Category: Baseball

TONIGHT’S GAME: The first-place Houston Astros (63-61), who own a 2.0-game lead in the AL West, and the Seattle Mariners (58-66) will play the rubber game of their three-game series tonight at Daikin Park.

Astros ace RHP Hunter Brown (3-2, 3.68 ERA) will get the start for the Astros opposite RHP Bryan Woo (8-8, 4.15 ERA) and the Mariners.

DIESEL POWER: RHP Hunter Brown will make his 13th start of the season and his 10th since returning from a lengthy stint on the IL with a right shoulder strain. The 2025 All-Star has begun to round into form over his last four starts, including two quality starts, going 2-1 with a 3.04 ERA (8ER/23.2IP) with 24 strikeouts, a .188 opponent average (16×85) and a 0.97 WHIP. Brown is looking to reverse his fortunes against the Mariners, who he’s gone 1-4 with a 4.09 ERA (20ER/44IP) against in nine starts.

THE TURNAROUND: After a slow start to the season, the Astros are 43-30 since May 22, which is the second-best record in the AL in that span. On that date, the Astros were 20-31, 11 games under, which is their low water mark for the season.

TONIGHT’S BROADCASTS: Tonight’s game will be nationally televised by NBC and streamed on Peacock with Jason Benetti, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Geoff Blum in the booth. The game will also be available nationally on ESPN radio with Sean Kelley and Doug Glanville behind the mic. Locally, the game can be heard in English on SportsTalk 790 featuring Robert Ford and Josh Reddick. The Spanish radio broadcast will feature Francisco Romero and Alex Treviño on TUDN 102.9 FM.

HALL OF FAME WEEKEND: The Astros are celebrating Hall of Fame Weekend at Daikin Park, which included the induction of Astros legends Alan Ashby and the late Phil Garner into the Astros Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony yesterday.

HEART & HUSTLE: In a pregame ceremony tonight, OF Cam Smith will be honored as the Houston Astros 2026 Heart and Hustle Award winner. This prestigious honor, which is awarded by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association (MLBPAA), is presented yearly to players who exemplify a passion for the game and who best embody the values, spirit, and traditions of the game.

ASTROS ROSTER MOVES: After last night’s game, the Astros optioned RHP Ronel Blanco to Triple A Sugar Land. To take his place on the active roster, the club recalled RHP Miguel Ullola from Triple A.

THAT’S OFFENSIVE: Among American League teams, the Astros rank first in slugging (.413), first in total bases (1727), second in OPS (.732), second in home runs (166), and second in runs scored (574). In the Majors, the Astros rank third in homers, trailing only the Nationals (179) and Yankees (170).

MVP-CALIBER: Yordan Alvarez holds the lead in all AL Triple Crown categories, ranking first in average (.321), first in homers (36) and first in RBI (88). Additionally, he leads MLB in OPS (1.058), OBP (.436), SLG (.622), and TB (275). In the AL, he ranks first in hits (142) and XBH (61), tied for first in runs (82) and second walks (86).

YOR-GONE!: DH Yordan Alvarez connected for his 36th home run of the season on Friday, which gave him the outright lead in home runs in the AL. He’s now just one homer shy of matching his career high in homers (37 HR in 2022) and is 11 homers shy of matching the franchise record for a single season, set by 1B Jeff Bagwell in 2000 (47 HR).

WHAM BAM CAM: RF Cam Smith has a triple, three homers and seven RBI in his last seven games. Smith is batting .346 (18×52) with two doubles, two triples, three home runs, nine RBI and a 1.005 OPS in his last 14 games since July 29.

HADERADE: LHP Josh Hader has been stellar since returning from injury in early June, going 4-1 with a 0.93 ERA (3ER/29IP), 40 strikeouts, a .121 opponent batting average (12×99) and a 0.76 WHIP, while also converting all 17 of his save opportunities, through 30 appearances. The veteran Hader, now in his 10th Major League season, has made 498 career appearances, needing just two more to reach 500 for his career.

VS. THE M’S: This is the first series between the Astros and Mariners in three month, with the two clubs last seeing each other from May 11-14. The Astros have gone 2-8 vs. Seattle this season with just a two-game series left in the season series, which will take place in Seattle from Sept. 22-23.

DOWN ON THE FARM: RHP Bryce Mayer, the Astros No. 2 pitching prospect per MLB.com, earned his first Triple A win last night after tossing 6.0 innings of one-run ball at Round Rock (TEX). Mayer is 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA (27ER/78IP) in 19 games between the Triple A and Double A levels this season.

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY:2011 – PH Brian Bogusevic hits a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam off RHP Carlos Marmol to defeat the Cubs at Daikin Park, 6-5. This marks the third pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam in franchise history and the first since Gregg Zaun did so in 2002.

Game Info

Game Date/Time:  Sunday, August 16, 6:20 p.m. CT

Location:  Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: NBC/Peacock

Radio: KTRH 740 AM; KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; ESPN Radio (National); TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

The Texas Rangers scored two runs but the Northern California Athletics scored five runs.

Austin Wynns was the designated hitter for the Texas Rangers today.

That pretty much tells you everything you need to know.

Player of the Game: Jake Burger hit a solo home run and had three of Texas’ seven total hits.

Up Next: This excruciating road tip has concluded. As an undeserved reward, the Rangers get tomorrow off before opening up a homestand against the Washington Nationals beginning on Tuesday night back at The Shed.

Noah Cameron threw a complete game shutout, continuing his unbelievable stretch on the mound, as the Royals took the rubber match against the Angels on Sunday afternoon, with a 3-0 win.

Today was game number five of Cameron calling his own pitches, and with the stats backing me up, he’s basically been Cy Young. In those 5 outings, he has thrown 37.2 innings, allowing 13 hits, 5 runs, (3 of those scored after he left the game), 9 walks and 34 strikeouts.

His final line against the Angels was 9 innings, 1 hit (a bloop single), a walk and 8 strikeouts. The local kid has really found something.

Offensively, Jac Caglianone’s hitting streak ended today, but Michael Massey and Bobby Witt Jr. each smashed a solo homer, and Carter Jensen drove in another with an infield single to end a 0-22 stretch.

Massey also finished the day 3-4, wrapping up a good series.

It was another fast game and not much happened outside Cameron being awesome. The Royals finish the trip out west at 2-4. They are 51-74 on the season. They open a 4-game series at home tomorrow against the Athletics. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. CT.

Who would win the weekend series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs? Sunday’s game would decide it and it was a classic Cards/Cubs back and forth duel. The Cardinals bats would strike early again and Hunter Dobbins would give St. Louis a solid start, but the Cubs would not go down quietly. Fortunately, the Cardinals power would continue to pour it on.

As JJ Wetherholt goes, so go the Cardinals which was a good thing in the top of the 1st inning when JJ started the game with a ground-rule double. Two batters later, he would be able to casually cross home plate as he watched an Alec Burleson bomb sail 421 feet into the right-centerfield stands for an immediate 2-0 Cardinals lead.

The Cardinals would add another run to that lead in the top of the 2nd inning when Jimmy Crooks hit a two-out double. He would score when Blaze Jordan smacked a single to center that Pete Crow-Armstrong was unable to handle giving St. Louis a 3-0 lead. It’s such a joy to watch PCA mess up anything.

While many of us who faithfully follow the Cardinals enjoy Pete Crow-Armstrong failing, there’s no denying his talent and likely MVP-level season. Hunter Dobbins had not allowed a hit going into the bottom of the 3rd inning when he walked Triantos who entered the game after Dansby Swanson was removed after having left-side discomfort after an errant swing. The old “walks always come back to haunt you” mantra proved true two batters later when Pete Crow-Armstrong proved why he’s the current MVP favorite (and boy it pains me to utter those words) when he destroyed a Hunter Dobbins four-seam fastball into the right field stands cutting the Cardinals lead down to 3-2.

The Cardinals would regain their 3-run lead with an assist by Cubs starter Edward Cabrera in the top of the 4th inning. He walked Masyn Winn and Jimmy Crooks with one out in the Cardinals 4th. Blaze Jordan then snuck a ball past short for a single which loaded the bases. Cabrera couldn’t find the plate with JJ Wetherholt up walking him and gifting the Cardinals a run making it 4-2. Iván Herrera then lifted a sacrifice fly to right scoring Jimmy Crooks to make it 5-2 Cardinals and they weren’t done yet. The Cubs removed the wild Cabrera and brought in Ryan Rolison who Alec Burleson greeted hammering the first pitch he threw into left field for a single that scored both Blaze Jordan and JJ Wetherholt when Ian Happ did a pirouette instead of throwing the ball to home making it 7-2 Cardinals.

But wait, there’s more…

With Alec Burleson on first, Jordan Walker showed he has not lost his Home Run Derby mojo when he waited on a 79 mph curveball and blasted it into the fencing above the centerfield wall for a 2-run shot giving the Cardinals a commanding 9-2 lead. BOOM!

Hunter Dobbins pitched the Cardinals into the bottom of the 6th inning. While his outing was a quality start and overall strong, he walked too many batters Sunday. Hunter walked 4, but only allowed 2 hits and 2 earned runs. over 5 full innings. I’ll take that any game at Wrigley Field. A walk to Alex Bregman to leadoff the Cubs 6th led to his removal from the game by manager Oli Marmol. He was replaced by Luis Gastelum who was tasked with getting the Cardinals closer to the finish line in the middle innings. He pitched out of a two-on jam in the bottom of the 6th to keep the Cubs from cutting into the Cards lead. He would also keep the Chicago bats quiet in the bottom of the 7th also.

St. Louis would enter the land of double digits in the top of the 8th inning when JJ Wetherholt would get his second hit of the day after he beat out an infield single with one out. Iván Herrera walked to give the Cardinals two on with one out. Jordan Walker then blasted a 92 mph cutter off of the right-centerfield wall for a 2-run double increasing the Cardinals dominant Sunday advantage to 11-2.

Gordon Graceffo was the Cardinals bullpen answer for the bottom of the 8th inning. He would surrender a run after Suzuki doubled down the right field line and then advanced to third on a wild pitch by Graceffo. He would score a “who really cares” run when pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor lifted a sacrifice fly to center to make it 11-3 Cardinals.

The Cardinals had the joy of facing former teammate Carson Kelly who was the Cubs designated position player pitcher. Only Jimmy Crooks managed a single down the right field line as Kelly got flyouts from Church, Winn and Jordan. Caleb Ferguson took care of the Cubs in the bottom of the 9th inning to end what became a laugher for the Cardinals. The most eventful part of the bottom of the 9th inning was the first out which was a fine play by JJ Wetherholt throwing out Michael Conforto which ended up going through a 5-minute ABS challenge. Miguel Amaya did hit a solo home run to make the final score 11-4, but that made more sense than the ridiculously-long challenge call in a game gone out of control. Kudos to Ferguson for not walking anyone. Well done.

The St. Louis Cardinals begin a brutal week where they’ll play 8 games in 7 days as they play a day/night doubleheader Monday in Cincinnati. The first game is scheduled to start at 12:40pm central time as the Reds will start RHP Rhett Lowder. The Cardinals have yet to announce their first starter for Monday. Game broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.

With only about a month left in the minor league regular season, the Mets are promoting top prospect SS Elian Peña to High-A Brooklyn.

Peña, the No. 6 prospect in Joe DeMayo's midseason top 30 rankings, slashed .271/.388/.397 with eight home runs and 18 doubles for 44 RBI over 96 games with Low-A St. Lucie.

The 18-year-old was New York's top international signing in 2024 for $5 million, which was the largest bonus the organization has given to an amateur international free agent.

Last year in rookie ball, Peña hit .292 with a .942 OPS and totaled nine home runs and 13 doubles in 55 games.

Peña wasn't the only prospect that the Mets promoted on Sunday, as SS Émilien Pitre is heading up to Triple-A, according to The Athletic's Will Sammon.

Pitre was one of the three prospects acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in the Freddy Peralta trade. He was hitting .323 with a .943 OPS across 37 games with the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits and kept it going with Binghamton, hitting .375 with seven RBI over 10 games. He slid into the No. 11 spot in New York's system in DeMayo's midseason rankings.

The moment Mets No. 3 prospect Elian Peña found out he has been promoted to Brooklyn!

Congrats Elian, thank you for a great season and wishing you the best of luck with the @BKCyclones! pic.twitter.com/a2UDLotaty

— St. Lucie Mets (@stluciemets) August 16, 2026

Tommy John’s name will live on in baseball forever, long after his excellent 26-year major league pitching career ended. John died on Saturday at age 83, and will be long remembered for being the first to undergo the surgery that bears his name.

John’s baseball accolades on their own are mind-boggling. He played in 26 major league seasons, matched only in the modern era by Nolan Ryan, who pitched in 27 years. John is one of only eight pitchers to make 700 starts, and he pitched a whopping 4,710 1/3 innings in his major league career.

With the Dodgers, John led the National League in winning percentage in each of his first two seasons, including 13-3 for a pennant-winning team in 1974. But he didn’t pitch that year after July 17, sidelined by an elbow injury. That September, Dr. Frank Jobe tried a new elbow reconstruction surgery, replacing the ulnar collateral ligament in John’s left elbow.

“Tommy was an exceptional pitcher throughout his career in Major League Baseball, and his courageous role in becoming the first to have surgery that would go on to bear his name can’t be overstated,” Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said. “His impact both on and off the field has been felt by ballplayers of all ages and will be for generations to come.”

After the first such procedure that would ultimately bear his name, John rehabbed in 1975 but returned to make at least 30 starts for his next seven full seasons, a stretch interrupted only by a strike-shortened 1981 season in which he started 20 games and pitched 140 1/3 innings.

John pitched in three World Series — two for the Dodgers against the Yankees in 1977-78 and one for the Yankees against the Dodgers in 1981 — and in his career had a 2.65 ERA in 14 postseason games, including 13 starts and 88 1/3 innings.

In the 1977 NLCS, John pitched a complete-game win in Philadelphia in Game 4 to clinch the pennant, finishing off the win with a strikeout of Bake McBride in Philadelphia.

John was 31 when he had the surgery, already with a solid dozen major league seasons under his belt. But his lasting power after the surgery was remarkable, pitching until age 46. He ended with more starts, innings, and wins after the surgery than before. He made one All-Star team prior to the elbow procedure, and was an All-Star three times afterward, and also finished second in Cy Young Award voting twice and fourth another time after the surgery.

The procedure is now commonplace, with hundreds of pitchers undergoing Tommy John surgery in the 52 years since. But John was the first, and his success afterward opened up doors for countless number of pitching careers to continue.

“While his incredible longevity and post-surgery achievements changed the fortunes and trajectory of countless athletes around the world, it also overshadowed his excellence as a pitcher, which included consecutive 20‑win seasons with the Yankees” the Yankees said in a statement. “We pause to remember the totality of his legacy — his competitiveness and skill, his penchant for conversation, his kind and gracious nature, and his stature as an athletic and medical pioneer.”

In the media room at Dodger Stadium there’s a large framed magazine cover with a picture of Sandy Koufax and Jackie Robinson from what appears to be the 1972 ceremony to retire the uniform numbers of Koufax, Robinson, and Roy Campanella. What strikes me about Koufax in the picture is the wonderful smile on his face, but also how young he was. Koufax was just 36 in 1972, and might have been able to still pitch if some form of elbow surgery was available six years earlier.

Koufax during his abrupt retirement in 1966 mentioned he didn’t want to regret one moment by continuing to pitch through pain. He’s still going and living a happy life and looks fantastic even now at age 90, so Koufax is likely happy with that decision all these years later. But he also didn’t have much of a choice at the time. After Tommy John and Dr. Frank Jobe, hundreds of pitchers had a chance at renewed life on the mound.

For that, Tommy John will be remembered forever.

The lopsided pitching matchup didn’t materialize, but it turned out not to matter, as big bats beat big arms.

As he crossed into more innings than he had pitched all of last season (134) Sean Burke had his worst start since June 13, giving up four earned runs on five hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings that took him 72 pitches. His velocity was off a couple of ticks and his command wasn’t terrific, either. The first and biggest blow was a two-run triple in the second on Brett Callahan’s first major league pitch. Callahan then was knocked in on a Max Clark single to make it 3-0 (Callahan’s next time up he was called out on strikes by home plate umpire Adam Beck on a clear ball, but his attempt at a challenge was declared too late by Beck, who had a terrible day overall.)

The Sox got one run back on a Tristan Peters opposite-field pop-up ground-rule double (those corners in Comerica are really short) and two grounders. The Tigers got it back to 4-1 on an opposite-field homer off Sam Antonacci’s glove by Colt Keith in the third, then in the fifth they learned why the dreaded leadoff walk is so dreaded: Tigers starter Drew Anderson, at his highest pitch count all year, pinned Peters down 0-2 then threw four straight balls, followed by a slider that didn’t slide that Drew Romo slid 386 feet to right to make it 4-3.

A Randal Grichuk pinch-double and Colson Montgomery broken-bat single in the sixth tied the game. Next, Tigers lefty reliever Todd Holton again proved the dreaded-leadoff-walk rule by giving Antonacci (who doesn’t hit lefties well) a five-pitch pass and following that by setting one on a tee for Munetaka Murakami, only to see it land 393 feet away. Make it 6-4, White Sox.

The Tigers cut it to 6-5 in the seventh when Dillon Dingler broke an 0-for-29 slump with a double to score Gleyber Torres, at which point Mune proved he’s not just another pretty bat:

That kept it a one-run game, and Miguel Vargas added a solo shot in the ninth for a little insurance. Sean Newcomb, who did the heavy lifting on the relief side with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless work, had an easy 1-2-3 ninth for a 7-5 win. Hagen Smith had also had a solid 1 2/3 innings of scoreless tossing, with the only reliever to blot his copybook (can you tell I watch Britbox a lot?) being Huascar Brazobán, knocked for two hits and a run in two-thirds of an inning.

Oh, you want to see all the nice long balls? Well, here they all are!

The sweep sends the White Sox to 65-58 and drops the Tigers to 5 1/2 back and dreaming about next year (we hope, anyway). Next up is a trip north on the Red Line, beginning tomorrow night with Luis Castillo (who has spent one game in a Sox uniform making Chris Getz look dumb and one making him look brilliant) vs. Shota Imanaga.

MVP
Sean Newcomb: 2 ⅓ IP, BB, 2 K, SAVE (4), 31% WPA

Runners-Up
Hagen Smith: 1 2/3 IP, BB, K, WP, WIN (2-0), badass putout on a line drive off his belly, 12% WPA
Munetaka Murakami: 1-for-5, R, RBI, HR, 2 K, 19% WPA
Miguel Vargas: 1-for-4, R, RBI, HR, BB, K, 11% WPA
Randal Grichuk: 1-for-3, R, 2B, K,
Braden Montgomery: 1-for-4, BB, K
Colson Montgomery: 2-for-4, RBI, 2 K
Tristan Peters: 1-for-1, 2 R, 2B, BB

Cold Cat
Sean Burke: 4 ⅓ IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, HR, -23% WPA

Runners-Up
Sam Antonacci: 0-for-4, R, RBI, BB
Chase Meidroth: 0-for-3, BB, K, GIDP
Brenton Doyle: 0-for-2, K
Huascar Brazobán: 2/3 IP, 2 H, ER, HOLD (10), -11% WPA
Colson Montgomery: 2-for-4, RBI, 2 K just kidding Vaughn

Yankees 4 Jays 3 (10 innings)

Well, I didn’t expect a sweep, not that it wouldn’t have nice.

Tied in the tenth the Yankees scored two in the top of the inning. After a sac bunt, to move the Manfred Man to third base, Ben Rice homered off Braydon Fisher.

We got one in the bottom of the inning, Andrés Giménez singled home the Manfred Man, but we couldn’t bring him home to tie the game.

As usual, our offense didn’t do enough, just two runs in regulation time.

One in the fifth: With one out, Kazuma Okamoto doubled and Daz Camerson followed that with a double. Unfortunately that’s all we got.

One in the ninth: Josh Smith reached on an error by Ben Rice at first. Alejandro Kirk walked. A wild pitch moved Smith to third and a Ernie Clement sac fly sent the game to extra innings.

We had just seven hits and three walks. Charles McAdoo and Andrés Giménez had two each. But then Brett Bateman, George Springer, Ernie Clement, and Myles Straw/Nathan Straw had 0 fors.

2 for 9 with RISP wasn’t enough.

Dylan Cease had a good start, 6.1 innings, just 2 hits, 3 walks with 10 strikeouts. But two earned runs were too many.

Brendon Little finished the seventh, allowing an inherited run to score. There was a weird play in there Jose Caballero singled to left, Daz Cameron threw home (too late), Kirk threw to second and Ernie Clement made a tag that the second base umpire didn’t see, but on challenge it was corrected.

Paul Sewald got into his first game as a Blue Jay, going 1.2 innings giving up just one hit.

And, of course, Braydon Fisher gave up the home run in the tenth.

Tomorrow is an off-day (I don’t know about the players, but I need a day off), and then we start a three game series with the Rays in that Godforsaken park in St. Petersburg. We are a game back from a Wild Card spot at the moment which is much better than where we were two weeks ago. This next week, with game in Florida and New York, is going to be important.

Sometimes you roll snake eyes and the Atlanta Braves very nearly did end up doing so against the Snakes, themselves. The Arizona Diamondbacks may have been coming into town following a series loss to the Colorado Rockies (in Arizona, mind you) but they were entering this series with two monsters getting starts for them in their rotation. Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez have both been lights-out recently and Michael Soroka has also been very solid as well.

As such, this wasn’t going to be an easy task for the Braves — especially after they completed the monumental task of finally beating the New York Mets in a three-game series. As such, a bit of a letdown was always on the cards and that’s what happened in this particular series. Fortunately, some timely hitting from one of baseball’s top power hitters helped Atlanta avert a disastrous sweep. Let’s get into how everything went down over the weekend, shall we?

Friday, August 14

Diamondbacks 2, Braves 0

So this was one of those games where there wasn’t much the Braves could do — the Diamondbacks and their pitching was just too much to handle. Brandon Pfaadt has been on a heater since late-July, as he hasn’t given up an earned run since the first inning of his start against the Cardinals back on July 22 — and funnily enough, his current teammate Lars Nootbaar was the one who brought in that run against him.

Anyways, Pfaadt was absolutely nightmarish for the Braves to deal with and this one was essentially set in stone once Arizona managed to take advantage of some shaky defense from Atlanta in the first inning in order to plate the only run that Chris Sale ended up surrendering. Once Pfaadt was done, Arizona called upon both Juan Morillo and Brandyn Garcia to finish things off and they’ve both been lights out on the road lately so the Braves were essentially walking into a snake pit (for lack of a better term) in this situation. Atlanta only mustered up three hits and this was pure dominance from Arizona’s pitching staff.

Chris Sale was excellent, as usual, it must be noted. Despite the fact that the Braves once again had a tough time dealing with the other team’s top guy in this matchup, Sale remained upbeat about things and even expressed a bit of excitement about matchups like this when I asked him about it after the game. “You take this one on the chin,” explained Sale. “What these guys have done throughout the year and what they’re going to continue to do, you certainly don’t expect that. But it happens — I’ve had blow-up starts where I’m sure they thought they were going to get six innings of one-run ball and it’s not. We pick each other up and we keep moving forward.”

Saturday, August 15

Diamondbacks 10, Braves 3

This time, Arizona’s lineup asserted dominance. Despite the fact that Ronald Acuña Jr. led things off with a home run and the Braves got out to a two-run lead after one inning, things went sideways from that point forward. Grant Holmes ended up having his worst start of the season, as he couldn’t even get through four innings as the Diamondbacks tagged him for three runs in both the second and third innings. Nolan Arenado’s two run dinger in the third put Arizona up 6-2 and they didn’t look back from there. In fact, Arenado made it a two-homer night later on in the seventh as his solo shot off of Brent Suter made it 7-2.

Danny Young then got the ball for the top of the ninth inning and that ended up being ugly as well, as Ildemaro Vargas capped off a great night at the plate for Arizona with a three-run shot on a hanger from Young that made it 10-2. This only notable thing that happened for Atlanta outside of the first inning was when Ha-Seong Kim came in as a pinch-hitter and promptly picked up his fourth (4th) RBI of the season (on August 15) on a productive out. Progress!

Other than that, Eduardo Rodriguez also proved to ultimately be too tough for Atlanta to handle and Arizona’s bullpen dominated once he left the game ahead of the seventh inning. Once the smoke had cleared, the Diamondbacks now had a five-game winning streak at Truist Park and had won seven of their last ten games here in Cobb County. Oof!

Sunday, August 16

Braves 5, Diamondbacks 3

The task for Atlanta didn’t get much easier in the series finale on Sunday, as the Braves were set to do battle against old friend Michael Soroka with Bryce Elder looking to stop the bleeding. Fortunately, Elder returned to form after getting demolished by the Mets earlier this week and he bounced back to the tune of tossing six innings with just one run allowed. Unsurprisingly, the sole run came on a dinger but outside of that, Elder once again managed to deftly make his way through Arizona’s lineup and bring them back down to Earth following their extremely productive Saturday performance.

Once Elder was done, the Braves were holding on to a slender 2-1 lead after Drake Baldwin’s RBI single in the third put them ahead and then Ronald Acuña Jr.‘s double down the left field line with two out in the fifth put them back in front after that solo homer from Gabriel Moreno had tied things up again. Michael Soroka pitched well but he found himself facing a recorded loss once he stepped out with two outs in the fifth.

The seventh inning proved to be the decisive one, though. That was when Arizona once again tied things up after Ildemaro Vargas got a favorable pitch from Didier Fuentes on a 3-1 count and bopped it on top of the right field fence and into the Chop House for a solo shot. Fortunately, Atlanta got to work quickly in their half of the second as Austin Riley doubled to lead off the seventh and then Drake Baldwin joined him on the basepaths with a walk. Matt Olson eventually came to the plate with two out and Brandyn Garcia finally had a road slip-up while facing Olson. Garcia threw Olsona. sinker that didn’t sink enough and Olson crushed it to dead-center for a game-changing three-run dinger that put Atlanta back in front.

Raisel Iglesias got the ball for the ninth inning and while he took us all on another rollercoaster ride that saw a balk and Arizona scoring a run to cut the lead to two, Iggy was able to eventually get the three outs that Atlanta needed to at least avoid getting swept in their own building. Phew!

With the way that both Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez are currently going, I don’t think that there’s a team in baseball that is really looking forward to any series where both of those guys are going. Their performances helped propel them to a series win over the Dodgers last weekend and they played a major role in keeping Atlanta quiet for the first two games of this series. Sometimes you just run into a buzzsaw and it was Atlanta’s turn to face the blade.

The good news is that the Braves were at least able to avert disaster with a win on Sunday. Bryce Elder’s been good more often than he’s been bad lately and his performance on Sunday is the type of start that Atlanta’s going to need from him as they continue to get closer and closer to the home stretch of the season. Matt Olson has also continued to heat things up at the plate and his dinger on Sunday was another example of Olson coming up big in big situations.

The rest of the weekend series was pretty rough but ultimately, averting a sweep at this stage in the season is still worth something. With that being said, it’s especially nice that the Braves are getting on the plane on a winning note because they have an insane week coming up ahead of them. THey’ll start in Minneapolis, head to Chicago for a make-up game, head to Milwaukee for two games and then finish the Brewers series in Williamsport for the Little League Classic before coming back to Atlanta for a much-needed off day. Things are about to get really hectic in terms of travel and this’ll certainly be a test for the Braves following an even-steven homestand. We’ll see what happens!

The Rays defense kept the first inning from escalating into disaster. With Pete Alonso on first base, Ryan Vilade made this catch to save a run. But that’s not all! Pete Alonso was so sure this would be a hit that he was moseying around second base and even with Vilade having stand up and spin around Alonso still couldn’t get back to first. Double play of the year!

In the bottom of the inning the Rays pulled their all-too-common this series act of getting several men on base and then leaving them there. It’s a reminder that while small ball has its place, it’s very hard to score runs on a bunch of singles. Could someone please hit the ball out of the park?

Just as frustrating: Orioles Trevor Rogers threw a first pitch strike in nearly every at bat, yet only once or twice were Rays batters swinging.

Finally, Ryan Vilade, fixing to be today’s hero, does hit one out of the park, giving the Rays a 1-0 lead.

After that, however, came the fifth inning, which was inexplicably awful. Peralta, who had been effective enough to get through four innings unscathed although he wasn’t particularly dominant or efficient, walked two batters. There were two outs, but I guess Kevin Cash wasn’t confident that Peralta could get out of the inning.

Here comes the inexplicable part: he brought in Cleavinger. Cleavinger’s 3 point something ERA belies how ineffective he’s been lately. His August ERA is over eight, and he’s given up runs in his last two outings. Also should he fail to get Holliday to end the inning, he would have a very unfavorable match up against the right-handed Pete Alonso.

So, of course he gives up a single to Holliday, which tied the game.

And then, the least surprising things of all, he gives up a two run double to Alonso. Oh wait I guess it was a little surprising, I was sure he’d give up a home run. Baltimore 3, Tampa Bay 1.

Then it was Steve Matz’s chance to help turn a winnable game into a blow out. He also got two outs, before giving up a single followed by a home run. Baltimore 5, Tampa Bay 1. And then two more runs, to make it 7-1. He was replaced by the recently called up Joe Boyle, who managed to give up another three runs. ALL THIS WITH TWO OUTS. How did the Rays get this far into the season and not be able to bring in a pitcher who can get one lousy out?

The Rays scored one more run and I mention it only because newly signed Jorge Mateo got the RBI. Yippee.

This has been an altogether dispiriting series, to be sure, but at least the Rays seemed in it until the last out in the first two losses. I don’t know how you punt a game this badly in the fifth inning.

I guess this is a reminder that it’s a long season and still a lot more has to happen before the Rays make it to October.

The Phillies haven’t swept an opponent since the first week in June. That’s a long time to go without taking all the games in a series from the opposing team, particularly for a team that considers itself a good one.

They had an opportunity to do so today against the Twins, sending Andrew Painter to the mound after his good start against the Cardinals earlier this week. And let’s just say – it didn’t start well. For one, Painter seemed allergic to the strike zone to begin the game, throwing six straight balls to open his game. After getting a groundball double play, the next three hitters reached base to bring Brooks Lee to the plate. Lee pulled a hanging curveball foul, then got a hanging slider in the same spot and did not miss.

Not exactly the way to begin a game.

To his credit, Painter settled down quite a bit after that, only allowing a solo home run to Kody Clemens as the other stain on his sheet on the day. Previous versions of Andrew Painter might have melted down and needed a relief pitcher after the slam, but this newer version actually was pretty good.

As for the offense, for the majority of the game, they seemed perfectly content to let Dean Kremer do his thing and get out of Minnesota with a series win. Through five innings, they weren’t able to do much, but in the sixth, they suddenly woke up. The top of the lineup all reached thanks to a walk, a single and a walk. Luis Arraez grounded out softly to score Kyle Schwarber and leave runners on second and third for Alec Bohm. Fresh off his five hit night, Bohm continued his torrid weekend, launching a three-run home run to bring the Phillies within one.

There the score remained until the eighth when the Phillies threatened again. With one out, Bryce Harper singled and Arraez followed with a ground rule double, bringing Bohm up again with runners in scoring position. He must have sacrificed something to the baseball gods as his flare over the first baseman dropped and tied the score.

After an intentional walk to load the bases, J.T. Realmuto popped up for the second out, sending Bryan de la Cruz to the plate. Having come in as a pinch hitter in the previous hitter, de la Cruz singled to bring home two runs and give the Phillies the lead.

Surprisingly, with the bullpen called into action for four innings of work, this lead held up. Tim Mayza, Orion Kerkering, Jonathan Bowlan and Jhoan Duran combined for four innings of work, one hit, two walks and seven strikeouts to preserve the victory and the sweep.

Maybe the answer all along was corn.

I didn’t see much of today’s action, what with my five year old nephew demanding some birthday attention this afternoon. But after checking in on Gameday early-on and seeing a big lead I thought “good—at least we’ll salvage one game from this series”. Alas, there was no more joy in Mudville to be found as Dean Kremer collapsed and the bullpen squandered the rest of the lead.

One would be hard-pressed to draw up a better beginning to this contest. After a Trevor Larnach walk and singles from Josh Bell & Kody Clemens, Brooks Lee launched one 353 ft and beyond the rim for a grand slam! 4-0 MIN.

Not content with just the four-bagger, B3 saw Clemens crank his 21st tater of the season. 5-0 MIN.

Through the first five innings, Twins SP Dean Kremer was really sharp. The 6th? A disaster. BB—1B—BB started the frame, then a Luis Arraez ground-out got the Phillies on the board. The third Kremer offering to Alec Bohm: a three-run home run. 5-4 MIN.

Kody Funderburk & A.J. Minter would hold Philly scoreless for the rest of the 6th & 7th, but the Twins had by then apparently gone into “no more offense” mode (a common occurrence these days). Alas, the Fightin’s did not respond in kind.

In T8, RP Andrew Morris had an exceedingly-rare-and-at-the-worst-possible-time meltdown: 1 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 ER. RBI knocks from Bohm (again) and Bryan De La Cruz were the culprits this time. 7-5 PHI.

As per legal obligations this 2026 season, the Twins staged a bit of a 9th inning rally. But after a Victor Caratini walk and Kaelen Culpepper single, Phils closer Jhoan Duran buckled down to whiff Ryan Jeffers and Byron Buxton—both waving—to bunny-hop off the mound victorious like he did so many times “on our side”.

Your Final: Philadelphia Phillies 7, Minnesota Twins 5.

To quote Dr. Suess: “We cannot beat them here (Target Field) or there (Field of Dreams), we cannot beat them anywhere”. The Twins are swept by the Phillies and continue to sink once again to the fringes of both the AL Central and Wild Card races.

Zach’s Zealot

• Me: For having a birthday party distract from what would have been a “grumbling to myself in the recliner” sort of loss.

Zach’s Zombie

• Morris: As much as I hate to give the young man the blame today, his inning was what turned the tide in the wrong direction.

Egg-cellent Elocution

• Matt Monittowondering why he came back to the United States for this.

Who’s Got Next

• From one NL East team to another, the Twins stay home for three games with the division-leading Atlanta Braves (Mon. night, Tues. night, Wed. afternoon).

The Sunday afternoon finale between the Yankees and Blue Jays included more spectacular pitching from a Yankee starter, inadequate hitting from the lineup, and unwanted late drama. Ryan Weathers continued to be nigh-untouchable force, allowing one run over 7.1 innings. The Yankee offense in turn continued to scuffle, grabbing a pair of runs in the first nine innings and forcing David Bednar to complete a five-out save. A crucial error from Ben Rice in the ninth sparked a Toronto rally that brought the tying run home, sending the game to extras.

But miracle of miracles, those slip-ups did not spell doom for the Yankees on this day. Rice came right back up in the 10th and crushed a go-ahead two run home run to give the Bombers another advantage—which this time they would not relinquish—for a 4-3 extra-innings win on the road which probably gave most onlookers heartburn. I confess, I didn’t think they had it in them to emerge victorious today. I and various other doubters must eat our crow. Let’s dig into how we got there.

Like the first two games of this series, the Yankees scored first, though they again only managed to scratch across a single run. José Caballero essentially had to manufacture the single tally in the third out of whole cloth against Toronto ace Dylan Cease, first working a walk (thanks to two successful challenges of home plate ump Hunter Wendelstedt, who had a rough day), taking second on a weak tapper in front of the plate from surprise leadoff hitter Rice, stealing third, and dashing to the plate on a Luis García Jr. sac fly. The Bombers had to burn two outs from two of their best hitters to do it, but they had a lead.

It took a bit longer than the previous two games for the Blue Jays to equalize, but they ultimately did. Kazuma Okamoto and Daz Cameron thumped back-to-back doubles off Weathers to tie the score in the fifth inning. But Cameron showed why Sunday’s game was his first back in the majors this year when he got himself thrown out at third base in an unconventional 5-3-5 double play.

Weathers, entering action with five straight starts allowing either one or zero runs, continued to perform with aplomb. He was perfect the first time through the order before scattering a few hits in a scoreless fourth. He surrendered those doubles and lost the lead, but left it at that to get through five. He allowed another pair of runners aboard in the sixth before inducing a critical twin killing against the slow-footed Alejandro Kirk.

Cease did not have have to lobby his manager too hard to go back out for the seventh inning, but George Lombard Jr. ultimately sent him back to the dugout two batters into the frame. The rookie shortstop gave the Toronto faithful a fright with a booming double to left which barely missed clearing the wall. It wasn’t a homer, but it was the end of Cease’s day.

Lefty Brendon Little entered, and Aaron Boone countered by pinch-hitting Paul Goldschmidt for McMahon. John Schneider countered the counter by intentionally walking Goldy; Jazz Chisholm Jr. pinch-ran for him at first.

An unsuccessful at-bat off the bench from Amed Rosario marked the second out, meaning it was up to Caballero. Undeterred by the Yankees’ previous missed opportunities throughout the weekend, he got the job done by cracking a base hit to left field to score Lombard and put the Yankees ahead.

Then he hit the deck. And it nearly scored another run.

See, after bringing home that go-ahead run, Caballero got himself caught in a rundown and was compelled to stay in that rundown to allow Jazz to score. With the first baseman McAdoo barreling straight at him, Caballero channeled his inner Keanu Reeves, tumbling to the ground and somersaulting in a desperation attempt to avoid McAdoo’s glove. The umpiring crew ruled that the tag missed him, which meant Jazz’s run scored and the Yankees were up 3-1. Caballero even got to scamper back to first, somehow safe after all that.

Naturally, Schneider immediately challenged, and after a lengthy review the replay cameras revealed that McAdoo’s mitt had grazed an armband Caballero was wearing on his left forearm. By the thinnest of margins, the call was overturned and the score reverted to 2-1. The Yankees would sorely miss not having that extra run in their pockets.

Weathers, energized by the twin killing he got to end the sixth, made quick work of the middle of the Jays’ order in the seventh. With his pitch count in good shape, the lefty came right back out in the eighth to face the bottom third of Toronto’s order for the third time. But a one-out, two-strike single from Andrés Giménez put the tying run aboard and brought Boone to the mound.

Still, what an outstanding performance from Weathers, who has followed a so-so first half by putting on a show for his sixth consecutive turn in the rotation. You’ll have to drag him outta that rotation yourself at this point.

Boone opted to skip the setup men and turn directly to his rested closer with five outs to go and a Monday offday soon to come. Bednar took the hill and completed the first part of his task, grabbing the last two outs of the eighth and preserving the lead. Obviously, we knew he would be unable to rely on getting additional cushion from his offense today, so on he went into the ninth a one-run game.

The inning began about as foolishly as you could imagine. Pinch-hitter Josh Smith came on and rolled an easy grounder toward first base that Rice completely flubbed, giving the Jays an undeserved opportunity—and you know what Toronto often does with undeserved opportunities.

Bednar compounded his problems, walking Kirk to put two on with nobody out. After Springer fouled out, the Yankee closer dirted a two-strike offering which eluded Ali Sánchez and allowed both runners to advance. A sac fly from Ernie Clement tied the game and forced the Yankees to start over. Oy vey.

There’s plenty of blame to go around for that blown save, but it was clear that Rice had some atonement to perform. His error, after all, is what started that whole snafu. So he stepped up to the plate in the 10th against Braydon Fisher and took out all his frustration against a 2-0 slider. Benny barreled it up for a 438-foot go-ahead two-run home run.

Tim Hill entered to pitch the 10th with one down allowed Toronto’s Manfred Man to score on a bleeder from Giménez. To the veteran’s credit, he kept Giménez on first, getting Nathan Lukes to line out to Ramos and Brett Bateman to hit a comebacker, shutting the door on a much-needed 4-3 victory for the Yankees.

Find something relaxing to do Monday night—watching the Yankees will thankfully not be an option. They get a travel day as they head down to Charm City, then on Tuesday night they’ll face their second straight division rivals. The Orioles just swept the Rays so they, like the Jays, are entering a meeting with the Yankees riding on a high (and right in the Wild Card mix in this sad American League). Will Warren gets the ball in the opener; we await word on who the O’s will pitch in that game, which starts at 6:35 PM on YES.

Box Score

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! Over the past week, the baseball world looked to its history, as the Yankees celebrated the 2026 edition of Old Timers’ Day, while the Phillies and Twins took part in this year’s Field of Dreams game. With so much to cover, let’s get started!

Old Timers’ Day

We lead this week off, of course, with last weekend’s main event, Old Timers’ Day. The day began with a roster move that dated back to last year’s Old Timers’ Day, when Mariano Rivera tore his Achilles while playing the outfield.

This year was, in many ways, a monumental Old Timers’ Day, as for the first time, multiple players from the Aaron Judge era — namely, Dellin Betances, Todd Frazier, and Adam Ottavino — were in attendance (Ottavino despite the fact that he played only last season!). Rather amusingly, all three got big hits in the game — yes, including the two relievers!

As always, those in attendance took to social media afterwards to highlight their experience.

Field of Dreams

Although the Yankees were not playing in this year’s Field of Dreams Game, they were well represented among the legends, with Joe Torre, CC Sabathia, Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltrán, Iván Rodríguez in attendance.

Game Belts

The offense has struggled lately, which means that most of the recent game belts have not gone to the pitchers — who, arguably, have the real MVPs of the team — but to the batters who come up with the big hits that secured the win.

Goldy’s Award

First baseman Paul Goldschmidt received the Yankees’ MLBPAA Heart and Hustle Award this week.

A-Rod Looks Back

This week, Alex Rodriguez looked back on his career. First, he attended the Seattle Mariners’ Alumni Day, as they celebrated their 50th season; then, he honored the ten-year anniversary of his final game.

Congrats, DJ!

This week, the Royal Oak Leprechauns to their first championship in franchise history. Why does that matter to us, you may wonder. Well, their manager is DJ LeMahieu!

Miscellaneous

We wrap up this week’s roundup with a series of posts from around the Yanks.

Spider-Man’s Challenge

With the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland (aka, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man) revealed his favorite cardio workout. Naturally, the YES Network asked the Yankees how well they could do…and honestly, the only one who I think was truly realistic about their abilities was Michael Kay.