Category: Sports News

Giolito gives Red Sox much-needed quality start in win vs. Rays originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox needed a bounce-back outing from Lucas Giolito on Tuesday, and the veteran right-hander delivered.

Giolito, who entered his Tuesday start with a lackluster 6.42 ERA, limited the Tampa Bay Rays to only one run (none earned) on three hits and three walks through six innings. He struck out four Rays hitters en route to a 3-1 Red Sox victory at Fenway Park.

The performance was a breath of fresh air for a Red Sox rotation that has been abysmal with the exception of ace Garrett Crochet. All season, Boston’s starters have struggled and strained the bullpen with their inability to pitch deep into games.

“We needed that,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after the win. “We were very thin in the bullpen. It was good to see him. Velo’s up, location was better, the mix of pitches, really good. And one run over six, that’s more than enough.”

Giolito’s dip in fastball velocity was a concern over his last few starts, but it was back in the mid-to-upper 90s on Tuesday. After allowing seven earned runs in only 1.2 innings during his previous start against the Los Angeles Angels, he went back to the drawing board with pitching coach Andrew Bailey.

“After the last outing, we really broke down a lot of my mechanics and made some big-time adjustments,” Giolito said. “Which is still a work in progress, but we found something to get that life back on my heater. … and then let everything play off of that.”

Tuesday’s win marked the Red Sox’ second straight game with a starter making it at least six innings. Right-hander Brayan Bello pitched 6.1 innings in a losing effort on Monday, his second consecutive six-inning start after failing to make it through five innings in his previous five outings.

“We’re two for two in this series, and hopefully we can do it again tomorrow,” Cora said. “To get the lead is important at this level. You can use the bullpen after that however you want. And it’s tough to comeback. Like, 65 percent of the games we’ve been behind.”

Walker Buehler will look to complete the trifecta when he takes the mound for Wednesday’s rubber match. Like Giolito, the veteran righty is looking for a bounce-back performance after lasting only two innings in Friday’s loss to the New York Yankees.

First pitch for Wednesday’s series finale against the Rays at Fenway Park is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.

Prior to Tuesday's series opener against the Royals in Kansas City, Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave updates on a few players...

Jake Cousins pulled from rehab assignment

Cousins was on rehab assignment, recovering from a forearm/pectoral injury, when he was suddenly removed by the Yankees due to an elbow issue.

Boone said the assignment was paused because Cousins spoke up after the reliever said he "felt some stuff in his elbow." The right-hander has undergone an MRI and has met with doctors on Tuesday to get to the bottom of the issue.

Cousins, 30, has yet to pitch for the Yankees this season but was a good bullpen piece a season ago. In 37 appearances in 2024, he pitched to a 2.37 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. He also had eight holds and one save in one opportunity.

Marcus Stroman's first rehab start set

On a positive note, the Yankees have set the date for Stroman's first rehab start. The veteran right-hander will take the mound for Double-A Somerset on Wednesday.

Stroman (knee) has been trying to work his way back to the Yankees rotation after making three starts earlier this season. He's allowed 12 earned runs in 9.1 innings across those three starts.

Stroman will join teammate Giancarlo Stanton in Somerset. The slugger started his rehab assignment on Tuesday and will likely be in the lineup for Stroman when he takes the mound on Wednesday.

With a crowded rotation, the Yankees will have to make a decision on what to do with Stroman. The logical move would be to move Ryan Yarbrough back into the bullpen and slide Stroman in the rotation with Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and Will Warren.

How Giants made franchise history in gritty comeback win vs. Rockies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants are back to their tortuous ways after another nail-biting victory on Tuesday night at Coors Field.

In fact, San Francisco’s 6-5 win over the Colorado Rockies — which came after a wild four-run ninth inning — put the 2025 Giants in the franchise history books with six consecutive one-run victories. It’s the longest such streak in Giants history.

Additionally, the Giants are the first MLB team in 36 years to win six games in a row by one run, per Josh Dubow of the Associated Press. It hadn’t been done since the then-California Angels accomplished the feat in 1989.

The Giants entered the final inning of Tuesday’s game trailing 5-2, but a Casey Schmitt homer closed the gap and a trio of walks set Heliot Ramos up for a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. Then, Wilmer Flores beat out an infield single to tie the game before Mike Yastrzemski delivered the go-ahead run with an RBI single to right field.

The Giants’ one-run marathon also coincides with their six-game winning streak, which began after president of baseball operations Buster Posey put his first big roster shakeup into place — a series of moves headlined by designating first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment.

Fans in San Francisco know their way around torture very well, but even the dynastic Giants teams of the 2010s never did it like this.

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Cubs' enviable offense beats up on Abel and Phillies' bullpen in loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Mick Abel has faced a tougher lineup each time out as a big-leaguer and his third start on Tuesday wasn’t nearly as effective as the first two.

He left three balls up against the Cubs and paid for all three mistakes with homers by Dansby Swanson in the second inning, Ian Happ in the third and Michael Busch in the fourth of an 8-4 Phillies loss.

Abel was able to strike out the dangerous Kyle Tucker on his 30th pitch of the fourth inning to end a bases-loaded jam but it also ended his night. He walked three after pitching 11⅓ innings without one in his first two starts against the Pirates and Blue Jays.

”The Busch one was kind of a flat fastball left over the plate,” Abel said. “The one to Dansby, I’ll give him all the credit in the world, he just smashed it, top-rope.”

The Phillies came back to take the lead in the middle innings on a two-run single to left-center by Alec Bohm, one of their only hot hitters. Earlier, Max Kepler hit a Citizens Bank Park cheapie to the first row in right-center for the Phils’ first two runs.

But Happ, who has hurt the Phillies badly in the two games of this series, answered with a two-out, two-run homer off a middle-in Taijuan Walker cutter in the sixth to put the Cubs ahead. They broke it open with three more in the top of the eighth off Joe Ross and Carlos Hernandez.

The Cubs are second in MLB to the Dodgers in runs per game and rank in the top five in homers, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging and steals. They’ve been a complete offense in 2025, much more dynamic than the Phillies, and leads haven’t felt safe this week.

The Phils are 38-29 heading into the final meeting of the season between the two teams Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. A win would clinch them the series and the season series, with all of these games potentially mattering for seeding come playoff time.

Before any of that matters, though, the Phillies need to find some semblance of offensive consistency. They’ve scored more than four runs twice in their last 12 games, going 2-10. They don’t have much of an offensive identity, especially without Bryce Harper. At many times during the four years with this core, the Phillies have been a powerful offense, a selective offense, one capable of taxing and beating even elite setup men and closers. But they’re none of those things right now, at least not consistently. They’re more of a station-to-station, singles-based offense that doesn’t have great speed and isn’t picking enough big blows with runners in scoring position.

“The last couple weeks, wins, losses, guys getting hurt, it feels like anything that can go wrong has gone wrong,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. 

“I know we say it all the time but that’s part of the game, it happens every season. We went through a stretch just like this last year. We’ve just got to do our best to press forward. We know we’re a good team, there’s a lot of talent in this clubhouse. We’ve got to get through this stretch as fast as we can and move on.”

The National League is tougher this year. A playoff berth can’t be assumed. The Phillies began the night four games behind the Mets in the NL East and tied with the Giants for the top wild-card spot but only 1½ games ahead of the Cardinals, the first team out. The Brewers, Reds and D-backs aren’t too far behind. There’s a ton of baseball left, 95 games, but there will be no cruising to October this year.

There was no update Tuesday on Harper’s inflamed right wrist. He continues to receive treatment and won’t swing for a little while. It is unclear when he will return but it doesn’t seem like it will be next Monday when Harper is first eligible.

The update on Aaron Nola was worse. Nola has a stress reaction in his right rib on top of the sprained right ankle that initially landed him on the injured list on May 15. It is highly unlikely Nola will return before the All-Star break in mid-July. When he does rejoin the Phillies’ rotation, he’ll have missed more than two months.

It will mean a substantially longer runway for Abel, who is currently occupying Nola’s rotation spot. He wasn’t at his best Tuesday and we’ll now see how Abel responds to his first bit of big-league adversity.

To add insult to injury, Brandon Marsh exited after the fifth inning Tuesday with left elbow soreness after finally heating up for the first time in 2025. He appeared to jam the arm on a slide when stealing second base. Marsh had been 5-for-7 during a season-best three-game hitting streak.

”He kind’ve hyperextended it so there’s some soreness,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He’ll be day-to-day.”

What we learned as Adames fuels Giants' wild comeback win vs. Rockies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — The first night without Matt Chapman looked a lot like the last three weeks, but in the top of the ninth, the Giants finally came alive. 

Helped along by three walks, the Giants scored four runs in the ninth at Coors Field to steal the first game of the series. After eight disappointing innings, they found another wild way to get a one-run win, extending their winning streak to six with a 6-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies, who showed why they’re 12-54. The sixth straight one-run win set a franchise record, which is saying something given how many close games the Giants have played in the last 15 years. 

The ninth-inning dramatics started when Casey Schmitt blasted the first pitch of the inning into the seats in left, cutting into what had been a three-run deficit. Tyler Fitzgerald and Andrew Knizner worked tough walks against right-hander Zach Agnos, and a wild pitch two batters later put the tying run on second. When Agnos walked Willy Adames to load the bases, the Rockies turned to fellow right-hander Viktor Vodnik. 

Heliot Ramos hit a liner to center, but right at Brenton Doyle. The sacrifice fly set the stage for Wilmer Flores, the team RBI leader, and he hit a 49 mph grounder that was perfectly placed. The ball rolled slowly toward third and the Rockies had no play as the tying run scored. 

Mike Yastrzemski followed with a single that gave the Giants the lead, and Camilo Doval got old friend Thairo Estrada to pop up with the tying run on third in the bottom of the inning, picking up his 10th save. 

That’s More Like It

There’s no way for the Giants to fully make up for the loss of Chapman. He was their best position player a year ago and pretty easily leads them in fWAR at the moment. Schmitt will try and make up for the defense, and he’s well-equipped to do so, but the offense might have to come from the other infielder on the left side. 

The easiest way for the Giants to survive the next fews weeks would be for Adames to finally look like the player who signed the largest deal in franchise history. On Tuesday, he was closer to his 2024 form. 

Adames hit a sacrifice fly to center in the first to bring Jung Hoo Lee home after a leadoff triple, and he hit a long homer in the fifth to tie the game. The 439-foot blast was his sixth of the season and longest by 40 feet. Coors Field helped with that, but it was still a bomb, and at 108.9 mph, it was his fourth-hardest batted ball of the season. The homer was the first time since May 25 that Adames hit a ball more than 105 mph. It seemed like the 48-hour reset helped. 

Kyle at Coors

Kyle Harrison’s best start of 2024 came against the Rockies, but his first matchup with them this season was a mixed bag. Harrison struck out six and showed good velocity after suffering an elbow contusion in his last start, but he also gave up three runs in five innings, two of them on solo homers. A 26-pitch first inning kept him from getting too deep on the first night of the road trip.

Harrison now has made four starts and allowed 10 runs over 18 1/3 innings. He seems likely to pitch on “Sunday Night Baseball” at Dodger Stadium later this week, since Justin Verlander isn’t quite ready. Verlander will throw his second simulated game on Wednesday, but that wouldn’t give him enough time to recover for the end of the Dodgers series. 

The New Look

Without Chapman in the heart of the order, the Giants made some big changes. Lee is back in the leadoff spot for the first time this year, with Ramos — who had been leading off against lefties — hitting third. Adames started the year in the two-hole but has been down in the bottom half of the lineup since the middle of May. He was moved back up to second after getting Sunday’s game off to physically and mentally reset. 

Early on, the changes worked. Lee led off with a 415-foot triple and scored the game’s first run when Adames drove one deep enough to center. 

Schmitt is back at his natural position, and the Giants believe he has a Gold Glove-caliber glove at third. He entered the night with a .180 average but had two hits, including a leadoff homer in the ninth that was his first of the year. In his first start at third, Schmitt raised his OPS about 90 points. 

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