Game Notes

Pitching preview

Lineups

ICYMI

The St. Louis Cardinals will take another swing at the Atlanta Braves Wednesday night as Michael McGreevy will get the start for the good guys. The Braves will send Reynaldo López to the mound for a 6:15pm central time start at Truist Park. TV broadcast available through Cardinals.tv.

After a 13-14 June, it looks like the Royals main focus is now moving to 2027. But for today, we can still enjoy watching some baseball. Old friend Jose Cuas is back pitching for KC for the first time since 2023 and Randy Dobnak has arrived with him. Jac Caglianone will be back in right field after only hitting last night coming back from minor injury. The Royals beat Shane McClanahan in his last start and will try to beat the Tampa lefty again.

TORONTO — Freddy Peralta sizzled Wednesday, but only in the sense he was turned into Canadian bacon.

Of all the Mets’ disappointments this season, the alleged ace’s shortcomings might be the most perplexing. Peralta is in his career prime and physically hasn’t provided any hint of ailment.

Five-inning Freddy cut his afternoon short by a frame on Canada Day, after burying his team early in a 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

The Mets (36-51) lost a fifth straight series and sank further into the abyss of a season that may rate as the biggest flop in franchise history. Peralta’s latest dud occurred just hours after team owner Steve Cohen told The Post’s Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman on “The Show” podcast that president of baseball operations David Stearns’ job is safe for the remainder of a five-year contract that runs through 2028.

Offensively, the Mets didn’t show life until the eighth, when Carson Benge delivered a two-run homer. Francisco Lindor hit a solo homer in the ninth. The Mets finished with five hits.

Over four innings, Peralta surrendered five earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks as his ERA surged to 4.81. It was a third straight lackluster start and second outright clunker by Peralta.

“I don’t feel good,” Peralta said when asked about his emotional state. “I’m just going to try to come back and make adjustments.”

Peralta answered in the affirmative when asked if this felt like the roughest stretch of his career.

“Every day I prepare to have success, but the game is crazy — that’s the only way I can describe it right now,” Peralta said. “The thing that makes me feel good is I prepare myself really well. I am not being lazy between starts.”

Peralta indicated his problems aren’t mechanical.

“The pitches are really good — the shape and the velocity was really good, too,” he said. “Just move forward.”

All of this is occurring against the backdrop of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Peralta, in his walk year, is among the team’s trade chips, but what is his value if he is deemed broken?

Peralta has been far short of the pitcher Stearns thought he was receiving when he dealt Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams to Milwaukee in January in a trade that brought the Mets another struggling pitcher in Tobias Myers (who in recent days was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse for the second time this season).

“We all want [Peralta] to go out there and dominate like we believe he can,” interim manager Andy Green said. “For us it’s just a matter of getting the fastball where he knows he wins. He’s been winning there for a long time in the big leagues. He knows how he’s good and why he’s good, and we all know it. So, it’s just about going out there and executing.”

Kazuma Okamoto’s RBI single in the first inning put Peralta in a 1-0 hole just three batters into the game. Nathan Lukes’ leadoff single and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s ensuing double placed Peralta in immediate trouble before Okamoto delivered. Peralta walked Alejandro Kirk later in the inning, but escaped without another run scoring.

But it turned ugly in the third. Okamoto walked to begin the inning and with one out Alejandro Kirk hit a line drive that deflected off Lindor’s glove for a single. Peralta retired Yohendrick Piñango for the second out, but Ernie Clement stroked an RBI double. Long Island native Sean Keys delivered the dagger: a three-run blast to left field for his first career homer.

Daulton Varsho’s RBI single against Cionel Pérez in the seventh widened the deficit. Myles Straw blasted a three-run homer in the inning that gave the Blue Jays a 9-0 lead.

The Mets’ next stop is Atlanta for four games beginning Friday. The Mets won two of three games against the NL East-leading Braves at Citi Field last month.

The Mets’ mindset heading to Truist Park?

“Go win baseball games,” Green said.

It’s been an ugly season for the San Diego Padres, but it turned into a nightmare during Wednesday’s series finale against the Chicago Cubs.

Walker Buehler, who was coming off of a five-inning performance of one-run baseball against a loaded Los Angeles Dodgers lineup, was torched. The right-hander gave up nine earned runs across four innings at Wrigley Field.

Buehler gave up seven hits and issued four walks in a performance that led to a 23–3 loss for the Padres. It marked the most runs given up by the franchise since 1977, tying the record.

Each Padres pitcher in Wednesday’s game gave up five or more runs during their time on the mound. Reliever Kyle Hart allowed five runs across two innings of work.

Manager Craig Stammen didn’t waste any more bullpen arms with 28-year-old rookie catcher Rodolfo Durán taking the mound for the final two innings of the game. Durán allowed eight more runs against the Cubs lineup.

Chicago hit eight homers against San Diego, including three from infielder Dansby Swanson. He also recorded eight RBIs. Even Dodgers castoff Michael Conforto hit two homers off the Padres Wednesday.

The Cubs outscored the Padres 35-12 in their three-game sweep of the Padres in what is surely one of the San Diego’s worst games in its history.

Though currently tied for second in the NL West with the San Francisco Giants, the Padres have emerged as one of the worst offensive teams in Major League Baseball this season. San Diego’s lineup is hitting at a .224 clip, ranking dead last in batting average.

What’s next for the Padres remains a mystery as president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is expected to make a move at the trade deadline next month.

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Winners of 50 of their last 69 games against the Cincinnati Reds, the Milwaukee Brewers will look to keep on rolling on Wednesday night. The Crew has taken the first two games of this series and a win tonight would secure a series victory.

Just like the first game in this series, it’ll be a battle of left-handers on the mound. The Brewers will have Shane Drohan as their hurler, he’ll be making his seventh start of the season and sixth since being inserted into the rotation at the beginning of June.

Drohan pitched against the Reds his last time out, throwing 4.1 scoreless innings, scattering five hits. He was not very efficient, using 98 pitches to get through those 4.1 IP, but he kept the Reds off the board in what ultimately ended up as a 6-5 Brewers win. His ERA on the season dropped to 3.12.

The Reds will counter with Andrew Abbott and his 3.90 ERA on the season. The Brewers did not face Abbott during their series last week. Abbott last pitched against the Pirates on Friday and gave up three home runs in 5.1 IP.

The Brewers lineup will have some of the usual adjustments they make against left-handers. Gary Sanchez gets the start behind the plate and is batting seventh. That pushes William Contreras to the DH spot and Christian Yelich gets the night off. Yelich has been scuffling a bit at the plate lately and has struggled against lefties a bit more than usual.

Brice Turang, Jake Bauers, and Garrett Mitchell are the only left-handed hitters in the lineup for the Crew. Bauers is playing right field in place of Sal Frelick, who is coming off an incredible month of June. Cooper Pratt is also back in the lineup after getting a day and a half off to help him reset a little bit following some recent struggles. Joey Ortiz mans the hot corner.

The Reds will have their big boppers at the top of their lineup once again with Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart providing a 1-2 punch. Spencer Steer, Eugenio Suarez, and Robert Stephenson make up the meat of their order.

The Brewers will be celebrating America’s 250th anniversary tonight, since they won’t be playing at home on the 4th of July. We’ll see if the Brewers offense can provide some fireworks tonight against Abbott and the Reds pitching staff. First pitch is at 7:10 PM with ESPN having the TV broadcast.

At times, I’ve promoted the idea that MLB should have a mercy rule – down 10 runs or more after seven innings, the two managers should be able to just say, “We quit.”

It’s games like this that might make me reconsider that idea. On a very hot and windy afternoon at Wrigley Field, Dansby Swanson smashed three homers, giving him five in two games, tying the MLB record for such things. That led an eight-homer demolition of the Padres, 23-3. The eight homers tied the Cubs franchise record, set last July 4 against the Cardinals. That, my friends, was fun, even if the last eight runs came off a position player.

There is a lot of stuff to unpack about this game, so let’s get started!

After a scoreless top of the first, the Cubs got right to work in the bottom of the inning. Pete Crow-Armstrong singled and Alex Bregman walked. After Michael Busch struck out, Seiya Suzuki launched a home run [VIDEO].

For Suzuki, that was his 100th career home run. More on that from BCB’s JohnW53:

Seiya Suzuki is the 27th batter to hit at least 100 home runs as a Cub. He is tied with Keith Moreland. Next up: Shawon Dunston, 107; Willson Contreras, 117; Kyle Schwarber, 121; and Jody Davis, 122. Andy Pafko is 20th, at 126, 12 behind Leon Durham’s 138.

The Cubs made it 4-0 in the second. With one out, Swanson hit his first long ball of the afternoon [VIDEO].

Colin Rea got into a bit of trouble in the third on a double and two hit batters, loading the bases, but ended the inning with a ground ball.

Then the Cubs blew the game open in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Suzuki walkwd and Ian Happ doubled. One out later, Michael Conforto was intentionally walked so Walker Buehler could pitch to Miguel Amaya.

Bad idea, Padres. Amaya’s two-run single made it 6-0 [VIDEO].

That left Conforto on third and Amaya on first and it’s Dansby’s turn to go deep again! [VIDEO]

If you’re keeping count, that’s four homers for Swanson in a game (yesterday) plus three innings (today) and four RBI already. It’s 9-0 Cubs. Incidentally, Buehler had been on a pretty good run, with a 2.64 ERA over his last nine starts. This game marks the first time in Buehler’s career where he allowed nine runs. His season ERA went from 3.81 to 4.61 with his four-inning outing.

Rea made it through the fifth inning, allowing a pair of runs in that frame to make it 9-2. You could tell he was running out of gas in the heat, issuing two walks to load the bases after the two runs had scored, but he struck out Jake Cronenworth to end the inning. Earlier in the fifth, Rea had some defensive help from Happ [VIDEO].

Rea turned 36 today. Fun fact from John about that:

Cubs starters on their birthdays have won six consecutive decisions: Rea today, Jordan Wicks in 2024 and 2023, Justin Steele in 2024, Marcus Stroman in 2022 and Randy Wells in 2010. The last to lose was Carlos Zambrano, who gave up seven runs, six earned, on 13 hits (no homers) and two walks in 5.0 innings on June 1, 2007. Rea’s start is the 11th since then. Since 1901, Cubs starters on birthdays are 21-15, with 17 no-decisions.

The Cubs piled on four more runs and two more homers in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Conforto went deep [VIDEO].

Amaya followed with a walk and Swanson reached on a fielder’s choice, with Amaya winding up on third after an error on Cronenworth.

That set up PCA for this three-run blast, his 19th [VIDEO].

Now it’s 13-2 and the fun isn’t anywhere near done!

Trent Thornton threw a 1-2-3 sixth on only six pitches, and then the Cubs tacked on two more in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Happ walked. One out later, Conforto went deep for the second time [VIDEO].

If you’ve lost count, that’s six Cubs homers and a 15-2 lead.

Jordan Wicks was given the ball for the seventh and he retired the Padres in order. He allowed a run in the eighth to make it 15-3, and that’s when the position player pitcher fun began. Padres catcher Rodolfo Duran had thrown the seventh and retired the Cubs 1-2-3 – the only Padre to do that in this game.

He wasn’t so fortunate in the eighth, but Cubs fans enjoyed the show. Michael Busch, who had been 0-for-4, singled leading off the inning. Suzuki doubled him to third. A single by Kevin Alcántara scored Busch [VIDEO].

A walk by Justin Dean loaded the bases, and Conforto singled to make it 17-3 [VIDEO].

The bases are still loaded for Amaya, whose single made it 18-3 [VIDEO].

The bases are still loaded and there’s nobody out.

Step up, Dansby, and hit a slam!

Oh, we have SO MANY fun facts about that! First, as noted above, that matches the MLB record for most home runs in a two-game span. But also:

Pretty good company, I’d say. Also, from John, who I asked, “Who’s the last Cub to have back-to-back multi-homer games?”

Patrick Wisdom, Aug. 27-28, 2021, at White Sox. Three-run shot in first inning and solo in ninth of first game, then solos in fourth and fifth of second gam

And at Wrigley Field?

Javier Baez, April 10-11, 2018, in 8-5 loss and 13-5 win over Pirates.
Only six such earlier pairs at Wrigley:
Bill Williams, Sept. 9-10, 1968
Andre Dawson, June 1-2, 1987
Sammy Sosa, June 19-20, 1998 and Aug. 20-21, 1999
Derrek Lee, May 27-28, 2005
Alfonso Soriano, May 16-17, 2008
Note that Williams had a day off between games.

Swanson had eight RBI in the game. That also accomplished something rare:

Swanson’s slam was home run number seven. Two outs later, Busch made it eight [VIDEO].

That completed the Cubs scoring.

Wicks finished off the game, allowing a pair of hits in the ninth, but getting this ground ball to end it [VIDEO].

Since Wicks threw three innings and finished up, he gets a save – with a 20-run lead!

More facts about this crazy game from John:

This is the 43rd game since 1901 in which a Cub has hit three home runs. None has hit four.

Michael Busch was the last to do it, on July 4 of last year, when the Cubs set the franchise record of eight home runs that they tied today.

Sammy Sosa did it six times; Ernie Banks, four; Dave Kingman and Aramis Ramirez, three; Kris Bryant, Hank Sauer and Alfonso Soriano, two.

The Cubs are 31-12 in the three-homer games.

…

The Cubs had hit at least five homers in back-to-back games only twice before:

Aug. 10-11, 2002, at Colorado: six, then five, in 15-1 and 12-9 wins

Aug. 1-2, 2023, at home vs. Reds: seven, then five, in 20-9 and  16-6 wins

…

This is just the sixth game since 1901 in which the Cubs scored at least 23 runs.

The last was a 26-7 win at Colorado on Aug. 18, 1995.

The last at home was 23-6 over the Padres on May 17, 1977.

They beat the Cardinals at home, 23-13, on April 17, 1954; the Braves at Boston, 24-2, on July 3, 1945; and the Phillies at home, 26-23, in the highest-scoring MLB game ever, on Aug. 25, 1922.

…

This is the Cubs sixth series sweep of the season: three games vs. the Diamondbacks, Mets and Padres; four games vs. the Mets, Phillies and Reds.

In all other series they are 6-13-2, including three straight losses vs. the Astros and Brewers. 

A note on that 23-6 game from 1977 – this game matches that one as the most runs allowed in a game in Padres franchise history.

Saving the best for last from John:

This is just the third game ever that the Cubs won by at least 20 runs!

24-2 at Boston on July 3, 1945

21-0 at home vs. Pirates on April 23, 2022

Lastly, I thought you might like to have a look at my scorecard:

Whew! What an afternoon at Wrigley Field. Oh, and almost lost in all this: The Cubs have won five straight and 15 of their last 19.

The Cubs have a well-earned day off tomorrow and will open a three-game series against the Cardinals Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field. The Cubs don’t have a starter listed yet but it should be David Peterson’s turn to make his Cubs Wrigley debut. The Cardinals are going with Andre Pallante. Game time Friday is 3:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.