Category: Sports News

The Yankees got through the first series of the second half of the season by winning two out of three at the Atlanta Braves, grabbing a 3-2 win on Sunday to keep pace in the AL playoff race.

And, for the time being, the news on the starting pitching front is at least not looking dire, as both Max Fried and Cam Schlittler tossed successful bullpens over the weekend and are set to make their next starts when the Yanks play a three-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays.

"He should be good to go," manager Aaron Boone said after Fried's successful bullpen session on Sunday. "I feel good about it."

Fried, who is scheduled to pitch the third game of the series on Wednesday, left his last start on July 12 against the Cubs after allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks in 3.0 innings when a blister formed on his left index finger. A blister on that same finger had sent the left-hander to the IL on three different occasions, raising fears of a similar fate. But that was quelled on Sunday.

In his 20 starts before the break, Fried has been everything that he was billed as and more, pitching to a 2.43 ERA and 1.008 WHIP in 122 innings with 113 strikeouts to 27 walks.

Schlittler tossed his bullpen Saturday and will be good to start Tuesday's game after the right-hander experienced “upper-arm soreness” that sent him for an MRI and was the reason he did not start the series opener in Atlanta. The 24-year-old, the Yanks' 10th-rated prospect per MLB Pipeline, tossed 5.1 innings and allowed three runs on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in his big league debut earlier this month against Seattle.

And on the diamond in Sunday's win over the Braves, right-hander Marcus Stroman delivered his fourth-straight solid outing since returning from the injured list, allowing just one run on five hits over 6.0 innings with four strikeouts.

“He continued to do a really good job of mixing and matching and staying unpredictable, using all his pitches, using both sides of the plate,” Boone said.

"That's four starts where he's given us a really good chance to win ballgames, and that's all you can ask," he added. "In a lot of ways, he's had his back against the wall here a little bit, and he's come out and delivered."

After allowing 12 runs over 9.1 innings in his first three starts before injury, Stroman has allowed just seven runs in 21 innings. The veteran dealt with a rough first season in pinstripes last year, followed by an offseason of uncertainty and trade rumors, and the possibility of being shipped over to the bullpen before injuries thrust him into the rotation, appears to be pitching with even more of an edge of late.

"He's pitching like there's a lot on the line, and there is," Boone said. "He's probably been counted out by a lot of people. And I'm sure he's felt that [chip on his shoulder] throughout his career. He's always kinda had that edge to him."

The Dodgers held their annual Family Day on the field at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, rolling food trucks, bounce houses and a climbing wall onto the warning track in left field. Few of the players seemed to be in a festive mood, however.

That’s because the Dodgers warmed up for Family Day with a 6-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, the team’s fourth straight loss and the 10th in 12 games in which they’ve been outscored 71-36. It’s the team’s worst 12-game skid since 2018.

The loss was also the sixth in as many tries against the Brewers in the last two weeks, making Milwaukee the first team to sweep a season series of more than four games from the Dodgers in 20 years.

Read more:Pitching injuries continue to be an issue in MLB. How it's impacting pitchers at all levels

“Guys are getting frustrated,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You see kind of more emotion coming in. We just haven't played good baseball.”

But it gets worse: the Dodgers might have lost first baseman Freddie Freeman for a spell. Freeman, who is among the team leaders in batting average (.292) and is third in runs (47) and hits (95), sustained a left wrist contusion after being hit by a José Quintana pitch in the sixth inning. Roberts said X-rays on Freeman’s wrist were negative and the first baseman is considered day to day.

“That one, I held my breath," Roberts said. "I think we all did, because, you know, when you're scuffling and to potentially lose a guy for four-to-six weeks is obviously very scary.”

In Freeman's absence, catcher Dalton Rushing could play at first base.

As for the rest of what ails the Dodgers, that could be a lot harder to fix.

On Sunday they made three errors, leading to two unearned runs. They gave up the lead twice and Mookie Betts lined out to center with the bases loaded to end the game.

“We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to play better,” Betts whispered in an empty clubhouse after going one for five, leaving him with a .189 average in July and as many strikeouts as hits.

Across the room Clayton Kershaw cut short a scrum with reporters. He pitched well enough Sunday, but his day was undone in a three-run Milwaukee fourth in which a Tommy Edman throwing error and a fielding error by Andy Pages gave the Brewers two runs and forced Kershaw to throw 29 pitches.

“I’m frustrated. We’re all frustrated. I don’t know how else to say it,” said Kershaw, who was visibly angry after being pulled from the game in the fifth inning. “We didn’t win a game. No excuses. We’ve just got to play better.

“I don’t have much to say,” he added. “I’m going to get myself in trouble. So let’s just call it.”

The Dodgers gave Kershaw an early lead with a three-run third inning, the big blow a two-run homer by Shohei Ohtani, his 34th of the season. The defense gave all three runs back in the fourth, however.

“It's frustrating,” Roberts repeated. “That's the word everyone uses when things aren't going well, but you also have to make your own breaks. And when things are tough, you can't do things to sabotage yourself. Today, specifically, it was the defense.”

Esteury Ruiz’s first home run for the Dodgers put them back in front in the fifth, but the Brewers (59-40) went in front to stay in the sixth, scoring three times off relievers Alex Vesia and Lou Trivino (3-1) on a double, three singles and a walk.

The Dodgers’ bullpen earned-run average of 4.39 ranks 12th in the National League. The team hasn’t gotten a scoreless game from its bullpen since July 3.

Read more:Shaikin: Why the small-market Milwaukee Brewers might be America's team

“You've got to kind of find a way to reset,” Roberts said before heading back up the dugout steps for Family Day. “Come back fresh tomorrow and play good baseball.”

Snell and Treinen continue rehab

Pitchers Blake Snell and Blake Treinen made rehab appearances for triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Snell, who has been on the injured list since April 6 because of left shoulder inflammation, made 58 pitches over four innings, giving up a run on four hits while striking out six. It was his third rehab appearance.

Treinen, out since April 19 with a forearm strain, followed with a perfect fifth inning in which he struck out two. He could return to the Dodgers’ roster this week.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

It wasn’t an especially impressive win, and for that matter, the late innings nearly turned into a catastrophe. In the end, however, all that mattered on this day was the Mets found a way to stop the bleeding -- and the booing.

Judging by the way the fans let their team hear it on Saturday after another listless loss, in fact, the mood at Citi Field could have turned downright ugly had the Mets let this one get away on Sunday.

As it was, they still didn’t hit much. And, indeed, the play everybody was talking about afterward was Juan Soto’s baserunning, as he got a good jump from third base on a contact play to score the go-ahead run on Luis Torrens’ ground ball in the eighth inning.

“That’s the way you teach it,” manager Carlos Mendoza said afterward. “There are going to be stretches when it’s hard to score runs. You’ve gotta do the little things.”

Baby steps, right?

That’s kind of where the Mets are at the moment, needing to find ways to make up for the ongoing lack of offense from what was supposed to be among the most imposing lineups in baseball.

And so on this day, while they got a strong start from David Peterson, their ability to pull out a 3-2 win over the Reds and avoid a sweep was indeed due largely to the little things:

1. A sacrifice bunt by Luisangel Acuña that led to a Brandon Nimmo RBI single, the only hit that he, Francisco Lindor, and Soto could muster at the top of the lineup.
2. A stolen base by Brett Baty, allowing him to score on Acuña's double to left.
3. Soto’s jump, which followed his leadoff walk and Jeff McNeil’s well-placed double into right-center.

Soto himself may have put his baserunning in the best perspective. He could have been speaking for the team when he said, “Hitting isn’t going my way right now. So any way to help the team is great.”

Any which way on this day. The Mets needed the win, as much for their mojo as to stop the three-game losing streak that spanned the All-Star break.

And even more so, after Edwin Diaz couldn’t get the job done when Mendoza turned to him for a potential four-out save in the eighth inning. Coming on with a runner at first, Diaz was struggling with his command from the start and wound up allowing the Reds to tie the score 2-2 on a walk, a single to deep short, and a hit-by-pitch.

At that point, the home crowd was groaning practically in unison. The boos were coming next, had Diaz not gotten out of the inning, and it didn’t look good when he fell behind 3-1 to Tyler Stephenson.

But the Mets’ closer dug deep to strike out Stephenson and allow everyone to exhale.

Diaz has been so dominant this season that his brief lack of command was probably nothing more than a hiccup. The timing, however, made it feel as if the sky was falling for the Mets, considering not just their poor play on Friday and Saturday, but their 10-20 stretch entering Sunday that has exposed more flaws than expected from this team.

In that respect, pulling out the win, with Ryne Stanek closing it out, felt more important than a win in July for a 56-44 team probably should feel, at least, on the outside looking in. But such is the nature of huge expectations.

And gritty win or not, it did little to make the pressing questions disappear.

After all, the Mets managed two extra-base hits. Their big guns aren’t hitting at all. Soto admitted to his own struggles, while the numbers on Lindor speak for themselves, as an 0-for-4 day stretched his hitless streak to 0-for-19, and his under-.200 run to 39 games.

On top of that, Pete Alonso was out of the lineup with a hand injury after getting jammed during his pre-game hitting Saturday against a pitching machine, of all things.

After hours of treatment Saturday night and Sunday, he felt good enough to enter the game in the later innings. And though he struck out looking in the eighth inning, he said afterward that he feels good enough to be in the lineup on Monday.

In any case, the Mets’ lack of offense is becoming more and more of an issue, especially as often as they’ve failed with runners in scoring position throughout the season.

On Sunday, they got some production from the bottom of the lineup, a rarity in itself. Baty has swung the bat well lately and Acuña’s laser double off the left-field wall was a reminder of his impressive September last season, subbing for the injured Lindor.

On the other hand, Mark Vientos didn’t build on his impressive weekend in Kansas City before the break, and Ronny Mauricio has gone cold again, 2-for-his-last-21.

That’s the problem: for all the occasional flashes, not one of the Mets’ young hopefuls has done enough to be an obvious answer offensively this season or beyond.

As such, David Stearns is facing some hard questions approaching the trade deadline. One that needs answering quickly is whether Francisco Alvarez’s home-run binge in Syracuse is simply the result of Triple-A pitching or something more significant.

Alvarez’s defense was no small factor in his demotion, but that’s a lot easier to live with if he adds some thump to the offense. With his call-up coming Monday, they will get a look before July 31.

The bottom line, of course, is the Mets' need for Lindor, Soto, and Alonso to be less streaky and carry the load offensively.

And while they have obvious pitching needs, everyone kind of expected they could use the trade deadline for help in that area. At this point, however, the need for an impact bat becomes more glaring by the day.

Bunts and good jumps will only go so far.