Category: Sports News

BOSTON — Trent Grisham could be about a week away from returning to the Yankees.

The center fielder met the team at Fenway Park on Thursday and is set to go through a full slate of baseball activities during this series — he did some defensive work in the outfield and took batting practice before Thursday’s series opener — before likely going out on a rehab assignment.

Grisham, who has been on the injured list since June 13 with a moderate right hamstring strain, has a chance to return sooner than the Yankees initially expected if he can get through the final steps of his recovery without issue.

“He’s doing really well,” manager Aaron Boone said Thursday. “It’s been encouraging. He’ll probably hit the bases … a couple times this weekend while we’re here. But he’s getting close.”

Grisham will then “probably” play in at least a rehab game or two, Boone said, to make sure he is all good to cover center field before making his return.

Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice advanced to the second phase of All-Star voting Thursday, giving them a chance to start for the American League in the Midsummer Classic next month in Philadelphia (though Judge would obviously not be ready to play in the game because of his rib injury).

In the first phase of fan voting, Judge received the most votes of any AL outfielder while Bellinger finished fourth (the top six outfielders advanced).

Rice, meanwhile, finished second among AL first basemen, receiving just over half as many votes as Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Rice and Guerrero will be pitted against each other (as will the six outfielders) for the starting honor in the next round of voting, which concludes July 2.

Paul Goldschmidt, who led off the game with a double against Red Sox lefty Connelly Early, is batting .418 with a 1.323 OPS in 79 at-bats against lefties.

After the game, the Yankees optioned J.C. Escarra to Triple-A, clearing the way for Ali Sánchez to be activated off the paternity list Friday.

This marks the second Yankees-Red Sox series since Alex Cora got fired, but Boone — who said he has spoken to his friend and former counterpart “a couple times” since he was let go — indicated it was still strange not to see him in the dugout across the field.

“Alex always had such a big presence to him that it definitely was a little bit different,” Boone said.

Fernando Cruz — who did not pitch Thursday — has stranded 28 of his 32 inherited runners this season, including 24 of his past 25 since April 25.

Rangers 6 Blue Jays 5

Well, they made it close.

A terrible night for Kevin Gausman, for the second start in a row. Tonight he gave up a run in the first and five more in the third, and that was pretty much the game. He did work his way through six innings.

And Simeon Woods Richardson pitched the last three innings, without giving up a run. Pretty soon he’s going to earn a change to be more than just a mop up guy. 10 innings and he still hasn’t given up a run as a Blue Jay.

Offensively? We didn’t score until the fifth inning, putting up three runs with back-to-back singled to start the inning by Kazuma Okamoto and Alejandro Kirk. A Nathan Lukes walk loaded the bases. Then a sac fly by Davis Schneider and a Myles Straw double brought in our runs.

And we got two more in the ninth. Ernie Clement singles and, after a Vladimir Guerrero strikeout, Okamoto hit his 18th home run of the season. But Kirk ground out and Brandon Valenzuela struck out and that was the game.

We only had six hits and one walk, so there weren’t many base runners. Clement and Okamoto had two hits each. Kirk and Straw had one each.

Just another one of those days where we didn’t hit enough. One for three with RISP but we didn’t have enough RISP. It seems to be the story of the season to this point.

Jay of the Day? Straw was the only one getting the number (0.10 WPA). Let’s give an honourable mention to Okamoto.

Other Award: Gausman (-0.29) and Vlad (-0.10).

Tomorrow we have Patrick Corbin (2-3, 4.73) against Nathan Eovaldi (7-7, 4.24). As I say too often, a win would be nice.

Good news! Apparently whatever ailment preventing the Red Sox from playing competent baseball at Fenway Park this year is contagious. The New York Yankees may have the best record in the American League, but tonight they put on a total clown shown and gifted away a rather amusing victory with a big, fat bow on it.

The Red Sox of course were still the Red Sox, going 1-12 with runners in scoring position and failing to score a single earned run, but for one night, their shortcomings were dwarfed by their opponent. If you go by official errors, the Yankees were charged with four, but it you watched the whole thing play out, it felt like they had twice that many.

It started early and often with two mistakes in the first inning: First Austin Wells got nailed on catcher’s interference, and then Cam Schlitter threw a ball into centerfield to set up a second and third situation for the Sox. Even though these two errors didn’t amount to anything, it was a major harbinger of things to come.

In the second inning, the Yankees started things off by letting this pop up drop (which was generously ruled a hit):

Then, later in the same frame, Cam Schlittler hit Carlos Narvaez on an 0-2 pitch.

Once again, the Red Sox didn’t score – And they even failed to score again in the third and fourth innings despite another pop up dropping in foul territory.

However, in the bottom of the fifth, the flood of mistakes finally caught up with New York and the game turned rather quickly. On another night, the ball below becomes an inning ending double play, but with the circus in town, it went right through Amed Rosario’s legs to get the Red Sox on the board.

Later in the inning, Jarren Duran recorded a sac fly on a shallow fly ball to left field thanks in part to a very unimpressive throw from Jose Caballero. (To be fair and give the Red Sox some credit, they fully expected a throw like this and challenged his arm.)

Then came the big blow. In an inning that should have been over, the Yankees proved the even against the 2026 Red Sox, if you keep making enormous blunder after enormous blunder, you’re eventually going to pay the piper in this league. Here, it happened in the form of a Caleb Durbin home run down the left field line. It was definitely a Fenway home run, but the Yankees fully earned this one with the way they played all night, and so did Durbin for that matter getting back in the lineup one day after dislocating his pinky.

That homer turned out to be all the runs the Red Sox needed, but the Yankees were not done handing out gifts. Here’s Yerry De los Santos trying to field a bunt in the eighth:

And here he is nearly gifting the Red Sox a run on a wild pitch:

Don’t worry, even though the Sox didn’t cash that check, they were handed the run on the next batter:

And just for good measure, the Sox got yet another insurance run on this failed double play attempt by Anthony Volpe:

On a day exactly on the opposite end of the calendar from Christmas, the Red Sox sure got quite the pile of presents.

Three Studs

Caleb Durbin: In addition to the home run and getting on base three times, Durbin also made this defensive play:

Connelly Early: This is the other main story from the game that kind of got buried in the Yankee calamity. Early survived a shaky first inning, showed steady improvement the deeper he worked into the outing, and his fastball was touching 95mph. Great night for him in both the micro and the macro.

Garrett Whitlock: Nice bounce back outing after some shakiness in Colorado. He put up an easy, stress free zero in the top of the eighth.

Three Duds

Marcelo Mayer: 0-4 with two strike outs that also included a pop up with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the eighth inning. If he had a halfway decent night with the bat, the Red Sox probably score ten runs given all the ducks he left on the pond.

Greg Weissert: Nearly set the game on fire in the seventh inning. Needed Danny Coulombe to get Ben Rice to clean up his jam.

Earthquakes: Normally, the third dud would go to either Wilyer Abreu or Willson Contreras, who went a combined 0-8 with three strikeouts from the three and four spots in the lineup. However, given what’s happening in their home country right now, they get a total pass for this one.

Play of the game:

Pick whatever Yankee error was your favorite. Their incompetency powered the Red Sox win with Boston failing to score a single earned run all night. Let’s just hope the Yankees saved some errors for the rest of the series.

For what felt like the millionth time this season, the Mets made some mistakes in Thursday’s loss to the Chicago Cubs that cost them the game.

Tied 0-0 entering the sixth inning, Freddy Peralta, who had been cruising over the first five innings, got Dansby Swanson to hit a routine grounder to shortstop Ronny Mauricio. The ball was hit right to Mauricio and all he had to do was make the throw to first base for the first out of the inning.

Instead, Mauricio made a low throw and the ball skipped to first baseman Mark Vientos, who couldn’t handle it for a throwing error charged to the shortstop.

The error paved the way for Chicago’s three-run inning, all of which were unearned, and forced Peralta to throw 30 pitches before getting pulled with two outs in the frame. 

Not only was manager Carlos Mendoza unhappy after the game with the error because of how routine the play was, the point in time at which it happened also bothered him, not to mention it came on the heels of a game where New York made six errors.

“Especially the leadoff one there – it’s a completely different inning, especially for Freddy’s outing there,” Mendoza said. “It’s just routine plays that are costing us. At this level, you expect to make plays like that, those are routine plays. You understand that they’re not gonna be perfect, but those are as routine as it gets and teams are making us pay for it, especially the past few nights.

Prior to the error, Peralta had kept the Cubs scoreless for five innings and pulled a complete 180 following his season-worst start against the Philadelphia Phillies the last time out. Of course, it’s impossible to say what would’ve happened had the error not happened, but at the very least, it forced Peralta to throw more pitches and ended his night prematurely.

Nevertheless, the right-hander knows mistakes are part of the game and felt he should’ve done more to pick up his defender.

“It happens. I was just trying to calm myself and make my pitches and try to get a ground ball for the double play,” he said.

The Mets, officially at the halfway point of the season, have now lost six straight games, are a season-low 13 games below .500 and their season is on life support.

So, what, if anything, can be done about it?

“I cannot speak for everybody, but what I can say and what I feel is just, losing is no fun,” Peralta said. “And at the end of the day, I know we need to win and that we have a team that is supposed to win. What I can say is we’ve been trying and we’ve been working really hard to get through this and trying to make adjustments. 

“Right now we just need to keep trying and play better, myself too. We all need to play better and just try to come back and remind ourselves that we are big leaguers and we are great at this game. We just need to put everything together and try to put up a W every day.”

Right-hander Grant Kipp was promoted from Double-A Knoxville to Triple-A Iowa.

Right-hander Kenten Egbert went back down to High-A South Bend after his one game in Iowa.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were trampled to death by the Buffalo Bison (Blue Jays), 15-1.

Corbin Martin started this game as a kind of hybrid opener/bullpen game and he got the loss after giving up two runs on one hit and one walk over 1.2 innings. Martin struck out two.

Iowa managed just six hits in this game and all of them were singles. Third baseman James Triantos singled home right fielder Kevin Alcántara with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Triantos was 2 for 4. Alcántara went o for 3 with a walk.

Here’s at least a defensive highlight, courtesy of center fielder Brett Bateman.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies defenestrated the Birmingham Barons (White Sox), 5-1.

Dawson Netz kept the Barons off the board for six innings, giving up just two hits. Netz struck out two and walked just one.

Catcher Owen Ayers connected for a solo home run in the top of the first inning. It was Ayers’ 20th home run this year and 14th with the Smokies. Ayers went 2 for 3 with a walk.

In the seventh inning, shortstop Ed Howard smacked his first home run of the year off the scoreboard with a man on. Howard went 1 for 4.

Second baseman Hayden Cantrelle doubled twice in a 3 for 4 night. He scored twice and had one run batted in.

Ayers’ home run.

Ed Howard’s home run.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs were hijacked by the Quad Cities River Bandits (Royals), 8-1.

Mason McGwire got the start and the loss after giving up four runs on seven hits over four innings. McGwire walked two and struck out four.

South Bend managed just four hits. Third baseman Matt Halbach and left fielder Jose Escobar hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning for the only Cubs run. Both players were 1 for 4.

Escobar’s RBI double.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans domesticated the Salem RidgeYaks (Red Sox), 5-4.

Kaleb Wing started this game, but only threw 18 pitches and one inning. Wing allowed no runs and no hits. He walked one and struck out two. I didn’t see any injury on the mound, but who knows if he mentioned something in the dugout between innings. I didn’t see any hugs either, although it was the away broadcast and they weren’t focusing on the Pelicans dugout.

David Bracho threw the next three innings and allowed three runs on seven hits. Bracho walked two and struck out two.

Next up was Edwardo Melendez, who allowed one run on two hits over three innings. Melendez walked two and struck out three.

Emilio Ramos pitched the eighth and ninth inning, did not give up a hit or a run and got the win. Ramos did walk one while striking out two.

Second baseman Alexis Hernández had a big day, going 3 for 5 with two doubles. The second double, in the top of the ninth, scored Alexey Lumpuy which broke a 4-4 tie and ended up being the winning run. Hernández had two total RBI and he scored once.

Center fielder Lumpuy went 1 for 4 and was hit by a pitch. He also stole one base.

Catcher Jairo Diaz was 2 for 4. He scored one run and drove one in.

RBI single for Hernández.

The RBI double in the ninth.

ACL Cubs

Losing to the Brewers, 7-5 in the seventh inning.

Just when it seemed like the Mets might quiet the noise — around their manager, around their president of baseball operations, around everyone in the clubhouse associated with this dismal season spiraling toward the trade deadline — for one night, they still found a way to lose. Just when the offense was actually able to fix the latest mess that the defense made to give them a chance in extras, it still wasn’t enough.

This time, less than 24 hours after the Mets and Cubs made a trade in what might be a summer full of them, the centerpiece of the two clubs’ last major deal issued a reminder of why it aged so poorly for his former team. Pete Crow-Armstrong — the former Mets prospect sent to Chicago in the 2021 Javier Báez deal — doubled home the winning run for the Cubs in the 10th off Brooks Raley. Eric Wagaman, Brett Baty and Carson Benge couldn’t find a way to get Ronny Mauricio home in the bottom of the frame. And it sent the Mets to a 4-3 loss as their losing streak extended to six and they inched closer to the seemingly inevitable decision to sell at the deadline.

That’s the reality,” Carlos Mendoza said when asked about that after the season hit its official midway point one night after David Peterson was traded to Chicago. “Especially if we don’t start playing better. Obviously, we gotta be honest here. But we can’t be thinking about what-if. Our job is to do what we need to do now.”

This time, the Mets (34-47) found a way to punch back after a pair of errors by Mauricio — or, if the fans at Citi Field had any say in the official scoring, Mark Vientos — and Benge gave the Cubs a three-run lead. Wagaman first stepped into a fastball on the first pitch from Ethan Roberts and sent it over the left field fence and then, Jared Young sent a curveball from ex-Met Phil Maton over the right field fence.

But until that point, Thursday had started to unfold as the worst type of encore for the Mets one night after they committed six errors in a game. Mauricio one-hopped a throw that Vientos couldn’t scoop, leading to one Cubs run. After Mauricio’s error, fans at Citi Field brought back the “Pete Alonso” chants from Wednesday. They blamed Vientos for allowing Dansby Swanson to reach base more than Mauricio, who was starting at shortstop and playing in his first game since May 2. Swanson then advanced to second on a groundout and came around to score when ex-Met Michael Conforto lined a single to right field.

One out later, the Mets defense cratered again. Alex Bregman lined a ball up the right field line, but Benge couldn’t time the bounce off the wall. Conforto scored on the play. Bregman ended up on third, making it easy to score when Ian Happ singled. When it all added up at the end of the frame, Freddy Peralta — cruising to that point — had allowed three unearned runs.

“It’s just routine plays that are just costing us,” Mendoza said. “At this level, you expect to make plays like that. Those are routine plays. You understand that they’re not gonna be perfect, but those are routine as it gets.”

The Mets had their chances, though. They loaded the bases in the third inning before Vientos fouled out. Had runners on first and second the next frame, too, with Mauricio’s double keying it all, before Baty grounded out. Loaded the bases again in the sixth after Wagaman’s blast, with Juan Soto grounding out, too.

Peralta recovered from his 10-run outing to cruise through five innings before the defense ruined his final two-thirds of a frame. He struck out five batters, walked another one and allowed five hits in an outing that, if nothing else, could boost the pending free agent’s trade value when the end of July arrives.

“Everybody in here’s frustrated,” Wagaman said. “I think we know what our record is. … We can’t get all those wins back in one day. We just have to start stacking them and take it day by day.”

But then Crow-Armstrong delivered some more misery for his former team. And as the Peterson trade showed, the Mets could be rapidly running out of time with the current group.

The Mets continue to set records that nobody wants as they left 14 runners on base, a season high, and allowed four more unearned runs in tonight’s loss, 4-3 to the Cubs.

After allowing a leadoff single to Pete Crow-Armstrong in the first inning, Freddy Peralta retired the next ten hitters and seemed on track to keep his pitch count lower in the early innings. The Mets’ offense struggled more. After Juan Soto walked in the first, Francisco Alvarez walked in the second, and Carson Benge and Soto walked again in the third, they were stranded every time. Bo Bichette was also stranded in the third inning after tapping a single past Nico Hoerner. In the fourth inning, Michael Busch smacked a single that got away from Mark Vientos, who had to crawl after it to recover. A wild pitch moved Busch to second base, but Peralta was able to come back to strand him there as well. Ronny Mauricio was also stranded on a double that he into right field. Juan Soto also tapped a single into left field at the bottom of the fifth inning and then went nowhere.

At the top of the sixth inning, the Mets defense struck again as Dansby Swanson reached first base on a throwing error from Mauricio to Vientos. Michael Conforto drove an RBI single into right field, and Alex Bregman started with a double that bounced off the wall in right field, but it went through Benge’s legs, and Bregman reached third on the error that also allowed Conforto to score. Ian Happ followed up with another RBI single, bringing the total to three unearned runs, and Hoerner worked a walk before Austin Warren came in to replace Peralta. Warren struck out Pedro Ramírez for the final out.

A. J. Ewing walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning, and after two outs, Eric Wagaman came in to pinch-hit for Melendez when the Cubs brought in left-handed reliever Hoby Milner. Wagaman, always here to surprise, drilled a two-run home run into left field. Baty was inspired, and hit a single, also into left field. Benge lined a single into center field to move Baty to third. The Cubs brought in Phil Maton next, who hit Bichette and loaded the bases for Soto. Soto grounded out, the first time he did not reach base in this outing, and the second time the Mets left the bases loaded. The inning ended with the score Cubs 3, Mets 2.

Mets’ pinch-hitting continued to come through in the bottom of the seventh, as Jared Young, hitting for Vientos, hit a home run into center field to tie the game. Ewing singled and stole second, but was once again stranded in scoring position. Luke Weaver came out for the top of the eighth and struck out the side. Devin Williams kept the game tied in the top of the ninth. Then, Jared Young walked, and Francisco Alvarez reached on an error by Swanson. Unfortunately, Ewing flied out for the second out to bring up Ronny Mauricio, who grounded out on the first pitch he saw to send the game to extra innings for the 13th time this year.

Miguel Amaya was the Cubs’ extra runner at the top of the tenth inning, and Brooks Raley was the Mets’ pitcher. Crow Armstrong ripped a double that bounced down to the right corner and drove in Amaya. Raley minimized the damage to just one run, and it was the Mets’ turn to try. Mauricio started the inning at second base, but even with the extra help, the Mets hitters could not get anywhere. The game ended there; the Mets endured their sixth loss as the Cubs swept the season series.

The Mets see the Phillies at home starting tomorrow at 7:10 PM ET. Zach Thornton is likely to face off against Zack Wheeler.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Jared Young, +29% WPA
Big Mets loser: Carson Benge/Ronny Mauricio, tied at -18% WPA
Mets pitchers: +14% WPA
Mets hitters: -64% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jared Young’s home run, +23.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Pete Crow-Armstrong’s RBI double in the 10th, -29.0% WPA