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The Tigers didn’t need eight runs in this one. Troy Melton spun another shutout performance, and great work from Kenley Jansen and Tyler Holton carried the day late. The Tigers broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the 10th inning with a clutch knock from Hao-Yu Lee, and Holton shut the door to wrap up a 7-9 road trip.

Right-hander Troy Melton has busied himself recently by staking a claim as the Tigers #1 starter. He came into this one looking to extend his scoreless innings run. Melton last allowed a run on July 23 against the Royals. He blanked the Orioles and the Mariners each for seven innings in his last two outings. He’d have some tough competition in Logan Webb.

The two starters really did lock up in an old fashioned pitchers duel. Spencer Torkelson singled in the second inning for the game’s first hit, but he was stranded. Drew Gilbert smoked a triple off of Melton with two outs in the bottom of the second, but Melton got Daniel Susac to ground out to Colt Keith at third to turn them away.

In the bottom of the fourth, Melton finally got into some trouble as Willy Adames led off with a single. Melton struck out Osleivis Basabe, but Drew Gilbert lifted a fly ball to Zach McKinstry dow the line in right field, and the versatile utilityman cut down Basabe at the plate with a perfect strike to end the inning. That play really took the wind out of the Giants sails. Haven’t seen much of a that from a Tigers right fielder in a long time.

Finally in the top of the sixth, McKinstry led off with a single, and Kevin McGonigle followed suit. McKinstry took third on the play, and that was well as Gleyber Torres grounded into a double play, but got the run home. Tigers 1-0. Melton cruised through the bottom of the sixth, retiring his eighth straight batter after the single from Adames in the fourth.

Finally in the seventh, Devers led off with a single and that was the end of Melton’s day. Kyle Finnegan took over and got Basabe to ground into a force of Devers at second, though the speedy second baseman avoided getting doubled off. Basabe then stole second and Eduardo Valencia’s throw was high and got into center field, allowing Basabe to take third. Gilbert hit a little dribbler to Keith, but his only chance was to barehand it and he couldn’t make the play. Basabe scored to tie the game up, but Finnegan dug in and struck out the next hitter. Drew Sommers entered and punched out Grant McCray to send us to the eighth.

Webb still wasn’t out of the game in the eighth. Valencia one-hopped one over the left center field wall for a two-out double, but he was stranded.

Christian Koss dumped a leadoff single into center field to start the bottom half. Bryce Eldridge pulled a ground ball deep in the hole with McGonigle playing up the middle, and there was no play available though McGonigle did manage to snare it. So, Sommers was in a real tight spot two on and no outs. The Giants did the Tigers a favor by having Jung Ho Lee, one of their best pure hitters, try to bunt. He failed and Sommers punched him out, but Willy Adames fought off a few tough pitches from the big lefty and walked to load the bases.

With many expecting doom, Sommers spotted a perfect first pitch sinker on the inner edge to Devers. A breaking ball right over the middle drew a ground ball to Torres, and he flipped to McGonigle and on to first to double off Devers as Sommers stranded the bases loaded. A huge play right there and Sommers was hype.

Old friend Dylan Smith had us wincing in the top of the ninth as he punched out the side, but Kenley Jansen entered looking to send this to extras and he too punched out the side, getting Basabe, Glbert, and Cavanaugh all swinging. Way to return serve there from the future Hall of Fame closer, who has only allowed one run since late June.

Lefty Sam Hentges took over for the Giants in the top of the 10th. Riley Greene was on second, and Hao-Yu Lee pinch-hit for Colt Keith. On a 3-2 fastball in, Lee inside outed a soft single over Devers at first, and Greene raced around to score with a good read on the ball.

Spencer Torkelson singled to center and Lee went first to third aggressively. Max Clark grounded one to Adames, but beat out the double play turn as Lee scored from third. 3-1 Tigers. Another old friend, Jason Foley, entered for Hentges and he punched out Valencia. Zach McKinstry drew a walk, but Foley punched out McGonigle to end the top half.

Tyler Holton entered to save this one, and he did so with emphasis. He whiffed Buddy Kennedy on a good changeup, then locked up Koss with a cutter to strike him out on three pitches. Last up with Eldridge, and once again, Holton needed just three pitches, whiffing him on a cutter to end it.

Great win on a day where this long west coast trip finally seemed to be taking a toll on the bats. Of course, Mr. Webb is pretty good as well. Troy Melton continued his outstanding season, and the bullpen came through with a big time performance.

The Tigers now have an offday Monday before a huge homestand begins on Tuesday against the Guardians and the AL Central leading White Sox.

The A’s have won an amazing two in a whole row so spirits are high and hopes higher with the team looking like an actual team for 18 consecutive innings. Realistically, though, David Forst was fired — I mean, mutually parted ways with the team — because of the 45-71 that preceded a pleasant weekend in Boston.

The casualty count is now 2 after pitching coach Scott Emerson was the fall guy for a woeful pitching staff that inflicted much woe by pitching in a woeful manner. A new GM and a new voice for the pitching crew is a start, but it is not nearly enough. Allow me to explain (or figure out how to control what I type)…

In many key areas of developing a winning team at the big league level, the A’s have fallen well behind the curve and whether it’s poor teaching or the inability to produce good listening, each deficit combines with the others to create a gap that becomes exponentially bigger.

Pitching Development

This occurs from the big league level all the way down to A-ball as pitchers are forever a “work-in-progress”. There is a noticeable area where A’s pitchers struggle from the minors to MLB and that is the ability to repeat, fix, tweak mechanics in order to throw strikes and quickly solve problems when command leaves them.

A glaring example is the Rick Ankiel like Luis Morales, who has become a 2-pitch pitcher: balls and center cut pitches that are launched. Every now and again the true “yips” infect a pitcher — Ankiel is an example — and this is not a coaching failure.

Perhaps Morales has caught this rare and deadly disease. More likely he is just a mess and when I say mess I mean “Hoo boy has he fallen apart sumpin’ fierce!” In his 16 big league innings, 27 hits, 7 of them HRs, 14 BBs, a 13.50 ERA. At AAA? 53.1 IP. 71 hits, 12 HR, 37 BBs, an 8.10 ERA.

But it’s not just Morales. Jack Perkins, Jacob Lopez, and Mason Barnett are 3 pitchers on the MLB roster who came up with control as their biggest vice and they have not been able to get over that hump. Prized prospect Jamie Arnold has started to pitch better, and his assignment straight to AA was aggressive, but he has walked 45 in his 96 IP. Helping or getting pitchers to repeat their deliveries and command the strike zone, and especially guiding them to plug the dam when it breaks, has been a weakness that is seen by the A’s issuing the 4th highest number of walks in all of MLB.

Other areas of pitching reflect poor coaching and preparation. It was spring training of 2025 that the Milwaukee Brewers ran roughshod on Jeffrey Springs and stole 7 bases in a Cactus League game. The opposition hasn’t stopped since and 2 years later A’s pitchers, collectively, simply don’t control the running game. As recently as last night the Red Sox stole 3 bases off of Gage Jump in which Jump gave his catcher no chance. It’s common place, including runners getting a walking lead and pitchers using long or slow leg kicks. Shea Langeliers, Jonah Heim, and now Brian Serven, have repeatedly been given no shot at runners who “stole it on the pitcher” and it’s been going on for so long you have to question why the same problems persist.

Hitting Approach

If the hitting coaches are saying the right things, the hitters are putting their fingers in their ears and shouting “La la la la la la la!!!!!” because it’s not penetrating. The A’s have too many batters who simply do not control the strike zone, lack patience and discipline, and bail opposing pitchers out far too often.

You would hope that younger players who begin their pro careers in A ball, advance to AA, then AAA, then arrive to the big leagues, would have enough time and tutelage to address any deep flaws that threaten to curtail their success. Yet here is a list of players who came up through the A’s system only to arrive hacking early and often, chasing far too many pitches out of the strike zone: Max Muncy (drafted in 2021), Colby Thomas (drafted in 2022), Jacob Wilson (drafted in 2023), Tommy White (drafted in 2024).

All 4 of these players were drafted in rounds 1, 2, or 3, and with the exception of Wilson they have all failed as hitters — and in Wilson’s case his 3.8% BB rate this season leads to a .301 OBP and his swing choices have helped to produce just a 91 wRC+. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer should take note before his “I only walk against position players” approach catches up to him.

There are other pedagogical ideals that if practiced could elevate a talented-but-not-that-effective core to elite status. You become a far more dangerous and potent hitter when you use the whole field, hit pitches the way they are moving, and embrace the ‘old school’ 2-strike approach to shorten your swing, hit more the other way, and emphasize contact over slugging. You score more runs when you are a dynamic offense that knows how to use “productive outs” to score here while “hunting middle-middle” ahead in the count and walloping a HR there.

The hitters need a new voice as much as the pitchers do, again up and down the organization. That doesn’t mean everyone involved in hitting instruction needs to be fired, but a lot of new voices are needed and the organizational philosophies need to reflect what actually works, not what hitters may think works.

Manager/Field Coaches

Again it’s not that everyone from Mark Kotsay to Ryan Christensen and Bobby Crosby to Darren Bush and Mike Aldrete, have to be laid off en masse, but there simply needs to be a new normal with regard to fundamentals, leadership, and strategy.

Twice on this road trip alone a player (Hogan Harris, Jonah Heim) lost focus holding the ball on a play that was still live, leading to disastrous results at the time. Fundamentals such as hitting the cut off man (which I will grant has seemed better recently), communication between fielders, not lunging to the bag trying to beat out a throw, sliding to a corner of the bag or plate — these are the areas where every player is capable of succeeding regardless of their talent level. And a small market team needs to do these things at a high level to compensate for a lack of payroll or resources.

What fans see from the outside is a team that is allowed to make the same mistakes over and over and does not have leadership that upholds high expectations — or else does not have the ability to effect change. Who stays and who goes is a question beyond my pay scale as someone not on the field or in the dugout/clubhouse daily. Personally, I think Crosby is an excellent 3B coach and I haven’t really seen anything to suggest he lacks competence in his lanes, but the broader point is that a GM coming in needs to look at the crew leading the A’s and its affiliates and bring in some superior — or if nothing else fresh — coaches and instructors who know what to teach, can teach it effectively, and will have the players’ ears.

The point is that from big league leadership to organization wide instruction to pedagogy and norms, the A’s are a combined mess right now leading to their 47-71 record. Injuries have been a factor, but they have also masked that the A’s had some serious deficits when most of their players were healthy, both at the MLB and MiLB level.

I’m interested to see who the next A’s GM will be, but I’m even more interested to see who they bring with them and how big the list is. I know this: if I were interviewing GMs I would be talking to them about a lot more than just themselves and what they personally bring. It’s time for some major change.

Rays 4, Mariners 1

Long Weekend: Taylor Ward, .04 WPA

Weekend at Bernie’s: José Ferrer and Randy Arozarena, -.14 WPA each

Game thread comment of the day:

Michael Arroyo Threat Level: Electric Cantaloupe

It’s no secret that the Dodgers haven’t played their best baseball over the last nine days. But during their 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, they exacerbated the trend.

Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski remained in a rut, giving up four runs (three earned) in 3⅓ innings. The two-run homer he surrendered to Diamondbacks switch hitter Ketel Marte in the first inning was the ninth home run he has given up in three starts.

Before his recent struggles, Wrobleski hadn’t surrendered more than three homers in a three-game span this season.

He left a fastball belt-high to Marte, who entered Sunday with a .913 OPS against left-handed pitchers. Marte lined it into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen in the left-field corner.

Read more:Dodgers overcome another Edwin Díaz implosion to end 7-game losing streak in extras

After Wrobleski’s last start, manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers (70-48) would look into whether the left-hander might be tipping pitches, but he said before the game Sunday that those suspicions seemed “unfounded.”

“I’m just not good enough right now,” Wrobleski said. “It’s kind of what it comes down to. It’s really frustrating. Execution just hasn’t been as good. I feel like [Sunday] just wasn’t good enough. And, again, I’ve got to be better. … I’m not the type to give up. So I’m ready to bear down. This is kind of where you can go two ways, and I’m excited to keep working, and I’m excited for my next one.”

While Wrobleski clearly wasn’t at his best, giving up six hits and three walks, mistakes on defense didn’t help his cause.

Wrobleski could have gotten out of the first before giving up a home run, but baserunner Geraldo Perdomo successfully broke up a potential double play, crossing in front of shortstop Mookie Betts’ sight line as he tried to throw around him.

“Very weird play, but it’s not obstruction,” Roberts said. “But next time, I think we’ve just got to throw through because it wasn’t impeding, but it sort of was intentional.”

The next inning, Wrobleski fielded a sacrifice bunt from Ryan Waldschmidt, but his throw to first was high and wide, allowing a run to score and putting Waldschmidt into scoring position.

“That’s a play that he’s got to make,” Roberts said.

Later in the inning, though the run would have likely scored anyway, the usually strong relay combination of center fielder Andy Pages and Betts ended with Betts throwing over catcher Ben Rortvedt.

The Dodgers’ offense, in the meantime, went down in order in the first two innings. Betts made the best contact, but his opposite-field fly to the warning track found leather.

Read more:Shaikin: The Shohei Ohtani Economy: A two-mile ride to Dodger Stadium, for $85

The rest of the way, the Dodgers tightened up their defense, and their bullpen shut down the Diamondbacks (63-56). The Dodgers’ lineup strung together hits to score on Pages’ third-inning double and Kyle Tucker‘s sixth-inning triple. But they still lost for the eighth time in nine games.

“This series it was very clear that we weren’t hitting the fastball and we were exposing ourselves to the changeup with the secondary, specifically,” Roberts said before the Dodgers left for L.A., where they’ll open a seven-game homestand against the Kansas City Royals. “Are the Royals going to exploit the fastball that we’re not hitting and the changeup below? I don’t know. But we have to make adjustments. I think for me that’s sort of what I see as a group — we’re just not making adjustments.”

Here are three other takeaways from the Dodgers’ 1-5 road trip:

Hitting into double plays

The Dodgers have grounded into an MLB-leading 99 double plays, including one in the eighth inning Sunday.

Part of that has to do with how often the Dodgers get on base. Entering Sunday, they led the majors in on-base percentage (.339). But hitting into double plays has been a major culprit behind the Dodgers’ recent offensive struggles.

“It’s not age,” Roberts said. “It’s not about putting guys in motion, because you start doing things just to do things. And when a guy swings and misses and gets thrown out by 10 feet, that’s a bad process.

“You have to layer it on who the hitter is, the contact ability; who the pitcher is, the swing-and-miss rate; who the runner is. So there’s a lot of people that can look at the rate that we hit into double plays and have thoughts, but they’re not thought through.”

Roberts pointed instead to the batter’s approach at the plate.

“My thought is our guys need to do a better job at understanding what the pitcher is trying to do,” Roberts said.

Back end of the bullpen

Setup man Tanner Scott and closer Edwin Díaz were not available out of the bullpen after pitching Friday and Saturday.

Scott’s velocity has fluctuated over the past week, but Roberts said the Dodgers haven’t yet found an explanation for the trend.

Díaz recorded blown saves in each game. Still, Roberts noted his intensity Saturday, after Díaz gave up the lead with back-to-back triples.

“I don’t know if it’s just, you want to be perfect, you’re trying to get your feet under you, you’ve been in rehab mode a lot,” Roberts said. “But this is something I think can be a springboard for outings to come.”

For the Dodgers’ bullpen to function effectively, they need Díaz to turn around his injury-disrupted season (10.80 ERA in 12 appearances).

Home sweet home

For the first time, the Dodgers are set to roll out their new one-two punch of two-time Cy Young winners. Tarik Skubal is scheduled to make his home debut at Dodger Stadium on Monday against the Royals, followed by Blake Snell’s return from the injured list Tuesday.

“On one side of it, you feel it as the home team because you feel the confidence of who you’re running out there,” Roberts said. “But on the other side, it seems daunting when you look at the probables and you see these Cy Young guys back to back. It’s a lot to take in as an offense. So it feels really good to have those two guys on our side.”

Along with right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto at the top of the rotation, the trio has the potential to be even more impactful in the postseason.

“I think you have to win with starting pitching,” Roberts said of the playoffs. “You really do. I know in ‘24 we did it a different way, but starting pitching is kind of your backbone.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Unfortunately for the Dodgers there isn’t much you can do when good players don’t play well. Justin Wrobleski was an All-Star this season but of late has been nowhere close to that. The left-hander couldn’t finish the fourth inning in a 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Wrobleski wasn’t the only culprit in the Dodgers’ demise on Sunday. The offense scratched and clawed all weekend, never scoring more than once in an inning, and plated only seven runs in 28 innings over the weekend. Despite the bad offense, the Dodgers nearly won the first two games after good starting pitching, but blew two ninth-inning leads and had to settle for a split.

On Sunday the Dodgers simply removed the good start portion of their weekend calculus, and played from behind all day.

Ketel Marte hit a two-run home run in the first inning of Wrobleski, the ninth home run surrendered by the left-hander over his last three starts and 13 2/3 innings, after eight total home runs in Wrobleski’s first 106 2/3 frames this year. Marte hit a four-seam fastball, the pitch from Wrobleski that has served up six of the nine home runs over his last three starts.

Wrobleski has allowed 17 runs over his last three outings, including four on Sunday, the two runs in the second inning exacerbated by his own throwing error. But that hasn’t been his only wildness of late.

Home runs have been the glaring weakness for Wrobleski of late, but he’s also walked three batters two starts in a row, after walking no more than two in his previous 13 appearances and entered Sunday with a 5.1-percent walk rate, third best in the majors and leading the National League.

Wrobleski’s last two outings — 4 1/3 innings last Monday at Wrigley Field and 3 1/3 innings on Sunday in Phoenix — are his two shortest starts of the season.

On the other side, Eduardo Rodríguez struck out a season-best nine, two more than he had in any of his first 23 starts. He left after seven innings and two runs against him, and in four starts against the Dodgers this season the veteran left-hander has allowed five total runs, four earned, in 23 innings for a 1.57 ERA with 22 strikeouts and six walks.

Arizona has won the last three of those Rodríguez starts.

The Dodgers in the last five games have scored five total runs in 30 1/3 innings against opposing starting pitchers, which is no way to live.

Dodgers relievers — Edgardo Henriquez, Evan Phillips, Kyle Hurt, and Jonathan Hernández retired all 14 batters they faced after Wrobleski exited. But the damage was already done, and the Dodgers have now lost three series in a row after winning their previous four.

Sunday particulars

Home run: Ketel Marte (20)

WP — Eduardo Rodríguez (11-4): 7 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts

LP — Justin Wrobleski (11-4): 3 1/3 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 3 walks, 3 strikeouts

Sv — Kevin Ginkel (1): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers are back home to face the Kansas City Royals on Monday (7:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA), with Tarik Skubal making his first Dodger Stadium start since joining the team. Left-hander Noah Cameron starts for Kansas City.

Box Score

On Jacob Misiorowski bump day, the Brewers are always feeling good about their chances to win heading into the game. They seemed well on their way to one through the first couple of innings. Misiorowski was electric as usual, and Jackson Chourio slugged his fourth homer of the homestand to lead off the game.

Misiorowski came into the day needing just five strikeouts to reach 200 Ks on the season. He reached that mark during the third inning. He becomes the ninth pitcher to have a 200 strikeout season in Brewers franchise history and also reached the mark in the second-fewest IP (129 1/3 innings) in MLB history, just behind Spencer Strider, who did it in 123 1/3 innings in 2023.

However, after four scoreless innings, Misiorowski ran into some barrels later in the game. He allowed a solo homer to Brooks Lee in the fifth to allow the Twins to tie it up. Then, after the Brewers scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a Jake Bauers homer and David Hamilton RBI double, Misiorowski again allowed the Twins to tie it on a two-run home run by Kody Clemens.

Misiorowski got out of the sixth on an incredible leaping catch at the wall by Luis Lara, and that would finish the day for him. Miz went six innings, allowing four hits, three runs, one walk, and struck out nine.

The game stayed tied at 3-3 for a while. The Twins threatened with the bases loaded against Aaron Ashby in the seventh and Abner Uribe in the eighth, but couldn’t scratch a run across. The Brewers couldn’t either. So this game went to extra innings.

DL Hall got the call for the 10th inning with the runner starting on second base. He induced a Josh Bell pop-up to short for the first out of the inning. Then, Kody Clemens ripped a fly ball deep to right field that had trouble written all over it.

Then Luis Lara happened.

Lara crashed into the right-field fence but held on to make a spectacular catch and was able to get the ball in quickly to prevent the runner from tagging up to score. That catch swung the momentum back into the Brewers’ favor.

“I just knew, whatever happened happened, but I was going to find a way to make the play,” Lara said.

Hall closed out a scoreless top half of the 10th, setting up the heart of the Brewers order to deliver.

With Brice Turang as the Manfred Man on second base, Garrett Mitchell was immediately issued an intentional walk to bring up William Contreras. Contreras struck out, leaving one out and two on for Jake Bauers.

Bauers punched a single to left field; Turang was being waved home, the throw from Clemens was not quite in time to make the tag, and the Brewers survived with a walk-off winner.

“My first thought was ‘Oh my God, he’s gonna be out by a mile,” Bauers said postgame.

The Twins did challenge, but replay was quick to confirm, and the celebration was on at American Family Field.

“This was the best team win in a long, long time,” Pat Murphy said.

The Brewers had contributions from up and down the lineup. Ashby and Uribe weren’t particularly sharp, but they each had scoreless innings. Hall secured his first decision of the season. Andrew Vaughn got his first start at third base in five years and performed well. David Hamilton had a big RBI double that allowed this game to get to extras.

Even Jihwan Bae, who just arrived in Milwaukee this morning, dropped down two perfectly executed bunts, one for a base hit and one for a sacrifice, as he made his Brewers debut.

The Brewers were able to secure the series win and a 5-2 homestand. Now they’ll head back out to California for a week-long road trip against the Padres and Dodgers.

The Mets’ offense quickly shook off their dud in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, coming back with a massive day at PNC Park Sunday to secure their second straight series win. 

It was the first time they’d accomplished that feat since May. 

Bo Bichette reached base six times to lead the charge, but New York received contributions from up-and-down their lineup, scoring 11 runs on seven walks and 15 hits. 

“I thought there were really good at-bats overall,” interim manager Andy Green said. “They had some good stuff coming at us today, but I thought we took some really good swings and it was a good bounceback effort from yesterday.”

This continues what’s been an impressive stretch for the Mets’ offense. 

After breaking double-digits on Sunday, they’ve now scored a total of 42 runs in the six games since the trade deadline, averaging the most in the National League over that span (seven).

Behind that, they’ve gone a strong 5-1 opening the road trip against a pair of contenders. 

“It’s been nothing complicated,” Green explained. “Guys are grinding out at-bats -- those types of at-bats set you up to win baseball games, and it’s just good to see everyone fighting and competing during each of their at-bats.”

The Mets will now look to keep the momentum rolling into the final leg of their nine-game road trip as they head to Atlanta to face the NL East-leading Braves. 

They’ll have the benefit of sending out their talented young arms, and won’t have to contend with All-Star Chris Sale. 

New York is also 6-4 against their division rivals so far on the year, including a series victory over Atlanta at Citi Field in the closing days of July. 

Most things look easier when you score ten runs. The Orioles offense entered Sunday’s game with 11 runs scored total for the month of August. When all was said and done on Sunday, they’d nearly doubled that total, adding ten runs as they avoided a sweep at the hands of the Rangers with a 10-5 victory. The O’s exit the Lone Star State with a two game deficit for a wild card spot.

This was a nearly whole team effort. Every Oriole in the starting lineup got on base. Eight of the nine batters had at least one base hit, with only Gunnar Henderson missing out. Pete Alonso hit two homers for the first time as an Oriole, upping his total to 25 for the season. Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill homered. The team scored early and often, bringing runs across the plate in five of the game’s nine innings. They did not commit any errors. This was pretty good.

The game began with Henderson striking out. One of the few unfortunate things about this solid performance is Henderson was left out of it. Four of the next five Orioles after him got hits, with Dylan Beavers and Leody Taveras each collecting an RBI on theirs, giving the O’s an early 2-0 lead as they squared off against Rangers starter Kumar Rocker.

Cowser led off the second inning with a home run. Henderson drew his walk with one out, then scored as Alonso hit the first of his two home runs. The Orioles lead ballooned out to 5-0. As you already know if you were paying attention to the opening paragraph of this article, that would not be enough for the Orioles to win the game.

Based on his major league career to date, Sunday’s Orioles starter, Cade Povich, is not a confidence-inspiring pitcher. He showed some more of why in this game, giving back three runs and making the game interesting again for a little while. Povich had two outs and only a man on first before giving up a walk and then a three-run home run to Brandon Nimmo, the Rangers right fielder. In a flash, the Orioles led by just a 5-3 margin.

The Orioles answered right back in the next half inning with Alonso’s second home run of the day, a two-run shot that scored Henderson and left the Orioles up by four runs. The shortstop ended up on base after a fielder’s choice; he also stole second base, his ninth steal of the season.

Six of these runs were charged to Rocker, who was unable to get an out in the fourth inning. Rocker entered the game with a 4.08 ERA for the season, a 94 ERA+ that leaves him below average. Even so, this wasn’t a case of the Orioles rocking a complete scrub. They had a respectable outing against a respectable major leaguer.

With the Orioles back up by four, manager Craig Albernaz delivered a vote of no confidence in Povich, pulling the O’s starter before the fourth inning began even though Povich had only thrown 61 pitches. I probably would have left him in for longer, especially given that Povich coming out meant quite a while with the Orioles relievers nobody wants to see.

To my surprise and delight, Yaramil Hiraldo pitched two scoreless innings Alex Hoppe and Andrew Kittredge each added one more. Hoppe’s inning had a bit of drama, as he allowed two hits, but nobody crossed the plate. Texas didn’t score again until the bottom of the ninth, in the second inning of work of Albert Suárez. By then, the Orioles led by seven runs, and it didn’t matter all that much that Texas got two back in garbage time.

Beyond this game, Povich’s early exit looks like a sign that the Orioles are going to bounce him back to the minors, or at least to the bullpen, in favor of Chris Bassitt. The veteran righty had a good rehab start on Friday night that, as far as the box score shows, looks like it puts him in a good position to rejoin the Orioles rotation after two months on the injured list. Whether or not this turns out to be a good thing is something we’ll see over the last six weeks or so of the season.

Alonso batted five times in the game and reached base all five times. In addition to his two homers, he had a single and two walks. Mayo collected three hits, including a triple – his third in his last several games. Cowser, Taveras, and Jackson Holliday each had multi-hit games as well. If these guys are able to break out of their funks, all of that will help the Orioles try to fight their way back up the standings.

The Orioles next travel to Minnesota for a series against the Twins. This is one of the teams they still need to pass in the wild card standings. They have the chance to help themselves. They just have to play well. The opening game in the series is set for Monday night starting at 7:40. Trevor Rogers pitches for the Orioles, while the O’s will see a familiar face, Dean Kremer. In their last possible “revenge game” against Grayson Rodriguez, Rodriguez pitched well and the Orioles still won. Run that one again, fellas.

It is a longtime tradition on Camden Chat to nominate a Most Birdland Player after each Orioles victory. What is Most Birdland? Each person must decide for themselves. Sometimes this is the same as the most valuable player and other times it is not. Let us know your pick in the comments below.

The Phillies salvaged the final game of their three-game series with the Blue Jays thanks to Derek Hill’s walk-off single in the 12th inning. Hill’s heroics helped lessen the sting of a blown three run eighth inning lead that led to extras and having the winning run thrown out at home to end the 11th inning. This incredibly stupid ballgame wrapped up in a nice, crisp, three and a half hours. 

The day started off well, with Jesús Luzardo not allowing a baserunner until the fourth inning and Kyle Schwarber finally ending his 17-game home run drought with a three-run shot in the third.

Luzardo surrendered a run in the fourth on an RBI single from Alejandro Kirk after a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. double and wild pitch. The Blue Jays then climbed within one in the fifth, plating another run off of Luzardo with a Brett Bateman two out single with runners on the corners. 

But Schwarber came through again, blasting his second homer of the game in the bottom of the fifth to push the lead to 4-2. Alec Bohm tacked on a fifth run in the sixth with a two out RBI single that scored Bryson Stott from second. 

Luzardo went back out for the seventh at 87 pitches and a three-run lead and easily struck out the side on 13 pitches to end his day with 12 punch outs across seven innings with two runs allowed. 

The fun began in the eighth, when Orion Kerkering was the first man tasked with holding the lead for Luzardo. He retired the first two hitters with relative ease before allowing back to back singles to Kirk and Kazuma Okamoto. Ernie Clement then took a 95 MPH sinker to deep left field for an RBI double, cutting the lead to 5-3. With lefty Brooks Raley warming in the bullpen, Don Mattingly elected to leave Kerkering in the game to face the lefty hitting Andres Gimenez. Gimenez promptly repaid that decision with a back breaking single to right, scoring two runs and tying the game at 5-5 with two outs in the eighth inning. Kerkering was able to get Myles Straw to groundout to end the inning, but the damage was done as the boos rained down at Citizens Bank Park. 

Jhoan Duran worked around a walk and a single to pitch a scoreless ninth, thanks to a double play turned by Luis Arraez and Trea Turner. But the Phillies failed to score in the ninth, sending the game to extras yet again. Tim Mayza entered for the tenth and stranded the ghost runner, giving the Phillies a golden opportunity to win in the bottom of the tenth. Stott bunted ghost runner J.T. Realmuto over to third before Toronto elected to intentionally walk Brandon Marsh to face Bohm. He promptly popped out in foul territory before Hill lined out to right to send the game to the 11th. 

That’s where yet again the Phillies bullpen was able to strand the ghost runner, this time it was Raley entering the game three innings after he originally warmed up. Bohm somewhat redeemed himself on a great sliding play to catch a popped up bunt before Raley was able to retire the next two hitters, once again stranding the ghost runner. The Phillies half of the 11th started with Schwarber being intentionally walked and Turner popping up a bunt attempt. But Blue Jays pitcher Braydon Fisher dropped the ball, yet still recovered to throw Hill out at third to leave runners on first and second and one out. Bryce Harper then worked a walk to load the bases and the Phillies elected to use Garrett Stubbs as a pinch runner for Schwarber at third. Arraez lofted a ball to shallow right field, and Stubbs broke for home but was gunned down by Nathan Lukes, sending the game to the 12th. 

This time the Phillies bullpen could not strand the ghost runner, as Caleb Killian allowed a single to Bateman that gave Toronto runners on the corners with no outs. Jesús Sanchez grounded into a double play that was upheld after a review despite a Turner bobble, but the go ahead run scored on the play. Killian then got Kirk to pop up to end the inning with the Phillies now down a run.

The bottom of the 12th started with a single from Realmuto, putting runners at the corners with no outs. After a lengthy on-field transmitter related delay, Stott worked a 3-0 count before Jays pitcher Lazaro Estrada battled back to make it full. But Stott won the battle, singling to right to score ghost runner Arraez and re-tie the game at 6-6.

Marsh was able to move Realmuto to third with a deep fly ball, setting the Phillies up once again to win the ballgame if they could just get a ball out of the infield. With Bohm due up, Toronto manager John Schnedier elected to intentionally walk the struggling Bohm to load the bases with one out. Hill made him pay by singling up the middle on the second pitch he saw, delivering a walk-off win.

Sunday’s game between the Houston Astros and the San Diego Padres is a battle between two starting pitchers who are finally finding their footing in the rotation. Cristian Javier and Randy Vasquez have both looked sharper after a recent rough stretch. 

Both teams come into tonight’s game looking to secure a series win. The Astros won the opener 6-3, and the Padres took Saturday’s affair 3-2. The Houston bats took the night off as Michael King silenced them for six innings.

Scoring opportunities have been limited, as each game has been tightly contested.

Taking the mound: Cristian Javier (HOU) vs Randy Vasquez (SD)

The Astros will send Javier (1-2, 6.59 ERA) to the hill in the series finale. The club has been dealing with starting pitching depth all season. Javier spent time on the injured list with a shoulder strain. But he is healthy and beginning to pitch better after a slow start following his activation off the IL in July.

Javier posted a 3.79 ERA in July while splitting time between the bullpen and the starting rotation. At first, the right-hander was shaky with his control and velocity, which is a bad combination for a pitcher.

However, Javier began throwing in the mid-90s, as opposing teams could make solid contact off him. Astros manager Joe Espada was desperate for a pitcher to step up under pressure following multiple injuries to his starting rotation. His choices were limited, but he chose Javier for a spot start in late July. 

He delivered an outstanding performance that earned him another start. Javier limited the damage by showcasing great command with his cutter. He kept the ball low in the strike zone. 

Slowly, the Padres have revamped their starting rotation, as Vasquez (7-6, 4.19 ERA) has fortified his place with several quality outings in late July. The hope is he can provide added support in the chase for the final Wild-Card berth.

Friars manager Craig Stammen is hoping for an extended outing from Vasquez, who has trouble pitching deep into games. If not, it will put a tax on the bullpen that may have limited options for tonight’s game. Let’s hope Vasquez can duplicate his six-shutout-inning performance against the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this week.

Keep in mind, he is not a power pitcher. Vasquez must avoid contact, with only 65 strikeouts in 101.0 innings pitched. The right-hander relies on ground-ball outs and the field’s dimensions to keep a deep drive in play.

Vasquez should be aided by the early evening start. Once the sun sets, the marine layer coming off the bay should temper how far flyballs will travel in Petco Park. 

Both starting pitchers have found their game, so do not be surprised if we witness a well-pitched game this evening. Each starter wants to take advantage of the pitcher-friendly environment.

If Javier or Vasquez revert to their former self, you can expect a high-scoring affair. Both lineups are built to draw walks and fill the bases. One mistake to a power hitter could put a crooked number on the scoreboard. 

Today’s lineups

Despite the fact that the Atlanta Braves were hot coming into this wekeend’s series with the New York Yankees and also that the Yankees themselves continued to be mired in a rut at the plate since losing Aaron Judge, this was still going to be a tough series up there in the Bronx. It always tends to be tough for Atlanta no matter which part of New York that they’re visiting and this weekend’s results proved to be another example.

Despite the offensive woes, the Yankees are doing some serious pitching and it was on full display over the course of this weekend. Every run that the Braves scored was either scraped-and-clawed for or just a moment of brilliance via the homer. As such, Atlanta’s pitching staff needed to match New York’s level or this could’ve gone sideways. We ended up getting a series that was tight, tense and also weird at times. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Friday, July 7

Yankees 3, Braves 2

This one was (relatively) fun until it wasn’t! The story in the early portion of this contest was Tyler Mahle showing Braves Country just what he had to offer as a starting pitcher. Mahle proceeded to throw six shutout innings while striking out nine batters and going stride-for-stride with old friend and current Yankees starter Max Fried. The game stayed scoreless through seven innings largely because these two dominated while they were out there.

Circumstances changed in the eighth inning and initially it seemed like it would be the Braves starting the series off with a statement win. The deadlock was broken in the eighth inning by none other than Austin Riley, whose leadoff dinger broke the deadlock and then Matt Olson seemingly provided some insurance in the ninth inning when he led off that frame with a dinger of his own. Life was good, life was grand!

Then Raisel Iglesias entered the game for the save and the shakiness that he dealt with against the Marlins earlier this week followed him up to New York City. Iggy did get the leadoff man out which should’ve elicited a sigh of relief but instead, he ended up with George Lombard Jr. at third base thanks to a throwing error that was nobody’s fault but his own after he attempted to throw out Lombard at first instead of eating what would’ve been a tough play. Still, Iglesias was one out away from escaping with the save until he stumbled against Austin Wells for a double that put the Yankees on the board. Amed Rosario got on with a walk and then the recently-struggling Ben Rice came through with an RBI single to make it 2-2 and eventually send us to extras once Dylan Dodd finally put out the fire.

After Luis García Jr. decided to torment the Braves as a Yankees player (after doing so as a Nationals player not too long ago) by making a spectacular running catch to end Atlanta’s half of the tenth inning, Ryan McMahon went ahead and delivered the final blow by hitting a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out to end a game that the Braves seemingly had in their back pocket. Blah.

Saturday, July 8

Yankees 5, Braves 4

Let’s fast-forward to the fifth inning. It’s 2-1 Braves heading into the bottom half of the inning and Chris Sale is moving along merrily. That changes immediately after George Lombard Jr. gets on with a leadoff walk after he managed to get two straight pitches overturned that home plate umpire Dan Merzel had initially called strikes. Sale’s dander was already up as a result of that and it was surely high after the light-hitting Spencer Jones picked this moment to hit his first big-league triple in order to plate Lombard and tie the game at 2-2.

Then, while Sale was dealing with Austin Wells with one out, Merzel called a balk on Sale and that allowed Jones to score the go-ahead run from third base. Sale was absolutely livid and Walt Weiss did his job by making sure that he went out there and got ejected instead of Sale. The apparent reasoning was that Sale didn’t declare that he’d be pitching out of the windup after having declared for the batter before Wells. Weird, but okay!

Anyways, Sale was done after six solid innings (which he ended with a 99.2 mph heater) and the Yankees celebrated his departure by giving Victor Mederos a very rude welcome to the game in the seventh. George Lombard Jr. once again made his presence felt as he hit an opposite-field blast to make it 4-2. Ronald Acuña Jr. countered with a dinger of his own in the eighth inning but then Ben Rice continued his unfortunately-timed revitalization by homering off of Danny Young to lead off the eighth. Atlanta nearly got something going in the ninth after Dominic Smith plated Mike Yastrzemski with a single but that was as close as they got and the series was dropped.

Sunday, July 9

Braves 2, Yankees 1

This one got off to a hilarious start because Chris Sale decided to let Dan Merzel hear some more of his thoughts about what happened during the previous afternoon. In a genius (and deranged) move, Sale got himself thrown out before Sunday’s game even started. Better to get thrown out of a game you’re not playing in than to have gotten the ol’ heave-ho while he was pitching on Saturday, right?

Anyways, I highly doubt that this fired up the Braves or anything like that but Grant Holmes apparently must still have a massive chip on his shoulder because he delivered another strong start. Fresh off of mitigating the Marlins for six innings earlier this week, Holmes proceeded to blank the Yanks as well for another six scoreless innings.

Holmes only struck out two batters but he only gave up three hits while he was out there. Considering how much of a problem the home runs have been for Holmes this season, the fact that he was able to keep New York so quiet (their own offensive struggles, aside) in that ballpark made for very impressive viewing.

The Braves needed Holmes to do what he did because Cam Schlittler was dealing while he was on the mound. Atlanta was left chasing ghosts until the seventh inning, which is when Matt Olson once again delivered a breakthrough blow. He turned around a 100-mph heater (Schlittler’s tenth pitch of the day that officially hit 100 on the gun — he had 12 other pitches that could’ve been rounded up to 100) and laser-beamed it into the seats in right field for a solo homer. Trent Grisham then responded with a dinger of his own off of Didier Fuentes in the bottom of the eighth inning and just like that, they were bound for extra innings in the Bronx. Raisel Iglesias did bounce back with a very quiet ninth inning that got the Braves to extras and that’s got to be mentioned.

The tenth inning ended up being pretty straightforward! Michael Harris II brought home Ha-Seong Kim with a leadoff single and was called upon to make sure that that one run stuck. This time, Tyler Kinley got the call to finish things off and this time, there was no drama or issues as he mowed down the Yankees in order to salvage a win for the Braves in the Bronx.

The best way that I feel like I can describe this series is that it felt like it was a big-time boxing match where it went the distance and was decided by the judges. There was very little separating these two ballclubs over the course of the weekend and it was extremely easy to envision a world where the Braves could’ve come out of the Bronx with the series win. It also could’ve gone incredibly poorly with the Braves getting swept, so I’d say that despite the disappointment from the first two games, Atlanta shouldn’t feel terrible about at least avoiding the sweep.

With that being said, this was definitely a frustrating one to watch. Iggy’s meltdown on Friday, the ump show on Saturday (and right before Sunday) and then the pitchers’ duel on Sunday definitely made for some tense viewing throughout and one of those series where it felt more like a grind than anything filled with thrills. Still, you’ve got to give props to the pitching staff for making sure that the Braves stayed in it while New York’s pitching staff seemingly dictated things throughout the week.

Tyler Mahle made a strong debut in a Braves uniform, Chris Sale was Chris Sale and Grant Holmes has continued to pitch like he’s got a chip on his shoulder. If Holmes in particular can continue to pitch like this then that’d be huge for the Braves. Now would certainly be the ideal time for Holmes to continue being able to get deep into games and maybe all the speculation surrounding the rotation could provide plenty of motivation for Atlanta going forward.

We’ll see if that’s the case as we start to get into the middle portion of July. Bryce Elder will be getting the ball to start the series against the New York Mets and hopefully he’ll be able to pick up where he left off and the Braves will be able to show that they can beat the other New York team for once. For now, Atlanta’s coming back home after an eventful three days in the Bronx and looking to put their feet back on the gas.