ballgame. Lots of important plays by both teams. The Cubs are a really good team. On this day, at least, the Brewers were just a bit better. We have seen this before — you cannot give the Brewers any sort of edge or they will pounce on it, and they did so when (again, my opinion) Counsell left Boyd in one batter too long.

This loss was made worse by the Phillies’ 1-0 win over the Braves, the only run Kyle Schwarber’s 43rd home run, so the Cubs trail the Phillies now by half a game for the top wild card spot. I have a feeling that the Cubs having the tiebreaker there will be very, very important.

A note on the Cubs’ two blown leads from BCB’s JohnW53:

The two leads that the Cubs squandered today, 1-0 and 2-1, were their 60th and 61st of the season. The 60th was the 22nd they have blown in the next half-inning after going ahead. All 61 have come in 51 different games. The Cubs’ record in those games is 23-28 and they have lost eight in a row since Aug. 21. They had won five straight before that.

This speaks to the bad bullpen work they’ve been getting recently. That is an issue that has to be resolved before the postseason.

Here’s a fun PCA note:

Things won’t get any easier Tuesday in Milwaukee when the Cubs have to face Jacob Misiorowski again. On the other hand, they hit him pretty well in Wrigley Field last week. Perhaps they can do it again. The Cubs will start David Peterson in another rematch from last week. Game time Tuesday is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

It was a steady and encouraging season for the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, who finished 2026 in third place in the Carolina League South with a 71-61 overall record. After going 33-33 and finishing fifth in the first half, the Ballers found another gear, going 38-28 and climbing to second place in the second half.

Kannapolis finished the season with a +80 run differential and went an impressive 14-7 against teams with winning records during the second half. Unfortunately, Kanny shared a division with the Hickory Crawdads, who went an absurd 48-17 after the break and closed the season on a 15-game winning streak. Had the Ballers played in the Carolina League North, they would have had a much better chance of securing a second-half playoff spot.

Although the Ballers fell short of the postseason, Kannapolis remained an important developmental stop in the White Sox system, with several players earning recognition and promotions along the way.

Top 100 prospect
Billy Carlson, SS
White Sox No. 3 prospect; MLB Pipeline No. 62 overall
Carlson was the only MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospect in the White Sox system to play for Kannapolis this season. Chicago selected the glove-first shortstop with the 10th overall pick in the 2025 draft.

Carlson started slowly in April, but his bat began to come around in May, when he slashed .293/.425/.379. Unfortunately, a fractured left thumb sidelined him for about seven weeks. He returned in July and showed signs of settling back in, but played only six games in August before a skin infection ultimately ended his season.

Carlson, who turned 20 in July, finished with a .976 fielding percentage at shortstop. His season did not provide as many opportunities for development as the White Sox would have liked, but his defensive ability and improving hit tool remain reasons for optimism.

Top 30 White Sox prospects
Jaden Fauske, OF
White Sox No. 8 prospect
Fauske spent the entire season with Kannapolis and put together an encouraging professional debut. The 19-year-old slashed .250/.388/.360 with a .748 OPS and led the Carolina League with 10 triples. He also demonstrated an advanced understanding of the strike zone. He drew 94 walks in 538 plate appearances, good for an outstanding 17.5% walk rate.

A high school catcher, the White Sox are developing Fauske as an outfielder. He appeared at all three positions, receiving most of his playing time in center field, where he posted a .948 fielding percentage. He was especially reliable in right field, handling all 50 of his chances without an error across 270 innings.

The power has not arrived yet, but Fauske’s age, on-base ability and positional versatility made his first professional season a success.

Javier Mogollón, INF
White Sox No. 12 prospect
Mogollón played well enough at Kannapolis to earn a July promotion to Winston-Salem. Before moving up, he slashed .268/.385/.457 with an .842 OPS.

The infielder also displayed some pop, hitting seven home runs after joining the Dash and finishing the season with 14 overall.

Defensively, he appeared at second base, third base and shortstop. Most of his opportunities came at second, where he posted a .965 fielding percentage. Most importantly, Mogollón held his own following the promotion, giving the White Sox another promising young infielder to watch.

Pierce George, RHP
White Sox No. 19 prospect
Selected by the White Sox in the 13th round of the 2024 draft, George began the season in the Kannapolis bullpen and did not stay long. He posted a 1.32 ERA and 0.59 WHIP across 10 appearances, earning a promotion to Winston-Salem.

George continued to perform well with the Dash, recording a 3.18 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 15 games. That earned the 23-year-old another promotion, this time to Birmingham in late June. He didn’t replicate that success at Double-A, but advancing three levels in one season was an accomplishment in itself.

Alexander Albertus, INF
White Sox No. 28 prospect
Acquired from the Dodgers in the 2024 Michael Kopech trade, Albertus opened the season in the Arizona Complex League but needed only four games to earn a promotion to Kannapolis.

The 21-year-old slashed .272/.387/.397 with a .784 OPS in 287 at-bats. He controlled the strike zone well, walking in 14.4% of his plate appearances while striking out only 17.9% of the time.

The White Sox also gave Albertus his first professional opportunities at first base. He adapted well, committing only one error in 213 chances. His six home runs do not fit the traditional power profile associated with first base. Still, his plate discipline and ability to play multiple infield positions give him other avenues to provide value.

The 2026 draft class arrives
Braden Holcomb, OF
The White Sox selected Holcomb out of Vanderbilt in the 12th round with the 345th overall pick. The 21-year-old made a strong first impression, slashing .333/.439/.667 with a 1.106 OPS in 13 games before earning a promotion to Winston-Salem on Sept. 3.

There are some swing-and-miss concerns. In a brief 57-plate-appearance sample with Kannapolis, Holcomb walked at an encouraging 14% clip but struck out 26.3% of the time.

Although capable of playing all three outfield positions, Holcomb appeared exclusively in left field for Kannapolis and did not commit an error.

Grayson Fitzwater, 1B
Selected in the 13th round with the 375th overall pick, Fitzwater arrived from Virginia Military Institute as the program’s career leader in several offensive categories, including home runs, total bases and RBIs. The 22-year-old carried that production into his professional debut, slashing .271/.365/.486 with an .851 OPS and four home runs. He also handled first base well, committing only one error for a .996 fielding percentage.

Fitzwater finished the season on an especially strong note, earning Carolina League Player of the Week honors for Aug. 31-Sept. 6. He went 9-for-16 with a home run, a triple, four doubles, six walks and 10 RBIs during the final week.

Fitzwater benefited from a .379 BABIP in 126 plate appearances, so some regression is possible as the sample grows. Still, his power and torrid finish made his professional debut encouraging.

Other notable performers
Efren Teran, INF
The White Sox signed Teran this past spring after Boston released him. The 19-year-old began the season in the ACL and earned a promotion after tearing through the complex league for 13 games.

Teran hit .274/.356/.311 with a .667 OPS for Kannapolis. Although he did not provide much power, he made frequent contact and played reliable defense. At third base, he committed only two errors in 87 chances for a .977 fielding percentage.

Stiven Flores, C/1B
Flores, a Dominican Summer League All-Star in 2023, put together a solid season on both sides of the ball. The 20-year-old slashed .277/.344/.342 with a .690 OPS and consistently put the ball in play. He struck out in only 9.2% of his plate appearances while posting an 8.1% walk rate.

Flores was equally dependable behind the plate. He recorded a .991 fielding percentage with only three passed balls and threw out 30.3% of attempted base stealers. His contact ability and steady defense made him one of Kannapolis’ more reliable players.

Grant Cleavinger, LHP
Cleavinger signed with the White Sox as an undrafted free agent in July following his senior season at Nebraska. He appeared 12 times for the Huskers, striking out nine and holding opponents to a .125 average in 5 1/3 innings.

The southpaw was nearly unhittable after joining Kannapolis. In 15 relief appearances, he went 2-1 with a 2.40 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, three holds and two saves across 15 innings. Opponents hit only .151 against him, and he struck out 33 for an eye-popping 19.80 K/9.

It was a small sample, but striking out more than half the batters he faced is certainly one way to get the organization’s attention.

Marco Barrios, RHP
Barrios opened 2025 in the ACL before finishing the season with 11 innings for Kannapolis. He returned to the Ballers for all of 2026 and emerged as a reliable member of the bullpen.

In 48 appearances, Barrios went 5-5 with a 2.75 ERA and 1.20 WHIP across 52 1/3 innings. He also remained remarkably young for the level, turning 20 in May. His combination of age, durability and consistent production made him one of the season’s more intriguing under-the-radar performers.

The Cannon Ballers’ 2026 campaign may not have ended with a playoff run, but it was unquestionably a win in the player-development department. Between the top organizational talent, emerging international signees, fast-rising pitchers and an encouraging first look at members of the 2026 draft class, Kannapolis offered plenty of evidence that the White Sox farm system is, indeed, alive and kicking.

The Tigers looked to right the ship after several crushing, walk-off losses in Cleveland over the weekend, coming home for a three-game series against another division rival, the Minnesota Twins. They got a little revenge on their opponent for bashing them around last week, starting off the series with a tight 5-4 win featuring a long home run from a guy on a heck of a hot streak.

Troy Melton has been having a sensational year for the Tigers, and he started for them today. However, his previous start was in Minnesota and it did not go well: while he got into the sixth, he was charged with five earned runs (with another pair unearned) on the way to a 15-2 drubing.

Making his twenty-fourth start of the season for the Twins was Joe Ryan, who’s been a stalwart in their rotation since the tail end of 2021. He’s having his usual “above average, but not outrageously so” season: striking out a little more than one per inning, keeping traffic more-or-less off the basepaths, However, back in early August he strained his left gluteus maximus muscle and this is his first start back from spending time on the shelf, and it’s funny (to me, anyway) to think that “straining your ass” can be an actual baseball injury. He wasn’t going to go deep in this one.

The Twins made noise early: a leadoff plunking and single in the first was followed, after a strikeout, by a double steal to put runners on second and third with one out. A weak grounder to John Peck at shortstop produced a high throw home which allowed the annoying Luke Keaschall to score from third and put runners at the corners. Fortunately the next batter hit a harder grounder at Peck, who turned it into a 6-3 double play. But at that point the Tigers were behind — something they never were, at any point, during the Cleveland series. Le sigh.

Kevin McGonigle wouldn’t stand for that, though: he hit a laser-beam line drive into the right-field seats in the bottom of the first to even the score at 1-1.

Zach McKinstry led off the bottom of the second with a triple to the right-field corner, and then Ryan couldn’t find the strike zone: he walked Max Clark and then hit Peck and Colt Keith on consecutive pitches to drive in McKinstry. McGonigle then hit a grounder to first; the throw came home a little wild as Clark raced home to score for a 3-1 lead. It looked like the Tigers might be able to break the game open at that point, but a strikeout and a groundout kept the score static.

Things were quiet until one out in the top of the fourth when Trevor Larnach hit a line-drive home run to right field to narrow the lead to 3-2.

After Ryan’s pair of plunkings and the fielder’s choice in the second, he settled down and got the next eight hitters in a row, ending his day after 66 pitches and four innings. Remember, he was coming back from a butt-strain. Connor Prielipp replaced him to start the bottom of the fifth; with one out, Gleyber Torres singled, and a white-hot Riley Greene said a little “how-do-you-do” to a four-seamer on the outer half of the plate:

Melton got the first two batters out in the top of the sixth; you had to wonder, is he going to go a full six or maybe even seven innings? Well, a pair of singles and a two-run double narrowed the score to 5-4 and ended Melton’s day, which is a darn shame. Tyler Kinley, who had a nice 1 ⅓-inning stint in Minnesota last week, was brought in to deal with the situation and he promptly walked Keaschall and Brooks Lee to load the bases for Old Friend™ Kody Clemens, who has had quite a season bashing dingers. He started Clemens off with a juicy middle-middle slider that got fouled off, but ended up freezing him on an inside fastball for strike three to end the inning. Baseball is fun!

Jacob Waguespack came on for the seventh and after a strikeout and a four-pitch walk, Royce Lewis hit a grounder to third for the ol’ 5-4-3 double play.

Drew Sommers was brought in for the eighth and Old Friend™ Ryan Kreidler walked, but like Waguespack before him, a double-play grounder followed. Walker Jenkins was plunked — the fifth hit-batsman of the day — and a comebacker went off Sommers’ glove and into centrefield to put runners on the corners. But a fly ball to right got Sommers and the Tigers out of a too-eventful inning unscathed.

After not adding any insurance in the bottom of the eighth, the Tigers brought out Kenley Jansen to face the heart of the Twins’ lineup. Clemens led off with a walk, and the dangerous Ryan Jeffers hit a long fly ball to centrefield; Clark caught it at the wall while Clemens was near second base, so he couldn’t tag up to advance on the out. (It was a 411-foot out: Comerica gives, and it takes away.) And you’re thinking shoot, a walk and a long fly ball, what are we in for here? But on the very next pitch, Josh Bell hit a grounder to Peck at shortstop for a 6-3 game-ending double play, the first double play behind Jansen all year. See? It’s fun, everyone!

Final score: Tigers 5, Twins 4

Numbers and Commemorations

• Those walk-off losses in Cleveland (three in a four-game series) really stung. But do you remember the wretched 1989 season in which the Tigers lost four consecutive walk-off losses against the California Angels in late July? I sure don’t, as they were all on the west coast and probably past my bedtime, especially the third one which went sixteen innings.
• The Tigers may have had a generally lousy weekend in Cleveland, but Riley Greene found his groove, going 6-for-12 with three doubles and a pair of home runs, scoring four times. And then the home run today amidst a 3-for-4 performance? Looks like we got Greeney goin’.
• Spencer Torkelson’s 2026 season is exceptionally average by his standards. I’ll give his 2026 stat, with his career average in parentheses… batting average, .222 (.226); on-base percentage, .313 (.311); slugging percentage, .411 (.412); OPS, .724 (.722). I mean, that’s not Khris Davis-level consistency, but that’s creepily close.
• The radio broadcast used an instrumental snippet from “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads. You know what really propels that song? The extra percussion.
• Happy Labour Day, everyone! Today is the day on which we celebrate the achievements of organized labour: health and safety standards, the power of collective bargaining, and even things so basic (like an eight-hour work day and paid overtime) that most of us take for granted. These were all hard-fought gains, the struggles for which saw people lose their lives in the name of worker rights. Solidarity!

For most of the game, things had largely trended the Cubs way. They got a home run from their 9-hole hitter, Pedro Ramirez, in the fifth inning off Robert Gasser, and chased him from the game two batters later. Another short start, another long stretch for the Brewers bullpen.

Meanwhile, Matthew Boyd was carving up the Crew. He allowed an answer in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 1-1, but was fantastic through seven innings. The Cubs took the lead in the 7th with a two-out rally started by Pete Crow-Armstrong, who scored on a single from Alex Bregman.

With the Cubs leading 2-1 and their bullpen having been a bit of a dumpster fire of late, Craig Counsell opted to push Matthew Boyd back out there for the 8th inning. It turns out, he left Boyd out there a little too long.

Boyd started the 8th by allowing a leadoff walk to Garrett Mitchell, who supplied the Crew’s lone run back in that fifth inning with an RBI single. Then Joey Ortiz roped a double into the left field corner. A favorable bounce towards Ian Happ forced third base coach Matt Erickson to throw up the stop sign for Mitchell. But there were two men in scoring position and nobody out, and that’s when Counsell removed Boyd and went to his bullpen.

Ryan Zeferjahn entered to face Jackson Chourio, and the ever-aggressive Chourio punched a single through the right side to bring home Mitchell and Ortiz and give the Brewers the lead.

“Sometimes I feel like I was born for those moments, and other times I like the pressure that those moments bring.” Jackson Chourio said.

“He’s maturing as a hitter, and that’s not easy. (Zeferjahn)‘s throwing the ball almost 100 miles an hour and (Chourio)’s just trying to ‘Hey I’ve got to get him over, got to get him in. That was his mission” Pat Murphy said.

Christian Yelich would later add an insurance run in the inning, lifting a sacrifice fly to right with the bases loaded to bring home Chourio and make it a 4-2 Brewers lead. That run ended up being critical.

The Brewers then turned the ball over to Trevor Megill to close down the 9th. Things got even more interesting there.

After Megill gets a routine grounder to first base for the first out of the inning, he then gives up some loud contact to Pedro Ramirez, who looks like he’s about to have his second home run of the game, and then Luis Lara happened again.

“In that situation, I’m just reacting. That’s the only thing going through my head, reacting to the play and to the ball off the bat and just finding any way I possibly can to make the play there.” Luis Lara said.

Yet another incredible robbery from Lara gave the Brewers two outs and a chance to finish the Cubs off. Pete Crow-Armstrong stood in the way, and he made some loud contact as well, and this one wasn’t going to get robbed, as he got his 41st home run of the season to make it a one run game.

Seiya Suzuki was up next and hit a knuckling line drive to left that was tough to read and Chourio got a late break on it, but was able to make a diving grab in shallow left to end the game and secure the 4-2 win.

It was a very eventful final three batters, but Trevor Megill locked down his 27th save of the season and the Brewers got their 89th win of the year. The magic number to clinch the NL Central is down to 10.

Oct. 19

Today in sports history

Today is Oct. 19. On this date in:

1873: Representatives from Princeton, Rutgers and Yale met in New York to organize and standardize the rules of intercollegiate football, a major step in the development of American college football.

1940: Alabama ended Tennessee’s NCAA-record streak of 71 consecutive quarters without allowing a point, a run that had begun against LSU in 1938.

1957: Montreal Canadiens star Maurice “Rocket” Richard scored his 500th career NHL goal in a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks, becoming the first player in league history to reach the milestone.

1960: Oscar Robertson and Jerry West made their NBA debuts against each other as the Cincinnati Royals defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 140-123 in the Lakers’ first regular-season game after relocating to Los Angeles.

1966: Bobby Orr made his NHL regular-season debut for the Boston Bruins and recorded an assist in a 6-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings, beginning one of hockey’s most celebrated careers.

1968: American Madeline Manning won the Olympic women’s 800 meters in Mexico City in an Olympic-record 2 minutes, 0.9 seconds.

1968: American Bill Toomey won the Olympic decathlon in Mexico City with an Olympic-record 8,193 points.

1981: Rick Monday hit a two-out home run in the ninth inning to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-1 victory over Montreal in Game 5 of the NLCS and send the Dodgers to the World Series.

1982: Rookie John Stuper pitched a complete-game four-hitter as the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Milwaukee Brewers 13-1 in Game 6 of the World Series to force a decisive seventh game.

1999: The Atlanta Braves defeated the New York Mets in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series to capture the NL pennant and advance to the World Series.

2004: Curt Schilling pitched seven innings on an injured ankle, with blood visible on his sock, as the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 4-2 in Game 6 of the ALCS to force Game 7 after trailing the series 3-0.

2005: The Houston Astros defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6 of the NLCS to clinch the first World Series berth in franchise history.

2006: Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning and Adam Wainwright struck out Carlos Beltrán for the final out as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the New York Mets 3-1 in Game 7 of the NLCS to reach the World Series.

2013: The Boston Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series to win the AL pennant and advance to the World Series.

2014: Peyton Manning threw his 509th career touchdown pass, breaking Brett Favre’s NFL record as the Denver Broncos routed the San Francisco 49ers 42-17.

2014: Brad Keselowski won the GEICO 500 at Talladega in a must-win situation to advance to the next round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.

2019: Jose Altuve hit a two-run, walk-off homer off Aroldis Chapman in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the ALCS, giving the Houston Astros a 6-4 victory over the New York Yankees and a berth in the World Series.

2022: Philadelphia Phillies ace Aaron Nola faced his brother, San Diego Padres catcher Austin Nola, in the National League Championship Series, marking the first pitcher-versus-batter matchup between brothers in MLB postseason history.

2024: Juan Soto hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning as the New York Yankees defeated Cleveland 5-2 in Game 5 of the ALCS, clinching their first World Series berth since 2009.

— USA TODAY Network

This story was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of information gathering, review, editing and publishing. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Today in sports history, October 19

You read the headline. You clicked on it – that’s why you’re reading this.

Chase Burns will lead the Cincinnati Reds into Monday night’s series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers. What we don’t yet know, though, is just how long he’ll be out there.

Monday will mark the first start of Burns’ spectacular 2026 season where he, us, them, and everyone will know he’s on a pitch count. It has been revealed that lefty Brandon Williamson is going to serve as a ‘piggyback’ starter with Burns, though we don’t know if that will come after 50 pitches, 70 pitches, 90 pitches, or what have you.

If I had to guess, I’d say it’ll be something close to 70 pitches for Burns tonight. All pitches are not created equal, of course, and the more high-leverage situations the Dodgers put him in early will clearly impact how much deeper he’s tasked with going. If he’s breezing, though, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him get to 70 and even finish an inning if that’s what presents itself.

As for Williamson, it will be another chance for him to show on a scheduled, multi-inning platform that he’s back from the litany of surgeries that robbed him of all of 2025 and most of 2026. His most recent outing showed promise (5.1 IP, 3 ER), and with Hunter Greene likely out for all of 2027 there’s a clear need for another quality starting pitcher on which the Reds can depend. This is the second big chance for B-Willy to show he can be just that.

It’s a late west coast start, obviously, with first pitch set for 9:10 PM ET.

Here’s how the Reds will line up to start:

Jonah Tongshowed the Mets just about every facet of his game in Monday's start against the Marlins in Miami.

The 23-year-old right-hander showed off his upside in the form of a good fastball-changeup combo to the tune of seven strikeouts. He showed the areas he still had to improve upon in a four-run inning. But he also showed that there's a big-league mentality in the way he responded.

“Really pleased with his outing,” interim manager Andy Green said about Tong after the Mets' 9-4 win, adding later, “He demonstrated a lot of toughness; we love to see that.”

Tong, who has been on a bit of a roller coaster as he rocketed up through the Mets' system last year from rather unheralded prospect to late-September call-up amid an ill-fated postseason push. But the rise ended there as he struggled at times during his debut month, and that carried over into the start of this year. 

The roller coaster continued in his first two innings of his first big-league start of the year on Monday: Tong struck out the first four Marlins he faced. And then he allowed the next four to all come around to score, as the home side overturned an early 3-0 deficit, with the damage coming on a first-pitch cutter going for a triple and a 1-2 fastball on the outside corner getting yanked for a three-run homer. 

“It’s just one of those things; the only hits he gives up all day are sequenced together right there, and the home run bites pretty hard at that point in time,” Green said. 

The young righty the homer stung, but the walk to the batter before that “sucked.”

“I can live with the hits,” Tong said. “I can control that part with the walk.”

But, as the interim skipper mentioned, Tong allowed just one hit, a walk, and a hit batter in his next three frames. 

“To watch him be a cutthroat competitor, get in there and go right back at them for the next three innings, it was really good,” Green said. “It's what you want to see from him. I know he’s not gonna love the line at the end of the day with the four runs coming in, but the way he pitched today was way better than that line is gonna indicate.”

Green added: “I love who he showed himself to be today. It was good to see.”

While Tong admitted to being "nitpicky" about his one walk and a few pitches he wanted back, the outing was decent for his first MLB start of the year. He got 15 outs on 87 pitches (55 strikes). The changeup was again the pitch for the right-hander, getting eight whiffs on 19 swings (42 percent) and accounting for five of his seven strikeouts. His four-seam fastball got him seven called strikes for a 44 percent called-strike-whiff rate on 27 offerings.

One pitch that wasn't used much was the curveball, just seven in the game. Green said he's "always loved” Tong’s curve, but he “didn’t have to use it” much in Monday’s outing. 

“It should feature prominently in his mix,” the interim manager said. “... Later in the game, he started to steal a strike with it. I think that probably throws teams off the scent a little bit. He can really zone it well, so it’s a great strike pitch; there’s times when he can get punchouts with it. 

“Should feature prominently in his arsenal. Today he got going without needing it, but it will be a part of what he does.”

Tong called the curveball to be a "big emphasis for him" in his evolution and one he's very "proud" of that he will continue to lean on as he develops. 

For the year, in his 15. big-league innings over four games, Tong has posted a 4.80 ERA with a 1.333 WHIP and 14 strikeouts.

And Monday's outing, along with his final 41 innings at Triple-A Syracuse since mid-July that saw him pitch to a 2.20 ERA and 1.146 WHIP with 44 strikeouts and 20 walks, are encouraging signs as much like the start against the Marlins on Monday, he responded to adversity – which came in the form of a 5.90 ERA and 1.639 WHIP over his first 61 innings at Triple-A – in earning more opportunities to show he belongs.

Two teams met today at 1:35 Eastern on Labor Day. One of them is sinking into irrelevance, limply making outs when runs are desperately needed. The other is hanging tough, gradually solidifying its hold on a playoff spot.

Today, you’d have been hard pressed to figure out which team was which. The Orioles quickly jumped on Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo – a control lefty! – with four runs in 2.1 innings. Meanwhile, in his 28th start of the season, Baltimore’s Trevor Rogers turned in yet another solid performance. Barring a terrible April/May, he’s allowed two or fewer runs in 19 of 21 starts. The lefty has been a rock in the rotation, and he was again today, going 7 1/3 innings to make his bullpen’s life easy.

Where was this offense against the league’s worst pitching staff in Colorado, where the Birds dropped a winnable series? Almost instantly, the Birds put up four runs on a Cleveland staff that proved delightfully command-challenged. Nothing came easy for Cleveland pitchers today, especially the starter Cantillo, who struggled to locate all day in the hot sun, giving up three hits, four runs, and five walks in just 2.1 innings.

Cantillo gifted the O’s several important free runners, including the first two batters of the game, Blaze Alexander and Pete Alonso. Nothing came of it then, but the O’s cashed in the second. Two more free bases, as Samuel Basallo got hit on the left hand (he’d stay in, seeming to be OK) and newcomer Rece Hinds walked on five pitches. Today, against a lefty, Dylan Beavers has was buried in the No. 9 spot, despite his solid .279/.367/.419 slashline over the last two weeks. Well, today it didn’t matter where you put him: Beavers waited on a 3-1 fastball and slammed it into the left field corner, scoring Basallo.

The Orioles weren’t done yet. Joey Cantillo was about to lose the plot. Er, the zone. The Birds left two runners on in the second, but come the third, they’d tack on three more runs, two on bases-loaded walks.

First, Coby Mayo homered. Imagine, Mayo homering against a lefty. It’s what he does now. It was a gorgeous blast to the left field second deck, the kind you make a “yuck” face at.

It didn’t get better for Cantillo. With one out, he walked Christian Encarnacion-Strand and served up a single to Basallo, the catcher’s second time on. It’s Basallo, he’s good, but Joey Cantillo probably didn’t want to also walk Rece Hinds to load the bases. Cleveland promptly lifted Cantillo, putting in the righty Franco Aleman. Dylan Beavers struck out swinging—two outs. Would the rally fizzle?

No, it didn’t fizzle, actually, thanks to Blaze Alexander, who put together an absolutely terrific at-bat. Not only did Blaze foul off off six pitches, keeping the swing short and tight, he did it after falling down 0-2 in the count. “What a walk!”exclaimed Kevin Brown from the MASN booth, calling it one of Blaze’s best AB’s all year. “Sometimes you get walked, and sometimes you earn it,” echoed Jim Palmer. True, indeed. Now it was 3-0, Orioles. Pete Alonso took a bases-loaded free pass, too, if less dramatically, and it was 4-0.

Granted, this productive offensive work could have been even more productive, as the Birds left on 12 runners today, a sign of how lavish Cleveland pitching was with the walks and singles. But given what the month of September has looked like for Baltimore, this is welcome.

And given how good O’s starter Trevor Rogers looked, by that point this game felt like a done deal. I don’t want to give Rogers stinting praise by lavishing little recap space on him, but I guess I will. What Rogers did, in compressed fashion, is make a good offense look bad while pitching deep into the game in highly efficient fashion. Rogers got through the first three innings in just 41 pitches, 32 of them for strikes, and he looked like that all game.

His one blemish was a solo run allowed in the sixth inning. It came on two straight singles and a bloop double down the right-field line, 71.3 mph off the bat of Jo Adell.

But that was all the hope that Rogers would allow Cleveland, and in the bottom of the inning, a 4-1 O’s lead became 6-1. First, Jackson Holliday singled off new Cleveland pitcher Slade Cecconi. Coby Mayo, killer of lefties, was apparently undeterred by Cecconi’s right-handedness, and he slugged his second of the game. “Beware of flying objects!” announced Kevin Brown.

That kind of did it. Rogers came out gamely for the seventh inning, facing the minimum again. Out he came, again, cool as a cucumber, for the eighth. He retired one and gave up a single before giving way to Rico Garcia, who did his cleanup thing perfectly to end the inning.

That left three more outs. With the O’s still down a real closer in Ryan Helsley and Félix Bautista (although both injured relievers are getting closer to a return this year), Andrew Kittredge has pitched the ninth more often than not. Today he again showed he’s not a real closer, even if the W was ultimately unharmed. Kittredge allowed two straight singles and an out, then hung a slider to pinch-hitting slugger Nathaniel Lowe. Bad move—and a really bad pitch. Lowe drove it to the flag court, and suddenly, at 6-4, this was a close game.

It should never have been this close, but Kittredge was allowed to face one more batter—Angel Genao, the Guardians’ second baseman, who grounded out. O’s manager Craig Albernaz put in lefty Josh Walker instead to try to get the last out. Walker did, throwing nothing but fastballs. Fly ball to right, game over. Orioles win!

Look, these games mean something. Today’s win doesn’t mean that the Orioles are a lock, or even likely, to earn a trip to the postseason, but it’s good to see them keep fighting. Maybe the Birds’ predictable unpredictability, which sunk them against a lowly team like the Rockies, will give them a competitive fire against the Guardians, a team playing these days with everything on the line.

So who was your Most Birdland Player of the day, CC’ers? If I’m being frank with you, I see two real choices. You could go starting pitching, with Trevor Rogers and his cool 7 1/3 one-run innings. Or you could opt for the long ball and pick Coby Mayo, who drove in three runs on two home runs, his first career multi-homer game. An outside-the-box choice, if you like a good batting eye, would be Blaze Alexander, who walked twice, including an 11-pitch gem with the bases loaded and two outs, to keep the rally alive. It’s good to have choices.

Craig Kimbrel came on in the 10th inning of a 0-0 tie game and allowed five singles en route to giving up five runs in a 5-4 loss to the Diamondbacks. Ildemaro Vargas snuck a bunt under Kimbrel’s dive, and then a sacrifice fly scored the first run of the game for either team. From there it went off the rails, as Kimbrel gave up single after single and the runs poured in. Five, in total. It wasn’t all on Kimbrel – Rave flubbed fielding a ball in right field – but the damage was done.

The game wasn’t over yet. The Royals offense finally woke up in the bottom half of the 10th and valiantly tried to pick Kimbrel up. Kyle Isbel walked to lead off the inning. Carter Jensen hit a double to give the Royals their first run of the game. Witt was hit by a pitch to load the bases, bringing up The Captain. Perez doubled to bring all three runners in. Michael Massey hit a long fly ball to move pinch-runner Tyler Tolbert to third base, which meant the tying run was on third with two outs and Nick Loftin up to bat. Loftin unfortunately challenged the wrong pitch in his plate appearance, letting a questionable first pitch strike call go by and using the last challenge later on a more obvious strike call. Unfortunately, he seemed to be fishing for the walk and let two close pitches go by in a clutch situation. He was called out on strikes to end the game.

It was an absolute shame because Noah Cameron turned in a brilliant performance. He was mixing his pitches well, keeping the D-Backs completely guessing nearly every plate appearance. He induced some really bad swings, like guys swinging out of their shoes, and some bad knee-buckling takes too. Cameron struck out the side in the third; he did not walk anyone until the fourth inning. He already had five strikeouts by that time.

He gave up his second walk in the sixth inning, a leadoff walk, but no damage done. He completed six full innings and gave up only three hits. He allowed zero runs, walked two guys, and struck out seven. He allowed only two batted balls above 100mph in exit velocity. He allowed zero runners to reach second base! Nate Pearson pitched two dominant innings of relief after him.

In a goofy coincidence, both teams had unassisted double plays in which the corner defender caught a line drive and tagged the base to force out the baserunner. For the Royals, it happened in a crucial situation – with no outs and runners on the corners in the ninth, Nick Loftin caught a liner from Nolan Arenado and dove to the bag to tag it with his glove to force out Ketel Marte. Going from first/third no outs to runner on first with two outs in the ninth…that was a relief (at the time). Steven Cruz struck out pinch-hitter Corbin Carroll to escape the ninth without giving up a run.

But Kimbrel couldn’t hold the tie.

Ideally, the team wouldn’t even be in a 0-0 situation like that in a bullpen game. The Royals mounted a couple scoring threats in regular time but couldn’t cross the plate. In the fourth, a walk and a single put men on first and second, but Michael Massey struck out to end the threat. In the fifth, John Rave doubled with one out. Matthew Lugo singled on a ground ball between the third baseman and shortstop, which meant Rave had to hold until the ball went through. Rave made it to third but no further. Kyle Isbel tried a squeeze bunt, but he hit it in the air and too far so that Ildemaro Vargas could slide and catch the bunt for an out. Carter Jensen walked to load the bases for Bobby Witt Jr. Witt put a fly ball into the right-center gap, but Tim Tawa caught it on the warning track for the third out.

The bullpen woes continue in a lost season. It’s hard to watch. This is nothing new.

There will be another game tomorrow despite the bullpen. The Royals and D-Backs will play at 6:40pm US Central.

The Guardians lost 6-4 to the Baltimore Orioles today

Joey Cantillo was, again, awful. He went 2 and 1/3rd and gave up four runs and five walks and hit two batters. Franco Aleman wasn’t great, either and Slade Cecconi surrendered his scheduled homer. I vote Austin Peterson gets the Cantillo starts for the rest of 2026, until such a time as Ben Lively would demonstrate his readiness.

Steven Kwan and Jo Adell had two hits and Nathaniel Lowe hit a three-run homer in the ninth. So, that’s nice to see some life.

I don’t know if this team is gonna do anything with Jose’s hand like it is, currently. But, today was the scheduled loss of this series. Let’s get these guys the next two.

MIAMI — One rough inning wasn’t going to sabotage Jonah Tong’s major league return. 

Back to the laboratory after allowing four runs in the second inning Monday, the rookie right-hander utilized a steady array of changeups and cutters for his final three frames, largely avoiding his four-seam fastball. The adjustment helped Tong finish strong. 

Tong got the win, and the Mets won for the fourth time in five games, 9-4 over the Marlins. 

This team playing for next season has started reevaluating the 23-year-old Tong, a third rookie to join Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton in the rotation. 

“Last year, I felt like a kid going out there every time, being shell-shocked,” said Tong, who started five games late in 2025. “Now, it’s more like my feet are kind of more set than they were last year and it’s just go out there and do my job.” 

Tong allowed four earned runs on four hits and one walk with a hit batsman over five innings and struck out seven. It was a welcome return to the major leagues for Tong (who had two previous stints with the club) after he pitched to a 0.84 ERA in his last four starts for Triple-A Syracuse. 

Tong’s major misstep on this day was the three-run homer he surrendered to Graham Pauley in the second inning. 

“Really pleased with the outing,” interim manager Andy Green said. “The second inning is one of those things that the only hits he gives up all day are sequenced together right there, and then the home run bites pretty hard. But to watch him be a cutthroat competitor, get back in there and go back at them for the next three innings, it was really good. 

“It’s what you want to see from him. I know he’s not going to love the line at the end of the day, with four runs coming in, but the way he pitched today is way better than that line is going to indicate.” 

Tong said he turned to his cutter and changeup (and away from his four-seamer) as the game progressed with an eye toward quicker outs. 

“It was more quality of contact and assessing that we wanted to go deeper into the game and obviously we needed to get some quicker outs,” Tong said. “It was just seeing what was in front of us.” 

A 16-hit attack carried the Mets, who were swept in three games at this ballpark Memorial Day weekend and had lost four straight here overall, including Game 162 last season, when they fell a victory short of the playoffs. 

The Mets capitalized on sloppy Miami defense to score the game’s first run. Bo Bichette hit a grounder that Javier Sanoja threw into left field while attempting to get the force at second, allowing Juan Soto to score. Bichette scored when catcher Joe Mack threw errantly to second base while attempting to nail Carson Benge stealing. 

Nick Morabito’s RBI single in the third followed a Brett Baty double and gave the Mets a 3-0 lead against Eury Pérez. 

Tong struck out the first four batters he faced before getting knocked around in the second inning. After Sanoja delivered an RBI triple, Tong walked Owen Caissie and surrendered a three-run homer to Pauley that gave the Marlins a 4-3 lead. Pauley hit a 95 mph four-seamer on the outside corner over the right field fence. 

“It wasn’t even the home run — it was more just the walk before that,” Tong said. “That kind of sucked because I can live with the hits, it’s just I can control that part with the walk. Other than that, it’s just the same thing after every pitch, and it’s really easy to just move on from that.” 

Francisco Alvarez’s RBI single in the fourth tied the game after Marcus Semien hit a leadoff double and A.J. Ewing reached on an infield single. 

Bichette’s RBI single in the fifth reclaimed the lead for the Mets. With two outs, Ewing stroked a two-run double that extended the Mets lead to 7-4. The rally started with singles by Francisco Lindor and Soto. 

Semien’s RBI double in the sixth widened the Mets lead to 8-4 before Ewing delivered his third hit of the game, an RBI single. 

“I thought we were great up and down the lineup,” Green said. 

Padres fans have already shown what they are willing to endure for a coveted giveaway. Joe Musgrove’s wizard makeover could test that restraint again.

San Diego will celebrate Harry Potter Day during Monday’s Labor Day game against the Nationals, with a limited-edition “School of Pitchcraft and Wizardry” Musgrove bobblehead anchoring the promotion.

The collectible is available only through a designated Theme Game package, not with a standard ticket.

One Musgrove bobblehead presale was marked sold for $50 before the promotion. Other Harry Potter-themed MLB collectibles have commanded more. Aaron Judge versions from the Yankees’ 2026 event were marked sold for $75 and $99.99, while a Drake Baldwin-Braves edition was offered for $99.99 with at least one sold.

Listings do not guarantee future value, but the market suggests Musgrove may quickly graduate from souvenir to resale inventory.

The Padres already know how feverish demand can become.

Their April puffer-vest giveaway, advertised for the first 40,000 fans, descended into pushing and fights after popular sizes reportedly ran out. Viral videos showed employees struggling to control the surge, while delays caused some fans to miss the beginning of the game. The Padres subsequently apologized.

Harry Potter Day uses a package-ticket system, which should make the supply easier to manage. Fans can still expect costumes, house scarves and a ballpark atmosphere designed to resemble a different kind of school.

There is also a small Southern California coincidence. A 290-foot superyacht reportedly owned by “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling recently docked at Marina del Rey with its name concealed. Rowling has not confirmed that she is in California, and there is no known connection between the vessel and the Padres’ event.

The real attraction remains in San Diego, where fans do not need an owl, wand or sorting ceremony to obtain Musgrove’s bobblehead.

They need the correct ticket package — and, considering the Padres’ recent giveaway history, an early arrival would not hurt.