Category: Baseball

In their second contest with the Miami Marlins, the Colorado Rockies had hoped to even the score after dropping the series opener. However, a persistent Marlins offense coupled with effective pitching left the Rockies mostly empty handed with catcher Brett Sullivan pitching the final 1.2 innings.

The Rockies dropped the game in a 14-3 slog, a fitting final chapter in the Marlins’ remarkable June.

The offense was stymied

The Marlins got off to a quick start with a Kyle Stowers triple. The next batter, Griffin Conine, hit a double to make the score 1-0 with just one out. However, Tanner Gordon managed to get two outs, giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead in the first.

However, it did not take long for the Rockies to catch up when Mickey Moniak hit his 13th home run of the season.

However, the Marlins would take the lead again in the second when a Cole Carrigg error (his first) allowed Javier Sanoja to get on second. After that, a Leo Jiménez single was enough to bring Sanoja home and make the score 2-1 Marlins.

In the third inning, the Marlins continued to score. This time, Sanoja hit a three-run homer to score Xavier Edwards (fielder’s choice) and Owen Caissie (HBP).

When the Marlins’ half of the third ended, they had a 5-1 lead.

Finally, in the fourth inning, the Fish failed to score.

The Rockies finally got players on base in the fifth inning when Eury Pérez walked Edouard Julien and Kyle Karros with one out. However, they were unable to capitalize.

Seth Halvorsen entered the game in the sixth inning and got two outs but struggled to get the third. After walking Jiménez, five straight hitters would reach. Liam Hicks and Stowers both singled, with the latter earning the RBI in scoring Jiménez, which made the score 6-1. Following that, Conine singled, and the Marlins grew their lead to 7-1. Keeping up with his teammates, Edwards singled, and the score ballooned to 8-1.

In the sixth inning, the Rockies again had traffic on base due to Moniak and TJ Rumfield walks. It was enough for the Marlins to pull their starter.

Still, the Rockies did not have an answer for Pérez, who gave the Marlins 5.1 solid innings. His final line was one run (earned) on two hits. He walked four and struck out eight on 86 pitches. Pérez has an ERA of 4.21

The Rockies were no better against reliever Lake Bachar who quickly snagged the final two outs and ended the sixth inning.

The seventh inning went to John Brebbia in relief of Halvorsen but fared no better, giving up a two-run, 450-foot homer to Joe Mack, his fifth. The score was 10-1.

In the Rockies half of the seventh, they once again managed to get the first two batters on base via walk. This time, the Rockies scored Julien on a Jake McCarthy ground out, giving the Rockies their first run since the first inning.

As the seventh inning closed out, the scare was 10-2 Marlins.

That changed in the eighth when Brebbia gave up a three-run homer to Caissie. With the score 13-2, Brebbia left the game, and RHP/catcher Brett Sullivan entered the game.

On a positive note, Rumfield extended his hitting streak to 13 games after getting a double in the eighth inning. (It was the Rockies first hit since the second inning.)

Sullivan allowed an RBI double in the ninth to Stowers, and the score jumped to 14-2.

The Rockies, big fans of arriving fashionably late, tacked on one more run in the ninth. Karros knocked a serious double, and Ezequiel Tovar followed with a double of his own for a final 14-3 score.

The Marlins had a season high in runs and hits. Their final line was 14 runs (all earned) on 21 hits. They walked twice and struck out five times. Only Jakob Marsee failed to record a hit.

As for the Rockies, three runs (earned) on five hits. They walked six times and had 12 strikeouts.

”You’re gonna have one of these every now and then,” manager Warren Schaeffer said, adding the team would flush it and be back tomorrow.

Tanner Gordon fought through it

There’s no other way to put it: The Marlins hit Tanner Gordon hard from the first inning. However, he still managed to give the Rockies five innings and keep the game within reach. (After all, it was not yet the seventh inning, which is when the Rockies clock in.)

He left the game after finishing the fifth inning on 74 pitches. His final line was five runs (all earned) on nine hits. Gordon did not walk a batter and struck out four.

His ERA is 6.69.

“I thought he battled,” Schaeffer said, noting that he was able to help preserve the bullpen. “A couple of elevated off-speed pitches hurt him.”

The bullpen struggled

In the sixth inning, Seth Halvorsen entered the game in relief of Gordon. The inning did not go well with the Marlins scoring three runs on his watch. Halvorsen’s final line was three runs (earned) on four hits in one inning of work. He walked one and did not tally a strikeout on 25 pitches. Halvorsen’s ERA is 4.74.

John Brebbia entered the game to pitch the seventh. It took 25 pitches for him to finish that inning, and he allowed two runs on two hits.

He came back out to handle the eighth and allowed a three-run homer. His final line was 1.1 IP, allowing five runs (all earned) on five hits. He struck out one and currently has an ERA of 10.38.

RHP/catcher Brett Sullivan handled the ninth inning as well. His final line was one run (earned) on three hits. He walked one and did not notch any strikeouts in 1.2 IP.

Coming into this game, Sullivan lacked 22 innings of pitching to be classified as a two-way player. That number has now decreased to 20 innings. Should this happen, only Sullivan and Shohei Ohtani would have this classification.

Next up

Tomorrow night, the Marlins and Rockies will continue their series with Max Meyer facing Kyle Freeland.

First pitch is at 6:40pm.

See you then.

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In back-to-back nights, the offense scored eight or more runs while the pitching staff maintained its command, as the White Sox secured their first road series win since the May 1 series in San Diego after beating the Orioles, 9-3.

His ERA didn’t improve much (4.41), but Erick Fedde was solid enough tonight to earn his third win of the season, working out of some key jams to keep himself and the Sox in the game. Fedde tossed 90 pitches across five innings and gave up three runs on five hits, walking three and striking out three, and eventually had a nice eight-run cushion to work with.

Despite leaving eight runners on base as a team, the Good Guys were efficient (3-for-9) with runners in scoring position, and every batter in the lineup reached base at least once, except for Miguel Vargas – but hey, he can’t be the hero every night. His teammates picked him up anyway, mashing 11 hits with three doubles and two homers while also drawing six walks to keep the baserunners flowing. Andrew Benintendi and Jacob Gonzalez each popped off for three hits, while three players racked up two or more RBIs: Gonzalez (three), Junior Perez (three), and Colson Montgomery (two), with the latter two each mashing a bomb.

The White Sox scored early with one run in the top of the first after Kyle Teel drew a walk to start the game, and Benintendi mashed his 12th double of the season to the right field corner. Righthander Trey Gibson stumbled through the first for the Orioles, walking three batters to load up the bases, but the Good Guys unfortunately couldn’t capitalize, and Tristan Peters grounded out to strand all three.

The South Siders’ one-run lead lasted for maybe 10 minutes, give or take. Gunnar Henderson struck from the leadoff spot once again, beginning the frame with a base hit, and Pete Alonso walked to put two runners on with two outs. Jumping on the first pitch, Samuel Basallo delivered in the clutch with a base hit in the right-field gap to erase the lead and tie the game, 1-1.

The good news is that the White Sox apparently got sick of being called a “bad road team” and exploded for seven runs in the top of the third with six hits, three walks, and two home runs: a two-run, 440-foot moon shot from Colson Montgomery, and a three-run tank from Junior Perez for his second of the year.

Since joining the team on June 18, Perez has gone 4-for-13 with two home runs and four RBIs while posting a 1.047 OPS. It’s a small sample size, and Perez has also struck out six times, but there’s been some solid production from him when he’s been called upon.

On top of that, Jacob Gonzalez drove in two during the mega rally in the third, and sent a deep RBI double to right-center the next inning that one-hopped the wall to drive in his third run of the night. Since snapping his rough cold streak, Jacob has slashed .440/.481/.720 while going 11-for-25 with a homer, four doubles, 12 RBIs, and just four strikeouts. With Tuesday’s game, Gonzalez has raised his season OPS above .700 (.738)and has been making massive strides to keep his spot on the team once Munetaka Murakami is back.

After the Perez home run, that was the end of the day for Gibson, and it’s likely one he will want to forget. To make things worse, the Baltimore coaches seemed to let him flounder out there, opting not to use another mound visit during the mayhem. Gibson ended up with his third loss after 2 2/3 frames, allowing eight runs on seven hits, two homers, six walks, and five strikeouts; and his ERA has now ballooned up to 7.36. Ouch. But thank you for your service, sir.

The Orioles added two more runs in an attempt to cut the eight-run lead down in the bottom of the fifth, but Fedde worked through the jam to complete five innings and be on the hook for the win. Back-to-back doubles from Gunnar Henderson and Dylan Beavers scored one, and an RBI single from Pete Alonso scored the third Baltimore run, but that was all she wrote from their offense tonight.

Recalled from the Triple-A Charlotte Knights just a few days ago, Tyler Schweitzer came on to relieve Fedde and ended up finishing out the game and earning his first major league save. Schweitzer looked great throughout all four innings, only surrendering four hits while striking out three. He also tossed 36 of his 46 pitches (78%) for strikes, and looked way more buttoned up this time around. Tyler’s job was to eat innings, and he did that perfectly to save the game and close out the series win.

The Cleveland Guardians just dropped their second game in a row to the Texas Rangers tonight, leaving the White Sox with a two-game division lead. Regardless of whether they sneak out of Baltimore with a sweep, this next series in Cleveland will be huge. With these big wins over the last few games, the Good Guys now have a +30 run differential, which is the third-best in the American League, and have slightly improved their road record to 17-25.

We got an early one on at Camden Yards on Wednesday, with the series finale taking place at 11:35 a.m. CT. Lefthander Noah Schultz returns from the IL and makes tomorrow’s start, not having pitched since May 24 in San Francisco. In three June rehab starts with the Knights, Schultz accumulated a 4.00 ERA across nine innings, giving up four earned runs with two homers, six walks, and 15 strikeouts, with seven Ks in his final 4 2/3 frame outing.

Marlins 14, Rockies 3

Leverage index and box score

Box Score

Win Percentage Chart

Batting Box

Pitching Box

Graphics via FanGraphs.

Eur-a good pitcher, Eury Pérez: Eury Pérez, +0.17 WPA

Not a good return for Mr. Gordon: Tanner Gordon, -0.22 WPA

Game thread comments of the day

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After six scoreless innings against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night, Mets starter Nolan McLean reminded everybody just how dominant he can be and proved that his previous start against the Chicago Cubs, where he allowed six earned runs, was a fluke.

In fact, during that start at Citi Field, McLean struck out nine batters and was really only burned on two pitches that both went for homers and accounted for five of the six runs. 

For this start, though, the right-hander took the positives of that outing, as well as his start before that in which he didn’t allow an earned run through seven innings against the Cincinnati Reds, and implemented them against the Blue Jays.

“Obviously the result of the last start wasn’t great, but outside of really two swings I felt really good last week,” McLean said. “So I tried to take the positives of what I could. Obviously it’s never fun going in and giving up six runs, but [I] tried to go in and look at the positives and bounce off of that for tonight.”

McLean now seems to be over the struggles he was going through earlier in the season when he allowed 16 runs (13 earned) in nine innings across two starts. And after bursting onto the scene late last season and getting off to a similarly hot start this season, that little stretch McLean went through was his first taste of adversity. 

Interim manager Andy Green said after Tuesday’s 3-0 win that he’s been impressed with how the 24-year-old responded to hardship.

“That’s who he is,” Green said. “It’s been fun seeing him kind of bounce back from a tougher stretch. I know last game, a little bit was made out of like a couple of home runs that skewed the line, but [today] he was just mixing his pitches incredibly well. 

“He’s got different ways to end at-bats; he was competitive the whole day, he was in the zone the whole day and that was, [from] start to finish, as just clean and dominant as he’s been all year, so it was awesome.”

Since his start on May 25, when he lasted a career-low 3.1 innings against the Cincinnati Reds and allowed seven earned runs, McLean has been on top of his game once again. 

Even with the six earned runs allowed last time out against the Cubs, McLean has a 2.79 ERA in five starts this month and has limited his opponent to two earned runs or fewer in five of his last six starts.

The best sign? Outside of the two against Chicago, McLean hasn’t allowed any home runs during that stretch and has started to walk fewer batters, two things that were beginning to plague him.

“I think [when] you go through an entire baseball season for the first time, you’re going to hit stretches where maybe your command wanes a little bit and I think it was mostly that,” Green said of McLean’s rough patch. “So he got to spots where he wasn’t getting his pitches to where he wanted it to and I think that sometimes causes you to go a little bit faster. 

“He was able to slow the game down; he’s able to step on the mound and take a deep breath and just go about executing.”

That’s what McLean did on Tuesday night against a Blue Jays team that had never faced him before.

“First off, Luis [Torrens] called a great game,” McLean said. “We had a lot of confidence in all the pitches and that was kind of the goal going in. 

“No matter what pitches I threw before, just have the confidence all the way through and trust in the adjustments throughout the game to have a feel if I didn’t have something working early, to be able to find it later. And then it just always goes back to [throwing] offspeed for strikes.”

In particular, McLean thought his sweeper worked for him very well on Tuesday and that he was able to use it to play off the sinker while also mixing in fastballs.

“I’m just trying to get better every time I go out there,” he said. “Find new things that work or old things that I kinda went away from that I should stick by and it always just goes back to landing offspeed. I think that’s a big key for me. Any time I can do that and keep guys off my fastball, it’s really good.”

Box Score

The Brewers are starting to look like themselves again. After some recent struggles with runners in scoring position, they broke out of their slump with a big fourth inning, and with another solid day from Brandon Sproat, the Brewers took a 7-2 win on Tuesday night.

The day started out looking rough for Sproat. After Elly De La Cruz hit a deep fly ball to start the game, Sal Stewart hit a home run to give the Reds an early 1-0 lead. Sproat also allowed a two-out walk to Eugenio Suárez, but he was caught stealing to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Rhett Lowder struck out the side in the first inning to start his day strong. In the second, the Brewers got their first baserunner on a Jake Bauers single. He got to second on a passed ball by Jose Trevino to get into scoring position. On the next pitch, Garrett Mitchell singled to right, and Bauers beat the throw home. That tied the game at 1-1.

Sproat recovered from the first-inning run and kept the Reds in check for the next few innings. He worked around a one-out single in the second for a clean inning. In the third, he walked leadoff batter TJ Friedl and threw a wild pitch, but stranded Friedl at second. The fourth was Sproat’s strongest inning as he struck out the side.

Lowder had a clean third inning, but the Brewers came out swinging in the fourth. They started the inning with five consecutive singles. William Contreras, Bauers, and Mitchell had the first three to load the bases. Sal Frelick hit the fourth and gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead. Joey Ortiz followed that with another single, driving in two to make it 4-1.

With no outs and two on, Hamilton went for the sacrifice bunt and moved Ortiz up to second. Christian Yelich then drew a walk to load the bases again, and Jackson Chourio added the sixth single of the inning. That pushed the lead to 5-1.

Brice Turang then (initially) drew a walk, but a challenge on ball four overturned the walk into a strikeout. Contreras followed that up with a groundout that Edwin Arroyo bobbled, but the second baseman still had time to throw out Contreras at first.

The Brewers added on another run in the fifth. Bauers led off the inning with a home run on the first pitch he saw, increasing the lead to 6-1.

A single from Ortiz three batters later ended Lowder’s day, and Caleb Ferguson entered in relief. He finished the inning with a Hamilton lineout. Lowder finished the day at 4 2/3 innings pitched and six runs allowed on 11 hits, striking out eight and allowing a walk.

Murphy stuck with Sproat at 93 pitches entering the sixth. Unfortunately, the Reds broke through, scoring a run on back-to-back doubles by De La Cruz and Stewart. After a mound visit, Sproat struck out Bleday. That was the last batter Sproat faced. He finished the day with 5 1/3 innings pitched, two runs allowed on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. Though the results haven’t been pretty, Sproat finished up a good month of June for him, and is hopefully putting it all together in the majors.

Chad Patrick entered in relief and kept the inherited runner at second, getting Suárez to pop out before striking out Nathaniel Lowe to end the inning.

The bullpens locked it down from there, with one exception. In the eighth inning, Chourio hit a two-out home run into the Brewers’ bullpen. It was his 12th of the season and 10th of the month, extending the lead to 7-2.

Five different Brewers had multi-hit days. Bauers and Frelick led the day with three hits each. Chourio, Mitchell, and Ortiz added on two hits apiece. Hamilton and Yelich were the two Brewers who went hitless (though Yelich drew a walk). As a team, they went 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position and had a total of 14 hits, with only three of those going for extra bases.

In the bullpen, Patrick had 1 2/3 scoreless innings with a strikeout. Jared Koenig worked around a hit for a clean eighth inning. Grant Anderson finished the game with a hit allowed and two strikeouts in the ninth.

The Brewers have secured at least a split in this series against the Reds, but need one more win for a winning series and homestand. Game three is set for tomorrow night, but it’ll start at 7:10 p.m. because of an ESPN national broadcast. Shane Drohan faces Andrew Abbott in that game.

This was definitely more interesting than your average Tuesday night game between teams from different leagues. Things got chippy and heated at Fenway Park. Through all of the chaos, Cade Cavalli delivered one of the most dominant starts you will ever see. He struck out 13, walked nobody, allowed one hit and got an insane 25 whiffs.

Tonight was by far the most dominant Cavalli has ever looked. His fastball, which has been a bit of an issue for him at times, was just overwhelming Red Sox hitters. He 15 of his 25 whiffs on the heater. His fastball averaged 97.3 MPH, but I suspect it was more like 98 because he mixed in some pitches that looked like cutters but were classified as 4-seamers. 

After getting in some trouble in the first inning and allowing an unearned run, Cavalli retired the last 19 hitters he faced. It was just an overwhelming display of power from a pitcher that has had to take a long path to get here. Cavalli had a very bumpy recovery from Tommy John, but his stuff still allowed fans to dream. Tonight was truly that dream becoming reality.

This is one of the most dominant starts by a Nats pitcher in the 2020’s, potentially the most dominant. The last time a Nats pitcher went at least 7 innings while striking out double digit hitters and allowing one hit or less was Max Scherzer back in 2018. Of course, those kinds of outings were par for the course for Mad Max, but we have not seen that kind of dominance since.

Cavalli really did look like Max Scherzer on that mound tonight. He was frothing from the mouth and stalking around the mound the same way Scherzer used to. Cavalli was also just blowing heaters by guys and mixing in filthy breaking balls like Max did as well.

One thing I don’t think Max ever did with the Nats was get into an all out brawl on the mound. That is what happened with Cavalli tonight. After Willson Contreras cut off Cavalli on his way off the mound, some bad blood emerged. Then Cavalli struck out Contreras in the 4th, and yelled “sit down boy” as he got off the mound.

While that was a bit out of pocket, Contreras took things over the top by charging the mound and throwing his helmet. Contreras has been in the center of a lot of dust ups in his career, so this is nothing new for him. Even last night, he had a huge bat flip and pumped his chest after a homer against former teammate Miles Mikolas. Later last night, he also got ejected. Tonight, he was in the middle of a brawl.

The way the Nats responded from that brawl was absolutely fantastic. At the time, they were down 1-0. After the dust up, the Nats outscored the Red Sox 8-0. Cavalli also channeled his emotions extremely well. It could have been easy to allow that incident to throw off his outing. In fact, it did the opposite and the big right hander thrived in the chaos and smiled as the Fenway Park crowd booed him.

Before the brawl, the Nats offense was sluggish, but between Connelly Early exiting the game and the juice from the skirmish, they got going. The bottom of the order did a lot of damage, with Daylen Lile and Keibert Ruiz each getting two hits. Ruiz had his fingerprints all over the game, for better or for worse. Despite getting thrown out on the bases again, it was mostly good though, as the Nats catcher drove in three runs.

The Nats scored 7 runs in the 7th and 8th innings. CJ Abrams put the cherry on top with a solo homer and the Nats tacked on a few more thanks to Ruiz and James Wood. The offense had not been as dynamic lately, but tonight was a good reminder of how quickly they can strike.

Between the brawl, Cavalli’s outing and the late inning offense, this was one of the best wins of the season. It sure fired me up and I bet the players are stocked as well. This could be one of those games that can really bring the team together.

Even the bullpen did a nice job in this one. It looked like Orlando Ribalta was going to make things interesting after allowing two straight hits. However, he quickly settled things down by getting a double play. In the 9th, Zak Kent, who I wrote about today, had a clean inning. That means, I did not jinx him, at least not yet. This was just a great team win, just with some added drama mixed in to spice things up.

The Twins jumped out to an early lead against Mike Burrows in the 1st inning. Two walks and a single set up Victor Caratini with the bases loaded, who earned a painful RBI after he was hit by the pitch, scoring Trevor Larnach. Ryan Kreidler tacked on a 2-run single, giving Joe Ryan and company a 3 run lead and good vibes all around.

Ryan maneuvered around some base runners in the first 3 innings, but ran into serious trouble in the 4th. Three straight singles put the Astros on the board, then back to back 2-out walks loaded the bases for Yordan Alvarez. The result was somewhat predictable, a game warping grand slam putting the Astros up 6-3. That homer, his 26th, puts Alvarez into a tie with Hunter Goodman for the American League lead. It is also his 7th career grand slam, the most of any Astros player.

That 6th run 4th inning was all the Astros needed, and all they got today in terms of runs. Ryan exited after that, with the Twins bullpen doing a good job of keeping them in the game at least. In the 5th, Josh Bell doubled a run in, scoring Kody Clemens. Unfortunately, that’s all the Twins lineup could manage, getting no base runners in the final 4 innings of the game.

Rubber match tomorrow, same time and location, it’ll be Taj Bradley vs. Tatsuya Imai.

Studs:

Kody Clemens: 2-4, 2 R

Ryan Kreidler: 1-4, 2 RBI

Josh Bell: 1-4, 2B, RBI

Eric Orze: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER/R, 3 K

Duds:

Joe Ryan: 4 IP, 6 H, 6 ER/R, 3 BB, 5 K, Grand Salami.

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in out of the heat. There’s lot of cool in here. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last night, I asked you who was the current best reliever in the injury-plagued Cubs bullpen. About 40 percent of you pick Ryan Rolison, which is either pretty impressive or pretty sad, considering that he was in waivers hell this past winter. This past off-season, Rolison was a member of the Rockies, Braves, White Sox and Cubs. Come to think of it, it’s pretty impressive what Rolison has done and it’s pretty sad that the Cubs don’t have Daniel Palencia or some other truly great reliever at the moment.

On Tuesday nights, I don’t do any movie stuff. But I can always find time for jazz. You can skip ahead if you want.

Tonight we are honored to feature saxophonist Kenny Garrett and his Quintet in Amsterdam in February of 2020. So just before the pandemic shut the world down. Garrett is joined by Corcoran Holt on bass, Vernell Brown Jr. on piano, Rudy Bird is the percussionist and the drummer is Samuel Laviso.

This is “Sing a Song of Song.”

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music.

As noted yesterday, the Cubs bullpen has been held together with scotch tape and string this year. Closer Daniel Palencia has hit the injured list twice. Joining him on the 15-day injured list are Ethan Roberts (forearm), Phil Maton (knee) and Hoby Milner (appendix). The 60-day IL is even more crowded with Hunter Harvey (triceps), Porter Hodge (Tommy John) and Riley Martin (left flexor strain). Hodge is definitely out for the year and Harvey and Martin haven’t even made the first steps towards returning yet. Then there is Shelby Miller, whom the Cubs signed coming off of Tommy John surgery and they knew was highly unlikely to pitch this season. So Miller doesn’t count.

My point is, for all the concentration on the injuries to the starting rotation, the bullpen has been banged up just as badly. As an aside, I think Craig Counsell has accomplished an almost impossible task of keeping this team not just in the hunt, but a strong favorite to make the playoffs despite all the injuries to the pitching staff. Counsell has earned his salary this year.

So while the Cubs are almost certain to try to add another starting pitcher by the trade deadline, they’re also likely to add to the bullpen. The best reliever likely to be on the market is someone Cubs fans are already familiar with: Red Sox left-hander Aroldis Chapman.

I don’t need to remind you of the almost superhuman heroics that Chapman performed throughout the 2016 playoffs and World Series. Manager Joe Maddon rode him like a rented mule (because, metaphorically, he was a magnificent rented mule) in the World Series and it was clear that by Game 7, Chapman was out of gas. He gave up that home run to Rajai Davis that none of us will forget. In fairness to him, Davis hit a good pitch. But Chapman stayed in the game and gutted out the ninth inning, despite clearly being exhausted. Whether it was luck, fate or Chapman’s willpower, he got through the ninth inning. The Cubs won it in the tenth and Aroldis Chapman is the only pitcher in the history of the Cubs to have a Game 7 win.

That was ten years ago. Now Chapman is ten years older at 38. His fastball doesn’t average 100 miles per hour anymore. The four-seamer is “only” 97 these days. However, when Chapman was last a Cub, he was mostly a fastball/slider pitcher. These days, Chapman has added a sinker, which comes in at 98 and which has become his primary and best pitch. He throws it even more than his four-seamer. He still has the slider, but that is now a third offering. His changeup is now his fourth pitch. After several years of being just a decent relief pitcher, Chapman is back to being elite.

This year with the Red Sox, Chapman has made 26 appearances for 24.1 innings. He’s 0-3 with a 2.19 ERA and has converted 16 of 18 save appearances. Chapman has struck out 32 batters and walked 12. That’s a K% of 30.2 and a BB% of 11.3. Opposing hitters are batting an anemic .204 off of him.

So it’s clear that Chapman would be a big upgrade to the bullpen. What would it take for the Cubs to acquire him from the Red Sox? Chapman is a free agent at the end of the year and the good news is that the days of giving up a Top 100 prospect like Gleyber Torres for a two-month rental of a reliever are likely over. So not Jaxon Wiggins, Josiah Hartshorn, Owen Ayers or anyone like that. Probably not Matt Shaw either, unless the Red Sox want to toss in Sonny Gray. (And probably not even then, since the Cubs kind of need Shaw this year.) But I do think it would probably cost two good prospects, one of which would have to be a top ten Cubs prospect. So getting Chapman would hurt. However, one reason a team builds up a good farm system is to trade some of it away for current major leaguers.

Then there is the other elephant in the room, which is something the Cubs dealt with back in 2016: Chapman’s 2015 arrest and 30 game suspension for domestic violence. The criminal charges against Chapman for that incident were dropped, but domestic violence advocates will tell you that is common no matter what the circumstances.

I can’t tell you how you should feel about that. I strongly believe that domestic violence is a serious issue that needs to have more serious consequences. I can tell you that I didn’t feel good cheering for Chapman in 2016, even though I obviously wanted him to succeed. But if you don’t want Chapman on the Cubs because of that, I don’t blame you. I might even agree with you.

However, I also believe in second chances and redemption when it is warranted. I believe people can change. Has Chapman earned a second chance? I can’t say I’ve followed his career closely enough to say one way or the other. I do know that there hasn’t been another domestic violence incident in the last decade speaks to Chapman having changed. Except that we have to put a “that we know about” qualifier in there.

So tonight’s question is “Should the Cubs try to trade for Aroldis Chapman?”

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There’s a baseball saying you may have heard: “you can’t walk off the island.” While it generally pertains to MLB’s international free agency system in reference to the Caribbean, the Braves lived their own version of it tonight in a 5-3 loss to the Cardinals: maybe some teams can walk their way to a win, but it’s probably not these Braves.

The game itself, well, you’ve seen it before. Maybe not all together, but enough similar snippets throughout this dreadful month, and in past years, that you get the idea. The Braves give up homers, don’t hit homers, and do enough to make it interesting but not actually enough to win. The kicker in all this is that the Braves sent seven to the plate in the eighth inning, at one point loading the bases and putting the tying run on second. The only run they actually scored in that inning? It came on a wild pitch. That’s how the month has gone, that’s how this game went, and the Braves will probably want to figure out something on the offensive end before too long, or it won’t matter whether they walk or run or don’t run or whether any islands are involved.

Matthew Liberatore has not had a good season, and has had an awful June. He had a good start in this one, but I wonder how much of that was just the Braves being ill-suited for what he brought (or didn’t bring) to the table. Liberatore had four walks and a hit-by-pitch in five innings, but he struck out nine. The Braves got the leadoff man on in every inning from the second through the sixth, but only scored one — and that came thanks to a steal, a wild pitch, and a sacrifice fly.

It seemed for a bit that Liberatore’s issues might do him in: he walked two to start the second. But then, he struck out the side. The killer was Austin Riley striking out on a hanging slider with one out, but Joey Bart also took two strikes to end the frame. In the third, Matt Olson took two hittable fastballs to fall behind 0-2 before a strike three whiff on a hanging curve. I won’t go over every PA, but you get the idea. Liberatore wasn’t exactly filling up the zone, but the Braves seemed utterly baffled on when to swing or not swing — kinda-sorta seeming like they wanted to draw walks if he wasn’t going to throw strikes, but not actually really battling or anything to get the walks or anything else, either.

On the flip side, Martin Perez had a bad pachinko day, and eh. I can’t really beat anyone up about it, because this is what you get when you start Perez, so you either have to do something to overcome the bad pachinko or you can just accept it’ll be a loss when it happens. Perez managed just one strikeout through three scoreless, gave up a game-tying homer on a down-the-middle 3-2 cutter to Nelson Velazquez, and then a three-run homer to Nathan Church later in the inning. He finished with a 1/3 K/BB ratio in five innings, which was pretty much ballgame, because the Braves have hit multiple homers just four times in June, and they sure as hell weren’t going to clear a deficit without them given their lineup. James Karichak had a leadoff walk turn into a run the nearly same way the Braves scored their first — walk, steal, wild pitch, sac fly. Dylan Dodd, Ian Hamilton, and Raisel Iglesias (getting some work in) held down the fort the rest of the way, but to no avail.

The Braves plated a second run in the seventh with a two-out rally: a walk (what else?), Drake Baldwin’s o-fer-snapping bloop single (his first hit in about two weeks), and a midrange liner by Ozzie Albies. Matt Olson had a chance to do something cool, but he fouled off the two strikes he got, and hit a 2-2 pitch running in on him weakly for a groundout.

Then came the eighth. Mauricio Dubon had a solid single. Mike Yastrzemski had an infield single to the left of the third baseman. Austin Riley then had the most emblematic PA: he took a pitch down the middle that probably should’ve been a three-run game-tying homer, later swung at a pitch that bounced, and struck out on another fastball down the middle that probably also should’ve been a game-tying three-run homer. If you’re not going to swing at a first-pitch fastball because you might not be able to hit it (as evinced by the strikeout pitch), I’m not sure you should be playing. And if you’re sitting there taking a first-pitch fastball, as the Braves have done repeatedly in June, the offensive approach might need to be seriously reshuffled in the coming days. The Braves then deployed Rowdy Tellez and Dominic Smith as consecutive pinch-hitters: both walked, with a wild pitch to Tellez scoring the third Braves run. Baldwin battled, but ultimately, he couldn’t actually hook a fastball on the low-and-inside corner anywhere useful, and hit it weakly to second.

Olson finally unloaded on a hittable sinker in the ninth for a one-out double, but the other three batters in the frame hit exceedingly weak groundouts. The first two were on very crushable pitches, so yeah, there’s a lot of work to do teamwide here to get back to the “swing early and hit it real hard” stuff they were doing in April and May. Until that happens, this result will be fairly common, whether they manage to walk a bunch or not.

The division lead is down to 2.5 games. The series continues tomorrow.

TORONTO — Nolan McLean’s continued development is among the few compelling reasons to watch the Mets these days.

In what has been an inconsistent season for the rookie right-hander, nights like Tuesday offer a reminder of McLean’s elite stuff and the promise of his name in Cy Young award conversations as his career progresses.

McLean limited walks and Toronto’s solid contact on this night, carrying the Mets to a 3-0 victory at Rogers Centre.

In a second sharp performance in his last three, McLean fired six shutout innings, allowing five hits and two walks, and striking out seven. McLean’s bullpen handled the rest, securing the Mets only their second victory in 11 games.

“I am just trying to get better every time I go out there and find new things that work or old things that I kind of went away from that I should stick by,” McLean said. “It always goes back to landing offspeed [pitches]. That is just a big key for me. Anytime I can do that and keep guys off my fastball, that is really good.”

Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens each homered to give the Mets offensive highlights on a night Kevin Gausman was nearly as tough as McLean, allowing only one run over six innings.

McLean, whose ERA dropped to 3.78, rebounded from a shaky outing against the Cubs last week in which he allowed two homers and six earned runs. This latest performance was his third in June with one earned run or less allowed and at least six innings pitched.

“It’s been fun seeing him bounce back from a tougher stretch,” interim manager Andy Green said, referring to McLean’s bumpy May. “Last game a little was made about a couple of home runs that skewed the line, but he’s just mixing his pitches incredibly well and he’s got different ways to end at-bats. He was competitive all day. He was in the zone all day. That from start to finish was as clean and dominant as he’s been all year.”

The Mets (36-50) can get a series victory — something they have not accomplished since beating the Braves two of three games in mid-June — when Freddy Peralta gets the ball on Wednesday.

McLean escaped trouble in the fourth after surrendering a two-out double to Daulton Varsho and walking Luis Urías by retiring Yohendrick Piñango. Bo Bichette handled the tough short hop at third base and threw out Piñango.

Alvarez’s homer leading off the fifth gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. It was the ninth homer of the season for Alvarez and his fourth in nine games. Alvarez jumped on a 1-2 four-seam fastball from Gausman and cleared the center field fence.

McLean allowed an infield single to George Springer in the fifth before getting the final two outs. In the sixth he walked Ernie Clement before striking out Varsho and retiring Urías to conclude the inning and his outing, at 91 pitches.

“I thought it was the best overall command of [the curveball] he’s had in some time,” Green said. “There weren’t many, at all, bad misses with it and that is a pitch he can tug from time to time and get it in on the feet of left-handed batters or way away from righties where it’s not tempting. He kept it near the plate almost the entire day, so it was really well done.”

Torrens homered in the seventh to extend the Mets lead to 2-0. Torrens jumped on a 2-2 cutter from lefty Mason Fluharty and cleared the right field fence for his second homer this season. Torrens’ other homer came on June 5 in San Diego.

Brett Baty’s sacrifice fly in the ninth scored A.J. Ewing, who singled leading off and reached second on an errant pickoff throw, giving the Mets their final run.

Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams combined to roll through the final three innings scoreless. Weaver extended his scoreless innings streak to 24 over his last 22 appearances.

Mets 3 Blue Jays 0

Not only did we lose…..we were boring losing.

It is hard to stay interested in a game where we only six hits (five singles and a double), spread out across the nine innings. Nolan McLean was very good in the starting role for the Mets, but we should have been able to get something off

Luis Urías had two hits, and really seemed to be the one batter that was doing well. Varsho had our only extra base hit, a double (he also almost beat out an infield hit in the ninth). Springer, Kirk and Pinango had the other singles.

Beyond that…..Bo Bichette had an amazing day defensively at third base. We had him miscast as a shortstop (at least by his play today. He is a +2 OAA at third this year, and a -2 at short. I never thought he had the range for short, but he definitely had the arm for third. At least today. With the bat, he was 1 for 4.

Other than that, Kevin Gausman, after two poor starts, was excellent. 6 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. The run against was a Francisco Alvarez fifth inning home run.

The Mets got another home run off Mason Fluharty by Luis Torrens.

And one more in the ninth. Tommy Nance gave up a single to A.J. Ewing (JR and Bobby’s brother who didn’t make it into the show). An error by Sean Keys on a pick off, moved him to second. A ground out moved him to third. And a sac fly scored him.

Jay of the Day: Gausman (0.18 WPA, he really was terrific).

Other Awards: Lukes (-0.12, for an 0 for 4, k), Keys (-0.11, plus the error, 0 for 4, 2 k), Gimenez (-0.10, 0 for 3, k and a rather poor bunt single attempt) and Fluharty (-0.09).

Tomorrow we have a day game. 3:00 Eastern. It is bullpen day for the Jays, Braydon Fisher will be the opener. Freddy Peralta (5-6, 4.53) starts for the Mets.

The Yankees cannot afford for a Spencer Jones home run robbery to be foiled. 

They cannot afford for Cam Schlittler to struggle to any degree, much less this degree. 

Given their sudden offensive ineptitude and that Tarik Skubal was the opposing starter, the Yankees defense and pitching needed to flirt with perfection to give them a chance. The flirtation was over within minutes. 

A rough first inning put the Yankees in a four-run hole, which felt more like a four-run canyon, in what would become a 9-3 smacking by the Tigers in front of 37,211 frustrated, booing fans in The Bronx on Tuesday. 

“We’re not scoring. That’s the name of the game,” said manager Aaron Boone, whose Yankees (48-37) have dropped a season-high six straight games, are doing nothing right, hitting particularly wrong and hearing from the crowd after each mistake. 

Never in the Yankees’ century-plus of baseball had they been held to three or fewer hits in four straight games before their four games from Friday through Monday. 

They managed to snap that streak Tuesday — only because of a couple of garbage-time knocks in the ninth doubled their output to four hits. 

They finished with one hit in six innings against Skubal, who upstaged Schlittler (four innings, six runs on four homers) in a matchup that was far more appealing on paper than on the field. 

“It’s difficult, but all we can do is show up tomorrow and get to work,” said Anthony Volpe, 2-for-21 (.095) in his past seven games. “Everyone’s pissed.” 

Ben Rice cranked a home run in the bottom of the first, but the next 13 Yankees were retired by Skubal, who sure looked like the prize of the trade deadline. 

But then again, Detroit’s Casey Mize (seven scoreless, one-hit innings) looked like a Cy Young candidate Monday. Just like Boston’s Sonny Gray (7 ¹/₃ scoreless, one-hit innings) looked like a superstar Sunday. Just like Boston’s Jake Bennett (6 ¹/₃ one-run, three-hit innings) looked like a revelation Saturday. Just like Boston’s Payton Tolle (seven scoreless, one-hit innings) looked like the AL Rookie of the Year on Friday. 

A team that does not have Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon has fallen into a funk whose depth, at least when measured in hits, had never been seen before in franchise history. 

“Right now it’s kind of like the whole team is kind of going through something all at once,” said Rice, whose homer halted a five-game hitless skid. 

Paul Goldschmidt is 0-for-16 in his past five games. Cody Bellinger took a seat against Skubal amid a 2-for-27 (.074) stretch. José Caballero, who also botched a potential double-play ball that immediately preceded a three-run homer in the sixth, is 1-for-17 (.059) in his past five games. 

No one has stepped up at any part of the lineup for a team that has scored just 15 runs in six games and has not scored more than four in a contest since June 19. 

“We got some guys missing that are key, but the people we got are very capable,” said Boone, whose Yankees are ending June swooning. “And we need to start getting some of our offensive mojo back.” 

The final 8 ½ innings felt inconsequential after the top of the first, this version of the Yankees seemingly incapable of mounting threats. 

The third batter of the game, Kerry Carpenter, launched a two-out drive to deep center. Jones had a bead on it, reached the wall, jumped and used his 6-foot-7 stature to bring his glove high above the wall’s height. 

The ball landed in the glove, and Yankee Stadium cheered — before realizing that as Jones hit the wall, the ball had bounced out of his glove and into the home bullpen for a home run. Jones appeared in disbelief that he did not make the catch. 

What happened next was probably more unbelievable: 27 additional pitches from Schlittler in the frame, including homers to Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson. 

“[We are] just not playing good ball right now,” said Schlittler, whose ERA rose from 1.62 to 2.08. “It’s my job to come in here and try to stop that bleeding, and I couldn’t get that done.”

Matthew Liberatore teetered on the edge a few times, but at the end of the day gave the St. Louis Cardinals the outing they and he needed. The Cardinals offense finally came uncorked in the 4th inning to provide the runs to give St. Louis a win in Atlanta Wednesday night, but the late innings had a bit of drama.

Matthew Liberatore started the game with a solid 1st inning, but there were moments after that when he looked like he might have a repeat of recent struggles. Liberatore walked the first two batters in the bottom of the 2nd inning, but then struck out the next 3. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, he gave up a leadoff single to Jorge Mateo who stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. But, instead of the wheels coming off, he struck out the dangerous Drake Baldwin. Yes, Ozzie Albies managed a sacrifice fly to Nootbaar in left to give the Braves a 1-0 lead, but Matthew struck out Matt Olson to end the Atlanta 3rd inning and minimize the damage. He would not allow any more Atlanta Braves runners in scoring position his remaining time in the game which lasted into the start of the bottom of the 6th inning. Liberatore’s stat line for the night ended up being a very impressive 5 innings only allowing 1 hit and 1 earned run while striking out 9 while walking 4.

It was the top of the 4th inning when the St. Louis Cardinals offense would come alive. It began with Nelson Velázquez who absolutely launched an 85 mph Martin Perez mistake 444 feet into the void over the center field wall tying the game at 1-1. Make sure your sound is turned up and you’ll hear the ball sound like it was shot from a cannon. BOOM!

The Cardinals were just getting started in their half of the 4th inning. Two batters later, Masyn Winn and Lars Nootbaar would single. After Blaze Jordan softly lined out to short, Nathan Church didn’t miss an 81 mph changeup and ripped it over the right field wall giving the Cardinals a 4-1 lead.

George Soriano came into the game to replace Matthew Liberatore after manager Oli Marmol took major issues with a missed check swing call from the 3rd base umpire. Soriano would pitch around the leadoff walk by Liberatore to keep the Braves off the board.

St. Louis would get a badly-needed insurance run in the top of the 6th inning when Masyn Winn walked and then stole second. He advanced to third on a wild pitch by Braves reliever James Karinchak. Blaze Jordan would then come through with a one-out sacrifice fly upping the Cardinals lead to 5-1.

George Soriano would remain in the game two outs into the bottom of the 7th inning when he gave up a walk to Mateo. JoJo Romero was brought in to finish the inning, but he allowed a single to Baldwin and then Ozzie Albies which would score Mateo reducing the Cardinals lead to 5-2.

The Cardinals would miss a chance to get that run back in the top of the 8th inning when Jose Fermin drew a one-out walk. After Masyn Winn lined out to right, Lars Nootbaar went with a pitch and hit a sharp single to left field giving St. Louis a first and third opportunity, but Blaze Jordan flew out to deep center to end the Cardinals 8th.

JoJo Romero would also be the Cardinals answer to start the bottom of the 8th inning, but he wouldn’t finish it after giving up two singles to the Braves before being taken out of the game as Austin Riley came up to the plate as the potential tying run. Ryan Fernandez, who was just activated from the IL as Ryne Stanek was placed on the paternity list, came in to face the slumping, but dangerous Riley. He would be charged with a wild pitch on his second pitch advancing both runners into scoring position at second and third. He would fortunately sneak a 95 mph four-seam fastball past Austin for the second out of the inning. The Braves then sent up pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez to try and swing for the fences and tie the game. That didn’t happen, but Fernandez did throw another wild pitch giving the Braves a run and cutting the Cardinals lead to 5-3. Tellez would eventually walk bringing up the potential go-ahead run. Atlanta sent another pinch-hitter up in the form of Dominic Smith. Fernandez walked him, too, loading the bases. Drake Baldwin had the chance to do big damage with Fernandez being wilder than a March hare. The Cardinals fan base held its collective breath when the count reached 3-2, but after fouling off what would have been ball four, Baldwin grounded weakly out to JJ Wetherholt to end the inning. Whew.

The Cardinals could do nothing against Braves reliever Raisel Inglesias in the top of the 9th inning which meant Cardinals reliever Riley O’Brien would handle the bottom of the 9th inning with a 2-run lead. He was able to get Ozzie Albies out on a groundout to JJ Wetherholt, but Matt Olson crushed a sinker up in the zone to the center field wall for a double. That brought up Michael Harris II up to the plate as the potential tying run. He fortunately grounded out harmlessly to Masyn Winn at short as Olson advanced to third base. Mauricio Dubon was the Braves final hope, but he grounded out to short also to end the game.

The St. Louis Cardinals will take another swing at the Atlanta Braves Wednesday night as Michael McGreevy will get the start for the good guys. The Braves will send Reynaldo López to the mound for a 6:15pm central time start at Truist Park. TV broadcast available through Cardinals.tv.

The Mets are now 2-3 in the Andy Green era, after taking the second game of their three-game series with the Blue Jays, 3-0.

Both teams had their shots early in this game, but neither team could capitalize. Over his first four innings, Nolan McLean allowed four hits and a walk, but all of those happened with two outs, and none came around to score, or even make it to third base.

On the Mets’ side, their best opportunity against Kevin Gausman early came in the fourth when Juan Soto walked, Bo Bichette singled the other way, Francisco Lindor moved them along with a ground ball to the left side, putting two on with one out. But they couldn’t capitalize, and so the game remained scoreless going into the fifth.

The Mets finally broke the scoreless tie in the top of the fifth when Francisco Alvarez hit a towering shot to deep center field to put the Mets up 1-0. The Mets would put two more on base, but a Bichette fly ball ended the threat with just the one run scoring.

McLean, rocking just a mustache after trimming the beard off of his Van Dyke, had his best start of the season thus far. He tossed six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and two walks, while striking out seven. After a rough ending to is last start, this was a great bounce back performance for the Mets’ ace in waiting.

Luis Torrens lined an outside pitch to the opposite field, landing just over the right field wall to put the Mets up 2-0. From that point, the bullpen cruised, with Brooks Raley and Luke Weaver each throwing scoreless innings. For Weaver, it was his 24th consecutive scoreless inning; he has now not allowed a run to score in two months.

The Mets added a run in the top of the ninth when A.J. Ewing singled, advanced to second on a bad pick-off attempt, a runner-advancing ground out, and a sacrifice fly.

Devin Williams came in for the ninth and, after winning a challenge on a close play at first base, closed the game out while allowing one baserunner.

It was overall a crisp game for the Mets, which saw good at-bats from Brett Baty, some solid defensive play from Bichette at third, and good pitching across the entire game.

The rubber game of the series is tomorrow at Rogers Centre, with Freddy Peralta going for the Mets and the ol’ workhorse “TBD” starting for the Jays.

SB Nation GameThreads

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Bluebird Banter

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Nolan McLean, +37.0% WPA
Big Mets loser: Jared Young and A.J. Ewing, -9.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: +58.0% WPA
Mets hitters: – 8.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Alvarez’s home run, +14.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Ernie Clament’s sixth inning walk, -4.4% WPA