Category: Sports News

WASHINGTON – Chase Burns was on the ropes. And deep down in his heart, Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona did not want to throw the towel.

The Reds are grooving at the moment and Burns, by far, is the best thing they’ve had going all year. On this Saturday, Aug. 8 evening, he was aiming to become the first Reds pitcher in 70 years to win 13 straight decisions.

Yet in a tie game in the sixth inning, Burns mislocated three fastballs that resulted in hits for the Washington Nationals, the major leagues’ highest-scoring offense this season. After a walk and strikeout, Burns needed just one more out to escape with a one-run deficit.

In the dugout, Francona stewed. And sighed. And fetched reliever Sam Moll, who’d give up a two-run, game-breaking double to pinch-hitter Andrés Chaparro. The Reds would lose consecutive games for the first time since July 11.

Yet Saturday’s 8-2 defeat at Nationals Park created a win of a different sort: Burns got one start closer to the finish line of his first full season, one in which he hardly takes a back seat to Jacob Misiorowski or Chris Sale or any of the National League pitchers having Cy Young-caliber seasons.

The birth of the ace is nearly complete. Even if setbacks are inevitable along the way.

After dropping the opening game of this fight for first place yesterday, the White Sox honored Ozzie Guillén in his No. 13 retirement ceremony this afternoon — and that turned out to be a perfect time to bounce back and complement the ceremonies with a win.

Win they did, in decisive, 6-3 fashion. And it all started with Anthony Kay.

Early on, Kay found himself in the middle of a jam in the second inning. With runners on the corners, Austin Hedges bunted back to Anthony, who scooped and threw the ball home in one swift motion. Drew Romo caught a Rhys Hoskins pivoting back to third base and threw a perfect bullet to Miguel Vargas. Initially called safe by third base umpire Austin Jones (who was not in the best position to view the tag and the bag), a Will Venable challenge quickly confirmed Vargas tagged Hoskins’ back before his foot returned to the bag safely.

The Chicago defense stayed locked in during the following inning. A diving Chase Meidroth stole a base hit from Chase DeLauter, who was running side-by-side with Kay but lost the race, as Kay located the bag and caught Chase’s accurate bullet:

Joining his battery mate, Romo stayed hot on defense as well (a sentence I did not have on my bingo card entering tonight’s game), as he threw out Angel Martínez trying to steal second to send the Sox to the home half of the third inning.

From there, Kay and Gavin Williams would each swap goose eggs until the sixth inning.

Rhys Hoskins, looking to amend his bad baserunning, launched a two-run shot 392 feet to the left-field stands to break open the scoring and give Cleveland a 2-0 lead.

While the FOX broadcast was eating the Muneshot sushi push-pops during the home half of the sixth, Munetaka Murakami found the left-field foul pole and hit his second home run in as many games, cutting Cleveland’s lead in half, 2-1.

Soon after, Miguel Vargas snuck a hit past a diving Angel Genao. Williams would stay in the game to strike out Colson Montgomery, but he would not stay in the game to finish the inning.

Reliever Colin Holderman, with two outs, hit Andrew Benintendi (1-2 count) and Braden Montgomery (2-2 count) to load the bases. Tristan Peters, with six hits in his 59 at-bats since the All-Star break, broke through and flipped a ball to left-center field, bringing home Vargy and Benny and giving the Sox their first lead of the night, 3-2.

That closed the book on Williams, with this final line: 5 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K.

Chase Meidroth, complementing his Gold Glove-caliber defense, continued the two-out, two-RBI hit parade with a bloop single down the right-field line, extending the Sox lead to 5-2.

With Kay in now in line for the win, Jordan Hicks replaced the southpaw in the seventh. Working through some trouble, Kay notched back-to-back quality starts: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 K.

Hicks sat down Patrick Bailey, pinch-hitting for Austin Hedges, with four pitches, but that would be his only easy batter of the night. He proceeded to give up Genao’s first career homer and allowed back-to-back hits from Steven Kwan and Jo Adell to put ducks on the pond with only one out.

Sean Newcomb, a face Sox fans were dying to see in their 13-inning spar against Boston, replaced Hicks. Ice in his veins, he struck out DeLauter looking. Then, on a 0-2 count to Martínez, Newcomb was taken to the deepest part of the ball park, but we had a man there! Peters chased down a 101.1 mph baseball 395 feet in left-center for the final out of the top half of the seventh.

Bryan Hudson pitched the eighth and worked around just one hit.

Looking for some daylight, Colson Montgomery singled on a full count to open the home half of the eighth. Luisangel Acuña pinch-ran for Colson, stole second and advanced to third on a bad throw all in one play. Braden Montgomery, reminiscent of his first career hit, slapped one the opposite way to drive in Acuña and extend the lead, 6-3.

Aiming for his sixth save in his ninth attempt, Grant Taylor was successful behind Vargas, who making a tough pick on a ground ball, and Murakami diving for the final out of the ball game. Sox win!

The Good Guys evened up the series against the Guardians and regained their three-game lead in the AL Central, with the Minnesota Twins taking a loss against the Milwaukee Brewers (shout out old friend, Andrew Vaughn, for the game-winning hit!).

Catch the rubber match at 1:10 p.m. CT tomorrow, back on the usual CHSN for your viewing pleasure.

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MVP
Anthony Kay: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K

Runners-Up
Tristan Peters: 1-for-2, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB
Chase Meidroth: 1-for-4, 2 RBI
Munetaka Murakami: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R
Sean Newcomb: 0.2 IP, 1 K, stranded runners on second and third

Cold Cat
Jordan Hicks: 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 K

Runners-Up
Sam Antonacci: 0-for-4
Colson Montgomery: 1-for-4, 3 K
Drew Romo: 0-for-4, 1 K

The Colorado Rockies needed a little bit of everything Saturday night in St. Louis, and Jake McCarthy provided most of it.

McCarthy went 4-for-5 with two home runs, three RBI, four runs scored, and two stolen bases as the Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-6. Colorado improved to 46-71, while St. Louis fell to 58-59.

It was not a particularly clean win. The Rockies ran themselves into two early outs on the bases, Kyle Freeland had to navigate traffic without the swing-and-miss stuff he showed in his previous start, and the bullpen spent much of the second half protecting a shrinking lead.

But Colorado also turned 11 hits into eight runs, went 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position and kept finding ways to answer.

McCarthy’s two home runs supplied the loudest moments. His speed might have supplied the most important one.

Freeland battles without the whiffs

Freeland’s encore to his first career complete game looked very different.

After holding Kansas City to one run while generating 19 whiffs in his previous start, Freeland worked 4.1 innings against St. Louis, allowing five hits and three runs, only one earned, with three walks and three strikeouts. He needed 101 pitches to get there.

The pitch mix was more balanced this time. Freeland leaned most heavily on his knuckle curve at 29%, followed by the four-seam fastball at 22%, cutter at 20%, sinker at 13%, and sweeper and changeup at 8% each.

The sinker remained more prominent than its 7% season usage, but this was not the same kind of outing that overwhelmed Kansas City.

Most notably, the misses were not there.

Freeland generated eight whiffs on 44 swings. Five came against the cutter, while his knuckle curve produced only one whiff on 10 swings. Without many empty swings, his margin for error became smaller whenever his command wavered.

For much of the night, he compensated by limiting the quality of contact.

The first inning illustrated both the effectiveness and frustration of his outing. Freeland retired the first two Cardinals and appeared to have Alec Burleson struck out for the third out, but the pitch got past Hunter Goodman for a passed ball. Iván Herrera, who had doubled earlier in the inning, advanced to third while Burleson reached.

José Fermín then pulled a full-count knuckle curve down the third-base line for a two-run double, turning what looked like a scoreless inning into a 2-1 St. Louis lead.

Freeland settled down from there. He worked a clean second inning, and Kyle Karros helped him in the third by charging Jordan Walker’s slow roller and making the throw across the diamond on the move. Freeland later struck out Burleson after showing him four different pitch types, finishing him with a knuckle curve below the zone.

The fourth was where things began to get more difficult.

A walk, a single, a groundout and a hit batter loaded the bases with two outs. JJ Wetherholt then hit a 104.6 mph liner to center, but Cole Carrigg was positioned well enough to make the catch and end the inning.

That was an escape, not necessarily evidence that Freeland had rediscovered the dominance of his previous start.

His command deteriorated further in the fifth.

Herrera drove an 0-2 sweeper 106.4 mph for a double that deflected off Karros’ glove. Burleson followed with a nine-pitch walk, fouling off four consecutive two-strike pitches before finally reaching.

Freeland then got Fermín into a 1-2 count but could not finish him either. Fermín eventually walked on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, loading the bases and ending Freeland’s night at 101 pitches.

His stuff did not completely disappear as his workload climbed. His fastball velocity largely held. What eroded was his ability to consistently locate and finish hitters.

Freeland had to gut this one out.

For four-plus innings, he mostly did.

Rockies make Liberatore come to them

If the question entering the game was whether Colorado could avoid chasing Matthew Liberatore’s secondary pitches, the Rockies answered it pretty clearly.

Liberatore allowed five runs on nine hits over five innings, walking two and striking out three on 94 pitches.

Colorado chased just 22% of his pitches outside the zone. The Rockies did not allow Liberatore’s secondaries to dictate the at-bats. They made him come back toward the zone, and when he did, they did damage.

McCarthy required no such patience to begin the game.

He attacked Liberatore’s first pitch, a 95 mph four-seam fastball, and drove it 104.0 mph and 420 feet to right-center for his 12th home run of the season.

Colorado then spent two innings doing a pretty good job of undoing the early advantage.

Karros walked and stole second in the first, then started toward third on Goodman’s liner to shortstop. He was caught too far off the bag and doubled up as he dove headfirst back into second.

In the second, TJ Rumfield walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch before taking off on Castro’s soft flare to shallow right. JJ Wetherholt made the catch on the outfield grass, but Rumfield had already reached third before realizing his mistake.

Two innings, two bad reads and two outs given away.

The third inning was where Colorado’s aggression started working for them instead of against them.

McCarthy beat out a chopper for an infield single, and Karros was hit by a pitch. The pair then executed a double steal, putting runners on second and third.

Carrigg followed by getting an 88 mph changeup from Liberatore and driving it 100.7 mph and 378 feet to center for a two-run double.

Carrigg immediately stole third and scored when Goodman dropped a single into right, giving Colorado a 4-2 lead.

The changeup continued to give Liberatore problems. Colorado put six of them in play, collected four hits and produced three hard-hit balls against the pitch.

Carrigg doubled again in the fifth, this time shooting a 94.8 mph ground ball down the third-base line. Rumfield followed with one of the better two-out at-bats of the game.

He took a cutter away, watched a slider bounce to get ahead 2-0, fouled off another slider and then handled a 93 mph sinker through the left side at 95.2 mph to score Carrigg.

That extended the lead to 5-2.

The contrast with Friday was hard to miss. Colorado collected 10 hits in the series opener but went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The Rockies generated traffic again Saturday, but this time they converted enough of it.

Liberatore’s velocity also declined as his outing progressed. His four-seam fastball averaged 94.9 mph in the first inning and 92.3 mph in the fifth.

That does not automatically mean fatigue was the reason Colorado got to him. But the Rockies made him work, rarely expanded the zone, and were ready when he came back over the plate.

McCarthy helps the Rockies finish it

Colorado added separation in the sixth because Ezequiel Tovar did something that does not always come naturally to an aggressive hitter.

With two outs and nobody on, Tovar worked Luis Gastelum to a 3-0 count. He took a strike, then held up on an 86.4 mph sweeper that finished well below and away from the zone for ball four.

That turned the lineup over.

McCarthy needed one pitch.

Gastelum threw a 94.1 mph four-seamer, and McCarthy launched it 105.3 mph and 417 feet to center for his second home run of the night.

The two swings were almost copies.

His first homer left the bat at 104.0 mph, traveled 420 feet and carried a 29-degree launch angle.

The second came off at 105.3 mph, traveled 417 feet and also had a 29-degree launch angle.

Both came on first-pitch fastballs.

The second made it 7-3, and Colorado eventually needed most of that cushion.

Juan Mejia inherited Freeland’s bases-loaded jam in the fifth and allowed one of the runners to score on Masyn Winn’s sacrifice fly. Carrigg nearly erased the run with a 97 mph throw home, but the one-hop throw presented Goodman with a difficult short hop that he could not secure.

Mejia then made his own inning more difficult with a wild pitch and a walk before Nathan Church hit a 104 mph grounder toward second. Castro handled the hard hop and recovered to throw to Rumfield for the final out.

Jimmy Herget allowed another run in the sixth before Parker Mushinski entered to face Burleson and got him to pop out in foul territory.

Mushinski stayed in for the seventh and had to work around more traffic after Fermín walked and Winn singled to open the inning. He retired the next three hitters without allowing either runner to score, stranding both and preserving a 7-4 lead.

Brennan Bernardino surrendered the biggest hit of the late innings when Walker demolished a changeup in the eighth.

Walker hit it 107.3 mph and 432 feet to left-center for his 23rd home run, cutting Colorado’s lead to 7-5.

Bernardino recovered.

Rumfield handled a 104 mph one-hop grounder from Herrera, and Bernardino eventually struck out Burleson with one of the better sequences of the night.

He threw Burleson five consecutive curveballs. Then, with the count full, Bernardino changed the look completely with a 90.7 mph sinker and froze him for strike three.

That sent the Rockies to the ninth with a two-run lead.

Then McCarthy showed why the two home runs only tell part of his story.

He dropped a drag bunt and beat Peter Strzelecki’s throw for his fourth hit. He stole second for his 20th stolen base of the season, then started creating problems simply by refusing to stay put.

McCarthy danced off second, shuffling farther toward third and forcing Strzelecki to account for him. The pressure eventually helped produce a balk that moved McCarthy to third.

“I love it. I absolutely love it. If that’s part of your game, we need to put pressure on teams and be able to do that. And really, nobody’s better than Jake at that” said Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer after the game.

Karros followed by driving a 92.5 mph sinker 101.5 mph and 370 feet toward left-center. Everson Pereira made an excellent leaping catch, but McCarthy jogged home on the sacrifice fly.

At the time, it looked like insurance.

A few minutes later, it looked much more important.

Jordan Romano allowed a 101.6 mph leadoff single to Fermín in the bottom of the ninth. Fermín stole second essentially uncontested and eventually scored when Church singled to right with two outs.

The lead was down to 8-6.

Without the run McCarthy helped manufacture in the top half, Colorado would have been protecting a one-run lead with the tying run on base.

Instead, Romano still had room.

He went right after pinch-hitter César Prieto. Romano landed a 92.4 mph four-seamer for a called strike, got a swing-through on a 94.8 mph four-seamer, then buried an 84.3 mph slider below the zone for the chase.

Ballgame.

Final thoughts

McCarthy’s power will deservedly lead the highlights. Two first-pitch home runs totaling 837 feet will do that.

McCarthy has swung at 47.3% of first pitches this season, a significant jump from 30.2% last season. His career rate is 37.8%, while the MLB average this season is 30.3%.

McCarthy beat out an infield hit in the third and stole third as part of the double steal that preceded Carrigg’s two-run double. Then, after Walker’s homer tightened the game in the eighth, McCarthy manufactured the most important insurance run of the night in the ninth.

Bunt single. Stolen base. Pressure that helped create a balk. Sacrifice fly.

Schaeffer pointed to more than one night when discussing McCarthy after the game.

“I mean, Jake’s been good for a long time for us here this year,” Schaeffer said. “He’s been one of the main catalysts for our wins and pushing us forward. He just looks awfully comfortable, and I’m happy that he’s having a good time playing baseball right now.”

Carrigg had a strong all-around night of his own. He doubled twice, drove in two runs, stole third, made the bases-loaded catch behind Freeland and nearly threw out a runner at home with a 97 mph throw.

Rumfield continued to show why there is more to his offensive game than a simple box-score line might suggest. He collected two hits, delivered the two-out RBI in the fifth and made several useful defensive plays at first.

Karros also had one of those games where the hit column misses much of what happened.

He reached base twice before taking his first swing, stole two bases and scored a run. Later, he hit two balls well without recording a hit, including the 101.5 mph sacrifice fly that provided Colorado’s final run.

And after going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position Friday, the Rockies went 3-for-8 Saturday and stranded only four runners. St. Louis went 3-for-16 and left 12 aboard.

Colorado did not play a perfect game.

Instead, they played a good one.

Up next

The Rockies and Cardinals will wrap up their three-game series Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Colorado will send Michael Lorenzen to the mound. The right-hander enters the finale 3-10 with a 6.94 ERA and 80 strikeouts this season.

St. Louis will counter with Michael McGreevy, who comes in 4-9 with a 3.59 ERA and 81 strikeouts.

First pitch is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. MDT.

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

Dang, was there some kind of ceremony before the game or something?

More game thread!

Tonight, Andrew Vaughn reminded Twins Territory why any player whose career has involved only the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers is bad news for a team based in Minnesota. Vaughn’s tiebreaking eighth-inning single sealed the deal on a Brew Crew win, evening the series and handing the loss to recent acquisition Jeff Hoffman.

The Twins isolated their offense to the second inning tonight, rallying against Brewer starter Robert Gasser after a plethora of baserunners made it 1-0 Milwaukee in the home first. Luke Keaschall led off the inning with a double, then watched as Kaelen Culpepper filled first behind him on a HBP (the first of two tonight for the newcomer.) After a pair of quick outs, the threat was threatened (the heat was hot), until another bout of loose command — an Austin Martin HBP to load the bases, and a Ryan Jeffers walk to spin the carousel — tied things up for the Twins.

Then, it was a 3-1 lead, with Royce Lewis roping a double to left that plated a pair. Despite the concentration of runs, Gasser would still fail to make it through five innings, giving way after 90-some-odd pitches and seven hits allowed by the fifth inning, paired with two walks and two hit batsmen. The Milwaukee bullpen would go 4.1 shutout innings, and the Twins would not record a hit after Gasser’s exit.

Meanwhile, a two-out Brice Turang single tied the score in the fourth, as Bradley — who hit a man and walked two of this own — was unable to get past five innings.

As mentioned, the winning run was manufactured in the eighth; with Hoffman on the mound, William Contreras led off with a single, then gave way to pinch-runner Brandon Lockridge, who stole his way into scoring position and came home happy on Vaughn’s ground-ball single. And while Trevor Larnach gave one a ride to right in the ninth, there would be no more joy for Minnesota’s side, as a fired-up Brewers squad locked down their 73rd win with a perfect ninth.

There’s still time for the Twins to win this series, although it will require Connor Prielipp to outduel the Miz tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes!

STUDS:

1B Royce Lewis (2-for-4, 2 RBI, 2B)

RF/CF Luke Keaschall (2-for-4, R, 2B)

RP Travis Admas (IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K)

DUDS:

RP Jeff Hoffman (IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K)

The Phillies played awful baseball on Saturday night. Manager Don Mattingly made questionable decisions, they made poor plays on defense, the offense struggled against a 42-year-old pitcher, and the bullpen broke down. The result was that for the second straight night, they turned a very winnable game into a well-deserved loss to the Blue Jays, this one by a score of 7-5.

The early part of the game was a flashback to 2018 in that it was somewhat of a pitcher’s duel between Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer. Never mind the fact that Nola is just a serviceable back of the rotation starter these days while Scherzer is a 42-year-old who entered the game with an ERA over 7.00.

Sure, Nola gave up the obligatory home run – Vlad Guerrero, Jr. in the first – but he limited the Blue Jays to two runs before being pulled after one batter in the sixth after taking a line drive off the leg. He also recorded the 2,000th strikeout of his career.

Unfortunately, the Phillies’ habit of providing Nola with zero run support continued. For five innings, they were completely stifled by Scherzer.

Finally, the Phillies broke through when Trea Turner and Bryce Harper hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth. They added two more against reliever Spencer Miles, and all they needed was for the bullpen to protect a two-run lead for three innings. Easy, right?

Brooks Raley (why isn’t he one of the main setup guys?) finished off the sixth after Nola’s exit, and Jonathan Bowlan did his part with a scoreless seventh.

Then came the eighth when Mattingly called on Jose Alvarado. As he often does, Alvarado walked two batters, but with two outs, he had a good chance to get out of the self-inflicted jam when he got to a 0-2 count on Andres Gimenez. At that point, the announcers mentioned that Alvarado didn’t necessarily need to throw a strike. Alvarado went a different route and laid a ball right in the strike zone.

Based on his other pitches in the inning, I have to think he didn’t actually want to throw a strike, but he can’t even throw the ball out of the zone when he wants.

The teams traded zeroes in the ninth, and with a dearth of available relievers, the Phillies turned to Chase Shugart to pitch the tenth. Shugart got the first out, and after a walk, coaxed a ground ball to first base. Unfortunately, the ball apparently melted the brain of Alec Bohm who had been put into the game as a defensive replacement for Kyle Schwarber. Bohm couldn’t decide what to do with ball until it was too late, allowing the runners to reach first base safely.

That meant that Gimenez’s subsequent fly ball was a run scoring sacrifice fly instead of the third out of the inning.

The Phillies actually played fundamentally sound baseball in the bottom of the innings, using a ground ball to the right side and a fly ball to the outfield to score the ghost runner and tie the game at five. (Note: This is why the ghost runner kind of sucks. The pitcher gets two routine outs but blows the lead.)

Shugart was sent back out for the eleventh and got the first two outs relatively easily. The third out proved more elusive, when Nathan Lukes hit a 3-2 pitch into the stands in center.

The Phillies had no answer in the bottom of the inning and suffered their second straight avoidable loss to the Blue Jays.

They’ll try to salvage the finale on Sunday behind Jesus Luzardo. It would be beneficial if Luzardo could pitch effectively and deep into the game, and the Phillies could help further that cause if they stop playing such mistake-prone baseball.

The Orioles offense wasted yet another good start on Saturday night, scoring just once in a support of Kyle Bradish as they lost their third consecutive game, a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the hosting Texas Rangers.

Another night, another putrid performance from an Orioles offense that was supposed to carry this team day-to-day. For the fifth time in the last seven games, the lineup scored one run or fewer. The Orioles are 0-5 in those games. It’s not a recipe for success.

The only run scored by the Orioles came on a solo homer from Jackson Holliday in the very first inning, his sixth of the year. Holliday is the one member of the lineup that you could say is playing well at all lately. He went 2-for-3 tonight with the aforementioned dong, a double, a walk, and a strikeout. His batting average is up to .242 and his OPS to .737.

Outside of that, it was a bleak evening at the plate for the Birds. They collected six hits, three walks, and 10 strikeouts as a team. They went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, left six runners on base, and hit into two double plays.

The closest the Orioles came to a second run was in the eighth inning. Pete Alonso doubled with one out, and then the Rangers intentionally walked Holliday before Tyler O’Neill hit into an inning-ending double play. The force out at second base was very close, but not enough for a review. We were truly grasping at straws.

The subpar offense work wasted yet another nice start by an Orioles pitcher. It was Kyle Bradish’s turn to take a hard luck loss. He worked six innings and allowed two unearned runs on five hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. His season ERA dropped to 3.61

It was a sinker-heavy night for Bradish. Nearly half of his pitches were that variation of his fastball, and yet he gave up just three hard hit balls off of it. The slider is what was particularly effective though. The Rangers whiffed on it 47% of the time, putting a ball in play at all just once. The O’s ace was very good!

The two runs he gave up both came in the bottom of the second inning.

Ezequiel Duran singled with one out, and then moved to second base on a wayward pickoff attempt by Bradish. With the infield drawn in, Evan Carter hit a grounder at Gunnar Henderson. Henderson fielded cleanly and threw home. The throw was slightly up the first base line, pulling Carlos Narváez away from the runner and making way for Texas to score their first.

A wild pitch by Bradish then advanced Carter to second, which would prove to be a crucial 90 feet. Jake Burger followed by hitting a weak ground ball towards shortstop. Bradish whiffed on his barehanded attempt to stop it, and then Henderson bobbled away his try as well. The ball got just far enough from Henderson to allow the speedy Carter to cruise right around third base and score.

It was a frustrating inning made worse by the Orioles most glaring weakness: defense. It’s just not good enough. And it becomes a problem all the time because the Orioles don’t have the offense they expected would allow them to hit their way out of all these problems. It’s also not something that has gotten any better throughout the season. Maybe they are working on it, but it sure doesn’t look like it on the field most days.

For a while it seemed like the glovework is what would cost the Orioles the game, but that was before Grant Wolfram lost the strike zone in the eighth inning. After punching out the first two batters on the frame, the southpaw then walked two in a row, fell behind 2-0 to Corey Seager, and then grooved a fastball right into the ideal spot for a lefty to smack a long ball. Seager did just that, putting the Rangers up 5-1 and driving a final nail into the Orioles coffin.

This game alone is not going to lose the Orioles a spot in the playoffs. But considering they came into this weekend right behind these very Rangers in the standings, it’s been pretty disheartening to see the offense show so little fight. Or maybe it is just a complete lack of ability. Either way, it hasn’t been fun.

At least Bradish was good again. Just like Shane Baz was impressive on Friday night. Add in how great Trevor Rogers has been for most of the last two seasons, and it’s fair to wonder if maybe the Orioles have finally figured out the pitching secret sauce. Too bad it happened at the same time as their offense completely lost its way.

These two teams will wrap up the weekend tomorrow. Cade Povich (2-1, 3.91 ERA) will head to the bump for the O’s. He will be opposed by Kumar Rocker (4-8, 4.08 ERA). First pitch is set for 2:35 pm on MASN.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs got demolished by Indianapolis (Pirates), 16-3.

Starter Will Sanders didn’t make it out of the second inning. He got tagged for seven runs on five hits and three walks over 1.2 innings. He struck out one.

A bright spot for the I-Cubs in this game is that Daniel Palencia threw the fourth inning. He walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, but then settled down and got a one-pitch fly out, a three-pitch strikeout and a one-pitch lineout.

Right fielder Kevin Alcántara extended his on-base streak to 42 games, going 1 for 2 with two walks and his 18th minor league home run. It was a solo shot in the third inning.

Left fielder Hayden Cantrelle was 1 for 4 with an RBI triple. He also pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing no runs on one hit.

Alcantara’s moonshot.

Cantrelle’s triple.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies got in the eyes of the Chattanooga Lookouts (Reds), 9-4.

Brooks Caple held the Lookouts without a hit or a run for four innings. Caple struck out seven and walked two.

Jackson Brockett allowed three runs on three hits over the next three innings, but he got the win because Caple didn’t go five innings. Brockett walked three and struck out four.

Everyone in the Smokies starting lineup had at least one hit, and three of them had home runs. Catcher Ariel Armas hit a solo home run in the second inning, his fourth on the season. Armas had a huge night, going 4 for 6 with a double and the home run. He had four total RBI.

Center fielder Kane Kepley hit his first Double-A home run with a man on in the fourth inning. It was Kepley’s seventh overall home run. Kepley was 2 for 4 with a double, the home run and two walks. Kepley had three RBI.

Finally, right fielder Andy Garriola launched his team-leading 20th home run with the bases empty in the ninth inning. Garriola was 2 for 4 with two walks. He scored twice.

Third baseman Dom Krupinski was 3 for 5 with a double and a walk. He scored once.

Second baseman Alex Madera went 3 for 4 with a sac fly and two steals. Madera scored twice.

Left fielder Carter Trice was 2 for 6 with a double. He scored two runs.

DH Drew Bowser was 2 for 5.

Kepley’s home run.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs couldn’t get the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Twins) out of their teeth, 7-0.

Pierce Coppola started and took the loss. Coppola allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits over four innings. He struck out four and walked one.

South Bend had four hits. Left fielder Kade Snell went 1 for 4 with a double.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were hypnotized by the Columbia Fireflies (Royals), 10-8.

Riely Huntsaker started and gave the Pelicans four innings. He gave the Fireflies five runs on eight hits, although one of the five runs was unearned. Huntsaker walked two and struck out three.

Geovanny Vazquez gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth and took the loss. He also allowed two inherited runners in the seventh to score. Vazquez’s final line was two runs on three hits over 1.2 innings. He struck out four and walked no one.

Left fielder Ethan Conrad had a huge night, going 3 for 4 with a double and a solo home run in the sixth inning. It was Conrad’s third home with the Pelicans and fourth overall. Conrad scored three times.

DH Jhoander Irigoyen had a pair of doubles in a 3 for 5 night. He drove in two and scored one.

Right fielder Eli Lovich went 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Catcher Ivan Cespendes was 2 for 5 with an RBI.

Conrad’s home run.

Matthew Liberatore’s start went south from the very first pitch, but he avoided a meltdown as the St. Louis Cardinals were playing catchup from the beginning of the game. The question would end up being whether their less than spectacular offense lately would muster enough runs to overcome the Rockies fast start. Short answer? No.

Pitch one of inning one to the Colorado Rockies was a 95 mph four-seam fastball from Matthew Liberatore to Jake McCarthy and it traveled 420 feet into the right field stands of Busch Stadium for an immediate 1-0 Rockies lead. It could have been worse as Matthew then walked Karros and many of us in Cardinals fandom started fearing a 1st inning meltdown like we’ve seen from Liberatore a few times this season. Fortunately, one run is all the Rockies would get after a bonehead baserunning error as Karros was doubled off of second on a ball caught by Winn.

The St. Louis Cardinals would seize back the lead in the bottom of the 1st inning when Iván Herrera ripped a two-out double to left. Alec Burleson would strike out, but reach first on a passed ball charged to Goodman. That would bring up José Fermín who would provide a true big league 8-pitch at-bat eventually pulling an 82 mph knuckle-curve into the left field corner scoring both Herrera and Burleson giving the Cardinals a temporary 2-1 lead.

Liberatore would run into trouble in the top of the 3rd inning, too. With one out, McCarthy would reach first on an infield single. Matthew then hit Karros with a pitch giving Colorado runners on first and second. Both those runners would steal off of of Herrera before Carrigg would double to center scoring both runners and giving the Rockies a 3-2 lead. They would add more more when Goodman singled to right making it 4-2 Colorado.

The Cardinals would miss a great chance to either tie or take the lead in the bottom of the 4th inning when they would load the bases on a Fermín walk, a Blaze Jordan single and a hit-by-pitch from newcomer Everson Pereira. With two outs, JJ Wetherholt would hit a laser shot with the bases loaded that unfortunately was directed right at Rockies centerfielder Cole Carrigg to end the threat.

Colorado would up their lead to 3 in the top of the 5th inning when Carrigg would hit a one-out double to left. Two batters later, Rumfield would single through the hole at shortstop scoring Carrigg and making it 5-2 Rockies.

The St. Louis Cardinals would have another great opportunity in the bottom of the 5th inning when they would load the bases again, this time with just one out when Herrera doubled, Burleson and Fermín would walk. That brought up Masyn Winn with a chance to do damage. His damage would be light, but effective. He flied out to centerfield and the throw home was not handled by Rockies catcher Goodman as Herrera scored cutting into the Colorado lead making it 5-3. The St. Louis threat wasn’t over. A wild pitch by Meija would move the Cardinals runners up to 2nd and 3rd and then he walked Bryan Torres to load the bases again. Nathan Church ripped a 95 mph four-seam fastball that was unfortunately grabbed by Rockies second baseman Castro who threw him out at first to end the Cardinals 5th.

Matthew Liberatore’s night would end after 5 laborious innings. He surrendered 9 hits, 5 earned runs while striking out 3 and walking 2. Luis Gastelum took over in the top of the 6th inning and he was helped by a great recovery by Alec Burleson on a pop fly from Burk. Two batters later after a walk to Tovar, Gastellum grooved a 94 mph four-seam fastball to McCarthy who sent it flying 417 feet to center giving the Rockies a commanding 7-3 lead.

The Cardinals would fight back in the bottom of the 6th inning when Everson Pereira drew a leadoff walk. After Wetherholt and Walker were unable to drive him in, Pereira would score when Herrera would come through again inching the Cardinals closer as the Rockies lead was cut to 3 at 7-4.

The St. Louis Cardinals bottom of the 7th would get interesting quick when Fermin drew a leadoff walk followed by a solid single to left by Masyn Winn giving St. Louis runners at first and second with no outs. Bryan Torres followed with a lineout to left. Nathan Church barely missed the pitch he was looking for as he just got under an 82 mph sweeper flying out to right for the second out. Pereira weak flyball to right would end the Cardinals 7th leaving them with another opportunity missed.

The top of the 8th inning would be handled by one of the newest members of the Cardinals bullpen, Peter Strzelecki. He set the Rockies down 1-2-3 to keep St. Louis within (somewhat) striking distance. The definition of “striking distance” depends on how optimistic or not you are about the Cardinals offense ability to rally at this point of the season. Jordan Walker gave us all hope when he broke his homerless streak since his historic Home Run Derby ripping a mammoth 432 foot blast off of a 79 mph changeup cutting the Rockies lead to 7-5.

Strzelecki stayed in the game for the top of the 9th, but could not keep the Rockies from adding to their lead. After McCarthy reached on a one-out bunt single, he stole second easily on Herrera and then advanced to third on a balk by Strzelecki. Karros then hit a sacrifice fly that scored McCarthy upping the Colorado lead to 8-5.

Colorado Rockies reliever Jordan Romano was brought in to shut down the Cardinals in the bottom of the 9th. José Fermín welcomed him to the game with a leadoff single. He stole second because the Rockies didn’t care about his run, but it got the Cardinals out of a double play situation. Masyn Winn flew out to left on the 7th pitch he saw for the first out. Bryan Torres grounded out to first for the second out. Nathan Church ripped a RBI single to right scoring Fermín cutting the Rockies lead to 8-6 and bringing up the tying run in the form of pinch-hitter Cesar Prieto who sadly struck out to end the game.

The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their weekend series against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday as Michael McGreevy gets the ball for the good guys while the mountain people will start RHP Michael Lorensen. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm at Busch Stadium and the TV broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv.

Blue Jays 7 Phillies 5 (11 innings)

That was a game and a half, as my dad would say. Baseball doesn’t get much better.

Max Scherzer was great, thru five innings, and then gave up two solo homers in the sixth, before leaving the game. In all, he allowed 5 hits, 2 earned, 0 walks with 5 strikeouts, which moved him to tenth in all-time strikeouts (until MLB decides that Walter Johnson actually had 10 more than we previously thought). Having Max go out for the for the sixth inning may have been a mistake, but the bullpen is working very hard lately.

Spencer Miles came in with one-out and none on, and gave up 2 runs before getting out of the inning.

Matt Waldron pitched a scoreless seventh

Braydon Fisher got through the eighth, despite a hit and a walk.

Louis Varland had a 3-up, 3-down ninth.

In regulation time we scored:

• One in the first: Vlad homered. Very nice to see.
• One in the third: Myles Straw walked. Nathan Lukes singled. An out later, Vlad singled.
• Two in the eight: With one out, Vlad walked. Then Alejandro Kirk walked. George Springer pinch ran for Kirk. An out later, Andrés Giménez double both home. Just a great swing.

We had 10 hits and 6 walks on the day. Lukes had three hits. Vlad (with a walk), Clement and Giménez had two each. Bateman, Valenzuela, Smith (with a walk)/Okamoto and Straw (with a walk) had 0 fors.

Extra innings:

Top of the ninth:

Bateman starts at second. Vlad up, ground ball right at the shortstop, one out without moving up the runner. Davis Schneider in to pinch hit for George Springer (who was just in the game to pinch run, after being pulled from the lineup with a tight shoulder). Davis walked (with him winning a challenge early in the count). Ernie Clement rolled one down the first base line, the first baseman picked up the ball, but for some reason, looked at the other bases, and then threw to the pitcher, Ernie was safe. Andrés Giménez hit a fly just deep enough to score Bateman (Bateman can run). Brandon Valenzuela struck out on a pitch the umpire called a ball but was overturned on a Phillies challenge. It was barely a strike.

Bottom of the tenth:

Trea Turner on second. Louis Varland pitching his second inning. Bryce Harper ground out moving Turner to third. Luis Arraez hit a sac fly, tie game again. Varland started Bryson Stott off with two strikes but then threw four straight balls. A wild pitch moved the runner to second, but Louis got Brandon Marsh to fly out to left.

Top of the eleventh:

Brandon Valenzuela starts at second base. Kazuma Okamoto flied out to medium right. Myles Straw ground out to first. Then Nathan Lukes homered.

Bottom of the eleventh:

Lazaro Estrada in to pitch. Brandon Marsh starting on second base. Justin Crawford popped out. A Bryan De La Cruz strikeout put us one out away from the win. Estrada, with two outs, decided to do three disengagements to move the runner to third, thinking Marsh was relaying pitches. Since that run didn’t matter, it was a good move. A fly out ended the game. Estrada gets his first career save.

Jays of the Game: Lukes (0.49, with the game winning home run, plus some great defense), Giménez (0.35, plus great defense), Estrada (0.20, just a great job), Fisher (0.11) and Varland (0.09).

Other Award: Spencer Miles (-0.27), Okamoto (-0.23), Bateman (-0.16, but he motored on that sac fly in the 10th), Valenzuela (-0.14) and Straw (-0.13)

There was some amazing defense on both sides of the ball. Plus some awful defense out of the Phillies first basemen (Schwarber and Bohm).

Tomorrow the Jays try for the sweep. It is a 1:30 start time. I have tennis 11-1 tomorrow, but a quick shower and I’ll likely make it for the first pitch, perhaps with a beer in my hand. Starters tomorrow: Shane Bieber (3-2, 5.11) and Jesús Luzardo (10-5, 3.36). The Jays will be going for the sweep.

Robert Stock's impressive return to the majors was a bright spot for the Mets and the right-hander, so much so that it earned him another turn in the rotation.

That turn came Saturday in Pittsburgh, and it was the opposite result for the 36-year-old.  

Stock struggled with command and the Pirates put an eight-spot on the right-hander in the first four innings of the Mets' eventual 9-0 loss. The combination of poor command and a pinch of bad luck got the better of Stock, and it cost the Mets any chance at extending their four-game winning streak.

"Found himself behind in the count frequently," interim manager Andy Green said of Stock's performance after the game. "And by the fourth inning, he was out of gas. Had trouble commanding the baseball at that point in time. Forced us into a game that you’re in a bad spot in."

Stock's day was over relatively early. The Pirates scored three runs in the first inning, which was helped by a misplay in the infield. With a runner on second and one out, Bryan Reynolds hit a soft grounder to Francisco Lindor. The shortstop, ranging to his right, scooped the ball up and looked to throw it to third base to try and get the lead runner. However, Bo Bichette was out of position and didn't get back in time, allowing both runners to be safe.

That play ultimately resulted in three runs being scored after a hit by pitch, an RBI groundout and a two-run double. 

"I experienced some bad luck early in it. That can be overcome by striking people out," Stock said. "By the fourth inning, I look up the board just feeling my velo go down and my arm get tired."

Stock's sinker, his go-to pitch on Saturday, was hitting 96.8 mph, according to Baseball Savant. By the fourth, it was down to 92.7 mph, and that turned the game. Entering the fourth, the Mets were down 4-0, but Stock seemingly settled down, but things took a turn for the worse as Stock walked batters and the Pirates teed off on his pitches, scoring four in the inning and putting the game out of reach.

Stock said it wasn't the number of pitches he threw -- he tossed 80 on Saturday, the most he's thrown in his major league career -- but the pitches per minute. 

"I need to be more resilient to getting fatigued to not lose the count," Stock explained. "Two things: if I execute pitches better early in the game, I won’t have to deal with the fatigue, and even if you do get fatigued, which is going to happen, you still need to fill up the zone."

After walking no batters in his five innings back on Aug. 2 against the Marlins, Stock walked five in his three-plus frames. 

That elevated pitch count and the deficit forced Green to punt on Saturday's game. Xzavion Curry pushed through three innings and catcher Luis Torrens was called on to pitch two more to save the bullpen for Sunday's series finale. 

"That was the worst part of tonight," Stock said of the Mets having to go to the bullpen early. "When I got fatigued, I didn’t battle through it. I gave into it. That’s on me." 

Green was asked after the game whether Stock will make another start, and the skipper said it was too early to make that decision. But Green said this start doesn't define the kind of pitcher Stock is.

"It’s a rough outing. Happens to pitchers all across the game all the time," Green said. "He has talent. He earned the right for that second start. He pitched really well his first time out. We’ll make a determination on where we go from here. But, no, this most surely doesn’t define him."

"Any time you’re playing in the major leagues, it’s exactly where you want to be," Stock said of his experience with the big league club. "Makes you want to work harder to stay. The older you get, and the more times you do poorly, the deeper the hole you dig yourself. You just know you have to be resilient and be even better next time." 

It was set up to be a solid pitching matchup, with Astros SP Peter Lambert (entered game with 3.06 ERA) and Padres SP Michael King (entered game with 3.45 ERA) taking the mound today. Those two held up their end of the deal for a terrific matchup today at Petco Park.

The Astros offense, however, did not.

Houston’s bats were held to just 5 hits while striking out 11 times in a game they were able to muster only 2 runs, as the fell to the Padres in San Diego 3-1.

Houston scored it’s first run on a solo HR by Taylor Trammell in the 2nd. Trammell’s 7th HR of the season tied the game at 1 after San Diego scratched a run against Lambert (L, 8-6) in the bottom of the 1st. It was the only run King (W, 7-8) would allow.

Two walks in the first inning sandwiching a hit let to a sacrifice fly by Jackson Merrill to score Fernando Tatis Jr. in the first to give the Padres the lead. Trammell’s solo HR answered that run to tie the game at 1.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Merrill would get Lambert again, this time for a solo HR. Merrill’s 17th homer of the season made it 2-1 Padres.

In the bottom of the 4th, Gavin Sheets would lead off with a swinging bunt for a single. Two groundouts would advance him to 3rd. Tatis would then hit a grounder to short that should have ended the inning, but an error by Jeremy Pena allowed Tatis to reach and Sheets to score to make it a 3-1 Padres lead.

In the 9th the Padres would send their closer Mason Miller (S, 29) to the mound. Miller has established himself as one of the best closers in the game thanks to his 100+MPH heat.

Christian Walker would lead off the 9th and be hit by a 101.6 MPH fastball on the hand. He would stay in the game, and then advance to 2nd on a wild pitch. Daulton Varsho grounded out, advancing Walker to 3rd with 1 out. Cam Smith would go down looking at a slider for the second out.

Yainer Diaz then poked a single to left to score Walker to close the gap to 3-2. LaMonte Wade Jr. would then pinch hit for Jake Meyers, but he would ground to 3rd to end the game.

News & Notes:

Cristian Javier will get the start Sunday for the Astros in the series finale.

Yordan Alvarez entered play today leading MLB in AVG and HR. He leads the AL in RBI. No player has led MLB in all 3 categories since Mickey Mantle in 1956.

According to reports, the Astros are seeking a right handed outfield bat. Austin Hays, Rob Refsnyder and Jorge Soler are considered candidates, according to Chandler Rome.

Mike Burrows threw 55 pitches in three innings at the Astros complex today. He is scheduled to make a rehab start for Triple-A Sugar Land next week according to Rome.

The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Baltimore Orioles scored one run.

If you enjoyed last night’s win for the Rangers over the Orioles, the teams were ready tonight to pretty much put on an encore performance before Corey Seager brought the house down.

The Orioles got their run on one of those patented first inning solo home runs that Jacob deGrom has decided to make his signature move in 2026. I don’t know if you know this but when a team trails in a baseball game, their chances of winning goes down.

The Rangers had more trouble in the first inning over the season’s first few months than they have had of late, but being down early was both familiar and usually a bad omen.

But like last night, after trailing 1-0, the Rangers were next to score when in the bottom of the second they plated a couple on ground balls to shortstop where Texas essentially stole a few runs by being aggressive versus the arm and defensive acumen of Gunnar Henderson.

Sloppy defense allowed Ezequiel Duran to reach third base on an errant pickoff attempt following a single and then Duran scored on a fielder’s choice ground ball off the bat of Evan Carter where Henderson couldn’t gun down Duran despite the infield being drawn in.

Carter took second base on a Kyle Bradish wild pitch and then scored on a weakly hit grounder off the bat of Jake Burger that Bradish attempted to take a stab at barehanded which potentially made Henderson unable to field it. Though the ball squirted away from Henderson by only few feet, Carter just kept running and scored on the throw giving Texas a couple of runs on a couple of fairly routine ground balls.

Meanwhile, deGrom settled in after the first inning home run and ended up tossing five innings with just the one run allowed on three hits and a walk. deGrom struck out nine and left after throwing 88 pitches.

The Rangers likely would have preferred it if deGrom had lasted another inning or two after Jacob Latz pitched two innings last night, but Peyton Gray and Chase Silseth followed deGrom and combined to throw three shutout innings.

It seemed as though Gray and Silseth had saved Latz from another extended outing but he wasn’t needed at all as Corey Seager hit a two-out, three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth for all the insurance that Texas could need.

Cal Quantrill got the ninth instead and the Rangers closed things out with a win to push them back above .500. Also, the Houston Astros lost so the Rangers are only a half game back in the American League West.

Player of the Game: The pitching was great. Austin Wynns had an impressive ten-pitch at-bat and two of Texas’ six hits. But…

Welcome back, Mr. World Series MVP.

Up Next: The Rangers close out this series eyeing a sweep with Kumar Rocker expected to make the start for Texas against LHP Cade Povich for Baltimore.

The Sunday afternoon first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CDT and will be aired back on the Rangers Sports Network.