Category: Baseball

The A’s got the job done this afternoon in the series finale, beating the Houston Astros 7-6 in the series finale and getting to ride home on a high.

More to come…

The White Sox have developed a flair for dramatic finishes at the Mets’ expense.

For the second time in three days, the White Sox walked off the Mets with a home run, as New York took a tough 2-1 loss Sunday in Chicago. Tristan Peters blasted his first career walk-off homer to center field off Kodai Senga in the bottom of the ninth inning, voiding an otherwise good day for the Mets pitching staff.

Nolan McLean pitched six shutout innings for New York, but the Mets lineup missed several opportunities against Chicago’s pitching staff. The White Sox didn’t fare much better offensively, finally breaking through with a run in the eighth to take a 1-0 lead, and scoring again with Peters’ walk-off.

The Mets’ lone run came in the ninth inning on an RBI single by Jared Young. Young’s hit tied the game 1-1 and set up rookie AJ Ewing for a chance at the biggest hit of his fresh career. Ewing struck out with the bases loaded against White Sox reliever Grant Taylor to end the rally and set the stage for a disappointing ninth. Ewing also had a chance at snagging the Peters’ homer, in what would have been one of the best catches of the year. He couldn’t quite grab it as the Mets dropped the series rubber match.

Senga’s move to a ninth-inning arm had been going well in a limited sample size, earning four saves in as many tries. But with no room for error Sunday, Senga was on the hook for the loss, bringing his season record to a brutal 0-9.

McLean was cruising early, striking out five of the first nine batters, but briefly struggled in the third inning. Sam Antonacci got the White Sox’s first hit before McLean walked Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas to load the bases. Fortunately for the Mets, Andrew Benintendi was next up for Chicago. Benintendi had three at-bats with the bases loaded in Saturday’s game, but only came away with a sacrifice fly. McLean struck out Benintendi to keep the White Sox off the board, but more than doubled his pitch count to survive the third.

Quickly bouncing back, McLean didn’t allow a runner into scoring position over the next three innings. The young right-hander allowed just one hit but walked four across his six shutout innings. Dedniel Núñez picked up where McLean left off with a scoreless seventh inning. However, Daniel Duarte couldn’t keep the shutout going as Benintendi redeemed himself with an RBI double in the eighth.

With the White Sox going with a bullpen game, the Mets lineup couldn’t get going despite being one of the hottest teams since the trade deadline. Francisco Lindor led off the game with a double and added a single in third to account for half of the Mets’ hits through the first six innings. Sean Newcombe and Erick Fedde combined to pitch six scoreless innings for Chicago. Fedde was especially effective, getting through his four innings on 44 pitches with no walks and two hits allowed.

New York missed an opportunity in the seventh inning with Fedde finally running out of gas. Carson Benge led off with a ground-rule double and Luis Robert Jr. drew a walk to chase Fedde. White Sox rookie Hagen Smith entered in relief and struck out Young, Francisco Alvarez, and Marcus Semien to strand the runners and keep the game scoreless.

In Saturday’s 10-5 win, Mets interim manager Andy Green had success with his pinch-hitting decisions, but mostly ran out of luck in Sunday’s loss. New York’s four pinch hitters went 1-for-5 with four strikeouts. Bo Bichette’s 12-game on-base streak also came to an end.

The Mets get Monday off before hosting the best-in-baseball Milwaukee Braves for a three-game series starting Tuesday at 7:10 PM EDT.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Nolan McLean, +36% WPA
Big Mets loser: Kodai Senga, -36% WPA
Mets pitchers: -15% WPA
Mets hitters: -35% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jared Young single, +30% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Tristan Peters home run, -42% WPA

The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Anaheim Angels scored three runs.

It’s a controversial take, I know, but I think your favorite baseball team scoring runs is better than them not scoring runs.

The Rangers had been drip feeding us practically all season but the spigot was nearly fully wrenched shut during this homestand with Texas averaging 1.5 runs per game coming into today’s contest, including two shutout losses, one of which came in yesterday’s latest embarrassment against the Angels.

After a one-hit, 3-0 loss yesterday, the Rangers took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning with homestand MVP Ezequiel Duran opening the scoring with a solo home run. In that same frame, newest Ranger and former Angel Logan O’Hoppe singled and scored his first run for Texas via a triple off the bat of Cody Freeman.

Elias Diaz brought in Freeman with a sacrifice fly and just like that, the Rangers had scored more runs in that one inning than they had in five of their last six games. Texas wasn’t done there, luckily, as Diaz hit his sixth home run of the year, a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth off Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi.

In that same frame, Corey Seager singled and Wyatt Langford doubled which allowed Seager to score Texas’ fifth and final run via a Brandon Nimmo sac fly. It would turn out that the Rangers would need those extra runs as the Angels mounted a comeback bid in the late innings.

Eventually Jacob Latz snuffed out Anaheim’s hopes in the ninth and the Rangers had a series win and winning homestand.

Player of the Game: Cal Quantrill’s first outing of the second half was his worst of the season, a six-run stinker in Atlanta in what appeared to be his final start before Jack Leiter and Nathan Eovaldi hit the shelf to twice keep him in the rotation.

Since that mid-July loss, Quantrill has appeared in seven games, making five starts, and hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of them. In August, spanning four starts and five appearances, Quantrill has allowed two runs total in 25 innings.

After seven shutout innings in his previous start during this homestand, today Quantrill followed up his win over Washington by blanking the Angels over six innings. It was a devilish appearance for Quantrill as he spread around six hits in his six innings with six strikeouts. Quantrill allowed a hit in each of his first five innings, including two in the top of the second, but he didn’t walk anyone and stranded all six baserunners.

A Quantrill appearance used to mean the Rangers were playing in a lost cause with the veteran righty performing long relief or mop up duties. Now, however, a Quantrill appearance means the Rangers have one of their best chances to win.

Up Next: The Rangers embark for a trip north to begin a series against the AL Central-leading White Sox with RHP Kumar Rocker next up to take the bump for Texas opposite a pitcher to be named for Chicago.

The Monday evening first pitch from Rate Field is scheduled for 6:40 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

CHICAGO — Kodai Senga stood with his hands on his hips in disgust as fireworks exploded beyond the center field scoreboard at Rate Field.

“It’s kind of a moment of realization that I’m in a position where the game can end with one pitch, with one swing of the bat,” Senga said through his interpreter after surrendering a walk-off homer to Tristan Peters in the Mets’ 2-1 loss to the White Sox. “Seeing the ball like that it just kind of dawns on me again, that’s the role I’m playing.”

Peters’ blast to center on a 96 mph fastball, which just eluded A.J. Ewing’s outstretched glove, became Senga’s first hiccup since becoming the closer two weeks ago when Devin Williams was placed on the injured list.

Among the realities of the job is pitching on consecutive days — something Senga was doing for the first time Sunday.

A night earlier he had pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.

“I think he was fine — he had his [velocity] down a little bit,” interim manager Andy Green said. “It was good to get that under his belt and have done that. … Senga has gotten something done that he hadn’t done, and that is good for us.”

The Mets lost on a second walk-off homer in three games to drop only their second series in the six they have played since the trade deadline.

Overall, they are 12-6 during that stretch.

Senga had a 1.29 ERA in his previous seven appearances this month but had the benefit of at least a day of rest between each of them.

“It was no big issue being out on the mound,” Senga said of his first back-to-back stint.

The Mets homered five times a night earlier but were stifled for the first eight innings in essentially a bullpen game for the White Sox.

Green’s starting lineup included backups Eric Wagaman and Christopher Morel to give the Mets additional right-handed bats.

Refusing to depart without at least a fight, the Mets tied it 1-1 on Jared Young’s RBI single in the ninth after they put two runners aboard against Grant Taylor.

But with a chance to take the lead, the Mets sputtered: Francisco Alvarez and Ewing each struck out, the latter occurring with the bases loaded.

Andrew Benintendi’s RBI triple in the eighth against Daniel Duarte produced the game’s first run.

Duarte, who has been ultra-reliable in the setup role, allowed two hits in the inning.

Dedniel Núñez pitched a scoreless seventh for his third appearance in his last four without allowing an earned run.

The right-hander is working back from Tommy John surgery rehab and had two rough outings upon rejoining the Mets, but has shown improvement lately.

Nolan McLean dominated over six shutout innings in which he allowed only one hit.

The right-hander walked four batters and hit another, finishing with six strikeouts.

The start was McLean’s third straight of at least six innings with one or no runs allowed.

Over that stretch his ERA dropped from 3.51 to 3.21.

“I wouldn’t say I am any stronger or any better than I felt to start the season,” McLean said. “It’s just every time I go out there, I am trying to learn and hopefully doing a better job of that.”

McLean loaded the bases with consecutive walks to Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas in the third, but following a visit from pitching coach Justin Willard, struck out Benintendi on three pitches.

Jake Rogers hit a shot to left field in the fifth inning that leaping Luis Robert Jr. caught at the fence to deprive Rogers — who won Friday’s game with a walk-off homer against lefty Jefry Yan in the ninth — of an extra-base hit.

On this day it was Peters with the walk-off magic for the AL Central leader.

“You come out of a series 1-2, you don’t feel great about that,” Green said. “But that was competitive.”

In the third inning, Jacob Young made one of the most incredible catches you will ever see. He scaled the wall like spiderman to make an insane grab to rob Heriberto Hernandez of extra bases. It was a truly thrilling moment. Outside of that, it was the same dreary, depressing Nationals that we have gotten used to since the trade deadline.

I do not think I have ever seen a team go from ultra-exciting to completely unwatchable so quickly. The 2021 Nats come close, but even that does not do this justice in my opinion. A team that played with so much energy and vigor for the first 4 months of the season is slowly walking towards season’s end like a zombie.

With James Wood and CJ Abrams injured as well as Luis Garcia Jr. and Curtis Mead being traded, this lineup is the rotting husk of the one that took baseball by storm. Some of this is misfortune, some due to the front office stripping away pieces, but the 2026 Nationals look a lot like the skeleton crew that Miguel Cairo led to end last season.

The Nats have had problems late in games for a while now, but the lack of spunk we are seeing at the end of games is just sad. These last couple games, the Marlins have scored first before the Nats would respond and tie the game. However, the second the Marlins retook the lead, there was nothing left for the Nats. Maybe they would make one final push before inevitably leaving runners in scoring position.

The numbers from this month are beyond ugly, and the Spencer Nusbaum tweet down below comes with a content warning. They have dropped to a truly shocking 11-30 against divisional opponents. In this road trip, the Nats went 1-8 while scoring just 20 runs. Given where this team was just a month ago, it is truly sad to see what has become of this group.

Selling at the deadline was the smartest move on paper, but it has clearly left a huge mark on the clubhouse. Curtis Mead, Foster Griffin and Luis Garcia Jr. were not only major on field contributors, but they were also leaders. There is now a leadership and talent void.

In addition to that, it does not seem like the announcement of CJ Abrams’ position switch has done anything to help the atmosphere. With James Wood on the shelf and the offense depleted, there was already a lot on Abrams’ plate. The position switch just seems like something that should have been done in the offseason.

Given how the first half went, there is still hope for this team moving forward. If they can recapture that offensive magic once they are healthy and reinforced next season, this could be an exciting team again. Hopefully the pitching additions start to make their mark next season as well.

Clearly 2026 was not a top priority for Paul Toboni. His goal is to build a sustainable winner and in his eyes the deadline sell off was necessary evil in achieving that goal. I largely agree with that assessment, but we will need to see these prospects turn into winning players down the road. The jury is still very much out on this deadline, but in the short term, it made the team much less watchable, even more than expected. 

However, the talent gap is not the only one that the Nats will have to bridge if they want to climb the NL East standings. Whenever we have played the Marlins, there has been a real gap on the situational side. We saw that today when the two teams had bases loaded and two out situations. The struggling Abimelec Ortiz was unable to come through while Xavier Edwards just guided a ball into left for the Marlins.

While Miami does not have much in the way of star talent, their crisp and team oriented style is one the Nats need to take a look at. They are not a team that beats themselves and has quality depth. 

Being 11-30 in division and seeing the season crumble like this needs to be a wakeup call for management. It felt like besides the bullpen, this group could not do a whole lot of wrong. Now, they are being hit by adversity and the team is not responding well.

Moving forward the Nats need to build a reliable and steady team that can withstand the vigors of a 162 game season. Do not get me wrong, I still have faith in this regime in the long term. There are positive signs on the horizon with the young talent on the farm, but eventually the rebuild wary fanbase needs to see wins. Just as it looked like the light was flickering on, it disappeared. Hopefully it comes back next season.

Nick Martinez has been the guy the Rays have needed time and time again. He’s been the clubhouse leader. He’s changed and set tones left and right. And on the field, on his bump day, Martinez has delivered.

Nick Martinez has had a few bumps along the road, but the thing that has made Martinez the true stopper the Rays have needed is he basically doesn’t have two bumps in a row.

Last time out, Martinez was not sharp at home and Toronto chased him early. Today, with the Rays continuing to drop series and facing down a sweep in Baltimore, Martinez came out and delivered the ace level performance that the Rays have counted on all year.

6 innings pitched, 0 walks, and just 1 measly hit (although more on that later thanks to Johnny DeLuca defense). Most importantly for a Rays club that has struggled in every facet: 0 runs given up. Kept the game tied and allowed the Rays bats to not have to chase or claw their way back.

After the Rays were able to score, Martinez came back out for the bottom of the 6th and again delivered the shutdown inning that has eluded the Rays during this recent 3 series losing streak.

Rays needed a starter to give them length, to shut down a team, to give their offense a chance to steal a win, give the bullpen a breather, and Nick Martinez delivered in every possible way.

It’s been awhile since the Rays were able to contributions in the clutch from their big 3. We have seen Yandy and Junior have individual heroics, and while Aranda is still very much in his multi month long slump, Aranda is still capable of some quality of his own. Finally, closing out yet another disapointing series for a team really scuffling to put anything good on film lately, they all three came through to give the Rays a lead.

With 2 outs in the 6th, Yandy got it started with a classic Diaz oppo field sharp groundball single. Aranda followed it up with a sharp grounder that found space to get Yandy to 3rd. That extra bit of hustle from Yandy would prove useful as a wild pitch would allow the big man to rumble home to give the Rays a 1-0. Junior followed it up with a base hit up the middle to score Aranda, and suddenly the Rays offense had a pulse! Liam Hicks would draw a walk, and then the red hot Chandler Simpson would knock in the 3rd run, driving home a hustling Junior Caminero with the smooth trea Turner-esque slide.

Rays are built around pitching, timely hitting, and defense. We got the first two, and oh boy did we ever get the last one too. Particularly, Johnny DeLuca was a man possessed in the field today.

DeLuca saved a run early with a spectacular route and leaping catch at the wall.

And later on DeLuca doubled up with a diving catch to erase yet another hit

In a game so tight, with so few opportunities for the Rays offense to mount a threat, it was DeLuca who proved to be the difference. Baltimore yet again came within a swing of extending the game, and a few of their swings seemed destined for damage if not for DeLuca’s dynamite day in the field.

Baltimore gave the Rays a threat in the 9th, once again bringing the tying run to the plate three times. However on this day, Bryan Baker was able to lock in and close it out to extend his MLB best 37 saves.

Rays continue to cling to a fleeting division lead while they travel to Detroit to conclude this lengthy road trip.

A bit wilder sort of game broke out on Sunday, but the result was the same. The Royals teed off on the Tigers bullpen, including Andrew Sears in his major league debut, all game long. The offense fought back repeatedly, but just couldn’t keep pace as the Royals swept them out of Kauffman Stadium with an 11-7 victory on Sunday.

Gleyber Torres was in the leadoff spot, and he opened the game with a solid single. Hao-Yu Lee, in against lefty Daniel Lynch IV, flew out. Kevin McGonigle nearly got his head knocked off by a 1-2 Lynch fourseamer, and then smashed a drive to the wall in right center field. Torres, not the fleetest of foot, scored all the way from first, and the Tigers had a 1-0 lead. Eduardo Valencia flew out sharply to right field, advancing McGonigle to third with two outs, but Lynch got ahead of Torkelson and then blew him away with a high fastball.

Jacob Waguespack took the mound as an opener for lefty Andrew Sears, who was promoted to Detroit prior to the game, while James Outman was DFA’d. Eduardo Valencia was behind the plate, while Dillon Dingler got a full day off. Corey Julks was the DH, with Javy Báez in left field to stack right-handers up against Lynch. Nick Loftin and Bobby Witt Jr. both grounded out to start the inning. Waguespack jammed Vinnie Pasquantino, and he blooped a little flare that Torres caught running out into right field to end the inning.

Corey Julks led off the second by flicking a weak liner into center field that froze Kyle Isbel and dropped in for a single. Ben Malgeri flew out to left. Max Clark fell behind, then worked into a full count and lined a sharp single into right field. Unfortunately, Javy Báez is doing little but grounding out to shortstop lately, and he pulled one right into a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.

Waguespack was still in to start the bottom of the second. Sal Perez dumped a single in front of a diving Malgeri to start things off. Isaac Collins blew the Royals first challenge of the game on an edge strike. A cutter that backed up away whiffed Collins as Ty Madden started warming in the Tigers’ bullpen. With John Rave at the plate, Perez caught everyone napping and stole second while Waguespack, understandably, paid him no attention, and Valencia seemingly couldn’t quite get a grip and elected not to throw. The right-hander walked the weak-hitting Rave, and that was the end of his outing. Madden rather than Sears took over.

Madden immediately dug the hole deeper by hitting Tyler Tolbert, and so the weak hitting Luke Maile stepped in. Madden blew him away with 96 mph for the second out. Kyle Isbel then flicked a little slicing blooper into left and Báez hesitated a bit and the ball dropped in for a two-run single. A 1-0 fastball to Nick Loftin was thrown middle in right into a right-handed hitter’s sweet spot, and got smoked over the wall in left for a three-run shot. 5-1 Royals.

Madden got ahead of Witt 1-2, and then hung a splitter that was ripped to left for a single. Witt stole second, and then took third on a bounced breaking ball that got away from Valencia. Madden couldn’t locate much and walked Pasquantino as Tigers fans perhaps decided to move on and enjoy their Sunday. Perez checked his swing with two strikes, but Witt apparently thought he struck out and started coming down the line toward home plate. The Tigers ran him down to end the inning. Couldn’t say exactly what was going on in Witt’s mind on that one, but it’s unlikely he was feeling bad for the opposition.

Torres started the third by flying out to the warning track in right. Lee smoked one deep to right center field as well, but Isbel caught it on the warning track as well. McGonigle ripped one deep to center and that was an out too. Hitting it too hard, but not quite hard or high enough. Madden pulled it together in the bottom half, striking out Perez and Collins in a 1-2-3 frame as Sears started warming.

The Tigers stayed aggressive against Lynch in the fourth, swinging early in counts and they were generally hitting the ball hard so it was hard to argue with, but they went 1-2-3 in a six-pitch inning.

Andrew Sears took the mound in the bottom half to make his major league debut. The southpaw feels like a future swingman, but we were very curious to see how his sinker-slider combination would play in the big leagues, and whether he could keep refining his changeup into more of a weapon. Sears worked from the third base side of the rubber against the right-handed hitting Tolbert, and popped him up for the first out of his big league career. Sears popped up Maile as well, and we saw a fair amount of this in the minor leagues. Sears funky rhythm, crossfire delivery, extension and low arm slot all help to keep hitters off balance and often late. He stayed on the third base side of the rubber against the left-handed hitting Isbel, and got him to ground out to McGonigle to end a snappy first inning in the big leagues. Congrats to him.

Lynch nipped the corner down and away from Malgeri for a strikeout to start the fifth. Max Clark waited Lynch out and drew a one-out walk, and that was the end of the day for Lynch, who hasn’t been stretched out fully to start yet. Right-hander Mason Black took over against Báez, and the veteran finally took a different approach and lined a double into the right field corner. The Tigers held Clark at third, but he scored on a Torres ground out to shortstop. 5-2 Royals. Báez took third right in Witt’s face on the play, and Lee lined an RBI single to make it a 5-3 game.

McGonigle then stepped in, got a first pitch curveball down and launched it out to right field for his 14th homer of the season. Tie ballgame. Great to see some fight after the way the last 10 days have gone. That shot gave McGonigle 137 hits in his rookie season, passing Hank Greenberg’s rookie mark. Valencia flew out, but the Tigers had tied it up, and so now young Mr. Sears got to work in a little more of a pressure scenario.

Sears walked Loftin to start the inning, but he carved up Witt with backfoot sliders for his first major league strikeout. Bobby Witt Jr. is a pretty good first one. However, a slider left on the inner edge to Pasquantino got smoked off the top of the wall in right center for a double to score Loftin. 6-5 Royals. Sears was leaving the ball up and a first pitch changeup to Perez was literally center cut and got smashed into the left field corner for another RBI double. Collins grounded out, but Sears then absolutely hung a 2-2 slider to John Rave and that got crushed to left for a two-run shot. 9-5 Royals. Tolbert flew out, but the damage was done.

Black walked Torkelson to start the sixth. Brett Callahan pinch hit for Julks, and Quatraro countered with lefty Connor Thomas. He nicked Callahan with a pitch, and then Malgeri pulled a grounder to third that Loftin booted. Everyone was safe, the bases were loaded with no outs, and Clark stepped to the dish. He drilled a sharp one-hopper to Witt, who instead of trying to turn the double play, threw to third to get Callahan as the run scored. Odd decision. 9-6 Royals, and Quatraro quickly went back to the pen. John Schreiber entered, and so AJ Hinch countered with Zach McKinstry hitting for Báez, but he whiffed on a cutter away.

Malgeri and Clark pulled off a double steal as Schreiber fell behind Torres 2-0. Schreiber worked back into a full count and Torres grounded out to Loftin to end the inning still down three.

Sears popped up Maile and then got Loftin to fly out in the bottom half. Loftin paddled a high 2-2 sinker back up the middle for a two-out single, but after a battle, Sears climbed the ladder with a heater to dust Witt for the second time. Nice job bouncing back.

Jose Cuas was on in the seventh for the Royals, and Lee greeted him with a drive up the left center field gap for a double. Hao-Yu Lee just continues to adjust to pitchers and hit balls hard. Cuas walked McGonigle, and so it was first and second with no outs. Things got weird again, as Eduardo Valencia dropped a bunt down the third base line.

The roller looked certain to go foul, and certainly Loftin was not expecting that from the big man. He waited to see if it would roll foul, but instead it stayed true and clipped third base. Everyone was safe, the bases were loaded, and Colt Keith pinch-hit for Torkelson. Not sure how many times we’ve seen Hinch pinch-hit for Tork. Keith fell behind, but got a good pitch to hit and smoked a drive, but it was right to Collins in left and Lee couldn’t tag and score. Callahan took some huge rips and got behind, swinging through a cutter to strike out. Minor league statesman Ben Malgeri was more patient and he calmly took some close pitches until Cuas walked him to push across a run. 9-7 Royals. Clark was perhaps too patient, as Cuas fired a first pitch fastball right down the pipe for strike one. He eventually popped out in foul territory and the Tigers stranded the bases loaded.

Sears got Pasquantino on a fly out to start the bottom half. He punched out Perez on a slider away. Collins lined a single to right field, but McKinstry was there and cut him down trying to stretch it into a double to end the inning.

Nate Pearson, once upon a time a premium pitching prospect with triple-digit heat for the Blue Jays, took over in the eighth. Now 30 years old, he is no longer that guy and has struggled with control and injuries for years now.

McKinstry greeted him with a solid single, turning the lineup over. Torres flew out down the right field line for the first out. Hao-Yu Lee hit it harder, but Rave ran it down near the warning track in right. A 1-1 pitch to McGonigle was called a strike but was just low, and the Tigers’ star rookie challenged it correctly. Pearson fired a fastball for a strike to get to 2-2, and a 99 mph fastball away off the plate drew a rare chase as McGonigle struck out.

Sears was at 70 pitches to start the bottom of the eighth. Rave singled up the middle to start things off, and that was the end of Sears’ debut. 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, BB, 3 K. He made more mistakes than usual and found out quickly that major league hitters punish them consistently. Still, Sears has talent and we’ll look for him to settle in as he works with the major league coaching staff more.

Kyle Finnegan entered trying to keep the game within reach. He struck out Tolbert with a splitter down, but Rave stole second pretty comfortably on the play. Carter Jensen entered to pinch-hit for Maile, but flew out on a first pitch heater. Rave stole third without a throw as Kyle Isbel hit, as the center field smoked a hanging splitter right through Gleyber Torres, who could only deflect it slightly. And so, it was 10-7 Royals.

Isbel stole second, because they know Valencia’s pop-times and arm are mediocre, and frankly Finnegan is abysmal at holding runners. I still don’t really grasp why the Tigers DFA’d Jake Rogers, but it’s whatever at this point. This isn’t going to work next year though. In a 2-1 count, Valencia challenged a slider in that wasn’t terribly close, and the Tigers were out of challenges. The count went to 3-2, Finnegan fired a fastball up and in and Loftin lined a single to left. Isbel scored to make it 11-7.

After a mound visit from Chris Fetter, Finnegan walked Witt. Finally, Pasquantino grounded out to Keith at first to mercifully end the inning, but the Royals had largely put this one out of reach.

Steven Cruz took over to close this out. Valencia struck out, Keith again smashed a baseball but Pasquantino speared it at first. Brett Callahan hung in there and drew a walk to get Malgeri to the dish. He put up a fight, but took a called third—after a challenge—to strike out.

That’s a 1-8 record in their last nine, starting with the sweep at the hands of the White Sox. After playing great ball and battling back into the picture from June into August, the Tigers look like they’re out of gas and rapidly falling out of the hunt for the last wild card spot. They will welcome in the high flying Tampa Bay Rays to Comerica Park at 6:40 p.m. ET on Monday to start a three-game set, and then they’ll have the Dodgers in town next weekend.

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! Players’ Weekend, a big win streak, and good vibes fill out most of this week’s social media roundup, but we start with a bit of sad news, as we reflect on the passing of the legendary Tommy John. With so much in store, let’s get started.

Remembering Tommy John

Last Sunday, the news dropped that Tommy John, the former Yankees pitcher who was the first to undergo the surgery named after him, had passed away, just a week after he had bid goodbye to the baseball community through a statement published by the New York Yankees. The organization, the league, and many of John’s teammates took to social media to offer their condolences to his family and reflect on his legacy.

Players’ Weekend

This past weekend was Players’ Weekend, the one time during the year where the league relaxes uniform and gear rules and lets players wear, well, pretty much anything. This year, we had the youngsters take center stage, as George Lombard Jr. wore a belt with Spencer Jones’ face, Jones wear a belt with Ben Rice’s face, and Cam Schlittler wear Star Wars cleats.

Enjoying Baltimore

Meredith Marakovits and Suzyn Waldman took advantage of having some time off to get in some sightseeing in Baltimore.

Game Belts

As happens when the team goes on a win streak, we’ve got quite a few game belts to hand out.

Behind the NY

In the latest episode of Behind the NY, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the All-Star Break festivities, as Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice, and Cam Schlittler conquered Philadelphia.

Miscellaneous

Willie Randolph made some homemade pizza with the family this week, CC Sabathia went golfing (when does he not go golfing?), and Max Schuemann…got married? Honestly, I’m not totally sure, although I appreciate the pun.

Jon Berti, meanwhile, announced his retirement, and Bradley Hanner celebrated his debut.

Ryan Weathers and Ali Sanchez dropped a couple of photo dumps from the summer.

Questions of the Day

The YES Network and the Yankees have been putting out a lot of Questions of the Day lately — perhaps trying to get them all done by the end of the season (some of them, clearly, were shot during spring training).

And, to wrap it up, the YES Network got in on an Instagram/Tik Tok trend and used it to highlight their drone footage.

The Yankees overcame a late tie and behind big at-bats by Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr., among others, in Sunday's series-clinching win over the Toronto Blue Jays -- an 8-3 final at Yankee Stadium.

Takeaways

1. Carlos Rodón's second start back from the IL for left elbow inflammation was a 76-pitch, 42-strike outing across four innings that saw him start strong but allow two runs (one earned) over his final two frames. He followed last Tuesday's 66-pitch, 39-strike return with more activity in the same amount of innings, allowing two hits while striking out two and walking two. Especially with Max Fried and Ryan Weathers injured, the Yankees (74-56) building Rodón (4-2, 3.15 ERA) up for the postseason is one key development to watch entering September. Will he take a bigger step in his next start?

2. Spencer Jones and Austin Wells held down the bottom of the order with RBI doubles in the second inning that put the Yankees ahead of the Blue Jays (64-68) early and gave Rodón a lead to build on. The sixth-batting Jones, who also worked a fourth-inning walk and added a sixth-inning single that fueled the Yankees' breakthrough frame against the Blue Jays, is slashing .233/.315/.428 with seven home runs and 22 RBI in 57 games this season.
3. Grisham and Rice delivered in their spots at the top of the order when they cashed the Yankees' bases-loaded opportunity with two outs and full counts, leading to three sixth-inning runs. Grisham's walk put the Yankees ahead, 3-2, before Rice's two-run double broke the game open. Rice, who added a first-inning single, is slashing .249/.345/.525 with 34 home runs and 82 RBI while serving as the Yankees' big bat without injured sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Grisham also hit his 18th home run of the season when he launched a solo shot in the eighth inning that padded the Yankees' eventual 8-3 final.
4. Chisholm, batting seventh, followed his sixth-inning single with a bigger insurance knock in the seventh inning when he launched his 18th home run of the season, cashing Cody Bellinger's leadoff single on a two-out long ball that pushed the Yankees ahead by five runs. The Yankees need Chisholm's bat especially with a potential loss of Stanton, who now has a strained left calf, for the season.
5. The American League East standings are tight with the Yankees winning six of their past seven and only trailing the Tampa Bay Rays by three games entering August's final week. The Rays (77-53) managed a 3-1 win at the Orioles, exiting Sunday with a much-needed victory after dropping three straight games in Baltimore (63-68). With September nearing, the Yankees are within striking distance to take the division.

Who's the MVP?

Rice, whose two-run double proved vital as the Yankees earned a bit of breathing room and held off Toronto.

Highlights

An RBI double for Spencer Jones! pic.twitter.com/303cUtRhax

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 23, 2026

Austin Wells with an RBI double of his own! pic.twitter.com/RLEHEJH7IT

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 23, 2026

A bases loaded walk for Trent Grisham and the Yankees lead 3-2 pic.twitter.com/9pi6CAUJ49

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 23, 2026

Ben Rice comes through!

Yankees lead 5-2! pic.twitter.com/egDYMSKQLp

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 23, 2026

A 2-run homer for Jazz Chisholm Jr.! pic.twitter.com/EaNjibrCnr

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 23, 2026

Trent Grisham’s turn to go yard! pic.twitter.com/vCZ3NREwDZ

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 23, 2026

What's next

The Yankees have Monday off before a three-game series with the Houston Astros begins with Tuesday's 7:05 p.m. opener.

RHP Will Warren (8-6, 4.43 ERA) is set to start.

Jays 3 Yankees 8

Well, we weren’t going to win every series for the rest of the season. We’ve been on a very good run. Hopefully that ‘good run’ will continue after tomorrow.

The game turned in the bottom of the sixth. Jose Soriano was at 93 pitches. I thought he might be coming out but John choose to keep him in the game. A few days ago, everyone complained when John pulled a starter who was just over 90 pitches. I’ve always thought that the coaches are closer to the pitchers, they can talk to them, talk to the catcher and use their eyes to decide ‘Do I want him to go another inning?’ Add in that the bullpen has been suffering from over use. I was ok with Soriano staying in.

Lead off hitter George Lombard, rolled a ball down the third base line, no chance of a play. Nothing wrong with the pitch, you want the pitcher getting soft contact and he couldn’t have gotten anything softer than that. Next batter, Spencer Jones lined a single hard to center for another single. Jazz Chisholm Jr. up towards third. Soriano went a long way to get the ball, but had no play because Kazuma Okamoto came off the bag to get the ball. It was one of those spots that little communication could have helped. “I got it”. I understand Okamoto going for it, we don’t have many pitchers who would have gotten to that, and you can’t expect Oka to be watching the pitcher. But saying ‘I got it, go to the bag’ might have been helpful. Anyway, bases loaded on one well hit ball and two rollers.

That was the end of Soriano’s day. He ended up with 5 innings, 5 earn (three scored after he left), 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. He only gave up one hard hit ball in that inning and it cost him 3 earned.

Brandon Fisher came in and got a strikeout and a fly out. Then he went to a full count on Trent Grisham before walking him and bringing in a run.

Mason Fluharty came in and gave up a two-run single to make it 5-2. I thought Brett Bateman could have made an attempt to catch that line drive that landed in front of him. But, he would have had to have read it well off the bat. and likely it was smarter to catch it on the bounce (but two runs scored). Oh well.

Brandon Little gave up a two-run homer in the seventh. And Simeon Woods Richardson gave up a solo homer in the eighth.

And we didn’t hit much. Just 5 hits. Myles Straw had two. Alejandro Kirk. George Springer and Okamoto had one each. 1 for 9 with RISP wasn’t good enough

Anyway….they have played themselves into the Wild Card race in with a 13-5 run against some of the best in the league. They play some ‘lessor’ teams over the last 31 games of the season. That doesn’t mean they can relax. I don’t know what they will have to do in those 31 games, but if they win 20, I sure they will make the playoffs. 16 or 17 might be enough.

Jay of the Game: No one had the number, but let’s give it to Straw (0.08, plus some good defense and good base running.

Other Award: Soriano (-0.17, kind of unfair, but who said baseball is fair), Fluharty (-0.14) and Vlad (-0.08).

Kirk made a great throw to catch Spencer Jones, on a nice strikeout/throw out double play.

Tomorrow is an off-day. Then we have three at home with the Royals and another three with the Mariners. Wins would be nice.

The stage is set as the Atlanta Braves are looking to avoid a sweep in Milwaukee against the Brewers.

Let’s look at these lineups.

Michael Harris II is leading off tonight, and Sean Murphy is back in the lineup to bat in the ninth hole. Lane Thomas is taking over left field and batting sixth and Drake Baldwin is set to DH.

In other words, we have an array of changes here in the hope of producing a different result for the Braves’ offense. This will be the Braves’ first time facing Milwaukee’s Shane Drohan, but if they keep their record of batting well against left-handed pitchers, they might have a way to stay in the game.

That is… IF their bats decided to wake up.

And as for Milwaukee, they’re somewhat replicating their look from yesterday with the addition of Garrett Mitchell and David Hamilton. Wilson Contreras and Andrew Vaughn are slated to give Atlanta’s Tyler Mahle a bit of trouble with their OPS averaging over 1.000.

And again, the Brewers are riding on momentum to keep them going and their luck against right-handed pitchers itself might provide a spark to close this series out.

It’ll be up to the Braves’ offense to hold it down and strike early if they want to build their confidence back and enter home on a positive note to face the Dodgers.

One game at a time. That’s the way the game is played, but the Braves have to figure out their struggles fast, as another division rival has just clinched their ninth straight win, and this is the wrong time to fall under.

First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.

The Mets were defeated by the Chicago White Sox 2-1 in the series finale Sunday at Rate Field. 

Here are some takeaways...

-- If you like pitching, this was certainly the game for you, at least in the early-going. After hitting a combined seven homers and putting 15 runs on the board on Saturday night, the two offenses were only able to muster nine baserunners (four hits, five walks) each as they went scoreless through the first six innings. 

-- Nolan McLean was strong once again on the bump for the Mets. The young right-hander allowed just one walk and struck out five of the first nine batters he faced as he cruised his way through the White Sox lineup the first time through the order, but he finally ran into some trouble in the top of the third. 

Chicago's first hit and a pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs, but McLean was able to get Andrew Benintendi looking at a perfectly-placed sinker to escape the threat. McLean went right back to cruising, throwing just seven pitches in the fourth, before working around a two-out walk in the top of the fifth. 

He was able to finish his day on a high note, breezing around another walk in the bottom of the sixth. McLean issued four free passes but allowed just one hit on the day, while striking out six as he put together his 16th quality start of the season, pushing him into a tie for the third-most in the majors. 

-- The Mets had a golden opportunity to get McLean in-line for a win, as they got the first two on against Erick Fedde in the top of the seventh, but after a pitching change rookie left-hander Hagen Smith came on and struck out the next three batters in order to eliminate the threat.  

-- Dedniel Nunez followed that with a scoreless bottom-half of the seventh, but the White Sox were able to break through in the eighth, as Benintendi changed the scoreless tie with an RBI double off Daniel Duarte. The righty struck out two to escape without further damage, but snapped a nine-outing scoreless streak. 

-- In the ninth, it was the Mets' turn to snap a scoreless streak. Chicago closer Grant Taylor hadn't allowed an earned run since the beginning of July, but the scorching hot Jared Young brought that to an end, evening things up at one apiece with a one out RBI single up the middle. 

New York would load the bases with two outs, but the struggling A.J. Ewing struck out to end the inning. 

-- Kodai Senga had the bottom-half of the ninth pitching on back-to-back days for the first time this season and it didn't quite go as planned. The newly turned closer served up a walk-off homer to Tristan Peters with one-out, sending the Mets home with a frustrating series loss. 

Both of New York's defeats in this weekend set were in walk-off fashion. 

Game MVP: Tristian Peters

Peters sent the fans home happy with the first walk-off homer of his career. 

Highlights

Francisco Lindor starts it off with a leadoff double pic.twitter.com/I5nvzpbS0j

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 23, 2026

Nolan McLean gets three strikeouts looking in the third inning, including the last one to strand the bases loaded pic.twitter.com/KJqme09fIU

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 23, 2026

Luis Robert Jr. leaps at the wall in left to make the catch pic.twitter.com/9Eo1oGAcWl

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 23, 2026

Jared Young in the clutch!

The Mets tie it at 1-1 in the 9th! pic.twitter.com/OXzblLLBK7

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 23, 2026

What's next

The Mets head home to play host to the NL Central-leading Brewers on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m.

The Yankees are unlikely to see Giancarlo Stanton again this season.

There is still no publicly known timetable regarding Aaron Judge.

For too long, the club has felt as if it were waiting for those game-changing, fence-clearing bats to rejoin and recharge the lineup.

Not Sunday, though, when the Yankees flexed their athleticism and speed, often made a concerted effort to take the right swing rather than the big swing, and later added to their lead with a few of those big swings.

Using small ball, big ball, 11 hits, four walks and a few productive outs, the Yankees put together a relative offensive explosion in an 8-3 victory over the Blue Jays that clinched the series in front of 41,802 in The Bronx.

George Lombard Jr. used his bat and legs to create a pair of hits and raced around the bases on Spencer Jones’ knocks. Austin Wells drilled an RBI double.

Ben Rice dropped in a two-run single.

Cody Bellinger returned with a single and scored a run.

Trent Grisham drew the go-ahead walk with the bases loaded and later homered.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. did some of everything — moving a runner over, laying down what might have been a sacrifice bunt that became a base hit and then homering himself.

“Those are the best [games] when everyone’s playing a big role, and that was certainly the case today,” manager Aaron Boone said after his Yankees (74-56) won a sixth of seven and remained three games behind the Rays in the division before welcoming the Astros this week after a day off.

Carlos Rodón (four innings, two runs) was solid enough, and Paul Blackburn, Ryan Yarbrough and Brent Headrick (combined five innings of one-run ball on three hits) were typically excellent behind him.

But Yankees pitching seems to excel every game, which means the lineup merely needs to be competent to win games.

The club exceeded that bar Sunday through a variety of means, such as:

—Scoring two runs in the second with terrific and youthful legs plus some small ball.

Lombard shot a single through the right side before Jones — who is now a platoon right fielder, having survived the roster cut that came with Bellinger activated — stroked a double to the gap in right-center, two fresh legs rounding the bases and Lombard sliding in safely for the first run.

“[Lombard] told me after he scored — he’s like, ‘Man, I feel like we’ve been doing that a lot,’ ’’ Jones said, “where he gets on base and I hit a ball in the gap and let him run around the bases.”

With no outs, Chisholm fell behind 1-2 and then cut down on his swing to pull a ground ball to the right side, advancing Jones to third. Wells’ double then scored the second run.

“Jazz doing small ball, big ball, Jazz ball,” Boone said.

— After Toronto tied it in the fourth, the Yankees used athleticism, patience and clutch hits to go ahead in the sixth. Lombard reached on a swinging bunt before Jones smacked a single over shortstop Ernie Clement’s head. With first and second and no one out, the struggling Chisholm tried a bunt down the third base line on which the pitcher José Soriano and third baseman Kazuma Okamoto converged, and thus no one was covering third for a possible force out. Chisholm ended up with an infield single that loaded the bases without an out.

“I’m just trying to help the team win,” Chisholm said.

Wells and José Caballero couldn’t get the runs in, but Grisham worked a walk for the go-ahead score before Rice’s two-run single created distance.

— After demonstrating they can score in other ways, the American League leaders in home runs reminded that they have that ability, too.

Chisholm, no longer moving a runner over or laying down a bunt, launched his first homer since Aug. 4, a two-run shot in the seventh, before Grisham clubbed his 18th of the season, which wound up in Monument Park in the eighth.

The Yankees managed their most runs in a game since Aug. 12 and scored more than five for just a seventh time in their past 58 games, the entirety of which have not included Judge and Stanton.

“Some good things by a lot of different guys,” Boone said.

I had a bad feeling about this one. With the Phillies on an eight-game winning streak, it felt like they were due to have a game where things didn’t go their way. And with the team scheduled to board a flight to Seattle later this evening, it was easy to envision the team being satisfied with winning five out of six on the homestand and just trying to get their Sunday afternoon game against the Cardinals over with as quickly as possible.

For eight innings, that bad feeling seemed prescient. Cristopher Sanchez had a subpar outing, and the offense had a “going through the motions” vibe about it.

And then, the ninth inning happened.

The Phillies delivered perhaps their best inning of the season, rallying back to tie the game before Kyle Schwarber ended it with a game-winning two run home run. That Schwarbomb sent the Phillies to a 6-4 win to finish off a three-game sweep of the Cardinals and extend their winning streak to nine.

This game was rather unfun to watch for the first eight innings. They fell behind early with the first two runs scored against Sanchez coming in remarkably similar fashion: In both the first and fourth innings, the leadoff hitter reached first on an infield single, stole second base, and then scored on a single. Their third run was a little different, with Jose Fermin leading off the fifth inning with a home run. Sanchez gave up one more in the seventh to end his day.

With the way the Phillies’ bats have been hitting lately, a 4-0 deficit shouldn’t seem impossible to overcome. But with two of their hottest hitters – Alec Bohm and Luis Arraez – out with minor ailments, the Phillies’ offense didn’t do much. Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy was pulled from the game after just four innings, but the Phillies didn’t have any success against the Cardinals’ middle relief.

Facing Davey O’Brien in the ninth, it was a different story. Bryce Harper led off with a double, but O’Brien got the next two hitters out. J.T. Realmuto kept the game alive with a single, and then Justin Crawford drew a walk to load the bases.

Edmundo Sosa unloaded them with a three-run double.

Next, despite falling behind 0-2, Bryan De La Cruz tied it up with a single.

For some strange reason, O’Brien was allowed to face Kyle Schwarber next, and Schwarber made everyone understand what a mistake that was.

Now that’s how you end a homestand!

The Phillies will take their nine-game winning streak to Seattle as they begin a three-game western road trip. In the past, West coast trips have served as momentum-killers, but in the past, the Phillies would have ended Sunday’s game with a lackluster 4-0 loss.

Let’s see if they can extend the streak to double digits on Monday.

You don’t need a copy of the Dickson Baseball Dictionary to define the dog days of August, you just had to watch today’s contest between the Blue Jays and Yankees. Like every game since the start of summer, it was a slog, but this one was a particular slog for the first two-thirds, with the Yankee starter living on corners he couldn’t spot, key errors blowing up pitch counts, and George Springer and Ernie Clement tormenting us for (hopefully) the final time this year. At least the Yankees came out on the right side of this game, and this series, with Ben Rice delivering the big hit in the sixth and Jazz Chisholm Jr. adding insurance to lock up an 8-3 win.

This was a game designed to aggravate me, personally, with Carlos Rodón on the bump. Win lose or draw I’ve never found Rodón to be a pleasant viewing experience, with him clodding around the mound and getting into 2-2 counts seemingly every hitter. He threw 76 pitches today, 10 more than his return start against the Orioles, 41 of them were four-seamers, and look at his lack of command:

Look particularly up above the zone armside, and down and in gloveside. These are easy takes for MLB hitters, especially a lineup like Toronto’s that doesn’t swing and miss much. Sure enough, Carlos walked two against two strikeouts, a predictable line when you rely so much on a fastball that you can’t control.

He only surrendered one earned run, with the second man scoring after a huge George Lombard Jr. error. In the fourth inning, after getting Alejandro Kirk to open the frame, Rodón gave up a double to Springer, and walked Kazuma Okamoto to put two men aboard. Lombard then flubbed a groundball hit right at him:

As YES viewers, we know you can’t assume the double play, but there were two outs available on that grounder, and Lombard got none. It was his third straight game with an error, and it forced Carlos to throw another dozen pitches in the frame. The Jays only got one run — Daz Cameron’s sac fly brought Springer in — but the cost to the starter had to be borne as well.

Spencer Jones continues his strong play of late, opening the scoring in the second inning with a double to bring Lombard in. Jones himself scored two batters later, with Austin Wells taking his place at second and making it 2-0 early. It looked like the Yankees might put the game away early, but they wouldn’t threaten again until the sixth.

Loading the bases with nobody out, the club squandered two chances to break the 2-2 tie. Wells struck out, José Caballero did get a ball in the air, but not deep enough to bring in a run. Trent Grisham did manage to work a walk to make the game 3-2, but it felt like we were about to walk away without much to show for it. Thankfully Benny Barrels had a sterling AB and dropped a ball into right field for two runs:

Between that and a single earlier in the game, I hope today was something of a release valve for Ben. He has not looked good for about a month, and with Cody Bellinger back in the lineup it may feel like there’s slightly less pressure on the young lefty.

Speaking of release valves:

That was Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s first home run since August 4th. Perhaps nobody in baseball has cost themselves more potential money as a free agent than Jazz this year, and while it’ll be hard to make his year-end stats look good, a hot final month would go a long way to washing the taste of the season out.

Grisham rounded out the day at the plate with a little more insurance:

We also need to give a tip of the hat to the bullpen, and to Aaron Boone. With Carlos Rodón done after four innings, and the game tied, Boone went to Paul Blackburn, his second-or-third best relief option at this point in the season. It was maybe earlier than a script would dictate, but going to a higher leverage guy to keep the game tied bought the offense the time it needed to put the game out of reach. Ryan Yarbrough and Brent Headrick got five and four outs respectively to close the game, a total of five innings by the bullpen, just one run allowed.

The Rays also won today, something the Yankees have no control over. They won their series and are a game closer to the AL East leaders than they were on Friday, three back. New York gets the day off tomorrow before those hated Houston Astros, themselves division leaders at press time despite a .500 record, come to the Bronx for a three-game set. First pitch from Will Warren will be at 7:05pm ET.

Box Score