Category: Baseball

We’ve seen a lot of long, frustrating losses this season. Last night’s 16-12 offensive barrage was unique even for the 2026 Mets. Following that monstrosity of a baseball game, tonight’s affair was blissfully, mercifully fairly normal in comparison. It was a fairly low-scoring evening until a sudden offensive barrage in the eighth inning, and the Mets came away with a 6-2 victory.

The Mets got the scoring started early against Royals opener Steven Cruz, as A.J. Ewing followed his four-hit barrage last night with another homer to lead off the game for the Amazins. It was Ewing’s seventh major league home run—and his first in the leadoff spot—and it quickly gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. That would prove to be the only run the bats would bring home for quite a while, as bulkman Randy Dobnak came on in the second and would go on to shut the Mets down for 5.2 scoreless innings. They came close in the bottom of third when Francisco Lindor socked a ball to deep right field with runners on first and second with two outs, but Tyler Tolbert made a terrific leaping catch against the wall to end the inning.

Thankfully for the Mets, Christian Scott was able to maintain that one-run lead during his start tonight. While Scott has overall had a pretty solid 2026, going deep into games has been an issue for him—as mentioned by Gary Cohen on the broadcast, he had not made it through five innings in any of the past three starts. Tonight, he managed to make it through five scoreless innings, giving up just three hits and one walk while striking out five. The most meaningful threat against him came in the top of the second when he surrendered a two-out walk and single, respectively, before inducing a pop fly to second base from the previously unstoppable Tolbert. All told, it was an encouraging outing from one of the few bright spots in the team’s starting rotation.

Unfortunately, the Mets quickly surrendered the lead when Scott exited the game. Tobias Myers was just recalled from the minors today, and he came on for the top of the sixth. He gave up a one-out double to Jac Caglianone, and after a groundout to third brought him within one out of getting out of the inning, Salvador Perez lined a 3-2 pitch to left field to bring the tying run home. Thus, Scott would receive a no-decision despite his solid start, and we were square even once more.

Myers got out of that inning and managed to toss a scoreless top of the seventh. Brooks Raley then came on and contributed a scoreless inning of his own. The Mets’ bats, meanwhile, continued to look hapless following the leadoff homer. Reliever Alex Lange came on for the eighth inning and quickly recorded the first two outs, and it looked like it was going to be yet another scoreless frame. Then Lindor lined a single to the outfield to break up a lengthy hitless stretch. Carson Benge followed that with a walk, and then Jorge Polanco hit a dribbler to first base and made it safely when Caglionone made an errant toss to the pitcher covering the bag. That loaded the bases for Jared Young, though Lange got him to two strikes and was one pitch away from getting out of the inning. His 2-2 pitch, however, nicked Young in the elbow, and that brought home the go-ahead run. The Mets then further capitalized on the Royals’ misfortunes when Brett Baty lined a single to center to bring two more runs home and put Young on third base. Lange then made his exit in favor of Jose Cuas, and his very first pitch sailed to the backstop to bring another run home and move Baty to second. Francisco Alvarez then blooped yet another single to left, bringing home the fifth run of the inning. Ewing followed that with a double, and Juan Soto was then intentionally walked to make it eight straight baserunners reaching base following the first two outs. Bo Bichette struck out to finally end it.

The suddenly comfortably 6-1 lead allowed Andy Green to rest his high-leverage relievers, and he instead turned to new arrival Xzavion Curry to close things out. It would have been quite a 2026 Mets thing for him to quickly allow the Royals back into the game and make things suddenly dramatic in the worst possible way. And indeed, after retiring the first two batters, Curry did surrender a walk and a double to bring home a run and make it 6-2. Thankfully, that was all the drama we were gonna get, as he struck out Bobby Witt Jr. to end it and give the Mets the victory. Now they will go for the series victory tomorrow afternoon.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Christian Scott, +28% WPA
Big Mets loser: Juan Soto and Bo Bichette, -6% WPA
Mets pitchers: +38% WPA
Mets hitters: +12% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jared Young RBI hit-by-pitch in the eighth, +25.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Salvador Perez RBI single in the sixth, -14.9% WPA

The Royals could not continue the offensive explosion of the last two games for another day. We saw baseball style scoring rather than football on Wednesday, at least until right at the end. New York scored 5 runs in the 8th inning to take this one 6-2.

New York got off to a fast start. Steven Cruz grooved a 2-0 pitch to leadoff hitter AJ Ewing and he drove it over the wall a little right of center. It was not an ideal start for Cruz as the opener, but he struck out two and got out of his inning with only one run of damage done.

Christian Scott made the start for New York and he had a solid night. In the first, Bobby Witt got an infield single without really having any threat from there. His second frame he walked Nick Loftin and then Isaac Collins singled to move Loftin to third and create the only jam of the night for Scott. He got out of it. Then he went on to three easy innings. He could not go deep in the game, however, due to those first two innings taking 49 pitches. It took 8 pitches to strike out Lane Thomas in the first and 7 a piece on the walk and single in the second. So, Scott looked very good and also left after five innings.

That mattered because the Mets bullpen was pretty taxed, so taxed that they had pulled up two arms from the minors in moves earlier today. One of those called up, Tobias Myers, came in for the 6th and 7th. Jac Caglianone lined a 113 MPH ball off the wall in right center for a double in the 6th and then moved to third on Lane’s groundout to third that pulled Bichette into foul territory and opened up the bag for Cags to take. Salvador Perez battled Myers until he got the 9th pitch of the at bat for a single to bring in Caglianone and tie the game up 1-1.

I want to apologize for throwing some shade toward Randy Dobnak in the game discussion writeup. He took over for Cruz in the second and then went 5 2/3 innings as the bulk guy. He had some help from the defense. In particular, he got in a bit of trouble in the 3rd inning. With 2 outs, Juan Soto did what he does and took a walk. Bo Bichette followed that up with a single to center and brought Francisco Lindor up with two runners on. He hit the ball well to right field, but Tyler Tolbert made a running catch at the wall that I wanted to embed here for you and MLB Film Room has it linked wrong, sorry.

Regardless, a few hard-hit balls and one near miss was all Dobnak really gave the Mets. He finished with a line of 5 2/3 IP, 3H, 3BB, 2K, 0ER before Matt Strahm came in to finish the 7th on a strike out call that Ewing wanted to challenge. The Mets has lost both challenges already, and if they had not, he would have lost that one. We were now into a bullpen battle.

Lane Thomas doubled off of Brooks Raley in the 8th to give the Royals a chance at a lead. It was not to be and it started to shuffle some players around. Starling Marte pinch hit for Michael Massey with two outs and ended the inning. He moved to right field where Tolbert had been, and Tolbert took over second base. Alex Lange came in for the 8th with Soto, Bichette, and Lindor coming up. Now he is fireman rather than traditional closer? Lange made quick work of the first two before Lindor singled to right and Carson Benge worked a walk in a long plate appearance. Jorge Polance came up for just the second NY attempt with a runner in scoring position. He hit a roller to Jac at first in a weird spot that made it hard for Lange to cover first. That led to an awkward and late flip to first and loaded up the bases for Jared Young who Alex hit with a pitch on the elbow to give the lead back to the Mets. Brett Baty quickly extended the Mets new lead with a single to the right center gap, 4-1 and Jose Cuas was brought in to try and end this long two out rally.

Cuas’ first pitch was WAY outside to add yet another run to ledger and the inning just would not end. Franciso Alvarez singled to left and scored Baty. Ewing followed that with a double and Soto was intentionally walked so that the bases were loaded yet again.

Xzavion Curry came in for the Mets in the 9th, his debut for them and for 2026. He has a track record that said the Royals had a shot a big comeback. Similar to the disaster 8th for the Royals, the Mets got two outs right away and looked comfortable. Josh Rojas came on to pinch hit with no one on and two down and worked a walk. Carter Jensen doubled to drive him in and make it look like the comeback could be on. But Bobby struck out and the game was over.

This series will be decided starting at noon central tomorrow. Then one more series to the All-Star Break and Jac Caglianone’s home run derby debut.

The Mets found a way to break a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning and beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-2.

New York took advantage of Kansas City's mistakes in the bottom of the eighth, rattling off five runs with two outs. Jorge Polanco somehow reached first safely to load the bases and Jared Young was hit by a pitch to drive in the go-ahead run. With the inning extended, Brett Baty gave the team some breathing room with a two-run single, a wild pitch scored a run, and Francisco Alvarez drove in another.

Here are the takeaways...

-- After recording his first career four-hit game in Tuesday's wild loss, A.J. Ewing smashed his first career leadoff home run off of Steven Cruz to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

He's the fifth different Met to hit a leadoff homer this season, joining Francisco Lindor, Bo Bichette, Juan Soto, and Carson Benge. The last time five Mets hit a leadoff home run in a season came in 1962.

-- Christian Scott had one of his best outings of the season by tossing five scoreless innings, lowering his season ERA to 3.17.

The young right-hander needed 49 pitches to get through the first two innings scoreless, but was able to settle down for two quicker frames in the third and fourth innings (25 pitches combined). Scott kept it going with a 1-2-3 fifth inning, but that would be all after reaching 90 pitches. Overall, he allowed three hits, struck out five, and walked one.

-- Lindor nearly had a huge hit in the bottom of the third inning with two runners on base, but Tuesday's star Tyler Tolbert made a leaping catch at the wall in right field for the third out.

-- Tobias Myers, who was recalled from Triple-A earlier Wednesday, replaced Scott on the mound in the sixth inning. Although it didn't go as he'd like, as he allowed a one-out double to Jac Caglianone and an RBI-single to Salvador Perez that tied the game at 1-1.

Myers returned to pitch the seventh inning and escaped some trouble, including a leadoff double, to keep the game knotted up. In total, he allowed one run on three hits over 2.0 IP with one strikeout and one walk.

-- The Mets bats struggled against Royals bulk reliever Randy Dobnak, getting just three hits (two by Benge) against him over 5.2 innings into the bottom of the seventh. Francisco Alvarez walked with two outs, ending Dobnak's day, but was left stranded as Ewing struck out looking on a questionable call and couldn't challenge since they had none remaining.

-- Xzavion Curry made his team debut in the ninth with a five-run lead, allowing one run on a double with a walk.

Game MVP: Christian Scott

Scott silenced the Royals' bats after they put up 19 hits and 16 runs on Tuesday night.

Highlights

A.J. Ewing's first career leadoff homer! pic.twitter.com/wXNkUgz8Va

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 8, 2026

Christian Scott is fired up after striking out Carter Jensen to end the top of the 5th inning pic.twitter.com/tw0hBxHjOz

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

Jared Young gets hit with the bases loaded and the Mets lead 2-1! pic.twitter.com/Q0MTRF4A1u

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

A two-run double for Brett Baty extends the Mets' lead to 4-1! pic.twitter.com/DkW8vfIX3U

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

Jose Cuas' first pitch is a wild one and the Mets' score their fourth run of the 8th inning! pic.twitter.com/A2dHR7uJt1

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

The two-out rally continues!

5 runs in the 8th inning after this RBI single from Francisco Alvarez! pic.twitter.com/9zl6q7BHe6

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 9, 2026

What's next

The Mets wrap up their three-game series on Thursday against the Royals at 1:10 p.m. on SNY.

Sean Manaea (1-4, 4.76 ERA) will take the mound opposed by Michael Wacha (5-6, 3.45 ERA).

The Athletics squared off with the Detroit Tigers in the middle game of this three-game series between these two historic American League franchises. The Tigers scored early and never looked back, winning 6-1 to take the series and leave the A’s sitting ten games under .500.

Tigers Strike First

Tigers’ starter Troy Melton needed only eight pitches to retire the side in the first inning. Meanwhile, A’s starter Jeffrey Springs got off to a rocky start. Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler reached second base on an infield single coupled with A’s third baseman Zack Gelof’s throwing error. Springs then walked two straight hitters to load the bases with only one out.

Left fielder Riley Greene’s RBI single brought home the Tigers first run of the game. Springs retired the next two batters to limit the damage, although he needed 34 pitches to get through that high-stress first inning.

A’s Waste Chance to Respond

In the second inning, A’s right fielder Lawrence Butler hit a two-out double. He advanced to third on second baseman Joshua Kuroda-Grauer’s infield single. Alas, the visitors wasted their first scoring opportunity as Melton struck out Carlos Cortes to end the inning.

Tigers Roar

In the bottom of the second inning, Jeff McNeil took over at first base for Nick Kurtz, who left the game due to illness. That marks two straight days the team has had a player exit the game early, suggesting an illness may be spreading through the A’s clubhouse.

The Tigers extended their lead that inning. Backup catcher Jake Rogers, pinch-hitting for injured starter Dingler, hit his second home run of the season, a two-out, two-run shot to left-center field.

A’s Catch a Break

The A’s scored their lone run in the fourth inning. With one out, Tyler Soderstrom doubled. He scored on Tigers’ shortstop Zach McKinstry’s throwing error. For the second consecutive time, Kuroda-Grauer’s infield single advanced a base runner 90 feet before Cortes struck out to end an A’s rally. The shine has worn off from Cortes, who now looks like the player that failed to break through with the New York Mets earlier in his career.

Springs: Batting Practice Pitcher!

After throwing two straight scoreless innings to keep the A’s deficit at two, the Tigers got to Springs in the fifth inning. Back-to-back singles set up runners at the corners with one out. Springs promptly served up his second home run of the night. First baseman Spencer Torkelson hit his 15th of the season, a three-run shot to left field, making it a 6-1 ballgame.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay finally removed Springs, replacing him with right-handed reliever Justin Sterner, who got the final two outs of that inning. Springs struggled again, allowing six runs on six hits plus four walks in 4 1/3 innings.

It seems that no matter where he pitches, he is prone to giving up the long ball. Springs has given up more home runs over his last 15 starts than any pitcher in A’s history. With an ERA north of 6.00, it may be time for the A’s to consider moving Springs to the bullpen.

If they do not view him as a part of their plans moving forward, a trade could be another option. However, it is unclear whether the Athletics have a better internal replacement should they decide to make that switch before his next start, which would come after the All-Star break. As it stands, the A’s are using an MLB high 4.2 pitchers per game, a reflection of how many short outings they have recently received from their starting pitchers.

If the A’s want to contend for a playoff spot, they need more young, hard-throwing pitchers like Melton, not soft-tossing veterans such as Springs and fellow starter Aaron Civale. At this point, it might do the club good to bring in new pitching coaches and see if fresh voices in the pitchers’ ears can help this team’s talented young arms improve.

Melton’s Dominance Continues

Melton’s outing ended after he walked Soderstrom with one out in the sixth inning. The young right-hander fared much better, allowing just one unearned run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings. He walked only one while striking out nine, and his overpowering stuff was on full display all evening.

A’s Late Offensive Rallies Die

Right-hander Keider Montero entered out of the Tigers’ bullpen. He walked A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson before retiring the next two batters on groundouts. The visitors stranded two more runners in scoring position, wasting another scoring opportunity.

In the seventh, the A’s failed to cash in with runners in scoring position for a second straight inning. Meanwhile, A’s relievers Mason Barnett and Jose Suarez kept the score unchanged, combining to pitch the final three innings of the game.

Kuroda-Grauer was arguably the A’s lone offensive bright spot. He added his third hit in the ninth inning, giving him his third three-hit game in just eight MLB appearances. Unfortunately, the rest of the A’s lineup contributed next to nothing in a game where the visitors once again had to play from behind. The “Green and Gold” finished the night 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.

The free-falling Athletics will look to avoid a second consecutive sweep tomorrow afternoon. The pitching matchup features Jack Perkins taking on longtime A’s nemesis Framber Valdez. The former Houston Astros’ standout has not fared as well in his first year with Detroit.

The rubber game of Dodgers vs Rockies is upon us. What late-game weirdness is in store for us tonight?

Wednesday game info

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

The Orioles entered this homestand in need of a series win to keep their slim playoff chances afloat. Baltimore dropped the opener on Tuesday, and the team continued to spiral out of contention tonight.

Pete Alonso gave the Orioles an early two-run lead, but Dean Kremer allowed three home runs in the fifth inning. Chicago struck for five more in the seventh, and Baltimore’s rally fell short in a 9-7 defeat.

Kremer made his first mistake in the top of the third inning. The righty threw Pete Crow-Armstrong three consecutive splitters in the same location. Crow-Armstrong went swing and a miss for strike one, swing and a miss for strike two, swing and a solo home run for a 1-0 lead.

Baltimore’s offense showed some life in the fourth inning. Blaze Alexander and Jackson Holliday put runners on the corners with a pair of singles. Gunnar Henderson bounced into a double play, but the twin killing still allowed the tying run to score.

Kremer posted a zero in the fourth with some help from a caught stealing by Adley Rutschman, and Alonso gave the Birds the lead with a two-run blast in the bottom half. Unfortunately, Kremer failed to deliver the shutdown inning.

Michael Conforto launched the first pitch of the inning over the fence in right field, and Carson Kelly obliterated the second pitch of the frame to tie the game at three. Conforto ambushed a first-pitch fastball that was north of the strike zone, but Kremer grooved a cutter to Kelly.

Kremer retired Dansby Swanson for the first out, but Crow-Armstrong stepped in for his second blast of the game. The All Star gave the Cubs the lead with a solo shot to center, and the Orioles never recovered.

Holliday led off the bottom half with an opposite-field single, but Henderson grounded into his second double play of the evening. Rico Garcia entered and posted a zero in the sixth, but Chicago broke the game open in the seventh.

Garcia retired Conforto before allowing a single and a walk. Craig Albernaz summoned Grant Wolfram to face Crow-Armstrong, and Wolfram struggled to find the strike zone. The lefty walked PCA to load the bases and surrendered a sacrifice fly to Alex Bregman.

Wolfram came within one strike of ending the inning with the game still in reach, but he lost Michael Bush to reload the bases. The Cubs scored their sixth run of the game on a wild pitch by Wolfram, and Seiya Suzuki put the game out of reach with a three-run blast.

The Orioles did their best to battle back. Tyler O’Neill hit a pinch-hit home run to start the seventh, and the Orioles used three singles to manufacture their fifth run of the game. Alonso stepped up with two outs and runners on the corners, but the Polar Bear flew out to center.

Albert Suárez tossed a scoreless eighth, and Baltimore continued to claw their way back in the eighth inning. Coby Mayo launched a ball to the second deck in left field, and O’Neill followed with his second home run of the game.

Holliday hit a ball off the top of the wall for his fourth hit of the game, and Henderson lined a ball up the middle at 103.6 MPH. Henderson nearly broke through for his first hit of the game, but Swanson made a diving catch to rob Baltimore’s shortstop and keep the lead at two.

Tyler Wells tossed a scoreless ninth, but Baltimore’s two, three and four hitters went quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Rutschman, Ward and Alonso all grounded out to prevent the tying run from ever reaching the plate.

The Orioles would have killed for seven runs in several of their recent losses, but they were done in by an 8-0 run tonight. Holliday finished 4-for-4, O’Neill tallied 40% of his home runs this season, and Mayo showed off his power against lefties. Both Ward and Dylan Beavers notched multi-hit games, but the pitching let the team down.

Baltimore fell to 42-51. The O’s will look to avoid the sweep tomorrow with Trevor Rogers on the mound.

The San Francisco Giants have a lot to consider at this juncture of the MLB season.

There were mid-level expectations for the Giants at the start of the season. On paper, it seemed like the Giants could battle for a wild card berth.

The Giants won't meet those expectations.

A week before the All-Star break, San Francisco has the third-worst record in baseball at 38-54. The Giants lost 10-0 to the Toronto Blue Jays on July 8, held hitless through eight innings.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that this team won't be competitive down the stretch, which has many of the Giants faithful singing a NxWorries tune, wondering what to do and where to go from here.

It's evident that a shake-up is needed. It's simply a matter of where they start and what they can realistically do to change things in the dugout. But one thing's for sure: the Giants are sellers heading into the trade deadline.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For the first time in three games, the Yankees did not strike out 17 times Wednesday night, so there was that.

Otherwise, their lineup remained abysmal as their deficit in the AL East grew larger.

The Yankees wasted a quality pitching effort from Gerrit Cole because the only thing they are doing consistently well of late is slumping together offensively, their latest collective dud resulting in a 3-0 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field.

In a game in which their frustration began to boil over, with Aaron Boone and bench coach Brad Ausmus both getting ejected in the sixth inning, the Yankees (50-42) lost for the 11th time in their past 13 games while dropping to five games back of the Rays (54-36) for the division lead.

“Just looking at the outcomes, it’s not where we want to be, and it’s not good enough to compete for first place right now,” Cole said.

After the Yankees had struck out 17 times in each of the first two games of this series, they whiffed just 11 times Wednesday, yet they still mustered just six hits (all singles, only three of which left the infield) as they were stifled by lefty Shane McClanahan and the Rays bullpen.

They had just one hard-hit ball all night, coming on a Ben Rice groundout.

They will try to salvage a series split Thursday afternoon, but that will be a difficult task against Rays All-Star Drew Rasmussen, who has pitched the Yankees tough (including 13 shutout innings this season) even when they are not going through a death spiral.

“You can feel it,” José Caballero said of the lineup’s struggles. “Personally, I think it’s us thinking about the bad stretch and taking it heavy on ourselves. I can speak for myself, I don’t like knowing that the last seven to 10 games, I’m doing bad. You think about it too long and it doesn’t get easier if you continue thinking about it. For me, we should just keep it simple and trust the room. We know how good we can be and we know how good we are.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

During the first three games of this series, the Yankees have recorded 45 strikeouts and two walks.

The Rays always pitch them tough, but this is taking that to another level of dominance.

The top four hitters in the Yankees lineup — Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice, Amed Rosario and Cody Bellinger — went a combined 2-for-16 on Wednesday.

Goldschmidt is now in an 0-for-34 skid after striking out three more times, giving him 10 punchouts over his past three games before he likely sits Thursday.

Bellinger went 0-for-4 and is now in an 8-for-70 (.114) slump.

“Obviously offensively now is a real struggle for us. I keep saying that,” Boone said. “It’s no secret. There’s no magic pill. … I do believe we’ll get through this, but there’s not much more to talk about. We got to go make some things happen.”

Cole allowed three runs across 6 ¹/₃ innings while throwing 97 pitches, his most since returning from Tommy John surgery.

He was hurt by the top two hitters in the Rays lineup, on a night when Yandy Díaz had four hits and Jonathan Aranda drove in all three runs.

But even a shutout wouldn’t have been enough.

The Yankees had a chance to take a lead in the second inning after back-to-back singles by Jasson Domínguez and Anthony Volpe with one out.

But Max Schuemann came up next and dropped down a safety-squeeze bunt to the pitcher, but Domínguez got a late break from third and was easily thrown out at the plate.

Austin Wells followed by popping out in foul territory, on the way to finishing the night batting .148.

McClanahan retired 10 straight batters into the sixth inning, when Caballero led off with a bunt single. But he was soon erased on a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play with Goldschmidt providing the whiff.

The Yankees tried to challenge the play at second, but did so too late, which resulted in Boone and Ausmus getting tossed by home plate umpire Doug Eddings.

“I feel like sometimes you get beat up a little bit, you can have that defeated feeling,” Boone said. “We got to avoid that. This game waits for no one. It’s hard as can be. We got to get over ourselves in that.”

As Alex Weiner noted last night, the D-backs after 91 games have exactly the same 45-46 point they had after 91 games in both 2024 and 2025. Of course, in neither of the previous season did Arizona end up making the playoffs. But things the rest of the way went rather different. In 2024, the D-backs had the second-best record in the National League from this point on, going 44-27. Unfortunately, the New York Mets were almost as good, and their 45-28 mark proved sufficient to bring them into a three-way tie with the Diamondbacks on 89 wins, and that infamous double-header against the Braves which saw both side win the tie-breaker against us.

In 2025, however, the mediocrity continued. They were a mere 35-36 thereafter, on their way to eighty wins. However, the bar was considerably lower to reach the post-season. A mere 83 wins was sufficient for the Reds to make the playoffs – ironically, it was the Mets turn to lose out on the tiebreaker. The D-backs could have been involved as well. In their penultimate series, they walked off the Dodgers to move to 80-77: winning three of their last five contests would have had them finish on 83 wins as well (though they dropped the season series to the Reds anyway). But they lost all five contests, and were eliminated after Friday night’s loss in San Diego.

Which way will things break over the remainder of 2026? Only time will tell. We don’t know if the team will buy or sell, and that could well be a factor. Or maybe not. After all, Mike Hazen sold last year, but the D-backs then went on a bit of a tear to keep things interesting into the final week. Meanwhile, the 2024 team bought A.J. Puk and Josh Bell, and after 140 games were 2.5 games clear. But they played below .500 ball the rest of the way, going 10-12, and that ended up costing them. So it’s very hard to predict. But as the chart above shows, the rest of the way we can’t possibly find ourselves with the same record as 2025 and 2024 again!

Perhaps they should rename Comerica Park to Rogers Center after Jake Rogers’ pinch performance helped the Tigers beat the A’s 6-1.

The Tigers have been pretty good lately, 7-3 for their last 10 games, and as we know, performing well against teams with much better records than theirs. So naturally, against another fourth-place team, they’re going to potentially struggle. However, they did take the first game of the series against the A’s, so how this series will play out is anyone’s guess. The Tigers had Troy Melton on the mound up against Jeffrey Springs for the A’s.

The A’s went 1-2-3 in the top of the first. The home half took considerably longer to work through. With one out, Dillon Dingler singled and was able to advance to second on a throwing error by the A’s third baseman. Kevin McGonigle walked, then Spencer Torkelson walked. Springs was having a heck of a time finding the zone, and that didn’t change when Riley Greene came up to bat, and both Greene and the catcher challenged pitches, both of them balls, before Greene singled to score Dingler and put the Tigers on the board first. Two outs followed, but they had certainly worn Springs down early.

After the first out of the second inning, there was a pause in play. A foul tip hit Dingler in his exposed hand, and while he stayed in through the top of the inning, he did ultimately leave the game. No current status updates. With two outs in the second, Lawrence Butler doubled. Then Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (a challenger for the Isiah Kiner-Falefa crown of making me struggle to spell their names right) singled. A final out ended the inning and the threat. In the bottom of the inning, Nick Kurtz was out of the game for the A’s after two, citing illness, so a rough game all around. Zach McKinstry got a one-out single. Then, with two outs and pinch-hitting for Dingler, Jake Rogers came in and hit a home run. Now that’s how you step in with style.

The A’s went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. The Tigers, likewise, went down in order in the bottom of the inning.

In the top of the fourth things got rough for Melton for the first time all game. Tyler Soderstrom got a one-out double. Jacob Wilson then reached on a fielding error by McKinstry, which allowed Soderstrom to score. With two outs, Kuroda-Grauer singled. Melton managed to get out of the jam, though, with only the one run scored. In the home half, the Tigers went down in order once again.

Melton struck out the side in the fifth, though Jeff McNeil really fought him for the final out of the inning, and then when he finally did strike out, he had a good scream at himself.

In the bottom of the inning, Rogers continued to have himself a heck of a game with a leadoff single, then hustled all the way to third when McGonigle singled. He was looking a little breathless after that, so Spencer Torkelson decided to give him a break and hit a three-run homer to clear the bases.

Riley Greene walked, which was the end of the game for Springs. He was replaced by Justin Sterner. Sterner came in and got the final two outs of the inning. The Tigers were up 6-1 after five innings.

In the top of the sixth, Soderstrom walked with one out. Melton’s day was done at that point with a final line of 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 E, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K on 91 pitches. Keider Montero came in to replace him, and gave up a walk to Jacob Wilson. Two outs followed to get the Tigers out of the inning, no harm done. Mason Barnett was the new A’s pitcher in the home half. With one out, McKinstry walked. McKinstry was then eliminated by a force out off the bat of Matt Vierling. Rogers drew a walk, putting him on base for every one of his at-bats for the evening. The Tigers ultimately left their baserunners stranded, unfortunately.

Carlos Cortes got the A’s going in the seventh with a leadoff single. With two outs, McNeil singled, so maybe he can be a bit nicer to himself later. Montero got out of the inning, though. José Suarez came in to pitch for the A’s in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Greene singled. However, two outs followed to leave another baserunner stranded.

In the eighth, Montero was replaced by Tyler Holton, who got three outs in a row. The Tigers also went three-up, three-down. Now they just had to get the final outs of the game to lock it down.

Beau Brieske was the man the Tigers turned to for the ninth. Kuroda-Grauer singled to get things started. With two outs, he took second on defensive indifference. It was Rogers who caught the final out of the inning, a cherry on top of an incredible evening for him.

Final: Tigers 6, A’s 1

I don’t want to write this recap.

The Mariners lost 2-0 to the Marlins on Wednesday. It was a very boring game. George Kirby pitched well, in the way that George Kirby often pitches well, but not in the way that he pitched so well as to be newsworthy. The Mariners lineup hit poorly, in the way that the Mariners lineup often hits poorly, but not in the way that they hit so poorly as to be newsworthy. The Marlins stadium on television is ugly and empty and fills me with an unseasonal depression. I don’t want to write this recap.

The Mariners offense was bad today. Five hits, two walks, one hit by pitch, no runs. They distributed this modest sum with a base runner in each the first four innings; they didn’t get another base runner until Josh Naylor singled with one out in the ninth. It never felt like they were going to score. I don’t even remember who pitched for the Marlins, because whatever it is about LoanDepot Park renders everything into an ocular Lorem Ipsum. Again, it was very, very boring to watch. The most interesting thing that happened for the Mariners on offense was Naylor swung and missed so hard at an 0-1 pitch in the sixth inning that he fell over and needed a few moments to recover. I chose to believe he simply fell asleep mid swing.

Kirby was good again. He threw six innings and struck out seven with 12 whiffs. He walked nobody and didn’t give up a ton of grounders, so it felt almost like a vintage Kirby outing, rather than the still pretty decent but definitely new version of Kirby we’ve seen much of this year.

The Marlins got the only run they’d need with a solo homer from Kyle Stowers to lead off the second. In the third, Javier Sanoja hit a lead off double. He was later erased after Luke Raley made a nice, not-so-boring diving catch, tossing to second for an easy double play. Unfortunately, the Marlins followed later in the inning with a single and a triple to make it 2-0, increasing their lead over the Mariners by infinity.

In the fourth, Heriberto Hernández got a double. Jakob Marsee hit a rocket grounder to short that nearly hit Hernández. In his attempt to get out of the way, Hernández strayed too far from the bag, and Colt Emerson raced him back to second and tagged him with a dive.

In the fifth, Otto Lopez doubled with two outs. The Marlins nearly scored again on an Xavier Edwards single, but Victor Robles fielded and fired home to Cal Raleigh, who made a great snag and tag for the final out.

Well, those last three things weren’t that boring. The Mariners actually played pretty solid defense on Wednesday, which is closer to a miracle that it is boring. Frankly, if the Mariners had won this game, I would have called it “solid” or “necessary” or maybe even “rugged.” But, well, they didn’t. With two outs in the ninth and Naylor on third, Cole Young watched the final strike three on a pitch that was well outside. It seemed he, too, was so bored that he didn’t bother to challenge. The Mariners lost 2-0.

After striking out 17 times in each of the first two games of this series, the Yankees managed to rein in the whiffs today. However, this more contact-oriented approach brought far worse results than their five runs in the opener and four runs last night. They found themselves shut out for the sixth time this season as they managed just six hits and didn’t draw a single walk. Yandy Díaz was a perfect 4-for-4, Jonathan Aranda drove in all three runs, and Shane McClanahan tossed 6.1 scoreless as the Yankees went down without much resistance, 3-0.

Paul Goldschmidt might be mired in the worst stretch of his career. After improbably powering the offense in the first half of June, the regression monster caught up all at once with the 38 year old. He entered this game amid a career-worst 0-for-30 skid, and with his strikeout in the first had struck out in eight straight plate appearances. He’d finish the day 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, which ties him for the second-longest hitless streak in franchise history at 34 ABs, just two behind Gil McDougald’s 0-for-36 in 1959.

Gerrit Cole’s fastball velocity and command at the bottom of the zone looked just as good as it did last time out against the Twins, averaging 97 mph and collecting four of his six strikeouts. However, he just fell victim to some pesky hitting by the first two hitters in the Rays lineup and exactly zero run support from his offense. In the third, Yandy Díaz reached on a two-out double that came close to leaving the yard and Jonathan Aranda singled him home to open the scoring. In the fifth, Nick Fortes and Díaz reached on a pair of one-out singles, a double from Aranda driving Fortes home, though José Caballero made a nice snap throw home to gun down Díaz on a Junior Caminero grounder to avoid further damage in the frame.

The Yankees tried a sequence of small ball to open the scoring in the second, but just barely got beat out in the fundamentals department by the Rays. Jasson Domínguez reached on a one-out swinging bunt single and then went first to third after getting a good read on an Anthony Volpe bloop jam-shot to the opposite field. They then attempted the safety squeeze on the very first pitch to Max Schuemann, but Domínguez didn’t quite get a wide enough lead off third, Schuemann didn’t quite bunt the ball far enough down the third base line, and a perfect scoop and glove toss from McClanahan and an excellent, legal plate block and tag by Nick Fortes at home got Domínguez by a step, Austin Wells then popping out to strand a pair.

All the air went out of the Yankees’ balloon upon that failure to capitalize, McClanahan retiring 11 in a row starting with the out at home. They had to wait until the sixth inning for their next baserunner, José Caballero leading off with a bunt single. That got erased in a hurry, Caballero getting thrown out at second on a strike-em-out throw-em-out double play that resulted in both Aaron Boone and Brad Ausmus getting thrown out of the game by home plate umpire Doug Eddings after he ruled they took too long to challenge the play and refused to send it to the replay center.

Rosario led off the seventh with a single, and after McClanahan retired Cody Bellinger, Kevin Cash emerged from the dugout to retrieve his starter at the end of a season-long outing of 6.1 scoreless innings allowing four hits and no walks while striking out five. Domínguez collected his second infield single of the day to put a pair on with one out, but a Volpe strikeout and Trent Grisham pinch-hit fly out stranded them in place.

Cole also completed 6.1 innings, departing with a runner on first in the seventh after Taylor Walls drew a leadoff walk. Fernando Cruz inherited his runner and surrendered a single to Díaz — his fourth hit of the day — to put runners on the corners for Aranda, his sac fly to center driving in his third run of the day to give him 61 RBI on the year — 3rd-most in the AL. It was a start that in many ways mirrored his outing against Minnesota, Cole leaning on the four-seamer as he struggled to find a consistent release point for the slider and changeup. Too many of his secondaries were either over the heart of the plate or complete waste pitches to be able to fool the Rays hitters. His final line saw him allow three runs on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

The Yankees went quietly in the final two innings. They were put down in order in the eighth, and after a Ben Rice single to lead off the ninth, Bryan Baker struck out the next three batters to slam the door on a game that took just over two hours and fifteen minutes — 3-0, Rays your final score.

New York will look to salvage a series split tomorrow afternoon. They have not announced the starter who will face off against Yankee killer Drew Rasmussen. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET with the broadcast returning to YES.

Box Score

Despite getting completely and totally blanked for the first six innings of this contest, the Atlanta Braves eventually broke through and ended up pulling off a 3-0 victory in an excellent pitching performance from Grant Holmes and Atlanta’s bullpen.

It would be an understatement to call this one a pitchers’ duel, as both starters were dominant for the period of time where they were out there. Grant Holmes successfully navigated his way through two trips through the order as he finished with just three hits allowed and one walk conceded across five innings of work and five strikeouts. The slider and cutter were both working pretty effectively for Holmes — everything was working, really, as Holmes picked up two strikeouts on the four-seamer and three on the slider.

The only time that Holmes ran into trouble was in the third inning, which is when he found himself with two runners in scoring position with two outs after he led off the inning hitting Henry Davis and then gave up a two-out single to Bryan Reynolds. Fortunately, Holmes was able to get Esmerlyn Valdez to pop up on a four-seamer and that was that for the scoring chance. That was as close as Pittsburgh got to scoring off of Holmes before he eventually exited the game with 90 pitches after five innings.

As good as Homes was, Jared Jones was better. Jones was just about untouchable against the Braves tonight, as he struck out eight batters without giving up a hit or a walk through six innings of work. Atlanta’s lineup couldn’t handle him at all, which is why it was probably a huge relief for the Braves once they saw Mason Montgomery walk out for the seventh inning.

The crowd in Pittsburgh disagreed with the decision and they voiced their disapproval after Ozzie Albies ended the combined perfect game bid with a looping single out to left to give the Braves their first hit and baserunner of the game. While Jones has been kind of easing back into things following elbow issues, it certainly took a lot of the neutral intrigue out of the game once it was clear that the Pirates weren’t going to let him go for the perfect game.

Either way, the Braves were unable to do anything with the baserunner in the seventh inning as Montgomery sat down the Braves in short order after the hit. However, Atlanta’s fortunes improved once the eighth inning rolled around and an old friend of Pittsburgh’s got a chance to do some damage against his old club.

Earlier in the game, Joey Bart came the closest to getting the Braves on the board after he hit a deep fly ball in the third inning that only made it to the warning track. The funny part is that despite the hard contact, Bart busted it out of the batter’s box because he knew this ballpark and knew that he probably didn’t get enough of it for a dinger. This time in the eighth inning, he did, in fact, get enough of it. Bart followed up Mike Yastrzemski’s double off the wall in right field with a 422-foot shoot to left-center in order to finally break the deadlock and put the Braves in the lead.

Thanks to Didier Fuentes and Dylan Dodd keeping the Buccos quiet once they entered in relief of Grant Holmes, that set the stage for Dylan Lee to enter the game and deliver another strong performance out of the bullpen. That set the stage for the Braves to add on some more insurance as Michael Harris II led off the ninth with a double and then Drake Baldwin cashed in Money Mike with an RBI knock to make it 3-0.

With the lead at three runs, it was now up to Raisel Iglesias to make it stick and get a tiny bit of redemption following his rare blown save on Monday. The first batter for Iggy is always crucial and this time, Iglesias struck out Esmerlyn Valdez to get the inning started on the right track. While Iglesias did end up walking a batter, the Pirates weren’t able to even get the tying run aboard and the Braves ended up taking the 3-0 shutout victory.

For a while, this sure seemed like teh Braves were going to be on the wrong side of history for a second night in a row. Instead, Atlanta took advantage of the pitching change and did enough damage to Pittsburgh’s bullpen while the Braves’ bullpen was back in great form as well. Grant Holmes pitching five great innings sure helped matters as well and the Braves were able to snap their losing streak at the earliest point to where you could call it a losing streak.

It’ll be a quick turnaround for everybody involved as the rubber match takes place tomorrow afternoon at 12:35 p.m. ET. The Pirates will turn to Mitch Keller while Bryce Elder will be making his return to the rotation for the Braves. Hopefully he can pick up where Grant Holmes and the rest of Atlanta’s pitching staff left off and we’ll see the Braves pick up a much-needed series win after a nice win on Wednesday evening.

Arizona Diamondbacks (45-46) at San Diego Padres (45-46), July 8, 2026, 7:10 p.m. PST

Watch: ESPN

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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The Colorado Rockies have a rare opportunity as they try to win a series on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies’ offense has been troublesome for the best team in baseball throughout the series, and after a narrow extra-inning loss on Monday and a comeback victory on Tuesday, Colorado looks to do it again tonight.

Gabriel Hughes (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his first career start after debuting against the San Francisco Giants last Friday. Hughes was excellent against the Giants in his debut, firing three scoreless innings to secure a save. He will have a tougher challenge this time out as he faces a dangerous Dodger offense. In nine starts in the minors this year, Hughes has a 4.71 ERA over 36.1 innings of work in that role. He has done excellent work pounding the zone, as evidenced by his 44 strikeouts against 12 walks. He’ll need to be mindful of hitting his spots and utilizing all of his pitches to challenge the Dodgers and avoid getting behind hitters, thus leaving mistakes over the plate.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers will send out Roki Sasaki (3-5, 5.40 ERA). It’s been a tough second season for Sasaki as he has experienced an up-and-down ride. He had one of his worst outings last Thursday when he gave up six runs on seven ‌hits in a season-low three innings against the San Diego Padres. Sasaki has excellent stuff that can result in strikeouts, but he has struggled with his command and given up a lot of contact. He has been hit by the long ball lately, giving up seven home runs over his last four starts.

And now to the details.

First Pitch: 8:10 pm MDT

TV: Rockies TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

SB Nation site: True Blue LA

Lineups:

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