Category: Baseball

Rays 3, Rangers 2

• What an unpleasant series.
• The Rangers allowed 7 runs in this series but still lost two of three, due to scoring just 6 runs.
• That’s pretty terrible.
• The Rangers rolled with a bullpen game in this one. The pitchers the Rangers used: 1) Cole Winn, who is only still on the roster because he’s out of options; 2) Marco Gonzales, who was out of baseball in 2025, was picked up in June after being released by the Padres after posting a 7.99 ERA in AAA, and who was promoted by the Rangers after putting up a 8.64 ERA for Round Rock; 3) Peyton Gray, was was pitching in Indy League ball in 2022 and 2023, and in the Mexican Pacific Winter League from 2022-25, before being signed by the Rangers prior to the 2025 season; 4) Robby Ahlstrom, who was in AAA and not on the 40 man roster at the start of the season; and 5) Ben Peoples, who has been pitching professionally since 2019, had never pitched above AA until 2025, and who made his major league debut for the Rangers this season after they acquired him from the ChiSox, for whom he was toiling in AAA.
• This rag-tag crew of misfits held the Rays to three runs.
• They held the Rays to two runs for 7.2 innings. Peoples gave up a homer to Cedric Mullins with two outs in the eighth, a solo shot that was the winning run.
• I want to bitch about how that’s what you get for having Ben Peoples be the guy who has to pitch in a tie game on the road in the eighth inning, but Peoples didn’t throw a bad pitch, and Mullins sliced a not terribly well hit pop fly the other way that barely made it over the fence right by the foul pole.
• With Shane McClanahan starting, the Rangers opted to go the bullpen game route so they could save Nathan Eovaldi to pitch the opener in Houston on Friday. And the Rangers need to sweep the Astros — currently a half-game back — in order to earn the tiebreaker, which is important. It did feel like they were sort of sacrificing this game to improve their chances in Houston.
• And yet, the coterie of relievers pitched well enough for the Rangers to win.
• Sadly, the Rangers only had two hits in the game.
• Its hard to win a game when you only register two hits. A lot of people don’t know that.
• One run came on a Joc Pederson pinch hit grounder that should have been a double play but instead was an error, allowing Ezequiel Duran to score. Duran had reached on a hit by pitch, and advanced to second on a Brandon Nimmo walk then to third on a Jake Burger fly out.
• The other run scored when Wyatt Langford doubled off of Craig Kimbrel, driving home Alejandro Osuna, who had singled ahead of Langford.
• That’s right, the two hits the Rangers had came in back-to-back at bats, a day after the only three hits the Rays recorded came in a four batter stretch to start the game.
• Strange things are afoot at the Tropicana Dome.
• The Rangers did draw an impressive eight walks, so that’s something, although the inability to get hits meant that none of those eight walks came around to score.
• The Rangers even drew a pair of walks in the ninth, the first of which was originally called a strike on a 3-2 pitch, but which Nicky Lopez successfully challenged. Langford drew a two out walk to put the tying run on second, but Ezequiel Duran fanned to end the game.
• After the Pederson RBI E6, Evan Grant said that the Rangers had caught a break by Taylor Walls having booted a potential inning-ending GIDP, and having tied the score on the play, really needed to score more runs in the inning.
• The problem is that Cam Cauley and Nicky Lopez were due up next. No shade on the two of them, but if you team needs to score runs in an inning, and Cam Cauley and Nicky Lopez are due up, your needs will probably go unmet.
• Cole Winn topped out at 95.5 mph with his fastball. Marco Gonzales hit 90.9 mph with his fastball. Peyton Gray reached 94.5 mph with his fastball. Robby Ahlstrom’s fastball topped out at 95.4 mph. Ben Peoples hit 96.7 mph with his fastball.
• Brandon Nimmo had a 108.1 mph groundout. Alejandro Osuna had a 104.9 mph single. Wyatt Langford had a 103.9 mph double, a 100.6 mph groundout and a 100.2 mph fly out. Jake Burger had a 102.8 mph fly out. Cam Cauley had a 100.2 mph groundout.
• Three down, three to go.

The Dodgers all-American League homestand continues this weekend facing the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers haven’t yet named a starting pitcher for Friday, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting on Saturday. Presumably that means a bullpen game. Ranger Suárez starts for Boston, the first of three consecutive left-handed starting pitchers for the Red Sox during the weekend series. The Dodgers are 19-12 in games started by opposing southpaws this season.

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Red Sox
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

San Francisco Giants (46-62) at San Diego Padres (55-53), July 30, 2026, 6:40 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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The MLB trade deadline is approaching and teams are having discussions on whether they intend to deal players or stand pat.

The Athletics are a team that many in baseball thought could make a run at the wild card, but they have slipped to having the second-worst record in the American League at 45-63.

The 2026 trade deadline is officially scheduled for Monday, Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. PT. A .417 winning percentage is typically enough for teams to consider a massive overhaul of the roster, but not the A's. They're sticking with their guys.

“We’ve built this team for the long haul. I’m not looking to break the team up. Just because we’re not in a playoff race doesn’t mean you’re selling off pieces," A's general manager David Forst said on A's Cast. "I don’t feel compelled to make a trade just because the deadline is Monday.”

The A's have added standout prospects and formed a promising young core that is expected to be together for years to come. The Athletics' opening day roster was one of the youngest in all of baseball at an average of 27.4 years old, according to Statista.

ESPN's coverage of Major League Baseball continued Thursday, July 31 with the Washington Nationals visiting the Atlanta Braves.

But when host Kevin Connors sent the network's pregame coverage from ESPN's studios in Bristol, Connecticut to Truist Park in Atlanta, a familiar name was included in the send-off: Karl Ravech.

Despite Ravech being part of the latest round of layoffs at ESPN, a person with knowledge of his status with the network told USA TODAY Sports Thursday evening that Ravech was given the option to call a few select MLB games this summer. The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of his contract publicly.

The supposedly laid off Karl Ravech is in the booth calling Braves-Nationals for ESPN tonight 🤨 pic.twitter.com/HieiM61kgE

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 30, 2026

MLB trade deadline LIVE updates: Rumors, news, deals as clock ticks

The 61-year-old Ravech is also expected to once again call the Little League World Series for ESPN; he has served as a play-by-play voice for the tournament since 2006, and the lead voice of the LLWS championship games since 2011. The 2026 Little League World Series gets underway on Wednesday, Aug. 19 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

In addition to serving as a longtime play-by-play broadcaster for ESPN's Major League Baseball and LLWS coverage, Ravech had called college basketball and college baseball for ESPN, and even anchored SportsCenter during his tenure.

Here's what to know:

TV: NESN
First Pitch: 9:40 p.m. ET
Location: Sutter Health Park, Sacramento, Calif.

The Red Sox are aiming to secure yet another series victory over the Sacramento Athletics on Thursday at Sutter Health Park.

Boston has been superb recently, having put itself in a position to win a seventh consecutive series with its torrid 23-5 stretch through July.

Sonny Gray will toe the rubber after perhaps his worst start of the season, having allowed five runs his last time out against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 25. It’s expected that he’ll be able to bounce back since… well, he’s done it time and time again. Red Sox manager Chad Tracy has made a couple of changes, adding Anthony Seigler, Masataka Yoshida, and Jarren Duran to the fold while benching Jahmai Jones, Romy Gonzalez, and Nick Sogard.

Mason Barnett will look to get things on the right track for the A’s.

Nick Kurtz will return to the lineup after exiting early on Wednesday.

The Red Sox will move on to play the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend, with the series beginning Friday at Dodger Stadium.

Mason Miller continues to raise his stock as the MLB trade deadline looms.

Miller, 27, recorded his 28th save of the 2026 season to seal the Padres’ 3-1 win over the Rockies on Wednesday — their fifth victory in a row.

Miller’s work has helped the Padres rise right back into the playoff race with just over two months left in the regular season. San Diego now sits 1½ games out of a National League Wild Card spot.

Miller’s recorded his last three outs on pitches clocked in at a blazing 102, 104, and 103 miles per hour.

At the end of Wednesday, FanGraphs listed the Padres’ playoff odds at 17.5%, the highest they have been since the end of June.

Many teams across the MLB are shopping for relievers, and Miller has easily been the best closer in baseball so far this season. Through 44 appearances this year, Miller has posted a 0.79 ERA with 85 strikeouts, and hitters are batting just .135 against the righty.

The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reported last week that Padres general manager AJ Preller wanted to be in a position to buy by the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

San Diego began the second half with five losses in seven games, but seems to be trending in the right direction recently.

It’s not Miller’s first experience with trade deadline talk. He was in a similar spot last season when San Diego acquired him at the deadline from the Athletics in exchange for highly-touted 19-year-old shortstop Leo De Vries, who is now the No. 2 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that teams interested in Miller should have “nobody off limits in [their] organizations,” meaning teams who are serious about acquiring the elite closer will likely have to be willing to part with some elite talent.

On Saturday, interim manager Andy Green promised that A.J. Ewing would “punch back” amid a minislump. 

The rookie outfielder may have been listening, because he has responded in a major way. 

At the time, Ewing was in a 3-for-22 slide with eight strikeouts. He was expanding the zone after being so patient early on in his big league career. Since then, he has found his groove, going 5-for-10 with five runs scored and three stolen bases.

The Mets lineup won all three games he started — Ewing was given the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader off against the Braves. 

“I feel good and have felt good about him as a competitor,” Green said before the Mets opened a four-game series against the Marlins at Citi Field on Thursday night. “He doesn’t carry a lot of fear with him into the batter’s box. As I mentioned, you go through stretches throughout the course of the season where walks come in bunches, strikeouts come in bunches, home runs come in bunches. It was just a matter of time before he had more winning at-bats. We saw that the last couple of days. He doesn’t take fear into the box. He’s in a good spot right now.” 

Ewing, 21, has been a major bright spot in an otherwise dismal season for the last-place Mets. Along with fellow rookie outfielder Carson Benge and young starting pitchers Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and Zac Thornton, Ewing has provided reasons to believe a better future is ahead in Queens. 

In 68 games, Ewing is slashing a solid .273/.344/.417 with a .762 OPS, seven home runs and 14 stolen bases. He has a WAR of 2.7, according to Baseball-Reference.

The Mets’ fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft has become a mainstay in the leadoff spot and has impressed in the outfield. This wasn’t expected, with Ewing starting the year at Double-A Binghamton. Injuries and underperformance forced the Mets’ hand and he has run with the opportunity. 

“We expected him to get more than 12 games at Triple-A, I think that’s very fair to say,” Green said. “Did we believe that the shortness of the swing and the athlete would play quickly in the big leagues? How quickly no one ever really knows. I certainly believe he had attributes that you can point to and believe pretty strongly that was going to have respectable early returns. He’s done better than that. I’m not shocked by that by any stretch. But it’s definitely been a quality start to a young major league career.”

The next few days are all about Monday’s trade deadline for the Mets, and what president of baseball operations David Stearns can get in return for the team’s assets that include Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes, Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley, Luis Robert Jr., A.J. Minter and Huascar Brazobán. 

Then, it will turn to the future. Ewing is a big part of that. 

The San Diego Padres welcome the San Francisco Giants to Petco Park on the strength of a five-game win streak. The offense has shown it is capable of winning big and the pitching has shown it can hold the lead in close games. While not all the games have been clean, they had all resulted in a win for the Padres. San Diego will try to extend its winning streak to six games in front of a what is expected to be a large crowd on a giveaway night.

San Francisco is coming into the series after a blowout win over the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers. The Giants have lost Casey Schmitt to the IL, but despite their record they have shown an ability to give teams problems. There is still star power on the team with Rafael Devers and Willy Adames so the Padres should not expect a potential sixth win in a row to come easy.

Taking the mound

JP Sears (SD) v. TBD (COL)

JP Sears will get the start for San Diego against San Francisco. He has been solid in his outings at the major league level this season with the exception of the game in Chicago at Wrigley Field. Sears has a 3-3 record and a 3.86 ERA in 28.0 innings. The expectation is the left-hander will work a handful of innings before the pitching chaos approach takes over for San Diego.

San Francisco had still not announced a starting pitcher at the time of this report.

Batter up!

The Padres just needed one three-run inning to beat the visiting Rockies, but they need to get back to scoring in multiple innings to give their relievers some room to work. The big inning, if you want to call three runs a big inning, was all the San Diego pitching staff needed to get the win.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
3. Manny Machado, DH
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Gavin Sheets, LF
7. Sung-Mun Song, 3B
8. Xander Bogaerts, SS
9. Luis Campusano, C

It is hard to imagine Luis Rengifo coming out of the lineup, but he has cooled slightly at the plate. He has shown an ability to provide some power off the bench if needed and could be used in that role. It seems that every time the trio of Tatis, Machado and Merrill are productive the Padres win. San Diego will hope its stars shine tonight to open the series.

Relief corps

Adrian Morejon got the day off yesterday, but Mason Miller pitched in back-to-back days. Morejon may be used in the closer role if the situation calls for it. Randy Vasquez should be the first out of the ‘pen behind sears and the chaos will ensue after that. No matter how they get it done, if the Padres walk away with a win, the bullpen has delivered.

Sean Burke was lights out for six scoreless innings. Ryan Weathers of the Yankees was equally as good, but for seven.

Each starter gave up only three hits, Burke walking two and Weathers three, with Burke winning the battle of the K’s with 10 (one short of his career high) to Weathers’ four.

Burke was amazing. He came nowhere near the plate against the first two Yankee batters, but then Edgar Quero came out for a chat and must have had magic words, because Burke then struck out seven of the next eight. Quero has many defensive weaknesses, but apparently a silver tongue.

The Sox bullpen followed with five scoreless innings, allowing only the Manfred Man to score in the 10th. Sean Newcomb handled two of those innings, albeit he had some nice help, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. following up a leadoff single in the seventh by dumbly wandering off base and easily being picked off, and Braden Montgomery making a nice grab in right.

The inning before, Braden got an assist when Jasson Domínguez dug for a triple with no outs, and, in an act of huge stupidity, overslid third by about 10 feet. Or maybe 20. That was just one example of Yankee brainlessness in the game, following through on losing Wednesday largely because of a dumb defensive move — it’s one thing to hit badly with three of your best hitters injured, but that doesn’t mean you have to park your brains in the clubhouse. The White Sox smartly took advantage.

Domínguez followed up his next time out by striking out on a pitch that was helmet high with two on and one out in the eighth. So he didn’t exactly atone.

With the pitchers in total domination, the game was 0-0 through regulation, reportedly the first such case between these two teams in 58 years. The Yankees helped the scorelessness by going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position to that point — the Sox had many fewer such opportunities.

On to the extras, for the second game in a row.

The Yankees scored their Manfred Man in the 10th on a Trent Grisham single with one out, but Chris Murphy got Ben Rice and Domínguez (yep, him again) to fly out.

The Sox matched the run when sub catcher Ali Sánchez — Yankee goat of last night — was unable to block a bouncer, sending the Manfred Man to third, and Andrew Benintendi hit what would have been a routine grounder, but went through the drawn-in infield for an RBI single. Chase Meidroth, who had walked three times earlier, ended the inning by hitting into a double play.

In the 11th, Will Venable dared to send Seranthony Domínguez to the mound, which probably had all available Sox fans throwing stuff at their TVs. He somehow didn’t give up a run.

That put the Sox in great shape. Meidroth began the 11th on second, Munetaka Murakami was intentionally walked, Miguel Vargas struck out, and Sam Antonacci beat out an infield single to first to load the bases.

At that point, Yankee reliever Fernando Cruz apparently decided he wanted to get an early start for home, so why bother keeping the game going? Since Sox batters couldn’t be counted on to hit in a run, he ran the count to 3-0 on Colson Montgomery, but after a couple of get-me-over strikes, Colson decided to swing at a ball that was bouncing in, making it bases loaded, two out.

Frustrated that he couldn’t walk in Colson, Cruz absolutely insisted on handing the Sox the game by throwing four straight balls to Tristan Peters, not a one of them remotely close.

Thus, it was 2-1 Sox, and a split of the four-game series. That runs their record to 57-51, with a trip to Tampa Bay for the weekend coming up. Erick Fedde (5-6) is scheduled to face Nick Martinez (10-2) tomorrow, and it’s highly unlikely the Rays will be nearly as boneheaded as the Yankees.

White Sox MVP
Duh — Sean Burke, 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K

Runners-Up
Fernando Cruz, for walking in the winning run
Jasson Dominguez, for a bunch of dumb stuff
(yeah, yeah, they’re on the other team — so what)

Cold Cat
Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery, 0-f0r-10 with 5 Ks between them

‘Thankful' Robbie Ray finally acknowledges trade rumors after Giants' win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN DIEGO — The first trade of Robbie Ray’s career came before his MLB debut and the second came a year later, when he had just 28 big league innings under his belt. It was six years before the next one, and he followed that deal by winning a Cy Young Award for his new team. The fourth trade of his career happened while he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. 

The fifth almost certainly will be finalized over the next four days, and it might be the Giants pitcher’s last. Ray is 34 now, and he has a large family. He is close to reaching the point where every offseason will be spent wondering if he wants to go through the grind again, or trade it all in for rides to Little League and soccer practice. 

But for any scouts who were watching Thursday night, he made sure to show that he’s not there yet. 

If this was Ray’s final start with the Giants, he went out on a high note, and he certainly showed that there’s plenty left in that arm. Ray gave up just one run over six innings in a 4-1 win over the San Diego Padres, and when they put a runner on in his final frame, he reached back for 95 mph to blow away Manny Machado. 

This run he has been on has been about grinding through innings and traffic, but there are still quite a few lightning bolts left. The rest will just probably come elsewhere, a likelihood that Ray finally acknowledged late Thursday night. 

The veteran has said for weeks that he’s ignoring the noise, but he couldn’t do that after this win. He has been around long enough to know that Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey almost certainly will send him elsewhere before Monday evening’s MLB trade deadline. 

“I tried to put everything out of my head leading up to this start, but yeah, it obviously comes up now that this could be my last start in a Giants uniform,” Ray said. 

The 22nd appearance of his 2026 MLB season got him to 10 wins and lowered his ERA to 3.08. Over his last seven, it’s a microscopic 1.09.

A few weeks ago, before this stretch started, Giants officials were concerned that they wouldn’t get many offers at all for Ray, but that’s no longer the case. He’ll be one of the best starters available at the deadline, and while his MLB playoff appearances have not gone well, he at least has those reps under his belt. By this time next week, Ray should be in some contender’s rotation. 

On Thursday, he said he hadn’t thought about the fact that he might be leaving a 47-62 team for a shot at the postseason. His focus for the last four months has been simple: Put up zeroes, give the Giants a chance every five days. 

“I felt like this whole year, it’s been a tough year,” he said. “As a team, we’re not where we want to be, but I feel like I’ve put myself in a good position, going out every day and trying to give my team a chance to win.”

Ray came to the Giants in what amounted to a double salary dump. Farhan Zaidi had his share of mistakes, but he was masterful at getting out from under contracts that had turned sour, and he flipped Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani to Seattle in 2024 for Ray, who was recovering from surgery at the time. 

Ray’s first start as a Giant was a memorable one — five hitless innings at Dodger Stadium — and partially led Zaidi to keep that rotation intact, hopeful that it could lead the Giants through the second half. That didn’t end up being the case, but Ray came back to make the All-Star team in 2025, and this season he again has stayed healthy and productive. 

“I’m super thankful to be given the opportunity mid-rehab to come over here and continue the rehab process with the guys they have over here. The training staff has been amazing,” Ray said of his journey. “And just (being) given the opportunity to pitch, I think that’s the biggest thing, getting back on the field and doing what I love to do.

“They’ve given me a chance to come back from that injury, and I’m just thankful for that.”

The start on Thursday was his 60th as a Giant, and it’s hard to know where the next will come. Both Chicago teams need a pitcher like Ray, and the Atlanta Braves certainly could use another veteran arm. The Padres, who went with a bullpen game Thursday and will do so again Friday, had to be impressed. That at least would solve some travel headaches for the Ray family.

The left-hander tried to avoid the rumors over the past few weeks, but he knows that he now has to keep his phone close. He has been through this a few times before, and once again, he’s pitching well enough that someone is going to come calling. 

“I feel like I’ve been locked in lately,” he said. “I feel like my last few starts, my last two in particular, I was kind of on cruise control. I didn’t really feel pressured my last two starts all that much. I just felt like I was kind of in a flow state kind of the whole time. 

“I felt comfortable with all my pitches in any situation, and I think as a starting pitcher that’s kind of where you want to be, to be able to turn over a lineup three times, and I feel like that’s kind of where I’m at right now.”

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Shohei Ohtani will not be in the starting lineup for the Los Angeles Dodgers' home game against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday, July 30.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated that Ohtani was out of the lineup due to an ongoing knee issue that has kept him off the mound since before the All-Star Game.

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers' president of baseball operations, told reporters on July 29 that Ohtani’s knee is the reason he’s not pitching right now.

Another injury came to light after Ohtani mentioned during his recent media availability that he's dealing with right biceps discomfort.

SAN FRANCISCO — When the Giants board their charter jet home from this seven-game road trip, the passenger manifest will look different than the one on their flight to San Diego.

“There’ll be changes, for sure,” manager Tony Vitello acknowledged Wednesday, a few days ahead of his first trade deadline leading a major-league clubhouse.

Even after series wins over the Angels and Brewers, the Giants’ position as one of a handful of definitive sellers hasn’t budged. They ended Wednesday 16 games below .500, one of five teams buried 10 or more games out of a playoff spot.

Although Luis Arraez boarded the plane Wednesday night, and Robbie Ray is slated to start Thursday’s series opener, neither player is likely to be on the flight back from Texas.

Tyler Mahle, Heliot Ramos and any number of relievers could also be dealt before the 3 p.m. PT Monday trade deadline. They could also unload Willy Adames or Rafael Devers, if they can find a trade partner willing to take on their bloated contracts with more than $100 million left on each.

“For any team that makes a change throughout the league, it is a little bit of a restart to the season,” Vitello said. “Or a fresh start, of some sort.”

Arraez is viewed as possibly the most likely player to be on the move in all of baseball, given his exceptional two-way play and status as a free-agent to be. But the seemingly inevitable end of his brief but memorable tenure in San Francisco is something he prefers not to think about.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Arraez said when asked Wednesday about the looming deadline. “I just try to be focused and play my game. I don’t want to think about trades or anything. I just try to go out there and do my job.”

It should have been harder than most days for Arraez to keep his focus on the field as the Giants wrapped up their homestand with a feel-good 16-3 win over the Brewers. If all goes as expected, it would be the last time he takes the field in front of the fans at Oracle Park.

Arraez’s signing was met with mixed reactions from a fanbase who doubted his ability to play second base and the utility of his contact-oriented hitting style. Only six months later, in what could have been his finale in front of the same fans, no player generated more cheers.

Forced to confront reality afterward, Arraez expressed his gratitude to the fans for their quick embrace and the organization for giving him a chance when no other team would.

Despite their record, Arraez said his time in San Francisco has been “amazing.”

“Especially [because] they gave me a real opportunity to play second base,” he said. “I really appreciate the organization. They gave me an opportunity to go out there and play second base. Nobody trusted me and the organization trusted me to play second base. I really appreciate that. …

“[The fans] are amazing. Everyday they cheer for us. And they get loud everyday. I love the fans. I want to say thanks to them.”

It would have been hard to script a more appropriate sendoff for Arraez in front of the home fans. If it was his final time wearing the Giants’ home cream uniforms, he got everything out of them, just like everything he does.

There was a small hole in the left knee of the pants and dirt stains still there from a diving play he made to his right in what may end up being his final act with the Giants, a fitting bookend to his defensive transformation and dedication to his work with infield coach Ron Washington.

“He literally had to go full speed and then extend full out on that play,” Vitello said. “So that’s how his day ended. It kind of marks what kind of day he had. But you could really just stack up all the days together. He’s playing phenomenal baseball.”

Even during the lowest doldrums of the Giants’ lineup early in the season, Arraez provided a rare bright spot with a customary hit or two almost every night. On this afternoon, he collected four, raising his average to .331, overtaking the Marlins’ Otto Lopez for the major-league lead.

Logan Webb bestowed him the highest compliment, calling him a “modern-day Tony Gwynn.”

“He’s an unbelievable hitter,” Webb said. “I wasn’t a fan of him because he’d get hits off me and his power takes are incredible. But getting to know him and become his friend and teammate and see the work he puts in everyday, it’s pretty special.”

Even teams going nowhere have to field nine players, and there are still plenty of fans passing through the turnstiles at the corner of Third & King — 35,399 for a weekday matinee — who are paying to be entertained. Without Arreaz, that will only get harder.

“He made everybody’s day better,” Vitello said. “Pick any fan you want, [media], players, coaches – literally made everyone’s day better, everyday. There wasn’t any days off, either.”

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The Atlanta Braves are opening up a series at home against the Washington Nationals where they hope to get some momentum going before the trade deadline on August 3rd.

Grant Holmes will be facing Jake Irvin for the second time this season. In that game both pitchers performed well, but it was Irvin who came out on top with 5.0 innings of one hit ball. Irvin has not pitched since that game and may need to shake off some rust today.

The Braves and Nationals are both in the top three in runs scored this month, so it looks to be a shootout, but that was said the last time these two pitchers faced off and that was not the case. Baseball can be funny sometimes. Here is to hoping the Braves’ offense can shake off their underwhelming performance against the Mets and start this series off with a bang.

Follow along with us in the comments.

First pitch is at 7:15 EDT.

Lineup

Preview

With the August 3rd deadline looming larger by the day, the Nats hit the road and head to Atlanta. Dropping the Jays series felt like a missed opportunity, especially with this four gamer approaching. However, the Nats are road warriors and will have the chance to show that yet again in Atlanta.

With a righty on the mound, Blake Butera is going with a lefty heavy lineup. Dylan Crews is the only true right hander in the lineup, playing center field and hitting third. CJ Abrams is back at shortstop, with Nasim Nunez sliding to second and Jorbit Vivas moving to third. Keibert Ruiz is back behind the dish. After missing a lot of time with a shoulder injury, Jake Irvin is back in the fold to make one of the biggest starts of his career.

The Braves lineup features a familiar cast of characters including Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin and Ozzie Albies. One Braves mainstay who is not in the lineup is Austin Riley, who has had a difficult season. Mauricio Dubon will take his place at third. Right hander and Kenny Powers lookalike Grant Holmes is on the mound.

Game Info:

Stadium: Truist Park

Time: 7:15 PM EST

TV: ESPN

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

This is a nationally televised game where the Nats have a chance to show the world their elite offense. It is also a massive game in the Wild Card race. They need to win to stay above .500 after dropping that Jays series. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!