Category: MLB

Mariners 7, Angels 2

Mr. Pibb: Cal Raleigh, 0.19 WPA; Josh Naylor, 0.18 WPA; Dominic Canzone, 0.14; Carlos Vargas, 0.12 WPA

RC Cola: Cole Young, Weston Wilson, -0.08 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

Former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brian Wolfe has died, the team announced on Wednesday, Sept. 16. He was 45.

"We are saddened to learn of the passing of former Blue Jay, Brian Wolfe," the team said in its social media posts. "Our thoughts are with his loved ones during this difficult time."

Wolfe's wife, Rachell, posted on Facebook on Tuesday, Sept. 15 that he passed away that day.

"(After) a really really difficult and torturous battle Brian Wolfe passed away early this morning," she wrote.

The cause of death has not been made public.

We are saddened to learn of the passing of former Blue Jay, Brian Wolfe.

Our thoughts are with his loved ones during this difficult time 💙 pic.twitter.com/q7jeeu91tz

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 16, 2026

Brian Wolfe was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1999 MLB Draft after he starred at Servite High School in Anaheim, California. According to the Los Angeles Times, in his sophomore year he went 8-0 and had an ERA of 0.27. The Fullerton, California, native spent eight years in the minor leagues before making his MLB debut in 2007 with the Blue Jays.

Wolfe spent three seasons in MLB, all in Toronto. He made 72 appearances and went 5-5 with a 3.81 ERA, tossing 47 strikeouts, 22 walks and allowing 79 hits.

After becoming a free agent in December 2009, Wolfe played in Japan from 2010 to 2018. He spent a few years with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, the same team where Shohei Ohtani cut his chops. Ohtani and Wolfe were both on the team in 2013.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brian Wolfe dies at 45

JR Ritchie had a rough outing Wednesday, going 4.2 innings with 6 runs allowed, 2 homers, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts. The strikeout number was at least respectable, but he continues to look like a fringe major league starter at best, despite having looked like a new pitcher over the last period in the minors since his last major league appearance. That’s a bummer for the Braves, who were perhaps hoping for a higher upside for anyone to start a playoff game after Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle. Right now it feels a whole lot like “Grant Holmes for 2-3 innings and then pray the bullpen can cover the rest” and that doesn’t even address a fourth starter. Not a great spot for the playoff rotation.

Braves News

Five Braves’ prospects were named to the A-ball All-Star teams.

JR Ritchie struggled again on his return from the minors, as the Braves lost the series to the Cubs in Chicago.

MLB News

A’s prospect Ryan Lasko was released from the hospital after two months, after he was originally injured and paralyzed in an outfield collision.

The Cardinals activated star rookie JJ Wetherholt, who has spent the last two weeks on the IL.

Dodgers’ Blake Snell left his start against the Reds after just one inning on Wednesday with a groin injury.

After the Colorado Rockies secured a 9-3 victory behind a multi-homer game from a rookie on Tuesday, the San Diego Padres returned the favor Wednesday night with a 9-3 victory powered by a multi-homer game from a rookie.

Adams battles his command

Making his fifth big-league start, Mason Adams seemed primed to build upon his excellent last start in Detroit. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a tough night on the mound as he struggled with his command and gave up hard contact to the Padres offense.

It was immediately apparent in the first inning that Adams did not have his sharpest stuff for the evening. He hit Fernando Tatís Jr. with a pitch to lead off the game and then walked Dustin Harris. Manny Machado then grounded into a force out but hustled down the line to prevent a double play. Ty France hit a sacrifice fly to score a run to put the Padres up 1-0. Jackson Merrill then collected his first hit of the evening with a single and was followed by another walk, this time to Xander Bogaerts. With the bases loaded, Jake Cronenworth singled up the middle to score another run to make it 2-0. By the time Adams got out of the first inning, he had thrown 32 pitches, working from behind with nearly every batter.

“The command just wasn’t there today,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “I think it was obvious with all of his pitches, specifically in the first inning. I thought he made an adjustment to get back in the zone after that, but overall the command wasn’t where it needs to be, not where he’d like it.”

Leading off the second inning, Adams surrendered the first-career home run to Ethan Salas to make it 3-1 Padres. He later gave up a two-out single to Machado. He managed to secure a 1-2-3 third inning but again ran into trouble in the fourth. Samad Taylor led off with a single and stole second base, coming in to score on a two-out triple by Harris to make it 4-1 Padres.

Adams’ night would come to a close after allowing a one-out single to Merrill in the fifth, followed by a walk to Bogaerts. Unfortunately, when Nick Frasso came in relief, he allowed those two runs to score on a two-run single by Taylor.

Adams went 4.1 innings, allowing six runs on eight hits with three walks. He threw 84 pitches, with just 54 going for strikes. Most notably, he only had one swing-and-miss on the night, which was his lone strikeout.

“The one thing Mason does well is think, always,” said Schaeffer. “Even when things are going wrong, he thinks well and diagnoses well mid-inning and between innings.”

Trouble with the lefty

Much like Adams, Padres starter Robbie Ray didn’t necessarily look good in the first inning. He walked Jake McCarthy to start things off. McCarthy then stole second base, his 30th bag of the season. It was a historic stolen base because it made him the first Rockies player in franchise history to have 15 home runs, 30 doubles, 10 triples, and 30 stolen bases in a single season.

Ray then hit Connor Norby with a pitch, followed by a flyout from Cole Carrigg that allowed the runners to move up. Kyle Karros then drew a walk to load the bases. Adael Amador grounded into a force out that allowed McCarthy to score to make it 2-1 before Troy Johnston struck out to end the inning.

However, Ray was able to settle back in while Adams struggled. He allowed a two-out single to Ezequiel Tovar in the bottom of the second inning and then proceeded to retire the next 10 consecutive batters he faced through the fifth inning.

The Rockies finally cracked through in the sixth inning when Norby led off with a double to center field. Then, with one out, Karros belted his 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot to center field to make it a 9-3 ballgame. Unfortunately, that’s all that the Rockies could muster against Ray.

His night ended after six innings, having allowed just three runs on three hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Ray threw 88 pitches, 55 for strikes, while recording five groundouts. He generated five swings-and-misses on the night as the Rockies really struggled against his slider.

Bullpen effort

After Frasso allowed the two-run single to Taylor in the fifth, he then gave up two runs of his own on a two-run home run by Salas. That second home run by Salas was notable because it made him the youngest catcher in MLB history to have a multi-homer game. In the sixth inning, he then gave up an RBI double to France to bring in San Diego.

The Rockies did get some reprieve for the bullpen thanks to Jimmy Herget. After allowing a leadoff single to Cronenworth in the top of the seventh, Herget proceeded to retire the next six batters, allowing just one hit on 22 pitches. Juan Mejia then fired a clean ninth inning by striking out of the side.

Cold Rockies offense

The Rockies managed just four hits while they struck out nine times against four walks. Two of those walks came with two outs in the ninth inning against Yuki Matsui. The two extra-base hits came in the sixth inning, and they went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Meanwhile, the Padres collected 13 hits and struck out seven times with just three walks. However, they had five players with at least two hits and had five extra-base hits while going 4-for-12 with RISP.

The flip-flop of the offense from the previous night for both teams is an interesting development, but the Rockies were overly aggressive against Ray while the Padres were patient against Adams. That difference is what allowed San Diego to punish mistakes and the Rockies to struggle to string hits together.

Up next

The Rockies and Padres will close out the series with a Thursday afternoon affair! Tanner Gordon (1-4, 5.55 ERA) will take the ball for Colorado and face off against Michael King (11-9, 3.03 ERA) for the Padres.

First pitch is at 1:10 pm MDT; see you then!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Daniel Lynch had his best outing as a starter for 2026 picking up a win as the Royals take care of business 5-2 in Houston tonight.

There were a lot of early base runners though not a lot of early scoring in this one. Carter Jensen and Bobby Witt both walked to put Cristian Javier into a quick bind, but he worked through it with no harm done. Similarly, Daniel Lynch gave up a double to open the first and then went K, groundout, and flyout to render Jeremy Pena’s opening salvo moot. The Royals had a couple of singles and no runs in the second. Baserunners were just not finding their way all the way around the bags. Well, until the 4th inning that is.

In the top of the 4th frame Massey doinked a ball to center that landed before the center fielder could get to it. It was a bad swing and contact, but in just the right sort of way. He was followed by a Nick Loftin flyout, and you started to think maybe Javier would work around another leadoff runner. John Rave had other ideas.

It wasn’t a bad pitch coming down and in. Rave was able to turn on it and put it in the bleachers down the right field line. The Royals strike first takinga a 2-0 lead.

Daniel Lynch had easily his best start of the season. It was the first time he seemed mostly in command as a starter, in my opinion, this season. There was a walk and a hard it single past Bobby in the 3rd, but otherwise he looked solid all night. His final line was 5IP, 2H, 1BB, 3K, 0ER. After five, he had only thrown 72 pitches without yielding any runs, but the Royals are at the end of the season and do not seem interested in building his pitch count anymore. Craig Kimbrel came on for the 6th with Danny in line for the win. This pitch to strike out Yordan Alvarez in the 1st is a good example of how sharp he looked.

Cristian was lifted in the 6th and Bryan King took over and continued into the 7th where the Royals mounted another threat. Isaac Collins lead off with a single up the middle and then moved to second when Jensen grounded out down the first base line. Houston decided that with first open they would rather not face Bobby and intentionally walked him. The Royals were still looking for their first hit with runners in scoring position and Vinnie moved that stat to 0-8 with a flyout to center. It was enough to move Collins to third on the tag at least. Enyel De Los Santos came in to face El Capitan who almost singled up the middle, but Jeremy Pena ranged to his left, spun, and threw him out to end the inning with the score still sitting at 2-0.

Matt Quatraro turned to Nolan Hoffman for the 7th and Houston quickly mounted a threat of their own. Two singles, from Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz, both came in the first four pitches for Hoffman. He did get Christian Walker to flyout but then was pulled with it still at one out and runners on first and second. The Royals brought in Anthony Gose and Houston pinch hit the Royals’ old friend Nelson Velazquez for Cam Smith, though they had been planning to use Lamonte Wade Jr. as the pinch hitter when it was still Hoffman in the game. Velazquez struck out and Dalton Varsho flew out to center as both offenses continued to fail to bring runners in with a combined 0-16 with RISP.

De Los Santos remained in for the 8th and left a ball up and in to Michael Massey to lead off the inning. Massey hit that one off of the Chick-fil-A screen attached to the right field foul pole. Royals get an insurance run and the lead moves to three. Then we finally saw some non-homer runs. It started with two outs when Josh Rojas and Collins walked to set up some runners. Carter Jensen then continued his extra base assault by ripping a ball down the first base line for a for a 2 RBI double and a 5-0 lead. Houston did challenge the call on Collins sliding into home, but it was upheld.

Nate Pearson got the 8th for KC and like Hoffman immediately put a runner on by walking Jorge Barrosa. Next up was Jeremy Pena, the hero last night and he had 3 hits already in this one, but he flew out harmlessly before Yordan ripped a double to the gap at 111 MPH. Isaac Paredes did not get Houston’s first hit with runners in scoring position, but he did manage a deep enough fly ball to get the sac fly RBI and put them on the board. That one was all they would get in the 8th and it was 5-1 heading into the last inning.

The Royals went silently in the top half then turned the game over to Steven Cruz in a non-save situation to close it out. Diaz led it off with a laser solo shot to left field. It was not a bad pitch and yet it was hit very well. They still needed three more though, and Cruz struck out three of the next four batters to finish the job.

They will play one more in Houston tomorrow with the Royals down 2-3 in the season series. KC will look to split the 2026 Astros season tomorrow in the rubber game as the Astros are now at 76-76 just like the Rangers, who won tonight, as they battle for AL West supremacy.

Among the flurry of moves ahead of Wednesday's series finale with the Orioles, the Mets recalled Jefry Yan, and the southpaw made the most of his return by being absolutely perfect.

Replacing an injured Daniel Duarte in the bullpen, Yan pitched a career-high three innings, striking out three batters and tossing a career-high 32 pitches in the process. He didn't allow a baserunner, giving the Mets three perfect innings in relief.

"I felt like I was getting better and better. I went out there and I was just competing against each and every batter," Yan said through an interpreter. "I felt as the game was going on, I was getting stronger and my confidence was getting higher."

Although it came in defeat, Yan's performance helped the Mets reset the bullpen in what could have been a disastrous game after starter Xzavion Curry allowed six runs in the first three innings. 

The Mets optioned Yan back on Sept. 6 for a fresh arm, but also to get the left-hander right in the minors. Yan had allowed a run in each of his prior four appearances before being optioned. He also walked at least one batter in six of his previous seven outings. 

As Mets interim manager Andy Green and the organization conveyed to Yan when he was optioned, he had to find a way to limit the walks if he wanted to succeed in the big leagues.

"We sent him down and said, 'If it's strikes, you're gonna be a big leaguer for a long time. Just have to fill up the zone,'" Green said after the game. "Really can't ask for more than three perfect innings and 30 pitches. One hundred (mph) in the last inning, too, with the velo kept ticking up. There’s a lot to like there."

Yan took on that challenge and proved it Wednesday, even striking out the side in the second of his three perfect innings. But the 30-year-old also pointed to his confidence as a big reason for his performance in the series finale. 

"First and foremost, it's really the confidence," Yan explained. "For me, when I was first up here, I was searching a little bit, searching for the results. Trying to get that result. When I went back down, I said I'm going to go back to being myself. Believing in myself. Now that I'm back up, I'm able to command my pitches; I’m able to go out there and execute because I believe in what I’m doing."

With the combination of Yan's three innings and Jack Weisenberger's three frames, the Mets should have a relatively fresh 'pen when they host the Phillies on Thursday for the start of their four-game series. 

Jefry Yan strikes out the side in the 6th pic.twitter.com/2hwEjdUk5r

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 17, 2026

So much for the winning streak, it’s been halted at one. Kansas City 5 Houston 2.     

It was another three hit night for Jeremy Pena. Unfortunately, there was little else. Over the course of two nights against the Royals, Pena has six of the Astros 12 total hits. Yikes.   

Aside from the offensive woes, Astros pitching was choppy. The road was unpaved from the outset for Cristian Javier. The early innings served as a prelude of things to come. First inning, a pair of walks were issued to Carter Jensen and Bobby Witt, 17 pitches thrown. The next frame, 18 pitches thrown, at one point featuring runners on the corners. Javier pulled a Houdini act, getting out unscathed early on, but it didn’t last. In the fourth, John Rave homered to right, scoring Michael Massey. By the time that inning was in the books, the pitch count was up to 66. Javier would depart in the 6th, giving way to Bryan King. Javier’s final stat line: IP 5.1, 5 hits allowed three walks with two runs and a pair of strikeouts.        

In the 7th inning, the Astros finally generated a flicker of hope, giving 28,497 a brief moment to cheer. Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz hit back-to-back singles, but they’d be stranded. The Royals took full advantage, extending their lead on a solo shot by Michael Massey. It was Massey’s 12th of the year. Carter Jensen then broke it wide open with a 2-run RBI double which brought home Isaac Collins and Josh Rojas. De Los Santos was charged with all three of the runs in the 8th.     

The Astros would finally get on the board on an Isaac Paredes sac fly in the bottom half of the 8th. Tatsuya Imai pitched a scoreless 9th, his first appearance in a week. Yainer Diaz launched his 12th homer of the season in the bottom of the frame, but that would be it.    

Complicating matters, the Rangers were once again victorious. Both clubs are now deadlocked atop the A.L. West with identical marks of 76-76.    

Odds & Ends

The last time the Astros won consecutive home games was back on September 2nd & 3rd vs. the White Sox.    

Jeremy Pena challenged the very first pitch of the game and won; strike call being overturned.    

After his impressive series last week verses the Phillies, Cam Smith is now 0-15 at the plate.    

The Mets, who are playing out the string on a lost season, were swept by the Baltimore Orioles, losing the final game of the series by a score of 7-1. This series was a downright weird one, including seeing franchise home run leader Pete Alonso make his return to Queens as a visiting player, hit his 300th career home run, and have Mets fans openly boo their players (namely Jonah Tong) and root for a blown save by Kodai Senga in deference for Alonso. It was just a bizarre, once in a generation situation for the Mets, Mets fans, and Pete Alonso.

This game, however, was an anticlimactic as they come. Expected starting pitcher Robert Stock was placed on the injured list prior to the game with numbness in his fingers, which is really terrible for Stock. Stock, who will turn 37 in November, was fighting for a chance at a 2027 contract, and the many possible implications of finger numbness in pitchers can really put a damper on that. Xzavion Curry, a swingman, took his place, and struggled.

He gave up a home run to, of course, Pete Alonso in the first and it kept rolling downhill from there. Jeremiah Jackson, a more niche Old Friend, hit a two run home run in the second to make it 3-0. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who is not an Old Friend, hit a two run homer of his own, making it 5-0 in the third. Samuel Basallo, also not an Old Friend, hit a solo shot to make it 6-0.

The Mets scored their lone run in the fourth, with Marcus Semien singling home Jared Young. A third Old Friend, Chris Bassitt, started for Baltimore and pitched well, giving up one run across 6.2 innings. He surrendered five hits, one walk, and struck out six.

The silver linings on the day were few and far in between, though Jefry Yan threw three perfect innings out of the bullpen and AJ Ewing continued his strong end to the season after his slump with two hits (as well as notching his 24th stolen base, tying Mookie Wilson’s Mets rookie record!).

With only ten games left, and the team extremely eliminated from the playoffs, we can only look for the little things going forward until we can reset as a fanbase and move onto the 2027 campaign.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Jefry Yan, +3% WPA
Big Mets loser: Xzavion Curry, -34% WPA
Mets pitchers: -31% WPA
Mets hitters: -19% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Marcus Semien’s RBI single, +2.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jeremiah Jackson’s two run home run, -12.1% WPA

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Boston Red Sox scored three runs.

With Cleveland and Toronto winning earlier in the day, the Rangers needed a victory to keep pace in the Wild Card chase — though now Chicago is the new potential target after losing their hold of the lead in the American League Central.

Texas turned to big offseason addition MacKenzie Gore to try to make that happen in what felt like his 100th start of the season. How is it that it’s a Gore start every other dang night somehow? Anyway, something was off with Gore and he walked the leadoff batter before allowing a two-out, two-run home run for a real deflating top of the first.

Later on in the second inning, Gore was checked on from the mound by the trainers as he appeared to have grabbed his side following a pitch. Gore stayed in the game and despite even worse control than usual, and lower velo, the left-hander was able to grit his teeth and wade through four innings having allowed just the two run home run, though with an inherited run also placed on his ledger (more on that in a moment).

The Rangers, meanwhile, scored a run in the bottom of the first inning but they did so in a frustrating manner where they turned two doubles sandwiching a single into just one run and the tying and/or go ahead runs stranded in scoring position.

However, with Gore hanging in there, the Rangers finally tied the game in the bottom of the fourth when lefty killer Justin Foscue collected a two-out RBI single. That tie lasted only a few batters as Gore walked the leadoff man in the top of the fifth and gave up an infield single that allowed the runner to advance to third with nobody out.

Gore was lifted for Jakob Junis and a strikeout of former Ranger Isiah Kiner-Falefa, with the go-ahead run at third base, the former steady setup man literally dropped the ball while set on the rubber for a balk that allowed the Red Sox to reclaim their lead.

Junis wiggled out of danger with Boston up by a run but it felt like the damage was already done after Texas had spend much of the game trying to scratch and claw their way back even and a long night ahead for the bullpen. However, Josh Jung doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth — one of three hits tonight for the straw that stirs the drink — and came around to score when Wyatt Langford perfectly placed a blooper to center field with two outs.

Tied once more, the Rangers turned to Nathan Eovaldi in relief and the veteran was as advertised as a stalwart in critical situations. Big Game Nate went the rest of the way to save the bullpen from more wear and tear and while he was carving up Boston, the Rangers were rallying.

In a 3-3 game in the bottom of the seventh, the Rangers put together a game-winning inning highlighted by a Brandon Nimmo double to bring in the go-ahead run and a pivotal two-out, two-run single by Ezequiel Duran to make it a 6-3 game and give Texas their third two-out run scoring hit of the night.

The Rangers would get a fourth two-out RBI hit in the bottom of the eighth when Corey Seager singled in Alejandro Osuna to make it 7-3 and give Eovaldi plenty to work with for a swift and tidy ninth inning.

So here’s more some good news to go along with this victory: The Houston Astros were beaten at home by the last place KC Royals tonight. They are 76-76. If you look up there at the headline of this post, you’ll see that the Rangers are also 76-76. That means the Rangers are tied with Houston for the lead in the AL West.

The Rangers will have to finish with a better record than Houston due to having lost the season series tiebreaker, but it’s pretty much 0-0 with ten games to go between the two Texas squads.

Player of the Game: Nathan Eovaldi should get a statue at The Shed some day. Tonight he pitched four innings of one hit relief and kept the Red Sox off the board while the Rangers rallied back to win.

Up Next: The Rangers will have an opportunity to sweep the Red Sox with a pitcher to be named LHP Cody Bradford for Texas facing off against RHP Sonny Gray for Boston.

The Thursday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Red Sox are still in solid shape to pop champagne for a playoff spot before the end of the road trip, but they have not helped themselves so far after another defeat, this time a 7-3 final, at the hands of the Texas Rangers to drop the series in Arlington. 

Boston’s bullpen faltered late while old friend Nathan Eovaldi held the offense at bay in a piggyback role to keep the Rangers alive in their final playoff push. 

Here’s three takeaways from Wednesday night’s loss.  

CONTRERAS LOVES THE MATCHUP

While the Red Sox mustered up just three hits offensively, Willson Contreras slugged a two-run shot in the first inning, his 27th of the season and his first since being activated off the injured list, against Rangers lefty Mackenzie Gore. 

The Red Sox slugger continued a dominating matchup against the southpaw with another blast after entering the game 9-for-16 in his career against Gore with a home run. 

ONE BAD INNING

Erik Miller did not have a fun night when he entered in the seventh inning of a 3-3 game at the time.

The left-hander plunked Corey Seager early in a frame where Texas eventually pulled away with three runs to win the series. Miller has cooled off a bit recently with at least a run allowed in consecutive outings and some control struggles. 

MAGIC NUMBER WATCH

The loss kept the magic number at five. Had the Red Sox won tonight (and good context for tomorrow), the Rangers’ positioning in the Wild Card standings would have dropped the magic number to three.

Get it done before the road trip comes to a close.

Box Score

One night after the Brewers clinched their fourth straight NL Central title, they were back in action. And while one might think the team would let up a bit a day after taking care of business and holding their first big celebration of the season, one would be wrong. On Wednesday night, the Brewers did exactly what they’ve been doing all season: never giving up. It would’ve been easy for the team to roll over when Logan Henderson faltered and the bullpen surrendered a lead, but that’s not in this group’s DNA. When all was said and done, the Brewers eked out another close victory as they continue their march to the league’s best record.

Pittsburgh starter Jared Jones, who is not short of firepower, came out of the gate throwing gas and getting whiffs as he struck out Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio, and Jake Bauers in order. Henderson faced the minimum in the first despite a leadoff single by Konnor Griffin, who was caught trying to steal second for the last out of the inning.

After Jones got William Contreras and Christian Yelich to start the second, the Brewers put together a very Brewers-y rally. Joey Ortiz, Luis Lara, Andrew Vaughn, and Cooper Pratt strung together four consecutive singles, the latter two of which scored the game’s first two runs, and Milwaukee was out to an early lead.

The Pirates tried to answer with a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the inning, when Ryan O’Hearn and Ronny Simon singled and doubled after Henderson struck out the first two batters of the inning. But O’Hearn was held at third, and Jacob Gonzalez popped out harmlessly to end the inning.

That was most of the action until the bottom of the fourth, when Henderson’s first blemish came on one of those scary Oneil Cruz home runs, the kind that go 113 mph and look flat on their way out. Milwaukee had an immediate answer, though: in the top of the fifth, Pratt led off with a single, stole second, and scored on a Brice Turang double which made it 3-1.

Pittsburgh, though, got to Henderson a bit in the bottom of the fifth. Again with two outs, Griffin doubled and the next batter, Brandon Lowe, popped a two-run homer that tied it — it was almost a shock, given how well Henderson has been pitching. For just the third time all season, Henderson had allowed three runs.

The bullpens got involved in the sixth. Yohan Ramírez had no trouble in the top of the inning, but JoJo Romero, in for the bottom of the inning, gave up a solo homer to Rafael Flores Jr., which gave the Pirates their first lead of the night.

But here’s where the Brewers decided they wouldn’t let it get away from them. In the top of the seventh, Turang walked, Chourio singled, and Bauers walked to load the bases with nobody out. A fielder’s choice from Contreras gave the Pirates the first out, but the captain came through: with the infield pulled in, Yelich got a single past third baseman Jared Triolo and down the left-field line for a single. Two runs scored, and Milwaukee was back on top, 5-4.

The Brewer bullpen bent but did not break after that. Senzatela gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, and with one out, his replacement, Shane Drohan, gave up another. But Drohan got perpetual Brewer nemesis Bryan Reynolds to ground into a 4-3 double play which ended the inning. Milwaukee’s double play defense showed up again in the eighth: after Cruz hit a leadoff single, Drohan was replaced by Uribe, who erased him with a double play from Flores Jr. that killed Pittsburgh’s momentum.

Despite some hard contact, the Brewers didn’t add on in the eighth or ninth, and they turned their 5-4 lead over to Trevor Megill. He closed the door, as he has done so many times this season: strikeout, strikeout, groundout. Brewers win.

It wasn’t exactly a standout day for the Brewer offense—Pratt, with his two singles, was the only Brewer with multiple hits. But it was a balanced attack, as every Brewer starter had a hit, and that 10-hit barrage (with some timely hitting in there) was enough to get the Brewers over the line. That was good news for Henderson, who wasn’t quite at his typical excellent best, but who led the team to victory anyway.

The Brewers have already clinched almost everything they can clinch, but why not get greedy? They’ll go for a sweep tomorrow with Kyle Harrison back on the bump (that’ll be interesting) at 11:35 am central time.

The Atlanta Braves took on the Chicago Cubs today in hopes of clinching a playoff spot. It would have required them to win and then get some help with hoping either the Diamondbacks or the Padres lost.

JR Ritchie was called up to pitch the game to give some extra rest to the rotation and try to prove his recent performance in AAA where he had twenty-four strikeouts to only three walks in his past two starts was legitimate enough to keep him in the rotation for the rest of the season.

The start did not go as hoped. So much so that it almost begs to wonder if Ritchie may be dealing with the yips.

The game did look promising at first for the Braves. After the first two hitters were retired, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies had back-to-back singles. However, Michael Harris was not able to get the job done on line out to Ian Happ in LF.

Ritchie struggled from the get go. He walked Crow-Armstrong. He was able to get Suzuki to ground into a double play but then again surrendered a walk. Bregman then doubled to score a run but was then thrown out in a pickle between second and third.

In the second the Braves got a single out of Riley, but that was the only offense that Shota Imanaga and crew allowed. Ian Happ then led off the bottom of the second with a double off of Ritchie, but fortunately he was able to settle down and induced ground out and pick up two strikeouts.

The Braves were up to the top of the order in the again in the third, but they were sat down in order. It is hard to win games that way. In the bottom of the third, Ritchie picked up another strikeout and only gave up one hit. The bad news is that the hit was a HR to MVP front runner Crow-Armstrong to put the Braves down by two.

Imanaga really settled in for the Cubs and retired the side again in the fourth to make it eight straight. Ritchie continued his trend on the night. Not giving up many hits, but when he did, they were big ones. Alex Bregman led off the bottom of the fourth with a HR to put the Cubs up by three, and that was the only offense of the inning.

Imanaga continued to dominate the Braves by retiring the side yet for the third straight inning, to include two more strikeouts. The fifth inning was the worst for Ritchie. After a pop up he gave up a single and then Crow-Armstrong hit a triple to plate a run. Ritchie then hit Suzuki to put runners on the corners. Ritchie then got another strikeout thanks to a successful challenge by Sean Murphy, but then Alex Bregman had a triple of his own to plate two and put the Cubs up six. This led to Ritchie’s replacement Dylan Dodd coming in to finish out the inning. Ritchie’s final numbers were six ER on seven hits, on two walks and five strikeouts. It should also be of note that six of those hits were extra base hits.

The Braves finally broke the seal in the sixth when Ronald Acuña doubled, and was moved over to third and then scored on two consecutive groundouts. This pulled the Braves within five. Albies then struck out to end the top half of the sixth. Owen Murphy then came in to pitch the sixth. He gave up a walk, but that was the only base runner. He picked up one strikeout in the inning.

The Braves were able to score one more run when Mauricio Dubón hit his third triple of the season and then scored on a groundout, but that was the only offense for the Braves in the seventh. Murphy stayed in the game to pitch the seventh and instantly gave up a HR to PCA which was his second of the game and forty-fourth on the year. Murphy settled down to retired the rest of the hitters to include a strikeout of Suzuki.

Acuña had a single in the eighth, but it was the only offense for the Braves. Weiss decided to leave Owen Murphy in the pitch the eighth to basically let him eat innings in a lost game. He gave up a double right away to Tyrone Taylor. He got Hoerner to fly out, but then started to give away bases like they were free. Conforto singled to score a run, followed by Pedro Ramírez having a single of his own. Carson Kelly then also singled to load the bases. Finally Weiss took Murphy out of his misery and brought in Brent Suter to face the red hot Crow-Armstrong with the bases loaded. Suter was able to buckle down and get PCA to strikeout on a slider outside of the zone and then got Suzuki to groundout to finally end the eighth.

The Braves may not have had much offense, but one fun thing that happened is Ozzie Albies led off the ninth with one of the longest at-bats of his career. He saw thirteen pitches, to include fouling off seven straight pitches and ultimately walked on a fastball way out of the zone. This seemed to lead to Ryan Rolison losing some control. Harris worked a 3-1 count and then singled. The Cubs wisely then made a pitching change to bring in Ryan Zeferjahn. Dubón was not deterred and hit a double, his second extra base hit of the night, scoring a run to bring the game within five. This brought up Austin Riley who struck out. Sean Murphy was able to plate a run, but it was a groundout. Yazstrzemski came in to pinch hit, but grounded out to end the game. Braves lose 4-8.

The bad news is the Braves lost. The good news is that they are not depending on Ritchie. He was more of a fill in. Dubón and Acuña had a nice night with the bat as well, but four runs is hard to win with against a high octane offense with one of their best rotation arms on the mound.

The Braves now move on to face the Houston Astros as their pursuit of a division crown continues.

Pete Alonso’s return to Queens produced yet another clap of thunder. 

A night after crushing career homer No. 300 — and taking a rare curtain call for a visiting player — the slugging first baseman capped the Orioles’ three-game sweep in his old stomping ground with a re-Pete. 

Alonso’s first-inning homer helped send the Mets to a 7-1 defeat at Citi Field, extending their losing streak to four games. 

Xzavion Curry, replacing Robert Stock in the rotation, surrendered six earned runs over three innings, deflating the Mets before they could get started. Stock was placed on the injured list before the game with numbness in his fingers, which was determined to be a circulatory issue. 

Alonso, who left the Mets for a five-year contract worth $155 million last winter, finished the series 2-for-12 with two homers. His blast in the ninth inning against Kodai Senga on Tuesday tied the game before the Orioles won in the 11th. 

On this night, Alonso again was cheered loudly but wasn’t asked to take a curtain call following his homer. 

“I am beyond thankful for all the support, and it was really fun to play,” Alonso said of the series. “I feel like New York will always be a place where it feels like homecoming — it doesn’t matter whether it’s here or at Yankee Stadium. The whole city of New York is … meaningful.” 

Chris Bassitt (who was Alonso’s teammate on the 2022 Mets) stifled his former team by allowing one earned run over 6 ²/₃ innings. Marcus Semien drove in the only Mets run with a single in the fourth. 

It won’t get any easier for the Mets, with the Phillies — who are battling for a National League wild-card berth — set to begin a four-game series at Citi Field on Thursday. 

“We just got behind 6-0 and didn’t have the quality of at-bats that we’re accustomed to having,” interim manager Andy Green said. “Occasionally in baseball, the best thing you can possibly do is turn the page and go attack the next team,… and we’ll have that opportunity to do that [Thursday].”