Category: Baseball

The Yankees rallied to score two in the ninth to tie the game and two in the 10th to grab a lead, but New York allowed three in the bottom of the 10th as the Red Sox completed a four-game sweep with a 5-4 win Sunday night at Fenway Park.

The game began just like the previous two: The Boston Starter was unhittable. Sonny Gray retired the first 14 Yankees he faced and didn’t allow a hit through 7.1 innings, and was just masterful. 

It appeared to be all for naught as New York rallied. But a three-run bottom of the 10th sank the Yankees (48-35) for their eighth loss in their last 11 games. Boston (36-46) has now won seven in ten.

It was a series to forget for the visitors: Four losses with little offense to speak of and costly errors in the opening game of the series and the finale. At the plate, the Yanks didn’t get a hit until the sixth against Payton Tolle on Friday, the fifth against Jake Bennett on Saturday, and the eighth against Gray on Sunday before a bullpen meltdown in the 10th.

The Yanks finished with three hits and went 1-for-6 with RISP and left four on base. This marked the third time in franchise history they had three hits or fewer in three straight games (1908 and 1914), per Katie Sharp.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Fernando Cruz, with the automatic runner at second and looking to protect a two-run lead, allowed a leadoff single by Anthony Seigler to right and then Masataka Yoshida, in as a pinch-hitter, ripped a fastball up in the zone for a double to right to put two in scoring position. A Tsung-Che Cheng sac fly to right tied the score as both tunners moved up.

After ball one to Jarren Duran, manager Aaron Boone went out to the mound to set up the Yanks' five-man infield. It didn't matter as after Duran whiffed on a great splitter, a hanging splitter was ripped into right for a base hit to walk off the Yanks.

The Red Sox had just three hits in the first nine innings and got three in the 10th, coming through with two hits (plus the sac fly) in two chances with runners in scoring position.

-- After nothing had gone right for the Yankees, things turned when Aroldis Chapman, pitching for the third time in the series, gave the Yankees life in the top of the ninth. José Caballero, who grounded out twice against Gray, blooped a single to left and Anthony Volpe, who entered for Jazz Chisholm Jr., walked to put two on base.

The Red Sox then had a huge mistake: Wilyer Abreu caught a fly to right and then sailed his throw back into the infield so horribly that Caballero, who was tagging on the play, scored from second and Volpe advanced all the way to third base as the tying run.

Paul Goldschmidt, in as a pinch-hitter, muscled a ball up the middle and Volpe beat the throw with a great slide at the plate. Chapman recovered to strike out the next two, including pinch-hitter Max Schuemann.

-- Abreu had another moment to forget in the 10th as he had a ball in his glove on a lopping liner from Amed Rosario, but dropped the ball. Instead of a potential double-play (Schuemann was way off second), his throw home kicked past the catcher, putting another runner on second. After a sacrifice bunt for the first out, Austin Wells' swinging bunt plated another run on a great read and slide by Rosario.

Rosario was the Yanks’ first baserunner of the night, working an eight-pitch walk with two down in the fifth and and got the first hit off Gray, smashing a single up the middle with one out in the eighth. He finished 2-for-3 with an RBI as the official scorer curiously gave him a hit for his 10th inning ball that Abreu dropped, which counted as the lone hit with RISP on the night.

Wells was robbed of a hit with a bloop to right as Abreu made a sliding catch in his first time up. He finished 1-for-4.

Caballero, who grounded out in each of his first two times up against Gray, before his bloop single started the comeback. He finished 1-for-4 with a strikeout.

-- Volpe finished 0-for-1 with the walk.

-- Chisholm Jr., batting in the leadoff spot for the first time as a Yankee, struck out swinging to start the game, losing an eight-pitch battle. Chisholm went down swinging a second time to end the sixth and got tossed by Adam Hamari as he didn’t like that the home plate umpire called him for offering at strike three rather than asking the third base ump. He finished hitless in three at-bats.

-- Ben Rice saw two pitches in his first two at-bats against Gray: flying out to the warning track in left-center in the first and a lazy fly to right in the fourth. He grounded out on a full count to start the seventh. He finished 0-for-4

-- Jasson Domínguez went hitless in three at-bats, striking out looking twice on balls on the inside corner; the latter saw him lose the Yanks’ first challenge. 

-- Cody Bellinger put a charge in the first pitch he saw, but it went for a 342-foot fly out to the corner in right, which would have been gone in 18 for 30 parks, including in Yankee Stadium. He saw three total pitches in his first two at-bats before he went down swinging on the fourth pitch of his third at-bat against Gray. He finished 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

-- Spencer Jones went down swinging at a two-seamer first at-bat, went down swinging at a sweeper in his second time up, and went down swinging at a sweeper in his three times up against Gray. 

-- Oswaldo Cabrera, making his first appearance on the season, was hitless in two at-bats with a strikeout, swinging through a sweeper in the dirt against Gray. He finished 0-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt.

-- Carlos Rodon issued a walk with one out in the first, but didn’t allow a hit in the first two frames with a pair of strikeouts on 34 pitches. The lefty had his good stuff working early, and it really showed in the third as he struck out the side to give him five strikeouts and 12 whiffs on 26 swings (46 percent), with six coming on 11 swings against the changeup.

Things went awry in the fourth, as a walk and an error by Cabrera on a bouncer to third put two on base. The lefty made a lovely play on a high chopper for the second out, but with two in scoring position, Caleb Durbin smacked a 3-1 fastball over the plate into center to score two on the first base hit of the night.

The fastball was a curious pitch call, as Durbin had swung through back-to-back changeups to strikeout in his first at-bat and saw four straight changeups from Rodon to start his second at-bat.

After back-to-back walks sandwiching around a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, Rodon got Cheng swinging to strand three and end the 37-pitch frame. The lefty bounced back with a nine-pitch fifth to close his account: 5.0 innings, two runs (both unearned) on one hit and four walks with six strikeouts on 96 pitches (55 strikes).

-- Paul Blackburn, after dealing a six-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth, allowed a one-out single in a scoreless seventh thanks to a 4-6-3 inning-ender. David Bednar, who had a strikeout in a 20-pitch eighth, allowed a leadoff bloop single but erased it with a 6-4-3 twin killing in a scoreless ninth.

Game MVP: Sonny Gray

He entered the eighth inning on 91 pitches and with a walk, his lone blemish. A one-out single, one batter after recording his ninth strikeout of the evening to give him 2,000 in his MLB career, saw him exit. Without ever being overpowering, the crafty veteran got 14 whiffs on 46 swings (43 percent) and added 18 called strikes, keeping any hard contact to the middle of the park. A no-decision.

Highlights

THIS GAME IS TIED! pic.twitter.com/x690zUYIcY

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) June 29, 2026

What's next

The Yanks return to The Bronx for a six-game homestand, starting with three against the Tigers.

Ryan Weathers (3.95 ERA, 1.142 WHIP in 86.2 innings) gets the ball for Monday's 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Detroit will counter with righty Casey Mize (2.95 ERA, 1.069 WHIP in 58.0 innings).

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about baseball is the lack of an exact mold that everything must fit into.

Players of all different body types can be stars (see: Jose Altuve, Jacob Misiorowski, Cal Raleigh, etc.). The playing field is not required to be uniform making every ballpark have little unique quirks. Almost every aspect of baseball allows for variety that enhances the viewing experience.

This brings me to one of my favorite little ways for a player to stand out: their batting stance.

After more than a hundred years, you would think that the optimal way to contort a human body in preparation to swing a baseball bat would have been found and widely adopted. While stances have gotten a bit more homogenous over time, practically every player still does something visually distinct from their peers.

So, which Rockie has/had your favorite batting stance to watch?

Is there a classic that you wish one of the new guys would adopt or is there someone currently on the roster that has become a fast favorite? Do you like the loose and tall vertical bat of someone like Tyler Freeman or is the coiled over-the-shoulder horizontal bat of a TJ Rumfield more your jam?

Whoever it is, let us know in the comments! Bonus points for visual evidence.

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

BOSTON — It seemed like Jazz Chisholm Jr. was determined to exit Sunday night’s 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Red Sox well before it was over.

The second baseman, hitting leadoff for the first time this season, was tossed after striking out to end the top of the sixth for arguing a checked-swing third strike.

Chisholm was upset with home plate umpire Adam Hamari, who made the call and didn’t check with third base ump Clint Vondrak.

As Chisholm turned to argue vehemently with Hamari at the plate, first base coach Dan Fiorito raced to home plate to try to calm Chisholm, with manager Aaron Boone soon following from the dugout.

None of it stopped Chisholm from continuing to argue. When he slammed his helmet as Boone talked with Hamari, Chisholm finally was tossed by first base umpire Todd Tichenor, the crew chief.

“We tried to keep him in the game in that situation [and] tried to distract a little bit,” Boone said of his attempt to prevent the ejection. “They gave him a little bit of rope to argue his case, and the helmet going in a certain direction probably cost him.”

Chisholm was replaced in the lineup by Anthony Volpe, while José Caballero moved from short to second base.

“I never like when guys get tossed,’’ the manager said. “Everyone once in a while, a guy gets tossed. I don’t want him out of the game and tried to rein it in there.”

Boone added he thought the checked swing was “at least borderline. My quick view from the first base dugout was that he didn’t [swing].”

The Yankees — and Chisholm — lost that argument but still came back to tie the game in the top of the ninth and take the lead in the 10th before blowing it in the bottom of the 10th for their fourth straight defeat.

When Chisholm was ejected, they still were being dominated by ex-Yankee Sonny Gray, as the right-hander didn’t allow a hit until the eighth.

For Chisholm, it was another low point in what’s been a rocky season. He got off to a rough start to the year with a .611 OPS through the end of April, but he was productive for most of May.

That was followed by a disappointing last three-plus weeks.

“I feel like he’s been solid now for a couple months, but I always feel like with Jazz, there’s so much more,” Boone said before the game. “[We’re] waiting for him to really catch fire. I feel like he hasn’t caught fire yet at all this year. I feel like after a really slow start the first few weeks, I feel like he’s been steady the last couple months. But you’re always waiting on that hot streak that you know he’s capable of.”

The Milwaukee Brewers will face yet another NL Central rival this week, as they’re welcoming the Cincinnati Reds to town for four games. Given that Milwaukee played the Reds less than a week ago, I won’t do my full recap of both teams.

After the Brewers swept the Reds at Great American Ballpark, Milwaukee returned home to host the Cubs. They took the opening game of the series behind another strong showing from Jacob Misiorowski before dropping the final two of the series, though they still hold a 5.5-game lead on the division with July on tap.

On the other side, the Reds bounced back nicely in Pittsburgh this weekend, taking two of three from the Pirates as the offense finally showed up (19 runs over three games).

In injury news, the Brewers’ only real update is the return of Jared Koenig, who was activated from the injured list on Friday. His return is big for a Brewer bullpen that went from a surplus to a deficit of left-handers in rapid fashion — Milwaukee’s current IL consists of four bullpen lefties, which left Aaron Ashby as the lone healthy lefty before Koenig’s return.

The Reds didn’t get anyone back, but they did lose outfielder Blake Dunn and right-hander Tony Santillan. Santillan was put on the injured list with an oblique strain, meaning he’ll be out until at least after the All-Star break, while Dunn is currently listed with a TBD return after being shelved with a right elbow sprain.

As a reminder on these two teams’ offenses, the Brewers rank in the top 10 in most offensive categories despite ranking near the bottom in homers, with just 73 as a team (tied for 26th entering Sunday). The Reds, on the other hand, have 100 homers (ranks 12th), but they rank in the bottom-third of the league in OPS (.700) and runs scored (346).

Milwaukee’s pitching staff ranks near the top of the league in ERA (3.42 ERA ranks second) and strikeouts (first with 788 over 716 2/3 innings), while the Reds rank near the bottom in both (4.51 ERA and 652 strikeouts both rank 23rd).

Probable Pitchers

Monday, June 29 @ 6:40 p.m.: LHP Robert Gasser (1-3, 4.50 ERA, 5.14 FIP) vs. LHP Nick Lodolo (2-2, 5.59 ERA, 5.38 FIP)

Gasser, who hasn’t pitched since last Sunday in Atlanta, has made six starts this season, totaling 30 innings with a 4.50 ERA, 5.14 FIP, and 31 strikeouts. He’s looked solid in his last two outings against the Guardians and Braves, totaling 11 2/3 innings with two runs allowed on six hits and three walks, striking out 12. Gasser’s lone appearance against the Reds (last September) was a bit of a strange one on the stat line, as he went 2 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (none earned) on four hits and two walks, striking out three. He took the loss despite a 0.00 ERA.

Lodolo, 28, has had a bit of a disappointing season with a 5.59 ERA, 5.38 FIP, and 38 strikeouts over 46 2/3 innings, though he’s coming off a solid outing against these Brewers. He went four innings in that one, allowing no runs on two hits and a walk while striking out six on just 75 pitches before being removed after a comebacker off his left wrist. In seven career appearances (six starts) against Milwaukee, Lodolo is 1-1 with a 2.52 ERA and 35 strikeouts across 35 2/3 innings.

Tuesday, June 30 @ 6:40 p.m.: RHP Brandon Sproat (2-4, 5.43 ERA, 5.07 FIP) vs. RHP Rhett Lowder (3-5, 4.81 ERA, 4.68 FIP)

Sproat, who had a really rough first couple of months of the season, has looked a lot better in his last few outings. While he still has a 5.43 ERA and 5.07 FIP across 69 2/3 innings, his only real blemish in his last two outings is a pair of homers, one of which was, unfortunately, a grand slam. Against the A’s, Guardians, and these same Reds, he totaled 15 2/3 innings with five earned runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out 19. His last appearance was easily the best of those, as he went six scoreless against Cincinnati, allowing just one hit and a hit by pitch while striking out 10 on 80 pitches. Outside of that, Sproat’s only other appearance against Cincy came in his debut last season, when he went six innings and allowed three runs with seven strikeouts. Let’s hope this outing is more like last week’s.

Lowder, 24, is having a pretty “meh” season thus far, with a 4.81 ERA, 4.68 FIP, and 48 strikeouts across 58 innings through 12 starts. His last appearance came against Milwaukee last week, as he allowed three runs on eight hits and a walk, striking out six across 5 2/3 innings in a 6-5 loss. That was Lowder’s second career appearance against Milwaukee, as he’s now 0-2 with four runs allowed and 12 strikeouts over 9 2/3 innings.

Wednesday, July 1 @ 7:10 p.m.: LHP Shane Drohan (3-2, 3.12 ERA, 3.15 FIP) vs. LHP Andrew Abbott (5-4, 3.90 ERA, 5.05 FIP)

Drohan, who has become the sixth man of Milwaukee’s rotation, has been solid in this role his last few times out. He’s 3-2 with a 3.12 ERA, 3.15 FIP, and 52 strikeouts over 52 innings this season, and his last five appearances have come as a starter. He went 4 1/3 innings against these Reds in his last appearance, allowing no runs but giving up five hits and three walks while striking out five on 98 pitches. He’ll look to provide more length in this outing.

Abbott, 27, was an All-Star last season in his third year with the Reds, but he hasn’t been quite as sharp in 2026. While he still has a 3.90 ERA, that outpaces his 5.05 FIP by more than a run, and he’s striking out batters at a much lower clip, with just 70 over 90 innings. He got hit for four runs (three earned) over 5 1/3 innings in his last appearance against the Pirates, striking out six in a no-decision. In eight career starts against the Brewers, he’s 3-4 with a 3.74 ERA and 44 strikeouts across 45 2/3 innings. That includes three starts last season, when he went 1-1 with eight runs allowed over 18 1/3 innings (3.93 ERA).

Thursday, July 2 @ 1:10 p.m.: RHP Jacob Misiorowski (9-3, 1.45 ERA, 1.84 FIP) vs. TBD

Misiorowski remains among league leaders in most major pitching stats, including sitting atop the leaderboard in ERA (1.45), FIP (1.84), strikeouts (146), and WHIP (0.768). He picked up another win his last time out against the Cubs, going six strong innings with eight strikeouts and one run allowed on two hits and four walks. While he didn’t face the Reds in the most recent series, he did make two appearances against them last season, though without much success. He went 3 2/3 total innings over a start and a relief appearance, allowing seven runs (six earned) on seven hits and six walks, striking out six, though if you’ll recall, that really rough start was the game in which Milwaukee trailed 8-1 only to ultimately win 10-8.

While the Reds haven’t yet announced a starter for Thursday’s series finale, this would be Chase Burns’ spot in the rotation, which would make this a true pitchers’ duel. Burns, 23, has looked fantastic in his second MLB season, as he has a 9-1 record with a 2.36 ERA, 3.17 FIP, and 112 strikeouts over 91 2/3 innings this season. The Brewers missed him in his last turn through the rotation, but he got roughed up by the Pirates over the weekend, allowing five runs on nine hits while striking out 10 over six-plus innings. His only appearance against Milwaukee came last September, when he pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief, allowing no runs on no hits and a pair of walks while striking out four.

How to Watch & Listen

Monday, June 29: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Tuesday, June 30: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Wednesday, July 1: Exclusively on ESPN/ESPN App; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Thursday, July 2: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Prediction

As I’ve mentioned before, this may be the most important stretch of the season for the Brewers, given how many games they’re playing against the NL Central. I don’t think that’s lost on Pat Murphy & Co. Give me Milwaukee to take two of three.

SAN DIEGO — Emmet Sheehan was not pitching for his job Sunday.

That didn’t mean, however, it wasn’t a high-stakes outing.

Entering the day, the 2026 season had not gone anywhere near what the 26-year-old right-hander planned. He began the afternoon with an ERA over 5.00. He’d given up multiple runs in all but one of his first 14 starts. His fastball velocity and execution of secondary stuff had been inconsistent all year.

Things seemed to reach a tipping point last week when, after Sheehan gave up six runs in 3 ⅓ innings to the Orioles, manager Dave Roberts ominously said “he’ll get a start this next one, and we’ll see where it takes us.”

And while Roberts’ tone had softened by Sunday morning — the skipper clarified that Sheehan still “has plenty of leash” to figure things out, especially with the Dodgers lacking any viable rotation replacements in the wake of River Ryan reaggravating a hamstring injury in Triple-A last week — the pressure on the third-year big leaguer and former top-prospect talent was nonetheless mounting.

“It’s got to be better,” Roberts declared. “This is a good test.”

In the Dodgers’ 4-2 win over the Padres, Sheehan earned a passing grade with his best start in months. 

He held the Padres to one run over five innings. He struck out five batters and yielded only two hits. And for the first time in a while, he finally flashed some long-lost consistency with his stuff.

“He knows that there’s more in there,” Roberts said pregame. “Obviously, we think the world of Emmet. He’s got really good stuff. There’s been times where it’s good until it’s not. I think the main thing is, this is just a good opportunity for him to go out there and give us a chance to win a series.”

Sheehan did so by going on the attack early, leaning heavily on his mid-90s mph fastball to get ahead in counts before consistently snapping off curveballs, sliders and changeups to put hitters away.

His command wavered a bit as the day went on, leading to two walks and a hit batter. He also hung a fourth-inning slider to Manny Machado that was launched to left for a solo home run.

But at the most pivotal moment of his outing, Sheehan bore down.

With two aboard and two outs in the fifth, he buried a curveball — a pitch he had tweaked with assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness during a pair of between-starts bullpen sessions this week — that Samad Taylor chased in the dirt.

The strikeout retired the side and sent Sheehan skipping off the mound for the final time at 84 pitches with an emphatic pound of his mitt.

“You got to try to separate the process from the results as much as possible,” Sheehan said. “Which is pretty hard to do when you’re not pitching well and losing games.”

Indeed, washing away the frustrations of his ongoing struggles had been a challenge for Sheehan throughout the first half of the season.

At times, as his fastball velocity dipped earlier this year and his breaking stuff failed to induce its typical swing-and-miss, Sheehan found himself getting bogged down with thoughts about his flawed delivery. When pressure mounted and he faced jams that called for him to simply compete and make pitches, he instead only spiraled as ugly innings piled up.

“When you don’t feel great, it’s an easy default to focus on your mechanics and try to feel something,” Roberts said. “But in the heat of the moment of a game, you have to find a way to get past that and be external and get the hitter.” 

That’s what Sheehan did Sunday, with the strikeout of Taylor — who Roberts said was going to be his last batter of the day — serving as an exclamation point on an outing the team is hoping can jump-start his season. 

“Like I told him after the game, this is something for us to build on,” Roberts said. “Keep going to work this week and be ready for your next one.”

Frustration boiled over for Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the sixth inning on Sunday. 

With Sonny Gray and the Red Sox no-hitting the Yankees for the third consecutive night, Chisholm got himself tossed from the ballgame arguing a check-swinging strike three. 

Home plate ump Adam Hamari elected not to appeal to third, much to the infielder's dismay. 

A heated Chisholm turned and argued with Hamari, before eventually spiking his helmet, which resulted in him being thrown out for the remainder of the night. 

Steve Cohen will be “speaking soon,” the Mets owner told a fan on social media Sunday morning. 

It was one of several posts on X that Cohen made Sunday to fans amid the disastrous season that led to the firing of manager Carlos Mendoza on Friday and a continued free fall for the Mets, who dropped two of three games to the Phillies over the weekend. 

“Steve what’s the plan moving forward,” the fan asked the Mets owner. “Do you plan on speaking? I know many, many fans want to hear you speak. This season has been soul crushing.”

Cohen did not indicate when Mets fans would hear from him, and he did not further address his take on the team’s current standing. 

The Mets owner did spend some time on the social media platform, pushing back on a narrative online that a fan had been kicked out of a game at Citi Field in a viral video on Friday night for holding up a “Fire Stearns” sign, referring to the Mets president of baseball operations, David Stearns. 

“I’m cool with fans expressing themselves and carrying signs,” Cohen claimed in his response to one fan about the alleged incident. “I’m not cool when fans around him are complaining that he was ruining their day at the ballpark. He was belligerent and was asked to be more considerate to paying customer around him. Unfortunately, he refused.”

When another fan questioned Cohen’s explanation, he responded to the post as well. 

“Other than from my head of ballpark operations. Why let the facts get in the way of a narrative,” Cohen wrote in response to a user who said that “I haven’t seen anyone back up this claim” about his previous social media post.

The frustrations come with the Mets having lost their fourth straight series after a 5-4 loss to the rival Phillies on Saturday.

They’re 35-49, 15 games out of first place in the NL East and 9.5 games removed from the final National League wild-card spot despite one of MLB’s top payrolls.

Cohen has owned the Mets since 2020, and the club has seen more downs than ups under his stewardship, making the playoffs just twice.

The Mets made it the NLCS in 2024 before losing to the Dodgers in six games and lost to the Padres in the wild-card series in 2022. 

They went through an amazing collapse last season after going 45-24 by June 12, but then went 38-55 and missed the playoffs on the final day of the 2025 season.

Left-hander Drew Pomeranz joined Triple-A Iowa.

Right-hander Kenten Egbert moves from High-A South Bend to Iowa.

We’ve all heard of players on the Des Moines/Chicago Shuttle. Egbert may be the first player ever on the Des Moines/South Bend shuttle.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were grazed on by the Buffalo Bison (Blue Jays), 8-5.

Kenten Egbert got the start today and it did not go well. Egbert got hammered for eight runs, five earned, on eight hits over 2.2 innings. Egbert walked five and struck out two.

Drew Pomeranz pitched the fourth inning in his Iowa debut. Pomeranz gave up a two-out walk, but nothing else. He struck out two.

Cobin Martin threw three scoreless innings of relief. The only baserunner he allowed was a leadoff walk in the seventh. Martin struck out one.

Catcher Christian Bethancourt pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game.

Scott Kingery hit a solo home run in the third inning, his second of the season. He also finished the top of the third inning for Egbert, getting a groundout on a 36 mile per hour curve ball. So technically, Kingery hit that home run as a pitcher. Kingery was 1 for 4 at the plate.

Left fielder Owen Miller was 2 for 5 with one run scored.

Third baseman James Triantos went 1 for 4 with a walk and two runs batted in.

Kingery’s home run.

RBI single for Triantos.

Christian Bethancourt bringing the heat.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were harried by the Birmingham Barons (White Sox), 10-5.

Starter Koen Moreno went the first four innings and was touched for three runs on four hits. One of the three runs was unearned. Moreno walked two and struck out four.

Erian Rodriguez got the loss after he was banged up for five runs on three hits and three walks over 1.2 innings. Rodriguez also hit a batter. Rodriguez did not strike anyone out.

Third baseman Edgar Alvarez blasted his eighth home run on the year in the fifth inning with two men on. Alvarez went 2 for 5.

Catcher Owen Ayers was a perfect 4 for 4 with a double and a walk. He scored three times.

Center fielder Alex Ramírez went 2 for 5 with an RBI double in the first inning. He also stole a base.

Left fielder Andy Garriola was 2 for 4 with an RBI double and a walk. Garriola also scored a run.

The Alvarez home run.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were kidnapped by the Quad Cities River Bandits (Royals), 7-2.

South Bend got a great start from Alfredo Romero, who pitched five innings and allowed no runs on just one hit. Romero struck out five and walked no one.

South Bend were leading 2-0 going into the top of the ninth, but reliever Ethan Bell and Grayson Moore got rocked for a seven-run inning. Bell took the loss, giving up five runs on four walks and one hit over one-third of an inning. Bell had one strikeout.

Center fielder Kane Kepley cranked a solo home run in the sixth inning, his fourth on the campaign. Kepley was 1 for 3 with a walk.

South Bend had just four hits this afternoon.

Kepley’s home run.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans lost to the Salem RidgeYaks (Red Sox), 7-6.

Brody McCullough started this game on a rehab assignment. He went three innings and allowed one run on two hits. McCullough struck out four and walked one.

The Pelicans tied the game back up in the top of the ninth, but Aiden Moffat was summoned out of the bullpen to pitch the bottom of the ninth. Moffat faced three batters and walked all three of them. That meant that Edwardo Melendez came in with the bases loaded and no one out. Melendez gave up a walk-off single to the only batter he faced.

The game was tied in the ninth because third baseman Yahil Melendez hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth. It was Melendez’s second of the year. He was 1 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Left fielder Edward Vargas went 2 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.

The Melendez home run.

ACL Cubs

Off day.

SAN FRANCISCO — It takes a lot for Willy Adames, who played 160 games last year and 161 the year before, to come out of a baseball game.

So with that context, be the judge of just how much discomfort the Giants shortstop was in after going down swinging for the third time Sunday afternoon. He went back to the dugout and never emerged again, instead leaving the sick-as-a-dog Casey Schmitt to take over on defense.

“It’s tight,” Adames said of his condition after the 3-2 win over the Braves. “Painful.”

A date with an MRI machine seems more likely for Adames than a return to the starting lineup when the Giants begin their series against the Diamondbacks on Monday.

Adames exited the game after the seventh with lower back spasms.

The issue has been bothering him for some time, dating back close to a week, he said. But after a few days of “grinding,” the ailment caught up to him late in Sunday’s win.

His back locked up on him in his first at-bat, “and it just stayed there,” Adames said.

“In that last at-bat, it just got worse.”

Schmitt, who was a late scratch from Sunday’s lineup with a severe case of the flu going around the Giants’ clubhouse, was forced to enter the game at shortstop.

With the Giants removing Buddy Kennedy from the roster to clear space for Heliot Ramos’ return, Schmitt was the only infielder left for manager Tony Vitello on the bench.

“Going into the cage and telling him he was at shortstop, it was like waking a drunk guy up for a job interview,” Vitello joked. “He didn’t look good.”

Before the game, Vitello acknowledged that the Giants were “a little short-handed probably relative to other teams” on the infield after the pregame roster moves.

That now comes to a head with their starting shortstop potentially down at least in the short term and his only capable backup more focused on pounding fluids than fielding ground balls.

Christian Koss, who fractured his left wrist shortly after being demoted to Triple-A Sacramento, could be a “candidate” if the Giants need to add another infielder, Vitello said. It would be a short commute to Chase Field: He has played four rehab games in the Arizona Complex League.

“Probably offensively he’s not going to be in the position that he would want to be or that we would want him in,” Vitello said. “But defensively, he could wake up out of bed and be ready to rock and roll defensively at any of those three spots.

“The biggest thing is to work through what Willy’s got going on and see where he’s at.”

It has been a difficult season for Adames, 30, in more than just his production, which has been below the standards for someone in the second season of a seven-year, $182 million contract.

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If Adames is forced to miss any time, he will already be on pace to play fewer games than either of the previous two seasons. He already missed a game with discomfort in his “knee to hip” area, as Vitello described it, as well as another standard rest day earlier in the year.

“I feel like this year, there’s always been something going on with my body,” Adames said. “It is what it is, there’s always something happening. You just grind it out. … [But] this year has been the worst, I would say, for my body.”

After hitting two home runs last week in the Giants’ doubleheader sweep of the Braves in Atlanta, Adames said he didn’t “feel the best right now.” Soon thereafter, the back issues began.

In 18 games since June 6, Adames has 11 hits and 23 strikeouts in 69 at-bats, a .159 batting average. For the season, his .275 on-base percentage would represent a career low, and his defense at shortstop has been the worst in the majors, according to Statcast’s metric Outs Above Average.

Adames’ struggles are a big reason the Giants’ season has been such a disappointment. Now, as they look to build on their first winning homestand since the end of April, Adames may be forced to watch from the dugout bench.

“It sucks,” Adames said of the unfortunate timing. “Obviously I want to be out there every day. It feels that we’re getting some momentum. That’s why I want to be out there.”

Rangers 3, Blue Jays 2

• Herbie brought his passport.
• And I will remind you that every time the Texas Rangers have won the World Series, they have swept a four game series in Toronto that season.
• In what has been a recurring theme in this series, Texas took an early lead, had to deal with some bullpen shenanigans late, but still managed to pull it out.
• Fun fact…by my count, there were exactly 15 plate appearances in this series where the game was tied. In every other plate appearance in this series, the Blue Jays were trailing.
• With one out in the eighth inning of this game, Vlad Guerrero, Jr. lined out, and then Kazuma Okamoto grounded out. Those were the only two plate appearances Jays hitters had in the series when Toronto wasn’t losing.
• Kumar Rocker started the game by allowing a pair of singles, and the cries of dismay over Skip Schumaker not going with an opener, as he has in what have been arguably Rocker’s two best outings of the season, could be heard all around.
• The Jays only recorded two more hits off of Rocker after that, though, with Rocker ultimately going six shutout innings.
• After Rocker got out of the first, the only difficulty he really faced came in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Andres Gimenez fisted a single into left, then Corey Seager made a bad throw to first on what should have been an easy 6-3 grounder by George Springer to end the inning. Exacerbating things, Elias Diaz followed that up by throwing behind Gimenez at second during Nathan Lukes’ ensuing plate appearance, but hit him on the helmet with the throw, resulting in the runners being allowed to advance.
• Rocker got Lukes swinging to end the inning, however, and had a nice 1-2-3 sixth to end his day.
• 16 swings and misses for Rocker, including 8 out of 16 swings on his slider. Rocker also got 5 whiffs on 9 swings on his fastball, which normally isn’t a big swing-and-miss pitch for him.
• The Rangers needed length from Rocker, since Jakob Junis and Jacob Latz were unavailable after pitching two straight days on Thursday and Friday, Robby Ahlstrom was unavailable after pitching two straight days on Friday and Saturday, and Joe Ross and Peyton Gray were unavailable after throwing 29 and 39 pitches, respectively, on Saturday.
• That left Cole Winn, Tyler Alexander (who threw 15 pitches on Saturday), and Winston Santos, who has never pitched in a major league game, available from the pen.
• Winn handled the seventh, struck out Gimenez looking, allowed a single to Springer, then gave up a bomb on a hanging slider to Lukes.
• At that point, I thought we were facing defeat. And what a vexing defeat it would have been.
• Joc Pederson homered to lead off the game, leading to hopes that the Rangers would do damage off of Shane “Big Brown” Bieber, who was making just his second start of the year and who wasn’t effective in his first outing.
• Texas loaded the bases with one out against Bieber in the first, but a bad swing decision by Ezequiel Duran on a 2-0 pitch he shouldn’t have swung at led to a 5-2 fielder’s choice for the second out, and Evan Carter struck out swinging to end the inning.
• Again, something that has seemed to happen a fair amount in this series.
• The Rangers had the bases loaded with one out again in the sixth, and actually got a run home on a Elias Diaz single, but Alejandro Osuna followed it up with a hard hit ball to first that turned into a 3-2-3 GIDP.
• The Rangers had some bad luck on balls in play in this game — especially Osuna. Osuna had three balls in play in the game, with xBAs of .470, .470 and .530. They resulted in a pair of double plays and a line out.
• The luck dragons owe Osuna one here.
• The home plate umpire also seemed to have a particularly bad strike zone, as well, with the Jays successfully challenging four pitches. The Rangers had several pitches that looked challengeable, but after Diaz unsuccessfully challenged a ball call in the bottom of the first, Texas didn’t challenge the rest of the way, no doubt in part wanting to save their lone remaining challenge for a key late game situation.
• It had all the hallmarks of a gut punch lost, a game slipping away due to circumstances and misfortune.
• And if the Rangers were going to win, they were going to need Winn to get out of the eighth, and then likely have someone throw a scoreless ninth, because the Rangers were unlikely to score off of Jays reliever Louis Varland.
• Varland has been the second best reliever in baseball this year (no one is touching Mason Miller, who has an insane 0.37 FIP to go with his 0.79 ERA and 1.21 xERA). Varland took over the closer role in late-April. Coming into the game, he had allowed 4 earned runs on the season, and was sporting an 0.82 ERA, 1.94 xERA and 1.54 FIP.
• Varland struck out Alejandro Osuna and Joc Pederson to start the ninth, and with Winston Santos and Tyler Alexander warming, I assumed that Santos was coming into the game unless the Rangers took the lead. Such thought was not encouraging.
• But Josh Jung laced a slider down — but not down enough — into the opposite field gap for a double. Jarred Kelenic, the only non-catcher left on the bench after Justin Foscue hit for Evan Carter in the top of the sixth (awfully early, though with one out and two on in a one run game, it was a big spot, but still…) and then Lopez replaced Foscue, pinch ran for Jung.
• Sometimes fortune smiles upon you at the most unexpected time.
• Such it was here when the first pitch from Varland to Corey Seager went about 55 feet, bounced up and off of Alejandro Kirk, and caromed all the way back to the netting on the base side of home plate. Kelenic, running all the way, made it home easily from second, and the Rangers, unexpectedly, miraculously, had the lead:

• Tyler Alexander, summoned to handle a save situation for the second day in a row, had an uneventful ninth.
• And just like that, the Texas Rangers swept the series, had a four game winning streak, and guaranteed themselves no worse than a .500 road trip.
• When the road trip started, I felt that .500, on three city trip with ten games in ten days, would be a successful road trip. After that, the Rangers would have just 31 road games remaining, compared to 44 home games. Split the road trip, play well on the nine game home stand leading into the All Star Break, and let’s go from there.
• With three games in Cleveland coming up now, a .500 road trip would feel like a letdown.
• The Rangers are also in sole possession of first place as result of the Mariners losing. This is the first time the Rangers have been in first place since April 25, and the first time they’ve been in sole possession of first place since April 17.
• Kumar Rocker touched 96.8 mph with his sinker, averaging 94.5 mph. Cole Winn maxed out at 95.9 mph with his fastball. Tyler Alexander’s fastball topped out at 92.6 mph.
• Joc Pederson’s home run was 108.9 mph. Ezequiel Duran had a 106.7 mph single. Jake Burger had a 105.1 mph groundout. Josh Jung had a 104.4 mph single, a 102.0 mph double and a 100.5 mph fly out. Elias Diaz had a 102.2 mph single. Alejandro Osuna hit into a double play on a ball with a 100.8 mph exit velocity.
• Seven down, three to go.

The Dodgers claimed a series win against the San Diego Padres with a 4-2 victory Sunday, widening the gap between division rivals to 10 games.

The Dodgers (54-30), who have the best record in the majors, have won five of the first six games of a three-city trip that ends in Sacramento.

A bounce-back start from right-hander Emmet Sheehan made the Dodgers’ win Sunday possible. He held the Padres to one run, on Manny Machado’s fourth-inning homer, through five innings.

Read more:'He cares about people.' How Dodgers' Dave Roberts got to the cusp of 1,000 career wins

“Maybe being a little more comfortable in my mechanics,” Sheehan said after limiting the Padres to two hits. “But also just the focus in between starts of trying to get a little more execution instead of delivery thoughts. I had seven days, so I got to throw two bullpens this week, which is nice.”

It was the first time Sheehan held an opponent to a single run since May 8, when he threw 4⅔ innings against the Atlanta Braves.

“He just beared down and made pitches when he needed to,” manager Dave Roberts said, “versus feeling it with the mechanics or being uncertain.”

Mookie Betts stayed hot with his bases-loaded, two-run single off Padres starter Michael King to spearhead a three-run rally in the fifth. Betts also singled in the seventh.

Freddie Freeman had an RBI on a nine-pitch walk in the fifth, and Shohei Ohtani drove in the Dodgers’ first run with a single in the third.

“The last six weeks, Shohei’s been out of this world,” Roberts said. “Freddie’s been very consistent all year, and then now we got Mookie this last week on track. So it has been the better part of the season that we haven’t had all three of those guys. You can see it — when those three guys are threats, it just kind of takes a lot of pressure off everybody else.”

Over the three-game series, the Dodgers outscored the Padres 20-12. Here are offensive takeaways from the series:

Tucker ‘grinding’ through

Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker never had been through a stretch like this. He entered Sunday with a .719 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, the lowest he’s had 77 games into a season in his career.

“I feel fine coming to the field and everything, it’s just not being as productive as I normally am, or as I want to be, kind of sucks,” Tucker said in a conversation with The Times a couple of weeks ago. “But I’ve just got to come back for the next at-bat, or the next day, and whatever, and just move on.”

Has battling this uncharacteristic slump taught him anything?

“I’d rather not suck,” he said. “But just try and grab through and just whenever anything works or clicks or whatever, just don’t let it go.”

Tucker has had moments this season when it looked like he was heading toward an offensive turnaround.

In mid-April, he homered twice in three games, including a three-hit performance. In early May, he went on a six-game hitting streak. He hit .303 over a nine-game stretch in mid-June. But none led to sustained success.

So, when Tucker logged three hits, including a home run, on Saturday as the Dodgers routed the Padres 15-3, he was cautious in his optimism. Tucker even nitpicked the nine-pitch at-bat that ended in the pull-side homer.

“There were some pitches I swung at earlier in the at-bat that I thought should’ve gotten the job done earlier, just didn’t put a great swing on it,” he said after the game.

Manager Dave Roberts was more enthusiastic about that at-bat.

“He’s handled it well,” Roberts said. “He’s frustrated, certainly. But he hasn’t run from the work. Even [Friday] night after the game, he was hitting in the cage. … You hear the word ‘grind’ a lot, but he’s grinding. It’s good to see him have some success. I just liked that one at-bat tonight where it was just compete. It wasn’t about mechanics. It was about competing and getting the job done.”

On Sunday, Tucker singled in four at-bats.

Edman’s consistency

There were times last year when utility player Tommy Edman could look at video of his swing and think, “OK, that doesn’t look like how I want it to look.” But there was only so much he could do in the middle of the season, while playing through nagging ankle issues.

“Part of it is kind of just breaking habits that I built last year,” said Edman, who underwent surgery on his right ankle in the offseason. “Was just getting into some bad movements with the lower body, probably just compensating for the ankle, and hips get out of whack, and that kind of stuff. So I’m hopeful that I’ll just be able to keep this up the rest of the year and just be consistent with it.”

Since returning from the injured list on June 16 to make his season debut, Edman is hitting .333 (11 for 33) with a .405 .on-base percentage. He hit his first triple and second double of the season in the Dodgers’ blowout win Saturday.

“I feel like this is kind of one of the rare times where both swings feel good, both from the right and left,” switch-hitting Edman said after that game. “It’s really tough to maintain both swings over the course of the season, so just happy that I feel that way.”

Betts is back

When Betts went three for four, a triple short of the cycle, in the Dodgers’ series finale in Minnesota last week, he couldn’t put his finger on a cue that had snapped his swing into shape over the last couple of weeks.

“Today, I was able to just find something,” he said then. “I don’t even know really what I found. After the home run the first at bat, I wasn’t sure what I did, but I just kind of stayed there. And I think that was the beauty of it. And not really fully knowing and just kind of going to play kind of let me know my training is paying off.”

It continued playing off. That performance kicked off a three-game homer streak. And by the end of his two-week heater, Betts had raised his OPS from .591 to .737.

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By Saturday night, Roberts was ready to declare that Betts was back.

“I say ‘back’ because I just think there’s more intent with him in the batter’s box and a lot less indecisiveness,” Roberts said. “So for me, if he can have that kind of proactive approach, aggressive approach, then everything else is going to take care of itself.”

Betts credited his resurgence to a shift in how he prepares for games. Instead of taking 100 swings in the cage with a specific cue, he’s building up from a blank slate every day.

“I used to have things I would think about that would produce a swing, and now I’m actually just training my body every day,” he said. “So kind of one in the same, but they’re just two completely different ways of going about it. And still trying to get fully used to it, but it’s working, so I’m not changing it.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

SAN DIEGO — One big hit and a bunch of great at-bats.

That’s all the Dodgers needed to take control of a rubber-match 4-2 win over the Padres on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.

With the score tied entering the top of the fifth inning, and a pivotal midseason series hanging in the balance between National League West rivals, the Dodgers built the kind of big inning they’ve long felt defines their offense.

They stressed Padres ace Michael King with supreme plate discipline. Then they made him pay for the one mistake he left in the zone.

The inning began with three free bases: walks from Alex Freeland and Shohei Ohtani (who had opened the scoring in the third with an RBI single), then a hit-by-pitch of Andy Pages.

After that, former MVPs Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts came up and exemplified a pair of professional at-bats.

Freeman stayed alive in a nine-pitch battle against King, fouling off one two-strike offering after the next —including one that nearly drilled Betts in the on-deck circle — before finally walking on a changeup that appeared to catch the corner of the zone but wasn’t challenged by either of San Diego’s batterymates.

Betts then stepped in and waited King out for something over the plate. He laid off the first three pitches he saw. He then laced a two-run single to center on a sinker down the middle.

The Dodgers would cling to the lead the rest of the way, getting a five-inning, one-run start out of Emmet Sheehan, then four stressful innings of one-run ball from the bullpen.

There were plenty of chances for the Padres to rally along the way, as they put the tying runners on base in the sixth and eighth and had Fernando Tatis Jr. up as the tying run with one out in the ninth. But they couldn’t replicate what the Dodgers did in the fifth. It underscored the difference in the game, the series and the NL West standings.

What it means

The Dodgers’ division lead was in no sort of danger entering this week’s series, even after the Padres trimmed it to eight games with a win in Friday night’s opener.

But now, with their second series win over the Padres in as many tries this year, their 10-game cushion is starting to feel insurmountable.

Granted, there is still half a season to play. And the Padres come to Dodger Stadium next week for a four-game series. But the way the Dodgers are playing — especially against the Padres so far this year –– it’s hard to imagine the division race getting close again.

Who’s hot

California Post baseball columnist Dylan Hernandez covered Betts’ recent hot streak, which included another single Sunday in addition to his two-run knock in the fifth.

So we’ll use this space to focus on Freeland — who has not been swinging the bat well lately (.182 average with only two extra-base hits his last 21 games) but helped get both of the Dodgers’ scoring rallies started Sunday.

In the third, Freeland lined a leadoff single to left field, took second on a Chuckie Robinson sacrifice bunt, then scored on Ohtani’s RBI base hit. In the fifth, he reached again as the leadoff man by drawing a full-count walk off King, marking only the sixth time this month he’d reached safely twice in a game.

The performance came at a good time for the second-year utility man, who could be on the roster bubble with Teoscar Hernández expected back Monday.

It’s more likely that outfielder Ryan Ward gets optioned to make space for Hernández. Still, Freeland offering a reminder of his value should only help his case in this latest roster crunch.

Who’s not

Pages is becoming the latest victim of the Dodgers’ two-hole curse. After going hitless in three at-bats on Sunday (he was hit by a pitch in his two other trips to the plate), Pages is now batting just .208 this month, which he has spent entirely in the No. 2 spot of the batting order.

No one who has slotted into the place has seemed to do well this year, with the Dodgers having already bumped Kyle Tucker and Betts down the order.

Up next

The Dodgers will make their first road trip to Sacramento this week, opening a three-game series against the Athletics — who continue to play in the Giants’ Triple-A park — on Monday. Eric Lauer (3-5, 4.87 ERA) will start and not follow an opener, manager Dave Roberts said pregame. Left-handed rookie Gage Jump (3-1, 2.04 ERA) will square off against him.

The Dodgers reinforced their dominance over the San Diego Padres on Sunday, taking the weekend finale by a final score of 4-2.

The Dodgers were left hitless over their first two innings against Michael King, but Alex Freeland tallied their first hit with an opposite field single to lead off the top of the third. Chuckie Robinson put Freeland into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, and Shohei Ohtani brought in the game’s first run with an RBI single.

Emmet Sheehan mowed down San Diego’s offense over his first three innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out three. His one-run cushion was short-lived as Manny Machado connected for his second home run against him this season in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Freeland reached base for the second time against King with a leadoff walk to begin the top of the fifth inning, but Robinson failed to move him over as the bunt attempt found King’s glove. Ohtani worked the second walk of the inning to give the Dodgers multiple baserunners for the first time, and King subsequently plunked Pages for the second time to load the bases with one out. Freddie Freeman gave the Dodgers the lead back with a walk, and Mookie Betts broke it open with a two-run single, knocking King out of the game after just 4 1/3 innings. Betts added another hit in the seventh inning, finishing the weekend with an average of .333 (4-12), two home runs and six RBI.

Sheehan walked Song for the second time before plunking Fernando Tatis Jr. with two strikes on him and two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. With Samad Taylor representing the potential tying run, Sheehan struck him out for the third time to get out of the jam.

Sheehan’s day was done after 84 pitches, but he put up his best performance in two months. It was the first time that Sheehan allowed just one run since May 8 against the Atlanta Braves, and it was the first time he allowed just one run over at least five innings since April 24 against the Chicago Cubs. His two hits allowed on Sunday are tied for the least amount all season.

Alex Vesia came in relief in the bottom of the sixth inning, but a late reaction to a ground ball from Jackson Merrill allowed the center fielder to reach on an infield single. Merrill got into scoring position on a lazy pickoff attempt from Vesia, and the left-hander couldn’t complete the inning after getting two outs.

Will Klein came in to face Xander Bogaerts, but an RBI single cut the Dodger lead in half. For the second straight inning, the Padres got a baserunner on a hit by pitch with two outs and two strikes as Andujar was drilled to put the tying run on base. Sung-Mun Song represented the potential go-ahead run, but Klein struck him out swinging to get out of the jam.

San Diego threatened Klein again in the bottom of the seventh as Tatis lined a single to right to once again bring the tying run to the plate. Klein got Taylor to strike out for the fourth time, but Tanner Scott came in to face the left-handed hitting Merrill. Scott got him swinging on three pitches to end the threat.

Scott stayed in to face the middle of the order in the bottom of the eighth, but a double from Machado and a hit by pitch to Ty France put the tying run on base with nobody out. Scott managed to strike out Bogaerts for the first out, and the southpaw needed just one pitch to get Andujar to ground into a 5-4-3, inning ending double play.

Edgardo Henriquez notched his first save of the season and just the third of his career, as the Dodgers now lead the season series over San Diego 4-2. The two teams are set to meet at Dodger Stadium for a four-game set beginning Thursday.

Game particulars

• Home runs: Manny Machado (15)
• WP– Emmet Sheehan (4-5): 5 IP, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
• LP– Michael King (5-7): 4 1/3 IP, 3 hits, 4 earned runs, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
• SV– Edgardo Henriquez (1): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts

Up next

Before these two teams square off again, the Dodgers head up to Sacramento to begin a three-game set against the Athletics beginning Monday (6:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Eric Lauer faces left-hander Gage Jump.

Romy Gonzalez is a good baseball player. He was one of the best hitters in baseball against left-handed pitchers last season. His 162 wRC+ against southpaws last season was ninth-best among qualifiers. Tonight, he makes his return for the Red Sox against Carlos Rodon on the Yankees. While he’s not the flashiest name, it should be a legitimate spark for a struggling offense. Sonny Gray goes for the Red Sox, coming off an 11-strikeout performance against the Rockies. Is a four-game sweep of the Yankees what this team needs to turn things around? Probably not, but it’s a start.

First pitch at 7:20 PM on NBC, Peacock, and WEEI.

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