Category: Baseball

A strong broadcast from a crew consisting of Ryan Spilborghs, Jeff Huson, and Cory Sullivan at one point tonight turned their attention to their favorite songs by Minnesota musical legend Prince. It seems fitting, then, that baseball’s favorite purple team decided to bring the rain down at Target Field in a win that made up for last night’s walk-off loss.

Lorenzen continues his solid streak

Rockies starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen added another game to his streak of starts lasting five or more innings. Lorenzen went five or more innings in just half of his first 14 starts this season with varying degrees of success. However, since simplifying his approach on the mound earlier this month, he has now done so in four consecutive games. In those four starts, he has given up more than two earned runs just once.

Lorenzen gave up a lot of contact against a solid group of Minnesota Twins batters, allowing seven hits and tallying just one strikeout. However, he commanded his pitches well and avoided issuing any ill-advised, potentnially haunting walks. He relied heavily on his sinker, continuing to use a reduced pitch mix compared to earlier in the season. The only other pitches with double-digit uses were his changeup and cutter.

The first of Lorenzen’s two earned runs given up came at the beginning of the game when two singles book-ended Byron Buxton getting hit by a pitch. The second came in the fifth inning when Josh Bell clanged a ball high off the outfield wall for a triple. Bell then scored on a sacrifice fly.

Vodnik and Bernardino keep the scoresheet clean

Relievers Victor Vodnik and Brennan Bernardino had much-needed strong outings against the Twins tonight. Vondik was first in line as he entered the game in the sixth to take over for Michael Lorenzen. Having struggled mightily this season, it was good to see Vodnik deliver quality pitches and set down all four batters he faced in order. Bernardino pitched the eighth inning and worked a quick 1-2-3 inning on 13 pitches with one strikeout.

The drama comes late… again

The running theme this past week has been drama in the late innings, and unfortunately that was again the case tonight. With an 8-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, reliever Zach Agnos was handed the ball in a low-leverage situation. Agnos struck out Royce Lewis, the walk-off hero of last night’s win for the Twins, on a sweeper in the dirt and it looked like Rockies fans could breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the end of the game free from drama.

Then two straight singles and a walk loaded up the bases.

Twins outfielder Trevor Larnach then cleared the bases with a double to put the Twins within striking distance with only two outs. Agnos was then pulled from the game and replaced with Jimmy Herget.

Herget wrapped up the game on nine pitches, inducing back-to-back flyouts to end the game and cement a Rockies victory and earning his third save of the season in the process.

Purple Rain

“An exceptional night from Hunter,” said manager Warren Schaeffer after the game. “Incredible.”

Proving once again that last year’s 31 home run season was no fluke, Hunter Goodman continued to tear the cover off the ball after he demolished a home run over 450 late last night. Goodman hit two more loud solo home runs in his first two at-bats before hitting a three-run homer in the seventh inning to become the third Rockies player in franchise history to hit three home runs in a game. He did this as the designated hitter, where his numbers have generally been lacking compared to nights when he suits up behind the plate.

Goodman has 25 home runs after tonight, 18 of which have come on the road. Those 18 road home runs are the most by any Rockies hitter before the All-Star break. With 15 games left before the All-Star Game in Philadelphia, Goodman now has a good chance to become the first Rockies hitter with 30 or more home runs at the break.

Kyle Karros decided to bring some additional rain of his own with a two-run home run in the eighth inning to further pad the Rockies lead—and every run counts with the late inning drama these days. Jake McCarthy would score after hitting a triple in the fifth inning on a 2-for-5 evening, while Tyler Freeman and TJ Rumfield both had two-hit nights of their own.

Coming Up Next

The Rockies have one more game to play in the Twin Cities before heading back to Colorado. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 PM MDT, at which time the right-handed Ryan Feltner will take the mound against the left-handed Connor Prielipp.

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It’s been mentioned on this site countless times before, but one thing about the Orioles is that they never let you feel good about them for very long.

The O’s followed up Friday’s easy win with an excruciating, 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Nationals. The Orioles put themselves in an early hole through repeated defensive blundery, and while they briefly gave themselves hope with an eighth-inning comeback, they fell behind for good in the top of the 10th, then failed to score the tying run against a reliever with an 8.04 ERA. Your 2026 Orioles in a nutshell, ladies and gentlemen.

Tonight’s game was eerily similar to a maddening loss to the Nationals last year — which also featured the Nats scoring in their final at-bat and an identical 4-3 final score — that prompted the Orioles to fire manager Brandon Hyde the next morning. I don’t think the same fate will befall Craig Albernaz, and I’m not saying that it should. But this 2026 club, like that doomed 2025 squad, is rife with problems that threaten to torpedo the Orioles’ season, if they haven’t already.

Let’s start with the big one: guys, the Orioles’ defense is atrocious. They’re, like, really bad. The O’s can talk all they want (and they have) about how they’re confident in themselves and how they have the talent to go on a hot streak and all that, but they’re simply not going to do so unless they figure out how to field their positions like competent big leaguers. Tonight was not that night.

It’s too bad, because Brandon Young pitched another whale of a game, only for the Orioles’ sloppy defense to muck up his outing. It began in the second inning, when Daylen Lile lofted a fly ball to deep left. Taylor Ward took a terrible route to the ball, and it sailed over his head for a gift double. Jorbit Vivas followed with an RBI single to left to give the Nationals a 1-0 advantage. Ward didn’t cover himself in glory on that play, either, making an ill-advised throw home that allowed Vivas to take an extra base, though the runner was left stranded.

The O’s were up to their antics again in the third. With one out and a runner at first, José Tena grounded a potential double play ball to short. Gunnar Henderson flipped to Jeremiah Jackson, but the Orioles second baseman dropped the ball on the transfer, allowing the inning to continue. That forced Young to throw 11 extra pitches before escaping the jam.

Young wriggled his way out of trouble again in the fourth, racking up huge strikeouts of Drew Millas and James Wood with two runners in scoring position. In the Wood at-bat, Young threw six consecutive splitters, fanning him on the final one to complete the K. It was par for the course on this night for Young, who racked up 23 swings-and-misses in five innings, the most by any Oriole in a five-inning performance in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). He notched 11 of those whiffs on his nasty splitter. But the Orioles’ defensive clownery made him throw 93 pitches in five innings, and he left the game trailing after coughing up a Luis García Jr. leadoff homer in the fifth.

And then that awful O’s defense reared its ugly head again in the sixth. With Rico Garcia pitching, Vivas led off with a routine grounder to third. But Blaze Alexander booted the ball, then made a panicked throw to first and airmailed it, giving Vivas second base. Alexander was charged with the rare — and brutal — double error, one allowing Vivas to reach first and the other allowing him to advance to second.

Naturally, that free baserunner came around to score, as the struggling-of-late Garcia coughed up an RBI single to Drew Millas, who entered the game with a .527 OPS in 130 PAs. This is not the type of hitter who should be beating you, Rico! Garcia has now been scored upon in six of his last nine outings, inflating his once impeccable 0.68 ERA to 2.62. The damage would have been worse if not for the O’s throwing out Millas at the plate on a Garcia Jr. double to right, a rare gem by the Orioles defense.

For a while, it appeared those three runs would be enough for the Nats, as starter Foster Griffin simply dominated the Birds. The southpaw worked seven innings and threw 112 pitches,, just two shy of the MLB season high of 114 (by the Twins’ Taj Bradley on April 29). The Orioles scored only one run against him, and it was an unearned one at that, as the Nats made a throwing error in the second that set up a surprising two-out RBI single from third catcher Chadwick Tromp. It was Tromp’s first at-bat with the Orioles in almost exactly a year (June 30, 2025), and he certainly made the most of it.

Other than that, the O’s simply had no answer for Griffin, the former first round pick, who’s been better than ever in his return to MLB after a three-year stint in Japan. He allowed only three hits and two walks while striking out nine Orioles tonight, lowering his season ERA to 2.93. Gotta hand it to the Nationals — signing a live arm who rehabilitated his career overseas has paid dividends for them. Meanwhile the O’s keep signing the Chris Bassitts of the world, which is going great. Anyway, Griffin left the game after seven with a 3-1 lead.

Unfortunately, he then had to turn the game over to a sad-sack Nationals bullpen. Yikes, these guys are going through some stuff. The Washington relief corps is coming off a horrific series against the Phillies in which they blew three consecutive games in heartbreaking fashion, becoming just the second team in MLB history to give up go-ahead home runs in the ninth in three straight games.

This time it was the eighth inning that ruined them. Lefty PJ Poulin was the first to pitch, and once again it was Chadwick Tromp who sparked the rally with a bloop single to lead off the inning. Not bad for a guy who I’d totally forgotten was on the roster before today. Poulin then uncorked a wild pitch but retired the next two batters before ceding to righty Orlando Ribalta, and that’s when the O’s feasted.

Pete Alonso came through with a clutch hit, smashing an RBI double to left to make it a 3-2 game. Craig Albernaz then deployed Samuel Basallo as a pinch-hitter, which proved a stroke of genius. Basallo jumped on Ribalta’s first pitch and lashed it up the middle for a game-tying RBI single, scoring a fired-up Alonso. Tie ballgame! Oh, that Nationals bullpen has done it again.

Sadly, the O’s didn’t sustain the good vibes. After Andrew Kittredge and Clayton Beeter traded scoreless ninth innings, Ryan Helsley struggled in the 10th. Lile greeted him with a sharp single to right, scoring the automatic runner to reclaim a 4-3 lead for the Nationals. The next batter also reached base before Helsley settled down and retired the next three, keeping it a one-run game.

The desperate Nationals turned to veteran Justin Lawrence, whom they claimed on waivers earlier this week, to make his team debut in the 10th. Here’s the thing about Lawrence: he has pitched in 30 games for two other teams this year and has an 8.04 ERA. That’s not a typo. He’s given up 25 earned runs in 28 innings. The Orioles should destroy this guy. Tying the game should be a given; walking it off shouldn’t be too hard, either.

I’ll give you one guess as to what actually happened. Yup. The O’s failed to score a single run against him, and lost the game. Jackson Holliday’s grounder to first moved the automatic runner, Jackson, to third base with one out. But on a Ward grounder to short, the O’s did the stupid run-on-contact play that never, ever works, and — surprise! — it did not work. CJ Abrams threw to the plate to cut down Jackson by a mile for the second out.

The O’s valiantly tried to continue the rally on a Henderson single and Alonso walk, loading the bases for Basallo. But Samuel hacked at a 1-0 sinker and grounded harmlessly to second base for the final out of the game. Sigh. What a letdown of an inning and a disappointment of a game.

This Orioles team has problems, folks. And they’re not going away anytime soon.

It sure is nice when the team for whom I root scores runs.

The Guardians began tonight’s game with more of the same – three scoreless and quiet innings for their offense. Fortunately, Slade Cecconi is on a heater right now and kept the Mariners’ bats quiet for the first three as well. Seven groundball outs in those three frames, four on the cutter, one on the sinker, one on the curveball and one on the four-seamer. His new pitch mix approach as outlined by our Jakhob Clady continues to work.

Then, the blessed fourth inning happened. After Travis Bazzana and Kyle Manzardo singled, Kahlil “I Am The RBI Man You Are Looking For” Watson mashed a double to score Bazzana:

Then Cooper Ingle picked a GREAT time to get his FIRST MAJOR LEAGUE HIT!

Good, aggressive at-bat and he hit a CHANGEUP, folks. We can use some changeup hitters, as you may know.

Brayan Rocchio added an RBI double to score Bazzana in the 5th after Travis had singled. Watson, Gabriel Arias and Petey Halpin had the three hardest-hit balls today for Cleveland. It was fun to see Kwan in the leadoff spot today but I really think he needs to stay 7-9.

Everything went smoothly from there as Slade Cecconi pitched six scoreless allowing only three hits and two walks… until the 8th. Sean Armstrong had only a 2.19 ERA/2.54 FIP since rejoining the team on May 21st. But, he was very bad today, giving up a HBP, a single and then a crushed three-run homer to Randy Arozarena. So, Vogt had to go to Hunter Gaddis whom he wanted to rest, having pitched him yesterday. But Gaddy Daddy got the outs and passed the baton to Cade Smith for the 9th.

It was a little hairy, but Cade got it done, getting Josh Naylor for the last out with two runners on. Guardians win, 4-3.

If the Guardians can find a way to win this series tomorrow, it will be the first series they have won since José Ramírez got hurt. Speaking of hurt, Watson left the game late and he had jammed his hand/wrist trying to make a catch a couple innings earlier. Hopefully our star slugger is ok. Vogt said his removal was precautionary and he will be checked out but should be good to go. Of course… he said the same thing about Angel Martinez.

Oh, Erik Sabrowski looked good and got his guy on a K, so hopefully he is getting back to normal.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs got stomped on by the Buffalo Bison (Blue Jays), 9-3 in 11 innings.

Grant Kipp made his Triple-A debut tonight. Over 3.2 innings, Kipp gave up three runs on seven hits. Two of those hits were solo home runs. On positive side, Kipp did strike out seven while walking two.

The contest was tied 3-3 heading into extra innings and Vince Reilly had pitched a scoreless ninth and tenth innings.. But when he came out for the elevent., he got shellacked. The final line on Reilly was four runs, three earned, on two hits and three walks over 2+ innings. One of the three walks was intentional. Reilly struck out one batter.

Left fielder Chas McCormick hit a solo home run in the second inning, his ninth on the campaign. McCormick went 3 for 4 with a double. He scored twice.

Center fielder Brett Bateman was 2 for 3 with two walks.

A Grant Kipp strikeout.

McCormick’s home run.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies scored seven runs in the eighth inning and dethroned the Birmingham Barons (White Sox), 7-3. Knoxville has won eight of their last nine games.

Stater Evan Taylor pitched two innings and allowed one run on three hits. He struck out four and walked one.

The win went to Tyler Schlaffer, who threw the final 2.1 innings of this game without allowing a run. Schlaffer gave up just one hit and one walk while striking out three.

Second baseman Hayden Cantrelle tied this game up 3-3 in the eighth with a two-run single. Cantrelle was 2 for 5 and scored one run.

Later in the eighth, left fielder Andy Garriola had a two-run single of his own. Garriola was 1 for 4.

First baseman Edgar Alvarez was 2 for 4. He scored once and drove in one in the eighth.

Highlights from that eighth inning.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs incarcerated the Quad Cities River Bandits (Royals), 11-1.

Jaxon Wiggins made a rehab appearance for South Bend and gave up no runs and just two hits over 3.2 innings. Wiggins struck out four and walked no one.

Adam Stone pitched the next 1.1 innings, allowed no runs on one hit, and was awarded the win. Stone struck out one and walked no one.

Ethan Flanagan got the rare four-inning save. Flanagan allowed one run on four hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out four.

Left fielder Jose Escobar hit a two-run home run in the fifth, his fifth on the year and third with South Bend. Escobar went 3 for 4 with a walk. He had three total RBI.

First baseman Drew Bowser drove in two more later in the fifth inning with his fifth home run of the season. Bowser went 2 for 4 with a walk.

Shortstop Angel Cepeda also had a hug night, going 2 for 3 with a double and two walks. He also stole a base. Cepeda scored three runs and drove in two.

Wiggins highlights.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were unable to move the Salem RidgeYaks (Red Sox), 8-5.

Solid start for Braylon Myers, who turned in three scoreless innings with two hits. Myers struck out one and walked no one.

Henry Cone got mugged for five runs in the bottom of the seventh and took the loss. Cone’s final line was five runs on four hits over 1.2 innings. Only two of the five runs Cone allowed were earned. Cone walked two and struck out three.

Third baseman Derniche Valdez went 3 for 5 with a double. He scored twice.

Left fielder Edward Vargas was 2 for 5 with an RBI triple in the seventh. Vargas scored on that triple for a “Little League” two-run home run. Vargas scored twice.

Second baseman Ezequiel Perez was 2 for 4 with a walk. He had one run batted in and one run scored.

Center fielder Alexey Lumpuy was 1 for 5 with a walk and three steals. He had one RBI.

Vargas’ Little League home run.

ACL Cubs

Lost to the Giants, 12-9 in eight innings.

The Mariners lost to the Guardians, 4-3, and are now 42-42 on the season.

I am not a particular Douglas Adams fan but read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as a middle-schooler, as one does, so I could understand my older cousins’ inside jokes. 42, of course, is the answer to ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything – the catch is, no one knows what the question is. As a literal-minded middle-schooler I was pretty annoyed by this conceit, and more annoyed when I found out later that Adams picked the number 42 entirely at random – an empty answer to a question that didn’t even know what it was asking.

Older, now, and less literal-minded, I can appreciate words that fill in gaps for concepts too hard to name – tough one tonight – and how some questions don’t have answers, or even questions. The 2026 Mariners have won 42 games. The 2026 Mariners have lost 42 games. They are a good team, and also a not-good-enough team.

Tonight the Mariners hitters pounded the ball into the ground against Guardians starter Slade Cecconi, who retired seven of the first batters he faced on grounders. The only damage he allowed the first time through the order was a two-out double to Dominic Canzone, hitting in the three-hole spot for the first time in his career, and even the joy of that was tempered as Canzone, who’s been struggling with a bum hamstring, ran gingerly into second base. The hamstring was obviously bothering Canzone, who was serving as DH, all game; postgame Dan Wilson said the injury was “playable,” which is a word that has some meaning, somewhere, maybe, but not a tremendous amount here, or now.

From there, it was mostly the frustrating Mariners offense you’ve become accustomed to watching over the past few weeks. A leadoff single from Julio Rodríguez in the fourth was squandered after a variety of weak-contact outs. Cole Young uncharacteristically blew a Mariners challenge early, perhaps reacting in frustration after a tough check swing call in the third. Ground ball out. Ground ball out. Groundhog Day.

That left the Mariners starter in a familiar position – this time, Logan Gilbert had the grim task of keeping the Guardians off the board. Gilbert looked strong into the fourth, giving up only a single to the lone right-handed hitter in the lineup in Gabriel Arias, until things devolved in the fourth. Travis Bazzana led off with a groundball base hit on a fastball with good velocity (98 mph) but poor location (right in the middle of the plate). Maybe that scared Gilbert off his heater, because the pitch selection went a little wonky after that: in an 0-2 count where he had Kyle Manzardo whiffing at his four-seamer, he threw a changeup as a putaway pitch that instead Manzardo rapped past a diving Cole Young to put runners at the corners with just one out. Gilbert then hung a first-pitch slider to Khalil Watson for a ringing double that brought in the Guardians’ first run of the day, and went back to the changeup another two times against Kyle Ingle for another sharply-hit ground ball single, this time bringing in two runs. Postgame, Gilbert said the game plan was to use the changeup against the Guardians’ lefty-heavy lineup, but acknowledged “it’s kind of a cat and mouse game,” which must mean something to him.

The Mariners had a chance to answer back in the top half of the fifth despite not recording a hit, with Luke Raley accepting a four-pitch walk and Cole Young reaching on an error, but J.P. Crawford couldn’t come up with a clutch two-out knock, caught looking at a sinker up in the zone for an inning-ending strikeout.

It’s hard to fault Gilbert for the next Guardians run, however: with two outs in the fifth, Bazzana reached after a splitter and floated it into the outfield for a single, and then turned on the jets and scored on an excuse-me swing from Brayan Rocchio on a first-pitch fastball up and out of the zone that dribbled down the left field line for a run-scoring double, extending the Guardians lead to 4-0.

The Mariners had yet another chance in the seventh, with Cecconi’s day finally blessedly coming to an end after allowing a walk (and another walk from reliever Colin Holderman), but Stephen Vogt pushed the Sabrowski Saw button and cut down the Mariners’ attempt at a two-out rally. J.P. Crawford battled, but again was the last out, again caught looking at a perfectly spotted strike three.

If there’s any silver lining to be had for this game, it’s that Logan Gilbert managed to push through the seventh inning, saving the bullpen an inning at least – and maybe a palate cleanser for Gilbert to end his outing, battling Steven Kwan for ten pitches and emerging victorious on a called strike three on the slider for his seventh punchout of the day. Take away the fluky-BABIP run in the fifth (and maybe make a few different pitch calls in the fourth) and that’s a solid outing for the reigning AL Pitcher of the Week. If moral victories are the only kind of victory we’re allowed to savor today, well, there are worse ones.

Having used the Saw Trap already and with the Mariners down to their final six outs, Vogt opted to bring in former Mariner Shawn Armstrong, who had a rough outing, hitting Julio on the hand/wrist with a pitch – he was clearly in pain but remained in the game and even came up with a ninth-inning single – before surrendering a single to Canzone, and then giving up the big hit to Randy Arozarena, who jumped on a 94 mph fastball right in the heart of the plate and demolished it to dead center, giving the Mariners three runs in a hurry.

Armstrong then gave up a first-pitch opposite-field single to Josh Naylor before being replaced by Hunter Gaddis. Gaddis got his first two outs before surrendering a first-pitch single to Cole Young on a changeup. But Colt Emerson couldn’t catch up with Gaddis’s slider, closing the book on the Mariners’ best scoring opportunity for the day, as Cade Smith allowed some uncharacteristic traffic but ultimately slammed the door for the Guardians in the ninth.

The Mariners are 42 and 42. They left 11 men on base. Their bottom four hitters, which tonight includes the reigning MVP runner-up, went 1-for-13. It is their 13th straight game of scoring three runs or fewer, tying a franchise record. These are all numbers that might mean something, but probably don’t, let alone the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything.

Before you could grab your hot dog, popcorn, and preferred pilsner beverage, the Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead on a Geraldo Perdomo double, Corbin Carroll single, and a whiff of a tag from catcher Hunter Feduccia.

In the bottom half of the first, Junior Caminero hit a thunderous, sky-scraping blast for his sixth homer in his last 19 innings played. The 43-degree launch angle was matched with a 107 MPH exit velocity, the tallest round-tripper of Caminero’s career.

For the first time in 630 days, Michael Grove got to pitch in an MLB game, and my goodness did he deliver.

Grove retired nine of the 10 batters he faced over three innings, struck out four, all on sliders, and collected the win.

Jonathan Aranda hit his 13th longball of the season in the fifth inning, taking us to 3-1 Tampa Bay.

Ketel Marte would cut the deficit in half with a 430-foot solo shot off of Kevin Kelly in the 8th, and Brian Baker would come on in the ninth with a new light show entrance for save number 21 in 1-2-3 fashion.

The two expansion cousins will have getaway day tomorrow, with first pitch scheduled for 1:40 PM EST and Merrill Kelly and Dre Rasmussen as the probable starting pitchers.

Another disappointing loss. Five in a row now, as they fall towards the back of the AL wildcard chase. Really, it’s remarkable that 39-44 counts as in the race at all, but the AL being what it is they’re just 2.0 games back of Texas in spite of having ceded three games to them in the last three days.

• Dylan Cease was messy today. He did pick up 10 Ks in 4.2 innings, but strikeouts are never his problem. Walks sometimes are, and he had five of them en route to allowing four runs. He gave up a run in the first on two walks and a single, but it looked like he was pulling it together for the next three innings. Two more singles and another walk in the fifth plated Texas’ second run in the fifth, and also forced him from the game as his pitch count reached 107.
• Mason Fluharty wasn’t able to pick him up, allowing both inherited runners to score and plating two of his own on a walk, a single, and a double. The first of his own runners would end up being the decider.
• Derek fisher allowed a solo shot in the 5th, running Texas’ total to 7.
• Tommy Nance, Jeff Hoffman, and Tyler Rogers eached worked a scoreless inning of relief.
• On offence, they really couldn’t do much against Cal Quantrill, managing just two singles and a walk over 4.0 scoreless innings while striking out five times.
• They did jump on relievers Robby Ahlstrom and Joe Ross. Ernie Clement doubled and the newly recalled Yohendirck Pinango homered to score two in the fifth. Alejandro Kirk lead the sixth off with a solo homer, and debuting rookie Sean Keys singled, moved to second on an Clement hit, to third on a Pinango, and across on an Andres Gimenez line single to plate the Jays’ fourth and final run.

If you want a bright spot, it was contributions form Keys and Pinango. The former was playing his first major league game, and while one for four isn’t exactly setting the world on fire it was a solid first effort. He outhit their other first baseman, for about 1/45th the price. Pinango, meanwhile, has looked like a solid MLB hitter throughout his MLB time this season. Both look to be long term contributors in some fashion. Plus, Ernie Clement looked like the All Star he’s about to be, accounting for four of the team’s 17 total bases on the afternoon.

We’ll wrap things up tomorrow at 1:37pm ET. Shane Bieber (0-0, 9.82) will look to find some kind of form in his second appearance of the season. The Rangers will start Kumar Rocker (2-6, 4.14).

Saturday night’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins was a contrast of two teams who have almost identical records, but are heading in completely opposite directions. The Miami Marlins took advantage of scoring opportunities and the St. Louis Cardinals didn’t. Watching this team for the past week has made it difficult to not go into an ALL CAPS RAGE.

I hope the St. Louis Cardinals were paying attention to what the Miami Marlins were doing when runners were in scoring position. Given the opportunity, they came through with clutch hits and it started early. The Marlins scored early on Andre Pallante as Otto Lopez hammered a one-out triple in the right field corner and Kyle Stowers singled him in giving Miami an immediate 1-0 lead. Scoring runners in scoring position is possible, Cardinals.

The Marlins added to their lead in the top of the 3rd inning. Joe Mack led off with a single followed by Edwards then reached on a bunt single to third that Bryan Torres couldn’t handle. But, after Lopez grounded into a double play, Miami scored anyway as Stowers came through with a clutch two-out single scoring Mack doubling the Marlins lead to 2-0.

St. Louis had an opportunity in the bottom of the 3rd inning when JJ Wetherholt went the other way smacking a single into left field after Jimmy Crooks and Nathan Church had struck out for the Cardinals first hit of the game. Iván Herrera added his own single to give the Cardinals two baserunners and Alec Burleson was barely grazed on the foot by a pitch which loaded the bases with two outs bringing up the very much overdue Jordan Walker. What did St. Louis do with this opportunity to break out of their 12 inning scoreless streak? Walker struck out on a 3-2 sinker. This has been the St. Louis Cardinals for the past week.

The Miami Marlins took advantage of the Cardinals lack of improving their freefalling RISP numbers by adding to their lead again in the top of the 4th. Jakob Marsee led off with a double. Conine shattered his bat, but grounded out to JJ Wetherholt advancing Marsee for a productive at-bat. Javier Sanojo promptly singled to center scoring Marsee increasing the Marlins lead to 3-0. They weren’t done, either. After Mack flied out, Sanojo stole second and then scored when Edwards came through with a two-out single to left making it 4-0 Marlins.

The Cardinals would FINALLY score a run, but it didn’t happen until the bottom of the 6th inning when they strung together hits for a change. Jordan Walker got it started when he drew a one-out walk. Lars Nootbaar then singled moving Walker up to second. Masyn Winn added his own single as St. Louis began chipping away at the Marlins lead as it was 4-1 Miami after 6 innings.

Andre Pallante did not have his “A” game going Saturday night, but he did pitch deep into the game. He pitched into the top of the 7th inning and was helped by a picture-perfect JJ Wetherholt to Masyn Winn to Alec Burleson double play. He would be removed from the game by manager Oli Marmol after giving up a standup double to Edwards replaced by Matt Svanson. Andre Pallante’s line for the night was 6 2/3 innings giving up 11 hits, 4 earned runs while striking out 4 and walking 1 as he hit the 98 pitch mark. Not disastrous, but not as sharp as Andre has been in his previous June starts. Matt Svanson was unfortunately greeted by a two-out double from Otto Lopez which (of course) scored Edwards who barely beat the throw by Jordan Walker from right upping the Marlins lead to 5-1.

I thought perhaps that fate would begin smiling on the St. Louis Cardinals as JJ Wetherholt hit one of the highest singles in recent history as the Marlins infield and outfield could not decide who should catch JJ’s popup. Lopez called it and then they all just looked at each other as the ball bounced in between them all. I was hopeful the Cardinals would go on a Bender – Anthony Bender who was brought in by the Marlins in relief. Unfortunately, it was just another St. Louis runner left on base when Iván Herrera flied out to center to end the bottom of the 7th.

The Cardinals also wasted a single by Jordan Walker in the bottom of the 8th inning, but that was hardly surprising based on what St. Louis has done for the past week. Did the Cardinals do something inspiring in the bottom of the 9th and make a game of it? Of course not. Hold on a second, personal emotional eruption is coming…

WHY ARE THE ST. LOUIS CARDINALS SUDDENLY SO FLAT FOR THE PAST WEEK? WHY DO RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION SEEM TO CAUSE TREPIDATION TO WHATEVER CARDINAL HAPPENS TO BE IN THE BATTER’S BOX? WHY HAS OUR DEFENSE BECOME SO SLOPPY? WHO’S GONNA RISE TO THE OCCASION AND REMIND THIS CARDINALS TEAM WHAT INSPIRED THE “TARPS OFF” RIGHT FIELD CRAZIES IN THE FIRST PLACE? WHO STOLE OUR BATS? Sorry about that, but I feel better now.

The St. Louis Cardinals will wrap up their homestand Sunday by trying to avoid a sweep from the Miami Marlins. The Cardinals will start Kyle Leahy while the Marlins starter has yet to be announced. First pitch scheduled for 1:15pm central time at Busch Stadium with the game TV broadcast being handled by Cardinals.tv.

Box Score

Kyle Harrison had another solid outing on Saturday night, handing the bullpen a 2-2 tie with the Cubs in the sixth inning. Unfortunately, Milwaukee’s bullpen struggled, allowing six runs over the final four innings in what ended up as a blowout 8-2 loss.

After Harrison breezed through the first with a 1-2-3 inning, including a strikeout, Jackson Chourio greeted lefty David Peterson — in his Cubs’ debut, after being acquired from the Mets earlier this week — with a first-pitch homer over the wall in center at 411 feet to make it 1-0.

The bats went quiet after that, as singles by Gary Sánchez and Joey Ortiz were the only other baserunners through the end of the third.

In the fourth, the Cubs finally broke through. After Harrison struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong, Matt Shaw singled up the middle for Chicago’s first baserunner of the evening, and Seiya Suzuki followed with a two-run homer, his second homer in as many games, to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead. Harrison worked out of the inning with no further damage, though he did allow a two-out walk and single.

The Brewers got a run back in the bottom of the fifth, as Blake Perkins lined a double into the right-center gap, and Sal Frelick followed with an RBI single to left to knot it up at 2-2.

The tie wouldn’t last, though, as Chad Patrick found himself in some trouble in the sixth after taking over from Harrison. While he got the first two outs without a problem, he then issued a pair of walks before Nico Hoerner hit a single to right to make it 3-2 Chicago.

It wouldn’t end there, either, with Ian Happ jumping on a first-pitch cutter from Patrick for a three-run homer, quickly stretching the Cubs’ lead to 6-2.

Milwaukee, meanwhile, couldn’t do much of anything against the Cubs’ bullpen — they went down in order in the sixth and seventh, and their only baserunner in the eighth came on a two-out walk by David Hamilton.

Chicago was able to add one more insurance run in the seventh off Grant Anderson, as he walked Shaw, Suzuki singled to put runners at the corners, and Alex Bregman brought in a run with a sac fly. The Brewer defense was able to limit the damage, though, as Chourio, Cooper Pratt, and William Contreras combined to cut Suzuki down at the plate on a double into the gap by Michael Busch.

Just for good measure, the Cubs added a pinch-hit solo homer from Michael Conforto against Joel Kuhnel in the ninth to bring this one to an 8-2 final.

In an even more unfortunate turn of events in the ninth, Garrett Mitchell entered as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth, and after swinging and missing at the first pitch, immediately grabbed his left hamstring. After a visit from the trainer, he remained in the game (the team was out of position players), ultimately grounding out — hopefully nothing major and something more like a cramp.

Harrison looked good, though he wasn’t the most efficient. He threw 92 pitches across just five innings, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk while striking out nine. Patrick took the loss as he gave up four runs in less than an inning of work, while Anderson and Kuhnel each gave up a run. Jared Koenig, in his first appearance since early April after being activated from the IL yesterday, was the only pitcher with a clean inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.

The offense collected just five hits and one walk, with no players reaching base more than once. Chourio had the homer, Perkins had the double, and Frelick, Ortiz, and Sánchez each singled.

The Brewers still hold a 6.5-game lead over the Cubs, but they’ll look to move that back to 7.5 games with a series win on Sunday. Brandon Woodruff is slated to make the start for Milwaukee, with the always terrifying TBD scheduled for Chicago. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m.

Guardians 4, Mariners 3

Groundhog Day as a movie: Randy Arozarena, .14 WPA

Groundhog Day for your baseball team: J.P. Crawford, -.17 WPA; Colt Emerson, -.16 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

The Phillies have had a pretty remarkable week. Three games that would have been losses were in not for the fight they showed against a weaker opponent. The catch of the year in Friday’s victory over the Mets. It’s been quite the several days.

Today, that came to a screeching halt.

After a decently long rain delay, the Mets and Phillies got underway about an hour late, a game that ultimately saw the Phillies wither without a true starting pitcher and a lockdown performance by the Mets bullpen. Things started well with Bryce Harper homering off of Christian Scott to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

However, it being the fifth starter’s turn, the team continued with its opener/Alan Rangel plan for the position and got burned today. Tim Mayza started and was fine, but Rangel allowed four runs in his four innings of work. He started off fine, but in the sixth, things got hairy. Juan Soto and Bo Bichette both singled with one out, then scored when Francisco Lindor tripled to tie the game at two.

After a walk, Jonathan Bowlan came in, walked a batter, then gave up a two-run single to give the Mets a 4-2 lead. In the seventh, Soto hit an RBI triple, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Bichette to end the scoring on the day. The Phillies’ offense struggled against the bullpen that only allowed two hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings.

It happens.

Sometimes, teams just have a rough game and this was one of them.

I was initially going to call this “Bouncy Castle Blues,” because that’s what Tropicana Field reminds me of as much as anything. With its synthetic fabric top, and its weirdly springy turf, and the fact that try as we might we never seem to play competent baseball there, it seems fitting. But that would have led me to Google Images and then probably an extended session of foolishness with Photoshop, and I realized I really wanted nothing more than to get this recap done as soon as possible, because it wasn’t a fun baseball game to watch, even with the always pleasant company in the Gameday Thread. And rays are basically fish, right? They live in water and they swim around in it, anyway. Whatever.

Young Jose Cabrera was making his second start of his young major league career, and I was kind of excited to see that, because I must admit I slept through the early innings of his debut last Sunday. And you know what, the kid looked pretty good, even though his final pitching line doesn’t quite reflect that.

We also staked him a lead before he’d even taken the mound, thanks to a one-out Geraldo Perdomo double off the top of the wall in right center that just missed being a home run, followed by a Corbin Carroll single to right that drove him in. Carroll was then promptly thrown out trying to steal second, and Gabriel Moreno grounded out to third to end things against Tampa opener (and former Diamondback, apparently) Cole Sulser. 1-0 DBACKS

Sadly, Cabrera gave that run right back in the bottom of the first. After retiring Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda without any drama at all, he allowed a 2-1 sinker to catch a little too much of the plate, and Junior Caminero launched it over the fence in the left field corner for his third first-inning home run in as many games. 1-1 Tie

And there things stood until the bottom of the fifth, as Cabrera settled down and put up zeroes in the next three innings, while the Diamondbacks offense could do nothing whatsoever against Sulser (who pitched the second inning as well) or former Doyer Michael Grove (who pitched three scoreless with no blemishes other than a Moreno single in the fourth). Cabrera retired the last two batters in the Rays’ order to start the fifth, flipping the lineup back to the top, where their big bats live. And they did big bat things, alas: Diaz drew a 7-pitch two-out walk, and Cabrera threw Aranda a sweeper on the inside that Aranda turned on and sent into the right field seats. 3-1 Tampa

Cabrera was only at 78 pitches, though, so Torey Lovullo sent him out to start the bottom of the sixth, where he was promptly greeted by consecutive first-pitch bunt singles by Victor Mesa, Jr. and Chandler Simpson. Cedric Mullins came to the plate and looked like he was going to bunt as well, and I mean, why not? We hadn’t been able to stop it the first two times, right? That was enough for Torey, though, who pulled Cabrera and sent in Juan Morillo to throw some high-velocity pitches that wouldn’t be so buntable. Which was fine, so far as it went, but Morillo bounced the second pitch he threw in the dirt and it got by Moreno and rolled to the backstop. The runners moved up, and then a fly ball by Mullins to center field allowed Mesa to tag and score. 4-1 Tampa

Some new guy had come in out of the Rays’ bullpen, and allowed a two-out Perdomo single in the top of the sixth, and a two-out Arenado double in the seventh, but both runners were left standing there as the Diamondbacks once again continued to fail to hit with runners in scoring position (they were 0 for 5 total today). We did get one run back in the top of the eighth, courtesy of Ketel Marte going deep to pretty much straightaway center to drive himself in with his 14th home run of the year:

So that was nice, I guess, though it wasn’t nearly enough to make a difference. 4-2 Tampa

Meanwhile, after Morillo’s work was done, Ginkel and Clarke put up zeroes to keep Tampa from doing any more damage, but we couldn’t do any more damage ourselves, so it wound up being kind of moot.

Loss Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

This one was a truly symphony of mediocrity, in terms of Win Probability Added, with nobody really rating in either a positive of negative way other than Jose Cabrera, who also wore the loss in this one:

Fish Food: Jose Cabrera (5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR, -15% WPA)

Sad to say, it was also a pretty anemic Gameday Thread as well, with 141 comments total at time of writing. Amusingly, it looks like the three that got the most recs were from me and Ramona for our hello posts, so in the interest of choosing something at least nominally game relevant, this one goes to AZNailgal520 and kilnborn for this trifecta regarding Jose Cabrera’s nickname and how it reflects his ability to move about the infield:

Extra credit, too, for the callback to last night’s hippo business!

Anyway. If you feel like some morning baseball, you can stop by and join us as we try to avoid getting swept by the other Florida team. Merrill Kelly takes the ball for us, Drew Rasmussen goes for Tampa, first pitch is scheduled for 10:40am AZ time. Hope to see you!

As always, thanks for reading, and as always, Go Diamondbacks!

It was another banner night for the Mets bullpen, and they came up huge in the team's 6-2 win over the Phillies on Saturday night.

Four relievers combined to pitch 4.2 scoreless innings against a tough Philadelphia lineup, and with the help of Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, the Mets snapped their seven-game losing streak.

"The pitching was really good," Mets interim manager Andy Green said after the win. "For me, what [A.J.] Minter did was pretty special today. He went through the heart of the lineup in an inning-plus; there was a lot to like about today’s game."

Minter took over for starter Christian Scott in the fifth inning with a man on and one out. The veteran reliever got Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber to fly out to end the inning. Minter then followed up by pitching a scoreless sixth, working around a Bryce Harper single to get five outs for Green and the Mets. He also gave the Mets offense a chance to score four runs in the sixth to take the lead.

Huascar Brazoban, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams followed, allowing just two baserunners in the final three innings to complete the win. 

"It’s no secret the starters haven’t been going deep into games, haven’t really been doing our jobs too well," Scott said of the bullpen. "But our bullpen’s kind of saving us. Especially Minter, Brazo, Weave and Devin. Just coming in and being nails every time they’re out. Gives us a chance to win deep in ballgames. Gives our offense a chance to compete later in games. They’ve been huge for us, honestly."

The Mets' bullpen has pitched to a 3.35 ERA, which is the third-lowest in the NL and the fifth-lowest in MLB. The pen also leads the majors in strikeouts with 363.

Minter, specifically, has increased his scoreless innings streak to 12 and has not allowed an earned run in his last 24 appearances. But Weaver has been especially nasty for the Mets.

The right-hander completed another shutout inning, getting Turner, Schwarber and Harper out in order, running his consecutive innings streak to 23 across 21 games. He tied Roger McDowell (1986) for the sixth-longest scoreless streak in franchise history by a relief pitcher. 

"He had the heart of what they have and he had his way with it today," Green said of Weaver. "Schwarber couldn’t pick up the changeup. And the fastball is just alive right now. That combination is tough for guys."

According to Elias, since May 1, Weaver is the only relief pitcher in the majors with 20.0 innings pitched and zero runs allowed. During the same stretch, Weaver has held opposing batters to a .127 (10-79) average and has pitched to a 0.65 WHIP.

With their long losing streak snapped, the Mets will try to string together wins. If they hope to climb out of the hole they created for themselves, they'll need this performance from the bullpen.

BOSTON — Ben Rice has spent most of the season looking like an MVP candidate. 

But the past six games have been much more pedestrian, magnified by the rest of the Yankees offense going through a cold stretch with him. 

Coming off a breather Friday, the slugging first baseman went 0-for-4 in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Red Sox.

He is batting just 2-for-23 with a .174 OPS over his past six games, of which the Yankees have lost four. 

“No doubt he’s grinding a little bit right now,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But that’s part of it, man. Even the guys that are going to the All-Star Game and are in the MVP conversations, there’s going to be weeks where it’s not easy, where you go through it a little bit. 

“He’ll be fine, he’ll get through that. Hopefully start getting it going [Sunday].” 

To be clear, Rice is far from alone in having a rough week. But it is noticeable because of how impactful he has been for most of the season — he finished Saturday batting .276 with a .940 OPS — with this marking the quietest stretch of his season so far. 

It comes during a week in which the Yankees have faced a heavy dose of lefty starters — including each of the past four games, with Red Sox southpaw Jake Bennett holding him down Saturday. 

“I think [Bennett] executed pretty well against him to give him some problems,” Boone said. 

In a bit of an oddity, Rice grounded out in eight straight plate appearances before striking out in his final at-bat Saturday. 

There’s still no timetable for the Yankees to get their two biggest bats back from the injured list in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, but two others should be back within the next week. 

Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon are expected to come off the injured list during the club’s upcoming homestand that begins on Monday. 

Grisham, coming back from a right hamstring strain, is set to play in at least one rehab game, likely on Tuesday (the minor leagues are off Mondays), before potentially returning.

He was one of the Yankees’ hottest hitters before he got hurt, but his return should also help defensively, as his presence in center field allows Boone to put other players where they are best defensively. 

“I think he settles things a lot,” Boone said. 

“You know he’s there, now Belli’s where’s he needs [to be], then other guys are where they’re supposed [to be]. So yeah, we certainly miss him.” 

McMahon, meanwhile, is first eligible to be activated Thursday, an off-day, meaning he should be back for Friday’s series opener against the Twins. After being diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess Wednesday, he was prescribed a few days of rest, but returned to New York on Friday to begin baseball activities again this weekend. 

“When he was leaving [Friday] morning from the hotel, he was feeling again another day better, good night’s sleep,” Boone said. “He should be doing baseball activities now all week and would expect him when the 10 days is up.” 

Max Schuemann crushed his first home run as a Yankee in the fifth inning, a 412-foot blast off Bennett that represented the team’s only run of the day.

Schuemann was starting in center field. for the second time this season.