Category: Baseball

The Pittsburgh Pirates are addressing some season-long problems in the bullpen by calling up number seven prospect Antwone Kelly ahead of this weekend’s series against the Miami Marlins.

The 22-year-old right-hander had a 4.50 ERA and a 1.481 WHIP at Triple-A Indianapolis this season, which are hardly sparkling numbers, but as the team continues to middle along with a 4.45 ERA as a bullpen, some reinforcement arms were needed. He did pitch over 100 innings last year with a 3.02 ERA, which helped his cause.

Kelly has a fastball that reaches triple digits and averages 97.6 mph in the Minors, and he also employs a change-up and a cutter. He began the year in the starting rotation for Indianapolis, but was then moved to the bullpen.

The 20th-ranked Pirates bullpen needs all the help they can get, having two major blowups within the past week, giving up a 10-run inning to the Los Angeles Dodgers and blowing 9-5 eighth inning lead to the Houston Astros. The bullpen seems to be getting worse, not better, which is why some fresh bullpen arms were needed. Whether Aruban native Kelly is part of the answer or not remains to be seen, but we’ll be set to find out this weekend against the Marlins.

The Bucs have three home games against Miami this weekend, playing Friday at 6:40pm, Saturday at 4:05pm and Sunday at 12:15pm. We’ll see Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler and Paul Skenes taking the mound this weekend as starters. Once we get to the bullpen, there’s a good chance Kelly makes his debut. Stay tuned.

The Yankees are going to have to pass the “Playing without Aaron Judge Test” repeatedly over the next several weeks, but they’ve passed the initial run. They’ve won five of six since the Captain’s injury was officially announced, with the offense particularly stepping up in a series sweep in Cleveland. The road trip continues with the team’s first visit to Canada this year, where they’ll look to repay the Blue Jays for Toronto’s domination of New York last year.

On the site today, we turn our sights to the Jays, with Matt previewing the three-game set. Later, Sam recaps Thursday’s American League action, and Nick praises the great Hideki Matsui on the occasion of his 52nd birthday. Also, Peter’s sequence of the week highlights Fernando Cruz, and Jeff discusses how Trent Grisham’s resurgence couldn’t have come at a better time.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays

Time: 3:07 p.m. EST

TV: YES, Sportsnet, TVA Sports

Venue: Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

Questions/Prompts:

1. On the occasion of the Yankees visiting Toronto, do you think the Jays are still a major threat to come back in the division? Or do you think they’ve fallen far back enough?

2. Can you think of a baseball analogue to what happened in Game 4 of the NBA Finals?

St. Paul Saints 1, Toledo Mud Hens 0 (box)

Pitching was sharp on both sides in this one as Sawyer Gipson-Long posted his best start of the season while the Hens were held to four hits.

The right-hander fired five scoreless innings of one-hit ball of his own in this one. Gipson-Long allowed two walks, but he struck out five on the evening. As usual, his slider-changeup combo was very good, but his fastball metrics remain well below average. Ricky Vanasco succeeded him with a scoreless inning of work, and Troy Watson took it the rest of the way. He too pitched a solid three innings, but allowed a solo shot in the top of the ninth for the only run in this one.

Max Clark went 0-for-5 but didn’t strike out, and he was the only Hen who could say that. Corey Julks had two hits to lead the offense, such as it was as Saints veteran Austin Voth struck out eight in his start.

Julks: 2-4, 2B, 2 K

Gipson-Long: 5.0 IP, 0 R, H, 2 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:05 p.m. ET start on Friday in Toledo.

Erie SeaWolves 8, Akron RubberDucks 7 (box)

John Peck came through with a walkoff double after the RubberDucks tied this one up late.

Starter Sean Hunley struggled for Erie in this one, but the offense seized control pretty early after Hunley gave up four runs in four innings.

Brett Callahan is really pressing his case for a move to Toledo now. The left-handed outfielder crushed a solo shot in the bottom of the first for his 12th home run of the season, and his fifth in the last six games. Callahan is holding his own against left-handed pitching and destroying right-handers. The Tigers do things at a glacial pace but Callahan should be moving up after the All-Star break if he can avoid a slump in the meantime.

In the second, singles from Chris Meyers and Izaac Pacheco led to their second run. In the third, they really poured on the offense. Peyton Graham singled with one out and John Peck drew a walk. A two-out single from Andrew Jenkins plated Graham, and then Meyers walked to load the bases. Pacheco ripped a two-run single to right field and then stole second base. E.J. Exposito came through with a two-run single of his own, and it was 7-3 Erie through three innings.

The Detroit area’s own Alex Mooney hit a solo shot off of Hunley in the fourth to make it a 7-4 game, and the RubberDucks chipped away at the lead with a two-run sixth against Johan Simon.

Moises Rodriguez took over in the ninth with a 7-6 lead looking for the save. He got a quick pair of ground outs and his sinker is popping triple digits now that the weather has heated up. That didn’t stop Jaison Chourio, who got a hanging slider and launched it to right for just the second homer against Rodriguez this year.

Tie ballgame.

The reversal came quickly in the bottom half. Graham walked, and Peck smoked a double off the right field wall. Graham raced first to home ahead of the relay, and the SeaWolves had a walkoff winner.

Peck: 2-4, R, RBI, 2B, BB, 2 K, SB

Graham: 1-4, 2 R, BB, K

Pacheco: 2-3, R, 2 RBI, BB, K, SB

Hunley: 4.0 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 H, BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves will morph into the Flagship City Kitties on Friday, as they hunt for their fifth straight victory at 6:35 p.m. ET.

Lake County Captains 6, West Michigan Whitecaps 5 (box)

The Whitecaps beat up on Captains starter Melkis Hernandez, only to watch their bullpen blow the lead late on Thursday.

Right out of the gate, a one-out single from Andrew Sojka and a double from a still hot Ricardo Hurtado got the Whitecaps in scoring position, and Sojka scored on a ground out for a 1-0 lead.

Starter Lucas Elissalt leaked two runs in the bottom half on a single-double-single combination, but in the second, Samuel Gil and Junior Tilien led off with singles. Caleb Shpur’s automatic double scored Gil, and a Sojka single scored Tilien. Shpur was thrown out at the plate, but it was 3-2 ‘Caps.

The third opened with back-to-back doubles from Clayton Campbell and Luke Shliger for a 4-2 lead. Unfortunately Gil lined into a double play to snuff that threat from developing further.

Elissalt allowed a Dean Curley solo shot off a high fastball in the bottom of the third that got the Captains back within one. The right-hander has struggled early on this year, but we keep seeing hints of more velocity, and he was really just bit by sequencing. Other than the solo shot he wasn’t hit hard at all and was in pretty good command of his stuff.

Again the Whitecaps pushed across a run in the bottom half on a Campbell sac fly that scored Sojka.

Unfortunately, that 5-3 lead wouldn’t hold up as Preston Howey surrendered three runs in the sixth, and the offense went quiet.

Sojka: 3-5, 2 R, RBI, 2 K

Hurtado: 2-5, 2B, K

Gil: 2-4, R

Elissalt: 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:00 p.m. ET start on Friday with the Captains up 2-1 in the series.

Clearwater Threshers 5, Lakeland Flying Tigers 2 (box)

Malachi Witherspoon’s control was pretty shaky again in this one, and the bullpen kept leaking runs while the offense was pretty quiet.

Witherspoon did settle in eventually, but he coughed up two runs in a pretty laborious first inning. He shut the Threshers down from there and found his command to a degree, but was still pretty efficient. He departed in the fourth and Yendry Gomez cleaned up that inning and spun a scoreless fifth as well.

In the fifth, the Flying Tigers finally capitalized on an opportunity when a passed ball got Nick Dumesnil to second base, and a Beau Ankeney single scored him. In the sixth, Anibal Salas singled with two outs, and Hunter Dobbins doubled him in.

At that point it was a 2-2 game and things were looking up.

In the bottom of the sixth, Luke Hoskins came on for Lakeland and an error on Jude Warwick allowed the leadoff hitter to reach and then steal second base. A double that Javier Osorio couldnt’ snare at third gave the Threshers the lead. Hoskins leaked another run before getting out of the inning, and gave up one more in the seventh as the Flying Tigers’ offense went silent.

Dobbins: 2-4, RBI, 2B, K

Warwick: 2-5, 2 K, SB

Witherspoon: 3.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers lead the series 2-1 heading into a 6:30 p.m. ET matchup on Friday.

FCL Tigers 4, FCL Phillies 2 (box)

20-year-old Jack Bushell, another of the Tigers’ Australian pitching contingent alongside Ali Tanner, went through the Phillies like an angry weedeater in this one, striking out 10 and allowing just a solo shot in five innings of work.

Angel de los Santos, a fast-rising 19-year-old shortstop prospect, mashed a three-run shot in the fifth that was the decisive blow in this one.

Just as nice to see was the return of SS/2B Franyerber Montilla. The 21-year-old slick fielding switch hitter blew out his ACL last July, and this was the first we heard about his status. He went 0-1 with two walks and scored a run. He’ll need some time to build up, but my guess would be West Michigan is his final destination, playing second base alongside Bryce Rainer.

De Los Santos: 1-2, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, K

Steven Madero: 1-3, R, RBI, 2B, K

Bushell (W, 1-1): 5.0 IP, ER, H, 0 BB, 10 K

ESPN | Enrique Rojas: The Red Sox sit in last place in the division, and even though the last Wild Card slot is currently held by the .500 Texas Rangers, there isn’t much faith in Fenway making a push to contend this year. Plenty of people expect Boston to be sellers, and they have a few short-term rentals that could entice some good returns including their closer, Aroldis Chapman, who is miraculously in the best form of his career despite now being 38 years old.

Chapman knows he’s on the trading block, and could expect to be in a different uniform by the deadline, but there’s one particular jersey he wouldn’t want to put on again unless his conditions were met. He said he would want an apology from the team, more specifically Brian Cashman, for how his Yankees tenure ended before he could feel comfortable playing for them again. This may come as a surprise to anyone who was following the team when he last played here, because that 2022 season burned every ounce of remaining goodwill the closer had with the fanbase — after years of underperformance in the playoffs and routine stretches of blowing games by not coming close to finding the strike zone, Chapman went and got a tattoo midseason that got infected forcing the team to sit him on the IL and all but handed the closer gig over to Clay Holmes. Then at the end of the year, Chapman got left off the postseason roster when he missed a mandatory practice before the ALDS.

Frankly, the Sox would never trade Chapman over to their archrivals in the first place so this is a moot point, but I also wouldn’t want him to ever come back even if he is pitching lights out nowadays and I certainly don’t think Cashman owes Chapman any sort of apology. I hardly think I’d be alone in that belief.

NY Post | Greg Joyce: The Yankees are heading north of the border to Toronto for the first time this season, and thus also returning for the first time since their brutal ALDS games last year. The team may be without Aaron Judge in the lineup for the foreseeable future, but their rotation looks to be significantly better than when they traveled up and got shelled for 23 runs in two games. They’re also facing a Blue Jays team that is much further out of the race than the last time they made their initial trip up, as last year’s first meeting was the turning point that gave Toronto a division lead that wouldn’t get relinquished following a four-game sweep.

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips: There was some friendly tomfoolery at the ballpark on Wednesday, as Cody Bellinger was subjected to a professional heckler. The content creator Trevor Gilmore has a dedicated page to heckling the road team’s left fielder with some ultimately harmless jokes alongside playfully calling them a bum, and he gets invited by several MLB teams to come and run his schtick for them with Cleveland happening to be his latest appearance. Bellinger said that he heard the chants loud and clear, but had fun with it and noted that he had some good lines.

MLB.com | Henry Palattella: Paul Goldschmidt entered this season expecting a part-time role for the first time in his lengthy career, and he openly embraced the role of the veteran backup. He kept himself productive enough in the first month and change of the season, but once injuries began to mount in the lineup and his name started appearing regularly in the lineup again he showed that there was no rust on the seven-time All-Star’s bat. He’s had a hot May and carried it over into June, hitting for a .924 OPS with seven homers and 23 RBI in 31 games played, and even though some of the regulars are set to return soon having a productive Goldy who can stay ready whether he’s sitting for days on end or has to play a week straight will be vital to this team staying in a rhythm offensively.

Good

Rejected

Back

Introduction

Fifty Six years ago on this day Dock Ellis, a 25 year old right handed starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, tossed a no hitter against the San Diego Padres. This wouldn’t normally warrant a full article, especially a no hitter where said pitcher walked eight batters and hit one, but you’ve already read the title, so I’ll just let Dock tell the story in his own words first, since he was a far better story teller than I ever will be.

The Doubters

Apparently there are people out there who don’t think this story happened, among them Pirates beat reporter Les Biederman who was AT the game. Biederman pokes holes in Dock’s story, noting that Ellis arrived on time, and didn’t look like he was under the influence. None of his teammates in that game have corroborated the story either, most notably Willie Stargill, the offensive hero of the game. To put it politely, Dock Ellis was quite the storyteller and some have suggested it is just that, a story. I however am not swayed by most of the arguments that have been made suggesting that this outright didn’t happen.

Context is Important and Addicts Are Unreliable Narrators

First off, I think it’s important to point out the context of when this happened, and when this story became public, which was long after the fact. Dock Ellis was a 25 year old in active addiction when this happened. He told this story decades later after sobering up, and later admitted that his biggest regret in life was not being able to remember his greatest personal achievement in pro sports. Having had my own struggled well over a decade ago, I know the struggles of addiction and the pain in Ellis’ voice when discussing it is very real and relatable, and it’s enough for me to believe that some version of his story happened. As far as Ellis not being late for the game, I am sure in his mind Ellis though he was super late, you have to remember that this is someone under the effects of multiple drugs. LSD messes with your perception of time, it can make you very paranoid, but most importantly it makes you a very, very unreliable narrator.

“But Wesley! That still sounds like lying to me!”

The only lying going so far are the lies by omission, that only someone who is familiar enough with the substances mentioned could catch.

Ellis, D wasn’t on just LSD

This is a bit of a side point, but as someone with ADHD, I would be shocked if Dock Ellis wasn’t self medicating for ADHD, considering all the stimulants he used, and the fact that he struggled to pitch without them. getting back to the main point though, Ellis wasn’t just on LSD, he was on a bunch of stimulants as well as a barbituate. Dexamyl was a combination of the active ingredient in the ADHD medication Dexidrine, and a barbituate tranquilizer, which later was taken off the market due to abuse, and being phased out by more effective Benzodiazapines. The other stimulant medication mentioned is literally just amphetamine, which is also a component of the ADHD medication Adderall. Having friends in both the EDM and the Jam Band/wook scene, I have been told that mixing ADHD meds won’t affect the intensity of a trip or its duration, but what will affect the intensity and effect of an LSD trip is repeatedly dosing yourself for multiple days in a row, which usually just results in a higher tolerance and bum vibes on the last day of EDC. Ellis described using LSD throughout his days off. So Doc’s trip is not off to a great start just from those f.actors. Having taken his dosage at noon, he’d be feeling the affects by one, and by first pitch he would be on the back end of the peak effects, considering LSD lasts roughly 10-12 hours. Even if we account for this being 1970 LSD, which by all consensus was way way too strong, Doc wouldn’t have been tripping his balls off by the end of the game. Regardless of how strong any visual effects were, his performance would still likely have been affected due to one common physiological side affect of LSD though, excessive sweating from the palms. There’s no reason to believe that it would actually interfere enough with his in game performance to actually be all that noticeable, or for it to prevent him from playing, especially a starting pitcher.

Ellis wasn’t himself in that game

Dock Ellis threw multiple complete games in his 1970 season, and in none of those games did he struggle with his control like he did in his no hitter. This is a guy who had BB/9 of 3,9 that season and that includes his eight walks in that game. Take the walks from that game out of his stats and I’d imagine his BB/9 drops down to close to 3 walks per nine innings. So here’s a starting pitcher with otherwise decent control, suddenly walking batters at twice his normal rate. Dock would hit batters on occasion, but usually it was on purpose. Ellis was also usually a fairly good hitter; that season he had 10 hits, including a double, a walk, and a stolen base. Keyword usually, as Ellis was hitless, striking out twice. Having worse control as a pitcher, a bad day at the plate, yet somehow still throwing a no hitter is actually exactly how I’d expect LSD to affect an athlete.

Final points

As far as the lack of corroboration from teammates goes, specifically Willie Stargill, I understand completely why he would remain silent. Willie Stargill was involved in the cocaine scandals of the 1980s, I doubt he would want to comment on it for that reason alone. The beat reporter not noticing ‘Ellis being on something’ means very little when this was an addict in active addiction, and when said beat reporter likely had very little familiarity with the substance in question. Unless you know what you’re looking for, you’re not going to notice. (for a great example, look at the creators of South Park when they went to the Oscars on LSD. None of the media noticed or said anything, but in hindsight it is also VERY obvious) Sadly, we don’t have the full game footage, only the final inning, so we can’t examine the game itself for further evidence.

Conclusion

Dock Ellis was a great pitcher, and he deserves to be remembered for more than just his famous feat. He was one of the first athlete activists. He was a great motivational speaker after he got sober, and he used his stories both to help people in recovery, and to hopefully help others avoid making the same mistakes he made. I highly recommend finding ‘No No: A Dockumentary’ which is a fantastic full length documentary exploring more than just Ellis’ no hitter, but his entire life. I think most importantly, it goes over the things Dock was famous for prior to this story taking a life of its own, like in the scene I’ve included below.

So just to conclude things, maybe in reality, this didn’t happen exactly as Dock Ellis described it, but in my heart, I’ll always believe it did.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs got battered by the Louisville Bats (Reds), 20-3. It’s the second-straight game Iowa gave up 20 runs.

Starter Connor Noland got the loss after allowing four runs on six hits over four innings. Noland neither walked nor struck anyone out.

Casey Opitz gave up three runs and allowed three inherited runners to score as part of an 11-run bottom of the eighth. But cut the I-Cubs third-string catcher a break—he was pitching on back-to-back nights.

Shortstop Scott Kingery hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning. He was 2 for 4.

Center fielder Kevin Alcántara went 2 for 5 with an RBI double in the fourth inning.

First baseman BJ Murray went 2 for 3 with two walks and scored on Alcántara’s double.

Rigth fielder Justin Dean was 2 for 5 with a double.

The Jaguar’s double.

Kingery’s first home run of the year.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies cooked the Montgomery Biscuits (Rays), 14-5.

Starter Dawson Netz gave up four runs in the third inning on two home runs, a solo home run and then a three-run shot. Netz finished the night giving up four runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. He walked four and struck out three.

Tyler Ras went the next 3.2 innings, did not allow a run and went home with the win. Ras allowed three hits. He struck out four and walked one. Ras, whom the Cubs signed this past winter after the Rockies released him, has a 1.72 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 31.1 innings with Knoxville.

Right fielder Alex Ramírez hit a solo home run in the eighth inning. It was his fifth on the campaign. Ramírez finished 1 for 5.

Shortstop Jefferson Rojas was 3 for 5 with three RBI and one run scored. He was also hit by a pitch. Rojas is hitting .350 in the month of June.

DH Owen Ayers isn’t slowing down. Tonight he was 3 for 4 with a walk and a hit by pitch. He scored once and drove in one.

Center fielder Karson Simas went 2 for 4 with two walks and a steal. Simas scored three runs.

Second baseman Hayden Cantrelle was 2 for 3 with two walks. Cantrelle had three RBI and two runs scored.

Left fielder Carter Trice went 2 for 6 with a double and a two-run single.

A two-run single for Rojas.

A two-run single by Rojas plus an error scores three.

The Ramírez home run.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were blown away by the Peoria Chiefs (Cardinals), 16-7 in a game that ended in the seventh inning after a tornado warning.

Cole Reynolds got rocked for eight runs on five hits over the first 3+ innings. Reynolds walked three, hit one batter and struck out one.

DH Drew Bowser hit his fourth home run of the year in the second inning with two men on. Bowser was 2 for 3 with a double and the home run.

First baseman Josiah Hartshorn continues to impress. Tonight he hit an RBI single in the third inning and a two-run home run in the fifth. It was Hartshorn’s sixth home run in just 15 games in South Bend and 11th overall. Hartshorn went 2 for 3 and scored twice.

Catcher Miguel Useche was 2 for 3 with one RBI and one run scored.

Wisconsin’s doubleheader was rained out, so South Bend’s magic number remains at three to clinch a first-half title.

Bowser’s home run.

RBI singles for Hartshorn and Useche.

We need to find a nickname for Hartshorn. Here’s his home run. Admittedly it was a fat pitch, but he didn’t miss it.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were four under par against the Augusta GreenJackets (Braves), 11-7.

Starter Noah Edders allowed four runs over four innings, but only one of the four runs was earned. Edders surrendered four hits (one of which was a solo home run) and one walk. He struck out a career-high eight.

Henry Cone relieved Edders, pitched the next three innings and got the win. Cone gave up one run on three hits. He walked three and struck out three.

First baseman Michael Carico clubbed a two-run home run in the fifth inning, his fifth on the year. Carico sent 3 for 4 with a double and the home run. He had four total runs batted in and scored twice.

Third baseman Derniche Valdez then went back-to-back with Carico with his fourth home run of 2026. Valdez was 2 for 4 with a double and the home run.

Center fielder Darlyn De Leon was 2 for 4 with four stolen bases. He scored twice. De Leon had five steals all season before tonight.

Catcher Logan Poteet drove in three runs with a two-run double and a bases-loaded walk. He finished the night 1 for 4 with the walk and the run scored.

Left fielder Edward Vargas went 2 for 4 and scored once.

Highlights.

ACL Cubs

Lost to the Giants, 5-0.

Last week, I sent two condolence cards and a “congratulations on your new baby” card. This afternoon, while distracted by a flock of teenage goslings, half-grown and ugly as all get out, I tripped over the corpse of what used to be some sort of creature. Life doesn’t need to dabble in subtleties, it beats you over the head repeatedly, hollering “What is the point?” in alternatingly thoughtful and abrasive tones.

As I was once again turning over the well-worn Meaning of Life stone, Cole Young opened the game with a leadoff home run and for two innings that one run mattered significantly as Bryan Woo sat down the first six Orioles he faced. Shortly after Aaron Goldsmith mooed in the bottom of the third, that one run mattered even more, as it kept the Mariners tied with the O’s after Colton Cowser’s solo shot. Soon though, Young’s swooping scoop of a home run felt inconsequential at best as Baltimore showcased one of the Big Innings that has been their trademark this season, piling on six runs just about every way you can – singles, a wild pitch, a double, another home run. 

Before all that, though, there was a 3-2 pitch to Gunnar Henderson. Coby Mayo had flown out after Cowser, and while Jackson Holliday and Taylor Ward had hit back-to-back singles, Henderson has had a miserable season at the plate. Hope beat its bedraggled little wings and Woo pumped a 98.7 MPH four-seamer right on the inside edge of the plate. It matched a 3-2 pitch he threw to Cody Bellinger on July 10, 2025 as the fastest pitch he’s ever thrown. Bellinger rolled over on the offering, grounding into a double play; Henderson fouled it off. Ball four was an easy take, and within seconds that career-high velocity didn’t matter at all.

In the top of the fourth, Randy Arozarena walked, which was nice but anticlimactic amidst a five-run deficit. But then Luke Raley homered, and Dom Canzone homered, and this time when Colt Emerson walked it was invigorating. Young, en route to a three-hit night, singled, Julio Rodríguez singled, and the Mariners were suddenly only trailing by one. 

When it comes to meaning, baseball is a chorus of perpetual dissonance. For those of us outside, the wins and the losses do not technically matter; our careers, our finances, our relationships don’t change in response to victory or defeat. But I don’t think any of us would be here, reading these ramblings, if baseball was meaningless to us. In fact, my career, my finances, my relationships are all fundamentally altered because of this game. Not by the Mariners’ record, fortunately, but in the way that I have chosen to care about it, to jam its stake into the ground and let my life grow up and intertwine with it. In our massive, yawning abyss of a world, there is such beauty and freedom and silliness in choosing to structure some of life’s meaning around this game.

At some point around the sixth inning, lightning split the sky and rain started to soak the field. Maybe, after all this, none of it would actually matter, at least for today? But the rain abated, the Mariners could not score anymore, and they leave Baltimore with a series split. Just one of many games that matters because it happened, and also not at all.

Red Sox president Sam Kennedy is not impressed with his team’s season so far.

During an interview with WEEI on Thursday, Kennedy eviscerated the Red Sox, calling the team’s season “embarrassing and unacceptable”

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” Kennedy told WEEI. “It’s been awful, especially when you consider the stated goal of building upon what happened last season. … It’s been incredibly frustrating, and I just want to acknowledge that right at the outset. It’s on all of us. We have to get better.”

The Red Sox entered Thursday sitting at the bottom of the AL East with a 27-39 record, 5½ games behind the final wild card spot.

Throughout Boston’s season-long slump, they fired skipper Alex Cora and four members of his coaching staff in an attempt to create a spark.

Hitting coach Peter Fatse, bench coach Ramon Vazquez, third base coach Kyle Hudson and assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson were all let go.

Chad Tracy has since taken over as interim manager, but hasn’t been able to incite much change.

With the coaching staff change failing, many have turned to chief baseball officer Craig Breslow as the target of criticism.

Kennedy, however, promised Breslow is “working as hard as anybody in terms of getting things back on track.”

“Look, I fully understand and appreciate questions regarding Craig Breslow and his job security and all that, but the issue of a change there, just to be clear, that’s not even on the table,” Kennedy said.

As the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches, Kennedy noted that unless the play improves in the next few weeks, the Red Sox will likely look to move on from a few players.

“At the current moment, there are a lot of discussions going on in terms of improvement and how we get this thing back on track, looking at every single area of the roster and player personnel, and Bres(low) and his team are doing that,” Kennedy said.

“But look, let’s be honest, unless things change dramatically, we may have to pivot here from what our initial planning was. It just, it wouldn’t be responsible to do otherwise.”

No one seems to have much of an idea when Luis Robert Jr. might return from the back injury that landed him on the 60-day IL. 

“It’s not an ideal situation,’’ Carlos Mendoza said of the uncertainty surrounding the outfielder, who was plagued by lower-body injuries with the White Sox the past two seasons before suffering a lumbar spine disc herniation in April. 

“It’s his first time dealing with something like this,’’ the manager said Thursday as the Mets beat the Cardinals 5-4 at Citi Field. 

Asked Thursday if he could need surgery to repair the injury, Robert said through an interpreter he didn’t believe that would be the case. 

Robert, acquired from Chicago in the offseason in return for Luisangel Acuña and minor league pitcher Truman Pauley, said he expected to be back at some point later this season. 

The 28-year-old Robert, now three years removed from his All-Star form with the White Sox, expects to begin running within the next week. He’s only advanced to playing catch and hitting in the cage. 

“I’ve been able to do a little bit of everything — just slowly,’’ Robert said through an interpreter. “I expect to come back. Honestly, in the beginning, when I first got hurt, I didn’t think it would take so long [to recover]. But, obviously, it’s a new injury and as the days went on, it started getting worse.” 

Mendoza added, “It’s hard to tell what he’s dealing with and how soon he’s gonna be back. That’s always frustrating when you’re talking about a player with that kind of talent. He’s just having a hard time staying on the field for one thing or another.” 

The Mets designed a plan in spring training to try to shield him from previous injuries, only for a new one to surface. 

With Robert out, A.J. Ewing has emerged as a bit of a bright spot in center, where he’s stood out defensively and shown potential at the plate. 

Robert was part of the risky roster makeover during the offseason, which has so far failed to yield results, as Jorge Polanco has also dealt with injury issues and Bo Bichette has slumped for almost the entire season. 

Bichette did hit his sixth homer of the season Thursday, a two-run shot in the first. He had been hitless in his previous 10 at-bats and hadn’t homered since he went deep twice May 19. 

Christian Scott’s velocity was down a bit and he allowed a career-high three homers in just 4 ²/₃ innings.

He and the Mets were pleased, though, with how he recovered and retired 10 of 13 batters before a Jordan Walker single knocked him out of the game in the fifth. 

“I got punched in the mouth and then I punched them in the mouth,” Scott said of his comeback from the early struggles. 

The Mets hope Kodai Senga’s rehab stint continues smoothly after it was interrupted by the ulnar nerve irritation in his upper right arm that caused him to be scratched at Double-A Binghamton on Tuesday. … In more bullpen shuffling, right-hander Daniel Duarte was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, while another righty, Jonathan Pintaro was optioned to Syracuse on Thursday. 

Kyle Bradish and Bryan Woo could have given tonight’s national audience a pitcher’s duel, but that thought went out the window with the very first batter. The Orioles scored six runs in the third, Seattle countered with four runs in the fourth, but the O’s did enough to outlast the M’s 7-5 in the series finale at Camden Yards.

Seattle took an early lead when Cole Young launched a leadoff homer. The Orioles did not reach base in either of the first two innings, but Colton Cowser sparked the offense in the third. Cowser took a 2-1 fastball the other way and sent it 416 feet from home plate. The Oppo Taco evened the score at one, but Baltimore had plenty of offense left in the tank. Coby Mayo lined out sharply, but Jackson Holliday and Taylor Ward both singled. Gunnar Henderson worked a one-out walk, and Adley Rutschman stepped in with the bases loaded.

Woo jumped ahead 0-2, but he spiked a slider in the dirt. The ball trickled to the backstop, and Holliday raced home to secure a 2-1 lead. Woo left his next pitch up, and Rutschman yanked in down the right-field line for a two-run double.

Baltimore kept its foot on the gas when Pete Alonso ambushed the first pitch of his second at bat. Woo hung a middle-middle sweeper, and Alonso hit a ball “to a place where baseballs simply do not go.” MASN’s Kevin Brown provided a familiar feel with the call for ESPN, and the Orioles held a 6-1 lead after three.

Bradish sat for an extended period before returning to the mound in search of a shutdown inning. He did not deliver. The righty walked the leadoff hitter before surrendering a two-run homer to Luke Raley. Dominic Canzone followed with a solo shot of his own, and the Mariners trimmed the lead to two before recording an out in the fourth. Bradish rebounded with a pair of ground outs, but a two-out walk led to more damage. Julio Rodríguez delivered a clutch single to make it a 6-5 ball game.

Both teams went scoreless in their next at bats, but Baltimore delivered a crucial insurance run in the bottom of the fifth. Ward reached after being hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a grounder by Gunnar Henderson, and came around to score on a base hit by Rutschman. The run-scoring knock was enough to swing the momentum back into Baltimore’s direction. Rutschman finished 2-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs.

Tyler Wells replaced Bradish in the fifth and delivered three scoreless frames. Wells struck out four, walked one, and did not allow a hit. The bulk relief allowed Craig Albernaz to save Rico Garcia for the eighth. Garcia recorded a pair of outs but also surrendered two singles. Albernaz summoned Grant Wolfram to escape the frame without allowing a run.

The Orioles bats went quietly in innings six through eight, and Albernaz sent out Andrew Kittredge to earn the save. Kittredge was projected to play a high-leverage role along with injured closer Ryan Helsley, but things haven’t exactly gone as planned for the veteran reliever. The decision to send out Kittredge may have said more about the state of Baltimore’s bullpen than it did about Kittredge, but the Spokane native delivered.

Kittredge generated four ground balls to work around a fielding error by Blaze Alexander and secure the save. Baltimore salvaged a series split with a 7-5 victory over the Mariners on national television. The Orioles are 33-37. They play the Padres tomorrow at 7:05 pm.

Cowser got the rally started, Alonso launched a ball 439 feet, and Rutschman recorded the only multi-hit game for the Birds. Wells bailed out the bullpen, and Kittredge prevented any real drama in the ninth. Who is your pick for the Most Birdland Player of the Day? Let us know in the comments below!

Despite a few scares in the late innings, the Dodgers were in control of this one for the vast majority, taking the lead in the third and holding it all the way into an 8-6 win in yet another high-scoring affair, routine for this series. However, the result takes a backseat to the concerns surrounding Shohei Ohtani and Justin Wrobleski, both having left this game early due to injuries—Ohtani in the seventh inning with what was described as left knee inflammation and Wrobleski with a right hamstring contusion after a collision trying to cover first. However, even in a game he couldn’t complete, Ohtani made sure to leave his mark by starting the scoring with a solo shot in the third, doing this a day after throwing over 100 pitches in a quality start.

The scoring in the third inning wasn’t done after Ohtani’s homer, though, as the two sides of batted ball luck appeared. Firstly, Mookie Betts narrowly missed out on a two-run shot with a fly ball that would’ve left the yard in 27 out of 30 MLB parks, only to be robbed of what would’ve been his seventh homer on the year. Then, a couple of hitters later, Kyle Tucker found the right spot to land his 62.1 MPH exit velocity lazy fly ball for a two-run, two-out single. Success with two outs became a regular thing for the Dodgers in this game, as in the fourth, Los Angeles added two more runs with five straight reaching after the Pirates retired the first two hitters to open the frame.

Unluckily for the Dodgers, the two-out action seemed to be a factor on both sides. Similarly to what happened in the previous two games, the team trailing pulled a rally out of the hat, and in one inning, the Pittsburgh cut what was a 5-0 deficit into a 5-4 game. The Pirates did so by scoring three of those runs with two outs with a pair of home runs from Rafael Flores Jr. and Brandon Lowe, the latter of whom is number one in baseball among second basemen for homers with 16. Making matters worse, Wrobleski, who before those two homers was sailing along smoothly, injured himself colliding with Bryan Reynolds trying to cover first. Pittsburgh’s rally continued with Will Klein on the mound, but the right-hander was just able to preserve the then-5-4 lead with a bases-loaded strikeout of Jake Mangum.

It didn’t take too long for the Dodgers to respond, and despite having Santiago Espinal pinch-hitting for Ohtani—who left the game with left knee inflammation—Los Angeles added a couple of runs in the seventh with a pair of RBI from Miguel Rojas and Espinal himself. Crucial runs as the Pirates’ comeback attempts weren’t over, cutting the lead to 8-6 in the eighth and bringing the tying run up in the form of Lowe. Showcasing the importance of this game, Dave Roberts went to Tanner Scott for a two-out save for only the second time this season, and the left-hander got the job done, punching out the side in the bottom of the ninth.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (13), Rafael Flores Jr. (1), Brandon Lowe (16)
• WP— Jack Dreyer (3-1): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts
• LP— Mitch Keller (5-4): 4 IP, 7 hits, 5 runs, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts
• SV – Tanner Scott (7): 1.1 IP, 3 strikeouts

Up next

The road trip against teams whose 2026 season campaign represents a big step forward from their recent failings continues, as the Dodgers leave Pittsburgh and head to the south side of Chicago to face the White Sox. Starter Roki Sasaki will be on the mound for Los Angeles, with Chicago yet to announce their starter officially. That matchup will start an hour later than the games in Pittsburgh, at 4;40 p.m. PT.

It's safe to say that Red Sox relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman still has beef with Yankees GM Brian Cashman.

In an interview conducted by ESPN Deportes, Chapman acknowledged that he's aware of his name circulating in trade rumors. After all, the Red Sox currently sit in dead last of the AL East standings with a paltry 27-39 record, six full games out of a playoff spot.

"Every day you see social media and also people in the press talking and commenting about it," said the hard-throwing southpaw.

Assuming the Red Sox can't right the ship ahead of the MLB's trade deadline on Aug. 3, it's hard to imagine Boston not taking the opportunity to cash in on the stellar form of their 38-year-old closer, who is currently on a $13 million contract set to expire at season's end.

The Yankees will likely be in the market for a high-leverage reliever to add to their ranks as the trade deadline approaches, so many have been wondering whether a reunion between Chapman and the Yanks could be in the works.

Trading with their archrivals would be a tough enough task for Cashman, but there's another hurdle he apparently would need to clear for this potential deal to become a reality: making amends with Chapman.

After two stints with the Yankees, Chapman's exit from the organization was an ugly one. After losing the closer role to Clay Holmes after developing an infection due to a tattoo, then missing a mandatory workout ahead of the 2022 ALDS, leading Cashman to leave Chapman off the team's postseason roster.

Chapman is clearly still bitter about that decision from his former GM, telling ESPN that he wants an apology.

"What happened, happened," Chapman said. "If something like this were to happen, I believe someone from this organization should apologize first."

A follow-up asked if that "someone" was Cashman, and Chapman confirmed.

In 19.2 innings pitched this season, Chapman has struck out 26 batters and is sporting an incredibly minuscule 0.46 ERA and 0.92 WHIP.

For what it's worth, Chapman didn't entirely rule out a trade back to the Bronx, admitting that he'd be willing to "sit down and talk and see what would happen."

Chapman arrived in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds in December of 2015, forming the "No-Runs D.M.C" triumvirate in the Yankees bullpen alongside Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. In July of 2016, ahead of the 2016 MLB trade deadline, Chapman was dealt to the soon-to-be-champion Chicago Cubs for a package of prospects highlighted by Gleyber Torres. Funnily enough, just six months later, in December of 2016, Chapman rejoined the Yankees as a free agent on a five-year, $86 million contract.

That second go-around donning the pinstripes spanned six seasons and was tumultuous for Chapman. He was a three-time All-Star selection, but battled injuries throughout.