Category: Baseball

The most frustrating thing about tonight’s 6-5 extra-innings loss: it was a winnable game, if just a few things had gone differently. But the mistakes compounded for the Mariners, ultimately delivering a loss to open up the Florida leg of their road trip – always a tough road trip for the Mariners, who haven’t won a series in Miami since 2011.

Those looking for an antidote to the “Bryan Woo struggles on the road” narrative (it’s me I’m those) would be disappointed by Woo’s outing today. The Marlins made a ton of hard contact off Woo early, and although he was able to navigate around a pair of singles in the first, getting back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning, he wouldn’t be so lucky in the second: after falling behind Marlins slugger Owen Caissie 1-0, he left a fastball in the lefty loop zone that Caissie demolished for a solo homer.

That itself wouldn’t have been so bad, especially after Woo got his next two outs, but nine-hole hitter Javier Sanoja ambushed a first-pitch fastball and then advanced first to third on a Liam Hicks single on a pitch high and out of the zone, his second of the day. Woo then made things worse for himself, spiking a slider for a wild pitch that brought in the Marlins’ second run of the day.

The Marlins kept nibbling away at Woo in the third, pesking around another run despite two outs and a savvy challenge from the Mariners on a very nice play by Cole Young against the speedy Xavier Edwards. But despite getting a boost from his defense, Woo couldn’t work around a single to Griffin Conine given up in his next at-bat, walking Caissie with some nibble pitches to push Conine into second and then surrendering a hit on the sweeper to Jakob Marsee to make it 3-0. The Marlins added a fourth run in the fourth inning; Hicks doubled off a slider and advanced to third on some fielding misadventures from Victor Robles, and then scored on a sacrifice fly (despite a very nifty catch from Luke Raley).

Meanwhile, Marlins starter Max Meyer was perfect the first time through against the Mariners, deploying his pair of sweepers with devastating effectiveness. The only batter who really made him work the first time through the order was Cole Young, who executed one of his platonic-ideal Cole Young at-bats, going from 0-2 and a called strike three, smartly challenged by Young, to working the count full and almost getting the Mariners’ first hit on a hard-hit ball that Marlins first baseman Liam Hicks was just able to smother.

Instead, it was – as it has so often been this year – Randy Arozarena who delivered the Mariners’ first hit of the day in the fourth, taking advantage of a poorly-located sweeper for a line-drive single; unfortunately, he’d be cut down trying to steal for what would be the final out of the inning.

Cal Raleigh, who was at bat when Arozarena got thrown out, would lead off the fifth with a double then be small-balled around for the first Mariners run of the day, and the Mariners got a second run in that inning when Cole Young jumped on a fastball identical to one he’d just fouled off in the first pitch of the at-bat: this time Young leaned on it, pulling it over the right-field wall for a solo homer that cut the Marlins’ lead in half.

The Mariners had their best scoring chance in the sixth and let it slip through their fingers, finally taking advantage of some shoddy command from Meyers and loading the bases with no outs on two walks and an opposite-field single from J.P. Crawford. The Marlins brought in flamethrowing reliever Michael Peterson to try to act as the fireman and prevent and runs from scoring, and he did his job—or rather, the Mariners did his job for him. Dominic Canzone chased after some high heat for a grounder that turned into an out at home. Cal Raleigh couldn’t catch up with 99 on the plate for the second out of the inning, and Josh Naylor – not any king of bat speed – grounded out to end the inning. NOBLETIGERS are the worst kind of tigers.

Similarly, the Mariners squandered another opportunity in the seventh after a leadoff double from Luke Raley – off a lefty, even! If there’s one bright spot to take from this game it’s that Raley has looked much better lately after what was a very tough June for him. Young advanced him to third on a deep flyout that he just missed knocking over the wall for a game-tying homer, but the bottom of the order couldn’t pick the run up.

The Mariners had another great scoring opportunity in the eighth, after some good work from J.P. Crawford working a leadoff walk off the lefty King, and then some bad work by Marlins reliever Calvin Faucher, who hit Randy with a 97 mph fastball, leaving him in obvious distress. But Canzone again couldn’t connect, trying too hard to make something happen and striking out chasing a curveball in the dirt. Cal Raleigh battled for nine pitches, fighting off some tough breaking balls and declining to chase after the curveball that got Canzone, getting a sweeper he could drive for an RBI double, bringing the Mariners to within a run.

The Mariners would tie it up and then go ahead on some good old-fashioned Chaos Ball, courtesy of Josh Naylor, who rapped a single past second baseman Edwards for the game-tying run; Naylor would then get tangled up with Edwards while making his turn at first, allowing him to get to second on an obstruction call. Naylor made it to third on a fielder’s choice out and then Cole Young put up yet another great at-bat, working a tiring Faucher for 10 pitches and eventually earning a walk. The go-ahead run, coming in on a wild pitch with Victor Robles at-bat, can be directly credited to Young pushing Faucher to the brink.

Unfortunately, all that work would go for naught when pinch-hitter Heriberto Hernández leaned on a pitch from Gabe Speier, trying to sneak a fastball past the righty in a full count, for a game-tying homer. Maybe frustrated, Speier then walked pinch-hitter Esteury Ruiz on four pitches, none of which were particularly close; Ruiz would get to third but that’s as far as he would get, as Speier, despite missing his swing-and-miss-stuff, was able to clear the inning without further damage.

On to the ninth in a tied game, then, with the Marlins bringing in their closer, former Ray Pete Fairbanks, pitching two days after a fairly disastrous outing against the Athletics. Despite a two-out single from Randy Arozarena, Fairbanks was able to put the Mariners away in the top of the inning.

Andrés Muñoz spun a perfect 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to keep the Mariners in it, but the Mariners weren’t able to score their Manfred Man, with pinch-runner Weston Wilson foolishly getting thrown out at third on a Cal Raleigh groundout, erasing the Mariners’ best opportunity to score and essentially sealing the loss. That left Michael Rucker to try to contend with the Marlins’ high-flying offense and things went about as you’d expect, with the Marlins walking it off.

More than anything else – not Woo’s hard contact and continued road struggles, or Speier allowing the game-tying homer, or Michael Rucker being pressed into high-leverage service again – it was the back-to-back squandered scoring opportunities in the sixth and seventh that sunk the Mariners in this game. To look on the bright side, there are a lot of good things that happened in this game: continued traffic on the bases, hitters making adjustments against a tough pitcher in Meyer, Raley hitting off a lefty, Colt Emerson making some solid plays at short, Cole Young continuing to put up impressive plate appearances, a clean inning from Muñoz. But that’s cold comfort for a team that’s struggled with consistency and struggled on the road, staring down the barrel of yet another tough East Coast road trip.

So, it turns out the Cubs are no slouches after all. And though it’s their offense that’s supposed to be a team strength, today the Most Cub-Like Player had to have been the starter, Matthew Boyd. The lefty hounded the Orioles all night, the way you thought a crafty lefty might. Through six innings, Baltimore had no runs and just three hits—a single apiece by Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso—off the 2025 All-Star, who was mixing up speeds and locations. That’s no way to win a ballgame.  

You can’t be too mad at a Shane Baz quality start (six innings, three runs) against MLB’s second-best offense. But his team gave him no help at all.

Rain delayed first pitch by an hour, so we kicked off bravely at the pretty regular hour of 7:30 ET. It didn’t appear to faze the Orioles starter, Baz, who confronted the Cubs with confidence, attacking the zone.

For two innings it kinda worked! Baz had a strong first inning, striking out the mighty Pete Crow-Armstrong with high heat before retiring Alex Bregman and Michael Busch on two quick flyouts. In the second, he allowed lots of noisy contact, including to outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who skied a ball deep to center, 383 feet away, 106 mph off the bat.

Despite keeping things scoreless, so many hard hits augured poorly for Baz in the third. Considering, it could have gone worse. With two outs, Miguel Amaya walked and Crow-Armstrong singled to center before Alex Bregman got a hanging Baz knuckle curve and singled home the Cubs’ first run. A concerned O’s pitching staff checked on Baz, but the damage wouldn’t go any further. It took a popout with the bases loaded to get Baz out of trouble, though.

The knuckle curveball featured prominently in Baz’s offerings tonight, but it proved vulnerable in a two-run Chicago fifth. Baz allowed three straight hits, including Crow-Armstrong’s RBI single. Then Bregman grounded into a forceout, scoring the catcher Amaya and making it a 3-0 Chicago game.

All of this would have been fine, like I said, except that Matthew Boyd was hounding the Orioles, who’d managed little more than offensive drips and drabs. Through five innings, they had just three hits off the 2025 All-Star, who was mixing up speeds and locations—you know, just what you’d expect.

The Birds had some baserunners, at least one in each of the first five innings. I still wouldn’t say they made the Chicago starter really sweat. In the first inning, Gunnar Henderson singled to right with two outs. No rally. Coby Mayo walked to start the second, but he was stranded. In the third, Adley singled and got no further. The fourth bid well for the home team, as Pete Alonso hit a leadoff rocket at 111.9 mph and Coby Mayo got hit by a pitch. But, whaddya know, then Matthew Boyd went and struck out the side in order. Thanks for spotting us two baserunners, Matthew Boyd (😞).

Both starters got lifted after six innings, Baz on 100 pitches, Boyd on 93. The move didn’t pay off for either club, but the O’s would have it worse (that is, because they lost).

O’s reliever Anthony Nunez got hit up pretty quickly. The right hander tossed a pair of fastballs down the middle that ended up a single for catcher Amaya and a Bregman double. A sac fly by Michael Busch would stretch the Cubs’ lead to a deflating 4-0.

True, it felt less deflating after a seventh inning where the O’s chose to score a pair of runs against a rickety Cubs bullpen featuring lefty Ryan Rolison and old Orioles friend Jacob Webb (so that’s where he ended up!). It started with Samuel Basallo in the six spot hitting an infield single. Blaze Alexander followed with an inside-out swing, a single of his own. (“An Alexanderian swing,” said a MASN booth of Kevin Brown and Ben McDonald. What a luxury these guys are.) Two strikeouts in a row by pinch-hitters Tyler O’Neil and Leody Taveras threatened to douse the flames. But with two outs, Taylor Ward walked and Adley delivered the Orioles’ first hit of the night with RISP, a 108-mph rocket to the outfield. Basallo and Blaze Alexander scored fairly easily, especially when the Cubs’ Suzuki airmailed the throw from right field.

Gunnar struck out, and there would be no more rallying. Then, alas, 4-2 became 5-2 the next inning. Maybe Craig Albernaz was wrong to try and extend Anthony Nunez for a second inning. The world may never know, but Cubs second baseman Hico Hoerner golfed a single to the outfield, stole second, and scored when Dansby Swanson, on some kind of a run (30 RBI in his last 15 games), served a Nunez breaking ball into the opposite field to make it 5-2 Chicago. Not much hard contact off Nunez. “A dying quail,” the MASN booth called it. A buzzkill, I call it.

With Nick Raquet on for the O’s in the ninth, the broadcast cut to a small but hardy “Tarps Off” section of shirtless, dancing men in the upper deck. I admired their commitment, because there wasn’t much on the field to get excited about. It would be cool if the Orioles could hit lefties a little better.

Onto better things tomorrow? Dean Kremer (1-1, 3.18 ERA, 20 K) takes on Chicago’s Colin Rea (6-5, 4.74 ERA, 68 K). At least it’s a battle of right handers.

Hunter Dobbins was entrusted with the starting duties of game 2 of the day/night doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers and did a great job of limiting their offense to minimal damage in the early innings. The St. Louis Cardinals offense did not make a significant appearance in the game and the 7th inning was a disaster – again.

The Brewers didn’t make a dent in Hunter Dobbins outing until Cooper Pratt tripled to lead off the top of the 3rd inning. He would score 2 batters later when Christian Yelich grounded out to Masyn Winn giving Milwaukee a 1-0 lead.

More trouble would arrive in the top of the 5th inning as walks would come back to haunt Hunter Dobbins. He walked Sanchez to start the Brewers 5th. After Frelick flied out, Dobbins then walked Pratt. Ortiz singled to right to load the bases. Hunter was able to strike out Christian Yelich, but one of Milwaukee’s top prospects who was just called up to the majors Luis Lara smacked his first major league hit into right field after a diving JJ Wetherholt scoring 2 and increasing the Brewers lead to 3-0. Hunter Dobbins would complete 5 innings allowing 4 hits, 3 earned runs while striking out 4 and walking 3.

Jared Shuster, who was just called up today from Memphis, entered the game in the top of the 6th inning with one runner on. He walked Jake Bauers, the first batter he faced, to give the Brewers runners on first and second with no outs, but struck out Sanchez. Shuster was also able to coax a flyout to center from Jackson Chourio for the second out. He got out of the inning when Cooper Pratt grounded into a force out to end the Milwaukee 6th.

The Cardinals bats were extremely quiet for the first 5 innings with the exception of Jordan Walker. He had one of the only St. Louis hits in the early innings and hammered an 86 mph changeup for another single with two outs in the bottom of the 6th inning. He would cross home plate shortly after thanks to a jolt that Nelson Velázquez put into a 93 mph four-seam fastball from Brewers pitcher Gasser as it sailed into the plants above the left field wall reducing the Milwaukee lead to 3-2.

The Brewers would almost immediately get one of those runs back when Ortiz led off the top of the 7th with a no-doubt 415 foot home run off of Shuster to make it 4-2 Brewers. Milwaukee wasn’t done in the 7th, either. After Christian Yelich struck out, Luis Lara walked followed by a double by Turang which scored Lara easily as he is one of the fastest players on the Brewers roster upping their lead to 5-2. Can someone please put up a poster in the Cardinals bullpen that says WALKS=BAD? I wish I could say that the walks and scoring stopped, but that would be inaccurate. After Vaughan reached on an infield single that glanced off of JJ Wetherholt’s glove, Bauers (you guessed it) walked to load the bases bringing up Sanchez with just one out. He piled on the misery by smacking a single to left scoring 2 and increasing the Milwaukee bashing to 7-2. Chourio refused to show us mercy by singling to right-center scoring another one of the zillion Brewers baserunners making it 8-2. That finally inspired the Cardinals manager to remove Shuster and bring in Gordon Graceffo. Perhaps feeling peer pressure from his predecessors, Gordon gave up a double to Cooper Pratt which scored 2 more Brewers and brought out the boo birds in Busch Stadium as the score inflated to 10-2 Brewers.

To make matters worse, the St. Louis Cardinals lineup made Brewers starter Robert Gasser look like Sandy Koufax. Not trying to detract from his impressive outing, but other than Jordan Walker and Nelson Velázquez, the Cardinals just looked overmatched all night. He pitched an epic 7 2/3 innings and deserves big credit for his effort. The fact that there was one singular Cardinals highlight to share tonight tells you all that you need to know about how far St. Louis is behind the Milwaukee Brewers as a team. I’m confident that the organization led by new President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom have us headed in the right direction, but this series has been a reality check for the work that still has to be done.

The most effective reliever out of the Cardinals bullpen was position player Bryan Torres who pitched the final two innings of the game. My proof? He only walked one batter and allowed no runs.

The St. Louis Cardinals will play the 4th game of their 5-game series this week versus the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday night hoping for better results than the first 3 games have provided them. Michael McGreevy will get the start for St. Louis while Milwaukee will give the ball to Kyle Harrison who’s 8-1 on the season with a 2.82 ERA. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45pm at Busch Stadium and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.

The Kansas City Royals' Tyler Tolbert won't being playing in the Midsummer Classic next week, but the young utility player is having a long weekend to remember.

In the seventh inning against the Mets, Tolbert hit an infield single — his second in as many at-bats — to move to 5-for-5 on the night. But, even more impressively, he hit another high water mark: 12-for-12 in his last 12 plate appearances.

REQUIRED READING: Ryan O'Hearn's epic night: 10 RBIs, three homers - but he passed on a fourth

That isn't at-bats, in which walks aren't added to the total. That's plate appearances.

Tyler Tolbert ties an MLB record with hits in 12 straight at-bats! pic.twitter.com/vldHYDmkdw

— MLB (@MLB) July 8, 2026

Tolbert is the fifth player to have 12 hits in 12 at-bats and just the third to have 12 hits in 12 plate appearances. He joins Johnny Kling in 1902, Pinky Higgins in 1938, Walt Dropo in 1952, and Jose Miranda in 2024 in the former category. Only Kling and Dropo achieved the latter, according to MLB stats analyst Sarah Langs.

Tolbert, who homered earlier in the game, had another hit that was 103.5 mph off the bat, while the other three were good old-fashioned hustle and balls with eyes. They were 86.1 mph, 81.2 mph, and the record-tying hit was 64.8 mph off the bat.

His historic run came to a close when he flied out to right field to lead off the ninth inning.

Tolbert also went 5-for-5 in a 15-1 romp over the Phillies on July 6, finishing a triple shy of the cycle and logging another pair of hits under 65 mph off the bat.

It is, frankly, a hilarious streak. And the kind of thing you only see in July of the marathon MLB season. He may not be hitting the cover off the ball. But Tolbert is showing the value of just putting your head down and sprinting to first.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Royals' Tyler Tolbert ties MLB record with hits in 12 straight at-bats

Joey Cantillo was facing off against the Minnesota Twins offense and, briefly, the Cleveland Guardians defense in his start today. Cantillo went 5.0 innings, giving up two unearned runs on six hits and three walks. Joey struck out seven.

After getting through the bottom of the second only allowing a single and a walk, Joey faced the 6-7-8 hitters to start the bottom of the second. A fielding error, fielders choice, and a single loaded the bases before the Guards could record an out. The lead off hitter, on an 0-2 count, hit a ball directly to Travis Bazzana between first and second. Bazzana misplayed the ball, letting it go right past him and giving first base to the Kody Clemens. The second batter of the inning was hit to Brayan Rocchio who fumbled the throw to Bazzana. It didn’t reach the second baseman in time for the out. The third batter hit to Kyle Manzardo, who was playing off of first base. Manzardo second guessed throwing to second base, due to the runner being in the way, and Cantillo couldn’t reach first in time for the out at first, leaving the bases loaded. The very next batter popped foul behind first base. Kyle Manzardo had a read on it and seemed to catch the ball, but tripped over the covering Bazzana and dropped the ball in foul territory. Ultimately the Twins scored two in the second inning, giving Joey the loss on a bizarre inning. Cantillo fell to 7-4 on the season.

Franco Aleman came on in the sixth, throwing a scoreless inning and only allowing a hit. Eric Sabrowski pitched the seventh. Sabrowski gave up two hits and an earned run. A lead off single and a two out triple scored the insurance run for the Twins. The triple came on a rare, and I hesitate to call it this, miss from Steven Kwan. Kwan got his glove on the ball and would have made another Gold Glove catch, but the ball ricocheted off of his glove and was bobbled at the wall. This allowed Josh Bell to score from first. Matt Festa locked down the eighth, only giving up a hit in his scoreless inning.

The offense sat solely on Rhys Hoskins’ shoulders. Rhys hit a solo home run in the first inning for the Guardians only run of the game.

I don’t even know where to begin with pinch hitting Gabriel Arias for Kyle Manzardo in the top of the ninth with a runner on and two outs.

Marlins 6, Mariners 5

Fresh ceviche served seaside: Randy Arozarena, .26 WPA

Day old tuna heated up in the microwave: Dominic Canzone, -.30 WPA (I refuse to penalize Michael Rucker for the walk-off)

Game thread comment of the day:

Not a Hemingway fan, but my English-major heart had to appreciate this:

Justin Wrobleski faces Michael Lorenzen as the Dodgers host the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday.

TUESDAY GAME INFO

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Rockies
• Stadium: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As it turns out, when the Yankees patched up some holes Monday night for a win over the Rays, they did so with cheap duct tape.

Because a night later, the USS Yankee just took on more water as most of the problems that have been plaguing them of late came flooding back.

Will Warren put them in an early hole, their lineup continued to strike out at an alarming rate and another baserunning blunder cost them a chance at a rally as the Yankees fell to the Rays 6-4 in the second game of a crucial four-game showdown Tuesday at Tropicana Field.

The all-around ugliness sent the Yankees (50-41) to their 10th loss in their past 12 games and allowed the Rays (53-36) to regain a four-game lead atop the AL East.

“Sucks,” said Warren, who gave up six runs across four innings. “We all know what’s going on here, right before the [All-Star] break. Cam [Schlittler] pitched a hell of a game [Monday] night and I didn’t today. The bullpen held it down, we fought like hell there the last few innings and didn’t get it done, but we’ll come back [Wednesday] and strap it up again.”

For the second straight night, the Yankees struck out 17 times — 12 of them coming across 16 outs recorded by Rays lefty Ian Seymour — giving them 34 over their past two games, setting a new franchise record for any two-game span (30 was the previous record).

“That’s a lot of strikeouts,” said Cody Bellinger, who struck out twice and was thrown out on a wide turn around first base on a single in the sixth inning. “I knew we had 17 [Monday]. I didn’t feel like we had that many today. But the Rays, they notoriously got really good arms. Just got to continue to put the ball in play, do the little things right. Making that mistake in the sixth inning there myself was not the way to win a game. So we just got to continue to do the little things right.”

Paul Goldschmidt, who is now in the midst of an 0-for-30 skid, and José Caballero combined for eight of the strikeouts.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

The Yankees actually recorded 11 hits, their most in one game since June 17, but they were weighed down by the strikeouts en masse.

They entered the day with the fifth-highest strikeout rate in the majors (23.9 percent), but it has been accentuated during their brutal offensive stretch of late.

“We’re going to come in here and grind away [Wednesday] and try to get this thing turned around, get some guys going,” manager Aaron Boone said. “This is where we are. That’s the bed we’ve made. We’ve also been a very good offense much of the year. Right now, we’re going through it. We got to be better, clearly.”

Ben Rice, who had three hits, including a three-run homer, appears to be breaking out of his slump. But Goldschmidt remains in his, as does Bellinger, who is now 8-for-66 over his past 18 games since his last home run, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (10-for-51 over his past 16), among others.

And when those big bats are missing, mistakes on the bases like Bellinger’s loom especially large. After Seymour exited the game with one out in the sixth, Ryan McMahon lifted a single and Bellinger followed with a single to right field.

Bellinger, typically one of the best Yankees base runners, saw a high throw to third base, “but I wasn’t committed right away, so I took two steps and then at that point, it was too late,” as he was thrown out for the second out.

“That was a bad mistake and really unacceptable,” Bellinger said.

Once again, the Yankees spent most of the night chasing a deficit. Warren allowed three home runs — two to left-handed hitters, who have continued to give him trouble of late as he has pitched to a 6.21 ERA over his past six starts compared to 3.22 through his first 12.

The Yankees will have to figure out a way to get Warren back on track because Carlos Rodón and Max Fried are still weeks away from a return.

The same can be said for the offense, which will remain without Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton for the foreseeable future, meaning they must make do with what they have in-house.

“I don’t know if it’s approach. I think we got some guys clearly going through it right now and in a little bit of a funk and a little bit in between, coupled with we’re facing good pitching,” Boone said. “But at the end of the day, we got to find a way offensively, especially times when it’s challenging.”

The Tigers had Monday off to catch up on their errands, and on Tuesday night they opened up a six-game home stand and a three-game series against the Don’t-Call-Them-Sacramento Athletics. Their opponents made a giant mistake which ended up being the difference in a 6-2 win.

Tarik Skubal made his twelfth start of the year. He’s been good since returning from the Injured List, but very uncharacteristically he’s given up quite a few more home runs. Heck, on June 24 at home against the Yankees, he gave up a trio of taters in a losing effort. His previous start, also against the Yankees but in New York, was more in line with what we’re expecting from him: six innings, one hit, one earned run, nine strikeouts. Who would show up tonight?

Facing the Tigers for the A’s was JT Ginn, whose name I like a lot. (His “JT” and mine stand for different things; his stands for “John Thomas” which, if you know your Cockney rhyming slang, is pretty funny.) The right-hander’s left-right splits for batters has been vast: lefties are hitting .251 with a .740 OPS, righties are .169/.520. That’s why AJ Hinch stacked his lineup with lefties…

…and it paid off in the bottom of the first: Kevin McGonigle walked and Colt Keith followed with a long home run to right for a 2-0 lead.

The A’s got a pair of runners into scoring position in the top of the second with two outs, but Skubal got out of trouble with a top-rail strikeout of Max Muncy (the young one, not the older one with the Dodgers; there are two).

The very speedy Henry Bolte — not known for his home-run power, but see above regarding Skubal — hit a solo home run in the third to narrow the gap to 2-1. Apparently he has the highest sprint speed in Major League Baseball.

In the top of the fourth the A’s got two on with two out again with a single and a walk, but a soft line drive was easily handled by Zach McKinstry for the third out. By the end of four innings, some long at-bats had driven up Skubal’s pitch count to a not-so-svelte 78. His night would indeed be done after five innings and 96 pitches, and the only quibble I’d have with it is that it was short: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 9 K.

After four innings the A’s made a pitching change, going with lefty Jacob Lopez to face the lefty-heavy top of the order in the bottom of the fifth. Lopez is usually a starter, so perhaps the A’s were looking for some length from him. He was just called up from Triple-A Las Vegas today, presumably and particularly to face a bunch of Tigers lefties.

Kyle Finnegan took over from Skubal in the sixth, and he gave up a two-out single to rookie Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, his third hit of the night. Kuroda-Grauer thought he’d try for his first stolen base in the bigs, but he ended up getting picked off first by Finnegan to end the inning.

The Tigers would add four surprising runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth: Zach McKinstry walked and Spencer Torkelson followed with a single, putting runners at the corners. Ben Malgeri pinch-hit for James Outman; he swung on the first pitch and popped it up high behind first base, and some major A’s miscommunication resulted in the pop-up dropping, McKinstry scoring, Torkelson standing on third and Malgeri perched on second with a so-called “double.” As Malgeri’s first major league double, we’ll take it, but that may be reversed by the scorekeepers.

Matt Vierling followed with a two-run double to the right-field corner for a 5-1 lead. McGonigle followed with a single to centre to plate Vierling, pushing the score to 6-1. What a costly miscue that was!

Drew Anderson took over in the seventh and he hit Bolte with one out, and Bolte wasn’t exactly getting out of the way of it; let’s face it, he was taking a page out of Coach Ernie Pantusso’s book on that one. After a strikeout and an error at second base, a single scored the speedy Bolte to make it 6-2. Anderson plunked Jonah Heim to load the bases; he went 3-0 on Jacob Wilson, and the Tigers looked to be in big trouble. What did Anderson do? Perfect fastball on the outside corner, foul ball for strike two, rung him up looking on the corner because, of course, we just can’t do things the easy way, can we?

Jacob Waguespack came in for the eighth, and every time I recap a game with him in it, it takes me about three attempts to spell his name correctly. Three was also the number of batters he faced, retiring all of ‘em. In the bottom of the inning the Tigers got two runners on with one out, but a pair of strikeouts prevented any more runs from being scored.

Waguespack carried on into the ninth and he had no trouble dispatching the A’s there either, as the Tigers coasted to the victory.

Final score: Tigers 6, A’s 2

Little League Home Run Alert

Usually it’s the Mets making this happen, but sometimes the tables get turned.

Notes and Nibbles

• In case you missed it, the Tigers parted ways with third-base and infield coach Joey Cora. I know some people don’t like his windmilling ways, but let’s also not forget how good the Tigers have been on the basepaths for the past few years: constantly taking extra bases, to the tune of several extra runs per year over the average.
• Don’t look now, but with the victory tonight, the Tigers are 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. Wild, indeed!
• Despite being very fast, Henry Bolte’s last name is not said the same as Usain Bolt’s. If we were being fancy, we would add an accent: Bolté.
• Did you see the game Ryan O’Hearn had for the Pirates tonight? Grand slam, three-run home run, three-run home run; he added a single in the eighth for good measure. Ten RBI is a Pirates record, and that franchise has been around quite a while.
• Happy 98th birthday to sliced bread! The first pre-sliced bread was sold on this day in 1928 in Ohio. A lot of people out there are saying it’s the greatest thing since… something.

For all the ink that has been (rightfully) spilled about a struggling Yankees’ offense, the once-dominant starting rotation has gone under the radar in the blame game for the team’s poor play over the past two weeks. While injuries to Max Fried and Carlos Rodón have certainly thinned things out, the results speak for themselves over the last 11 games:

• 6.45 ERA
• The Yankees have scored first just one time
• Their starting pitcher allowed a run in the first seven times
• They’ve trailed before coming to bat five times
• They’ve allowed 4+ runs in the first four innings six times

Will Warren did not do anything to improve any of these numbers. He allowed six runs across four bad innings, failing to follow up Cam Schlittler’s brilliance last night. For once, he got real run support on an early three-run home run by Ben Rice, but the six he allowed would ultimately be too much, as the Rays took two big innings and beat the Yanks, 6-4, behind a whole lot of strikeouts by the Yankees and some huge pop from the bottom of their order. By fanning 17 times for the second consecutive night, the Yanks set an ignominous franchise record with 34 in a two-game span.

Seymour set the tone early with five strikeouts over the first two innings, giving up only a single to Rice in the first inning. While Warren started strong with two strikeouts in the first, the Rays got to him in the bottom half. Victor Mesa Jr. jumped all over a high fastball with one out in the second to open the scoring with a solo homer, but it didn’t end there.

With two out and the bases empty, he lost a pair of long at-bats to Richie Palacios and Hunter Feduccia, allowing a single and a walk. Doing that against the bottom of the order, especially in the Rays’ lineup, will bite you. Yandy Díaz caught up to a sinker on his hands to make it 2-0 after two on an RBI single.

Needing a response, they got to Seymour in the third. Max Schuemann laid down a beautiful bunt, and Trent Grisham dunked a double to left field to put two in scoring position with one out. Paul Goldschmidt struck out, but it was Rice to the rescue, as the first-time All-Star blasted his 26th home run of the season to the opposite field to make it 3-2 Yanks. That’s a good preview of next week’s Home Run Derby in Philly.

Warren recovered to retire the heart of the order in a row in the third, while Seymour struck out two more in the fourth. The game seemed to get a real pace to it with one out and an 0-2 count on Taylor Walls in the fourth, but things quickly spiraled after that for the Yankees’ right-hander.

Warren threw three uncompetitive pitches in a row before giving in on a sinker and giving up a single. That would be no biggie, but then he grooved a 1-1 sinker to Richie Palacios for a smoked RBI double to right-center field to tie the game. Two pitches later, the light-hitting Feduccia obliterated a bad 0-1 fastball to give them the lead. Three pitches after that, Warren hung a sweeper on 1-1 to Díaz and, yep, he gave up another homer, making it 6-3.

Warren has objectively not been good in the last month, but most of the time, he’s allowed three earned runs or fewer. This was a disaster in terms of location and velocity. His four-seamer and sinker are both sitting under 93, and for a guy who doesn’t rely on overpowering you, I’m concerned. He hasn’t missed a start since becoming a full-time major leaguer at the beginning of 2025, and I wonder if it’s catching up to him.

Now pitching with a lead, Seymour was dialed in. He struck out three more in the fifth to notch a career-high 12 strikeouts and eventually ended his day with one out in the sixth. It’s the second straight day that a guy who’s fairly average in strikeouts has logged a lot of them against the Yankees, who’ve seen their plate discipline tank across the board over the last three weeks. It’s not what you want.

Tim Hill got five quick outs across the fifth and sixth to keep the game in striking distance before Paul Blackburn took over and got four of his own. The Yankees tried to rally in both innings but didn’t get the big hit. In the sixth, Ryan McMahon notched a pinch-hit single with one out, and Bellinger had one of his best swings of the month to get him to third on one of his own, but he inexplicably got caught off of first after taking a wide turn. Of all the guys on the team, his play of late has been the most bizarre.

In the seventh, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and pinch-hitter Jasson Domínguez singled off Kevin Kelly to get the tying run to the plate, but they scratched just one run across on an Ali Sánchez sac fly. Grisham ripped a ball to deep right-center off Cam Booser on the first pitch he saw, but none of the five ballparks that would’ve been a game-tying homer in were this one. Goldschmidt completed the golden sombrero with a strikeout to end the threat (José Caballero later joined Goldy with four K’s on this unfortunate night).

Garrett Cleavinger came on for the eighth and worked around a leadoff single by Rice with two strikeouts. Brent Headrick did his job to get this to the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, but All-Star closer Bryan Baker finished the job for the Rays, locking down a 6-4 win for the AL East leaders. If you want to find some solace from this one, the Yankees recorded double-digit hits for the first time since June 17th.

The Yankees will look to take a 2-1 lead in this pivotal four-game set tomorrow night at 6:40 pm on Prime Video. It’s a battle of the aces, as Gerrit Cole squares off against a finally healthy Shane McClanahan.

Box Score

The Athletics took on the Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit today, hoping to end a three-game skid. J.T. Ginn got the start today against reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarek Skubal for Detroit.

After a walk to lead-off batter Kevin McGonigle, Colt Keith homered to deep right center field giving the Tigers an early 2-0 lead.

After Skubal struck out five of the first eight batters he faced, Henry Bolte launched his third homer of the season into left field bleachers. That cut the Tigers lead to 2-1.

Through four innings, both pitchers have allowed base runners, but since each gave up a homer, they’ve battled through, keeping the opposing team from scoring. Skubal left the game after five innings. He gave up just one earned run on five hits and two walks. He struck out nine.

Jacob Lopez replaced J.T. Ginn in the bottom of the sixth. Lopez was recalled today from AAA Las Vegas. Zach McKinstry walked and Spencer Torkelson singled. Pinch hitter Ben Malgeri doubled on a misplayed fly ball to right fielder Lawrence Butler. McKinstry scored. Matt Vierling doubled to right field, driving in Torkelson and Malgeri. Kevin McGonigle followed with a single, that drove in Vierling. When the inning was finally over, the A’s trailed Detroit 6-1.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Bolte was hit by a pitch, and Nick Kurtz singled. Shea Langeliers then singled, scoring the speedy Bolte easily from second. Jonah Heim was struck by a pitch with two outs loading the bases for Jacob Wilson. Wilson worked the count full but struck out looking on a borderline (but ABS-confirmed) four-seam fastball. Lopez set the Tigers down in order in the bottom of the seventh.

The A’s went quietly in their half of the eighth inning, and Elvis Alvarado entered the game to pitch the bottom of the eighth. While he gave up a hit and a walk, he also struck out three to keep the Tigers off the board.

The A’s could not muster any baserunners in the ninth and fell for the fourth consecutive game, 6-2 to the Tigers.

Given a chance at major league history under suboptimal circumstances, Ryan O'Hearn shortened up, rolled a single into right field, took his team-record 10 RBIs and went home.

Four home runs would have to wait for another night after O'Hearn began his night with a grand slam, followed by a three-run homer — and then another three-run homer in a 12-4Pittsburgh Pirates win against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, July 7 at PNC Park.

Yet given a chance to tie a major-league record with his fourth home run, O'Hearn strolled to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning and discovered he'd be attempting the feat against a position player.

Not only that, but Braves infielder Jorge Mateo was a former O'Hearn teammate in Baltimore. So after flailing at Mateo's first pitch, O'Hearn shortened his stroke and sent a little single into right field. Upon reaching first, he nodded at Mateo and grinned.

No history. But still plenty to smile about.

O'Hearn has been the best buy for the Pirates this year, now with 16 homers, 64 RBIs and an .820 OPS. On Tuesday, he victimized Braves starter Hurston Waldrep for a grand slam and three-run homer in the first and third innings, and then popped a third homer off reliever Connor Thomas.

And now, he holds the club record for RBIs for a franchise that began play in 1882. It's the first 10-RBI game in the majors since Shohei Ohtani did it in 2022; slugger Mark Reynolds had the previous feat, in 2018.

MORE: The Pirates finally spent some money. You'll never guess what happened next.

The Atlanta Braves traveled to PNC Park in hopes of picking up a much needed win after two heartbreaking losses in a row. Hurston Waldrep made his second start of season for the Braves and Paul Skenes was on the mound hoping to rebound from the worst stretch of his young career.

The Braves got on the board first when Matt Olson hit a double and Mauricio Dubón hit a sharp single to center field to make the score 1-0, but that was the only offense for the Braves outside of a Baldwin walk. Things went south shortly after that. Waldrep hit the first batter he faced, then Lowe, who hit a HR against Waldrep last time they faced off, hit a single. Waldrep then walked Reynolds to load the bases with zero outs. After Valdez struck out, Ryan O’Hearn then wasted no time and blew the game wide open with a grand slam to put the Pirates up by three. Gonzales also singled which prompted a mound visit. Waldrep finally was able to get the final two outs of the first inning after that.

In the second inning, the offense went just as you might expect with the bottom of the order. Riley and Jarvis both struck out, and Yastrzemski flied out. Waldrep looked to have settled down in the bottom of the second. He was able to induce a pop up followed by two groundouts.

The Braves struck again in the third inning to put them within two runs when Harris hit a double followed by an Albies single that scored Harris. That would be the only offense in the third though as Skenes retired the next three hitters. The third inning for Waldrep was almost identical to the first. He walked Reynolds, then gave up a single to Valdez, and then O’Hearn took him deep yet again to make the score 2-7 for the Pirates. O’Hearn had seven RBI in three innings. Waldrep then got two groundouts but then struggled a bit again when he Triolo singled followed by a Davis walk. After yet another mound visit Waldrep got the final out of the third with another groundout.

The fourth inning saw the bottom of the Braves order again. Smith popped out, but Riley was able to get a single, but that momentum was squashed when Yastrzemski hit into a double play to end the top of the inning. Waldrep stayed in the game for the fourth inning. He was able to strike out Lowe but then walked the next two hitters he faced which finally got him pulled for newly promoted Connor Thomas. Waldrep ended his night with seven earned runs on six hits to include two HRs, five walks, and two strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched. Thomas then forced two groundouts to end the inning.

It looked like the Braves may get something going in the fifth when Jarvis and Harris had back-to-back singles, but then Albies popped out and Olson hit into a double play. Thomas stayed in the game to pitch and retired the side on five pitches.

In the sixth Dubón had a double, but that was the only offense for the Braves. You will never believe this, but in the sixth inning Ryan O’Hearn hit a HR again. This time it was a three-run HR again which gave him his tenth RBI of the game. That is not a type. Ten RBI in a single game that all came from HRs.

Skenes was finally replaced in the seventh inning, but that did not matter because the Braves were sat down in order. The subs came in for the Braves in the bottom of the seventh signaling the white flag. Thomas stayed in the game and gave up yet another run by issuing two singles and a walk in the inning, but he did pick up two strikeouts.

The eighth did not go any better for the Braves. The subs were in and Kyle Farmer grounded out, Matt Olson struck out, and Joey Bart grounded out. Jorge Mateo, obviously a position player, came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth. He walked the first batter he saw, then O’Hearn finally got stopped from hitting a HR, but singled. Gonzales then singled to make the score 2-12. Callihan singled to load the bases but then Mateo was able to get Davis to ground into a double play.

José Azócar was now in the game in the ninth and singled. Dom Smith hit into a fielder’s choice and then Austin Riley had his second hit of the game with a double. Yastrzemski hit a two-run single that brought the Braves’ run total to four. That was it for the game though because Jarvis grounded out and Harris popped out.

There is no sugar coating it. The Braves looked totally defeated. They need an All-Star break real bad. Hopefully they can end the losing streak tomorrow.

Arizona Diamondbacks (45-45) at San Diego Padres (44-46), July 7, 2026, 6:40 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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Will Warren gave up three home runs and the Yankees bats struck out 17 times in their 6-4 loss to the Rays on Tuesday night.

The Yankees have struck out 34 times in the first two games of the series, a franchise record for a two-game span. The loss undoes Monday's series-opening win as New York (50-41) is back to being 4.0 games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the AL East.

Here are the takeaways...

-After an easy first, Warren pitched into trouble in the second. After allowing a one-out homer to Victor Mesa Jr., which wrapped around the right field foul pole, Warren allowed a single, walk, and a single with two outs, allowing the Rays to take a 2-0 lead.

The Rays would get to Warren again in the fourth. Richie Palacios hit an RBI double before No. 9 hitter Hunter Feduccia slammed a two-run shot to give Tampa a 5-3 lead. Yandy Diaz followed up with a solo shot.

Warren went 4.0 IP (75 pitches/48 strikes), allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out three. He allowed three home runs.

-The Yankees bats struggled mightily. But a big moment in the game came in the sixth. After Cody Bellinger hit a one-out single and Max Schuemann went first-to-third on the hit, Bellinger got hung up between first and second for the second out. Jose Caballero struck out to strand the runner at third.

In the seventh, back-to-back singles from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the pinch-hitting Jasson Dominguez put runners at the corners with no outs. Ali Sanchez pushed across a run with a sac fly. Trent Grisham flew out and Paul Goldschmidt struck out -- after Dominguez reached third on a two-base throwing error on a pickoff attempt -- to end the threat.

-Ben Rice, who announced his participation in this year's Home Run Derby, gave the Yankees the lead in the third with an opposite-field three-run shot. His 26 homers are tied with Junior Caminero for second in the AL. Rice went 3-for-4.

Caballero started at shortstop for the second straight game. Caballero went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

-The Yankees bullpen behind Warren kept the team in the game. The combination of Tim Hill, Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick allowed just one hit and one walk in 4.0 innings pitched.

Game MVP: Ian Seymour

The Rays southpaw's only mistake was the three-run shot to Rice, but Seymour struck out 12 Yankees in his 5.1 innings of work.

Highlights

DERBY READY.

Ben Rice's 26th home run! pic.twitter.com/M7MkmTt5XH

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 7, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Rays continue their four-game series on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6:40 PM.

Gerrit Cole (3-3, 4.01 ERA) will take on Shane McClanahan (7-5, 3.05 ERA).