Category: MLB

Kyle Leahy’s finish was better than his start and the St. Louis Cardinals bats were more than enough to overcome the Cincinnati Reds Friday night at Busch Stadium with an honorable mention going to the Reds bullpen for a big assist during the latter half of the game.

Trying to explain what happened in both halves of the 1st inning is similar to describing the plot of a very twisted soap opera. Let’s start with the Reds top half of the 1st. The game began with what looked like Kyle Leahy trying to improve Cincinnati’s barrel rate. Blake Dunn led off the game with a solid single to center. Bleday followed that with a lineout to Jordan Walker in right. Kyle Leahy then walked Spencer Steer giving Cincinnati runners at first and second with just one out. Sal Stewart cracked a double to center scoring both Dunn and Steer giving the Reds a 2-0 lead. Cincinnati wasn’t done yet. Eugenio Suarez singled to left scoring Steward making it 3-0 Reds.

The St. Louis bottom of the 1st inning was almost as lively as Lars Nootbaar celebrated his return to the lineup by beating out a ball to shortstop and advanced to 2nd on an errant throw. Ivan Herrera grounded into a fielder’s choice where Lars made the unfortunate decision to try and reach third making the first out of the inning there. That did not kill the Cardinals rally, though, as Alec Burleson drilled a single to right with Herrera advancing to third. After Jordan Walker struck out, Herrera scored when Bryan Torres was called safe at first on an error by Sal Stewart who review confirmed came off of the base for what would have been the last out of the inning giving the Cardinals their first run of the game making it 3-1 Reds. Reds manager Terry Francona got tossed out of the game after arguing with the umpires after their challenge failed. Alec Burleson then scored on a wild pitch by starter Brady Singer allowing the Cardinals to creep closer at 3-2 Reds. Nolan Gorman struck out to end the Cardinals 1st.

Kyle Leahy would settle down after the extremely shaky 1st inning giving the Cardinals 4 innings allowing 5 hits, 3 earned runs while striking out only 1 and walking 2. Hunter Dobbins would come in from the pen to handle the Reds for the rest of the game and I’m not even kidding about that. He would even get the win, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Cardinals would tie the game in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Alec Burleson delivered a 387 foot Burly bomb into the bullpen in right field making it 3-3.

The next bit of excitement would happen in the Cardinals bottom of the 5th when Ivan Herrera walked followed by Alec Burleson hitting into a fielder’s choice. He would move up to second base when he was caught leaning by relief pitcher Brock Burke, but Burke’s throw went flying into right field. Whoops. Jordan Walker made the Reds pay by smoking a double over the center fielder’s head scoring Burleson and giving St. Louis its first lead of the night at 4-3.

I was one of many looking forward to the energy Lars Nootbaar would bring as he returned from injury to the St. Louis Cardinals lineup and he did not disappoint. After Victor Scott II reached on an infield single, Lars put a charge 99 mph four-seam fastball doubling to center and easily scoring Victor all the way from first increasing the Cardinals lead to 5-3. He would then score on a single by Herrera to right making it 6-3 St. Louis. NOOT!

St. Louis would break the game wide open after Herrera’s RBI single with several assists by Cincinnati Reds blunders. Alec Burleson walked which led to a pitching change where Luis Mey would come in and give the “Tarps Off” crew plenty to chant about in right field. After Jordan Walker barely missed crushing a home run flying out to left, Mey made sure that wouldn’t matter as he walked everyone but the ushers in Busch Stadium. Torres walked. Masyn Winn was hit in the back of his left shoulder blade with the bases loaded making it 7-3 Cardinals. Jose Fermin reached on an infield single scoring Burleson then Jimmy Crooks walked and then (stop me if you’ve heard this before) Victor Scott II walked. By the time Mey was taken out of the game, it was 10-3 Cardinals which would end up being the final score. Thank you for that 30-minute half-inning, Reds bullpen.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds will play the second game of the weekend series Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium that will hopefully be as fun for the Cardinals as the first one. For the Cardinals, it’s Matthew Liberatore on the mound as he’ll take on Reds starter Nick Lodolo. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm and the TV broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.

The Yankees have gotten almost nothing offensively from the catching position, with Austin Wells in a season-long slump and J.C. Escarra yet to prove he can hit in the majors.

After another hitless night from Wells in a 5-3 loss to Boston, and with the Red Sox scheduled to start lefties the next two games, Escarra was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game and Ali Sánchez will be called up from SWB, a source confirmed. 

The righty-hitting Sánchez is not expected to be a long-term solution, but carrying two catchers that hit from the left side — and not well — hasn’t worked.

Sánchez, 29, has played 50 games in the majors after coming up through the Mets system.

Prior to the game, general manager Brian Cashman didn’t rule out Ben Rice potentially being used at the position later in the season, once Giancarlo Stanton returns from his calf strain.

Asked if Rice — another lefty hitter — could catch, with Stanton at DH and Paul Goldschmidt at first, Cashman said, “It’s a fair question.”

“It’s something I’ll defer to down the line,” Cashman said. “Rice has been fantastic and is certainly capable of going behind the plate. We’ll kick it around down the line. It’s not something that’s on the radar now.”

Rice started 26 games at catcher last season, but now that he’s emerged as one of the top hitters in the majors, the Yankees have been more reluctant to use him anywhere but at first base and DH. And with Goldschmidt hitting well, Rice has been a regular at DH.

Putting him behind the plate could take a toll on Rice, who they need to produce even more now with Judge out.

Instead, the Yankees will add Sánchez.

Wells is 1-for-18 with no extra-base hits, two walks and six strikeouts since his three-hit game May 26 and was booed after a seventh-inning strikeout.

Cashman ruled out looking for an upgrade outside the organization for third base as well, for now.

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Ryan McMahon, at third base, has hit better of late, 11-for-38 with four extra-base hits in his last 11 starts.

“Hopefully they saved all their bullets for now,” Cashman said of the players he has at catcher and third base. “They’re more than capable. They’re good players and we do believe in them. … Hopefully the best is yet to come from those positions.”

But he wouldn’t rule out making changes there if necessary.

“I’m always open-minded to ways of trying to figure things out,” Cashman said.

Since the Yankees say they expect Judge back at some point this season, Cashman added he doesn’t think the injury will impact his actions prior to the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

“We’ve got to hold down the fort,” Cashman said.

Trent Grisham has started to heat up at the plate.

He homered Friday and is 18-for-52 (.346) with six extra-base hits in his last nine games. … Goldschmidt had a nine-game hitting streak snapped.

The Padres, in the midst of a skid, have been dealt a big blow to their outfield.

Manager Craig Stammen revealed Friday that Ramon Laureano could be sidelined for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery for a torn labrum in his right hip.

Laureano’s hip has caused him problems in the past five seasons, but he has usually been able to play through it.

During the Padres’ series in Washington last weekend, Laureano informed the team that his condition had worsened, and he opted for surgery on Friday.

Laureano’s performance at the plate has seemingly been impacted by his hip.

In mid-April, he was batting .292 with a .921 OPS. When placed on the injured list on Tuesday, his numbers had dipped significantly to a .203 average with a .660 OPS.

Should San Diego make a deep playoff run, it’s possible we haven’t seen the last of Laureano this season.

Stammen stated that the typical timeline for return is “that four-to-five month range.”

For the Padres to really make an impact this year, it is critical that their superstars make up for Laureano’s absence. Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. have all underperformed thus far this season, though they’ve looked better lately.

Entering Friday, the Padres have scored the fewest runs in the major leagues.

They’ve lost nine of their last 10 entering the weekend series with the Mets, and their loss in Philadelphia on Thursday took them out of the playoff picture for the first time since April.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Cleveland Guardians scored two runs.

The Rangers had us in the first half, not gonna lie.

In what was shaping up to be a familiar game that you’ve seen a dozen times at The Shed this year, the Rangers found the switch to flip and came through with a crooked number inning that just happened to be the exact digit that was as many as they needed to find the win column tonight in the series opener against Cleveland.

After a day off yesterday, Texas returned home and greeted us like an old friend as the Guardians took a 1-0 lead three pitches into the game when former No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana took former two-time first round pick and 2022 No. 3 overall selection Kumar Rocker deep.

With the first inning blues playing once more, Texas was in a hole before they’d even stepped up to the plate. That started to seem like the least of their problems as they came to bat in the fourth inning without a hit. By that point, it was 2-0 Guardians when World Series-winning legend Austin Hedges singled in Steven Kwan with two outs in the top of the fourth.

Cleveland reached to lead off an inning in four of the first five frames but Rocker prevented the big inning throughout his start. One of the key moments in the game came with the Guardians already up 2-0 when Bazzana tripled to lead off the fifth. Rocker buckled down and prevented Bazzana from scoring to keep it close.

Overall Rocker went five innings on 94 pitches where he allowed two runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Cleveland starter Parker Messick would make it to two outs in the bottom of the fourth before Josh Jung singled for Texas’ first hit of the night. The Rangers would be held off the board until a few innings later when catcher Kyle Higashioka smacked a solo home run to give Texas some hope as the Cleveland lead was halved.

With the looming threat of a shutout off the table, returning lineup reinforcement Wyatt Langford doubled to put the tying run in scoring position. Also returning was Corey Seager and he followed Langford not just with an RBI hit to tie the game but with a two-run dong that suddenly gave the Rangers a lead as the game exited the middle innings.

Despite the fact that the Rangers snoozed through the first half of the game, they held the lead and turned things over to their bullpen. A combination of Peyton Gray, Jalen Beeks, and Jacob Latz tossed the final four innings with Latz collecting a six-out save that proved a bit laborious.

The trio of relievers struck out six and held Cleveland to just a ninth inning Hedges single that had us sweating a little before Latz finished off the comeback victory on his 35th pitch of the night.

Player of the Game: Seager had been chained to the longest, most dreadful slump of his big league career before hitting the IL with back issues. After missing over half of May, Seager returned and immediately made an impact with his go-ahead and eventual game-winning two-run home run that put Texas up by the eventual 3-2 final score.

Welcome back, Corey!

Up Next: The Rangers and Guardians hit the national airwaves with RHP Jack Leiter expected to pitch for Texas opposite RHP Tanner Bibee for Cleveland.

The Saturday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 6:35 pm CDT and you can watch the game on FOX.

There’s a baseball cliche when a pitcher has an OK night but still takes the L: “He just made the one mistake, and it got punished.” It’s tempting to tag that to Bryan Woo in tonight’s 7-3 loss to the Tigers, but I’m not so sure it’s true.

The pitch you’d want to pin that canard to is the slider that Kerry Carpenter took into the seats in the bottom of the third. After all, Woo left it right in the lefty loop zone.

The thing is, though: despite being a modern lefty slugger, Carpenter isn’t really a lefty-loop-zone guy. He’s more dead red, with his power output declining in nearly perfect concentric circles the farther you get from middle-middle. If anything, he’s a little better up and out rather than down and in. So I’m declaring this pitch not a “just the one mistake” pitch from Woo, notwithstanding the result.

What’s more, I no longer hold Mariners pitchers responsible for what Kerry Carpenter does to them. Including the postseason, Carpenter has a .346 wOBA against all the other 28 clubs for his career. That’s Brandon Lowe’s career number. After today’s game, he’s at .475 against the Mariners. That’s Lou Gehrig. For whatever reason, it’s his manhandling of Seattle’s pitchers that’s propping up the Kerry Bonds nickname.

So that pitch is off the hook. How about the other 89? In one sense, they went pretty well, with seven strikeouts and no walks. And the Tigers’ ten hits benefited from some good BABIP fortune, including a ball that Julio Rodríguez let drop in front of him, which is at least an excuse to link to Ryan’s excellent piece from this morning. The rub came in Woo’s last inning. Trying to get through a full seven innings, he just had to get through the bottom of the lineup for a third time. But he couldn’t do it, leaving the game with the bases loaded on a triplet of singles, two of which were hard hits off the sinker.

I know I’m becoming sort of obsessive about this—and that Woo’s been great lately—but it gives me pause. He only used three sinkers in his first time through the order. As he ran out of tricks the third time through, he went to it more often, and the Mariners paid the price. He did get three whiffs on the 13 sinkers he threw over the course of the game, but those final ones leave an aftertaste that infects my impression of the whole performance. I don’t want to overstate the issue, and it felt worse because Eduard Bazardo allowed two of those inherited runners to score. If he’d induced a double play, I’m sure I’d have an easier time letting this go. But until Woo’s sinker comes back, I’ll still be nervous. The situation is less “one mistake pitch” and more “one mistake pitch type.”

Tonight’s Sun Hat Award goes to J.P. Crawford, his first since 2023. He was the early favorite for kicking off a string of opposite-field singles—precisely the way to get to Tigers starter Framber Valdez—that scored the Mariners a run in the first half inning. Still, I grimaced when he scored that run on an uncomfortable-looking slide into home plate and hobbled back to the dugout. No matter! His body held up enough to pull off a web gem in the second inning. I don’t know what to make of it, but it’s undeniable at this point: J.P. has been playing his ass off at shortstop since he volunteered to eventually move over to third base. 

Still, I grimaced when he was slow to get up, and not in an I’m-milking-this way. No matter! His body held up well enough for him to work a full count in his next at-bat and win the battle by getting on base a second time. Still, I grimaced when the reason he reached was that he took a pitch to the hand. Matter! He did not return to the game. Mercifully the x-rays came back negative. (The HBP was probably unintentional, but please just kick Framber out of the league already.)

The Mariners threatened a few more times: Colt Emerson hit an oppo taco, checking off another first in his young career, but with nobody aboard. And Josh Naylor laid down a cheeky little bunt, but was left stranded. Maybe the Mariners will have more luck behind Bryce Miller, unshackled from the piggyback, tomorrow.

Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy will return to the Dodgers’ lineup on Saturday for the second game of a three-game series against the Angels, manager Dave Roberts said.

Before the series opener on Friday, Roberts said Muncy was still sore from his head-on crash at first base with Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Ildemaro Vargas in the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss at Chase Field the previous night.

“He’s doing well,” Roberts said. “He got a little bruise on his nose. He’s a little sore overall, but feels good. Says he’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

The collision in question occurred with two outs in the fifth inning when Muncy hit a grounder to Vargas up the first-base line. From there, it was a footrace to bag.

Muncy reached the base first but couldn’t avoid the oncoming Vargas.

“As I’m running down the line, I saw him in foul territory, so I got to the inside of the bag, and I thought he was going to stay on that [other] side,” Muncy told reporters in Phoenix. “It felt like neither of us knew which direction we were going to go, and then we both went the wrong direction. And yeah, bang.”

Roberts said he was uncertain whether Muncy would be available to pinch hit on Friday — he said that would be determined after Muncy tries warming up — but was confident the third baseman could be treated like any other player starting Saturday.

Muncy is also expected to play on Sunday.

The Dodgers don’t have a game on Monday. They will travel to Pittsburgh that day.

Haters and doubters take note: The Orioles are still doing this thing. It is easier to feel like they might be able to keep doing it after games like this one. The Birds rallied from a 3-1 deficit heading into the sixth inning to take the lead and blow past the Blue Jays, piling on all the way to a 13-3 blowout to start the series in Toronto. The Orioles have now won 10 of their past 14 games.

Adding to the excitement from this comeback-turned-blowout win is that the Orioles turned this thing around against a pretty good Jays starter in Trey Yesavage. Last year’s postseason revelation had an “effectively wild” kind of game against the O’s last Saturday, walking seven guys in five innings while giving up just one run. The O’s had to win that one in walkoff fashion against kiss-blower Jeff Hoffman. This time, they were able to pile it on against Yesavage. It just took them a while to do it.

The teams traded first inning runs before settling in for what looked like it might be a low-scoring affair. Adley Rutschman got the Orioles on the board with a two-out solo home run. Is he back? More on that later. The Jays knotted the score back up in the bottom of the inning, with George Springer starting things off with a double and turning that into a run after a groundout and a sacrifice fly. The quest for the shutdown inning, putting up a zero after one’s own team scores a run or runs, can sometimes be elusive.

The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning. Neither team threatened the other all that much in the meantime. The closest thing to excitement in the meantime came with a pair of two-out singles by the Jays in the second inning, which came to an end when Andrés Giménez was cut down trying to steal second base. Thanks for that, guys. Yesavage and Orioles starter Brandon Young were doing a decent job of cruising through the opposing lineups.

Young hit a rockier patch facing the bottom of the Jays lineup in the fifth. After third baseman Kazuma Okamoto led off the inning with a single, #9 batter Brandon Valenzuela was all over a middle-middle slider, driving the ball over the high right-center field wall to give the Jays a 3-1 lead. There’s something about getting burned by the bottom of the lineup that stings extra hard.

Perhaps a month ago, that would have been the end of it. The current version of the Orioles offense, however, still had four more innings to have their say, and they used them well, starting right away in the top of the sixth. Yesavage probably thought he had them figured out, especially after he was able to keep them off the scoreboard even while struggling with his command last weekend.

Then, almost in the blink of an eye, Jackson Holliday doubled, Gunnar Henderson walked, and Rutschman hit a game-tying double. Pinch hitter Jeremiah Jackson came off the bench and drove in Rutschman for a fourth Orioles run, and then, for good measure, Coby Mayo punctuated the whole inning with a sky-high two-run home run. Suddenly, the Orioles led, 6-3. Yesavage could not finish the sixth inning. He was tagged for six runs in 5.2 innings.

Staked to that lead, Young did not waste it, retiring the next four Jays batters he faced. That got him through to a 6.1 inning start with three runs allowed on seven hits. He did not walk a batter. Young continues to make the most of the opportunity he’s been given this season. His ERA sits at 3.47 after his nine starts.

Over the last two innings, the Orioles managed to turn it into a laugher. Four singles and an RBI groundout turned into three runs scored in the eighth off reliever Connor Seabold. Uncurable Orioles sickos will remember that Seabold was a 19th round pick by the Orioles in 2014. He did not sign. They racked up four more runs in the ninth, with Rutschman cashing in a pair of RBI after Taylor Ward and Henderson singled in front of him. The Jays needed to use a position player to pitch and get the last out of the game.

This was an impressive day for Rutschman. The Orioles catcher had four hits, coming the classic triple shy of the cycle. He was on base all five times he came to the dish, adding a walk as well. He scored four runs while driving in five. He threw out a runner. Is he back? The question comes up often. For tonight, the status is: Back. Now let’s hope he stays for a while.

Rutschman didn’t hog ALL the offense for himself. The team had 13 hits and seven of the nine guys in the starting lineup had a hit. Colton Cowser had a two-hit game, as did Jackson, coming off the bench. A better version of the 2026 Orioles than we saw in May is going to need all of these guys to do good things. This game is a good indication of what that might look like, if they are able to keep doing it.

One unfortunate subplot coming out of the game: Rookie Samuel Basallo exited the game early after taking a pair of at-bats. The team announced during the game that Basallo was dealing with right abdominal discomfort. After the game, manager Craig Albernaz called this “precautionary” and said there will be further evaluation on Saturday. I hope we don’t hear about ongoing oblique soreness. I also hope there’s not oblique soreness that we don’t hear about.

Can the Orioles make it two good games in a row against the Jays tomorrow? That would be fun. Kyle Bradish will look to keep mostly rolling in the 3:07 afternoon game. The Jays do not have a starter listed currently. The MASN broadcast indicated some kind of opener strategy may be employed.

At 31-33, the Orioles currently sit a half-game out of a playoff spot in the American League.

Blake Snell is already throwing again.

Before the Dodgers’ series opener against the Angels on Friday, Snell played catch for the first time since he underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow just 2 ½ weeks ago.

“He was excited about that, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Snell’s operation was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who used a new medical device that is smaller than a traditional arthroscope.

Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers was the first known major leaguer to have loose bodies removed using the NanoNeedle Scope 2.0.

Skubal had his operation on May 6 and is set to start a minor-league rehabilitation assignment on Sunday.

Skubal could pitch in the major leagues as early as next weekend.

Skubal’s recovery won’t affect how the Dodgers manage Snell’s recovery, according to Roberts.

“I don’t know about the timeline,” Roberts said. “But it’s going to be a ways. We’re going to make sure we kind of take care of him.”

Closer Edwin Diaz, who also had loose bodies removed from his elbow in mid-April, continues to progress in his throwing program.

Roberts said Diaz has thrown on consecutive days multiple times.

“All positive with Edwin,” Roberts said.

The Yankees have optioned catcher J.C. Escarra to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the club announced after dropping Friday night's series opener to the Boston Red Sox.

Escarra has struggled mightily at the plate this year. He has just 11 hits in 62 at-bats (.177) with a .493 OPS over 22 games. 

Ali Sanchez will be called up in the corresponding move, according to multiple reports.

In 40 games at Triple-A on the year, Sanchez has posted a .227/.327/.375 slashline (.702 OPS) with six home runs and 11 RBI in 128 at-bats. He has 18 walks to 28 strikeouts.

Sanchez, who signed with New York on a minor league deal in December, has 50 games of big league experience to his name, across four seasons with five different clubs. In that time, the now 29-year-old has 22 hits in 120 at-bats (.183) with a .454 OPS.

Escarra's demotion comes as a bit of a surprise. Earlier on Friday, Brian Cashman was asked specifically about the Yanks' lack of production from the club's catchers and third baseman.

“Hopefully, they saved all their bullets for now, right?” Cashman said of the group consisting of Escarra, Austin Wells (.169 average, .544 OPS, 57 wRC+ in 46 games entering Friday), and Ryan McMahon (.205 average, .608 OPS, 71 wRC+ in 56 games) in response to Aaron Judge landing on the IL.

“They’re more than capable, they’re good players, we do believe in them,” the GM continued. “It’ll be great if they started ramping all that up and joining the party, too. And they have at times. They are really good, and it’s a grind, but it’s a long season, too. So hopefully, the best is yet to come from those positions.”

The adage goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’ll tell you this: I don’t know if your heart can grow fonder of Mauricio Dubon, but if such a thing is even possible, then said fondness has probably grown quite a bit this week. The Braves’ nigh-indispensable Swiss army knife had himself another huge game, bashing a game-tying homer and then poking a go-ahead hit as the Braves welcomed the resurgent Pirates to Atlanta with a 6-3 unmanning.

Martin Perez got the start in this game for Atlanta, and as I’ve said before, Perez starts are, well, basically pachinko. Perez Pachinko has a certain ring to it. The Braves’ broadcast team described Perez as a tactician, and that may well be true in terms of sequence — but, fundamentally, Perez lacks the stuff and command to really “get away with” much, so much of what happens while he’s pitching feels awfully random to me. This game was a pretty great case in point, I think.

Perez started the game with a 1-2-3 frame — an ABS-overturn-assisted (thanks, Sandy Leon!) strikeout, and two weak grounders. Then he had another 1-2-3 frame, with another weak grounder, ABS overturn, and a weak liner to right. So far, so fortunate.

Perez began the third with a leadoff walk. Jared Triolo caught up to a high, 88 mph sinker and hit it hard into the gap for a double. Henry Davis got an 0-2 hanging changeup and barreled it to center; the ball had weird spin and was caught by Michael Harris II on a pivot-then-dive, resulting in a sacrifice fly. Both of those bits of hard contact weren’t really on pitches unique to what Perez was throwing in this game; the Pirates’ hitters just happened to put better swings on them than their counterparts in the first two innings. Nick Gonzales then followed with a weak grounder, but this one was too weak, and another run scored. Then there was another a walk, a weak flyout on a pitch down the middle, and old compadre Marcell Ozuna blooped a ball into center to plate the frame’s third run. Perez ended the inning with a strikeout of Oneil Cruz where he didn’t throw a single pitch anywhere near the zone.

Basically, I think you get the idea. Sometimes, what Perez does works. Sometimes, it doesn’t. It feels directly like pachinko to me. (If you have no idea what that is, go look up Peggle. Perez, pachinko. Perez, Peggle. It works. Sometimes Ode to Joy even plays.

The funny thing is, after that, Perez’ results went back to how they were during the first two innings. The fourth was groundout, weak flyout, Leon-assisted strikeout on a pitch not close to the zone. The fifth was weak flyout, weak groundout, and another strikeout (this time of Brandon Lowe) in another sequence where Perez didn’t throw anything near the zone at all. So, Perez’ final line: five innings, five strikeouts, two walks. It was a good outing, let’s be very clear — Perez just keeps doing pachinko, and it’s working.

So, the Braves had a three-run deficit to overcome against Mitch Keller and the Pirates. No problem. Am I the only one that thinks of, “This isn’t even [our] final form” whenever a team takes a lead against the Braves this year? (Well, I’m probably not after you’ve been memetically exposed to this thought provided you actually read recaps and don’t just scroll to the comments…) The Braves first lulled Keller and the Pirates into a false sense of complacency, as Dubon hit a routine grounder to third after Matt Olson blooped a single and Ozzie Albies walked. Then they struck, with Ronald Acuña Jr. hitting a weak RBI flare after Austin Riley walked and Mike Yastrzemski got grazed on the foot with a pitch. The Pirates then had their good pachinko inning, so the Braves trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third…

…and it was Dubon delivery time. Albies drew another walk with one out, Dubon fouled off some pitches (including a low one and a high one nowhere near the zone), and then Keller did pretty much the paragon of all hang jobs on a curve and… bam. Tie game.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, that’s three dingers in three games for Dubon. Fondness up, if there’s anywhere else for it to go, as noted.

The Braves were quiet in the fourth, but Keller and his defense kind of hit a wall (or, more accurately, a tank or spike trap or Scud missile or something) in the fifth. Harris mashed the first pitch he saw in the inning for a single. Olson got a down-Broadway sinker and did the same. Albies nearly homered on a hanging changeup, but it was caught at the fence. Up came Dubon. He missed a couple of meaty pitches, then got a fastball at the top of the zone, and slashed it to right to break the tie. The ball actually got past the right fielder, but Olson couldn’t score because his player used dexterity as a dump stat, I guess. (Or, more accurately, because he had to hold up in case the liner was caught. Reader’s choice.) Dominic Smith followed with a sac fly, and then Riley barreled a ball off the bricks in right to make it 6-3. That was it for Keller, who ended up with a pretty ghastly 4 2/3 with a 4/3 K/BB ratio, a hit by pitch, and a homer allowed. The Braves got one more walk in the inning, but nothing else.

And really, no one got anything else for the rest of the game. Braves relievers (Didier Fuentes, Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez) threw perfect frames in the sixth, seventh, and eighth, creating a weird situation where the pitching and defense were perfecto-ing the Pirates other than the adverse pachinko results in the third. Braves bats did almost nothing either — Acuña had a single but was thrown out trying to steal in the sixth — until the eighth.

That frame was just kind of weird. The Braves made two outs, and the home plate umpire rung Acuña up on a horrendous call that was quickly challenged and reverted… except the Pirates had walked off the field. So, they all had to return, only for Acuña to draw a walk two pitches later. Then, Harris struck out on three pitches… except the third pitch was a curve as horrendous as the overturned call to Acuña, bounced, hit the catcher in the knee, and allowed Harris to reach. Olson ended up striking out, but still, weird.

So, the Pirates had one more chance to make the Braves walk the plank, and they actually got the tying run up at the plate with none out (to make sure the folks that picked Iglesias got an extra point in our WPA game, I guess). The first batter got a strange pitch clock-violation-aided walk, except that the actual violation was Raisel Iglesias tripping during his delivery and not a real delay. Ozuna then lined an 0-2 pitch to left. So, up came Oneil Cruz, and then he went down on a changeup after seven pitches. Up next was pinch hitter Ryan O’Hearn, and he tried to pull an outside changeup… which he did, right to Albies, who flipped to Dubon (who else, tonight?) as part of a game-ending 4-6-3 double play. Woo.

This game had eight ABS challenges, six of which resulted in overturns, three of which were engendered by Leon. Acuña, Harris, Olson, and of course, Dubon, each had multiple hits.

The series continues tomorrow with an afternoon contest featuring Spencer Strider and Braxton Ashcraft.

Orioles A Lot Blue. Jays A little.

That was less than fun.

Everything that mattered happened in the bottom of the fifth and the top of the sixth.

The Jays scored two in the top of the fifth. With two out George Springer reached on catcher interference, yet again. They are going to name catcher interference after him. Then Brandon Valenzuela homered. It was 3-1 Jays and all was good in the world.

Then, in the top of the sixth. Trey Yesavage, who had been great, other than a first inning home run, had a blow up inning. It seemed to come out of nowhere. It went:

• Double.
• Strikeout.
• Walk.
• Double (tie game).
• Strikeout.
• Single.
• Home run. 6-3.

And that was the game for Yesavage and the Jays really. It just snowballed so quickly. Everything was hit hard, or he got the strikeout.

Other than that. Conner Seabold gave up 3 more runs in the 8th. And Yariel Rodriguez gave up 4 more in the ninth.

Add into the fun, Daulton Varsho left the game with wrist discomfort.

We did have 8 hits, but no walks.

And there were dumb moments. Andrés Giménez was caught stealing, with two out and two on in the second. He is a good percentage stealer, but this wasn’t the time. And Jesús Sánchez was thrown out trying to turn a single into a double with two out in the sixth. Generally, with two outs, I’m ok with someone getting thrown out trying to get into scoring position. But, we were down by three, and he was out by 10-15 feet. It wasn’t close. And replays showed the first base coach telling him to stop at first. If it was a closer game, and if it was close at second, I’d say fine. In this case, just bad baseball.

We did get to see Tyler Heineman pitch, but just one pitch getting pop out to second.

Jays of the Day: Valenzuela (0.15 WPA) and Springer (0.10).

Other Award: Yesavage (-0.46).

Tomorrow we have a bullpen day. 3:00 PM start. Kyle Bradish (3-6, 3.44).

While they’ve already played a handful of games without him, Friday night’s game against the Red Sox marked the first one for the Yankees since Aaron Judge was placed on the injured list with a fractured rib. Let’s just say the early returns on the lineup without him weren’t glowing.

It won’t go down as the worst performance from the offense this season, as they did put up three runs on eight hits, and there were moments where they threatened. However at a time when people are concerned about what the Yankees will do for the next four to six weeks, it didn’t exactly provide reassurance.

Former Yankee Sonny Gray was on the mound for the Red Sox, and he managed to hold the Yankees to just three runs despite the Yankees scattering eight hits. Meanwhile, Ryan Weathers wasn’t able to match the “bend but don’t break” performance. He allowed five runs on seven hits and a walk, including two home runs.

In general, it wasn’t the most sparkling performance in any aspect, as the Yankees fell to the Red Sox 5-3 on Friday night.

Despite how the game played out in general, the Judge-less offense got off to a solid enough start in the first. Ben Rice took former Yankee Sonny Gray in the Bombers’ second at-bat of the game, opening the scoring. That just ended up being the high point of the night.

However, the Red Sox then struck for the next couple runs to take control of the game. After a couple singles, Weathers did himself some unnecessary damage by walking the bases loaded. He then induced a ground out, but there was only play for Anthony Volpe to make, which allowed the tying run to score. The next at-bat, Willson Contreras hit a little soft grounder that Weathers’ throw to first on was off and possibly late, allowing another run to score.

Weathers was hit decently hard all day, and would go on to allow a couple home runs in the fourth and fifth innings. The one in the fourth was a monster shot from Andruw Monasterio, before Contreras added a two-run blast in the fifth.

The Yankees had got one run back in the fourth when Spencer Jones picked up an RBI double for his second hit of the day. Then in the fifth, Trent Grisham got in on the home run game by hitting a solo homer to keep the Yankees hanging around.

However, hanging around was all they did. In the ninth, another former Yankee in Aroldis Chapman took the mound and did give the Bombers a glimmer of hope. He walked two of the first three batters he faced in the ninth, and both on four pitches. With the winning run suddenly at the plate, it looked somewhat like some of the most irritating outings he used to have in pinstripes. However, he eventually got a hold of things and got out of the jam, leaving both Yankees’ runners on base.

If there are any positives to take from this game, Jones had the afformentioned two hits. Plus, Grisham’s homer helps makes his stats look a bit better after his slow start to the year. Besides that, there was not a lot to write home about.

With the Yankees looking to draw even, the rivalry series will continue tomorrow night, with a game scheduled to start at 7:35 pm ET. Will Warren is expected to go opposite Ranger Suarez in that one.

Box Score

The Subway Series isn’t just for the Major League clubs.

And Friday proved to have something a little extra special.

The Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, led by Yankees right-handers Brendan Beck and Carson Coleman, combined to no-hit the Syracuse Mets in a 4-0 win in Central New York.

It marked the RailRiders’ first no-hitter since 2021, according to Minor League Baseball.

Beck, who won his fifth game of the year, threw the first seven innings, striking out six batters and walking three.

Coleman tossed the final two innings with one walk and two punchouts. He closed it out with a 6-4-3 double play against Kevin Parada, a Mets first-round pick in 2022.

Scranton took the lead with two runs in the second off a run-scoring double play and an RBI triple by Duke Ellis. Ellis then hit a solo homer in the fifth. Jonathan Ornelas blast his own solo shot in the eighth.

The game also marked the start of a rehab assignment for outfielder Jasson Dominguez. The switch-hitting outfielder got injured crashing into the left field wall at Yankee Stadium on May 7, and it was later revealed that he suffered an AC joint sprain in his left shoulder.

He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in Friday’s contest.

Jack Wenninger, the Mets’ fifth-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline, started the game for Syracuse. He threw 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs — one earned.

Jorge Polanco and Francisco Alvarez also started the game as part of their respective rehab assignments. Polanco had two walks while Alvarez went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.

The RailRiders have been leading the five-game series with Syracuse thus far. They won the first two in the set on Tuesday and early Wednesday before the Mets grabbed the Wednesday nightcap and Thursday’s game with a walk-off single by Matt Rudick.

They wrap up the series this weekend with a 7:35 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1:05 p.m. contest on Sunday.

The game was played on Friday, but the Chicago White Sox certainly made it look like a “Throwback Thursday” in an 8-6 loss in the opening game of their series with the Philadelphia Phillies.

It started out well for the White Sox, as they struck first in the second inning thanks to a two-out rally. It was started by a Sam Antonacci hit-by-pitch and capped off with a Tristan Peters RBI single to give the South Siders a two-run lead. Unfortunately, after that the White Sox — most notably Anthony Kay and Miguel Vargas — looked more like their 2025 selves than the team that has been one of the surprises in the MLB this spring.

Kay came into the game off of a strong May campaign that saw him sport a 4-0 record with a 1.95 ERA in six starts. With two of those efforts coming against the Seattle Mariners and another against the San Diego Padres, it wasn’t just a case of Kay feasting on weak opponents. Unfortunately, he reverted back to who he has been most of his career, as a pitcher with a career ERA over five — and one who struggles with command.

Kay couldn’t throw strikes when it mattered in the bottom of the second, and he didn’t get much help defensively, either. With runners on the corners and one out in a tie ball game, a chopper to Vargas at first had out written all over it. Instead of making the easy play at first, Vargas tried to gun out Adolis García at home, but a poorly-thrown ball allowed everyone to reach safely:

That mistake would cost the White Sox dearly, as an Alec Bohm double with two outs scored two runs that otherwise wouldn’t have crossed the plate.

Unfortunately the mistakes didn’t stop there, as after a Randal Grichuk homer and a Vargas walk, Vargas was caught stealing to turn momentum back in favor of the Phillies. Kay kept making mistakes on his pitch locations but was able to get away with it until García finally made him pay, with his own solo shot in the fourth to stretch the lead to three runs.

To Chicago’s credit, they continued to show the same grit and fight that they have all season. Even after falling behind 6-3 and Kay clearly not having his best stuff, they refused to give up. Grichuk and Derek Hill both knocked out solo homers to keep the game close before Colson Montgomery muscled a broken-bat RBI single to tie the game at six apiece. Unfortunately, the bullpen, mainly Bryan Hudson, looked like the bullpen of old and imploded in the seventh inning. The bases were loaded before Hudson even registered an out, and a sacrifice fly brought a run in. While the lefty was getting squeezed on some good-looking pitches painting the inside corner, it was still a rough outing for a guy who has been clutch all season.

Seranthony Domínguez relieved Hudson and was the next White Sox player to make a critical error. He walked JT Realmuto before getting Brandon Marsh into an 0-2 count. Just one strike away from limiting the damage to a run, he chunked a splitter in the dirt for a wild pitch and a second run scored. Domínguez was able to get Marsh down on strikes on the next pitch, but further damage had been done.

The White Sox posted one last threat in the eighth, but with two on and no outs Rikuu Nishida hit a line drive right at pitcher Brad Keller who made a great reaction catch and threw to second for the double play.

The White Sox would not see another base runner from there on out. Between Vargas’ fielder’s choice, Hudson’s meltdown, and Domínguez’s wild pitch, the South Siders gave Philadelphia too much help, and they paid the price for it. Fortunately, the White Sox still have a chance to win the series as the teams meet two more times.

When the Phillies have won this season, it’s largely been on the back of their pitching staff. But on Friday night, it was the offense that carried the way, as they overcame a shaky start by Jesus Luzardo to top the White Sox 8-6.

Luzardo’s off night began with two outs in the second. He hit a batter, then gave up a run scoring double to Luisangel Acuna and a run scoring single to Tristan Peters to put the Phillies in a 2-0 hole.

The deficit didn’t last long. In the bottom of the inning, J.T. Realmuto led off with a walk, and then Brandon Marsh did something he hasn’t done as a member of the Phillies: Hit a home run off a lefthanded pitcher.

The score was tied at two, but the Phillies weren’t done for the inning. Singles by Adolis Garcia and Kyle Schwarber put runners on the corners. Trea Turner hit a ball to first base, but Garcia was able to beat the throw home to make it 3-2.

Next, Alec Bohm hit a double to left to score both Schwarber and Turner before getting tagged out attempting to advance to third.

Unfortunately, Randal Grichuk immediately got one of those runs back when he led off the third with a home run.

Adolis Garcia extended the lead to 6-3 with his second home run in two games. Unfortunately, Luzardo once again almost immediately gave a run back thanks to Grichuk’s second home run of the night.

Luzardo stayed in the game for the sixth, and that might have been a mistake since he gave up another solo home run, this time off the bat of Derek Hill cut the lead to 6-5.

Jonathan Bowlan took over from Luzardo in the seventh, and his night started on a bad note when he allowed an infield single, compounded by a throwing error. That proved costly three batters later when Bowlan gave up a game-tying single to Colson Montgomery.

Six runs can sometimes feel like a series’ worth of output from the Phillies’ offense, but they didn’t stop there. They loaded the bases against Sox reliever Bryan Hudson in the seventh, but after an Alec Bohm line out and a run-scoring Edmundo Sosa sacrifice fly, it felt like they might waste a chance to give themselves a nice cushion.

But former Phillie Seranthony Dominguez was brought in to finish off the inning, and with two strikes he uncorked a wild pitch that gave the Phillies an insurance run.

Brad Keller handled the eighth for the Phillies and immediately found himself in trouble thanks to a leadoff single followed by a fielding error by Bryce Harper. But Keller caught a break when Rikuu Nishida lined a ball right at him, and he was able to double the runner off second.

Keller finished the inning without incident, and it was up to Jhoan Duran to close things out. Two strikeouts and a nice play by Bryson Stott later, and the Phillies were victorious.

They’ll be back at it tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the bats will continue to look lively, and maybe the pitching staff – Andrew Painter gets the start – can perform well at the same time!