Worldwide Sports News

Tonight, the Athletics will take on the Brewers in the series finale of the first of two series at Las Vegas Ballpark this week. After dropping the opener 15-14 in the highest scoring game of the season so far, the A’s rebounded last night with a 7-5 victory, hitting five more home runs and getting strong relief outings from Elvis Alvarado and Mason Barnett.

Having launched 12 home runs through their first two games in Las Vegas, the A’s powerful offense looks well-positioned to keep the long-ball barrage going in another matchup that figures to produce plenty of runs.

Making his second start and 19th appearance of the season, A’s right-hander Jack Perkins brings a 2-3 record, 6.19 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and 39 strikeouts in 32 innings into today’s matchup. The 26-year-old struggled in his first start against the Houston Astros, allowing five runs on five hits over four innings while taking the loss.

Like Ginn, Perkins is very familiar with this hitter-friendly ballpark. He made nine starts for Triple-A Las Vegas last season and three more appearances with the affiliate this year before earning his promotion to the majors. Perkins’ high-velocity arsenal gives him the ability to miss bats and limit damage, even in a venue that tends to favor hitters.

However, inconsistency and occasional command issues have plagued him during his brief MLB career, which is not uncommon for a young pitcher. If Perkins can trust his stuff, pound the strike zone, and keep the ball on the ground, he should have success this evening. Otherwise, the Brewers’ lineup could capitalize on his mistakes the way the Astros did in his previous outing.

Here’s the Athletics’ lineup for this series-deciding contest:

This is an interesting lineup that A’s manager Mark Kotsay has put together for tonight’s game. Nick Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom, the team’s two hottest hitters in this series, occupy the first two spots in the order. Meanwhile, Carlos Cortes is making his first start of the series as the designated hitter and is surprisingly slotted into the cleanup spot rather than leading off.

Given how well Kurtz has been swinging the bat, it would seem to make more sense to flip him and Cortes in the lineup to maximize Kurtz’s RBI opportunities with runners on base. Another notable development is Brent Rooker’s absence from the starting lineup for a second consecutive game. The A’s have not indicated any issues, but they can ill afford to lose one of their most dangerous hitters to another stint on the injured list.

Cortes is not the only A’s player making his first start in Vegas. He is joined by outfielder Lawrence Butler and second baseman Jeff McNeil, two players who have had their playing time drastically reduced lately due to major offensive slumps. Zack Gelof moves back to third base with Max Muncy getting the night off, while Alika Williams earns his third straight start at shortstop.

That starting nine will be facing Brewers right-hander Brandon Sproat, who was involved in one of the biggest trades of the offseason. The New York Mets sent Sproat and a minor league infield prospect to Milwaukee in exchange for Freddy Peralta.

The 25-year-old has gone 1-4 with a 6.17 ERA through his first 12 appearances with the Brewers, including ten starts. In his most recent outing against the Colorado Rockies, Sproat received a no-decision after allowing three runs on seven hits over five innings.

Only A’s backup catcher Jonah Heim, who is not in tonight’s lineup, has previously faced Sproat. While the element of unfamiliarity could work in the young right-hander’s favor against A’s hitters, the A’s may benefit from the fact that Sproat has likely never pitched in this ballpark before. If the hosts can repeat the approach and offensive execution they displayed over the first two games, they should have opportunities to score against this talented but inexperienced pitcher.

And Milwaukee’s lineup for tonight’s contest:

The Brewers’ lineup features most of their regulars, with the lone exception coming behind the plate, where Gary Sànchez gets the start in place of William Contreras. The top of Milwaukee’s order is especially dangerous now that Andrew Vaughn is back in the lineup after appearing as a pinch-hitter last night.

As a result, Perkins will need to be careful when attacking the strike zone and do his best to keep the ball in the ballpark, something his teammate J.T. Ginn handled well in yesterday’s outing.

Time to win the series and head into tomorrow’s off day with good vibes. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, A’s Cast

Well that sucked. Just when it looked like the Nationals had a sweep in the bag, the bullpen completely melted down. The Giants rallied from 9-1 down to stun the Nats. DMV product Bryce Eldridge hit a walkoff grand slam to finish off a humiliating defeat for Blake Butera and the Nats.

What happens after this game will be telling. For a more traditional front office and coaching staff, heads would absolutely roll after this kind of loss. However, I am not sure whether this analytically minded front office will deviate from their plan. As we have seen this season, there is a long term vision in place and we are seeing that translate on the field.

After this one though, I think it is time for some old school behavior. Blake Butera and Paul Toboni need to send a message to the players and the fans that what happened this afternoon was not acceptable. The two primary culprits of this bullpen meltdown were Mitchell Parker and Paxton Schultz, and their places on the team need to be examined.

For Parker, I honestly have no idea what this braintrust sees in him. The results have not been there, his stuff is below average and he does not seem to have the mentality to be a high leverage arm. Despite all of this, Parker constantly gets thrown into big spots, rarely succeeding. In the past month, Parker has an ERA over 8, and has allowed 7 homers in 16 innings. 

This is not a team that is in the gutter, and the front office needs to act that way. When guys aren’t producing, they should be let go. Parker has been consistently terrible for over a year now. Since May 1st of 2025, he has a 6.44 ERA in 159.1 innings. What more do you need to see from this guy? As the saying goes, insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Mitchell Parker pitching on this upcoming home stand would give fans a pretty good indication that this front office and coaching staff has no interest in winning this season. Going all in on 2026 is not logical either. This team is still in year one of a new era. However, we know what we have in Mitchell Parker. It is unfair to the fans and the pitchers in Rochester to keep trotting this guy out there.

The other culprit of this meltdown requires a more nuanced conversation. Paxton Schultz has had a very strange season. He has been solid in 18 of his 20 outings. However, in the other two appearances, he has had some of the worst meltdowns you will ever see. He has shown the ability to be a quality arm, he has just been completely unable to stop the bleeding. 

On the one hand, if you can’t be trusted to protect a 9-1 lead, you should not be on the roster. However, I think Schultz has some traits to be a fine reliever. In the heat of the moment, you would like to see a change, but I would understand if they stuck with Schultz. Today was absolutely dreadful, and he is arguably the biggest reason for the collapse, but you cannot be overly reactionary.

What happens next will tell us a lot about this new regime. They have some very important decisions to make heading into this home stand. This team has a playoff caliber offense, but the bullpen can explode at any time. Will this front office send a message or will they continue to only look at whatever numbers are telling them Mitchell Parker is a major league caliber pitcher? The roster moves or lack thereof will tell Nationals a lot about Paul Toboni and Blake Butera.

The San Francisco Giants pulled off a major comeback, walk-off win against the Washington Nationals after being down eight runs in the final two innings on Wednesday.

Giants' young prospect Bryce Eldridge was the man of the hour, putting the nail in the coffin with a triumphant walk-off grand slam in the bottom ninth inning, giving San Francisco an 11-10 victory.

Eldridge finished the game with a stat line of 1-for-4, including two runs and 4 RBIs. The 21-year-old rising star was the organization's top prospect in 2025, and he's proving why he was worthy of the ranking.

During the 2026 MLB season, Eldridge has steamed up a batting average of .298 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. His OPS is .907 through 28 games played.

Bryce Eldridge is the youngest player in MLB history to hit a walk-off grand slam. The previous youngest was Roberto Clemente.

More: 3 moves the San Francisco Giants must make to salvage their season

When Shohei Ohtani is pitching − as he is against the Pittsburgh Pirates Wednesday, June 10 − it's simply mano a mano, Ohtani vs. the batter, with Ohtani prevailing the vast majority of the time.

This time, though, the Dodgers are also letting him serve as designated hitter, which means Ohtani vs. the opposing pitcher – along with eight other defensive players.

And on this night one of them thwarted him.

Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds robbed Ohtani of his 12th home run, ranging to his right and hopping above the short left field wall to snag the ball before it could land among a group of sun-splashed patrons.

REYNOLDS ROBBED OHTANI.

V⭐️TE B-REY: https://t.co/IOlzWVglnWpic.twitter.com/xZ3pHR6nC8

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 10, 2026

Ohtani drove a Jared Jones full-count 99 mph fastball the opposite way, 101.7 mph off the bat. According to Statcast, the 383-foot drive would have been a home run in 25 of 30 parks.

Well, probably 26 of 30, were it not for Reynolds’ well-coordinated leap to keep this game scoreless.

Ohtani did hit a two-run home run in the ninth, but it was not quite enough as the Dodgers lost 9-8.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bryan Reynolds robs Shohei Ohtani home run in Dodgers vs Pirates game

The Colorado Rockies’ series opener victory against the Chicago Cubs was a resounding success. They got pitching and hitting, and played an overall great game to shake off the mess of the Milwaukee Brewers series. Granted, the Cubs are not in the best of places at the moment, but victories like that have hopefully set the stage for the Rockies to secure another series victory.

Michael Lorenzen (2-8, 8.01 ERA) continues his quest for answers in 2026 for the Rockies. Lorenzen once again struggled in his last outing against the Los Angeles Angels, as he allowed eight runs on 10 hits over 3.1 innings of work. The majority of damage came in the second inning, where he just couldn’t throw strikes, and the Angels were punishing mistakes over the plate. He has been left floundering, trying to tweak mechanics and get comfortable on the mound, but those answers have eluded him thus far. The key for Lorenzen seems to be finding a way to mitigate the “one bad inning” trope that has plagued many Rockies pitchers, and a great way to do that is by throwing quality strikes and establishing his command early.

Unfortunately, Lorenzen has a 9.67 ERA at home this year hanging over his head as well as a career 7.36 ERA against the Cubs. However, he Will tonight be a moment that Lorenzen can start to change the narrative of his season?

Meanwhile, the Cubs will send out Shota Imanaga (4-6, 4.74 ERA) to make the start. The Japanese veteran has been reliable since making his MLB debut with the Cubs in 2024, where me posted a 2.91 ERA. 2025 wasn’t as crisp, but he still managed a sub-4.00 ERA and decided to accept a qualifying offer from the Cubs for this season. His third big league season has been a little tougher, but Imanaga is still a quality pitcher not to be taken lightly. He has recorded six quality starts and will attack the zone with a current tally of 74 strikeouts against 19 walks. He’s more prone to give up the long ball, having allowed 17 this season after allowing 31 last year. He was roughed up by the Athletics at Wrigley Field in his last start, giving up six runs on six hits, including four home runs, over six innings.

In his lone career start against the Rockies, Imanaga fired six shutout innings, allowing just two hits. This will be his first start at Coors Field.

First Pitch: 6:40 pm MDT

TV: Rockies TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

SB Nation site: Bleed Cubbie Blue

Lineups:

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Like many others in the baseball world, Hall of Famer John Smoltz is concerned about the possibility of an MLB lockout.

The current collective bargaining agreement between the league and the MLB Players Association will expire after the 2026 season, setting up a long-anticipated negotiating period, with the prospect of a work stoppage looming.

Smoltz said it won’t be a good look if things can’t be worked out between the two sides.

“We know that if they don’t get this worked out, baseball will suffer. They cannot afford to have a stoppage with all the good that has been done and all the great games that have been played lately with the World Series,” Smoltz told Fox News Digital.

At the end of May, the league’s proposal included a salary floor for each ball club and a “more divisive” salary cap, something the players have long been opposed to.

MLB made clear it didn’t agree with the MLBPA’s first proposal, which did not call for any sort of spending cap.

“The MLBPA’s proposal would reduce the amount [of money] transferred to lower-revenue Clubs, weaken the Competitive Balance Tax, and lead to even more payroll disparity than exists today,” MLB said in a statement after it released its own proposal.

“For example, under the Union’s proposal, the Dodgers would pay less in luxury tax payments, giving them an additional $70 million to spend on payroll.”

Smoltz spoke to what he believes is a competitive balance issue across the league, which is a factor in these CBA negotiations.

“There’s a competition issue within baseball that some system is claiming that it’s going to fix. I question that big time,” Smoltz added. “Until you have teams and owners that want to put the best product they can on the field in their market, it’s hard for me to be able to tell somebody what they can and can’t spend in a free market world.”

Baseball has certainly achieved momentum in the American consciousness as of late. The league shared in early May that viewership is up 44 percent compared to the 2025 season for exclusive national games, the best number in the past nine seasons. The excitement brought on by the 2025 World Series certainly helped with that; Game 7 averaged a combined 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada and Japan.

Two of the big boppers on whom the Cincinnati Reds are depending with Elly De La Cruz sidelined stepped up late and did their parts in big, big ways, respectively. JJ Bleday, who deserves to be on the National League All Star team at this juncture, smashed a 391 foot solo homer off San Diego Padres starter Michael King in the Top of the 7th to give the Reds a 3-2 lead, and Eugenio Suarez followed with a 365 foot sand wedge into the seats beyond left field to give Cincinnati an insurance run at 4-2 in the Top of the 8th.

All that remained to be taken care of was holding on to a 2-run lead for the game’s final pair of innings. You know, the classic task asked of bullpen arms all over the sport.

Unfortunately, this is the Cincinnati Reds bullpen we are talking about, or at least what remains of it.

Caleb Ferguson was wholly unable to retire the left-handed bats the Padres sent up to face him in the Bottom of the 8th, and Tony Santillan couldn’t bail him out of the jame he’d created. That sent the game to the 9th with the game tied at 4, and though the Reds got a leadoff single from Matt McLain and a later walk from Sal Stewart, the Reds couldn’t find a way to score a run to take the lead.

Devoid of other fresh options, Terry Francona turned to the recently recalled Chase Petty, who was just brought back to the team after Zach McCambley was optioned on the back of his 30+ pitch outing earlier in the series. That’s Chase Petty the starter, who was tasked with pitching in an extremely high-leverage relief role that’s almost completely unheard of for him at this juncture of his career.

He looked mostly fine out there, to his credit. He pounded the zone. He threw strikes. The problem is, though, that despite the walk problems that have plagued the entire pitching staff over the course of this borderline-miserable season, this was an instance where he might well have been better off nibbling than humming balls right over the plate to some of San Diego’s best hitters.

One of those, of course, is Fernando Tatis, Jr. He’s found his swing again after a mammoth gap between homers, socking his first of the year earlier in the week and posting a 4-hit game earlier this series. So, when Petty spun an 89 mph slider right into the middle of the strike zone to the Padres star, it was hard to envision anything other than what happened.

That laser from Tatis just cleared the LF wall, and that was that. Cincinnati hemorrhaged yet another late lead, lost their fourth straight series, and sunk to just 32-35 on the season overall. They’ll have Thursday off to think about it while traveling back across the country to think about it, and on Friday they’ll welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks to Great American Ball Park.

What a brutal game. What a brutal month. What a brutal, brutal sport.

SAN FRANCISCO — The towering pop-up off Bryce Eldridge’s bat had no business leaving the ballpark, a fitting end to a game the Giants had no business winning.

He stood there, watching its trajectory, an absurd 44 degrees.

He waited until it barely crossed the plane of the brick wall in right field, only 326 feet in total.

And then he sent his bat airborne so high it practically caught the apex of the ball.

“I’m just walking, watching, hoping it’s gonna go out,” Eldridge said. “I’m just glad it did. I barely remember what happened after that.”

Here’s the gist: When the ball landed, the Giants had completed the unlikeliest of comebacks, down eight the previous inning, and Eldridge had become the youngest player in MLB history to end a game with a grand slam, just 21 years, 233 days.

Final score: Giants 11, Nationals 10.

“I was just screaming,” Eldridge said of his reaction as he rounded the bases behind Matt Chapman, Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee, all of whom reached without making an out after Luis Arraez started the ninth-inning rally with a double down the right field line.

It was Chapman who started the improbable comeback an inning earlier, with the Giants trailing 9-1, with his second solo shot of the afternoon. Devers went back-to-back to cut the deficit to 9-3, and the Giants rallied for three more in the eighth off Paxton Schultz to make it 9-6.

Reiver Sanmartin, in his season debut, allowed a solo home run in the top of the ninth that gave the Giants another run they needed to make up and put himself in line for the win in the process.

Everything, it turned out, was just setting the table for what promises to be the first of many heroics in Eldridge’s promising young career.

“Man, what a crazy game,” mused Robbie Ray, who was bailed out of taking the loss by the grand slam after allowing five runs over 5 ⅔ innings in his deepest start since May 8.

“It kind of felt like he was going to do something like that.”

It might have felt that way because Eldridge has been one of the Giants’ most-hyped hitting prospects in recent memory who has looked like he belonged from his first big-league at-bat.

Or maybe, it’s because Eldridge had been envisioning an opportunity just like this.

“I always want to be the guy in that situation,” Eldridge said.

He had a chance to be the guy just two days earlier but struck out against Gus Varland to end the Giants’ 4-3 loss Monday. He represented the winning run but chased a fastball above the letters to end the game.

“The only thing I could think about the last two days was Monday and how I just wasn’t pleased with how I ended the game,” Eldridge said. “I was talking with a lot of people about that. I wanted that opportunity back. I don’t know if I’m going to get that opportunity again for a while. And then, like two days later, I got the same opportunity.”

As the Giants started to rally in the eighth, Eldridge began to do the math in the batting cage behind the dugout. He would get his chance at redemption. It looked like it would come against the same pitcher, too, until Varland failed to retire any of the first three batters of the ninth.

Instead, Eldridge was the second batter to step to the plate against Mitchell Parker. This time, he didn’t chase a fastball. He looked at two off-speeds out of the zone and before he got a slider he liked. The pitch broke at his belt and caught the inner-third of the plate.

Eldridge made sure it didn’t travel any farther in his direction.

In just his 38th game, he lived out the exact scenario he played out in his backyard growing up, even when he was still playing both ways through the end of his high school career.

“That was always what I wanted to do — I wanted to have the big home run,” Eldridge said. “That was something I thought about more than having the big strikeout.”

Chapman spoke it into existence when he got back to the dugout from his first home run trot that got the Giants on the board and made it 6-1 in the sixth.

“Chappy stated it as soon as he hit his first home run,” manager Tony Vitello said. “Stranger things have happened.”

But not much stranger.

What it means

The Giants had been 0-34 when trailing after the eighth inning this season, and they picked a heck of a way to earn their first ninth-inning comeback.

Only six teams since 1969 have come back to win when trailing by eight or more in the eighth inning or later, and just once before by a Giants team — in 1947.

It hadn’t been done by any team in the majors since Cleveland on May 25, 2009.

Who’s hot

Consider it the official arrival of the Eldridge era in San Francisco.

“I think about it every day,” Eldridge said. “That I’m just gonna keep working hard because I want to be the face of this franchise.”

Here he is, the face of the franchise: Over his past 13 games, dating back to the start of the Giants’ last road trip, Eldridge is batting .426 (20-for-47) with three homers, seven doubles and eight walks to only 10 strikeouts — good for a 1.266 OPS.

He was batting .170 with a .541 OPS when the Giants hit the road May 29. His average is up to .296, and his OPS has crossed .900.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Who’s not

Ray took advantage of an aggressive Nationals lineup to not issue a walk for only the third time in 14 starts this season. He had walked 22 total, at least two per outing, over his past six starts.

But the comeback was almost too far out of reach by the time it began thanks to a relief corps that allowed the Nats to score both of Ray’s runners it inherited with two outs in the sixth, plus four more before the Giants came to the plate for the final time.

Up next

The Giants enjoy their first day off since May 28 before regrouping to host the Cubs for three games to finish a brief homestand. San Francisco hopes to have shortstop Willy Adames back in the lineup to begin the series Friday after getting him his second day off this season Wednesday to nurse discomfort in his upper leg.