Category: MLB

“The best hitter in the world,” as his manager called him, returned to the Yankees’ lineup Tuesday night for the first time since late May. What a compliment it is to Aaron Judge that Aaron Boone was neither pandering nor exaggerating with that description.

When Judge is healthy, he is the best hitter in the world. Since the start of the 2021 season, no one in baseball has a higher wRC+ or OPS. In both categories, no one is even within 25 points.  Judge has missed significant parts of multiple seasons in that span -- including more than half of this one -- and still leads the majors in home runs in the last five-plus seasons, a period that included peak Shohei Ohtani and a usually healthy Kyle Schwarber. 

So his return from a stress fracture in his ribs should make a major difference to the Yankees, who would probably have been content to be where they are in the standings even if they had not been without him for 84 games in the middle of the summer. 

All of the cliches about Yankees’ championship standards aside, many excellent teams have found themselves three games back in the American League East in early September. The Yankees were 12 games over .500 before Judge’s injury. Despite two and a half months of sometimes stunning offensive inefficiency, they were seven games over .500 without him. 

“We hung in there,” Boone said, though it should be noted that only two other American League teams have “hung in there” enough to be seven games over .500 all season.

“Not only is it [Judge] and what he brings offensively, but there is an effect around him -- netting better opportunities, better at-bats for everybody, especially over the course of time. I feel like the guys have done a good job of winning games, especially on days and weeks where it’s been a struggle.” 

Indeed, after leading the American League in OPS before Judge’s injury, the Yankees were 27th in baseball during the three months after. They scored five runs on average with him in the lineup and around four without him. Tuesday, even largely without his help, they beat the Rockies 5-3. 

“It’s hard to quantify, but you take the best hitter in the world out of your lineup, that’s pretty significant,” Boone said. 

Judge was only in the lineup for three at-bats and six innings Tuesday because the Yankees are going to build him up to a full nine innings over the next few days -- but even his limited return rightfully qualified as spectacle. 

Cameras huddled around the entrance to the dugout waiting for him during batting practice. Not many fans were in the ballpark by the time he did, but the ones who were mustered a small cheer. Boone leaned on a bat nearby, visibly holding back a smile as Judge marched by the cameras without one. Judge plays the part of superhero here. If he is somehow mortal behind the scenes, Boone and the Yankees respect him too much to spoil the legend. 

“[The buzz] is there,” Boone said. “I think it’s real. His presence is very real, and obviously we know what he means to those guys, not only as a player but as a person in that room.”

Boone was one of the Yankees staffers who spent Monday at Yankee Stadium watching what they hoped would be Judge’s final workout before returning. Judge had pushed to return sooner, after Trent Grisham injured his hamstring Friday night in San Diego. 

“He actually appeared at my door after Grish got hurt,” Boone said. “Had to push that away. Didn’t want to do that because there were some final boxes we definitely wanted him to check.”  

One of those boxes was labeled “facing live pitching,” so, an eager Judge told them “great, I’ll do that on the day off so I can play.”

So Monday, he simulated a few innings in the outfield. Boone talked to Judge to see if he was ready. He talked to the Yankees’ strength and conditioning team to see if they thought the superstar was ready. Boone said he even talked to owner Hal Steinbrenner to get his thoughts on Judge’s return. 

Monday evening, they made the move. 

“I wanted to come back a couple months ago,” Judge said Tuesday night. “But I’m not a trainer, so I gotta check whatever boxes they got.” 

Judge looked like a man who only saw live pitching once in the last three months at times during his three at-bats Tuesday. At other moments – like when he hit a soaring fly ball to deep right center in his second – he looked a tick or two away. 

He finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and only departed in the sixth after a long conversation with his manager at the top step of the dugout. 

 “I respect Boonie, so whatever he says I’m gonna do,” Judge said. “But I’m not happy about it.”

Though Boone and others say they still don’t know for sure, they think Judge suffered the injury diving for a ball in April. So he won’t be diving for balls in the outfield, at least to the extent he can override his instincts. 

But Boone also said he does not plan to spell Judge with designated hitting duties as he builds back up to everyday duty: The Yankees, trailing the Rays in their division and trying to play their way out of a trip to Boston for a treacherous Wild Card series, have a better lineup when they can use others as the designated hitter. 

And they will be using their best lineup, even if that lineup cannot have Judge for a full nine innings for a few days while they build up his in-game stamina. 

“I think what it is is we’re very left-handed and have been much of the year. So how many days of the week are we getting a lefty in the fifth inning, in the seventh inning, in the ninth inning, and they’re matching up against us, and they don’t have to roll through Aaron Judge?” Boone said. “There’s a protection element there.” 

The lineup did not exactly explode in its win over the Rockies, but Boone’s point materialized anyway: When Judge’s spot came up with two on and no one out in the, Heliot Ramos faced Rockies’ lefty Brennan Bernardino. He hit a three-run homer, exactly the kind of blow they sorely needed from a righty in the middle of the order during Judge’s absence.

“Hitting is a weird game, a fickle game. Sometimes you get it that first week and it clicks with you and you’re rolling. Sometimes it takes some time,” Boone said. “So I think it’s good that we’re getting [Judge] back now when we are -- we can build him up properly but hopefully get him clicking as soon as possible.” 

All summer, night after night, the Yankees offense looked like it might be broken. Night after night, Yankees hitters hung their heads. Day after day, Boone tried to explain why his lineup was not scoring. Perhaps, without pandering or exaggerating, it was simply meant to include the best hitter in the world.  

You know, it’s a good thing that Idris Elba’s character, Marshal Stacker Pentecost, yelled in his iconic Pacific Rim speech, “Tonight, we are cancelling the apocalypse!” Postponing the apocalypse is not as definitive nor as interesting, not just because it would imply that the mediocre sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising was on eventually on its way, but because in that scenario the apocalypse would still happen and the characters might as well have gone on a trip to a beach instead of fighting kaiju in giant mechs whilst neurally linked to each other.

Anyway, John Rave did not cancel the apocalypse; he merely postponed it, and the Kansas City Royals lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3.

This was another one of those snoozefests until the late innings, the type that the Royals seem happy to play recently. Kansas City had a chance in the second inning, with a Michael Massey double, an Isaac Collins walk, and a Patrick Corbin wild pitch to put runners on second and third base. But Kyle Isbel bailed Corbin out with a fly ball.

The Royals also threatened in the fifth inning, and to be fair to them they did quite well—but the Diamondbacks did better. Matthew Lugo walked and Carter Jensen also walked, and then Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino followed those up with line drives. Normally you’d take that, but great defensive plays by second baseman Ketel Marte and Tommy Troy, respectively, defused the situation.

On the pitching side of the ball, Royals starter Michael Wacha did pretty well, though he did walk four in his six innings of work. Aw, who are we kidding—zero runs? Six innings? I’ve seen the Royals bullpen before, and it’s always a bit of a shock to see a Royals pitcher be able to put zeroes on the board at all.

Speaking of the bullpen, Connor Thomas and Alex Lange allowed a run each in the eighth and ninth innings, the first a sacrifice fly and the second a solo Tim Tawa home run. That put the Diamondbacks up 2-0 in the ninth inning, and it sure looked like the Royals would lose.

I mean, they still did, but John Rave did postpone the apocalypse. After Nick Loftin hit a sweet opposite-field double reminiscent of prime Billy Butler, Rave stepped up to the plate with the Royals down to their last out. He crushed a hanging changeup to right field to tie the game.

That was, by far, the best part of the game, and you could sort of tell what would happen afterwards. The Royals bullpen is not a unit that generally pitches well, which makes it particularly vulnerable to a war of attrition. Sure enough, in the 10th inning Steven Cruz walked Nolan Arenado and gave up a single to Tawa, who drove in Gabriel Moreno. And in the 11th inning, Anthony Gose gave up a triple…ish…to Lourdes Gurriel Jr., which was aided by some questionable defense by Rave. This scored Ildemaro Vargas, who had advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. Ketel Marte then hit a sacrifice fly, and while the Royals had previously tied the game up again in the 10th inning, they could not do so for a third straight inning. Final score: 5-3, Diamondbacks.

Watching this bullpen is a baseball crime. They are so bad, in every way possible. Tonight, the most egregious bullpen statistic was one: that’s how many strikeouts the whole unit got in five innings of work. You can’t do that. You especially can’t do that in extra innings when any contact moves people over.

Whatever. Go to bed, you weirdos. We’ll see you for more Royals baseball tomorrow, if you can take watching this bullpen again.

Tomorrow marks the end of a stretch in which the Red Sox play 54 games in 56 days (dating back to July 17th), and I’m kind of thrilled about that because I’m extremely over these half baked games.

Tonight in particular was just a bad combination of events. Reid Detmers, who has been outstanding since that same July 17th date (1.52 ERA), was outstanding again and held the Red Sox to just one hit and zero runs over his six stellar innings of work. Meanwhile, the Red Sox had Patrick Sandoval on the mound, and he was (how do I put this nicely?) … less than stellar. (He gave up four runs in his six innings of work.)

As bad as that sounds, it could have been much, much worse as Sandoval allowed ten hits and the Red Sox defense turned four double plays. With just a couple of minor tweaks, this easily could have been a 10-1 type game. In fact, the mismatch on the mound was so severe, it’s a candidate for the most lopsided quality of starter game of the year for the 2026 Red Sox in which they were at the disadvantage. Even early in the season when Boston got off to that dreadful 32-46 start, it was generally a lackluster offense letting down some quality start from the pitchers.

(You might have to go to something like that game in Minnesota where Garrett Crochet got so stunningly smashed people thought he was pitch tipping to find the last time the Sox were this outclassed at that position in an individual game.)

Either way, that’s the real high level analysis from tonight: Detmers good, Sandoval bad. For a game that’s so complex and so beautiful, sometimes it really is just that simple and lame.

The Red Sox technically could cut Sandoval out of the rotation, but since they don’t need to win these games, they’re using him as a sixth man / depth piece to give other guys rest. I mean, I get it. It’s the prudent thing to do, and I wrote 2,000 words on it last week, but it’s just really, really underwhelming to watch in practice when games should be ramping up for the stretch run. I’m sure the owners are making a ton of money with their expanded playoffs though, so good for them.

Anyway, despite the game being extremely one sided, there actually was a very narrow window in the bottom of the seventh when Detmers departed and the first three Red Sox hitters reached. For about five minutes you thought “maybe this will get interesting.” It didn’t, thanks to a combination of the bottom of the lineup and Chad Tracy doing nothing, but people who bought tickets to the game at least had something to cheer about between a couple sips of beer.

Should Tracy have pinch hit Gasper for Monasterio? Rutschman for Wong? Or even bunted with Monasterio when there was nobody out? Probably, but he seemed to be waiting for another opportunity that never came. I’m not going to tell you Tracy cost the Sox the game tonight, but I do think there’s a lesson to be learned from that frustrating and forgettable sequence of events.

Studs

Nick Sogard: Two hits, which is half the knocks the Sox lineup mustered all night. He also had the only RBI in that briefly promising seventh frame.

Wilyer Abreu: Like Sogard, he got on base twice, but he did it with a hit and a walk. The hit was soft, but he also had a very loud out, so I guess things even out sometimes.

Greg Weissert: The only Sox pitcher to grace the mound and not allow a run.

Duds

Roman Anthony : 0-4 tonight with two more strikeouts, and all of a sudden he’s 1-21 in his last five games after going 10-22 with a 1.409 OPS and five extra base hits in his first five games back. Baseball is hard!

The bottom third of the lineup: Andruw Monasterio, Eli White and Connor Wong combined to go 0-11. They also combined to destroy the team’s best and only chance to make some real noise in that seventh inning. If you want, you can throw Chad Tracy in this bucket too for not doing anything during this opportunity.

Patrick Sandoval: He signed a two-year, $18.25 million deal with the Red Sox in December of 2024, and he’s still only given the club one quality start. Of the 11 starts he has made since returning from injury though, this may have been the worst. A bunch of double plays are the only thing that kind of kept the lid on things and prevented a complete and humiliating shellacking.

Looking Ahead

You want some good news? Jake Bennett goes tomorrow, then there’s an off day, then the top of the rotation is lined up for the weekend series against the Royals, then there’s another off day behind that on Monday the 14th, and both Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela are eligible to come off the IL by the point. In other words, we’re probably about to see a lot more of the “A Team” in the next handful of days.

For the fifth straight outing, Mets starter Sean Manaea struggled in the sixth inning, allowing five straight hits without recording an out in the frame on Tuesday night against the Miami Marlins.

While it’s been an on-going problem for the left-hander this season, his latest violation was rather surprising considering he had been perfect for the first five innings, retiring the first 15 batters in a row.

Not only that, but Manaea was also setting the Marlins down quickly and efficiently, having only thrown 52 pitches before going back out for the sixth. Nevertheless, in the blink of an eye, Miami figured out Manaea and had five straight hits in a matter of nine pitches.

“That one’s hard to even wrap your head around,” said interim manager Andy Green. “You’re perfect through five innings and barely over 50 pitches and I don’t know how many pitches he threw in the sixth, but it was seven, eight, nine pitches and five hits after being efficient… It happened fast and that’s, I’m sure, tough for him to have such a good outing going and it kinda being soiled from nine pitches.”

Manaea still got the win after the Mets’ bullpen shut the door en route to a 7-5 victory where the offense came out of the gates hot against Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara, but his continued struggles in the sixth are a major concern -- not just because it keeps happening, but because Manaea seems to have no idea how to make it stop. 

“I don’t know. They put some good swings on the ball, I fell behind a couple guys. They just adjusted,” he said on what went wrong this time.

What’s worse, it’s even begun to creep into the veteran’s mind when he’s on the mound.

“Yeah I mean it’s been the last five, six games, it’s kinda hard not to think about,” Manaea said. “I mean at this point it’s just mental. I don’t really know what’s going on, I feel like I’m making some good pitches but one day I’ll figure it out.”

New York is hoping the 34-year-old can figure it out quickly and look more like he did through the first five innings where he "got ahead" and "threw strikes."

Still, it’s odd that things can go from so good to so bad in a matter of minutes for him.

In fact, Manaea went as far as to call the sixth inning his “kryptonite” -- not exactly what the Mets want to hear from one of their starting pitchers who they’re hoping can be an asset for them next season.

“It sucks. The sixth inning has been a kryptonite to me. I don’t really know what’s going on, but it is what it is,” the left-hander said.

Cam Schlittler is inching closer and closer to the AL Cy Young. 

The righty took the ball and delivered seven more terrific innings for the Yankees Tuesday, cruising through the Rockies lineup for a series-opening win. 

“They have a great lineup over there,” Schlittler said. “Just being able to establish the fastball, get to my spots, and the defense was great behind me.” 

Leaning heavily on the 100+ mph fastball, Schlittler struck out four of the first six Colorado batters he faced across two perfect innings. 

He allowed a solo homer leading off the third but quickly settled back in, setting down the next 11 batters in order before allowing a two-out hit in the sixth. 

The big ace quickly erased that with another punchout via the fastball, though, then finished his night working around a leadoff knock in the top of the seventh. 

Schlittler allowed just the one run on three hits while walking none and striking out 10. 

That marked the sixth straight start in which he’s given up one run or fewer, and the eighth over his last nine outings, bringing his MLB-lead to 20 of such for the season. 

He also joins Ron Guidry as the only two pitchers in franchise history with an ERA below 2.50 and 200+ K’s through their first 30 starts on the year.

“He’s gross,” Yankee OF Heliot Ramos said. “I’ve faced him before and he’s one of the nastiest pitchers I’ve ever faced -- the fact that he’s only throwing fastballs is crazy to me.”

“He’s been the best pitcher in the league all year,” manager Aaron Boone emphasized. “When you have that going at the top of your rotation, that’s massive, and that’s exactly what he’s been.”

Schlittler’s next outing is scheduled for Sunday’s Subway Series finale in the Bronx. 

Considering how poorly they played for most of Tuesday’s game, the Phillies probably should have been blown out. Instead, they decided to tease the fans by getting just close enough before their multitude of mistakes finally did them in. The end result was a supremely frustrating 6-5 loss to the Astros.

Andrew Painter got the start and showed that development for young pitchers is often non-linear. Coming off a great start against the Diamondbacks, Painter ran into trouble early on Tuesday. The top half of the second inning began with a double, a single, and then a blast by Christian Walker.

After finally recording an out in the frame, Painter walked a batter who came home on a double by Jeremy Pena.

The Astros made it 5-0 in the fourth when Cam Smith took Painter deep.

With the offense doing little against Astros starter Hayden Wesneski in the early going, it looked like the Phillies were going to sleepwalk through a one-sided loss. But the bats finally woke up, which in a way made what happened the rest of the game even more annoying.

In the sixth, Justin Crawford hit a double and then scored on a single by Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber then scored when Trea Turner hit his first home run in a month’s time.

Any momentum gained by the home run was squashed the following inning when Brooks Raley gave up a home run of his own to Daulton Varsho to make it a 6-3 game.

Then came the eighth inning when the Phillies’ baserunning became the story of the game. Alec Bohm led off with a double and Bryson Stott was hit by a pitch. Brandon Marsh – mired in an awful slump – finally got a hold of one, hitting it off of Monty’s Angle in centerfield. Unfortunately, Bohm chose to tag up, forcing Stott to slow up rounding second, and had to halt at third.

That proved especially costly when J.T. Realmuto hit a liner to shortstop, and for some reason Marsh was running on contact and was doubled off second base.

Bryan Abreu was brought in to pitch the eighth for the Astros. After Turner doubled (two extra base hits…i the same game?), Bryce Harper showed that his hot streak from August is officially over.

After Harper was retired, Abreu hit Arraez with a pitch, but Bohm was unable to take advantage. He was late on two fastballs in the zone and then took one on the black for strike three. (Using the team’s final ABS challenge as a cherry on the sundae of failure.)

The Phillies couldn’t let us go without one final tease in the ninth. Stott led off with a single and scored when Edmundo Sosa hit a ball to the fence. However, between watching the ball out of the box and tripping on the basepaths, Sosa could only get as far as second base. Naturally, one out later, Derek Hill hit a fly ball to right that probably would have been deep enough for Sosa to score from third. He did eventually steal third, but it was all for naught when Schwarber popped up to end the game.

They’ll be back in action on Wednesday. The hope is that the Phillies will get a better performance from their starting pitcher, start to hit sooner than the middle innings, not mess up on the basepaths, and just avoid playing stupid baseball in general. Is that too much to ask?

Iowa right-hander Connor Noland was activated off the Development List.

Iowa right-hander Tyler Santana goes on the Development List.

Knoxville right-handers Brooks Caple and Brody McCullough were both activated off the Development List.

Outfielder Caden Sorrell was promoted from Low-A Myrtle Beach to High-A South Bend.

Right-hander Chase Meyer also goes from Myrtle Beach to South Bend.

South Bend right-handers JP Wheat and Nate Williams both go to the Development List.

We’ll start with South Bend tonight because they’re in the playoffs.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were robbed by the Quad Cities River Bandits (Royals), 8-3.

South Bend got a good start out of Jostin Florentino, who allowed just one run on two hits over four innings. Florentino struck out six and walked no one, although he did hit one batter.

The bullpen, however, gave up the lead quickly. Florentino was relieved by Brayden Spears who pitched the fifth inning and gave up three runs on four hits and a walk. He struck out no one. Spears turned a 3-1 South Bend lead to a 4-3 River Bandits lead and got the loss.

South Bend temporarily took the lead when shortstop Angel Cepeda hit a two-run home run in the third inning. Cepeda went 2 for 5.

The other South Bend run came on a solo home run by first baseman Josiah Hartshorn in the top of the fifth. Hartshorn was 3 for 5.

Second baseman Jose Escobar went 1 for 2 with a double a walk and he was hit by a pitch.

South Bend now returns home on Thursday and will have to win both games at home to keep their season alive and advance to the Midwest League Championship Series.

Cepeda’s home run.

Hartshorn’s blast. He was also robbed of another home run in the ninth inning.

Iowa Cubs

Rained out in Des Moines. The game will not be made up.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were oppressed by the Birmingham Barons (White Sox), 3-2 in ten innings.

Brooks Caple re-joined Knoxville and turned in a quality start, allowing just one run on four hits over six innings. Caple struck out five and walked just one.

After Knoxville failed to score in the top of the tenth, Luis Rujano came on to pitch the bottom of the inning and got the loss. After a wild pitch moved the automatic runner to third, Rujano got a grounder to third for one out without the run scoring. But the next batter lined a single to center to win the game.

Center fielder Kane Kepley had an RBI single in the third inning and another one in the fifth. He was 2 for 5.

Second baseman Karson Simas went 2 for 4 with a double.

It was a pitchers’ duel in the Bronx, just as we all predicted. Gabriel Hughes went toe-to-toe with AL Cy Young candidate Cam Schlittler, but the Yankees offense was able to get the Rockies bullpen just enough to put them over the top. The Rockies attempted a comeback in the ninth, but fell short once again by a score of 5-3.

Highlight Hughes

Gabriel Hughes was outstanding in his first start at Yankee Stadium, despite some defensive weirdness (again) behind him. He started things off by hitting Ben Rice, but didn’t let it rattle him. He got Cody Bellinger to ground into a force out, and then struck out Aaron Judge in his first game back from the 60-day IL. Then the defensive weirdness happened.

I’ll just let Gameday explain what happened (with video): Luis García Jr. singles on a fly ball to left fielder Jake McCarthy. Cody Bellinger scores. Luis García Jr. to 3rd. Fielding error by left fielder Jake McCarthy. Throwing error by left fielder Jake McCarthy.

Not ideal.

But, again, Hughes didn’t let it rattle him, and he came back to strike out Spencer Jones. In fact, Hughes recorded four strikeouts during his first time through the order, and six Yankees overall. He pitched five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits without walking a batter. The second/earned run came in the fifth when old friend Ryan McMahon hit a double to score George Lombard Jr., who singled right before him.

“[Hughes was] excellent tonight,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He pounded the zone. His stuff was sharp. The spin was good … I thought he was very sharp in a difficult environment in his young career, so I thought it was very impressive. [He had] a couple of two-strike fastballs yanked by Lombard and [McMahon] back-to-back for that run in the fifth, but other than that, it’s pretty good.”

In total, Hughes also induced 13 swings-and-misses and four groundball outs.

When asked to assess his performance, Hughes admitted he was “nervous,” but you would never know it.

“That’s probably an understatement,” he said. “But I think I did a really good job of attacking the zone. I know I didn’t attack the zone on the first pitch well enough, but I think I was able to come back and get back in the zone and get a lot of weak contact. Any day with no walks is a good day.”

Late offense unable to climb back

The Rockies, unsurprisingly, were shut down by Schlittler. He didn’t allow a hit through the first two innings, including four strikeouts, but then in the third inning, Adael Amador said, “hold my beverage” and blasted a 385-foot homer to right center to tie the game.

It was Amador’s fourth career home run (third this year), and just the 16th given up by Schlittler all year. Schlittler then retired 11-straight Rockies before McCarthy singled in the sixth. TJ Rumfield also singled to lead off the seventh, extending his MLB-best hitting streak to 12 games.

Schlittler was lifted after the seventh inning, allowing just the one run on three hits with 10 strikeouts.

Unfortunately, that was the Rockies’ only offense until the ninth.

Brent Headrick came in for Schlittler in the eighth and sent the Rockies down 1-2-3. Amador flied out to left after losing the Rockies’ second challenge, and then pinch-hitter Connor Norby was sat down on a pitch way outside the zone, but he wasn’t able to challenge. Ezequiel Tovar was also called out on strikes.

Tim Hill came in to replace Headrick in the ninth, getting two quick outs of McCarthy and Cole Carrigg. But then Rumfield finally drew the Rockies’ first walk in the ninth inning — putting him within one of Dexter Fowler’s rookie record of 67 — and that set the stage for Hunter Goodman’s 37th home run of the year (22nd on the road) over the short porch in right field to put the Rockies within two.

That forced the Yankees to bring in closer David Bednar to face Mickey Moniak, who struck out on three pitches to end the game.

On the importance of ‘growth moments’ for his young team, Schaeffer emphasized how “huge” they are.

“That’s what we’ve been doing for a long time now,” he said, “and we’ve got a lot of young players that are getting in these growth situations. But at the same time, it’s not enough for us. We want to win. And we’ve been close a lot of the time and lost those games. But the idea is to learn how to win.”

Bullpen is (mostly) nails-ish

Mark Manfredi came in to relieve Hughes in the sixth, and continued his hot start to his MLB career. Manfredi pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, throwing just 13 pitches and getting both Judge and Chisholm to strikeout looking. Manfredi lowered his season ERA from 1.35 to 1.24 with the perfect inning.

Jaden Hill came in for the seventh and was not quite as successful as Manfredi. He started by issuing the game’s first walk to Jones, but got Chisholm to fly out to center. He then walked Lombard Jr. on four pitches, but then struck out McMahon on three. But luckily he managed to escape the jam by getting Austin Wells to fly out to left and strand the two walks.

Brennan Bernardino entered in the eighth, and unfortunately walked Rice on four pitches to kick things off. Bellinger then hit a double right between McCarthy and Carrigg to put men on second and third with nobody out. And unfortunately, Heliot Ramos made them pay with a 402-foot home run to dead center field to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead.

And Luis García Jr. singled in the next at-bat, which ultimately spelled the end for Bernardino. Bernardino threw 13 pitches, six for strikes, and didn’t record a single out.

Blas Castaño entered, hoping to have a good inning on his birthday. Things got off to a good start, as he got Jones to strike out on a high fastball. And then Chisholm laced one to right that Jordan Beck played off the wall, but then Beck was able to nab Chisholm trying to stretch it into a double. The Yankees challenged the out call, but it was upheld. Lombard Jr. popped out to second to end the inning. In total, Castaño faced three hitters and got all of them out on 16 pitches.

Up Next

Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) will face off against Will Warren as the Rockies look to even the series.

First pitch is at 5:05pm MT.

See you then!

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It’s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and join us. We’re so glad to see you. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. There’s a two-drink minimum, but it’s bring your own beverage.

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

Last night I asked for an updated grade on Alex Bregman’s free agent contract. Sixty-one percent of you gave it a “B.” which seems about right, although I could see an “A” too. Some 23 percent of you also could see an “A” and voted for it.

On Tuesday evenings I don’t normally do any movie stuff. But we always have time for some music and that time is now.

Tonight we’re featuring some fusion from noted jazz ensemble Snarky Puppy. This is a performance of “What About Me?” from their 2014 album We Like it Here.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

David Peterson started a big game for the Cubs tonight against the Brewers and did fine. Peterson held the Brewers to just one run, struck out four and left the game with the score tied. On the downside, Peterson gave up six hits, walked three and only lasted 4.1 innings. He also would have been charged with another run were it not for a highlight-worthy outfield assist from Seiya Suzuki, although that came after Peterson left the game in the fifth.

The Cubs acquired Peterson in May from the Mets when it seemed that the entire Cubs starting rotation was on the injured list. The Cubs gave up promising hitting prospect Cole Mathis, who had trouble staying healthy with the Cubs. Well, he’s had trouble staying healthy with the Mets as well as he’s only played six minor league games for New York since the trade.

But that’s neither here nor there. With the Cubs, Peterson has been a stabilizing force as a 5th starter. While his ERA with the Cubs doesn’t look too good—4.41 over 63.1 innings—much of that is because of one disastrous start against the Cardinals when he gave up ten runs over 3.2 innings. If you give him a mulligan on that one, his ERA with the Cubs drops to 3.18.

But even if you give Peterson that mulligan, it’s clear he’s been benefitting from the Cubs defense behind him. Peterson is walking almost 10 percent of his batters and he’s striking out fewer than 20 percent. He also gives up a lot of home runs for someone who gets ground balls on around 50 percent of his balls in play.

So Peterson isn’t perfect, but if he was, he wouldn’t be a fifth starter. Do you want him back as a fifth starter next year? Peterson is a free agent at the end of the year, along with Clay Holmes, Kevin Gausman, Matthew Boyd, Shōta Imanaga and Colin Rea. The Cubs can’t re-sign all of those pitchers (and Holmes should be the top priority) but they have to re-sign some of them, don’t they?

Peterson is not a top free agent who is going to command a large salary this winter. He’s making $8.1 million this year and he’s probably due for something similar to that next year. It’s possible someone offers him two years, but I think it’s more likely that he agrees to a one-year deal with a team option for 2028 with a reasonable buyout.

So would you bring back David Peterson?

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Photographers flocked to the outskirts of the Yankees dugout steps, forming two parallel lines that allowed enough space for the main attraction to squeeze between them. They trained their devices on the tunnel below and waited.

The only thing missing was a red carpet.

And then the superstar that is Aaron Judge, attempting to repress a grin, jogged up the steps, darted through the flashes and made his way to the batting cage.

Manager Aaron Boone did not bother suppressing his emotions, wearing a wide smile as he watched his captain take a round of batting practice that seemed normal.

It was not normal, of course, because the scene had not been seen since May.

But exactly 100 days after he played his last game, Judge returned to the Yankees and brought their World Series hopes with him.

He might not have played exactly like Aaron Judge, but he looked enough like himself to inspire hope in what became a 5-3 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 46,211 who welcomed their captain back with a standing ovation — and even a few cheers after a strikeout, simply happy to be able to root for him again — on an 0-for-3 night.

“Excited that the wait is over,” Judge said after playing six innings in right field, an early exit for which he was “not happy.” He was removed for Heliot Ramos, who then smacked a three-run home run in the eighth.

Carried by Ramos’ blast, poor Colorado defense and Cam Schlittler’s seven overwhelming, one-run innings, the Yankees started a 19-game sprint to the end of the regular season on the right foot — a stretch that will be more of a speed walk, then jog, then sprint for No. 99.

After an expedited rehab process that did not include a trip to the minors, Judge is building up on the fly, which is a test for him and for Boone, who talked at length before Judge exited to start the seventh inning.

“I feel great. I played half a game, so I don’t know what to say about that,” Judge said after his first game since May 31. “I respect Boonie, so whatever he says I’m going to do, but I’m not happy about it. But that’s where my boy Ramos picked me up.”

Boone called Judge a “competitor” and did not seem surprised that the team’s and Judge’s discipline would be tested already.

“It’s my job to be smart here,” Boone said of pulling Judge, who likely will be off Wednesday or Thursday.

The club will ease back Judge, who looked imposing but also like a player who had not seen real pitching for months.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

He swung through a 2-2 four-seamer in the first and stared at another fastball for Strike 3 in the sixth, which sandwiched a flyout to right-center in the fourth.

“I just haven’t been in a live game or seen live pitching in three months, so it’s kind of like the start of the year. But I got work to do,” said Judge, whose self-restraint in protecting his rib went untested defensively because he did not field a ball. He will try not to dive, at least until the postseason.

There was reason for player and team to be cautious, with still plenty of unknowns regarding how long it will take for him to become an everyday force in the lineup.

But there also was reason for player and team to celebrate.

Judge had not played a game since the end of May, and a club with World Series expectations and aspirations did whatever it could to just tread water without him, finishing 45-39 without a slugger Boone called “the best hitter in the world” whose mere presence has an effect on the entire lineup.

The effect was not immediately present on a night that the first two Yankees runs, before Ramos’ swing, came with the Rockies’ help.

The go-ahead score arrived in the fifth, when Ryan McMahon roped a single to the right field corner with George Lombard Jr. on first.

There might have been a play at the plate, but right fielder Zac Veen did not play it cleanly off the wall.

The first run was more Little League: In the first, a Luis García Jr. bloop into shallow left-center was 1) booted by left fielder Jake McCarthy and then 2) ignored by Goodman, who did not seem to be paying attention as McCarthy lobbed a throw home, enabling Cody Bellinger to score from first.

The Yankees (82-62) remained four games behind the Rays in a race that felt a bit more real Tuesday.

“Off we go,” Boone said. “Obviously, excited to have our captain back.”

Kicking off a critical late-season homestand Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, a breakthrough performance from AJ Smith-Shawver on the mound or a strong performance from its star hitters could have been enough to deliver the Atlanta Braves a tone-setting win.

Unfortunately for them, they got neither of those.

An early exit from Smith-Shawver paired with the offense falling flat after a wasted chance at a big first inning doomed Atlanta to a 7-1 loss in the series opener against the Rays.

Meanwhile, three of the top four hitters in the Tampa Bay lineup each homered to lift Tampa to a win in a battle of teams from opposite leagues attempting to hold onto their respective division leads.

The first of those homers came in the first inning, a two-out solo shot from Junior Caminero.

The Braves responded in the bottom of the frame, with consecutive singles from Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson and Drake Baldwin to level the score and put runners on the corners with one out.

With a chance to potentially force Rays starter Freddy Peralta into an early exit as his first-inning pitch count rose, Atlanta got nothing more out of a bases-loaded situation as Austin Riley was rung up on an ABS-reviewed third strike which was originally called ball three.

Tampa retook the lead, for good this time, on Liam Hicks’ two-run homer in the third. They tacked on another later in the frame on a Victor Mesa Jr. RBI single, made it 5-1 in the sixth on Yandy Diaz’s RBI groundout and closed out the scoring with solo homers from Diaz and Richie Palacios in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.

Smith-Shawver (0-2) dropped his second straight start after lasting a season-low 3 1/3 innings. He surrendered four runs on five hits, striking out three and walking two. He’s now allowed three or more runs in five or fewer innings in each of his last four starts since rejoining the major league club.

Brent Suter saved the bullpen to a degree by allowing one unearned run on three hits over a season-high-tying 3 2/3 innings of work. Elieser Hernández didn’t have the same success, though, getting tagged for two runs over the final two innings.

After Peralta (8-11) struggled mightily in a 32-pitch first inning, he settled in incredibly well from there, allowing just two more baserunners, a pair of singles, on 60 pitches over his final five innings.

That carried over into the bullpen, as Kevin Kelly, Cam Sulser and Bryan Baker followed with a perfect inning apiece to close out the comfortable win.

The Braves, who had more hits in their first four at-bats of the game (three) than they had the rest of the way, were retired in 16 of their final 17 plate appearances.

The saving grace for Atlanta? The Phillies lost 6-5 at home to Houston, wasting a chance to cut into the NL East deficit.

The Braves’ division lead remains four games entering Wednesday’s second game of the series against Tampa Bay.

It turned into a nail-biter, but what a way to start a road trip! Astros 6 Phillies 5.

The fireworks started early, silencing much of the 39,262 in attendance. Daulton Varsho doubled to start things in the second. Yanier Diaz followed with a single and then Christian Walker unleashed a dinger to center field and just like that, it was 3-0. The Astros weren’t done. Cam Smith drew a walk and a double by Jeremy Pena would make it 4-0.   

That would remain the score until Cam Smith launched his 18th home run of the season. The 418 feet blast would travel 10 rows up making things 5-0. Cam has now doubled his total of a year ago in which he hit 9 homers.   

In the bottom of the sixth, Philly would finally get on the board. Justin Crawford doubled to right and came around to score on Kyle Schwarber’s RBI single. Trea Turner would then homer to left and it was 5-3. Each team would score in the 7th. Daulton Varsho would launch the Astros third home run of the night. His solo shot made things 6-3. The Phillies would get that run back. Alec Bohm doubled and he’d eventually score on a Brandon Marsh double.    

Josh Hader came on and recorded his 24th save of the season. He made things interesting allowing multiple runners to reach and Bryson Stott to score but that was as close as things got.     

Hayden Wesneski went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 3. It was Wesneski’s 5th win. The combination of Blubaugh, Sousa and Abreu would combine for a pair of innings, only allowing a run. Abreu’s stuff was borderline electric in spots building up equity as the days tick down to October.   

The Astros are now 74-71 on the season and have snapped their 2-game losing skid.         

Odds & Ends:

Josh Hader’s 21 straight scoreless appearances streak has come to an end. he has converted 24 straight save opportunities to start the season. 

Hunter Brown will take the hill Wednesday for game two tomorrow.     First pitch 5:40 pm CDT.

The Twins got on the board first, with a Josh Bell sac fly RBI. Not as many runs as they wanted considering they loaded the bases with 1 out, but a run is a run.

On the pitching side, Dean Kremer held the Tigers scoreless until the 5th inning, when Kevin McGonigle hit a go-ahead 2-run homer, putting them up 2-1. Kremer was helped by a nice double play turned by Royce Lewis in the 1st inning, who caught a line drive and threw to 2nd to get the runner out.

A.J. Minter tossed a clean 6th, but ran into trouble in the 7th. Ben Malgeri walked, then when trying to steal 2nd, Ryan Jeffers threw the ball into the outfield, allowing Malgeri to get to 3rd with no outs. Luckily, the Twins were able to escape this inning unscathed after Andrew Morris got a strikeout and a lineout to end the threat.

From there, both teams traded 0’s until the end of the game, with Jeff Hoffman getting a hold and Yoendrys Gomez a save. Not a whole lot of offense tonight, with both teams getting just 5 hits. The win brings the Twins record to 69-76, and maintains their 4.5 game deficit in the wild card race with the Guardians win tonight.

Studs:

Kody Clemens: 1-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI

Dean Kremer: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 3 K, HR

The bullpen: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 K

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!

Aaron Judge made his long-awaited return from the injured list on Tuesday night in the Bronx. The Captain didn’t set the world on fire at the dish—he didn’t even get a hit—but the Bombers were still able to grab a quality victory courtesy of their young star pitcher, who has held it down on the bump all year long.

Cam Schlittler overpowered the Rockies with his signature triple-fastball repertoire, striking out 10 while walking none. The Yankee offense grabbed a few defense-assisted runs before finally putting up a crooked number on an eighth-inning home run by Heliot Ramos, who had subbed in for Judge in the seventh. The Bombers withstood a little bit of late noise by Colorado to start out their homestand with a 5-3 win.

The Rockies are far from masters of the universe, and they proved it when the Yankees grabbed a run aided by two errors on one play. It came right after Judge’s first plate appearance back from injury. Judge looked a little late on his timing, failing to square up sinkers from Gabriel Hughes and ultimately falling on strikes. Thankfully, Luis García Jr. picked him up with a base hit to left center field, which outfielder Jake McCarthy booted to allow both him and lead runner Cody Bellinger to move up a base.

Then, McCarthy’s throw back into the infield just kinda wandered past everybody in the infield and rolled to the backstop. Third base coach Luis Rojas pointed out to Bellinger that home was suddenly wide open, and Cody raced to the dish for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

Gabriel Hughes must be tired of seeing those kinds of poor defensive plays take place on his watch, but he would get a bit more help as the game progressed. First, Adael Amador would wipe away the deficit with a solo homer off Schlittler in the top of the third. Then, McCarthy made up for one of the two errors charged to him—let’s say the one which was actually his fault—with a gorgeous diving catch to rob Ben Rice of extra bases in the bottom half.

But in the fifth, they regressed again. When George Lombard Jr. slapped a seeing-eye single up the middle, the speedy shortstop was well-positioned to take advantage of more subpar defense. This one won’t go down as an error, but it was important.

Ryan McMahon hit a line drive down the right field line for extra bases, and Zac Veen prepared to field the bounce off the wall. But the ball hit the concrete underneath the padded part of the fence, causing it to keep a lot of its zip on the carom. Veen wasn’t prepared for the quick richochet that followed, and had to sprawl out to field it—giving Lombard all the time he needed to motor around third and score all the way from first base. The Yankees retook the lead, though they were unable to add on.

Schlittler, meanwhile, was characteristically cruising. After Amador’s home run, he didn’t allow another hit until McCarthy slapped an opposite-field single with two outs, giving Cole Carrigg an opportunity. The young lefty slugger unsuccessfully challenged a called strike two, then swung through more pure heat from Cam. He slammed his helmet to the ground in frustration as Schlittler picked up his ninth strikeout of the night.

Judge departed the game in the seventh inning after his third at-bat. He finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout swinging, a fly out to center, and a strikeout looking; Ramos took over in right field. It was far from a showstopping debut from Judge—but that’s baseball. For much of the night, the rest of the lineup performed the way we’ve been accustomed to seeing them: not very well.

Schlittler grabbed one last strikeout in a scoreless seventh inning to reach 10 strikeouts for the fourth time this season. He did so without issuing a single walk—which continues to be the part of Cam’s came which has impressed me more than anything else. His rookie season conditioned us all to expect a decent amount of free passes in addition to the strikeouts and dizzying stuff. Yet, he took the hill tonight with just a 6.2-percent walk rate. He faced 24 Rockies and didn’t let any of them on base for free. One more A-plus performance for Cam Schlittler, who now owns a 2.01 ERA.

At last, in the bottom of the eighth, the Bombers got the separator they were looking for.

Former Red Sox reliever Brennan Bernardino entered to try and hold the Yankees at bay, but immediately got into trouble facing the top of the order. Rice worked a walk, then Bellinger managed to dunk a drive just between the outfielders in the left-center gap for a double to put two men in scoring position for what would ordinarily be Judge’s spot in the lineup. Of course, Judge wasn’t in the game anymore—but Ramos put on a great impression, socking a hanging curveball the opposite way for a crucial three-run home run.

The last bit of intrigue in this game came in the form of two unsuccessful challenges, one by New York and one by Colorado. In this writer’s personal opinion, both calls—one in which Jazz Chisholm Jr. was called out at second on a would-be double, and one in which McCarthy was called out on a close call at first—should have been overturned. They both ‘stood’. I think Jazz in particular had a beef, and given the Rockies’ comeback effort in the ninth, it would have been nice to have that extra out to work with. (More concerningly, Jazz left the game with a thumb injury; hopefully it’s minor, but the Yankees won’t know until tomorrow.)

Tim Hill’s start to the ninth inning was orderly enough, as he grabbed the first two outs thanks in part to that second unsuccessful challenge. But he walked former Yankee farmhand TJ Rumfield to give an opportunity to the powerful catcher Hunter Goodman. Goodman didn’t need to get too much of Hill’s 1-1 offering to hit it over the short porch in right for a two-run homer which made the gap a little narrower.

Thankfully, David Bednar entered and struck out Mickey Moniak on three pitches to put this thing to bed. Nice and orderly, and it counts as a save for Bednar.

With that victory, the Yankees have clinched their 34th consecutive winning season. It may not be a championship, but that streak remains extremely impressive, the second-longest in MLB history.

Tomorrow night, Will Warren will lead the Yanks out onto the field as they look for a series win against veteran righty Tomoyuki Sugano, the certified unc of the Rockies pitching staff. First pitch is once again set for 7:05 pm with coverage on YES.

Box Score

After a one-day reprieve, the Orioles were back to their losing ways today. Starter Brandon Young had his worst start of the season, failing to complete four innings. The offense attempted a comeback, but it was too little, too late. And the bullpen wasn’t able to keep the Guardians’ offense in check. In the end, another sloppy loss, which is the team’s seventh in the last eight games.

Before tonight, Guardians starter Tanner Bibee had the lowest run support in baseball at 2.90 runs per game. So naturally, tonight, the Guardians gave him a ton of support. They scored six runs in their first three innings tonight to push his run support up to 3.12 runs per game. He no longer has the lowest run support in baseball; Shane Baz now holds that honor.

Young gave up one run in the first inning after Steven Kwan led off with a double. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a single by Jo Adell. But Young struck out Nathaniel Lowe to end the inning. Unfortunately, more trouble was to come in the second.

The first batter of the second inning, Angel Martínez, is credited with hitting a triple to right field. The ball got past a diving Pete Alonso just inside the foul line. Leody Taveras misplayed the carom off the fence. The ball bounced away from him as it hit off the wall in foul territory. He chased it down inefficiently as it ended up near the base of the out-of-town scoreboard. Martínez landed easily at third. I mean, honestly.

Patrick Bailey immediately singled Martínez in, then Petey Halprin singled behind him. All of these hits went to Taveras in right field. Young almost got out of it with just one run. Brayan Rocchio bunted for the first out. Steven Kwan grounded to second base and Jackson Holliday fired home to get the runner. Then Young battled Travis Bazzana for nine pitches. The ninth pitch was a fastball in the middle of the plate. Bazzana didn’t miss. His 11th home run of the year landed in the Eutaw Street seats, just clearing the wall.

Young walked Lowe in the third inning. He came in to score on singles from Martínez and Halpin. It felt like the game had barely started, and already the Orioles were in a big hole.

Young didn’t get out of the fourth inning. He did get two outs, but he also walked a batter, threw a wild pitch, and hit a guy. Not great. Grant Wolfram came on in relief and got the final out. Young’s final pitching line: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 2 K.

While all that was going on, it felt like the Orioles’ offense had gone back into its slumber. But it stirred in the bottom of the fourth inning. Holliday doubled and Pete Alonso singled him over to third. After Gunnar Henderson grounded into a fielder’s choice that erased Alonso, Coby Mayo walked to load the bases. It was a big opportunity for Samuel Basallo. He didn’t completely blow it, but he sort of blew it. He chopped a ground ball to first base. Lowe touched first for the out and Holliday scored. Dylan Beavers lined out to end the inning.

The bottom of the fifth inning was more exciting. Blaze Alexander led off with a double, then scored on a double by Taveras. Holliday got his second hit of the night, a funky single that bounced weirdly after being deflected by the first baseman Martínez. The hit knocked in Taveras.

Alonso made it a one-run game in the next at-bat. His 34th home run of the year landed in the Bird Bath to make the score 6-5. The homer gave him his 96th and 97th RBI, which is tops in the AL and fourth in baseball.

The home run drove Bibee from the game, and Tim Herrin retired Henderson and Mayo. The Orioles didn’t score again.

Wolfram pitched a scoreless fifth inning, and Luis De León had a nice sixth. He gave up a leadoff single, but induced a double play and faced just three batters.

Things went south in the seventh, with a little bad pitching and a little bad fielding (luck?). Alex Hoppe, who hadn’t allowed a run in 13 games since joining the Orioles, finally cracked. José Ramírez lined a single to center field, then Hoppe walked Adell. He struck out Lowe, then Martínez hit what looked like it might be an inning-ending double play.

Alonso fielded the ball and fired to second base. But the ball hit Adell in the helmet! It bounced into the outfield as Ramírez scored and Adell moved to third base. Martínez was safe at first. Hoppe got the second out, but walked Halpin to load the bases. Rocchio singled in two runs to make the score 9-5 and end Hoppe’s night.

Those three runs were frustrating, but in the end didn’t matter as the Orioles failed to record a hit against four Guardians’ relievers over the final 4.2 innings.

There were some strange goings on with the Orioles at the end of the game. In the eighth inning, Henderson fouled a ball off his leg. The trainers came out to check on him, but he finished his at-bat with a walk and took his base. But after a groundout from Mayo, Henderson was clearly in pain running the bases. He was removed for pinch hitter Carlos Narváez. If you think that’s a weird choice for a pinch hitter, how do you feel about him being a second baseman?

In the top of the ninth, Holliday moved over to shortstop, and Narváez took over at second. The backup catcher! Christian Encarnacion-Strand replaced Blaze Alexander, who was having back spasms. So…ok. Narváez did not have any plays in the inning.

Orioles lose, 9-5. They are back to four games out of the Wild Card, now with 16 games to play.