Category: Baseball

The Dodgers needed 28 innings to complete a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, as they took the finale 6-4 in a 10-inning affair on Wednesday.

The Dodgers were the first to start the scoring for a third consecutive game, as after an infield single from Mookie Betts, Kyle Tucker and Kiké Hernández smacked a pair of two-out singles to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead against Kyle Freeland in the top of the second. It was Hernández’s first RBI since May 26, where he hit a solo home run against Freeland.

Freeland worked around a two-out walk to Teoscar Hernández for a scoreless third inning, but Betts got to him again in the top of the fourth as he launched the fourth home run against him in his career, giving the Dodgers a two-run lead. It was Betts’ first home run at Coors Field since June 28, 2023.

After Tucker slapped his second single against Freeland, Kiké Hernández launched a sky scraping fly ball just over the left field wall to extend the lead to four runs. Hernández now has two home run and five RBI on the season— both home runs and four RBI have come against Freeland. Freeland got Ben Rortvedt to line out for the second out, but after clutching his back, his night was done after tossing just 66 pitches. Kevin Harvey of the Denver Gazette reported that Freeland left the game due to neck tightness.

Mark Manfredi came in relief of Freeland, making his major league debut, and after allowing a pair of two-out baserunners, he retired the next four men he saw. His first career strikeout at the big league level came against Freddie Freeman in the top of the fifth, giving the Dodgers first baseman a three-strikeout game after going 5-8 over the first two games of the series.

It was a bounce back outing for Roki Sasaki, as he managed keep his strong second half of the season alive. Sasaki faced trouble in the bottom of the second, as a walk to Brett Sullivan put men on the corners with two outs. Sullivan tried taking second base on the first pitch to Ezequiel Tovar, but a strong throw from Ben Rortvedt gunned him down to get Sasaki out of trouble.

The Rockies put runners at second and third with just one out against Sasaki in the bottom of the fourth inning, and a bad route from Teoscar Hernández on a line drive from Adael Amador cost Sasaki the chances of a scoreless outing. Sasaki held on to retire five of the next six hitters he faced, but his night was over after tossing 99 pitches over five innings.

Seven hits were the most that Sasaki had allowed in any start since the All-Star break, and it was the first time that Sasaki failed to get through six full innings for the first time in August. Despite that, he was able to limit the walks from five in his previous start to just one on Wednesday, with the strikeouts increasing from two to six. Sasaki has now lowered his ERA to 4.42 on the year, which includes a remarkable 2.63 ERA over his last seven starts.

Brock Stewart made his return from injury, tossing a perfect bottom of the sixth inning while striking out two.

Former Dodgers prospect Nick Frasso faced the Dodgers for the first time in his career, as he went two scoreless innings while allowing just one hit— a double to Freeman— and picking up a pair of strikeouts.

Alex Vesia was one out away from a perfect bottom of the seventh inning, but after allowing a two-out, four pitch walk to Jake McCarthy, Mickey Moniak made him pay with a towering two-run home run to right field, evening the score at four.

Jack Dreyer and Kyle Hurt kept Colorado at bay over the eighth and ninth innings respectively, while the Dodgers offense couldn’t collect anything against both Jaden Hill and Jordan Romano, leading to an extra inning affair. Teoscar Hernández put runners at the corners to begin the 10th inning with a single to left, and Freddie Freeman brought home the ghost runner Pages with a sacrifice fly, giving the Dodgers the lead and their first run since the fourth inning. Mookie Betts made it a two-run inning with an RBI single to center field, giving him a three-hit game.

After getting two quick outs on two pitches, Tanner Scott needed seven pitches to strike out Jordan Beck and lock up his 18th save of the season.

The Dodgers finish the season series against the Rockies with a 10-3 record, sweeping them once at home and on the road. With the Milwaukee Brewers falling to the Seattle Mariners, the Dodgers are now 1 1/2 games back for the best record in the National League.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Mookie Betts (16), Kiké Hernández (2); Mickey Moniak (20)
• WP— Kyle Hurt (4-1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts
• LP— Jimmy Herget (0-5): 2/3 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 0 walks, 0 strikeouts
• SV— Tanner Scott (18): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Thursday and will be back at home on Friday to open a three-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates (7:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Yoshinobu Yamamoto faces right-hander Bubba Chandler.

The Yankees are hoping they've avoided another potential injury after Ryan McMahon was pulled from Wednesday's game against the Orioles with an apparent thumb injury.

With New York down 1-0 in the second, McMahon laced an RBI single to right field. The third baseman tried to stretch the hit into a double and jammed his left thumb into second base as he was tagged out. McMahon writhed in pain before he walked to the dugout. 

McMahon would come out to play defense and take a few at-bats after, finishing 1-for-3, but was ultimately pulled later in the game.

Ryan McMahon ties the game with a single but was tagged out trying to stretch it into a double and hurt his left hand pic.twitter.com/DE1K6WHcgJ

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 19, 2026

"He’s getting an X-ray now. We’ll see what we have there," Aaron Boone said after the 5-3 win. 

The Yankees skipper said McMahon was ok to play defense, but the third baseman admitted that he couldn't grip the bat very well, and with the game as close as it was, it was probably best to pinch-hit for him.

" After his next at-bat, it felt like in a tie game he wasn’t gripping the bat great," Boone said. "So I was going to do it no matter what." 

Jose Caballero wound up pinch-hitting for McMahon in the eighth with runners on first and second and two outs. Caballero was hit by a pitch to prolong the inning for George Lombard Jr. to come through with an infield single to break the tie. 

McMahon spoke with the media, including MLB.com's Bryan Hoch, after the game and said that his left thumb was "a little sore" but that the initial results of the X-ray are positive. While he hopes to play in Thursday's series finale, it'll depend on how he feels. He also expects more testing to be done in the coming days. 

"I jammed it in there pretty good," McMahon said. "As the game went on, I wasn't able to bend it much."

The Orioles have right-hander Kyle Bradish on the mound Thursday, so McMahon would start under normal circumstances. If he's unable to go or the Yankees are cautious with their third baseman, Caballero will likely get the start at the hot corner.

BALTIMORE — Ryan McMahon exited Wednesday’s 5-3 win over the Orioles in the top of the eighth with a left-hand injury suffered sliding into second base in the top of the second.

The third baseman, who initially remained in the game, underwent X-rays that McMahon said didn’t show any damage, although there will be more testing Thursday.

“It’s a little sore,’’ McMahon said of his thumb, which got caught on the slide when he was thrown out trying to stretch an RBI single into a double.

As the game went on, McMahon said there was more swelling, so he let Aaron Boone know, and with the game tied in the top of the eighth, Boone opted to pinch hit José Caballero for McMahon with two on and two out.

Caballero ended up getting hit by a pitch to load the bases, and George Lombard Jr. followed with a go-ahead infield single.

McMahon said he hopes not to miss much time.

Despite their ongoing issues at the plate — the Yankees entered Wednesday with the second-worst OPS and second-fewest runs scored in the majors since losing Aaron Judge to a fractured rib — Boone strongly defended his hitting coaches.

“I think they’re great,’’ Boone said. “As a group headed by [hitting coach James Rowson], they’re very prepared. I think they work very hard. I think they’re providing the right things. Look, it’s been a struggle. I get it. I have a ton of confidence in our leadership there. We’ve just had a hard time getting results, but watching how they go about it, how they prepare, watching things said in meetings, watching what they’re giving players, [I have] a ton of confidence.”

Even so, Boone acknowledged he didn’t anticipate the prolonged funk the lineup has found itself in.

“It’s surprising,’’ Boone said. “We have some key pieces missing. With that creates challenges. We have a number of guys in a pretty good place, but they’ve probably all underperformed what I think they are individually. Hopefully that levels out moving forward because we do expect to be better.”

Perhaps the return of Cody Bellinger, who is scheduled to play in a minor league rehab game with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, will help.

But there is still no known timeline for Judge’s return.

“We’ve had a hard time for us, results-wise,’’ Boone said. “I don’t think it’s a result of who’s leading them.”

Boone said Max Fried had “another good day” Wednesday after being placed on the 15-day IL Monday with what was termed an elbow bone bruise but is actually inflammation near the elbow.

The Yankees traded catcher Christian Bethancourt to the Pirates for cash.

He appeared in eight games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after signing a minor league deal with the Yankees last month following his release by the Cubs.

The 34-year-old Bethancourt was part of a catching group at SWB that includes another veteran, Mitch Garver, and J.C. Escarra.

Garver was signed to a minor league deal following his release by Seattle earlier this month after the Yankees were unable to trade for a catcher.

He entered Wednesday 2-for-8 in three games with SWB.

While Austin Wells has hit better of late — and continued to perform well defensively — Ali Sánchez has mostly struggled in a backup role.

Bethancourt last appeared in the majors with Chicago in 2024.

Don’t look now, but the Braves have a real division race on their hands after leading solidly for most of the season. This comes with a tough stretch of games incoming against the White Sox, Brewers, and Dodgers. The Braves aren’t playing especially well right now and fWAR doesn’t indicate that they should be leading the division at all, although run differential does. The offense continues to dramatically underperform its potential and theoretical talent level, which it has really since the all-time great season in 2023 for various reasons. The rotation is a known issue and the bullpen hasn’t been as dominant of late, still missing Robert Suarez. The Braves find themselves in a vulnerable position here in late August, even as they maintain a 4.5 game cushion in the division and a 7.5 game cushion in the wild-card (though let’s really hope that number never becomes relevant). If they finish strongly this year, it may be another offseason of significant flux for Atlanta, setting aside the CBA drama.

Braves News

Matt Powers recapped the Braves’ lowest level minor league affiliate’s season, including a number of major IFA signings.

The Braves lost their third straight to the Twins as they head off for a single game against the White Sox and then a two-series gauntlet against the best two teams in baseball.

MLB News

The Phillies signed once-Yankee starter Nestor Cortes, as he works his way back from arm surgery.

The Yankees traded cash to the Pirates for one-time Braves top prospect Christian Bethancourt.

Mets’ infielder Jorge Polanco will get season-ending ankle surgery.

BALTIMORE – Pete Alonso struck the ball so high and so far, the foul pole wasn’t high enough to stop it. It exited so quickly, third base umpire Will Little was reduced to guesswork as he hustled down the line to make a snap decision.

Yet the Baltimore Orioles will tell you the most important factor in the most pivotal point in this game was what wasn’t there: The technology to make a definitive call rather than rely on guesswork and inconsistent television replays.

They lost a 5-3 game to the division rival New York Yankees Wednesday, Aug. 19 at Camden Yards, yet it was a 3-3 game, bottom of the seventh, two outs and the Yankees hoping that lefty reliever Brent Headrick could hang on and retire one of the most feared right-handed sluggers in the game.

Alonso ambushed him.

He clocked a first-pitch slider far over the left field fence some 333 feet from home plate, sauntered a few feet down the first base line and tried his best body English to will it fair. Headrick popped off the mound and crept toward the third base line.

Players in both dugouts hung over the railings to get a better look.

Foul ball.

Orioles manager Craig Albernaz asked for a crew chief review. Little complied. Alonso stood with his bat in foul territory, watched the replays along with the 26,453 fans on hand and believed vindication would come.

Instead, the verdict from New York confirmed what Little saw – yet what a replay from a down-the-line camera seemed to contradict.

Foul ball. Still.

What would have been the go-ahead home run from Pete Alonso was upheld as a foul ball after review pic.twitter.com/Induc0V7qO

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 20, 2026

The Orioles soon fell apart, yielding go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth. But their frustration was only beginning, as Albernaz, Alonso and starting pitcher Chris Bassitt all believe the technology exists to avoid potential error.

And Bassitt believes Major League Baseball is simply too cheap to utilize it.

“Obviously, I think it was fair. But after the call, it’s just crazy we still have this issue,” Bassitt said in the Orioles clubhouse. “We might be the only major sport with an issue like this. It’s been years that we have technology they can easily use to say, ‘This is exactly the right thing or wrong thing.’ The fact we don’t have it in 2026 is crazy. That’s my take.

“It’s not so much that they got the right call or wrong call. You’ll ask the general public and get a 50-50 answer. It’s just the fact we don’t have the technology in play to actually say 'hey, this was fair or foul' is literally crazy in 2026. It’s crazy.”

And why does it not exist?

“It costs money. That’s it. That’s literally it,” says Bassitt, a former member of the MLB Players’ Association executive council. “You ask a fan of the game who’s a true fan of the game, they’d want those cameras. You’d ask every player. Every coach.

“It costs money. That’s it. That’s literally it.”

Alonso cites the Hawk-Eye technology that is used to power the automated ball-strike system and believes it can be transferred to fair-foul calls that affect hulking sluggers like him with great frequency.

He said he’s been told the main reason it doesn’t exist is because all 30 major league ballparks have different dimensions from the plate to the outfield fences.

It’s easy to forget that Sal Stewart is still two weeks away from his one year anniversary as being a big leaguer. Called up by the Cincinnati Reds on September 1st of 2025 when rosters expanded, he hit the ground running back then, too, but his 2026 season just continues to show that the Reds may just have stumbled upon an unyielding force within their lineup for as long as they choose to have him.

The Reds offense is the absolute pits. It’s the stinkiest, most lethargic unit in the league, a position player corps that ranks dead last in fWAR, wRC+, and half a dozen other metrics you can read about if you can stomach it. Still, somehow, Sal has managed to hoist the entirety of the team onto his shoulders when things mean the most, and he now once again sits as the MLB leader in RBI after his performance on Wednesday night in Great American Ball Park.

The Reds got shut out yesterday. They had scored 1 (or fewer) runs in 6 of their most recent 10 games played. They were being shut out by Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore until Sal unleashed an absolute unit of a homer off the batter’s eye in CF in the Bottom of the 6th inning on Wednesday, a shot of the 3-run variety when the Reds had been trailing 2-0.

The future of the Reds is now, even if now they aren’t quite good enough just yet. Sal’s big smash gave the Reds the lead after fellow metal youngster Chase Burns held the Cardinals to just 2 ER in his start. The kids are not just all right, they’re damn destroyers of the paths of those unwilling to yield, and the long and short of it is that the front office of the Reds damn well better find more help for the leaders who’ve emerged to keep this club’s head above water so far in this otherwise dismal 2026 season.

Sal Stewart’s going to sock 30 dingers and drive in 120 runs this year. He’s only going to get better from here, too, as the kid – he’s a kid! – is still younger than Baltimore Orioles youngster Jackson Holliday, fellow Reds rookie Edwin Arroyo, Burns (by almost a year), Jac Caglianone, Jasson Dominguez, Chase Petty, and just about every single other dude out there still being dizzied by the world around them at that age.

Sal, though, is already over it. He’s just here to knock the shit out of the ball and win games.

The high for the Brewers coming off their 22-0 victory over the Mariners the night before was very quickly brought crashing back down to Earth on Wednesday night.

Seattle attacked Brewers starter Dustin May, who did not have his best stuff, early and often. The first three batters reached base, going single-single, double to quickly put two runs on the board. May rebounded to get Julio Rodriguez and Josh Naylor to make outs and seemed like he was on the path to get out of the inning. But then he gave up walks to Cole Young and Cal Raleigh to load the bases for Taylor Ward, who ripped a 2 RBI single.

What did not help during that first inning was William Contreras using up both of the Brewers ABS challenges on pitches that were not even close to the zone. The Brewers were behind the eight-ball early. It ended up being a 35-pitch first inning for May.

“He’s trying to keep May from struggling. He’s trying to get him on track so I understand it, that you went out of the box to do that…but he was wrong on both and it didn’t seem like they were that close.” Pat Murphy said. “So sometimes it’s harder than you think. He’s been really good at it and there he wasn’t.”

Contreras is 7-for his last-21 on challenges from behind the plate, by the way.

Things did not get better in the second inning. May allowed the first three batters to reach base again. Then a Rodriguez sac fly and Naylor single pushed across more runs and the Mariners were up 7-0 before the Brewers came up to bat a second time.

That would be all for May, who gave up seven hits and generated just two whiffs on 66 pitches in two innings.

The Brewers were able to start chipping away in the bottom half of the second when Joey Ortiz lifted a two-run shot over the left field fence for his seventh of the year.

They continued to have traffic on the bases in every inning, but were unable to scratch anything across until the 6th, when back-to-back walks from Contreras and Yelich chased starter Logan Gilbert from the game. Andrew Vaughn punched a single and the bases were loaded with nobody out for the bottom of the order. Luis Lara struck out, but Joey Ortiz was able to get a run home on a sacrifice fly. Cooper Pratt, who returned from the IL today, struck out to end the inning.

All the while the Brewers bullpen was shutting down the Mariners offense that was rolling through the first two innings. Grant Anderson, DL Hall, Bryse Wilson, and Antonio Senzatela combined to shutout the Mariners over the final seven innings of the ballgame. That gave the Brewers a chance to fight back.

The Brewers were able to plate a few more runs in the 8th against Seranthony Dominguez. Vaughn walked, Lara singled, and then Joey Ortiz delivered again with his fourth RBI of the night with a single to bring home Vaughn. With runners at the corners and nobody out, Cooper Pratt bounced into a 4-6-3 double play, which brought home another run to make it a 7-5 ballgame, but killed the momentum in the process.

“Yeah, (Pratt) didn’t have good at-bats. We’ve seen him have good at-bats in big situations, but he’s a young player, just like Lara in the bases loaded situation. It’s really unfortunate.” Pat Murphy said. “Those kids are 21, sometimes in this league, when you’re 21, you make those kinds of mistakes.”

In the 9th, Milwaukee went down in order against Mariners closer Andres Munoz.

In the end, going down seven runs by the second inning was too big of a hole for the Brewers offense to climb out of. They had some big opportunities in the 6th and 8th innings, but were unable to get the big hit and fully capitalize. That sets up the rubber match for Thursday afternoon with Robert Gasser on the mound for the Crew.

RubberDucks 6, Senators 10

Jace LaViolette is starting to show some life after being promoted to AA. He went 2-5 with a HR and three RBIs tonight. It’s not surprising to see him struggling at a new level. He had a super rought start to the season as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if he is one of those players who takes a little bit to adjust at new levels. Nolan Schubart went 1-2 with two walks and a HR of his own. He is now hitting .301 with a .988 OPS since being promoted to AA. Dean Curley has also really been on fire lately after a slow start to AA. He went 2-4 tonight and is hitting .385 over his last 10 games.

It was a rough game for the RubberDucks pitching staff. Ryan Degges, who has been awesome for the Ducks, allowed three earned runs in 5.1 innings tonight with three strikeouts and two walks. His ERA is now at 1.93 on the season. It has been a disaster season for Dylan DeLucia. I had high hopes for him coming into the season but he has been rough. His ERA is up to 6.80 after giving up 4 more earned runs in just 1.2 innings pitched tonight.

Captains 3, Timer Rattlers 5

For the Captains we saw a few multi hit performances. Welbyn Francisca continues his awesome season going 2-5 to bring his average up to .290 on the season with an OPS of .939. Tommy Hawke went 2-5 with an RBI and is now hitting .282 with a .763 OPS. Tyler Howard has been awesome since his promotion to Lake County. He went 2-3 with a walk tonight and is now hitting .323 with a .971 OPS since his promotion.

Aidan Major tossed three scoreless innings on two hits tonight, despite walking three batters and striking out just two. His ERA on the Captains is now down to an impressive 2.57.

Howlers 4, RiverDogs 3

15th round pick Alejandro Garza has gotten off to a great start to his pro career. He is hitting .421 with a .929 OPS after going 2-5 tonight. Now that Juneiker Caceres has been promoted, Reiner Herrera is the clear most interesting prospect on this Hill City team. He went 1-2 with three walks tonight and is now hitting .247 with an .867 OPS since being promoted to Hill City.

Ryan Prager had another great outing. He was able to pitch four scoreless innings while striking out six and walking two. His ERA on the season is down to 4.30.

For a few innings anyway, Ethan Pecko was the center of the Astros universe on Wednesday Night.    Fortunately for Pecko, his bullpen mates were hovering in the same cosmos.     Astros 3 Angels 2.     

Making his major league debut, Pecko would flirt with danger, but went largely unscathed during the opening three frames.    However, in the fourth, Vaughn Grissom would draw a walk, Josh Lowe then singled, and on Denzer Guzman’s double to deep left, each runner would score on controversial fan interference.       Pecko would go 3.2 IP, striking out four, issuing a trio of walks, 3 hits and 2 earned runs.    Bennett Sousa would come on and close out the frame for Pecko.      Pecko would become the 17th different starting pitcher this season for the Astros, which leads the majors.     You’d have to go back to 1965 to find an Astros club to use this volume of arms.

Speaking of arms, the Astros would use the bullpen combination of Sousa, Blubaugh, Okert, Abreu and Hader who performed 5 1/3 scoreless work to lock up a much-needed victory.      Hader would notch his 18th save of the season.

It was the bottom of the fourth inning when the Astros would reclaim the lead which they’d never relinquish.  Jose Altuve’s 16th double of the year brought home Yordan Alvarez, tying things at 2.    Then, Cam Smith would execute a sac fly, scoring Isaac Paredes.     

The night also featured some unfortunate sequences.    Jeremy Pena would sustain a right-hand contusion on a hit by pitch.    Nick Allen would replace him.      In the top of the third inning, Joe Espada would be ejected for arguing a hit by pitch call on Mike Trout.    Bench Coach Omar Lopez stepped in to fill that role.    

The Astros first run of the night came courtesy from Christian Vazquez.    He would deposit a sinker from Urena into the Crawford Boxes in the third, putting the Astros ahead 1-0.    It was his 7th home run of the season.    

The win means Houston is now a game over the .500 mark at 64-63.     They’ve snapped a 3-game losing skid.      They now lead the A.L. West by 2 games over the Rangers.   

Odds & Ends:

Wednesday night was the 500th career relief appearance for Josh Hader.   

Peter Lambert will attempt to win the rubber match on Thursday Night.     First pitch is once again set for 7:10pm CDT.     Lambert has recorded 117 strikeouts this season.    

The Cubs have signed shortstop Jackson Cluff to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Iowa.

In the eighth inning of the Pelicans game, there was a 32-minute delay as someone in the Pelicans dugout suffered a medical emergency. The person, and I don’t know who it was at the moment, was taken away in a ambulance. It was not anyone in the lineup as they all returned to the field for the ninth inning.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were caught hibernating by Toledo Mud Hens (Tigers), 2-1.

It was another strong start for Kohl Franklin, who pitched five innings and allowed just one run on five hits. (And according to Iowa broadcaster Jason Kempf, the run should not have counted.) Franklin struck out four and walked one.

Hoby Milner pitched the sixth inning. He gave up a leadoff single, but then retired the next two batters in order and the runner on first was then thrown out trying to steal. Milner struck out one.

Jaxon Wiggins pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, striking out two.

Ethan Roberts came on for the ninth inning and took the loss when he allowed a two-out, walk-off double. Roberts allowed one run on two hits over two-thirds of an inning. He did not strike anyone out.

Matt Shaw started at second base and played five innings in a rehab assignment. Shaw was 1 for 3.

Catcher Owen Ayers was 3 for 4 with an RBI single in the first inning. He was also 2 for 2 in throwing out runners trying to steal.

Ayers RBI single.

Ayers throwing out two runners.

Knoxville Smokies

The suspended game from yesterday and the regular scheduled game in Pensacola were washed out again. The suspended game will be completed on Thursday followed by a seven-inning regularly scheduled game. Tonight’s second game has not been rescheduled and will only be if deemed necessary.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs crashed against the rocks by the West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers), 9-0.

Starter Braylon Myers took the loss after getting rocked for six runs on six hits over four innings. Two of the six hits were home runs and one of the runs was unearned. Myers struck out two and walked no one.

Lance Alwood made his South Bend debut in the fifth inning. Alwood allowed two runs on two hits and a walk over his inning of work. Alwood struck out one.

Edwardo Melendez made his South Bend debut next and was much better. He allowed just one hit over three innings, but it was unfortunately a solo home run in the seventh inning. Melendez struck out five and walked just two.

South Bend had just three hits.

DH Kade Snell was 2 for 4 with a triple.

Catcher Brennan Hudson was 1 for 2 with a walk.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans lost to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (Astros), 19-1.

Starter Jubrayker Salaya couldn’t find the plate and got blasted for four runs on two hits and five walks over just 1.1 innings. He also hit a batter. Salaya walked five-straight batters in the first inning and then hit the sixth one. He struck out one.

Pelicans pitchers walked 17 batters and hit two. And no, they did not use a position player.

Left fielder Caden Sorrell tripled in a run with two outs in the ninth to avoid a shutout. He was 2 for 5.

Shortstop Derniche Valdez was 2 for 4 with a double.

Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow is ready to return.

The All-Star made his final rehab start Wednesday night for the Oklahoma City Comets and was absolutely filthy on the mound. Glasnow retired 16-of-18 batters, including a consecutive stretch of 11 hitters.

The right-hander tossed 5.1 innings, allowing one run with nine strikeouts and one walk. Though, Glasnow didn’t give up the run he was charged with.

Manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday’s rehab start would be Glasnow’s final one before rejoining the rotation.

Prior to landing on the injured list with back spasms in May, the right-hander was 3-0 with a 2.72 ERA across seven starts.

Glasnow’s return signals an almost fully healthy rotation as the Dodgers are still waiting on Shohei Ohtani to return, but the two-way star has also made strides in his recovery.

Based on his performance for OKC, Glasnow looks primed to dominate in an already stacked unit that boasts Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell. Since he was traded to the Dodgers in 2023, Glasnow has dealt with injuries every season.

The good news is Glasnow appears to be fully ramped up and will aid the Dodgers in their quest of a third consecutive World Series title.

Though there are questions surrounding other areas of the team, the Dodgers’ rotation is unequivocally strong. LA will likely lean on the unit to carry it through October.

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The Texas Rangers didn’t score a run but the Washington Nationals scored six runs.

Everything that was fun and nice and enjoyable about last night’s game was immediately extinguished by tonight’s game. It was a complete reversal of an experience down to a nearly fully flipped final score.

The Rangers are hope vampires hunched over a desiccated corpse with a silly straw jammed in its neck.

Player of the Game: Did the Rangers have a good baseball player tonight? Kumar Rocker allowed two runs in five innings. That’s not bad. The problem is, once he allowed the first run, it felt like the Rangers were down 10-0 and it only got worse from there.

Up Next: The Rangers close out this series against the Nationals with RHP Jacob deGrom expected to make the start for Texas against LHP Andrew Alvarez for Washington.

The Thursday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be telecast via the Rangers Sports Network.

Mariners 7, Brewers 5

Wednesday’s performance: Dominic Canzone, +0.17 WPA; Taylor Ward, +0.11 WPA; Andrés Muñoz, +0.09 WPA

Tuesday’s performance: Seranthony Domínguez, -0.05 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

The Athletics took on the Kansas City Royals in the penultimate game of their four-game series. For the second straight night, the A’s offense did its job, with the team holding a multi-run lead entering the final two innings, only for its arguably worst-ever bullpen to implode. While last night’s collapse felt like a small earthquake, tonight’s was more like a volcanic eruption of awfulness.

A’s Strike First

The A’s wasted no time putting last night’s heartbreaking defeat behind them, jumping on Royals starter Seth Lugo in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Henry Bolte singled and scored from first on Jeff McNeil’s RBI double. McNeil then scored on Zack Gelof’s RBI single, giving the Athletics a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning.

Springs Avoiding Danger Early

Making his first start since coming off the injured list, A’s left-hander Jeffrey Springs prevented an immediate response by tossing a scoreless first inning. He ran into trouble in the second inning, issuing two consecutive walks before escaping the jam by retiring the next two hitters.

Springs’ command problems continued in the bottom of the third, as he issued his third walk of the game before hitting a batter with a pitch. The A’s southpaw escaped again, getting Maikel Garcia to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Fourth Inning Momentum Swing?

In the top of the fourth inning, A’s right fielder Lawrence Butler’s baserunning woes returned. After hitting a leadoff single, Lugo immediately picked him off first base.

The Royals cut their deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth. Designated hitter Salvador Perez’s RBI double brought home first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who had led off the inning with a single. Springs kept the visitors in the lead by retiring the next three batters, stranding the tying run at third base.

Top of A’s Order Delivers Again

Seeking to extend their lead, the Athletics got back-to-back one-out singles from Donovan Walton and Max Muncy in the fifth inning. Bolte made it three straight singles against Lugo, with his base hit scoring Walton to put the A’s ahead 3-1. McNeil followed with a fourth consecutive single, scoring Muncy to give the A’s a 4-1 lead. Gelof’s RBI force out brought Bolte home for the A’s third run of the inning.

Springs Tires

The Royals scored a second run off Springs in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Pasquantino hit his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot to right field. Springs’ outing ended after he allowed Carter Jensen’s two-out single. He allowed two runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings, walking three while striking out one. Springs did a good job of pitching to contact, inducing six groundouts and three flyouts.

Bullpen Time

Right-handed reliever Scott Blewett replaced Springs and got the final out of the sixth inning, striking out Kyle Isbel with the tying run at the plate. In the seventh inning, the Royals turned to their bullpen, with right-hander Alex Lange replacing Lugo. A’s reliever Elvis Alvarado, who allowed the game-winning hit yesterday, rebounded by pitching a scoreless seventh inning.

A’s Bullpen Blows It Again

Alvarado did not return for the eighth inning despite throwing just 10 pitches in the seventh. Facing new A’s reliever Hayden Juenger, Garcia led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, advancing to third on Butler’s fielding error. Pasquantino’s third hit of the game, an RBI single, cut the A’s lead to two runs.

Juenger failed to retire any of the three batters he faced, exiting in favor of left-hander Drew Rom with two Royals on base and no outs. Isbel did not waste the opportunity, lining an RBI single with the bases loaded to make it a 5-4 game. The next batter, Isaac Collins, tied the game with a sacrifice fly that came close to being a go-ahead grand slam.

The Royals were not done against Rom. Kansas City took the lead on John Rave’s bases-clearing double. Rom finally recorded the third out, but not before the Royals had batted around and scored seven runs against the Athletics’ league-worst bullpen. What was A’s manager Mark Kotsay thinking putting these two scrap-heap guys in this high-leverage situation? For the second straight night and the third time in the past few weeks, the team’s bullpen allowed a big inning, turning a multi-run lead into a sizable deficit.

With two outs in the ninth inning, Muncy hit his sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot off Royals reliever Steven Cruz, to make it a 9-7 game. That was as close as the Athletics got in another defeat emblematic of what this season has become.

Where Do the A’s Go From Here

Given the number of heartbreaking and embarrassing defeats the Athletics have endured this season, there need to be consequences. Whether that means a managerial change or an overhaul of the majority of the bullpen before next season, something must be done to set the A’s up for success moving forward. At this point, it might be best for a lockout to wipe out next season, giving the Green and Gold a clean slate as the franchise begins its Las Vegas tenure.

In the meantime, the A’s have to play out the remaining 35 games on their schedule. With a competent bullpen, the Athletics could have won today and yesterday, setting themselves up for a chance at the series win tomorrow. Instead, the A’s must win tomorrow afternoon to avoid suffering a dreaded four-game sweep in this series between two last-place clubs. A’s rookie left-hander Gage Jump will look to play stopper again, while the Royals will counter with right-hander Randy Dobnak.

The Athletics have the only bullpen worse than the Royals by ERA in 2026. For the second night in a row, they let Kansas City take away a Sacramento lead. The Royals took the game 9-7 and set up a possible four game sweep for tomorrow afternoon.

The day started poorly for Seth Lugo who gave up three consecutive hits to the first three batters of the game. All three were hard hit ground balls that found holes. Henry Bolte, Jeff McNeil, and Zack Gelof hit the ball 110, 105.8, and 102.9 mph respectively while giving the Athletics a quick 2-0 lead. McNeil’s was a double as Jac Caglianone was playing near the right field line and Kyle Isbel was shaded into left field while Jeff hit the grounder to right center which was wide open. Lugo then settled in and got through the fourth with seeming ease.

The Royals had multiple opportunities to get to Jeffrey Springs, but failed to cash in a couple of them. Springs walked two batters in the second and then walked one and hit Jac Caglianone in the ribs in the third. Four free base runners in two innings with none coming around to score. Finally, in the 4th, Vinnie Pasquantino’s leadoff single set the table for their first score after Springs had a very awkward attempted pitch that he was not able to throw and balked Vinnie over to second base. Salvador Perez promptly jumped on a pitch and drove it to the left center gap to score him and make the score 2-1. That ribbie makes Salvy officially second all-time in RBIs at Kauffman Stadium behind only George Brett.

Jac Caglianone was pinch hit for with John Rave in the 5th due to ankle soreness. He evidently tweaked something hustling for a single in the first and they decided to pull him after hanging in there through four. It sounds like it was precautionary and not serious. That’s a good call with at this point in the season.

Lugo ran into his second round of trouble in the 5th inning. With one out and no one on Donovan Walton singled up the middle and the other Max Muncy did as well. Bolte followed that with a third consecutive single through the left side that scored Walton on a poor throw from Tyler Tolbert allowing the other two to move up to second and third. McNeil hit the fourth single in a row on an odd golf swing to score one more. A third RBI came when Gelof grounded out, but McNeil held up long enough to get him to first instead of a double play allowing Bolte to sprint home. A’s 5 and Royals 1.

Kansas City got some offense going in the 6th to try and close the gap. Vinnie pulled a solo home run to right with one out for his 500th career hit.

Then with two down, Carter Jensen singled and ended Jefferey’s night. Sacramento brought in Scott Blewett who gave up another single to Tolbert and another opportunity for the good guys with runners in scoring position. Kyle Isbel could not keep the rally going though, so the inning ended 5-2.

Seth did not come back out for the 7th, so he ended the night at 6IP, 9H, 0BB, 3K, and all 5 runs were earned. Alex Lange was the first Royal out of the pen and took care of the 7th with a tidy one two three. Elvis Alvarado did the same for the Athletics in the bottom half. Craig Kimbrel followed suit. The bullpens were just mowing everyone down after the single Blewett gave up.

There was finally some more offense in the 8th beginning when Maikel Garcia started the inning with a single off Hayden Juenger, but it turned into three bases on an error from Lawrence Butler. Pasquantino drove a ball at 109 MPH off the pad at the top of the wall to just miss a second home run on the night and bring in Garcia to cut the lead to two. It was the fourth time Pasquatch had reached base on the night. Salvy walked to follow that and Juenger left without recording any outs on the night. Drew Rom came out of the visitor’s pen next and got Jensen to line out to center. It was deep enough to move Vinnie to third, but that did not end up mattering as the next batter, Tolbert, walked to load the bases. Kyle Isbel jumped on the first pitch and hit a ground ball through the left side moving all the runners up one base and making it 5-4. Isaac Collins had come in to pinch hit for Nick Loftin back in the 7th and now had a chance to tie the game up, which he did by driving a ball to the warning track in center allowing all three runners to tag up. Now last night’s hero, Bobby Witt, had second and third with two outs so the A’s intentionally walked him to reload them for Rave. Rave cleared the bases with a double to the right field corner and gave the Royals their first lead of the night 8-5.

Maikel Garcia kept it going with his second hit of the inning by singling to right and plating Rave. The 8th ended with Pasquantino’s first out of the night. He was the 11th Royal hitter of the inning, and they managed 7 runs in the frame.

The Royals bullpen is also adept at giving up leads, but Steven Cruz has been very good since he blew up a bit on June 21st, so he came on to try and lock the game down in the 9th. It was no longer a save situation with the Royals having a 9-5 lead. He gave up more than one run for the first time since that June game though and made the 9th a little more interesting than KC wanted. After getting Carlos Cortes and Jonah Heim to begin the inning, Walton singled to right with two down. Max Muncy then got ahold of one to center for a 2-run home run to cut the lead 9-7. It went back to the top of the lineup and Henry Bolte who grounded it to third. He is the fastest player in baseball on the basepaths this year making it less routine than maybe it should have been, but he was thrown out and the Royals sealed the win.