Category: MLB

WASHINGTON – Alex Bregman is more locked in than any hitter in the major leagues. The Chicago Cubs are as close to the Milwaukee Brewers as they’ve been in nearly three months.

And with three balls rocketing off Bregman’s bat Wednesday, Aug. 12, he and the Cubs served notice that their alliance is starting to turn lethal.

The two-time World Series champion and MVP runner-up crossed another item off his career to-do list, posting his first three-homer game as the Cubs withstood a stiff challenge from the Washington Nationals but burst the dam in the middle innings for a 12-6 victory.

The Cubs signed Bregman to a five-year, $140 million contract not only for his production but also his reputation as a human victory cigar, his mere presence uplifting teammates in a manner rare among ballplayers.

Yet after an epic run with the Houston Astros and a culture-shifting year spent in Boston, Bregman and the Cubs have proved a symbiotic relationship, grinders helping grinders.

This week, that came in the form of Bregman and major league development assistant Ben Martin poring over more than a decade of videos at 1 in the morning after the club arrived in Washington.

The video dated as far back as Bregman’s 2016 stint at Class AA Corpus Christi in the Astros’ system, and the duo used KinaTrax motion-capture data to chart changes in his swing.

The homework paid off: Bregman had two hits and a homer in the Cubs’ series-opening win Tuesday.

A night later came the booms.

His three-run homer off reliever Jake Bird in the fifth inning lifted Chicago to a 4-1 lead and after the Nationals tied it in the bottom half, his two-run blast off Yovanny Cruz an inning later pushed Chicago’s lead to 9-4, ensuring a lower-leverage game for the Cubs' bullpen.

For good measure, he piled on with a two-run shot in the eighth off veteran right-hander Trevor Williams, capping a perfect night: 3-for-3, three homers, two walks and an undeniable status that he’s been the game’s hottest hitter for three weeks running.

Since July 27, Bregman leads all major league hitters with 26 hits in 16 games. He’s slashing .394/.460/.788 in that span, with six home runs.

For reference: It took him 69 games spanning 10 weeks to hit his first six home runs of the season. Not that the Cubs really doubted the three-time All-Star and 2019 AL MVP runner-up.

Nor did Bregman.

“No. I knew,” Bregman said about tamping down any worries and retaining his confidence that, eventually, he’d break out. “But just gotta keep going. Gotta figure out what’s going on and address it. I feel like the last month or so has been a step in the right direction.

“But really, the last two days have been a real step in the right direction.”

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Padres fans and fans across the country.

Adrian Morejon is one of the longest tenured players on the roster for the San Diego Padres. The left-hander was signed in as an International Free Agent in 2016 and made his debut with the team in 2019. Morejon was initially being used as a starter but poor performances as a starter and injuries pushed him to the bullpen where he has blossomed into one of the most dominant relievers in MLB. The only bullpen arm who might be more dominant than Morejon is his teammate and current San Diego closer, Mason Miller. Morejon might not be the most dominant overall reliever in the game, but there is little argument that he is is the most dominant left-handed releiver in the game.

With his appearance today in the final game of the series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Petco Park, Morejon has a record of 9-2 with a 2.76 ERA. He pitched the 10th and 11th innings and was not perfect, but he was good enough to hold the team with the best record in baseball in the Brewers to two hits and an unearned run with two walks and four strikeouts. He now has 80 strikeouts over 65.1 innings and has appeared in 56 games this season for San Diego. Morejon was not as dominant as the Friar Faithful have come to expect, but that is understandable when you look at the fact that the Padres just finished a stretch of 26 games in 27 days, the last 16 of which came after the lone day off.

Morejon has been one of the primary contributors in the San Diego bullpen in recent years. He has become more prominent over the last two years as the setup man for the Padres. Morejon typically comes into games in the eighth inning of a game with a three-run lead or less. On most nights he mows down opposing hitters and then hands the game over to Miller who has recorded 30 saves on the season. Opponents know their opportunities will be limited over the final innings of the game once Morejon takes the mound.

It is important to note he is not married to the eighth inning role even though that is where he comes into most games. When Jason Adam is healthy, Morejon has come into the games in the seventh or even the sixth innings depending on where the matchups benefit the Padres. More recently Morejon has become the Shohei Ohtani specialist when San Diego plays the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Morejon’s days in San Diego may finally be coming to an end after he has spent a decade in the system. He will be a free agent at the end of the year and because of his performance and status in MLB, he could cash-in with a massive free-agent contract. It was for this reason that rumors about a possible Morejon trade could have been an option at the MLB Trade Deadline. All 29 MLB teams could use Morejon in some way in their ‘pen and many would make him their closer. The left-hander was not traded and made it clear prior to the deadline he did not want to be traded. In fact, he told members of the media who were assembled in the locker room that he would like to look at the possibility of remaining with the Padres beyond this season.

Every fan likes to play general manager, so Gaslamp Ball is giving respondents the opportunity to do just that with the Gaslamp Ball Reacts Survey poll question this week. Do you think the Padres should extend Morejon? That’s it. Just a simple “Yes” or “No.” Results will be posted later in the week.

Brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.

ATLANTA — Tobias Myers went from a valued arm for the Mets early this season to far removed from the major league mix as the season nears the home stretch.

The right-hander, who was demoted in June, has pitched to an 8.24 ERA over his past eight appearances for Triple-A Syracuse, most recently utilized as a starter.

Myers began the season as a swingman for the Mets after arriving with Freddy Peralta in a trade with the Brewers last winter.

“He has the kind of stuff and has demonstrated the kind of stuff that gets people out in the big leagues,” interim manager Andy Green said before the Mets’ 6-3 loss to the Braves on Wednesday at Truist Field. “It hasn’t been showing in Triple-A right now. He has the capacity to change that. He’s got great work ethic. He’s just got to demonstrate it. If he does, I fully expect to see him.”

Myers’ dip in velocity has been the most significant issue, according to Green.

“The most recent outing he was sitting around 90 [mph],” Green said. “He’s been successful in the big leagues, there was an outing last year he went 3 ¹/₃ [innings], he was up to 98 and was sitting at 96. He has bullied hitters with his fastball and then the split plays off it. That is not happening right now. That belongs to him, and our pitching group is there to help him. But he’s got the opportunity to change that and he’s somebody we do believe in and want back here.”

Cristian Pache spent most of the season at Syracuse wondering if he would get an opportunity with the Mets. The veteran is now receiving that opportunity as the team’s fifth outfielder following the trade that sent Tyrone Taylor to the Cubs.

“I will keep working to play,” Pache said. “I want to do more for the team.”

Pache has primarily served as a late-inning defensive replacement in games Brett Baty has started in the outfield.

“The elite defense, the baserunning, kind of fits that role for us if we need that,” Green said. “Those are the skill sets we value with him and there’s not a lot of starts [for him] with the other guys in the outfield.”

Francisco Alvarez’s .838 OPS for August entering play wasn’t unnoticed by Green.

“I think [his at-bats] have just been really competitive, every one of them, for the most part,” Green said. “The power is there. The hits are there. He’s starting to drive in runs as well. Alvy’s ceiling is still astronomically high. He has the capacity to do so much in this game and to see a lot of it come out and see his OPS continue to march northward, it’s fun to see.”

The Mets fell to 18-21 against NL East opponents this season. They will continue their division slate with three games against the Nationals beginning Friday at Citi Field.

If you don’t know about the psychologist Erik Erikson, in addition to having a pleasing name to say, he was a pretty cool guy who studied identity formation (with specific cultural contexts, way before anyone was doing that), describing eight distinct life stages, each guided by an existential question. The 2026 Mariners have been making me think about a lot of existential questions, like why baseball hurt so much?, and none so many as tonight, when they dangled the possibility of a slump-busting win only to fall in the late innings at Yankee Stadium in particularly grueling fashion.

According to Erikson, the first stage of life – infancy – is marked by the psychological crisis of trust vs. mistrust. The world is big and scary and unfamiliar, and it’s unclear as to what can be trusted. That’s a battle Mariners fans have been going back and forth on with this 2026 team, who have been seemingly unable to string together nine innings of cohesive baseball, let alone a winning streak. But lately the Mariners have been so bad it’s almost felt comforting. Familiar. Consistent, even if it’s terrible. So it wasn’t thrilling so much as it was frightening when they posted a three-run first inning against Yankees starter Will Warren. With one out, Cole Young hit an oppo ground ball single with one out. Is it time to start beating the “put Cole Young back at leadoff” drum a little more loudly? Randy Arozarena continued his homer-hitting ways, lacing a sweeper off the plate just over the right field wall for a two-run homer. With two outs, Julio Rodríguez added on with a solo homer of his own. Three runs! In the first inning! The Mariners fan mind cannot comprehend.

But for those of us torn between trust and mistrust, and heavily on the side of mistrust, it’s hard not to see another example of the Mariners not fully jumping on a pitcher early. It only took three pitches to make those two outs between the home runs, both outs pounded into the ground. Probably nothing to worry about, right? Right?

Maybe a little something to worry about, because Bryce Miller gave back one of those runs right away in the bottom of the inning. Toddlerhood, per Erikson, is marked by a struggle for autonomy – asserting likes and dislikes as a way to mark oneself as an independent entity in the world. Freed from the confines of the piggyback, these last starts down the stretch have been Bryce Miller’s opportunity to prove he deserves to stand as an autonomous unit. But today Miller’s repertoire essentially shrunk to two, maybe three pitches, as he went all fastball/sinker supplemented with the splitter. Miller didn’t throw his cutter a single time today, explaining he doesn’t like that pitch against this lineup, and he threw just two sweepers and one slider.

“I wish I would’ve thrown a few more curveballs,” he said postgame, but noted the primary thing he needed to do was execute his pitches better, especially at pivot points.

“I couldn’t execute,” he said. “I couldn’t make the pitches when I needed to. All the runs they scored on me were with two outs…I gotta execute with two outs and two strikes.”

Things got worse in the third, despite Canzone chipping in another solo homer to give the Mariners that run back. But the Yankees seemed ready for what Miller wanted to do in the third, starting with a leadoff double from Austin Wells, who dropped the head of the bat on a fastball in his lefty loop zone for a hard-hit two-bagger. It looked like Bryce might escape the inning without letting the run score, but he opted to go six straight splitters to Ben Rice, who refused to chase them, issuing a two-out walk (bad Bryce!). Miller then got into a long battle with Spencer Jones, feeding him almost nothing but fastballs (and one splitter) but unable to miss Jones’s bat. Finally, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat Miller left a 96.6 mph fastball middle-low for a two-run double that drew the Yankees within a run. The psychological crisis of toddlerhood, according to Erickson, is the tension between a desire for autonomy and shame/doubt. The psychological crisis for me watching this game is the tension between me truly, deeply believing Bryce Miller is a good pitcher, and the doubt tonight’s performance engendered.

The Mariners offense had opportunities in this game, which is the frustrating part of tonight’s loss for me. In the second, a leadoff “double” (flyball that dunked into no-man’s land) for Brendan Donovan, followed by a walk to Cal Raleigh, ultimately went nowhere after a Colt Emerson strikeout and a Taylor Ward GIDP. After Canzone’s homer in the third, Julio and Cal Raleigh worked back-to-back walks, only for Donovan to hit an inning-ending groundout. A leadoff single in the fourth from Raleigh was stranded with another Emerson strikeout and back-to-back groundouts from Ward and Young, Ward’s on a first-pitch swing.

The backbreaker for me was the fifth inning. Randy Arozarena led off with a 12-pitch walk – the longest plate appearance of his career – that bounced Warren from the game. With Fernando Cruz in, Dominic Canzone popped out on the second pitch he saw, for the second time that game making a quick out following a strong plate appearance by Randy. Julio Rodríguez then walked, and Josh Naylor singled up the middle to bring in a run and give the Mariners some breathing room, but more importantly, keep the line moving with just one out. But then a pair of Yankees fans stormed the field, causing a delay, and Aaron Boone yanked Cruz to replace him with lefty Tim Hill, and once again, Brendan Donovan went after the second pitch he saw for an inning-ending GIDP. Per Erickson, the existential question of early childhood (3-6 years) has to do with the safety of exploring the larger world: is it okay for me to do, move, and act? I would prefer the Mariners hitters ask themselves these questions when standing in the box considering their swing choices.

As expected, the Yankees went on to tie it up in the fifth against Miller. With Miller’s repertoire limited, the Yankees were clearly looking for the sinker or fastball early in counts. Austin Wells swung hard at a first-pitch sinker for a flyout, followed by George Lombard Junior doing the same on a four-seamer, flying out to Canzone. Finally, Trent Grisham was able to get one of those early-swing flyballs over the wall, jumping on a first-pitch sinker for a Yankee Stadium special (364 feet, .130 xBA), to bring the Yankees within a run once again. Ben Rice followed that with a double on one of the two sweepers Miller threw tonight, and then Spencer Jones again ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a back-to-back double, tying the game.

The Mariners had a chance to go ahead in the sixth. Cal Raleigh led off with another walk, and as frustrating as this game was, Cal Raleigh showing some better discipline at the plate is a good sign, she said, lacing up her clown shoes securely. But Colt Emerson struck out, and despite Taylor Ward reaching on a fielding error that should have been a GIDP, Young and Arozarena went on to make back-to-back two-pitch weak contact outs to quell that threat.

Bryce Miller managed to make it through the sixth, almost getting into some more two-out trouble when Ryan McMahon narrowly missed a homer on a splitter at the bottom of the zone; he was thrown out trying to stretch for a double thanks to a nails throw by Canzone in right. But the Mariners weren’t able to carry that momentum forward in the top of the seventh; Josh Naylor took a two-out walk but was picked off for the third out of the inning, surprised by Paul Blackburn. The Mariners took seven walks tonight, and scored just one of them. Late childhood and adolescence, says Erikson, is the age of looking around and assessing oneself against one’s peers: do I have what it takes to make it in the world? What is my identity? This late in the season, it feels like the Mariners still lack an identity.

The Yankees finally went ahead in this in the bottom of the seventh, making some more hard, loud contact off Gabe Speier. George Lombard Jr. singled, then scored on a Trent Grisham double. “That’s a double, and that’s the Yankee lead” crowed Karl Ravech on ESPN, and it felt like he said “and that’s the ballgame,” and that’s also how it felt, a feeling only intensified when Ben Rice added on with a hard-hit single up the middle Colt Emerson couldn’t handle to score another run. After an intentional walk to righty Heliot Ramos, Speier was supposed to get lefty Jazz Chisholm, but walked in a run instead to put the game even further out of reach. We’re up to the stage of early adulthood, marked by romantic/interpersonal relationships in Erikson’s schema, so I’m going to hold your hand while I tell you that Cole Young was removed prior to this inning with “dizziness.” Cole Young has been the emotionally loadbearing One Good Thing about this cursed season, so this one feels like an extra little kick in the throat from the baseball gods.

From here on, the game went about as you expect. The deficit got bigger, with Nick Davila giving up a second homer to Grisham, making it 10-5. The Mariners failed to add on. The announcers, both national and local, turned to different topics of conversation other than the game.

Middle adulthood, says Erickson, is driven by the existential question “can I make my life count?” (It always comes back to Mary Oliver, you know this by now.) There is something about a baseball season – spanning seasons, all the life events that can happen between March and October, easily markable gateposts – that inspires one to think about mortality. And there is something about the Mariners, in particular, that inspires one to think about how one is counting out the days of one’s life, or what it says about us to tie ourselves to this continually underperforming, disappointing, frustrating baseball franchise. I’m not there yet chronologically, but hoping I can mentally, at least, get to Erickson’s final stage of identity development sometime before the end of this season: ego integrity vs. despair, the answer to the question “was it okay to be me a Mariners fan?”

A platoon pairing with a homer apiece, Austin Riley ending the night a triple short of the cycle, a reminder not to run on Ronald Acuña Jr., and much more. 

It was an eventful 6-3 Braves win. I’ve got your AA apology forms right here.

Mets starter Zac Thornton had only given up three home runs coming into tonight’s series finale, and the fourth came rocketing off the bat of Lane Thomas in the second inning to get the scoring started. Thomas belatedly acknowledged the bullpen as he rounded the bases, but hey, it was his first homer as a Brave. He gets a pass this once.

The Braves tacked on another run in the bottom of the third courtesy of Ronald Acuña Jr. After his leadoff walk, he advanced to third on a Drake Baldwin single and came home to score after Matt Olson hit into a double play. Ronald drove in another in the fifth after an Austin Riley double and a Sean Murphy single, but was thrown out at second. It was a little payback from the Mets after Jared Young, in the top of the same inning, forgot the golden rule: don’t run on Ronald.

All in all, this was three (3) more runs of support for Tyler Mahle than he received in his Braves debut versus the Yankees last Friday. 

Mahle’s home debut started inauspiciously – a nine-pitch at-bat led to a leadoff single in the first for A.J. Ewing. But he rebounded to set down the next three Mets in order. 

He built upon his impressive debut with yet another six strong innings of work. He likely could have gone deeper if he didn’t have so many full counts to various Metropolitans. The lone blemish on his final line was a leadoff homer to catcher Luis Torrens in the sixth, but otherwise he scattered four total hits and struck out seven on 93 pitches. 

Mahle departed with the Braves leading 3-1. Dylan Dodd took over for the Braves in the seventh and gave up a solo homer to Luis Robert Jr. to make it 3-2. 

But the Braves would get those two runs back and then some. 

Platoon perfection was achieved with Mike Yastrzemski coming off the bench to lead off the bottom of the seventh to face Dedniel Núñez. Yaz saw a ball high before sending the second pitch 102 mph to right center.

Austin Riley, already with a single and a double on the evening, wanted in on the action and crushed a slider a whopping 438 feet to left center field. Back-to-back dingers are the most fun way to get two runs back, change my mind. 

Núñez struck out Murphy but allowed a double to Ronald before being lifted. Jefry Yan of the exuberant strikeout celly immediately allowed an RBI single to Baldwin to make it 6-2 Braves. Yan got Olson swinging, but kept it demure on the mound given the score. Ozzie Albies’ lineout ended the frame.

Dodd turned the ball over to his fellow Dylan, and Lee worked a scoreless eighth inning with nothing of note besides the two-out walk to Ewing.

Once again, we find ourselves with a comfortable four-run lead. Once again, we see Raisel Iglesias enter in the top of the ninth in a non-save situation. Once again, we are all a little more clenched than we thought we’d be.

The drama began with a Bo Bichette homer to lead off the inning. Then followed a Carson Benge double and a Luis Robert Jr. walk. The tying run, Jared Young, came to the plate with no outs. Somewhere in the dugout, Mahle began to wonder if the price for every good start of his was a meltdown for Iggy. It had only happened once, but it sure looked like it might be happening again.

But our closer, dear reader, remembered who he was: an All-Star. And he needed all of seven (7) pitches to get Jared Young to ground out, Francisco Alvarez to pop out, and Marcus Semien to ground out to end it. Deep breaths!

The Braves take the rubber match and the series with tonight’s final score of 6-3. But almost more importantly: the Braves ABS score vs. (soon-to-be retiring) umpire Andy Fletcher was 4-1 (Ronald winning one in the first, and Sean getting three correct before a failed Hail Mary in the ninth). There’s a lot to like about how the Braves are playing lately: clutch hitting, good pitching, contributions from our new guys, and if we can finally get good at ABS? Watch out, league.

The Braves are back in action on Friday with the Arizona Diamondbacks coming to town. Chris Sale will get the ball starting at 7:15 pm ET.

Man, it feels good to score runs.

The Yankees have gone 18-10 in the last month, but you wouldn’t guess it by looking at the lineup. They’ve been carried by great pitching, and they got that from their bullpen tonight, but not the starter. At least they followed my perpetual advice — score 10 runs and worry about the rest later. They did exactly that, putting up double digits in tonight’s 10-5 win.

We do need to talk about the start. I do not think that Will Warren is long for this rotation. Ryan Weathers has already impressed enough on his own, but another lackluster outing tonight makes the decision between the two of them ever easier. Two home runs in the first inning had the Yankees down 3-0 before they took a swing in anger, and yes, Trent Grisham needs to make this play, but Warren didn’t do himself any favors after.

George Lombard Jr. is an outstanding defender. He should not be the one responsible for that ball; that is Grish’s all the way but the Yankee center fielder couldn’t get into second gear, and the leadoff hitter was on board. Warren was visibly unimpressed by the effort, and did manage to pick up Grisham by getting out of the inning, but trouble continued from there.

Warren surrendered a third homer in the third inning, immediately after the Yankees had managed to scratch out a run and make the game a little closer. He was yanked after walking the first batter of the fifth inning. Four-plus innings, five earned runs — Randy Arozarena, who hit one of those first-inning bombs, came around to score after the free pass — and four walks against three strikeouts. He had no out pitch to lean on, nothing to offer when he really needed a whiff.

This is the fourth time in the last 10 starts that he has been charged with at least five earned runs. He is the fifth starter in this rotation, but even fifth starters have to be a little more reliable than that. That this happens at a time when the Yankee lineup actually woke up a little bit today makes everything worse. When Carlos Rodón returns I doubt we will see Warren start another game this year, barring further injuries to the roster.

Fortunately the Yankees were able to touch Mariners’ starter Bryce Miller, with Ryan McMahon driving a double in the second to open the scoring, even as he was thrown out at third to end the frame:

Funny enough, Mac would get hosed down at second in the sixth inning, after bouncing a ball off the wall in right. McMahon’s actually hit somewhat respectably over the last six weeks or so but we may need to talk about his baserunning.

Meanwhile, Spencer Jones continued to hit the ball well, driving in a trio with two doubles:

I think Jones is always going to struggle to find consistency, at least until he finds some way to shorten up his swing. With tonight’s effort he’s back over 100 wRC+, after the two doubles and being dotted on the jersey in the team’s big seventh inning. I do not enjoy the aesthetic of his game, but if he hits like this, you take it.

And to his credit, Trent Grisham made up for that centerfield snafu, with perhaps the two biggest hits of the game. One to get the Yankees within one:

And one to put them ahead:

Ben Rice followed up with a single of his own to give the Yankees lucky number seven, and three batters later Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked with the bases loaded, the fourth big PA by a Yankee lefty against the lefty reliever. That Jazz was able to take his walk after Heliot Ramos was IBB’d purely to get the lefty-lefty matchup must have felt even better for the onetime-slugger who has struggled all year.

Brett Headrick continued his dominance with his 52nd scoreless outing of the year, dominating the Mariners in the eighth for the second straight night. Headrick has thrown 24 pitches in this series, getting six outs, and beginning to feel a little like prime Dellin Betances, from the south side. Grisham added his third extra-base hit of the day, allowing the team to say “**** the closer”:

The Yankees have now won four of their last five series, even though I know it doesn’t quite feel like it. This was the first game in two weeks that it seemed they were in control of, clawing back right away after being down early, and the whole lineup contributing to pull ahead.

Another 10 runs might be a bit too much to ask tomorrow in the series finale, but games get a lot easier to win if you get on base and hit a bunch of doubles and homers. We wrap this series up with a day game, 1:35pm Eastern first pitch from Max Fried against Logan Gilbert for Seattle.

Box Score

Yankees 10, Mariners 5

The joy and wonder of childhood: Randy Arozarena, .13 WPA

Diaper blowouts: Gabe Speier, -.36 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

Feels a little cheating/low effort to make a gif the GTCOTD, but, well, it certainly mirrors the effort this team has put forth lately.

Michael Arroyo Threat Level:

SCIOSCIA

The Yankees fell behind early, but rallied to defeat the Mariners, 10-5, thanks in large part to two home runs from Trent Grisham on Wednesday night.

Here are the takeaways...

-Randy Arozarena's bullying of the Yankees continued, smashing a one-out, two-run shot to give the Mariners an early 2-0 lead in the first off of Will Warren. It's Arozarena's second straight game with a home run and the 19th career long ball against the Yankees. Two batters later, Julio Rodriguez went to the second deck in right field.

Warren would give up his third homer of the game in the third inning, when Dominic Canzone launched a changeup into the second deck of right field. 

The right-hander settled in, pitching into the fifth inning but walked Arozarena on the 12th pitch of the at-bat before Aaron Boone pulled his starter. Fernando Cruz came on and allowed a two-out RBI single to Josh Naylor, putting an end to Warren's line.

Warren allowed five runs on six hits and four walks while striking out three batters. 

Cruz pitched into trouble, giving way to Tim Hill,who picked up a massive inning-ending double play to keep the Mariners to five runs. After that, the Yankees bullpen locked down the Mariners.

Paul Blackburn allowed a walk in 1.2 innings pitched and Brent Headrick struck out the side in the eighth, his 52nd consecutive scoreless inning. 

-The Yankees would get on the board in the second thanks to a two-out infield single by Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Ryan McMahon driving him in with a double, but the Yankees third baseman was thrown out trying to advance to third on the relay throw. 

Spencer Jones would bring the score within one in the third with a two-out, two-run double, narrowly missing a three-run homer the opposite way. With two outs in the fifth, Grisham hit a solo shot, and after a Ben Rice double, Jones came through with a double of his own -- narrowly missing a home run to center field -- to tie the game at 5-5. 

In the seventh, the Yankees took their first lead of the game. George Lombard Jr. hit a one-out single, then Grisham drove the rookie home with a double. Rice followed up with a single to drive in the second run of the inning. Chisholm worked a bases-loaded walk to plate another.

Grisham smashed his second homer of the game in the eighth, a two-run blast to put the Yankees up 10-5.

-Lombard Jr. went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. He also committed his first big-league error when he ranged to his right and fumbled the ball on the transfer. 

Jones went 2-for-4 with three RBI.

Game MVP: Trent Grisham

Grisham's two home runs and four RBI were the difference in this one.

Highlights

Ryan McMahon gets the Yankees on the board pic.twitter.com/0mqdEWQf3o

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 12, 2026

Spencer Jones goes the other way off the wall to drive in a pair with a double! pic.twitter.com/aczJqVTLlK

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 13, 2026

Trent Grisham cuts it to 5-4! pic.twitter.com/mQeQAjhzOs

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 13, 2026

Spencer Jones drives in his third run of the night and we’re tied at 5-5! pic.twitter.com/zZv0QuL02p

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 13, 2026

Trent Grisham gives the Yankees the lead with an RBI double! pic.twitter.com/HFt82Kr48Z

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 13, 2026

Ben Rice makes it 7-5! pic.twitter.com/6hjdqSKG4x

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 13, 2026

Two home runs tonight for Trent Grisham! pic.twitter.com/D7177fZfvb

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 13, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Mariners wrap up their series on Thursday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m.

Max Fried takes the mound (4-3, 2.88 ERA) against Logan Gilbert (8-7, 3.42 ERA).

The offense, once again, showed up tonight. 6 runs on 17 (SEVENTEEN) baserunners. Obviously not great that you only score 6 runs off that, but great that they got 17 baserunners. This game basically followed the same script as most of the games the Guardians have played since the deadline. Offense scores, pitching lets them down.

The Guardians had bases loaded, no outs in the 1st, and managed to score a run off a Jo Adell 113mph GIDP. Luckily, Angel tacked on another run with an RBI double.

Naturally, right after, Foster Griffin gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st.

Then, gave up the lead in the 3rd on a no-doubt shot off thh bat of Gleyber Torres.

Luckily, the offense woke up. In the 5th, with Jose on first, Adell smacked a ball over the fence in left. 4-3 Guardians.

And then, in the 7th, with two outs and a runner on second, the Guardians decided to (thankfully) tack on some insurance runs. Genao doubled in Martinez, and then Hedges brought Genao home with an RBI single.

Gaddis, once again, failed to be able to adequately fill his role in the bullpen. He came out for the 8th, and couldn’t finish the inning. He walked McGonigle to start the inning, but then struck out the next two Tigers. Then, he gave up a single to McKinstry. He was, at that point, at 21 pitches, and clearly didn’t really have it tonight. (For the record I can’t remember the last time Gaddis ‘had it’, nor do I understand why he’s still pitching the 8th inning). So, Cade had to come clean up his mess. Again. The Tigers scored on a wild pitch, but Cade eventually managed to strike out Clark after a 12-pitch at-bat. So, because of Gaddis , your closer has now thrown 12 pitches — before the 9th — in a save situation. Awesome.

Cade ended up throwing nearly 40 pitches in order to record the save tonight, though through no fault of his own. Hedges failed to challenge a borderline two-strike no call on two separate occasions, both of which were immediately followed up by a Tigers base hit. But, Cade got the save, and the Guardians, somehow, won.

Lost in this, for what it’s worth, are the 1.1 scoreless innings Holderman pitched tonight. Not to mention the two strikeouts Sabrowski got when he came on for Holderman.

Red Sox 4 Blue Jays 6

The bottom of the eighth was one of those great innings for those of us who tend to think we’ve seen everything:

• Vlad led off with a ground ball single up the middle.
• Alejandro Kirk also singled.
• Kazuma Okamoto, on a one and one count popped one up along the first base line. Umpires called ‘infield fly’, meaning an out. But the Red Sox first baseman Willson (yes two Ls spellcheck) Contreras dropped the catch, but, fortunately, just on the foul side of the line, so the infield fly is erased. I’m almost sure I haven’t seen that. Given a second chance Kazuma lines a single to left and Vlad scored (it was fairly close at the plate).
• The Red Sox intentionally walk Andrés Giménez (yes, you read that right) to load the bases. His career tenth IW and second with the Jays.
• Even higher up on the ‘hard to believe chart’ Ernie Clements walks, getting an RBI.
• George Springer hits a sac fly.
• Myles Straw doubles in two more.
• Chuck McAdoo singles to give us runners on the corners.
• Justin no, Brett Bateman is up with runners on the corners and for some reason, John makes him try to sac bunt. It is 6-1, the odds of winning when you are up 6-1 in the ninth, or 7-1 in the ninth are basically the same. LET THE MAN SWING THE BAT. He pops up the bunt for an easy out.
• And back to where we started, Vlad pops out.

A great inning, and a ball being just two or three feet foul turned out to be very important (also that Contreras can’t catch, something you would expect a ball player to be able to do).

José Soriano had a very nice start. Six innings, just one earned (a Contreras home run), on four hits, two walks with four strikeouts. Very little was hit hard. He is looking like the real thing. He came out at 90 pitches, I’d have likely let him start the seventh, but John and Pete are closer to the players than I am.

Mason Fluharty pitched a quick seventh.

Tyler Rogers a quick eighth.

Since we were up by a lot, John sat Louis Varland and had Matt Waldron start the ninth. It didn’t go well. He got one out, gave up three hits and a walk. The tying run came to the plate. And Varland came to the mound, getting a fly out and a ground out and save #26.

That’s three in a row over the Red Sox, and 9 wins in the last 13 games

We had 12 hits. McAdoo, Vlad, Okamoto and Straw each had two.

Jays of the Day: Okamoto (0.24 WPA), Soriano (0.21) Rogers (0.11) Varland (0.11), Fluharty (0.09) and for the big walk, Clement (0.08).

Other Award: Waldron (-0.10), who will be the reason why my doctor talks to me about my blood pressure.

Tomorrow, we have a day game. 3:00 Eastern. We have Payton Tolle (7-6, 3.20) vs. Max Scherzer (1-4, 7.25). Max buddy, let’s keep the bus rolling.

Win again tomorrow and I might start believing. Tomorrow might be a good day to watch from the pub.

Texas Rangers @ Anaheim Angels

Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 9:10 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / ESPN)

Angel Stadium

RHP Cal Quantrill vs. RHP George Klassen

Go Rangers!

The Colorado Rockies have 41 games left in the 2026 season. 

Beyond continuing to improve on their 2025 record and build for the future, what do you hope to see for the rest of this season?

That question seems gigantic for an organization like the Rockies. While there are lots of ways to give feedback — the comments are full of advice for the front office and coaching staff on a daily basis — here’s a framework to guide the discussion. 

It’s a common feedback method for teachers and workplaces: start, stop, continue. 

• What should the Rockies start doing?
• What should the Rockies stop doing?
• What should the Rockies continue doing? 

You could focus on a player, a lineup, a call-up, or pretty much anything. 

Here’s my take:

The Rockies should start the roster makeover by cutting Kris Bryant. He won’t play again. Pay him, cut him, and move on, learning the lesson of never inking a contract like this ever again.

The Rockies should stop using Michael Lorenzen as a starter. The Rockies have lost his last three starts and gone 9-16 with him on the mound this season. He gives up the game before the Rockies even have a chance. More on this another day.

Finally, the Rockies should continue making roster moves like bringing up Zac Veen and DFAing Edouard Julien. In the month-and-a-half that’s left, try out some new pitchers and prospects. Gather more data to assist in offseason decision-making.

That’s what I think.

Let us know your ideas in the comments!

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

Eric Lauer faces Daniel Lynch IV as the Dodgers look to sweep the Kansas City Royals.

WEDNESDAY GAME INFO

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Royals
• Stadium: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

The Mets could not find offensive footing despite three home runs in today’s 6- 3 loss to the Braves. Zac Thornton gave up three runs in six innings, and the bullpen gave up the other three in the seventh inning.

After Braves pitcher Tyler Mahle threw nine pitches, A.J. Ewing led off the first inning with a single into center field, but Francisco Lindor followed him by grounding into a force out that Ozzie Albies just barely threw to second base in time. Lindor stayed there to end the top of the inning, and Thornton came out for the bottom. Drake Baldwin sneaked a grounder past Brett Baty at second base for a single, but otherwise Thornton had a clean first inning and the score stayed 0-0.

At the bottom of the second inning, Thornton allowed a home run to Lane Thomas and then a single to Austin Riley before getting out of the inning. Thornton then walked Ronald Acuña Jr to lead off the bottom of the third inning. When Drake Baldwin smacked a single into center field, Luis Robert Jr was lax getting the ball back to the infield as he didn’t seem to realize that Acuña would be running from second to third base. Robert’s last-minute throw to third was also not accurate. The lapse proved costly when Matt Olson grounded into a double play, but Acuña scored regardless. The score was now Braves 2, Mets 0.

Carson Benge tapped a ground ball into right field for a single at the top of the fourth inning, but was stranded there. At the top of the fifth inning, Jared Young lined a single into right field, but when he took a chance on reaching second base, he was thrown out by Acuña. At the bottom of the fifth, Baldwin whacked a line drive into left field for a lead-off double, and Sean Murphy followed him with his own line drive into left field for a single that allowed Riley to reach third base. Acuña then bashed another line drive, this one into center field, for an RBI single. Murphy reached third base, but Acuña tried to run to second base and was tagged out by Baty for the first out. The next two outs came in quick succession, but the Braves had extended their lead to 3-0.

Luis Torrens knocked a lead-off home run over the fence on the first pitch he saw to start the sixth inning, but the rest of the Mets batters were retired in order. Thornton then retired the Braves batters with seven pitches. At the top of the seventh, Robert lofted a home run into left field, and the Mets were within one run of the Braves. Unfortunately, that changed quickly. At the bottom of the seventh, Dedniel Núñez, replacing Thornton, gave up back-to-back home runs to Mike Yastrzemski and Riley. After Acuña bounced a one-out double off the wall, Núñez’s outing was over, and it was time for Jefry Yan. Yan allowed an RBI single to Baldwin, his first batter, and Acuña scored. The next two outs came without incident, and the seventh inning ended with the score Braves 6, Mets 2.

A walk from Ewing in the eighth inning went nowhere for the Mets, and Jack Weisenburger came out at the bottom of the inning to replace Yan. He allowed a two-out double to Yastrzemski, but Riley flied out to end the eighth and allow Weisenburger to escape unscathed. At the top of the ninth inning, Bo Bichette drilled a home run over the fence in center field to lead off. Benge lined a double into center field, and Robert followed him with a walk, still with no outs. Young grounded into a force out at second, leaving himself at first and Benge at third. Alvarez popped out in foul territory for the second out, and Semien grounded into a force out for the third out, and the Braves won 6-3.

The Mets have an off day tomorrow before facing the Nationals at home on Thursday. Robert Stock will face TBD. First pitch is at 7:10 PM ET.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue
Battery Power

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

Fangraphs

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Luis Robert Jr, +14% WPA
Big Mets loser: Dedniel Núñez, -16% WPA
Mets pitchers: -23% WPA
Mets hitters: -27% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Luis Robert Jr home run, +11.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Lane Thomas home run, -11.1% WPA

The Red Sox are playing bad baseball… again.

Boston did everything right for nearly two months, but at some point they were going to regress back to the mean. Saturday was the start… Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday included some bad luck… Wednesday was the result of an absolute implosion.

Tyron Guerrero and Alec Gamboa combined to allow five hits and five runs in the eighth inning of what eventually became a 6-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. I’ve got the stud and duds from an ugly night north of the border:

STUDS

Wilyer Abreu: If you don’t respect defense, you’re not welcome here!

Abreu might have gone just 1-for-4, but he also made an absurd play out in right field where he stole a hit from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a ball that had an expected batting average of .990 and doubled up an eager Brett Bateman. The Red Sox almost certainly would have given up the lead if not for his heroics…

DUDS

Ceddanne Rafaela: It’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Rafaela has regressed in terms of his plate discipline and swing decisions, with his sixth- and eighth-inning at-bats including several chases outside of the zone. If he’s going to keep swinging at everything, no one is going to throw him strikes.

Guerrero: The Red Sox did some bullpen shuffling, electing to go with Guerrero in the eighth inning over Garrett Whitlock.

Single. Single. Single. Walk. Walk.

Chad Tracy pulled his typically reliable reliever without having him record a single out. If that isn’t a depressing turn of events, what is?

“IT’S ABOUT TO UNRAVEL, ISN’T IT?” MOMENT OF THE GAME

Willson Contreras dropped a pop fly in foul ground in the eighth inning, with the very next pitch serving as the nail in the coffin.

The Blue Jays took the lead and never looked back, pouring on five total runs in the frame to run away with the series victory.

YIKES!