Category: Baseball

The Athletics faced the Texas Rangers in the middle game of their three-game series. The Rangers moved one step closer to a sweep of their division rivals, defeating the A’s 8-5 in another game marked by bad pitching and struggles with runners in scoring position. The Green and Gold finished 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

Rangers Offense Strikes First

The Rangers got right to work in the bottom of the first. Facing A’s opener Brady Basso, doubles by Corey Seager and Brandon Nimmo gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead after the first inning of play.

Leading off the top of the second inning, Tommy White hurt himself on a swing. The A’s first baseman exited the game with low back soreness, with Michael Stefanic replacing him.

The visitors had a chance to equalize, but Rangers starter Mackenzie Gore struck out Alika Williams to strand the tying run on second base. Through two innings, it was clear the club had learned nothing from last night, as several batters swung at first or second pitch of their at-bats.

Tie Game Not for Long

With two outs in the third, A’s left fielder Zack Gelof reached second on an infield single and a throwing error by the Rangers third baseman. Right fielder Lawrence Butler drove him in with a game-tying RBI single to center. A few batters later, Jeff McNeil strode to the plate with the bases loaded. However, he failed to capitalize, flying out to center to end the inning.

Corey Seager’s second double in two at-bats marked the end of Basso’s outing. Right-hander Scott Blewett replaced him with one on and one out in the bottom of the third. Nimmo remained hot, recording a two-out RBI single to put the Rangers back in front 2-1.

In the top of the fourth inning, Rangers second baseman Ezequiel Duran made a nice diving play to end the inning, robbing Bolte of a potential game-tying hit.

Rangers Add On

Blewett ran out of gas in the fifth inning, allowing a single and a walk to start the frame. Fellow A’s right-hander Luis Medina replaced him, tasked with working out of the jam and keeping the Rangers’ lead at one.

The first batter he faced singled, loading the bases with no outs. Nimmo made it two straight seeing-eye singles, driving home two runs to put the hosts up 4-1. Once again, Butler bobbled a ball in right field as he prepared to make the throw home before fielding it cleanly. The Rangers right fielder recorded hits in each of his first three at-bats, driving in his team’s first four runs. Texas added a fifth run on Duran’s RBI groundout.

A’s Waste Chance to Respond

Gore’s night was done after he walked two batters in the sixth inning. The southpaw allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Right-hander Chase Silseth entered out of the Rangers’ bullpen and worked out of the jam by striking out pinch-hitter Carlos Cortes and then Henry Bolte.

The Green and Gold wasted a prime opportunity to get back in the game, leaving the bases loaded for the second time this evening. A’s manager Mark Kotsay’s decision to bring the struggling Cortes off the bench predictably backfired. Center fielder Denzel Clarke should have hit in that situation, given that he has missed most of the season because of injury and needs as many reps as possible to improve offensively.

Suarez and Muncy Experiments Should End!

Following the visitors’ failure to regain momentum, the Rangers immediately extended their lead, scoring three runs on four hits against A’s left-hander José Suarez in the bottom of the sixth. Nimmo collected his fourth hit and fifth RBI of the game.

The A’s offense did not go down quietly. In the top of the seventh, Stefanic’s RBI single off Rangers left-hander Adam Macko made it an 8-2 game. Stefanic made the most of his playing time, accumulating two hits and two walks.

On the other hand, Max Muncy is looking like a first-round bust, as he has struggled in the field and at the plate. He grounded into a double play as the A’s failed to capitalize with the bases loaded for the third time tonight.

Consolation

The Athletics loaded the bases again in the eighth inning against Rangers right-hander Trevor Williams. Butler’s sacrifice fly, his second RBI of the game, brought the A’s third run home.

Of all the A’s pitchers who appeared in today’s game, nobody would have predicted that Yunior Tur would be the only one not to allow a run. Yet that is exactly what happened, as the rookie reliever threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

The A’s scored two more runs off Williams in the top of the ninth. McNeil hit his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to right-center field that cut his team’s deficit to three. The Athletics’ late-game rally forced the Rangers to bring in closer Jacob Latz to get the final two outs of the game, which he did without further drama.

The team’s comeback attempt is a positive that they must carry over into tomorrow’s series finale. Left-hander Jacob Lopez will start for an A’s squad seeking to avoid a second straight series sweep, while the Rangers will counter with left-hander Cody Bradford.

Nights like these are the nights the Brewers are glad they came out on the winning end.

A night filled with little league errors was quickly overshadowed by big league blasts to give the Brewers a 9-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs, evening the series and extending their division lead back to eight games.

Entering play tonight, the storyline was mainly about how the starting pitching would hold up for both sides. Matthew Boyd for the Cubs hasn’t pitched well at home this season, and then Robert Gasser for the Brewers hasn’t pitched well on the road for the Brewers. Through the first three innings, none of those seemed to be the main concern.

The main concern began in the top of the fourth inning with two on and one out for the Crew. Following a William Contreras popout to first baseman Michael Busch, Jackson Chourio took off to third, without Brice Turang following behind him to second. Carson Kelly took care of business at third with a nice throw down, quickly stifling any sort of offensive momentum the Brewers had, as that was the second out before Jake Bauers ended the inning with a strikeout.

After moments like those, you just hope the frustration doesn’t carry over into the pitching side of the ball; But it did. A leadoff walk from Seiya Suzuki followed by a base hit from Alex Bregman set the Cubs up with an early opportunity. Former Brewer Tyrone Taylor continued his hot start with the Cubs as he doubled to drive in two runs to give them a 2-0 lead.

To add more salt into an early wound, Gasser forced Nico Hoerner into a ground ball hit to Andrew Vaughn that was fielded near where Turang usually sits. From there, Vaughn underhanded it from deep, where Gasser then dropped the catch, which otherwise would’ve been the first out of the inning. The error led to another run to make it 3-0.

Needing something to go their way offensively, Luis Lara and Joey Ortiz kept the top of the fifth inning alive with two two-out base hits. Cooper Pratt came through with a base hit to left field to break the Brewers into the scoring column, cutting the Cubs’ lead down to 3-1.

The offense carried its momentum into the top of the sixth inning with back-to-back hits to lead off the inning from Turang and Contreras. After getting Bauer to pop out, Daniel Palencia replaced Boyd on the mound, where, before he even threw a pitch, he balked to allow another Brewers runner to score to make it 3-2. Vaughn capitalized on the moment with a double to right field to tie the game at 3-3. Then, the MVP came through, as Christian Yelich hit his 10th home run of the season to give the Brewers their first lead of the game at 5-3.

Now needing to keep the lead intact, the Brewers got to experience their bullpen at full strength for the first time this season as newcomer JoJo Romero replaced Antonio Senzatela with two outs. He instantly allowed a double to Michael Busch, which triggered a hold-your-breath moment as Ortiz, Pratt, and Chourio collided in left field. Everyone ended up staying in the game, but a moment to keep an eye on going forward. Following the injury delay, Kelly grounded into a fielder’s choice to drive in another run to cut the Brewers’ lead down to one.

Fortunately for the Brewers, that was the worst of the headache situations going forward as the offense broke out the bats. Contreras tacked on a run with his 24th double of the season as Sal Frelick came in off the bench and singled to drive in another run to push the Crew’s lead to 7-4.

To cap things off, Ortiz took advantage of a hanging cutter from Tyler Ferguson and deposited a baseball into the left-center field bleacher seats to seal the Brewers’ win at 9-4.

All things considered, the Brewers pitching staff made up for their forgettable performance from a night ago. Gasser, all things considered, had a decent start, albeit not long enough, as he threw 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs, while walking two and striking out four. As mentioned earlier, we got our first look at the full-strength bullpen, as they threw the final 4.2 innings, allowing just one run on three hits. Romero finished the night with 0.2 innings, allowing just two hits. Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, and DL Hall all combined for three scoreless innings with four punchouts.

After the nightmare that was game one of the series, the Brewers are sitting in a great spot with Jacob Misiorowski toeing the slab for game three of the series tomorrow evening. With a win, the Crew will take the lead on the series and push their division lead to a season-high nine games.

It’ll be another night game tomorrow, and another nationally broadcast game as well. MLB Network will be covering the game, along with the Brewers.TV and WTMJ 620, with first pitch to come at 6.40 p.m.

The call-up to San Diego happened for San Diego Padres top prospect, Ethan Salas, after a loud last week with El Paso. The Padres catcher-of-the-future impressed in his 24 games with the Chihuahuas and finished strong before getting the promotion to finish his 2026 season with the major league squad.

In 105 plate appearances with El Paso, Salas hit .326/.410/.539 while slugging six doubles, two triples, three home runs and 24 RBI. His .944 OPS is tops among team regulars. In his last week with the Chihuahuas, Salas delivered with a .947 OPS, walking four times, hitting a triple, and stealing four bases.

During his time in Triple-A, Salas has a 44.9% hard hit rate (40-44% average), a 93.1% in-zone contact rate (78-83% average), and a 9.8% whiff rate (22-26% average), all with a 90th percentile exit velocity of 103.7 mph.

For his 2026 season, between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A El Paso, Salas hit .296/.374/.448 with 19 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, and 61 RBI in 96 games as a catcher and DH. 

He was four years younger than any other player in El Paso while he was there. He was at least three years younger than anyone else who played in San Antonio this season.

Defensively, Salas has always received top marks for his maturity and handling of a pitcher and a game. His 33.3% caught-stealing rate (normal for MLB is 25-30%) in Triple-A goes along with an under-1.9-second pop time (average is 2.00-2.01 seconds). These are good-to-elite numbers for MLB catchers, all of whom are older than 20. When he makes his debut, Salas will be the youngest catcher to play in MLB since Pudge Rodriguez debuted in 1991.

As Salas was the catcher used for both Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta’s rehab starts, the Padres have had real-time feedback regarding his readiness for the last month of the season. 

DSL Padres Gold

The Padres Dominican Gold team won its second straight championship this past week, defeating the Reds DSL team two games to one in the championship series. They remained dominant all season long despite losing top prospect SS Joniel Hernandez in a trade for LHP Robbie Ray.

The hero of the season was catcher/first baseman Dayquer Alfonzo, hitting .331/.464/.533 in 51 games and 222 plate appearances. The 18-year-old finished his third season playing for the Dominican team and will likely be seen in the States next season.

Gabriel Teran, 18, a Venezuelan who plays all over the field, was on both the Brown and Gold teams this season. Playing all positions except center field and third base, Teran finished the year hitting .323/.558/.455 with 43 walks to 28 strikeouts in 155 plate appearances. 

Their best starter was Carlos Alvarez, 18, who pitched 44.1 innings with a 3.25 ERA. Reliever Albieris Polanco, 20, ended with three saves in 31 innings and a 3.19 ERA.

(Salas stats per Clark Fahrenholdt of MadFriars.com)

El Paso Chihuahuas (53-79 record, last in PCL East)

Playing a make-up game during the week, the Chihuahuas completed a 3-4 record. Their season ends on Sept. 20.

LHP Jagger Haynes had a good outing with five innings pitched without allowing a run. He struck out four and walked one. He finished August with a 3.38 ERA in 24 innings.

RHP Jhony Brito joined Ethan Salas in the flight to San Diego. He was the pitcher called up for the Sept. 1 roster expansion for the Padres. Used as both a starter and a reliever in his career, Brito has pitched very well since his return from UCL surgery. In his 11 games and 10 starts, Brito has a 2.98 ERA in 42.1 innings with 27 strikeouts to nine walks with El Paso.

San Antonio Missions (55-71 record, last in Texas League South)

The Missions had a 1-5 record for the week. They play their last game of the season on Sept. 13.

The Missions snapped a seven-game losing streak with their one victory during the week, then ended the week with a loss.

First baseman Romeo Sanabria struggled when promoted to El Paso and was returned to San Antonio. Since his return, Sanabria has surged. Over the past week, he had two doubles, two walks and four RBI in 19 at-bats and is hitting .368 with a .958 OPS since rejoining the team.

Outfielder Alex McCoy has been inconsistent since joining the Missions but overall, he is hitting .328 with three home runs and an .891 OPS in his three weeks in San Antonio. 

The big concern is his 33.3% K rate and 43.6% whiff rate since joining the team. If he hits three more homers before the end of the season,  McCoy will have a 20-home run and 20-steal season in his second year in the Padres system.

Fellow undrafted free agent outfielder Braedon Karpathios has had an inconsistent season too, but had a .313 average and .946 OPS in August with 13 extra-base hits.

San Antonio pitching has been a big disappointment. RHP Eric Yost has had the best season of the group but carries a 4.20 ERA in 98.2 innings pitched over 16 starts and 22 appearances.

LHP Luis Gutierrez has made five starts since his return from a spring shoulder injury. In his 16.1 innings pitched, Gutierrez has a 4.96 ERA with 18 strikeouts to seven walks. 

Fort Wayne TinCaps (52-72 record, last in Midwest League East)

The TinCaps went 2-4 in their week and end their season on Sept. 6. 

Catcher Robbie Lavey, the only new Padre to begin his pro career at the Single-A level, had a good offensive week. He hit .333 with two doubles and seven RBI. In 13 games with Fort Wayne, Lavey has a .764 OPS.

Outfielder Ryan Wideman went on the injured list, and outfielder Ryan Gerety, an undrafted free agent who signed in July, was called on to replace him in the lineup. 

There are intriguing arms pitching with Fort Wayne, but none of them have had an outstanding season. 

RHP Carson Montgomery, completing his first season post-Tommy John surgery, has been inconsistent with his command. Over 21 games and 20 starts, Montgomery has a 4.81 ERA in 88 innings with 76 strikeouts to 48 walks. Boasting a four-seam/sinker combo with a plus-slider, Montgomery is being developed as a starter but could end up in the bullpen. He is Rule 5 eligible this offseason, so a decision will need to be made. 

RHP Bryan Balzer, the 21-year-old Japanese/American pitcher signed by the Padres after only a minimal amount of pitching in high school, has also had an inconsistent season coming back from Tommy John surgery. Mostly an infielder before being drafted, Balzer is a power pitcher with raw stuff and will still need refinement but is a name to watch for next season.

Two-way experiment Sean Barnett was not successful trying to do both. He has since concentrated on pitching and has had some success as a reliever this season. The righty has a high 90’s fastball but has command issues at times. 

Lake Elsinore Storm (62-64 record, second in Cal League South)

The Storm ends its regular season on Sept. 6.

After losing their 11th straight game to start the past week, the Storm broke the losing streak but then lost the last game of their series. They are guaranteed a playoff spot due to their first-half record but have struggled to put together a balanced performance since promotion time.

Infielder Joe Trioly, a new Padre starting his career with the Storm, has been a welcome surprise for Lake Elsinore. Hitting four homers in four games, Trioly has a .353/.353/1.059 line in his 13 games. Overall, he has six home runs and 12 strikeouts with three walks in 56 plate appearances.

There are three pitchers to watch who will finish the season with the Storm. Taiwanese right-hander Lan-Hong Su, 19, has had a light workload this year as the organization is easing him into pro ball. He is undersized but should pick up velocity as he adds bulk and strength. Over the past 18.1 innings with Lake Elsinore, Su has a 2.95 ERA with 26 strikeouts and five walks.

LHP Adler Cecil returned from the injured list late in the season and tallied eight strikeouts in 3.2 innings of relief without allowing a run this past week. 

RHP Jesus Castro, 19, seemingly has tired at the end of the season. His last three starts have shown decreased effectiveness. He continues to rack up the strikeouts, though, and in 85.1 innings over 19 starts, Castro has 97 strikeouts to 31 walks.

AFL begins in October

After the affiliates complete their regular season games, each level will have its playoff series. Those will end later in September. After the completion of the full slate for each level, the Arizona Fall League will begin work for its season.

The AFL begins games on Oct. 3, and the season will end on Nov. 14 with the championship game. Players to participate will be named after the affiliate season ends.

Many players currently working in the Arizona Bridge League will also see work in the AFL.

Big league rosters have officially expanded now that we’ve reached the month of August. The Cincinnati Reds responded in kind by promoting both Brandon Williamson and Juan Brito earlier on Tuesday, the latter providing depth across the infield as the Reds face something of a short-term crisis there.

Ke’Bryan Hayes resides on the 10-day IL at the moment. Superstar shortstop Elly De La Cruz has a quad strain, and given how much his leg problems sapped his overall production last season the Reds are going to keep him at DH for the foreseeable future until he’s absolutely 100%. That means Matt McLain has moved from 2B over to SS, and to compound things Eugenio Suarez has been absent from team activities the last few days as he works towards gaining US citizenship.

So, the Reds need some infield depth. Edwin Arroyo was recalled to help bridge that gap, and Brito will, too, but that only serves to thin the mix at AAA behind them. Cincinnati responded to that cascade of infield inputs on Tuesday evening by signing veteran infielder Orlando Arcia to a minor league deal.

Arcia, 32, began the 2026 season with in the Minnesota Twins organization and hit .271/.300/.354 with them across 50 PA before being released in late July. He posted an .834 OPS with Minnesota’s AAA affiliate in St. Paul along the way, but ended up playing in the Mexican League for a trio of games before the Reds scooped him up.

He was an All Star with Atlanta in 2023 and is a veteran of over 1000 big league games, so he’ll certainly provide a stable floor of depth across the middle infield even if the Reds are a) going nowhere this season and b) decide to slow the roll of Elly and others as the final month of the season dwindles down. That said, he owns just a career 76 OPS+, so one can hardly expect him to be lightning in a bottle for the club at this time.

The Texas Rangers scored eight runs while the Californian Athletics scored five runs.

The Rangers seem to have finally found themselves a punching bag and the veterans were lining up to throw some haymakers.

September started in a similar fashion to how August ended with Texas beating up on the hapless Athletics. The catalyst tonight was the guys you hope can do damage as hitters No. 2-4, Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford, and Brandon Nimmo, combined for eight of Texas’ twelve hits, five of their eight runs, and six of the eight RBIs.

Not be left out, No. 5 hitter Ezequiel Duran worked a couple of walks and drove in one of the other runs while also making a sensational play at second base to keep the would-be tying run off the board in the early goings.

The Rangers scored first in the game’s opening frame when Nimmo drove in Seager with a two-out double. Meanwhile, Texas starter MacKenzie Gore was able to keep the Gore Inning to a minimum as the A’s tied the game at a run apiece in the top of the third before Gore escaped a bases loaded jam to end the threat.

A half inning later, in a déjà vu moment, the Rangers reclaimed the lead and never looked back when Nimmo drove on Seager with a two-out base hit. The Rangers added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth when, you guessed it, Nimmo drove in a couple with a bases loaded, two-RBI single.

After another run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, Nimmo came up again with two outs and singled in the Rangers’ eighth and final run.

Despite the Rangers leading 8-1 heading into the seventh inning, the A’s eventually made the game close enough to force Texas to bring in Jacob Latz with an out in the ninth after Adam Macko allowed a run in the seventh and the A’s scored three runs off freshly-signed reliever Trevor Williams when Texas tried to squeeze two innings from the newcomer.

Nevertheless, Latz got a couple of quick strikeouts and the Rangers moved back to within a game in the American League West with Houston succumbing to Chicago this evening.

The victory is Texas’ third in a row, which drags them back to within a game of .500. In addition, the win gave the Rangers their sixth of the year against the A’s which evened the season series making tomorrow’s finale the season decider between these AL West clubs.

Player of the Game: You probably won’t find an easier pick than the guy who went 4-for-5 with five RBIs, including three RBIs with two outs.

Nimmo hadn’t really been the guy to carry the load since some hot hitting early in the season, but each of his hits tonight delivered runs, including the rare RBI hit with the bases loaded for Texas.

Up Next: The Rangers and A’s close this series out in a battle between lefties with LHP Cody Bradford set to make the start for Texas opposite LHP Jacob Lopez for futurely Vegas.

The Wednesday afternoon finale first pitch from The Shed is set for 1:35 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Mantua, Cuba, is a small fishing village on the northwestern coast of the island; legend says it was founded by shipwrecked Italian sailors in the early 1600s. Los Arroyos, the neighborhood where Randy Arozarena grew up, is a tiny tip of the island, about as close to Cancún as it is to the capital Havana, where Lazaro Montes was born. Maybe their respective hometowns account for their personality differences: Randy is quieter, more removed, shying away from media appearances, while Laz is as big and boisterous as the bustling capital city itself, eager to try out his English with whoever wants to talk. Making his big-league debut tonight, “Big Laz” had an appropriately splashy welcome to the big leagues that will guarantee his megawatt smile will light up highlight reels tonight both in Seattle and beyond, accounting for two of the Mariners’ nine runs tonight. But Randy Arozarena also continued doing what he’s done all season, leading the team offensively and providing an early separating blow that helped the Mariners outlast the Red Sox in a grueling 9-6 win at Fenway.

The Mariners got on the board right away when Dominic Canzone absolutely obliterated this hanging changeup from Red Sox starter Jedixson Paez:

Unfortunately, the Red Sox took that run right back with a blast of their own, a four-seamer from Bryan Woo that didn’t quite get top rail enough that Mickey Gasper hammered for a matching blow.

But the Mariners offense picked up their starter in the top of the second, pouncing on Paez for five runs of both the small and large ball variety. Josh Naylor got things going with a leadoff double, followed by a line-drive single from Cole Young – not super hard hit, but any contact in the air is good from young Cole, who’s been really struggling lately with pounding the ball into the ground. That brought up Lazaro Montes for his very first big-league at-bat in an RBI situation. Facing a flagging pitcher on a bullpen day, Montes took a studied, disciplined at-bat, getting ahead 2-0, whiffing at a changeup on the plate, and then declining to chase two more changeups to earn his way on base. J.P. Crawford put the Mariners ahead on a sacrifice fly, and then Brock Rodden checked in with an infield hit of his own, hustling down the line to allow Cole Young to score. That also turned the lineup over for Randy Arozarena, who continued his audition to Get Real Paid by the Red Sox next season by crushing a sinker middle-middle that would have wound up on Lansdowne Street if not for an inconveniently located billboard.

The Mariners extended their lead in the third, adding one more run but unfortunately leaving the bases loaded. But that one run came in super-fun fashion, as Lazaro Montes recorded his first big-league hit, an RBI single on a curveball he was just able to shoot between the 3-4 hole, scoring Josh Naylor, who had singled to lead off the inning (followed by a single from Cole Young pushing him to third base, Young’s second hit of the day, hooray for Cole). It’s very funny that Montes, known for big power and big strikeouts, started his career with a walk and an RBI single, but I find it delightful, almost as delightful as the man himself. Also look how quickly he gets out of the box here! I’m excited for when we get to see Laz really run.

The Mariners added another run in the fourth, thanks to back-to-back doubles from Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh, and gosh if that doesn’t feel good to type.

Their ninth and final run of the game came in magical fashion, as Lazaro showed that promised power with a homer to dead center. Like his single before, this also came in a two-strike count, lifting a slider at the bottom of the zone and driving it out with that storied power.

Laz said postgame he’d watched Randy do his guitar celebration earlier in the game after his home run, so he was ready for his first trip with the trident:

Meanwhile, Bryan Woo just quietly kept dealing; after the home run, he didn’t let a Red Sox hitter get past first base until the fifth inning, when Trevor Story led off the inning with a double. Woo came back to strike out Connor Wong swinging after a sinker below the zone, got helped out by a nice leaping snare by J.P. Crawford on a hard-hit ball from Roman Anthony, and then polished the inning off by striking out Gasper on a perfectly located slider. He also had to battle in the sixth, following a long delay after home plate umpire Ryan Wills had to leave the game after being concussed by a foul ball off Cole Young’s bat. With one out, Woo again allowed a double, and this time it did come around to score as Brock Rodden made a shaky throw on a would-be inning-ending groundout that Josh Naylor couldn’t pick. With Woo nearing the end of his day, he was able to get Jarren Duran to ground out to end the inning, completing six innings with just the two runs of damage. It was a second straight solid outing on the road from Woo, his second start in a row allowing just two runs on the road (and really it should have been one), and another nail in the coffin of the “Woo road woes” narrative that has been quietly driving me nuts all season. Hope to see ya never.

Things got a bit tighter after Woo departed, though, and of course [cracks open the oldest and most ancient text imaginable to speak the cursèd phrase] _{no lead is safe in this ballpark}. Carlos Vargas wasn’t as sharp as he’d been in his previous outings, walking nine-hole hitter Connor Wong (bad!) and then giving up a single and a double to allow two runs, cutting the Mariners lead to 9-4 and causing Dan Wilson to have to go get Jose Ferrer to quell the threat. Ferrer worked around some traffic in the eighth but was able to keep things were they were, sending the Mariners to the bottom of the ninth with a five-run lead. Again, Wilson tried to use a non-leverage reliever, getting newest Mariner lefty Hoby Milner, but Milner gave up a single followed by a home run to make things a very uncomfortable 9-6, so in came Andrés Muñoz to defeat the ghosts of Fenway.

Muñoz demolished Wilyer Abreu on three pitches, all off the plate, putting him away with 100 followed by two diabolical changeups. Andrés Muñoz’s changeup is so special to me. He then got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground out first-pitch swinging on another spicy fastball to lock things down and complete the vibes transfusion the Mariners desperately needed after last night’s crushing loss. Thank you, Lazaro. We’re so happy you’re here.

You wouldn’t know it from these last 36 hours, but the Mariners actually rank dead last in all of baseball in runs scored this season. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, bad MLB hitting can still erupt against bad MLB pitching, and that’s what happened in Boston’s 9-6 loss to Seattle.

Without showing their lines, here’s the list of pitchers who took the mound for the Red Sox:

• Jedixson Paez
• Wyatt Olds
• Alec Gamboa
• Greg Weissert

That’s probably all you need to know (although Gamboa did pitch quite well again).

With the Sox in a stretch where they play 14 games in 13 days, they largely planned this as a reset day, calling up Paez, and using as many (but also as few) low leverage relievers as possible to create a pseudo off day for the arms that have any chance of sniffing the mound in October. It’s just where they’re at given the combination of their place in the standings (very likely to make the playoffs and open on the road), and the number of tanks they have running on empty.

But for Paez, ouch was it ugly! Eight earned runs and he didn’t make it out of the fourth inning. If it wasn’t for this strategy the Sox were deploying where they were specifically trying to get him to eat as many outs as possible, he would’ve been giving the hook much earlier.

So call it whatever you want: Offering Paez as a sacrifice to the baseball gods, punting the game, dropping a deuce on a card trick to have a better chance later in the hand, or making a chess move geared towards the bigger picture. No matter how you slice it, the Red Sox approached tonight with their eye on October 1st more than September 1st.

That philosophy however was exclusive to the guys making management decisions, because several regulars in the lineup played hard and played well. Most notably, Mickey Gasper, who went deep again!

This is unbelievable! After ending August with a 1.671 OPS, he starts off September with another bomb; and not just any bomb, but another shot OVER the bullpens in right. This is getting so ridiculous it’s fair to question if Gasper unlocked something as a hitter. He’s obviously never going to be this hot again in his life, but this type of production might be telling us we have a guy who’s made the jump to legit major league hitter. He’s a completely different guy at the plate, and this will be a very fun story to watch unfold throughout September.

You know what else is notable? The Red Sox forced the Mariners to use their closer, Andres Munoz, in a game Seattle was up 9-1. With heavy bullpen usage for Seattle on Monday (including using Munoz for four outs), this effort by the Sox tonight puts them in a better position to win tomorrow and take the series.

And speaking of potentially taking the series, how big does that comeback yesterday look now? If Boston doesn’t piece that together, they’ve lost six of seven and are facing the possibility of getting swept. Even with all the runs allowed, the fight these guys have shown the last two days is a great sign.

Studs

Mickey Gasper: His home run tonight is his seventh in his last 11 starts! He had zero career home runs in a Red Sox uniform when this streak started. Baseball (and Mickey Gasper) remain amazing!

Trevor Story: For the third straight game since returning, Story’s posted multiple hits. (He had a single and a double tonight.) This is a wonderful development as last week I argued he looked done in Worcester and shouldn’t be allowed to return. Let’s hope he continues to make me look like a fool!

Roman Anthony: Like Story, Anthony’s returned hot at the plate. Two more hits tonight (both with exit velocities over 100mph) and another lineout. It’s only been three games, but more than half of Anthony’s at bats have ended with balls in play going over 100mph. If he starts lifting the ball at all, he might turn into Mickey Gasper.

The Bench: Both Eli White and Jahmai Jones pinch hit in this game and knocked in a pair of runs. There’s so many guys on this roster just doing their job, and tonight their efforts directly helped force Seattle to use their closer (Munoz).

This guy who gave a young fan a souvenir and made his night:

Duds

Jedixson Paez: Tough to get a dud in your first major league start, but giving up eight runs and twelve baserunners in in 3.2 innings of work will get you here every time. Hopefully he takes this as a good learning experience.

Ceddanne Rafaela: Went 0-3 with two strike outs before being pinch hit for by White. Would not shock me if he has a day off coming soon.

Caleb Durbin: 0-4 with a strike out as his cold streak continues. With Isiah Kiner-Falefa back on the roster, it also wouldn’t shock me if he has a day off coming soon.

Looking ahead:

Tomorrow is a late afternoon start (4:10pm) and will feature Bryce Miller against Patrick Sandoval. After that, the Red Sox travel to Baltimore for a four game set against the Orioles.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Check another box off the list for Aaron Judge.

The Yankees captain took batting practice off the Trajekt pitching machine over the weekend before the team left New York, marking the latest step forward in his hitting progression as he works toward a return potentially as soon as next week.

The Trajekt machines — which simulate exact pitches of big leaguers — are not available to road teams, so Judge will not get a chance to hit off it this week.

But he can still face high-velocity pitching machines during his indoor cage work while also standing in on bullpen sessions to track live pitching (without swinging) — as he did Tuesday with Max Fried in the visiting bullpen at Angel Stadium.

“He did quite a bit of hitting [Monday] and spaced it out a little bit — he went back in and hit during the game some, so it’s kind of replicating that doing some work, sit down, go back and do some things,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday before facing the Angels. “He’s doing well. I talked to him again today, he feels really good. He’s running well, his speed’s in a good place, his strength’s in a good place.

“Now it’s just about reps and building that endurance.”

It is unlikely that Judge, who has said he wants to avoid a rehab assignment, will be able to face any live pitching this week on the road, though Boone said he could Monday, when the Yankees get home.

“Standing in on pens, doing Trajekt the other day, seeing velocity, all those things are helping him get prepared to get back into game play,” Boone said.

George Lombard Jr. was out of the lineup Tuesday for a third straight game with knee inflammation, but there was still optimism the rookie shortstop would be able to avoid the injured list and potentially return after the off-day for Friday’s series opener against the Padres.

“The running part of it’s good, it’s just getting the agility where we need it to be,” Boone said. “Seems like today’s better than [Monday], so we’ll see as the day goes what level of availability there is for tonight.”

When rosters expanded from 26 to 28 on Tuesday, the Yankees activated Ryan McMahon from the 10-day injured list and added reliever John Schreiber, a day after claiming him off waivers from the Royals.

McMahon went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks — one in a 10-pitch battle with Grayson Rodriguez — while Schreiber pitched a perfect ninth inning to close out the 7-3 win.

The crowded roster makes it unlikely that Anthony Volpe or Jasson Domínguez will get called up from Triple-A over the final month of the regular season, barring injuries. Volpe has been hitting better while bouncing between second base, shortstop and even third base recently to expand his versatility. He entered Tuesday batting .247 with seven home runs and a .924 OPS in 21 games since being optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“He’s working his tail off down there,” Boone said.

Domínguez had not been as productive, batting just .202 with a .581 OPS in 21 games following his demotion.

The Yankees are currently planning to piggyback Will Warren behind Max Fried on Friday against the Padres, followed by Carlos Rodón —and potentially Elmer Rodríguez piggybacking — Saturday.

Gerrit Cole, who started Tuesday night against the Angels, could then come back to pitch Sunday on normal rest.

That ensures Wednesday’s starter, Cam Schlittler, will only have to go five days between starts instead of six with two off-days coming up.

The Twins went with an opener tonight, Andrew Morris got the first inning with Connor Prielipp taking over from there. It worked out well, as you can see from the score in the title, as the Tigers only managed one run in the first, with Prielipp shutting them out in his five innings tonight.

Kody Clemens wasted no time tying the game up with his 24th homer of the year, a solo shot to right in the bottom of the first inning.

Tigers’ starter Troy Melton held the Twins in check until the fifth inning. A walk and a double put two in scoring position for Walker Jenkins. He grounded into the drawn-in infield, Trevor Larnach got into a run-down going home, and the catcher threw it into left field allowing 2 to score on the error. Luke Keaschall put the Twins up 4-1 with an RBI double, capping off a 3 run inning.

Then the Twins scored 10 in the 6th, starting with an out. It went something like this unreadable sentence:

Josh Bell single, Larnach hit by pitch, Royce Lewis three run homer, Kaelen Culpepper double, Walker Jenkins walk, Keaschall single, Brooks Lee sac-fly-RBI, Kody Clemens walk, Ryan Jeffers three run homer, Josh Bell walk, Trevor Larnach single, Royce Lewis single, Kaelen Culpepper 2 run single, and finally Jenkins grounded out to end the inning. That monster inning put the Twins up 14-1, which is a pretty comfortable place to be in a baseball game, I feel.

Both teams got a run in the 8th, giving us our 15-2 final score. Our September call ups, Garrett Acton and Ben Ross got in the game late. The Tigers did not put a position player on the mound for the 2nd straight game, unfortunately. Overall, bark at the park night proved that every Twins game should feature dogs in the crowd. They’ll go for a sweep tomorrow night with Dean Kremer on the mound against Drew Anderson.

Studs: The whole lineup could go here as they all contributed but here’s six of them, plus Prielipp. The Twins accrued 27 total bases compared to the Tigers’ 10.

Ryan Jeffers: 2-4, 3B, HR, 3 RBI

Royce Lewis: 3-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, BB

Kaelen Culpepper: 2-5, 2B, 3 RBI

Luke Keaschall: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI

Kody Clemens: 1-3, HR, RBI, BB

Josh Bell: 1-3, 2 BB

Trevor Larnach: 1-2, 2 R, BB

Connor Prielipp: 5 IP, 3 H, BB, 0 ER, 5 K

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!

Mike Trout was practically beaming. He dropped the phrase “fresh start” four times in an interview that barely lasted five minutes.

The burden of the Angels’ failures has been disproportionately his to bear. He has insisted that his path to Cooperstown would run through Anaheim and only Anaheim. He has played 16 seasons for an owner that blessed him with half a billion dollars, treated his family like royalty and stranded him in position to conclude a star-spangled career without ever winning a postseason game.

On Tuesday, Trout learned that the Angels would have a new owner: Stan Kroenke. Trout got off the call, looked up Kroenke and has not stopped smiling since.

“What a track record,” Trout said. “Wherever he buys, he wins.”

The Rams. The Colorado Avalanche. The Denver Nuggets. Arsenal.

So what if the Angels have baseball’s longest playoff drought? They now have baseball’s richest owner, with a net worth valued by Forbes at $24 billion.

Kroenke bought a controlling share of the Angels at a valuation of $4 billion, a record for a major league team, with current owner Arte Moreno retaining a small stake, a source with knowledge of the deal not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times. The sale includes the team-owned television and radio outlets, ABTV and AM 830. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and MLB approval.

In 2009, ESPN put Moreno on the cover of its magazine, proclaiming the Angels delivered the best value of the then-122 teams in the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. In this decade, the experience had been so devalued by 12 consecutive losing seasons that resale tickets for Tuesday’s game against the mighty New York Yankees were available for $5, amid a season of fans regularly chanting “Sell the Team!”

“He’s aware of the chants,” Angels president Molly Jolly said. “He knows about them. At the end of the day, this is about having the right next owner more than it is about anything else.”

Jolly wouldn’t say whether Kroenke or Moreno initiated the negotiations. She did say the sale was not conducted through a formal bidding process, but proceeded through face-to-face discussions between Kroenke and Moreno.

Read more:Shaikin: 'A big day for Anaheim.' Angels get a fresh start with Stan Kroenke, and much more

“He has a traditional sense about him,” Jolly said. “To be able to sit down with another gentleman and have a conversation and talk about baseball and the franchise, that resonates for how he thinks and looks at things, rather than it being a complex conversation.

“I think that’s what was the ‘Why now?’ It was the right person having the right conversation with him.”

As far as she knew, Jolly said, the conversations had not started when she assumed the team presidency in April, but the possibility of a sale had “always stayed out there” after Moreno invited bids in 2022 and then decided not to sell.

In July, after joining the Angels as interim general manager, John Mozeliak said he had spoken with Moreno for hours and the topic of whether the owner might sell the team “never came up.” On Tuesday, Mozeliak acknowledged that, when he started his position, Moreno “had mentioned that this was a possibility.”

The sale is not expected to be finalized until early next year. Kroenke has not done the usual due diligence that would precede a sale — meeting with team management and touring the stadium — and has not introduced himself to officials from the city of Anaheim. The city owns the stadium and surrounding parking lots, a 150-acre site that city officials would love to see Kroenke develop.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual for the Angels. Mozeliak, who ran the St. Louis Cardinals when the Rams played in St. Louis, said he never has met Kroenke. He did recall speaking with Kevin Demoff, who oversees all of Kroenke’s teams.

Mozeliak has no idea whether Kroenke might invite him to stay, but for now the plan of rebuilding the team and reorganizing the front office remains on course, in the interest of serving fans weary and frustrated after 12 consecutive losing seasons.

“We’ve been preaching change all along,” Mozeliak said. “Now they’re going to see even more.”

And, he noted, the Padres and Angels had sold at successive record prices for MLB teams, despite the prospect of a lockout and owners’ hopes for a new collective bargaining agreement with a salary cap intended in part to raise franchise values.

“A lot of people thought teams wouldn’t sell until there was a new CBA,” Mozeliak said. “Clearly, that prediction was wrong.”

Read more:Shaikin: What's next as John Mozeliak revamps the Angels? The interim GM discusses his plans

In the clubhouse, no one was talking about that. Neto was talking about the call Trout made to “some of the Rams guys” for a scouting report on Kroenke.

“I reached out to one Rams player,” Trout said, smiling. “He exaggerates a little bit.”

Still, given the national attention given last winter to the air conditioning not working properly in an Angel Stadium weight room, Neto said the evaluation from the Rams’ locker room was glowing.

“The most important thing they said is, he just wants what’s important for us,” Neto said. “That’s to make the clubhouse better, in the sense of whatever we need, we get, whether that’s amenity-wise, speakers, whatever it is, he’ll make sure we get those.”

Trout was so enthusiastic that, when a reporter asked if he was excited about what the new vision might be, he answered before the reporter could finish asking the question.

“No doubt,” Trout said. “Obviously, when you’re frustrated the last — I don’t know how many years it’s been, but to hear the news like this, I’m super excited to have this change.”

Read more:Plaschke: Light the Big A! Stan Kroenke just made Angels fans big winners

For his part, Neto sounded ready to pitch Tarik Skubal on pitching for the Angels — or, at least, pitching Kroenke on the possibility of recruiting him in free agency.

“Who doesn’t want to be in Southern California?” Neto said. “The weather is beautiful here. We have the best fans, in my opinion. We have a beautiful stadium.

“Who wouldn’t want to be here and play in this organization, in this market? It would be a no-brainer.”

Trout said the ownership change “was needed” and said there was “a good vibe around the clubhouse,” but both he and Neto expressed appreciation for Moreno.

“Arte was very supportive of us, whatever the outside noise was,” Neto said.

“I’ve seen a lot of hate, a lot of love, a lot more hate. But, as a player who has played under him, it was a lot of love. He treated us well, and that’s all you can ask for as a player.”

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Iowa catcher Ethan Hearn and infielder Hayden Cantrelle were both activated off the Development List.

Right-hander Dominick Reid was promoted from Low-A Myrtle Beach to High-A South Bend.

Outfieder Michael Gupton joins South Bend from the ACL Cubs.

South Bend right-hander Ethan Bell and outfielder Geuri Lubo both went on the Development List.

Shortstop Juan Tomas joins Myrtle Beach from Mesa.

It’s the final week of the season for Myrtle Beach and South Bend, although South Bend has playoffs to look forward to.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were seized by the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), 7-6.

Kohl Franklin started this game and allowed three runs on five hits over 4.2 innings. He walked three and struck out two.

Edward Cabrera threw an inning of relief in a rehab assignment. He allowed a solo home run to the first batter he faced, but then got a ground out and two strikeouts to end the inning.

Luis Peralta could not find the plate and took the loss. Peralta allowed three runs on no hits and five walks over one-third of an inning. He did not strike anyone out.

First baseman Owen Miller doubled twice in a 3 for 5 effort. Miller drove in two and scored twice.

Right fielder Jordan Nwogu was 3 for 5 with an RBI double.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies blinded the Chattanooga Lookouts (Reds), 12-3.

Kevin Valdez started and got the win after giving up two runs on just two hits over 5+ innings. Valdez struck out seven and walked two.

Left fielder Carter Trice hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning, his 15th on the year. Trice was 1 for 4 with a walk. He scored twice.

Shortstop Karson Simas hit a three-run triple in the sixth inning. Simas was 2 for 3 with a walk and one run scored.

Right fielder Alex Ramírez had a bases-loaded, three-run double in the eighth inning. He was 1 for 5 with one run scored.

Trice’s home run.

Simas’ three-run triple.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs creamed the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Twins), 8-4.

Starter Jostin Florentino gave up three runs on six hits over 3.1 innings. Two of those hits were solo home runs. Florentino walked one and struck out four. Florentino also hit one batter.

Nate Williams took over for Florentino, pitched 1.2 innings without allowing a run, and got the win. Williams gave up two hits. He struck out two and walked no one.

Yoendris Gonzalez tossed the final 2.1 innings and got the save. He allowed no runs on one hit. Gonzalez struck out four and walked two.

Shortstop Angel Cepeda homered twice tonight. The first one was a two-run double in the fifth and the second one was a solo home run in the seventh. Cepeda was 3 for 4 with four RBI and three runs scored. Cepeda now as 11 home runs with South Bend and 12 overall.

First baseman Josiah Hartshorn hit a solo home run earlier in the seventh inning. It was Hartshorn’s 18th South Bend home run and 23rd overall. Hartshorn went 2 for 3 with a walk. He scored twice. Hartshorn has now raised his South Bend batting average above .300, with it now sitting a .302.

DH Kade Snell was 2 for 4 with an RBI triple. He also stole a base and scored twice.

A two-run double for Jose Escobar, who was 1 for 4.

Snell’s triple.

Cepeda’s first home run.

Hartshorn’s blast. As the post says, it set a new South Bend Cubs season RBI record.

Cepeda’s second home run went to almost the exact same place as the first one.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were hypnotized by the Columbia Fireflies (Royals), 13-6.

Starter Jubrayker Salaya got the loss after allowing three runs on five hits over three innings. Salaya struck out five and did not issue a walk.

Shortstop Alexis Hernandez hit his fourth home run of the season in the eighth inning. Hernandez went 3 for 4 with two RBI.

DH Corey Nunez was 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI single in the ninth. He also stole a base and scored one run.

Third baseman Derniche Valdez was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Center fielder Caden Sorrell was 2 for 4 with two runs scored.

Highlights.

The Twins bullied the Tigers again on Wednesday, putting up a score of 15-2 in this one and outdoing the beatdown they issued on Monday. Troy Melton struggled, the defense was atrocious, and while it was ugly with Melton in the game, it was farce once Kyle Finnegan took over, and by the time he departed this one was long over with.

The Tigers started off reasonably well. Kevin McGonigle and Gleyber Torres singled off of Andrew Morris to begin the game. Dillon Dingler flew out to Walker Jenkins in center field, getting McGonigle to third. Riley Greene’s return to the lineup saw him ground out for an RBI and a 1-0 lead, but that was all the Tigers would get as Hao-Yu Lee lined out.

Troy Melton took the bump in the bottom half looking to get off to a good start. He got the first two outs, then missed away with three fastballs to fall behind Kody Clemens. The right-hander came back with a fastball up and in the zone, and Clemens crushed it to right field for a solo shot, his 24th on the year. Ryan Jeffers followed by tripling past Javier Báez in right, but Melton wrapped up a long first inning by striking out Josh Bell.

Lefty Conner Prielipp took over from his opener, Morris, and Spencer Torkelson started the second inning with a ground rule double to left. Max Clark squared up to bunt and Prielipp’s heater was wild and right at his head. Fortunately, Clark ducked in time and the fastball just clipped the top of his helmet. So, two on, no outs, and the Tigers were in business. Báez quickly closed up shop with a routine grounder to short for a 6-4-3 double play. John Peck dug in for the first at-bat of his major league career, and also grounded out to shortstop.

This is how it’s going.

Melton put together a quicker second frame as Trevor Larnach flew out to right and Royce Lewis popped out. Kaelen Culpepper, the Twins young shortstop, grounded out to Peck, playing shortstop for the Tigers with McGonigle in the DH slot, and we were on to the third still in a 1-1 tie.

McGonigle tapped one back to Prielipp to start the third. Torres bit on a slider and struck out, but Dingler lined a single to left to keep the inning alive. Greene dug in and Prielipp stayed with his 90 mph slider down and away and punched out Greene as well.

Jenkins bounced a tricky one off the mound to start the bottom of the third, but Peck got to it and threw him out. Keaschall worked a little longer at-bat but flew out routinely to Báez. A changeup and a split got him ahead of Brooks Lee, and Melton eventually whiffed him with a good curveball to end the inning. Melton was at 49 pitches.

Prielipp punched out Lee with a changeup away to open the fourth. Torkelson saw the changeup better but lined out to left field, and so it was up to Clark. The speedy center fielder didn’t back down. After getting ahead in the count, he squared to bunt again and put down a really good one with the infield off guard. Prielipp collected it but his throw wasn’t in time as Clark roared down the line for a single. It didn’t do anything for the Tigers as Báez quickly grounded out to shortstop for what felt like the 100th time in the past few weeks.

Clemens and Jeffers flew out to Clark to start Melton’s bottom half of the inning. Josh Bell popped one in foul territory down the right field line but Torres couldn’t handle it, giving Bell a dangerous second chance. Melton missed with a sharp curve and then a cutter down and in, but Bell wasn’t impressed and the count was even. Bell took a changeup for a full count but finally a good slider got the whiff. Melton had retired 10 straight, but some wasted pitches in pitcher’s counts, and a few mistakes from his teammates, had driven his pitch count up to 64 pitches despite allowing just two hits and no walks with three strikeouts.

Peck led off the fifth with a little chopper back to Prielipp, who couldn’t handle it. Peck reached but they gave the error to the pitcher, so it wasn’t Peck’s first hit. McGonigle lifted a fly ball to left center field, but not deep enough for Peck to advance. Gleyber Torres put together a lengthy at-bat and drew a walk. So there were two on for Dingler, with Greene in the on deck circle. Dingler immediately swung at a first pitch slider and broke his bat. Culpepper fired to second but Dingler beat out the turn to first. So it was first and third with two outs for Greene, who flew out to left.

Just as quickly as the Tigers opportunity fizzled out again, the Twins developed one of their own. Melton walked Larnach and then Royce Lewis pulled one over Riley Greene off the left field wall to put runners at second and third with no outs. Melton got ahead of Culpepper, and the shortstop pulled one to Peck, playing in on the grass, and everyone had to hold up as he threw out Culpepper. That brought up a talented rookie in Jenkins. The center fielder yanked a pitch just foul to start the at-bat and that was scary. He eventually worked a full count and then slapped one to Peck. The Tigers shortstop fired home to Dingler in time and got Larnach in a run down. Dingler chased the runner back to third and then his nighmarish August carried into September as he threw high over Lee’s head. Both runners scored, and then a first pitch slider right down the middle was smoked by Keaschall to left for an RBI double to score Jenkins for a 4-1 lead. Brooks Lee flew out to center for the second out, and Melton punched out Clemens on a curveball to end the inning.

Prielipp cruised through another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth. Melton got the first out in the bottom half, but as his pitch count topped 90 pitches, Bell pulled a sharp grounder past a slow moving Torres for a single. Melton yanked a slider into Larnach’s toe to put him on base on Melton’s 95th pitch. Royce Lewis saw the slider first pitch, and again it was right down the middle. He absolutely crushed the cookie to dead center for a three run shot and it was 7-1 Twins.

That ended Melton’s night with five earned runs in, bumping his ERA up to 2.20 on the year. His teammates let him down quite a bit, but he also didn’t command anything consistently and probably deserved what he got in the end.

Kyle Finnegan took over and immediately gave up a double to Culpepper, and then walked Jenkins. Keaschall pulled a hard grounder up the middle, and Torres playing almost behind second base, still couldn’t get to it as the single skipped under his glove, scoring Culpepper to make it 8-1. Brooks Lee lifted a sacrifice fly to score Jenkins, and it was 9-1. We were still in the sixth inning and the game was totally out of hand. Would a position player pitch? Would the Tigers simply recruit a fan, assuming they couldn’t do any worse? Does anyone give a damn about this team at this point, including themselves?

The answer to all these questions was no. Finnegan hung a 1-1 slider to Jeffers, and he hammered it to left for another three-run homer. 12-1 Twins.

Beau Brieske is back with roster expansion and he took over to try and get this fiasco over with. He did help matters by walking Bell and then giving up a single to Larnach. Gabriel Gonzlaez pinch-ran for him. Lewis pulled a slow grounder up the middle between Torres and Peck. Torres fielded it but couldn’t get him at first. So, bases loaded and still, as there had been for 15 minutes, two outs. Culpepper pulled a two-run single to left. 14-1 Twins, and I really hope you’re not reading your way through this debacle. Jenkins finally grounded out to end the inning.

The Tigers went in order in the top of the seventh as both teams subbed in their younger players. Likewise, AJ Hinch moved Javier Báez to second base, yanking Torres, and inserted Ben Malgeri into right field. Brett Callahan hit for McGonigle, taking over the DH spot.

Mercifully, Brieske tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, striking out Ben Ross in his major league debut.

Right-hander Garrett Acton took over from Prielipp in the top of the eighth. Malgeri greeted him with a single through the right side for the Tigers sixth hit in this one. Dingler grounded one softly to Culpepper, who took the force of Malgeri at second. Riley Greene swung at three straight sliders in the dirt to strike out. Hao-Yu Lee doesn’t give up, and after nearly getting drilled in the head, he got a hanger on the inner third and snoked a double up the left center field gap to plate Dingler from first. 14-2 Twins.

In a 3-2 count, Acton sailed a fastball inside and drilled Torkelson in the arm, but Max Clark struck out to send it to the bottom half.

Jacob Waguespack took over in the bottom of the eighth. Alex Jackson reached on a broken bat single that Báez had to run a long way to collect. A wild pitch moved Jackson to second and Waguespack walked Bell, struck out Gonzalez, and then walked Royce Lewis to load the bases. Culpepper grounded into a force of Lewis at second as Jackson scored. 15-2 Twins.

With two outs in the top of the ninth, Brett Callahan singled on a 109.6 mph rocket off the right field wall, but Malgeri flew out to end it.

Just a pathetic effort the past two days, coming on the heels of a brutal last three weeks. At least Hao-Yu Lee put up a fight, and Brett Callahan scalded a couple of balls. Otherwise there wasn’t much fight in evidence, and Dillon Dingler looks wholly and completely lost in all phases of the game. Troy Melton? Eh he’ll be fine.

The Tigers will try to play major league caliber baseball again at 7:40 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Stay tuned for all the excitement.

Baseball has a way of humbling you, regressing your performance to the mean wherever the mean may be and however you may be skirting it. The Baseball Gods are equally jealous and impish. In other words, the other shoe always drops. Though Randy Dobnak’s peripherals and underlying stats have flashed danger throughout his Kansas City tenure, his luck ran out and his magic evaporated—on Harry Potter night at the ballpark, no less—during a 6-3 loss to the Miami Marlins.

Entering tonight, Dobnak had a 1.92 ERA but a 4.55 expected ERA. He wasn’t striking guys out, and he wasn’t allowing any home runs. Unfortunately, Dobnak gave up a pair of looong home runs. The first one was to third baseman Graham Pauley in the second inning, a two-run shot:

Dobnak wobbled through the next few innings before giving up another big ol blast to designated hitter Kyle Stowers, his 17th of the year.

Throughout all this, the Royals offense was…sleepy? Sleepy is the best way to put it, yes. Kansas City mustered all of four (4) baserunners in the first seven innings, looking like they wanted to go home from the September heat as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Dobnak gave up three consecutive hits in the seventh inning, all of which came around to score. Dobnak didn’t record an out, and was charged six earned runs.

The eighth inning, though, was an absolute hoot. First, that’s when the Royals finally scored. Josh Rojas singled and Isaac Collins walked. Carter Jensen doubled, and Bobby Witt Jr. followed it up with a near-home run that nevertheless resulted in an RBI and getting Jensen to third base.

It was there where the wheels came off. Marlins pitcher Victor Vodnik stepped awkwardly off of the mound, and was called for a balk. Jensen trotted home, and Royals had briefly scored their third run of the inning.

But I said “briefly” because the umpires convened together and reversed the balk, something that I don’t ever think I’ve seen. Manager Matt Quatraro was absolutely furious. Totally, completely furious. Q got tossed by and yet nevertheless continued to stalk second base umpire Chris Guccione around the field, unleashing his anger.

The umpires’ word is final, however. Quatraro got a hearty ovation from the crowd, but eventually trudged back to the dugout. The Royals would eventually get that third run back on a solo home run from Nick Loftin, but losing 6-3 is only barely better than losing 6-2.

Kansas City has now lost two in a row, thereby firmly demolishing whatever thin, thin possibility they had at magicking their way into the playoffs. At least Q getting tossed was neat.

Mariners 9, Red Sox 6

This game: Randy Arozarena, .12 WPA

All the other games we’ve watched this season: Carlos Vargas and Julio Rodríguez, -.02 WPA each

Game thread comment of the day:

Speaking of game threads: we have an app now! (Search “SB Nation” on your app platform of choice) And I think it makes it so much easier to participate in game threads! If you downloaded it and used it please leave some feedback in the comments here that I can pass along to my bosses.

Will Smith slots into the fifth spot in the lineup in his first game back as the Dodgers welcome the Cardinals into town.

Tuesday’s game info

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