Category: Sports News

Turner's heroics put Phillies on verge of sweeping Braves originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Trea Turner’s all-around brilliance outshined a star-studded pitching matchup Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Turner delivered a two-run, walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Phillies a 3-2 win over the Braves. Turner went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and a walk to go along with his game-winning single. He also stole two bases and made a handful of excellent defensive plays.

“He did everything tonight,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “That’s the type of player he is.”

Turner’s three hits raised his batting average to an even .300. He leads the National League with 168 hits and is on pace to become the first Phillie since Jimmy Rollins in 2007 to reach 200 hits in a season.

His 10th-inning single on Saturday ranks among his biggest hits of the year.

“I felt pretty good,” Turner said of his game-winning at-bat. “I felt like I saw the first two pitches (foul balls), so I had a pretty good idea of what they looked like. It was just a matter of putting the middle of the bat on the ball and keeping it simple. I got another pitch to hit and found a hole.”

The Phillies’ shortstop was on top of his game defensively as well. That was a necessity as Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez induced 10 ground-ball outs, six of which went to Turner, including a pair of double plays.

“I told (Sanchez) probably in the fifth inning, you can start striking more people out if you want,” Turner joked. “I feel like I’ve gotten quite a few plays. But he loves it, he’s so positive on the mound. Whether we make a play for him, he’s super excited and the opposite if we make a mistake, he says, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ So we love playing behind him.”

“I was laughing,” Sanchez said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello of the exchange with Turner. “He was telling me, ‘Strike them all out,’ and I said, ‘You’re my teammate.’ We were just joking. It’s great to see how much he’s improved back there.”

Turner’s defense has been lacking at times during his three seasons with the Phillies. It’s an aspect of his game that he’s worked hard to improve.

“I’ve always felt like I should be a better defender than I was in the past,” Turner said. “I knew I was capable and it wasn’t from a lack of effort or work. It was more just finding the right ways to be consistent.

“I had a college coach who would tell me to just complete every play and that’s kind of always been my goal my entire career, just complete the play. I feel like I’m doing that at a way higher rate and obviously (Phillies infield coach) Bobby (Dickerson) has helped me a ton and the work we’ve put in is paying off in that sense. It feels really good to finally be the defender I thought I should be.”

Turner’s heroics on Saturday helped the Phillies pad their lead in the NL East standings. They have a six-game cushion on the second-place Mets with 26 games remaining. New York lost to the Marlins, 11-8, on Saturday.

The Braves took the lead in the top of the 10th on a one-out single from Nacho Alvarez Jr. off Matt Strahm that scored Jake Fraley, the designated runner at second base.

But the Phillies had an answer, which has become one of the themes of this season. Nick Castellanos was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the 10th inning. After a Harrison Bader strikeout, Bryson Stott hit a bloop single to right field to load the bases.

Brandon Marsh struck out to bring Turner to the plate.

Turner sent the sellout crowd at CBP home happy and gave the Phillies a chance to complete a four-game sweep on Sunday night.

Sanchez and Braves starter Chris Sale were both outstanding on Saturday.

Sanchez brushed aside any lingering concerns following his worst start of the season five days ago against the Mets. He reverted to his typical dominant self against the Braves, allowing just one run in seven innings. Sanchez scattered seven hits, struck out eight and did not issue a walk.

“It was good to have a good result today,” Sanchez said. “That’s how you can tell when pitchers are good (rebounding after a poor start). I’m just happy to have bounced back and happy that we got the win too.”

Sanchez’s command was terrific throughout the night — 71 of his 97 pitches were strikes. He lowered his season ERA to 2.66 in 27 starts.

Sale, meanwhile, was in top form in his first outing in two and a half months. He surrendered one run on three hits across six innings, striking out nine. Sale was activated off the injured list Saturday morning. He had been sidelined since June 18 because of a fractured rib cage.

The Phillies had several chances earlier in the night to take control of the game.

With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Turner smacked a leadoff double to left field to give the Phillies a prime opportunity to take the lead. Kyle Schwarber moved Turner to third with a groundout to first base. But Bryce Harper then grounded sharply to Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson, who stepped on the bag and threw out Turner at home to complete an inning-ending double play.

The Phillies squandered another golden scoring opportunity in the eighth inning. After Stott drew a one-out pinch-hit walk against Braves right-handed reliever Pierce Johnson, Marsh delivered a pinch-hit single to put runners on the corners with one out.

Johnson struck Turner out looking before Atlanta manager Brian Snitker summoned lefty Dylan Lee to face Schwarber. Lee got Schwarber to line out to right to end the threat.

But all’s well that ends well for the Phillies, who now have the opportunity to move to a season-best 23 games over .500 with a fourth straight win over the Braves on Sunday night.

Kepler injured

Thomson revealed after Saturday’s game that Max Kepler injured his shoulder attempting to make a diving catch during Friday’s game against Atlanta.

Kepler did not play on Saturday and was available only in an emergency. Thomson was unsure if Kepler would be able to play on Sunday.

Christian Koss' pitching cameo offers needed levity in Giants' loss to Orioles originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – In an ideal season in ideal situations, Christian Koss would never toe the rubber at Oracle Park for the Giants.

Yet in a season in which very few things have been ideal, Koss has managed to put some shine on those situations.

Take Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles for example.

The Giants’ pitching staff was taking it on the chin all afternoon so when it came time to mop things up in the ninth inning, manager Bob Melvin called for Koss rather than going deeper into his bullpen.

The result? Another scoreless outing for the 27-year-old infielder in what is becoming arguably the best sideshow to the Giants season.

“He’s getting used to it, looking pretty comfortable out there,” Melvin said following San Francisco’s 11-1 loss at home. “You don’t want to have to use that but when you have somebody like that that you know is going to go out there and throw strikes and try to get you through the inning pretty quickly … he’s the guy for it and he’s all in for whatever the team needs.”

To be certain, Koss isn’t exactly an intimidating presence on the pitcher’s mound. He stands 6-feet 1-inch and is 190 pounds at best maybe after he’s had a full meal.

Nor does he have dominating stuff on the mound. The majority of the time he’s pitching, Koss is simply trying to lob the ball over the plate.

Giants starting pitcher Carson Seymour spoke to Koss previously about sticking with the same pitching motion whether he’s trying to throw hard or fast. Most of the time it’s been slow, methodical pitches that Koss throws.

“I’m going up there lobbing it, just hoping my defense does what they’ve been doing, and try to keep it scoreless,” Koss said. “I’m just glad I could help the team get through something.”

Koss has a perfect 0.00 ERA in his four outings. He’s allowed four hits and hasn’t walked anyone. He hasn’t struck out anyone either, although he came close Saturday.

Most of Koss’s pitches were clocked in the high 40s before he muscled up for an 84 mph fastball on a 1-2 count to Coby Mayo that barely missed the outside of the strike zone. Fans booed the call, which starting pitcher Carson Seymour thought was a clear strike.

“I thought the one heater he threw, I think it was 84 which is pretty impressive because it wasn’t like he did a full leg lift or anything like that, I thought it was a strike,” Seymour said. “I guess he’ll live to fight another day.”

Ideally, the Giants won’t have a need to have Koss pitch again. Position players generally are called upon to pitch in games that are blowouts.

That factor alone, Koss believes, is one of the reason’s he’s had the pitching success that he’s had this season.

“I throw it slow enough,” Koss said. “Kind of at a point in the game where the hitters are kind of over it too. I know as s a hitter myself facing a position player is never the best thing to do. I’m just up there throwing it slow enough in a rough spot for them.”

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What we learned as Giants' blowout loss to Orioles snaps six-game winning streak originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO – Just like that, the worries returned to Oracle Park.

Less than 24 hours after a brilliant offensive display renewed hopes of making it to the postseason, the Giants were effectively shut down and looked a lot more like the underachieving team they’ve been for most of the season while absorbing an 11-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Gone were all the good vibes that had been built during a six-game winning streak, as the Giants once again fell two games under .500.

Like the score indicated, this was a one-sided game that left many in the crowd of 37,711 unhappy despite glorious weather in the Bay Area.

Willy Adames provided the one big highlight for the Orange and Black with his 25^th home run of the season, a two-out solo drive off Orioles starter Trevor Rogers in the first inning. That extended the Giants’ streak of consecutive games with at least one home run to 12.

Willy Adames blasts his 25th homer of the season 🔥
pic.twitter.com/720cmbM3D0

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 30, 2025

Other than that, the Giants didn’t give their fans much to cheer about as the hometown team lost at Oracle Park for the first time in two weeks.

The Orioles did a great job of being aggressive against Giants starter Carson Seymour (0-2) and were equally effective once Seymour left. Baltimore got runners in scoring position in every inning except the fifth and sixth, putting the Giants on their heels for most of the afternoon.

It got so rough for the Giants pitching that manager Bob Melvin used infielder Christian Koss to pitch the ninth. Koss needed nine pitches to work a 1-2-3 inning.

Here are the takeaways from Saturday:

Where did all that O go?

One day after setting season-highs in runs (15), hits (18) and hits with runners in scoring position (eight), the Giants reverted back to their mostly quiet ways on offense.

Beyond the home run by Adames, the Giants had just thre runners get past past first base.

Most of the blame for that goes to Trevor Rogers, who has been the Orioles’ most dominant pitcher for most of the 2025 MLB season. Rogers allowed one run and five hits over seven innings, earning a Baltimore-era franchise record with his 10^th consecutive start of six innings or more while allowing two runs or fewer.

Seymour Saw Less

Seymour’s first career start in the majors didn’t last very long. The right-hander’s afternoon ended after throwing 60 pitches in three innings.

The Orioles were getting good swings off Seymour all afternoon. Even the outs were hard hit.

Seymour retired only 12 batters and allowed four runs and five hits with two strikeouts and two walks.

The relief wasn’t exactly clean but the Giants had enough fresh arms to cover for Seymour’s early exit.

Creeping up on 30

The Giants haven’t had a player hit 30 home runs in a single season since king swatter Barry Bonds banged out 45 in 2004, but that streak is likely to end this year.

Adames hit his 25^th homer of the year Saturday and is the first Giants player to have 25 or more entering September since Bonds in 2007. He needs five more over the final 16 games which is doable considering Adames had hit six in his last nine games.

Twenty of Adames’ home runs this season have been solo shots.

Rafael Devers leads the Giants with 27 home runs but only 12 have come in a Giants uniform.

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