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The Yankees haven’t exactly been in a slide with their win-loss ratio of late, but they’ve had some tough losses that could’ve easily been prevented by the offense looking alive instead of comatose. Friday night was looking like one of those losses, as they failed to capitalize on a strong Max Fried start and were getting shutout entering the ninth inning. Then a rally ignited when George Lombard Jr. hit a one-out single and a throwing error led to him advancing all the way to third. Austin Wells doubled him home, and Ben Rice singled Wells in two batters later to tie the game. In extras the Yankees miraculously avoided allowing the Manfred runner to score as Lombard and Luis García Jr. made sterling defensive plays, and then a pair of walks brought Ryan McMahon to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom half. McMahon delivered the walk-off sac fly, and the Yankees had their biggest win in a while — made all the more real by the fact that the Red Sox’s win earlier in the night necessitated a win in response or they’d get leapfrogged in the standings.

Before we get to a battle between two of this generation’s top pitchers in Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale, we’ve got a few things prepared for you. Andrés leads off with a look at how George Lombard Jr.‘s defensive ceiling alone is paying dividends for the Yankees’ odds of winning, and Peter follows that with the Rivalry Roundup featuring the aforementioned Red Sox result. John gives Anthony Rizzo a fond look down memory lane in honor of his birthday, and Nick examines the bullpen corps with his monthly Reliever Confidence Index.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees vs. Atlanta Braves

Time: 3:05 p.m. EST

TV: YES Network, BravesVision

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

Questions/Prompts:

1. Where does last night rank in your top five biggest wins of the season?

2. If you could snap your fingers and live out the careers of either Gerrit Cole or Chris Sale — including their statistics, accolades, earnings, and injuries — which one would you choose?

In a bit of top pitching prospect musical chairs, word broke early Saturday morning that Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal were getting the call to the South Side, with fellow rookies Noah Schultz and David Sandlin heading down to Charlotte.

White Sox sources confirmed the news to multiple outlets, with Future Sox first getting the news out.

While not the impetus for the moves, they couldn’t come at a better time for a depleted White Sox bullpen, whose fatigue was further exacerbated on Friday night when manager Will Venable missed Zach Bove’s mound visit four batters into the game and trotted out to chat with Schultz after a two-run single, forcing the lefthander’s early exit. Despite throwing just 23 pitches, Schultz is burned for the next four days, and Sandlin had thrown just 18 ⅓ innings since June 26 while battling minor injury (he tossed 96 on Friday night in emergency relief of Schultz).

Smith, the No. 2 prospect in the White Sox system per MLB, and McDougal (N0. 4), both are starting pitchers but have taken on reduced workloads in 2026 due to injuries.

Smith struggled through a shoulder impingement that sidelined him from mid-June to mid-July, but holds a 1.43 ERA in six games out of the Knights pen since his return.

McDougal’s injury woes were more dire, as the righthander went from ticketed for a quick call-up to the South Side starting rotation to forearm soreness just a month into the season that evoked fears of a second, looming TJS. Returning to action a couple of weeks before Smith in Charlotte, the fireballer has had a rougher go, sporting a 4.39 ERA over 12 games out of the pen since his return.

In what turns out to be some cheeky foreshadowing, GM Chris Getz all but promised the duo would be promoted before season’s end during his pregame press gaggle on Friday.

“[Smith and McDougal] are pitching well out of the bullpen,” Getz said. “We anticipate that they will be helping us at some point. We don’t know exactly when. But those guys are transitioning well.”

As opposed to the piggyback arrangement planned with Schultz and Sandlin — Sandlin in fact was expected to take over from Schultz mid-game on Friday and close it out, sparing a pen that had seen seven of eight arms spent in the marathon loss in Boston on Thursday — neither Smith nor McDougal will be assuming a rotation spot. As Erick Fedde presumably resumes the rotation role that Luis Castillo booted him from for a turn, the two newest White Sox will provide high-octane relief in doses not deeper than two innings.

While 0% of Sox brass and fans would anticipate Friday being Schultz’s last taste of the majors, what a tragic finale it would be if so: 23 pitches to earn one out, two runs on his ledger, and an accidental hook from a manager too prior consumed with a possible challenge to realize he was removing his young starter from the game.

After a shaky MLB debut on April 13, Schultz ran off three straight stellar starts (and his first two MLB wins) that made it appear he might make as much mincemeat of the majors as Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski. Yet Schultz then set on a season-long slump that abated only briefly, in a bulk starter effort (five innings, one run) on August 1 in St. Petersburg. His season line as he heads for a re-set in Charlotte is a 3-9 record, 6.06 ERA, 1.423 WHIP and -0.4 WAR.

Sandlin, unlike first-rounder Schultz an 11th round diamond in the rough, has struggled similarly, albeit in less time: five games (three starts), 6.93 ERA, 1.398 WHIP, -0.4 WAR. The righty has been more hot-and-cold in his debut season, with two stellar starts spaced a month apart, and now pads his frequent flier miles in being sent back to Charlotte for a third time this year.

McDougal is on the 40-player roster, but Smith is not, necessitating a move to open space on the maxed list. It would appear that a DFA looms for a Tyler (Gilbert or Davis, both currently at Triple-A Charlotte), although another possibility for release includes outfielder Junior Perez. If Joey Bart’s hand fracture is such that his initial prognosis of a monthlong absence was too optimistic, or if Chris Murphy’s left flexor strain portends surgery, either player could be shifted to the 60-day IL to provide a DFA dodge in adding Smith.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Later today, Carlos Rodón is set to make a rehab start in Triple-A. The pitcher has been out since June 30th with elbow inflammation, but his return could be close. The team may or may not give him one more rehab outing, but either way, he’ll be back before he’s fully built up pitch count-wise and will initially be used in conjunction with another pitcher “piggybacking” him.

New York Post | Greg Joyce: The Yankees so-so play of late has them in a pickle. For one, they’ve lost some ground on the Rays at the top of the AL East. However, they’ve also lost a lot of ground to the red hot Red Sox, which now has them staring right down the barrel at third place in the division.

Deadline | Anthony D’Alessandro: If you ever grow tired of watching the real Yankees, good news: you may have a dramatized and/or fictional version of them to watch soon. Netflix has greenlit a show from actor Jason Bateman’s Aggregate Studios as well as MLB Studios that will be about the Yankees. Details are a little sparce at the moment over what that exactly entails.

MLB Trade Rumors | Darragh McDonald: In case you missed it, the Yankees signed catcher Mitch Garver to a minor league deal. While Garver is hardly the catcher everyone was hoping they’d acquire at the deadline, he has been a good hitter over the course of his career. The bad news is that doesn’t include this year, which led to his release by the Mariners, which put him on the open market.

PHOENIX — The season was supposed to be over, right?

The World Series champion was crowned in August.

All that remained for the Los Angeles Dodgers was planning that World Series parade route.

Well, it has been a week since the Dodgers acquired two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.

And they have yet to win a game.

Really.

They were walked off Friday night by the Arizona Diamondbacks, with Edwin Diaz blowing the save in their 4-3 loss.

And just like that, the Dodgers have lost seven consecutive games for the first time this season, outscored 46-25.

RYAN WALDSCHMIDT WALK-OFF HOMER! pic.twitter.com/awJyS4RYda

— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2026

It took nearly a month before the Dodgers lost their seventh game of the season, and now, they have lost seven games in eight days, suffering two sweeps and now trying to avoid a third one.

Certainly, the Dodgers are in no real danger of blowing a 7½-game lead in the National League West over the Diamondbacks.

They are sitting comfortably in first place, and have absolutely no worries they’ll win the division.

But suddenly, instead of having the best record in baseball, they have only the third-best in the NL, trailing Milwaukee and Atlanta.

If the season ended today, they’d be forced to play the wild-card round against the No. 6 seed, which would be the Philadelphia Phillies.

“A loss is a loss,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said calmly, “but to get walked off never feels good. We didn’t play a clean game, a great game on either side of the baseball, but we did enough to put ourselves in position to win the game.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it.’’

It was Diaz, their $69 million closer, who blew the game.

He missed 85 games this year after undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery in April, has come back and pitched four times, and hardly looks like the same All-Star pitcher. He has pitched three innings and given up six hits, four runs with four strikeouts and two walks.

And, yes, a blown save when he left a slider hanging over the plate to No. 9 hitter Ryan Waldschmidt, who smacked a 90-mph slider over the middle of the plate into the center-field seats.

“I’m just trying to be perfect with that pitch,’’ Diaz said, “and I’m just missing right down the middle. I’ve got to be better than that. I’m a big-league pitcher, so I've got to make pitches. Next time when I come into the game, I’ve got to do better.’’

In summoning George Lombard Jr., the Yankees knew he could play defense. 

In trading for Luis García Jr., the Yankees knew he could hit right-handed pitching and probably considered anything else a pleasant surprise. 

And so in Friday’s 10th inning, the Yankees were validated and pleasantly surprised, respectively, as both newcomers to The Bronx made sparkling plays to save what became a comeback, 3-2 victory over the Braves. 

It was a game they probably do not win without Lombard, who started a rally in the ninth with an infield single in which he advanced all the way to third on an error, drew a key walk in the bottom of the 10th and showed off one other defensive strength in the top of the inning: a cannon of an arm. 

Leading off the extra frame, Atlanta’s Sean Murphy hit a hard ground ball into the shortstop hole, which is where Lombard has starred in his brief time in the majors. The rookie ranged, backhanded and left his feet — a small leap, if not a Jeterian one — and showed off an arm whose power is obvious. 

“He’s able to — just with ease, whether he’s off-balance — no-sweat some plays because he’s physical and strong,” manager Aaron Boone said of his new everyday, 21-year-old shortstop. “He’s not even reaching for much there, and he makes that play kind of easy.” 

After a ground out brought ghost runner Austin Riley to third, Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a two-out bloop down the first-base line. Three Yankees defenders converged on a flare that appeared to be sent into no-man’s land. 

“To be honest,” García said through interpreter Marlon Abreu, “I didn’t think I had a chance.” 

And yet the first baseman sprinted, extended and stuck out his glove. His best Willie Mays impression ended with catching the third out of the frame with his back to home plate. 

“What a play,” Boone said after a game that was clinched by Ryan McMahon’s sacrifice fly but will be better remembered for defensive excellence, which also included Trent Grisham’s strong throw to third base in the first inning that saved a run.

The good news is that the Mariners weren’t shut out. A last-gasp Julio Rodríguez solo homer helped the 2026 Mariners avoid making some ugly history, on a night when the Mariners opened the celebration of 50 years of the franchise.

The bad news is that they might as well have been, with another lifeless offensive performance – outside of one inning and Julio’s ninth-inning effort to keep the 2026 Mariners out of the record books – en route to a 2-1 loss that had the normally deferential crowd at T-Mobile Park booing lustily.

The Rays jumped ahead early in this one thanks to a home run from Jonny DeLuca, their centerfielder. The Mariners also have a Jonny who plays center field and hits homers (Farmelo), but he is not done cooking yet. I tell you that to distract you from how bad this pitch was from Logan Gilbert: 95 mph, after he’d been at 98 in the first inning, and right in the heart of the plate.

Unsurprising for a pitch located there, that got smoked off the bat, 103 mph into the ‘pen. The Rays made some hard contact off Logan; they already had four balls hit 100 mph or more by the end of the third. They were also very aggressive against Logan, often swinging at the first pitch, especially early in the game; they doubled their lead in the third inning when Jonathan Aranda jumped on a first-pitch slider for a solo homer.

The Mariner dribbled and drabbled some hits off Drew Rasmussen early, an improvement considering he usually crushes the Mariners. Cole Young singled in the first, but was foolishly thrown out trying to steal (no Cole! Bad Cole! Your job is hit singles and get driven in!). In the second, the Mariners were able to stack a couple of baserunners, with Julio collecting a hard-hit single of his own (103.7 off the bat) and Josh Naylor working a four-pitch walk. But Brendan Donovan struck out for the second out, bringing up [brace yourselves] eight-hole hitter Cal Raleigh. What a cursèd sentence to type. Cal, to his credit, also worked a walk, but unfortunately that brought up Colt Emerson, who is, as previously noted, two days old and one huckleberry tall. Rasmussen went right after Colt, feeding him the high heat he can’t lay off of, and he struck out on three pitches to end the inning. I truly believe Emerson will succeed and he’s swimming upstream currently but he just has to make an adjustment on that high stuff. The Rays also have their shortstop, Taylor Walls, batting ninth; he is also hitting around the Mendoza Line; but the entire top half of the Rays lineup is hitting .280 or better, so they’re a little more well-equipped to absorb that batting average.

To be clear, it wasn’t Emerson alone who was chasing after Rasmussen’s high fastball; Dan Wilson noted pregame that Rasmussen was able to expand up but keep it around the top rail close enough to bait the Mariners hitters into having to make quick decisions, leading to a ton of non-squared-up balls.

As they have so many times this season, the Mariners followed up a solid offensive inning where they got traffic on the bases with a wet fart of an inning, as the top of the lineup went down on six total pitches in the bottom of the third. Nice answer-back inning, fellas. That would be the theme of the rest of the night for the offense: the Mariners were aggressive against Rasmussen, but all that added up to was a lot of quick innings and quick outs as the offense again failed to get anything going. They also struck out 12 times, after seemingly getting the strikeouts in check lately.

Logan Gilbert did the best he could with the absolute nothingburger the offense gave him, holding down the Rays well. He had to navigate around a little trouble in the fifth inning after giving up a leadoff double to Victor Mesa Jr. The Mariners also have an outfielder named Victor; the last time he hit a double was July 11, and the last time before that was May 26th.

The Rays then opted to try to small-ball in a run, which wasn’t a bad strategy given it was the bottom of their order and a leadoff double comes around to score 70% of the time, but the Mariners were able to play some solid defense and work around the back-to-back sacrifice bunts. Cal Raleigh made a heads-up play on a bunt from Taylor Walls, getting Mesa trying to score on the contact play, and then Logan Gilbert caught Walls napping at first base, picking him off to end the inning.

“That’s a big spot in the game right there,” said Logan Gilbert. “I was kind of surprised we got him, but I’ll take it, because against a team like that, you can’t play with fire. We were in a tough spot right there and fortunate to get out of it.”

But if you hoped that would inspire the Mariners to turn things around offensively, that hope would be in vain. The Mariners hitters, not exactly covering themselves in glory in the first place, looked utterly helpless against Rasmussen, who accounted for eight of the twelve strikeouts tonight. With Rasmussen finally out of the game in the eighth, the Mariners got a little traffic going when Garrett Cleavinger grazed Brendan Donovan with a pitch to open the eighth, the first time the Mariners had had a baserunner since the second inning. Gross! After Cal Raleigh popped out trying to hit the rare infield home run, Colt Emerson followed came through with a solid line-drive single, which we love to see, but then vaunted on-base threat Taylor Ward struck out for the second out of the inning, and Cole Young grounded out, causing the boo birds at T-Mobile Park to come out in full throat.

The Mariners went with Seranthony Dominguez to pitch the ninth and happily, things went much more smoothly than his first outing as a Mariner. He opened the inning by striking out DeLuca on a sweeper, getting him chasing in the dirt. He got unlucky on a fluky BABIP flyball single to Victor Mesa Jr., who then stole second base (I remember when our Victor used to do things like that), and then nicked Richie Palaccios with a pitch to put two runners on. But Dominguez rebounded to strike out Taylor Walls on a nasty splitter, and then jammed Díaz on a sinker for a harmless inning-ending flyout. So. Much better.

Unfortunately what was not better was the Mariners offense, facing Rays closer Bryan Baker, the latest faceless murderbot to roll out of the Rays pitching machine. Baker rolled through the top of the Mariners lineup with three strikeouts, facing only some resistance in the form of Julio Rodríguez, who dropped the bat on a changeup and obliterated it over the fence, shaking alive the crowd, hoping for some late-inning magic.

But these 2026 Mariners are short on the magic. Josh Naylor struck out looking on three pitches, causing the boos to echo throughout the park.

“We do get traffic,” said Dan Wilson. “We’re able to get some guys on and the next step is getting that big hit. And right now, we haven’t been able to find it. But we’ve got to find it. We’ve got to find it quick.”

They say solo home runs don’t beat you, but they do when your offense can’t muster more than one solo home run in response. Ironically, tonight was also the Mariners alumni home run derby, so at least the fans got to see some offensive fireworks – just not ones from current members of the team.

It is worth reiterating: Max Fried is still pitching with shackles, not yet free to pitch as deep into games as he desires. 

It is worth reiterating: The Yankees’ rotation is not yet whole. 

And yet Fried again looked in peak form as part of a rotation that seems to be peaking with every start, and this Yankees lineup requires every bit of its brilliance. 

The lefty was the latest excellent Yankees starter — and, for a change, a rewarded excellent Yankees starter — in a 3-2, 10-inning, comeback victory over the Braves on Friday night in The Bronx, where Fried faced his former team for the first time and pitched as if he had this game circled on his calendar since signing with the Yankees on Dec. 17, 2024. 

No, the 2026 schedule was not released at that point. But Fried certainly pored over this year’s schedule once he got it. 

“This one’s been circled on the calendar for a little bit,” Fried said after dominating over 6 ¹/₃ shutout innings against old pals such as Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson, surrendering just three hits and two walks while striking out seven. “Definitely brought up a lot of emotions and just really was able to think about my time over there. That’s a first-class organization.” 

He mixed in all seven pitches — including a changeup he rarely throws to retire Olson in the fourth, Olson passing Fried on the field and saying he wondered if that pitch would be thrown, eliciting a smile from Fried — watched his velocity tick up and was efficient. 

“Still on a pitch count, and he’s able to get an out into the seventh,” manager Aaron Boone said of Fried, who has been stretching out on the fly in the majors following an IL stint and jumped from 78 pitches in his previous outing to 90 on Friday. “He was terrific.” 

As terrific as, well, just about every other Yankees starter going right now. Fried & Friends, which does not yet include the rehabbing Carlos Rodón, have surrendered one run or fewer in eight of the past 10 games, a span in which Yankees starters have allowed 10 earned runs in 57 ²/₃ innings (1.56 ERA). 

And yet the Yankees have won just five times in that stretch because their lineup has too often lacked a pulse — as it did for eight innings Friday, before waking up in the ninth and 10th. 

When Fried was on the mound, he received no support — at least offensively. Defensively, the Yankees offered an assist. The only true danger Fried encountered arrived immediately, Drake Baldwin and Albies reaching in the first inning. With two outs, Mauricio Dubón shot a single through the middle, Trent Grisham charging, crow-hopping and throwing strong — to third base, rather than home plate. Albies attempted to go from first to third and was tagged out by Ryan McMahon a split-second before Baldwin touched home, running the Braves into an out that cost them a run. 

“My first innings haven’t been very good,” Fried said, “so to be able to rely on the defense and just a bang-bang play, something that went my way, it was huge.” 

And it was his old friends’ last chance against Fried, who allowed just one more Brave to reach second base and who retired the final 12 batters he saw.