Category: Sports News

After Thursday night’s thrilling come-from-behind win to open the four-game series against the Royals, the tension was high all night as the Tigers, behind terrific pitching and just enough offence, squeaked-out a 2-1 victory on Friday night to ensure at least a series tie.

Tarik Skubal made his fifteenth start of the season; his previous one was a sensational, seven-inning spanking of the Angels in which he scattered five harmless hits, struck out nine and walked nary a soul. Now, there have been plenty of contrasting rumours about the future of Skubal with the Tigers, but can we please, please just focus on the actual baseball game in which he pitched? Thank you in advance.

Righty Beck Way — no relation to Beck, as far as I can tell — opened for Noah Cameron, a sturdy lefty who’s in his second season in the Major Leagues. Last year went well for him: 24 starts, an ERA a hair below 3, a WHIP right around 1.1, and fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting. This year’s been more of a struggle: his ERA coming into tonight’s game was over 5, his WHIP is north of 1.4, and a few of his recent starts have been drastically shortened by a plethora of walks. Perhaps the Royals’ brass thought an opener might just be what Cameron needed, and they may be onto something.

The Tigers put their first three batters on base with a pair of singles and a Dillon Dingler plunking. Riley Greene put one over the left-field fence but Isaac Collins stole the grand slam, reducing it to a simple sacrifice fly.

Hao-Yu Lee then poked a single up the middle to score Gleyber Torres to make it a 2-0 game. As it turns out, that’d be all the scoring they’d do… and it’d be enough.

In the top of the third the Royals got runners to second and third with a double and a walk, and a sacrifice bunt to skooch the runners up a base. Skubal said, “Relax, everyone, I’ve got this,” and struck out the next two batters to keep the Royals off the board… until the next inning, in which Salvador Perez led off with a double, riding home on Nick Loftin’s double to narrow the gap to 2-1.

Both pitchers settled in for a while, with Skubal being particularly efficient; after six innings Skubal had thrown a meagre 68 pitches, so if AJ Hinch was to try to take him out of the game at that point, fists might’ve gone flying in the dugout. Cameron was no slouch either, only allowing a handful of baserunners on a couple of hits and a couple of walks.

In the bottom of the sixth, Lee punched a double off the right-centrefield wall with two out. Alas, Zack McKinstry lined out to left for the third out to keep the score at 2-1.

Indeed, Skubal came back out for the seventh, in which he notched his season-high 12th strikeout, giving him 999 for his major league career. The Royals then put runners on second and third with two out, but Skubal induced a short, harmless fly ball to centre for the third out. After that he got a fist-bump from Hinch, so it looked like Skubal would start the eighth…

…which he did! He got the first out quickly, which was all Hinch wanted out of him, and his final line was sensational: 7 1/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 12 K, 68 strikes out of 91 pitches (74.7%), 25 swings-and-misses. (That’s great.) Brenan Hanifee took over, got a pair of groundouts, and that was as deliciously uneventful as you’d ever want a relief appearance.

In the bottom of the eighth Gleyber Torres walked to lead off, and after a Dingler strikeout Greene hit a ground ball that was turned into an inning-ending double play. So, with a one-run lead, to whom would the Tigers turn for the final three outs?

As you might have expected it was Kenley Jansen, whose previous outing was an escape-job that would’ve made Houdini jealous. On the other hand, Jensen hasn’t allowed a run in July and has seemed a bit more in command of the cutter. How’d it go? Jac Caglianone flew out meekly to centre, Vinnie Pasquantino struck out swinging, and Nick Lotin popped up to Lee at second. Never a doubt.

But, alright, if you want to go ahead and speculate if this was Skubal’s final start in Detroit wearing a home uniform, I guess I can’t stop you. I’ve always found those endeavours were mere “micturation into the wind,” myself.

Final score: Tigers 2, Royals 1

A Blast from the Not-So-Distant Past

Numbers and Notes

• Before his three-run home run on Thursday night, James Outman wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire with his bat. Coming into that game, he was 10-for-78 with an OPS of exactly .500.
• However, consider this: of his previous three home runs for the Tigers, two of them had been three-run homers. What did he hit on Thursday night? A three-run dinger, natch.
• The run in the top of the fourth by the Royals was the first they’d scored in 20 2/3 innings against Tarik Skubal.
• Pretty interesting visual essay/mini-documentary on The Foul Ball Epidemic. The more you think about it, the more sense it makes about why it’s such a big deal.
• On this day in 1983, George Brett hit a home run for the Kansas City Royals. That wasn’t terribly unusual — he hit 317 in his career, all with KC — but this one featured pine tar on his bat farther up than the allowed 18 inches from the end. Opposing manager Billy Martin of the Yankees was well aware of this, but waited for the most opportune time to call this to the umpires’ attention. The reaction of an enraged Brett tearing out of the dugout, looking to do great bodily harm to the collection of umpires, is priceless.

The Royals dropped yet another one-run game to the Tigers, their fifth in a row. But at least they didn’t give fans any real hope in this one as the Tigers won 2-1.

Here are two things that, had I said them two days ago, would not have made sense. The Tigers scored both of their runs in the first inning and Noah Cameron pitched seven scoreless innings. The Royals chose to use Beck Way as an opener in this one, but he loaded the bases before recording his first out. He almost gave up a grand slam to Riley Greene, but Isaac Collins managed to bring it back for a sacrifice fly. After a ground out, he allowed an RBI single to Hao-Yu Lee.

Noah Cameron looked as good as he ever has as the bulk reliever. He struck out 8 while allowing 2 hits and 3 walks in seven innings. I don’t know if using an opener for him will become the new norm or why it would have such a huge effect on him, but boy it worked tonight. One thing that stands out when looking at his pitch usage and stuff rates is that he really dialed back the four-seam fastball use in this one. For the season he has used it the most of any pitch at 27.2% despite it not being a particularly good pitch. Tonight he only used it 16.5% of the time, less than his cutter and changeup. He usually won’t use his cutter against lefties, but he was all too happy to do so tonight. That’s actually one of the changes I recommended on Royals Rundown earlier this week, so that was pretty gratifying.

Unfortunately, he was in a hole before he took the mound, and Tarik Skubal was on the other side.

In what may have been Skubal’s last start as a Tiger, he struck out 12 Royals – giving him 999 for his career. He also allowed four hits, all doubles. The Royals’ run came in the top of the fourth when Salvador Perez led off with a double and Nick Loftin came through with his own after two outs. The Royals’ other best opportunity came in the third inning when Isaac Collins led off with a double and Michael Massey walked. Tyler Tolbert put down a sacrifice bunt – in the third inning! And the Royals got what they deserved for such tactics when Carter Jensen and Lane Thomas struck out.

If you’re keeping track at home, that’s 7 scoreless for Cameron and 7.1 innings allowing 1 run for Skubal. I say Cameron outdueled him, but honestly it was just terrific pitching by both teams once Beck Way got past his first three batters. But those three counted, and the Royals lost.

In what might be considered a second bright spot, Jac Caglianone was feeling well enough to pinch hit for Starling Marte in the ninth and didn’t show any discomfort while flying out to shallow center.

The Royals will need to win tomorrow afternoon to have a shot at a series split. Michael Wacha (3.66 ERA, 4.37 SIERA) will face off against Casey Mize (2.79, 3.62). The game will be played at 12:10 PM Central.

Clay Holmes is on the cusp of returning to the mound, but the chances of it being for the Mets seem slim. 

That fact is not lost on Holmes, who addressed the looming Aug. 3 trade deadline on Friday after his first minor league rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse.

In addition to recovering from a fractured right fibula over the past two-plus months, the veteran pitcher has also had to come to terms with the possibility of playing for a different team by the time he is fully healed. 

“It’s different, for sure,” he said before the Mets opened a 10-game homestand against the Dodgers. “It’s just a unique scenario. I think the timing of just this injury, just the unforeseen kind of circumstances are with the team. I think all that together has just put together a very unique, weird scenario here. Sometimes it’s easy to let your mind wander, and there’s a lot of things out there that you can’t really control. You do know that there’ll be some impact on your future, but I think just as an athlete, especially me right now, I want to be pitching my best, whether that’s here or somewhere else these last two months. 

“I just need to really be locked in on just the things I can do, things I can do on the mound, and hopefully the other things take care of themselves.” 

Asked if extension talks between the Mets and his agent ever went anywhere, Holmes said he didn’t think “there was a ton there.” 

The 33-year-old has a $12 million player option for 2027 and is widely expected to decline in order to enter free agency this upcoming winter. Considering Holmes is one of the few bright spots on the team, the Mets certainly recognize him as one of their top trade chips. 

Holmes posted a 2.39 ERA over nine starts and 52 ²/₃ innings before getting struck by a comebacker on May 15. 

“I don’t know. We’ll see how this week goes,” Holmes said when asked what the next steps in his rehab are. “We haven’t really had a ton of discussion about it yet, but there’s always that part of you that is like, ‘Man, I can pitch in a game. And feel like I can pitch in the big leagues.’ I think some of that’s just kind of how you’re wired as an athlete. So we’ll just see where we’re at, seek everybody’s opinion. Feel good, feel ready to compete, feel like I can compete anywhere. We just see how this week goes to see what’s next.” 

In his rehab start on Thursday against the RailRiders, Holmes gave up two runs on three hits, walked two batters and struck out two over 2 ¹/₃ innings.

He threw 28 strikes over his 51 total pitches. 

According to Holmes, the recovery process was pretty seamless.

He said he met all the timelines that were set before him and felt like there were “no huge roadblocks” at any point. 

“I think in this timeline of being back, around or before August 1, was definitely ambitious,” Holmes said. “And you know, here we are looking at it. I think just the plan that the training staff has put in place has been great. We’ve executed it really well, and the ankle’s responded really well. It can be a tricky thing when you deal with a non-throwing arm injury because there’s just a balance of being able to keep the arm ready and keeping, in my case, the ankle in a good place and making sure you just don’t really … ankle may be good, but you still can’t over-push the rest of the body. 

“I think just the balance we’ve kept with that has been really good. So I’m really happy where I’m at and how I feel. Very thankful for that.”

Juan Soto can add actor to his résumé.

MLB’s highest-paid player was seen filming a cameo in the Mets dugout on Friday for an upcoming baseball romantic comedy called “The Catch,” starring Emma Stone and Chris Pine.

Stone was at Citi Field for the shot, which captured Soto exiting the dugout in a scene for the movie scheduled for release on May 21, 2027. 

Dave McCary, who is married to Stone, is directing the film produced by Universal Pictures. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, plot details are being kept close to the vest.

There is word, however, that Stone portrays “the most hated woman in baseball.”

Pine reportedly plays a baseball player. 

Tim Robbins, Sissy Spacek and “Saturday Night Live” breakout star Ashley Padilla have also been cast in the movie.

While Robbins is set to play Stone’s father, Spacek will be playing an aunt. 

PHILADELPHIA — José Caballero insists he is not mad. 

His reaction the last few days to the league tweaking its pitch clock rules (or interpretations) in response to his season-long routine in the batter’s box would suggest otherwise, but even after an off day Thursday, the Yankees utilityman said he was still lacking clarity on what he could and could not do. 

“I’m not mad at anyone,” Caballero said Friday before going 0-for-3 in the Yankees’ 1-0 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. “I just want to be a baseball player.” 

Pitch clock rules state that a batter must be in the box and alert to the pitcher by the time there are eight seconds left on the clock. Caballero did that Wednesday (he was actually alert at nine seconds) but was still hit with a pitch-clock violation because, as he has done all season, he spent the seconds before the eight-second mark in the box but looking down until the last possible second. 

Unbeknownst to Caballero and the Yankees, MLB decided to crack down on his tactics beginning Wednesday, restricting hitters from attempting “to deceive a pitcher into beginning their windup or coming to the set position.” 

Caballero, though, does not see it as deception but rather his routine, which meant entering Friday’s game against the Phillies — he did not play the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader — he was still trying to figure out a new routine in the batter’s box. 

“I have to see from when I get in the box,” Caballero said. “We’ll see.” 

On Friday, Caballero seemed to be a mix of despondent and still ticked off as he discussed his new reality. His first four answers to questions on the subject were all one word. He had a brief conversation with the league between Wednesday’s games — he said Mike Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, was on the phone and then passed it to “someone else” — but it only lasted a few minutes and clearly was not satisfactory, in his view. 

Caballero indicated again that he felt like he is getting picked on, but that he would not continue trying to push the issue. 

“They [the league] are above and they control everything,” Caballero said. “We ain’t figuring this out. They say what they had to say. They’re the league, they control [things]. I just have to obey.” 

Aaron Boone said he has also had multiple conversations with Hill about the issue — as he has all season — and indicated they “have to be” OK with where things stood as of Friday. 

Asked if it was worth Caballero continuing to push the issue, Boone pushed back. 

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“Worth what?” Boone said. “Worth having a routine and getting in there and being alert at nine seconds? I mean, I’ve heard the thing of, ‘He’s the only one that does it.’ Every hitter is the only one that does something. At the end of the day, they decide the rules. We have to try to comply with them, which we certainly have done, but obviously there needs to be some kind of adjustment, so we’ll do that. 

“At the end of the day, it’s about going out there and playing and being productive. That’s what we’re trying to do.” 

To that end, aside from all the back-and-forth with his routine in the box, Caballero has not been productive consistently enough with the bat. Over his last 25 games entering Friday, he was hitting just .193 with a .549 OPS, part of the reason (along with struggles from fellow shortstop Anthony Volpe) why the calls for top prospect George Lombard Jr. have only grown louder in recent days. 

“Kind of up and down,” Boone said of Caballero’s at-bats over the past month. “He’s had some big at-bats. … I think as a group, we’ve all gone through it a little bit where everyone’s probably capable of a little bit more. We’ve kind of all gone through it a little bit together. As a result, as a team over the last month, we haven’t been as good as we expect offensively. We all need to get going a little bit more.” 

But Boone did not sound worried about Caballero losing his edge — annoying pitchers by playing the game within the game — because of the new rule interpretation. 

“He’s a killer,” Boone said. “He knows how to play and he’ll do what he needs to do to adjust.”

The St. Louis Cardinals begin a crucial 3-game series against their NL Central rivals Cincinnati Reds Friday night. Dustin May will take the mound for the Cardinals while the villains Reds will start RHP Rhett Lowder. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15pm central time and the TV broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv.

This wasn’t a guarantee that Francisco Lindor will remain a Met past the Aug. 3 trade deadline, but David Stearns didn’t suggest the shortstop will be elsewhere, either. 

The team’s president of baseball operations met the media ahead of a 10-game homestand that kicked off with a 4-2 loss to the Dodgers on Friday, and in his 18-minute briefing was peppered with questions about his plans to sell off assets. 

One of those pieces could potentially be the 32-year-old Lindor, a five-time All-Star who has struggled during an injury-riddled season. 

“I’m not going to rule out or in any specific player on anything,” Stearns said. “I don’t think that’s wise for me to do. What I will say is, we’ve got a group of young players and we’ve got some potential Hall of Famers, future Hall of Famers, that we view as our core. We expect them to be our core.” 

It has been reported that the Mets are willing to listen on Lindor, although actually dealing him is another matter. He is in the fifth year of a 10-year, $341 million contract. Owner Steve Cohen admitted recently during an appearance on “The Show,” The Post’s podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, that Lindor and Juan Soto didn’t get along a year ago in their first season as teammates, but that relationship has improved. 

Perhaps the biggest thing standing in the way of a Lindor trade is that the Mets, according to both Cohen and Stearns, are trying to win next year. This isn’t a complete teardown. They wouldn’t be better without him, barring an incredible return. Lindor also has no-trade rights as a 10-and-5 player. 

Lindor — who was 0-for-4 on Friday — recently broached the subject. 

“It doesn’t bother me when it’s coming from outside sources. When it’s more inside, that would bother me. But that’s not happening,” he said. “I try to stay away from it. I try not to read it or really talk about it. It’s just an unnecessary distraction. But I am human. I have a family and they all talk and they all hear it. But since it’s not happening in here, it’s OK.” 

It has been a difficult season for Lindor. He has been shaky defensively and was slashing an underwhelming .233/.315/.398 with a .712 OPS entering play Friday. He also has dealt with an assortment of injuries. He has appeared in 47 of the Mets’ 104 games. 

Stearns was asked if he considers Lindor part of the core he mentioned and declined to say, though it seems clear that the two future Hall of Famers he referred to are Soto and Lindor. 

“What I said was we have a group of young players who we’re really excited about,” he said. “We have a core of guys who are likely headed to Cooperstown one day, and we would consider that group of players our core. I’m not going to get into specifics of who exactly they are, who we’re not going to trade right now.” 

Stearns didn’t offer much substance in this press conference, other than to say he’s extremely disappointed the Mets find themselves in this position as sellers and while he has to do what is the best for the franchise, the hope is this deadline will put them in a better spot for next year. 

“We have to be open-minded,” he said. “I’ve been very clear, Steve’s been very clear, that we expect to compete in 2027. We have to keep that in mind. 

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“We also have to make moves that we believe are right for the organization. And, so, we’re sitting here nine, 10 days out from the deadline, and we’re not going to close any paths down right now.”