Category: MLB

With a new page of the calendar turned and facing an opponent that would have given them fits two months ago, the Philadelphia Phillies (79-60) continued their ascendancy in the National League playoff hunt with a 7-1 masterclass against the Arizona Diamondbacks (73-67) to push their winning streak to six games.

On a night that saw the Braves, Padres and Cubs all lose, the Phillies padded their contender’s resume behind another gem by Jesus Luzardo (13-5, 3.02) to pull within three games of the division lead and extend their wild card inclusion to six games.

They hopped on Diamondback’s starter, Eduardo Rodriguez, early with a leadoff walk by Kyle Schwarber and an RBI double by Trea Turner. Bryce Harper reached on a cheeky bunt single to put two on for Luis Arraez who grounded into a run-scoring double play to gift Luzardo with a two-run handicap.

Luzardo allowed a solo shot to Jordan Lawlar in the bottom of the fifth but otherwise worked around the few threats posed by Arizona, stranding six runners to go along with six punch outs in 6.2 innings of work.

Alec Bohm singled home Harper in the fifth for a 3-0 lead and the Phillies tacked on three more against Gerardo Carillo in the eighth via a Bryson Stott walk, Justin Crawford pinch hit, Schwarber sacrifice fly and another Harper hit. Bohm led off the top of the ninth with a double and came home on a Stott sac fly to finish the scoring.

Luzardo left with a two-man jam that Jonathan Bowlan cleaned up en route to 1.1 spotless innings and Chase Shugart retired the side in the bottom of the ninth in order to seal the win.

Harper extended his career-best on base streak to 34 games. It was the eighth time in Harper’s career he’s reached base safely five or more times in a game and first since September 3, 2023.

The Phils will look to cap off their successful road trip with a second consecutive sweep tomorrow afternoon as Andrew Painter is slated to face Arizona’s TBD.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — As ugly as Monday night was for the Yankees, Tuesday was much cleaner, if still not perfect.

There was Spencer Jones, who went deep for the second time in as many nights, reached base four times and drove in three runs to keep showing he deserves at-bats even once the Yankees are whole.

There was Jazz Chisholm Jr., who went back-to-back with Jones in the first inning on the way to a three-hit night, offering more hope his recent hot streak is a sign of things to come down the stretch.

And there was Gerrit Cole, pitching in his backyard and building on a strong stretch in which he’s continued to look like himself before his bullpen picked him up.

The Yankees wasted some chances to fully blow the game open and make things even more comfortable late, but they did enough to get back on track with a 7-3 win over the lowly but newly sold Angels at Angel Stadium.

“Scoring in the first in any game, especially a game bouncing back after a loss, is huge,” Jones said. “Just being able to play with a lead for the majority of the game and bring the offense early is big for the team.”

Bouncing back from an error-filled, 10-1 letdown in Monday’s series opener, the Yankees (79-60) kicked off the final month of the regular season by staying 4 ¹/₂ games back of the Rays for the division with 23 games left to play, while moving back to four games ahead of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card.

Cole’s night ended on a sour note, when he gave up a two-run triple to Christian Moore with one out in the sixth inning that pulled the Angels within 4-3.

But Brent Headrick came on to leave the tying run at third, now having stranded 38 of 42 inherited runners this season.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

The Yankees then created some breathing room late — a rally started by Jones’ second walk of the night and Chisholm’s third hit — as the scuffling Trent Grisham (2-for-42) fouled off a pair of bunt attempts before roping a single for the 5-3 lead off lefty reliever Samy Natera Jr.

“That’s everyone doing a little something tonight,” manager Aaron Boone said.

After Paul Goldschmidt added a pinch-hit sacrifice fly, Jones made it 7-3 in the ninth inning with a left-on-left single to plate Cody Bellinger, who recorded three of the Yankees’ 14 hits.

“[Jones] is a great player, he’s a great kid,” Chisholm said of the right fielder who is batting .348 with a 1.044 OPS over his past 15 games. “We’ve heard about him for years and now he’s getting a chance to show it. I’m really happy for him.”

The late runs allowed Boone to use new reliever John Schreiber for the bottom of the ninth — after Headrick and Paul Blackburn each recorded four outs — and the side-armer delivered a 1-2-3 frame to close it out.

Cole entered the night having pitched to a 2.41 ERA in six career starts at Angel Stadium, where he grew up going to games near his home in Newport Beach.

But when the Yankees made their annual trip here last season, in late May, Cole was still not yet throwing as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.

Now, he is 18 starts back from the major elbow surgery with a 3.29 ERA, looking primed for the stretch run.

“I’m very excited for him and Carlos [Rodón] and really the pitching staff for the Yankees, because these guys are going into the primes of their season in the playoffs,” superagent Scott Boras, who counts Cole and Rodón among his many clients, said before the game from his field-level suite. “Normally you’ve spent 190 innings, 180, and you got to get through the playoffs. But they have three starters [Cole, Rodón and Max Fried] that are very, very fresh — and veteran starters, on top of it. So it gives them an advantage few teams have.”

Spencer Jones was, is, and will always be an enigma. He’s an incredibly divisive player, one who dazzles with his pure athleticism at his hulking size, with true light-tower power, all with an Achilles heel of struggling mightily to make contact. He’s a true four-tool player and will test the absolute limits of just how good a player with those tools can be, with arguably the most important tool completely missing from his toolshed.

Jones has had his highs and lows this season, but the reality is that he’s steadily improved over the course of the season, particularly after each promotion. He’s getting by with his clear weaknesses, while not looking overmatched against velocity or left-handed pitching, two things that always were his bugaboos in the minors. Tonight in Anaheim, as September 1st bled into September 2nd, he was the catalyst in a 7-3 Yankees win that washed the bad taste of Monday night out of everyone’s mouths.

The Yankees were abhorrent in the first inning in August. As a team, they slashed .138/.214/.202 with just two total runs across 27 games, both on August 26th against Houston. Well, on the first day of September, they put up three in the first inning against Grayson Rodriguez on a pair of home runs by Jones and Jazz Chisholm Jr. The former hit his second titanic shot to right-center field in as many nights, while the latter snuck an excuse-me liner inside the left-field foul pole for one of the more fascinating home runs you’ll ever see.

Gerrit Cole took the bump and looked like he might give some runs back after a leadoff double by Zach Neto, but he worked around it with strikeouts of Mike Trout and Moises Ballesteros to strand him. After Rodriguez settled down for the Angels, Cole worked around a two-out walk by Josh Lowe to put up another zero in the second.

The Yankees had scored three in the first with the long ball, but put up the fourth on a pair of singles and a double play in the third, as Ben Rice scampered home on a 3-6-3 double play from Luis García Jr. Is that a net positive play? Up to you, but it made it 4-0. The Halos got that run back in the bottom half on a Neto single, stolen base, and RBI single by Wade Meckler.

From that point on, both pitchers settled in to an extent. Rodriguez pitched around a leadoff single by Chisholm in the fourth and struck out a pair in the fifth, while Cole pitched into some trouble in the fifth before retiring Trout with two on and two out to maintain a three-run lead into the sixth.

Rodriguez started to falter again in the sixth, as a García leadoff double and four-pitch walk to Jones got him in big trouble. A strikeout of Chisholm and a long fly out by Grisham (which would’ve been a homer at Yankee Stadium and seven others) settled him down, but a walk to Ryan McMahon loaded the bases for Caballero. With the young right-hander nearing a career-high in pitch count, Caballero swung at the first pitch and grounded out to short, spoiling a big opportunity.

As if the baseball gods were punishing the Yankees for their misdeeds, the Angels came to life against Cole in the sixth. Singles by Meckler and Ballesteros on mistake pitches set up Christian Moore, who smacked a hanging slider into the right-field corner past the dive of Jones for a two-run triple, suddenly putting the tying run on third and yanking the 35-year-old ace from the game. It’s the second start in a row that Cole has unraveled in the sixth, which might be something to monitor.

Brent Headrick was tasked with being the fireman and, as usual, he did his job. He fanned the pinch-hitting Jose Siri and got Oswald Peraza to line out. In the seventh against Tayler Saucedo, Austin Wells led off with a single, stole second, and eventually got to third, but was yet another runner stranded in scoring position. Headrick got the first two outs of the bottom half before giving way to Paul Blackburn, who struck out Trout to send this to the eighth.

Samy Natera Jr. continued the parade of lefties for the Halos and also got into trouble, walking Jones on four pitches and giving up a single to Chisholm. The slumping Grisham tried to bunt, but failed twice. Facing an unenviable situation behind in the count, he laced an RBI single to left-center field to extend the lead to 5-3.

After that, McMahon dropped a beautiful bunt that Natera misplayed, loading the bases with nobody out. There was an opportunity to blow the game open, but Caballero got a 2-2 fastball blown by him to take some wind out of their sails. Paul Goldschmidt salvaged the inning with an additional run, pinch-hitting for Wells and driving a ball to center for a sac fly, making it 6-3.

Meckler, who’s starting to get annoying, led off the bottom half with a single off Blackburn, but it didn’t matter much after a Vaughn Grissom strikeout and a 6-6-3 double play by Ballesteros. The Yankees tacked on some more in the ninth off Sammy Peralta on consecutive singles by Bellinger, García, and Jones, with the latter notching another RBI to make it 7-3. McMahon walked with two outs to again load the bases, but no further damage would come.

That insurance run proved crucial, as the Yankees were able to sit down David Bednar and trot out John Schreiber to make his Yankees debut in the ninth. He had to work for it with a lot of foul balls, but won a 10-pitch battle with Moore, a nine-pitch battle with Siri, and a much easier at-bat from the pinch-hitting Adam Frazier, getting a trio of fly outs to close out the victory.

The Yankees hold serve in the AL East after the Rays’ win over the Mets, but once again move four games ahead of Boston for the top wild card after their 9-6 loss to the Mariners.

Don’t put your coffee cup away yet, folks. The Yankees will go for just their second series win at Angel Stadium since 2019 tomorrow night at 9:38 pm EST. It’s Cam Schlittler toeing the slab against Reid Detmers on Prime Video.

Box Score

I feel as though I have already written this recap about 20 times this season. The Dbacks starting pitching was able to keep the team in the game, but the offense never got going in this one as they have yet to get a hit with RISP this series.

Perhaps the tone of the day was set before the game even started when the team announced the reinforcements have finally arrived! In the form of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Blake Walston…. Yawn. Definitely not what the fans had in mind when the reinforcements kept getting brought up going into the trade deadline. Feels a lot like the game today, yawn.

Eduardo Rodriguez was ok allowing 3 runs, but labored through a couple of long innings that knocked him out of the game after just 5 innings. He threw 31 pitches in the first inning alone.

Gerardo Carillo really struggled in this one as he came in and could not throw strikes and wound up walking a batter and giving up 2 hits resulting in 3 ER. The Philles were really able to execute on offense tonight as they were able to do the job and put the ball in play with runners on base and hit sac fly RBI’s to go along with 13 hits against the Dbacks pitching staff.

The top 4 of the Dbacks order Perdomo, Carroll, Moreno, and Marte went a combined 1-15 tonight. This group flat out needs to start producing if this team is going to contend. And specifically Corbin Carroll continues to really be struggling as of late as he is just 1-9 in the series so far and 2-19 since the start of the Giants series. Its also worth noting that Carroll appeared to be grimacing while running up the line in the 6th inning and may be worth monitoring as he may be playing through something. According to Torey in the postgame, Carroll has some low back discomfort the last couple of days but in Torey’s words “its that time of the year” and is “in there tomorrow”.

The lone bright spot of this offense was Jordan Lawlar who hit a solo HR in the 5^th inning. The offense as a whole collected 6 hits but went 0-4 tonight with RISP. As a team they have still not been able to get a hit with RISP this series. They have scored 2 or fewer runs in 6 of their last 9 games as this offense has disappeared when they have really needed it most. Not the time to be going cold going into September.

The Phillies are red hot winning 4 of their past 5 series and 15 of their past 17 games. The Dbacks definitely didn’t play as well as they should have, but they also are matching up with the hottest team in baseball right now. Hopefully they can at least avoid the sweep tomorrow and fortunately for them, the Padres also lost tonight. Still though, the offense has really been underwhelming the past couple of games and is a real concern moving forward.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Justin Hagenman spent most of the spring with the rare non-elbow or shoulder injury that prevented him from throwing.

Diagnosed with a rib fracture in spring training, the right-hander was shut down from throwing for 10 weeks.

“It was just a unique [injury],” Hagenman said Tuesday at Tropicana Field before the Mets fell to the Rays 6-2. “You kind of just have to wait for the bone to heal. It took a lot of time, which is probably the longest I have taken off from throwing.”

Hagenman will be inserted into the Mets rotation Wednesday, allowing extra rest for Christian Scott. It will provide Hagenman an opportunity to show he can potentially be part of the organizational pitching depth heading into next season.

Hagenman showed flashes last season, pitching to a 4.56 ERA in nine appearances for the team, mostly as a bulk reliever. He was given a major league contract before last season despite never having pitched above Triple-A.

In three appearances for Syracuse this season, the 29-year-old was pitching to a 2.89 ERA.

“He throws strikes — that is what he gives you,” interim manager Andy Green said. “He’s done that his entire career. He’s done that well.”

Dylan Ross, a right-handed reliever, was recalled from Syracuse.

The Mets didn’t need to make a corresponding move with rosters expanding on Sept. 1, but will have to shed a pitcher when Hagenman is added.

Green said Ross’s fastball velocity (which has approached 100 mph) and splitter are appealing.

“He’s somebody for a while that we thought has a chance to impact this level and we’ll see what opportunity lays out there in front of him right now,” Green said.

Kodai Senga has five saves in as many chances since assuming the closer’s role with Devin Williams sidelined.

Senga had appeared in 11 games since the trade deadline, pitching to a 1.74 ERA with 12 strikeouts over 10 ¹/₃ innings during that stretch.

The Yankees got back in the win column on Tuesday night, beating the Los Angeles Angels by a score of 7-3.

Here are the takeaways...

-- New York wasted no time in this one, getting on the board in the first inning against Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez, who has struggled mightily in his first season in Anaheim, with back-to-back home runs.

Spencer Jones got things started with a two-run bomb that gave the Yanks an immediate 2-0 lead. Jones has now homered in consecutive games after his solo shot on Monday night was the only run New York scored in a 10-1 loss. The rookie has been on a tear over his last 15 games with a .348/.392/.652 slash line with four home runs and nine RBI. After a slow start to his career following a call-up in May, the 25-year-old is now hitting .245 with a .771 OPS. 

The youngster also had an RBI single, walked twice, scored twice, stole a base and had an outfield assist at second base from right field in the third inning after Wade Meckler tried stretching a single into a double.

-- Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed Jones with a solo home run to the opposite field that he managed to poke over the left-field wall while nearly kissing the foul pole. The home run was Chisholm's 19th of the season and he finished 3-for-4 as his hot streak continues.

-- The Yankees scored another run in the third inning on Luis Garcia's double play after Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger led off the inning with back-to-back hits. From there, New York was unable to get a big hit with runners in scoring position after multiple chances in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings. 

Finally, in the eighth inning Trent Grisham singled with runners on first and second to drive in a run and snap an 0-for-23 skid. Paul Goldshmidt added a sacrifice fly later in the frame but the Yanks scratched out just two runs in what could've been a huge inning. They finished 3-for-16 with RISP.

-- Nevertheless, with Gerrit Cole on the mound for New York, the Yankees felt good about their chances at making a lead stick and they were right, although Cole did make things interesting. The right-hander pitched well for the first five innings, allowing a run on five hits while striking out five, but the sixth inning gave him trouble.

With runners on first and second and one out, Christian Moore ambushed Cole on the first pitch and hit a triple to right field that scored both runners and cut New York's lead to 4-3. Cole's night was done after that as manager Aaron Boone pulled him for Brent Headrick, who left Moore stranded at third base with a strikeout and lineout. Headrick, who is two appearances behind the MLB-lead with 71, has been phenomenal for the Yanks all season and owns a 1.93 ERA. 

-- Paul Blackburn also turned in 1.1 terrific innings in relief and lowered his ERA to 1.62. John Schreiber made his team debut and pitched a scoreless ninth.

-- New York banged out 16 hits, with Bellinger and Chisholm each having three-hit games. Every hitter in starting lineup had at least one hit except for Jose Caballero (0-for-5, three strikeouts).

Game MVP: Spencer Jones

The rookie had a complete game, getting on base four times and adding a steal and an outfield assist.

Highlights

Back-to-back days in Anaheim with a homer from Spencer Jones! pic.twitter.com/D9t7WVUnOb

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 2, 2026

Jazz Chisholm Jr. goes the other way and goes back-to-back with Spencer Jones! pic.twitter.com/ZfOicOlZaD

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 2, 2026

Trent Grisham comes through with an RBI single!

He snaps his 0-for-23 skid pic.twitter.com/EA3E10V3wq

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 2, 2026

A sac fly for Paul Goldschmidt gives the Yankees a 6-3 lead pic.twitter.com/LsprgHi9rg

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 2, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Angels close out their three-game series with a rubber-game on Wednesday night. First pitch scheduled for 9:38 p.m.

RHP Cam Schlittler (12-6, 2.09 ERA) will pitch for New York and be opposed by LHP Reid Detmers (4-8, 3.54 ERA).

It’s another night here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hole-in-the-wall for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us for a while. We need a friend tonight. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. We validate parking. The hostess can seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night, I asked you if one or both of the Cubs’ minor league affiliates should change their name from “Cubs.” You are generally in favor of the traditional name as 65 percent of you want to keep both teams at “Cubs.” Among those of you who want one or the other to change their name, you were split evenly at 16 percent each for Iowa and South Bend.

On Tuesday night, I don’t do movie stuff. But I always have time for jazz and that time is now.

Tonight we have some big band music featuring Chicago and Rockford’s own vocalist Kurt Elling with NYO Jazz in Beijing in 2o19. This is a song many of you are familiar with—it’s Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out,” which has become a signature tune for Elling.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music.

So I always try to be optimistic, but frankly, tonight’s loss took a beating out of me. But I’m going to ask you to try to cheer me up. Because being miserable and pessimistic doesn’t do anyone any good. Believe me, I know from experience that this is true.

I believe the Cubs have the offense to win the World Series this year. They definitely have the defense. The starting pitching is a little iffier, but Clay Holmes is becoming a true ace and I think that him, along with Gausman, Boyd and Peterson give the Cubs a good chance to win any postseason series. Maybe Imanaga even bounces back.

The bullpen? Yikes. After tonight, double-yikes.

So I’m asking you to tell me which Cubs reliever is most likely to step up and get big outs in the middle innings. I’m not worried about Jacob Webb. He’s the closer and despite a recent hiccup or two, I think he will do a fine job going forward.

I’m also leaving out Javier Assad, who will likely be back in the majors on Saturday. But the Cubs are going to need more relievers than just Webb and Assad.

No one seems to be able to get outs in the sixth or seventh inning lately. But someone is going to have to step up and get those big middle-inning outs. The odds are very much against all of them continuing to struggle. Most of them have experienced success before. So who is stepping up?

Is it Aaron Civale, who has had a 1.54 ERA over the past 15 games and a WHIP of 1.03?

What about Daniel Palencia, who had a terrible night tonight but was a terrific closer last year?

Ryan Rolison has struggled badly in his recent outings, but he was quite good earlier in the season. Can he bounce back?

What about Ryan Zeferjahn, whose stuff is filthy but something just isn’t clicking since he came over from the Angels at the Trade Deadline. Can he get back to what he was in Anaheim?

Finally, there are two more options. One is Edward Cabrera, who started his rehab assignment today. The other option is Shelby Miller, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery. His ERA of 5.87 in Iowa doesn’t look too good, but that he’s struck out 13 batters in just 7.2 innings does. Miller also has not allowed a run in four of his past five outings. Even in that fifth run, both runs charged to Miller scored after he left the game.

I’d give you more options, but the stupid polling software we have won’t allow it. But please give me some reason for hope. Also, for the same reason, I don’t want to hear “nobody.” That’s defeatist talk. It might make you feel smart, but it doesn’t do anyone any good.

Thank you for stopping by tonight. You cheered us up a little. Get home safely. Don’t forget any personal items. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.

If there was any team that needed a win — really, really needed a win — it was the Colorado Rockies. Their odds of avoiding another 100-loss season were sagging by the day, and they were drowning after their 10th consecutive loss at Coors Field.

Making things worse were Monday night’s near win that ended in heartbreak thanks to a Colton Cowser bottom-of-the-ninth home run robbery.

But the Rockies came to play on Tuesday and finished the evening having defeated the Orioles 4-2 and ended that home-field losing streak — their first win at Coors Field since August 2.

“I think it was a good win,” manager Warren Schaeffer said after the game. “It’s good to see the boys get rewarded with a W tonight.”

The offense (finally!) managed to score some RISP

Jake McCarthy picked up where he left off on Monday night with a lead0ff double (28). He got to third, when, with two outs, TJ Rumfield took his 65th walk, leaving runners at the corners. However, Cole Carrigg flew out to second to end the threat.

With the game still scoreless, it looked like the Rockies would waste the second inning much as they had the first with Orioles starter Kyle Bradish recording two quick outs.

And then Adael Amador stepped to the plate to hit his second home of the season run and give the Rockies a 1-0 lead.

“All we’ve seen is good out of him this year,” Schaeffer said.

Zac Veen was in the mood to make some noise himself, and followed Amador’s homer by rattling one off the right field wall the left him (having disposed of his batting helmet between first and second) celebrating at third.

With that, the lineup rolled over, and McCarthy hit an RBI single that gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead.

The Orioles got on the board in the top of the third when Carlos Narváez scored on an odd Gunnar Henderson-Pete Alonso double play masterminded by Rumfield.

Just watch:

Still, the Rockies managed to keep a 2-1 lead.

Brett Sullivan got things rolling in the fourth inning by hitting a double. With two outs and Sullivan still on second, Veen had a masterful at-bat that resulted in a walk. However, McCarthy flew out to left to end the threat with the Rockies hanging on to a 2-1 lead.

In the fifth inning, after getting two quick outs, Hughes loaded the bases on a hit and two walks. Manager Warren Schaeffer went to his bullpen and Brennan Bernadino for the third out, which took just three pitches.

Mickey Moniak led off the Rockies half of the fifth with a single. But — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — the Rockies were unable to score. Instead, they continued to cling to a thin 2-1 lead.

And that was it for Orioles starter Kyle Bradish. He finished the evening with 5.0 IP allowing two runs (earned) on six hits. He struck out four and walked two.

With Zach Agnos pitching, Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a lead-off single to start the sixth inning. But he was soon mowed down by Sullivan when trying to steal second, and the Orioles failed to score.

As the sixth inning kicked off, Sullivan got his second hit of the evening, a single with one out. Amador added his second hit, which moved Sullivan to third and gave the Rockies runners at the corners. But a Jordan Beck strikeout followed by a McCarthy pop out again kept the Rockies from scoring.

Jaden Hill entered the game to pitch the seventh. He got two outs, and then left a fastball up that Jackson Holliday drove over the right field wall, his first Coors Field MLB home run.

Tie game.

After that, Alonso grounded out to end the inning, but the damage was done.

And then a baseball thing happened.

Leadoff hitter Mickey Moniak hit a pop up, which looked like an easy grab for Holliday.

But he dropped the ball.

Before the dust settled Moniak was standing at second with no outs.

Bored with all those walks, TJ Rumfield hit a two-run homer (14) off Luis De León, who was making his MLB debut.

Give TJ the purple coat! The Rockies had a 4-2 lead!

“It was huge — a left-on-left matchup,” Schaeffer said. “TJ’s been awesome for us this year.”

Juan Mejia had the eighth inning. After getting two quick outs, he gave up a double to Dylan Beavers and then hit Samuel Basallo to put runners at first and second. But he struck out Leody Taveras to end the threat.

The Rockies had Sullivan and Ezequiel Tovar on in the eighth but failed to score.

Closer Jordan Roman entered to close the game. Two strikeouts and a fly out later, it was over. The Rockies won 4-2.

They Rockies finished the evening with four runs on ten hits. They had three walks and struck out six times.

In addition, they went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.

Hughes has a promising start

It was an excellent start for Gabriel Hughes, who in previous games had labored through an inflated pitch count early that led to a shortened outing. Tonight, however, he was dealing through the first four innings.

Case in point: Please enjoy this first-inning Pete Alonso strikeout.

That changed in the fifth.

Hughes got two quick outs before walking Narváez. Following that, he allowed Jackson Holliday a single before walking Alonso.

With the bases loaded, Schaeffer went to Brennan Bernadino in the bullpen, who got Gunnar Henderson to pop out and end the threat.

In terms of the numbers, Hughes went 4.2 IP on 78 pitches. He allowed one run (earned) on four hits. He walked two and struck out four.

Hughes relied primarily on his four-seamer (49%) followed by his curveball (19%) and changeup (14%).

Although he ran out of steam at the end, this was a promising outing for the young righty though Hughes’ quest for his for MLB win continues.

“I think Gabe was really good tonight,” Schaeffer said. “I thought he kept us right there.”

The bullpen does their part

It was another long night for the bullpen, which took over with two outs in the fifth inning.

The ever-reliable Brennan Bernardo threw just three pitches to get a Gunnar Henderson pop-up.

Zach Agnos handled the sixth inning on 16 pitches. He allowed one hit, issued one walk, and tallied one strikeout.

In the seventh inning, Schaeffer turned to Jaden Hill, and it did not go well. On 17 pitches, he allowed one run and struck out one.

For Juan Mejia, it was another inning of zing-doom-zing. On 16 pitches, he allowed one hit and struck out one.

Closer Jordan Romano made quick work of the ninth with two Ks on 17 pitches.

One last note: Rockies pitching did not allow Colton Cowser a single hit, and he struck out twice.

“The bullpen was awesome,” Schaeffer said.

Up next

Join us tomorrow for Game 3 when the Rockies will try to take the series.

Trevor Rogers will start for the Orioles while Tomoyuki Sugano takes the mound for the Rockies.

First pitch is at 1:10 pm.

See you then.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

I’m old enough to remember when the Orioles had a .500 record. Those were good times.

The O’s couldn’t keep up the momentum of their series opener, dropping the second game to the Rockies, 4-2. Newly promoted Luis De León, making his major league debut, coughed up a tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh after a Jackson Holliday error started the rally, and the Birds’ bats once again went dormant at one of the league’s best offensive ballparks. The Birds’ loss combined with the Guardians’ win over Toronto has dropped the Orioles 1.5 games behind Cleveland for the third wild card spot.

It’s no secret that Kyle Bradish has been looking a little fatigued of late, with a 6.07 ERA in his last six starts, and the high-altitude Coors Field sure isn’t the ideal setting to get back on track. Indeed, Bradish continued to struggle with his command tonight, with his pitches noticeably lacking the kind of movement and sharpness we normally see from the right-hander.

Bradish needed 20 pitches to get through the first, giving up a double and a walk, but was fortunate to escape with no runs. He wasn’t as lucky in the second. After two quick outs, Bradish coughed up a homer on an 0-2 pitch to Adael Amador, playing in just his sixth game of the season. One solo dinger won’t ruin you, but Bradish had trouble finishing the inning. Number nine hitter Zac Veen followed with another deep blast to right that just barely missed being another homer, deflecting high off the wall for a triple. Jake McCarthy then poked a timely RBI single up the middle to extend the lead to 2-0. By the time Bradish finished the second inning, his pitch count was at 46.

And yet, Bradish battled. You might say he Braddled. He managed to power through five innings and kept the Rockies off the scoreboard the rest of the way, even as he continued to labor. His only clean inning was the third, but he threw another 19 pitches in the fourth — allowing a double and a walk before escaping — and stranded a leadoff single in the fifth. Bradish exited after that frame with a pitch count of 95. He gave up six hits, walked two, and struck out four. It wasn’t a great outing by any means, but I’ll give him credit for hanging in there and limiting the damage.

That outing would’ve been plenty good enough to win if only the Orioles could, you know, hit. But for the second straight game, they had all sorts of trouble scraping across any runs, even in the cavernous hitter’s paradise that is Coors Field. It didn’t even seem to matter that they were facing a pitcher, Gabriel Hughes, who had a 6.61 ERA and zero major league wins in nine starts. As we’ve seen all too often this season, the O’s offense is capable of making the most nondescript and/or ineffective pitchers look like Cy Young winners. It’s not ideal.

To be fair, the Orioles did make some loud contact against Hughes throughout the game, but every hard-hit ball seemed to find a glove. The only run they scored against him came in the third, when Carlos Narváez led off with a single — no, really! — and hustled to third on a Pete Alonso one-out knock.

Then came a controversial play. Gunnar Henderson smacked a bouncer down the first-base line that TJ Rumfield appeared to snag in foul territory, just in front of the bag. But umpire John Bacon called it fair, and Rumfield touched the base for an out, then caught Pete Alonso in a rundown between first and second. Alonso at least managed to stall long enough for Narváez to score from third before the Rockies tagged him out for the double play. Henderson disputed the foul call, to no avail, and it wasn’t a reviewable play.

Hughes pitched into the fifth inning with a 2-1 lead, but he got into some two-out trouble on two walks and a single, prompting manager Warren Schaeffer to make a pitching change with the bases loaded. The poor guy came one out shy of qualifying for his first major league win. But Schaeffer’s strategy worked, as lefty Brennan Bernardino retired Gunnar Henderson on a pop-up to leave ‘em loaded.

The Orioles ever so briefly made this an interesting game in the top of the seventh when Jackson Holliday launched a game-tying solo homer, in the same ballpark where his dad Matt crushed 93 career blasts. But no sooner had Holliday played the hero than he became the goat.

The bottom of the seventh inning began with a routine Mickey Moniak pop-up to shallow right. Holliday waved everyone off, settled under the ball, and…dropped it. Just straight-up dropped it! No excuses for that blunder. Moniak ended up at second base representing the critical go-ahead run with nobody out.

Holliday’s error put his pitcher in an immediate bind, and that pitcher happened to be the 23-year-old lefty Luis De León, who was making his major league debut after being called up earlier in the day. Talk about throwing him into the fire! Craig Albernaz probably would’ve preferred for De León’s first appearance to come in a lower-leverage situation, but with the Rockies having two lefties due up, he took a chance on the southpaw in a tie game.

I’d love to say that De León delivered a stupendous inning in his debut and kept the game tied and put the O’s in position to win. Unfortunately, none of that is what actually happened, and it’s not all Holliday’s fault. With one out, De León left a hanging slider to the lefty-swinging Rumfield, who demolished it over the right-center field wall for a go-ahead two-run homer. Sigh. Welcome to the big leagues, Luis. While De León did flash some impressive stuff, including a nasty slider to strike out Hunter Goodman, his untimely gopher ball put him in line for the loss in his debut, assuming the Orioles couldn’t rally back again.

They couldn’t. Rockies reliever Juan Mejia worked a scoreless eighth, working past a two-out Dylan Beavers double and Samuel Basallo HBP by striking out a badly flailing Leody Taveras. Ugly at-bat there. And closer Jordan Romano finished things off with a perfect ninth, snapping the Rockies’ 10-game home losing streak and sending the Orioles back below the .500 mark. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

The Athletics faced the Texas Rangers in the middle game of their three-game series. The Rangers moved one step closer to a sweep of their division rivals, defeating the A’s 8-5 in another game marked by bad pitching and struggles with runners in scoring position. The Green and Gold finished 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

Rangers Offense Strikes First

The Rangers got right to work in the bottom of the first. Facing A’s opener Brady Basso, doubles by Corey Seager and Brandon Nimmo gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead after the first inning of play.

Leading off the top of the second inning, Tommy White hurt himself on a swing. The A’s first baseman exited the game with low back soreness, with Michael Stefanic replacing him.

The visitors had a chance to equalize, but Rangers starter Mackenzie Gore struck out Alika Williams to strand the tying run on second base. Through two innings, it was clear the club had learned nothing from last night, as several batters swung at first or second pitch of their at-bats.

Tie Game Not for Long

With two outs in the third, A’s left fielder Zack Gelof reached second on an infield single and a throwing error by the Rangers third baseman. Right fielder Lawrence Butler drove him in with a game-tying RBI single to center. A few batters later, Jeff McNeil strode to the plate with the bases loaded. However, he failed to capitalize, flying out to center to end the inning.

Corey Seager’s second double in two at-bats marked the end of Basso’s outing. Right-hander Scott Blewett replaced him with one on and one out in the bottom of the third. Nimmo remained hot, recording a two-out RBI single to put the Rangers back in front 2-1.

In the top of the fourth inning, Rangers second baseman Ezequiel Duran made a nice diving play to end the inning, robbing Bolte of a potential game-tying hit.

Rangers Add On

Blewett ran out of gas in the fifth inning, allowing a single and a walk to start the frame. Fellow A’s right-hander Luis Medina replaced him, tasked with working out of the jam and keeping the Rangers’ lead at one.

The first batter he faced singled, loading the bases with no outs. Nimmo made it two straight seeing-eye singles, driving home two runs to put the hosts up 4-1. Once again, Butler bobbled a ball in right field as he prepared to make the throw home before fielding it cleanly. The Rangers right fielder recorded hits in each of his first three at-bats, driving in his team’s first four runs. Texas added a fifth run on Duran’s RBI groundout.

A’s Waste Chance to Respond

Gore’s night was done after he walked two batters in the sixth inning. The southpaw allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Right-hander Chase Silseth entered out of the Rangers’ bullpen and worked out of the jam by striking out pinch-hitter Carlos Cortes and then Henry Bolte.

The Green and Gold wasted a prime opportunity to get back in the game, leaving the bases loaded for the second time this evening. A’s manager Mark Kotsay’s decision to bring the struggling Cortes off the bench predictably backfired. Center fielder Denzel Clarke should have hit in that situation, given that he has missed most of the season because of injury and needs as many reps as possible to improve offensively.

Suarez and Muncy Experiments Should End!

Following the visitors’ failure to regain momentum, the Rangers immediately extended their lead, scoring three runs on four hits against A’s left-hander José Suarez in the bottom of the sixth. Nimmo collected his fourth hit and fifth RBI of the game.

The A’s offense did not go down quietly. In the top of the seventh, Stefanic’s RBI single off Rangers left-hander Adam Macko made it an 8-2 game. Stefanic made the most of his playing time, accumulating two hits and two walks.

On the other hand, Max Muncy is looking like a first-round bust, as he has struggled in the field and at the plate. He grounded into a double play as the A’s failed to capitalize with the bases loaded for the third time tonight.

Consolation

The Athletics loaded the bases again in the eighth inning against Rangers right-hander Trevor Williams. Butler’s sacrifice fly, his second RBI of the game, brought the A’s third run home.

Of all the A’s pitchers who appeared in today’s game, nobody would have predicted that Yunior Tur would be the only one not to allow a run. Yet that is exactly what happened, as the rookie reliever threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

The A’s scored two more runs off Williams in the top of the ninth. McNeil hit his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to right-center field that cut his team’s deficit to three. The Athletics’ late-game rally forced the Rangers to bring in closer Jacob Latz to get the final two outs of the game, which he did without further drama.

The team’s comeback attempt is a positive that they must carry over into tomorrow’s series finale. Left-hander Jacob Lopez will start for an A’s squad seeking to avoid a second straight series sweep, while the Rangers will counter with left-hander Cody Bradford.

Nights like these are the nights the Brewers are glad they came out on the winning end.

A night filled with little league errors was quickly overshadowed by big league blasts to give the Brewers a 9-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs, evening the series and extending their division lead back to eight games.

Entering play tonight, the storyline was mainly about how the starting pitching would hold up for both sides. Matthew Boyd for the Cubs hasn’t pitched well at home this season, and then Robert Gasser for the Brewers hasn’t pitched well on the road for the Brewers. Through the first three innings, none of those seemed to be the main concern.

The main concern began in the top of the fourth inning with two on and one out for the Crew. Following a William Contreras popout to first baseman Michael Busch, Jackson Chourio took off to third, without Brice Turang following behind him to second. Carson Kelly took care of business at third with a nice throw down, quickly stifling any sort of offensive momentum the Brewers had, as that was the second out before Jake Bauers ended the inning with a strikeout.

After moments like those, you just hope the frustration doesn’t carry over into the pitching side of the ball; But it did. A leadoff walk from Seiya Suzuki followed by a base hit from Alex Bregman set the Cubs up with an early opportunity. Former Brewer Tyrone Taylor continued his hot start with the Cubs as he doubled to drive in two runs to give them a 2-0 lead.

To add more salt into an early wound, Gasser forced Nico Hoerner into a ground ball hit to Andrew Vaughn that was fielded near where Turang usually sits. From there, Vaughn underhanded it from deep, where Gasser then dropped the catch, which otherwise would’ve been the first out of the inning. The error led to another run to make it 3-0.

Needing something to go their way offensively, Luis Lara and Joey Ortiz kept the top of the fifth inning alive with two two-out base hits. Cooper Pratt came through with a base hit to left field to break the Brewers into the scoring column, cutting the Cubs’ lead down to 3-1.

The offense carried its momentum into the top of the sixth inning with back-to-back hits to lead off the inning from Turang and Contreras. After getting Bauer to pop out, Daniel Palencia replaced Boyd on the mound, where, before he even threw a pitch, he balked to allow another Brewers runner to score to make it 3-2. Vaughn capitalized on the moment with a double to right field to tie the game at 3-3. Then, the MVP came through, as Christian Yelich hit his 10th home run of the season to give the Brewers their first lead of the game at 5-3.

Now needing to keep the lead intact, the Brewers got to experience their bullpen at full strength for the first time this season as newcomer JoJo Romero replaced Antonio Senzatela with two outs. He instantly allowed a double to Michael Busch, which triggered a hold-your-breath moment as Ortiz, Pratt, and Chourio collided in left field. Everyone ended up staying in the game, but a moment to keep an eye on going forward. Following the injury delay, Kelly grounded into a fielder’s choice to drive in another run to cut the Brewers’ lead down to one.

Fortunately for the Brewers, that was the worst of the headache situations going forward as the offense broke out the bats. Contreras tacked on a run with his 24th double of the season as Sal Frelick came in off the bench and singled to drive in another run to push the Crew’s lead to 7-4.

To cap things off, Ortiz took advantage of a hanging cutter from Tyler Ferguson and deposited a baseball into the left-center field bleacher seats to seal the Brewers’ win at 9-4.

All things considered, the Brewers pitching staff made up for their forgettable performance from a night ago. Gasser, all things considered, had a decent start, albeit not long enough, as he threw 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs, while walking two and striking out four. As mentioned earlier, we got our first look at the full-strength bullpen, as they threw the final 4.2 innings, allowing just one run on three hits. Romero finished the night with 0.2 innings, allowing just two hits. Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, and DL Hall all combined for three scoreless innings with four punchouts.

After the nightmare that was game one of the series, the Brewers are sitting in a great spot with Jacob Misiorowski toeing the slab for game three of the series tomorrow evening. With a win, the Crew will take the lead on the series and push their division lead to a season-high nine games.

It’ll be another night game tomorrow, and another nationally broadcast game as well. MLB Network will be covering the game, along with the Brewers.TV and WTMJ 620, with first pitch to come at 6.40 p.m.

The call-up to San Diego happened for San Diego Padres top prospect, Ethan Salas, after a loud last week with El Paso. The Padres catcher-of-the-future impressed in his 24 games with the Chihuahuas and finished strong before getting the promotion to finish his 2026 season with the major league squad.

In 105 plate appearances with El Paso, Salas hit .326/.410/.539 while slugging six doubles, two triples, three home runs and 24 RBI. His .944 OPS is tops among team regulars. In his last week with the Chihuahuas, Salas delivered with a .947 OPS, walking four times, hitting a triple, and stealing four bases.

During his time in Triple-A, Salas has a 44.9% hard hit rate (40-44% average), a 93.1% in-zone contact rate (78-83% average), and a 9.8% whiff rate (22-26% average), all with a 90th percentile exit velocity of 103.7 mph.

For his 2026 season, between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso, Salas hit .296/.374/.448 with 19 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, and 61 RBI in 96 games as a catcher and DH. 

He was four years younger than any other player in El Paso while he was there. He was at least three years younger than anyone else who played in San Antonio this season.

Defensively, Salas has always received top marks for his maturity and handling of a pitcher and a game. His 33.3% caught-stealing rate (normal for MLB is 25-30%) in Triple-A goes along with an under-1.9-second pop time (average is 2.00-2.01 seconds). These are good-to-elite numbers for MLB catchers, all of whom are older than 20. When he makes his debut, Salas will be the youngest catcher to play in MLB since Pudge Rodriguez debuted in 1991.

As Salas was the catcher used for both Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta’s rehab starts, the Padres have had real-time feedback regarding his readiness for the last month of the season. 

DSL Padres Gold

The Padres Dominican Gold team won its second straight championship this past week, defeating the Reds DSL team two games to one in the championship series. They remained dominant all season long despite losing top prospect SS Joniel Hernandez in a trade for LHP Robbie Ray.

The hero of the season was catcher/first baseman Dayquer Alfonzo, hitting .331/.464/.533 in 51 games and 222 plate appearances. The 18-year-old finished his third season playing for the Dominican team and will likely be seen in the States next season.

Gabriel Teran, 18, a Venezuelan who plays all over the field, was on both the Brown and Gold teams this season. Playing all positions except center field and third base, Teran finished the year hitting .323/.558/.455 with 43 walks to 28 strikeouts in 155 plate appearances. 

Their best starter was Carlos Alvarez, 18, who pitched 44.1 innings with a 3.25 ERA. Reliever Albieris Polanco, 20, ended with three saves in 31 innings and a 3.19 ERA.

(Salas stats per Clark Fahrenholdt of MadFriars.com)

El Paso Chihuahuas (53-79 record, last in PCL East)

Playing a make-up game during the week, the Chihuahuas completed a 3-4 record. Their season ends on Sept. 20.

LHP Jagger Haynes had a good outing with five innings pitched without allowing a run. He struck out four and walked one. He finished August with a 3.38 ERA in 24 innings.

RHP Jhony Brito joined Ethan Salas in the flight to San Diego. He was the pitcher called up for the Sept. 1 roster expansion for the Padres. Used as both a starter and a reliever in his career, Brito has pitched very well since his return from UCL surgery. In his 11 games and 10 starts, Brito has a 2.98 ERA in 42.1 innings with 27 strikeouts to nine walks with El Paso.

San Antonio Missions (55-71 record, last in Texas League South)

The Missions had a 1-5 record for the week. They play their last game of the season on Sept. 13.

The Missions snapped a seven-game losing streak with their one victory during the week, then ended the week with a loss.

First baseman Romeo Sanabria struggled when promoted to El Paso and was returned to San Antonio. Since his return, Sanabria has surged. Over the past week, he had two doubles, two walks and four RBI in 19 at-bats and is hitting .368 with a .958 OPS since rejoining the team.

Outfielder Alex McCoy has been inconsistent since joining the Missions but overall, he is hitting .328 with three home runs and an .891 OPS in his three weeks in San Antonio. 

The big concern is his 33.3% K rate and 43.6% whiff rate since joining the team. If he hits three more homers before the end of the season,  McCoy will have a 20-home run and 20-steal season in his second year in the Padres system.

Fellow undrafted free agent outfielder Braedon Karpathios has had an inconsistent season too, but had a .313 average and .946 OPS in August with 13 extra-base hits.

San Antonio pitching has been a big disappointment. RHP Eric Yost has had the best season of the group but carries a 4.20 ERA in 98.2 innings pitched over 16 starts and 22 appearances.

LHP Luis Gutierrez has made five starts since his return from a spring shoulder injury. In his 16.1 innings pitched, Gutierrez has a 4.96 ERA with 18 strikeouts to seven walks. 

Fort Wayne TinCaps (52-72 record, last in Midwest League East)

The TinCaps went 2-4 in their week and end their season on Sept. 6. 

Catcher Robbie Lavey, the only new Padre to begin his pro career at the Single-A level, had a good offensive week. He hit .333 with two doubles and seven RBI. In 13 games with Fort Wayne, Lavey has a .764 OPS.

Outfielder Ryan Wideman went on the injured list, and outfielder Ryan Gerety, an undrafted free agent who signed in July, was called on to replace him in the lineup. 

There are intriguing arms pitching with Fort Wayne, but none of them have had an outstanding season. 

RHP Carson Montgomery, completing his first season post-Tommy John surgery, has been inconsistent with his command. Over 21 games and 20 starts, Montgomery has a 4.81 ERA in 88 innings with 76 strikeouts to 48 walks. Boasting a four-seam/sinker combo with a plus-slider, Montgomery is being developed as a starter but could end up in the bullpen. He is Rule 5 eligible this offseason, so a decision will need to be made. 

RHP Bryan Balzer, the 21-year-old Japanese/American pitcher signed by the Padres after only a minimal amount of pitching in high school, has also had an inconsistent season coming back from Tommy John surgery. Mostly an infielder before being drafted, Balzer is a power pitcher with raw stuff and will still need refinement but is a name to watch for next season.

Two-way experiment Sean Barnett was not successful trying to do both. He has since concentrated on pitching and has had some success as a reliever this season. The righty has a high 90’s fastball but has command issues at times. 

Lake Elsinore Storm (62-64 record, second in Cal League South)

The Storm ends its regular season on Sept. 6.

After losing their 11th straight game to start the past week, the Storm broke the losing streak but then lost the last game of their series. They are guaranteed a playoff spot due to their first-half record but have struggled to put together a balanced performance since promotion time.

Infielder Joe Trioly, a new Padre starting his career with the Storm, has been a welcome surprise for Lake Elsinore. Hitting four homers in four games, Trioly has a .353/.353/1.059 line in his 13 games. Overall, he has six home runs and 12 strikeouts with three walks in 56 plate appearances.

There are three pitchers to watch who will finish the season with the Storm. Taiwanese right-hander Lan-Hong Su, 19, has had a light workload this year as the organization is easing him into pro ball. He is undersized but should pick up velocity as he adds bulk and strength. Over the past 18.1 innings with Lake Elsinore, Su has a 2.95 ERA with 26 strikeouts and five walks.

LHP Adler Cecil returned from the injured list late in the season and tallied eight strikeouts in 3.2 innings of relief without allowing a run this past week. 

RHP Jesus Castro, 19, seemingly has tired at the end of the season. His last three starts have shown decreased effectiveness. He continues to rack up the strikeouts, though, and in 85.1 innings over 19 starts, Castro has 97 strikeouts to 31 walks.

AFL begins in October

After the affiliates complete their regular season games, each level will have its playoff series. Those will end later in September. After the completion of the full slate for each level, the Arizona Fall League will begin work for its season.

The AFL begins games on Oct. 3, and the season will end on Nov. 14 with the championship game. Players to participate will be named after the affiliate season ends.

Many players currently working in the Arizona Bridge League will also see work in the AFL.

Big league rosters have officially expanded now that we’ve reached the month of August. The Cincinnati Reds responded in kind by promoting both Brandon Williamson and Juan Brito earlier on Tuesday, the latter providing depth across the infield as the Reds face something of a short-term crisis there.

Ke’Bryan Hayes resides on the 10-day IL at the moment. Superstar shortstop Elly De La Cruz has a quad strain, and given how much his leg problems sapped his overall production last season the Reds are going to keep him at DH for the foreseeable future until he’s absolutely 100%. That means Matt McLain has moved from 2B over to SS, and to compound things Eugenio Suarez has been absent from team activities the last few days as he works towards gaining US citizenship.

So, the Reds need some infield depth. Edwin Arroyo was recalled to help bridge that gap, and Brito will, too, but that only serves to thin the mix at AAA behind them. Cincinnati responded to that cascade of infield inputs on Tuesday evening by signing veteran infielder Orlando Arcia to a minor league deal.

Arcia, 32, began the 2026 season with in the Minnesota Twins organization and hit .271/.300/.354 with them across 50 PA before being released in late July. He posted an .834 OPS with Minnesota’s AAA affiliate in St. Paul along the way, but ended up playing in the Mexican League for a trio of games before the Reds scooped him up.

He was an All Star with Atlanta in 2023 and is a veteran of over 1000 big league games, so he’ll certainly provide a stable floor of depth across the middle infield even if the Reds are a) going nowhere this season and b) decide to slow the roll of Elly and others as the final month of the season dwindles down. That said, he owns just a career 76 OPS+, so one can hardly expect him to be lightning in a bottle for the club at this time.

The Texas Rangers scored eight runs while the Californian Athletics scored five runs.

The Rangers seem to have finally found themselves a punching bag and the veterans were lining up to throw some haymakers.

September started in a similar fashion to how August ended with Texas beating up on the hapless Athletics. The catalyst tonight was the guys you hope can do damage as hitters No. 2-4, Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford, and Brandon Nimmo, combined for eight of Texas’ twelve hits, five of their eight runs, and six of the eight RBIs.

Not be left out, No. 5 hitter Ezequiel Duran worked a couple of walks and drove in one of the other runs while also making a sensational play at second base to keep the would-be tying run off the board in the early goings.

The Rangers scored first in the game’s opening frame when Nimmo drove in Seager with a two-out double. Meanwhile, Texas starter MacKenzie Gore was able to keep the Gore Inning to a minimum as the A’s tied the game at a run apiece in the top of the third before Gore escaped a bases loaded jam to end the threat.

A half inning later, in a déjà vu moment, the Rangers reclaimed the lead and never looked back when Nimmo drove on Seager with a two-out base hit. The Rangers added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth when, you guessed it, Nimmo drove in a couple with a bases loaded, two-RBI single.

After another run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, Nimmo came up again with two outs and singled in the Rangers’ eighth and final run.

Despite the Rangers leading 8-1 heading into the seventh inning, the A’s eventually made the game close enough to force Texas to bring in Jacob Latz with an out in the ninth after Adam Macko allowed a run in the seventh and the A’s scored three runs off freshly-signed reliever Trevor Williams when Texas tried to squeeze two innings from the newcomer.

Nevertheless, Latz got a couple of quick strikeouts and the Rangers moved back to within a game in the American League West with Houston succumbing to Chicago this evening.

The victory is Texas’ third in a row, which drags them back to within a game of .500. In addition, the win gave the Rangers their sixth of the year against the A’s which evened the season series making tomorrow’s finale the season decider between these AL West clubs.

Player of the Game: You probably won’t find an easier pick than the guy who went 4-for-5 with five RBIs, including three RBIs with two outs.

Nimmo hadn’t really been the guy to carry the load since some hot hitting early in the season, but each of his hits tonight delivered runs, including the rare RBI hit with the bases loaded for Texas.

Up Next: The Rangers and A’s close this series out in a battle between lefties with LHP Cody Bradford set to make the start for Texas opposite LHP Jacob Lopez for futurely Vegas.

The Wednesday afternoon finale first pitch from The Shed is set for 1:35 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Mantua, Cuba, is a small fishing village on the northwestern coast of the island; legend says it was founded by shipwrecked Italian sailors in the early 1600s. Los Arroyos, the neighborhood where Randy Arozarena grew up, is a tiny tip of the island, about as close to Cancún as it is to the capital Havana, where Lazaro Montes was born. Maybe their respective hometowns account for their personality differences: Randy is quieter, more removed, shying away from media appearances, while Laz is as big and boisterous as the bustling capital city itself, eager to try out his English with whoever wants to talk. Making his big-league debut tonight, “Big Laz” had an appropriately splashy welcome to the big leagues that will guarantee his megawatt smile will light up highlight reels tonight both in Seattle and beyond, accounting for two of the Mariners’ nine runs tonight. But Randy Arozarena also continued doing what he’s done all season, leading the team offensively and providing an early separating blow that helped the Mariners outlast the Red Sox in a grueling 9-6 win at Fenway.

The Mariners got on the board right away when Dominic Canzone absolutely obliterated this hanging changeup from Red Sox starter Jedixson Paez:

Unfortunately, the Red Sox took that run right back with a blast of their own, a four-seamer from Bryan Woo that didn’t quite get top rail enough that Mickey Gasper hammered for a matching blow.

But the Mariners offense picked up their starter in the top of the second, pouncing on Paez for five runs of both the small and large ball variety. Josh Naylor got things going with a leadoff double, followed by a line-drive single from Cole Young – not super hard hit, but any contact in the air is good from young Cole, who’s been really struggling lately with pounding the ball into the ground. That brought up Lazaro Montes for his very first big-league at-bat in an RBI situation. Facing a flagging pitcher on a bullpen day, Montes took a studied, disciplined at-bat, getting ahead 2-0, whiffing at a changeup on the plate, and then declining to chase two more changeups to earn his way on base. J.P. Crawford put the Mariners ahead on a sacrifice fly, and then Brock Rodden checked in with an infield hit of his own, hustling down the line to allow Cole Young to score. That also turned the lineup over for Randy Arozarena, who continued his audition to Get Real Paid by the Red Sox next season by crushing a sinker middle-middle that would have wound up on Lansdowne Street if not for an inconveniently located billboard.

The Mariners extended their lead in the third, adding one more run but unfortunately leaving the bases loaded. But that one run came in super-fun fashion, as Lazaro Montes recorded his first big-league hit, an RBI single on a curveball he was just able to shoot between the 3-4 hole, scoring Josh Naylor, who had singled to lead off the inning (followed by a single from Cole Young pushing him to third base, Young’s second hit of the day, hooray for Cole). It’s very funny that Montes, known for big power and big strikeouts, started his career with a walk and an RBI single, but I find it delightful, almost as delightful as the man himself. Also look how quickly he gets out of the box here! I’m excited for when we get to see Laz really run.

The Mariners added another run in the fourth, thanks to back-to-back doubles from Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh, and gosh if that doesn’t feel good to type.

Their ninth and final run of the game came in magical fashion, as Lazaro showed that promised power with a homer to dead center. Like his single before, this also came in a two-strike count, lifting a slider at the bottom of the zone and driving it out with that storied power.

Laz said postgame he’d watched Randy do his guitar celebration earlier in the game after his home run, so he was ready for his first trip with the trident:

Meanwhile, Bryan Woo just quietly kept dealing; after the home run, he didn’t let a Red Sox hitter get past first base until the fifth inning, when Trevor Story led off the inning with a double. Woo came back to strike out Connor Wong swinging after a sinker below the zone, got helped out by a nice leaping snare by J.P. Crawford on a hard-hit ball from Roman Anthony, and then polished the inning off by striking out Gasper on a perfectly located slider. He also had to battle in the sixth, following a long delay after home plate umpire Ryan Wills had to leave the game after being concussed by a foul ball off Cole Young’s bat. With one out, Woo again allowed a double, and this time it did come around to score as Brock Rodden made a shaky throw on a would-be inning-ending groundout that Josh Naylor couldn’t pick. With Woo nearing the end of his day, he was able to get Jarren Duran to ground out to end the inning, completing six innings with just the two runs of damage. It was a second straight solid outing on the road from Woo, his second start in a row allowing just two runs on the road (and really it should have been one), and another nail in the coffin of the “Woo road woes” narrative that has been quietly driving me nuts all season. Hope to see ya never.

Things got a bit tighter after Woo departed, though, and of course [cracks open the oldest and most ancient text imaginable to speak the cursèd phrase] _{no lead is safe in this ballpark}. Carlos Vargas wasn’t as sharp as he’d been in his previous outings, walking nine-hole hitter Connor Wong (bad!) and then giving up a single and a double to allow two runs, cutting the Mariners lead to 9-4 and causing Dan Wilson to have to go get Jose Ferrer to quell the threat. Ferrer worked around some traffic in the eighth but was able to keep things were they were, sending the Mariners to the bottom of the ninth with a five-run lead. Again, Wilson tried to use a non-leverage reliever, getting newest Mariner lefty Hoby Milner, but Milner gave up a single followed by a home run to make things a very uncomfortable 9-6, so in came Andrés Muñoz to defeat the ghosts of Fenway.

Muñoz demolished Wilyer Abreu on three pitches, all off the plate, putting him away with 100 followed by two diabolical changeups. Andrés Muñoz’s changeup is so special to me. He then got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground out first-pitch swinging on another spicy fastball to lock things down and complete the vibes transfusion the Mariners desperately needed after last night’s crushing loss. Thank you, Lazaro. We’re so happy you’re here.