Category: MLB

The Athletics took on the Houston Astros this morning, seeking to avoid being swept by their division rivals. The A’s salvaged the series finale with a 5-0 victory, ending the road trip on a high note. Jump lived up to his top-100 prospect pedigree, as his second straight quality start resulted in his second MLB win. Meanwhile, his teammates provided more than enough run support.

Both Teams Waste Early Scoring Chances

The A’s went down quietly to start the game against Astros’ starting pitcher Mike Burrows. In the bottom of the first, the Astros got two runners on base. However, Athletics’ starting pitcher Gage Jump escaped the jam by getting Houston’s third baseman Isaac Paredes to ground into an inning-ending double play.

A’s left fielder Tyler Soderstrom led off the second by drawing a walk, extending his on-base streak to 17 consecutive games. With one out, center fielder Lawrence Butler got a much-needed base hit up the middle. Nevertheless, Burrows retired the next two A’s hitters to escape the two-on, one-out jam without allowing any damage.

A’s Put Up A Three-Spot

The Athletics took the lead in the top of the third. Shortstop Alika Williams singled and then first baseman Nick Kurtz crushed his 12th home run of the season, a two-run blast to right-center that left the bat at 114 mph.

The A’s were not done that inning. With one out, catcher Shea Langeliers blooped a single to right field, then stole second—his first stolen base of the season—before scoring on designated hitter Brent Rooker’s two-out RBI double down the left-field line.

Jump completed a third straight scoreless inning, inducing his second double-play grounder as Houston wasted a chance to immediately respond.

A’s Add Another Run

A’s third baseman Zack Gelof opened the fourth with a double to left, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. With two outs, Gelof scored on Astros’ shortstop Jeremy Pena’s fielding error, a play that should been made for the third out of the inning.

Kurtz, who hit the grounder that was misplayed, proceeded to steal his seventh base of the campaign. A couple batters later, Burrows got Langeliers to pop out, ending the inning.

Rooker and Butler Standing Out

Rooker stayed hot, following up his RBI double by crushing his 10th home run of the season, a solo blast to the left-field seats with one out in the fifth inning. After Rooker’s home run, Butler collected his second single of the game, a positive sign for the struggling but talented outfielder.

Jump Dominant Again

The Astros went to their bullpen in the sixth inning, bringing in left-hander Steven Okert to replace Burrows, who allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits over five innings. Okert pitched Houston’s first scoreless inning since the second.

Jump pitched into the seventh inning, exiting after allowing a single and a walk. He threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. While Jump recorded only three strikeouts, he did a good job of keeping Astros hitters off balance, inducing seven groundouts and four fly outs.

A’s Bullpen Seals the Victory

Right-handed reliever Justin Sterner replaced Jump, inheriting the two Astros baserunners. Sterner wiggled out of that jam unscathed, helped by Butler’s nice running catch on Astros’ pinch-hitter Lamonte Wade Jr’s line drive that seemed ticketed for the right field corner.

Fellow right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. tossed a scoreless eighth inning, keeping the A’s shutout hopes alive while extending his scoreless innings streak to 11 2/3 innings. Left-hander Hogan Harris completed the shutout, recording the final three outs in the bottom of the ninth to seal the A’s 5-0 victory.

This win was exactly what the doctor ordered, snapping the A’s losing streak and enabling the team to finish its road trip at .500 rather than with a losing record.

Las Vegas Series Preview

Now, the team heads to “Sin City” for six home games at its Triple-A affiliate’s ballpark. Tomorrow evening, the Athletics will begin a three-game series against the first-place Milwaukee Brewers at the launching pad known as Las Vegas Ballpark.

Left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who has struggled recently, will make his 14th start of the season for the A’s. Springs is still searching for his first win since April, a drought he hopes to end in one of the most homer-friendly ballparks in the minor leagues. The Brewers will counter with left-hander Kyle Harrison, the latest pitcher to benefit from Milwaukee ‘s pitching development magic. The Bay Area native is 7-1 with a 1.57 ERA through his first 11 starts with the Brewers.

Brewers 12, Rockies 4

Leverage index and box score

Graphic via FanGraphs.

A-Vaughn-ger: Andrew Vaughn, +.18 WPA

Under the Hill: Jaden Hill, -0.43 WPA

Game thread comment of the day

Game Thread Comment of the Game — 6.5.26

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Box Score

For five innings on Sunday afternoon, the Brewers looked on their way to a disappointing afternoon. They were hitting the ball okay, but they weren’t stringing hits together. Some early defensive lapses gifted the Rockies an early lead, which held at 3-1 through five innings. But in the sixth, the dam burst, and Milwaukee commenced an offensive assault on a series of Rocky relievers. Milwaukee scored seven in the sixth and added four more in the ninth, and another solid day for Shane Drohan and the Brewer pitching staff gave the Brewers a comfortable victory and just the second sweep Milwaukee has ever achieved in Denver.

Jackson Chourio led off the game with a single to right off of starter Kyle Freeland, but Brice Turang struck out and William Contreras grounded into a double play. In the bottom of the first, the Brewers were let down by some sketchy defense. Willi Castro, the Rockies’ leadoff hitter, hit a pop-up on the right side of the infield. Vaughn gave way to Turang, but Turang lost it in the sun, and it dropped on the infield dirt. Castro was awarded a single. Next up was Ezequiel Tovar, and he hit what should’ve been a single to center field… but Mitchell misplayed it, and it got past him. Blake Perkins recovered it and threw to the infield, but not before Castro scored and Tovar made it to second. The official scorer ruled it a double, so through two batters, the Rockies had a single and a double, though they should’ve had a pop-out and a single.

Tovar moved to third when TJ Rumfield flew out to right, and he scored when Hunter Goodman hit a weak grounder to first. Kyle Karros flew out to end the inning, but they had an early 2-0 lead, and Drohan had two extremely tough-luck earned runs on his line.

Milwaukee got half the runs back in the top of the second. Andrew Vaughn led off with a hard single at the end of a 10-pitch at-bat. Gary Sánchez flew out, and Mitchell struck out, but an unlikely source came through with two outs: Luis Rengifo crushed a line drive at 109.2 mph into left-center that rolled all the way to the wall, and Vaughn scored from first. A Perkins groundout ended the inning, but the score was 2-1.

Drohan had a much nicer second inning, 1-2-3 with a strikeout. In the top of the third, Chourio hit a one-out double on a hard grounder down the left-field line. But Turang flew out and Contreras grounded out, and Milwaukee was unable to capitalize. Troy Johnston led off the bottom of the third with a double, but Drohan worked out of it with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to end the inning.

Freeland worked a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth with consecutive groundouts from Vaughn, Sánchez, and Mitchell. Drohan walked Karros with one out in the bottom of the inning, but Jake McCarthy grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Perkins walked with one out in the top of the fifth, and after Joey Ortiz flew out to center, Chourio jumped on the first pitch and lined another double into the right-field corner — on just the third pitch he’d seen on the day, he had his third hit. Unfortunately, Chourio hit it hard enough that Perkins couldn’t score from first and had to hold at third. Turang hit a ground ball to first and nearly beat Freeland to the bag, but he didn’t quite beat him, and the inning ended with two runners stranded in scoring position.

Braxton Fulford lined a double to the wall to lead off the bottom of the fifth and moved to third on a Chad Stevens groundout. Johnston hit a fly ball to medium-shallow left field, and Fulford tested Chourio’s arm — a perfect throw would’ve gotten him, but the throw was a couple of feet up the first-base line, and Fulford slid in underneath Sánchez’s swipe tag. Castro grounded out to end the inning, but the Rockies’ lead was up to 3-1.

A looping Contreras single started the sixth. Vaughn, who followed, hit a fly ball to right-center; it held up long enough that McCarthy thought he could catch it, but he was mistaken. He dove and missed, Contreras scored, and Vaughn ended up at third with a triple.

That ended Freeland’s afternoon, as he was pulled for righty Jaden Hill. Hill’s first pitch was a sinker in to Sánchez, who got around on it and crushed it into the seats in left field, a 447-foot shot that was Sánchez’s sixth homer but first since April 14. Mitchell was next, and he got a 2-1 fastball right down the middle that he hit 403 feet off the high wall in right field for a double. Rengifo walked, and then Perkins laid down a bunt — meant to be a sacrifice — but he beat Hill’s throw to first, and the Brewers had the bases loaded with nobody out for Ortiz.

Ortiz walked, the Brewers were up to 5-3, and Hill had failed to retire any of the first five batters he faced. And now he had to face Chourio, who was 3-for-3 with two doubles. But Chourio hit a fly ball about a mile in the air to shallow left field, and Hill had the first out without surrendering another run, as it was not deep enough for Rengifo to tag. Milwaukee wasn’t done, though: Turang got an 0-1 hanging slider and pounded it into right field for a two-run single.

Hill was pulled after retiring just one of seven batters that he faced and allowed four earned runs, plus an inherited runner from Freeland. The new pitcher, Keegan Thompson, started against Contreras, who’d led off the inning. Thompson retired him this time, but on a ground ball that scored Ortiz from third for Milwaukee’s seventh run of the inning. Vaughn grounded out to second to finally end the inning, but the Brewers had turned a 3-1 deficit into an 8-3 lead.

With 65 pitches and a career-high (in the majors) five innings to his name, Drohan was back out for the sixth. Eleven pitches later, Drohan had another 1-2-3 inning. Sánchez hit another deep fly ball to start the top of the seventh, but this one hung up on the warning track for Castro (who took a bit of an adventurous route to the ball). Mitchell was next, and he also hit one deep toward Castro — this one got over his head, though it stayed in the ballpark, and Mitchell had his second double. After Rengifo grounded out, Sal Frelick was on to pinch-hit for Perkins, and he popped out on the first pitch to end the inning.

Drohan was back out for the seventh; he’d already thrown a major league career-high 76 pitches, though he’d gone as high as 89 pitches earlier this season when pitching for Triple-A Nashville. Drohan got the first out on a grounder to shortstop, and should’ve had the second on a high chopper back to the mound, but Drohan’s underhand throw to first wasn’t quick enough to get the speedy McCarthy, and that was the end of the line for Drohan. Pat Murphy called for Chad Patrick, and with the help of a Sánchez challenge, he struck out Edouard Julien looking and got a groundout from pinch-hitter Sterlin Thompson to end the inning.

Drohan went a career-best 6 1/3 innings and had four strikeouts to one walk. He allowed three runs, though two of those should’ve been unearned. It was a solid day at the office for the rookie lefty.

In the top of the eighth, Ortiz struck out looking in an at-bat where both the second and third strikes were pitches that the catcher Goodman successfully challenged. Chourio hit another ball over 100 mph, but it was a groundout to short, and Turang struck out swinging to end the inning. Castro hit a one-out single in the bottom of the eighth, but Patrick got Tovar to hit into a double play that ended the eighth.

Contreras smoked a single at 112 mph to start the ninth, and Vaughn followed with his third hit of the day, a single to right field. Sánchez was next, and he lined a ball into the left-field corner for a double that scored Contreras. On the first pitch Mitchell saw, he hit one to deep center — McCarthy, running back on it, got a glove on it but couldn’t make what would’ve been an impressive leaping catch. Mitchell ended up with a triple, and he scored when Rengifo hit a sac fly to left. The first four batters of the ninth scored, and Milwaukee’s lead was suddenly up to 12-3.

Frelick crushed a ball, too, but the first baseman, Rumfield, fielded his 106-mph grounder and made the second out. Ortiz hit a ball into the right-field gap and had a two-out double, but Chourio struck out to end the inning.

Craig Yoho was summoned from the bullpen to finish the game for the Brewers. He struck out Rumfield, but with one out, Goodman got a ball just over Mitchell’s outstretched glove and over the fence in straightaway center field for his 17th home run of the season. Yoho recovered to get a flyout from Karros and a strikeout of McCarthy, and the game was over.

Milwaukee’s offense was as potent today as it has been in any game this season. They erupted for 17 hits, 10 of which went for extra bases. The highlights included Mitchell, who was 3-for-5 with two doubles, a triple, two runs scored, and two RBIs; Sánchez, who was 2-for-5 with a homer, a double, and three RBIs; Vaughn, who was 3-for-5 with a triple, three runs scored, and an RBI; and Chourio, who was 3-for-6 with two doubles. Every Brewer starter picked up a hit today, and all of them except Chourio and Perkins had at least one RBI.

Drohan had a solid pitching line — he had a quality start, with three earned runs allowed in 6 1/3 innings — but he pitched even better than that line suggested, with the defensive miscues covered above. He got up to 83 pitches today, too, and surpassed his previous career-best single-game innings total by two full innings. Patrick calmly picked up five outs in relief, and Yoho was able to close the door despite the Goodman homer.

This was a nice sweep for the Crew, punctuated by an offensive explosion for a team that has, at times, struggled on offense this season. Milwaukee is back in action tomorrow night, as they wrap up their six-game road trip with a series in Las Vegas against the Athletics. That first game is a 9:05 CT start, so we’ll see you late tomorrow night.

Pitchers Brendan Beck and Carson Coleman made Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders history when they combined to no-hit the Syracuse Mets, 4-0, on June 5th at NBT Bank Stadium in upstate New York.

Beck, the New York Yankees’ No. 21 prospect who made his MLB debut on May 7th, went seven innings, walked three and struck out six. He threw 93 pitches, 63 for strikes. He issued a one-out walk to Jorge Polanco in the bottom of the first inning, then retired the next 10 batters before walking Christian Arroyo with two outs in the fourth. But Beck got Andy Ibáñez to pop out to first baseman Seth Brown to end the inning. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, the 2021 second-round pick issued a leadoff walk to Matt Rudick in following frame, but retired the next three batters. Beck then pitched a perfect seventh inning, ending his outing with a strikeout of Yonny Hernandez.

Coleman relieved in the bottom of the eighth and fanned the final two batters to close out a perfect inning. After retiring the first batter in the bottom of the ninth, Nick Morabito, on a groundout, Coleman walked Polanco. But Kevin Parada grounded Coleman’s first pitch to him to shortstop George Lombard Jr., who flipped to second baseman Jonathan Ornelas, who threw to Brown at first for the game-ending 6-4-3 double play. Abrahan Gutierrez, in his first game with the RailRiders after being promoted earlier in the day from Double-A Somerset, was the catcher.

It was the seventh no-hitter in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise history and the third nine-inning no-no. The other four were done in seven innings.

Here is a look back at the previous six no-hitters, dating back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s time as a Phillies affiliate as well. Two of them have interesting connections to this year’s RailRiders team:

July 25, 1992: Ben Rivera, Red Barons(7 innings)

In the first game of a doubleheader against the Pawtucket Red Sox at Lackawanna County Stadium, Rivera retired the final 20 batters he faced in a 2-0 victory for the first no-hitter in franchise history. A three-year big leaguer with the Braves and Phillies, Rivera walked the first batter of the game, and got the next batter to ground into a double play. He finished with six strikeouts.

As the cherry on top, the Red Barons also won the second game to sweep the doubleheader.

July 4, 1993: Tyler Green, Red Barons (7 innings)

Two years before Green made the NL All-Star team as a rookie with the Phillies, he provided the fireworks on the Fourth of July in a 3-1 victory in the opener of a doubleheader against the Ottawa Lynx. He allowed an unearned run, walked three (one intentionally) and struck out four.

Ottawa actually took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Curtis Pride walked, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt by Green and scored on a sacrifice fly by future Blue Jays skipper Charlie Montoyo.

But in the bottom of the fifth, Green ignited a Red Barons rally with a leadoff single. (Back then, when two National League affiliates played each other, the pitcher batted). An error on a sacrifice bunt by Kevin Stocker put runners at second and third. Scranton legend Greg Legg had a RBI groundout and Tony Longmire hit a RBI single to make it 2-1. Pat Brady’s home run in the bottom of the sixth capped the scoring.

June 6, 2004: Robert Ellis, Red Barons (7 innings)

Ellis was acquired in a trade from Buffalo three days earlier. He pitched in 29 major league games, including 17 starts in 2001 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who beat the Yankees in the World Series that season.

Making his first start for the Red Barons in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Louisville Bats, Ellis was almost perfect. He walked one — pinch-hitter Bobby Darula with two outs in the top of the sixth inning — and struck out two. He was working with a slim margin for error since Louisville starter Jesus Sanchez gave up just one hit — a home run in the bottom of the second inning to Mark Smith for the game’s lone run in a 1-0 Red Barons victory.

It is interesting to note that Robert Ellis is the father of current RailRiders outfielder Duke Ellis, who had a triple, home run and two RBIs in the no-hitter against Syracuse.

Sept. 3, 2006: Jeremy Cummings, Red Barons (9 innings)

Cummings threw the first nine-inning no-hitter in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise history in the penultimate game of the regular season against the Rochester Red Wings, 5-0, at Frontier Field in New York. He walked four, struck out nine and hit one batter. He threw 137 pitches, 84 for strikes.

He retired the first 13 batters he faced before issuing consecutive one-out walks to Terry Tiffee and Kevin West. However, he got Alex Romero to ground into an inning-ending double play. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, he hit West with a pitch, but again got Romero to hit into a double play to end that inning. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, he walked Andres Torres, but struck out Gil Velazquez to finish off the no-hitter. Velazquez is the current RailRiders bench coach.

The catcher was Jason Jaramillo, who was making his Triple-A debut.

July 21, 2021: Luis Gil/Reggie McClain/Stephen Ridings, RailRiders (9 innings)

Against the Rochester Red Wings at PNC Field, the three pitchers combined for a no-hitter in an 8-0 win.

Just a few weeks away from his impressive MLB debut, Gil went six innings for the RailRiders, walked two and struck out nine. He walked Adrian Sanchez with one out in the top of the first inning, then retired the next 14 batters before giving up a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth to Jakson Reetz, but got two groundouts and a strikeout to end the inning.

McClain pitched two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth with two strikeouts. In the ninth, Ridings—oh-so-briefly a 2021 sensation in New York—needed only nine pitches to complete the no-hitter, sandwiching two groundouts around a fly out.

The Bronx’s own Andrew Velazquez provided offensive support with two hits and one RBI. Brandon Wagner also had two hits, catcher Donny Sands drove in two runs and Socrates Brito had a solo home run.

Aug. 19, 2021: Sean Boyle, RailRiders (7 innings)

Twenty-nine days after Gil, McClain and Ridings combined on a no-hitter, Boyle threw one in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Worcester Red Sox at Polar Park in Massachusetts, 5-0, to complete a sweep of the twinbill.

Making his Triple-A debut (he hadn’t even pitched at Double-A), Boyle threw 95 pitches. He walked one — Franchy Cordero with two outs in the bottom of the first — struck out six and hit one batter — Jeremy Rivera in the bottom of the sixth.

Brito backed Boyle’s effort by going 3-for-3 with a triple, two runs, two RBIs and two stolen bases.

As a final note, Wally Ritchie of the Red Barons almost had the distinction of throwing the first no-hitter in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise history. On May 25, 1990, in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Syracuse Chiefs at Lackawanna County Stadium, Ritchie didn’t allow a hit for the first seven innings. However, the game was scoreless and went to extra innings. Pedro Munoz broke up the bid with a leadoff double in the top of the eighth. The Red Barons wound up winning in the bottom of the eighth, 1-o.

Last time out, Noah Cameron pitched a one-hitter and allowed only a single run in seven innings, but his team lost because Lucas Erceg blew a one-run lead in the ninth inning. Today, Cameron pitched six innings and allowed no earned runs. He struck out seven and walked no one. Thanks to an offense that put in some more work, they were able to survive Erceg’s ninth-inning struggles to complete a 6-5 victory. That finishes their series in Minnesota with three wins to only one loss, and results in a .500 road trip.

Almost exactly a month ago, Noah Cameron seemed on the verge of being demoted to the minor leagues due to his struggles on the mound after his arm angle shifted drastically this season. To that point, he had a 5.55 ERA, and while his 12.8% K-BB% last year had been a cause of mild concern, it had dropped all the way to 11% this year. Since then, he has lowered his ERA to 3.84, and his K-BB% has spiked all the way up to 16.7%! That fits him firmly in the top 50 starting pitchers in MLB in both categories. Last year, he was surprisingly good, and we hoped he could continue to be mostly that good. This year, he dipped down to being quite bad and has ascended to basically ace-level pitching, even when you include the awful starts.

If the Royals do accomplish some sort of miracle comeback in this season’s playoff hunt, a lot of it is going to be because Noah Cameron is able to join a healthy Kris Bubic and Cole Ragans in pushing this team forward. That’s a lot of ifs, but at least Cameron is doing his part, bless him.

The offense showed up today, too, thankfully. Through the first three innings, it looked like in the previewed battle of the immovable baserunners versus the unstoppable run-giver, the Royals were going to be defeated by simply not putting any runners on. Then, with two outs in the fourth, Vinnie Pasquantino went the other way for a two-out double, and Nick Loftin mirrored him to tie the game. Things got really exciting in the fifth inning, though, though it didn’t immediately look good.

Carter Jensen managed a lead-off single from the 8-spot, but Tyler Tolbert missed a bunt with two strikes and was sent back to the dugout. Tolbert needs to get much better at bunting if he’s going to find a way to stick in the big leagues beyond his pre-arb years. Lane Thomas singled! Yay! Bobby Witt Jr. struck out. Boo! Things were looking dire with the injured Maikel Garcia coming to the plate.

The Royals had a lead! And you’d be justified in wondering if that’s all they were going to manage, given their season and who was up next, Starling Marte.

Marte seemed to sell out his power for the ability to hit singles early in his Royals’ tenure; he wasn’t using his legs very much. He started incorporating them more into his swings of late, and while that didn’t lead to any more power, it did lead to fewer hits and more strikeouts. He had started today with a pair of strikeouts and I began wondering if it might be time for the Royals to move on from him.

Maybe he can stick around for a little bit longer.

The Royals added another run in the eighth on what has become a patented bases-loaded sacrifice fly; this one was performed by Carter Jensen, who just might be heating up. At the time, it extended the Royals’ lead to 6-1 and hardly seemed necessary. At least, if you hadn’t watched the 2026 Royals’ bullpen.

Now, to be fair, John Schreiber pitched a clean seventh. And Mason Black had a clean eighth with a strikeout. Beck Way was tasked with finishing the game, staked to that five-run lead. I had been hoping to see the rookie after his dazzling debut Friday night while behind. Three batters later, the Royals had only a two run lead off a Josh Bell three-run blast and I was reminded we must always be careful what we wish for.

Way got the next batter out, but then allowed a double, and Matt Quatraro knew he had no choice but to go back to the bullpen. Alex Lange-xiety had closed three of the last four games, so he wasn’t available. Danny Drips had done the same. Matt Strahm had only pitched three of the last five, but he’d also not gone back-to-back days since returning from the IL and had given up a run in two of those appearances, including yesterday afternoon. Schreiber, Way, and Black had already pitched. That left Quatraro with basically Lucas Erceg and Steven Cruz. Given those choices, he went with Erceg and you can argue that it was the wrong choice, but I don’t know that there was a right one.

Erceg gave up a lineout, a pair of singles to allow one to score, and put the go-ahead run on, but Brooks Lee hit a deep flyout to left that Isaac Collins was able to corral to finish the game. Suffice to say that Erceg may have earned the save, but he did little to convince anyone he should resume the closer’s role.

More bad news in this one, as the Royals, who couldn’t blame injuries for their earlier struggles, might be able to blame near-future struggles on them. They lost yet another key player to injury. As you know, Ragans and Bubic are still on the IL and progressing toward rehab assignments. During the broadcast, Joel Goldberg indicated both would likely need to at least two rehab starts and that Bubic is a hair closer to starting his than Ragans. Closer Carlos Estévez is still nowhere near his own rehab. Garcia is playing through two different injuries. The Royals lost Salvador Perez and Jac Caglianone to injuries sustained in Friday night’s contest. And today Bobby Witt Jr. left early with right knee soreness. Fingers crossed it was mostly precautionary with a moderately-sized lead and a day off tomorrow because the Royals aren’t going anywhere without Bobby in the lineup.

As I said, tomorrow is a well-earned day off for KC. They’ll play the Rangers Tuesday night. Stephen Kolek (3.32 ERA, 12.8% K-BB%) will return from the family emergency list, and one of the Rangers’ aces, Nathan Eovaldi (4.10 ERA, 18.2% K-BB%), will pitch for them. The game will start at 6:40 p.m. Central.

Has there ever been an MLB game in which a run was scored in all 17 or 18 half-innings of play? If there has, it wasn’t this one, but it sure felt like it for a few innings there.

Brandon Marsh’s scorching-hot series and season continued in the final game of the three-game set between the White Sox and Phillies, a 9-5 win for the latter that boosted the latter’s record to 35-30 and dropped the former’s to 34-31.

Using an opener is a perfectly sound strategy. The Sox have had plenty of success using it this year, and they did last year as well. This was not one of those days, as the combination of Tyler Gilbert and David Sandlin allowed four earned runs over four innings, rendering the time-through-the-order advantage of the opener strategy totally moot.

A few particularly cantankerous veterans notwithstanding, most starters these days don’t seem to take much issue by being used behind an opener now and then, but I’m willing to bet most starters don’t like the idea of not entering the game with a clean inning. That’s what happened to Sandlin, who wound up entering the game probably a little sooner than Will Venable intended when opener Gilbert allowed a run and two hits within the first four batters of the game. Sandlin limited the damage, but he never quite managed to get into a rhythm, ultimately finishing with three earned runs over three innings of work, another somewhat disappointing follow-up to his brilliant MLB debut.

Sandlin wasn’t terrible at locating his pitches, throwing 63% strikes and punching out six hitters, but as I noted in the game thread, Philadelphia is not a team that allows many mistakes to get past them. One could argue that the pitch that Rafael Marchán launched into the right field seats wasn’t even a mistake, as it looked like he simply got the pitch he was looking for on the two-run homer that put the Phillies back in the lead in the second inning:

On the other side of the ball, Tristan Peters just continued to do his thing. Another solid day at the plate left him hitting .307/.365/.448 at game’s end, and he now leads the team with 15 doubles and is playing at a remarkable 5-WAR pace on the year.

From the No. 7 spot in the order, Peters served as the sparkplug and engineer for Chicago’s first three runs of the day, first on a second-inning double that moved Jacob Gonzalez to third base, where he later scored before Peters himself came around on Sam Antonacci’s single. An inning later, Peters was the beneficiary of the kind of play the Sox are used to being on the wrong side of: His jammed two-strike swing resulted in a ball in play at just 82 mph, and while Aaron Nola might have recovered from the ball dropping between shortstop Bryson Stott and left fielder Marsh, but he didn’t get the chance. Marsh overran the ball, letting it squirt past him, opening a window for Chase Meidroth to motor around the bases and tie the game at three:

Of course, Marsh took the run right back the next inning, launching his eighth homer of the year to give the Phillies the lead for third time in three innings. So remains the way of the White Sox.

Nola’s stuff was zig-zagging like an alligator was chasing it, but he just wasn’t able to throw enough fastballs in the strike zone to avoid getting himself into trouble nearly every inning. It’s been quite a rough ride for Nola this season, as the 33-year-old entered the afternoon was a 5.55 ERA despite throwing six and five innings of two-run ball over his last two starts. After a nightmare-fuel 2025 resulted in a career-worst 6.01 ERA, Nola hasn’t been able to quite get the juice back on the knuckle curve that made him one of the most reliable workhorses in baseball between 2017 and 2024. Nola’s locations were actually pretty good, but the Sox chased at just 36% of the curveballs he threw, which makes it impossible to work with any kind of efficiency when you throw as many of them as Nola does.

Nola was chased from the game at the 93-pitch mark in the fifth inning. He was ultimately charged with the two runners he left on base, as lefty reliever Tim Mayza allowed pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk powered the fifth lead change in the first five innings of the game with a sharp single the other way. Grichuk is now hitting .308/.333/.692 as a member of the Sox, driving in a hefty 17 runs in just barely more than 50 trips to the plate.

I’m trying to find ways to bring this game alive without resorting to a simple blow-by-blow recap, but the bullpens did not make it easy today. By the time the fifth inning concluded, neither starter remained in the game, and a series of hits from the bottom end of the Philadelphia order pushed them to snatch a lead for the fourth time in five innings.

Even in blowing leads, though, this 2026 White Sox team is showing more and more promise by the game. Though the Phillies ended that fifth inning with a 7-5 advantage, it likely would have been a lot worse were it not for a brilliant inning-ending double play among Meidroth, Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery that kept the game within reach:

The alignment shuffling triggered by Grichuk’s pinch-hit appearance saw Meidroth finish the game with his fourth appearance at shortstop this season. While he simply doesn’t have the arm to play the 6-spot on any kind of regular basis, his ability to spell Montgomery if need be gives Venable the option to move Sam Antonacci into the infield while keeping all three of them in the lineup, flexibility that ought to be quite useful moving forward.

The crux of the game may have come in the fourth at-bat of the sixth inning, an impressive nine-pitch battle between Phillies reliever José Alvarado and pinch-hitter Edgar Quero. Trailing 7-5, a Sox rally — spurred by what else but an Antonacci hit-by-pitch, his league-leading 15th of the year — brewed with runners on first and second with one out. Quero battled valiantly against the high-octane lefty, fouling off six pitches and coming mere feet away from changing the lead yet again with a would-be home run. On the very next pitch, he kept his drive in fair territory, but a brilliant catch from who else but Marsh kept everyone where they were.

When Montgomery proceeded to strike out to end the inning, Chicago’s comeback momentum seemed to have stalled. Bryan Hudson took over for Tyler Davis, allowing an additional two runs in his partial inning of work, and Orion Kerkerinf took over for Alvarado, keeping a clean scoresheet as the Sox went down in the seventh.

Righthander and former starter Trevor Richards came on to soak up the remaining innings for the Sox, who went down more or less without a fight on the offensive side of the last three innings. You can’t shock the world every day, I suppose.

With a 2-4 road trip now in the books, the South Siders are off tomorrow before showing up at home for a three-game bout with the NL-best Atlanta Braves. Erick Fedde gets the ball for the series opener, with Davis Martin potentially getting a bit of an extra breather after his first genuinely rough start of the campaign. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. CT, and we’ll see you there!

The series against the White Sox was not a strong one for the Phillies’ starting rotation. All three of their starters struggled, including Aaron Nola on Sunday. Fortunately, the Phillies’ lineup – particularly Brandon Marsh – did not struggle. For the second time in three days, the offense was able to overcome shaky pitching and lead the team to a win, this time by a score of 9-6.

The Phillies got the scoring started in the first inning with consecutive doubles against the Sox’s opening pitcher Tyler Gilbert. But the lead was short lived. Nola pitched out of a two-on jam in the first, but he did not escape unscathed in the second. Thanks to three hits, a walk, and a sacrifice fly, the Sox took a 2-1 lead.

The Sox similarly did not enjoy their lead for very long. In the bottom of the second, Rafael Marchan sent a ball over the fence in right center to make it 3-2.

Once again, Nola gave it right back. For the second straight inning, he walked the leadoff hitter, and for the second straight inning, it proved costly. Tristan Peters hit a double to tie it up at 3.

The Phillies immediately went back on top when Brandon Marsh led off the bottom of the third with a home run. Marsh – who has homered in three straight games – is as hot a hitter as there is in baseball right now. With two hits in the game, he improved his league leading average to .338. And if that wasn’t enough, he also made a leaping catch at the fence. (Vote early and often!)

That lead actually lasted an entire inning with both teams going in order in the fourth. But in the fifth, Nola was back on his BS, once again walking the leadoff hitter. Apparently not satisfied with just one walk, Nola walked the next batter as well. Then for some reason, on a day when they were hitting well against a struggling pitcher, the Sox chose to give up an out with a sacrifice bunt.

While the Phillies got the out, manager Don Mattingly had seen enough and pulled Nola in favor of Tim Mayza. Randal Grichuk greeted Mayza with a two-run single, putting the Sox back in front 5-4. Mayza was fortunate to escape further damage thanks to a great defensive play by Bryson Stott.

Reliever Tim Davis entered the game for the White Sox, and on a day when a lot of pitchers struggled, he was no exception. Bryce Harper started the inning with a single, Marsh walked, and then Alec Bohm hit a double to tie it up at five. Bryson Stott followed with a single to give the Phillies a 6-5 lead. After an Adolis Garcia strikeout, Justin Crawford hit a ground ball that scored a run but thanks to some questionable baserunning by Bohm, ended with a double play.

The Phillies’ pitching staff cleaned things up after that, but only barely. Jose Alvarado and Orion Kerkering both allowed two runners in their innings of work but were able to strand them. Sox reliever Bryan Hudson was not so fortunate. In the sixth, he walked two batters and they came around to score on singles by Marsh and Bohm to give the Phillies a 9-5 lead.

With a four-run lead, Mattingly turned to Jonathan Bowlan to retire the final six batters of the game, and he did so capably, only allowing one hit which was promptly erased by a game-ending double play.

It’s nice to see that the offense is capable of carrying the team to a series win. With Cristopher Sanchez scheduled to start on Monday, they probably won’t have to do as much work as they did on Sunday. On the other hand, if they want to give the ace a little bit of extra run support, I don’t think anyone would complain.

Unfortunately this will be a short one, since there isn’t much that needs recapped.

The Texas Rangers shut out the Cleveland Guardians in today’s rubber match. The Guardians scored no runs on 6 hits and no errors while the Rangers massively outscored Cleveland with 10 runs on 16 hits with no errors. Chase DeLauter, Angel Martínez, David Fry (PH for Steven Kwan), and Patrick Bailey all recorded single hits while Steven Kwan had a two-hit game. Travis Bazzana and Brayan Rocchio reached on walks.

Joey Cantillo fell to 4-3 on the season after giving up 7 runs on 9 hit sand 2 walks. In his 5.0 innings of work, Cantillo struck out 7 batters on 97 pitches. Will Dion threw 2.0 innings, allowing 1 run, 3 hits, and 1 walk. Austin Hedges came on in the eighth, saving the bullpen for tomorrow’s Yankees series, and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits.

Home runs were the bane of today with the Rangers hitting 3 off of Joey and 1 off of Dion.

The Guardians start a three game series against the New York Yankees at home tomorrow. First pitch is at 6:40PM EDT.

Recap

The offense got off to a slow start; through five innings, there were only three baserunners. But a good sign was that the Sox drove up pitch counts on Cam Schlittler, who was gone after 5 2/3 innings. The bats seemingly began heating up in the sixth, when Willson Contreras smoked a double that scored Ceddanne Rafaela on a wide throw to the plate. But the Sox missed some opportunities to break the 1-1 tie in the seventh. Until all was said and done, it looked like the hitters might be able to do just enough.

That wasn’t the way it played out, though, and offensively, everyone not named Rafaela, Contreras, or Anthony Seigler has a lot to answer for. Outside of that core group, Mickey Gasper and Andruw Monasterio did manage a single each.

It was the eighth inning when everything went south, with Justin Slaten giving up a solo HR that neither he nor the Sox as a team could recover from. Gasper made two terrible throws to second in the inning. One ended up in the outfield; both resulted in steals. Joe Sorsa, in his Sox debut, piled on as soon as Slaten exited the game by allowing a three-run HR. The wind was completely out of the sails after that.

Now I’m just mad and grumpy, which is how I imagine Ranger Suárez feels. He was cruising, and it seemed as though he was pulled a little early. In the end, that probably doesn’t change the outcome of this game.

Yankees 6, Red Sox 1.

Studs

Ranger Suárez

Suárez was sharp today; his first three innings were 1-2-3. In the fourth, he gave up three singles but pitched out of the bases-loaded jam. He owned Jazz Chisholm, Jr., striking him out three times. 6.1 IP, 6H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO. If only he had the W as well.

Willson Contreras

Contreras ripped the RBI double over the head of the outfield that put the Sox on the board.

Ceddanne Rafaela

Batting second in the lineup, he singled right away and was one of only three Sox baserunners through five innings (Anthony Seigler was the only other baserunner to that point, with a walk and a double; it should be said that he had a nice day at the plate.) Rafaela went 2-4, and scored from first on Contreras’ double.

Duds

Justin Slaten

He was off to a great beginning in the eighth inning, with back-to-back strikeouts. In the next at-bat, he gave up a go-ahead home run to Bellinger—and unfortunately, that tilted him. He couldn’t get back on track after that, issuing consecutive singles—each of which turned into a steal of second base—then a walk before being pulled. 0.2 IP, 3H, 4R, 4ER, 1 BB, 1 HR. And oh yeah, 2 SO. He took the loss.

Joe La Sorsa

He immediately—and I mean immediately; it was his first pitch—gave up a three-run home run to Chisholm, who had struck out three times previously. Painful debut for the Sox.

Offense

The same story it’s been all season: it was hard to get anything going and ultimately, what they did accomplish wasn’t enough. There were too many starters who never managed to get on base: Duran, Abreu, Yoshida, Durbin, Mayer.

Play of the Game

I’m never going to credit the Yankees in this category, so we go with Contreras’ RBI.

The Texas Rangers scored ten runs while the Cleveland Guardians scored zero runs.

In a total reversal of everything that went wrong yesterday, the Rangers went from a 6-0 loss to an 10-0 win to finish the weekend with a home series win over the Guardians.

Whereas yesterday the Rangers collected all of three hits to produce zero runs, today the lineup went off for 16 hits with four of those leaving the park as they scored a June-best ten runs. That output also ties their season-best total.

Whereas yesterday the Guardians hit two home runs and put together a two-out, three run rally that put Texas away, today Cleveland managed just six hits with none producing runs.

Whereas yesterday Jack Leiter cratered in the middle innings and allowed a round number-inning to bury any chance that Texas had to come back, today Jacob deGrom escaped his personal hell first inning without allowing a run and then cruised through six shutout innings on an economical 87 pitches.

Whereas yesterday the Rangers helped Tyler Bibee earn his first win of 2026 as he threatened a Maddux against them, today Cleveland’s starter Joey Cantillo was carved up for seven runs on nine hits in his five innings.

Whereas yesterday the Rangers had their long relief soak up some innings in a clear impending loss, today the Rangers got a shutout inning apiece from Peyton Gray, Tyler Alexander, and Luis Curvelo in relief of deGrom to finish off a shutout win one day after they themselves where held off the board.

Whereas yesterday the Guardians only needed one inning of relief to shut out Texas, today they had to use former Rangers postseason legend Austin Hedges to pitch the final inning to finish off the blowout loss.

Whereas yesterday the loss prevented the Rangers from guaranteeing a series victory and going for a sweep, today the win does give the Rangers the series win over AL Central-leading Cleveland and once again moves them to within a win over .500.

Player of the Game: Plenty to love today as everyone in the lineup except for Joc Pederson got at least one hit with both pinch hitters also chipping in a hit apiece. Justin Foscue, Josh Jung, Wyatt Langford, and Michael Helman each went deep in the win.

Leading the way today however was Ezequiel Duran who went 4-for-5 with a double, run scored, and a team-best three RBIs. On the year, Duran is now sporting a .293/.347/.457 slash to make himself worthy of your All-Star game considerations.

Up Next: The Rangers have the day off tomorrow again before beginning a stretch of 23 games in 24 days throughout the rest of June that starts in Kansas City on Tuesday.

The Mariners lost a super frustrating game today, dropping the series to the Tigers and letting a winnable game slip away from them, despite getting a strong start from Luis Castillo. But once again, the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead late and the offense failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities that could have opened up the game for the Mariners.

Castillo was strong in his first non-piggyback start in a while, working deep into the sixth inning and holding the velocity on his fastball well throughout. He also leaned heavily on his changeup today, using it as his main secondary pitch as a weapon against the Tigers’ lefty batters. Castillo’s location was excellent, working the edges of the zone and avoiding the middle of the plate, eliciting weak contact – of the 15 balls put in play against him only three were hit over 100 mph – and collecting five strikeouts. Unfortunately, the rest of his team let him down.

The Mariners had opportunities to open this game up at times but failed to hang a crooked number in any inning, partly due to some bad luck and partly due to their own failings. The Mariners made some hard contact against Tigers starter Jack Flaherty in the second – back-to-back-to-back exit velocities of 104.6, 107.8, and 102.7, but two of those found gloves and Patrick Wisdom, starting again at third base while J.P. Crawford remains down with a hand injury after being hit by a pitch, struck out to end the threat.

But the Mariners were able to scratch that run across in the third thanks to a Colt Emerson leadoff double, brought home by Cole Young, who made some more hard contact on a single. However, the Mariners couldn’t add on, and an inning later, the Tigers tied it up when Castillo made his lone mistake of the day, hanging a slider to Kevin McGonigle for a no-doubt, game-tying homer.

The Mariners went back ahead in the sixth, but could have had much more. Julio Rodríguez led off with a single, advancing to second on a poor throw from Riley Greene, and then Josh Naylor went after a fastball at the top of the zone, keeping it just fair down the right-field line to bring home Julio. The Mariners were in the position of breaking this game open after Randy Arozarena walked, prompting a pitching change where Hinch attempted to get Luke Raley out of the game by bringing in lefty Drew Sommers, but Dan Wilson let Raley stay in to lay down a sacrifice bunt, which he executed well, moving the runners to second and third.

Dominic Canzone, however, wasn’t so lucky, making way for Rob Refsnyder, who struck out despite the platoon advantage. The Tigers then walked the righty Wisdom to go after lefty Colt Emerson, putting the 20-year-old rookie in a tough situation. Emerson, to his credit, hung in there with a tough at-bat, eventually letting a pitch glance off his elbow to bring in a bases-loaded free base, but it was a squandered opportunity that would come back to bite the Mariners later.

The Tigers threatened back in Castillo’s last inning of work; Castillo got two outs in the sixth but also walked McGonigle, leaving a bit of a mess for Jose A. Ferrer. Ferrer, who had issued one walk in his last 17 appearances, didn’t have a solid handle on his stuff today, walking the bases loaded, but was able to keep the Tigers out of the scoring column, getting pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones to fly out harmlessly.

Julio and Randy teamed up in the seventh to give the Mariners another run; Julio singled off Kyle Finnegan, then stole second and third, and Randy brought him home with a single into right field. The Tigers brought in lefty Tyler Holton and Raley was given another opportunity against a lefty, this time parachuting a single into right field. But with runners on the corners and two outs, Refsnyder again couldn’t take advantage of a platoon advantage, grounding out to end the threat. Refsnyder’s -.11 WPA today was the lowest for any Mariners hitter and one wonders how much longer the Mariners can continue to hope the 35-year-old will turn his season around.

With a three-run lead, Dan Wilson went to Cooper Criswell in the seventh, and suddenly, all that work the Mariners had done to build a lead disappeared as Criswell’s groundball luck came up snake eyes, with back-to-back-to-back hits that squirted past Mariners infielders, the big blow being a Wenceel Pérez triple (xBA = .380) into the deep right field corner with no outs, scoring two runs. With the Mariners lead cut down to a run, Wilson brought in Gabe Speier, forcing Hinch to pull Kerry Carpenter for pinch-hitter Matt Vierling, who grounded out, bringing up the dangerous McGonigle, but Speier was able to get him to fly out shallowly in a left-on-left battle. Speier then went right after righty Gleyber Torres, striking him out on some high heat.

The Mariners had an opportunity to give Andrés Muñoz some extra cushion for the ninth but again couldn’t capitalize despite the first two runners reaching, making two outs on the bases as Josh Naylor was caught stealing (a curious choice considering he’d just fouled a ball off his foot and looked to be in obvious pain) and Arozarena was picked off first base. The mistakes continued as Muñoz couldn’t get a handle on his stuff, walking the eight and nine-hole before giving up the walkoff hit to McGonigle. It was a disappointing, sloppy effort from everyone but Castillo, the kind of mistake-ridden game that’s easier to wave away in April than it is in June. The Mariners will now head to Baltimore for the next leg of this long road trip.

After a devastating blown-save loss yesterday afternoon, today the again Byron Buxton-less Minnesota Twins looked to at least hold serve in this four-game series with the Kansas City Royals. It didn’t happen—and somehow it didn’t happen in exactly the fashion you’d probably expect (terrible bullpen & no offense until it was too late).

The homesteaders jumped out to a slim early lead in the bottom of the second inning when Kody Clemens singled, stole second base, and was moved to third on the exceedingly-rare Bobby Witt Jr SS error. A fielder’s choice ground-out from Ryan Kreidler plated Big K for the 1-0 advantage.

For 3.2 IP, Twins SP Connor Prielipp was mowing down KC batters like MN residents out in their yards during this current heat wave. But he stumbled a bit in T4 when a two-out Vinnie Pasquantino double was brought around by an immediate Nick Loftin two-bagger. 1-1 tie.

A Maikel Garcia error at 3B allowed the Twins a few two-out baserunners in B4—but then Garcia’s magnificent pick-and-throw to nip Luke Keaschall at 1B ended the scoring threat.

Prielipp exited mid-5th with one out and one man on base—a solid opener-esque outing for the youngster. But in keeping with today’s Toy Story Day theme at Target Field, the entrance of the MN bullpen indeed proved the perfect time to panic.

As soon as Andrew Morris started hurling towards home, two singles followed to give the Royals the lead. Starling Marte then pounded a Morris pitch 441 feet over the CF wall. 5-1 Royals.

In T8, Twins reliever Cody Laweryson surrendered a single safety on a Carter Jensen sac fly, but by then the outcome was fairly academic with the Twins’ offense having fallen silent.

Or was it?! A three-run homer from Josh Bell was followed by a one-out double off the bat of Trevor Larnach. After a Keaschall fly out, Victor Caratini then singled up the middle to make it a one-run game and Tristan Gray would follow suit with a similar single (this time to LF) to provide some real hope to the Twins faithful.

Alas, this bunch is exceedingly good at extinguishing that—a Brooks Lee poke dying on the LF warning track.

Your Final: Kansas City Royals 6, Minnesota Twins 5

A squad with a below-average bullpen at least splits this series. A squad with an average bullpen takes the series against this punchless KC assemblage. Your 2026 Minnesota Twins possess neither bullpen descriptor.

Zach’s Zealot

• Clemens: Continued to have a solid series—two hits today—getting things off on the right foot and starting the late rally.

Zach’s Zombie

• Tom Pohlad: No, sir—your “we’re going to be competitive this year” preseason proclamation doesn’t hold water any longer. Not when two months have gone by and your club is seemingly further from a competent bullpen than on Day One.

Egg-cellent Elocution

• Alas, this goes to yours truly for perfectly predicting a bullpen meltdown (as if that takes much skill)

Who’s Got Next

• After a much-needed off day Monday—their first since May 21—the Twins hit the road to the Motor City for three games with the Detroit Tigers (Tues. night, Wed. night, Thurs. afternoon).

We had about 20-minute rain delay to begin the day on Sunday, one of those sudden summer storms that disappears as quickly as it arrives. It did seem to put a bit of a damper on the Yankee offense to start, as they went nine up, nine down to start the game. Once the sun came out a bit—and once Ranger Suárez was out of the game—the bats finally had a breakthrough inning, the kind you hope spurs things for a hot week.

While that remains to be seen, we know for a fact the Yankees took care of business Sunday, with a 6-1 win over Boston. Combined with the Rays’ 4-1 loss to the Marlins, the Bombers are back in a share of first place in the AL East for the first time since May 9th.

I think we can put to rest any present concerns about Cam Schlittler and his velo drop:

We got good Cam again, who were it not for an errant — to be generous — throw home by Anthony Volpe, probably would have completed six shutout innings. His first pitch of the game was 99 mph, and it held steady there all day. The Red Sox don’t roll out the kind of offense we’re always used to seeing from them, but it’s the third time in his young career Schlittler’s faced them, and they haven’t figured him out yet.

Indeed, the lone run the Schlittler surrendered came off the bat of Willson Contreras and uh, yeah, it may be time to give Volpe a day off (or two):

There’s just no reason to rush a throw like that, Volpe completely misjudged how much time he has and should have been able to cut Ceddane Rafaela down. Then again, Jazz Chisholm Jr. also probably needs a day off, with three strikeouts and an error of his own on the day (this is a literary device called foreshadowing). Now that I think about it, like six guys on the team probably need a day off…

That the run came as Schlittler was attempting a shutdown inning also stung, as the righty has been so good at providing those when the Yankees manage a run or two. Today, that came courtesy of Paul Goldschmidt, professional hitter:

Ironically enough the 38-year-old Goldschmidt could probably stand a day off on his own, but between his own contributions this year and the relative impotence of anyone outside the top third of the lineup, he has become pretty close to irreplaceable.

Fortunately, the team finally broke something out in the eighth, with Cody Bellinger leading the way:

I expect that we’ll see Cody starting in the All-Star Game in July, and while that may carry variable meanings to all of you, in the spirit of the event, he’s certainly earned it. Amed Rosario found grass before being brought around on a Trent Grisham single, Anthony Volpe walked, and then, just like we foreshadowed:

Perhaps more than any player on the team, Jazz needs to be the guy to step up with no Aaron Judge. A run of 130ish wRC+ goes a long way to picking up some of that slack, and a long way to earning back some of that free agency money he’s cost himself with such a slow start.

Eagle-eyed viewers might notice — or were just shown it on the YES broadcast as we went to commercial — that Jazz was using Aaron Judge’s bat there, not the first time that’s happened since he was acquired. Between that and Giancarlo Stanton’s pants, we may have a good argument for everyone on the team lending Chisholm a piece of equipment to heat him up.

David Bednar had gotten ready in a tie game, picked up his warm-up for a save situation, and ended up coming into a relative laugher. The closer did his job though, sealing up the win and a split of this improvised two-game series.

The Yankees now head out to Cleveland for a rematch with the Guardians, who took two out of three in the Bronx last week. Will Warren is scheduled to face off against the AL’s strikeout leader in Gavin Williams, with first pitch at 6:40pm ET.

Box Score

Orioles 4 Blue Jays 6

This had all the signs of being another one of those games.

After 5 innings, we were down 4-0. Through four innings, Kevin Gausman had allowed one base runner, then it all fell apart in the fifth. Strikeout, home run, pop out, triple, double, home run, strikeout. 13 total bases in that one inning.

We only had two hits and a walk through the first five inning.

Then, in the sixth, we scored 5 runs:

• Yohendrick Piñango homered on the second pitch of the inning. Crushed it, 108 mph and 423 feet.
• Vladmir Guerrero ground out.
• Jesús Sánchez doubled, also crushed, 109.5 mph.
• Ernie Clement reached on an error by Orioles SS Gunnar Henderson.
• Brandon Valenzuela ground out, moving Clement to second.
• Kazuma Okamoto singled, driving home Clement (also crushed, 104.4 mph).
• Andrés Giménez doubled home Okamoto.
• And Nathan Lukes ground off the pitcher, and second baseman Jackson Holliday got to the ball, but too late, then he glove flipped it to first, which gave time for Giménez to score from second.
• George Springer ground out to end the inning.

We got one more run in the 8th, Valenzuela homered (just 103 mph), but 388 feet.

We had 10 hits. Piñango, Sánchez, and Giménez had two each. All the other starter, excepting Vlad (he had the hardest hit ball, for the Jays, a line drive up the middle but caught, 109.6 mph, with a .690 expected batting average, but when you are slumping, those get caught) and Springer had one run.

There were some moments of controversy. With Clement on first, in that sixth inning, the Orioles got a ground ball hit to second, which looked like it would be a double play, but Clement ran around the second baseman and was safe. The Orioles complained that he went outside the baseline but Jackson Holliday didn’t make any movement to tag him. If he had, they might have gotten a call for leaving the baseline.

At the end of the game Holliday ground one to the pitcher, and tried to run around him on the base path. He was tagged and the umpires called him for leaving the base path. The Orioles argued, but it didn’t help them. I think the arguing was mostly to ‘ice the pitcher’ but Varland was unaffected.

The bullpen did the job:

• Adam Macko had a nice quick sixth, giving up a singled but getting two strikeouts.
• Connor Seabold had a rough start to the seventh, giving up a hit and a walk. The O’s bunted, but Valenzuela got to the ball quick and got the out at third.
• Tyler Rogers, with the Jays needing a double play, and he got it. He is a ground ball pitcher, it was a great time for him to come in. He also got the first two outs of the eighth, then gave up a walk and in came
• Louis Varland, who got the strikeout to end the inning. In the ninth, he went single, fly out, ground out, and strikeout. Save number 11 for Louis.

Vlad also used up our last challenge, in the eighth, on a ball that was easily a strike.

Jays of the Day: Rogers (0.23 WPA), Giménez (0.22, plus the dash for home), Lukes (0.16 on a 1 for 2 night), and Varland (0.13). Let’s give Valenzuela an Honorable Mention for his homer and his throw to third on the bunt attempt.

Other Award: Gausman (-0.17), Springer (-0.10 for an 0 for 4) and Vlad (-0.09)

Tomorrow the Philles are in town for the first of three. Cristopher Sánchez (7-2, 1.46 ERA) vs. Patrick Corbin (2-2, 3.98).