Category: Baseball

Monday’s game against the Cardinals almost felt like a scheduled loss. With the bullpen badly overworked recently, it seemed like the plan was to have Andrew Painter and Alan Rangel cover the majority – if not all – of the game, which didn’t fill anyone with much optimism.

But as they say, you can’t predict baseball. Andrew Painter turned in an encouraging 5.1 innings, Rangel did…just enough, and Jonathan Bowlan pitched a scoreless ninth. Combined with big offensive nights from Kyle Schwarber and Edmundo Sosa, the Phillies escaped with a 6-5 win.

After Luis Arraez’s double play in the first ruined a scoring opportunity, the Phillies got some help from the Cardinals in the second. Brandon Marsh led off the inning with a single, then Derek Hill hit a ball back to pitcher Dobbins who committed a throwing error which allowed Marsh to score and Hill to reach third. He would then come home on Sosa’s single.

The offense went quiet for a couple of innings until the fifth when Schwarber and Bryson Stott started the frame with singles. The Phillies scored a run on Bryce Harper’s ground ball double play, but the promise of a bigger inning was ruined.

Painter has looked much better since returning from the minor leagues, and on Monday, he held the Cardinals without a hit for the first five innings. Unfortunately, those five innings weren’t particularly efficient, and by the time the sixth rolled around, he was clearly tiring. He recorded the first out of the inning, but a walk, single, and double cut the lead to 3-2.

That brought on Rangel who escaped the jam, and things were looking promising when Schwarber doubled home Sosa to make it 4-2 in the seventh. When the next two batters walked, it looked like a big inning might be at hand, but Arraez’s second double play of the game ended the threat.

The Phillies added some insurance in the eigth when Sosa doubled home two runs.

For a second, it looked like Schwarber was going to get them a couple more, but his fly ball died at the fence.

Side rant: At this point, Don Mattingly removed Schwarber – playing first base – from the game in favor of Alec Bohm. It’s not like Bohm is all that great defensively, and they’re counting on Rangel to cover at least another inning. It seemed entirely possible that they might need more offense, so why would you take a suddenly hot Schwarber out of the game?

Sure enough, Rangel faltered in the eighth. He was leaving pitches over the plate, and the Cardinals weren’t missing them. The Cardinals had five hits in the inning to cut the lead to 6-5 with the tying run at third. But Rangle rebounded to record the next two outs and keep the Phillies ahead.

Despite dealing with a heavy workload of his own lately, Jonathan Bowlan was asked to close it out in the ninth. Somewhat surprisingly, he did so with little difficulty, pitching a clean inning for his first career save.

After the ugliness of this past weekend, it was great to see the Phillies somehow win a game that they usually lose. And with Cristopher Sanchez scheduled for Tuesday and most of the bullpen getting a day off, the prospects for the rest of the series are looking better as well.

The process of making Anthony Volpe more defensively versatile — and perhaps more useful to the Yankees — is underway.

Volpe played second base Saturday night at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, his first game at a position other than shortstop since 2021, and cleanly fielded all three balls hit to him.

The Yankees are easing Volpe into the new position, as he played shortstop Friday and Sunday after reporting to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following his demotion when the club called up top prospect George Lombard Jr.

During his time in the big leagues this season, Volpe had been taking occasional ground balls at second base on days he was not in the lineup.

But it did not make much sense for the Yankees to try him there in games without doing so in the minors first, especially because they had José Caballero capable of moving over to second if Jazz Chisholm Jr. needed a day off.

Barring injuries, Volpe’s path back to the big leagues this season is unclear, especially with Lombard hitting the ground running on both sides of the ball in his first week as a big leaguer.

But in the meantime, the 25-year-old Volpe is at least giving himself some more flexibility to get back if he can play another position besides shortstop while trying to rediscover some of the offensive consistency that made him a top prospect not long ago.

Second base, where his arm figures to be a better fit, could potentially provide Volpe a lane to play for the Yankees next season, with Chisholm set to become a free agent and unlikely to be re-signed.

The Yankees have been starved for offensive production from their catchers this season, but over the last month, Austin Wells has started to provide it.

Since July 9, Wells has hit .269 with a .935 OPS in 21 games — the highest OPS of any Yankee not named Lombard during that stretch.

And while it comes at a time when the Yankees are not getting enough from some of their key bats like Ben Rice, Trent Grisham and Chisholm, they have been encouraged by Wells beginning to move the needle, especially after failing to add a catcher at the trade deadline.

“I feel good,” Wells said Sunday after going 1-for-3. “Always want more. I try not to put too much pressure on trying to score runs and trying to do too much. So taking the knocks when you can get them and hopefully extending the lineup allows for guys to come up at the end of the game with good matchups.”

Prior to Monday night's series opener against the Braves, Mets interim manager Andy Green wasn’t ready to commit to one specific player taking over the closers’ role with Devin Williams sidelined.

Kodai Senga seemed like the most logical candidate with his recent move to more of a one-inning high-leverage relief role, and just a few hours later, he was indeed the man for the job. 

Senga came on in the bottom of the ninth and cruised his way through the heart of the Braves’ lineup to put the finishing touches on an 8-5 Mets win which also went down as his first career save. 

The right-hander came out pumping 99 mph on the gun with his fastball, then struck out lefty sluggers Matt Olson and Michael Harris II with a pair of nasty forkballs in the dirt.

He issued a two-out walk to Ozzie Albies, but was able to get Mauricio Dubon to fly one weakly to right just two pitches later, locking up the series-opening victory over the division rivals. 

“Really good stuff,” Green said. “His first two punchouts were sensational -- those were some of the best hitters in the league and he threw really good forkballs to punch them out -- I thought he was great tonight.”

This continues what’s been an extremely smooth transition for Senga into this high-leverage role following a brutal start to the season that forced him out of the big-league rotation. 

Mainly leaning his pumped up fastball and signature forkball, he now struck out five batters while allowing just two baserunners over his last three appearances. 

“Those are two sensational pitches,” Green said. “He doesn’t have the need to expand the arsenal -- those two pitches are his bread and butter right now, and he was able to plow through two of the best hitters in the league.”

With Williams facing at least a short stint on the IL, Senga appears likely to have a shot at holding onto the ninth-inning role at least for the next few weeks. 

It's a situation he feels comfortable with, and appears ready to embrace. 

“I think it’s a great environment for myself,” Senga said via an interpreter. “I will continue to go out there and do my best no matter what situation I am put in.”

The Dodgers needed a vibe shift on Monday.

And they had to look to someone else besides Tarik Skubal to get it.

In his Dodger Stadium debut on Monday, Skubal grinded through his first start with the team in home colors, giving up three runs in five innings before exiting the game with the Dodgers facing a deficit.

It was not the performance a near-sellout crowd of 51,799 had envisioned, nine days removed from the blockbuster trade that brought the reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner over from the Detroit Tigers.

It was not, as Skubal put it himself afterwards, “up to my standards” either, after he allowed seven baserunners and needed 95 pitches.

But for a Dodgers team that had lost eight of its last nine and was six games under .500 the last month, what mattered most was what followed later: A come-from-behind, hold-on-for-dear-life 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals to open a pivotal seven-game homestand.

“I thought we fought well,” manager Dave Roberts said, hours after imploring his team to play with more urgency and focus in his pregame address. “Tarik didn’t have his best stuff. You could see the fastball command wasn’t there. But he didn’t relent. He kept going. He gave us what he had for tonight. And it was just good to see our offense really bear down.”

“I saw that urgency tonight,” Roberts added, “which we gotta build on from here on out.”

Entering the night, all eyes were on Skubal. Leading up to first pitch, his mere presence at the ballpark instantly energized Chavez Ravine.

The left-hander got a nice ovation when he emerged from the dugout to begin his pregame warm-up, then several more as he traversed from the outfield to the left-field bullpen.

“It felt like there was 40,000-50,000 [fans here], 40 minutes before the game, in their seats,” Skubal said. “When I walked out there, that was so special.”

Hours before that, Roberts had only added to the billing, describing a pregame “buzz in the clubhouse” while predicting it was “gonna be an electric night.”

Instead, as soon as the beats to Skubal’s entrance song –– “Holy Grail” by Jay-Z –– stopped thumping at game time, the 29-year-old struggled to find a rhythm in his second Dodgers start.

He gave up one run three batters into the game, after a pair of singles were sandwiched around a stolen base. He faced more traffic in the second and third innings, lacking command as he grew outwardly frustrated with his stuff.

“I kinda sprayed the ball a little bit,” he said. “That’s kinda unusual for me, especially with fastball command and stuff like that.”

Still, the night might have been different if not for one mistake pitch with two outs (and two strikes) in the third inning –– when, with a chance to put Royals slugger Jac Caglianone away, Skubal instead hung a slider that was launched out to right for a two-run homer.

“I do think that first home start, there’s some emotions that bleed into it,” Roberts said, sensing an “overexertion” from his newest staff ace. “I think we’re going to see a different guy as far as performance [in his next start] on Sunday.”

For the rest of Monday, Skubal was better, finishing with six strikeouts and no further hits allowed.

But, he failed to pitch into the sixth for the only the fourth time in 18 starts this year because of a high pitch count and more command problems in the fifth, when he hit a batter and walked another with two outs.

And at the time of his exit, the Dodgers were down 3-2, having managed a two-run third-inning rally but nothing more against Royals left-hander Noah Cameron.

“I thought I competed well and gave our team a chance to win,” he said, before later adding: “But I’ll be better going forward.”

For one night, the Dodgers could live without that –– eventually turning the game thanks to a big swing from Max Muncy and some aggressive base-running from Shohei Ohtani.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, Muncy came up and christened his bobblehead night with a three-run double that snuck just inside the right-field line; setting off a raucous scene at Dodger Stadium that culminated with loud chants of “Mun-cy! Mun-cy!” well after the inning had ended.

The Dodgers’ lead would last only three batters, with Jack Dreyer yielding a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the seventh.

However, the Dodgers would battle back again, thanks to a leadoff single and stolen base from Ohtani in the seventh (only his seventh steal all season, and first since May 16) that set up Freddie Freeman for an RBI single (his third hit and second RBI of the night).

“It felt like the fans were trying to will us to win tonight,” Freeman noted.

Electric scenes after all, just later than expected.

The rest of the way, the Dodgers held on. Tanner Scott worked around an eighth-inning walk by getting a double-play grounder. Then struggling closer Edwin Díaz worked a scoreless ninth for only his second save in four tries since coming back from injury last month.

In the end, it meant Skubal was back on the field, going through a victorious high-five line for only his second time since joining the team.

By then, it didn’t matter that his home debut was forgettable. Only that, after a couple weeks of mounting frustration, the Dodgers had finally found a way to salvage a win.

“I’m sure all he cares about is winning the game, which we did,” Roberts said of Skubal. “We’re gonna have plenty of time to lean on him and be great.”

This game had an eventful first inning that saw the Mets plate five on Bryce Elder and the Braves, and then a valiant-but-doomed comeback attempt over the rest of the game. The main things that stood out to me: Bryce Elder with poor command is a nightmare, and the Braves really needed some homers in this one but couldn’t find ‘em. Will the Phillies gain a game on the Braves by the time I finish this recap? Who knows.

Boy, that first inning, though. The game started with an A.J. Ewing double off Elder. The ball rolled under the padding in right field, and Ronald Acuña Jr. threw up his hands to signal a ground rule double. Ewing stopped running midway between second and third. For some reason, the Mets challenged the call, and this resulted in something absurd like an eight-minute delay of game… only for the umpires to rule that while the ball was not “lodged,” Ewing would nonetheless be “awarded” second base. Pace of play, am I right?

Anyway, would that that was the only excitement in the first, but alas. A single later scored Ewing, and then a key play happened on a 3-2 Elder pitch to Carson Benge. The pitch was clearly a strike, but Sean Murphy came up throwing and had the runner dead to rights… except that it was ruled a ball and Murphy didn’t challenge, turning a 1-0 deficit and a half-inning break into a 1-0 deficit, runners on first and second, and one out. After a short liner single to load the bases, Elder got a punchout… and then hung a first-pitch slider to Brett Baty, who slammed it for a grand… slam. The Mets actually collected two more hits before Elder finished the frame, but the score remained 5-0.

Then, the Braves mounted a rally of their own against Christian Scott. Unfortunately, their rally didn’t have a homer, so it wasn’t as productive. Drake Baldwin led off with a double, Matt Olson later singled, and Ozzie Albies had a crazy 11-pitch plate appearance that ended with a 3-2 pitch barely clipping his uniform to load the bases. Mauricio Dubon then came through with a seeing-eye bouncer that plated two. Austin Riley ended the rally by watching two of three pitches in the zone (and fouling off the second). Oops.

The Mets continued tearing into Elder and the Braves’ defense. Francisco Lindor, whose small-sample lifetime stats against Elder are murderous, led off the second with a double, and then scored on a two-out bloop. Another single and a walk loaded the bases, but the frame ended at 6-2. Sean Murphy collected a one-out double in the bottom of the inning, but was left stranded. Lindor then tagged Elder for a two-out solo homer in the third, and yeah, that’s kind of how this one was developing for a while.

Christian Scott and the Mets’ gloves had a 1-2-3 third, but Elder and the home team matched that in the fourth, setting up another rally. A one-out single by Riley, a walk by Jim Jarvis, and another seeing-eye single, this time by Drake Baldwin, made it 7-3. Acuña followed with a hard ripped single to left that highlighted something crazy for me: just how deeply everyone plays him in the outfield, as the ball rolled forrr-eeee-veeer before the left fielder got to it. The scored was 7-4, and Olson came to the plate as the tying run. A homer would’ve been great, but Olson struck out on a half-swing on a sweeper that came pretty close to his shoes.

Elder and a double play combined for another 1-2-3 frame in the fifth, meaning that he actually outlasted Scott. It was a pretty awful outing — a 4/3 K/BB ratio with two homers allowed is not what anyone’s looking for. On the flip side, Scott was really good again (6/1 K/BB ratio), but the Braves managed to plate four in four frames against him thanks to the almighty grounder-through-the-infield.

So, it was a battle of the bullpens for the second half of the game, and honestly, it was uneventful. There was a point where it looked like the Braves would just immediately wheel the game around with Scott gone: Jonathan Pintaro came on and was greeted by a Michael Harris II single, and then walked Albies. Unfortunately, Dubon hit into an easy double play, and though Harris scored on a wild pitch, that was all the Braves would get off any member of the Mets’ relief corps.

Brent Suter did his designated Brent Suter work in this one, throwing three frames with a 3/1 K/BB ratio to keep the game close. The Braves, meanwhile, just couldn’t get the homer or other big hit they needed. Olson again came up as the tying run in the sixth after Acuña walked with two outs, but grounded out to first. Harris had an excuse-me swing turn into a roller of a double to start the seventh, but the next three batters all made field outs. In the eighth, it was pinch-hitter Dominic Smith’s turn to give the team a glimmer of hope by drawing a one-out walk, but again, no joy without dingers, and there were no dingers. Acuña hit a 100 mph screamer to center that was caught on a dive.

Victor Mederos relieved Suter in the ninth and handed the Mets an eighth run as Lindor singled, and then Mederos walked a guy and hit another. A sac fly capped the scoring. The Braves got eaten up by Kodai Senga, closer-I-guess (since actual closer Devin Williams hit the shelf today with a shoulder strain), as Olson and Harris both struck out, and Dubon had a weak flyout to end the game after Albies walked (again, somehow).

It was a weird game in the box score, as the Braves got nine hits, but only three for extra bases. They also had six walks and the hit-by-pitch(ish), but to little avail. The Phillies just wrapped up their win over the Cardinals, so the division lead is down to 7.5, and the Braves will hope to actually get a big hit that hopefully leaves the yard tomorrow as this series continues.

With the loss, the Braves lose the season series to the Mets for the first time since 2017. It’s the end of an era, sorta. And we thought 2025 was an ignominous season…

If obtaining a high pitch count early in the game was the goal, Hunter Dobbins succeeded spectacularly. To his credit, the St. Louis Cardinals starter battled through a less than ideal start to keep Monday night’s game with the Phillies close while the Philadelphia starter Andrew Painter showed no signs of the hamstring trouble he had recently. A tight game early would turn into a wild game late, but a furious Cardinals rally would fall short.

By the top of the 2nd inning, Hunter Dobbins pitch count was in the 50’s. That’s also the inning that his troubles cost the Cardinals a couple of runs. Brandon Marsh led off the Phillies 2nd with a single, but it was the next play that would be costly. Derek Hill chopped a ball up high to Hunter Dobbins who caught the ball and then sailed a show over Alec Burleson at first base into right field which allowed Marsh to score all the way from first base for a 1-0 Phillies lead. Edmundo Sosa followed that with a RBI single doubling the Philadelphia lead to 2-0.

The Phillies would add to their lead in the top of the 5th inning when Kyle Schwarber led off with a single that Jordan Walker turned into a double by mishandling the ball in left field that the official scorer correctly changed to a single and an E9. Stott then singled to right which moved Schwarber to third with no one out. Hunter Dobbins got Bryce Harper to ground into a double play, but that scored Schwarber giving the Phillies a commanding 3-0 lead.

I would not normally call a 3-0 lead “commanding”, but the St. Louis Cardinals absence of offense made it feel that way. Andrew Painter, who has been recovering from hamstring issues, looked like Cy Young for the first 5 innings of the game as he held the Cardinals hitless and hadn’t allowed a runner until he walked José Fermín in the bottom of the 5th.

The Cardinals would FINALLY break up the no-hit bid in the bottom of the 6th inning when Iván Herrera ripped a double into the left field corner after JJ Wetherholt walked to give St. Louis runners at 2nd and 3rd with just one out. Alec Burleson then came through with a clutch single up the middle scoring both Wetherholt and Herrera and suddenly we had a baseball game as the Phillies lead was just 3-2.

With Jordan Walker up next, the Phillies decided Andrew Painter had been in the game long enough and went to their bullpen to bring in Alan Rangel. Walker unfortunately time traveled back to the Jordan of last year as he struck out on an 85 mph slider for the second out. Nathan Church managed to swat a single into right-center to keep the Cardinals rally alive with runners on first and second, but Masyn Winn was unable to come through as he struck out, but St. Louis was back in the game.

While the Cardinals bats were waking up, Luis Gastelum was keeping the Phillies quiet as he pitched an uneventful 6th inning and stayed in the game until there was one out in the top of the 7th when the numerous Philadelphia lefties came up in the lineup. Manager Oli Marmol decided to bring in lefty Caleb Ferguson who promptly walked Stubbs and then grooved a 91 mph sinker to Kyle Schwarber who ripped it to the right-centerfield wall for a double scoring Stubbs and increasing the Phillies lead to 4-2. After Ferguson walked Bryce Harper to load the bases, Marmol hit the eject button on him in favor of Gordon Graceffo who was tasked with bailing the Cardinals out of a bases-loaded with one out jam. He came through like a champ getting Arraez to hit into an inning-ending double play keeping St. Louis within striking distance.

That “striking distance” would get extended in the top of the 8th inning when Graceffo walked Marsh to start the inning. Two batters later, Crawford would connect on an 84 mph Graceffo curve for a double giving Philadelphia runners at second and third with just one out. Former Cardinal Edmundo Sosa would convert that scoring opportunity when he ripped an 85 mph slider into the left-centerfield gap scoring both Phillies runners and giving Philadelphia a 6-2 lead.

St. Louis did not go quietly into that good night as the red hot Iván Herrera led off the bottom of the 8th inning with a double into the left field corner. Alec Burleson said “ditto” and clobbered his own double into the right field corner scoring Herrera and getting the Cardinals a little closer at 6-3.

Jordan Walker, who had been 0-3 on the night, connected on a two-strike 93 mph fastball and drilled it up the middle advancing Burleson to third giving the Cardinals runners at the corner with no one out. After Nathan Church popped out to short, it was Masyn Winn’s turn. He rocketed a ball off of the pitcher into right field which scored Burleson bringing St. Louis closer at 6-4. Winn got a break as he was hustling into second where it appeared the throw would beat him, but the ball got away from Sosa leaving Masyn safe at second.

Jose Fermin kept the rally going as he singled into center scoring Walker and advancing Winn to third cutting the Phillies lead to just 1 at 6-5. Jimmy Crooks was unable to lift a sacrifice fly to tie the game as he struck out, but pinch-hitter Bryan Torres still had a chance to come through. Unfortunately, Torres would fly out to center to end the Cardinals 8th, but they had pulled close enough to hang onto at least a little hope.

Justin Bruihl entered the game in the top of the 9th with one singular mission. Keep the game a 1-run affair to give St. Louis a fighting chance in the bottom of the 9th with the top of the Cardinals lineup waiting. Stott tried to foil that plan as he led off with a single. Bruihl was able to nurse a weak pop fly out of Bryce Harper for the first out. The Phillies started the runner which saved them from a double play when Arraez grounded out for the second out. Justin Bruihl then struck out Marsh to give the Cardinals one more shot at the Phillies.

St. Louis had the right guys coming up in the bottom of the 9th, but would they get the right result? JJ Wetherholt was first up against Philadelphia Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan. JJ failed on an ABS challenge and then struck out on a changeup for the first out in the Cardinals 9th. Iván Herrera was next up and all he could manage was a weak fly to centerfield. Alec Burleson hit a ball right on the screws, but it was directly at the Phillies right fielder Hill for the final out of the game. Bummer.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies will tangle again Tuesday night as Andre Pallante will try to earn his 13th victory for the Cardinals while the Phillies will send LHP Cristopher Sánchez to the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm central time at Busch Stadium and the game TV broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.

ATLANTA — Almost everybody is getting involved. 

For so many stretches this season, the Mets were a one- or two-man show offensively, with Juan Soto carrying the load with whichever player happened to be hot for a stint. 

These days the exception isn’t the one or two players who are hitting, but the ones who are not. Runs are plentiful. 

Monday night, the Mets used Brett Baty’s first-inning grand slam as the propeller in their latest strong offensive showing, an 8-5 victory over the Braves at Truist Park. 

The Mets won for the sixth time in seven games on this road trip and have topped five runs in each of those victories. Overall, they are averaging 7.1 per game on the trip. 

“I can’t pinpoint one [theme], but I just think guys are having really good at-bats,” Baty said. 

For a team dreaming of a surge that can close the gap to .500 (the Mets are still 14 games under), such performances will be a must, especially with the unpredictability facing the pitching staff after it was stripped at last week’s trade deadline. 

Only adding to the improbability of this latest surge is the fact the team’s best hitter, Soto, has been sidelined by a quad strain since last month and isn’t expected back until September. 

“It’s nice to get contributions one through nine and see guys thrive in what they do,” interim manager Andy Green said. 

Devin Williams, who was placed on the injured list Monday with a shoulder strain, is another player not expected back before next month. Kodai Senga assumed the closer’s role on this night and fired a scoreless ninth for his first MLB save. 

Christian Scott slogged through four innings and surrendered four earned runs on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts. It was a second straight uninspiring start for the right-hander, who allowed three earned runs over five innings last week against the Guardians. 

Baty’s first career grand slam highlighted a first inning in which the Mets sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs against Bryce Elder. 

After Jared Young’s RBI single gave the Mets a 1-0 lead, Elder struck out Marcus Semien for the second out. But with the bases still loaded, Baty pounced on a first-pitch slider and hammered it over the center field fence for his eighth homer this season. 

“I hit my first homer here, and now my first grand slam here,” said Baty, whose major league debut was in this ballpark in 2022. 

Before the Mets could get too comfortable, Scott got nicked for two runs in the bottom of the inning: Mauricio Dubón stroked a two-run single that pulled the Braves within 5-2 after Scott surrendered two hits in the inning and plunked Ozzie Albies. 

Scott downplayed the idea that the Mets’ extended top of the first inning was a factor in his early struggles. 

“I just don’t think I threw the ball very well,” he said. “I didn’t have a lot of quality strikes. They made pretty good contact there, especially late in counts.” 

Young’s second RBI single of the game gave the Mets a 6-2 lead in the second. Francisco Lindor’s leadoff double started the rally. 

Lindor took the count full with two outs in the third inning before launching a 420-foot homer to right field. Lindor’s homer was his 11th this season and second on the road trip. 

Scott allowed RBI singles to Drake Baldwin and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the fourth inning that shrank the Mets lead to 7-4. 

Jonathan Pintaro’s wild pitch in the fifth allowed Michael Harris II to score the fifth Braves run. Pintaro walked two batters in the inning. 

Daniel Duarte entered with nobody out in the seventh with a runner at second base and recorded three straight outs without the run scoring to keep the Mets lead at 7-5. 

Young’s sacrifice fly in the ninth gave the Mets an insurance run after they loaded the bases with nobody out.

The San Francisco Giants added another name to the list of injuries that derailed their season.

Giants third baseman Matt Chapman will likely miss the remainder of the season with an abdominal strain that he suffered in the sixth inning of an 8-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 30.

Chapman saw a specialist Monday, Aug. 10 in Philadelphia, who confirmed the core muscle injury, the team announced. The 33-year-old will have surgery Tuesday, marking an official end to his 2026 season as he joins Harrison Bader, Casey Schmitt and Trevor McDonald as players whose seasons ended early to injury.

Chapman finished the year batting .235 with 72 hits, seven home runs, 42 RBI and 35 runs in 84 games.

Matt Chapman contract

Chapman is in the midst of a six-year, $151 million contract extension he signed with the Giants in 2024. He is owed $25.1 million per year through 2030, becoming a free agent in 2031.

Red Sox 0 (in reality) Blue Jays 2

All that’s worth talking about happened in the top of the seventh. Red Sox down 2-0. Game is going along quickly. All is well.

Anthony Seigler singled off Simeon Woods Richardson to lead off the inning. Connor Wong also singled. Nick Sogard lined one at Vladimir Guerrero, who got the ball on a hop and got the first out on a force at second.

Then…..true weirdness. The scoreboard, apparently showed two outs. Truly that’s really neither here nor there, as my dad would say. It is a none issue.

Ceddanne Rafaela hit a fly ball to center field. Both the runner on first and the runner on third took off before the catch. Brett Bateman threw the ball in to second, and, after a bit of confusion, the Jays threw to first to double up the runner that left first. Everybody left the field. Sportsnet went to commercial.

When they came back from commercial, the umpires were talking to the managers. And then they called ‘New York’, to get a ruling from ‘the Gods above’.

Apparently the Gods decided that the Red Sox deserved a run because the Jays took the out at first, but the runner from second crossed the plate first. It didn’t matter that he ‘tagged up’ before Bateman made the catch, which, of course, is illegal.

So the Jays couldn’t appeal because they left the field after the called third out. They didn’t know they should have stayed on the field through the commercial break, so that they could appeal a run that wasn’t put on the board until ten minutes after the inning ended.

If you can give a team a run, ten minutes after the inning ends, the other team should be able to appeal the run ten minutes later.

Umpires is so stupid (as Yosemite Sam would say).

I’m a fan of playground justice and that wasn’t playground justice. No kids would come up with that crap.

Anyway, Jameson Taillon started and looked good, until he left the field after the end of the fourth, and told Pete Walker and John Schneider that he had a pain in his forearm. Words you don’t want to hear from a starter. Taillon allowed one hit, with three walks and three strikeouts in his four scoreless innings. I don’t think we’ll see him on the mound in again in five days.

Simeon Woods Richardson pitched the next three innings, and he was very good too. Allowed four hits, one walk, with two strikeouts and got the earned run against, which really isn’t fair. He got the win.

Tyler Rogers pitched a quick eighth, allowing a walk, and getting a strikeout.

Louis Varland got the ninth. He gave up a leadoff double and I was worried. A sac bunt move Jarren Duran to third. But Varland got a strikeout and a ground out (nice play Vlad) to get his 25th save.

On offense we got just seven hits. We scored:

• One in the fifth: Charles McAdoo led off the inning with a home run.
• One in the six: George Springer had a one-out single. And he stole second (we needed to challenge the play to overturn the umpire’s bad call). With two outs, Andrés Giménez singled to right and Springer scored. Thankfully, the Red Sox catcher, Connor Wong, couldn’t handle the throw from right, or George would have likely been out.

Jays of the Day: Taillon (0.21 WPA), Varland (0.16), McAdoo (0.13), SWR (0.12) and Rogers (0.12).

Other Award: Nathan Lukes (-0.09).

Tomorrow we have Patrick Sandoval (1-0, 3.38) vs. Dylan Cease (7-5, 2.28). It is another 7:00 Eastern start. What will happen that will piss us off in that game?

The Orioles traded seven-year veteran Dean Kremer to the Twins in exchange for 18-year-old outfield prospect Jhomnardo Reyes on July 31. The move subtracted a major league player from the roster, but it did not clearly identify the Orioles as sellers. Kremer missed a significant amount of the season with injury, and he struggled when healthy. Even if the Orioles planned to chase down a playoff spot, it felt like they were willing to proceed without Kremer in the rotation.

The Orioles ultimately sold at the trade deadline, while the Twins acquired Kremer and a few relievers. Minnesota entered tonight’s game only a half game above the Orioles in the wild card hunt, and they sent Kremer to the mound against his former team.

Kremer delivered his best and longest start of the season. The prized piece from the Manny Machado trade (by default) limited Baltimore to only one hit and one run over seven strong innings. Kremer struck out seven, walked one, and made the Orioles look silly for parting with him two weeks ago. Meanwhile, Baltimore starter Trevor Rogers struggled. The bullpen gave up five runs in the seventh, and the Twins bested the Orioles 9-5.

Trevor Rogers did not have his best stuff tonight. The lefty managed to hold the Twins to only two runs, but he only lasted four innings. Rogers allowed the leadoff batter to reach in all four frames. He allowed four hits, walked two, and plunked two batters. The Twins rarely chased his pitches out of the zone, and Rogers threw only 45 of 79 pitches for strikes.

Rogers allowed the first two batters to reach in the first and second innings but managed to escape the frames without allowing a run. After watching his teammates leaver runners on base, Austin Martin decided to start the third inning with a solo homer. The blast got the Twins on the board, but Baltimore answered in the top of the fourth.

Gunnar Henderson worked a leadoff walk. Henderson advanced to second on a groundout by Pete Alonso, and the struggling shortstop moved to third on an infield single by Jackson Holliday. Cleanup hitter Tyler O’Neill fell behind in the count, and Holliday broke for second on a 1-2 pitch. O’Neill went down swinging for the second out, but Holliday stopped running before he reached second base. Holliday got hung up long enough for Henderson to race home, and the Orioles tied the game before Holliday was tagged out.

Unfortunately, Rogers gave the run right back in the bottom of the inning. The lefty plunked leadoff hitter Luke Keaschall before coughing up a double to Brooks Lee. Kaelen Culpepper drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly, but Rogers managed to strand Lee with a pop up and a fly out to the warning track.

The Orioles recalled Cam Sanders before the game and put the reliever to work right away. Sanders represented the only real bright spot of the evening with a pair of clean innings. Craig Albernaz went to Rico Garcia in the seventh, and things quickly spiraled out of control.

Ryan Kreidler ripped a hard grounder up the middle. Jackson Holliday managed to get the ball but wisely declined to rush a throw to first. Martin followed with a quality bunt, but Carlos Narváez failed to follow Holliday’s lead. Narváez never really had a chance to get Martin, but he sailed a throw into right field anyway. The throwing error put runners at second and third and forced the Orioles to play the infield in.

Garcia generated a ground ball to the left side of the infield, but the ball perfectly passed by Henderson and Coby Mayo. Both runners came into score, and the Twins led 4-1. Garcia walked Royce Lewis, and Albernaz summoned Grant Wolfram to face Josh Bell.

Wolfram fell behind 2-1 before firing a middle-middle fastball to the power hitter. Bell skied the ball 407 feet, and the Twins led 7-1.

The Orioles scored a pair in the seventh behind a Leody Taveras triple, a double by Coby Mayo, and a run-scoring groundout by Christian Encarnacion-Strand.

The Twins added a few more in the bottom of the eighth. The Orioles brought the tying run to the on-deck circle after a two-run single by Coby Mayo in the ninth. You can check out the box score if you want the details. I’ve had enough.

The Orioles are 57-62.

The post-trade deadline Mets continue to roll. At a time in a lost season when fans of the orange and blue are more likely to be looking at draft lottery odds than playoff standings, the Amazins are now in the midst of their most successful stretch of 2026. Following a sweep of the Guardians and winning two out of three to the Pirates, the good times continued tonight in Atlanta, where the Mets faced off against the NL East-leading Braves and secured an 8-5 victory over their division rivals.

The bats gave Braves starter Bryce Elder a rude hello in the first inning of tonight’s game. A.J. Ewing led off the game with a double (originally ruled a ground-rule double, then just ruled a regular double after several minutes of umpire deliberation for… reasons). After Francisco Lindor moved him over to third base on a groundout to second base, Bo Bichette delivered the first run of the evening with a single to left. The Mets subsequently loaded the bases thanks to a walk to Carson Benge and a single by Jared Young, respectively. Marcus Semien struck out for out number two, giving Elder the chance to get out of the inning having given up just the one run. Instead, Brett Baty deposited the first pitch he saw beyond the right-center field wall for a grand slam, giving the Mets an early 5-0 lead and making Ron Darling look like a genius.

The Braves responded with their own first inning rally against Christian Scott. Like Ewing before him, Drake Baldwin led off with a double, and he would move to third on a one-out single from Matt Olson. After striking out Michael Harris II, an eleven-pitch plate appearance from Ozzie Albies concluded with him getting hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. Mauricio Dubón then capitalized with a ground ball through the third base hole, scoring two runs to make it a 5-2 ballgame. Scott struck out Austin Riley to end the frame, but he had already expended 31 pitches in just one inning of work.

The Mets continued the offensive barrage in the top of the second against Elder. For a third straight time, the inning started with a double—this time off the bat of Lindor. Elder got the next two outs on a groundout and strikeout, respectively, but Young then got his second hit in as many innings, this one an RBI single to right field to make it 6-2 Mets. That would prove to be the only run the team would score in the frame, though Semien did get a single for the team’s ninth hit in just two innings. The tenth hit would come in the third inning, after Elder recorded the first two outs of the inning to come on the verge of finally tossing a clean frame. Instead, Lindor socked a monstrous shot to deep right field, giving the Mets a five-run lead once again.

But the Braves would fight back once again. Scott held Atlanta off the board in the second and third innings, but faltered once more in the fourth. After recording the first out of the inning, a single and a walk put runners on first and second. A strikeout of Sean Murphy put Scott one out away from another scoreless frame. Instead, back-to-back two-out singles from Baldwin and Ronald Acuña Jr. brought home two runs, cutting the lead down to 7-4. Scott struck out Matt Olson to end the inning, but Andy Green elected to have that be the end of his night. Not the best line for the young Mets’ starter (4 innings, 7 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, 4 earned runs).

Jonathan Pintaro—who had just been recalled to the Mets’ active roster following the placement of Devin Williams on the injured list—came on for the fifth inning, and the Braves continued to chip away. He allowed the first two batters of the inning on via a single and walk. A double play off the bat of Dubón put a runner on third base with two outs, but that runner would come around to score thanks to a wild pitch from Pintaro. With that, the lead was cut to just two runs.

The Mets’ bats, meanwhile, had gone silent; Elder managed to make it through five innings of work despite his early struggles, and Brent Suter then came on and threw three scoreless innings. Thus, the Braves gave themselves a chance to continue erasing the deficit, but the rest of the Mets’ bullpen was up to the task. Following Pintaro’s inning of work, Nate Lavender came on for the bottom of the sixth and tossed a scoreless frame. He came back on for the seventh, but quickly left after giving up a leadoff double to Harris. Daniel Duarte came on and proceeded to throw two hitless innings—thanks in part to some good defense in his second inning of work, including Francisco Alvarez making a catch against the netting in foul territory and Ewing making a diving catch on a line drive to end the eighth.

The Mets finally added on in the top of the ninth when Victor Mederos came on for the Braves. He quickly loaded the bases on a single, walk, and hit-by-pitch, and Young proceeded to get his second RBI of the game by hitting a sacrifice fly to center field. That would make it an 8-5 game, and while it would prove to be the only run the Mets would score in the inning, it would be enough. With Williams now on the injured list, Kodai Senga came on for the bottom of the frame to try to secure his first career save. He did so without much trouble, striking out the first two batters he faced and issuing only a two-out walk in his hitless inning of work to close the door.

So the Mets are now 6-1 since selling at the deadline. Will these good times continue? Eh, probably not. But on the bright side, the Mets have now won the season series against the Braves for the first time since 2017. Would not have expected that in this particular season, but beating Atlanta always feels good. Game two of the series tomorrow evening.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Daniel Duarte, +27% WPA
Big Mets loser: Christian Scott and Marcus Semien, -8% WPA
Mets pitchers: +32% WPA
Mets hitters: +18% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brett Baty grand slam in the first, +24.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Mauricio Dubón two-run single in the first, -10.2% WPA

The Mets defeated the Braves, 8-5, in an offensive showcase on Monday night in Atlanta.   

Here are the takeaways...

-- Braves starter Bryce Elder had been on pace for a career year heading into this game with a 3.69 ERAm but the Mets were able to jump all over him in this one, tallying seven runs and 10 hits over the first three innings. 

-- A.J. Ewing led off the proceedings with a ground-rule double, and Bo Bichette singled him home two batters later. With the bases loaded and two outs, Brett Baty sent a moonshot over the right-center field fence for his eighth homer of the season and first career grand slam. 

-- The five-run inning saw every member of the Mets lineup take an at-bat. The Braves responded in the bottom half of the frame, loading the bases on Mets starter Christian Scott before Atlanta's Mauricio Dubón brought home two runs with a two-out single.

-- The Mets added another leadoff double -- this time off the bat of Francisco Lindor -- to kick off the second inning. Lindor came around to score thanks to a Jared Young liner which found the outfield grass with two outs to increase the lead to 6-2 Mets. With two outs in the top of the third, Lindor tallied another hit, this one a 420-foot no-doubter to pad the Mets lead to a five-run advantage. Lindor finished the game 3-for-5, his fourth game with at least three hits this season.

-- Atlanta's standout sophomore DH Drake Baldwin notched his second hit of the game in the fourth inning, singling home Austin Riley to cut the lead to 7-3. Ronald Acuña Jr. then ripped Scott's hanging slider into left field to bring home Jim Jarvis, but Scott battled back, striking out Matt OIson to limit the damage with the Mets still leading by three runs.

-- Scott allowed four earned runs on seven hits, striking out six batters and walking one across 82 pitches. He was pulled after the fourth inning, increasing his ERA and WHIP on the season to 3.45 and 1.30, respectively.

-- Michael Harris II scored from third base on a wild pitch thrown by Mets reliever Jonathan Pintaro with two outs in the fifth. Pintaro finished the inning with the Mets still in front, 7-5. He was relieved by southpaw Nate Lavender, who spun a scoreless sixth inning.

-- Right-handed reliever Daniel Duarte handled two full innings of high-leverage relief work in the seventh and eight innings, allowing just one baserunner and zero runs to hold the Mets lead.

-- With the bases juiced and nobody out in the ninth, Mets first baseman Jared Young drove in a run via sacrifice fly, his sixth RBI in the last six games he's played.

-- In the stead of injured closer Devin Williams, Kodai Senga entered the game with three outs to seal a Mets win and the score 8-5. He struck out both Olson and Harriswith his signature forkball, walked Ozzie Albies, and retired Dubón via flyout to earn the first MLB save of his career.

Game MVP: Brett Baty

Baty clobbered the first grand slam of his career, providing the Mets with an ample cushion to cruise the rest of the way, the team's sixth victory in their last seven games.

Highlights

A.J. Ewing opens the game with a leadoff double.

The Mets challenged the play, alleging that the ball was not stuck in the right field wall.

The call on the field was overturned, but Ewing was still only awarded second base. pic.twitter.com/GEcx7980dn

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 10, 2026

Six straight hits for Bo Bichette!

He brings home A.J. Ewing in the first inning! pic.twitter.com/Abmvjk66o4

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 10, 2026

RONNIE'S PICK TO CLICK!

BRETT BATY GRAND SLAM! pic.twitter.com/JmQyytaY76

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 10, 2026

Jared Young brings home Francisco Lindor 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MrAYn0rGOV

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 11, 2026

Francisco Lindor hits one 420 feet 🔥 pic.twitter.com/l1c1TbTlCf

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) August 11, 2026

A.J. Ewing makes the play and we go to the 9th! pic.twitter.com/6I6LGVDocU

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 11, 2026

Kodai Senga locks down his first MLB save! pic.twitter.com/9uHxyjocrl

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 11, 2026

What's next

The Mets continue their series in Atlanta on Tuesday night, with first pitch set for 7:15 p.m.

For the Mets, Nolan McLean (3.51 ERA, 1.16 WHIP in 130.2 IP) will toe the slab.

Martín Pérez(3.14 ERA, 1.15 WHIP in 100.1 IP) will take the mound for the Braves.

Whatever else can be said about tonight’s game, it had one of the most “you can’t predict baseball” moments of all time. It was the only run the Sox scored, and it was utterly ridiculous, and they lost anyway.

The short story is this: Both Sonny Gray and Jameson Taillon were on point, with the first damage coming on a solo homer from Charles McAdoo, his second ever. Really can’t be allowing that stuff, says smart guy:

The Jays added another run on garden-variety stuff before the shit hit the fan in the top of the seventh. And my sisters, I promise I’m not exaggerating when I say this is one of the most fucked baseball moments of all time.

Here’s what happened:

Ceddanne Rafaela comes up with runners on first (Eric Sogard) and second (Anthony Siegler) with one out. Only, and this is important, the scoreboard in center says there are two outs. Which apparently all the players watch, because when Ceddy flies out to center, no one is really moved by it, and the Blue Jays throw it in and tag first in the perfunctory way teams do when they’re just sort of going on muscle memory. During all this, Sogard crosses second and Siegler crosses home.

Come back from commercial, and Blue Jays manager-for-life or so it seems John Schneider is talking to the umps for a good five minutes. He’s not losing his mind, but he’s not happy. Then the umps talk to Chad Tracy, who dramas a bit, and then the head ump gets on the mic and is like: “New York, tell us what to do.”

Which is this: The Red Sox score. For the dumbest possible reason: Since the only way to successfully protest an incorrect run-scoring call in this instance is to challenge it at third base, and the Jays instead went to first, the run counted. Chances are you’ll never see this again in your life, tbh. Too many weird things had to happen at once for it to come to pass. But it did happen:

But whatever. Jarren Duran led off the ninth with a double and was moved to third on a bunt and couldn’t tie it. The shine is gone. It’s over. It’s never been more over. The only question is: Are we back? I think we’re back.

Every Major League Baseball park has its own distinct personality, but if you're talking history, Fenway Park (1912) and Wrigley Field (1914) sit in a league of their own as the meccas of the sport.

What's wild though, is the massive drop-off after those pre-World War 1 masterpieces. The third-oldest venue in baseball isn't some classic turn-of-the-century structure – it’s Dodger Stadium, which didn't open until 1962. On the flip side of the timeline, Texas broke in MLB’s newest venue, Globe Life Field, back in 2020. In fact, stadium construction has slowed down so much lately that Atlanta’s Truist Park (2017) is the only other park to debut over the last decade.

That’s a stark contrast to the massive boom sparked by Camden Yards in 1992, which kicked off a "retro-classic" wave that saw an incredible 12 new ballparks open between 1994 and 2004.

So, what’s next on the horizon? The Athletics are officially set to open baseball’s newest venue when they make their move to Las Vegas, while the Tampa Bay Rays might finally end their endless saga and secure a new ballpark.

Here's when every MLB stadium opened:

The first of hopefully many outstanding starts for Tarik Skubal at Dodger Stadium in 2026.

Monday’s game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Royals
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
• Start time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)