Category: Sports News

The Mets fell to the Philadelphia Phillies by score of 5-4 on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- In the bottom of the eighth, with the Mets trailing by a run, Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering walked the bases loaded. With one out, Ronny Mauricio popped out to second base for a huge second out, and Francisco Alvarez struck out on a high fastball to end the inning. 

Overall, the Mets went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base.

-- After Cionel Perez retired the side in order in the first, the Mets turned things over to Tobias Myers. The righty had a clean second inning, but allowed three runs on four hits in the third as the Phillies rallied to take a 3-0 lead. The Mets and interim manager Andy Green appear to be stretching Myers out to join the rotation full-time, but it came at the detriment of Myers, allowing three runs as he stayed in the game instead of Green going to a different reliever. 

--Kodai Senga made his first career relief appearance as he took over in the fifth inning. He pitched a one-two-three inning, did a great job working out of a jam in the sixth (more on that below), but gave up the lead in the top of the seventh, throwing a very hittable fastball to Kyle Schwarber,who put it over the wall in right center for a two-run homer, putting the Phillies back in front, 5-4.

Senga ended up going 5.0 innings, really saving the rest of the Mets bullpen, allowing two earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and one walk.

-- The Mets put two men on with no outs in the fourth, but couldn't do anything with it as the next three batters were retired. Facing the same situation in the fifth, the Mets were able to capitalize, as it was none other than rookieCarson Benge who came through with an RBI single to left to get the Mets on the board. Benge now has nine hits over his last eight games.

The Mets would go on to load the bases with one out, but couldn't push another run across as Bo Bichette went down swinging and Eric Wagaman, hitting cleanup, flew out to shallow center.

-- A potential turning point came in the sixth inning. An Alec Bohm walk and a Brandon Marsh double had runners at second and third and no outs, but Senga dug deep and retired the next three to get out of the jam without allowing a run. In the bottom half of the inning,Alvarez led off with a double to right, and A.J. Ewingcame off the bench and delivered with a two-run homer to right field, his first career pinch-hit hit. After Jesus Luzardo allowed just one earned run in 5.0 innings, right-hander Chase Shugart immediately coughed the lead up.

Later in the inning, it was, guess who, Benge, who came through with a fielder's choice that gave the Mets a 4-3 lead, as Benge once again hit a ball hard off of left Kyle Backhus.

Game MVP

Schwarber, whose 30th homer of the season gave the Phillies a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning.

Highlights

"Man, he is just growing very day"

Carson Benge drives in the first run of the afternoon for the Mets pic.twitter.com/CDU9jXcYq0

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2026

Kodai Senga works out of trouble in the 6th pic.twitter.com/9t0xdnmAu3

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2026

A.J. Ewing ties the game with a pinch-hit, two-run shot! 💥 pic.twitter.com/3qwVuUcO0g

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2026

A bullet off the bat of Carson Benge results in the Mets taking the lead! pic.twitter.com/I3O0j6Wbru

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2026

Next up

The Mets hit the road for three games in Toronto against the Blue Jays, starting on Monday night at 7:07 p.m. on SNY.

Sean Manaea is set to face off against Trey Yesavage. 

Nolan McLean and Kevin Gausman will be the matchup in the second game of the series, before Fredy Peralta and Patrick Corbin start in the finale.

Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish only allowed one hit today against the Nationals. If you’re looking for a positive story, you should probably stop reading now. The lack of hits did not bring the desired results. Bradish walked five hitters in only four innings of work, and Washington’s Luis García Jr. tortured Baltimore in a 6-4 Nationals victory at Camden Yards.

The Orioles actually got off to an encouraging start. Adley Rutschman picked up a two-out single in his first at bat after returning from the injured list. Pete Alonso worked the count full and fouled off a high heater before catching an elevated slider. Alonso tagged the ball 437 feet to dead center, and the Orioles led 2-0 at the end of one.

Bradish breezed through the first two innings and retired the first two batters in the third. Unfortunately, that’s where things began to fall apart. Bradish came within one strike of ending the inning in three consecutive at bats, but he kept letting batters off the hook. The righty issued free passes to Keibert Ruiz and James Woods before running the count full to Luis García Jr. Bradish managed to throw a pitch in the zone, but García turned the 96 MPH sinker around for a two-run double.

Bradish bounced back by generating a weak grounder from Curtis Mead, but Coby Mayo made a costly throwing error. Despite having plenty of time, Mayo spiked his throw to first. Samuel Basallo, playing first today with Alonso slotted as the DH, failed to pick the errant throw. García raced to the plate as the ball trickled by, and the Nationals secured a 3-2 lead.

Bradish walked two more batters in the fourth but managed to post a zero. He returned to the mound in the fifth, but exited after walking the leadoff hitter. Craig Albernaz summoned Tyler Wells for some long relief, but the move aged like milk. García Jr. delivered the Nats second hit of the game. This one was a 401-foot long ball that provided D.C. a 5-2 advantage.

Albert Suárez replaced Wells and tossed a scoreless sixth. Suárez struck out Woods to start the seventh, but García Jr. continued to see red in his next at bat. The 26-year-old smoked a line drive to deep right field. The ball was initially ruled in play, but replay revealed that the ball had left the yard. Washington led the game 6-2 behind García Jr.’s three extra-base hits.

The Orioles offense cooled after the early offense. Zack Littell entered the game with a 5.40 ERA, but he delivered a shutdown inning in the third. Baltimore failed to reach base in the fourth, and the Birds suffered some bad luck in the fifth. Taylor Ward was robbed of extra bases by an impressive catch at third base, and Gunnar Henderson just missed a run-scoring double on a ball that landed an inch left of the foul line.

Littell completed five innings to put himself in position for a win. Washington’s bullpen has been rocky all season, and Baltimore made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh. Colton Cowser reached with a base hit to center, and Jackson Holliday launched a ball over the fence in right field. The blast traveled 389 feet and cut the deficit in half.

Taylor Ward brought the tying run to the plate by working a walk, but Henderson flew out to end the inning. Henderson finished 0-for-4.

“Gunnar is just not getting the results that he wants,” Albernaz said after the game. “Nothing is falling for him right now.”

The Birds went down in order in the eighth. Coby Mayo worked a walk in the ninth, but pinch hitters Tyler O’Neill and Leody Taveras failed to deliver. O’Neill lined out to center field, and Taveras grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The Orioles dropped the series and fell to 39-46. Rutschman reached base multiple times and threw out a runner in his first game back. Cowser made several nice plays, and there were the big flies from Alonso and Holliday. There were a few positives, but not nearly enough. Bradish didn’t have it today, and García Jr. is on an absolute tear, but the Orioles beat themselves again with the throwing error in the third.

The struggling American League continues to keep Baltimore alive in the Wild Card race, but the Birds are in no position to be dropping a series like this at home. The Orioles will look to get back on track tomorrow evening against the White Sox.

After being swept by the presiding World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers this past week, the Minnesota Twins were looking for a “get right” series this weekend with the Colorado Rockies.

They got it–taking two-of-three from the Colorado kids and keeping their quest for .500 in the right direction.

Twins SP Connor Prielipp’s afternoon did not get off to a great start: a base hit from Willi Castro and HBP off the hand of Tyler Freeman. Castro would eventually touch the dish on a TJ Rumfield single, but Prielipp would wriggle out of further damage by whiffing Kyle Karros (with an ABS assist from Alex Jackson) to strand runners on 2B & 3B. 1-0 COL.

The Twins tied things up in B2 when a Royce Lewis leadoff double down the LF line was immediately paid off by a Brooks Lee single plus throwing error from COL 3B-man Karros. Alas, a MN lead was prevented by an Ezequiel Tovar web gem throw from SS to nip Austin Martin at the 1B bag. 1-1 tie.

Prielipp would again get himself into a T4 jam–bases loaded, one out—but again sidestep severity with a K and a ground out. MIN wouldn’t let the escape-artist trick go to waste in B4, when Kody Clemens clobbered a majestic moonshot that nearly clanged off the flagpole in the RF plaza! 2-1 MN.

T6 started with a Rumfield single–and ended with a tie ballgame after a Troy Johnston RBI single. Prielipp would depart after those six frames with a no-decision, but an impressive 10 K and 2 ER quality start. 2-2 tie.

After a scoreless frame from RP Andrew Morris, it looked to be the same for the Twins in B7–until a two-out bomb to the CF berm from Ryan Kreidler! 3-2 MN.

Could the bullpen record 6 outs without coughing up the slim lead? Always the terrifying dilemma for the Twins.

Well, things went fine in T8–Anthony Banda setting down the side scoreless even amongst a little base paths traffic. But the first pitch of T9 from Banda plunked Braxton Fulford–then Banda immediately left the game with an undisclosed injury.

Uh oh.

But just four pitches from Yoendrys Gomez was all it took to set down the Rockies for the final three outs.

Your Final: Minnesota Twins 3, Colorado Rockies 2.

Still hanging around in the AL Central race and Wild Card berth consideration within the muddled AL.

Zach’s Zealot

• Prielipp: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 10 K–easily his best outing as a Twin thus far.

Zach’s Zombie

• Luke Keaschall: 0-3, .645 OPS. Still struggling to find any sort of consistency in ’26.

Egg-cellent Elocution

• norffcommenting from the Target Field bleachers on the last pleasant day before the humidity seeps in.

Who’s Got Next

• A hop to always-humid Houston for three games with the Yordan Alvarez’s Astros (Mon. night, Tues. night, Wed. night).

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Toronto Blue Jays scored two runs.

We can start by noting that the Rangers scored in the first inning of every game in this series. For a club often victimized by first inning runs, striking first proved to be an invaluable weapon for Texas this weekend in Toronto.

Today’s run came courtesy of Joc Pederson who, like on Thursday in the series opener, homered to lead off the game. Pederson’s solo dong came on the game’s first pitch, and the Rangers very nearly added more as they loaded the bases with one out against Toronto starter Shane Bieber before he wiggled out of trouble without another run crossing the plate.

And that ultimately seemed like potentially the big mistake of the day. The Rangers had fumbled their shot at following the same formula that had gotten them three wins to begin this series. After all, the Rangers had led big for much of each contest, allowing them to weather comeback bids by the Blue Jays in the late innings.

The Blue Jays threatened to nullify Texas’ scant early lead immediately in the bottom of the first as Kumar Rocker allowed a couple of singles to begin his start. However, Rocker buckled down to produce a shutdown inning and then ultimately enjoyed one of the more pleasant outings of his big league career.

Equipped with the deadly swing-and-miss slider that made him a No. 3 overall draft prospect, a slider that he sort of befuddlingly abandoned last season, Rocker only allowed two more hits and a walk in his six innings of work and struck out five, all swinging and four of which came on the slider.

Rocker’s biggest moment came in the bottom of the fifth when, in a 1-0 game, the big righty allowed a two-out single Andres Gimenez and then his defense started to abandon him. After a grounder to shortstop became a Corey Seager throwing error, with two on, Elias Diaz tried a back pick to get Gimenez at second base but the ball went off Gimenez’s helmet which allowed both runners to move into scoring position.

The Rocker of a year ago potentially collapses facing the top of the Jays’ order a third time and with the possibility of trailing with one hit. Instead, Rocker got Toronto’s No. 2 hitter Nathan Lukes to swing and miss on that money-maker slider to end the inning and the threat.

With the heart of the order due up an inning later, Skip Schumaker entrusted Rocker with the sixth inning and Rocker rewarded him with an easy inning to finish with an unblemished outing.

Now the Rangers are neck deep in a grueling early summer stretch of 15 games in 15 days that includes three consecutive road series. The pitching depth, especially in the bullpen, has become increasingly thin. There are going to be moments where some guys come in for appearances you probably wouldn’t want them to during this stretch and honestly most of that time that’s when Cole Winn comes into a game that the Rangers could maybe win.

After the Rangers got a bases loaded single from Diaz in the top of the sixth to make it a 2-0 game, a rally in which they failed to break open the game, Winn came on and tossed a scoreless seventh inning but then was tasked with going the eighth as well. After an out, he allowed a single to Jays’ leadoff hitter George Springer and then a home run to Lukes, a two-run shot that tied the game in the eighth.

As AJM noted, it was just the second home run that Winn had ever allowed to a left-handed batter. Nevertheless, the game was now tied and Rocker’s effort was erased. The tie game also allowed the Blue Jays to send in Louis Varland, who has been among the best relievers in the game this season.

After two quick outs, Josh Jung doubled and then was lifted for pinch runner Jarred Kelenic with Schumaker desperate to avoid extra innings and hoping that Corey Seager could come through with a go-ahead hit.

Instead, Varland unfurled a first pitch changeup for a wild pitch that the Jays showed no real urgency in fielding and Kelenic scored all the way from second base to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead.

Yeah, like I said, insane way to take a ninth-inning lead. pic.twitter.com/bNuukTdw68

— Shawn McFarland (@McFarland_Shawn) June 28, 2026

That would become a 3-2 victory after Tyler Alexander tossed a scoreless ninth.

With the win, the Rangers collected a full four-game sweep of the Blue Jays – three of which were by one run – and leave Canada all the way back at .500.

Player of the Game: It’s Rocker, who enjoyed a quality start as the return to prominence for his slider continues to be a positive development. Unfortunately for him, the lack of run support and Winn existing prevented him from earning a win.

The Rangers won, though, so I’m sure he’s not sweating it.

Up Next: The Rangers return to the states to take on the Cleveland Guardians for the final leg of this lengthy road trip. The starting pitcher for Texas in the opener has yet to be determined while Cleveland will opt for LHP Parker Messick.

The Monday evening first pitch from Progressive Field is scheduled for 6:10 pm CDT and will be aired nationally on ESPN.

Twins 3, Rockies 2

Leverage index & box score

Graphics via FanGraphs.

Twins go Kreidler: Ryan Kreidler, +0.16 WPA

The Halves not: Seth Halvorsen, -0.19 WPA

Game discussion comment of the day

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Six in a row, and what a stupid way to get there. The losing streak now stands at six. These last two series were important, as Houston and Texas are significant rivals for the third wildcard spot. It’s hard not to conclude that the Jays have shown that they can’t hang with even badly scuffling teams like that. The rotation remains a tire fire, they were 0-for with runners in scoring position, and Vladimir Guerrero jr.’s OPS now starts with a 6.

Other than that, though, things are fine.

---

It looked like it was going to be another disaster outing for Shane Bieber. Joc Pederson deposited his first pitch of the afternoon into the right field bleachers, digging the Jays into the earliest possible hole. A single and a pair of walks loaded the bases with just one out. He escaped the jam with the help of some nifty fielding by Kazuma Okamoto, who went home after fielding an Ezequiel Duran grounder to get the runner at the plate and prevent the Rangers from scoring. He got more help in the second. Elias Diaz hit a hard line single to lead off. Alejandro Osune cracked a liner of his own, 101mph off the bat, but Vladmir Guerrero jr. made a great catch and dove back to the bag for the unassisted double play. Yet another gold star play by Okamoto, diving to catch a Pederson liner that would have been into the gap, got him out of the inning. The Biebs settled down at that point, working around one base runner each in the third and fourth and striking out the side in the fifth. He struggled again early in the fifth, allowing a walk and a single while recording one out, and was pulled from the game at that point. It wasn’t a good outing, but the three inning stretch in the middle was at least proof that he can still get it done at times, and he left the game within range.

Adam Macko took over. He walked the bases loaded, and then gave up a line single that scored an inherited runner, but stopped the damage at 2-0 with a double play ball. He got the first two outs of the seventh as well, issuing a walk and having Brandon Nimmo reach on a fielding error by Ernie Clement. Jeff Hoffman took over to strike out Jake Burger to preserve the 2-0 score.

Meanwhile, the offence was anemic early again. George Springer and Nathan Lukes both singled to lead off the bottom of the first, but a fly out, a fielder’s choice that got Springer at home, and a strike out prevented them from capitalizing. They went in order in the second, while in the third an Andres Gimenez walk was erased by a double play. A Daulton Varsho single was stranded in the fourth, while a Gimenez single and Springer reach-on-error were left on in the fifth. Kumar Rocker retired the side again in the sixth. In total, he scattered five hits and a walk over 6.0 scoreless innings, striking out five. Given two errors behind him, it was an especially impressive outing.

Cole Winn worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh for Texas. They finally got on the board off of him in the bottom of the eighth, following a scoreless top half by Hoffman. George Springer reached with a one out ground ball single, and Nathan Lukes tied the game with a two run shot to deep right field.

The tie would prove short lived, though. Louis Varland struck out his first two batters in the top of the ninth, but then Josh Jung lined a double. He was replaced with pinch runner Jared Kelenic. Varland spiked a ball in the dirt that popped up, deflected off Alejandro Kirk’s mask, and all the way up into the netting above the Jays dugout. Kirk had no idea where it was, and Kelenic was able to cruise around and score pretty easily on the rare two base wild pitch. They’ve done a lot of losing lately, but I have to respect their commitment to innovating in the space.

Tyler Alexander came on to lock down the save for the Rangers, retiring the Jays in order to secure the four game sweep.

---

Jays of the Day: Lukes (0.35), Bieber (0.10, but realistically this is a shared award for his infield)

Less so: Guerrero (-0.13), Okamoto (-0.15, although the defence arguably earns him a pass), Varsho (-0.13), Clement (-0.16), Kirk (-0.12), Varland (-0.30)

---

We’re mercifully done with the Rangers for now. Next up we have an ineptitude-off between the Jays and the Mets. Game one goes tomorrow at 7:07pm ET. Sean Manaea (1-2, 4.87) represents the visitors, while Trey Yesavage (3-3, 3.56) goes for the home team.

Sunday’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins on the hottest day of the year so far was as much about survival as it was winning the game as Kyle Leahy and Bryan Torres helped the Cardinals beat the Marlins and the Heat Sunday if only barely.

The official game temperature was 92 degrees at the start of Sunday’s game in St. Louis, but the heat index said 106. The Cardinals scored first in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Masyn Winn led off with a single. He didn’t have to wait long to return to the dugout as Bryan Torres turned on a 95 mph sinker and sent it screaming over the right field wall giving St. Louis a quick 2-0 lead.

All things considered, Kyle Leahy gave the St. Louis Cardinals one of his best starts of the season as he endured 5 full innings striking out 5 and walking 3. He held the Marlins scoreless until the top of the 5th inning when Owen Caissie doubled to lead off the inning and he scored 2 pitches later when Graham Pauley hit a ground rule double cutting the Cardinals lead in half at 2-1.

The Cardinals bullpen did its job with JoJo Romero tossing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Ryne Stanek closed out the top of the 7th inning as he was able to get a ground ball from Mack that Masyn Winn turned into an easy double play. George Soriano entered the game in the top of the 8th inning to try and help the Cardinals hang on to their narrow 2-1 lead. He was successful as his stuff was nasty in the best possible way as the Marlins never even got close to anything he was throwing.

One of the best performances Sunday was Marlins pitcher Tyler Phillips who pitched into the 8th inning amidst the soaring heat index. He would be taken out when the Cardinals strung together one-out hits from Nathan Church and Pedro Pagés bringing up JJ Wetherholt with runners on first and third. In a pivotal rally-killing play, Nathan Church was picked off by Marlins catcher Mack. That sound you heard was the deflation of a great Cardinals scoring opportunity. JJ ended up striking out to end the inning, but he did have 2 hits on the day to begin to break out of his most recent 0-15 slump.

Riley O’Brien was brought in to close out this way-too-close Sunday battle with the Marlins. He was fortunately up to the task as he coaxed a fly ball out of Edwards and struck out Hernandez and got Sanoja to ground out to Alec Burleson. Game over, man.

The St. Louis Cardinals have Monday off as a travel day, but will then begin a difficult road trip as they’ll visit the NL East division-leading Atlanta Braves starting Tuesday night. Matthew Liberatore will try again as he is the scheduled starter for the Cardinals. The Atlanta Braves starter is unannounced as of now. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15pm central time at Truist Park in Atlanta. Game TV broadcast available on Cardinals.tv.

It was always going to be a rough outing for the Diamondbacks today. The Rays were going for the series sweep that would keep them in possession of first place in the AL East. Tampa sent Drew Rasmussen to the mound, he of the 2.62 ERA. Rasmussen wasted no time in the first inning, getting three outs on only eight pitches. That brought Merrill Kelly in to face the Rays with the goal of going deep and keeping the team in the game while doing so. Kelly started things off going single, walk, single, allowing Caminero to drive in the first run of the game. Kelly finally got the first out by striking out Victor Mesa, Jr. Kelly then induced a 1-6-3 double play to get out of the inning without further damage.

Four more pitches from Rasmussen led to two more outs by the Snakes. That brought Pavin Smith to the plate. The first-ever draft pick by Mike Hazen broke up the no-hitter by lacing a liner into left that Tampa’s Chandler Simpson misplayed into a double, setting the stage for Nolan Arenado. Alas, Arenado was unable to push Smith across to score, ending the inning with Rasmussen on 20 pitches after two innings where Kelly threw 21 in the first. The game did not get more promising as the Rays came up in the bottom half of the inning. Adrian Del Castillo was catching and was unable to track a high pop-up behind the plate on a 1-2 count to Cedric Mullins. Given a second life, Mullins took Kelly deep and put the Rays up by a pair. A quick out by Ben Williamson was followed by a Tyler Walls single. Then, a perfectly executed hit-and-run put runners on the corners. Yandy Diaz brought in Walls from third with a long fly to Corbin Carroll in right. Carroll then had to get on his horse to track down a flyball by Jonathan Aranda to get Kelly and the Diamondbacks out of the second inning.

Drew Rasmussen made quick work of Arizona’s first two hitters before Ketel Marte managed to reach via the most phantom of HBP, one that required replay review in order to award Marte first. That brought up Perdomo with the opportunity to lift the Diamondbacks back into the game. Perdomo extended the at-bat into a full count. That got Ketel Marte running with the pitch and Perdomo lined the pitch into right. The liner was hard enough that Marte was still forced to stop at second. This set the table for Corbin Carroll to do something big. Carroll got ahead in the count 2-0. He then worked the count full before fouling off four pitches. Rasmussen then came and got a strike three call on the bottom inside corner that Carroll felt was ball four. While taking off his shinguard, Brian Walsh rang him up. Walsh then informed Carroll that he took too long to appeal in order to overturn the call. Review during the commercial break showed that he would have lost the challenge if it had been allowed. So, while the Diamondbacks did not score, they did at least finally make Rasmussen put in some work, as he was forced to throw 34 pitches in that inning.

Kelly started the third off with a leadoff walk. He then made relatively quick and quiet work of the next three batters to toss his first scoreless frame of the day. Adrian Del Castillo led things off for the Diamondbacks in the fourth. The backup catcher promptly dumped a single into left. That brought up Lourdes Gurriel Jr. This was an odd plate appearance. On a 1-1 pitch, Rasmussen threw a cutter that backed up on Gurriel, who swung right through it. However, the ball was so far in on him that after swinging, he took the pitch of his back (right) shoulder, right around the collar bone. The first base umpire, Chad Whitson indicated that Gurriel was hit trying to get out of the way and did not commit a swing. As far as bad calls go, this was a doozy, but it gave the Snakes some life, putting runners at first and second with nobody out and Pavin Smith coming to the plate. Smith drove Mullins back to the edge of the track in center, allowing Del Castillo to tag up to third. With runners on the corners, only one out, and Rasmussen starting to look shaky, Nolan Arenado stepped in and turned in one of his more forgettable plate appearances. He was followed by early-season star, Ildemaro Vargas, who flew out meekly to left, ending Arizona’s threat and sending Kelly back to the mound with a three-run deficit. A three pitch strikeout of Ben Williamson was followed by getting two groundouts on three pitches. Merrill Kelly finally looked settled in. Now, if only the offence could figure out how to string together some hits.

The Diamondbacks continued to struggle to put anything together. The only thing of note was that Geraldo Perdomo managed to draw a two-out walk, only the 16th walk issued by Rasmussen this season. Thus it was that we moved on to the bottom of the fifth inning. With Merrill Kelly trying to keep the quality start in-tact. The Rays sent Yandy Diaz to the plate to lead off their half the inning. Diaz appeared to hurt himself on a big 0-2 swing but remained in the game after being looked at by trainers. As the count worked itself full, Diaz continued to foul off pitches, looking like he was in serious pain after every swing. On the 10th pitch, he meekly grounded out to Perdomo. Granted, as the DH, there are rules that apply if he is lifted from the game. But the Rays leaving him out there when he was obviously not right is not a good look. Kelly made quick work of Aranda, which brought Caminero to the plate. Caminero wasted no time doing Caminero things, sending a 92 mph cutter 463 feet into left center. Thus ended Merrill Kelly’s bid for a quality start. Victor Mesa contributed a single and a stolen base, but Kelly managed to strand him there.

The Diamondbacks’ sixth inning barely out-lasted the hydration break in the South Africa/Canada Round of 32 game that dropped at the same time. A Ben Williamson home run tacked on another run to Kelly’s final line as he took the mound for the sixth. The Rays then had Rasmussen turn the ball over to Craig Kimbrel for the seventh inning. Despite Kimbrel no longer being the dominant closer he once was, the Diamondbacks were still unable to do anything against him. The Diamondbacks then turned to Jonathan Loáisiga. The Rays countered by lifting DH Yandy Diaz for pinch-hitter Richie Palacios. Palacios and Aranda both grounded out to Pavin Smith at first before Caminero came up and dropped a single into right center field, just out of the reach of a diving Tommy Troy.

The eighth inning saw Ketel Marte step in to get things started. And get things started he did, as he took new relief pitcher Garrett Cleavinger 415 feet to straight away center, breaking up the shutout. A strikeout by Perdomo and a weak groundout by Corbin Carroll brought up Adrian Del Castillo’s spot in the lineup. Torey Lovullo went to his bench and had Gabriel Moreno pinch hit for the backup catcher. Five pitches later, Moreno struck out, bringing an end to the Diamondbacks’ eighth inning and also bringing to a close a scoreless first-half draw in Los Angeles between South Africa and Canada.

Drey Jameson came out for the eighth inning. Chandler Simpsson greeted him by clobbering a double. Cedric Mullins then struck out. Gabriel Moreno gunned down Simpson trying to steal third, and Ben Williamson popped out to Carroll in shallow right to bring the eighth inning to a quiet end.

The Rays turned to Trevor Martin to close the game. Lourdes Gyrriel Jr, lifted a pitch just over the reach of the shortstop, Walls for a leadoff single. Pavin Smith then lifted a flyball to Williamson in foul ground in left. Arenado struck out. Ildemaro Vargas popped p to second. The game ended 5-1 in favour of the Rays, dropping the Diamondbacks back to a game below .500. About the only highlight from the final nine outs of the game is that they went by fast enough that the World Cup game was only 70 seconds out of the half as the Diamondbacks went back to lick their wounds after getting swept in Tampa and dropping six of the last eight.

Comment of the Day

The gameday thread was rather depressing today, filled with plenty of understandable frustrations and predictions of doom and gloom. As such, the levity here was appreciated.

The Diamondbacks need to make their way to the airport with a quickness now, as they are slated to take on the Giants tomorrow, at home in Phoenix. First pitch is slated for 6:40 MST with the Giants sending Tyler Mahle to the mound to face off against Eduardo Rodriguez. Here’s to hoping that the Diamondbacks can get as right as they did last time they faced the Giants.