Category: Baseball

Just as Shohei Ohtani was rounding into peak form on both sides of the ball, the Los Angeles Dodgers' global superstar was felled by an unforeseen ailment: Left knee inflammation.

Ohtani was removed for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning of the Dodgers' Thursday, June 11 game at Pittsburgh, four innings after hitting his fifth home run in 13 games.

The Dodgers held a 6-4 lead and two runners were on when Ohtani was lifted for pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal. After homering in the third, he drew a two-out walk in the fifth, but did not need to run the bases as Andy Pages struck out to end the inning.

Shohei Ohtani clubs his second homer in as many games! pic.twitter.com/EPYEbU8pBF

— MLB (@MLB) June 11, 2026

Ohtani, who turns 32 July 5, had recently returned to two-way duty on nights he pitches after manager Dave Roberts aimed to lighten his load just a bit this season. Ohtani pitched 6⅔ innings, giving up three earned runs, a night earlier and has a 1.06 ERA.

Ohtani has been virtually healthy since injuring his left shoulder in Game 2 of the 2024 World Series. He underwent off-season shoulder surgery and was already prepared to slowly ramp up to pitching duty in 2025 thanks to recovery from a second Tommy John surgery. He took on a full-time starter's load by the second half of the 2025 season while playing in 158 games in the Dodgers' repeat run, starting Game 7 of the World Series on the mound.

This season, he started slowly in the power department but now has 13 homers in 63 games, a .305 batting average and .940 OPS.

The Dodgers couldn’t have asked for better timing, as Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff spot came back around.

In a game the Dodgers would go on to win 8-6 over the Pirates, they were clinging to a two-run lead in the top of the seventh inning against the Pirates on Thursday. With one out and runners on first and second, the Dodgers superstar, who had already reached base four times, was due up.

Instead, Santiago Espinal stepped up to the plate as a pinch-hitter.

Ohtani left the game with inflammation in his left knee, the Dodgers announced.

“Just wanted to be smart and not push it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “So I feel good about him being in there [Friday]. But obviously with the travel [to Chicago Thursday night], we’ll just kind of see how he comes in.”

Roberts described the injury as “discomfort” at the back of Ohtani’s knee, around where the hamstring attaches. Though Ohtani underwent surgery on the same knee in 2019, that was to address bipartite patella, on the other side of the knee.

It was not clear exactly how Ohtani hurt his knee Thursday. Ohtani was not available after the game to provide his account.

Roberts speculated that it likely happened when Ohtani took off to steal second in the fourth inning, before a foul ball sent him back.

“Didn’t hear about it last night,” Roberts said. “Didn’t hear about it today until about the sixth.”

Before leaving, Ohtani hit a solo home run — his second homer in as many games — a single and drew two walks.

It was an impressive performance, coming a day after he took on two-way duties. On the mound Wednesday, he allowed three earned runs in 6⅔ innings.

He’s been on an offensive tear. He entered Thursday with a .400 batting average and 1.207 OPS in his last 25 games — dating back to May 12, the day before manager Dave Roberts gave him two consecutive days off from hitting.

“[Friday], he’ll get there, do his routine, play catch, push off, land on it, see how it reacts,” Roberts said. “And then obviously take swings and see how it reacts too.”

Ohtani was one of two members of the Dodgers starting rotation who left the game injured.

Earlier in the game Thursday, Dodgers starting pitcher Justin Wrobleski exited with a bruised right hamstring. But Roberts and Wroblkeski both said they don’t expect it to impact his next start.

The fifth inning had already begun to spiral on him. After throwing four scoreless innings, he surrendered two solo home runs to Rafael Flores Jr. (the first of his major-league career) and Brandon Lowe.

Read more:How the Dodgers plan to shuffle catchers with Will Smith on the injured list

Then Bryan Reynolds hit a line-drive comebacker off the inside of Wrobleski’s right leg. The ball ricocheted to the edge of the infield grass, where first baseman Freddie Freeman picked it up.

Wrobleski was already racing toward first base. But after turning to catch the throw, he missed the base and stumbled backward into Reynolds, who tripped over Wrobleski’s extended left foot.

“Thankfully he kind of got out of the way enough that we barely touched each other,” Wrobleski said. “He’s okay. I’m okay. So all’s good there.”

Wrobleski limped away, finally able to react to the pain where the ball hit him. An athletic trainer followed him, circling back to the mound. But as he was setting up to throw a warm-up pitch, Roberts came out to make a pitching change.

Wrobleski was charged with four runs in 4 ⅔ innings. He gave up six hits and a pair of walks.

“Just one of those outings where I didn’t feel I threw it that great,” Wrobleski said. “It happens. That’s part of the game. That’s what keeps you coming back. I didn’t feel I had the command I usually have, especially early in counts and I think it cost me.”

The Dodgers bullpen bent but did not break, with the help of late-inning insurance runs from the offense. Right-hander Tanner Scott recorded the final four outs, striking out the side in the ninth.

With the win, the Dodgers secured a series victory at PNC Park for the first time since 2021.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

TORONTO — Welcome back to the Yankees’ house of horrors.

For the first time since Game 2 of the ALDS last October, the Yankees will return to Rogers Centre on Friday night, hoping to exorcise the demons that followed them across nine games there last year and ultimately sunk their season.

The Yankees have already seen the Blue Jays this year, splitting a four-game series with them last month in The Bronx, and lead them by nine games in the division (while remaining in a virtual tie with the Rays for first place).

And while there is nothing the Yankees can do this weekend that would completely erase the stench of what happened to them last year in Canada, they at least have a chance to not give the Blue Jays any life, like they did a season ago.

“Playing in Toronto obviously can be a different animal,” Carlos Rodón said after the Yankees finished off a sweep of the Guardians on Wednesday. “It’s a fun place to play, but they play well there. We’re excited to go in and give it our best go.”

When the Yankees arrived north of the border for the first time last season, on June 30, they led the AL East by 1 1/2 games. By the time they got through customs on their way back to New York, after getting swept in four games, they had lost the division lead and never got it back the rest of the season, with the series proving to be a turning point in the Blue Jays’ season instead.

In seven regular-season games at Rogers Centre last season — two series within just over three weeks during their worst stretch of the season — the Yankees went 1-6. They were outscored 52-33 and committed 11 errors in seven games (compared to 83 in their other 152 games of the regular season).

Then in the ALDS, with the Blue Jays having earned home-field advantage after winning the regular-season series 8-5, they boat-raced the Yankees in Games 1 and 2 at Rogers Centre by a combined score of 23-8, helping make sure there would not be a Game 5 back in Toronto.

“I’m just playing baseball and trying to win and get to the playoffs right now, so I wasn’t really thinking about that,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said Wednesday. “But yeah, after they took us out last year, everybody has a little thing on their mind, just like the Dodgers when we lost in the World Series [in 2024]. We were coming back and that was the main thing: we got to go to the World Series again and beat the Dodgers. Then we lost to the Blue Jays. Now we got to beat the Blue Jays if they’re beating us.”

Both teams are different than the last time they saw each other at Rogers Centre. 

For one, the Yankees are playing without Aaron Judge, though they have shown during their four-game winning streak that they still have plenty of ways to survive without him. One of those is on the back of their strong rotation, with Ryan Weathers, Cam Schlittler and Will Warren scheduled to start the three games this weekend.

The Yankees’ pitching staff had a 6.95 ERA across the seven regular-season games at Rogers Centre last season, with the contact-heavy Blue Jays hitting .291 with a .872 OPS against them on their home turf. 

The Yankees’ defense was not much help, though, playing a key role in the two calamitous series there, including coinciding with Anthony Volpe’s brutal defensive slump (he had three of their 11 errors).

The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have been beat up this season and are still trying to find their footing from a World Series hangover.

Yankee killers Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger are among those on the injured list — though Kirk could be activated on Friday, and Ernie Clement remains healthy and capable of giving them nightmares — while their big offseason signing, Dylan Cease, just got off of it on Tuesday, meaning he is not lined up to pitch in this series.

“I don’t know where they’re at in the standings right now [third],” Rodón said, “but barring that, they’re still a great club.”

The monsoons sweeping the Chicagoland area forced the cancellation of Thursday’s finale between Chicago and Atlanta. The storms were foreboding enough — with winds rippling the on-field tarp — to quickly dash hopes of a very late game start, which would have been the most convenient option given Atlanta is not scheduled to return to Comiskey Park until 2028.

However, the timing for the makeup game on August 20 is pretty miraculous. The White Sox return home to host a series with the New York Mets on August 21, making the trek from … the North Side … where they finish up the second Crosstown series on August 19. The Braves are in the area as well, having wrapped a series at Minnesota on August 19 and beginning their next in Milwaukee on the 21st.

The game, as such a one-game series, will be treated as a getaway game and thus will see first pitch thrown at 1:10 p.m.

Who knows, perhaps by the time Atlanta returns in two months, the White Sox will be looking down the standings at them, instead of vice-versa.

Welp! The Atlanta Braves will just have to lick their wounds and move on instead of trying to take a chance at potentially salvaging this series in Chicago against the White Sox. Both teams were fortunate enough to play through a window on Wednesday night but they won’t be so lucky here on Thursday night, as the decision has been made to just call it and move the game to August 20.

Considering what the current injury situation for the Braves is looking like and how the bullpen is currently being handled, it might end up being a good thing that this ended up being a weather-induced off-day. With that being said, this is going to make for a very, very interesting road trip later on.

That road trip through the midwest will certainly be a tricky one, as the Braves will have to play three games in Minnesota, drop down in Chicago to finish this series and then get the wheels up immediately afterwards for a quick flight to Milwaukee for two games before traveling out to Williamsport, PA for the Little League Classic that’ll finish off that Brewers series. Fortunately they’ll have the Monday off after that insane week of travel but they’ll have the Dodgers waiting for them once they’re back in action at Truist Park. Phew!

Atlanta will have to cross that bridge when they get to it. For now, the Braves will now get on a plane to New York to take on the Mets for three games. First pitch on Friday night is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET on Apple TV. Let’s see what happens then!

The Mets bullpen, like it has often been this season, was their brightest spot and savior Thursday afternoon. 

After Christian Scott allowed four runs to the Cardinals in 4 ²/₃ innings, including three home runs, New York’s relievers allowed just one hit the rest of the way, helping secure a 5-4 win to avoid a sweep. 

A.J. Minter, Brooks Raley, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams combined to throw 3 ¹/₃ scoreless innings in relief of Scott. Scott gave a glowing review postgame.

“It seems like any position they’re put in, they’re able to overcome and adapt to it,” he said. “I know [Weaver] is on another level right now. … Yeah, these guys have just been unbelievable out there for us.”

Weaver has been particularly effective of late. He hasn’t given up a run since April 30 after a somewhat up-and-down start to his first season in Queens. 

“We’re hungry to win. … It’s not always perfect, but we rely on each other, we pick each other up when need be and called on and give each other hugs inside the clubhouse and things you don’t see that just say thank you very much, man, for picking me up,” Weaver said.

“Just continue to focus on the positives and then just learn from the negatives.”

The bullpen kept the Mets in a close game and allowed Juan Soto to break the 4-4 tie in the seventh inning with his 14th home run of the season. 

“If I’m playing ‘MLB: The Show’ and creating a player, I don’t waste my time trying to create one. I just pick Juan Soto,” Weaver quipped.

Soto gave the love right back to the relievers.

“They’re nasty. We have one of the best bullpens, if not the best one,” he said. 

Soto’s not wrong. The Mets are still within the top 10 in bullpen ERA, which remains a highlight despite the team’s struggles elsewhere. 

“It’s a little frustrating that we can’t always come through for them,” Soto said, “but they’re always right there backing us up.”

Something for Mets fans to smile about.

While injured Mets star Francisco Lindor has kept his cards close to the vest about his return, he does seem to have a return date in mind. 

Lindor has a secret target date to return to the field of June 20, The Post’s Jon Heyman reported.

The Mets shortstop has been sidelined by a calf strain since late April and recently told The Post’s Dan Martin that his timeline to return was “a goal of getting back as soon as I can.” 

Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza told reporters earlier this week that Lindor was expected to go through full baseball activities in the coming days, and then the Mets will go from there on potential next steps. 

Lindor’s injury occurred on April 22, the same day that star outfielder Juan Soto came back from his own strained calf issue. 

The five-time All-Star told reporters Tuesday that he did not have any discomfort and he seemed to be encouraged by his progress. 

“I can do everything. I feel like I’m getting better. I continue to check all the boxes they have for me,” he said. 

Lindor then added: “Obviously, I want to be playing, but from what they say, everything is going the way it was planned.”

The 32-year-old has played just 24 games this season, posting a modest .226/.314/.355 slash line with 21 hits and five RBIs before his injury. 

The Mets’ inability to have Lindor and Soto on the field at the same time has greatly costed the team so far this season, with both having dealt with injuries at different times.

The Mets currently sit in last place in the NL East and are 15 games back of the Braves for the top spot in the division. 

The Amazin’s did pick up a 5-4 win over the Cardinals on Thursday and begin a weekend series with the Braves at Citi Field on Friday.

Mets pitcher Kodai Senga made his fourth rehab start since being placed on the IL with lumbar spine inflammation on Thursday.

Despite a setback earlier in the week -- Senga was originally scheduled to make this start at Double-A Binghamton on Tuesday, but was scratched due to ulnar nerve irritation -- he was stellar, and there were no signs of any physical discomfort on the mound.

Through six innings of work against the Somerset Patriots, Senga allowed one run on one hit, a solo home run. He struck out five batters, multiple of them coming on whiffs generated by his trademark ghost forkball.

Excluding a hit batter and a lone walk, Senga was in complete command all evening.

While the timetable for Senga's potential return to the Mets active roster remains uncertain, tonight's success on the mound is cause for optimism for the organization.

Once he's fully healthy and back in the majors, Senga will hope to lower his 9.00 ERA and potentially regain his place as a regular fixture in the team's starting rotation.

Kodai Senga dazzles from Somerset! 🪄

➡️6.0 IP
➡️1 H
➡️1 ER
➡️5 K
➡️75 P (51 S)

🎠 x #DefendOurHome x @MetsPlayerDev x @SNY_Metspic.twitter.com/mGvwwDU3Zr

— Binghamton Rumble Ponies (@RumblePoniesBB) June 12, 2026

Late last August, Roman Anthony stormed into Yankee Stadium for the first time in his career and announced his presence in the most unmistakable manner possible:

The bomb, the bat flip, the body language; all there for the world to witness. In the moment, it felt less like a baseball game and more like a Coronation Day, with Anthony set to take his place as the latest in a long line of kings who have patrolled left field at Fenway Park over the generations. He was here, he was awesome, he was signed to an extension, and Yankee fans were going to have to spend the next decade watching highlights like this every time they faced the Red Sox.

But of course, baseball is never that simple. Since that seemingly momentous moment, the Red Sox have played the Yankees for a trio of three game series (including the playoffs), and Roman Anthony has missed eight of the nine games with three different injures, all sustained while simply swinging a bat.

The oblique injury he suffered on a swing that ended his season last September is well known and documented, so there’s really no need to dig further into that one, but given where we are with his latest injury, it’s probably a good time to review his comments after the upper back tweak that cost him the final two games of the Yankee series in April.

“A weird thing that happened on a swing.”

Here’s the problem: These weird things on a swing have now happened in three consecutive baseball months (September, April and May), and the only reason it might not happen in June is because he hasn’t been on the field yet.

So with the background covered, let’s dive deep into the astronomically frustrating timeline of Roman Anthony’s latest injury, starting on May 5th:

Two days later, he went on the IL:

Also on that day, Roman Anthony clarified the injury was to a ligament below his ring finger, and not to his wrist.

Five days later, the first real signs of the healing process progressing slower than everybody would’ve liked became evident:

But even at this point, they still weren’t ruling out the idea of Anthony coming off the IL in the minimum ten days. They just had to wait for his “grip strength” to get back to normal.

Three days after that, the splint/brace finally came off, and it seemed things were improving.

But it still took another week after that before there was any real improvement reported in his grip strength.

And it was another four days after that when he finally was able to take dry swings (swinging without hitting the ball).

Three days later, and something very bad happened when he was hitting off a tee (actually making contact with the ball).

Well, a few days went by, and he still wasn’t even able to dry swing the bat.

Now, here we are another week after that, and there’s still no real update. So my question is, what the hell happened on May 28th when Roman Anthony swung off a tee?

I see two general possibilities here — One concerning, and the other alarming. The first being he might have reinjured it while swinging and making contact with the ball, and we’re just not being told the details. That could result in a return date being pushed back weeks or even months depending on the extent of the damage.

But as bad as that sounds, it’s actually not the scenario that’s keeping me up at night and poisoning my joy. Instead, that honor goes to the possibility that a downright frightening whisper in the back of my brain could be right. Like a demon from the depths of the Earth I can’t outrun, it keeps telling me that Roman Anthony might just be a guy that breaks easily, recovers slowly, and it’s always going to be that way.

In other words, it’s asking the question: “What if Roman Anthony’s body can’t handle Roman Anthony’s elite, robust and violent swing?” That’s the scenario I fear the most, and I really, really don’t want to have to go down that road.

A bit of this fear slipped out in real time when Tim Healey first reported Anthony was going on the IL. Here’s my raw, emotional (over?)reaction.

Here we are a month later, and nothing that’s happened since makes me feel any better about this whole thing. In fact, each day the news doesn’t improve, it reminds me more and more of anther player I followed, covered, cherished, and wrote about for years here on SB Nation’s Rockies sister site, Purple Row: Troy Tulowitzki.

Exactly two years ago, I opened up about why baseball, the Rockies, and Troy Tulowitzki were such important figures in my life, and how I was able to let go of the last two. But now, I’m starting to wonder if time really is a flat circle.

Because you see, in all my years of watching this glorious sport, I have never been more confident that two guys I watched from the moment they began to rise through the minors were going to be all time great players. They of course are Roman Anthony and Troy Tulowitzki, and I’m sure you already see where this is going.

Last winter, there was a part of me that wanted to write around a dozen Roman Anthony articles fawning over how good I thought he was going to become based on the underlying metrics, his rapid rise, his make up, his eye at the plate, the quotes he gave me when he was in Worcester, and the general way stars and power develop in the sport.

I mean, when you look at something like the highest hard-hit percentage in the 2025 season (min. 150 batted balls) and see a 21-year-old atop a leaderboard like this, it’s just astounding:

• 60.3% – Roman Anthony
• 59.6% – Kyle Schwarber
• 58.7% – Shohei Ohtani
• 58.2% – Aaron Judge

But I really, really didn’t want to feel the smite of the baseball gods again (they got me good when I did it with Tulowitzki all those years ago) so I refrained. Instead, I just happily perused Baseball Savant for hours and figured I’d get to write those things this summer when reality reflected it.

Alas, here we are. Roman Anthony is injured and healing slowly again, the Red Sox are having a historically horrendous season, and just like Troy Tulowitzki and the Colorado Rockies, the Red Sox absolutely need Roman Anthony to be healthy and reach his peak.

Every night, we watch this sorry excuse of a lineup get outgunned by the rest of baseball, and all of New England keeps wondering how the club is going to fix it. Well, unfortunately, it’s much, much harder to repair a bad lineup than it was 20 years ago given the way teams understand value and lock up their young stars. This coupled with performance enhancing drugs being legislated out of the game earlier this century, and we’ve (rightfully) also pretty much extinguished most of the production and availability of guys that was once commonplace for guys in their mid to late 30s.

This is all to say, if the Red Sox want to have that absolute stud in their lineup the team can build around and the region can adore, their best chance of getting it is still already in their clubhouse. I’m not just talking about getting a good hitter, I’m talking about getting an outstanding hitter. The kind that makes impacts that ripple through the lineup each trip around.

Because Roman Anthony has that ceiling and the Red Sox have built the roster as if he’s guaranteed to get there, this has to work. If it doesn’t, and the reason it doesn’t is because the injury bug drags Roman Anthony into its lair, I can’t emphasize enough how much that’s going to suck!

Not only is Roman Anthony’s ceiling rare and unique, but he also seems remarkably aware of it. Take a look at this quote from just before his latest injury saga when asked what he thought of his season so far:

“Kind of a letdown, honestly… Short sample size, but I wasn’t where I wanted to be… When I’m at my best, my swing decisions are great… When you’re swinging at good pitches, you have a better chance of hitting the ball in the air, and you have a better chance of doing what you want to do.”

These are the comments of a (at the time) 21-year-old on pace for about 4.0 WAR in 2026. He hadn’t even begun to blossom yet this season, and he was still tracking to be better than about 95 percent of the players in the league (yes, even with the low batting average and throwing yips).

Again, the stratosphere is the limit here; and the good news is, that still hasn’t changed. What has changed is we’re increasingly confronted with the possibility that Roman Anthony might have the foundation of a skyscraper and the building material the first two little pigs used.

No matter how good he is, it doesn’t matter if he can’t consistently get out on the field, because much like a hurricane on your wedding day, brake failure at a stoplight, or a raccoon infestation in your attic, repetitive, nagging injuries will ruin everything great you’ve worked for. They are striaght up poison to a professional athlete, and they’re happening to the most important member of the Boston Red Sox.

So with that, I’ll leave you with one final thought: The best thing that can happen to the 2026 Red Sox for the long-term outlook of the franchise isn’t a miracle playoff run or even more people getting fired. Instead, it’s getting consistent, good news on the Roman Anthony injury front and having him close the season looking like the guy he was about to become when he annihilated that pitch in New York last year.

That certainly won’t solve all this team’s problems, but it will solve a bunch of them.

It’s raining in Chicago, y’all.

The weather has not been conducive to playing baseball most of the afternoon in Chicago. Here’s a forecast.

Looks decent at 10pm and it appears that MLB wants this game to happen and happen in front of 25 people. Stay tuned for updates.

The Rangers series started out so promising, but the Royals dropped the final two games of the series, including a 4-2 loss on Thursday afternoon. The game started after a delay of over two hours over concerns relating to local storms, although no rain ever fell at the stadium. The Royals managed just six hits and three walks, while falling to 28-40 on the year.

Royals starter Michael Wacha had some early struggles, but was able to save the taxed bullpen by giving the team seven solid innings. Brandon Nimmo got to him in the first with an RBI double to put the Rangers on the board. The Rangers put runners at the corners in the third, and former Royals catcher Elías Díaz lay down a perfect bunt that allowed Ezequiel Durán to scamper home from third. Corey Seager made it 3-0 Rangers with a solo home run to lead off the third.

Royals hitters battled back against Rangers starter Kumar Rocker. They loaded the bases in the third inning, but Michael Massey grounded into a double play. The twin killing did bring home Kansas City’s first run of the game, and Kameron Misner picked him up with an RBI single, his first hit since being called up. But Nick Loftin grounded out to end the threat.

The Royals chased Rocker out of the game in the fifth with a Bobby Witt Jr. single, but rookie reliever Robbie Ahlstrom quickly ended the inning. In the sixth, Evan Carter singled home another run to make it 4-2, Rangers.

Beck Way provided two solid shutout innings with four strikeouts, a sorely-needed performance for this bullpen. The Royals dropped five of their six games to the Rangers this year, getting outscored 36-21.

The Royals continue the homestand by hosting the Houston Astros, starting on Friday night.

The Texas Rangers scored four runs while the Kansas City Royals scored two runs.

Methinks the Rangers were feeling a tad aggrieved today with the Royals making the call to delay the game for more than two hours to protect their depleted pitching staff. Despite the sun staying out the entire time, the thought of a potential shower caused KC to halt the game before it even began because they couldn’t afford to have their starter exit early after a delay.

It never rained, meaning we all sat around waiting for no reason. That’s probably especially annoying for the Rangers as they’re in the midst of a stretch where they’re playing 23 games over the next 24 days and are in the middle of a road trip with a flight to catch.

Perhaps peeved, the Rangers scored a run apiece in each of the first three innings with some aggressive sends on the bases. That aggressiveness was a mixed bag as, by the end of the game, three Rangers were thrown out trying to take an extra base at third base.

Though they couldn’t break through with a big inning to perhaps get today’s starter Michael Wacha out of the game early, they did pressure the Royals with 11 hits overall on the day and ultimately held the Royals to just two runs while never trailing.

Despite those two KC runs, the Rangers also erased a few threats from they Royals by turning three double plays. Texas got 4.1 scoreless innings from the bullpen — including two more hitless innings from Jacob Latz, who struck out three — with starter Kumar Rocker lifted after 4.2 innings despite being at just 83 pitches as they decided to avoid letting him face the Royals’ middle-of-the-order left-handed hitters a third time in a one run game at the time.

With the win, the Rangers claimed their fourth series in a row to, yes, once again reach .500. Now the new goal is getting over the hump.

Player of the Game: A day after a miserable game for Corey Seager, the team’s sputtering superstar contributed a couple of hits, including a third inning solo home run for Texas’ third run.

Seager also singled and scored on a double by Brandon Nimmo for the game’s first run in the top of the first inning. Seager isn’t very swift these days, and wasn’t even running very hard, so it was an aggressive send even as KC right fielder Lane Thomas kind of kicked the ball around in the corner.

For his trouble, Seager got smacked in the face on a collision with catcher Carter Jensen at the plate. Luckily, he stayed in the game and the Rangers finished off another series win in June.

Up Next: After a later than expected end to their getaway game, the Rangers jet off to Boston to open a series against the Red Sox on the east coast beginning tomorrow night. RHP Jack Leiter is expected to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Sonny Gray for Boston.

The Friday evening first pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 6:10 pm CDT and will be aired via the Rangers Sports Network or locally on CW33.

It was arguably the worst loss of the season, with the San Diego Padres losing the second game of the Cincinnati Reds series in the ugliest way possible. Squandering multiple opportunities, adding to their many baserunning gaffs, swinging through pitches in the middle of the zone, and Manny Machado continuing his league-worst hitting.

They followed that with a win in the third and final game of the series. Fernando Tatis Jr. and newcomer Samad Taylor have sparked the team in recent games and highlighted that in the eighth and ninth innings of the game. Taylor, Jase Bowen, and most recently, Will Wagner, have combined to give the offense a boost that hasn’t always translated into wins but has certainly provided some excitement.

The series against the New York Mets highlighted how bad the offense has become. And not just the offense. The pitching, baserunning and defense have all been shaky in recent weeks. With everyone placing so much attention on the inept offense, the rest of their poor play has largely gone unaddressed.

Since May 27, the starters have supplied three quality starts, with the latest in the series finale versus the Reds. Michael King went 6.2 innings with three runs allowed (all on home runs) and seven hits. He was the first starter to go six or more innings with only three or fewer runs allowed since Walker Buehler on June 2.

The bullpen has been great at times, but has been overworked with the short performances by the starters. The pressure placed on them has resulted in a 3.90 ERA, ninth best in MLB. Closer Mason Miller hasn’t been used as a closer much and has been trying to keep the deficit the same or to buy time for the offense.

Playing those two losing teams over the past six games, the Padres salvaged a home stand split and now have a 35-32 record, good for second place in the NL West and 7.5 games behind LA. They cling to the last Wild Card spot by a half game.

Freddy Fermin

The Padres lead catcher had the worst OPS in baseball before hitting back-t0-back-to-back home runs over three days. He added a double and a single to have seven RBI in that span and is hitting .263 over the past seven games. With backup Rodolfo Duran hitting .103 in 29 at-bats and Luis Campusano not yet on his rehab assignment, Fermin needs to be a contributor at the bottom of the lineup.

Samad Taylor, Jase Bowen, and Will Wagner

With the loss of Ramón Laureano, the release of Nick Castellanos, and paternity leave for shortstop Xander Bogaerts, the three players who were brought up to fill in are distinguishing themselves in a short sample size.

Taylor, 27, has had some brief cameos with two other teams over the past three seasons. He is fast, aggressive on the base paths, and knows how to bunt. Taylor has been referred to as the spark plug since his arrival. His enthusiasm and exuberance are noticeable. He also has a double, three walks, five RBI, and two stolent bases in the four games he has played.

Bowen, 25, is making his major league debut and is being used as a pinch hitter, a pinch runner, and an occasional defensive replacement while he gets his feet under him.

Wagner, 27, was acquired last season and had a brief cameo with the team at the end of the year. He started this year injured, with an oblique strain, and came back to rehab with El Paso. He came off the IL on May 7 and has been used as a DH in his two games played. His left-handed bat has had more major league experience than bench player Sung-Mun Song and he has a career .265 average. Wagner can play all infield positions besides shortstop and has significant DH experience.

It would not be a surprise to see Wagner staying and Bowen sent down when Bogaerts rejoins the team Friday in Baltimore.

Fernando Tatis Jr.

Tatis has been hitting and got his first home run at Petco Park in the finale of the Reds series. It was the game-winning, walk-off hit that sent the Padres on their road trip in a happier frame of mind. Over his past 15 games, Tatis has a .381/.418/.524 batting line with two home runs and five RBI. The offense is a marked improvement, but his base running is leaving a lot to be desired. He was thrown out again on Tuesday and is currently 15-for-23 on stolen base attempts. The eye test indicates that Tatis is making bad decisions and might be trying too hard to make something happen.

Manny Machado

Watching Machado swing a bat these days is painful. He is missing fast balls right down the middle of the plate, fouling off pitches in his hitting zone and just watching fat pitches go by. It is becoming concerning that he has not been able to pull out of this slump. His .172 batting average is the worst in baseball. He isn’t getting on base either with an OBP of .253 with 27 walks in 238 at-bats.

His K rate is 22.6%, up from 19.3% in 2025 but his chase rate is at an all-time high (31.2%). His batted-ball stats show that he is making more weak contact with more ground balls than previously in his career. Machado has achknowledged that he his still working to fix whatever the issue is that has caused this season-long slump but there is the inevitable conversation regarding age that has popped up around baseball.

At 33-years-old, it is to be expected that his bat speed is dropping but his home runs sit at 11 and is about average for this time in the season. He is hitting the four-seam fastball the best of all the pitches he has seeen but the sinker, slider and sweeper are all getting by him at a high rate.

Jackson Merrill

The centerfielder has had two hits in each of the past two games, including a home run, and has begun to get opposite field hits again. He has four RBI for June after having only six RBI for the whole month of May. His batting average is up to .207.

Padres sign Nick Pratto

Former No. 1 draft pick of the Kansas City Royals, first baseman Nick Pratto, signed a minor league deal with the Padres this week. He was released by the Texas Rangers on Tuesday and signed with the Padres on Wednesday. Pratto played for the Royals in 2022 and 2023 but has been in the Royals and Rangers minor leagues since then.

A player who spent the first month of the season in the Rangers development program, Pratto has power but a history of swing-and-miss in his career. He was assigned to the El Paso Chihuahuas and will provide depth at first base.

Injury updates

RHP Matt Waldron (brachialis injury) has begun working his way back and threw a live BP on Tuesday. He begins a rehab assignment this weekend.

RHP Germán Márquez has had two starts with Triple-A El Paso and has not allowed a run in 6.1 innings of work.

DH Miguel Andujar has not gone on the injured list this season but has twice dealt with a reoccurence of a hamstring issue he has had throughout his career. In both instances of aggravating his left hamstring, Andujar has been day-to-day while pinch hitting off the bench.

Jake Cronenworth has been with the team during the last week and is feeling better but has no timeline for a rehab assignment yet.

Luis Campsano reported having no lingering issues with his broken toe but has yet to begin a rehab assignment. He has been on the injured list since May 7.