Category: Baseball

It was a fine afternoon for baseball, because the weather is always great when you’ve got a dome. The Rays were looking to sweep their series against the Red Sox, and to get the job done, they had Drew Rasmussen on the mound. He was up against Jake Bennett for the Sox.

Rasmussen got things started by doing what Drew does best, and he got the side out in order. In the bottom of the inning, the Rays did the same, though, so not an ideal way to get things going.

It was another 1-2-3 for the Red Sox in the top of the second, but once again, the Rays also didn’t get a baserunner on.

Caleb Durbin broke the hitting dry spell for the game with a leadoff single in the top of the third. Isiah Kiner-Falefa then grounded into a force out to eliminate Durbin. Once on first, IKF stole second, but he got greedy trying to steal third and was tagged out. The Rays finally managed to get their offense working in the home half with a leadoff double from Nick Fortes. A sac bunt from Cedric Mullins moved Fortes to third, then a sac fly from Taylor Walls brought him home and put the Rays on the board first. Love to see a little small ball action.

The Sox went three-up, three-down in the fourth. Does Drew Rasmussen have somewhere to be? Love the efficiency. In the home half, Junior Caminero singled. One out later, Jonathan Aranda joined him with a single. With two runners on, though, they weren’t able to bring anyone home.

Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch to start the fifth. Then, with one out Masataka Yoshida singled. Rasmussen got himself out of the jam, though, collecting the next two outs of the inning. Nick Fortes decided he was going to have himself a game and opened the home half with another double. Then, with one out, Walls singled to push Fortes to third. A Yandy Diaz single brought him home. Then Austin Slater doubled to score Walls, putting the Rays up 3-0.

They weren’t done quite yet, though. Caminero was intentionally walked, which evidently Ryan Vilade took personally, because he hit a sac fly to score Diaz.

If the Red Sox were hoping for a comeback, they sure didn’t show it, going 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth. That was all she wrote for Bennett, who was replaced by Ryan Watson. Fortes continued to dominate, getting a one-out single in the bottom of the inning. Then, with two outs, Walls singled, bumping Fortes to third. A Yandy Diaz single brought Fortes in to score for the third time in the game. Walls then stole second, and a wild pitch allowed Diaz to advance, but the Rays had to settle for just the one run.

With two outs in the seventh, Mickey Gasper walked, but he was soon walking right back to the dugout as Rasmussen got out of the inning. The Rays didn’t do anything to add to their lead in the bottom of the inning.

Rasmussen was done after seven, with a final line of 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB and an INSANE 13 K on 97 pitches. He was replaced by Cole Sulser, and the first thing Sulser did was give up a solo home run to Durbin. Then Kiner-Falefa walked. After getting an out, Sulser was done, replaced by Steven Matz. Jarren Durran singled, then Ceddanne Rafaela homered, bringing the score to 5-4. With two outs in the inning, Matz was replaced by Casey Legumina, who got the final out. If I was Drew Rasmussen, I’d be pretty annoyed. Justin Slaten was the new pitcher for the Red Sox, and with one out, Fortes singled again. Chandler Simpson came in to run for him, and then Cedric Mullins hit a home run to recover a few of those runs.

Yandy Diaz singled, and the Sox dipped back into their pen for Greg Weissert who got the final out of the inning.

Garrett Cleavinger came on for the Rays in the ninth and with two outs, gave up another home run to Durbin. Those extra runs were certainly looking extra nice right about now. Kiner-Falefa walked after challenging his call, and the took second on defensive indifference. Cleavinger did manage to get the final out and the Rays walked away with both a game and series win.

Final: Rays 7, Red Sox 5

The Braves are looking to force a rubber match tomorrow with a win tonight behind Chris Sale.

Chicago waited until the last second to confirm it, but they will indeed send Davis Martin to the mound to face the Ronald Acuña Jr.-less Braves. Upside for us, downside for his teammates? More time for pranks, maybe.

(The roster moves today: Ronald to the 10-day IL for the strained left hamstring (hello, Rowdy Tellez), Tyler Kinley to the 15-day IL for his elbow, James Karinchak selected, JR Ritchie recalled, and Carlos Carrasco DFA’d.)

Even though the role of RAJ was played by Eli White on last night’s great outfield assist, it will be Michael Harris II batting leadoff. Ozzie Albies will hit second, and then we’ll go from small to tall with Matt Olson in the three-hole. Dominic Smith will hit in the cleanup spot, followed by Mauricio Dubon making a start in left field. Austin Riley (sixth) and Mike Yastrzemski (seventh) aren’t surprising to see. Walt Weiss rounds out the lineup with Jorge Mateo at shortstop and Austin Wynns catching and batting ninth for a second straight start. 

Atlanta isn’t the only one shaking things up – the White Sox have reengineered their whole lineup to face a southpaw. The only constant from last night’s lineup is Luisangel Acuña playing SS and hitting eighth. 

Last night’s walkoff hero Braden Montgomery remains in right field but moves up a spot to bat fifth. What a great story for your major league debut… just wish it didn’t have to happen to us. But that’s baseball! 

New face Edgar Quero will start instead of Drew Romo to catch and bat cleanup. Randal Grichuk, who came in late last night as a pinch-hitter, will DH and bat second behind Chase Meidroth. As mentioned in the preview, Grichuk has the most history versus Sale. Miguel Vargas drops a spot to bat third and play third. Derek Hill will man left field and bat fifth. Jacob Gonzalez remains at first base but will bat seventh, and following Acuña in the nine-hole will be center fielder Tristan Peters.

First pitch is at 7:40 pm ET.

Getaway games can never just be normal, can they?

Carlos Rodón’s second pitch of the game was hit out of the park, Angel Martínez played right field like he was doing shots in between innings, Trent Grisham had one of the most consequential ABS challenges of the year … this game had a bit of everything. Despite all the chaos, the Yankees got exactly what they needed — a sweep of the Cleveland Guardians, and it wasn’t some one-run affair this time.

Pour one out for the Yankee starter with that opening home run, but the Yankees did well to get right back in the game. A pair of leadoff singles had them in business early, just in time for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to crack another big hit, not waiting for the eighth inning this time:

That hit helped push Jazz officially over 100 wRC+ on the season, and the keystoner is warming up with the weather. The Yankees benefitted from a Guardians error one batter later, with Chisholm coming home to make it 3-1.

Rodón had kind of a funky day, up and down almost along with the inning count. The first inning wasn’t very good, with the aforementioned leadoff home run, a walk, and soft single allowed. A clean second inning followed and a clean third would have to if Anthony Volpe was a major-league-caliber shortstop, but I am becoming increasingly convinced he is not:

Carlos was able to work around what was officially scored a single and error, sparing Volpe any more venom than he rightfully received for the misplay. The fourth inning was once again trouble for the southpaw though, as he issued two leadoff walks and Austin Hedges made him pay with a double that plated one of those runners, and a followup sac fly tied the game at three. And then Good Rodón was back, icing the Guardians through the fifth and sixth, finishing a full frame deeper than I thought he would based on his pitch count in the fourth.

Critical was that perfect sixth inning, a shutdown affair as the Yankees picked the top half to be their breakout frame, kicked off by Grisham’s keen eye:

We don’t get WPA for turnovers, but by that metric this has to be one of the bigger swings of the season. Grisham going down would have left the Guardians two out, nobody on, in a tie ball game.

Fallacy of the predetermined outcome and all, but José Caballero’s subsequent fly ball would have ended the inning instead of giving the Yankees the lead — although Grisham does deserve additional credit for one heck of a slide:

From there the club had themselves a nice little two-out rally, with Volpe and Paul Goldschmidt tacking runs on in the tack-on portion of the game:

We got that big inning from Carlos, and the Yankees added two more runs in the seventh to push the lead to five. Brent Headrick and Ryan Yarbrough teamed up after Rodón’s six innings, and while Yarbrough did allow a run to cross in the ninth, a pair of nifty defensive plays from the left side of the infield was enough to seal the game, series, and sweep.

The Yankees did what they had to to keep pace with the Rays, who finished off their own sweep of the Red Sox at the Trop. There’s truly no salve like the AL Central, and now the team will enjoy an off day in June in Toronto, which is a pretty good deal for anyone. Ryan Weathers is expected to get the ball against the Yanks’ now-familiar nemesis Trey Yesavage on Friday night to kick off a three-game series with the Blue Jays, so we’ll see you all for the 7:07pm first pitch.

Box Score

Pretty embarrassing series start to finish, especially on the heels of taking 2 out of 3 from this same team in the Bronx. Starting pitching was an absolute mess, furthered today by Messick giving up a career-high 5-runs against a Judge-less Yankees lineup. The bullpen was, again, an embarrassment. Festa came on in relief of Messick and gave up a run and Heuer gave up 2 runs only recording 2 outs. On the bright side, Will Dion pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 3!

The game started well, at least, with Martinez hitting a leadoff homer.

The Yankees scored 3 runs in the 2nd, and the Guardians tied the game in the 4th.

From there on out it was all New York.

This last month-ish of mediocre baseball from the Guardians (paired with the White Sox seemingly being a team of destiny) is going to make the trade deadline much more difficult than it looked early on. This team has gaping holes in the rotation (whether it’s an abject lack of depth or an inability for the non-Gavin-and-Parker starters to establish themselves as the SP3), in the bullpen (even with a healthy Sabrowski), and in the lineup. Getting tossed around by a Yankees team — when you didn’t have to face their best starter or the best hitter on the planet — is an embarrassment. This team desperately needs another injection of youth into the 26-man roster, and I just don’t see how the front office can neglect the bullpen (with Aleman still waiting in the wings and an external addition absolutely necessary) and lineup (with Valera, Ralphy, Ingle, and Watson all raking in AAA) much longer.

The Guardians will host a hot Detroit team this weekend, with Skubal perhaps making his return at some point during that series. The White Sox now hold a share of first place in the division (with the chance to own it alone tonight) for the first time in 4 years.

The Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Guardians, winning Wednesday's matinee by a score of 8-4.

Here are the takeaways…

-- A big moment came in the top of the sixth, with the game tied 3-3. After Trent Grisham was initially called out on strikes (the call was challenged and overturned), he then laced a ball over the head of Angel Martinez in right, good for a one-out triple. Grisham came around to score on a Jose Caballero sac fly to left, thanks to a great slide into home plate. And the rally would continue from there.

-- Anthony Volpe had a fielding mistake earlier in the game, throwing one away at first base in the third inning on what was ruled a Jose Ramirez infield single. Ramirez advanced to second on the wild throw, but luckily for the Yankees, the Guardians didn’t score in that inning. It was Volpe’s second error since being called up.

But the young shortstop made up for it in the bottom of the sixth, roping a double to left to put the Yankees up 5-3. Paul Goldschmidt followed up with another RBI hit to right to extend the lead to three runs.

--Carlos Rodon, who owned a 2.88 ERA coming into the game, allowed a leadoff home run to Martinez, who smoked the second pitch of the game 406 feet for a solo shot. But from there he was fairly solid on the bump.

Rodon allowed two more earned runs in the fourth after walking the first two batters, but he ended up turning in a quality start. The lefty went six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and three walks.

-- Jazz Chisholm Jr. had another big hit against a lefty, roping a two-run triple to right in the second inning off of Guardians starter Parker Messick. Chisholm drove in three runs and scored a pair of runs on the afternoon.

Grisham, meanwhile, had a pair of hits and scored three runs.

Highlights

Jazz stays hot 🔥

Vote Jazz 🗳️ https://t.co/8m0RdBIan1pic.twitter.com/z4oMUDe09M

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 10, 2026

One out triple for Grish puts the go-ahead run on third! pic.twitter.com/Winw2hOgom

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) June 10, 2026

¡José, José, José! pic.twitter.com/HaVfK5YBEv

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 10, 2026

Next up

The Yankees are off on Thursday before facing the Blue Jays in Toronto over the weekend in a three-game series.

Well, June was a rough time for the Guardians in 2025 and it is shaping up that way again.

Parker Messick didn’t have it today and Matt Festa and Codi Heuer continue to be bad. Festa was good in 2025. He is not now.

The Guardians actually scored 3 runs off of Carlos Rodon. A minor miracle. Angel Martinez may very well become our first outfielder to hit 20 homers since Elmer Flick. At least it feels that way.

I hate when they play the Yankees. I hate that the Yankees won those first two close games and then blew them out today. I find myself looking at the Columbus box score and hoping that Kahlil Watson and Cooper Ingle sitting today means they are getting a call up for Detroit, but doesn’t that just mean Grant Fink and co. will fail to finish developing them?

Bring me Watson, Ingle, and have Franco Aleman and Andrew Walters join them in the Uber. Or, don’t and just make Friday’s delightful surprise Gabriel Arias for Stuart Fairchild and some more sacrifice bunts. That’s cool, too, I guess.

The game isn’t even over so I can’t tell you the score. The Yankees are up 8-3 but it’ll probably get worse. Let’s hope the Tigers fall apart in Cleveland again.

Ronald Acuna Jr. is back on the injured list.

The Braves placed their franchise outfielder on the 10-day IL Wednesday, June 10 with a strained left hamstring. It is the second time this season that same injury has put him on the IL. He left Tuesday night’s game against the White Sox after trying to beat out a ground ball to third base, the kind of play he used to make look effortless.

The Braves had been hopeful he would not need a trip to the injured list this time, and Acuna told reporters he didn’t think it was as bad and he had no pain.

Still, before Wednesday night’s series finale in Chicago, Acuna was back on the shelf.

His history of injuries is getting long.

He had a torn right ACL that ended his 2021 season. A torn left ACL ended his 2024 season after just 49 games. He opened 2025 still finishing that rehab, added a calf strain in July and played just 95 total games. Now in 2026, he has hit the IL twice with the same left hamstring issue. That is five lower-body IL stints across five seasons.

The Braves can absorb this, for now.

Michael Harris II is having the best season of his career, hitting .308 with 13 home runs. He is the reason Atlanta’s outfield does not feel depleted right now. Beyond Harris, the depth runs thin. We'll see Mike Ystremzeski in a platoon role and more Eli White, who replaced Acuna the moment he limped off Tuesday night.

Rowdy Tellez was added to the roster with Jhancarlos Lara designated for assignment to open the spot on the 40-man roster.

In between his injuries, Acuna has shown flashes of stardom. In 2023, his last full season, he hit 41 homers, scored 149 runs and stole 73 bases, becoming the first 40/70 player in MLB history.

More: Ronald Acuna Jr. injury update: What we know after Braves star exits vs. White Sox

The Red Sox showed exactly why the lineup just hasn’t been good enough all season long. The group made the wrong kind of history in Wednesday’s matinee loss as the Tampa Bay Rays completed the sweep. 

Boston is 12 games under .500 as the season swirls further away from the team’s control. 

Here’s three takeaways from Wednesday’s loss. 

FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS! (Yikes)

Drew Rasmussen completely carved the Red Sox lineup from start to finish in the series finale. Tampa Bay’s right-hander had thrown the ball well(entered with 3.00 ERA in 12 starts) and took it to a new level against the AL East counterpart. 

Rasmussen set a career high with 13 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings with just two hits allowed. Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu all struck out in each of the first three turns of the order, marking the first time the top three hitters in an MLB lineup have done that since 1901, per the NESN broadcast. 

Boston’s dugout rejoiced when Tampa Bay went to the bullpen to start the eighth inning. Clearly the Red Sox found an opportunity. 

Caleb Durbin did hit a 415-foot solo shot for his first home run off of a non-position player in the eighth inning. Boston’s third baseman is up to .278 in his last 10 games and hit another solo homer in the ninth. Later in the frame, Ceddanne Rafaela took a massive cut against former teammate Steven Matz for a three-run blast to left field. 

Despite the late rally, Boston still struck out a glaring 15 times in the game.

JAKE BENNETT CAN BE SERVICEABLE
Boston’s No. 6 prospect (MLB Pipeline) returned for his third MLB start and struck out two in the first inning with five swings-and-misses. 

Bennett struck out four in five innings. The four earned runs on his line could’ve been cut down had Isiah Kiner-Faleka not misplayed a potential double play ball that should’ve ended the starter’s final frame. 

NOT SO WELCOME BACK TO THE TROP 

The Red Sox actually had a decent run at Tropicana Field the last season they visited in 2024 at a 4-2 clip. 

Boston previously went a combined 2-15 in St. Petersburg in 2022 and 2023. The Red Sox fell back into those struggles this week and will return for another clash with the Rays from Sept. 18-20.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers visit the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight, and they're in a great position to notch a victory with Shohei Ohtani on the mound. 

My Dodgers vs. Pirates predictions are eyeing L.A. to grab a convincing win behind their two-way superstar. 

Read on for my MLB picks for Wednesday, June 10.

Who will win Dodgers vs Pirates today: Dodgers -1.5 (-118)

The Los Angeles Dodgers will be licking their chops ahead of this matchup. 

Jared Jones takes the hill for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he owns a brutal 5.78 xERA across his last two starts. During that span, Jones also has a 50% hard-hit rate while allowing 1.93 home runs per nine innings. 

That's bad news against a Dodgers team that ranks fourth in the big leagues in long balls. L.A. also has a 41.6% hard hit rate over their last six games, while owning an xSLG of .412.

Shohei Ohtani counters for the visitors, and he's been absolutely lights-out.

Ohtani sports a 2.27 FIP over his last four starts, while holding opponents to a .115 average. He's given up only one earned run over his previous four outings as well.

I'd play this up to -150. 

COVERS INTEL: Shohei Ohtani has limited opponents to a 3.8% barrel rate over the last month, consistently inducing weak contact. 

Dodgers vs Pirates Over/Under pick: Over 7.5 (-125)

This is a prime opportunity for the Dodgers to explode offensively, but there's more reason to believe we'll see the Over hit tonight. Both of these bullpens are struggling to get outs.

L.A.'s pen sports a 4.50 xERA over the last week, with a hard-hit rate of 39.5%. Ohtani rarely pitches past the sixth inning, so they will be busy when he exits, and the relievers aren't thriving at the moment. 

As for the Bucs, their bullpen owns a 4.41 xFIP over the last 14 days while allowing 5.63 walks per nine innings. While I expect the Dodgers to do damage against Jones, given Pittsburgh's inconsistent command and poor form, L.A. could also score more runs when Jones departs. 

There are multiple paths to offense, making 7.5 runs a relatively modest number to clear. I'll play this pick up to -140. 

Dodgers vs Pirates odds

• Moneyline: Dodgers -198 | Pirates +166
• Run line: Dodgers -1.5 (-126) | Pirates +1.5 (+106)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (-127) | Under 7.5 (+122)

Dodgers vs Pirates trend

The Dodgers have covered the run line in 27 of their last 45 away games for +9.90 units and a 18% ROI. Find more MLB betting trends for Dodgers vs. Pirates.

How to watch Dodgers vs Pirates and game info

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The San Francisco Giants wrap up this three-game series against the Washington Nationals this afternoon at Oracle Park.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be left-hander Robbie Ray, who enters today’s game with a 4.12 ERA, 5.33 FIP, with 63 strikeouts to 36 walks in 67.2 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 18-3 win over the Chicago Cubs on Friday, in which he allowed just two hits and five walks with four strikeouts in five innings.

He’ll be facing off against Nationals left-hander Foster Griffin, who enters today’s game with a 3.63 ERA, 4.84 FIP, with 69 strikeouts to 21 walks in 72 innings pitched. His last start was in the Nationals’ 14-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, in which he allowed one run on two hits with four strikeouts in five innings.

Game #69

Who: San Francisco Giants (27-41) vs. Washington Nationals (35-33)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 12:45 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

The Nationals issues finishing off sweeps have been well documented at this point. They will get another chance to finally bring out the broomsticks this afternoon. This has already been a great road trip, but getting the sweep would be the icing on the cake. A good road trip has the chance to become a great one.

Blake Butera has decided to give CJ Abrams an off day this afternoon. Abrams has rough numbers against Robbie Ray, so the Nats decided today was the right day to give him a breather. Nasim Nunez will take his place at shortstop and Jorbit Vivas will play second. Curtis Mead is at third. James Wood will DH, meaning Daylen Lile is in left, Jacob Young is in center and Dylan Crews is in right. Andres Chaparro will be at first with a lefty on the hill and Keibert Ruiz will be behind the dish. Foster Griffin is on the mound for the Nats.

The Giants are also making a few changes. Interestingly, Casey Schimitt moves from left field to shortstop, giving Willy Adames an off day. Victor Bericoto will get his first start of the series in left field. Matt Chapman will move up to the 3 spot against a left hander. Veteran Robbie Ray will be on the hill for the Giants.

Game Info:

Stadium: Oracle Park

Time: 3:45 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

The Nats are looking for a sweep, but will have to do it without their star shortstop, at least for the start of the game. This has already been a very good road trip, but has the chance to be a special one. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

Cincinnati Reds (32-34) at San Diego Padres (34-32), June 10, 2026, 1:10 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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The Mets are recalling right-hander Jonathan Pintaro from Triple-A Syracuse and optioning Joey Gerber, the team announced on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the second game of their series against the Cardinals.

Pintaro, the Mets’ No. 20 prospect per MLB Pipeline, impressed during a brief stint with the big league club in May. In two appearances, the 28-year-old totaled 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing no hits and one walk while striking out three. Pintaro has been effective all year in Syracuse, with a 3.16 ERA over 31.1 innings pitched. But he’s made a notable step forward in terms of limiting free passes of late. Pintaro issued 12 walks in 25.2 innings (4.21 BB/9) to open the season in the minors. Since returning to Syracuse on May 26, Pintaro has issued just 1 walk in 5.2 innings (1.59 BB/9).

Gerber, an offseason signing, has recorded three outings at the major league level this season. The most recent came on Tuesday night against the Cardinals, when the 29-year-old right-hander allowed one run in two innings. Gerber went out to the mound to warm up for a third inning of work, but was removed with an apparent injury.

The Mets have also made an adjustment to their rotation. Christian Scott, who was originally supposed to start Wednesday night against the Cardinals, will instead start Thursday afternoon in the series finale. Austin Warren will be the opener on Wednesday night. Pintaro, who last pitched for Syracuse on Saturday night, could provide multiple innings in relief for the Mets.

Have yourself a seat in a comfortable spot and take a deep, deep breath. Here at Red Reporter, we are about to dive into some Brady Singer stats, and you need to prep for those before reading.

Among the 128 MLB pitchers who have thrown at least 50 IP so far in 2026, Singer ranks dead last in HR/9 (2.78). That’s especially a problem when you factor in that his K-BB% of 8.9% ranks 108th of that group. His 23.6% HR/FB rate is also the highest in the sport, with none of those 127 other pitchers so much as crossing the 20.0% mark.

His 90.6 mph average fastball velocity ranks 3rd lowest among the 126 pitchers that have that data tracked this year. His 5.89 ERA ranks 12th, somehow…wait a second, there are a lot of Colorado Rockies pitchers ahead of him on that list. His xERA of 6.27 ranks 6th worst – again, with two Rockies ahead of him and one right behind him on that list.

His 6.79 FIP, though, is the single highest in the sport. It’s somehow vastly larger than Eric Lauer, who sits at 6.46 behind him. Unsurprisingly, his fWAR of -0.6 has been worsted only by one pitcher in the game, and that’s Chicago’s Jameson Taillon at -0.7.

It’s been simply a horror show season for Singer, the highest earning pitcher (and second highest earning player) on the 2026 Reds. On Wednesday afternoon in San Diego, he’ll get yet another chance to either vastly improve those overall numbers or, instead, rocket to the top of all the bad leaderboards in one fell swoop.

Cincinnati will be up against Padres starter Michael King, who is coming off a trio of extremely mediocre starts by the standards of anyone other than, say, Singer. He’s yielded 13 ER across 15.2 IP, with 4 dingers allowed in those outings, so perhaps it’s good that the Reds are catching him at this juncture.

First pitch is slated for 4:10 PM ET, so tune in early.

Lineups for both clubs are listed below.

Some day game roster moves: lefty reliever Reiver Sanmartin, who’d been placed on the 60-day IL with a right hip flexor strain back in Spring Training, has returned from his rehab assignment and is now on the active roster. To make space for him, the Giants needed to clear both a 40-man spot and a 26-man roster spot.

Outfielder Will Brennan became the 40-man roster casualty as the Giants designated the 28-year old outfielder for assignment. The “speedster” stole 0 bases in 11 games with the Giants and was just 2-for-23 at the plate with 0 walks and 3 strikeouts. I confess ignorance about the financial ramifications of his split contract. He would’ve earned $900,000 if he’d spent the whole year in the majors or $400,000 if he played the whole year in the minors, but if he goes unclaimed (as I suspect he will), does that mean the Giants are on the hook for the prorated portion of the $900,000, as that’s a major league salary and seemingly guaranteed? Or because it was a formally split one, does that mean he’s only guaranteed the prorated portion of $400,000 because that’s where he was located at the time of the DFA? or is there some Giants both optioned Tristan Beck back to Triple-A Sacramento and designated for assignment outfielder Will Brennan. The difference would be about $250,000 ($450,000 if the majors is guaranteed vs. $200,000 for the minors).

But enough about Will Brennan.

Tristan Beck was optioned to Triple-A to clear the requisite spot on the major league roster and as someone who was once a Beck booster I believe his time on the team has likely come to an end. In this latest callup, he had just two scoreless appearances out of 6 and a 7.88 ERA (4.73 FIP) in 8 innings of work. Just 3 strikeouts, too.

He never had a great fastball, but it averaged down around 94 as opposed to 95 and batters teed off on it pretty good, slugging 1.091 off of it on 10 batted balls out of 56 times it was thrown. He’s been a bit better in Triple-A this year (3.91 ERA in 23 IP with a 9.0 K/9), but at 30 years old, he’s definitely entered “fungible reliever” territory.

So now the Giants turn to Reiver Sanmartin as their third lefty reliever in the bullpen, slotted behind Erik Miller (4.19 ERA / 3.77 FIP) and Sam Hentges (1.92 / 4.92). His 4-year major league career prior to 2026 had been on the Reds exclusively, where he had a 5.66 ERA (4.45 FIP) in 84.1 innings pitched. He had an 8.22 ERA with the River Cats in 7.2 IP but 8 strikeouts against just 2 walks. He is not a velo arm. He’s a contact pitcher by arsenal, featuring a 92-94 mph sinker, high-spin slider, and a changeup. Firmly in the Scott Alexander or Joey Lucchesi mold. Obviously, there’s something in the Giants’ scouting that tells them this pitch-to-contact type of arm is effective, even if the results for the team hasn’t shown up. A reminder that that Giants are 22nd in K/9 (8.03) but 4th in groundball rate (45.2%) yet 22nd in ERA (4.47). From 2022-2025, they were 12th (8.67 K/9), 1st (47.5%), and 12th (3.96), respectively.

Sanmartin missed all of the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He made just one appearance in 2025, back on September 2nd.