Category: Sports News

After a tough outing on Aug. 5, Mets starter Jonah Tong has now turned in two straight strong performances for Triple-A Syracuse.

The right-hander struck out six over 4.2 IP on Sunday against Jacksonville, allowing just one run on three hits and two walks.

He came out of the gate firing, striking out two in the first inning, but let up the one run on a solo homer in the bottom of the second inning. Tong fought back to retire three straight including back-to-back strikeouts and kept it going with a 1-2-3 third inning.

Tong hit the leadoff man in the fourth inning before getting some help from his defense on a double play and caught stealing. His day came to an end in the fifth inning after surrendering a two-out walk and single. Reliever Joe Jacques came in to get the third out and keep the runs off Tong's scorecard. 

Syracuse's bullpen was then able to hold Jacksonville hitless for the rest of the game, pulling out a 2-1 win. Hayden Senger drove in the team's first run in the second inning, and Eric Wagaman's sacrifice fly in the seventh gave them the lead.

While Tong didn't earn the win, he did lower his season ERA to 5.15 and is up to 115 strikeouts over 94.1 IP.

The St. Louis Cardinals begin a brutal week where they’ll play 5 games in 4 days against the Cincinnati Reds beginning with a day/night doubleheader on Monday. What we know about pitching matchups already shows this might be one of the most interesting and possibly pivotal weeks of the season so far.

Here are the probable (key word) pitching matchups according to MLB.com:

Monday, Aug 17 (12:40 PM Central Time): TBD (Game 1 of Doubleheader) vs Quinn Mathews

Monday, Aug 17 (5:40 PM Central Time): Rhett Lowder (RHP) vs Andre Pallante

Tuesday, Aug 18 (5:40 PM Central Time): Andrew Abbott (LHP) vs Kyle Leahy

Wednesday, Aug 19 (5:40 PM Central Time): Chase Burns vs Matthew Liberatore

Thursday, August 20 (11:40 AM Central Time): TBD vs Michael McGreevy

It’s important to emphasize that the pitching matchups are somewhat tentative and changeable. I was able to confirm the Cardinals starters for Monday’s day/night doubleheader based on a report from Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch:

Here’s how the projected Reds starters have been performing. Rhett Lowder is 1-1 over his last 3 starts. He lost his most recent start on August 12 against the Chicago White Sox although it wasn’t his fault. He tossed 5 1/3 innings and only allowed 2 earned runs giving up 7 hits while striking out 4 and walking just 1. He won the previous start to that against the Athletics throwing 6 innings giving up 4 hits and 2 earned runs on August 5.

Andrew Abbott is also 1-1 over his last 3 starts. His most recent outing on August 13 against the White Sox was a no-decision as he pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs while striking out 3, but also walking 3. Prior to that, he was victorious on August 6 tossing 6 2/3 innings against the Athletics giving up 7 hits, 3 earned runs while striking out 4 and walking 2.

Chase Burns is the most effective Reds starter the Cardinals are expected to face as he’s 14-2 on the year. His most recent game on August 14 was a gem against the Marlins as he pitched 7 innings giving up only 4 hits and no earned runs with 8 strikeouts and no walks. The outing prior was a dud on August 8 as he got rocked by the Washington Nationals giving up 5 earned runs on 6 hits while striking out 6 and walking 3.

Who are the Reds players to watch?

Sal Stewart – JJ Wetherholt’s main competition for the NL Rookie of the Year leads the Reds with 26 home runs and 91 RBI’s with a batting average of .259. St. Louis can’t let Stewart beat them.

JJ Bleday – Bleday currently has 20 home runs with just 47 RBI’s and an average of .217.

Elly De La Cruz – Elly has 20 home runs, 56 RBI’s with 21 stolen bases and an average of .262

Spencer Steer – Steer has 16 home runs, 40 RBI’s with an average of .238

Eugenio Suárez – Cincinnati’s DH has 18 home runs, 49 RBI’s with an average of just .205

The Cincinnati Reds, who sit in the cellar of the National League Central, are 4-6 in their last 10 games and have lost the past 2-in-a-row to the Miami Marlins this weekend. The St. Louis Cardinals, by comparison, are 7-3 in their last 10 games winning the past 2-in-a-row against the Cubs in Wrigley. The Cardinals have a 5-3 record against the Reds this season overall. They split a doubleheader in Cincinnati on May 23 winning game 1 decisively 8-1, but losing game 2 in 11 innings 7-6.

Even though he was hitless on Sunday after his historic MLB debut Saturday, Joshua Baez brings a different look to the St. Louis Cardinals lineup. There are no doubts that he’ll have to make adjustments to Major League pitching, but I noticed that Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson seemed to be seeing better pitches when they hit in front of Baez this weekend against the Cubs. The sample size is much too small to draw any real conclusions, but I’m hopeful that his presence will continue to light a fire under the St. Louis Cardinals offense so their bats support some great pitching efforts recently. I also recognize this is a development year, but I’m not conceding a run at the playoffs yet. I greedily want to see the Cardinals take at least 4 of the 5 games in Cincinnati this week if not a sweep. At minimum, St. Louis needs to win the series and grab at least 3 of 5. There’s no reason the Cardinals shouldn’t come out of Cincinnati with a better look at a playoff spot than they have going in. Will that happen? We’ll find out starting Monday.

Tejay Antone never should have been tasked with this. To be quite clear, I am ecstatic that Antone not only made it back to the big leagues in very successful fashion after his third Tommy John surgery almost two years ago, but he never should’ve found himself in the situations he was in this weekend against the Miami Marlins in Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati had slugged its way back into the lead on Saturday, and they took a 4-3 lead into the Top of the 8th when Tejay took over. In a blink, he was tagged with 3 ER in an inning that eventually saw the Reds surrender 4, and that 4-3 lead turned into an eventual 8-4 loss.

Sunday afternoon in GABP told a similar story, albeit one that wasn’t technically just the bullpen’s fault. Nick Lodolo turned in 5.0 scoreless innings in a game where the offense completely failed to show up, but it was once again Antone on the mound in the Top of the 8th in a 0-0 game, and he served up the go-ahead solo homer before the rest of Cincinnati’s beleaguered bullpen collapsed in a 7-1 loss.

Again, this ain’t about Tejay. It’s just that he’s the only one standing despite being the last one anyone should’ve expected to be standing in a unit that – whether by injury, design, or mismanagement – has completely burned through every single thread it once had.

We’ve not seen Graham Ashcraft since late May. Tony Santillan’s been gone since late June. Caleb Ferguson was a total bust before he was shipped out at the trade deadline, and none of Zach Maxwell, Lyon Richardson, or Kyle Nicolas panned out as hoped. Connor Phillips was such a disaster again at the start of the year that we haven’t heard a peep from him in months, while Sam Moll, Pierce Johnson, and Julian Garcia have been so-so at best.

Ron Marinaccio, who was just claimed off waivers when there was nobody else in the quiver, was on the bump for the 5-run Top of the 9th inning in today’s loss.

The weekend was indicative of just what the Reds bullpen has become – a mix of poor, run down, overworked, and overmatched, with only Tejay there to be the one guy who actually looks the part. Unfortunately for him, he’s been tasked with that job so damn often of late that it finally came back to haunt the Reds this weekend, the end result them dropping a home series to a struggling Marlins club and dropping (once again) back into last place in the NL Central.

The Diamondbacks dropped two out of three to the Rockies. Are we at the point in the season where we can no longer brush it off as “just a series”?

Spencer: Sure? But what about all the games early on we lost? It sucks but there’s a lot of baseball left. There’s just a lot less leeway than there was a week ago.

Makakilo: Momentum Matters: losing that series damaged some great momentum from winning against the Dodgers. Downhill To Playoffs: it’s easier than needing to win the last games of the season.

Dano_in_Tucson: Nope. It was just a series. Result was disappointing, certainly, but any major league baseball team can beat any other major league baseball team on any given day, or even win a three-game series. Besides, aside from Soroka, Colorado drew the weakest links in our chewing-gum-and-baling-wire rotation, and Colorado can hit, even if they usually can’t pitch.

Of course, I’m answering this after writing up the recap for our series-win-deciding game against the best team in the NL East, so that’s probably informing my mindset. We’ve taken two so far from Atlanta….to my thinking, that more than outweighs dropping two of three against the Rockies.

Ben: I think the middle loss of that series was one you could brush off as “just baseball,” but the series finale was particularly ugly. They were handed golden opportunity after golden opportunity to score and failed in nearly all of them. In isolation, dropping the series to the Rockies is a setback for sure, but following that up with a series win against a much stronger Atlanta team is a real palate cleanser.

1AZfan1: I understand the camp who says that each game matters equally throughout the season, from 1 to 162, but from a mental standpoint we’re getting close to the games that matter just a little bit more than the rest of the regular season. As fans, we’re all scoreboard watching and keeping tabs on the standings, but no one is tracking magic numbers yet. No one is lining up rotations for the postseason yet. We’re not quite to the point that each series carries the weight of the season. To me, early September is when I feel that switch hits. All that to say, winning series against the Rockies in August can help make September less stressful, but there are still nearly 40 games left. Not plenty of time, but time enough.

An issue the Diamondbacks have consistently faced is hitting with RISP. Is there a solution to this that can take affect in the short amount of time remaining?

Spencer: Hit the ball where the defenders aren’t. Problem fixed.

Makakilo: Perhaps scoring runs with RISP is not an issue. 78% of Diamondbacks runs scored happened with RISP, which is the second highest percentage in MLB (Brewers are highest with 81%). Alternative viewpoints are that the Diamondbacks need more baserunners, or that the Diamondbacks need to hit more homers.

Dano_in_Tucson: Um….maybe? I hope so? Honestly, I have no idea what all that is about, and what could possibly be done about it at this late date in the season. But here’s hoping.

Ben: As far as I’ve seen, so much of the success around specific situations comes down to luck and the variability of baseball over the course of the season. There’s little the team can do to change their hitting philosophy or approach at this point in the season. Certainly, there are some changes that could be made to batting order, approach in attacking a specific pitcher, etc, but their approach has gotten them this far so why would they change?

1AZfan1: The solution goes by many names. Sequencing. Randomness. SSS. YCPB. Anything can happen over a short time period in baseball. I am encouraged that they have a large amount of opportunities with RISP in just about every game (5th most PA in MLB) and their batted ball metrics are all basically the same comparing RISP to overall season numbers. LD-GB-FB numbers are all nearly identical. K% is nearly identical. The biggest difference is a 10 point drop in BABIP from .281 to .271. If the batted ball luck swings only partially back toward the mean they will score a fair amount of runs. I don’t think there’s any team-wide mechanical or mental adjustment that can or will happen within the daily grind of a postseason race in August and September. What can happen is just pure luck. The balls start to fall our way a little more often. I just hope they keep giving themselves opportunities.

Justin Martinez seems to be nearing his return from the IL. How much of an impact do you see him having the rest of the season?

Spencer: Probably not all that much. He’s still a lot of potential. I’m not sure I want him pitching leverage innings this year. Garcia is killing it as closer, so for 2026 I wouldn’t change stuff just because Martinez is signed.

Makakilo: He would have a high impact in an area of need. In 2 games in Reno, he faced 6 batters. He struck out three and none of the other three got a hit or walk.

Dano_in_Tucson: I see it being big, assuming that he’s got his control back as well as his velocity after his Tommy John surgery. Of course, our bullpen has actually been a strength this year, so having him come back is perhaps not as crucial as it might have been in previous seasons. That said, though, being able to plug him back into the back end of what has already proven to be a really solid unit should help us out enormously down the stretch as we push to hold onto a wild card spot.

Ben: I would imagine he’ll have a marginal role in the bullpen, but I would be surprised if Lovullo uses him in higher leverage spots until they feel confident about his health. They clearly see Martinez as part of the team’s future so I have a difficult time believing they would take even the slightest of risks with his health at this point in the season.

1AZfan1: I think it will be substantial. Garcia and Morillo would be legitimate back-end weapons on any team in baseball. Both are within the top 6 in MLB in reliever xERA. J-Mart, when fully healthy, is better than both of them. Will he be fully healthy? His pitching lines and velocity readings in Reno certainly suggest that if he’s not fully healthy now, he should be in September. This bullpen has had admirable contributions up and down the line from Ginkel, Clarke, Loaisiga, and even Carrillo, but they aren’t at the same level of those other three. I honestly believe that when Martinez returns we will be able to stack our 7-8-9 against anyone else in baseball.

Same question, but Jordan Lawler?

Spencer: More of an impact than Martinez I think. Although I’m not sure where I see him playing. Does he deserve to play over Waldschmidt? I could see either side of that argument. He certainly deserves to play over Kepler or Noot, but Noot is the veteran the team just targeted to acquire…. You can’t have either Lawlar or Waldy riding the bench in Barrosa’s role for development purposes. But the team seems pretty adamant Lawlar is no longer an infielder. I think in a world where everyone is healthy, I cut Kepler for Jordan but make Marte the DH most days and play Lawlar at 2B. When Moreno needs to DH, one of Lawlar/Marte takes an injury prevention rest day.

Makakilo: I’m uncertain. The positive is that for the Sod Poodles he hit 4 homers in 32 PAs (exceptional!). The negative is that for the Sod Poodles he struck out 13 times in 32 PAs with zero walks (plate discipline needs to be fixed).

Dano_in_Tucson: Dunno, honestly, because I’m not entirely sure how/where he’s going to fit into the outfield mix. I mean, he could replace Kepler/Nootbaar in left, or reclaim center and push Waldschmidt to left, where he would be the one replacing Kepler/Nootbaar, either way that would likely be a positive. That assumes, of course, that he can resume his performance with the bat after so much time on the IL this year.

It seemed at the start of the season like he’d finally figured out that side of his game, and when he came back after his first IL stint it seemed like he still had it and there wasn’t much rust to shake off, but he was back on the IL again so quickly after his return that….well, I just don’t know. We’ll see. His return might turn out to be really big, which would be great. But it could also turn out to be, well, meh. Here’s hoping it’s the former.

Ben: I think Lawlar is a very different case. He’s obviously gotten the prospect pedigree and his performance at the beginning of the year finally shows some of the translation between those expectations and actual on-field performance. I’m not convinced he’ll be able to jump right back into the .316/.409/.447 slash line as soon as he returns, but anything will be better than the black hole that Max Kepler has been so far – and the latter’s unavailability in the postseason adds even more impetus to bring Lawlar back as a third/fourth outfielder.

1AZfan1: Lawlar’s impact is a little less convincing to me. If he’s still the same player he was when he was injured, then it’s a big deal getting him back in the lineup every day. I’ve been one of the biggest Lawlar believers on this site, and even I am concerned that much of his success may be tied to the .407(!) BABIP he was rocking over his small sample of 12 games, but I don’t expect him to crater offensively, either. I’d expect that Kepler gets the boot in favor of Lawlar so the bar is set pretty low for how much he needs to do and still provide value. A Waldy-Lawlar-Carroll (or Lawlar-Waldy-Carroll) outfield defense looks pretty legit, too.

What is the biggest thing in the Diamondbacks’ favor towards heading back to the Postseason, and what is their biggest danger in missing it?

Spencer: We have killed it in division this season. That’s the second tie breaker and I believe we beat every team in the race currently (in one of those first two tie breakers). Conversely, our biggest danger of missing the postseason is that we are once again playing poor enough ball that the tie breakers may not matter; we are letting other teams dictate how the season goes rather than winning enough for it to not matter.

Makakilo: If the season ended the morning of 15 August, the Diamondbacks would be a NL Wild Card team. That is the biggest thing in favor of reaching the postseason. On the other hand, baseball is a streaky game, which is the biggest danger.

Dano_in_Tucson: In our favor, I would say it’s the vast improvement we’ve shown in the last month or two in going toe-to-toe with teams with actual winning records, and beating them, and taking series from them.

Our biggest danger? I guess I’d have to say the intermittent signal loss we seem to get with our offense, as illustrated by the ongoing RISP issues that we see a lot of days.

All in all, though, I feel quardedly optimistic about our chances of reaching the postseason as we slouch along into the last month and a half of the season.

Ben: For the first time in a long time, the D-Backs have an excellent bullpen. That has been an absolute weapon throughout the season and it’s been a marvel to watch develop. Ironically, their biggest weakness remains their rotation. Eduardo Rodriguez continues to be a marvel and Brandon Pfaadt has executed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent memory, but the team is still relying on a combination of Michael Soroka and a pair of rookies in Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake to carry them into the postseason. That isn’t exactly one of the most intimidating rotations in the National League.

1AZfan1: Biggest thing in their favor, in my opinion, is the strength of their pitching staff. Pfaadt, ERod and Soroka look to be good enough to go toe-to-toe with anyone else in the business and with Corbin Burnes on the mend (and Ryne Nelson as a possible piggy-back partner), I think we will have enough starting pitching to hand the ball off to our good-to-great bullpen and make it easier for our offense to score enough runs to win any given night. Our biggest danger in missing the playoffs likely comes from the fact that we are fighting for 2 spots against 2 teams who were considered to be better than us on paper at the beginning of the season and can very possibly lean on their talent to perform to expectations more than we can. We either need one of the other teams to underperform or we have to outperform compared to expectations.

The Dodgers placed left-handed pitcher Justin Wrobleski on the injured list on Sunday, Aug. 16.

The 26-year-old is dealing with forearm inflammation. He's produced a strong first half to the season and was named an All-Star for the first time in his career.

Wrobleski posted a 2.69 ERA over 100 1/3 innings in the first half of the season but has struggled of late. He has a 6.92 ERA with 11 home runs allowed in 26 innings pitched since the All-Star break.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was "not concerned" about Wrobleski being placed on the injured list, believing it "should be short-lived."

"Given his workload and where he's at, taking some of the load off his arm, I think it's smart," Roberts told reporters.

Tyler Glasnow is expected to be back from the injured list soon and could return to a starting role. Wrobleski might be coming out of the bullpen during the postseason if all of the Dodgers' starting pitchers are healthy.

The Dodgers called up reliever Kyle Hurt to take Wrobleski’s place on the roster.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were excommunicated by the St. Paul Saints (Twins), 2-1.

Jordan Wicks turned in his second-straight start of five innings and two runs, but he took the loss anyway. Wicks surrendered four hits. He struck out six and walked two.

Daniel Palencia pitched a scoreless sixth inning in a rehab appearance. Palencia gave up a one-out single, but otherwise struck out the side. Palencia’s fastball was consistently 97-to-99 miles per hour and he hit 100 on his final pitch.

The I-Cubs managed to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth with one out and they failed to get the tying run across after a Jordan Nwogu pop out and a Justin Dean fly out.

Right fielder Kevin Alcántara was 2 for 4.

Here’s Palencia hitting 100.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies burned down the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels), 5-4.

Kevin Valdez started and got the win. Valdez pitched six innings and surrendered two runs on four hits. He struck out six and walked one.

Vince Reilly pitched the ninth inning and got a very ugly save. Reilly gave up two runs on one hit, one walk and two hit batsmen. The one hit was a two-run home run with no outs in the inning. Reilly did not strike anyone out, but he did induce a key double play when he needed it.

Center fielder Kane Kepley hit his second Double-A home run in the fourth inning with two men on. Kepley went 3 for 4 with two runs scored.

First baseman Drew Bowser was 3 for 4 and scored one run.

Shortstop Alex Madera went 2 for 2 with a walk. He scored twice.

Kepley’s home run.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs decoyed the Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers), 7-4.

Starter Ethan Flanagan pitched 4.1 innings and held the Loons to one run on four hits. He did struggle with his control as Flanagan walked three and hit one batter. He struck out one.

J.P. Wheat pitched the bottom of the seventh and got the win after South Bend took the lead in the top of the eighth. Wheat issued a one-out walk, but no other baserunners. He struck out two in his one inning.

Jose Romero threw the final two innings without allowing a run and got the save. Romero allowed one hit. He struck out four and walked no one, but he did hit a batter.

First baseman Brennan Hudson hit his first career home run with two men on in the seventh inning. Hudson went 2 for 4 with four total runs batted in.

Two batters later in the seventh, right fielder Geuri Lubo hit a solo home run to tie the game up 4-4. It was Lubo’s second South Bend home run and eighth overall. Lubo was 1 for 4.

Left fielder Kade Snell was 3 for 4 with a double and a stolen base. He scored one run.

Second baseman Jose Escobar was 2 for 4 with a walk and one run scored.

Hudson’s home run.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Rained out. The game will not be made up.

The Cubs lost one of their most important players at a very inopportune time.

Shortstop Dansby Swanson was placed on the 10-day IL after an early exit from the team’s 11-4 loss to the Cardinals at Wrigley Field on Sunday.

Swanson, 32, left the game in the third inning after an awkward swing and miss on the first pitch from St. Louis starter Hunter Dobbins before immediately heading toward the dugout.

It was revealed after the game to be an oblique injury that could easily cost him the rest of the regular season with a traditional four- to six-week recovery.

He will undergo imaging on Monday, the team said.

“I just felt like my left side kind of tightened up on me,” Swanson told reporters after the game.

Rookie James Triantos finished the at-bat by drawing a walk before Nico Hoerner moved from second to short.

Hoerner will likely make that move permanently with Swanson out. 

The Cubs are in a battle for playoff positioning, five games behind the Brewers in the NL Central race and 5 ½ games ahead while sitting in the top NL wild-card spot after back-to-back losses.

Swanson, a two-time Gold Glove winner, was hitting 216/.300/.404 with 18 home runs, 16 doubles, 66 RBIs and 17 stolen bases this season.

Defensively, he has made just six errors this season and ranked eighth in all of baseball in Fielding Run Value (12), according to Baseball Savant. 

“He’s critical to our defense,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said during the ESPN broadcast. “He’s one of the better shortstops in the game. Hopefully, it’s not too bad.”

This is Swanson’s first IL stint since May 2024. 

After the great win last night and a three hour, ten minute rain delay to start the game, the Guardians were shut out for the eleventh time and for the fifth straight series loss.

Tanner Bibee had a quality start and really push through some early struggles. In the top of the second, back-to-back solo home runs put the Padres up 2-0. In the top of the fourth, the lead off hitter drew a walk. A groundout and a wild pitch put the runner on third, allowing him to score on a two-out single. In the top of the sixth, Bibee worked himself into a bases loaded situation. Vogt did visit the mound, but Bibee remained in the game and got an inning-ending double play to retire the side.

Bibee fell to 4-13 on the season with the loss. He finished the game having gone 6.0 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out three batters. Matt Festa came on in the seventh inning and gave up a hit before the side was retired, with the help of a killer catch from José Ramírez.

Tim Herrin started the eighth inning, but gave up a solo home run and recorded only two outs. Logan T. Allen finished the eighth and started the ninth. LTA also gave up a solo home run. Vogt brought in Cade Smith for two pitches to retire the side.

You can’t expect to win games when the offense only records three hits and three walks in nine innings. José accounted for two of the three hits, Nathaniel Lowe the other, but the offense looked lifeless.

Chase DeLauter was pulled in the top of the third inning for left hamstring tightness. The Guards have an off day tomorrow before welcoming the San Francisco Giants to town for a three game series.

Because Tarik Skubal returned to the Detroit Tigers’ spring training camp after making just one start in the World Baseball Classic this year, Clayton Kershaw didn’t spend as much time with him as he did with Team USA’s other players.

But in the little more than a week in which they shared a clubhouse, Kershaw said Skubal made it obvious what he was about.

“He wants to be great,” Kershaw told The California Post.

Kershaw, who temporarily came out of retirement to be on Team USA, said everything Skubal did reflected the scale of his ambition.

“I think that comes out in how he talks and how he prepares,” Kershaw said. “You can tell he wants to be the best.”

Something else: Skubal asked a lot of questions.

“He’s very confident in what he does well, but he really likes to ask guys and hear how other people do it,” Kershaw said. “I just think it’s a really good quality to be interested in what other people are doing.”

From Skubal’s vantage point, Kershaw was a former Most Valuable Player, a three-time Cy Young Award winner and a three-time World Series champion. Why wouldn’t Skubal use him as a resource?

“He’s the best left-hander ever, right?” said Skubal, himself a two-time Cy Young Award winner. “Obviously, that was a great opportunity for me to pick [his] brain and talk about what made him tick, what made him so good, his process, all that kind of stuff. I want to accomplish all the same things he’s been able to accomplish. I’ll probably keep most of what we talked about between me and him, but as far as the questions that I asked, they were very much [about] how to be great, how to be like him.”

Skubal pitched six innings in a 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday in his third start for the Dodgers, who acquired him two days before the trade deadline.

He wasn’t great.

Skubal gave up seven hits and walked two. His pitch count was at 48 after just two innings, departing with a 2-1 deficit and ultimately falling to 0-2 as a Dodger.

But on a day in which he wasn’t at his best, he limited the damage to two runs, of which only one was earned. He competed.

Which is what Kershaw was known to do.

“He competes his ass off,” Skubal said.

Last year, in his final major league season, Kershaw threw a fastball with an average velocity of 89.0 mph. He managed to finish with an 11-2 record and 3.36 earned-run average.

“I think what I admire about all the really good players in this game is that longevity and consistency, year in and year out, of who he was even towards the end of his career,” Skubal said. “He was incredible from start to finish. That consistency is pretty impressive to watch. That’s what I admire.”

Kershaw was in the major leagues for 18 seasons. Skubal’s former Tigers teammate, three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, is now in his 21st season.

“Guys could have a good season, or a good first half, or a good second half, but the really good players, the great, great players in this game are season after season after season after season after season. And then you look up and it’s like, damn, he’s been the best pitcher in baseball for eight years. Not that having a good month or having a good half isn’t impressive. It’s all impressive. This is the best league in the world. But being able to do it for 10, 12, 13, 14 [years], it’s just different.”

That’s how the 29-year-old Skubal would like for his career to unfold. 

“I’m going to play this game as long as I can,” he said. “I feel like I can help a team win, I’m gonna play. If I feel like I can’t help a team win anymore, then I’m probably done playing.

Conversations with the likes of Kershaw and Verlander reinforced Skubal’s belief in the importance of what he does between starts.

“I think I’m the most prepared player on the field every time I take the field,” Skubal said exclusively to The Post. “If I’m going to lose a game, I want it to be in my hands. I can wear the loss just because I know I prepare really well and I go out there and I don’t really leave anything on the table. I give this game everything I’ve got.”

Kershaw and Verlander continually pushed their limits, and Skubal said he is determined to do the same. The reigning two-time Cy Young winner is in unfamiliar territory now, playing for a team that is expected to win the World Series based in the country’s second-largest media market.

Kershaw said he should be up for it.

“I think he’s ready to do that,” Kershaw said. “He’s got the temperament and mentality. 

“From what I saw, he puts the work in to be great.”

Prior to the trade deadline on Aug. 3, Mets catcher Luis Torrens had just two home runs over his first 67 games of the season.

But since then, Torrens has found a new burst of power with four home runs in his last six games, including a go-ahead two-run homer in Sunday's 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals. 

Overall this month, Torrens is hitting .381 with the four home runs and 10 RBI. When asked about Torrens' hot stretch at the plate, interim manager Andy Green said it's been enjoyable to watch and highlighted the catcher's "intelligent hitting."

"It's fun, I know that much," Green said. "He's always driven the ball well in that direction. I thought for a bit he was enjoying some of the parks we played in on the road, smaller right field, intelligent hitting. That ball was crushed today, the ball does not go out easily there. 105 (mph) in the oppo gap, impressive. Thrilled to see it. He called a good game too. He's been really good for us."

When Torrens came up to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning on Sunday, Jorge Polanco had just cut the Nats' lead to 2-1. Looking to keep the rally going, Torrens told reporters that he was trying to be "aggressive" at the plate with a runner on base. The approach worked, blasting a two-run HR to put the team up 3-2.

"I was aggressive there at home. Trying to do some damage on the play there, trying to help the team out," Torrens said through an interpreter.

The 30-year-old has also seen an increase in playing time as of late, noting that the more consistent at-bats have helped him lock-in offensively.

"It's easier when you have more opportunity to play," Torrens said. "You have to take advantage of it when you do get that opportunity to play more."

Starter Christian Scott, who pitched into the seventh inning, said having Torrens step up offensively has been big for the team. He added that the two were in sync against the Nationals, as Scott struck out seven and held them to just three runs. 

"It's awesome, especially when he gets to catch me at the end of it," Scott said. "He had a great game today. We were on the same page the whole time, I don't really think I shook at all. Just be able to have him, be able to contribute offensively too, it helps our lineup a lot. He's having a great year, excited to have him."

With their win on Sunday, the Mets have won nine of their last 12 games. Torrens' spark is just one of the reasons for the winning stretch, as he said the team is just "having fun" on the field and "staying together" as a unit.

"We're just trying to go out there and play baseball the right way. And thankfully right now, things are going well," Torrens said. "I think for us, the most important thing is that we're staying together. We're just going out there and having fun, trying to play well."

Torrens and the Mets will look to keep the good vibes going when they begin a three-game series against the San Diego Padres on Monday.