Category: MLB

After blowing a three-run lead in the 5th inning, the Royals trailed 4-3 heading to the 8th. Michael Massey delivered, with a left on left, go-ahead two-run homer into the right field seats, putting the Royals up 5-4. They would hold that lead and earn a split in the Motor City.

The Royals immediately jumped on Framber Valdez, with Lane Thomas smacking his 10th homer of the year to start the game, just over the right field wall.

Nick Loftin singled, Salvador Perez was hit by a pitch, two on, nobody out. Jac Caglianone hit into a fielder’s choice, Starling Marte struck out. Isaac Collins worked a clutch walk to load the bases, right in front of Tyler Tolbert reaching via a fielding error. Luke Maile lined out to right to end the 1st, with the Royals up 2-0.

The Royals tacked on another run in the 4th inning, when Maile doubled down the left field line, scoring Tolbert. 3-0 Royals lead.

Luinder Avila was really good the first 4 innings but quickly struggled in the 5th. A leadoff double, walk and single loaded the bases for Detroit with nobody out. Avila struck out Gleyber Torres to end his day. Matt Strahm came in with one out, Riley Greene softly grounded one up the middle, Andrew Velazquez and Tolbert both went to get it, but it went between them, driving in two. Dillon Dingler followed up driving in two with a single, making it 4-3 Tigers after 5.

Lucas Erceg worked a scoreless 6th, Nate Pearson made his Royals debut, throwing a scoreless 7th. In the top of the 8th, Collins blooped a single to right field, Michael Massey, who pinch hit in the 6th, on a 1-2 pitch with two outs, smacked a go-ahead two right shot into the right field seats, giving the Royals a 5-4 advantage. It was Massey’s 8th homer on the season.

John Schreiber worked the 8th, walking a batter with one out, he then allowed a single to left, the runner tried to get to third, but Collins threw him out for the second out. A flyout to center ended the inning.

Steven Cruz was called upon to get the save, a leadoff walk and bloop single put the Royals in trouble. Cruz got Kevin McGonigle to pop out and struck out Torres on three pitches. The game came down to him and Greene. Cruz won the lengthy battle, striking out Greene.

The Royals played 7 one-run games in Detroit, and 6-straight in general. They are 45-62 on the season. They are off tomorrow, Tuesday night, Seth Lugo takes the mound in Minnesota against the Twins.

The Dodgers were 12 outs away from sweeping the New York Mets, but the bullpen allowed seven unanswered runs as the team ended their nine-game road trip on a whimper.

Both pitchers put multiple men on base while throwing over 20 pitches in the first inning, but it was the Mets taking the first lead with a Francisco Lindor single against Emmet Sheehan to plate A.J. Ewing.

The Dodgers would go down quietly in the second inning against Freddy Peralta, but a double from Eliézer Alfonzo and a walk to Andy Pages set the table for an RBI double from Freddie Freeman in the top of the third inning to tie the game at 1. It was Freeman’s 574th career double, now tying him with Bobby Abreu and Charlie Gehringer for 24th all time. A groundout from Max Muncy plated Pages and gave the Dodgers a one-run lead.

The Dodgers kept putting the pressure on Peralta as Tommy Edman led off the fourth inning with a single, and an error from Jared Young at first helped Kyle Tucker reach base. Teoscar Hernández singled to right to load the bases, and Alfonzo collected his second career RBI on a groundout to extend the lead to two. Peralta would retire the next two in order to get out of the jam, but by then, his pitch count was already at 93 over four full innings.

After allowing three straight hits in the first inning, Emmet Sheehan was dialed in against New York as he did not allow a hit after the Bo Bichette single. Sheehan allowed just one run on Sunday after allowing six runs against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, and it was the first time he allowed one run over five innings since June 28 against the San Diego Padres.

Once Sheehan departed, the Mets began to feast as they took a pair of walks against Jack Dreyer to put the tying run on base. Dreyer could only get one out before Evan Phillips took over, and Tyrone Taylor turned the game around with a thunderous three-run home run to give the Mets their first hit since the first and their first lead since the first.

The Mets continued to pour it on in the seventh inning as they got one run on a wild pitch from Will Klein to bring home Lindor. Klein allowed a two-out walk to Jorge Polanco to put two on with two outs, and Marcus Semien cashed them in with a three-run home run to extend the Met lead to five.

Freddie Freeman added a single in the top of the eighth inning against Luke Weaver, giving him his fourth consecutive multi-hit game. The Dodgers would eventually load the bases with two outs, but Teoscar Hernández failed to cut the deficit as he grounded out back to Weaver to get the Mets out of trouble.

Charlie Barnes made his first big league appearance since July 1, tossing a scoreless eighth inning and striking out two.

While the Dodgers couldn’t complete the season sweep of the Mets, they finish with a 5-1 record, giving them a winning record against New York for the first time since 2024. With the Milwaukee Brewers taking two of three from the Colorado Rockies, the Dodgers still possess a half game lead over the Brewers for the best record in baseball.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Tyrone Taylor (8), Marcus Semien (11)
• WP— Cionel Pérez (4-3): 2 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts
• LP— Evan Phillips (0-2): 2/3 IP, 1 hit, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 1 strikeout

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Monday as they head home to begin a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday (7:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Both teams have yet to announce their starters.

The Mets used the long ball to come away with an 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Stay hot, Tyrone Taylor! With two runners on in the bottom of the sixth, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned to right-hander Evan Phillips, but the move didn’t work out, as Taylor drove a fastball over the wall in left for a three-run shot, putting the Mets up 4-3.

Taylor now has five home runs in the month of July alone.

--The Mets scored some insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh inning thanks to some small ball and some not-so-small-ball, with A.J. Ewing at the heart of it. Ewing walked, moved to second on a ground out, advanced to third on a single, and then came in to score on a Dalton Rushing passed ball behind the plate. 

Later in the inning, Marcus Semien, who entered as a defensive sub, blasted a three-run shot of his own, helping the the Mets blow things up at 8-3.

--It was another slog of a start for Freddy Peralta in what could potentially be his last start in a Mets uniform. The right-hander went just 4.0 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits with three strikeouts and two walks. 

It seemed like Peralta had traffic on the basepaths and dealt with long at-bats from the Dodgers all afternoon, pushing his pitch count up to 93 (57 strikes) by the end of his outing. 

Peralta could potentially make another start before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, but there’s also a chance he gets moved prior to that next start. 

--The Mets played more shaky defense in the top of the fourth inning. A grounder to first couldn’t be handled by Jared Young, who was charged with an error, but Peralta also didn’t get over to cover first base, and there was a chance the Mets could have still recorded an out there if he had.

The Dodgers added their third run of the game in that inning, which was also Peralta’s last.

--Ewing snapped an 0-for-9 skid in the first inning, blooping a double in front of Andy Pages. Ewing then came around to score when Francisco Lindor poked an RBI single to right. He reached base three times on the afternoon, including a pair of walks, and played solid defense in center field.

Dodgers starter Emmett Sheehan gave up that early run, but was solid after that. The righty went 5.0 innings and allowed one run, and the only three hits he allowed were the first three batters of the afternoon. He struck out five and walked two.

-- Tip of the cap to the Mets relievers in this one. Cionel Perez, Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams combined to go five scoreless innings. Weaver also made a spectacular defensive play to get the out at first base in a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning.

Game MVP

Taylor, who gave the Mets the lead in the sixth inning, and they never looked back

Highlights 

Francisco Lindor flips one into right field to put the Mets on the board first! pic.twitter.com/R8ahAR6HNN

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 26, 2026

Tyrone Taylor throws out Teoscar Hernández at second base! pic.twitter.com/iPgQFUQ1iH

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 26, 2026

YOU BETTER CALL TYRONE!

A GO-AHEAD THREE-RUN HOMER FOR TYRONE TAYLOR! pic.twitter.com/KD1MZEegye

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 26, 2026

Marcus Semien with a towering three-run homer! 💣 pic.twitter.com/95aj1JcQIt

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 26, 2026

WHAT A PLAY BY LUKE WEAVER pic.twitter.com/SjBul5Mpg9

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 26, 2026

Next up

The Mets stay home for a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves, starting on Monday night at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

Zac Thornton will face fellow lefty Martin Perez.

Blue Jays 1 Red Sox 6

If the Jays aren’t going to put an effort into the game, I’m not going to effort into the headline.

That was far less fun than yesterday.

Kevin Gausman was pretty good, really. Some weak contact that fell in, but not much hit hard. He went 6 innings allowing 5 hits, 3 earned, just 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. He didn’t allow an extra base hit. It goes as a quality start, but the bats didn’t help him out at all. It is kind of sad that the team didn’t score for him in what might be his last start with the team. But then they never seem to score for him

And we didn’t do much on offense, 9 hits, but only 1 double for extra base hits. They were 0 for 6 with RISP, until Andrés Giménez finally singled in a run in the ninth. 1 for 8 in all.

The hits came from Giménez (3), Kirk and Springer (2 each) and Varsho and Clement (1 each).

Lukes (leading off against a lefty, which I didn’t understand), Vlad, Okamoto and Scheider/Piñango (sharing) had 0 for 4s.

Ranger Suarez was good for 4 innings in his first start back from the IL. And four relievers pitched the last 5 innings, giving up just the run in the ninth.

Jays pen had a rough time too. Braydon Fisher (on his birthday) gave up 2 hits and a walk, while getting 1 out. Brendon Little gave up two more hits, while getting the last two outs, adding up to 3 runs in the inning. Adam Macko gave up two hits in the 8th but no runs. One of the ‘hits’ was a ground ball to Vlad, several feet from first base, but instead of covering first, Macko ran to where Vlad and the ball were. It didn’t cost anything, but it was bad baseball.

No Jays of the Day. Giménez had the high mark at 0.06 WPA and made a couple of nice plays on defense, so let’s give him an honourable mention.

Other Award: Okamoto (-0.12), Varsho (-0.10) and Lukes (-0.09, though it isn’t his fault he was at the top of the other against a lefty, but then he didn’t hit the right-handed relievers either).

It was just one of those lifeless games from the Jays offense. I guess teams always look lifeless when they don’t hit, but there wasn’t a lot of great at bats.

Tomorrow the Jays will be in Washington to take on the Ex-Expos (I’m still bitter). The Jays are listing TBA for the starting pitcher for the full series. I guess we are likely to see Max Scherzer at some point.

James Click awoke on July 27, 2021, with a serious problem on his hands. The Astros were 61-40, one game behind the Red Sox for the American League’s best record. They had the league’s best offense and the American League’s best rotation. The bullpen, however, could best be described as shaky.

The night before, Click watched as the Astros blew a 6-0 lead and lost 11-8 in Seattle. Five relievers combined to allow five runs over 3 1/3 innings, punctuated by Dylan Moore’s pinch-hit grand slam off Brooks Raley.

Click’s bullpen finished that night with a 4.15 ERA, ranking 18th in Major League Baseball. It was the team’s lone glaring weakness, and with the trade deadline approaching, the then-Astros GM had work to do to ensure it wouldn’t prove fatal.

Despite overseeing one of baseball’s worst farm systems and having little financial flexibility, Click spent the next four days remaking the Astros’ bullpen—not only to position the club for a World Series run that season, but also to keep it in contention the following year while strengthening the organization’s future.

Trade 1: Joe Smith and Abraham Toro to Seattle for Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero

Smith, Pedro Báez and Enoli Paredes were supposed to anchor the Astros’ bullpen from the right side ahead of Ryan Pressly. Smith and Paredes were ineffective, while Báez struggled with both injuries and poor performance. Toro, who homered in that July 26 game in Seattle, was an analytics darling but was blocked from playing every day.

After transitioning to the bullpen the previous season, Graveman had emerged as one of baseball’s best right-handed relievers in 2021, allowing just three earned runs over 33 innings. Montero, meanwhile, had struggled all season.

Graveman posted a 3.13 ERA after the trade and allowed just two earned runs over 11 postseason innings. Injuries limited Montero to just four regular-season games with the Astros in 2021, but he rebounded to post a 2.31 ERA in 71 games the following season. He also recorded a 1.93 ERA in the postseason while appearing in 10 of the Astros’ 13 playoff games.

Trade 2: Austin Pruitt and Bryan De La Cruz to Miami for Yimi Garcia

De La Cruz was a 24-year-old outfielder putting up strong numbers in Triple-A, but he wasn’t considered a top prospect. He has since posted a career 90 OPS+ in 493 major league games. Pruitt was included in the trade to offset some salary and clear a roster spot.

Garcia’s impact was greater than his numbers indicate. He posted a 5.48 ERA in 23 regular-season appearances, but that drops to 3.86 if you remove an outing against the A’s in which he allowed four runs while recording just one out in a 12-2 loss. His 7.00 ERA in the postseason is also misleading. Garcia allowed runs in only two of his 10 postseason appearances.

Trade 3: Myles Straw to Cleveland for Phil Maton and Yainer Diaz

Straw was in the middle of the best season of his career, one that ended with 3.3 bWAR. He posted a 105 OPS+ in 60 games with Cleveland, earning a lucrative contract extension. He won a Gold Glove in 2022, but this trade became Click’s masterpiece.

Center field became a revolving door between Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers and Jose Siri, but the Astros didn’t experience much of an offensive drop-off. Phil Maton put together an outstanding three-year run in Houston’s bullpen, and Yainer Diaz is now the club’s primary catcher.

Maton recorded a 0.73 ERA with 14 strikeouts and one walk in 12 postseason appearances in 2021 after holding opponents scoreless in 14 of his final 16 regular-season outings. He went on to post a combined 3.42 ERA over the next two seasons and threw six scoreless innings in the 2023 postseason, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out six after a broken hand forced him to miss the Astros’ 2022 playoff run.

Summation

Straw has posted 7.8 bWAR with Cleveland and Toronto since the trade, while Toro has compiled just 0.8 bWAR across four teams. De La Cruz has performed at replacement level with four different clubs, while Joe Smith followed a solid finish to the 2021 season in Seattle by posting a 4.61 ERA with Minnesota before retiring.

That’s not much to give up for four relievers who combined for a 2.39 ERA over three postseason runs, plus a primary catcher who has already been worth 8.8 bWAR in his first 450 major league games.

The Red Sox are in the middle of a difficult stretch of their schedule. Without even considering the opponent, they’re currently playing ten games in ten days. After that, they play 16 games in 16 days. Baseball season is inherently a grind, but this stretch in particular is testing the pitching staff’s stamina. Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett are at or near career highs in innings pitched. Patrick Sandoval is pitching for the first time in two years. Today, Ranger Suarez was activated to reinforce the group, but he did so without a rehab appearance, limiting his pitch count.

Suarez did his job, throwing four innings of shutout baseball. He was as sharp as ever, nibbling on the edges with each of his pitches, striking out six in the process. His velocity was down a smidge, but throwing hard isn’t in his vocabulary, so no need to sound the alarms. Despite Suarez’s effectiveness, Chad Tracy couldn’t afford to extend him, going to the bullpen after just four innings. Greg Weissert, Tyron Guerrero, Justin Slaten, and Ryan Watson combined for the final five innings to secure the 6-1 victory.

The victory didn’t look certain until the later innings, though. Ceddanne Rafaela singled home their first run in the third inning after a Carlos Narvaez sacrifice bunt to move the runner into scoring position. They grabbed two more in the fourth inning after Jarren Duran brought in two runs following a sacrifice bunt by Romy Gonzalez to move the runners over. With the score at 3-0 in the seventh inning, Jahmai Jones doubled off the fall to score two runs after, you guessed it, another sacrifice bunt from Narvaez to move the runners over. The sixth run was sacrifice-buntless as Wilyer Abreu doubled in Jones.

A win is a win, but during stretches like these, you’re playing for tomorrow, today. That’s why the seventh inning rally was so important. It allowed Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman to remain in the bullpen (although both warmed up), and keeps them fresh for tomorrow. Both high-leverage relievers have appeared in five games since the All-Star Break, tied for the most in baseball. Whitlock has thrown in 11 games in July, second-most in baseball this month. Keeping them fresh down the stretch is important to win tightly contested games in September and October.

Next stop: the final West Coast swing of the regular season for seven games against the Athletics and Dodgers.

Studs

Jahmai Jones (1-1, 2 RBI)

Pinch hitting is really, really difficult. As a whole, pinch hitters have a 30% strikeout rate and a .203 batting average this season. Jones entered the game in the seventh inning with two runners on base and doubled off the monster to add to the Red Sox’s lead and keep Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman out of the game.

Ranger Suarez (4 IP, 0 ER, 6 K)

Jarren Duran (3-4, 2 RBI)

Duds

Masataka Yoshida (0-3)

By my count, Yoshida is the only player who didn’t reach base or sacrifice bunt. He’s the only dud today.

All the Tampa Bay Rays needed was one run, allowing one hit, to win one more game and complete the series sweep over the Cleveland Guardians and remain undefeated in their throwback Devil Rays uniforms this season.

Rays’ starter Drew Rasmussen recovered from a leadoff double to deliver seven scoreless innings. Steven Kwan lined the game’s first pitch into right field for a double, immediately putting a runner in scoring position with nobody out.

He never advanced.

José Ramírez flew out before Rasmussen struck out Chase DeLauter and Brayan Rocchio to strand Kwan. The right-hander kept the same energy in the second, striking out Angel Martínez and Kyle Manzardo during a clean inning.

The Guardians created another opportunity in the third when Petey Halpin was hit by a pitch and stole second. Rasmussen again kept him there, getting Kwan to fly out in foul territory before striking out Ramírez.

Parker Messick was just as difficult on the other side.

The Cleveland left-hander retired the first seven Rays before Nick Fortes doubled in the third. Richie Palacios moved Fortes to third with a groundout, giving Tampa Bay its first chance to score, but Manzardo went airborne to catch Yandy Díaz’s liner and end the inning.

With neither starter giving much away, Chandler Simpson created something in the bottom half of the fifth inning.

He opened the inning with a ground-ball single to left, then took second when Messick bounced a wild pitch. Ben Williamson’s groundout moved Simpson to third, allowing Cedric Mullins to turn a well-placed bunt into an RBI single and the only run scored in the game.

Rasmussen retired the side in order in both the sixth and seventh, striking out DeLauter and Travis Bazzana along the way. After Kwan’s opening double, he allowed only a walk and a hit batter while retiring the final 12 batters he faced.

In his 150th career appearance, Rasmussen completed seven innings on 87 pitches, allowing one hit with nine strikeouts and one walk. He improved to 9-5 and lowered his ERA to 3.07 continuing his impressive All-Star season.

Messick refused to let the game get away from Cleveland. Simpson singled again in the seventh, and Williamson reached after Tampa Bay successfully challenged what was initially ruled a catch by Kwan. With two aboard and one out, Messick struck out Mullins and Fortes to preserve the one-run deficit.

Messick pitched 7.2 innings, allowing one run on six hits with six strikeouts and no walks. His ERA dropped to 2.59 despite the loss, which was especially cruel considering his first major-league victory came through seven scoreless innings against the Rays last August.

Garrett Cleavinger handled the eighth on 11 pitches. Baker took the ninth and it got a little interesting retiring Kwan and Ramírez before walking DeLauter. He recovered by striking out Rocchio to earn his 28th save and second in as many days.

The Rays will take Monday off before continuing their homestand Tuesday against Texas. After losing five straight last week, they have responded with six wins in seven games and another series sweep.

The Rockies were almost holding their own until the sixth inning when things went sideways on Jimmy Herget.

But the Rockies like to arrive at the party late, and there’s a lot of game left, so you know what that means.

OVERFLOW THREAD!

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With just about 48 hours until Monday’s 5 pm ET deadline, Derek Curiel signs his professional contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. His signing bonus is $6.2 million, well below slot value of $8,336,500.

Curiel delivered two fantastic season in Baton Rouge, helping LSU capture their 8th National Championship as a freshman in 2025. In his first season, he hit .345 with a ridiculous on-base percentage of .470. He started his career by reaching base in 43 consecutive games, a freshman record, breaking that of his predecessor Dylan Crews. Getting on base in nearly half of his at-bats let to 67 runs scored in the leadoff spot. He also drove in 55 RBIs.

As a sophomore, Curiel upped his batting average at .353, scoring 64 runs in 10 less games, and driving in 46 RBIs. Those numbers are especially impressive considering he had a slow start in 2026 due to a broken ankle that he sustained in November. Curiel revealed after the season on After Further Review that the rumors of his ankle injury were, indeed, true.

“I had three weeks to prepare for the season. It was my back foot and it was kind of hard for me to load in to my back leg,” Curiel told Matt Moscona.

The injury made his .292 average through the first few weeks of non-conference play make a lot more sense. He caught fire, once LSU started conference play, hitting .331 against SEC opponents. Mid-week opponents got scorched by a then-healthy Curiel, as he went 16-32 for a .500 average during that stretch.

The decision to bet on himself and pull his name prior to the 2024 MLB Draft turned out to be a great one. While he was ranked as the #10 high school player by Perfect Game, Baseball America and MLB Pipeline had him at #78 and #117 among all draft prospects, which pitted him somewhere in the 3rd-4th round and in the $600K-$700k range.

Two years later, that decision has led Derek Curiel to be the #5 overall pick, $6.2 million richer, an All-American, National Freshman of the Year, a National Champion, and forever a Tiger.

It’s series finale time between two very bad teams: the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Angels.

But on the bright side, we get to see lefty Carson Whisenhunt, who makes the start today. In two starts this season, Whisenhunt is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA, a 4.89 FIP, and six strikeouts to six walks in 10.2 innings.

For the Angels, it’s right-hander José Soriano, who makes his 22nd start. He’s 8-6 on the year, with a 3.43 ERA, a 3.83 FIP, and 122 strikeouts to an AL-worst 54 walks in 118 innings. In his last start, he gave up two runs in seven innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Enjoy the game, everyone!

Game #105

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Angels

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 1:05 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! With the aftermath of the Draft and All-Star Game behind us and the upheaval of the trade deadline yet to come, it was a pretty quiet week on the Yankees social media. Even so, a quiet week doesn’t mean an empty week: so what has been going on in the Yankees Universe? Let’s find out!

World Cup Wrapup

Last Sunday saw the end of the 2026 World Cup, as Spain defeated Argentina in the finals at MetLife Stadium New York New Jersey Stadium out in the Meadowlands. With America’s every-few-years soccer obsession coming to a close, multiple Yankees-related accounts posted about the experience (note that CC lumped it together in a summer photo dump).

Game Belts

With some post-break wins, we’ve got our first Game Belts of the second half — including one given to Max Fried for his dominant performance upon his sudden return from the injured list.

Dave’s Thoughts

As always, Yankees radio voice Dave Sims took to Instagram to react to the Yankees’ games this week.

Birthday Wishes

YES clubhouse reporter Meredith Marakovits celebrated her birthday this week, as did Yankees legend CC Sabathia (who we posted about as part of our Yankees birthday series). For CC, it was a particularly memorable birthday, as his son Carsten, who was drafted in the 20th round this year out of the University of Houston, officially became a pro after signing with Milwaukee — where CC of course starred back in 2008.

Behind the NY

In the latest episode of Behind the NY, we take a behind-the-scenes look at HOPE Week 2026.

Grounds Crew Shoutout

The Yankees shouted out their grounds crew this week.

With the looming threat of a series sweep, the Cleveland Guardians headed into today’s matinee game against the Tampa Bay Rays only two games above .500. Parker Messick was about as great as you could ever hope from a starter, but what is quickly becoming the norm for the rookie lefty. Messick went 7.2 innings of one run ball. He allowed six hits and struck out six. A funky pop bunt in the bottom of the sixth accounted for the sole run in an otherwise scoreless game.

Colin Holderman finished the eighth inning, getting the final out behind back-to-back challenges from catcher Austin Hedges that overturned two ball calls to strikes.

There wasn’t much in terms of highlights for this game, period. Especially so for Cleveland’s offense. Kyle Manzardo made a great leaping grab in the beginning of the game to end the third.