Category: MLB

The Orioles’ seven-game winning streak is over. And it was a heartbreaker. They came up against the buzzsaw of the Boston Red Sox’ 13-game (now 14-game) winning streak and couldn’t do quite enough to overcome it, torpedoing their own chances with a brutal four-error performance in a 6-5 loss.

Tonight marked only the fifth time in the last 65 years that two teams with 7+ game winning streaks squared off against each other, and this game lived up to the billing as a back-and-forth, bare-knuckle brawl. It felt like a playoff atmosphere at Fenway Park as the Orioles and Red Sox exchanged blows throughout the game, each team taking a lead, then losing it, then grabbing it back in a dizzying whirlwind.

What the final result came down to, unfortunately, is the same problem that’s plagued the Orioles all season long: their inability to play fundamentally sound baseball. The O’s committed four errors in this game — and arguably could’ve been charged with a fifth — that handed the Red Sox multiple gift runs. The Birds, for all the heart and grit and energy they showed in this game, could not overcome their lack of defensive competence on this night.

It stinks, because the Orioles really had every opportunity to steal the opener of this series, snap Boston’s winning streak, and extend their own. The Birds could’ve established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. And you can’t say they didn’t try! The O’s offense came up big in the clutch multiple times. Shane Baz threw a gutsy outing against a sizzling Sox lineup. But every time the O’s did something impressive, they’d follow it up by doing something infuriating. Every time they looked like they had the Red Sox on the ropes, they’d let them back into the game through unsightly defensive shenanigans. To paraphrase Dennis Green, the Red Sox are who we thought they were, and we let ’em off the hook.

The Orioles struck the opening salvo in this game with a first-inning run off Sox lefty Payton Tolle, thanks to back-to-back doubles by Gunnar Henderson and Tyler O’Neill. The Red Sox tied it in the second on a pair of singles and a Jarren Duran sac fly against Shane Baz. OK, so far, it’s a pretty crisply played, tightly contested game.

That all changed in a disastrous bottom of the third. After Baz retired the first two batters, he should’ve had the third out on a Ceddanne Rafaela grounder up the middle. But Jeremiah Jackson, with his momentum carrying him toward center field, uncorked a bad throw to first that even the elite scooper Pete Alonso couldn’t corral. You simply can’t give a red-hot team an extra out, and sure enough, the Red Sox took full advantage of the new life. Wilyer Abreu pounded a double to the wall in left-center (which Leody Taveras seemed to play tentatively), and while it looked like the O’s might have a chance to throw out Rafaela at home, cutoff man Gunnar Henderson uncorked a horrendous throw nowhere near the plate. The Sox took a 2-1 lead, and Gunnar’s error, the Orioles’ second in a row, allowed Abreu to take third base.

The next batter, Willson Contreras, smacked a sharp liner toward the middle. Henderson leapt in the air, snared the ball…and dropped it. Oh lord. I won’t say that was an easy play — Contreras smoked that ball, and it knuckled a bit — but it’s a play that I think Gunnar should have made. Contreras was credited with an RBI single, but Abreu wouldn’t have scored had he started that play on second base instead of third. And neither run that inning would’ve scored if Jackson hadn’t muffed the throw on the would-be final out. Baz deserved better.

To their credit, the Orioles battled back to erase their self-created 3-1 deficit. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, making just his second O’s start, was the unlikely spark plug. He tagged Tolle for a solo home run into the Green Monster seats in the fifth to make it 3-2.

An inning later, the O’s put together a truly impressive rally to regain the lead. Tolle retired two batters but gave up singles to O’Neill and Taveras to bring up Jackson. Jeremiah came up big, jumping on a first-pitch cutter and lacing it into left for a game-tying single. Would you believe that Jeremiah was making his first start in 15 days? Fifteen! I’m not saying he should be an everyday player or anything, but I feel like he’s earned a little more playing time than he’s gotten. And clutch hits like that one certainly don’t hurt his case.

Then it was Encarnacion-Strand’s turn to play the hero again. The O’s third baseman rolled a single up the middle, plating Taveras to give the Orioles a 4-3 lead. Nice! I enjoy when he does well, even if it means I have to take the time to type out E-N-C-A-R-N-A-C-I-O-N-dash-S-T-R-A-N-D every time. I’m willing to make that sacrifice. The Orioles, though, missed a chance to add to their lead when Sam Huff weakly struck out with two aboard. The absences of Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo felt particularly profound whenever we had to watch an at-bat from Huff, who struck out all three times tonight.

Baz now had a lead to work with, but it evaporated quickly thanks to another Orioles error. Baz only had himself to blame for this one, as he airmailed a throw past first base on Abreu’s slow roller near the mound, putting the runner on second. Abreu promptly scored on a Contreras double, knotting the score at four. Baz exited after the sixth inning, giving up four runs, but only two earned.

Again, the Orioles clawed back into the lead in the seventh on an O’Neill RBI groundout (which should’ve been a double play, but was muffed by Sox second baseman Anthony Seigler). And again, just as quickly, they gave it back, with another heaping dose of bad defense. With a runner at second and two outs in the seventh, Yennier Cano hung a two-strike sweeper to Rafaela, who lashed a single to left. Taylor Ward foolishly threw home even though he had no chance to get the runner, and his throw was so off-target that Rafaela took second. That’s error #4 for the Orioles, if you’re counting. Yeesh. That error didn’t cost the Birds, since Tyler Wells stranded Rafaela on a strikeout, but it’s still an ugly look.

At that point, the Orioles were all out of magic. The Red Sox weren’t. Light-hitting third baseman Caleb Durbin blasted the Red Sox into the lead with a two-out solo homer off Wells in the eighth, because of course he did. The exuberant Sox exploded in celebration in the dugout and the raucous Fenway crowd of 37,659 went wild. They were three outs away from their 14th consecutive win.

The Orioles, to their credit, didn’t make it easy for Boston in the ninth. Colton Cowser drew a leadoff walk and Henderson lashed his third double of the game, a two-out clanker off the Monster, to put two in scoring position against All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman. Tyler O’Neill was thisclose to delivering an enormous hit, lashing a sharp liner to the left side, but shortstop Tseng-Che Cheng made a nifty running grab to snare it for the final out.

The Red Sox made the plays. The Orioles didn’t. And that, in a nutshell, was the difference in this game.

On the 57th anniversary of the moon landing, the Royals and Giants celebrated by playing a baseball game on the surface of the sun that the Royals won 4-3 on a walkoff squeeze bunt. It was 97 F at first pitch. Thankfully, the Royals gracefully managed to avoid all the extra innings while burning on the field.

The surface of the sun makes weird things happen, apparently. After Alex Lange blew the game in the ninth by giving up a two-run, game-tying homer that just cleared the fence, the Royals came up in the bottom of the 9th with a chance to walk it off. Josh Rojas, who just made a beautiful diving stop down the third base line in the 8th inning to save a run, slapped a grounder against the shift for a single. Then Tyler Tolbert laid down a pop-spinner of a bunt that the Giants catcher picked up at the line. It was ruled a fair ball, and the catcher threw to second base for the force. Willy Adames was *not* standing on second base when he caught the ball, so no outs were given to the Giants. I’m not sure if that ball would have kept rolling foul, but it was worth a shot. I’m not sure they were getting the force at second anyway.

Carter Jensen lined out deep enough to center field for Rojas to advance to third. That brought up Nick Loftin, who showed bunt early on. His first attempt was foul. With the infield in and charging on the pitch, Loftin did manage to lay down a bunt down the first base line. Bryce Eldridge was there, but he did not field it cleanly and could not get the throw to the catcher in time to get Rojas. Walkoff.

I don’t know if it was the sweat dripping down the pitchers’ arms, or cramps, or whatever, but this game was a bit cursed, if you hadn’t noticed already. Both starters seemed to have grip issues with several errant pitches. Curveballs that were 15 feet above the plate. Changeups that seemingly moved up, not down. Sliders that did no such thing. Multiple hit-by-pitches. Giants starter Trevor McDonald was removed in the bottom of the 5th inning during warmup pitches for an injury of some kind. Bobby Witt Jr was subbed out for Nick Loftin in the top of the 5th due to lower back tightness. I think even the umpire was affected by the heat – the strike zone seemed rather large. The Royals ran out of challenges, and the Giants used more than their allotted 2 since they won a few. There were 8 total ABS challenges.

The slippery ball issues (I’m assuming) came to haunt McDonald in the 4th inning before he was removed in the 5th. He hit Vinnie Pasquantino on a slider that looked like it just slipped out of his hand. Salvador Perez, himself hit by a similar slippery-errant pitch earlier in the game, blasted a majestic homer well beyond the center field fence to put the Royals ahead. That was his 316th homer, putting him 1 shy of George Brett’s Royals record. Michael Massey doubled and then advanced to third on a groundout. He scored on a single from Isaac Collins.

Worth noting – the Royals got into McDonald’s weakness – runners on base – early in the game in the second inning. A single, walk, and HBP (Salvy) loaded the bases with no outs. Then Michael Massey hit a shallow popup to left-center field, after which the Royals sent Lane Thomas home. The center fielder made a strong, accurate throw and nailed Thomas at home for a double play. A groundout ended the inning. How disappointing to load the bases with no outs and come away with nothing.

When it wasn’t slipping out of his hand, Wacha had excellent command of his changeup. He gave up a home run to Heliot Ramos on a curveball down the pipe, but otherwise Wacha pitched a very strong game. He struck out 5 guys in his 6 innings and gave up only 3 hits. Another quality start (his 13th) for the Royals leader in innings pitched.

Quick Notes

• Cags’ 10-game hitting streak ended as he went 0-4
• The Royals have won 3 of 4 games coming out of the All-Star Break

The Royals move to 41-60 and the Giants are now 42-58. They will play again tomorrow at 6:40pm US Central time at Kauffman. Hopefully it will be cooled off by then.

Who knows how Trea Turner got out of bed this morning and into work but he probably didn’t anticipate having one of the most chaotic nights to remember for a position player.

His three hits, two of them being out of the park, five runs driven in, four misplays that ended up costing them a run. It was a +4 night for Turner even if it probably cost Cristopher Sánchez several pitches and potentially another inning of work.

Emmet Sheehan was lucky to get out of trouble in the first after an Alec Bohm double play ended the Phillies threat but he was not so lucky in the second, allowing back to back singles before Gabriel Rincones jr smacked a double to give the Phillies an early lead. Rincones later made a diving catch to save an Andy Pages knock, probably the best game he’s had in a while.

After a Justin Crawford sacrifice flyout, Turner redeemed one of his mistakes by crushing a hanging slider for his first dinger of the night.

Get as low as ya want, there's no stopping that. pic.twitter.com/MYVzkwHIfZ

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 20, 2026

Skipping all the way to the sixth, Sanchez began to run out of gas as the Dodgers, partially thanks to Turner’s defense, raised the left handers pitch count enough. Before Mattingly pulled him in the middle of the inning, Mookie Betts slapped a single to left field and then Teoscar Hernandez smacked another to put runners on first and second with one out.

Mattingly went to Orion Kerkering to try and protect a three run lead with two on, Dave Roberts countered by hitting Max Muncy for Alex Call. Roberts’ move paid off, Muncy took the seventh pitch of the at bat to right field for a double that gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead.

After a strikeout and intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani, Trea Turner booted another ground ball that allowed a run to score and took the Phillies lead down to one.

In the bottom half of the sixth, Roberts had Sheehan stay in and Brandon Marsh made him pay, taking a fastball to left center field for his sixteenth home run of the year and made it a 5-3 game.

After a Stott double and a Derek Hill walk against Alex Vesia, Trea Turner got his chance to turn garbage into gold, as Marc Zumoff would say, and took a hanging first pitch changeup down the left field pole and barely fair that extended the Phillies lead to five.

TREA BALL 👌 pic.twitter.com/CjqMj80vkA

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 21, 2026

It was a night for Turner to get hot, but also one for Mookie Betts to turn the page on his tough season. The future Hall of Famer came into Monday night’s game with a .690 OPS but you wouldn’t know it from tonight. After two singles off Sanchez, he took Jonathan Bowlan deep to cut the Phillies lead to four.

The Phillies would add a pair of home runs from Bryce Harper and Derek Hill to set the stage for a ninth inning that did not need to be as stressful as it was.

Because it was now a 10-4 game, Mattingly asked Chase Shugart to get the final three outs. Shugart began the outing by walking Andy Pages to start things off. Turner’s defensive issues continued when he couldn’t handle the sharp ground ball hit by Tommy Edman.

After a groundball that made it 10-5, Betts crushed his second home run of the night to left field on a sinker that went straight into Mookie’s barrel. After an Alex Freeland strikeout, Mattingly has seen enough and went to Jhoan Duran to put the game to bed.

It would be a routine groundball to Trea Turner, as every fan in the ballpark clenched their teeth, he took the hop comfortably and fired a strike to first to put an end to a weird night. Trea Turner’s weird night.

Box Score

It was a night of returns at American Family Field. Fan favorite and longtime Brewer Freddy Peralta made his first appearance at the ballpark in a uniform other than the Brewers’, while Jacob Misiorowski was back on the hill after taking a couple of weeks off around the All-Star break in an effort to limit his innings as we get toward the business end of the season. Even Billye Aaron, the widow of the late Henry, was back in Milwaukee as part of the Brewers’ celebration of Aaron’s 755th and final major-league homer, on a night when another Brewer hit his very first.

Misiorowski had a solid start, one that was intentionally shorter than we’re used to seeing from him, but things did not go well for Peralta, whose unsuccessful season with the Mets drags toward what feels like an inevitable conclusion as we approach the trade deadline. On top of it all, the Dodgers dropped their game with the Phillies tonight, and the Brewers ended the evening with the best record in baseball.

Was there any doubt that Misiorowski would come out after almost two weeks fired up? After taking a couple of 102 mph strikes to start the game, New York’s leadoff hitter A.J. Ewing was called out on a knee-buckling curveball. Juan Soto was next, and he got four straight fastballs between 103.6 and 104 mph—he swung and missed and the first, watched the second for a ball, and swung and missed again at the third and fourth. After Bo Bichette reached on a swinging bunt, Francisco Lindor (after going 3-for-3 with two walks yesterday) hit a solid single into left, but Jorge Polanco struck out on three pitches and the back-to-back two-out hits didn’t matter. It was a scoreless three-strikeout first inning for Miz.

Christian Yelich started the game by working Peralta into one of his patented full counts, but a ground ball to second ended the at-bat. Jackson Chourio drew a walk on four pitches, and Brice Turang followed with a rude greeting to his old teammate, a line drive down the right-field line. Chourio came around to score from first base, and Turang was into second with an RBI double. William Contreras nearly burned a Brewers challenge on a 1-2 pitch that just scraped the edge of the zone, but wisely decided against it, and he became the second out. Garrett Mitchell, though, continued his hot streak by lining an RBI single to right. Andrew Vaughn popped out to shallow right for the third out, but Milwaukee had jumped out to a 2-0 lead on their old pal.

Early damage from the fellas

→ https://t.co/eycfmE2vgmpic.twitter.com/QJq945OCkp

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 21, 2026

Jared Young was the first non-strikeout out recorded by Misiorowski when he grounded out to second to start the top of the second inning, but Miz was back on the Ks with strikeouts of the newly returned Luis Robert Jr. and Brett Baty to end a 1-2-3 inning.

After a Jake Bauers strikeout started the bottom of the inning, Brian Anderson commented that Cooper Pratt was still looking for his first home run—mere seconds before Pratt launched one into the Brewer bullpen for career homer number one.

FIRST BIG FLY FOR THE 21-YEAR-OLD ❕❕❕@CooperPratt4https://t.co/irEDFOI0Jkpic.twitter.com/e6WTCS0TiF

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 21, 2026

After Joey Ortiz struck out, Yelich kept the hit parade going with a fly ball to left that got over Soto’s head for a double (and yes, a better fielder probably would have caught it, but Yeli needs the break right now). A Chourio groundout ended the inning, but Milwaukee was up 3-0 after two.

Francisco Alvarez lined a single up the middle for a base hit on Misiorowski’s first pitch of the third. Ewing hit a hard grounder right at Vaughn that should’ve been a double play, but Vaughn whiffed on it and instead the Mets had runners on the corners with no outs for Soto. Soto hit a hard grounder to second which Turang made a nice play on to start a 4-6-3 double play; Alvarez scored from third, but the Brewers now had two outs and no runners on. Miz temporarily lost his command and walked Bichette on four pitches, but after a visit from Contreras, Lindor flew out to center to end the inning.

Mitchell’s hot hitting continued when he sliced a ground-rule double down the left-field line with two outs in the third, and that sparked a quick two-out rally when, on the next pitch, Vaughn blasted a fastball out to left for his third homer of the season and first since June 8th. The Brewers lead was up to 5-1. A Bauers groundout ended the inning, but the Brewers had Peralta on the ropes after three innings.

Jared Young picked up another infield hit for the Mets with one out in the second, but Robert Jr. struck out and Baty popped out and it was a scoreless top of the fourth for Misiorowski. Pratt led off the bottom of the inning with a single on a soft line drive to left, and then with Ortiz at the plate, he stole second. Ortiz struck out, but Pratt moved up again on a wild pitch to Yelich. Yelich, though, could only manage a soft grounder to first on which Pratt had to hold at third, and a strikeout of Chourio gave Peralta his first scoreless inning of the game.

Misiorowski, whose usage is being heavily monitored—comments from Pat Murphy before the game suggested this would be a shorter outing—was finished after four innings and 65 pitches. He was good, if not perfect, today: he walked one, gave up four hits (two of them of the infield variety) and allowed only an unearned run while striking out six, and left the game with a four-run advantage. Replacing Miz was Craig Yoho, looking for a bounce back after his tough outing on Saturday. Yoho walked Ewing with one out, but struck out Soto and Bichette to end a scoreless inning.

DISGUSTING Craig Yoho changeups pic.twitter.com/iIv13pYj9n

— Brewers.TV (@BrewersdotTV) July 21, 2026

Peralta had his first flawless inning in the fifth. In the bottom of the frame, Brewers fans were treated to the debut of new acquisition Lance McCullers Jr., who replaced Yoho. In his first inning of work, McCullers—who recently made three rehab starts in the Astros’ system but hadn’t pitched in a big-league game since May 13th—looked surprisingly sharp. He started with a strikeout of Lindor, then got groundouts from Polanco and Young to end the inning.

Peralta kept going despite an elevated pitch count in the sixth. After Vaughn lined out, Bauers walked and Pratt picked up his third hit of the game, a single that put runners on the corners with one out. That was the end of the line for Peralta, but it wasn’t the end of his scoreline—on the second pitch from Xzavion Curry, Ortiz snuck one over the wall down the left-field line for a three-run homer, his fifth of the season and third in the last two weeks. Don’t look now, but in 21 games since June 27th, Ortiz has four homers and an OPS near .900. A Yelich groundout, Chourio walk, and Turang strikeout ended the inning, but the Brewers were up to an 8-1 lead.

JOEY STAYS EN FUEGO https://t.co/0RPvsLAYTppic.twitter.com/4AfMoGQQkl

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 21, 2026

Ortiz’s homer closed the book on a bitter comeback for Peralta. His final line consisted of eight hits, two walks, six strikeouts, and seven runs (all earned), and his season ERA bumped up over five.

Robert Jr. started the seventh with a hard line drive off of McCullers, but Ortiz snagged it out of the air for the first out. McCullers followed with strikeouts of Baty and Alvarez, and he had his second straight perfect inning. With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Vaughn put good wood on another ball and missed a homer by a few feet (it was just to the left of the cutout in right field). Instead, he settled for a double (his second extra-base hit of the day, both off of right-handed pitchers), and was stranded when Bauers struck out.

The first blemish on McCullers’ line came when Soto drew a one-out walk in the top of the eighth, and that was followed by a well-placed fly ball from Bichette that landed for a double down the right-field line. Soto held at third, but scored on an RBI groundout by Lindor, and a two-out single from Polanco scored Bichette, too. A groundout by Young ended the inning, and while the Mets cut into Milwaukee’s advantage, it was still an 8-3 game.

Curry had a quick bottom of the eighth to finish with 2 2/3 innings. McCullers took a seat in favor of Grant Anderson in the ninth; Anderson struck out the first two batters of the inning, walked Alvarez,

The Brewer offense had a really nice game after looking a bit discombobulated against the Marlins over the weekend, even while picking up the sweep. Pratt lead the way with three hits including his first homer, and the Brewers also got home runs from Ortiz and Vaughn, who also hit a double. Yelich, Turang, and Mitchell added doubles of their own, and it was a fun ten-hit, eight-run game for the offense. On the other side, it was all good news: Misiorowski looked sharp in his return to the mound, Yoho had a solid bounce-back outing, McCullers looked like a guy who could help, and Anderson closed the door without any excitement.

The series continues tomorrow with Brandon Sproat the team with whom he debuted last season. Rookie Zac Thornton will pitch for the Mets. Be here for first pitch at 6:40 p.m.

The first three innings of the series opener between the Yankees and Pirates were tantamount to a fierce battle on the open sea. The Bombers struck the first blow with a four-run opening inning, then the plucky crew from Pittsburgh returned fire with five runs of their own climb in front. The tide of battle turned immediately back into the Yankees’ favor, however, thanks to the heroic exploits of Jazz Chisholm Jr. Jazz hit two home runs on the night, including what would be the game-winning blast, to lead New York to a victory for the second consecutive evening.

The second act of this game was nothing but calm on the water, thanks to the Yankees’ bullpen. Angel Chivilli, Brent Headrick, Tim Hill, and Fernando Cruz joined forces for over four innings of scoreless work, letting up just two hits and a walk to seal the deal.

While the 2026 Pirates have the look of a team ready to turn a corner and mature from the doldrums of yesteryear, the old Bad News Bucs made an appearance when the Yankees first came up to bat.

It started after Ben Rice successfully overturned a called third strike into ball four, giving New York a baserunner. Rice was able to rumble from first to third after a grounder from Paul Goldschmidt was booted by third baseman Nick Gonzales. Then Bryan Reynolds, in his haste to quickly get the ball back in from the outfield, twirled and spiked the ball into the grass as if he’d scored a touchdown. Rice was able to score easily as a result to give the Yankees the early lead.

A single by Bellinger gave the Bombers a chance to add on, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. was happy to provide. Fresh off smacking the go-ahead home run in last night’s victory over the Dodgers, Jazz repeated the act on a 1-1 curveball from Ashcraft, powering it deep out to right for his 15th home run of the year and a four-spot in the opening frame against an All-Star pitcher.

Now in the unfamiliar position of receiving early and substantial run support, one would hope that Ryan Weathers could settle in and lock things down on the hill. Alas, it was not to be. The talented Pittsburgh offense wasted little time striking back, putting two runners in scoring position for shortstop Jared Triolo. Triolo attacked a first-pitch hanging slider from Weathers and stroked a ground-rule double over the left-center bullpen wall to cut the Yankee lead in half.

Triolo was not content to stand around and wait while parked at second base. At several points throughout the remainder of the half-inning, he signaled to his teammates at the mound as if to indicate what Weathers was about to throw next. Whether or not Triolo actually knew the signs, it seemed to get under the lefty’s skin—and it bore more fruit for the Bucs when Gonzales atoned for his error with a base hit to bring Triolo home and make it a 4-3 affair in short order.

The tone for the evening was set, and the runs would keep on flowing from there. Weathers’ woes continued after the Yankees went down quietly in the second inning, and Reynolds walked to bring up Pittsburgh’s exciting young power hitter, Esmerlyn Valdez. Another slider from the southpaw caught too much of the strike zone, and Valdez pulverized it the other way for a titanic 431-foot go-ahead blast. The rookie already has 13 home runs in 107 MLB plate appearances.

Weathers settled down enough to retire the next three batters in order, which meant the Yankees were down 5-4 but certainly not out. Cue the Jazz.

With a runner on, Chisholm matched up with Ashcraft once again. He battled to a full count before Ashcraft fired a payoff sinker right in the lefty-hitter happy zone: down and in. Jazz attacked quickly, slashing it well deep enough to leave the yard but hooking down the right field line. He leaned with his body after the swing, willing the ball to stay fair—and it did, landing inside the pole in the second deck for Chisholm’s second round-tripper of the night.

The Yanks weren’t done. That home run was the first of five consecutive hits the Bombers smacked off Ashcraft in the third, for a total of six in the frame. The final knock of that flurry was a José Caballero two-run double which kissed the chalk on the left field line and put New York ahead 8-5. Ashcraft stranded two runners in scoring position, but departed having allowed eight runs on eight hits with just two strikeouts.

As soon as the starters departed the game, the tone of this game changed dramatically. The Yankees found themselves flummoxed by young reliever Wilber Dotel, who retired nine of the ten batters he faced with five strikeouts from the fourth through the sixth. Only a single from Ben Rice kept Dotel from a perfect outing.

Thankfully, the Yankees bullpen held up their end of the bargain. It began with Angel Chivilli, who secured the final out of the fifth in relief of Weathers, then put away the Pirates in order in the sixth. Chivilli has been steadily climbing the ladder of trust since his call-up.

Brent Headrick continued his spectacular season with a perfect seventh inning, striking out Reynolds and Valdez to send us to the stretch. The lefty relief ace now has a 1.43 ERA on the season, one of the best marks for a reliever in the league.

Tim Hill was next up, and began the eighth inning by allowing an infield hit—despite the best efforts of a jump-throwing Jazz. Hill responded by inducing a perfect double play ball from the lumbering Marcell Ozuna. A quick turn from Caballero to Chisholm got the job done. Hill allowed another single and yielded to Fernando Cruz, who struck out pinch-hitter Tyler Callihan to retire the side.

The bottom of the eighth provided one last bit of theater. Former Yankee Dennis Santana took the mound for the Bucs and faced Caballero with one on and one out. Caballero did his signature move of not looking at the pitcher until the last possible moment, which evidently got Santana upset. Cabby eventually tapped a ball to Santana, who began a 1-6-3 twin killing—then he had some words for the Yankee shortstop. Both dugouts emptied and Santana did the hold-me-back-bro routine before his teammates escorted him off the field. Okay then.

Cruz continued on for the ninth inning and left no remaining room for doubt, setting down the Pirates in order, including on a pair of strikeouts against Gonzales and former Ray Brandon Lowe—and the Yankees won the 100th game of their season, improving to 56-44 on the year.

Annoyingly, the Rays and Red Sox both won tonight; the latter team came from behind against the Orioles to notch their 14th straight win. Still, the Bombers kept pace, and have much to celebrate from tonight’s effort.

Tomorrow night’s game will feature a matchup of two talented pitchers seeking to establish themselves. Will Warren is set to take his turn against the filthy-but-wild Bubba Chandler, with coverage set for the same time on the same channel: 7:05 pm on YES.

Box Score

The Mets were defeated by the Brewers 8-3 on Monday night at American Family Field. 

Here are some takeaways...

-- Much like his entire season to this point, Freddy Peralta's homecoming didn't go as planned. Peralta's former mates jumped all over him over the first three innings, striking five times on six hits, four of which went for extra-bases and two of which left the yard, including Cooper Pratt's first career homer. 

The righty battled through his first clean inning in the fourth, then followed that with a perfect fifth. Peralta tried to come out and give the Mets one more inning but he ran out of gas and was pulled after putting runners on the corners with a walk and Pratt's third hit of the night. 

Xzavion Curry came on in relief and served up a three-run homer to Joey Ortiz on the first pitch he threw, closing Peralta's line with seven runs allowed on eight hits and a pair of walks over 5.1 innings. 

-- The Mets' offense, meanwhile, couldn't get much of anything going against Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski. They wasted opportunities in both the first and third innings, scratching across just one run while leaving four on-base against the hard-throwing All-Star right-hander. 

Pitching on 13 days rest in his first start following the All-Star break, the Brewers decided to pull Misiorowski after the top of the fourth. He finished his day with just that one unearned run allowed on four hits and a walk while striking out six batters, lowering his ERA to 1.57 for the season. 

-- Other than the homer, Curry did a good job of eating innings to save the Mets bullpen. The righty gave up a walk and just one other hit while also striking out a pair over the final 2.2 frames. While he's mainly worked in mop-up duty, he has a 3.00 ERA over his first five appearances as a Met. 

-- Francisco Lindor kept his streak going after reaching in each of his five plate appearances Sunday, lining a two out opposite-field single in the top of the first, but he was retired to end it his next time up. Lindor finished the day 1-for-4, but he did drive in a run with a groundout in his last AB.  

-- Luis Robert Jr. went hitless across four at-bats in his first game back from the IL, striking out three times and ripping a 106.7 mph liner right at the third baseman. It'll be interesting to see if Robert can get back into a groove over the next two weeks, potentially building some value ahead of the trade deadline.  

-- Jorge Polanco picked up his second RBI since returning with a two out single in the eighth. 

Game MVP: Cooper Pratt

The 21-year-old was a pest all night, reaching three times in four plate appearances.

Highlights

Jorge Polanco with an RBI single to cut the lead to 8-3 pic.twitter.com/zRGkhXdzQP

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 21, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Brewers continue their series on Tuesday at 7:40 p.m.

Zac Thornton (0-1, 2.60 ERA) takes the ball against former Mets prospect Brandon Sproat (3-4, 5.16 ERA). 

Rays 7 Blue Jays 1

I really thought the Rays had more than seven runs.

It was a terrible game in all ways:

• The pitching was bad. The Rays hit three home runs. Two against the starter of the All Star game.
• The defense was bad. Three errors: Cease (a throwing error), Okamoto (a throwing error) and Gimenez (a fielding error, a softly hit ground all that went right through his legs).
• And the hitting was terrible, at least at moments that mattered.

We did have 8 hits on the day. Clement, Lukes and Springer had 2 each. Varsho (bloop single) and Kirk had the other two.

I guess we only hit into 2 double plays, since seems like a victory of some sort.

Our lone run scored in the fourth inning. Springer led off with a single. He stole second. Varsho grounded out, moving Springer to third. And Kirk singled him home.

Dylan Cease gave up five runs for just the second time this year, in six innings. Being fair, two of them were unearned. But he wasn’t good. He had seven strikeouts, but gave up two home runs.

He also balked….one of those phantom type balks, but still a balk.

Braydon Fisher gave up one run in his inning.

Brandon Little pitched a very nice eighth inning, and should have come out of the game there. He is a one-inning pitcher. But he was out there for a second inning. And I understand, in a game that was lost, why use another guy. On the other hand, I thought ‘take him out, and let him have that good outing. Anyway, he gave up a home run to the first batter he faced in the ninth (Nick Fortes). Then two straight singles. A double play ball and a pop out ended the inning. Just the one run, and he did do a good job getting the two outs after the two singles.

---

In the ‘reason to watch’ category:

• In the eighth, Vlad turned a double play that, I think, no other first baseman could have turned, slowly hit ground ball at him, throw to Gimenez at second and throw back.
• Miles Straw got an outfield assist. Junior Caminero singled to left, Straw made a nice throw home, just a bit off line, Kirk threw to second to get Caminero.

Jay of the Day: Springer (0.11).

Other Award: Cease (-0.25), Okamoto (0.15, plus an error. He was terrible at the plate), and Vlad (-0.09, was also terrible at the plate).

Tomorrow….for those of us who like banging our heads against the wall, Drew Rasmussen (7-5. 3.26) and Kevin Gausman (4-8, 4.33).

There is a saying that the best defense is a good offense, and Trea Turner certainly took that to heart, leading the Phillies to a 10-7 win over the Dodgers in a performance of two halves. Turner’s work with the bat, hitting a pair of home runs, made everyone in the park forgive and forget the multiple errors he committed to make this game closer than it should’ve been for a big part of it.

The Phillies had Cristopher Sánchez on the mound for this one, and a groundball specialist is only as effective as his defense allows him to be. Oftentimes, a defense also is only as strong as its weakest link. For the Phillies and Sánchez, particularly in the early part of this game, it was a tug of war, with great defensive plays followed by errors. It started in the first inning, when after the first two hitters were retired, the Dodgers loaded the bases ahead of Miguel Rojas thanks to a Turner error fielding a ground ball. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Rojas was unable to capitalize on this early opportunity.

In each of the following two innings, right fielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. made solid plays to retire Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages, but his bigger impact would come in the fourth. Mookie Betts led off the frame with a single and moved to third after Rojas drove a ball to the right-center gap—Rojas couldn’t move into scoring position as well because Rincones did a fantastic job cutting the ball off. With no outs, Philly played for the double-play ball with runners at the corners, and it got just that from Teoscar Hernández. Another potential rally against Sánchez was squashed.

The Phillies starter secured an early lead with his offense scoring four in the second because the Dodgers defense could only do so much to bail out Emmet Sheehan. After Tommy Edman helped turn a beautiful 5-4-3 double play to prevent damage in the first, the bottom of the Phillies order punished the Dodgers’ starter with a string of three consecutive hits—it included a double from Rincones, getting the job done on both sides of the ball. Turner finished off that inning with his first of two home runs, crushing a hanging slider from Sheehan.

In the sixth inning, with the Phillies then leading 4-1, a couple of loud hits were enough for Don Mattingly to turn to Orion Kerkering in the bullpen with Alex Call up at the plate—he did so, knowing the Dodgers had Max Muncy and Kyle Tucker on the bench to counter any righty reliever coming into the game. Dave Roberts pinch-hit Muncy for Call, and the All-Star third baseman delivered with an RBI double. The Dodgers would cut the deficit to 4-3, once again thanks to Turner’s defensive shortcomings as the shortstop mishandled a bases-loaded two-out ground ball from Andy Pages, up at the plate following the intentional walk to Ohtani.

Sadly, as quickly as the Dodgers got back into the game, they were removed from it. Sheehan’s pitch count was in check when he was sent back out there for the sixth inning in a 4-3 game, but the rhythm of his performance had been off from the get-go, often navigating through traffic. It came as no surprise when Brandon Marsh led off the frame with a home run and was followed by a Bryston Stott double. Stott would also come around to score, as Turner hit his second long ball of the game in that inning, this one off Alex Vesia, who faltered in relief of Sheehan.

The late innings of this game proved a home run derby of sorts, with Bryce Harper and Derek Hill taking Landon Knack deep, Harper with a milestone 200th long ball as a Philly. Betts, who was the Dodgers’ best hitter in the game, also left the yard a couple of times, even generating a bit of entertainment in the ninth, cutting the Dodgers’ deficit to just three runs—it just wasn’t enough to will the team back into the game by himself. If nothing else, his two-run shot in the ninth made Don Mattingly bring in Jhoan Duran for the final out of this game, unwilling to take any chances against baseball’s premier club.

On top of the wasted opportunities with runners in scoring position against Sánchez, the Dodgers will lament the continued struggles of Ohtani in the head-to-head battle with this particular Phillies’ starter, who continues to have his number. Ohtani was 0 for 3 with a pair of punchouts facing Sánchez.

Game particulars

• Home runs— 2 Mookie Betts (13), 2 Trea Turner (14), Bryce Harper (21), Brandon Marsh (16), Derek Hill (8)
• WP—Cristopher Sánchez (12-4): 5.1 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 7 strikeouts
• LP— Emmet Sheehan (4-7): 5.1 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

Up next

Slightly earlier start time on the Tuesday matchup between the Dodgers and Phillies, with first pitch at 3:40 p.m. (PT). Justin Wrobleski will make his first start after being selected to the All-Star Game, putting on the line a sequence of three starts going seven full innings. Continuing to trot out the best they have to offer, Philly will roll with the veteran Zack Wheeler.

The Yankees did all of their damage against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first three innings and won, 8-5, on Monday night.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- New York’s offense jumped all over Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft from the jump, scoring four runs in the first inning after taking advantage of two Pittsburgh errors on the same play. Ben Rice got things started with a one-out walk and scored all the way from first after Paul Goldschmidt pulled one towards the hole that clanked off third baseman Nick Gonzales’ glove. 

Rice would’ve been held up at third with Goldschmidt reaching second, but left fielder Bryan Reynolds picked up the ball and threw it straight into the ground which allowed Rice to scamper home – all on a play that could’ve ended the inning.

-- Cody Bellinger followed with a clean single to put runners at the corners for Jazz Chisholm Jr. who got a curveball right down the middle and deposited it into the right center field seats for a three-run jack which gave New York and Ryan Weathers a quick 4-0 lead.

-- However, Weathers was unable to make it stick, letting the Pirates score three times in the second and twice in the third to take a lead of their own. Three straight hard hits, including two extra-base hits, to begin the second cut the Yankees’ lead in half before Gonzales made up for his error with a two-out single to make it a 4-3 game.

The Pirates took the lead in the third following a leadoff walk and a two-run homer by rookie Esmerlyn Valdez, his 13th of the season in just 32 games. 

-- The lead was brief, though, as Goldschmidt singled to lead off the bottom half of the inning before getting erased on Bellinger’s force out. That brought up Chisholm for the second time and after a seven-pitch battle against Ashcraft, Chisholm got a slider down and in that he could handle and wrapped it around the right field foul pole for a two-run shot to re-take the lead.

-- Four straight hits ensued, culminated by Jose Caballero’s two-run double down the left-field line that drove in two more. After that the Yankees’ offense went dark as the Pirates bullpen allowed just two hits in five innings while facing one over the minimum during that time. 

-- As for Weathers, the lefty pitched a scoreless fourth and went back out for the fifth looking for a win but was pulled after 4.2 innings and 99 pitches (61 strikes) and didn’t factor into the decision. Instead, Angel Chivilli (1.1 IP) got the win and Brent Headrick and Tim Hill combined to go 1.2 IP while Fernando Cruz came in for the last out of the eighth inning before retiring the side in order in the ninth for his second save of the season. Cruz struck out three of the four batters he faced.

Game MVP: Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Chisholm's two home runs were the big blasts of the night and after hitting a home run in his last at-bat on Sunday, he made it three straight ABs with a home run.

Highlights

Ben Rice comes around to score from first after an error on Nick Gonzales and Bryan Reynolds spiking his throw pic.twitter.com/7S26BHFNf5

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 20, 2026

Jazz Chisholm Jr. 3-run shot!

Back-to-back at-bats with a homer from Jazz! pic.twitter.com/6UglnD1ggo

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 20, 2026

JAZZ CHISHOLM JR. AGAIN!

His second homer of the game and that’s three straight at-bats with a homer! pic.twitter.com/kfuAqBavyt

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 21, 2026

A 2-run double for Jose Caballero makes it 8-5! pic.twitter.com/bEEiDDyEeA

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 21, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Pirates meet again on Tuesday night with a 7:05 p.m. start time at Yankee Stadium.

RHP Will Warren (7-4, 4.03 ERA) will match up with RHP Bubba Chandler (3-8, 4.77 ERA).

If Home Runs are the world’s curse, may God smite me with them. And may I never recover!

The Guardians managed to take a large chunk out of their negative run differential tonight beating the Twins 13-4 and going to a mere -3 run differential. They also hit seven homers, six of which were off of Joe Ryan who is a very good pitcher. But, not tonight he wasn’t.

Tonight was like when your one aunt who always gives you clothes for Christmas shows up with a large box that is clearly the Playstation gaming system your parents could never afford. You just don’t quite know how to process it. I am sure Tanner Bibee felt that way given the incredibly small amount of run support he has seen all year long and the way the floodgates opened today.

Earlier today, I had puzzled out that Petey Halpin would probably return to Columbus when Angel Martinez comes off his rehab assignment. I was fine with Halpin or Watson, but Watson seems to have slightly more potential. Anyway, Petey Halpin went 3 for 5 today with two home runs:

Petey SMOKES his first career homer to extend the lead. 😮‍💨#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/QiLLOhvYKi

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 20, 2026

Petey Halpin has hit his first two Major League homers tonight!

The @CleGuardians have gone yard SIX times! pic.twitter.com/vzotREWnrv

— MLB (@MLB) July 20, 2026

Rhys Hoskins ALSO hit two home runs. That had to feel good for someone who has had a very disappointing past couple months:

The last time we went back-to-back? Rocchio and Hoskins did it against the Twins. 👯#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/XjkDPLiqMR

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 20, 2026

Admin needs a break.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/xTpzW0X9Og

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 20, 2026

Brayan Rocchio, Travis Bazzana and Patrick Bailey ALSO homered and Bailey went 4 for 5.

That's our cleanup hitter.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/cvd9VbncTK

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 20, 2026

Bazzy hacks.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/K6fesjVxa2

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 20, 2026

Bailey … Go!#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/MqRBDdN9Ie

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 21, 2026

Chase DeLauter went 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, Daniel Schneemann went 2 for 5. 19 hits and 2 walks today, including 8 runs off of Joey Ryan who was the sacrificial lamb for the good of the Twins’ bullpen. Ryan’s ERA went up by about half a run for the season today. Insane.

Bibee gave up 2 runs and struck out 5 in six innings, and Collin Holderman, Matt Festa and Sean Armstrong finished out a rare comfortable win for Cleveland.

Is this a sign of something getting unlocked? Thunder from the approaching storm of Jose’s return? Or, simply a random night of joy in this incredibly random game? Time will tell but no one should do anything but enjoy it tonight.

Oh yeah… Kyle Manzardo even got a hit!

Edwin Diaz hasn’t pitched in a big-league game in nearly three months now, but he could potentially be back for the Dodgers’ upcoming weekend set against the Mets at Citi Field.

“There’s a chance,” LA manager Dave Roberts told reporters Monday. 

Diaz has been sidelined since April after undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow.

The closer has made four rehab appearances to this point. 

Roberts indicated the team is hoping for him to check off one last box during his rehab, pitching on back-to-back days Wednesday and Thursday. 

That keeps the door open for a potential activation at some point this weekend, which is the only time the Dodgers take the trip to Citi Field this year. 

Diaz, of course, left the Mets to sign with LA on a big money three-year pact this winter, a decision owner Steve Cohencalled perplexing in an interview.

The All-Star had nothing bad to say about the organization in response, simply stating that the Dodgers did a great job recruiting him and he chose to land there in free agency.   

Thus far, things haven't gone as planned, as Diaz allowed seven runs in as many appearances before going down.

He totaled a 2.93 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 144 saves, and 538 strikeouts over six years as a Met. 

Caleb Durbin was one of the worst hitters in Major League Baseball the first two months of the season – and the Boston Red Sox perhaps the most disappointing team.

Yet as July creeps toward August, Durbin can’t stop hitting – and the Red Sox can’t stop winning.

Durbin’s eighth-inning home run pushed Boston ahead of the Baltimore Orioles for good and Aroldis Chapman survived the ninth inning for a 6-5 victory – the Red Sox’s 14th consecutive win.

CALEB DURBIN!@REDSOX LEAD IN THE 8TH! pic.twitter.com/9yTg0HJ2rU

— MLB (@MLB) July 21, 2026

It is the Red Sox’s second-longest winning streak in their 126-year franchise history. On Tuesday, July 21 they can tie the 1946 Red Sox for the franchise's longest winning streak with another victory over the Orioles.

Durbin was batting .163 with one home run on May 24 and a day later, the Red Sox would lose another game to fall to 22-31.

Since then?

Durbin is batting .304 with nine home runs and an .894 OPS – and the Red Sox are 30-17, have bumped their record to 51-48 and have moved from last place to just four games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East.

It didn’t come without drama. Closer Aroldis Chapman issued a leadoff walk, and a Gunnar Henderson double off the Green Monster pushed the tying run to third. But Chapman struck out former Red Sox player Tyler O’Neill to end it, capping a night at Fenway Park that had a playoff atmosphere from start to finish.

The Red Sox blew an early 3-1 lead and then overcame 4-3 and 5-4 deficits after the Orioles surged ahead, tying the score 5-5 on Ceddane Rafaela's two-out RBI single in the seventh. That set the stage for Durbin's heroics, off Orioles reliever Tyler Wells in the eighth.

"I’m proud of every single player on the roster right now," first baseman Willson Contreras, who had three hits and drove in two runs, said on the Red Sox's radio broadcast. "That one felt like WBC, to be honest. I’m glad Durbin was able to hit a home run.

"We are not looking to lose right now."

The Red Sox have won three games in this streak by one run, and have come from behind in six of the 14 wins, including five of the last six. They're now 22-5 since June 19, equaling their best 27-game stretch achieved in 2018 - when they won the World Series.

The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boston Red Sox win 14th consecutive game, can tie club record July 21

The Atlanta Braves started their four game series against the San Diego Padres in much need of revenge after being swept by the Padres just four weeks ago.

The Braves have been red hot on offense leading all MLB teams in runs scored in July. This past week in particular has been great with Drake Baldwin being recognized as the player of the week leading all players with a .714 average, .733 OBP, 1.357 slugging percentage, ten hits, nineteen total bases and tied for the lead in runs with five and RBI with eight. Austin Riley has also heated up as well, which has been a huge boon for the Braves.

The game on paper looked like it was going to be a shootout. Bryce Elder had an 11.00 ERA in his past four starts, and JP Sears for the Padres has only pitched four games this season and had an ERA north of five. Both teams have been red hot in July as well. The Braves are third in MLB in wRC+ in July, and the Padres are tenth. This was not the case in terms of facing the starting pitching.

Bryce Elder looked like he was going to go back to his recent trend in the first inning. He walked the leadoff hitter. He struck out Merrill, but then Machado was able to pull off a spectacular bunt for a single to put two on with one out. Fortunately, Joey Bart came in clutch and threw out Tatis Jr. trying to steal third and then Elder was able to get the red hot Ty France to ground out. The first did not go as planned for the Braves offense. Baldwin led off and hit the ball hard, but second baseman Jake Cronenworth was able to field it. Albies and Olson then flied out.

Elder settled down in the second with a three up, three down inning all on contact. Unfortunately, it was the same story for the Braves. They could not produce a baserunner in the second. In the third inning Elder stayed locked in picking up two strikeouts to the bottom of the order and then got Tatis Jr. to pop out. The Braves still could not get anything going in the third against Sears and all three hitters were sat down in order.

The fourth is where things started to get rolling. Elder got Merrill to ground out, but then Machado took Elder deep for his twentieth HR of the season to give the Padres a one run lead. Ty France then got his first hit of the night with a single. Elder settled back down and was able to get Sheets to fly out and Bogaerts to groundout to prevent anymore damage. Baldwin grounded out to leadoff the fourth, but then the Braves finally got a baserunner when Albies singled. Unfortunately, the momentum was killed a GIDP from Olson to end the inning.

The Braves were short on bullpen arms tonight so it was great that Elder was able to be extremely efficient. He stayed out to pitch the fifth inning. He gave up a single in the fifth but saw the minimum number of batters thanks to a forced double play.

The Braves were able to strike back in the fifth inning. After Riley just missed a HR on a deep fly ball, Harris did not miss for his eighteenth HR of the season to tie the game.

Michael Harris now has 18 homers, two shy of his career high with 63 games remaining on the schedule. This is his fourth homer of July. pic.twitter.com/tIP3tGCvqa

— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) July 21, 2026

As Chad Bishop said, it looks like Michael Harris will be having a new career high in HRs in a season if he keeps this up. With a little bit of luck, Mauricio Dubón was able to reach on catcher’s interference on the first pitch he saw. Joey Bart then followed that up with a perfectly placed double down the line that allowed Mauricio Dubón to score from first base to give the Braves the lead.

Run, Dubi, run!#BravesCountrypic.twitter.com/t528DuF18d

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 21, 2026

The Braves could not score Bart, but the Braves had taken the lead before the inning was over.

Weiss showed faith in Elder and kept him in to pitch the sixth. Whether it was faith, or necessity is debatable, but it happened nonetheless. Elder showed it was the right decision when he sat down the heart of the order all in a row. JP Sears was then replaced by Wandy Peralta in the sixth and this worked out for the Braves. Baldwin struck out, but Ozzie Albies knocked his fifteen HR of the season over the left field wall to give the Braves a one run cushion, which was needed.

Ozzie, we love him!#HyundaiHighlightpic.twitter.com/QyJd3PcVQj

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 21, 2026

Olson grounded out, but a good sign is that Austin Riley walked. However, it Harris grounded out, so the inning was over.

Bryce Elder was then brought back out to pitch the seventh inning. In a vacuum this seemed like a questionable decision, but it was reported before the game that due to so many short starts by the rotation as of late, the bullpen was short tonight. Elder then pinched a sinker right down the middle and the red hot Ty France made him regret that pitch with a HR to bring the Padres within one run. This ended Elder’s night where he completed 6.0 innings of two run ball on five hits, one walk, and four strikeouts on only seventy-seven pitches. Danny Young then came in and put everyone on the edge of their seats. He gave up a single to his first hitter and then the runner moved over on a groundout twice in a row. Luis Campusano, who has been the Padres’ best hitter in July, came in to pinch hit which prompted Danny Young being replaced by Victor Mederos. Mederos wisely pitched around Campusano and walked him. He then got Song to fly out to end the top of the seventh.

Bradgley Rodriguez came in for the Padres to pitch the bottom of the seventh and was able to strikeout both Dubón, and Bart, followed by a Jarvis groundout to end the inning.

Mederos has been a huge asset to the Braves since joining the MLB squad. He stayed in to pitch the eighth inning and retired the side facing the top of the order. Kyle Hart came in to pitch the eighth for the Padres and looked to strikeout Eli White on a full count, but White challenged the play and got it overturned to a walk. It was wasted though when he was picked off at first, a rising trend for the Braves this season that has really hurt them. Drake Baldwin was then struck out looking on a full count. Ozzie Albies, who was 2-3 at the time of this at-bat, battled hard by fouling off four pitches, but ultimately struck out as well.

This meant Ty France who already had to hits in the game to include a HR was leading off the ninth inning for the Padres. With a short bullpen Weiss opted to leave Mederos in to pitch the ninth inning. This was a bit puzzling considering Mederos does not have much of a track record yet. He was able to strike out Ty France, which had to be a huge confidence booster for both him and the Braves fans tuning in. Almost instantly that confidence got tested when Rengifo singled on the second pitch he saw. Medero stayed the course and got Bogaerts to line out to Harris.

Jake Cronenworth came to the plate as the last hope for the Padres as the last hope with two outs and a runner on first. Mederos then picked up his first save as he got Cronenworth to groundout and lowered his season ERA to 0.96.

The Braves won a game by one run, against a team that swept them less than a month ago, where Bryce Elder looked like his former self while the short staffed bullpen was able to hold down the fort. This could go down as one of those games that the team looks back on as a momentum starter.

The Braves look to win their fourth game out of five tommorow as they take on the Padres again with Reynaldo López scheduled to start against Walker Buehler.

The St. Louis Cardinals continue their westward trip with a stop in Anaheim to compete with the Los Angeles Angels. Kyle Leahy will start for the Cardinals while the Angels will give the ball to José Soriano. First pitch scheduled for 9:10pm central time at Angel Stadium and the TV broadcast will be available through ESPN apparently.

It’s a new week here at BCB After Dark: the coolest spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re so glad to start the week with you. It’s always nice to see a friendly face. Come on in out of the heat. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last week, I asked you whether you would rather the Cubs acquire Twins right-hander Joe Ryan or Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal. With the caveat that the Cubs are unlikely to acquire either one, 58 percent of you would rather get Ryan and that extra year of control over just two months of Skubal.

Still, if you ask me which one I’d rather have starting a Game 7, it’s Skubal every time. Although Ryan would be good too.

Here’s the part with the music and the movies. You’re free to skip ahead if you want. Or you can just read that stuff and skip the baseball stuff. Your call.

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Tonight we’re honored to have trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and his Quartet playing the Miles Davis tune “If I Were a Bell” in Amsterdam on the Fourth of July, just a few weeks ago.

Joining Pelt are Orrin Evans on piano, Buster Williams on double bass and Lenny White on drums.

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Saturday Fiction, the 2019 Chinese film directed by Lou Ye, has a great premise for a film. It’s beautifully shot in black-and-white and it stars a first-rate actress in Gong Li. This should have been a great movie. Unfortunately, a confusing plot and weak characterizations turn Saturday Fiction into a disappointing mess.

Saturday Fiction stars Gong Li as Jean Yu, a huge Chinese film star who leaves the relative safety of Hong Kong for the French Concession of Shanghai in the first week of December of 1941. The French Concession was the area of Shanghai where day-to-day control had been handed over to the French Government almost 100 years earlier. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, they left the French Concession mostly alone, not wanting to cause an international incident with a European power. After the Fall of France in 1940, the French Concession was nominally under the control of the Vichy Government. It had always been a prosperous neighborhood crawling with foreigners, but by 1941 it was also a refuge from the war for those who could get in. It was also, naturally enough, overrun with spies. Jean Yu is one of them. 

So if the setup of Saturday Fiction sounds familiar, it should. It’s basically Casablanca. It’s a Vichy French territory crawling with intrigue. The area’s independence can be stripped away by an Axis power at a moment’s notice. Jean Yu isn’t Rick, but like Bogart’s classic character, where her loyalties will take her are unclear until late in the film. 

Jean Yu goes to Shanghai ostensibly to star in a play entitled “Saturday Fiction” (hence the title), co-starring and directed by her boyfriend Tan Na (Taiwanese-Canadian actor Mark Chao). But everyone suspects that she’s actually there to contact her ex-husband who is being held by the Japanese for reasons that are unclear. He seems to have been collaborating with the Japanese, so did he betray them or something? I don’t know and I’ve seen the film. 

But her real reason for coming to Shanghai wasn’t to star in the play or meet with her ex-husband (although she does both), but as part of an espionage plot. Her spy cell needs to learn a Japanese code and discover what the recent Japanese communications are about and report back to the British and/or American authorities. Or maybe the Free French. We find out who Jean Yu is working for and why, but we never do find out whom he is working for. 

Since this is the first week of December of 1941, the contents of the secret Japanese communications that her spy ring is trying to decode is obvious. It’s also obvious that by the time they decode it, it’s too late. 

One admirable thing Is how Saturday Fiction portrays the international flavor of Shanghai by having the dialogue in Mandarin, English, French and Japanese. 

Saturday Fiction also takes a confusing wartime espionage plot and then tosses in that completely irrelevant play. Several times a scene will start with either Jean Yu and her boyfriend speaking to each other in conspiratorial tones. We think this is important information about her mission but .  . .nope! It’s just a rehearsal scene from the play. The play is giving way too much screen time for something that is completely irrelevant to everything else. It’s not even a good MacGuffin. Director Lou just keeps going back again and again to these pointless scenes from this play. Yes, there is some intrigue surrounding the rehearsals with a young Jean Yu fangirl (Huang Xiangli) who is actually working for the Japanese (but is also really a Jean Yu fangirl), but they didn’t need to act out the scenes again and again for that intrigue to work. It just makes an already confusing plot even more confusing. 

Let’s not even get into how someone who is constantly besieged by adoring fans could be an effective spy. At least it does explain why only she could extract the information.

Gong Li does a great job with what she’s given. Jean Yu’s motivations are kept hidden until the very end. The rest of the cast are mostly fine and Pascal Greggory in particular turns in a strong performance as her mysterious French contact. But none of that overcomes a sloppy plot with weak characterizations. 

There are some things about Saturday Fiction that lift the film from below-average to watchable. For one, in the final half-hour or so of the 126 minute film, Saturday Fiction transforms from a languid espionage film to a pretty solid, fast-paced shoot-em-up. If the rest of the film had the pace and excitement of the final half-hour, we might not care about the confusing plot. 

The other strong part of the film is the terrific black-and-white cinematography. I’m a sucker for black-and-white, as you probably know, but Saturday Fiction is a real break from the shadowy noir look that gets overused. In fact, the sets are mostly well-lit and many shots use hand-held cameras, which gives the film more of a newsreel look than noir. But despite the 1940s costumes, sets and the black-and-white cinematography, the film looks new and fresh. 

If you’re interested in the Sino-Japanese War, great black-and-white cinematography or are just a fan of Gong Li, then Saturday Fiction could be worth a watch. It’s why I watched. The movie is not terrible. It’s not even bad. It’s just that for someone like me who is interested in the War in the Pacific, black-and-white films and is a fan of Gong Li, the whole thing is just disappointing. 

Here’s the trailer for Saturday Fiction. The trailer smartly emphasizes the action of the final half hour. I mean, who wouldn’t want to watch a film with that shot of Gong Li?

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Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

We all know the Trade Deadline is two weeks away and pretty much all the off-the-field discussions are going to be about who is going where. For the Cubs, that obviously means pitching. It’s frankly incredible what this team has done despite a huge rash of injuries to their pitching staff. It’s not crazy to think that with some better pitching, the Cubs could make some noise in the postseason.

The question then becomes who can the Cubs give up to acquire that pitching? The obvious answer is “infielders,” since the Cubs have Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch all under team control through at least the 2029 season. Bregman and Hoerner even longer.

So that means that the Cubs’ two young infielders, Matt Shaw and Pedro Ramírez, are luxuries. Yes, it’s important to have backups in case of injuries, but two good young infielders? On top of that, there are solid infield prospects down in the minors like Jefferson Rojas, James Triantos and Ty Southisene who may be able to step into one of those reserve infield positions over the next couple of years.

So if a team is willing to trade pitching the Cubs need and they want a major-league ready infielder back in return, it makes sense to deal either Shaw or Ramírez. Not only does it make sense for the Cubs, it makes sense for those two young players to go to a team where they will get more regular playing time at one position.

I’ve been looking at these two players and I’ve concluded that it’s a personal preference as two which one is better. Shaw certainly has the better pedigree. He was the Cubs’ first-round draft pick in 2023 and was the Cubs’ top prospect coming into last season. He spent all of last season as the Cubs’ starting third baseman and for a 23-year-old rookie, he was fine. Good, even. His batting line was a below-average .226/.295/.394 with 13 home runs and 17 steals, but that’s the kind of line that a lot of everyday veteran starting infielders post in their rookie seasons. He was also playing out-of-position at third base and he was actually good there defensively. He even was a Gold Glove finalist at third base.

This year, Shaw lost his starting third base job to Bregman, but he moved into a utility role without complaint and with ease. He started playing the outfield for the first time and he’s surprisingly not bad out there for someone with so little experience. He’s played every position on the field but shortstop, pitcher and catcher. That kind of versatility is valuable.

On top of that, despite erratic playing time, Shaw has made the kind of improvements at the plate that we all expected he would make after his rookie season. Over 56 games, Shaw is hitting .246/.322/.415 with four home runs and four steals. Most teams would gladly take that out of a young infielder with a sold glove. If the Cubs didn’t have four better options, they would too. It’s also not unrealistic to believe that Shaw is going to continue to improve upon that as he ages.

Yes, Shaw is currently on the Injured List with a hand injury. But I assume that any team that is trading away pitching this year is out of the playoff hunt and would want Shaw for next season and beyond. As far as I know, the injury isn’t expected to have any lasting impact and Shaw is expected to be back on the field before the end of the season. So I don’t think Shaw’s injury will have much or any effect on his trade value.

On the other hand, the Cubs have Pedro Ramírez, who has filled in admirably in Shaw’s absence. Ramírez doesn’t have quite the same pedigree as Shaw does. He was always considered a prospect, but he was only ranked as the eighth-best Cubs prospect coming into this season. Ramírez got off to a strong start this year and started to get some Top 100 prospect considerations, but not Top 40 like Shaw was before he lost his prospect eligibility.

As noted before, Ramírez got off to a great start to the season in Triple-A Iowa this year. In the International League, Ramírez hit .312/.395/.547 with a career-high nine home runs in just 43 games. He also stole 19 bases.

There were reasons to be wary of those numbers from Ramírez in Iowa because offense is way up for everyone for some unknown reason in the minor leagues this year. But since his major-league call-up, Ramírez has hit a very good .281/.329/.438 with five doubles, one triple and one home run in just 71 plate appearances. Obviously that’s a small sample size, but Ramírez looks like a major league hitter out there.

I think which player has a higher trade value has a lot to do with what the team the Cubs are dealing with values the most. Shaw has a better track record and is likely to hit for more power. He’s also more versatile defensively and is probably the better glove all-around. Shaw walks a bit more than Ramírez, but he’s also likely to strike out more.

With Ramírez, you have a switch-hitter that makes more slightly more contact at the price of a little less power. He’s also two years younger than Shaw, so maybe there’s a bit more projection in Ramírez. But whereas Shaw has proven he can play all over the diamond, Ramírez is more limited to second and third base. Their speed is pretty similar. Both will steal double-digit bases in the majors and run the bases well.

I though about asking you which player had a higher trade value, but as I mentioned, the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a matter of individual preference. So instead, I’m going to ask you which one you would rather keep? Meaning, if a team offered the Cubs a pitcher for either one, which one do you keep and which one do you trade?

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We’re off to a good start to the week with your presence. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.