Category: Baseball

SAN DIEGO — If the Yankees are going to have success in the postseason — especially if they are going to meet the Red Sox in an American League wild-card series — they are going to have to find a way to beat lefty starters.

Saturday was an encouraging day in that regard.

Even without Aaron Judge, who may be just days away from making his long-awaited return to the lineup, the Yankees knocked left-hander Robbie Ray out of the game in the third inning on the way to a 5-1 win over the Padres at Petco Park. 

Ray’s lack of command helped them out, offering four free passes, but the Yankees stayed patient and then attacked to race out to a 5-0 lead before hanging on late as Carlos Rodón and the bullpen combined for a three-hitter.

Ben Rice led the way, reaching base in all five of his plate appearances by going 3-for-3 with two walks while fellow lefty slugger Spencer Jones, in his homecoming series, roped a pair of hits with an RBI off Ray on his first day as the full-time center fielder again after Trent Grisham landed on the injured list.

And Cody Bellinger, the Yankees’ best left-on-left hitter, lived up to it by capping off a four-run second inning with a two-run single.

“Good to see that because, obviously we know we’re going to see our share of lefties, and those lefties [hitters] at different times are going to have to face them,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So good to get some results there.”

Setting up a rubber game Sunday, with Gerrit Cole on the mound against former teammate Michael King, the Yankees (81-61) kept pace with the Rays and remained four games back for the division and 3 ¹/₂ games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card with 20 games left.

After escaping some early trouble, Rodón settled in to toss five innings of one-run ball — the first time he has completed five innings in four starts back from the injured list.

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The left-hander walked three but struck out seven, his most in a game since June 17.

“Obviously, there’s some things I’d like to refine and be more crisp in the zone and just get ahead, especially with that kind of lead, but we win and that’s what matters,” said Rodón, who only gave up a solo shot to Manny Machado in the fourth inning.

The Yankees wasted chances to fully break the game open, stranding 12 men on base, but Michael Fulmer, Brent Headrick, John Schreiber and Tim Hill combined to keep the Padres (74-68) at bay in relief of Rodón.

A day after mustering just one run through nine innings of a 3-2, 10-inning loss, the Yankees wasted little time getting going against Ray, who entered the game with a 3.14 ERA.

On the heels of a three-hit game Friday night, Rice led off the second inning by lining a single to right field and later scoring on a two-out double from Jones, who finished the day batting .400 in 45 plate appearances against lefties this season.

José Caballero, Austin Wells and Paul Goldschmidt followed by each drawing walks on full counts, the last one forcing in a run to make it 2-0.

Bellinger then came through with another left-on-left single, driving in two more runs to put the Yankees ahead 4-0.

Ray finally escaped the inning before any more damage was done, though not before the Yankees forced him to throw 42 pitches in the frame.

“[Ray] is a tough matchup,” Bellinger said. “Just a lot of good at-bats. … It was nice to break through.”

Rice led off again in the third inning and drew a walk before taking off on a hit-and-run with Heliot Ramos, who singled to put runners on the corners. Lombard then cashed in a run by hitting a sacrifice fly to the warning track, scoring Rice for the 5-0 lead.

In two games this series, Rice has now reached base in eight of nine plate appearances while batting .388 with a 1.006 OPS over his last 12 games.

“I told him he was doing his Tony Gwynn imitation, watching him slash it all over the field, too,” Boone said.

Rice was more impressed by Jones, both in the way he has been hitting of late (.365 with a .951 OPS over his last 18 games) and handling all that comes with playing in your hometown.

“Definitely can be a lot — it can be overwhelming at times,” Rice said. “But I think he’s handled it really well. It speaks to who he is. He keeps looking like just a mature big leaguer out there doing his thing and really slows it down well.”

Christian Koss is a little guy. He’s 185 pounds with rocks in his pockets. The graph illustrating how he compares to the rest of the league in terms of contact quality is as blue as Lake Tahoe. His .368 slugging percentage in 2025 has somehow found the space to drop even lower in 2026, falling to .261 with just six extra base hits (1 HR) in 138 at-bats.

I could count his career home run total on one hand.  

Not anymore. Now, nowI needtwo hands, ‘cuz Christian Koss is a bad-a** mutha-f***a who powered-up in Saturday’s 9-5 win over the Mets. He went wild with a pair of taters, his first multi-homer game of his career, and came up a couple feet shy of a third in the 9th. 

His 2-run shot in the 3rd used the elevation of a shoulder-high fastball from starter Zac Thornton to gather altitude and just clear the wall in left. At a hair over four feet off the ground, it was the second highest pitch hit for a home run in the Majors this year, and turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead for San Francisco. 

The next pitch Koss saw, two innings later, was dealt a similar fate.

The kid had turned into a killer. Gone was the lovable nerd, annihilated in two strokes of his battle axe. Boss Koss was born. Cold-blooded and hot-headed. Smoke billowed out of his ears as he rounded the bases.

He spit fire as he entered the dugout, licked his lips with his forked tongue, lusting for more power more praise more violence. 

He held each of his teammates in his blood-glazed gaze and demanded homage.

Bow. Bow to the Boss. 

All city was brought to its knees as legion followed suit. Young, often hapless position players reforged themselves in the image of Koss, becoming all barrels and blasts. Utility infielder Oslevis Basabe hooked one off reliever Jefry Yan in the 8th, his fifth of the year. String-bean Grant McCray tanked one 420 feet to right-center in the 9th for his second in 2026.

And yeah, this guy named Rafael Devers, as both prophet and Koss acolyte, got his licks in his as well.

Devers’s solo shot in the 1st inning off the lefty Thornton (just the second homer the pitcher had surrendered to a left-handed batter all year) heralded Koss’s imminent arrival. 

He echoed Koss’s second in the 5th as well. With the score at 4 to 2, Jonah Cox singled to keep the inning alive for Devers who got a first-pitch breaking ball from Thornton, and like Koss, flipped it over the left field wall for his third multi-homer game this year and 24th of his career. Devers is now at 35 homers on the year, matching his 2025 mark and putting him well-within reach of his first career 40-HR season.

The Mets took the Giants to task with five homers Friday night, and San Francisco returned the favor with six on Saturday. The offense brought the fireworks, and nearly made Anthony Molina’s stellar performance on the mound redundant. As Koss and co. were bashing the baseball around Flushing, Molina held the Mets to just one hit over 5 innings pitched while striking out 6. That solitary knock, a 2-out homer in the 2nd, went in the books unearned after Devers’ fielding error (the slouch) — though it didn’t seem to rattle the right-hander. A walk in the 5th would be the only New York batter to reach base until the 7th.  

That inning brought the only real stress of the game for San Francisco’s pitching.

The Mets notched just their second and third hits of the evening with a one-out flare off Reiver Sanmartin and infield single off debut Giant Joel Kuhnel. Kuhnel then walked the bases loaded before getting Alvarez with a gutsy, disappearing sinker in a 3-2 count. Acting skipper Jayce Tingler (Tony Vitello was ejected in the 2nd for not liking the decision of an umpire review) brought on Carson Seymour who, as is customary for any Giants reliever entering a game, walked the first batter he faced, pushing in New York’s first earned run of the game. Seymour would limit the damage by getting Francisco Lindor to ground out to end the inning. 

Any worry of a late-game meltdown were promptly assuaged by more power balms. Late-game tanks from Basabe and McCray got back that run and then some, helping put Saturday’s contest out of reach and impervious to some more minor bullpen nonsense in the 9th.

Of course, I jest about Koss. He had a great day — but all awe and praise goes to Devers. He’s now homered 6 times and walked 7 times in his last six games. According to Sarah Langs, only two prior Giants players, Barry Bonds (2004) and Willie Mays (1958), have put on such a display in a week. He’s slugging 1.148 over his last seven games (27 AB), and .895 over his last 14 (57 AB). This excess of power oozing from his pores is clearly contagious, affecting anyone who comes in contact with him in the San Francisco dugout. He’s creating monsters. Today it’s Boss Koss. Who will it be tomorrow?

During a September that will be defined by development and not by victories, Monday looms as a large day for the Mets.

With far less fanfare and expectation than each previous call-up, Jonah Tong will get another try.

The righty top prospect who has finally reached a high of a roller-coaster season that has had too many lows will get the ball in Miami for his first major league appearance since June 2.

“Everybody grows up at different rates,” interim manager (and former and future player development executive) Andy Green said before Saturday’s 9-5 loss to the Giants at Citi Field.

Tong tried to grow up quickly last year, when he was the best pitcher in the entire minors leagues and rocketed all the way to the majors, where he was mostly hit hard (7.71 ERA) in five starts.

He returned to Triple-A Syracuse this year experimenting with different arm slots — his straight-over-the-top delivery made for a unique look last year — and a different pitch mix (adding a cutter while trying to be less dependent upon his fastball and changeup) — and has been a different, lesser pitcher.

As recently as July 18, Tong — then the team’s No. 1 prospect, now No. 5, according to MLB Pipeline — the 23-year-old’s Triple-A ERA was 5.83.

But Tong has pitched well in six of his past seven outings, a span in which he has owned a 2.00 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 36 innings while walking 17.

“Been really impressed with the way he’s rebounded in the second half of the season and the outings he’s strung together,” Green said of Tong, adding that part of the bounce back can be credited to Tong rediscovering a changeup that was so effective for him last year. “For him, I think it’s not the season he would have asked for, but it’s the season he can stand on to get to his next step forward.

“For us, I think you just look for encouraging trend lines, and there’s been a number of them here lately.”

Tong will get a shot, and not just Monday.

“He’s going to be with us,” Green said, “he can take the ball and continue to take the baseball.”

A.J. Ewing, who received a two-day “reset” amid a deep slump that meant he did not play Friday, responded by reaching base three times — the first time he had done so since Aug. 7 — including drilling his first home run since July 8.

“It’s all about just sticking to a plan and an approach,” said Ewing, who golfed his two-run home run off Anthony Molina in the second inning. “When good things happen, it’s not switching your plan and trying to do more. It’s just staying on it.”

Brett Baty (bases-loaded walk, two-run double in the ninth) recorded at least three RBIs in a game for the sixth time this season.

Green had no meaningful update on Devin Williams, who continues to throw but not off a mound.

The Mets are still hoping that the closer, who has been out since Aug. 7 with a shoulder strain, will return this season.

Dozens of mascots from around baseball were on the field before the game to honor Mrs. Met, who has become the first female mascot to be elected to the Mascot Hall of Fame.

Decisions come with consequences.

In the 10th inning, the Texas Rangers made the decision to intentionally walk Yandy Diaz to face Jonathan Aranda. Aranda launched a three-run homer into right-center-field, propelling the Tampa Bay Rays to a 6-3 victory at Globe Life Field.

The late game heroic swing rescued a game that the Rays led three different times and preserved the strong start from Drew Rasmussen, who held Texas to one run across seven innings. This is just business as usual as Saturday night’s game extended the Rays winning streak when Rasmussen takes the mound to nine.

Junior Caminero got the party started on this Saturday night.

Jacob deGrom retired the first two Rays hitters in the first before Caminero stepped to the plate and lined his 38th home run over the center-field wall. It was the Rays only hit in the inning, but enough for a 1-0 lead early.

Rasmussen was not giving the Rangers much to feel good about early. He struck out Joc Pederson and Corey Seager as part of a clean first inning and then retired the side in order in the second and third innings.

To the Rangers credit, they kept fighting to keep the game in range. Ezequiel Duran made a diving stop to retire Chandler Simpson in the second inning, then Evan Carter threw out Victor Mesa Jr. on an attempt to stretch a single into a double. Taylor Walls drew a one-out walk in the third, but Diaz grounded into a double play.

Seager broke up Rasmussen’s run of 10 consecutive outs with a one-out single in the fourth inning. Victor Mesa Jr. stopped any potential run by the Rangers by running down Wyatt Langford’s line drive in right before Brandon Nimmo grounded out to end the fourth inning.

The Rays added to their lead in the fifth inning. With two outs, Richie Palacios sent a deGrom pitch over the right-field wall for his eighth home run of the season extending the Rays lead to 2-0.

Pederson cut the margin in half with a solo homer in the sixth inning, but Rasmussen responded by striking out Seager and Langford to end the inning. He retired the side in order in the seventh to finish with three hits allowed, no walks, ands seven strikeouts.

The Rays had an opportunity to add more runs to their lead in the seventh. Mesa and Cedric Mullins collected consecutive singles with two-outs, then executed a double steal to move into scoring position. Then, Ryan Vilade entered as a pinch hitter for Palacios.

The Rays ultimately got their insurance run an inning later. Again, with two outs, Aranada singled to left and was followed by Caminero. Caminero hit a single to right, advancing Aranda to third before a single from Liam Hicks game the Rays a 3-1 lead.

The lead only lasted three batters.

Carter greeted Kevin Kelly with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. Danny Jansen added a single and Kevin Cash brought in Cam Booser. Justin Foscus hit a pinch-hit-double to center allowing pinch-runner Cam Cauley to score and tie the game.

Booser was able to hold Foscue at third. Tyler Wells worked around an error from Walls in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.

Walls opened the 10th by bunting Jorge Mateo to third. Then Texas made the decisions to intentionally walk Diaz with the hopes of creating a double play. Instead Aranda made the strategy an instant regret when he sent his 19th home run of the season over the wall in right-center and put the Rays back up, 6-3.

Wells finished from there by striking out Cody Freeman and Elias Diaz before getting Foscue to groundout and secure the second straight win and their first season-series victory over the Raners since 2022.

These teams will close out the series tomorrow with a first pitch scheduled for 2:35 PM ET.

If you skipped the game thread text tonight, first of all, shame on you, our staff busts their knuckles prepping game previews for you. But second, I am your host tonight, channeling several of our writers who are tonight, together, at the ballgame. (Did they invite me? I’ll never tell. No, of course they did. Are they happier I’m not there? I’ll never tell.)

Each inning will be a new writer, with a link to their SSS writing at the end, so you can get a taste of their work and/or test how well I did.

So, I was late into the park, my shift went long and I found myself on the train getting from here to there thinking about the biggest moon shot home run I’d ever seen at Sox Park. Jim Thome, maybe? Probably. There was no Statcast back then, but I swear he hit one against the Angels that is still hovering over the ballpark. I’d position myself out by the Fan Deck tonight if I thought we had enough humidity to finally knock it down, but then, it might end up in a parking lot, it was hit so hard.

Which brings me to Munetaka Murakami, down 1-2 in the count and seemingly down 0-for-forever with his megaslump. Let’s check in on how that’s going:

Mune drove a 2-2 splitter on the edge of the edge of the zone approximately 1,000 feet in the air, where it hung and utterly confused Twins left fielder Gabriel Gonzalez, finally dropping straight down and about an inch over the fence to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead:

Do you realize how strong a hitter has to be to take a pitch at the edge of the zone and seemingly flip it out of the park at 103.6 mph and 346 feet?

Colson Montgomery followed with a solo screamer out to right field to add a tally to the White Sox lead, all of which was aided by some massive hustle by Miguel Vargas earlier in the inning to beat a double play. Or, perhaps Miguel’s mitts were still swelling red after stopping a hot grounder to open the game. — Malachi Hayes

[Fade in on a White Sox fan base settled into seats for the second inning, inexplicably uneasy about the flaccid club trailing them in the standings, nervous glances darting from field to nearby friends to concession food to … scoreboard. That brutal mistress, capable of delivering joy or sorrow. And on a bad night, joy and sorrow.]

LEONARD GORE: Tigers up 2-0, dad.
PAPA GORE: Just don’t look.
LG: Hey, the Guardians are spent. We have a 2 ½-game lead. We’re in the Catbird Seat.
PG: Don’t Hawk Harrelson me, son. I taught you better than that.
LG: Still, I’m just saying …
PG: Don’t say, son. How many years have you been a White Sox fan?
LG: All my life, Pops.
PG: Enough said.

[Papa Gore takes an emphatic bite of hot dog.]

LG: Dad?
PG: [A bit annoyed, mid-bite.]
LG: Tigers are up, 6-0.

— Leonard Gore

Honestly, I’m happy the White Sox are ahead but I am distracted by a question I posed to both my mother and myself a few days ago, down in Springfield, watching the WPBL: What if baseball had been an option to play for us? Going back to when my mother played Division I softball, that’s decades of time that could have seen some player development not just into more viable professional women’s play … but women in the majors. There are now, and have always been, dominant players in baseball who aren’t 6´5´´, 250. Unlike some other sports that might prove hard for both genders to make an equal impact, baseball is not one of them. Maybe the success of the WPBL will roll out some different sorts of dreams for today’s young women players.

If you figured my mind was wandering a bit because the fast White Sox start had slowed in the third inning, you’re right. Anthony Kay pitched around a Vargas error in the top half, and the bottom saw a 1-2-3 inning that ended on yet another Murakami K. I can only hope this White Sox offensive stall doesn’t stick for several more innings. — Allie Wesel

So wait, I do all this work for South Side Sox and I organize this outing for us to the park, and I get the inning with the bases full and one out? I want to talk to the manager.

Well, we can’t have good things, right? So a 3-0 lead that seemed to come in a sneeze, before I could even get my finance bro vest zippered up as the sun fell, melts to 3-2. Kaelen Culpepper got the top of the fourth started with a single. I’m glad the White Sox have some young bats making noise, but where did all these Minnesota hitters come from? What don’t we get any Kaelen Culpeppers? After a Kay K, Josh Bell lumbered into second with a double, pushing Culpepper to third. Guess who slid on the play? No, not any Twins, but our left field ragamuffin Sam Antonacci, going feet-first to cut the ball off before it gapped itself to the wall. Second and third, nobody out, Twins.

After a walk, Kay coaxed a 4-6-3 double play that left off the 3, with Minnesota’s first run coming across. Then Brooks Lee doubled to left, which is the only way the Twins were gonna score the hulking Bell from third. Yet another ground out to third, Vargas’ third such play already in the game, got Kay out of trouble.

But suddenly, what seemed to be a runaway has now got Sox fans sweating a bit. Me, more than most. — Melissa Sage-Bollenbach

So, my mom turns to me at the game and said I’ve got the fifth inning to write up for this game. And I was like, you can’t do that. You’re not my boss, Brett is.

Yeah OK, so then she gave me that look and here I am getting us through the fifth. The White Sox have gone down like nothing for more than a full turn through the lineup, as Taj Bradley has retired 10 in a row now. And as fast as you can say “keeping pace with the Guardians,” who by the way have now lost, 6-0, and are three games back, Minnesota has rallied for three runs courtesy of this abuse of a baseball by Ryan Jeffers:

This is where I shoot a look at my mother that says why did you do this to me?

But maybe I’ll take it back, as Chase Meidroth led off the Sox half with a single and made a scrappy read on a wild pitch to advance to second base. After a walk to Antonacci, Vargas ripped a two-out single to left, Chase chased home and tightened the game to 5-4. It would have been even more perfect if my guy, Murakami, would have hit another big and tall fly ball, but he struck out. Don’t worry, though, the tide is turning back. We got this. — Sage Bollenbach

OK, we can be honest here: I’m not a fan of the Twins. Why would anyone be, I know. But long before I was even born, there was good reason: Cal Griffith, a racist owner who relocated his team from Washington D.C. to Minneapolis because, he said, he was pleased by how overwhelmingly white Minnesota was. And arguably even worse, Griffith ran the best player in Twins history, Rod Carew, out of town by mocking him as a fool for signing with the Twins for less than his market value.

It’s an entirely new Twins ownership now, but even as a team seven games back of the White Sox, they’re pretty easy to dislike. And with them messing now with increasing our lead in the AL Central to 3 1/2 games, I’m really not a fan.

The sixth inning featured a couple of back-crack outs. First, it was short king Meidroth ending the top half of the inning on a 105.8 grounder he snagged in self-defense:

And in the middle of the White Sox half came a smash by Colson that fooled most in the park, as off the bat it seemed he had dropped his second ball of the night over the fence. Alas, no. We’re getting into short time, hoping there’s another White Sox miracle rally ahead. — Dante Jones

I want to spend all my time writing about the White Sox and a winning effort, but before I can even settle into my keyboard in the top of the seventh, the irritating Twins put another run up on a leadoff Luke Keaschall single and a double from new White Sox killer Culpepper.

Listen, I got a win last night, a magic wand, plus a ringside seat to see my guy Kyle Teel warming up for his first action back from injury:

This is not how I’m going out tonight.

Now, in my inning, Teel finally gets into tonight’s game, pinch-hitting for Jake Rogers against righty Jeff Hoffman. Unfortunately, after Tristan Peters had slapped a double down the right field line with one out in the bottom half of the seventh, Teel got ahead in the count, 2-1, before cutting through two strikes and failing to advance the runner. Antonacci grounded out, and Chicago’s dry spell carried on toward the eighth. You know, I could be at home, learning the guitar. — Chrystal O’Keefe

Because the White Sox couldn’t push though with a lead, it was stopgap Tyler Schweitzer entering the game out of the arm barn for the White Sox, and he got a gift right away. After the dreaded leadoff walk to Kody Clemens, Lee lined out to center and Peters caught Kody dancing off of first base too long and gunned him down for the double play. In the bottom half automatic doubler Randall Grichuk landed on second base with two down, but Colson waved at a pitch at his eyes and tightened the White Sox’s chances to three final outs. — Kristina Airdo

We are out of writers, so I guess it’s left for me to bring it on home. Plus, I don’t want anyone in attendance to be too shocked at having to cover YOENDRIS GÓMEZ AS TWINS CLOSER. Yet there he was, closing out what was looking like a very disappointing finish.

Disappointing it was, as the White Sox went down, 1-2-3, with a K to Meidroth standing out as a particularly galling plate appearance. Unlike my game thread hunch and the power-packed beginning of this game for Chicago, the White Sox offense continues to flounder. A spark is needed, as none of the return of Teel or temporary resurgence of Munetaka and slightly more sustained thump of Colson seems to be locking the team in.

And tomorrow now may be trouble, as in an effort to (likely) maneuver the rotation so that Sean Burke-Davis Martin-Kay face the Guardians, Will Venable has pushed Burke back a day and is shifting tomorrow’s starter to TBD.

U-G-H, the division isn’t won yet and if you’re up five games by next week, that “big” series matters a lot less.

And finally, a reminder that tomorrow’s game has been pushed back toward primer time, and kicks off at 5:20 p.m. Central.

MVP
SSS crew at the ballpark

Runners-Up
Detroit Tigers
The Railyards
Sam Antonacci: The only two walks of the game for the White Sox, usual rascal hustle

Cold Cat
White Sox Offense: tasty power, but two walks against 12 Ks

Runners-Up
Weird fan takeover chants by the tarps-off jagbags
FINANCIAL BRO VESTS
Anthony Kay: 5 ⅓ IP, 6 H, 5 ER, BB, 3 K, HR, LOSS (9-8)

It’s kind of funny that once Manny Machado’s 25th homer of the season landed in the seats in the fourth inning, we could have just fast-forwarded to the end of the game. That big fly made the score 5-1, and that’s where this game ended. While the Yankees missed a few chances to add to their lead, but the bullpen completely iced out the Padres, and this series is knotted up at a game apiece.

I was a little bit worried about Carlos Rodón’s start, as the southpaw struggled with his control in the first inning. He put two Padres aboard, one via a single and one a walk before working his way out of the jam, albeit throwing 26 pitches to do it. Then, the Yankees rewarded him with an offensive surge over the next two innings, and he delivered shutdown frames in the home half of the second and the third, exactly what you look for from a good starter.

Manny Machado tagged him for a solo shot in the fourth, the only earned run Carlos allowed on the day, and the control problems blossomed again in the fifth. Sixteen pitches, and a big two-out walk issued to Fernando Tatís Jr. ended up pushing Rodón past where the Yankees wanted him to be, and Aaron Boone went to the bullpen to start the sixth.

This is kinda what I mean when I talk about Carlos Rodón. Five innings, two hits, and one run allowed is not a bad start. The 7:3 K:BB ratio is fine, not great, but when the runners don’t come around to score you can’t really get mad at anything. But like tonight, and a frighteningly disproportionate number of his starts, it feels like he left an inning, a couple more outs, something on the table. I can’t say he pitched poorly, but he could have pitched better, despite surrendering just the one run.

Let’s talk about the offense, who kicked around Robbie Ray to the tune of that lefty’s second-worst start of the season. He pitched a dazzling first, needing just seven chucks to retire the first three Yankees of the night. And then…

Ben Rice singled and moved to second on a soft groundout off George Lombard Jr.’s bat. After his big hit against Mason Miller in extra innings last night, Spencer Jones stayed hot and opened the scoring:

Ray then walked three consecutive Yankees, including the 8-9 hitters, and Paul Goldschmidt’s free pass brought Jones in from third. Still, the team needed one big hit, and Cody Bellinger gave it to them:

Rice continued to be the straw that stirs the drink for the club lately, walking to lead off the third inning, including an ABS challenge to change the count from 2-1 to 3-0. In motion with Heliot Ramos swinging, Rice went to third base on the outfielder’s single, and scored the fifth Yankee run on Lombard’s sac fly a batter later.

Five runs in the first three innings of a game felt like manna after some of the stretches of offensive offense we’ve seen this year, but then it started to feel like not enough. Machado’s home run and needing relievers from the sixth on meant that it was just a four-run game, and a couple baserunners paired with another big hit can make a lead like that disappear quickly.

Yet, despite being in the tack-on portion of the game from the third on, they couldn’t really tack-on. After that fifth run scored, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out, and Austin Wells scorched a liner that became a double play. The first two batters of the fifth, Rice and Ramos again, reached and were left stranded. They loaded the bases in the sixth, just to see pinch-hitter Luis García Jr. watch strike three to end the threat.

Then in the SEVENTH the Yankees put the first two runners on in strange fashion, with a challenge-assisted hit by pitch giving first base to Lombard, and a challenge-assisted catcher’s interference letting Spencer Jones on. José Caballero gave himself up with a sacrifice bunt to move both men into scoring position…and that’s where they stayed. Wells didn’t slam a line drive, instead a soft fly ball that wasn’t deep enough to score even the speedy Lombard, and Goldschmidt went down swinging. You’d rather have a four-run lead than a four-run deficit of course but man I would have liked another run or two or six given the potential of what I described above.

Then again, the Yankees really only used one of their high-leverage relievers today (though David Bednar warmed up in the ninth) and the Padres managed just a single hit after the fourth inning. Michael Fulmer didn’t look good, putting two men on before Brent Headrick had to throw a single pitch to end the sixth, but it was pretty academic from there. I would have liked the team to make this one more of a laugher but you score five runs, with this pitching staff, that’s going to be enough most nights. I don’t know who John Schreiber even is but he got four outs without allowing a baserunner; what a team!

Unfortunately the Rays took care of business against the Rangers, making tomorrow’s series finale in San Diego even more important. We have a banger of a pitching matchup, with Gerrit Cole tapped for New York and facing his former teammate in Michael King. This is a really big series ahead of playing the Rockies, and taking it while on the road would go a long way to reassuring some of the concerns I have with this team, so go to it. First pitch on Sunday comes at 4:10pm Eastern, back on YES.

Box Score

For the second consecutive night, the Orioles offense was an absolute no-show, getting blanked yet again in a 5-0 defeat at the hands of visiting Red Sox on Saturday night at Camden Yards.

The sixth inning of this game felt like a a death knell for the 2026 Orioles.

At the time, the game was in a scoreless tie. Chris Bassitt, the O’s starter, was in fine form, but likely on borrowed time given how most of his season had gone. The veteran hurler was in the midst of his third time through the order. He had loaded the bases with two outs, which prompted a visit from manager Craig Albernaz. Rico Garcia was ready and waiting in the bullpen, but after a quick conversation on the bump the skipper stuck with Bassitt to face Eli White.

It was the sort of anti-analytics move that would have been quite inspiring if it worked, the spark to push the Orioles towards a much-needed win. Instead, White flared a jam shot over the head of third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand to score a pair. A frustrated Bassitt left the mound moments later, his hat askew and glove gnashed between his teeth. Same here, Chris.

Garcia then entered, and he didn’t immediately shut things down anyway. Connor Wong also singled to make it 3-0 for the visitors. And then the O’s reliever finally recorded the final out of the inning.

A three-run deficit is no easy gap to make up, but its’ manageable for most big league offenses. This currently slumping Orioles lineup is not your run-of-the-mill offense. They might as well have trailed by 20 runs. A comeback in either scenario was just as likely.

Those odds got even longer in the seventh inning, when Isiah Kiner-Falefa delivered a two-out, two-run double to score Mickey Gasper and Trevor Story off of O’s reliever Albert Suárez. That pushed the Red Sox lead to 5-0, and it’s where the game could have stopped, if we’re honest.

The Orioles did momentarily threaten a comeback in the eighth inning. They opened the inning with a Dylan Beavers single followed by a Coby Mayo walk. Eventually, after a later Gunnar Henderson walk, they would load the bases, but not before recording two outs. That brought Pete Alonso to the plate with a chance to get the O’s back in the game with one swing. It wasn’t to be. The slugger struck out on three pitches.

That was the story of the game for the Orioles. Once again, they went hitless in chances with runners in scoring position, 0-for-8 here. They also wasted doubles from Henderson and Colton Cowser earlier in the game, then left Encarnacion-Strand, well, stranded at second base to end the game.

Jackson Holliday went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts as the DH batting lead-off tonight. He has been in a bad slump since the start of August. Putting him atop the order doesn’t make much sense right now.

There was an odd moment in the seventh inning where Samuel Basallo flew out to the warning track. He reacted on contact as if he had hit a home run. And then, as he reached first base and saw the left field Wilyer Abreau corral the fly ball with several feet to spare, Basallo turned his palms upward in a confused manner as if to say “How did that not go over the fence?” He had hit the ball hard (107 mph), but at a pretty severe angle (38 degrees.). To his credit, it would have been a home run in 13 parks, according to Baseball Savant. But Camden Yards is not one of those parks.

It’s a shame the Orioles offense was so putrid that it stole the headlines. We could have been talking more about how good Bassitt was prior to the sixth inning. The veteran had extra juice on his sinker (up 1.5 mph on his season average), and he was getting oddles of whiffs overall (35% whitt rate). He looked really good! And if the offense had given him any support, he would have been pulled earier and been given a better final line. As it stands, he went 5.2 innings and allowed three runs on five hits, four walks, and six strikeouts. His ERA sits at 4.96 on the season.

This loss pushes the O’s streak of futility to five straight. They have scored a total of 12 runs in those five games, zero of which have come the last two nights at Camden Yards. It’s next to impossible to win when you average a little over two runs per game, and it is absolutely impossible if you don’t score at all. They should probably figure that out.

Elsewhere in the big leagues, the Blue Jays won and the Guardians lost. That means the Blue Jays now possess the final wild card spot in the AL, but the Orioles still trail by the same three games that they did coming into the day. So no ground was lost there, but it’s tough to feel anything positive right now. They Orioles can’t score runs, which means they can’t win games. The standings will be irrelevant while that is the case, and they are running out of time to develop any sort of solution.

Is their season officially or mathematically over? No. But it sure feels like it anway.

The Orioles and Red Sox will wrap up this series on Sunday afternoon. It’s a match up between Kyle Bradish (7-12, 4.01 ERA) and lefty Payton Tolle (8-6, 3.23 ERA). First pitch is set for 1:35 if you dare subject yourself to the misery that is sure to follow.

The Royals had won five straight series against the Blue Jays coming into tonight. No longer. A pair of costly errors, Kazuma Okamoto’s four-hit night taking advantage of them, and the Royals’ relapse with runners in scoring position led the Blue Jays to take the series. The Blue Jays won 4-3.

As has so often happened lately, Seth Lugo got in trouble early in this one. He gave up a leadoff single to Brett Bateman on a 3-2 middle-middle slider. Bateman continues to look like a stud acquisition by the Jays. Fortunately, Lugo caught Bateman napping at first and picked him off. Lugo got Springer to fly out to center field, and you began to hope the Royals could come to the plate for the first time in a tie game for only the second time in this homestand.

Lugo, for the eighth straight season, has seen his strikeout rate diminish. It now stands at 6.74 on the year. The problem with having a low strikeout rate is that batted balls, even when they’re not well hit, can lead to baserunners. Additionally, the lack of a strikeout pitch means there is less pressure on the hitters when they get down in the count two strikes. Lugo often finds himself filling out the count once he gets ahead of hitters who feel confident in their patience. Then, forced to come back into the zone with pitches that don’t frighten hitters, he can get punished.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. didn’t wait for the two-strike count, but smashed a 1-0 pitch into right field for a two-out single. Alejandro Kirk chased a 1-2 sweeper nearly in the dirt and hit a very slow roller to third. So slow, in fact, that Josh Rojas should have eaten it despite Kirk’s first-percentile speed. Rojas chose instead to uncork a wild throw to first. It was so bad that Guerrero was able to score from first. Nathan Lukes got a 2-2 middle-middle curve and lined it into left to score another run for a single. Kazuma Okamoto got a 2-2 middle slider and doubled into left, but hit it so hard that Isaac Collins was able to get it back to the infield in time to prevent Lukes from attempting to score. Lugo got Andrés Giménez to ground out to third on a 1-2 slider to end the inning, but Lugo had thrown 35 pitches. Partly because of Rojas’ terrible throw, but also partly because he just can’t finish guys off.

In the bottom of the first, Max Scherzer grazed Carter Jensen’s thigh with a first-pitch fastball. The Royals’ booth asserted that it was payback for last night’s first pitch that hit Bateman. I don’t understand why the Royals would have intentionally thrown at Bateman to start the game, and indeed it ignited a rally that put the Royals behind early, never to even re-tie the game. Tonight I didn’t understand why Scherzer would hit the first batter he saw, either. Even if the Jays thought they needed revenge, the whole igniting an early rally thing seemed just as likely to happen here. And, indeed, it did.

Bobby Witt Jr. laced a double over Myles Straw’s head in left to put runners at second and third with no outs. Jac Caglianone followed with an RBI infield single, and Salvador Perez grounded a single into right immediately after. The game was tied just that fast with runners at first and third with no outs. Vinnie grounded out softly to first, leading to runners at second and third with one out. Massey repeated Vinnie’s effort, but this time Jac wandered too far off third, and Guerrero gunned him down to leave runners at first and second with two outs. A balk and a walk later, Josh Rojas chased a pitch up for an easy flyout to end the scoring threat.

It would not be the last wasted scoring effort by KC, though they wouldn’t have a ton.

The Jays scored a third run in the top of the third when Lukes hit a one-out single to left, and Okamoto rapped another double. This time he was thrown out trying to turn it into a triple, but the run still scored. The Royals got the run back in the bottom of the fourth when John Rave tattooed a hanging changeup.

In the top of the seventh, the Royals’ defense bit them in the butt again. Nathan Lukes hit what appeared to be an inning-ending grounder to short, but Bobby whiffed the throw, and Lukes was able to advance to third. He scored easily when Okamoto smashed a grounder up the middle, his fourth hit of the night and second RBI.

The Royals appeared to have something cooking in the top of the eighth against Jays setup man Tyler Rogers. Nick Loftin, in the game for Caglianone, who left after the second inning with a sore left elbow, led off with a single to right. Then Salvy singled to right. Inexplicably, Loftin didn’t make it to third. It probably didn’t matter because Vinnie grounded back to the pitcher for a double play, and Loftin wouldn’t have been able to score the tying run on that anyway. Massey grounded out to Vladdy, and the Royals’ best chance to tie the game ended.

The Royals are now 1-4 in September after their 16-11 August. They’ll have Randy Dobnak (2.65 ERA, 4.62 SIERA) on the mound to avoid the sweep tomorrow afternoon. The Jays have not yet announced their own starter for the game. But considering the Royals have been nearly blanked in the two bullpen games Toronto has thrown against them this season, that doesn’t exactly bode well. Especially with Caglianone out with yet another injury. The guy just can’t seem to catch a break.

Regardless, the game will start at 1:10 Kauffman Stadium time. I’m almost tempted to root for the Blue Jays because they’re now tied with the Guardians for the final Wild Card spot, and I really hate Cleveland.

In the second game of their three-game road series against the San Diego Padres (74-68), the Yankees (81-61) prevailed with a 5-1 victory.

Here are the takeaways...

-- The Yankees' offense chased Padres starter Robbie Ray early. The veteran southpaw recorded just seven outs and allowed five earned runs on five hits. In the second inning, Spencer Jones got things going with an RBI double, Ray walked in a run when Paul Goldschmidt got the better of him in the at-bat, and Cody Bellinger drove in two with a bases-loaded single. 

The following inning, George Lombard hit a sacrifice fly to score Ben Rice, before San Diego brought in right-hander Griffin Canning to face Austin Wells with the bases juiced and one man out. The Padres escaped the jam as Wells grounded into a double play.

-- Carlos Rodon brought his best stuff tonight. Apart from a solo homer allowed to potential future Hall of Fame third baseman Manny Machado in the fifth inning, which cut New York's lead to 5-1, the lefty hurler was largely spotless. Rodon completed five full innings and threw 89 pitches, allowing just two hits and striking out seven Padres batters. 

-- In relief of Rodon, four Yankees relievers -- Carson Fulmer, Brent Headrick, John Schreiber, and Tim Hill -- protected the lead the rest of the way with flying colors. Hill was the only pitcher of the quartet to allow a hit, surrendering a harmless single to Austin Hays in the ninth inning before bouncing back to seal the 5-1 win.

Game MVP: The pitching staff

Holding a lineup with Fernando Tatis Jr., Machado, and Jackson Merrill to one run on just three hits is worthy of praise. The bullpen in particular continues to show why it ranks among the best in MLB.

Highlights

RBI double for Spencer Jones gets the Yanks on the board! pic.twitter.com/1vlHKdjPyy

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 5, 2026

Cody Bellinger brings home two more! pic.twitter.com/I7W8avl6yp

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 5, 2026

A sac fly for George Lombard Jr. extends the lead! pic.twitter.com/oQ2LS4MRgx

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 6, 2026

What's next

The Yankees conclude their West Coast road trip with the final game of their three-game set against the Padres on Sunday, with first pitch set for 4:10 p.m.

Gerrit Cole (3.29 ERA, 1.11 WHIP in 104.0 IP) is set to take the mound for the Yankees and the Padres will send out former Yankee Michael King (3.11 ERA, 1.17 WHIP in 162.0 IP).

Blue Jays 4 Royals 3

The Jays are above .500 and own the last Wild Card spot.

After the first inning, I thought this was going to be a high scoring game.

The Jays got two in the first (it should have been more). Brett Bateman started the game with a single, but was quickly picked off first. George Springer had a fly out to center. But Vladimir Guerrero singled. Kirk hit into what I thought was going to be the third out, but Royals third baseman threw wide of first, and Vlad scored from first. Kirk made it to second. Nathan Lukes lined a single to left scoring Kirk. Kazuma Okamoto followed with a double giving us guys on second and third, but that’s as far as they’d get.

We thought it was going to be a great day.

But Max Scherzer had a terrible first inning. He gave up 3 hits, a walk, a hit batter, a balk, but just two runs scored. Pretty lucky really, but it was a tie game.

Max got it together after that. He went 4.2 more innings allowing just 1 more run, a John Rave (who?) home run.

We got our third run in the third inning, Nathan Lukes had a one out single and Okamoto doubled him home.

And the game winning run came in the seventh. Springer led off with a walk and a stolen base. Vlad struck out and Kirk ground out. But Lukes reached on a Bobby Witt throwing error. And Okamoto, again, singled in the run.

The bullpen did a great job again:

• Mason Fluharty got the last out of the sixth and the first two outs of the seventh.
• Paul Sewald (I’m still wondering why Sewald?) got the last out of the seventh.
• Tyler Rogers fought through a tough eighth. He gave up singled to the first two batters, but then got a ground ball hit back to him. He turned and threw a perfect throw to second to start a big double play. And then got another ground out to end the inning.
• Louis Varland had a great ninth picking up his 33rd save.

In that first inning, Vlad made a terrific play in that first inning. With runners on first and second, Vlad got a ground ball and threw to third to get the lead runner. It turned out to be big, because Max balked, moving the runners up from first and second. Had there been a runner on third, he would have scored (but then things wouldn’t go exactly the same had he taken the out at first).

We had 13 hits, but just two extra base hits, both Okamoto doubles. He had four hits. Lukes had three hits. The only Jay without a hit was Springer (but he walk and stole and scored).

Jays of the Day: Okamoto (0.32 WPA), Varland (0.21), Rogers (0.15), Lukes (0.13) and Fluharty (0.09).

Other Award: Vlad (-0.11, tho that defensive play would bring that up a bit), Bateman (-0.10, plus the pickoff), Straw (-0.10, his one hit he beat out an infield single on pure hustle), and Clement (-0.09).

Tomorrow we have a day game. 2:00 Eastern. Jays list TBD, but I thought it was to be Spencer Arrighetti, being, at least, the bulk guy. The Royals have Randy Dobnak (2-3, 2.65)

Seems a game thread is needed, so here’s one. Springs vs. Kirby if you’re wondering (and even if you’re not).

The Texas Rangers scored three runs but the Tampa Bay Rays scored six runs in ten innings.

In more evidence to theory that we’re merely in purgatory watching the same Rangers game over and over, tonight’s contest was starting to travel a similar trajectory as last night’s loss and many that came before it.

The Rangers trailed after the customary Jacob deGrom first inning home run and didn’t seem especially competitive at the plate. After a second Rays solo home run, the Rangers got a home run of their own to move to within a run. Like last night, they couldn’t tie the game before the Rays got a late insurance run, but then scored the run that would have tied it had the leverage arms of the bullpen kept Tampa Bay off the board for their third run.

Unlike last night, however, the Rangers found a way to score the tying third run before they’d even gotten an at-bat with runners in scoring position all evening.

Following a solo home run from Evan Carter that brought Texas to within a run to lead off the eighth, Danny Jansen singled with one out and after Cam Cauley was brought in to pinch run for Jansen, Justin Foscue laced a double that allowed the speedy Cauley to come around all the way from first and score the tying run.

With Foscue the first Ranger in scoring position, Texas had the guys you’d think you’d want up with Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford due. However, neither could get the hit to give the Rangers the lead, both grounding out harmlessly. That was as emblematic as it would eventually be problematic.

Another difference between tonight’s game and last night’s loss was a Jacob Latz showing. The All-Star closer pitched in a tied game in the ninth and got three outs on nine pitches which allowed him to also pitch the tenth inning after the Rangers failed to produce a walk-off winner in the bottom of the ninth.

Latz stayed in the game but after the Rays sac bunted their Manfred man over to third base, the Rangers elected to intentionally walk Yandy Diaz to set up a potential double play. Instead of doing that, Jonathan Aranda hit a two-strike low quadrant slider 409 ft for a three-run home run.

The Rangers did not hit a three-run home run in their half of the extra frame — they did not even score their free runner, finishing the night 0-5 with RISP — and they are now three games below .500.

Player of the Game: After a solo home run in the eighth, Evan Carter is now one away from double digits on the year.

Up Next: The Rangers and Rays close out this series with LHP MacKenzie Gore expected to take the mound for Texas opposite a pitcher yet to be named for Tampa Bay.

The Sunday afternoon first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and you can view it on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Dodgers finish things off with the Washington Nationals with a rare Sunday night start, a 7:10 p.m. first pitch on the night before Labor Day at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers will use a variety of arms to fill innings on Sunday, including Justin Wrobleski and likely Bobby Miller for bulk outings, while left-hander Andrew Alvarez goes for the Nats.

Sunday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Nationals
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

SAN DIEGO — The endgame is near for Aaron Judge.

The Yankees captain took on-field batting practice for the second straight day Saturday at Petco Park, part of another busy day of full baseball activities as he tries to build up his endurance with just about all of the physical boxes checked off ahead of his potential return next week.

“He’s physically to the finish line, where he needs to be, but it’s about just doing it a lot, because that’s ultimately what you’re trying to replicate is being out there for nine innings where you’re playing for three hours and sit down, get up, those kind of things,” manager Aaron Boone said Saturday. “Just replicating that. So we’re getting to that point with the volume. He ran bases again today. He’s in a good spot.”

The only thing Judge has not done yet is face live pitching, which the Yankees are trying to make happen Monday when they get back home for an off-day.

One potential option could be having Clarke Schmidt (currently on a rehab assignment) throw to him, though Boone would only say, “We’re working on it.”

Judge, who has been out since the beginning of June with a right rib stress fracture, indicated Friday that he would likely need to face live pitching “a couple” times before he is activated, though he does not want that to be on a rehab assignment.

Instead, the Yankees could finish off his buildup in the big leagues during the homestand against the Rockies and Mets, like having him play a game and then take a day off, or playing five to seven innings in the field his first few games back.

“I would consider that kind of buildup,” Boone said. “Those things are on the table.

“He’s done everything he needs to do to be at the finish line to be ready to play.”

After throwing 2 ¹/₃ scoreless innings Friday night while piggybacking Max Fried, Will Warren will slot back into the rotation for his next turn on the homestand.

There was some question as to why the Yankees did not challenge Spencer Jones being thrown out at third base on a steal attempt in the 10th inning Friday night, but Boone said replay coordinator Brett Weber had Jones clearly out.

Austin Wells was back in the lineup Saturday against lefty Robbie Ray and will likely catch Gerrit Cole in Sunday’s series finale as well, meaning he will have started all three games of the series.

We’re three days into the “soft” part of the schedule to round out the year, and the last two games against these A’s have been… suboptimal is the polite way to put it. The best the M’s can hope for at this point in this four-game series is a split, and George Kirby will be on the mound to try to staunch the bleeding.

Lineups:

The Athletics are running out a largely unchanged lineup from last night aside from glove-first center fielder – and cousin of Josh Naylor – Denzel Clarke in the lineup over Carlos Cortes and rookie Henry Bolte starting in left. Noted left-handed pitcher Jeffrey Springs will be on the hill, so we’re treated to Weston Wilson rounding out Seattle’s lineup at the hot corner while Taylor Ward – who last night became the worst Mariners hitter in franchise history by wRC+ (minimum 80 PAs) – will occupy the DH spot. There is nowhere to go but up for him in these last few weeks, and today would be a great time to start that climb!

Lázaro Montes will sit after exiting last night’s game early with hip soreness thanks to crashing into the wall in right-center field. X-rays were thankfully negative, but with a southpaw opposing the M’s, it probably would have been a day that he was out of the lineup regardless, although Montes should be available to pinch-hit tonight. Láz was also spotted chatting with Ichiro pregame, with the Hall of Famer giving the rookie tips on navigating the angles at T-Mobile and making sure to always be in the correct position to field the ball.

In other injury news, Emerson Hancock did some light throwing from flat ground, his first baseball activity since landing on the injured list on August 30th (retroactive to 8/28) after making an awkward tumble fielding a ground ball up the first base line in Toronto.

Game Info:

First Pitch: 6:40pm Pacific

TV: Mariners TV

Radio: Old Reliable