Category: Sports News

Mark Grace perhaps said it best in the postgame show when he said, “Im not sure we have seen a more unlikely Dbacks win the season”

The almost Dback Clay Holmes shut this Dbacks offense down for 7 innings. The Dbacks had a deal in place for Holmes per multiple reports but the deal fell through at the last minute due to medicals. The fact that he was almost a Dback made the first 7 innings of this game sting all that much more, especially given the current status of this rotation.

Brandon Pfaadt was pretty good today pitching into the 7^th inning tonight and allowing 4 runs while keeping his team within striking distance. The Cubs have the 2^nd best offense in the league and Pfaadt did a decent enough job of keeping them in check. His first 3 innings were pretty easy getting lots of soft contact, however he gave up a 3 run HR in the 4^th inning on a hanging curveball to Ian Happ. Most importantly however, like I mentioned earlier, he was able to settle back in after the home run and give his team 6.2 innings against a red hot offense.

The Dbacks offense finally woke up in the 8^th inning as they were able to finally get on the board with 3 runs due to some linked up at bats with a couple of walks and a huge double from the red hot Gabi Moreno and a single from Geraldo Perdomo. When this offense has been clicking this season, it seems as though it is starting with the bottom of the order getting on base for the top of the order.

The story of the game however was Ryan Waldsschmidt who for the second time this season hit a walkoff home run off of a contending team’s closer. This time it came as a pinch hitter with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9^th with Jose Fernandez pinch running at first base for Tim Tawa. The Dbacks were inches away from losing this game as Jose Fernandez was narrowly able to steal 2^nd base and get into scoring position down 4-3. Then Waldschmidt got a hanging slider and did not miss it! What an electric moment and perhaps the biggest swing of the season thus far considering that the Dbacks were able to gain a game on both the Padres and the Phillies tonight on 1 single swing. What a great moment for this team!

The Dbacks will look to win the series tomorrow night and in the postgame interview Torey Lovullo insisted that Jordan Lawlar will be in the lineup tomorrow which is tremendous news for this team and for a guy that has had such unfortunate injury luck in his early career. So all is right in the desert tonight and what a tremendous boost for this team as the Dbacks will go into tomorrow 1 game out of a wild card spot!

As the race for the National League Rookie of the Year heats up, Carson Benge continues to make his case, and he did so again on Tuesday.

Going up against the MLB-best Brewers, the Mets outfielder went 3-for-4 with a walk in the team's 3-2 win. But it's that walk that's particularly interesting.

With the ghost runner on second with one out in a tied game in the 10th, the Brewers elected to intentionally walk Benge. Of course, the outfielder had three hits already in the game, but the Brewers felt it was necessary to walk the rookie in this key situation. As interim manager Andy Green sees it, the move was a sign of respect.

"I wish they pitched to Carson," Green said after the win. "When you’re sitting on the top step of the dugout wishing they’d pitch to your guy, it’s pretty shrewd they don’t pitch to your guy. Fairly straightforward there, just a really good contact hitter with a runner on second and a base open in the 10th. I get what they were thinking on that side.

"It’s a little bit of a declaration to the league that this guy is a really good hitter."

And Benge has shown that, especially of late. 

Tuesday was Benge's 11th game this season with at least three hits, which is the most by a rookie in Mets history and tied for the ninth-most in the majors this season, per Elias. 

He's hit safely in each of his last five games and has recorded multiple hits in four of them. His 134 hits this season are tied for the seventh-most in franchise history with Lee Mazzilli. 

And while the Reds' Sal Stewart may have an edge in the offensive department and the Cardinals' JJ Wetherholt on defense, Green sees Benge as having the best of both worlds.

Before the game, the Mets skipper was asked whether Benge has a legit case to be named NL Rookie of the Year, and he said he does for that reason.

"Well-rounded players that impact the game are what every manager wants, and you want that every single time and Carson has been that," Green explained. "When you look at where he’s come from the start of the year to where he is now, it’s fun to see him take steps forward."

In August, Benge is batting .359, the fifth-best in the majors this month, with a 1.015 OPS.

Since May 1, he is slashing .303/.363/.466 with an .829 OPS. In the majors over that span, he ranks fifth in hits and seventh in average among qualifiers.

The offense continued to sputter to begin the road trip and wasted another encouraging effort from Aaron Nola as the Philadelphia Phillies (73-60) dropped their second straight against the Seattle Mariners (64-69) on Tuesday night.

Mariners’ starter, George Kirby, kept the offense in check most of the night but allowed the first run of the game in the second inning as Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford strung together a trio of one-out singles.

After registering his first three-homer game last night, Cal Raleigh tied the game with a solo shot to begin the bottom of the second for his fourth home run in as many at bats.

Nola conceded the tie in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Josh Naylor following a one-out single and a steal by Julio Rodriguez.

Aside from the two runs on three hits and three walks, Nola looked to still be in command of his stuff entering the seventh inning with 92 pitches. Don Mattingly opted to give way to Orion Kerkering who, after getting a ground out to start the inning, loaded the bases on a hit by pitch, single and a walk. Kerkering induced a pop out by Randy Arozarena for the second out and Mattingly went to Brooks Raley to face the lefty, Dominic Canzone. Raley left a 1-1 sweeper over the plate that Canzone laced to left for a two-RBI single to effectively put the game away.

In Kerkering and Raley’s defense, the offense had no answers for Kirby & Co. Kirby begrudging left the game two outs into the eighth after allowing a hit to Bryce Harper but the minor threat was quickly erased by Jose Ferrer on a Luis Arraez ground out.

Jonathan Bowlan pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth and Alec Bohm and Crawford worked a pair of walks against Mariners’ closer, Andres Munoz, to create a two-out threat in the ninth, but a pinch-hitting-for-Garrett-Stubbs Bryan De La Cruz struck out on four pitches to close it out.

The Phillies will try to stave off the sweep tomorrow afternoon as Jesus Luzardo faces off against Bryan Woo.

Both teams came out swinging tonight, combining for 25 hits and 18 runs, but the White Sox (69-63) beat up on Jacob deGrom and outlasted the Rangers (66-67), 11-7. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous getting through this one, but this was a huge win for the South Siders coming off a blowout loss, and at the very least they will still hold a 2 1/2-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians.

The South Side offense snapped back to life Tuesday and absolutely dominated deGrom, plating six in the bottom of the first after batting around, sending Anthony Kay into the second with plenty of run support. It’s clear that deGrom wasn’t on his A game, but the Good Guys were much more selective and patient at the plate, striking out just twice against the righthander while walking five times. It marked the second time in just a few weeks that the veteran walked five batters in an outing.

Things got out of control fairly quickly for the former Cy Young Award winner. Sam Antonacci led off the game with a double, and deGrom subsequently walked Munetaka Murakami to put two aboard for the hot-hitting Miguel Vargas. The Rangers didn’t record an out until Chase Meidroth popped out to first baseman Jake Burger in foul territory with the bases loaded, but the White Sox had already pushed across two runs. Vargas hit a single to left, while a throwing error by Wyatt Langford allowed Antonacci to score and moved Mune to third. Braden Montgomery followed with a line-drive base hit to left that brought home Murakami and made it 2-0.

Speaking of staying hot, Tristan Peters came through in the clutch yet again, mashing a broken-bat double that put two more runs on the scoreboard and stretched the lead to 4-0. With Peters and Colson Montgomery on second and third, Brenton Doyle kept the hit train rolling, singling up the middle to drive in both runners and make it 6-0.

deGrom walked his final two batters to put two aboard in the bottom of the fourth. Although he induced a ground ball, the Rangers couldn’t complete the double play, prompting Skip Schumaker to turn to the bullpen to stop the bleeding. Immediately after Cole Winn replaced him, Colson and Meidroth mashed back-to-back RBI singles to tack on two more insurance runs, both of which were charged to deGrom. The veteran righthander ended his 3 2/3-inning outing with eight runs allowed on six hits, raising his ERA to 4.21.

Lefthander Anthony Kay looked sharp for most of his outing, allowing only one run through the first four frames: a solo homer by Jake Burger to center. But a switch flipped in the top of the fifth, and Kay surrendered three more runs before Jordan Hicks replaced him with two outs. It was a wild sequence after four innings of solid work: Cody Freeman singled, a wild pitch moved him to second, Danny Jansen blasted a two-run homer, and Kay hit Justin Foscue with a pitch. It was the 25th batter Kay has hit this season, the most among major league pitchers.

Kay recorded two big outs by striking out Corey Seager and Brandon Nimmo, though he walked Langford between the two strikeouts, moving Foscue into scoring position. Ezequiel Duran then ripped an RBI single to left, and that was the last straw for Will Venable, who turned to Hicks to shut Texas down. Kay ultimately allowed four runs on six hits — including two home runs — with two walks and four strikeouts, raising his ERA slightly to 4.09. The move to Hicks worked perfectly, as he struck out Burger to end the inning and prevent any additional runs from being charged to Kay.

The good news for the White Sox was that the offense kept rolling, getting two of those three runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Drew Romo walked to lead off the frame, and Antonacci smashed a triple into the right-field corner as the next batter, scoring Romo all the way from first. Although he still should not be part of the White Sox’s future catching plans, Romo has stepped it up offensively over his last seven games, posting a much more respectable .222/.364/.389 slash line with a .753 OPS. Vargas mashed his second hit of the night to drive in Antonacci for the South Siders’ 10th run, restoring their six-run lead at 10-4.

In the blink of an eye, the Rangers offense made things uncomfortable again. After scoring three runs in consecutive innings, Texas had trimmed the lead to 10-7 and put the game within striking distance. Hicks fell apart in the sixth, allowing a pinch-hit single to Joc Pederson before Jansen doubled him home. Justin Foscue then blasted a two-run homer to turn the game into a full-fledged slugfest.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Good Guys answered back. They didn’t get all three runs back, but Peters provided one with a solo bomb — his fourth home run in as many games. Peters has been on a tear lately, slugging .909 over his last seven games with a double and four homers, good for a 1.309 OPS. The homer was Peters’ third hit of the night, leaving him a triple shy of the cycle.

Peters came up once more in the bottom of the eighth with Meidroth on first after his third hit of the night, but former White Sox pitcher Tyler Alexander didn’t want to give him anything to hit. Alexander issued him a four-pitch walk, allowing Peters to reach base for the fifth time in the game.

Both bullpens surrendered three runs after the starters departed, but lefthanders Bryan Hudson and Hagen Smith were able to pick up Hicks over the next three innings. Hudson came in to put out the fire in the sixth, then worked a 1-2-3 seventh to halt the momentum Texas had built. Smith was set to handle the final two innings, and the lefty was excellent in the eighth despite allowing a double to Justin Foscue for his second hit of the night. The Rangers couldn’t build on it, and Smith struck out Seager to end the inning. Foscue’s double was just the second hit Smith had allowed since being called up to the big leagues, showing how nasty he can be when he commands his pitches.

Unfortunately, Smith couldn’t maintain that command and made things a little too interesting in the top of the ninth. He walked three batters to load the bases with two outs, putting the Rangers one swing away from tying the game at 11-11 — and one swing away from potentially giving me a heart attack. Venable wasn’t taking any chances with Smith’s inconsistency, so he called on Grant Taylor to shut things down and record the final out. Taylor did just that. With two pitches, the righty secured his eighth save of the season and a much-needed win for the South Siders.

As of publication, both the Twins and Guardians are losing, so it would be lovely for the White Sox to gain a full game on both teams. The Sox need to keep their heads down, take it one at-bat at a time and play their game. When they play loose like they did tonight, they can do plenty of damage at the plate. It’s time to take care of business, focus on what they can control and show up tomorrow ready to close out the series with a win.

MVP
Tristan Peters: 3-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 2B, HR in fourth-straight game

Runners-Up
Sam Antonacci: 2-for-4, 3 R, RBI, BB, K, 2B, 3B
Chase Meidroth: 3-dor-5, RBI, K
Miguel Vargas: 2-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K
Brenton Doyle: 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 K, SB

Cold Cat
Jordan Hicks: 1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 K, HR

Runners-Up
Anthony Kay: 4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR, WP, HB
Munetaka Murakami: 0-for-4, R, BB, K
Drew Romo: 0-for-4, R, BB, 2 K

Mariners 4, Phillies 1

Good: George Kirby, +.32 WPA
Bad: Randy Arozarena, -.12 WPA

Game Thread Comment(s) of the Day

The Rays had their chance to take control of this one in the fourth inning with the bases loaded and just one out. Jackson Jobe, the Tigers’ starter, was floundering having allowed three hits, a walk and a run in the first five batters. Nonetheless, the Rays were able to muster just the one run as Richie Palacios was unable to put the ball in play, instead striking out looking, and Taylor Walls grounded to first to officially end the threat. Jobe escaped allowing just the one run; the first and only run the Rays would score the entire game.

And that is pretty much the storyline for this one. The pitching was fine. Not great, but certainly serviceable. If nothing else, Legumina and Seymour combining for all eight innings gives Kevin Cash a lot of options for the series finale on Wednesday. The bats were quiet. Four of their five hits came in the first four innings and their last hit came in the eighth. They tallied four singles and a double.

Legumina opened this one and tossed 2.1 solid innings of work allowing just one hit while punching out a pair. Seymour followed and threw the final 5.2 innings. He allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits. He punched out five and walked none.

After the Rays failed to break this one open in the fourth, the Tigers jumped out to a three-run lead in the fifth and never looked back. Torkelson singled to start the inning and later scored on a two-run shot off the bat of rookie Max Clark. The final run scored on a 2-out error.

Then, in the seventh inning the Tigers tacked on another run to make it a 4-1 lead. After allowing a leadoff triple to Javier Baez, Seymour was a pitch away from escaping the threat, but allowed a 2-out RBI-single to Hao-Yu Lee.

Opposite the Rays duo on the mount, the Tigers pieced this one together with five arms after Jobe couldn’t escape the fifth. Jansen earned the save, his 17th of the year.

For those of you scoreboard watching, the Yankees lost a back-and-forth affair with Houston. With the loss, the Rays maintained their 3.5 game advantage in the East. Freddy Peralta will take the mound tomorrow afternoon opposite Troy Melton.

Though his start might be lost in what ultimately was a thrilling 3-2 win against the Brewers on Tuesday night, Zac Thornton continued to show his maturation and ability to pitch in the big leagues, going against the team with the best record in baseball.

The Mets' young left-hander allowed just one run on seven hits while striking out four batters, and was in line for the win before the Brewers scratched across the tying run in the ninth.

But interim manager Andy Green was proud of Thornton's outing that allowed the Mets to match up against the Brewers.

"I know he wants one curveball back…that’s a really good lineup," Green said. "They were set up with a bunch of righties to attack him well. He handled it beautifully. You really can’t look for more than six strong innings from him."

That one curveball was to Luis Lara in the fourth. In a scoreless tie and a runner on second, Thornton dropped an 0-2 curveball to the Brewers youngster, but Lara stayed back and hit a single to left field, scoring the first run of the game. 

Milwaukee is sixth in MLB in hits, so Thornton had his work cut out for him, but the southpaw worked around any troubles.

"Thought I did a fine job of limiting them and changing speeds on them," Thornton said of his outing. "One through nine, used all my pitches."

Thornton said the key to going up against a team like the Brewers is to throw strikes, something he says he excels at -- 69 of his 89 pitches were strikes -- but he also enjoyed seeing his velocity tick up in this one. He credited the extra rest and his weekly routine.

"I'm definitely seeing those 95s up there," Thornton said with a smile. "Felt good today, probably helped that I was on a seven-day this entire week. Just doing my best to get in the weight room between starts and keep my body moving through the year."

Tuesday marked Thornton's 10th start of his career. After allowing just one run in six innings, Thornton's ERA is 2.88. That's the 17th-best mark in franchise history for a pitcher in their first 10 career starts, and the fourth-most by a left-hander. 

He's allowed three or fewer earned runs in each of his last nine starts.

After his 10th start, Thornton was asked what he's learned in that time and the 24-year-old honed in on one aspect. 

"Every pitch matters," he answered. "Last week, [Fernando Tatis Jr.] took me deep first pitch of the game. Every pitch matters, from pitch one to pitch 90." 

Green was glowing when asked to assess what he's seen from his young left-hander.

"He is who we thought he was. A fearless competitor who doesn’t care who gets in the batter’s box," Green said. "Who might give up a home run on the first pitch of the game and the rest of the game, he’s going to do what he does. You want guys who are unfazed, guys who are unaffected by tough circumstances, and that’s who he’s been."