Category: Sports News

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.

Blake Snell is already throwing again.

Before the Dodgers’ series opener against the Angels on Friday, Snell played catch for the first time since he underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow just 2 ½ weeks ago.

“He was excited about that, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Snell’s operation was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who used a new medical device that is smaller than a traditional arthroscope.

Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers was the first known major leaguer to have loose bodies removed using the NanoNeedle Scope 2.0.

Skubal had his operation on May 6 and is set to start a minor-league rehabilitation assignment on Sunday.

Skubal could pitch in the major leagues as early as next weekend.

Skubal’s recovery won’t affect how the Dodgers manage Snell’s recovery, according to Roberts.

“I don’t know about the timeline,” Roberts said. “But it’s going to be a ways. We’re going to make sure we kind of take care of him.”

Closer Edwin Diaz, who also had loose bodies removed from his elbow in mid-April, continues to progress in his throwing program.

Roberts said Diaz has thrown on consecutive days multiple times.

“All positive with Edwin,” Roberts said.

The Yankees have optioned catcher J.C. Escarra to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the club announced after dropping Friday night's series opener to the Boston Red Sox.

Escarra has struggled mightily at the plate this year. He has just 11 hits in 62 at-bats (.177) with a .493 OPS over 22 games. 

Ali Sanchez will be called up in the corresponding move, according to multiple reports.

In 40 games at Triple-A on the year, Sanchez has posted a .227/.327/.375 slashline (.702 OPS) with six home runs and 11 RBI in 128 at-bats. He has 18 walks to 28 strikeouts.

Sanchez, who signed with New York on a minor league deal in December, has 50 games of big league experience to his name, across four seasons with five different clubs. In that time, the now 29-year-old has 22 hits in 120 at-bats (.183) with a .454 OPS.

Escarra's demotion comes as a bit of a surprise. Earlier on Friday, Brian Cashman was asked specifically about the Yanks' lack of production from the club's catchers and third baseman.

“Hopefully, they saved all their bullets for now, right?” Cashman said of the group consisting of Escarra, Austin Wells (.169 average, .544 OPS, 57 wRC+ in 46 games entering Friday), and Ryan McMahon (.205 average, .608 OPS, 71 wRC+ in 56 games) in response to Aaron Judge landing on the IL.

“They’re more than capable, they’re good players, we do believe in them,” the GM continued. “It’ll be great if they started ramping all that up and joining the party, too. And they have at times. They are really good, and it’s a grind, but it’s a long season, too. So hopefully, the best is yet to come from those positions.”

The adage goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’ll tell you this: I don’t know if your heart can grow fonder of Mauricio Dubon, but if such a thing is even possible, then said fondness has probably grown quite a bit this week. The Braves’ nigh-indispensable Swiss army knife had himself another huge game, bashing a game-tying homer and then poking a go-ahead hit as the Braves welcomed the resurgent Pirates to Atlanta with a 6-3 unmanning.

Martin Perez got the start in this game for Atlanta, and as I’ve said before, Perez starts are, well, basically pachinko. Perez Pachinko has a certain ring to it. The Braves’ broadcast team described Perez as a tactician, and that may well be true in terms of sequence — but, fundamentally, Perez lacks the stuff and command to really “get away with” much, so much of what happens while he’s pitching feels awfully random to me. This game was a pretty great case in point, I think.

Perez started the game with a 1-2-3 frame — an ABS-overturn-assisted (thanks, Sandy Leon!) strikeout, and two weak grounders. Then he had another 1-2-3 frame, with another weak grounder, ABS overturn, and a weak liner to right. So far, so fortunate.

Perez began the third with a leadoff walk. Jared Triolo caught up to a high, 88 mph sinker and hit it hard into the gap for a double. Henry Davis got an 0-2 hanging changeup and barreled it to center; the ball had weird spin and was caught by Michael Harris II on a pivot-then-dive, resulting in a sacrifice fly. Both of those bits of hard contact weren’t really on pitches unique to what Perez was throwing in this game; the Pirates’ hitters just happened to put better swings on them than their counterparts in the first two innings. Nick Gonzales then followed with a weak grounder, but this one was too weak, and another run scored. Then there was another a walk, a weak flyout on a pitch down the middle, and old compadre Marcell Ozuna blooped a ball into center to plate the frame’s third run. Perez ended the inning with a strikeout of Oneil Cruz where he didn’t throw a single pitch anywhere near the zone.

Basically, I think you get the idea. Sometimes, what Perez does works. Sometimes, it doesn’t. It feels directly like pachinko to me. (If you have no idea what that is, go look up Peggle. Perez, pachinko. Perez, Peggle. It works. Sometimes Ode to Joy even plays.

The funny thing is, after that, Perez’ results went back to how they were during the first two innings. The fourth was groundout, weak flyout, Leon-assisted strikeout on a pitch not close to the zone. The fifth was weak flyout, weak groundout, and another strikeout (this time of Brandon Lowe) in another sequence where Perez didn’t throw anything near the zone at all. So, Perez’ final line: five innings, five strikeouts, two walks. It was a good outing, let’s be very clear — Perez just keeps doing pachinko, and it’s working.

So, the Braves had a three-run deficit to overcome against Mitch Keller and the Pirates. No problem. Am I the only one that thinks of, “This isn’t even [our] final form” whenever a team takes a lead against the Braves this year? (Well, I’m probably not after you’ve been memetically exposed to this thought provided you actually read recaps and don’t just scroll to the comments…) The Braves first lulled Keller and the Pirates into a false sense of complacency, as Dubon hit a routine grounder to third after Matt Olson blooped a single and Ozzie Albies walked. Then they struck, with Ronald Acuña Jr. hitting a weak RBI flare after Austin Riley walked and Mike Yastrzemski got grazed on the foot with a pitch. The Pirates then had their good pachinko inning, so the Braves trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third…

…and it was Dubon delivery time. Albies drew another walk with one out, Dubon fouled off some pitches (including a low one and a high one nowhere near the zone), and then Keller did pretty much the paragon of all hang jobs on a curve and… bam. Tie game.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, that’s three dingers in three games for Dubon. Fondness up, if there’s anywhere else for it to go, as noted.

The Braves were quiet in the fourth, but Keller and his defense kind of hit a wall (or, more accurately, a tank or spike trap or Scud missile or something) in the fifth. Harris mashed the first pitch he saw in the inning for a single. Olson got a down-Broadway sinker and did the same. Albies nearly homered on a hanging changeup, but it was caught at the fence. Up came Dubon. He missed a couple of meaty pitches, then got a fastball at the top of the zone, and slashed it to right to break the tie. The ball actually got past the right fielder, but Olson couldn’t score because his player used dexterity as a dump stat, I guess. (Or, more accurately, because he had to hold up in case the liner was caught. Reader’s choice.) Dominic Smith followed with a sac fly, and then Riley barreled a ball off the bricks in right to make it 6-3. That was it for Keller, who ended up with a pretty ghastly 4 2/3 with a 4/3 K/BB ratio, a hit by pitch, and a homer allowed. The Braves got one more walk in the inning, but nothing else.

And really, no one got anything else for the rest of the game. Braves relievers (Didier Fuentes, Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez) threw perfect frames in the sixth, seventh, and eighth, creating a weird situation where the pitching and defense were perfecto-ing the Pirates other than the adverse pachinko results in the third. Braves bats did almost nothing either — Acuña had a single but was thrown out trying to steal in the sixth — until the eighth.

That frame was just kind of weird. The Braves made two outs, and the home plate umpire rung Acuña up on a horrendous call that was quickly challenged and reverted… except the Pirates had walked off the field. So, they all had to return, only for Acuña to draw a walk two pitches later. Then, Harris struck out on three pitches… except the third pitch was a curve as horrendous as the overturned call to Acuña, bounced, hit the catcher in the knee, and allowed Harris to reach. Olson ended up striking out, but still, weird.

So, the Pirates had one more chance to make the Braves walk the plank, and they actually got the tying run up at the plate with none out (to make sure the folks that picked Iglesias got an extra point in our WPA game, I guess). The first batter got a strange pitch clock-violation-aided walk, except that the actual violation was Raisel Iglesias tripping during his delivery and not a real delay. Ozuna then lined an 0-2 pitch to left. So, up came Oneil Cruz, and then he went down on a changeup after seven pitches. Up next was pinch hitter Ryan O’Hearn, and he tried to pull an outside changeup… which he did, right to Albies, who flipped to Dubon (who else, tonight?) as part of a game-ending 4-6-3 double play. Woo.

This game had eight ABS challenges, six of which resulted in overturns, three of which were engendered by Leon. Acuña, Harris, Olson, and of course, Dubon, each had multiple hits.

The series continues tomorrow with an afternoon contest featuring Spencer Strider and Braxton Ashcraft.

Orioles A Lot Blue. Jays A little.

That was less than fun.

Everything that mattered happened in the bottom of the fifth and the top of the sixth.

The Jays scored two in the top of the fifth. With two out George Springer reached on catcher interference, yet again. They are going to name catcher interference after him. Then Brandon Valenzuela homered. It was 3-1 Jays and all was good in the world.

Then, in the top of the sixth. Trey Yesavage, who had been great, other than a first inning home run, had a blow up inning. It seemed to come out of nowhere. It went:

• Double.
• Strikeout.
• Walk.
• Double (tie game).
• Strikeout.
• Single.
• Home run. 6-3.

And that was the game for Yesavage and the Jays really. It just snowballed so quickly. Everything was hit hard, or he got the strikeout.

Other than that. Conner Seabold gave up 3 more runs in the 8th. And Yariel Rodriguez gave up 4 more in the ninth.

Add into the fun, Daulton Varsho left the game with wrist discomfort.

We did have 8 hits, but no walks.

And there were dumb moments. Andrés Giménez was caught stealing, with two out and two on in the second. He is a good percentage stealer, but this wasn’t the time. And Jesús Sánchez was thrown out trying to turn a single into a double with two out in the sixth. Generally, with two outs, I’m ok with someone getting thrown out trying to get into scoring position. But, we were down by three, and he was out by 10-15 feet. It wasn’t close. And replays showed the first base coach telling him to stop at first. If it was a closer game, and if it was close at second, I’d say fine. In this case, just bad baseball.

We did get to see Tyler Heineman pitch, but just one pitch getting pop out to second.

Jays of the Day: Valenzuela (0.15 WPA) and Springer (0.10).

Other Award: Yesavage (-0.46).

Tomorrow we have a bullpen day. 3:00 PM start. Kyle Bradish (3-6, 3.44).