Category: Baseball

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Seattle Mariners scored one run.

The Rangers came into tonight’s game apparently with the worst starters ERA in the Majors this month with a pitcher who had most recently allowed three home runs in his last start and with a lineup featuring, at first blush, about a handful of actual big league-quality batters.

Their task was beating the hated once American League-favorite Mariners to return to the two games above .500 mark that they enjoyed at the All-Star break, which would also bring them to a season-best two and a half game lead in the American League West.

Done and done.

Thanks to great work from those big league-quality batters, the Rangers jumped out ahead 3-0 in the first inning with an assist from some extremely poor outfield play from the Mariners. Seattle opted to give regular center fielder Julio Rodriguez a half day as their designated hitter and moved professional corner outfielder Luke Raley to center field.

That move immediately backfired on Seattle manager Dan Wilson as Raley dove for an Ezequiel Duran flare to the right field gap at medium distance that most average center fielders glide over and catch and allowed Wyatt Langford — who had doubled ahead of Duran — to score the game’s first run with Duran ending up at third base.

After Brandon Nimmo worked an 0-2 count into a walk, Duran scored on an Evan Carter double and then Nimmo scored on a Nicky Lopez ground out. An inning later, the Rangers would score a couple more runs in an inning that featured a Joc Pederson stolen base, another Langford double, and and RBI single from Duran.

Just about the only demerits for the Rangers in the early goings was letting Mariners starter Bryan Woo off the hook with an opportunity to turn the game into a blowout and expend some bullpen bullets with a long weekend yet to go between these two squads.

But that’s nitpicking, really. The Rangers had a bottom of the order with no one featuring an OPS above .650 and were integrating career journeyman backup catcher Austin Wynns into the lineup batting ninth.

Scoring five runs early was a major boon for Texas and they made great use of it despite Woo ultimately going five innings and the Rangers waiting until the seventh to get back on the board when Alejandro Osuna, one of those bottom of the order guys, delivered a two-run double to put this one to bed.

With the win, the Rangers have positioned themselves to take the series with one more victory and will leave this series with the Mariners no worse than atop the division. Though, the Rangers will not be facing a second place team tomorrow as the Astros have now passed Seattle in the standings.

Player of the Game: The lede has been buried a bit as the main story from this game was Nathan Eovaldi coming up large, as is his specialty.

Eovaldi was that guy who allowed three home runs in a loss to Atlanta in his first start of the second half and the Rangers needed him to be more vintage Eovaldi against the team that came into the game behind Texas in the standings. He delivered as he nearly always does.

Eovaldi tossed seven innings with just the one run allowed on three hits and a walk while striking out eight in a crisp 91 pitches. Eovaldi was in total control in that special way where he turns a game you’d really like to see your team win into a cozy affair because you know he’s not going to relent.

I really hope I never take Eovaldi’s ability to dominate in the biggest moments for granted. Thanks for always being your nastiest when we really need you, Nate.

Bonus hat tips to Langford and Duran for delivering when the Rangers had chances in the early innings as two of Texas’ few prime threats to do so. Langford finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI.

Unfortunately Langford also fouled a couple of painful looking pitches off his foot before one of his doubles and later left the game after six innings so hold your breath on that. You can only take so many questionable quality batters in one lineup so the Rangers need Langford.

Up Next: The Rangers face their first of two consecutive Ranger Killer hurlers with RHP Jacob deGrom set take the mound for Texas against RHP Logan Gilbert for Seattle.

The Sunday afternoon first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and will be back on the Rangers Sports Network.

Box Score

The Brewers have traditionally had trouble with Rockies starter Ryan Feltner, a generally mediocre pitcher in his six-year career. But tonight, led by a couple of 21-year-olds and aided by some poor Rockies defense, Milwaukee finally figured him out. Robert Gasser also befuddled Colorado hitters for most of the night, and after a frustrating loss on Friday, the Brewers evened the series with a mostly comfortable win.

Gasser started nicely with three consecutive groundball outs in the top of the first. In keeping with yesterday’s game, Christian Yelich flew out to the warning track in his first at-bat. The Brewers got a couple of baserunners when Jackson Chourio snuck a single through the infield and Brice Turang laid down a perfect bunt for a hit, but Contreras grounded into a 1-6-3 double play that ended the inning.

Hunter Goodman became Gasser’s first strikeout leading off the second. TJ Rumfield was next, and Gasser nearly got hit by a comebacker, but he got out of the way, and Cooper Pratt made the play for the second out. A Willi Castro popout ended the inning, and Gasser was perfect through two.

Jake Bauers drew a walk to start the second, and on the first pitch to the next batter, Garrett Mitchell, he stole second. Mitchell grounded out on the next pitch, but that at least got Bauers to third with one out. Luis Lara was next, and he just missed his first career homer — instead, he had a sac fly to the right-field corner. Pratt, who just hit his own first career homer on Monday, followed with his second career homer, a solid shot out to left on the first pitch of the at-bat. David Hamilton nearly got in on the action, too, but flew out to the warning track to end the inning with the Brewers ahead 2-0.

Gasser kept his perfect game going through the first two outs of the third, but gave up a two-out single to Ezequiel Tovar before Jake McCarthy struck out to end the inning. Feltner came back in the third with his first 1-2-3 inning of the game against the top of the Brewers’ order.

Colorado got their first rally of the game in the top of the fourth when Kyle Karros led off with a single to center (one that Mitchell might’ve been able to catch with a better jump) and Cole Carrigg followed with a double down the left-field line. Colorado’s best hitter, Goodman, was next, and he hit a broken-bat single into left, and he advanced to second on Chourio’s (ill-advised) throw home. Just like that, the game was tied, on batted balls of 80, 93, and 70 mph.

Gasser got the first out of the inning on the next pitch, when Rumfield grounded out to short, and one pitch after that, Castro flew out to right. Braxton Fulford also flew out to right, and Gasser was out of the inning, but the Brewer lead had vanished.

Contreras burned a challenge while striking out looking to start the fourth. Bauers followed with a single to center, and Mitchell just missed a homer with a 383-foot drive to deep center that became yet another ball caught on the warning track. With two outs, a couple of Brewer rookies came through to restore Milwaukee’s lead: Lara lined a single to left, and Pratt followed with a hard grounder that deflected off of Castro’s glove and into right, scoring Bauers in the process. A Hamilton strikeout ended the inning, but Milwaukee was back on top at 3-2.

Tyler Freeman hit a solid single to center to lead off the fifth, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tovar. McCarthy hit a hard line drive toward the gap in right, but Lara got a good jump and made a nice jumping catch to steal a double (and a run). Karros was out on a soft liner to third, and Freeman was stranded at second.

Yelich led off the bottom of the inning with a jam-shot fly ball to center which should’ve been caught but wasn’t — Carrigg, in center field, got a bad jump and dove and sort of trapped the ball, but it ended up on the grass, and Yelich was credited with a double. Chourio followed with a strikeout, and Yelich then made an out on the bases when he tried to take third when Karros was playing a ways off of the base, but not far enough. Turang was then robbed of a hit by Carrigg, who made up for his mistake earlier in the inning by making a diving catch for the third out.

Gasser had given up some hard contact in the fifth, but he’d only thrown 70 pitches, so he kept going in the sixth with a quick, seven-pitch, three-up three-down inning. Contreras, of all people, started the bottom of the sixth with an infield hit, and Bauers followed with a single into left, which got him on base for the third time in three plate appearances. With two on and nobody out in the sixth, Feltner’s day was over, as the Rockies turned to the right-handed flamethrower Juan Mejía.

Mejia got off to a poor start by walking Mitchell on four pitches to load the bases. Lara hit a pop fly to left, but it dropped into no-man’s land, and McCarthy misplayed it on the bounce, which allowed a second run to score and got Lara to second base for a bloop double. Pratt was up next and hit a fly ball to left—it looked like it had a chance to drop, but Pratt settled for a sac fly that made it 6-2, instead.

Hamilton had the next chance for the Brewers, and he popped a single over the outstretched glove of Tovar for another hit. Lara had to freeze to make sure it got down, so he held at third, and the lineup turned over with runners on the corners and one out. Yelich struck out, but with two outs, Hamilton took off for second, and Ashcraft faked a throw to second then threw back to third to try to get Lara leaning too far off the bag—the throw, though, went off of Karros’s glove and into left field, allowing Lara to score. Chourio grounded out to end the inning, but the Brewers were up 7-2.

After the long inning, the Brewers went to Chad Patrick in the top of the seventh, even with Gasser at just 77 pitches. Patrick had no trouble and put up a 1-2-3 inning, and capped off Gasser’s nice day: six innings, two runs (on weak hits), five hits, no walks, and four strikeouts.

Turang greeted the new Colorado pitcher, Tanner Gordon, rudely, by hitting a double into the right-field corner. Contreras struck out looking on a pitch that he wanted to challenge, but Contreras had already burned both Brewer challenges, so he couldn’t. Bauers also struck out on a pitch he wanted to challenge (for the record, both pitches looked like balls on Gameday), but those are the breaks. Garrett Mitchell struck out, too, but he at least swung. (This would’ve been a very frustrating inning in a close game, but we can deal with it with a five-run lead.)

Lance McCullers Jr. was on for his second outing as a Brewer in the bottom of the eighth. After getting the first two outs, he walked back-to-back hitters in front of Goodman and his 31 homers. That prompted a visit from pitching coach Chris Hook, but McCullers won a long battle by getting a pop-up (which he fielded himself) on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.

The Brewer Boy Wonders both reached to start the bottom of the eighth, Lara on a walk and Pratt on an error by Karros at third, an error which allowed Lara to reach third. Pratt stole second on the next pitch, setting the Brewers up for another chance at a big inning. Gordon did a decent job working out of it, with a strikeout by Hamilton, a sac fly RBI by Yelich, and a pop out by Chourio, but the Brewers tacked one on and led 8-2.

McCullers walked Rumfield to start the ninth, but struck out Castro. A ground ball from Brett Sullivan to Bauers could’ve ended the game, but his throw to second sailed past Pratt and into left field and there were two on with one out. Turang made a nice catch on a pop-up in shallow right field, but the third out remained elusive when McCullers walked Tovar to load the bases. After a mound visit, McCarthy jumped on the first pitch and blooped a two-RBI single to center, which brought Pat Murphy out of the dugout to retreive McCullers in favor of Trevor Megill, who came into the game needing one out but in a save situation.

The Brewers surely didn’t want Megill to have to pitch tonight. He got ahead of Karros, but the Colorado third baseman fought off and 0-2 fastball way above the zone and dumped it into center for another RBI single. Improbably, Carrigg came to the plate as the tying run, but Megill struck him out to finally end the game.

The kids led the way in this one. Lara was 2-for-2 with a walk, a sac fly, and three RBI. Pratt was 2-for-3 with a solo homer, a sac fly, and a stolen base. Turang also had multiple hits including a double. On the mound, Gasser had his nice night, Patrick had a good scoreless inning. McCullers battled wildness and a Bauers error, but Megill was able to clean up the mess.

The Brewers will try to secure the series tomorrow with Jacob Misiorowski on the mound. That game is at 1:10 p.m. If you’re interested in this kind of thing, the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony is also tomorrow, starting at 12:30 on MLB Network.

Rangers 7, Mariners 1

Sitting poolside on a nice day: J.P. Crawford, .05 WPA

Falling asleep in the sun and getting a nasty sunburn: Bryan Woo, -.29 WPA; Cole Young, -.05 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

The Braves were going for a series win on Saturday, in a matchup of back-of-the-rotation starters.

As one might expect, given the pitchers involved, there were baserunners scattered throughout the early innings. The Orioles struck first in the third, as Jim Jarvis committed an error and didn’t make another play on a hard line drive, allowing a run to score. Bryce Elder’s first fly ball of the game allowed a second Baltimore run in the fifth on a Gunnar Henderson homer. It was a very unusual start for Elder as he struck out 8 batters and walked 4, but ultimately completed 5.0 innings with only the 1 earned run on the homer, which the Braves will take any day. Matt Olson correctly challenged a strike 3 call, turning it into ball 4, and ended up scoring on a Michael Harris double for the Braves’ first run, making that challenge pretty huge.

Victor Mederos was first out of the bullpen in the sixth and looked like he had completed 2.0 scoreless innings when he induced a pop-up to shortstop from Pete Alonso, but Jim Jarvis again dropped the ball, landing runners on the corners still with two outs for Gunnar Henderson. Mederos struck out Henderson and was fired up leaving the game, as he had struck out 3 Orioles over 2.0 scoreless innings and continues to look like a nice bullpen find. His outing became even bigger as lefty Ozzie cranked a homer over the right field wall to lead off the eighth inning, tying the ballgame up at 2 runs.

That was all the offense was able to do in the eighth, so Didier Fuentes took over and cruised his way through the eighth with two strikeouts and a soft lineout. After a quiet frame from the bottom of Atlanta’s lineup vs the back of Baltimore’s bullpen, Fuentes was sent back out to hopefully shut down the ninth and send the game to extra innings. Jackson Holliday doubled with one out to create a threat and moved to third on a deep flyout for the second out. A soft single from Beavers in the leadoff spot ended the game, handing the Orioles a 3-2 victory.

Join us tomorrow for the rubber-match in Camden at 1:35 PM ET.

Anticipating a fine pitchers duel on a fine afternoon, I asked who had it better than us at the start of today’s game. The answer ended up being Blue Jays fans.

Dylan Cease, in the midst of a season that is going to end with Cy Young votes if not the award itself, held up his end of the bargain. He threatened to throw a perfect game, in fact, not allowing a single Red Sox baserunner until Caleb Durbin walked in the fifth, and ultimately finishing off a virtuoso complete game performance with 12 strikeouts.

Sonny Gray, on the other hand, did not look so great. Remember the Sonny we saw early in season, the guy who, even when he finished with a perfectly cromulent line, struggled to put hitters away? He was back today. In fact, Gray would get to a two-strike count five times in the third inning alone, failing to retire the hitter each time as the Jays plated five runs and effectively ended the game.

We all know how taxed the Red Sox rotation is going to be down the stretch. Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett are going to run up against innings limits. Connelly Early will, too, when he returns. Patrick Sandoval has looked shaky and Brayan Bello continues to mystify. Garrett Crochet’s arm may or may not be attached to his body — team messaging has been inconsistent on this point. If the Sox are going to make the playoffs, they are going to need Sonny Gray and Ranger Suárez to carry them there. Let’s hope this today represents a minor blip in what will otherwise continue to be a strong campaign for Sonny

The Lonely Stud

Alec Gamboa has now made seven appearances for the 2026 Red Sox. He has allowed hits in only three of those, and runs in only two. In throwing four one-run innings today, he saved the bullpen on what could’ve turned into a much uglier day for the Sox. This is the type of performance that could net the Sox an extra W in the week ahead.

Duds

Pretty much everyone else.

Play of the Game

Hey, at least we got yet another Ceddanne web gem.

Andre Pallante did what the St. Louis Cardinals asked him to do. He was lights out sharp again, but something unusual happened. For once, the Cardinals offense gave him some run support, but it took awhile. Misplays by the Reds didn’t hurt either.

The Cardinals got off to a fast start in the bottom of the 1st inning, but they frankly should have had more to show for it. JJ Wetherholt reached on an error from Elly De La Cruz on a ball up the middle that he mishandled. Jordan Walker reached on another ball that was misplayed by Cruz although this one technically was a single as it soared just barely above Cruz into short left field. Alec Burleson then singled to left which surprisingly scored JJ Wetherholt as he and the Reds appeared surprised that he got the go sign from Pop Warner at third base giving St. Louis an early 1-0 lead.

That would sadly be the only runs the Cardinals would get in the 1st as Iván Herrera struck out and then Lars Nootbaar hit into a double play. It was another moment of Déjà vu as St. Louis scored, but left a lot of runners in scoring position on the table. They would redeem themselves later, though.

The game would cruise along with the Cardinals hanging on to their narrow 1-0 lead while Andre Pallante was dealing. Through the top of the 6th inning, Andre only allowed 2 Reds hits while striking out 7 and walking just 1. This was as good as it gets for Pallante.

His offense would finally wake up in the bottom of the 6th inning. It started when JJ Wetherholt drew a leadoff walk. After Jordan Walker fouled out, the St. Louis offense erupted. Alec Burleson singled and then Iván Herrera doubled which scored both Wetherholt and Burleson giving the Cardinals some breathing room at 3-0.

Fortunately, they were just getting started. Lars Nootbaar walked followed by a single from Masyn Winn to right to load the bases. Bryan Torres got in on the fun as he singled to right making it 4-0 St. Louis. Blaze Jordan added his own single scoring Nootbaar and Winn giving the Cardinals a 6-0 lead. The final tally of the Cardinals 6th was a sacrifice bunt by Nathan Church which scored Bryan Torres upping the St. Louis lead to 7-0. It’s been way too long since I’ve been able to include such a large crooked number for the Cardinals. FINALLY.

The only remaining question Saturday night was whether the Cardinals bullpen could protect Pallante’s great start. Gordon Graceffo took over in the top of the 8th inning. He kept the game refreshingly drama-free keeping the Reds from mounting a threat in the 8th. The 9th inning was a bit more eventful with Gordon giving out a leadoff walk to De La Cruz followed by a single from Sal Stewart. The boo birds started raining down on Graceffo when he walked JJ Bleday to load the bases. He fortunately struck Suarez out looking with a nasty 88 mph changeup for the first out. That same changeup also fooled Stephenson for the second out. All Gordon needed to do was shut down Marte which he did getting a groundout for the final out and barely preserving the shutout.

The St. Louis Cardinals will try to win the series Sunday afternoon as Kyle Leahy will start for the Cardinals. Lefty Andrew Abbott will take the mound for the dastardly Reds. First pitch scheduled for 1:15pm Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium with the TV broadcast being handled by Cardinals.tv.

There was a bizarre moment during Saturday night’s middle game between the Braves and the Orioles. Eli White was pinch-hitting for Mike Yastrzemski in the seventh inning and hit one down the line for what was presumably going to be a double for the outfielder.

Well, it did end up being a double but White stumbled while turning towards second and eventually fell down halfway towards the bag. Fortunately, the throw from Dylan Beavers in right field wasn’t fielded cleanly and White was able to make it into second base with a double after all.

Still, the Braves training staff checked on White and while he did stay in the game, he eventually gave way to Brewer Hicklen once it was his turn to bat.

We’ll have more on the situation as it develops but I suppose you can just chalk this up as yet another bizarre injury moment for the Braves in recent years. Hopefully Eli White is okay going forward.

July has been tough on Jung Hoo Lee.

Tough, especially after a June in which he hit .340 with an .858 OPS and peaked with a two hit night against the Athletics that raised his batting average to a season high .333 on June 23rd. Knocks were coming off his bat like water from a hose. Grounders found holes, flares frolicked in open fields, liners hugged the lines. But for many high contact, low hard-hit guys like Lee the spigot can close just as easily as it can open. The seventh month wasn’t so lucky.

Over 67 at-bats prior to Saturday, he hit just .224 with a .541 OPS. Last night’s 0-for-4 performance saw his batting average drop below the .300 mark for the first time since May 31st. In his first at-bat against Angels’ starter Ryan Johnson, Lee seemed like a completely different person to the hitter he was during his 18-game hitting streak. The right-hander’s two-step motion and sling-y delivery had him flailing. He unhinged a swing on an elevated 2-1 sweeper and the bat nearly flew out of his hands. Next pitch, his helmet flew off whiffing at an inside cutter. Grandson of the Wind? More like Generator of the Wind! It’s jokes like that which made Lee into one of the greatest hitters in recent KBO history. He had had enough. His typically stoic expression turned stony as he walked back to the dugout. It wasn’t the missed cutter that irked him — that was a good pitch — but the breaking ball, lazily flipped out over the plate. Instead of getting off his best swing, he nearly ripped his shoulder out of his socket. That was unacceptable.

An inning later, the offense had Johnson on the ropes. The inherent funk of his motion had bought him a free pass first time through the order, but once the line-up flipped back over for second licks, the situation had changed.

Both Luis Arraez and Heliot Ramos singled. With runners at the corners and one out, Johnson got Eldridge to strikeout, but didn’t have the same success against Rafael Devers and Casey Schmitt. Back-to-back RBI singles got the Giants on the scoreboard and encouraged LA pitching coach Mike Maddux to chat with the 23 year old starter. 

The transcript from mound visit probably went something like this: Hey, man, deep breath, you’re doing fine, just take a deep breath, calm down, one more out and you’re through this inning, just trust your stuff, stick to your game plan, don’t over think anything, stick to your game plan, okay, trust the preparation, you know what you got to do, remember how bad Lee looked  on that sweeper in the last at-bat, jumping out of his shoes, he looked like s*** swinging at that thing, grandson of the wind, more like generator of the wind, haha, like a fan, yeah, so do that again, that’s the game plan,he’s not looking for your breaking ball, you stole a strike with it to start the at-bat, you made him look bad with it for strike two, then you got him with the cutter, pitch him backwards, start with the sweeper, throw that sweeper, trust it, it’ll be awesome, okay, the umpire is coming so I gotta go, you’re gonna do great, I’m so proud of you, sweeper, throw it, okay, see you in a bit, bye. 

The takeaway for Johnson: Throw the sweeper because my coach says so and he believes in me. 

What happened: Johnson threw the sweeper. First pitch. Lee knew he would.  

The 3-run homer was Lee’s sixth of the year, his first since June 23rd, and jump-started a pretty dang pleasant afternoon. He collected a double off lefty reliever Brent Suter in his next at-bat, tracked down an over-the-head liner to end the 4th, and recorded a Dolly Parton assist (9-5) in the 6th.   

Lee wasn’t the only one who enjoyed their day. The deliverer of walk-offs, Rafael Devers, came up a triple shy of the cycle. He picked up Eldridge after his strikeout with a 2-out RBI single in the 3rd, and with two outs again, he ripped a gorgeous line-drive over the wall in left-center. 

A 106 MPH punch like that is not something Suter gives up often. His 29.8% hard-hit rate is in the 95th percentile of pitchers. Like Tyler Rogers, he’s a master of dead-fish contact. He’s also a lefty, and for whatever reason, Devers has been completely baffled by southpaws in 2026. Before his homer, he was batting .181 with .530 OPS and a 49 wRC+, which is about as ineffective as you can get in that split. For most of the at-bat, right up until the end, that season-long struggle was evident. Devers waved over two of Suter’s slow-mo change-ups, and fouled off another with an awkward emergency swing. He didn’t look particularly comfortable at the plate. Suter could’ve kept spinning that offspeed, and eventually, Devers would’ve swung through one — but the reliever decided to get cute and tried to sneak a 90 MPH four-seam fastball by him. Devers clocked it and then CLOCKED it. 

Another three-run swing that pumped up the lead to 9 runs, putting the game out of reach of Los Angeles bats and more importantly, Giants relievers. While the offense efficiently piled up 9 runs on 9 hits over the first four frames, starter Robbie Ray quietly went about his business. The extended time on the bench between halves didn’t bother him. He wasn’t dominant, nor was he batted around. Five of the six hits he scattered across his six shutout innings were singles. He needed just 80 pitches before Tony Vitello elected to give Tristan Beck and eventually Keaton Winn some low-leverage, no-pressure reps.

It wasn’t pretty, nor did it look easy at times — they walked three, hit a batter, gave up three hits and two runs, but they got through it.

9-2 final. Proud of you boys.

Todd Frazier believes the Los Angeles Angels have reached the point where another quiet trade deadline would only delay the changes the franchise already needs.

With interim general manager John Mozeliak now leading the front office, the former MLB All-Star said the Angels should use the Aug. 3 deadline to begin reshaping a roster that again sits at the bottom of the American League West.

“I think now more than ever there’s pressure,” Frazier said on Foul Territory. “I’m not gonna say it’s make-or-break pressure, but it’s go time.”

Team owner Arte Moreno fired Perry Minasian in late June and turned to Mozeliak, who spent three decades with the St. Louis Cardinals and helped oversee one of baseball’s most consistent organizations.

The situation he inherited is far less stable.

The Angels entered the week with an MLB-worst 39-61 record and have not reached the postseason since 2014. Frazier argued that continuing to patch the roster without establishing a stronger foundation would only produce more of the same.

“What’s the difference if you get a bunch of prospects and you gotta wait three or four more years?” Frazier said. “It’s gonna be the same old progress that, ‘Oh yeah, look at the beginning of the year, they’re doing pretty good,’ then it falls off.”

Mozeliak has already acknowledged the organization must consider significant moves.

“We know things have to change,” he said. “And what that looks like, who that looks like, that’s to be determined.”

Starting pitchers Reid Detmers and José Soriano are expected to attract considerable interest because both are under team control through 2028. Either could bring back the type of young position-player talent the Angels lack, though moving them would signal a more aggressive reset.

Zach Neto, Jo Adell and several relievers could also draw calls, but Mozeliak must balance collecting prospects with maintaining some hope of competing next season.

Frazier believes the larger issue goes beyond individual trades. The Angels need tougher players, a stronger identity and someone capable of eventually replacing Mike Trout as the face of the franchise.

“I love Mike Trout, but he’s not getting any younger,” Frazier said. “So, who’s gonna be that next guy that they’re gonna look to be the leader of this team?”

Mozeliak may not have enough time to answer every question before the deadline.

Frazier’s message is that he cannot afford to avoid them.

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PHILADELPHIA — They were baby steps, but given the way the Yankees have been pitching of late, they seemed like sizable leaps from the lineup.

Austin Wells, one of the worst hitters in the major leagues all season even after recent signs of life, clobbered a home run to tie the game.

Cody Bellinger, trying to fully bust his way out of an extended slump, roped an RBI single for the lead before leaving the game in the eighth inning with a left hamstring injury that could land him on the injured list.

And then Jasson Domínguez, hoping to prove he can still be part of the solution to withstanding Aaron Judge’s absence, delivered some insurance by crushing a home run from the right side.

It was still only three runs, scored across three innings, but they were provided by some key bats and complemented the club’s latest strong pitching effort — this time from Ryan Weathers and three relievers — as the Yankees beat the Phillies 3-1 on Saturday night at a sold-out Citizens Bank Park.

An otherwise positive night ended with concern for Bellinger, who came out of the game in the bottom of the eighth after his hamstring grabbed while he was legging out a double in the top of the frame.

There was some fear that the All-Star might have to join Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list, but that was dependent on how he woke up Sunday with tests to follow.

“It sucks,” Bellinger said. “I hate going down. It’s no fun being on the IL. See how I wake up [Sunday] and hopefully it’s nothing serious.”

Despite the injuries and an offense that is still not scoring enough, the Yankees (59-45) won for the ninth time in their last 12 games, but remained two games back of the Rays (who also won again) for the AL East lead.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

“The pitching’s held us in these games,” Wells said. “They’ve been on their stuff for us and given us a really good chance offensively. We’re not scoring a ton of runs right now, but they’re keeping us in every game and giving us a chance.”

On Saturday, it was Weathers who turned in a strong outing (despite a rocky start and some traffic throughout) as he held the Phillies (56-49) to just one run across 5 ²/₃ innings — the only run the Yankees have allowed over this three-game winning streak.

The left-hander, who once again de-emphasized his four-seam fastball, scattered six hits and one walk but struck out seven before giving way to the bullpen — with Angel Chivilli, Paul Blackburn and David Bednar all throwing up zeroes, Bednar for his 20th straight scoreless appearance.

“The bullpen’s been phenomenal,” Weathers said. “As starters, just keep our team in the game, we know we have a really good bullpen right now and they came in and closed it out tonight.”

Coming into the night, Wells was batting just .163 with a .524 OPS across 70 games, but he had quietly been better of late — both in results and at-bat quality — hitting .286 with a .995 OPS and two home runs over his last eight games.

There is nothing he can do over the next week to convince the Yankees they should not still acquire a catcher before the trade deadline, but his recent play has at least offered some encouragement in an otherwise miserable offensive season.

Wells added to that mini hot streak by crushing a sinker from right-hander Brian Keller — the Yankees’ 39th-round pick in 2016 who was making his MLB debut — 430 feet the other way to left-center field for a solo shot in the third inning that tied the game 1-1.

While the hamstring injury threatens to stall his progress, Bellinger, after going 2-for-4, is batting 16-for-43 (.372) over his last 12 games — the same number of hits he had in 24 games before that.

One of those hits was an RBI single in the sixth inning that scored Wells for the 2-1 lead.

In the seventh, Domínguez demolished a 420-foot blast off lefty José Alvarado — his second of the season from the right side of the plate — to put the Yankees ahead 3-1.

“This season I feel much better,” Domínguez said while turning around to knock on his wooden locker, “against lefties.”

The Yankees may need to find some more wood to knock on in hopes of Bellinger’s injury not being serious, but either way, they will have to find a way to get their offense clicking more consistently.

“Did enough offensively and we got to keep moving the needle though as a group offensively,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The biggest thing that’s kept us in there is the run prevention side.”

When the Phillies struggle on offense as a collective, there is usually a simple recipe for it:

1. The stars slump
2. Everyone starts pressing and swinging at bad pitches
3. There are bad swing decisions

Wash, rinse, repeat.

The offense is in the middle of one of those stretches right now where everyone is trying to do too much, swinging at bad pitches, trying to hit a seven run home run and now, we have a four game losing streak.

And tonight, they even struck first! Trea Turner gets hit by a pitch, Kyle Schwarber doubles, newly shorn Bryce Harper hits a sacrifice fly and all of a sudden, there is a 1-0 Phillies lead and a runner on third base. Little did we know that that was the only run that would be scored on the evening.

On the mound, Tim Mayza was the opener and did a fine job over two shutout innings, giving way to Brian Keller in his major league debut. Keller did give up a home run to Austin Wells, but for the most part, did just fine in keeping the Yankees off the board, only allowing a single run over three innings. Clearly, the coaching staff did not want Keller out there too long, instead opting to go to the bullpen in the sixth inning instead.

In that inning, Kyle Backhus walked the first hitter he faced before getting the next two on strikeouts, giving way to Seth Johnson. Johnson looked like a decent candidate to break out as a reliever, but it just has not come to fruition. He gave up back to back hits to allow Wells to score and give the Yankees the lead.

Meanwhile, the offense was generating some traffic against Weathers, but couldn’t push anything across. In the sixth, they got runners on the corners with Bryan de la Cruz and J.T. Realmuto each singling, but facing Angel Chivilli, Bryson Stott popped out into foul territory to end the threat. The Yankees tacked on another in the seventh on a Jasson Dominguez home run and that was basically that.

The offense is just slumping so badly right now and everyone is trying to swing their way out of it. The Yankees have been pitching well prior to this series and have carried it over into Philadelphia, but still, there should be better at bats coming from this lineup. They’ll try and salvage a game tomorrow night on Sunday Night Baseball with Cristopher Sanchez on the mound, so we’ll see.

The Yankees' pitching staff kept the vaunted Phillies lineup at bay for the second game in a row as they defeated Philadelphia, 3-1, on Saturday night.

Both teams had seven hits, but the Phillies were 0-for-7 with eight left on base.

In the first two games of this weekend series, the Yankees staff has allowed just one run.

Here are the takeaways...

-- The Phillies made Ryan Weathers work early. Trea Turner led off the game by getting hit by a pitch before Kyle Schwarber doubled to put runners on second and third and no outs. Bryce Harper drove in the game's first run with a sac fly, but Weathers worked out of further trouble, getting a ground out and a strikeout. 

Weathers would work out of trouble a few times, getting strikeouts when needed and taking advantage of over-aggressive Phillies hitters.

Weathers pitched into the sixth inning, getting the first two outs and was on the verge of completing the inning, getting Bryan De La Cruz to hit a soft grounder toward the first base side, but Weathers was caught in between going for the ball and covering the base, and De La Cruz made it on safely. That spelled the end of Weathers' night as Aaron Boone went to his bullpen. 

Angel Chivilli was the first out and gave up a single to J.T. Realmuto, but Cody Bellinger covered a lot of ground to get a Bryson Stott flyout in foul territory to end the threat and put a bow on Weathers' night. 

Weathers allowed one run on six hits and one walk while striking out seven across 5.2 innings (97 pitches/66 strikes). 

-- The Yankees lineup struggled yet again. They were shut down by former Yankee Tim Mayza for two innings before giving way to Brian Keller, making his major league debut. But Austin Wells got to the young right-hander, taking him deep to tie the game at 1-1. The blast went 430 feet and Wells took Keller the opposite way for his seventh homer of the season.

New York would finally take the lead in the sixth. Bellinger hit a two-out single to score Wells from second, who led off with a walk. The single was set up when Turner could not come up with a behind-the-shoulder catch in shallow left field on a bloop by Paul Goldschmidt. It would have ended the inning.

-- Jasson Dominguez would tack on in the seventh, taking Jose Alvarado deep to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Dominguez hit it 420 feet from the right side.

-- Paul Blackburn pitched two shutout innings after Chivilli, allowing just one baserunner (walk), to lower his ERA to 1.93 on the season. And David Bednar pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to lock down his 20th save of the season.

-- Bellinger finished 2-for-4, but was pulled in the eighth inning after stretching out a single into a double. It looked as if Bellinger came up lame going from first to second base. 

Game MVP: Yankees pitching staff

The combination of Weathers, Chivilli, Blackburn and Bednar kept the Phillies off balance

Highlights

Solo homer for Austin Wells! pic.twitter.com/HGrhNNZ1sE

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 25, 2026

Austin Wells scores off of a Cody Bellinger RBI singlepic.twitter.com/oV5wofBOs2

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 25, 2026

Jasson Domínguez homers to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead! pic.twitter.com/qBrxIn8G6z

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 25, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Phillies wrap up their weekend series Sunday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

Will Warren (7-4, 4.00 ERA) will take the mound against Cristopher Sanchez (12-4, 2.71 ERA). 

PHILADELPHIA — Already without Aaron Judge, the Yankees may be down another key outfielder, as Cody Bellinger left Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Phillies with left hamstring tightness.

Bellinger suffered the injury running to second base on his two-out double in the top of the eighth.

After sliding into second and appearing hobbled, Bellinger waved off the trainers and remained in the game.

But he was replaced in left field by Max Schuemann in the bottom of the inning and will likely undergo tests Sunday — with an IL stint not ruled out.

“I felt something rounding first and it got tight and thought it was smart to get out [of the game],’’ Bellinger said. “We’ll see how I feel [Sunday].”

Bellinger added, “I really don’t think it’s anything too serious.”

Still, Aaron Boone noted the possibility they could lose Bellinger for an extended stretch and acknowledged he was “alarmed” by it.

“It looks like it could be something,’’ the manager said.

The left fielder spent time on the IL in 2021 due to left hamstring tightness while with the Dodgers, missing 10 games.

Schuemann would likely be in the lineup Sunday against Philadelphia lefty Cristopher Sánchez.

After that, Boone said, “We’ll do what we have to do [and] piece it together … [Bellinger] is a huge member of the team. He’s a tremendous all-around player. I hope it’s on the minor side.”

If Bellinger has to sit out, it comes at an inopportune time for the Yankees.

He’s hit better over his last dozen games after slumping at the plate for most of the past month.

Bellinger entered Saturday with just five extra-base hits, all doubles, in his previous 30 games.

His OPS over that span was .535 after posting an .860 OPS in his first 71 games.

Prior to the injury Saturday, he had an RBI single and then the double in the win.

“I felt good from Washington on,’’ Bellinger said of the final series heading into the All-Star break. “The cold stretch there was way longer than I wanted it to be.”

And Bellinger has continued to be superb in left field.

“He’s been so good out there,’’ Boone said before the game. “I’ve leaned more on leaving him there on days instead of moving him to center or right. His left field [play] is so stellar.”

The Yankees offense has taken a serious downturn in recent weeks, with the indefinite loss of Judge due to a fractured rib taking a toll.

While Bellinger hasn’t maintained his torrid early pace at the plate, his presence in the middle of the lineup is still crucial.

I figure our chances are good to take two out of three from the Washington Nationals in the nation’s capital this weekend, but as I thought when I read over the series preview for this one, I figured this was the one we were most likely to drop. It was a matchup of soft-tossing lefties, with Mitch Bratt going for us in only his fourth Major League start, while Foster Griffin, who has clearly emerged as the ace of the Nationals’ staff this season and who pitched a scoreless inning for the National League in the All-Star Game the other week, was going for them. Sad to say, it went pretty much as I expected.

Bratt, who hadn’t gotten through five innings in his first three starts, was looking good early for us, even as the team around him wasn’t helping him out so much. He pitched around a one-out walk in the first to put up a zero in a 13 pitch inning, and then he put up another zero in the second despite having two strikes called as balls (and not challenged by James McCann, who was behind the dish for us this afternoon) to put the leadoff man on base with a “walk”, followed by Ketel Marte botching an easy double-play grounder with one out that would have ended the inning but instead went for an error. At that point, Bratt should have been out of the inning, but instead, he had runners on first and second with only one out. Much to the young man’s credit, he didn’t get visibly upset or rattled, but instead got back to work and recorded the last two outs efficiently enough that, despite the mishaps around him, he only needed 17 pitches total to close out the inning. This put him at 30 pitches through two, with no runs allowed, which was a very good sign.

Meanwhile, our newly reshuffled top of the lineup—Corbin Carroll batting first, Gabriel Moreno in the three spot, Ketel Marte batting cleanup for the first time in his career—couldn’t do anything against Griffin in their first time through. Our first baserunner was Nolan Arenado, who drew a four pitch walk with two outs in the second, and who was advanced to second by our first hit, a Tim Tawa ground ball single to left. James McCann, batting eighth, couldn’t do anything with it, though, so the game remained scoreless through two.

We finally drew first blood in the top of the third. Paul Waldschmidt beat out an infield single on the ninth pitch of a very good and patient at bat. Griffin then hit Carroll in the ribs with a pitch to put runners on first and second. Perdomo laid down a perfect bunt to advance the runners into scoring position with one out, and then Moreno blooped a single into center that drove in both Waldschmidt and Carroll:

Sadly, as you can see at the end of the clip above, Gabi tried to stretch his single into a double as the throw from center came to the plate, but Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz immediately threw to second and Gabi was out by a mile. Ketel Marte then flew out to right to end things there, but what the heck, we had a lead! 2-0 D-BACKS

The lead was very short-lived, though, as it turned out, as Mitch Bratt came out for the bottom of the third to start his second time through the Nationals’ batting order, and it…. didn’t go great. He struck out James Wood on four pitches to start things off, but then surrendered either walks or base hits to the next seven batters in the Nationals’ lineup. The exact sequence was walk-double-double-walk-single-triple-walk, with four Nationals crossing the plate. Bratt did pick off CJ Abrams as he tried to steal third, thanks in large measure to a great play by Nolan Arenado on the back end, which was nifty, but he wound up getting through the entire Nationals lineup a second time in that inning, finally getting Kelbert Ruiz to pop out to shallow center for the final out. 4-2 Washington

Bratt then surrendered a leadoff single to James Wood to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but that was promptly erased by a quick double play, and a pop-up on the infield for the third out in a good 10-pitch inning for the kid. He did surrender a leadoff home run to CJ Abrams to start the bottom of the fifth, and then gave up a one-out single to Washington center fielder Jacob Young that led to Young then stealing both second and third before young Mitch managed to record the final out and, for the first time in his major league career, completing five innings of work. 5-2 Washington

Meanwhile, after those two runs we’d scored in the third, we didn’t even have another baserunner off Griffin until Ildemaro Vargas led off the top of the seventh with a line single to left. He was promptly erased by a Nolan Arenado one-pitch double play groundout, but Tim Tawa followed that dismal performance with a double to left, and then James McCann singled to right to drive him in. That finally chased Griffin from the game—he had thrown 108 pitches at that point—and it was bullpens all the way home.

Happily, our bullpen put up zeros, with two innings of scoreless ball byu bullpen newcomer and guy I’d honestly never heard of Gerardo Carrillo, and one perfectly clean inning from Taylor Clarke. Sadly, their much-maligned bullpen did the same, retiring the last seven Diamondbacks hitters in order to secure the win for the Nationals.

Loss Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

Heroes: none
Sinister Sidekick: Nolan Arenado (3 AB, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, -10% WPA)
Villain of the Piece: Mitch Bratt (5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, -32% WPA)

In Bratt’s Defense

To be fair, I thought that Bratt actually showed a lot of fortitude, and despite the fact that, yeah, his starting performance lost the game for us, there were some good things:

• The innings he pitched well, he was very efficient (13 pitches in the first, 17 pitches in the second despite the foolery behind him, 10 pitches in the fourth);
• The way he didn’t let Marte’s error behind him mess him up or melt him down, unlike how we’ve seen certain former aces and protein drink spokespeople become unglued;
• The way that he kept grinding through that interminable bottom of the third, despite getting apparently no support from his catcher or his pitching couch (there were no mound visits recorded in that half inning, even though this 23-year-old kid was getting lit up by the best offense in baseball and allowed seven Nationals hitters in a row to reach base).

And that leads in nicely to the Gameday Thread stuff, and the Comment of the Game. It was a reasonably well-attended thread, with 231 comments at time of writing and a number that went Sedona Red. Most of the top rec-getters were various people’s hello posts, so I had to dig into the response comments to find today’s CotG, which goes to VWBeetle, with an assist from kilnborn:

I agree with this wholeheartedly—both comments, in fact. Well said.

So once more we head on into Sunday with the rubber match of a series awaiting us. Kohl Drake takes the mound for us in only his second major league start, while Veteran Presnce (TM) and innings absorber Miles Mikolas goes for Washington. Make sure you have some coffee and/or mimosas ready, as this one is full-on morning baseball, with first pitch scheduled for 10:35am AZ time. TheReal Ramona will have the recap, making this an all-Tucson recap weekend….I hope you can join us!

As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!