Category: Sports News

The mystery around Paul Skenes' 2026 struggles just keeps growing. The reigning National League Cy Young winner will not start Sunday as scheduled. Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly said that his ace will get three extra days of rest and will start Wednesday instead.

Skenes told reporters he did not disagree with the decision to push him back.

Pittsburgh is not calling it an injury, but there is no denying that something is clearly off with Skenes this year.

He threw just 65 pitches over five innings Tuesday in Miami and came out anyway, having allowed two runs, one of them earned, on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts. His four-seam fastball averaged 95.7 miles per hour that night, the lowest single-game mark of his career and more than a full tick under his season average. Hitters put eight balls in play at 95 mph or harder and he got just four swings-and-misses.

The velocity has been a red flag. He is at 96.8 mph on the four-seamer, down from 98.2 last year and 98.8 as a rookie. Kelly said the bigger issue is command. The league is adjusting back, he said this week, and Skenes has to adjust with it.

More: Are Pirates signaling a Paul Skenes shutdown? Or a more actively managed workload?

Skenes had a 1.98 ERA in early May after back-to-back eight-inning shutout starts. In 16 starts since May 17 it is 5.00, with 10 home runs allowed in 84⅔ innings. (He gave up 11 home runs all of last season in 187⅔ innings.)

Pittsburgh is 3-13 in that stretch. His walk rate has climbed up to 6.8%.

Skenes, 24, has discounted the velocity questions all summer, and he did not argue with the early hook Tuesday. If he were the manager, he said, he would probably have made the same call.

The Pirates are 60-65, 6.5 games out of the last National League wild card and in last place in the National league Central. They were tied for a playoff spot four weeks ago. They don't get there without Skenes.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When does Paul Skenes pitch next? Pirates push back ace's next start

The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Sacramento Athletics scored three runs.

After the Rangers missed out on delivering on an early RISP opportunity in the top of the first, an inning later someone named Henry Bolte, a person I’m not sure family could pick out of a lineup, hit a ball with two on that just barely glanced off the base of the left field foul pole at the A’s temporary minor league home.

Suddenly down 3-0, it would have been easy to think, “Here we go again.”

That feeling permeated as the lineup didn’t really get anything else going through the first handful of innings and, just when it seemed like the Rangers were headed for a fifth straight loss to the two worst teams in baseball, Nicky Lopez followed a Jake Burger double with an RBI single in the top of the fifth.

The Rangers have been desperate for anything from the bottom of the order and Lopez provided a run out of the nine spot. Maybe that helped lift the spell a little from this freefall that Texas has found itself in on the West Coast, or maybe pride finally gurgled up to put a purposeful taste in the mouths of the Rangers batters.

An inning later, down 3-1, the middle of the order was due and Brandon Nimmo, Corey Seager, and Wyatt Langford went double, RBI single, two-run home run to ambush the A’s and take a 4-3 lead in a matter of moments.

MacKenzie Gore allowed the three-run home run that put Texas in that early hole, so count that as his weekly Gore Inning. After that seemingly ruinous second inning, Gore eventually managed to make it through 5 2/3 innings with just the three runs allowed, just barely missing a quality start.

Thankfully, Chase Silseth cleaned up for Gore in the sixth and then Jakob Junis made his first appearance in over two weeks, a scoreless seventh inning. It was curious to see Junis come in in the seventh but that ultimately meant Jacob Latz was called upon for one of his patented two-inning saves.

The Rangers decided to wait all the way until the top of the ninth to score again and give Latz a little breathing room. Following an Evan Carter double, Jarred Kelenic came off the bench and provided the insurance with an pinch-hit RBI single.

Latz, who was pitching in just his fourth game all month, worked around a leadoff walk in the eighth but never allowed another baserunner. With his lead doubled by his second frame, Latz was able to comfortably claim his 24th save of the year to snap the losing skid.

Further good news, since Houston was walloped by Seattle earlier in the day, the Rangers gained a game in the standings where they now sit just two back of first place. Despite being two games below .500, the Rangers are also ahead of three other teams by a half game for the final American League Wild Card spot.

Weird year.

Player of the Game: The Rangers have really, really, really needed Langford to break out of his lengthy August slump and that finally came about tonight as he collected three hits including the big eventual game-winning two-run dong.

Up Next: The Rangers and A’s conclude this series in the road trip finale with LHP Cody Bradford next up for Texas opposite LHP Jacob Lopez for the Northern California squad.

First pitch Sunday’s finale is set for a more reasonable 3:05 pm CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Michael Massey and Jac Caglianone powered the lineup last night. They did it again tonight, with the only two hits KC had – both singles – in a 1-0 loss to the Angels.

When your team falls by a score of 1-0, it would be easy to place the blame on the offense. But this was really Reid Detmers flashing some of that brilliance I wrote about before the game. When he’s on, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do, and baby, he was on tonight. Detmers struck out 11 over 8 scoreless innings and required only 92 pitches to do it. He didn’t walk anyone, and he allowed those two singles mentioned at the top. That’s it. The Angels asked closer Ben Joyce to finish it off and, wielding a fastball that easily tops 104 MPH, he did just that with a pair of strikeouts.

Randy Dobnak, known more for his sweeper, threw the Angels a healthy dose of changeups in his 5.2 innings tonight. He figured out early that the sweeper wasn’t working and the Angels could do nothing to the changeup, so he threw it more than any of his other pitches. Ultimately, he struck out six while allowing 4 hits and 2 walks in 5.2 scoreless innings. He had some good defense behind him, but Dobnak Time continues unabated as we inch ever closer to the end of the season.

Craig Kimbrel was tasked with escaping the sixth inning with two runners on and managed to do so when a deep flyball from Josh Lowe died just in front of the track, landing in Starling Marte’s glove. Kimbrel relied again on the marine layer as well as a fantastic play from Tyler Tolbert in the seventh.

Nate Pearson got the eighth and, unfortunately, his control issues from most of his career popped up again when he allowed a leadoff walk to Wade Meckler. Jose Siri pinch-ran for him and promptly stole second. Pearson got Mike Trout to pop out, but a groundball at 102.6 off the bat of Nolan Schanuel managed to deflect off of Caglianone’s glove into right, and that was all she wrote. Pearson recovered to get a strikeout and a groundout, but the winning run was already in.

Cags just missed a home run to center field in the first inning. According to Baseball Savant, it was barreled, the third-hardest hit ball in the game, and would have been a home run in 6/30 parks, including UNIQLO in Los Angeles. Jac’s single in the fourth was hit at 105.5, the hardest-hit ball for either team all night. When he stole second (his sixth of the season!) a few moments later, it was the first and only time a Royal made it past first all night. He did look pretty silly striking out in the seventh, but you can only do what you can do. The lack of offense meant he did not get a fourth at-bat.

That was the first time in five contests the Angels managed to beat the Royals. KC can’t have a .500 road trip anymore, but they could at least escape Anaheim of Los Angeles with a series victory if they can win tomorrow. Noah Cameron (4.45 ERA, 4.13 SIERA) will try to rebound from the off-kilter start in LA. The Angels will counter with a right-hander, thankfully, rookie Ryan Johnson (6.71 ERA, 5.17 SIERA). The game is the Royals’ last one on the West Coast this year and will start at 3:07 PM Central time.

Danny Young this season has an ERA over 8, a FIP over 7, and an xFIP over 6. He has at times in his 5 season, 73.0 inning major league career been an acceptable major league reliever and even has acceptable career numbers over that time, but he has simply not given the Braves a compelling reason to keep him on their roster this year. Meanwhile, the Braves are reportedly contemplating how to bring AJ Smith-Shawver onto the roster. My proposal is to simply get rid of Danny Young, perhaps bring up a stopgap arm for a few days and then have AJ replace Grant Holmes in the rotation. Holmes can be a good arm out of the bullpen and while he has done admirably to perform the job of a back end rotation starter, he can impact the Braves the best for the remainder of this season out of the bullpen.

Braves News

The Braves got absolutely pounded on a night when they really had nothing going against the Diamondbacks.

MLB News

The Cardinals promoted top prospect Joshua Baez and he hit a homer in each of his first THREE MLB plate appearances Saturday.

Red Sox’ Aroldis Chapman passed the threshold for his $13 million vesting option, pending post-season physical.

The Blue Jays put Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the concussion IL after taking a knee to the head.

I hope you all will forgive me for spending a portion of my Saturday mornings sorting through various somewhat bleak baseball things in preparation for the coming recap. For instance, today I found myself roaming around looking at the recent game logs for Harrison Grant Holmes and comparing them those of Eduardo Rodriguez (Holmes had a better run recently, at least until today), and then looking at how the Braves as a team hit versus left-handed pitching (10th in the majors, as opposed to 8th vs. right-handers). The Diamondbacks, incidentally, are 2nd in the majors facing lefties, at least in terms of OPS, which was nice to see. But Grant Holmes is not a lefty, so I scrolled down to see how we do against righties, and discovered the rather depressing fact that we rank 29th in the majors in OPS against right-handed pitching. I tend to try to look for something interesting that I could touch on and organize my thinking around, in case a Saturday game goes badly for us, as it feels like they often do.

Anyway. As it turns out, I didn’t really need to, though it certainly didn’t look like it was going to be that way in the early going. Holmes caught leadoff man Lars Nootbaar looking to start off the game, then got Corbin Carroll to pop out on the infield and Geraldo Perdomo to strike out swinging on three pitches to make short work of the Snakes in the top of the first. Everyone’s favorite hologram then came on for the bottom of the frame and gave up hits to the first three batters he faced: a home run to absolutely straightaway center field to Ronald Acuña, Jr., followed by a double to Drake Baldwin and a maddening bloop single just behind shortstop that fell in and advanced Baldwin to third. ERod finally recorded his first out on an Ozzie Albies pop fly to shallow right, but Baldwin crossed the plate on a grounder to second. That wound up being all the damage done, but we were already in a hole and Rodriguez had already thrown 24 pitches. 2-0 Atlanta

Given our dismal 0 for 14 performance last night with runners in scoring position, and given how easily Holmes had disposed of the top of our lineup in the top of the first, it seemed like we were in a very deep hole. But the bottom two thirds of the lineup, perhaps shamed by yesterday’s aforementioned dismal performance, were having none of it today. Gabriel Moreno drewa five-pitch walk to lead things off, and was promptly advanced to third by a Max Kepler double into the alley in right center that rolled to the wall. Nolan Arenado grounded out slowly to third, allowing Moreno to score. Then Tim Tawa grounded a single to left, driving in Kepler and tying things back up. But we weren’t done! Ildemaro Vargas, starting at second today due to Ketel Marte’s gimpy knee, rolled over to second for the second out, but then Ryan Waldschmidt hit an opposite field liner to right that dropped for a single and scored Tawa from second. 3-2 DBACKS

And it was basically off to the races after that. ERod surrendered a leadoff double to Atlanta left fielder Lane Thomas to start the bottom of the second, but then sat down the next three batters to leave Thomas stranded there and put up a very reassuring zero. Corbin Carroll led off the top of the third with a double to right. Perdomo launched a fly ball to deep center that allowed Corbin to tag and take third. Moreno then doubled off the wall in right center, plating Carroll. Kepler popped out the infield, which was unfortunate and frustrating, marking as it did the second out of the inning, but Nolan Arenado came to the plate for the second time in two innings and launched the third pitch he saw from Holmes into the seats in left center field:

Tim Tawa flied out to end things, but Nolan’s 29th of the season had extended the lead substantially. 6-2 DBACKS

Things kind of cooled down after that for both teams, at least for awhile. Holmes walked Nootbaar and Carroll on five pitches apiece with two outs in the top of the fourth, which earned him an early end to his night, but the Braves bullpen got involved and put up three straight zeros in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Eduardo Rodriguez, however, had settled down nicely, and was doing the same. He retired Altanta in order in the third and fourth, pitched around a two-out Acuña single that just trickled in and out of the glove of a diving Perdomo, and then recorded a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth to end his night on a very satisfactory note.

But our offense still wasn’t done. In fact, Arenado himself wasn’t done. He stepped to the plate with two outs in the seventh against Atlanta lefty Brent Suter and launched his 20th home run of the year to pretty much the same place that he’d deposited his 19th:

So that was fun. 7-2 DBACKS

The game was mostly in the bag at this point, with Jonathan Loaisiga and Kevin Ginkel each pitching a pristine inning in relief, while the Braves relievers continued to toil along haplessly. Corbin Carroll tripled with off the wall in right with two outs in the eighth, but wasn’t able to score. In the top of the ninth, Moreno singled to lead things off, Arenado drew a one-out walk, and then with two outs Ildemaro Vargas, who’d been quiet all evening up to this point, sent a third souvenir over the wall in left to pad things a little more. 10-2 DBACKS

With an eight run lead, Torey Lovullo opted to go with Philip Abner, an admittedly low-leverage arm, out of the bullpen for the final three outs, and Abner got it done, though he did cough up one more run thanks to a Matt Olson leadoff double and then a couple of infield groundouts that allowed Olson to come around and score. But no harm done, and we had a very emphatic second win of the series! 10-3 DBACKS

Win Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

Heroes: Nolan Arenado (4 AB, 2 H, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR, 1 BB, +13% WPA), Cabriel Moreno (4 AB, 3 H, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 BB, +11% WPA)
Zeros: None! Lars Nootbaar, Geraldo Perdomo, and Ildemaro Vargas each contributed negative WPA, but at ultimately negligible levels. Everyone played real good ball tonight! Good job, Snakes!

It wound up being a nice and well-populated Gameday Thread tonight, with 289 comments at time of writing. Our Fearless Leader got the most rec’s for his observation regarding how helpful it might be for tomorrow to chew through some more of Atlanta’s bullpen, but I’m giving today’s Comment of the Game to piratedan for this early comment that aptly captures the whiplash many of us felt seeing the offense go off like this less than 24 hours after last night’s Dismal Performance (TM):

Didn’t have this in my bingo card going into last night’s game, but I hope you can join us tomorrow as we go for the three-game sweep against the runaway leaders in the NL East! Michael Soroka goes for us, Bryce Elder goes for Atlanta. Elder got lit up last time out with 7 earned runs allowed to the lowly Mets on August 10, so with any luck we can make his month of August even worse. First pitch is scheduled for 10:35 AZ time, TheRealRamona will have the guest recap, so we hope to see you with all of your favorite morning baseball snacks tomorrow as we go for the sweep!

As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!

As Shohei Ohtani’s manager, Dave Roberts knows how much a singular talent can mean to baseball.

Roberts described Milwaukee Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski in such terms following the Dodgers’ 4-1 loss on Saturday.

“It’s fantastic,” Roberts said. “I hope that we can give Jacob as much credit and publicity as possible. He’s a great kid and he’s great for the game. What he did today, what they see every time he pitches, you just don’t see it. Guys like him, and obviously guys like Shohei, the game’s in a great spot.”

Roberts was awestruck by how Misiorowki attacked Ohtani in his six-pitch at-bat in the first inning, which resulted in a popup to third base.

Misiowowki threw him only fastballs.

The pitch velocities that flashed on the Dodger Stadium scoreboard: 104, 104, 104, 103, 104, 104.

“I’ve never seen the first [three] pitches of a game 104,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers’ first hit against the Cy Young Award frontrunner came in the third inning when Alex Call reached base on an infield single. Call scored on a triple by Ohtani.

Behind by a 4-1 margin, the Dodgers loaded the bases in the fifth inning, only for Misiorowski to get out of the jam by striking out Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in succession.

Considering what the Dodgers were up against, Roberts considered it a minor victory to be able to force Misiorowski out of the game after six innings. The Dodgers collected five hits and a walk against Misiorowski, who struck out six batters. Misiorowsk improved his record to 12-5 and lowered his earned-run average to 1.75.

“I thought we did a nice job in the sense of shortening up, competing, getting him out in the sixth inning,” Roberts said.

In doing so, the Dodgers were able to force left-hander Aaron Ashby to pitch two innings in relief, which will likely make him unavailable for the series finale on Sunday.

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TORONTO — The reasons for the Yankees offense death-spiraling over the past two months are spread up and down the lineup.

But among the more notable culprits has been Ben Rice not producing like the Ben Rice from earlier this season.

Before going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts Saturday in a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jays, the slugging first baseman still came into the game with the fifth-highest OPS in the American League at .883 and the third-most home runs with 32. But over his past 21 games, he was hitting just .130 (10-for-77) with a .494 OPS and two home runs, coinciding with a team-wide slump.

Going back even further, over his past 46 games, he was batting .193 with a .694 OPS and 10 home runs.

“Definitely been going through it here in the second half,” manager Aaron Boone said before Saturday’s loss. “Just getting under some balls or getting on top of balls. Just got to make sure he gets on a line.”

Rice hit a 105.4 mph flyout to center field in his first at-bat Saturday and later flew out to the warning track in right field, a day after barreling up four balls in another 0-for-4 effort.

“I’ve felt increasingly good,” Rice said after their latest defeat. “Over the last couple series, I feel like the swing has felt good and I’m hitting some balls hard, not getting rewarded for it. Just got to keep going. That’s literally the only thing you can do is just keep going. It’s all you can do in this game.”

Saturday was a grind for Cam Schlittler, but he still turned it into 5 ¹/₃ innings of one-run ball while striking out seven and walking three.

He finished the day with a 2.19 ERA, keeping pace in the AL Cy Young race before his biggest threat — Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease — takes the ball for Sunday’s series finale. Cease enters the start with a 2.40 ERA in 20 ²/₃ fewer innings than Schlittler.

While Cody Bellinger (hamstring strain) is on track to begin a rehab assignment next week, Boone was mum on when that might be the case for Giancarlo Stanton (calf strain).

The veteran DH did not make the trip to Toronto, instead staying back at Yankee Stadium to continue his running progression, which now includes the bases — the stage where Stanton re-injured himself in June.

“I know he hit out on the field [Friday] again,” Boone said. “But I don’t know when he would be ready to start something.”

The Blue Jays placed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the seven-day concussion injured list Saturday after he left Friday’s game early following a collision with George Lombard Jr.

Boone said he spoke to the league on Friday night and Saturday morning about his ejection in the series opener — tossed by home plate umpire Vic Carapazza for arguing balls and strikes — which appeared to be among the tamer (at least initially) of his 50 career ejections.

After Friday’s loss, he called it a “tired toss” by Carapazza.

“Look, I said what I was going to say [Friday] night,” Boone said. “At the end of the day, that’s just one little part of the game, and it had nothing to do with us winning or losing last night. We got to find a way to score more. I’ve had my conversations with the league and we move on to a fresh day today.”

Drew Gilbert had never hit lead-off before. The vast majority of his plate appearances this season have come out of the 8th and 9th spots in the batting order. There’s plenty of reasons why Gilbert wouldn’t be seriously considered to bat first when constructing a Major League line-up. Mainly, he doesn’t hit for average, he doesn’t hit for power, nor does he inflate his on-base percentage with walks. Gilbert’s barely the same species as a Kyle Schwarber or Shohei Ohtani, the 21st century take on the top spot. Considering he’s swiped only 2 bases in 137 Major League games, Gilbert is pretty far from Vince Coleman and the more old-school, light-and-fast model too, aimed at wrecking havoc on the bases after beating out an infield single. 

The lead-off man has been a revolving door for the Giants all season. It’s been dependent on the opposing starter’s arm, who’s healthy, or the hot hand. No one has been particularly good at it. San Francisco’s lead-off men have posted a .279 OBP — by far the lowest in the Majors. Their overall production, with a 89 wRC+, is well below league average.

The point of the offensive spear being not that pointy could explain some of the team’s frustrating inconsistencies and overall struggles.  

Game 123 of this doomed season, Tony Vitello is throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. Dating back to July 30th, in which the Giants have gone 4-10 while dropping four straight series, seven different players have hit lead-off. Pencilling Gilbert’s name into the top spot — because why not? — made him the 13th player to serve in the role this year, which is the most in any Giants season since 1901. 

13 might be a lucky number because Gilbert transformed himself to fit into the role. The middle schooler hyped-up on Mountain Dew Baja Blast energy he typically emanates at the plate was completely gone. In its place, a stoic figure, a discerning eye. The new number-1 went 3-for-4, with a walk, 3 runs batted in, and 2 runs scored. He worked a lead-off walk, taking six straight pitches, and didn’t lift his bat off his shoulder. The Number- 9 hitter Gilbert probably would’ve swung a dozen times. But that Gilbert is dead now; or at least, repressed, stuffed in the locker of his subconsciousness (for the day at least), because when he came up again in the 3rd, nothing had changed. Gilbert was just as calm and disciplined. He took a first pitch fastball in the dirt for ball one, and an elevated curveball at the letters for ball two. Being ahead in the count matters, and Gilbert specifically needs that breathing room. He’s hitting .300 with a 1.014 OPS (70 AB) when he’s swinging with count leverage. When he’s backed into a corner: .224 with a .585 OPS (85 AB).

Up 2-0, Gilbert was cool and collected. Hecould sit on a specific pitch in a specific location. Starter Michael Lorenzen’s best bet of getting in the zone was with his fastball, he put it on the inside corner and Gilbert beat him to the spot, lining it onto the arcade for a game-tying solo shot.  

Turning an 0-2 count into a base-on-balls  was good, the solo homer was obviously better, but Gilbert out-did himself as the lead-off man his third time up. With the bases loaded and two out in a tight 2-1 game, Gilbert didn’t let the situation rush his approach. The prospect of knocking in runs didn’t cause him to devolve back into his previous hacker state in which he was liable to take a cut at any moving object within feasible reach of his bat. He maintained control and put himself in a good count by taking two fastballs off the plate. He fouled off a cutter, only his second swing of the day, but didn’t succumb to swing-mode when Lorenzen dotted another just above the letters. With the count back in his favor, he got his fastball — this time a sinker decently located low-and-away — and the ball found a hole. 

This is how the number 1 hitter has to operate, especially in the middle of a game. When the line-up flips back over to the top, that shift should be felt by the opposing arm. The pitcher should be thinking Again? Didn’t I just pitch to this guy?  They need to be a nuisance. They need to extend and prolong  and act as a gateway to the heart of the order. Gilbert did exactly that — he picked up number-9 man Christian Koss after he rolled an ineffectual comebacker for the second out of the inning. Even with the bases loaded, Lorenzen approached him with care. He made his pitches and Gilbert still got the best of him. His single was the Giants’ first hit with a runner in scoring position, and it led to two more in quick succession from Devers and Eldridge. 

It was opposite day for the Giants in many ways. Gilbert set the tone in this bizarro world with his disciplined approach.  5 of San Francisco’s 6 runs in the 4th came with two outs. They worked three walks while the pitchers Logan Webb, Carson Seymour, and Dylan Smith gave out none. The offense went 3-for-6 with runners in scoring position, a situation that had been their collective bugaboo of late. Two of those clutch hits from Devers and Eldridge came in a disadvantaged split against lefty reliever Parker Mushinski. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Turner Hill, who made his Major League debut in left field today. While it may not be as noteworthy as Joshua Baez’s three homer debut (a first in baseball history), Hill gave the Giants the lead with a bases-loaded sac fly,  a  key situational at-bat that kicked off their back-breaking rally. Overall, Hill went 0-for-3 with a couple of routine put-outs recorded in the field. 

Logan Webb turned in another excellent outing albeit an abbreviated one. After six complete, with a 7-1 lead and Webb dealing with the inevitable aches that a 100+ MPH line-drive off the shoulder would cause, Vitello decided to pull him out of an abundance of caution. Webb had more in the tank. He had only thrown 80 pitches while striking out 7 (his season high is 8). 

The four-seam, not typically called on to bear a heavy load, served as the workhorse in this one.  Webb used it 30% of the time, a season high — a necessary adaptation to face the seven lefties in the Colorado line-up. It worked well. The Rockies appeared caught off guard by Webb’s willingness to push the straight fastball up in the zone. The pitch punctuated four of his strikeouts and generated a 50% whiff-rate (8 of 16) along with 9 called strikes. Not bad for an offering that typically scoots in around 92 MPH. 

When contact happened, it was quick and pretty weak. Webb held Rockies hitters to four singles, unfortunately three of them came on three consecutive pitches in the 3rd. Three doinky donks which gave Colorado the early lead. Both Ezequiel Tovar and Jake  McCarthy found grass with 60 MPH bloops, and Cole Carigg’s grass cutter, which looked like a tailor made double play ball off the bat, proved to be an RBI single thanks to the defensive alignment of the shortstop. A meek rally made up of the kind of contact that keeps Webb up at night, and ironically, it’s the kind of contact he’s built a career on. This is the bargain Webb has made: the doinks giveth, and they taketh away.   

Thanks to Gilbert, Webb didn’t have to sweat the run for long. He’d take the mound in the 4th with the game tied and again in the 5th with a comfortable lead. Though the liner off the bat of Brett Sullivan probably didn’t feel too good, it didn’t take the veteran out of his rhythm. Koss would handle the deflection easily, just one of the 11 Webb would record in order to end his afternoon.