Category: Baseball

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Happy birthday to Ryan Brasier, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 1972 – At Wrigley Field, Ron Santo records his 2,000th career hit, a three-run home run off Ron Bryant. Santo’s hit, driving in his 1,200th run, is the margin of victory as the Cubs top the Giants, 10-9, and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1926 – Pittsburgh RF Paul Waner goes 6 for 6, including two doubles and a triple, in a game against St. Louis.
• 1950 – Roy Campanella of the Dodgers hits three home runs in a 7-5 win over the Reds at Crosley Field.
• 1962 – Robin Roberts, discarded earlier in the year by the Yankees, beats Whitey Ford, 2-1, on home runs by Brooks Robinson and Jim Gentile to complete a five-game Oriole sweep of the sagging Yankees. The Twins and Angels are now three games behind New York.
• 1969 – Willie McCovey drives in six runs with homer No. 40, a grand slam, and a sac fly and a single, while Bobby Bonds drives in another five as the Giants bomb the Phils, 13-4. 
• 1980 – At Milwaukee’s County Stadium, George Brett strokes four singles and a double in five at-bats as the Royals edge the Brewers, 7-6. The Kansas City third baseman’s 5-for-5 performance raises his league-leading batting average to .407.
• 1987 – Paul Molitor‘s 39-game hitting streak comes to an end as he waits in the on-deck circle watching pinch hitter Rick Manning single home the winning run in a 1-0, 10-inning victory over the Indians.
• 1995 – Atlanta P Greg Maddux ties a major league record by notching his 16th consecutive road win, a 7-2 victory over his former team, the Cubs. Maddux now shares the record with Denny McLain, Cal McLish, and Rich Dotson.
• 1998 – Atlanta’s Andruw Jones steals his 20th base of the season, becoming the youngest player ever to have a 20 homer, 20 steal season. Cesar Cedeno was the previous record-holder. 
• 1999 – Arizona defeats Florida, 12-2, as Randy Johnson wins his 14th game. Johnson fans nine Marlin batters in becoming the fastest pitcher to reach 300 strikeouts in a season.

Today in Cubs history:

• 1929 – In the eighth inning of a 5-5 game at Wrigley Field, Cubs 3B Norm McMillan hits a line drive down the left field line with the bases loaded. Reds LF Evar Swanson, shaded toward center, can’t find the ball, which he sees bounce off a gutter in foul territory. McMillan circles the bases and four runs score. Later, Cubs relief P Ken Penner picks up his jacket in the bullpen and discovers the ball in his right sleeve. It is Chicago’s 8th grand slam of the year.
• 1930 – Hack Wilson has four RBIs to lead the Cubs over the Pirates, 7-5. Wilson cracks a two-run single in the fifth, but then allows a Lloyd Waner liner to skip by him for an inside-the-park home run, and vows to atone. He hits his 44th home run, off young Larry French, breaking Chuck Klein‘s one-year-old National League record.
• 1948 – The Cubs sweep two from the Braves, 5-1 and 5-2, despite a near-riot that holds up play for 20 minutes in the nightcap. The reaction by the fans comes when Jocko Conlan rules that a drive by Phil Cavarretta in the third inning is a ground-rule double, not an inside-the-park homer. Conlan makes his call after Braves LF Jeff Heath “loses” the ball in the Wrigley Field vines, though it is really by his feet. The fans shower the field in protest and Conlan bawls out some of Chicago’s finest for not taking any action. When play is resumed, Andy Pafko walks and Peanuts Lowrey hits a bases-loaded triple.
• 1962 – At Chicago, Dick Ellsworth stops the Braves, 4-1, and stops Hank Aaron‘s hitting streak of 25 games. The Cubs tie a major-league record with three straight sacrifice bunts in the sixth inning following a bunt single by Ellsworth.
• 1966 – After seeing a caricature of himself on the scoreboard, an angry Leo Durocher calls the Astrodome‘s press box to have it removed. When nothing is done, the enraged Cubs manager rips the phone out of the dugout wall and tosses it onto the infield.
• 2001 – The Cubs defeat the Cardinals, 6-1, as Sammy Sosa hits two more home runs, his 50th and 51st of the season. In doing so, he joins Mark McGwire and Babe Ruth as the only players with four 50-homer seasons.

Cubs Birthdays:Ryan Brasier*, Xavier Cedeño, Brendan Harris, Tom Poholsky, Heinz Becker, Sparky Adams, Chick Fraser.

Today in history:

• 1682 – English astronomer Edmond Halley first observes the comet named after him.
• 1843 – American inventor Charles Thurber patents a typewriter.
• 1959 – British Motor Corporation introduces the Morris Mini-Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis; it is only 10 feet long yet seats four passengers.
• 1967 – The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, and Donovan meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at a retreat in Bangor, Wales.
• 1968 – “Hey Jude” single is released by the Beatles in the US (Billboard Song of the Year 1968, Billboard 10th biggest song of all time 2013).
• 1999 – Michael Johnson breaks the 400 m world record with a time of 43.18 seconds.
• 2007 – The Rolling Stones close their two-year, 147-concert “A Bigger Bang” tour at the O2 Arena in London, England; the box office gross of the tour exceeds $558 million, a record at the time.
• 2025 – American pop superstar Taylor Swift (35) and American NFL football player Travis Kelce (35) reveal their marriage engagement in social media post, garnering 1.2 million ‘likes’ in under 10 minutes

*pictured.

Note: I wrote this before last night’s game, which had, we shall say, some controversial managing in it. I stand by what I say here but the timing of this is objectively funny.

When it comes to end-of-the-year awards, the Brewers have cleaned up the past couple of years in the non-playing roles. Manager Pat Murphy and general manager Matt Arnold are both back-to-back winners in the awards for their respective jobs; Arnold is the only person to ever win the Executive of the Year award more than once (the award started in 2018 and thus has only been handed out eight times), and last year Murphy and Stephen Vogt in the American League became just the third and fourth skippers to ever win Manager of the Year award in consecutive seasons (Kevin Cash in 2020-21 and Bobby Cox in 2004-05).

Let’s start with Arnold. He’s got a tougher road in one obvious sense: while the Manager of the Year award is given to one manager from each league, there is only a single Executive of the Year award, thus the pool is twice as large. That being said, in a vacuum, Arnold has as good a case as anyone; yet again, the Brewers traded a franchise cornerstone before the season. Yet again, the Brewers are just as good, if not better, than they were last season. In addition to the Peralta trade, Arnold came out ahead in the big swap with the Red Sox, even if all three players sent to Boston are contributing (a reminder: Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler to the Red Sox for Kyle Harrison, Shane Drohan, and David Hamilton). At the trade deadline, Arnold chose not to deal for Tarik Skubal, but instead pivoted to Dustin May, a pickup that — barring his last outing — has looked quite good thus far.

I do not, however, think Arnold is going to win this award a third time running. There are a couple big reasons, whether justifiable or not.

First things first: while most Brewers fans and even some more sensible pundits think that Arnold made the right call by not trading for Skubal, there are a lot of people out there who think he was too passive. Add in that Skubal ended up with the Dodgers, the team that knocked the Brewers out of the playoffs last year, and the optics aren’t great. I am not here to re-litigate the decision to not trade for Skubal — I am firmly on the side of believing that it was the right call — I am here simply to state that among the people voting for this award — people who are not as plugged into the Brewers as we are — there is still a bit of a perception that Arnold blew it.

The second big factor is voter fatigue. People don’t like giving awards to the same person over and over again. Sometimes, there may not be an alternative that makes a whole lot of sense, but I think there are a couple of options that people will be able to talk themselves into instead of Arnold. One of those is the guy who did trade for Skubal, the Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman. Friedman won this award back in 2020, but that was a weird season. This year, his team should finish with one of the top two records in the league, he did trade for the biggest fish at the trade deadline, and he now presides over the farm system that most outlets see as the best in the league, even after trading for Skubal. The counterpoint here is that Friedman’s two very expensive free agent pickups, Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz, have both been quite bad.

Another option, and in my opinion the more likely one, is the Rays’ Erik Neander, who also won the award back in 2019. The Rays may not be quite at the level of the Brewers or Dodgers this season, but it looks like they’re going to waltz to the best record in the American League. Yes, their path has been made far easier by the absence of Aaron Judge, and yes, the AL Central and West divisions are embarrassing. But the Rays were far from a preseason favorite — ZiPS, PECOTA, and ESPN all predicted they’d finish last in the AL East, just to name a few quickly chosen projection systems.

That type of narrative is very often a harbinger of success for these types of awards. My prediction is that it leads to Neander supplanting Arnold as the reigning Executive of the Year.

It may very well also lead to Cash’s third Manager of the Year award, but as we do have separate AL and NL awards, that has no bearing on whether Murphy wins or not. In my opinion, Murphy winning MotY again is far more likely than Arnold winning a third straight EotY, but who could be standing in his way?

Well, let’s look at the other contending teams in the NL.

• Dave Roberts hasn’t won a Manager of the Year award since 2016, his first season in charge of the Dodgers. It is hard to win Manager of the Year when your team is the perpetual favorite, and I’d say that continues this year, especially if the Dodgers don’t finish with the best record in the league. That’d be almost disappointing.
• Walt Weiss of the Braves could conceivably be an option, but they’re sitting five games back of the Brewers for the best record in the NL this year, and while the Braves were bad in 2025, it’s not like it’s a shock that they’re winning that division.
• Craig Counsell and the Cubs currently hold the top Wild Card spot. They’re a good team, and Counsell has done fine. But can you imagine giving this award to Counsell over Murphy if the Cubs don’t catch the Brewers before the end of the season?
• Mike Shildt of the Padres and Torey Lovullo of the Diamondbacks have their teams in or around Wild Card position, but I don’t think either has a particularly good case.
• A wild card in this equation is the Marlins’ Clayton McCullough. (Could you have named the Marlins manager if I didn’t tell you? I could not have.) Miami is a team that had almost no expectations this season but who are currently a couple games over .500 and not totally out of the Wild Card race. Heck, they would be right in the mix if they were in the AL. I don’t think McCullough will win, but the Marlins have definitely overperformed, and that sometimes leads to a surprise victory in this award.

There’s one name missing here, and it’s the one that could be the biggest threat to Murphy: Philadelphia’s Don Mattingly. When Dave Dombrowski fired manager Rob Thomson on April 27, the Phillies were 9-19. Since taking over as interim manager, Mattingly is 64-40 and has the Phillies in the number two Wild Card spot, nipping at the heels of the Braves at the top of the NL East.

Now, an argument here: if you told someone before the season that the Phillies would be 73-59 on August 25, I don’t think it would shock anyone. The reason Mattingly is in consideration for this award is because the Phillies played so badly early in the season that to get where they are now, they had to dig out of a pretty large hole. Mattingly is also a beloved figure in baseball, and this could be his last opportunity; Mattingly is 65, hadn’t managed a team in five years, and it’s not clear that he’ll be back with the Phillies next year (though he told reporters he is open to it).

Mattingly definitely has the nice story on his side, and that story will look even better if the Phillies come from way behind to catch the Braves for the NL East crown.

But let’s be real here: in a vacuum, Murphy wins this award easily, right?

As stated at the top, the Brewers yet again traded a franchise icon. They were yet again disparaged by projection systems and dismissed by national writers for not trying hard enough and not spending enough money. Yet again, they’ve not only defied those expectations, but done so with aplomb. The Brewers could do the remarkable feat of improving on their record five seasons in a row, despite winning the division in four of those seasons. Think about that for a minute, and you will realize how difficult that is to do. Milwaukee has a real chance at setting a franchise record in wins (they need to go 17-14 the rest of the way to do so) and, for the second consecutive year, finishing the regular season with the most wins in the league.

There are certainly some fans of the Brewers (and users of this site!) who are sick of hearing about the Brewers’ regular-season accomplishments. I get it. But these are regular season awards. Arnold probably is going to be a victim of voter fatigue, and sure, whatever, that’s fine. Murphy, though, should win Manager of the Year in the National League (with an obvious caveat about seeing how the remaining month of the season plays out), which would make him the first person to ever win three in a row. He might not; the Mattingly case might just be a bit too alluring for some voters to ignore. But as I write in late August, Murphy absolutely deserves it, whether he wins it or not.

You know, I kind of expected the team to not play well on Monday. A cross country trip that followed a highly emotional win on Sunday had all the makings of a letdown loss. Yesterday, they were just beaten by a good pitcher. That happens.

They better win today.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• The Phillies are playing well again, which means that people can believe again. Here are the five main reasons why you can do that ($).
• We used to have “The Bridge to Lidge”, but now that bridge goes to Jhoan Duran. Who is comprising it is starting to take shape ($).
• It’s all about Zack Wheeler and his struggles right now with pretty much everything else going right.

MLB news:

• The Marlins are the latest team to cut costs by making significant changes to their pro scouting department ($).
• The Cardinals are still in the battle for a playoff spot, but they’ll be without Masyn Winn for a while now.
• The Astros had a mutual parting of ways with Dana Brown, but its pretty obvious he was fired by the owner ($). They “aren’t where they want to be”.

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (38-37/26-25)

LEHIGH VALLEY 2, SYRACUSE 1 (BOX)

Jonathan Santucci had his best start since being promoted to Triple-A, but the offense was completely stymied by Chuck King and the IronPigs offense, leaving Santucci the tough luck loser. The southpaw allowed a pair of runs over five innings, scattering five hits, walking one, and striking out seven, but he got deGromed, with Ronny Mauricio’s fourth inning solo shot, his sixteenth of the year, the only run the offense could manage. Of note, Brian Metoyer threw a scoreless inning with a strikeout, giving him a 2.25 ERA in 8.0 innings, scattering 4 hits, walking 5, and striking out 16. In a bullpen that is carrying Daniel Duarte, Chayce McDermott, Jonathan Pintaro, and Jefry Yan, maybe we can find some room to give Metoyer the call.

·  CF Nick Morabito: 1-3, BB

·  2B Émilien Pitre: 1-2, BB, HBP, CS (1)

·  REHAB ALERT 1B Mark Vientos: 0-3, 2 K, E (1)

·  PH-1B Billy Amick: 0-1, K

·  3B Ronny Mauricio: 1-4, R, HR (16), RBI

·  RF MJ Melendez: 0-4, 3 K

·  DH Nick Lorusso: 0-4, 2 K

·  LF D’Andre Smith: 0-3

·  C Hayden Senger: 0-3, K

·  SS Zack Short: 2-3, 2B

·  LGP Jonathan Santucci: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, L (0-3)

·  RHP Matt Seelinger: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Dan Hammer: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Brian Metoyer: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, HBP

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (27-42/26-25)

READING 8, BINGHAMTON 6 (BOX)

Gary Gill Hill was having him quite the early morning until he wasn’t. The right-hander cruised for five innings, allowing three hits and striking out seven. Thanks to a solo homer by Eli Serrano in the second, a solo homer by Jefferson Rojas in the fourth, and a two-run shot by Chris Suero in the sixth, Gill Hill had a nice 4-0 lead to work with. In the sixth, after recording the first out of the inning, he gave up three consecutive singles and a double, ending his day, breaking up the shutout, and leaving the tying runs on second and third. Cristofer Gomez allowed one of those inherited runners to score but was able to navigate out of the inning without coughing up the lead. John Bay wasted no time to give the Rumble Ponies some additional cushion, leading off the seventh with a solo homer to make it a 5-3 ballgame. The very next batter, Corey Collins, crushed one of his own to make it 6-3. Despite additional hits, Binghamton was unable to cash in in that inning further, which was unfortunate as the Phils did not go down meekly and ended up taking the lead in the eighth inning and winning the ballgame. With the loss, Binghamton is now 3.5 games behind the Phils with the rest of the week to go.

·  2B Mitch Voit: 0-4, K, HBP

·  SS Marco Vargas: 0-5, K

·  DH Jefferson Rojas: 1-4, R, HR (5), RBI, 3 K

·  3B Jacob Reimer: 0-3, R, BB

·  CF Chris Suero: 1-4, R, HR (17), 2 RBI, K

·  LF Eli Serrano III: 1-3, R, HR (4), RBI, BB, K

·  RF John Bay: 1-4, R, HR (1), RBI, 3 K

·  1B Corey Collins: 2-3, R, HR (7), RBI, BB, K

·  C Kevin Parada: 2-4, K

·  RHP Gary Gill Hill: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

·  RHP Cristofer Gomez: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, H (2)

·  RHP Carlos Guzman: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, H (5)

·  RHP Saul Garcia: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, WP, L (1-2), BS (4)

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (25-40/28-26)

HUDSON VALLEY 4, BROOKLYN 1 (BOX)

Yonatan Henriquez continued his assault on the South Atlantic League with a solo homer in the top of the fourth- his tenth of the season and his fifth in the last calendar week- but the rest of the Brooklyn offense did not show up and that solo shot ended up being Brooklyn’s only run. Nicolas Carreno pitched well enough, allowing three runs over five-plus innings, but it be like that sometimes.

·  SS Sammy Stafura: 0-4

·  2B Elian Peña: 1-3, BB

·  CF Aidan Smith: 0-2, BB

·  LF Eddinson Paulino: 0-1

·  1B Ronald Hernandez: 0-4, 3 K

·  RF Trey Snyder: 2-4, K

·  DH Yonatan Henriquez: 3-4, R, 2 2B, HR (10), RBI

·  LF John Smith III: 0-0, BB

·  LF-CF John Spikerman: 0-2, BB, 2 K, SB (24)

·  C Daiverson Gutierrez: 0-2, BB, E (15)

·  3B Antonio Jimenez: 0-3

·  RHP Nicolas Carreno: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, L (3-2)

·  LHP Gregori Louis: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Ryan Dollar: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (33-33/19-35)

ST. LUCIE 12, DAYTONA 5 (BOX)

This was a weird ballgame. The Mets jumped out to a quick 5-0 early on, but the Tortugas tied the ballgame up by putting up a five spot in the bottom of the second, scoring five runs off of poor Cesar Ramirez, who failed to record a single out. Normally that kind of thing would produce a momentum shift, but the offense kept hammering out runs while Christian Rodriguez came in in relief and just shut down Daytona for three-plus innings. Seven Mets hitters had multi-hit games with Yovanny Rodriguez and Jake Ogden logging three-hit games; Rodriguez’ was particularly impressive, as he launched a pair of homers. Other names who had good nights were Aiden Robbins, who hit his third homer of the season, and the rehabbing Boston Baro, who is on his second rehab assignment after being shut down back in mid-May during his first.

·  REHAB ALERT SS Boston Baro: 2-5, R, 2B, 2 RBI

·  PH-SS Dylan Carey: 0-1, K

·  CF Aiden Robbins: 2-5, 2 R, HR (3), 3 RBI, BB, 2 K

·  DH Ryan Tayman: 0-4, R, 2 BB, K

·  LF Kuhio Aloy: 2-6, R, 2B, RBI, SB (2)

·  C Yovanny Rodriguez: 3-5, 2 R, 2 HR (3, 4), 3 RBI, K

·  3B Jeremy Rodriguez: 0-4, R, BB, 2 K

·  RF Wyatt Vincent: 2-5, 2 R, K

·  1B Reed Stallman: 2-4, BB, K

·  2B Jake Ogden: 3-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HBP

·  REHAB ALERT RHP Ryan Lambert: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

·  LHP Cesar Rivera: 0.0 IP, 0 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 0 K

·  RHP Christian Rodriguez: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, BS (2)

·  RHP Brett Banks: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, W (1-0)

·  RHP Ernesto Mercedes: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Zack Mack: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

Rookie: FCL Mets (24-33)

NO GAME (SEASON OVER)

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Yovanny Rodriguez

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

Saul Garcia

Good morning Birdland,

At this point in the season every single game is crucial, and the Orioles played like it on Tuesday night. They used an eight-run fifth inning and a stellar start from Chris Bassitt to crush the Cardinals 13-1 in the series opener.

The 2.5-game gap between the Orioles and the final AL wild card spot remains. The Guardians won again, their fifth in a row, and continue to occupy that last spot in the tournament. But several other clubs in the chase (Rangers, Twins, Blue Jays) lost. Only the Rangers (one game back) stand between the O’s and the Guardians. Having fewer teams to leapfrog in the standings is a good thing, especially since the Orioles still have a three-game series with those Guardians left on their schedule.

Pete Alonso, once again, was the star in last night’s win. He went 4-for-4 with a home run, a double, and four RBI. What’s a bit worrying is that he was removed from the game in the fifth inning and seemed to be bothered by his ailing calf again. In the moment, MASN’s Rob Long reported from his spot next to the Orioles dugout that Alonso asked the training staff to take a look at his calf right before manager Craig Albernaz removed him from the game. After the game, a cagey—and somewhat rude—Albernaz told the media that Alonso was fine and that the move was “precautionary”. When pressed again and asked “So nothing’s bothering him?” He told the reporter to not put words in his mouth, even though Albernaz himself had referenced Alonso’s calf just moments earlier.

Two things can be true at once. Alonso is fit enough to play, but the calf is probably still bothering him to some degree. It’s late August. Most players are dealing with something, big or small, at this point in the season. Alonso has said repeatedly how important is to him to be in the lineup every day. So you need to find ways to get him off his legs when possible. Removing him from a blowout game makes sense, but Albernaz doesn’t need to lie about the reality. Some transparency, especially with matters that we can all see plainly with our eyes, goes a long way.

We should probably expect Alonso back in the lineup tonight. Whether he plays first base or DHs will be interesting.

Links

Injury updates on Helsley, Alexander and more | Roch Kubatko
Blaze Alexander is on his way back. He played for Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday night, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout while playing third base in the 3-1 win. Ryan Helsley is much, much farther away. But he is throwing bullpen sessions of 15-20 pitches, so that’s something.

A new Holliday takes the field at Busch Stadium | MLB.com
Matt Holliday made his name in St. Louis. He is in town with the Orioles this week to watch his son take that same field as a big leaguer. The series opener went well for him! Jackson was 3-for-6 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Orioles prospect Caden Hunter’s fastball opened doors. Now he’s building the rest. | The Baltimore Sun
Hunter is another intriguing pitching prospect that the Orioles found a bit later in last year’s draft. A sixth round pick out of USC, Hunter has a 2.01 ERA across three levels this season and has earned a spot in some “Top 100” lists.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Tyler Wells turns 32 today. The Orioles picked the big righty from the Twins in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft, and then over the six subsequent seasons used him in a variety of roles on their pitching staff. Earlier this month he was traded to the Rays for pitching prospect Michael Forret.
• Maikel Franco is 34 years old. Better known as a hot prospect in the Phillies system that never reached his ceiling, Franco came to Baltimore in 2021 as a stopgap solution at third base. It did not go well.

This day in O’s history

1962 – The Orioles beat the Yankees 2-1 thanks to home runs from Brooks Robinson and Jim Gentile as well as nine impressive innings on the mound from Robin Roberts. That win completes a five-game sweep of the Bombers

1966 – Down 2-0 in the ninth inning, Vic Roznovsky and Boog Powell hit back-to-back pinch-hit home runs to knot things up 2-2 with the Red Sox. The game goes to extras, where the Orioles prevail 3-2.

1973 – For the 13th straight game, the Orioles are victorious, beating the Royals 10-1. Paul Blair contributes to the effort with an inside-the-park home run.

2012 – The Orioles acquire pitcher Joe Saunders from the Diamondbacks in exchange for reliever Matt Lindstrom.

The Detroit Tigers snapped their six-game losing streak on Tuesday night with a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Comerica Park. Jackson Jobe was not incredibly sharp, but combined with the bullpen, the pitching staff stymied the visitors’ bats while a two-run homer from Max Clark helped power the good guys to the win.

Getting the start for the Tigers in the series finale on Wednesday is right-hander Troy Melton, who has hit a bit of a rough patch recently after an impressive showing in 13 of his previous 14 appearances. Over his last two outings, the 25-year-old has allowed six runs — but only three earned — stretching across 10 innings of work, allowing 14 hits (two home runs) and four walks while striking out seven for a rough 5.48 FIP, with a pair of team losses and one of his own.

Melton’s longest appearance this summer came against the Rays when he saw them in St. Petersburg back on June 3, throwing eight frames of two-run ball on four hits (one home run) and two walks while striking out five for his second win in a 7-2 final.

For the visitors, fellow righty Freddy Peralta will take the bump looking to turn around what has been a rough season for two different teams. The 30-year-old has been brutal since his trade from the New York Mets to Tampa Bay, posting a 7.17 ERA and 5.76 FIP in four games stretching across 21 1/3 innings, allowing 23 hits (five home runs) and six walks while striking out 16 and hitting a pair of batters, taking two losses in the process.

Peralta faced the Tigers with the Mets in Queens back on May 12, tossing six frames of two-run ball on seven hits (one home run) and one walk while striking out seven for his third win in a 10-2 final. The discrepancy between his bWAR and fWAR for 2026 is interesting, as the former is listed at -0.9 while the latter is 1.0.

Here’s a look at how the two pitchers match up for Wednesday afternoon’s matinee in the D as the Tigers seek their first series win since taking two of three from the Cleveland Guardians.

Detroit Tigers (62-70) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (78-54)

Time (ET): 1:10 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site:DRaysBay
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 133: RHP Troy Melton (7-2, 1.60 ERA) vs. RHP Freddy Peralta (5-11, 5.33 ERA)

MELTON

PERALTA

St. Paul Saints 8, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (box)

Sawyer Gipson-Long was mauled again, and the Hens couldn’t get much going offensively on Tuesday.

Gipson-Long surrendered three homers in this one, and gave up four runs in the bottom of the first. The first season after Tommy John can be tough, but it’s hard to believe the right-hander is going to hang onto a 40-man roster spot much longer.

In the third, Seby Zavala drew a leadoff walk. A Max Burt double got him to third, and a Cal Stevenson ground out scored him to make it a 4-1 game.

In the fourth, Max Anderson led off with a double and moved to third on a John Peck single in his first game back off a rehab stint. Peck drew an errant pickoff throw and Anderson scored, but that’s all they’d get. Gipson-Long gave up a solo shot in the fourth to make it a 5-2 game.

In the top of the seventh, the Hens closed the gap when Josue Briceño singled off the wall in right with two outs and Peck smoked an opposite field double to move him to third. Good to have Peck back. He’s going to be a factor in 2027. A wild pitch scored Briceño, but again they couldn’t sustain a rally.

Hayden Minton’s second outing as a reliever went poorly, as he surrendered two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Jack Little gave up a run in the eighth with help of a passed ball on Zavala, and that was that.

Peck: 2-3, 2B, K

Anderson: 2-5, R, 2B, K

Gipson-Long (L, 2-6): 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: It’s an 8:07 p.m.. ET start, because why be normal, in St. Paul on Wednesday.

Altoona Curve 7, Erie SeaWolves 6 (box)

Zyhir Hope hit an absolute nuke in this one, while Peyton Graham set a new single season stolen base record for Erie as he stole his 59th and 60th bases of the season. However, the pitching staff let them down late as the Curve walked this one off.

Woody Hadeen opened the game by drawing a walk and stealing second. Thayron Liranzo singled him in and took second on the play. Peyton Graham lined out, but E.J. Exposito singled him in for a 2-0 lead.

Carlos Peña got the start, and the lefty surrendered a solo shot in the bottom of the first, and then three runs in the second.

Hope got a run back with a moonshot over the batter’s eye in center field to open the third inning. Liranzo followed with a single but was stranded. Peña allowed one more run in the bottom of the fifth before his outing ended, and it was 5-2 Altoona.

In the top of the sixth, Roberto Campos singled with two outs and rode home on Seth Stephenson’s second homer of the year to tie the game.

In the top of the ninth, the SeaWolves seized control. Hadeen and Hope singled, and a sacrifice fly from Liranzo plated the go-ahead run. Unfortunately Graham struck out and Exposito popped out to end the inning.

Zane Barnhart entered the game, replacing Moises Rodriguez, and looking for the save. He got two quick outs, and then walked to hitters and gave up a single that tied the game, and Easton Carmichael stepped to the plate and lined a single to left to walk it off.

Hope: 2-5, R, RBI, HR, K

Liranzo: 2-4, R, 2 RBI

Hadeen: 2-4, 2 R, BB, 2 SB

Graham: 1-5, K, 2 SB

Pena: 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:00 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.

Peoria Chiefs 2, West Michigan Whitecaps 0 (box)

Rayner Castillo threw another good game and then just ran out of gas at the end of his outing, but it mattered little as the Whitecaps were held to just two hits.

Castillo punched out nine last time out and is really coming on strong late in the season as his breaking balls and changeup have been much sharper. The easy mid-90’s gas on the big right-hander’s sinker continues to be a little scarce compared to late 2024 and early 2025, but at least he’s finishing the season strong.

He cruised through five innings, before issuing a one-out walk in the sixth as he topped 80 pitches. A double followed to score the run, and a Samuel Gil error allowed the runner to take third. Logan Berrier took over and immediately gave up the RBI single. Beyond that, the ‘Caps bullpen was nails.

Doubles from Beau Ankeney and Cristian Santana were the Whitecaps only hits, and after leaving between the eighth and ninth innings of Sunday’s game, Bryce Rainer wasn’t in the lineup. Nothing really seemed amiss when he came out of the game, so I doubt it’s anything serious but we’ll have to wait and see.

Santana: 1-3, 2B

Strong: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 K, SB

Ankeney: 1-4 , 2B, K

Castillo (L, 2-10): 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Wednesday night.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Clearwater Threshers 5 (box)

Caleb Leys struggled in his start, but the kids brought their hitting shoes and some serious pop to take the first of six in Lakeland on Tuesday.

The Flying Tigers had the lead early when Jordan Yost led off the bottom of the first with a single and then stole second base. Tigers 2026 second rounder Tyson LeBlanc was the DH in this one for his first pro at-bat and he grounded out. Jesus Pinto came through with a single to get Yost to third, and he scored on a grounder from Angel de los Santos that went for an error. Cris Rodriguez’s first A-ball at-bat did not go well either, as the center fielder grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Leys dug himself into a hole in the second, and a two-out error from Yost contributed as the Threshers came back with three runs. Leys bounced back with a better third inning, although a foul ball down the first base line was close enough to really irritated the Threshers, with an ejection of the manager to follow. LeBlanc spanked a single up the middle for his first pro hit in the bottom half, although that went nowhere. Leys was wild in the fourth and again dug himself a deep hole and couldn’t escape, while another error, this one from De Los Santos at second didn’t help the cause.

So it was 5-1 Clearwater, but at that point the Flygers pulled it together and began the comeback. In the fifth, Pinto singled but was forced on a De Los Santos grounder. That worked, as Rodriguez hammered a 423 foot shot to right center field for his first home run in full season ball.

Rodriguez’s strikeout rate in the Complex League really put me off my feed as far as his future. There aren’t any examples of players striking out 30 percent of the time against that level of competition and succeeding, even at age 18. But we’ll see if he can make signficant progress next year or not before getting too down on his chances.

In the sixth, Brady Ballinger doubled, and Javier Osorio blasted a 109 mph shot to left to tie the game. Between Pinto, De Los Santos, Anibal Salas, and Osorio, the Tigers have a really talented, athletic group down there alongside the better known names like Yost, Michael Oliveto, whose bat looks outstanding btw, and Rodriguez.

Frenny Grant, Jose Guzman, and Pedro Garcia did great work out of the pen to smother the Threshers offense. Finally, in the bottom of the eighth, Yost walked, and singles from Salas and Pinto plated the go-ahead run. Garcia locked it down to earn the victory.

Osorio: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, HR

Pinto: 4-4, BB

Yost: 1-3, 2 R, 2 BB, K, SB

Leys: 3.1 IP, 5 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start on Wednesday night.

A couple weeks ago, as the Yankees got decent injury news regarding their trio of injured sluggers, Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton, I posed the question: what would Stanton in particular look like when returned? The idea was that among those recovering stars, Stanton was the player with the widest error bars. Anything, from a scorching hot late summer like the one he produced in 2025, to the tepid batting line he posted at the start of this season, to devastating re-injury, seemed possible.

Well, we know how that turned out. Stanton indeed re-injured himself, and his season is likely over. Bellinger has returned, leaving Judge as the last, and most important, domino to fall. So, with rumors swirling about a possible Judge comeback in the next two weeks: what should we expect from the Captain?

As Judge (hopefully) approaches a healthy return, I think it’s worth remembering just how excellent the 34-year-old still looked prior to his injury. Judge first suffered a rib fracture against the Astros on April 26th, and told reporters later that he may have aggravated the fracture when he crashed into the right field wall on May 3rd against the Orioles. Judge had a robust .264/.403/.628 slash line that day, good for a 1.037 OPS. His OPS actually peaked a few days later, at 1.067 on May 6th.

That, to me, is the best-case scenario. Judge was, prior to his injury, by all accounts still among the very best in game, if not the best. Homing in on that May 6th peak, Judge had a 190 wRC+, a .442 wOBA, and a .457 expected wOBA. For context, Judge had a .463 wOBA and .459 expected wOBA for the entirety of his sensational 2025 campaign. All of this is to say, Judge at the start of the season was still Aaron Judge.

But the rib injury obviously impacted Judge as he attempted to play through pain. He had an .888 OPS in 31 games post-injury, great but entirely non Judge-like. He struggled much more as time went on and the injury presumably worsened, running a paltry .665 OPS in the three weeks before he finally withdrew from the lineup on May 31st. That latter figure feels like an almost inconceivable outcome for Judge as long as he’s not seriously injured. The former figure feels more plausible as the kind of production Judge could provide if he is still somewhat compromised or rusty when he returns.

For what it’s worth, public projection systems paint an optimistic picture. ZiPS pegs him for a 173 wRC+, and 1.2 fWAR in 101 plate appearances. While it’s unlikely Judge actually eclipses 100 PA’s in the remaining regular season games, that WAR figure is noteworthy. ZiPS essentially forecasts Judge at this very moment to be worth over 8 WAR per 700 plate appearances, which is another way of saying that ZiPS still projects Judge, even after this absence, as the best position player in the world on a rate basis.

How realistic is such a forecast? Obviously, it’s hard to say from the outside, with so little information about Judge’s health and how much time he’ll need to get back up to speed after a three-plus-month layoff. But we can gauge expectations using the clues available to us. Judge struggled mightily when compromised, but was still positively incredible when health earlier this year. Even accounting for his time on the sidelines, projections give us a rosy forecast. What do you think? Can Judge be a world-beater when he gets back?

Tonight, the series with the Astros continues in the Bronx, and on the site this morning, John profiles a Yankee legend (?) in Jayson Nix, who turns 44 today. Also, Andrew runs through what you may have missed on Tuesday night, Josh analyzes Mark Walter and The Dodgers Of It All, and Maximo discusses the challenges that come with a top-heavy lineup.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees vs. Houston Astros

Time: 7:05 p.m. EST

TV: Amazon Prime Video, Space City Home Network

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

it might be fragment time. we just watched baseball until 1:15 AM.

in the early innings of Tuesday night’s game, the Guardians loaded the bases with no outs and didn’t score any runs from it, and Gavin Williams got shelled.

game over, right?

NO!

Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez responded by running the bases for 3 consecutive hours and Kurt Suzuki got to sit in the dugout and watch Jose thrive. His least favorite activity.

The result?

Slade Cecconi is rehabbing in AAA.

CDL feels better and PH in this game.

Around baseball

• Byron Buxton got injured. Taj Bradley threw an immaculate inning. And the Twins lost.

• Biebs hit the IL with an injured shoulder. 🙁

• My ability to form sentences improved as this post went on.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees’ captain, Aaron Judge, is slowly working his way back from a rib fracture sustained in late April. He took a significant step towards returning in September on Tuesday, taking some swings against overhand pitching for the first time in months. He has been throwing at distances of 100 feet, running, shagging fly balls, and performing other baseball-related activities, including tee-and-toss drills.

SNY | Phillip Martinez: Yankees left-hander Max Fried, currently in the midst of his second bone bruise-related IL stint of the season, has a chance to return this weekend. The Bombers will have a busy schedule this week, including a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, and manager Aaron Boone suggested that we could see the southpaw that day. The veteran threw four innings, about 60 pitches, of live batting practice on Monday. “We’ll see where we are as the next couple of days unfold,” Boone said. 

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: With Ryan Weathers hitting the injured list, the Yankees needed some good news on the pitching front. They definitely got them on Tuesday: not only is Max Fried on the way back and potentially an option for the weekend, but Clarke Schmidt threw about 20 pitches, with velocity in the mid-90s range. Per the reports, as long as his arm and body recover well, he should start a rehab assignment in the coming days. The right-hander will return as a reliever this year.

Schmidt, recovering from Tommy John surgery performed last summer, posted a 3.32 ERA in 2025 after making playoff starts for the 2024 team’s pennant run.

Yankees PR: The Yankees made a procedural move early on Tuesday, selecting recently-signed reliever Justin Topa’s contract to the active roster. Joel Sherman had reported that this move would be made. To make room for him, the organization transferred DH/OF Giancarlo Stanton to the 60-day injured list after a recent setback seriously jeopardized his chances of returning this season.

Also of note: Triple-A prospect Elmer Rodríguez reportedly has a locker in the Bronx this week, and since tonight’s starter is TBD, that could very well be him in his fifth career appearance (or at least serving in a bulk role). Bradley Hanner is a candidate to be demoted after throwing 25 pitches last night.

Eighteen pitchers in Mets history have concluded their first 10 major league starts with a sub-3.00 ERA.

There have been rocket ships such as Tom Seaver (2.64), Nolan Ryan (2.80) and Matt Harvey (2.73).

There is at least the making of a promising arm in Nolan McLean (2.16).

There have been footnotes such as Masato Yoshii (2.25) and Charlie Puleo (2.94).

And now there is a curiosity who might be turning into something more because through his first 10 major league starts, Zac Thornton’s ERA is 2.88.

With the 2026 season unofficially over, the 2027 rotation is looking a bit more promising every time the lefty is given the ball.

Tuesday that meant Thornton holding down the Brewers — who entered as the fourth-highest-scoring offense in the sport — for six innings in which he allowed just one run during a 3-2 victory at Citi Field.

“I thought I did a fine job just kind of changing speeds on them, basically one through nine, kind of used all the pitches,” said the left-hander, who mixed in seven distinct pitches, six of which induced a swing-and-miss.

He did not issue a walk and threw 62 of his 89 pitches for strikes.

A pitcher known for guile had a bit more gas, maxing out at 95.4 mph and later acknowledging with a smile, “I’m definitely seeing those 95s up there.”

He would love to maintain that velocity, but it’s possible he was a bit fresher pitching on six days’ rest.

Whether he has the extra tick or not, he continues to impress for a club that might be beginning to pencil him in to the 2027 rotation.

“I think he is who we thought he was: a fearless competitor who doesn’t care who gets in the batter’s box,” said interim manager Andy Green, “who might give up a home run on the first pitch of the game, and the rest of the game, he’s going to do what he does.”

Thornton only allowed one fourth-inning run — which probably deserves an asterisk, William Contreras awarded a double when a soft ground ball took a strange turn away from Bo Bichette — and otherwise, the Brewers did not have an answer for Thornton’s kitchen sink.

Virtually no one has since Thornton debuted with a four-run, 4 ¹/₃ inning clunker in Washington, which is the last time he has allowed four earned runs in a game.

Luis Robert Jr. drilled his sixth home run in his past 14 games, red-hot during a span in which his OPS has risen from .606 to .737.

Carson Benge tallied three more hits and an intentional walk, slashing .303/.363/.466 since May 1.

How Green will handle the playing time of his catchers the rest of the season will bear watching.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

For a second straight game, Francisco Alvarez sat in favor of Luis Torrens, this time against Brewers lefty Kyle Harrison.

Sometimes against opposing righties Green has played both, but against the southpaw it was Eric Wagaman who served as designated hitter rather than Alvarez.

Alvarez has been the typically unquestioned starter when healthy since 2023, while Torrens has been among the game’s best backups since arriving in the 2024 trade.

Before going 1-for-4, Torrens — who is the superior defender — entered hitting .393 with six home runs and 13 RBIs over his past 10 games. Alvarez is in a 2-for-33 slide.

“I think we’re still going to see Alvy out there very consistently,” Green said. “I think both of those guys are continuing to see the field quite a bit as we wrap up this season.

“Alvy obviously has gone through a stretch where he hasn’t swung the bat the way he has traditionally, but he’s really received well.”

Green defended Alvarez’s “under the hood” defense, in which Statcast has believed him to be a roughly average framer, slightly above average at throwing out runners and poor at blocking.

The usually lighter-hitting Torrens excels at each defensive category.

“I still believe immensely in Alvy’s upside,” Green said of the 24-year-old, who has had nice seasons but not yet the breakthrough that reminds of his former No. 1-prospect-in-baseball pedigree. “He’s still going to get a lot of at-bats.”

Green said he had no real update on Juan Soto, who has been sidelined for over a month (since July 24) with a left calf strain, or Devin Williams, out since Aug. 7 with a right shoulder strain.

Green said the club still believes both will return this season.

Mark Vientos is “not particularly close” to being an option for the Mets, Green said.

Vientos has gone 0-for-8 with a walk in three games with Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse so far in his first action since fracturing his hand on July 9.

“We’ll let kind of his play, how he feels and kind of the progression in general be determined by what happens on the field a little bit,” Green said. “When you hurt your hand, you need to get some at-bats and get going.”

PHOENIX — Their star second baseman hasn’t shown his face in the Arizona Diamondbacks' clubhouse since he went AWOL a week ago, and has yet to publicly apologize to a single teammate.

Their manager has been privately mocked and scorned inside and outside the organization for his public response to Ketel Marte's disappearing act.

Their starting rotation is a patchwork job with only one current starter who has been on their opening-day roster this entire season.

Their closer was released.

And yet, here are the Diamondbacks, staying alive in the National League wild-card race, showing uncanny resiliency with their MLB-leading 40^th comeback victory of the season, winning 5-4 over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, Aug. 25, capped by rookie Ryan Waldschmidt’s pinch-hit, walk-off homer with two outs in the ninth inning.

The Mariners brought a dumper to a duel.

George Kirby outpitched Aaron Nola on Tuesday in the Mariners electric 4-1 win over the Phillies. Kirby struck out nine over 7 2/3 innings and turned in his best outing of the year. Cal Raleigh smacked another homer, giving him four on the series. And the rest of the lineup scratched and clawed a few more runs late to give the Mariners an impressive, all around, and fun win. That’s back-to-back series victories over the top two Wild Card teams in the National League.

It’s been a weird season for Kirby, something I feel I’ve written a dozen times in the last five months. He’s walked a lot of batters (relative to himself) and struck out very few (relative to everyone). He survived the early part of the season by keeping the ball on the ground, but that’s no longer the case and he’s since been getting crushed. He’s often seemed to nibble at the edges of the zone, unable to get chase out of it, and unable to get whiffs in it. He gave up 11 runs in his last two starts, making early exits in both.

But Kirby on Tuesday looked like the near-ace level pitcher of the past. He attacked the zone relentlessly with his four-seamer, ripping upper-90s fastballs with his best velocity of the season (97.9 mph). When he did expand the zone with the slow and bendy stuff, he got chase 49% of the time. Kirby generated 21 whiffs on Tuesday — the second most in a game for his career. He was aggressive, sharp, and borderline unhittable.

It was obvious right from the jump that something was special for Kirby. He led off the game throwing three pretty much middle-middle fastballs to Kyle Schwarber, each greater than 98 mph, and Schwarber swung through them all. “I knew I had it today,” Kirby said of the four-seamer after the game. He then got ahead of Trea Turner with a few more fastballs registering 99 mph, before finishing him off with devastating sweeper away.

One of my favorite Kirby’s nine strikeouts came in the third. He painted a fastball low and away to Bryson Stott for a called strike, then threw a sweeper that made Stott swing at his shoes. Kirby ramped up and blew 99 mph past him on a pitch way up and out of the zone. It’s the sort of pinpoint power pitching that Kirby was once known for.

The Phillies did get to Kirby once in the second. A ground ball single, a bloop single, and a line drive single made it 1-0. It was a pretty weak run. Kirby followed it up by retiring 15 consecutive batters from the fourth inning until the eighth inning, when Bryce Harper picked up a two-out single that knocked Kirby out of the game. José Ferrer made quick work of Luis Arraez to escape the inning unscathed and preserve the Mariners 4-1 lead.

Four runs didn’t seem likely for the Mariners early. They couldn’t touch Aaron Nola for most of this one. I gotta admit: I love watching Nola pitch. I’m a huge fan of the Phillies Ace Factory of the last 15 years, from Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Cole Hamels, to Nola and Zack Wheeler, to the more contemporary choices of Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez (one might even give Ranger Suarez a nod for his performance last year).

Nola is a fun variation on the ace formula, an early adopter of “pitching backwards” approach — he throws his curveball as a primary pitch, and then has a trio of fastballs (plus a changeup) to attack each quadrant with precision. He’s the rare righty who’s never averaged better than 93 mph on his four-seamer but posts tip-top strikeout numbers regardless. There’s no such thing as a Hall of Fame pitcher these days, but Nola is right there as an inner-circle, Hall of Very Good pitcher, and I’ll be sad when he hangs it up.

Now, it’s fair to say Nola is a bit past his prime. He entered the day with a 5.12 ERA and 4.92 FIP over 26 starts. He’s still proven capable of missing bats, but he’s had a pesky walk issue and a peskier home run issue that seems to be getting worse with age. He’d given up 31 homers this year when he took the mound Tuesday, the most in the majors.

And he gave up homer number 32 in the second inning when Cal Raleigh stepped to the plate for the time. It was Cal’s fourth home run of the series after he clobbered three — yes, three —in Monday’s series opener. It seems, after five months of misery, Cal is finally breaking out. His teammates greeted him the dugout with borderline disbelief. 

But Nola was otherwise dominant. He got some nice chase and whiff on that biting curveball. He dotted up the Mariners for 20 called strikes, including 15 on the fastball and sinker. It’s not often a team watches that many fastballs for strikes, but snarky “Mariners” grumblings aside, he was getting tons of arm-side run Tuesday that froze batters on the black. He even broke out the cutter, which he uses like a slider, on the third time through the order. I mean, look at this at bat against J.P. Crawford, who was playing in first game after a month-long trip on the IL. (If you want to see what that called strike three look like, it’s the third clip in this pretty filthy highlight package wrapping up Nola’s day).

The Mariners did finally scratch another run across in Nola’s sixth and final inning. Julio hit one of his classic slow choppers to the left of second base and beat the throw to first. He got himself into scoring position with a steal of second. And then he came around to score when Josh Naylor hit a rope back up the middle. Julio has been in a bit of a slump the last few weeks, but his speed hasn’t, and sometimes that’s all he needs to create a run.

It was the pressure the Mariners put on Nola in the sixth that finally chased him from the game. Orion Kerkering got the ball for the Phillies in the seventh. He got a quick groundout, then loaded the bases by plunking Taylor Ward, giving up a seeing-eye single to Crawford, and walking Brock Rodden The moment felt right for a Randy Arozarena grand slam, but he swung way out of the zone and popped out.

That compelled Don Mattingly to bring in Brooks Raley , apparently unaware of the Mariners longstanding history of winning games against Brooks Raley. He tried catch Dom Canzone on the low-and-away quadrant with a sweeper, and Canzone stayed right on it, slapping a hard liner the other way for a clutch two RBI single to extend the Mariners lead to 4-1.

Canzone said he was going over the game plan as the inning unfolded, knowing Raley was warming up in the bullpen to face him.

“When he’s warming up, probably about four or five batters deep, just trying to develop a plan with Seitzer, especially with runners on,” Canzone said. “I had an idea he was probably going to try to spin me to death, as they’ve been trying to do all series. So just trusting in that process and just trying to stay behind it. Just trying to stay through the middle of the field, keep it simple as possible.”

The hit gave Andrés Muñoz a bit of cushion for the ninth. It wasn’t the coziest inning, with a pair of walks to put the tying run at the plate. But after pumping a pair of triple-digit heaters, Muñoz spun a brilliant slider low and away that Bryan De La Cruz couldn’t touch for strike three. The Mariners won 4-1, taking the series from the Phillies.

The Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angels faced off in game two of a three game series. Cleveland had the Big Rig Gavin Williams on the mound and were expecting a typical, incredible performance from the ace.

Things did not turn out as expected. Every starting pitcher, especially this late in the season, are liable for a stinker. Gavin Williams chose to cash in his one free stinker coupon for tonight’s game. He didn’t even make it out of the second inning. Gavin gave up five runs on six hits and a walk and threw 62 pitches in the process. It made for a bullpen game, and the bullpen showed up.

Matt Festa finished the second and pitched the third, only walking a batter. Craig Yoho gave up a hit but kept the fourth scoreless. Logan Allen threw three innings, gave up a solo home run, and struck out two. Colin Holderman came on in the eighth. He kept it scoreless in his inning of work, with Angel Martínez robbing Mike Trout of a two-run home run to retire the side.

I’m sure plenty of fans turned off the game, expecting the worst, when it was 5-0 going into the fourth. At that point in the game, the Guardians had already left four runners in scoring position and blew two bases loaded situations. It was looking like what many fans have come to view as the norm for this team’s offense.

In the fourth inning, catcher Patrick Bailey drew a lead off walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. With two outs, Steven Kwan singled to third to put runners on the corners. Travis Bazzana slapped the first pitch, a four-seamer, to center for an RBI double.

José Ramírez followed up with a double of his own to score two and bring the Guardians within two.

The fourth inning marked the start of the Guards mounting a comeback and a back and forth battle with the Angels. In the bottom of the fifth, three singles gave the Guards one more run with two outs thanks to a Brayan Rocchio RBI single. Steven Kwan singled on a ground to right scoring Petey Halpin to tie the game.

The Angles came back, but Cleveland had an answer in the top of the eighth. Steven Kwan lead off the inning with a single to center. José hit a one-out RBI double to left to tie the game at six runs each. Erik Sabrowski came on in the ninth to try and push the game into extras. He looked about as sharp as he has this season, with three strikeouts to retire the side and give the offense a chance to take the lead.

In the top of the tenth, Steven Kwan singled to right, moving the ghost runner (Brayan Rocchio) to third. With one out, José hit his third double of the night, scoring both Rocchio and Kwan to give the Guardians the lead for the first time this game.

Cade Smith came on in the tenth, looking for this 35th save of the year. Smith hit the first batter and a sac bunt put the tying run in scoring position. That didn’t matter for Cade. He struck out the next two batters, extending the win streak to six games.

This game felt like a pivotal moment for this team. At any other point in the season, this would have been a wash and a loss. The offense rallied together to pick up their starting pitcher and still pull off a win. Steven Kwan went 5-for-5 with a walk, three runs, and an RBI. José Ramírez went 3-for-6 with three doubles and five RBIs. He also stole his 30th base on the season in tonight’s game.

Cleveland will finish off this series tomorrow with a 4:07 PM EDT start with Joey Cantillo on the mound. With tonight’s win, the Guardians are sitting back above .500 and in second place in the AL Central.