Category: Baseball

The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the Toronto Blue Jays scored five runs.

After a disappointing last few games in Miami, the Rangers arrived in an entirely different country where leadoff hitter Joc Pederson immediately made an impact by battling Jays starter Kevin Gausman for an eleven pitch at-bat that concluded with a leadoff dong, his 12th of the season.

The Rangers weren’t finished beating up on Gausman as in the third inning they got home runs from Wyatt Langford and Jake Burger to pad their lead. Langford’s dinger was of the three-run variety to put Texas up 4-0. It was his fifth home run in the last eight games as he’s gone nuclear here in late June.

Burger meanwhile hit his lead-leading 14th of the year, a two-run shot that put the Rangers up 6-0 and followed a walk from the returning Corey Seager.

With a big lead in the early innings, MacKenzie Gore was able to chew through some much-needed innings. Though he ran into some trouble in the fifth, allowing three runs to halve Texas’ lead, the left-hander ultimately went seven innings and allowed just those three runs on four hits and a walk. Gore also struck out five as he picked up his first win of the month.

Jakob Junis handled the eighth and then Jacob Latz survived a two-run Kazuma Okamoto homer to make us sweat out for his 15h save of the year. With the 81st game in the books, we’ve reached the halfway point of the 2026 season with Texas on the wrong side of the .500 mark but looking to surge ahead.

Player of the Game: Gore enjoyed a quality start and Langford’s three-run blast was the biggest hit of the night but Pederson set the tone with his long at-bat that ended in a leadoff home run to flip the script on how the first inning had often gone for Texas in the first half.

In addition to the solo home run to begin the game, Pederson also singled ahead of Langford’s dong and walked twice.

Up Next: The Rangers and Blue Jays are back at it tomorrow evening with RHP Nathan Eovaldi expected to make the start for Texas opposite Rangers’ inning-eating hero from a season ago, LHP Patrick Corbin for Toronto.

The Friday night first pitch from Rogers Centre is scheduled for 6:07 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

When Craig Counsell spoke to David Peterson over the phone Thursday morning, the Cubs manager could sense it in his newest pitcher’s voice. This was a lot to take in. Peterson had only known one team throughout his MLB career — and he was the longest-tenured Met. Just Wednesday night, during the second game of a doubleheader between the teams, Peterson was in the home dugout.

But that changed shortly before midnight, after the Mets sent the struggling lefty to Chicago in exchange for infield prospect Cole Mathis. Instead of spending the rest of his final season before free agency trying to fix what has gone wrong in Queens, Peterson was expected to start this weekend in Milwaukee for another team, potentially even flying with it after the series concluded at Citi Field and Peterson got everything in his personal life situated.

“Nobody tells you when you’re gonna be traded,” Counsell said. “They call you into the office or they call you on the phone and say, ‘You’ve been traded.’ That’s the warning you get. That’s shocking news for anybody. So I think he’s feeling the effects of that, and that takes a little while.”

And for the Mets, who entered play with a five-game losing streak and in the basement of the National League East, it marked the first move in what could be a summer filled with change to the current roster. Peterson’s deal could be just the initial trade. This is the reality for a spiraling team. After being an integral piece of the Mets’ improbable run to the NLCS in 2024 and after making the All-Star Game in 2025, Peterson’s trajectory stalled, with struggles forcing him to become a bullpen piece and bulk-inning reliever this season as a result.

“It’s sad to see him go,” Bo Bichette told The Post. “He’s been a great teammate so far in my time here and obviously spent a lot of time here, so yeah, I think it definitely sends some shock waves through the clubhouse.”

Mendoza said Peterson’s reaction to his role didn’t play a factor in the deal. He praised the 30-year-old’s ability to adapt to whatever the Mets needed. Peterson, a first-round pick in 2017 who debuted three years later, had collected a 6.08 ERA through 16 appearances — and eight starts — this season, with the latest clunker unfolding Sunday against the Phillies.

On a Mets team with so many rotation questions, Peterson was among the most puzzling. He pitched to a 2.41 ERA across the final two months of the 2024 regular season. He collected a 2.83 ERA across his first 20 starts the next campaign, too, and cracked the first All-Star roster of his career. He was supposed to be the constant. A source of stability in a 2026 rotation filled with inconsistencies (such as Kodai Senga) and unproven young pitchers (such as Nolan McLean).

“And then kinda everything went the other way,” Mendoza said.

After a three-start stretch where he allowed 14 earned runs in 14 ¹/₃ innings, Peterson was demoted to the bullpen. He made four starts after the demotion while also logging bulk innings in other outings.

“It’s a tough one,” Mendoza said. “because obviously, you understand this is a business. But especially from my end, I had a really good relationship with [Peterson]. … But it got to a point where needed the flexibility on the roster. Talking to David [Stearns], we already have Kodai in the pen and just continue to have starters in the bullpen, it’s just not gonna be sustainable.”

So in the visiting dugout pregame, Counsell talked about how he felt the Cubs could get the most out of Peterson and a fresh start. About how Chicago’s defensive strength — the opposite of a team like the Mets, who committed six errors Wednesday night — could benefit a pitcher who tends to induce plenty of ground balls. About how the Cubs were able to fill a need with five weeks still remaining until the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

The Mets, though, were left with a void. They were left with a new longest-tenured player. They were left with another subtle reminder that this could happen over and over again before the deadline arrives, even if Bichette, when asked about whether there’s a pressure to win before then, downplayed that reality.

“I mean, we’re just focused on winning as many games as we can,” Bichette said. “We can’t really focus on all that kinda stuff. We just have to focus on what we can do today.”

After a disappointing series loss to the Yankees featuring two very close defeats, the Tigers looked to right the ship in the opener of a four-game weekend series at home against the Houston Astros — and, yes, the Tigers just played them last weekend, who the heck is making this schedule anyway? Despite some incredible starting pitching, the Tigers couldn’t solve Houston’s pitching and dropped the series opener 2-1 on Thursday night.

Making his sixth start of the year for the Tigers was Troy Melton, who has been good-to-great so far this year. His last start featured six innings of one-run ball against the White Sox in the midst of that lovely sweep last weekend. Curiously, while his ERA is a sterling 2.56, his FIP (fielding-independent pitching; essentially ERA with average fielding behind him) is a bizarrely-high 5.41. But he also has a walks-plus-hits-per-inning-pitched (WHIP) of a sensational 0.947, so I can honestly say I have no idea what the heck is going on there.

Tatsuya Imai, in his first season in North America after a few excellent years in Japan, has been up-and-down. He still strikes out a lot of batters like he did in Japan, but his walk rate is an astronomical 5.3 per 9 innings. His previous start saw him strike out 11 in six innings, but in the one before that he didn’t get out of the first inning. Much was written about Imai describing how he was having trouble “adjust[ing] to the American lifestyle” and how that might have contributed to some arm fatigue early in the spring. (Remember, Japanese starting pitchers throw in about a game a week.)

A fun thing happened on the first pitch of the game: the pitch was delivered and called a ball, “Marshall” Dillon Dingler immediately challenged it, and the call was overturned. That guy, man — not only does he hit dingers, but he’s one of the best in MLB at getting calls overturned.

Both pitchers were crusing early on, and Melton’s fastball was really sizzling, touching 98 mph (44 m/s) early on. He mixed in cutters and sliders, and he also featured a much sharper splitter in this one to keep hitters honest. The whiffs and strikeouts are starting to arrive for Melton. Imai’s splitter-ish slider was used pretty heavily, and he certainly made Hao-Yu Lee look quite the fool on a third-inning strikeout.

The first hit of the game for either side appeared with two out in the bottom of the fourth, with Riley Greene poking a single to right field; Colt Keith lined out sharply to centre for the third out of the inning.

Through five innings Melton hadn’t allowed a baserunner and had struck out six, but was at 75 pitches. If he was going to, youuu knoooow, he needed some quick innings.

However, after retiring the first 16 hitters in a row, Melton hung a slider to Taylor Trammell in the sixth and he hit it a long way over the right-field fence for a 1-0 Houston lead. After a two-out single to Jeremy Peña, Melton got the dangerous Yordan Alvarez to fly out harmlessly to Greene in left field on one pitch.

Kyle Finnegan took over for Melton to start the seventh; Melton’s fantastic final line was 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K. Finnegan’s been no slouch himself recently: in the middle game of the Yankees series he pitched 1 1/3 innings and struck out all four batters he faced. Tonight he had a pleasantly uneventful seventh inning: groundout, flyout, strikeout.

The eighth brought Tyler Holton to the mound, and he’s been good lately too. Coming into tonight he’d had seven straight scoreless appearances (although he did allow an inherited runner to score in the Yankees series). He gave up a harmless single but otherwise had a clean sheet, to borrow a soccer term.

With two outs in the eighth, Lee punched a single into centre against AJ Blubaugh, bringing Kevin McGonigle up to the plate, but he grounded out to first and we were on to the ninth.

Kenley Jansen, who’s been pretty solid lately, came on for the ninth; he gave up a leadoff single to Peña, who stole second. Let’s just say that, if there are ten things on Jansen’s mind on a mound, holding runners close ain’t one of ’em — and that would prove to be very important, as Alvarez hit a grounder to second that advanced Peña to third with one out. Isaac Paredes hit a fly ball to score Alvarez and push the lead to 2-0, and that lack of attention to a runner may have ultimately cost the Tigers the game.

As he has done lately, Dingler put the team on his back and blasted a home run to centrefield with one out in the ninth to narrow the gap to 2-1.

Greene followed with a single to give the Tigers hope, but Keith hit a hot grounder right to first base — exactly where Christian Walker was, as he was holding Greene on. Walker threw to second, the throw came back to first, and that was the ball game.

Final score: Astros 2, Tigers 1

Notes and Whatnot

• Let’s talk about Dillon Dingler. His batting average (and OPS) by month: .247 (.800), .206 (.743), .361 (1.093). Whoa, he really likes June! (And so have the Tigers.)
• Another fun statistic about Dingler: coming into tonight he had led off an inning 65 times so far this year. In those plate appearances he’s hit five home runs, two doubles and two triples (amongst his 20 hits), walked five times and has an OPS of an astronomical 1.172. I know that’s a small sample, but holy mackerel, those are some numbers, small sample size or not.
• I’m not the only one who’s sweet on this Dingler fellow; Fangraphs likes him too.
• Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudí was born on this day in 1852. If you’ve ever been to Barcelona, you’ve definitely seen his work: the Sagrada Família cathedral, which has been under construction for about a century, was his design. He also designed Park Güell, which looks like it came out of a psychedelic drug-fueled dream, and is stupdendously cool.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

We asked you earlier in the week how the D-backs should approach the trade deadline. Of course, it’s something which is very much in flux. Even since the poll took place, the D-backs unexpectedly won a pair of games on the road, against a team ahead of them in the standings. They currently sit two games out of a wild-card spot, but it’s very much in a state of flux, as I noted in the original. Going into play today, only four games cover the eight teams who occupy between fourth and eleventh place in the standings. A good week could catapult anyone into a wild-card spot. Conversely, a bad week could drop you like a stone.

So, I’ve a feeling the answer to this question could change – probably multiple times – between now and the trade deadline on August 3. I imagine Mike Hazen and the Arizona front office will certainly wait until the All-Star break, and see how a potentially tricky section of the schedule plays out. But for now, here’s what you responded.

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Caution seems to be the order of the day, with the two “weak” options combining for 56% of the votes. “Buy” just edged out “Sell” there, though there’s a case to be made for both directions. Here are some comments from the poll thread which do just that, or go for the option in the middle.

• Sneeks – “I selected “weak sell” because I’m just not sure if we are a trade or two away from being a playoff team. I really wish we were. We show flashes, but against better teams, those flashes seem to occur fewer and fewer. … I also selected “weak sell” because… we just don’t have a lot of interesting pieces to shop?”
• LeftFieldCorNWer – “Weak buy for the right player at the right price. Not sure it makes sense to spend a lot for this season. They keep having to scramble to stay around .500. The only sustained success so far was that stretch against the cellar dwelling teams.”
• DbacksEurope – “Stand pat. Buying wouldn’t be wise. It is impossible to turn this mediocre team into a contender unless we somehow are able to get 3 ace starting pitchers, a complete new bullpen and we get 3 guys that can actually hit, and not just this season. No one is going to net a valuable return, look Suárez and Naylor. E-Rod would be a salary dump. The only situation I see is to just sit it out.”

Interestingly, enthusiasm for a strong anything was considerably more skewed towards the sell than the buy, at 24% vs. 10% (strong buy isn’t shown, but I did the math!). The fringey nature of the team’s status as a contender, plus perhaps concerns about the status of the 2027 season, may be a factor against the team pushing in all their chips right now. Which makes sense: it doesn’t feel like this team is a player or two from being a credible threat to the likes of the Yankees or Dodgers come October. Though you might have said the same thing at the start of the 2023 post-season as well…

Shohei Ohtani was the first Dodger to be named a 2026 All-Star, after leading the majors in Phase 1 voting for the All-Star game on July 14 in Philadelphia. Six other Dodgers were finalists through the fan ballot, giving them a chance to claim starting spots in Phase 2 of voting.

Ohtani locked down the starting DH spot for the National League squad, with 3,341,257 votes. The top vote-getters in each league bypass Phase 2. Second baseman Ernie Clement of the Toronto Blue Jays was the top vote-getter in the American League, with 3,232,932 votes.

Ohtani was the expected choice, despite a slow offensive start. His red-hot June boosted him up the leaderboards. He entered Thursday with the second-highest OPS in the National League (.963), barely trailing Mets outfielder Juan Soto (.965).

Read more:Shohei Ohtani takes control of Dodgers' win after miscommunication with Dalton Rushing

Pitchers aren’t chosen through the fan vote — hurlers and reserves have to wait for the player ballot (which includes votes from players, coaches and managers) and commissioners picks. But Ohtani has been just as impressive on the mound this year.

He has a 1.58 ERA, the fourth-best mark among NL pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings this season.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (2,666,008 votes), third baseman Max Muncy (2,890,181) and outfielder Andy Pages (2,158,664) also led their respective NL position groups in voting. Other Dodgers finalists, who advance to voting Phase 2, include catcher Will Smith (1,871,805), shortstop Mookie Betts (1,762,343 ) and outfielder Teoscar Hernandez (1,569,932).

The vote totals reset for Phase 2, which runs from next Monday through Thursday. The remainder of the All-Star starters are set to be announced on July 4 on Fox Sports.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts replaced Don Mattingly in 2015. Just over a decade later, Roberts has invited his predecessor to serve as an honorary coach in the 2026 All-Star Game.

Major League Baseball released a statement announcing the coaches and staff for the Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia.

“National League manager Dave Roberts of the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers has invited manager Oliver Marmol of the St. Louis Cardinals and interim manager Don Mattingly of the host Philadelphia Phillies to serve as honorary coaches alongside the Dodgers’ coaching staff for the NL,” the statement read.

Mattingly is currently the interim manager for the Philadelphia Phillies, but he landed his first managerial role in Los Angeles.

Mattingly served as the Dodgers manager from 2011-2015 and the beginning of his tenure with LA marked a difficult time for the organization. The 2011 Dodgers season saw owner Frank McCourt’s bitter divorce battler hamper the team financially, but Mattingly led the team to a winning season alongside MVP candidate Matt Kemp and Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw.

Mattingly was the first manager in franchise history to lead the team to three consecutive playoff appearance. He was replaced by Roberts in 2015.

Roberts is in the midst of his 11th season as Dodgers manager as the back-to-back champions look to win their third straight World Series title. Roberts has won 3 World Series titles with the Dodgers and has led the team to five National League pennants.

Roberts will have a familiar face in his lineup for the All-Star Game as Shohei Ohtani was named the National League’s designated hitter. Several other Dodgers could appear in the game, including outfielder Andy Pages, catcher Will Smith, third baseman Max Muncy among others.

BOSTON — It was only one at-bat halfway through a long season. 

But it won the Yankees the game and spoke loudly about Jasson Domínguez’s ability to rebound from some hiccups and impact the club the rest of the way, especially as it tries to withstand a barrage of injuries. 

The 23-year-old outfielder had looked overmatched while striking out in his first two at-bats with Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on Wednesday night, and then fell behind 0-2 in the third at-bat with the game tied in the sixth inning. That is when Domínguez went to work. He fouled off three pitches while taking three balls out of the zone to work the count full, then on the ninth pitch got a change-up down the middle and crushed it into the left field seats for a two-run shot, the switch-hitter’s first home run of the year from the right side. 

“The first two at-bats, I couldn’t figure out,” Domínguez said. “[Skubal] is one of the best. His changeup, his fastball, they’re great. By the third at-bat, I had a better clue about it. 

“I think it’s just mental and trying to stay in the game. He got me the first two, but there’s still more game to play, there’s still more at-bats coming. Just keep my mind right and try to help the team, trying to battle.” 

Domínguez, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI in Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the Red Sox, has already impressed the Yankees with how he handled his demotion to Triple-A to begin the year, with no spot for him on the roster until injuries opened the door for him to come back up. 

But the battle with Skubal was another example of why they continue to believe there is more in there than he has shown to date as a big leaguer. 

“He’s a talented hitter,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s good to see a young player like that going up against a really tough matchup and it’s just why you got to keep at it. You’re going to get had sometimes by a good pitcher in certain at-bats. It didn’t hold him down and obviously that swing was the difference.” 

The fact that it came from the right side made it even more notable. 

Hitting righty was one of Domínguez’s biggest weaknesses last year, as he hit just .204 with a .569 OPS and one home run in 104 plate appearances, compared to .274 with a .768 OPS and nine home runs in 325 plate appearances as a left-handed hitter. 

But he has simplified his approach from the right side this year and it has made a difference so far, entering Thursday batting .321 with a .893 OPS and one home run in 29 plate appearances from that side, compared to .167 with a .579 OPS and two home runs in 45 plate appearances from the left side. 

“In the past, I used to have a big leg kick and all that,” Domínguez said. “Right now I’m just trying to be more simple and take good at-bats.” 

Boone has maintained that Dominguez hitting better right-handed came down to experience, after he has missed large chunks of time to injury in his career. But he is getting a steady dose of it now, especially at a time when Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham are all on the injured list and playing time is up for grabs. 

That said, there is clearly still room for improvement from Domínguez, particularly on defense. He started a ninth straight game in right field Thursday night, and the new position remains a work in progress, as evidenced by a fielding error there Wednesday. But the Yankees continue to believe he has the mental and physical skills to make it work. 

“Hopefully with more and more experience,” Boone said, “he continues to get better and better and becomes the player out there we think he can be.”

A lengthy list of Virginia baseball alumni have been thriving in professional baseball this year, and national champion Ernie Clement sits at the very top. Following a breakout 2025 playoff run in which his record-setting 30 hits propelled the Toronto Blue Jays to game seven of the World Series, Clement has picked it right back up in the first half of 2026. As the American League leader in votes as of June 25, Clement has automatically qualified to start in the All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

As we stand, Clement is in line for career-best marks in batting average (.292) and slugging percentage (.437), and he is well under way towards his third consecutive 3+ WAR season, per Baseball Reference. That same contact-oriented approach under which he went down on strikes just 31 times in 745 UVA at bats has sustained in the big leagues, where his 10.4% strikeout rate ranks in the top three percent of MLB.

Clement’s defensive versatility has also carried over, as he has seen time in all four infield spots and even the corner outfield over the course of his six year career in Cleveland and Toronto. However, Clement has more recently settled into the every day second baseman spot, where he has spent over 75% of his innings in 2026.

In addition to his statistical output, Clement’s all-star nod comes thanks to an outpour of local support. His blue collar work-ethic and scrappy on-field play turned him into a fan favorite, even before his legendary postseason. It also helps that Clement grew up in Rochester, New York, a mere 175 miles from Toronto.

Virginia has now secured MLB All-Stars in two consecutive seasons, with Clement following Andrew Abbott, who qualified for his first Midsummer Classic in 2025. Other recent UVA alumni to earn this accolade include Chris Taylor (2021), Sean Doolittle (2014 and 2018), and Ryan Zimmerman (2009 and 2017).

Major League Baseball made its latest proposal in the sport’s ongoing labor battle on Thursday.

And once again, some common Dodgers tactics seemed to be not-so-coincidental targets.

As part of a sweeping set of suggested changes that would put term and salary limits on individual player contracts, MLB’s proposal included de facto “max contracts” for players — similar to the system that is currently in place in the NBA — of five years and $202 million for free agents changing teams, and six years and $265 million for free agents re-signing with their previous team.

Just as notable — at least to Dodgers fans — is that the league also proposed eliminating deferred money from all future contracts, while maintaining its push for a hard salary cap.

As a tradeoff, the league offered to raise minimum player salaries, provide players earlier access to free agency and eliminate qualifying offers that can drag down the markets of top free agents.

It marks the latest flashpoint in what have been increasingly contentious negotiations over a new CBA, with the proposal having already been rebuked later Thursday afternoon by the players’ union.

It also marks yet another way the league is trying to eliminate some of the methods the Dodgers have used to build their current dynasty, going after the kind of long-term and heavily deferred deals that have helped them navigate record-setting payrolls the last couple seasons.

Currently, the Dodgers have six players on deals that would surpass the league’s new proposed contract maximums: Shohei Ohtani (10 years, $700 million), Mookie Betts (12 years, $365 million), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12 years, $325 million), Will Smith (10 years, $140 million), Kyle Tucker (four years, $240 million) and Freddie Freeman (six years, $162 million).

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They also have nine players whose deals include at least some deferred money: Ohtani (who is the most extreme example, having deferred $680 million of his record-breaking salary), Betts, Smith, Freeman, Blake Snell, Teoscar Hernández, Tanner Scott, Tommy Edman and Edwin Díaz.

For the Dodgers, stretching out contracts and deferring money has preserved the team’s short-term financial flexibility, helping them maintain options each winter as they have constructed star-studded rosters over the last several years.

For their players, such deals provide long-term security and, in some cases, tax benefits and negotiation leverage.

That’s why, as the strategy has come under scrutiny in recent years, both team executives and superstars in the clubhouse have defended it.

“There are times where [negotiating a] deal lines up in a more straightforward way. There’s times where it’s less straightforward,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said at Snell’s introductory news conference last winter. “Including deferrals helps as a lever to find that overlap.”

The critique of the approach, of course, is that without regulations on contract structures, the Dodgers have been able to double down on their economic advantages. 

Ohtani’s deal, in particular, has proven to be transformational. While his presence has helped boost the club’s revenues by hundreds of millions per year, he is only earning $2 million per season (the other $68 million of his annual salary will be paid out a decade into the future, after the 10 seasons it covers have concluded).

Granted, Ohtani still accounts for more than $46 million annually in luxury tax calculations — a total that is based on the present-day value of his deal.

Still, it has become the calling card for factions of fans hopeful MLB will adopt a salary cap and even out financial disparities within the sport.

On Thursday, the league’s latest proposal took that exact aim.

There was a lot to like about the first six innings of Thursday’s Highway 80 Series finale for the San Francisco Giants. Then, the Giants’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad bullpen got involved and an empowering sweep turned into an embarrassing 9-6 loss to the Sacramento A’s.

Victor Bericoto showed off his arm and his bat once again, Willy Adames went deep, and Jung Hoo Lee battled a tough lefty reliever for a three-run triple, but it was all for naught when the team’s public relations/on-field disaster of a bullpen took over.

Caleb Killian (2-4) took the loss after giving up four runs in the 9th inning, but it was a team effort to blow this game. For a group of pitchers who seem extremely homophobic, they apparently have no problem with a group of men getting together to suck, as long as it’s on a baseball field.

Rainbow Warrior Ryan Walker got the implosion going in the 7th inning, relieving Cap Buddy Landen Roupp after the Giants starter gave up two runs and struck out six in his six-inning stint. Walker gave up two singles, who both scored when Shea Langeliers hit a two-out RBI single off Erik Miller.

Dylan Smith pitched the 8th and yielded an RBI single to second baseman Jeff McNeil, who went 3-for-4 with two runs, an RBI, and a hit-by-pitch Wednesday, avenging Zach Gelof’s spiked hand from Tuesday’s game. Then, in the 9th, an ABS challenge turned a 3-2 count on Tyler Soderstrom to a walk, putting two runners on with two outs and creating an IBS challenge for the fans. Still, all he needed was one more out! That’s not so much to ask.

(Narrator: It was too much to ask.)

Jonah Heim tied the game, singling on a fastball straight down the middle. Lawrence Butler singled in the go-ahead run on a knuckle curve straight down the middle. After Butler stole second, Max “We’re Starting To Resent Him As Much As The Other One” Muncy knocked in two more runs on a fastball just slightly off the middle of the plate. That was it for Killian, the rally, and the game, though Muncy rubbed salt in the wound by stealing second, the third Athletics baserunner to take second in the inning off a shell-shocked Eric Haase.

It’s kind of amazing that answering baseball questions about this horrendous bullpen is actually considered the easier option for Giants personnel, but that’s where we are in 2026.

Rainbow integrity aficionado Roupp started off strong, escaping a two-on, one-out situation in the 3rd by striking out Nick Kurtz (say his name slowly) and Langeliers. In the 4th, Bericoto threw out a runner at second and in the 6th, Roupp bailed himself out with a nifty behind-the-back grab and double play.

The rookie outfielder nearly had another assist in the 5th on Alika Williams’ double, but Willy Adames’ relay throw pulled Daniel Susac and his sore back up the line, and McNeil scored. The A’s got their second run two batters later when Kurtz just barely beat out a double play.

Casey Schmitt crushed one off the dinger-prone Jeffrey Springs (5.1 IP, 3R, 3H, 6K) in the 5th inning, but like mail-in votes in a Los Angeles mayoral election, it swung left at the last moment and went foul. Willy Adames had no such issue when Springs left a high fastball over the plate two batters later. He made like Bill Clinton in 1992 and crushed it just left of center field for the first runs of the game. Just call him “Slick Willy.”

The Victor Bericoto Show continued Wednesday, where the Giants left fielder once again showed off his arm and his bat. Last night, he threw out Jacob Wilson at home and hit a 445-foot walkoff home run. Wednesday, he gunned down a stunned Tyler Soderstrom at second base, on a play that looked like a clear double off the bat.

In the 6th inning, he capped off the Giants’ five-run inning by hitting another 445-foot homer, this time a two-run bomb. If you’re wondering, both dingers would have been home runs in 30/30 major league ballparks.

Bericoto is doing this in the aftermath of two devastating earthquakes that hit his native Venezuela Tuesday. Along with Jose Butto and Luiz Arraez, Bericoto is wearing a “VZ” patch on his cap, while awaiting news of his friends and relatives. If you want to help the relief efforts, a good place to donate is Global Empowerment Mission.

There’s also no truth to the rumor that the Red Cross has declared the Giants bullpen a disaster area, so do not donate to any GoFundMe’s that JT Brubaker emails you about.

Finally, we should show Lee’s commendable bases-loaded hit in the 6th inning, which followed a highly disrespectful four-pitch walk to Willy Adames, the definition of the intentional-unintentional free pass. He fought off two nasty 0-2 pitches to stay alive, then got a gift when Butler tried for an impossible diving catch of Lee’s liner and turned it into a triple.

Why are the Athletics’ hats always falling off? Kurtz loses his helmet every time he comes to the plate, and all he’s doing is swinging the bat. Clearly Drew Gilbert will be studying game tape to figure out how he can make his own cap fall off even more often.

The two-game win streak is over. The Atlanta Braves are coming to town Friday, carrying a four-game losing streak and Joey Bart, both terrible omens for the fortunes of the orange and black. And the A’s are going to receive a strongly-worded letter from Senator Josh Hawley about their unfair treatment of the Giants bullpen.

The St. Louis Cardinals game vs the Arizona Diamondbacks game Thursday night has been postponed because of weather and will be made up on July 23.

Five Atlanta Braves positions players have advanced to the second round of 2026 All-Star Game voting. Catcher Drake Baldwin, first baseman Matt Olson, outfielders Ronald Acuña, Jr. and Michael Harris II and second baseman Ozzie Albies all moved to the next round of voting, which begins on June 29, 2026, by finishing in the top two at each position, per league, in the first round of fans voting. The top six outfielders advanced.

Those two top players per positions – and top six outfielders – will go head-to-head to gain the starting assignment in this year’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia. The exceptions are the top vote-getters in each league, who automatically advance as starters. Shohei Ohtani led the National League at the designated hitter position and Ernie Clement led the American League and draws the starting assignment at second base.

Pitchers are not part of the voting process.

Here are the match-up for each of the Braves players in the next round, which includes players from three of Atlanta’s top rivals:

Catcher: Baldwin vs. Will Smith (Dodgers)

First base: Olson vs. Freddie Freeman (Dodgers)

Second base: Albies vs. Bryson Stott (Phillies)

Outfield: Harris II and Acuña, Jr. compete with Andy Pages (Dodgers), Juan Soto (Mets), Brandon Marsh (Phillies) and Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers)

Voting ends on July 2 and can be done here.

The possibility of a Major League Baseball season in 2027 could be dwindling.

MLB proposed a five-year maximum contract length for players signing with new teams via free agency during a Thursday negotiation with the MLB Players Association on the league’s next collective bargaining agreement, the league confirmed via X on Thursday afternoon.

Beginning in 2027, teams would also be able to re-sign their own players to deals of up to six years under the league’s proposed “Cornerstone Player” provision, which MLB likened to the NBA’s “Bird Rights” clause that gives teams an advantage in retaining their own free agents by allowing them to exceed the salary cap and offer larger contracts.

Free agents joining a new team would be allowed to sign a maximum deal of five years, $202 million, while the “Cornerstone Player” clause would top out at six years, $265 million.

The proposal would also eliminate deferred contracts, much like the ones utilized by the Dodgers, including for stars Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker.

Thursday’s meeting also saw the league accept MLBPA’s proposal to grant free agency to players who are 30 years old with five years of MLB service — marking a potential shift from the longstanding post-1976 standard that has generally granted free agency after six years — and eliminate the qualifying offer system, which effectively penalizes teams for signing certain free agents by attaching draft-pick compensation.

MLB also proposed what it called a “historic” increase to the league minimum salary, raising it from $780,000 to $1 million for players with at least two years of service and guaranteeing players with less than two years of service $1 million in total compensation if they accrue a full year of service.

“Every other major U.S. sport has tackled this problem, and every year more small-market teams in those leagues have a chance to win. The salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field, allowing us greater flexibility to address longstanding player priorities while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50,” MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said.

“Today, in addition to proposing the largest ever increase in the minimum salary, earned by over half of MLB players, we accepted two landmark changes to free agency that have been in place for 50 years. We agreed to both the MLBPA’s proposal to provide earlier access to free agency, and their proposal to eliminate the qualifying offer system, a provision players view as a drag on free agency.”

MLBPA blasted Thursday’s negotiations and proposals as “misleading” and part of an agenda that would lead to “suppressing player salaries and maximizing club profits.”

“These misleading offers are designed to look like ‘improvements’ but are of little or no value, given they are expressly conditioned on agreement to the league’s cap system which eliminates the free market, and ensures gains for one player only come at the expense of another,” the union said in a statement.

The latest round of negotiations comes a week after MLBPA ripped the league over a proposed overhaul of the draft, which would remove high school players from draft eligibility until after their sophomore year of college and cut the draft from 20 rounds to 12 while reducing the bonus pool from $358.7 million to $200 million.

Late last month, MLB formally proposed a hard salary cap that would require every MLB team to maintain a payroll between $171.2 million and $245.3 million. It would force several big market teams, including the Mets, Dodgers and Yankees, to significantly cut their spending.

The league’s push for a salary cap has been met with fierce resistance, and MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer put the onus on MLB to avoid a lockout in 2027.

“As I said in the past, it’s highly, highly likely that they’re going to lock us out again,” Meyer said Thursday, noting that another meeting is expected ahead of the July All-Star break, per The Athletic.

“Ultimately, that’s up to them.”

The Mets had at least something go right for them, as Juan Soto avoided the injured list and was back in the lineup for the series finale against the Cubs after exiting Tuesday’s game with back tightness.

Carlos Mendoza hoped pregame that Soto — who also missed time earlier this season with a calf injury — would be able to play, prompting the Mets to release their starting lineup later than expected until they received some clarity.

He hit third and served as the designated hitter, with MJ Melendez in left field.

Mendoza, who didn’t have any clarity on when Soto could return to the outfield, was satisfied that Soto even wanted to play — as opposed to just being available as a pinch-hitter after missing both games Wednesday.

“That’s a good sign,” Mendoza said.

A trip to the IL would’ve been another nightmare for the Mets in a season full of them.

Soto, who entered Thursday’s game with a .299 average, .965 OPS and 17 homers, has been one of the only pieces of their lineup to produce.

Francisco Lindor just returned from his calf strain Wednesday and Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine disc herniation), Jorge Polanco (left Achilles bursitis, right wrist contusion) and Marcus Semien (left hip flexor strain) are all on the injured list.

And the Mets’ hope that Soto was only day-to-day turned out to be accurate.

He avoided another stint on the IL after missing 15 games in April. The Mets, for once, caught an injury break.

For the sixth time in his MLB career, Shohei Ohtani has been selected to the All-Star Game.

While the rest of this year’s All-Star rosters won’t be announced until next week, Ohtani was able to punch his ticket early on Thursday, courtesy of receiving the most overall votes in the initial round of fan balloting.

By garnering more than 3.3 million selections from fans, Ohtani easily outpaced all other National League players, ensuring he will be the starting DH in the Midsummer Classic.

His total was also more than 100,000 greater than Blue Jays infielder and top American League vote-getter Ernie Clement, who earned the automatic spot in the AL starting lineup.

Ohtani, a four-time MVP, has now been to the All-Star Game in all three of his seasons with the Dodgers and each of the last six going back to his first MVP season with the Angels in 2021.

The two-way star should have plenty of fellow Dodgers teammates heading with him to Philadelphia, as well.

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The club had six other players advance to the second round of voting: catcher Will Smith, first baseman Freddie Freeman, third baseman Max Muncy, shortstop Mookie Betts and outfielders Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernández.

They could have a couple pitchers make the team, as well, most notably Yoshinobu Yamamoto and potentially Justin Wrobleski.