Category: Baseball

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz trudged toward the dugout as Arizona’s Ryan Waldschmidt celebrated with teammates after hitting a two-run, walk-off home run to seal a 4-3 win that sent the Dodgers to a season-worst seventh straight loss.

“We’ve just got to play better,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “I don’t think that the standings — obviously, they are important, they matter. But I just feel like with the talent that we have, we just got to play good baseball, and it’ll take care of itself. It always does.”

The Dodgers’ recent skid dropped their National League West lead into single digits for the first time in over a month. They are now only 7½ games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks in the division.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani, Pete Crow-Armstrong put on a show as NL MVP talk heats up: 'He's a great player'

They also now have the fourth-best record in the majors (69-47), falling behind the Brewers (72-44) and Braves (70-46) and Rays (69-46).

“A week ago, it looked a lot different,” Roberts said. “And another week from now, it could look even more different. So you’ve just got to put your head down and play baseball.”

They did, at least, have a better record than last season (67-49) at the 116-game mark. But the Dodgers would prefer to, unlike last year, at least earn a first-round bye, and ideally home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Their performance Friday sent them in the wrong direction.

The Dodgers went hitless against Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly for the first five innings. Kyle Tucker and Shohei Ohtani both drew walks, as the Dodgers’ only baserunners before the sixth — and Ohtani was thrown out attempting to steal second to end the third inning.

Finally, leading off the sixth, Tommy Edman — who three innings prior was robbed of a home run on a leaping grab by Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll — broke up Kelly’s no-hit bid with a sharp infield hit.

Kelly picked off Edman at first base, but Hunter Feduccia followed with a single of his own, the catcher’s first hit since rejoining the Dodgers at the trade deadline.

Ohtani and Andy Pages both drew walks to load the bases. And the Dodgers finally scored on a groundball fielder’s choice from Freddie Freeman. That single run was all they got out of the inning.

Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki held the Diamondbacks to two runs in six innings. He surrendered a solo homer to Arizona third baseman Nolan Arenado in the second and an RBI triple to Geraldo Perdomo in the fifth. But he only gave up two other hits.

With both starters out by the seventh (Kelly exited with two outs in the sixth because of cramping in his right leg), the Dodgers orchestrated a comeback and then gave it up.

Edman drove in the tying run, too, lining a single to left for the Dodgers’ third hit of the inning off Diamondbacks right-hander Taylor Clarke in the seventh. But the Dodgers failed to turn a bases-loaded situation into a crooked number when Ohtani grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The next inning, Pages gave the Dodgers the lead with a solo homer off Diamondbacks lefty Brandyn Garcia.

The Diamondbacks threatened against Dodgers setup man Tanner Scott. But he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth by winning a 12-pitch at-bat against Arenado for the inning-ending strikeout.

Bubic joins the team

Trade-deadline acquisition Kris Bubic, who is rehabbing at the Dodgers’ Arizona complex, is taking advantage of the opportunity to be around the team this weekend at Chase Field.

“It’s been a whirlwind the last couple days,” Bubic said. “Obviously I had been with Kansas City the whole time since I was drafted. I’ve been there my whole big-league career. I’d been on the shelf for a little bit now, but to hear I was getting traded over here was pretty exciting.

“Obviously the roster speaks for itself. The success speaks for itself. The opportunity to be a part of this, to learn from these guys, all the coaches on the staff and whatnot, it’s going to be an exciting time. I’m really looking forward to getting started.”

Bubic initially landed on the injured list in mid-May with a low-grade flexor strain in his left forearm, he specified. While working back from that injury, he had setbacks with an impingement in his left shoulder.

Because he has an injury history with both his elbow (2023 Tommy John surgery) and shoulder (2025 rotator cuff strain), the Royals didn’t rush him back. Bubic said he had a cortisone injection on July 1 and then threw off a mound on Sunday.

“I’m kind of itching to get back going,” he said. “But I know talking with the staff here they’ve got a pretty good plan. I’m expected to come out of the ‘pen in some capacity. At this point, I’m looking forward to getting back on the field and helping this team down the stretch.”

Bubic said the Dodgers have already presented him with a couple mechanical tweaks. He hopes to begin a minor-league rehab assignment around the end of the month or beginning of September.

Homestand plan

The Dodgers plan to pitch two-time Cy Young winners in back-to-back games against the Royals when they return to Los Angeles next week.

On Monday, Tarik Skubal is scheduled to make his first home start at Dodger Stadium, and second with the Dodgers since being acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. On Wednesday, Blake Snell is set to return from the IL for his second start of the season, his first since May.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Game Summary

Full recap to follow shortly. For now, feel free to go wild in the comments!

Win Probability and Box Score

Outside the Box Score

• Nolan Arenado’s homer to open the scoring in the second inning just barely snuck over the outstretched glove of Teoscar Hernandez. Hernandez looked like he had a beat on the ball in the air and stopped a step short of the wall so I thought it was gonna die at the warning track. Then at the last second, Hernandez jumped up and reached for the rafters but the ball hit off the waiting arms of a friendly Snakes fan in the first row.
• Corbin Carroll made a stunning play in contrast to Teoscar’s failed home run robbery the half inning prior. Leading off the third inning, Tommy Edman hit a high fly ball that seemed destined to tie the game 1-1, but Corbin drifted back and timed his jump perfectly to get WAY up over the right field fence and make a home run saving catch. Incredible catch!
• Merrill was staying fairly efficient early in this one. Through 4 innings, he had only thrown 53 pitches and 6 of 14 hitters he faced had completed their AB in 2 pitches or less.
• Lars Nootbaar smashed his double in the 4th over the head of Andy Pages in center field. Pages can really cover some ground so you know Nootbaar hit it hard when Pages was nowhere close to snagging it.
• Tim Tawa’s steal in the fifth was thanks to a huge walking lead. The Dodger catcher’s throw was way late and not close to the bag for good measure. Excellent base running put a runner in scoring position with 1 out. The extra 90 feet didn’t matter since Domo later brought him home with a triple into the gap in left-center, but still job will done Tim.
• Tommy Edman got a leadoff single on a hard grounder to Tim Tawa to lead off the 6th. Tawa made a superb diving play in the hole between 1st and 2nd then when he got to his knees to toss to the covering Merrill at first, the ball popped out of his glove. That was the first hit allowed by Merrill on the night. Great job by everyone from the broadcasters to the Pitters to not mention the no-hitter! I totally forgot it until Bert mentioned it after the hit. Then Merrill went and immediately erased the runner by picking him off (thanks to replay review since Edman was ruled safe on the field).
• Merrill left with the trainer with 2 outs in the 6th after losing all command of his pitches. After the aforementioned hit by Edman to break up the No Hitter, he gave up a single and 2 walks to load the bases. He did induce a possible double play ball to get out of the jam, but it was just hit too slowly and the defense could only get the force out at second. Fortunately, the medical issue appeared to be simply cramping, but it’s an unfortunate way for this stellar start to end.
• Juan Morillo struck out Max Muncy to end the Dodger threat in the sixth with 100mph gas off the outside half of the plate. Beautiful.
• Brandyn Garcia came on with runners at 1st and 2nd and one out, gave up a single to Miguel Rojas but it was so close to being caught in center that the Dodger runner had to hold up and wait to see if it would be caught before advancing and stopping at 3rd. That brought up Shohei Ohtani who grounded into an easy double play to get the D-Backs out of the inning with a tie in the 7th.
• Gabi Moreno got a rally started in the 8th with a double to the wall over Teoscar’s head. Teoscar badly misplayed the ball but Gabi couldn’t eek an extra 90 feet out for a triple. That was followed by an intentional walk to Ketel and an unintentional 4-pitch walk to Vargas to load the bases. Nolan had an epic 12 pitch AB but ended up striking out on a half-hearted swing on a really good breaking ball that nicked the outside corner. Bummer.
• Max Kepler had a stellar plate appearance against Edwin Diaz to lead off the 9th. Fell down in the count 1-2, but worked his way to a lead off walk.

Comment of the Game

A solidly attended GameDay Thread tonight that really exploded thanks to certain heroics in the 9th inning. A total of 305 comments at time of publishing and several Sedona Red comments to choose from, but I’ll highlight the top couple responses to Waldy’s Walk Off from Dbacks fan from Japan and AzDesertLovr as COTG:

Coming Up

The Diamondbacks face the Guggenheims for the second game of this 3-game set tomorrow evening with a 5:10pm first pitch Arizona time. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (11-7, 2.76 ERA) is the probable starter for LA and Brandon Pfaadt (6-1, 3.66 ERA) will get the ball for the good guys.

Scoreboard Watching

Full scoreboard recap to follow shortly.

Every moment in a game is another opportunity to shift the momentum. And for eight frames, the Yankees had and wasted their chances to do so, but one big inning was all it took to survive and eventually win it in extras. Down 2-0 in the ninth, the Yankees refused to quit, rattled the Braves closer, and ultimately earned the walk-off win, with all the drama you could hope for, and then some. Ryan McMahon’s sacrifice fly in the 10th was the decisive plate appearance.

The only reason why the Yankees were even in a position to fight for this game until the end was because of their outstanding pitching, led by starter Max Fried. When an ace is on the mound, one break is all that the opposition will get, which often comes in the opening inning. The Braves had theirs at the start of the game and wasted it, allowing Fried to settle in and post zero after zero as we’ve so often seen from him. Atlanta had runners at first and second with two outs when Mauricio Dubón came up to bat and knocked what appeared to be an RBI single on a groundball to center. However, before Drake Baldwin could score, Ozzie Albies was thrown out at third by Trent Grisham, keeping Fried’s line intact.

Speaking of frustrating outcomes, the Yankees had a massive pile of those. McMahon worked a leadoff walk in the third only for Tyler Mahle to strike out the side, twice on the heater, once on a splitter to get Ben Rice, whom he struck out in each of his first two at-bats. Then in the fourth, the frustration levels were raised when it was Heliot Ramos’ turn to be stranded after reaching to lead off the frame, in his case with a double. Not only that, Luis García Jr. and Jazz Chisholm Jr. both popped out on the first pitch before Spencer Jones fell victim to Dubón’s superb outfield defense, catching a high fly ball to the track in dead center.

Another inning and the same song and dance with an early baserunner abandoned without a prayer of crossing home plate. McMahon had the old ‘make a great play defensively and record a hit in the next half inning’ thing going for him, but Austin Wells and Grisham stranded him at second. Before an unsuccessful challenge on a strike three fastball in the outside corner up in the zone, Grisham swung right through a tasty 1-0 heater middle in.

The attack plan for Mahle was rather straightforward, with primarily four-seamers and splitters to lefties and sprinkled in some cutters; it was just about beating the Yankees hitters to the spot time and time again. In the sixth, one baserunner equaled no runs, this time with García stopping at first after a two-out single was followed by a Jazz punchout.

All of these wasted opportunities meant that when Fried ultimately left the mound, retiring Matt Olson on a strikeout to open up the seventh, he did so with the score still tied at 0-0. The southpaw was truly excellent on Friday with 6.1 innings of goose eggs, deserving a better fate.

Fernando Cruz retired the first two hitters he faced. Returning for the eighth inning, though, Cruz threw a hanging splitter to Austin Riley, and the Braves third baseman knocked it out of the park to score the game’s first run.

One run in the context of this game was the equivalent of three to four under normal circumstances, with the Yankees offense entirely unable to generate any action. In the eighth inning, it was the Braves’ turn to waste a run-scoring opportunity when Brent Headrick stranded a pair. Just for good measure, though, Matt Olson doubled the Braves’ lead with a solo shot in the ninth off Tim Hill, Olson’s 33rd homer of the season. Even lefties continue to be a problem for Hill, who hasn’t pitched well in months and could see his roster spot in jeopardy

In the bottom of the eighth, Aaron Boone tried to be proactive, pinch-hitting Amed Rosario in place of the struggling Grisham with a lefty, Brooks Lee, on the mound. It didn’t work. Rosario was retired leading off the frame. He also brought in Paul Goldschmidt to hit for Jazz with a couple of men on after back-to-back walks to García and Ramos, but the veteran couldn’t capitalize, striking out swinging. At that point, everyone is forgiven for thinking all hope is lost, and this is not the Yankees’ night, but there were three more outs to go, the three biggest outs of any one game.

An errant throw by closer Raisel Iglesias on a squibbler from George Lombard Jr. allowed the rookie shortstop to go all the way to third with one out in the ninth. Down to the last out, Wells drove him in for the Yankees’ first and only run of the game. Still, it felt like that classic meaningless run to simply avoid the shutout.

That move to pinch-hit for Grisham meant that Rosario was up against a righty with two outs and the tying run in scoring position in the ninth—and he did his part in working a walk and passing the baton to Rice. The Yankees’ best and most struggling hitter in the game answered at a time of need with a single to the wall in right played perfectly by Ronald Acuña Jr. to prevent the runners from advancing any further.

When Iglesias loaded the bases with a hit-by-pitch, manager Walt Weiss decided he wasn’t going to let his closer lose the game, which meant bringing in Dylan Dodd to retire García.

Already an integral part of this comeback effort, having started the rally in the ninth, Lombard helped David Bednar put up a zero in the 10th. The Yankees shortstop made a great play in the hole to throw out Sean Murphy and prevent the ghost runner from advancing. Great defense was a big part of David Bednar’s scoreless frame, with García also chipping in with a Don Mattingly-esque great catch in short right.

In a game of such drama, the win in the bottom of the 10th could not have come easily. And when José Caballero led off the frame with a strikeout on a botched bunt, there were some concerns of it staying at 2-2. Spencer Jones was then intentionally walked; Lombard showed his maturity by earning a free pass, which meant McMahon only needed to get the ball in the air for the win.

That’s exactly what he did, finishing the night 2-for-3 with a walk and a sacrifice fly to complete an outstanding performance.

You couldn’t ask for a more marquee pitching matchup than the one the Yankees and Braves will provide on Saturday afternoon, starting at 3:05 p.m. (EST). Two of the greatest pitchers of the 21st century go head-to-head with Chris Sale facing Gerrit Cole.

Box Score

From the depths of despair, the Yankees remained in second place, at least for a night. 

One out away from being shut out and allowing the blazing-hot Red Sox to leapfrog them in the division standings, the Yankees’ bats finally woke up in time to stop their slide for the time being. 

Trailing by two runs entering the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees came back to tie it before winning it in the 10th on Ryan McMahon’s walk-off sacrifice fly for a 3-2 win over the Braves in a game delayed two hours by inclement weather on Friday night in The Bronx. 

In the kind of tight, low-scoring game that has become so familiar of late because of their futile offense and outstanding pitching — and on Friday, game-saving defense — the Yankees found jubilation before heartbreak came their way again. 

“Obviously it’s tough for us, but these guys, they’re gritty and they’ve played in a lot of these games,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I feel like we’ve had a lot of these, where it’s one run either way. It’s been tough for us offensively now for a while, so we’re in these close games it feels like night in and night out. In a lot of them, we’ve done things that allow us to win a game, and that was certainly the case tonight.” 

After José Caballero failed to get a bunt down and struck out on a foul attempt to lead off the bottom of the 10th against righty Tyler Kinley, the Braves (70-46) intentionally walked Spencer Jones to bring up George Lombard Jr., who drew a full-count walk to load the bases. 

McMahon, who had two of the Yankees’ four hits entering the ninth inning, then fell behind 0-2 before working the count full and then delivering the game-winning fly ball to right field, deep enough to score Luis García Jr. from third. 

“We got to figure that out,” McMahon said of the offense that was shut out for eight innings Friday. “We got to get going a little bit more. It’s not from a lack of work or effort, but we got to figure out a way to get going.” 

And so the Yankees (65-51) staved off third place in the AL East — for what would have been the first time this season — and dropping into the second AL wild card, staying a half-game ahead of the Red Sox, who won their ninth straight game and improved to 32-5 over their past 37. 

Winning in extras for only the second time in 10 games this season, the Yankees snapped the Braves’ eight-game winning streak. 

Of their past 23 games, 17 have been decided by two runs or fewer, with the Yankees going 12-5 in those contests, which they hope will serve them well if they can survive this and make it to October. 

“Especially when you come down to the end of the year in playoff baseball, it’s important to be able to play these tight games and be comfortable playing in tight games,” said Max Fried, who turned in 6 ¹/₃ shutout innings in an emotional first start against his former team. “So we embrace it. I know everyone in this room is comfortable and confident, going out there and trying to do whatever they can to win the game.” 

When the Yankees stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the eighth — after being shut out for six innings by righty Tyler Mahle, who came into the night with a 5.13 ERA — it appeared to be their last gasp. But then with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Lombard, in his third career game, reached on a swinging bunt and raced all the way to third on Braves closer Raisel Iglesias’ wild throwing error. 

One out later, Austin Wells roped a double to right field to make it 2-1. Amed Rosario then drew a walk before Ben Rice — who came to the plate in a 2-for-33 skid — laced a single off the right-field wall to tie it and put the winning run at third. Heliot Ramos, who reached base four times, was hit by an 0-1 pitch to load the bases, at which point the Braves replaced Iglesias with lefty Dylan Dodd, who got García to ground out, sending the game to extras. 

David Bednar tossed a scoreless top of the 10th, thanks to terrific defense from Lombard on a play in the hole and García, the first baseman who made an over-the-shoulder catch on a pop up to no-man’s land in right field. 

“We’ve been in a tough stretch where we’re facing a lot of teams in playoff position right now, and we haven’t scored a lot, but we’ve more than held our own,” Boone said. “That’s a credit to them and they continue to find ways to win games and win these close games. … We got to fight our way through this.”

On a night when the Phillies inducted Chase Utley onto the Wall of Fame, neither the weather nor the team performed up to the standard of the former star. The game was delayed almost two hours due to rain, and once it was played, Zack Wheeler had a shaky start, and the offense couldn’t take advantage of ten walks as the Phillies dropped a 5-4 decision to the Blue Jays.

Wheeler hasn’t been his best in recent starts and that continued on Friday. His command wasn’t great and he gave up solo runs in the second, third, and fourth innings. It’s possible he was distracted by the Blue Jays’ insistence that he was not maintaining contact with the pitching rubber. He certainly didn’t seem to appreciate the Blue Jays’ complaints.

The Phillies matched the Jays’ output in the early innings. J.T. Realmuto’s single combined with an error by Toronot right fielder Jesus Sanchez gave the Phillies their first run in the second, and Bryce Harper’s RBI single tied it at two in the third.

But they wasted some prime scoring opportunities after that. In the fifth, Bryson Stott led off with a walk and Justin Crawford followed with a double, giving the Phillies runners at second and third with nobody out. But Blue Jays starter Jose Soriano rebounded to strike out Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Harper.

Things fell apart for Wheeler in the sixth. He got the first out of the inning but then gave up a single to Josh Smith. He followed that by walking Brett Bateman – Wheeler’s fifth walk of the night – before Nathan Lukes ended a 15-pitch at bat by singling to right.

With Wheeler’s pitch count at 115, that ended his night. Tim Mayza entered and gave up a sacrifice fly but was able to limit the damage after that.

In the seventh, the Phillies had another great opportunity to score when they loaded the bases on three walks, but a Luis Arraez fly out ended the inning with all three runners still on base.

After Caleb Kilian gave up a solo home run to Josh Smith in the eighth (that’s now two of three bad appearances by Kilian since he arrived), the score was 5-2 and it felt like the game was as good as over. But the Blue Jays did their best to let the Phillies back in it. In the ninth, Trevor Rogers walked the first two batters before Schwarber loaded the bases on catcher’s interference.

Trea Turner made it 5-3 with a fielder’s choice ground out, and Bryce Harper cut it to 5-4 with an infield single that probably should have been converted into an out. Arraez re-loaded the bases with a walk, but with the infield in, Alec Bohm’s weak groundball resulted in a force out at home (which Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk almost botched).

It was left to Brandon Marsh with two outs. The Jays almost left first base uncovered on his ground ball to second, but Rogers got over to cover just in time to record the out and end the game.

They’ll be back at it on Saturday evening. Presumably, Utley will stick around to watch that one, and hopefully, the Phillies can do a better job of honoring his legacy the second time around.

The Yankees offense struggled for eight innings, but came alive to rally and defeat the Braves, 3-2, in extra innings on Friday night in the Bronx.

Despite being down two runs in the ninth, the Yankees rallied. A one-out infield single from George Lombard Jr. and a two-base error by Braves closer Raisel Iglesias allowed the Yankees rookie to reach third base. Austin Wells drove him in with a two-out double. Amed Rosario walked, bringing up Ben Rice. The young slugger hit a bullet off the right field wall, tying the game. Luis Garcia Jr. would ground out to send the game to extra innings.

But Garcia would make up for it in the 10th. With two outs and the ghost runner on third base, Ronald Acuna Jr. lofted the ball into right field that looked destined to drop in, but Garcia raced out and made an over-the-shoulder catch to keep the game tied.

In the bottom of the 10th, Jose Caballero struck out on a foul bunt before Spencer Jones was intentionally walked to bring up Lombard. Against the right-hander Tyler Kinley, Lombard walked to load the bases for Ryan McMahon. McMahon fought back from an 0-2 count and hit a sac fly to drive in the winning run.

The Yankees snapped Atlanta's eight-game winning streak. With the Red Sox's win earlier in the evening, the Yankees remain just 0.5 games ahead of Boston for second in the division and the top Wild Card spot.

Here are the takeaways...

-Following a nearly two-hour rain delay, Max Fried took the mound facing off against his former team for the first time. The southpaw allowed two runners to reach (walk, single) before retiring Matt Olson, but Maricio Dubon hit a single up the middle, and Trent Grisham gunned down Ozzie Albies trying to reach third base before Drake Baldwin scored at home.

From there, Fried cruised through 6.1 innings (90 pitches/57 strikes), allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out seven. But it wasn't enough as he left the game with the score tied at 0-0.

-The Yankees were no-hit through three innings by new Brave pitcher Tyler Mahle -- who entered the game with a 5.13 ERA -- before Heliot Ramos broke it up with a leadoff double in the fourth. But the Yankees couldn't capitalize, withGarcia (foul out) and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (pop up) unable to even move Ramos to third. Jones hit a long fly ball to dead center field, but Dubon made a leaping catch at the wall to secure the third out.

McMahon hit a one-out double in the fifth, but he was also stranded after Wells lined out to center and Grisham struck out looking.

They had another chance in the eighth after back-to-back, two-out walks by Ramos and Garcia. Paul Goldschmidt was called off the bench but struck out swinging to end yet another Yankees threat. 

-Behind Fried, Fernando Cruz gave up the first run of the game when Austin Riley launched a solo shot to lead off the eighth inning. Cruz made three outs, but allowing the home run was the difference and continued the right-hander's recent struggles. 

In his last seven games, Cruz has an ERA of 5.40 (four runs in 6.2 innings).

Tim Hill allowed a leadoff solo shot to Olson in the ninth to push the Braves' lead to 2-0. 

-Rice finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts and is now 2-for-22 over his last seven games and 7-for-55 over his last 15 games with just one home run over that time. Hopefully the tying single gets him out of his funk.

Lombard, in his third game with the Yankees, went 1-for-4 with a strikeout, a walk and the run scored.

Game MVP: Ryan McMahon

McMahon not only drove in the winning run, but he was the only Yankee to have more than one hit, finishing 2-for-3 with a walk.

Highlights

Ryan McMahon makes a great play and fires to Luis García Jr. at first to get the out! pic.twitter.com/eiUEleUspq

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 8, 2026

Ben Rice ties the game at 2-2 with a big base hit, bringing Austin Wells home! pic.twitter.com/T7tkFaKfrp

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 8, 2026

Luis García Jr. saves a run with an incredible catch over his head to keep the game tied 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OAD141R0GP

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 8, 2026

Walk-Off W. #RepBXpic.twitter.com/jYskxcs8h3

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 8, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Braves continue their series on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch set for 3:05 p.m.

It's a duel between aces as Gerrit Cole (5-5, 3.42 ERA) takes on Chris Sale (12-6, 2.08 ERA). 

Rays 2, Mariners 1

Anagrams: Julio Rodríguez and Eduard Bazardo, +.03 WPA

Bananagrams: Taylor Ward, -.17 WPA but let’s be clear, every single member of the offense could be in this category tonight, as not a single one aside from Julio had a positive WPA. They, to put it gently, stink.

Game thread comment of the day:

One must imagine The King happy

That was stressful, especially after yesterday’s nightmare ending. It was close all game, with the Jays just edging out to what seemed like a comfortable lead in the late innings before nearly throwing it all away again in the ninth. In the end they hung on by a fingernail.

The deadline additions played a huge role tonight:

• Jose Soriano showed both why he’s had some struggles and why he can be so effective in spite of that. His sinker and curveball generated plenty of ground ball contact plus some swings and misses. His four hits and three walks against three strikeouts over 4.2 doesn’t stand out, but there was a lot to like and he left his team in a position to win.
• Josh Smith was 3-4 with a home run on his 29th birthday. The homer was a moonshot to centre field, giving hope that the power outage that’s wrecked his season was related to his first half injuries and might be behind him. He also stole a base
• Brett Bateman’s first MLB plate appearance, indeed his first swing at his first pitch, was a double crushed off the top of the wall the other way. Then he worked a pair of walks later in the ballgame.
• Matt Waldron, who was a minor league signing and not a trade acquisition, worked a solid eighth inning with a strikeout.

They Jays took an early lead in the second inning on an Andres Gimenez solo home run. It would be short lived, though. In the bottom half, Soriano issued a two out walkd and Jesus Sanchez badly misplayed a ground ball single, letting it get past him to the wall and allowing the runner to score from first. That established a pattern. In the third, Brett Bateman took his first MLB pitch, a Zach Wheeler fastball at the top of the zone, and lined it high off the left field wall for a double. He advanced on a ground out and came around to score on an Alejandro Kirk sac fly, staking the Jays to their second one run lead. Again it was erased in the next half inning, as Kyle Schwarber doubled down the left field line and came around to score on a Bryce Harper single.

Their third lead of the night came in the fourth. Josh Smith hit a two out single, Bateman worked a walk, and Nathan Lukes hit a grounder into right. Smith comfortably beat the throw home to put Toronto in front 3-2. That lead would hold up for a while. Soriano worked around a walk in the home half with the help of a double play. After a Sanchez double was stranded in the top of the fifth, he got himself into a jam by issuing a leadoff walk and then a soft line double that put men on second and third. He rallied with back to back strikeouts before giving way to Mason Fluharty, who punched Bryce Harper out to end the threat.

The Jays added to their lead in the sixth. Smith singled again, and Bateman’s second walk of the night advanced him to scoring position. At that point, Zach Wheeler was at 101 pitches after an uncharacteristically wild performance that featured a season high five walks. Lukes gave him an absolute war, battling him for 14 pitches before lining the 15th into right for an RBI single to make it 4-2. Lazaro Estrada preserved that margin in the bottom half, working a scoreless inning around a walk.

Old friend Tim Mayza, who’d finished off the sixth after Lukes knocked Wheeler out, set the Jays down in order in the seventh. Estrada got one out but then issued his second walk. Brendon Little took over and after a lineup walked the next two batters he saw, loading the bases with two out. He got Harper to fly out softly to centre, though, escaping the jam.

One more insurance run came in the eighth on a Josh Smith solo home run to centre field off Caleb Kilian. Matt Waldron made his Blue Jays debut in the eighth, recording a clean inning with a strikeout. George Springer singled and stole second in the top of the ninth, but was stranded.

That brought it down to Tyler Rogers for the save attempt. It didn’t go smoothly. He walked the first two batters, and Schwarber ticked Kirk’s glove on a check swing for a catcher’s interference to load the bases and bring the winning run to the plate. Treat Turner hit a one hopper to first, which Okamoto fielded and threw to second. The Jays had a chance for a double play, but Gimenez bobbled the transfer and they only got the out at second. Next, Harper hit a grounder into the second base gap. Clement got there but bobbled it, allowing the runner at third to score and putting the tying run at second and the winning run at first. A walk loaded the bases and put both in scoring position. A couple of tough fielding plays narrowly got the Jays out of it. First, Rogers managed to get a chopper that Clement fielded behind the mound. His throw narrowly beat Turner home, forcing him for the second out. Next, Brandon Marsh hit a grounder similar to Harpers’ into the second base hole. Clement fielded it cleanly, but Okamoto had gone for the ball before turning back to cover and didn’t look likely to make it back in time to beat Marsh. Luckily, Rogers had gone to cover himself and narrowly won the race to the bag for the game ending out.

Jays of the Day: Lukes (0.15), Smith (0.12), Bateman (0.10), and while no individual reliever qualifies all of them except Rogers can share a nod for quality relief work

Less so: Okamoto (-0.12)

Tomorrow we get the most exciting pitching matchup of 2018, as Max Scherzer (1-4, 7.92) faces Aaron Nola (3-9, 5.55). First pitch is set for 6:05pm ET.

The Colorado Rockies kicked off a nine-game road trip tonight with the first of a three-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals. In the first matchup of the series, the Rockies and Cardinals found themselves in a one-run battle for most of the game.

While the Rockies out-hit the Cardinals by a wide margin and got productive outings from starter Ryan Feltner and the bullpen, they unfortunately struggled to get runners across and dropped game one because of that. Double plays and runners left on were the story of this game.

Small ball to start the night

A little action in the first inning wasn’t enough to change the numbers on the scoreboard. Despite a leadoff double from Jake McCarthy, the Rockies couldn’t get anything more going. Leahy struck out the side to close out the inning. The Cards went down just as easily, with Alec Burleson’s walk representing their only baserunner of the inning.

The action warmed up a bit in the second inning. TJ Rumfield and Willi Castro kicked things off with a single each, putting runners on the corners. The baserunners set up Troy Johnston to give the Rockies an early lead, as Johnston’s groundout to the shortstop scored Rumfield.

The 1-0 lead didn’t last long. The Cards responded quickly with hits of their own. Jimmy Crooks singled, followed by a Mason Wynn double. A Nathan Church sacrifice fly tied the game at one all, scoring Crooks. With Wynn on third, Bryan Torres sent another sac fly to left field to give St. Louis an early 2-1 lead.

Double plays and other problems settle in

The Rockies lost this one because of their inability to advance runners and because they halted their momentum in key opportunities. Those issues started early. To kick off the third inning, McCarthy managed a single. Cole Carrigg followed that up by grounding into a double play.

The Cardinals added another run in the third. Iván Herrera tagged a solo shot to left field to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead. That small two-run lead would sadly prove to be insurmountable for tonight’s Rockies offense.

Feltner would go on to talk about that homerun in his postgame comments. He noted it as a pitch that got away from him. “I threw him a sweeper the pitch before. Then I threw him a worse one the next pitch. Just threw him a worse version of the same pitch and he put a good swing on it.”

The Rockies looked like they might get back in it in the fourth inning. Rumfield singled to start it off and was moved to third by a Castro double. With runners on second and third and nobody out, the Rockies didn’t get as much production as the opportunity presented.

Ezequiel Tovar struck out before another Johnston groundout RBI brought the game to 3-2. That’s all Colorado would muster, as Edouard Julien grounded out to conclude the push.

Pitching does its job

Aside from some early traffic and the home run that got away, Feltner had another solid outing. He finished after 5.1 IP, surrendering three earned runs on just four hits, with three walks and two strikeouts. While his mistakes did put the Rockies behind early by a small margin, the starting performance is one that felt like it could have resulted in a win if it was paired with just a little more run support.

Warren Schaeffer echoed that sentiment in his presser, noting that “Felt was really good today. Just one mistake to Herrera on the hanging sweeper. Other than that, I thought he mixed well, he kept guys off balance, got us into the sixth inning and definitely gave us a chance to win.”

As he has in recent games, Feltner used a wide mix of pitches to his advantage, pulling out his four-seamer (29%), changeup (22%), sinker (15%), slider and curveball (14% each), and sweeper (5%). Feltner primarily used his four-seamer early (40% of pitches his first time through the order) before going to that wider arsenal.

Much to the Rockies’ dismay, starting pitching got the job done for the other side as well. Leahy allowed a fair amount of contact, giving up eight hits. He also found a way to limit any damage, giving up just two runs along with eight strikeouts in his five innings of work.

Colorado’s bullpen kept things competitive as the early 3-2 score held the rest of the way. Brennan Bernardino, Jimmy Herget, and Nick Frasso all were solid in relief. None of the three allowed a hit, and they combined for five strikeouts across 2.2 innings. Schaeffer praised Frasso in particular after the game, celebrating a “big inning for him. That was great. Get his first big league punchout ever? I thought he looked great. He’s got nasty stuff. Good slider, good changeup, crossbody. High velo.”

A late-inning push is all for not

With nothing doing through most of the game, the Rockies turned to their bench for a spark. In the top of the seventh, Kyle Karros pinch hit for Troy Johnston (o-for-2 with two RBI) and Jordan Beck replaced Edouard Julien (0-for-2 with a strikeout). Karros flied out and Beck singled, but McCarthy and Carrigg would go down swinging to end the inning.

With Karros and Beck subbing in defensively, the Rockies would again look to their bench in the eighth inning, replacing Mickey Moniak with Tyler Freeman as a pinch hitter and later replacing Rumfield with Brett Sullivan as a pinch runner.

The ninth inning ended the game in a way that was emblematic of the whole performance. Tovar drew a walk to start the inning (Colorado’s first of the game), but Karros hit into a double play before Beck grounded out harmlessly to shortstop.

When all was said and done, the Rockies notched 10 hits to the Cardinals’ four. But the Rockies left seven runners on base and were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The hitting was working, just not quite enough when it mattered.

Up Next

It’ll be a southpaw battle in St. Louis on Saturday night.

Riding the high of a complete game gem, Kyle Freeland is set to start for the Rockies. Freeland is 3-10 in 20 starts this year with a 6.81 ERA and 93 strikeouts. His last outing was his best of the season, as he went the distance and gave up just one run with eight strikeouts in an 8-1 win.

Matthew Liberatore will start for St. Lous, bringing in a 5-8 record in 22 starts with a 4.97 ERA and a 1.491 WHIP. He looked sharp in his last outing, going six innings and giving up zero runs and one hit, but failing to get the decision as the Cardinals scored four late in a 5-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

First pitch is set for 5:15 pm MDT.

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

A date has been set for pitcher Tarik Skubal’s home debut as a Dodger.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced what the pitching rotation will look like for the upcoming week, with Skubal taking the mound on Monday, Aug. 10 and Blake Snell returning to the rotation to start on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

It will be Skubal’s home debut at Dodger Stadium, after he was acquired by the organization ahead of the trade deadline.

Los Angeles traded away outfielder Zyhir Hope and a pair of right-handed pitchers — River Ryan and Brady Smith — for Skubal.

The Hayward, California, native has not pitched in a regular-season game at Dodger Stadium. He has pitched in a Dodger uniform already, producing six strikeouts while allowing four hits, two earned runs and a home run in six innings pitched against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Aug. 4.

Tarik Skubal stats

Skubal has compiled a 7-6 overall record in 17 starts this season. He's struck out 122 batters in 102.2 innings pitched.

How long will Tarik Skubal be a Dodger?

Skubal will have the opportunity to become a free agent after making $32 million this season. 

“I would love to play my whole career in Detroit,” Skubal said on the "Pardon My Take" podcast. “Hopefully those negotiations can pick back up in (November) once the playoffs are done.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Date set for Tarik Skubal to make Dodger Stadium pitching debut

Well, well, well. You’re welcome, by the way. (Hopefully this doesn’t jinx what was maybe a season-altering win). I was lucky enough to be at today’s game in-person, and I got to witness a really funny game, start to finish.

Let’s start with the first inning. The White Sox had Noah Schultz going for them (bad this year). For once, it looked as if the Guardians were poised to take advantage of a lopsided pitching matchup. Kwan singled to start the game, but then DeLauter struck out. Jose got to a 1-2 count, but managed to shake off two balls, pushing the count full. He then ripped a ball up the middle for a single, moving Kwan to third. Adell got to 2-2, but then got hit by a Schultz fastball. The White Sox pitching coach came out to talk to Schultz while Vogt was looking at Adell. Bases loaded, one out. Angel Martinez up. First pitch whiffed on. Second pitch… smoked to left, driving in two Guardians runs early.

Then, in a truly bizarre series of events, White Sox manager Will Venable went out to chat with his starter. Unfortunately for him, he apparently hadn’t realized that his pitching coach had been out to the mound already that inning. Oops! MLB rules dictate that you can only visit the mound twice in an inning, with the second mound visit necessitating a pitching change. Oops! Big whoop at home plate with Vogt getting after the HP ump. To make this even funnier, the White Sox didn’t have anyone warming when this happened. So, the game was delayed for a good 5 minutes while they got their bulk reliever up and moving. By the way, the White Sox used 7 relievers last night in a 13-inning classic against the Red Sox. Oops!

Anyway, the inning ended without a fuss, as White Sox reliever David Sandlin put down the next to Guardians rather quickly.

All quiet until the bottom of the 2nd, when Messick gave up a solo homer to Sox rookie Braden Montgomery. 2-1 Guardians.

Quiet, again, until the 5th. Through this point, Messick was more-or-less making quick work of the White Sox lineup. 54 pitches through 4. Only giving up 2 hits. So, the Guardians had the top of the order up in the 5th. Still against David Sandlin, by the way. Kwan led off the inning with a groundout, but each of the next three Guardians reached base (single, walk, HBP). Martinez up, again. He swung at the first pitch he saw and deposited it roughly 422’ into the right field seats. 6-1 Guardians.

Hoskins singled right after, and then Rocchio lined out. But, Hedges came up clutch, driving in Hoskins with an RBI-single. 7-1 Guardians.

Perhaps the funniest event of the night came in the 6th. Which, for what it’s worth, is saying a lot, given what had already transpired.

Kwan led off the 6th inning, still against David Sandlin. Got to 2-2, but then fouled off two decent pitches. Then, on the 7th (a curveball right down broadway), he hit that pitch right off the foul pole in RF, breaking a 324-AB homerless streak.

8-1 Guardians.

Messick gave up a solo homer in the bottom of that inning to Murakami, but did not surrender any further runs for the rest of his outing.

His final line: 7 IP, 4H, 2ER, 1BB, 8K. Both runs came off solo homers. His ERA stayed at 2.57.

Franco Aleman came on for the 8th, and got into some trouble. Single, K, K, walk. At this point, he was already nearly at 20 pitches. Antonacci (pinch-hitting for lefty specialist Randal Grichuk), hit a ball fairly well to left (which had me fooled), but was caught near the track.

Aleman came out again for the 9th. K, lineout. But, then, 3 straight singles. Up to 39 pitches at this point, and the White Sox had momentum, the bases loaded, and their leadoff hitter up to bat. Luckily, Aleman struck him out on 5 pitches.

Aleman’s final line: 2IP, 4H, 0ER, 1BB, 4K — 44 pitches.

To his credit, and despite the mess he made for himself, he didn’t give up any runs, and gave the bullpen a day off.

It’ll be Gavin Williams vs. Anthony Kay tomorrow night. Hopefully the Guardians can take advantage of another lopsided pitching matchup.

While the Mets, who won again on Friday night, have begun to hit their stride during this four-game winning streak, especially offensively, it’s the team’s rookies and young players that are leading the way.

Yes, Marcus Semien had the big blast against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a three-run shot, his second in as many games, but A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge, who had to leave in the fourth inning with wrist soreness, combined for five hits, which was half the team’s total.

Defensively, Ewing and Benge also each made spectacular plays in the outfield as the Mets and their fans have grown accustomed to seeing. In fact, Benge’s web gem was too good as his sliding catch at the wall in left field resulted in him jamming his wrist, which caused the soreness that took him out of the game.

“He sacrificed his body and that’s all you can ask for from your outfielders,” Semien said.

Interim manager Andy Green said after the game that Benge’s X-rays were negative and that the team will see how he feels on Saturday. Hopefully it’s nothing major so the red-hot rookie can be back out there helping to lead the charge as he has the entirety of New York’s win streak.

Over the last four games, Benge is 7-for-17 with two home runs, a triple, five RBI, six runs scored and a stolen base. Looking back even further, the youngster is slashing .304/.362/.470 in his last 30 games and has looked totally comfortable wherever the Mets put him in the outfield.

As for Ewing, he went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a steal on Friday night atop the lineup and is 6-for-16 with three doubles during the team’s four-game win streak. 

“The talent is through the roof,” Semien said about the pair of rookies. “I know the organization knew that. A.J. started the year in I think Double-A, so it’s exciting for him to come up here and produce right away because you don’t always see that. But those guys have been a spark in our lineup for sure.”

On the pitching side, after Sean Manaea turned in a great performance on Tuesday to kick off this streak, Christian Scott, Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton have all followed suit and have shown varying degrees of dominance.

On Friday, it was Thornton who probably turned in the best outing of them all after he went five scoreless innings with a rain delay in between.

“I felt really good despite that delay. Still felt the same,” the left-hander said.

Thornton, who rebounded nicely after a difficult start his last time out, needed just 63 pitches to get through those five innings and likely would’ve pitched deeper into the game had it not been for the delay, which caused him to use some of his bullets while trying to stay warm. 

He now has a 2.52 ERA in seven starts and is the latest Met rookie to prove his worth. 

“I think this is awesome,” Thornton said of the win streak and how the team is playing right now. “We got a ton of energy, a ton of grit and energy in this clubhouse, guys that are hungry for it, guys that are hungry to win. We’re playing for each other so it’s awesome to see.”

New York still has a long way to go in the standings and will need nothing short of a miracle to make the playoffs, but after such a letdown of a season, the rookies are not only helping the team win, but giving fans a reason to be invested once again.

"Four wins in a row. Anytime you win four in a row, there’s definitely good vibes," Semien said. "I think the way we’re winning, with the offense, is a good sign. You think about kinda the grind the offense had been on in the first half and the way we’re winning games is definitely gonna bring good vibes."

Those who believe managers don’t win or lose games, players do, clip and save this recap.

In a move we would have thought cordoned off in the Terry Bevington Hall of Shame, manager Will Venable triggered a puzzling chain of circumstances that saw starting pitcher Noah Schultz bounced from his Friday night start after just one out, 23 pitches — and no fault of his own:

Just one batter after pitching coach Zach Bove had trotted out to the mound to settle Schultz down after hitting Jo Adell with a pitch, Venable did same after Schultz surrendered a two-run single to soft-swinging Angel Martínez.

Oops.

While perhaps not on par with Bevington calling to the bullpen without having gotten a reliever up warming, Venable’s boner resulted, by rule, in Schultz being forced to leave the game. Given the gaffe, it had the effect of an injury substitution, in that just-recalled reliever David Sandlin was sprinting to get warm and enter the game, as no White Sox hurler was up in the pen with the game just 23 pitches old.

At another point in the game, or in another circumstance, perhaps Venable’s boo-boo would not have crushed so hard. But in the fumes of a sweep in Boston, with last night’s loss wiping out the bullpen (seven of the team’s eight relievers were used, covering 8 ⅓ innings), it could not possibly have been timed more poorly.

But was this loss all on Venable? Of course not, the players still have to play the game, even if they landed in Chicago at 5 a.m. and grabbed only snatches of sleep before suiting back up on Friday.

Usually when a team puts up eight runs or more in a game and wins by a hefty margin, it’s due to the whole team contributing. There are the rare occasions where a player takes over a game by himself, but that’s usually reserved for the Shohei Ohtani’s of the world. Unfortunately the White Sox were on the tail end of one of the most rare and sad butt-whooping’s a team can have: They got spanked by a nobody.

No disrespect to Martínez, but he’s hit .228 over 861 at-bats in his short career. He is not a player teams ever game plan for or fear — but that might change after what Martínez did to the White Sox on Friday night.

Of course, it all started in the first inning, when the Cleveland Guardians loaded the bases before Schultz could even get two outs. After a first strike, Schultz decided to try to slip a cutter by Martínez ,right down the middle. Even a player who can’t hit .230 can do something with that ,and his two-run single put the Guardians up, 2-0.

For the next few innings, the game was pretty boring if we’re being honest with ourselves. Unfortunately, the game was also clearly too boring for Sandlin who after being rushed in for Schultz had sat down 12-of-14 Guards to restore order to the contest. That is, until he loaded that bases in the fifth inning for … Martínez. Surely he couldn’t do it again, right?

Wrong.

Sandlin saw Schultz’s cutter down the middle bring in two runs for Cleveland in the first and wanted to see if it was a fluke or not. So the righty decided to throw one of his own, just to see which cutter down the middle was better. All fans in attendance found out pretty quickly that Schultz’s was superior, as Martínez, tonight’s Angel of Death, took the pitch 422 feet to right-center field. The bat flip that ensued was cool, and the sassing of Sox catcher Edgar Quero probably turned on the most yahoo of Wahoos fans, but the game being unofficially ended in the fifth inning was not:

When the dust settled from the seams getting knocked off the baseball, Martínez had just two hits on the night — but they were two big ones, as he brought six runs home all by himself. Both teams struck for a run in the sixth, but the game was already over at that point.

While the loss is just one loss, with Minnesota and Cleveland (obviously) also winning, this seems much bigger than that. We may be in the early stages of August, but if the White Sox fail to answer the call this weekend, the alarm bells may be going off sooner rather than later.

MVP
Braden Montgomery: 2-for-3, BB, R, RBI, K

Runners-Up
Trevor Richards: 2 ⅓ IP
Erick Fedde: IP, K
Munetaka Murakami: 1-for-4, HR, R, RBI
Luisangel Acuña: 2-for-4, K

Cold Cat
Will Venable: Little League managerial error that wasted Noah Schultz and put needless wear on his pen

Runners-Up
Noah Schultz: ⅓ IP, 3 H, 2 ER, K, HB, LOSS (3-9)
Colson Montgomery: 0-for-4, 3 K
Chase Meidroth: 1-for-5, 2 K
Brenton Doyle: 0-for-4, K