Category: Baseball

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Yankees’ top priority in September is trying to chase down the Rays for the division.

Besides that, they need to get Aaron Judge back healthy and allow him to get his timing down before the postseason arrives. They wouldn’t mind giving their heavily used high-leverage relievers a rest, either.

In addition to all of that, though, the final month of the regular season offers another sideshow of sorts: the AL Cy Young race.

And while Cam Schlittler certainly added to his case with a dominant outing Wednesday night, his lineup let him down, spoiling a gem and forcing the Yankees’ ace to settle for a no decision after making just one mistake across eight innings.

But the Yankees bats woke up in time to make sure the night was not a total bust.

Austin Wells delivered a clutch two-out, two-strike, two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th to put the Yankees ahead for good on the way to a 6-3 win over the Angels to take the series at Angel Stadium.

After David Bednar tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 10th and then exploded with two outs against reliever Luke Murphy.

Wells’ go-ahead single — causing the Yankees-heavy crowd to erupt — was the first of four straight hits as Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice followed with RBI singles of their own to push the lead to 6-1.

That proved important as Michael Fulmer gave up a two-run shot in the bottom of the frame before recovering to close out the win.

By the end of the night, the Yankees (80-60) had moved within 3 ¹/₂ games of the Rays for the division and five games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card entering Thursday’s off-day.

Schlittler had retired 17 straight before leaving a cutter down the middle to Vaughn Grissom, who crushed it to dead center field for a solo shot that tied the game 1-1 in the seventh inning.

The problem for Schlittler, more than one bad pitch, was that Angels lefty Reid Detmers was stifling the Yankees lineup at the same time, allowing just one run across seven innings.

Schlittler went a step further, finishing eight innings while allowing just two hits — both to Grissom — walking none and striking out nine. It marked the 19th time in 29 starts he has allowed one run or fewer, lowering his ERA to 2.04 in the process.

Before Schlittler took the mound Wednesday, his biggest threat in the AL Cy Young race, Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease, had already thrown six shutout innings against the Guardians, lowering his ERA to 2.25.

Schlittler was coming off a strange outing in which he threw 5 ²/₃ shutout innings against the Red Sox and allowed just two hits, but tied a career high with five walks, which clearly irked him.

The free passes had become something of an issue even as he pitched well in August, uncharacteristically walking 16 batters in 27 innings across five starts last month. But Schlittler made the adjustment in a big way, not walking a single batter.

Detmers faced the minimum through three innings and needed just 30 pitches to do so, but Paul Goldschmidt led off the fourth with his second single of the night — both coming on the first pitch of the at-bat.

Bellinger followed with a single through the right side before Heliot Ramos smoked a 112.2 mph line drive to shortstop. But Zach Neto snared it and threw to second for the double play.

Rice extended the rally, though, with a swinging bunt before Amed Rosario came up and laced a ground-rule double into the right field corner to score Bellinger for the 1-0 lead.

Over the course of his career, Rosario has been a lefty killer, but he came into the night having hit just .200 with a .610 OPS against them this season, part of the reason why his roster spot might be at risk when Judge returns as early as next week.

But Rosario has shown some more signs of life lately, with three straight two-hit efforts before Wednesday’s hard-hit RBI double.

The Dodgers scored three runs but couldn’t cash in more in the first inning, then failed to capitalize on several scoring chances. They blew a late lead after Yoshinobu Yamamoto flirted with a no-hitter in his first start of September for the second season in a row. That helped get the game to extras, and the St. Louis Cardinals pounced with three runs in the 10th for an 8-6 win at Dodger Stadium.

Before Wednesday, the Dodgers were 5-0 in extras this season thanks in large part to stingy pitching. They allowed only one free runner to score in six total innings on just two hits. But the first three Cardinals in the 10th inning all got hits off Brock Stewart to plate three runs, capped off by a two-run double by Joshua Báez.

The rookie Báez didn’t even start the game, but his leadoff double off Tanner Scott in the eighth inning was cashed in on two outs to tie the game. St. Louis never led until the 10th inning.

From no-no to oh-no

Yamamoto allowed multiple home runs for just the third time in 25 starts this season. Weirdly all three games have been at home, with three home runs by the Giants on May 12 and two by the Red Sox on August 1. Twelve of Yamamoto’s 18 home runs allowed this year were hit at Dodger Stadium.

Yamamoto didn’t even allow a hit until the sixth inning, but after José Fermín singled to break up the no-no, infielder Thomas Saggese spoiled things with a two-run home run. Saggese entered the series with one home run this season and four home runs in 435 career plate appearances. He now has three long balls in two games thus far against the Dodgers in this series.

Catcher Leo Bernal, serving as the designate hitter for St. Louis on Wednesday, added a two-run shot in the seventh for his first major league home run.

Even with the disturbances, Yamamoto’s pitch count was still low, and he got through seven innings on 93 pitches. He completed seven innings for a 10th time this season, tied for third-most in the majors.

Yamamoto’s four-seam fastball and splitter were especially working on Wednesday, finishing off six of his eight strikeouts on those pitches and inducing 14 swinging strikes on those two pitches alone. Even with the four runs on Wednesday, Yamamoto allowed only 14 runs over his last eight starts, with a 2.32 ERA since the All-Star break.

First things first

A walk and hit by pitch gave the Dodgers an instant rally to open the game, then one out later Freddie Freeman tattooed a ball over the left center field wall for his first home run since July 4, the early fireworks making for a quick 3-0 lead.

Freeman went 196 plate appearances in between home runs and 47 full games, the longest power drought of his career. Even without a home run, those 47 games were still somewhat productive for Freeman, who hit .315/.359/.371 with 10 doubles and a 102 wRC+ during the stretch, though well below his established norms.

Freeman on the night also walked three times and singled, the second time this season he’s reached base five times, along with May 23 at Milwaukee.

This was a bullpen game for the Cardinals and Brycen Mautz had a tough go of things. He also allowed a popfly double to Miguel Rojas and walked two more batters to load the bases. Mautz escaped the jam without anything beyond the three runs Freeman plated, but then hit Ohtani to open the second inning. In all, Mautz retired only three of his 10 batters faced and was lucky to allow just the three runs.

Mookie Betts added a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth, immediately answering the Saggese home run in the top of the frame. Betts has a nine-game hit streak.

The Dodgers, who hit two home runs all of last week on their road trip through Atlanta and Detroit, on Wednesday hit two home runs for the first time in 11 games, since August 19 at Coors Field.

Teoscar Hernández hit the ball hard all night, with four batted balls hit with triple-digit exit velocities. He got three hits out of it, including a one-out double in the ninth inning. But he was stranded when pinch hitter Will Smith smashed a ball to the wall in right center field for an out.

Freeman’s home run was the Dodgers’ only hit in 18 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Getting defensive

Rojas made some fantastic defensive plays while Yamamoto still hadn’t yet allowed a hit, thanks partially to him. First, Rojas had nifty timing in trying to execute a tag (the runner was called out of the baseline) while fielding a bounding ball then turned a double play out of it in the third inning. Rojas in the fourth turned things up a notch, with an extension to his far left to rob Bryan Torres of a hit, then on the next play went up the middle with a long throw to nail catcher Iván Herrera.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: Freddie Freeman (16), Mookie Betts (17); Thomas Saggese (4), Leo Bernal (1)

WP — Justin Bruihl (1-1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout

LP — Brock Stewart (0-2): 1 IP, 3 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 1 strikeout

Sv — Riley O’Brien (35): 1 IP, 1 unearned run, 1 strikeout

Up next

Tarik Skubal hooks up with with Will Smith for the first time since the World Baseball Classic in the series finale on Thursday night (7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA), with rookie left-hander Quinn Mathews pitching for St. Louis.

Since I am not a St. Louis Cardinals coach, I can’t say for sure that I know what the plan was for Wednesday night’s game against the Dodgers, but I’m fairly certain walking 4 batters in the first 2 innings wasn’t it. Brycen Mautz had a less-than-ideal start for the Cardinals while Yoshinobu Yamamoto was dealing for the Dodgers. That was not the recipe for a St. Louis Cardinals victory. Fortunately, baseball games have 9 innings and Wednesday night they’d play even more and it would end spectacularly for St. Louis.

The bottom of the 1st inning will take awhile to explain. It started with Shohei Ohtani walking on 4 straight pitches followed by 2 more balls thrown to Tommy Edman before Brycen Mautz registered a strike. Then he hit Edman with the next pitch to give the Dodgers runners at first and second with no outs. Brycen was able to get Betts to pop out to second for the first out, but more trouble was on the way. After throwing another ball out of the strike zone to Freddie Freeman, Mautz unfortunately threw the next one right down the middle of the plate which Freddie torched 416 feet into the left-centerfield stands for a 3-run homer and an immediate Dodgers 3-0 lead.

Remarkably, that’s all the runs the Dodgers would get in the bottom of the 1st because Rojas followed Freeman’s homer with a bloop double to right and then slumping Kyle Tucker was walked. It took a great catch by Bryan Torres in left on a screaming line drive from Hernandez and then another excellent play by Alec Burleson who made a diving grab on a ball headed toward right field from Fedducia. Alec threw him out from a seated position for the final out of the inning. It easily could have been worse than a 3-run inning by the Dodgers.

The Cardinals had planned a bullpen game, but pretty sure they wanted Mautz to pitch deeper into the game than the just one inning as he was pulled without recording an out in the bottom of the 2nd inning for Ryan Fernandez. He would handle that task without allowing the Dodgers any more runs before he handed the ball to Gordon Graceffo in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Gordon also held LA scoreless in the 3rd and 4th innings before the Dodgers mounted a threat in the bottom of the 5th. In that inning, Kyle Tucker led off with a single and stole second because, yes, Iván Herrera was catching so of course he did. Graceffo was able to nurse a hard groundout to short by Hernandez for the first out without allowing Tucker to advance. Gordon then struck out Muncy and Fedducia to keep LA from adding to their lead.

While the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen merry-go-round was spinning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was mystifying the Cardinals lineup not allowing a hit through the first 5 innings. José Fermín ended the no-hitter in the top of the 6th with a no-doubt single into right field. Two batters later, Thomas Saggese ended the shutout as he connected with a 94 mph sinker and launched it 396 feet into the centerfield stands cutting the Dodgers lead to 3-2. When did Thomas Saggese suddenly start channeling his inner Mark McGwire?

George Soriano entered the game in the bottom of the 6th inning to face the top of the Dodgers lineup and keep the game close for the Cardinals offense which finally woke up. That unfortunately did not work out. After Tommy Edman lined a one-out single to left, Mookie Betts caught one of Soriano’s 85 mph sweepers hanging and crushed it 392 feet into the left-field seats for a 2-run blast and a 5-2 Dodgers lead.

The St. Louis Cardinals were not done fighting. In the top of the 7th inning, Jordan Walker smacked a double off of the left field wall followed by Leo Bernal crushing his first major league home run deep into the right field stands cutting the Dodgers lead back down to just 1 at 5-4. Hope you packed all of your belongings when you left Memphis, Leo, because you aren’t going back!

Ryne Stanek jumped into the fray in the bottom of the 7th inning with the prime directive of keeping this a 1-run affair so the Cardinals could claw and scratch out a couple of runs for another victory over the billionaires Dodgers. Ryne allowed a bit of drama by giving up a couple of two-strike hits, but no runs became of it, so no worries.

The Cardinals finally got into the Dodgers bullpen when Yamamoto exited the game after 7 innings. Tanner Scott was brought in to face Joshua Baez who turned on an 88 mph slider and ripped it into the left-field corner for a leadoff double. Herrera hit a sharp ball to first which resulted in an out, but it went to the right side of the infield which advanced Baez to third with just one out. Fundamental baseball at its finest. Alec Burleson proved that true when he battled through a bunch of Scott sliders before he got a ball he could lift into deep left for a game-tying sacrifice fly giving us a new ballgame at 5-5.

Luis Gastélum was the Cardinals answer for the bottom of the 8th inning. He kept the Dodgers from scoring and was aided by an inning-ending double play.

The Cardinals came close to taking the lead in the top of the 9th when Leo Bernal ALMOST hit his second home run of the night flying out to deep right field on a ball that was only 9 feet from giving St. Louis a 6-5 lead. It’s too bad that “almost” only counts in horseshoes and not baseball. After the Cardinals failed to score in the top of the 9th, it was up to Justin Bruihl to shut down the Dodgers in the bottom of the 9th. It started spectacularly when José Fermín made a great diving play on a ground ball from Kyle Tucker deep into the right-field hole throwing him out from the ground. Teoscar Hernandez was not so kind as the next Dodger up as he crushed a ground-rule double over the left field wall to give LA the potential winning run in scoring position. However, Bruihl struck out pinch-hitter Enrique Hernandez for the second out. Bruihl made life more difficult on himself when he threw a wild pitch advancing Hernandez to third. It was up to Will Smith to decide if the game would go to extras. We all held our breath as Smith hit a fly ball to deep right field that Nathan Church caught up against the wall. This game would not be decided in 9 innings.

Jose Fermin was the Cardinals “free runner” starting the inning at second base and he immediately was moved up to third as Nathan Church hit the first pitch he saw for a single up the middle giving St. Louis runners at first and third with no out in the 10th. Thomas Saggese, who’s having a career road trip so far, tapped a ball into the hole between second and first and beat the throw knocking in Fermin and giving the Cardinals a 6-5 lead and they were just getting started. Joshua Baez would sink the Dodgers hopes as he ripped his second double of the night into the left field corner scoring both Church and Saggese upping the Cardinals lead to 8-5.

It would be up to Riley O’Brien to lock down the game and the series for the Cardinals. He would have to face the top of the Dodgers lineup starting with Ohtani. With two strikes, Herrera would let a ball get away which would allow Dodgers free runner Will Smith to advance to third. Riley would shake that off and strike out Ohtani after 8 pitches for the first out. Tommy Edman would score Smith from third, but his groundout registered the second out. Mookie Betts lineout to center ended an epic come-from-behind Cardinals victory and a series and season series victory over LA.

The St. Louis Cardinals will enter the gauntlet again Thursday night as it’ll be game 3 against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Quinn Mathews will start for the Cardinals going up against the formidable Tarik Skubal for the Dodgers. First pitch scheduled for 9:10pm central time at Dodger Stadium and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.

How good has Austin Wells been of late? Initially starting this game on the bench, Wells joined the action in the eighth with a pinch-hit single to prime his bat for the true decisive blow — the go-ahead two-out, two-run single in the tenth to salvage a win from a day when it looked like the offense would squander another brilliant Cam Schlittler start.

Schlittler’s velocity was down about a tick-and-a-half from his amped up last start against the Red Sox, but that didn’t sap any of his effectiveness. After walking a career-high five batters his last time out (albeit across 5.2 scoreless against Boston), there seemed to be a concerted effort to really attack the zone. This led to quick outs on a lot of early contact in the opening innings before he honed his command to the edges, leading to an uptick in strikeouts toward the end of his outing.

He got three straight groundouts in the third and then navigated around a Vaughn Grissom single to leadoff the second by striking out Moisés Ballesteros on a pair of overpowering fastballs. The third and fourth brought another strikeout each, Schlittler remaining economical with his pitch count in both frames. The fifth saw him shift into high gear as he was able to gas a pair of four-seamers by Ballesteros and Christian Moore for his fifth and sixth strikeouts.

Schlittler needed to be shutdown given the way the offense struggled against Reid Detmers. Widely expected to get traded at the deadline, the Angels hung on to their starter and he rewarded them with a 1.55 ERA in eight starts since the break. The bats had no answer the first time through the order, Detmers needing just 30 pitches to make it through three perfect innings.

The script flipped upon facing him for the second time, Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger opening the fourth with a pair of singles. Heliot Ramos couldn’t follow suit, grounding into what is already his fifth double play in 76 plate appearances for the Yankees. However, Ben Rice kept the inning alive with a two-out infield single, allowing Amed Rosario to open the scoring with an RBI ground-rule double that one-hopped the fence in right. However, you couldn’t help but feel they left meat on the bone between the Ramos GIDP and Spencer Jones striking out to strand Rice at third.

There was a scary moment in the sixth when a Rice foul line drive struck a camera man in the head near the Yankees’ dugout, and it was relieving to see him get up under his own power and get carted off after an over ten minute delay. To Detmers’ credit, he settled down after the fourth, retiring ten of the final 11 batters he faced to end his outing with seven innings of one-run ball.

Schlittler kept cruising through the sixth, punching out Oswald Peraza on a gross curveball and Travis D’Arnaus looking on a painted heater. He got two outs into the seventh to make it 17 retired in a row before making his lone mistake of the outing, and unfortunately for him it left the yard, Grissom crushing a center-cut cutter to dead center just over the outstretched glove of Jones at the wall.

His pitch count was only at 83, so it was a no-brainer to send Schlittler back out for the eighth. He retired the side in order to complete eight innings for the third time this season. It was also his fifth straight start giving up one or fewer runs, and 19th such start overall on the year to set a new franchise record. He had all his pitches working, it’s just a shame the one mistake he made got punished on a night when his offense couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. He ended his outing having given up a run on two hits and no walks with nine strikeouts in eight innings.

David Bednar was tasked with pitching a scoreless ninth to give his offense a chance in extra innings, and he did so with aplomb, striking out three to nullify a Mike Trout single. Off to extras this game went, the Yankees loading the bases with one out on a José Caballero single and Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk. A Luis García Jr. infield fly put them on the brink of wasting the opportunity, but it also brought one of their most clutch hitters of late to the plate in Wells.

Wells fouled off three straight elevated heaters before getting one he could handle, grounding a single just past the dive attempts of the first and second basemen to plate a pair and take the lead. That opened the floodgates against reliever Luke Murphy, who gave up three straight singles to Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Rice, each one plating an additional run to make it 6-1 in favor of the Yankees by the time Rosario flew out to end the frame.

Recent bullpen signing Michael Fulmer was entrusted to record the final three outs, and he certainly made us sweat a little. He gave up a two-run blast to Ballesteros, but bounced back to retire the next two batters and nail down the victory, 6-3.

That is what you are supposed to do against the worst team in baseball. Stay in the game long enough until you expose their fatal flaw — in this case, LA’s bullpen — and then capitalize on the opportunities you create for yourself. It’s the Yankees’ fourth series win out of their last five as they become the second team in the AL to reach 80 wins and draw within 3.5 games of the Rays after they lost to the Mets earlier in the day.

The Yankees get tomorrow off before making the short journey to San Diego for three games. Max Fried is scheduled to make his second start back from his latest IL stint facing Walker Buehler in the opener Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. ET with the broadcast remaining on YES.

Box Score

The Yankees' offense came alive in extra innings, scoring five in the 10th to defeat the Angels, 6-3, on Wednesday night in Anaheim. 

In the 10th, the Yankees had the bases loaded with two outs for Austin Wells. The backstop, who pinch-hit earlier in the game, hit a single past the diving first baseman to drive in two runs. Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice followed up with RBI singles.

New York outhit the Angels, 12-4, but the four straight hits in extras were the most impactful as the Yankees (80-60) pulled to 3.5 games of the Rays, who lost earlier in the day, for the top spot in the AL East.

Here are the takeaways...

-The Yankees could not get to Reid Detmers in this one, hitting into some bad luck on multiple occasions, but finally broke through in the fourth. With runners on first and second and two outs, Amed Rosario lined a ground-rule double into the stands in right field to score the team's first run.

Against Detmers, that was all they could do. The veteran left-hander allowed six hits, but just the one run across seven innings while striking out eight batters. 

-On the other side, Cam Schlittler was dealing. The Cy Young frontrunner allowed just one hit through six innings and retired 17 straight Angels before Vaughn Grissom took the right-hander deep with two outs in the seventh, smashing a 95 mph cutter over the center field wall just out of the reach of Spencer Jones (408 feet). 

Despite the solo shot, Schlittler strengthened his Cy Young credentials, pitching eight innings of one-run ball. He allowed one run on two hits, no walks, while striking out nine batters, all on 99 pitches. 

-Jones got the start in center field instead ofGrisham, but the rookie went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

-Aaron Boone used three pinch-hitters in this one, with Wells and Grisham coming through, combining to go 3-for-4 with three RBI. Luis Garcia Jr. was the third pinch-hitter and went 0-for-2 as he was benched for Paul Goldschmidt, who went 2-for-3 against the left-handed starter.

-David Bednar bounced back from his rough outing on Monday by striking out three in the ninth and allowing just one hit. With the five-run lead, Michael Fulmer came on in the 10th to wrap up the game, but the veteran right-hander didn't make it easy. He allowed a two-run home run to Moises Ballesteros but got the final two outs to end the game.

Game MVP: Austin Wells

Wells' single put the Yankees ahead for good.

Highlights

Amed Rosario opens the scoring! pic.twitter.com/OCxXsRBtTI

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

AUSTIN WELLS DELIVERS!

YANKEES LEAD IN THE 10TH! pic.twitter.com/Inb6SYaJog

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

CODY BELLINGER TACKS ON AN INSURANCE RUN pic.twitter.com/dweSVAv0S0

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

TRENT GRISHAM MAKES IT 5-1! pic.twitter.com/OXPd8CalEL

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

ANOTHER ONE!

Ben Rice's turn! pic.twitter.com/gKWBupm0et

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 3, 2026

What's next

After an off day, the Yankees head to San Diego for a three-game series with the Padres starting Friday. First pitch is set for 9:40 p.m.

The Yankees will send Max Fried (4-4, 2.80 ERA) to the mound while the Padres will send Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.66 ERA).

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Padres fans and fans across the country.

The San Diego Padres made it through much of the 2026 season with bubble gum and duct tape holding their starting pitching staff together. Michael King and Walker Buehler have been the only two constants in the rotation while other starters like Randy Vasquez, Griffin Canning and German Marquez, who is no longer with the team, have been used as starters and have worked out of the bullpen as a result of their struggles on the mound. The one constant for the San Diego rotation has been inconsistency.

Padres general manager and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller tried to address the rotation at the trade deadline. He went out and got arguably two of the top starters on the market in Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers and Robbie Ray from the San Francisco Giants. San Diego had to use some of what little capital it has left in the minor league system to make the additions, but the moves by Preller at the deadline were widely praised by MLB pundits and fans alike.

The additions of Mize and Ray could have been foreshadowing what was to come over the remaining months of the season. Starters Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta have each been working back from injury throughout the first half of the season. Musgrove has had a much slower rehab process recovering from Tommy John surgery following the 2024 season than was expected by much of the Friar Faithful. Pivetta went down early in the season and has slowly worked back to health and is pitching in various stages of the San Diego minor league system on rehab assignments.

Musgrove and Pivetta have each had setbacks in their processes and it was revealed on Wednesday that Musgrove had another setback with arm soreness following his last rehab start at Triple-A when the El Paso Chihuahuas were in Oklahoma City. Pivetta pitched for El Paso as well and looked good considering the last time he was on the mound in Lake Elsinore he walked off the mound suddenly and did not return to the game. It was revealed later he felt some discomfort, but it turned out to be inconsequential and he threw additional pitches in a bullpen session that same day.

King and Buehler were joined by Mize and Ray and the thought was Musgrove and Pivetta would be added to a potential six-man rotation or perhaps Buehler would be transitioned to a bullpen role. Based on the latest developments with Musgrove that may not happen and the Padres will have a rotation of King, Buehler, Mize, Ray and Pivetta. Vasquez, who had pitched better as of late before his latest outing against the Cincinnati Reds, could also make the claim he deserves to be in the rotation.

It may be a mute point depending on the health of Musgrove, but should he bounce back and have a minor setback before continuing his rehab, Gaslamp Ball wants to know who you think would have a greater impact on the team during the final 20-plus days of the season, Musgrove or Pivetta? Results of the Gaslamp Ball Reacts Survey poll will be published later in the week.

Brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.

Let’s play a game of Mad Libs. Here, you give me an adjective. Any adjective.

Got one? Okay, great. Here was the sentence we can plug it into:

The San Francisco Giants have been [adjective] this season.

If you said “bad,” or “pathetic,” or “dysfunctional,” or “worms for brains-esque,” then I regret to inform you that you’ve failed. The entire point of Mad Libs is to say things that are silly and funny because they’re so nonsensical.

If you said “good,” or “entertaining,” or “a paragon of virtue and functionality,” then wow. You’re funny. You’re like, really funny. Do you do stand up? You should. Have you mentioned in your Hinge profile how funny you are? People will love that.

But a broken clock is right twice a day (assuming it’s not a 24-hour clock), and the sun shines on a dog’s behind as many times as the dog lays out in the sun legs splayed in a way that only dogs can do. And yes, in a 162-game season, the Giants are occasionally good and entertaining and virtuous and functional.

Wednesday was one such day. The Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 in 10 innings, and they looked the part of a good baseball team. It was far from a flawless game — the bullpen once again blew a lead — but baseball is not a sport for the flawless (which is why I’m so bad at it). Baseball is a sport for doing more things well than you do poorly, and cashing out when that marginally influences the odds in your favor.

And so the Giants won because the starting pitching was good, and the offense did some dandy things, and the defense played well, and when the bullpen coughed up the lead the offense picked it up and then the bullpen succeeded on their second chance.

Really, it was Buster Posey’s Platonic ideal of a baseball game. The pitching was strong. The defense saved them from a second straight walk-off loss. And, for just the second time since 2009, the offense came through with multiple sacrifice bunts and sacrifice flies.

It began with a very encouraging start from Landen Roupp, who is entering the cruise control portion of his season. He’s already surpassed his career high in innings (including in the Minors) by a full 35 frames, so the Giants only let him throw 75 pitches in this one.

But he positively dealt through those 75 pitches, which covered five innings. Roupp didn’t allow a single baserunner in his first pass through the lineup, while striking out four Pirates hitters.

He finally bent in the fourth inning, and, as he’s done so often recently, flirted with disaster. But, as he hasn’t done so often recently, he avoided said disaster. A leadoff single by Spencer Horwitz (which ricocheted off of Roupp) gave way to a one-out single by old friend Bryan Reynolds, which led to a walk issued to Nick Gonzales. Roupp impressively worked an unproductive out from Oneil Cruz for a second out, but immediately turned around and handed an unproductive walk to Esmerlyn Valdez, allowing a run to score.

With that out of his system, Roupp settled in. He got out of that jam, and promptly set down the side in the fifth, ending his night with just four baserunners and one run allowed.

It was enough to put Roupp in line for a win, thanks to the way the Giants have been balancing the star power of Rafael Devers with the scrappy and spirited approach of a bunch of contact-oriented youngsters with jobs to earn and reputations to create.

In the first inning it was said Devers star power, as the Giants slugger once again left the yard with a glorious and glamorous solo home run off of Bubba Chandler, which was his third home run in as many games, and his seventh in the last 13.

And in the fifth inning it was the scrappy youngsters (with an assist from Devers). Shay Whitcomb led off the inning with a double, and swapped places with Christian Koss when Koss hit a ground ball to the left side that Whitcomb broke on, resulting in a rundown that he kept alive long enough for Koss to run 180 feet. After Drew Gilbert walked, Devers slashed a single to load the bases, and Bryce Eldridge brought in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly.

But, unlike the Pirates in the inning prior, the Giants weren’t scared off by the presence of two outs. Tony Vitello’s contact-focused cleanup hitter approach paid off, with Turner Hill ripping a ball into right field for an RBI single, and a 3-1 Giants lead.

They gave those runs back, though, as the bullpen did what it does best: not play well.

They flirted with trouble in the sixth, with Reiver Sanmartin allowing runners to reach the corners before giving way to Ryan Walker with two outs, but Walker got the job done.

Walker did not, however, get the job done in the seventh, when he issued a highly uncompetitive walk to open the inning, then a single and a bunt. With runners at second and third and just one out, Walker handed the ball to Vitello who handed the ball to Carson Seymour, who threw the ball to Horwitz, who hit the ball to Koss who threw the ball to Devers, which is a very silly way of saying that the Pirates hit an RBI fielder’s choice to cut the lead in half.

It happened again in the eighth, when Reynolds led off with a double against Seymour, before Cruz brought him home on a single, tying the game.

With the bullpen having once again let down both the offense and the starting pitcher, you could feel an inevitable result incoming. We’ve seen it plenty of times this year, after all.

But no. By the skin of their teeth they took the game to the 10th inning. It began with some good fortune, when Jacob Gonzalez smacked a 1-out, 3-1 hanging sinker from Jason Foley to deep right field, just deep enough to be a walk-off home run in 10 parks … but not the one they were playing in. Instead, it was mercifully a double, and the inning would end three batters later, when a potential Reynolds walk-off single was plucked out of the air by a running and sliding Hill, who smoothly caught a liner that had an expected batting average of .900.

To extras the Giants went, where they booked a date with old friend Camilo Doval, who hasn’t had a great season, and didn’t add to it in this one. The Giants quickly moved the Manfred Man over, courtesy of a bunt by Osleivis Basabe, who had entered the game late (it seems Gilbert may have hurt his foot on a foul ball).

With the go-ahead run 90 feet from home, the Pirates made the choice to intentionally walk Devers. It was a defensible move, given how hot Devers has been, and seeing as how it put an inning-ending force play on the table.

But it sure is nice having multiple sluggers at long last, isn’t it? The lovely thing about avoiding Devers is that teams now have to face Eldridge who, to the delight of his grandmother in the stands, inside-outed a double the other way to give the Giants the lead.

Critically, they would get the insurance run in as well, when the do-everything Hill lifted a ball into the outfield for a sacrifice fly.

From there, all that was left to do was not blow the lead in the 10th inning. And while Dylan Smith gave you a brief scare by promptly allowing a leadoff single — which put the tying run on base — he then settled in and struck out two straight batters, before forcing a game-ending line-out.

It’s only one game, and the season is already lost. So don’t get any funny ideas about that humorous Mad Libs answer actually being serious.

But one game can be fun and one game can be entertaining and one game can feature functional baseball. This was one such game.

It was nice.

The Braves DFA’d Hayden Harris Wednesday to make space on the 40-man roster to bring up repeat DFA victim Eliesar Hernandez. Harris was once viewed as an extremely promising bullpen prospect for Atlanta, with outrageous strikeout rates in the minors due to a unique fastball shape. He had a rough couple of innings in the majors in 2025 and really lost his command in 2026 in the minors. It’s a bummer for those of us hoping for an electric homegrown bullpen arm from Harris, but perhaps not the end of the road for him.

Braves News

Ronald Acuna made power-speed history Wednesday, reaching 200 home runs and stolen bases in the fewest games in baseball history.

Blake Burkhalter was optioned back to AAA, while Hayden Harris was DFA’d to make space for Eliesar Hernandez.

The Braves beat the Nationals in dominant fashion, behind power from the offense and great pitching.

MLB News

The Rays’ new owner says he expects the team to be able to reach an above-average payroll with their new ballpark.

Fangraphs’ Ben Clemens took a look at the Angels’ $4 billion sale.

Fangraphs’ Jay Jaffe examined the trend line of position-player pitching, which became more relevant late in Atlanta’s Wednesday game.

Well this game had everything. A nice early lead, defensive miscues from rookie defenders, bad bullpen work, heroics, more shaky bullpen work, and finally 12th inning heroics from Spencer Torkelson as the Tigers staved off the sweep with an 11-6 victory over the Twins very late on Wednesday night.

The Tigers were looking to avoid a sweep in Minnesota on Wednesday night. More than that, the team really needs to get the taste of two debacles to start the series.

Kevin McGonigle grounded out off of right-hander Dean Kremer to start the game. Hao-Yu Lee bit on a curveball away and struck out. Colt Keith lined a single into right center field, but Riley Greene popped out.

Drew Anderson’s outing started off like a continuation of last night’s game. He drilled Luke Keaschall with a fastball on the second pitch of his outing. Brooks Lee flew out to Max Clark, but Kody Clemens pulled a hard ground ball to first and Colt Keith took it off the heel of the glove for an error. Anderson bounced back with some good fortune as a high changeup to Ryan Jeffers induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Eduardo Valencia saw a cutter up and away to start the second inning and he drilled it up the right center field gap for a long single. Brett Callahan bit on a good splitter and struck out, but Max Clark got a cutter in on his hands and ripped it down the right field line for a double. Valencia could only go first to third, but the Tigers had two in scoring position and one out for John Peck.

Peck worked a full count as Kremer pounded him with cutters, and he finally hung one a bit. Peck hammered it off the wall in left center field for a two-run double, collecting his first major league hit and his first RBIs all in one good swing. 2-0 Tigers.

Zach McKinstry grounded out, moving Peck to third with two outs for McGonigle. However, the Rookie, as opposed to the rookies, popped out to end the frame.

Anderson got Bell and Larnach to ground out to start the bottom half. The latter play went to Keith at first and was sharply hit, but again it kicked off Keith’s glove for a moment behind the bag, and Anderson had to break late to first to cover. He collected a quite aggressive throw from Keith to collect the out. Anderson turned to the curveball against Royce Lewis to get ahead, and then locked him up with a fastball for strike three.

Kremer bounced back in the third. Hao-Yu Lee fouled tipped one into the glove, Keith flew out, and Greene worked a 2-0 count but then fouled off a 1-2 fastball and a pair of splitters got him chasing and whiffing to end the frame.

Anderson got ahead of Kaelen Culpepper 0-2 with a pair of good changeup to start the bottom half. The young shortstop put up a fight but Anderson whiffed him with a curveball. He got ahead of the talented, recently called up rookie outfielder, Walker Jenkins 0-2 as well, but a high fastball and then one just off the plate evened the count after Jenkins challenged a called strike correctly. Anderson missed twice more and walked him.

Anderson got ahead of Keaschall 0-2 and Jenkins tried to steal second. He was called safe, but it was a pretty good throw from Valencia and the Tigers challenged. It turned out Lee got the tag down on him before he touched second base. We’ve been critical of Valencia’s work behind the dish, but he’s clearly working on it. He posted a 1.84 pop time to cut down Jenkins, which is excellent.

Instead of taking advantage and getting out of the inning, Anderson tailed a fourseamer way back inside from Valencia’s target and hit Keaschall again, this time in the hand. A pair of good kick changes got ahead of Brooks Lee 0-2 as Keaschall looked to run. A grounder to second ended the inning with Anderson at 45 pitches. The stuff looked good. The fastball command is still not good enough.

Eduardo Valencia hammered an 0-2 Kremer offering off the right center field wall for a double to start the fourth. In a 1-1 count to Callahan, Kremer dropped a splitter just onto the upper corner of the zone away. Another one down drew the whiff. Max Clark was having none of Kremer’s games, calmly watching as the right-hander fell behind 3-0, threw a cookie that Clark was taking all the way, and then walked him. So it was two on again for John Peck. The rookie shortstop fouled off a pair of high 1-2 fastballs, He then got a splitter and drove it on a line to Jenkins in center just in front of the warning track. McKinstry grounded out to Culpepper, and they’d stranded a pair.

Anderson’s maddeningly mix of good stuff and shoddy command finally got him in trouble in the bottom half. He walked Kody Clemens and Jeffers smoked an RBI double to make it a 2-1 game. The right-hander bounced back to whiff Bell, and Larnach grounded out to Keith, who fired to Anderson on the run again to get the second out. A first pitch changeup to Lewis was right on the edge and Anderson challenged it correctly himself, and then whiffed him on a changeup to end the inning.

Kremer walked McGonigle to start the fifth. A pitch to Hao-Yu Lee bounced away momentarily and the Rookie took second base just ahead of the throw. Lee paddled a single up the middle and McGonigle scored to make it 3-1. Nice piece of hitting there.

Derek Shelton came out to get Kremer, replacing him with lefty Kody Funderburk. Elite baseball name, btw. AJ Hinch pinch-hit Spencer Torkelson for Keith, and Tork lined out to left. Riley Greene torched a hot one-hopper into right center field and Jenkins had to slide just to knock it down and keep it from going to the wall. Lee roared around first to third to score for a 4-1 lead.

A wild sweeper that Funderburk lost his grip on went to the backstop and Greene took third with Valencia at the dish. Unfortunately Valencia whiffed on a sinker for strike three, and Ben Malgeri hit for Callahan and was frozen by a pretty nasty sweeper for strike three.

Anderson was at 63 pitches to start the bottom of the fifth. He gave Culpepper a shave with a first pitch fourseamer that sailed. He came back with changeups for strikes, and a curveball got a ground out to Peck. Walker Jenkins fouled off a pair of heaters and then got undressed by a truly evil changeup to strike out. A good curve popped up Keaschall and we were on to the sixth.

Max Clark’s production against lefties has been pretty awesome so far, and he continued against Funderburk. He faked a bunt first pitch, and then in a 1-2 count smoked a line drive up the left center field gap and beat feet for second. Peck slashed a grounder through the right side for an RBI single. 5-1 Tigers. McKinstry tried to go the other way and lined out to Lee, but Peck got back to first in time to avoid being doubled off. A passed ball on a breaking ball to McGonigle got Peck to second base, but the Rookie flew out routinely to left. So, it was up to Hao-Yu Lee, and he wasn’t going to see a lefty. RHP Travis Adams entered to deal with him instead, and got a ground out to end the inning.

Anderson induced a little checked swing bunt from Lee to start the bottom half. He bobbled it along the first base line but stayed with it and got the out. Clemens lifted a dying quail to right field and McKinstry made a slick sliding catch for the second out. Jeffers pulled a chopper to McGonigle and he rushed it a bit and threw wildly to first. Bell smoked a one-hopper into right for a single, and so it was first and second with two outs. Valencia came out to give Anderson a breather and settle him down, needing just one out to wrap up a really good outing. Instead, a hanging changeup got scalded to the wall in right field, and the Tigers paid for McGonigle’s error as Jeffers scored. Surprisingly, they held Bell at third, and that was it for Anderson as Tyler Kinley entered and got Lewis to ground out, ending the threat.

Anderson finished with 5.2 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K on the night. Good results, but poor fastball command still wasted a lot of pitches in this one.

Veteran Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman, acquired by the Twins in August, took over next and he struck out Torkelson, Greene, and Valencia to start the seventh. Kinley got Culpepper to fly out to start the bottom half, and then whiffed Jenkins with a really good slider, and then carved up Keaschall with the slider as well.

Lefty A.J. Minter was on for the Twins in the eighth. Malgeri got jammed but fought it off softly into center field for a leadoff single. Max Clark scorched a line drive to Culpepper, who caught it and dropped it, perhaps trying to create an opportunity for the double play. The second base umpire decided to just rule Clark out. Peck chased a changeup fading away for the second out. Malgeri stole second and the throw bounced into center field to get him to third with McKinstry in a 1-2 count, but McKinstry flew out to left as Drew Sommers warmed in the visiting bullpen.

Brooks Lee was up first in the bottom half, and battled with a bunch of foul balls after falling behind in the count. Sommers came back with another slider but left it up and Lee served it into left center for a single. The big lefty then drilled Clemens in the elbow with an errant sinker. Everything else was working the Tigers way so far, so it made sense that Sommers would suddenly have a mess of an outing.

He fell behind the dangerous Jeffers 3-1, and then got a whiff on a good fourseamer at the top of the zone and dotted another at the bottom, locking Jeffers up for strike three. So, a double play ball would get the Tigers out of this jam. Instead, Bell got jammed but his excuse me swing was enough to pull a grounder through the left side. It was hit hard enough that the Twins had to hold the runners as Malgeri throws well, but it was bases loaded, one out, and the Tigers need strikeouts or a routine ground ball.

Hinch brought in Kenley Jansen, hoping for the strikeouts. The left-handed Victor Caratini pinch-hit for Gonzalez, making his first appearance of the series. Jansen proceeded to walk in a run to make it 5-3. Royce Lewis battled back from an 0-2 count and eventually got a cutter down inside of up, and Lewis pulled it on the ground. It looked like a double play ball but got right by Peck, who got caught flat-footed, and the game was tied.

2026 Detroit Tigers baseball.

Jansen struck out Culpepper, but there were still men on second and third with two outs. Hinch took the ball, and Tyler Holton entered to try and get them out of this. Holton carved up Jenkins with good cutters to finally end the inning, but the game was tied entering the ninth.

McGonigle popped out again for an inauspicious start to the ninth inning. Shelton pulled his lefty and put RHP Yoendrys Gomez in to face Lee. The second baseman chased a fastball away that would’ve been ball four and whiffed, but Gomez walked him anyway, squandering their last challenge on ball four. A first pitch cutter to Torkelson right down the middle was the cookie we were hoping for, and Tork grounded into an inning ending double play.

At this point the Tigers odds were underwater in this one, but a victory felt closer to impossible.

Holton took on Keaschall to start the bottom of the ninth and he flew out to McKinstry in right. Brooks Lee paddled a 3-2 changeup away up the middle for a single under a diving Hao-Yu Lee. Clemens grounded one to Torkelson, who fired to second to get Lee, but the turn to first wasn’t quite in time. Jacob Waguespack entered to try and get the last out. He did, as Jeffers lifted a fly ball to Malgeri in left to end the inning.

Gomez was still in for the Twins in the 10th. Greene flew out, Valencia grounded out too sharply to advance the runner, and Malgeri was carved up by a sweeper to leave Torkelson at second.

Ryan Jeffers started the bottom half at second base. Waguespack faced Ben Ross to start the inning as the Tigers crept in at the corners. He popped up a bunt, freezing Jeffers. It fell just in front of McGonigle, who got the out at first. Former Tiger Ryan Kreidler was up next after entering as a pinch-runner in the eighth. Waguespack fell behind 3-1 and walked Kreidler, bringing Lewis to the dish. Waguespack got ahead with a pair of heaters up and then whiffed him on a nasty changeup. So, it was up to Waguespack vs. Culpepper and the shortstop gave one a ride to right field, but McKinstry hauled it in on the warning track.

On to the 11th. These games are a lot more fun when they matter. Of course, it matters to the Twins.

The Twins went to lefty Tyler Rogers in the 11th with Malgeri starting on second. Max Clark got jammed, but dumped a ball down the left field line to score Malgeri, and Clark didn’t stop there, booking it to second base. 6-5 Tigers. Peck lined out to left, and Hinch pinch hit Gleyber Torres for McKinstry. They gave Torres an intentional pass, and Javier Báez entered to run for him. McGonigle was up next, but he couldn’t handle Rogers slow sweeper and struck out. So it was up to Hao-Yu Lee to add on a run or two. Shelton didn’t want him facing a lefty, and so Tommy Nance entered to try and get the final out. He did so, getting Lee to fly out to Jenkins, and so the Tigers had to hold a one-run lead.

Having already burned through the Tigers best, relatively speaking, relievers, the game was now in Kyle Finnegan’s hands. Not good.

The rookie Jenkins was up first. Finnegan went with heaters and got ahead 0-2, but Jenkins fouled off a pretty good fastball at the bottom of the zone. A splitter sailed high and was fouled off fortunately. A splitter missed low, and a high fastball was fouled off. Finally a grounder up the middle was collected by Peck for the first out, but Culpepper moved to third.

Keaschall was up next, and a pair of good heaters got Finnegan up 0-2 again. He missed away with the next one, and a bad splitter up and in was yanked way foul. He came back with a fastball down the middle, and Keaschall lined it to right for a game-tying single. Malgeri dove for it, but just couldn’t get there, but he managed to smother it to keep Keaschall at first.

This feels like purgatory.

Brooks Lee stepped into the batters box and he lined a hanging splitter to right for a single, moving Keaschall to third. Hinch brought Javy Báez in from left field to use a five-man infield as anything well hit in the outfield was going to end the game anyway. Kody Clemens was up next, but against a lefty and with Finnegan having zero feel for his splitter, this was likely to be ugly.

Finnegan got ahead 1-2, and challenged Clemens with a heater that was fouled off. He tried again with the same result. Another splitter sailed high to make it 2-2. Clemens spoiled the next splitter up and away. Finally, Finnegan spotted a perfect fourseamer at 97 right under Clemens hands for the whiff. That left it to Jeffers, and Báez returned to his place in left field. Jeffers grounded out to Peck, and we were on to the 12th.

So, the Tigers had Hao-Yu Lee at second, with Torkelson facing Tomny Nance. As the fanbase roasted Hinch for pinch-hitting for Keith earlier, the beleaguered first baseman got a 1-0 slider up and lo and behold all ye faithful, he smoked it to left for a two-run shot. Well how about that?

Ah baseball. 8-6 Tigers. We began pondering who could pitch the bottom half, and it came down to Andrew Sears or Beau Brieske, but the Twins had more right-handers scheduled in the bottom half. On the other hand, no one was warming as the top of the 12th played out, and so it looked like more Finnegan was in order. Idk man, that was a high stress, long inning of work and 26 pitches.

Riley Greene worked a full count, but struck out. Valencia grounded out sharply to Lee at third, but he handled it easily. Ben Malgeri fought back from a pitcher’s count and rifled a breaking ball into right field for a single. With Max Clark at the dish, Malgeri then stole second base, and a single would score him from there. Nance fell behind 3-1 and so they elected to just walk Clark and pitch to Peck instead. Nance missed way up with his first fastball. The second clipped Peck in the helmet but it was a very glancing blow off the brim as the youngster’s reflexes protected his noggin on that one. So the bases were loaded, and Javier Báez was up.

It was time for El Mago and his magic wand to enter the chat, and in an 0-1 count, Báez saw another slider away and just flicked one off the end of the bat, over Royce Lewis, and down along the first base line. All three speedy baserunners raced around to score as the ball bounced away into foul territory. Lol, baseball. 11-6 Tigers.

Ryan Jeffers started the inning at second. Finnegan stayed in despite the tough 11th inning. He punched out Ben Ross with another good heater under his hands. Kreidler whiffed, and Lewis grounded out to McGonigle to finally put this one away.

Sheesh. Good to see the Tigers fight through this one for a much needed win. Too many mistakes, but at least they battled and pulled it out in the end. Mr. Peck needs some more work with Mr. Trammell at shortstop. The Tigers will have an off day as they travel to Cleveland to start a four-game set, including a doubleheader on Friday.

Clippers 6, Cubs 2

This was a nice win from the Clippers, we saw multi hit efforts from both George Valera and Blake Perkins and a homer from Dayan Frias. Kyle Manzardo, Cooper Ingle, and Alfonsin Rosario all had a hit and an RBI.

Ben Lively had another good start tonight. He tossed 4.2 innings with zero earned runs and his AAA ERA is now down to 2.00. Ryan Webb, Jack Leftwich, Steven Perez, and Connor Brodgon combined for 4.1 scoreless innings of relief.

RubberDucks 13, Squirrels 4

The RubberDucks had an offensive explosion today. They scored 13 runs on 14 hits and 8 walks. This included multi hit games from Jaison Chourio, Bennett Thompson, Luke Hill, Jake Fox, and Alex Mooney. Jake Fox has had an incredible season and is now up to .336 with an OPS of .948. Ryan Cesarini also went 1-4 with another HR. He is now hitting .331 with an OPS of 1.097.

Braylon Doughty had a solid outing. He allowed three runs on six hits with four strikeouts in six innings pitched. Magnus Ellerts and Carter Rustad both had scoreless innings of relief.

Loons 13, Captains 7

The Captains offense was solid today scoring 7 runs on 9 hits and 8 walks. Anthony Martinez contines to turn heads this season. He went 2-4 with a HR and a walk and is now hitting .295 with a .937 OPS in High-A.

There was not a lot of positive pitching performances today. Joey Oakie got the start and it was another rough one. His High-A ERA is up to 13.50.

Howlers 3, RidgeYeks 4

Lucas Moore went 2-5 and is hitting .314 as a howler. Alejandro Garza went 1-5 with an RBI single.

Miguel Flores had a really good start. He struck out 7 while allowing just one run in 4.2 innings. His ERA is now down to 4.33 on the season.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Yankees’ 6-3, 10-inning win over the Angels was delayed in the top of the sixth inning Wednesday night after Ben Rice roped a foul ball into the first-base camera well and hit a photographer in the head.

The Yankees medical staff, including director of sports medicine and rehab Mike Schuck, jumped in to tend to the photographer while head trainer Tim Lentych called for a cart as the crowd went quiet after the scary scene.

After a delay of about 10 minutes, the photographer walked under his own power (with a neck brace) to a medical cart, where Rice was waiting to shake his hand before he was driven off.

An Angels spokesman relayed, via the photographer’s outlet, that he was receiving medical attention but was OK.

“Very relieved,” Rice said. “I saw it, he definitely was not ready for any kind of impact there, he was looking the other direction.

“I wasn’t sure how square it hit him in the head, but definitely a scary scene, so happy to hear he’s OK.”

The ball came off Rice’s bat at 79.5 mph, a low line drive that went right through the far opening to stairs in the Yankees dugout and plunked the photographer.

Once the cart left the field, Angels lefty Reid Detmers threw a few warmup pitches before the game resumed, with Rice ultimately flying out to center field on the ninth pitch of his at-bat.

Jacob Misiorowski walked off the mound at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, Sept. 2 having thrown 92 pitches, recorded 12 outs, and allowed five earned runs. In just four innings, the Milwaukee Brewers ace had tied his career high for earned runs allowed and had one of the worst starts of his career. The Brewers bullpen and bats pulled out a 9-5 win over the Chicago Cubs, so Misiorowski's struggled will be overlooked.

But, five earned runs ties his career worst.

On July 2, 2025, when the New York Mets got him for five in just 3⅔ innings, his fourth big-league start and his first career loss. So it's not exactly unprecedented. What makes it worth digging into is the why, and the Statcast readout from Wednesday night is not the story you'd guess.

There are frustrating losses, and then there is whatever the White Sox subjected us to on Wednesday night.

Chicago wasted nearly every opportunity it received, went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and handed Houston the only two runs it needed in a maddening 2-0 defeat. The lone silver lining came elsewhere, as Cleveland also lost, leaving the White Sox with a three-game lead in the AL Central.

Davis Martin was considerably sharper in his return from the injured list. Making his first start since Aug. 13 after dealing with a blister on his pitching hand, the righthander breezed through a perfect first inning. He needed only nine pitches and received some help from Colson Montgomery, who made an outstanding play at shortstop for the third out.

The White Sox received their first gift in the second when Andrew Benintendi reached on a missed-catch error by LaMonte Wade Jr. Braden Montgomery followed with a 106.8 mph liner, but it was hit directly at Jose Altuve for the first out. Hayden Wesneski then plunked Colson to put two aboard, only for Chase Meidroth to ground into a strange inning-ending double play. It seems like Jose Altuve is always in the middle of these things.

Martin surrendered a one-out single to Daulton Varsho in the bottom half, and Varsho promptly swiped second. There was no reason to panic, however, as Martin struck out the next two batters on six pitches. His four-seamer was especially effective early.

Tristan Peters opened the third with a single, but Drew Romo struck out without advancing him. Antonacci recovered from an 0-2 count to work a walk, giving the Sox another opportunity with two on and one out. Munetaka Murakami’s struggles continued with a ground out to first, and Vargas popped up to strand both runners.

Martin needed only six pitches to retire the Astros in order in the third, but Houston finally made him work in the fourth. Yordan Alvarez led off with a double, and Isaac Paredes followed with a single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. This is generally where things fall apart, but Martin refused to let it happen. He induced a pop-up from Altuve, struck out Varsho, and retired Nelson Velázquez on a fly ball to escape without allowing a run.

Martin maneuvered around more traffic in the fifth after Cam Smith opened the inning with a single and Jeremy Peña added a two-out base hit. Alvarez represented the biggest threat of all, but Martin got him to fly out and preserve the scoreless tie.

Unfortunately, the White Sox offense was busy doing absolutely nothing. Wesneski retired nine consecutive batters from the fourth through the sixth, requiring only 33 pitches to complete those three frames.

Martin returned for the sixth and quickly recorded the first two outs before issuing a walk to Varsho. With Martin at 80 pitches, Will Venable turned to Sean Newcomb, who induced a fly out from Velázquez to end the inning.

Martin was excellent in his return, scattering five hits and one walk over 5 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out three. He gave the White Sox everything they could have reasonably asked for. The offense gave him nothing in return.

Braden Montgomery drew a walk in the seventh, but the Sox could not advance him. Wesneski finished his night having held Chicago to one hit and two walks while striking out five over seven scoreless frames. The Good Guys managed only four baserunners against him and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

Then came the eighth, an inning that should haunt the White Sox for quite some time.

Peters opened the frame by crushing a 103.5 mph drive to center. It would have been a home run in 19 other ballparks, but at Daikin Park, it settled for a triple. Romo followed with a walk, putting runners on the corners with nobody out.

Surely, the White Sox could push across one run.

They could not.

Sam Antonacci swung at the first pitch and hit a grounder to short. Peters broke for home and was thrown out at the plate, wasting the team’s best scoring opportunity of the night with an inexplicable baserunning decision.

Murakami then snapped his 0-for-15 skid with a single to load the bases, giving Vargas a chance to erase the mistake and become the hero.

Instead, Vargas grounded into an inning-ending double play.

It was not bad luck. It was poor execution, and it was brutal to watch.

Unlike the White Sox, the Astros took advantage when their opportunity arrived in the bottom half. Alvarez reached on a one-out grounder that was initially ruled an error on Meidroth before being changed to a base hit. Newcomb then walked Paredes on four pitches. With Altuve at the plate and the count 1-2, a pitch in the dirt was ruled to have hit him, although it sure appeared to miss him. The Sox challenged, but the call was upheld, loading the bases.

Because nothing could go Chicago’s way, Newcomb induced a ground ball from Varsho but could not escape the inning. Velázquez followed with a two-run single, finally breaking the scoreless tie and punishing the White Sox for every opportunity they had squandered.

Tyler Davis replaced Newcomb and walked Smith before getting Christian Walker to fly out and end the inning.

Josh Hader took over in the ninth and retired the South Siders in order, putting the finishing touches on one of their most exasperating losses of the season.

Martin and Newcomb kept Houston scoreless for 7 2/3 innings before Velázquez finally broke through. The South Siders put runners on the corners with nobody out in the eighth and loaded the bases with one out. They still could not score.

Chicago did not lose because of one unlucky bounce or a brilliant defensive play. The Sox lost because they failed to execute when the game was sitting there for them to take.

At least Cleveland lost, too.

The clubs will wrap up the series Thursday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m. CDT.

MVP
Davis Martin: 5 2/3 IP, 5 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K

Runners-Up
Tristan Peters: 2-for-3, 3B, SB
Munetaka Murakami: 1-for-4, K

Cold Cat
Sean Newcomb: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, BB, 2 K

Runners-Up
Tristan Peters: Getting thrown out at home
Miguel Vargas: 0-for-4, DP
Andrew Benintendi: 0-for-3

Box Score

When it’s 90 degrees at Wrigley Field, games tend to be exciting—even when an ace is on the mound. On paper, this was a lopsided pitching matchup, with Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski facing off against the Cubs’ David Peterson. But both offenses had no trouble scoring early in this one, a back-and-forth affair that didn’t settle down until the fifth inning. By that point, the Brewers had gained, lost, gained again, lost again, fallen behind, and regained the lead, but once this game got to the bullpens, the Brewers had a clear advantage. By the end, the Brewers had tacked on a few insurance runs, and they won pretty easily on a night when their ace didn’t have it.

The first two Brewer batters of the night went down quickly, but the visiting team mounted a lengthy two-out rally. Andrew Vaughn and William Contreras hit back-to-back singles (the second of which of the infield variety) and Jake Bauers drew a seven-pitch walk on a ball that nearly hit him. That gave Luis Lara a chance with the bases loaded, and the 21-year-old came through by punching a single into right field—after that clutch at-bat, Lara improved to 4-for-9 with the bases loaded in his young career. Four pitches later, Gary Sánchez walked to score a second run. Joey Ortiz grounded out, but Misiorowski had a 2-0 lead before he threw a pitch.

The MVP favorite, Pete Crow-Armstrong, came into this game 0-for-12 with nine strikeouts against Misiorowski, as Brian Anderson kindly informed us on the broadcast. As we’ve seen frequently lately, Misiorowski didn’t seem entirely comfortable with the mound, and Crow-Armstrong drew a walk to start things for the Cubs. After Seiya Suzuki popped out, Miz continued to struggle with his command, and the white-hot Alex Bregman stayed that way. A 2-2 slider didn’t slide, and Bregman hit a low line drive homer that just cleared the wall in left.

Milwaukee quickly reclaimed the lead. With one out in the top of the third, Jackson Chourio hit his 21st home run of the season, matching his career high in just his 105th game of the season.

The lead did not last, though. Misiorowski remained uncharacteristically wild in the bottom of the second, and it hurt him badly. With one out, Matt Shaw jumped on a first-pitch fastball right down the middle and hit it off the wall in right. Had Lara been in right tonight instead of center, it probably would’ve been an out, but those are the sacrifices the Brewers make to get Jake Bauers into the lineup on a night like tonight. Shaw ended up with a stand-up triple, and he came around when Tyrone Taylor—who has killed the Brewers in this series—lined a single into right that scored him.

After Miguel Amaya struck out, Crow-Armstrong drew his second walk of the night, and Suzuki followed with a five-pitch walk that loaded the bases for the last hitter the Brewers wanted in that situation, Bregman. The Cub third baseman came through with a single up the middle that scored two runs and gave the Cubs a 5-3 lead. A strikeout of Michael Busch finally ended the inning, but the Cubs had already hung two more earned runs on Misiorowski through two innings than any other team had all season.

The Brewers tried another two-out rally in the third. Lara drew a walk, and Sánchez hit a ball hard to the right-center gap. But PCA showed the other reason why he’s the favorite for MVP, and covered a ton of ground to make what looked like a relatively routine play on a ball that was 101 mph into the gap. For the first time all game, a pitcher had a scoreless frame.

Misiorowski worked around a one-out single by Ian Happ in the bottom of the inning—though Taylor put a scare into fans with a warning-track shot for the third out. The Brewers made a move again in the top of the fourth. With one out, Cooper Pratt walked and Chourio crushed his second extra-base hit, a double, into the left-field gap at 110 mph. Turang, who has been struggling badly against lefties, was up next—and the Brewers pulled off a classic, the safety squeeze. Turang dropped down a bunt that just trickled far enough up the first-base line that by the time Amaya picked it up and flipped it to Peterson at the plate, Pratt had already dove in safely. It was 5-4, and everyone was safe.

With runners on the corners and one out, Peterson then had to deal with Vaughn as his pitch count neared 90, in just the fourth inning. Vaughn got ahead before knocking an RBI single up the middle, and Contreras followed by jumping on the first pitch by knocking another RBI single to center, restoring the Brewers’ lead. Peterson got one more out on a Bauers flyout before ceding to righty Trent Thornton, who struck out Lara to end the inning. After just three-and-a-half innings, the Brewers led this wild game 6-5.

A 1-2-3 inning remained elusive for Misiorowski in the fourth, but he did have an easier time than he had all game—a couple of strikeouts, a two-out walk to Suzuki, and a pop-out from Bregman made for a relatively quick and easy inning. Christian Yelich replaced Sánchez as the DH to lead off the top of the fifth against Thornton, but he struck out on a 3-2 fastball at the top of the zone. But the BABIP gods came to the Brewers’ favor after that. After Ortiz drew a walk, Pratt and Chourio hit back-to-back bloop singles to load the bases.

At that point, Chicago removed Thornton—who was a bit perturbed upon his return to the dugout—and sent out lefty Ryan Rolison to face Turang. Rolison just needed one pitch to get a weak ground ball from Turang which turned into a fielder’s choice at home. Sal Frelick, making his first plate appearance of the game after coming in defensively in the bottom of the fourth, was nearly hit by the first pitch (he appeared angry with himself for moving out of the way). That was unfortunate, as a couple of pitches later Frelick nearly added another bloop single, but a fully laid-out Nico Hoerner made a pretty spectacular diving catch running back toward the left-field corner to end the inning with no Brewers runs across.

Misiorowski was done after four innings and 92 pitches—it was his worst outing of the year, with five runs (all earned) allowed on five hits and four walks. Still, his offense came to his aid today and he left guarnateed to get a no-decision. The first Brewer out of the bullpen was Jojo Romero, a day after making his debut for the team. He delivered the first three-up, three-down inning of the game for either team: he got Busch on a groundout, got Hoerner to chase strike three in a full count, and got a nice defensive play from Chourio on a ball that was hit hard into left field.

Rolison kept going in the sixth, and he also delivered a 1-2-3 inning, the first of the game for Chicago. Romero was done after an inning and gave way to Antonio Senzatela. Shaw nearly got him for a solo homer to start the inning but it held up on the warning track for Chourio. Taylor grounded out on the first pitch, but the Cubs got a two-out baserunner when Amaya walked (with the help of what seemed like a late ask for a challenge on a 3-1 pitch that was called a strike but was out of the zone). That was big, as it gave PCA a chance with two outs and a runner on in a one-run game, but Crow-Armstrong topped a sinker and hit a comebacker right to Senzatela for the third out.

Yelich led off the seventh and picked up another extra-base hit off of the new Cubs pitcher, Daniel Palencia, after homering off of him on Tuesday night. It was close—Taylor went into a slide—but it hit the grass and Yelich motored into second base with a hustle double. Ortiz couldn’t advance Yelich as he popped out to second base. Pratt had a long at-bat, one that was extended when Palencia needed a visit from the trainer after an awkward throw to second on a pickoff throw. After the delay, Pratt had a full count—and he came through with a solid single into center that scored Yelich from second. Chourio grounded into a double play to end the inning, but Pratt had come through with a huge insurance run to set the stage for Abner Uribe.

Uribe’s assignment was the 2-3-4 hitters in the Chicago lineup. Suzuki was first, and he just missed hitting one out to center—Lara caught it on the warning track with a little hop in front of the wall that may have been unnecessary (which Uribe jokingly let him know). Bregman was next—he hit a grounder up the middle that got Uribe—it looked like it deflected off of his lower leg and then off his glove hand—but Turang picked it up in time to throw Bregman out at first. The trainers checked on Uribe, who was fine, and he struck out Busch to end the inning.

Caleb Thielbar relieved Palencia in the eighth. Turang struck out, Frelick hit a ball well but too close to PCA, and Contreras struck out. It remained 7-5. Aaron Ashby entered in relief of Uribe, and he had a quick inning, though Happ hit one to the warning track in dead center.

Chicago’s closer, Jacob Webb, came into the game to get some work in the ninth despite the Brewers’ two-run lead. Hoerner flashed some more leather to start the inning when he robbed Bauers of a hit on a diving play to his right. Lara reached when he got clipped by a 3-1 pitch, and Yelich followed with a 103 mph drive back up the middle that nailed Webb on what looked like his glove arm. Webb, no doubt in serious pain which certainly affected his judgment, picked up the ball and made an ill-advised throw to first to try to get Yelich, who would’ve been way safe even with a perfect throw. The throw was not perfect, and went down the line, allowing Lara and Yelich to advance to second and third. Webb did not continue; he was replaced by Colin Rea, who was given an extended period of time to warm up.

With the game still certainly in reach for the high-powered Cubs offense, it was important for the Brewers to add at least one more insurance run with such a good opportunity. Ortiz was the first batter against Rea with runners on second and third and one out, and he delivered with a single through the left side that scored both runners, with Ortiz ending up at second after the throw home. After a Pratt fly out, Chourio came through with his fourth hit of the game, a single—but Ortiz was thrown out at home to end the inning. Still, Milwaukee’s lead was up to 9-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Even though it was no longer a save situation, Milwaukee went to Trevor Megill in the ninth. He struck out a pair of pinch-hitters, Michael Conforto and BJ Murray, conceded an infield hit to Crow-Armstrong, and got Suzuki on a groundout to end the game.

In the end, the game was more lopsided than it felt. The Brewers finished with nine runs on 14 hits, while the Cubs petered out after their hot start—they had only six hits in the game, and didn’t score after the second inning. There were big numbers up and down the Brewer side of the box score: Chourio led the way with four hits including a double and a solo homer, but Vaughn had two hits and an RBI, Contreras had two hits and an RBI, Lara had a clutch RBI single, Yelich came off the bench and went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored, Ortiz knocked in a couple of runs, and Pratt had two hits, a run scored, and an RBI.

The bullpen was fantastic in relief of Misiorowski. After the second inning, Misiorowski settled down and he and five relievers covered seven shutout innings while allowing just two hits and two walks. When all was said and done, the Brewers held a season-high nine-game lead in the NL Central with just 22 games to go.

Also, 9 to 5, shout out Dolly.