Category: Baseball

There was a poignant moment for the Cincinnati Reds during their 8-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs in Great American Ball Park on Sunday afternoon. The Reds, last place residents of the NL Central and now 9 games under .500, actually looked like they might have figured things out for once.

Andrew Abbott had labored through a 30 pitch Top of the 1st and the Reds had fallen behind immediately 2-0. However, they finally found a way to battle back against Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, the culmination of which was a 433 foot blast into the upper deck in LF by Eugenio Suarez to give them a 4-2 lead.

They’d flipped the scoreboard. Geno’s homer was his 200th as a member of the Reds, which was awesome. VIbes heading into the All Star break suddenly felt like they were on the right track again.

Then came an otherwise routine grounder up the middle in the bottom half of the frame. The Cubs had loaded the bags against Abbott with 2-out, and Kevin Alcantara poked a comebacker right past the Cincinnati southpaw towards the bag at 2B, where Edwin Arroyo was perfectly positioned to field it, step on the bag, and end the threat. The ball, however, had other plans, and doinked off the bag and over into RF for a shit-luck single that scored a pair of runners to tie the game.

Just as soon as the vibes around the team felt good, for once, they immediately turned sour again.

By the time the Top of the 7th rolled around, things just felt inevitable. With Sam Moll on the mound, another slow grounder to almost the exact same spot went to Arroyo, who fielded it and momentarily hesitated between trying to tag the runner or throw to 1B – and by the time he threw, it was too late. That chased Moll, Pierce Johnson was summoned, and Pierce immediately served up the back-breaking 3-run bomb to Alex Bregman.

That poignant moment? Initially I thought it was Geno’s homer, a feel-good blast that, at 111.3 mph off the bat, was his hardest-hit ball of the year and gave him homers in back to back games. He’s getting hot, I said out loud. He’s going to help carry the Reds for a bit!

Of course, that was only to realize there’s no game tomorrow. There’s not a game for days. The Reds lost anyway despite Geno’s big swat, and the actual poignant moment was that we’re almost certainly heading into the final three weeks of his Cincinnati career.

The Reds have just 16 games between now and the August 3rd trade deadline, and Geno getting hot would be a blessing for Nick Krall, assuming he’s still in charge of the team by then. However, the first 9 games out of the break are all on the road (including out here in Colorado where I plan to go see them), and by the time the Reds return home on July 27th Geno could well already be in a different uniform. That’s just how all of this works when the losses stack up way faster than the wins.

So, the 200th dinger of his Reds career could very well be his final swat in GABP in a Reds uniform. Hell, today might well have been the last time we ever get to see him in GABP in a Reds uniform altogether.

Someone’s going to trade for him. The Reds might have to eat a little cash, but his ability to get fiery-hot in streaks and track record mean that the back of his baseball card this year – which was interrupted for the first time in his career by an oblique issue that he’s had to fight back from – aren’t going to simply make teams avoid him altogether. That swing today, that 111 mph missile, is exactly what the circling sharks want to see from him, and they’ll pay more attention to that one day after he went the other way for a different homer than they will to his overall struggles since Opening Day.

We got to see Geno hit a high note again on Sunday in an another otherwise lost season in Cincinnati, a throwback to when he used to do that in these kinds of seasons all the time when we were younger. At least we all managed to get that once more.

With the MLB Draft wrapping up early Sunday evening, news broke that Texas Longhorns left-hander Haiden Leffew will return to the Forty Acres for the 2027 season after going unselected through the first 19 rounds, according to a report from Horns247.

Orangebloods quickly confirmed Leffew’s return.

The 6’1, 235-pounder has exhausted three seasons of eligibility. Perfect Game ranked Leffew as the No. 367 prospect in this year’s draft.

As a high school recruit, Leffew was slotted just outside the top-150 prospects nationally by Perfect Game when he signed with Wake Forest out of Kannapolis, N.C. as a member of the 2023 recruiting class.

As a freshman, Leffew was difficult to hit, striking out 38 batters over 35.1 innings and limiting opponents to a .221 batting average, but he also had some command issues, ultimately posting a 6.11 ERA because he walked 27 batters, hit six batters, and threw eight wild pitches. Of the 20 appearances by Leffew in 2024, he started five games.

Working exclusively out of the bullpen in 2025, Leffew cut his hit by pitches and wild pitches in half, so although the batting average against him increased to .263, he was able to go 4-1 with a 4.46 ERA while increasing his strikeout rate with improved command, striking out 59 batters in 34.1 innings over 27 appearances, which led the team. Leffew also recorded four of the team’s 13 saves.

After entering the NCAA transfer portal, Leffew committed to Texas last June as the No. 14 overall player in the portal by 64Analytics thanks to a fastball that reached into the mid-90s and a plus-plus changeup that induced a 72.1-percent whiff rate.

For the Longhorns, Leffew served in a high-leverage role out of the bullpen, appearing in 17 games while notching a 4-1 record with a 4.05 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 20 innings. Opponents only hit .176 against Leffew, who also dealt with some command issues, walking 15 batters, throwing three wild pitches, and hitting two other batters.

Due to an undisclosed late-season injury, Leffew only made one appearance in the postseason, failing to record an out against UC Santa Barbara in the Austin Regional, ultimately giving up two runs, one earned, while walking two batters.

Leffew’s command issues remain concerning, but his combination of experience and pure stuff will ensure that he once again occupies a high-leverage role in Max Weiner’s bullpen in 2027 with remaining upside to unlock if he can work more consistently in the strike zone — when he was on, he was essentially unhittable this season.

SAN FRANCISCO — In a first half where just about everything has gone wrong, it’s worth pointing out when the Giants’ rookie manager does something right.

And Tony Vitello pushed all the right buttons Sunday afternoon to ensure his down-and-out squad entered the All-Star break on a winning streak, no matter how meager.

It raised eyebrows when Vitello took the ball out of Trevor McDonald’s hand after he cruised through seven innings, and the manager made another curious choice deciding against pinch-running for Rafael Devers, who represented the go-ahead run.

Guess what: The Giants bullpen kept the Rockies at bay, the pudgy first baseman hustled first to third on a knock from Bryce Eldridge, and then he scored the decisive run in a 3-1 win.

“Kind of the theme of the day was: We might as well empty the clip,” Vitello said.

With wins in their final two games of the first half, the Giants managed to end an immensely disappointing first half on a positive note. They took three of four from the Rockies to only claim their 13th of 30 series, but still entered the break with the third-worst record in the National League, 14 games below .500 and 19 1/2 games back of the Dodgers.

“We kind of expected to take the world by storm to start the season, and it didn’t happen right away,” Vitello said. “There was early frustration right away and a multitude of other things. But those days are gone. All’s we got is the second half in front of us.”

Before Devers got things started in the eighth against Antonio Senzatela with a walk, the Giants had mustered so little against the worst pitching staff in the majors that it almost looked like they would allow arguably McDonald’s strongest, inarguably his most efficient effort of his career go to waste.

The only run yielded by any Giants pitcher came on McDonald’s second pitch of the game, which Jake McCarthy turned into an inside-the-park home run. He went on to complete seven innings, allowing only four other batters to reach base, on only 73 pitches.

“He seemed to gain strength as the game went on,” Vitello said.

That made it a surprise when Keaton Winn emerged from the bullpen to begin the eighth inning, and the plan almost faltered when he issued a two-out walk, but Vitello then called on Erik Miller to gain the platoon advantage against Mickey Moniak, who struck out to end the inning.

The lineup was about to flip over to McCarthy, which was the matchup Vitello was worried about.

“We didn’t want traffic for McCarthy, and Keaton’s been our best guy on righties,” Vitello said.

Still, McDonald tried to plead his case.

“I was trying to go back out there. The competitor in me argued a little bit,” he said. “But they played the matchups well and Keaton and Miller shut the door at the end, so it all worked out perfect.”

Vitello apparently didn’t want to risk repeating what happened the last time Devers was lifted for a pinch-runner, though the situation didn’t quite mirror the mishap in Miami. Then, Devers needed to score in order to tie the game. In this case, San Francisco was already at least in line for extra innings, meaning it probably wasn’t worth the risk of losing Devers’ bat.

It all worked out, as Devers easily went first-to-third on the single by Eldridge, who was lifted for pinch-runner Grant McCray — another move that couldn’t have worked out better.

The speedy outfielder took off on Senzatela’s first pitch to Willy Adames and, even with a runner on third, catcher Hunter Goodman attempted to throw him out at second. The ball sailed into center field, Devers scampered home and McCray made it to third.

Vitello credited McCray’s preparation for the pinch-running opportunity but also gave Adames a shoutout for distracting Goodman, calling that “one of the most underrated things he did” in addition to a couple slick plays at shortstop and three hits, including an RBI knock to give them some cushion in the eighth.

The insurance proved to be unnecessary as Miller had no problems finishing a four-out save.

JT Brubaker closed out their win the previous day by recording the final six outs. Despite waiting three months to name a closer, the Giants appear to be back to a by-committee approach just a month after Vitello inserted Caleb Kilian into the role. Kilian has blown three saves in 12 chances.

“We kept saying [we were] trying to play Tetris at the end of games and settle on guys,” Vitello said. “But at the end of the day, we’re scratching and clawing for every win we can get.”

What it means

McDonald may have saved his spot in the starting rotation heading into the second half.

Although roles are expected to open up if and when Robbie Ray and/or Tyler Mahle are traded, McDonald was trending in the wrong direction and Carson Whisenhunt has made a case for a full-time job with his performances in two recent spot starts.

Who’s hot

McDonald allowed McCarthy to round the bases in one go on a drive into the alleyway in right center — a leadoff inside-the-park home run — and didn’t surrender another run.

The ball was initially ruled a triple and an error on Jung Hoo Lee, who misplayed the carrom of the wall, and with the way McDonald immediately beared down, you have to wonder if McCarthy even would have scored if he was forced to hold up at third.

From thereon, only four Rockies reached base against McDonald, who breezed through seven innings on only 73 pitches and faced the minimum over his final three frames.

“The main thing was just not to let it rattle me,” McDonald said. “Obviously the last outing spiraled a little bit.”

The 25-year-old right-hander was coming off the worst start of his career, getting tagged for eight runs and 11 hits in only 2 ⅓ innings, and responded with one of his best.

The circumstances made the bounce back effort “very” satisfying, McDonald said. “I’ll take that into the break, for sure, and come back with some confidence and momentum for the second half.”

Who’s not

Despite facing one of the handful of pitching staffs worse than their own, the Giants failed to score more than four runs in any of the final three games of the series.

In each game the Rockies rolled out a starting pitcher with an ERA that started with a six or worse, but Michael Lorenzen (3-9, 6.46) had just as few problems as the previous two.

Heliot Ramos continued a strong stretch of hitting since returning from a quad strain with a 2-for-4 showing, but when he came up with the bases loaded in the fourth trying to turn Drew Gilbert’s RBI single into a fully fledged rally, he flew out to end the inning.

It was the 61st time in 96 games that the Giants were held to four runs or fewer, more than any team besides the Guardians (64) or Mets (62), and improved to 12-49 in those contests.

Up next

The All-Star break, or another way to look at it after two wins over the Rockies: a guaranteed six days in a row that the Giants will go without losing a game — something that hasn’t happened all season.

Five days is the longest the Giants have gone without a loss, when a day off and a rainout interrupted one of their season-long three-game winning streaks. They’ll try to make it a full week since their last loss when they open the second half Friday against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

Landen Roupp will start the series opener, Vitello said.

Logan Webb, who said he’s unlikely to pitch in the All-Star Game after participating in the World Baseball Classic and dealing with injuries, is set to go in the second game Saturday.

After a long couple of days, we’re nearing the end of the 2026 MLB Draft. The league’s 30 teams have combed through the amateur ranks and called out hundreds of names, with five rounds left of picks to make. The Yankees are hoping they’ve found themselves an exciting new generation of Baby Bombers with their selections; they started things off with a couple of young bats and college arms on Day 1, and have pulled from the ranks of prep bats, college hitters, and college arms so faron Day 2.

Stay with us as we come down the home stretch and the Yankees make their 16th- through 20th-round picks!

Round 16, Pick 488: Garrett Ahern, RHP, Grand Canyon, 6’5” 195 lbs.

We’re back underway, and the Yankees have gone with pitcher Garrett Ahern out of Grand Canyon. A lean right-hander, Ahern has struggled to keep runs off the board in college but did record his fair of strikeouts. He has a rough-looking 6.02 ERA in 145 innings as a collegiate pitcher, striking 145 against 58 walks in that time. College baseball writer Daniel Allen posted on Twitter/X that Ahern sits 91-93 mph from a sidearm delivery that deceives opposing hitters. Ahern apparently has transferred to Arizona from Grand Canyon, but he could be an interesting project should the Yankees be able to convince him to sign.

Round 17, Pick 518: Jason Krieger, RHP, Maine, 6’5” 220 lbs.

Another round, another tall, right-handed college arm head to the Yankees. Krieger struggled in his first season with the University of Maine, running a 5.26 ERA in 65 innings in 2024 before missing the 2025 season with Tommy John surgery. He got off to a tough start to his 2026 campaign, posting a 7.24 ERA over his first 32 innings, but closed things out strong, including an eight-start stretch where he managed a 2.52 ERA. He’s followed that up with a great run in the Cape Cod League, allowing one earned run over four appearances and 15.1 innings.

You can read more on Krieger’s road to this point in a touching and sad story from the York Daily Record. Krieger lost his father to pancreatic cancer in 2018 and has stated that his goal is to make the big leagues for his dad.

Round 18, Pick 548: Blake Cyr, OF, Florida, 5’11” 195 lbs.

The Yankees take their fourth outfielder of this draft, this time Blake Cyr out of Florida. Cyr played his high school ball at Windermere High School in Florida, started college at Miami, then transferred to Florida for his last two collegiate seasons. Cyr’s senior campaign was his best, hitting .316/.398/.591 with 14 dingers in 56 games. We don’t have much scouting info on Cyr, though you can see what looks like a somewhat long but powerful right swing here:

Round 19, Pick 578: Tyce Armstrong, 1B, Baylor, 6’4” 228 lbs.

With their 19th pick, the Yankees make a rare foray into the lands of non-premium defensive positions, popping Texas kid Tyce Armstrong. The 23-year-old attended high school in Magnolia, TX, went to UT Arlington for his first three college seasons, then transferred to Baylor for 2026. Armstrong raked in the Big 12 this year, posting a .338/.453/.757 slash line with 24 homers in 56 games. He shares an NCAA record as one of just two players to ever hit three grand slams in one game:

Round 20, Pick 608: Dean Toigo, OF, Arizona State, 6’4” 205 lbs.

After 20 rounds and over 600 picks, the 2026 MLB Draft is in the books! The Yankees closed out their draft with their fifth outfielder, Dean Toigo out of Arizona State. Toigo has followed a winding route in college, starting out with the Hope International Royals of the NAIA, transferring to UNLV for the 2025 season, before ending up with Arizona State in 2026. The 23-year-old has hit at every stop, posting a 1.032 OPS with Hope International, an 1.127 OPS with UNLV, and a 1.072 OPS with 20 homers in 60 games with ASU this year.

Baseball America has praise for Toigo’s left-handed power:

The power is loud, especially to the pull side, where Toigo’s swing produced towering damage. His underlying metrics back it up… but there is chase in the approach. He expanded the zone more than 30% of the time, particularly against breaking stuff, and will need refinement to make the most of his offensive potential

With that, our live coverage of the 2026 MLB Draft comes to a close. Thanks for following along with us as we learned about the latest generation of Baby Bombers.

The Mariners have had a tough run of games on this road trip. In particular, it seems the Florida heat may have gotten to the boys a bit, as the Mariners come into the final game of the first half of the season on a five-game losing streak.

Things got off to an inauspicious start when Hancock took a line drive from Jonathan Aranda on the first pitch of the game off his throwing hand. Hancock would go on to finish the inning, all smiles and thumbs up, but to say the training staff and Wilson felt confident in that would be a lie. In the bottom of the second, Hancock walked Victor Mesa Jr. with two outs, and was promptly pulled from the game for José Ferrer, who ended the inning.

Alright, so an unintentional bullpen day is incoming… when the Mariners have been struggling to score runs… and got blown out 6-1 the day before… no one would blame you if you started reaching for the remote. However, despite everything looking like the Mariners were cruising for a bruising, things didn’t shake out that way.

Top of the second, Josh Naylor got things started with a single. Garver followed with a walk, and Cole Young hit a single of his own, loading the bases for Victor Robles. Typically, when the Mariners get into this type of situation, many fans would get to witness a NOBLETIGER, a common phenomenon for the Mariners, but today things were different. Robles slapped a ball that sunk fast into the outfield, caught by a diving Mullins, allowing Naylor to score from third.

Ok, maybe the Mariners aren’t as dead in the water as we might have thought. I guess I’ll settle back into the couch for a couple more innings. I mean, they may blow it, but at least they scored with runners on.

Cole Young stole second as Weston Wilson struck out. Buddy Kennedy followed that up with a walk, bringing J.P. Crawford to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded again. J.P. proceeded to inside-out a pitch into left field for a double, scoring two more and putting the Mariners up 3-0 in the second.

But the Mariners were far from done; this team was determined to go into the All-Star break on a high note. Hearing all the slander we have been putting on his name, Weston Wilson hit his second home run of the season to left field, extending the Mariners’ lead to four.

Buddy Kennedy reached on an error and was advanced to second by a single from J.P. Crawford, putting two men on for Randy Arozarena. Of course, sensing the attention shifting off of him for a moment, Randy hit a three-run homer to right field.

The Mariners took a 7-0 lead, and didn’t relinquish it from there. Jonathan Aranda did get a good swing in the 8th against Bazardo, though, and ended the shutout with a home run of his own.

The Mariners were quick to respond as J.P. Crawford got another run back in the bottom of the 8th with a double, bringing around Buddy Kennedy.

The double from Crawford was the final nail in the coffin for the Rays; if the Aranda home run had given them any momentum at all, it had quietly been snuffed out by the back-to-back doubles from Kennedy and Crawford in the bottom of the inning. Munoz entered in the bottom of the 9th to shut the door and end the Mariners chapter on the first half of the season.

The Mariners finish the first half in second place in the AL West with a record of 48-49. This team has struggled a lot on the road this year, and that has been compounded by a lot of guys missing time with injury and just some plain old slumps from some of the more important batters in the lineup. But the first half is over now, we can only hope that this game is a sign of more to come in the second half of the season.

The Cleveland Guardians swept the Miami Marlins heading into the All-Star break. Joey Cantillo had a great start and improved to 8-4 on the season with today’s win. Cantillo threw 85 pitches in 5.0 innings of work. He allowed only one run on six hits and two walks. Joey struck out nine batters.

In the bottom of the second Cantillo pitched into a bases loaded, no outs situation. Back-to-back singles started off the inning and a walk loaded the bases. Cantillo locked in and got a pop out and two strikeouts to escape without allowing a run.

Franco Aleman came on in the sixth, Hunter Gaddis pitched the seventh, and Shawn Armstrong pitched the eighth. All three went scoreless, hitless outings. Cade closed the game in a non-save situation. He gave up two hits and a solo home run, but retired the side to “book it.”

In the top of the first Travis Bazzana lead off the game with a four pitch walk and a stolen base. Brayan Rocchio drove Bazzana in on a single to right field.

Kyle Manzardo, with one out, singled on a liner to left, scoring Rocchio.

In the top of the fifth, Rocchio lead off the inning with a homer to right field.

In the top of the seventh, the Guards extended their lead. Travis Bazzana was hit by pitch to start the inning. With two outs, Kyle Manzardo reached on a fielding error and advanced Bazzana to third. Kahlil Watson hit a single to short that deflected off the pitcher, scoring Bazz.

After being the only player to get on base, in the top of the ninth, Chase DeLauter demolished a fast ball. DeLauter hit a 435 foot home run to the upper deck, putting the Guardians up 5-1.

This was a refreshing series to go into the All-Star Break with. A sweep, a four win streak, and multiple home runs. José and Angel are due back after the All-Star Break, just in time for a big push before the trade deadline on August 3rd.

I will admit: I didn’t watch much of this game. I was at my son’s baseball tournament all day and have to go off of vibes and highlights. But there was something at the tournament that struck me as similar to what happened with Zack Wheeler.

The opposing coach was doing a little smack talk about my son’s team, talking about how bad they were. There was some disrespect exuding from that dugout all day, talking about everything from the pitcher to the kids at bat to the umpire’s friendly only one way strike zone. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it reminded me of the disrespect that Wheeler was feeling from not being selected to the All-Star Game. He was reportedly asked to participate, but declined, not wanting to be a fifth choice for anyone. Since that slight last week, Wheeler has taken it out on the competition. Today’s six innings of scoreless ball meant his two games he pitched this week were both scoreless and dominant. Ten more strikeouts today raised that total, zero runs allowed meant his ERA went in the opposite direction.

The offense got all they needed from J.T. Realmuto’s bases clearing double, a rare case of his delivering at the plate for the team.

But back to Wheeler.

I’m completely here for his not wanting to go back to Philadelphia for the game Tuesday. MLB screwed up with not letting him represent his team in his city, no matter how much they want to try and make it right. They should have done it the first time rather than waiting around to try and fix things on the fly. They need to get their act together with this All-Star Game.

Oh, my son’s team? They won that game and eventually the tournament.

The first half is officially in the books, and the Chicago White Sox are in first place.

Sam Antonacci and Braden Montgomery homered, Miguel Vargas and Kyle Teel had multi-hit performances, and Noah Schultz threw five mostly stress-free innings as the Good Guys picked up their 50th win of the season, 9-1 over the Sacramento Athletics. The win lets them keep pace with the Cleveland Guardians at the top of the AL Central with fewer than 70 games left to play.

A six-run explosion in the first inning against A’s starter J.T. Ginn led the charge, sparked by Antonacci’s third leadoff blast in the last 22 days and punctuated by Braden’s drifting three-run shot six hitters later. By the time they tacked on three more in the fifth inning to bring the score to its final resting place of 9-1, the afternoon felt like a celebration of one of recent memory’s more remarkable first halves.

A sweep of the Athletics to ride high to the break feels like a fitting bookend to a half that began in earnest with the Sox three-game trip to Sacramento in mid-April. We didn’t know it at the time, of course, but it was a series with Athletics that lit a fire which has now grown into the club’s first legitimate contender in a half-decade. On April 17, they flew into Sacramento on the heels of getting dusted for three games at home by the Tampa Bay Rays, dropping them to 6-13 with a -40 run differential on the season. A thumping 9-2 win to kick things off at Sutter Home Park set the pace for a series win, and the rest is history.

Since that 19-game thumping to start the season, Chicago has built a 44-32 record (a 93-win pace), with a +75 run differential that’s comfortably in the Top 10 in the big leagues. It’s not an elite, world-beating pace, but it feels sustainable. And fully playoff-worthy.

The Sox put this one away early, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a moment of tension. Though the July heat had the ball flying out of the yard, Noah Schultz’s velocity coming out of the gate was middling, and two of the first three batted balls he allowed checked in north of 100 mph, including a 105 mph blast from Shea Langeliers that gave the A’s a brief 1-0 lead. Schulta had allowed at least three earned runs in six consecutive starts, and another shaky outing would not be the positive note the Sox pitching staff wanted to go into the break on.

Whether the offense’s outburst helped take some pressure off, or if it was always meant to be, Schultz settled in for one of his best outings as a big-leaguer. He needed just 74 pitches to get through five innings, scattering just two other hits and (perhaps most critically) successfully avoiding a walk for just the second time in his 11 outings. In today’s game thread, I questioned Schultz’s heavy usage of a sinker that to this point had failed to generate positive results. The answer was a season-low 10% sinkers and an aggressively changeup-heavy approach to right-handed hitters while continuing to get good results with his nasty sweeper against hitters of both hands.

Lots of broadcast time in both booths was deservedly dedicated to the Sox All-Star trio of Vargas, Munetaka Murakami, and Tristan Peters. This week will be the first time since 2006 that the South Siders have sent three hitters to the All-Star Game, when Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome and A.J. Pierzynski all made the trip to Pittsburgh on their behalf. Vargas did notch his 20th double of the season, but Murakami and Peters were held to a 1-for-7 showing otherwise.

Vargas’ double made him the sixth Sox player to reach 20 homers and 20 doubles before the break, joining Frank Thomas (1993, 1994, 2003), José Abreu (2014, 2019), Luis Robert Jr. (2023), Jermaine Dye (2008), and Magglio Ordoñez (2000). Colson Montgomery, perhaps the other major star presence in the lineup at the moment, had a muted 1-for-4 afternoon.

Today was a day for the All-Stars, but also for the Garrett Crochet trade. Six of the nine Chicago runs were generated by Teel and Braden, while Chase Meidroth made some nice plays at the keystone despite an 0-for-4 day at the plate. Teel’s two-run single in the first inning was the scoring bridge between homers from Antonacci and Braden, with Braden also breaking the scoring open in the fifth inning with an RBI single. Peters was responsible for one other run batted in on a fielder’s choice, and the final Sox run was charged to a wild pitch.

Perhaps sensing a vacation on the horizon, the Sox bullpen was uncharacteristically efficient this afternoon. Jordan Hicks continues to look like a completely new reliever since his latest IL activation, striking out the side in order in immediate relief of Schultz. He’s faced 27 hitters over his last seven appearances, and he’s struck out 15 of them against just two hits and one walk. His fastball velocity continues to be up roughly 2 mph from its pre-injury levels. If this is the Hicks we can expect in the second half, it’ll be some badly needed relief for a bullpen that’s already crawling to the finish line.

They didn’t need to crawl today. When Seranthony Domínguez delivered an all-too-rare 1-2-3 inning in relief of Hicks, things felt strangely right in the world. Tyler Schweitzer had the audacity to allow a hit in each of his two innings of work. I don’t think anybody in that ballpark or watching at home thought it mattered.

I’m just going to leave this here instead. Not updated to include today’s result.

That does it for the first half! We’ll be seeing you tomorrow evening to watch Munetaka Murakami compete in the Home Run Derby at 7 p.m. CT on Netflix, joined by Vargas and Peters at the same time on Tuesday for the All-Star Game itself on Fox.

Apologies, our latest free poll embed software has gone under. That’s two such programs going defunct under our feet. We’ll regather and figure out what to use going forward, and will likely still stick polls here for this game at some point over the break. So check back!

The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the Houston Astros scored five runs.

The Rangers led 3-0 early and then 4-1 late, holding that 4-1 lead into the seventh inning only for the Astros to tie the game in that ining and then take a 5-4 lead in the eighth because Texas was essentially forced into a quasi bullpen game while unfortunately also being quite thin in both available and reliable relief.

Nevertheless, No. 9 hitter Kyle Higashioka hit a two-out, solo home run to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth which allowed the Rangers to bring in their best reliever Jacob Latz and after a scoreless top of the ninth, they walked off a near-untouchable Josh Hader with three consecutive hits to begin (and end!) the ninth.

The Rangers go into the All-Star break leading the American League West and, hey, those Silver Boot dreams live on another day!

Player of the Game: Brandon Nimmo had three hits and the walk-off single but also big props to MacKenzie Gore for four innings of one-run ball after he asked to make the start on short rest after Jacob deGrom broke his ass or something.

Up Next: After a few days off for everyone other than All-Star Latz, the Rangers open the second half in Atlanta where they will take on the Braves beginning on Friday evening.

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! Earlier today, the first half of the season wrapped up, but before we turn our attention to the All-Star Break and beyond, let’s take a look back at this week’s social media spotlight. How has the squad been spending their time online? Let’s find out!

All-Star Invitations

Last week, Major League Baseball announced that a quartet of Yankees — Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice, and Cam Schlittler — were headed to Philadelphia for the 2026 All-Star Game. Here’s the moment they found out:

A few days later, Rice accepted an invitation to participate in this year’s Home Run Derby, where his dad will be pitching to him.

Dave’s Thoughts

As usual, Dave Sims took to Instagram with his thoughts after this week’s slate of games.

Suzyn’s Day Off

Yankees radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman went back to her roots and caught Death of a Salesman and Oh Mary — and even got a chance to take a snap a picture of the sound board!

Honoring Service

The Yankees took some time this week to honor Holocaust survivor Sally Muschel and made a donation to the Carlos Rodón Foundation.

Some Photo Dumps

To wrap up the first half, here’s some photos posted this week, by Yankees past and present.

The Atlanta Braves took a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Cardinals, and though they didn’t win the battle, they’ve won the war… or at least avoided being swept after dropping the series. Does that still count?

The sunny days just might be here again.

The Cardinals kicked off their bid on the scoreboard after an RBI double from Alec Burleson to bring Jordan Walker in. The Braves would drive in three of their own soon after.

The most impressive one was from Brewer Hicklen, knocking in a 109.1 MPH double for the first RBI of his career to drive in Jim Jarvis to give the Braves a two-run lead.

Danny Young, who was slated to start for the Braves at the last minute, only saw the first inning after allowing the first run and a walk from Lars Nootbaar right after. JR Ritchie, who was the original starter, went in for him before the end of the first inning and stayed until the bottom of the sixth inning (4.1 IP/ 1 H/ 0 ER/ 2 BB/ 2 K).

Pitching is what almost got the Braves in trouble as the Bullpen gave up two more runs later in the bottom of the sixth inning, tying the two teams until the top of the ninth where the Braves got a run off a throwing error by Cardinals’ Masyn Winn from a Mauricio Dubón RBI single to bring Ozzie Albies in.

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the first half of the 2026 season. Lots of positives, ran into struggles, but what team doesn’t? Now, it’s a matter of how they’ll get back on top in the second half, in the race to October.

The Mets' Double-A affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, won 10-5 today, and rehabbing big-leaguers Marcus Semien and Luis Robert Jr. both had big days at the dish.

This was Semien's first in-game action since he was placed on the IL nearly three weeks ago with a hip flexor strain. Meanwhile, Robert has been ramping up his workload since his minor-league assignment began at the start of July, having hit the IL in late April with lower back disc herniation.

Semien clobbered a three-run homer to left-center field in the top of the fourth inning. He was removed from the game midway through the game, having earlier smacked a single. He finished 2-for-3 with a strikeout swinging.

Marcus Semien with a three-run homer for Double-A Binghamton pic.twitter.com/vyjlcTs3pf

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 12, 2026

Robert played the whole game, taking six at-bats and recording two hits, including an RBI single, but also struck out three times.

Mets interim manager Andy Green, speaking before Sunday's game, explained the team's expectations for Semien and Robert moving forward, including the three-day MLB All-Star break between Monday, July 13 and Wednesday, July 15.

Green explained that the plan for Semien during that time is for him to "get some live at-bats against Clay Holmes... more rehab games is the most likely scenario starting on Friday."

When asked about how soon the Mets could see Robert's return to the lineup, Green responded, "We'll see how he feels. He'll also get some live at-bats against Clay during the [All-Star] break... then, there's a good chance he will play in a couple of more games [in the minor leagues]."

"Hopefully, at that point in time, [Robert] will be ready to go," the interim skipper concluded.

The Orioles finally did it. They finally won a fourth straight game in the 2026 season. It was long past ridiculous that they hadn’t, as the team had seven three-game winning streaks that they did not manage to turn into a four-or-more-game winning streak. The eighth time was the charm. They took out 96 games worth of frustration on the woeful Royals and came away with a convincing 8-2 win to sweep their final series heading into the All-Star break.

Although the final margin of victory was six runs, this game had a lot in common with games that the Orioles have lost earlier in the season. Starting pitcher Shane Baz was not able to complete the fifth inning due to an elevated pitch count. The Royals got their first run and a prolonged rally following a throwing error by Blaze Alexander at third base. This gave the Royals an early lead in the game. The Orioles offense wasted a couple of promising scoring chances in the early innings. There was a second O’s error later in the game.

They overcame all of that. One reason that they were able to do this is Baz. You’d always rather see the starting pitcher complete at least five innings, but this was a decent enough game from him. Baz’s 4.2 innings saw him strike out nine Royals batters and he did not issue any walks. That helped him mostly scatter the seven hits allowed without too much damage. Even the one earned run charged to Baz was a cheap chopper that cleared an inexplicably drawn-in infield.

Kansas City struck first, with a triple following Alexander’s error to score the game’s first run in the top of the second. Baz handled that one in a way that Orioles pitchers often haven’t this season, getting a strikeout for the third out to strand the runner on third base. The O’s did not stay in the hole for long. Alexander atoned a bit for the error by leading off the next inning with a single. With one out, Alexander was still on base for Leody Taveras’s fourth homer of the season, a convincing bomb to deep center field that gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead.

The lead did not last. As Royals starter Seth Lugo failed at the shutdown inning when his offense gave him the 1-0 lead, Baz couldn’t deliver one in the top of the third after the offense put him on top. KC’s star, Bobby Witt Jr., led off the next inning with a double, advanced on a groundout, then scored on a single. Baz held the line again, even after giving up another single to put men on first and third with only one out. He limited the damage and stopped a disaster before it could move any farther along.

The score stayed tied at 2-2 until the Orioles broke it open in the sixth inning. Both starting pitchers were out early. Lugo pitched just four innings and took 89 pitches to do it. Baz’s 4.2 inning outing saw him throw 104. After he gave up a two-out double in the fifth inning, that was all for him. Anthony Nunez was brought in to finish the fifth inning. He’s had some rough outings recently. This one went fine. Nunez struck out Vinnie Pasquantino to end that inning.

With both starters out by the end of the fifth inning, it was a battle of the bullpens from there. Kansas City came up short when the day went badly for their pitcher Matt Strahm. Many days this season have gone poorly for Strahm, who entered the game with a 5.81 ERA. Many days have gone poorly for many Royals relievers.

Strahm struck out Samuel Basallo, the first batter he faced, and then things went off the rails. He walked Alexander, allowed a single to pinch hitter Tyler O’Neill, then another single to Taveras, easily scoring Alexander from second base to put the Orioles ahead for good at 3-2. They kept pouring on the hits for good measure: Another pinch hitter, Jeremiah Jackson, delivered an RBI double. Strahm balked in another run, then couldn’t stop Jackson from scoring from third as Gunnar Henderson hit an infield chopper off the back tip of home plate.

That was the end of the line for Strahm. His replacement only ended the inning after Pete Alonso hit an RBI single and made an ill-advised decision to try to stretch it into a double. That happened a lot in this series.

Because this is still the 2026 Orioles, there must be a cruel barb even in this moment of modest triumph where the team has achieved something positive. In the seventh inning, immediately following Basallo hitting a homer (his 16th of the year!) to make the game 8-2, Alexander was hit by a pitch by Royals reliever Lucas Erceg. The 1-2 pitch was inside and appeared to bounce off of Alexander’s arm before hitting one of his hands.

Alexander started shouting at Erceg, who shouted back, and the benches emptied, bullpens trotted in, and warnings were issued. No one punched or shoved anyone and the incident subsided without escalation.

The damage, however, was done. Alexander was lifted for a pinch runner, and after the game, manager Craig Albernaz revealed that the Orioles infielder has a non-displaced fracture in his left hand. It’s not immediately clear how much time he will miss as a result of this injury. The team has the next few days off to figure out what to do about that bad news. Orioles fans have one more grievance to lay at the feet of the Royals franchise.

Nunez, Grant Wolfram, Yennier Cano, Rico Garcia, and Andrew Kittredge combined for 4.1 scoreless innings across the bunch of them. This parade from the bullpen allowed only two hits and did not walk anyone. It sucks that even this feel-good win has had bad news come out of it.

It’ll be Friday at 8:10 Eastern before this show resumes. The Orioles will be in Houston after the break, the first part of a two city road trip. If they can keep the good feelings going through that road trip, this season might end up staying in a good direction at last. If not, well, that’s a familiar 2026 feeling.

**

It is a longtime tradition on Camden Chat to nominate a Most Birdland Player of the game after each victory. What is “Most Birdland”? Each person must decide for themselves. Sometimes, this is the game’s most valuable player. Other times, it is not. Let us know your pick in the comments below.

Dustin May did not have the kind of start that Chaim Bloom would likely have wanted him to have as the St. Louis Cardinals approach the upcoming trade deadline, however he kept the team in the game despite walks and a costly wild pitch. The St. Louis Cardinals would eventually make a game of it, but it would slip away in the 9th inning.

Jordan Walker showed off his defense skills that are now borderline elite as he tumbled into the netting for the final out in the top of the 1st inning.

The St. Louis Cardinals offense had a decent start to Sunday’s game versus the Braves before the bats went silent. In the top of the 1st inning, After his fine defensive play in the top of the 1st, All-Star Jordan Walker drew a two-out walk and stole second to get into scoring position. Alec Burleson made that pay off when he drove a 94 mph sinker off the left field wall for a double scoring Walker and giving St. Louis an early 1-0 lead.

The Atlanta Braves would pull even in the top of the 2nd inning as Dustin May would be punished by walks to the first two batters of the inning, Smith and Riley. Jarvis laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. May struck out Hicklen for the second out, but then threw a wild pitch past catcher Jimmy Crooks scoring Smith and tying the game at 1-1.

While the St. Louis Cardinals bats went quiet during the middle innings, Atlanta took the lead in the top of the 4th inning when Dustin May hit Austin Riley with a pitch. Two batters later, Hicklen singled moving Riley up to scoring position at second. He would then score on a single by Drake Baldwin giving the Braves a 2-1 lead. That would end Dustin May’s outing as he only lasted 4 innings while walking 4, striking out 4 giving up just 2 hits and 2 earned runs.

Justin Bruihl would enter the game in the 5th inning when he would keep Atlanta from scoring, but that would not be true of his time in the 6th inning when he would give up back-to-back doubles to Jarvis and Hicklen increasing the Braves lead to 3-1. The fact that the Cardinals only had one hit through the first 5 1/2 innings didn’t help the St. Louis cause.

The Cardinals second hit of the game would be a screaming single off of the bat of Jordan Walker two pitches after he was knocked down by Braves reliever Dylan Dodd in the bottom of the 6th inning. Alec Burleson flied out to right for the first out, but then Lars Nootbaar walked and Masyn Winn singled to load the bases for St. Louis with just one out. Oli Marmol chose to pinch-hit Bryan Torres for Blaze Jordan, but he unfortunately struck out on 4 pitches. That left José Fermín as the man with the make-or-break at-bat and fortunately he chose “make” with a clutch 2-strike single into center driving in Walker and Nootbaar tying the game 3-3 after 6 innings.

Gordon Graceffo had entered the game to get the last out of the top of the 6th inning and also handled the top of the 7th inning against Atlanta. It would take him a grand total of 5 pitches to get three groundouts and shut down the Braves in the 6th. Can’t ask for anything more efficient than that. Ryne Stanek was handed top of the 8th inning responsibilities. He gave up a two-strike hit to White who hit one of the end of his bat barely landing past JJ Wetherholt in right-centerfield. Ryne then coaxed a harmless pop-out from slumping, but still dangerous Austin Riley. Stanek then struck out Jarvis and got a weak groundout from Hicklin to end the Braves 8th keeping the score tied.

After the Cardinals failed to grab the lead in the bottom of the 8th inning, it was JoJo Romero brought in to keep the game tied in the top of the 9th inning. He faced the top of the Braves lineup and got Drake Baldwin to fly out to deep center. Ozzie Albies turned on a 93 mph Romero sinker that didn’t sink enough and drove it into the left field corner for a one-out double. JoJo was able to nurse a weak groundout from Matt Olson for the second ou t, but Albies advanced to third on the play. Michael Harris II sold the umpire that he was hit by an 0-2 Romero pitch which was somehow upheld on a challenge even though the replay looked like the ball clearly did not hit Harris II. Great acting job, though. Oli Marmol got tossed for giving the umpires an earful. The replay officials saw something, so I guess we have to trust that they saw something many of us didn’t. Unfortunately, Dubon grounded out to Masyn Winn who’s errant throw sailed past Alec Burleson that allowed Albies to score giving (literally) the Braves a 4-3 lead in the top of the 9th. Romero walked White which loaded the bases for Austin Riley who flew out to Nootbaar in center to end a top of the 9th that could have been worse, but sure should have been better.

The Cardinals could manage nothing in the bottom of the 9th inning which resulted in a very disappointing way to enter the All-Star break even though it was a series win against the NL division-leading Atlanta Braves. There will be plenty of Cardinals to keep track of early this week as Jordan Walker will participate in the Home Run Derby on Monday night and three Cardinals are on the NL All-Star roster for Tuesday’s game.

In all my time at South Side Sox, this is the sort of draft I’ve been waiting to cover for the White Sox, one where the club just kept digging up quality picks even late in the draft, as opposed to going completely off of the MLB board by, like, the fourth round. The South Siders struck once more in the 15th (!) round, taking a flier on MLB’s No. 250 talent, high-powered lefthander Cameron Johnson of the University of Oklahoma, with the No. 435 pick in the 2026 MLB draft.

The hits really do just keep coming for the White Sox this year, as Johnson brings a massive fastball that touches 99 mph and sits mid-90s.

But (c’mon, it’s the 15th round, there’s gotta be a but) Johnson has had some issues with control, so much so that despite an improved regular season in 2026 he sat out nearly all of the postseason as the Sooners made their run to the NCAA title.

I mean, Johnson is a bit of a mess. He had never before even been allowed to see regular starter’s innings in his career until 2026 — and that really is the crux of his improvement. But over 15 starts for the Sooners, he remained all over the place: a 6-1 record but 43 walks against 72 Ks, and still putting himself in enough compromising counts to get hit pretty hard (4.36 ERA, 1.547 WHIP).

Still, Johnson’s raw makeup is to dream on. As a 15th round gamble, he’s absolute gold.

The 2026 White Sox draft storystream contains all of our draft content.