Category: Sports News

Box Score

For much of the night, the Brewers consistently put runners on base but couldn’t cash them in. Despite going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving eight runners on base, timely home runs from Brice Turang and Joey Ortiz, a solid start from Robert Gasser, and quality relief work from Chad Patrick and Aaron Ashby helped Milwaukee sneak away with a late victory.

Gasser opened tonight’s game by striking out Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart, but Spencer Steer kept the inning alive with a single to right. Gasser then walked cleanup hitter JJ Bleday, putting two runners on with two outs.

The next batter, Dane Myers, lined a double down the left field line, scoring Steer and moving Bleday to third. Thankfully, Gasser limited the damage from there, freezing Noelvi Marte with a called third strike on the bottom edge of the zone to end the inning.

Neither team was able to score until the fifth inning, when Cincinnati added to its lead after De La Cruz turned on a 90 mph fastball up and in, sending it over the fence in left-center for his thirteenth home run of the season.

While the Brewers managed just one hit — a Sal Frelick double — through the first five innings, Nick Lodolo wasn’t quite as sharp as he had been in his outing last week. Despite recording just the lone hit, the Crew were able to consistently put pressure on Lodolo — putting at least one runner on base in every inning except the fifth.

Lodolo walked four batters and hit William Contreras over five innings, but the Brewers couldn’t capitalize, going just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position through the first seven innings. Their lone hit with RISP through seven innings finally came in the sixth against reliever Chase Petty. After Andrew Vaughn doubled and Christian Yelich walked, Jake Bauers lined an RBI single into right to score Vaughn with Milwaukee’s first run of the night.

Bauers breaks through ❗️ pic.twitter.com/nlE5EJDrvY

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) June 30, 2026

Frelick then worked a walk on a pitch that would have hit him had he not jumped out of the way. The ball skipped past catcher Tyler Stephenson for a wild pitch, allowing Yelich to score from third and trim Cincinnati’s lead to 3-2. David Hamilton, pinch-hitting for Cooper Pratt, and Joey Ortiz were both retired to end the inning, but the Brewers had suddenly pulled within a run.

In the seventh inning, Patrick — who came in to relieve Gasser with two outs in the sixth — worked around a couple of baserunners to keep the Reds scoreless. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Brice Turang came up and hit a monster home run to center field to bring the score to three runs apiece.

Brice makes it a new ballgame 💥 pic.twitter.com/CAzEM5T3qv

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) June 30, 2026

With the game tied, Aaron “The Vulture 2.0” Ashby came in and pitched a scoreless eighth, working around an infield single by Marte and a throwing error by Ortiz that advanced him to second.

Bauers flew out to start the bottom of the eighth against Sam Moll, who came in to get the last out of the seventh. Frelick singled into left field to give the Brewers a baserunner, and Hamilton bunted him over to second to put yet another runner in scoring position for who else but Joey Ortiz.

Reds manager Terry Francona played the matchup, pulling the left-handed Moll in favor of right-hander Tejay Antone. Ortiz, who had struck out with runners on the corners to end the sixth inning, watched a strike and a ball before Antone threw a sweeper down in the zone. Ortiz didn’t miss it, launching the pitch 412 feet over the center-field wall for a go-ahead two-run homer, his second of the season. Chills.

JOEY JOEY JOEY pic.twitter.com/v7JlIDTC15

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) June 30, 2026

Trevor Megill slammed the door in the ninth, retiring the Reds in order and punctuating his save with a swinging strikeout of Elly De La Cruz. Ashby picked up his 11th win of the season as the Brewers moved back to 20 games over .500.

While the Brewers’ struggles with runners in scoring position made for a frustrating afternoon, the offense came through when it mattered most. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but this Brewers team has shown time and again that it doesn’t go away quietly. Even when things look kind of bleak, Milwaukee finds a way to keep itself in games. More often than not, they find a way to win them.

After winning the first game of this week’s four-game series against the Reds, the Brewers will get a chance to make it two straight tomorrow at 6:40 p.m. Brandon Sproat will get the ball opposite Rhett Lowder (3-5, 4.81 ERA).

In six career appearances against Cleveland, Chris Paddack has a 3.14 ERA. In 114 appearances against every other team in MLB, Chris Paddack has a 4.95 ERA. He led the Rangers to a 6-3 win over the Guardians tonight.

After the game, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said Paddack’s changeup and cutter give their lefties trouble. Join the club, Chris. Every pitcher gives this team trouble.

Oh yeah, the game. Parker Messick competed his butt off tonight but there was zero room for error as always. Texas decided to start slapping balls to the opposite field after making an in-game adjustment. Has anyone on the Guardians ever tried to do either of those things, or to coach anyone to be able to do either of those things?

Maybe, maybe not, but we do know they have been coaching Guardians hitters not to forget the power of a good sacrifice bunt. With two on and nobody out against Chris Paddack in the fourth inning, David Fry popped out on a bunt attempt. Hitting behind Fry was Steven Kwan with his OPS nearing .600 and Austin Hedges, mind you. I heard Stephen Vogt reply to Zack Meisel asking about these insane bunts saying that it was intended to be a sac bunt, but I will have to re-listen to the postgame to see if Vogt says it was the dugout’s call to see if I need to set myself on fire outside his office in protest.

Kwan ALSO popped out a bunt attempt in the eighth. I heard Vogt looked mad about that to which I would only say “Stevie, baby, you need to be mad at yourself. You simply need to tell your guys not to bunt unless you put the bunt sign on… then never put the bunt sign on.” STOP GIVING THE OTHER TEAM OUTS! ARE WE NOT DOING THAT ENOUGH ALREADY??!! PLEASE, SPARE MY LAST REMAINING SHREDS OF MENTAL HEALTH AND STOP BUNTING.

Oh, also, our Sabrowski is broken. He doesn’t look right. Sigh.

Ok, Kahlil Watson had a big hit, again, as did Chase DeLauter. And Gabriel Arias crushed a homer just as I was ready to assume our hitters wouls never homer again. Thank you, Gabby!

Back at it tomorrow. I’m sure Jacob deGrom will be so much easier to hit.

Marlins 10, Rockies 7

Leverage index & box score

Graphics via FanGraphs.

Grinnin’ Griffin: Griffin Conine, +0.30 WPA

Not Senzational: Antonio Senzatela, -0.28 WPA

Game discussion comment of the day

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As if things couldn’t get any worse for the Mets, who committed six errors in a game and fired their manager across two different days last week they seem to find new ways to embarrass themselves. 

Facing his first batter of the game, Mets starter Sean Manaea gave up what should have been a routine single to George Springer, only to watch Juan Soto misplay the ball and then A.J. Ewing fumble it — allowing him to score on a Little League home run on Monday.

Springer’s bloop single bounced into left field, and Soto stretched out his glove to grab the ball, only to misjudge it and allow the ball to go past the Mets outfielder and toward the wall. 

Ewing then raced in to try and make a play after it bounced off the wall, but the scoop went horribly wrong and when he went to transition the ball from his glove to his hand, the ball came flying out.

Soto sprinted toward the loose ball, but before he could get a throw off, it became apparent that Springer was nearly home as the crowd at Rogers Center erupted over what they had just witnessed. 

IT'S A LITTLE LEAGUE HOME RUN FOR GEORGE SPRINGER pic.twitter.com/LAtom1K3M6

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 29, 2026

The scorer ruled the play a triple and an error on Ewing, which prevented Springer from being awarded a home run. 

If it had been ruled a leadoff home run, it would have given Springer his 66th and put him just 15 off tying Ricky Henderson’s 81. 

The moment did little to make already-ailing Mets fans feel any better, many of whom took to social media to voice their frustration. 

“Every day I wake up I hate myself for being a Mets fan,” one person wrote.

“Was that the Soto shuffle everyone talks about?” another person mockingly asked. 

“Brought to you by Juan Soto and the New York Mess,” a third fan added. 

The Mets ended up losing 2-1 to the Blue Jays and dropping their ninth game over their last 10.

Juan Soto had a busy first inning in the Mets’ series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.

After ripping a double in his first at-bat in the top of the first and getting stranded at third base, Soto was immediately put to the test in the bottom half of the inning when George Springer lined one to left field.

Playing aggressive on the artificial turf that can sometimes be tricky at Rogers Centre, Soto charged in on the ball thinking he had a chance to catch it. After realizing the ball was going to drop, Soto pulled back and was ready to play it on a hop, except the ball bounced over his glove and trickled towards the left-field wall.

“I was actually trying to think right before that [play] to come through the ball because weird hops and everything,” Soto said. “Just took a weird hop on me and bounced a little differently.”

To make matters worse, A.J. Ewing, who was backing up on the play, got to the ball in a hurry but had it pop out of his glove on the exchange which allowed Springer to run around the bases and score the game’s first run.

And while only Ewing was charged with an error, the play began with Soto who spoke about what went wrong on the play and his thought process after the game.

“When you have an outfield like that [where the ball] bounces a lot, you have to be aware because you can give up extra-base hits really easily,” he said. “You just gotta be aggressive, that was my mindset. Just be aggressive, come through the ball instead of trying to play back and maybe bounce over my head, but I actually just stopped.”

Despite the misplay, interim manager Andy Green came to the defense of Soto who made some nice plays in the outfield after the first inning blunder.

Just like Soto said, Green saw his outfielder trying to be ultra aggressive on the play and mentioned it’s actually a common occurrence at this stadium.

“I think he’s playing it aggressively on the outset hoping to get to it because he made a lot of really good catches out there today,” Green said. “... I think he’s playing it aggressively hoping to get to it and sometimes on turf if you get caught in between -- I think every single time I’ve come to Toronto I’ve seen that particular play, not necessarily the finish of that play, A.J. usually makes that transfer fine, but that play happens frequently here and it got us in the first.”

The comedy of errors made it a 1-0 game in the first inning and Sean Manaea did a good job of keeping it there until he allowed a second run in the fifth. Unfortunately for the left-hander, other than a Francisco Lindor solo shot in the seventh, the Mets’ offense couldn’t get much going all night and lost 2-1, making the run scored in the first inning the difference in the game.

“I thought I had a chance and then it just kept dying,” Soto said. “Definitely thought [I had] a good first step, but the ball just kept dying.”

Texas catcher Andrew Ermis, a junior who recorded a .353 batting average and a .571 on-base percentage over 14 games with the Longhorns this season, will be coming to Fort Worth. Zachary Symm of Orange Bloods reported that Ermis will be transferring to the TCU Horned Frogs for his senior season. Ermis, who started seven games during the 2026 campaign, posted six hits and five RBIs over his 17 at-bats with the Longhorns. Prior to Texas, Ermis spent two seasons at Temple College, where he led the Leopards in batting average (.338), home runs (10), RBIs (41), on-base percentage (.479) and slugging percentage (.588) as a sophomore in 2025.

Catcher Andrew Ermis (@andrew_ermis3) formerly with Texas is headed to TCU@64Analytics@luptonbeers

— Zachary Symm (@ZachAtTheDisch) June 26, 2026

Ermis played in 98 games with 91 starts at Temple College before signing with the Longhorns. His commitment continues a scorching hot recruiting run for the Horned Frogs, who’ve added several talented position players including Saint Mary’s outfielder Tanner Griffith, UW-Milwaukee catcher/outfielder Dominic Kibler, Midland College infielder Bammer Maes and catcher Caleb Eagar, Coastal Carolina infielder Trace Mazon, Mississippi State outfielder James Nunnallee and Flagler College outfielder/infielder George Gilson.

The Twins came into Monday Night leading the American League in runs scored for the month of June.  Unfortunately for the Astros, they kept the hot bats going, launching multiple homeruns in a 5-4 win before an announced crowd of 22,969.  

Royce Lewis and Victor Caratini would go back-to-back with solo blasts in the 4th inning, providing the initial run support for Zebby Matthews.   They would represent the first two hits of the night.   Matthews would go 7 innings, striking out 7 with only 1 run allowed.    

Peter Lambert, in his first career outing against Minnesota, would go 5 2/3 innings, allowing 5 hits, 4 runs with three walks.  He would strike out four on the night, two of which came in the first inning.    

Cam Smith finally put Houston on the board with his blast in the 5th.  That would be Cam’s fifth homer for the month of June, and his 10th for the season, cutting the deficit in half.    

However, in the sixth, Josh Bell would get in on the long ball party, launching his 10th homer of the season, which brought home Brooks Lee, making it 4-1.   Lee began the frame with a single.   For Bell, he continues to feast on Astros pitching, it’s his 7th career homer against Houston.   Isaac Paredes would have a chance in the bottom of that inning to cut into the lead with Alvarez and Altuve on base, but he grounded out.      

In the seventh the Twins would add to their lead when Kody Clemens brought in Luke Keaschall who led off things with a walk off of Nate Pearson.   Pearson made his 12th relief appearance for the year.  

Despite being down 5-1, the Astros would not quit.  

Taylor Trammell blasted a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 9th of Travis Adams, chasing him from the game.

Yoendrys Gomez then entered the game to get the final out for Minnesota against Cam Smith, but Cam blasted his 2nd HR of the game (11th of season), a solo shot to make it 5-4. However, that would be as close as they would get as Joey Loperfido would ground out meekly to end the rally and the game.

Odds & Ends:

Jeremy Pena was held out of Monday’s game with discomfort in his left leg.

After going hitless in Detroit, Yordan Alvarez continued his mini funk, reaching only on a walk.   

Miguel Ullola would make his Astros debut.  He’d provide some much-needed “juice” striking out a pair of batters in his first inning pitched.   Royce Lewis and Ryan Kreidler would be on the receiving end.   He’d add two more K’s in the 9th, for a total of 4 in his 2 innings.  

With the defeat, Houston and Minnesota each have 45 losses.   

On Tuesday Night, Houston will send Mike Burrows to the hill in search of his fourth win.    He’ll be opposed by Joe Ryan.  Ryan has registered 108 k’s this season.   

While there hasn’t been a ton of action in the later innings of this Rockies-Marlins game, there’s been so much action in the comments that we decided it warranted an overflow thread for the final three innings!

In case you forgot, here are the lineups:

The penultimate lineup of June.

📺: https://t.co/pMAEOPHNJ8
👂: @MarlinsRadio, @radiomambi710, @1043wqam
⏰: 8:40 PM ET#FightinFishpic.twitter.com/9OUQaxFUHo

— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) June 29, 2026

Continue to keep it civil, friends, and please remember the Purple Row Community Guidelines as you’re commenting!

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Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Another Mets moment has hit the internet.

In Monday’s game in Toronto, the Mets had yet another injury scare — this one of their own making.

Ronny Mauricio was warming up in the on-deck circle to pinch-hit for Eric Wagaman when he hit Francisco Alvarez on a practice swing.

Alvarez appeared to avoid getting injured and took his at-bat right after Mauricio, but it was a feeling of dread all too familiar for Mets fans, especially after the week they’ve had.

Mauricio immediately went to check on his teammate as Alvarez grimaced and bent over in pain.

Alvarez appeared fine after a few seconds, but the moment was concerning nonetheless.

Ronny Mauricio hit Francisco Alvarez with a swing on the on deck circle.

Thankfully, Alvy is ok #LGMpic.twitter.com/RmCokYs3pW

— Master Flip (@Masterflip_) June 30, 2026

Alvarez has had a history of hand and wrist injuries since he debuted in the major leagues in 2022.

Last year, he sustained a fracture in his left pinky finger, which was his fourth hand injury in the past four years.

He’s also dealt with a fracture in his thumb and in his hamate bone in the past.

Beyond the hand and wrist issues, Alvarez only recently returned from a torn meniscus in mid-June.

The injury kept him out nearly a month.

Needless to say, the Mets can’t afford many more injuries.

They lost Marcus Semien to a hip flexor strain last week and have been missing Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr. for substantial periods of time.

Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor have each missed significant time with calf issues, with Lindor returning just last week after missing two months.

This Mets team seems to come up with a new struggle with each passing day after losing 2-1 to the Blue Jays on Monday.

And the moment with Mauricio and Alvarez was just the most recent.

Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is in concussion protocol, manager Aaron Boone said after Monday's 7-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

"Just saw him right now," Boone said. "He's in concussion protocol, so we'll kind of see how he's doing tomorrow."

Chisholm has not been diagnosed with a concussion, Boone added.

"No," Boone said when asked if Chisholm was diagnosed with a concussion. "No, he's just in the protocol."

Chisholm left the game after colliding with Jasson Domínguez in shallow right field on Hao-Yu Lee's fly ball, which Domínguez caught for the second out.

"Looks like he kind of got smoked there," said left fielder Cody Bellinger. "I haven't watched it yet, but hope he's doing good. I haven't seen him yet, so, obviously, probably get an update tomorrow on it."

Domínguez's left arm made contact with Chisholm's head after Chisholm did not peel off the route to the ball while Domínguez charged in.

"It was really unfortunate," Domínguez said. "I mean, they were playing infield in. So, as soon as he hit the ball, in my mind, I decided, 'I've got to go catch that ball.' I called it, but obviously I didn't call it loud enough. But really unfortunate, what happened."

Chisholm, who is slashing .222/.305/.398 with 12 home runs and 33 RBI through 81 games, struck out in the second inning -- his only at-bat of the game -- while batting from the cleanup spot.

He was replaced by Oswaldo Cabrera, whose 0-for-3 evening included two strikeouts.

The Orioles’ recent funk continued on Monday night as they dropped their series opener with the visiting White Sox 8-2. The Birds have now lost three in a row and five of their last six.

This game was close as could be through the first seven innings. Shane Baz was wild but effective, allowing just two runs over seven innings of work. Meanwhile, the Orioles offense blew the few chances they did create, which left no room for the bullpen to maneuver. It may not have mattered anyway since those relievers would fall apart, serving up six runs (four earned) over the final two innings of the night.

The Orioles were actually the first ones on the board. Gunnar Henderson, hitting out of the lead-off spot in this one, began the bottom of the first inning with a double. Taylor Ward moved him to third on a fly out to center field, and then Adley Rutschman got the RBI with a sac fly to left.

Baz sailed through the first two innings before running into some trouble in the third. He issued a lead-off walk to Chase Meidroth, who then scored on a Jacob Gonzalez double. The next three hitters went as follows: flyout, walk, and strikeout to put two runners on base with two outs. The O’s starter nearly limited the White Sox to just the one run, but a Kyle Teel flair that came off the bat at just 43.7 mph got past Baz and spun out of Henderson’s hand as he tried to barehand it. That allowed the runner from third to score and give the White Sox a 2-1 lead at the time.

The Birds returned fire in the bottom of the third. Blaze Alexander led off with a walk and scooted around to third on a Jackson Holliday single into right field. Henderson followed with a walk to load the bases with no one out. Surely the Orioles would break the game open here, right? Not a chance. Ward lined out, and Rutschman got his second RBI of the day with another sac fly. But that is as much as they would get with Pete Alonso striking out to end the threat with the score knotted at two runs apiece.

That would end up being the last Orioles run of the day. From the fourth inning through the end of the day, the O’s scattered a few more baserunners on walks and singles, but they couldn’t string anything together. And they went particularly quiet in the late innings, as the final 10 O’s hitters of the game went down in order.

Henderson had himself a nice night atop the order. He went 2-for-3 with a double (the Orioles’ only extra-base hit), a walk, and a run scored. Rutschman had the two RBI. Colton Cowser walked twice and also made a nice defensive play to potentially steal a home run in the fifth inning. That was really it. As a team, the Orioles went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base. On the whole, it was a pitiful performance.

Baz was the bright spot, though he wasn’t without his warts. He gave the Orioles length with his seven innings, crossing the 100-inning threshold on the season. And he showed some grit to toss 109 pitches to get to the finish line, his highest pitch total of the season. But he also issued four walks and yet again posted mediocre whiff numbers (22%). There is no doubt that Baz has been a valuable member of the staff, but not exactly the frontline arm we were promised.

Things got ugly for the Orioles once Baz was lifted. Grant Wolfram hit the first batter he faced in the eighth inning. After a flyout to Miguel Vargas, he gave up a double to Colson Montgomery to drive in the White Sox third run of the day. Wolfram struck out Teel to end his night. Rico Garcia followed and continue his latest struggles. His fist batter, Randal Grichuk, singled to make it 4-2 before Garcia wrapped up the inning. That single nearly turned into an out at the plate when Cowser threw a perfect strike from center field, but Rutschman failed to hold onto the ball.

Yennier Cano came on for the ninth and made it even worse. The first four batters of the inning went: single, double, single, double to extend the White Sox lead to 6-2. Josh Walker would come on later in the inning and should have gotten out of the inning without allowing any more runs, but an error by Blaze Alexander on a soft liner to third base scored two more runs to give us our final score, 8-2.

This was not a completely terrible game. Baz was good on the mound. Henderson had a nice night at the plate. Cowser showed some patience and flashed in the field. But man, the stink of the bullpen really overwhelmed everything. And the offense’s general ineptitude didn’t help. Could this be the downward spiral that finally dashes the hopes of the 2026 Orioles? The trade deadline is only a month away.

This series will continue on Tuesday night in Baltimore. Trey Gibson (1-2, 5.64 ERA) is scheduled to duel with Erick Fedde (2-6, 4.34 ERA). First pitch is set for 6:35 from Camden Yards.