Category: MLB

Tyrone Taylor is one of many names rumored to be on the block as the Mets get closer to the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

And as the Mets continue to start Taylor to showcase the veteran outfielder to potential trade partners, he's been making the most of the opportunity, including in Saturday's 6-2 loss to the Marlins. Taylor's two-run blast accounted for the only offense by the Mets, another blast in what's become a string of them for Taylor.

The second-inning blast was Taylor's 10th of the season, with seven of them coming in his last 19 games dating back to July 4. It's the most he's hit in that span in his career and the fourth-most in the National League during that period. He's also leading the majors in slugging (.951) and OPS (1.389) in that span. 

"He’s been phenomenal," interim manager Andy Green said after the game. "Swung the bat as well as anybody in the league. Feels like he’s homering every time we put him in the lineup. Absolutely crushed that ball today. Defends the field, plays with energy, runs the bases well; he’s been great."  

Green was asked what's changed for Taylor to give him these types of power numbers and the skipper said it comes down to belief.

"He’s got a lot of confidence right now. He’s turning himself loose," Green explained. "If he misses a pitch, he doesn’t worry about it, he takes a hack at the next one and trusts himself. Hitting is built on trust and he’s doing a really nice job of trusting himself and he has a lot of evidence to trust himself right now."

"Just hard work paying off," Taylor said. "The work I’ve been putting in has been really good lately. And been getting good results. I’ve just been swinging at good pitches."

Taylor is a free agent at the end of the season, perhaps the biggest reason the Mets are likely to move the 32-year-old by Monday's deadline. 

But despite the rumors, Taylor is only thinking about the team he's currently with.

"I just started to think about it the past couple of days," Taylor said of the rumors. "I’ve been doing a pretty good job of staying present and just trying to be my best self daily and do what I can to help the team win."

Ironically, his recent success has only made it more likely that Taylor will be traded. And if he is, Taylor will think fondly of his three seasons with the Mets.

"I love it here, man. I got my family out there. We’ve been out here for three years," Taylor said. "I love this team, I love this staff. There’s a lot of resources here that I know other teams probably don’t have. Love my teammates. I love it here."

For the last week or so, one of the questions surrounding the San Francisco Giants is what they would do at second base for the rest of the year. All-Star Luis Arráez will almost certainly be traded ahead of Monday’s deadline, and his logical replacement, Casey Schmitt, is out for the rest of the season with a torn meniscus.

Saturday’s roster moves may not reveal the team’s long-term plans at the position, but they certainly clarify some short-term questions. Before their game against the San Diego Padres — the penultimate game before the deadline — the Giants announced that second baseman Nate Furman had his contract purchased from AAA debut, and will head to the Majors for the first time.

That certainly means that Furman will be the immediate fill-in following an inevitable Arráez trade, but it doesn’t actually tell us if that was the team’s first choice. The other logical solution to play second in August and September is utility player Jesús Rodríguez … and he’s the corresponding move to the Furman call up, as the rookie was placed on the 10-Day Injured List with right elbow neuritis.

Furman has a lot of the same traits that drew the Giants to Arráez, the person he’ll soon replace (for a little while, at least). While lacking in power, the lefty — who turned 25 about a week ago — is a contact maven. He hit .284 in AAA this year, and has a career .289 batting average in his four-year Minor League career. Furman has just a 12.4% strikeout rate and a 4.1% swinging strike rate this season, the latter of which is third-lowest among 145 qualified AAA hitters. He has a .775 OPS and a 107 wRC+ with Sacramento on the year.

Like Arráez, Furman heads to San Francisco with a less-than-stellar defensive reputation. If he can make the gains that Arráez did with Ron Washington, that will go a long way towards determining whether he can have a successful MLB career, or if he’s just up for a cup of coffee. He also has, for now, limited defensive versatility: while Furman played some third base when he first entered the Minors, he’s been exclusively a second baseman for the last two seasons.

Furman, who was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training this year, was a fourth-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft by the Cleveland Guardians. He was traded to the Giants as the Player to Be Named Later in the 2024 Alex Cobb deal, along with Jacob Bresnahan, one of the top pitching prospects in the organization. That trade is looking pretty darn good for the Giants right about now!

As for Rodríguez, who mostly played catcher this year but has played some second base and outfield, hopefully his IL stint is a short one. He’s hit .235/.316/.412 for a .728 OPS and a 104 wRC+ through 58 plate appearances in his debut season.

It’s the first game of August! Rejoice, San Francisco Giants fans …. the season won’t go on much longer. The Giants are in sunny SoCal for this contest, as they play the third of four games against the San Diego Padres.

Right-hander Tyler Mahle takes the mound for the Giants, in what could very possibly be his final start with the team. The veteran has made 17 starts this year, and is 3-9 with a 4.96 ERA, a 4.41 FIP, and 80 strikeouts to 35 walks in 89 innings. After a rough start to the year, Mahle has been much better lately, and he was excellent his last time out, when he tossed six shutout frames against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Giants are likely hoping that his recent hot stretch will make him a tradable asset ahead of Monday’s deadline.

For the Padres, it’s old foe Walker Buehler, a right-hander. The two-time All-Star, who tormented the Giants for years while on the Los Angeles Dodgers, is trying to get his career back on track but is having a rough go of it. In 21 starts this year, the 32-year old is 6-5 with a 5.13 ERA, a 4.35 FIP, and 91 strikeouts to 42 walks in exactly 100 innings. In his last start, against the Miami Marlins, Buehler gave up three runs (two earned) in 5.1 innings.

Enjoy the game, everyone!

Lineups

Giants

1. Bryce Eldridge — DH
2. Jung Hoo Lee — RF
3. Heliot Ramos — LF
4. Rafael Devers — 1B
5. Willy Adames — SS
6. Daniel Susac — C
7. Drew Gilbert — CF
8. Christian Koss — 3B
9. Osleivis Basabe — 2B

RHP. Tyler Mahle

Padres

1. Fernando Tatis Jr. — RF
2. Jake Cronenworth — 2B
3. Manny Machado — 3B
4. Ty France — 1B
5. Jackson Merrill — CF
6. Luis Rengifo — DH
7. Xander Bogaerts — SS
8. Freddy Fermin — C
9. Jase Bowen — LF

RHP. Walker Buehler

Game #111

Who: San Francisco Giants (47-63) vs. San Diego Padres (56-54)

Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California

When: 5:40 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

What an afternoon. We saw both the best and worst from Twins starter Connor Prielipp, the lineup looked completely dead for half of the game yet again, and a great defensive stop from Royce Lewis at first base actually led to a decision that only comes when you’re new to a position. This one had a bit of everything.

It was about as rough of a first inning as possible for rookie Connor Prielipp. Second baseman Cole Young doubled on Prielipp’s first pitch of the game, and then he walked the next two Mariners on nine total pitches to load the bases with no outs. Julio Rodriguez then singled on the first pitch HE saw and it was 1-0 Seattle before Prielipp even worked up a sweat. He walked in one more run a few batters later, but the young lefty struckout the side in the midst of all this chaos to limit the damage.

Seattle got one more in the second inning thanks to a solo homer by Randy Arozarena to make it 3-0, but from there, Prielipp was completely locked in. It took him 55 pitches to get through the first two innings, and then 33 to finish the next 3.1 frames. That’s the exact kind of development you want to see from a rookie starting pitcher and why so many people within the Twins are high on his long term outlook. The Mariners did mount another threat in the fifth inning with two men on and one out, but Prielipp successfully worked his way out of that jam and got Josh Naylor to start the sixth for a cherry on top.

On the other half of the game, the Twins had yet another slow start against an opposing starter. If it feels like Minnesota has been playing from behind often you’d be correct. Setting aside the three and four error slop-filled games last week, the Twins have scored just eight total runs in first five innings of games since the All-Star Break. They’ve taken the first lead in just two of those games as well. It was more of the same against Logan Gilbert and Seattle today.

The Twins had just one hit and baserunner through the first four innings before a Luke Keaschall solo shot got rid of the goose egg on the scoreboard. Trevor Larnach added a bomb of his own in the sixth, and then the Twins played some good small following a Brooks Lee leadoff double and finally worked their way to a 3-3 tie. Minnesota then had a great opportunity to take the lead in the eighth with two runners in scoring position and one out, but Kody Clemens and Royce Lewis struck out to end the threat.

Then, a weird ninth inning happened. With Andrew Morris in to try to send things to extras, Arozarena led things off of with a sharp double and advanced to third on a fly ball. Morris then intentionally walked Julio Rodriguez to put runners on the corners with one out. The Twins brought the infield in for Cal Raleigh, hoping to either get the runner at home or set up a quick double play, and they got exactly what they needed with a hard ground ball hit directly to Royce Lewis at first. Lewis, still fairly new to the position, went to step on first base, but seemed to realize the problem with that mid-play, as you can see below.

A double play where the out at second base is made first would have ended the inning and sent things to extras, regardless of what happened with the runner at third base. However, since Royce stepped on first before getting the out at second, Rodriguez was no longer a force out, meaning all he had to do was get into a rundown and the M’s would go home as victors. Lewis pretty much took the one option that would have led to a Twins loss right then. An immediate throw home likely would have nabbed Arozarena at the plate, and an immediate throw to second would have likely been a double play.

Despite how good he’s looked at the position, Lewis is still very new to first base overall and when a ball is hit at you that hard in a high leverage spot, instinct just takes over. In any other scenario, it actually would have been quite a good play from Lewis, but for now it’s a tough loss that probably says more about the Twins’ lack of offense recently than anything about Royce’s defensive abilities.

The Twins still have a great chance to win a series against a playoff contender tomorrow in a fun matchup between Taj Bradley and George Kirby. On to the next one!

STUDS

• Connor Prielipp after the 2nd inning: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K on 33 pitches
• AJ Minter in his Twins debut: one pitch, one out
• Keaschall, Larnach: solo homer each

DUDS

• Connor Prielipp in the first two innings: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K on 55 pitches
• Royce Lewis: game-losing misplay

The Twins have made two midnight trades in a row. Do they have a third in store?

For the second game in a row, White Sox pitchers held the more-or-less-league-average offense of the Rays to one run, but this time the hitters forgot to send missiles out of the park. Or, much of any in the park.

Still despite being shut out, there were some good things to grow on.

Using an opener for Noah Schultz turned out to be a good idea. Jordan Hicks, playing the role for the first time, had a clean first inning, and Schultz then followed with one of his best outings of the year, five innings of three-hit, no-walk ball, the only run coming on a bloop single by Nick Fortes in the fifth off a pretty good pitch:

Schultz had excellent control, especially given his history, throwing first-pitch strikes 12 of 19 times.

The bullpen added two more scoreless innings, the big news there being that Seranthony Domínguez had his second straight strong outing in a pressure situation, so there is hope he can turn out to be solid back-end choice after all.

As for the offense, the good news is that they only made one out with a runner in scoring position. The bad news is that’s because they only had one at-bat with a runner in scoring position, when Sam Antonacci lined out with men on first and third in the fifth.

Antonacci had drawn a walk from Drew Rasmussen to start the game but got caught trying to steal. After that, Rasmussen struck out five in a row, part of his 10 on the day. That would be the only free pass from the Rays, compared to 16 Sox Ks, many, many of them coming on swings far outside the zone, especially on 3-2 counts. So much for the vaunted improvement in plate discipline.

Sox batters did make Rasmussen throw a lot of pitches — that happens when you don’t hit any — especially on a nice nine-pitch at-bat by Edgar Quero in the third that ended in one of his two singles on the day … 40% of the Sox output.

The only person with a rougher night at the plate than Sox hitters was ump Alfonso Marquez, who got challenged more than a youngster claiming he didn’t do the bad thing. Both teams won a bunch, Quero doing particularly well, but Marquez was right enough that all challenges were exhausted by the ninth.

Oh, and the really good news, if you’re going to lose a game — it was over in a Mark Buehrle-esque two hours and 14 minutes.

The loss takes the Sox to 58-52, currently 2 ½ games up up in the AL Central. The rubber match of the series tomorrow afternoon has Anthony Kay and righty Griffin Jax doing the mound work.

I spent some time this morning remembering the Royals’ last series in Colorado. That was two years ago; the Rockies are in roughly the same place now as they were then, on pace for about 100 losses. The Royals, obviously, are in a very different place. Back then, they were competing for a playoff spot and wanted to steal a couple of wins against an “easy” opponent. The Rockies ended up taking 2 out of 3 thanks in part to a home run that was not and the inability of Garrett Hampson to either get a bunt down or do anything with a 3-0 count.

Last night the Royals lost in part because Royals first basemen always range too far to their right and Michael Massey got a little too nonchalant on a throw to Michael Wacha covering the bag. So it goes. Tonight is a new night, though, and the Royals get to face a new pitcher. Maybe they can’t hit this one!

First, Luinder Avila will be going for Kansas City. I will continue to insist that he is miscast as a starter and the 2027 Royals would be better served by having him trying to pitch in high-leverage bullpen situations. But they’ve also got Randy Dobnak taking up a rotation spot, so they’re kind of stuck with it, at least for now. Perhaps J.J. Picollo can flip Luke Maile for a couple of starting pitchers; until then, Avila needs to do the best he can with the situations he is given.

The Rockies will use right-handed Ryan Feltner. Feltner struggles mightily with the longball, and not just at home. But he also struggles with walks and not getting very many strikeouts. The only pitch he can consistently use effectively is his changeup, but it’s his third-most thrown out of six. He reminds me of Noah Cameron in that he leads the way with a four-seamer, which is also his worst pitch both stuff- and results-wise. He has a sinker that’s much better that he throws far less often, for some reason.

Lineups

I think if you had told me Tyler Tolbert was going to get as many starts as he has, I would have expected the Royals to have an even worse record. Especially if you had told me they’d be at shortstop. I can’t say I really expected Isaac Collins to be batting fifth at any point since the Royals acquired him until now. I have really enjoyed watching John Rave hit since he switched from a leg lift to a toe tap. I hope he keeps it up, I’m rooting for the guy.

San Francisco Giants (47-63) at San Diego Padres (56-54), August 1, 2026, 5:4o p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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Saturday starters. pic.twitter.com/KCXL62PAUH

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 1, 2026

Brand New Month

⌚️: 5:40 p.m. PT
📍: San Diego, CA
📺: @NBCSGiants
📻: @KNBR | KSFN#SFGiants | @CocaColapic.twitter.com/fNVjGyxCLy

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 1, 2026

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The Mets are very much a team in limbo right now and they played like it in their 6-2 loss to the Marlins.

Zac Thornton got the start and had his first shaky outing. He wasn’t helped by Francisco Lindor in the first whose error led to an unearned run. Then in the second Thornton gave up two earned runs off the bat of Javier Sanoja to put the Mets in a 3-0 deficit. In the bottom of the inning Tyrone Taylor helped his trade value with a two-run blast to get the Mets back into the game.

Thornton didn’t allow any more runs in his outing but he couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning and the team turned to the combination of Daniel Duarte, Jonathan Pintaro, and Kevin Herget to finish the game. Duarte had a mess of a fifth inning where he gave up two runs, with one of them coming by way of a solo home run by Griffin Conine. Get used to those names because these might be bullpen mainstays after the trade deadline. It’s going to be a loooooong final two months of the season.

As for the offense they had another pathetic showing which is just par for the course with them. They went 2-for-11 with RISP and left ten men on base. If they play well its more of shock now more than when they do not. Francisco Lindor did get two hits but this is a team playing for the shoe to drop and it shows.

On a day they honored the 1986 champions, the difference between the two teams was stark. This team made it glaringly obvious how far away they are from winning a championship themselves and the drought will continue for yet another year. Mabye 2027 will finally be our year. Ya Gotta Believe.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Tyrone Taylor, +13% WPA
Big Mets loser: Zac Thornton, -22% WPA
Mets pitchers: -30% WPA
Mets hitters: -21% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Tyrone Taylor home run in second, +16.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Javier Sanoja home run in second, -14.8% WPA

The Mets lost 6-2 to the Miami Marlins on Saturday at Citi Field, falling to 47-65 for the season and 7-8 since the All-Star break.

They try for a split of the four-game series with the Marlins on Sunday.

Here are the top takeaways...

-Offense continues to be the Mets’ biggest problem. They’ve scored only eight runs in their last four games, losing three of them, as the absence of Juan Soto is showing.

On Saturday, other than Tyrone Taylor’s two-run home run in the second inning, the Mets had no extra-base hits to go with six singles and put only one runner into scoring position.

-Zac Thornton had his least effective outing since becoming a regular in the starting rotation a month ago, as he allowed four runs, three earned, over 4.2 innings. He allowed nine baserunners, six with hits, three by walks, while getting two strikeouts.

Thornton was hurt early by his defense when Francisco Lindor made an error on the first play of the game, mishandling a routine ball to short.

That led to a run and then Thornton gave up a two-run home run in the second inning to right-handed-hitting Javier Sanoja, who pulled a cutter over the wall in left to give the Marlins a 3-0 lead.

Thornton wasn’t as sharp as he has been in his recent handful of starts, as his pitch count elevated quickly and he was pulled after throwing 94 pitches.

Despite the poor start, the left-hander still has an impressive 2.88 ERA in his six starts this season.

-Taylor’s two-run home run in the second inning continued his hot-hitting over the last month, increasing the intrigue as to whether he’ll be traded by Monday’s deadline.

Since his return from the Injured List on June 26, Taylor is hitting .354 with seven home runs, four doubles, and 14 RBI. He entered Saturday’s game leading the majors in OPS since June 28, at 1.287.

Taylor figures to be valuable to a contender because of his excellent outfield defense, speed on the bases, and his hot bat of late. He can be a free agent after the season so even if he’s in demand, he probably won’t bring back blue-chip prospects in a trade.

-Marlins starter Tyler Phillips, who picked up the win by allowing two runs over five innings, has become a bit of a Mets’ killer in his two seasons with Miami.

In eight appearances against the Mets, including three starts, Phillips has posted a 1.94 ERA over a total of 20 1/3 innings.

-Right-handed reliever Daniel Duarte, who has been a pleasant surprise of late for the Mets, gave up his first runs of the season, touched up for two runs in 1.1 innings, including a home run by Griffin Conine.

Duarte had pitched 11.1 scoreless innings in seven previous appearances over four separate stints with the Mets this season.

-Besides his first-inning error, Lindor misplayed Esteury Ruiz’s ground ball toward second base in the eighth inning, having to double-pump before throwing as he had trouble getting a grip on the ball out of the glove.

The play was ruled a hit, but Lindor would have had the out if he’d played the ball cleanly. Lindor continues to have a below-par season for him defensively.

GAME MVP: Javier Sanoja

Not a lot to choose from in this game, but Sanoja’s two-run home run in the second inning of Thornton gave the Marlins a 3-0 lead. It was only Sanoja’s fourth long ball of the season.

Highlights

Tyrone Taylor launches a monstrous two-run homer! 💥 pic.twitter.com/ooF0cnSXdD

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 1, 2026

Francisco Lindor makes the backhand play and fires to Marcus Semien at second for the out pic.twitter.com/8mOJVWDkjp

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 1, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Marlins complete their four-game series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:40 p.m.

New York has yet to announce a starter after pulling Clay Holmes from his potential start. The Marlins will send Sandy Alcantara (11-6, 3.82 ERA) to the bump.

Mariners 4, Twins 3

(please imagine this line goes all the way down)

Best Western: Randy Arozarena, .23 WPA; Andrés Muñoz, .21 WPA

Worst Western: Weston Wilson, -.23 WPA

Game thread comments of the day:

Happy:

Less happy, but equally accurate:

Happy August and Happy 150th Birthday to Colorado!

The Colorado Rockies (43-67) ended July with a win to finish the month with a 10-14 record. They look to start the new month off with a series win as they face off against the Kansas City Royals (46-65) for game two of the three-game set.

The Rockies turn to Ryan Feltner for game two. Feltner is 3-5 with a 5.73 ERA across 15 starts. In his last outing, he surrendered five earned runs in five innings of work as the Rockies fell to the Milwaukee Brewers. Feltner worked through some jams early but ultimately struggled to find the zone and allowed a fair amount of traffic.

Kansas City starts Luinder Avila, entering at 5-3 with a 4.95 ERA in 11 starts and 20 total games. He has allowed three or fewer runs in his last four appearances, logging wins in two of those starts.

For something to watch out for across the lineup, yesterday marked Brenton Doyle’s return to the club after recovering from a series of injuries. Much was made of Doyle rejoining a crowded outfield and pushing Cole Carrigg to the bench for the night. Manager Warren Schaeffer commented on the possibility of a lineup with Doyle taking center field and Carrigg shifting to a corner outfield spot, shortstop, or second base.

We’ll get our first look at that reality tonight. Doyle remains in the lineup in center field, while Carrigg makes his first major league start at shortstop, with Ezequiel Tovar taking the night off. With about 48 hours remaining until the trade deadline, more questions will arise as we await movement from the Rockies front office.

Until then, the Rockies will try to add to the Colorado Day festivities with a big win on Saturday night.

First Pitch: 6:10 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM and KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

Royals SB Nation Site: Royals Review

Lineups:

Luinder takes the ball in Denver. pic.twitter.com/8WqVPOWRbU

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) August 1, 2026

Celebrating Colorado's 150th 🎉 pic.twitter.com/fn4u9vqtNU

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 1, 2026

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Hahahahahahaha that was so fun let’s do it again, shall we?

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Guardians 8/1

S. Kwan CF
J. Ramírez 3B
C. DeLauter DH
R. Hoskins 1B
A. Martínez RF
D. Fry LF
T. Bazzana 2B
A. Hedges C
B. Rocchio SS

P. Messick SP

— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) August 1, 2026

Here’s the Diamondbacks lineup:

Our lineup for today in case you were wondering. pic.twitter.com/zoFSFFSlD5

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 1, 2026

Let’s go, Guardians!

The San Diego Padres turned in a dominating performance against the San Francisco Giants in the second game of their series at Petco Park. The San Diego rotation limited the San Francisco lineup to just two hits and the offense broke out for seven runs scoring in four of the eight innings. The Padres used just three pitchers to get through the contest, which means the bullpen will have the majority of its arms available in the third game of the series.

Taking the mound

Walker Buehler (SD) v. Tyler Mahle (SF)

Walker Buehler has become one of just two pitchers in the San Diego rotation who is treated as a true starter. He and Michael King are the two rotation arms who are expected to perform night in and night out when he takes the mound. Buehler holds a 6-5 record and a 5.13 ERA with 91 strikeouts over 100.0 innings pitched in 21 games this season.

Tyler Mahle has appeared in 17 games this season and amassed a 3-9 record with a 4.96 ERA. The Giants are expected to be sellers at the Trade Deadline, so this may be an audition of sorts for Mahle who might be a trade target of other teams around the league. He has only allowed four runs over his last three games, which included a six-inning performance his last time out against the Milwaukee Brewers. Mahle kept the Brewers scoreless and will look to replicate that performance against the Padres.

Batter up!

The San Diego offense banged out 12 hits last night, resulting in seven runs scored. Luis Campusano, Ty France and Jase Bowen all had multi-hit nights and France collected three RBI. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado chipped in with a hit apiece and Jackson Merrill was the only player in the Padres lineup not to record a hit. San Diego will need to have a duplicate performance to give themselves a chance to win their second game of the series.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
3. Manny Machado, DH
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Xander Bogaerts, SS
7. Sung-Mun Song, 3B
8. Gavin Sheets, LF
9. Luis Campusano, C

Relief corps

German Marquez pitched five innings in relief and earned the save after Bradgley Rodriguez and Yukie Matsui pitched the first four innings. That means the majority of the Padres’ bullpen is intact, rested and ready to be called on by manager Craig Stammen should Buehler run into trouble.

If you love pitching and defense, this was the perfect game for you. Then again, there was not much need for defense in this contest as Drew Rasmussen and four relievers struck out 16 White Sox while scattering five singles in this 1-0 victory. This was a tremendous and needed bounceback from last night’s contest when the White Sox clubbed four home runs in their 6-1 victory.

The only run of the game came from Mr. July, Nick Fortes, who fought off some high heat from Noah Schultz to hit one over Chase Meidroth to drive in Jonny DeLuca from second:

DeLuca stole a base to get into scoring position for that single, but also made a great catch for the first out in the 4th inning to keep Munetaka Murekami at first base instead of multiple runners with nobody out:

Rasmussen had his third consecutive strong outing after the two hiccups to start July. His 10 strikeouts were his best total since the 13 strikeouts gagainst Boston on June 10th and gives him 24 strikeouts and 3 walks over his last three starts. Rasmussen kept the White Sox off-balance with a varied recipe of pitches. The first time through, Rasmussen threw just two changeups on the 47 pitches required to get through the lineup. However, the changeup and sinker took center stage to keep the young hitters off balance. There was a stretch in this contest where Chicago was making solid contact, but Rasmussen adjusted by simply striking out the side in the 6th before he exited the game. Cam Booser came in to force manager Will Venable to use his bench in the 7th, but the trio of hitters after Randal Grichuk’s bloop single in the 7th also went down swinging.

Kevin Kelly came in for an impressive appearance on the heels of him striking out the side against Texas on Wednesday. Kelly picked up a strikeout of Chase Meidroth and Sam Antonacci around a flyout by Quero. Meidroth has had his share of strikeouts this season, but Antonacci is the best contact hitter on the Chicago roater with a 15.4% strikeout rate. Kelly has now pitched to a 0.65 ERA across 27.2 innings under the roof as a key piece of the bridge to Bryan Baker. Kelly gave way to Garrett Cleavinger to face Munetaka Murakami, and the at bat was vintage Cleavinger. The second pitch was upheld by ABS and Murekami was on the defensive after swinging through a 1-1 sweeper. It was the last pitch Murekami would see near the strike zone, yet he could not lay off three consecutive pitches and went down chasing another sweeper:

Bryan Baker came in for his 31st save, albeit with two very close calls. Miguel Vargas sabotaged a first pitch low fastball that took Chandler Simpson to the warning track. Randal Grichuk was the last out of the game, but not before he was just out in front of a hanging changeup that he hit just foul down the line before swinging through a fastball to end the game. Baker only threw six pitches, but his velocity was down in this outing and will likely be absent from the bullpen usage on Sunday for a much-needed day off:

Baker has pitched four times in seven games, but this six-pitch appearance was just what the doctor ordered after him needing 20+ pitches in each of his other appearances this week.

The story behind the story in this game was a challenging strike zone by Alfonso Marquez who had nine calls challenged by the team, and was 1 for his first 6 before winning his last three challenges:

This game was the 10th shutout by the Rays with four of those coming over the last seven games. The club is now 29-3 at home when scoring first in the game and now hand the ball to Griffin Jax to win the series before the club takes off for Colorado after the game.

The Braves have scratched Reynaldo Lopez from his start Saturday night against the Nationals, announcing that Martin Perez will start in his place. This isn’t ideal for an already-taxed pitching staff and we will see what the ramifications are for the rotation. It is unclear the severity of Lopez’ injury, but we will cover that here on the site once we know more.

RHP Reynaldo López has been scratched from tonight’s game due to left knee inflammation. LHP Martín Pérez will now start. https://t.co/g7YIXwgHiW

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 1, 2026

This turns tonight’s game into a true matchup of veteran innings-eaters, with Martin Perez facing off with Miles Mikolas. The Braves will have to rely on their bats to get the job done.

Game Info

Game Time: Saturday, August 1st, 7:15 pm EDT

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

Watch: BravesVision

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan