Category: MLB

The Phillies successfully completed a sweep of the Angels in Anaheim thanks to six strong innings from Zack Wheeler and a pair of home runs from J.T. Realmuto and Edmundo Sosa before the offense came alive late. It was the first quality start for Wheeler since July 21st, which was also the last time he finished the sixth inning. He still didn’t look quite like his usual self, but it was a clear step in the right direction as Wheeler tries to battle through his recent struggles.

Getting better

Wheeler quickly ran into trouble to start his day, as he walked leadoff hitter Wade Meckler on six pitches and then hit Mike Trout to put the first two runners on. Vaughn Grissom followed with a single that loaded the bases with no outs, putting the Phillies starter on the ropes right out of the gate. However, Wheeler was able to recover by snagging a ground ball from Moisés Ballesteros and starting a 1-6-3 double play. One run scored, but Wheeler was able to then strikeout Christian Moore on three pitches to end the inning.

The following few innings were relatively stress-free for Wheeler outside of a leadoff double in the third that he was able to strand there thanks to some help from an incredible diving catch by Derek Hill in center field.

However, the sixth brough another threat. Wheeler, who was approaching 100 pitches, seemed to tire and walked back-to-back hitters with two outs. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham came out for a mound visit with Wheeler at 101 pitches and needing one more out to finish the inning. He fell behind Jose Siri 2-0 before battling back to collect the strikeout on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, a curveball perfectly located at the bottom of the zone.

In total, Wheeler threw 108 pitches and allowed one run on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He still had trouble with deep counts but was able to eventually put hitters away and limit damage when it arose. Wheeler generated 15 whiffs total on the day, five of which coming on the eleven total curveballs he threw. Of his 108 pitches, 54 of them were fastballs, and they generated six whiffs and eleven called strikes.

Peaking late

The Phillies offense meanwhile struggled to get much going against Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi. J.T. Realmuto finally broke through in the third, launching his tenth home of the season to center field to tie the game at 1-1.

Edmundo Sosa broke that 1-1 tie in the seventh, hitting his second go-ahead home run of the series to left field to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Sosa is now 8-20 (.400) with 12 RBIs over his last seven games played.

The rest of the offense joined the party in the eighth once Kikuchi was out of the game. Kyle Schwarber led off with a walk and Trea Turner followed with a single. Bryce Harper flew out to shallow right for the first out before Alec Bohm worked a four pitch walk to load the bases. Luis Arraez then entered as a pinch hitter to face right hander José Fermin. Arraez fell behind 0-2 before working the count full and eventually lifting the seventh pitch to left field for a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 3-1. Brandon Marsh was the next pinch hitter up, and he worked an eight pitch at-bat that ended with a single to the right side that added another run. Later in the ninth, Harper would double after a Realmuto walk and a Hill single to extend the lead to 5-1.

Necessary insurance

Those extra runs turned out to be important, as both Jonathan Bowlan and Jhoan Duran were unavailable out of the bullpen. Alex McFarlane tossed a scoreless eighth inning before José Alvarado allowed a pair of singles in the eighth and was lifted for Orion Kerkering with two outs. The latter was able to erase that scoring threat but then Kerkering allowed an RBI double to Trout in the ninth to cut the lead to 5-2 with two outs. However, nothing more would come of the Angels rally, as Kerkering struck out Grissom to end the game and finish his 1.1 innings of work.

Tomorrow’s matchup

The Phillies will head to the dreaded Chase Field in Arizona to begin a three-game set with the Diamondbacks. Aaron Nola (5-10, 5.03) will look to keep his success going on the mound in game one. Arizona has not yet announced a starter as of this writing. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 PM EDT.

The game was over.

Samad Taylor had caught Jonny DeLuca’s fly ball at Tropicana Field’s short left-field wall with two outs in the ninth and the San Diego Padres leading by two. Then Taylor collided with the low wall, the ball popped from his glove and went over the fence.

The game was not over.

The cutout in the wall was designed to help longtime Rays left-handed left fielder Carl Crawford rob home runs. This time, it robbed Taylor of the final out and turned DeLuca’s fly ball into a game-tying homer. Jorge Mateo completed the escape two innings later with a walk-off single in a 5-4 victory.

The win gave Tampa Bay its fourth straight victory and an MLB-leading 14th series sweep, matching the franchise record set in 2021.

Before the late chaos, both teams spent the first three innings making scoring chances disappear.

San Diego put runners at the corners with two outs in the first after Manny Machado walked and a fielding error by Mateo on a Ty France grounder, but Drew Rasmussen got Jackson Merrill out on a groundout. Jonathan Aranda singled in the bottom half, only to be caught stealing as Junior Caminero struck out for an inning-ending double play.

In the second Dustin Harris hit a single to get on base with one out. Two batters later Nick Fortes threw out Dustin Harris at second to end the half-inning. Ryan Vilade walked to begin the botto of the second for the Rays and moved up on Chandler Simpson’s sacrifice bunt. Robbie Ray stranded him with a strikeout and a popup.

The Padres broke through in the fourth. France walked, Merrill singled and both scored when Xander Bogaerts sent a ground ball past Taylor Walls and the drawn-in infield for a 2-0 lead.

Caminero cut the deficit in half immediately. He led off the bottom of the inning by launching Ray’s pitch 440 feet into the left-center-field seats. His 37th homer tied him for the American League lead and extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

Tampa Bay had a chance to do more in the fifth. Mateo walked, stole second and third to put the tying run 90 feet away with one out. Taylor Walls fouled off a bunt attempt with two strikes, and Yandy Díaz grounded out to end the inning.

This started to feel like a game that could be close and get away. The Rays never gave up.

Rasmussen kept the Rays close, completing six innings while allowing two runs on four hits with six strikeouts. Ray was just as effective, holding Tampa Bay to Caminero’s homer and two other hits over six innings.

San Diego added an unearned run against Cam Booser in the seventh. Taylor reached on a bunt single and advanced to third when Aranda’s throw on a pickoff attempt got away. Sung-Mun Song brought him home with a sacrifice fly. Fernando Tatis Jr. was then called out for leaving the running lane on a bunt and was ejected along with Padres manager Craig Stammen after the play.

Another lost Rays opportunity came in the eighth. Walls was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a groundout and stole third, but Adrian Morejon struck out Aranda to preserve San Diego’s 3-1 lead.

That sent the Rays to the ninth against Mason Miller, still down two. Caminero opened with a single, but Miller struck out Liam Hicks and retired Simpson on a line drive.

DeLuca then lifted a fly ball down the left-field line. Taylor tracked the ball and timed it perfectly to make the catch and appeared to finish the game. His collision with the low wall knocked the ball loose and it dropped over the fence for DeLuca’s ninth homer.

Instead of a loss, Tampa Bay had a 3-3 tie.

The Padres lost another scoring chance in the 10th when Hicks threw out automatic runner Jase Bowen trying to steal third. Tampa Bay moved Mateo to third in the bottom half but failed to bring him home.

San Diego went back ahead in the 11th after Tyler Wells’ wild pitch moved Machado to third and France followed with a sacrifice fly.

The Rays answered one last time. Richie Palacios replaced automatic runner Jonathan Aranda and moved to third on Hicks’ single. Pinch-runner Kenny Piper stole second before San Diego intentionally walked Simpson to load the bases. DeLuca chopped a ball to short that Bogaerts could not handle, allowing Palacios to tie the game.

Mateo followed with a line drive into left field to score Piper and seal a walkoff win in a game that was previously lost.

The Rays next series sweep opportunity starts tomorrow when they face the New York Mets. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40pm with Ian Seymour slated to start for the Rays opposite Robert Stock.

The Mets may have lost 6-3 to the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon, but rookie Zac Thornton continued to impress in his rookie season.

The 24-year-old left-hander pitched five innings, allowing six hits, one walk, and two earned runs across 97 pitches, striking out five batters in the process.

"It was a gusty outing," asserted interim manager Andy Green of his greenhorn hurler. "He had to grind it out.

"Some at-bats turned into a lot of pitches... it was a hard-fought five innings for him."

Houston's batting order has some star power for pitchers to deal with, including AL MVP favorite and Triple Crown chaser Yordan Alvarez, who Thornton faced three times today.

Thornton struck him out, then got Alvarez to hit into two flyouts.

"[The Astros] have got good hitters, who worked pesky at-bats," Thornton said postgame. "I tried my best to throw good put-away pitches, and they hit them."

Thornton was then asked about his mentality as a rookie with the opportunity to prove he's good enough to be a core member of the team's starting rotation for the present and future.

"I just want to try to show up to the ballpark every day and be the same person, doing everything I can in every start."

New York, who were leading 3-2 entering the sixth inning, allowed four runs (one unearned, as a result of an errant throw home by first baseman Jared Young) on four hits in the sixth and seventh innings.

Jonathan Pintaro struggled in the sixth inning, and Jefry Yan was on the mound for Young's error in the seventh. They each threw 20 pitches.

Green, however, didn't seem upset when reflecting on their performances today.

"Pintaro is good, he's got the capacity to get lefties out consistently, he just left a pitch where he didn't want to," Green said. "The seventh inning was an ugly inning for us. It wasn't all on [Yan]... the error that brought in two runs; it's not a play we want to see happen."

He added: "Bullpens give up runs periodically. We've lived in a world where they hadn't been giving up runs for a long period of time."

For most of their games since the All-Star break, the Mets bullpen had become a relative strength, a group that produced the third-lowest ERA in the majors at 2.64 after the season resumed entering play Sunday. For most of this month, Jared Young had done enough with his bat to play his way into conversations about a role for next season.

But across two innings Sunday, an afternoon when rookie Zac Thornton once again did more than enough during his start, both combined to sink the Mets in their 6-3 loss to the Astros at Citi Field. Jonathan Pintaro and Jefry Yan allowed an earned run each, while Young’s brutal throwing error in the seventh brought home another run. That was enough to send the Mets (61-76) to a fourth loss in five games.

“Ugly inning for us,” interim manager Andy Green said of the seventh. “Not all on [Yan]. … Obviously the play that brought in the last two runs, not a play that we want to see happen.”

Thornton, though, gave the Mets a chance. He needed 97 pitches to navigate five innings — a number inflated by a 12-pitch at-bat and a pair of eight-pitch at-bats — but still flashed more of his potential. After a leadoff homer from Jeremy Peña, Thornton allowed only one extra-base hit the rest of his outing.

“Good hitters over there,” Thornton said of the long at-bats. “They’re pesky, pesky at-bats — just trying my hardest to throw good put-away pitches, and they’re hitting them.”

He finished with six hits and a pair of earned runs allowed, while striking out five batters and walking none. His ERA across his first 11 MLB starts dipped to 2.93. He even added an extra fist pump after striking out Jose Altuve to end the fifth.

Pintaro allowed Yainer Diaz to double with two outs in the sixth inning before LaMonte Wade Jr. crushed a pinch-hit two-run homer to give Houston a 4-3 lead. In the next frame, Yan loaded the bases with one out via a walk, infield single and hit-by-pitch, but he still managed to induce a grounder toward Young.

After Young stepped on first base for a force out, his throw sailed over the head of catcher Francisco Alvarez for his fifth error of the season. Green said he thought that play was handled correctly from a decision-making standpoint, just not from an execution standpoint.

The Mets couldn’t generate a response in the innings that followed, either. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto launched back-to-back homers in the first inning — the fifth time in franchise history the Mets have started a game with consecutive home runs — to erase the damage from Peña’s leadoff blast and give the Mets a temporary lead. Bo Bichette followed with a single, but they managed just two hits the rest of the game.

And then everything unraveled once the bullpen took over.

“Felt like a grindy outing — really gutsy,” Green said of Thornton. “Never felt as quite as sharp as he is sometimes, but when you look up and you say that about a guy and it’s five innings and two runs, you can’t help but be pleased that he’s got a way to fight through that outing and to do that.”

The Cincinnati Reds are set to wrap their weekend series in Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday night. They’re even going to have Joey Votto in the building as an on-field analyst seeing as the game is being carried nationally on both NBC and Peacock as the featured Sunday Night Baseball game of the week.

Unfortunately, it appears the game won’t be starting on-time at 7:20 PM ET.

As veteran ESPN reporter Jesse Rogers relayed shortly after 6:40 PM ET, the game’s going to be delayed due to rain in the Chicago area.

Just how long we’ll have to wait before Shota Imanaga throws the game’s first pitch remains to be seen.

What also becomes interesting is what impact this will have on Reds starter Chase Burns. He was already expected to begin seeing his total pitch counts reduced as a way of managing the load of getting through the entire season as a starter, and obviously having to stay warm for longer before even beginning the game could mean his already expected-to-be short night could end up even shorter.

According to MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon, the game will start at 7:45 PM ET.

The Mets struggled in multiple facets again in their loss to the Astros 6-3. Despite a decent outing from Zac Thornton, the Mets’ bullpen could not hang on to the fragile lead they were given, and the offense had no response.

On his third pitch in the first inning, Thornton gave up a lead-off home run to Jeremy Peña. After striking out the next two hitters, Thornton allowed a single to Jose Altuve on a line drive into center field, but recovered when Christian Walker grounded into a force out for the third out. The Mets punched back quickly against Astros’ rookie pitcher Ethan Pecko. Francisco Lindor led off with a home run on a full count, and Juan Soto followed with another dinger on the first pitch he saw. With no outs recorded, Bo Bichette smacked a ground ball into right field for a single. Unfortunately, the next three Mets batters went down in order to set the tone for the rest of the game. Nevertheless, after the first inning, the score was Mets 2, Astros 1.

With one out in the top of the second inning, Thornton hit Yainer Diaz with a pitch. After another out, Nick Allen bunted so softly that it took a minute for Marcus Semien to get to the ball and throw to first. By the time he did, Allen was safe, as was Diaz at second. Peña followed with an RBI single into center field that scored Diaz and moved Allen to third base. Fortunately, Yordan Alvarez flied out to mitigate the damage with the game tied. The Mets had no answers in the bottom of the inning, and the score remained 2-2.

Despite allowing a single to Walker at the top of the third, Thornton kept the Astros’ hitters from scoring again. At the top of the fourth, the Astros’ hitters continued to drive up Thornton’s pitch count, and with two outs, Allen drove a double into the left-field corner. Peña came to the plate next, but fortunately this time he grounded out to Lindor at short. Thornton worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning, which was his last.

The Mets’ offense was quiet for several innings until A.J. Ewing walked in the bottom of the fifth. He stole second base, and when Diaz’s throw bounced past Peña, Ewing advanced to third as well. Marcus Semien walked to bring up Luis Torrens. Torrens grounded into a double play for the first two outs, but Ewing scored. Francisco Lindor grounded out to end the fifth inning, but the Mets were ahead 3-2.

Jonathan Pintaro replaced Thornton at the top of the sixth inning. After allowing a two-out double to right field from Diaz, Pintaro gave up a 2-run home run to pinch-hitter LaMonte Wade Jr, also in right field. Allen looped a single into center field after the homer to keep the rally going briefly, until Peña struck out to end the half. At the bottom of the sixth, Bichette smacked a double into center field for the Mets’ first hit since the first inning. However, the Mets’ lineup could not find any other momentum, and the inning ended with an Astros’ lead, 4-3.

At the top of the seventh, Jefry Yan came in to pitch. After the first out, he issued a four-pitch walk to Isaac Paredes, then allowed a single to Altuve by deflecting a comebacker off his glove. Yan followed this up by hitting Walker with a pitch to load the bases. Daulton Varsho grounded out to first base, but Paredes scored on the play. Jared Young’s subsequent throw to home was very wide, allowing Altuve and Walker to score as well. Diaz struck out for the third out, but the score was now Astros 6, Mets 3.

Austin Warren replaced Yan at the top of the eighth and retired the batters in order. With one out, Soto and Bichette both walked at the bottom of the eighth. The Astros opted to swap Bryan Abreu for Steven Okert, a lefty, on the mound at this point. The gambit worked when Okert retired Carson Benge to strand the runners and end the eighth-inning threat.

Chris Devenski pitched the ninth inning for the Mets and worked a 1-2-3 inning as well against his former team. After a delay to work on the mound, Josh Hader retired the first two batters he saw. Ewing doubled on a line drive to center field, but Semien flied out to end the game with an Astros win, 6-3.

The Mets travel to St. Petersburg to start a new series against the Tampa Bay Rays tomorrow. Robert Stock will face Ian Seymour, and first pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM.

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Win Probability Added

Fangraphs

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Bo Bichette, 12% WPA
Big Mets loser: Jonathan Pintaro, -28% WPA
Mets pitchers: -38% WPA
Mets hitters: -12% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Lindor’s home run, +10.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: LaMonte Wade Jr 2-run home run, -31.8% WPA

Box Score

Although the Brewers struck first in this one, they weren’t able to hold on for the sweep. Milwaukee dropped Sunday’s series finale with the Rangers by a score of 7-4 as Dustin May continued to struggle with his command and the Brewers’ offense couldn’t generate enough firepower to overcome the deficit.

May opened the top of the first by striking out Joc Pederson, but Corey Seager singled on the first pitch he saw to give the Rangers a runner on first. May got Wyatt Langford to pop out to first baseman Jake Bauers for the second out, but couldn’t get Brandon Nimmo for the third, walking him to put two on with two out.

Up next was Ezequiel Duran, who swung at the first pitch — a cutter down the middle — and hit a line drive into right field that fell harmlessly into the glove of Sal Frelick for the third out.

In the bottom of the first, the Brewers immediately mounted a rally of their own against Rangers starter Kumar Rocker. Brice Turang began the frame by taking a batter pitch clock violation, then worked an eight-pitch walk. Rocker couldn’t retire Garrett Mitchell, either, as Mitchell lined a low fastball into left field for a single. Up next was Jake Bauers, who ripped a hard ground ball into right field to score Turang, followed by Jackson Chourio, who singled into left to score Mitchell.

With runners on first and second and still nobody out, Rocker managed to bear down and retire Christian Yelich, Gary Sánchez, and Sal Frelick to escape the inning with only two runs allowed. Milwaukee wouldn’t be able to hold the lead for long, however. With two outs in the second, May allowed back-to-back doubles, the second a ground-rule double off the bat of Elias Díaz, to bring the Rangers within a run. In the third, he allowed a solo homer to Duran that tied the game at two.

Rocker ended up keeping the Brewers scoreless for the rest of his start, but that isn’t saying much. After getting rocked in the first — ultimately needing 35 pitches just to get back into the dugout — he was only able to make it through three innings. Rocker did rack up seven strikeouts, but he also walked four batters and was already sitting at 86 pitches by the time his afternoon was over.

Despite allowing a second double to Díaz in the fourth, May kept the game tied going into the fifth, when he would ultimately lose his command. He walked Corey Seager on five pitches, two of them not even close, then walked Wyatt Langford on seven. Even with May clearly looking like he was starting to fall apart, Brewers manager Pat Murphy elected to leave him in the game with Duran coming to the plate to see if he could escape the jam.

He couldn’t. May hung a sweeper above the zone, and Duran crushed it for a ground-rule double, already the Rangers’ second of the game. Both Seager and Langford scored to give Texas a 4-2 lead, one it wouldn’t relinquish.

Texas would go on to tack on three more insurance runs against the Brewers’ bullpen thanks to a Pederson homer off Grant Anderson in the sixth and a pair of run-scoring singles off Bryse Wilson in the seventh.

After Rocker’s exit, a collection of relievers — Alexander, Adam Macko, Jordan Montgomery, Jakob Junis, and closer Jacob Latz — combined to hold the Brewers to just three hits over the rest of the game.

Milwaukee did get two runs back in the bottom of the seventh thanks to Gary Sánchez’s 200th career home run, but that would be it for the Brewers’ offense, bringing the game to its final score: Rangers 7, Brewers 4.

Even after today’s loss, the Brewers still take two out of three from the Rangers and retain the best record in baseball. They’ll now head down to Chicago for a four-game set against the division-rival Cubs. Kyle Harrison is set to go for tomorrow’s series opener, while the Cubs have yet to announce a starter.

The final score will be an enormous talking point and understandably so. In a rivalry like Yankees-Red Sox, 16-1 sticks out, especially in the finale of a series with a tie-breaker at stake.

But some less-heralded news for the Yanks Sunday afternoon, beyond their rout, beyond the best outing of the year from Will Warren, might be how their right-handed hitters fared in a game started by a premier left-hander. It’s no secret the Yankees craved righty help at the trade deadline and, with Aaron Judge still on the mend now, it’s fair to wonder if there’s some pinstriped vulnerability against lefties.

For one day, at least, the Yankees provided a thunderous answer. They had five right-handed hitters in the lineup against Ranger Suarez, Boston’s $130-million lefty, and each one got something done. No one had a bigger hit than Heliot Ramos, who had been a disappointment since the Yankees acquired him from the Giants for two prospects as their righty deadline bat. 

Ramos smashed a three-run homer in the fifth inning off Suarez, a laser into the left-field seats that turned a 2-0 game into 5-0. It was his first home run as a Yankee and 10th overall this season. He fairly flew around the bases, pounding his chest, and delivered several stinging high-fives to teammates in celebration once he crossed the plate.

“I mean, I thought he was going to do a cartwheel around third, so we definitely sensed it meant something,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But it was a big blow.”

“It was super,” said Ramos, who entered the game batting .119 as a Yankee with a .461 OPS and one RBI in 20 games. “Super. Obviously, emotional. I’m an emotional guy. I’m always showing what I got in my heart. So it feels really good to produce for this team, to be a part of this team, to get things done and just, like, feel like I have my teammates’ back.

“Obviously, everybody was hyped for me. They know I needed this. They know how hard I've been working every day, just in the gym, just in the cages, trying to figure it out, trying to get my groove back.”

HELIOT RAMOS' FIRST YANKEES HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/DmjmJhBM2p

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 30, 2026

Ramos wasn’t the only one who thrived Sunday. Overall, the five Yankee righties who played – Ramos, Paul Goldschmidt, Amed Rosario, José Caballero and Ali Sánchez – combined to go 10-for-16 (.625) with 10 RBI, three homers and seven runs. Sánchez, the backup catcher, made his mark with a fifth-inning sac bunt that helped the Yanks score their first two runs. 

The Yankees have had good success when lefties start against them this year – they are 31-18 in such games now and won two of the three games started by lefties in this series – but not having Judge’s right-handed thump as lineup bedrock has seen some of their hitting numbers backslide against southpaws. 

With most of their best hitters, beyond Judge, are left-handed – Ben Rice, Luis Garcia Jr., Cody Bellinger – it’d be nice to have another righty weapon against, say, Payton Tolle in a potential Yanks-Sox playoff series. Or versus Shane McClanahan if the Yanks met Tampa Bay. 

We’ll see what Ramos’ role will be a month from now and how he fits when Judge returns. His job now is to keep hitting. 

He got off to a poor start with the Yankees, in part, Boone seemed to say, because the Yankees went through a long stretch of games started by opposing righties. “You’re coming to a new team, (Bellinger) on the IL and not the greatest matchups, day in and day out,” Boone said. 

“It's really good to see him leave the yard,” Caballero said. “We've been messing with him a lot since he got here. He hadn't had his first Yankee homer, and he did (it) in a big series, a big moment.”

Recently, Ramos has gotten on base more – he was 2-for-2 with two walks Sunday and has reached base safely in eight of his last 12 plate appearances. 

“I'm here, and I know I can do it on the big stage,” Ramos said. “I can help this team, and that's all I want to show. I know the type of player that I can be, and I just want to keep getting good at bats. 

“Just keep showing it.” 

He admitted he doesn’t know if he’ll remember much from his happy trip around the bases. “Honestly, blacked out,” he said. “But as soon as I hit it, I was like, ‘Oh, my God! I needed that.’” 

You could say the same thing about the Yankees and the win. It gave them the season series over the Red Sox and the tie-breaker against their rivals, should that need arise. Not owning the tie-breaker last year against Toronto was crucial, you might remember, so this was a big day. 

Especially for Ramos, who delivered the biggest blow in a game in which the Yanks scored their season-high in runs and their most against Boston at the Stadium since 1954. 

Other than the first inning Friday night, the White Sox had mostly been dependent on big help from the Twins to score runs this series, and this time the Twins forgot to help.

Particularly unhelpful was Zebby Matthews, who retired the first 17 Sox and only needed 89 pitches to get through the first eight innings, only losing his prospective Maddux when he went past 100 pitches in the ninth. There were a few moderately well-hit balls, none harder than 101 mph, but the perfect game was broken up in the sixth inning by a 78 mph Drew Romo bloop after only the second time Matthews had thrown three balls. That was followed by a 70 mph Sam Antonacci-sliced double, and would have meant White Sox runs had Matthews not done some fancy fumble recovery on Tristan Peters leadoff dribbler:

The first solid hit for the Sox was a 105 mph line shot by Peters (who else?) in the eighth.

In the bottom half, the Sox got their best play of the game, courtesy of Miguel Vargas:

Matthews would lose the shutout when Antonacci and Vargas singled in the ninth (Vargas running his on-base streak to 16, though his consecutive games with a walk ended at 10, one short of the team record) and Antonacci scored on a Braden Montgomery single off reliever Jeff Hoffman. But the slumping Colson Montgomery popped up to end the game, and that was that.

Colson was also a key to how the Twins got a big lead, though his misplay won’t show up in the records. That’s because in the first inning he threw a double play relay about a bazillion feet wide of first. You can’t anticipate a double play, of course, so on the books that was just a force out because the runner didn’t advance. But had the play been properly made an ensuing walk, Josh Bell single and and Trevor Larnach double wouldn’t have existed to bring in three runs.

The Twins added single runs in the third and seventh, the latter on a Luke Keaschall homer off José Urquidy, who otherwise pitched well and long enough (five innings, three hits, just the one run) to save the bullpen for the big upcoming series in Houston. That makes Urquidy’s Sox pattern terrible game, great game (vs. the Cubs!), terrible game, pretty darned good game — the good ones on the even-numbered appearances. They just have to figure out how to skip Uriquidy’s fifth time out and skip right to the sixth.

The Sox record is now 72-64, and with Cleveland walloping the Royals, the lead is back to the 3 1/2 games it was before the weekend series began, with the magic number sticking at 23. It’s now on to Houston for four games, Anthony Kay on the mound against Peter Lambert in the first one on Monday night.

The Mets (61-76) were bested in the team's series finale against the Houston Astros (69-68), their third straight series loss.

Here are the takeaways...

-- It was a battle of rookie pitchers between New York's lefty Zac Thornton and Houston's righty Ethan Pecko.

-- Astros star shortstop Jeremy Peña led off the game with a 435-foot home run. The Mets offense responded in kind during the bottom half of the first inning, when Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto socked back-to-back solo shots to take a 2-1 lead. Peña tied the game back at two apiece in the second inning with a single up the middle to score catcher Yainer Diaz, who reached base earlier in the inning after being plunked by Thornton.

-- After a leadoff walk in the bottom half of the fifth, A.J. Ewing stole second base after getting Pecko to burn both of his mound disengagements. Diaz's throw was wide of the bag and skittered into center field, allowing Ewing to move up to third. Marcus Semien walked to put runners on the corners, but catcher Luis Torrens grounded into a double play to kill the relay while scoring Ewing to retake the lead for the Mets, 3-2.

-- Thornton was sharp in his 11th career start, striking out five, walking one, and allowing two earned runs on six hits across five full innings and 97 pitches. Now through 61.1 innings, he sports a 2.93 ERA and 1.16 WHIP.

-- Facing right-handed reliever Jonathan Pintaro with a man on second basein the sixth, Astros lefty Lamonte Wade Jr. stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter and cranked a two-run homer to take the lead back. Bo Bichette laced a one-out double down the left-field line in the bottom half of the frame, but he was stranded there and the score remained 4-3.

-- Left-handed reliever Jefry Yan worked the Mets into trouble in the seventh inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Daulton Varsho hit a ground ball to first base. Jared Young stepped on the bag for the force out, but his throw to the plate sailed well over the head of Torrens, and two Astros runners scored as a result of the error, extending their lead to 6-3.

-- With two men on base and two outs away in the eighth, Carson Benge popped out as he represented the tying run in the last big chance. Astros closer Josh Hader surrendered a two-out double to A.J. Ewing, who really needed that as he laced it 104.3 mph off the bat into the right-center gap, en route to securing a scoreless ninth for his 21st save of the season.

Game MVP: Lamonte Wade Jr.

Wade's third pinch-hit home run of his career was the turning point in the ballgame, giving the Astros a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Highlights

Francisco Lindor with a leadoff home run to tie the game! 🍎 pic.twitter.com/jXozzH0anO

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 30, 2026

FRANCISCO LINDOR AND JUAN SOTO HOMER ON BACK-TO-BACK PITCHES! pic.twitter.com/dYEtcr5gBw

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 30, 2026

Zac Thornton strikes out Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve in a 1-2-3 inning! pic.twitter.com/GGY22g8teb

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 30, 2026

A.J. Ewing steals his 22nd base of the year and goes to third on the wild throw! pic.twitter.com/2YRYRS4naj

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 30, 2026

A run scores as Luis Torrens grounds into a double play pic.twitter.com/8KSAh9r0vp

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 30, 2026

A.J. Ewing lays out to make the diving catch! pic.twitter.com/OlgBokFqpV

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 30, 2026

What's next

The Mets will travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays on Monday, Aug. 31 at 6:40 p.m.

For the Mets, Robert Stock (7.40 ERA, 1.94 WHIP in 20.2 IP) will take the mound. The Rays are slated to send out southpaw starter Ian Seymour (4.21 ERA, 1.15 WHIP in 107.0 IP)

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Milwaukee Brewers scored four runs.

Today’s game started with the Rangers failing to score on an opportunity with RISP in the top of the first inning and then Kumar Rocker allowing the first four Brewers to reach in Milwaukee’s half as the Rangers trailed 2-0 after the first frame for a third consecutive game in this series.

By this point, the gulf between the Rangers and Brewers felt so apparent that you would have been forgiven if you just tuned out and assumed the Rangers would lose and be swept. Instead, Texas showed a little resolve and, after a two-out rally from the bottom of the order, scored a run in the top of the second. An inning later, Ezequiel Duran’s 15th home run of the year tied the game.

A couple of innings after that, in the top of the fifth, it was Duran again who delivered with a two-run ground-rule double to give Texas their first lead of the weekend.

Meanwhile, there was only enough bullets for two more innings from Rocker after his usual first inning struggles. On the plus side, Rocker kept the Brewers off the board after the first four batters while the Rangers were rallying. However, it took 86 pitches for Rocker to complete his three innings, which meant the bullpen was in for a heavy workload.

Luckily, piecing together relief worked out. Tyler Alexander handled a couple of scoreless innings. Adam Macko contributed a scoreless frame. Jordan Montgomery was touched up for a two-run home run, but Jacob Junis and Jacob Latz nailed down the win.

The reason the home run off Montgomery wasn’t devastating was because the Rangers kept adding to their total with Joc Pederson hitting a solo home run in the sixth and Jake Burger and Cody Freeman driving in a couple of extra insurance runs on a pair RBI singles in the seventh.

Are the Rangers now better than the Brewers? No. Did the Rangers have a pretty miserable road trip against a couple of first place squads? Yes. Could the Rangers somehow still make the playoffs? Apparently so.

I’m mostly just glad I got to see the Rangers fight their way back from a poor start against a good team with a well-played game of baseball. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be any deeper than that.

Player of the Game: Surely no one would have believed coming into this season that Duran would become Texas’ best player but for better (the Solution’s ascension) or worse (the players above him in the pecking order being injured or disappointing or both), here we are.

Today Duran drove in three of the Rangers’ seven runs with one of them erasing another early deficit and the others acting as the big go-ahead blow in a comeback win. If there was one regular for the Rangers who looked like he could hang with the Brewers this weekend, it was Duran, and his efforts today was a primary reason for Texas avoiding a sweep.

Up Next: The Rangers head back home to open up a series against the Athletics. RHP Jacob deGrom is expected to take the mound for Texas opposite LHP Gage Jump for not-Oakland.

The August finale first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be telecast via the Rangers Sports Network.

DETROIT — The first time he came to the plate Sunday afternoon, Teoscar Hernández epitomized everything that has been wrong with the Dodgers’ offense lately.

The following two trips up after that, however, the previously slumping veteran slugger injected the team –– and his season –– with some much-needed, long-awaited life.

In the Dodgers’ 6-1 win over the Tigers on Sunday, Hernández followed up the game’s ugliest at-bat (a three-pitch strikeout in the second inning in which he twice chased low curveballs from Framber Valdez) with the afternoon’s two most important swings.

In the fourth, he was in another two-strike hole before singling on a low sinker back up the middle, allowing Freddie Freeman to go from first to third and eventually open the scoring on Miguel Rojas’ sacrifice fly later in the inning.

Then, in the sixth, Hernández jolted the Dodgers’ offense awake with a tiebreaking two-run home run to deep left-center, jumping on an elevated changeup from Valdez for his first long ball since Aug. 3 and only the second of the team’s entire six-game, Atlanta-Detroit road trip.

“Especially when you’re not having good moments in a while,” Hernández said, “it feels really nice.”

Granted, the Dodgers’ offense is still far from fixed. Sunday was the first time since Aug. 10 they’d scored more than five runs in a game not played at Coors Field; and even then, they needed two run-scoring wild pitches in a three-run eighth inning to get there. 

The team’s overall play also remains subpar; too overly reliant on dominant starting pitching performances, such as the seven-inning, one-run gem Tyler Glasnow produced Sunday, to keep pace in the race for a top-two National League playoff seed (they were tied with the Braves at the end of Sunday’s win).

However, given the gloomy mood that had descended upon the club this week, the positive signs they saw Sunday were nonetheless important.

After all, the Dodgers not only need to win games more consistently now but also decide how much they can trust their recently underperforming core ahead of the postseason.

“With most of our guys, they have a track record, and that’s pretty telling,” manager Dave Roberts said pregame. “But then the question is, who are [still those] guys right now versus what they’ve been [in the past]?”

Hernández, the two-time All-Star and frequent postseason hero during the Dodgers’ run to back-to-back World Series titles, had become a prime example of that dynamic in recent weeks. 

During his 22-game homer drought, he had batted under .200 and recorded twice as many strikeouts (28) as hits (14). Going back to his return from a hamstring strain in late June, his OPS was under .600 and his spot in the batting order had routinely dropped to as low as eighth.

With September call-ups looming next week, Hernández seemed like a candidate to potentially lose playing time, especially with the Dodgers likely to summon a left-handed bat from their minor-league ranks.

While the team recognized his clutch October history, it also needed to see performances like Sunday’s, too.

“Not to say that he’s lost confidence,” Roberts said, “but it makes you feel better to contribute to a win.”

Hernández was not alone in that boat.

Everyone from Mookie Betts to Tommy Edman to Kiké Hernández and Kyle Tucker — not to even mention Shohei Ohtani and his 5-for-40 showing over the last 10 games — had been going through glaring struggles at the plate lately, too.

That’s part of what had made the club’s offensive slump so difficult to manage and resolve, despite the team’s growing urgency to finally find solutions, as Roberts described this week. 

He said he had considered tinkering with his lineup construction, and making perhaps more profound changes to the distribution of playing time for some of his bigger stars.

But, this is also largely the same group that has won consecutive World Series for the franchise, including last year after battling through a similar second-half lull.

Thus, Roberts had settled on some middle ground entering Sunday’s rubber match at Comerica Park — waiting for something “to kind of spur” the offense, while also looking “at what I can do to help spur that, too.”

On this day, that meant showing patience with the core of his roster, and trusting someone like Hernández could supply a needed lift.

“We know we’re gonna be fine. Everybody goes through struggles. It happens to be for us right now,” Hernández said. “But today was a good day just to reflect on what we need to do, so we can continue to do the same thing [moving forward].”

Sunday notes…

• SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE: This is the 22nd of the Cubs’ 45 series in which they have split the first two games. There was no third game after one series. The Cubs were 9-11 in third games of the others, including 6-6 after losing, then winning. At home, they are 2-5 overall and 1-4 after winning, then losing. The lone win was vs. the Twins on July 19. They have lost to the Yankees and Tigers since then. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• LIGHTING UP: Tonight’s game will be the first of five in a row under the lights at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have played five straight night games at home, without a road trip in between, three times before: June 4-8, 2017 (3-2): won vs. Cardinals; won, won and lost vs. Marlins; lost vs. Rockies; Sept. 15-20, 2020 (3-2): won twice vs. Guardians; after day off, won, lost and lost vs. Twins; April 18-22, 2022 (1-4): won, lost and lost vs. Rays; lost twice vs. Pirates. So this will be the first time the Cubs have played five in a row in two series vs. National League opponents. Before 2017, the longest such streak had been four games, Sept. 12-15, 2005 (1-3): lost, won and lost vs. Reds; lost vs. Cardinals. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• LIKE NIGHT AND DAY: The Cubs are 46-29 in night games this season. They finished 49-38 last year. They are 18-12 at home under the lights this year. They wound up 21-11 a year ago. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• RUNS ON THE BOARD: The Cubs scored in six of the eight innings in which they batted yesterday. They had done that twice before this season. They also scored in six of nine twice. Their four innings with three runs each were the most of the same “crooked number” they have scored in any game this season. They scored two runs three times in three games. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: In a crazy game at Wrigley, the Cubs go down 6-1 to the Dodgers in the top of the third. They tie it up with a five-run third, two of the runs scoring on wild pitches by Tommy John. The game goes to extras tied 8-8, and the Cubs walk it off 9-8 on a home run by Jim Hickman in the 11th. It happened 54 years ago today, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 1972.

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Shōta Imanaga, LHP vs. Chase Burns, RHP

As you know, Shōta Imanaga really struggled in his last start last Sunday in Seattle, throwing 72 pitches and allowing five hits and two walks in just two innings. Fortunately, Craig Counsell got him out of there and the Cubs won the game.

Imanaga had a 2.67 ERA and 1.099 WHIP in 12 starts prior to that, covering 67.1 innings, including 10 strikeouts against the White Sox Aug. 17 at Wrigley Field. So let’s hope last Sunday was a one-off and he’ll be hack to that tonight.

Chase Burns was the Reds’ No. 1 pick (second overall) in 2024 out of Wake Forest, and he’s been Cincinnati’s best starter all year. He’s been a bit shakier recently, allowing five runs in two of his last four starts.

He has not faced the Cubs this year. His only career appearance against them was 1.1 scoreless innings of relief Sept. 20, 2025 in Cincinnati.

Burns throws hard. Cubs hitters often have trouble with guys like this. Hopefully today is better.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on NBC (full national broadcast, no blackouts), also streaming on Peacock. Announcers: Jason Benetti, Anthony Rizzo and Jeff Brantley.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Reds site Red Reporter. If you do go there to interact with Reds fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.