Category: Baseball

Yankees 8 Blue Jays 3

This one had everything, other than a Jays’ win, of course.

John Schneider got ejected. It kind of pissed me off, because the Yankees José Caballero complained for a long time about a pitch clock thing (I guess) and the umpire let him complain and complain. John comes out on a balk call, and he was ejected in record time.

The balk? Well…..I generally think that if there is a balk, all the umpires will call it. This one, only the plate umpire did. I think he felt that Jeff Hoffman started towards the plate, then turned to second. John came out for, let’s say, an explanation, but the umpire decided not to explain. Course John may not have asked nicely.

The game? Well, it was tied going into the ninth, but Braydon Fisher didn’t ‘have it’ today. He got a strikeout, then gave up a single. Then, on a full count pitch, Uncle Ben Rice homered. After a walk and a fly out, Tommy Nance came in.

He didn’t do any better. A walk and a José Caballero home run put an end to any hope of a come back in the bottom of the inning.

Patrick Corbin wasn’t great, giving up a lot of hits (7) while not all that many runs (2) in 3.2 innings.

Spencer Miles gave up a run in his 2.2,

Mason Fluharty got the last two outs of the seventh.

Jeff Hoffman gave up a leadoff walk, had that runner steal and committed the rather weird balk, talked about above, but got two strikeouts with the runner on third to get out of the inning.

Offensively? Well, as seemingly always is the case, we didn’t score as much as we should have.

We got:

• A run in the third: Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk started the inning with singles, but Yohendrick Piñango hit into a double play. Kazuma Okamoto singled in the run.
• A run in the fourth: Ernie Clement led off with a single. After outs by Davis Schneider and Charles McAdoo, George Springer and Nathan Lukes each singled to bring around Lukes.
• In the sixth Schneider homered.

We did have 11 hits (with the one home run) so, yes, we should have scored more. Nathan Lukes, who seemed to have hit a cold spell in the last little bit had 3 hits, including a double. Having two hits were Springer, Okamoto (with a double), and Schneider (with a walk, along with the home run, bringing his average up 22 points, three more games like that and he’ll make it to the Mendoza line),

Piñango, Sánchez (with a walk) and McAdoo had 0 fors. McAdoo looked very over matched. His batting average has dropped to .167. I’m afraid, he really isn’t impressing me, but it’s just 24 PA. Sanchez is also the most worrying outfielder since Corey Patterson. Today he seemed to be trying out for the World Cup on one ball in the outfield.

Jays of the Day: Davis Schneider (0.22 WPA), Hoffman (0.17), Okamoto (0.11) and Lukes (0.09).

Other Award: Fisher (-0.42), Lips (-0.18), and McAdoo (-0.15)

Tomorrow is an off-day. I don’t know about anyone else but I could use one. Tuesday the Jays will be in Boston, for the start of three against the Red Sox.

Following a dominant 8-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, rookie outfielder A.J. Ewing, and starting pitcher Freddy Peralta all spoke to the media.

Ewing finding his form and earning Mendoza's trust

Ewing starred in Sunday's win, going 3-for-5 with a homer, a double, and two RBI.

It was a much needed power surge for Ewing, who bumped up his OPS today to a respectable .720 mark after going hitless in three of his last four appearances.

His manager took notice and made sure to give him his vote of confidence after the game.

"It's impressive how he's handling himself, especially after a couple of hard games," said Mendoza.

Ewing and fellow rookie outfielder Carson Benge have been in the headlines throughout the season, and though it's still only June, Mets fans are rightfully optimistic that both of these young players have a bright future in Queens ahead of them.

"He's kinda like Carson; whether it's an 0-for or going through a tough stretch, [they have] the ability to remain consistent... he's a mature guy who is learning, adjusting, and developing at the big league level," Mendoza said.

Freddy Peralta and the Mets are trending in the right direction

Mendoza also made sure to shout outPeralta, who continues to provide solid, reliable performances on the mound as the team's pitching staff continues to deal with injury issues.

"He was aggressive with that fastball, but made some good adjustments. He wasn't too predictable today."

Peralta took the win today, pitching five full innings and allowing just four hits and one earned run on 90 pitches.

When Peralta was asked about how he viewed his performance in the victory, he showed love to his catcher.

"I have to give credit to Luis [Torrens]... he was amazing, giving me confidence behind the plate," the righty said.

"I was feeling really good in general," Peralta continued. "I was able to use not only the changeup but also the curveball today... Obviously I was looking forward to at least throwing six [innings], but stuff happens."

Finally, with the Mets still just a handful of games out of an NL Wild Card spot, Peralta spoke on what it means to win a series against the current leaders in the NL standings, the 46-25 Atlanta Braves.

"It's huge, it tells us how good we are."

Mendoza, Peralta and the rest of the Mets will be eager to continue righting the ship before it's too late.

Tobias Myers will start the Mets' series opener against the Cincinnati Reds

Following the Mets' 8-1 thrashing of the Atlanta Braves to take two of three at home,Mendoza revealed to the media that Tobias Myers will start the team's game Monday night in Cincinnati.

"Tobias will go. I think 40 pitches, but he's going to go. We've got that pitch count in mind," said the skipper.

Myers was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on May 30 to manage the team's bullpen depth, but also with the plan of converting him to a starting pitcher while in the minors.

Mets GM David Stearns recently remarked on how one of the biggest things the righty pitcher brings to the table is his ability to help the team "in a variety of ways".

Now, the Mets are taking full advantage of Myers' versatility, calling on him to rejoin the big league roster to kick off a six-game road trip, first with a three-game set against the Reds, then another three-game series against their bitter rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies.

SAN FRANCISCO — No moves a manager makes will be scrutinized as heavily or as frequently as the daily decisions when it comes to his bullpen.

So far, Tony Vitello has mostly skated scot-free.

He hasn’t tried to signal for a reliever despite nobody warming, a la Gabe Kapler during his first games leading the Phillies. And he hasn’t called for a reliever whose name wasn’t on the lineup card, like Kapler did in his second try at managing with the Giants.

Whatever performance issues there have been — and they have been abundant — fall less on the manager than the hand of cards he was dealt by his bosses upstairs in the front office.

As far as optics go, the first-year manager’s worst sin had been causing a little confusion during one change, leading bullpen coach Jesse Chavez to shrug both hands above his shoulders.

That is, until this week.

Keaton Winn was placed on the injured list Sunday with a strain in his right elbow, with the Giants calling up Tristan Beck to take his place in the bullpen.

Winn hadn’t appeared in a game since Vitello summoned him for a third contest in a row Monday night, surrendering three runs in the ninth of a 4-3 loss. The decision, it would appear, not only cost the Giants the game but came with more dire consequences.

After all, this isn’t college baseball, where coaches regularly ride their best pitchers until their arms fall off. This is Major League Baseball, where each arm comes with a seven-figure insurance policy and pitchers’ health is closely managed like the commodities they are.

However, it doesn’t all fall on Vitello’s shoulders. This was an organizational failure.

Winn, first and foremost, gave Vitello the green light to use him for a third game in a row, even though it was something he had never done before in the minors or as a big leaguer.

Club sources also said nobody among the coaching or medical staff relayed any concerns to Vitello about Winn’s availability that night in their daily pregame meeting.

Logan Webb, who was at 99 pitches and firing on all cylinders, didn’t demand the ball for the ninth, despite flying ahead of the club as one of the only players to avoid a 4 a.m. arrival from Chicago that morning. He would later privately express regret about not being more assertive when Vitello approached him about the ninth, another club source said.

While the Giants were optimistic that Winn would require no more than “a handful of days down, at the most,” per Vitello, the right-hander has experienced elbow problems in the past as a pro, including Tommy John surgery in 2021 and another procedure that ended his 2024 season.

It’s not hard to draw a straight line from Winn’s heavy workload and the decision to call on him for a third day in a row to the elbow discomfort that cropped up in the days since.

Any regrets from Vitello, however, had more to do with the three runs Winn surrendered in the loss than whatever possible effect the outing had on his health.

“I think more than anything we just wish we would have done anything differently to win the game,” Vitello said. “Anytime we have a guy that’s available down there, it means he’s available to go and feels good to go.”

Before every game, Vitello holds a meeting with his pitching coaches and medical staff to determine who is and isn’t available that day. Winn, in the past, has passed along when he wasn’t feeling physically up to pitch, but he didn’t raise any issues Monday, Vitello said.

One arm ruled out through the pregame process was Caleb Kilian, who had also pitched the previous two games in Chicago — but had only thrown 23 pitches between them, compared to 41 exhausted by Winn in the same games.

While Kilian became the first to be formally named the closer by Vitello on Friday, Winn had been regarded as the Giants’ closer internally up until his Monday outing, a club source said.

“At the end of the game, if we got to him, that’s who we were going to use,” Vitello said.

The decision came down to asking Winn to push his body to new limits or Webb to push his pitch count into uncomfortable territory in only his third start back from the injured list.

Vitello asked Webb: “Are you good?”

Webb responded: “It’s up to you. It’s your decision.”

A manager is only as good as the players on his roster and the information at his disposal, but part of the job also means bearing the brunt of the blame when decisions go awry.

Vitello was asked if he saw a correlation between Winn’s usage and his elbow pain.

“I think part of it is the nature of the split-finger, to be honest with you,” he said.

It’s impossible to know whether Webb would have been able to go the distance, though the smart money is on yes. Either way, Winn was put in a position he wasn’t able to handle.

Now, the Giants can only sit and wait and hope a third elbow surgery isn’t in his future.

Another Sunday, another opener against a lineup that I do not like the White Sox facing.

In tense but rewarding fashion, my worries went for naught, as an explosive six-run sixth inning broke the spell of Dodgers pitching on the Sox offense, leading them to a 6-4 comeback win that pushes the Sox back to a season-best six games better than .500, at 38-32.

If things go well, we are perhaps a week or two out from the 2026 White Sox surpassing their entire record-setting win total from 2024. Get out your pots and pans, folks.

I spent the entire first half of the game waffling over whether Will Venable’s planning and execution of the opener/bulk man strategy was well-conceived. I’m on the record as being extremely skeptical of the current coaching staff’s preoccupation with seemingly arbitrary platoon matchups. Erick Fedde has a reverse platoon split this season, and has been more or less neutral over the course of his career. If you stripped the names away and purely showed me the numbers, I probably would have said that using an opener was a pointless endeavor.

But as some of my colleagues pointed out, the typical scenario doesn’t account for the fact that the run of lefty hitters this would be employed against includes Shohei Ohtani, MLB RBI leader Andy Pages, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Kyle Tucker and former Top 3o prospect Dalton Rushing, almost in that order. The worst hitter in that group is second in the NL in rWAR. It’s a gauntlet straight out of Out of the Park Baseball.

Still, I thought that if Fedde, who entered the game with a 4.69 ERA (roughly 10% worse than league average), is going to take the bulk of the innings for the afternoon, it probably doesn’t matter whether he starts the game on the mound or appears in the fourth inning — he’s still going to have to get through that modern-day Murderer’s Row twice.

The latter is what we got. Bryan Hudson was tasked with handing the opening trio of Ohtani, Pages and Freeman. For the second straight week, a Sox opener failed to fully justify the platoon advantage. Freeman is undoubtedly worse against lefties than righties. That knowledge was still of little comfort when the future Hall-of-Famer drilled one into the right field bleachers for a 1-0 Dodgers lead:

Fortunately, most of my concerns turned out to be moot. The fact that Fedde only had to face Ohtani and Freeman once in his 3 1/3 innings of work gave the Sox offense critical time to engineer yet another thrilling comeback.

Part of why it happened is that Sean Newcomb was pretty nasty, and he continues to live up to the $4.5 million deal he signed last offseason. The only baserunner he allowed in 2 1/3 innings was self-inflicted, striking out four of the other six batters he faced. Getting Freeman out this time to conclude that stretch set up Fedde to finally enter the game to face Mookie Betts with one out in the fourth inning. When it looked like the Sox were on the verge of falling into an early hole, Newcomb was outstanding in keeping the Dodgers offense at bay long enough for Sox hitters to settle in.

While the Sox had to expend a lot of brainpower trying to navigate the opposing lineup with the state of their pitching staff, the Dodgers had no such concerns. Emmet Sheehan came out dealing for the former Brooklynites, sitting 95 mph on his rising heather and commanding three secondary pitches quite well. He lasted until the fifth inning before allowing a base knock, a double down the line from Colson Montgomery.

Through five innings, we were looking at a grand total of two hits for the Sox over their prior 18 innings. Sheehan looked untouchable.

In perhaps another vindication of the opener strategy, it was the third time through the lineup that turned out to be Sheehan’s undoing. Sheehan’s control took just the slightest dip as his pitch count climbed, and after hitting the ball hard into outs the first time through, Sox hitters simply didn’t miss when they got their third look. They homered three times in the sixth inning, chasing Sheehan from the ballgame and turning a 1-0 deficit into an improbable 6-1 lead.

As has often been the case this spring, the critical spark for the Pale House came courtesy of Sam Antonacci, who led off the sixth by slamming his second home run of the season, and the first one that actually flew over the fence. It wasn’t a cheap one — at 105 mph and 415 feet, Statcast tells us that it would’ve left the yard in every ballpark in The Show.

It wasn’t just Antonacci that suddenly began seeing Sheehan like he got a new pair of glasses. Momentum built, as Miguel Vargas smoked a single and double at triple-digit velocities. Benintendi’s double gave the Sox a 2-1 lead, and Colson Montgomery subsequently doubled it. Sheehan had already failed to sneak fastballs by Colson earlier in the game to the tune of that postgame show-cancelling double, and the Sox shortstop didn’t miss even in the slightest again, with his towering blast also breaking 400 feet.

Finally, Chase Meidroth joined the party with an opposite field wall-scraper, his sixth longball of 2026. It was the first oppo homer of Meidroth’s career — all 10 of his previous dingers had come to the pull side. At the end of the inning, it was a 6-1 Sox lead, and the Dodgers lineup had to deal with Grant Taylor.

While I initially thought from his pitch mix that Fedde probably would not even pitch in a traditional bulk man — how funny that phrase would have felt a decade ago — role. He threw pretty much no fastballs his first time through the order, relying almost entirely on his sweeper and changeup. That’s not the pitch mix of someone who’s concerned about establishing the fastball in order to take advantage of their secondary stuff the second and third time through the order.

To some degree, that was a correct assessment. Fedde finished with 2 2/3 innings of work, just an out more than what Newcomb recorded as an “opener.” But despite allowing three hits and two walks in his brief time in the game, Fedde got outs where it counted. The grand sixth inning comeback simply would not have been possible had he not displayed the guts to keep his team in the game.

The Dodgers did have an opportunity to mount a comeback against Taylor. Dalton Rushing came home to score after a double to lead off the inning, but that was the only baserunner that Taylor ceded.

It seems worth noting that the Sox coaching staff seems to be stepping up the 24-year-old’s workload as of late. The Dodgers tacked on another run on a Mookie Betts dinger during Taylor’s second inning of work, swelling his ERA all the way up to 2.18. It’s third time in his last four outings that Taylor has been trusted to work multiple innings, bringing his innings total to 36 2/3 on the season, on pace to fall a few innings short of the stated goal of a century.

Despite today’s bumpy outing, his strikeout-to-walk ratio of 51:9 remains impeccable.

Los Angeles relievers largely did their job in keeping Sox bats quiet the rest of the way. After lefty Jack Dreyer was victimized by Meidroth, Blake Treinen and Jonathan Hernandez took care of business in the seventh and eighth. That left the ball in the hands of Seranthony Domínguez to close things out.

I suffered a few moments of true despair as Domínguez issued a four-pitch walk to begin the inning and the dread of a full last-minute recap rewrite arrived like a sudden thunderstorm. As the clouds crept closer with a double and a four-pitch walk, infield defense bailed out the team for what feels like the 10th time this year. A heads up 4-6 putout on a sliding snag up the middle by Chase Meidroth got the Sox within an out, and Domínguez managed to shut the door with a dramatic punchout of Freddie Freeman to secure the dramatic victory and series win.

That makes consecutive series wins against two of the three occupants of first place in the National League. It may be safe to say that critics can no longer point to the state of the AL Central in writing off the potential of this Sox squad. Bob Nightengale reported today that Chris Getz and Co. may be aggressive at the trade deadline. If these South Siders can pull off another two wins in the Bronx against the Yankees, it may be time to take the training wheels off and commit to the idea that they could actually do something in 2026, arriving early or no.

That first game in New York begins at 6:05 p.m. CT, with the South Siders off tomorrow before starting their road trip with a bona fide ace-off as Gerrit Cole steps up for the Yankees against the unstoppable Davis Martin. It’ll be followed up by old friend Carlos Rodón, and with Tarik Skubal lined up to go for Detroit on Friday, the Sox are ready for perhaps their single most challenging week of the season. Win or lose, we’ll see you there!

In what could be a future playoff matchup, the Milwaukee Brewers take the rubber match behind two home runs from Blake Perkins and Jackson Chourio to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0.

Facing the reigning National League Player of the Month? No problem. Chourio opened the home half of the first inning with a lead-off home run to continue his hot week at the plate. With that long ball, it was not only his second career lead-off home run, but he now has five home runs and 10 RBIs over his last seven games. With that, he brings his season batting average up to .322 and his OPS to an outstanding .942 mark.

It was a battle of two potential Cy Young candidates at American Family Field as Kyle Harrison and Cristopher Sánchez faced off against each other. All eyes were on Harrison as he looked to bounce back after his short-lived outing in Las Vegas last Monday. He looked more like himself as he worked six scoreless frames while striking out three and only allowing three hits, with no walks allowed for the cherry on top.

Now that the first series of the homestand is over, the pitching staff no doubt figured out the recipe for success against the top third of the lineup against the Phillies. Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper combined to go six-for-35 with 14 strikeouts, two walks, one RBI, and no extra-base hits. In fact, Schwarber had five of the six hits for the top of the lineup.

In our game discussion, we referenced the success Blake Perkins has had against Sánchez over his career, noting that he’s been perfect with a handful of RBIs. Though in seasons past he’s been a bit more consistent at the plate than he has this season, it carried into today’s series finale in a powerful way.

Entering today’s game with a .111 batting average on the season, Perkins unleashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend the crew’s lead to 4-0. He’d later smash a double to make it a two-hit performance on the day with three RBIs. Perkins has quietly been playing better over the last week, as he has four hits with four RBIs in nine at-bats.

Overall on the day, the Brewers finished with 10 hits, making it six out of their last eight games with at least 10 hits as a team. Furthermore, the Crew was able to limit the strikeouts against a strikeout-heavy pitcher with only five on the day.

The Brewers will enjoy a much-needed off day tomorrow before they’re back in action on Tuesday to take on the Cleveland Guardians in a three-game series.

TORONTO — The Yankees experienced plenty of drama at Rogers Centre last year, and in most cases, it did not end well for them.

In their first trip here this season, they found the good kind of drama and came away with a series win.

For the second straight day, the Yankees broke a tie in the top of the ninth with a two-run homer — this one from Ben Rice — before piling on to take the rubber game with an 8-3 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.

After Rice’s clutch moonshot, the Yankees (43-27) kept the rally going, culminating in a three-run shot from José Caballero to put the game on ice and send them home flying high off a 5-1 trip.

It will take more than one series in June to avenge what happened last year, when the Yankees went 1-8 north of the border and saw the Blue Jays (34-38) fly past them on the way to the World Series, but it was a start.

“Chip on our shoulder, and we don’t like those guys over there, they don’t like us,” said Will Warren, who labored through four innings but limited the damage to two runs. “Finding any way to win is a good one, especially on the road.”

The Yankees, who secured their first series win at Rogers Centre since 2023, have now won seven games this season in which the winning run scored in the ninth inning — three of them on this six-game trip.

“It just speaks to the mentality of the group,” Rice said. “Feel like everyone’s got that next-man-up mentality and regardless of who is on the mound or the situation, is going to go up there and put together a quality at-bat.”

Paul Goldschmidt, who delivered the go-ahead blast in Saturday’s win, started the ninth-inning rally Sunday with a swinging bunt down the third base line. Blue Jays reliever Braydon Fisher tried to make a wild play and got off an ill-advised throw that ended up down the right field line, allowing Goldschmidt to take second.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Rice then worked a full count before getting a slider on the inside corner that he clobbered for his team-leading 19th home run of the season.

Aaron Boone said he told Rice after the go-ahead blast that he had taken some “bad swings today,” but he was “right on time for that last one.”

“I think he’s being friendly there,” Rice said with a grin. “There definitely were some swings that weren’t very convicted on my end. So to finish the day on a good one like that feels nice.”

After walks by Jasson Domínguez and Jazz Chisholm Jr., Caballero provided breathing room by taking Tommy Nance deep, capping a day in which he played three different positions, got into an argument with the home plate umpire and then sent a ball 420 feet.

Anthony Volpe also enjoyed a strong all-around day, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and some strong defense at shortstop. He put the Yankees up 1-0 in the second inning when he singled home Max Schuemann, who had doubled off left-hander Patrick Corbin, and then came around to score on Ali Sánchez’s RBI double — Sánchez’s first hit as a Yankee and the first RBI from a Yankee catcher since May 26.

After the Blue Jays tied it off Warren with single runs in the third and fourth innings on a barrage of well-placed singles — “Blue Jays are going to Blue Jay,” Warren said with a grin — Volpe put the Yankees back on top 3-2 in the sixth with another RBI single.

The lead did not last long, as Jake Bird gave up a solo shot to Davis Schneider in the bottom of the frame, but unlike last season, the Yankees got the last laugh before heading back home.

“It feels good to shake hands and be celebrating a win in here, which obviously that was very difficult for us in this building last year,” Boone said. “It is a new year, you’ve got to keep going all the time. But what a good finish to an outstanding road trip against a couple good teams heading into the off day.”

Yesterday we had a classic pitchers’ duel that was ultimately settled by a big two-run home run in the ninth for a Yankee victory. I wouldn’t exactly call today a pitchers’ duel — Patrick Corbin went 3.2 innings and Will Warren managed just one more out than that — but the end result was the same. Today, it was Ben Rice’s turn to play the hero, in an 8-3 Yankee win.

This felt like it was going to be a tough matchup for Will Warren. So much of what makes him good is his ability to deceive hitters into called strikes — he gets more called third strikes than any other pitcher in baseball. The problem is how aggressive the Blue Jays are in-zone, with only three teams offering at pitches in the strike zone as often as Toronto. That means a lot of those pitches other hitters might take for strikes, especially called third strikes, Jays hitters were able to make some kind of contact on.

The Jays touched 41 of 46 times they swung the bat against Warren, and while they weren’t all hits, those extended at-bats are how you end up throwing 98 pitches in just four innings. Three walks against a single strikeout, plus the eight hits he allowed even if some of them were just out of range or should have been errors — looking you dead in the eye, Amed Rosario — it really wasn’t his day. I don’t want to say that starts like this expose the problem with Warren but it does showcase the difference between a pitcher like him and say, Cam Schlittler. There’s just nothing like a whiff.

Off the pitcher’s mound, this was in many ways the Anthony Volpe game, as the much-criticized shortstop got it done at the plate and in the field, a scene we haven’t seen much of over the past two years:

I give Volpe a lot of grief, centrally around how much his offensive approach vacillates. Seemingly from month to month he will alter between focusing on pulled fly balls, to lining the ball gap to gap. I tend to think he’s better focusing on the latter, and that’s where his two RBI came today. I hope this is the positive reinforcement he needs to truly commit, but if it’s not, at least he showed up in a big, close game.

Then again, in the eighth he swung through these sliders so, maybe he has a few more steps to go.

Fast forward to the ninth, and while I haven’t been worried about Ben Rice, he’d been on a bit of a cold streak with just a 28 wRC+ over the last week, and critically, a 63 percent ground ball rate. Perhaps nobody in baseball better exemplifies the value of pulled fly balls like Benny Barrels, it’s so important that he gets the ball in the air. He hadn’t done that for a little over a week. And then, boy did he:

José Caballero was able to tack on some key insurance runs himself, taking this game from a save situation to a easy breather:

Full praise to Cabby today, he’s managed himself really well while the Yankees have insisted on putting Anthony Volpe at the 6 as much as they possibly can. He’s played every position they’ve asked him to, managed to be a league average hitter, and a five-run game is much more preferable to a two-run affair. Earlier in the day Caballero continued to back up his “you’re so damn annoying” reputation:

I love this stuff, I can understand why some fans might be annoyed, I can certainly understand why opponents get annoyed, but every time José gets rather particular about the pitch clock and rules around it, I pop.

The bottom of the ninth got a little hairy, with David Bednar allowing a single off Volpe’s glove and a double. With Vlad Guerrero Jr. looming in the on-deck circle though, Anthony redeemed himself snagging an Alejandro Kirk line drive to end the game and wrap up a series win.

The Yankees are now ten games clear of the third-place Blue Jays, and it’s only the third inning but the Rays are currently losing to the Angels, and that could push New York two full games ahead in the AL East. The team has managed themselves very well in the absence of the game’s finest hitter, and I’m curious how much, if any, credit will go to manager Aaron Boone.

Monday’s an off day, before the Yankees welcome the resurgent Chicago White Sox to town on Tuesday. Gerrit Cole is slated to get the ball with a 7:05 p.m. Eastern first pitch.

Box Score

Any hopes that the Orioles would use the late-game plunking of Gunnar Henderson on Saturday to propel themselves to victory in the series finale went unanswered. The offense was largely impotent in a 5-2 rubber match loss on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards.

Let’s start with the things that went well because it’s a pretty short list. In fact, it might just be one item: Trevor Rogers.

Rogers had another nice outing. Over six innings he allowed just two runs on five hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. It was the sort of start we grew accustomed to in 2025. The lefty didn’t load up on strikeouts—although his 30% whiff rate was solid—but instead induced oodles of weak contact. Over his last four starts Rogers has reduced his ERA by more than a run, from 6.96 going into May 29 to 5.86 now. Progress!

The only two runs that San Diego scored against Rogers came in the second inning. Samad Taylor led off with an infield single, moved to second on a ground out, stayed there while a teammate struck out, and then came in to score on an unorthodox Rodolfo Durán double. It was a two “bagger” in the literal sense, bouncing off of the second base bag, lofting over the second baseman Jeremiah Jackson into the shallow outfield and leaving the O’s defense scrambling. Fernando Tatis Jr. cashed in on the oddity with a normal single into center field, scoring Durán for an early 2-0 lead.

There were some good signs for the Orioles on offense. They had 10 hits—two more than the Padres—and had plenty of traffic on the bases. But much like their loss on Saturday, many of those runners were left stranded. The team went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.

It took until the fifth inning for the O’s to get on the board. That run came via a solo homer off Jackson’s bat, his seventh of the year and first since April 30. That’s quite a drought, but somewhat understandable given his lack of playing time since the return of Jackson Holliday.

Rico Garcia was the first name out of Craig Albernaz’s bullpen. It was an interesting choice since Garcia has often been the team’s go-to arm in the highest of leverage situations, which this seventh inning was not. But it’s possible that, in the midst of a tough stretch for Garcia, the manager was simply hoping to get him a little confidence against the bottom of the Padres order. Unfortunately, it would not work that way.

Garcia walked the first batter he faced, got a strikeout, and then allowed a two run bomb to Durán, making it a 4-1 lead for San Diego. Garcia has now allowed five runs (four earned) across his last four appearances. His ERA in June is 8.31.

The Orioles clawed one run back in the bottom of the inning with their lone hit with runners in scoring position. Blaze Alexander opened the inning with a double into left field, and then came in to score on a Henderson single to right. The score improved to 4-2 at the moment, but the O’s would get no closer.

Mason Miller came on with two outs in the eighth inning and shut down any chance of an Orioles comeback. He struck out three of the four batters he faced to wrap up a series win for the visiting Padres.

The final score would end up 5-2 because of some hideous defense on the Orioles part in the top of the ninth inning. The lead off hitter in the inning reached base on a fielding error from Henderson. After a strikeout to Jase Bowen, Durán hit a bouncer up the middle that Holliday flubbed. Henderson collected the ball and fired a wild throw wide of first base, allowing a runner to scoot over to third base. The O’s nearly got out of trouble when a line drive to right field was caught by Alexander and fired home to throw out the runner there. But a Padres challenge got the call overturned and widen the gap back to three runs.

It was a fittingly ugly end to a poor couple of days for the Orioles. The only solace may be that there were no bean balls or intentional hit by pitches. The only tense moment came when Padres starter Walker Buehler and O’s outfield Leody Taveras exchanged words after a Taveras fly out. It’s unclear what was going on there, but nothing much came of it.

This is probably just how it’s going to be for this team. They will quickly oscillate between inspiring and putrid from day to day unless some of their “stars” become more dependably amazing. Don’t hold your breath.

The Orioles now head to Seattle for a series that begins on Tuesday at 9:40. We just saw those guys! Brandon Young (5-1, 3.04 ERA) is expected start Game 1 against Logan Gilbert (4-4, 3.62 ERA). Enjoy the off day, everyone.

The Dodgers (45-27) went into the sixth inning Sunday afternoon in the Windy City with a 1-0 lead and a cruising Emmet Sheehan. The White Sox (38-32) changed the trajectory of the game and series outcome with a three-home run offensive explosion against Sheehan and Jack Dreyer in the sixth inning.

The Dodgers tried to inch their way back with a run in each of the last three innings, but the offense wasted several scoring opportunities throughout the 6-4 loss. They went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

Sheehan redeemed himself after his last start when Dave Roberts hooked him after only 1 1/3 innings against the Angels. The right-hander struck out eight and only allowed one hit through five innings of work. The hiccup that was his last start was mostly a thing of the past once he stepped on the mound Sunday.

Roberts celebrated his daughter’s graduation, and he wasn’t with the team for the series finale at Rate Field. Danny Lehmann, Dave’s bench coach, stepped in to be the substitute skipper on Sunday.

The first hit in the series for Freddie Freeman was a two-out solo home run off Bryan Hudson’s four-seamer.

The Dodgers continued to add to their collection of double plays. They went into Sunday’s game leading baseball with 64 GIDP on the season. Andy Pages hit into a double play in the first inning for No. 65. 

Sheehan was so locked in, he forgot how many outs were in the inning. After his two-out strike out of Drew Romo in the third inning, he started to walk back to the dugout. He returned to the mound with a small laugh and retired Sam Antonacci for the real final out of the frame.

Mookie Betts got on base on a swinging bunt hit with one out in the top of the fourth against Erick Fedde. Betts stole his first base of the year to put himself into scoring position. Kyle Tucker struck out to strand Mookie at second and keep it a 1-0 game.

Ryan Ward took a sinker away for a leadoff double against Fedde in the top of the fifth for the Dodgers. The offense couldn’t muster much else. It was the second straight inning the Dodgers stranded a runner in scoring position.

Sheehan continued to get the White Sox batters to chase balls off the plate. His changeup was wicked, and he used it to whiff Drew Romo for the second time to close out five shutout innings.

The Dodgers got their leadoff runner on four out of six innings, but they weren’t able to cash in any of them. They stranded two more in the sixth. Tucker finally made contact and got a base hit. Betts, who was on first after he erased Freeman on a force out, moved to third. Ward chased a Fedde changeup and went down on strikes to end the inning.

Antonacci reset the series finale with one swing of the bat. He crushed a hanging Sheehan changeup to right field for a leadoff home run to make it 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth.

Things unraveled quickly. The Sox put together six straight hits against Sheehan and Dryer including three home runs in a six-run attack.

Andrew Benintendi’s RBI double off Sheehan gave the White Sox a 2-1 lead. That would be it for Sheehan, but a booming two-run home run by Colson Montgomery against Dreyer gave the White Sox their third and fourth run of the inning. Chase Meidroth joined the home run party and launched a two-run shot to make it 6-1.

Grant Taylor came in to really shut down the Dodgers in the top of the seventh, but Dalton Rushing put a screw in the plans with a leadoff double. Alex Freeland’s fly ball was enough to bring in Rushing on a sac fly and get one back to make it 6-2.

Betts hit his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot against Taylor in the top of the eighth. Betts finally had his first multi-hit back-to-back games of the season.

The Dodgers once again got the lead runner on when Seranthony Domínguez walked Ward in the top of the ninth. Rushing struck out, but Freeland had the best at-bat of the night. After he fell behind 0-2, he worked the count back to 3-2, then scorched a RBI double to the right field corner to make it 6-4.

Ohtani was unintentionally intentionally walked just like old times representing the tying run. Pages grounded into a force out, but the inning continued. It was up to Freddie with first and third and two outs, but he struck out to end the game and series in favor of Chicago. It’s the first series win for the White Sox over the Dodgers since 2014.

Sunday particulars

Home run: Freddie Freeman (11), Mookie Betts (7); Sam Antonacci (2), Colson Montgomery (17), Chase Meidroth (6)

WP — Erick Fedde (2-5): 2 2/3 IP, 3 hits, no runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts (58 pitches)

LP — Emmet Sheehan (3-4): 5 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts (85 pitches)

S— Seranthony Domínguez (12): 1 IP, 1, hit, 1 run, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts (33 pitches)

Up next

The Dodgers return home to host the Tampa Bay Rays for three games. The series opener Monday night will be televised on ESPN (7:10 p.m. PT; ESPN) and feature starters Eric Lauer (2-5, 5.47 ERA, 1.29 WHIP) for the Dodgers and Nick Martinez (6-2, 2.43 ERA, 1.159) for the Rays.

The Yankees broke a late-game tie with two home runs in the ninth inning for an 8-3 win at the Toronto Blue Jays to seal New York's series victory.

Takeaways

1. Homers by Ben Rice and Jose Caballero saved the day for the Yankees (43-27), who were stuck in a 3-3 deadlock after Davis Schneider's sixth-inning home run against Jacob Bird. New York's five-run ninth set the stage for David Bednar to close the door in the inning's bottom half, allowing two hits during a scoreless frame.
2. Will Warren allowed a season-high eight hits and lasted four innings while throwing 62 strikes on 98 pitches. He struck out one and walked three while yielding two runs, both of which came after the Yankees held a 2-0 lead following the second inning. Warren (7-1, 3.47 ERA) did not have his best stuff but limited the damage before the pitch count neared 100 through the fourth inning. He has not pitched five innings or more since May 31.
3. Anthony Volpe was a bright spot, singling home two of the Yankees' first three runs with RBI knocks in the second and sixth innings. Volpe's second RBI single, which scored Max Schuemann, gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead entering the game's final 3.5 frames. June has not been kind to Volpe, but he posted his first game with two hits since May 31. He entered Sunday with a 2-for-24 line through his first nine games of the month.

4. Ali Sánchez got his first two hits as a Yankee. The first, an RBI single in the second-inning that scored Volpe and doubled the Yankees' early lead to 2-0, was especially key. Sánchez is 2-for-10 through his first six games with New York.

Who's the MVP?

Rice, whose 19th home run of the season and 46th and 47th RBI made the difference.

Highlights

Volpe knock 👊 pic.twitter.com/TaOYfm0teg

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 14, 2026

Sánchez's first RBI as a Yankee 👏 pic.twitter.com/tt4PdyCTCp

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 14, 2026

AV comes through again 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ihhVMpWZsq

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 14, 2026

He is Ben Arroz.

Vote Yankees 🗳️👉 https://t.co/8m0RdBIan1pic.twitter.com/s8DwoHMiKS

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 14, 2026

Cabby for three 💪 pic.twitter.com/1AAPg7qk1G

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 14, 2026

What's next

The Yankees have Monday off before they begin their six-game homestand with this week's three-game series against the Chicago White Sox.

RHPs Gerrit Cole (1-1, 2.45 ERA) and David Martin (9-2, 2.41 ERA) are set to start Tuesday's 7:05 p.m. opener.

Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer rubbed a new baseball between his hands as he walked back to the mound, a sold-out Rate Field coming alive around him.

Fireworks crackled over the center-field scoreboard. Digital pinwheels spun. Dreyer had just surrendered his second home run of the inning, transforming a low-scoring battle into a lopsided White Sox advantage.

The Dodgers’ recent bullpen problems persisted in a 6-4 loss Sunday, overshadowing a bounce-back effort from Emmet Sheehan. The Dodgers tried to come back in the ninth, but fell short.

“We’ve gotten bit by the long ball, obviously in Pittsburgh, and here tonight,” said bench coach Danny Lehmann, filling in Sunday for manager Dave Roberts while he attended his daughter’s college graduation. “But overall, it’s more the strike throwing and just getting ahead of guys and doing what they’re supposed to do.”

The Dodgers dropped the series 2-1, marking their first series loss since May 8-10 against the Braves.

Sheehan was charged with three runs in five-plus innings, a massive turnaround coming off the second-shortest start of his career, only rivaled by a planned one-inning outing at the end of last season.

Read more:The hardest days are when calls don’t go through: Andy Pages opens up about family in Cuba

Against the Angels last week, Sheehan threw 49 pitches and recorded just four outs before being pulled.

On Sunday, he didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning.

“He got strike one and then understood when to leave the zone when he needed to,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “He did a great job of that. I think a couple of those guys picked up on tendencies, jumped on a pitch. I felt they were good pitches. I thought he did his job today and gave us a chance to win.”

Sheehan’s velocity has been an indicator of how synced up his delivery has been on any given start this season.

On Sunday, his 95.1-mph average fastball velocity was 0.7 mph above his season average, according to Statcast — a promising sign. Results followed.

Sheehan retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced, just a hit batter away from perfection. With two outs in the fourth, he gave up a double to Colson Montgomery, on a low line drive up the first-base line, just out of reach of Freddie Freeman as he made a diving attempt.

Then against Braden Montgomery, Sheehan worked back from a 2-1 count for an inning-ending strikeout.

Out of Sheehan’s hand, the pitch looked like it was going to cross the plate on the inside corner, about belt high. But as Montgomery started his swing, the firm changeup veered away from his bat at a sharp downward angle.

Montgomery swung over the pitch. A fired-up Sheehan buried his fist in his glove and shouted. With that strikeout, he preserved the Dodgers’ one-run lead.

Freeman provided that run with a solo homer in the first inning. And Sheehan gave the Dodgers plenty of time to extend that lead. In the sixth inning, however, the White Sox finally got to him.

“I definitely felt better early,” Sheehan said. “And then more of the same towards the end. Just pretty frustrating.”

Sheehan’s fastball to Sam Antonacci wasn’t in a bad spot. But in an 0-2 count, he could have put it a little higher or further inside. Antonacci drove it over the right-field fence.

Read more:Yoshinobu Yamamoto flirts with perfect game, MLB record in Dodgers' victory

A single, a stolen base and an RBI double later, Sheehan walked off the mound, the Dodgers trailing 2-1.

Just a few weeks ago, turning the ball over to the Dodgers’ bullpen was a promising move. They were still riding a franchise-record streak of 38 consecutive scoreless innings.

Lately, however, it’s been a rocky ride. The bullpen entered Sunday with a 6.71 ERA since ending that scoreless streak on May 25. Only the Giants and Rockies produced a worse mark over that stretch.

None of the Dodgers’ relievers have been dominant in recent games. Tanner Scott has been credited with three saves but also two losses. Kyle Hurt’s ERA has risen from 0.60 to 4.22. Dreyer, who went 10 straight games without giving up a run before landing on the injured list with left shoulder discomfort, has surrendered five home runs in seven appearances since returning on May 31.

Dreyer gave up three runs and three hits. Then Blake Treinen and Jonathan Hernández held the White Sox the rest of the way.

The Dodgers tacked on three more runs, on a sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Alex Freeland, and a solo homer from Mookie Betts. They stranded runners at the corners in the ninth.

Read more:Shaikin: Would Dave Roberts snub Yoshinobu Yamamoto to start Shohei Ohtani in All-Star Game?

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

On this Barbie Day afternoon at Target Field, the Minnesota Twins said “Ken-ough is Ken-ough!” and decided to take the series from the St. Louis Cardinals!

The Twins looked to do some damage off St. Louis SP Michael McGreevy right out of the gate when Byron Buxton doubled & Royce Lewis drew a walk, but a Josh Bell ground-out to second base thwarted the B1 threat. Similarly in B3, base knocks from Trevor Larnach & Kody Clemens placed two on with two outs—and again came away scoreless when an oppo-drive from Lewis died underneath the limestone overhang in RF.

Instead, it would be the Red Birds who activated the scoreboard first. After three solid innings, Twins SP Taj Bradley left a middle-middle breaking ball to Alec Burleson and the burly St. Louis slugger put it out onto the plaza. 1-0 STL.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the Twins to finally get into the offensive action: a B4 Bell base hit was brought home on a Victor Caratini poke to the plaza of his own! 2-1 MIN.

The long ball provided the next scoring as well, with a Taj T6 leadoff free pass to Nathan Church immediately haunting on a JJ Wetherholt whammer. 3-2 STL.

A developing Twins threat to tie the game in B6—Bell single, Caratini walk—was snuffed when a Brooks Lee liner was snagged by Cards 1B Blaze Jordan and turned into an unassisted twin killing.

Taj would hit the showers after 6.2 innings of 3-run ball—but also two Birds on base. You know the story from here: a Twins reliever—today being Anthony Banda—entered and the lead increased (bloop single from Wetherholt). At least Burleson was retired with the bases juiced. 4-2 STL.

Much like Friday night, however, Twins’ bats didn’t let a middle relief meltdown shut them down. In B7, a Luke Keaschall BB & Ryan Kreidler pinch-hit single set up Buxton at the dish. Buck of course delivered an RBI single. A Clemens single loaded the bases for Lewis—who cracked his own single to tie the game at 4-4!

Alas, a Bell whiff & a Caratini warning track fly-out prevented a lead change.

After Andrew Morris entered and K’d the STL side in T8, Keaschall’s 2-out double down the LF line set the stage for that much-anticipated lead change, with Kreidler doubling off the bullpen fence! 5-4 MIN.

Yoendrys Gomez would enter in T9 and provide that rarest of rare occurrences for the ‘26 Twins: a 1-2-3 ninth inning for the save!

Your Final: Minnesota Twins 5, St Louis Cardinals 4.

A really nice series victory over a strong St. Louis club. It wasn’t pretty Friday night or this afternoon, but the Twins battled all weekend and sent the strong contingent of Cardinals fans back down I-35 unhappy.

Zach’s Zealot

• Buxton: Basically a perma-entry in this category right now. Three more hits today & five All-Star ballot-punches garnered from this writer. Let’s make sure Buck is under the Liberty Bell in Citizen’s Bank Park come mid-July!

Zach’s Zombie

• Me, for reseting my Safari web browser yesterday and having an anxiety attack trying to remember how to get back into the WordPress admin dashboard (you are reading this, so man prevailed over tech—if barely).

Egg-cellent Elocution

• gintzerconfirming another tall drink of water walking a dog in the Twin Cities area (not me, surprisingly)

Who’s Got Next

• Two-stepping down to Texas for a 3-game series with the Rangers (Mon. night, Tues. night, Thurs. afternoon). Yes, a rare mid-series off day due to World Cup activity in Dallas on Wednesday.

Hours after the Knicks clinched their first title in more than half a century, the Mets were back at Citi Field in their latest attempt to salvage their season.

At times, the park seemed transformed into Madison Square Garden East, complete with plenty of Knicks organ melodies taken straight from the World’s Most Famous Arena.

And against the Braves on Sunday, the strategy seemed to work, as the Mets beat their first-place rivals 8-1.

“It’s huge,” Freddy Peralta said of the series win. “It reminded ourselves how good we are.’’

That remains debatable, as the Mets are still seven games under .500 (32-39) and a ways away from threatening for a playoff spot.

But they at least held their own against Atlanta, thanks to a bounce-back start from Peralta, a breakout game at the plate from A.J. Ewing and solid work out of the bullpen.

Now, the Mets will look to build on this little bit of success as they head out on the road, where they haven’t played well.

They’ll face the Reds — one of the seven teams they have to pass to get into the playoffs — in Cincinnati beginning Monday then visit the resurgent Phillies.

“I’ve been saying, for us to turn this thing around, we have to start winning series consistently,’’ Carlos Mendoza said. “It doesn’t matter the schedule [or] the teams, we have to control what we can control and start playing our best baseball here going forward without getting too far ahead. It was good to see the guys playing well against a very good team.”

The Mets used a four-run first inning and five solid innings from Peralta en route to the victory, as Peralta was much better than in his previous outing, when the right-hander allowed a season-worst six runs.

He allowed three straight singles to start the game, as Atlanta loaded the bases with no one out for Ozzie Albies, who whiffed for the first out.

Ex-Met Dominic Smith followed with a sacrifice fly to left that drove in Michael Harris II for the first run of the game.

Austin Riley popped out to second to end the 28-pitch inning after just one run scored.

The Mets knocked around right-hander Bryce Elder in the bottom of the inning to go ahead.

Carson Benge led off with a walk, and Bo Bichette singled to left. Juan Soto followed with a bizarre bunt attempt that turned into a force-out at third, as he left it just in front of the plate.

Jared Young helped make up for Soto’s mistake with a run-scoring single to center to tie the game. Ewing gave the Mets the lead with a double to left that scored Soto. It was the first of his three hits on the day.

On the double, Mike Yastrzemski’s throw from the left field corner hit the pole in front of the netting down the third base line. The error allowed Young to score and Ewing to move to third.

With two outs, Brett Baty singled to make it 4-1. Baty reached base four times.

Peralta, meanwhile, recovered to retire 14 straight after allowing those first three batters to reach.

Ewing’s strong day continued in the fifth, as he opened the bottom of the inning with a homer to right. Marcus Semien followed with a homer to center; Harris grabbed the ball as he leaped above the wall, but it bounced out to his apparent astonishment, making it 6-1.

A two-run single by Juan Soto sealed the win.

Cionel Pérez took over for Peralta to start the sixth and combined with Daniel Duarte, A.J. Minter and Huascar Brazobán to close out the game with four scoreless innings.

“We’re just trying to win games,’’ Ewing said. “No matter who we play.”

CHICAGO — The Dodgers have developed a bad habit over the past week.

And on Sunday, in a 6-4 loss to the White Sox, it cost them their first series loss in more than a month.

Entering the sixth inning at Rate Field with a one-run lead, the Dodgers appeared to be safely in control. Their offense hadn’t scored since Freddie Freeman’s home run in the first inning. But Emmet Sheehan had been almost flawless over five innings, allowing four hits and recording eight strikeouts.

Alas, as has been the case recently, the Dodgers couldn’t find an answer once things began to spiral.

In a six-run inning keyed by three back-breaking home runs, they watched an opponent put just the latest crooked number up on the scoreboard.

“I definitely felt better early,” Sheehan said. “And then, yeah, more of the same toward the end. Just pretty frustrating.”

It was the fifth time in their last seven games that the Dodgers had allowed at least four runs in an inning. It was the fourth time out of those five games that they were unable to rally and salvage a win.

The implosion started with Sheehan, who gave up a leadoff home run to Sam Antonacci on a high 0-2 fastball that didn’t climb the ladder enough. Two batters later, he was chased from the game following an RBI double from Andrew Benintendi. Then, as soon as he got back to the dugout, he watched his replacement, Jack Dreyer, yield a two-run homer to Colson Montgomery.

“They got to a couple heaters,” said bench coach Danny Lehmann, who filled in for manager Dave Roberts while he was away at his daughter’s college graduation. “And it kind of spiraled from there.”

Indeed, Dreyer would give up another two-run shot, this time to Chase Meidroth, before finally recording the inning’s first out.

And by the time it was all over, the Dodgers were too far gone for a comeback — clawing within two runs after scoring in each of the final three innings but ending the game with the tying runs on base.

What it means

Just like on Friday night (when the White Sox won on the back of a seven-run fifth), and Wednesday night (when the Pirates stormed back with a five-run eighth) and last Sunday (when the Angels pulled away with a six-spot in the seventh), the Dodgers capitulated beneath an inability to limit slug or contain damage, with a recently scuffling bullpen looming large once again.

“We’ve gotten bit by the long ball, obviously in Pittsburgh, and here tonight,” Lehmann said. “But overall, it’s more the strike throwing and just getting ahead of guys and doing what they’re supposed to do.”

The loss left the Dodgers (45-27) with a .500 record on this Pittsburgh-Chicago road trip and marked their first series defeat since the MLB-leading Braves came to Los Angeles in early May.

The upstart and first-place White Sox (38-32) have been an unexpectedly tricky opponent, with Dodgers coaches repeatedly praising their energy and athleticism this week.

Still, Sunday’s game should have been winnable. Instead, the team’s latest ugly inning came back to haunt them, as their ninth-inning comeback flamed out with runners on the corners.

Who’s hot

Mookie Betts’ weekend will be remembered for the perfect-game-snapping error he made Saturday.

But at the plate, the scuffling shortstop finally showed some life, following up a three-hit performance on Saturday with two more knocks — including an eighth-inning homer — in Sunday’s loss.

As a result, Betts raised his batting average to .204, marking the first time since the opening weekend of the season he has finished a day hitting over .200.

“I think over the last three or four games, Mookie’s been trending the right way, for sure,” Lehmann said. “Just the quality of contact is way up. Even some of his outs in this series were really good, really hard-hit barreled balls to the outfield. So it’s really encouraging for us, for Mookie, to get back to where I know he wants to be, and we all know that he can be there.”

Who’s not

After a promising rookie season in 2025, and a strong couple months to open this campaign, June has not been friendly to Dreyer, especially when it comes to keeping the ball in the park.

With Sunday’s pair of long balls, Dreyer has now allowed five home runs in seven appearances this month.

That has nearly doubled his ERA on the season, from 2.08 at the end of May to 3.77 after Sunday’s meltdown.

And it has made him one of many culprits for the Dodgers’ recent bullpen struggles, after the unit already entered Sunday with the third-highest ERA in the majors during June.

Up next

The Dodgers return home on Monday to open a series against the Rays. Eric Lauer (2-5, 5.47 ERA) will take the mound opposite right-hander Nick Martinez (6-2, 2.43 ERA).

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