Category: MLB

The post-All Star break winning streak came to an abrupt end on Tuesday night as the Brewers were held to three hits and were shutout by Mets rookie starter Zac Thornton. The Mets were able to get a couple of big blasts and won the game 4-0.

Brandon Sproat faced his old team for the first time and it did not go the way he had planned. After a 28 pitch first inning, Sproat allowed a one out homer to Jared Young in the 2nd to put the Mets up 1-0. Sproat battled traffic on the bases all night, partially due to the four free passes he allowed.

The last of which was a two out walk to Bo Bichette in the 5th on Sproat’s 99th pitch of the night. At that point, Pat Murphy had seen enough and made the call to the bullpen, something Sproat was upset with himself about.

Francisco Lindor then sneaks a ball off the glove of a diving Brice Turang and gets a double out of it to put the Mets in business. Carson Benge then gets a 2 RBI double through the right side to put the Mets up 3-0.

Meanwhile, the Brewers bats could get absolutely nothing going at the plate. Jackson Chourio led things off with a single in the first inning and William Contreras walked to give the Crew two on and one out. But Andrew Vaughn grounded into a 1-4-3 double play and Thornton retired 12 in a row after that.

Milwaukee then got two runners on and nobody out in the 6th after singles from Cooper Pratt and Joey Ortiz to set up the top of the order. But a strikeout from Chourio and then a baserunning blunder on a passed ball led to Pratt being thrown out heading to third during Turang’s at-bat. Turang hit one to the warning track, but came up short and the threat was quickly ended.

They didn’t fare much better against the Mets bullpen and ultimately went down with their first shutout loss since June 3rd.

Bryse Wilson helped save the bullpen with four innings in relief, though he gave up a lot of traffic with seven hits and allowed a run on a mammoth, 451 foot blast by Luis Robert Jr.

The Brewers may have had some hard-hit balls in this game, but couldn’t get them to land. They’ll be back at it for the rubber match tomorrow afternoon with Logan Henderson on the mound against Christian Scott.

In his second game back with the Mets after a lengthy stint on the injured list, Luis Robert Jr. crushed a 451-foot blast over the left field wall in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

In the eighth inning of the Mets’ 4-1 win, Robert smashed the blast off reliever Bryse Wilson. Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio turned around and watched the ball sail over the wall, not even making a move toward the warning track.

As Robert Jr., playing in his second game since April 26, rounded the bases, the SNY camera showed his Mets teammates in the dugout looking on in disbelief at the sheer magnitude of the outfielder’s homer.

Zac Thornton, who started the game for the Mets and tossed six scoreless innings, stood on the top step of the dugout with his mouth agape and arms raised in the air.

Robert’s fellow outfielder, A.J. Ewing, who had seen lots of playing time in center field during Robert’s time on the shelf, watched the scene with his hand over his mouth, laughing.

It was a happy moment for Robert, who missed nearly three months of his first season in Queens due to a lumbar spine disc herniation.

Robert was activated from the 60-day injured list, where he was placed on April 30, before Monday’s 8-3 loss in Milwaukee and started in center field, batting seventh.

After going hitless Monday, Robert finished Tuesday 1-for-5 with his third roundtripper of the season.

The return of Robert marks the first time the Mets have had the roster they envisioned over the winter all playing at the same time, as various injuries have kept the team from having the complete roster they built over the offseason.

Interim manager Andy Green, at least before the trade deadline, now has more choice in how to construct his lineup, including in center field, where Ewing had played excellent defense and batted to a 116 OPS-plus in one of the brightest spots of the club’s rocky year.

MILWAUKEE — The intrigue surrounding Zac Thornton isn’t about to dissipate anytime soon. 

For a second straight start, the rookie left-hander worked at least six innings for the Mets and departed without allowing a run. What’s not to like? 

His attack-the-strike-zone approach is refreshing, as veterans such as Freddy Peralta and Kodai Senga in particular continue to struggle on that front. On Tuesday, Thornton carried the Mets to a 4-0 victory over the Brewers at American Family Field for the team’s third win in five games since the All-Star break. 

Thornton, who picked up his first career victory, pitched six shutout innings, allowing three hits and one walk with two strikeouts. It followed his seven scoreless frames against the Red Sox on July 12, and in his previous start he surrendered only one earned run over six innings against the Phillies. The opposition has been challenging. 

“I have always wanted to help this team win ballgames,” Thornton said. “It’s always been my No. 1 thing as a baseball player, not my personal accolades or anything like that. I have always been very team-driven and wanted to be part of the winning and a successful team.” 

David Peterson’s trade to the Cubs last month created the opening for Thornton, and he’s seized the moment. This latest gem extended his scoreless innings streak to 18 and lowered his ERA to 1.93 over four career major league starts. 

Another young pitcher who has excelled, Christian Scott, is set to face the Brewers in Wednesday’s series finale. Those two arms have joined rookie Nolan McLean to give the Mets a starting pitching nucleus worth celebrating. 

“[Thornton] was the same guy, unafraid, he attacks,” interim manager Andy Green said. “He went after every hitter, and it’s just a good mix with aggression and really good defense behind him today.” 

Jared Young’s second-inning homer against Brandon Sproat gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Young’s blast was his seventh of the season, continuing his left-handed offensive contributions at first base, where he has provided a measure of respectability for the Mets this season. 

Thornton received a defensive boost in the third when A.J. Ewing snagged Joey Ortiz’s sinking line drive on a dive in left field for the second out. Thornton began his night by allowing a single and a walk in the first inning, but escaped by getting Andrew Vaughn to ground into a double play. 

Sproat, who was once the Mets’ top pitching prospect — he was traded to the Brewers with Jett Williams for Peralta and Tobias Myers in January — lasted 4 ²/₃ innings and surrendered two earned runs on two hits and four walks with four strikeouts. 

“On a personal level, I have a ton of respect for Brandon, the way he went about his job with us,” said Green, who served as the organization’s farm director before becoming interim manager last month. “He works incredibly hard and he’s a great person, a great teammate. You pull for those guys, but at the same time you face him today, you go hard in the other direction.” 

Carson Benge stroked a two-run double in the fifth after Sproat walked the final batter he faced, Bo Bichette. Francisco Lindor doubled ahead of Benge’s hit that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead. 

Luis Robert Jr. smashed a 451-foot homer to left in the eighth that gave the Mets their final run.

Robert was activated from the injured list a day earlier after missing 2 ½ months. 

Thornton surrendered the Brewers’ first legitimate hit in the sixth on Cooper Pratt’s sinking line drive that just eluded Benge’s glove in right field. Ortiz also singled in the inning.

Thornton escaped with help from Ewing’s tumbling catch on the warning track in left field on Brice Turang’s fly ball. 

“I didn’t want to leave the infield out there any longer, so I tried to throw my best strike pitch,” Thornton said.

PHILADELPHIA –– Nothing will top the championship significance, or defensive intuition, of the now-famous wheel play the Dodgers turned in the National League Division Series against the Phillies last October.

But on Tuesday night, in the same ballpark where the Dodgers produced that unforgettable highlight to escape a near-collapse in Game 2 of that NLDS, their infield conjured some more ninth-inning magic.

Only this time, with the help of an inexplicable baserunning mistake from veteran Phillies catcher JT Realmuto.

To finish off a rain-soaked 2-1 win against the Phillies, the Dodgers turned a game-ending double-play by catching two Phillies players in no-man’s-land on the bases.

There were runners on second and third with one out. Tanner Scott was in danger of blowing a five-out save. But on what should have been a routine rundown, the Phillies instead ran themselves right out of the game.

With only third baseman Max Muncy playing in on the Dodgers infield, Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh hit a ground ball straight to him. The runner at third, speedy pinch-runner Justin Crawford, tried breaking for home, but got caught in a pickle as Muncy fired a strike to catcher Dalton Rushing, and Rushing zipped the ball back to shortstop Mookie Betts to make the tag near third.

The real disaster was what came next, with Realmuto suffering a stunning “lapse of judgement,” as he put it, by running all the way from second to third –– only to turn and try retreating to second again.

Had Realmuto stayed on third, only Crawford would’ve been out, the Phillies would have still had runners on the corners, and their comeback bid, which had been fueled by a leadoff single from Alec Bohm and one-out double from Realmuto, would’ve still been on.

Instead, Realmuto’s scamper back to second was too late, allowing Betts to turn after tagging Crawford and fire back across the diamond to second baseman Tommy Edman.

“When I saw JT going back, I think that’s like the first time I’ve yelled on the field,” Scott said. “I was like, ‘Mookie, two!’ Crazy play.”

So it went in a game that began with a one-hour, 20-minute rain delay, was played through steady showers from the second inning onward, and saw the sloppy conditions from the sky mirrored by sloppy play on the field.

Way back in the third inning, the Dodgers had committed their own baserunning gaffe. Shohei Ohtani got thrown out trying to turn a two-out RBI single into a hustle double. Even worse, baserunner Eliezer Alfonzo hadn’t even crossed the plate yet after jogging obliviously down the third-base line, wiping away a run that would’ve erased an early 1-0 deficit.

The Dodgers responded in the fourth, however, when Muncy flipped the score with a two-run homer off Phillies ace Zack Wheeler –– a blast that tied him with Ron Cey for second-most home runs in the franchise’s Los Angeles history.

And from there, the team held on, getting a 6 ⅓-inning gem from Justin Wrobleski, then another miraculous escape on the Citizens Bank Park infield. 

“The way Mookie kind of threw it and tagged, it kind of gave me a little bit of flashbacks [to last year], yeah,” Muncy said.

“You can’t really think about it [on a play like that]. You have to hope that all the work you put in in pregame and just from the start of the season kicks in, just instincts. That’s where the experience really matters in those types of situations. And with us, we always have a ton of experience out there.”

What it means

First and foremost, that the Dodgers won’t have to play a second double-header in the space of four days on this East Coast road trip.

Things seemed to be heading that way for most of the afternoon, with stormy forecasts and flash flood warnings threatening to postpone Tuesday’s game to Wednesday afternoon.

But then, a window in the weather opened. And the Dodgers –– who played a double-header at Yankee Stadium on Sunday –– were happy to squeeze the contest in.

Winning the way they did was only an added bonus.

“Big adrenaline, big win,” Roberts said. “Real fun ballgame to be a part of.”

Who’s hot

Wrobleski picked up where he left off in the first half of the season, continuing his breakout, All-Star season with yet another quality outing. 

As usual, he was efficient, needing only 89 pitches to rack up 19 outs (he could’ve gone longer, but manager Dave Roberts said pregame that the team has “got to be mindful of the workload” with Wrobleski as he compiled more innings than he ever has in his career).

In the continuation of a promising recent trend, he also got plenty of swing-and-miss, striking out seven batters while walking only one on a night his fastball was once again effective (getting seven whiffs on 22 swings).

After recording only 53 strikeouts over his first 86 ⅓ innings this year, Wrobleski has now amassed 27 over 20 ⅓ innings in his last three outings.

It’s been the latest development in his breakout season, helping him lower his ERA on Tuesday to 2.62 (fourth-best in the National League).

Who’s not

Ohtani’s base-running mistake was bad enough.

But more concerning has been his slow start offensively coming out of the All-Star break.

With a 1-for-4 performance on Tuesday, Ohtani now has just four hits in 21 at-bats over five games to begin the second half. Bad weeks happen, but Ohtani’s has come in the wake of a lubricant injection he received during the All-Star break to address a lingering left knee injury –– one that is currently preventing him from making pitching starts in the Dodgers’ rotation.

So did Roberts think Ohtani’s knee was starting to have an impact on his swing?

“I don’t think that’s the case,” he insisted pregame. “I would argue that if it was the right knee, potentially, because that’s kind of you’re turning on that knee, hitting off the front side. But with the left knee, I still see the intent there.”

Up next

With the threat of a double-header averted, a rubber-match game in this series now looms on Wednesday, when Eric Lauer (4-5, 4.81 ERA) will face Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola (3-7, 5.68).

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The Detroit Tigers looked to follow up Monday night’s thrilling win with another on Tuesday night on the north side of Chicago. Instead, the Cubs pantsed the Tigers to the tune of an 11-2 drubbing.

Framber Valdez got the start for the Tigers, and after Monday’s game in which the bullpen pitched a total of six innings, the Tigers hoped Valdez could give them some length. He’d gone at least six innings in four of his previous five starts, and he was coming off seven sparkling innings against the A’s in which he’d given up a meagre three hits, surrendering a single run, walking nary a batter and whiffing nine. Of course, the Cubs are not the A’s. Spoiler alert: he absolutely did not give the Tigers length on Tuesday night.

Facing the Tigers was tall lefty David Peterson, who’s been with the Cubs for less than a month; he was traded to them by the Mets near the end of June for Cole Mathis. He broke into the major leagues in 2020 with the Mets, and was an All-Star in 2025; it’s been a rough year for him, though, and perhaps the Mets and Cubs both thought a change of scenery would do him good. His previous outing righted the ship a bit, though: he went five innings in Baltimore and gave up one run, but he walked four in the process.

It was a long, fateful first inning: Pete Crow-Armstrong led off by smacking a triple to the right-field corner; Seiya Suzuki walked and Alex Bregman wore a fastball to load the bases. Lefty-masher and Old Friend™ Carson Kelly followed, and he poked a two-run single through the right side; Michael Busch did the same to score Bregman for a 3-0 lead, and Nico Horner singled up the middle to reload the bases. A short fly ball to right field was blown in by the wind as the Tigers’ infield stared at it expecting it to head out to Malgeri in right. Instead, it fell like a stone into shallow right field and put the Cubs went up 4-0. After a popup and a strikeout, Valdez walked Crow-Armstrong and that was it for him, departing after two outs, a 5-0 score on the board, and the bases loaded. The recently-recalled Ty Madden came in, walked Suzuki but got Bregman to fly out to centre, and it was a 6-0 game.

Valdez’s final line: 2/3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 K. Yikes.

The wind was blowing in and was knocking fly balls down, especially to left field, with extreme prejudice: a couple of fly balls hit by the Tigers in the top of the second inning alone, which probably would have been home runs on Monday night, were caught well short of the fence.

The Cubs added-on in the second with a walk, stolen base, and single for a 7-0 score. Madden was slogging through, walking a few guys; Peterson was having a relatively easy go of it, slicing through the Tigers’ lineup like a hot knife through a warm wheel of Brie.

In the fifth, Brenan Hanifee replaced Madden, and within three pitches he gave up a single and a home run for a 9-0 score. But he had a 1-2-3 sixth, so that was nice in terms of pacing.

In the seventh Dillon Dingler led off with a walk, and after a strikeout and flyout, Matt Vierling singled and Dingler got to third base. Would the Tigers finally get on the board? No, they would not! Crow-Armstrong made a nice basket catch in centre to end the inning.

The Tigers waved the white flag by putting Zach McKinstry on the mound to chuck some eephuses below 40 mph, but he zipped an 81-mph fastball in there too. The Cubs tacked-on a pair of runs to make it 11-0, and I was starting to think the Tigers might not win this one.

Jake Rogers and his knuckleball took to the mound for the eighth and he struck out two batters. Holy mackerel!

Our All-Star catcher managed to get the Tigers on the board in the ninth: Hao-Yu Lee singled to lead off the inning, and Dingler sliced a home run through the wind to narrow the gap to 11-2. With two outs the Tigers loaded the bases and had the tying run, well, firmly on his behind in the dugout, but McKinstry flew out to left and that was, mercifully, the game.

The finale and rubber match is Wednesday night at 8:10 pm EDT. It should have been a day game, but I guess the national-television powers-that-be decided the Tigers didn’t need to get home at a reasonable time after a road trip.

Final score: Cubs 11, Tigers 2

NINE-DART LEG ALERT

Magnificent. Cool as a cucumber. Look how tightly-clustered those triple-twenties are, too.

Numbers and Such

• In last night’s game, when Pete Crow-Armstrong took second base in the bottom of the ninth to put runners on second and third with one out, at that point the Tigers had a 16% chance of winning. So, roughly five times out of six in that situation, the Cubs win. But they didn’t!
• Spencer Torkelson has been famously terrible at the plate with the bases loaded; including last night’s two-run single, he has been 4-for-38 for a .105 batting average (.323 OPS).
• You know who the opposite of Torkelson is? Well, it may not be the exact opposite, but Pat Tabler comes close: .489 BA and 1.198 OPS in 109 plate appearances with the bases loaded over his career.
• Marshall McLuhan was born on this day in 1911. This writer and philosopher had insightful and informative views on media, and coined the phrase, “The medium is the message.” As media continue to evolve and shape our views — sometimes in positive ways, sometimes not — I’d say his idea is as true now as it ever has been.

The Philadelphia Phillies (56-46) squandered another dominant outing by Zack Wheeler and a promising walk-off situation with a befuddling baserunning blunder to allow the Los Angeles Dodgers (64-38) to even the three-game set in a 2-1 loss.

Wheeler made one crucial mistake in the fourth inning, a cutter out over the plate that Max Muncy sent to straightaway center field for a two-run homer.

On the good, Wheeler had nine K’s across his seven innings and fell one short of becoming the second Phillie ever to throw 10+ strikeouts in four straight starts.

Dodgers’ lefty, Justin Wrobleski, went toe-to-toe with Wheeler, notching seven punch outs of his own.

The Phillies’ only run came courtesy of an Alec Bohm single in the first inning. Bohm saw six pitches on the night and ended with three hits, one of which was his 15th double of the season.

Jose Alvarado and Jonathan Bowlan held the line for Wheeler in the eighth and ninth, retiring their six charges in order.

Bohm’s third hit was a leadoff single to begin the bottom of the ninth. After a three-pitch strikeout of Edmundo Sosa, JT Realmuto smoked a 3-1 slider from Tanner Scott up the left field line to put runners on second and third with one out. Brandon Marsh grounded to third and caught Bohm’s replacement, Justin Crawford, in a rundown. Realmuto, safely at third while the rundown transpired, made the confounding choice to bolt back toward second base and was tagged out easily to end the game on a double play. Tanner Scott got a five-out save.

Trea Turner showed off his range and made a couple of impressive plays a night after having a rough go in the field.

Derek Hill made a great throw in the third inning that saved a run when Shohei Ohtani tried to stretch a single into a double and was tagged out just before his lead runner crossed the plate.

Aaron Nola is set to face lefty, Eric Lauer, in the series decider tomorrow night.

The Texas Rangers scored ten runs while the Chicago White Sox scored zero runs.

Coming into tonight’s game, the Rangers had allowed exactly 100 runs in the month of July in 13 games. That’s a ghastly 7.7 runs per game. There had been losses of 9-4, 13-1, 9-3, 15-1, 10-3 to list a few of the more unseemly blowout defeats this month. Here recently the Rangers had allowed 39 runs in four game since the start of the second half.

The Rangers were due for a little ass kicking of their own and they delivered with one of their more lopsided wins in recent memory.

Texas scored at least one run in the five of the game’s first six innings with four runs coming in the fifth. Every member of the starting lineup had at least one hit. Brandon Nimmo had a four-hit night with a two-run dong that opened the scoring.

No. 9 hitter Alejandro Osuna went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI. Wyatt Langford had two more hits, scored twice, and hit a two-run home run that poured salt in the Chicago wound.

Meanwhile tonight’s starter Kumar Rocker allowed a leadoff single in the top of the fourth and then the White Sox didn’t collect their second hit of the night until former Rangers farmhand Luisangel Acuna singled in the top of the eighth. Acuna pitched the last inning for Chicago and they finished with just three hits.

Of course, even in a blowout win nothing is every perfect for the Rangers as No. 3 hitter Josh Jung exited with calf tightness. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the Rangers on this side of one of these kinds of games again after being victimized by them frequently in recent weeks.

The win keeps Texas above .500 with a shot at a series win against Chicago tomorrow night.

Player of the Game: The Rangers scored ten runs. They worked the White Sox’ pitching over for 18 hits. There was plenty to like from the lineup tonight, but what Texas really needed was an outing like the one they got from Rocker.

With the pitching sputtering of late, Rocker took the bump and allowed just one hit to division-leading Chicago — a team that scored ten runs off Texas last night — with two walks and six strikeouts over six innings of shutout ball.

It took Rocker an economical 75 pitches to make it through six innings. Rocker was the final rotation regular to make his first start of the second half and he saved the best for last.

Also, Marco Gonzales — pitching in the big leagues for the first time since 2024 — made his team debut with the Rangers and pitched the final three shutout innings while picking up a quite Wes Littleton-esque save in the blowout win.

Up Next: The Rangers and White Sox close out this series with a rubber match featuring RHP Cal Quantrill for Texas against LHP Anthony Kay for Chicago.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be carried on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Cubs have signed free agent outfielder Greg Jones and assigned him to Triple-A Iowa.

LHP Josh Fleming was activated off the Development List and assigned to Iowa.

RHP Connor Schultz was activated off the Development List and assigned to Double-A Knoxville.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs reeled in the Gwinnett Stripers (Braves), 7-4. It was Iowa’s first ever trip to Georgia and the lights went out in the sixth inning, leading to a 17-minute delay.

Grant Kipp started for Iowa and had a tough task as there were five veteran major leaguers in the Gwinnett starting lineup: Ronald Acuña Jr., Carlos Santana, Andrew McCutchen, Rowdy Tellez and Ha-Seong Kim. Kipp allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits over 3.2 innings. Kipp struck out five and walked one.

Josh Fleming pitched the final five innings, allowed one run on three hits, and got the win. Fleming struck out two and did not issue a walk.

Shortstop Ben Cowles doubled twice in a 3 for 5 night. He scored twice and drove in one.

Third baseman Owen Miller went 2 for 5 with a three-run double in the sixth inning that Acuña ironically lost in the lights.

Left fielder Jonathon Long was 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored two runs.

RBI double for Cowles.

Owen Miller’s three-run double.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies compacted the Montgomery Trash Pandas (Angels), 4-3.

Starter Connor Schultz got the win after pitching five innings and giving up two runs on three hits. Schultz walked five and struck out three.

Tyler Ras pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game and get the save. Ras allowed two hits. He struck out two and walked no one.

Right fielder Alex Ramírez homered in the first at bat of the game and homered again with two men on in the fifth. That accounted for all four Smokies runs. They were his 11th and 12th home run of the year. Ramírez went 3 for 4 with the four RBI.

DH Miguel Useche was 2 for 4 with a double.

The first one.

The second one.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs defanged the Wisconsin TimberRattlers (Brewers), 5-2.

Starter Jostin Florentino pitched the first four innings and allowed two runs on three hits. Florentino struck out seven and walked just one.

Nate Williams threw a scoreless fifth inning and got the win because Florentino didn’t go five innings. Williams gave up one hit, walked no one and struck out two.

Jackson Brockett turned in an impressive three-inning save. He only allowed one baserunner, which came on an error in the ninth, but he erased him with a double play so he faced the minimum nine batters. Brockett struck out three.

Center fielder Kane Kepley went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk and two stolen bases. Kepley scored three of the Cubs five runs and drove in one more.

Jose Escobar was 0 for 3 and drove home Kepley three times. Once on a fielder’s choice, once with a sac fly and once with a ground out. Escobar also stole a base.

Kepley’s RBI double.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were one-hit by the Hickory Crawdads (Rangers), 1-0.

Jordan Henriquez kept the Crawdads scoreless over the first three innings. Henriquez surrendered two hits and issued two walks. He struck out three.

Hayden Frank took over for the next three innings and got the loss with one unearned run. Frank gave up four hits. He struck out four and walked one.

Second baseman Jose Silva singled in the fifth inning for the only hit of the game for the Birds. He was 1 for 3.

ACL Cubs

Lost to the Giants, 6-0.

The Mesa Cubs were no-hit in a seven-inning game.

KANSAS CITY — With their place in the standings at this point in the season, all that really matters for the Giants is how other teams value their potential trade candidates.

All things considered, Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Royals was a mixed bag.

Tyler Mahle, potentially making one of his last starts for the team he signed with last winter, was solid but unspectacular and far from efficient. He threw 91 pitches and departed without recording an out in the sixth inning, surrendering all three runs to raise his ERA to 5.31.

The performance likely didn’t do much to change how teams view him. A veteran set to be a free agent again this winter probably won’t be making any postseason starts, no matter what uniform he’s wearing, but he could still be a buy-low option to boost a team’s pitching depth.

Asked of his mindset ahead of the deadline, Mahle said: “I’m just trying to pitch better.”

Mahle employed the Giants pitching staff’s special combo to begin the sixth — a walk to Isaac Collins to lead off the inning, followed by a hit-by-pitch of Salvador Perez — and handed off the jam to another pitcher who could be of interest to teams in need of left-handed bullpen help.

Sam Hentges, however, didn’t help the situation. He fell behind on Vinnie Pasquantino, who laced a grounder up the middle to tie the game. Hentges hit another batter, loading the bases, and manager Tony Vitello decided he’d seen enough, calling on Keaton Winn.

Winn, a less likely trade candidate, got two strikes on Nick Loftin and threw him a sinker well below the zone. The pitch got the intended result — a swing and a ground ball — but it was struck well enough and in the right place, out of the reach of either Casey Schmitt or Willy Adames, that it scooted into left field and allowed the Royals to take a 3-2 lead.

Both of the base runners put on Mahle and inherited by Hentges came around to score.

“[Mahle] looked good, like he has the past two times out,” manager Tony Vitello said. “Just unfortunate a couple free bases there to end it. Sam’s been pretty good as of late getting us out of trouble. At the end of the day, the inning was the difference maker.”

Less than two weeks to go until the Aug. 3 deadline, possibly the best thing the Giants did to help maintain the value of any of their trade chips’ came in Vitello’s lineup decision.

Luis Arraez, their top asset, was held out for only the sixth time this season. He wants to play everyday but has been hampered by the right foot that seems to be a magnet for his foul balls. One less game meant one less chance for Arraez to more seriously hurt himself.

The Giants were apparently so intent on getting Arraez a full day off that Vitello kept the National League’s second-leading hitter on the bench in a pair of prime pinch-hit opportunities.

Trailing 3-2, Jung Hoo Lee singled to lead off the seventh and made it to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Jesus Rodriguez. But in spite of having the potential tying run in scoring position and the bottom two spots in the lineup coming up, Vitello didn’t call on Arraez.

He allowed Drew Gilbert to go down swinging for the second out, which brought up Christian Koss, who started in place of Arraez at second. Koss had walked and singled in his previous two times up but popped out to short to end the inning.

“Game on the line with a runner in scoring position,” Vitello said. “Pretty much that was the conversation.”

The situation nearly presented itself in the ninth after Lee reached again via a walk. Pinch-runner Grant McCray never made it to second. Arraez, who had his elbow guard on, never left the dugout.

What it means

After notching a win in their first game after the All-Star break, the Giants have dropped all four games since. It’s San Francisco’s sixth losing streak this season of four or more games.

The loss dropped the Giants a season-high 17 games below .500, at 42-59, the furthest under water the franchise has been since it ended the 2017 season 64-98, the second-worst record in the Giants’ 68 seasons in San Francisco.

Who’s hot

The temperature of the Giants’ frustrations reached a point early that home plate umpire Lance Barrett paused the game to tell the visitors’ dugout to pipe down with the chirping.

San Francisco was especially upset by a check-swing call that went against Willy Adames in his first at-bat, ending in a strikeout to start the second inning.

“The check swing got the whole dugout defending his case,” Vitello said. That included Gilbert, who was shown on camera appearing to retort back to the umpire to “Shut the f— up.”

Adames, who later booted a ball at shortstop to begin the bottom of the seventh, was a victim of another odd call that earned the umpiring crew no friends among the folks in gray uniforms.

The Giants believed Adames should have been awarded first base in the sixth when his swing appeared to connect with the glove of Royals catcher Carter Jensen. Vitello requested a video review to check for catcher’s interference, and although it appeared to show exactly that, the lengthy replay process led to the no-call on the field being upheld and Adames popping out.

“My best guess from only the video replay they were showing on the board was maybe there wasn’t a good view of the bat hitting the catcher’s mitt,” Vitello said.

Who’s not

Bryce Eldridge continued to be an on-base machine, lining a single in his first time up to get on safely for the 53rd time in 59 games since he was called up on May 4. 

But after a strong start to the second half in Seattle, the rookie slugger has had a rough go of it this series. Before he wasn’t able to make a difficult play on the game-winning squeeze bunt Monday night, he struck out three times, and he went down on strikes two more times Tuesday.

There was always going to be some swing and miss paired with Eldridge’s power stroke, but it has been prevalent lately. In 16 games this month, he has struck out 24 times and drawn nine walks. He had struck out 24 times in his previous 27 games, with 14 bases on balls.

Up next

Landen Roupp takes the mound against Seth Lugo as the Giants wrap up their series against the Royals on Wednesday (11:10 a.m. PT) before heading home to host a third straight sub-.500 American League opponent, the Angels, beginning Friday.

San Francisco’s 9-17 record in interleague play is the worst in the majors.

It’s been a back-and-forth affair at Coors Field, with the Colorado Rockies currently leading the Washington Nationals 7-6. But since there are three whole innings left (or hopefully only 2.5!), it’s time for another OVERFLOW THREAD!

As a reminder, here are the lineups:

Let’s go Rockies!

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The American League Central-leading White Sox were just dealt a major blow on the injury front.

Catcher Kyle Teel will likely be out 6-12 weeks after suffering a left high ankle sprain in Monday night’s win over the Rangers, manager Will Venable told reporters Tuesday.

The team placed Teel on the 10-day injured list and recalled Edgar Quero.

Teel was injured on an attempted tag on Monday night, and this issue marks his second IL stint of the 2026 season and his third major injury this year.

Teel began the season on the shelf after straining his right hamstring while playing for Team Italy during the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

He then sprained his right LCL in May while on a rehab assignment, sidelining him for another month.

Since his return on June 22, Teel has made 19 appearances, hitting .190 with two home runs.

In 78 games last season, Teel hit .273/.375/.411.

Teel’s recovery could threaten his availability for the end of the season, when it appears the White Sox will be battling for a top spot in the AL playoffs.

As of July 21, they’re neck-and-neck with the Guardians for first place in the division, and they hold the second-best run differential in the AL.

A recovery of six weeks, the optimistic end of the timeline, would bring Teel back for the last month of the season. Twelve weeks, however, would keep him out until deep in the playoffs, if the White Sox manage to make it that far.

The extent of Teel’s injury likely puts the White Sox in the market for another option at catcher as the Aug. 3 trade deadline looms.

While it’s not likely they will go for a splashier option in Adley Rutschman, Hunter Goodman or Shea Langeliers, the White Sox could target other catchers who become available.

This time a year ago, the Mets were eagerly anticipating Brandon Sproat’s major league debut in the hopes that he would soon become a stalwart in the team’s rotation for years to come. Meanwhile, Zac Thornton (at the time carrying an extra H in his name) was not a name on the radar on anyone but the most diehard of Mets fans. Tonight, Sproat took the mound facing his former team following the trade that sent him to Milwaukee this offseason, and Thornton went up against him in his fourth major league start. And it was the crafty soft-tossing lefty who emerged victorious over the former top 100 prospect flamethrower, with the Mets evening up the series against the Brewers with a 4-0 victory.

The scoring started in the top of the second, when Jared Young came to the plate with one out and deposited a 2-1 pitch from Sproat into the bullpen in right field for a solo homer. And while that would prove to be the only run the Mets would score against their former farmhand for a while, they did an effective job at making him work all night, as they got at least one runner on base in every inning in which he pitched and utilized a patient approach to work four walks against him and balloon his pitch count.

The last walk Sproat issued was a two-out free pass to Bo Bichette in the top of the fifth, and that proved to be the final batter he would face this evening. Chad Patrick came on from the bullpen to replace him, and the Mets picked this moment to strike—with the help of some uncharacteristically shoddy defense from the Brewers. Francisco Lindor greeted Patrick by hitting a sharp grounder to second that bounced off Brice Turang and into center field; Turang then neglected to run after the ball, forcing center fielder Garrett Mitchell run in a long ways to field it and allowing Lindor to hustle into second. Carson Benge followed that by hitting a ground ball into the second base hole, and Turang paused while moving to field the ball, allowing it to sneak by him into right field and bringing two runs home (to make matters worse, Benge should have been thrown out trying to advance to second when the throw from right field was cut off by Andrew Vaughn at first base, but the throw to second sailed into the outfield). Patrick struck out Luis Robert Jr. to end the inning, but the defensive miscues put another earned run on Sproat’s ledger, giving him a fairly unremarkable final line (4.2 innings, 4 hits, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts, 2 earned runs).

Meanwhile, Thornton continued his impressive run with another strong start. As is usually the case with him, he was far from dominant with his stuff, as he recorded just two strikeouts on the night. But he also largely kept the Brewers off the basepaths—thanks in part to some help from his defense. With one out in the third inning, Joey Ortiz hit a soft liner to left field, and A.J. Ewing (playing his first game at the position with Robert in center) sprinted for it and made an impressive diving catch. Later, with two outs in the fifth inning, Luis Lara hit a sharp grounder towards the third base line, and Bichette was able to field it and make a strong throw to record the final out of the frame. Yes, you’re reading this right: the Mets’ defense came through tonight while the Brewers’ defense did not. We are as shocked as you are.

Thornton retired thirteen straight Milwaukee batters at one point before back-to-back leadoff singles from Cooper Pratt and Ortiz in the bottom of the sixth ended that stretch. The tying run was thus at the plate, and the young rookie lefty had to bear down with the top of the order coming up. He started by striking out Jackson Chourio for out number one, and then benefitted from yet another mental lapse on the part of the Brewers. A 1-2 pitch trickled past Luis Torrens behind the plate, and the runner at first base tried to advance while the runner at second stayed put before realizing his mistake and breaking for third late. Torrens recovered the ball and the Mets were able to retire Pratt at third base for the second out. Turang then followed that by hitting a long fly ball towards the left field warning track that Ewing took a wobbly route on before catching the ball to end the inning.

That also ended Thornton’s night after six scoreless innings (giving him eighteen straight scoreless innings over his past three outings) in which he allowed just three singles and one walk on 81 pitches. Again, there was a lot of decent contact against him, so he almost certainly benefited from some luck tonight. Still, we’re not looking at three straight quality starts for Thornton, and while there will continue to be concerns about whether his pitching profile can attain long-term success in the modern game, the Mets will happily continue to send him out there and see what he can do.

After Thornton’s exit, it was time for some trade deadline candidates to increase their value. Luke Weaver started by coming on for the seventh and tossing a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Then in the top of the eighth, Robert Jr. led off the frame by having his first memorable moment since returning from the injured list, hitting an absolutely towering (to the tune of a 112.2 MPH exit velocity and 451 feet) home run to left field to make it 4-0 Mets. Brooks Raley then continued the trade value express by throwing his own perfect inning with a strikeout. Get those offers in now, other teams.

After a scoreless top of the ninth for the Mets bats, Devin Williams took the mound at American Family Field for the first time since October 3, 2024, when he gave up the most devastating home run of his career against the team that’s now signing his paychecks. This outing was much less dramatic than that one, as he issued a leadoff single but nothing else and closed out the game for the Mets. The victory gave Zac Thornton the first win of his major league pitching career and even up the series for the Amazins. They’ll now go for the series victory tomorrow afternoon.

SB Nation GameThreads

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Box scores

MLB.com
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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Zac Thornton, +33% WPA
Big Mets loser: Marcus Semien, -7% WPA
Mets pitchers: +43% WPA
Mets hitters: +7% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Carson Benge two-run double in the fifth, +18.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Joey Ortiz single in the sixth, -7.8% WPA

Justin Wrobleski went deep yet again, as did Max Muncy in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, in a game delayed at the start by 80 minutes due to rain.

One week after striking out five in his All-Star debut in this same ballpark, Wrobleski struck out seven Phillies on Tuesday. He allowed two loud hits with two outs in the first inning, as a Bryce Harper double was cashed in by an Alec Bohm single. But that was the only run Wrobleski allowed in hia 6 1/3 innings, which actually lowered the left-handers average outing length this season from 6.422 innings per start to 6.417, third best in the majors.

Wrobleski has lasted at least six innings in each of his last five starts, and in 13 of 16 starts this season. He’s allowed zero or one run in 10 of his 16 starts.

Cey hey

Zack Wheeler has been a buzzsaw this season, with a paltry 2.16 ERA and 2.64 xERA after Tuesday night. He struck out nine and walked none in this one, with the only blemish coming in the fourth inning. One out after Andy Pages singled, Muncy homered, giving the Dodgers the lead.

Muncy’s home run was his 19th of the season, second on the team to Shohei Ohtani. But it was also Muncy’s 228th home run as a Dodger, tying third baseman Ron Cey for fifth place on the all-time franchise leaderboard. Those two are tied for second among Los Angeles Dodgers, trailing only Eric Karros.

Most home runs, Dodgers history

• Duke Snider 389
• Gil Hodges 261
• Eric Karros 270
• Roy Campanella 242
• Ron Cey 228
• Max Muncy 228

Wheeler back on May 29 at Dodger Stadium allowed four solo home runs, including one by Muncy. The Dodgers have handed Wheeler his only two losses this season, scoring six total runs against him. In his other 14 starts, Wheeler is 10-0 with a 1.86 ERA, and the Phillies are 13-1 in those games.

The pitcher who got the win in both Wheeler starts was Wrobleski.

Tanner Scott got his first two batters faced to finish the eighth inning, then got into a jam with runners on second and third with one out in the ninth. Brandon Marsh hit a dribbler up the third base line. Though the game was in Philadelphia, this was a play right out of Chicago, finishing things off with a bizarre 2-5-6-4 double play, thanks to an all-time brain fart by J.T. Realmuto.

This was Scott’s second five-out appearance in nearly two seasons with the Dodgers, and his first such save.

Tuesday particulars

Home run: Max Muncy (19)

WP — Justin Wrobleski (11-2): 6 1/3 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts

LP — Zack Wheeler (10-2): 7 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 9 strikeouts

Sv — Tanner Scott (15): 1 2/3 IP, 2 hits, 1 strikeout

Up next

One more game remains in Philadelphia, with Eric Lauer on the mound for the Dodgers on Friday night (3:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA), and right-hander Aaron Nola going for the Phillies.

The Mets beat the Brewers 4-0 on Tuesday night at American Family Field.

Here are some takeaways...

-- Christian Scott and Nolan McLean dominated on the mound in Philadelphia, so tonight it was Zac Thornton's turn to follow suit. The 24-year-old left-hander was spectacular yet again, as he held the Brewers to just three hits and a walk with a pair of strikeouts over six shutout innings to earn his first career victory. 

-- Thornton was in some trouble in the bottom of the first, but he turned a comebacker into an inning-ending double play. He went on to face the minimum through five innings, retiring the next 13 hitters he faced in order before the Brewers put together back-to-back singles leading off the sixth. The youngster sweat that threat off too with a strikeout, baserunning miscue, and a deep flyout to left. 

-- Thornton is now down to a stellar 1.93 ERA over his first four big-league starts, and he hasn't allowed a run in 18 consecutive innings, which is the longest stretch by a Mets rookie since Steven Matz in 2016.

-- The Mets' offense was able to get Thornton a lead to work with just two innings into this one, as Jared Young lifted his seventh homer of the season into the visiting bullpen in right-center. Young also had a single across his four plate appearances, bringing his OPS to .761 for the year. 

-- New York had plenty of other opportunities against old friend Brandon Sproat. They stranded runners in the first, third, and fourth but were able to break through after he was pulled in the fifth. After a two-out walk, a hustle double from Francisco Lindor and a two-run double from Carson Benge made it a 3-0 ballgame. 

-- Benge had a pair of knocks, Lindor had three hits for the second time in his last three games.

-- The Mets added an insurance run in a big way in the top of the eighth. Luis Robert Jr. had been hitless over his first seven at-bats since returning from injury until he absolutely demolished a second-pitch cutter 451 feet to the concourse in left for his third home run of the season. 

-- Luke Weaver pitched a scoreless seventh, Brooks Raley followed that in the eighth, then Devin Williams put the finishing touches on the victory in his first appearance back in Milwaukee. 

-- A.J. Ewing enjoyed another strong game on both sides of the ball. He had a hit and a walk across four plate appearances, stole his 11th base of the season, and also made a pair of outstanding plays to help Thornton in his first-ever big-league appearance in left field. 

-- Luis Torrens had two hits on the night; Marcus Semien had one but also booted a ball at second. 

Game MVP: Zac Thornton

The rookie southpaw was outstanding to earn his first career victory. 

Highlights

Jared Young hits a solo HR to give the Mets a 1-0 lead 🤩

His 7th of the year pic.twitter.com/Asc8B43mbd

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2026

A.J. EWING WITH THE DIVING CATCH IN LEFT FIELD 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ek5IuJPq2z

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2026

A hustle double for Francisco Lindor! pic.twitter.com/CyvVkll1fe

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2026

Carson Benge drives in two after Brice Turang can't get to it! pic.twitter.com/nNViA1EEBw

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2026

LUIS ROBERT JR. WITH A BLAST TO THE CONCOURSE 🤯 pic.twitter.com/OPNnCBCxRf

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2026

Francisco Lindor with his second three-hit game in his past three games! pic.twitter.com/IX208X04qU

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2026

What's next

Christian Scott takes the ball against Logan Henderson in the series finale Wednesday at 2:10 p.m.

Apparently the Rays needed to leave the country to get back on track.

Their offense perked up in their 7-1 win on Monday night, but it caught on fire – in a good, and not a dumpster way— tonight. Every player other than Taylor Walls had a hit, and even Walls still managed to score a run. After running through much of their bullpen, the Blue Jays ultimately brought in outfielder Myles Straw to get the last out.

The Rays started the game with a crooked number — 3 to be precise. Batting in the first against a surprisingly shaky Kevin Gausman, they scored three runs, all with two outs. Junior walked, and after that Cedric Mullins, Johnny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson all got hits account for the three runs.

In the bottom of the first, Rasmussen loaded the bases and I really thought we were back in the nightmare world of the Boston series where the Rays could never hold a lead for more than half an inning. But whatever wasn’t working — either with Rasmussen, or between him and Fortes (they seemed to take a while to get in sync) quickly got set right, and Rasmussen got out of the inning, and rolled through the Jays lineup until the sixth inning.

The Rays also threatened in the second and third innings, as Gausman’s pitch count mounted, although they did not manage to score. But I still want to focus on the third inning, when Chandler Simpson was nearly able to make runs happen. He successfully bunted for a single. The next hitter, Ben Williamson, hit a soft single to centerfield, which centerfielder Varsho bobbled so that Simpson could get to third. We could argue – and Brian Anderson did argue — that Simpson’s speed contributed to that bobble, because Vasho, worried about stopping Chandler at second, was too busy looking to second base to field the ball cleanly. Now Walls wasn’t able to get Simpson home, but nonetheless it’s an example of how his speed can become a weapon in a variety of ways. Unfortunately Simpson has a number of holes in his game; it’s not clear that his speed is enough to merit a starting outfielder role. But speed is a skill that is also so much fun to watch, so let’s enjoy it!

At any rate, the Rays drove Gausman from the game midway through the fourth, after Diaz reached on a single and Caminero on a walk. But the Rays still managed to score another run even with the new pitcher in place; Cedric Mullins, who had reached on a force play, stole second and the Jays (whose defense tonight was…not good!) threw the ball away trying to nab him. That was followed by another DeLuca single to score run number 6.

The Rays, whose offense was on life support a mere two and a half days ago, continued to pile on. Runs 6-8 came courtesy of Nick Fortes’ three-run homer in the fifth inning.

The Blue Jays ended the shut out in the bottom of the sixth inning that to some BABIP magic. Ernie Clement led off with a blooper that fell between DeLuca, Aranda and Williamson (and should have been caught, probably DeLuca needed to call off the others). George Spring hit a legit double, and then Varsho chopped a ball into the ground. It took a long time coming down to Aranda, playing behind first base, but still I think Aranda should have been able to beat Varsho to the bag. But he didn’t, and that chopped infield single ended Rasmussen’s otherwise strong outing.

The Rays bullpen — Sulser, Kimbrell and Cleavinger — were terrific, and the Rays offense continued to roll, adding another four runs in the ninth inning. The big hit there was Yandy’s three run homer, an appropriate way to celebrate his 1,000 major league game:

Of course Yandy’s home run was hit to the deepest part of the park, how emblematic of Yandy’s career.

Overall, the Rays got 21 hits, including four for Simpson and three for Fortes. Savor this dominant win!