Category: MLB

The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Toronto Blue Jays scored four runs.

Remember last night when the Rangers scored a bunch of runs early and then gently moseyed to a victory over the Blue Jays despite their lead shrinking to almost nothing late? Well, tonight’s game was pretty much the same deal.

The Rangers scored three runs in the top of the first off of 2025 friend Patrick Corbin as they enjoyed a rare trio of hits with RISP. A couple of innings later, Justin Foscue made it 5-0 with his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot following a Jake Burger walk.

Irritatingly, the Rangers went hitless with RISP in their remaining nine opportunities as they couldn’t quite turn the game into a blowout. The well running dry at the plate would eventually lead to some late-innings heartburn again. Nevertheless, the early damage was already in the books and, luckily for Texas, they had Nathan Eovaldi on the mound and he was shoving.

The second most famous pitcher from Alvin, TX went seven innings and allowed zero runs on five hits and a walk with nine strikeouts. Toronto didn’t have their first hit until the fourth inning and only really threatened Eovaldi in his last couple of frames. The veteran erased a couple of rallies to maintain the five run lead.

The Rangers needed all five of ’em, too. Like last night, despite being staked to a big early lead, the Blue Jays flipped it on in the late innings and eventually put up a four-run frame in the eighth.

Starring down a potentially dubious outcome after leading by five runs early, Texas again turned to Jacob Latz for the save and he came through for the second consecutive one-run win for the Rangers in Toronto.

Player of the Game: Foscue drove in three of the five runs and his dinger was big, and Wyatt Langford continued his torrid June with three more hits and a stolen base while flying around on the bases, but it’s hard to argue against Eovaldi’s evening as he provided Texas with seven shutout frames to keep the mileage off a sputtering bullpen during this brutal stretch.

Up Next: Eyeing a third win in three tries to begin this series, the Rangers don’t yet have a pitcher listed for tomorrow’s game while Toronto will start RHP Dylan Cease.

The Saturday afternoon first pitch from Rogers Centre is scheduled for 2:07 pm CDT and will be back on the Rangers Sports Network.

Happy Pride Night! After a rousing electric guitar version of the Star-Spangled Banner, the Orioles came on out and delivered an inspired Friday win, defeating the Nationals in a tidy 3-1 contest. It wasn’t the most explosive offensive performance ever, but left-handed starter Trevor Rogers certainly brought the energy, going 6 1/3 innings with a fastball that was simply ruthless.

Let’s talk about another great start from Trevor Rogers, his third quality start in a row. As of May, Rogers’ ice-cold start to the season was making Birdland wonder whether his charmed 2025 was a mirage, but June has been quite the leveler. He now has a 2.05 ERA in five appearances. That’ll work.

Tonight, Rogers faced the minimum through three innings. This included a drama-free first inning with two pop flies (Rogers nicely battling back from down 3-0 to Curtis Mead) and a swinging K. In the second, Rogers whiffed CJ Abrams with high heat, making me think how tough the lefty Rogers looks against a lefty—but then he did the same on three pitches to right-hander Dylan Crews!

The Rogers four-seam fastball has been a weapon in June, and it looked devastating today. Of his first 20 pitches, 16 were strikes, and of 87 total, 65. Wow. Trevor Rogers is locked in, people.

Rogers’ counterpart on the mound, the rather inexperienced Andrew Alvarez, who has all of ten career starts, made a strong first impression here at Oriole Park, too. Alvarez whiffed two in a perfect first inning, dotting breaking balls everywhere. Lefties bearing offspeed pitches, and this Orioles lineup? Danger.

The Orioles wasted a scoring chance against Alvarez in the second when Pete Alonso walloped a curveball and with two outs, Leody Taveras walked. But Taveras ran into a third out on the bases, and Alvarez was out of trouble. Baltimore put the leadoff man on in the third, Jackson Holliday legging out an infield single, but Pete Alonso struck out with runners at the corners, and the rally went no further.

Meanwhile, Rogers was working at a furious pace, like he had somewhere to be. The third inning was just a bunch of groundballs. A somewhat lackadaisical throw to first by Gunnar Henderson took Pete Alonso just off the bag long enough to allow Jacob Young to get on base on the E6. But Rogers was unbothered: he teed up another ground ball—double play—and one more grounder to get out of the inning. Unflappable.

The Nationals nicked Rogers in the fourth—Maryland native James Wood doubled, and Curtis Mead followed him with a bloop single—but astonishingly, even with men on second and third and no outs, didn’t draw blood. Rogers just dug in, attacking the zone like a beast. First, he drew a bouncer right at Blaze Alexander, who made a strong, accurate throw home, and Wood was a sitting duck at the plate. Defense! CJ Abrams popped out next, and there were two outs. Crews scorched a ball, 104 mph, into the infield—but right at Jackson Holliday, who made a great stop, and fired to first. De-fense!

The game’s first runs came in the fourth, and they were orange-colored. Coby Mayo had taken some ferocious hacks at Alvarez in his first AB, back in the second, but he didn’t miss a big hanging curveball this time—double. A flustered Alvarez walked Tyler O’Neill on four pitches (one looked to be a strike). A mound visit and two quick outs later, and the rally looked to be toast. But Jackson Holliday walked to load the bases, and from the 9 spot, Blaze Alexander got the big base-knock. Two scored. Don’t get too enamored with Blaze, I’ll just say. Taylor Ward singled with two on, but Alexander got thrown out trying to go first-to-third and no third run would score. Runs, but also another stupid mistake.

On top of that, Washington immediately got one back, making it 2-1 in the fifth. With one out, Jacob Young had doubled deep to center. It looked like Rogers would get out of it cleanly when he struck out No. 8 hitter Nasim Nuñez. But the veteran Keibert Ruiz singled him home.

But that was all the Nats would get off Rogers tonight. Determined, I assume, to avoid handing this Orioles bullpen anything like a narrow lead, Rogers came back out for the sixth. I joke, but he’d only thrown 75 pitches when he came back out for the seventh, too.

Maybe Rogers likes a challenge, so he spotted the Nationals a leadoff double. Maybe not. He really struggled to retire Daylen Lile, but a pop out ended Lile’s AB and Rogers’ night. The O’s lefty exited with another quality start: 6 1/3 innings with one run on five hits, seven strikeouts and no walks. Welcome back, Rogers!

I’m sorry to remind you but I must: over the last three weeks, this Orioles bullpen has an ERA of 5.38. Happily, they didn’t look like it tonight. Also, the Orioles offense made their assignment a little easier by scratching out a third run for insurance. Washington’s Brad Lord had pitched a clean sixth, and tried to give his team length by pitching into the seventh. Bad call, probably.

Lord allowed a leadoff single to Taylor Ward before Gunnar struck out in an inconvenient spot. But Pete Alonso walked for the second time, and up to the plate came Coby Mayo. Mayo looked locked into today. He came through, to the tune of a 113-mph run-scoring double, his second of the day. 3-1 Birds.

After that, no drama from this relief corps whatever. Tyler Wells got two quick outs to end the seventh. Grant Wolfram pitched a perfect inning in the eighth. So, too, did lately homer-prone closer Ryan Helsley, who, flashing both a nasty breaking ball and 100 up in the zone, drew a quick groundout, a swinging strikeout, and … a slow roller to short. Too many times lately, the Orioles have done stupid things when faced with a play like this. But not tonight: Gunnar barehanded it and made an absolutely perfect throw to first. Ballgame over.

Clocking in at just over two-and-a-half hours, this was a clean, well-pitched, well-fielded game. Just the cure for the Orioles’ recent sloppiness. Watching a game like this, you could easily be tricked into believing the Orioles could actually make some noise down the stretch. Who knows?  

So who is your Most Birdland Player, CamdenChat? Trevor Rogers and his 6 1/3 one-run innings (maybe not just SPB [Starting Pitcher Bias])? Coby Mayo, 2-for-4 with two doubles? Blaze Alexander, with the big two-run RBI single, a walk, and a run-saving throw home? Taylor Ward, quietly going 3-for-5 at the top of the order?

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. 

The Mets changed managers on Friday, but that hardly jumpstarted a lineup that had to deal with Zack Wheeler for most of the night. Now Andy Green knows what it was like to be Carlos Mendoza. 

Green’s crew managed only five hits in a 2-1 loss to the Phillies at Citi Field that extended the Mets’ losing streak to seven games. Green took over as interim manager earlier in the day after Mendoza was fired. 

The Mets (34-48) looked every bit like the team that entered the day ranked 29th in MLB with a .673 OPS. Their misery on this night included getting one-hit over the final five innings. It was the fifth time during their losing streak the Mets scored three runs or fewer. 

“I thought the energy was good, the effort was what you want — we just weren’t able to square up balls,” Green said. 

Zach Thornton, in his second major league start, was sharp over six innings. The left-hander, thrust into the rotation following David Peterson’s trade to the Cubs and Kodai Senga’s demotion to the bullpen, allowed one earned run on five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. 

“It just gives me the confidence I can compete with the best out there and I can get anybody out,” Thornton said. 

But Green said a decision hadn’t been reached on whether Thornton will remain in the rotation. Christian Scott will return from the injured list on Saturday and it’s possible Thornton will be the roster casualty. 

Thornton surrendered three straight hits to begin the game, but escaped the first with only one run allowed. Bryce Harper delivered an RBI single that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead after Trea Turner’s leadoff double and Kyle Schwarber’s ensuing single. Thornton rebounded to get three straight outs. 

“Zach was really good, especially you are talking about a young kid who gets barreled up three consecutive times, gets a mound visit and settles in and gives us six great innings,” Green said. “It’s tough to win baseball games when you put one run on the board.” 

Derek Hill scaled the fence in right-center in the bottom of the inning to rob Juan Soto of a two-run homer. Carson Benge singled leading off before Hill fully extended over the fence for the larceny. 

“It was an unbelievable catch,” Soto said. “You see the replays and you see how impressive it was. He didn’t have any timing — he just went straight to the wall and jumped. That was incredible.” 

Jared Young’s RBI single in the fourth tied it 1-1. Bo Bichette’s leadoff double ignited the rally before Young delivered against Wheeler. 

Huascar Brazoban allowed an RBI single to Trea Turner in the seventh that gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Hill’s leadoff single and Bryson Stott’s walk gave the Phillies their base runners before Hill’s single. It was a rare misstep for Brazoban, who wasn’t scored upon in his previous seven appearances and began the night with a 1.82 ERA. 

Wheeler dominated with a second good outing in less than a week against his former team. The right-hander allowed one earned run on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk over seven innings. Wheeler, in his return from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, has pitched to a 2.03 ERA in 11 starts this season. 

“It’s tough and it’s part of baseball,” Soto said. “We just haven’t been coming through in big situations and that is kind of the way the game goes. You have got to come through in the right moment, at the right time.” 

Green, who last managed a major league game for the Padres in 2019, said he felt at home in the dugout. 

“It’s what I know,” Green said. “I will certainly make mistakes along the way, but the game was not moving any faster than a normal game has in the past. I have got good coaches around me that are very bright, so I think in that sense I felt good.”

BOSTON — The Yankees at least spared themselves the infamy of having a perfect game thrown against them. 

They even mustered a run in the eighth inning. 

But that is where the list of positive developments ended for them on Friday night at Fenway Park. 

Red Sox lefty Payton Tolle dominated them across seven innings, allowing just one hit to Spencer Jones after retiring 16 straight to start the game, as the Yankees stumbled to a second straight loss by a score of 6-1. 

“Good pitcher executing, it can be a tough game sometimes,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So obviously just had a hard time to mount anything. But no issue with where our preparation and focus [were]. We just got beat tonight by him.” 

Tolle, who struck out 11 in six innings of one-run ball against the Yankees (48-33) in April, was even more untouchable on Friday night while striking out seven. Jones poked a single into center field off him with one out in the sixth, and Tolle later walked a pair in the seventh. But all three base runners proved harmless as he mowed down the Yankees, who have now lost six of their past nine. 

The Yankees began the season 18-6 against lefty starters but have now dropped four of their last five, including the first two games of this four-game set against the last-place Red Sox (34-46). 

“[Tolle] did a good job of filling up the zone, getting ahead in the count and then was able to do what he wanted to do with certain pitches,” said Jones, who was getting a rare start against a lefty. “Credit to him, he was able to execute and get out ahead.” 

Besides Tolle vying for a perfect game, the only real drama — if you can call it that — of the night came in the bottom of the fifth inning, when the benches cleared after Will Warren walked Willson Contreras. Ball four was up and in on Contreras, who essentially stands on top of the plate, and he flipped his bat before jogging down to first and jawing at Warren. 

Contreras, who had crushed a 418-foot homer off Warren earlier in the game, seemed to want to know why the Yankees pitcher was looking at him. After some talking back and forth, both teams left their dugouts and bullpens to crowd around first base with nothing more than words exchanged. 

“He said something, so I said something back,” Warren said. “I’m just trying to make a pitch.” 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

That only added to the frustration for Warren, who gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks across 5 ²/₃ innings. For the first time in his career, he did not record a single strikeout. 

Warren was consistently hit hard even on outs, as 10 of the 24 balls the Red Sox put in play against him came off the bat at 95 mph or higher. 

After a strong first two months of the season, Warren has had a rockier June, giving up 16 runs (12 earned) on 27 hits in 19 ²/₃ innings across four starts, with left-handed hitters in particular giving him some trouble during that stretch. 

“I’m not sure [why],” Warren said. “Just got to find a way to get them out. I’ve dealt with that in the minor leagues. The four-seam kind of changed that. Obviously they’re on it right now, but we’ll figure it out and move on.” 

After Tolle exited the game, the Yankees broke up the shutout against former teammate Tommy Kahnle in the eighth inning. Anthony Volpe led off with a double and eventually came in to score on Austin Wells’ groundout to erase the goose egg and save some face. 

“Obviously,” Boone said, “just a tough night for us offensively.”

It is the end of the sixth inning; the White Sox are leading 17-1. The Royals scored their only run on a double play groundball after David Sandlin walked the bases loaded following a 10-run bottom of the third inning. This comes one night after the Royals were almost no-hit in Tampa Bay and lost 13-2. I’m not watching any more of this and neither should you.

If you’re looking for positives, Steven Cruz struck out 3 in 1.1 scoreless innings. Carter Jensen extended his hitting streak to 17 games. Jac Caglianone had a triple. Kendry Chourio earned his first win with the River Bandits. That’s all I’ve got for you.

Good night.

It’s kind of crazy the way momentum works in baseball. Normally, we equate momentum as when one teams comes from behind on another, scoring runs to take a lead and eventually emerging victorious. One could argue that both teams had some kind of momentum today coming into this game. The Phillies, of course, had several games where they were down to their last strike before demolishing a Nationals bullpen. The Mets had a different kind of momentum. They had earlier fired their manager and were looking to get off to a good start under the interim manager.

In the first inning, the Phillies capitalized on their momentum, the first three hitters reaching on hits and scoring a run. Eventually, the Mets starter Zach Thornton settled down and kept them off the board the rest of the inning to swing some mo’ back New York’s way. Carson Benge singled off of Zack Wheeler to start the Mets’ frame, bringing up Juan Soto. Soto drove a ball that looked off the bat to be a home run, but Derek Hill had other ideas.

That, my friends, is a dagger.

You could almost see the air going out of the Mets’ balloon after that catch, much in the way you could see Ralph Wiggum’s heart breaking with Lisa Simpson.

The rest of the game, it was Wheeler in total command of his game. He allowed a single run in the fourth when Bo Bichette doubled, moved to third on a ground ball and scored on a Jared Young single, but the rest of the game was a masterclass.

The issue? Thornton had also settled all the way in, limiting the Phillies’ offense to the lone run on seven hits. He was relieved by Huascar Brozaban in the seventh, a move on which the Phillies capitalized. Hill singled, then moved to second on a walk to Bryson Stott. Trea Turner came through with a two-out RBI single to score Hill and give the Phillies a lead.

In the end, the momentum shifting catch by Hill was the difference. Without it, who knows how the Mets respond. They’d have had the lead in the first inning with no outs and the stadium loud. Instead, they allowed Wheeler to get locked in and were summarily locked up themselves.

Good.

These teams will lock horns again tomorrow afternoon, so long as the weather holds up.

Mariners 3 (obviously), Guardians 1

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Josh Naylor, -0.24 WPA
The Rock, on a roll: Luis Castillo, +0.24 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

Payton Tolle last faced the Yankees on April 23rd, when he held them to a run on just three hits in six innings, tallying a career-high 11 strikeouts. It’s hard to think that he could improve on that outing, but he took things to another level tonight, logging one of the most dominant performances by an opposing starter the Yankees have seen in quite some time. He carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before a Spencer Jones single broke up the perfecto and no-hit bids.

By that point, the Red Sox had built a comfortable cushion off Will Warren that the Yankees never really looked like threatening. They may have played a cleaner game in the field than the series opener, but that’s not going to count for much when you manage just three hits on the day. It’s telling that the most exciting moment was a benches-clearing kerfuffle in the fifth as the Yankees sleepwalked to a 6-1 loss.

It wasn’t quite the strikeout display as his first start against the Yankees, but Tolle was nonetheless effective at inducing a whole lot of harmless contact from the Yankees early in counts. He did strike out the side in the second, but mostly it was pop ups and ground balls from the Bombers lineup. Their first baserunner came with one out in the sixth, Spencer Jones flipping a single to the opposite field. They’d muster just two more baserunners against Tolle from that point: a pair of two-out walks by Jasson Domínguez and José Caballero in the seventh, only for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to strand them in place with a routine fly out to center.

There is no doubting that this year’s version of Will Warren is much improved from his 2025 rookie campaign – evidence of his development path over the offseason. However, having watched half a season’s worth of starts from him in 2026, I think I’ve identified the three biggest things for him to continue to work on. The first we have discussed multiple times already – the need to maintain composure upon encountering adversity in a start. Warren tends to unravel with runners on, especially if they got there via an error, and I suspect the problem is down to him pitching out of the stretch instead of the windup.

The second area of improvement is to be smarter with his fastball. I feel he is a tad too brazen with his fastball in the zone – stuff-wise it’s just not good enough to beat hitters when it’s not commanded to the edges. Finally, he has seen his strikeout rate drop with each month of the season as he has really struggled to put guys away with two strikes.

Tonight, it was the latter pair of issues that really bit him. In the first, Wilyer Abreu tripled to center with two outs, and after Warren worked Willson Contreras to a 2-2 count, he made a mistake with a sinker that caught way too much of the zone and Contreras drove Abreu home with a single to left-center. Then in the second, Warren loaded the bases with no outs, giving up a bunt single to Caleb Durbin, a line drive single to Anthony Seigler, and walking Connor Wong. He then managed to induce a pair of ground balls, but the infield failed to convert the double play both times, allowing a further pair of runs to score.

The following inning, Warren once again got ahead of Contreras, 1-2, but this time hung a sweeper up and over the plate, and Contreras crushed it over the Monster and onto Lansdowne Street to make it 4-0, Boston. I don’t think for one second that this engendered any feelings of malicious intent in Warren, but Contreras certinly seemed primed for some form of retribution. He got his opportunity to fly off the handle in the fifth. After drawing a walk, Contreras jawed at Warren as he walked to first after two close pitches up and in, Contreras notorious for his hair-trigger temper given the number of times he has gotten plunked in recent years. This caused both benches to clear in a completely unnecessary brouhaha, everyone eventually filing back into the dugouts after Contreras got his moment to puff out his chest.

Boston tacked on another in the sixth as Caleb Durbin led off with a double, advanced to third on a Seigler grounder, and jogged home on a deep sac fly from Wong. At least the Yankees managed to avoid the shutout, breaking the ice in the eighth against old friend Tommy Kahnle. Anthony Volpe led off with a double, advanced to third on a Jones grounder, and scored on an Austin Wells RBI groundout. However, Boston reestablished their five-run lead in the eighth as Jarren Duran led off with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a Seigler grounder, and touched home on a Wong single. Domínguez collected New York’s third and final hit–an automatic double to right in the ninth with two outs–but Caballero flew out to wrap up a punchless 6-1 loss.

The Yankees still have two games to save face and split this four-game series against the last-place Red Sox. That starts tomorrow with Gerrit Cole on the mound against a third straight lefty in Jake Bennett. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm ET with the broadcast moving to ABC.

Box Score

The San Francisco Giants welcome the Atlanta Braves to Oracle Park tonight to begin a three-game series.

As of the time this is being written, the Giants have not yet announced a starting pitcher. I assume that means that the last resort left for this season is the element of surprise. But check the comments below for more up to date information.

Whoever it ends up being will face off against Braves right-hander Reynaldo López, who enters tonight’s game with a 3.50 ERA, 4.62 FIP, with 39 strikeouts to 21 walks in 43.2 innings pitched. His last appearance was in relief in the Braves’ 9-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, in which he allowed one unearned run on one hit with three strikeouts and a walk in three innings.

Game #81

Who: San Francisco Giants (33-47) vs. Atlanta Braves (48-31)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 7:15 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

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

I don’t know why it took the Giants ages to announce Trevor McDonald, the guy whose turn it was all along. Sigh.

Game Summary

Impressive was the word that Steve Berthiaume kept coming back to when describing Zac Gallen’s start tonight. Can’t say many Diamondbacks fans would agree with that assessment; the ‘Pit sure wasn’t buying it. To be fair, Zac Gallen had one of his best in-game stretches of the season, setting down 15 straight at one point. Unfortunately, the first 3 batters and the last 4 batters he faced tonight pummeled him and provided more than enough to overwhelm Gallen and the Diamondbacks offense.

After starting the game with a sequence of walk, HBP, homer, Zac settled in and was extremely efficient. He was pounding the strike zone and getting the ball in play early in counts. The defense backed him up several times, snaring would be base hits all over the place, but rather than call Zac lucky, I’ll instead say that’s how this team was designed to operate. Have premium defenders around the diamond who can help the pitchers feel confident letting the ball be put in play. Regardless of whether it was luck, skill, or a little of both, Zac was rocking a 1-hitter through 5 innings and got through 6 innings while still only allowing the 3 runs from that first inning deluge. Gallen came back out for the 7th with a low pitch count and a 2-run deficit and left the 7th (and the game) with a 3-run deficit and a runner standing on 2nd base. The fact Zac had as much success tonight as he did with exactly 1 whiff (that didn’t happen until the 7th inning!) and 0 strikeouts is…impressive.

The offense, for its part, didn’t do much to support their starter. Gerry launched a rocket into the right field stands in the first inning and Corbin followed with a triple that was inches short of a homer. Then, the RISP woes struck. The Snakes went 0-8 with RISP tonight, and their first 5 attempts started with Corbin standing at third with 1 or less outs. Of those first 5 attempts, 3 ended up pop outs on the infield. The Diamondbacks outhit their competition 8 to 6, but they couldn’t string their hits together in any successful way, leading to the utter silence after Domo’s homer 2 batters into the game.

At least the DBacks didn’t burn any valuable relief pitchers so everyone will be very fresh for the next couple games. Here’s to hoping for a strong ending to the weekend.

Loss Probability and Box Score

Outside the Box Score

• Geraldo Perdomo got all of his first inning solo homer, a 421 foot shot that left the bat at 103 mph.
• Corbin Carroll now stands alone at the top of the franchise triples list after he followed up Domo’s homer with his 53rd career triple. The triple looked like it might be a home run off the bat but ended up hitting off the top of the wall and the Rays outfielders glove to let Corbin cruise into third. Unfortunately, Gabi and Arenado couldn’t cash in the runner at third with only one out when they popped out to first and second base, respectively.
• Zac Gallen gave up a moonshot homer to Junior Caminero after walking and hitting the first 2 Rays batters of the game. It looked like Zac might’ve got a strikeout a pitch earlier when he dotted the low, outside corner on Caminero, but the umpire didn’t bite and Gabi didn’t challenge and it ended up a 3-1 score the very next pitch.
• Corbin made another outstanding play on defense when he snagged a sinking lined drive leading off the second inning. The catch looked awkward, kinda reaching backward while he started sliding feet first, but he came up with the out.
• Corbin Carroll attempted a steal in the 4th after getting a leadoff single and Gabi drilled a 104mph liner through the glove of the Rays shortstop. If the defender had been able to catch it, Corbin would’ve been a dead duck. Instead, Corbin got a good read on the ball off the carom from the glove and motored into third to set up a prime scoring opportunity.
• Max Kepler nearly got himself an RBI single in his second AB with the DBacks, guiding a humpback liner toward shallow left field, but Junior Caminero made an impressive leaping catch ranging back from his shallow infield starting position and kept a run off the board. He then proceeded to hit himself in the chest and yell several times. He did the exact same thing while rounding the bases after his homer. Not sure I’m a fan of that. He’s a great talent, but I’m glad he’s not on the Diamondbacks.
• After the rough first 3 batters, Gallen started cruising, setting down the next 15 in a row. He was pounding the zone and getting early swings, evidenced by pitch counts under 10 in each of the 3rd, 4th and 5th.
• Gabi’s single in the 6th was a little bloop shot into shallow right field. The Rays RF dove but was nowhere close to catching the ball and the hit bounced back behind him 10-20 feet. Unfortunately, Gabi couldn’t stretch it into a double because he’s apparently nursing a hamstring that he’s under strict orders not to push according to the broadcast team. A pity because Arenado followed up that near-double with a single that may have been able to score Gabi from second.
• Nolan Arenado had another premier defensive play in the bottom of the 6th. After a leadoff double, Gallen gave up a a hard line drive that was between Arenado and the third base line and Arenado made an outstanding dive to catch the ball just before it bounced off the infield dirt. 5 stars!
• Late in a lopsided loss, little things help to remind me I love baseball, even if I sometimes hate the DBacks. Tonight’s treasure was Lourdes Gurriel at the plate and freaking out the home plate umpire. Lourdes was doing his customary wait until the pitch clock was about to run out and the umpire misread Lourdes intentions and called time on the batter. Lourdes was clearly confused but let it ride because it’s a blowout and it’s Lourdes. Coming out of the timeout, Lourdes stared back at the pitch clock until the last second again and the umpire couldn’t help himself and had to look back over his shoulder and see what Lourdes was staring at. Pretty funny. Or funny for a blowout loss. I do love baseball.

Comment of the Game

The GameDay Thread was lively, if not a little distracted. The GTD reached a final tally of 313 comments at time of publishing, though if I had to guess if there were more comments about the game or hippos and tortoises, I’m not sure I could confidently answer. Case in point, COTG tonight goes by popular vote to Sighborg for his this comment on, well, you just had to be there:

Coming Up

The Diamondbacks face the Rays for the second game of this 3-game set tomorrow afternoon with a 3:10pm first pitch Arizona time. Old reliable TBD is listed as the probable starter for the Rays and Jose Cabrera (0-0, 0.00 ERA) making his second big league start takes the ball for the good guys.

Red Sox starter Payton Tolle retired the first 16 straight Yankees he faced and Will Warren surrendered five runs in the first five innings as New York fell 6-1 at Fenway Park on Friday.

The Yankees have now lost two in a row and six of their last nine to fall to 48-33 on the year. The Red Sox improved to 34-46, and the AL East cellar dwellers are now 13.5 games behind the first-place Yanks.

Here are the takeaways...

- Warren got a pair of ground ball outs in the first before Wilyer Abreu drilled a fastball on the outside corner off the wall in centerfield for a triple. Willson Contreras put the Sox ahead by serving a two-strike sinker into center. He got into trouble quickly in the second as a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out, and pitching coach Matt Blake was out for a visit. Warren didn’t allow a hit, but the first two ground balls netted Boston two more runs as they were hit too slow to turn two.

The righty wasn't so lucky with one out in the third, as a 1-2 sweeper to Contreras was hammered 418 feet (111.9 mph off the bat) over the Green Monster for a solo shot. Warren allowed his third extra-base hit of the night, a two-out double off the wall in center in the fourth to Tsung-Che Cheng, his first big-league hit, but got out without further damage.

His night would come to an end in the sixth as a leadoff double, on a ball that knuckled on Spencer Jones in center, groundout and sac fly extended the Sox lead to 5-0, and after a walk, the bullpen was called upon. Warren's final line: 5.2 innings, seven hits, five runs, three walks on 90 pitches (55 strikes).

- With two down in the seventh, the Yankees finally got something cooking as Tolle appeared to show signs of tiring as he walked Jasson Dominguez and JoseCaballero. That gave Jazz Chisholm Jr. the chance to make anything happen in the five-run game, but he got under a fastball and flied out to the warning track in center.

Chisholm finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Caballero went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout, blown away by a Tolle fastball.

Dominguez scaled a ground-rule double past Pesky's Pole with two outs in the ninth. He went 1-for-3 with the walk and strikeout, waving at an offspeed pitch away against Tolle.

- With ex-Yank Tommy Kahnle on the hill in the eighth, Anthony Volpe (a strikeout victim in his first two at-bats) started things off with a double off the Monster in left-center. 

Jones, who ended Tolle’s perfect game bid with a single in the sixth, would ground out to the hole in second to finish 1-for-3. Austin Wells (pinch-hitting for Ali Sanchez) knocked in the visitor’s first run with a groundout to second on the ninth pitch of the at-bat. 

New York mustered just three hits on the night and finished 0-for-4 with RISP with four left on base.

- Paul Goldschmidt, who entered the game eating left-handed pitching, went hitless against Tolle in three times up with a strikeout swinging. He finished 0-for-4.

- Amed Rosario, who struck out swinging and flied out to center, came closest to getting anything of consequence off Tolle in the seventh with a hard drive to the warning track in right, which would have been a home run in only one big league park: Yankee Stadium. He was 0-for-3.

- Cody Bellinger was hitless  0-for-3.

- Ben Rice, who was out of the lineup, as manager Aaron Boone said before the game that he felt Rice had been “dragging a little bit this week,” grounded out to second to start the ninth.

- Ryan Yarbrough, who picked off the runner at first to end the sixth, added a scoreless seventh with a walk and a strikeout. After the lefty allowed a leadoff hit in the eighth, Yerry De Los Santos was called on, but, after a stolen base and a groundout, a two-out base hit to left tacked on another run for Boston.

- The benches cleared with two outs in the bottom of the fifth after Warren walked Contreras. The coming together, which ended without incident, began when the Sox first baseman and Yankee starter exchanged words, leading to the benches and bullpens emptying. The umpires issued a warning to both teams.

Game MVP: Payton Tolle

The big lefty (6-foot-6, 280 pounds) needed 88 pitches to get through seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out seven.

Highlights

The benches clear at Fenway Park after Will Warren throws one up and in to Willson Contreras pic.twitter.com/Nam64bgUpc

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) June 27, 2026

What's next

The two sides are back in action fast with a 1:10 p.m. first pitch on Saturday. 

Gerrit Cole (3.62 ERA, 1.175 WHIP in 32.1 innings) faces off against Boston lefty Jake Bennett (3.71 ERA, 1.125 WHIP in 26.2 innings).

The Mets mustered just five hits in their 2-1 loss to the Phillies on Friday night at Citi Field.

New York has lost seven in a row and is a season-low 14 games below .500. 

Here are the takeaways...

-Zach Thornton, making his second career and his first start since being recalled, worked in and out of trouble in the first. He allowed three straight hits, with Bryce Harper's single scoring Trea Turner to put the Phillies up 1-0. Thornton and the Mets bounced back, getting Alec Bohm down swinging and then Jared Young robbed Brandon Marsh of a double down the first base line with a magnificent dive to get the second out. Derek Hill ended the opening frame, striking out swinging.

After a quiet second, Thornton found himself in trouble in the third, allowing the first two runners on. He got Harper to fly out -- he just missed a three-run homer -- before Bohm lined the ball right at Young, who caught the liner and hit first base to double up Kyle Schwarber to end the threat. 

Thornton would settle down, getting through six innings, allowing just one run on five hits and one walk while striking out seven.

-The Mets bullpen, which has been great this season, faltered in the seventh. Huascar Brazoban allowed the Phillies to retake the lead after Trea Turner singled to bring home Hill. 

Cionel Perez was great after Brazoban, allowing two hits in two scoreless innings. 

-Young did more than just make a couple of stellar defensive plays. He drove in the Mets' first run, singling home Bo Bichette in the fourth. The Mets had just five hits and five baserunners. A.J. Ewing reached base twice -- finishing 1-for-2 with a walk -- but was caught stealing second twice. 

-Friday was just the 10th time Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor were in the lineup together. They went a combined 1-for-8 with a strikeout. However, Soto was close to giving the Mets an early lead. In the bottom of the first, Soto hit a bomb to center field off Zack Wheeler, but Hill made a tremendous leap and robbed Soto of a two-run shot. 

Game MVP: Derek Hill

Hill scored the go-ahead run and his catch changed the game.

Highlights

Jared Young with the unassisted double play! pic.twitter.com/F7Xr5fSvCE

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 26, 2026

Jared Young makes a run-saving diving stop pic.twitter.com/Q31qfRitp5

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 26, 2026

Jared Young ties the game with an RBI single! pic.twitter.com/VSbyg3SDkT

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 27, 2026

Zach Thornton is PUMPED after finishing the 6th 💪 pic.twitter.com/FByfbewu6o

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 27, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Phillies continue their three-game set on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m.

The Phillies will send Alan Rangel (0-0, 2.25 ERA) to the mound as their opener. The Mets have yet to announce their starter, but it's expected to be Christian Scott returning from the IL.

The Los Angeles Angels announced the firing of general manager Perry Minasian and hiring of John Mozeliak as the team's "Baseball Operations Consultant" and interim general manager.

Mozeliak replaces Minasian, joining the Angels after spending 30 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, including 18 as the head of the club's baseball operations.

He will be tasked with overseeing the day-to-day baseball operations for the team while also "refining a baseball operations strategy."

Mozeliak is not expected to be the full-time replacement as general manager but instead will help assist the team in its search for a new general manager, according to the announcement made by club president Molly Jolly.

OFFICIAL: The Angels announced that the Club appointed John Mozeliak as Baseball Operations Consultant, serving as Interim General Manager after relieving Perry Minasian of his General Manager duties. pic.twitter.com/FUmwQJTbLv

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) June 27, 2026

“John is one of the most accomplished and respected baseball executives with a proven track record of building a winning organization,” Jolly said in a statement. “For three decades, he constructed one of baseball’s most respected organizations, combining strong leadership with a commitment to player development and organizational excellence.”

Mozeliak had signed a contract extension with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2023 that lasted through the 2025 season. The team suffered its first two losing seasons during Mozeliak's tenure, leading to him stepping down from the role as his contract expired.

Minasian had been with the Angels since 2020, following the firing of Billy Eppler. Minasian initially signed a four-year contract before signing a two-year extension in August 2024.

The Dodgers (52-29) battle the Padres (42-37) down south in San Diego for a three-game series. 

Roki Sasaki (3-4, 4.76 ERA, 1.29 WHIP) starts for the Dodgers in the series opener Friday night. 

Old friend Walker Buehler (4-3, 3.96 ERA, 1.32 WHIP) takes the ball for the Friars.

Lineups

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Padres
• Ballpark: Petco Park, San Diego
• Time: 6:45 p.m.
• TV: Apple TV
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)