Category: Baseball

The Yankees are unlikely to see Giancarlo Stanton again this season.

There is still no publicly known timetable regarding Aaron Judge.

For too long, the club has felt as if it were waiting for those game-changing, fence-clearing bats to rejoin and recharge the lineup.

Not Sunday, though, when the Yankees flexed their athleticism and speed, often made a concerted effort to take the right swing rather than the big swing, and later added to their lead with a few of those big swings.

Using small ball, big ball, 11 hits, four walks and a few productive outs, the Yankees put together a relative offensive explosion in an 8-3 victory over the Blue Jays that clinched the series in front of 41,802 in The Bronx.

George Lombard Jr. used his bat and legs to create a pair of hits and raced around the bases on Spencer Jones’ knocks. Austin Wells drilled an RBI double.

Ben Rice dropped in a two-run single.

Cody Bellinger returned with a single and scored a run.

Trent Grisham drew the go-ahead walk with the bases loaded and later homered.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. did some of everything — moving a runner over, laying down what might have been a sacrifice bunt that became a base hit and then homering himself.

“Those are the best [games] when everyone’s playing a big role, and that was certainly the case today,” manager Aaron Boone said after his Yankees (74-56) won a sixth of seven and remained three games behind the Rays in the division before welcoming the Astros this week after a day off.

Carlos Rodón (four innings, two runs) was solid enough, and Paul Blackburn, Ryan Yarbrough and Brent Headrick (combined five innings of one-run ball on three hits) were typically excellent behind him.

But Yankees pitching seems to excel every game, which means the lineup merely needs to be competent to win games.

The club exceeded that bar Sunday through a variety of means, such as:

—Scoring two runs in the second with terrific and youthful legs plus some small ball.

Lombard shot a single through the right side before Jones — who is now a platoon right fielder, having survived the roster cut that came with Bellinger activated — stroked a double to the gap in right-center, two fresh legs rounding the bases and Lombard sliding in safely for the first run.

“[Lombard] told me after he scored — he’s like, ‘Man, I feel like we’ve been doing that a lot,’ ’’ Jones said, “where he gets on base and I hit a ball in the gap and let him run around the bases.”

With no outs, Chisholm fell behind 1-2 and then cut down on his swing to pull a ground ball to the right side, advancing Jones to third. Wells’ double then scored the second run.

“Jazz doing small ball, big ball, Jazz ball,” Boone said.

— After Toronto tied it in the fourth, the Yankees used athleticism, patience and clutch hits to go ahead in the sixth. Lombard reached on a swinging bunt before Jones smacked a single over shortstop Ernie Clement’s head. With first and second and no one out, the struggling Chisholm tried a bunt down the third base line on which the pitcher José Soriano and third baseman Kazuma Okamoto converged, and thus no one was covering third for a possible force out. Chisholm ended up with an infield single that loaded the bases without an out.

“I’m just trying to help the team win,” Chisholm said.

Wells and José Caballero couldn’t get the runs in, but Grisham worked a walk for the go-ahead score before Rice’s two-run single created distance.

— After demonstrating they can score in other ways, the American League leaders in home runs reminded that they have that ability, too.

Chisholm, no longer moving a runner over or laying down a bunt, launched his first homer since Aug. 4, a two-run shot in the seventh, before Grisham clubbed his 18th of the season, which wound up in Monument Park in the eighth.

The Yankees managed their most runs in a game since Aug. 12 and scored more than five for just a seventh time in their past 58 games, the entirety of which have not included Judge and Stanton.

“Some good things by a lot of different guys,” Boone said.

I had a bad feeling about this one. With the Phillies on an eight-game winning streak, it felt like they were due to have a game where things didn’t go their way. And with the team scheduled to board a flight to Seattle later this evening, it was easy to envision the team being satisfied with winning five out of six on the homestand and just trying to get their Sunday afternoon game against the Cardinals over with as quickly as possible.

For eight innings, that bad feeling seemed prescient. Cristopher Sanchez had a subpar outing, and the offense had a “going through the motions” vibe about it.

And then, the ninth inning happened.

The Phillies delivered perhaps their best inning of the season, rallying back to tie the game before Kyle Schwarber ended it with a game-winning two run home run. That Schwarbomb sent the Phillies to a 6-4 win to finish off a three-game sweep of the Cardinals and extend their winning streak to nine.

This game was rather unfun to watch for the first eight innings. They fell behind early with the first two runs scored against Sanchez coming in remarkably similar fashion: In both the first and fourth innings, the leadoff hitter reached first on an infield single, stole second base, and then scored on a single. Their third run was a little different, with Jose Fermin leading off the fifth inning with a home run. Sanchez gave up one more in the seventh to end his day.

With the way the Phillies’ bats have been hitting lately, a 4-0 deficit shouldn’t seem impossible to overcome. But with two of their hottest hitters – Alec Bohm and Luis Arraez – out with minor ailments, the Phillies’ offense didn’t do much. Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy was pulled from the game after just four innings, but the Phillies didn’t have any success against the Cardinals’ middle relief.

Facing Davey O’Brien in the ninth, it was a different story. Bryce Harper led off with a double, but O’Brien got the next two hitters out. J.T. Realmuto kept the game alive with a single, and then Justin Crawford drew a walk to load the bases.

Edmundo Sosa unloaded them with a three-run double.

Next, despite falling behind 0-2, Bryan De La Cruz tied it up with a single.

For some strange reason, O’Brien was allowed to face Kyle Schwarber next, and Schwarber made everyone understand what a mistake that was.

Now that’s how you end a homestand!

The Phillies will take their nine-game winning streak to Seattle as they begin a three-game western road trip. In the past, West coast trips have served as momentum-killers, but in the past, the Phillies would have ended Sunday’s game with a lackluster 4-0 loss.

Let’s see if they can extend the streak to double digits on Monday.

You don’t need a copy of the Dickson Baseball Dictionary to define the dog days of August, you just had to watch today’s contest between the Blue Jays and Yankees. Like every game since the start of summer, it was a slog, but this one was a particular slog for the first two-thirds, with the Yankee starter living on corners he couldn’t spot, key errors blowing up pitch counts, and George Springer and Ernie Clement tormenting us for (hopefully) the final time this year. At least the Yankees came out on the right side of this game, and this series, with Ben Rice delivering the big hit in the sixth and Jazz Chisholm Jr. adding insurance to lock up an 8-3 win.

This was a game designed to aggravate me, personally, with Carlos Rodón on the bump. Win lose or draw I’ve never found Rodón to be a pleasant viewing experience, with him clodding around the mound and getting into 2-2 counts seemingly every hitter. He threw 76 pitches today, 10 more than his return start against the Orioles, 41 of them were four-seamers, and look at his lack of command:

Look particularly up above the zone armside, and down and in gloveside. These are easy takes for MLB hitters, especially a lineup like Toronto’s that doesn’t swing and miss much. Sure enough, Carlos walked two against two strikeouts, a predictable line when you rely so much on a fastball that you can’t control.

He only surrendered one earned run, with the second man scoring after a huge George Lombard Jr. error. In the fourth inning, after getting Alejandro Kirk to open the frame, Rodón gave up a double to Springer, and walked Kazuma Okamoto to put two men aboard. Lombard then flubbed a groundball hit right at him:

As YES viewers, we know you can’t assume the double play, but there were two outs available on that grounder, and Lombard got none. It was his third straight game with an error, and it forced Carlos to throw another dozen pitches in the frame. The Jays only got one run — Daz Cameron’s sac fly brought Springer in — but the cost to the starter had to be borne as well.

Spencer Jones continues his strong play of late, opening the scoring in the second inning with a double to bring Lombard in. Jones himself scored two batters later, with Austin Wells taking his place at second and making it 2-0 early. It looked like the Yankees might put the game away early, but they wouldn’t threaten again until the sixth.

Loading the bases with nobody out, the club squandered two chances to break the 2-2 tie. Wells struck out, José Caballero did get a ball in the air, but not deep enough to bring in a run. Trent Grisham did manage to work a walk to make the game 3-2, but it felt like we were about to walk away without much to show for it. Thankfully Benny Barrels had a sterling AB and dropped a ball into right field for two runs:

Between that and a single earlier in the game, I hope today was something of a release valve for Ben. He has not looked good for about a month, and with Cody Bellinger back in the lineup it may feel like there’s slightly less pressure on the young lefty.

Speaking of release valves:

That was Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s first home run since August 4th. Perhaps nobody in baseball has cost themselves more potential money as a free agent than Jazz this year, and while it’ll be hard to make his year-end stats look good, a hot final month would go a long way to washing the taste of the season out.

Grisham rounded out the day at the plate with a little more insurance:

We also need to give a tip of the hat to the bullpen, and to Aaron Boone. With Carlos Rodón done after four innings, and the game tied, Boone went to Paul Blackburn, his second-or-third best relief option at this point in the season. It was maybe earlier than a script would dictate, but going to a higher leverage guy to keep the game tied bought the offense the time it needed to put the game out of reach. Ryan Yarbrough and Brent Headrick got five and four outs respectively to close the game, a total of five innings by the bullpen, just one run allowed.

The Rays also won today, something the Yankees have no control over. They won their series and are a game closer to the AL East leaders than they were on Friday, three back. New York gets the day off tomorrow before those hated Houston Astros, themselves division leaders at press time despite a .500 record, come to the Bronx for a three-game set. First pitch from Will Warren will be at 7:05pm ET.

Box Score

This was the look of a very content man.

Shield your eyes, Mets fans. Pete Alonso seems to be enjoying himself in Baltimore.

After the Orioles’ walk-off win over the AL East-leading Rays on Saturday night, Alonso was spotted in the home dugout smoking a celebratory cigar.

Alonso is having a terrific first season in Baltimore, slashing .263/.362/.504 with 30 home runs, 85 RBIs and a .866 OPS entering Sunday.

By contrast, the player that was expected to replace him in Queens, Jorge Polanco, has hardly played (37 games) due to multiple injuries and is now out for the remainder of the season.

The Orioles are also playing well, and were just a game out of the final AL wild-card spot entering Sunday, when they fell 3-1 to Tampa Bay. They’re still five games under .500, which speaks volumes of the American League.

Alonso had been unconscious in August through Saturday’s game, with seven home runs and a 1.139 OPS. He hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in Friday’s win over the Rays.

“Things are firing on all cylinders which is nice,” he told reporters recently. “I knew it was coming, but also like there’s a lot of change. Like personally I had to be a ballplayer and a (new) father at the same time.”

The Brewers and Braves face off tonight in the third game of their somewhat unusual three-game series; after Milwaukee took the first two games, the teams reconvene tonight in Williamsport, Pennsylvania to finish the series in MLB’s annual Little League Classic, which doubles tonight as ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

Milwaukee has held the Braves to just two runs across the first two games of this series, and while they’ve only scored six, they’re still in a position to sweep the Braves and take the season series, which would give them a potentially crucial tiebreaker if the (now significant) gap between them should diminish between now and the end of the season. There’s a world where that tiebreaker determines which team gets a first-round bye in the National League playoffs—the season series is currently 3-2 Brewers, though the Braves would have the intra-division advantage, the next tiebreaker down, if Atlanta wins today.

Looking to continue the successes of Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson as Brewer starting pitchers in this series is lefty Shane Drohan, who will face off with a trade-deadline addition to the Braves, Tyler Mahle. Drohan is rumored to be returning to bullpen duty after this start and it thus could be (though probably won’t be) his last start of the season. Drohan’s last appearance was out of the bullpen, when he pitched two innings during the Brewers’ 22-0 beatdown of the Mariners on Tuesday. Before that, Drohan had started 13 straight games, a stretch in which he pitched to a 4.44 ERA but much better 3.67 FIP.

Mahle, a veteran right-hander, was traded from the Giants to the Braves on the eve of the trade deadline. Mahle is only 31 but he’s been around for a long time; he debuted with the division-rival Reds in 2017, and while his career has been a bit of a roller coaster, he’s put together a few extremely solid seasons. One of those was 2025, when he was only healthy enough to make 16 starts but pitched to a 2.18 ERA in 86 2/3 innings. Mahle was just okay with the Giants prior to the deadline, but he’s been great in three starts with the Braves since the trade; he’s gone at least six innings in each of those starts, and has allowed only three runs for a 1.45 ERA. Mahle has a 19:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio since joining Atlanta, but his strikeouts and walks are both better than his career norms, so the Brewers will hope for some regression.

Ironically, in the Little League Classic, the two Brewers closest to Little League are out of the starting lineup, as Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara start this one on the bench. Milwaukee goes with an outfield of Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell, and Jake Bauers, and the infield from left to right goes David Hamilton, Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, and Andrew Vaughn. William Contreras is behind the plate, with Christian Yelich as the DH. Notably, today is the official debut (though he probably won’t play) of a 2026 Brewer trade pickup; the Brewers and Braves each get a 27th man tonight (the league allows this for designated “special event games”), and that man is catcher Bo Naylor, who has played at Triple-A Nashville since being acquired on August 1st. (The Braves’ 27th man is the very brief former Brewer and bonafide “Brewers” legend, Brewer Hicklen!)

First pitch tonight is at 6:10 p.m. and the game is available exclusively on ESPN (and the Watch ESPN app). Of course, you can always find it on the Brewers Radio Network. Now enjoy today’s take on the lineup card!

The Orioles sent the tying run to the plate three times in the 9th, but couldn’t come up with the clutch hit, losing the series finale 3-1 to the Rays.

After managing only one base runner through the first eight innings, Colton Cowser stepped up to the plate in the 9th looking to ignite a comeback against former Oriole Brian Baker. After Baker got ahead 1-2, he left a changeup over the plate and Cowser powered it over the scoreboard in right for his 12th homer of the year.

Leody Taveras then tried to bunt for a single off Baker, with a rushed throw by Rays’ 3B Junior Caminero sailing wide of first base and allowing Taveras to motor to second. The heroics by the bottom of the lineup set up Jackson Holliday, Pete Alonso and Gunnar Henderson each with a chance to tie the game or extend the rally.

Holliday became the first out when he sent a 99-mph sinking line drive into center field right at Cedric Mullins. Alonso then stung a ball 99mph right up the middle, only for a perfectly positioned Richie Palacios to snag it and throw onto first for the second out. Gunnar then got ahead of Baker and turned a 2-0 changeup. However, the 103mph ground ball again found the glove of Palacios, who flipped it onto first to seal the Orioles’ loss.

A 6th inning that quickly went from mundane to disastrous ruined an otherwise excellent afternoon from starter Shane Baz and ultimately doomed the Orioles. After allowing just four base runners through the first five innings, the Orioles’ right-hander started the inning with two quick outs. Baz got Richie Palacios to fly out on two pitches for the first out, before striking out Taylor Walls looking on a 3-2 fastball.

The 27-year-old righty then got ahead of Yandy Díaz 0-2, but spiked two knuckle curves to even the count at 2-2. Baz’s third straight curveball then caught the bottom of the zone, with Díaz spraying it to second for the would-be third out. Instead, the ball snuck just under the glove of Jackson Holliday for an inning-extending single.

That was the beginning of the end of Baz and the O’s Sunday, as his start unraveled from there. Rays’ 1B Jonathan Aranda bounced a first-pitch changeup through the right side to send Díaz to third and give Tampa their second runner in scoring position of the afternoon. The Orioles’ starter quickly got ahead of Rays’ star Junior Caminero 0-2 and again tried to put Caminero away with a knuckle curve. Instead, the breaking ball bounced off the dirt, ricocheted off Samuel Basallo’s mask, and rolled just far enough from Basallo to allow Díaz to score from third.

With the Rays up 1-0 and Aranda now on second, Caminero sent a hard ground ball up the middle to bring Aranda home and double Tampa’s advantage. Baz would get one more batter, but walked Liam Hicks on five pitches to end his afternoon. After Grant Wolfram came in and allowed another RBI single to Chandler Simpson, it closed Baz’s final line at 5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB and 3 Ks on 96 pitches.

As has been the case with Baz for most of the season, the stats don’t speak to how effective he was Sunday. He cruised through the top of the 1st against former All-Stars in Díaz, Aranda and Caminero on only 12 pitches. When he allowed his first base runner on a Simpson single in the 2nd, he responded by getting Jonny DeLuca to line out to right before Basallo gunned down Simpson trying to steal second.

The 27-year-old was at times effectively wild, as he had to work around two walks to post a scoreless 3rd. After issuing free passes to Cedric Mullins and Taylor Walls, Baz ran a 3-2 sinker in on the hands of Díaz to induce an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. Baz then breezed through a 1-2-3 4th inning on 13 pitches while setting down the heart of the Rays order. DeLuca would reach on a line drive single to left in the 5th, but was erased on an inning-ending, strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play.

Even with the unfortunate events of the 6th inning, Baz pitched well enough to give the O’s a chance to win the game. However, as we’ve seen in most of Baz’s recent outings, the Orioles offense continued to give him little to no run support.

Facing Rays’ All-Star Nick Martinez, the O’s had one base runner while Baz was still in the game. That came via a Colton Cowser double in the 3rd. With one out, Cowser turned around a Martinez cutter, lacing down the right field line and into the corner. With the game tied at 0-0, the O’s had a great opportunity to take a lead, but instead, a Leody Taveras pop-up and a Jackson Holliday fly out to the track stranded Cowser at second. Martinez and two Orioles relievers combined to set down the next 17 Orioles in a row before Cowser’s home run off Baker in the 9th.

Some other notes from Sunday:

• Baz now has 15 runs of run support in his last 12 starts, a stretch that has seen the O’s go 1-11
• Baz is now the first pitcher in the majors this season to reach 14 losses
• Pete Alonso’s 0-for-4 afternoon snapped his career-high 14-game hitting streak
• The loss immediately dropped the O’s to 1.5 GB of the final wildcard spot, pending the outcome of the Rangers and Guardians games

Kyle Leahy gave the St. Louis Cardinals exactly what he’s given the team much of the season. He was rock-solid shutting down the Philadelphia Phillies for the first four innings of the game. The Cardinals bats would manage to score against the Phillies ace Cristopher Sanchez, but the game would come down to whether the St. Louis bullpen could protect the lead. It would unbelievably not end with a happy flight back to St. Louis.

It could be argued that as JJ Wetherholt goes, so go the Cardinals. That was true in the top of the 1st inning when JJ beat out an infield single, stole second base and then scored when Alec Burleson came through with a clutch two-out single to make it 1-0 Cardinals.

The top of the 4th inning would play out similarly. This time it was Jordan Walker who beat out an infield single and stole second before Alec Burleson singled with no one out to score Jordan and up the Cardinals lead to 2-0. Déjà vu.

Top of the 5th inning, it was José Fermín who put on his “Ferminator” t-shirt and blasted a 94 mph Sanchez sinker 397 feet over the left field wall to make it 3-0 Cardinals. Perhaps it was the belt he was wearing that had his face on it that gave him these super powers?

Where are all the mentions of the Phillies offense? Well, there thankfully weren’t any for the first 4 innings that Leahy was in charge of. Kyle’s final stat line for the day was 4 innings pitched allowing just 2 hits, no runs while striking out 4 and walking 2. Luis Gastelum also kept Philadelphia off the scoreboard as he handled the bottom of the 5th inning. The Cardinals bullpen answer for the bottom of the 6th was Justin Bruihl. He gave up a one-out double to Bryce Harper to give the Phillies a rare runner in scoring position Sunday. Next up was Bryson Stott who hammered a foul ball off of the inside of his foot, but stayed in the game and drove a ball to deep left-center that Fermin tracked down which moved Harper up to third base. He was stranded when Bruihl got Marsh to foul-out to third to end the inning keeping Philadelphia scoreless.

JJ Wetherholt seems to have the eye of the tiger back. After a multi-hit game Saturday night, he had another on Sunday as he came up in the top of the 7th inning after Ramón Urías (who was just activated off of the 60-day IL) and Pedro Pagés singled. JJ ripped another single into right-center scoring Urias adding an insurance run on for a 4-0 Cardinals lead that knocked starter Sanchez out of the game.

It could have been more and almost was for the Cardinals as Phillies reliever Mayza walked Herrera to load the bases after JJ’s RBI single. That brought up Philadelphia’s nightmare Jordan Walker. He lifted a ball to deep right center that was barely hauled in by Phillies right fielder De La Cruz to end the Cardinals 7th. This close to a blowout.

That meant the Cardinals bullpen would have to defend a 4-run lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning. Ryne Stanek was the man with a plan and he handled the Phillies with no problems in the bottom of the 7th with 3 harmless groundouts. George Soriano entered the fray in the bottom of the 8th inning. He also shut down Philadelphia with no issues.

For the first 8 innings, the game went almost perfectly for the Cardinals. Kyle Leahy pitched 4 solid innings as the team is managing his pitch count and the middle innings were handled by the bullpen allowing almost no scoring threats from the Phillies. All they needed was closer Riley O’Brien to lock down the bottom of the 9th inning so the team could have a happy flight back to St. Louis. Bryce Harper led off the Philadelphia 9th with a double into the left field corner. Luis Arraez was up next and O’Brien nursed a weak fly-out to left field for the first out. Brandon Marsh also flew out to left for the second out which brought up Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto. He fouled off several including one painful one off of the inside of Pages leg, but eventually singled into centerfield, but Philadelphia held Harper at third as he’s been dealing with a sore knee and not exactly a speedster these days. Riley unbelievably then walked Crawford to load the bases and bring up former Cardinal Edmundo Sosa as the potential tying run. With 2 strikes, Sosa lined a ball that barely stayed fair over third base and went into the corner clearing the bases and drawing the Phillies to within a run a 4-3. Bryan De La Cruz was the potential winning run at the plate with Sosa the tying run at second base. Again down to 2 strikes, De La Cruz singled past a diving Wetherholt at short driving in Sosa to tie the game 4-4. That brought up Kyle Schwarber with the chance to win the game for Philadelphia. He did not miss a 98 mph sinker and destroyed it 459 feet into the centerfield shrubs to walk off the game for the Phillies 6-4. Unbelievable. Devastating. Infuriating.

The St. Louis Cardinals return home for a brief homestand starting Tuesday night as they play host to the Baltimore Orioles. According to MLB.com, the Orioles will start RHP Chris Bassett. The Cardinals starter for Tuesday has not been announced yet. First pitch scheduled for 6:45pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.

Two of the Mets’ top young talents enjoyed another strong day in the middle of things for the Binghamton lineup. 

Last year's first-round pick Mitch Voit wasted absolutely no time settling back into the leadoff spot after missing the previous four games following a hit-by-pitch. 

Voit started his day with a single up the middle in the bottom of the first. 

He was retired his next two times up but was able to do more damage later on, extending Binghamton’s lead with a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh. 

The 21-year-old finished the day 2-for-4 with a run and two runs driven in.

That run scored came via a Jefferson Rojas two-run homer in the bottom of the first. 

Rojas has been absolutely spectacular since coming over from the Cubs at the deadline, and he kept that going with the 110 mph blast off the scoreboard in deep left field. 

While he’s mostly made his presence felt with his bat, he also made his mark defensively, putting together a pair of highlight-reel plays at shortstop in the top of the third. 

The top prospect finished the day 1-for-4, but that one was his fourth blast with the organization and brought his OPS to a strong .896 for the season.

Mark Vientos, meanwhile, went hitless again in his second rehab appearance. 

On the pitching side, big right-hander Gabe Davis threw well behind the rehabbing Justin Hagenman, giving up just an unearned run while striking out seven batters across 4.0 effective frames. 

Davis is now down to a strong 2.61 ERA with 14 strikeouts over 10.1 innings of work since coming to the organization from the White Sox in the Huascar Brazoban deal ahead of the trade deadline. 

The Mariners go for a sweep.

After back-to-back walkoffs on Friday and Saturday, the Mariners have secured a series win against the Cubs. They now look to start a winning streak with a sweep on Sunday. Bryce Miller takes the mound, looking to bounce back from an outing that led to a 22-0 slaughter last week against the Brewers. The Mariners will face crafty lefty Shota Imanaga.

Lineups

Game Info:

First Pitch: 1:10 p.m.

TV: Mariners.TV

Radio: Ol’ Reliable

News

• Brendan Donovan is on the IL after suffering a concussion in the batting cages Saturday
• Patrick Wisdom is up to replace Donovan
• Bryan Woo threw a bullpen this morning and is being evaluated for whether he needs a trip to the IL

After exiting his start in Houston early with shoulder soreness and then having his start skipped when the team returned to Seattle, Bryan Woo threw a bullpen today prior to Sunday’s series finale against the Cubs. Woo threw a complete bullpen with all of his pitches, and Pete Woodworth stood in against him for some of the at-bats.

Woo spoke briefly with the media after his bullpen session, saying he was pleased with how everything felt (“really good”) but even more pleased with the way he was able to throw his pitches, with comfort and confidence.

“I was able to throw everything – I wouldn’t say max effort, but with really really good intent,” Woo said. “Velo is one thing, but like, in your mind, you don’t want to have any hesitation on it.”

Specifically, Woo was encouraged by his ability to throw pitches other than his fastball with conviction in his bullpen session.

“I know I can throw sliders, breaking balls, whatever. Fastballs are the easiest anytime you’re coming back from injury or dealing with anything. Breaking balls I feel like are always tougher because it’s just like you really want to finish pitches. You don’t want to have any hesitation on finishing them. But everything felt good.”

That was also the assessment of those who stood in alongside Woo during his session, including pitching coaches Trent Blank, who offered a thumbs up as his assessment, and Pete Woodworth, who said Woo looked great (“struck me out.”) Logan Gilbert also said he thought Woo looked really good and ready to go (“wait, is this on the record? Don’t quote me on that!”).

For Woo, a challenge of assessing this soreness has been understanding where the team is in the season, and balancing the need for rest versus the needs of the team.

“It’s just being smart about what’s realistic. Being smart about a couple of days off and coming back and not missing much time. But it’s a really tough balance, especially this time of year, especially with the position that we’re in. We don’t have any room for grace. It’s a sprint now.”

However, having had a few years of experience under his belt and having dealt with both serious injuries and the everyday soreness that nags over the course of a long, grueling season, Woo is in a good position to know himself and know how to balance those needs.

“I think it’s all understanding your own body and yourself and how you know everything is supposed to feel and how everything’s supposed to move. So it wasn’t one of those things where I felt like, you know, the season was in jeopardy or something like that. It was just a matter of what’s the proper way of going about this. I’m dealing with it the right way, but I’m also staying on the field.”

The team is yet to announce what the plan will be with Woo or the future of the rotation going forward, but from Woo’s comments and the response today it seems like an IL stint is unlikely.

Blake Snell takes the mound as the Dodgers look to end this week a perfect 6-0.

SUNDAY GAME INFO

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Pirates
• Stadium: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 1:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

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Sunday Night Baseball between the Braves and Brewers should be an exciting matchup.

I'll be highlighting why Austin Riley is a great look in my Braves vs. Brewers props and MLB picks for Sunday, Aug. 23.

Braves vs Brewers props for August 23

Pick	Odds
Jake Bauers To Record a Hit	-145
Austin Riley To Record a Hit	-160
Shane Drohan Under 4.5 Strikeouts	-115

Braves vs Brewers player prop picks

Jake Bauers To Record a Hit (-145)

Easily one of the hottest bats in the Milwaukee Brewers lineup is Jake Bauers, who enters Sunday with a strong matchup rating on Batters-Box, where he also covers 100% of Atlanta Braves right-hander Tyler Mahle’s pitches.

Over his last five games, the first baseman owns the highest barrel rate on the team at 25%, while sporting a .647 SLG and 62.5% hard-hit rate.

Despite Mahle’s recent success against left-handed hitters, he still owns a 5.01 xERA while allowing a 45.5% hard-hit rate and 31.8% ground-ball rate to the last 30 left-handed hitters he has faced. Those hitters have posted a .387 xBA, .607 xSLG and .361 xwOBA.

For a guy to do the bare minimum, take this down to -150.

Austin Riley To Record a Hit (-160)

There might not be a guy more due for a big game than Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley. Yes, he has had a down year. However, over his last 10 games, he has been generating almost a 64% hard-hit rate and over a 13.5% barrel rate, while owning a .506 xSLG.

On top of that, in his last 30 at-bats against a left-handed pitcher, Riley has posted a .520 SLG and .200 ISO, while producing a 62.5% hard-hit rate and 12.5% barrel rate.

Today marks his 111th Strong rating on Batters-Box over the last three seasons. When strongly rated, he has recorded at least a hit nearly 62% of the time.

With Milwaukee Brewers southpaw Shane Drohan allowing over a 47% hard-hit rate, 14.3% barrel rate and 33.33% ground-ball rate to the last 30 right-handed hitters he has faced, Riley is a strong look to do some damage.

Do not pay more than this price. Take his bases or hits, runs and RBI if the price surpasses -160.

Shane Drohan Under 4.5 Strikeouts (-115)

Brewers southpaw Shane Drohan has hit a wall over his last three starts. His ERA is up, his strikeout rate is down, and he is allowing more hard-hit balls. His under strikeouts is a very intriguing look this evening.

Even with the Atlanta Braves going through their current cold streak, they have fared well against left-handed pitchers this season, posting a 20.8% strikeout rate against southpaws. Over the team's last 30 at-bats versus a lefty, only three hitters are above a 20% strikeout rate.

Drohan owns just an 18.3% strikeout rate over his last three home starts and a 17.5% rate over his last three overall. The under is a go. Take this down to -120.

If you're feeling froggy, take the Braves' first five team total over 1.5, or Drohan's over 1.5 earned runs.

How to watch Braves vs Brewers and game info

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Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 39.

• Reinstated from the 15-day injured list: RHP Drey Jameson (right hip inflammation, retro to July 20)
• Designated for assignment: RHP Zack Littell

Can’t say this one comes as any surprise. After a surprisingly good first outing for Littell, in his last two outings, we’ve seen precisely why Littell got dumped by the Nationals. No big though. Someone had to pitch those innings, and having thoroughly burned him yesterday – probably saving three “proper” relievers from having to work those innings – now is a good time to make the move. Jameson last threw on the 19th, tossing 34 pitches, but since it was for Reno, it doesn’t show up above. He’d still be good to pitch today, but hopefully Mitch Bratt will be able to go longer than three innings this time.

With the Padres and Phillies both winning yesterday, the loss for the D-backs definitely hurt the team’s playoff chances. While a loss this afternoon wouldn’t be the end of the season, it wouldn’t exactly help. Both San Diego and Philadelphia have been on a tear of late. While Arizona hasn’t been playing badly, they just haven’t been able to keep up. Since July 9, the D-backs are 23-15, the second-best record in the NL over that time. The problem is, the Padres have been better still, at 24-15, and the Phillies aren’t far behind on 21-16. So while we have improved significantly from a 45-47 mark, the amount of ground we’ve been able to make up on that pair is minimal.

The Diamondbacks do have to face both those teams, and I suspect the results there might go a long way to determining the outcome of the campaign. Both season series are very much to be decided, which would be the first tiebreaker in the event of equal records, so if effectively a “+1” on the record for the winning team. But taking care of business also means not dropping series at home to teams like the Reds. With the Phillies losing at time of writing to the Cardinals, victory this afternoon would sure be nice. And please stick around for the guest recap, today brought to you by JustRonn.

Minnesota Twins (63-67) at San Diego Padres (70-60), August 23, 2026, 1:10 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, August 23, 2026, 4:10 p.m. ET

The Pittsburgh Pirates are facing off against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the finale of a three-game weekend set at Dodger Stadium. The Pirates have held the lead in each of the first two games, but they have been unable to keep it, dropping both of the earlier games in the series by one run.

Now, the Pirates hope to avoid a sweep by sending Lake Bachar to the mound to start what should be a bullpen game for Pittsburgh.

Bachar has made five appearances for the Pirates since being acquired earlier this month in a trade with the Miami Marlins. He appeared in Friday’s contest against the Dodgers, going through one inning but walking three batters in the process. It’s a second start for the Pirates after pitching the first three innings in the team’s 8-3 win against the Boston Red Sox on August 16.

The Dodgers will be countering with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who is making his fourth start of the season after returning from injury. Snell won his first start of the year in his last appearance on August 17 against the Colorado Rockies, going six innings and giving up two hits and one earned run.

Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh

Pitching Matchup: Lake Bachar (1-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. Blake Snell (1-1, 3.60 ERA)

BD community, this is your gameday thread for today’s game. Chime off in the comments section below.