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Teoscar Hernández stepped into exactly the kind of situation the Dodgers had failed to capitalize on during the past couple of games: runners in scoring position. And with one out in the ninth inning, the Dodgers were running out of chances for a comeback.

Hernández worked a full count against St. Louis closer Riley O’Brien with runners on first and second. Then he got a sinker up and over the middle of the plate, a pitch he could drive. And he did.

Hernández lined it into the left-center field gap. Tommy Edman scored easily, and Mookie Betts slid across the plate head first as the throw came in high and too late.

The Dodgers walked off the Cardinals with a 3-2 victory Thursday, narrowly avoiding a series sweep at Dodger Stadium.

Read more:What Shohei Ohtani’s latest injury scare reveals about Dodgers' late-season plans

“We needed it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously for seven innings, it didn’t look good at all. Then we found a way to scratch one across. But a win’s a win, however it looks.”

Before Hernández’s walk-off double, the Dodgers (83-57) had taken 26 at-bats with runners in scoring position over two games. Only one of those had resulted in a hit.

Hernández, however, unlocked something on a long fly out he hit in Detroit on Saturday.

“It’s just the way my body was reacting, was more under control,” he said. “I was able to notice everything that I was doing, even though it was an out. …That was the swing that is leading to all the good results that I’ve been having lately.”

Hernández, who entered this series with a .668 OPS against right-handed pitchers, had been struggling for so long that Roberts contemplated a left-field platoon.

“I told Dave, if you feel like you have to use somebody else in there, just do it,” Hernández said. “But know that I am going to keep working and I’m going to try to be ready for the times that you need me.”

On Sunday in Detroit, Hernández hit a home run off Framber Valdez. And when rosters expanded on Sept. 1, the Dodgers decided against bringing up an outfielder who could share playing time with Hernández, betting that he could end his slump.

Hernández went six for 13 in three games against the Cardinals (70-71), with Roberts remarking it was “as good as I’ve seen him versus [right-handers] since April.”

“I’ve always said that we’re better when he’s in the lineup,” Roberts said. “But performance certainly matters, and this series, albeit a small sample, was really good. As you get to the postseason and towards the end of the season, we’ve got to start figuring out who we can play, who we can count on, who’s dependable. And the at-bats he’s taken these last three games, really good.”

Hernández and Edman — hitting leadoff in place of Shohei Ohtani, who got the day off while dealing with a nagging biceps problem — were the only Dodgers with hits Thursday. Edman led the team with four, but Hernández’ second knock was the most important one.

“It was huge to finally get that big hit,” Edman said of Hernández. “We were kind of pressing a little bit in those first two games. Everybody was kind of trying to do too much in the big spots. Teo came through huge in that moment. Just can’t say enough about him, and that was just such a huge at-bat, and able to kind of steal that win today.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

28 years ago, American fell in love with a half-human, half-vampire leather-clad vigilante pledged to fight the undead. And Janzen Tidwell’s fell in love with the middle name “Blade.”

Wesley Snipes’ character is a Daywalker, meaning that unlike the vampires he hunts, Blade doesn’t suffer the debilitating effects of sunlight that vampires face. It gives him a valuable tactical advantage against the bloodsucking hordes, especially since he’s also unaffected by garlic or silver.

Sadly, that is not the case for Blade Tidwell of the San Francisco Giants, who has seen his team lose both games he’s started during the day. Tidwell gave up six runs in 4.1 innings and walked five against the Colorado Rockies in a 13-7 loss August 16, in a game that began at 1:05 PM. Thursday in Pittsburgh, Tidwell walked in a run and let another in on a bases-loaded walk in the first inning, ultimately driving a stake in the heart of his team’s chances to win, in a 5-2 loss.

Although, if the Giants had been wielding wooden stakes Thursday, they would have flailed ineffectually, delivering weak contact to the vampire’s chest or missing his heart entirely. They faced six different Pittsburgh Pirates relievers and collected only two hits, one of which didn’t leave the infield. Giants hitters did draw five walks and a HBP, which led to their only rally, a two-run effort in the 7th where Jonah Cox and Turner Hill drew walks ahead of Jung Hoo Lee’s pinch-hit double.

That was the only inning where the Giants got a runner past first base. Lee’s single cut the Pirates lead to 4-1, but runners on second and third with no one out yielded just one more run, on an RBI groundout from Nate Furman.

If you’re thinking the Giants are walking in a lot of runs this week, you’re right. It’s their third straight game with a bases-loaded walk, though they only had a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in this one. Logan Webb did it twice on Tuesday and Landen Roupp did it on Wednesday.

Still, Tidwell managed to stay out of trouble for the rest of his day, inducing his final batter to hit into a double play to end the 5th. The 6th inning was when the Giants once again forgot how to catch or throw the ball.

Jake Mangum got his revenge for getting drilled, sort of, when he tried to bunt Oneil Cruz over to second. Reiver Sanmartin threw off-target, Bryce Eldridge alligator-armed the catch as Mangum sped down the line, and Cruz came around to score as the ball rolled away.

Mangum would come around to score when Jared Triolo beat out the relay throw on a double play, a call only confirmed after a Pirates replay challenge. Triolo would drive in Mangum with a sacrifice fly in the 8th off Ryan Walker, completing a very strange game where he had two RBIs and a stolen base despite going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Khristian Curtis (1-0) got the first win of his career by throwing 3+ innings in his third big-league appearance. He did get tagged for the Giants’ only two runs, but when a starter doesn’t go five innings, the official scorer has a lot of discretion in who gets the win. Though the trio of Y0han Ramirez, Luke Weaver and Mason Montgomery all though a perfect inning, Curtis gets the decision on pure volume.

Rafael Devers saw his 10-game hitting streak end and struck out three times, reaching 154 whiffs on the season. It doesn’t really matter what kind of outs Devers is making, and he’s still well below last year’s 192 K’s, but it’s really a bummer to watch. Speaking of excessive strikeouts, congratulations to strikeout aficionado Eugenio Suarez, who passed his citizenship test this week!

That absence shouldn’t keep him from passing Justin Upton and moving into 10th place on the all-time strikeout list before the end of the season.

Perhaps realizing that next year’s Giants may end up with a plethora of young outfielders, Jonah Cox showed off his versatility by moving from center field to second base in the 8th inning. Cox successfully fielded the one ground ball hit in his direction and covered first on a sac bunt — and caught the ball!

Cox probably has a leg up by being both the fastest guy on the team and a right-handed hitter, considering that Lee, Hill, Drew Gilbert, and Pacific Coast League Player of the Month Bo Davidson all hit from the left side. But it certainly doesn’t hurt his value.

After all, a hybrid outfielder-infielder is almost as valuable as a daywalker, with just one downside. Garlic can protect you from a vampire, but Cox is going to need to wear a cup to protect against bad-hop ground balls on the infield.

Breaking down Phillies-Braves as September starts to feel like October originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Oftentimes, we associate playoff baseball with October.

But in Philadelphia in 2026, it feels a little different. Once the calendar turned to August, it felt like the Phillies hit another gear.

Coming out of the All-Star break, after hosting the festivities all week in their own city, they were sluggish. Then, they put together the second-most wins in a month in franchise history.

Twenty-one victories.

And that has made September feel like October because the club now has two goals before the postseason. It’s no longer just about climbing the Wild Card standings. It’s also about chasing down the Braves, who the Phillies will welcome to town for four games this weekend.

The Phillies trail Atlanta by four games with 22 remaining for both teams. Citizens Bank Park should have a playoff-like atmosphere.

The Braves stand at 83-57, tied for the second-most wins in baseball. They’ve sustained that success throughout the season, especially out of the gate.

Rob Thomson’s Phillies played them six times in April. They lost five of six, and after their April 26 loss in Atlanta, the Phillies fell to 9-19 and 10½ games out of first place.

Fast-forward more than four months and the Phillies are 18 games over .500 at 79-61 heading into this head-to-head matchup.

A wild turnaround.

FRIDAY’S HEAVYWEIGHT DUEL

It’ll be a marquee matchup out of the gate when Atlanta’s Chris Sale and his 2.06 ERA take the mound against Cristopher Sánchez on Friday night.

These two have faced off before. Sánchez allowed three runs, all unearned, over six innings on April 18, while Sale countered with seven innings of one-run ball in the Braves’ 3-1 win.

Sale put together six more scoreless frames against the Phillies a week later, allowing just one hit and striking out nine in another Atlanta win.

The 37-year-old southpaw has shown zero signs of slowing down. He posted a 2.00 ERA in both July and August and enters Friday well-rested. His last start came eight days ago, when he threw a complete-game, 11-strikeout shutout against the Dodgers.

There’s truly no “great” attack plan against Sale.

One positive for the Phillies, though, is how far they’ve come against left-handed pitching. They’ve posted a .751 OPS against southpaws, sixth-best in baseball, since interim manager Don Mattingly took over on April 27.

Before that, under Thomson, they ranked last in batting average (.179), on-base percentage (.270), slugging percentage (.293) and OPS (.563) against lefties.

Sánchez is coming off one of his better starts, too. He had gone seven consecutive outings without completing seven innings before throwing seven scoreless last Saturday in Anaheim.

He enters Friday as baseball’s leader in pitcher WAR and tied for the MLB lead with 16 wins.

MORE PITCHING MATCHUPS

Saturday’s matchup features another left-hander the Phillies have already seen this season.

Martín Pérez threw six scoreless innings against them on April 17, but the Phillies will counter this time with Zack Wheeler. Wheeler is coming off an encouraging outing in Anaheim, where he completed six innings for the first time since July 21 and allowed one run.

On Sunday, Aaron Nola faces Tyler Mahle. Nola’s 4.93 season ERA remains inflated by his difficult first half, but he has posted a 3.43 ERA across 11 starts since the beginning of July.

The home run remains the concern. He has allowed 32 this season, including one in seven of his last eight starts.

Mahle’s 4.25 overall ERA is also misleading. Since joining Atlanta, he has allowed four earned runs over 23⅔ innings, good for a 1.52 ERA.

The series concludes Monday with Jesús Luzardo against Bryce Elder. Luzardo, who was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for August, has 209 strikeouts and a 3.02 ERA. Elder enters with a 4.11 ERA.

WHO’S HOT AND WHO’S NOT

For Atlanta, Ronald Acuña Jr. was slumping to the point that manager Walt Weiss gave him a day off to slow things down. He had struggled following his second injured-list stint of the season.

But over his last seven games, the star outfielder is 10-for-27, good for a .370 average and an OPS north of .900.

Michael Harris II and catchers Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy are also swinging hot bats, but slugger Matt Olson is ice cold. Over his last 60 at-bats, Olson is slashing .167/.219/.250 with just one home run.

On the Phillies’ side, Bryce Harper has a 35-game on-base streak, a stretch in which he has slashed .345/.494/.588.

An absurd amount of success.

Edmundo Sosa is 7-for-15 after a West Coast trip in which he slugged two go-ahead homers in the seventh inning or later. He should be in the lineup against Sale and Pérez.

Kyle Schwarber, meanwhile, has been struggling. His last 30 games haven’t looked like him outside of his electrifying walk-off homer against the Cardinals. He is batting just .183 with a .624 OPS over that span.

The off day, paired with his success against southpaws this season, could help Schwarber get back on track ahead of the biggest series of the season.

THE PHILLIES’ KEY

The patient approach the Phillies have authored and leaned on since the end of July will be tested this weekend.

Over the last month, the Braves’ pitching staff has produced the fourth-highest opponent whiff rate at 27.4 percent and the sixth-highest opponent chase rate.

The Phillies have posted the fourth-lowest whiff rate and 11th-lowest chase rate in that span, a significant improvement from where they were entering August.

Most of Atlanta’s arms have plus stuff and rely on generating soft contact and chase, so this will be a strong test.

As always, if the Phillies begin to see pitches they can handle, they will likely shift to a more aggressive approach. They made a similar adjustment against the Mariners’ fastball-heavy rotation, culminating in their series-finale win over Bryan Woo.

Interestingly, Phillies pitching leads baseball in opponent whiff rate over the last month and ranks fourth in opponent chase rate.

Waiting out either bullpen has not been a productive strategy lately, either. The Braves carry baseball’s best bullpen ERA at 2.03 since August 20, while the Phillies rank third at 2.18.

Something has to give, but it begins with the Phillies’ bats stepping up again.

THE MATH

A four-game series creates a wide range of possibilities.

If the Phillies sweep, the two teams will be tied atop the NL East by Monday afternoon.

If the Phillies win three of four, Atlanta’s lead will be cut to two games.

A split keeps the deficit at four. Losing three of four pushes it to six. An Atlanta sweep would leave the Phillies eight games back with only 18 remaining.

Then there’s the tiebreaker.

Atlanta owns a 5-1 advantage in the season series with seven meetings remaining. Because MLB no longer uses a Game 163 to break ties, the Phillies must win six of those seven games to take the season series.

That means they need to win at least three of four this weekend just to keep the tiebreaker alive.

If the Phillies win three of four, they would need to sweep the final three-game series. If they sweep this weekend, they would need to win at least two of the final three.

There is still nearly a month left in the regular season, but by Monday afternoon, the race for the NL East could look completely different.

Their next meeting will come when the Phillies visit Atlanta for their final three games of the season series from Sept. 11–13.

It was supposed to be a pie stroll.

Another starting pitcher asked too much of the bullpen behind him, the lineup struck out 18 times, and Dan Wilson eventually got ejected in the Mariners 6-4 loss to the A’s on Thursday. Julio Rodríguez also stole three bases to become the first player ever to begin a career with five consecutive 20-20 seasons. But the personal milestone went uncelebrated, as the Mariners dropped their series opener against baseball’s worst team. It will not be a perfect September in Seattle after all.

Anderson got the start for the third time in his career. I was curious how long his leash would be. He’d never thrown more than 80 pitches in a game the minors, then he threw 81 in his debut (which was one or two or several too many). He threw 85 in his second start, though couldn’t quite make it through five full innings before getting the hook. The Mariners are desperate for length from their rotation these days, as they try to limit exposure for the worst bullpen in the majors.

Anderson was fairly efficient in getting through 4 2/3 innings at just 64 pitches, though I wouldn’t describe him as better than OK. He gave up a solo homer in the first on a middle-middle fastball to Zack Gelof. In the second, he gave up a leadoff walk and a pair of singles to load the bases with nobody out; he limited the damage to just one run with a double play and a K. He gave up a leadoff single in the third, got another double play, gave up another single, then got a pop out to escape. Then he breezed through the fourth and the first two outs in the fifth. Again, it was pretty OK.

That’s when the A’s lineup turned over for a third time. Anderson walked Henry Bolte on four pitches, gave up a rocket single to Gelof, allowed him to steal second, and gave up another rocket single to Lawrence Butler to plate a pair of runs. The A’s took a 4-3 lead.

Anderson eventually finished the fifth inning at 79 pitches. His day was done: five innings, four runs, seven hits, two walks, three strikeouts, and eight whiffs. It never felt easy. There were flashes of his pedigree at times, with the occasional big curveball freezing its victim, or a slider inducing a whiff way out of the zone, or a fastball somehow blowing by several batters at just 93 mph. Unfortunately, he also completely lost the zone at times, and caught too much of it at others. The A’s struggled to square him up, but they rarely struggled to put the ball in play.

“Tonight doesn’t hold up to the standard I put on myself and my teammates put on me. Just a little unacceptable tonight,” Anderson said postgame. “The [in]ability to put dudes away when I should have and walks is not really part of what I am as a pitcher. So I’ve got to clean that up.”

I have less heartburn about the Mariners letting Anderson work through these types of growing pains in the majors now that they have a couple extra arms available in the bullpen, to at least ensure his shorter outings don’t butterfly effect their way into Weston Wilson pitching. 

But… we quickly saw why the Mariners need starters to work deeper into games. Carlos Vargas came on for the sixth and gave up a solo homer to Donovan Walton (of all people) to make it 5-3. Vargas then hit Brian Serven (who?), which led to warnings for both dugouts, which led to a Dan Wilson’s latest “Portraits in Exasperation,” which led to Wilson watching the rest of the game from the clubhouse. Vargas gave up another single but escaped without more damage.

Gabe Speier was great in the seventh, striking out the side in order. But Eduard Bazardo couldn’t manage a clean eighth, giving up a run on a walk and three singles. Hoby Milner gave another run on a pair of doubles in the ninth. The A’s collected seven runs on 14 hits and three walks. The Mariners have had the worst pitching staff in the majors for two months. Fair or not, Anderson is now part of it.

The offense was nearly good in this one. They picked up nine hits, drew eight walks, and generally made the A’s miserable at the plate. They also struck out 18 times, and couldn’t seem to collect on their incessant threats.

They hopped on A’s starter Jack Perkins immediately. Randy Arozerana walked to lead off the first, Julio doubled to score him, Cal Raleigh singled to make it two, Cole Young singled behind him, and Lazaro Montes singled to make it three runs in the first. J.P. Crawford loaded the bases with a walk to bring the ninth man to the plate, and it looked like they might end this one early. But Brock Rodden went down swinging on an admittedly pretty cool dropped third strike play that you don’t see a lot, and the threat was over.

That wound up being the first of several missed opportunities. The Mariners got a pair of walks in the second but couldn’t score. They got a pair of walks in the third but couldn’t score. They successfully chased Perkins after just three innings, but they ultimately let him off easy, with seven of his nine outs coming via the K.

After losing the lead in the fifth, the Mariners clawed a run back in the sixth. Arozarena doubled down the left field line, Canzone singled behind him, and Julio made it 5-4 on what should have been a hit, if not for a spectacular effort from Alika Williams to keep the ball on the infield.

But as the bullpen made the task taller and taller, the lineup came up shorter and shorter. The Mariners started a two out rally in the seventh; Arozarena struck out to end it, incidentally throwing his bat down the third base line. They started a one out rally in the eighth; neither Josh Naylor nor Cole Young could deliver. They went in order in the ninth, losing 7-4.

As Jake Mailhot noted in the series preview, the A’s have been the worst team in the majors for quite some time. This was the first game in the final stretch of the season, where the Mariners face the easiest strength of schedule in the majors. That would seem ideal, given they need to play just about perfect the rest of the way if they want to win the division, or even finish with a winning record. They even had a bit of momentum, stealing a series in Boston to begin September with a perfect 2-0 record. Everything was aligned for a miraculous comeback, the one we’ve been waiting for the last five months. But no step forward goes unpunished in this 2026 Mariners season.

It was supposed to be a pie stroll!

BALTIMORE — Adley Rutschman had only positive things to say about his former teammates.

Then he delivered a blow to their postseason hopes.

Rutschman homered twice in his return to Camden Yards, hitting solo shots in the first and sixth innings for the Boston Red Sox in a 6-5 win over Baltimore on Thursday night.

The loss left the Orioles 1 ¹/₂ games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League.

“That’s a heck of a way to make a return,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “That was awesome.”

Rutschman received a standing ovation from the crowd — and from the Baltimore dugout — when he came to the plate with two outs in the first.

Then he slugged a 1-1 pitch from Brandon Young over the wall in right field.

It was the All-Star catcher’s 10th homer of the season and second since being traded from the Orioles to the Red Sox in early August. He added another homer in the sixth to cut Baltimore’s lead to 3-2.

Rutschman also received a video tribute between the first and second innings, and he got another big ovation despite having already done some damage offensively for his new team.

“All of it was special, a true testament to them as an organization,” Rutschman said after the game. “They do it right.”

Rutschman hit two homers for the Orioles against Boston on April 24.

He’s the first major league player to have a multihomer game on both sides of the same matchup in the same season, according to OptaSTATS.

Rutschman has battled elbow issues of late, but he was back in the lineup after missing the previous three games. He’s only batting .193 since the trade, but perhaps this is the start of a more productive stretch run.

Baltimore drafted Rutschman No. 1 overall in 2019. His arrival in the major leagues in 2022 was part of a significant turnaround in which the Orioles ultimately won the AL East in 2023 and made the playoffs in 2024.

Nevertheless, the last two years have been a good deal less successful. Though Rutschman made the All-Star team for the third time this year, the Orioles traded him to Boston just before the deadline.

“A lot of memories, a lot of positive experiences. The people in Baltimore have always treated me with an unbelievable amount of respect and love, and I’ve always felt that when I’ve been here,” Rutschman said before the game. “So just a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Rutschman is now in better position to make the playoffs. Boston is almost certain to qualify, currently holding the second wild card. The Orioles could still sneak in, but right now they are in last place in the AL East.

So there was a decent amount at stake once the pregame reunions were over.

“He couldn’t help himself. He stopped into the clubhouse quickly,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said before the game. “A lot of hugs, a lot of crap talk going back and forth. It was good to see him.”

The Dodgers stared in the eyes of a third straight defeat, but a walk-off double by Teoscar Hernández lifted the Dodgers to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.

The Cardinals were the first to strike against Tarik Skubal, as after St. Louis put the first two men on with a pair of singles, Joshua Báez smacked the third single of the inning through the right side to bring home José Fermín.

Skubal managed to work a scoreless second inning with a pair of bookend strikeouts while leaving two men on, but the Cardinals broke through in the top of the third with a pair of two-out singles from Leo Bernal and Ramón Urías, plating Iván Herrera and doubling the Cardinal lead. Skubal found himself in a groove over his next two innings, but once again put two men on in top of the sixth inning. After striking out Nathan Church for the second out of the inning, Dave Roberts went to the bullpen, pulling the left-hander after 5 2/3 innings.

The Cardinals accounted for 10 hits against Skubal— all singles— which tied his career high for the most hits allowed in a single start. It was the first time Skubal couldn’t complete six full innings since he tossed five against the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 11. The Cardinals wouldn’t get an extra-base hit until Jordan Walker’s double against Evan Phillips in the top of the seventh inning.

For a Dodgers team that struggled to hit with guys in scoring position the game prior, Thursday’s matchup replicated those same misfortunes. The Dodgers scratched across a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the first inning, third inning and fifth inning against rookie Quinn Mathews, but each time, the offense found a way to be their own obstacle. The Dodgers were able to tack on one run against Mathews, with a wild pitch to Freddie Freeman in the fifth inning sailing past Herrera to plate Tommy Edman in the fifth.

The Dodgers continued to trend in the wrong direction in the bottom of the eighth inning, as they had the bases loaded against right-hander George Soriano. Soriano got Dalton Rushing to go down swinging for the final out to help the Cardinals escape trouble and send the Dodgers to a 1-26 (.038) clip with runners in scoring position their two most recent games.

Tommy Edman finished Thursday with four hits against his old ballclub, and the switch-hitter collected eight hits across 15 at-bats over the three games. His fourth hit was a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning to put the tying run on first base against Riley O’Brien. Mookie Betts would follow Edman with a walk to put both the tying and go-ahead runners on for Teoscar Hernández. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Hernández punched a sinker into the left-center field gap, scoring both and saving the Dodgers from the jaws of defeat. The Dodgers now have six walk-off wins on the season.

The Dodgers and Atlanta Braves are now both four games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in the National League, with the Braves holding the tiebreaker after sweeping the Dodgers in Atlanta.

Game particulars

• WP—Brock Stewart (1-2): 2/3 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts
• LP—Riley O’Brien (3-7): 1/3 IP, 2 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers continue their homestand with a three-game weekend series against the Washington Nationals beginning Friday (7:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Jackson Kent faces Blake Snell.

The Athletics played spoiler with a 7-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners in a nearly three-and-a-half-hour series opener. The A’s pitching staff overcame eight walks with 18 strikeouts, while the offense scored early and late in the team’s 55th victory of the season.

Gelof Lifts Off Early

The A’s took the lead immediately against Mariners starter Kade Anderson. The second batter of the game, left fielder Zack Gelof, hit his 16th home run of the season, a solo shot to right-center field, putting the A’s up 1-0 before the Mariners came to bat.

Back and Forth We Go

The Mariners answered right back. A’s starter Jack Perkins walked Seattle’s leadoff hitter Randy Arozarena, who proceeded to score on Julio Rodríguez’s RBI single. The next batter, Cal Raleigh, hit an RBI single, putting the Mariners up 2-1. With two outs, Lazaro Montes hit an RBI single, bringing home the Mariners’ third run of the first inning.

Seattle sent all nine batters to the plate in the first inning, forcing Perkins to throw 40 pitches. The inning could have been worse had A’s catcher Brian Serven not made a smart play to record the third out at home after a wild pitch.

A’s GIDP Merchants

Seeking a response of their own, the A’s first three batters reached in the bottom of the second, setting up a bases-loaded no-out opportunity.

What transpired next was not surprising to anyone following the A’s this season. Shortstop Alika Williams grounded into a double play, bringing home the visitors’ second run of the game, but grinding the rally to a halt. Anderson then struck out Max Muncy to escape the jam with his team still leading.

In the third inning, Gelof hit into the A’s MLB-high 116th double play of the season, while right fielder Lawrence Butler extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Perkins’ command issues continued, but he worked through traffic to complete two scoreless innings after the three-run first.

Perkins was done after three innings. He allowed three runs on four hits, striking out seven while walking five. That combination highlights the right-hander’s talent, but also the work he needs to do to harness his stuff.

A’s Turn the Tides

The A’s generated a two-out rally in the fifth inning against Anderson. With runners on second and third, Butler lined a two-run single up the middle to give the A’s a 4-3 lead.

Right-hander Scott Blewett pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts in relief of Perkins.

A’s Add On

In the sixth inning, the Mariners turned to their bullpen with right-handed reliever Carlos Vargas replacing Anderson. With one out, pinch-hitter Donovan Walton hit his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot to right-center field that extended the Athletics’ lead to 5-3.

Lead Held For Now

The Mariners opened the bottom of the sixth with two straight hits against new A’s reliever Chris Roycroft. Arozarena scored Seattle’s fourth run on Julio Rodríguez’s RBI force-out. Williams made a nice stop on the play to get at least one out. Roycroft retired the next two hitters, stranding the tying run on second base.

Roycroft got the first two outs of the seventh before letting the next two hitters reach. Right-hander Luis Medina entered and struck out Arozarena to end the inning, stranding the tying run at third.

Insurance Runs!

Seeking insurance runs, Jeff McNeil led off the eighth inning with a single against Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo and advanced to second when Walton walked. With two outs, Muncy grounded an RBI single to left field, scoring McNeil and restoring the A’s two-run lead. The visitors had a chance to score more, but Gelof grounded out with the bases loaded.

Medina returned for the bottom of the eighth. He walked two batters, raising the A’s pitchers total to eight walks tonight. The Mariners wasted another scoring chance as Medina locked in to complete a scoreless inning.

The A’s scored a seventh run in the ninth inning against left-hander Hoby Milner on back-to-back doubles by Jonah Heim and McNeil.

Left-hander Hogan Harris retired Seattle in order in the bottom of the ninth, securing his 14th save of the season and giving Blewett his first win in the majors this year.

The Athletics will look to win their third straight game tomorrow night. Rookie right-hander Kade Morris will start for the A’s, while the Mariners will counter with right-hander Logan Gilbert.

The St. Louis Cardinals were not intimidated to be facing off with Tarik Skubal and the Dodgers. They came out of the gate swinging – literally – and Quinn Mathews did his part to give the Cardinals a fighting chance Thursday night in Los Angeles. They came so close to sweeping the Dodgers, but the last half-inning of the game would betray them.

St. Louis jumped on Skubal in inning 1. I don’t know this for a fact, but I suspect there was a strategy to try to drive up Tarik’s pitch count. José Fermín singled on the 7th pitch of his at-bat leading off the first. Iván Herrera followed that with a single of his own on the 6th pitch he saw giving the Cardinals runners on first and third with nobody out. After Jordan Walker struck out on a high fastball, Joshua Báez did not swing for the fences, but instead smartly drove a ball through the right side of the infield for a single giving the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.

It looked like it might develop into something bigger as Leo Bernal barreled the first pitch he saw, but the laser beam off his bat went directly into Mookie Betts glove at short which doubled off Herrera at second as he wandered too far off of the base.

Tarik Skubal’s pitch count reached into the 50’s by the top of the 3rd inning and the Cardinals bats were making almost constant contact and it resulted in another run. Herrera led off the top of the 3rd with a single. Three batters later, Leo Bernal smacked a firm single to center giving St. Louis runners at first and second with two outs. Ramón Urías came up with a clutch two-out single to left which scored Herrera giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.

Quinn Mathews ended up in a jam in the bottom of the 3rd inning not all of his own making. The official scorer gave Tommy Edman a single leading off the bottom of the 3rd, but the reality is it was the result of a lack of communication between the infield and right field which has been problematic as of late. Mathews did strike out Mookie Betts for the first out, but Teoscar Hernandez added a single giving the Dodgers runners at first and second with just one out. After Freddie Freeman flew out to left, Quinn walked Will Smith to load the bases. It’s a good thing that the soft liner from the next batter Rojas ended up in Ramon Urias glove at third to end the inning with no Dodger runs scored – just the way we like it.

Potential trouble again reared its head in the bottom of the 5th inning when Tommy Edman led off with a single. Quinn Mathews then walked Mookie Betts to give the Dodgers runners at first and second with no one out. Teoscar Hernandez grounded into a fielder’s choice with the force at second, but no double play. That brought up the always dangerous Freddie Freeman. It wasn’t Freeman that knocked in the first LA run, but a ball that got away from Pedro Pagés to the backstop for a passed ball and the Cardinals lead cut in half at 2-1. Mathews was able to nurse a groundout out of Freeman for the second out and then escaped the inning when Will Smith flew out to Nathan Church to end the inning with his pitch count barely below 100.

Quinn Mathews final line for the night was solid and probably could have been even better if a couple of defensive plays had been made behind him that weren’t. He gave St. Louis 5 innings allowing just 4 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 4 and walking 4. The high number of walks is the only real wart on his effort Thursday night.

Thursday night was the perfect example of why Tarik Skubal is so good. The Cardinals collected 10 hits against him going into the 6th inning when Leo Bernal lined another single into center to leadoff the inning, but he managed to tighten up his pitch efficiency and only began to approach the 100 mark at the end of the top of the 6th inning. Yes, the Cardinals were in double digits for hits, but they were scattered and St. Louis only milked two runs out of it all. He didn’t have his best stuff Thursday night, but he kept the Dodgers in the game going into the later innings. Manager Dave Roberts finally lifted him with 2 outs and 2 on in the top of the 6th inning when he reached 102 pitches. Oli Marmol countered the Dodgers bringing in right-hander Henrique out of the bullpen by pinch-hitting Alec Burleson for Pedro Pagés. As Burleson worked the count full, Henrique bounced a ball to the backstop which allowed both Cardinals runners to advance to second and third. That ended up resulting in nothing as Burleson was called out on a ball that looked like it was out of the strike zone, but he chose not to use an ABS challenge and that was it for the Cardinals top of the 6th.

Cade Winquest was the first arm out of the Cardinals bullpen in the bottom of the 6th inning. He handled the Dodgers with no problems and no baserunners – just the way we like it.

The Cardinals tried to add to their lead in the top of the 7th inning. I’m not blaming Herrera for St. Louis not scoring, but he used a challenge with one out in the top of the 7th that was fairly obviously a ball that clipped the strike zone and the ABS challenge proved that true. He eventually grounded out, but Jordan Walker smoked a two-out single to left center and then Joshua Baez was hit by a pitch in the belt buckle which sounds worse than it really was. That gave the Cardinals runners at first and second with Leo Bernal up. He ended up striking out looking on a four-seam fastball that looked like it might have been inside. He started to tap his helmet, but then realized that St. Louis was out of challenges and walked back to the bench for the end of the Cardinals 7th with no runs scored.

Ryne Stanek entered the game in the bottom of the 7th. He got Freeland to fly out for the first out and struck out Tommy Edman for the second. Mookie Betts lined up ball up the middle that it looked like Ryne caught with his foot. He didn’t as he tossed the ball to first for the final out of the inning, but I still don’t know how Stanek caught that ball. When the TV broadcast FINALLY showed a replay after the hot dog commercial break, the ball appears to have ricocheted off of the mound into his glove. Thank you, weird physics.

After the Cardinals failed to score in the top of the 8th, it was George Soriano on the mound for St. Louis in the bottom of the 8th to face the middle of the LA lineup. He gave up a leadoff walk to Teoscar Hernandez and two outs later a walk to Max Muncy giving (literally) the Dodgers a runner in scoring position. George then threw 3 straight balls to slumping Kyle Tucker before registering a strike, but ended up walking him anyway to load the bases. That brought out pitching coach Dusty Blake to the mound for a conference where I hope the phrase “NO MORE FREAKING WALKS!” was uttered. Whatever was said apparently worked as Soriano struck out Dalton Rushing for the final out of the inning to end the Dodgers 8th. Whew!

I don’t speak for the Cardinals fanbase, but I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t alone hoping that the St. Louis lineup would add a run or two in the top of the 9th inning to lower my blood pressure by a few meters. Alec Burleson led off by striking out looking which wasn’t ideal. Fermin grounded out weakly to the pitcher for the second out which also wasn’t according to my (and probably others) wishes. It was up to Iván Herrera to keep the Cardinals from going into the bottom of the 9th with merely a one-run lead. He came SO close to succeeding as he drove a ball to the left field wall, but not over as it was caught so to the bottom of the 9th we go with a perilous one-run lead.

The bottom of the 9th was in closer Riley O’Brien’s hand. He got Freeland to flyout innocently to center for the first out. Former Cardinal Tommy Edman was next. Edman hit a sharp single to left and represented the tying run at first base. He ended up stealing second when a ball nearly hit the next batter Mookie Betts, but it didn’t matter at the moment when he ended up walking giving the Dodgers the potential winning run on base. Teoscar Hernandez was next up. On a full count, he ripped a game-winning double into the left-centerfield gap scoring 2 and giving LA a 3-2 victory. Dodgers win and we lose. Baseball has a way of breaking your heart, doesn’t it?

The St. Louis Cardinals head east from California, but not that far east as they’ll land in Denver on Friday for a weekend series against the Colorado Rockies. Andre Pallante returns from the injured list to the mound for the Cardinals while the Rockies will give the ball to Ryan Feltner. First pitch is scheduled for 7:40pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sent a text message to Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday night informing him that he wasn’t going to be in the lineup Thursday in the series finale against the Cardinals.

Ohtani responded with a salute emoji, Roberts said.

“At the end of the day, he wants to be in there,” Roberts said. “But I’m not going to just put him in there because of the name on the back of his jersey.”

That could be a push-and-pull situation for the rest of the season, as Ohtani continues to manage lingering pain in his right biceps and left knee.

The uncertainty surrounding Ohtani’s health — even though Roberts said before the Dodgers’ 3-2 win Thursday that an injured list stint was “unlikely” — raises questions about the team’s plans.

It’s difficult to fully map out the Dodgers’ rotation plans without knowing whether Ohtani will pitch again this season. And the offense won’t be at its best until he has shaken his slump — Ohtani has just two hits in his last six games after hitting just .241 in August.

The Dodgers’ offense dipped back into the doldrums on Thursday — before Teoscar Hernández delivered a two-run walk-off double in the ninth to avoid the series sweep.

“I think great players always feel that their X percentage is better than the next person and they want to be available,” Roberts said. “There is a kind of trusting the player versus taking it out of their hands.

“I’ve had a lot of practice with Clayton [Kershaw]. And Shohei, I think it’s just more of trying to weigh the downside and what potential harm that could do for him and the ballclub versus it’s something that is what it is. That’s just trying to get as much information as we can from the training staff and hear what Shohei has to say.”

Ohtani, who was not made available to speak to reporters Thursday, has not given an interview in over two weeks. He declined requests for comment through a Dodgers spokesperson twice last weekend.

Though Ohtani’s left knee has been the biggest impediment in his return to pitching — his last pitching start was July 3, and his throwing program has stalled twice since receiving an injection to address swelling and soreness — his right biceps is now a problem.

Ohtani reported that the area from his biceps to his neck was bothering him Wednesday night, Roberts said. That was why he kept shaking out his arm.

“It feels like an ebb-and-flow type thing,” general manager Brandon Gomes said of Ohtani’s biceps issue, which has flared at least two other times this season. “It’s hard to recover in August and September, so it’s like just being mindful of if he needs a day here and there, and having those conversations. He’s just one of one, and you can’t say, ‘Well, this guy feels this, therefore Sho’s going to be the same.’ So we have to treat it as a unique case.”

Both the biceps and knee injuries have lingered for months. But Ohtani hasn’t missed two games in a row all season, let alone landed on the IL.

“I think it’s just really hard to say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna knock something out in X amount of days,’” Gomes said. “But l think not having Shohei in the lineup for 10 days, or whatever it would be, is something that we would prefer not to do, and it really hasn’t even been something that we’ve discussed.”

Gomes also pushed back on the assumption that Ohtani’s struggles at the plate are connected to his physical ailments, even though the two have coincided.

“I just think there’s also just ebbs and flows of the season, and what to attribute things to and what not to is just too hard to say,” Gomes said. “We haven’t had any indication that he’s not feeling good enough physically to go out and play.

“I also think he’s a victim of his own greatness, of ... if Shohei struggles for a bit and then it’s up in arms. Like I said, I don’t think there’s anything overly concerning at this point. We’ll continue to monitor and have conversations and see how he feels.”

If the Dodgers don’t put Ohtani on the IL, giving him consecutive days off could make sense. Roberts said he’ll make that decision Friday, after discussions with Ohtani and the training staff.

Read more:Why Tarik Skubal thinks Stan Kroenke could turn Angels into coveted home for free agents

The Dodgers (83-57) also have put off a decision regarding whether Ohtani should pitch again this season. But Roberts said this latest development would be “part of the math.”

Said Gomes: “Once again, we’ve got to see how he continues to feel. At some point, if it’s a, ‘Hey, the upside outweighs the downside,’ then we shut it down. Doc has said this, we’ll continue to say it: We’re not going to … compromise [his offensive performance]. But right now, not feeling that that’s necessarily a thing. We just don’t have enough information to feel strongly on that.”

Though it’s not a huge sample size, Ohtani restarted his throwing progression with catch play on Aug. 8. In 23 games since then, he’s posted a .704 OPS during his worst offensive month of his season.

The addition of left-hander Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline also took some of the pressure off Ohtani to return to pitching.

“It was an opportunity that our guys saw, and grateful that a deal was worked out,” Roberts said. “You look at where Shohei’s at, and Roki [Sasaki is] throwing a bullpen tomorrow but on the IL with the blister, so having a [frontline] starter [in Skubal] is huge. And then also getting to know the player, and how he has already impacted our guys, we’re very fortunate.”

Skubal started Thursday, and held the Cardinals (70-71) to two runs. But he battled traffic all night, as he gave up 10 hits. Skubal exited with two outs in the sixth inning, his pitch count already up to 102.

In Ohtani’s absence, center fielder Tommy Edman hit in the leadoff spot. He had four of the team’s six hits and scored two runs — one on a wild pitch in the fifth inning, and one on Hernández’s walk-off double. Hernández accounted for the team’s other two hits.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

BALTIMORE — They came to salute Adley Rutschman. And he came to bury the Baltimore Orioles. With a smile, of course.

In his first game back at Camden Yards since the Orioles dealt their franchise catcher to the division rival Boston Red Sox one month ago, Rutschman stepped away from the batter’s box in the top of the first inning. His old walk-up song, Kid Cudi’s “Alive,” blared from the sound system.

The crowd rose, and Rutschman doffed his helmet and successfully quelled the tears he was worried would come.

“It was special, just to kind of feel that love,” says Rutschman. “It was really cool. Emotional moment, and really special.

“A really, really special moment.”

And then Rutschman got in the box, took a pair of pitches from former batterymate Brandon Young and promptly deposited the third into the right field seats, 377 feet from home.

Five innings later, he did it again, wrecking a Young first-pitch sinker for his second home run of the game. In the eighth inning, he passed on some inside information on former teammate Yennier Cano to Nick Sogard, who responded with a go-ahead two-run homer.

And by night’s end, the cheers for Rutschman at Camden Yards were long gone.

He was the enemy now. And he just led them to a 6-5 victory Thursday, Sept. 3 in a game that was crucial to the Orioles’ wild-card hopes.