Category: MLB

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had issues in recent history of finding consistent play at the catcher position. However, there could be a possible catcher of the future for the Buccos playing in Altoona.

Easton Carmichael has impressed in his short stint as a professional baseball player, and his upside as a future major league contributor is what’s getting fans talking.

Carmichael was drafted in the third round of the 2025 MLB Draft after a solid college career at the University of Oklahoma. Ahead of the draft he was listed in the top 100 of the top 250 draft prospects in 2025 and certainly looked like one of the best college catchers in the class. During his time as a Sooner, Carmichael was named to the Cape Cod League All-Star Game and was awarded MVP honors from the game.

In his pro debut, Carmichael was out of action because of a wrist injury, and thus only saw action in 14 games with High-A Greensboro in 2025. Carmichael would start his 2026 back with the Grasshoppers, and was a consistent performer at the plate. In 74 games with the club Carmichael would finish with a slash line of .305/.350/.518 with an .868 OPS. He also had 16 homers as a Grasshopper.

On July 24, Carmichael was promoted to Double-A Altoona where he’s still been solid, but still seems to be finding his footing in the new league. Through 37 games he’s slashed .244/.313/.412 and just four homers. He’s certainly cooled off, but in just his second season of professional baseball there’s a lot to build on.

Carmichael will get another platform to showcase his talents as he was just assigned as one of the three catchers to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League. Plenty of Pirates’ prospects over the past couple of seasons have had breakout success through the AFL, and Carmichael could very well be the next player to benefit from some playing time in the fall.

Carmichael has the attributes to become a very solid all-around catcher. He has above average athleticism for the position and has great arm strength from behind the plate. He has a disciplined approach at the plate, and with further development could be a capable power hitter as well. He has some mechanics to fine tune as far as receiving goes along with timing and glove positioning, but overall Carmichael has the makings of a very well-rounded player.

Easton Carmichael is currently ranked as the eighth-best prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Put down the torches and pitchforks, people. The fan reaction was overwhelmingly negative to the Yankees’ champagne celebrations of clinching a postseason berth with a win over the Twins on Monday (they had technically already clinched with Toronto losing earlier). However, Aaron Judge provided a new and valuable perspective on the importance of celebrating even the small victories.

“There’s a lot of guys in this room that are going to wear this pinstripe jersey one time, and they might not have [another] opportunity to ever make it to a postseason. So you gotta celebrate that because, at the end of the day, you work your butt off in spring training and all season long to get an opportunity to go out there and win a World Series.”

To that point, eight Yankees have never made it to the postseason, including rookies George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones, trade deadline acquisitions Luis García Jr. and Heliot Ramos, and journeyman-turned-relief-ace Brent Headrick. However, the most poignant example is Michael Fulmer, who missed all of 2019 and 2024 to injury and contemplated retirement following his second Tommy John surgery in 2023. Fulmer soaked in the celebrations he once thought he’d never get to be a part of, but made sure to share a final point. With every hug he received, the message remained the same: “Job’s not finished.”

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty ($): Being the starting shortstop for the Yankees is one of the heaviest, most scrutinized burdens to bear in MLB, much less for a 21-year-old rookie called up midseason and handed the job. Anthony Volpe knows this better than anyone, and that’s principally because of the astronomically high bar set by a certain Derek Jeter. Now, George Lombard Jr. gets to experience the full weight of the job, but he’s not going into it unprepared.

In January, Lombard sat down for a private breakfast with Jeter and used the opportunity to pick the brain of the player perhaps more qualified than anyone to speak on what it takes to play for the Yankees. At that point, Lombard was coming off a successful half-season at High-A followed by some minor growing pains at Double-A, and was preparing to participate in major league spring training. Lombard focused his questions around the parts that the cameras don’t capture:

“I think the better questions — and the ones that are more valuable — are all the non-baseball (questions). How he approached dealing with New York. Dealing with everything that comes with it. The media. The off-the-field stuff. How, in his case, being the captain, dealing with all of those responsibilities.”

More than preparation, routine, media, and many other team-related responsibilities, the piece of advice that struck Lombard the most sounds simple: to be an authentic, stand-up human being. That impacts all facets of the game, from interactions with teammates to remaining grounded, humble, and hungry to always improve.

New York Post | Greg Joyce: Ryan Weathers is progressing in his rehab from a left forearm flexor strain suffered on August 22nd. Weathers threw his first bullpen session on Tuesday, throwing 15 pitches with the velocity sitting at 87-90, which he assured was harder than he normally throws in his bullpen sides between starts. The next step is to throw another bullpen on Friday followed by live batting practice. It’s a race against time to get fully built back up before the regular season ends Sunday after next, but Weathers has the added advantage of potentially not having to build up to a full starter’s workload if the plan is to deploy him out of the bullpen in the postseason. At the time of his injury, Weathers was 5-8 in 25 starts, with a 3.60 ERA, 3.62 FIP, and 143 strikeouts in 137.1 innings.

For the second straight day (they might be on #3 by the time you read this) the White Sox went with a tried-and-true Guardian-dominating strategy: They started a left-handed relief pitcher.

But Chris Murphy was terrible. Adell & Bazzana hit b2b jacks off him and things were looking good. But as usual, the Guards did nothing against the “bulk” pitcher—one run was because he threw errantly to first base and drilled the helmeted umpire with his bouncy projectile.

The sleepy offense might have been enough, but Craig Yoho’s attempts to find the strike zone Only Lived Once and Hunter Gaddis couldn’t miss any bats.

Steve Vogt managed this game like he should have—like winning it would possibly earn him a 1st round playoff bye eventually—and got Sabrowski, Gaddis and Cade Smith in way earlier than usual. Cade was awesome and kept things close for our September and October hero Brayan Rocchio.

Other good news

• the Blue Jays wet themselves against Detroit

• the Twins remained hilarious.

Less great news

• Orioles won. We call this naquinmaxxng.

• Rangers won.

The Dbacks had a real opportunity tonight to ride the momentum of the late heroics from last night as well as pick up a game on the Padres and the Cubs, yet the offense sputtered again in fantastic fashion.

Michael Soroka pitched well giving the team 5 IP allowing only 1 ER while striking out 6. The bullpen also continued to be terrific tossing 5 scoreless innings. All in all Dbacks pitching allowed only 1 run to the Marlins offense tonight for 10 innings which should have been plenty to get past a team like the Marlins.

Unfortunately it would not be as this Dbacks offense perhaps slumped to its lowest low of the season not being able to score against a very mediocre Marlins pitching staff for 9 innings after a first inning solo home run from Gabi Moreno.

There were a few questionable plays in this one including a blocking of home plate which is apparently completely legal if the infield is playing in according to Torey Lovullo in the post game presser. However the reality is this game shouldn’t have had to be that close. Especially when your pitching comes out and does what they did tonight. Its really not even worth diving that deep into the game when its pretty much the same thing day in and day out, this offense cant score. They went 1-13 tonight with RISP.

Of note, Pavin Smith continues to start almost every night since he has been called back up and he went 0-3 again tonight. Lars Nootbaar, who to his credit has been pretty hot, went 0-5 with 4k’s. Same can be said for Jordan Lawlar who also has been swinging a good stick lately, went 1-5 with 4 ks including an extra miserable 11th inning at bat where the Marlins reliever threw him nothing but fastballs middle middle and Lawlar struck out.

The Dbacks will look to salvage a series win tomorrow night against the Marlins and hope that they can get another opportunity like this with another Padres loss. They will send Merrill Kelly to the mound with almost no room for error with how this team has been swinging it. Snakes Alive (barely)…

Two weeks from tonight, the Red Sox will likely face the Yankees for Game 1 of the Wild Card series in New York. Not only that, but assuming the Yankees are unable to chase down the Rays and then choose to stack their rotation with Cam Schlittler at the top, the Sox will be facing a power right hander on the road in a game the opponent has to win and also has a solid bullpen to lock things down.

In other words, they’ll be facing a situation rather similar to what confronted them in Texas on Tuesday night:

• Jacob deGrom is a power right hander worthy of a Game 1 start, and still has a fastball that sits in the upper 90s.
• The Rangers are just one game behind Houston for the AL West lead, so they need to win to keep pace.
• The Texas bullpen has been strong all season, and they’ve only lost one game when leading after six innings.

So for all the red herrings that run rampant in September baseball, tonight’s pedestrian performance by the offense isn’t one of them. This is as close as you’re going to get to a practice run for the setup on September 29th, and I’m sorry to say, the Sox failed miserably!

• They struck out 15 times.
• They went hitless with runners in scoring position.
• Not a single Sox player batting one through eight managed an extra base hit.

If you rank all 71 plate appearances in this game by leverage index, the Sox were actually at the dish for 11 of the 13 highest moments. However, they didn’t manage a single hit during any of them. Meanwhile, Texas cashed in with a Corey Seager single and an Elias Diaz double during their only two high leverage at bats of the night.

In the end, this game perfectly illustrated what I consider to be the biggest problem with this Red Sox team: As good as they are at working together as a group, and as good as they are at pounding the pulp out of subpar pitching, and as good as they are at taking advantage of cracks in an opposing bullpen, they don’t seem to have the artillery necessary to match up when the war turns nuclear.

Tonight, they faced a great starter who despite only lasting five innings managed to strike out eight. That was enough to link directly to a deep and reliable Texas bullpen, who shut things down the rest of the way from there. This tenacity without thump routine scares the hell out of me because this is exactly how I fear a trip to Yankee Stadium might go at the end of September.

The Sox spend the whole night needing just one or two big hits, but the one that truly matters never comes, and we wait forever for a ship that doesn’t come in. The opponent bridges a power starter to a potent bullpen, and the Sox just don’t have an answer. They certainly didn’t when the Rangers used that formula tonight.

Studs

Nick Sogard: For all the lousy results at the plate in this game, Sogard was the exception. His third inning homer knocked in both Boston runs, and he then later added both a sac bunt and this tremendous double play on defense to end the Texas fifth:

The bullpen: Brayan Bello, Alec Gamboa, Wyatt Olds and Jovani Moran combined to go 5.1 scoreless innings and give the Sox a chance to come back. Unfortunately, the bats stayed silent.

Duds

Wilyer Abreu: Looked totally overmatched in this game. 0-4 with three strikeouts.

Andruw Monasterio: Pinch hit with the platoon advantage and the bases loaded in the eighth inning. He struck out on 97mph heat, ending the last best chance for the Sox on the night.

Patrick Sandoval: This one is obvious, and in a game earlier in the season he’d be the No. 1 dud for this dreadful performance in which he gave up four runs in just 2.2 innings. But let’s face it, this guy isn’t going to sniff a meaningful inning in October unless he somehow sneaks into the absolute last spot on the pitching staff and a game goes about 17 innings. So while he stunk again, and he’s a frustrating watch, and that 44 pitch second inning was a complete debacle, nothing he did here is a threat to carry over into the playoffs.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the offense.

Play of the game:

This play is worth noting because not only did it result in what turned out to be the winning runs, but it also underscored why many fans find themselves holding their breath every time a ball is hit towards Trevor Story nowadays.

Tigers 10 Blue Jays 1

That was less than fun.

We’ve done well on bullpen days, but the problem with bullpen days is if it doesn’t go to plan, you can’t really change on the fly. If a pitcher is having a bad day, you really have to use him anyway. Especially if it is the ‘bulk guy’. You can’t have nine guys pitch an inning each, someone has to give you at least a couple of innings, but preferably more.

Today, Michael Lorenzen was to be the bulk guy but he was hit hard. But the team couldn’t take him out after just two outs. Lorenzen got two quick outs, getting a strikeout and a ground out. All looked good. Then he lost the zone. Two walks. And then a double. Then a home run. Four runs came up very quickly. He gave up one more run in the fifth.

Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how was the show?

Well, Braydon Fisher got the first four outs, Brendan Cellucci got the next five (he looked terrific). All the Braydons, Brendans, Brendons remind me of when my kids played hockey, I could swear there were 20 kids and four names total.

Spencer Arrighetti gave up 2 unearned runs helped along by catcher’s interference and a throwing error, both by Kirk in his two innings. Since Lorenzen couldn’t give us more than two innings, Arrighetti was needed to pitch too (and he is supposed to start or be bulk guy on Friday. Joe Mantiply gave up two more runs in the ninth.

I’d imagine there will be a pitcher move or two tomorrow.

Offensively, we didn’t do much, just 6 singles total. Amazingly we got a run out of that. As much as Lorenzen was terrible, we weren’t going to win with just one run scored.

An=bout the only good moment was an amazing play by Ernie Clement at second base, a diving stop, popup and throw.

Jay of the Day: Let’s give one to Cellucci (0.08 WPA) and Fisher (0.07).

Other Award: Lorenzen (-0.39) and Kirk (-0.10)

Tomorrow is a 3:00 Eastern start. Max Scherzer (2-8, 6.38) vs Keider Montero (9-8, 3.55). A win would be nice. Or at least a good effort.

Have you ever had to fire someone?

I haven’t. I’ve yet to climb the employment ladder high enough to where someone else’s paycheck is in my hands, which is bad news for my bank account and great news for my constitution. I’m not sure I have it in me.

Once, for about 45 seconds, I harbored dreams of working in a professional sports front office, as it seemed the closest I would ever get to seeing my childhood athletic dreams materialized. Then I watched Moneyball, and saw Brad Pitt’s character teach Jonah Hill how to cut players and that dream ended on the spot. I’m not made for that job.

Buster Posey, we can conclude, is comfortable firing people, trading people, and cutting people. It comes with the job, but we knew it before he was named president of baseball operations of the San Francisco Giants. I would shake plum out of my cleats if asked to stand in against the slowest changeup in the Majors, yet Posey repeatedly stared down the barrel of triple-digit fastballs; were I to play in the pros, I would have retired on the spot after getting hit by a pitch, but Posey took them — and much worse — in stride.

That Posey has a stronger constitution than I do is hardly news. We’ve known it for nearly two decades.

Which is good, because Posey — or the Jonah Hills that he delegates to — have a lot of difficult conversations to have in about two weeks. The Giants have an almost unfathomable 16 players on the 60-man roster, a number that is compounded by the fact that they have just one impending free agent (J.T. Brubaker).

Pull out your TI 84, beep and boop a few numbers in, and you’re left with this: the Giants need to clear 15 players when the season ends just to get back to 40. By the time you factor in opening space for Rule 5 protections, free agents, and hell, maybe even a waiver claim of their own, and that number will comfortably be in the 20s.

Those aren’t fun conversations to have, but they are ones that are, as regulated by the CBA, mandatory. And they’re conversations that will, at some level, be informed by what happens over the final two weeks of the season.

And really, that’s what’s left to watch. The Giants roster right now is teeming with people who will be waiting anxiously to be tapped on the shoulder when they arrive at the ballpark at the conclusion of the season to pack up their gear. Those players are auditioning for their futures, and while one shouldn’t exactly find glee in watching someone dance for their life, it does offer some interesting storylines to follow.

Many of those players shined on Tuesday, as the Giants broke a four-game losing streak with a lopsided 10-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

There was shortstop Christian Koss, for instance, desperate to stick around as the backup infielder. He had a three-hit night, which featured perhaps the defining moment of the game. With two on and two out in the third, Koss came to bat with the Giants leading 5-1. That four-run advantage so early hung right in the perilous sweet spot: small enough to seemingly guarantee a bullpen implosion, and large enough to ensure it would hurt.

Koss jumped on an Andre Pallante sinker and inside-outed it down the line, seemingly tucking it right inside the bag for a double. To the great horror of everyone wearing a Giants jersey, the first base umpire — who had to jump to avoid being castrated by the baseball and, as such, probably didn’t have the best view — called the ball foul, with no help from the home plate umpire to get the call correct.

And yet, two pitches later, again facing a Pallante single, Koss again inside-outed it down the line, scoring both runs and giving you the feeling that the Giants would, in fact, win the game.

And then there was second baseman and third baseman Osleivis Basabe, also hoping to avoid the chopping block and stay on as a backup infielder. He squandered a pair of runner-on-third, less-than-two-outs situations in the opening innings, only to make up for it in the fourth with a two-out RBI single.

Left fielder Turner Hill seems likely to have his spot secured through the winter, but difficult decisions will need to be made, good players will need to be cut, and Hill entered the game on quite a slump, as he seeks to seperate himself from the roughly three trillion other outfielders vying for spots on next year’s roster.

As if to stamp his case, Hill wasted no time impacting this game, and wasted no opportunity, either. In the first inning, after Basabe had failed in a situational at-bat, Hill picked up his teammate with a two-out RBI single.

In the third inning, again after Basabe had failed in a situational at-bat, Hill found the right part of the infield for a productive, run-scoring out.

And in the ninth inning? With the game already decided and the team already loose and happy, Turner realized it was the perfect time for his first career home run.

Along the way, he snuck in not one, not two, but three leaping catches in the outfield.

While those players are battling not just for spots on next year’s active roster, but for spots on the 40-man roster through the winter, some players have more secure spots.

Blade Tidwell is one such player, as his performance this year has certainly guaranteed that, barring a trade, he’ll be employed by the organization come March, be it as a Major League starter, a Major League reliever, or a Minor Leaguer.

He was sensational.

The third batter he faced, Alec Burleson, smoked a monstrous home run, but other than that, the Cardinals wanted no part of the Giants youngster. He pounded the strike zone, throwing 62 of 95 pitches for strikes. He challenged repeatedly, walking just one of the 25 batters he faced, while trusting his stuff in every count. He kept hitters off balance, changing velocities, bouncing between pitches and movements and locations, and allowing just three hits all game.

In all, Tidwell went 6.2 strong innings, struck out four batters, gave up just two runs, and earned his first win in a Giants jersey.

One other such player is Bryce Eldridge. He may be the youngest player on the roster, but with so many veterans injured, he somehow feels like the elder statesman of the lineup. And with Rafael Devers sidelined, there can be no denying Eldridge’s crown as the best hitter on the team, by a wide margin.

But, if you had any doubts about that, Eldridge immediately put them to rest. On just the eighth pitch of the game, Eldridge — with Drew Gilbert on first, no outs, and a 2-1 count — put the kind of charge into a baseball that very, very, very few humans can.

It was the 17th home run of his rookie season, and it traveled further than any other ball at Busch Stadium has this year: 461 feet.

Eldridge would add a fourth-inning walk to jumpstart a rally, and an eighth-inning double to score a run, and all the while he made one thing clear: he is now, as much as Logan Webb is, the face of the franchise. He is the player to build around.

And in a season where all else has gone to hell, he is the player worth being excited about.

The Mariners are officially losers in 2026.

Logan Gilbert was pretty good, but the offense was nonexistent, and the Mariners lost 2-1 in Anaheim on Tuesday. It was the 82nd loss of the season, meaning they will officially post a losing record for the first time since 2020.

Logan Gilbert got the ball. He embarrassed Zach Neto to begin the game, getting a nasty whiff on a splitter below the zone that dropped Neto to his knees for a K.

Gilbert had good velocity and sharp stuff in this one. He picked up seven strikeouts on 18 whiffs. He worked around a bit of traffic early but got through four innings scoreless. It didn’t quite unravel for Gilbert from there, but the Angels eventually figured him out on the third pass through the lineup. In the fifth inning, Wade Meckler roped a single up the middle and scored on a double from Vaughn Grissom. In the sixth, Josh Lowe turned on a two-strike splitter that caught too much of the zone and zipped it over the fence. Those were the only two runs Gilbert allowed. 

It just so happened they were the only two runs the Angels would need. The Mariners picked up just seven hits and no walks. Their only run came on a triple from Dom Canzone that Mike Trout misplayed in center, followed by a sharp double into the gap from Julio. It wasn’t the worst display at the plate this year, but only because of the competition.

I don’t know how much else there is to say. Seranthony Domínguez was fine in an inning of work, as was Gabe Speier. Taylor Saucedo pitched for the Angels, and that was fun to see him again. Cal Raleigh wore a chest protector with Roberto Clemente on it, and several players wore 21 in his honor. Honestly, as far as losses go, this one wasn’t so bad, and made me nostalgic for the losses in the early part of the season, when the misery was simple and brief.

The Mariners with the loss dropped the series to the Angels. There was a time this would have been an unthinkable result in the final stretch, much like dropping consecutive series to the A’s earlier in the month. But the Mariners entered the week as the very worst team in the majors by WAR since the All-Star break, nearly 4 WAR behind the Angels in 26th. It would have been something of an upset had they gone into The Big A and taken the series. One could even argue the Mariners are underdogs in the upcoming trip to Colorado, though I’ll be kind and call it a push.

Regardless, the Mariners easy September schedule looked like a gift in the preseason, something that could propel them to an impressive win total and a second consecutive division title. Instead, it’s served to underscore just how bad this team has been over the final few months. Tuesday’s loss was all but a formality, to stamp a losing record on the 2026 season. All that’s left is the end.

Three lucky Mets fans got to share a special meeting with Pete Alonso after he slugged his 300th career home run at Citi Field.

The former Met sent a Kodai Senga pitch 413 feet off the second deck of the left-field stands to tie the score with one out in the ninth inning of the Orioles’ eventual 7-5 win in 11 innings on Tuesday night. 

The blast came with a rousing ovation from Mets fans, a curtain call from Alonso and “Fire Stearns!” chants directed at president of baseball operations David Stearns, who did not push to bring the beloved, homegrown first baseman back this offseason.

A trio of Mets fans secured Alonso’s milestone homer and got a memorable experience with the Polar Bear, some beers, signed memorabilia and an open invitation to Camden Yards. 

Alonso thanked the fans upon receiving the ball that inquired where it hit in a video posted by SNY. 

“You guys want bats?” Alonso asked while offering to sign whatever they wanted. 

Alonso went on to autograph the jerseys the fans were wearing, including a special “300 homer game” inscription to mark the milestone. 

The five-time All-Star, who played seven years with the Mets, appeared to autograph balls for them and was then shown coming out of the visitors’ clubhouse with bats that he would also sign. 

“Offices, man cave, mantles, bedrooms,” the Mets’ all-time home run leader said. “Do you want me to write anything on it, inscribe it in any sort of way? I can write whatever you want. Don’t be bashful.”

Alonso, who signed with the Orioles on a five-year, $155 million contract in the offseason, also brought the three fans cold Miller Lites and took a photo with them.

“Any time you guys want to come to Camden [Yards], VIP tickets,” Alonso said. “You guys want tickets, VIP passes, the whole nine yards, on me, thank you.”

The 31-year-old has 36 homers and 101 RBIs while playing every game this season, as his Mets replacement, Jorge Polanco, hit .148 in just 37 games due to injuries.

The win helped Baltimore move within three games of the final American League wild-card spot, while the Mets have already been eliminated from postseason contention. 

Is it really a series in Cleveland if at least one of the games does not give you a punch in the gut? Despite falling behind early in the game due to back-to-back jacks in the bottom of the first, the White Sox fought back until they were able to take the lead in the sixth and actually get in position to secure the series. Through two outs in the ninth, Grant Taylor had the Guardians down to their last strike, but Brayan Rocchio struck once again and mashed a walk-off, two-run double that won the game for Cleveland, 7-6.

There’s probably a lot of things you can blame this game on: Will Venable deciding to go with an opener for one of his most reliable starting pitchers this season, said opener giving up two straight homers, an unearned run caused by Davis Martin himself, Munetaka Murakami’s inability to make contact with the ball, or the inconsistencies that seem come with many recent Taylor outings. Whatever you choose, the Guardians wound up with the win, and the South Siders are right back where they were before the series started, still holding a half-game lead in the division race.

It feels easy to point at the choice Venable made to start Chris Murphy in tonight’s game ahead of Martin and call it the wrong choice. And that’s probably because it was. As much as I appreciate what the numbers say with regards to Cleveland’s splits against right-handed pitchers, Davis Martin has been fine all year without an opener. What is the saying again: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? On the broadcast, Connor McKnight and Steve Stone referenced the Guardians performance at the plate based on the handedness of the pitcher; .657 OPS vs LHP compared to .701 OPS vs RHP. While that’s nearly 50 points better, it’s still not compelling enough for me to tempt fate for an inning with Chris Murphy, a pitcher residing in the very back of our bullpen, especially when Martin has been excellent in his last two starts.

As I noted in the game thread, Murphy has played in the opener role before and it hasn’t particularly gone well. After tonight’s game, Murphy has relinquished six total runs in his three starts this season (2 2/3 IP), and his overall 2026 ERA has risen to 4.68. The southpaw walked Steven Kwan to lead off the bottom of the first, and despite retiring José Ramírez with a fly out, he surrendered back-to-back homers to Jo Adell (two runs) and Travis Bazzana (solo) to give the Guardians an immediate, 3-0 lead.

Murphy was able to get Nathaniel Lowe to pop out to Murakami at first, but (thankfully) that was the end of the road for the lefty. Venable was forced to go to the bullpen earlier than expected and brought Martin into the game in the unfamiliar circumstance of mid-inning. Thankfully, Martn quickly navigated the last out to get out of a first inning that was running on nightmare fuel.

Martin settled in fairly well, begging the question: “Why did Murphy start, again?” The righty tossed scoreless frames in the second, third and fourth, and ultimately only one of the two runs allowed in his 5 1/3 innings was earned. Martin entered the game in a three-run hole, but there wasn’t much offensive support coming from the bats, either. Similar to Monday night, it took a few innings for the White Sox to get going, but they ended up scoring in three straight innings: one each in the fourth and fifth, and a four-spot in the sixth.

While the top of the order for the South Siders has collectively been riding the struggle bus as of late, that was most certainly not the case tonight. Among Chase Meidroth, Randal Grichuk and Miguel Vargas, the top of the lineup combined to go 4-for-12 with a double, walk, and five of Chicago’s six runs driven in. The other RBI came from a Sam Antonacci single in the fourth that brought in the first run of the game for the Good Guys, scoring Brenton Doyle after his leadoff triple, 3-1.

In the top of the fifth, Miguel Vargas snagged the first of his three RBIs, driving Tristan Peters in on a sacrifice fly to center, which brought the White Sox within one, 3-2:

After two straight hits to start the fifth inning, Martin nearly forced Ramírez to ground into a double play but he was able to beat out the throw to first. That put runners on the corners with one out, and Martin decided to attempt a pickoff of Ramírez but ended up making a bad throwthat ultimately allowed Rocchio to score and extend the lead back to two; luckily, the ball stayed in play because it hit the umpire.

For a brief period of time, this game was actually fun to watch. The White Sox seem to love the sixth inning, and after a six-run sixth the night before, they were able to put together a four-run rally to take a 6-4 lead. Antonacci triggered the rally with his second hit of the night, and Kyle Teel was called upon to pinch-hit for Jake Rogers, and ended up drawing a walk to keep the inning rolling. Peters also finagled a free base on balls, and Chase Meidroth came through in the clutch yet again, ripping an RBI single out to left that scored Sam to bring the Good Guys within one, 4-3.

Grichuk came up next with the bases juiced, and even though he didn’t come up with a huge knock, he tied the game at four with a sacrifice fly deep to the left-field warning track. In back-to-back nights, Vargas has seemed to snap back into his old self, and he, too, mashed a hit out to left that scored the go-ahead runs to put the Sox up two, 6-4:

It’s unclear if Vargas is simply rising to the occasion when he’s most needed, or if he just loves beating up on the Guardians. In 11 games against them (39 at-bats) this season, Vargas owns a .317 average and a 1.054 OPS with three home runs, three two-baggers, 10 RBIs and 10 runs. Not too shabby at all. More of this, please, Miguel.

Now holding a two-run lead, Davis returned for the sixth, and unfortunately served up a 2-0 meatball to Bazzana that put Cleveland back within one with a solo shot. The Aussie had Chicago’s number today, with both of his hits being solo bombs, but it also does not help when you throw pitches down the middle to known lefty power bat that has already tanked one on the day:

Because this was the time of the game that we were having fun and briefly experiencing joy, the home run was worrisome, but everything seemed (sort of?) under control, and Martin even recovered to get three straight outs. Was it his best start? Not necessarily. The righty isn’t a known strikeout guy, sitting around 20% on the season, but he didn’t ring anyone up today and only struck one out in his previous start. I guess the good news here is that he’s able to get batters to chase at a solid 32.2% chase rate and can eat innings, which is what the White Sox have been struggling with for months now.

Lefthander Bryan Hudson was called on for the seventh, and he produced a clean inning to maintain the South Side lead. Unfortunately, Chicago’s bats quieted down again after the sixth. In fact, the White Sox didn’t get another hit after that, and there was only one more baserunner in the game for them, off a walk in the seventh. They just couldn’t get the bats to ignite again, and it doesn’t help when their cleanup hitter can’t do anything except walk or strike out at the moment.

In five plate appearances in Monday’s game, Murakami reached twice: once from being hit by a pitch, and another from a walk. The other three PAs were all strikeouts, and Tuesday’s match was no different: 0-for-4, with four strikeouts and a walk. That marks seven of his last 10 PAs as Ks. An automatic out in a lineup — especially batting fourth — can’t continue to take regular ABs in an extremely tight playoff race. A day off for Mune is long overdue.

With just a one-run lead, Venable really needed the bullpen to lock in for the final two frames, and Grant Taylor was called upon to take both and close out the game. The righty used just 11 pitches to get through the eighth, so it wasn’t odd to assume Taylor had more left in the tank, having not pitched the day before.

Dear reader, this was almost true.

Taylor essentially choked in the ninth. Nathaniel Lowe reached on a leadoff base hit to start the inning, and immediately things felt like they were headed in the wrong direction. The righty worked a strikeout for the first out of the inning, but he couldn’t rein it in on the next batter, walking the catcher, PATRICK BAILEY, of all hitters to put two runners on. A weak ground out from Petey Halpin on the next at-bat felt like things could be righted, until Brayan freaking Rocchio stepped up to the plate.

You can debate walking him all day, and I get it, the guy is a Sox killer and has been all season. He’s even walked them off before, earlier this season. But do you really risk flipping it to Steven Kwan at the top of the order when you just need an out?

Taylor had Rocchio down to his last strike, and he smacked a fly ball into the left-field corner, just slightly out of reach from of diving Antonacci. With the game-tying run on third and the winning run on second, Sam was aligned more shallow and closer to center in order to be able to make a play at the plate on a single. The most annoying part is that the ball had just a .060 expected batting average. It’s simply one of those unfortunate times where they just got beat, but wow, does it suck so much that it was Rocchio.

According to Venable postgame interview, lefthander Anthony Kay is set to make the start in the series finale. Make sure you get some coffee in tomorrow folks, because we have a 12:10 p.m. CT start and a lot of anxiety to work through. Time to flush this loss and come back strong tomorrow to leave Cleveland with the series win and heads held high.

MVP
Miguel Vargas: 1-for-3, 3 RBI, BB, SF

Runners-Up
Brenton Doyle: 2-for-3, R, K, 3B
Chase Meidroth: 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2B
Randal Grichuk: 1-for-4, RBI, K, SF
Bryan Hudson: 1 IP, 0 H, Hold

Cold Cat
Chris Murphy: 2/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, BB, 2 HR

Runners-Up
Munetaka Murakami: 0-for-4, 4 K, BB
Grant Taylor: 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, BB, 2 K, Blown Save (7), LOSS (7-3)
Jake Rogers: 0-for-2, K, GIDP
Will Venable, for starting Murphy

Mariners 1, Anaheim 2

A tisket, a tasket: The bullpen, +0.07

I lost my yellow basket: Cole Young, -0.23 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

Jeremy Peña homered twice, part of a three-hit night as the Royals fell to the Astros 4-2 in the series opener Tuesday night. Michael Wacha gave up four runs in six innings, ending a streak of four consecutive Quality Starts.

Peña got the Astros on the board quickly, leading off the bottom of the first with a homer. In the third, he went deep again, his 19th of the year to make it 2-0 Houston. The Royals squandered a scoring opportunity in the fourth with two runners on when Hunter Brown struck out Vinnie Pasquantino and Michael Massey to end the threat.

The Royals finally got on the board in the next inning, and it almost didn’t happen. With two outs, it appeared Isaac Collins was called out on strikes. But he challenged the call, and it turned out to be a ball, leading to a walk. He stole second, then scored on an RBI double by Carter Jensen. It was the 58th extra-base hit for Jensen this year, setting a Royals club record for rookies.

But the Astros pulled away in the bottom of the inning. Peña hit a one-out single, and likely AL MVP Yordan Alvarez put one in the seats for a two-run blast, his 39th of the year.

Vinnie Pasquantino homered in the sixth, a solo shot. It was his 12th of the year, but his sixth in his last 23 games. Salvador Perez pinch hit in the ninth and blooped a single to bring the tying run up against Astros closer Josh Hader, but the lefty shut the door, retiring Nick Loftin and Tyler Tolbert to end the game.

The Royals fall to 66-85. They’ll take on the Astros again tomorrow night with Daniel Lynch IV taking on Cristian Javier at 7:10.

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo watch the past and future visit Citi Field.

The guys cover Pete Alonso's return to Queens, plus positive signs from Jonah Tong, Christian Scott, and Zac Thornton. 

The Mets Pod Answering Machine kicks off a conversation about current Mets uniforms that ends in rankings, and Down on the Farm wraps up the seasons for top prospects Mitch Voit and Jonathan Santucci,who also appeared in Queens as they accepted minor league organizational awards. 

Finally, the show ends by opening the Mailbag for questions about the future of Dodgers free agency and the idea of targeting A's catcher Shea Langeliers in a trade.

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

After Pete Alonso hit his 300th home run, a game-tying solo home run in the top of the ninth inning on Tuesday night, the Citi Field crowd’s raucous reaction got the ex-Mets slugger out of the visitors’ dugout for a curtain call. 

“Everyone in the dugout was saying go out there,” Alonso said about the curtain call after the Orioles completed a 7-5 extra-inning win. “And they were right.”

Alonso has received an overwhelmingly warm reception in his first series back in Queens after signing a long-term deal with Baltimore this past offseason. And it has been a bit awkward for his former teammates as the home crowd continues to root for the visiting Alonso with every at-bat.

"I appreciate all the support,” Alonso said about Mets fans, “especially for all the years I'm here, all the life I've lived here. Obviously they’re recognizing that, and they’re appreciating that. It's a two-way street, I really appreciate it." 

Tuesday’s starter Sean Manaea said he had never experienced anything like that from a home crowd supporting a visiting player, and it was “crazy.”

“I played with Pete for a couple years, I know how much he means for this organization, how much he means for this city, he’s an exceptional player, and I love him as a player, as a teammate, he’s one of the greats,” Manaea said of Alonso. “And unfortunately, he is not on the Mets anymore.

“And congrats to him, 300 home runs, super happy for him, but it’s just crazy how things kinda unfolded. I’ve got nothing but respect for him and love him to death. But as a team, as the 2026 Mets, I know we have definitely underperformed, but we are, the guys in here, work their ass off every single day.

“And to have that kinda reaction to an opposing player, could be anybody, is crazy to me.”

Interim manager Andy Green, who said he didn't recall ever seeing a visiting player receive a curtain call from the home side's fans, said that while he understands how the fans feel about Alonso, his focus is "trying to win a baseball game."

"Don't spend much time thinking about how people react to things; spend time thinking about what we gotta do after that happened," Green said about the game-tying homer of Kodai Senga. "We had some opportunities to win that game. We didn't come through with those opportunities."

Pete Alonso takes a curtain call at Citi Field after his 300th career home run pic.twitter.com/FWhWhiA8En

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 16, 2026

Senga, speaking through an interpreter, said it was a strange experience, but that from the crowd reaction, "you could tell how loved he was by the fan base."

"I couldn't even hear the PitchCom right after," Senga said of the crowd noise following the home run. "He's just a great hitter. There's not much to say other than that."

Senga said "perhaps" he would have been bothered by the fans' reaction if it was another hitter. 

"If it wasn't Pete Alonso, there are other great hitters that are playing for the Mets and are playing elsewhere, but because it is him, it didn't bother me," Senga said. "It just shows how much he was loved... how much he meant to this organization." 

Manea, who pitched 5.1 innings of two-run ball, added that he has “nothing but respect” for Alonso, but he’s “never seen anything like that before.”

“I know the guys in here we are grinding our butts off and stuff like that happens,” he continued. “But I’ve never seen anything like that; it’s kinda crazy.”

The interim skipper said that while it is "tough in certain circumstances" and some players "might struggle" with these kinds of situations, their job is to "never let anything external impact the way we go about playing the game."

"Do we love our fans cheering for us? Heck yeah we do," he said. "We want our fans engaged with us, heck yeah we do. We absolutely want that. And those guys on the field are giving everything they got for the team, for the Mets across their jerseys. So those guys will continue to do that."

Senga called it "an odd situation." 

"On any other day... I hear all the cheering when I get out of a big inning, or I close the game with a save. I hear everybody cheering for me in the stands, and I love that," he said.

Asked whether the fans' reaction to Alonso had been discussed in the clubhouse, Green said he "hasn't had one conversation" about it. Manaea said he wasn’t going to speak for everyone, but reiterated his opinion that it was “crazy.”

“Pete’s not here. And the powers that be, whatever that may be. He’s just not here,” Manaea said. “I know everybody loves him, he’s the man, but, just, he’s not here.

“To see the reaction from the fans like that, I don’t know, it’s just different. Never seen anything like that.”

The starter added that he felt it was “very” surprising to him.

“Been doing this thing for 10, 11 years now, played against some legendary players, played with some legendary players, maybe it was the first time I’ve been in a situation like this,” he said. “Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

"I love him to death, but as the 2026 Mets - I know we've definitely underperformed - the guys in here work their ass off every single day. To have that reaction to an opposing player is crazy to me"

- Sean Manaea on the Citi Field reception for Pete Alonso's 300th home run pic.twitter.com/7itFYYpns7

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 16, 2026

The Colorado Rockies were desperate to break an eight-game losing streak as they faced the San Diego Padres in the second game of a four-game stand.

Cole Carrigg hit his first homer in the third, but the Rally Squirrel that appeared on the auxiliary scoreboard in the fifth inning turbocharged everything.

The Carrigg-Squirrel duo had help from a third partner: Ryan Feltner in a sparkling relief performance.

Turn the page on the losing streak: The Rockies won 9-3 to tie their series with a Padres team looking to clinch a postseason spot.

Cole Carrigg set the tone

The game did not get off to the start Kyle Freeland had hoped for.

When facing Fernando Tatís Jr., the leadoff batter, Freeland surrendered a home run on the second pitch he threw.

It was Tatís Jr’s 23rd homer of the year.

Before the Rockies had even managed an out, they were down, 1-0.

Things did not improve in the second inning when Luis Campusano stepped to the plate and led off the second with a homer, à la Tatís Jr.

After the Rockies entered their half of the second inning down, 2-0.

They threatened by loading the bases with one out as Walker Buehler’s pitch count climbed. (Yes, TJ Rumfield hit a single, so his on-base streak is up to 20 games.) However, a double play that involved a base-running mistake by Kyle Karros ended the threat.

By the end of the third inning, the Padres had already accumulated seven hits.

Carrigg, however, did some encores of his own. In Game 1, he hit his eighth home run; in Game 2, he hit another, his ninth, this time with Adael Amador on base, to tie the game.

Freeland had clean third and fourth innings, before history repeated itself in the fifth when Austin Hays led off with another single-shot home run.

With the score 3-2 Padres, Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer went to his bullpen.

Tonight, Ryan Feltner followed up Freeland by allowing one hit but no runs to retire the side.

Buehler started the fifth for the Padres and got two outs. However, after Carrigg hit a double (now just a triple shy of the cycle), that was it for Buehler. His final line: 4.2 IP with two runs (earned) on seven hits. He walked one and struck out one.

Wandy Peralta entered in relief and hit Rumfield with a pitch, leaving runners on first and second with two outs. However, Karros lined out to short to end the inning and the threat.

In the fifth inning, the Rockies offense got serious.

Mickey Moniak led off with a triple followed by a Troy Johnston RBI double, tying the score at three. After that came a Brett Sullivan single to score Johnston, and the Rockies had their first lead of the evening, 4-3.

Then Jake McCarthy hit a single (give him a 17-game on-base streak), and that was it for Peralta.

With two on and two out, Carrigg stepped to the plate, looking for a triple to complete the cycle is expand the Rockies lead. He battled through a 13-pitch at-bat.

Seriously, you’ve got to see it.

And then Carrigg got to work.

That’s right, Reader, it was a sweet, sweet three-run homer.

The Rockies finished the sixth inning with a 7-3 lead.

“I love this game. I love playing for my guys. Obviously a pretty long at-bat — got me fired up for sure,” Carrigg said after the game.

“That’s one of the coolest at-bats I’ve seen,” Schaeffer said of Carrigg’s extended at-bat. “He was locked in today. You see what kind of player Cole can be.”

In the seventh inning the Padres were unable to score. The Rockies, however, were not done.

Karros lead off the inning with a single, and a Johnston RBI double was enough to bring him home, and the score was 8-3.

Zac Veen was the last Rockie to get a hit, but he did in the seventh to score Ezequiel Tovar (pinch running for Johnston), and the Rockies took a 9-3 lead.

The Rockies final line was nine runs (all earned) on 16 hits. They walked once and struck out three times, going 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

“They’re all grinding ‘til the end,” Schaeffer said. “This is what they believe in. That’s why there’s so much hope for the future.”

Kyle Freeland made his return

In addition to a solid performance from Freeland, the Rockies needed length from him to spare an exhausted bullpen.

Despite giving up two home runs early, Freeland entered the fourth inning having thrown 38 pitches, which was just what the bullpen ordered.

He was done in the fifth (with no outs) after surrendering a third home run.

His final line was 4.0 IP with three runs (earned) on eight hits. He did not issue a walk and struck out one while throwing 50 pitches.

It was not the return Freeland wanted, but he helped save the bullpen.

“It was good to see him back,” Schaeffer said, noting that Freeland was efficient and on a 60-pitch limit. “I thought he got better as he went.”

“I felt good,” Freeland said. “I was able to eat some innings. Three solo-shots aren’t going to kill you.”

Stellar Feltner

If there was an unsung hero in this game, it was Ryan Feltner, who entered the game in the fifth inning.

After his outstanding showing against Atlanta, the Rockies were eager to see what he could do when following an (extended) opener.

The answer: He was good — really good.

In 5.0 IP, Feltner allowed just three hits while issuing one walk and five strike outs on 61 pitches.

“I saw attack-mode from the moment he stepped on the mound,” Schaeffer said, pointing out that it echoed the pitcher’s performance in Atlanta. He did not rule out using Feltner in a similar role going forward.

Feltner said he believed he benefits from the opposing team having less plan to prepare for him.

“Sully called a great game,” he added.

Feltner emphasized, “I’m a starter, and I like starting a game,” but he added he would do whatever the team asks of him.

Up next

Join us tomorrow night for Game 3 when Robbie Ray will face Mason Adams (and hopefully the Rally Squirrel).

First pitch is at 6:40 pm.

See you then.

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