Category: MLB

That’s two in a row where the Jays have fallen behind big early, rallied late, and fallen a single run short. Add to that Tuesday’s loss, in which a successful comeback was blown in extra innings, and it’s been an extremely frustrating week of Toronto Blue Jays baseball, in a season where frustration is the signature.

Patrick Corbin was bad from the start today. Wyatt Langford opened the game with a single. Corbin then hit the next batter, gave up a double to Brandon Nimmo, a single to Justin Foscue, and another to Ezequiel Duran. That put the Jays in a 3-0 hole before they recorded the second out of the ball game. He rallied for a clean second, but the walked Jake Burger with one out in the third to set up a two run Justin Foscue homer, extending Texas’ lead to 5. He’d work around a double in the fourth and record one out in the fifth before being pulled. His ultimate line was 4.1 innings pitched, five runs (all earned) on seven hits and a walk against five strikeouts.

Spencer Miles took over to finish the fifth, and stuck around for the sixth and seventh. He was excellent, allowing just one hit and striking out three. Adam Macko handled the eighth, walking a pair but avoiding runs. Louis Varland, for some reason, was called to work the ninth. He worked around a single for a clean frame.

So five runs was the hill the Jays offence had to climb. They couldn’t find any purchase against Nathan Eovaldi. Their first base runner was a Daulton Varsho walk in the third, and they didn’t get a hit until Vladimir Guerrero jr.’s one out single in the fourth. The first Jay to reach scoring position was Andres Gimenez, who doubled to open the sixth. He advanced to third on a Nathan Lukes line single, but a Guerrero double play stranded him.

They again had a little something going in the seventh. Singles by Kazuma Okamoto and Ernie Clement put a pair on with one out. Eovaldi rallied to strike out the next two batters, though, and they couldn’t break the shutout.

They were able to get to the bullpen in a way they couldn’t the starter. Gimenez singled and Springer walked to put two on with one out off Robby Ahistrom. The Rangers swithched to Jacob Junis, who advanced both runners on a wild pitcha nd then gave up a line single to Guerrero, plating both. Kazuma Okamoto followed with his 19th home run of the season, cutting the deficit to one. Junis got two of the next three Jays swinging, though, preventing them from tying it up.

Down to their last three outs, Brandon Valenzuela worked a walk off Jacob Latz to put the tying run on base. A pair of pop outs and a fly out wasted that final opportunity.

Jays of the Day: Okamoto (0.13), Valenzuela (0.10)

Less So: Corbin (-0.29), Springer (-0.13), Straw (-0.13)

Game 3 goes tomorrow at 3:07pm ET. Dylan Cease (4-3, 2.75) represents the forces of goodness and light, while Cal Quantrill (3-0, 3.73) represents the Texas Rangers.

Needless to say, it’s been a bad week in Mets land.

Perhaps the moment that best sums it all up is an extremely awkward moment on the team’s PIX 11 pregame show Friday night.

The Mets were swept away by the Cubs in four games to start the week. Injury woes continued with Marcus Semien hitting the injured list and Juan Soto experiencing back discomfort early in the week. The morning after that Cubs series ended, news broke that they had fired manager Carlos Mendoza.

On Friday night, despite a great performance by rookie starting pitcher Zach Thornton in interim Mets skipper Andy Green’s debut, they dropped their seventh game in a row with a 2-1 loss to the rival Phillies.

On Friday night before the game, though, an awkward moment on the TV broadcast with Steve Gelbs and Mr. Met put a weird note on the week.

The sideline reporter was doing a live hit on the field discussing Mendoza’s firing when Mr. Met appeared behind him in frame…and began dancing.

With such a somber topic being discussed, it was an uncomfortable moment as Gelbs discussed the rough state of the franchise. But Mr. Met just wouldn’t disappear.

Gelbs, in a professional manner, continued the segment, pretending like nothing was happening behind him.

When asked about their emotions surrounding Mendoza’s firing, several players — including Francisco Lindor — placed the blame on themselves and discussed their close relationships with their former manager.

President of baseball operations David Stearns seemed somber in his pregame availability as well, but did express optimism for the future.

“I believe that we are building the foundation of an organization that can deliver what we all want,” Stearns said, when asked why he hasn’t considered stepping down. “I don’t believe that our record on the field this year is indicative of some of the advancements that we have made in the organization, but clearly our record is nowhere good enough.”

With their loss Friday night, the Mets fell to 34-48, a season-worst 14 games under .500. They’re 10 games out of a National League wild-card spot.

If you’re hoping to see highlights of a lot of offense at Busch Stadium Friday night, you’ll have to wait awhile as both Michael McGreevy and Max Meyer were determined to have an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel and they were both successful…for awhile. But, the Cardinals bullpen would eventually lose it to the Marlins.

Let’s start with a lack of offense, shall we? The St. Louis Cardinals only had 2 hits and no runs going into the bottom of the 6th inning. Based on that, you would rightly imagine that the Cardinals chances of winning would not be high. However, the Miami Marlins only had 5 hits through the first 6 innings and they had no runs to show for them either. The stories of the night were the Marlins Max Meyer and the Cardinals Michael McGreevy. The problem is that the Cardinals were losing the pitch count battle as Meyer completed the first 2/3 of the game with only 66 pitches. Michael McGreevy’s pitch count after 6 full innings was 94 which is why he was relieved by JoJo Romero entering the 7th inning.

The only offensive play worth mentioning in the first 6 innings was Kyle Stowers of the Miami Marlins who wins the award for the worst ABS challenge in history (or that I’ve seen) where the replay showed the ball could not have gone any more directly through the strike zone if it tried. A defensive play worth highlighting was a lightning-fast pickoff by Michael McGreevy as he nailed Ruiz at first in the top of the 5th inning.

In a shocking development, Iván Herrera was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the 7th inning and yes, that’s sarcasm. That’s a Major League-leading 22 hit-by-pitches for Herrera. After that, Max Meyer experienced a rare moment of wildness as he walked Alec Burleson on 5 pitches to bring up Jordan Walker who had one of the Cardinals only 2 hits on the night leading up to that at-bat. Jordan was charged with a pitch clock violation before Meyer even threw him a pitch which was odd. Walker grounded into a fielder’s choice with Burleson being forced out at 2nd giving the Cardinals runners at first and third with just one out. That gave Lars Nootbaar the opportunity to finally help the Cardinals break through Friday night’s scoring drought. He worked the count full before drawing a walk to load the bases which brought up Masyn Winn. He unfortunately grounded out to the other shortstop who forced out Herrera at home. He was slow to get up after sliding hard into home as the replay appeared to show him roll over his ankle somewhat, but he eventually retreated into the dugout. It was up to Nathan Church to try and save the Cardinals from another RISP disaster. I wish I could say he was successful, but he lined out to left field to end the bottom of the 7th with the game still deadlocked at 0-0. The Cardinals would not get another great opportunity to score the rest of the night.

JoJo Romero was successful keeping the Marlins scoreless in the top of the 7th inning. For the top of the 8th, it was George Soriano‘s turn. He gave up a sharp single to Ruiz who led off the top of the 8th. What had been a scoreless battle suddenly became a Marlins lead when Graham Pauley ripped a double down the right field line scoring Ruiz making it 1-0 Miami. And then the rains came…and we as Cardinals nation had 15 minutes to contemplate our lives. Meanwhile, George Soriano had to return to the mound and figure out how to hold the Marlins to just 1 run with a runner on second with nobody out. Soriano was able to get Marsee to pop out to shortstop for the first out, but then he walked Conine and Edwards to load the bases. The next play would be pivotal. Stowers hit a ground ball that Alec Burleson grabbed, stepped on first and then fired the ball home to Herrera who tagged Pauley. The ump called him out on the field and after a long review from New York, the call was overturned giving the Marlins a 2-0 lead which would be the score after the LONG top of the 8th was done.

The good news for the St. Louis Cardinals was the fact that Max Meyer did not go out to pitch the bottom of the 8th inning. His impressive stat line for the night was 7 innings pitched allowing just 2 hits and no runs while striking out 5 and walking 2. Michael Petersen was his replacement for the Marlins. He would get Blaze Jordan to ground out leading off the 8th, but José Fermín cracked a ground rule double into the left-center field stands although a fan did not make a good play on the ball. JJ Wetherholt then lined out hard to left-center which brought up Iván Herrera with two outs. He struck out to end the St. Louis hopes of going into the 9th inning with anything other than 0’s on the board.

Max Rajcic was not able to hold the Marlins at bay in the top of the 9th inning. After getting the first out, he walked Mack and Ruiz. He was able to get Pauley out on a deep flyball to right which sounded like a home run off the bat, but Nathan Church was unable to make a diving catch on a single from Marsee which scored both Mack and Ruiz giving the Marlins a commanding 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the 9th inning.

For the Cardinals to pull off a miracle comeback win, they’d have to get through the Marlins Calvin Faucher. Unfortunately, they didn’t. The grand total of St. Louis Cardinals offense Friday night was a very disappointing 3 hits and nothing but bagels on the scoreboard.

After a pitcher’s duel Friday night, the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins will tangle again Saturday night. The expectation was that Dustin May would get the start for the Cardinals, but there is a report that he has back tightness and may skip his next start. The most up-to-date lineup for Saturday shows Andre Pallante starting for St. Louis Saturday. The Marlins have not officially announced a starter either, it could be that Ryan Gusto will take the mound for Miami. First pitch is set for 6:15pm central time at Busch Stadium. The game TV broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv.

Twins 9, Rockies 8

Leverage index & box score

Graphics via FanGraphs.

Getting the job done: Byron Buxton, +0.42 WPA

Senza, no . . . . : Antonio Senzatela, -0.30 WPA

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Rochester Red Wings 6, Charlotte Knights 2
After pummeling Rochester a couple of nights ago, Charlotte decided it was only fair that the Red Wings get a couple of jabs in, too. Nolan Jones carried the team, producing both of Charlotte’s runs. He started with an RBI double plated in the fifth, and followed up with a sac fly in the eighth with the sacks packed and one out. Although Michael Turner and Korey Lee made sure Jones wasn’t the only productive batter at the plate, the rest of the lineup decided to take a break for this one.

Meanwhile, the pitching failed to get off the ground for the first half of the game. Noah Schultz’s two runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings were tolerable considering he struck out seven, but he tipped the domino in the wrong direction when he turned the ball over to the bullpen. Duncan Davitt and Lucas Sims each gave up a pair of runs between the fifth and seventh innings, pushing the Knights further from striking distance and ultimately costing them the game.

The worst part of the game wasn’t the loss, though; it was Rikuu Nishida’s exit. Nishida promptly left the game in the sixth after Rochester’s Trevor Gott hit him. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious, but getting knocked out of the game is never a good sign.

Knoxville Smokies 3, Birmingham Barons 2
The losing train keeps plugging along for the Barons, who have fallen into a seven-game slump. The lineup hindered their run production by going 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving eight on base. Caleb Bonemer delivered a blooper single into center to score Alec Briley in the third to keep his bat lukewarm. Although Bonemer has continued to cool off since April, especially since encountering the Double-A talent jump, it was nice to see him deliver tonight. Brendan Dixon tried to rally a late comeback in the ninth with a sac fly, but the attempt was extremely short-lived.

From the arm side, there’s not much else that could’ve been done. Connor McCullough put on a hearty performance, allowing six hits and two runs while punching out five in 4 1/3 innings, while the bullpen backed him up for nearly the entire game. Pierce George pitched his second Double-A game since graduating from Winston-Salem, and he did well, all things considered. Although he gave up a run, he lasted two full innings.

While the lineup didn’t pull its weight, the Barons simply came up short on this one.

Hub City Spartanburgers 6, Winston-Salem Dash 5 (11 innings)
The Dash burned to an early lead, but ultimately proved that sometimes a slow burn pays off.

George Wolkow led the scoring charge in the top of the first with an RBI double, before Hub City answered with three runs in the bottom of the frame.

The Dash pulled rank in the fourth behind Bryce Eblin’s blast, and tacked on another run in the sixth with James Taussig’s homer.

It turns out the scoring would come to a screeching halt after that, though. Nathan Archer made his High-A debut as a pinch-runner to replace Taussig in the 10th to try and bring in the go-ahead run with two outs and runners on second and third, but he ended up never grabbing a bat.

Juan Carela had his first rude awakening to High-A hitting after being promoted from his rehab assignment in the ACL recently. Carela gave up three runs in four innings but managed to get four strikeouts to give the Dash a fighting chance. Unfortunately, that chance ended with Jake Peppers, who blew his save and turned the game back to Hub City for the rest of the night. Even though the momentum never shifted back towards Winston-Salem, Mathias LaCombe deserves a round of applause for his standout effort: 2 1/3 IP with seven strikeouts and no runs allowed helped send the game to extras when the offense had shut down.

Columbia Fireflies 5, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0
It’s a good thing the Ballers had postgame fireworks, because their bats didn’t bring any. Jaden Fauske and Leandro Alsinois pieced together four of Kanny’s six hits, while the rest of the team might as well have sat on the bench waiting for the postgame pops and cracks. Although they didn’t fare too poorly in the strikeout category, the lifeless CBs offense was back after a not-so-brief hiatus.

Pointing never feels good, but unfortunately, Gabriel Rodriguez was the lone pitcher to blame for Kanny’s loss. Rodriguez was tagged with all five earned runs in four innings and really tangoed with command, giving up four of the five runs via the home run. Worse, but understandably, three of the four dingers came from pitches over the middle of the plate. Needless to say, tonight was not Kanny’s night.

The only person who profited from Rodriguez’s poor outing was Blaine Wynk, who allowed just three hits and struck out three in a three-inning shutout.

Rookie Leagues

DSL Phillies 11, DSL White Sox 1
The 5-14 Sox floundered big time. Four hits and six walks only totaled a single run, courtesy of Carlos Vielma’s bases-loaded walk. Pulling highlights for this game is difficult and painful, as not much good comes from a lineup that went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. A shout-out should go to lefty reliever Cristopher Romero, who only allowed a walk in his 1 1/3 innings hurled, and provided reprieve for the our DSL defenders in the fifth. It was the first time since his first DSL appearance on June 2 that Romero went scoreless, so that’s something to cheer for. But other than that, that’s all she wrote.

Holy crap. Payton Tolle was flat-out brilliant Friday night at Fenway—seven innings, one hit, zero runs, seven strikeouts. Five perfect frames. The Yankees lineup managed just three hits for the entire game. THREE. Goldschmidt, Bellinger, Chisholm—a combined 0-for-11. The one guy who got to Tolle at all was Spencer Jones with a single in the sixth. That’s it. That’s the whole résumé for New York’s offense. Aside from two walks from a gassed Tolle in the 7th but still.

On the flip side, Will Warren couldn’t find a punchout if he walked into Cask ‘N Flagon or the Lansdowne at 1am 5 2/3 innings, seven hits, five runs, three walks, and zero—A BIG OL’ GOOSE EGG—strikeouts. The Red Sox just put the ball in play all night, refused to expand the zone, and let Warren beat himself. Frankly letting the Yankees beat themselves is a special kind of schadenfreude in Boston. By the time Ryan Yarbrough came in to clean it up, the game was already decided.

The only blemish on the night was Tommy Kahnle coughing up the lone Yankees run in the eighth on a Wells RBI. But after seven shutout innings from Tolle, that’s about as high-stakes as finding a scratch on your car bumper.

Oh, and Willson Contreras decided to make things interesting. Warren’s walk to him in the 5th came on a pitch that ran decently inside—almost hitting Willy’s elbow, and apparently Contreras took real exception to just how inside it was. He and Warren started jawing at each other, and the next thing you know both benches and both bullpens had emptied. No punches, nobody got tossed, the whole thing defused itself. But Contreras was unmistakably the main character of the situation and was not visibly interested in calming anyone down. Honestly, this isn’t even close to the first time he’s looked like he’d be perfectly fine if things escalated to a full field brawl. Bowser came to play baseball and apparently is open to other activities as well.

Studs

Payton Tolle (7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 7 K)

There’s a version of this piece where I write a whole section about the offense and mention Tolle at the end. That’s not the right version. Seven innings, one hit against a lineup that has legitimate lineup depth—that’s the kind of outing that earns a little reverence. Tolle commanded everything tonight. Seven strikeouts and it didn’t even feel like he was hunting them; he was just pitching and hitters were running out of options. Really nice start.

Willson Contreras (2-for-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB)

Contreras keeps doing this thing where an at-bat builds logically to a home run. Two hits, the long ball, two runs driven in, a walk. Good Contreras is genuinely one of the better offensive players on this roster and nights like this are a reminder of that ceiling.

Caleb Durbin (2-for-4, 1 2B, 2 R)

Still rolling. No RBI tonight, but he scored twice and the double was a loud one—the funniest knuckleball screaming line drive that Spencer Jones can’t track well. He’s in the middle of a real stretch at the plate and has become a guy you watch every at-bat wondering what he’s going to do. Is it the private hitting coach? The lack of Driveline finally in this team? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Connor Wong and Tsung-Che Cheng (2 RBI and 1 RBI, respectively)

I’m going to lump these two together because the bottom of this order deserves a lil moment. Wong had a hit and two RBI with a walk. Cheng had an RBI double and a walk. In a game where Tolle was going to make this comfortable regardless, the early cushion those two helped build was a real gift.

Duds

Ceddanne Rafaela (0-for-4)

Rafaela has been one of the better offensive stories on this team through 63 games—wRC+ of 123, OPS north of .770, the whole thing. He went 0-for-4 tonight and that’s fine, it’s a 162 game season. One game doesn’t undo a two-month arc. Moving on.

Mickey Gasper (0-for-4)

He brought a run home, which is credit, but four at-bats without a hit keeps him in this section. Gasper has been a bit of an enigma at the plate this year and tonight didn’t change the picture.

Play of the Game

Has to be Tolle’s full outing. From the first inning to the last pitch, he gave this team exactly what it needed—and then some. Absolute fire and a blast on the mound to watch.

Welcome back to another edition of a recap of a game the Guardians have played eighty-five million times this season. They have lost a 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, or 3-2 game for the 175th time this season. It is an MLB record.

Joey Cantillo was good, again, tonight. He’s begun spinning his breaking pitches much more effectively recently, something that has yielded great success for him. Even though the Mariners have been bad against LHP this season, Cantillo was still able to shut them down quickly and effectively. He went 6 innings, striking out 9, and giving up his only run of the night on a homer from Colt Emerson (an Ohio native, if anyone were surprised).

Khalil Watson cares! He drove in the only run of the night, tonight, on an RBI double off the left field wall.

Khalil Watson is responsible for driving in 6 of the Guardians last 9 runs if you were wondering how the offense has been.

Herrin pitched again. In the 7th inning. Yay. Walked Cal Raleigh (.575 OPS) and Dominic Canzone (23 PA vs LHP) to start the inning. Got old friend Josh Naylor to ground into a double play on the first pitch, but then Travis Bazzana was unable to come up with another groundball, leading to the go-ahead run scoring.

Espino gave up a run in the 8th on a Rodriguez RBI single.

Manzardo, Rocchio, and Watson went strikeout-strikeout-groundout to end the game.

In what was, yet again, an uninspiring performance from both the offense and bullpen, the Guardians dropped the series opener against a struggling Mariners team, 3-1.

It’ll be Cecconi vs. Gilbert/Hancock (piggybacking) tomorrow night.

Zach Thornton took the mound for the Mets on Friday night for just the second time in his career, and it was awfully impressive.

Going up against the high-powered Phillies and with Zack Wheeler on the mound, Thornton held his own, allowing just one run across six innings while striking out seven batters. Although the Mets fell 2-1, Thornton was impressive. 

"You have to be pleased with the pitching tonight. Zach Thornton was really good," Mets interim manager Andy Green said after the game. "Talking about a young kid who gets a barreled up three consecutive times. Gets a mound visit, settles in and gives us six great innings....Thought he was great."

As Green alluded to, Thornton's night started off precariously. He allowed three straight hits and the Phillies to drive in a run, but retired the next three hitters (two on strikeouts) to escape further trouble. 

Green said that Thornton mixed his pitches effectively, speeding up hitters with his fastball, allowing his offspeed pitches to be more effective. He also liked the young left-hander's aggressive approach.

"He really attacked, went after aggressively, that’s what you’re looking for in a young guy," Green said. "We knew that was inside of him and who he is that he showed at every level. It’s good at this stage for everyone to see that from him."

"Got the nerves out in that first game, now I just go out there and compete," Thornton said of the difference between his first start and second. 

A big part of Thornton's night was the defense behind him. First baseman Jared Young grabbed a screamer hit down the line for the second out of the first to help the youngster get out of the inning. Young would catch a few other snares hit at him throughout the night and Francisco Lindor made a couple as well, all in support of Thornton, which helped settle him down.

"Let's me pitch freely in the zone knowing I got Francisco Lindor there at shortstop," Thornton said.

Thornton became just the fifth left-hander in franchise history to record at least seven strikeouts in one of their first two major league appearances (David Peterson, 2020). Friday was also just the third time this season a Mets pitcher threw six-plus innings, struck out, seven or more batters and allowed one or zero runs. 

So, did that start earn Thornton another go through the rotation? Green was non-committal, stating the organization had to figure out the pitching order since Christian Scott is to be activated for Saturday's start. A pitcher will need to be optioned to activate him, and Thornton could be the unlucky pitcher. 

Whichever direction the Mets choose to go with Thornton, Friday's start has instilled in the 24-year-old that he can pitch at this level. 

"Gives me the confidence that I can compete with the best out there and get anyone out," Thornton said of his performance. "I want to pitch in the big leagues for a long time and I think I can do that."

Somewhere in another baseball universe, the Arizona Diamondbacks challenge a called ball, and it gets overturned as strike three. Junior Caminero walks back to the dugout, shaking his head, and Friday night’s game unfolds a little differently.

That is not the universe the Tampa Bay Rays played in on Friday night.

Instead of Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno challenging the pitch with two runners aboard in the first inning, Caminero got one more pitch, and he launched it over the centerfield wall for a three-run homer that immediately flipped the game in Tampa Bay’s favor.

No challenge. No strikeout. Three runs.

That is not the whole story of the Rays’ 6-1 win, but it is awfully hard to tell the story without starting there.

The Diamondbacks looked like they might be the ones setting the tone early. Nick Martinez got Ketel Marte to fly out in foul territory to start the game, with Jonny DeLuca making a running catch near the seats. A nice play, but also a bit of foreshadowing for the defense to come in the game.

Then Geraldo Perdomo homered to right center to put Arizona up 1-0. Corbin Carroll followed with a triple to center after the ball deflected away from DeLuca, and suddenly Martinez was trying to keep the first inning from getting away from him.

He did. Moreno popped out. Nolan Arenado popped out. Arizona had landed the first punch, but the Rays kept it to one run.

That mattered almost immediately.

Yandy Díaz opened the bottom of the first with a walk, because Yandy getting on base to start chaos is basically tradition at this point. Jonathan Aranda was hit by a pitch, bringing up Caminero with two on and nobody out.

His 20th homer of the season did not just flip the score. It flipped the whole feel of the night. The Rays went from trailing 1-0 to leading 3-1 in one swing.

From there, the game became less about constant offense and more about the Rays refusing to give the Diamondbacks a clean inning to get back into it. The Rays did not strikeout once, the first time they went a full game without a strikeout since June 15, 2013, against the Kansas City Royals.

They did not crush everything. They did not turn every ball in play into a rally. But they forced Arizona to defend every at-bat, and eventually that pressure helped extend the lead.

The bigger separator, though, was Tampa Bay’s defense. Arizona finished with eight hits, so this was not Martinez and the bullpen simply mowing everybody down. The Diamondbacks had opportunities, but the Rays had gloves that did not come from a two-day online sale.

In the fourth inning, Carroll singled, Moreno followed with another hit, and Arizona had runners on the corners with nobody out. This was a spot where a two-run lead can start feeling very flimsy, very quickly.

Instead, the Rays handled it. Arenado popped out in foul territory. Max Kepler then lined a ball toward third, and Caminero went up for a leaping grab that took away a RBI-swing and helped Martinez breathe. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed with a force out, and the threat was gone.

DeLuca added another strong defensive play in right in the fifth, running down a ball near the angled wall in the right field corner.

Tampa Bay missed a chance to add on in the sixth when Díaz doubled, and Caminero was intentionally walked. Arizona wanted no part of another big swing from Junior, which was understandable. Richie Palacios popped up, DeLuca flew out, and the Rays left two aboard.

A 3-1 lead was fine. It was also not enough to relax.

Mullins helped with that in the seventh. Leading off the inning, he drove a solo homer to right center, pushing the lead to 4-1 and giving the Rays the breathing room they had been chasing. Mullins had been quiet at the plate earlier, but all it takes is one swing for the rest to be forgotten.

Then the Rays kept going. Hunter Feduccia doubled with two outs, Díaz singled him home, and Aranda doubled in Díaz. A tight 3-1 game had become a 6-1 game, and suddenly the Diamondbacks were running out of innings.

Mullins added the defensive punctuation in the eighth. Perdomo reached to start the inning, and Carroll lined a ball to center that looked like it might start something. Mullins charged in, dove, and made the catch. One batter later, Moreno grounded into a double play started by Caminero and turned through Palacios to Aranda.

Caminero had the swing everyone will remember, the leaping grab that helped save the fourth, and a hand in the double play that helped erase Arizona’s last real push. If I weren’t out of tin foil, I’d make a hat and say that it feels scripted on the night the Rays celebrated Dominican Heritage Night.

Craig Kimbrel was doing 2026 Craig Kimbrel things and made the ninth a little wobbly with a walk and a wild pitch, because even a five-run lead needs a small stress test. But he got Gurriel on a foul tip strikeout and ended it when Pavin Smith lined out to Palacios.

An impressive win with big hits, no strikeouts, and incredible defense. The Rays will look to clinch the series when these two teams meet again tomorrow night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm.

The San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers currently sit as the best rivalry in baseball right now.

But when it comes down to a weekend matchup against one another at the end of June, young outfielder Samad Taylor views the rivalry as “Just another day of baseball.”

Of course, Taylor had a smile on his face after he called Friday night’s game another day of baseball, but he does understand what the rivalry means.

“When I signed over here at first, you know, over the previous years of watching baseball, you see all the bench clearings and guys getting hit, and you see all that good stuff, and you know what you’re getting yourself into,” Taylor told 97.3 The Fan.

“I know the rivalry that it is, and like I said, it’s just another day of baseball. We’re gonna keep working, and hopefully we get a sweep, or hopefully we get a series win.”

Taylor is prepared to get his first taste of the rivalry as he will make his debut as a member of the Padres, after signing with the club during the offseason on a minor league deal.

Taylor just missed the Padres’ first series against the Dodgers when they came to town at the end of May while he was playing with San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate, the El Paso Chiuhauhaus.

After a strong start to the minor league season, he was called up to the Padres’ MLB roster and has served as a platoon corner outfielder, spending time between right and left field.

Through 17 games this season, Taylor has been on a tear across the MLB, slashing .379/.446/.448 with 22 hits, 11 RBIs, 7 walks, and 6 stolen bases.

As he prepares to take on the reigning back-to-back World Series Champions, Taylor doesn’t seem too worried about facing the Dodgers.

“I know the stadium is going to be rocking, per usual. I wouldn’t necessarily say just because of the team across, the stadium is going to be more packed. You look at the past couple of series we’ve had at home, it’s 40,000 fans. Are there probably going to be more? Who knows?” Taylor said. “It’s just going to be another game, another day, take it how we got it.”

Despite the Mariners winning this afternoon’s game against the Guardians, the big story was a standout performance from Cleveland’s starter, Joey Cantillo, and his newfound love of the curveball. The curveball’s fallen out of fashion in MLB lately. Just 8.2% of the pitches this season have been big benders, the second-lowest since 2008, despite the general rise of the secondary pitch and fade of the fastball. But there are exceptions to every trend, and Cantillo has decided to zig where the league has zagged, and all that movement left the Mariners flummoxed.

Here’s a little chart of Cantillo’s curveball usage leading up to today’s game:

Notice that big spike? That was Saturday’s game against the Astros, when he went eight innings, striking out nine against just one walk and one run allowed, on the back of a 45% curveball rate. Now here’s today’s game on that chart:

So on the one hand, you can forgive the Mariners for getting caught off guard. Prior to Saturday, Cantillo’s career high on the curveball was 33%, and he’d only pitched four games in which he used Uncle Charlie more than 30% of the time. The fact that the Mariners whiffed on the pitch more than half the time owes a lot to how dramatically Cantillo changed his game. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I saw a starting pitcher use his curve literally 50% of the time.

More troubling, though, was the Mariners’ inability to adjust. Even the second and third time through, they were still getting hammered by the 59-inch break. Take Dominic Canzone’s second at-bat. Cantillo threw five curveballs in a row, with Canzone whiffing twice and barely getting a piece of a third before finally giving Cantillo a sword on a fastball that Canzone obviously thought would be a curve. Seattle struck out on the curveball five times, with another four punchouts set up by it one way or another. The team only managed one hard hit off Cantillo’s curve, a 103-mph groundball off the bat of Julio Rodríguez, which ended the sixth and ended up being the final pitch Cantillo threw.

The Mariners did get to Cantillo once, a homecoming home run for Colt Emerson. In Colt’s first game in the ballpark he grew up coming to, he smashed a ball out of the park in front of all his friends and family. How did he do it? By laying off two curveballs and getting a changeup.

Colt doesn’t show as much emotion on the field as Cole Young, and the game state made the home run less consequential. But don’t let any of that fool you. This was just as special for him as Cole’s was in Pittsburgh.

And despite getting pretty well manhandled by Cantillo, the Mariners were in a fine position when he left the game because Luis Castillo put up six excellent innings of his own. In one way, it was vintage Castillo, mixing in all his pitches, and even getting four whiffs and several weak ground balls off his formerly premier cambio. In another way, it was hardly the Castillo of old, with just ten whiffs and four strikeouts. Still, I’m happy to celebrate a Castillo that rolls through a lineup on soft contact. No muss and no fuss isn’t as sexy as taking another team’s lunch money, but we could use a little less muss and fuss after Seattle’s last couple weeks. It’s good enough for today’s Sun Hat Award anyway.

The Mariners were able to win the game in the final three innings thanks to taking advantage of Cleveland’s mistakes. As soon as Cantillo left the game, Tim Herrin walked the first two Mariners he saw, Cal Raleigh and Dominic Canzone. And after some bad BABIP luck over the past month or so, the Mariners got a little good luck with Travis Bazzana bobbling J.P. Crawford’s groundball, allowing Cal to score. In the next inning, the Guardians once again let a free baserunner score when Colt Emerson walked and was driven in by Julio.

Those three runs were enough today, despite it being the 12th game in a row that the Mariners have scored three runs or fewer, because unlike Cleveland, Seattle’s bullpen locked down their starter’s good outing. Jose A. Ferrer, Gabe Speier, and Andrés Muñoz retired all nine batters they faced. Connor Donovan points out that over his last two outings, Muñoz has faced six left-handed batters out of six possible batters faced and struck out five of them. And remember that chart of Cantillo’s curveball usage? Let’s look at another one to close this out. It shows Gabe Speier’s fastball velocity over each month of his career.

That spike at the very end is only going to move higher because he averaged 97 mph again today. I’ll have more to say about that next week.

The Los Angeles Angels have announced they are relieving general manager Perry Minasian of his duties and have appointed John Mozeliak as the club’s interim general manager.

Minasian’s departure was announced by a press release from Angels team president, Molly Jolly.

“Perry has been a valued leader who worked tirelessly over the last six years to strengthen our baseball operations department,” said Jolly via a press release by the Angels. “I am grateful for his dedication, insight and many contributions to our organization.”

Minasian, 46, was hired as the club’s general manager in November, 2020. During that time, he was tasked with fixing the Angels.

He inherited Joe Maddon as his manager, Shohei Ohtani, a prime Mike Trout, and one of the worst farm systems in baseball.

Minasian’s tenure as general manager of the Angels oversaw multiple losing seasons and five different managers leading the clubhouse.

The Angels have failed to reach the postseason, a drought that dates back to 2014, and have failed to finish a season above .500, another drought that dates back to 2015.

In 2021, the club finished 77-85; since then, they’ve been steadily declining. In 2023, the team was having its best season under Minasian’s guidance, sitting at 52-49 when the trade deadline came around. The team would go on and win 21 of their next 61 games and would finish the season fourth in the American League West with a 73-89 record.

In 2023, the Angels had the opportunity to trade Ohtani, as multiple teams expressed interest in trading for him, but Angels owner Arte Moreno insisted the club kept him as they were hopeful they could sign him in free agency.

As Minasian was tasked with fixing the Angels’ farm system and turning the team competitive on the fly, he notoriously drafted players who were close to being MLB-ready during the draft, notably Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel [Who made his MLB Debut the same year he was drafted], Sam Bachman, and Christian Moore.

In his first year as general manager, he also had the infamous 2021 MLB draft, where he selected 20 pitchers as the Angels were in dire need of starting pitching. Only Bachman remains with the club from this class.

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Mozeliak will join the Angels following a 30-year tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals.

During his time in St. Louis, he spent the last 18 years leading the team’s baseball operations. During his guidance, he helped the team reach the postseason 10 times, winning 6 National League Central division titles, winning the National League Pennant twice, and helping the team win the World Series in 2011.

“John is one of the most accomplished and respected baseball executives with a proven track record of building a winning organization,” Said Jolly in a press release.

“For three decades, he constructed one of baseball’s most respected organizations, combining strong leadership with a commitment to player development and organizational excellence. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Angels and look forward to benefiting from his experience and perspective as we continue to shape the future of our organization.”

Juan Soto said he was surprised to learn about the Mets' firing of manager Carlos Mendoza on Friday morning.

"It sucks,” Soto said when asked about his emotions when he heard the news. “It’s tough to see for a guy like that. I was really close with him; I talked to him a lot.

“Then to see him go, it’s really tough.”

Soto, who signed with the Mets on a 15-year deal after Mendoza’s first season as skipper, said he was informed of the decision by a call from the team’s front office. Soto said he spoke with Mendoza to express his appreciation for what the former manager did for him in welcoming him to the clubhouse “in the best way.”

Despite the team’s poor start to the season, they fell to 34-48 with a 2-1 defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies in the first game with interim manager Andy Greenon the bench, Soto said he did not expect the club to make a move at manager.

“Not at all, not at all,” Soto said after Friday’s loss.

“It’s moves every day here. You see bullpen guys going up and down, trades, starters getting moved to the bullpen. You're always expecting those moves,” he continued. “But seeing Mendoza, it's just tough."

Soto said he didn’t think the team’s struggles were a result of players pressing in the hopes of rescuing the floundering season and saving the manager’s job.  

“It’s tough, it’s part of baseball,” Soto said of the team’s struggles despite the talent on the roster. “We just haven’t been coming through in big situations. That’s the way the game goes, you gotta come through in the right moment.”

In Friday’s game, Soto came close to a two-run home run in the bottom of the first, but Phillies center fielder Derek Hill made a tremendous leaping grab to bring the ball back from over the fence. 

“I think it was an unbelievable catch,” Soto said. “When you see the replays, you see how impressive it was. He didn’t even have any time; he just went straight to the wall and jumped. That was incredible.”

Soto finished 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

Andy Green wasn’t expecting a return to the dugout. 

But following the firing of Carlos Mendoza, the Mets’ senior vice president of baseball development felt a “responsibility” to step in on an interim basis — and help ease the “burden” on players to perform amid this nightmarish season. 

“Guys play their best when they play with joy,” said Green, who had been serving as the team’s senior vice president of baseball development. “Guys play their best when they realize this isn’t about strategy, it’s about freedom.” 

Green, who managed the Padres from 2016-19, was completely happy in his front office role in the minors, which president of baseball operations David Stearns said he will return to at the end of this season. The former utility infielder and short-lived Mets player (he suited up for the team four times in 2009) “loved” running the team’s farm system, said he rejected other chances to manage and enjoyed being able to spend more time with his three daughters. 

This, Green said in a captivating press conference, “wasn’t something I was running to.”

“This felt like a responsibility more than an opportunity. Once it was made known to me that there was nothing that was going to change [in terms of his development role], once I learned that, I genuinely believe that given my life experience, I was best positioned to help over the next three months and see what we can get done as a group.” 

There’s no guarantees that Green, who amassed a 274-366 record in San Diego, will inspire a turnaround for this Mets team, who entered Friday’s matchup against the Phillies riding a six-game losing streak and two days removed from a six-error disaster against Chicago. 

Green, who knows Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Nolan McLean from their time in the minors, believes this team can defend better overall. He also seems a good bet to provide a jolt to the Mets’ clubhouse, as he admitted that “there’s been plenty enough people that have not loved my leadership style.” 

“I will show up every day with the humility to know that I only impact so much, and I will show up every day willing to challenge people, and I think that’s how you end up earning respect of people,” he said. “If they choose to see me in a different light, I am not going to be bothered by that.” 

The interim boss, who played three seasons for the Diamondbacks, didn’t reach the playoffs during four seasons in San Diego but evidently took plenty of lessons from his time out West and said he previously picked the brains of managers who had gotten second chances in the role. 

“I’ve had them share stories with me, and I’ve had them share learnings with me, and that doesn’t mean I am on a pathway to be like them,” Green said. “It means there’s freedom to go through struggle, failure, shortcoming, and realize you didn’t die, because once you realize something’s not fatal, you have the capacity to go through it without the stress that transfers to everybody else in the building.” 

For now, Green will hope to change the fortunes of a team in the basement of the NL East and nowhere near a wild-card spot. 

“We can flip that script,” Green said, “and they’re the ones with the pen in their hands to get that all through the story.”

Albert Pujols has confirmed that he is interested in managing the New York Mets.

Pujols was seen reacting to the vacancy of the managerial job with the Mets on MLB Network Friday afternoon and casually said why he would be interested in the job.

“You have an owner that want’s to win, wants to spend, that’s always huge,” Pujols said on MLB Network. “You have the talent on the field, although this year, it hasn’t been great for them because of the injuries. When they built this ballclub through the offseason and through spring training, they would never have thought they were going to have so many injuries like this.”

The vacancy of the Mets manager position became official on Friday morning when they fired Carlos Mendoza, and announced Andy Green will serve as the interim manager for the rest of the season.

Mendoza’s departure comes as the Mets are 13 games below .500 with a 34-47 record and are 15 games out of first in the National League East.

On paper, the Mets have one of the best rosters in baseball, as they have a lineup that features Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, and Bo Bichette. But injuries have plagued the team this year, as Soto, Luis Robert Jr., and Marcus Semien are currently on the team’s injured list.

With all the injury struggles the team is having, the early indications are that the team will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

With the decision to move on from Mendoza and sitting dead last in the division, New York will likely get a head start on the offseason and be sellers at this year’s MLB Trade Deadline.

Having an opportunity to get a head start, it brings up the question: Is Pujols the right fit to lead the Mets?

The Dominican Republic finished in third place, after losing 2-1 to the USA in the semifinals of the WBC. Which brings the question: Is Pujols the right fit to lead the Mets?

“No matter where it is, I’m gonna bring in my experience, learning from great managers in the past, and try to do the best that I can to try and build a great relationship with the players,” Pujols said. “Because at the end of the day, I believe that communication is huge, with your players, with your superstars.”

When Pujols managed the Dominican Republic during the WBC, he was impressive.

The Dominican Republic had Soto on the team, and they finished in third place, losing 2-1 to the USA in the semifinals.

“I remember when I took the WBC job, people were asking, ‘How are you going to handle so many superstars?’ By talking to them. Expecting them to do their best.” Pujols said. “I don’t have too many rules, just show up, play hard, respect me and my coaching staff, and that’s what they did.”