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This game started like a chess match and ended like a street race, and once the Rays hit the gas, the Yankees could not catch a break.

For six innings, this one had all the tension of a real pitchers’ duel. Nick Martinez was not overpowering, but he was calm throughout, which against the Yankees counts for plenty. He opened the night by walking Trent Grisham, giving up a single to Cody Bellinger, then watching Bellinger steal second with Ben Rice and Giancarlo Stanton lurking. That looked like early trouble. Instead, Martinez struck out Rice, then got Stanton to line out. Crisis avoided.

Max Fried was doing the same thing on the other side, keeping the Rays from getting comfortable and making every baserunner feel important, especially after retiring the Rays in order in the first.

The Yankees struck first in the second when Austin Wells hit a solo homer to right, but the Rays answered right away. Junior Caminero doubled, Ben Williamson moved him over with a groundout, and Jonny DeLuca dropped a single into right to tie it at 1-1. That became the shape of the night. New York makes a move; Tampa Bay counters to keep victory within reach.

Martinez was solid through four innings in a game that felt like it might come down to whichever side blinked first. The Yankees nearly forced the issue in the fifth when Grisham walked, Bellinger singled, and Rice walked to load the bases with two outs. That ended Martinez’s night and brought Kevin Kelly in to face Stanton, which is not exactly a relaxing sentence to type, much less a situation for a reliever to face. Kelly struck him out swinging and kept the game tied. Crisis avoided again.

The Rays finally moved in front in the sixth, and Jonathan Aranda was at the center of it. Taylor Walls singled and advanced to third with some great baserunning on a Vilade single. Then Aranda lifted a sacrifice fly just shy of the warning track in left to score Walls and make it 2-1. It was exactly the kind of at-bat that matters in games like this, not trying to do too much, just a productive at-bat.

Of course, one-run leads against the Yankees never feel all that secure. In the eighth with Bryan Baker on the mound, Stanton walked, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled. The next at-bat went about as well as it could with Wells hitting a flyout to shallow left field, preventing the pinch-runner Randal Grichuk from scoring from third. Then former Ray José Caballero ripped a two-run double to left to put the Yankees back on top 3-2. Caballero advanced to third on a balk from Baker, who had no situational awareness to realize he was attempting to pick off a runner at first that was already at second. A Rosario flyout would stop the bleeding, but after all the careful work of the first seven innings, the Yankees had flipped the game late.

The Rays countered again.

Nick Fortes doubled to start the bottom of the eighth, and Chandler Simpson came in to run. That was when the game started putting on running shoes. Simpson changes innings just by existing on the bases. Seriously, the man is a cheat code. Walls bunted him to third, then Yandy Díaz chopped one with the Yankees’ infield all the way in. The hop forced Ben Rice off his feet, giving Simpson enough time to score and pulling Rice far enough off the bag for Díaz to beat it out, tying the game 3-3.

The ninth inning started with Judge getting walked and stealing second. With two outs, the Rays intentionally walked Rice, bringing Grichuk to the plate, who flew out to close the inning. A DeLuca single was the only offense the Rays could put together in the bottom of the ninth, taking us to extras.

The tenth saw another round of moves and countermoves in this game.

The Yankees scratched across a run in the top half on Caballero’s RBI single off Cole Sulser, so the Rays came up in the bottom of the inning down 4-3.

Cedric Mullins started at second as the automatic runner. Simpson led off and dropped a soft bunt single. He has now reached base safely in all 14 games the Rays have played this year. Then he stole second because he’s what the kids call “Him.” At that point, the Yankees were no longer defending an inning. They were trying to slow down a speed demon.

Walls followed with another soft bunt single, scoring Mullins to tie the game. That made it 4-4, put Simpson on third, and cranked the pressure all the way up.

And the Yankees knew it and felt it too.

They intentionally walked Yandy Díaz to load the bases and set up the force at any base. Hunter Feduccia struck out, giving New York a brief glimmer of hope. Then they brought Cody Bellinger into the infield as an extra defender, fully committing to stop the exact kind of play the Rays wanted. Everybody in the building knew the plan. The Rays were going to put the ball on the ground, make the Yankees move fast, and trust their legs.

It still was not enough.

Aranda chopped a ball to second that got past one Yankees defender, and Chisholm couldn’t come up with it cleanly. Had he fielded it cleanly, the Yankees might have had a slim shot at turning two.

Instead, Simpson raced home, and the Rays walked off with a 5-4 win after scoring two runs in the tenth in an inning where nothing left the infield and nothing needed to. That is the sort of ending Rays fans can appreciate on a spiritual level. The Yankees pulled Bellinger in, packed the infield, and still could not keep up once Tampa Bay turned the end of an MLB game into a 9U travel ball game. Just keep running.

Aranda was the clutch bat all night. His sac fly gave the Rays the lead in the sixth, and his grounder won the game in the tenth.

Simpson was the gas in the chaos engine. His speed helped spark the tying run in the eighth, then blew open the tenth. He turned soft contact into pressure, pressure into panic, and panic into two runs. Once he got loose, the Yankees looked like they were trying to catch smoke in a glove.

The win is the Rays’ first series win at Tropicana Field since September 20-22, 2024, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Rays and Yankees are back at it tomorrow as the Rays look to sweep the series. First pitch is at 1:40 pm.

Tonight was a weird one. The MASN broadcast booth got its second consecutive day off with Baltimore playing on national television. The Orioles defense added insult to some unfortunate injuries, and Chris Bassitt looked better despite experiencing some more bad luck. A runner was called out for interference, Ryan Helsley pitched in a non-save situation, and Colton Cowser made contact against multiple offspeed pitches. The O’s received production from some unlikely candidates, and the Birds evened the series with a 6-2 victory at Camden Yards.

The story of the night took place before the first pitch when Baltimore scratched Adley Rutschman from the lineup. The Orioles placed Rutschman on the 10-day injured list with left-ankle discomfort. Rutschman had looked like his old self with an .855 OPS over the first 10 games. Baltimore recalled Maverick Handley before the game, but the organization also pinch hit for catcher Sam Huff early in tonight’s Triple-A contest.

With Rutschman sidelined, it did not take long for Baltimore’s flawed defense to make an impact tonight. Rafael Devers led off the second with a single and quickly advanced to second on a passed ball by Samuel Basallo. Bassitt retired the next two batters, but Heliot Ramos managed a two-out single to center. Leody Taveras fired home, but the throw took Basallo up the third base line. Basallo—catching in place of an injured Rutschman—attempted to throw out Ramos at second, but his throw sailed into center field. Fortunately, Bassitt retired Patrick Bailey to limit the damage to only one run.

Baltimore shifted Basallo behind the plate when Rutschman went down and inserted Ryan Mountcastle as the designated hitter. Mountcastle made an instant impact by lining a ball to right center in his first at bat. San Francisco center fielder Harrison Bader bobbled the ball, and Mountcastle made the decision to keep running toward second. The bobble may have caught Mountcastle by surprise, and the veteran hitter began to stumble as he approached second. He arrived safely after a head-first slide but came up in pain. After a brief visit from the dugout, Mountcastle left the game with what the Orioles eventually called left foot pain.

O’s skipper Craig Albernaz sent Dylan Beavers to run for Mountcastle. Beavers advanced to third on a deep fly out by Taveras and reached third base with less than two outs. Colton Cowser has struggled to put the ball in play this season, but he got just enough of a low changeup to drive in Baltimore’s first run of the day with a soft dribbler.

Baltimore got its first run on a ball that traveled three feet, but the second run came on a ball that traveled much farther. Gunnar Henderson used his quick hands to turn around a high and tight cutter for his sixth home run of the season. The blast provided Baltimore a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third.

Unfortunately, Baltimore’s defense let the team down again in the fourth. Matt Chapman led off with an infield single, and Bassitt nearly wiped him out with a potential double-play. Baltimore had its defense setup with a legal shift, and Henderson fielded a ball deep behind the bag. Henderson flipped the ball toward second to third baseman Coby Mayo, but Mayo failed to turn the unconventional double play. The Orioles had Rafael Devers dead to rights, but Mayo skipped a ball that Pete Alonso failed to corral.

The missed opportunity cost Baltimore a run. Devers moved up to second, and again to third, on a pair of singles before eventually scoring on a slow ground out to first base. The weak grounder evened the score at two and provided some frustration for the Saturday night crowd.

An already weird game got a little weirder after Beavers worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fourth. Taveras grounded a potential double play ball to second, and Beavers had to jump to avoid being struck by the ball. Beavers dodged the ball, but his foot kicked the hand of Luis Arraez. Beavers was called out for interference, but Taveras was ruled safe at first. Arraez eventually exited the game with a right wrist contusion.

Cowser smashed a changeup to right field to put runners on first and third, and Coby Mayo drove in the go-ahead run by avoiding a double play on a grounder up the middle. Jeremiah Jackson followed with a double that nearly left the yard. Mayo raced around the bases and just beat the throw home to provide Baltimore a 4-2 lead. Mayo looked uncomfortable as he popped up from the slide, but the 24-year-old stayed in the game.

Grant Wolfram, Yennier Cano and Rico Garcia kept the Giants off the board, and Jackson provided Baltimore some more insurance in the bottom of the seventh. The utility man went to left field this time and managed to clear the fence. Jackson’s first homer of the season extended the lead to three.

Anthony Nunez danced around a leadoff double to keep the score at 5-2, but Baltimore continued to add in the bottom of the eighth. Beavers punched a leadoff single to right before stealing second base. Taveras and Cowser both went down swinging, but Mayo came through with a two-out single for a 6-2 advantage.

Albernaz already had Helsley warming, and the skipper trusted his closer in a non-save situation. Helsley allowed the first two to reach before generating a double play ball and retiring Bader to end the game.

The win brought Baltimore back to .500 at 7-7. The Orioles will look to take the series tomorrow with Cade Povich set to face Adrian Houser.

Jeremiah Jackson finished 3-for-4 with a double an a homer, and Colton Cowser went 2-for4 with an RBI. Coby Mayo drove in two, and Dylan Beavers came off the bench to score two runs. Oh yeah, Gunnar Henderson hit his sixth homer of the season. Who is your pick for the most Birdland player of the day? Let us know in the comments below!

Thank the baseball GODs for that ninth inning.

The Red Sox came into the final frame with a tenuous one-run lead, after Garrett Whitlock gave up a solo shot to Jordan Walker in the bottom of the 8th. Trevor Story led off with a walk—something that hasn’t been a big help to the Red Sox with two GIDPs in the game so far. Marcelo Mayer flies out and this looks like another ho-hum inning for the men in red tonight.

No so fast.

It wasn’t anything flashy nor did it need to be. It was just put your head down, keep the lineup rolling baseball. Six singles in a row! Narváez, Rafaela, Anthony, Durbin, Duran, Contreras. I’m not sure what Ollie Marmol was doing other than staring into the abyss letting Matt Svanson languish on the mound. Maybe he knew this was a wash for the Cardinals but this hopefully turns into much more of a momentum turner for the Red Sox.

Kudos to Alex Cora for sticking with Durbin too and not pulling the trigger on a pinch hitter—either Monasterio or Yoshida.

Not so many kudos to Greg Weissert who looks almost opposite of the Italian workhorse he was in the World Baseball Classic—everything is trouble for him right now and Danny Coulombe bailed him out.

Still, three wins in four games isn’t something to wag your finger at. None of them have been truly pretty wins but they’re wins regardless. FOX made a lot of mention that it takes 40-50 games to really see the makeup of a team. Let’s hope that first 10 was truly the worst of it and this Sox squad is starting to find its footing.

What a nice Saturday night!

Studs

Ranger Suárez (6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 ER)

Ranger was extremely frustrated after a 20+ pitch first inning and let it show in his final five. He looked extremely comfortable the rest of the way through. If this is the Suárez we’re getting on a more consistent basis, it’s very stabilizing for the rotation.

Willson Contreras (2-for-4, 3 RBI)

Against his old club, Contreras came to play. The game-winning RBIs in the fourth and another line-moving RBI single in the ninth.

Duds

Wilyer Abreu (0-for-4, 1 K)

I actually had Trevor Story and Caleb Durbin here for a while; their production in the 9th saved their skin. Just a quiet day for Abreu who had the rest of his team pick him up!

Play of the Game

For the better part of five innings, this was going to be Willy’s two-run double in the fourth. The ninth changed my mind, we’re going with Ceddanne’s RBI single to start the chain.

Things we predicted in the preview: a José Ramírez homer, and the Guardians fighting hard to even up the series. Both things would come to pass as the Braves were shut out for the first time this season, 6-0.

The Guardians put together a more complete performance on all fronts. Braves pitching issued a season-high eight walks but would mostly keep them in the game until late. Unfortunately, the hot bats from yesterday were as absent as Michael Harris II.

Martín Pérez’s only real blemish was the Ramírez solo home run in the first – but that one would turn out to be all Cleveland needed. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second and would settle in nicely for the rest of his five innings of work, lowering his ERA to 3.14.

Parker Messick was as dominant as advertised, working all six of his pitches efficiently to keep the Braves off the board for 6.2 innings and limiting them to four hits and two walks. His changeup was responsible for all five of his strikeouts.

Payamps and Bummer would combine for a stressful sixth inning. Payamps was yanked after facing the minimum, recording one out. Bummer jogged in, walked Chase DeLauter to load the bases, induced a run-scoring groundout, re-loaded the bases with another walk, and then mercifully got a groundout to end the inning.

The bottom of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th would be the Braves’ best chances to score. Scattered walks and singles would get the Braves on first and second each inning, but nothing more. The one hit in the fifth would by Ronald Acuña Jr. for a (mildly stressful) triple, but like all men who reached base before him, he’d be stranded. 

Messick got two outs in the bottom of the seventh before allowing a single to Jonah Heim. Walt Weiss countered the resulting pitching change with Dom Smith pinch hitting in Jorge Mateo’s spot. But no big Dom Smith moment here – just an immediate groundout that sent us to the eighth. 

Things would get silly (derogatory) in the top of the ninth. Osvaldo Bido had been lights out since joining the Braves, but was grinding here as his pitch count rose. After two outs, he’d walk Steven Kwan. Kwan stole second and came all the way home to score after a double whammy of a Bido wild pitch and Heim, after finally finding it, overthrowing to third. Weiss was forced to dip into the bullpen once more, summoning Tyler Kinley. Kinley joined the walk party but would be tagged with an earned run before ending the inning.

The bottom of the ninth started out promising with a leadoff double by Olson and a walk by Riley. But it wasn’t to be – Dubón struck out after hitting a home run juuust foul, Yaz looked at what he thought was ball four, and Heim popped out after an ABS challenge had him quickly 0-2. 

Not a fun one! It will all come down to tomorrow’s series finale, where Bibee and Sale will face off at 7:20 pm ET on NBC.

The Cardinals entered the night with a robust 8-5 record while the Red Sox were trying to avoid their 10th loss of the young season. The game was broadcast on Fox so we were given some Smoltz announcing action, which could be described as a mix of lackluster and uninformed.

Kyle Leahy was smooth and efficient in innings 1 and 2, not throwing any balls until the third batter, whom he retired in the first. The second inning was even more efficient except for a hit by pitch to none other than Willson Contreras… who was erased from the basepaths because the Winn/Wetherholt middle infield defensive machine turned a double play.

In the second inning Thomas Saggese lined a single into the outfield off of Ranger Suarez, the Red Sox starting pitcher of the night. However, the Cardinals were not able to do anything else, leaving Saggese on base.

Leahy had only pitched 19 pitches going into the third inning. Kyle finally gave up a single, to Mayer, who hit a dying quail into the outfield. The Red Sox had a man on first with no out, just as the Cardinals had prior. Similarly, JJ Wetherholt helped turn a double play and there were two outs in the 3rd. Victor Scott II sealed the deal by catching a fly to center.

Unlike Leahy, Suarez was at nearly 40 pitches at this point in the game. Wetherholt lead off the inning, but him and Herrera were quick outs. Busch Stadium had a good attendance from the fans tonight, but the offense was absent in the third.

Top of the order for the Red Sox in the 4th inning, and they drew a walk from Leahy. Instead of being efficient and exact, he was nibbling around the zone. It was like the blueprint for this game was to have Leahy let a guy on base and then induce a ground into double play, would they do it again in the 4th? Flyout to Walker. 1 out. Finally the Red Sox avoided the double play with a hit by Duran to the outfield. The Red Sox gained the lead when Contreras also got a hit which rolled to the wall. 2-0 Boston.

With only one out, Trevor Story, who was batting 6th, was up. Leahy had really lost his efficiency and maybe confidence by this point. He then challenged Story with one up and in, and he foul tipped it into Pedro Pages glove for the out. 2 out. With a full count, Leahy barely missed low and walked Mayer. It didn’t matter because Carlos Narváez flew out sharply to center fielder Victor Scott II.

The bottom of the 4th had a single by Urias, but that was all she wrote for the Cardinals offense that inning.

Gordon Graceffo relieved Leahy in the 5th. The 4th inning got Kyle’s pitch count up, gone was his efficient outing, but hey, only down by 2 here. Graceffo struck out Rafaela. He got Roman Anthony to fly out to Fermin in left field. Caleb Durbin grounded out to Nolan Gorman to end the top of the 5th.

Suarez faced the Cardinals bottom of the order to start, got two outs, then, in a 7 pitch inning, retired JJ Wetherholt. 2-0 Red Sox going into the top of the 6th. Suarez was locked in.

Gordon Graceffo was back on the mound in the 6th inning. He retired the first batter then faced Willson Contreras. Would he be able to contain the fury? Or would Willson knock Gordon around like a pinata spewing hi-chew? GG would persevere this time, striking out Contreras. Gordon Graceffo was superb tonight, succeeding in preventing runs for the 2nd inning in a row.

Suarez was absolutely dealing after his somewhat rough start tonight. With two outs in the bottom of the 6th, Gorman was up, 0-1. Ranger was still dealing though, and struck out Nolan Gorman. Surprise surprise (not).

7th inning: Graceffo getting sort of a piggyback start, as he began his third inning in a row with a Trevor Story groundout. Facing second baseman Mayer who had been on base two times already, Graceffo walked him. Narvaez singled moving Mayer up to third base with 1 out. Gordon then hit Rafaela with a pitch, loading the bases!

At this point Oliver Marmol went to the bullpen and brought in Justin Bruihl. Roman Anthony was up, and the count went 3-0! 3-1. 3-2. He got the K! Big pitch! Then with 2 outs, Bruihl got Caleb Durbin to pop up! Still only 2-0 Boston after some dangerous but clutchy bullpen action.

In an extremely rare occurrence, Oliver Marmol challenged a challenge about if Fermin was hit by a pitch, and it ended up being catcher’s interference! So after Fermin was NOT rewarded the base by a hit by pitch, he was rewarded first base because of catcher’s interference. I didn’t even know you could challenge a challenge, you learn something new every day if you pay attention.

With Fermin on first with one out, Burleson was summoned to pinch hit. Off the bench, Burleson drew a walk. Runners on first and second. Then Nathan Church was brought into the game. He avoided the double play but hit into the force out. Pozo was brought in and could not muster a hit, either.

Bruihl was out again for the top of the 8th, and he got the out. Marmol then brought in Matt Svanson to face Willson Contreras (eek!). Could Matt Svanson start to put his beginning to the season behind him? Yes! He struck out Contreras with some junk in the dirt. Would Svanson persevere? Yes! Wilyer Abreu flew out to Church. Did it look good, no.

Jordan Walker owned the 8th inning by hitting his sixth home run to dead center vs Garrett Whitlock! Amazing!

Jordan Walker’s 6 home runs leads MLB in his 14th game of the season!

In a move that probably freaked out most fans but at least built some confidence back into Matt Svanson, Svanson was brought back out to pitch another inning, in a game where Marmol appeared to be banking for extra innings. Or, just wanted to keep most of the bullpen fresh?

Would Svanson be up to the challenge, despite his struggles? He let Story on base, there was one out… 2-2 to Narvaez… he got a hit. Runners at first and third… Svanson still? yep… it would not be a good move, as Rafaela drove in a run, extending the lead to 3-1 Red Sox, erasing Jordan Walker’s solo shot.

With Svanson still out there in the 9th, Boston got another hit, loading the bases. Caleb Durbin nailed some nails into the coffin with yet another hit off of Svanson, this time two more making it 5-1. The wheels had come off. The victor was even insured against us.

The wheels not only fell off the vehicle, the vehicle flew off a cliff in the 9th inning. 6 straight singles by Boston. 7-1 Red Sox. Newcomer Jared Shuster was brought into the game, and put out the fire before any additional damages accrued.

The Cardinals did put a couple of runners on base in the 9th inning, but it didn’t amount to anything. Big bullpen loss and a quiet Cardinals offense tonight. 7-1 Red Sox.

• Red Sox outhit the Cardinals 10-5
• Player of the Game: Ranger Suarez shutting it down and with the most WPA (*win probability added)
• Matt Svanson ERA over 15.5 now
• Kyle Leahy looked ok tonight but gave up 3 hits and 3 walks in 4 innings, somehow… he was really good over the first two innings. Maybe he’s just a really good bullpen guy.
• Willson Contreras was the most opportunistic hitter tonight, going 2 for 4 with 3 RBI against his prior team

Right-hander Zac Leigh was activated off the Development List and assigned to Triple-A Iowa.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were too fast for the Omaha Storm Chasers (Royals), 7-3.

Starter Vince Velasquez gave up two runs in the top of the first inning, but settled down after that. The final line on Velasquez was two runs on four hits over 4.1 innings. He struck out three and walked one.

Luke Little relieved Velasquez in the fifth and improved his record to 3-0 after the I-Cubs scored three runs in the bottom of the inning. Little’s final line was no runs on two hits over 1.2 innings. He struck out three and walked no one.

Second baseman James Triantos singled home Iowa’s first run of the game in the fifth inning. He also had an RBI groundout in the sixth. Triantos finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored and the two RBI. He also stole a base.

Shortstop Ben Cowles hit a two-run double in the sixth inning. He went 2 for 4 and also scored once.

Left fielder Jonathon Long doubled home Justin Dean in the seventh inning for the seventh and final Iowa run. Long went 2 for 4. Dean went 1 for 4 with a walk and a stolen base. He drove in two runs and scored one.

Cowles’ two-run double.

Long’s double went about as long as it could without going out.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies scored twice in the bottom of the ninth and recycled the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels), 4-3.

Starter Grant Kipp shut down Rocket City with five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. Kipp struck out four and walked no one.

Jace Beck kept the Trash Pandas off the board for two more innings, but when he came out for the top of the eighth, he gave up a three-run home run. But Dawson Netz struck out the side in the order in the top of the ninth and got the win when the Smokie scored twice in the bottom of the frame.

Second baseman Karson Simas singled home Jordan Nwogu to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and then third baseman Devin Ortiz hit a walk-off sacrifice fly to end the game.

Ortiz also hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, his first in the Cubs organization. Ortiz went 1 for 2 with the home run, the sac fly and the two RBI. He also scored twice.

Simas was 1 for 4 with a stolen base. Nwogu went 0 for 3 with a walk and the run scored.

Some Grant Kipp highlights.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs scored eight runs in the seventh inning and mauled the Peoria Chiefs (Cardinals), 9-3.

Starter Cole Reynolds surrendered two runs on four hits over three innings. He struck out five and walked two.

The comeback started when first baseman Cameron Sisneros led off the top of the seventh with a home run. Later in the inning, Sisneros walked with the bases loaded. He finished the game 1 for 4 with the two RBI.

South Bend took the lead when center fielder Leonel Espinoza cranked a three-run home run later in the seventh. Espinoza went 2 for 5.

Third baseman Matt Halbach walked with the bases loaded in the seventh and hit a solo home run in the eighth. Halbach went 2 for 4 with a walk. He had the two RBI and scored twice.

South Bend drew six walks and was hit by a pitch in that eight-run seventh inning.

The home runs by Cisneros and Espinoza.

Halbach’s home run.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were hypnotized by the Columbia Fireflies (Royals), 10-8.

Pelicans starter David Bracho was tagged for four runs on four hits over 2.2 innings. Bracho walked three and struck out three.

Braylon Meyers relieved Bracho and pitched quite well as he did not allow a run and only one hit over 3.1 innings. Meyers struck out two and walked no one.

The wheels came off in the bottom of the eighth when Columbia scored six runs. Aiden Moffett had walked the bases loaded in the seventh inning and escaped unscathed, but when he came out to pitch the eighth, he walked the first three batters of the inning. At that point he was relieved by Mason McGwire, who walked the first two batters he faced and then gave up a two-run double. McGwire got the loss after being charged with three runs, but only one earned, on one hit over one inning. He walked two and struck out two.

Catcher Jairo Diaz hit his first Pelicans home run in the the top of the eighth inning with two men on. Diaz finished 2 for 3 with a walk. In addition to the three RBI, Diaz acored twice.

Right fielder Josiah Hartshorn went 2 for 4 with a double and a triple. Hartshorn drove in two runs and scored one run.

First baseman Cole Mathis was 2 for 4 with a double. He scored twice.

Diaz’s home run barely cleared the fence.

Hartshorn’s triple.

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers’ offense is struggling hard. After scoring in the first inning in their loss on Friday night, they didn’t score for the rest of that game, and that streak made it another eight innings—in which the team had only one hit—tonight. Washington’s Forrest Griffin, who spent the last three years pitching in Japan, no-hit the Brewers through five, and though starter Kyle Harrison and bulk reliever Brandon Sproat combined for eight pretty good innings tonight, Milwaukee’s offense looked inept for most of the game and couldn’t overcome even a small deficit.

It was an inauspicious start for the Brewers. The first batter of the game, James Wood, should’ve struck out looking but got a favorable call (that William Contreras did not challenge, puzzlingly), then hit a grounder over to first base. Gary Sánchez (who was starting at first base for the fifth time in his 12-year career) didn’t field it cleanly—he knocked it down, but had to rush his throw to Harrison, who was covering the bag. Sánchez put way too much juice on the throw and it hit Harrison in the knee, and he then stumbled over the base. There was a long delay as the Brewers’ training and pitching staff checked on Harrison, but he ultimately stayed in the game with Wood at first. Wood made it to third after a fielder’s choice and a fly ball to right, and a Daylen Lile groundout stranded the opening run at third.

After a Brice Turang groundout started the game, Luis Rengifo—who is having no batted ball luck at all, and came in 0-for-his-last-13—hit a ball hard into the right field gap, but Joey Wiemer was able to run it down despite a .550 expected batting average via Statcast. Contreras hit a ball to fairly deep center field, but he got too far under it, and the Brewers were retired in order in the first.

It’s always a question whether a player will come back out after an injury like the one Harrison suffered in the first, but he was indeed back on the mound to start the second and started things off by striking out Wiemer on three pitches. CJ Abrams and Jacob Young were both aggressive early in the count and both hit line drives right at Rengifo, and Harrison was through the second on just eight pitches.

After a Christian Yelich groundout, Sánchez became the Brewers’ first baserunner after he successfully challenged a strike three call on 0-2 and then took three more balls to draw a walk. Sánchez was erased at second when Brandon Lockridge hit into a fielder’s choice, and Frelick flew out to right field to end the inning.

The third inning started with a bizarre play: Nasim Nuñez hit a grounder to first, but Harrison didn’t seem interested in covering first, so Sánchez had to wait for Turang to get over there from second base. The second bad throw of the night (and second throwing error) from Sánchez went past Turang but hit the first-base umpire…but Nuñez tried to go to second, and Sánchez picked up the ball (which was still in the infield after hitting the ump) and threw him out at second. Not something you see every day. Keibert Ruiz grounded out to third for the second out, but Washington got a couple of two-out baserunners when Wood was hit by a 2-2 pitch (that he nearly swung at) and Curtis Mead worked a walk. Brady House, though, flew out to center, and Harrison had a third scoreless inning.

In the bottom of the third, Blake Perkins hit a weak grounder back to Griffin, Ortiz golfed a flyout to left, and Turang struck out looking.

It was a little misleading because it felt like there’d been a lot of action, but neither team had a hit through the first three innings. That finally ended when, after two quick outs in the top of the fourth, Abrams got the game’s first hit on a bloop single to left. But with Young at the plate, Harrison threw over to first behind Abrams, who took off too early for second—Sánchez’s throw to second was wild and nearly his third throwing error of the game, but Ortiz snagged it and applied the tag for the third out.

Yelich drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the inning, but Milwaukee would have to wait to get their first hit, as Yelich didn’t make it past first.

Young led off the fifth with a single to right, and Nuñez followed that with the game’s first extra-base hit when he lined an 0-2 pitch down the right-field line (one pitch after just missing on nearly identical batted ball that went just foul). Frelick was able to cut it off, which held Young at third for the time being, and on the next pitch, Ruiz hit a fly ball to shallow-left center. Young did not test Frelick’s arm, and the Brewers had the first out. Unfortunately, Wood smoked the first pitch he got into the left field gap for a two-RBI double.

Harrison’s pitch count was still in decent shape, but Pat Murphy made a move with one out in the fourth and brought in Grant Anderson to try to clean things up. A Mead grounder advance Wood to third but gave the Brewers the second out, and Anderson struck out House to end the inning. Harrison’s line was thus final: 4 1/3 innings, four hits, one walk, but only one strikeout, and the two Nationals runs. Not bad for a guy who looked like he might have to leave after the first batter, but he needed some help from his offense.

Lockridge made some of the better contact of the night to start the bottom of the fifth, a line drive to the warning track in right, but Wiemer tracked that down, too. Frelick got a hanging curveball on 1-2 but hit a harmless groundout to first, and on just Griffin’s 70th pitch, Perkins flew out to shallow right. Griffin was up to five no-hit innings, and the Brewers’ offense was up to 13 straight innings without scoring a run.

Brandon Sproat, whose turn in the rotation was skipped (not eliminated, according to Murphy), came out of the bullpen in the sixth. It wasn’t a great start, as Lile lined a 105 mph single past the diving Turang. But Sproat struck out Wiemer, and on the next pitch Contreras threw out Lile trying to steal second, and suddenly there were two outs with nobody on. Abrams hit a grounder up the middle that Ortiz fielded; Ortiz’s throw was in the dirt, but Sánchez made a nice pick, balancing the scales from Sánchez’s near-error earlier.

The nice turnaround in the top of the sixth felt almost like it gave the Brewers some momentum. Who knows, but Ortiz did lead off the sixth with a base hit up the middle, ending the no-hit bid. A nice piece of hitting, even if he did try to bunt but missed on the first pitch. Turang drew a walk, and given how long it’d been since the Brewers had scored, it felt like a real rally was cooking. But Rengifo popped out, and the Nationals decided to make the switch to a right-handed pitcher to face Contreras. Contreras swung at the first pitch and hit a grounder to the right side; it was far enough away from Nuñez that it at least advanced the runners and wasn’t a double play, but there were now two outs. Washington walked Yelich with first base open, and Murphy made a move as well, to Jake Bauers, who came on to pinch-hit for Sánchez. Bauers swung at the first pitch and grounded out to second, and the rally flamed out.

Sproat continued in the seventh, and Young battled in the first at-bat of the inning but grounded out to Ortiz. Nuñez battled, too, and his at-bat ended when he hit a weak grounder that snuck past a diving Sproat—Turang got it and still maybe could’ve gotten Nuñez (who is very fast) but the throw went into the dugout and Nuñez was awarded second base. Sproat, though, picked Nuñez off at second (technically a caught stealing in the scorebook) before throwing a pitch to the next batter, Ruiz. But with the intensely hot Wood on deck, Sproat lost the strike zone and threw three straight balls to Ruiz, the number nine hitter; Contreras saw something he didn’t like, and called out the training staff. After a couple of minutes, Sproat stayed in, walked Ortiz, but struck out Wood to end the threat.

Lockridge, Frelick and pinch-hitter Garrett Mitchell struck out in order in the bottom of the inning against right-hander Brad Lord.

Sproat kept going in the eighth. He walked Mead to lead things off, but got the next three. The Nationals went to Cionel Pérez in the bottom of the inning, and he also retired the Brewers in order, on groundouts from Ortiz and Turang and a strikeout by Rengifo.

Sproat, who is obviously stretched out for longer outings, was back out for his fourth inning of work in the ninth. Abrams made pretty good contact but his fly ball hung up in center for Mitchell, and after Young hit a one-out single, he was picked off by Young—the fifth time tonight that a National made an out on the basepaths. A good thing, too, as Sproat issued his third walk of the evening to Nuñez. Unfortunately, when Sproat was one strike away from a badly needed four scoreless innings, Ruiz reached down and got a 2-2 changeup that was about a foot below the strike zone and hit it into the right field corner for an RBI double. That was all for Sproat, as the Brewers brought in DL Hall to face the left-handed Wood. Hall walked Wood on four pitches—first base was open, though Hall did not have the platoon advantage against the right-handed Mead. It didn’t matter, as Mead hit a routine fly ball to center that ended the inning. But the Nats’ new three-run lead felt more like a 12-run lead with the way the Brewers’ offense had been performing.

Clayton Beeter was on for the ninth, and Contreras greeted him rudely. After 16 straight scoreless innings going back to the first inning of yesterday’s game, Milwaukee finally scored again when their catcher hit an opposite-field homer just over the wall into Washington’s bullpen. Christian Yelich then struck out on three pitches… but the ball went flying, and a confused Nationals defense froze, and Yelich didn’t just make it to first base on the strikeout but he made it all the way to second.

That brought Bauers to the plate as the game’s tying run, and he nearly tied the game, but his fly ball was caught by Wiemer just in front of the wall in right center. Lockridge then drew a walk to put two on for Frelick. Frelick was almost given a reprieve when he should’ve struck out on a high slider that looked in the zone, but the Nationals were out of challenges; unfortunately, Frelick watched the next pitch, a fastball in the zone, as well, and he struck out looking. Mitchell was the batter—and the winning run—with two outs. Both runners advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch in a 2-1 count, but that invited Washington to intentionally walk Mitchell and bring who else but Ortiz to the plate with the bases juiced. (Murphy could have opted for David Hamilton as a pinch-hitter, but Washington would surely have gone to a lefty, so I assume that was the line of thinking there.)

Ortiz hit a weak dribbler back to the mound and the game ended.

The Brewers made this one interesting, but not until far too late. Otherwise, it was a second-straight night of brutally inept offense for most of the evening. A shame: the Brewer pitching staff did pretty well to hold the Nationals to three runs. Harrison wasn’t as sharp as his first two outings, but pitched pretty well, especially considering what happened to him in the first. Grant Anderson did his job, and Sproat, though he still walked too many batters (three in 3 2/3 innings), was a 1995-style-golfed-double on a 2-2 pitch away from throwing four scoreless innings.

Aside from Contreras’s second homer, it was a very bad night for the offense, who managed just two hits—Contreras’s ninth-inning homer as the second. Milwaukee badly needs Jackson Chourio back. They have now lost four straight, and has scored just six runs combined in those four games.

The Brewers will try to salvage the third game of the series tomorrow afternoon. Brandon Woodruff takes the hill versus Washington’s Zack Littell at 1:10 p.m.

Francisco Lindor is off to a strange start for the Mets this year.

Having already made his fair share of mental mistakes in the field and on the base paths in the early going of the season, the normally meticulous Lindor had another miscue in Saturday’s 11-6 loss to the Athletics.

With the bases loaded and one out in a tie game in the second inning, Kodai Senga, who was not at his best, induced a ground ball to the right side of the second base bag that looked to be a relatively easy potential double play that would’ve ended the inning.

However, despite Marcus Semien fielding the ball, Lindor went to his right to try and make a play on it as well, instead of breaking towards second base to get the force out and throwing to first to complete the potential double play. 

With nobody covering second, Semien had to step on the bag himself for the force out (just barely beating the runner) and was unable to throw the runner out at first, allowing a run to score.

After the game, Lindor was asked what happened on that play.

“I went after the ball and Marcus was there, and I didn’t make it to second base and we didn’t turn a double play,” he said. “Senga could’ve got out of the inning right there and I didn’t help him.”

It’s not the first time, or even the second time, that Lindor has made an unusual decision either defensively or on the bases that has cost the Mets. Just last night, he was thrown out at third base on a grounder hit to first after veering too far off the bag in a game New York was trailing 1-0 late.

The mental lapses combined with his struggling offense have made Lindor, a five-time All-Star and two-time Gold-Glover, look like a shell of himself during the first month of the season.

“It’s weird because that’s not him,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “It’s hard to explain. He’ll be the first one to tell you that he has to be better. Never seen some of those plays where he’s just out of position sometimes.”

Even Lindor had trouble explaining what’s going on because he feels like he’s “locked in” out there.

With the calf injury to Juan Soto causing him to be out of the lineup, is it possible Lindor is putting added pressure on himself to perform?

“Not at all,” Mendoza said. “He’s the same guy. He shows up, he prepares. He works as hard as anybody; he wants to win. I don’t think it has to do with who's in the lineup and who’s not.”

While all of that may be true, it’s still hard to ignore the shortstop’s struggles this season.

Offensively, Lindor, who is known to get off to cold starts in his career – especially with the Mets, is slashing .167/.296/.250 with no home runs and zero RBI. While those numbers are nowhere near his expected production or career averages, what was at least somewhat encouraging during the first week of the season was his ability to get on base via walks.

However, since Soto landed on the IL retroactively on April 4, Lindor has not walked once. During that stretch, he is 5-for-33 at the top of the Mets lineup.

“He’s been through it before,” Mendoza said. “This is a guy who is very streaky and he’s gotten off to starts like this. It’s just hard to explain right now.”

To Lindor’s credit, after many such cases of poor starts to a season, his end-of-year numbers are always there. Right now, he’s even got a three-game hit streak going.

“I feel like I’m trending in the right direction,” he said.

As for the mental mistakes that keep piling up? Mendoza believes they’ll be fixed sooner rather than later.

“We’re better than that and they know that… making errors and mental mistakes. We’re better than that. We gotta fix it and we will,” the skipper said.