Category: MLB

We’re long past the point of this Mets season where there’s any real value in handicapping what might’ve been. If, if, if basically equals blah, blah, blah for a team playing out the string, even if they’re on a heater now.

What might be, though? Now there’s a juicy topic. And after watching Zac Thornton’s performance on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, it’s thrilling to wonder what might be for the 24-year-old lefty, who should have a real chance to impact next season’s starting rotation. 

The Mets smashed six home runs in trouncing the Yankees, 12-2, in a Subway Series laugher. But Thornton’s sharp seven innings stood out beyond what, in truth, was a meaningless rout that’s good mostly as banter fodder for Met fans. 

Yes, Thornton already had established himself as a rotation hopeful for next season with what he’d done over his first 12 starts. But this outing – two runs and five hits in matching his season-high in innings against a brawny contender – felt like something even more substantial. 

Especially since he was coming off his worst start of the season, one in which he’d been clobbered for four home runs by the awful Giants. 

“It was great, fun to watch, especially after the last outing,” said Mets interim manager Andy Green. “Seeing somebody bounce back like that – I think we value resilience at an incredibly high level, and to see it show up in a stadium like this, in a game like that, it's fun. He was on attack from the get-go and had some of the best velocity we’ve seen from him.” 

Thornton enjoyed an uptick in fastball velocity Saturday and it was so apparent that Juan Soto cited it when he talked to the media after the game. Thornton hit 95 mph six different times with his four-seamer and the pitch averaged 93.6, up 1.5 mph from his season average, according to Statcast.

“I didn't know the numbers coming out of my hand, but I was getting good results from the hitters, so I'm gonna keep throwing it,” Thornton said. 

Asked about Thornton’s four-seamer, Green joked that Thornton’s recent haircut didn’t cost him any velocity. A good thing. Then the manager noted the real benefits: “It gives him so much more margin when he can live at those numbers. 

“It speeds guys up even more, makes them make earlier decisions on cutters, opens hips up faster, gives him the outer half (of the plate) access when he needs it or wants it. In every regard, velo just makes it easier, especially if it comes with the same command, which it has and it did today.”

That’s part of what gives Thornton, who’s 4-5 with a 3.44 ERA, some intrigue – he’s been able to show some development this season while in the majors. For instance, he’s walked one or none in each of his last six starts after doing it only three times in his first seven starts. He’s realized he’s at his best when he’s in full attack mode, pounding the strike zone – he threw 61 of his 81 pitches for strikes on Saturday.

Thornton was clearly stung by his clunker against the Giants. His only recourse was to do better the next time he got a chance, which was Saturday. “The feeling of defeat,” Thornton said. “You know, it’s not a good feeling. So you do anything to not have that feeling.” 

The Mets have often talked about how much they value Thornton’s competitive engine. Francisco Lindor recalled that, a few weeks ago, he had made a mistake during one of Thornton’s starts. 

“I made an error and he looked at me like, ‘I got you,’” Lindor said. “And to me, that’s somebody that’s going to grind, that’s going to compete and not back down from any challenges. We’ve been seeing it all year.”

Including Saturday. Before the game became a rout, the Yanks had a glimmer of hope, putting two runners on with one out in the seventh when they trailed by four. Green went to the mound for, as he put it, “a heat check, see where [Thornton] was mentally, see where his head was, where his eyes were.” 

Thornton looked at Green and pledged to get a double-play grounder. Then he did. Anthony Volpe hit into a 5-4-3 twin kill that basically ended the competitive phase of the game. Thornton let his emotions pour out as he neared the dugout, roaring and pumping his arms.

“Pretty impressive to call it like that and to get it,” Green marveled, referring to the double play. “I don’t know that I’m going to believe every single time he says it, but it was a great way for him to end a really good start.” 

“Let’s go,” Thornton said after the game. “Big time, to get out of that jam.”

As potential future pieces such as Thornton have emerged, the Mets have thrived, even if their dreams for 2026 cratered. The Mets are 22-13 since selling at the trade deadline, as stars such as Lindor and Soto have been able to play together more after dealing with injuries. 

They’re known quantities, though. Soto and Lindor have to be good-to-great next year if the Mets want their “might be” to be contention-worthy. 

Thornton could help a lot. He seems to know it. He certainly wants the chance. 

“I feel like every opportunity I have here, I’m still trying to prove myself, prove that I can compete at the major league level,” Thornton said. “Prove that I can be on this ‘27 roster in the rotation.” 

Might be good.

That the article editor’s thumbnail selector offered two dozen images of a beaming Emmanuel Rodriguez, smiling as he jogged around the basepaths with his fist in the air, should tell you everything you need to know about the top prospect’s first major-league at-bat. A 2-1 fastball was swiftly deposited 420 into left-center field, tying the game as part of a four-run third inning, and accounting for a quarter of Minnesota’s all-important quartet of runs in a 4-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.

Rodriguez, with his family in attendance, kicked off the third-inning rally in just about the most exuberant possible fashion. As if fired up by his sweet, welcome-to-the-show swing, Luke Keaschall and Brooks Lee knocked back-to-back singles that made it possible for Kody Clemens and Royce Lewis to each drive in runs on singles of their own, later in the inning.

The karmic downside arrived when Kaelen Culpepper had to come out of the game after a HBP to the shoulder/back region caused a contusion, and presumably, some pain. But Franco Aleman, who started the inning on the mound for Cleveland, recorded only two outs, and allowed all four Twin runs, also hit Victor Caratini one batter later to move the merry-go-round through the bases, and make it a 4-1 Twins lead.

This is still the 2026 Twins, of course, so a three-run margin would not be a cakewalk to hold. Starter Connor Prielipp went 5.1 innings across 77 pitches, giving up an early RBI single to Travis Bazzana (featuring an outfield assist to retire Angel Martinez at third, courtesy E-Rod from center field), then a HBP and double which both scored in a two-run answer-back fifth inning.

From there, though, the bullpen had themselves a nice afternoon. Kody Funderburk struck out three in a shutout seventh, and Jeff Hoffman did the same in his entrusted eighth inning. A.J. Minter was given the ball in the ninth, striking out two more, including a battle-back from a 3-0 count to Bazzana.

The Twins can win the series with a victory tomorrow, and the Chicago White Sox can breathe just a tick more freely, wherever they are. There’s no way to know.

STUDS:

Bullpen (3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K)

3B Brooks Lee (2-for-3, R)

CF Emmanuel Rodriguez (1-for-4, R, RBI, HR, A)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!

After a rousing St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame ceremony where Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Bill Sherdel were immortalized, the team will take the field and do battle with the Chicago White Sox Saturday night. Kyle Leahy will get the start (for a couple innings at least) while Chicago sends Luis Castillo to the mound. First pitch is set for 6:15pm central time with the game broadcast being available via Cardinals.tv.

Dane Myers slides into the leadoff spot for the Cincinnati Reds as they face lefty Shane Drohan and the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night at American Family Field.

Ke’Bryan Hayes is playing. That’s certainly a reason to go out of your way to tune in.

First pitch is set for 7:10 PM ET, and Brady Singer will get the start for Cincinnati.

Here’s how both clubs will line up to start:

Not that there’s any good time to play the National League Central, featuring the best team in baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers as well as the second-best second-place team in baseball. And as the White Sox have found, third- and fourth-place Pittsburgh and St. Louis — essentially equals of the White Sox, give or take — are no picnic.

While I’m not gonna indulge some of the sad sacking of the White Sox fan base at the moment [Note: Save for recap in case of the White Sox getting routed.], it’s never fun when you lose eight of 11 in September — particularly when you started your slump in first place.

But here’s the thing: The White Sox remain in first place. With the Guardians having lost, 4-3, to the Twins today, our guys remain in first place for at least one more day, win or lose. And it’s worth reminding that this is not the Guardians team of a year ago, who won like 20-of-23 to end the season and embarrassed a good Detroit Tigers team in the process; Cleveland has gone 5-5 in their last 10!

That said, the White Sox can’t afford the three wins in their last 10, as their two-month first-place lead was never that robust.

We’ll see how it plays out. My fandom was nearly murdered over these past four seasons, but I’m still here. I’m glad you are, too.

It’s a wild, but welcomed, drop of the Montgomerys to the bottom of the lineup. Frankly, Braden offers little or nothing to the team right now. Still not so little as to make it desirable to have Tommy Pham replacing him, but what little value he provided to the team is evaporating rapidly toward replacement level. Colson, for his part, got some powder-his-ass treatment from MLB.com today; we all want him to be great, but this year great he has not been. Give me Miguel Vargas busting his hiney to flop across the tarp in a desperate try at a foul pop any day of the week.

Sean Newcomb opens for the White Sox, presumably yielding to Luis Castillo as a bulk arm. But at this point with the White Sox, anyone in the pen who appears alive is viable to see action.

It’s a 6:15 p.m. CT game, usual broadcast suspects (see above). Let’s get back to 1 ½ over the goofy Guards tonight!

Randy Dobnak Time mostly continued, and Carter Jensen hit yet another home run, but the Royals fell to the Boston Red Sox 5-1.

Randy Dobnak’s line is perhaps a bit deceiving. When he left the game, he had allowed 1 run in 5.2 innings on 4 hits, no walks, and 4 strikeouts. Unfortunately, two of those hits had come in the sixth. With two outs, Matt Quatraro went to the only left-hander available in his bullpen, Anthony Gose, to face Wilyer Abreu.

Now, this is one of those cases where it’s easy to want to criticize Q. Anthony Gose hasn’t allowed a run of his own this year, but he also hadn’t struck out a single batter in 7.1 innings. As I’ve said many times, when you give up contact, there’s always a chance it turns into runners or runs. Tonight, the contact he gave up turned into a two-run double, and the game was pretty much decided at that point.

I don’t blame Q for that because it makes sense to go to the lefty. Since Connor Thomas hasn’t pitched in back-to-back games for KC this season, I think it’s safe to assume the Royals have some reason precluding them from using him that way. I don’t blame Dobnak because if the Royals had a better bullpen, he probably wouldn’t give up those runs. 5.2 innings and 3 runs is only a single out short of a quality start anyway, which is pretty much all you can ask from a guy like Randy.

The Royals’ lone run came in the top of the sixth when Carter Jensen hit a one-out solo shot around the Pesky Pole in right.

That home run broke and tied a bunch of records, which made for a fun little bit before the Royals gave up the lead again in the bottom of the inning.

• It set a new Royals franchise record for consecutive hits to go for extra bases.
• It set an expansion-era record for consecutive hits to go for extra bases for a catcher.
• Ditto the above for a rookie.
• He tied the Royals rookie record for home runs in a season with Bob Hamelin at 24.
• He tied Bobby Witt Jr.’s Royals rookie record for extra-base hits in a season.

He didn’t get another hit, so the streak could continue tomorrow. The only other thing of note on the offensive side is that Jac Caglianone pinch-hit for Kyle Isbel in the bottom of the eighth. He struck out. Alex Lange and Easton McGee each gave up a run in their relief appearances. Next thing you knew, the game was over.

Tomorrow afternoon’s game has been delayed by a couple of hours due to expected rain in Boston. It is now expected to start at 2:05 Kauffman time. Noah Cameron (3.93 ERA, 4.13 SIERA) will face off against Payton Tolle (3.15 ERA, 3.30 SIERA) in a battle of left-handers that should be fun to watch, assuming the game is able to be played.

Well, at least the Yankees don’t have to worry about George Lombard Jr.’s defense for the time being. 

His offense is another story. 

The rookie shortstop’s malaise at the plate continued Saturday afternoon in the Subway Series. After his 0-for-3 day in the Mets’ 12-2 rout, Lombard is 3-for-27 in September and 4-for-34 with 11 strikeouts dating to Aug. 28. His opposite-field grand slam against the Rockies on Wednesday was one of few highlights over the past three weeks. 

“It’s a constant game of adjustments. Pitchers are finding ways to get you out and you’re trying to figure out the opposite,” Lombard said. “I probably have missed a couple of my pitches. It’s every single day trying to make those little adjustments and get my swing off as much as possible.” 

After a quick start at the plate — Lombard homered in his debut on Aug. 4 — he has struggled against major league pitching.

A big issue: missing his pitch, as he referred to. He’s fouling off too many hittable pitches. 

“In this league especially, as good as these guys are, when you get a pitch to handle you need to not [just] put a good swing on it — you need to stick it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “That’s probably where he missed here for a few days.” 

The Yankees, it should be noted, put Lombard in a tough spot, asking the top prospect to produce immediately in the heat of a pennant race. He was bound to hit some rough spots. But he’s glad he has this opportunity. 

“I look at this no different than the adjustments I made at every other level,” said Lombard, who is now batting .217 with an OPS of .620. “The main focus is always going to be winning games and playing to win, trying to put the team in a good spot. That’s always a big focus and the adjustments you work on when you can. 

“You get your work in with the hitting coaches, try to make little changes when you can. The main focus is always playing the game hard and winning games.” 

It’s easy to play the what-if game with the Mets, but after their 12-2 drubbing of Gerrit Cole and the Yankees on Saturday afternoon, it’s hard to ignore what could’ve been had the entire team stayed healthy and gotten off to a better start.

It’s not just Saturday’s score that’s impressive – anybody can put up double-digit runs on a given day – it’s the last week and a half of scores that should have the Mets excited about their potential for next year and beyond.

Over their last nine games, the Mets have scored 76 runs (8.44 runs per game) and are 7-2 during that stretch. Since the trade deadline, New York boasts one of the best offenses in the league and is 22-13.

One player who perfectly encapsulates the entire Mets’ season is Francisco Lindor, who was hurt during the majority of the first half but has been on a tear recently, especially in the power department with two home runs against the Yanks on Saturday. He now has 20 home runs in 91 games and seven in his last 15 games.

“It’s been an uphill fight this whole year,” Lindor said. “It sucks that we haven’t played as much together [as a whole group], but when we do play together and we’re all in the lineup, things like this could happen, you know? 

“This is what we should’ve been doing since the beginning, but it’s part of the journey, it’s part of the year and we’ll try and make the most of it.”

Sure, with the pressure of trying to make the postseason off, some of what the Mets are doing should be taken with a grain of salt. However, during this recent surge, New York has looked competitive and even won some series against multiple playoff teams. 

In fact, if the Mets win Sunday’s rubber game, not only will they have taken the series from the Yanks, they will have won the season’s Subway Series, 4-2.

“If we would have played together from the beginning, there was a lot of injuries and there was a lot of ups and downs – I didn’t play well when I was playing – so if we would’ve, from the beginning, done what we’re doing now it would’ve been a whole different layout,” Lindor said. “But we put ourselves in this position and we can only worry about what we have today. We’ll see what happens next year.”

While the Mets are still not technically eliminated from playoff contention (their tragic number is 3), they are playing the rest of the season out as hard as they can to try and play spoiler as well as playing for the guys in the locker room, both those who will be on the team next year and those who won’t.

“Build on our relationships and try to finish the year as strong as we can,” Lindor said when asked what can be taken from the final two weeks of a season like this one. “Guys would be lying if they [say they] don’t want to have good years, everybody wants to have a good year, whatever a good year means for them. But you try to finish strong, you try to give everything you got and learn each other, continue to build on the relationships.”

The Orioles’ already narrow path to a postseason spot just got a whole lot slimmer.

The O’s suffered a 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays, who jumped all over a visibly fatigued Kyle Bradish for an early five-run advantage and used a cavalcade of eight relievers to shut down the Birds’ bats. As of this writing, the Guardians are trailing in Minnesota, which would keep the O’s three games behind Cleveland for the third wild card spot. But with only 13 games remaining, the math may already be too much to overcome.

Friends, this was not a happy birthday for Kyle Bradish. The newly 30-year-old O’s right-hander was pitching on his birthday for the first time in his professional career, and the only gifts the Blue Jays offered him were a bunch of runs and a whole bunch of hits. Not cool, Blue Jays. Not cool.

The trouble started immediately when Bradish walked the first batter of the game, Brett Bateman. Two batters later, the badly struggling Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — who recently has been getting booed at home even by the notoriously polite Canadians — ripped an RBI double to give the Jays the early lead, one they would never relinquish. Guerrero promptly scored on an Alejandro Kirk RBI single, making it 2-0.

Bradish ended both the first and second inning by fielding a comebacker and turning it into a double play, but his struggles arose again in the third. Bateman greeted him with a leadoff homer, his second of the series and his career. Later in the frame, after a George Springer single, Kirk followed Bateman’s lead with a two-run dinger to left-center to make it a 5-0 game. Bradish ultimately gave up two more hits in the inning before finally escaping.

Bradish didn’t return for the fourth, and frankly he shouldn’t return to the mound again this season. And I don’t mean that as a diss on Bradish. But the guy clearly is beyond gassed. He threw only 71.1 major league innings from 2024-25 combined, with Tommy John surgery in between. Now he’s up to 155 innings this season. It’s been obvious for nearly a month now that Bradish’s pitch movement and command have declined significantly as his innings count has escalated.

It’s understandable that Bradish might be having trouble adjusting to a full season’s workload after missing so much time in the previous two years. What’s less understandable is why the Orioles keep putting him out there. I suppose they’ve felt that they couldn’t afford to shut Bradish down while the O’s are technically within shouting distance of a playoff spot. But come on, guys. Enough is enough. You’re doing a disservice both to the Orioles and to Bradish himself by continuing to pile onto his workload when he’s showing visible signs of fatigue. Why would you sign this guy to a $90 million extension and then be so reckless with his arm? Shut. Him. Down.

The game didn’t get any more interesting after the Orioles fell into their early deficit. Relievers Anthony Nunez and Cam Sanders allowed a run apiece to extend Toronto’s total to seven, while the O’s offense failed to replicate their dynamic performance from the previous night.

The Jays went with a bullpen game today, and for some reason, that’s been the kiss of death for the Orioles’ offense all season long. They just can’t seem to hit when the other team doesn’t have an actual starting pitcher. Could it be a lack of preparation? A lack of focus? Or just bad luck? Whatever the case, every Orioles opponent for the rest of the year should just skip their starters and cycle through random relievers to pitch every game. They’d beat the Birds every time.

Spencer Miles was the opener, and while the O’s worked him for 31 pitches in the first, they came up empty when Christian Encarnacion-Strand lined out to right with the bases loaded. Miles then struck out the side in the second, so clearly the Birds’ signs of life in the first were short-lived. Lefty Joe Mantiply tossed a scoreless third, and Spencer Arrighetti gobbled up the next 2.2 innings, allowing just an unearned run on a Kazuma Okamoto throwing error that plated Gunnar Henderson in the fourth.

The only O’s batter to actually drive in a run — two of them, in fact — was Pete Alonso, who bashed his 299th career home run in the seventh off his former Mets teammate Paul Sewald. Good old Pete. Unless he homers tomorrow, Alonso has a good chance of hitting his 300th career homer at his longtime home ballpark, CitiField, where the O’s play the Mets from Monday to Wednesday. The Polar Bear’s dinger temporarily brought the Orioles within three runs, but it never felt that close.

They didn’t score again. The Blue Jays’ shutdown late-inning duo of Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland retired all six batters they faced in the eighth and ninth, and that was that. The O’s took the loss, one of the precious few they can afford for the rest of the season if they intend to stay in contention. It’s nearly time to run the table or go home.

Join us and discuss tonight’s game in the comments below, as the Braves look to put another nail in Philly’s NL East coffin.

Game Info

Game Time: Saturday, September 12, 7:15 p.m. ET

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

Watch: BravesVision

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

The early 1990s were famously not always a great time for the New York Yankees. The 1990 campaign where they went 67-95 is on the shortlist for the worst season in franchise history. It wasn’t until George Steinbrenner’s suspension that year that the team actually took time to let young players develop and make moves that would turn the team into the dynasty of the late 1990s.

That being said, they did still win games during the 1990 season. As the adage goes, just about every MLB team wins 50 games and loses 50 games, and your season is decided by how you do in the rest. One of the Yankees’ 50 of 1990 — or 67 to be accurate — came on July 22nd, where they got a wild amount of help from their opponent.

On July 22, 1990, the Yankees were in Minnesota to take on the Twins. While a year later, the Twins would win the World Series in a classic over Atlanta, the 1990 edition of the team would finish last in the AL West, with only the Yankees putting up a worse record in the American League.

On this particular day, the Twins struck first. Facing Yankees starter Andy Hawkins (of losing no-hitter fame), Gary Gaetti led off the second inning with a double and eventually tagged up and scored on a John Moses sacrifice fly.

Twins starter Scott Erickson started the game off with two scoreless innings, but got into some trouble in the third, only some of which was on him. Erickson did hit Roberto Kelly with a pitch to start the inning, but Minnesota shortstop Greg Gagne then threw away a Wayne Tolleson grounder to put two runners on. After a Deion Sanders single loaded the bases, Steve Sax grounded into a double play, which did score a run. Don Mattingly added another RBI single, which was followed by an Oscar Azócar two-run homer. The inning ended after that, but the Yankees had a 4-1 lead. Despite, giving up three hits, including the home run, Erickson wasn’t charged with any of the runs, as they all came after that double play, which theoretically would’ve ended the inning had Gagne not committed his error.

While the Twins got one of those runs back in the fifth, the Yankees answered in the sixth. Azócar singled and then scored on a Matt Nokes single. However, Azócar was greatly aided in that feat by a error by Minnesota right fielder Shane Mack, as his throw to third hit a sliding Azócar.

After that though, the Twins began chipping away at the Yankees’ lead. They scored one in the sixth and knocked out Hawkins. Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett was part of the action as they scored two more in the seventh to tie things up. Then in the eighth, Mack atoned for his error with an RBI triple that gave Minnesota the lead and put them three outs away from a victory. While they didn’t get charged for an error themselves in this one, the Yankees made a defensive miscue of their own in this inning. Pitching Greg Cadaret had Gagne — who scored on the hit — picked off, but the Yankees botched the ensuing run down, allowing Gagne to get back to first safely, and then eventually come around on the Mack triple.

Jim Leyritz started the rally for the Yankees by leading off the frame with a single. Then, once again, the Twins’ defense cost them. On back-to-back plays, third baseman Gary Gaetti and first baseman Kent Hrbek — who made a bold attempt to get a force out at third on a bunt — committed an error each. The latter of those two brought home two Yankee runners to put them back in front. The inning was hardly over there either. Steve Sax and Bob Geren each recorded RBI hits in the inning, as the Yankees put up a five-spot in total, going up 10-6. The inning also only ended because Geren got thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a double. Once again on the “the inning was only still going because of the errors” rule, all five once again went down as unearned ones.

Dave Righetti then came in for the bottom of the ninth. After all that, he needed just 10 pitches to record a 1-2-3 inning and seal the win.

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that, despite the Yankees reaching double digits, Twins pitchers never actually gave up an earned run in the game, thanks to the errors. Erickson’s ERA went from 3.72 to 3.15 despite being on the mound for five Yankee runs. Reliever Rick Aguilera’s ERA went down a bit even though he got just one of the six batters he faced out and was credited with five unearned runs. If you don’t count games from before like 1920 when gloves were in their infancy and every team made like four errors a game (that’s only a slight exaggeration), 10 is the most runs a Yankee team has scored in a game where they all went down as unearned.

After the game, the Yankees were in a good mood in what had been a tough season. Sax was quoted as saying ”We were talking on the bench, we need to run off about 10 in a row, get close to .500.”

He wasn’t exactly doing the math correctly, as that win got them to 34-57, which is a bit more than 10 away from .500. Still though, they weren’t the biggest screwups on the field that day.

Texas Rangers lineup for September 12, 2026 against the Arizona Diamondbacks: starting pitchers are Kumar Rocker for the Rangers and Brandon “Booty So” Pfaadt for the D-Backs.

Texas tries to get it together in Arizona. Josh Jung is back. That’s a positive, right?

The lineup:

Pederson — DH

Seager — SS

Jung — 3B

Nimmo — RF

Duran — CF

Langford — LF

Burger — 1B

Lopez — 2B

Diaz — C

7:10 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are +110 underdogs.

Saturday was the second straight clunker for Gerrit Cole.

After allowing four homers in the loss against the Padres in San Diego a week ago, the Yankees right-hander came into Yankee Stadium looking to clinch the Subway Series with a win over the Mets. However, the Mets took Cole deep three times en route to a 12-2 victory. 

While Cole bounced back from the early homers against the Padres -- going seven innings and allowing four runs -- the same wasn't true against the Mets. The Amazin's pushed across five runs and banged nine hits off of Cole -- both tying season highs -- as he was chased after just 4.1 innings. 

After the game, Cole was asked what he believes the reason for the uptick in homers is and the former Cy Young winner was straightforward with his observation.

"The hitters are seeing the ball well and being able to deliver good strikes to it, regardless of the pitch type or the location," he said after the loss.

When asked if it's something Cole can change on his end, the 36-year-old wasn't sure, but offered that it's something he needs to figure out.

"I think it’s something we gotta figure out for sure. It’s one of those times in the season where you have to start making adjustments," Cole explained. "Sometimes adjustments are hard. But that’s the demand of the game. Have to find a way to get through it and move forward."

"Stuff looked ok but not getting it to places he needed to get to and they made him pay for it today," manager Aaron Boone said of Cole's start. "They didn’t miss. That was a little bit of it too. They were fouling pitches off and getting to balls and there wasn’t much swing-and-miss because he wasn’t getting it to spots."

The Yankees skipper said that despite the last two starts, Cole is having a great year and that the Mets were a hot team that hit him around. 

Boone is right. Cole returned from Tommy John surgery in late May, and despite the physical progression needed, the right-hander was dealing before San Diego. He made five August starts where he allowed a combined eight earned runs over 30.2 innings (2.35 ERA) and allowed three runs in 5.1 innings against the Angels on Sept. 1 before the Padres and Mets got to him. 

However, there are some underlying concerns. Cole's swing-and-misses are down, which he acknowledged is "something we need to tackle," and the looming reality that, physically, he's still trying to bounce back from major surgery. Boone says Cole's arm isn't getting tired, and Cole said he's pleased with how he feels physically, considering he's coming off of Tommy John. 

But Cole couldn't rule out whether this is just part of the progression from his surgery. 

"Hard to pin it on one thing," Cole said. "Again, at a certain point, starting pitchers throughout the year have to make adjustments. Hitters are good, offenses are good. High-stakes games with good offenses- sometimes they teach you lessons like today."

Despite the results, Cole isn't concerned. He says he's healthy and his experience should benefit him in figuring out what adjustments need to be made to be more effective.

"It’s not easy. It’s a tough game," Cole said. "Have to make hard adjustments; that’s why it’s the big leagues." 

Cole added, "Hitters are really good. There’s credit to be dished out, but at the same time we expect better. That’s what we’ll be chasing."

And Boone has those same expectations.

"I expect him to be right next time."

The Yankees hope Cole is right as they head to the final two weeks of the regular season. After the loss, the Rays hold a 3.5-game lead in the AL East with a massive four-game series between the Yankees and Tampa Bay coming up. 

Even if the Yankees don't catch Tampa for the AL East crown, they'll need Cole to make a deep playoff run this October. 

"It's not easy. It's a tough game, got to make hard adjustments. That's why it's the big leagues."

Gerrit Cole talks about making the adjustments to get back to form: pic.twitter.com/U7gX7CEHnR

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 12, 2026

That… that was not quite the way I’d have drawn up another Cubs win, but we will take them any way they come.

The Cubs defeated the Pirates 4-3 on an eighth-inning two-run rally in which they had only one hit. This, after hitting two home runs off Paul Skenes and going behind thanks in part to a rare Nico Hoerner error.

Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we?

Clay Holmes dispatched the Pirates scoreless in the first, then after the first two Cubs were easy outs in the bottom of the inning, Michael Busch went oppo [VIDEO].

About Busch’s blast, from BCB’s JohnW53:

Michael Busch’s home run was the 28th by a Cub that has been the team’s first hit of a game. That is nearly one every five games. Busch had done it once before, on July 18, at home vs. the Twins. Pete Crow-Armstrong leads by far, with 10. Seiya Suzuki has four; Alex Bregman, three; Busch, Michael Conforto, Ian Happ and Dansby Swanson, two; and Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw and Tyrone Taylor, one.

Busch’s blast went a long way [VIDEO].

That’s where the score stayed until Pedro Ramirez led off the third with a home run [VIDEO].

Watching Skenes pitch, he is a different guy than he was a year ago. His velocity has dropped from “elite” (100 or over) to “above average,” hitting 96-97 most of the time. That can be hit, as the Cubs showed. He was getting swings and misses mostly on his slider. He’s still a very good pitcher, obviously, but will he ever recover the level he was at for the first two years of his career? That remains to be seen.

More on Skenes from John:

This was Paul Skenes’ 85th career start. It was just the eighth in which he has allowed multiple home runs, with five of them this year. He gave up three just once: at home vs. the Cubs, on May 1 of last year. The Cubs won the game, 8-3.

The Cubs have hit seven homers off him. No other team has hit more than three.

Michael Busch became the first batter to hit two homers off Skenes. Pedro Ramirez was the 36th to hit one.

Anyway, Holmes and the Cubs nursed that 2-0 lead into the sixth, when Brandon Lowe, who has killed Cubs pitching all year, led off with a single. Then came the aforementioned Nico error, which might have wound up a double play or at least a force out. Instead, the Pirates had two men on and nobody out. One out later, Ryan O’Hearn launched a homer and the Bucs led 3-2.

Holmes then loaded the bases on a walk, single following a fly to left and another walk. Craig Counsell called on Jacob Webb to face Oneil Cruz and — be honest now — you didn’t much like that matchup. I sure didn’t. But Webb got Cruz to ground to second to end the inning.

The Cubs couldn’t do anything in the sixth or seventh. Webb threw a scoreless seventh after a leadoff walk, and hopefully this outing will help him build confidence back. Ryan Rolison threw a 1-2-3 eighth and then the Cubs got to work after Skenes was lifted for Gregory Soto.

Ramirez led off with a double, but the next two Cubs were retired, including PCA on a called third strike. I think he was looking slider and Soto rammed a fastball right down the middle.

Then Soto lost the zone almost completely. He hit Alex Bregman and walked pinch-hitter Seiya Suzuki to load the bases.

Counsell sent Matt Shaw up to bat for Ian Happ and Shaw worked a walk to tie the game at 3 [VIDEO].

I don’t know if you can tell from that clip but the energy level from the 39,422 in attendance was tremendous at Wrigley Saturday afternoon. Loud and engaged on every pitch in that inning.

That continued when Nico came to bat and Soto hit him, forcing in the lead run [VIDEO].

The Cubs will take runs any way they can get them, of course, and now had a one-run lead to protect in the ninth.

Rolison was left in the game. The first batter was pinch-hitter Rafael Flores Jr., who hit a ground ball to Bregman that Alex couldn’t handle and it went for a hit. Rolison then retired the next two Pirates on fly balls, and Counsell called on Ryan Zeferjahn to face Bryan Reynolds.

You know, I’m not sure I’d have done that either, but I can see what Counsell is doing here — trying to figure out who’s going to close games and give some relievers tough situations to see how they handle them.

Zeferjahn struck out Reynolds to end the game — but not until after an ABS challenge [VIDEO].

Again, I’m not sure the tremendous crowd energy comes across well in the video clips. Everyone in the ballpark was really into every pitch, almost a playoff atmosphere. This isn’t the way I’d have drawn up this win, but wins are wins and the Cubs will certainly take it. More from John:

This was the Cubs’ 42nd come-from-behind win — more than half of all 83 total wins. Going into today, only two teams had more: the Diamondbacks, 44, and Dodgers, 42. The Brewers and Padres had 40.

So the Cubs have a chance to go a full game up on the Phillies for the top wild card if the Braves can defeat Philadelphia again this evening. Tyler Mahle will start for the Braves and the Phillies are going with a bullpen game, started by Tim Mayza. That game begins at 6:15 p.m. CT.

As for the Cubs, they’ll go for the sweep of the Pirates Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Bubba Chandler goes for Pittsburgh. Game time Sunday is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

After a complete drubbing of the Cincinnati Reds last night, 20-0, to clinch a berth in the postseason, the Milwaukee Brewers are back for more against their NL Central foe.

The Brewers have a magic number of 4 to clinch the NL Central coming into tonight’s game. The Chicago Cubs did win their afternoon contest against the Pirates, which means the Brewers can no longer clinch on Sunday and the earliest they could possibly be crowned is on Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

While it’ll be difficult for the Brewers offense to replicate the kind of offensive outburst they had on Friday night, they have been swinging the bat quite well of late. Jackson Chourio has especially been on a roll, batting .379/.404/.621 (39-for-103) with 6 HR and 18 RBI in his last 23 games.

To no surprise, Chourio is back in the leadoff spot for tonight’s game. He’ll be followed by Brice Turang and Jake Bauers atop the order. Christian Yelich, William Contreras, and Garrett Mitchell form the middle of the order. Then the bottom of the order has Sal Frelick in right field, Cooper Pratt at short, then David Hamilton at third base.

After a clutch home run robbery last night from Lara and a career-high 4 hit game from Joey Ortiz, neither of them are in the starting lineup for tonight’s game.

The Reds will have right-hander Brady Singer on the mound. He works primarily with a sinker-slider combo. The Brewers recognize Ortiz’s struggles against right-handed sinkers, which is likely contributing to him not being in the lineup tonight. The last time Singer was out on the mound, it was against the Brewers. He didn’t pitch particularly well, allowing six runs over 5 IP, but the Reds still won.

Singer is having a tough season, with his ERA experiencing a full run increase over last year. He has a 5.03 ERA in 2026 in his 28 starts.

The Brewers will be countering with Shane Drohan, who has a 7-5 record and a 4.09 ERA on the year. Drohan faced the Reds his last time out and had a tough game, allowing six runs in 4 IP. Ironically, that was the only game of that Reds series last weekend that the Brewers won.

Drohan will face a Reds lineup that’s led by Dane Myers, Elly De La Cruz, and rookie sensation Sal Stewart at the top of the order. Tyler Stephenson, Eugenio Suarez, and JJ Bleday form the middle of the Reds lineup. Then Juan Brito, Hector Rodriguez, and Ke’Bryan Hayes round out the bottom of the lineup card for manager Terry Francona.

Can the Brewers continue their push for 100 wins for the first time in franchise history? Can they make their NL Central magic number dwindle a little bit more? We’ll find out. First pitch is at 6:10 PM.