Category: Sports News

The Athletics began a pivotal three-game series at the surging Houston Astros, who are closing in on them in the American League West. The Astros jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning the series-opener between these division rivals 5-1. The A’s appeared to carry over the effects of yesterday’s ninth-inning collapse, struggling to capitalize on their limited scoring opportunities.

Astros Strike First

Astros starting pitcher Peter Lambert worked a scoreless first inning, though A’s catcher Shea Langeliers and first baseman Nick Kurtz each hit balls hard to left field that were tracked down by Yordan Alvarez.

Houston took the lead in the bottom of the first inning against A’s starting pitcher Jack Perkins, who made his first start of the season. Astros’ designated hitter Isaac Paredes launched his ninth home run of the season, a three-run shot to left center field that gave hosts an early 3-0 advantage.

A’s Waste Golden Opportunity

The Athletics attempted to respond the next inning. With one out, left fielder Tyler Soderstrom walked and then center fielder Henry Bolte and third baseman Zack Gelof hit soft singles to load the bases. Lambert escaped the jam unscathed, striking out Jeff McNeil and Darell Hernaiz to keep the momentum on Houston’s side. McNeil started the season strong, validating the A’s offseason trade for him. However, he has since fallen into a significant slump, and the team needs him to turn things around sooner rather than later.

That was a big chance for the Athletics to get back in this game, but the bottom of their lineup let them down. Thankfully, Perkins pitched better in the second inning, retiring the side after opening the frame with back-to-back strikeouts.

Astros Add On

The Astros extended their lead in the third inning. Alvarez singled with one out and later scored on Christian Walker’s triple to right field, another line drive misplayed by A’s right fielder Carlos Cortes. Of the 84 players with at least 10 attempts in right field, Cortes ranks last with -5 outs above average. His poor defense has hurt the A’s on multiple occasions this week, a trend that must be corrected if they want to remain in the division race.

Walker crossed the plate moments later on Paredes’ sacrifice fly, giving the Astros a 5-0 lead through four innings.

Bolte was the lone bright spot for the A’s offense in the game’s early goings, recording singles in his first two at-bats. The rest of the lineup, meanwhile, was stifled by Lambert, who held the A’s scoreless through five innings.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay removed Perkins after he issued a leadoff walk in the fifth. The right-hander allowed five runs on five hits while walking two and striking out six over four innings. Right-hander Mason Barnett replaced him and set the next three Astros hitters down in order.

A’s Won’t be Shut Out

The Athletics finally got to Lambert in the sixth inning. With one out, Brent Rooker hit his ninth home run of the season, a solo blast to left field. Soderstrom drew a walk, and Bolte followed with his third hit of the game, a double that advanced Soderstrom to third base.

A’s Fail to Inch Closer

That was all she wrote for Lambert. Astros’ right-hander Enyel De Los Santos replaced him with runners on second and third and one out. As they had earlier in the game, the A’s failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position and less than two outs. De Los Santos retired Gelof and McNeil to escape the jam and preserve his team’s four-run lead. If the A’s scored during those two prime scoring opportunities, this game could have been tied or much-closer.

As the A’s offense went quietly the rest of the night against Astros’ relievers, Barnett kept the Astros from further increasing their lead. He worked four scoreless innings in long relief, striking out seven while allowing just one hit. Not only did Barnett pitch well, but by finishing the game, he ensured that everyone else in the Athletics’ bullpen will be fresh to pitch tomorrow and/or Sunday.

A’s Hope to Have More Success Tomorrow

This was an uninspiring performance by the Athletics to open this series. Aside from Bolte and Barnett, there were not many positives to take away from this game.

The A’s will try to bounce back and even up the series tomorrow afternoon. Right-hander Kade Morris will make his first MLB start for the “Green and Gold”. He will be opposed by Astros’ right-hander Tatsuya Imai, who has been pitching better as he gets more acclimated to competing in MLB. In his second-to-last start, he pitched the first six innings of the Astros combined no-hitter.

First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m., see you all there!

Kyle Leahy’s finish was better than his start and the St. Louis Cardinals bats were more than enough to overcome the Cincinnati Reds Friday night at Busch Stadium with an honorable mention going to the Reds bullpen for a big assist during the latter half of the game.

Trying to explain what happened in both halves of the 1st inning is similar to describing the plot of a very twisted soap opera. Let’s start with the Reds top half of the 1st. The game began with what looked like Kyle Leahy trying to improve Cincinnati’s barrel rate. Blake Dunn led off the game with a solid single to center. Bleday followed that with a lineout to Jordan Walker in right. Kyle Leahy then walked Spencer Steer giving Cincinnati runners at first and second with just one out. Sal Stewart cracked a double to center scoring both Dunn and Steer giving the Reds a 2-0 lead. Cincinnati wasn’t done yet. Eugenio Suarez singled to left scoring Steward making it 3-0 Reds.

The St. Louis bottom of the 1st inning was almost as lively as Lars Nootbaar celebrated his return to the lineup by beating out a ball to shortstop and advanced to 2nd on an errant throw. Ivan Herrera grounded into a fielder’s choice where Lars made the unfortunate decision to try and reach third making the first out of the inning there. That did not kill the Cardinals rally, though, as Alec Burleson drilled a single to right with Herrera advancing to third. After Jordan Walker struck out, Herrera scored when Bryan Torres was called safe at first on an error by Sal Stewart who review confirmed came off of the base for what would have been the last out of the inning giving the Cardinals their first run of the game making it 3-1 Reds. Reds manager Terry Francona got tossed out of the game after arguing with the umpires after their challenge failed. Alec Burleson then scored on a wild pitch by starter Brady Singer allowing the Cardinals to creep closer at 3-2 Reds. Nolan Gorman struck out to end the Cardinals 1st.

Kyle Leahy would settle down after the extremely shaky 1st inning giving the Cardinals 4 innings allowing 5 hits, 3 earned runs while striking out only 1 and walking 2. Hunter Dobbins would come in from the pen to handle the Reds for the rest of the game and I’m not even kidding about that. He would even get the win, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Cardinals would tie the game in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Alec Burleson delivered a 387 foot Burly bomb into the bullpen in right field making it 3-3.

The next bit of excitement would happen in the Cardinals bottom of the 5th when Ivan Herrera walked followed by Alec Burleson hitting into a fielder’s choice. He would move up to second base when he was caught leaning by relief pitcher Brock Burke, but Burke’s throw went flying into right field. Whoops. Jordan Walker made the Reds pay by smoking a double over the center fielder’s head scoring Burleson and giving St. Louis its first lead of the night at 4-3.

I was one of many looking forward to the energy Lars Nootbaar would bring as he returned from injury to the St. Louis Cardinals lineup and he did not disappoint. After Victor Scott II reached on an infield single, Lars put a charge 99 mph four-seam fastball doubling to center and easily scoring Victor all the way from first increasing the Cardinals lead to 5-3. He would then score on a single by Herrera to right making it 6-3 St. Louis. NOOT!

St. Louis would break the game wide open after Herrera’s RBI single with several assists by Cincinnati Reds blunders. Alec Burleson walked which led to a pitching change where Luis Mey would come in and give the “Tarps Off” crew plenty to chant about in right field. After Jordan Walker barely missed crushing a home run flying out to left, Mey made sure that wouldn’t matter as he walked everyone but the ushers in Busch Stadium. Torres walked. Masyn Winn was hit in the back of his left shoulder blade with the bases loaded making it 7-3 Cardinals. Jose Fermin reached on an infield single scoring Burleson then Jimmy Crooks walked and then (stop me if you’ve heard this before) Victor Scott II walked. By the time Mey was taken out of the game, it was 10-3 Cardinals which would end up being the final score. Thank you for that 30-minute half-inning, Reds bullpen.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds will play the second game of the weekend series Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium that will hopefully be as fun for the Cardinals as the first one. For the Cardinals, it’s Matthew Liberatore on the mound as he’ll take on Reds starter Nick Lodolo. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm and the TV broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.

The Yankees have gotten almost nothing offensively from the catching position, with Austin Wells in a season-long slump and J.C. Escarra yet to prove he can hit in the majors.

After another hitless night from Wells in a 5-3 loss to Boston, and with the Red Sox scheduled to start lefties the next two games, Escarra was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game and Ali Sánchez will be called up from SWB, a source confirmed. 

The righty-hitting Sánchez is not expected to be a long-term solution, but carrying two catchers that hit from the left side — and not well — hasn’t worked.

Sánchez, 29, has played 50 games in the majors after coming up through the Mets system.

Prior to the game, general manager Brian Cashman didn’t rule out Ben Rice potentially being used at the position later in the season, once Giancarlo Stanton returns from his calf strain.

Asked if Rice — another lefty hitter — could catch, with Stanton at DH and Paul Goldschmidt at first, Cashman said, “It’s a fair question.”

“It’s something I’ll defer to down the line,” Cashman said. “Rice has been fantastic and is certainly capable of going behind the plate. We’ll kick it around down the line. It’s not something that’s on the radar now.”

Rice started 26 games at catcher last season, but now that he’s emerged as one of the top hitters in the majors, the Yankees have been more reluctant to use him anywhere but at first base and DH. And with Goldschmidt hitting well, Rice has been a regular at DH.

Putting him behind the plate could take a toll on Rice, who they need to produce even more now with Judge out.

Instead, the Yankees will add Sánchez.

Wells is 1-for-18 with no extra-base hits, two walks and six strikeouts since his three-hit game May 26 and was booed after a seventh-inning strikeout.

Cashman ruled out looking for an upgrade outside the organization for third base as well, for now.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Ryan McMahon, at third base, has hit better of late, 11-for-38 with four extra-base hits in his last 11 starts.

“Hopefully they saved all their bullets for now,” Cashman said of the players he has at catcher and third base. “They’re more than capable. They’re good players and we do believe in them. … Hopefully the best is yet to come from those positions.”

But he wouldn’t rule out making changes there if necessary.

“I’m always open-minded to ways of trying to figure things out,” Cashman said.

Since the Yankees say they expect Judge back at some point this season, Cashman added he doesn’t think the injury will impact his actions prior to the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

“We’ve got to hold down the fort,” Cashman said.

Trent Grisham has started to heat up at the plate.

He homered Friday and is 18-for-52 (.346) with six extra-base hits in his last nine games. … Goldschmidt had a nine-game hitting streak snapped.

The Padres, in the midst of a skid, have been dealt a big blow to their outfield.

Manager Craig Stammen revealed Friday that Ramon Laureano could be sidelined for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery for a torn labrum in his right hip.

Laureano’s hip has caused him problems in the past five seasons, but he has usually been able to play through it.

During the Padres’ series in Washington last weekend, Laureano informed the team that his condition had worsened, and he opted for surgery on Friday.

Laureano’s performance at the plate has seemingly been impacted by his hip.

In mid-April, he was batting .292 with a .921 OPS. When placed on the injured list on Tuesday, his numbers had dipped significantly to a .203 average with a .660 OPS.

Should San Diego make a deep playoff run, it’s possible we haven’t seen the last of Laureano this season.

Stammen stated that the typical timeline for return is “that four-to-five month range.”

For the Padres to really make an impact this year, it is critical that their superstars make up for Laureano’s absence. Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. have all underperformed thus far this season, though they’ve looked better lately.

Entering Friday, the Padres have scored the fewest runs in the major leagues.

They’ve lost nine of their last 10 entering the weekend series with the Mets, and their loss in Philadelphia on Thursday took them out of the playoff picture for the first time since April.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Cleveland Guardians scored two runs.

The Rangers had us in the first half, not gonna lie.

In what was shaping up to be a familiar game that you’ve seen a dozen times at The Shed this year, the Rangers found the switch to flip and came through with a crooked number inning that just happened to be the exact digit that was as many as they needed to find the win column tonight in the series opener against Cleveland.

After a day off yesterday, Texas returned home and greeted us like an old friend as the Guardians took a 1-0 lead three pitches into the game when former No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana took former two-time first round pick and 2022 No. 3 overall selection Kumar Rocker deep.

With the first inning blues playing once more, Texas was in a hole before they’d even stepped up to the plate. That started to seem like the least of their problems as they came to bat in the fourth inning without a hit. By that point, it was 2-0 Guardians when World Series-winning legend Austin Hedges singled in Steven Kwan with two outs in the top of the fourth.

Cleveland reached to lead off an inning in four of the first five frames but Rocker prevented the big inning throughout his start. One of the key moments in the game came with the Guardians already up 2-0 when Bazzana tripled to lead off the fifth. Rocker buckled down and prevented Bazzana from scoring to keep it close.

Overall Rocker went five innings on 94 pitches where he allowed two runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Cleveland starter Parker Messick would make it to two outs in the bottom of the fourth before Josh Jung singled for Texas’ first hit of the night. The Rangers would be held off the board until a few innings later when catcher Kyle Higashioka smacked a solo home run to give Texas some hope as the Cleveland lead was halved.

With the looming threat of a shutout off the table, returning lineup reinforcement Wyatt Langford doubled to put the tying run in scoring position. Also returning was Corey Seager and he followed Langford not just with an RBI hit to tie the game but with a two-run dong that suddenly gave the Rangers a lead as the game exited the middle innings.

Despite the fact that the Rangers snoozed through the first half of the game, they held the lead and turned things over to their bullpen. A combination of Peyton Gray, Jalen Beeks, and Jacob Latz tossed the final four innings with Latz collecting a six-out save that proved a bit laborious.

The trio of relievers struck out six and held Cleveland to just a ninth inning Hedges single that had us sweating a little before Latz finished off the comeback victory on his 35th pitch of the night.

Player of the Game: Seager had been chained to the longest, most dreadful slump of his big league career before hitting the IL with back issues. After missing over half of May, Seager returned and immediately made an impact with his go-ahead and eventual game-winning two-run home run that put Texas up by the eventual 3-2 final score.

Welcome back, Corey!

Up Next: The Rangers and Guardians hit the national airwaves with RHP Jack Leiter expected to pitch for Texas opposite RHP Tanner Bibee for Cleveland.

The Saturday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 6:35 pm CDT and you can watch the game on FOX.

There’s a baseball cliche when a pitcher has an OK night but still takes the L: “He just made the one mistake, and it got punished.” It’s tempting to tag that to Bryan Woo in tonight’s 7-3 loss to the Tigers, but I’m not so sure it’s true.

The pitch you’d want to pin that canard to is the slider that Kerry Carpenter took into the seats in the bottom of the third. After all, Woo left it right in the lefty loop zone.

The thing is, though: despite being a modern lefty slugger, Carpenter isn’t really a lefty-loop-zone guy. He’s more dead red, with his power output declining in nearly perfect concentric circles the farther you get from middle-middle. If anything, he’s a little better up and out rather than down and in. So I’m declaring this pitch not a “just the one mistake” pitch from Woo, notwithstanding the result.

What’s more, I no longer hold Mariners pitchers responsible for what Kerry Carpenter does to them. Including the postseason, Carpenter has a .346 wOBA against all the other 28 clubs for his career. That’s Brandon Lowe’s career number. After today’s game, he’s at .475 against the Mariners. That’s Lou Gehrig. For whatever reason, it’s his manhandling of Seattle’s pitchers that’s propping up the Kerry Bonds nickname.

So that pitch is off the hook. How about the other 89? In one sense, they went pretty well, with seven strikeouts and no walks. And the Tigers’ ten hits benefited from some good BABIP fortune, including a ball that Julio Rodríguez let drop in front of him, which is at least an excuse to link to Ryan’s excellent piece from this morning. The rub came in Woo’s last inning. Trying to get through a full seven innings, he just had to get through the bottom of the lineup for a third time. But he couldn’t do it, leaving the game with the bases loaded on a triplet of singles, two of which were hard hits off the sinker.

I know I’m becoming sort of obsessive about this—and that Woo’s been great lately—but it gives me pause. He only used three sinkers in his first time through the order. As he ran out of tricks the third time through, he went to it more often, and the Mariners paid the price. He did get three whiffs on the 13 sinkers he threw over the course of the game, but those final ones leave an aftertaste that infects my impression of the whole performance. I don’t want to overstate the issue, and it felt worse because Eduard Bazardo allowed two of those inherited runners to score. If he’d induced a double play, I’m sure I’d have an easier time letting this go. But until Woo’s sinker comes back, I’ll still be nervous. The situation is less “one mistake pitch” and more “one mistake pitch type.”

Tonight’s Sun Hat Award goes to J.P. Crawford, his first since 2023. He was the early favorite for kicking off a string of opposite-field singles—precisely the way to get to Tigers starter Framber Valdez—that scored the Mariners a run in the first half inning. Still, I grimaced when he scored that run on an uncomfortable-looking slide into home plate and hobbled back to the dugout. No matter! His body held up enough to pull off a web gem in the second inning. I don’t know what to make of it, but it’s undeniable at this point: J.P. has been playing his ass off at shortstop since he volunteered to eventually move over to third base. 

Still, I grimaced when he was slow to get up, and not in an I’m-milking-this way. No matter! His body held up well enough for him to work a full count in his next at-bat and win the battle by getting on base a second time. Still, I grimaced when the reason he reached was that he took a pitch to the hand. Matter! He did not return to the game. Mercifully the x-rays came back negative. (The HBP was probably unintentional, but please just kick Framber out of the league already.)

The Mariners threatened a few more times: Colt Emerson hit an oppo taco, checking off another first in his young career, but with nobody aboard. And Josh Naylor laid down a cheeky little bunt, but was left stranded. Maybe the Mariners will have more luck behind Bryce Miller, unshackled from the piggyback, tomorrow.

Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy will return to the Dodgers’ lineup on Saturday for the second game of a three-game series against the Angels, manager Dave Roberts said.

Before the series opener on Friday, Roberts said Muncy was still sore from his head-on crash at first base with Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Ildemaro Vargas in the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss at Chase Field the previous night.

“He’s doing well,” Roberts said. “He got a little bruise on his nose. He’s a little sore overall, but feels good. Says he’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

The collision in question occurred with two outs in the fifth inning when Muncy hit a grounder to Vargas up the first-base line. From there, it was a footrace to bag.

Muncy reached the base first but couldn’t avoid the oncoming Vargas.

“As I’m running down the line, I saw him in foul territory, so I got to the inside of the bag, and I thought he was going to stay on that [other] side,” Muncy told reporters in Phoenix. “It felt like neither of us knew which direction we were going to go, and then we both went the wrong direction. And yeah, bang.”

Roberts said he was uncertain whether Muncy would be available to pinch hit on Friday — he said that would be determined after Muncy tries warming up — but was confident the third baseman could be treated like any other player starting Saturday.

Muncy is also expected to play on Sunday.

The Dodgers don’t have a game on Monday. They will travel to Pittsburgh that day.

Haters and doubters take note: The Orioles are still doing this thing. It is easier to feel like they might be able to keep doing it after games like this one. The Birds rallied from a 3-1 deficit heading into the sixth inning to take the lead and blow past the Blue Jays, piling on all the way to a 13-3 blowout to start the series in Toronto. The Orioles have now won 10 of their past 14 games.

Adding to the excitement from this comeback-turned-blowout win is that the Orioles turned this thing around against a pretty good Jays starter in Trey Yesavage. Last year’s postseason revelation had an “effectively wild” kind of game against the O’s last Saturday, walking seven guys in five innings while giving up just one run. The O’s had to win that one in walkoff fashion against kiss-blower Jeff Hoffman. This time, they were able to pile it on against Yesavage. It just took them a while to do it.

The teams traded first inning runs before settling in for what looked like it might be a low-scoring affair. Adley Rutschman got the Orioles on the board with a two-out solo home run. Is he back? More on that later. The Jays knotted the score back up in the bottom of the inning, with George Springer starting things off with a double and turning that into a run after a groundout and a sacrifice fly. The quest for the shutdown inning, putting up a zero after one’s own team scores a run or runs, can sometimes be elusive.

The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning. Neither team threatened the other all that much in the meantime. The closest thing to excitement in the meantime came with a pair of two-out singles by the Jays in the second inning, which came to an end when Andrés Giménez was cut down trying to steal second base. Thanks for that, guys. Yesavage and Orioles starter Brandon Young were doing a decent job of cruising through the opposing lineups.

Young hit a rockier patch facing the bottom of the Jays lineup in the fifth. After third baseman Kazuma Okamoto led off the inning with a single, #9 batter Brandon Valenzuela was all over a middle-middle slider, driving the ball over the high right-center field wall to give the Jays a 3-1 lead. There’s something about getting burned by the bottom of the lineup that stings extra hard.

Perhaps a month ago, that would have been the end of it. The current version of the Orioles offense, however, still had four more innings to have their say, and they used them well, starting right away in the top of the sixth. Yesavage probably thought he had them figured out, especially after he was able to keep them off the scoreboard even while struggling with his command last weekend.

Then, almost in the blink of an eye, Jackson Holliday doubled, Gunnar Henderson walked, and Rutschman hit a game-tying double. Pinch hitter Jeremiah Jackson came off the bench and drove in Rutschman for a fourth Orioles run, and then, for good measure, Coby Mayo punctuated the whole inning with a sky-high two-run home run. Suddenly, the Orioles led, 6-3. Yesavage could not finish the sixth inning. He was tagged for six runs in 5.2 innings.

Staked to that lead, Young did not waste it, retiring the next four Jays batters he faced. That got him through to a 6.1 inning start with three runs allowed on seven hits. He did not walk a batter. Young continues to make the most of the opportunity he’s been given this season. His ERA sits at 3.47 after his nine starts.

Over the last two innings, the Orioles managed to turn it into a laugher. Four singles and an RBI groundout turned into three runs scored in the eighth off reliever Connor Seabold. Uncurable Orioles sickos will remember that Seabold was a 19th round pick by the Orioles in 2014. He did not sign. They racked up four more runs in the ninth, with Rutschman cashing in a pair of RBI after Taylor Ward and Henderson singled in front of him. The Jays needed to use a position player to pitch and get the last out of the game.

This was an impressive day for Rutschman. The Orioles catcher had four hits, coming the classic triple shy of the cycle. He was on base all five times he came to the dish, adding a walk as well. He scored four runs while driving in five. He threw out a runner. Is he back? The question comes up often. For tonight, the status is: Back. Now let’s hope he stays for a while.

Rutschman didn’t hog ALL the offense for himself. The team had 13 hits and seven of the nine guys in the starting lineup had a hit. Colton Cowser had a two-hit game, as did Jackson, coming off the bench. A better version of the 2026 Orioles than we saw in May is going to need all of these guys to do good things. This game is a good indication of what that might look like, if they are able to keep doing it.

One unfortunate subplot coming out of the game: Rookie Samuel Basallo exited the game early after taking a pair of at-bats. The team announced during the game that Basallo was dealing with right abdominal discomfort. After the game, manager Craig Albernaz called this “precautionary” and said there will be further evaluation on Saturday. I hope we don’t hear about ongoing oblique soreness. I also hope there’s not oblique soreness that we don’t hear about.

Can the Orioles make it two good games in a row against the Jays tomorrow? That would be fun. Kyle Bradish will look to keep mostly rolling in the 3:07 afternoon game. The Jays do not have a starter listed currently. The MASN broadcast indicated some kind of opener strategy may be employed.

At 31-33, the Orioles currently sit a half-game out of a playoff spot in the American League.