Category: MLB

1925
The White Sox scored 15 runs vs. Detroit — and lost.

Ty Cobb was a villain, lining a one-out, full-count pitch from Ted Blankenship out of Tiger Stadium in the bottom of the ninth for the walk-off win. It was the second straight walk-off win for the Tigers over the White Sox, losing on a one-out homer in the bottom of the ninth the previous day as well.

Bibb Falk and Willie Kamm both lined four hits in the game for the White Sox, who tallied 21 in the game. Kamm drove in five runs as well.

Chicago trailed 7-1 and 15-5 in the game before rallying to tie the game at 15 in the top of the ninth on a two-run Kamm double.

The game tied the franchise record for most runs in a loss, along with identical scores in 1911 and 1934.

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1958
In a 3-0 win over the White Sox, Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford tied an AL record by punching out six in a row, including striking out the side in the fourth inning. Jim Wilson held New York to six hits in a shutout loss that saw the White Sox tally seven hits.

In the third inning, Luis Aparicio was gunned down at second base by Yogi Berra on a botched hit-and-run with Nellie Fox, ending Luis’ streak of 26 consecutive thefts.

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1959
Down through the seasons, when the White Sox played the Orioles strange and bizarre things seemed to take place. For the most part those instances took place in Baltimore, but on this night Comiskey Park played host to one that fans attending never forgot. 

Future Sox pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm was on the mound for the O’s in the first inning when a swarm of gnats descended on the pitching mound area. It was so bad he couldn’t see the plate, and the game was halted as trainers, the grounds crew, even umpires tried to get rid of the bugs. 

After a 16-minute delay, Sox owner Bill Veeck ordered the fireworks crew in from the center field bullpen to set up a launch site. One explosion later, the gnats were gone and the game resumed. 

Wilhelm and Baltimore won, 3-2.   

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1967
The White Sox traded infielder Jerry Adair to Boston for two players, one of whom was pitcher Don McMahon. McMahon would pitch spectacularly out of the bullpen for the 1967 White Sox, going 5-0, grabbing three saves and having an ERA of 1.67 in 51 games in a little more than 91 innings for the “near-miss” White Sox.

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1993
It took 886 at-bats, but Joey Cora slugged his first career homer in a 10-1 rout at Detroit. After Tim Raines walked to open the game, Cora crushed a 1-0 pitch from Mike Moore deep to right field in the first inning, putting the White Sox up, 2-0.

The White Sox would hit four homers in the game, including two by Ron Karkovice.

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1995
With the White Sox having blown four straight games to Cleveland and off to an 11-20 start, manager Gene Lamont was fired and replaced by abrasive, taciturn third-base coach Terry Bevington. Bevington would turn out to be a disaster on the field and in the clubhouse, and the long-term effects of the way Lamont was dismissed would cause his mentor and former Sox coach Jim Leyland to turn down overtures by owner Jerry Reinsdorf to take over after Bevington was removed before the start of the 1998 season and replaced by first-time manager Jerry Manuel.

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2024
A 6-3 loss at Milwaukee finished off a sweep, and marked a 11th straight loss and 15th in 16 games for the White Sox. But more than that, it dropped the club to 15-45, 30 games worse than .500, at the earliest date in franchise history. That record was tied for the seventh-worst start to a season in baseball history.

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

Eleven days ago in this space, I wrote that the Orioles were beginning a season-defining homestand that, if it went well, would help them build some momentum and start to salvage their season — or, if it went poorly, could spell “stick a fork in ’em” time for the 2026 team. Truthfully, I was fully expecting the latter to happen, and that I’d be coming back in 11 days to write about which players the O’s should start putting on the trade market for the inevitable selloff.

Happily, the Orioles had other plans. They rattled off an excellent 7-3 homestand, with two series wins and a split, and they do indeed appear to have some momentum on their side for once. They’re not out of the woods yet, of course; the O’s are still four games under .500, so let’s hold off on printing the playoff tickets. But, as our Tyler Young pointed out, there was a lot to like about the Orioles’ performance of the last week and a half. The starting pitching has improved, their offense started scoring runs more consistently, and the O’s showed a lot of heart with some thrilling late-inning comebacks.

Now comes the tricky part: can the O’s bring their winning ways with them on the road? So far this year, the team has been utterly hopeless away from Camden Yards. The Orioles’ road record is just 9-17, and only one team in baseball (the Royals) has fewer road wins than the Birds. The majority of that damage happened in May, when the Orioles went a dreadful 3-10 on their two road trips, which included being swept by two AL East opponents, the Yankees and Rays.

This next road trip, too, will pit the Orioles against divisional foes, albeit two — the Red Sox and Blue Jays — who are having much worse seasons than New York and Tampa Bay. The Red Sox in particular have been awful at home, carrying a 9-19 record at Fenway Park, so theoretically these next three games should be ripe for the Orioles to take. That doesn’t mean they will. The Birds are going to need to continue the recent solid work from their starting staff and the improved plate approach from their hitters, and they’ll need to do it in hostile territory.

I’ll hold off on declaring this as a season-defining road trip, although obviously the worst-case scenario of six straight losses would leave the Orioles hopelessly buried in the standings. If the O’s can keep their wits about them and at least split the six games against two teams that they should be able to beat, then they’ll still be in position to gain some ground when they return to the friendly confines of Oriole Park next Monday.

Links

Orioles starters keying resurgence leading into next road trip – School of Roch

If you’d told me before the season that the Orioles would lose Zach Eflin for the season, Dean Kremer for who knows how long, and have Trevor Rogers post a 6.84 ERA, I’d have expected their rotation to be even more in shambles than last year. The fact that they’re holding their own — and even thriving of late — is kind of remarkable.

Why Orioles infielder Coby Mayo worked with a pitching coach – The Baltimore Banner

I don’t think Mayo will ever be a very good defensive third baseman, but you certainly can’t accuse him of not putting in the work.

Who has best outfield arm in Orioles history? | MAILBAG – BaltimoreBaseball.com

Some of these guys are before my time, but Nick Markakis is the name that jumped immediately to my mind, as it did Rich Dubroff’s. Any other suggestions, Camden Chatters?

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Three former Orioles were born on this day: left-hander Jack O’Connor (68), infielder Bob Saverine (85), and the late outfielder Roger Freed (b. 1946, d. 1996).

On this date in 1958, Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson, then in his first full MLB season, grounded into a triple play against the Senators. It was the first of four triple plays he grounded into during his 23 seasons, setting a dubious major league record. His career turned out pretty okay anyway.

And in 2016, the O’s mashed seven home runs in one game, second most in team history, to defeat the Red Sox at Camden Yards, 12-7. The Orioles homered in every inning from the fourth through the eighth, with Mark Trumbo and Adam Jones each hitting two, while Manny Machado, Pedro Álvarez, and catcher Francisco Peña (in his O’s debut) bashed one apiece.

Random Orioles game of the day

On June 2, 2010, the Orioles suffered their seventh straight loss of what eventually became a 10-game skid, dropping a 9-1 blowout at Yankee Stadium. The O’s were out of the game almost immediately as starter Brad Bergesen coughed up six runs in just 2.1 innings, while the Yankees’ Phil Hughes dominated the Birds’ lineup for seven strong innings. The embarrassing contest featured Miguel Tejada getting thrown out trying to score on a double in the eighth when the Orioles were losing by seven runs. The loss dropped the Orioles to 15-38, by far the worst record in baseball, and they fired manager Dave Trembley two days later.

Phillies News:

• Brandon Marsh starting to get some national recognition for his strong play this season
• The Phillies lineup construction criticism is reaching a breaking point
• Winners and Losers from this series with the Los Angeles Dodgers

MLB News:

• A look at the 10 Most Important Players in June
• Reds call up top prospect Edwin Arroyo to replace injured Elly De La Cruz
• Sacramento has a taste for major league baseball, and now want a permanent team
• Blue Jays Jesus Sanchez appears to be okay after bizarre on-field incident with fan

The Detroit Tigers opened up June with a white-knuckle 10-9 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, as one of the worst teams in the majors took down the top squad in the American League. AJ Hinch’s squad went wire-to-wire in the victory, but the team nearly collapsed in characteristic fashion in the final innings.

The Tigers can string together two straight victories for the first time since the opening days of May on Tuesday, but they will have to do it with right-hander Jack Flaherty on the mound. To his credit, the 30-year-old has done an admirable job over the past starts, limiting his free passes to just one while keeping up his strikeout totals with 20 over the last 15 innings of work.

Still, Detroit is just 2-10 this season with Flaherty on the mound. The last time the Tigers won with him starting was back on April 15 against the Kansas City Royals in what was easily his best outing of the 2026 campaign — a six-inning effort that saw him cough up a run on two hits and three walks while striking out seven.

Up against him is left-hander Steven Matz, who had a string of three straight solid starts — two of them of the quality variety — snapped last time out against the Baltimore Orioles, who shelled him for six runs on seven hits (one home run) and two walks while striking out two over three innings.

The 35-year-old saw the Tigers thrice last season — once with the St. Louis Cardinals and the other two with the Boston Red Sox, all in relief — holding Detroit scoreless across four frames of work, surrendering just one hit and zero walks while striking out three. We will see if he can bring that same mojo to the mound on Tuesday night.

Detroit Tigers (23-38) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (36-21)

Time (ET): 6:40 p.m.
Place: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
SB Nation Site:DRaysBay
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 62: RHP Jack Flaherty (0-7, 5.81 ERA) vs. LHP Steven Matz (4-2, 4.67 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Flaherty	12	52.2	25.7	12.0	30.1	4.61	0.5
Matz	9	44.1	19.0	9.2	33.6	4.77	0.3

FLAHERTY

MATZ

These are Rob Manfred’s words, from four years ago: “If there is one thing I could wish for, more than anything else, it would be the ability to give our fans that frictionless experience of being able to watch what they want to watch, where they want to watch.”

This is what it means to be fan-friendly: enjoy your team on a cable, satellite or streaming service wherever you are, with no blackouts, and no need for subscriptions to as many as 10 outlets, most of which you do not want and some of which you may not be able to find.

Manfred, baseball’s commissioner, can solve this. The major league owners can solve this.

Does Shohei Ohtani have to solve this too?

Yes, according to the initial collective bargaining proposal the owners presented to the players’ union last week.

The union also made their initial bargaining proposal last week, the start of a long process that could jeopardize the 2027 season. At this point, the two sides cannot even agree whether baseball has a major predicament on its hands, let alone whether a salary cap should be needed to defuse it.

Read more:Shaikin: As MLB proposes salary cap, Sacramento pursues team it might not be able to afford

This is what MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement last week: “Too many fans in too many markets have too little hope their team has a fair chance to win.”

This is what union executive director Bruce Meyer said on a call with reporters Monday: “We do not accept the premise that there is some existential crisis going on.”

The league says players as a whole would make more money with a cap; the union says players would lose hundreds of millions. The league picks its preferred statistics to show why competitive balance is broken; the union picks its preferred statistics to show why it is not.

This back and forth is going to go on for months. So let’s skip it for now and get back to the television problem. The league and its owners sign broadcast contracts with media outlets, so why do the players need to be involved here?

That is: If the owners’ proposed solution to the purported competitive balance problem is to pool all broadcast revenue and split it equally among teams, why not just do it?

The short answer: revenue sharing is included in the collective bargaining agreement, so any change to revenue sharing must be negotiated with the players.

The long answer: The Dodgers already are contributing about $100 million from their SportsNet LA deal toward revenue sharing. If they’re going to contribute all of it — roughly three times as much — what’s their incentive?

The owners could try to find one of their own revenue sources to compensate the Dodgers and other behemoths, including the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. But, first, how about trying to make the Dodgers whole from cuts in player payroll?

Under the cap proposal, the required payroll cuts could save the Dodgers in salary about as much as they could lose in local television revenue.

And, Caplin told me, all that revenue sharing would give the 12 teams currently under the proposed $171 minimum payroll a way to get there.

“You have to give small market teams the resources to get to the floor,” Caplin said.

That is the kind of talk that annoys Meyer, who noted the San Diego Padres used to take from the revenue-sharing fund and now pay into it. Under the late Peter Seidler, the Padres played to win and paid to win, and the team now ranks second in attendance (behind the Dodgers) and just sold for a league-record $3.9 billion.

“We want to encourage more San Diegos,” Meyer said.

The way the league tells it, not every owner currently has the ability to compete.

“Every team does have that ability, whether they concede that or not,” Meyer said.

As we said, the back and forth is going to go on for months. The blackouts should not.

“We want fans to see as many games as possible,” Meyer said. “We want them to remove the blackouts and maximize revenue in any way they can.”

Read more:Plaschke: Ryan Ward becomes an unlikely star in memorable Dodger Stadium debut

The MLB blackout policies are not negotiated with the union. They are negotiated with broadcast partners and were primarily designed to prop up the value of contracts with cable and satellite companies, many of which have since withered and died.

Caplin said the league is not interested in waiving blackout rules on a team-by-team basis, even for those teams whose rights no longer are held by a cable or satellite entity. In order to resolve the blackout problem, Caplin said the league hopes to sell a national media package that would eliminate the need to preserve local broadcast territories.

At this point, no one knows whether a salary cap might actually come to pass, or whether an all-the-teams, all-the-time media outlet might come to pass. But, after years of promising that the league could find a way to give its fans what they wanted, there has got to be a better way than setting up a scenario in which Manfred might essentially tell fans, “You’re stuck with blackouts because Mike Trout and Aaron Judge won’t go for a salary cap.”

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Ask any fan, analyst, or evaluator about the Yankees’ weaknesses, and they’re almost certain to start in one place: the bullpen. The team’s disinterest in making moves to upgrade the unit over the winter, which struggled for much of 2025, drew ire as part of the club’s “Run it Back” strategy. If the bullpen wasn’t very good last year, and the Yankees did nothing over the winter to upgrade it, why should they expect it to excel this year?

Many are still asking that same question over two months into the season. With trade season approaching, though, I couldn’t help but wonder: will the Yankees’ bullpen problem solve itself?

Look ahead to the summer months, and the clearest way the Yankee bullpen could fix itself is through a series of internal upgrades, with the talent from the club’s stellar starting rotation trickling down. The rotation has been the talk of the town so far in 2026, and that’s with Max Fried now on the shelf and Clarke Schmidt still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. While Schmidt is still a ways off, Fried has resumed throwing and could be back sometime this month. His return would force Aaron Boone to answer a difficult, that of which quality starter would need to get bumped from his stellar rotation.

The most obvious candidate is Ryan Weathers, who through little fault of his own has probably been the weakest member of the rotation thus far. Weathers also has some experience pitching in relief, having shuttled between the rotation and the ‘pen for the first few years of his career. As a lefty who can touch 98+ mph on his heater, and who has the pedigree of a mid-rotation starter, Weathers alone could be a massive addition to the bullpen.

But that’s just the start of the potential reinforcements the Yankees could add internally. The aforementioned Schmidt, one of the Yankees’ best pitchers when healthy between 2024 and 2025, is targeting a late-summer return, and very well could be a bullpen addition when he returns. On top of that, the Yankees have a cavalcade of interesting arms in the minors. Carlos Lagrange is the most mouth-watering potential prospect addition, the big right-hander in possession of 103-mph gas that could surely get major-league hitters out right now. Though he’s the number-one option for a spot start at the moment, Elmer Rodriguez also figures to be a plausible bullpen by the end of the year if he’s needed there, while the likes of Yovanny Cruz and Yerry De Los Santos give the Yankees even more minor-league depth as members of the Scranton Shuttle.

Moreover, there’s the fact that even as shaky as the bullpen has felt at times, the unit even as currently constructed hasn’t been that bad. A number of high-profile blown saves have left a sour taste in fans mouths, but the Yankee bullpen currently ranks fourth in the AL in ERA, fifth in FIP, and first in expected ERA. It’s plausible that even just left to their own devices, the Yankee bullpen could solve itself just by continuing to pitch largely as they have thus far, but while avoiding a few key blow-ups that lead to tough losses in close games.

In any event, contending teams tend to make moves to add arms in the summer, and I don’t expect the Yankees to go through the trade deadline without making efforts to add external help. But given the club’s roster construction at the moment, is it possible they won’t even need to lift a finger to straighten out their bullpen?

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We’re back in business today, the Yankees hosting the Guardians for a three-game set, which Peter will preview this morning. We’ll also get our weekly minor league rundown from Michael, and a profile of Stick Michael from Jeff. Later, Madison will recap a light Monday night of action, while Peter will review the last month in the NL East, and Matt goes over what happened in May in the NL Central.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians

Time: 7:05 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, Guardians.tv

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

The Pittsburgh Pirates have reinstated pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski from the restricted list as he rejoins the team as a relief pitcher on their road trip in Houston.

Following the return of Jared Jones from the 60-day injured list, Mlodzinski was informed that he would be removed from the starting pitching rotation. In a post-game locker room interview on Thursday last week, Mlodzinski was noticeably upset at the decision to bump him back to the bullpen.

“Obviously, just excited to have Jared back with us,” Mlodzinski said. “I can honestly say I’m just still communicating with the organization and the people in my corner, whether that’s my family or my agency, about what is next. I really don’t have any comments after that.”

Mlodzinski was then placed on the restricted list on Sunday, citing that he did not feel physically or mentally prepared after hearing the news of losing his spot in the rotation. The 27-year-old pitcher did not request a trade, but the move to sit out Sunday’s game was something that General Manager Ben Cherington anticipated.

“Carmen informed us this morning (Sunday) that he was not ready to pitch today,” Cherington said. “So, we made the decision to place him on the restricted list for today. Going into the weekend, we understood and communicated with Carmen that at some point this weekend we were going to need him to be ready or we’d have to replace him on the team in fairness to the team, so that’s what happened today.”

Carmen Mlodzinski appeared disheartened and didn’t go into much detail regarding his thoughts on moving to the Pirates bullpen. — From José Negron in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/PNK2ekDJEk

— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPghSports) May 29, 2026

After a brief stint on the restricted list Mlodzinski appears ready and willing to embrace his new role on the Pirates as a strong reliever.

“I wanna do what’s best to help us win baseball games,” Mlodzinski said. “Being around these guys, this team, it’s a pretty cool group to be a part of. Of course I want to start and will always want that, but winning games takes precedence.”

Cherington also commented on the strength that Mlodzinski can bring to the team in relief appearances.

“I believe we’ve made a lot of progress with him around what his role was gonna be and how we can work with him in that role to help the team win,” Cherington said.

Given the way he started the season Mlodzinksi has every reason to be upset at the decision the organization made to boot him from the rotation. This has been by far his best start to a season as a starter as he has a 4-3 record with a 3.76 ERA in nine starts. He’s also only given up just three homers this year while striking out 46. Obviously it wasn’t a matter of performance, but the writing has been on the wall all season; as soon Jones was healthy enough to return Mlodzinski figured to be the odd man out.

Unfortunately for Mlodzinski his stats couldn’t sway the decision of management when it came to the final cut. If it were strictly about numbers, one would figure Bubba Chandler would be the one getting sent to the bullpen after a shaky start to the 2026 season. However, the experience that Mlodzinski has as a reliever and the struggles the bullpen has had makes him the clear best choice to help the team win.

Carmen Mlodzinski is back off the restricted list and says he’s ready to take on the bullpen role, even if his long-term goal is still to start.

We know Carmen can be a high-leverage bulk option who can cover multiple innings, protect the bullpen, and potentially close out games… pic.twitter.com/CoYR5YAjTl

— 𝐍𝐒𝟗 (@NorthShoreNine) June 2, 2026

Mlodzinski has spent the majority of his MLB career as a relief pitcher and the current bullpen needs plenty of help. With that being said it sounds like Mlodzinski will be used at extended periods in games, with Jason Mackey reporting that manager Don Kelly said he would serve as a “high-leverage bulk reliever”, likely pitching multiple innings behind the starters. The bullpen has struggled mightily in the middle innings of games this year, but Mlodzinski slides into that role as someone who could pitch multiple innings and even close out a game with his improved pitch mix.

The Pirates will take on the Houston Astros in Houston in a three-game series and Mlodzinski figures to be ready to rock if called upon.

“If they called on me Tuesday, if they need me to do that, I would be willing to do whatever they’re asking,” Mlodzinski said. “That kind of sums it up for me, honestly.”

In this column, I normally focus on guys who, you know, haven’t actually taken wing yet. But I missed Charles McAdoo after saying I’d feature him, and he really has had an interesting season, so I figured that in spite of 8 PA and a home run with the big club he’d still be an appropriate topic.

McAdoo was a 13th round pick by the Pirates out of San Jose State in 2023. He smashed the low minors and looked good in a brief AA stint before being traded to the Jays at the 2024 deadline in exchange for Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He scuffled down the stretch last year, and had an ugly first couple of months repeating the level in 2025 before finding his footing and slashing .274/.343/.475 over the final 80 games of the season.

This season, he was bumped up to AAA. Although his 112 wRC+ isn’t really an improvement over last season’s overall result, he’s getting there a different way. McAdoo has sliced way down on his swing and miss, making contact 80.7% of the time compared to 71% at a lower level last year. It’s the best rate of his pro career, and a sharp reversal from his previous trend of increasing whiffs as he climbed the ladder. He’s also become more selective, swinging 42% of the time as a Bison compared to almost 48% as a Fisher Cat. As a result, he’s gone from walking 9% of the time and striking out nearly 28% to walking 14% of the time and striking out just 20%. Both are his best marks since A ball by a significant margin. That’s come with a lower BABIP and a bit less power production than he manage before being traded or after June 1st last year.

It’s not obvious what’s allowed him to make that improvement. His swing looks about the same, starting with a closed stance in a low crouch with the bat flat behind his head and using a small toe tap to shift him into a more neutral position before he unloads. If anything’s changed, it looks like he’s somewhat quieted the bat waggle that in past years has sometimes looked like it lead him to start his swing from a different hand angle than he’d like. He may have also reduced his bat wrap a bit, very slightly shortening his swing. It’s a minor tweak if it’s anything.

The results look like they come from a different swing, though. He doesn’t seem to be hitting the ball as hard. His hard hit rate in Buffalo was 37% over a large enough sample to mean something. That’s a touch below average. We don’t have that info publicly available for AA, but scouting reports note that he was putting up plus exit velocities. He also hasn’t cracked 110mph on a ball in play yet this year, unusual for a guy universally agreed to possess plus raw power. In a tiny sample, his bat speed at the MLB level has been right on average. He’s also putting the ball on the ground more and pulling it less than he has in his career, especially since he reached AA.

Maybe the changes are subtle and I’m just not picking them up, because statistically he really looks like a guy who’s cut down and flattened his swing to make more contact. If that is what’s happened, it’s not a bad trade. He’s catching up to high fastballs (his home run was on 94 at the top of the zone), and while his power production has dipped he still has nine home runs across 215 PA. If he can post near league average strikeout and walk totals with 20+ home runs, he’ll have plenty of offensive juice to support a big league role.

He’ll have to hit, because he won’t get into games for his glove or his wheels. He’s played mostly third base in the minors, but while he’s got an athletic build he’s stiff and not very rangy there. He spent more than half his time in Buffalo at first or as the DH. In the long term, he looks like a corner utility guy who can give you passable work at third on occasion, but I don’t think he should be an every day option there. He’s a below average runner, although good instincts and aggression allowed him to steal 34 bases in 40 tries in 2025 and 21 in 25 the season before. It’s not that he brings no value outside the bat, but he’s a guy who does enough elsewhere to allow the bat to get into games rather than someone who can deliver value in multiple facets of the game.

It’ll be interesting to see what McAdoo is able to do with his opportunity in Toronto. With Lenyn Sosa ‘injured’ and unplayable when healthy and Davis Schneider appearing to need a significant reset in AAA, he should get at least a couple of weeks’ run with the big league club. If he does continue to make a decent amount of contact and flash his power, he could add a little jolt to the bottom of a lineup that’s sorely needed it.

MLB.com | Theo DeRosa: There are many ways to win a baseball game. Scoring 13 runs in an inning is certainly one of them; I’m surprised the Yankees don’t try it more often. Jokes aside, their 3rd-inning outburst against the A’s on Sunday was one for the ages, and I mean literally – the last time the Yankees scored more runs in an inning, according to this article, was on July 6, 1920 against the Washington Senators, when they hung a 14-spot in the 5th inning. It would be pretty cool if this year’s squad did that too.

MLB.com | Ed Eagle: Rejoice, everybody: Ben Rice has won his first ever Player of the Week award! I guess hitting .462 with seven extra-base hits and 11 RBI in 26 at bats will do that for you. To be honest, Rice has been so good this year that I’m surprised that this was his first time winning this award – I could’ve sworn he had some blazing weeks earlier in the year. Congratulations, Ben, and here’s hoping this is the first of many to come.

Sports Illustrated | Mark Rosenstein: The Yankees need bullpen help, and they could be getting some from an old friend. Tommy Kahnle has had two stints in the Bronx, the second one ending in 2024. This March, he signed a minor league contract with the Red Sox, and he’s been pitching for their AAA affiliate. There’s a quirk to his contract, as if he’s not on the major league roster by June 1 – that is, today – he can opt out, becoming a free agent. Might there be a reunion in the works? If Kahnle is willing to accept another minor league deal, fine, I guess, but color me skeptical about the chances of him actually helping the team. The Yankees need high-caliber options, and a guy who walked 31 batters in 63 innings last year is not my idea of one.

ESPN | Kiley McDaniel: Prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel has released updated top 10 rankings for each MLB team, and right-handed pitcher Sean Paul Liñan receives a shoutout as a “riser to watch”. Acquired from the Dodgers’ system in the Jorbit Vivas trade, Liñan has struck out 51 batters in just 35 innings for the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades this year. If he can continue to post these kinds of numbers going forward, expect Sean Paul to get busy moving up the ranks.

Orel Hershiser reflects on what Cristopher Sánchez's streak demands originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES — Orel Hershiser remembers the tight games before he remembers the number.

Before the Cherry Hill native became tied forever to 59, there were smaller calculations. A leadoff double. A hitter he wanted to avoid. A one-run lead, or no lead at all, with a Dodgers lineup giving him little room.

That rings true to Cristopher Sánchez’s scoreless stretch.

The Phillies’ ace has gone 44 2/3 consecutive innings without allowing a run. Last Wednesday, he passed Grover Cleveland Alexander for the longest scoreless streak in franchise history. He sits 14 1/3 innings from Hershiser’s major-league record, set in 1988.

Hershiser was a 29-year-old right-hander then. He won the National League Cy Young Award, led the majors with 23 wins, led the NL with 15 complete games and then took home NLCS and World Series MVP honors.

Sánchez is a 29-year-old left-hander now. He finished second in the National League Cy Young Award race last season after going 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA across 32 starts. This year, he has pitched like the favorite, with a 6-2 record, a 1.47 ERA and nine quality starts in 12 outings.

They are the only two pitchers in baseball history to make five starts in a calendar month and not allow a run.

Even so, Hershiser sees more than the chase.

“I think people forget it’s a team,” Hershiser said. “It’s a team record.”

That answer frames Sánchez’s streak better than the number alone.

The Phillies enter Tuesday with one of baseball’s worst offenses, third-worst in OPS and second-worst in on-base percentage. Since Sánchez’s streak began, their pitching staff has ranked third in ERA, though.

They have needed every zero.

Hershiser pitched through a similar season in 1988. The Dodgers won the World Series with a .657 regular-season OPS, the second-lowest by any champion since the Dead Ball Era.

From July 1 through the end of the regular season, they had the worst OPS in baseball. Their pitching staff finished with the second-best ERA in the majors.

The Dodgers scored just 18 total runs in those seven Hershiser starts, a streak that ran from Aug. 30 to Sept. 28.

“One of the things that probably helped me during the streak was our team wasn’t scoring very much,” Hershiser said. “It wasn’t like I had any 6-0 games where I could trade outs for runs.”

A larger lead would have changed his approach. Hershiser would have chased quick outs. He would have treated the game differently.

“I wouldn’t have worried about the streak,” he said. “I would have just said, ‘I want to get this game over with. I want to save my pitch count. I want to pitch nine innings.’”

The Dodgers did not give him that choice.

“Because the games were so close,” Hershiser said, “I think it made it extra special to prevent the run.”

Sánchez has pitched through a similar stretch. His starts have become the surest day on the Phillies’ schedule.

“You can’t go 30 innings,” Hershiser said, “without having a good team.”

He was not talking only about run support.

He meant the catcher. The defense. The positioning. A scoreless streak leaves no margin for sloppiness.

“Somebody’s got to pick the baseball up and throw it to first and not throw it away,” Hershiser said.

He still remembers the plays behind his own streak.

John Shelby made spectacular catches in center. Steve Sax made plays at second. The Dodgers made diving stops. In San Francisco, with runners on first and third, Los Angeles failed to turn a double play. Then the Giants’ Brett Butler was ruled out of the baseline, giving the Dodgers the double play anyway.

Hershiser still recalls it as one of the breaks that kept the streak alive.

He saw similar moments in Sánchez’s last start against San Diego. Balls reached the warning track. Justin Crawford crashed into the wall in center field to save a run.

Sánchez created the streak. The Phillies have defended it.

When asked what holds a scoreless streak together, Hershiser started with the backstop.

“The relationship with your catcher,” he said. “The ability for the data guys now to put the fielders in the right place, too. In my day, I moved the fielders with my eyes and my body language.”

The sport has changed. The work has not.

Sánchez still has to execute.

Hershiser built his streak, and his career, on command, feel and contact. He did not chase strikeouts unless the game called for one.

“I didn’t play go out and dominate,” Hershiser said. “I played hit it early, hit it weakly, hit it at somebody.”

Sánchez works from a similar base, with more swing-and-miss.

His sinker runs. His changeup fades. His arm slot gives hitters a tough look. His delivery hides the ball long enough for the movement to play.

“Deception,” Hershiser said.

The longtime Dodger sees the connection. He also sees the separation.

“He’s a groundball machine, which I was,” Hershiser said. “But he’s a better strikeout pitcher than I was.”

That gives Sánchez another way out of trouble. Hershiser had to choose his strikeout spots. Sánchez creates more of them.

Still, Hershiser values movement over pure velocity.

“A big leaguer can time a bullet,” Hershiser said. “So I would rather you throw the ball 94 with late movement than 99 as straight as a string in the middle.”

Nothing Sánchez throws is flat. His sinker and changeup move late, and they look similar long enough to force early swing decisions.

The modern game adds another layer.

Hershiser finished his streak with 10 scoreless innings in extras against San Diego, an unheard of effort nowadays.

But he does not view the current game as easier. Starters throw fewer innings, but clubs demand more of them.

“They’re also asked to throw at a higher effort level,” Hershiser said. “Everything’s being measured.”

He does not dismiss the information, but he rejects the idea that it captures every decision from the mound.

“From 30,000 feet, [the analytics] might be right,” Hershiser said. “But from ground level, I’m not sure they’re right.”

Sánchez’s streak lives in that gap between what the data says and what a pitcher still has to feel from the mound.

Now he has to see the Padres again on Wednesday to continue the chase.

“It’s not a streak until you start entering into the hierarchy of streaks,” Hershiser said.

Once his name moved up the list, the questions followed. USA Today. The Associated Press. The Los Angeles Times.

Hershiser reduced the job to the next pitch.

“I can throw one more sinking fastball away,” he said. “I can bounce one more curveball when I get ahead.”

Sánchez now faces that same narrow task.

The next pitch.

Dodgers legend Don Drysdale, whose record Hershiser chased, worked around the team then as a broadcaster and mentor at the time. As Hershiser moved closer, Drysdale gave him space.

“He was very much a gentleman,” Hershiser said.

Hershiser now watches from the other side.

Fellow Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, who reached 41 scoreless innings in 2014, and Zack Greinke, who reached 45 2/3 innings in 2015, got close. Greinke stopped almost exactly where Sánchez sits now.

Hershiser said his family and friends root harder against challengers than he does. He does not guard the record like property.

So he watches Sánchez with respect, not fear.

He knows the stress.

“The record is a record,” Hershiser said. “It’s not going to make or break or change my life anymore. It already did.”

This spring training, there were two Mariners stories that stood out: Emerson Hancock, who showed up to camp with increased velocity and an expanded arsenal; and Cole Young, who showcased improvements on both sides of the ball. The question, as it always is in spring, was if those improvements would be sustainable.

Tonight, the calendar freshly turned to June, those two players—along with rookie Colt Emerson (who had his own spring training storyline) and not-rookies Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena—combined to deliver the Mariners their seventh straight win, continuing to buoy the team above the .500 mark they’ve so miserably been circling most of this season, as the Mariners defeated the Mets 3-2.

It didn’t necessarily seem that this would be the case. After the Oakland series, the Mariners had lulled some people (not me) into a false sense of security in their ability to perform against left-handed pitching, something that’s been a bête noire for the team all season given the lefty-heavy nature of the roster, the injuries/ineffectiveness of their right-handed options, and the overall stop-and-start nature of an offense that was designed to do damage from top to bottom. That wasn’t the case today as the Mariners hitters struggled against Sean Manaea, making boatloads of quick, weak-contact outs. The only damage against Manaea was a left-on-left home run in the third (technically Manaea’s second inning, as the Mets used an opener because it’s apparently 2016 in the Bronx) by Colt Emerson, his second big-league barrel:

That is just…an objectively beautiful swing from Colt “the scouting reports love to lie about me” Emerson.

But one solo home run over six innings will, generally, Not Cut It, even when the person on the mound is Emerson Hancock, spinning another gem. Hancock was very good today, but not perfect, and that not-perfect caught up with him on two solo homers, both in three-ball counts: one game-tying in the fifth and one go-ahead in the sixth (and to Marcus Semien! Just his second of the year!)

But this feels like damning with faint praise for Hancock, who again was very good, showing off yet another wrinkle in his pitch mix by digging deep in his arsenal to add in his rarely-thrown curveball (he threw six today, after having thrown only 16 all year), dialing up his cutter usage against a lefty-heavy Mets lineup. The north-south movement of the curveball provides a solid counterpoint to Hancock’s more east-west arsenal, such as his cutter, which he was able to spot on both sides of the plate tonight and throw at varying velocities in seemingly any count.

“I think [the cutter] gives you an option early,” said Hancock postgame. “It gives you an option behind in the count, or even late. And I think with that pitch, all my pitches, I’m just trying to be as creative as possible, be able to have as many options as I can.”

But it looked like Hancock was on his way to being a tough-luck loser despite pitching so well – six innings, seven strikeouts, no walks and just the two homers – until the seven inning when the Mets, who have been using Manaea as a swingman, replaced him with Brooks Raley, who loves giving up home runs to Mariners like Josh Naylor loves shoes. Naylor immediately made them pay for that decision, skying a game-tying home run to right field.

The Mariners couldn’t add on after that despite a Cole Young single, so Dan Wilson went to Matt Brash in the eighth. Brash hit the first batter he faced, MJ Melendez, but Cole Young was able to bail him out on a nicely turned double play and then Matt helped himself out with a truly vicious strikeout of Marcus Semien. The only bummer about that inning was that Josh Naylor disappeared, replaced by Patrick Wisdom at first base; Dan Wilson later confirmed Naylor was removed with back spasms, felt on the home run swing, and he is day-to-day.

But back to that double play for a second: this was an inflection point in the game, with the Mets threatening against Brash, who was shaky in his last outing. Young’s heads-up play (I strenuously object to the official MLB video title for this clip which is “Mariners turn interesting double play”), where he successfully fields the ball, tags the runner, fires to first cleanly, and makes sure he doesn’t obstruct the runner, all in a matter of moments, is the kind of reflexive, instinctual play Young used to make in the minors all the time but disappeared at the big-league level in his rookie season as he struggled to get his bearings at second base. Not that this is a doubt by now but the improvements from spring training did make the trip north.

“That was a really heads-up play,” said Wilson. “I gotta believe he took a page out of Naylor’s book from the other day, too, very similar kind of play…that’s what we’ve seen at second base all year from Cole…we talk about his slow heartbeat, and that was another moment where he just did what he had to to get the double play. Huge for us.”

Young himself deflected when asked if he was indeed taking a page out of Naylor’s book, saying he wasn’t exactly sure what the rule was but he “figured it out.” How did he figure it out?

“I asked the umpire,” he said. “I honestly didn’t know, but good to know, now.”

Andrés Muñoz pitched the ninth for the Mariners, facing Luis Torrens and the top of the lineup, and it was nice to see Muñoz put together a clean 1-2-3 inning. It was less nice to see Julio go down hacking against Devin Williams in the bottom of the inning, followed by Victor Robles grounding out and Randy Arozarena also striking out hacking, sending the game to extras for the second day in a row.

Gabe Speier took the tenth to face the lefties stacked in the middle of New York’s lineup. Speier opened the inning by striking out Juan Soto in a full count, prompting the Mets to put in pinch-hitter Mark Vientos for lefty Jared Young, owner of one of the Mets’ two home runs that night. Speier struck him out. When this series is over Mets and Mariners fans might have some similar bellyaching to do about platoons. Speier followed that up by getting rookie A.J. Ewing to pop out, keeping the Mets’ Manfred Man standing at second. It was maybe the sharpest we’ve seen Speier all year, and if the upshot of the piggyback is it allows vintage Gabe Speier to re-emerge, I might have to reconsider my reservations.

The Mets called upon yet another lefty, A.J. Minter, to deal with the Mariners in the bottom of the tenth, curious given that Patrick Wisdom was leading off instead of the injured Naylor – but again, Wisdom couldn’t make the most of the platoon advantage, striking out. However, Randy Arozarena was the runner at second, and having drawn a couple of throws and generally made a pest of himself, he took off for third as Wisdom struck out, putting the winning run on base with just one out and making Cole Young’s job a little easier.

I have been sitting on these numbers for a while because the sample size is so small but we’ve gotten enough to where Young finally has over 50 plate appearances in high-leverage situations. In those situations, his slashline is .273/.396/.500. Dan Wilson has praised Young’s “slow heartbeat” multiple times this season, but it’s different when you see it in action. Young took a cutter off the plate away, and Minter went back to the same spot; he reached out and flicked a little hit into left field for the game-winner, exactly one year and one day after his debut walk-off (this one traveled just a bit further).

If the Mariners are going to keep control of the AL West while their starting catcher and biggest off-season acquisition are shelved, it’s going to need to come from contributions from players like these: a rookie sensation Emerson, a resurgent Hancock, a sophomore no-slump Young. So far, all three are proving their spring awakenings are here to stay.

The stats were bonkers in this one.

The Rockies drew 10 walks and added two more free passes through hit by pitches, which should lead to numerous runs. On defense, the Rockies committed four fielding errors, which should result in a loss. When it comes to pitching, Kyle Freeland gave up a grand slam to Jose Siri.

Through it all, the Rockies persisted, rallying for two comebacks — including a five-run eighth inning — to pull out a hard-to-believe win on Monday night.

With the game tied 8-8, the Rockies had to dial up another comeback in the ninth. It was small, but mighty enough to win as Kyle Karros singled, Jake McCarthy doubled and TJ Rumfield hit a sac fly to drive in the winning run.

Team effort 🤝 pic.twitter.com/eRiiQt5ear

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 2, 2026

“That was not a normal game. They gave 12 free passes. We kicked the ball a bunch tonight and threw it around sloppily, but somebody’s got to win that game,” said Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer. “I thought the boys showed incredible resilience, bouncing back multiple times, just sticking with it and throwing up really good at-bats all night long, despite the horrendous defense.”

Big hits in the 8th

After the big hits had been elusive all game, they finally came in the eighth inning for the Rockies. Sterlin Thompson and Kyle Karros led off the frame with back-to-back doubles. When Thompson scored, it cut the Angels lead to 6-4. Jake McCarthy followed with a walk and Tyler Freeman singled to score Karros to cut L.A’s lead to 6-5. That’s when Hunter Goodman handled things, hitting his 14th homer of the year and putting the Rockies up 8-6.

HUNTER GOODMAN🤯 pic.twitter.com/sfo7v17vvD

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 2, 2026

The Rockies hit around in the inning, which marked the 10th time this season when the Rockies scored five or more runs.

“We’ve had some good innings this year, but that was a big one,” Schaeffer said.

The Rockies seven, eight and nine hitters, Edouard Julien, Thompson and Karros, combined to draw three walks, produce four hits score three runs and drive in two. That helped McCarthy add more of a spark in the leadoff spot as the outfielder homered, doubled, scored two runs and walked twice.

“Jake was awesome,” Schaeffer said. “It makes such a difference when the bottom of the lineup gets on base like that.”

Nothing is easy

Unfortunately for the Rockies, Jaden Hill wasn’t at his best in the bottom of the eighth. The reliever gave up a leadoff walk and then a single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. With only recording one out, Hill was pulled for Antonio Senzatela. He gave up a triple to Jorge Soler, which tied the game, but then he got out of the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, Senzatela got one out on one pitch, but then gave up a single. Siri then hit a groundball to Ezequiel Tovar, who touched second and gunned the ball to first for a double play.

The Angels challenged the out on speedy Siri, but the ruling on the field was confirmed and Senzatela earned the win to improve to 5-0 (even though he also got the blown save).

It ain’t grand

Despite giving up two singles and a long fly ball to the warning track, Kyle Freeland made it through the first two innings with a clean sheet. When he gave up back-to-back singles to Donovan Walton and Jorge Soler to lead off the third, it was a sign of a rough inning to come. Even though he retired the next two batters via two lineouts, including Mike Trout, Jo Adell put the Angels on the board with an RBI single to cut the Rockies lead to 2-1.

Oswald Peraza kept the rally going with an infield hit to load the bases, which teed up a grand slam Jose Siri. In one frame, the Rockies went from up 2-0, to trailing 5-2.

Freeland bounced back in the fourth with a three-up, three-down inning that was capped off with a Trout strikeout. Outside of the satisfaction of striking out one of the best hitters in baseball, the K marked Freeland’s 986th career strikeout, which moved him into second place above Jorge De La Rosa on the all-time Colorado franchise list. He now trails only Germán Márquez’s 1,069.

Freeland finished the day with four strikeouts (987), but gave up six runs (five earned), on seven hits with one walk in 5.2 innings. As proof of the Freeland’s struggles this season, the outing dropped Freeland’s ERA from 8.08 to 8.06. However, Schaeffer was still impressed with Freeland’s outing.

“I thought Free threw the ball well. He maintained his velocity all day, put the ball where he wanted, and the changeup was really working,” said Schaeffer, who blamed the bad defense for too much of the scoring. “He competed against nine right-handers, which is hard to do. Kudos to him. He battled and got us through 5-plus with a bullpen that’s been taxed of late.”

An early road advantage

The Rockies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Tyler Freeman drew a walk and advanced to second on a throwing error on a failed pick off at first. Troy Johnston took advantage with a slow single up the middle to plate Freeman and put Colorado up 1-0.

Troy puts us up! pic.twitter.com/noS2vNEbbG

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 2, 2026

McCarthy doubled to lead with a walkoff homer. The 397-foot shot to center field was his fourth of the season.

You bet he did‼️ pic.twitter.com/9XS5mAq8Wf

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 2, 2026

In the fifth, Thompson hit an RBI single to cut L.A.‘s lead to 5-3. Through seven innings, the three runs on four hits were all the Rockies could muster. Going into the eighth, the Rockies were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and had left 10 runners on base. They also had drawn eight walks and were hit by two pitches.

In other words, the Rockies had their chances, but couldn’t capitalize. It didn’t help that in the game the Rockies struck out 11 times — five recorded by Ezequiel Tovar. Schaeffer was still happy with his team’s offensive approach.

“The whole game, even though we did punch out 10 times, I thought the at-bats were excellent tonight,” Schaeffer said.

Freeman hit a foul ball off his foot late in the game and didn’t return to field in the bottom of the eighth. Schaeffer said the Rockies will know more on Tuesday about the severity of the injury.

Up next

The Rockies and Angels will be back in action Tuesday at 7:38 p.m. MDT. Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之 (4-4, 4.01 ERA) will get the start for the Rockies, while LHP Grayson Rodriguez (2-1, 7.53 ERA).

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It was a frustrating start to the season for Sean Manaea. 

The left-hander struggled to find his velocity during spring training and he ended up landing in more of a mop-up role out of the Mets’ bullpen early on. 

Instead of putting his head down, Manaea keep on grinding. 

He put in a ton of work with pitching coach Justin Willard, and is finally starting to see all of that paying off.   

The veteran has found more success with an uptick in velocity over his past few outings, leading to him receiving an opportunity in the Mets’ starting rotation. 

“You have to give him credit,” Carlos Mendoza said. “When it was hard for him he was basically the last guy out of the bullpen and he never put his head down -- you saw him doing long toss and all of the drills we put him through.

“When you see the velo now starting to come up, we know the strike-showing ability, but now the cutter and the sweeper throwing strikes -- that’s the guy that we saw in 2024.”

And that’s the guy that the Mets saw on Monday night, as well.

Manaea was absolutely spectacular serving as the bulk reliever for the first time this season, piecing together his best and longest outing to this point. 

He lost a left-on-left matchup with 20-year-old Colt Emerson, allowing a solo homer to right in the bottom of the third, but otherwise cruised his way through Seattle's lineup. 

The southpaw gave up just one other baserunner on a walk and struck out four over 5.0 innings. 

Manaea’s velocity increased again, and he's now held his opponent to one run in three straight appearances. 

“I’ve just been taking things day-by-day,” he said. “Just building each day and coming in with a plan, and slowly but surely I’ve just been feeling really good on the mound.”

It remains to be seen if it’ll be as a straight starter or bulk reliever again, but Manaea is in line to take another turn in the rotation the next time around. 

Record: 32-27. Pace: 88-74. Change on 2025: +4.

May finished in rough shape for the D-backs beating swept in Seattle. For much of tonight, it looked like June would start the same way. While Eduardo Rodriguez had kept the team in the game, the Arizona bats appeared still be circling on a luggage carousel at Sky Harbor. They had managed just one hit through five innings from Dodgers’ starter Emmet Sheehan, and it looked like the one run the visitors had scored would be enough. However, home-runs from Tommy Troy in the sixth, and Nolan Arenado in the seventh gave the D-backs a lead, and Ketel Marte added welcome insurance in the eighth, becoming the first Arizona hitter to reach double digits in home-runs for 2026.

Rodriguez started off with a crisp 12-pitch first, retiring the Dodgers in order. Corbin Carroll then doubled into the right field corner with one out in the bottom of the inning. I’m sure he was hoping for another three-bagger, but a decent carom off the fence meant Corbin stayed, wisely, at second. Neither Geraldo Perdomo nor Nolan Arenado could get him home, however. Worth noting: that was the only baseball for the Diamondbacks to touch the outfield grass all night. E-Rod had a much more stressful second inning. The first two reached, and it required some good defense by Ildemaro Vargas (below), coming home to nail the runner, before Rodriguez left the bases loaded, and the game still scoreless.

In fact, here’s probably a good place to praise the Arizona defense tonight. Vargas and Jorge Barrosa may both be unable to hit water if they fell out of a boat, but their gloves stood up in this one. Barrosa had a couple of excellent diving plays in center field. In addition to saving a run at home, Vargas started a key double-play in the eighth inning, after Shohei Ohtani had singled to put the then-tying run on base with no outs. All three plays can also be found on the reel above. It wasn’t all good. Tommy Troy whiffed on a diving catch attempt in the third inning, which helped set up the game’s opening run for LA. But he’s hardly a natural left fielder, and given subsequent events, we will forgive him.

Yes, this game was definitely one where the W goes to the pitching and defense. Rodriguez was hardly overpowering, with just three strikeouts from the 24 batters faced. But he ground his way through six innings, and stopped the Dodgers from extending the lead. One of Eduardo’s Ks was quite amusing, however. He faced Miguel Rojas, and on 1-1, threw a pitch called a strike by home-plate umpire Rob Drake. Rojas challenged, and it was overturned by the narrowest possible margin, less than 0.1”. The next pitch was another strike… until another successful Rojas challenge, by a 0.1” margin. Rodriguez threw two more strikes, the last one surviving Rojas’s third challenge of the at-bat, for a K.

As noted above, Arizona was clinically unable to deal with Sheehan’s slider through five innings. He had retired fifteen D-backs in a row, through the first out of the sixth. Then Troy atoned for his role in the Dodgers’ run, by depositing his first MLB homer into the left-field bleachers, tying the game at 1-1. It was suddenly a brand-new ballgame, with three innings left. Arenado certainly seemed to think so, chasing Sheehan from the game in the seventh, after catching a slider for his eighth home-run of the year. Then, just when we were thinking Paul Sewald would have to protect the narrowest of margins, Troy dropped down a perfect two-out bunt, and Marte lasered his 10th over the fence, for a 4-1 lead. [All three HR and the bunt above]

Rodriguez left after six innings, allowing one run on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts. That reduced his season ERA to 2.24. through a dozen starts. It’s the lowest to that point for Arizona since Patrick Corbin’s 1.98 ERA after twelve appearances in 2013. He didn’t quite get the 100th win of his career this evening, but I’d say he deserved it. The W instead went to Taylor Clarke for his scoreless seventh with a pair of strikeouts. Clarke now has an 0.36 ERA over 24.2 innings since his disastrous Opening Day outing in Los Angeles. With a little help from Vargas, Garcia faced the minimum in the 8th, and Paul Sewald completed the win, notching save #15 with a 1-2-3 ninth (and that’s the OVER officially locked in there for Place Your Bets!)

It’s not often a team will win a game while going just 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. But the D-backs did so tonight, with another comeback victory. Not a great night for the offense, batting 5-for-29 overall, with no walks. But the home-runs were just enough, and if five hits is rarely enough to prevail, it certainly helps when your pitching holds the opposition to just one run. It was just what was needed after a very dispiriting series against the Mariners (whom, I note, walked off the Mets for their seventh win in a row tonight – so it’s not just us!). Hopefully that’ll set the tone for the rest of the series. Cardinals lost, so we’re back in sole possession of the second wild-card.

Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
No place like home: Eduardo Rodriguez, +20%
Home is where the HRs are: Troy, +17%; Arenado, +17%; Garcia, +12%
No fixed abode: Geraldo Perdomo, -9%

Thanks to all who showed up in the GDT, gritting it out when things looked tough. 269 comments isn’t at all bad for a Monday night. We were all on top form, with a slew of Sedona Red comments, a number reaching eight or more recs. Well-played everyone. But I have to give it to ercil:

Tomorrow, it’s the same two teams, as this four-game set continues. Starting for the D-backs will be the pleasant surprise which has been Michael Soroka, with another 6:40 pm first pitch. See you there!

Red Sox legend David Ortiz told the Associated Press that despite his old ballclub’s current position in the standings, owner John Henry really does care about his team. 

Ortiz said that Henry was “worried” and that he had spoken to Henry recently about the downturn for the AL East team. 

“He knows the direction of this team and he’s worried about the team’s situation more than what people think he is,” Ortiz said, while speaking with the AP at his celebrity golf tournament. 

The Red Sox are currently 25-33 and sit dead last in the division. 

“He’s worried. We had a conversation. I can see. I’ve known John a long time, him and the whole team — him and [chairman] Tom Werner, the whole group, they’re working on figuring things out to get this ride better,” Ortiz also said. 

Boston has gone through a hellish season thus far, which has included a purge of the coaching staff in April that included firing manager Alex Cora and five other coaches. 

“I sat down to talk to John, and he wants to figure it out. He wants to have the formula to go back to the old days,” he said. “It’s not like he just gives up. Sometimes people don’t understand that the way that this game goes, that it’s hard to stay up there.”

The rough season has led to even further frustration from Red Sox fans, who from 2004-2018 had seen Boston win four World Series titles. 

A plane flew over Fenway Park last month calling on the Red Sox’s current ownership group to sell the team. 

“When you worry, you worry about everything in general. You worry about the team, you worry about the fans and you worry about how everything is moving around,” Ortiz said. “I tell you, the boss is, he’s working, he’s working. He’s working on putting the pieces that moving forward things get better around here.”

Only time will tell if Ortiz’s faith is correctly placed in Henry and the Red Sox ownership group to turn the team around.