Following game 43, I did some digging and saw that every full-season Cub team going back to 2003 had at least one five-game losing streak. So while this streak feels like it came out of nowhere, it’s not all that out of the ordinary. The good Cub teams in that stretch had a streak at least this long and the bad ones did too. So there isn’t anything particularly predictive based on a five-game skid. The 2003 Cubs that didn’t do that had a 1-5 rotation that was exceptional in comparison to the league and particularly 1-3. The only other team in my lifetime when the Cubs had a rotation that dominant 1-3 was the 2016 Cubs and they managed to have a five-game skid anyway.

This game was the first one that flashed me back in a bad way. This loss felt like something straight out of the 2021 Cub season when the final unraveling of the championship group happened. You’ll recall that team actually started pretty good, though not this year good. That team was 42-33 after 75 games and looked like they might be able to make one more run. Famously, that ended with the team no-hitter in L.A. And then they immediately lost 11 straight. The notorious game of that stretch was a game in Milwaukee where the Cubs jumped out early and then cratered and ended up losing 15-7.

This flashed me back there. Not just a sweep at the hands of the Brewers, but looking totally inept. The Brewers are good. Perhaps better than the Cubs. They had the better record last season and won a playoff series from the Cubs. They have the better record now and just swept the Cubs. Frankly, you have to be pretty stubborn to make a case for the Cubs being better. The Brewers are certainly in the collective heads of these Cubs right now. This was pretty ugly. But they aren’t as much better than the Cubs as they looked in this series. These three games looked about what it might look like if you played a couple of tune-up games against your Triple-A team.

I’m not particularly a fire and brimstone guy, an advocate of closed door or player-only meetings. I think fans have given almost mythical power through the years to things that probably happen more often than we have any idea of and probably don’t have a high correlation with forward looking success. That said, I do obviously believe that a good weight room pep talk by the usually quiet team leader will always lead to a World Championship. So quiet leader better pull everyone together when the team gets to the park on Friday and gets everyone back on the same page.

All sarcasm and joking aside, there was nothing fun or funny in this one. The Cubs got their tails kicked culminating a horrible series on the backs of three not so good series. A 3-6 road trip has now become nine losses in 12 games. Almost half of the cushion the team built up has evaporated. This team needs to apply the brakes, get back to basics and start making plays defensively that they should be making and moving the line offensively like they can.

Three Positives:

• Trent Thornton retired all five batters he faced, striking out two.
• Hoby Milner faced four batters and retired all of them, striking out one.
• Ryan Rolison faced five batters and retired all of them, striking out one.

I’m positive I’ve not singled out three relievers on any game this year. The Cub bullpen had to throw six innings and they did so allowing only one run. That’s real good against a team like the Brewers. Four hits and two walks over six, we’d be ecstatic if a starter did that. So hat tip to the collective bullpen.

Game 50, May 20: Brewers 5, Cubs 0 (29-21)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Nico Hoerner (.045). 1-4, 2B
• Hero: Trent Thornton (.032). 1.2 IP, 5 BF, 2K
• Sidekick: Hoby Milner/Seiya Suzuki (.018). Milner: 1.1 IP, 4 BF, K; Suzuki: 0-2, BB

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Edward Cabrera (-.254). 3 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 K (L 3-2)
• Goat: Alex Bregman (-.098). 1-4
• Kid: Carson Kelly (-.060). 0-3

WPA Play of the Game: David Hamilton’s Little League homer with runners on first and second and one out in the second. It was legitimately a single and three base error. I’m not sure I’ve ever watched an outfielder slump before, but this has been jarring. (.233)

Cubs Play of the Game: Nico Hoerner led off the bottom of the first with a double. (.060)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 49 Winner: Nico Hoerner 105 of 125 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Michael Busch +16
• Michael Conforto +14
• Nico Hoerner +12.5
• Shōta Imanaga +10
• Trent Thornton +6
• Ryan Rolison -8
• Phil Maton -9
• Matt Shaw -10
• Dansby Swanson -11
• Seiya Suzuki -17.5

Current Win Pace: 93.96 wins

Up Next: An off day Thursday that is very much needed. Then, they face the worst team (by record) that the Cubs have seen in quite some time. The Astros are 20-31 and managed only six runs in losing two of three to the Twins in Minnesota. Jameson Taillon (2-3, 4.97, 50.2 IP) is due for the Cubs. He has lost his last two starts and was tagged for eight earned runs against the White Sox over five innings of work. He’s been significantly better at home (3.63 v 6.04) and during the day (4.15 v 6.20). So this is as good a spot for Jameson to bounce back as we can find.

As I write, the Astros haven’t yet announced their weekend rotation. But I believe this spot should fall to 26-year old Spencer Arrighetti (5-1, 1.50, 36 IP). Arrighetti would be making his seventh start of the season. The Astros have occasionally employed a six man rotation as they, like so many other teams, struggle with injuries to pitchers. The sixth-round pick of the Astros in 2021 (178th overall) out of Louisiana-Lafayette threw 7.1 scoreless innings against the Rangers last Friday. He allowed just one hit while walking four. He has 35 strikeouts in his 36 innings of work but has also walked 21. This is the kind of guy the Cubs should get to, despite his really good numbers. Some walks and a timely hit or two.

The Astros lineup has been fairly good. They rank ninth in team OPS (.725). That doesn’t drop against right-handed pitching (.728). It also doesn’t drop on the road (.748). So this is no pushover for Taillon. The problem for the Astros has been their pitching (last in ERA at 5.34). Their starting pitching has been a little less bad (5.02) but their bullpen is a mess (5.72).

This is the kind of series where the Cub strategy offensively should work. Patience and persistence. Death by a thousand paper cuts. Get their starters out, get into the pen. Their relievers still strike out a fair number of hitters, but they sport a number of unsightly ERAs and most of them allow more than a hit per inning. There are a few WHIPs north of 2.00.

The turn around starts here.

Go Cubs!

For better, for worse, for discourse, we saw our first “piggyback” start Tuesday night. Bryce Miller, in his second appearance back from a stint on the IL, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning versus the White Sox, looking much more 2024 than 2025. Castillo came in and gave two solid innings of relief before things fell apart in the ninth. The Mariners wound up losing the game 2-1in one of the least fun games to watch this season by far. It’s sparked plenty of discussion about what the Mariners are supposed to do with a healthy Gilbert, Kirby, Woo, Hancock, Castillo and now Miller. -NV

Nick V: I’m happy with the “piggyback” approach. I know last night, it was more Castillo out of the ‘pen than a real piggyback, but I like the idea that it’s flexible on a given night based on who’s pitching and how they’re pitching. Bryce was throwing gas and so he got to throw almost 6. But if he was starting to fade in the fourth, now Castillo gives you 4 innings. Last night was just one way it could go.

Kate: But last night was about as good as it could go minus the ninth and it was still hard on them. Did you read Bryce’s postgame comments where he said basically “Hey man, I’m just an employee here”? I just think it’s too much disruption to the starters and their routines and if they’re unhappy, they can’t do their best work. Plus, Bryce also said the whole point is to do whatever it takes to win and they didn’t even win, although that’s more on the offense I guess. But now two of your pitchers have made this sacrifice and there’s still an L on the board.

Also it must feel so crappy for whoever is getting piggybacked. Luis I think can take it in stride at this point in his career, but I’m worried this is damaging to Bryce after everything he’s been through, now he has to figure out a way to escape piggyback jail. I don’t think it’s a coincidence he took a no hitter into the fifth or sixth or wherever it was last night.

Nick: I don’t think any pitcher ever wants to come out of any game, but the point is taken. That being said, historically Bryce has averaged about 5.1 IP per start. He obviously had more in the tank last night, but that feels more an exception than a rule. I feel like the value of this approach is flexibility and mitigating risk.

Re: Bryce’s quotes, that sounds like a communication issue or a lack of a clear game plan issue by the coaching staff. They should have made it very well and clear that, for example, Bryce was never going to pitch more than six innings so empty the tank for those six innings, or whatever the plan is.

Evan: For the first time in the Dan Wilson era, I feel like the team off the field failed the players on it, and that’s very out of character for them. They’re a smart organization. They are generally more tactically sound, even if they don’t play up to it.

Eric S: It does seem like the kind of thing that lives or dies by how it’s communicated and/or sold to the starting pitchers, similar to buying into the opener approach a few seasons ago. Like no starter in their right mind prefers this approach, right? They’re all extremely confident, stubborn dudes, otherwise they would not be here pitching in MLB. They have routines, like you said. But, if team unity and buy-in by the players is strong enough, then it seems like the piggybacking approach could work as long as they actually win games. If they blow it like last night one or two more times, I’m sure they’ll have to abandon it.

Kate: I’m thinking about Bryce’s “our job is to throw however many pitches they say” comment and it strikes me how little agency there is in that statement. Which seems to directly contradict the whole “conviction” thing they drill into every starter. I’ll try to find the sticker again, Kirby has it in his locker, but it’s something like, “command, control, conviction.”

Nick: You were the one actually talking to him, though. Was his “however we need to win we will do it” seem genuine or was he hitting one of these?

Kate: I don’t doubt Bryce is willing to do whatever it takes to win, but I am not sure he thinks this is the way to win. But I might be projecting my own feelings. He was mad for sure, but I guess that could have been about the loss in general.

Connor: I think going to Ferrer for Murakami in the sixth was totally sound process.

Evan: I don’t have an issue with them using Ferrer, it just feels inconsistent with their own stated objectives. It’s weird to defer to Ferrer in the 6th but not Munoz in the 9th. That’s where if you’re doing that to “piggyback”, you lose me.

Nick: Process-wise, I agree, Connor. It’s like the whole platoon thing, I don’t like judging decisions like these based on results just because the sport is so variable, especially with how few times it happens. It is about the process. And I feel like if players are feeling a lack of agency, it’s a coaching/communication issue. I mean, even if we went to a normal pen day after 5.2, he probably is just as mad, right?

Ryan: I thought the piggyback went great honestly. I think it’s good for Miller and I think it’s the only shot Castillo has of making it to the end of the season on the roster. I’d like to see 10 Miller starts while maintaining velocity and effectiveness after each turn before letting him free. 

Evan: I think this is it. I was really pondering it this morning and the only reason this makes real sense is if they are a bit skeptical of long term Bryce and just wanna walk it all the way out.

Kate: 10 starts?! That’s nearly 3 months. I think Bryce Miller would call those 10 starts his “rehab assignment.”

John: I don’t doubt Miller and Castillo find it frustrating in this moment. I’m skeptical though that the mental alteration translates ultimately to a deleterious impact on them broadly. This is Nathan Eovaldi’s career! Seth Lugo’s, Michael Wacha’s, Michael King, etc. There are tons of guys who handled a piggyback or swingman role for a while and came out of it as good or better. And Bryce was horrible last year. For as much as we hope and believe he’ll be back to his 2024 self, he dragged the team down for months when they desperately needed him.

Kate: Lugo, Wacha, King didn’t come up in an organization that tells you if you’re not going six you are actively hurting the team, though.

John: I can’t say I know what the specific instruction was, but the 2016 Mets, 2011 Dodgers, and 2013 Cardinals had their starters going longer than the Mariners did when Miller came up. The 2019 Yankees… were not doing that in fairness, lol. Just to say tho, the M’s stand out by expecting the baseline that was expected 0.5-1 generation of pitchers ago, so I’m not sure it’s so out there compared to veteran examples.

Nick: Kate, Evan, as the two of us who are probably least happy with this approach, would you rather move to Bryce Miller as the fifth starter and Castillo as a reliever? If so, what role do you see him playing? Swingman, higher leverage?

Evan: Yes. And it aligns with the positive things people saw last night from both guys. The people who feel it went well I think are expressing positivity about Castillo’s first two innings and only second ever non-start, which is super valid. I think just letting him roll with that is the way to go without being beholden to this other, less consistent ruleset they applied last night. Get the best from Bryce, the best from Luis, prioritize winning the game! And if they gotta stretch Luis back out in a few weeks, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. If you can get 4 innings from Castillo over two appearances a week as opposed to 5 innings in a start, that’s a fine trade for where we’re at.

Gotty: Luis going from 97 to 94 between innings is concerning and makes me think he’d be best suited to a one-inning role if they go the bullpen route.

Evan: Honestly, if that’s the case, even better. Dan loves 1 inning stints, why complicate anything?

Kate: I’d rather them go to a six man rotation. I understand the argument against is your best pitchers pitch less but I think because there’s no extreme cliff between the front and back end of this rotation and I would argue even the best have been very inconsistent this year it doesn’t matter in the end and might be beneficial. It does force you to a shorthanded bullpen but I think that’s solvable with Criswell, or you have a starter be a swing guy, in this case Castillo.

Evan: I actually completely agree with the six-man. I’d do one thing or the other though. Not the other third thing they tried last night. 

Nick: I’m okay with that, I suppose. I think that the idea of the piggyback is you’re able to get more out of your two guys, because they have to go less often, so instead of having two of them be, on average, just okay, for a total of ⅓ of the team’s starts, you can have them max out for one of the starts. I still think that it worked, and should be given a couple more times to be explored more fully. So actually I change my mind, I think six-man is actually the worst of all worlds, honestly. 

Anders: I think if you were to get an honest answer from Jerry and Dan they’d say they don’t plan to run the six man or piggyback out forever and it would probably be more convenient for them if Castillo was good and Miller and/or Hancock was not (rather than the reverse). Castillo being bad and the others being good makes it so complicated. 

It wouldn’t be a day without a roster move, right? Right?

Carlos Carrasco returns to Atlanta for the third time this season. He pitched an inning in late April and was DFAed six days later, then re-added in early May, pitched another frame, and was DFAed the next day. And, after signing a minor league deal afterwards, he’s back again. He returns to a pretty good line across garnering six outs in the majors, and he’s also been carving up minor leaguers in Triple-A, but that’s not really surprising given his age and experience.

Victor Mederos threw two garbage time innings after Chris Sale fileted / flayed the Marlins. On the plus side, he went six up, six down. On the minus side, he had an 0/1 K/BB ratio in the process, leveraging a double play to face the minimum.

This is a pretty low-stakes move just to have a fresh arm in case tonight’s game is another blowout, but they can’t all be the giant roster mishigas that happened earlier this week (with Drake Baldwin to the Injured List and Aaron Bummer getting the boot), either.

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The Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins wrap up a four-game NL East set at loanDepot Park on Thursday, May 21, and I’ve got a pair of MLB picks for the series finale.

My top Braves vs. Marlins predictions call for Atlanta to eke out a low-scoring win over Miami tonight. 

Who will win Braves vs Marlins today: Braves moneyline (-136)

Atlanta Braves starter Spencer Strider has allowed a single run on just four hits while holding opposing hitters to a pedestrian 27.3% hard-hit rate across his past two starts, and I’m anticipating him keeping the good times rolling against a ho-hum Miami Marlins lineup.

The Marlins rank 19th in wOBA against right-handed arms, and Miami also ranks 20th in both overall ISO and xwOBA over the past two weeks.

Of course, Atlanta has been a force at the dish all season and ranks second in both runs per game and wOBA against righties. 

COVERS INTEL: Braves lefty Spencer Strider has a 1.13 ERA while holding the Marlins to a .600 OPS at loanDepot Park.

Braves vs Marlins Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 (+100)

In addition to Strider sliding back into elite form, Miami righty Sandy Alcantara has also been excellent this season and allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of 10 starts for a solid 3.53 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 3.31 xERA.

As a result, I’m anticipating the righty keeping the Atlanta bats off balance enough to keep this total Under the number Thursday night. 

The Braves have dipped to just 4.5 runs per game with a 14th-ranked xwOBA over the past two weeks, after all.

Braves vs Marlins odds

• Moneyline: Atlanta -140 | Miami +120
• Run line: Atlanta -1.5 (+125) | Miami +1.5 (-145)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (-115) | Under 7.5 (-105)

Braves vs Marlins trend

The Atlanta Braves have won 35 of their last 50 away games (+21.75 Units / 36% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Braves vs. Marlins.

How to watch Braves vs Marlins and game info

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Let’s go back.

It’s August 1st, 2023. The Tampa Bay Rays just defeated the New York Yankees, 5-2, and improved to 66-44 on the season. It has been a golden season for Tampa Bay as they kicked off the campaign with a 13 game winning streak and took 20 of their first 23 games to effectively establish themselves as the favorites in the American League East.

Not to say there weren’t any bumps in the road as Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen both went down early with injuries that required season ending surgery.

Still the Rays enjoyed an incredible season from Yandy Diaz and breakout campaigns from Isaac Pardes and Josh Lowe. Randy Arozarena continued to show he was the model of consistency and Brandon Lowe showcased that he was the best offensive second baseman in baseball when healthy. Role players like Jose Siri, Luke Raley, and Harold Ramirez were quietly having tremendous years. Then you also had Wander Franco who was showing that he was a future MVP candidate.

Even with Rasmussen and Springs going down, the Rays pitching staff was extremely effective. Zach Eflin, the largest free agent signing in franchise history, was having a career year. Tyler Glasnow battled through an injury to be an ace. Shane McClanahan started the All Star game for the American League.

The Rays were all but locked into the playoffs.

So, back to August 1st:

It was the 2023 trade deadline and the Rays were looking to buy. It just so happened that Shohei Ohtani, one of the greatest players in baseball history, was possibly available. The Rays were interested.

According to a report from Ken Rosenthal, the Tampa Bay Rays were in talks with the Los Angeles Angels involving Ohtani.

The Rays would send top prospects Junior Caminero and Carson Williams to the Angels for Ohtani. The Rays were even willing to include more to seal the deal. At the time, Caminero and Williams were ranked 1-2 in the Rays system; Camerino was 5th on Baseball America’s top 100 while Williams was 22nd.

Entering play on August 1st, Ohtani was hitting .305/.407/.680 with 39 HR, registering a 186 wRC+ over 472 PA. That was just his offensive performance, on the mound, Ohtani had a 3.43 ERA | 4.13 FIP over 120.2 IP. The Rays would effectively be acquiring one of the best hitters and pitchers in the game, four months of him was worth emptying the farm.

It was a deal that would have vaulted the Rays from playoff hopefuls to World Series favorites.

However, the Angels were 56-51. They were in 3rd place in the American League West, 4.5 games back. In the Wild Card chase, Los Angeles trailed the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox for the 3rd Wild Card spot. There was still a chance they could make the playoffs and possibly win a championship with Ohtani, a player whom they’d wasted the Hall of Fame career of thus far.

So Arte Moreno decided against Junior Caminero and Carson Williams and whatever other prospects the Rays were willing to include.

Moreno instead was going to have the Angels go for it.

In the week leading up to the deadline, the Angels made a small flurry of deals, trading away their top prospects, Edgar Quero and Ky Bush. Later on they traded away Jeremiah Jackson, Jake Madden, and Mason Albright for short term rental pieces to try and improve their roster.

So how did it all work out?

From August 1st through the end of the season, the Angels were the 2nd worst team in all of baseball, going 17-38. Los Angeles finished 4th in their division with a 73-89 record, 17 games behind the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers, and 16 games back of a Wild Card spot. Shohei Ohtani dealt with separate injuries that ended his pitching season and only allowed him a handful of games offensively. He would leave that offseason and sign a $700M deal with the Dodgers just a few miles away.

The only thing the Angels received for Ohtani was the 74th overall pick in the 2024 draft due to Ohtani rejecting the team’s qualifying offer. With that pick, the Angels took Ryan Johnson, who they accelerated to the big leagues. However, he currently has a 10.17 ERA over 23 IP at the Major League level.

Meanwhile, the Rays suffered through some of the franchise’s worst moments that August as Shane McClanahan went down with an arm injury and wouldn’t pitch on a Major League mound again until April 2026.

Wander Franco, one of the best performing players in franchise history and locked into a 10-year deal, would be placed on administrative leave after accusations popped up of him being involved with a minor. Over the years, Franco has formally been arrested, charged, tried, and tried against for the crimes of which is he is accused and has not been on the Rays active roster since early August, 2023.

Despite losing two of their top performers, the Rays still won 99 games and made the playoffs as the top Wild Card team. Unfortunately, the team was a shell of it’s regular season form as they were without Brandon Lowe and were relying on untested prospects to the carry the team. Unfortunately, Jonathan Aranda, Curtis Mead, and Junior Caminero were overmatched and the Rays fell easily to the Texas Rangers.

If the Rays had Shohei Ohtani, the Series or the season may have played out differently. But given his lack of playing time down the stretch, the difference could have lacked the desired impact, short of a contract extension being signed with the club.

In the years since, Junior Caminero has developed into one of the most prolific power hitters in all of baseball. Since the start of the 2025 season, Caminero is hitting .265/.322/.529 with 58 HR, the 5th most in baseball over that stretch. The 23-year old can also be seen leading the celebration whenever another teammate succeeds as he is often at the front of the line to greet players coming back to the dugout after scoring a run. In the community, Caminero often visits local youth baseball leagues to be the highlight of a young player’s day. He has become exactly the player you want representing your team.

The real lesson here should not be about winners or losers, but instead show you that the Rays are always willing to do what it takes to compete, whether that means going all in for the right trade piece, or adapting on the field strategies to meet the needs of a roster.

Then again, if potentially the greatest player of all time is available for trade, it’s not exactly surprising for the Rays to try and make it happen, right?

Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below. Check out the previous day’s recap here.

AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (20-27) lost 13-1 (BOX SCORE)

Gordon started for Sugar Land but struggled allowing 8 runs over 3.1 innings. The pen allowed another 5 runs as the River Cats extended their lead. The offense was quiet night finally getting on the board in the 9th on a Biggio solo home run but that was it as Sugar Land fell 13-1.

Note: Biggio is hitting .349 with 5 HR in May.

• Cavan Biggio, 2B: 2-for-4, R, HR, RBI
• Rhylan Thomas, RF: 2-for-3

• Colton Gordon, LHP: 3.1 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
• J.P. France, RHP: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
• Jose Fleury, RHP: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (19-22) won 2-1 (BOX SCORE)

The Hooks got the scoring started in the 2nd inning scoring a run on a Ferreras RBI double. Mayer got the start and was solid tossing 4 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts. The RockHounds tied the game in the 5th but in the 6th inning, Holy connected on a solo home run to give the Hooks the lead. The rest of the pen was solid as they closed out the 2-1 win.

Note: Mayer has 37 K in 24.1 innings this season.

• Max Holy, SS: 1-for-3, R, HR, RBI, BB
• Trevor Austin, 3B: 1-for-3, BB
• Tyler Whitaker, LF: 1-for-2, R, BB
• Pascanel Ferreras, 2B: 2-for-3, 2B, RBI

• Bryce Mayer, RHP: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
• Jose Guedez, RHP: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
• Alex Santos, RHP: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (WIN)
• Amilcar Chirinos, RHP: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• Railin Perez, RHP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (SAVE)

A+: Asheville Tourists (9-31) POSTPONED

A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (18-23) lost 3-2 (BOX SCORE) 

Potter got the start and allowed 2 runs over 3.1 innings. The offense got on the board in the 5th inning on a Salas sac fly. The pen pitched well with scoreless outings from Cassedy and Mathiesen. Oakes tossed 4 innings in relief allowing 1 run over 4 innings while striking out 8. The offense got one run in the 9th on a Flores RBI single but that was it as the Woodpeckers fell 3-2.

Note: Oakes has 32 K in 24.2 innings this season.

• Kevin Alvarez, RF: 0-for-4, R
• Josh Wakefield, CF: 2-for-2, R, 2 BB, 2 SB
• Arturo Flores, 1B: 1-for-4, RBI
• Hector Salas, 2B: 0-for-3, RBI

• Nick Potter, RHP: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
• Brandon Cassedy, RHP: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• Ryan Mathiesen, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Kellan Oakes, RHP: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

Today’s minor league starters:

SL: Ethan Pecko – 8:45 CT

CC: James Hicks – 6:35 CT

AV: TBD – 5:00 CT

FV: TBD – 5:35 CT

We’re back with another shirt from our partners at Breaking T, and it’s another one featuring Milwaukee’s young pitching phenom (hopefully you aren’t sick of him yet ;)).

Jacob Misiorowski has now gone four consecutive starts without allowing a run, meaning he hasn’t allowed a run since April 25. Over those four starts, he’s totaled 24 1/3 innings with nine hits allowed, five walks, and a whopping 37 strikeouts, increasing his league-leading total to 88 over just 57 innings.

He’s also lowered his season ERA to 1.90 to pair with a sterling 2.14 FIP.

You could say he’s “Taking Care of Mizness.”

Jacob Misiorowski doesn’t need any overtime to take care of his business on the mound for Milwaukee.

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Good morning everyone!

The Mariners got a much-needed win against the White Sox yesterday, powering their way to a 5-4 series finale victory. The team has the day off today as they travel to Kansas City for a three-game weekend series.

Jhonny Pereda was the breakout star of last night’s contest with his go-ahead solo homer. He’s also been doing great work behind the dish. When Cal Raleigh comes back from injury, would you rather the team hang onto Mitch Garver or Pereda?

In Mariners news…

• Though he was not available for yesterday’s game, J.P. Crawford was seen taking reps at third base during pregame workouts — and it was his idea.
• Several of Colt Emerson’s new teammates are already impressed with how he carries himself, writes Ryan Divish at The Seattle Times.
• Over at The Feed, Kate asked who you think deserves the most blame for the team’s Tuesday night loss to the White Sox.
• Max Ellingsen kicked off the first of his MLB Draft profiles by taking a close look at University of Tennessee right-hander Tegan Kuhns.
• Jim Callis at MLB Pipeline opined on which Mariners prospects he thinks could be traded this summer.
• Prior to Tuesday’s game against the White Sox, several Mariners players visited two Seattle-area elementary schools as part of the organization’s Recess Takeover program.

Around the league…

• Former All-Star right-hander José Berríos underwent Tommy John surgery, taking him out of action until late 2027.
• Yordan Álvarez was victorious in another lawsuit against Manuel Antonio Azcona, who was seeking 40% of the slugger’s second professional contract signed with the Astros.
• For the first time in almost a month, Shohei Ohtani was in the lineup on a day in which he took the mound. He hit a lead-off homer and fired five scoreless innings.
• With the baseball season now one-fourth complete, Ben Clemens at Fangraphs re-evaluated the league-wide playoff odds.
• Michael Baumann at Fangraphs wondered what on earth has gotten into Miguel Vargas, who is suddenly one of the best hitters in the American League.
• Max Ralph wrote about the “Tarps Off” craze capturing ballparks across the country.
• César González-Gómez reported on new evidence in the mysterious death of Esteban Bellán – a major figure in early Latin American baseball history.

Drafted in the 20th round by the Astros, Tim Redding would make his debut on June 24, 2001, in a day game against the Reds in Cincinnati   Our 18th installment of the continuing Legends Series begins there.   

Q:  What do you most remember about that day when you were brought up?

A:  I had gotten into town the night before.  I arrived at the stadium that Sunday for a day game around 9am.  I got my jersey, found my locker and then started to get my mind set and ready and nothing really hit me hard about the start until we started having our pitchers and catchers meeting.   

I’m sitting there with Brad Ausmus and we’re talking about how we’re going to pitch their guys in the lineup and it’s like okay, they’ve got Michael Tucker and Sean Casey and then all of a sudden, you scroll down and batting cleanup is Ken Griffey Jr and that’s when it all hit me.  I was like oh, crap. (laughs).

Q:  A few years later in 2003, you land in the regular starting rotation.  Was that a badge of honor?

A:  That was a lot of perseverance and hard work paying off.   When Jimi Williams called me into the office and said I was part of the Opening Day roster, that was satisfying.  I held my own with innings pitched and ERA and pitched well in day games.    

Q:  How did you get along with Jimi Williams?

A:  He was a great guy, had expertise, and had come from winning organizations, so listening to his stories was interesting.  He was around some of the greats from the 70’s and 80’s.    

I do remember one time getting called into his office in 2004 and he proceeded to tell me that I was being optioned back down as I struggled out of the gate that season.  I got pissed off and I grabbed the coffee mug off his desk and threw it across the office and shattered it against the wall.    

Jimi looks and calmly says, “if you go down there and throw like that, you’ll be back up here in no time.”  That was a great comeback line.    

Q:  How nasty was Roy Oswalt’s stuff when he had it going?

A:  Roy was special.  We were always kind of 1-2 coming up together.  I’m glad for the career success he had.   It was well deserved.   

He was so gifted, he reminded me of an old school pitcher who could do whatever he wanted, he probably could’ve invented a new pitch if he put his mind to it.     

I think it got tough for me because we were constantly compared to one another, because I was kind of spitting and sputtering along and putting more pressure on myself.   

We pretty much had the same stuff, but his location was better and that made the difference.  It was great to be a teammate of his.    

Q:  Best day at the ballpark?    

A:  My proudest moment came shortly after the tragedy of 9/11.     

We had a Sunday Night game on ESPN against the Giants, and it was the year that Barry was going for McGwire’s record. 

The first night of that particular series, I went out there as a rookie and introduced myself before the game in left field and proceeded to ask Barry for an autograph.  I made it a point to get stuff signed from the greats.  I asked if he’d be willing to sign a baseball and he shook my hand, never looked at me, never made eye contact and basically said I’m not signing for anybody.     

Then two games later, I’m facing him on Sunday Night Baseball, and I struck him out on a full count with a 97-mph fastball up and away, a swing and a miss.  That validated that I belonged and then crazy enough, I got to my locker after the game and there was a signed ball by Barry on the sweet spot.   I didn’t know if he did that in-between innings or because I challenged him, I had earned his respect, I honestly don’t know but I still have that ball.   

Here’s a pair of conflicting thoughts I believe to my core:

• The Red Sox have completely sucked to this point in 2026.
• The 2026 Red Sox are still going to make the playoffs.

As a baseball fan, I don’t know how to feel about this. Baseball’s a sport that’s supposed to be about measuring greatness over 162 games, and it’s becoming less and less about that with each passing year. Personally, I find the addition of the third wild spot to be an abomination, and scenarios like this are exactly why.

I shouldn’t feel this confident a team that’s looked as underwhelming as the 2026 Red Sox over the first third of the season is going to October, and yet, with each passing day, I find it harder and harder to see how they miss the target. With that, let’s dive into the four main reasons I think this group is still going to punch their ticket to the dance:

1) The American League absolutely STINKS!!!

I’ve never seen an American League this wretched in my lifetime. It’s a joke! As of Wednesday night, Fangraphs projects both the winner of the AL Central (Cleveland) and the AL West (Seattle) to get there with 83 wins. No other team in those divisions is modeled to finish over .500 with Texas coming the closest at 81-81.

This means that if those projections are correct, all the Red Sox need to do to make the playoffs is beat the Orioles and finish above .500. Could you possibly set the bar any lower? (Actually, don’t answer that. We might give these greedy owners more ideas.)

Here’s another insane, way too early thought while we’re down this rabbit hole: The team that finishes in fourth place in the AL East might actually end up with the easiest road in October. If this scenario plays out where the Rays, Yankees, Blue Jays and Red Sox all make it, the fourth place AL East team would be the No. 6 seed and play the No. 3 seed in the Wild Card round, which has to be a division winner from the AL West or the AL Central. The winner of that series would then be guaranteed to play the No. 2 seed, which if things keep going the way they are would be the other AL West or AL Central team.

Meanwhile, the second and third place finishers in the AL East would face each other as the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the Wild Card round, and then they would have to play the No. 1 seed. In other words, we could be headed for a fall where the fourth place finisher in the AL East gets an October path through the AL West and AL Central while the top three teams in the AL East all have to go through each other.

Do you see what’s happening here?

2) The upside of the rotation.

The continued emergence of Payton Tolle and Connelly Early has been one of the biggest positives on the 2026 Red Sox season, and that’s important to note because not only have they helped make the starting rotation the strongest aspect of this team, but they’ve also done it while Garrett Crochet, Ranger Suarez, and Sonny Gray have been unable to fire on all cylinders at the same time — and that’s probably going to change soon.

Sonny Gray, who usually posts, missed a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. Ranger Suarez got off to a slow start and then missed an outing with a hamstring tweak of his own earlier this month. And Garrett Crochet has already been out for four weeks and counting.

And while we’re on Crochet, I can’t underscore enough how little the Red Sox have gotten from him so far. They’re 3-3 in his six games, in which he’s ranged from looking like vintage Crochet to the guy who gave up ten earned runs in Minnesota. Last year, the Red Sox were 14 games over .500 (23-9) in his starts. In other words, the 2025 Red Sox were a .500 team when you throw out the Crochet starts – and in fact, they were exactly a .500 team without him if you include playoff games.

Since Chad Tracy took over, the Red Sox are 12-10 and Garrett Crochet hasn’t started a single game. So while it’s far too late in the season to expect anything like the 14 games over .500 they got from Crochet last year, he’s still likely to elevate this rotation in a significant way when he comes back this summer. And it could be really significant if the other four guys stay healthy and the guy getting displaced is Brayan Bello.

3) Their defense is excellent

We dove into this two weeks ago her at Over The Monster, but the Red Sox are getting above average defense at just about every position, and the numbers under the hood suggest that’s going to continue.

Here’s a Defensive Runs Saved update from Thomas Nestico of TJ stats:

And a Fielding Run Value leaderboard:

There’s no reason to expect the Red Sox to fall very far from these numbers going forward. In fact, one of their weaker defenders all year has been Trevor Story, and if he does end up getting surgery and is out for a while, Marcelo Mayer might take over shortstop, which could further lift the team’s defensive ceiling.

The bottom line is this: The Red Sox can pitch and play defense, and in all my years of watching baseball, teams that do that pretty much never end up sucking over 162 games. They might suck for part of the season and miss the playoffs with a mediocre record, but eventually there’s a stretch where they rip off a pretty solid record because there are just too many games in the summer months where they have the pitching advantage.

Combine this with the historically weak American League and MLB’s new bloated playoff format, and it’s hard to see how this doesn’t pay dividends for Boston.

4) It will be almost impossible for the Red Sox offense to stay this unproductive.

The Red Sox currently rank last in the American League in home runs, runs scored, RBI, and wRC+ (and I feel the need to emphasize we’re talking about THIS American League). They’ve scored just 3.69 runs per game, which is not only last in the American League, but is also the lowest number they’ve posted as a team since 1943, when Ted Williams stepped away from the lineup to fight in World War II.

So yes, they stink, but they really can’t get any worse, and that’s a really important detail the more you unpack it. Their current offensive output to date hand landed them just two games out of a Wild Card spot thanks to their pitching and defense, and perhaps even more importantly, they’ve been ridiculously bad in situational spots until the last couple of games. Consider that, according to baseball refence, the Red Sox have:

• An OPS of .714 in 816 low leverage plate appearances so far this season (league average is .710 in those spots)

• An OPS of .691 in 675 medium leverage plate appearances so far this season (league average is .699 in those spots)

• An OPS of .581 in 348 high leverage plate appearances so far this season (league average is .724 in those spots)

In other words, all of the Red Sox suckage at the plate, which again lands them last in the AL and as bad as the franchise has seen in 83 years, has been packed specifically into their high leverage plate appearances. They’re basically right at league average in medium and low leverage spots, and then a whopping 143 points off the pace when it matters most.

Now, you might look at this and say this makes them losers who don’t know how to handle situational at bats, and you’re probably right. But then again, even if that’s true, they can’t possibly keep sequencing THIS poorly. The law of averages can only help them from this position.

Tie it all together and even a modest boost in offensive production coupled with this rotation, and this defense, in this American League, and the Red Sox will have to really, really screw things up not to make it to October. I have faith in them! (Take that last sentence however you want.)

There was a power surge in the system on Wednesday, with home runs flying out all over the place for the Braves affiliates. Two notable guys who are having big years contributed to those numbers with Eric Hartman and Luis Guanipa both going deep for their respective clubs. Yet, it wasn’t a home run that was the biggest swing of the day for Guanipa. Augusta played an exciting game and it came down to the wire, where Guanipa sent the fans home happy with a walk off single to score Tate Southisene.

(24-23) Charlotte Knights 4, (26-21) Gwinnett Stripers 3

• Nacho Alvarez Jr., 3B: 0-for-2, 2 BB, 2R, .236/.337/.326
• Rowdy Tellez, DH: 2-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, .255/.350/.518
• Jim Jarvis, SS: 1-for-4, R, .294/.398/.411
• Owen Murphy, SP: 6.1IP 4H 2ER 2BB 7K, 5.40 ERA
• Hayden Harris, RP: 0.2IP 1H 0R 0BB 1K, 4.91 ERA

Box Sore

Owen Murphy continued on his roller coaster this season with a good start for the Stripers, though in the end it was not quite enough to earn the win. Murphy largely remained in control through this game and really located his fastball well throughout, a trait which allowed him to get four of his seven strikeouts on his fastball. Importantly he helped his fastball velocity reasonably well throughout the start and the lone home run he allowed came on a changeup. Murphy got great results on his slider as well with eight of his 15 whiffs on the pitch, though he wasn’t doing a particularly great job of keeping it down. When he did land those pitches down he was getting excellent movement and hitters had trouble with it, and he got away with the mistakes he did make. None of his sliders were put in play through the entire game. Like his slider Murphy wasn’t really keeping his changeup off of the plate, and with the mediocre traits of that pitch it didn’t give Murphy much success. He left most of them up and out over the plate and he may be lucky to have avoided even more trouble on the pitch, though with how little he uses the pitch hitters still aren’t keying in on it even when his command isn’t sharp. Murphy’s command of his secondaries is remarkably far behind his fastball at this point and he has to make better pitches to start getting into major league talks, but for the time being he made progress from his last start to this start and the hope is that he can build some momentum. So far this season every good start has been followed by a bad one and vice versa, so getting some consistency will be a welcome sight if it can come.

The Stripers offense was…somewhat present, though the impact beyond the top three hitters fell massively short of any decent hope. Jim Jarvis hit the ball solidly this game despite only picking up one hit, and both Nacho Alvarez and Rowdy Tellez had a huge impact with their performances at the plate. Outside of that trio, who went 3-9 with two doubles and two walks, the rest of the lineup went 3-23 with no extra base hits or walks and 11 strikeouts. Alvarez only made contact once, popping into a double play to end the fifth inning, but he twice drew walks and was once hit by a pitch to make him a steady presence on the bases. Those walks were critically-timed. The first came with two outs, and Tellez immediately followed by shooting a double the other way which allowed Alvarez to motor in to score and tie the game at one apiece in the third inning. It was quite awhile before a threat materialized again, but Jarvis broke through with his hit in the bottom of the eighth inning and Alvarez followed with that second walk, bringing up Tellez with a chance to make a huge impact. He did just that, scooping a ball into the left field corner that cleared the bases and put the tying run at second base with two chances to get him home. Those chances went untaken. Brewer Hicklen hit a popup that wasn’t even deep enough to advance pinch-runner Luke Williams, and on the next pitch Brett Wisely rolled over a grounder to first base to close the frame.

(19-21) Columbus Clingstones 5, (21-20) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 6

• Patrick Clohisy, RF: 2-for-5, HR, R , 2 RBI, SB, .272/.336/.447
• Jordan Groshans, DH: 1-for-3, 3B, R, RBI, BB, .237/.309/.504
• Ambioris Tavarez, 3B: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, R, .213/.322/.373
• Shay Schanaman, SP: 2.2IP 6H 6ER 3BB 2K, 7.25 ERA
• Jhancarlos Lara, RP: 1.2IP 1H 0R 3BB 1K, 8.03 ERA
• Elison Joseph, RP: 0.1IP 1H 0R 2BB 0K, 3.24 ERA

Box Score

The control of the Columbus staff was brutal and Shay Schanaman took the brunt of it early, giving up six runs in less than three innings. Schanaman has been awful this month with 14 runs allowed in 12 innings, and it comes down to him not having the stuff to succeed in a longer role where he faces batters multiple times. His relief appearances early in the season were fine, but needing to pick up starts isn’t something he is really built for and it’s led to him allowing five home runs in four appearances this month. The rest of the bullpen didn’t do a ton better than Schanaman at throwing strikes, though they did avoid hard contact enough to keep Pensacola scoreless over the final six innings. Owen Hackman pitched a scoreless inning and struck out two batters in the ninth, and he has had a quietly solid year so far. Home runs have become a problem here at Double-A, a common trope for guys with mediocre velocity but a ton of fastball carry, but other than his Double-A debut he has had good command and has used his fastball and slider to get whiffs. So far he has a 34.2% K-rate at Double-A, and though that’s likely to come down give his whiff rates he has improved those this season since moving into roles where he makes shorter appearances.

The Clingstones had no sniff of offensive success early in this game, but the game flipped in a hurry and they put up a good effort to come back from that early hole. Ambioris Tavarez was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth inning, and Patrick Clohisy followed by raking his second home run of the season to quickly get Columbus on the board. In the seventh inning the Clingstones took advantage of a couple of walks by getting another run home on a single from Tavarez, and then added a fourth in the eighth inning with an RBI triple by Jordan Groshans. This gave them the bottom of the order in the ninth inning, but that group came through to flip the lineup over. Cal Conley led off with a walk, and once again Tavarez found himself in the middle of a scoring rolly with one out. He flipped a ball into right field for a hit that scored Conley, and the top of the order had a chance to make waves with one out and the tying run on first base. On the first pitch of the next at bat Clohisy smoked a liner up the middle, and Tavarez sprinted around to third. All Lizandro Espinoza needed was a deep fly ball to at least tie the game up, and after Clohisy stole second base a hit could give them the lead. That stolen base also took away the double play, or so you would hope. Espinoza hit an absolute missile to the left side, but aimed it right at the third baseman, who snagged the liner and stepped on third for a game-sealing double play.

(23-18) Rome Emperors 13, (22-18) Hub City Spartanburgers 5

• Isaiah Drake, RF: 1-for-5, RBI, BB, .281/.361/.469
• John Gil, SS: 1-for-5, RBI, R, BB, .272/.374/.435
• Dixon Williams, 1B: 0-for-4, 2R, 2 BB, .279/.407/.500
• Eric Hartman, CF: 3-for-6, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, .315/.394/.658
• Logan Braunschweig, LF: 1-for-2, 3 R, 2 BB, .294/.417/.422
• Mason Guerra, DH: 2-for-4, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R, .227/.348/.355
• Jeremy Reyes, SP: 5IP 6H 3ER 4BB 4K, 4.91 ERA

Box Score

Eric Hartman just can’t stop himself from hitting bombs. Hartman had his worst series of the season last week, but it took just the second game of this week for him to get right back on track with a huge game at the plate. Hartman crushed one a mile in the fifth inning for his 13th home run of the season, a blast which extended the Rome lead to 7-3. Hartman didn’t just stop with a home run, also notching another two hits in the game, and he also added a stolen base to give him 16 on the season. His swing-and-miss numbers are also improving as of late, and he now has a higher contact rate this season than last season despite his surge in home run power. Hartman wasn’t the only player in this game to go deep. Mason Guerra hit an opposite field three-run shot in the fourth inning, that being the play that really broke the game open early for the Emperors. Late in the game Cody Miller got in on the action as well, hitting a three-run home run that capped off the game’s scoring. Miller has obviously not had a great season so far, but there have been slow improvements for him in recent weeks. His contact is coming up a bit and he is hitting the ball harder, and in May he has a .708 OPS. There are long stretches where he has looked hopeless at the plate but also some where he has really shown a good approach and some impact with the bat, so hopefully moving into summer he can start to avoid those deep slumps.

There were two different versions of Jeremy Reyes who appeared in this game. For two innings he really looked like he was on his way to his best start of the season, throwing tons of strikes and landing his best sliders of the season. He even mixed in a few solid changeups to get whiffs, and through two innings had struck out three of the seven batters he faced. The third inning saw things fall apart after he allowed a home run. He had pitched well but just made a mistake and left a slider a little bit too high in the strike zone, and that seemed to have a major effect on him for the rest of the game. His execution of the slider fell off of a cliff after that home run and he was struggling to make anything near the pitches he had early in the game, and he had to resort to using his fastball in the strike zone more often to poor results. It was positive to see him pitch so well in the first couple of innings and there is plenty for him to take from that moving forward, especially with how composed and fluid his mechanics seemed, but he has to do a better job of handling adversity in future outings. His mechanics sped up and got out of control and he just cannot have success doing that.

(18-23) Columbia Fireflies 4, (23-18) Augusta GreenJackets 5

• Tate Southisene, 2B: 3-for-4, 2 R, BB, .289/.429/.490
• Luis Guanipa, CF: 2-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, R, .316/.358/.535
• Dallas Macias, LF: 1-for-2, HR, R, RBI, 2 BB, .212/.368/.329
• Michael Martinez, DH: 1-for-4, HR, RBI, R, .250/.250/.750
• Derek Vartanian, SP: 7IP 6H 3ER 2BB 3K, 3.69 ERA

Box Score

Through two games Michael Martinez has already been a welcome addition to this Augusta lineup. He brought his power from the complex and has immediately made an impact with extra base hits, hitting the first pitch he saw in the fifth inning a long way out to left center field for a game-tying home run. Martinez has tied his career high now with five home runs split between two levels, and has done it in only 13 games. Even with that swing he wasn’t the star of the show on offense for Augusta. Tate Southisene had three hits and drew a walk in the game, and he has multiple hits now in three straight games. Then there is Luis Guanipa, who continues to hit everything hard. He finished off the fifth inning with a home run of his own, his eighth of the season. The pitcher made a mistake with a breaking ball over the inning half of the plate, and Guanipa is too quick in that spot to make mistakes without giving up major damage. He has more home runs in 38 games this season than he had in his career up to this point. He tied his season high this game with a seven-game hitting streak, and in the ninth inning he was exactly the guy Augusta wanted up in a tie game with a runner on second base. Guanipa came up clutch with a sharp single up the middle, scoring Southisene from second base to cap a walkoff win for the GreenJackets.

It was a bit of a different outing for Derek Vartanian in this game, but not much less successful than he has been all season. Vartanian was not producing the whiffs he has all season, as his command of his slider was not there and he had to really rely on his fastball to get outs. That’s going to be a struggle for any pitcher who lacks elite velocity, and Vartanian had stretches in this game where he was shaky and he gave up two home runs. Yet he also commanded the ball well enough to get a ton of ground ball outs — 12 to be exact, and by pitching into the strike zone with his fastball he covered seven innings with three runs allowed. It was not a great looking outing from Vartanian, yet it is nice to see him be able to make adjustments when he lacks his best stuff and still get outs. This is likely to be more along the lines of the type of pitching Vartanian will have to rely on at upper levels as he lacks a true out pitch in his arsenal and home runs have also been a quiet problem for him this year. Showing an ability to adjust on a start to start basis will serve him well moving forward and his fastball command has made some marginal improvements already this year.

The Yankees dropped the third game of their series against the Blue Jays, losing a narrow pitchers’ duel between Cam Schlittler and Trey Yesavage. Schlittler matched Yesavage zero for zero on the scoreboard until the seventh inning, when the hits finally poured over and loaded the bases before he walked one in and was pulled. The Jays got one more out of that rally, but that was all they needed as the lineup couldn’t solve Yesavage in their first meeting since the postseason nor do much against the Jays’ bullpen. They’ll look to secure the series win in the finale today, but with the loss they gave their main competition a change to get further ahead before clashing over the weekend.

Tampa Bay Rays (33-15) 5, Baltimore Orioles (21-29) 3

The Rays took full advantage of the opportuntiy, though they waited until the game got late to take over. They scored first on a Hunter Feduccia solo shot in the second inning, but Baltimore responded as Pete Alonso brought a run in on a single in the third. The O’s then took the lead for themselves in the sixth thanks to a pair of homers from Alonso and Samuel Basallo, both solo shots that gave them a 3-1 advantage.

That score held until the eighth inning, when the Rays got a rally going with two outs. Junior Caminero singled to put runners on the corners, and then Jonathan Aranda doubled to bring them both home and tie the game. After a walk, Richie Palacios got Tampa the lead back with an RBI single, and a double steal manufactured an insurance run for the Rays. Suddenly up two instead of down two, Ian Seymour entered and got the save with a one-two-three ninth. Tampa now owns a four-game lead in the East, which if it holds serve means the Yankees cannot leapfrog them over the weekend as they meet for the first time since they got swept in the Trop back in the start of April.

Other Games

Boston Red Sox (22-27) 4, Kansas City Royals (20-30) 3: Salvador Perez got Kansas City a first inning lead on a solo shot, but Boston responded with two in the second that could’ve been a lot more had they not hit into a double-play with the bases loaded and no one out. The Royals made them pay for the minimal damage, flipping the lead back in their favor with an Elias Díaz two-run shot in the fifth, but Jarren Duran got them it back in the seventh with a two-run blast of his own. Aroldis Chapman converted his 12th save of the year, pitching a clean ninth that brought his ERA down to a dominant 0.51 mark.

Cleveland Guardians (29-22) 3, Detroit Tigers (20-30) 2 (10 innings): The Guardians have climbed out of the AL Central Rockpile thanks to an 8-2 stretch of play, while it’s getting late early out there for the Tigers. Tanner Bibee kept them in check all night, tossing eight innings of one-run ball as the only damage against him came on a sacrifice fly. At the time though, it looked like that might be enough to doom him as the Guardians offense couldn’t solve Drew Anderson or the Tigers’ bullpen that took over in the fifth for him. Back-to-back singles to lead off the ninth culminated in a game-tying groundout, and when extras rolled around Cleveland ripped a leadoff triple and double to score two in the 10th. Detroit got one back as Zach McKinstry led off with a single, but no one else managed to get on or move the runner to force an 11th inning.

Texas Rangers (24-25) 5, Colorado Rockies (19-31) 4: The Rangers got the job done against the lowly Rockies thanks to two big innings. In the fourth, home runs from Ezequiel Duran and Jake Burger put up a three-spot for the team, but a steady Rockies offense managed to take a 4-3 lead into the ninth. A catchers interference sparked a rally for Texas after going dormant for a while, ripping off three straight singles with a wild pitch thrown in the mix to score two and take the lead for good.

Seattle Mariners (24-27) 5, Chicago White Sox (25-24) 4: Despite getting out-hit in this game, a big seventh inning was enough to carry the Mariners to a series win. Tied at two, Jhonny Pereda led off with a homer to give the M’s an edge, and Randy Arozarena later hit a two-run bomb to give them some breathing room. They’d need it, as the White Sox chipped away with a run in the eighth and ninth inning each, but after the recent Yankee Randal Grichuk hit one out to lead off the final frame Chicago ran out of gas and went down in order.

First-inning runs, playing a role in wins across three different levels in the Dodgers’ minor-league system.

Player of the day

Mike Sirota’s addition to the Double-A roster makes for one of the more exciting outfields across minor-league baseball as a whole, and his 3-for-5 performance in center with a pair of doubles as Tulsa beat Wichita 6-0 only increased the buzz.

If Sirota remains in the three-hole, where he hit in each of his first two games in Double-A, he’ll get more than his fair share of opportunities batting in front of the likes of Kendall George and Josue De Paula.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Despite retiring the first two hitters he faced, Aces starter Tommy Henry had a first inning to forget, allowing three runs to help the Comets take control of this one, eventually winning it 6-4. Two-out walks set up the table for Ryan Fitzgerald to hit a two-run single in the first, while Christian Romero delivered a good outing, allowing one run in five innings with seven strikeouts.

Even though they were able to handle Alex Freeland, something virtually no team has been able to do since his demotion, the Aces struggled with the depth of this Comets lineup, whose every hitter with the exception of Kike Hernández currently has an OPS above .800. Getting a rest from the outfield, James Tibbs III was the DH for the Comets, going 1 for 3 with a walk. Noah Miller homered for the third straight game.

Double-A Tulsa

Running wild, Kendall George and Josue De Paula got on and stole bases in the first inning, eventually scoring without the benefit of hits to drive them in as the Drillers shut out the Wind Surge in a 6-0 win, one that didn’t necessarily have the dominant pitching you’d expect. Drillers’ starter Wyatt Crowell kept his opponent silent for 5.2 innings but was in constant danger, conceding five free passes.

After DH-ing in his Double-A debut, Mike Sirota played the field for the first time since his promotion and delivered quite the performance as the center fielder and three-hole hitter. Sirota recorded three of the Drillers’ eight hits with a couple of RBI.

High-A Great Lakes

Much like the Comets and Drillers, the Loons also did the groundwork for their win in the first, scoring a pair of runs en route to beating the Timber Rattlers 4-3. Charles Davalan hit a leadoff bomb, and later on in the frame, Jose Meza drove in Eduardo Quintero, who had walked and stolen second.

In a similar pattern to the Drillers’ win, the Loons’ pitchers, starters, and bullpen, but particularly Davis Chastain, overcame very spotty command to limit their opponent to just those three runs. Loons pitchers as a whole combined to walk 11 Timber Rattlers.

After surrendering the lead in the sixth, the Loons quickly answered without the benefit of a hit. The 3-3 run came on an error as Nico Perez was stealing third base, and the go-ahead run was scored by Jose Meza on a balk.

Single-A Ontario

Two games, 33 runs, a split. That was the doubleheader action between the Tower Buzzers and 66ers. In the first of these two games, despite Ching-Hsien Ko’s grand slam, the Tower Buzzers couldn’t overcome allowing a dozen runs in a 12-8 defeat, as reliever Jholbran Herder was responsible for seven without even completing one full inning in relief. Two-thirds of Ontario’s nine hits in that one were split between Ko and Austin Shelton—the rest of the offense didn’t quite click, even if it did score eight runs.

Putting up five runs in the last two innings, the Tower Buzzers overcame a large deficit to split this doubleheader in game 2. Funny enough, it was the second go-ahead run a Dodgers minor league affiliate scored yesterday on a balk. Before that, though, Ontario had a four-run seventh capped off by Easton Shelton’s RBI single, his fifth hit in eight at-bats in this doubleheader. Shelton even stole a base for good measure, his first of the year.

Wednesday’s scores

• Oklahoma City 6, Reno 4
• Wichita 0, Tulsa 6
• Great Lakes 4, Wisconsin 3
• Inland Empire 12, Ontario 8
• Inland Empire 6, Ontario 7

Thursday’s schedule

• 3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jakob Wright) vs. Wisconsin (J.D. Thompson)
• 4:35 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (River Ryan) vs. Reno (Dylan Ray)
• 4:35 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Payton Martin) at Wichita (Jose Olivares)
• 6:35 p.m. PT: Ontario (TBD) at Inland Empire (Jose Romero)